I've got a bloggy secret! Find out next week!

I really like my OB. At this week's appointment, he had some extra time (most patients cancelled due to flooding) and we got to talking. We had an hour long conversation about the causes of skyrocketing STD's in the teen population, air quality on airplanes, Christian witness in a professional setting, and more. It was so much nicer than when Mr X was born - that OB practice had 8 docs and 4 midwives, and it seemed I never saw the same person twice until I had complications and "my" doctor started seeing me consistently. But when X was born, the assisting midwife was someone I had never even met.

Some friends of mine sent me a virtual baby shower. Now I'm in the market for a sling. I have one with rings, but I've never really LOVED it. Are the mei tei/Asian style wraps really as good as they say? The Maya wrap? I want to not drop the baby, nurse, and not get a backache. The sling with rings went over one shoulder and the weight wasn't distributed evenly. I also felt like I needed to keep a hand on the baby because he just didn't feel secure. But front carriers/snuglis aren't really nursing friendly. Recommendations, please!

Speaking of baby slings, Consumer Reports recommends against them. 4 babies have been hurt in the last FIVE years from falling out of them. They recommend using a stroller or infant carrier. The Common Room has some good points about Consumer Reports bias - and some mothers do actually want to touch their babies! Besides, a stroller's not exactly nursing friendly.

Wonder when they are going to recommend against parents using their arms to carry infants? I'm sure babies have been dropped at least once per year.

I found a new site with great activities for littles! Preschool Post offers lessons, printables, and and activities based around a theme (current theme is Spiders). I don't think 3 and 4 year olds need to sit at the school table and do worksheets all day, but it's nice to have something "schoolish" for them to do when they want to join their siblings in the classroom. I'm planning to print out some of the sequencing cards, and the Spider theme has lacing cards for littles to make their own spider web.

More thoughts about the swine flu. I'm not as worried about the swine flu decimating our population; so far, it seems to be about equal or even milder than the common flu.

I'm more worried about how people will react to the sickness. The National Guard has been called out in Wisconsin, there's talk floatiing around about mass vaccinations (of a vaccine that hasn't even been created yet), and states are declaring emergencies (possibly to get funding.) I applaud the aggressive, proactive approach to preventing the spread of the illness (although why do we need the National Guard, but don't need to close the border?).

However, "proactive" can easily cross over into mass hysteria, and that's why I stocked up on children's ibuprofen and other things. If people go nuts, I'm not going to want to go to the store (if it's open). Mexico has shut down government offices, schools, restaurants, and public gathering places. The same happened during last year's hurricane. There was rationing at the grocery store! Are you prepared for that?


I've got a bloggy secret! Oops, I already told you that!

Labels: 7 Quick Takes, education, Freebies, In The News, preparedness

Just for you, Lesley!

These are some of the blogs subbed in my bloglines.

Starry Sky Ranch (check out her links, too)

By Sun and By Candlelight (I love Dawn's seasonal planning and use her file crate system)

In the Heart of My Home (Elizabeth Foss's site. She's written several books)
Related: 4 real Forums
Related: Serendipity

Boys Plus Academy - public school teacher turned homeschooling mom

Trivium Academy - posts weekly updates and very detailed planning of Tapestry of Grace

Principaled Discovery - Homeschool watchdog, politics.

Three Plus Two - homeschool mother of 6, aged 1-12

Homeschooling with Joy

Wings and Prayers - Family life in a HS family, from Birdie's blog.

Shower of Roses - Catholic HS Mom living the liturgical year

Wildflowers and Marbles - more inspiration

Montessori Mama - Montessori is not just for littles!

Aut-2B-Home - Tammy HS her autistic teenage daughter (and also her son) using Charlotte Mason's approach.

(Of these, Serendipity and By Sun and Candlelight probably have the most influence on our schooling methods)

The Homeschool Classroom (group blog)

Chasing Cheerios - Montessori type activities for toddlers

Crafty Crow - tons of crafts for kids

Think! - One creative/critical thinking activity per week, and they encourage readers to send in their "solutions".

Happy Hearts At Home - always has interesting links!


Notebook Learning (free notebooking pages to print)

Freely Educate (posts free resources and links)

Waltzing Matilda (beautiful printable coloring pages for Catholic feast days and the liturgical year.)

