a personal update…

Over the course of the summer I developed some medical issues that have kept me somewhat sidetracked from blogging.  I thought I’d take some time to update everyone on my condition and to let you all know the outcome of my treatments. 

Very early in the summer I started having anxiety attacks.  The very first one happened in the middle of the night while I watched a scary movie by myself.  Dumb!  I know.  I had no idea what was going on and when my husband woke up he said, “you’re having a panic attack.  You need to calm down!”  lol  Fluke thing, right?  That’s what I thought.  But about one month later I began having anxiety ‘moments’ which increased in intensity and length over the course of a few weeks.  At the climax of it all, I was panic stricken with a pulse of 176 and scared out of my mind.  I had no idea what was going on and I was terrified. 

Through a series of tests at the ER, we discovered a couple of things, thought to be completely unrelated to the anxiety.  1).  I have an enlarged thymus gland and 2).  a hiatal hernia.  The technician was very vague on both of these issues and the hernia was written off as no big deal by both the ER doctor and my PCP.  It wasn’t until I was sitting in the office of a cardiothoracic surgeon that I discovered the seriousness of the hernia.  Turns out, it’s not just a simple hiatal hernia.  Half my intestines were in my chest!  The ‘serious’ issue, the thymus gland, would have to wait until the hernia was taken care of.  “Besides”, he said, “I’m not convinced there’s even a problem with your thymus.” 

Long story short – I had a very rare congenital diaphragmatic hernia called a Morgagni hernia.  Last Thursday I had surgery to repair it and my doctor was extremely happy with the results.  It indeed turned out to be very rare, even for the condition itself.  A very large portion of my intestines were laying all around and on my heart.  (explains all the anxiety, huh?)  Things were put back in place and the hole in my diaphragm was patched. 

Anyhoo, I am recovering from surgery pretty well.  I’m hoping that life, including blogging, will get back to normal soon.  I will be having more tests over the winter to determine the true issues with the enlarged thymus gland.  I really have no idea what to expect with all this.  One thing I do know, the Lord is teaching me to trust Him no matter what the diagnosis or circumstance.

Ancient discoveries for Sonlight Core 3…

For those of you plugging along with Sonlight in Core 3, I thought you might be interested in this news story I came upon.  The kids were excited to see this land we’ve been discussing and reading about the past few weeks. 

I found the bits about the creation stories to be quite interesting as well.  The kids and I discussed how creation stories exist all over the world and why they are all different. 

Take some time to look at the new story with your own learners!

 

Sara O’

The Amazing Bible Timeline…

 

One of my biggest struggles as an adult has been my jumbled mess of a mind when it comes to history.  I admit, I can be nerdy at times.  I do love learning, especially when I can put together the history recorded in the Bible and the history recorded in secular sources.  But alas, this has always, always been a struggle for me.  I need a big picture.  You can’t just tell me facts and dates because it becomes an history omelet in my brain.  I need to see it.  So I suppose you can already guess what I think of the Amazing Bible Timeline. lol

As a Christ follower, I do not believe it is possible to understand history without the entirety of it being weighed all together at the same time.

Like a jigsaw puzzle, each piece is needed to get the whole picture.  The Amazing Bible Timeline provides just that – a full, at-a-glance picture of the history of our world.  It’s neat to just sit and stare at this thing.  I could spend a long long time just pouring over all the details, dates and small quotes from various sources.  But my favorite way to use this chart really breaks it down into manageable bits. 

Let’s say we’re studying the Reformers, Martin Luther and John Calvin.  First we check the index along the bottom of the timeline for both names.  We find them listed and the centuries in which to look for their names.  (This is explained on the chart itself in better detail.)  Once we locate the men on the timeline, I point out the other events and peoples noted in the same time frame.  Oftentimes, these are people and places we’ve already studied at least a little bit.  We can note the peoples just before and after these men as well and, for the kids (and myself), another piece of the puzzle is fitted in their brains.  History becomes knit together as it should be. 

I find this so helpful for different reasons when studying ancient history and modern history.  When studying ancient history, it helps to combine the history recorded in the Bible with history recorded in secular materials.  This is so important but usually never dealt with by the Christian community.  When studying modern history, I find this process helpful in keeping up with so much happening at once.  Ancient history presents a small amount of history in long periods of time (and in scattered sources).  Modern history presents large amount of history in very short time spans.  The timeline is an essential tool for studying both. 

