Cut that out!

Nice title eh? I thought so. That is what went through my head as I clicked on yet another link when I was going to be done with the net for the night! I love the internet but wow it can take you all over the place in a matter of, well, hours! It seems that so much time can pass when I am looking for something. I think, 'Oh, I can find this really quick. I will look here...ooh, what's that link go to?....' and I am off on a tangent.

There is so much information on the internet, it is great.

But I think I need to spend less time on the net! I don't honestly think that will happen any time soon... lol. Okay, am going to get off of here now!

Fearfully & Wonderfully Made...should I take it out?

I was linking the books/resources that dc are using this year/term with school and I decided to check on some things pertaining to the books they are using. We have already started using this 'system', I suppose you could call it, for 2 weeks now. It is going well, if a little slow...

I know there is no link for a free Fearfully & Wonderfully Made but it came to mind that there were hesitations with using this book in Yr7 on AO (that takes you to Yr7Lite). I couldn't remember what those were so I decided to jump over there and find out.

Go here to read it for yourself.

But to sum it up here are the 'problems' with this book:

p 24 .....mature content....

p 30 Comments on people of God
p 44 Sacrifice chick...
p 47-48 ...mature content...
p 76 ...mature content....
p 87 ...mature content...

*I changed what I had originally written to "mature content". Click on the link to see what those things are.*

There were some more specifics at AO than that, and I actually don't find all that they found to be 'problems' and didn't include that, but that is the gist of it. After looking that over well, I am not sure if I should continue on with this book now, continue it later, pick and choose parts for reading, or just ditch it altogether. Dd is mature, but how mature? Do I dare test it? Also looking over the book- again- it isn't exactly what I thought it would be to be included in the Health category. Yes, it does deal with many things that are related to health but I feel it is more of, how was it put somewhere?, "more of a comparison of the complexity of the human machine and the Christian body of believers." That came from a post on House-of-Education Yahoo! Group. *House of Education is the upper levels of AO*

Another thing to think about! Good thing tomorrow is Sunday. Wow, I need to go to bed now!

Dinner out

Was trying to send a picture to the blog but alas! not able to from my phone. We are enjoying cheetos puffs and mountain dew @ hubby's boss' house. Dinner soon!

ETA: We had steak, I believe, that was delicious! It was prepared by a former co-worker of hubby's that has been down this way helping out at hubby's shop for awhile. There was also baked potato but they didn't get cooked as long as needed and were still tough. There was a family that we knew when we lived in Nebraska there (minus a couple members) and it was good to see them! It was an enjoyable time. The only complaint I have for the evening is the lack of respect of children *and their parents!* by some adults. Children have ears; they do hear the things/words you say and sometimes they repeat it...

World Vision...and the USA

I often wonder when I see ads for sponsoring a child in other countries, "What about here in the US?" There are many children that are living with very little, so many that live in poverty, and too many that do not have the opportunities to even have the basics in life. I am proud to say that a sponsor a girl in Mozambique named Anastancia. But what about those less fortunate here in the USA? What can I do to help them?

I have asked if there is a local food pantry or homeless shelter that I can volunteer my time to help but there isn't one where I live. And I think this could be a good thing. But it may just be something that is being overlooked...I don't know.

Well, today when a World Vision ad popped up next to the email message I was composing, it made me wonder again. I clicked the banner ad and started searching. I looked in the Sponsor a Child section, but found only children in other countries listed. I then went to the Gift Catalog and along the left side I found what I was looking for. Under Give a Donation, there are links by category. If you click on Kids in the USA you can find ways to donate to those that do not have as much.

My kids point out during the Holiday Season (namely Christmas) that the bell ringers for the Salvation Army are not doing all that they can. The sign above the pot for change says, "Need Knows No Season," yet they are only out there visibly asking for others to help then. Granted, I am sure there are other ways that the Salvation Army is active in helping those in need during other times of the year. I do not mean that they are only helping at Christmas time. It just seems that that is the only time that we see them. There is a need all year long.

I clicked through a few of the donation options and I just loved the picture on the donation for backpack and school supplies. I remember when I would get new school supplies, how happy and excited I was.

I am not writing this to get people to help by going through World Vision's site. It was just something that came to mind that I thought I would share.

Technology...wow!

Hey I can post from my phone! How cool is that?! I just discovered that and I am sure there are other things I will be discovering as I go :)

Fiddlin' with my blog...bear with me

I am trying to get new things added on the sidebars but it might be awhile and it might get messy! You know how you clean house and it always looks worse than it did when you started before you are done? What, is that only at my house?? ;) Anyway, pardon the mess!