And check out Blissfully Domestic - I'm going to be writing for their new Special Needs channel, but they have a Homeschool Channel, too. Mrs. Fussypants HS her 5 boys AND runs an online magazine!

Labels: education, Freebies, Linky love, Montessori, special education, Why We Homeschool

A friend passed this website on to me, and I was amazed I hadn't seen it before.

MedHelp mood tracker

It's a free online mood tracker for depression, emotional issues, and mania.

The same site has a ton of other applications available, too, including a pain tracker for chronic pain/fibromyalgia, an ovulation tracker, a thyroid tracker, and more. (Click on the tab "Track Your Health" to see them all.)

Free online help? Did I mention it's IN THE COMPUTER so I won't lose it on my desk? Works for Me!

Check out Shannon for more WFMW fun!

Labels: bipolar, Freebies, health, Special Needs, Works For Me Wednesday

I have so many school activity links they needed their own page!
(Disclaimer - many of these sites I marked to browse later, I haven't checked for objectionable content)

If you've been blessed by any of these links, leave me a note. What's your favorite homeschool site?

Reading/Literature
Free Phonics Worksheets
How to Read a Poem
Happy Hearts at Home Homeschool Library vintage texts
Rosetta Project children's books online
Narration, copywork, grammar - from a Catholic homeschool family
19th Century Schoolbooks
Repeat After Us online library and language lab



Writing
Basic Handwriting for Kids - printables
Printing Readiness from Donna Young
The Cursive Alphabet
Custom Tracer Page


Math
Mathquarium online games and activities
Googol Math online games and resources
Scratch free kids programming language from MIT


History
Easy Fun School History activites
Free Curriculum/Timelines
Faithful Citizenship from Catholic Conference of Bishops



Science
The Salt Page (beginning chemistry)
Fun Science Websites
Bird Templates for Nature Notebook
Free Coloring Pages
Preschool science activities


Religion
Catholic Religious Educators clipart, readings, etc.
Bible coloring pages
Bible crafts and activities


Lapbooks
Free Lapbooks at Homeschool Share
JoAnn's Lapbook Lessons
Free Lapbooks and Templates
Notebooking
Lapbooking on a Shoestring
Lapbooking on Squidoo

Election Lapbook
Dinosaur printable activities
Bee lapbook (we did this before we went to Bee City)
Lifecycle Wheel Template


Unit Studies
Homeschool Mom free unit studies
The Virtual Vine (preschool/kindergarten)


Worksheets
School Express
Googol Worksheets and Printable Games
Lucy Learns
Childcareland preschool printables
Dinosaurs to color
A to Z Printables
KizClub


File Folder Games
Apples
Links


Phys. Ed. and Hands On
Presidents Challenge Fitness
Lesson Plans for K'Nex and Legos


Art
Art takes time art through the ages
Picture Study Mater Amabilis
Drawing Lessons
KinderArt


Philosophies
Waldorf Family Network
Montessori Materials.org
Montessori Mom
Ambleside Online Charlotte Mason
Simply Charlotte Mason

Inspiration
St. Jerome Academy Montessori Pics
Guided Freedom and Self Education
Su-Chen Montessori Math Album
"I Get To!"


Resources
Cathswap new website
Heart of Wisdom Articles
Homeschool Marketplace Newsletter Archive
Underground History of American Education
Homeschool Toolbar

Labels: Catholic, education, Freebies, Linky love

I've heard that updating the new Mozilla will erase your bookmarks.

I thought I post a few of my "most important" ones here, where I can find them. I've said before that my blog is kind of a public journal for me, so consider this a really boring entry. Plus, I can throw some Linky Love to some of my favorite sites!

Although, many of them I don't even remember bookmarking - often if I am researching something and happen across something else, I bookmark it, and it languishes in my folder gathering cyber dust.

This is like letting your mother-in-law look under the bed or behind the fridge. It's surprisingly personal!

But, I'm really boring so you won't find too many titillating links. Unless you like vintage freebie printables.

