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Well, it's that time.
I don't think that- other than for vacations- I have ever taken a real blogging break.
But now the time has come. I really feel the need to just step back from blogland for awhile and take a bit of a breather...
However, I do expect that I'll still be coming by to visit a few of you on occasion during my break. I would miss some of you way too much to completely stay away.
I can't give you an exact length of time for my break...but I am guessing that I will be back in time to host the next Home School Open House (on the 3rd Tuesday of each month).
But it's more than likely I'll be back way before then!
April marks a full month for our family, with Easter, my littlest girl's birthday (with a party to plan!)...and our wedding anniversary- all within a ten day time frame!
Plus, I'm feeling the need to just find that quiet place in my spirit and hoping for God to do some loving work in me as we approach the Easter season.
Also...look for something special when I return. I am approaching my 400th post and might even do a little giveaway....
In the meantime, I recently added the "followers" box- finally- to me sidebar. So if you visit me often, will you go ahead and sign in as a follower, if you haven't already? ( I promise to do the same for you, as well!)
God bless each and every one of you....I'll see you sometime soon!
I am finally making it a point to sit down and post after another busy week...
Well, at least the first half was busy, I should say. But the past couple days we've all been resting at home (my youngest recuperating from a 24 hr bug which hit her Thursday night.)
But I just looked at bloglines and I can see that I'm not only behind in posting, but very behind in reading most of your posts! I'll try to catch up as I can, so bear with me!
But first of all, Happy Spring!
I promised to tell you the mystery destination that my girls and I took my mom for her birthday...
My Alma Mater was putting on the play, "Little Women" and knowing how much my mom- all of us, really- love that story, I knew it was the perfect surprise treat!
Sure enough, she was delighted!
(Here she's opening the flyer for it...)
And I have to say, the production was SO well done and professional...with the spotlight on the humor in the story.
Each main character was so perfectly cast...
Here my and girls are with two of the cast members after they changed out of their hoop skirts to mingle with the crowd...
"Little Women" seemed to be the perfect play that could be enjoyed by all of us, in spite of our generational differences.
My nine year old has read a "condensed" version of the book, and in a few years she will probably read the unabridged version...with the very copy I read from in my early teens!
It was also fun just to be at my old college again...so much of it was the same, but yet a lot had changed for the better.
Earlier that day, the sun was out so we stopped by a local playground so that the girls could run around a bit. They are so impressed with the country feel of the neighborhood...a pasture and everything! ;)
Although we had to rush back the following morning because the girls had a special choir practice, we agreed that it was a fun "Girls Night Out" birthday celebration for all of us!
We're not going to take this particular week off...since there's a lot of rain in our forecast we're going to keep doing the school work and wait for the sunshine to have a break! :)
But whether you're enjoying spring vacation or working away this week, I hope it's a good one for each of you!
Blessings!
Welcome to the March edition of Home School Open House!
Today, I thought I'd simply show you a sampling of some of the curriculum we use.
We're kind of eclectic both in our home school methods and curriculum. What does that mean, exactly?
Well, for one thing, I don't go by strict lesson plans laid out by my curriculum...I pretty much decide our own lesson plans and schedule.
I don't even have a huge schedule made out like some of my home school friends, but I do usually have an agenda in my head of the general things I want to accomplish that week. (The exception would be with math, where I've marked the pages they need to do each day several weeks in advance. It's just seems to work best for us for this subject.)
Also, being eclectic in curriculum means that I pick and choose from various curriculum what we like best.
For example, I might love the math workbooks of Horizon, but prefer Bob Jones language arts. (Which exactly happens to be true, in our case!)
As I show you some of our books, keep in mind that I'm only showing a fraction of what we have...(though we certainly don't cover every subject on a daily basis!) However, we usually do consistently do math, language arts or writing every day...so that's what I'll show you first...
I have to say, my six year old loves math quite a bit more than my fourth grader...who use to love math until this year when it got just a wee bit more complicated!
She does, however, like her English book quite a bit...
And today, these arrived from one of my favorite places, Christianbooks.com...
