Sunday, October 19, 2014

SL Core G Week 3 Oct. 13-17, 2014

SL Core G 
Week 3 
Oct. 13-17, 2014
Eighth week on Core G so far!




This is the front of the card, Dd made for Dh.  I like it so much I put it at the top of my page, plus below under "Busy Hands" too.
Another week without an auto for Dd and I, but we made the best of it.  Dh's car was released from the shop on Friday, a few thousand dollars later!  Too bad the car is a 1994, so that hurt!  Let's just say after fixing both of our auto's, we are lighter in our pockets!!!  This will be some memory that hopefully we can laugh about in our future.  I guess I have finally come to fully understand that THIS is our "difficult season" and to try to feel more graceful about getting through it with a better attitude.  I'm reading my Secret Place devotional a lot this week, and that is helping me uplift my mood.

This week we had a birthday for Dh and Dd got sick.  We didn't get out to the library or any parks, or anything like that.  We did bring in our house plants that I had been keeping on our little porch, cement pad.  The plants really thrived outside, and I'm sure they will be gloomy now that they are back inside; but we had 31 degrees last night, so I was right to be bring them in before the frost killed them.


One of our Chickadee's, all the birds have to wait for a moment when Nutty or Charlie isn't on the feeder.  The squirrels are very selfish.


The "making Christmas gifts" project is coming along well.  Dd taught me a "Double Crochet", to make her a lovey blanket.  She picked out some thick, nice, part wool-part acrylic black yarn.  I've already crocheted SEVEN rolls of yarn into the blanket, and think I will need another seven to complete the blanket.  I never thought it would take so much yarn!!!  She is so excited about getting it, and that makes the cost of the yarn easier to swallow!  I'm also crocheting my mom a scarf, and are over half way done with that.  Plus, I've completed 2 of my felt birds, and started on another one.  The first two birds are a couple (male and female) of Sparrows, and the new couple are Golden Finches.  I'm at least started and going strong for my Christmas prep!



The squirrels are now eating our pumpkin....can you believe that?!!


Dd made the best soup this week--a chicken broth, chicken and veggies soup.  It was really close to being a Chicken Noodle, but no noodles!  She put the chicken and the potatoes in the skillet and grilled them with olive oil and spices-- I think that is the reason the soup was extra, extra tasty.  The soup had that chicken and potatoes, plus green beans and yellow corn.  Dd also made Dh a wonderful birthday cake, and icing (icing from scratch, cake from a mix).  She went all the way- she put the icing in the ziplock baggie and wrote and decorated the cake!  The cake didn't last long!!!!



Well, let's look at what we accomplished this week:
Bible:
Veritas Press: Chronicles Through Malachi
Card 68: In Process

Ministry and Miracles of Elisha

Believer's Bible Commentary   [BELIEVERS BIBLE COMMENTARY -SS] [Hardcover] by W.(Author) ; MacDonald, William(Author)

II Kings 2-13
Another week on 2 Kings, we read (with our bible, then with the Believer's Bible Commentary) 2 Kings 11-12.  We started 2 Kings 13, but haven't read it with the Believer's Bible Commentary yet.  We are close to finishing this card soon--it was a big assignment!

 Product Details
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The Greenleaf Guide To Old Testament History

Sep 1, 1994
The Greenleaf Guide to the Old Testament:
Lesson 141: Athaliah and Joash: completed
Lesson 142: Joash Repairs the Temple: completed 
Add-In: Greenleaf recommended we read the book of Joel
so we did (on Thur.) 

Add-In: Mark 11:24

Psalm of the Week:
Psalm91


Psalm 91

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely he will save you
    from the fowler’s snare
    and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;

    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 “Because he[b] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.”


This is Charlie, view from inside our door to the "porch".


Math:
A difficult week!  Math U See, Pre-Algebra, 12 A-C
We worked on the Distributive and the Associative Laws.  Dd had a really hard time learning this lesson from Demme, so we headed over to Khan Academy for a second perspective on teaching her.  It took us all week to figure out how to do pages A, B, and C.  But, I think we are getting closer to fully understanding it.  I am thankful to Khan Academy for their free math lessons (and so much more than just math)!  
We watched the following Khan Academy math video's:
*The Distributive Property Explained x2
*Distributive Property Practice
*Distributive Property Algebraic Expressions  
*Distributive Property Exercise Examples
*Distributive Property


 
 Science:
Exploring the World of Biology by Tiner
Ch. 4: Growing A Green World, and quiz: completed
Apologia: 
Chemistry and Physics: Lesson 6: 
Mechanics in Motion:completed
Pg. 99-107
We used Khan Academy to prepare for the paper Dd was asked to write on Sir Isaac Newton from her Apologia lesson.  We watched the following video's:
*First Law of Motion
*More On Newton's First Law
On Youtube.com we watched:
*The Laws of Sir Isaac Newton by Mind Game Studios
*Secret Life of Newton--only watched the first 20 minutes
**Paper on Sir Isaac Newton**Completed



This is the female, momma: Nutty.  Whenever we put black sunflower seeds out, she gets on top of our feeders and eats all the seed.  Then I open the door to chase her off, but she isn't afraid, so she just climbs up the tree beside our feeders and stares at me until I go back inside.  Then she climbs back down and gets back on the feeders.  We play this "game" all day long...
 
