Say It Forward - Michele

I have not done Say It Forward in a while but have wanted to. So I decided to make time to do it today. I am featuring one of my loyal commenters: Michele from http://seekthesilverlining.blogspot.com/ go visit her blog!

Michele has only been blogging since January of this year but we have been friends for Ages. Michele has a small blog read and written mostly for her family in Florida so they can keep up with what is going on with Michele and her family here in DE. Michele is a loyal commenter, leaving comments weekly, if not on every post then on most of them. Michele is, more importantly, a loyal friend.

Michele is currently homeschooling her youngest, Rachel, and homeschooled her other two children a couple years ago, but they are back in public school. Michele is a member of my church and that is where we met.

Here are some pictures of our families at Winterthur this past May.
Michele is the one in the white sleeveless top with the blue cap, on the far left.

the others in the picture left to right: Rachel (seated in the back), Me (in the pink stripes), my mom (in the wheelchair) Michele's daughter Rachel, and Christopher [Jessica and Nathan were also with us, I think Jessica was taking the picture]

The Bird's Nest in Enchanted Woods
Tweet! Tweet!

A fun walking path in Enchanted Woods
Round and Round we go!

We have had many fun times together and I cherish her and her friendship and her family.
Call me Michele!!

Oh Michele, you get a button for being selected as a Loyal Commenter: click on this link and you will see the html code part of the way down the post. (if you need help e-mail, call or leave a comment)

Say It Forward- Week 27

You can also click the link above to read the other Say it Forward posts.

Have a great weekend,
Debbie

More Books - A Great Find

Praise the Lord!! I am so happy!
Did you see my post a couple weeks ago: Used Books- Some Great Finds

At this used book sale there were two ladies. The lady who had the sale at her home and a friend of hers, named Jane. We were very interested in, and went to the sale specifically for the Landmark books she had advertised. We mentioned that fact to both the ladies. Jane said she had more Landmark books at her home that she was willing to sell so we took her name and number down. We got busy and forgot about it for a couple weeks but one day my dh remembered and we called her and set up a time to go to her home and look at the books.

That was Tuesday Night...

When we arrived she had the books stacked on her dining room table. One of my first questions was how much do you want for each book. My husband countered with, "I was going to ask how much you wanted for all of them." She said she had a few more upstairs and went to get them. When she came down she said she usually charged $2 for these kinds of books, and wanted to know how many were there. Court counted and there were 42.

"How about $80," she said.

"That is exactly the amount I had in my wallet," said my husband.

That is a God thing!!!

God provided just the right amount of money to buy the books and my husband let me buy them all! What a blessing from the Lord.

Landmark books are History books, my favorite subject. These will make for some great read aloud this year and in the years to come. The pictures came out well enough that I do not have to write the titles for each of the books we got. If you can't read the titles, and want to, you can click each picture and see a larger view.


Here they are:

The books in the picture above, except for the Joan of Arc, are ones that will enhance our History THIS year!

The Joan of Arc book was one I was especially glad to see. I bought a copy of this book last year and when we went to read it this summer it had disappeared. I was bummed. Now if it shows up we will have two and if not at least I have this copy.




The books below will be used in the future...

Quite a range of time periods and subjects.

This is the only book without a title on the front and is the only one that is not a Landmark. It looks like a good book though. Title: We Were There With The Mayflower Pilgrims by Robert N. Webb. We will be reading this book this year to... hopefully. Right now we are at the early 1400's reading The Adventures and Discoveries of Marco Polo. A Landmark I bought from Amazon.

If you were astute you may have noticed there were only 41 books in the pictures above. One of the titles I am not sure we will keep. I will have to read it. It is Prehistoric America by Anne Terry White. Oh well, if we don't want it I will try and sell it or maybe give it away.

My daughters have already picked out books from the pile that they want to read soon!!! and they are not even in school any more. I love it that they still want to learn and stretch and keep growing. I am so proud of you girls. If I instilled in you a love of learning then I guess I did an ok job homeschooling you all those years.

Thank you Lord for these books, hopefully they will be a blessing to generations of our family, should the Lord tarry. Thank you Hubby for working so hard and buying so many good books for our homeschool, even if I have to eat PB & J for a month... LOL just kidding!

Debbie

My Love Language Quiz

I feel loved when...

