Rosie's Doll Clothes Patterns - A TOS Crew Review

In September I was delighted to learn that I would get to review the Learn How to Make Doll Clothes Video Course with 8 Free Doll Clothes Patterns from  Rosie's Doll Clothes Patterns as a part of the TOS Review Crew.

Rosie's Doll Clothes Patterns is an Australian company. Rosie  has been sewing doll clothes since she was a little girl. Then she sewed doll clothes for her own girls' dolls. Then she turned making doll clothes into a thriving business! Go Rosie!

I love to sew, but know there are still things I can learn. We have some dolls, and I've been itching to experiment with making doll clothes. So I was glad I was selected for this review. It was a happy fit!

When I learned that I had been selected to review the course, I went down to the basement to locate Samantha,

Blog Post Recommendation

I'm sick with an upper respiratory infection that's trying to decide on a sinus infection or bronchitis, and I thought I'd share this link to an inspiring post yesterday by Hands Free Mama. If I Live to be 100.

Ted Talk Video

Okay, one more fun video for your viewing pleasure! This one you can share with your kids and blow their minds.

What the Fox Say...

I understand this has already gone viral, but I just saw it for the first time and loved it, so I thought I'd share. I love much of what Ylvis does.

 Here's the original YouTube Video:

Menu Monday for 10/28/13

Here are my menu plans for this week:

Sunday: bumped from last week cause we didn't eat it yet: Spaghetti, meatballs, salad, TX toast

Monday: oven roasted chicken with honey glaze, broccoli, mashed potatoes

Tuesday: fish sticks, french fries, Brussels sprouts

Wednesday: cheeseburgers, green beans, chips

Thursday: potato soup, salad, rolls

 Friday: Hamburger baked bean casserole, salad, pumpkin muffins

Saturday: steak, salad, potatoes

Mother's Journal for 10/26/13

This week in our home and life:

In my life this week.....

My cousin, whom I mentioned last week, is dying. He is 60. He is my oldest first cousin on both my mom's and dad's side of the family. He has end stage COPD. I don't know how long he will last, but I hope I get to see him again before he passes away. Please pray for his comfort and that he experiences minimal pain. (He also is in the hospital because of a fall and has a broken shoulder, arm, ribs and hip, all on the left side.)

My house was falling apart. The heat wouldn't kick on. There were three flourescent lights out in our downstairs (2-level house, main level is upstairs). My inside lights on my car were out. By God's kindness, my husband and a family  friend took care of all of these issues this week! Now we just need to get a plumber in to address some leaky faucets and deeper issues.

My body is falling apart. I have tendinitis in both elbows and currently have a hard splint on my right arm which will soon be joined by a hard splint on my left arm. 

I am getting a bone spur removed from my left shoulder in November, so then the splints will be joined by a sling. ::sigh:: Obviously time to recruit my 13 year old to do more around the house. Also time to type less. Once my CREW reviews are all in I will be taking a little bit easier. I still have some non-CREW reviews I will be working on, but some of my posts for my break time have already been created and scheduled, so I will look busier than I actually am. Sneaky, hunh?

In our homeschool this week...... 

J-Boy worked on Notgrass America the Beautiful for History, Geography, Literature, Bible, Creative Writing; for Math he used IXL Math and Horizon's Algebra; in Science we worked on Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics; 

for Grammar and more Writing he worked in Bridgeway's English; for Spelling and Vocabulary he has been working through words I programmed into VocabularySpellingCity (from the SAT Vocabulary list for college prep); and we worked on French using French Essentials. If that paragraph looks familiar, it's because school this week was the same as school last week, except the doctor's visits hit at different times...

  

Places we went and people we saw......

JD got a shot at the pediatrician one day, allergy testing a 2nd day, and a 3rd doctor a 3rd day. In addition to that I saw the Occupational Therapist one day and another doctor another day. (Singing "We All Live in Our Cars Eternally" to the tune of "Yellow Submarine"). JD went camping with his Boy Scout Troop at Antietam last weekend, and then got Scout night off (only POC and Committee met).

