Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Solstice



The Shortest Day
by
Susan Cooper

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Week#17~Lookin' Like Christmas

Long time no blog. Frankly we took the week of Thanksgiving off and everything else was rather a long trudge. Nothing to take pictures of and I'm sure you don't want a list of tests/quizzes/readings. Now I've got some fun pictures!
Fman~He is finishing up math right on time and will start the 400 level after Christmas. He's moving nicely through LA and Reading.
Miss Mel~She hit the half way point in CLE math early so we're using some MEP and Rightstart until the 'new' semester. She is in the last unit of Learn to Read. She's excited that she'll get to move to a 'big book' with a hard cover. Oh joy, LOL.


It's been unusually cold so far this month. We still get out but when it's 7 degrees you don't stay long. The Wii is filling in for activity we're missing.
Spanish~We finished up co-op for the year. We had a little fiesta that was fun. The kiddoes will be practicing with BBC spanish games and Tumblebooks read to them in Spanish. (Thanks to the library, oh yea!)


We made a trip to see Santa of course.
We even hung out with the elves. Note the one on the right is her sister. She was thrilled to find out her sister knew Santa personally.
History~We finished with the New England and Middle Colonies. Hopefully we can finish the Southern Colonies next week. I plan on watching The Liberty Kids over Christmas for history.

We took an evening to go to a local church that had A Night in Bethlehem. One of the very nice people let Mel try to weave. Miss Ads was worried about the tax collectors and kept telling people to stay away from "the bad man who wants your golden coin."
Science~We did a quick unit study on bears and animals that aren't really bears that we call bears. Fman decided he liked polar bears best and Miss Mel liked pandas.

Yesterday was the best part of the week, at least for mom. We went to the I like the ballet and the girls were liking it but Fman wasn't as impressed.
We also got a new Life Scout. The Court of Honor was followed by a gag gift Christmas party. Here he is with his friends goofing off with their presents.

Tonight friends are coming over and we're scheduled to go to a swimming party. I sincerely hope it makes them very, very tired. Mama must get some gifts wrapped and cookies baked or the festivities may stop here.

Thursday, December 02, 2010

And Now For Something Completely Different

I just wanted to share this free movie list. There's great stuff on here if you (like me) have eclectic taste in movies. Film noir, French films, early German films, short films, Oscar winners and Cary Grant (which is always a good thing.) Oh, and Monty Python!