Homeschooling

Not only did my two kids get baptized yesterday (praise the Lord), but my cousin's daughter made that same choice a week or two ago. I prefer pool water, myself. Or clear creek water. However, a dirty cow tank and a cold baptistery is better than nothing!Izzy and Uncle CottonMy children had been talking about this moment for a long time. They have been studying and learning for years now about the Bible and what it means for them. We waited a little bit to make sure they understood things and were delighted when they made the final decision and told us they were ready.Morgan was glad they…

In case you haven't seen this delightful meme, stop over at the link behind the graphic and find out what the rules are. Basically, you just follow a simple format and post your own answers to her questions. Not rocket science, and very enjoyable to just share your thoughts for the day. After you post, you stop over at her blog each Monday and include your link on her Simple Woman linky so you can share your thoughts with others. Here's mine for this evening (Wednesday night)...Outside My Window... darkness after a pastel rainbow sunsetI am thinking... that I'm glad I'm not planning to be out…

Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order! Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control. - Denis DiderotI got a few questions via email from a pre-homeschooling mom (she's planning ahead to homeschool her kids and wanted to get a jump start on figuring out a schedule - before her kids are even born). Wow. That's an organized mom-to-be! I'm not sure I even had a car seat by the time we needed to go home from the hospital with our first one. I think I had to borrow one! That's the kind of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants mom I am!Scheduling is…

We're back from our trip to Houston. Thanks for providing me with a weekend free of blogging. Aside from a few comments and emails, I stayed totally away from the computer for nearly 3 days! My political bomb post was set to appear magically on Saturday; so for once, I actually had my entire weekend free. Planning ahead - who would have thought?! Sadly, I had to spend some of this holiday weekend attending a funeral and in the ER getting ANOTHER catheter. Something is really wrong with my body - maybe it is just age? I hear it happens to the best of us. Pregnancy seems to be for people in…

I try and steer clear of a lot of political harassment here at my site, but I got an email today that nearly made me fall out of my chair laughing. And I needed a good laugh - considering the tone of this political election and all the mud that has been oozing out of the media. Somebody has to stick their neck out in blogland and take some heat. Why not me?First the laughs, and then I'll just tell it like I see it? Shall I?Somebody needs to send that agent a card and thank him for shooting straight. Heaven knows people need to cut to the real issues since Obama only knows how to dance around…

Thank you all so much for your comments and well-wishes. I am making a good recovery. The food poisoning or stomach bug or whatever it was has finally left me alone, and yesterday I was even allowed out of bed for a while by my very protective husband. :) Today I am feeling more like my old self, though I find I run out of steam very quickly. I guess we'll be laying low here at Casa Bonny Glen for a while. To address a few questions from the comments (and comments, by the way, are split between the Typepad and Wordpress blogs because some readers still seem to be landing on the old site…

We had a bit of an adventure yesterday. Not the good kind. But before I go on, I'll hasten to say that the baby is fine, and I'm okay, and all will be well. Whew. I seem to have contracted some kind of stomach bug or food poisoning. No one else in the family is sick (a good thing). I woke up early yesterday and the vomiting started right away, along with other kinds of g/i nastiness. When Scott got up and saw what kind of shape I was in, he called his office to say he'd be taking the day off. Which turned out to be a very good thing. Jane had an early-morning orthodontist appointment…

Another old Scots ballad I've been humming almost incessantly lately. The water is wide, I canna cross o'er. Neither have I wings to fly. Give me a boat that can carry two, And both shall row, my love and I. A ship there is, And she sails the sea. She's loaded deep as deep can be. But not so deep As the love I'm in... I know not if I sink or swim. I love these old songs so very much. This one goes way, way back, and has many variations, some Scottish, some English. The most common version, the one I've quoted above, goes on to tell a very sad tale of love lost, betrayal, faithlessness. But I…

Half my subscribers (to the Wordpress feed) seem to have been unsubbed. Among the half remaining, a bunch of you are being redirected to this site by the feed instead of the Wordpress site. If you wouldn't mind popping over there and resubbing, I'd be ever so grateful. Thanks. All I can say is ARGH. And sorry for the inconvenience.

