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Another year is almost upon us. pt. 1

I will be spending this evening getting acquainted with the first girl's instructor's guide. yipee!!! This gets me in the mood for school.
I don't know which I enjoy the most, preparing for school or doing school....I do know what I enjoy the least - grading math papers!! I wonder if the Dad would enjoy doing this job?? If he can ever find the time perhaps?

This year looks like last year in many ways. Not so much with the Boy but it does with the girls.
The Boy is using a mixture of resources to complete his 11th grade year. I really can't believe that he is almost finished!
I got his first job about a month ago. He is doing well and really enjoying the paycheck. He is good at saving it too, he did not get this trait from Mom or Dad!
Here is what he will be studying this year:

Bob Jones World History
Teaching Textbooks finishing Geometry and Algebra 2
Lightning Literature - A Brit Lit course and a Shakespeare one (this will be our first LL course, I hope we like it the samples looked like what we were looking for)
Spanish 2
Ethics/Worldview ala Ambleside Online
Physics - looks like he wants to break away from Apologia which he has used since 7th grade and try ABeka's
Art History using Adventures in Art and Ambleside
and I think there may be another subject but it escapes me at the moment.

He is spending time working and will be preparing for the SAT for the rest of this summer, ohhh.....and learning to drive.

Next time, an update on the girls.

Yet Another Quiz!!

I Scored a 100%!

What can I say?? I like quizzes.
This one is really short and I have to admit, I think I've taken this one before.......thank goodness I haven't run across a memory quiz!

HSB Literary Club!!

Yeah! This sounds fun!!

Grammar Quiz

Your Language Arts Grade: 100%

 

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

Are You Gooder at Grammar?
Make a Quiz

The Books of 2006

Not my best year as far as numbers are concerned. I did not reach my goal, can't remember now what that was. But, I did read some great books this year.

Boo Who - Rene Gutteridge - These are such fun books, I can't wait for the next one to come out.

The Children's Blizzard - I learned so much about weather forecasting.

It's Not About Me - Lucado

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Twain - I had a hard time with this one is some parts but am glad I finally read it.

Tolkien - bio can't remember the author - very good but only got about 1/2 way done before it was due.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm - Wiggins - I was reading this at the same time the nameless girl was supposed to be reading it. She didn't enjoy it at all and I don't think she even finished.

Monster - Peretti - Not his best (imho)

How to be Your Own Selfish Pig - SS Macauley - This was fun to read I had wanted it for so long.

The Keeper of the Bees - Gene Stratton-Porter - One of my favs for this year. I need to read more of this author.

House - Dekker/Peretti - I was so looking forward to this one I preordered it as soon as I could. I will probably reread this sometime. It was a little dark.

Reading Lolita in Tehran - Nafasi - good

Deadline - Randy Alcorn - Loved it!

Murder on the Oreint Express - Christie - Another excellent read.

The Visitation - Peretti - Pretty good but the movie isn't!

After the War - Matas - read for SL 300

Piercing the Darkness - Peretti - good

Call it Courage - Armstrong Perry - Core 5

Red Sand, Blue Sky - Applegate - Core 5

At Home in Mitford - Jan Karon - Had this book on my shelf for years and finally read it. So enjoyable.

A Light in the WIndow - Karon

The Road From Home - Kherdian - Core 300

Loving God with All Your Mind - Elizabeth George - Her books are always great for me.

These High Green Hills - Karon

Brave New World - Huxley - Didn't like it. I have decided to have my son wait to read this.

Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Caught- Jackson - I just love this series and this was a great one!

If You Want to Walk On Water - Ortberg

Boo Hiss - Gutteridge - read this while waiting for the move and it really helped my stress level :-) Can't wait for the next one!

A House to Let - Dickens (and gang) - Loved it!! One of the best this year. I now must read something by Gaskill as her part was my favorite, only What shall I choose?

A Thorn in My Heart - Higgs

Fair is the Rose - Higgs - 2nd in a series to the above. I only got about 200 pages into it and put it down to read another book that I just received.

The Thirteenth Tale - I am including this though I'm not quite finished, I should be by Monday so I am placing it here as my last book of 2006.

That's it. I hope to be able to read more this year. I am adding a few more classics to my list of to read. I think I'll post that list soon.

The Year End

Wow! This year just kept getting busier!! I cannot believe that I am already saying good bye to 2006, seems like we just met.
I have spent the last few days cleaning, relaxing, and reflecting on this past year. And trying to plan for the next. I really enjoy making new plans......following through I'm not always good at.

For instance, I plan to be more diligent about this blog...we'll see. :-)

On November 10th (and for several days after) we moved. The first move in 6 years! Boy, we had a lot of junk in that old house. The new one is about 400 sq. ft. bigger......very nice to have space for everyone and everything.
It has been a tad difficult getting used to the new place. We are on another side of town and further from everything we do. But, we were rather spoiled before being very close to everything, nothing was more than 15 mins away. We will adjust. :-) Biscuit has her own room now. She liked it at first but now...not so much, she misses her big sister. I'm sure she too will adjust.

