Quote of the Week ~ Doug Phillips

The Bible calls debt a curse and children a
blessing; but in our culture, we apply for a
curse and reject blessings. Something is
wrong with this picture." ~ Doug Phillips

HEAV Convention - Don't Miss Out!

HEAV’s Virginia Homeschool Convention offers 301-booth Exhibit Hall; a giant Used Curriculum Sale (39,000+ items last year); a Children’s Program; 119+ workshops on preschool, high school, college and career, special needs, character training, culture wars, courtship, home business; and MUCH more. Speakers include Voddie Baucham, Carol Barnier, Joel Salatin, Inge Cannon, Jessica Hulcy, Steve Demme, Dianne Craft, Adam Andrews, Debbie Strayer, and many others! Four FREE how-to-begin sessions on Thursday and FREE shopping Saturday from 3 to 6 p.m. Qualifying parents of preschoolers and non-homeschooling grandparents attend FREE! For more information, call 804-278-9200, e-mail office@heav.org, or visit http://www.heav.org/convention/convention.

Free Bird Watching Resource!

Homeschool Resource of the Day is offering a wonderful FREEBIE today.

The title of today's "Freebie" is "Birdwatching for Beginners: A Guide for Homeschoolers (PDF ebook) "

How to get started, what resources and equipment you need, where to find birds and how to identify them, how to keep records of your sightings, "etiquette" for watchers, how to attract birds to your own back yard, and much more!

I downloaded a copy for myself and there is some great information - download your free copy today only at

http://www.homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com/

Love & Blessings!

Tiffany

We're BACK!

After what was suppose to be a "brief hiatus" during the holidays (Thanksgiving & Christmas!) I came back to add to the blog only to find I was unable to access my blog.

I am not a technical expert. I can find my way around the computer and MOST software well enough but I could not access this page no matter how I tried. Then LIFE took over, homeschool, coop, home making--- generally being a mom and a wife (and teacher). I tried here and there and FINALLY asked for help from the Blogger community. Thank you so much to those who take time to help people like me lol to fix thier mistakes. I am (as of today lol) able to access this blog again so I can NOT wait to upload all of the outings and plans we've ben doing since November!! I hope I can catch up and provide everyone with some helpful tips, lesson plans, and insights as before! Bear with me as I try to revamp the blog and get fresh information out!

I will tell you that we have been studying mammals - more specifically lagomorphs. Yes - Lagomorphs- I had not heard of them until we began the study. Lagomorphs include rabbits, hares, and pikas. We are using the Burgess Animal Book for Children, Beatrix Potter, and library books for this study so if you have those resources or want to gather them - I hope to get some notebooking and lapbooking pages as well as some lesson plans up in the next couple of days! Glad to be blogging again!

Blessings!!!

Tiffany

Since Thanksgiving is Thursday, I am taking a "break" from our normal literature and history schedule to spend the next few days enjoying America's TRUE Thanksgiving history! I have found NUMEROUS free items and have not had to buy anything so I thought I would "share the wealth!"
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." ~1 Thessalonians 5:18


As we read and study the Bible in chronological order, we will continue our regular readings for the week as we make our way through God's word. We will, however, be focusing on thankfulness in our devotions. We use SEVERAL devotional books throughout our Bible Study- this way I always KNOW I have one that relates to what we need.

Here are a few good books we use as children's devotions and the page numbers we'll use this week:
God and Me! Devotions fo Girls Ages 2-5 -
`Pages 71-71 - Sharing - we will discuss the sharing of blessings that took place between the Indians and the Pilgrims. We'll also begin discussing ideas for our service work for this term and really look at just how blessed we are to have love and family during this season.
-Pp. 74-75 - Comfort - discussion on the losses the Pilgrims suffered (the lost lives) during that first year and how Jesus kept them strong and comforted them.
-PP. 78-9 - Compromise - "Two are Better than one." ~ Ecclesiastes 4:9 - the relationship between the indians and pilgrims and how they survived with their help.
-Pp. 82-3 - Possessiveness - "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love." -Romans 12:10
Gotta Have God! Fun Devotions for Boys - Ages 6-9 -