My girls actually get excited when new workbooks or textbooks arrive at our front door!
I'm looking forward to using the first one with both girls...learning about cells and molecules at a very beginning level (for ages 5-10) .
The second one was the same workbook about maps that my oldest used in first grade and loved.
The third book went along with all of the recent Oregon trail field trips we've been on, and at such a bargain price, I couldn't resist it!
And now- in keeping with my eclectic theme- I want to show you something totally different!
On a beautiful day clear back last May, we decided to go for a walk, keeping our eyes and ears out for neighborhood birds.
Then we followed it up by researching other types of birds on the internet...and then I took it even another step further by having them pick out a few of their favorites and drawing and labeling them. Since I knew they always love drawing about something they've just learned about, I try to encourage it from time to time.
Here's what my then just-turned-six year old drew:
In case you're unclear, they are the Violet Green Swallow, the Sapsucker, and the ever popular Northern Pulmar.
(And if you're not that familiar with all of them, don't worry...neither was I! Exploring things with my children is one of the things l love about home schooling!)
I hope you've enjoyed another peek into our home school. Please take a moment to check out any of the other participants, as well!
And since I have a few Irish ancestors in my family tree, I'd be amiss if I didn't end by wishing each of you a warm...
Blessings!
Today, I'm sharing a very exciting Show and Tell...at least it is for me and my family!
See this magazine....
It's called Home School Enrichment and it is a wonderful source for home school families across the country.
Last fall, discouraged with the long novel that I couldn't seem to finish, I decided to stretch myself a bit and try submitting an article to a magazine. This magazine. And they accepted it!
On Tuesday, I reached with trembling hands and pulled this very copy out of the mailbox...
I honestly could scarcely breath, since I had never had anything published before...my heart was beating a mile a minute as I took it into my hands.
And at first, I was afraid that my article hadn't been published after all...but then the dawning came.They had changed the title slightly!
But nevertheless there it was...In fact, it took me a while for it to sink in, but my article was the feature article, "Learning from the Journey" blaring on the cover....wow.
I honestly had a hard time grasping that, since I wasn't advised on the final outcome or layout.
And speaking of layout, here's a glimpse of the first couple pages...
(This is just the first part of the article...another two pages follow!)
I have written stories since the time I could hold a pen and to finally see my name in print is such an amazing thing.
My little girls were so excited, too...and it was so gratifying to see the them proud of their mommy for a personal achievement! Since they both like to write and make up stories, maybe this will inspire them even more to keep writing though their lives!
Thank you for allowing me to share this special moment in my life this week.
For more Show and Tells, visit Kelli and There is No Place Like Home.
Blessings!
What busy days these are ...and I know several of you can relate to not always having time to post or completely keep up with other blog friends posts! But I hope to catch up with most of you a little at a time.
But I wanted to share with you something special...actually two...
On Sunday, I was privileged to be among ten or so other family members on my husband's side to witness first hand and pray along side a sister who was committing her life and heart to the Lord. I think all of us were in awe to just be able to there, much less be used in any small way...
Even my girls were able to witness her prayer and it is something none of us in that room will probably ever, ever forget. We are rejoicing along with the angels right now...
So, in a way, this is a spiritual birthday as it marks a new birth in Christ.
On Wednesday, my mom celebrates her 82nd birthday. Hard to believe...(and for her, too!)
I plan on getting her this week to have her spend the night and then when we take her back, the girls and I are taking her to a surprise destination! (Shh...I have to be careful, she reads my blog!)
But I hope to tell you all about it afterward!
For her 80th, I wrote a longer, detailed post about her which you can see here.
In the meantime, Mom, I wish you a very happy birthday.
Thank you for always being there for me...for your prayers and guidance...and for being one of my very best friends.
I love you and so grateful to still have you in our lives!
~Tammy
Today for Show and Tell Friday, I wanted to show you something I actually forgot that I had! I was going through my closet last weekend, and among my old vintage magazines, I found an actual newspaper from 1918!
Here is a close up of the date...
