Beannachtai na Feile Padraig! (Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

From your friendly retriever, O'Shadow the Dog.

Recent (And Not So Recent) Purchases

I wanted to highlight some fun and effective "teacher's helpers" that I've bought fairly recently:


I actually bought these big dominoes about two years ago from Big Lots. They're inexpensive, good and sturdy, and are useful for counting practice, addition, and subtraction. I made little number cards, so the boys could match a number to a domino, or make addition and subtraction sentences with the cards to match what is on the domino.


I've seen the above cards for years, but never considered using them until I saw them on Pioneer Woman's website. They're
meant to be used with a book called English from the Roots Up, but we just use the cards to

learn the Latin and Greek roots of English words. The green bordered cards are Greek, and 

the red bordered cards are Latin. On the back is printed the meaning of the root, and common

English words that contain that particular root, like the photos card has the word photograph

on the back. We only learn one root per day, with a lot of oral review.

One of the most exciting discoveries I've made is this set of cards, from Picture Me Reading. They're a wonderful tool for my
very visual, picture-thinking son, Sam. Each card has a Dolch sight word (there are 220 of them!) with a picture embedded in it that give a clue as to what the word is. On the back is the word without the picture, and a sentence using the word/picture.  This is really working for him in a way that phonics never has. Oh, I know he still needs to work on phonics, but now I can help him learn phonics from the words he actually can read. Being very right-brained, he thinks much better from whole word to word parts/letters, rather than the traditional letter

sounds to words to sentences. 

Check out the cool tees at Wild Olive. They're trendy/modern/beautiful, and have some of my favorite Bible verses on the backs.
There are ten different styles to choose from, and even better, the ladies of Wild Olive donate ten percent of profits to charity. Right now they're supporting a Christian charity that helps families who want to adopt a child, but can't afford adoption costs.

A Great Day in the Woods...

sloshing through oozy mud.




It was great fun, though, watching the kids in our homeschool group...

haul a small tree through the woods,

man a crosscut saw,

watch Mr. Yoder wield a cool, medieval looking axe,

collect bucketsful of sap,

or just hang out with friends under a big loud bell.

I can only be talking about Sugarbush 2009, of course! Thanks to the folks from Merry Lea forewarning us about the right way to dress for a day in the woods, we were more or less prepared for the cold, dressing in layers with hats and boots. Except for my kids. It wasn't their fault that they outgrew their boots, and I didn't get around to buying new ones. At least they were wearing old shoes. They also learned the history of maple syrup making, toured the sugar house and learned about the evaporation of the sap, made their own wooden spiles ( little sap spigots), and got to sample the syrup itself on pancakes cooked on griddles over a fire. Yum!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today, March 2, 2009...

  Outside my window...

     It's surprisingly cold, even for early March.  Only 22 degrees, but it feels like a bone-chilling 11!

     The sun is deceptively shining, though.

   On our lenten journey...

      Today we began learning the Angelus, after watching the video on Lenten Adventure. 

     

    I am thinking...

       about the laundry, decluttering and other household tasks awaiting me, now that our 

       school day is finished.

    I am thankful for...

       the new job my 19 year old son is starting today. 

    From the learning rooms...

        Well, as I said, we've finished for the day, but Sam is drawing a picture of ancient ruins.

 

     I am wearing...

         a very toasty warm green sweater over a pale blue shirt, brown pants and my usual 

         tie-up shoes.

      I am reading...

         actually I'm rereading Perelandra for my book group, since I read it so fast the first time.

      I am hoping...

          that my brother is able to get safely back to Indianapolis. He's flying in from Atlanta, and

          the last I heard, they had quite a bit of snow.

      I am hearing...

           a very annoying, repetetive phrase my boys are quoting from "Phineas and Ferb", 

           prompting me to warn them that they will never, never, never again see the show if they

           don't stop.

      Around the house...

            I finally did last Monday's declutter mission (living room shelves) on Saturday. I'm 

            hoping to work on cleaning out the linen closet (it's been about three years, after all)

            in about half an hour. 

      One of my favorite things...

           is watching old B&W movies from the thirties and forties while I fold laundry.

       A few plans for the rest of the week:

            continuing to learn about Ancient Egypt, trying to get to Mass every morning, 

            learning about fractions, getting ready for Sugarbush 2009! (YAY!) 

       Here is a picture thought I am sharing...

       

   

   

    

Here's to March, St. Patrick's Day, and all things Irish!

Thanks to Peggy, creator of The Simple Woman's Daybook!