Core G Week 18 "B" Middle Ages Dec. 28-Jan 1, 2016, Ambrose, Monica & Augustine, Patrick Missionary to the Irish

Core G 

Week 18 "B" 

Middle Ages 

Dec. 28-Jan 1, 2016

63rd week on this core

Saturday we had our annual family Christmas party in southern Indiana.  I received a few picture frames, with pictures Giz had taken of us, in them---our last picture of us three sitting on our stairs in our old house in Brownsburg, IN.  We had sixteen people in this one room; last year it was eighteen!  This is a calm, before the party started moment.  Half the family was in the kitchen playing Dd's "Name that Cookie" game.

We tried to give each girl the same gifts, so we gave two "Frozen" Play-Doh gifts, two plaster hand casting kits, and three books each.  The girls still fought and fussed and tried to get both Ana's!  Kids are too funny!  I did try!

We did a bit on our lessons this week, but had some prep work for our upcoming Christmas party, on Sat. with our family in southern Indiana.  This year I decided not to worry about making gifts, as it didn't really seem like they preferred those kinds of gifts, so I went with cookies, chocolate truffles, chocolates, and peanut brittle (for the most part).  We bought the German chocolate bars at Aldi, as well as the peanut brittle.  I made two batches of Ranger Cookies (family recipe) and Dh made his wonderful Peanut Butter Balls to bring to the party.  I spent most of Friday wrapping gifts for the family and baking cookies.    

Dh had Friday off, so he got up early and changed the oil on both our over-due cars, and then we packed up the mini-van and loaded up---one cat, one dog, one teen, and two of us!  We made pretty good time getting there.  We ate dinner with Giz and Grampy---Kroger frozen pizza and french fries.  For the Christmas party, Giz served cold cut meats, but I opted for Aunt April's Chicken/Cilantro/Curry/Grape Salad.  I miss Giz's Sunday dinners where she made big meals of tasty food from scratch; such good memories of her cooking.  

It has been very interesting watching the next generation raising their children.  These two little girls are ever so cute!

This Christmas party seemed very different than usual, but we all got along pretty well.  I really missed having nephew Thomas with us, as this was his first year in Colorado Springs, CO.  With the end of this party our holiday celebrations come to an end.  We cleaned up the farm house on Sunday morning and re-loaded for our travels home.  Dh always seems to get a new little boost with each visit with his parents, and I wish he could see them more often.

I don't know about other families, but we have bought many of these "Crystal Growing" kits, and they have all failed!  Giz gave Dd this kit, and surprise, surprise....it actually made a crystal! 

Our lessons:

Bible:

We are doing Veritas Press Bible: Chronicles Through Malachi, and the assignment was a brief summary of the book of Job, but we have been reading many of the chapters we wanted to investigate further.  This week we read our chapters in our Max Lucado Study Bible, and the "Life Lessons" that go along with some of the chapters, and then read what the Believer's Bible Commentary has to say about those chapters too.  This week we studied:

Job 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 27.

Christian Studies Book IV Student

Review pages: 4, 5, 7, 8, 11

Add-In History Read Aloud: 

Augustine Came to Kent

Augustine Came to Kent by Barbara Willard

Ch.'s: 1-10 (in process)

Trial and Triumph: Stories from Church History

Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula

*Ambrose

*Monica & Augustine

*Patrick Missionary to the Irish

Streams of Civilization, Volume 1, Grade 9

Mary Stanton, Albert Hyma

CHRISTIAN LIBERTY PRESS / 1976 / HARDCOVER

Streams of Civilization:

pg's 180-187
We've never read this book before, but had been curious about it, so we are trying it out...but, I am feeling like it might be a bit of overkill, so I am not fully invested in it.

SL's Timeline & Map:

(Mohammad founds Islam, The Hegira, and Start of Islam, Sui Dynasty in China, Tang Dynasty on China)

Kingfisher History Encyclopedia (revised)

Kingfisher Encyclopedia of History (Sonlight assignments)
completed this weeks work

Favorite Poems Old and New

Favorite Poems of Old and New:
completed this weeks work



History Readers:

Illuminations

Aug 31, 1989

by Jonathan Hunt

Illuminations by Jonathan Hunt



Young Merlin by Robert San Souci

Young Guinevere (A Dell Picture Yearling)

