That is how best to sum up this week. The children have been laid low for the first time in a year now. They had a half dozen performances last weekend. I was a little concerned by all the reports we got about a significant illness 'going around'. By Sunday afternoon the first kids' dropped and fevers rose. What followed was movies, medicine, and a lot of naps and cuddles. Lots of naps and cuddles. Which might just be the best medicine.
The winner of the Speed Math giveaway is Sharron. Congrats! Good news for the rest of you too. Julie is offering everyone a coupon good for $2 off the set for the next few days.
Here are the details:
Go to Amazon and make your order. Type in the code 2YJWWG7P in the gift cards and promotion codes upon check-out at amazon to receive $2 off. The offer is good until 12:00 noon on Saturday 3/24. Don't use the one-click order option as this will cause the screen with the gift cards and promotion codes box to be skipped.
Thanks everyone!
Waking up happens slowly around here. There is some sitting and looking out the window. Easing into the day, sometimes with some reluctance.
But there is nothing like the sheer joy that spills out when they realize it's not a work day and Daddy's home.
* Just a reminder there is one more day left in the Speed Math giveaway. Julie has a surprise for you as well. And Sarah has a nice giveaway at her blog too. Barbara is giving away one of her beautiful rosaries Wed as well. Lots of opportunities this week. Check it out!
St. Joseph,
Renowned offspring of David,
Light of Patriarchs,
Spouse of the Mother of God,
Chaste guardian of the Virgin,
Foster father of the Son of God,
Diligent protector of Christ,
Head of the Holy Family,
Joseph most just,
Joseph most chaste,
Joseph most prudent,
Joseph most strong,
Joseph most obedient,
Joseph most faithful,
Mirror of patience,
Lover of poverty,
Model of artisans,
Glory of home life,
Guardian of virgins,
Pillar of families,
Solace of the wretched,
Hope of the sick,
Patron of the dying,
Terror of demons,
Protector of Holy Church,
pray for us.
*book here
*St Joseph table traditions and cut and paste model here
free printable matching card game here
* coloring page here
Here it is folks! I am pleased to be able to offer you a chance to have your own set of the wonderful Speed Math game cards which I reviewed last fall here. Speed is a Montessori-inspired card game which makes learning and practicing the multiplication tables painless. Better than that, it makes it just plain fun. I can attest that my children ask to play all the time. Coupled with our Multiplication mat, even our first grader can play.
You can visit Julie's website to see a video of the game in action.
Want to give it a try? We are giving you three ways to win your own set. Leave a comment here to have your name added to the hat. Visit Facebook and "like" Highhill Education's page for another chance to win. If you link up to the giveaway on your own blog, leave me your permalink in comments and another entry for your name will be added.
GIVEAWAY HAS BEEN CLOSED thank you!
Late winter went out with a bang as far as school has gone. Aidan had the opportunity to attend a co-op class on Celestial Navigation. (Thank you Amy! ) Truth be told, some of it was over his head as he was one of the younger participants. But fortunately we still have access to the wonderful slide presentations and I have been pulling materials from the shelves to continue the conversation at home. Brendan and Kieran have been fired up about astronomy since overhearing us chat about class so they got some projects too,
We found the Wrap-Up's. They had been hiding at the bottom of a box I had unpacked and repacked and missed them. They were so excited. Brendan and Tess were too little use them before we moved. Highly recommend. They last forever.
Lunch for 20 last week. Brendan wrapped 30 burritos the night before. Go B! Once he got the hang of it he was a wrappin' fool. The kids had their first St. Pat's gig earlier in the day and came back here for food and an afternoon at the zipline. The boys headed out to the woods for a long imaginary adventure and later they all ended back inside for board games. We know some great kids.
Roman numeral cards free here. Fun extension ideas here.
A cut and paste morning for the little Irishmen – and women. : ) From the links here.
I forgot to mention a couple read aloud standout's.
This Audubon bio was fabulous. Really. It packed a lot of information in story form and included actual pages from his journals alongside lovely watercolor illustrations. I think we may try this art extension idea. More than you could ever do here.
This was a sorta silly story but I honestly didn't realize he had moved even more than we have. ; )
And I better wrap up here.
Stop by tomorrow for the details on a Luck o' the Irish homeschool giveaway!
We almost missed it entirely. In fact, we DID miss it twice. Third time's the charm.
I have been to Trier three times now. The first visit was made during the summer Roman Festival which is held on the Kaiserthermen grounds, home of the Imperial Bath ruins. I thought we covered every square inch of the place that day. It was hard to miss the massive structure.
Trier itself is ancient – truly. It is thought to have been founded some 2000 yrs before the time of Christ by the Assyrians of all people. The people who descended from them, the Trevi, were conquered by the Romans in the century before Christ. It became a major hub for Roman big wigs. The Imperial Palace was constructed and south of that structure these incredible kaiserthermen, the emperor's baths, were built, fed by the Roman aqueduct system. After the Germanic tribes seiged the city in 360 the baths were used as barracks.
The facade is still intact and I wanted to be sure to take the boys here when they came this winter. It is a bit of Rome right here in Germany, seriously like stepping back in time. I told them we could save the entrance fee and just walk along the sidewalk. It was so tremendous you could see it all anyway. Zach's friend insisted on treating so we ended up walking through the grounds instead.
As we were wrapping up our visit we noticed steps. They really appeared to be just maintenance areas or something though. The boys wanted to check it out. They vanished down below and didn't return. After a while I told Colin I would go check it out. It was like slipping into Alice's rabbit hole. Just a short flight of steps down you entered a series of tunnels which connected various rooms throughout the entire grounds. There were openings in the roof periodically which lit the space.
I hollered MARCO? and Kieran hollered back POLO! I heard, but it took a bit to find them. It was vast, but flat and paved. We all had the same thought – Colin HAD to get down here. So Zach went back up to help navigate the chair and we all explored a good while. The whole day was a good lesson in sight-seeing. There is always more than meets the eye and you usually miss the best parts rushing to the next place.
This volume of pictures is probably like sitting through your uncles vacation slides. You are free to go <g> I just still am awestruck that we touched the walls that saw Constantine.
Prayer table links this week:
Cut and Color St Patrick craft
St Patrick Breastplate printable for the frame here: Download St Patrick Breastplate
People often wonder which lens to buy. There is no quick nor easy answer to that. It's like asking which car you ought to buy. It depends – on your needs, your budget, your skills, your style. Before you buy anything however, it is important to know the difference – in practical terms – between 35mm and 200mm on a camera lens. A chart like this one is an excellent visual. More here:
You will see right off that the small the focal length, the wider the angle and the more panoramic the view you capture. Zooming in enlarges a focal point in the distance at the expense of the peripheral images.
In general, if you are traveling or want to have the story telling capacity of a wide image (ie you wish you photograph groups or capture the entire room in your house) use a smaller focal length such as 15-50mm.
Even at 50mm it is maddeningly impossible to photograph an entire building if you are on the same block. I brought a 55-200 lens to Paris two years ago. Big mistake. We walked 3 blocks from the Eiffel Tower and I still couldn't get the whole thing in the screen. My husband's cell phone managed just fine. : p Live and learn.
Portraits are better done at 50-200mm. It flattens out the features nicely and avoids the lens distortion common to close-in shots with a wide angle lens.
Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.
– Barbara Jordan
Starry Sky Journal 