Good Morning! Just my personal reflections

It is indeed a good morning. I am thankful to be alive. I am thankful to be with my family, who are healthy and not in need. I am thankful to have a reliable car, and the money to buy coffee creamer, which is not a necessity. I am thankful to have my wonderful husband, whose smile lights up my day, still makes my heart do a little flip. I am thankful for my wonderful children who come to me for anything, talk to me about everything and laugh so easily. There is no greater sound than my children laughing. I am thankful to have a mother that is well and that loves me greatly. I am thankful that my mother has found someone that will share her dreams with her and let her be herself. I am thankful to have a sister that has a huge heart and wants to care for cancer patients. I am thankful to have another sister that randomly calls me just to talk about whatever. I am thankful that we all have a good, loving relationship. I am thankful to have a computer and internet that I can type this on. I am thankful for the ability to read and think about information while I am in college. I am thankful that I can go to college. I am thankful that I have the opportunity to homeschool my children, to spend more time with them. I am thankful that I have a good church to attend with people that truly care about others. I am thankful that I have oatmeal to eat, coffee to drink and a container full of sugar to sweeten it with. I am thankful that I have enough to be able to sponsor a child in Mozambique and send her bookmarks, stationery, and little things to hopefully brighten her life. I am thankful for having running water in my house, a working stove and refrigerator. I am thankful to have food to put in the refrigerator and to cook on the stove. I am thankful that I have food in my cupboards for my children's breakfast, lunch and dinner. I am thankful that we have enough that we can buy new food to try. I am thankful that we live in a small town and have a store only 4 blocks from our house and we do not have to travel an extensive distance to get some of our food. I am thankful that I have a cat that can entertain us, rub against our legs, and to keep us company.

Have you ever just stopped and thought about all that there is to be thankful for? I often say a prayer that has the line "Thank you for all that you have provided for us..." but that just doesn't say what I am thankful for. I find it amazing all the things that I have to be thankful for. I also am amazed at how ungrateful I seem for having all the great things I do. My prayers are quick and short. I often ask for more than I say thank you for. I didn't intend to say all that I am thankful for in this post but you know, I have so much! I am thankful. And yet, I seem so ungrateful, I take it for granted.

I think the thing that I am most unrecognizably grateful for is that Jesus gave his life for me. I have always believed that. I grew up in a home that taught that Jesus died for the sins of the world. I am one of those sinners that Jesus died for. It wasn't until last year that this really sunk in. The love that God has for us to send his first born son to die for me is amazing. It's monumental. And yet, what do I do to show that I am thankful? I unfortunately do not read my Bible as often as I should and am quite Biblically illiterate. I cannot quote scriptures and often do not know who said what, when, why, or where to find it in the Bible. Often I know I have heard a verse that is pertinent to life and I would like to be able to show others from the Bible where it is, or even just what it says. But honestly, I really can't. I attend church at least 3 times a month and usually on Sunday morning. Where I go to church we have a Sunday school and morning and evening service, then evening service on Wednesday. It is so easy however to not go on Wednesday because my husband works late. On Sunday evening it is to get busy with making dinner instead of going to church. I love going to church; when I am there I feel God's presence. There are only two churches that I have felt that and I am thankful that this is one of them.

I often think of the things that I am not doing for God. I do not talk about him to others, with the exception of on the internet, to my children, and occasionally to my husband. I do not invite others to church, nor do I try to see if people have accepted that Jesus is God's Son and died for our sins. I do not want to pry. It's difficult for me.

But I am thankful for so much and I have so much to be thankful for. I don't want to lose sight of all that God has done for me, because I truly believe that all things are from God.

Just a little side note

I love to hear my husband laugh :)

Just need to DO it!

Here I am at oh, 7pm on Friday night. Nothing odd about that. I have a few tabs open on the internet, a few Word documents minimized down on the taskbar, and folders open all over the place. My book New Directions in Anthropology & Environment is on the table next to the computer, unopened. But there are printouts of important information on a couple of authors from the book. I have a paper, short essay, really, that I am working on. It is short because it is to be between 900-1100 words, not including my references page. It must be turned in by midnight (PST) the 28th.

The thing is, I'm just not feeling it. I just cannot make my essay come out of my head. The information has been read, the research been done, the Word document open and waiting for input from me... And I am drawing a blank!

I put this off because I am so tired of reading about anthropology! I want it to be Spring Break already (we don't have that for our homeschool but I want it for my school!).

Okay okay, so enough complaining and whining, because, yes, that's precisely what I am doing, I will go get busy now and get it done!!

Edvard Grieg Composer Study *from FAITH blog

I wanted to post about the composer we are studying this term for school but I don't want to steal the information that Amy has gathered so I will just link it here. You can check out her blog and find quite a few links that I hope you find helpful. If you are doing composer study, or you aren't even in school!, (that's alright, you might like the music anyway :) there are links to free online information as well as links to buying the music. Personally, I cannot afford to purchase the music (although I would LOVE to!) so the free links are great!