...it's because your IP address is being blocked, for some mysterious reason. I'm talking about the WordPress site I moved Bonny Glen to last March. During the past week, I've heard from several readers that they are suddenly unable to load that site. (Anything at melissawiley.com, including melissawiley.com/blog, where the blog is.) If you, too, are unable to load that site, please let me know. I can send your IP address to my web person and have you unblocked. (You can look up your IP address at http://whatismyip.com.) In the meantime, I have started double-posting new posts both here (at…

Todd Plalin is obviously proud of his wife and proud of his country. "If I’d had a crystal ball a few years ago, I might have asked a few more questions when Sarah decided to join the PTA. It wouldn’t have mattered, though; when my wife starts talking about reform, corruption and making government work for the people, it’s just best to get out of the way." Do you think Todd Palin's support of

A reader writes and asks, "I have only read your blog a handful of times, so I don't really know who you are or what you believe. However, I thought I would look at your blog because in light of this controversial election, I thought I would see what your thoughts were. I can't decide from what I have read what your views are. Are you for Sarah Palin? I am not for her because of the many

It's always a treat to read what the lefties are saying after the Republicans have a good night, but commentary on Palin's speech last night was absolutely ridiculous. Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Dish offered this terse bit of criticism, "Did I just see Cindy holding Trig? I mean: can we have it one way or the other? Either the family is out of bounds or it is in the spotlight. Brandishing a

Here's an excerpt from Palin's speech tonight answering the charge of inexperience, "I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids’ public education better. When I ran for city council, I didn’t need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families,

Not only is Sarah Palin reversing roles in her own family, she's forcing many liberal feminists to reverse their position on the role of mothers - when the mother is a conservative mother of five. I have to admit it is sort of fun to watch Washington Post writer Sally Quinn a bit flumoxed by McCain's choice of a working mother; even saying that her nomination is a "distraction" because no one is

According to an August 12 report from KXLY in Spokane, Washington, the Department of Child Protective Services for nearby Colville has come under investigation after a number of parents and legal guardians complained about the department’s practices: removing children from perfectly good homes, splitting families for no apparent reason, and treating legal guardians with great disrespect.Added to parental complaints is a letter by local area physicians claiming they have no confidence in the Colville DCPS office. All by itself, the story should raise concerns, but Colville is not alone.

As Ronald Reagan used to say when debating political opponents, “There you go again!” It would be appropriate to say the same thing to the state of California, who is doing its best to undermine the vital role parents play in the lives of their children. While everyone’s attention has focused on the recent court case In re Rachel L., waiting to see if the right of parents to homeschool their children would be upheld by California courts, tactics of the University of California higher education systems were flying under the radar. UC officials adopted a policy last year which dictates…

Contact your Representative today and urge them to support the Parental Rights Amendment. The Parental Rights Constitutional Amendment bill has just been introduced in the House of Representatives! Our bill number is H. J. Res 97. You can read the language of the bill by visiting http://thomas.loc.gov and searching for the bill number. Rep. Pete Hoekstra introduced the proposed constitutional amendment which is designed to preserve and protect parental rights from future erosion. Preserving parental rights for generations to come is an issue that concerns every parent across this nation.

Part I of an In-depth Look at Article 18 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child During our series on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, most of the articles we have considered have focused on the relationship between the state and the child. Article 18 is therefore unique in its emphasis on the responsibilities of parents, and the supervised relationship that these parents have with the state. Article 18 is also one of the more complex articles in the Convention, divided into three sections that address distinct facets of the relationship between parents and the state.

Disagreement Abounds as Botswana Considers Implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child Botswana’s Local Government minister Margaret Nasha is calling on the nation’s Parliament to pass the a new children’s rights bill that would both “domesticate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child” and “make sure that the best interest of the child is paramount in the performance of the functions of the various authorities tasked with protecting and caring for children.” Botswana originally approved the UN Convention on the Rights of…

How much trouble can a bored preschooler get into while you are trying to help your older children with their lessons? Don't answer that. Instead, let's just focus on providing your preschooler with some fun activities as his own version of "schoolwork." Preschoolers can begin to learn school-time skills with a few simple projects of their own. Try some of these activities by setting up your preschooler with his own individual work area, just as though he were another "real" student, but your space allowances will determine whether your preschooler is seated near his siblings or in his own…

