Resale Finds

I love it when I find great books to add to our home library!  I got all of these for under $10! One of them is by Buddy Davis from the Creation Museum, and another is a reprint of a 1910 Classic by James Otis called Mary of Pymouth.  This book is also reprinted and used by A Beka as one of their novels in their reading program.  My copy is by Lost Classics book comapany.  After studying so many home school catalogs over the years, it's amazing how quickly I can spy a good popular homeschooling book in a book store...even a resale one. :) OK, probably only the fellow homeschoolers will appreciate these types of posts...

ACE 11th grade U.S. History Samples

I'm already beginning to collect curriculum for next year, can you believe it?  Well, when you come across an unbeatable deal, one must snatch it up, right?  I got our 11th grade ACE U.S. History PACES used, but in like new condition, for a great deal.  They are in perfect condition, actually- no writing at all.  I thought I'd post some samples for those other homeschoolers out there who have been longing to see samples of this newly updated course.  Sister Strings will be using this for next year along with adding in some historical fiction and biographies to go along.  Here are some samples.  The samples are not that great, but you can get a general idea of how colorful and informative these newer PACES are.  I just randomly picked some pages for you to see.  Have a look:

Flutist or Flautist? That is the question.

Obviously I play the flute..No mystery there. I've played since I was 12.  I'm a flute player that calls herself a flutist, and when I speak to other flutists, they don't even blink at the word.  I find it funny that the only time I receive corrections on this word are from folks who don't play the flute. LOL!  It makes me chuckle, but I can totally understand the confusion out there, since there are so many musical terms that we use from other foreign languages, especially Italian, which is where the word "flautista" comes from.  In the words of my most favorite flutist that I have been listening to since I was 12 and who I consider to be the authority on the matter..."I am a flute player, not a flautist.  I don't have a flaut, and I've never flauted." (Sir James Galway)

You will see and hear both ways, due to the fact that the British still refer to a flute player as a flautist (Italian root with an English suffix), just as they also have other spellings/pronunciations for many, many other English words.  But since I'm from America, I will stick with the American English terminology...FLUTIST...just as I refer to "measures" in a piece of music and not "bars."

If you'd like to learn more about this, here's an interesting article about it, written by a famous flutist:

http://www.fenwicksmith.com/miscellany_flautist.html

I love studying this sort of stuff.  It intrigues me.  Linguistics was one of my favorite classes in college.  Didn't know that about me, did ya? (I see you all rolling your eyes! LOL!)

Living history and science

Even when on vacation we continue to learn. Here are some recent examples of IRL history and science while away on a trip to Mackinac Island over the summer. The blog photos of my kids on the side bar are on the fairy ride over to the island.

 Us in front of Fort Mackinac.  The huge climb up in the background makes us look like we're leaning...or it could be my er...um..photographer? And, yes, we did make that climb!

 This is after the cannon demonstration.  Good thing we plugged our ears!

 We got to march with the soldiers.  They had all the folks in the front row line up to march in step with them.  It was tough keeping up with all of those left/right/about face type orders and still stay in line with a group of 50 other "soldiers."  The kids thought it would be easy. HA!

 One of the reasons my oldest insists on learning French instead of Spanish is because of our neighbor across the border-Canada.  It is not unusual to see this image up here, especially when on the Great Lakes.

And this is what we found under the steps of the log cabin that we stayed in.  Of course, everyone knows Daddy's favorite bug spray is 409-the household cleaner.  Works like a charm every time.  And of course we all know that Daddy loves to dissect the spider and insect nests that we capture.  I opt to do the photography for these adventures.  Who says that hands-on learning doesn't happen around here for us textbook folks?

