For the ladies at Ambleside Online....

Here's the requested pics of my two old books I found today! :-)  For anyone not on Ambleside, I took some books to a used bookstore in my town today and got some credit to use.  I was buying books for next year (Les Miserable, poetry by Keats & Byron, Beowulf and more) when I found an 1899 copy of Scott's "Lady of the Lake" and a 1911 copy of Kipling's "Under the Deodars: The Phantom Rickshaw: Wee Willie Winkie".  Yay!!  Here are the books.

The Lady of the Lake

Kipling!

 

What's your favorite book deal you've gotten recently?

Now in Unit Two

Well, we finished the first unit of Year 1 in Tapestry of Grace and are starting the third week of unit 2.  I have to admit, I'm somewhat disappointed.  I was under the impression that there would be more "living books" and that has not been the case.  More books than not have been the dry, textbook style, and my kids are NOT enjoying that part of it.  There are a few good books, but not near what I was looking for. 

I started looking for something to move Little Bit--my youngest--to next year and found Ambleside Online, a Charlotte Mason homeschooling site.  It's totally free other than the books, but a lot of them can either be read or downloaded online for free--and it's totally based on living books!  I really struggled as I didn't want to move the older kids yet AGAIN, but ultimately, it was decided that starting next year, all of the kids will move to AO.  I've been collecting books as I can as I definitely prefer hard copies to e-books.  We have a lovely used bookstore here in town that will let you trade in books for credit or cash.  I got a nice stack of books there Saturday.  I was thrilled to get a hardcover (with dust jacket still intact!) copy of "The Story of Painting" by H. W. Janson that most of the girls will need next year for only $1.50!!  I've found a couple of good websites for used books where I can get a lot of books for $3-$4 including free shipping, so that is a blessing!

Speaking of Little Bit, she's doing great in school.  She's officially up to counting to 19 (in her workbook--she can count much higher on her own) and adding up to 6, and very rarely gets her answers wrong.  She's reading more and more.  Tuesday she'll finish the first of three workbooks each in Phonics, Reading and Penmanship.

Munchkin (DD 12) is doing good.  We had some issues with Math early on, but things are going much better now.  She is dialectic level, so her books seem to be a bit more interesting than the older two, but she's definitely excited about moving to AO next year.

Bluestocking (DD 13) is moving right along.  We've moved her to 9th grade this year as she was doing so well.  She's taking Pre-Algebra (TT) in half a year before moving straight into Algebra I.  She completely tested out of almost the first half of the Pre-Algebra book.  She's loving Biology with Bookworm (DD 14).

Speaking of Bookworm, she is also enjoying Biology this year, which is nice as Science is not one of her favorite subjects.  She's really looking forward to Anatomy either next year or the year after, but Chemistry is NOT exciting her at all!  Algebra I has it's ups and downs.  She's trudging through it.  Bookworm and Bluestocking are both really looking forward to AO next year as well. 

How is your school year going so far?

FREE Geography Course!!

FREE Geography Course from Brookdale House!  "Drawing Around the World: Europe" is yours for free just by clicking the link below!  Over 250 pages, this looks like a great resource for you homeschooling mamas.  Enjoy!!

http://homeschoolgiveaways.com/HSE/?c11441Le

Craziness of Life

Well, life has continued its crazy journey.  I'm so very thankful to say that the plumbing DID get fixed, though it took several more days and a trip to Lowe's for a longer snake!  My dh and I got to go away for the weekend to Gatlinburg, which is where we honeymooned, towards the end of August.  I love my kiddos, but it was really nice to get away, just the two of us, for a couple of days.  I was able to take said kiddos up to my parents for nearly a week right after that and attend the family reunion from my Mom's side.  I hadn't been able to go for several years, so it was great to take a week off school and visit with family.  My parents and I were able to can 25 quarts of tomato juice while I was there, which they kindly shared with me.  I opened a jar earlier, and now the smell of homemade marinara is wafting through my house as it. 

Home-grown tomato juice!

