What Do I Care About? Day 12 : Praying For Our Children

That's the question all parents (homeschool or not) ask themselves... Now that it's time when the standardized tests (that are required by my umbrella program) are coming up fast, and curriculum planning for the next year begins ~ I think about it even more...

The prayer for today (Day 12) was ~ Lord, may my children always be strong and courageous in their character and in their actions. (Deuteronomy 31:6)

How can our children be this way without us as parents being their teachers and examples? Which started me to thinking even more~

Why do we choose to raise our kids the way we do? Why do we homeschool? Why are we selective about who we allow our children to be around?

Why do we pick certain curriculum and not others, why choose certain ways of teaching our children and not others?

I used to be so focused on how my children scored on their testing dates and worried about what path we would take if we needed to do things differently.

In the last few years, I have come to the conclusion that I am no longer as concerned with how my children score on a test, any test. I desire to no longer worry if they are able to remember who fought the which war, nor when this or that was discovered.. I want to no longer have worry if they can add, subtract, spell, or become a best selling author...

I want my children to achieve a greater goal~ one that is of a higher calling... the real reason that I feel we were "led" to homeschooling...

I want my children to achieve character, become ethical, want to provide service to others... I care about whether my children possess wisdom and godliness...

I am comforted that "what I have come to care about" is the way God has planned for us to go...

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" (Proverbs 22:6)

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
(2 Timothy 3:14-15)

The product of child raising is not the child, but the parent ~ and I truly hope that the changes in me that have come about since becoming a parent will only continue to bring me closer to that which I want to become...

Baking on a Rainy Afternoon...

Today, I thought I would make a new snack for the family to try... "Palmiers"

These are French pastries usually in the shape of a butterfly or elephant ear...

They are so easy to make and so yummy!! 3 ingredients and 10 minutes in the oven and you have a tasty treat!!



Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1/8 tsp kosher salt

2 sheets puff pastry, defrosted

Preheat oven to 450

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.


2. Combine the sugar and kosher salt. Pour 1 cup of the sugar/salt mixture on a flat surface such as wooden board or marble. Unfold each sheet of puff pastry onto the sugar and pour 1/2 cup of the sugar mixture on top, spreading it evenly on the puff pastry. This is not about sprinkling, it's about an even covering of sugar.


3. With a rolling pin, roll the dough until it's 13 by 13-inches square and the sugar is pressed into the puff pastry on top and bottom. Fold the sides of the square towards the center so they go halfway to the middle. Fold them again so the two folds meet exactly at the middle of the dough. Then fold 1 half over the other half as though closing a book.


4. You will have 6 layers. Slice the dough into 3/8-inch slices and place the slices, cut side up, on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Place the second sheet of pastry on the sugared board, sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar mixture, and continue as above. (There will be quite a bit of sugar left over on the board.) Slice and arrange on baking sheets lined with parchment.


5. Bake the cookies for 6 minutes until caramelized and brown on the bottom, then turn with a spatula and bake another 3 to 5 minutes, until caramelized on the other side. Transfer to a baking rack to cool...

I got this recipe from the "Barefoot Contessa" ... I love watching her on FOOD Network...

I only used one sheet of puff pastry and they turned out just fine... That will leave me another sheet for later on this week... Who knows? maybe more cookies!!

The Muscular System ~ Week 1

We started out our week by finishing a project that I hadn't gotten around too last week...



Yes my son is trying to be a wizard in this photo... He wore the bandana all week ~ coming to school as a stage coach bandit, a wizard, and a motorcycle man... (another great thing about homeschooling, creativity never wans)

Then we started our reading on the muscular system...
We learned the body has 604 muscles and that they make up approximately 40% of your body weight.

The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the body.

The Masseter is the most powerful muscle and the eye has the most movement... we discussed REM sleep, how muscles pull instead of push and that if all your muscles were to work together at once they could pull over a semi-truck...

Learning how our muscles work up and down like an inch worm moves...

I love using this Apologia series... I'm reminded everday when we open up the book ~ that the human body is such an amazing thing and what an awesome creator we have.

FUN FRIDAY

Today was "FUN FRIDAY" at our house... Meaning we take a break from our normal school routine and do some "FUN SCHOOL"... I couldn't wait myself ~ I've had an obnoxious cold all week and was relishing the thought of letting the kids have fun learning and me getting to rest and relax a bit... (Cold meds always make me want to sleep)...