Fisher Academy International Teaching Home (composer study)

Click on the banner at top of the page to go to the most recent posting by Amy. I just love her blog!

Here at our house, we do not 'study' the composer extensively. Rather we listen to the music, listen (or read) to what people have to say about the composer, find a picture of them and think about it while we are listening to their work. In time, perhaps we may do activities such as a biography notebook page or try to match pieces to composers but since we are just getting exposed to this subject in our school, we go slow and not too in depth. We are having a great time listening to Grieg's work. We really like Norwegian Dance and we plan a story to go with it. My ds has a hero on horseback riding to save a maiden. Dd pretty much goes along with ds ;) Of course we also love In the Hall of the Mountain King. You can watch a video on FAITH blogspot.

Free KJV Bible in mp3 audio

I often receive emails from Learn Out Loud's free download offers. Today I received the download for the entire KJV Bible. I think that is excellent. I love to listen to books on tape/cd. Unfortunately I would have to buy it to listen to it because here in this small town our library's audio selection is fairly limited and mostly to fiction books that I am not interested in listening/reading.
I downloaded the book of Matthew just now; it took less than 5 minutes on my internet connection. My dd is reading Matthew for Bible in school so this may be helpful to her, and I. Here is the link to all the book downloads. If it does not work, click on Learn Out Loud to get to the free audio books for download.

Putting it down in writing...

I don't have any certain record-keeping requirements here in Wyoming when it comes to homeschooling but for some reason I just have this urge to make sure that it is all kept track of. I have a 3-ring binder that I started out using to keep all the daily/weekly assignment sheets that I would give to the kids at the start of the week/day and they would check off when they completed each one. I originally used Homeschool Tracker, which is a really great program but it somehow corrupted and now I am unable to use even the basic free edition. Anyway. So I switched to writing it down in my Record book (it has enough pages for years!). I did that for maybe 3 weeks. It seemed that by Thursday I would forget to write down the days happenings and next thing I knew we were starting a new week. I have bits of paper here and there with the info I need about what we have done but I wish there was a way for me, personally, to keep track of what they do. I have occasionally typed up their schedules on my other homeschool blog and I think that is good but I don't do that consistently either.
I know there are many families that use the notebooking system and I think I am coming around to see their point. I have bookmarked quite a few notebooking sites on the net that look interesting or have good information on the sites but we haven't actually used it. Someday I will post the links to them, but not right now.
What we do now that we are actually using AO is the kids have at the front of their own personal 3-ring binders a sheet that has the days of the week up top and subjects down the left side. I made the sheet in excel but it could be made just with a table in word as easily. I put an X on the day of the week that they are to do the subjects. For instance, Bible has an X on each day, but History has an X on Monday, Thursday, and Friday. Health only has an X on Tuesday (or just one day, I can't remember which at the moment!). On the next sheet in their notebook they have another table of sorts that has subjects down the left side and books that are used for each subject off to the right. For example, dd's Bible has KJV, Mere Christianity, More Than A Carpenter; ds's Bible has KJV, My First Study Bible. That way they know what subject they are doing which day and also what books they are using or have a choice to use. The second sheet is intended for a term, so if there is a book that is not used that term (example, dd will use Ourselves later and so it is not listed for Citizenship on the sheet) it will be put on another sheet for the next term, and the first sheet taken out. Their binders have lined paper that they are to write the subject, book, and pages read. For dd, she also does a couple written narrations in her notebook, whereas ds does all oral narrations. This way we can look back on what we did last week or the day before. I had read somewhere that it makes them more accountable for their work and I think that it definitely has done that with my two. We are in our second week of AO implementing and I am glad to see the initiative they are taking to keep track of their work.
I would like to have some fancy system I think just because of all the claims of how easy and how much time it saves but I think that this way is pretty good. There are enough pages in their notebook that they could easily add things such as drawings, biographies, etc, about what/who they are learning about. No need for the fancy, I don't suppose. And I do have it written down :)

College Spring 2010...am getting excited!

