Where the lad learns early start, early end.

Monday:
Basics done quickly, wants to do no school at Gramma's other than playing a game and reading.

Tuesday:
Schooling done: but I'm sick so stayed out of the way.    He did everything on his list easily and quickly.  He's learned starting earlier means he is done earlier.  New sword was made.

Wednesday:
On fire with life today, schooling done quickly.   No Foodbank since I was still sick.
Sword broken in stupid accident.  New components purchased.  My fault the accident happened so headachy and icky feeling out we went to get needed supplies.    The lad worked on his iceberg experiment.   This is a redo of the experiment we tried last week but there were too many variables that were problematic.  The lad took the initiative to reconfigure it to be more accurate.  This allowed me to introduce writing a lab report in practice.  Been talking about it, now doing it.  He dictated this one to me.

Thursday:

On fire: schooling done quickly.
Introduced: reading about Canadians.  Picking one from three books I have, reading it and then telling me about it.   He was supposed to read one chapter but forgot the other day so read two today.   He narrated about Norman Bethune and Madeleine de Vercheres.

We had a pleasant surprise of learning more from an ART video about the human skeleton than from some of the medical ones we tried.

Friday:

I woke up feeling hollow and rather late...the lad was doing well with his schooling and was almost done. I asked him what his plans were for when he finished his schooling... he said "build a new sword mom". I said okay... build a sword! I got a Huge THANK YOU and a hug and off he went.

Fridays is our do it different day... we do almost everything differently except for bible and history. We normally do art, some type of STEM project and a fun word knowledge book. The work he does building a sword easily qualifies as a STEM project so it was easy to let him go. 


Saturday:

The lad had "cadet-o-rama" today so was gone most of the day. Hubby and I went out for breakfast and then since he's still not feeling well from the bug that soared through our house this week we went home and chilled.

I got a HUGE number of blog posts up and scheduled. We chatted and watched movies and just had a lovely quiet day. I also got the young bunnies photographed and my website updated. A good productive day.

Reviews:
Love is in the air, Love is in picture books. review of two picture books.
 Art Series: The Art of Cursive Logic.  A rather neat idea of a colouring book.

 
Faith and Life: 
Breathe in...out.  A poem for a word prompt party.
To what way does your heart turn?  Devotion from Ezekiel 33.
Recipe: Tuna Melts. 
The watchmans' Job Description.  Devotion from Ezekiel 33. 
Hymn Study: I come to the garden Alone.
Sunday Sermon: Your Own Personal Jesus.
 
Homeschooling: 
STEM: 3D St. Peter's Basilica.  Made a 3D puzzle of St. Peter's Basilica.
Lab Report on Icebergs. 
Learning about Canada: Artic Tern.  A quick report on Artic Tern, a teaching post for the lad.
C is for O Canada.  An ABC blogging post.
January Book Reads.   Books read over the past month.
Reluctant Artist - What do you do?  a practical guide to overcoming reluctance.  

Linking up at the following Places:
 
Homeschool Highlights.
Family Friday Link Ups:
Weird Unsocialized homeschoolers: Weekly Wraps Up.
Homeschool blog and tell.

Love is the air... Love is found in picture books

Ah...just think... February 14 is JUST around the corner.
People planning ways to have a special time with their loved ones.

It's also a time of year when it is SO much fun to grab up a new picture book and share them with your littles...and if they are seasonal.....so much more the fun!  :)

Today I would like to introduce you two delightful little books, given to me by Raincoast Books, for you to introduce to your littlest ones.

Love Is...
This delightful picture book by Diane Adams walks us through what love looks....using a young girl and her duckling.

The text is clear and simple, the illustrations so fitting.  It would be so much fun to sit with a young one and point out all the things that happen, to look for the duck, to see how this young one find a way to care for her charge.