We started the day with our usual Friday routine ~ a spelling test... But they had to do it hopping on one foot...

We followed our spelling with some worksheets from "First Lessons in Arithmetic"� ~ that I printed off for them...These are math lessons from 1878 and the kids enjoy doing them and they get to use our modern day "slates" which is simply a piece of laminated paper and a dry-erase marker...(and the best part is it's free, easy to use, and a change from our normal daily math program)

Then on to reading ~ we continued with our read aloud on "Galen and the Gateway to Medicine"

We went to the kitchen and did an experiment of blowing up a balloon with common household ingredients...We chose two different methods to make the necessary carbon dioxide: yeast, and baking soda and vinegar ... from Science BOB



The ingredients and the kids' science journals...



Adding the yeast and sugar....



WATER please....

SUCCESS!!!!

and finished the day with a mean game of "SORRY" ...

Thoughts for Thursday...

A great quote from Jim Daly (Focus on the Family) ~

"Here is your charge. Here is your challenge. Your kids have plenty of friends, maybe too many. But only two people in the world can really be their parents. Step up. Be parents today and the friendship with your children - a real friendship - will grow into adulthood and likely last throughout your lives."

Something I'm thinking about on this rainy Thursday...

Taking the time to bake...

I'm in a baking mood this week... even though I am coughing my head off and feel yucky ~ it does give me some comfort to have a delicious, warm pastry to munch on.

So, I got out the old recipe book (the one that is filthy from the dirty little hands (not mine ~ but my children's ) looking through it and with the tattered pages.

It is the one that I made myself with recipes that we have tried and love ~ and I treasure it!!!

I made Cinnamon Twirls and they are sooooo yummy!!!



Ingredients:
2 cups warm water
2 packages yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 beaten eggs
6 1/2 cups flour
filling: 1/4 cup melted butter
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
glaze: 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp water or milk

In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, sugar, butter, salt and cinnamon.�

When the yeast begins to bubble, add the eggs and then beat in the flour.�

Knead with mixer or by hand.� Let rise in a warm place until doubled (about 45 minutes).�

Roll into a large rectangle.� Pour 1/4 cup melted butter all over the rectangle.� Combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the butter.

Fold the top third of the dough over the middle.� Fold the bottom third over the middle.� Cut into 1/2 inch strips.�

�Twist and place on greased cookie sheets.� Cover and let rise another 30 minutes.�

Bake 375 degrees for 14 minutes.� Combine glaze ingredients and drizzle with glaze!

�

�

�

Dem Bones, Dem Bones... Learning about our framework with friends...

Yesterday we had our biweekly A&P project group with our HS friends...

We started out by going over some info from Blood and Guts.

This is a great book for any human body study.. the lessons and projects in it are easy to use and understand... We talked about the different bones ~ long, short, flat, etc.... and then discussed the different types of hinges found in the body...

After this discussion, we moved on to a game of Skeletal Simon Says by calling out different bones and the kids having to touch these places... That was a lot of laughs!!!!



Then we went to the craft table and began working with some clay ~ the object being that the kids would realize that without bones our bodies would just slump like a clay figure not being able to stand~ but with the addition of bones (toothpicks) we were able to stand upright and have mobility... We had lots of unusual people made today...

� before we added�bones

��� and after� TA - DAH!!!

Then we watched some brief video clips from BrainPop... Love these videos!!! BrainPop is a pay site bt you can see a preview of one of their skeletal videos here.

We watched a DK Eyewitness video on the "SKELETON" and then played one last game of "PROFESSOR NOGGIN's HUMAN BODY"...

My Word for the Year...

Yes, I know what you're thinking ~ it's almost the end of February and I am just now getting to this. Well, it's not that easy.. I know fining a "word" that describes what you want, how you feel, or what you strive to be, may be easy for some ~ but I have a hard time putting all those things into one word. So I have take my time trying to pray and strive for the right one.

I have always had tons of resolutions for every New Year ~ some I was able to achieve and others that were just not possible and really pipe dreams... But I needed to hear God's choice of word's for me...

So for my word ~ I took my time, prayed, thought a lot about it and came to the conlusion that my word is "CONTENT"...

I strive to be content, satisfied in whatever circumstance should come my way, able to be happy with what is in my life... Gratified to have one more day, peace of mind, the ease to experience what is God's plan for my life...

