love to paint

Homeschooling has taught me many lessons.  One of them is that there is no one "perfect" curriculum--a curriculum that is perfect for every family.  Many families will love a curriculum, but others won't.  We are different and so are our children!  We have different goals for our children and different information we want them to learn.  There are often different skills we want them to learn as well.  Today I had a friend visit who's niece at 4 years old can name the spices in her food.  Her siblings can too!  Her family happens to love food deeply.  Two friends of mine purchased or were given ponies for their daughters this year.  Horses are a deep love and passion for these two young girls.  That time and devotion to the ponies means that their time is divided differently than many children their ages. I have been reading through a curriculum that I have found interesting.  But...  I've had this reoccurring thought that...

A month ago, we went out to lunch after church with some friends.  The husband, who knows many homeschooling families, observed that to be a good homeschooling teacher you have to have knowledge about and interest in a wide variety of subjects.  I remarked back that, "or you need to have a friend who can help fill in the gaps where you fall short".   I grew up in LA.  There wasn't much nature around.  I lived in a suburb surrounded by suburbs.  I had no interest in science.  Science is a subject area where I have gaps.   God gave me a dear friend to help me fill in this gap.  She has opened my children's eyes up to nature and blessed our family.  Last year, she gave us several caterpillars and a cocoon, which we got to watch as they went through the  life cycle of the butterfly.  This year my friend was heading out on vacation, so she bestowed on us the gift of a cocoon to watch over.   I have checked each morning on th...

A gal I met this week asked me about what test I use to assess my daughters reading levels.  I use a test called the QRI (2nd ed.).  I was taught how to use this test and interpret it in my classes for my master's degree in education.  It tests reading (phonics and sight words), reading comprehension, and background knowledge.  I wouldn't recommend this test to homeschooling parents.  I was taught how to use this test.  I had instructors walk me through it and show me how to use it.  I am very thankful for this instruction. This morning I set out to see if I could find a test online that is available to homeschoolers.  I found that Sonlight has a page listing several academic assessments for students.  Here is the page:   http://www.sonlight.com/placement-tests.html     On this page, there are reading vocabulary and comprehension assessments.  I took a look at the Let's Go Learn test and it covers all of the language a...

It's been an interesting week.  I'm very thankful that I talked to friends about their experiences with prednisone.  At times, I'm just fine.  Other times, I feel like my blood sugar is low and eating something won't help.  Then, there are other times...like last night.  Those are the times my friend Karen warned me about thankfully.  It was after dinner and I could feel my body getting antsy.  I couldn't handle the kids asking for five more things for five more minutes.  I explained to my husband that I needed to go be by myself away from everyone.  I knew I needed to.  I sat at the computer working on various projects for an hour and then the jitteriness began to start ebbing a bit.  My hives had returned, though, from my allergic reaction to amocillin last week.  I took a benadryl and made my way to sleep before my body decided to act up any more on me.   When I woke this morning, I felt fine.  But, the jitterin...

It is 12:38 a.m. and I am wide awake.  This is unusual for me.  Actually, it's very unusual for me!  For the past few weeks, I've been struggling to stay awake come 8 p.m. each night.  Today I had my first dosage of prednasone.  I do need to take it so for the next 2 weeks I am going to probably be forgoing my morning cup of coffee and taking my dosage as early as I can in the morning--in the hope that the "wired" effect will wear off as much as possible by the time I need to go to sleep. I've never done drugs, or taken no doze, or drank more than half a glass of wine, so the feeling that I have right now is pretty weird.  I have to take this for 2 weeks because of multiple exposures to poison ivy, sumac, or oak.  Blech!  Still this "wired" effect is much better than the alternative that I had dreaded--a visit to the hospital. I thought I would share what happened because it's interesting to me to see how our health care system works today. ...

I recently wrote of my desire to understand science from a Christian perspective.  I had read a nature book that bothered me because of how it portrayed evolutionary views.  I disagree with evolution, but it was how the authors spoke of evolutionists that bothered me.  I had the opportunity to read another book on a similar subject,  Building Blocks in Life Science:  From Genes & Genesis to Science & Scripture by Gary Parker. When I opened up the book and read this paragraph, I was intrigued...             "All that changed in 1859.  Evolutionists used Darwin's popular new book, Origin of Species, as the basis for both attacking the Bible and reinterpreting the scientific evidence supporting the creationist model.  Variability within kind was replaced with change from one species to others; boundaries between kinds with missing links between species; ecological cooperation with competition; common plan with co...

When I was a child, I had many faults that stood out.  One was that I didn't know how to make friends or be a friend.  I simply didn't have friends.  But, there were other things I did well.  So, even as a child I pursued what I could do in an attempt to please others and to feel better about myself.  I also had a parent who believed that less than perfect wasn't good enough.  I became a perfectionist.  In many ways, I still am one.  I try very hard to get everything right and do everything I need to get done.  I often find myself motivated by the fear of displeasing others. I do know I need God's grace and I know that I need to show myself grace.  I understand and know God's love.  But, I still struggle.  Last year, I read several books by Cynthia Heald and Jerry Bridges that really encouraged me.  I loved Ms. Heald's Bible study series.  It took me to the Word each morning without reading into it or interpreting ...

When I was a child, I had many faults that stood out.  One was that I didn't know how to make friends or be a friend.  I simply didn't have friends.  But, there were other things I did well.  So, even as a child I pursued what I could do in an attempt to please others and to feel better about myself.  I also had a parent who believed that less than perfect wasn't good enough.  I became a perfectionist.  In many ways, I still am one.  I try very hard to get everything right and do everything I need to get done.  I often find myself motivated by the fear of displeasing others. I do know I need God's grace and I know that I need to show myself grace.  I understand and know God's love.  But, I still struggle.  Last year, I read several books by Cynthia Heald and Jerry Bridges that really encouraged me.  I loved Ms. Heald's Bible study series.  It took me to the Word each morning without reading into it or interpreting t...

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I had begun to ponder writing curriculum and what I was going to use with my oldest daughter this year.  Well, it's been interesting since then.  I had ordered 2 new Evan Moor Books and 3 used Evan Moor books.   DON'T buy Evan-Moor books used !  This was what I learned.  Amazon has made a mistake.  They show the new copy with listings for the previous edition under the used listings.  I thought I was ordering the books I saw on the preview, but I wasn't.  When the 3 used books arrived, I was very disappointed.  Rather than saving money, I found myself in the thick of a lot of trouble!  Returning an item to Amazon directly was pretty easy, but I had to drop it off at a UPS drop box.  The second return was easy, the money was simply returned when I contacted them that I had received the wrong item. The third item, on the other hand, was a pain.  I had to make a claim to Amazon about it and the s...

Last week, we went on vacation so that is why I haven't posted on this blog since June!  It was a busy trip.  We worked a lot on my mother in law's home and I did a lot of painting.  I scraped, primed, and painted two window frames; scraped a garage door, primed and put 2 coats of paint on it; and primed and painted a mailbox and its post.  I also showed two of my brother in laws how to paint.  I realize that I haven't posted about how I paint on here before so here's a few things I told them... Paint matters.  Buy good paint that won't run.  Otherwise you constantly have to make sure you aren't dragging paint with you from the can to the surface you're painting.  Thinner paints are more dangerous this way (especially Glidden!).  Behr from home depot has been the best for me.  I can get away with 1 coat at times (with touch up) while I have had to do 2 coats with Valspar, Olympic, and Glidden. A 2" angled brush is my favorite. ...