Sister Strings~ spring recital 2010

Thought I'd attempt to share a little clip of Sister Strings (SS) in her last violin recital. (This uploading videos "thing" is new for me).  Her violin teacher is accompanying her in the background, but I didn't get a picture of her this time.  SS is currently working on a new, challenging piece for district high school S&E coming in Feb. 2011.  As a 10th grader, she will not only play her piece for the judge, but she will be asked to play several scales from memory in several octaves.  She received a division 1 rating at both district and state S&E last year as a 9th grader, which was good preparation for the increased pressure to perform well this year for 10th and beyond.  The expectations increase in level of difficulty with each grade level.  We are not in it so much for the competitive aspect of it, however, but both the challenge of performing before adjudicators who will evaluate your performance as well as the opportunity to perform makes for a wonderful growing experience for any musician.  For all of you friends and family who rarely get to see her perform, here's a glimpse of where she was at as of last spring.  This year she is currently acting as "concert mistress" of her home school symphony, and she absolutely LOVES it!  It's really helping to build more confidence and boldness in her playing. 

Handel's Messiah-Hallelujah Chorus surprise!

Dressed as average, every day shoppers, these professional opera singers break out in song and praise to our Lord with this majestic piece of music, filling a shopping mall with the meaning of Christmas.  What a great way to make use of that fabulous organ in the middle of Macy's!  And how awesome it would have been to be in the middle of all of that!  Very cool!  My Dad sent this to me.  Take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU&feature=player_embedded

Writing and grammar adjustments

Since Brother Brass does SO WELL with his subjects in which the BJU teacher, Mrs. Vick, teaches him online, I've decided to have him do their 8th grade grammar/writing course as well.  It's only a semester-long course, which will allow for me to have some wiggle room concerning working more on his writing skills.  I was going to ditch grammar altogether for this year, in an effort to accomplish this goal, but I think he still needs it. The program we were currently using, ACE, is a full English curriculum, and is very thorough.  However, I want him doing a little more with writing for this year in order to rev it up for high school which is fast approaching.  I'm hoping BJU will provide what I'm looking for in terms of more consistent writing projects in addition to our other writing curriculm, which entails Hands On Essays http://www.handsonessays.com/  and Wordsmith http://www.commonsensepress.com/ .  When I reflect upon some of the best writing that Brother Brass has accomplished in his past, it was during his 4th grade year, when he used BJU's English DVD teacher.  I'm hoping it will still have the same effect on him, now that he's in 8th.  There's just something about that Mrs. Vick...maybe it's because she's ALWAYS so patient and gentle with him. 

In the meantime, he has just completed his first full official 5 paragraph expository essay.  HOE also includes a video teacher with very short, creative lessons that really helps the kids to get a sense of the 5 paragraph essay flow.  He's still working on being more creative with his wording and complex sentence structure, but at least he's beginning to really sense the flow and structure of writing.  Next he will do a descriptive essay.  He is starting to figure out that the more he writes regularly, getting more practice time in with bite-sized chunks, the easier it gets.  This is why I think he needs a more consistent writing program that will have him writing something meaningful all the time, rather than only when writing is scheduled into the English program. 

All I can say is...God bless Mrs. Vick and the other video teachers that we bring into our home to help us educate our children!  They have been such a blessing to our homeschool off and on over the years, and I have never regreted the times that we have used them.  Some may think they are too pricey, and I totally understand the need to put food on the table as a priority, but I guess I see it as being cheaper than a private Christian school, a personal tutor, or a couple of car payments...or some of the other frivilous, temporal things that we humans sometimes spend our money on.  I guess I see our children's education as an investment that has eternal value (not that it's *necessary* to spend a fortune, mind you), which leads to the reasons why we homeschool...but that's another post.  During this season of thanksgiving, I'm just very thankful for all of the tools that are out there to make home education doable for almost anyone and everyone. 

Our School Rooms

Our main school area, which is also our main book/supply storage area as well, is the den.  It is the first room on the right when you enter our home.  Just across the foyer is the formal dining room, which also serves as a school area as well, but it can also be used to dine in when we need it.  Of course, the kids all have a small desk in their bedrooms as well that they like to study at on occasion when in need of some peace and quiet.

Blog Beginnings

Well, here it is!  My first attempt at sharing a portion of my life and journey with others out there in cyber world who care to know anything about my musings and daily life...otherwise known to me as "Nancy's Notes."  These are my notes that work together to make the music in my life into something that I hope will be a blessing to those who read and will honor my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My husband is the "techie" around here, and it is a miracle that I have figured out this much on my own in order to blog. So please forgive any unusually strange things that may appear and disappear from this blog while I try to figure it all out. Enjoy!