Monday, November 29, 2010

Free Ideas for "Bible Time"

Okay, I’m going to put together ideas for Bible time for your free homeschooling.

Ambleside Online format of daily time, that I have been using for many years, constitutes (1) Bible reading (you could consider Penny Gardner’s scripture highlights from Old or New Testament, or Bible Gateway); (2) Bible Memory, and (3) Hymn.

I just found a great Bible reading plan that is entirely free, where you go through the Bible in four years. It comes with discussion questions and periodic tests. My hyperlinks aren’t working in this post… Go to the AnchorCross website (http://anchorcross.org/books.shtml) and scroll down to "Through the Bible with my Child". Paragraph 3 says “The entire content of Through the Bible with My Child can be downloaded and read from this website free of charge. To view the book in pdf format, click here.” Click on the word “here” on that web page and a pdf document will download for you to use for your daily Bible time.

Today I also got a really great suggestion from a blog of doing the daily Keys for Kids each day, to keep it fun for the kids. I don’t know how that will work with my ten-year-old (going on 30 in his head), but I might give it a try.

Free English Grammar Curriculum

Okay, I know I had seen this site previously, but for some reason I never made a blog entry about free grammar resources. I'm sure this is not the only one out there (in fact, I KNOW of another one too, but don't have the website handy...). But I was looking at this one today, and it looks quite good!

This site is made in a way that an established student, say... beyond elementary, maybe... could work through the lessons alone, daily, and progress at his/her own speed.   However, in my opinion it could also be adapted to use with younger ones, with mom at the side, reading to the little'un, and asking questions, then filling in the provided (by young'un) answers.

This is intended to be used, used, and re-used forever, to completely cement all the correct grammar issues into the student's brain. It could be all you ever need for grammar. It even has tests.

It also has a "Premium" selection (a.k.a. you must pay something) that also looks great, like it gives immediate feedback and probably grades tests, etc. for $40/year, which is incredibly reasonable. I don't think I'll use that this year, cause the free stuff alone is amazing enough for me. But I might consider it for next year. (My kiddo is 5th, btw, with a reading level of reading whatever he wants and refusing to read what he doesn't want... So I'll sit with him on this one.)

So, give it a look-see. That web-address again is:
http://www.englishgrammar101.com/

[Disclaimer: I am listing all sites for my own and other homeschoolers' benefit. I get NO kick-back, nor affiliate privileges.]

Monday, October 4, 2010

A New Puppy in the House

Didn’t know how long we would wait to get a new dog, but some of the family were really wanting/needing a new furbaby to love.

We searched long and hard. Didn’t know for sure what we wanted. Didn’t want a pit bull, which our local shelter is full of.

Did want a yellow labrador puppy; one didn’t come along at the right time. Looked at one black dog, one year old; too much dog for us, and probably part pit bull.
Finally settled on one whose papers say they think he is 1/2 chocolate lab and 1/2 German Shorthaired Pointer.

I want my friends to tell me what they think.
Here are photos of the puppy we brought:

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Our Beloved Bailey, 1999-2010

We said good-bye to our beloved furbaby, Bailey, today.
For several months he had been plagued by stomach issues that we could not determine the cause of... vomiting, and more recently refusing to eat, followed by temperature, dehydration... We had tested and tested, and could not find out what was wrong.
Well, last night he had a bad night, with non-productive vomiting, water, bile... and this morning the weather was nice, so I let him sit out in the cool on the deck to enjoy the morning.� After I saw him change spots and lie down by the sliding screen (he seemed to be unusually shakey in his movements...)... after a bit I went out to check on him, and he had passed on.� Very quietly, in a happy place, he passed away.
On taking his body to the vet, after examination, it was determined that his passing away was not caused by the long-term issues that we had been battling (which were probably intestional cancer which had probably spread to his lungs, guessed at due to his recent development of a cough and a spot on his lung noted on a recent x-ray)... Apparently during the night he had developed a twist in his stomach, which was evidenced by abdominal bloating. This cut off the blood circulation through the vena cava to his upper extremities, resulting very quickly in death (like in 1/2 hour from when it occurred). This is like in the movie Marley and Me.
So, we say good-bye to our wonderful yellow lab, who we adopted when he was about 2 years old, so long ago that my son remembers him always being here.
Our Bailey:

Rest in Peace, sweet boy
We love you, Bailey, and hope we see you on the other side.
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