Voting /Election Resources

I am in the process of pulling together a quick study on the voting process, elections etc. My older boys are very interested. The younger ones can be sucked in. ::snort::

In scanning my shelves I realize we have NO books on this topic. Would you share your favorite books on voting/election for the K-3 age range? Jr High? High School?

I have the excellent email going around about why women should vote - recounting what it took to win the right to vote. My Grams was not allowed to vote for the first several decades of her life. She used to tell me this story every election year. One of my great memories of grams was taking her down to the local high school to vote when she was in her 90's. She and I would joke that our votes would cancel each other out. Come to think of it anyone in town who saw us would joke about it. ::snort:: I was a conservative pastor's wife in the small town....she was a liberal - and very proud of it...but she was really not a social liberal.... In fact my uncle once asked WHY I took her down their each year since we cancelled each other out we may as well skip the fuss. Grams gave quite the lecture that day to her 60+ year old "boy". ::snort::

I found a free lapbook here. I have our "absentee voter" ballot from the primary election here - mine arrived while we were on vacation and I missed the chance to vote. I felt bad about that all day.

The older 3 will vote in a mock election. I am SERIOUSLY thinking of having some sort of mock election on a Friday produce co-op day so the younger kids can have fun "voting".

I just want a couple of books. I'm going to get The Ballot Box Battle from our library. But it's not ALL about women's right to vote, KWIM?

The older ones and I are checking out election video clips nightly.

Do you have a book or two to suggest? Or a DVD I could get from netflix?

©2008 D.R.G.

School Today

Yes, we have life outside of school....but not much these days. LOL Some shots from the day.... Thanks for all the suggestions on King Arthur books. Sherri brought one to Bible Study for us to try. It's an adaptation of Howard Pyle. Looks more doable. I checked out the TOG manual again and noted that The Story of the Middle Ages is for the Jr High level - which may be why it puts Zander and Nolan to sleep. ::snort:: I enjoy it a lot. Arielle may use it later - but she really enjoys the Famous Men books and I've given her the choice. I think I'll read the Grueber books for myself. LOL

We began work on our science notebooks....



Arielle did story hour with the littles. She chose to read, "Crafty Chameleon". She had made printed out quite a few of the animals from the story and they colored and made hats.

I figured out why Jared is so stressed. He spent four hours reading selections from "Norton's Anthology of English Lit" instead of "Norton's Anthology of Western Lit". I meant to warn them that they'd be going back and forth between various anthologies this year.

Jamin takes the winning school moment for the day: TOG asks "What do you think this character was thinking....." Jamin's answer, "Well, his name was Skull Splitter, I don't think he was writing poetry and that axe wasn't for felling trees." ::snort:: Jamin is off until Saturday.

I continued to work on the massive "to do" list.

©2008 D.R.G.

CATCHING UP

This is my attempt to catch you up on things other than school! LOL

Monday night was United Foods co-op. The truck broke down. This meant that it was a couple of hours late when I met the truck. That worked out fine. Bre was able to call and we had a fun conversation. Co-op went well. I'm still tweaking things to work for all. Thanks again, Heather and Niki, for your help with sorting.

Tuesday was a day of running here and there. Tuesday evening was PWOC Bible Study. Good STUFF. We talked about things that were redeemed in the Bible...then we talked about Jesus. We talked of how he met the conditions and fullfilled the duties to be our Kinsman/Redeemer. This is a really fun group. I KNOW I say that each and every year! BUT we have grown quite a bit in numbers, this makes for more varied discussions. A really cool thing God did for us this study is to bring a young bride into our midst whose family is from Israel....great new dimension. We really liked talking about "Bethlehem being stirred up" over the news of Naomi's return.

Wednesday - I've stayed home ALL day and worked on various projects that have to be done.

Mike is still at work - I think he'll be home around 7:30 and we'll visit a bit...then begin it all again tomorrow.

How are your fall schedules going? Mom are you adjusting o.k. to the new school year?

©2008 D.R.G.

The Big Deal in our Home

Zander lost TWO teeth - that Arthur Mac and Cheese can be deadly! In all the other photos of the day the strange expressions are because he is trying to show off his missing teeth. LOL

©2008 D.R.G.

School Daze....

I was up until 1:30 a.m. working on Jamin's Jr. Year Portfolio. (Thanks Debbie for the late night email with the file I needed. Some day we WILL meet in person).

I was up at 5 a.m. working on Jamin's portfolio....then I realized that I have other things that MUST be done today.

PE - was slow coming as I didn't make it to the gym. Jared & I are going to try to make it tonight after United co-op.

THIS is how much Zander likes "all that reading stuff". I thought he was being especially attentive today. I thought we were making progress. ::snort::

UNTIL I HEARD THE SNORING!!!I think the reading in the Christine Miller books is too much for Zander....maybe we'll skip it. We don't NEED a text for the younger years....*I* just like a text to tie it all together...but boring them to tears is counter-productive. LOL

Nolan, Zander and I decided to exchange "The Story of King Arthur" by Howard Pyle for "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table" by Marcia Williams. I really WANT to read these to the boys but found that they were not able to follow the story line in Howard Pyle quite yet (1st and 3rd/4th). I didn't buy the TOG recommended one and found the picture book at the library. If anyone else has a suggestion for a good rendition of this tale that would be a step up from a picture book but not totally loose two very active boys, leave a comment. I like Mr. Pyles work better than Ms. Williams'....but really if the boys are falling asleep then I'd best look for something a bit easier.

