You can view what we are selling our ebay items for sale below.

I know, it’s not fiber related, however, I will be posting soon…. I promise…

You just might see a huge red-tailed hawk like this one we spotted last week:

*picture courtesy Slobo and his handy-dandy camera picture (sheesh and it’s only 10:30 am) -taking abilities.

If you have bird watchers in your family too, you might want to attend the Great Backyard Bird Count.

All you do is:

1. Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count, February 13–16, 2009

2. For each type of bird you see, count the most you see at any one time

3. Enter your results on the Great Backyard Bird Count web site!

It’s alot of fun, for adults and kids. Their website is chock full of information and fun things too.

The Index is just a paper form of Timelineindex.com’s Period pages, meant as an aid to show the kids how history is divided up amongs different groups for ‘dealing’ with history data. Time Periods are almost always politically motivated, highly subjective and always full of conjecture. Still, this seems to be the prevailing time period grouping during my lifetime, and when kids hear things like “Jurassic period” I want them to get a glimpse of how that fit in with the rest of history. Their site offers really good information about who where when.

I added the word “Theory” under each group of questionable or total lack of accurate dating methods. That’s my take on it with the research I’ve done so far. With carbon dating 1/2 life of 7,500 years and carbon’s limited use – unsure accuracies of newer methods of Carbon 12 and 13 and helium – and the fact that I don’t think they found a tree with over a 5,000 rings on it, lol. On the other side of things, checking my Bible, I can’t find anything over the 4,000 B.C. date range (for authorship dating only) and that was Scofield’s take on things. God didn’t say when he decided to create the earth and us, or even what clock he was using. It was a long time before humans came close to a standard time frame anyway (after the Mayans I believe) if your interested in checking it out. Me, I’ll stick with Theory and try to make it very clear to the kids just how much mis-information is out there being touted as fact by political advocates and try to do my best to muddle out the facts for them.

The dates are based on the Homeschool in the Woods recommendations. They seemed like a great place to start and with it being in a journal format, we can add pages as needed. I broke them out into 3 different pdf’s, mainly so I could correlate some of what was in the state curriculum guides with what I wanted to teach.

So, if you are so inclined to begin a journal – Here’s the pdf’s. Total pages for the notebook: 120 pps. (including preface)

#1 – Creation to Christ’s Birth 23 pp @ 5,838kb

*Note: I include a preface page as a handout. My kids are very young, but I want them to get a basic start on understanding the Evolutionist’s / Geological timelines vs. the Creationist’s Timeline. More importantly, I will use it as an opportunity to teach them about theorists, scientists, facts, and the old adage “Don’t believe everything you read (from humans, of course!”)

I believe God created the world – and he did it in his time! Personally, I don’t worry about what clock he was using. But the kids need the information and to understand where it’s coming from – on all sides – to the best of my ability to teach it to them. I’m trying to raise “thinking” human beings here!

#2 – Christ’s Birth to 1860 60 pp @ 13,853kb

*Note: I stop off at 1860 because the state cirriculum does…. There’s alot going on here, so I’m sure we will be using dividers to seperate historical eras.

#3 – 1860 to Present Day 36 pp @ 8,086kb

*Note: I say present, but I’m looking forward to grandchildren one day, so it goes to the year 2025! The kids will have to print timelines for their own kids after that!

If you have a paint program you could fill in the main date, a period specific heading and page #’s or just use a fine line marker and write it on the page. I’ve made this template based on the Homeschool in the woods website TimelineHelps. Amy Pak of Homeschool in the Woods was very kind to put up all the information anyone would need to create a history timeline. She has a beautiful blank timeline book that you could purchase where all of this is done for you. If I had the money, that is definitely what I’d be buying! I am hoping that we will soon be able to buy the CD of timeline figures from her.

I’ m thinking of dividing up the time periods amongst the three kids. The Georgia Cirriculum uses for example 1860 to present for 5th graders and up to 1860 for 4th graders, but I really don’t like the idea of skipping around. I prefer the idea of learning about history as it happens, to immerse yourself in it. I’ve just got to get my courage up to tell myself – so what if so and so is learning about the American Revolution while our son is learning about Moses! As with most decisions in my life – I’ll just see what direction the butterflies are flying towards today! One thing I am sure about is the first few weeks of timeline keeping will be about dating methods, geological timelines and the whole ‘You can’t beleive everything you read’ discussion that seems to come up an awful lot in our discussions as it is.

If you have a solution that works for you, please don’t hesitate to share it with me. I’m new to this and could use any help out there!

And here is my favorite picture – especially at week’s end when I’m exhausted. That contentment was all worth it!!!

