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Showing posts from September, 2014

Fix It! Grammar: Frog Prince, or Just Deserts (Book 3) ~ A Crew Review

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I’ve been on the Schoolhouse Review Crew for several crew runs now and I have been blessed with reviewing Institute for Excellence in Writing on two previous occasions. During my first year on the Crew I reviewed Teaching Writing Structure and Style and Student Writing Intensive Level C .  I loved it so much that I invested in more materials from IEW and begged to review Student Writing Intensive Level B . I was nearly certain that, even though I love grammar and I love IEW, that I would not need Fix It! Grammar . I thought my girls are in high school and we’ve done grammar study. Because it was IEW though, I was curious and downloaded the placement test . In addition to being a placement tool, the test served as a sample of the program. It is recommended to start with Book 1 because the books do build on each other but the placement test is useful for those with older students who have had some grammar instruction. I had Turtlegirl take the placement test. She did indeed test ou

V is for Vacation ~ The need to get away

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Is it sad that when I think of the word vacation I hear Belinda Carlisle singing “Vacation. All I ever wanted. Vacation have to get away.” And then I see the Go-Go’s video for the song run through my mind. I’d make you all miserable with me and link up a You Tube video but I couldn’t find a legal version of the official video and I wasn’t happy with the live versions of the song.  Go on and thank me. I’ve spared your ears. You’re welcome. Back to Vacation.  I don’t just want one.  I think I need one. It seems the older my children get, the more busy our lives become and I feel like everything is just GoGoGoGo (no not the Go Gos  even though I did mention them already and I do like them but that’s a blog post for another day.) When I think of vacations, I think of travelling to a different location and of staying in hotels and eating in restaurants. I think of visiting museums or parks.  I think of spending time with family that lives so far away. Childhood vacations were the time we

Five Random Thoughts ~ September 26 Edition

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I had every intention of posting these on Friday:  Five on Friday just has a better ring than Five on Saturday but if you read on you’ll understand why I delayed. <grin> 1. I skipped church on Sunday. I needed a mental break.  I love Divine Liturgy and attending is necessary for my spiritual health, but I had been going going going for so long. Sometimes I do miss church for health and often I will use that time to get caught up on grading or lesson planning or blogging.  Instead of working, I made a point of using that time to really get the break I needed.  I made some tea and grabbed my Kindle.  I read and I read for hours. I finished the book on my Kindle.  Finished a book of poems by Shel Silverstein and finished a section of Mere Christianity . By the time my family came home I was ready to get back to going going going. 2.  I learned that it is really important to carve out time to do something like just enjoy some tea and read a book. I don’t think it’s such a gr

U is for Uniforms: School Uniforms in the Homeschool

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When I think of school uniforms I think of Catholic schools first and then I think of fancy, expensive private schools, like the ones out on the East coast or in England. Homeschool and school uniform should not be in the same sentence or should it? If you home school, then like me you might be aware of the “home schooling mom’s uniform,” the denim jumper.  I don’t wear denim jumpers. I did try it out. I got over it. I have baked my own bread and I own a grain mill but that’s all beside the point. As you can read I am easily distracted. I start out talking about school uniforms and I end up mentioning baking bread. My 15 year old daughter is also very easily distracted. We’ve been brainstorming ways to help her stay focused. She wanted to try wearing a school uniform. Though purchasing a real uniform is not part of our budget plans, we were able to brainstorm some ideas and reach an acceptable option.  We thought a vest would be a good option.  She could wear whatever clothes she w

Random 5 on Friday ~ September 19th Edition

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I’m just going to jump in with my five thoughts for this week: 1. I think the busier we are, the faster time flies. We’re very busy this month.  So busy that even my 15 year old said “how did we get to be so busy!” 2. A sweet homeschooling friend from church had a arranged for a trip to the women’s monastery on the other side of the mountains.  She graciously and kindly offered to take Turtlegirl and Tailorbear.  They left on Tuesday and came home on Thursday. They were exhausted but bubbling and full of excitement as they told me about the trip. 3. Turtlegirl brought home an icon for me! She found an icon of St. Nicholas to add to our icon corner. Most of our icons are Russian style but this one is Greek Style.  According to the certification on the back, it was made in Greece. I think it is beautiful. It’s a slightly early birthday present for me. I couldn’t find an image that was exact so I took this picture. It only shows half the icon because I am not very good with taking pic

