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Welcome to the LEarning Never Stops Photo Challenge,  [Bold] edition!

Got a photo that makes you think [bold]?  Link it here!  Link to your entry post, not your main blog page.  Flikr or other photo sharing entries are welcome.  This is a family friendly blog, please keep that in mind!  Try to visit around and be friendly :)  Linky will close 10pm pacific time Monday.  Two winners will be chosen and displayed Tuesday night. maybe. (ha!)

Link up!

Labels: Dose of doodle, Lens

Labels: homeschool

Thank you, everyone who participated in the challenge this week, I loved seeing your entries.

This week's winners of the L.E.N.S. Photo Challenge- Light edition, are:

1)  Golden Grasses




2)  Live, Laugh, Love...Our Way





As always, it is so hard to choose just two photos to highlight- they were all really great examples of the theme!


[ Bold ]

Labels: Lens winners

*I've been neglecting my blog, because I've been spending my time reading other lovely blogs I've stumbled onto lately.

Here's a shout-out: 

• *Wabi-Sabi Wanderings
• The Nurtured Life (she had an apple muffin recipe I want to try, somewhere on her blog...)

and okay, not new finds, but I've been stalking them, uh reading them for a while:

• Project Alicia ,

• Golden Grasses, 
• Small Things,  
• Prairie Lily Arts,  
• SouleMama

*I'm half-way through the latest Miss Julia book.  Miss Julia Renews her vows.  I love Miss Julia and I wish I had a Miss Julia in my life... if you want a book series that will first tug you heart, then expand it, and make you laugh and smile,check out the Miss Julia series by Ann B. Ross

• It's standardized testing week.  It might just kill me this year. I'll have to devote a whole post to my sad, sorry tale. 

*Cadbury caramel eggs: better than the original, which is just too sugary for me.  I've got one more hidden in the cup cabinet.  :)

*It's homeschool catalog season.  I am in the midst of serious curriculum lust/ennui.  I think it might help if I make a list of the subjects I wish to cover and the materials I would like to use for each.  -it might help the overwhelmed feeling I have...

*Gas prices in So. Ca are going to kill us.  It's $4.18 a gallon here, at the cheapest places.  It has affected our driving habits, and it has eaten up all the savings we gained last month by dropping some of the kid's activities. 

*I cut our first head of lettuce this evening for dinner.  There is something very satisfying in that.

Hope you are having a great week, bloggy friends :)

Labels: Jen's world

Labels: family

Welcome to the LEarning Never Stops Photo Challenge.

The theme today is -Light.

Link up and share a photo that fits this theme...a photo that uses light, showcases light- or any other creative spin you want to put on it.  Link up to your entry page, not your main blog page.  Flickr entries are welcome.  Linky closes at 10pm pacific time, Monday.
2 Winners will be displayed/chosen on Tuesday night.

Labels: Lens

I haven't done an Internet awesomeness post in a while, so- here are some great finds on the web :)

Owls dancing on YouTube.  My kids all loved this.

I hate Math- looking at things in a new way a wonderful post about helping her son renew his love of Math.

The deluxe gentlewoman's chicken coop I am trying to get Sky to build me :) -From Heather Bullard the Blog.

Improv Everywhere: King Philip IV shows up to sign autographs in front of his restored painting. A fun bit of silly-ness.

Mad Dog Math - teaching multiplication, seamlessly & organized for the classroom teacher and homeschool teacher.  I am about to start this with the Littles.

Labels: Wordless Wednesday

We had a great turnout this week for the LEarning Never Stops Photo Challenge!  Thank you everyone for playing :)

Here are the two winners for this week's challenge :

1)  Distracted by Shiny Things



Randi wrote about catching this sweet moment- two normally rambunctious little ones, the boy giving a lesson in how to pray.  I love this.  The subject is just heart-melting, and the photo itself is beautiful.


2)  My Home in the Smokies



proud mama snapped this photo of her daughter playing the Cheshire cat in a production of Alice in Wonderland.  The colors in this photo are so bright, and the subject is magical.

Thank you everyone for sharing your wonderful photos and memories with us.   

**I hope you will come back and join us on Saturday when the challenge will be: 

Light

Labels: Lens winners

Welcome to the LEarning Never Stops Photo Challenge:

This Moment edition. 

Link up a photo of a moment you wish to remember, a moment that represents your life right now, a funny moment...get creative!