 School as been going well.  Weeks two and three were somewhat rough as there was a LOT of reading for my two rhetoric students.  They are extremely strong readers, so when they struggle with the amount of reading, I know it's pretty bad!  We pared a little, but mostly I just gave them the space they needed to get it done.  Some chores might not have gotten done exactly when they normally would, but it's all about give and take.  Things are going much smoother now.  My oldest still hates algebra, but it's not a tearful battle each day now!

My youngest is learning to read!!  I love seeing the look of wonder on her face when she sounds out a word for herself, and it does funny things to my heart when she jumps up and down clapping and shouting, "I'm reading! I'm reading!".  Yes, there are times when I want to pull my hair out when she isn't really listening, or just doesn't want to do her work, but it is more than made up for at these moments.

How is school going for you?  I hope everyone is having a great year so far!!

One of those weeks!

Did you ever just have one of those weeks?  We're definitely in the middle of one of those MONTHS right now.

The kitchen drain is backed up.  We thought we got it fixed last night, but it backed up again.  (Yes, I'm typing this as I procrastinate going to the basement and snaking the second half of the pipe!!)  One of the girls took the dog out and the handle fell off the front storm door!!  The battery died on the van, the truck is messing up, allergies are driving us crazy.....the list goes on, all while trying to homeschool with a new, rather intense curriculum.  How do you react to those weeks?  Tears, anger...laughter?!?  I drive my husband nuts at times.  I end up laughing.  Not a cute giggle, or a light laughter--nope, it's more the "I'm so tired that everything's hilarious and I can't stop belly laughing for anything" kind of laughter.  After all, when it's either laugh or cry, why not choose laughter?!?

All right.  I'm off to snake a drain.  Let's hope there's no more maniacal laughter in my near future!

Question Time!!

What is your absolute favorite non curriculum supplement for your basic subjects: Math, Science, History, Geography, or English/Literature?

I love using movies to supplement history and literature, and my girls love Google Maps for fun.  We're studying Ancient Egypt right now in TOG, so they've already watched a couple of short movies on Moses and/or Exodus.  Now we're getting ready to watch "The Ten Commandments".


Jump in and share your favorites!

And so, the year begins!

Well, technically, we began July 28th.  As usual, I'm a tad late getting on here and posting.

First day of school!

It's been an interesting couple of weeks.  We're still trying to get used to using TOG, and it's not helping that weeks 2 and 3 are heavy weeks reading wise in history.  Some of the book are really hard for my girls to get into, but some of them they are thoroughly enjoying.  My freshman has decided she'll be happy to never talk about Ancient Egypt once we get past it!  There has been some frustration...and a few tears...but I just keep reminding them that this is a) a new curriculum and b) unfortunately, there's a couple of really heavy weeks right off the bat.  I really think once we get past this week, things will start settling out.

As always, there is tweaking going on.  TOS had a sale of a whole bunch of books, etc for $19 that also included a full year of Live Online Math video course, so we switched our freshman to that instead of Landmark's curriculum.  I unexpectedly got Writing Aids when I bought my TOG curriculum, so we're using that instead of the Write With Ease and Igniting Your Writing, though the 7th grader wants to try to use Igniting Your Writing as well once things level out.  As long as she's doing her other work, I'm great with that!  Italian is being a tad slow getting back into it, but as we started so early, and these first few weeks are harder getting settled in and the heavier load, I've given them a break and not made it mandatory until next week.  We're doing a combination of Rosetta Stone (they're starting Level II) and Duolingo which I love!  I think both programs have strengths and weaknesses, and I feel they really compliment each other well.

Little Bit is doing great in kindergarten.  We have our moments, but overall, I'm very happy with her progress.  I'd forgotten how...interesting it can be homeschooling one her age! lol  Things I'm SURE we'll struggle with we fly right through (see photo below), and things I think will be easy...are NOT!!  Who knew you could have so much trouble with ONES and fly right through the FIVES?!?

First time trying with NO help!

Well, time if flying on, and Little Bit is ready for me to help her in phonics. 

HAPPY HOMESCHOOLING!!

Books!!

I'm a certified book-a-holic.  Nothing makes my day better than going to the mailbox and finding new books! :-)  Today was great as THREE came in all at once! 

