Found a neat site that makes puzzles out of your photo or any image you have.
Have fun solving (HINT: Veggies are good for you.)
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Oh My! It's been so long.
I did not realize it has been so long since I posted. Life just totally got away from me. We got WAY behind in homeschooling and I have been trying so hard to catch us up. I think we are finally there. We are having a fun time learning about Botany and we are making a lapbook with it. We have finished Part 1 of the lapbook and am now working on part 2. I will try to post pictures by the weekend.
We are having so much fun (even though we are "playing catch up").
Spanish is a trip. During math, my youngest gives me her answers in Spanish. It is bad enough I have to "do" math--I now have to translate to English in the process. We made Mexican wedding cookies yesterday and one of their crafts. It was real fun. If you have younger kids and want to expose them to a foreign language. I would recommend La Clase Divertida. When they get a little older, I am thinking about getting Rosetta Stone.
I tried a different math with my youngest. It is a program from England called CIMT-MEP (Center for Innovation in Mathematics Teach - Mathematics Enhancement Program). It is free, but you need to join the MEP-Homeschoolers Yahoo Group to get the password to unlock some of the pages. I really like the format.
I am not thrilled with our choice of science book, but we are enjoying learning about botany. I modified some of the stuff to make it not quite so "trite".
Well, guess I need to stop typing and get back to my kiddos. Hope to write soon.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
O Christmas Tree
We did something different with our Christmas tree this year. We made ornaments that represent the names of Jesus. It was fun to research various names of Jesus and finding the Bible verses that go with them. I tried to have the girls do something beside just color the pictures that would be on the ornaments. All the ornaments are laminated (my new favorite toy) so that they have some durability.
Here are my girls in front of the tree and . . .
. . . here is our finished tree.
The individual ornaments:
We put glitter on the cross and then laminated it.
After we laminated, they used sticky felt to make the blanket for baby Jesus.
Added gold glitter for the flame and then laminated.
Put masking tape for the cross, chalked and then removed tape. I hindsight it would have looked better with either darker paper with the white chalk or darker chalk.
I used two pieces of cardstock and laminated them back to back. I then carefully cut out three sides of the door so that it could open and had the girls write "Jesus" on the inside.
Laminated the face and then had the girls glue strips of ribbon for the mane.
Had the girls make a basket then laminated to back of verse. I did not glue it so that I could carefully open the top of the basket and insert the laminated loaves of bread.
Glued foil on back of verse and laminated, them made a 3-D star and glue over the foil. Also, put a little glitter glue on star to make it sparkle a little.
Cut out the ribbon part and taped ribbon to back before attaching to back of Bible verse and laminating.
Laminated crown to back of Bible verse and then glued those decorative gems you find in floral department to the crown.
Used pipe cleaner to make staff.
Got a twig in the shape of the cross to represent the Righteous Branch.
This is our Jesse Tree. Of course, this is how it will look on December 25. We put one ornament on the tree each day and read the corresponding Bible verse. Starts with Creation and ends with Jesus.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Let Me Entertain You -- NOT!
In our homeschooling schedule, I have recently started group time before we officially "start school". This is a time for prayer, praise and any information I need to share with my girls. It has been somewhat difficult. My youngest (7 years old) has a very hard time sitting still and not being disruptive during this time. I can not blame her totally for her behavior--I have tacitly allowed it. What a terrible disservice I have done to my daughter. Well, all that is going to change. Not just in our homeschooling but also in the way we "do" everything--even church.
I was reading a Voddie Baucham article about family worship and including younger children. It has really opened my eyes.
This is one of the songs that he uses in his worship time. It brought back memories of my childhood.
I especially like this from his post:
Worship is not about entertainment. Worship is a solemn encounter. Sure, there are times when we have powerful, emotional encounters with God. However, those are not the norm. And when we try to make that the norm, we miss a very important truth. Spiritual Disciplines are just that... Disciplines! . . . We don’t believe every meal needs to be a grand feast, do we? Unfortunately, somebody told us that worship should be ‘exciting’ and ‘fun’ and we believed them. The fact is, sometimes worship is boring, and that’s alright. Dinner is boring sometimes too, but we still need to eat . . . How do we expect this from children whose entire religious foundation is built upon entertainment? Ironically, one of the most important things small children learn in family worship is the discipline of ‘sitting through’ something that is not necessarily entertaining.
"Sitting through" . . . I like that. The word "enduring" came to mind. Sometimes, I endure a service. It is so hard for the words of the songs to even come out of my mouth, but I endure through it. Even though I don't have a "fireworks" experience, it is okay. God is there and is ministering to me.