Link up to your entry post, not your main blog page.  Linky will close 10 p.m. pacific time, Monday night.  Two winners will be announced/displayed on Tuesday night.

Link up!

Labels: Lens

.In my life this week…
I continue to be incredibly busy driving my kids to and fro.  Meg is currently taking a driver's ed class- so relief is on the horizon, but we have to drive her to the class two evenings a week.  Spring break is coming up, I am looking forward to using the time to re-organize my homeschool books and set some aside to sell.

In our homeschool this week…
We finally received  Meg's California Exit Exam results in the mail.  Since we homeschool through a charter school, my kids have to participate in the yearly standardized tests- and have to take the exit exam to graduate.  I have to admit I was on pins & needles about this. Usually, I don't worry at all about the yearly tests, and I do not teach for the tests ever.  But for me, this one was different. It was kind of grading my job as a teacher.

The public schools start the exit testing in 10th grade, in order to give the students the ultimate amount of chances to keep taking it if they fail.  I'm happy to report that Meg passed it on her first try, whoo-hoo! :)  Mom did a happy dance.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
This week, we had music recitals for all the kids.  Meg's was on Saturday, and Josie, Demi & Amie had their piano recital on Sunday.  Meg played a duet with Josie.  We've had the usual lessons, a trip to the library, a trip to the yogurt shop, and the skateboard park for P.E.

My favorite thing this week was…
was watching my kids perform at their recitals.  A joy- definitely!  A close second were the test results...Sky is going to treat me to Cheesecake factory for my victory celebration.

What’s working/not working for us…
Listening to books on tape during lunch is a good thing.  Not working- um, pretty much my disorganization!  I'm hoping to work on that next week.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…
trying to figure out curriculum for next year. We are planning Meg's course work for next year, and I am very excited about the classes she will be taking through the Biola Star program.  Josie will be joining her as a freshman.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
Demi & Teddy at the yogurt shop


Meg's test results! :)



You can link up to this sweet meme over at The Homeschool Chick

Labels: homeschool

measure it…

carefully – thoughtfully.

“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened” -Matthew 13:33

...I am writing today over at the M.O.B. Society about leaven and teaching our sons to sweep out the corners of their hearts.  Click over to read the rest... Sweep the Corners

Labels: devotional

Loved the entries this week!  We had some really creative takes on the theme: corners.

Here are this week's winners:

1) Lori's LOLz


Lori titled this "turning a corner" - indeed!  Congratulations to the graduate and to the proud family!


2) Live, Laugh, Love our way



A photo of what, else? A corner!  Love it! 

I hope you can join us next week when the theme will be:
 
This Moment

Labels: Lens winners

Welcome to the LEarning Never Stops Photo Challenge!
The challenge this week is:

Corners.

I think you could get really creative with this one

Enter the url for your entry post, not your main blog page.  Flickr account entries are welcome :)

try to visit around!

Labels: Lens

Welcome to my little spot on the internet :)

This is the week for the Ultimate Blog Party 2011 hosted by 5 minutes for Mom.



My name is Jenn.  We are a So. California homeschooling family.  You will notice that we have 4 children, but I am homeschooling 5.  Our friend Teddy, age 11- homeschools with us.


Our children are Meg- age 15, Josie- age 14, Demi-Sky -age 11 and Amie - age 9. (no, these are not their real names) Sky is my husband and best friend.  He is a building inspector, a woodworker, and an artist with construction-type things.  He happens to rock the whole jeans and steel-toed boots look ;)







Emma is our 2 year old Labradoodle, and practically perfect in every way... I am so glad she is part of our family!


I am a wife, mother, homeschooler, blogger...I love to read, I would rather walk than run- and procrastination is the thorn in my side.  I love Jane Austen, diet coke, ** all things carb, dark chocolate and Jars of Clay.  Right now, homeschooling is my biggest hobby/interest/vocation...it's not just a job, it's a way of life..er, something like that...



I blog about our family life, our homeschooling, books I read, my struggle to finally get organized... Our homeschooling is pretty eclectic in nature, I use a variety of materials and curriculum and I write about them/review them here.

Sit down and visit a while, there are tabs at the top you can click, and a subject cloud in the sidebar.  You can read about ** why we homeschool, ** our faith,  **my hair-brained miss-adventures,  
** our trips.