The Five Love Languages

My Primary Love Language is Quality Time

My Detailed Results:
Quality Time:	10
Acts of Service:	9
Physical Touch:	4
Receiving Gifts:	4
Words of Affirmation:	3

About this quiz

Unhappiness in relationships is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. It can be helpful to know what language you speak and what language those around you speak.

Tag 3 people so they can find out what their love language is.

Take the Quiz!
Check out the Book

How to prepare for a Curriculum Fair

If you are going to a Curriculum Fair for the first time, especially a BIG one, there are a few things you should know. This is a good review for those that have been to Curriculum Fairs before, too. Being prepared will make the difference between a bad experience and a great one. Going to a homeschool convention can impact your school year too, depending on what you buy there! Shop wisely!
Before I begin talking about the actual fair there are some preliminary choices I want to talk about...

Want to know what I said? then you will have to go over to 3 Boys and A Dog to see the rest because I did a guest post there. So come on over and read the rest, click this link - 3 Boys and A Dog

Blast From the Past - Back to School 1995

You will find the rules for participating in my meme by clicking this link
Blast From The Past

This weeks Blast is a fast, easy one because I spent a lot of time with the boys doing school yesterday and then wanted to post about our year, our "curriculum", and our "schoolroom".

This is a picture of Rachel, Jessica and Nathan September, 1995
Ready for the first day of homeschool that year.

Rachel with her backpack on even though she was not really going anywhere.
Rachel was 9 years old and in 3rd grade, Jessica was 6 and in 1st and Nathan was 15 mos. old. We were living in a trailer at the time.

Eager young minds and bodies waiting to be lead

Teacher's Prayer
Author Unknown

Lord, Please help me,
To strengthen their voices,
bodies and minds,
To help them express their feelings and
control them sometimes,
To explore what's near
and venture afar,
But most important to love
who they are.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks Blast
Now it is your turn!!
Post a picture from your past... yesterday... days gone by...
Pictures of you, your family, your kids, your spouse...

Make sure you take my Blast From The Past button to put in your post. Tell your readers to click on the button to come to my blog or leave them a link at the bottom so they can read my post and participate if they want to.

Don't forget to come back and sign Mr. Linky so we can all go read your post!!!

Debbie

p.s. don't forget to go over to Rachel and Jessica's blog and sign up for their giveaways!!! They are homemade craft items and they are so cute! They are giving away a different item each day this week so visit every day and good luck. Let them know you found out about the giveaway from their mom's blog. So head over and sign up and good luck to all.

First Day of School 2009-10 and Some Views of our Schoolroom

Today was our first day of school for 2009-2010. We have many things planned for this year. Among them are:

• Bible - Grapevine O.T. Overview level 4 (watch for my review in a couple weeks)
• History - Renaissance/Reformation/Explorers = using Mystery of History Vol. 3, Story of the Renaissance and Reformation, Story of the Thirteen Colonies, and Famous Men of the Renaissance & Reformation as a base with timelines, maps, lapbooks, biographies, historical fiction, and other history books added in.
• Science - Chemistry = using Christian Kids Explore Chemistry, Discovering Atoms, Molecules, and Matter, 150 Captivating Chemistry Experiments Using Household Substances, Chemistry for Every Kid: 101 Experiments, Cohesion/Adhesion Task Card Lessons, Oxidation Task Card Lessons, and Solutions Task Card Lessons, with a lapbook thrown in and a few other things.
• Language - Wordsmith Apprentice and Daily Grams Grade 7 Workbook for Christopher, Wordsmith and more of Easy Grammar Plus for Nathan, and Personal Reading
• Math - Algebra ½ Home Study Kit (3rd Edition) for Christopher and Teaching Textbook Algebra 1 Complete Set for Nathan
• Our first artist for our Artist Study is Fra Angelico (click his name for a link to wikipedia where I got prints of his paintings)
• Our first composer for our Composer Study is Martin Luther author of A Mighty Fortress is our God and Away in a Manger as well as others. One Resource we will be using for this study is Color the Classics - Hymn Writers (Rainbow only sells it in as set but you may be able to find it elsewhere separately if you wish).

Ok, that is our basic curriculum for the year. It will be accented by and added to and interrupted by the products we will be testing for the TOS Review Crew.

Now on to the pictures from our first day of school this year and of the places in our home where we do our learning.

Nathan working on his Math at the kitchen table,
the place where most of the learning takes place.


Christopher at the table. Note: in the picture below you can see our divider,
we use this to keep the boys on task and less distracted by each other.
It also serves as a large mini office with needed help pages inside of plastic sleeves.
The plastic sleeves make it so we can change the pages as needed.





