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Showing posts from August, 2011
My Resolutions for 2011. Priorities have changed since I found out I am expecting a baby. Run a 5k. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! The only exercising I am doing right now are my Kegels. I am just focusing on eating right and keeping that nutritious food on my stomach long enough to digest it. I am staying away from the junk that I used to feel justified eating while pregnant and only eating things of real nutritional value this pregnancy. Absolutely no fast foods. No fried foods. I've completely cut out soda and chocolate and candy, etc. I would like to keep my weight gain with this baby really, really low since I am already carrying extra weight. Follow Fly Lady's Flight Plan every single day. I had been feeling so bad, cleaning has been next to impossible. I would either gag from the smells and appearance of food particles left in the sink or manage to do dishes, but then break into cold sweats shaking all over from the exertion. But the last few days, I've been feeling
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An old friend came to my mind in the middle of the night last night. I'm not particularly close to this guy. I never was really. But I'd say we were friends... once. I just wanted to go back to sleep but I could not stop thinking about this guy and his family... I just lay there... thinking. I just found out this morning via his Facebook status that he was at the hospital emergency room with his kid at the exact same time that he and his family were on my mind. Right now, I am blown away by the power of the Holy Spirit. I think I go about my day (and night) underestimating the power of God, at least when it comes to His power at work in me personally. I know what the Bible says about it. "...the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you." That's a lot of power. I need to live more aware to the realities that that simple (yet miraculous) fact brings to my simple (yet miraculous) life. And when people come to mind like that an
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For Geography: I knew we couldn't just read this First Atlas. Norah would never retain the content without something visual and interactive. So, for Canada, I found the image of a maple leaf, a hockey player, a totem pole online. For the USA, I found the Hollywood sign, a wheat combine, the capital building, etc. I was going to make colored stickers of these images so we could cut them out and put them onto a world map as we read about the places where they are. For a day or two, I spent all my free time downloading the images for North and South America alone. But as I was shopping for other books on Amazon, I came across this sticker atlas. It represents the exact concept of what I was trying to accomplish on my own. So, using this book for stickers instead of making my own, we will read through our atlas like we planned, but find the stickers for that part of the world from this book. There aren't stickers for every image I would have chosen and some of
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It occurred to me that I should have some practical goals for Norah this year to go along with all the academic ones. You know "life-skills" and all. In the fuss of planning history and science and art I had kind of forgotten it was also my job to teach her this kind of stuff, too. Arguably, this stuff is more important anyway. If a straight A high school student can't wash their own laundry, how smart are they really? So here's a list of stuff she is going to learn how to do this year: Clean off the stainless steel trash can. Note: I hate this job and it's a good sized job for Norah to inherit. It will allow her practice and eventually perfect the all-important skill of using Windex without leaving streaks. Empty and reline waste baskets. Empty and reset the diaper champ. Make her and Avril's breakfast. She needs to learn to pour the cereal and milk into the bowls, microwave the oatmeal safely, etc. else she and Avril may n
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I took some photos this afternoon after we had prepared everything and while we were just waiting around for the storm to arrive.
You may never know all I save you from. Another Lord might resent you for this, But your growing ignorance of all that's evil only increases my joy. Expect good things from me. Rest in my love. Remain in me and get farther and farther from what the enemy planned for you and closer and closer to who you were meant to be and what you were meant to do.
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I don't feel good so I go lie down. Avril follows me into my room. After a few minutes of tickling her and reading her the books she brings, she gets down again and after a few seconds I hear, "Baby!" I look up and over to where Avril is pointing next to my bed. This book was laying open on my bedside table to this page. I turned to it after finding out that I was eight weeks pregnant today. "Baby eye," Avril points to the black spot on the baby's face. "Baby nine," she's pointing to the baby's foot, but she can't say the word "foot" yet. She smiles, cocks her head to one side and picks the book up gently, holding it to her chest. There is no question in her mind what this is a picture of. And she won't give me the book back. She's carrying it around the house. I am moved to tears. Granted. It's probably the hormones. "Baby." I know it's never that simple for women who
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For logic and reasoning skills, etc: For logic, we are starting with Logic Safari and Analogies for Beginners. We are also still working through the last of the four Developing the Early Learner books. These books came with out Sonlight Core P 4/5 a while back. Note: I really like these books. They aren't difficult. We just took our time, obviously, and treated them as extras. Our plan is to do a page or two out all these books every Friday.