Timeline & Mapping:
For the first time during a SL core, we are doing the mapping and timeline really well.  We are even looking up the locations on Google Earth!  I'm so glad we are finally able to fit this into our schedule.  Yeah, we are going through the core much slower, but we are getting all the things in that I always wanted to fit in!
We specifically spent time looking up the Indus Valley Civilization—and the Mohenjo-Dara city there.  That was really great to see on Google Earth.  We did a few different searches on gathering info on the Indus Valley Civilizations.

Some of the highlights of our timeline:
Joseph, Hittite Civilization, Hammurabi – we looked this up again online and looked at images of the obelisk-like stone.  We had already looked this up in previous weeks, so it was good to just reinforce who Hammurabi was and the stone he had created to get down all the laws he listed and enforced. Assyrian Civilization , The Story of Gilgamesh—we had read The Hero, Gilgamesh, a few weeks ago, and again this week had another version in our SL materials on this story.  The versions were a little bit different, so I am glad we had we read both. 

The highlights of mapping:
Canaan, Babylon, Assur, Crete, Mycenae (sounds like: my-SEE-nay), Phoenicia (sounds like Pfah-knee-shah), Arabian Sea, Assyria, Thebe, the Pillars of Heracles(Hercules)-which we looked up a few weeks ago too, so we got that reinforced, and lastly (again) the Straits of Gibraltar.

Dh made me a nature bouquet, the brown stalks are one of our favorites...Mullen Stalks (which made me think of my friend, Michelle, who thinks of Mullen stalks as 'weeds'!



Busy Hands:
Besides the cake and soup, Dd made, for the lack of a better term, “ornaments” with her hot glue gun. 

These have to do with Percy Jackson...she has a story that goes with them...


 

This has to do with Harry Potter, a symbol...



Made a birthday card for Pappa:

 



 Also, she worked on her crocheting each day.  She is making a shawl/poncho, and bought red yarn to make a gift for someone else.




Dd made this soap holder bag--crocheted


Exercise:
Tues, Wed, and Fri she did workout DVD’s.
Plus, she has taken to riding her bike around our parking lot...






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Audio: 
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: COMPLETED!
17 discs!  that took a while!


Just started:

Product Details

The Heroes of Olympus Book Five: The Blood of Olympus







A Chickadee!






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Add-In Lamplighter book:
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We are reading Jill’s Red Bag by Amy LeFeuvre.  She also wrote Teddy’s Button, if you know that one—such a popular book. 


Add-In History DVD’s:
Product Details 
*In Search of Myths &  Heroes-we watched 2 of the episodes; “The Queen of Sheba”, and “Jason and the Golden Fleece”.  Dd was really into the one on Jason!  It was great to see the actual locations of these events.  Anytime Dd gets to see and learn about Greece, she is happy.  I can’t wait until we actually get to the Greek section in our Core G.
*Ancient Egypt Unearthed—good.




Add-In History Books: 
("Add-In", means these books are not assigned to us through the Sonlight Core G list of books that we are to read; but are books that I decided we should read.)
Product Details
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Cleopatra (Lifelines)

Oct 15, 2007
Cleopatra by Adele Geras (We read aloud- completed)
Miriam: Dd completed
(*Christie mailed us this book to add-in--Thank you, Dd really enjoyed it!)


This is a Nuthatch that comes all the time!  He is a bit aggressive and will open his wings and kind of scare off birds.  The Chickadee's are very lovely and sweet compared to the Junco's!  I still really like the Nuthatches, they are just a bit more bossy!  We get Blue Jays, Downey Woodpeckers, Dark-Eyed Junco's, Doves, Chickadee's, Nuthatches, Cardinals, and Sparrows...at least off the top of my head.

SL/Core G items:
Hittite Warrior: in process

Product Details

The Trojan War: in process
This is a book that is scheduled just a few chapters each week.  

Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

 Product Details
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The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History


This is Charlie, the husband to Nutty, the father of Spazzy.

Language Arts:
*Completed one Blog Post, on her blog

*Letters x 2

*Paper on Sir Isaac Newton


IEW’s Fix It: Frog Prince: Week 16: completed

All About Spelling 6:
Step 16: passed
Step 17: in process


Add-in Fun Books:
Product Details

American Girl, Josephina Learns a Lesson
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan: (just started this-)
Castle Waiting, The Lucky Road by Linda Medley (Dd says it is a Mother Goose type of book).
Tintin Vol. 7




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Friday, October 17, 2014

Mark 11:24

Mark 11:24

 English Standard Version (ESV)

24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.