Pictures of me doing my "work" keeping the school log.
Christopher took these of me.
He wanted one of me smiling and said, "That is my beautiful Mom," which made me smile a more natural smile, what a sweet boy.


Oops!! He got me making a funny face. I was erasing something on the page and then I went to blow the page off and he took another picture at just that moment.

Jessica, on the couch in the living room, working with her new laptop she got on Sunday. She has been saving her money since her graduation in 2007 and has been waiting for a great deal. She finally found it!

Oh, So Serious Nathan!!!

Or, maybe not!!

Christopher, acting goofy on purpose!!

My smiling boy!

I did not get a picture of Rachel today. She was scanning stuff on my computer for a while and checking her blog! OH make sure you check out the girls giveaways. A new giveaway every day this week. Click on the button near the top on the left for the Summer Blast Giveaway!

Here is Christopher's Pile of school stuff! sorta organized!! LOL

Here is my "school" box with the books I will use most often each day this year. Organized by subject with cardboard cereal box dividers to separate them.

A full view of the table in the dining room and the divider.

Our bookshelf in the dining room, opposite the table.

The bookcase in the living room with the books we need for this year, as well as the general reference books used every year, and the Portfolios from all 18 years of homeschooling.

The boys computer in the living room.

The bookcase in the upstairs hallway with the books we don't need for this year. Organized by subject with the History ones in chronological order.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this peak into our home and our first day of school,
Have a great week,
Debbie

Hello, I have been busy

Just wanted to drop my readers a note so you don't think I fell off the earth. I have been very, very busy. Last weekend my husband took me away for Friday night and Saturday for our 25th anniversary. I thought we would not get to go away at all so it was quite a treat. We stayed in a motel locally because it was cheaper, but we got to be away from the house and kids for the night. Sat. we did a little shopping and then went to PA and played miniature golf and then went out to dinner. It was a nice relaxing time with my sweetie. There was only one problem, it was to short!!!

I have also been busy planning our year. I plan my own History and Science Units because I cannot just take a curriculum or curriculum guide or even a unit study and just leave it alone and do it as is. Not even MOH (Mystery of History, the spine for our History this year). I have added many other resources to our study. I probably overdo it but the kids don't complain and like History, I think!

I have most of the Science done and the History through the Renaissance and Reformation mostly planned, though I will probably add things as we go along through the year. I have not finished planning the end of the MOH 3 book, I need to add some things we have for the early colonial time period.

Have a great week,
Debbie

P.S. We start school next Monday the 27th. Hopefully I will be able to start back to blogging more regularly then. Also watch for some upcoming reviews for products we are using, sent to us because of my being on the TOS Crew Review. We are really enjoying our new Bible Curriculum from Grapevine Studies.

Blast From the Past - In Honor of our 25th Anniversary, Today!!!

You will find the rules for participating by clicking this link
Blast From The Past


Love is not as simple as candlelight and roses...
...Love is day-to-day living,
taking time,
making time to be there with open arms
and a giving heart...
Love is the special life we share.
(author unknown)

Our Wedding was held on July 14th, 1984; at the home of my sister Chris. We pulled her piano onto her porch for the music and used her yard and the yard of the building next door to her.

First I have a slide show for you; then, if you are interested, just a few of the same photos with more details of who the people are in the photos!

"If you don't marry Debbie today you will be sorry!!!" LOL
The Guys were goofing off before the ceremony, lightening the tensions and having some fun!

The Wedding Party (left to right and back to front):
One of my best friends from High School Rodney Sisco,
Court's Brother-in-law Russ,
Court's Friend Jerry,
The Best Man - Court's best friend, Olin Carey,
Me,
Court,
My Matron of Honor - My sister Chris Coover,
A friend of mine from College Anne Fisher,
Court's Sister Evelyn
My best friend from High School Becky Meyerend,

My niece Jennifer Weaver,
My nephew Jason Coover,
Court's niece Emily Taylor

I lost touch with Anne Fisher - Anne if you are out there contact me!!
My niece and Courts are married now with children of their own and their names have changed.
My nephew Jason is also married but did not change his name of course... LOL
My friend Becky is a missionary in Mexico

This car belonged to my brother-in-law Dave's Father, Dale Coover. He lived right across the street from my sister and brother-in-law's house and agreed to drive us around town and then to the reception in his Model T. Mr. Coover is driving.

