2012 – Planning Time!

In 2012, I will have student in the following grades: 12, 11, 9, 7, 5 and 4.

Time for planning!

Our ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ thus far:

In:

Everything IEW! We will have completed ‘Speech Boot Camp’ shortly – it’s been a blast. We’ll be continuing with: Student Writing Intensive as well as a couple of the ‘History Based Writing Lessons’ series next year.

Poetry for Memorization

Latina Christiana

Life of Fred maths for some, Teaching Textbooks for others, and Signpost Maths for the youngest ones.

Calculadder Math Drills

Science in the Creation Week

Apologia Science

Voyages in Literature

English for Australian Schools

Golden Children's Bible - we read a few pages, and the youngest three draw a picture and write about the reading. When we finish, they will have their own, illustrated book of Bible stories.

Didache Series – high school Religion.

Critical Thinking, Books 1 & 2

One Year Adventure Novel

Pure & Simple Computer Course

How Great Thou Art / Artistic Pursuits – These together form a good combination of drawing lessons and art appreciation.

Out:

Most things ‘phonics’ related. Why? Because my youngest will be in grade 4! Yep, we’re over the ‘K-3’ phase. Wow. (Don’t really want to think about that too much).

All About Spelling. Why? Because they’re ready to move on to The Phonetic Zoo. AAS has proven to be a solid, thorough, programme. We’ve used level 1 this year – which was admittedly below their level, but we got a good feel for the programme, and I was very impressed by it. However, we’re ready to move onto The Phonetic Zoo programme, and so we shall!

History Portfolios. Strange, isn’t it? What worked so beautifully for my older girls, is not working as well for my younger ones. Still working out exactly what we’ll do for history, but I plan to continue with Medieval History for Term 1, and then move onto Australian History (using The Wide Brown Land) for Terms 2-4.

ABCs of Christian Culture. Well, not out fully, or permanently, but the older ones are taking a ‘historical literature’ approach to history, followed by Australian History in terms 2-4.

The Magic Music Box for Music Appreciation (watch for blog post on this coming soon!)

New resource for 2012:

History Odyssey, Medieval. I’ve downloaded this programme, and I think it’ll work well for my very independent 14 year old. Very well laid out, and what’s more, we already have most of the resources needed – yippee!

Up until now, I've often grouped my three youngest together for things such as science, history and religion. That'll need to change soon - the gap is widening in their abilities. We'll see what happens about this next year.

Anyways……. Back to planning!

Linda.

Digital Camera Suggestions?

So, my dear hubby announced to me yesterday he'd like to buy me a new digital camera!


I currently have a Canon Powershot A590 - it's served me well, but it does take some, well, not-so-good shots at times, and that can be frustrating.

So, it seems I'm in the market to upgrade.

I don't want a hugely expensive model - but something that will take good shots of children, shots in the daytime as well as at night, and nice landscape shots, for when we travel.

I like to photograph old buildings, and often I need to 'snap' these as we drive by - so it needs to be able to focus and take the shot quickly.

Preferrably have a decent MP size, as well as good optical zoom.

Anyone have any experience or knowledge in this area? I've looked at a few - Canon, Finepix, Nikon - and my head is spinning with confusion!

Problem being I don't really know what to look for.


Thankyou,


Linda.

A Jesse Tree

Well, after much discussion and looking at all of our options, we have begun our first ever 'Jesse Tree'.

I was able to download a wonderful resource, called, 'A Jesus Advent Celebration - A Jesse Tree Journey', by Ann Voskamp, at: www.aholyexperience.com

It is the most beautiful book!

Complete with Bible readings, ornaments to cut out and hang on the tree, and lovely, simple activities, designed to 'Unwrap more of His love in the world'.

We have begun the journey a little early - the first Activity is scheduled for November 29 - however, due to how crazy the holiday season can be, I thought it best to start early, and we may then have a chance to actually complete it.


We found a small tree, placed it in the corner near where we complete our school work, and each day, sit down and read the Bible passages, prepare the ornament, and discuss they day's readings.

It's a wonderful, simple way to remember the birth of Christ, how his coming was the fulfilment of prophecy, and all the events that led up to His birth.


Here's our youngest, hanging the first ornament. We're up to day 5 thus far - so far, so good! We're very much enjoying it.


Linda.

DISC Personality Test:

DISC Personality Test:

http://www.123test.com/disc-personality-test/#.TsbYVc2XOCo.blogger


My Results:

You are conscientiousness, diligent and pay attention to detail. You constantly strive for accuracy and high standards.
You have an inner drive to be systematic and precise in all that you do.
You are a natural choice for work that requires attention to detail and accuracy.

Compliance: Comparatively High
Here are some traits and behaviours that describe people who are comparatively high in Compliance:
· are usually peaceful and adaptable.
· tend not to be aggressive.
· tend to be cautious rather than impulsive.
· avoid risk-taking.
· act in a tactful, diplomatic way and strive for a stable, ordered life.
· are comfortable following procedures in both their personal and business life.
They prefer sticking to methods that have proved successful in the past. They have a high acceptance of rules and regulations.


