If you had asked me yesterday morning at 10am what I wanted to do, I would not have said “go for a swim in the canal behind our house”. But that is exactly what I ended up doing. Why, you ask? Let me explain…
I think that I have mentioned that we had a doggie ramp put in out back in the hopes that Ellie might like the water. Well, up until Thursday evening, she had only sniffed around it a bit. She definitely showed interest, but had not ventured down it.
Thursday evening, she got brave and went about half way down before coming back up, much to the enjoyment of the boys. She seemed to want to take it slow. So Monday morning, Kyle and I were out with Ellie in the backyard and she suddenly got brave…going down to the bottom and sniffing the water and then backing back […]
Original post by throwingmarshmallows
Chocolate lily
Fritillaria camschatcensis
Original post by lapazfarm
Finished:
~Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
~Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
~Echoes by Maeve Binchy
~River Rising by Athol Dickson
Still Reading:
~Fondling Your Muse: Infallible Advice From a Published Author to the Writerly Aspirant by John Warner
~Love to Eat, Hate to Eat: Breaking the Bondage of Destructive Eating Habits by Elyse Fitzpatrick
~Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman’s Guide to Igniting the Writer Within by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
To start and (hopefully) finish:
~Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
~Emma by Jane Austen
~Night by Elie Wiesel
Quit Reading:
~God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It by Jim Wallis
Continuing to read:
~The Oxford Book of American Poetry
And you? Read any good books lately?
Original post by carrie
Egermeier’s Bible Story Book: A Complete Narration from Genesis to Revelation for Young and Old by Elsie E. Egermeier
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
Original post by carrie
Buffalo Before Breakfast by Mary Pope Osborne
High Tide in Hawaii by Mary Pope Osborne
Tonight on the Titanic by Mary Pope Osborne
Hour of the Olympics by Mary Pope Osborne
Viking Ships at Sunrise by Mary Pope Osborne
Original post by carrie
Night in the Haunted Tower (Pokemon Chapter Book) by Tracey West
Geckos: Keeping Unusual Pets by Sonia Hernandes-Divers
Splashdown in Cerulean City (Pokemon Chapter Books #7) by Tracey West
Original post by carrie
Circus Act (Nancy Drew Notebooks No. 42) by “Carolyn Keene”
Dare at the Fair (Nancy Drew Notebooks #25) by “Carolyn Keene”
The Halloween Horror and Other Cases (Einstein Anderson, Science Detective) by Seymour Simon
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke
Original post by carrie
I sometimes have what I call anxiety dreams. These dreams happen to me when I am under a certain amount of stress. It can be about something coming up regarding my son’s schooling. It can be a huge bill hanging over our family’s head. It can be any life circumstance that is stressful, including an incredibly messy house that needs to be cleaned. Any time stress rears its ugly head, I can be certain that I will have an anxiety dream.
Even though I am 36 years old and have a high school diploma and a college degree and have no plans to return to any educational institute of any kind, my anxiety dreams always take a very specific form. I am always back in school (either high school or college). It is always nearing the end of the semester or the end of the school year. I am always behind […]
Original post by tina
This past winter was a rough one out here on the Colorado prairie.
It started snowing in October….
… and it just kept snowing.
By January the snow was so deep that the deer struggled to make their way through it and took to the roads as they moved in search of food, and people threw hay for them to help them survive.
And we made pinecone, peanut butter and birdseed feeders for the birds.
And still it snowed….
…and snowed…
…and snowed.
Until finally, just when we thought spring would never get here… the snow stopped and the sun came out.
Original post by woodstone
This is a well done article in the Dallas Morning News. If my church were to do this, I’d be giving them an earful and probably leaving if they didn’t stop. And that’s saying a lot because when they banned babies and toddlers from the service but only requested cell phones be turned off (and I hear at least one pretty much every Sunday still) I gave them my opinion and still stuck around. We even stayed when our pastor resigned last year (lots of people left, then.) This might mean I have nowhere else to go to church and would have to just meet with other believers in homes… and that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. Sounds kinda first century!
Original post by morethanfine
(Hannah Montana: Pop Star Profile was provided to me by Special Ops Media for the purpose of review.)
Most of you already know that I have a 10-year-old daughter. 10-and-a-half, she would tell you. Hannah Montana is a favorite at our house, so I jumped at the chance to review Hannah Montana: Pop Star Profile. Mostly, I just knew Natalie would kill me if she found out I turned down the offer.
Disney’s Hannah Montana stars Miley Cyrus, daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, who plays her father on the show. Miley plays Miley Stewart who is also pop star Hannah Montana, a secret only her two best friends know. At school, she’s just Miley, trying to live a normal life.