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Avril loves horses. She calls them "Yee haws." For Avril I'm using: Slow and Steady Get Me Ready - This book has just one, age-appropriate activity each week to build skills and understanding that will make learning easier later. I've stopped using this book the last few months, but at the beginning of September, I am going to start on Year 2, Week 30 and go from there. I've got several over sized, colorful books with labels on the pictures to help build Avril's vocabulary. We'll read those again and again. She also loves stickers, so books like First 1000 Words in English sticker book will be a big hit. To recognize A,B,Cs- We are going to use her ABC puzzle and favorite Usborne Alphabet Book . To recognize 1,2,3s- We are going to use this toy . It's so fun to pull the Indians out, line them up, count and sing, "One little, two little, three little Indians..." If Avril starts talking a lot, can hold up her fingers to
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We finished Sarah, Plain and Tall a few days ago and now we have started reading Mr. Popper's Penguins. Note: It's amazing how quickly we are going through books now that we are only reading ones we really enjoy. Before, I just had to finish books that I had started because other people had said those books were great and we must be wrong about our impressions of the book, etc. etc. But continuing to read books we didn't really like meant that I kept avoiding reading aloud to Norah because I wasn't really enjoying the book at all and therefore, Norah didn't really enjoy it, either. Reading aloud became a chore. When I read the quote below out of Jim Trelease's The Read Aloud Handbook, I decided he was right and I had to stop insisting on finishing books we really weren't enjoying and I had commit to be okay with reading only those we like. Doing so has made all the difference in our read-aloud experience. It's a delight again. Jim
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For Music- I'll help Norah work through The Usborne First Book of the Recorder. This book came with a recorder for Norah and I still have the recorder that I used in grade school. I think it's in one of the junk drawers I didn't get to, so she and I should both have a recorder to play on. We'll also start reading and listening through the books: The Story of the Orchestra by Robert Levine The Orchestra by Ann Haynes She'll listen to the audio recordings called: A Child's Introduction to the Orchestra Pan the Piper: The Reed That Grew Into an Orchestra Instruments We'll go see the orchestra play: The Hartford Symphony Orchestra is giving a casual, outdoor concert on September 25. We may not have finished all the selections on the orchestra listed above by then, but that concert is free and the most family-friendly option right now. If we go, it will give me insight into how well Norah may (or may not) behave for other formal symphony con
For Art- We're going to start by using Discovering The Great Artists this year. I think we will really enjoy this book, but I'm only planning to do it once a week on Fridays, since the projects sound like they may require a lot of extra time and patience. For example, after reading about one of the artists, we have to grind colored chalk into powder and then mix it with egg yolks to actually make paint for Norah to then use to paint a picture. This will demonstrate to Norah how determined early artists like the one we study had to be to do what they did. They couldn't just go to the store and buy what they needed like we can, but no doubt, this kind of thing will also be really messy and tedious, thus we are planning to do art from this book only once a week. With each artist, we'll also print, label and collect show some of their most famous works in a notebook so Norah can look them over again and again as a means of reviewing what we have read in this b
Tentative Schedule for 2nd Grade- Everyday- Silent Reading and Read Alouds Monday - Thursday: Bible, Math, Handwriting, Grammar, Writing, Spelling, Memory Work Monday and Wednesday- We'll add History to the list above. Tuesday and Thursday- We'll study Science on these days, along with all the subjects we study Monday-Thursday. Friday- Friday will be dedicated to subjects that require a slower, more casual pace: Geography, Music, Art, Logic, picture books, puzzles, etc. This will be the day we take field trips if we can, the day we go to the library, the day I try and schedule my appointments.
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I took the girls blueberry picking today. We we're only there for about thirty minutes and the picking was slow since it is late in the season, but we still managed to bring home a few pounds. Avril was looking into the sun and biting into a sour berry at the moment I took this photo. She ate most of the berries she picked. Norah was a real help, managing to pick more than me faster than me.
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I've started buying and collecting the supplies for Norah's history projects. We've chosen one or two projects for each chapter of The Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times. Notice the dragon, the Sphinx and the pyramids. Those are extra. They aren't recommended in the activity guide, but they were very affordable, so I decide to add them. We will do the dragon when we study Ancient China, the pyramids and the Sphinx when we study more about Ancient Egypt. Notice the fake apple. That will be painted gold and labeled "For the Most Beautiful" to go along with our chapter on the Greek gods. I don't know the story yet, but I think Zeus must have caused some trouble with that apple. The activity guide actually recommended making an apple out of paper mache. I just skipped the mess and effort and bought a fake apple that I don't mind Norah painting gold. Notice the terra cotta pot. I'll draw a traditional Roman design on it with a pe
Lord, I want your heart for my enemies, for those who have been the cause of great wounding to my soul. I am whole because of your healing. Now I want to be capable of compassion for those who have hurt me. I don't want to glory in their misfortune, even if their misfortune could actually be your loving discipline. I do not know what your intentions are for them. I do know you are kind and full of grace and perhaps you withhold your full judgment on their deeds in order to show them the same grace you have showed me so many times before. I want to be able to ask and really desire the favor of God to fill their lives. So, Lord, please make it so! Take this wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!
