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No, it’s not black friday yet, but I am off today and I am about to go out and get my decorations, my food items, my plants and my Mrs. Meyer’s holiday cleaning supplies for Thanksgiving Day! And you know I’ll go by the thrift store!
If you are out today, safe travels to you and I hope you find everything you need! Lynn In our homeschool, we always have a themed learning center somewhere in the house. In my living room, we have set up a coffee table display of Thanksgiving-related books.
Of course, President Lincoln is the president who made Thanksgiving a national holiday, so we have many books out about him. I have pulled out some of our fall craft books to give my daughter and me some things to work on together. Some Fall magazines add color to the table and give me ideas for decorations I will have done when family comes in on Thursday.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Lynn PS – If you want to see a couple of other learning centers we have had set up, you can check out our Owl Study page and our Paul Revere page. I went to our local library this morning, as they were having their annual Friends of the Library book sale and I am always looking for ways to inexpensively build our home library. They actually had “buy 5 and get 5 free” this year, which is awesome. I purchased 5 hardback books for 5 dollars and got 5 more books for free.
I found some great biographies, a book on weaving, a book about scientists, a great big thesaurus, a book about herbal medicine, a book about warriors through history, and a book about homes of the world. Even as I leave for work, my husband and my daughter each have their nose in a new book! Check your local libraries to see when their sales are. I think most libraries have them at least once a year. Lynn I went by the thrift store on my way into work yesterday. I found the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade Core Knowledge series books! I know there’s a newer edition since these, but that’s okay! When I see books like these, I buy them for our home library. They are a great resource.
Below the Core Knowledge books, there’s Wuthering Heights I know I have already mentioned the free breadcrumbs, seeds, etc, that I bring home from the bread slicer from time to time. The birds just love them! I was at my desk this morning when a cardinal landed in the pretty bowl I have out there.
He looks like he is peering in to see if there is any danger on the other side of the glass. I wish I could tell him that I would never, ever hurt him, because if he sees me he flies away. Lynn life is so much easier. I think the key for my own homeschooling success is consistency but not intensity. When I consistently spend time one-on-one with my student each day, we happen upon topic after topic after topic that we can learn from. I suppose that that is the essence of unit study, which we have always done most of all here in our homeschool. Even though I am aiming for a somewhat ”classical” finish with Joseph by moving through history one more time in a sequential fashion and doing much more writing and literature, I still LOVE how one thing leads to another and we learn something new every time we sit down together. This morning we were watching Story of a Patriot, the Colonial Williamsburg tape I found at the thrift store yesterday. One of the characters in the story was William Byrd III. I knew my son had probably never heard of the original William Byrd. I told him about a college honors class I had taken called Early American Writers. We studied William Byrd in that class. Before the story commenced, we stopped the tape and I pulled The Norton Anthology of American Literature No, my son is not now an expert on William Byrd, but he understands a bit more about the kind of writing that we studied in that class. He has a sense that many of these early American writers were Englishmen, well educated, who kept journals and diaries that show us how liberty and land affected them once in the New World. Another laid-back educational thing we do is take a brisk 15-minute walk each day. It’s dreary and wet here today, but we walked anyway. Our walks are very Charlotte Mason-ish. ~:-D
Our talk today centered around all the trees that we could name. We saw a squirrel climbing frantically away from us, up and up a tree, to a nest that we wondered about. Was it a squirrel’s nest or a bird’s nest we were looking at. Judging by the size, we figured it was a squirrel’s nest.
Note to educators: Whenever I see a Norton Anthology of any kind that I don’t already have, in the thrift store, I buy it! They are wonderful resources to pull from as you work your way through a timeline. Lynn I’m off work today. Did I go to the thrift store? Are you kidding? Of course! Me and thrift stores. We go together like maple syrup and pancakes. Like birds and sunflower seeds. Like fresh notebook paper and sharp pencils. Did I go to the thrift store.
I found some really neat things today. You see the big picture? Well, it didn’t start out like that. I’ll tell you about it in a bit. I found books about fighter jets, aromatherapy, herbs (oh yes), and best children’s books. I found a tape about from Colonial Willamsburg about the birth of our country. I found a box of stationery and a pair of New York Laundry sweats. The picture I just LOVE. The first thing I found was just the picture (not the frame) taped to the back of a mat. At the next thrift store (okay I went to three thrift stores today) I found the large shabby chic-looking frame. When I got them home, I did some creative maneuvers with some toile fabric and some windex and voila! Isn’t this little girl just adorable? And you know I love gardens. And she reminds me of my own little princess of the universe, so this picture is already hanging in my kitchen.