"CONTENT" ~ my word for the year...

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Phillippians 4:11

31 Days of Prayer..

I have been participating in the "31 Days of Praying for Your Children"....

I did this sometime ago with a prayer calendar from ParentLife Magazine. This time we are using this prayer calendar as our guide...

The goal of praying for our children is that, whether a mom or dad, we as parents can make a huge impact on our children's lives by interceding for them daily in prayer. They are faced with so much temptation and we as parents can help fight spiritual warfare for them by lifting them up daily in prayer.

Today is Day 9 and our prayer today was:

Father, grant that my children may show proper respect to everyone as Your Word commands. (1 Peter 2:17a)

Being respectful of everyone is something that I think is lacking in our society today and I'm not sure what the root of it is.

Disrespect and intolerance is everywhere ~ in our families, our churches, our workplace, our world. I wish that we could take just a moment and earnestly seek where all the discontentment, unhappiness, and hostility towards others comes from~

My wish and prayer today is that I can be an example for my kids and that they will grow up to love, pray for, and serve others with respect and kindness. Every time I think about respect for others I think of another Proverbs verse ~ (yes, it's one of my favorite books in the bible)

Proverbs 11:16
A kindhearted woman gains respect, but ruthless men gain only wealth.

If you would like to participate ~ feel free to look it up on Facebook or click on one of the links above for a calendar guide.

Working at saying "NO"...

Why is it one of the smallest words in the English Language is one of the hardest to say?

I have a horrible time saying "NO" ~ not only to other people, my kids, my family, but to myself.

I have been doing lots of praying and thinking and more praying on how to take better care of myself and my family and the one thing that my rheumatologist, my chiropractor, my friends, and most of all, my husband, all share and tell me often is that I need to slow down, rest, and learn to say "NO".

I have always had that desire to please and be with others, but sometimes, we have to look deeper than in what we think are our desires and find what is truly in our hearts... I sat down and made a list of what I felt I needed from life and what truly made me happy.

The needs list was really small when I compared it to the happy list... I also made a list of goals that I wanted to accomplish...the most important of these to me was to raise secure children in a love-filled, happy home with a desire to serve the Lord in whatever capacity that "HE" would lead them to.  Another of these goals was to do volunteer work that I felt he was leading me to do. This is a tough one for me,  as sometimes what he is calling me to do, is not what I may want to do, nor what others think I should be doing. But if my mighty Father tells me, I must follow. This is one of the pitfalls of society and our support systems of friends, family, and our spiritual homes.

I have been working on cutting things out of our schedule and it has been hard, because I have always been a on-the-go kind of person and have that nagging, little, evil voice in the back of my head that every so often says, "but what about socialization?" or "do your kids get to do anything?"... and I love hearing the "you should do (this)".

But,  so far, I have eliminated several commitments that took way too much of my time from home and I am working on more. With the kids and my hubby in agreement, we are knocking things off the list right and left. I just ask that it be with God's wisdom that we remove things and not our choice...

I want to be able to use the time when I feel good to be with my family, do family things, and to volunteer for several projects that have weighed heavily on my heart for sometime. I have been praying in earnest that God would show me the way I needed to walk and help me with saying "NO" to things that would wear me down, keep me away from family time, or just general business that wasn't what I needed to be doing.

I come back to this verse again and again when I am faltering in my quest at slowing down and saying "no" ... it gives me strength, peace, and assures me that if I ask he will show me the way.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And he shall direct your paths."
Proverbs 3:5

Exploring Human Anatomy ~ weeks 3 & 4...

These last two weeks have been very busy, so I am a little late in getting my posts about A&P done...

We are still really enjoying it... These 2 weeks were spent on the skeleton ~an amazing frame with tons of incredible features.

Here are some of the book we used:


I still think the journals have been one of the best additions to our science studies and I would reccomend them to everyone... They have made it so much easier to keep up with notebooking, narration, activities, and copywork...
DS's Notes...

DS's labeled bone...

DD's copywork with her labeled bone...

DS's color-coded notes

One of the fun things we did, was to have some chicken wings for dinner ~ we then boiled the bones to remove the excess meat and used them for an experiment to see how pliable the bones could be using vinegar...

This experiment cam from the book Blood and Guts. I love this book ~ it has all kinds of fantastic experiments and information about the human body...

