Bragging Rights, please

Just had to link to my Living Knitting blog. Please check out the "Knitting the Animals" post. I just finished a baby set that was commissioned by a friend. It's SO much fun to create designs out of nothingness (this is another way of saying, "I'm not good at following directions")and to have them look like what I envisioned.

Enjoy!

Teens, Expectations and Disappointments

So, what do YOU do when your teen let's you down?

I say this as I just received Kotch's 1st semester grades for high school and she obtained a 46 percent, which was only that high because her work that I grade was a 95.5 but she couldn't do the test or the translation. And she's the one who wants to make languages her career!

This coming on the heels of Brikhead scoring a 7 (out of 12) on the SAT essay portion. And writing is his strong suit.

So, what do you do?

Do you ground 'em, bribe 'em, or just keep lovin' them knowing that somehow you survived when you made major mistakes like this.....

Ah, the life of a parent ... Definitely not for wimps!

A Language Immersion Day

Today was one of those days when homeschooling is at its best!

We had two little visitors all day -- friends' children who are being raised bilingual German and English. It was a wonderful chance for us to practice our German -- we played German and English songs (a tape series from the library, "Teach Me German" and "Teach Me More German") -- and half of them are real German nursery songs. We also baked banana-muffins, whole-wheat rye bread and generally had a grand time -- all while learning German words and appropriate phrases. Ain't homeschooling a wonderful time to learn?

This works well as it looks like we might just be headed to Austria this Fall!

Some Days It's All About Being Part of a Family

Thursdays always seem hectic around here. I have to drive dh in because I need the car to take String Bean and Lego Maniac to dance in the afternoon. This means I have less time in the morning to work on my WriteGuide clients, my prepping for school, my morning chores, etc.

Today, I also had to do a library run ... a fabric store run to get Butterick patterns ($1.00 each) of doll clothes so I can teach String Bean to sew ... ink cartridge at Staples because my printer ink from a "refurbished cartridge" was only printing pink (Brikhead's SAT admitance ticket is a really nice shade of deep pink) ... stop at Chick-Fil-A to pick up a long promised 3 piece Chick-n-minis (which you can ONLY get during breakfast hours) for Brikhead ... stop by the craft store to get much needed supplies ... and to cap it off, the never-ending grocery run to Wal-mart!

I decided it was a great day for the littles to learn a bit about life in a family; to learn patience and understanding as we went from errand to errand; to learn that in a family we help each other out, doing little things for each other even if it means driving all over town.....

The kids picked out books in the Library -- something we rarely do as it is SO MUCH EASIER to request the books online and run by and pick up. Lego Maniac picked out his requisite "knight" books, String Bean got one called Belinda Ballerina and an AG book about Kaya (that she wants me to read to Sarah her Christmas doll and her -- "a chapter a day Mommy") and Bam-Bam picked out his favorite -- The Racecar Alphabet.

At the various shops, we practiced (in addition to patience, perseverance and just plain "don't get grumpiness") math problems and unit costs. They also saw just how many apples we need to buy to satisfy snack time (especially since Brikhead came home to homeschool this past January!) and how much treats for String Bean's birthday celebration this weekend we'll need to feed our gang.

We also fit in (this morning) reading about Servulus of Rome -- a cripple who learned to praise God in spite of his handicaps -- and did a small mapwork quiz based on places we've talked about over the past weeks each time we read Saint stories (Belgium, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and of course, Italy).

Another chapter of Starlight Barking (the sequel to 101 Dalmatians) and we had a full school day -- real living and learning in the heart of the home (to paraphrase Elizabeth Foss).

Poetry with the Littles

We read a poetry book today -- cover-to-cover -- and the littles loved it. Written by Brian P. Cleary, Rainbow Soup: Adventures in Poetry is one of those poetry books that's not only sheer enjoyment to read, it's a great learning tool. He shows many different kind of poems:

• haiku -- 5-7-5 syllables usually dealing with nature
• limericks -- 5-line verses where lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme and 3 & 4 rhyme
• rebus --poem, paragraph, sentence, riddle where some of the words are pictures or syllables
• concrete poem -- where the poem takes the shape of its subject
• lantern -- 5-line poem shaped like a Japanese lantern
• acrostic -- the first or last letters of each line spell word or phrase appropriate to the poem
• villanelle -- a French poem always 19 lines with two different sets of repeating lines (line 1 is repeated on lines 6, 12, and 18) and line 3 is repeated on lines 9, 15, and 19. The second line of each stanza rhymes throughout the poem
• sensory -- takes an abstract subject and describes it as it tastes, smells, fells, sounds and looks like (in any order).

