Wednesday, August 17, 2011

CameraSim: An Online SLR Camera Simulator


The SLR controls:

Lighting

Lighting is the single biggest determinant of how your camera needs to be set.  With only a few exceptions, you can never have too much light.  Use this slider to experiment with different indoor and outdoor lighting conditions.

Distance

Use this slider to simulate how close or far you are in relation to the subject.

Focal length

Moving this slider is the same as zooming in and out with your lens.  A wide, zoomed out setting creates the greatest depth of field (more things are in focus) while zooming in creates a shallower depth-of-field (typically just the subject will be in focus).

Mode

The exposure modes of an SLR let you control one setting while the camera automatically adjusts the others.  In Shutter Priority mode, you to set the shutter speed while the camera sets the aperture/f-stop.  In Aperture Priority mode, you set the aperture/f-stop while the camera sets the shutter speed.  Manual mode is fully manual—you’re on your own!  Refer to the camera’s light meter to help get the proper exposure.  Although every real SLR camera has a "fully automatic" mode, there is not one here—what’s the fun in that?

ISO

ISO refers to how sensitive the “film” will be to the incoming light when the picture is snapped.  High ISO settings allow for faster shutter speeds in low light but introduce grain into the image.  Low ISO settings produce the cleanest image but require lots of light.  Generally, you will want to use the lowest ISO setting that your lighting will allow.

Aperture

Aperture, or f-stop, refers to how big the hole will be for the light to pass through when the shutter is open and the picture is snapped.  Lower f numbers correspond with larger holes.  The important thing to remember is this: the higher the f number, the more things in front of and behind the subject will be in focus, but the more light you will need.  The lower the f number, the more things in front of and behind the subject will be out of focus, and the less light you will need.

Shutter speed

Shutter speed is how long the shutter needs to be open, allowing light into the camera, to properly expose the image.  Fast shutter speeds allow you to “freeze” the action in a photo, but require lots of light.  Slower shutter speeds allow for shooting with less light but can cause motion blur in the image.
Happy simulating!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

What is American Heritage Girls?


If you have girls ages 5-18, I would highly recommend American Heritage Girls.

So what is American Heritage Girls? 
From their website: "American Heritage Girls is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the mission of building women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country. The organization offers badge programs, service projects, girl leadership opportunities and outdoor experiences to its members. This program of character building has successfully served thousands of girls since its inception and will continue to do so long into the 21st century." 

From my girls: It is fun. I love getting the badges and doing service projects. 

If you would like more information about American Heritage Girls or would like to find a troop, check out their website.

If you live in Florida, there is a Facebook page for AHG.

Monday, August 15, 2011

I'm Hungry! What Are We Eating? Week of 8/15

Monday: 
Breakfast-Cheese Grits with Ham * Lunch-Beanie Weenies with Rice
Dinner-Beef Stroganoff with Green Beans

Tuesday:
Breakfast-Cereal w/Milk * Lunch-PBJ
Dinner-Grilled Cheese and Chips

Wednesday:
Breakfast-Eggs w/Hash Browns * Lunch-Beans with Rice
Dinner-with Friends

Thursday:
Breakfast-Bacon, Eggs and Grits * Lunch-??
Dinner-Country Boil

Friday:
Breakfast-Cereal with Milk * Lunch-Taco Town
Dinner-Draw Down Dinner with Family

Saturday:
Breakfast-Eggs with Hash Browns * Lunch-Hamburgers
Dinner-Beans with Rice

Sunday:
Breakfast-Hardees Biscuits * Lunch-Riches Bar-B-Q
Dinner-PBJ

Blog Schedule

MONDAY:
 I will post my weekly menu schedules. Hopefully, this will keep me on track with my cooking.

TUESDAY:
What are the girls doing in American Heritage Girls this week.

WEDNESDAY:
I have a lot of cool links for homeschooling, homemaking and more. Will post a new link every Wednesday.

THURSDAY:
What have we been doing this week in our homeschooling.

FRIDAY:
Videos from the internet.

SATURDAY:
Musings.

SUNDAY:
Christian video, blogs, sermons, etc.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

The Weight of the Cross


Ambitious Start To Our School Year

I am going to start my home school year on August 23. Government school starts on the 22 and we are going to enjoy an "I am not going to school today" outing with friends. I have some ambitious plans for this year.

Curly is starting middle school -- I can't believe that she is going to be in the 6th grade. She will be doing between 4 to 6 hours of school a day (depending on how focused she is on any particular day).

Angel is going into 3rd grade. She is growing up so fast. She will be doing between 4 and 5 hours of work a day. 

In addition to their studies, both girls will participate in American Heritage Girls, an organization whose mission is to build women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country. The girls can earn badges, do service projects, have leadership opportunities in the troop and participate in outdoor experiences.

Group Studies
Bible Study
Monday through Thursday: Studying/lapbooking/notebooking various verses in the Bible for the first part of the year and lapbooking a catechism study for the second half of the year. 
Friday: Picture Smart Bible (formerly Picture This!) to get an overview of the books of the Bible.

Science
Monday through Friday: The Lord God Made Them All"  Science Series Pt. 1-All Things Bright and Beautiful Online Course with Catie Frates (my one splurge) Modified for Angel

History 
Monday through Friday: History Revealed: Ancient Civilizations & the Bible and Romans, Reformers, Revolutionaries Modified for Angel

Geography
Monday through Friday: Trail Guide to World Geography: Around the World in 80 Days Unit Study (did the first half of the book last year) first part on year and then U.S. State Study: Star Spangled States with a Lapbooking Component

Foreign Language 
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: La Clase Divertida

Home Economics
Monday through Friday: Various chores around the house


Curly's Studies
Character Study
 Monday through Friday: Raising Maidens of Virtue

Math

Language Arts
Monday through Friday: Word Roots Beginning and A1
Monday through Friday: Analytical Grammar for 10 weeks and then bi-weekly for the rest of the year
Monday through Friday: poems from Harp and Laurel Wreath 
Tuesday and Friday: Spelling Power

Critical Thinking
Monday through Friday: Building Thinking Skills 3 Verbal
Monday and Wednesday: Red Herring Mysteries 2
Tuesday and Thursday: Mind Benders 4 and 5

Angel's Studies
Character Study 
Monday through Friday: Book of Virtues with lapbooking component

Math
Monday through Friday: CIMT-MEP (Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching-Methematics Enhancement Programme)
Join the Yahoo! Group mep-homeschoolers to get password to access some of the pages
Monday and Wednesday: Math Detectives Beginning
Tuesday and Thursday: Balance Math and More Level 1

Language Arts
Monday through Friday: Language Smarts Level D
Monday and Tuesday: Reading Detective Beginning
Monday through Friday: Word Roots Beginning
Tuesday and Thursday: poems from Harp and Laurel Wreath

Critical Thinking
Monday through Friday: Building Thinking Skills 2
Tuesday and Thursday: Red Herring Mysteries 1
Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday: Mind Benders Book 3

Just to let you all know, I am not affiliated nor do I make any money by mentioning the above products. 

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Going to try again. . .

I am going to try be consistent is writing my blog starting this home school year. Here's hoping.