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AN EASY WAY TO MAKE A DONATION THAT IS ABSOLUTELY FREE TO YOU!!

Nessa, from Absolutely Moms and According to Me, has graciously offered all of her monies earned from her Lilaguide registrations!! Lilaguide is a new site with lots of different communities. Nessa has started a group for WAH or SAH moms where we can exchange tips and ideas, read product reviews and even find great blogs to read! This community is new and is growing daily…I know you don’t want to miss out on this!! Even if you are not a WAH or SAH mom yet, you are still welcome…heck, even if you’re not a mom yet, come on in! lol!!

Sign-up is easy-peasy. All you have to do is sign up here and when you do so, Nessa will make as bit of money which she will be sending to me as a donation for Blogathon 2008. So see, you can donate even if you have absolutely no money whatsoever…how cool is that!?

Seriously, this is so easy….just a smidge of time and you’ve joined a cool group AND you’ve helped make a difference in the life of a deaf child! So do it…ok?

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 I think board games rock…but they are terribly expensive.   I made this generic gameboard for the family in hopes of giving my kids a fun way to review history and science.  Our board has worked well for us!

• old game board..from yard sale or thrift store
• scrapbooking paper
• diecuts…or clipart, magazine pictures, etc
• adhesive…I used double-sided tape and photo splits
• dice…grabbed from another game!
• place holders…I use holders from games that are no longer complete.  Repurposing at it’s finest! lol!!

Cover your board with scrapbook paper using a good adhesive.  You don’t want your board covering going all crazy mid game!  I cut a thin bit of paper out at the fold of the board so I could fold the game up for storage.  If you are going to store your game board flat, you can skip this step.

Next, I created a “path” using scrapbook paper squares.   I added “traps” and “move aheads” along the path:  different squares hold different consequences and the squares with flowers allow player to move ahead.   The “traps” stay the same, however, the “move aheads” seem to change with the game!  Our favorite “trap” is the square where the player steps on a pop top and has to cruise on back home…you know, from Jimmy Buffet’s song!  As the player is making his way back to the start box, we all sing the chorus from the song.  I know, I know…it’s so redneck but it’s fun! lol!!  We also like the  “Escape to the Border”  which is an area marked with a red sombrero.  When you land on the square that takes you to the border, you lose a turn, but you get to hang out at Taco Bell!  There’s also the Butterfly Conservatory where you lose a turn…

I wanted this board to be a generic board that could be used for a lot of different games.  So far, it has worked out well.   I store the different games in ziploc bags.  We also created a more elaborate game board when we studied the American Revolution…I’ll have to see if I’ve got some photos of that one to share too.

Here are a few links of free printable gameboards:

Print and Play Games

Hnefatafl 

Porky Pies…not necessarily a board game but could become one easily!

Print Games

I am such a deadbeat blogger…waiting this long to post is just shameful!  lol!

So where have I been?  I’ve been in school…my official first day was June 5th, but the professor opened up the course (online course at Walters State) a week early for those of us eager to get started.  I’m taking Anatomy & Physiology with Lab and so far it has been enjoyable.

Seriously, I think that since we’ve been homeschooling these past five years, I am better prepared to take this course.  For example, I might have passed out over learning all about cells if it had not been for the fact that I have “studied” cells already with my children.  I have an edge, folks…I have an edge! lol!!

Now, if I could just figure out a way to embrace the online labs….not too much fun for this ol’ “hands-on” learner!

I know it’s a big no no to cross post, but there are always exceptions to the rules, right? Today marks the second annivesary of Gus’ death. Gus died on May 31, 2006 while awaiting a liver/small bowel transplant. He was 16 months old.

I have found it very therapeutic to write letters to Gus. The following is the letter I’ve written to mark the second anniversary of this death…or rather, his “homegoing”. I want to make it very clear that by writing this letter I am in no way trying to make contact with him. Contacting the dead is wrong and quite dangerous. (Deut. 8:9-12). There are deceitful spirits out there that yearn to make us think we are talking to our loved ones when in all actuality we are not. Besides…God has provided us with the only Spirit we need…the Holy Spirit. He will not deceive us nor misguide us. Since I’m certain that the Lord and Gus see each other daily, I have asked Him to share these letters if it is His will….I like to think it is!

Dearest Gus,

It has been two years since we said goodbye to each other. When I think about the time that has passed, I am amazed that it has been that long—yet, then again, sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday. I am still able to feel the weight of your little body in my arms. I can even still imagine nuzzling your neck and breathing in your precious baby smell. I know in time that will pass. God comforts me with these memories and I am thankful.