Now, TOG is a book-heavy curriculum.  This will, I think, work well for our family as we are huge readers.  However, that gets pretty pricey over the long run.  I'm trying to use the library for most books that are only used for 1-2 weeks.  I'm also using my book swap websites for as many books as I can find through them.  Otherwise, I usually go to Amazon or Half.com.  I've gotten most of the books we needed but didn't have either requested from the library or on order.  The first three came in today! :-)  My oldest dd is only a freshman this year, so I realize the SAT book is a little early, but I mainly wanted it for the vocabulary.  TOG tells rhetoric students to start a vocabulary box, but little or no help on what vocabulary to use!  Hopefully, this will help with that issue.

Life happens! :-)

I'm getting a little bit overwhelmed at the moment, but I know that will pass.  We're less than 2 weeks out from starting school this year, but my summer did NOT go as planned.  (When does it ever?!?)  I started May with a very large kidney stone that forced me to have a lithotripsy to blast it.  I thought that would be the end of it.  Boy, was I wrong!! 

When I went for my follow up visit, I was informed that my calcium levels were high, and when you put that with parathyroid hormones that were through the roof, I was told I had hyperparathyroidism, and I needed surgery--soon!!  I wasn't so sure about that, so went home and started researching hyperparathyroidism.  Hmmm.  Come to find out, that one tiny (or in my case, NOT so tiny!) parathyroid gland can cause all kinds of problems--including my very large number of kidney stones!  I went to see the surgeon, and before I knew it I was scheduled for surgery.  I was expecting a quick surgery and easy recovery.  Unfortunately, once again, things did not go as planned!  My parathyroid gland was over 85 times as big as it was supposed to be which caused a larger incision, lengthier surgery, and fairly rough recovery.  I'm doing so much better, but I'm getting a little anxious about being ready for school in time!  On the plus side, the deep bone pain I was experiencing is GONE, and my blood pressure is normal again instead of all over the place like it was.  I have high hopes that the general "feeling bad", brain fog, memory issues, etc will resolve over time.

Yes, this has been a very rough summer for me.  Yes, school is rapidly approaching and I don't feel I'm ready yet.  However, God is good--ALL the time!!  I know God pointed me towards using Tapestry of Grace curriculum.  I have NO doubts that it is what He desires us to use.  Therefore, I know I need to rest in Him and be confident that He will see me through this!!   I'm sorry if this is a little muddled, but I still feel a little muddled! :-)  I'm confident that "this too will pass!" 

Summer Science

I read about re-growing lettuce from the base online, and the girls and I decided to try it.  I used the all but the bottom 2-3 inches of some romaine lettuce and then thinly cut the dried part of the base off and put it in water.  Voila!  The first one was started last Tuesday (I think), and the other was started a day or two later.  Here are our results so far!

The one on the left is almost a week old, and the one on the right is about 4-5 days old.

Vacation Bible School

We had a great week this past week in Vacation Bible School at our church.  I was able to be the assistant in the Primary class (1st & 2nd grade), and my dh was the teacher in the Juniors (5th grade-???).  For the first year, our oldest dd was a general helper instead of an attendee, and did a great job! 

My oldest dd (on the right) with one of the other helpers.

I am so proud of my girls!!  My oldest attendee won the prize for most Bible verses in her class.  All those memory verses throughout the year really came in handy!

My 12-year-old won for most visitors!  This was such a blessing to her, as she's been wanting a backpack for awhile now.  Both of her older sisters have one (the 13-year-old won hers in VBS last year!), so she really worked hard to win that backpack! :-)

The youngest won for most verses in her class--which makes me proud of her since she had a flare-up of hives and missed one night.  There was a little mix-up with names, so she didn't get her prize immediately, but I'm proud of her all the same!  And, yes, that is a "grass skirt" she's wearing! :-)  We had a tropical island theme, and one of her little friends bought it for her to wear over her clothes.  She LOVED it!

We all had a blast (though I think the adults were ready to be done at the end we were so tired! lol) and were privileged to be able to serve the Lord in VBS.  I want to give a big plug to my wonderful dh for pouring him into this ministry this week!  As a former police officer and SWAT team member, Hawaiian shirts aren't exactly his style, but he was a great sport and went for it.  He worked all week at a different site than normal which added a lot more driving time, and rushed home to change, inhale a little food and get to VBS.  I love my hubby!!

