The Cinnamon Bear

Whether you homeschool, or just have kids, if you haven't checked out the Homeschool Radio Shows, you should! This weeks freebie, as well as the continuing freebie for the past three Tuesdays on the The Homeschool Freebie of the Day website was The Cinnamon Bear.

The Cinnamon Bear is the adventures of Judy and Jimmy, twin brother and sister, who go into their attic to find their Christmas Star to go on top of their tree. While looking for their Christmas Star, they meet the Cinnamon Bear who is only four inches tall. He teaches them how to de-grow and then takes them to Maybe Land to chase after the Crazy Quilt Dragon who he saw steal their Christmas Star.

This is a wonderful 1930's radio drama. There is magic and a witch, but she is one of those classic witches who is green and afraid of seeing herself in a mirror. There is also Santa Claus and Jack Frost, who my children have always been taught the truth about...that they are made up. Ellie and Wyatt know the true story of St. Nicholas and that his legend has been adopted into what is now know as Santa Claus. Anyway, the story is that of your wildest imagination, and totally fun!

We downloaded the episodes in three parts each week on the Homeschool Freebie of the Day. The Erskine Family, who run both sites, suggested listening to one episode each day till Christmas, as there are 26 episodes. We couldn't wait though! We were so glad we weren't listening to the show back in the 1930s where we'd have to wait until the radio show was on again!

There is also a free coloring book download which is wonderfully illustrated by one of the Erskine's daughters. We have a comb-binder on loan from my parents, so I printed out and bound up coloring books for both of my kids. Ellie enjoyed the coloring book from the start, but Wyatt didn't act like he wanted me to put his together the first day. Well, the second week, he did want his bound up. I ended up printing three more coloring books for him that day. Ellie is my art girl, she can always be found with art supplies...drawing, coloring, painting. Wyatt has to really like something to get into art. Well, he LOVED the Cinnamon Bear coloring book! He colored all four Cinnamon Bear coloring books in one day!

So, if you haven't checked out those websites, click on the highlighted above. You should be able to download the Cinnamon Bear radio show and coloring book until Sunday, December 20, 2009. Merry Christmas!

Science Secrets

I'll be honest, Science was not my subject during most of my school years. I did enjoy Chemistry in high school and college, and the general science class I had to take in college (it covered history, astronomy, physics, seemed like everything). Anyway, I've said before that my kids love Science, so that is a challenge for me in homeschooling.

I've been blessed the last year and a half to assist my friend, Colleen, in the Science classes she teaches at our co-op. Science just comes naturally for her. She has given me lots of great ideas.

This last week at co-op, I assisted in the Jr. High/High School Anatomy class where she told the kids about laminin. If you aren't familiar with laminin, basically, it's the stuff that holds humans together. Do a search for "laminin". You can check out the pictures of laminin by clicking here. Laminin looks like a cross. She told the kids that although God wants us to believe in Him and take Him on faith, He leaves us evidence of His existence (sometimes) in the smallest places.

Co-op was last Friday, so all of that was still in my mind when the kids and I enjoyed a wonderful live online Science class Monday, Astonishing Atoms. The class was put on by Science Jim, through Currclick. This was a free class, but nonetheless full of content, so that you could get an idea of what to expect in a Science Jim class. In case you're interested, there is another free class on December 22! We signed up for this class a while back, but didn't receive our link to the class for some reason. This time we had no problems.

So, Science Jim was explaining that there are basically two things that everything is made up of: matter and energy...and they are basically the same thing (E=Mc2...thanks, Mr. Einstein!). Then he explains about atoms. Well, I learned about atoms in school, they have a proton, electron, and neutron; atomic number 1 has one of each. I never thought of this before, but my mind was in the right place thanks to Colleen, that an atom is a great example or way to understand the triun (trinity) of God. An atom, unimaginably tiny atom, has three parts to make up the whole atom: proton, neutron, and electron. Our God, unfathomably immense, has three parts to make up the whole: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One of the kids in the class asked where atoms come from. Science Jim was very good to say that people have different beliefs about how things began (I appreciate this, rather than pushing your views on others, even if they might be the same), but that atoms have always been in existence, since the beginning. Also, atoms never "die" or go away, they are kind of recycled. Which I think is a good comparison, too. God has always been and He never really goes away. I love that.