My Family: (left to right front to back)
front left : My niece Jennifer Weaver, her brother Matthew Weaver,
2nd row: Linda Weaver (then married to my brother Bob, now divorced)
and nephew Jason Coover,
3rd row: My brother Bob Weaver, my sister Chris Coover, her husband Dave Coover,
Court, My Mom Beatrice Weaver, my brother Lew Weaver (his wife and kids were already over at the reception helping out)
Me seated in front

Court's Family: (left to right front to back)
Court's niece Emily Taylor, Me (seated), Court's nephew Adam Taylor
Court's Brother John Phillips, his wife at the time Jeannie, Court's sister Evelyn, her husband at the time Russ, Court, Court's Mom Joyce Phillips, Court's nephew Rusty Taylor

I hope you enjoyed this look at my Wedding which was 25 years ago today!

Now it is your turn!!
Post a picture from your past... yesterday... days gone by...
Pictures of you, your family, your kids, your spouse...

Make sure you take my Blast From The Past button to put in your post. Tell your readers to click on the button to come to my blog or leave them a link at the bottom so they can read my post and participate if they want to.

Don't forget to come back and sign Mr. Linky so we can all go read your post






I love you Hubby!!
Happy 25th Anniversary to me and Hubby!
I love you more today than I did then!
Debbie

Used Books - Some Great Finds

A couple weeks ago my dh took a couple vacation days to celebrate my birthday. During that time we went to a local homeschooler's used book sale. Unfortunately it rained, but she had the sale in her living room. Below you can see the wonderful things I purchased.


7 Landmark books
Mr. Bell Invents the Telephone by Katherine B. Shippen
Dwight D. Eisenhower: The Story of the General from Abilene by Malcolm Moos
The Story of the Thirteen Colonies by Chifford Lindsey Alderman
The Story of Thomas Alva Edison: The man who turned night into day by Margaret Cousins
The Pioneers Go West by George R. Stewart
Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia by Margaret Cousins
As Far As the Eye Can Reach: Lewis and Clark's Westward Quest by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel




Modern Rhymes About Ancient Times:
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Greece
Ancient Rome
by Susan Altman and Susan Lechner




Each of the above books is a Scholastic, Voyages of Discovery, Visual Arts book
The History of Printmaking: Prehistoric prints, calligraphy, engraving, etching, posters, and comic strips
Architecture and Construction: Building pyramids, log cabins, castles, igloos, bridges, and skyscrapers
What the Painter Sees: Portraits, still lifes, landscapes, trick painting, animals, water, and light
The History of Moviemaking: Animation and live-action, from silent to sound, black-and-white to color
Exploring Energy: Power from the sun, muscles, fuel, machines, inventions, and atoms
The Story of Flight: Early flying machines, balloons, blimps, gliders, warplanes, and jets




Middle Ages Timechart from Greenleaf Press
The Usborne Internet-Linked Complete Book of the Microscope
3 Dorling Kindersley Readers - level 4:
Days of the Knights: A Tale of Castles and Battles by Christopher Maynard
Joan of Arc Angela Bull
Welcome to the Globe!: The Story of Shakespeare's Theater by Peter Chrisp



Write Source: A book for writing, thinking and learning
a blank book for writing a story in
Winnie the Pooh's Cookie Book
The Stories of Vivaldi & Corelli in Words and Music CD
The Story of Beethoven in Words and Music CD
The Story of Mozart in Words and Music CD




I Can Become a Chemistry Wiz kit
by Penny Norman, Ph.D.
Materials Included
(looks unused)





Smithsonian MicroChemistryXM 5000 set

they don't sell that set any more but the 3000 set can be found here

Oh, I paid only $7 for this set...
My problem now... someone I know said to make sure the chemicals were still ok to use. They are all dry powder. How do I know? They don't have any dates on the bottles. I don't know anything about chemicals. Any suggestions? The manual that came with the set says it was revised in 2004. I will take the set to my friend and ask her but if you have an suggestions please leave me a comment.

I did not pay more than $3 for any item except the chemistry set that I paid $7 for. Most of the items were $1 or $2. The set of Scholastic books were all 6 for $5: they run about $10-15 each, when new.

Well those are my latest finds. We went specifically because she advertised the Landmark books. We love them!! Especially the old hardbacks! The extra finds are a bonus. I am especially excited about the Story of... Cd's. We love them too!!!

Have a Great Week,
Debbie