The Lord has chosen to bless us so much this year that I am still in shock. I don't think it has all sunk in yet. I know people move everyday and I have moved more times than I can count but, I had been praying for a new house (one of our own) for so long!

It has been a pretty good year. I'm so excited and curious to see what 2007 will bring us.

You Are 75% Left Brained, 25% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

So far this is turning out to be a busy year! We have ballet, piano, a couple of co-op classes (of course they are at 2 different co-ops), basketball, and we just started Awana for Biscuit. Now that doesn't sound like too much when divided by 3 children-just 2-3 things per child-but I have been feeling rather busy. But that is probably more due to the fact that Biscuit and I shared a cold for the last 12 days, we are great now so this week should go a little smoother.

School is off to a great start! Except that everyone is currently on a different week! The boy is on week 7, the nameless one is on week 6, and Biscuit is just today beginning week 4.....you can see who needs me to help with school work the most. But now that we are feeling well, we shall get caught up. And devote some time to Shakespeare and artist study. I can't believe that we haven't spent any time on either of these subjects this year!!

I had yet another birthday on Saturday. The kids and the husband took me to lunch and to play at the Apple store!! Didn't buy anything there but had fun playing. :-)
They got me perfume, a book I've been wanting, and a crockpot. Now I have to go find some crockpot recipes. I'm looking forward to using it on those busy days.
Well, now that my birthday is over, it means that the boy will be having one in 3 weeks!! He'll be 16.....WOW!

A new blogger.

We added new blogger to the family 11 days ago (maybe this member will make more of an effort :-)).

He belongs to the girl who remains nameless and so as you would expect he too is nameless. But, he sure is cute.....hey, like the girl!!

Time flies!

Wow! Were have we been this summer?
Actually we haven't gone anywhere or done anything too out of the ordinary, but we haven't made any time for this blog obviously. For shame!
We will endeavor to do better this fall.

School has begun. Whoohoo!!!! I love school...now if only the dear children felt the same excitement.
Actually, the girl who is once again nameless (she can't make up her mind) is pretty excited about her studies this year. We are trying something new. Sonlight's core 5 a study of the eastern hemisphere. She has wanted to do this before so we decided that she should now before she gets to the highschool age. I am missing dear AO but I know that it will be there next year. And I will still use some of the free reading suggestions and the artist/composer rotation.

We are also using SL core 300, the 20th century, for the dear boy and core 1 for biscuit. I am liking it so far but again I don't have as much peace as when I'm using AO. Maybe because it is so structured? But then that is one of the reasons I wanted to use SL this year. This is our 8th year homeschooling but I was feeling the need to follow a structured plan for a while. I don't know how long it will last though :-). My dear boy wanted to do a curriculum that had questions and answers built in and was a little more formal. He really wanted to use a textbook at first but I just couldn't do that. So far he is enjoying it. But we did substitute several SL books with AO recommendations.
I am still requiring narrations and shorter lessons, so far this hasn't slowed us up any. We'll see where we are a little further into the year.

All in all we are quite happy with our change for this school year. Though I have to admit I have found myself thinking fondly about doing AO's year 7 next year with the girl who is still nameless. :-)

What Kind of Soda are You?

You Are Dr. Pepper

You're very unique and funky, yet you still have a bit of traditionalism to you. People who like you think they have great taste... and they usually do. Your best soda match: Root Beer Stay away from: 7 Up

What Kind of Soda Are You?

A nice, needed beak.

Yesterday we took a short break from the regular afternoon school and chores and went to an art museum in town. I have only been to this one once before and that visit was a little rushed, so this time we were able to see much more.

My dc and I went with a friend/neighbor and her way too cute 5yo dd. There was a Babar exhibit in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Babar and the current author's (Laurent de Brunhoff) 80th birthday. There were pictures from Babar's new museum book and a few of Brunhoff's drawings. Those were great!

This museum has some wonderful paintings but my ds did not enjoy the nudity in a number of them. You never know what you are going to see when you turn the corner.

The museum is a 24-room Spanish Colonial Revival-style mansion on 23 acres. It's just beautiful! I love the architecture and the history of the house as much as the collections. They have an extraordinary library that is open to the public for research. I could have spent hours browsing all the titles here. Some of the oldest books I have ever seen, I must go back soon!!

This trip really renewed my interest in art history, which we have unfortunately been neglecting, and hopefully, it sparked some interest in my children.

I've been reading CM's vol. 3 well, the appendices anyway. I am planning to read through this volume soon.

If you scroll down about half way you will see:

APPENDIX IV
EXAMINATION OF A CHILD OF TWELVE, IN THE 'PARENTS' REVIEW' SCHOOL, ON THE WORK OF A TERM

This exam is amazing to me. There is no way I could pass this at my age let alone at 12 years of age. What an education these children received! I would have loved to have gone to a PNEU school....well, I kind of am now :-), only as the teacher rather than the student.

A New Read

Today while out on errands, we decided to stop in at B&N. I picked up a few things one of them being Sense and Sensibility. I have heard so many great things about this book i have to try it...like I don't have enough on my 'to read' list....wait, can we ever have enough? Surely not!