Today, as I picked up my Secret Place devotion guide, Mark 11:24 was at the top of the page.  As I read it, I just knew this verse was exactly what I needed to hear!!!  Do you ever have times when you are just strug-strug-struggling? and you look for comforting words in your bible?  My daughter and I have been reading 2 Kings lately, and as good as that book is; it just doesn't have many words of comfort during this season's difficult days!!!  

I've been trying to get use to the concept of thanking the Lord for things that haven't happened yet; which is a very new concept for me.  

"Thank you, Lord for selling my house." 
"Thank you, Lord for finding our next home, which will meet the needs of all us....and perhaps a spot for some chickens that I can raise."
"Thank you, Lord for helping me to raise my daughter to stay on your path; her eyes focused on your face; all the days of her life."
"Thank you, Lord for my loving, caring marriage."
"Thank you, Lord for helping my husband with his new job."
"Thank you, Lord for helping him to make exercising and eating healthy part of his daily routine, for the rest of his life."
"Thank you, Lord for reminding me to hand over all my worries to you, and that you will carry them all (happily)."
"Thank you, Lord for letting my husband, my daughter, and myself always reside under your strong and protective wings."
"Thank you, Lord for filling, us three, with your Holy Spirit--to guide and direct us to do your will, to guide and direct our thoughts, our words, and our actions."  
"Thank you, Lord for surrounding, us three, with your Guardian Angels every day." 

Today, I will focus on Mark 11:24:
  
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
 

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Eagle Creek Park with "L" family Oct.10-10-14

Eagle Creek Park 
with "L" family  Oct.10-10-14



My friend that we went to the park with has her own blog too.  She also posted pictures she took of our day at Eagle Creek Park.  If you want to see the park from her pictures of us around the fire, her blog is "Blackberry Rambles": http://blackberryrambles.blogspot.com/
The post is October, "October 14th, 2014." And you can meet my friend and check out her blog too.  She has a lot of great information; especially about books.


For our hike, we walked the trail around Eagle Creek~

We saw a LOT of water birds---heron's, egrets, ducks, seagulls...



All the kids had on their capes!  Dd is asking Giz to make her a LONG cape, that goes down to her ankles, for Christmas.  I hope she gets one...she would love it!









We call these "Osage Oranges", but I am not sure if that is the technical name for them.  The story is that you put a bunch around the outside of your house to keep out rodents.  You put them out in the fall, to prevent the rodents coming in from the cold!

I just love "L's" smile.....so cute!



 After our hike, we set up camp.  As soon as we arrived, these two ducks came to welcome us!  I think they were hoping for some free food!



We had hot dogs and s'mores over the fire!
 We also had a veggie platter, plus on the camp stove we had hot apple cider and baked beans.

 Then the kids made S'mores...and even served us some too!






 We found an interesting bird, atop this bird nest, that I am not sure what species it is--anyone know?  It is sitting on the right side, on the tree branch-


 A Close-Up of the unknown bird:


 On our way out of the park we saw four deer



After the park we went back to the "L's" house for a night of making/sewing Christmas gifts for the mom's and the kids watched LOTR- The Two Towers... it was a late night!


Just imagine me on the left side (with the orange pillow) and H on the right, each sewing and taking sips of hot tea!


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SL Core G Week 2 "D" Oct. 6-10th, 2014

SL Core G 
Week 2 "D" 
Oct. 6-10th, 2014
(Seventh week on Core G)


Dd took this night time picture--I liked it so much I wanted to share it with you all!



Dd is still adding onto her plastic bottle piece; here is what it looks like now.

Difficult to summarize this week--as it was very ***; not sure what to say about it, exactly....  On Monday, Dd was already not in a participatory mood!  Being a 12 year old girl has it's good weeks, and it's bad weeks.  The advantage to having years of homeschooling under my belt, is that I can see when to walk away from a bad situation.  In years past, I pushed doing our lessons, even on days when Dd's mood was as sour as vinegar!  Boy, those difficult days were awful!  She didn't learn anything and I ended up burnt!  I would think, 'why didn't I just leave her be and wait for her to be open again to learning...later?'  So, that is the story of our week--she was going through some hormone days, and I let her be, and tried to maintain my sanity.  She did the work that was on her independent schedule and by herself.   So, "we" didn't get much done--but enough that I still feel okay about it.  At least we didn't have any major meltdowns, like we would have done if I had tried to be a teacher this week.

With LOTS of time to herself this week; she spent time on various activities: keyboarding each day (and she got to play on her piano in Indiana on Thursday and Friday), crocheting, sand sticker 'painting' kits by Giz (x2), and plastic bottle table continuation project...

