Psalms 23 in Hebrew

The girls learned this over the the last few months... enjoy :-D

TOBY the new school year

This has officially be our second week of school.

I'm going to try and be more diligent about post a TOBY report this year,

at least make a post every two weeks.

This is part of the girls curr. It's based on the Robinson Curr except
I chose different books to read.

The girls have said that they have already learned so much,
and they're enjoying it!!

We've decided to learn the 50 most poisonous plants
this year, one each week.
These plants will kill you, there are many plants
that will make you sick, sick enough to put you
in a hospital, but these plants will put
you in the ground.

We want to learn to identify these so there will be no
accidental consumption of them.

Some of the plants are the most beautiful we seen,

This plant is known as the monkshood or wolf's bane...

deadly!!

We are starting a new reading cycle of the Torah Portion, the girls read
Torah for an hour a day, then write about what they read.

This is their Book of Centuries, another first for them,
along with their writing they also will keep
record of important and exciting events that
has happened in history, starting with the creation week.


The first and second day of creation...


day three and four,

day five and six, AbbiYah isn't finished with coloring
this page and is yet to start drawing the seventh day...



They are also learning a musical instrument and yet another first for
them. They were so excited to actually learn
a song on the first day. Mary had a Little Lamb.

There was much more they learned but these were just
a few of the
highlights of the last two weeks.

Shalom!

The Pet Store and Chirpping Birds

The Pet Store

by AbbiYah

On a misty, but clear, in the heat of the day,

I saw birds in the skies, and the skies were light gray,

My parents and I were walking in town,

We saw restaurants, and food stores, and lots of fair grounds,

But in the fair grounds something caught my eye,

It was the small little Pet Store that was closely, near by,

We went in the Pet Store, and guess what I saw,

I saw lizards, and birds, and rats, and small frogs,

I saw these small creatures, and I'll tell you their names,

I saw anoles, long tails, and skinks in their cage;

I saw the dove, the finch, the grakle, and the parrot,

I saw the chinchillas, the rabbits, the hamsters, and the farrets,

This all seemed like an animal zoo,

But their were no, lions, no tigers, and no kangaroos,

We stayed there for hours, till the sky darken night,

It was time to go home, we had had, our delight!

Chirpping Birds

by YahChanna

That early spring May morning,

The birds sang and chirpped all morning,

and all day,

it disturbed the owl,

the ox,

then the people in their socks!

(just a little note: the people in their socks refers to

people who sleep in their socks... the bird churp so

early in the morning seems like they disturb everyone...

it was so cute when she was explaining it to me...lol)

Didn't make the cut!

Well, one of the books on our curr list hasn't made the cut. The Night Journey by Kathryn Lasky. In the first couple of chapters the main character a 13yr Jewish girls uses the "d" word several times and as I began to scan the book she appears to have a problem with being disrespectful to her elders...so I see that the last minute add-ons will need to be read or scanned...too bad I thought this book had a great message!

2010-2011 Curriculum

I'm very pleased with the curr Yahweh led me to use, this wasn't the original curr of my choice but what I was led to use. All the books in blue were free found on several free e-book sites.

Bible: How to Study Your Bible for Kids by Kay Arthur, The Scriptures from Institute for Scripture Research

Character: Beautiful Girlhood by Mable Hale, Raising Maidens of Virture by Stacy McDohnald, Putting On a Gentle & Quiet Spirit by Elizabeth George

Math: Saxon 65 & 76 John Saxon

Science: Exploring Creation with Zoology 2

History & Geography: A Child's History of the World by Mrs. Percy Sinnett, Ancient History by C. A. Bloss, Beric the Briton by G. A. Henty, Dark Eminence by Marguerite Vance, Winning His Spurs by G. A. Henty, For the Temple by G. A. Henty, Hadasseh by E. Leuty Collins, Hebrew Heroes by A. L. O. E., our Young Folks' Josephus by William Shepard, Purim by Rabbi H. M. Bien, The patriots of Palestine by Charlote Mary Yonge, The Night Journey by Trina Schart Hyman, The Return by Sonia Levitin, and Ten, Twenty by Claire Hutchet Bishop, and Victory on the Walls a Story of Nehemiah by Frieda Clark Hyman

American History & Geography: A Child's History of Untited States Vol 1-3 by John Bonner, Friends Though Divided by G. A. Henty, The New Land by Elma Ehrlich Levinger

Grammar: Grammar Land, Mary's Grammar, and The Grammar Game

Language Arts: Intermediate Language Lessons by Emma Serl

Creation Science: The Answers Book for Kids vol 1 & 2 by Ken Ham, The Answers Book Vol 2 by Ken Ham, Dinosaurs for Kids by Ken Ham

Nature Studies: Nature Walks & Journal, Handbook of Nature-Study by Anna Botsford Comstock, The outdoor hour
Foreign Language: Learn to Read Biblical Hebrew by Jeff Benner, Hebrew Word Pictures;How does the Hebrew Alphabet reveal Prophetic Truth by Frank T. Seekins

Art: Art Pacs 3-6 by Rod & Staff

Music: The New Nine Note Method by Penny Gardner

Crafts & HomeEc: Keepers at Home Handbook by Susan D. Zakula

Recording Molts

Our Little one molted last night, June 5th.

