Sunday, November 22, 2015

First Snow Nov 2015

First Snow 
Nov 2015



I guess I should clarify that title...we have had quite a few little 'snowing' times, but nothing that stuck; that is, until Friday.  It snowed quite a lot this past two days, and I think we accumulated 4-6 inches or so.  Quite a beautiful snow as well!  Very picturesque and good clumping snow.  Dh and Dd have enjoyed sledding over the weekend while I was laid up with my bug and migraine all Saturday and Sunday.  So glad they have had fun outside--even without me.





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Core G Week 16 "B" Early Middle Ages Nov. 16- 20th, 2015 King Arthur, Beowulf, Council of Nicaea, Athanasius

Core G 
Week 16 "B" 
Early Middle Ages 
Nov. 16- 20th, 2015 
King Arthur, Beowulf, Council of Nicaea, Athanasius
57th Week on this core



This was the last week of our LINK co-op, at least until January.  We have next week off from band for Thanksgiving.  I caught one of the bugs that have been going around.  Mrs. March, the head-fred of our band was telling everyone she had laryngitis over the weekend--which I ended up getting on Thursday--plus a horrible cough.  This has been a week of naps, naps, naps!  I think Dd had three naps this week, and I managed two!  

It snowed on Thursday night, but didn't stick.  I had been praying so much that it wouldn't snow a lot before the pool guys came back out with our new cover; and our prayers were answered!  So glad they came on Friday morning and now our pool is safe for the winter. 

With Dd and I both being sick, me more so than Dd, we didn't get everything done that I had scheduled.  On Thursday, after co-op we invited our friends back to our house to eat and visit before the "Presentation Night"(4-8:45 pm) at our co-op.  The "D" family drives 45 minutes to get to the co-op, and we had only three hours in between our classes and the 'show'.  At the co-op they had one class that was for the kids that wanted to be IN the play ("D" family's two kids were IN the play), or a Behind The Scenes class for those kids that like making/painting the sets (which is what my Dd chose).  The play was Songs of the Pioneers...and was quite funny!  We left after the presentations, before the dessert-social time so I could help Dh work on the pool (in the cold, with snow, in the dark!).  

It was interesting to compare LINK's Presentation Night to the one's we had while in Lighthouse Home Educators.  LINK had a play, then the kids in the recorder class played two songs for us.  After that the Speech-Communications class had 4 students give speeches. I almost forgot-one KinderKid, the most shy child in the class, got up and recited a poem.  That was it.  Very different from the showcase of various talents that LHE displayed, not that these kids are any less talented, but they were instructed to keep the show short and not be in more than one thing.  Due to the large cast in the play, most kids were only in the play.  

Our lessons:

Bible:

 VP (Veritas Press)
Card 96: in process
Trials of Job
We read Job 3,4, & 5 in our bible and Believer's Bible Commentary

Christian Studies IV by Memoria Press
pages 4-8


Math:
Math U See: Algebra I
6 A, B, C, D, E
Test 6: 100%! finally!  We have spent over six months on the first 1/4 of this book!  I have to admit, Dd has really struggled with getting this down.  I honestly think there is some 'teenage brain hormones' that are contributing to her not being able to think as clearly as she could a year ago.  I never really thought 'teenage hormones' would be so clearly affecting her, but, boy, I think that has to be what is going on here.  


History:
Reader: completed
Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett
Dd REALLY liked this book! This is a book that I added, not a SL assignment.
 a review for this book: 
This emotional story of Anna Comnena, a Byzantine princess who was betrayed by her family members and denied the throne, is a mix of history, mystery, and intrigue. Anna is trained and raised to be the empress, but instead spends most of her days exiled in various nunneries. Follow her as she develops as a woman and discovers who she really is and what is important in life. 212 pgs.


New Sonlight Reader: Just Started
Black Horses For the King by Anne McCaffrey
Rainbow Resources review:
When young Galwyn, a mistreated apprentice on his uncle's ship, meets the Briton Lord Artos, he is filled with admiration for this man who will someday become King Arthur. Thanks to Galwyn's knack for languages and knowledge of horses, he is invited to join the warriors on their quest to purchase warhorses and transport them back to Britain. When the voyage ends, Galwyn has succeeded in earning Artos' favor and a job on his estate continuing to care for the horses. At home, Artos attempts to unify the Britons against the Saxons while Galwyn and the other horse hands breed, train, and care for the growing herd. Even in the safety of Artos' estate, threats to the horses lurk in the form of horse thieves, bandits, and lameness caused by the moisture from the soggy terrain. Artos' strategy to drive out the Saxons depends on these horses; if they lose the horses, Galwyn will have not only disappointed Artos, but will have failed his country as well! Horse-lovers are sure to especially enjoy this Arthurian adventure! 218 pgs, pb. By Anne McCaffrey. - Jess



youtube: Britian AD episode 1 : 49:02
This 49 minute show was very interesting--showing the country side, and Hadrian's Wall...etc.  Nice summary of the early history of Britain.
Trial and Triumph:
Athanasius
Edict of Milan in 313, when Emperor Constantine declared Christianity allowed in the Roman world, before it was punishable by death to be a Christian.  Then they (the bishops met in Alexandria) and created the Nicean Creed to put for the Deity of Jesus.  


