Journey to Excellence

Don't you just love Peter Rabbit? I do. Some of my favorite moments are when Mr. McGregor is chasing Peter out of his cabbage garden. What a little stinker he was, always disobeying Mother Rabbit and causing trouble for his sweet sisters Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-Tail. The kids and I had the pleasure of reviewing Peter Rabbit Goes A-Visiting and Peter Rabbit and the Little Boy published by Kinder Cottage Publishing . What a beautiful collection of books for the Peter Rabbit lovers in your life. I remember reading the stories of Peter Rabbit when I was a kid and absolutely loving them. Peter is one of those timeless characters that follows you through your life from childhood to adulthood. Near Kansas City, Missouri, there is an attraction called Powell Gardens. They have a magnificent farm for viewing called Fun Foods Farm where they grow every imaginable vegetable. It is so beautiful! They actually have a Peter Rabbit portion of the gardens where you walk along a...

This past month I have had the pleasure of reviewing a book published by Learning Breakthrough Program entitled A Life in Balance by Frank Belgau as told to Eric Belgau. What a fascinating book. Mr. Belgau started researching the concept of a multi-sensory learning system back in the 60's when he noticed a correlation between balance of the left and right sides of the body with the ability to read. Since then he has developed his theory into one that covers a broad range of learning disabilities, such as ADHD, dyslexia, and speech impediments. I have found this book particularly interesting in light of Eli's speech delays and stuttering. Although I have read the entire book, I am still combing back through it, ever so slowly, pulling together lots of ideas and my own theories based on Eli's prior speech pathology experiences and my observations as his primary teacher. Mr. Belgau spent roughly 30 years developing his theories with the aid of several professio...

If you can't read about it, you can't learn it. That is my philosophy in teaching. We do loads of reading, every single day. Literature studies are our favorite way to learn, so I was excited to get the chance to review the Literature Study E-Guide for  The Courage of Sarah Noble by Progeny Press . Progeny Press had loads of literature study guides for Early Elementary (grades K-3), Upper Elementary (grades 3-5), Middle School (grades 5-8) and High School (grades 8-12). For the purposes of this review we received an E-Guide for The Courage of Sarah Noble . It was our responsibility to obtain the book,  The Courage of Sarah Noble , but I just checked it out at my library. I noticed that the majority of the literature guides were for books readily available at my library which makes it a very inexpensive option for literature study. First of all, what a delightful classic that I had never read. I enjoyed it immensely and so did the kids. We sat outside on the porc...

If you read my post from yesterday, you know what our First Day of June was like. It was a busy one.  We moved Kyndal and Collin into their first house after spending all weekend painting and prepping for the move. We also did some updating at our own house, as well. Here are my designated First Day photos, linking up with Nicole at Journey to Josie . Prepping for Sunday School Rick staining our front porch. My roses are blooming. The little family … and Brynne. Their fist groceries. All the pictures of their new house. Taylar bought this movie, and another Pokemon one, for Dawson. And now Brynne is obsessed with Pokemon, too. My newly painted front door. Changing up some colors.

This was the big weekend … the one where we moved Kyndal and Collin into their new house. I am so exhausted right now I can barely move my fingers to type. We accomplished more than I ever thought imaginable, and not just at their house. Here is a wrap-up of our weekend: On Friday, Collin and I drove to meet Rick to close on the house. I signed my papers and then shot out of there to get to Brynne's softball game that was back in our hometown just an hour later. Rick met me there to watch her game while Collin and Kyndal went back to the house with Collin's mom to start prepping the house for painting. After the game we immediately went to their house and started painting. They had taped off the bedroom. Rick taped off the living room while I started the precision work in the bedroom. Kyndal, Collin, Pam (Collin's mom), Taylar, Taylar's mom and Dawson started rolling. Then we moved to the living room while Rick cut in around the ceiling in the bedroom. He cut in ...

This was our last week of summer break. It was another relaxing and great week. But, again, no pictures. The Past Week in our Regular Life We have spent this past week preparing for Kyndal to move across town. This doesn't just include her, but Chloe as well. Kyndal has lived away from us for a time when she lived with her dad. Chloe has not. Now, before we get all weepy, Kyndal will be here every morning dropping off Chloe and probably expecting a packed lunch to go to school. Then she'll be here every evening to pick up Chloe and probably scam some more food. Until they are able to afford a washing machine, she'll be here doing her laundry. And, if Collin's work schedule keeps him away from home any evenings, you can bet she'll be parked on my couch because she hates to be alone. I am not worried about the transition. I am just more excited for her future. And, getting your first house is pretty cool. Dawson also completed his junior year of high school. I...

It is time for another edition of Poppins Book Nook and this month's theme was Folktales . I have had our book picked out for several weeks, but we take our summer break in the month of May so we haven't read it yet. We start school again on Monday and we will be devoting our entire first day to it. We will be learning about folktales in general, reading our chosen book, and learning all about the Hawaiian Islands. We will even have a special dinner. Please come back on Tuesday of next week when I post all about it. Until then, please feel free to start looking around at the other entries this month, and be sure to link up your blog post if you read a folktale in the month of May and did activities about it. An InLinkz Link-up Clip Art by  Melon Headz