Love is ... all the ways that we care for each other... even to the point of missing our loved ones when they are gone, and the joy we have at their return.  Love is messiness and maturity, snuggles and loneliness.  Love is just so very much.  :)

Love is all around Canada.
Ah...but love is INDEED found in Canada!!!   :)

It is found in national parks, and provinces, caught sidling up to families having picnics, in bears held tight, and in listening to lonely friends.  Love is found in the smiles and helps that others offer.  Love is found everywhere you look in Canada... and as you know.... you can never have too much love.

An easy reading rhyme flows from beginning to end with many Canada attractions mentioned.

I love how this book points out all the ways and places love can be found.   The work that the illustrator did is simply marvellous, so many things to point out to a wondering, learning child.

Recommendation:

I would happily recommend both of these books.
Love is... it's a cute story of a girl with her duck, and it parallels so well the love of a family for their child. 
Love is all around Canada: the delightful rhyme, the pictures, the Canadian content... it works.

The illustrators have done a fabulous job with both books, the writers in showing the importance of love and family.   It is what Valentine's Day is all about right?   The love shown in families that broadens to the community around us.

 Amazon.ca: Love Is
Amazon.com: Love Is 
 Love Is
by Diane Adams
Illustrator: Claire Keane
Chronicle Books

9.58 x 7.67
32 pages
Ages 3-5

Amazon.ca: Love Is All Around Canada
Amazon.com: Love Is All Around Canada
Love is all around Canada
By Wendi Silvano
Illustrator: Joanna Czernichowska
Sourcebooks
11.08 x 8.75 
32 pages
Ages 4-10

STEM: 3D St. Peter's Basilica

I know that STEM is more than building 3D puzzles, it's doing math, engineering, science and technology.  Using all those things.  I get that.  :)  The way I see it though is... 3D Puzzles are engineering and technology.  The science eh... perhaps a bit iffy and the math well.. not really other than the need to finesse the puzzle as sometimes the pieces don't fit perfectly.   So how do I add that to make this a proper STEM activity?

We can pick up the science and the math through reading and video can we not?

For instance I liked this video because it taught us to take care when looking at history, that looking at it from different perspectives broadens our knowledge.

And we can see the science and math of how they were built though videos like this:

Which broadens our understanding as we build a 3D Puzzle. 

What did we learn about St. Peter's Basilica?

•  commissioned by Pope Julius II
• started in 1506 and completed in 1615
• originally designed around the shape of a Greek cross, this was later changed to a Latin cross 
• Michelango was a chief architect

And because video is more interesting to listen to and occasionally watch while building heres's another video.

So building a 3D puzzle can indeed be a STEM project. :)   You just need to work around what it isn't eh?  :)

This build wasn't an easy one to do. The pieces were sticky and quite a few of them needed to be trimmed in order to fit into the holes probably.  It tested the patience of the lad and I quite a bit.

Breathe, in .... out

Today's Five Minute Friday word prompt is the word Breathe.

Don't know what Five Minute Friday is all about?   It's all about community gathering around a single word, sharing our thoughts in a five minute free write.   Just letting that word soak into our brains and letting that single word spill out onto the screen in front of you. Then.. after linking up... taking time to do what I love doing... encouraging others who are spilling out as well.  :)

So today... shall we breathe together?

..... Go....

Breathe

in .....out

It's the way it works

One takes a breathe in

One releases that breathe.

In come the good

the needed

Out goes the old

The used.

So to is life you know

You breathe in what's around you

What you read

what you see

what you focus on

and out it comes.

Question is

What comes out.

Is is a reflection of 

what you see

what you read

what you focus on?

Or is it somehow different?

Is it better?

Is it worse?

We are told in the scriptures that

what is the heart of man

Comes out on a man's tongue.

What is on your tongue?

Does it show what you are breathing in?

Come today.

Think on what you are breathing in

Is it good?

Is it edifying?

Is it right?

Is it useful?

Think on these things.

As you,

Breathe.

.....STOP.... 

Copyright Annette @ A Net in Time, Feb 3, 2017

To What Way Does Your Heart Turn?

 We continue our study in Ezekiel, the last time we met was about The Watchman's Job. You can read more in my Ezekiel Studies here and here.