Pp. 58-9 - God's Awesome Power - trusting in God - The Pilgrims put all of their faith in God and He provided for them
Pp. 70-1 - God's Awesome Power- God's strength -
Pp. 84-5 - God wants me to share with others
Pp. 88-9- Big things can happen when I pray
Pp. 130-1 - God will not forget me
Leading Little Ones to God
Chapter 13 - God is Faithful
Chapter 18 - God Always Does What Is Best

"Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." ~ Revelation 15:3
Chapter 28- God Takes Care of Us

Chapter 29 - God Turns Our Troubles into Good

Chapter 30- God's Angels Watch Over Us

"But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content." ~ 1Timothy 6:8

Child's Prayers for this week:

"For what we are about to recieve May the Lord make us truly thankful. Amen. " ~ Anonymous

"O God, I thank Thee for all the joy I have had in my life." ~ Earl Brithnoth

"Thou art great And Thou art good, And we thank Thee for this food. " ~ Traditional

"God is great, God is good, and we thank Him for our food. By His hands we all are fed, Give us Lord our daily bread. Amen. " ~ Traditional

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." ~ Psalm 19

Books that we are reading this week:

"Mary of Plymouth: A Story of the Pilgrim settlement" by James Otis. IF you take advantage of it right away - (before Monday, Dec. 1st - you can obtain a FREE copy of this book at Homeschool Freebie of the Day. Click on the link and downoload a free version of this fascinating "living book". This book is on the "Living Books Curriculum" 1st grade booklist.

"Pilgrim Stories, Book III - Little Pilgrims & The Red Men" by Margaret Pumphrey. You may also find this title free for download this week at Homeschool Freebie of the Day. Click here for the link. Description from Homeschool Freebie of the Day site -

"Pilgrim Stories III: Little Pilgrims & The Red Men (PDF ebook) - This absolutely delightful three part serialization of the story of the Pilgrims - perfect for “read aloud” and sharing with the kids
over the next couple of weeks! In Part Three, we learn how children from the Pilgrim settlements fared with their encounters with their Native American neighbors - this includes some outstanding stories of danger, adventure & friendship! Also included in Part Three: A short but helpful “Teacher’s Guide” to learning more about the Pilgrims’ life and times through play-acting and other fun activites. Great stuff! SPECIAL NOTE: All three parts of
“Pilgrim Stories” will remain available here on the site for you until the end
of this week, so be sure you get them all… and tell a friend!

Here are the link for Book I & II.

Book I - "From Old Homes to New"

Book II - "The Wild Land & Thanksgiving"

"An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving" - by Louisa May Alcott -

YES! They are being so incredibly generous for this gracious time of year! YET ANOTHER freebie that is STILL available this week from Homeschool Freebie of the Day! Here is the description from their site:

"An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott (PDF ebook) - In this delightful short story, the author of “Little Women” tells this classic tale that re-captures the celebration of Thanksgiving as it wasobserved in the early 1820s in rural New England. It is a tale full of family, fun, humor, long-lost
traditions, and the smells and tastes of a Thanksgiving day “way back when”.

" Three Young Pilgrims" by Cheryl Harness - I REALLY like this book. It is exactly what I want out of a "Living history Book" for my young children. It is both well written and beautifully illustrated. The author tells the story from the viewpoint of three young children of the Allerton family. It is a book about a family which is in MHO exactly what Charlotte Mason called for in a "living book." For your visual learner - the illustrations are great! The book begins with a fascinating map of their journey and the following page has an illustration of a ship with the bottom "cut away" so the children can have an idea of the ship's layout. It also helps to see just how CRAMPED the space was. I will note that Mama and the new baby pass away in this book so you may want to take note for younger or sensitive children. I have one daughter in particular I was careful with explanation in the story because she is quite sensitive.