I registered for my classes for Spring 2010 term at Eastern Oregon University. Classes for Spring term begin March 29th, I believe. And one of the good things about EOU is that there is no out-of-state tuition. Being in Wyoming, that is a plus for me!
I will be taking History of Christianity* and US History of Economics**. I am looking forward to it! This term I am finishing up Environmental Anthropology and Social Welfare. The Anthropology class hasn't been too bad in the sense that I have learned a lot. Granted I do not believe the timeline that anthropologists follow (you know, that the world is millions of years old and that we evolved from primordial ooze...) but the effects that humans are having on the environment, even on cultures, is interesting. I can definitely see how industrialization has contributed to the decline of indigenous peoples' cultures, animal populations and species, and even the earth's resources. The sociology class, well, I have not been so thrilled to continue with. This particular class (and I suppose the others that I have taken as well about sociology) seem to propose that government is the fix-all for the problems that are suffered by all walks of life. I do not understand myself how government will solve the problems when clearly, it never has, in any country. -Excuse me while I share my beliefs for a moment- God is the only one that can fix the problems that we all endure; from the small to the huge. If countries and peoples would only trust--truly!-- in God, then it would be alright. So, I will be glad when each of these classes are over.
Another good thing about my classes next term, if I buy my books on Amazon.com then it will cost about $75.00 for 7 books. Last term it cost about $160.00 for 3 books, and I couldn't get one of them anywhere BUT the college bookstore. I know I was overcharged but what to do?
Okay, now I have to get back to writing a paper for class :) Oh joy :)

*HIST 325- History of Christianity Credits: 5.00
This course will explore the global history of Christianity
from its early beginnings to the present day. Throughout
our study, we will give special attention to the major figures,
events, literature, beliefs, institutions, circumstances, and
controversies, which shaped the church and how they
have impacted its development. Prerequisite: None, but
other History and Social Science courses are strongly
recommended. Student must have at least sophomore
standing to register for this course.

**ECON 334- U.S. Economic Hist*SSC Credits: 5.00
Gen Ed Core-Social Sciences
The course examines the economic development of the
United States from colonial times to the Civil War. It focuses
on both long-term economic trends (such as economic growth
and the development of labor and product markets) and the
economic causes and consequences of particular events (the
Revolution, the settlement of the West, the Civil War).Student
must have at least sophomore standing to register for this
course.

Copywork

My ds hates copywork. Detests it. Right now they (ds and dd) are doing daily copywork with a poem by Sir Philip Sidney (#2).
I came across George Washington's Rules of Civility today from Ambleside Online and I think that I will assign a few rules from there.
I had told ds (and dd, but she doesn't have a problem with copywork) that he could choose the poem he copies next and I will still let him. But to break up the monotony, I suppose you could call it, I will assign it on alternating days. Perhaps he will enjoy it more...

Another Count in the Works

Hi there! I just got an email from Diane Flynn Keith's Clickschooling about the Great Sunflower Project.
Here is the information from my email:
The Great Sunflower Project is on for 2010! Join this nationwide endeavor to help biologists reach their goal of documenting bee pollination in the US and developing strategies to protect and restore native bees where they are threatened. To participate you simply:

*Sign up at the website.
*Get and plant "Lemon Queen" sunflower seeds.
*Once your plants have flowered, count the number of flowers on your plant with pollen.
*Use the instructions and data sheets provided at the website to record the number of bees that visit your sunflower over a period of 15 minutes.
*Enter your data online at the website.
The parameters have changed slightly for 2010, and the folks at The Great Sunflower Project are in the process of modifying the data entry form on the website to reflect the changes. It isn’t quite finished, however, that shouldn't stop you from getting your seeds in preparation to plant as soon as night temperatures stay above 55 degrees in the area where you live.

Last year, The Great Sunflower Project distributed free Lemon Queen sunflower seeds. Due to increased costs, they are asking people to get their own Lemon Queen sunflower seeds at a local nursery or store, or pay $3.00 (covers padded mailers and shipping) to order them directly from The Great Sunflower project.

That said, you can still get FREE SEEDS for children in kids' programs and school groups who participate in the project. I contacted the "Queen Bee" (who goes by the name of Gretchen LeBuhn) and asked if homeschoolers qualify for free seeds. She wrote:

I love having homeschooling families participate. The real issue is the cost of mailing. So, if they can group together [i.e., request on behalf of a homeschool support group], I'd be happy to send free seeds. Individual homeschool families can also send a business sized, self-addressed, stamped envelope (with first class postage stamp on it) to:

Gretchen LeBuhn
The Great Sunflower
Department of Biology
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132

Include a note that explains you are a homeschooler who wants to participate in The Great Sunflower Project, and Gretchen will put seeds in the envelope and mail it back to you. You STILL have to sign up to participate online at the website, where you'll also find instructions for planting the seeds and caring for your sunflowers.

You'll also receive the free eNewsletter with updates on what the researchers are learning about bees.

Starting new.. oh my..

Well, I have a blog over at Northe Laurel Home school but I just can't seem to do much with it (could be my lack of skills...) and since so many people that I follow have a blog here on blogger...well, perhaps I am a bit of a follower. I prefer to think of it as I know a good thing when I see it.

We will just have to see how this goes. Supposedly it is easier to do things that I would like on blogger but as I said, I guess we will see.

So until I come back :) tata!