What I am cooking......
Yesterday I made carrot cake cause it was my sister's birthday (she lives with us). This week I also made brisket, pot pie, chicken paprika, and pork chops. Tonight we're eating at a pot luck (sorta) and I'm taking salad.

What I am reading.....

I'm still working on At Home in Dogwood Mudhole, by Franklin Sanders; Redemption, by Mike Wilkerson; and still in my pile but not read this week are Boundaries with Teens by Cloud and Townsend as well as White Gold Wielder by Donaldson.
 

Projects I am working on.....
Doll clothes for Samantha (American Girls Doll) and baby hats for my charity still. 

 
Something I am eyeing......
my treadmill..

Something new I learned......
Not enough about parental controls. They still aren't working properly. I learned that my neck pain is probably related to my tendinitis.

Questions for all you smart mommas out there.....
How can I avoid sinus infections?

A couple more photos from our week....

We did a fund raiser Saturday for Boy Scouts. Our job was to direct parking at a horse show. So I took a photo from the horse show for you.

 

Thanks for reading!

Free Homeschool Materials?

Have you been reading my product reviews?  Have you noticed the places where I say things like "I received for FREE for purposes of review..."? Have you ever thought to yourself, "I could do that..."?

Well, guess what? Each year the Schoolhouse Review Crew winds down for the year in October/November, and part of winding down is gearing up for the new year by offering Review Crew positions to new bloggers and potential bloggers. And today is the day! The TOS Schoolhouse Review Crew application questionnaire has just been posted:

What is required to be a member of the Crew? I took this excerpt from a previous Crew Blog Post:

 

Check it out and consider it. I tried to cut and paste the requirements, but it wasn't working, so you'll just have to click the above button to see the requirements and the button above that to access the application.

• First of all you must be a homeschool mom or dad. You don’t have to homeschool all of your children, but you must homeschool at least one.

• You must be willing to use the review products for about six weeks in your homeschool, before writing your review. Review periods have deadlines and requirements for the reviews. You must be willing to follow our requirements. No, that doesn’t mean you must write a positive review.

• You must have a blog on which to publish your reviews, and be sure you have an active blog with a following. By active blog, I mean that you should be blogging regularly, at least weekly, about your family and homeschool. Your blog should have followers —  RSS feed, email subscribers and/or in social media. I’m sorry, but we don’t accept brand new bloggers who just set up their blogs for the purposes of applying to our team.

• Are you using social media to promote your blog? Activity on at least one social media platform is a requirement to serve on the Crew. Which one is up  to you — Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Google Plus is our preference. You will need to be willing to promote your reviews there.

• You must be willing to check into our Review Management forum. This is where we communicate with our team. We do everything possible to make things easy for you, outside of writing the actual review, but you need to be willing to participate by checking in nearly daily.

• Sample reviews are helpful. If you’ve never written a review on your blog, go ahead and write one for curriculum you are currently using in your homeschool. This will help us see how you approach writing reviews.

- See more at: http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/coming-soon-2014-schoolhouse-review-crew-applications/#sthash.s0sJa4fG.dpuf

• First of all you must be a homeschool mom or dad. You don’t have to homeschool all of your children, but you must homeschool at least one.

• You must be willing to use the review products for about six weeks in your homeschool, before writing your review. Review periods have deadlines and requirements for the reviews. You must be willing to follow our requirements. No, that doesn’t mean you must write a positive review.

• You must have a blog on which to publish your reviews, and be sure you have an active blog with a following. By active blog, I mean that you should be blogging regularly, at least weekly, about your family and homeschool. Your blog should have followers —  RSS feed, email subscribers and/or in social media. I’m sorry, but we don’t accept brand new bloggers who just set up their blogs for the purposes of applying to our team.