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For Reading- These are the books I will assign Norah to read this year. After were done with everything else for the day, I will have her read in one of these books for thirty minutes. If she wants to keep reading (and I think she will) then I will probably let her keep going till she gets tired or finishes the book, whichever comes first. A Question of Yams Keep the Lights Burning Abby Clara and the Bookwagon Tornado The Chalk Box Kid Riding the Pony Express The Littles Jake Drake Bully Buster Third Grade Detectives: Mystery of the Left Handed Envelope Mystery of the Stolen Statue The Last Little Cat The House on Walenska Street Secret Valley Cora Frear Tippy Lemmy The Paint Brush Kid Prairie School The Long Way Westward The Long Way to a New Land Clues in the Woods Owls in the Family The Sword in the Tree In Grandma's Attic Encyclopedia Brown #1-7 Up to this point, I've hesitated to assign or require Norah to read specific books. I'
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Today I am working on my final "History Project Supply List." I am neatly listing the chapter, the project we're doing for that chapter and the materials I will need to purchase or collect for Norah to do them. In some cases, I am choosing to do my own project instead of one of the projects recommended in The Story of the World's Activity Guide. For example, instead of making the Great Wall of China out of craft sticks and glue which just sounds like torture, we're going to buy a 3D puzzle of the Great Wall and put that together instead. Here's a peek at what the final version of this list looks like so far. It's tedious work, but having a nice list like this will make it much quicker for me to reference and easier for me collect and shop for supplies. We will still need to refer to the Activity Guide for instructions on how to do many of the projects specifically, but that will only be after we have been able to set up our work space, once we sit
I've finished the rough draft of what I am calling my "history library list." At this point, I am going back and trying to make it look perfect before I print it and put it in the front of my history folder. The Story of the World's Activity Guide recommends hundreds of books to go along with all the chapters in The Story of the World, but my library doesn't have every single title. My "history library list" is a list of the recommended books that my particular library has on its shelves. This way, I will only go looking for the books that I know my library has and I save myself serious time and headache. Here's a peek at what the final list looks like so far. Note: The books I own have an asterisk next to them so I will know I should look for them on my book shelves at home. And to make it even more complicated, I also added a few titles that weren't on the recommended list but that my library had in stock and that looked good to me.
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We finished two read-alouds this week. We finished A Dog Called Kitty by Bill Wallace- This book had Norah and I weeping at several points. When I was too choked up to read, Norah would rub my back and put her head on my shoulder till I was strong enough to read again. The narrator goes from being terrified of dogs because he was attacked when he was a little boy to saving the life of a starving stray pup who wanders onto his farm and even growing to love this dog, Kitty, for his very own. It's very heartwarming. But, it's very gritty. Very gritty. At one point, the narrator breaks a wild dog's back by slamming it with a large stick. You feel the dog's back crunch right along with the narrator. Keep in mind, the wild dog had his teeth sunk into the narrator's dog's leg at the time. And the wild dog was the leader of the pack of several wild dogs who were close to tearing the narrator's dog and new born baby calf to pieces in the struggle
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The way you love them, that's how I love you. All day long, I delight to be near you. I smile when you say something wise. When you say anything funny, I laugh. Really laugh, too. As small as you are, you bless me with your affection. When you lean in, I close my eyes and breath in, too. I take the time to plan good things for you. I call myself Father to reflect my heart to you. And you can love them as much as you do because that's how I first loved you.
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I've been working to collect all the items we are going to need to do Norah's science experiments this year. After several months of working through Norah's history book with her, I've realized that we are doing far less of the history projects (hardly any at this point) because I don't have the stuff I need for the projects already collected in one place. It's too hard to find this thing or that, too much trouble to run to the store for something, and far too easy to just skip the project and move on to the next chapter, etc. So, I am collecting all her science stuff now. This way, everything we need for every science project will be on hand. I also plan to go back through her history book within the next few days and make a list of supplies for the projects in the chapters we have yet to cover and collect those supplies, too. To do this up front is a tedious and expensive endeavor, but I feel confident it will be worth the effort.