In addition to types of poetry, Cleary also describes (through wonderful examples) various types of literary devices -- alliteration, personification, palindrome, pun, simile, and spoonerism.

And if that's not enough, he also explains different types of rhyme schemes including: couplet, feminine rhyme (a rhyme of two or more syllables in which the first syllable is the strongest), iambic, internal, macaronic (rhymes made from using foreign words), masculine (a one-syllable rhyme or the stress is on the last of the multisyllabic words), and triple rhyme (rhyme with three syllables).

WHEW! And the poems are great. They may not have understood all the literary and poetic devices, but they sure liked the poems.

My kids particularly liked this example of a riddle in a poem (it took them a minute to get it!):

My Brother Joe

My brother Joe steals.

My brother Joe hits.

I know he's not safe when he's out.

There's sometimes foul play

In the things that he does.

Can you tell what I'm talking about?

Enjoy some poetry with your kids today!

What We're Going to do for Lent

Lent starts on March 1st this year -- String Bean's birthday (but she's not complaining too much as we'll celebrate -- yes, AND open presents -- on the Saturday before). To make sure I'm organized, I thought I'd put here what we're planning to use.

At Mater Amabilis level 1A, they suggest The Way of the Cross -- The Story of Padre Pio -- it's a great story and I'm looking forward to reading that aloud this Lent. I pre-read it and it's REALLY a good story. Padre Pio was an ordinary kid and Mohan portrays him as such - teasing his sister, etc. But he also had inherent graces that made him special too. I think my littles are going to enjoy that! We'll also read The Young Life of St. Faustina as it's about the owman who talked to Jesus and saw the Divine Mercy image.

I'll also read them The Parables of Jesus by Tomie dePaola -- I'll read one of the 13 parables and then they'll narrate and illustrate the story. They'll have their own parables booklet at the end. I like dePaola's retellings and the pictures are beautiful. A great read for the littles.

For our study of the Stations of the Cross -- every Friday we'll read the stations from Inos Biffi's The Way of the Cross: Holy Week, the Stations of the cross, and the Resurrection (OOP, but WELL-WORTH searching for). The stations are well described and the pictures very provocative. Last year we read The Story of the Cross: Stations of the Cross for Children -- and it was ok but a bit "cute", if you know what I mean?

Last year we did the Stations of the Cross box every Friday. After coloring pictures of the Stations of the Cross from Catechetical Resources we posted them around our dining room in order, thus having a daily reminder of Jesus' Calvary. Then on Fridays we got out the Stations of the Cross box (which Joe Starrs posted somewhere last year ).

• Station 1 Jesus is Condemned to Death -- a string to represent the rope used to tie Jesus' hands
• Station 2 Jesus Carries His Cross -- a small wooden cross
• Station 3 Jesus Falls the First Time – band-aid to show Jesus fell and hurt himself
• Station 4 Jesus Meets His Mother Mary -- a plastic rosary to represent the Blessed Mother
• Station 5 Simon Helps Jesus -- small heart to symbolize Simon's love and generosity
• Station 6 Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus -- a piece of fabric with the drawn face of Jesus on it
• Station 7 Jesus Falls the Second Time -- band-aid to show Jesus fell and hurt himself
• Station 8 Jesus Comforts the Women of Jerusalem -- a tissue for their tears
• Station 9 Jesus Falls the Third Time – big band-aid to show Jesus fell and hurt himself again!
• Station 10 Jesus is Stripped of His Garments -- a square of purple cloth to represent His purple cloak and his Royal-ness
• Station 11 Jesus is Nailed to the Cross -- a large nail
• Station 12 Jesus Dies on the Cross -- a crucifix
• Station 13 Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross -- a laminated holy card depicting the Pieta
• Station 14 Jesus is Buried -- a stone to represent the stone rolled in front of the tomb

This was a great way for the kids to learn the stations and really think about them -- especially since we used a large, sharp nail!

That should bring us right up to Palm Sunday and then Holy Week. Lent is a glorious time to remember all that Jesus did for us -- we'll also do small sacrifices (sweets, videos and other treats) and instead do things as a family that help us remember. One thing we'll do this year is a March for Babies one of dh's 7th grade students has organized. The motto of the walk is "without babies, the future is just a maybe" -- all collected proceeds will go to BirthRight.