• Are you using social media to promote your blog? Activity on at least one social media platform is a requirement to serve on the Crew. Which one is up  to you — Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Google Plus is our preference. You will need to be willing to promote your reviews there.

• You must be willing to check into our Review Management forum. This is where we communicate with our team. We do everything possible to make things easy for you, outside of writing the actual review, but you need to be willing to participate by checking in nearly daily.

• Sample reviews are helpful. If you’ve never written a review on your blog, go ahead and write one for curriculum you are currently using in your homeschool. This will help us see how you approach writing reviews.

If you can meet these requirements and would like the opportunity to join the Schoolhouse Review Crew 2014, watch the blog over the next couple of weeks. We will announce when we are accepting applications  here first!
- See more at: http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/coming-soon-2014-schoolhouse-review-crew-applications/#sthash.s0sJa4fG.dpuf

VocabularySpellingCity - A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

In September I was delighted to be selected to receive a VocabularySpellingCity Premium Membership from VocabularySpellingCity for purposes of review. 

I had the opportunity to review VocabularySpellingCity in the past (my previous review), but there are aspects to the program that I discovered this time that I didn't find last year. (I don't know if they are new, or if the program is just so comprehensive and amazing that it takes awhile to discover all the great things about it!

I have had access to the Premium Membership for a little over a month now, and I am still discovering ways I can integrate it into my program. The more lists I get set up with the program, the more we use the program. I just have my son log into his account each day and work through the assignments I have set up for him for that day. When he completes an assignment and takes the test, I am able to monitor his progress through the Teacher's Toolbox tools. 

The first way that I wanted to use VocabularySpellingCity was to create SAT Prep vocabulary lists for my son from an online set of lists I had found. There are so many words there that I focused on words I figured he didn't know the meaning of or words I thought he didn't know how to spell. So I got lists set up, and he is quickly catching up to me, so I need to input more words.

VocabularySpellingCity has a variety ways for the students to work on the program. There are flash cards:

There is a fun game called Word-a-rama:

There is another fun game called Letter Drop: 

Unfortunately, my son, "Mr. Attitude", doesn't want fun ways to learn. He doesn't want to learn. He just wants to be done. So most of his time on VocabularySpellingCity was just spent right on the word lists and tests, trying to finish, not caring about other fun things on the site he could do.

Nevertheless, this program has benefit to our homeschool. Watching the videos available on the site, I got more and more ideas of ways I could use this program for my son's benefit. The videos go very quickly, so I often ended up watching parts of a video again and again to see what the screen had on it (things I was interested in that were different from what the narrator was focusing on). Additional ways I am beginning to use this program:

• Vocabulary lists from our Science course;
• Math lists;
• Social Studies lists;
• Language Arts lists; 
• Literature word lists;
• Science word lists;
• Handwriting practice;
• Writing assignments;
• 26 ways to learn lists!

So what I am saying is that the further I dig into this website the more amazing it seems to be! I especially like the fact that when my son takes a test on this program, the results are tallied electronically and his score is stored for me to retrieve and record in his records. That was so easy!

Many of the videos on the website are geared toward how this program would be used by a classroom teacher. Some of the great functions needed by classroom teachers aren't needed by home school parents. We don't need to know how to send letters to parents, etc. That shouldn't deter you from considering this program. We can ignore the aspects about how to load large groups of student names and how to group them. That doesn't bother me.

The aspect that I like best about this program is creation and designation of assignments to the student. I love for my son to go to his page and see what his current assignments are. That is so perfect for him with his particular issues. ("What do I need to do to be finished?")

Are there any disadvantages?

The biggest problem many home schoolers will have with this program, besides the time needed to learn how to use it (which we have to do with any new thing that we switch to), is the time it takes to set things up at the front end to keep things flowing smoothly throughout the year. My son's biggest complaint about our home school is that, when he looks at me, I am constantly on the computer. He can't really discern whether I'm playing games, reading email, creating lesson plans, learning a new language, reading about a new product -- he just knows that I am on the computer doing what I "want to do", and he wants to be on the computer playing the video game that he is addicted to and isn't being allowed to.