The first day was heaven! They created our first ever lapbooks. That was alot of fun! I had asked them if they would do a lapbook on what they wanted to learn this year, but they wanted to do presidents. lol. So, they did books for George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson. Go Figure! They have minds of their own! The two oldest are taking their CAT tests now. I know, they should have taken it the end of last year, but life happens. They are taking it today and tommorrow while I try to keep the youngest occupied with his own work and QUIET! He’s a little miffed that he didn’t get a test this year too. So, lesson learned, I’ll make budgetary plans to include him next year.

I realized there was a big glaring problem this year, tho. My oldest has been losing confidence, especially as his younger brother has gained a mountain of it the past year. It was never so apparent as when they sat down to take the same test today. Suddenly, things that he could do without a test sheet in front of him, he couldn’t do when taking the test. It wasn’t nervousness about being tested, as he says “I like coloring in the bubbles!”. I think the biggest reason there was such a difference, in addition to sibling competition over the summer break, is that in the past I’ve sat next to each of them while they took the test (each on different days). My oldest thrived on the one-on-one time as he tried to acheive all the “right” answers. My second child thrived on the sheer challenge of taking his first CAT test.

I went to google and typed in “confidence in 10 year old boy”. What came up was a Canadian site, jumpmath.org with an article referencing a book “The Myth of Ability” by John Mighton. After reading about the results of using the Fractions unit, I downloaded everything I could get. I’m grateful for the chance to try it out. It will only take a few weeks to know if this will help him and I’ve made plans after reviewing facts for the next couple of weeks, to try it out on all three boys. After all, we having nothing to lose, especially while we wait on our books!

I did get the first of three boxes from textbooksheaven.org and it wasn’t what I had ordered, altho it will work as a substitute for one child’s language arts program. I wait in angst over what is coming in the other two boxes. They were sent by postal book rate, after they waited on the money from paypal (who took the money from our account and held it for a week before sending it on to textbooksheaven). The missing two shipments have been lingering between Jacksonville, Fla and Atlanta’s distribution center for the last week and a half. I could have driven to Jacksonville and picked them up in one day! Maybe this week, we’ll get box #2!

As for our Saxon Math books that Slo’s mom bought on ebay for us, them nor the seller have been heard from since we placed our order the end of July. It will probably have to be disputed on ebay. The lady received the money (over a $100.00) and never sent a shipping notice and refuses to reply to Slo’s numerous emails. He is sending them daily now. We’ve never disputed, so I don’t know how long that takes before we can get our money back or the books. Hopefully it will resolve itself soon as I need those books like yesterday!

Well, that’s enough of the rocky road travels of the local homeschoolers. If you homeschool grades 3-6, you might like to check out jumpmath.org. There are some really neat games and worksheets included in the curriculum that are equally worth checking out.

Before I took down our home school bulletin boards from last year, I thought I’d ‘pay it forward’ by sharing what we’ve done in the past.

Word Wall – Everyday, I gave them a handful of leaves and apples to write their vocabulary words on. They enjoyed standing on the desk to stick them up each morning. First I used zots, then tape. With the humidity in Georgia and a classroom with no heat and air, zots just don’t stay stuck! Leaves fell by spring. (Rather confusing for a 1st grader! j/k) The wall represents three grade levels: 1st, 3rd and 4th. 3 and 4 had to lookup definitions in the dictionary and the thesarus a few times. Within a few months, the tree was full. I had found the kids, wandering into the classroom on off days and reading the wall to eachother. They liked it alot. If I were to do it again, I’d have them use only large markers and bigger handwriting. It can be hard to see some of the words.

Detail:

This year, I’ve moved the tree to the other side of the room and it will be used for our Explorer / North American History themes. I’m debating actually hanging a swing in the doorway adjacent to the ‘tree’ wall for a “Swing Into History” theme. 3 boys tho – that might be dangerous, lol. Still – it would make a really fun place to read, don’t you think? In any case, I’m glad I spent the money last year for the tree. It’s proving to be pretty versatile and holds up really well. The pre-made leaves were a few dollars tho. When we ran out of those, we just used post-it notes shaped like leaves and apples. I was suprised that they stayed on the tree.

Giants:

Since alot of our study last year included BIG things (dinosaurs, David and Goliath, etc.), we went with a Giant theme above the chalkboards. I had a poster above it – not shown – of Jack and the Beanstalk with the words “This could be the start of something big…” It also helped to spawn discussion about the classifications of things.

The kids traced their hands and feet at the beginning of the year. This week, when I took them down, they re-traced their hands and feet on top of their previous ones. We were really shocked to discover how much more they had grown! It was fun and we’ve decided to do it each year until they are grown – if for nothing else – but Mommy’s baby books. In addition to hands and feet, we keep a marked wall with heights each year and weights.

