MckMama Giveaway

This is almost too good to believe. Follow this link and read MckMama's latest giveaway. It'd make an awesome Christmas present. But even more important, if you've never read her blog, stick around for a while and read about the miracle this family was given for their faith and patience over the last year. Her beautiful son, Stellan, is a testament to the Power and Glory of Jehovah Jireh!

Meet the Pioneer Woman

In case you've never heard of the Pioneer Woman, then you need to get your head out of the clouds, and head on over here. You're in for a real treat. She homeschools, she takes awesome photographs, and she makes incredible food. And she blogs about her life in a way that makes you ache for the simple life on an Oklahoma cattle ranch. Ree, aka Pioneer Woman, aka P.W., aka P-Dub, just finished writing a cookbook. You can pick one up here, or here, or here.

When I heard that she was coming to my own turf on her book tour, I jumped at the chance to get mine signed. So I got to the destination at 11am. I was way back in line, but it ended up being right next to the stage. P-Dub showed up at noon. What I didn't realize at the time, was that she was surrounded by media from both the local FoxNews station, and for the TLC show Mall Cops. I met some really nice people in line. There was one comical moment. We noticed that the mall cops, the real ones, stopped traffic. On the other side of the ropes from where we were standing, they were fanning out to control the crowd. It took a few minutes, but we figured out that they were looking at a bag that had been left unattended on a bench near us. They were calling in a bomb sniffing dog. There was a young mother ahead of us in line who had two small children. These kids had done so well all day. We were almost up to the front of the line. She had stepped out of line for a short time to give the kids and herself a break and get off her feet. She had accidentally forgotten her diaper bag on the bench. But they wouldn't let anyone get near it, even when she told them it was hers. After the dog finished sniffing the bag, and it had been opened and the contents sifted through, she was told she could pick it up later.

After a four and a half hour wait, I finally got my cookbook signed. It was worth every minute in line. I've made many of the recipes in the book, and have my eyes on several others that I must try soon.

TOG Yr2 Weeks 13 to 16

It's been a long time since I've blogged. We've had so much going on. And I was without a computer for two weeks. It had to be reformatted, and while I had it all backed up, getting everything back on takes time. Some of these weeks we did the bare minimums because it was during the holidays, we had relatives in town, and without my computer, I didn't have access to my HST+. Also, because I use TOG DE, I didn't have access to much of it. I had printed out all of the SAPs I needed, I didn't have the reading lists to know which pages or chapters had to be read, and some of my requested books didn't come in to the library on time and I didn't have any way to find alternates. So some of these are just what we came up with from the stacks.

Princess E
Latin: Lessons 5.5 to 8.2, Exercises 6.1 to 8.2, Word Power C3 to D2
Math-U-See: Finish lesson 5, Do lessons 6-9
Literature: Morning Girl and Spy For the Night Raiders. I could not get either the suggested lit book, or any of the alternates. So since the original book was a historical fiction that took place during Martin Luther's time and the Diet of Worms, I managed to find a Trailblazer Book (Bethany House) that dealt closely with that topic. She said it was one of the best books she's read. So I think I will be trying to find others that coordinate with the time frames we study.
TOG: vocab, geography study, important people copywork
Reading: The Awakening of Europe (excerpts), Exploration and Conquest, Aztecs and Incas. We were supposed to do Mr. Pipes, but I couldn't get it through the library and just couldn't swing the expense.
We have fallen behind on our read alouds for this unit. Between getting the flu, having relatives here and no computer, we skipped a lot of this. We will pick back up on read alouds after our Christmas and New Years break when we begin our next unit.

Princess S
Growing With Grammar: 2.2 to 2.13
Math-U-See: Finish lesson 10 and do lessons 11-12
Literature: St. George and the Dragon, Coming Home, Psalm 8, Mother Goose
TOG: vocab, geography study, important people copywork
Reading: Ferdinand Magellan, The Sad Night, Usborne Internet-Linked Middle Ages (excerpts), Martin Luther, Pieter Bruegel, Henry VIII and His Wives

Princess L
MFW Kindy - finish lesson 5 /n/ is for nest. Do lesson 6 /t/ is for turtle and lesson 7 /u/ is for us
As with the TOG studies, we did the bare minimums with this.
Math-U-See: Finish lesson 10. Do lessons 11-12. Learning the colors has been interesting. We used the same names that we used with her sisters.