Monet in March, Bjork in February

I'm preparing a unit for the littles on Monet as our artist for March. Top on the list of living books about Monet is of course, Linnea in Monet's Garden by Swedish author, Christina Bjork. I had bought this book last year for String Bean as she just fell in love with the story, the little girl and Monet's work.

In searching on Amazon's page (which I should REALLY make my home page!) I found some other books by Bjork and -- oh happy day -- my library actually had these in their system. Today, we read these delightful books and I'd like to share them with you. [Be forewarned -- Bjork has kids as characters, with kindly older folks helping them, but there is NEVER mention of parents. The kids are left alone and the older characters help them -- but her books are very child-centered, no-parental supervision type of books.]

• Elliot's Extraordinary Cookbook -- well worth seeking as it's unfortunately OOP. A boy comes home and has forgotten his apartment key. Stella, an elderly widow who lives upstairs brings him in and shows him how to cook potato pancakes. The story/cookbook takes off from there as Elliot learns to cook many different things and at the same time learns the importance of good eating habits, a bit about the food chart and other important facts. Recipes of healthy foods are scattered throughout as are health tidbits. And more information about potatoes than you could possibly ever need!
• Linnea's Windowsill Garden -- is also OOP, but if you have a child that loves gardening -- this is for them! Linnea lives in an apartment and doesn't have much space to garden. But, with the help of Mr. Bloom (a retired gardener and the man who takes her to see Monet's garden in the Linnea in Monet's Garden book) she learns to plant fruit and vegetable seeds, create container gardens and generally take care of indoor plants. Lots of great detail of taking care of plants -- pruning, transplanting, ridding the plants of pests, etc -- and a recipe for watercress cheese and the old two-toned flower trick are all included. This is a delightful book that really makes gardening accessible to young ones.
• Linnea's Almanac -- the third of the Linnea books (and, also sadly OOP) is a wonderful trip through Linnea's year with activities for each month: January -- feeding the birds; February, transplanting pot-bound plants and other houseplants issues; March, naming of wild flowers and bringing them home to root; April, container garden; May, flower pressing, nettle soup and a kite to make; June, flower crowns from clover flowers and rhubarb compote; July, plants at the beach and hunting for treasures in the waves; August, harvesting and preserving foods from the garden; September, leaf identification and stars in the sky; October, fall leaves and a maple leaf crown; November, bulbs and decorating with things from outdoors; December, making presents for friends including Swedish heart baskets and a bit about nuts. A full-year's worth of nature journaling at your fingertips -- Charlotte Mason would have loved this book!

It's always such a shame to find great books at the library that are OOP; but I guess that's why we have used books stores. All three of these are well-worth the hunt!

The Dog Days of February

We were on a trend today -- dog books!

We read, with growing attention and anxiety, the final 5 chapters of Dodie Smith's 101 Dalmatians -- a MUCH better telling than the Disney movies that tried to imitate it. Cruella deVil and her furrier husband (who is just as bad, but weak to boot) are REALLY bad! There's a scene where Cruella is reveling because a village bakery is on fire andshe cheers each time the flmaes crackle and rise! A cool justice comes to Crueela and her husband, including her half-black/half-white-hair turnign a bilious green and white! But all comes out fine and the story ends with the happy reunion of Pongo, Missis, Perdita and her dog-husband, and the 97 puppies with the Dearlys and the Nannies.....a wonderful and heartfelt cheer went up from the littles (and the older two also!) as all the "good guys" were reunited!

Clamoring for more -- we went ahead and watched the classic Disney version -- which is not too bad (especially in light of the other versions that came later!). We enjoyed discussing the diferences and similarities. Hands-down, the vote was unanimous for the book as being a better story.

We then returned to our Iditarod study by reading Gloria Whelan's Silver, a great easy-reader book about a 9-year-old girl and her sled dog puppy. It's an easy read but not "twaddly" -- if you know what I mean! A great addition to our Iditarod unit.

The doors are beginning to open

My middle son, Lego Maniac, is technically a 1st grader. He's fascinated by building things and war things and medieval things. He loves sports and playing Xbox. And, of course, he loves all things Lego.

But, he doesn't -- or didn't -- love reading. He could do the sounding out, but things were taking him too long to read and it was frustrating him. I continued with the CHC "Little Stories for Little Folks" and working on phonics (including using the Leap Pad dvds).