Math Bath

This one was the first board I tried making a couple of years ago. We liked it so we have kept it. It is made mostly of scrapbooking papers. There are some borders missing because I was in the middle of taking it down to move when Slobo took a pic.

I found the idea online several years ago on a teacher’s website. The elephant is supposed to be stacked on blocks and acting as the shower for the kids in the tub.

The drawings are of the boys from a few years ago. I asked them if I should use them this year and they said they wanted to keep them. They liked the reminder of when they took baths together! The kid drawings are positioned within slits of the tub. I catch my 6 yr. old moving them around and making them talk to one another. lol. This board is now where the tree used to be. There is also a number line that goes above it with a rubber duck that slides along on a bar of soap. They don’t need the number lines anymore, but I thought the duck was too cute to pass up again this year. There are “bubbles”, made of blue laminated paper, velcroed on one side. The number line has a strip of the rougher velcro loops along it and the bubbles were used as manipulatives to position points along the line. The velcro idea might have worked on a stronger wall, but the dots would pull the number line off the wall because the velcro held on so tight. lol. My basement is just 2×4 framing, to which I stapled drapery lining. So I can only ‘attach’ things at studs. You might come up with a better idea for that.

When I told him I was going to post it on my website and call it “How to politely tell someone to go to h*ll”. He giggled emphatically, skipping away from me, proud of his accomplishments. (Thinks he cleverly disguised a way to say the word in no less than 3 ways while showing me his proud attempts at cursive handwriting and that he remembered his Bible Lesson).

See? The book Yardsticks IS helpful! I got a laugh that will stay with me all day – rather than more worry and bewilderment! His next lesson? How to use a dictionary (After all, how many of us learned to use it at the age when we loved to look up all the “bad” words). Second Lesson: Pride and where it’s helpful and where it hurts! LOL

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I ran into this book, Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom Ages 4-14 : A Resource for Parents and Teachers (Paperback), by Chip Wood sitting by itself on a clearance table. After perusing the 8 yr. old section, I figured it was cheap enough that it couldn’t hurt to buy it. Now, I would have paid twice the retail price! This book was NONE TOO SOON, I tell ya! Slobo and I have been at our wits end to figure out where these burgeoning personalities were headed off to this month! I’ve heard daily, for a month, Slobo’s frustrating “I Don’t Know What Else To DO!” plea!

How often do you hear: “Nobody wants to play with me” “I’m Bored” “He keeps teasing me!!!” Then suddenly “Come-on so-and-so, let’s go such-and-such.” Two seconds later, you hear giggling and plotting – Take a deep sigh – knowing that a second or two later, #3 with come out in tears. They found something to ease their boredom! Child 3 then gets deeply hurt, because the brother that loved him uncoditionally this morning now seems like his worst enemy! How do you explain that to him? Or reprimand the other two in a way that you get more than a quick “Okay – Sowwy”.

I used to think when children behaved this way, it was because they needed more attention from their parents or caregivers. After going under this theory for several months – I can easily state – It has nothing to do with it!!! When you hear, “It’s just their age” beleive it! That doesn’t mean you have to sit back and let nature take it’s course. But this book gave me several ideas for what path they came from and which one they are headed for. It helps you to lead them literally ‘out of temptation’! Just this week, I’ve been able to head all three off for the first time all year! If Chip Wood were here, I’d send him a lifetime supply of blackberry jam!

This book, tho small and concise, is bigger than the “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” series. Picking up where alot of that left off! I highly recommend this book!!!

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You can look for a word from their index of themes and see a picture of it’s use. It is really neat! Now I know what a pipe threader looks like! It will be a good resource for the kids, not only in looking up definitions and seeing what an item looks like, but for creative writing prompts.

I found two great web sites created by one great individual, Maggie!

Hillbilly Housewife
and
An Old-Fashioned Education

Check them out…. There are great recipes, things to make you smile and lots of support – and best of all – Maggie shares (ALOT)!

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What else is in the family news:

The not-so-good news:

Our middle child’s goldfish, Nemo, passed away last week. For four years + he has lived faithfully on our kitchen counter. He was character and is missed greatly by all! His body was interned beneath our son’s cherry tree where he will create beautiful blossoms in the spring, just as his wife, Lucy, does for our roses.

Our garden – sad little tomatoes from the drought created a 2 inch diameter Brandywine (and it ripened on the vine – go figure)
Rust has taken over the Kentucky Wonder Beans. We bought sulphur in time to spray – brought it home – loaded the sprayer – and the sprayer that worked last week – suddenly doesn’t work this week.

The good news:

We just received two days of really nice rain and now the weather is absolutely wonderful to go out in during the hottest part of the day!