Oct 1, 1996

by Robert D. San Souci and Jamichael Henterly

Young Gwenevere by Robert San Souci

Young Arthur

Oct 6, 1997

by Robert D. San Souci

Young Arthur by Robert San Souci

Audio 1:

Mystery of History V2 Audio CD Set

Mystery of History: 

Volume II, The Early Church and the Middle Ages by Linda Lacour Hobar:

Lesson 17: St. Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430)

Lesson 18: The Holy Bible and the Vulgate by Jerome (AD 382-402)

Lesson 19: St. Patrick, Missionary to Ireland (AD 389-461)

Lesson 20: Attila the Hun (AD 434-453)

Lesson 21: Fall of the Western Roman Empire (AD 476)

Lesson 22: Daily Life in the Dark Age (AD 500-1000)

Lesson 23: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (AD 503)

Lesson 24: Justinian I an dTheodora, Rulers of the Byzantine Empire (AD 527-565)

Audio 2:

the Story of the World: Vol. 2: The Middle Ages by Susan Wise Bauer

Ch. 3: Christianity Comes to Britain--Augustine Comes to England

Ch. 4:The Byzantine Empire-The Beauty of Constantinople, Justinian, The Just Emperor, Empress Theodora

Ch. 5:The Medieval Indian Empire-A King Named Skandagupta, Monks in Caves

Ch. 6: The Rise of Islam--Muhammad's Vision, Muhammad Flees to Medina, The Koran: Islam's Holy Book

Ch. 7:Islam Becomes an Empire--The Fight for Mecca, The Spread of Islam

Ch. 8: The Great Dynasties of China--Yang Chien Unites North and South, The Tang Dynasty

Ch. 9: East of China--The Yamato Dynasty of Japan, A Tale of Three Countries: Korea, China, and Japan

Audio 3:

Lamplighter Theatre Audio CD: Charlie's Choice

M.L. Nesbitt

LAMPLIGHTER PUBLISHING / 2009 / COMPACT DISC

Charlie's Choice (a LAMPLIGHTER audio): completed

I adore many of the Lamplighter audio's, and we re-listened to this one again, and it didn't hold up as well on this second hearing.  It was okay, but not fantastic.  
Christianbook Review:
Set sail with Charlie---a boy who's determined to save his ailing parents by getting rich and returning home as a hero! On the open seas, he discovers a surprising truth: Life's most important journey is not about what you get, but who you become. Hosted by John Rhys-Davies of The Lord of the Rings. Two CDs, 120 minutes total.

Math:

Math U See: Algebra I: Lesson 7

we have gone round and round with this SLOPE INTERCEPT lesson.  Dd tried it the week before, but still hasn't really figured it out.  Dd watched some Khan Academy video's on this, and Dh also helped her, and watched a few lessons on Khan with her, that she hadn't seen.  She worked on A, B, C, D, E and the test this week, but still doesn't feel like she has got it all figured out, so we will continue to erase and redo these 5 worksheets and test again next week.

All About Spelling Level 7 Materials

Spelling: All About Spelling 7: in process

Easy Grammar Plus Teacher Edition

Easy Grammar 7:
235, 239, 243, 244, 247


Writing: Typing up her stories: She has been working on stories for the "L" family, as Christmas presents, but this is taking a lot longer than she anticipated.  She has asked for me to schedule at least 30 minutes each morning for her to type and work on this project, but once started she hates to stop!
At least three hours this week

Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook

Ellen Potter

Dd received this book (Spilling Ink) for Christmas and has already started reading it.  She is very keen to improve her writing skills.


Geography:
http://online.seterra.net/en/vgp/3007
Seterra online games : 2x this week


Music:
Sax & Piano
and a new piano book and lessons with Giz while we were down visiting!  Her new book goes into technical information, which is what she was needing.  She figured out Concerning Hobbits song, and has been very keen to play that song each day.

Some Fun Books:

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, Book 1: The Sword of Summer

Oct 6, 2015

by Rick Riordan

Magnus Chase by Rick Riordan: completed

Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables, Book 3)

Nov 1, 1983

by L.M. Montgomery

Anne of the Island: completed

Baking:

Vinegar Red Potatoes,

Sugar Cookies, then special creative decorations on the cookies for Dd to do her special game at the Christmas party.  She had three trays of cookies, each with a number--one through twenty seven--and each person had to guess what they thought the cookie was.  It turned out to be fantastic fun, and Aunt April won the game! and a tray as the reward.