Thursday we left Michigan and drove to our house in Indiana.  I mowed and fertilized the yard on Thursday evening.  After the yard work, I called my husband to find out HIS car had a broken water pump!  My car just got out of the shop 1 1/2 weeks ago!  He had a bunch of problems, but managed to get it home.  Friday, he got it into the same shop that had just fixed my van.  He had to call in sick to work since he didn't have a way to get there.  I did offer to drive back home Thursday night, so he could go to work, but he thought he would ask a friend to drive him in on Friday.  So, we are back to having ONE auto again...which hubby will use to get to work, and Dd and I will be home without a ride again....no fun!  But, hopefully the shop will be able to fix his car fairly quickly.  You would never believe how much they charged to fix my van....whatever you are thinking, triple it!  I'm hopeful they won't be charging that much on hubby's car repairs!

Friday morning, Dd and I met the "L" family at their house at 9:30 am to start our visit.  We packed up and went to Eagle Creek Park for our hike.  It was a COLD and drizzly day, but we were so happy to be there we didn't care.  It was 48 F (which is 8.89 C) degrees when we checked the temperature.  We did our hike, then set up for our camp out.  We got a fire going, and roasted hot dogs on the fire while the camp stove cooked the apple cider and baked beans.  After lunch we made s'mores!  It was great to warm up with hot cider and hot dogs!  We also had a veggie platter that was fantastic!  After the park, we went back to the "L" house for a homemade pizza dinner!  Delicious!  Then Heather and I worked on some sewing/craft projects while the kids watched the Lord of the Rings; The Two Towers movie.  Then we had to end our visit and regretfully go home--at 10 PM!  What a great visit!  Such a blessing!

Saturday we cleaned up the house, and then got on the road to return to Michigan--and hubby, who was stuck at home without a car!  It is a FIVE hour drive between our house in Indiana and our apartment in Michigan.  It is a fairly easy drive, thanks to my Garmin/GPS, normally, but.....BUT....the Garmin/GPS froze after 1/4 of the way home!!!! and I have not memorized the route!  And have no sense of direction!!!  So, we had to call my hubby every bit to get the next part of the directions.  I messed up a few times, and had to turn around a few times, but we eventually found our way back!  What.a.day!

Now for our lessons: 
all done by Dd without me this week-

Bible:
we took the week off from our bible lessons; but did our Psalm of the week: Psalm 122 with the Bible and Believer's Bible Commentary

Psalm 122

A song of ascents. Of David.

I rejoiced with those who said to me,
    “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
Our feet are standing
    in your gates, Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is built like a city
    that is closely compacted together.
That is where the tribes go up—
    the tribes of the Lord
to praise the name of the Lord
    according to the statute given to Israel.
There stand the thrones for judgment,
    the thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
    “May those who love you be secure.
May there be peace within your walls
    and security within your citadels.”
For the sake of my family and friends,
    I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
    I will seek your prosperity.


Science:

Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics (Young Explorer Series) by Jeannie Fulbright

Apologia: Chemistry and Physics
pg. 90-98
Dd did science and notes by herself this week






 


Current Events: M-F:
http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/


Pre-Algebra Instruction Manual by Steven P. Demme (2009)

Math: 
Math U See: Pre-Algebra
Lesson 11 A-E



Daily Grams 7:
pg. 143-147



Reader:
Miriam 

Miriam by Beatrice Gormley

Amazon: When Miriam accompanies her baby brother, Moses, to Pharaoh's palace, she begins to dream of becoming important. But when the suffering of the Hebrews grows worse, must she choose between her heritage and her new life?



Writing: DONE!
FINISHED her SL paper
1 page on the Great Pyramid of Giza
1 page on the Syhinx
1 page on Saqqara
(well done!)


Audio:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) by J.K. Rowling


Exercise:
Hike at Eagle Creek Park!


Dvd:


Ancient Egypt Unearthed (2009)

Ancient Egypt Unearthed by Discovery Classics College
Disc one--very good!  We found this at the library.



We did go to the library this week, and Dd found a few books for fun: 

Fun Books:
As you can tell, she is interested in GREEK MYTHOLOGY, and basketball!  With so much free time on her hands this week, she got to read a lot.

Hoop Girlz by Lucy Jane Bledsoe
: In Process

 

The War of the Worlds (Classic Fiction) by Katherine M Brevard, Davis Worth Miller, H.G. Wells and Protobunker Studio
: Completed

 

 

Hades Lord of the Dead by O'Connor, George [First Second,2012] (Hardcover) (Jan 2, 0012)

: Completed

 

 

Hera: The Goddess and her Glory (Olympians) by George O'Connor

 : Completed

 

Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess (Olympians) by George O'Connor

: Completed

 

 

Percy Jackson's Greek Gods by Rick Riordan and John Rocco : In Process

 



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