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Showing posts from April, 2014

An Alphabetical Collection of Random Thoughts {April 25th Edition}

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Last week I had some not so random thoughts about Holy Week .  This week I’ve organized my random thoughts to fit into the last 5 letters of the alphabet so that I can say I actually completed a full round of Alphabet Blogging.  Next week, I plan on starting another round of Alphabet Blogging and I really hope to keep up with the hostess this time! V is for Vegetable Garden ~ It’s spring.  Time to think about yard work, flower beds, and vegetable gardens. Last year we had our first garden. It was my husband’s baby and it was wonderful!  Well the stuff that grew did wonderful. It was a learning experience and I’m excited to try again. Last year we grew peas, green beans, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers of some kind, some kind of squash, and tomatoes. The plan this year is to expand the garden. W is for Wasting Time ~ I feel like I do a lot of time wasters and then I get all grumpy and then I look around at all that I need to do, get overwhelmed and then waste more time. I get so frustra

U is for Unending Church Services

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This past week was Holy Week.  It is my favorite week of the year . We joke in my family that Holy Week is the week that we live at church.  It is during Holy Week and Pascha that we experience the longest services. It can feel like unending church services. Palm Sunday begins the week long remembrance of Christ’s  last week or His Passion Week. Holy Week technically begins during the Vespers service on Palm Sunday.   Except that my parish doesn’t do that service. I  just happened to read in my Palm Sunday Service book that during Vespers the bright colored cloths are changed to black.  It reminds me of Forgiveness Vespers.  During that Sunday vesper service we enter into Great Lent.  The bright gold is exchanged for the purple of Lent. Starting with Lazarus Saturday, which is a foreshadowing of the Lord’s resurrection and a foreshadowing of our own future resurrection, and ending with the Agape Vespers service one could spend up to 38 hours (give or take) in church! That does not c

K-12 Online Math Program: CTC Math {Crew Review}

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If you are a regular reader of my blog,then you may know that although I like math, I do not like teaching math.  Supergirl’s needs require that I present concepts over and over again in as many different ways possible so I am always looking for something new and different for her to try. Tailorbear and Turtlegirl both enjoy using the computer for as much school work as I will let them and Turtlegirl needs geometry. CTC Math is an online math program with lessons from Kindergarten through Calculus. We received the 12 Month Family Plan . What is CTC Math? CTC Math is an online, interactive, video based math program. Each lesson begins with a video presentation by Australian math teacher Pat Murray. With CTC Math your student sets the pace. Your student will have access to all the levels and move backward and forward as needed. A little rusty with 4th grade skills? Complete those lessons and then move on to grade 5.  Grade 5 a little too easy in some areas? No problem, you can w

The Wise Woman Literary Analysis Journal {Crew Review}

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Reading and analyzing literature is a required part of high school English here in my home school. I’m always looking for products that make it easy to develop those skills. Several months ago, I became aware of Home School Adventure Co. but did not know about The Wise Woman with Literary Analysis Questions until it was offered as one of four choices for review through the Schoolhouse Review Crew .   Description of The Wise Woman (from Turtlegirl): For each chapter, there are approximately 20 questions. Some have less, such as 15-19, others have more like 23-27. The questions range from helping you relate the story to yourself, simple “what prevents Agnes from coveting?” type questions, and deep analysis questions like "What did MacDonald imply by the statement, ‘ Prince did his best to let her know that until she could obey herself, she must obey him ?'” There is no need to purchase a separate copy of the book The Wise Woman by George Macdonald.  Mrs. Farrell has in

Christ Is Risen!

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Today on this Great Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, may you be blessed! This is the day of resurrection. Let us be illumined by the  feast. Let us embrace each other. Let us call “Brothers” even those that hate us, and forgive all by the resurrection and so let us cry: Christ is Risen from the dead, Trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tomb bestowing life. Happy Pascha!  or for my Western friends Happy Easter!

Not So Random 5 on this Holy Friday {April 18th Edition}

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Today is Holy Friday.  The Western World knows it as Good Friday, but my children like to say “but what is good about it?  Jesus died and was buried!”  It is good because it fulfills scripture and by His death, burial and eventual resurrection, Death is destroyed.  I do prefer the Eastern term of Holy.  So this week,  I’m not going to be random.  In honor of Holy Week, I’m going to make a list of 5 things from Holy Week.   1.  This Troparion comes from the beginning of the Bridegroom Matins service: Behold, the Bridegroom coves at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching; and again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep, lest you be given up to death and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom. But rouse yourself crying: Holy holy, holy art Thou, O our God. Through the Theotokos, have mercy on us. 2.  This is also from the Bridegroom Service.  It’s the Exaposteilarion which means it

T is for Tips: Four Terrific Organizing Tips from Tess!

