New book for History read aloud!

I acquired a small gem this past week at the used book store. I was looking for books on my daughter's reading list. And among the shelf labeled "Olides but Goodies" I spied an old history book.

It's called "The Story of Our Nation", published in the 1940's. Browsing through it, this seems to be an history text from an old catholic school, and it teaches early American history and the Christian roots this country grew from. Seeing that it is from a Catholic school, I might have to pick over a few items. But the non socially/politically correct content is going to be so worth it.

This will probably become part of our read aloud time once or twice a week. We are already reading "Story of the World" once a week, but I think this would make a great addition to history. I'm also going to put this one on my daughters' book list for their 9th or 10th grade year.

This is on the front flyleaf"

"The Story of a Great Country

A Country is made up of people.
A country is good or bad, weak or strong, as the people in it are good or bad, selfish or unselfish.
Our country was discovered by a man who had Faith when all others doubted.
Our country was made independent by men who loved Libery and who were ready to die to obtain it.
Our country was made a Nation by men, who loved Justice and who made a Constitution based on the Rights of Man.
Our country was preserved as a Union by men who believed in Equality of the Soul and in Freedom for all men.
Our country has grown wealthy and prosperous through men of Endurance who worked while others slept.
Our country has been a Refuge for the oppressed from other nations.
Our country - What can we do to keep our country a great land?
We ourselves must be a great people.
Our Ideals must be:
Courage in our own lives.
Justice to our neighbor.
Loyalty to our government.
Peace with other nations.
Faith in God.
These are the things which make a people truly great.

St. Xavier College
Febbruary 2, 1940"

Yes this was published in the 40's and so much has changed. Our nation is in deep debt. Our legislature no longer has Faith in God. We are creating peace with the wrong nations, and shunning our true allies. And so few of us has real courage.
But, I believe, teaching our children the true roots of this country, and giving them a firm foundation of this nation's Faith in history, is a must if we are to have hope of raising up a generation that will make this nation great once again.

Observations with Play Dough....

No matter how much of it you buy or the variety of the colors, it all ends up the same color eventually. So it's great to take brand new play dough and teach colors, and how some colors mix well to make a new color or don't mix well and make a bad color.

Book of the Week - Little Women

Little Women - By Louisa May Alcott

I have to admit I have never read this book up to this point in my life. I honestly think that I was a little intimidated by size of the book when I would look at it on the shelf, whether abridged or unabridged.

But I bought myself a small MP3 player that has E Book capability in .txt format. So I have downloaded this book in .txt format from Gutenberg.com and MP3 format and loaded it on my player.

I am really enjoying reading this book. The more I read it, the more I think that Jo March and I could be sisters, and the more I want to be like Marmee (Mrs. March). There are several wonderful examples each of the girls facing personal character shortcomings and Mrs. March encouraging her children to look to their Helper and Heavenly Father whenever they need help or strength.


I am currently in Chapter Ten and so far I have laughed out loud in almost every chapter, and cried a few times as well.

So far this is my favourite quote, from Chapter Nine, "Meg Goes to Vanity Fair."

"I want my daughters to be beautiful, accomplished, and good. To be admired, loved, and respected. To have a happy youth, to be well and wisely married, and to lead useful, pleasant lives, with as little care and sorrow to try them as God sees fit to send. To be loved and chosen by a good man is the best and sweetest thing which can happen to a woman, and I sincerely hope my girls may know this beautiful experience. It is natural to think of it, Meg, right to hope and wait for it, and wise to prepare for it, so that when the happy time comes, you may feel ready for the duties and worthy of the joy. My dear girls, I am ambitious for you, but not to have you make a dash in the world, marry rich men merely because they are rich, or have splendid houses, which are not homes because love is wanting. Money is a needful and precious thing, and when well used, a noble thing, but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for. I'd rather see you poor men's wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace."

This resonates deeply within my heart and so easily describes what I want for my own girls. I will be copying this into my journal and into my Homeschooling mission statement.

I hope to read this aloud to my girls myself and have put it on our "Must Read Together" list.

But this week we will listen to this during our quiet activity time throughout the week.

If you have not yet read this book, I highly encourage you to! And I am quickly starting to believe that every girl must read this book at least once in their life, and every mother and daughter must read this together at least once.

You may download this book for free at Gutenberg.org. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott etext.

Go to the Librivox.org Little Women archive page for the chapter by chapter playlist, download in MP3 format, or click play below to hear Little Women from the beginning.

Nature Study - Taking advantage of TV Programs

Nature Study and TV don't usually go together in the same sentence, nor in the same paragraph. But in the winter months it really is difficult to go outside and get a good first hand experience with nature. The weather is harsh, or muddy and mucky during a thaw, and most live things are dormant or in hibernation.

So I will use more TV shows, and online programming to help my kids learn a little bit more about nature. One of the program sites I frequent often is PBS.org.