Today my thoughts dwell on the old lady who used to pick me up from school and take me to an old country church to tell a group of us Bible stories with puppets and felt boards. I thought about the people who worked at all those Vacation Bible Schools I attended as a kid. I thought about the bus driver who picked me and several other kids up for Sunday School and then brought us home. I thought about my Girls in Action leader, whoever she was the one and only year I got to go. These people remain faceless in my memories. I can't even remember anything specific they said to me. But when I was looking for a way to live my life, the compass of my soul was pulled toward the direction they pointed. I came to love the Jesus I don't even remember them telling me about and I imagine that some of them have already received their reward in heaven for the part they played in my now deep, abiding faith. And as I serve the children who come to camp this week and as they j
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The girls in their Camp Wanna Hugga Squirrel t-shirts one morning this week.
The girls and I are spending every single day this week at church for Camp-Wanna-Hugga-Squirrel. Norah is attending camp, I am volunteering and Avril will be in a special class with other volunteer's toddlers. I have a strong suspicion that I might be too tired when I get home to do anything but bathe the girls, shower myself, do our laundry and prepare our sack lunches for the next day. Dwayne has even volunteered to take care of dinner every night, bless him. I will see you all at the end of the week.
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We captured this little frog at the river and brought him home in our cooler (dumped of the ice and drinks and filled with fresh river water, of corse.) We've been feeding him house flies and crickets. We've had to clean his tank once. We refilled it with fresh rain water that we collected from the seats of our camping chairs. (It's amazing how much rain water those seats will hold if we leave them outside during a storm.) In the photo above, our frog had just eaten a cricket, a cricket that was as long as he is, mind you. He did this by biting him and letting the cricket swim, biting him again and letting him swim... this went on till he'd worn the cricket down and gotten him face to face. That's when he proceeded to swallow the cricket and swallow him some more and swallow him some more and more and more till the whole cricket had disappeared head first down into the frog's body (save the leg you see sticking out the side of his mouth in the photo above.)
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I saw this in the bathroom at Silus Bronson and I just had to take a photo of it. I was thrilled. I remember going to Waterbury's library for the first time when Norah was still in diapers (over four years ago now). Among a few other disasters that occurred while we were there that first day, Norah pooped and started to cry and after waiting in a long line upstairs to ask the librarian to unlock the bathroom door for me so I could change my baby, the librarian proceeded to open the bathroom door and let me look in to find that there was no changing table at all. When I saw that there was no changing table, I looked at the librarian with a question. The librarian didn't seemed surprised. I asked him what I should do. I was thinking, "Isn't it his responsibility to offer a solution? Aren't librarians supposed to be helpful? Doesn't every library have a changing table standard?" The librarian gave me a blank stare. So while the librarian watched, I acted
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For Spelling (and Phonics review): We're using All About Spelling . The spelling program that we had wasn't working for Norah, even with bribes. I really wanted it to work because that is how I learned to spell and how her dad learned to spell and most importantly... I had already paid for it. The program we had encouraged Norah to spell by just gaining enough familiarity with the way the words look to so she could copy them back out for the test, etc. This program, on the other hand, is supposed to be effective at getting kids to understand the sounds that make up the words, so effective that kids begin to spell words after hearing them without even seeing them first. How is that even possible? I don't know. But, I plan to find out!
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For Writing: We're going to use The Complete Writer: Writing With Ease Workbook 1 . I bought the printed and bound workbook so I'll have a real book to hold and I won't have to read off the computer screen or print the pages myself and put them in a three binder. (I am reading off the screen for The Story of the World's Activity Book and I am using a three ring binder with First Language Lessons. I don't love either.) But I did purchase the .pdf version for the Student Pages because those need to be handed to Norah separately anyway, I can print them before school starts with all the other pre-school printing I am doing and just keep them in a binder till she needs them. Having the .pdf means that I can print them as many times as Norah needs them if she happens to mess up really badly or spill milk on her page and I can also print the pages again in a few years when Avril is ready for this book! I did NOT choose to buy Strong Fundamentals or the Writ
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For Math: We're going to finish Math U See's Alpha book. Norah has about six lessons to go till she can move on. Then Norah should start and finish the Beta book by the end of second grade. We're using Math U See's Songbook and CD to help memorize our math facts. Norah uses addition and subtraction Learning Wrap Up's to practice her facts. And, once she is ready for it, Norah will use Ravensburger's Number Race to practice addition and subtraction.