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I cannot claim to be the most organized person in the universe.  I cannot claim that being organized means you live in a clean and tidy house without clutter and chaos. Well, ok, I could claim those things but they wouldn’t be true.  It would be false advertising.  I can however give you Four Organizing Tips I am using to help keep my sanity as I work towards developing better routines and habits and tame that clutter monster. Tip 1  Pin Your Socks For a variety of reasons, not the least of which is “ew I don’t want to share socks”, we don’t do the “buy all the same girl socks and don’t worry about matching” thing.  Each of us has our own style and for at least one of my daughters, socks is just one way she expresses herself.  I refuse to fold socks.  I hate mating socks.  I hate having to dig through a drawer or a basket to find two socks that match.  I also hate “old maid socks.”  You know those lonely socks without mate that sit in a basket or box waiting forever for its mate to n

Entertaining and Educational: Curiosity Quest {Crew Review}

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We enjoy educational, documentary type of shows here so I was excited to have the opportunity to review Curiosity Quest .  We received two DVD Combo Packs: Produce (Mushrooms, Cranberries, and Orange Packing) and Swimmers of the Sea (Sea Turtle Rescue, Penguins, and Salmon). About Curiosity Quest: Curiosity Quest is a fun, educational, family program that uses an un-scripted, on-location approach to answer viewer questions.  Producer/Host Joel Greene goes on a quest to satisfy viewer’s curiosity.  Yes, viewer questions that stem from the curiosity of those same viewers.  Every episode begins with a specific question and ends with Joel giving the audience information about asking their own questions.   About The DVD’s: Each DVD has 3 episodes and each episode is about 30 minutes long. All the episodes follow the same pattern.  The episodes start with our host Joel, telling us about a question from a reader and Joel will introduce viewers to the person who will answer Joel’s ques

My Favorite Week of the Year: Great and Holy Week

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Today is Palm Sunday.  Tonight, we’ll move liturgically into Holy Week.  Lent technically ended on Friday.  Yesterday was Lazarus Saturday. Both Palm Sunday and Lazarus Saturday fall outside of Lent and Holy Week.  This is also reflected in the color you see in the church. The liturgical color for Lazarus Saturday is Gold and the color for Palm Sunday is Green.  After the Festal Divine Liturgy for Palm Sunday all the cloths will change to black.  Holy Week is somber. When we  enter into Holy Week we do so through Matins. Usually served in the morning, this service will flip flop with Vespers which is usually served in the evenings. My parish will have Bridegroom Matins on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings. I could write whole post about how Bridegroom Matins is my favorite Orthodox service. Pre-Sanctified Liturgies will be served Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.  Wednesday will be the last time this liturgy is served until next year during Great Lent. Pre-Sanctified is a spe

Random 5 {April 11th Edition}

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I’ve decided that I love these Random 5’s so much that I’m going to strive to post them every week but I make no promises as to whether they’ll be on Friday or Saturday! 1.  For Orthodox Christians Great Lent ends on Friday April 10th. It’s the last Friday Pre-Sanctified with Soup Supper and Talk at my parish.  It’s a bittersweet thing for me. It means that Pascha is right around the corner but it also means that no more evening Pre-Sanctified liturgies for me until next year.  Though Great Lent has ended, the fast continues.  Lazarus Saturday follows the last Friday of Lent and then Palm Sunday. After Palm Sunday we enter into Great and Holy Week. I’m getting excited. It’s my favorite week of the year! 2.  For many years Supergirl didn’t really “get” blocks. It was hard for her to balance them or build with them.  She’s had a developmental growth spurt and blocks are now one of her favorite things.  Here’s a picture of one of her favorite things to build. 3.  When Turtlegirl was m

Help! I’m Buried in an Avalanche of Laundry!

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Once upon a long time ago I thought I tamed the laundry monster.  I had a laundry routine. I had a method.  I was Queen of the floor ~ not mountain ~ because there was no mountain of laundry.  I even gave laundry advice.  It was simple. Then gradually life changed. The Laundry Routine couldn’t keep up. Now, I’m buried in an avalanche of laundry. I’m still Queen Tess, but I’ve lost my kingdom of the floor. Or my kingdom of the couch. Yes, it's all clean. At least 3 if not 4 loads worth!   I wish the only laundry piles were the clean clothes waiting to be folded but our lack of routine has caused a back up with bringing hanging clothes to closets and dirty laundry needs to be washed (and then dried and then more piles of folding which um is why I haven’t washed it yet because we need to fold the clean ones!)   A long time ago when when we lived in Germany and only had one child, I learned a secret about laundry. I didn’t necessarily heed that secret for a few more years but th

Fabulous Online Science: Supercharged Science {Crew Review}

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Science has always been a favorite subject of mine. My children are crazy about science. The best part of science is the activities: those moments when you see science in action. As a homeschooling parent I am not always up for the work of doing those activities. Through the Schoolhouse Review crew I stumbled on a such a gem of an online homeschool science curriculum that I am writing another review ! Grab a cup of your favorite hot beverage or tall glass of your favorite iced beverage and let’s chat!   I received 6 months of access to the K-12 Level e-Science Program from Aurora Lipper at Supercharged Science . This online homeschool science curriculum covers everything from learning about the scientific method to physics, chemistry, biology, and even geology! In addition to the 20 science units there are units for some Math lessons and Science Fair projects.  There is even a section to help you get started with the program, an overview of the e-science program, and teaching resou

Victus Study Skills System {Crew Review}

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The key to successful learning directly correlates to the effectiveness of the study skills used. I want my students to be able to retain and recall the information they study. Recently, Turtlegirl and I have been using the Student Workbook and Teacher Edition of Victus Study Skills System . This short course, just ten lessons, can be taught in just one week.  The recommended pace for high school level students is 1/2 hour per lesson or 5 hours for the whole course. The Victus Study Skills System Teacher Edition includes a Sample Course Plan which covers all 10 lessons in 5 days. The Teacher Edition is divided into three sections plus an introduction: Introduction-Philosophy, Section One – Teacher Instructions,  Section Two – Lessons,  Section –Three Appendix.  The Teacher Edition also includes, within the Lessons, the views of the Student pages and has the answers for those pages. The Course Aim states that the purpose or aim is to equip the student for success in both academic