I tried to measure her but with the molt

came a burst of excess energy...

she/he wouldn't sit still long

enough for me to even get a

guesstimating...let alone a

decent picture.
LATER: Ok, got the measurement: 1.02 cm

We are keeping record of her molts and size through

this blog then we'll document it

on notebook pages.

Second Molt

June 18, 2010

size: 1.06 cm

Third Molt

June 28, 2010

size:2.0 cm

Fourth Molt

July 9, 2010

size: 2.4 c

Fifth Molt

July 27, 2010

size:

Just a note our larger mantis

molted on

June 3.

size:

Second molt

June 17

Size:

Third molt

June 29, 2010

size:

Fourth molt

July 8, 2010

Fifth molt

Our First Ourdoor Hour Challenge # 1

(click on the icon to visit The Outdoor Hour site)

I have come across several families

using the Outdoor Hour as part of

their HS curr. I finally checked it

out, and the girls wanted to do it.

So this is Challenge #1We found it difficult to be

quiet about all the wonderful things

we discovered, perhaps

next time we contain ourselves :-b

We visited a park near by, this park is not new to us,

but it was like the first time for us because we

were observing, listening and taking in

all we could.

The first thing we observed was FROGS!


Frogs, frogs everywhere, it was like we stepped

into the pages of Exodus, everywhere we stepped

little frogs would leap and jump...we were trying to

be so careful not to crush any

then we came across this little guy, he was about 1 cm in size
we thought at first we has a frog that had not lost it tail
but with a closer inspection the head
looked like a grasshoppers, it had what looked like
folded wings, there didn't seem to be any
hopper legs, but only four legs...strange indeed!

We tried to get a pic of his face but he just
kept turning his back to us...


then we came across an empty oyster shell

the girls walking (as quietly as possible)


We came across this huge tree trunk, next time
we go we are taking a large string to measure
things with. Once home we will measure
the cut strings :-)
our next find was a spider hanging out on it's

web (a fisher spider?)

the local ducks gathering around,

oh, poor little thing...we came across this

little fellow, all alone with his head tucked

into his feathers. When we walked closer

he didn't move...his eyes look very weak.

I believe he was sick, very sick.
We said a prayer to Yahweh to help him

This is the last discovery. A beautiful mushroom.

I made up some Nature Journals for the girls

Here is YahChanna's entry...her two favorite
creatures were the spider and grasshopper.

Here is AbbiYah's entry...she loved everything
and wrote about it all!

The two topics of study this next week will be:

Pygmy Grasshopper (YahChanna's choice)
Ducks (AbbiYah's choice)

I'll be making up notebook pages for the info

they gather then put them in their

school notebook

School project...traditions...friends

For the last two years we have kept
baby mantis to observe as

they molt and grow.

It started as a school project....

but now in our third year of keeping a mantis it is
no longer a 'project' but has become a
family tradition.

ahhh...look at that face...so cute!!
This little one ( 0.7 cm) was given to us by
a sweet friend, Ms. Bea.

Two days later we get a knock
on our door and Ms. Bea with her hands fold up,

says, "here take it..."
Another mantis much larger ( 2.03 cm ) but still in
the nymph stage...

We're hoping this one is a female and the smaller

one a male...yes, we could mate them is they

are the same species, which I think they are.

Then we could save their egg sack (oothecae)

until next year, however we're a little reluctant
to mate them because often the female
will eat the male and we don't want that...
it's too sad :-(

Prepare and Pray Curriculum

We are beginning our new unit study 'Prepare & Pray'
using Swiss Family Robinson as the ROL.

Each week we are to find two wild plants that are

edible. Our first plant we identified was

the Queen Ann Lace. There is another look like that

is deadly poisoness. To ID the QAL look for the

prickly hair on the stem and rub the

leaves between your fingers crushing them, then

smell, if it's a QAL the leaves will smell like a carrot.