Thanks to Therese at Aussie Coffee Shop for suggesting this test - it was interesting!


Linda.

The Joys of Country Living

Well, it's been an interesting start to the week!

There we were, sound asleep at 6am this morning, when..... CRACK!

My poor daughter, who was in the next room, wondered what on earth had happened, but a quick dash to the room next door soon told all.....




yep, that would be a part of our dining room ceiling!

The rain the past week has been lovely, but the 'bow' in the dining room roof has been of some concern, and this morning, I saw exactly what had caused the undesirable bend. Water had come through the tin roof, and the insulation had kindly soaked it up - which of course led to an awful amount of weight on the ceiling.

Stumbling out of bed, we did some quick 'soaking up', with a bunch of towels, and dear hubby removed any excess weight and potential dangers, and then with a shake of his head, staggered back to bed, with that 'later' look in his eyes. I'm guessing there'll be a 'field trip' to the local hardware store later today!


You just never know what each day will bring, do you?


Linda.

Gotta Love It!

OH, how often I've felt this way!




I really do have great self-control in what I say. Sometimes, though, I remember the line from 'The Wizard of Oz', which goes something like:

"I'd love to tell you exactly what I think of you, but I'm too much of a Christian to do it!".

Not focussing on anyone in particular, just thinking aloud at 11:30 pm - time for bed, maybe?

Linda.

The Construction Project.

I stood in the hallway, staring. In front of me, I faced a housewife’s worst fear: a box. Should I dare open it? Well, I figured, it couldn’t hurt. I could just cut the ties, after all, and then, if need be, I could cry for help. Tentatively, I took the scissors in hand, and cut the constraints, and then proceeded to remove the contents.

I’d waiting for this package to arrive. ‘Some assembly required’, the ad had said – but exactly how much assembly was ‘some’? Last week, when our school-room shelves had arrived, I’d immediately invoked my usual, ‘Bill, Daniel – help!’ shriek. But this time, I was cautiously optimistic. Why should I always play the role of the damsel in distress? Was there any hope at all that maybe I could assemble this one? And all by myself?

The contents included 4 racks, 4 shelves, 2 baskets, and several clips, racks & screws. It was to be ‘all mine’ – a craft trolley – something that would make my life a whole lot easier and allow me to keep my supplies together in one, neat place. But of course, that would only be after I’d accomplished the ‘some assembly required’ bit.

Taking a deep breath, I began – I mean, how hard can it be, right? I did own a screwdriver, after all, and instructions were included. Carefully, I looked at Step 1. Yes! It made sense! In a flash, I proceeded to Step 2, Step 3, and even Step 4. It was looking good – the screwdriver was actually the right one, and I even put it together the correct way around. Things were going well.

But then, I needed to place the clips for the shelves on the wires. Whew – not easy. I pushed and heaved, but my silly wrists simply did not seem to have the strength I needed to get those clips to attach. But, I was not to be thwarted. I’d come this far, and I had confidence now. I would succeed! I figured that maybe by using some sort of tool, I could pry the clips open a little, thereby allowing them to attach with less force. And guess what? It worked! It took some time, but I found a tool the right size, and after some effort, figured out the best way to accomplish my goal.

Before I knew it, I found myself looking at step 8 – the final step! Simply add the runners and the baskets, and I would be done. Easy. I completed this last step in no time at all, and was soon standing back to admire my handiwork. MY work – I’d done it! Later, I was faced with all the difficult choices of what to put where, but eventually, I was able to pronounce my afternoon’s work ‘completed’.

For certain, some of you out there would find such a task to be a simple one, but for us who rely on our men-folk maybe a little too much, this construction project has proven to be a magnificent learning curve for me – and I’m quite proud of myself for achieving it!

Ta - Da! The finished project:

Linda.

New Adnil Press Site

Well, I did say that.....




It's now nearly 2am (much later than I'd intended!), and I've just uploaded the new Adnil Press web-site!


We have a new web host, a new domain name, and a completely new site.


The link is:

www.adnilpress.com.au

Note that there is now a '.au' on the end, although the old website address will still work, as we have a 're-direction' set up.


If anyone has the time or the inclination, I'd appreciate some feedback - please have a 'play' with the new site - add stuff to your 'cart', check out any links, sample pages, etc., and have a general read of the pages.

Given that this site has been built over the past few weeks, pretty much by me and me alone, I'm quite, er... 'google-eyed' , so don't be surprised if you find some errors - typos or incorrect product descriptions, or some broken links - I've proof-read it as best I can, but as I'm sure you all know, proof-reading your own work is not always successful, and it's easy to overlook something obvious.

The website is easiy updated and changeable, so if you find anything that is not displaying correctly or any other errors, please let me know. I had planned to launch the site on the 20th, so I'm treating the next few days as the 'trial' stage.


For now though, I'm off for some sleep! 'Night all.