The other morning instead of reading one of these, he came down with "Eloise" and wanted to read that. He got about a third of the way through and I suggested we finish another day. Today he read a dozen more pages. Yep! He's read about half of the Eloise book to me -- and darn near perfectly. A very proud moment for Mama and more so for Lego Maniac!

As I type this, he's curled up on Bam-Bam's bed reading the classic "A Fly Went By" for Bam-Bam's quiet time.

The doors that reading open to all of us are starting to open for my LegoManiac! What an exciting moment for all -- and to think I would have missed this if he had been in "real school"!

The Trials and Tribulations of Being a Parent

My husband and I are in the process of discerning God’s will for our family for the years ahead.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary gives the following definition for discern:

Pronunciation: di-'s&rn, -'z&rnFunction: verbEtymology: Middle English,
from Middle French discerner, from Latin discernere to separate, distinguish
between, from dis- apart + cernere to sift -- more at DIS-, CERTAINDate:
14th centurytransitive senses

1 a : to detect with the eyes b : to detect with
senses other than vision

2 : to recognize or identify as separate and distinct : DISCRIMINATE

3 : to come to know or recognize mentallyintransitive senses : to see or
understand the difference- dis·cern·er noun- dis·cern·ible also dis·cern·able
/-'s&r-n&-b&l, -'z&r-/ adjective- dis·cern·ibly /-blE/
adverb

We WANT to detect with the eyes and the senses … to recognize or identify … to come to know or recognize mentally what God would have us do.

We have two choices that are loming large. The two options we have are mutually exclusive – that is, if we do one, we can’t do the other. Both would be good for the family – one a little better in some respects, the other a little better in other respects. Our family is made up of different ages ... different personalities ... different hopes and dreams. The two choices will affect each family member differently. We no longer need to just worry about each other -- we have to include our children's concerns in our decision. Both options are gambles. Both affecting our lives from here on out – a question of location and vocation.

We are on the road that Robert Frost talks about:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both ….

Please pray with us as we continue to discern our family’s future.

And HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Beyond Roses and Rings -- Read-alouds for February

February -- the month of valentines and presidents. There is so much more to the month and here are some exceptional read-alouds for your family to fully enjoy during these long winter nights.

The Catholic Church celebrates St. Brigid of Ireland’s feast day on February 1st. A great story to read-aloud is Brigid's Cloak by Bryce Milligan (illustrated by Helen Cann). This glorious book tells the legendary story of Brigid's special cloak that changed from no more than an old, moth-eaten wool rag to a star-studded cloak through the kindness of the young woman known as Brigid. An interesting side-note is that a Church in Belgium claims to have the actual cloak of St. Brigid.

For a great, fact-based story of St. Valentine your family will love Robert Sabuda's book, Saint Valentine. Sabuda, using mosaics to set the scene, explains in beautiful prose that Valentine was a Roman Christian who doctored and loved all those around him. Executed during the persecutions under Emperor Claudius II (270 A.D.), Valentine personified love and care for all those he served throughout his long life.

For some longer chapter read-alouds on these blustery mid-Winter evenings, try some JRR Tolkein; but go beyond the rings and the shire and read his fairy tales. These are stories he wrote for his young sons when they were sick or just needed a story from Dad. One we have enjoyed reading is Farmer Giles of Ham. This has all the parts that make fairy tales wonderful: giants, dragons, village attacks and with a twist of mistaken identity and pompous heroes. It will have you all giggling to the antics of the characters. We also enjoy Roverandom -- where a real dog gets turned into a toy dog by a wizard, causes all kinds of mishaps and catastrophes for those around him, and then tries to get turned back into a real dog. Both of these reads are full of Tolkein humor, great story-telling and wonderful imagery.

So You Want to be President? by Judith St. George shows that anyone can be president, especially if their name is James (six of our presidents had that first name), or if they’re young or old, short or tall, fat or slim. This book is packed with fun facts, trivia and great drawings by Caldecott Honor-winning artist, David Small. For a specific biography of Washington or Lincoln you can’t go wrong with reading the books written by the husband and wife team, Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire. Ignore the banality of the titles (George Washington and Abraham Lincoln); these are wonderful books – filled with highly readable and memorable texts about the lives of these two great presidents. The illustrations, some colored and some black and white lithographs, highlight the humanity of the lives of the first and sixteenth presidents of the United States.