This day started with such promise. You planned the lessons, and everyone took their places, but then something, somewhere went wrong. Very wrong. And you may have no idea why. Go fix yourself a refreshing beverage, and let's see if we can analyze what happened.In my personal vocabulary, a "bad homeschool day" has one basic meaning: We didn't accomplish all of the lessons that I had planned for us to do. There can be multiple causes for this "failure," which is probably not as much of an actual failure as it is just not hitting the bull's-eye of your intended target of Lessons Mastered. To…

Do you need a new idea for keeping the kiddies occupied indoors when it's too hot to play outside? Are you looking for a "down time" activity? Have you had it with the constant noise of TV and kids and more TV? Here is something that will occupy their minds as well as their hands, stir their imaginations, and give your ears a few moments of blissful solace: a box of felt pieces.This was a favorite activity for my tactile child. It makes a great "lap toy" for quiet time. I started with some leftover pieces of craft felt, cutting them into geometric shapes and random shapes. A piece of flannel…

An interesting idea occurred to me when we were driving home late a few nights ago. My throat was dry, so I pulled a box of Tic-Tacs out of my purse, shook some pieces into my hand (without turning on a light), and popped them into my mouth. As I rolled the candies around with my tongue, I began trying to count them to see just how many there were. The box that usually releases only one or two pieces with a good shake had instead given me a mouthful in the dark. One, two. One, two, three, four. No. One, two, three... One... two... three... four... FIVE? Yes, Five. A number that would have…

You had finally found your homeschooling "groove." Lessons were zipping along, your students were working like well-oiled machines, and then it happened: something came along that broke that wonderful, systematic rhythm. You may have known it was on the calendar, but that still didn't prevent it from upsetting your entire homeschooling apple cart. Now you feel as though your students may never regain their previous momentum. Rather than taking an entire day off, you may be able to salvage the remaining portion of an interrupted day and manage to keep enough of the energy that the interruption…

My Franklin Covey planner has a thought for each day. I really like this thought:"If you want to make minor, incremental changes and improvement, work on practices, behavior or attitude. But if you want to make significant, quantum improvement, work on paradigms."Stephen Covey----------Technorati tagslifebalancelifebalance

I enjoyed David Kirkpatrick's column The Difficulty of School Reform. He writes about why it will be impossible to fix government schools:-----------It should be obvious by now, as more than one person has concluded, that the public school system cannot be reformed. At the very least it might be recognized that logic has nothing to do with the way it is organized. If the process by which students are educated was based on logic, the public school system would not exist. -----------I am afraid David is right. The current school system is broken, probably beyond repair. Over the years thousands…

Recently there has been a push back from many in education on school choice. A recent claim is that school choice isn't very effective. Allowing parents to pick which schools their children attend doesn't raise test scores.Paul Weyrich challenges this claim. Some Empirically Proven Value in School Choice:----------One of the arguments which opponents of school choice always make is that it would adversely affect the public school system. Opponents claim that the alternative schools would siphon off the best students, leaving those who remain who are the least able and the poorest and most…

I found the word clouds of John McCain & Sarah Palin's speeches fascinating.Has anyone seen word clouds for Obama and Biden?(Hat tip: Instapundit)----------Technorati tagsmccainsarahpalinobamaBiden

I read a variety of blogs, more than just homeschooling. One of the things I've noticed is how quickly people are taking sides on Sarah Palin. She's gone from an unknown to widely recognized in seven days. Google blog search reports 255,000 hits! Just amazing.Sarah Palin seems to either be the next great politician, or someone who is going to take our country into ruin. Last night it occurred to me that Sarah Palin is a political Rorschach inkblot test. People seem to find in Sarah what they are looking for.Part of this is driven by which side people are already on. If a blogger is pushing…

So I was talking to my mom (again) and the possibility came up (again) about her having her very own blog. She will talk about cats, china, shopping deals, food, and how she’s trying to downsize and live in the country. That last bit will be remarkably like Green Acres, I’m sure. What do YOU think, audience of mine? © Andrea for AtypicaLife dot net, 2008. | Permalink | 4 comments Please click through to comment. Add to del.icio.us Search blogs linking this post with Technorati Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under I Forgot To Pick A Category.

