So have you ever heard of the Horton Hears A Who! by Dr. Seuss?   It is a cute story and my children also enjoyed the movie.  Not only is it a great plot and entertaining it also has a very pro-life message!

I found the following review of Horton Hears A Who! HERE:

"For those of you not familiar with the plot of Horton Hears a Who, it’s about an elephant who is made aware of an entire world of people living on a speck of dust.  Horton makes it his life’s mission to protect the little Who’s from disaster.  Because – as the catch-phrase goes – A person’s a person, no matter how small!
The pro-life message of HHaW is unmistakable.  And, for those who may not know, there’s actually another book with Horton – Horton Hatches an Egg, which is very pro-life too."


While writing this post, I just learned about the book Horton Hatches the Egg.  Maybe we'll add this book to our collection too.

Last week, a 16 year old homeschooler in our homeschool group organized and directed a week long drama camp at her house for 23 younger children in our homeschool group and guess what skit they performed this past Friday night as a closing for the camp?  Yep, Horton Hears A Who!

Each day at the camp the actors and actresses learned their lines and then they painted the props for the skit.  Below are some of the props that were painted.  The kids did a great job and had simple, but adorable costumes!  
After the 15minute skit, all the participants and their families and friends enjoyed a potluck supper and swam in a neighborhood pool!  Here are some yummy treats that were decorated with the Horton theme:

One of our moms carved an elephant (Horton) out of watermelon. So cute and clever!


Another mom hand drew Horton out of icing for this cookie cake:


In was a great drama camp week for all and I think the children and teenagers that were involved will always remember that "A person's a person no matter how small!"

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Below is a list of all that I hope to accomplish this 2011-2012 homeschool year with my 4 Cupcakes! I have included links in each subject area in case anyone is interested in finding out more about each resource.  Just click on the text link to get further information.  For a peek at our homeschool classroom you can visit this post HERE from last year as my classroom setting will be the same for this year.

If you would like to see what other Catholic Homeschoolers are teaching this year you can go  HERE at  Catholic Mothers Online to see other link ups!

I have alot of material to cover, but I hope to enjoy the adventure with the following curriculum:

Family Morning Devotion:  I call this time "Couch Catechism" because the children and I plan to start each day around 8:30 AM (that's my start time goal anyway) on our family room couch to say prayer intentions, say the Morning Offering Prayer, read a devotion from Jesus Calling while my children look up the scripture to go with each devotion (thanks Melissa for my Jesus Calling book win last year, we are enjoying this book!), read the saint for each day from Saints for Young Readers for Every Day, Vol. I and Vol. II, read a Friendly Defenders Catholic Card, and read a little out of Child's Bible History.


Curriculum for Cupcake #1, 6th grade daughter

Handwriting: finish Handwriting 5 for Young Catholics

Daily Oral Language/Grammar:  Language of God, Level E


Religion: My Catholic Faith Delivered (Following Christ, Grade 6, Online Course) , The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism, No. 2 and HERE is a review of the Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechisms from Cathy Duffy Reviews

Math: Teaching Textbooks 6

Spelling:  My Catholic Speller, Level F

Reading: Literature Guides from Memoria Press, Grade 6, (Anne of Green Gables, Treasure Island, The Bronze Bow, The Hobbit)

Writing:  WriteShop I

History:  Tuesday and Thursday with siblings, Ancient Greece with Famous Men of Greece and The Greenleaf Guide to Famous Men of Greece as my spine and supplementing with several books, including D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths and Evan-Moor History Pockets, Ancient Greece

Science:  Apologia Astronomy with siblings. I bought the science kit from Creation Sensation where all the materials for each of the science experiments in Apologia Astronomy are boxed up and mailed to your door.  I also purchased an Astronomy Notebooking Journal for my children to use and fill out.

Latin:  Latina Christina I with siblings.

Spanish: will be taught by a friend of mine who is fluent in Spanish

Map Skills: Maps, Charts, Graphs, Level F 


Art:  Each Friday afternoon with siblings.  I hope to continue with the Mark Kistler online art classes that my children enjoy alot and then every other Friday do the Meet the Masters art program that is also online.