Peril and Peace:
Constantine & Early Creeds and Councils



Story of the World: The Middle Ages
Ch. 1 and 2
Mystery of History Vol II
Ch.'s : 17-24
(So thankful that we bought this audio, with my laryngitis this week I was fortunate to have scheduled a lot of audio's!)

I had scheduled Streams of Civilization, but we didn't have enough time this week...or voice.  But, I was SO excited to find it used for $5.00!!!! in perfect condition!
BiblioPlan: BP Medieval History Companion:
pg 40-50, completed chapter two
BP Advanced Maps:
Week 3's map

Kingfisher History Encyclopedia:
Week 16's assignments
SL's Book of Time:
We (okay, *I*, love doing the timeline, and we have been using Homeschool In The Woods(HITW).  SL offers a edited version of these figures, but if you want a lot more people, with more information on each figure, then you could look at buying the sets from HITW.


Audio: 
King Arthur by Howard Pyle:in process
I've read the SL's assigned book by Lang and found the Pyle book to much the superior of the two options.  


Science:
Apologia General Science:
pg's 23-31, to complete Module 1

Notebooking Pages for Science:
23-34...this notebook is full of questions for Dd to find and write in.

Dissections:
Dd dissected a lung and two hearts---there is a post with pictures of it following this post.

Poetry:
SL Poetry, Favorite Poems Old and New
pg's 405-407



Busy Hands:


Dd asked that we buy a baguette so she could make Tuna Melts with them...and did--yum!




I was the "Star of the Week" at the co-op so I had to bring in a snack and a few of my favorite picture books to share and read.  Dd offered to make Shortbread Cookies, with melted chocolate spread on top.  The kids seemed to enjoy her efforts!


Dd played her sax each day this week, but I don't think she did any piano.  She also did archery a few days in a row this week. 


After Dd made the Shortbread cookies, she made up a chocolate topping out of chocolate chips and milk? something like that, and then she dipped/scooped each cookie into the chocolate and they were delicious!  I didn't get a photo of the completed cookie..oops!


Friday, and ALL day Saturday it snowed...so Dd chopped wood, sledded and cleaned the long driveway.  She hiked and took pictures of the snow.



Fun Books:

Product Details

The Swap

Aug 26, 2014
The Swap by Megan Shull: completed


Product Details

The Two Princesses of Bamarre

Apr 24, 2012
The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine: in process

Product Details
A Mid-Summers Night Dream by William Shakespeare: in process

Product Details
Star Wars: Lost Stars by Claudia Gray

Side interest-
At church (and ironically in our BiblioPlan chapter of the week) we were studying Athanasius and Arius and that lead a search for the difference between Dispensationalism and Covenenat Theology.  I did a search at youtube and found some really interesting video's on this.
DTBM OnlineVideoTraining
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5E1FA5kCFk


 If you are in the mood for learning some things you might not have covered in the average study of the church history, this 19 minute video was very educational.  The question that was in debate at this time was whether or not Jesus was on equal terms with God, if He came from God, that God created Jesus, or if Jesus and the Holy Spirit were equal with God...as the Triune..the trinity.  Athanasius believed in the trinity; whereas Arius believed God came first, and created the other two.  This debate was very interesting---and the three-leaf clover is up for debate.  I guess with the Arius debate it would be a two-leaf clover with God being the stem.  To be honest, I never knew that there was a time when Jesus's deity was in question by Christians.  I didn't know that some people thought He was a product of God.  We (especially me) spent a lot of time this week learning as much as I could about "dispensationalism" and "covenant theology"...not sure I have it understood enough to hold a conversation, but at least I am aware that there is such concepts to think on.  Don't you just love it when you find out how much MORE there is to know! (and how little we actually do know!)  Keep moving forward!



This week's life lesson:

So last weekend I had the house to myself, and worked on various projects from painting to insulation to.....and needles to say, I pretty much destroyed the order of our house!  The coat tree was next to the dining table, and the place was just utter chaos.  Then Monday I had to get right back into laundry from Dh and Dd's trip, and back to lessons.  Our whole week was jammed with things we had to do.  We had to stay up past our bedtime to work on the pool Wednesday night.  So, of course, on Thursday our friends, the "D" family were going to stay in their cars during the time after our co-op ended and the time for the Play/Presentation at 4pm.  Even though our house was totally embarrassingly totaled, I went ahead and invited them to our house instead of waiting in their car.  It was kind of funny b/c they were absolutely amazed at how disassembled our house was!  One said: "What IS all this "stuff"?"...seriously!  Later she said, you know this is probably good for me, so many times I won't invite anyone over to our house because it is a mess, and now I see I could.  I recommended the book: Lies Homeschooling Mom's Believe b/c we shouldn't be afraid to show other hs'ers that we are NOT perfect; but make a point to not portray those lies.  Be honest with them that there are days when our houses are chaos, and also days when order is restored.  That we all struggle with getting the basic's done each day.  I was glad that I put their family's needs above my own pride in keeping the illusion up that our house is always tidy.  

