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Showing posts from May, 2013

Random 5 on Friday {May 31st Edition}

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I completed and utterly missed last week.  I had every intention of posting a Random 5 last week but well, it didn’t happen. 1.  This past weekend BooBear had her last piano recital. Well the last one as a minor. She’ll be attending college in the fall studying music and playing the piano so I’m sure it’s not the last time ever that she’ll perform but it is the last time she’ll perform in this type of recital. 2.  We’ve had an awesome week of product deliveries! All for the review crew! The science will be technically for the next school year but the Lily Lapp books are some fun read alouds to end our school year and the pile of books from Moving Beyond the Page is a wonderful way to finish up Tailorbear’s 8th grade! We also received our download copy of the TeenCoder C# series from Home School Programming.  Boobear may be graduating in 3 weeks but she has said she “will probably work on this over the summer anyway.” 3. Graduation season is upon us!  I know I am incredibly st

Blogging through the Alphabet I, J and K

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I is for Intentions! I had every good intention of blogging every day in May.  Really I did.  I had my list of ideas and the list of suggested daily topics. I started out so well!  And then . . . and then . . . it’s like I developed an allergy to Live Writer or blogging or something.  I had plenty of intentions but no desire, no inspiration . I also intended to blog twice a month about reading aloud with one of those posts being an update on my personal reading goals for 2013. It’s rather difficult to consistently blog about reading aloud to one’s children though when one finds one self NOT reading aloud for days on end. J is for Justification I could be full of justifying reasons for why I haven’t blogged.  Or why I chose to do this, that or the other thing instead of blogging.  But I’ll just leave it at I really have no justification.  I think I simply burned myself out with all the things I have going on right now and blogging went out the window. K is for . . . I’m having a

A New Resource for Home Schooling Families!

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The Old Schoolhouse is now offering: The Schoolhouse Library! Are you new to homeschooling?  Perhaps like me you’ve been around the block a time or two and you’re a veteran at this home education stuff. The Schoolhouse Library has something for everyone! This brand new digital resource offers over 175 e-books or audio books for just $25! One of these awesome resources is a Map Trek set from Knowledge Quest!  I love Map Trek! There’s a book about teaching writing from Write shop!  These are just two of the products that I recognize! Check out the Schoolhouse Library and see a list of a few more included items! These e-books and audio books cover 25 different topics such as spelling, grammar, economics, and geography.  Visit the Schoolhouse Library page to see more topics. *** Disclosure: As a reviewer for TOS, I will be granted access to this resource free of charge in exchange for promoting it. This is not a review; I am not required to promote this product.***

Memorial Day: Remembering Our Freedom

Earlier today one of my friends posted about her granddaughter on Facebook.  The lovely, little 6 year old girl had defined Memorial Day as a day to remember our freedom.  She went on to write “freedom to play outside.” This struck a chord deep within me and inspired this hastily put together blog post. I do not know if young S has any idea of what a profound concept she touched.  Freedom to play outside.  On the surface the statement brings a smile.  It’s a beautiful testimony to the simplicity to play outside. I dug a little deeper though and brought tears to my own eyes. Freedom to play outside means freedom from fear.  My children are free to play outside without fear that they will be shot by enemy rifles or caught in the crossfire of “friendly” gunman.  My children are free to play outside without the constant fear that they will be snatched to be sold as part of the human trade. There are children around the world who live in fear.  They do not have the freedom to play outsid

{Crew Review} High School Prep Genius

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**Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!*** I have one student on the verge of graduating ~ eek, less than a month away! ~, one student in the middle of high school and one about to enter high school. Boobear has definitely been my guinea pig throughout her home school career, but after this experience, I decided I wanted more help for Turtlegirl and I’d really like to do things “right” from the beginning with Tailorbear so I was thrilled to receive a copy of High School Prep Genius from College Prep Genius to review. This softcover, 440 page guidebook helps parents and students navigate through high school and prepare for college and the future. With 18 chapters, High School Prep Genius provides practical help in these four areas: Part I: Introduction ~ More than just a “how to use this book,” the introduction also includes a helpful timeline for grades 9 through 12. Part II: Foundation for Personal Success ~ includes topics such as in

I Have a Garden!