Today I’m beginning a series of weekly posts about making money online and how moms (or dads) like you can do it. If you’re not interested, that’s fine; I’m not changing the focus of the blog permanently, and you can skim or skip the entries. It’s just that lately I’ve been in work mode, networking with other WAHMs, and talking to more moms who’d like some extra cash. Just passing on what I’ve learned. Since I started working at home back in November, I took notice of the moms I knew online that were also working at home, and what they did to…

Ron is home all this week. Yay! He comes and checks on me while I’m working, helps me get organized and takes more of the load when he’s home. We were supposed to go n vacation. Not a big vacation, but elsewhere in the province overnight. Just a couple days. Our province isn’t THAT big, you know. But instead, we have 4 huge loads of gravel in our yard because we are re-doing our septic field. Any why are we doing this? Because the neighbors behind us called the Department of Health and complained. I’m sure you’re thinking something like, well, if it was a legit…

I know, I know. I have to update at some point.Not much going on but work work work, and for some reason today is like Fall. For now, here’s a meme I saw at both Meg’s and Carrie’s. Bold those you have tried. Strike through those you wouldn’t eat on a bet. Italicize any item you’ll never eat again. *Asterisk any items you’d be interested in trying but have not yet. Underline anything you eat regularly (more than once a month-ish). ?Questionisk any items you’ve never heard of (there will be a lot of these!) 1. Venison 2. *Nettle tea 3. Huevos rancheros 4. Steak…

Hi. I’m in my new office, do I look different? I’m on the second floor, in the small bedroom, the one we called the nursery, the one we used as a bedroom for half the winter because it wasn’t as cold as the other room in the North corner, the one with “KATIE” stenciled on the window frame, coordinating pastel wallpapers and matching Noah’s Ark border. For a small room, it has two doors and two windows. It gets great morning light and if I sit at the computer too early, the screen is hard to read. No worries, a couple more months and the sun will move around…

I have been getting telemarketing calls for the last couple of days from a company called The learning Center. The number they called me from is 2695372097. They use one of those automated dialing systems so that means that they call me, and spend ficve minutes saying "Hello.... Hello... Hello" before finally hanging up. They called me again today and this time I got a human after the third

The Blog Carnival of Homeschooling is up and running at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCPA/ Enjoy! Thanks for sharing your posts!Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com

As a homeschooling mom, I am truly a laborer for my family. I am a driver, some days driving back and forth numerous times to drop kids off at classes, to picking up lunch, to go to sports and social activities. I am a tutor, helping my children learn subjects they cannot learn on their own or that they need extra help in. I am an educational advocate, looking for and finding resources

In addition to writing for Families.com about homeschooling, I have recently been hired to write for Examiner.com website under the education blog. It's great fun. I have been there a week and have already made enemies! (Well, not exactly, but you know how blogs are.) Here is the link to my page. Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog Visit

I have always said that the best way to teach children is to not even let them know they are learning. Of course this is easier to do with elementary aged kids than middle and high school kids are there is not as much educational software available for older kids as there is for younger kids. When we first started homeschooling, we took full advantage of software such as Math Blaster, Reading

Apparently I am an over-protective mom who needs to cut the cord before my kids rebels and turns into a serial killer. Chime in with your comments over at New Jersey Moms Blog. ©2008 PHAT Mommy. All Rights Reserved..Similar Posts:No, I STILL Haven’t Updated My Blog New From Me, Things to See In Defense of the Alpha Mom and Other Labels

I seem to have some bad luck when it comes to contests. A year or more ago I tried to give away a Cars DVD and the first winner chosen did not answer my emails. Last month, I offered a free blog design to someone who subscribed to my RSS feed. Again - the winner is not answering. I just picked a winner in the Build-A-Bear gift card contest and - can you guess? - the winner is not responding to my emails. The emails are not bouncing back, so I’m at a loss for what the problem could be. So perhaps a little public shout-out? The winner of a free blog design is Christine of Big Pink Cookie.

The PHAT Family is visiting relatives this weekend and meeting my new nephew for the first time. He is 3 weeks old and sweet as can be. More photos to come later, but now we’re off to see the Clone Wars movie and later, PHAT Daddy (who has started a blog - OMG - more details to come) and I are going out to a nice dinner with ADULTS ONLY. Blogged with the Flock Browser ©2008 PHAT Mommy. All Rights Reserved..Similar Posts:The Aliens Are Back Contest Winners, Why Won’t You Contact Me? And The Oscar Goes To?