We taped out first finger to our middle finger and tried to do our schoolwork ~ they both complained how difficult it was to write ~ proof to them that God knew exactly what he was doing when he created fingers (or "phalangeeeees" as DD said)...

We used some minibook pages�I had gotten a while back and made a page to go along with the skeltal system workbook that discussed the hinges and hometcomb bone...

We looked at a chicken bone and talked about�the tendon/ligaments.�

We did a neat experiment with eggs�that showed how the skull protects our brain.
�we took the eggs and place them in a container ~ ran around the house and they broke but with a cushion of water, they stayed intact ~ no matter how rough the kids got with them....


We watched several videos�from BrainPop and a great DK Eyewitness video on�"Skeletons"

The kids played�"Operation"

and�made some art by using pasta and gluing it in the shape of the skeleton.


The also enjoyed playing our new�card game "Professor�Noggin's Human Body"....

See ya' next week!!

"Wishing You A Rainbow" ~ Our week with "Expedition Ireland"

This week has actually been one of our favorites. During our school time, we ventured to the Emerald Isle…

Our Download N’ Go unit this week was “Expedition Ireland” and with it we had so much fun learning about the beautiful island full of legends, rainbows, and leprechauns…

I have always been fascinated by the majestic beauty and the wonderful history that surrounds Ireland, so I was excited to have the opportunity to look at it through my kids eyes.

With each affordable, comprehensive Download N’ Go unit, everything you need is included –websites, videos, activity pages, lapbook components. They are geared to grades K-4 ~ but I find it extremely easy with no prep-work to modify them for my 5th grader. My planning and prep time is a minimal 30 minutes and is easy because all the work is done for me. I look over the unit, print out what needs to be printed, make a grocery list (if there are recipes included) and log on to the library to reserve my books (which are included in an extensive book list for each day of the unit).



Our days were spent learning within a themed topic:

Day 1: Where on Earth is Ireland?

Day 2: The Places of Ireland

Day 3: A Bit of History

Day 4: Cool Things to Know about Ireland

Day 5: Fun and Games in Ireland

The fantastic video links lead you to wonderful Irish folk music and beautiful scenery.

Our first day we took an aerial flight over Ireland and learned about the Giant’s Causeway. Download N’ Go’s are an incredible way to get in geography lesson.

(which I must say was pretty incredible!!! )

Language arts is covered with legends, vocabulary, and wonderful verses for copy work.

And science is in there too ~ I never new what a stoat was…

Delicious recipes (my husband’s favorite part of the week) were made as the kids measured ingredients and attempted to speak with an Irish brogue (which sounded so strange with their southern drawls)..

Everything you need in one downloadable package.

With March on it’s way, take a walk on the Carrick A Rede rope bridge and learn about St. Patrick’s Day with “Expedition Ireland“. It will certainly give you a new way to be wearing the green in your home school. You can travel to Ireland or other wonderful countries with Download N' Go's wonderful "Expedition" series for only $7.95. What an incredibly afforadable price for a week (or longer) jam-packed with Irish fun.  To find Expedition Ireland or others like it, click here.  And now thru Monday, Feb. 21st, there are incredible $5 deals going, find out more by clicking here.

Erin go Bragh     

Dealing with Depression...

For the last couple of years (since being diagnosed with arthritis and an autoimmune disease) I find that I often feel overwhelmed with all the activities and responcibilities that go along with all that I do... I often feel an intense sadness that I can't explain and don't know how to fix... Sometimes I relate this sadness to what is going on in my life ~ but I honestly can say that my life is very blessed and I really have nothing to be sad over... But these feelings continue to come and I have noticed they have increased in frequency and severity... I find there are mornings I don't want to even get out of bed ~ not because I feel bad or am hurting (even though I have many mornings like that) but because I just don't want to face the day...

This morning I woke up with just a feeling of "STRESS and SADNESS" ... not sure why or where it came from... and I know that everyone has these feeling at sometime or another in their lives ~ but with the increase in frequency and severity, it is becoming more difficult for me to deal with...

And I know that this is probably not the arena to discuss this ~ but I am sure I am not the only one that has these feelings and I am sure that I am not the only one who has wondered how to fix it...And sometimes just getting my feelings out, make me not feel better, but like I am able to let it go... Vent my frustrations, if you will...