The second difficulty that I have has nothing to do with the program itself, but has more to do with the ever delicate balance we are constantly walking in my home, trying to get my son to understand the importance of being trustworthy on the computer to stay on the task(s) assigned. His sole goal seems to be to finish assigned tasks so that he can switch his screen over to either his video game or the video site where he watches videos about his video game. It is a never-ending battle. Still working through trying to figure a way to configure one desktop so that it can only access the educational sites I want him to go to and block the sites that he is allowed on during his "free" computer time.

So, there's the honesty. These issues are not insurmountable, but they are real in my house.

VocabularySpellingCity's Premium Membership costs $29.99 for a full year for up to five students. It is for all grade levels (K-12). If you (bless you!) have more than five in your home school, contact the sales department to see if they can give you more slots. You probably don't need a Teacher's account (for up to 25 students, costs $49.99 for a year), so maybe they can pro-rate additional students in your family.  actually has a free, "Basic" program. From there site, here are the difference and benefits you get by purchasing the Premium Account over the Basic Account:

 Overview:

I just have to say, I'm in love with this program. I am so glad to have been given this opportunity to see the new expansions and improvements to the site. I look forward to continuing to use it this year. I consider the price to be very reasonable even for a one-student family like mine, but those with more children get the same value at the same one low price! I think this is a wonderful program at a great price. If you still aren't sure, then sign up for the "Basic" program and use that for awhile. You can upgrade to Premium whenever you want!

I received a one-year free Premium Membership in exchange for my honest review of this program. Other members of the TOS Homeschool Crew also had the opportunity to review this program. To see their reviews, click the CREW button below.

Misc. Veg. and Vegan Recipes and Links

Vegetable (Navratan) Korma

View full recipe at www.manjulaskitchen.com

INGREDIENTS: This recipe is serving for 4


1 cup chopped cauliflower
1/2 cup green peas
1/4 cup sliced carrot
1/2 cup chopped green beans (about ½” long)
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/3 lb cubed fried paneer (Indian cheese)
2 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
1 seeded finely chopped green chilly
1 tablespoon shredded ginger
1/2 cup seeded and chopped tomatoes for garnishing
3 tablespoon oil pinch of hing
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1 tablespoon of coriander powder
1/4teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon red chilly powder
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon amchoor powder
1 cup milk
1/2tablespoon cornstarch

George Washington's Rule #18

George Washington's Rules, Rule #18

18th

Read no Letters, Books, or Papers in Company but when there is a Necessity for the doing of it you must ask leave: come not near the Books or Writings of Another so as to read them unless desired or give your opinion of them unasked also look not nigh when another is writing a Letter.

I really don't think this rule will float in today's society. As a home schooler, we live a culture of reading in the presence of others. That might fall into the category of "necessary", however it certainly is a practice that is here to stay in my home.

On the other hand, when I was visiting a certain relative, when I had come 350 miles to visit, I did find it rather rude when he hunkered down in his chair in the living room to read. He said he had scheduled to read at that time for a certain number of pages. It was my opinion that he could have excused himself to a private room for twenty minutes and I never would have missed him (lots of people), but to sit there reading instead of engaging with us was rude.

Same thing applies to cell phones. I find it really rude when I'm in the middle of a meal or a visit with someone and, without a "how do you do", the other person pulls out their phone to read a text or check email. Humph!

And those relatives who, when I arrived for a visit, would just leave the television on and talk over it, or worse yet ignore me and just watch the tube! So I always preferred no television in my living room, or if company visits I turn the TV off for the visit or tell the children to move to the other room's TV to finish the show.