Science Jim wanted to "blow our minds" with his figures. He did succeed in blowing minds at our house. When he explained how vast things would have to be to make a scale model of an atom where we could see the nucleus with our unaided eyes...wow! If you want to know what he told us, you should attend his class! I think this is a class that any age would enjoy (unless you've learned it all already).

Christmas Caroling

Sunday evening the whole family went Christmas Caroling with a large group from our church. This was very different from Christmas Caroling we'd done in the past. Growing up the only place we ever Christmas Caroled was with my school honor choir a the local old folks (retirement) homes. The kids and I had went Christmas Caroling with a local homeschool support group, two years in a row.

This year we went out door Christmas Caroling! And we even got Thomas to go! The experience was a bit similar, because the neighborhood across from our church is retirement housing! How funny. You get more of a range of ages in retirement housing though.

There were a few people I think were home that didn't come to the door. There were a few people who came to the door that were reluctant to answer or stay for very long. There were at least a dozen people who came to the door that were very happy to see us, smiled, stayed to listen, even thanked us, and wished us a Merry Christmas. We had a very nice time. The temperature even cooperated; it was a balmy 40 degrees. Well, balmy compared to the Tuesday before we the temperature was about 14 degrees.

At one point, Ellie went with the pastor and part of the group, we turned and went with the leaders of our caroling group. I was just going to get Ellie and bring her back, but Thomas reminded me that my whole ideas was for this to be a family event. So, we all went to get Ellie. Well, we wound up staying with that part of the group and had the most doors opened with smiling faces during that time.

Afterwards, we all went back to the church for hot chocolate, coffee, and treats. One smart mom (not me, I brought cookies and banana chocolate chip muffins) brought carrots and celery to balance out the sugar. That was a nice time, too, just getting to visit with people. We don't have that opportunity very often, seems like there's always something to do, or somewhere to go.

Birthdays and Busy

We've be so busy lately. I know everyone is this time of year. Our birthdays all fall in a row (in the Fall). Mine is September, Thomas is October, and both kids were born in November. Wyatt generally gets to celebrate his birthday with his cousins on his Daddy's side of the family because Thanksgiving is our "family reunion" time with them.


The trip to my sister-in-law's (and brother-in-law, nephews and niece) was very nice. We rented a GMC Acadia from Hertz. I have to tell you, we really like those guys. We had a couple of bad experiences with another rental company, but people at Hertz were great. The Acadia had tons of room and a built in dvd player.


I made three pairs of moccasins from Tandy Leather kits on the way down, while I was sitting in my roomy heated seat. Best traveling shoes ever! My feet always get cramped and sweaty in tennis shoes, but I was comfy cozy in my brand new moccasins. From left to right are mine, Ellie's, and Wyatt's moccasins.

My beautiful children are now each a year older.

Ellie is now 9 years old.

Wyatt is now 7 years old.

In the midst of holidays and birthdays, Thomas won an award for Outstanding Contributor to USTA Tennis Program.

We've all been working on "renovating" our basement. I finally have a wall that I haven't had around our utility/laundry/workout room for the past 7 years (we had to pull it down because we found out we had termites). Thomas is busy doing trim work and I am busy painting walls, floors, and the ceiling. What is done so far is beautiful. Our project might not seem like much to some people, but we spend a lot of time down here and I know we're really going enjoy the changes.

Of course, all the normal life is going on with jobs, Civil War Kids Club, Awana, Co-op, school, Bible study, tennis, etc. There's never a dull day. It's literally freezing cold here in the heartland; chill ya to the bone cold. We have ice and snow still on the ground, but it is not to bad for driving, even on the gravel roads. Thomas said that he thought of Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter when he walked into work the other day. He has such a long walk that he was wishing he had hay bales to walk through like Pa Ingalls.