Some saints, some fairy tales and some presidents – all wonderful books to share with your family this February.

Astrid Lindgren -- more than Pippi

Today we started a wonderful chapter read-aloud for the littles. Children of Noisy Village is by the author of the Pippi Longstocking series, Astrid Lindgren. She's written many children's books -- ranging in reading level from easy reads to 3rd or 4th grade reading level.

Well, Children of Noisy Village is a delight. String Bean and Lego Maniac kept clamoring for more.. which is ALWAYS a good sign. The story gets it's name from three farms that stand side-by-side and house six children between the ages of 9 and 11 (plus a little girl who's 2). The children get up to the kind of things my own do -- maybe why they're enjoying it so much! The description of Lisa, the narrator, and her 7th birthday gift made String Bean's eyes light up!

A truly wonderful read-aloud for all.

Winslow Homer -- a great American artist

Thanks to a wonderful volunteer on the 4Real forum, we are studying Winslow Homer as our artist this month. We had so much fun today reading A Weekend with Winslow Homer by Ann Keay Beneduce. This is a fabulous kids' book written from an "autobiographical" viewpoint -- as if you got to spend a weekend chatting with this great artist about his life and work. We thoroughly enjoyed the book and found out lots of cool facts about him -- one of which was that he strongly believed in American artists painting American subjects (during his artistic era, most artists were tryin to copy European artists). He also believed in reality and strength in his works.

We then went slowly through a huge "coffee table" book called The Life and Works of Winslow Homer by Gordon Hendricks., which (sadly) is OOP. But check your library for this gem. It goes through from his birth in 1836 to his death in 1910. It's over 300 big pages (20" x 15"or so) and shows tons of his pictures. Including one that I'm so excited about.

Titled, Mending the Nets (or, "Far from Billingsgate") and painted in 1882 while in England, the picture is a lovely study of two women, basking in the sun and working. Can you tell why this one might be my favorite:










Yep, one of 'em is KNITTING socks! I love when I find knitting in great works of art.....

New Year's Resolutions - Update

Back at the end of December, in a blog message you can find here (Personal and Homeschool Resolutions), I published my resolutions. I figured it would help keep me honest and keep me keeping them.

So after about a month of resolution-packed days, I've decided to give an update.

1. writing in this blog every day -- I've been really good about this; I write here every school day (to help journal what we're doing) and sometimes on the weekends. And boy, do I get teased about "Mom's blogging again" -- I think they just like to say "blogging" and then try and read over my shoulder in case I'm putting anything about them in here!

2. try to meditate/pray every morning -- this is done better on some days; I have a bad habit of checking emails first rather than starting the day on my homepage -- myCatholic.com -- where I can get the readings for the day, Saint meditation, excerpt from Proverb or the Psalms to think about and a bit of a catechism lesson. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to consciously try to go to the Internet before the emails....I'll let you know how that goes next month!

3. minimizing the yelling and fussing at my darlin' children -- a C+ on this one; I really need to make a better effort on this!

4. better wife and helpmate to dear husband -- this is easier than number 3 as he's so easy to please; he's also gone during the day, when I tend to be at my crankiest!

5. work on a proposal for a Living Knitting book -- I haven't worked the proposal yet, but I've gotten great comments from other homeschoolers about what would make a great knitting book; I'm scheduled to talk at the Denver Homeschooling conference in June about the importance of knitting in the homeschoolroom; and I've started a separate blog, Living Knitting, to keep track of my thoughts, ideas and plans.

6. continue working on my writing and getting things published -- well, I have lots of reviews to write and I keep making contacts through that work; now if I could just do some writing where I can get paid!

On the homeschooling side:
1. 8-12 and 3-5 is school-time -- this doesn't work with my WriteGuide job; I'm pretty good till about 11:00, then I get antsy about checking if any of my consulting students need help. And, 3-5 around here is always a crazy time -- particularly if the weather is yucky (as it's been this past month) or I have running around to do (as I often do!).

2. avoid twaddly textbooks -- we are almost completely text book free and will not order any next year for String Bean and LegoManiac; the high schoolers are such veteran "traditional schoolers" that going "no textbooks" would throw them into a bit of a tizzy!

3. incorporate picture study and composer study into our school days -- thanks to a couple of wonderful volunteers over at 4Real Learning, I have done this! Each month a composer and artist are chosen and links/information/activities are shared to help us all. This month is Winslow Homer (watercolorist) and Tchaikovksy!