Yep, our flower was a QAL, smelled like a carrot

and had prickly hair on it's stem

We brought them home, washed them and laid them out to dry

next we made a thin pancake batter, heated up some oil,
and fried the flowers...

making sure all the batter covers the flower top...

frying the flower...

pretty isn't it...

the flower top is covered with fried pancake batter, kind of like
a funnel cake...

sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top...they weren't bad
tasted like a funnel cake....

Answered Prayer!

Last year we prayed to find a Praying Mantis and Father was so good he had a friend spot one on a green bush...we kept her for a couple of months, on her last molt she had her beautiful wings and was ready to mate, so we let her go.

Because the Mantis brought such pleasure to us

we began to pray to Father for another Mantis.

Today my oldest dd came over to swim with her sisters,

as she was lounging she felt something crawling on her

leg and behold it was a praying mantis in a nymph stage (baby).

We caught her and fed her a small grasshopper.

here are some pics of Madaline II.

We won't know if she is female until she molts a few times,

but knowing Father he gave us what we wanted

another female.

Here is Madaline eating the grasshopper

This was the largest Mayfly I've ever seen it was about 2" from head
to ovipositor (the thing that looks like a stinger)


This was a beautiful moth my girls came across today
we know it's a moth because it was resting with
it's wings fold down over it's body.

Lot's of finds today...Father is so wonderful and his
creation is awesome!

Books, Books, and more Books!

I've been busy making books!

Yes, books! with the new printer we bought I've printed,

glued, and bound my e-books!

See how nice they turned out...no loose pages!

This is really nice because I can print several copies of
one book for pennies!

My Printer arrived!

My printer is in and I've already printed the book Swiss Family Robinson, I didn't note the time but it took maybe 7 minutes to print. I cut the pages by hand which took about 45 minutes, so next purchase will be a paper cutter.

I also came across this site that gave a tutorial with pics on how to bind the book with Gorilla Glue, it even gives instructions on how to build your own jig. It looks simple enough.

I'm real excited about this printer! I've saved so many e-books and now I can print them for pennies, yay!

A quick note about the printer, if you buy it brand spanking new it will cost you about $250, however, if you buy one factory refurbished you can cut the cost by $100! When I pulled the printer out of the box it looked brand new...runs beautifully...time will tell if it was a good buy. I've read many reviews on this printer and most of them said to buy refurbished and save money.

Ordering Next Years Curriculum

We've been praying and searching for next years curriculum. One of the purchases we've made was a Brothers laser Printer with Duplex. The reason we've purchased this is because I've found out google, Project Gutenberg, Baldwin Children's Literature Project, archives, and numerous more that I haven't found yet, I'm sure, have free down loadable children's literature. And the Brothers Duplex printer can print about 1,500 pages compared to my Lexmark printer that prints about 300 pages on draft setting, for about the same price!

We've also invested in 36 week literary unit study, 'Prepare & Pray'. Thanks to Michelle who stopped by and left a reply, I checked out her page and found this was their curr. I searched it out and found that this unit study covers all the subject across the board, with the exception of Math. We were leaning towards Math on the Level however, when I research it a little further, I found it really wasn't for us. So, again I was in search of a math curr. I came across RightStart Mathematics curr has games, manipulatives, activities, and a workbook, everything my daughters love to do! (whisper: well the work books they would rather do without, but I feel they have a place). My search was over!

I also ordered The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need. Just for reference. Oh yeah, I also ordered a Boy Scout Guide because P&P curr uses it for one of it's main reference books, the other two books that are recommended is the Bible (have it) and Swiss Family Robinson (which I will print off).

That's about it for now, I'll know more when I actually get to page through the curr.

Oh, one more thing my girls were so excited about this new curr that they put their money together a bought a six person dome tent, for those week-end adventures!

Home School Share is having a Contest

Come and join the fun, Home School Share is having a contest, if you enjoy creating lapbooks and sharing them, well then this contest is for you. Just click the button at the top of this post, Hope to see you there!

Our Passover Lapbook

Our Pesach Lapbook

This is the first Page with the book opened:

Lighting the candles~ a pop-out book with the prayer to be recited

Calendar~ Yahweh's and the Roman/Greek calendar

Matzah cover with matza inside~ here you see the three matzah the middle one is broken in half with info in the center between the two pieces.

Four Cups of Promise~ the book is an accordion opens to reveal the four 'I will' promises

Sedar Plate and the four questions

Under each picture is the name of the food and what it symbolizes.

The four questions is a tab book listing the four questions the children ask during the sedar.

Washing of feet and the Pesach Story

Here are the story cards on the back they have scripture references and a short summary of the picture.

A Recipe book to keep their favorite recipes in.

A Music book for 'Dayenu'

This is a small Haggadah, perfect for their lapbook

This is the Haggadah opened, we used this particular Haggadah for several years. It was perfect for younger children.