Nova had a past episode on Monarch Butterflies, and we watched it today. My daughter loves reading about butterflies and learning about them so this program was right up her alley. Did you realize that the year long migration cycle is made by four generations of monarchs? Three generations only live just over a month and then die, but the fourth generation lives about 9 months. It is the fourth generation that makes the several thousand mile migration from North-Eastern USA and Canada south to Mexico, in two months.

Most of the programming on PBS is great and educational. But a note of caution. As expected, PBS programming usually includes something that is pro evolution or extreme enviromentalism. Watch these programs first. Then watch them with their kids. Then discuss with your kids what was good and not so good about the program.

And don't ever let your kids roam the internet unsupervised.

Auditorium - Developing thinking skills through play

It's important for me that the things my kids do in school time or free time helps to develop logic and thinking skills. We watch very little tv or movies, and have no video gaming systems in the house. Most of our play and creative time is spend working on paper crafts, hand crafts, single player games, and multi player games. Very little of our free time during a school day is spent on the computer.
I am not against gaming systems, they do have their place and purpose in play and recreation. We just have very little room to store one with all the games and accessories that come along with it.

But when I find a computer game that helps to develop thinking and logic skills, while letting my girls be creative and have fun, I feel that I've hit pretty close to the jackpot. And I've done that with a game I found online earlier in the school year.




Auditorium, found at http://www.playauditorium.com/, is an abstract game that stimulates creative thinking. Each level and puzzle has no right or wrong answer, and no one solution. The game is very entertaining in that it utilizes sound and color.

Each "puzzle" begins as a single stream of light. Controls are moved around the screen to bend the stream, change the color of the stream, the direction of the stream, or the speed. The object is to direct the stream to an Audio Container, and fill the container. The container transforms the light into sound. On the levels where there are several Audio Containers, it creates a pleasing and harmonious "symphony".

The concept is simple, but requires real thought to be put into the game to solve. And usually the first attempt at solving the puzzles with multiple containers is not successful. Which also teaches to not give up on the first try, but try again.


The online demo is free, and offers hours of playtime. You can also purchase the full version for even more options and controls. Flash Player is required to play.

I highly recommend this for upper elementary/lower middle school on up. Younger ages can play too, but probably better sitting in mommy's lap as a helper.

Audio Book of the Week - Hurlbut's Story of the Bible

Hurlbut's Story of the Bible - Part One

Genesis - Deuteronomy

Go to the Librivox.com archive page for the entire Part One chapter by chapter playlist, or click play below to hear it from the beginning.

Hurlbut's Story of the Bible - Part Two

The Book of Joshua - Judges

Go to the Librivox.com archive page for the entire Part Two chapter by chapter playlist, or click play below to hear it from the beginning.

Hurlbut's Story of the Bible - Part Three

Saul - Solomon

Go to the Librivox.com archive page for the entire Part Three chapter by chapter playlist, or click play below to hear it from the beginning.

Hurlbut's Story of the Bible - Part Four

Solomon's Son's - Johah

Go to the Librivox.com archive page for the entire Part Four chapter by chapter playlist, or click play below to hear it from the beginning.

Hurlbut's Story of the Bible - Part Five

2 Chronicles - Ezra

Go to the Librivox.com archive page for the entire Part Five chapter by chapter playlist, or click play below to hear it from the beginning.

Hurlbut's Story of the Bible - Part Six

The Life of Jesus

Go to the Librivox.com archive page for the entire Part Five chapter by chapter playlist, or click play below to hear it from the beginning.

Hurlbut's Story of the Bible - Part Seven

Acts - Revelation

Go to the Librivox.com archive page for the entire Part Seven chapter by chapter playlist, or click play below to hear it from the beginning.

Audio Book of the Week - Little Women

My kids love it when I read aloud, and I read aloud as I can. Ideally for me I would like to read aloud about 2 hours throughout the day. But reality is, with taking care of a toddler, homeschooling two different ages, and having to keep up with housework, 2 hours a day doesn't happen often.

Right now I am able to manage about 1 hour in the morning before we start on math and memorization. That one hour includes bible devotions, and a few chapters from our current read aloud book.
But fortunately, there are a lot of audio books that I can supplement with. I can use online audio books in my place during the afternoon listening time.

The girls can listen to the audio books while they do quiet time activities like drawing, coloring, playdough, or practice knitting. They love listening to poetry, and stories.

My favorite source for online audiobooks is Librivox.org. All the audiobooks in the archives are free and public domain. However, all of the recordings were done by volunteers, so the quality varies. But I have been mostly satisfied with the recordings we have listened to so far.
A big plus is that they can be listened to via online audio streaming, download to save on the computer, or burn them to CD to take along with us in the car.

This week we are listing to "Little Women" by L.M. Alcott
Click on the player below to start the audio stream of all the chapters or go to this archive page to get the player for yourself.