And "Look not nigh when another is writing a Letter" I totally agree with. Don't look at what someone is putting in a personal letter, and don't read emails over another's shoulder. Sadly for our kids, I want them to learn these rules, but we parents cannot let them completely apply while they are in our homes as we must work diligently, constantly, to protect them from dangers they know not of. We need to stay alert to ways they may be going astray. So, yes, I will read what they write. But then I use extreme caution in how I discuss my concerns if my alarms go off. My goal is that they be able to trust my heart, not resent my intrusion.

So that was a long "translation". Hope you enjoyed reading.

Bridgeway English - A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

In September I was delighted to learn that we had been selected to review Bridgeway English: Expanding Foundations. Building Success.--a remedial high school English program by Bridgeway Academy. 

I really wanted to try out this program because I was concerned that my son's grammar skills might be lacking. We haven't focused on Grammar,

Menu Monday for 10/21/13

Here are my plans for this week:

Sunday:
It didn't get made last week, so I'm making Baked chicken paprika, Brussels sprouts, and Stove Top stuffing (serving leftover brown rice as well for me)

Monday:
Pork chops, noodles and salad

Tuesday:
Brisket, potatoes and green beans

Wednesday:
Chicken pot pie, salad, rolls

Thursday:
 Brisket sandwiches, salad

Friday:
Dinner out at care group

Saturday:
Spaghetti and meatballs, salad, Texas toast

10/18/13 Mother's Journal

This week in our home and life:

In my life this week.....

My cousin, who is about five years older than I am, is physically disabled and has COPD (a lung disease caused by smoking) and is always on oxygen. On Tuesday, getting home after a doctor's appointment, after getting out of the car fell and injured himself so badly that it was touch and go that he might pass away that night. He survived the night, and had an up and down week that included being put on a trach tube, having surgery to reconstruct his hip, and staying in ICU. Yesterday I finally got to go visit him. They were able to take the tube out of his airway while we were there. We had a good visit, although he couldn't talk - he still had the tube most of our visit, and after they removed it he was on a "positive airway", which made talking like trying to shout out a car window at 90 mph. Mostly he wrote down things and we read them and answered what he had written. But it was a good visit. I hadn't seen him since 2006. It was a long drive to get there, but I hope I don't wait so long to see him again.

In our homeschool this week...... 

J-Boy worked on Notgrass America the Beautiful for History, Geography, Literature, Bible, Creative Writing; for Math he used IXL Math and began Horizon's Algebra; in Science we worked on Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics; for Grammar and more Writing he worked in Bridgeway's English; for Spelling and Vocabulary he has been working through words I programmed into VocabularySpellingCity (from the SAT Vocabulary list for college prep); and we worked on French using French Essentials.

  

Places we went and people we saw......

Well... we kinda hunkered down and didn't go anywhere or see anyone because we had a lot on our plate. J-Boy had his Boy Scout Court of Honor on Monday night and received three merit badges and received his rank advancement to 2nd Class. And I wasn't counting this weekend, but I should -- he just got back from a two-night camping trip at Antietam National Battlefield. I didn't go; that's why I wasn't thinking of it because it wasn't a place "we" went, but rather a place where "he" went.

What I am cooking......
Well, I'm posting my menu plan in my next blog entry. Last week included beef stew, which was yummy. We also got to have a date night when J-Boy was camping. We drove that long drive to visit my cousin in the hospital, and after that we went out to dinner and dessert, which we don't get to do as a couple all that often.

What I am reading.....

I'm working on At Home in Dogwood Mudhole, by Franklin Sanders; Redemption, by Mike Wilkerson; and in my pile but not read this week are Boundaries with Teens by Cloud and Townsend as well as White Gold Wielder by Donaldson.
 

Projects I am working on.....
Doll clothes for Samantha (American Girls Doll) and baby hats for my charity.

Something I am eyeing......
A safe cover to protect my Kindle.

Something new I learned......
Way more than I wanted to know about ways my efforts at Parental Controls can be hacked when I'm spend hours trying to keep boundaries up to keep my little computer-user safe.

