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Showing posts from July, 2015

What about Electives? ~ Homeschool High school Blog Hop

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When thinking about and planning out the high school years it is easy to get caught up in the core subjects like math, English, science, and social studies. Many colleges and universities have specific requirements for certain number of credits in each of those core subjects and electives may get pushed aside. High school is a great time to explore interests. Do you really like art? Maybe you like science?  Is there a particular field of science that you really love? Are you gifted with languages? Are you fascinated by another culture and want to study about Russia or China in-depth and learn the language too? Most colleges and university consider the type of electives studied. They are interested in what classes and subjects a student pursues beyond the basics. This information gives more of a picture of the student. Parents and students should choose electives carefully based on the interests and talents of the students as well as keeping in mind the requirements of potential coll

Random Four On Saturday! The Doxacon Edition

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I often start composing my random five posts earlier in the week and aim to post them on Friday because the original link up was Random Five on Friday but often I just don’t get them posted until Saturday.  I confess that today I am composing and posting on a Saturday and I’m short one so it’s Random Four on Saturday in place of Random Five on Friday! 1.  Last week was very exciting. I really wanted to go to Doxacon Seattle but . . . well life is life.  I entered a contest to win a ticket and though I didn’t win, I did get to go.  An unknown to me person donated a ticket for me.  Tickets at the door for *just* Friday night were only $10 so Honeybear and I went together Friday night.  A friend of mine was going on Saturday and I was able to car pool with her.  (Thank you Mimi!!). 2. After the general session on Friday evening, we went out on a patio or deck and had snacks, fellowship, and a mini acoustic session of Geek Music from Pangalaticats . My favorite song was Come Along, Pond!

Random Five on Friday ~ July 17th Edition

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It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve done a Random Five on Friday. 1. Turtlegirl is getting serious about heading to college in fall of 2016. She’s been researching degree programs for several schools, verifying application requirements, and ranking her choices.  I guess we’re going to have to schedule some campus visits! 2. I just finished a review of the most amazing and wonderful web based online homeschool lesson planner. I have tried so many different planners and several online ones and I always always always always go back to Homeschool Tracker Plus. I love Homeschool Tracker Plus but the program is becoming obsolete. HST no longer offers it for sale and now promote their HST Online product. I am completely unfamiliar with it. I have no idea how it compares to Homeschool Planet.  I wasn’t even sure I wanted to review Homeschool Planet so I signed up for the 30 Day Free trial and decided that I loved it. I was given a one year subscription in exchange for my review.  I can se

Tales from the Circle C Ranch ~ A Book Review

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A few years ago we had the opportunity to read and review one of the books in the Circle C Beginnings by Susan K. Marlow. Recently we received the book Tales from the Circle C Ranch from Circle C Adventures along with Andrea Carter's Tales from the Circle C Ranch Learning Lapbook to review.  The Circle C Adventures are the adventures of the independent tomboy Andi Carter growing up on the Circle C Ranch in the 1870s and 1880s. Tales from the Circle C Ranch is a collection of short stories inspired by questions fan would ask Ms. Marlow. It includes stories from the Early Years (Circle C Beginnings) and the In –Between Years (Circle C Adventures). Through her adventures Andi learns lessons about life, family, and faith. The first part of the book is labeled The Early Years.  The first story begins before the first book, Andi’s Pony Trouble. It answers the questions of when Andi was allowed to wear overalls and why. There are four stories in this section. Each one is a stand a

So Much More Than Just a Homeschool Planner! ~ Crew Review of Homeschool Planet

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When I first saw Homeschool Planet from Homeschool Buyers Co-op on the Schoolhouse Review Crew upcoming list of vendors, I wasn’t all that thrilled. I wasn’t even sure I would be interested. I mean I already had a great planner that I loved. Then I looked at the video. I signed up for the FREE 30 Day Trial to see if maybe, just maybe I could make this work if I had to review it. I fell in love. I went from, well, if I am assigned to review this and I have to make it work, I can to: Please oh Please oh Please let me get assigned to this so that I can have a full one year subscription! This product is amazing and it is so much more than just a homeschool planner. Grab a cup of coffee cause I think I’m going to get a bit more wordy than usual with this review. Oh you don’t drink coffee? Oh ok, I’ll wait for you to get your favorite beverage. I want to share some of my favorite features and some of the non-homeschool ways I’ve been using this planner to plan my life and manage my famil

The Beauty of Ancient Prayers

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I grew up Catholic and we had prayers and creeds that we memorized but I didn’t really understand prayer.  As a young adult in my early 20s I attended a Bible Study group for the first time. I was struggling with Catholicism. I had never prayed with a group like that before. We each took turns praying out loud. It was very uncomfortable for me but l learned how to pray for others and I learned how valuable prayer was for *me*: how profitable it is for my soul and my salvation. I would like to say that after 20 some years I have a rich and solid prayer life but I still have long seasons of inconsistency. I pray every day or most days but not necessarily in a quiet meditative way. Many times it is short little arrows of prayer sent up while I am harried, rushed or stressed. As I’ve grown over the years and as my paradigm shifted my prayers have changed. I’ve been Orthodox just over 5 years now and I am learning about a richness and depth of prayer that I have never experienced before.

CursiveLogic {Crew Review}

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Some believe that cursive handwriting is a dying art. Some believe that cursive may not even be necessary to teach anymore. With the use of computers and other devices typing really does seem to be pushing out handwritten notes. Linda Shrewsbury and Priscilla LeCroy founders of CursiveLogic believe that it is still important to teach cursive and that it doesn’t have to be a long drawn out process. Turtlegirl did learn cursive when she was in elementary school but isn’t pleased with her handwriting and more often than not she prints rather than write in cursive so we thought using the CursiveLogic Workbook would help her improve her handwriting. The 96 page, full color, physical workbook is sturdy. It is spiral bound with thick coated covers. All the instruction necessary is include right in the workbook so there is no need for a separate Teacher’s or Instructor Guide. The workbook includes three laminated practice pages that a student can use with a dry erase or wet erase marker.

Just a Little Family Time

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Last week Turtlegirl and Tailorbear went to an Orthodox Youth Church Camp.  We decided to all drive over to Puget Sound together.  After dropping off the two girls the rest of us took some time explore an area we’d never been to before. First though we had to stop and get ice cream.  Except that we stopped at McDonald’s and the ice cream machine was not working. So Boobear and Supergirl shared a large chocolate shake.  Honeybear and I shared a large Iced Coffee. As we continued on our drive I noticed a lot of church buildings. Except that none of them were churches. Seriously. I would say “oh look at that beautiful building. I wonder what church that is?” and Boobear would say something like “that is city hall” or Honeybear would go “nope that’s a cafĂ©!” It was a beautiful sunny summer day and we found ourselves at a park near the harbor of one of the inlets of Puget Sound.  Here’s just a couple of pictures.