Dd made all these cooking and each has a funny thing that they are suppose to be.  For example, Grampy always jokes with Dd about her being lactose intolerant, and how she must "get her milk from a three-legged cow", b/c the four legged ones make the normal milk...his funny joke with her,  so she made a three-legged cow cookie.  She had a boy cookie and a girl cookie, holding hands, and they were Giz and Grampy. Some cookies were easy to guess--like the oak leaf.

Busy Hands:
Dd has been working on a Christmas shawl for me, but has taken off the past week.  I hope she can get back to it---it looks cozy!

Dd has been working on a crocheted Star Wars, Yoda.

I have been working on a crocheted scarf for Dd out of camo yarn.  I haven't done a crochet piece in quite a while, and I'm afraid the lengths on each row vary a bit!!!  I am definitely not as precise as Dd is with craftwork!

Giz bought Dd some of these wall stickers with LOTR pictures and sayings on them...it didn't take long for Dd to decorate her stairwell, bedroom and bathroom with them.  Aren't they fun?!!

Now Dd's bathroom has more decorations--which makes her happy!

.....

Core G, Week 17 "D" Middle Ages, Christmas Week!

Core G, Week 17 “D”

Middle Ages

Dec. 20-27, 2015

Christmas Week!

Here is the wild beast...Agnes.  No matter how hard we try, she manages to get up into the tree and create havoc...what a kitty.  She looks like such a sweet cat, but, boy, does she have a mischievous streak!

Hello Friends!  I hope you all had a Merry Christmas this year!  We woke up on Dec. 24^th with the power off; it must have been off all night as our humidifier was still full of water. 

 There were fierce winds that knocked out the power to some 170,000 Michiganders (“Michigander” is the term for people that live in Michigan.). 



 We found a restaurant in town for our breakfast and then headed off to purchase a generator for our house.  We had already decided we needed one back in the summer as all our neighbors told us to expect to lose our power in the winter storms.  Dh had already done his research and discussed with his father exactly what we would need, so we were one step ahead of the game.  We did fine with the generator for the 2 ½ days without power. 

Can you see Agnes?!

After Dh working 60 plus hours each week, so far in December, it was wonderful to see him for FOUR days!  Both He and I only wanted to see each other for our Christmas gift.  When you are away from each other for so much time you realize how much you miss the other.  He worked more hours than anyone else at his work place for weeks now…I’d appreciate him not winning that honor!

We had hot dogs and S'mores cooked in our fire place, due to the power being out.

Our first Christmas in our new home was very memorable!  We ate outside on our deck table….we grilled chickens on our grill outside.  Christmas Eve we roasted hot dogs in our fireplace!!  It was really a very funny holiday!

Merry Christmas!  Our generator gave us light and heat so we could enjoy our special day!  

The Lord blessed us with fairly warm temperatures, so we weren’t too cold.  The only really scary thing from the whole ordeal was that our fire alarm went off three different times on Christmas Eve.  We believe it must have been the monoxide building up in the house from the exhaust of the generator outside our window.  We had to keep opening our windows throughout the ordeal.  We are going to try to figure out a better arrangement for when this happens again, so we won’t poison ourselves.

Heather gave me this gorgeous tea cozy that she made...she had ironically given me this tea pot too!  So thankful for her kindness, thoughtfulness, and love!

We were so thankful to my mom and Heather (the “L” family) for the Christmas gifts we received.  Being in a new place, far away from family, made those loving gifts even more appreciated than normal.  I’m so thankful for the friends and family that share their love with us, as we go through so many new things now.

Heather mailed Dd and I some amazing books and gifts for Christmas.  I'm speechless at her kindness!  Dd was beyond appreciative for all the LOTR materials!  Thank you, Thank you!

I was able to make Dh his Christmas gift this week---I made him a pair of Goldfinches out of felt.

I thought this sunny moment would be a good time to take pictures of the pair, but you can't really see the color b/c it is washed out...I'll have to try again later to show the birds.  One male--bright yellow, and one female--with light brown, subtle colors.

A bit of good news:

Last week I had the EGD, upper scope, and the new GERD doctor prescribed Panteprazole to replace the Rabeprazole that had turned my tongue black.  Unfortunately the Panteprazole DID NOT work, and left me miserable for a week.  Then (here is the good news) I got a message from my primary physician saying she finally got my Dexilant medication approved!!!!!!  I am so thankful to be back on medication that served me well in years prior.  I am hoping for improved health---I’m not free of the reflux and GERD issues yet, but am improving.