Finding time to rest and take care of myself and my health has been difficult, because I have always had a problem saying "NO" ... I have always worried what others thought about what I was doing and thinking (that maybe I wasn't pulling my weight or doing my part)...and I have always worried about how my decisions impact others around me...  I have prayed for guidance on alot of decisions that I know I have to make and thoughts about how to deal with others reactions to these decisions...and I have earnestly been praying for a solution to my feelings and what I am sure could be called "depression" or as my rheumatologist has said before "chemical imbalances related to medications" ... Now I know he probably doesn't realize how much of an impact that it is making not only on my life, but on the lives of my children and my husband...

This morning as I was having my quiet time (and trying to psyche myself into getting up and going this morning) ~ I heard DD playing her "SEEDS of COURAGE" CD upstairs in her room... and I thought about the verse that particular song was based on... It truly gave meaning to my prayers and was like an answer to what I was feeling this morning...  

Psalm 62:1-2

" My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. "

Now thinking and praying over this verse didn't make me ache less nor did it decrease my joint swelling ~ but it did help me to realize that I am on the right path and I have to put my faith in him and that he will get me through all that I am asking him to help with... Through faith, and faith alone will all things be made better ~ he is my rock, I cannot be shaken...

The "Be My Valentine" challenge follow-up...

Well, I took the challenge and it did help me to become more appreciative of my hard-working, family-loving man!! 



But I think that habits of appreciation have to be nurtured after they are introduced... Married couples have to "WORK"  and take care of the keeping of their marriage... In a time when divorce comes easy, and faithful love is difficult to find, a good marriage must be nurtured...

I am very much in love with my husband ~ but it is a love that has changed over our years of being together... I respect him. I can tell him anything. I try my best (but don't always succeed) to not speak negatively about him.  But he's not perfect and neither am I.



Love has to be preserved. A couple has to pray together, play together, share surprises and sadness.  But after all the work, the reward is wonderful. Being a happy couple is one of my goals right up along with having a happy family.



I recently read an article that listed 10 steps for a successful marriage. We are given the job of preserving and caring for that gift of marriage that God ordained for us. 

1. Be faithful ~ to me this is the most important point. Trust should be first and most importan in any relationship. You are spending the rest of your life with this person and you should be not have to worry that you are not first in their lives.

2. Spend time together ~ I know it's the trend now for everyone to "do" their own thing.  Society craves it and it is thrown at us from all angles. But I know that no matter who you spend time with, the more time spent, the closer you become. Why not make that time for your spouse? A simple expression of love by sharing time together.

3. Think positively ~ negative thoughts only breeds negative thoughts. This is the case with everything, not only your marriage.  Think about sweet words or actions when he is being a turkey. Try to support and not criticize ~ because no matter what he does, it is not going to be the way you would do it and life is too short to let negative thoughts and criticism tear down your marriage... And alot of annoyances are temporary actions and not something that we can't forgive and forget.

4. Embrace sexual intimacy as God's gift to you ~ It was God created and desire for the one you love is only a normal expression of love. 



5. Encourage one another ~ this follows along with the positive thinking.  Pray carefully about how you should encourage your husband to be the man that you need him to be and think twice before you try and tear him down. I know it is so eay for me to have be negative and criticize him when he really needs me to be his partner and support him in his endeavors. Something I need to work harder and pray more about.

6. Don't play games ~ don't over-react or be dramatic.  I personally don't have this issue.  I have never understood why someone would want to cause pointless worry in the mind of a man who loves you and distract him from "real" issues that are most likely more important to your family success.. But I listed it since it was in the article...

7. Build high hopes ~ protect you marriage. Build walls around it. You have to have powerful walls up to guard against intruders. This can be something as a small seed of negative thought from reading a article or blog to allowing society to intervene on your family time. We have to protect our marriages and take care of our husbands ~ we were made to be his helpmate (Genesis 2:18).

8. Respect your husband ~  It doesn't kill us to openly admire our husbands.  Do we not feel fabulous when he lets us know how important and beautiful we are to him, or how much he loves us? I strive to follow Proverbs 31, because it is important to me to be worth more than jewels to him and be trusted with his heart. I want to be what is needs me to be.

9. Listen ~ whether I think they are silly or not, his needs are his. If he's taking the time to tell me, it must be important to him... Listening is a pwerful tool and I truly hope that God hears my prayers when I am struggling with it or when I am exasperated with my husband because I feel he may not have heard a word I said.

