CHRISTEPHI

Every year we add at least one new book to our Christmas book collection.  This year it was this book, M is for Manger , by Crystal Bowman and Teri McKinley. It's almost too young for my kids, but then, are you ever really too old for sweet rhymes and gorgeous illustrations? About the Book Travel through the alphabet with this beautiful rhyming storybook that tells the story of Jesus’ birth. Begin with the angel who tells Mary that she is God’s chosen vessel and follow along until you reach the zillions of stars that paled in comparison to the star that announced the birthplace of the newborn King. Beautifully illustrated and written, this book will be a classic for parents to read to their children every Christmas season. M is for Manger Written by  Crystal Bowman and Teri McKinley Illustrated by Claire Keay ISBN:  978-1496401953 Publisher:  Tyndale House Publishers 64 pages What I Thought M is for Manger is a very sweet book fo...

A couple of weeks ago I received a special offer from the Tyndale Blog Network to review their new Illustrated Study Bible.  I immediately shot back a response saying of course I was interested in reviewing it! Have I ever mentioned how much I love color? This seems to have been a theme in my life lately. Life is too short to be monochromatic! When the package arrived containing my new Illustrated Study Bible, I was not disappointed. Full color photos, illustrations, infographics, and maps throughout the book bring the text to life! About the Book The Illustrated Study Bible integrates background material, study notes, and themed articles into a single volume so you can better understand as you study the Holy Scriptures.  The intent is to open your eyes to the living, powerful message of God's Word. The Illustrated Study Bible NLT by  Tyndale House Publishers ISBN:  978-1496402004 2618 pages My Thoughts Not everyone is an academic. ...

Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. We like to idealize the past, our perfect carefree childhood Christmases, the sweet baby Jesus bundled up in a manger with cute little sheep complacently peeking at Him on the hay.  But the truth is the world Jesus was born into was just as chaotic and scary as the one we're living in today. And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. Things were not picture perfect for Mary and Joseph.  They were dealing with some very tough, even life threatening, situations.  Mary was pregnant before marriage -- a po...

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is socially acceptable to turn our attention to Christmas. (That's how it works, right?)  Don't tell, but I've been in "Christmas mode" since quite a while before Thanksgiving.  This year I'm heading up a casual chorus of Christmas carolers.  Because of that, I've had Christmas carols on the brain since early October!  There couldn't be any better timing for a book about the stories behind our most beloved Christmas carols. About the Book From Oxford professor and renowned British composer, a joyous account of the history behind our favorite carols. Everyone loves a carol in the end, even Ebenezer Scrooge. They have the power to summon up a special kind of mid-winter mood, like the aroma of gingerbread or the twinkle of lights on a tree. It's a kind of magic. But how did they get that magic? Andrew Gant choirmaster, church musician, university professor, and writer tells the story of twenty of our fa...

Reading a true story set against the backdrop of WWII that leaves you with an overwhelming feeling of upliftedness, hope, and peace is not commonplace.  However, that is exactly how I felt after reading ‘Til We Meet Again . As a busy homeschool mom, it’s not often that I get a chance to sit down and read for pleasure.  Oh, I’m always reading! But most of what I read is related to homeschooling — either educating myself on how to teach or reading aloud to my kids.  So when I carved out a chunk of time to read this book, it was a special thing.  I read it from cover to cover in four hours flat. About the Book Ray and Betty Whipps both served in Europe during WWII: Ray as an infantryman under General Patton in the trenches of Normandy, Paris, and Belgium, and Betty as a field nurse in Cherbourg, France. The two met when Betty tended to Ray after he was injured in a mortar blast. Both strong Christians, the two bonded over their shared faith, and as Betty...

Konichiwa!  We have spent the last two weeks "in" Japan.  This has to have been one of our favorite countries to study so far!  The kids had a blast watching Godzilla with Daddy and obsessing about ninjas all day.  In addition to this, they... ...made koinobori ... ...created an entire menagerie of origami creatures... ...wrote original haiku poetry... ...drank ramune style soda pop... ...fell in love with mochi ice cream... ...turned up their noses at green tea mochi... ...learned about the beach... (Miss M made this image in PicCollage to illustrate her geography vocabulary word). ...and created a relaxing rock garden. We're heading to the Philippines next, Hubby's homeland.  We're closing in on our final push to the end of the school year (remember, we started back in January).  It's been fun, but all good things must come to an end.  Sayonara!