 Some Christmas photo's:

One of the gifts for Dd from my mom!

Heather made this incredible owl out of green, yellow, and red crochet...plus buttons for eyes.  I'll have to try again to get a better photo as this one is washed out...  I LOVE it!  so talented!

Another bit of good news:

I guess this good news depends on which one of us you ask—I am very pleased with the local church we have been going to, but Dd is very “un-lifted” from the services.  You know how sometimes you go to a church, and the sermon really shines a light on something in your heart, and helps you feel more connected to understanding the Word and Way….well, Dd hasn’t felt that at our new church.  I really hope that her heart will be lifted, and soon, for her experience at this friendly church.  I have felt VERY comfortable and can easily feel the love emitting from this congregation.  My MIL told me we needed to find a church that was “loving” and I can’t argue with that regarding this group!  So kind, and have opened up to us so easily.  One senior member, a grandmother to a few people in the congregation has asked if she could invite us over for a dinner at her house to meet another homeschooling family in our congregation.  There are a few homeschoolers in the small church, and also some that put their children in to a Christian school once they were high school.  All I can say is that I feel HOPE with this church, and I haven’t felt this hopeful in a long time!  It has been my hearts desire to find a family church to belong to—as I am in need of a family---and a church family can be more loving than some family that are blood. 

Health wise this was a hard week, I was having a migraine week plus the first part of the week (until Wed) I has having such problems with my GERD.  Dh and Dd went to the movies together on Tuesday to see the new Hunger Games: Mockingjay 2 movie while I stayed  home with an abundance of acid.  I had to stay up, sitting up until 2 am—normally we go to bed at 9 pm, but I was just too miserable!  But, by Thursday I would be back on the Dexilant!

Our Lessons this Week:

 

Bartholomew's Passage: A Family Story for Advent

Aug 25, 2009

by Arnold Ytreeide

Advent: Bartholome’s Passage---we finished this book on Christmas day—I really like these books and am thankful to Christie for sending this one to us.

History Reader (SL):

Hidden Treasure of Glaston

The Hidden Treasure of Glaston: Completed

*we really enjoyed this book VERY much!*

Math:

Math U See: Algebra I:

Lesson 7 A, B, C, D, and test…

Dd did not pass the test again for this lesson.  She did better on the workbook pages, but still hasn’t been able to fully process the whole lesson.  I’ve given her the option of me buying her the Teaching Textbooks Algebra I, but she says she will try to figure this out with the help of Khan Academy.  Khan Academy is a bit of a touchy subject in our house, as I LOVE it, and Dd has some strange aversion to it.  She said she was willing to give it a go---so we will see how that turns out.  I’ve asked Dh to work with her on this lesson too.  He is so very busy, so we will see if that can happen.  We are really struggling with math this year…we have been on this same book for months now.

Music:

This has really been a PIANO week!  Dd seems to be figuring out things on her own, and I am so glad!  I’d love to get her piano lessons in the future.  She spent more time on the piano than sax this week.  She is playing some of the Mockingjay music, and Emma music.

Fun Reading:

Dd has been reading:

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, Book 1: The Sword of Summer

Oct 6, 2015

by Rick Riordan

Magnus Chase by Rick Riordan: in process

The Book Thief: in process

Dd has been enjoying doing her looming, she got two new looms for Christmas so she can make more things!

Art:

This has been a major “Manga” drawing week!  She has really been enjoying drawing a lot this week.  Her good friend also likes art, so this has inspired her.  She has also been enjoying getting back to her loom bands! 

This is the drawing that Dd gave me for Christmas.

She made me a wonderful drawing of a Red-Bellied Woodpecker for my Christmas gift---that is what I asked from her for my gift.  She has been crocheting me a shawl too.

I was laid up for the part of the week, but managed to hang up some paintings and start on my project to hang as many photo’s of us (and family) in our basement stairwell.  This has been a lot of fun!  I’ve opened at least five boxes this week….we are still unpacking!  So nice to see our family photo’s again, after so long!!!!

We plan on starting back slowly again next week.  My prayer requests are for my driving around Michigan in the ice and snow…so scary and I am so inexperienced in these conditions—a ice storm is scheduled for tomorrow, and snow every day of the week...Eek! Prayers Appreciated!

The top of our tree!