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For History: We're adding a time line to our history studies this year. This is another thing I stalled on for lack of not wanting to spend the money on it. I chose History Oddessey's Timeline and the corresponding stickers. I plan to have it laminated so we can write on it with dry erase markers, too. We're continuing with The Story of the World, Volume One: Ancient Times. We use the corresponding activity book and student pages as well. We got started on history late in the first grade, so we have a long way to go into second grade before we finish ancient times. However, I feel confident we can still finish all four Story of the World books by the time Norah goes into middle school. We may need to do history through a summer, but I think we can catch up. At some point (maybe with the forth book on Modern Times), Norah may choose to read and study through the whole book on her own. That would certainly catch us up quickly! We will see. I usual
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For Science: Norah had a thorough introduction to plant and animal life last year. There's no way I could even list the books she read and reread on these topics. There were hundreds! In fact, she is still reading new books about insects and plants every day. But she has done very little reading on the human body this year, interestingly enough. I think this is because there aren't as many books on this topic for young readers. At least, I find it much harder to find real books on this topic. For all the books we have purchased or come across at the library, it seems like probably only one in ten is about the human body. Therefore, we are going to use Apologia's Human Anatomy and Physiology as our next main book for science in second grade. We are also using their Junior Notebooking Journal to go along with the textbook. This book should give Norah a comprehensive understanding of her body parts, body systems, etc. I would rather let Norah read the same conte
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For Handwriting: Norah is done with Zanier Bloser's Manuscript 1. (Well, she has four or five lessons left.) So I ordered Zanier Bloser 2C for next year. It will provide her a review of manuscript and an introduction to cursive.
My Resolutions for 2011. Just checking in to see how I am doing. Run a 5k. I wanted to run the Nin antic Bay Half Marathon and 5K . I am supposed to be using this plan to train , but I am not training like I should. My biggest problem: I have been going to bed too late to get up early and get my exercise done before the day begins. Follow Fly Lady's Flight Plan every single day. I am doing well with this. My house looks great and it is getting more and more organized. Mend my quilts. I have added a few other sewing projects to my mental to-do list including mending the cushion of our antique rocking chair and making the girls' Halloween costumes. But I haven't started on any of projects yet. Typical. Let Norah play outside . She didn't go outside today at all unless you count walking through the parking lots while we ran errands. I will have to remedy that tomorrow. Read through the entire Bible . I'm still on track with this plan
So much planning! It's like I'm a full time teacher planning a full year of school or something! I was planning on doing a week of "Camp Boulden!" this week, but it isn't working out that way. I've been traveling and entertaining company and dealing with my dad and now the summer is almost gone and I realized that I really should order Norah's school books now so they will have plenty of time to arrive before September 1 (when I want to start school with her). So, I am having to do some serious research, reading and organizing. I am researching, reading and organizing all the time, but now I am having to make those final decisions and that's taking time, time, time. I am still letting Norah paint with watercolors for an hour or more every afternoon while Avril naps. Today I even got her a book about watercolors from the library with several sample projects to do. And we are still reading "A Dog Called Kitty." But the outdoor activities
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While I read and look up things online and make plans for the next school year, the girls sit next to me on the couch. Norah reads and holds the books so that Avril sees the pages and every now and then, Norah talks to Avril about things Avril points to. All the while, Avril feeds and kisses her baby doll and Avril rests her chilly, little feet on Norah's long legs for warmth. They make a beautiful picture, so I get my camera. I am very aware of the Lord's presence with us at that moment. I'm waiting on the results of my dad's x rays. I have reason to be anxious, but I'm not. I'm not anxious at all and it makes me wonder. I feel an overwhelming peace, so much peace that I pause and look up from what I am doing. It's almost like joy is being poured into the room from above our heads. I wonder about it. The Scripture below pops into my mind, so I look it up. Is God singing over us?! I think He may being singing over us right now. Because it really
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The other day, I found Norah the right sized bike at the thrift store for only $8. I'm not an expert, but the only thing that appeared to be wrong with the bike was the thick layer of dust and the cobwebs on it. I figured I'd waste eight dollars on a bag of hamburgers, so it was worth a try. (Plus I could return it within a week if something was wrong.) We dusted off the cobwebs and took her up to the neighborhood park so she could try riding in the grass without training wheels. It took several tries. She and her dad were both winded and dripping sweat from the effort, but she ended up riding for a few long stretches on her own. We let the girls play on the playground and then we all walked home to settle in before dark. Avril trailed along with Norah carrying her "Yee haw!" When Norah stopped, Avril would catch up to her and then get in the way when Norah tried to take off on her bike again and then she would be scolded by Daddy. I should have trie