Francais a la Biblioteque

 

The children are enjoying taking a French Class at the Round Lake Library. They love it!  Their teacher Fatiha is great. Each week she focus on vocabulary (parts of the body, colors, numbers etc). They then play a game and do a little coloring.  Here is a link to Fatiha’s blog. I love the colors. Think she would notice/be flattered if I copied?

http://fatihausa.blogspot.com/2009/02/nothings-new.html

 

Doesn’t Abigail looked thrilled?  The funny part is when they were learning colors a few sound like their English counterpart, only with a little French flair i.e.~ bleu, orange. Sooo the children would try to say other colors i.e.~red (rouge) as reeeed (with a French flair) or green (vert) greeeen. I supposed you had to be there!

Grow!

Babies aren’t the only ones who need milk to grow….

Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.

As I think of my baby~ she doesn't haphazardly desire milk, she craves it. That I would have that same desire for the Word. I have found that doing my devotion time (Bible reading and prayer) first thing when I get up, non-negotiable, works for me. I have tried to read through the Bible in a year a few times but never made it past the first week in January, until now. My friend Leslie shared this link with me
http://www.bible-reading.com/ .
It is a 52 week Bible reading plan which alternates between epistles, the law, history, psalms, poetry, prophesy, and the gospels. It has been a blessing to switch what I am reading daily yet pick it up where I left off the following week. Any other suggestions?

For those of you who go

In my circles there are the moms who stay home (me!) and the moms who are always on the go.  Lately we have been out and about much more and it is a challenge to stay on top of what needs to be done here. We just completed schoolwork at 8:30pm. Usually the children are in bed by then.  My house looks like it was ransacked. Do you who have busy outside lives ever sleep??? Please fill me in……

Guest Blogger Gillianne on our trip to the State Museum

I saw a big jeep and two airplanes! My favorite part was seeing the Native American cooking in their wigwam, and all their stuff and the baby. I saw a humpback whale skeleton. I petted birds. It reminded me of the seashore. Then I went on a merry go-round 1000 times. I saw police trucks and ambulances. I go to stand on a subway! I saw a pretend girl with a book and a man looking out a window, another girl and a driver. We saw a doctor and a baby. It made me feel happy. I liked the scientists.

Christian turns 9

God blessed our day in so many ways!  One being that I was ready on time :-)  We had beautiful weather and good friends and family to enjoy it with. The best blessing was that Keith was discharged from the hospital just in the nick of time to celebrate! YeeHaw!

My Mom and Sophia

Jeremy and Julianna

 

My Mom and Jeremy stayed very late and helped me pick up.

 

As Christian would say “It wouldn’t be a birthday without Krafty Kathy and Mrs. OldCowHand” (Thank you Lynn and MaryBeth!)

 

I think everyone had a great time!

Thank you Nanette for taking and editing these great pictures :-D

Dedicated to my Dad

Knoxville Tennessee

by Nikki Giovanni

I always like summer
Best
you can eat fresh corn
From daddy's garden
And okra
And greens
And cabbage
And lots of
Barbeque
And buttermilk
And homemade ice-cream
At the church picnic
And listen to
Gospel music
Outside
At the church
Homecoming
And go to the mountains with
Your grandmother
And go barefooted
And be warm
All the time
Not only when you go to bed
And sleep

Toad Abode

As part of learning about Toads Abby and Ollie made these cute toad houses to put in the yard. I hope some cute toad makes his home here.

Nursing Home Ministry

We got together with same friends to make fleece blankets for Mill View Nursing Home. The Round Lake Library was so kind to allow us to meet in their upstairs. We love our library and the super friendly staff!  We started with a skillfully read story.

 

The children were very attentive.

Then we got to blanket making!  God sent a special helper named Nancy who was a pro at making these!

It was a blessing to get together with friends, old and new, and make something to show the residents that we love and care for them.

Beware of the paparazzi

Gillianne is constantly taking pictures and video. There are no secrets in this house! This is a cute pic of Ollie and Abby.

Homeschooling begins at birth

Need I say more? 

Christian cooking with Nana

Christian and Nana made shrimp gumbo to celebrate Keith coming out of the hospital. It was out of this world!

K’nex with Chen and Sophie

Friends

A true friend is a priceless treasure

Gilli and Jasmine

Mim

We had a fun visit with Mim, Keith grandmother. .All animals and children instinctively love her (the snacks don’t hurt either). that says a lot about her. She loves this warm weather and Frank and Christa who care for her so selflessly.

Abby’s Birthday cupcakes

 

Christian made Abby’s birthday cupcakes 100% by himself. I was thankful to have such a willing helper. I will post a pic of the birthday girl when I figure out how.

Free Bowling!

Here is a web site to sign up your children ages 15 and under to bowl free 2 games per day over the summer. You can also get a family pass inexpensively. I just signed up my kiddos because I will be too busy with the baby to play myself. Now to find a good price on bowling shoes to avoid paying for shoes rentals...........


http://www.kidsbowlfree.com/index.php

Introducing my first guest blogger.....Christian!

Thank you! thank you! now i will start us off with some jokes.
1. what does a king wear under his pants? a great diper!
2. once there were 3 native americans who were blown away by a hurricane and landed on a deserted apple pie!
3.how do waves stop rocking? they turn off the radio!
4. what do you get ginger rale with? a ginger pale!
5. what do you call a scared ginger ale? a ginger pale!
6. what do you call a owl with a red tail and a strong voice? a red tailed howl!
thank you! i made up those jokes!

I want to say thank you to the ones who gave me those presents on my birthday! and thank you
for coming too. and i want to say thank you to krafty kathey and mrs old cowhand.
and thank you for reading!
this has been christian deno.

Made to stick by Chip and Dan Heath

http://www.amazon.com/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-Others/dp/1400064287/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238349671&sr=8-1


I requested this from the library and I love it! It is a departure from what I usually read. This is not a book on education but I think there are many educational implications. I am thinking about next year and how our homeschooling philosophy is always evolving. I like the combo of the classical model for memorization and Charlotte Mason for the student to develop a relationship with the material. Is anyone else reading this book?

I have succumbed

After resisting and digging my heels in I have succumbed. Yes, I have a blog. It all started when my friend started calling me “The Amusing  Redhead” . I slapped myself in the forehead knowing that that is the best blog name and I couldn’t waste it.  So, here I am. Thank you for visiting.