We’ve just about finished completely rearranging the house. The kids (I’m still in shock) acting of their own accord, decided to donate 3/4′s of their toys to help get rid of clutter. They have been such a great help re-arranging. They move clutter so fast – it’s actually a pleasure to move things now! I love these boys!!!!

I spent yesterday remaking 27 jars of muscadine jelly that didn’t set. Humf… Really glad that’s over – now just say your prayers for me that it sets…. please?

After just 3 hours sleep, we went to the Farmer’s Markets locally and the state’s. (Yes, we bit the bullet – I needed tomatoes and apples to complete the years storage plans. The drought has literally dried up our local market). The local market ended today *sniff*. I’ll miss going there, but it signals time for the craft shows to begin in October and November. That will be fun!

At the local market we purchased 2 dozen free-range eggs for 3 $ a dozen (one dozen had two turquoise eggs from Easter Chickens, that was really neat), a lb. of Italian Sweet Peppers for 2$, 2$ for a head of lettuce and 3 peacock feathers for the boys to play with for 2$. For the first time, we found pork and chicken there. We bought soup bones at a $1 a pound (this included 5 lbs. of meaty chicken wings), 1″ thick center cut pork chops for $6 per lb., The prices for the veggies weren’t better than a supermarket, but everything is local and organically grown which is wonderful, especially for canning! The meat we bought was from Gum Creek Farms in Roopville, GA. She said they were going to be delivering meat to our area once a month and we can reserve some. I’ll start saving now! I was very relieved to find a source for fresh meats. Our local super markets carry rancid horrible meats alot of the time. I wish that I had remembered the lady’s name we dealt with, but she reminds me of family. A strong woman with blonde hair and the most beautiful blue eyes like my sisters’ eyes. Talking with her made me remember for an instant, my father’s mother. They were the same strong woman with the most gently eyes! Of course, she was much younger – probably younger than me. Have you ever gotten the feeling tho, sometimes, when you meet certain people, it’s an ancestor or someone special looking back at you? That’s what I felt. Just me tho. Maybe because it’s fall and I get too romantic (or crazy) at this time of year….. lol.

The State Market had actually really great deals this time. And more American vendors, albeit only a few more. But, hey, I sure was glad to see them! Possibly getting there a few hours earlier helped or the fact it’s bloated with produce right now. We were able to get 3 cases of Romas for 4.00 a case, 2 cases of Better Boys for 9.00 a case, 2 cases of Rome Apples and 2 cases of Granny Smith apples for 17.00 a box, 5 lbs. of Pecans for 15.00. The apple season has all but dried up in Georgia, the ones we purchased were from North Carolina. Still the first of the season. I can taste apple butter already – yummy!

I started making the Spaghetti Sauce for canning when we got home (about 4pm). Now at 1:42 am, the sauce has finally shows signs of reducing to a level that might put me in bed by 3. lol. It’s cool outside tonight also for the first time in months! The house smells wonderful, the back doors are open, nighttime sounds creep in between the dryer going and the stove creaking under the heat. All in all it has been a very wonderful day! Fall is definitely in the air……and tomorrow we are off to see the civil war get re-enacted at the New Manchester Textile Mill ruin. That will be alot fun for the kids. We’ve hiked there and geo-cached there several times, so it will be fun to see the place alive as if walking back in time 200 years.

Slobo has pics of the tomatoes and Spaghetti Sauce up at his site.

I hope you are enjoying the fruits of your labors and the beautiful fall God gave as much as we are…

I leave you with my favorite quote from hillbilly housewife’s site: “Going to church every Sunday no more makes you a Christian as standing in the garage makes you a car!”.

http://www.dafont.com
http://www.acidfonts.com/index.html
http://www.smackbomb.com/famousfonts/index.html
http://simplythebest.net/fonts/index.html
http://www.urbanfonts.com
http://www.fontarchive.com/html/category.html

Donna Young has created a website chock full of detailed information. The work she put into it is evident from page one. Be sure to send her a big Thank You when you get there and if you purchase any books, do so through her links to book vendors. It will help to reimburse her for all of her hard work!

There is a group on Yahoo called Elementary Lesson Share. Teachers of Elementary School Age Children share lesson plans. The group was formed by a retired teacher from Australia, a Canadian Teacher and an American Teacher. The links have been wonderful after only a few days of subscribing. I highly recommend this group!

One of the links from the group was for an online printable book site called Learning Island. While they request you do not download the pdf’s in order to protect copyrights, you can print them (along with the covers) directly from the site. So far, I’ve printed “14 Fun Facts About Black Holes” and “An Awful Event” which is a book containing biographical pics and info, along with actual news articles, about the assassination of President Lincoln.

Hope these help you as much as they have me.

I havent’ checked this one out much yet, but it seems to be a ‘homework helper’ type place. Maybe I will finally be able to figure out algebra. haha.

Webmath