Character & Etiquette - FREE copywork - The Goops

Character & Etiquette -
"Goops Style"
(free copywork below)
For those of you who have not heard poetry about "The Goops" ~ you are missing out! :)
These DELIGHTFUL poems have been enjoyed by children and families since 1900. They are amusing little poems written by author/illustrator Gelett Burgess some 100 years ago that teach children how NOT to behave!

THE GOOP DIRECTORY
OF
Juvenile Offenders Famous for their Misdeeds and Serving as a Salutary Example for all Virtuous Children

with Pictures by
GELETT BURGESS
Author of "Goops," "The Lively City o' Ligg," etc.

Mr. Burgess' hilarious "Goops" poems go over everything from not eating your crust to playing with matches! I happened across "Table Manners" last year while looking for some poetry for my young children. It has been enjoyed over and over by my family since. We often laugh at the dinner table and call one another a "Goop" if a bad manner is observed! :) Much more fun than constantly scolding and nagging.

I have found that my children WANT to have better manners so as not to "BE A GOOP!" Of course, for direct disobedience- a joke is not the way to go. But for those thoughtless times when one of them (especially the five year old twins who seem to ALWAYS tell a story at the same time!) becomes so excited about thier part in the story being told that they slip and speak with food in their mouth or forget their fork ~ "The Goops" seem to work quite well! :)

I attempted to find a portrait of Mr. Burgess for our timeline but could not seem to locate one. I did find the "Self Portrait" above on the right and I think we will print this out and post it on our timeline for his year of birth (1866). It's interesting to note that the infamous ""Purple Cow: Reflections on a Mythic Beast Who's Quite Remarkable, at Least" poem was also written by Mr. Gelett Burgess. It first appeared in a magazine, "The Lark" on May 1, 1895. To the right please find a picture of that first issue if you'd like to also add this to your timeline. It turns out, Mr. Burgess primarily edited and wrote this periodical - under a pseudonym. The story of this can be found here as well as on other sites the web.
Although the children and I QUITE enjoyed "The Purple Cow" it appears Mr. Burgess was not fond of being known for writing it.

Upon being associated with this poem, he wrote "Confession: and a Portrait Too, Upon a Background that I Rue" in "The Lark", number 24 on April 1, 1897.

Ah, yes, I wrote the "Purple
Cow"—

I'm Sorry, now, I wrote it;

But I can tell you Anyhow

I'll Kill you if you Quote it!

Among other places, "Purple Cow" is listed in Favorite Poems of Childhood" compiled by Philip Smith. You can also find a copy directly from Dover Publishing here. "The Purple Cow" in audio can be found for FREE here. I also found a free coloring page of a cow here for those with much younger children who want to print it and let the children color her purple. :) I simply googled "cow coloring page" and MORE than I cared to imagine popped up :). There is also a "Purple Cow Craft" found here.

I realize this is quite "twaddly" for most but when reading and discussing poetry with an older child - these "twaddly" coloring pages have come in QUITE handy for my younger twins! As well as sometimes to help my VERY kinesthetic son to have something to keep his hands on while he listens. I simply prefer it to watching their knees bounce or chairs come off the floor and back down again :)

Now- on to the promised copywork...
"The Goops" found themselves into several books and Mr. Burgess provided us with a very gentle way of teaching manners (habits). Of course, these poems will never take the place of parents providing good foundations in habit and child training but they are a fun bit to add in with your poetry studies. Anything that assists with good character building is welcome here!

A Free copy of "The Goops Directory" can be found here on Project Gutenberg in the public domain.

A FREE copy of "More Goops and How Not to be Them" can be found here in printable format

These are great for supplements to character training and study, for a short "mini" unit on the poet himself, or a "Fun Friday" copywork! :) However you choose to add "The Goops" into your homeschool or child training - they are a true delight!