Much slower than I wish, I'll keep on trying to keep this updated.

Excited About Writing

I didn't start this project to get my kids excited about writing. I didn't even start this project with the idea to get my kids doing a project with their cousins who live states away. But I'm so glad that's what this whole thing has turned into!


Ellie drew a picture of her cousin Creede as a cowboy for his birthday and somehow she got an idea to write a story about Sheriff Creede. I don't remember exactly how that happened, but Ellie is a natural story teller, so I'm not surprised. She comes by storytelling honestly. I was writing stories for my own entertainment for as long as I can remember knowing how to write.


Well, we sat down at the computer, because I can almost type as fast as she can tell a story. Wyatt added a some to the story and I made a suggestion when they got stuck in one spot and argued about another. The story included all the boy cousins, including Creede, his brother-Carson, and Wyatt. I suggested adding Ellie at the end. Now the kids have been brainstorming about how to add Creede and Carson's little sister, Tess, to the story. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The kids got stuck at one point and couldn't agree on what to write next, so I suggested we send what we had (because we need to get to the post office and the library pretty quickly) and make the story "to be continued". Then they could write some more later. Well, as we were packing up the card, I had the idea that Creede and Carson might like to write (figuring on a love of books and storytelling from what I know of their parents) the next "installment" and send it to us. Then the cousins could continue taking turns writing. Ellie and Wyatt loved that idea.

The kids are so excited to receive a new installment of The Adventures of Sheriff Creede. They recieved installment #2 from their cousins on Monday. Ellie and Wyatt can't wait to write the next one!

They'll all get to see each other at Thanksgiving, and we're thinking of suggesting that the four of them write an installment together at that time. Their ages are 9, almost 7, 6 and 4. The boys' little sister, Tess, is nearly a year and a half old. Anyway, you can imagine with the span of those ages that this is a great, funny, and imaginative story about the Old West.

Kids love getting mail. Mine love telling stories. I love that they have this new connection with their cousins that they so rarely get to see.

I actually wrote stories with one of my cousins years ago. We would spend Spring Break together and work on a new "novel". We wrote chapters and sometimes even mailed them back and forth, but we never managed to finish a book. We were in Junior High then.

I expect that The Adventures of Sheriff Creede will end in a finished product...or at least a couple of completed adventures. I love how a simple idea for a birthday present from one cousin to another can turn into a fabulous family project. I can see this continuing on for quite some time.

I didn't count the first installment of Sheriff Creede as credit for homeschooling, but this could certianly be a homeschool project for credit. In any case, this is a great family togetherness project for any family...homeschooler or not. Happy trails!

ASL (American Sign Language) at the Library

We had the most fun at the library today. Homeschool or not, if you're not taking advantage of your local library's programs, you should be! We have an especially awesome children's librarian at our local library. She even puts on special programs designed for homeschoolers. This was one of them (though non-homeschoolers were welcome, too).

Today's program was a follow up to a Sign Language program last month. Signing is a bit old hat for our family. A couple years ago we did Sign Language as a foreign language. Our local public library has all the Signing Time videos and cds. We borrowed all of them that year (not at the same time). We borrowed some of them multiple times for review. I even enjoyed the Signing Time dvds! I always thought sign language was really cool to learn. I learned the alphabet and some signs from Sesame Street, and some from school (I think). (Sesame Street is where I learned my Spanish, too!) I especially loved using sign language in church, when we were training the kids not to talk during church! Well, they were allowed to talk, but only with their hands. :)

So, back to today. The lady (whose name I don't remember learning) taught the kids last month and today. She was really wonderful. She taught them a bunch of signs for Goldilocks and the Three Bears today. Then she laid out papers on the floor with the word for the sign on them and had a child stand behind each word. When she got to that word in the story, she pointed to the child, and he or she did the sign. Then she had the kids scramble and pick a new word to sign. The kids loved signing the story so much that they asked to do it again and again. She finally had to tell them there was no more time. We also reviewed things were learned last time, and a list of vocabulary words that she had given the kids to study new words. I should've had a video camera!