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Dissecting a liver and two hearts Nov 2015

Dissecting a liver and two hearts 
Nov 2015


Up first, the LUNG of a deer

If you are looking for some really good video's on dissecting-We were very lucky in finding a really great video, that I'd like to share:
"Deer Heart Dissection by Huschle" 14:03
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVo-fhMlTM0


Dd poured water into the main pipe of the lung and watched how it foamed out the big pores...really surprising how the water reacted to the lung.  I was glad she thought to see how that would effect the lung.

You can see the foam rising up by her fingertips

Dd got to see the two bucks "cleaned" and she got to take home two hearts and one liver.  Dh gave the other lung to a friend at work who wanted to eat it.  We eat the hearts, but Dh doesn't want to eat the lungs.

You can plainly see the difference in size of the two deer hears.


Dd put her thumbs in each chamber of the hearts to compare the diameter of each.

The Heart Strings are always fascinating to see



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Trip to Indiana farm Nov 13-15, 2015

Trip to Indiana farm 
Nov 13-15, 2015




Dh and Dd took a trip together to our family farm in Indiana.  Dh got to go hunting with his best friend while Dd got to spend some time with her Giz and Grampy.  Here are a few pictures she took:





Dh and Mark have hunted together for over 30 years!  This year like every year, Mark got two bucks and Dd got nothing!  Mark always has all the luck, and Dh is always so happy for him.  Am I awful for hoping Dh would get a deer too?
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House - Spruce Renovations Nov. 13-15th, 2015

House - Spruce Renovations 
Nov. 13-15th, 2015
Dh and Dd went hunting in Indiana, and I stayed home to 'keep moving forward'.  Here is some of the things I worked on:


The attic in the garage had zero insulation in it.  We bought a few bags of insulation for me to put in, but I didn't figure in the area under the walkway!  We still need a few more panels, but I got a good start.  Too bad I hadn't thought of the insulation BEFORE I put so much of our stuff up there!!!!!!!  Oh well...too late to worry about that now.  I got 27 1/2 panels down over the weekend.






First I moved all the stuff to the far side, then lifted up the doors the previous owner used as a floor and then put in the insulation, then replaced the first door and put some stuff on top of that and lifted up the next door...put in the insulation...until I ran out of panels.





I put all the blue/insulating blanket in the trash can, but then when the trash truck came it was so stuffed in there that it didn't drop out when the truck "emptied" it...still figuring out how to get in out...guess I stuffed it in the can too good!

I spent the most hours working on our pool last weekend.  The tarp had leaves and pine needles all over it, and around it.  I got a push broom and moved all the rocks off so I could sweep it clean.  I used the water pump to get most of the water off the top of it (but then it rained afterwards and replaced the water that I had sucked out!)

You can see how clear the water is in this picture---that is because of all the skimming I did in the tarp water.  Skimming the tarp was not an easy job!

This is literally our THIRD pump that we have bought, you wouldn't believe how hard it has been for us to just drain out the rain water!  You'd think it was something super complicated.  It really should not have been this complicated!




Now, to give God some credit---
So, we called the pool people back in September, to schedule when they would come and show us how to close down our pool.  They couldn't come until Oct.  The night before they came, Dh and I pulled out the winter cover and found it had a nest of mice living in it.  We hoped it would still be okay to use.  The pool guys said it would not do--we needed to order a new cover.  Getting in a new cover would take "2 weeks, at MOST 3 weeks" so we paid half of the cost of the pool cover and they left.  After waiting 5 weeks I called them and they said it still hadn't come in yet..(it is November now) but that they would call us when it did come in.  Then at 6 1/2 weeks of waiting it came in.  Dh and I worked night after night to keep pumping out the water and skimming out the leaves and needles.  Thursday night we were out in the freezing winds --we had to get OFF the tarp we had been using for all these weeks to keep our pool water clean.  We worked past 10 pm and got the tarp drained with the pump, and then we could pull it out of the pool.  Then on Friday we had the pool guys coming with our new cover.  Of course over the night more leaves fell into our clean pool and landed in the parts that I couldn't reach with the skimmer!  But, the guys came and put the new cover on.

So, what makes my story one that is amazing?  Literally 2 hours after the pool got it's cover on it started really snowing...and didn't stop until Sunday!  God's timing is just SO amazing!  We had prayed and prayed for the snow to stay away until we closed down our pool.  We prayed the PVC pipes wouldn't get frozen and break.  It is just amazing timing!  I am SO thankful to the Lord for working out every mini-second of the days of our lives!  So relieved that I can finally, finally, finally stop working on that pool!  I am sick, have laryngitis, and I know it is from all the hours I've been standing outside working on the pool--freezing.





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