4. shift to more living math -- with StringBean and LegoManiac still learning the fundmentals, I'm still using math workbooks, but only an average of 3 days a week, with cooking math and fun activities to fill in the other days.

5. incorporate real living into the school day -- we do this somewhat with cooking math, but I need to get better at this. Maybe if we're ever able to set 3-5 p.m. as "school time" we can do it then.....

Overall, I'd give myself about an 80-85 for resoultion progress. Not too bad as usually I forget 'em within a week or two of making 'em!

St. Athanasius Academy: The World Wide Web ... contued research

St. Athanasius Academy: The World Wide Web ... what a resource! gave you an overview of a couple of Internet based projects the Littles and I are working on.

We've gotten updates from the Dussaults -- Rebecca did a race in Europe, preparatory to heading to Turin and the Olympics, which start this Friday! We are getting updates by email and they've added a blog which her husband, Sharbel, will be keeping updated. It's pretty cool to be this "close" to an Olympic athlete and "watch" her performance unfold.

We also chose our Musher today for our eIditarod project. Lego Maniac and String Bean chose 11-time Iditarod musher, Lynda Plettner -- not because her dogs have good form or because she's experienced -- but because we've seen her on two videos we borrowed from the library and they "know" her. She runs a kennel and seriously loves her dogs. Here's an excerpt from her website:

The 2002 Iditarod was Lynda’s best ever, not only because of receiving the “Most Improved Musher Award”, which moved her from sixty-sixth place in 2001 to twentieth in 2002, but because of receiving the prestigious and most coveted “ Leonhard Seppela Humanitarian Award”. This award is presented by the veterinarians working on the Trail, and is given to the musher with the healthiest, happiest and biggest dog team arriving in Nome. Lynda says that she had “thirteen barking, happy, line pounding dogs at the finish line”. This indeed was her best experience of her mushing career and she is looking forward to many more.

We emailed her that we'd be rooting for her and she sent us a lovely email a few hours later -- giving us info about her team this year and talking about her dog ARGE, featured in one of the videos we watched, "Sled Dogs: An Alaskan Epic".

We also started charting our data for the Mystery Class project. For our area of South Carolina -- we added 13 minutes of photoperiod from last Monday (yes, Spring is coming with it's longer days) and charted the 10 mystery class data points for last week. The class we're assigned - Mystery Class #6 - recorded 24 HOURS! of photoperiod last Monday. This is a fascinating project with math, science and geography all rolled into one project.....

Ah, the Internet -- what a great homeschooler's resource!

St. Claudine Thevenet of Lyon (1774-1837)

Yesterday (February 3rd) was the feast of St. Claudine, a saint beatified and canonized by John Paul II. This woman, who saw two of her brothers cruelly executed during the Reign of Terror in France, started a covent, The Congregation of Jesus and Mary and was it's first Mother Superior. Recognizing the need for wholesome literature, she also founded a residence for Catholic women authors. You can read more about this remarkable woman from St. Joseph's Abbey.

Iditarod -- Resources for a Great Study

We finally started our map of the trail today. In the eIditarod unit study, folks make all different kind of maps to track the race. Some use salt-dough and make a relief map of the trail, others get a huge piece of paper and draw the map on the paper. But the best idea (especially when you have three littles who are all trying to be helpful!) was to take a tri-fold board (the kind that sell BIG at Science Fair time) and mount a AAA map to it.

Well this we've done -- and a beautiful board we have! Uisng the official trail map, we were able to plot the course with all the check-in stations noted. and we still have lots of space to add notes and information about the Iditarod.

We've lived in Austria, so they sort of remember snow, but now that we're in the South -- snow is definitely a memory. To see videos and read books about the conditions these folks race in -- it's got them all wide-eyed!

Here are the picture books we've read today:

• Akiak: A Tale from the Iditarod (by Robert J. Blake) -- this is about a dog that wants to be part of his owner's sled team. At one point, he gets separated from the team and has to run the Iditarod all by himself. A great story with wonderful pictures of the dogs.
• Mush! Across Alaska in the World's Longest Sled-Dog Race (by Patricia Seibert) -- this is a GREAT kids' book about the running of the race. It gives a bit of history and then talks about the actual running of the dog-sleds, what some of the rules are, and how grueling the overall 10-30 days of the race can be.
• Togo (by Robert J. Blake) -- this is a true story about the Great Serum Race of 1925 from Anchorage to Nome (the forebear of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race). This is the before-Balto portion. Togo and his owner raced out of Nome down the trail to get the serum as quickly as possible as kids in Nome were dying of diptheria -- they almost overshot the serum-bearing sled coming into Shaktoolik. Then they raced the portion back to Nome, meeting Balto and his sled about 50 miles out of Nome.
• The Great Serum Race - Blazing the Iditarod trail (by Debbie S. Miller) -- this tell sthe true story of the Great Serum Race of 1925. The race for life built of a dog-sled relay from 300 miles north of Anchorage (the end of the rail line) through the over 700 miles wilderness of Alaska to bring the life-saving diptheria serum to the boom-town on Nome.

