Speaking of Presidents...

Strategic Purchase

I admit it. I intentionally bought a poster of the presidents before the election. Yes I did! This in no way means that I think Obama will win. It just means that if he does, I don't want his face looking at us all day. Shameful, I know. But there you have it.

If you would like your very own pre-election presidents poster, it's not too late.

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I've read some really great posts regarding this election and why to vote. Gain A Little Perspective on the No Vote.

Understand God's promise to Fight For Us at Generation Cedar.

Survival By Audio

We are enjoying the use of free recorded audios while I enjoy my looong recovery from bad Laryngitis which tires my voice.

For history, our first Henty: "With Lee in Virginia"

For literature, our first classic audio from LibriVox: "Swiss Family Robinson"

Absent

Even though I blog "without obligation", when a turn of events prevents me from blogging regularly, I miss "communicating" with you all.

God has been teaching our family some tough things as of late.

Perseverance.
More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
(Rom 5:3-5)

Patience and endurance.
May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,
(Col 1:11)

Love.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
(1Co 13:4-7)

It's more than likely not a coincidence that our hymn for this month is "Be Still My Soul".

Be Still My Soul

by Ka­tha­ri­na A. von Schle­gel, 1752

Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to Order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
to guide the Future as He has the past,
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
all now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,
all safe and blessed we shall meet at last. Amen

I will post when I can, but expect that the lessons God is teaching may also include long-suffering. For now, we rest in the Father's hand and wait on Him.

From Fireproof

Here is the theme song from the movie, "Fireproof". Great movie! Great song!

A Bit of Bach

We really enjoyed this video! As our study of Bach comes to an end, we watched this great video of a pipe organ being played. There are so few truly grand pipe organs like this left, especially in North America. We are so fortunate to have one at the Indiana University Auditorium. I've heard it played on Easter morning and it is an incredible experience live!

Classical Music Resources You Can't Do Without!

If you are interested in adding a little classical music to your day, you need to check out this great resource! It is brief radio broadcasts about composers and their music especially done for kids. There are usually 4-5, 8-10 min. programs per composer. You can sign up for the weekly podcast, or go online and download past programs by searching by composer. Neat, neat! Here is the teacher page, which includes an opportunity to register for a printable activity book, lesson plans and more. Here is the composer search link. Oh. And did I mention there are games?

You must check out "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" (part 1, part 2). There is also a great book, w/CD, for basic orchestra study called "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra," by Anita Ganeri (narrated by Ben Kingsley). Lastly, Carnegie Hall presents "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" online game. Very cool!

I have to add our favorite, favorite resource--Classical Kids CD's (remember, son's an audio learner!). These are fun and informative and guaranteed to make you interested in classical composers and their music!

There are many, many fabulous resources. Among them, Story of the Orchestra-- great book and CD. Ambleside Online has a great deal of info available, and we can highly recommend the Opal Wheeler series, which Zeezok (Book Peddler) Publishers is making available again.

Hope you enjoy these resources as much as we do. I grew up with music, but rarely classical. I can't stress to you strongly enough, the effect that this music has had in our home. We LOVE it! The kids thoroughly enjoy it, though they PROMISED they would NOT! :) Just the listening is enough to inspire. That just takes the gathering of resources. Except for the "online" resources mentioned, most everything else should be available at your public library. Go for it!

Geography Resource

We just began our US tour with the Trail Guide to US Geography book. For someone who enjoys having all information presented in a nice, tidy package, I've been a bit surprised that this book requires <<gulp>> research! And of course, with 2200+ books in my personal library, not ONE book with state maps in it. Grrrr. So I resorted to using the internet to help son find the location of state rivers. I found this neat site, which has endless amounts of info, but also cool state topographical maps. Check it out!

Citizenship Test

Ever wonder just what IS on a United States citizenship/naturalization test? Here is a link to the study questions, with answers.

Historical Supplement From An Unlikely Source

Here is a great resource that I heard about over at My Home Sweet Home.

There have been so many times, in our history studies, that we have seen the hand of God and His Providences through weather! Whether it was a "mysterious" fog that appeared at the crossing of the Delaware, or a "sudden clearing" of weather to allow for an escape, God is sovereign. These history shows by the Weather Channel called "When Weather Changed History", are pretty neat. Of course, they don't acknowledge God, but WE know! Be sure to scroll through the list for Full Episodes that are available.

Being non-TV watchers, I appreciate that the Weather Channel would make this available online. See what you think.

More Totally Cool Computery Stuff!

I guess I'm on a roll! I just keep having the neatest resources fall into my lap...literally...laptop...get it? Oh my! So.....

You gotta love milk, right? How about the neatest grocery/shopping list maker/organizer/sorter/ printer gizmo? Try Don't Forget The Milk.

THEN, as if that isn't good enough, try an incredible list management/tast organizing fiend (in a good way!) program called Remember The Milk!

Timely Quote

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

Thomas Jefferson 1802

Where Does Paper Come From?

I'm not a tangent person...really, but I have small children and I've been inspired to answer their questions (on occasion!). Today son asked, "Where does paper come from?" I was so glad that he was seeking how paper was made (and only paper!), that I decided to do a youtube search! We found a neat video and thought we'd share!

Of course, he quickly wanted to know if he could make some himself...even after seeing the huge factory! Oh my. With a quick google search, this is what I found:

A tutorial that looks very thorough...and another video on how to make paper with your kids.

Not sure when we'll get to this (hmmm) but there you have it!

Computery Gizmo-y Stuff

I would not consider myself truly "computer literate", but over time I have figured a few things out. With the recent addition of a new laptop to the household, I've had to scramble to be up to date and be able to function better. I thought I'd share a couple of goodies that have helped.

First off, Firefox is a pretty great replacement for IE. I haven't really had any qualms with IE until about a year ago when it began crashing ten times a day. This is not helpful when you are accustomed to opening multiple links (usually from blogs) to check out, then boom! They're gone. Firefox, if it ever crashes, restarts with all your tabs open. Gotta like that!

My favorite thing about Firefox (besides the not crashing business) is the ability to highlight any url and drag and drop it into a toolbar, creating an icon for one-touch speed surfing. I have all my most common sites on it--library, bank, blog, feed reader, mail, etc. Love it!

There are add-ons to Firefox that have really changed how I use the computer. One is Clipmarks. It allows you to highlight and copy that recipe, instruction, or whatever and print just that. It logs where you got it from, so you won't forget. Very nice. It makes for less bookmarking. Incidentally, it is also available for IE, but a friend with Vista says it's a "no go".

Then there is my newest find which is Read it Later. Can I just say "YeeHaw!" This is a great tool that lets you mark a site or page to read or check into later without bookmarking it for all eternity (then never looking at it again!). Then, anytime you have a few minutes to read (yea, I know!) you pull down the list, check the sites, and mark them read. So cool.

For calendar help, there is Rainlendar. I got this link from a recent blog (sorry I can't remember who) and it is a great calendar/planner for online. It is a small desktop calendar (also shows today's date in the tray). You can enter a to do list for each day, as well as events. You can set remainder alarms too! I'm just starting to use it more, but I like it so far! They have a free and a pro version available.