Latin Pronoun Poem

Today we are finishing up our school year's work, and my youngest lady was faced with the creation of a poem or song to help her remember the Latin pronoun endings.  At first she was challenged and a little discouraged.  I allowed her to step away and do something else, and then she came back to it about an hour later.  This was the result:

Tis means you the plural way,

And s means just you to stay.

O means I and is such a hit.

T means he, she, and it.

Mus means we, and nt means they.

That's the Latin pronouns, Hip Hooray!

So proud that she figured out a way to work through the frustrations!

What is Easter?

Last week I saw Jay Leno ask this question to several people on the street. It amazed me how many people mentioned eggs, bunnies, and new life. When Jay would press to see if they knew "why" we celebrated Easter, it amazed me more to hear that people really didn't know! Though some knew it had to do with Jesus, they weren't sure what or why.

This segment totally shocked me, and I felt that I needed to make sure that my children knew the REAL story of Easter. I want to encourage you to take the time this week to make sure your children know the story as well. This is an excellent opportunity to talk to your children about salvation and the reality of what their salvation cost.

In The Teaching Home's recent e-newsletter, they offered a 5-day Easter unit study that explores Scripture, history, crafts, and education about this holiday. Please join me in using the information in this study to not only celebrate, but also educate.

As 1 Timothy 2:4 states, God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Share the truth of Easter and God's ultimate love with those around you this week! Be aware that even though we live in America, there are those who still do not know and have not heard.

Prepositions

As we were learning about prepositions this week, we did "double duty". I thought this was a really neat way to explain prepositions and how to properly set a table.

The plate goes "on" the table. The fork is placed "beside" the plate on the left. The napkin can be placed "under" the fork. The knife is placed "beside" the plate "on" the right. The blade should point "toward" the plate. The cup is placed "above" the knife. Get the point?

Anyway this is a fun way to learn something that is boring and often abstract!

Homeschooling Popularity Grows

This article tells me what I already know: Homeschooling is becoming cool!

Christmas Music

www.tokbox.com

www.tokbox.com

www.tokbox.com

Holiday Events

This past week was packed full of holiday events for our family. We kicked off the week with a birthday party for my mom (and my husband). It included good food, a great dessert, and time being together.

The next day I opened my house to our homeschool group for a Christmas celebration. I have to admit that I was rushing around cleaning bathrooms, putting away piles of useless stuff, making sure my children were dressed in appropriate attire (no pj's), and generally focused on making sure everything was ready BEFORE the first person arrived. Did it happen? Of course not! It was like a whirlwind as soon as the first family arrived. I had barely gotten out the last food item that I was baking, and some people missed the great dessert that I made. I forgot to cut it and put it on a serving plate!

With all of this, I did greatly enjoy seeing everyone, and we had a great time sharing with the homeschool families. There were a lot of things that were ready - the students enjoyed crafts and a simple word game that kept some occupied for hours! The girls and I had prepared scented gingerbread ornaments for the families, and I had printed the spring schedule and sign up sheets for the families to take home with them. Also, we had plenty of wonderful food, and I think everyone enjoyed my cider (a secret recipe) and my husband's coffee.

The best part for me was seeing the dads join us. So often, it is just the women and children that come to the homeschool events, and I loved seeing the husbands find common ground with each other as well.

After surviving this whirlwind of a party, the next day we headed off for a play that retold A Christmas Carol. I was concerned that my girls would not get all the "fancy" English language or enjoy the darkness of the play, but I was amazed that they actually found some comedy and lessons from it! Scrooge reminds us to not get too much into our own stories that we miss out on sharing life with others!

Later this week we went to see another holiday play, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I had always heard of this story, but I had never seen the play. It relayed the message of grace and the power of the Christmas message. Of course, my daughters enjoyed the fact that instead of frankincense, gold, and myrrh, the Wise Men brought a ham, vegetable oil, and seasoning salt!

I have loved sharing these moments with dear friends and family! This is one of the best parts of the Christmas season, and as we attend other events this holiday, I hope we can keep the simple joy of Christmas and savor each moment. It is easy to just rush around to fulfill commitments, but this year I want to keep the right perspective.

Frogs

I just have to show off our science work. I think I have found my "mojo" in this subject, and lapbooks are the key! What do you think? You can do it too! Just visit http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ for FREE lapbooks on almost any subject.

icniVaD odranoeL

We were able to visit the Leonardo DaVinci exhibit at the Birmingham Museum of Art, and if you haven't seen it yet, you should try to swing by sometime before Nov. 9th. The exhibit shows Leonardo's actual drawings from over 500 years ago. It is amazing all the things that he was able to engineer in his mind and put on paper. Of course, it takes an engineer to read his backward writing!

Here are some pictures of the girls enjoying the family day celebrating this exhibit:

Plants Lapbook

These past few months, we have been studying plants. I feel like we are actually learning something about science this year. The lapbooks seem to be a great way to incorporate fun and learning in an area that is very information-driven.

So, check out our latest creations:

The girls spent lots of time using stencils to make their lapbooks reflect the information inside. I was very happy to see their creativity come alive.

We used information from our science textbook, Considering God's Creation, and I also incorporated some great material I found on the internet. Homeschool Share is a great site for FREE resources.

I'm impressed that we are actually completing something for science! Hopefully, the girls are learning something, too! :)

Our First Lapbook

The first week of school was a little crazy. We really tried to complete our TO DO lists each day, but something did always seem to have to be put off for the next day. This was difficult for me, a person who likes to see the list completely checked off!

Our biggest TO DO was quite a feat. We started our science study off with a look at cells. I had decided to have our science work be more crafty and fun this year, and I was really interested in those nifty things called lapbooks. Unfortunately, I could not find any Cell Lapbooks out there (that were free at least), so I had to make up my first one from scratch. Brave, aren't I?

As you can see, our "lapbook" was more like a decorated folder. My ideas didn't quite fit the layout of a lapbook, so we just kept the folder in its traditional format. I think the girls enjoyed the craft part, except my youngest daughter kept begging to use a stapler! Oh, well, we survived, and I am looking forward to doing another one on Egyptian mummies soon!