Questions for all you smart mommas out there.....
Are you still reading this entry, way down here at the bottom of my blog entry?

A couple more photos from our week....
Sorry, that'll have to wait. I took video of the Court of Honor, and it's probably long and boring. My other photos are on my phone, but it's off charging. So for now, no photos.

Thanks for reading!

Mother's Journal for week ending 10/11/13

This week in home school (posted late):

Bible: Assignments taken from Notgrass America the Beautiful;

Math: Daily time spent on IXL.com 8th Grade Math or Algebra;

Science: Apologia Chemistry and Physics, chapter 1;

Language Arts:

• Handwriting: daily pages from Cursive;
• Grammar: daily pages from Bridgeway Grammar
•  Writing: writing assignments from Bridgeway Grammar
• Literature: assignments from Notgrass America the Beautiful

 Social Studies:

• History assignments from Notgrass America the Beautiful;
• Geography assignments from Notgrass America the Beautiful;

Phys Ed: Continued regular activities

Health: no instruction this week

Art: no instruction this week

Music: listening to selections by Beethovin 

Menu Monday - 10/14/13

Here are my menu plans for this week:

Sunday:
Dinner out (in - pizza)

Monday:
Spaghetti Dinner at Boy Scouts Court of Honor

Tuesday:
Rockin Moroccan Chicken, brown rice

Wednesday:
Beef Stew, muffins

Thursday:
cheeseburgers, rolls, Brussels Sprouts

Friday:
Baked chicken paprika (vegan: faux chicken), mashed potatoes, green beans

Saturday:
Salmon, yams, broccoli

October 2013 Folk Song

The Ambleside Online Folk Song Rotation for October 2013 is a Yorkshire Anthem entitled

ON ILKLEY MOOR BAHT 'AT

I found a lovely YouTube video of this song, but it strays from traditional midway, so I'll post another version at the bottom of this post. In the middle I will post the words. If you want to be able to sing along with the video with your kids you should print out the words so the video can be full screen.

Wheear 'as ta bin sin ah saw thee,
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at?!
Wheear 'as ta bin sin ah saw thee?

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at?!
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at?!

Tha's been a cooartin' Mary Jane
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
Tha's been a cooartin' Mary Jane| 

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at 
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at 
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at

Tha's bahn t'catch thi deeath o'cowd
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
Tha's bahn t'catch thi deeath o'cowd 

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at

Then we shall ha' to bury thee
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
Then we shall ha' to bury thee 

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at 

Then t'worms 'll cum and eat thee oop
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
Then t'worms 'll cum and eat thee oop

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at

Then ducks 'll cum and eat oop t'worms
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
Then ducks 'll cum and eat oop t'worms

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at

Then we shall go an' ate oop ducks
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
Then we shall go an' ate oop ducks 

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at 

Then we shall all 'ave etten thee
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
Then we shall all 'ave etten thee 

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at

That's wheer we get us oahn back
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
That's wheer we get us oahn back 

On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at

Now, I don't speak Yorkshire, and I don't even pretend to on TV, but here is an effort at partial translation: 

The basic drift that I get, other than not knowing where (or what moor) Ilka Moor is... The main lines are:

Where have you been since I saw thee on Ilkla Moor without a hat?

Thou's been a'courtin Mary Jane on Ilkla Moor without a hat.

Thou's bound to catch thy death of cold on Ilkla Moor without a hat.

Then we'll have to bury thee on Ilkla Moor without a hat.

Then worms will come and eat thee up on Ilkla Moor without a hat.

Then ducks will come to eat up the worms on Ilkla Moor without a hat.

Then we shall go and eat up ducks on Ilkla Moor without a hat.

Then shall we all have eaten thee on Ilkla Moor without a hat.