10. Make your home peaceful and loving ~ again I think this step goes back to Proverbs 31 and trying to be the kind of woman that God intended us to be. Let go of the small things, forgive as much as possible, accept his flaws, and love him. He is your own special version of man made by God. I think one of the most important things we can teach and share with our children about love is to let them see you and your husband in a loving, secure relationship.       

This Valentine's Day, I have lots of love, hope, and thankfulness in my heart for the gift of love that God created for me in my husband.

FUN FRIDAY!

I am doing my best to keep our HS atmosphere relaxed and fun and allow the kids to ENJOY learning...

So today after we had our grammar lesson, we broke out the DK game "SILLY SENTENCES" ... It is really for early grades 1-3 but even my 10yo DS enjoyed making long, long, run-on silly sentences...

                   

After that we looked at our Anatomy and learned some songs about the bones ...

The Skeleton Dance

Dry Bones Lyrics

and then we found some really cool songs for when we hit the brain...

and then played an awesome computer game  ~ DK My Amazing Human Body              

Slowing down the pace...

Sailing away to a deserted island... How many times do we as mothers, wifes, teachers, and Christians wish that we could just sail away to an unknown place ~ away from the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives. Where we could find peace, tranquility, and  QUIET?

How many times have we overbooked our weeks, planned too many field trips, over-commited to our church activities? All because, not only did we want too ~ but we felt like we SHOULD do it...

I do it all the time and decided this year my resolution would be ~ to slow down our lives and commit to more family time and lead them in the way God has called me too... I have been making progress, but I have also back slid many times. But this morning in my bible study there was a verse that popped out and spoke just to me...

"You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Each man's life is but a breath." Psalm 39:5

And I thought if we're moving through life too quickly, we would do well to slow down and take time for God and to appreciate the blessings before us. I forget that so many times that I think my kids need to do this or be here or I need to help with this or that.  And I forget to stop, rest, and take time to give thanks to God for the blessings he has given us ~ not to ask for more but to really appreciate all that we have on this beautiful earth.

I recently read an article from an old issue of a mother's magazine awhile back and it really struck a chord with me , in that it spoke of ministering to our own families.. It talked about how active people are in the church today and that it's wonderful ~ but that alot of families become so absorbed in the church that their personal family becomes lost. I want to minister and be who I need to be for GOD's GLORY ~ but be what he has called me to be first and that is a wife, mother, and teacher. I pray for guidance in this and I know that he will lead me in the way that I need to go.  And I know that I am on the other side of the fence in this with most Christians ~ but how can we minister to others when our own families are being lost in the shuffle...

So I am gonna continue weeding out activities and spending more time at home with my blessings and taking more time to be with God in prayer and in thanks for all he has given me.
Life is short and we won't be here forever and yes, we must make the most of it ~ but in that process, take time to remember it too...

Planning Field Trips...

For spring I thought I would try something different when planning out our family trips and field trips... I ordered a great book called "101 PLACES YOU GOTTA SEE BEFORE YOU'RE 12" ...



Let's face it, it's not realistic for everyone to see the Taj Mahal and Patagonia (and when you have children, travel is alot more expensive and diffiucult when they are younger)... this book brings adventure closer to home, and is wonderfully flexible and affordable...

It lists places not by name but by category ~ like forests, archaelogical sites, haunted houses, famous ball fields, light houses, even the landfill...

For each kind of place there could be 5, 10, or even 100 specific examples for you to see all over North America... the kids get to help plan what they would like to see and stickers are included so they can keep track of what they have seen and where you want to go next.  They even have a reference section with links included to alot of the sites so you can see about prices and hours if necessary...

This is a great book for families that like to travel and I can't wait to get started using it...

The Ugly Duckling...

Took the kids to see a play of the "Ugly Duckling" yesterday... It was a take on the original by Hans Christian Anderson and it was funny but so true...

The main theme was that it's hard being different. A strange egg showed up in Mama Duck’s nest and hatched and a very ugly duckling was born. After many failed attempts to "fit in," the ugly duckling set out on a journey to find his true place in the world. He ended up coming to the realizization that he has to love himself before he can find out who he really is.