I like watching Hannah Montana with the kids - and Kevin has even sat through a few episodes with us. The acting is broad, the comedy slapstick at times, but […]
Original post by carrie
A few days ago we got an email from Home Science Tools. In it they included lots of ideas for some Summer Science projects. This one peaked our interest. There were a few others that we want to try, also.
So we went outside to find different kinds of soil to layer in our wormery. We got some topsoil, and some hard compacted clay, and some ordinary dirt, and some play sand. After layering them in the plastic two-liter bottle, we put some plant matter on top.
Then the hard part - for me anyway - finding the worms. We must have dug about 10 holes in the yard looking for the little critters. Any time I’m not looking for them, I find them, but not this time. I finally found some close to the foundation of our house. I’m sad to admit, I actually killed one by mistake when I chopped […]
Original post by Robin
Well we are pleased to announce that Taejan has made the connection between himself and pee pee..LOL>. he has gone twice today!! he doesn’t ask but when we ask him he will go most of the time. I am sure this is simply a Potty Friendly time for him..but he’s getting close to the age my other 3 were fully out of diapers ( 23.5,24.5 and 27 months) so I am rather pleased.
Original post by justakrazymom
I am doing the ‘Timer Method of Cleaning House for the Very Unmotivated’ today. This consists of putting on the kitchen timer for 10 or 15 minutes and cleaning frantically. Then putting on the timer again and getting on the pc or reading or just hanging out until the timer goes off, whereupon we resume the sprint method of cleaning.
So far it has worked very well. I managed to get lots of the kitchen and family room clean. I even sorted through the pile of dvds and cds that had built up on top of the stereo cabinet. Once I finish that, I’m off to do laundry and then continue the cleaning I started earlier this week in Becky’s and Will’s room. Becky and I cleaned through her drawer (she has one huge one under the bed) and the closet. Now we need to go through Will’s dresser and all […]
Original post by dumboxacademy
I really like the Classical idea of teaching kids Latin and so we are using Latin for Children A from Classical Academic Press. We have everything including the workbook, the activity book, the DVDs and CD, and the history reader. Cameron joins us for the vocabulary and chants. We do not do a lesson a week but instead go at a slower pace. Each day we listen to the vocabulary CD for the lesson we are on. When we finish a lesson we review all the vocabulary words for that lesson and the previous lessons and Ani goes through the flash cards I made of the vocabulary words. She averages 90% mastery. I really like the set-up of LfC. It is fun (especially the activity pages) and a slow but steady introduction to Latin. Yesterday Ani asked if we could start […]
Original post by CamianAcademy
Writing Ideas!
I have a son that hates to write, so rather than just writing nothing or boring stuff as he calls it I try to make it as interesting as possible.
Here is a list of Ideas I have that I go to from time to time, of course we also do things like copy writing, story writing, Journal writing etc but this wasy he gets a variety of things to write about and each idea can be used in deifferent ways so the list really is neverending.
Lists
Questions
Commentary
Lost and found notice
Formal complaint
Notes
Minutes from familt meeting
Wanted notice
Chart
Recipe
Forecast
Definition
Instructions
Excuses
Game rules
Timetable
Graph
Theory
Directions
Labels
Job application
C.V
Advertisement
Rules
Invitation
Placard
Warning
CD Cover
Submission
Menu
Poster
Quiz
Certificate
Puzzle
Postacrd
Jokes
Quotations
Questionaire
Review
Survey
Pamphlet
Diary
Autobiography
Biography
Letter
Research
Report
Family Histroy
Brochure
Handbook
Textbook
Protest
Argument
Legend
Character Sketch
Fable
Bedtime stroy
Filmstrip
Play
Recount
Riddle
Commercial
Sci-fi story
Poem
Short Story
Lyrics
Slogan
Book Jacket
Article
Desription
News Report [paper]
Fantasy Story
Personal Observation
Editorial
Synopsis
Interview
Catalogue
News Broadcast
Cartoon Strip
Original post by flowerpot
Browsing through my fellow bloggers I came across Martinzoo , her blog rating, and the post that earned her rating. Too funny.
So being the curious person that I am I decided to see how my site would rank. I’m so tame it should be ‘G’ easy. Guess what…NOT!!
WHAT??
Here’s what did me in: death (3x), dick (2x) and hurt (1x).
So the death is from the Metallica lyrics. OK got that. Metallica is a PG rating–got that too.
Hurt. We live in a less than perfect world so if you stub a toe and it is feeling less than perfect using the accurate word ’hurt’ is dangerous to those without parental guidance? OK–ever hear of booboos. Young kids know all about hurts.
But that middle term. When have I ever referred to male anatomy? Then Martinzoo help me out. She did a control+F search and found those two: Dick Raymond and Dick Moore. Remember those famous garden gurus? Guess they are a bit […]
Original post by stephanieinar
We have adopted a kitten named Socks. He is a tuxedo kitty and is very playful and sweet.
