Bible Time Line

September 7, 2009

Nana Shirley has a great resource to share with us today!
Bible Time LineReading the Bible can be a bit confusing when you try to place all the stories in chronological order. There is a Bible published just for doing that.

As you study prophecy it is important to also know history in order to see how God’s Word is true and accurate. Our faith is increased as we see prophecy fulfilled.

We found a helpful tool, Bible Time Line, published by Rose Publishing, Inc. It is a laminated fold-out with the Bible time line from Genesis to Revelation featuring 300 key people and events in the Bible. Also printed along this time line is World History and Middle East History relating to the same time frame.

Papa Jim is teaching a Bible Study on Daniel. We found it interesting to note that Buddha and Confucius were both living at that same time. Were the “wise men” surrounding the kings teaching their beliefs?

As a student or teacher you can relate what you are studying in your World History class to what God is doing in the lives of His people at that time period.

We are thankful for men who take the time to relate dates and events of the past and put them in one place to simplify our study!

Until next time!

Nana Shirley

By Country Gal | Posted in Book Reviews, Home School | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

The Year the Music Disappeared…

March 12, 2009

CDs

I remember the conversation very clearly.

My oldest son had been rolling his eyes as he heard the opening beats of my favorite Ricky Skaggs CD.

I stopped him and patiently explained that I wanted all of my children to have an appreciation for all types of music – from classical to bluegrass. They didn’t have to like it or even choose to listen to it on their own time, but they needed to be able to listen with a good attitude.

That began the year where I went out of my way to introduce them to many styles of music.

We enjoyed concerts on our public television station – from John Tesh to the Three Tenors. We took our children to hear live music; they heard everything from the 4 part harmony of southern gospel to the rousing marches of John Philip Sousa.

When we visited grandma’s house we pulled out the old albums and listened to Jim Reeves, The Browns, and even The Smother’s Brothers.

We had sock hops with the cousins listening to Nana’s At the Hop records. (They invented the coolest dance moves to the “The Lion Sleeps Tonight!”)

Every Friday we listened to our local Christian station play “Love Songs for Christian Couples”. (Alright – I’ll admit- that one didn’t go over so good, but at least they have a working knowledge of the love songs from the 60′s and 70′s!)

I didn’t know if it was working until I noticed that my music was disappearing.

John Denver was the first to go. He was taken by the 7 year old who loved “Thank God I’m a Country Boy”.

As I walked upstairs to bed one evening I heard some beautiful Celtic harmonies and followed them right to Dagmar’s room. She had all of my Loreena McKennitt CD’s.

I also noticed my oldest son listening to John Michael Talbot while he was doing school one morning.

But I knew I had them hooked when the Sons of the San Joachim were on Public TV and one of my sons said, “Sweet- that’s one show we really need to tape!”

I’m glad to report that my kids now have a respect, if not an appreciation, for many different kinds of music.

But it does come with a cost. I may need to carefully search their CD collections before they leave home.

By the way, has anyone seen my Don Fransisco Best Hits CD?

By Country Gal | Posted in Children, Home School | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Homer Price & The Homemade Doughnut Caper

February 1, 2009

DoughnutsIt all started so innocently.

I pulled Homer Price off the book shelf thinking it would be a fun book to read aloud this winter.

It is! The children and I have been enjoying the antics of Homer and all the gang in Centerburg.

Actually, all was well until we got to the doughnut chapter.  You know, the infamous chapter when Uncle Ulysses’ doughnut maker goes on the fritz and starts turning out doughnuts by the hundreds.

Add in an eccentric heiress, a missing diamond bracelet and a sandwich man named Gabby, and you have all the makings of a great read-aloud!

Even my high school kids stopped doing their Algebra and joined us for the reading, commenting “That’s a classic!”

So what was the problem you ask? It was the doughnuts!

After reading Robert McCloskey’s  mouth-watering descriptions of doughnuts and seeing his amazing illustrations of doughnuts, all we could think of was- you guessed it – doughnuts!

So we yielded the the temptation and made some homemade doughnuts.

So warm and sugary and wonderful!

I don’t even want to know how many calories each little bite of greasy goodness packed!

Just in case you, too, are tempted, I’ll share the recipe.

Betty’s Cake Doughnuts

Beat together 2 eggs and 1 cup of sugar until lemon-colored.

Add 1 cup of commercial sour cream, 1 taspoon baking soda, and a pinch of salt.

Stir in 2- 3/4 cups of flour.

Chill the dough for several hours.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough into 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a doughnut cutter (or a round cookie cutter and a salt shaker lid for the hole like we did!)

Fry the doughnuts in very hot oil. When browned on both sides, carefully remove from oil with a slotted spoon and put in a paper bag with 1 cup of sugar inside. Shake to coat and place on cooling racks over paper toweling.

They are best eaten hot! But if there are any left-overs – just keep them in a plastic container.

Enjoy!

By Country Gal | Posted in Book Reviews, Home School | Tagged , | Comments (2)

A True Bibliophile

September 21, 2008

We went to our favorite garage sale this morning. Three older ladies who are also good friends get together once a year and have a sale where the prices are good and the merchandise fun!

I’ve picked up the most amazing things there over the years! I always wonder where they find these treasures? Maybe they are just digging them out of the basement a box at a time- like layers of an onion.

This year we found books! Box after box after box of vintage books. Hard cover Henty’s, Gene Stratton Porter, and Zane Grey just to name a few.

I started salivating and making piles. There were just many to choose from! They all looked interesting and I wanted them all!

So I got them. All of them. I filled the back of the van and brought my treasures home.

Yes, we did negotiate a price for the entire lot and most of the books will be researched and sold on Amazon or eBay.

But some of the choicest, the nicest, the most wonderful books will find a place of honor on our personal bookshelves.

We believe, like Henry Ward Beecher, that,

“A little library growing every year is an honorable part of a man’s history. It is a man’s duty to have books.”

and like Thomas Jefferson who said,

“I cannot live without books.”

Amen.

By Country Gal | Posted in Home School | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Math Time Saver

September 11, 2008

For some reason, in my home school, math is the subject that we spend the most time on everyday.

It’s not that my kids need extra work on math.  For the most part, they are pretty good students. But math is the one subject that they can really waste time on.

They tend to day dream and doodle all over their math work. They start giggling and passing notes to their siblings around the table. Someone will start telling a story and they all collapse on the floor laughing.

Then I picked up a great tip at our state home school conference from David Hazell of My Father’s World Curriculum.

He suggested going over the lesson with your student, then giving them 5 minutes to answer orally any question on the lesson. Then your student only has to write out the answers to the ones that are left.

We use Saxon Math and everyday, after they’ve done a speed drill, I sit down with each child and do the mental math.  Then we read over the lesson and do the practice problems.

Then I set the timer for 5 minutes, grab the answer book, a piece of paper and a pen, and let them go! They need to say the problem and the answer. If they get it correct, I write it down.

At the end of 5 minutes, whatever problems they didn’t do orally become their assignment.

It is amazing how hard they work to get those problems done in 5 minutes! Some of children can cut their written work down by half. (This doesn’t work as well as the math gets harder.)

It’s helped with their mental math abilities and keeps everybody on task, at least most of the time anyway!

By Country Gal | Posted in Home School | Tagged , , | Comments (0)