I feel that our church misses that very point--before every worship song we are told how awesome we are supposed to feel while singing this particular song. You know sometimes I do feel awesome--but there are times that I sing the songs and don't quite "feel" it the way I think they want me too. That bothers me--not my feelings but the expectations that are being put on my worship experience by well-meaning folks. I worry about other folks who have the same experience that I have. Do they think something is wrong with their spiritual walk because they don't feel all warm and fuzzy after every praise song?
I sometimes feel so old--I don't remember having all this stuff during church. We sang hymns/praise songs, had Bible reading and a sermon. None of the bells and whistles that they have now. I am not anti-technology, in fact I love technology. I do not think it should not be used just because it is there. I don't quite understand video taping the church announcements with all the fancy editing. I would be nice to have a living person make the announcements.
We are training our children to have the same expectation. They are subjected to all these bells and whistles when they attend children's church and then when they are in 4th grade and are required to go to big church, we wonder why they are bored and can't behave. So we tailor church to satisfy that need.
I am just as guilty of sending my kids to children's church. That is going to change. I know it is going to be hard and at times, I know many stares are going to come from people because we are going to have to enforce some discipline, but I know it will be worth it in the end.
Until next time . . .
I was reading a Voddie Baucham article about family worship and including younger children. It has really opened my eyes.
This is one of the songs that he uses in his worship time. It brought back memories of my childhood.
I especially like this from his post:
Worship is not about entertainment. Worship is a solemn encounter. Sure, there are times when we have powerful, emotional encounters with God. However, those are not the norm. And when we try to make that the norm, we miss a very important truth. Spiritual Disciplines are just that... Disciplines! . . . We don’t believe every meal needs to be a grand feast, do we? Unfortunately, somebody told us that worship should be ‘exciting’ and ‘fun’ and we believed them. The fact is, sometimes worship is boring, and that’s alright. Dinner is boring sometimes too, but we still need to eat . . . How do we expect this from children whose entire religious foundation is built upon entertainment? Ironically, one of the most important things small children learn in family worship is the discipline of ‘sitting through’ something that is not necessarily entertaining.
"Sitting through" . . . I like that. The word "enduring" came to mind. Sometimes, I endure a service. It is so hard for the words of the songs to even come out of my mouth, but I endure through it. Even though I don't have a "fireworks" experience, it is okay. God is there and is ministering to me.
I feel that our church misses that very point--before every worship song we are told how awesome we are supposed to feel while singing this particular song. You know sometimes I do feel awesome--but there are times that I sing the songs and don't quite "feel" it the way I think they want me too. That bothers me--not my feelings but the expectations that are being put on my worship experience by well-meaning folks. I worry about other folks who have the same experience that I have. Do they think something is wrong with their spiritual walk because they don't feel all warm and fuzzy after every praise song?
I sometimes feel so old--I don't remember having all this stuff during church. We sang hymns/praise songs, had Bible reading and a sermon. None of the bells and whistles that they have now. I am not anti-technology, in fact I love technology. I do not think it should not be used just because it is there. I don't quite understand video taping the church announcements with all the fancy editing. I would be nice to have a living person make the announcements.
We are training our children to have the same expectation. They are subjected to all these bells and whistles when they attend children's church and then when they are in 4th grade and are required to go to big church, we wonder why they are bored and can't behave. So we tailor church to satisfy that need.
I am just as guilty of sending my kids to children's church. That is going to change. I know it is going to be hard and at times, I know many stares are going to come from people because we are going to have to enforce some discipline, but I know it will be worth it in the end.
Until next time . . .
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Getting in the Holiday Mood
OK. It is finally cool (don't know if it will last, but I will take it while I can get it), the OfficeMax ElfYourself site is up, I can smell people's fireplaces burning (wish we had one boo hoo) and I am itching to bake some cookies.
I want to decorate but I don't want to forget about Thanksgiving, so I am patiently waiting.
I found a cool cookie press at Goodwill and I am just dying to try it. Unfortunately, no instruction manual came with it. I searched the web and found the item on various sites for sell but alas no instructions. I emailed the company and hopefully I can get a manual from them. Here's hoping.
Until then, I will use the directions below.
I want to decorate but I don't want to forget about Thanksgiving, so I am patiently waiting.
I found a cool cookie press at Goodwill and I am just dying to try it. Unfortunately, no instruction manual came with it. I searched the web and found the item on various sites for sell but alas no instructions. I emailed the company and hopefully I can get a manual from them. Here's hoping.
Until then, I will use the directions below.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Curly's Hometown Movie Surfer
We went to see the Train Tour of Disney's Christmas Carol when it was in town. The girls signed up for a chance to be a Hometown Movie Surfer. We were excited when we got the call that Curly won. We did a video about Curly's experience taping the segment. At the end is a review of Disney's A Christmas Carol. Enjoy.
You can see Curly's video online at MovieSurfers.com
When you get to the Hometown Movie Surfer map, just click on Curly's picture and you will see her video.
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