Homemaking
Teaparty Girl
Household Notebook Planner
The Family Homestead
Vintage Homekeeper's Planner


School Organization
Starry Sky Ranch HMB forms etc.
Teacher Planning Forms
Unschooling and Planning
Homeschool Curriculum Reviews
Planning the School Year - Footprints on the Fridge
Dawn's File Folder System

Parenting
Small Manual of Civility Manners in the Catholic Home
HealthyToys.org
When Mom/Teacher Role doesn't work


Food
A Little Cookbook for Girls
Frugal Abundance
Practical Pantry everything you ever wanted to know about the staples
Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls
No Fail Pie Crust
Calcium Requirements

Catholic
Finding God liturgy and family life
Where is That in The Bible - essay on Tradition and Sola Scriptura
Sean's Pages - aplogetics
Hear the Gospel at Mass
Why Catholics Have a Pope
Catholic Culture
BibliaClerus Vatican resources, early Fathers, etc.
Women for Faith and Family
John 6 and the Eucharist
Catechism of Catholic Church searchable by keyword
Scriptural Rosary for Children
Amazing Catechists
Sanctifying Halloween

Religious Other
Evangelical Manifesto

Crunchy Granola Mama links
Natural Life Magazine
Healing Power of magnets - legitimate
Managing Post Partum Depression
Microchipping Public School Students
CFL Recycling
Drugs.com side effects, etc.

Self-Reliance
Solar Powered Trailer
Living off the Grid
100 Ft. Diet
Grow potatoes in a garbage can


Blog
Technorati Made Simple
Making Bloggy Buttons
Make Blog Banners totally need to do this. Someday. Eventually.
HTML True Color Chart

Coupons and Deals
Mommy Saves Big
Coupon Chief
Coupon Mom
Organic Grocery Deals
Online Coupons

Special Needs
Autism Evaluation Checklist
Anger Management for Children
Bipolar Complimentary Medicine
Disaboom for people with disabilities

Prolife and Politics
Sen. Obama's Voting Record
CQ Moneyline Campaign Finance, PAC's, etc.
Catholic Mom Framing the Healthcare Debate
REAL ID/ REAL nightmare
Girl Scouts Radicalism
No Room for Contraceptives
Prolife Doctors
Fighting P*rn*graphy
Test Tube Nation (article)

Stuff to Make and Do
Homemade Playdough with pics
3D Papercraft

Just Plain Interesting
Illegal Alien Tracking and crime statistics
Squalor Survivors
Texas Hold'Em Odds
Letterboxing North America

ClipArt and Graphics

Writing
Love Honor Vaccum Write from Home
Houston Writers and Editors
Absolute Write
Writer's Resources
Wordplayer
SimplyScripts

Of Interest Only to Me
SC Lawyer
Harrison Bergeron


If you liked any of these links, leave me note in the comments! (If you're not asleep by now...)

Labels: apologetics, bipolar, Blog, Catholic, children, cooking, education, Freebies, Frugal, homemaking, Linky love, politics, Prolife, special education, Special Needs, therapeutic diet, Working from Home

****UPDATED TO ADD****
In light of this news story, I think my email was not over the top.

China announce stability drive
From the article:

"The Beijing Olympics are approaching and properly carrying out petition and stability work, protecting social harmony and stability, and ensuring the Beijing Olympics go safely and smoothly has become a tough battle that every department at every level must win," said one report of a nationwide video conference on a stability drive that was held on Saturday.

"Now we are entering a state of war," said the report on a local government website in the eastern province of Zhejiang (http://www.dqnews.com.cn)...

... "Our most fundamental demand that is that zero go to Beijing, zero go to the province capital and there are zero mass petitions and mass incidents," a county official in the southwest province of Sichuan said, according to a local official website (http://www.scpc.gov.cn).

That "war" is on citizens who dare protest governmental abuses and corruption.

I love how what the world would call a "despotic crackdown", China calls a "stability drive". Kinda like a blood drive, except instead of helping accident victims, it's running in the streets.

Someone has to say something.

I like The Old Schoolhouse. Every Friday they send out Freebie Fridays, usually a buy one- get one kind of deal. I've even featured a few of the better ones here, including the reading program on my sidebar.

This week they offer an "awesome Summer 2008 Olympic Lapbook/Unit Study!" It "even includes a Bible verse to consider."

This made me a little testy, and I dashed off a too-quick email to the publisher:

I am very disappointed to see you offering an Olympics lapbook, an obvious tie-in to the Chinese Olympics.

China kills babies and forbids Christianity. They still drag people off in the middle of the night and took 2 million people's homes and businesses in order to built their Olympic stadium. Those people were left on the street with nothing. They execute prisoners without fair trials, and sell their body parts.