Princess M
This little firecracker keeps us all busy. She is getting her two year molars, so there has been excess fussiness because of that. She is gaining a larger vocabulary every day. She celebrated her second birthday. My baby is now two. (Excuse me - I'm getting a little emotional.) She is funny to watch, because when she does something, she gets so into it. When she is coloring, she is so intense. When she is building with blocks or legos, she is uber focused on it and gets upset if someone tries to work next to or with her. She is officially down to one nap a day.

Because we got a little behind, we will be completing three weeks in two weeks so that we can finish up unit two before our break begins. Hopefully, we will begin our break on the 18th when we have a field trip to see the Nutcracker. Then we have three weeks off. I hope to include pictures of our "new" homeschool room after I've used the time off to finish sorting and purging. I am also hoping to do a potty training immersion with Princess M.

TOG Year 2 Weeks 11 and 12

It's been a while since I posted. We spent about three weeks dealing with, most likely, H1N1. I say H1N1 because I matched our symptoms with it, but I was not willing to pay $85 per person to go hold down my screaming kids for a blood draw to confirm it, then to have them say they cannot do anything for it and to let it run its course. Seemed a waste of money. But a neighbor girl, who probably caught it from us because she was on a two week school break and only had contact with us, was confirmed with it. So I will try to condense for you what we did do over those weeks. We had a total of one week off.

Princess E
Latin - Lesson 5.1 to 5.4 and Exercises 4.3 to 5.4
Math U See – Delta Lesson4 and 5. We are stuck on 5, which deals with parallel and perpendicular. I'm not sure why she isn't remembering the difference. Since I told her that parallel lines are like the double l's in the word parallel, she is getting that. But not the other yet.
Literature - I, Juan de Pareja
TOG - vocabulary, geography study, important people
Reading - The Renaissance (excerpts), Michaelangelo, Exploration and Conquest (excerpts), First Voyage to America
Read Alouds - The Story of the World Volume 2 (excerpts)
Week 11 was a focus on the Renaissance artists of northern Italy and week 12 was a focus on the early explorers, with an in depth study of Christopher Columbus's voyages.

Princess S
Growing With Grammar - Lessons 1.15-2.1
Math U See - Gamma Lesson 9 and start lesson 10
Literature - Mario's Angels and Columbus
TOG and Read Alounds - same as above
Reading - Usborne Internet Linked Middle Ages (excerpts), Leonardo DaVinci, The Renaissance

Princess L
MFW Kindy - finish Lesson 4 - /a/ is for apple, begin Lesson 5 - /n/ is for nest
The final activities for the apple stuff got skipped because of the flu. I didn't have the energy to make it a priority, so we mostly did the pencilwork and reading stuff.
Math U See - Primer - finish lesson 9 and move on to lesson 10. Now we add the "hundreds" to the concept of place value. We've been using mostly the manipulatives and various games we come up with. I think she is starting to get the idea, though she has a hard time writing the numerals correctly. But she is only 4, so I won't worry.

Princess M
This little one has discovered writing - on walls that is! I was thinking I'd maybe try to paint some walls this winter, but she has quickly changed my mind. All of my princesses have done lots of writing on walls. The older ones still get caught from time to time, much to my displeasure. I'm sure this is why the little two have also picked up the bad habit, regardless of how many consequences are doled out for the infraction. She also is able to reach many of the light switches now, so lights are constantly found on throughout the house.

Why Sick Homeschool Moms Need Subs

(I posted this for my Yahoo Group friends, but thought my few blogging friends would enjoy it too.)

So I'm on day two of being sick. Worse today than yesterday. Never made it out
of pjs. After my first nap, awoke to find Princess L in this year's Christmas dress. (Yes - we're in that stage.) After second nap on the couch, I discover Princess E had given her sisters ice cream for lunch. After Princess L fell asleep on the couch and Princess M was in her crib, I head to my bedroom for nap number three. Princess S wakes me to ask if she can use the tube of sugar cookie dough. Nope - that's for cookie dough maps next week. When I wake and stumble through the kitchen to the couch, I discover Princess S with her younger sisters making my mom's sour cream sugar cookie recipe - the kind that requires rolling out and using cookie cutters. Not happy because she didn't have permission, but not able to stand on my feet much longer I head to the couch. In and out of my feverish consciousness I hear the following comments:

- No, I couldn't find the baking powder. Well, just double the baking soda,
they're practically the same thing anyway. (Princess S)

- Why can't I mix this? The butter won't mix in. (Me - did you soften it
first?) Nope - just took it out of the fridge. (Princess S)

- We cannot do this with these spoons. We'll have to get out the mixer. No, I
don't know how it works. (Princess E)

- We aren't going to get more than eight cookies out of these. (Princess E)

- Why do these cookies look like biscuits? No - they look more like dinner
rolls. (Princess S)

- They kinda taste gross. Maybe we could melt some chocolate chips on them.
(Princess E)

- Now they look like poop. (Princess L - remember she's four - everything looks like that)

- Mom - I was supposed to put this mixer into the dishwater to soak, right?