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Well truth be told, my husband has a garden and our 14 year old daughter, Tailorbear is his assistant but though they have done the work, I get to ooh and aah over the growing little plants and later this summer, I get to cook with and eat those yummy “fruits.” Note: Botany Lesson follows:  Other than carrots, everything else we are growing are biologically classified as fruits.  A fruit is a “womb” for the growing seeds for the next generation. (Yes, I learned that by teaching an elementary school level botany class to the girls several years ago.  They might actually have retained more than this old dog who still tries to learn new tricks!) We’ve got 2 rows of green beans, 2 rows of peas, and one row of carrots.  My husband says that the carrots are coming in but I’m not so sure those just aren’t stray bits of grass. The peas and beans are doing much better and are coming along quite nicely. I didn’t think I’d get so thrilled to see these plants poke through the dirt and begin to

H is for Happy Mother’s Day!

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Today in the United States we celebrate Mother’s Day.  I like Mother’s Day at my church. Teen girls help make corsages on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday morning they pin them on the moms as they come into church.  I love two-tone roses.  I’m particularly fond of Fire and Ice roses but I’ll take any two-tone over a solid color.  The lovely teen pinning corsages this morning was my beautiful daughter. She knew exactly which rose corsage to pin on me!  (Thank you BooBear!) My husband took me shopping to pick out plants for our tiny garden and while we were gone my girls made a lovely ham dinner.  We had special potatoes (think twice baked potato filling) inspired by some awesome potatoes that a friend made for our Agape Feast and ham.  BooBear was excited because she’d never done a ham before.  I am a very blessed mother. I wish I could spend mother’s day with my momma but she and I live too far apart.  I did call her today though and it was so good to hear her voice.  I miss her. 

Random 5 on Friday {May 10th Addition}

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Yes, I know it’s Saturday.  I did it again.  Do good intentions count? I really intended for this to be published on Friday.  *sigh* 1. I was determined to post every day in May.  Hahahaha.  I think I just went three days without posting.  The first day, I simply forgot. I was still in recovery mode from Pascha .  The second day, I gave up.  The third day?  Well that was yesterday and was supposed to be this post.  2. We’ve had incredibly wonderful weather (ok so it’s a bit on the hot side for Western WA as this time of year but I’m  trying to focus on the SUN part and not the hot part.) 3. Speaking of hot, I mean beautiful gorgeous, and sunny days.  Pascha (Eastern Orthodox Easter) was the most beautiful day.  We had lovely sunshine for our Egg and Treat Hunt and our Agape Feast Picnic.  Here Supergirl gets ready to collect her candy. The air is full of joy and shouts of “Christ is Risen”  4. Our tiny little garden is coming along nicely! Well the beans and peas anyway.  The car

{Recipe} Pot of Pasta

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I dusted off this old recipe ~ so old that my 3x5 index card is yellowed with age! and made this for our church potluck.  I made enough to take to church and another pan to leave at home for us for tonight. Here’s the original recipe (which I got from my mother-in-law, I think!)ingredients in {} are my additions 16 oz. cooked shell macaroni {I prefer shells because they are pretty but elbows work} 12 oz. sour cream {Do NOT skimp on the sour cream!} 2 lb. hamburger {I used half hamburger, and 1/2 Italian sausage} 1 large onion {I used 1 med}chopped {1 med. green bell pepper, chopped} 32 oz. Spaghetti sauce {home made would be awesome! The recipe said Ragu but I used what was on sale.  Also I used more like 52ish oz.. two of the 24-26oz size cans. We like it “saucier” than the recipe says {1/2- 3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese} 16 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese 3-4 tsp. oregano {3-4 tsp. basil} Salt and Pepper to taste Mix shells with sour cream and set aside

Pascha 2013

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In the Eastern Orthodox Church we call Easter, Pascha.  It means Passover.  It is the Lord’s Passover.  The week following Pascha is known as Bright Week. The Pascha Divine Liturgy is served during Bright Week and the doors of the Iconostasis are left open. Today is Bright Monday.  My parish has a tradition of serving Liturgy at a little tiny historic temple and then going out to brunch together. Alas, this year my family could not participate.  Today was a gloriously beautiful sunshiny day.  A wonderful, bright , day for celebrating Bright Monday. Yesterday, Pascha was also a glorious bright, beautiful, sunny day! I thought I would share a bit about our Pascha weekend.  In pictures!  (No, it’s really me, Tess. I haven’t been hacked. I’m actually just going to show a few pictures and stop talking writing now!)

May 5th NOT just Cinco de Mayo!

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Today is an incredibly important day for Orthodox Christians.  Today is Pascha!  We shout Christ is Risen!  Indeed He is Risen!  We sing: Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life! Pascha’s date changes every year. But there is one thing that I remember today and that date never changes.  My daddy was born May 5th, 1936.  If he had lived he would be 77 years old today.  Miss you Daddy!  May your memory be eternal! Above, daddy was so young! I think he said he was 16 (yes, he lied about his age!) when he ran away to join the army. In the picture below he holds Turtlegirl when she was just a few weeks old. It is one of my most favorite pictures. We were all gathered at the hospital in August 1997 for Supergirl's first open heart surgery!

Random 5 on Friday {May 3rd Edition}

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This is holy week so most of my Five are going to be church related just thought I’d give y’all a heads up <grin> And yes I know today is May 4th and a Saturday but time is, to quote Dr. Who, all wibbly-wobbly this week and I did actually lose track of what day it is. And true confession time, I dislike posting to my blog twice in one day so I pushed this post to Saturday so that I could post my review and giveaway for the movie Ring the Bell   (Did you enter yet?) 1.  I felt like a stage manager on Palm Sunday coordinating the handmaidens and getting them into position for the procession.  The thought crossed my mind that maybe I studied theater in college so that I could understand the process of rehearsing and cueing for special services. I know I gained a far better appreciation of the work involved in getting feast day services to run smoothly. 2. I posted this as my status on Facebook: “Another year, another Bridegroom Service, another blubbering Tess.”  EVERY year, I cry

Ring the Bell {Movie Review and Giveaway!}

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"Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned below for free in hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."   I love baseball.  I love the music of Casting Crowns.  I love a "feel good” family movie.  It was a “no-brainer” to respond the email to say “Yes, I would like to review the movie Ring the Bell.” Rob Decker isn’t just any sports agent.  He’s also the President and CEO of his own agency. He’s at the top of his game and he’s picked out the next baseball superstar. There’s just one small problem. Shawn wants to go college. He doesn’t want to go straight to the big leagues. Other agents from other agencies have tried to sign Shawn but faile

Great Empires from Home School in the Woods {Crew Review}

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Recently I realized that Supergirl needs more “hands on” or project style activities   to help her process and retain information from our literature based studies. I eagerly expressed the highest level of interest in the Great Empires activity study from Home School in the Woods because of the variety of projects included. I am familiar with Amy Pak and her Home School in the Woods company because we own and use her History Through the Ages timeline figures .   What is Great Empires? Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Spain, England, and the United States are just a few of the 14 empires you’ll study. Sample a bit of history, the culture including philosophy, the arts, and food! Enjoy making nesting dolls while exploring Russia, create a history of Spain in pictures using beautiful drawings from Amy Pak. Each empire study includes: Text Maps Reproducible Masters Recipes to Try Suggested Resources for Additional Reading A variety of different craft style activities or noteb