Today, we worked on the poem "Anabella Day- Obeying Slowly." We read the poem together, lauged a bit :) , and then they produced copywork of the poem. I compiled some copywork with a coloring page for this particular poem. There is a large page with the picture below resized so it can be colored and there are three sets of copywork. The first set would be for older students - the poem is listed above and there are two pages of penmanship paper where your child can copy the poem. The second set has the poem written out on the penmanship paper with two or three lines directly below each set for the child to use. The third set (and probably for your youngest student/child) allows the child to trace/write INSIDE of the letters to create the poem. I hope you enjoy these copywork pages as well as the little gems that are "The Goops" poetry!

FREE Copywork - Anabella Day - Obeying Slowly

Botany Coloring Pages - too many to believe!

This morning I came across this GREAT page with TONS of botany coloring pages to print or download as well as a seperate page with a coloring guide to the correct color of the plants! :) I'm just pouring over it this morning and printing more than I care to admit! :) I hope you enjoy it - I will also add it to our links page.

Living Nature Books....The History of Insects

The History of Insects

I must first apologize for the lack of nature study entries I've had over the past month or so. The elections this year have been so incredibly important to me ~ they seem to have taken up so much of my time. I had forgotten what this log is really about~ and that is helping our children to discover the amazing gifts God has given us! His beautiful creation that is such a gift and not to be forgotten!

A dear friend sent me an email a christian woman had put out and in it, she discusses our roles in the current state of things. As Christians ~ the MOST important thing we can do is pray - pray- and pray some more. The Lord will place in command of this country who He sees fit for His will. Whether it be to "wake us up" to our sins or to lead us back into a God fearing country ~ it is HIS will. So ~ I need to let it be ~ of course not to say its not important to pray and pray about it and OF COURSE VOTE! this Tuesday ---but I want to get back to what the Lord calls me to do ---and that is educate my children and use my passion, interest, and abilities in nature study to help others with thier children's education as much as I humbly can :) :).

So --- ENOUGH of the election on THIS blog :) ;) ! And I apologize to those of you who have been such devout readers and whom I've neglected the past month or so by not sharing our studies! :)

The children and I have continued nature studies ~ though not as diligently as usual and I'm sorry for that but I have taken pictures and notes on all that we have done and my goals is to post it all for you this upcoming week.

We've planted our fall annuals ~ including pansies ~ which have their own lesson in The Handbook of Nature Study.

We've completed our "Weeds & Seeds" three part series with a fantastic study on Dandelions (blog post on this is almost complete - check back - this was a great one!) And also an ongoing seed study as we continue to harvest, dry, and package our seeds for next year. This has been such an exciting time as we harvest and talk about harvesting in the Bible and how we relate to the Biblical times. It went well with our Ancient Egypt studies from The Story of the World ~
see our Nile River projects also!

The kids have planted their spring bulbs after I received a blog post from Barb at Handbook of Nature Study about her gorgeous bulbs. We then divided our own perrenials and moved their bulbs or gave them away.

The grasshopper study was TONS of fun and suprising - even for mom :) - there was so much information in The Handbook of Nature Study and the children had a great time really looking at our grasshopper friends and releasing them. The blog from that study as well as a "lesson plan" that I wrote up to use with the HNS for this topic will be uploaded this week. You'll find the release of the grasshoppers was the best part of the study as we marvelled at the amazing distance they were able to travel in one jump!

I can't forget the other fall activities --- the corn maze, pumpkin carving, gathering fallen leaves and pinecones, and making a fall wreath out of our gathered materials... the blogs should be great this week as I document our adventures. ;)

Now --- The History of Insects -- this is a GREAT little living science book about insects for the early elementary grades. It can be found for free at Project Gutenberg.
The files here are in html, however, it wasn't in a pdf format or word doc format so it was quite difficult to isolate just a page to print or particular insect. If you are like me, you don't always print entire books at once. Paper and ink have become expensive so I print weeks or subjects worth of the online books as they are needed. To do this, I copied the online book into a word document. It is available here for you. I hope this helps. We will be using the introduction, History of Insects, as well as the Honey Bee section this week to try to wrap up our insect studies during the (probably) last mild weather week we'll have here in Virginia. :)

Another great living science book on Insects is The Insect Folke by Margaret Warner Morley. You can find this literature online free also at Project Gutenberg. Here is a link for this book.