My Student Logbook ~ A Schoolhouse Crew Review

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Record keeping is an important part of home schooling.  Even if you live in a state that does not require record keeping, it’s nice to have a something that keeps track of what you and your students have accomplished. For high school, record keeping is necessary for compiling credits for a transcript. Turtlegirl is very independent with her school work but needs accountability. My Student Logbook , a company owned by a homeschooling family, provides students and parents with a tracking method designed for independent learners. We chose the undated version with the  Vintage Map cover for our daily student logbook . It is also available in dated versions and more cover choices such as Dinosaurs, Butterflies or Rainforest themes. What Is a My Student Logbook? First let me say what it is not.  It is not a lesson planner. This is not a tool for mom to use to plan out daily lessons. This is a tool for the student. I love that they named it My Student Logbook and not something like My Stu

The 7 Minute Life Daily Planner ~ A Crew Review

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Have you heard the saying “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail?” I feel like my life is spinning out of control. Like many modern women, I wear many hats. I rush around putting out the fires of urgent demands and handling the little but important things that pop up but I don't feel like I am getting anything done. I don’t have time to plan and I end up feeling like a failure. I know I need to plan. I know that planning things out relives stress because it’s fewer “on the spot” decisions I have to make, but planning out priorities and goals in addition to lesson plans and menus? Who has time? Knowing that I need to make a change in my life, I knew I needed to review The The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner from The 7 Minute Life . I knew that would force me to take the time. Force myself to slow down, breath deep and work through the front portion of this planner and then I would be able to use the main daily planner pages called daily progress reports. Let’s chat a bit about tho

Random Five on Friday ~ September 12th Edition

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It’s been several weeks since I have done one of these so I guess I’ll just pick 5 random things from that last two or three weeks to share. 1.  Some of you may know that I love Duran Duran. I think I could write an entire blog post about them and about the music, but for now I’ll just that I very much enjoyed seeing the David Lynch Film: Duran Duran Unstaged. I’m not a really a fan of David Lynch.  Some of the effects though were really cool but many I could have done without and would have preferred to be able to have a clearer shot of what the band was actually doing.  Don’t know what I’m talking about? That’s ok. It was a one night only theater release . I’m hoping it will be on DVD. I want to put it on my wish list. 2.  I’ve been doing more canning this year than I have in the past.  We did strawberry jam (one session with friends, one of just us), raspberry jam (ok that was more of my girls), and with friends we did peaches, dill pickles, and dill relish.  Last Saturday we did

T is for Teaching or Becoming a Home School Teacher

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At the end of 6th grade, as part of the big graduating from elementary school, we had this party and this whole what do you think you’ll be when you group up thing. I say thing because it wasn’t an assignment but it was something, maybe a survey, maybe a vote? I don’t remember but what I do recall is that it, whatever it was, said that I would grow up to be a teacher. I was not displeased with the idea. I loved playing school.  I set up my stuffed animals in a row and I stood in front of them and I taught. I played school with my friends. We took turns being the teacher. Fast forward to high school and I began to contemplate college and the future and “what will I do with my life?”  I loved German. I visited a college with an excellent German program that included spending time in the “German Village.”  I know I considered attending but as a catholic girl, I wasn’t too keen on the required Lutheran chapel services. And it was cold.  Ever been to Northern Minnesota?  I was cold enoug

S is for Some Things I Want

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Often, I find myself saying “just this once I wish . . . “ but I don’t really want it just once. I want it all the time.  But when, whatever it is, doesn’t happen frequently enough or I’ve just had enough of it not happening I breakdown in a moment of complete frustration and I cry out things like: Just this once I would love to go to the bathroom ALONE.  No children and no cats.  Really, you do not need to be petted this second and you can certainly ask me for the movie I’m going to say no to when I am done! Just this once it would be nice if someone would actually rinse and recycle the juice container instead of putting it back in the fridge empty. Just this once I would like to have clean underwear in my drawer and not have to go hunt through a basket of laundry that has been waiting for 4 days for the assigned child to complete her folding laundry chore. Just this once I would like for my washcloths to be in my bathroom drawer and not shoved into the back of the drawer in