Cramberry
February 25, 2010
Cramberry could be useful in many ways. It is a virtual flashcard program that you can use to test yourself. Create sets of online flashcards with questions on the front and your answers on the back and then test yourself. This would work great for scripture memorization, vocabulary, math facts or virtually anything you want to study and memorize. You can mark the cards that you answered correctly and incorrectly so that it will re-show your incorrect cards until you have them right.
-”Study Less, Remember More”
Intelligent scheduling
Cramberry builds a studying schedule for you based on your progress on each card, letting you study more quickly and efficiently.”
Take your cards with you
Study away from your computer by printing each set as either cut-out flash cards or a list of terms, or use our iPhone app.
Popcorn Science Fair Project
February 11, 2010
These were the resources my kids used for their science fair project on popcorn. We recommend this project. It was very fun!
How Stuff Works TLC Channel – Great video on the processing of popcorn kernels.
Science Experiments You Can Eat
Planning Ahead: Presidents’ Day
February 10, 2010
Presidents’ Day, originally known as Washington’s Birthday, falls on the third Monday of February. As the first federal holiday to honor an American citizen, the holiday was celebrated on Washington’s actual birthday, February 22. By the mid-1980s, with a push from advertisers, the term “Presidents’ Day” began its public appearance. This day has since expanded the focus of the holiday to honor another President born in February, Abraham Lincoln, and often other Presidents of the United States. Although Lincoln’s birthday, February 12, was never a Federal holiday, approximately a dozen state governments have officially renamed their Washington’s Birthday observances as “President’s Day”, “Washington and Lincoln Day”, or other such designations.
There are many websites to read about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. President Washington is almost universally admired. President Lincoln is viewed from several different perspectives which I won’t go into in this post, but may be worth further study. Below are two sites that interest me and that I will be using on Monday with the kids.
Read about George Washington here.
Read about Abraham Lincoln here.
Now for some activities to help celebrate the day. Dress up like the Presidents of the past with this fun “Powdered Wig“. This looks so easy and fun. We don’t do a lot of crafts in our home but this one has to be done. I just need to run over to the paint store to get the paper painters hats. I think it will be fun for all of us to put on our wigs and read about these two popular Presidents.
If the wig isn’t easy enough, you can fall back on these wonderful coloring pages. I am thankful that I downloaded these last year from the White House Kid’s website. The Obama administration has since removed them from the site. You are free to use and pass them on as long as they are used for personal use and not for profit.
Download a full coloring book of all 41 Presidents:
Download a George Washington coloring page only
Download a Abraham Lincoln coloring page only
Happy Presidents’ Day!!
Original posting February 13th, 2009
Planning Ahead: Valentines Day
February 4, 2010
Here are some ideas to plan a fun day for celebrating the holiday of the heart.
Do something totally different this year; a unit study of the human heart:
Purchase a beef heart at your local butcher. You can discuss the chambers of the heart, and the blood vessels. Compare this heart to a human heart diagram or model. Talk about the differences and likenesses.
Linkage:
History of Valentines Day Videos
Printable Valentine Stationary
Printable Puzzles and Activities
The following is one of my favorite posts from February 2009
The fruit of the Spirit is love. This is the first quality of the Spirit divinely inspired by God. You will find two kinds of love in scripture. Philos love which is a friendly love or the love one has toward a friend or companion. Agape love which is a caring love, the first quality of the Spirit. Agape is a divine capacity to love. Only God is capable of perfect Agape but we should strive to love as He loves us. Agape is patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, and it is not proud. 1Corinthians 13:4-8
Agape seeks the highest and best for another. It is not self seeking, thus the ability to be slow to anger. Psalm 145:8. Agape keeps no record of wrongs and does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Praise God for His Agape upon us!
If you want to learn more about Agape love and other qualities of the Spirit, I recommend taking Beth Moore’s study Living Beyond Yourself, Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit.
Happy almost Valentines Day!
Here are some bible verses in the romantic King James version to help you celebrate this holiday of love:
Fill your heart with Gods word
Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119:11
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Romans 10:10
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. Mark 12:30
Search me, oh God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. Psalm 139:23
Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 37:4
Verses that speak of God’s Love
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. Jeremiah 31:3
God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
Behold, what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. 1 John 3:1
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10
We love Him, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19
Memorization ~ Pledges
February 1, 2010
PLEDGE TO THE CHRISTIAN FLAG
I pledge allegiance to the Christian Flag and to the Savior for whose Kingdom it stands. One Savior, crucified, risen, and coming again with life and liberty to all who believe.
PLEDGE TO THE AMERICAN FLAG
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
PLEDGE TO THE BIBLE
I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God’s Holy Word, I will make it a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and will hide its words in my heart that I might not sin against God.
Martial Arts Spring Break & Bible Camp 2010
January 30, 2010
Church of the Good Shepherd and Gung Fu for Christ
present our Camp for
K-8th Graders 10am-2:30pm Monday-Friday
Camp 1: March 29- April 2 and/or
Camp 2: April 5-9
Our fun will include Bible teaching from Pastor Tim, Gung Fu training from Sifu Steve, archery, pugil stick fighting, airsoft target shooting, star/knife throwing, nunchuck training, games, crafts, and much more!
*All safety equipment provided.
