Monthly Archives: March 2009

Homeschool: Learning how to cartoon

Kelly and I talked briefly yesterday about turning the Betty Blonde comic strip into a little bit more of a formal, homeschool exercise.  Up until now, Kelly and Christian have drawn their comic strips as a hobby.  We decided that … Continue reading

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Re-organizing again

I had a lovely birthday! My wonderful family in Monterrey surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of tulips, mom and Christian and I made chocolate cupcakes with pink cream cheese frosting (Mrs. G, I’m hoping to make the cake soon. … Continue reading

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Homeschool: C++ Programming

Christian got reinvigorated on his C++ Programming again this weekend.  I think part of it was because Lorena and Kelly left us in the Barnes and Noble for four or five hours over two sessions on Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday … Continue reading

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Christian’s award

Christian received this in the mail today:

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Happy 15th Birthday Kelly!!!

Kelly was a beautiful baby.  Happy Birthday!  We love you!

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The belly of the beast

It can get really lonely when you are a long way from home.  I am 3000 miles away from all of my family.  I must admit that, being Milo’s son, I can’t lay claim to being from one of the … Continue reading

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Learning can be hard and messy

The kids and I had an interesting discussion last night on the way home from our bible study about the frustration of learning difficult things.  We talked about three frustrations in particular even though I do not think we identified … Continue reading

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Homeschool: How to prepare for CLEP tests – Freshman College Composition

Note: This post is one in a series on how we prepared our homeschooled children to take various College Level Examination Program tests. The introductory post for this series explains why we take these tests, what parts of the preparation … Continue reading

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Weight loss backsliding (again)

I got a very embarrassing note from Lyle yesterday.  It said, “I see no one has posted for a while, hope you all are not gaining everything back.”  I have not thought about the weight loss death match (see the … Continue reading

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Durham Performing Arts Center

We went to the Durham Performing Arts Center to see Fiddler on the Roof on Friday night.  It was an amazing good time.  The venue was absolutely fabulous.  It was easy to get there, the parking was easy going in … Continue reading

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Stripey Scarf!

Here’s the scarf that I finished last week:

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Fiddler on the Roof!

Tonight we are all going to see Fiddler on the Roof at the Durham Performing Arts Center for my birthday. I am super excited!!! Jenna is coming with us, and that’s all she and I have been able to talk … Continue reading

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A friend passes away

We got the sad news yesterday that our dear friend, Edie Plews passed away yesterday morning.  We met in Joe and Edie’s home in Newberg for Sunday morning fellowship meeting for many years.  We loved her very much.  Our condolences … Continue reading

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Homeschool: How to prepare for CLEP tests – Introduction

One of our readers, Ruthie, and I have had some discussion in the comment section of this blog about what we do to prepare for the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) tests. Most homeschoolers do not have access to the … Continue reading

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Annual “State of the Blog” post: Up over 6000 hits for the year

On March 19 of last year the counter on the front page of this blog had a little over 28,000 hits.  At the time of this posting the hit counter shows we are up over 6000 hits to to 62,585.  … Continue reading

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CLEP Test day! – RESULTS!

Lorena will drive the kids to Johnston Community College in Smithfield this afternoon to take CLEP tests.  This will be Christian’s first.  He will take the Freshman College Composition.  He seems to be very well prepared so we are excited … Continue reading

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Silence: Not always golden

The vast majority of the big events in my life have involved waiting in hallways. Waiting to take a test, waiting to play the piano, waiting to receive a set of scores…  Last weekend I sat in an uncomfortable plastic … Continue reading

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Precalculus: Teaching Textbooks or Thinkwell? (Part 1)

In the last post about math, I wrote about why we switched from Singapore Math to Teaching Textbooks when the kids started Algebra at the request of a friend.  We are huge fans of both of those programs.  They served … Continue reading

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Paying the price for pickled jalapeños

We went to lunch at Mo’s yesterday with Troy and Youngin.  I do not know if it was what I ate there or something I ate later, but I paid a BIG price last night for whatever it was.  We … Continue reading

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Buying “project” furniture

Ever since Troy finished this project*, Lorena has been busting my chops.She says, “Why can’t you be more like Troy.”I say, “Well to start with, he has a lot more hair than me…”Thick in the head though I tend to … Continue reading

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