I am embarrassed to say it had been just tossed among them, only protected within a little plastic bag...not good!
Before I had kids, one of my favorite pastimes was browsing antique stores...and I must have bought this ...and in the busy days of motherhood which followed, completely forgot about it -much less to protect it!
Shame on this lover of antiques and all things historic!
Just think about it a moment...this is the actual newspaper from WWI...before WWII, before the Depression, or even before the roaring 20's!
But once I saw it again, I hazily remembered it...and that is was already pretty tattered when I bought it. But now that I've come across it again, I am going to do my best to preserve it! (I went on the internet that very day to research the best ways to store it...acid free envelope within an acid free box.)
That evening, my husband and I carefully and delicately looked it over...reading a few of the articles and advertisements...
To read and touch this actual newspaper that was held in someone's hands during this phase of history...seeing imagery we had learned about in school or on television, only this time presented as "happening now" was like stepping into a time machine.
And amazing to see all of the advertisements along side the news of war...
Looks like you could get some real deals on "georgette wastes" or a corsette at the Bon Marche bargain basement!
But then again, I'm partial to The Bon... I met my husband in front of the store on our first blind date...but that's a different story.
And era!
The ad above is harder to see (you may be able to click for details) but it looks like if you stepped out of the basement, they were having a regular "Silk Week" as well at the Bon!
Isn't it incredible to see these 1918 fashions...a time when clothing styles were changing so quickly. Only a couple years later and the flappers would take over the clothing industry...but in this year it was in that "in between" stage.
My husband and I were both transfixed as we sat together with this 91 year old newspaper declaring the "German Armies Retreating".
Amazing... And yet, reading this paper of a completely foreign time to us made us also aware that people were inherently the same then as they are now.
"History would be an impossible area of human reflection if there were no recurrent attributes of human nature." Willson H. Coates
For more Show and Tells, please visit There is No Place Like Home hosted by Kelli!
Although it's not even Show and Tell day, I just couldn't wait. (And I have a different item to share on Friday!) I wanted to show you what arrived for my girls last week, thanks to dear blogging friend, Becky...
Aren't they adorable?
This is Anne on the right of course, with her friend, Diana on the left...and these paper dolls came complete with lots of different clothes and accessories.
Becky had heard that we were big Anne of Green Gables fans and happened to have this set at home, with no one to play with it.
When it arrived, both of my girls squealed with delight and promptly asked if they could play with them right away.
Thank you again, Becky, for thinking of us! Be assured that Anne and Diana went to a very good home!
We still hope to visit Prince Edward Island but we haven't decided exactly when quite yet. The legistics make it a little challenging for us, since we live completely on the other side of the continent! And my youngest, although she'd love to visit, doesn't want to actually have to travel to get there. She doesn't like flying and is my little homebody. I can't say I relish long flights myself...I wish I could just click my heels and suddenly be there!
But even so, we sent away for the island catalog and as our whole family looked at it together, we longed to visit even more.
And then, my dear friend, Pea, posted this week on her son and daughter in law's visit there! No fair!
And on the subject of all things Anne....if you love the Megan Follows version of the movie, then you will also love the Focus on the Family Radio Theater audio version.
At bedtime, my girls and I have a custom of reading stories, then praying together, followed by lights out with an audio CD or tape for a short time. I usually stay and listen with them for a bit, so for Christmas I bought us all a present of this CD version, and we all absolutely love it!
It completely comes alive, and the voices of each of the characters are so much like the movie version we love.
So, I guess it is only a matter of time when we do find ourselves playing on the beach of Prince Edward Island, seeing the live musicals, exploring the countryside and museums...sigh. And I think I honestly expect Anne and Gilbert to be there to greet me!
Before I go, I also wanted to thank Susanne...I won her book giveaway and received this book set yesterday...
I think my husband and I will soon be reading these and I can't wait...thank you, Becky!
And I don't know about the rest of you, but I am so looking forward to spring! Our neighborhood is slower in blooming this year but we saw our first crocus flowers and even some daffodils on our walk yesterday and they were a welcome sight at last!
Blessings!
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