Now that Ezekiel knows his job full well, God talks to him saying "Say to the the house of Israel". 

So Ezekiel, the watchman, has a warning a "beware" to deliver to the people he is on the job for.  
‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?’ ¹¹ Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

It's a fair question to ask don't you think?   For God to show them their sin and then ask ... is this the hill you want to die on?   What sin is so important that you will die to continue committing it?

Art Series: The Art of Cursive Logic

 I almost forgot to do a post this week!   Can you believe it?

And a good reminder came in the mail today.... sample pages from Cursive Logic's new book.  Guess what they have created?   It's a colouring book for adults!   

 This book is actually in final production stages so I can't tell you what the actual book will be like but I can tell you this.

They have mentioned to me how the final product will be made on paper superior to what they are sending as samples...and boy.. that will be REALLY nice paper since what they sent is very solid, great paper that won't leak through, printed only on one side, and just a gorgeous paper for a colouring book.

This book is very much geared to teen-adult learners rather than children, as seen from the fine details found on this page. 

Let me tell you what I like about this book.

1. It all ties together.  If you are wanting to improve your cursive abilities or simply want to learn how to do cursive, wouldn't it be lovely to practice those skills and make some lovely art at the same time?
2. It's a colouring book and the images are beautiful, the learning the cursive movements is tied into the art work seamlessly.
   
3. Quotes that appeal and give me something to think on.
   
   4. Cursive Logic instruction is not forgotten in the desire to create a gorgeous book.
   
   You will find the same shapes and movements of the teaching pages contained within the colouring pages.  It's actually quite well done.

 I really really wish I could convey the beauty of the paper... it is SO nice and very solid.   It would be great for using any kind of medium to fill in the pictures.  Though I have to admit, I wish they could have included a sample of each of the kinds of paper they are thinking of using so I could have judged them.  :)

Anyways, if you like colouring... get this book.  If you want to improve your cursive.. get this book.   Either one...you'll improve a skill and have a good time doing it eh?

 The information from Cursive Logic:

• like to print on thick, art paper
• with perforated edges for ease of coloring and for display
• they are doing a kickstarter campaign which you can find here:  bit.ly/2taclrc It's a great way to support a cool book and get interesting product in return.  :)

 I received unbound lesson pages and four sample pages in exchange for this review.

Lab Report: Icebergs Melt At Different Rates in Salt and Fresh Water

My son is learning to make a lab report, so I'm transcribing his report for him as I'm proud of the effort he put into this.  This came up as part of studies on Canada.

Hypothesis: Icebergs will melt faster in freshwater than in salt water.

Procedure: Get two bowls.   Make one bowl saltwater like the ocean 3.5% salt needed.   Have the other bowl be fresh water.  Let the bowls sit so they are same temperature.   Freeze two cups of water in two identical cups.   Take them out of the cups when they are completely frozen.  Use cold water to get them out of the cups.   Weigh them.   Put them in their bowls.  Then weigh them 30 minutes later, Then 15 minutes later.

 I noticed at 30 minutes that the fresh water one had melted the most.   At 15 minutes I did it again and noticed the same thing.  

Observations: take the icebergs out of the water and weigh them.  They will be slippery and cold plus you don't want the heat of your hands changing the results so wear gloves.   Put them back in the water as soon as you weigh them.

Conclusion: Because the fresh water one melted the most I proved my idea correct.  Fresh water will melt icebergs faster than the saltwater probably because of the salt in the water.

Other questions raised:


I noticed that both Filli and Killi were left with their heads frozen in the ice and wondered why their heads thawed out last.

Learning about Canada: Artic Tern

This morning we were learning about some of the different animals of Canada using this book.

We learned about seals, walruses, a variety of birds, reindeer and so much more. 

I said to the lad "pick an animal and we'll learn more about it".

He picked the Artic Tern.

The Artic tern is a fascinating bird, did you know it flies an annual trip of 40,000 km, from it's Artic Breeding grounds to wintering grounds in the Antarctic.