He has this great ability to hide and we cannot find him. We have had him for a little over a month now and we still haven’t found all of his hiding places. This evening, when my husband is out mowing the lawn, it dawned on me that we hadn’t seen or heard from Socks in a while. So we go searching high and low for this little 4lb. kitty. We look in all his “normal” hiding spots and he is nowhere to be found! I’m frantic, trying not to panic but inside I’m thinking the worse, “He got outside and he is GONE!!!” My hubby finally comes inside and joins in on the search. Still no one can find our dear friend. […]
Original post by wisdom4us
I am a bit tired so I don’t think I have the eloquence to really write much or very well. Will was born at 8:00 a.m. or so by c-section. I remember being absolutely terrified of having two children. Hannah was only 19 months old and had yet to sleep through the night. I was so tired and felt like I couldn’t handle one child let alone another one. I remember my milk came in so quickly and I got terribly engorged. I was aching so badly that at one point I was just sitting up in bed weeping. A very kind nurse came in and took care of me. She was very sweet and I’ll always remember her gentleness, so many of the nurses seemed annoyed and were so brusque, so that one nurse really stands out in my memory. I remember Dr. Hunt, who had been my pediatrican when […]
Original post by dumboxacademy
I just caught on to this site that several others are talking about, where you can check the “parental guidance” rating of your blog. If you want, you can post your rating right there on your blog! How wonderful would that be? (Sarcasm here folks).
I’m rated G, although they did note that I’ve mentioned the word “death” twice.
I’m busy checking all of my favorite blogs, and so far we seem to be a pretty safe bunch. No one is over a PG. However, bad words have been used: “dangerous”, “suck”, “hurt”, “dead”, and “f…ing”. What is so bad about “dangerous”?
But the really strange thing is, the whole rating engine seems to be hosted on a dating website - can someone explain this to me?
Original post by learningumbrella
Well we’ve noticed the tadpole population was getting a little slim..think I figured out why:
Original post by justakrazymom
This last year our 8 year old daughter, T, has mentioned to me a few times that she’d like to “try out school”, and “what’s it like?”… I guess the novelty and mystery of it have intrigued her. And so I’ve told her about what it’s like, and assured her that she’d most likely much prefer homeschooling if she were ever to experience the other (though she won’t, since for Chris and I, it’s not even a considerable option- to send our kids away to school all day, for most of the year- no way!).
Fortunately, N has never really gone through that like she has, and whenever she’s mentioned it in his hearing, he’s gone on about how much better he thinks it is to be home schooled. But I have just spoken candidly with her, when she’s brought it up, which has only been a few times, though in […]
Original post by Beth
Tomorrow we set off. I’ll be gone for the weekend, Visiting Addison and Kaytlyn. I’m bringing mom’s old camera. People keep asking me “So, What are you going to do there? Planned anything yet?” Actually no. I personally have no clue, Though apperantly I’m being taken to a place called digital world, Kaytlyn’s mum’s tea shop and lots of driving.
I made my mix CD. I got it to fit 21 songs. Mom listened to it too. I’m bringing along some of my other albums though (Radiohead’s Ok Computer, Which I somehow doubt will be listened to. Not exactly driving music, I suppose, But that just depends on who you are.) And a few mix CD’s. Meaghan asked if we were going to light of fireworks in the living room (I think that was account of Sunday being Canada day) and I told her I didn’t think Kaytlyn would like that.
I […]
Original post by spring90
I made another dress for Zibby. The armholes arent finished, and the neckline could use some further attention, but the rest of it looks fabu.
Zibby wore it today to the Childrens Museum. As soon as she saw there was face painting she wanted in on it.
I love how completely unaware of her looks she is. She rocks the face painting like nobody’s business. I, on the other hand, was aware of how many stares we attracted with our pink hair
The unschoolers I hang with dont make a big deal about appearances. At any given activity there are likely to be children in costume, unique outfits, hair of all styles, etc. on parents or kids. Another thing is when we go to places where lots of kids are (not unschooled), is how much bossiness of kids is going on. Even at the childrens museum, I heard parents trying […]
Original post by happychildhood
One of the reasons I homeschool is that kids, left to themselves, reenact scenes from The Lord Of The Flies.
While such behavior is undoubtedly the result of natural primate urges, I still don’t condone it. I certainly won’t encourage it.
I find it somewhat ironic that the kids in regular school environments, be they public or private, who are supposedly so much better socialized than home schooled kids, are in fact much more likely to start this sort of crap than my kid. Perhaps that’s a goal for some parents. I can hear it now. This is “the real world” kids need to “toughen up” and “learn to deal”.
Well, I’d like MY kid to learn to deal with needless cruelty by refusing to participate in it, and walking away from those who engage in it. I’d like her to learn empathy and […]
Original post by momcat
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