“Purple Cow?” Learn the weird reason blurbs are called blurbs | The Hot Word

“Purple Cow?” Learn the weird reason blurbs are called blurbs | The Hot Word
This is a great site!
I love words. If you know me you know I certainly use a lot of them!
"Why say one word when 1000 will do?" is a popular saying in our house.
But I will keep this brief. Check out this interesting article. I think you will enjoy it.

Aprons Again

I am thinking about making some simple aprons to go along with some of my "Goodies in a Jar" that I am making for my family for Christmas. I was thinking about printing this poem on some cool paper to include, too! What do you think? I am very open to suggestions!

The History of 'APRONS' I don't think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few.
It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and... aprons used less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.
It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.. And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folks knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.
REMEMBER: Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.
I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron - but love...

Have an extra Christmas Card?

Well, I was scrolling down my facebook this morning, and I noticed that two of my non-military friends have this posted as their status this morning:

When filling out Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to this address:
A Recovering American Soldier      
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center,      
6900 Georgia Avenue NW,      
Washington DC 20307-5001.
If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful special people who have sacrificed so much would get.

This is great... if the cards actually gets to the soldiers. I thought that they had discontinued the "Any Soldier" programs? I am sending one, just in case, but before I try to rally the troops, could someone that might know more than I do about this please comment?

Thanks,
Bridgit

Origami Homemade Advent Calendar Pattern

Origami Homemade Advent Calendar Pattern
We couldn't find our Advent calendar when we unpacked all the Christmas stuff, so Agnes and I are making our own thanks to the instructions on this blog.
Pictures soon!

Homemade Facial Mask Recipes

Homemade Facial Mask Recipes
I have been looking for some stuff to try to make for Christmas presents, and I came across this site. Pretty cool Stuff!

Homemade Facial Mask Recipes

Homemade Facial Mask Recipes
I have been looking for some stuff to try to make for Christmas presents, and I came across this site. Pretty cool Stuff!

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

Shutterfly

Well, I have been trying to figure out what to do for Christmas cards this year.
Shuttterfly.com has a nice deal on photo cards, and I am looking at quite a few designs, but my favorite so far is "Count Your Blessings." I love getting photo cards, and I thought they would be more expensive, but with the shipping special, the ones from Shutterfly are not any more expensive than getting store bought cards.
I will let you know what I decide...

Facebook more grandparent-friendly with ‘email’

Facebook more grandparent-friendly with ‘email’
This is a great article. Agnes posts everything on FB, and if her grandparents remember to check it... they know & can see pictures of what is going on in her life!

CurrClicl Give-Away

I am a big e-book user in my homeschool! I have currently become an affiliate for CurrClick. They had this great give-away on their blog!
This week is National Game and Puzzle Week, what a great idea for a week-long event, huh!
Games are a wonderful way to spend a fun and interactive evening with your family. A standard weekly “game night” is a great way to connect with your loved ones and simply have a blast together. Do you have family board game nights? Family Wii games that you like to play? We’d love to see a list of all your favorite games, whether they are board games, puzzles, video games, logic games like chess or Sudoku. My family is always on the lookout for new games to try, so I for one would love to read your ideas!
We have some great giveaways for this week! Everyone who leaves a comment or submits a blog entry will be entered.
**PLEASE BE SURE THAT YOUR PROFILE CONTAINS OR THAT YOU INCLUDE AN EMAIL ADDRESS. Unfortunately we have had to skip over several names that were drawn because we were unable to locate an email address. **
(If you are reading this on Facebook, be sure to leave a comment on the actual post.) This giveaway will be open until 10:00pm EST Friday, November 19th. Please see our rules for more details.

Prizes include:

Happy Scribe Copybook: Video Games by Westvon Publishing
Each copybook has twenty sayings, presented in three different common handwriting fonts: Classic Block Printing, D’Nealian Italic and Cursive. We have based these exercises on twenty day blocks, representing four weeks of five days, for one month of exercises. This copybook contains sayings such as: Sony makes the PlayStation 3; The Wii has motion sensing capabilities; Midway introduces Space Invaders to arcades; Nintendo released the Nintendo DS in 2004.
Treasure Hunts by Enrichment4You
This enrichment guide is designed to give you plenty of creative ideas for developing a themed based treasure hunt with varying mental and physical challenges. Treasure hunts are a fun way to introduce or reinforce a new idea, teach about different subjects and help the participants interact, brainstorm, problem solve and more. Includes the following: A Brief Overview of Treasure Hunts, Creating the Treasure Hunt Map, Developing the Theme, Treasure Hunt Scenario’s, Mystery Guests & Simple Props, and much more.
100 Thematic Word Search Puzzles Junior by Full Blast Productions
A reproducible ESL/Literacy textbook of 100 word search puzzles. Each puzzle is based on a theme. Each puzzle has ten words to be studied. There is an illustration for each vocabulary word. There is a space for your esl student to practice writing the words on it. The other has all the vocabulary words hidden in a grid full of letters. There is a complete Answer Key.
TWO winners will receive Creative Review Games by Toytown Treasures
Do you review? Whether you are an unschooler, use a complete curriculum, or mix and match, every student can benefit from doing review. The inexpensive, easy to create games found in Creative Review Games will give your student an enjoyable time of learning. You’ll find ideas for review, instructions for creating questions, and directions to play games. Reproducible templates and patterns are included in this e-book.