Prayers for our country needed NOW!

I saw this in my HEAV email this morning and thought it was too important not to pass along...

The Upcoming Elections - A Call to Prayer

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV)

As the elections approach, please spend extra time on your knees for this land--we are in desperate need of God's healing. During WWII, an advisor to Winston Churchill organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every night at a prescribed hour for one minute of collective prayer for the safety of England and its people, and for peace. There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America. They are asking people to stop at 9 p.m. Eastern Time and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, and our citizens; for peace in the world; for the upcoming election; that the Bible will remain the basis for the laws governing our land; and that Christianity would grow in the U.S.

If you know anyone who would like to participate, please pass this along. Someone said if people really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.

[ Modified from a note we received from Penny Richardson ND, CNHP. Thank you, Penny, for sharing! ]

Virginia Senate Race - Mark Warner speaks harshly against Christians, Pro lifers, Homeschoolers...

MARK WARNER FINALLY ADMITS TO DEMEANING REMARKS ATTACKING PEOPLE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH, PRO-LIFERS, HOME SCHOOLERS AND THE NRA

October 12, 2008 For Immediate Release

MARK WARNER FINALLY ADMITS TO DEMEANING REMARKS ATTACKINGPEOPLE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH, PRO-LIFERS, HOME SCHOOLERS AND THE NRA

Gilmore Campaign Demands Warner Apologize for the Remarks and for Lying About ThemAlexandria - The Jim Gilmore for Senate Campaign released a statement today after Mark Warner admitted this weekend that he made disparaging remarks about people of Christian faith, pro-lifers, home schoolers and NRA members -- calling them "threatening" to "what it means to be an American": "After repeatedly denying for years that he made these intolerant statements, Mark Warner this weekend finally owned up to the hurtful remarks after an audio recording of him making these demeaning comments was made public, " said Ana Gamonal, the Gilmore Campaign Communications Director. "What is even sadder than his admitting that he had lied, after of years of denial, is the best Mark Warner could offer was that his comments were perhaps "over the top" and that he had "learned a lot" since then, with no offer of an apology to the people he attacked by inferring they were un-American," Gamonal said.[1] "Mark Warner owes Virginians several apologies. One, for making these statements in the first place; Second, for repeatedly "angrily" denying he did so and calling those who were confronting him on it, "disrespectful", when in fact he was the one being disrespectful.[2]And third, for his lack of sincerity throughout this entire Senate campaign, where he has attempted to paint himself as a "centrist", while at the same time attesting to the sentiments expressed in these statements, by affirming he would not support Supreme Court justices like of Justice Scalia or Justice Thomas, calling them "out of the mainstream," Gamonal declared.[3] "Now, Virginians will be able to hear first hand and in his own words, how Mark Warner really feels about so many of the values Virginians hold dear."
Click here to hear the audio recording: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpicD6UIq8A

"One of the things you are going to see is a coalition that is just about completely taken over the Republican Party in this state and if they have their way it's going to take over state government. It is made up of the Christian Coalition, but not just them. It is made up of the right-to-lifers, but not just them. It's made up of the NRA, but not just them. It is made up of the home schoolers, but not just them. It's made up of a whole coalition of people that have all sorts of differing views that I think most of us in this room would find threatening to what it means to be an American." Mark Warner, May 1994 ________________________________________

[1] Quotes taken from the Northern Virginia Daily 10/11/08
[2] Quotes taken from the Richmond Times-Dispatch 10/31/2001
[3] Quote taken from the Virginian Pilot 10/4