The Artic Tern is a medium sized bird. Newborns are gray or brown. Adults are gray to white in color during the breeding season. Their beak and legs are red, and a black patch covers the head and forehead. During the non-breeding season, the legs and beak are black and the black patch of color on the head shrinks.


Artic Terns are a long-lived bird, living into their decades and don't start to breed until 3 or 4 years old.

Artic Terns can moult so quickly that they can be flightless.  When they moult they tend to sit on blocks of ice near the water's edge.

The downy young come in two colours, grey and brown, and colours can be mixed in a single hatching.

They normally eat fish and crustaceans, but will also eat insects.   They also will steal food from other birds by flying at them and startling them into dropping their catch.  

Anyways, that's a lesson in the Artic Tern.    Ready for my boy to learn tomorrow.  :)

Recipe: Tuna Melts

I grew up on tuna melts.... it was a quick and easy meal that us girls could make and mom wouldn't be wondering what we were up to.  :)

The recipe I grew up with used relish and boiled eggs, salt and pepper in it along with miracle whip and I used to love, but as I matured though I've developed a resistance to relish so have needed to find a way to replicate the taste without side effects.

This had led to be playing around with what I like in my tuna melts.

My current rendition:

Ingredients:

1 regular can of tuna, drained...  for melts I like flaked tuna.
mayonnaise
PC lemon-herb seasoning
2 pickled eggs 

2 slices of bread 
2 slices of cheese

Directions: 

Chop up the pickled eggs.
Then mix the rest of the first four ingredients in well.  Add mayo and seasoning to taste.  I tend to like a drier mix, others like wet.

Put on two slices of bread. 
Cover with cheese slice (one for each slice of bread eh?)

Put in oven to heat through (350 if I recall until bread is browning basically), then under the broiler until cheese is all melty... or if you are like me until slightly burnt (if using the black diamond style cheese slices).

Works equally well in regular oven or a toaster oven.

C is for O Canada, a blogging through the alphabet post

Welcome to week "C" of blogging through the alphabet.  I am so happy you are joining us today.

Today I am going to talk to you about our national anthem "O Canada".   The C being the C from Canada or if you wish Chant National as it was originally known.  :)

Did you know that O Canada was originally called “Chant national”?   Our anthem was written by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier, in Quebec City, with musical composter Calixa Lavallee.   Originally written in French, it was first performed on June 24, 1880.

It was sung widely in French but the English versions varied widely for quite a few years, partly due to the translation from French into English, until the version written in 1908 by Robert Stanley Weir became popular.  It is very similar to the verses we use today.

"O Canada" was approved as our national anthem on March 15, 1967, but the current version wasn't officially approved until June 27, 1980 under the National Anthem Act.

January Book Reads

January was a good month.  It was .   It had it tough moments with the church closing, but overall.. a good month.  I am finally, for the most part, healthy.   Hubby had a good night of sleep (though needs many more).  We finally have SNOW again!!!!!   Perhaps hubby will be able to get away for a couple of nights of camping yet!!!  :)

Anyways, we got some books read this month and I thought you might like to know about them.

Books that I read with my lad


World History Encyclopedia

This was a great book for us to read through.  One two-page spread per night, and we learned so much.  Tons of pictures, maps, artifacts and so much more. 




 
 

I love these 100 facts books.  This one was on World Wonders.  Again, we read a two page spread every night, and often paused to look things up that interested us.   It caused me to say "hey, I could do up a worksheet on that, or this would make a great ebook".  :)   But that will wait.

We read these three biographies and found them fascinating.  The smallest one was about Sojourner Truth... An interesting black lady with a strong will and mind.  Learned the importance of obedience, learned the importance of standing for what was right, a fervent fighter for freedom from slavery and women's rights.  She was a speaker who travelled far and wide

Sharing: the story of the Mayo Clinic.  
This was a read that told us how the Mayo Clinic started and gave a reason for why the Mayo Brothers shared so easily with others.