Nolan had speech today. I asked the elementary school librarian and she took me to her section King Arthur. She does a unit every year for 3rd graders. She suggested the Great Illustrated Classics or Classical Starts series.....they have King Arthur based on Pyle....but she thought it hilarious that the silly homeschooler was trying to read an "adult" book to her young ones. I must say the Great Illustrated Classic based on Pyle does look much more doable - more meat than the picture book...but not overwhelming for any of us - maybe Zander will be challenged because all "this reading stuff" is hard on him. LOL

Well - time to busy for United co-op tonight.

©2008 D.R.G.

Weekly Fitness Goals (click button for more info)

I'm determined to get back to my "routine" and so I will take time to quickly check in today with the Moms of Many Exercise Challenge. A quick look through past posts shows that my last check in was 7-28. So I spent the three weeks following that post in the CO mountains. Plenty of exercise hiking and geocaching and climbing castles and mountains.

The first couple of weeks of September have been tough. I NEED to do 5 - 6 days of 60 minutes a day if I hope to lose weight. I've not been able to fit that back in now that PWOC and school has begun. I have been trying.

EXERCISE - My goal has been to burn at least 600 calories in every 60 min workout. This is up from about 450 when I started trying to increase a bit each week. In order to get the intensity I need to burn 600 calories I've begun staying with the ARC and then rewarding myself with the bike. I know that I can burn 250 cal in 30 min on the bike.....so I work harder and harder on the ARC to allow me to read the last 20 - 30 min on the bike and still get the 600 calories.

Monday - 60 minutes - 615 cal
Tuesday - 60 minutes - 620 cal
Wed - 60 minutes - 627 cal
Thurs - 60 min 645 cal
Fri - Sun - flu

Weight - I lost about .5 a lb. I was bummed because I was on a GREAT course to lose a lb but then didn't get the last two workouts in due to being sick.

I know I should add in some weights, but at this point I need to lose about 20 more lbs to be comfortable going out in public. ::snort:: I decided to focus on cardio (for my heart and weight) until I've lost 10% of my weight and then to cut back on cardio to add in weights...or maybe by then I'll have the fall routine working so smoothly that I COULD spend EXTRA time for weights instead of having to cut back cardio. I really cannot cut back cardio if I want to lose. I tried the 45 min cardio/30 weights and gained. I simply have a sluggish metabolism.

I'm committed. I simply couldn't make it to the gym this a.m. so I'm planning to go late tonight after United co-op. I'll get there. LOL

For more entries click here.

©2008 D.R.G.

BE STILL and KNOW that I am GOD… another lesson in my ongoing year of lessons on surrender

I am a member of our region’s PWOC board. In the midst of trying to catch up from leave, start a new school year, start a new PWOC year/Bible Study, and take care of my duties in the region…….I made a desperate comment to the board. “I’ve decided to skip September in the future.” A dear friend on the board replied, “This sounds like a great homeschool Mom’s motto.” ::snort::

This is a busy season for me. Sept (and Feb) can easily become frenzied. I can begin to feel that I’m slipping, that I’m going to drown in obligations, that I can’t possibly accomplish all that I’ve been called on to accomplish……and in the midst of it all what does my Lord whisper to me during our trysts? In the very time when I’m “focused” (my righteous word for locked like a laser beam on my GOALS), He says to me over and over, “Be STILL and KNOW that I am GOD; I WILL be exalted among the heathen, I WILL be EXALTED in the earth.” Ps 46:10 (KJV)

STILL? Mike has been trying for months to find a time for me to get away for a weekend. He recognizes, as do I in my sane moments that even high energy women need to be STILL.

STILL? Just sit? It goes against the intrinsic definition of SEPTEMBER! STILL?

Still – Hebrew word Rapah – strongs # 7503. We are told that context is important in defining this word because it can mean a variety of things, “become slack, relax, cease, desist, become discouraged, disheartened, weak, feeble, to let it drop, to leave alone, to let go, to forsake, abandon, be lazy”

“Uh God, you KNOW this is S*E*P*T*E*M*B*E*R right? I mean not on YOUR calendar it is Tisrah or something, but in my world this is S*E*P*T*E*M*B*E*R!”

He continues to say, “STILL, De’Etta….KNOW me, I WILL be EXALTED.”

Still…relax, let it drop, leave it alone…..there are times that I need to let it all go…there are times that I’m called to continue my activities but to do it in a spirit of stillness. The NASB translates the phrase as “Cease striving”.

This theme recurred in, “Saturday with Stella’s” a book that explores the metaphor of obedience training of dogs with our relationship with Christ. Mrs. Pittman writes, “To settle goes beyond simply sitting or lying down. A settled dog is on its back, belly exposed, mouth slack, ears flopped. A settled dog is not asleep, but fully awake, aware of its vulnerability, completely at ease with its master. “ P 17. I’ve been working on teaching Beatrix, our dog, to settle. I most often look like the photo of her I tried to capture while she settled. ::snort::


(I’m giving a copy of this book away on my blog.)

“OK, I’m still! NOW what?”

“Know that I am GOD!”

Ah, Yada, I have this imprinted on my checks, from a previous time of study. I get it. As I let it go, as I cease striving, as I go limp in His presence, as I settle; I begin to know God not simply intellectually but I begin to experience intimacy with Him. He is GOD and He WILL be exalted…..my busy activity isn’t totally essential for Him to be exalted. He’s God.

In all my roles, the bottom line is that I WANT HIM to be exalted. I want to reflect well on HIM……so I will be STILL… I will settle and I will experience intimacy with my Lord. This is more essential than any other deadline. He will be exalted in my role as military spouse, pastor’s spouse, regional board member, homeschool teacher, mom, wife, Bible Study teacher, co-op organizer……

I will above all “Be still and know that He is God!”

©2008 D.R.G.