Be sure to share this blog hop & giveaway with your friends! Feel free to copy any of the text from this post!

Homeschool Stuff

 I got this e-mail from my IDEA Field Rep. 

Hope it helps some of the Fairbanks/ North Pole area homeschoolers!

 Homeschool Co-Op

November Homeschool Co-op Meeting

Tuesday, November 9th, 1-3 pm

We meet at Valley of Blessing Church on the corner of Airport and Market (3007 Airport Way).

We will be celebrating Thanksgiving, practicing Christmas carols to go caroling at the Pioneer Home in December, and sharing what Thanksgiving means to each of us.  Come for crafts, snacks, games, and new friends!

We hope you can join us!  All homeschoolers are welcome!

For more information or to RSVP, please contact Amy Temple at akteachermom@yahoo.com or Joyce Plummer at bobnjoyce97@yahoo.com by Monday, 11/8. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

The Region F listserv is provided to promote homeschool-related communication between IDEA families. The content is provided by families and other interested parties.  Posting by IDEA does not imply IDEA endorsement or recommendation.  Activities mentioned are not sponsored by IDEA, however are open to all homeschoolers.  To have your message forwarded to the list, simply address it to sandy.blewett@ideafamilies.org   Write to the same address to be removed from this list. Thank you!  

PWOC- Protestant Women of the Chapel

 PWOC is an acronym for Protestant Women of the Chapel. I linked the PWOC International sight here if you want the official explanation of what it is. What I want to tell you in this blog entry is what PWOC has been to me.

 I am a hermit by nature. Don't get me wrong... I like to socialize, and I love to talk, but I thoroughly enjoy staying at home and just spending time homeschooling and being a housewife. It takes a lot to get me to leave my nice, warm, safe house ESPECIALLY during the dark, cold, harsh Alaska winters!

I started going to go to PWOC when Darren deployed the last time. I needed to be in a Bible Study, and I didn't know where to look. We were attending Chapel at Northern Lights, on Fort Wainwright, and all these women were talking about these really neat Bible Studies on Thursday mornings. I decided to get my butt out of bed and drag my daughter to this thing... All I could think was, "Wow, these women must either be morning people, or they must seriously love these Bible studies to do this every week!"

So I spent my first year in Alaska going to PWOC on Thursday mornings, and I grew stronger in my faith because of the fellowship I experienced with the women there. BUT I am not going to say that I got along with EVERYONE, and I am not saying all the women there treated me like a Christian woman should treat someone. There were certainly personality conflicts that first year, and the year that followed.

The next year I volunteered to monitor the Homeschool room. It was supposed to be for a few weeks... just until someone else came to take over. I was told that I should go ahead and start a Bible study because I would not have to be there every week. That "someone else" never showed. I felt abandoned by these women. I was left without any fellowship, except for the kids. Darren was still gone, and I was so self centered, I couldn't see that God was trying to get me to use my gifts for His purpose. It wasn't that no one wanted to spend time in the homeschool room. It wasn't that the other women didn't care about me starving for fellowship. It wasn't that the homeschool room was such a horrible place to be. I was just fighting God. I wanted to be the kind of woman I saw instead of the kind of woman He wanted me to be.

I spent a lot, A LOT of time in prayer about why God was letting these Christian woman treat me like this before I got the answer that it wasn't them. It was me. 

I was trying to be a "Beth," or a "Jenny," or a "Katie," but I wasn't being "Bridgit." I am blessed to think like a child, and I love learning and getting kids excited about learning. God was trying to get me to use that gift to teach these children. God wanted me to be the woman that gets excited about making slime to teach about polymers, and floating needles in pie pans to teach about magnets, and stuffing cotton balls in glasses of water to show how God designed EVERYTHING in this world to show us how AWEsome He is!