Coincidentally, the latest Homeschoolers Notebook e-newsletter answered questions about sign language and using sign language as a homeschool class. The answers including Signing Time and a couple other websites that were also on the list our library teacher gave the families today. The two new websites I checked out were: Signing Savvy and ASL Dictionary Portal. The Dictionary is a search engine where you can put in a word and they will find a site that has a video of the sign for you to click on. Signing Savvy has a sign of the day, with video. It also includes a beautiful human hand alphabet, numbers, colors, animals, and other signs. The site is very nice to look at. Signing Time explains some benefits (according to scientific studies) of teaching hearing children to sign like: higher IQ scores, better adjusted, and read at an earlier age. I love that we might be able to communicate with a deaf person if we needed or wanted to. I also think signing is pretty fun. Signing is also a good thing when you'd like, or need, (like in church, the library, or if someone is sick) everyone to be quiet.

The sign language teacher said she's be back to the library to teach again this summer. I'll bet for the Summer Reading Program. You can bet we'll be there, too!

Grown Up Growing

God has really been growing me lately...in so many ways. My hubby got the job of Bookkeeper at our church a few months back, and while he was at the church working, the church secretary came in to get ready for the Bible Study she leads. Well, Thomas called me up and passed her the phone, and she invited me to Bible Study. Thomas encouraged me to go and so did my kids. There are not too many things I do on my own...especially not outside the house. I questioned whether, if I started, I would be able to continue. Thomas likes to play tennis, and often plays when there is nothing else planned. So, first I made sure that I would be able to keep going. He assured me that I would be able to. I've really enjoyed the Bible Study and the fellowship with the other ladies, a group of ladies that has changed each week (with a couple of them remaining the same).

Right now, I'm listening to Back to the Basics of Life Seminar 2. Which continues for the next three weeks. You can still sign up; and it's FREE. Wow, I've seen the lady's website who is speaking, and she is a more incredible speaker than I would have imagined. She just said you are eleven times more likely to remember something you copy. It's interesting that my maternal grandma typed the entire Bible. She just made me think of that. She's talking about having quiet time and equipping our children to have their own quiet time. Oh, there's so much more to what she's talking about; like training our children (Proverbs 22:6) and being an example to them. Those are things that are among the top reasons why I wanted to homeschool our children. They are also issues that have been brought to surface lately in our homeschool. I've realized that we need to refocus. We need to make ourselves a mission statement.

When the kids joined the Civil War Kids Club, the adult who helped this young man start the club ran out and gave us a book called The Ghosts of Lone Jack, and told us the club was reading the book. At both meetings that the kids have attended, there has been no mention of the book. We had started reading the book and there was some language in it that I did not like...nothing severe, but things I didn't want my children repeating. I had seen when the author of this book was visiting the library and doing a book signing, but we didn't go because it was a ghost book. The description of the ghosts were very vivid. They did not bother me (although twenty years ago that would have been a very different story), and Ellie said they didn't bother her. Wyatt began to have nightmares though. We quit reading the book (the nightmares quit) and I am going to give the book back to the club. I just let things slide and I know I shouldn't have. I apologized to the kids (and God). Between that and many other things that have come across my path lately, I have a renewed commitment to let God lead our homeschool path. Homeschool to me is not just between school hours, but a way of life. If what we are doing is not pleasing to God, then we don't want to continue on in that. I asked the kids to call me on anything they thought God would not approve of. I do want those who don't know me well, or would question this, to know that does not mean my children are schooled in a bubble and do not know about things like evolution (or fill in the blank with what you don't think evangelical Christians allow their children to know). My children study the theories, but know them for what they are: theories, not proven fact, as they are taught in the public school these days. My biology teacher was Christian, and except for that fact, I doubt creation would even have been mentioned in my classroom. Actually, mentioning that creation was his personal belief was the only mention of creation in that classroom. I am not raising narrow minded children, but children who walk the narrow path (Matthew 7:13-14).