My children will not be watching the glorification of Beijing under the banner of "sports". I can't even imagine what Bible verse is being pushed to justify this kind of "fun homeschool tie-in".

Shame on you for promoting the Chinese Olympics!

Perhaps I should have cooled off a bit before hitting send... did I go to far? I have had no response.

Labels: China, education, Freebies, Olympics

This Old Schoolhouse is hosting a virtual summer reading program.

Summer Reading Splash has bookmark downloads, tracking sheets, and will reward kids for reading with an ebook.

Labels: Freebies

Hands of A Child is offering their deer lapbook for grades 3-6 as a freebie this quarter. It's a downloadable ebook with printables, and their lapbooks are so lovely!

Labels: education, Freebies

The Library of Congress is starting a Flickr page. All images are copyright free! There are over 3,000 in the collection right now, but eventually they want to get all 14 million online for our use.

Hear that? Copyright free!

These children are Titanic survivors:


Here are some Polish immigrants striking the mills in New York. How old are those kids???
Those women out West were tough, baby!


H/T Wisebread blogger Paul Michael

Labels: Blog, Freebies

Homeschool EStore is offering a free Charlotte Mason timeline (Century Chart style) with instructions of how to use it.

If you sign up for their email, they will send you a new freebie download every Friday! Sometimes it's a "free with purchase", sometimes it's a free download.

Labels: education, Freebies

Courtesy of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

Go here and enter the promo code UnitStudies4School.

I hurt my toe (again!) and didn't get much done this weekend, plus I need to spend time today making a Franciscan habit for an 8 year old without a pattern. Posting will most likely be light, unless I get bored and/or all of the littlies nap at the same time, in which case posting may be heavy. Apparently I'd make a good weatherman, with forecasts like those!

Labels: education, Family Life, Freebies

We tried lapbooking last month. Each child was supposed to choose a planet or astronomical theme and make a lapbook. We've never made lapbooks before, but looked up several online. Mr P did not like it at all, and it was a moderate success. Eventually he warmed up to the concept, but our first lapbooks are a little... pathetic.
I think for our next one I'll actually use a program so they'll have a better idea of what they are, how to make them, and get some creative inspiration!
Mr S is 5 and in Kindergarten and wanted to make one too. His planet was Saturn and his lapbook isn't bad for someone who is still learning to color in the lines and who can't read yet!

Some good candidates:
Free Art Appreciation at Hands of a Child - this looks like a good overview of art from the 16th-20th centuries, covering composition, types of art, elements of art, and lots of different artists, from Leonardo DaVinci to Salvadore Dali.

Free Modesty Lapbook from Homeschool Estore. Looks fun! I'll probably adapt it for Miss E, she's only in first grade, but I like the scope of it and it has instructions for lots of fun little minibooks, flaps, and boxes that we can use for other lapbooks.

A bunch of free ones from Homeschool Helper, including George Washington, Chemistry, Weather, and more. Lots of ideas for flaps, boxes, windows, minibooks, etc. on the right side of the page!

Preschool Bible Lapbooks at LittleBlots. The Adam and Eve one looks cute for Mr S who really liked making his Saturn folder.

Labels: education, Freebies

5 Minutes for Mom is giving away another vacuum - a pink one this time, and they will also donate the value of their vacuums to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. I don't support Susan G. Komen Foundation, but I don't know much about the BCRF - at any rate, the vacuum is a free giveaway!

Do you think my husband would use a pink vacuum? He would if it were a Dyson! Go enter!

Labels: Freebies

*** UPDATED *** 9/18
Apparently the link is no longer working. I downloaded the Mary Cassatt program (pdf) so e-mail me and I'll forward it to you - mommyjo2[at]yahoo{dot}com.

Hands of a Child is offering a free download of a project pack for a lapbook:

Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt was one of the original impressionists, and a woman. She would probably be a much better subject for study during women's history month than the traditional icons of Amelia Earhart and Oprah! (Here's what I really think about women's history month)

I found an art book of her paintings in the bargain bin of Barnes and Nobles for $3.98 last year, or you could purchase art cards from Dover Publications for less than $3. They also have a coloring book of Mary Cassatt paintings.

Check back to HOAC, their next freebie is a unit on Pilgrims.

Labels: education, Freebies