Memory Eternal

O God of spirits, and of all flesh, who hast trampled down Death, and overthrown the Devil, and given life unto thy world: Do thou, the same Lord, give rest to the soul of thy departed servant, Christopher, in a place of brightness, a place of verdure, a place of repose, whence all sickness, sorrow and sighing have fled away. Pardon every transgression which he hath committed, whether by word, or deed, or thought. For thou art a good God, and lovest mankind; because there is no man who liveth and sinneth not: for thou only art without sin, and thy righteousness is to all eternity, and thy word is true.

Getting the Most Bang for your Buck

There are so many things out there a homeschool parent could buy, and I have certainly wasted my share of dollars on the unnecessary. So, here is a list of the products I have purchased that I consider to have long term value. These are the things I find myself using frequently, and feel confident we will not outgrow.


Uncle Josh's Outline Maps - what else do you need for geography? (besides some fabulous living books of course!)

Educational Fontware - I wanted this years ago, but never bought it. I finally purchased it this year, and I will never buy another handwriting or copywork book!

Story of the World CD's- this is something my kids return to year after year, they love listening to them in the car, while playing, at lunch, anytime :)

Living Memory - a wonderful resource for memory work in all subjects - recitation at your fingertips

Practical Arithmetics - can't beat the price for no nonsense math books, similar to Ray's, only covers a few topics Ray's does not

Today's Math Lesson

1 wooden bamboo tray $5

5 finger puppets: $25

12 little baskets: $12

25 "pumpkin" seed pods $5

50 miniature pinecones: $3

20 wooden sticks $0

100 acorns: $0

hours of fun learning math skills: priceless!

Peter Rabbit's Advice on Education

" Thank goodness I was never sent to school. It would have rubbed off some of the originality."
Beatrix Potter

N is for Nicholas

Orthodox Phonics Cards
Cursive copywork book

Manuscript copywork book

(this will be added to weekly - the newest pages are at the end)

What we will be reading:

Saint Nicholas

The Legend of St. Nicholas - Demi (one of our favorites!)

The Bakers Dozen

Lesson Plans for Week 3
Monday - introduce letter with flashcard, read story of the saint, take narration and color icon
Tuesday - practice making the sound and thinking of things that start with that sound, read Bakers Dozen and make cookies, explore letter bag, begin blending the three sounds we have learned

Wednesday - practice shape of letter using play-doh and textured tracing cards
Thursday - color flower fairy alphabet, practice sounding out words from reader page
Friday - Copywork pages - "N" and first words page

I love how things tie together even when we don't plan the connections! We have been reading A Child's Geography: Holy Land over the past few weeks and have been studying Turkey, so it is fun to be able to make the connection that St. Nicholas was born in Turkey.

Peter Rabbit learns Math

Here is the Queen's birthday present.

It is also her math manipulatives for Kindergarten (shhh, I won't tell if you won't :)
Take a look at who will be joining us for math lessons this year!

As I have mentioned before, I am planning to teach the Queen her math lessons this year through Waldorf storytelling. I have been studying several resources, including Serendipity's wonderful Gnomes and Gnumbers lessons and the Christopherus math lessons. After reading these and getting a feel for the stories, I decided the Queen simply had to learn math with her favorite friends: Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin, Old Brown the Owl, Chippy Hackee, Mr, Jeremy Fisher and of course, Mrs. Tiddlemouse. I purchased the animals over the summer (these would make great stocking stuffers!). Now, our little animals needed a home for the year, and I have been in love with this fairy house for years, but could not bring myself to spend that much money. Then my mother said she would get it for the Queen's birthday. We ordered it, and it was enchanting, but a piece was broken, and it was rather large for the spot where I had envisioned keeping it in our schoolroom. As I prepared to send it back for an exchange, I just kept thinking, surely I can make something similar for a whole lot less. The next day I happened to see these pieces at H*bby Lobby - so, I sent the lovely but very expensive fairy home back, and decided to make one myself. It was not too hard - other than the hour my husband spent cutting the tree limbs (and the small argument it caused over trying to cut even lines on a curved tree branch :), I spent an hour drilling the holes and pegs to put the whole thing together - all in all - 2 hours of work, one fight and $15 - I think it was worth it :)

I added a silk we already had, glued two of the crocodile hunters tree blocks together to create a table, and spent $10 on fall leaves, flowers, a nest and a fall garland to decorate (the M*gic Cabin decorations are $40 per season :). Our fall counters are acorns from the back yard and those little seed pods that look like pumpkins. She will be getting the winter and spring decorations as a Christmas present this year.
So, now we are well supplied with those all important math manipulatives
(and I must say I rather prefer our set to these , given my great love for Sax*n).

Sound Advice

'Mrs. Medlock,' Mr. Craven said to her, 'now I have seen the child I understand what Mrs. Sowerby meant. She must be less delicate before she begins her lessons. Give her simple, healthy food. Let her run wild in the garden. Don't look after her too much. She needs liberty and fresh air and romping about.'

The Secret Garden