Facing a Challenge: the story of Terry Fox.
My son never understood who Terry Fox was or why he's so important, and now he does.  :)   Fighting cancer, fighting to be who he thought he was, fighting to help others...his story continues to this day.

I read a variety of books for reviews:

• Fatal Frost - Christian mystery without the indepth romance part.
• The kindness club - a nice chapter book for girls on Kindness
• The Art of Beatrix Potter - a great book exhibiting her art work and telling the story of her life.
• Out of the Spin Cycle - a devotional for moms
• Trials, Tears, Triumphs - a friends book about moving to Canada and early married life.
• The Playbook - using sports to help with character development
• The Prayer Saturated Family - how to better incorporate prayer into your life

Current Reads:
War Plan Red (review)
Dog in the cave (review)
The Overlook (for fun)
The nature book (with the lad)
Snakes (with the lad)
Bronze bow (with the lad)
Tirza (with the lad)
Nieces book that I can't tell you anything about other than ... IT"S GOOD.
Rainforest Journey (with the lad)

The Watchman's Job Description

We continue our study in Ezekiel, the last time we met was Ezekiel 32. You can read more in my Ezekiel Studies here and here.

Today Ezekiel 33:1-9

 The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, ³ and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, ⁴ then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. ⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.

Hymn Study:I Come to the Garden Alone

^"11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. ¹² And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. ¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴ Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her."   John 20:11-18

Lyrics

 I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses. 

• Refrain:
  And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
  And He tells me I am His own;
  And the joy we share as we tarry there,
  None other has ever known.

             He speaks, and the sound of His voice

Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.
 
I’d stay in the garden with Him,
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

Charles Austin Miles wrote this hymn in March 1912.  In his own words he said "I was seated in the darkroom where I kept my photographic equipment and organ.  I drew my Bible toward me, it opened at my favourite chapter, John 20....that meeting of Jesus and Mary had lost none of its power to charm.   As I read it that day, I seemed to be part of the scene.  I became a silent witness to that dramatic moment in Mary's life, when she knelt before her Lord, and cried "Rabboni!"...under the inspiration of this vision I wrote as quickly as the words could be formed the poem exactly as it has since appeared.   That same evening I wrote the music".   Some sources add additional information about seeing visions which I don't know what I think of.  :)

Miles, started his career as a pharmacist, but later abandoned that in order to work as editor and manager at Hall-Mack.  he started writing gospel music in 1892.   Hall-Mack published his first gospel song "List 'tis Jesus' Voice".   He was very proud to be known as a gospel music writer.   His desire was to be of good use to the Lord God.   As he said in this "way I may be of the most use to my Master, whom I serve willingly although not as efficiently as is my desire."  (source)

Sunday Sermon: Your Own Personal Jesus

Pastor Ryan Jantzi from Zurich Mennonite Church.


Hymns:
Whom shall I fear God of angel armies by Chris Tomlin
Beautiful one by Tim Hughes
Good Good father by Chris Tomlin
In the garden by Charles Austin Miles

Scripture: John 3:1-21

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. ²¹ But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Sermon Notes:

Pastor started the sermon off playing this clip:

Johnny Cash lived a troubled life, fighting drug abuse.
This song was important to him

In history Jesus being shown as a personal Saviour
Shift now to seeing him as king of universe

He is our personal Saviour as well as king of the universe.

Nicodemus is invited to make Jesus his personal Saviour

A member of the Jewish ruling council, a faithful follower of God

Jesus tells him he must be born again.
To experience the fullness of the kingdom of God you need to be born again.

Moses and the snake


Poisonous snakes, people need to look to the bronze Snake in order to be healed from the poisonous snakes.

So people need to look to Jesus to be saved from the poison of sin.

Nicodemus represents people that need to respond to the truth of Scripture.
Nicodemus needed to know the personal Jesus.

We are just like Nicodemus,  needing to know Jesus in our heart.
People can know the scriptures well without really knowing God.

Hear Jesus today.   Be born again.