Learning By The Way

The three ‘big kids’ lined up on the couch reading after our trip to the library.

Did you know that if you have those handy beepy things attached to your remote, that allow you to whistle and locate them, that they will announce their presence frequently during Wagnerian opera? It’s true. We haven’t finished Part 1 of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung yet. Not sure if we’re going to.

The children have been gung-ho in researching their reports. I think 2 of them will finish much earlier than I anticipated. Then they can start a new report!

Moriah and Samuel begged for a spelling bee last night before bedtime. I complied. Moriah won, but it was a good, close match.

Though some might wonder after my not posting for over a month, I am still alive and kicking. We have started this year off with vigor. Toby is a full math book ahead of his older brother and sister, and I am mostly settled on taking a break from Singapore Math after Moriah and Samuel finish their current book (4B). I think all three of them could use some concentrated time spent drilling times tables and division. Also, I think they are ready to be introduced to algebra, and I will be ordering Borenson’s Hands On Equations. This program looks very cool, teaching algebra with manipulatives.

We are also starting up a new unit study based on a game our family loves to play together, Heroscape. The children each have picked a character in the game to do a report on over the next month, as follows:
Moriah- Mimring (report on dragons, their history and the danish myth)
Samuel- Jotun (report on giants and Norse mythology)
Toby- Major X17 (report on robots, maybe with a focus on use in war)
Elsie- Valkyrie (report on the myth)
Peter- Kelda (study of the Kyrie)
We kick of the study today by watching the first part of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung

Lastly, let me offer a link that is a news story on the literacy gap between boys on girls. At the end of the article, the researcher comments “Here’s a fascinating fact,” she said. “There is no literacy gap in home-schooled boys and girls.”

Raquel’s yarn collection had started getting a bit out of hand. At first, it seemed content to stay in its own crocheted bag in her room. But then - it started grabbing and tangling with yarn in adjoining bags. From there, it is just a small step to skeining its way laboriously down the stairs, searching for more prey…

This fiberly monster preys on the weakest and smallest it can find, and soon attempts to wind an unsuspecting victim into its foul clutches.

However, this child, though tender in years, is not as easy a catch as the monster hoped. “Die, Cowardly Yarn Fiend! Your tangled fibers are no match for me!” The Yarn Monster is vanquished forever, unless this blog post turns out to be a phenomenal moneymaker, and the Monster must be resurrected for an even more badly written sequel.

The End

Peter is doing great with his phonics, though he hasn’t had that reading “aha!” moment yet. He can sound out most of the words in the Cat in the Hat, but prefers to snuggle up and let Daddy do the reading work.

OK, so maybe you haven’t felt the yen to make your own shoelaces, but just in case you have, here’s the article I wrote on said subject:
Knit your own I-Cord shoelaces
Don’t waste another moment decrying the sad state of shoelaces these days, grab some dpn’s and DO something about it. I had a lot of fun with this project, and it is appropriate for new knitters.

could have wrought this destruction?

Why, that would be my son, Peter. Somehow while stirring Nesquik into his milk, he knocked this circular hole into the side of his glass with his spoon. It is good to have talented children.

Margary lounges, surrounded by her court of entertainers who are thrilled that she is up from her nap, albeit not fully awake yet. “Carry on, my subjects, I will alert you if I am displeased.” (How did those socks escape the No Mercy matching event!?)

If you read my first post about online shopping, then you’ve already signed up for some websites that give you cash back for just using them as a shopping portal. Now, here is how my frugal self continues to save time and money.

Even when you are already getting cash back from a shopping portal, you can still use coupon codes. My favorite place to find up to date, accurate codes is Dealtaker. Invariably, if you search Google for a coupon, you will come up with a hundred websites that claim to have codes, but don’t. I’ve found it to be a waste of time, so I just check Dealtaker. If they don’t have it, I’m not going to waste 10 minutes searching for one that probably doesn’t exist. If you have time to kill, by all means give it try, occasionally you’ll find one.

If you are looking for a specific item, try PriceGrabber for the cheapest online price. They are pretty reliable. It might also be worth your while (especially for big ticket items) to post in the Slickdeals.net forums asking for the cheapest place to buy it. Someone there might know of a place that isn’t originally the cheapest, but has a great coupon for free shipping or percentage off that you can use to bring the cost down lower than usual.

And if you want to use multiple shopping portal websites, the easiest way to discover which one offers the greatest percentage cash back for the store you are shopping at is to search for the store at Evreward. There are also coupon codes available here, though I have found their lists to be not as complete as Dealtaker.

Example:
So, say I want to make an order from Overstock.com.
I go to Evreward, and find that Mr. Rebates shopping portal (which I use) gives 5% cash back.
I go to Mr. Rebates, click through to Overstock, and do my shopping.
I check Dealtaker for coupons, and find a 10% off code that works for me.
Now I have very easily saved 15% for just seconds of my time. (Of course, I get 3% cash back with the credit card I use, but that is just gravy along with the fact that Overstock is already deeply discounted from retail…).

Happy shopping all, and may the joy of Jesus the Savior and King never be lost amidst the hustle and bustle of the season.

Last night, while James and I were out, we stopped by our local game store (Just for Fun) and picked up a card game that I have been eyeing for a while. This morning after math and Bible time, I played it with the 4 older children. A good time was had by all. It is called Early American Chrononauts. During the course of play, events on the timeline are changed, making a ripple effect and creating paradoxes. You try to patch the paradoxes, and manipulate play to make the ‘reality’ where your timetraveler is coming from. It is interesting to think through some of the events and how they are interdependent on each other- if Andrew Jackson had lost the Battle of New Orleans, he wouldn’t have been a hero and become president, and been there to defy the Supreme Court’s ruling and commit that evil act to forcibly remove the Cherokee from their homes.

After Early American Chrononauts, we drank hot cocoa and I read aloud a book called “Our Pilgrim Fathers”. A lovely way to reflect on God’s providence through history as we prepare for Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Last night, James and I went to Sears to enact the next chapter in the saga of the dishwasher. You see, a bit back, our dishwasher died. With 9 people in the house, we work our dishwasher a bit a bit harder than most households do, I’d wager to say. I am not silly enough to think that a dishwasher is a necessity, but it is a great blessing in being a timesaver (and due to God bringing a free stove and free refrigerator into our lives just when we needed them, we had money in the appliance budget), so we decided to buy a new one. I researched Consumer Reports, we made our choice, and it turned out to be on sale that week by a significant amount, and we purchased it. So far, so good.

It came into Sears on Monday, and yesterday the installers came. And said that they wouldn’t be able to make it fit, due to the space being .25 inch to short, and no give whatsoever in our tile countertop. sigh. So back to the store we go last night to pick out a shorter dishwasher (who know that there was up to .75 inch variance in dishwasher sizes?) There was only one dishwasher that might work. And it wasn’t as nice, and not that much cheaper, and definitely not recommended by Consumer Reports.

So, on Frank the dishwasher salesman’s verbal agreement that if it doesn’t work we don’t have to pay the restocking fee, some different installers are going to be coming out to give it a try. Maybe today they will stop by to survey the famous immovable tile countertop. Maybe not. At any rate, someday we will have a new dishwasher. Of some kind. I believe it.