Do you ever feel like all these amazing homeschool mamas have it ALL together. They get up early, prepare a scrumptious and nutritious breakfast for their families, start school by 8 o'clock and, well, generally have everything well in hand.  Well...that's not what life looks like here on Sycamore Hill! I don't even bother to have a written schedule because I know it would be complete fantasy!  But one day this week I did take a few moments to track what really took place. This is my "Day in the Life" from Wednesday. 9:30 -- a long-distance phone call from my brother wakes me up 10:00 -- still talking on the phone, Hubby calls during his break so I hang up and switch over 10:15 -- admining duties on Facebook, check email 10:30 -- actually get out of bed, get dressed, eat breakfast (make sure the kids have eaten; they have) 10:40 -- Geography Game 11:00 -- have 4th grader rewrite her poorly done sentences from the day before 11:15 -- read Matthew ass...

Just popping in with a quick reminder to sign up for your FREE access to Discovery Education Streaming Plus.  Access expires August 31st, so sign up now before the summer is over. :-) DESP is a comprehensive, educational digital streaming service that has over 12,300 full length educational videos, plus tons of other educational content including games, interactives, images and more. A 1 year subscription costs $375, so this is a REALLY GOOD DEAL!   Sign up here .

One of the most common questions I am asked about homeschooling is "What math do you use?"  Since the time we started using My Father's World a few years ago, we have stuck with their recommendation of Singapore Math.  Aside from one little foray into  Math Mammoth (which I also loved and highly recommend), we have not found it necessary to supplement at all. This year Miss M has been working through Singapore 3A and 3B.  She was so pleased with herself when she completed level 3A.  Of course, I was proud too! Level 3A focused on working with larger numbers (up to 10,000) and really nailing in those multiplication and division tables.  One day I sat down with a pile of flashcards to drill Miss M and since my camera was handy, I snapped a few shots of her in constant motion.  Apparently acrobatics help with math fact memorization! Level 3B moved on to some topics that really lent themselves to hands-on learning: length, weight, and capaci...

If you have a daughter between the ages of 8 and 12, you may have noticed that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find appropriate clothing for her.  My 8-year-old is most definitely still a little girl.  She is not a small adult.  I would prefer her to dress like a little girl in clothes that provide appropriate coverage and allow for the freedom of movement needed for active play.  Toward that end I spent a weekend sewing up some sweet summer play dresses for Miss M. This is the Flower Hexagon dress from Ottobre 3/2013 (pattern #16).  I made it of some beautiful vintage cotton printed with roses in size 128, but cut the length to 146 because Ottobre dresses tend to run a bit too short for my tastes.  It has hidden pockets in the side seams! The second dress I made is also from Ottobre.  This is 3/2013 #13, the Hollywood Cerise dress.  I didn't have enough of the fun paisley patchwork print to manage the whole dress, so I scr...

We started My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures about 18 months ago and though I have blogged about very little of it, we have been having a wonderful time!  I won't be able to give a rundown of everything we've done the past year and a half, but here are a few quick highlights. We made clay sun faces while in Mexico. In Brazil we studied the rain forest and made a terrarium with tropical plants. While traveling through Germany we read lots of fairy tales and ate delicious plum cake. For France we took a little picnic in the park with a baguette and some imported French cheese. I bought some unfinished wooden boxes to paint in the traditional style of rosemaling while we learned about Norway. We loved learning about Morocco and trying our hand at some leather tooling. A trip to the zoo yielded a close encounter with a bongo during our study of Zambia. For Kenya we fashioned some ...

We started our school year here on Sycamore Hill back in January.  We've been trudging along following a rough "Sabbath Schooling" schedule (that's 6 weeks on, 1 week off) and this week finally hit our 100th day of school!  The kids have been so excited counting down and wanted to have a big party to celebrate.  While that didn't quite happen (parties are fun for kids, but lots of work for mamas!), we did celebrate with a little 100 pizza! We each got to put the toppings on our numeral just how we like it.  I had a shredded zucchini and a little leftover ham on mine with extra sauce.  Miss M had light sauce and pepperoni on hers and Mister E had regular sauce with pepperoni and extra cheese on his. He thought it was funny that his "pepperonis" slid down the cheese and off the pizza during baking! After lunch we went to the park.  We were supposed to meet some friends there, but they thought it was going to rain and headed to an indoor venue inste...

When it gets hot and humid out, I like to have something educational indoors to keep the kids occupied.  This year I'm really excited about this amazing deal from the Homeschool Buyers Co-op. The offer is for three months FREE access to Discovery Education Streaming Plus.  DESP is a comprehensive, educational digital streaming service that has over 12,300 full length educational videos, plus tons of other educational content including games, interactives, images and more.   So, you can have your kids engaged with educational content all summer long at no cost!  Fun, right?! The subscription is free from June 1 through August 31, 2015.  A 1 year subscription costs $375, so this is a REALLY GOOD DEAL! We will be incorporating video segments of life in India for the next several weeks.  I hope you find something fun to watch too! Sign up here .  You don't even have to give them your credit card or anything...truly free!