Your tuition will include a Gung Fu t-shirt, training equipment, and snacks.
$80 for your first child, 2nd child 10% off, and each additional family members are 1/2 price.
Please call Lisa @425-512-6225 or the Church of the Good Shepherd @ 425-774-4474 to pre-register with a $15 non-refundable deposit.
Church of the Good Shepherd is located at 2609 Larch Way, Lynnwood, WA 98036
Gung Fu for Christ is really fun and energetic. I highly recommend this camp and the weekly classes as well. Your kids will absolutely love it! If you are interested in signing up for homeschool martial arts classes with Gung Fu for Christ you are welcome to enroll now as well. This is a great way to get your kids moving and in shape while learning self defense. You can find more information and pricing at their blog or at their website GungFuforChrist.com.
Spelling Resources
January 17, 2010
Spelling City makes it easy to teach spelling. They have a great variety of spelling lists such as colors,numbers to ten, possessives, homophones and words of latin origin. You can just type in your spelling words and have the child be tested online, taught how to spell them or play a game with the words.
All About Spelling is a great resource for words. They have free spelling lists for grades 1st through 7th. They also have the Ayres Spelling scale which contains the 1000 most frequently used words and the Dolch word list which contains the 200 most frequently used words. If you sign up for their free newsletter you will receive their free report called “20 Best Tips for Teaching Spelling”. A great resource to have in your spelling
Spelling Time - SpellingTime.com is a virtual spelling tutor that presents quizzes, spelling bees, spelling tests, and fun spelling games all customized to each child’s abilities.
Everday Spelling – Spelling Lists by grade.
Kids Spell- Fun spelling games
Fun, Interactive Online Game Spin and Spell
Great games to improve spelling :
Turbo Twist Spelling by Leap Frog
Book List Links
January 13, 2010
Another list of links to invaluable tools for the homeschool…BOOK LISTS! You will find a wonderful variety here. If you have a favorite place to look up books for your students please let me know. Enjoy!
Classical Christian Homeschooling
Christian Children Book Review Blog
Five in a Row Curriculum Book List
Lists and Reviews by Focus on the Family
Study of a Snowflake
January 4, 2010
This is a photograph of a real snowflake; a stellar dendrite.
It seems the appropriate season to study snowflakes. They are one of the most thought provoking creations on the planet in my opinion. They are absolutely a beautiful, wondrous gift from God. Like humans, snowflakes are all one of a kind. Here are some links to get you started on learning more about these magnificent icy morsels.
Snow Crystals, a study from Cal Tech, is a great resource to learn all about the different types of falling snow. They have an extensive snow crystal guide, a page on snowflake watching and how to go about it, and the physical properties of ice among many other pages.
You can start your study by learning about the man Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley. He was the first known person to photograph the snowflake in all it’s glory. Wilson Bentley photographed snowflakes between January 1885 through March of 1931.
Books on the” Snowflake Man”:
- Snowflake Bentley (Caldecott Medal Book)
I really enjoyed reading this story a couple of years ago to my son. I must get it again soon!
Snowflake activity books:
A short video on the life of Wilson Bentley:
“No Bible, No Breakfast” ~ In His Word 2010
December 31, 2009
2 Timothy 3:16-17 – “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (ESV)
Job 23:12 – “I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.” (NKJV)
“No Bible, no breakfast.” Watchman Nee
As we reflect on this past year and contemplate the new year, we’re considering our plans for reading His word daily. We just read an encouraging sermon about the “Morning Watch”. There isn’t a more biblical or beneficial way to begin the day.
My husband and I have recently found that we can learn better and stay more focused by combining sight and sound, listening to the bible being read while reading along or reading out loud ourselves. Did you know it only takes about 70 hours to read the entire Bible out loud? I didn’t. And we can normally read silently much quicker than that.
The internet provides a myriad of ideas for reading and listening to God’s word. Below are several Bible reading plans:
- Bible On Radio ~ You can listen through the Bible in a year with Tom Dooley. It’s free. Simply go to this site and push play while you are near your computer. This is a great addition to your own reading. Turn it on while working on the computer.
- Bible Reading Plans ~ You can have your daily reading emailed to you.
- One Year Tract Bible Reading Plan ~ You can read, listen, or both.
- Bible Reading Plans from the beginner to the advanced reader. I will be using the 180 Day Plan Guided Tour of the Bible first this year.
- Choose your own plan ~ Many choices of different books to read through the year.
- Discipleship Journal Plan ~ “Few things discourage us more from reading the Bible through in a year than falling behind. This plan gives five catch up days every month. This is absolutely golden!”
- Bible Reading Plan for Shirkers and Slackers ~ The advantage of this plan is that it provides guidance as you read each day but does not put you on an internal guilt trip if you miss a day.
- Prof. Horner’s Bible Reading System ~ Unusual, challenging, and life-changing (click read more from the facebook info page for details of the system). The Ten Lists is a great little application for the web or your internet enabled mobile phone or iPod that sets up and keeps track of this system’s daily readings.
“I ought to pray before seeing anyone. I feel it is far better to begin with God, to see His face first, to get my soul near Him before it is near another.” – Robert Murray M’Cheyne
May God grant us all a deeper relationship with Him through the reading of His Word.