DH (on the right) talking to his class before the certificates were handed out.

What opportunities has God given you to serve Him, and are you grabbing each of those opportunities, or letting them pass you by?

Creation Museum!

The Creation Museum in Kentucky is a great field trip for homeschoolers!!  Okay, it wasn't officially a field trip for us as we're out of school, but it was a great trip, regardless.  To make it even better, throughout the entire year of 2014, kids 12 and under get in free with an adult ticket purchase.  That took us down to only having to buy 4 tickets, which was a big help.  We had so much fun! 

There is so much to see and do at the museum--something for everyone!   My oldest dd loved the gardens outside, especially the suspension bridge.  DD 2 loved the special effects theater, and  dd 3 loved the the outside the best as well, including the petting zoo.  My youngest loved the dinosaurs--they were definitely her favorite, along with the camel ride!!  (Camel rides are extra and not something we'd normally do, but this was our first family vacation in a few years and we had to trim it from a week to 2 days at the museum due to circumstances beyond our control, so we splurged on camel rides for the girls.  They loved it!)

The suspension bridge

I can't add a photo of my favorite part as photos weren't allowed.  Verbum Domini ("The Word of the Lord") was an exhibit of very old bibles, scrolls, etc.  Fascinating!!  Of course, my second favorite was probably the bookstore! lol  I am a serious book addict, and finances is the only thing that kept me from leaving loaded down!  They have the curriculum I plan to use for teaching my kids anatomy--"Body of Evidence" dvd set and study guide.  I can't wait to get it, but have to recoup from this year's curriculum purchases first! lol  Thankfully, I don't need it until the 2015-2016 school year, so I have some time.  Frankly, I want to dive in it myself!  Before I was married I worked in the medical field some and learned a lot, but I think this would be so much better coming from a Christian/creationist perspective.

There is so much to see and learn here, and I highly recommend it to not just homeschoolers, but just anyone who loves God and His creation!

It's Here!!!

Yay!!  My Tapestry of Grace curriculum came in the mail yesterday afternoon!!  I'm so excited to dig into this!!  LOVING all the extras.  I really wanted the Pop Quiz discs for my dh, but couldn't justify the expense, so I'm so thankful that it came with this set!  Plus--just because He can--we even got the Pop Quiz cards! 

I welcome any comments from TOG users as I start this journey.  I'm prepared for the "Tapestry Fog" and welcome and comments, advice or insight! :-)

Our Curriculum Choices for 2014-2015

We finished school this year the very end of April.  Ahhhh!  One of the LOVELY things about homeschooling!  We start August 1st, and don't take many holidays, so we get done early.  Even living in Tennessee where there is a mandatory 180 school days, we STILL were able to be done the end of April!!  Love it!

Anyway, once we end, I take a week or so off, then my mind turns to the coming year and what we need, changes that need to be made, etc.  We used Switched on Schoolhouse this past year, and for the most part, it just didn't work that well for us.  We'll be using a bit of it this next year for a couple of kids, but then SOS will be gone forever for us.

This year I will be homeschooling grades K, 7, 8 & 9, so that's going to be interesting!  To be honest, I'm a little more nervous about the kindergartner (my very "effervescent" child!) than I am my high school freshman! lol  With the three oldest, we used Rod & Staff for the first two grades and they are very strong readers.  When my two oldest were in about 3rd and 4th grade, they tested post high school in reading!!  Obviously, this curriculum has something going for it, so we are using it with our youngest this year.

  We only do math and phonics/language/writing in K as far as "curriculum" goes, so that will help as we get in the swing of things.