This year, I am monitoring the Homeschool Room, again, and we are doing Bible Science. We are going to be learning about salt, light, the body, astronomy, and a lot of other cool subjects! God is AWEsome, and He proves it again all the time in this wonderful world He created! 

I would invite any military spouse to check out your local PWOC, especially if you have had a bad experience the last time. Remember, the ladies there are always changing. The PCS seasons send some women away to other posts, and brings in new faces around the beginning of the school year, and again around Christmas. Even if the woman or women that hurt you are still there, maybe this is your opportunity to pray and find out what lesson God really needs you to learn. Maybe you are being asked to grow or use a gift you didn't realize was just what someone at your local PWOC needed. Maybe you need a gift that one woman at PWOC is trying to use. Or maybe, just maybe, God just needs you to NOT be that woman that hurt you for another woman who is hurting.

I have the time & place of the Ft. Wainwright PWOC on my Google Calendar

I would love for you to stop by and say, "Hello," if you decide to try out our PWOC. 

You can find me in the Homeschool Room.

These are just some flyers and forms I made for the PWOC Homeschool Room.

Just Sitting

Upromise Guest Shopping for Bridgit

Upromise Guest Shopping for Bridgit
Help me earn money for Agnes' college by shopping!
Message me if you want more ways you can help!

Attending College in High School!

This is an article I found from a Swagbucks search. I think I will need to re-read it over and over. It lists the benifits of taking college classes in high school. AAAARRRGGHH! Is Agnes in HIGH SCHOOL! And thinking about COLLEGE!!!

Attending College in High School!

Subject: Speech by High School Principal to students

I got this in an e-mail from my father. I wish I had this principal.

To the students and faculty of our high school:

I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater calling than to teach young people.

I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our school. I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of the ideas that have dominated public education in America have worked against you, against your teachers and against our country.

First, this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow or white. I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave ships.

The only identity I care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual identity -- your character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the only national identity this school will care about is American. This is an American public school, and American public schools were created to make better Americans.

If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial or religious identity through school, you will have to go elsewhere. We will end all ethnicity-, race- and non-American nationality-based celebrations. They undermine the motto of America , one of its three central values -- e pluribus unum, "from many, one." And this school will be guided by America 's values.

This includes all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual orientation or whatever else may become in vogue in a society divided by political correctness.

Your clubs will be based on interests and passions, not blood, ethnic, racial or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate narcissism -- an unhealthy preoccupation with the self -- while the purpose of education is to get you to think beyond yourself. So we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages you do not already speak, carpentry and more. If the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interesting in are those based on ethnic, racial or sexual identity, that means that little outside of yourself really interests you.

Second, I am uninterested in whether English is your native language. My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English language has united America 's citizens for over 200 years, and it will unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensable reasons this country of immigrants has always come to be one country. And if you leave this school without excellent English language skills, I would be remiss in my duty to ensure that you will be prepared to successfully compete in the American job market. We will learn other languages here -- it is deplorable that most Americans only speak English -- but if you want classes taught in your native language rather than in English, this is not your school.

Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in this school will reflect learning's elevated status. This means, among other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many people in our society dress more formally for Hollywood events than for church or school. These people have their priorities backward. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at this school.

Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school's property -- whether in class, in the hallways or at athletic events. If you can't speak without using the f-word, you can't speak. By obscene language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications Commission, plus epithets such as "Nigger," even when used by one black student to address another black, or "bitch," even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this school, you will be among the few your age to instinctively distinguish between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the obscene.

Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school, self-esteem will be attained in only one way -- the way people attained it until decided otherwise a generation ago -- by earning it. One immediate consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.

Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away from politics and propaganda. No more time will devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to condom wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual or not Christian. We will have failed if any one of you graduates this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately lucky -- to be alive and to be an American.

Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will hand them out to you.

Still Editing the Travel Log.

I have posted a lot of our pictures on Facebook, but I am still working on the "Maiden Voyage" travel log.
We are very grateful for all those that prayed for our safe travels. Thank you!
Tomorrow we will be starting back to our regular homeschool schedule, so I will be busy at home most of this week.
I hope you will all enjoy the log.
More soon~
Bridgit

Knowledgebase - Green Valley Aromatherapy

Knowledgebase - Green Valley Aromatherapy
This is a great Essential Oil necessity kit! These oils are the first ones everyone needs to learn about when starting off with Essential Oils.

The Names of God

I was in an on-line Bible Study last year about the Names of God. It took me a little longer to go through it than the rest of the group, but it was a very good study. www.jesuswalks.com
I am now going to be following this blog/devotional.