I still dream of you often. My hope is that I will continue to do so until we are reunited. My dreams of you are often funny. I can honestly say that I wake up from them feeling joy instead of the great dread that I could feel in knowing you are no longer here. God uses these dreams to bring me comfort and I am thankful.

Your dad is about to graduate nursing school and I’ve just started working on my three pre-requisites so I can start nursing school next summer. My time with you has shown me that I can handle the toughest things on this earth. Certainly I have not done any of these things—like holding you as your heart beat for the last time—on my own but only through the magnificent power of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Because of this, I am praying that God will bless us with in-home opportunities to care for other medically fragile children—especially the ones that are abandoned in the hospital and have no one. This sounds crazy to a lot of people and I do understand. Who in their right mind would want to get attached to a child that may die?? Who would set themselves up for such heartache?? Well, your dad and I would…and we would be honored to have the opportunity to do so. I have been blessed and equipped with the experience of your death and as I start school, I look forward to the chances I will have to “give back”. God has empowered me to face the tough things and has given me empathy and I am thankful.

As I am aware of the fact that a righteous man’s prayer is powerful and effective(James 5:16), and you my son are as righteous as you can be since you are now with the Lord, I am hoping you will pray for me…well, for all of us Doriots! Seriously, this world is so beautiful yet so dark—so full of sin. I strive daily to live joyfully and I look forward with great anticipation to our reunion. It is hard here though so please pray that we will not grow weary and lose sight of Home. God uses the reality of Heaven and seeing you again to comfort me…and I am thankful!

I love you, Gus!

Mommy

Are you looking for some really neat free activities for this summer??  Well, look no more because Boogiemom has a great post with quite a few ideas!  In fact, I really appreciate Boogiemom writing the post because she reminded me about the Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Program.  I’ve tried for years to remember to do this program, but I always forget.  This year will be different!!

I’d love to hear of other reading programs…do you know of any??

Registration went very, very well today!  I was quite surprised how smoothly things went and I was able to get all the classes we wanted for Nik.  I scheduled a looooong day, but I’m certain he can handle it…in fact, I think it will be good for him.  Now I just need to start saving up for his books….sheesh-a-moley, homeschooling can be very expensive, ya know?  At least I can save most of the books for the other two kiddos.

By the way, does anyone have an Algebra I Teaching Textbooks they would like to sell…or give to me!  I’d prefer the “give to me” option! lol!!  Maybe I should go post this over at Cyberbeg…ok, ok I was just joking about that…but the more I think about it, why not??  I may have just hit an all time low! lol!!

Well, folks, tomorrow is the day. I’m taking Algebra Eater over to register for some of his high school classes at our local homeschool co-op. I’ve been told that there will be a lot of high schoolers registering this year but that everyone would have a place in the classes they wanted/needed. Let’s hope that’s true! I’m glad we’ve got a local co-op and that we have teachers willing to teach…however, this is gonna cost us a trillion dollars!!

Nik will be taking Biology I, IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing), TN History/Us Government and Spanish I. The rest we will tackle at home…yes, we are tackling Algebra I at home! I see a lot of Algebra eating taking place in the future! lol!!

I appreciate your prayers for me tomorrow…these registrations bring out my “not-so-lovely” side. Hopefully, I can talk Pete into treating me to a Strawberry Cream Slush from Sonic afterward…it would be like an incentive to mind my manners…..

This is one of Belle’s early readers that she just loves. It’s written for the pre-school and kindergarten folk who are reading. The illustrations are fun and bright and the story line is fun too! This book is a little easy for Belle, so we’ve been using it to practice dramatic reading. I’ll have to say that Belle is quite hilarious when reading…I really need to video her and share!

Cat Trap
by Molly Coxe

Who’s the best at Algebra??  That would be ME!!  Nik couldn’t handle the pressure of my mad Algebra skills today so he grabbed my paper I was working formulas on….and he shoved it into his mouth!  He is soooo weird!!  I think he would say the same about me since I was just working problems because it was fun!  Seriously, I’m thrilled that I still understand it even after all these years!

I think we’ve had the “Never-Ending Day of School” today! Though I am completely worn out, I think we accomplished a lot. We spent the majority of the time studying about the daily life of Ancient Romans. I am having the older two taking notes as I read while Isabelle is filling out little books for her lapbook. Today Belle filled out a gazillion matchbooks! We had to take several breaks to rest our hands! I’ll post pictures of her books tomorrow.

One thing we didn’t get to today was the online game, Death in Rome. I’ll try to get that in tomorrow. If you’ve played it before, please let me know how the dude died! I can’t figure it out! lol!!