Polar Bear Day

Today is Polar Bear Day. I have pulled a couple books for the boys to read plus I have a polar bear site for them to peruse. A couple of my favorite stories about polar bears for younger kids are Little Polar Bear , Little Polar Bear Finds a Friend, and Little Polar Bear, Take Me Home by Hans de Beer. Two blog posts containing more information about polars bears can be found here at Lesser Road Academy and at By Sun and Candlelight. Have a great day!

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

You Are a Colon

You are very orderly and fact driven. You aren't concerned much with theories or dreams... only what's true or untrue. You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched. You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren't subject to whim or emotions. Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice. (But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!) You excel in: Leadership positions You get along best with: The Semi-Colon

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

George Washington's Birthday

Here we go again! I am sure you all are glad that Lincoln's Birthday, President's Day, and Washington's Birthday are finally over. Today we read The Story of Mount Vernon. It was a fascinating book that makes me want to go and revisit Mount Vernon now that I know a little more about it. Today Curtis read George Washington's Breakfast by Jean Fritz and George Washingington by James Giblin, Samuel read George Washington by D'Aulaire and Meet George Washington, and Alex read If you grew up with George Washington and A Picture Book of George Washington. Again we will leave this books out on display through next week and then they will be put back away in our library.

Recent Snapshots

Curtis sitting by the fire last evening.

Samuel sitting on his hands!

Alex

Briana and Julissa

Happy 3rd Birthday, Julissa!

It is hard to believe that my baby is now three years old. I had to chose her birthday and that was a hard thing to do. She was born on a Monday. The other four kids were born either on Sunday or Wednesday.

The cake she wanted!

Julissa looking the cake over.

Julissa checking out the candle!

The cake looks great!

The candle being lit.

The candle burning. I missed her blowing it out. She did it too quickly!

Julissa looking to see if it was okay to remove the candle!

The candle removed! I missed the next shot also. She licked all the icing off the bottom of the candle!

Julissa enjoying her cake!

She is now opening her gifts.

She loved her little doll!

Julissa with her new bike. When you asked her about her bithday she would tell you she wanted a bike and a a Strawberry Shortcake cake.

Tonight's Total Lunar Eclipse

I stood outside in 10 degree weather trying to capture this shot. I wasn't exactly sure of what I was doing so I took several shots at different settings and was happy with this one for all the more zoom capability I have on my lens. Just in case you don't know the other two spots you see are stars.

P.S. A correction from my little sister - "Sorry, my child, but you are wrong. They are not both stars. One of them is a planet called Saturn and the other is the star called Regulus which is part of the constellation Leo the Lion and is about 85 light years away."

P.P.S. As you can see I haven't spent a lot of time studying Astronomy. I see that I should have talked with my little sister or my Dad before posting.

Winter Wonderland

Today I woke to the beauty of falling snow. The type of snow that adorns the winter trees. Below are a few pictures taken from my back door.

A squirrel's nest in the top left hand corner.

I am not sure why, but this picture gives me the feeling of winter in the Land of Narnia.

Our beautiful state bird perched in the upper left among the snowy white branches.

Chocolate Mint Day!

Today is Chocolate Mint Day! I am not like some of my sisters who absoluetly love peppermint patties but every once in awhile I get a craving for them. I think today would be a good day to have some!

Briana and Math

Today I am trying to make a list of curriculum to look over at convention time for Briana. I was working on my list and naming the math choices out loud - Horizons, ABeka, BJU, Saxon, or Singapore. She said right away that she wanted to do Singapore. She doesn't have any idea what any of these math programs are like so I asked her why she wanted to do Singapore and she said, "Cause they sing." Too funny!

Lousy Cough

"My Body Went to Virus Land and All I Got Was This Lousy Cough." - Melissa Wiley

I read the above words on Here in the Bonny Glen and had to post it. My kids are all coughing after their visit to "Virus Land" this weekend.

President's Day

Last week on Lincoln's birthday we put our books on Lincoln on display through today. And indeed more books were read than what was chosen on the first day. Now today in honor of President's day, we will put out our books on presidents except Lincoln and Washington. These will remain on display until Washington's Birthday on Friday. The books chosen today by the boys are as follows: Curtis - The Story of the Presidential Elections and James Monroe Young Patriot, Samuel - Teddy Roosevelt Rough Rider , and Alex - Andrew Jackson Frontier Patriot.

A Thought from Samuel

Tonight at the supper table, Samuel said, "I wonder what it would be like to live someone else's life."

A Trip to the Dentist on Valentine's Day!

Today I took the three boys to the dentist for their 6 month cleaning and checkup and they gave each one of the kids a red carnation and a Valentine's Day card. They really made a big day out of Valentine's Day and the dentist told the kids that he has only one red shirt and he wears it two days out of the year - Valentine's Day and one day around Christmas time.

Happy Valentine's Day!

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Breakfast with Lissa

This morning after I poured Julissa's cereal in her bowl she said to me, "Now you need to get the milk and pour it on my cereal. Do you think you can do that? I think you can do that!" I am writing this down per my mother's instruction that I might not forget this moment that brought a smile to my face first thing in the morning.

Lincoln's Birthday

Today in honor of Lincoln's birthday we read together The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln, illustrated by Michael McCurdy. Curtis is working on memorizing The Gettysburg Address and I think this book will be of great help to him in doing so as he is very much a visual learner. After our reading together I had each one of the boys choose a book about Lincoln to read on their own. Alex chose If You Grew Up with Abraham Lincoln by Ann McGovern, Samuel's choice was Abraham Lincoln by Ann Colver (part of the Garrard History Series - a Discovery Book) and Curtis chose Young Able Lincoln by Cheryl Harness and Abe Lincoln goes to Washington by Cheryl Harness. After they finished reading they each took turns sharing with us something they learned through their reading. I will also leave these books out on display through President's Day so that they may read and learn more about Lincoln as time and interest allows. I have found that if I pull together and display books we own on the topic I am wanting them to read more about that a lot more gets read then if they are left to search through the bookcases on their own.