We love living in Orange County, California- and yet, we long for a bit of land.  This longing expresses itself in our mini-forays into urban home~steading.  We currently have 4 hens.  You can read about their love of treats here* and about a hen's view of a rock- on- day- here*

Labels: family, Jen's world

I loved the reading entries this week, specially the flickr entries!  I apologize for getting this up so late, sometimes- specially lately- life has just really gotten in the way of blogging...

Here are the two winners for this challenge:

1) Cafe Mirecki


Mama Mirecki captured her boys reading together, and rejoiced over the wonderful natural light.  I love how she got down to their level, and cropped in close. 


2) Moms Mustard Seeds



Rebecca writes that this photo was taken the week her city was covered with snow.  I am sure this photo will remind them of such special memories.  I love that she captured so many members of her family enjoying a good book, including Dad, being read to!

Congratulations, winners!  thank you, everyone for entering the challenge! 

I hope you will come back and join us next week when the challenge will be:  corners

Labels: Lens winners

I really enjoy fiction loosely patterned after a Jane Austen work. She is one of my very favorite authors, I think her stories were brilliant and timeless. I love a good story patterned after one of her books -or one that takes a book and continues the story. Mind you, I did say a "good" story. I have read some that were badly done.
Jane Austen in Scarsdale- or Love, Death, and the SATs by Paula Marantz Cohen is a Jane Austen re-telling: done well.

Anne Ehrlich is a quiet, well-liked high-school guidance counselor.  She is mild and kind, but her family life is a bit stressful.  Her father and sister are extravagant and are now deep into debt, Anne is faced with the task of persuading them to downsize.  Anne's old flame comes back into her life, now successful and with a fiancee.

This story, I'm sure you've guessed by my description- is a re-telling of Jane Austen's  "Persuasion" 

Anne has to work out selling her family home,  the old flame she once rejected come back into her life, her aging and loving grandmother,  the craziness that is college admissions time at her work...and perhaps a new love interest.  The story is very entertaining, full, and satisfyingly Jane-ish.  The story works out just as satisfying as Jane Austen would have wanted.

This was my second time reading this story, it was just as engaging as the first time.

 *you can join up with the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge here**

Labels: 52books/52weeks, book review

Welcome to the LEarning Never Stops Photo Challenge. 

The theme this week is Read!




We want to see your photos that say Read to you, or that have something to do with reading...get creative!  Please link up your photo entry, not your main blog page.  Flickr accounts are welcome, too.

Linky will close 10 pm pacific time, Monday night.  Two winners will be chosen, linked to and displayed on Tuesday night.

Labels: Lens

I am linking up with The Homeschool Village's Garden Challenge :)

April 1st finds us with a few plants started, but the garden is mostly bare.  We've got sunflowers started in pots.  The kids planted these.  I think sunflowers are everyone's favorite garden plant here at home.
We've got tall 6 footers, and some mini sunflowers and some in-between.


 We have about 8 romaine lettuce plants going, already in the ground.  This year we are going to plant them every 2 weeks, to try to get a steady supply of salad fixings going.  Romaine lettuce, any kind of lettuce, is kind of pricey here in OC.

• I feel like Ma Ingalls  every time I go outside and cut a head of lettuce for a salad.  It is very satisfying. 

We also have some celery and green onions starting. (my photo of the lettuce was boring, I'll include those next month..)


Our blackberry vines are blooming against our back wall.  We had to purchase a special kind of blackberry that would bloom and fruit without cold weather.  Living in OC can be a hardship, sometimes.

Just sometimes.


Do you see who I spied peeking out from under an artichoke plant?  This is Elsie, trying to be inconspicuous.  The fence here is to keep the hens out of our garden.  Hens and gardens do not mix.

We started out with a split rail fence...it was pretty naive of us, really.  We then graduated to a taller deer fence.  Next came the 10 foot deer fence.


Annabelle is looking for a way in, too.  She is seriously displeased.  The girls follow me over when I go into the garden, they are veery interested in all that goes on here.

Well, so far, this is it for the garden...just romaine lettuce, celery, onions, potted sunflowers and blooming blackberry vines.  We are going to be planting some corn this weekend, and then some sugar snap peas.  The younger kids, specially- really love eating the peas. I was sure surprised, but pleased!

Two of my favorite resources for garden with children are:

Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots 
and


Learn and Play in the Garden by Meg Herd









Thank you for visiting our garden, you can link up at The Homeschool Village and visit other posts!

Labels: garden