All the material presented in the Amazing Bible Timeline is presented in an informational manner – not a doctrinal manner.  The gray areas of history are dealt with in a most conservative way while keeping the integrity of the whole into account.  For myself, the biggest ‘discrepancy’ I see with my own personal convictions is the section devoted to end times.  Fortunately, this is obviously a small section of the timeline and poses no real ‘threat’ in my opinion.  When our theology differs, no matter what material we are studying, our family discusses the topics and strengthens our own faith in the process.  I find no real harm in the eschatological differences here.

So, let me give you some details about this product.  The color-coded chart is 37” x 45”.  The color coding helps to track families, nations, and events more easily.  For $27.97 you get one chart printed on cardstock with a scuff coat finish, interactive downloadable maps of the Holy Land and a downloadable version of the wall chart. 

And right now, there’s a sale going on at the Amazing Bible Timeline website – buy two for just $49.97.  This would be a great gift for any Christian family, homeschoolers or not. 

I may have to get one for my dad as a Christmas gift.  I know he’d love it!  Can you believe it’s that time again already?? But that’s a post for another day…

 

Sara O’

 

Disclaimer:

As a reviewer for the TOS Homeschool Review Crew I receive free products from companies including a copy of the product mentioned above in return for my honest opinion.

Reformation preparation…

This week we are in the midst of a load of preparations for our church’s Reformation celebration.  Our theme is John Calvin, given the 500th anniversary of his birth this year.  We are in a sea of flags and banners and crafts… not to mention the costumes and food! 

As a reformed Presbyterian, I love celebrating this holiday.  It’s like a day of thanksgiving to me – thanking God for the faith I could never muster up and the grace He gives.  For faithful men and women who have given their lives so that I may have a Bible that I can read every day without fear of persecution.  Praise God for the brothers and sister who’ve come before us.  I pray that I may also treasure the truth of Scripture so much that I will give up everything for it. 

Anyhoo, back to the crafty, fun learning stuff.

 

I’ve got some links to share with you today.  Maybe you’ll be inspired to have your own little Reformation celebration…

• Love To Learn Place – holy cow, there’s a ton of stuff here!  grab a cup of tea or coffee and be prepared to spend a while.
• The Holiday Zone – have some wonderful info and activities plus a nice link section that I won’t bother repeating here.  Just go check it out. 

Happy Reformation!

 

Sara O’

Sue Patrick’s Workboxes…

An official review of Sue Patrick’s Workboxes. You guys know I’ve been using workboxes for a while now. Having had time to ‘chew on it’, shall we say, I thought this would be a great opportunity to recap my first impressions and give an update on our use of the system.

If you remember, way back in early May, I first discovered the firestorm called Workboxes. It seems the whole online homeschool community was alit with new organizing passion. Well, being anti everything organized I obviously had to know what all this was about. So I stuck my nose in, bought an ebook and learned new ways to keep school on track and fun for all.

The Workbox system is delivered in an ebook manual for $19.00. Sue’s website offers many of the items needed for the system already printed and made up for you, but you may choose to make your own from the instructions in the manual. Take a look at those here. Bloggers all over the internet have also offered their own ‘spin’ on many of the essential pieces.

Fast forward five months and what do workboxes look like at my house? Well honestly, they’re pretty disorganized. I’m a very unorganized person and have not disciplined myself to use Sue Patrick’s system the way it is designed. It’s a great system! Don’t get me wrong, but it does require commitment, just like anything else. When we have a workbox day, school definitely goes smoother. We tend to finish early and the kids usually have fun with it. (Though, they’ve discovered my ruse of putting the boring things before the fun things to get them done with less complaining! lol )

Scheduling of any kind, in my opinion, will make everything run smoother and that is the heart of Sue Patrick’s Workboxes. Predictability in the system teaches as well as comforts the child, giving them confidence to accomplish whatever task is set before them. They have a basic model or pattern to work with. It really does make all the difference. The ebook written for the system goes into much more detail than just the set up of a Workbox system. That’s why the manual really is an important tool to have when you decide to try workboxes for yourself. The why’s behind the plan, ideas, tips and explanation abound in the ebook are worth taking a look at. Ms. Patrick is very adamant about doing Workboxes exactly as prescribed in the book. I personally, say “give it a shot”. Definitely start out with Sue’s way. But as you know, every homeschool is different and what will be perfect for one, will not be so great for another. So after you’ve given it a few weeks and you’ve identified what areas you know you can improve, go ahead and change it. You’ll love workboxes even more then.