Anyway, last November I read P&P along with the girl who chooses to remain nameless. To be honest, neither of really enjoyed it till it was over. However, I did love Miss Austen's use of the English language, the beauty of the writing is what kept me going.
But, now that it has been a few months I have gone back in my mind to try and figure out what I did not like about it. Mainly, I think it was the timing. I had many things going on and wanted to get on to some other books I had been longing to read. We read this when it came up in the curriculum that we were using at the time.
Another thing that had been bothering me was a comment I had read about the book not being a romance. It appears that the writer considered Jane Eyre more of a romance than P&P. How silly to let that effect my opinion of a book. But, how I love Jane Eyre! I am not particlarly fond of most romance novels but to me JE is so, so much more than romance. Of course so is P&P.
And lastly, I hope I don't offend anyone too much here but.....I don't particularly care for Elizabeth Bennet. Yes, I know I am probably the only one on earth, but she irritated me (just a little).

I am hoping to enjoy S&S more. I do think I would like to try to read P&P again at a later date to see if my opinions of it have changed any.

State Theory Tests

Wednesday my daughter's received their grades for the state theory test in piano that they took back at the end of January.

Biscuit received an 80. This was her first time taking a test of any kind and we are all very proud of her. She got a little confused on the bass clef notes but we are working on those and she is getting it. :-) She was quite upset that she won't be getting a medal (those are only for 90+ scores), but she will receive a certificate!!

The girl who chooses to remain nameless got a 100!!! She took the 6th grade test, being that she is in the 6th grade. I am so proud of her! She really practiced for this test (they both did). She will be receiving a GOLD medal at this year's piano recital.
This is her 5th year taking piano lessons and she has done wonderfully.

This Sunday the girl who chooses to remain nameless will be performing in a 'Master's Recital'. Don't know much about this one as it is the first we have done. She will play the Andante movement from Clementi's Sonatina. Memorized!

I really love a reading a book that stays with me long after I've finished it. I just finished this book Sunday evening and still can't stop thinking about it. This is the first Gene Stratton-Porter book that I have read but it definitely won't be the last. Now I have to find out if the rest of her books are as good as this one.

You really get to know Jamie, the main character, while joining him on an adventure after leaving the military hospital he has been in since the end of the war.This is very much a book about physical and spiritual healing. I didn't expect to grow to like him so much. And of course there's the Bee Master (who I would have liked to have gotten to know a little more), and the Scout Master, and the Storm Girl....but I don't want to give anything away!

What I loved the most was the message that Porter put into the book. If only this book could be included in reading lists in high schools (maybe it is in some). It is still relevant, it is still true all these years later and will continue to be an important message in years to come.

I also love reading a book that makes you feel good while your reading it, this one did that.

Your 1920's Name is:

Rosalee Ivy

What's Your 1920's Name?

Hoppy 1990-2006

In loving memory of our beloved Hop Sing, who left us on March 8th 2006 at the age of 15. He was born on July 4th 1990. He lived a long and lively life, was loved by everyone who met him, and was close to all of us. He enjoyed sleeping in the sun, napping in Biscuit's arms and he especially enjoyed eating. Although he has left this earth, he will forever live on in our hearts. We will miss you Hop.

Curriculum

We homeschool using Ambleside Online (see link in sidebar). This curriculum has been wonderful for us. I had first stumbled upon the then PUO website in the fall of 1999 and thought that the plan looked wonderful but I was in no way brave enough to try something so new at the time. Silly me.

We first started with Ambleside back in January 2001, after much prayer, with my then 5th grade ds and my 2nd grade dd...the baby was still a baby. It was hard to get used to CM's methods and we probably still aren't totally there, but it was rewarding to see my children grow, and still is.

Then in January of 2005 we decided (okay I did) that maybe the children weren't learning enough or maybe there was a better curriculum out there...HA!

There are definitely other curricula out there but not better....for our family. We came back to AO this past January (what is it with January, I must find something better to do during that month!) and here we shall stay.

We are currently working through years 1 and 5 for the girls with little bits of year 10 for my ds. It feels so good to be 'home'.

Books

Well, I just finished reading Monster. This has taken me a while because while it is good it isn't quite my style of book. It is interesting and the ending was pretty good....a little predictable though.

Now I can get on to reading a few books I have been really enjoying. I started The Vicar of Wakefield a few days ago and am really liking it. It's funny and engaging. Now I can get back to it!

There are SO many books on my 'to read' list that I just don't know what to do with myself!! And 2 more just came in today from Paperback Swap......which is totally wonderful :-).

Oh, and last night I finished How to be Your Own Selfish Pig by Susan Schaeffer Macauley. That was good. She really has a beautiful way of telling about the love of Christ. I'm going to recommend this one to my dear husband.

This is the ferocious beast that we call Tasha. Isn't she the most beautiful beast you ever did see?

Intro

Ok, this is our first post.
We decided to start a blog to talk a little about what we are doing in our homeschool, about what is going on in our world, and about what we are reading...but, mostly we started it to have fun.