Typing:  Typing Instructor for Kids

PE:  recreation soccer in the Fall and Spring

Music:  weekly piano lessons with a friend of ours who teaches piano

Curriculum for Cupcake #2, 4th grade son

Handwriting: Cursive Writing Skills for Left-Handed Students

Daily Oral Language/Grammar:  Language of God, Level C 

Religion:  Faith and Life (Jesus Our Guide), The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism, No.1,  work on earning the Religious Emblem for Boy Scouts

Math: continue with Right Start Math, Level C

Spelling:  continue with All About Spelling, Level 3/ My Catholic Speller, Level C

Reading: continue with Pathway Readers

Writing: Writing Tales Level One

History: see Cupcake #1 Curriculum

Science: see Cupcake #1 Curriculum

Latin:  see Cupcake #1 Curriculum

Spanish: see Cupcake #1 Curriculum

Map Skills: Maps, Charts, Graphs, Level D

Art:  see Cupcake #1 Curriculum

PE:  recreation soccer team in the Fall and Spring

Music:  weekly piano lessons with a friend of ours who teaches piano

Our son will continue to be involved in his local Boy Scout Pack.

Curriculum for Cupcake #3, 2nd grade daughter


Handwriting: Catholic Heritage Handwriting Series, Level 2: Finding the Way

Daily Oral Language/Grammar:  Rod and Staff, Preparing to Build, English 2


Religion:  Faith and Life (Jesus Our Life),  First Communion Catechism, other First Reconciliation and First Communion lessons and resources to prepare for these sacraments in the Spring.  I plan to do a First Communion scrapbook with my daughter like I did with my older 2 children before they received First Communion.

Math: continue with Math U See, Alpha and then Beta

Spelling:  My Catholic Speller, Level A

Reading:  Pathway Readers

Writing:  WriteShop Primary

History: see Cupcake #1 Curriculum

Science: see Cupcake #1 Curriculum

Latin:  see Cupcake #1 Curriculum

Spanish: see Cupcake #1 Curriculum

Map Skills:  Maps, Charts, Graphs, Level B

Art:  see Cupcake #1 Curriculum

PE:  recreation soccer team in the Fall and Spring

Music:  weekly piano lessons with a friend of ours who teaches piano

For Cupcake #4, Pre-K, age 3 1/2 daughter

In my "spare" time, (Ha!Ha!), I might get around to teaching my 3 year old a free program I found on the computer called Brightly Beaming Steps to Reading Program, Preparatory Curriculum

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So do you ever have a pot that looks like this at the bottom where the food sticks to it and a soapy sponge or rag just want clean it well enough and you find you have to dig your nails into the rag to try to scrap it clean?

Have you ever used a dryer sheet (any brand will do) to clean dirty pots?  Yep, a dryer sheet!  I don't know where or when I picked up this tip, but it works.  Now I know dryer sheets can be expensive and I don't use one each time I clean dishes, but since I get my dyer sheets on sale and with coupons, I will pull one out to clean a dirty pot that just won't get clean with a rag or sponge.


So I just put warm water in the pot and scrub the bottom with the dryer sheet and it's amazing how quickly the food comes off the bottom!


Here is the pot nice and clean with little effort from me since the dryer sheet seems to easily lift off any stubborn food left at the bottom.  Note: I did rinse the pot with dish detergent and water after using the dryer sheet.  :)

So have you heard of this cleaning tip before?  If not, give it a try and see what happens and let me know if it worked for you.  Happy Cleaning!

Do you know a special little girl who loves dolls, especially American Girl dolls?  If so, I wanted to give a shout out for a friend of mine who makes beautiful clothes for these dolls.  The designer, Jane Fulton, has a beautiful collection to dress any American Girl doll, 18 inch doll, and even Bitty Baby dolls no matter the season or occasion!

Since my hubby and I met on the beach we had a beach themed wedding cake complete with realistic-looking and delicious candy seashells cascading down the cake. Nancy Hearn made the cake so beautiful! She also made the shells so realistic that some of our wedding guests would not bite into them because they thought they were real seashells!

One tradition that we have done each year on our anniversary since our first anniversary is watch our video from our wedding. Now we did get married before the digital age so the color quality is...90ish, but the memories of our day continue to be with us each time we play our video. We did copy it onto a DVD to help make it last longer. It is a joy to now watch the video with our cupcakes as they ask why they weren't there to celebrate with us ;-) Each year we are not only reminded of our holy vows we took in front of our Lord, family, and friends, but we also get to see friends and loved ones that are no longer with us here on earth. You know I still get "butterflies" and filled with excitement just before I watch the part of the video where I'm about to meet my true love at the altar and begin our lives as husband and wife!

 

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Even after I watched this 4 1/2 minute video about the 3D Printer making a working wrench, I still can't believe it, can you?



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This past weekend my son's Boy Scout Pack met at our local serpentarium to see all kinds of rare and exotic snakes, crocodiles, lizards, and other interesting creatures found all over the world.

We saw these beautiful birds as we entered the building.