Disclaimer:

As a reviewer for the TOS Homeschool Review Crew I receive free products from companies including an electronic copy of Sue Patrick's Workbox System in return for my honest opinion.

Educaching…

Ever heard of it? What about geocaching? Ever heard of that? Well, if you answered no to either of those questions you need to start googling! No, wait! Not really – just keep reading. : )

To understand what Educaching is, it helps to know what geocaching is. So here’s a little lesson for you, courtesy of the wiki:

Geocaching is an outdoor activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container (usually a tupperware or ammo box) containing a logbook. Larger containers can also contain items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of little value. Geocaching is most often described as a "game of high-tech hide and seek", sharing many aspects with orienteering, treasure-hunting, and waymarking.

Educaching is “a GPS-based curriculum for teachers”. Using the basic concepts of geocaching, the curriculum teaches math, science, language arts, social studies, technology and physical education in a fun way. Kids also learn the importance of following directions and working together on these ‘outings’. I highly recommend visiting the website to get a clear understanding of educaching. The folks at SDG, Ltd. do a much better job than I at explaining it. Plus you’ll find several free samples there as well.

Educaching comes as a teacher’s manual in a 3-ring binder with 20 lessons. A CD contains customizable templates and there are many reproducible forms.

One of the especially useful features of the manual is the information on GPS devices. If you have little to no experience with the instruments, you will definitely appreciate this section. GPS devices can be expensive and seem complicated to operate. Calm yourself! SDG, Ltd. does a good job here showing how you can get one for a reasonable price or even no cost. The technology, lingo and gear are fully explained right off the bat at the beginning of the manual in Section 1. This is a section I referred to often.

The lessons are for children in grades 4th – 8th but of course you know best what your child is capable of. My youngers did not get much out of educaching while the olders, ages 8 and 10, loved it. The lessons progress in difficulty starting at beginner level and ending with advanced.

I really like geocaching in general. It’s a great way to get everyone out of the house, explore your very own neighborhood and learn all at the same time. Educaching makes the job easier by taking all the guess work out of it and arming you with information right at your fingertips.

Thirty-two dollars is not a bad price for this investment. I believe the manual is so complete and filled with such useful information – it’s nice not having to go all over the internet to figure out how to use the equipment and the detailed lesson plans are easy to follow.

If you’re looking for some great family fun, a new way to shake things up in school or a reason to get everyone off the couch then Educaching may just be what you’ve been looking for.

Sara O’

Disclaimer:

As a reviewer for the TOS Homeschool Review Crew I receive free products from companies including an electronic copy of the curriculum mentioned above from SDG, Ltd. in return for my honest opinion.

Sarah Books…

Jim Baumgardner is a 62 year-old grandfather (nine grandchildren!) and the brilliant author of Sarah books. Sarah books were written by Jim specifically with his granddaughters in mind, promising good clean content. But not only will you find the content clean, the story of Sarah’s Wish proved thought-provoking, exciting and down right heart wrenching at times. When I get those very real feelings while reading a book, I know it’s been a good one. : )

In Sarah’s Wish, the debut novel of the series, young Sarah becomes the responsible party on a secret mission when she loses her mother in a buggy accident. “A girl with grit”, Sarah keeps her chin up and does the job required of her to get the runaway slaves on to the next station of the Underground Railroad. With trouble at every turn, Sarah never loses heart and her own quest for a family only seems to spur her on.

This book was a great read for many reasons. 1) The fact intermingled with fiction is a great way to reinforce history lessons. 2) The Christian values of the main character encourage the reader in their own right actions and attitudes. 3) It’s just entertaining! This book grabs your attention and keeps it. 4) A great value – it comes with a free audiobook version that can be downloaded over the internet.

I really enjoyed this book and feel I could totally trust it’s content if my daughter read the rest of the series on her own. I would have no hesitation about it. Jim Baumgardner seems to really love writing and his grandchildren. It pours out in his writing. I highly recommend signing up for his newletter at sarahbooks@cox.net

The newsletters are filled with fun facts, announcements, letters from Jim, quizzes, games, reader comments and wise quotes.

The book, Sarah’s Wish retails for $10.99 at the Sarah Books website you can pick up a copy for only $9.99 with free shipping. You can also get Sarah’s Promise for $13.50 and Sarah’s Escape for $17.50, both with free shipping. Audiobooks are also available on CD.

Sara O’

Disclaimer:

As a reviewer for the TOS Homeschool Review Crew I receive free products from companies including the book, Sarah’s Wish, mentioned above from Jim Baumgardner in return for an honest opinion.