So, readers, I rest my case. Homeschool moms really need to hire a substitute
when they are sick.

TOG Year 2 Week 10

Well, we started this week with snow. In October. So much for that global warming argument. Last week, we finished up Unit One. We are now enjoying a one week break doing a unit study on astronomy. I'll post on what we used next week. (Because I'm still not sure what all we will use myself.) Checked out a bunch of stuff so we'll see what we have time for.

Princess E
Latin - Lesson 4.1 to 4.3 and Exercises 4.1 to 4.3
Math U See – Delta Lesson 3
Literature - continue The Door in the Wall
TOG - vocabulary, geography study, important people
Reading - The Story of the Middle Ages (excerpts), The Story of the Crusades, Fine Print
Read Alouds - The Story of the World Volume 2 (excerpts), Famous Men of the Middle Ages (excerpts)
This week we focused on the three Johns - Wycliffe, Hus and Guttenberg. (The latter more commonly seen as Jan and Johannes.) We learned about how the development of the printing press helped to usher in the Renaissance and Reformation movements.

Princess S
Growing With Grammar - Lessons 1.12-1.14
Math U See - Gamma Lesson 8
Literature - Marguerite Makes a Book
TOG and Read Alounds - same as above
Reading - Usborne Internet Linked Middle Ages (excerpts), John Gutenberg and the Amazing Printing Press, The Middle Ages (excerpts)

Princess L
MFW Kindy - begin Lesson 4 - /a/ is for apple
This was a great week to be in this lesson. Because Dad had Friday off, we all went to an apple orchard to pick apples. We went to the same spot we've gone for three years. Good thing we went when we did, as the snow would have probably damaged them if we'd tried to go this week. Hopefully, at the end of this week we will get to make some homemade applesauce, apple crisp, and apple pie.
Math U See - Primer - continue on lesson 9 with place value. It seemed like last week in the middle she was starting to get it a little. Then this weekend she asked me how to write 27 and I asked her how many units and "t's" it had and she couldn't tell me.

Princess M
Trying to stay healthy, as two of her sissies were sick this past week and weekend. Trying to keep her away from them, and them away from her, is always difficult. She has observed her sisters move chairs, or the kitchen stool, around to reach items that we keep out of her reach. She discovered this week that she, too, can move said chairs and stool. So now she can be found grabbing items left high up on the counters or even in the kitchen cupboards. The others didn't do that at this early of an age - but then again, they had fewer other kids to watch do this trick. My life just got harder!

TOG Year 2 Week 9

We have one more week until we take a week's break from our regular school to do a science study. Not sure yet what we're going to do, since we only have a week. I'm thinking of a unit study, but picking between several possibilities. We went to a Medieval Fair at a park near us. It was free! Cannot beat that. The girls had fun seeing some of the things they had read about - or rather realistic replications of them. We saw a sundial and Princess E told me that it was a mosaic. I hadn't even noticed, but I was impressed that she did. Pictures are below.

Princess E
Latin - Word Power B4 & 5, Exercises 3.2 and 3.3.
Math U See – Delta Lesson 2
Literature - continue The Door in the Wall
TOG - vocabulary, geography study, important people
Reading - The Story of the Middle Ages (excerpts), The Story of the Crusades, The Story of Joan of Arc
Read Alouds - The Story of the World Volume 2 (excerpts), Famous Men of the Middle Ages (excerpts)
This week we focused on learning about life in the High Middle Ages. We learned about craftsmen's guilds, the Black Death, the Hundred Years' War and Joan of Arc.

Princess S
Growing With Grammar - Lessons 1.9-1.11
Math U See - finish Gamma Lesson 7
Literature - the book didn't come in from library in time, so we skipped it this week
TOG and Read Alounds - same as above
Reading - Usborne Internet Linked Middle Ages (excerpts)

Princess L
Finish Lesson Three - /l/ is for leaf - we had a drastic change in the weather this week so we really weren't able to do any of the leaf activities as leaves are now browning an falling anyway.
Math U See - Lesson 9 - Place Value - we will be camped out here a while. We've been building with blocks and using place cards. We've played a few games with them. I'm starting to move into asking her some verbal questions instead of just relying on the cards. It's a fine line, with the Primer book, between understanding and overkill.

Here are some of our photos from the medieval fair: