Author Archives: Betty Jo

About Betty Jo

I'm Betty Jo, a wife to my knight in (not so) shinning armor for nearly 22 years. We have 5 kids and another one that currently lives with us. We have been Christian home educators for 18 years with 8 more (at least) to go.

Leaves of Three

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E17 and B15 took some days off last week from homeschooling. They went on a mission trip with some other homeschool friends to Camp Joy (near Mammoth Cave) to get it ready for the summer camp season. They worked hard, Bible studied, explored the camp, and had a wonderful time with their friends.

E17 came home with a souvenir, too. A rash on her legs from Poison Ivy! I gave her the bottle of Calamine Lotion to dry out the rash and to relieve the itching. It did not work for her. The rash continued to spread and itch like crazy over the weekend. By Sunday night she gave up on the Calamine Lotion and set out to find an alternative to that “yucky pink stuff”.

The first remedy she tried was cucumber slices over the worst of the rash sites.

E17 says this decreased the inflammation of the rash and as long as the cucumber stayed on it, the itch was tolerable. But, this wasn’t quite the relief and healing she was hoping for.

She tried a mix of vinegar and alcohol, but that did not work either. After another day and a few more failed attempts with other remedies, she tried potato slices.

Folks, this is working great! The potato seems to be drying up that nasty rash and is stopping the itching! She had to change the potato slices often for the first hour of the treatment. because they turned dark blue and got hot.

I realize now that we should have known to try this sooner. We have used potatoes before to draw poison from insect stings and spider bites. It makes sense for it to work as well for drawing poison from her rash.

I asked E17 if she remembered studying poison ivy in our homeschool science last summer. She said she did. She even quoted the rhyme we learned, “Leaves of three, let them be!” She said she didn’t see any at the camp.

After a quick Google search, we learned that in the spring, Poison Ivy is not green, it’s red.

I’m sorry this has happened to her, but I’m also quite the proud momma. She has demonstrated a responsibility for her own health. She has a faith that proclaims that God has provided whatever we need and allows us to use what we have on hand. She proved that she understands the scientific method and can proficiently research. She’ll be getting an “A” in science this week even though this study was not on the lesson plan.

E17’s science lesson has been a good one for the rest of us, too. We needed a review on identifying poisonous plants. This site was helpful for our review http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view/

No itching is such a good thing!

betty jo

A Science Lesson From A Friend

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“…Cursed is the ground because of you;
    through painful toil you will eat food from it
    all the days of your life.
¹⁸It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
    and you will eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food…” (Gensis 3)

I was chatting about homeschooling and getting some gardening advice from my friend Bobbi, from Provident Living Homestead. She thought the movie, Back to Eden, could help us with our gardening unit study. So, she sent it to me.

How awesome is that? Another homeschooling mom sending me a science lesson. She probably has no idea how much easier this will make my homeschooling day. I won’t have to research, print out anything, or design a lesson plan . The kids are going to appreciate this too. They have a BUSY week ahead. Watching a movie for our unit study one day this week is going to please them as well.

You should visit Bobbi’s blog and see the adorable baby goats and much more http://providentlivinghomestead.com/

And “like” Provident Homesteading on Facebook. You’ll pick up a lot of good ideas. https://www.facebook.com/ProvidentLivingHomestead?fref=ts

Here’s the movie link to Back to Eden so you can have the day off from teaching science, too. http://www.backtoedenfilm.com/

And here’s the link to another gardening post https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/04/14/homeschool-gardening/

betty jo

Homeschool Gardening

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^{Genesis 1:11}And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

¹²And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

¹³And the evening and the morning were the third day.

We did not plant a garden last year. However, we attempted to grow some flowers , bushes, and a few vegetables, but nothing succeeded in our clay and rock soil. This year we are trying again, but we won’t be planting directly into the yard.

This past week, my husband and B15 dug out a 10ft diameter circle and lined it with bricks, (my husband is a brick layer so we always have a pile of bricks around), with a path designed going into the center. Do you think it looks like Pacman? E17 and a friend of mine think it does.

Z7 helped his dad and B15 add a ton and a half of good soil.

Now we have a garden spot. My husband must be anxious to get this project finished, because he went to the nursery as soon as the new soil was spread out and bought some tomato plants.

That burlap basket is for our compost. This idea, as well as the garden shape, comes from So. Africa’s “key-hole” gardens. Brilliant plan! There is no bottom to the basket, just rocks so the rain water can drain. And as the water drains, it washes the nutrients from the compost into the soil. When we water it during the dry spells, we’ll do so through that basket. We won’t have to dirty up our feet when we take out our compost. That’s what that path to the center is for. Also, most of the picking can be done from the outside of the garden.

E17 went back to the nursery with her dad yesterday. She decided on several different pepper plants and some mint. Maybe next weekend we’ll add beans, calliflower, and broccoli.

With all this gardening going on, we will be adding some garden studies to our homeschool science lessons.

We will be working on this free Gardening Unit Study from http://www.inallyoudo.net/2013/03/26/gardening-unit-study-prek-5/

We’ll also be using some of the garden connections for unit studies and lapbooking from http://www.homeschoolshare.com/connections__plants.php

And, I found gardening journaling pages and interactive games here http://www.nourishinteractive.com/nutrition-education-printables/category/9-kids-gardening-growing-healthy-food (By the way, this site is very cool! I’ve got it bookmarked for later studies.)

You can view the Keyhole Garden tutorial here http://www.se7en.org.za/2009/04/26/saturday-spot-our-virtual-keyhole-garden (This site is awesome, plan on staying here to explore for a while!)

For another post about our gardening science unit study, click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/04/16/a-science-lesson-from-a-friend/

Are you gardening with your children? And, is your garden shaped like Pacman, too?

betty jo

Leonardo da Vinci

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After taking a break from our middle ages unit studies this week to study spring weather, we will be returning to them again next week. We will be finishing up our artists lessons with Leonardo da Vinci. The timing for this is perfect because his birthday is April 15. That means that we can work some cake baking and decorating into our homeschooling day.

Below are the links we will be using for the da Vinci study

Biography, art gallery, games, quizzes, printables and more from here http://www.gardenofpraise.com/art17.htm

Even though our library did not have Leonardo’s Horse I think we can still make good use of these lapbooks using what we found here http://www.homeschoolshare.com/leonardos_horse.php

Artist Notebooking Page https://notebookingfairy.com/artist-notebooking-page/

And da Vinci quotes from here http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/l/leonardo_da_vinci.html

Since da Vinci is famous for his works of the human body and portraits we are going to try the lessons from here http://www.drawingnow.com/tutorials/view/how-to-draw-people-step-by-step-for-kids/ and here http://www.learn-to-draw.com/figure-drawing/07-drawing-muscles.shtml

Da Vinci Inventions http://www.da-vinci-inventions.com/davinci-inventions.aspx

For other posts about our middle ages art studies click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/04/06/raphael/ and here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/07/art-day-sistine-chapel-style/ and here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/12/gothic-revival-in-western-kentucky/

“Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.” Leonardo da Vinci

betty jo

Taking A “Rain” Day

Abeka, Lifepac, and FIAR, Oh My

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Did you catch the line when the girl says, “You might be a homeschooler if you are filled with fear and dread when you hear the word ‘Saxon'”? That may not be the case for all homeschoolers, but it is certainly the case for this homeschooling momma. There’s other strange homeschool vocabulary words that give me shivers. Abeka, Lifepac, and FIAR, oh my! The list could go on but I’ll stop here so you won’t get frightened too.

I suppose I should explain. Those strange words are names of popular homeschooling curriculum. If you have ever had the opportunity of being around a group of homeschooling parents, you have most likely been trapped in a discussion (aka debate) on which curriculum is best.

I suppose I should explain more. First, every homeschool family is different. God designed us that way. With that being said, what kind of cirriculum works best can only determined by the individual family. What works in your homeschool is probably not what works in mine or in the Jones’ homeschool. The second reason why curriculum discussions are so scary is the reactions of others when I say (insert a slight southern, country, redneck accent), “Oh, we don’t use curriculum, I make it up.”

However, over the course of our 15 year homeschooling journey I have practiced a more refined response to the “What cirucculum do you use” question. “Our family learns with a history timeline based unit study approach that includes notebooking and lapbooking. We choose this reinforced learning method because it enables me to teach history, science, language arts, music, art, and religion to the children all at the same time just altering the lessons with more requirements for the higher grades. With these unit studies, we use online resources, text books, video, audio, and library materials. Each child has his own spelling and math programs based on their skill level. Also starting in the middle grades, each child gets to choose his own elective for each grading period. We research catalogs, talk with other home educators, read reviews, compare costs, and assess our children’s individual weaknesses and strengths before deciding on each years educational choices.” That’s better, huh?

So my advice to the new or dissatisfied homeschooling parent is to pray it through before you start buying curriculum. And figure out your child’s/children’s learning style and your preferred teaching method so you can narrow down your choices.

Learning Styles:

Kinesthetic – Student learns best with hands-on activities

Auditory – Student learns best through hearing

Visual – Student learns best by reading, viewing pictures, observing

Teaching Methods:

Unit Study – Reinforced learning in which the same topic is covered in several subjects

Classical – Latin, Trivium, Rhetoric

Charlotte Mason – Real life observation and discussion

Unschooling – Informal lessons determined by child’s interests

Traditional – Text books and work books

Eclectic – Some sort of combination of the above methods

For another article with advice for the new homeschooler wondering where to start click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/24/another-new-homeschooler-and-another/

betty jo

http://www.holyspiritledhomeschooling.net/

Going

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^“15He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. ¹⁶Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.^” (Mark 16)

All my life I’ve heard of missionaries. We have read many missionary biographies in our homeschool throughout the years. I keep mission projects on my prayer list. Our family fills a shoe box or two at Christmas time for Samaritan’s Purse and buys chickens from Gospel for Asia. I might drop a little into the collection plate at church to help a visiting missionary.

I never thought I would be able to be obedient to the going “into all the world with the Gospel”, at least not in a hands-on kind of way. I am a homeschooling, stay-at-home mom. I was born , raised, and still live in Western Kentucky. Our family does not even take vacations.

I have never imagined me in a conversation with the LORD like the one from Isaiah 6:8, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Never imagined it, until today.

I was checking my WordPress stats. I clicked on “Views By Country” and saw this:

Country
United States
United Kingdom
Canada
Australia
Pakistan
Philippines
Israel
Republic of Korea
New Zealand
Morocco
Malaysia
Norway
Thailand
SingaporeHey, I am going into all the world! Wow, my mind was blown away. It never occurred to me that this blog would do that. I don’t know the faiths of my readers, but in case you are not followers of Jesus Christ let me encourage you to investigate Him. He left Heaven to come to us as a baby. He lived a sinless life even though He was tempted over and over again. He willingly died on a cross to take our place. He rose from the dead having defeated death. He promises eternal life to those who believe in Him and confess His name. He is SAVIOR! It does not matter what your past is or where you are now, He loves you and wants you to be His. This is the Gospel, the Good News. This is GRACE!Mark 16 continues, “¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”Dear LORD, I believe and I want to show these signs of a believer. I would be thrilled and honored if YOU would let me be part of driving out demons, speaking in new tongues, and healing the sick with my hands. As far as the snake and poison goes, LORD, I’d rather not, but Your will, not mine be done. I love You and trust You. AmenIf anyone needs to discuss Jesus or has questions, please do so in the comments. If I don’t have the answers you seek, I’ll find someone who does.betty jo

Parental Rights

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I do not want the government raising my children either, even when the media tries to make it sound like a good idea.

1 John 4:4 “Dear children, you belong to God. You have not accepted the teachings of the false prophets. That’s because the One who is in you is more powerful than the one who is in the world.”

God gave me my children. They are mine. I love them. I know them. I want them to be successful. I can raise them. I can educate them. In fact, it’s my job and my responsibility to do so. It is my right to do so.

The best resource I have found for keeping me updated and informed about my rights as a parent is http://www.parentalrights.org/

Have you read about the Romeike family, if not, you need to. Click here http://www.hslda.org/courtreport/V26N2/V26N201.asp

In case you haven’t signed the latest petition protecting the Romeike family, please do so. If our government will not help this family, then I doubt they would help mine or yours. http://www.hslda.org/legal/cases/romeike.asp

It seems to me that the government would encourage homeschooling. We do not add to the problem of overcrowded class rooms. We save our country’s tax payers $16 BILLION! http://ww2.onenewsnow.com/education/2013/02/15/nheri-23-million-homeschoolers-saving-taxpayers-$16b

betty jo

Raphael

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Knowing that Raphael was born April 6, 1483 we included him in our homeschool’s Middle Ages/Renaissance unit study this week. (I like it when historic days can be fit in to our learning.) (My kids like it when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can be fit in to our learning.) So this art study was a win/win situation.

Garden of Praise has a short but good biography of him as well as quiz, word puzzles, coloring page, and more printables. Here’s there link to Raphael’s page, but spend some time here browsing around. They offer a wonderful selection of resources. http://gardenofpraise.com/art33.htm

Inspired by Raphael’s work on the wall of the Sistine Chapel, we’ve been drawing angels.

Z7 and J9 linked here for their art practice http://artforkidshub.com/how-to-draw-an-angel/

B15 and E17 gave this lesson a try http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/15007/1/1/how-to-draw-a-guardian-angel,-angel-statue.htm

For those of you who might be wondering how our angels turned out. Well, there’s a good reason why I’m not sharing photos of them. We were a bit disappointed in our work. Wings are tough to draw. The lesson learned falls more into the category of Art Appreciation this time instead of Art Application. And I even have a link for this

You might be an artist if …

–The only piece of new furniture you have in your home is a $2000 easel.
–You’ve ever cleaned your fingernails with a palette knife.
–You butter your toast with your fingers, just to feel its texture.
–You’ve ever considered framing your palette instead of the painting.
–You notice the burnt umber in the background of the Playboy centrefold.
–Your children are forced to share a room so you can have an art studio.
–You routinely drink the rinse water instead of the coffee.
–The suggestion that you should “teach” or “open a flower shop” or “go to law school” makes you want to scream and throw things.
–You know the difference between beige, ecru, cream, off-white, and eggshell.
–Your favorite fragrance is eau d’ linseed oil.
–You do judge a book by its cover.

from http://www.top10-best.com/a/top_10_best_art_jokes.html

Leonardo da Vinci has a birthday coming up April 15. We will be learning about him that week. And blog posting about him, too.

I’m regretting not having the time to make Raphael a birthday cake. Maybe, I’ll buy him one. Eating birthday cake while practicing drawing those angel wings sounds like a plan to me.

For another post about our Renaissance artists studies click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/07/art-day-sistine-chapel-style/

betty jo

Spring Formal

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I was treated to breakfast by one of my nearest, dearest, and longest homeschooling mom friends. The purpose for this was to plan this springs Teen Night. Of course, this led to the discussion of past events.

Here’s some photos “besties” from last spring when we threw a prom (alternative) for our homeschool support groups high school students.

The girls made their own corsages. Notice their purity rings.

We met at White Haven, a local tourist spot. for a photo shoot.

Dinner and shared dessert at a nice out of town restaurant .Outside in the garden gazebo. This is where they danced “The Cupid Shuffle”

Mini golf.

Changed and comfy playing board games at the after party.

This year’s teen night will be different but still wonderful. Our support group has grown so much that our estimated head count looks like a minimum of 20 teens. After photos and dinner we have party at a reserved hall with Wii games, music, costume trunk photo booth, and an ice cream sundae bar.

E17, B15, and myself are very excited about these plans and looking forward to this special night. Z7 says it’s not fair. He doesn’t want to wait 8 more years for his homeschooler’s night out.

betty jo