Our biggest change this year is that we are moving to Tapestry of Grace!  I am sooooooo excited about it!!  When I first started homeschooling, I knew little about the curriculum out there and didn't feel like I could "teach", so stuck with more independent learning type curriculum.  On top of that, my health wasn't the best, so I would be exhausted by late morning to midday.  All of that coupled with tight finances kept us from experimenting too much.  I ran across TOG a year or two ago, and liked what little I saw, but saw the price and just moved on.  There isn't time to tell you how everything came about, but God definitely moved and we are starting TOG this year!  It's been amazing to look back over the past week or two and see how He orchestrated everything to get us to this point.  I prayed specifically for a nice, used copy with some of the extras that were out of my price range and He supplied over and above what I asked for!  God is so good!!  I really feel His leading in this, and hope I am up to the challenge.   I have started taking Plexus and am slowly feeling my energy level rising (and I'm sleeping through the night--something I haven't done in YEARS!), so I have high hopes that we're going to have a wonderful school year!

My 9th grader will be doing Algebra I from Landmark Freedom Baptist Curriculum, Biology from ACE (with supplements for lab, etc), Writing with Ease, Health from SOS and Easy Grammar Ultimate.

 My 8th grader will be doing Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra, Easy Grammar Plus, WWE and SOS Science. 

My 7th grader will be doing SOS math and science, Igniting Your Writing and Easy Grammar Plus.  Of course, the oldest will all be doing TOG, and I will be doing read-alouds to the little one to include her.  She won't officially start TOG until next year.  I can't wait to see what God does with all of us this year!!

A Change of Direction

Many of you have been coming here for some time for reviews on Christian books.  Due to the dearth of good, quality Christian fiction, I am no longer going to be reviewing them.  As a homeschool mom, I will be redirecting this blog for homeschooling. 

My youngest dd will begin homeschooling this year, meaning that I will be homeschooling all four dd's.  I will be talking about homeschool related issues, curriculum, books, possible field trips, etc.  I fully understand if you no longer want to follow this blog, and wish you well on your journey of life.

Sandra Lassiter

Unstoppable by Nick Vujicic

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nick Vujicic is a fascinating person. Born without arms and legs, his parents refused to coddle him and let him be labeled "special needs" or "disabled", but raised him to do for himself all he could and to never give up. "Unstoppable" is a great book on overcoming adversity--both in his own life and in stories he shares of others. Reading this book makes you stop and look at your own life and realize one of two things: "My life is actually pretty great and I need to stop worrying about the unimportant, bothersome things" or "Look at what they went through and how they came through it with God's help. Maybe I can handle this, too!"

Nick is very open and honest in this book--sometimes almost TOO open--about his faults and failures and trials he's gone through. It's sure to be an inspiration to anyone who reads it.

I received a copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Shades of Mercy by Anita Lustrea

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Shades of Mercy is a sweet coming of age story dealing with young love and racial prejudice. The love story is fairly sweet, though somewhat troublesome as there seemed to be little oversight of Mercy leading to her sneaking off to be with Mick whenever she could. The racial prejudice was dealt with honestly which is sometimes painful to read. As someone who has always been taught to judge someone by their actions and not their race or skin tone, it can be hard to read how very nasty people can be to those who do not share their own race. It is truth, however, and therefore a necessary part of the book.

That being said, I had a hard time engaging with the characters. I found myself putting to book down in the slower sections (of which there were many), and had to force myself to pick it back up and read some more so I could review it. That definitely dropped my rating for it.

If you want a simple, and sometimes slow story of young love coupled with racism, then check this book out. You might love it.

I received a copy of this book from River North Publishing for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My Apologies!!

My greatest, greatest apologies to my two winners.  I asked for addresses, but neglected to give an email.  Please email me at 1972booklover at gmail (dot) com with your mailing address to send your book.  I did try contacting you a couple of times, but it never would go through.  I've been battling a kidney stone for at least a week now, and that has kept me off balance and not thinking clearly from the pain.  I sincerely apologize.


Sandra

And the winners are......

Rachel K & Jasmine A.!!!!  Congratulations, ladies!!  Send me your address and I'll get your books in the mail to you!

I realize some may be wondering why there were only 2 winners when I had 3 books to give away.  Well, I had a brain-dead moment and did my giveaway over the holidays when people are busy with family, so we only had two entries.  Ah, well.  Next time I'll do a better job of planning my giveaways.

I hope you enjoy the book, ladies, and look forward to hearing what you think of it!