The kids and I studied the history of Halloween on Friday. Some friends of ours were discussing whether they would celebrate Halloween or not, and I felt compelled to look further into the subject. My family really didn't celebrate Halloween when I was growing up. I did dress up for school a few years, and we did go to the Fall Fun Festival at school, but we never went door to door "trick or treating". My kids had went trick or treating with friends for a few years, but those friends moved away. I had a friend who encouraged me not to worry about participating in the innocent parts of Halloween, but I could never really get excited about celebrating. Well, after studying the history of Halloween, the kids and I decided that we didn't feel comfortable participating in the traditions of Halloween. I think that maybe in the future, we might do something evangelical...to spread the good news (Mark 16:5), but unless we could feel that participating in the traditions of Halloween was pleasing to God, we didn't want to be a part of that. I won't condemn anyone for participating in Halloween, I will not judge anyone for participating in tradition they feel comfortable with (Matthew 7:1). This was continued growth for me though, not to bend to the social norms, but to be alien in this world, not of this world. My home is Heaven, and I don't want to question whether my Father in Heaven would be pleased looking down on my actions. If I have to question something, I would rather ere on the side of caution. I love to play dress up with my kids, but I never saw the purpose in going door to door asking for candy and coming home with a bucket full of future cavities. The scary stuff is yet another story (which includes a special assembly of ghost stories when I was in elementary school).

God is growing me in change. Thomas and I are going through Financial Peace University, the Dave Ramsey study. We are changing the way we deal with money, insurance, investments, our children's chores commission, and consequently each other. The changes are frustrating, exciting, and a bit scary. I'm really not good at change, but I'm leaning on my hubby in new ways of trust. I know these are good things for our marriage and our family.

So, back to the Bible Study. Our leader has this awesome visual. I need to make my own and take pictures, but I'll describe and you can probably imagine. Well, we start with when God created mankind we had a large circle body that was pure white and a smaller circle spirit that was all white. Mankind had no sin and was in full communion with God (Genesis 1:31). Then sin entered the world through disobedience to God (Genesis 3), and we have a large circle body that is black and dead, also a smaller circle spirit that is black and dead. Well, dead things can only produce nasty dead things...sins (Romans 3:23). So, when Jesus, God's only son (and the only perfect, no-sinning human), came to earth and took all the sins of mankind (past, present, and future) on him, he died and paid the price for every man's sins (that means wo-man's, too!) (John 3:16-17). When we accept Christs free gift of life, we get a white spirit circle that replaces the black one (Romans 6:23). Until we die and go to heaven, that white circle still sits in black flesh. When we go to heaven, we get a white body circle to go with the our white spirit circle.

Tonight we were talking about how when we ask Jesus into our heart that we all get a full white spirit; no one gets more or less than someone else. That spirit has many promises from God: He will take away the old and make us new (2 Corinthians 5:17), He will give us a heart to know Him (Deuteronomy 5:29), and our new spirit has wonderful fruit (Galatians 5:22): love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. When we have that new, clean spirit, Jesus in our hearts, God smiles down on us because we are His! We may not always see the fruit, but we are capable of producing all of those wonderful things.

If you don't have a Bible handy, but would like to check out these scripture references, you can plug them in to Bible Gateway (just click on the highlighted words). You can even change the version of the Bible, if one or another is easier for you to understand the wording.

I've thought a lot over the past few months about the seasons in my life, as many people call them. I asked Jesus into my heart at age 7. I see spurts of growth over time when I spent more time in God's word, having quiet time, reading devotionals and the Bible, my summers at Super Summer Evangelism School, my time in reading good Christian works of literature. I could, and can, always trace back in times of choas that I have neglected my time in communion with God. I still see the sins of my flesh more often than I like, but I know that if my focus is on the only treasure that I can take out of this world (my relationship with God and those people in my life that having accepted the gift of salvation), that I will produce the wonderful fruits of the spirit (Hebrews 12:2, Matthew 6:21, Luke 12:34).