That's where we get our own back on Ilkla Moor without a hat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What a funny song! For most of our kids I guess we just want to keep it in Yorkshire... the less they understand the better until they get older! ::heh:: ::heh:: But make sure they wear their hat when they go out...!



What fun this post has been for me! :)

Jim Elliot - One Great Purpose - A TOS Crew Review

In early September, as a member of the TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I was selected to review a book and unit study from YWAM Publishing (YWAM = Youth With A Mission) for purposes of review. 

On September 5 I received  a PDF download of their book Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose , and its related unit study book, Jim Elliot - Unit Study/Curriculum Guide.

 

I am homeschooling one student, an often challenging 8th grade son. For purposes of this review I chose to read this book out loud to my son. This way we both got to enjoy this book,

George Washington's Rules #17

I am working my way through George Washington's Rules, the way he stated them, and then how we might say them.

17th	Be no Flatterer, neither Play with any that delights not to be Play'd Withal.

Don't be a flatterer, and don't fool around with things that you know you shouldn't be doing.

Menu Monday for 10/7/13

Here are my predominantly-primal menu plans for this week. I'm at a place right now where it is most important that I get dinner made and on the table. After that I eat what works for me, and skip what I shouldn't have.

Sunday:
Meatloaf, Mashed potatoes, carrots

Monday:

Dinner salad (no recipe, but a picture), rolls

Tuesday:
Bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches; fruit smoothies

Wednesday:
Chicken Parmesan broccoli, noodles


Thursday:
sloppy joes, rolls, potato chips, cucumber and peppers

Friday:
broccoli soup, salad, bread

Saturday:
turkey wraps, chips, salad

October 2013 Hymn Study

The Ambleside Online Hymn rotation for October 2013 is a song called "There is a Land Far, Far Away".

This is a very sweet song. I can't find a YouTube video that has the lyrics flashing across the screen while they sing the song, so here are the lyrics:

There is a happy land, far, far away,
Where saints in glory stand, bright, bright as day.
Oh, how they sweetly sing, worthy is our Savior king,
Loud let His praises ring, praise, praise for aye.

Come to that happy land, come, come away;
Why will ye doubting stand, why still delay?
Oh, we shall happy be, when from sin and sorrow free,
Lord, we shall live with Thee, blest, blest for aye.

Bright, in that happy land, beams every eye;
Kept by a Father’s hand, love cannot die.
Oh, then to glory run; be a crown and kingdom won;
And, bright, above the sun, we reign for aye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Now, I'm probably just ornery, but I really like to look for hymns that are singing TOO the Lord, not just ABOUT the Lord, even though both types of hymns have their place. So, for my son this month I will also be covering How Great Thou Art, sung by Chris Rice:

 

VideoText Interactive - Algebra (A TOS Crew Review)

In August I was so happy when I learned that I would have the opportunity to receive VideoText Interactive 's Algebra: A Complete Course for purposes of review! This sounded like the perfect fit! I couldn't wait.

The reason I wanted to review VideoText Algebra is because J-Boy has been struggling in Math. Last year we were working on Pre-Algebra, and we never finished because he was struggling. As this year's start-date approached, I was unsure what we were going to do. I had arranged to acquire a different Pre-Algebra, but was unsure if spending another entire year doing Pre-Algebra was worthwhile, or if it was a waste of time. Maybe it was better to just jump into the Algebra program I already purchased and do damage-control along the way. Or not. I just didn't know.

And then along came the opportunity for the Crew to review VideoText Interactive's Algebra program. I couldn't believe the description! Unit 1 WAS the Pre-Algebra! When we finished Unit 1 and rolled into Unit 2, we would be doing Algebra I!

Quest - A Homeschooler's History Magazine

My cyber-friend, Teri Johnson, over at Knowledge Quest, has launched a new history magazine for home schoolers.

 

If you have an iPad, this is great educational material for your kids. Check out @knowledgequest's new #Quest Magazine. First issue is free - http://bit.ly/1asmFNt