This rang so true for me and I think it got across to my kid;ets ~ that true beauty and happiness comes not from anyone else but from yourself and inside you.  This is one of the most important lessons I want my kidlets to learn that they have to love themselves and find happiness in "WHO THEY ARE"... So often in our society/culture happiness and beauty is thought to be on the outside or what you own or possess... I don't want that for my kids ~ I want them to know true joy and happiness that can be bought or manufactured...

This morning for our devotions,  we discussed what we had learned from the play and looked at these verses ....

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.  Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight."   1 Peter 3: 3 -4

"I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live." Ecclesiastes 3:12

"When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. "  Ecclesiastes 7:14

 and my favorite verse of all Phillipians 4: 11, where the main idea was to be CONTENT ~  " for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances."

 There is a great study guide that can be found to go along with reading the "UGLY DUCKLING" and you can get it FREE here...

Learning about DNA with friends... (our 1st A&P group class)

A while back some friends and I talked about doing a class as a small group ~ we talked about history or something science related and came to settle on HUMAN ANATOMY... we chose to use the "Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology" book and journal series...

As individual families, we take 2 weeks to cover each lesson and then we are meeting biweekly to share a lesson and activity...

Today was our first group meeting and it went really well.

  

We started out the class with a discussion on cell division and used made a "model of a cell" activity from Janice Van Cleave's book "The Human Body for Every Kid"

  In this activity we used jello and grapes to create a simple cell with a snack-size bag representing the cell membrane, jello being the cytoplasm, and the grape being the nucleus.

                          

Then we made edible DNA using Twizzlers, toothpicks, and colored marshmallows. We discussed the different letters associated with nucleotides and what they each meant (T, C, G, A,)

  

working on the DNA strand

     

 the finished product..."A DOUBLE HELIX"

We read an article from  "The History News: Medicine" and talked about Vesalius and how he went about disproving some of Galen's theories  (that had been believed as truth for over 1400 years) by actually dissecting cadavers. Galen had only been able to dissect pigs, oxen, and monkeys ~ it was against Ancient Greek law to use cadavers...

 

We looked at cell permeability by taking a colander and pouring dreid beans and salt through it showing that a cell membrane will only allow like sized things to pass through it's pores ~ thus the "SEMIPERMEABLE MEMBRANE" theory...

My favorite part of our class was watching a great movie on the human body from Netflix called  "Eyewitness The Human Machine" .... You can see a clip of it here.

I think I enjoyed this class and learned as much as the kids did... I can honestly say that this is a science class that has my kids and me wanting to learn more... we love it!!

Exploring Human Anatomy and Physiology ~ Week 2

We are really enjoying our human anatomy study so far..

We have been taking our time and the kids are really retaining a lot more than I expected…

 I love how each part of the cell is broke down and related to something the kids can associate with in their life… Mitochondria being power plants (or substations since that’s what DH does for a living) , the cell itself is a city, and the lysosomes as policeman…


Here's some pictures of the cell anatomy the kids drew in their notebooks...
  Libby's journal entry

 
    Tommy's journal entry

 Jeanne Fulbright adds biblical history in there in a way that is easy for the kids to understand and relate to the topic ~ correlating the Wall of Jericho to the cell membrane for example….

 I got a great idea from my friend Michelle to make some flash cards with the word and a picture of it’s function… so, we’ve been playing with these every day as a review and it’s a great way to improve the kids memory of what they’ve been learning…

We’ve ordered some other books to use as go-alongs from Amazon… 2 of these that we are using now are “Enjoy Your Cells” by Fran Balkwill and Galen and the “Gateway to Medicine” by Jeanne Bendick.


I also have gotten some movies from Netflix : "Human Body: Pushing the Limits by Discover" and then this one from National Geographic, called "National Geographic: The Human Body"… both are in our instant queue, so we can watch them as we need to go-along with what we are studying… of course the kids are still watching “The Magic School Bus: The Human Body” almost daily (they love the Magic School Bus movies)…

Today we traced our bodies and cut them out to place on the wall, so we can add organs and systems as we study them… I never realized how tall my son was getting, until I saw his shape on the paper… *LOL*

One other thing that I decided to invest in with the start of this unit was a membership to BrainPop … They have so many online lessons and movies about all things science that it will pay for itself (hopefully)…

As we go-along, I will be posting different books and items that we are using in our study at home and I will also be posting about the activites of our Anatomy co-op that we and 2 other families are doing bi-weekly while we do this study..

Now back to our bodies ~ we’ll check back in soon!!