These were wonderful read-alouds which have really gotten the kids interested in this area of our coutnry -- almost antipodal from our spot here in South Carolina.

The World Wide Web ... what a resource!

I don't know if you can tell by my posts, but I tend to be a technology junkie. It could be because my dad was involved in computers back in the early 60s (when I was but a wee one) -- he even used to bring home the old style modems so he coud hook into the service bureau and process those cards -- which made GREAT bookmarks -- into reams and reams of wonderful continuous form drawing paper for us!

One of the greatest events within the last century has to be the blossoming of the WorldWideWeb from Department of Defense information system into THE information network of the World. Pretty cool, huh?

Why, you may ask, do I wax poetic about the 'net?

We have just embarked on three projects that are web-based and promise to open my children's eyes (as well as their mama's) to some interesting and provocative scenes.

First, we have signed up for the eIditarod -- a program where we will be able to learn all about the Iditarod (beyond the movie "Balto"), including choosing and cheering for a specific musher and his team, learning the geography of Alaska (over the 1000+ miles of the race), meeting the peoples of these remote areas of Alaska (where many still don't have running water or electricity in their homes) and building our own sleds and dog teams out of various materials. The actual running of the Iditarod will occur this year on March 4 and end approximately 10 days later. The race is from the heavily populated Anchorage, up and across the tundra and mountain ranges, and then along the coast of Alaska to Nome. [An interesting side note -- one of my best friends in college grew up in Nome and she could see Siberia on a clear day -- that's how far North we're talking!]

Second, we are poised for receiving our first "photoperiod data" in the Mystery Class . By taking our sunrise/sunset times in our town on Monday and comparing those to our mystery class's data which we will receive on Friday, determining "photoperiod" (or length of sunlight) and charting these -- by mid-April we should be able to pinpooint the approximate location of our Mystery Class (we've been assigned MC#6, as we're working with 9 other hs'ing families who will do the other classes). This will be an awesome lesson in longitudes, latitudes, determining locations based on the sun's location, and world geography.....very cool project, eh?

Third, we received a wonderful email from the woman who we'll be cheering for during the Winter Olympics in Turin. The Olympics are slated to start on February 10 and we'll be "watching" Rebecca Dussault's accomplishments via the ol' WWW! She has placed all her faith and trust in God's divine providence and the prayers of her supporters; her patron is Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and since, as she explained recently, he needs another miracle to be canonized .... she just might get a Gold!

Go Rebecca!

The picture at right is one she sent right before she, her husband Sharbel and their 3-year-old son left for Turin.

St. Brigid of Ireland

Not only is today my older sister's 50th birthday -- it is also St. Brigid of Ireland's feast day. St. Brigid happens to be one of StringBean's patron saints so we had some fun today.

First, we did some cooking math: the kids and I made a very messy Barm Brack. This recipe is a bit unusual in its steps, but we prevailed (even if not one single one of my "helpers" is over 7!).

While the dough rose we read the story of St. Brigid from 57 Saints for Children from Pauline Press. Brikhead received this in 1997 for his 1st communion and it's still proving useful.

We then read the delightful old Irish tale of Brigid's Cloak, as told by Bryce Milligan. When StringBean heard this story last year it was requested that mama make her a magic cloak also. A beautiful royal blue outer side and an inside with gold stars on a pale blue background and voila -- StringBean is St. Brigid. So of course, today, StringBean pranced through her schoolwork as St. Brigid!

We then prepped dinner -- Colcannon (basically mashed potatoes with cooked cabbage and LOTS of butter), meatloaf (who of Irish-American heritage hasn't had tons of meatloaves in their day?) and the Barm Brack for dessert. Just in case the bread isn't quite right, Dad's bringing home donuts.....I'm sure there's a connection there somewhere!