I’m off to straighten the house and get supper ready before my sweet husband comes home from work. Lynn I went yesterday and bought a few boxes of tea bags. I routinely drink hot teas and infusions, but in the spring and summer I pick a lot of things fresh for brewing. As winter approaches and we light our gas heating stoves, and the air in our home gets drier, I enjoy keeping a pot of hot tea on the stove for drinking. It not only soothes a dry throat, but it helps keep us hydrated and it makes the house smell wonderful!
I have not tried the Oregon Chai yet, but it looked interesting. I know already that the Celestial Seasonings teas are good, and I always try and keep the echinacea complete care on hand. If you visit the Celestial Seasonings website, you’ll find that there are coloring pages. Just check under Art and Inspiration. As Pooh would say, Happy Winds-day,
I don’t think the NEA should have control over homeschoolers. There is currently a petition where homeschoolers can sign to show they stand against the NEA’s philosphy on homeschooling. You can find it here. The goal is 10,000 signatures.
I know yesterday was actually Veteran’s Day, but I woke up thinking about my dad — and all veterans — this morning. My dad spent the best years of his life in the Air Force. He did three tours in Vietnam. That was a large part of the man he was, but there was so much more to him than that. He taught me and my sister how to shake hands and how to spit. But we were his little ladies. He said we could do anything we wanted to in life. I miss him so much. He died two years ago.
Thank you to every United States service man and woman. Thank you.
That fact that I am in a customer service job and you are shopping in this store, where things are pricey, and I can tell you have money, does not mean that you are smarter or better than me! One indication of a person’s character is how they treat people in positions of service. Really. And I can tell you, it’s no fun to wait on someone with a poor character and way too much self-esteem. Like you. Yours truly. Oops!! Just had to blow off some steam!! I’ll tell you why. Here’s a conversation I had with a customer at work a couple of days ago. Or should I say that she had with me. Customer: Where is your “product abc?” (I won’t say what she was really asking for.) Me: Well, we don’t sell that back here behind this counter, but… Customer: (interrupts) Oh yes you do! Me: Well, ma’am, I have been here only about 4-1/2 months. I apologize, but it’s something I have never seen back here. We don’t have it now; however, we do have a company that makes what you are looking for… Customer: (interrupts) I am NOT looking for that. I am looking for the kind that YOU make that is right behind the counter where you are. Me: Well we don’t have that back… Customer: (interrupts with a smirk on her face) Are you the manager? Me: No ma’am. Customer: Can you get me the bakery manager? Me: Ma’am, she’s not… Customer: (interrupts, laughing haughtily) I suppose you are going to send me away with no information and no help. Anyway, I don’t believe that you have suddenly stopped selling “product abc” in the short two months since I’ve been here last. She slapped her hand on the counter in front of me and stormed off shaking her head. I found out the next day when I talked to my manager that we have not made the product she was asking about in over two years. Perhaps it would do some people — like that customer — some good to have to work in a customer service job and wait on people just like herself. It would be a humbling, eye-opening experience for her, I’m sure.
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I am the mother of four delightful children: a 23-year-old son, a 20-year-old son, a 17-year-old son, and a bright and bubbly 13-year-old daughter. I share an apartment home with my 17-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter. My little home on the internet is called Rose Cottage because of my love for gardening, roses, and all things romantic and Victorian. Welcome. I'm a North Carolina girl and I love sharing North Carolina links and information. I do medical transcription from home. My hobbies include making sweet little dolls from clay who are named and have their own stories to tell. I also make old-fashioned brooches. These are for sale in my Etsy shop. For 13 years continuously, I homeschooled some or all of our four children, but the time came that our homeschool had to be closed. It was the end of a beautiful chapter in my life. I will always be a strong supporter of homeschooling and I will continue to review books and maintain my homeschool website, The Healthy Homeschool.    
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
I would
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, a really nice copy, and The Works of William Shakespeare.
from one of our bookshelves. We looked up William Byrd and read a bit. 
for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com
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