Over the past couple years a lot of bloggers have bashed public relations professionals. They don’t get it. They send us form letters blatantly demonstrating that they do not read our blogs and often don’t even take the time to discover our names. They ask for something for nothing and the mommy bloggers for free. But I’ve been seeing a shift lately. Bloggers are hot commodities and companies who want to reach our audiences are figuring out how to do it. Case in point: Build-A-Bear Workshop. I got an email from their Social Media Strategist (love that title) which I will…

I love to give gifts, but frankly, I suck at it. I struggle over choosing the right gift and hate resorting to the gift card. But recently I’ve found a secret weapon: my friend Carli. She is a genius when it comes to gift ideas and has become known among her friends as “The Present Professor.” Cool, huh? So cool, in fact, that we’ve decided to start a gift-giving advice site. She’ll be giving the advice and I’ll be helping with design, promotion and marketing. The site is in development and we’d love your help to guide us. Please help us out by…

Nothing new here except Josiah lost more teeth. And the baby is really cute. Caleb is almost 13!! And Margarita is full grown. The girls have gone wild. And I got my nose pierced. (It's a long story)

I want another one!

¡sı ʇɐɥʇ ʎɥʍ ɹǝpuoʍ ı ¡uʍop ǝpısdn pǝddıןɟ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʇı ǝʞıן sןǝǝɟ pןɹoʍ ǝןoɥʍ ɹnoʎ sǝɯıʇǝɯos 'ʍouʞ noʎ

I swear, this woman is me only she can write. I can't!

I have a walker!  Simon is walking all over the place and being his cute little self.  He can entertain himself now and that is so fun to watch.  He'll play with his toys or roll around the floor.  He hands me things off the floor just to hear me say "Thank You" in my sing- songy voice.  He is the cutest baby in the world:) Tonight is the last swimming lesson.  YAY!  I hate running around.  I

Why should the lord of the country fly about like a fool? If you let yourself be blown to and fro, you loose touch with your root. If you let restlessness move you, you loose touch with who you are. -Tao Te Ching We had a conference of sorts. This time we tried top down planning. In the past I’ve used bottom up planning and it went like this: “Ooooh, an art class nearby. Hey, listen, there’s kid pilates. Look, so and so is offering a class on corn rowing!” And then my kids, from behind their respective books and video consoles went “Sure!” in a dreamy, far…

(Eerily glowing feet are just one of the pictures I hoped to share with you here in the slide show before I passed out from sleepiness.) Trying to get a slide show to work by pasting HTML in isn’t always a good idea after 11pm, but hey wow, sometimes it pays to look at your dashboard when you use Word Press. You might run across some incoming links you didn’t know existed and you might find nice people who link to you and who also point out that you have made it to Alltop’s list which is something you might not even know existed until then. That said, maybe you should go to…

On the way back from Philly we took the Cardinal through 9 states. It wasn’t quite direct and halfway through the night the bathrooms ran out of flush water. We curled up awkwardly on our seats and tried to sleep. Cell service was non-existent as we drifted through the misty blue ridge mountains. The Bulgarian guy quizzing the metalhead about American culture kept us enthralled though. “In America, guns are everywhere, just laying about I hear.” The conductor amused us with his antics, comically quizzing us, begging for a chance at the yo-yo, ruffling hair and accepting help…

Ain’t we gorgeous? Last week I didn’t post anything because I was off to my sister’s wedding in New Jersey. Here we are at our mini family reunion at the beach. We had a complete blast. Thanks Aunt Lynn and Aunt Connie and Kathy and Dad for making it happen. Oh, and thanks John and Kate for thinking to get hitched and give us a good reason to gather. There will be extensive blog posts later I hope. But just now I need to chillax.

This week, over at Young Writers Lounge we are supposed to write a poem about our favorite season. I wrote one about spring, but since I'm not much of a poet, I don't think it's very good. But I thought that since I was one of the people giving the assignments, I should probably do it too! "Spring" by Ashley/01charger: "Winter comes, and winter goes And I know Spring is just around the bend Ready to send Flowers blooming everywhere And even if you don't care Spring is my favorite season And I don't need a reason Watching butterflies And kittens cry Bears come out of hibernation And I get…

WOW! You wouldn't believe how hard it's going to be for me to try to explain this concert. Not because it wasn't good, but because it was SO good it's hard to explain. Our seats were really good, for not paying that much for them, and we had a really good view of the singers.....(Sam, I think that our seats were better than yours, just because you had a pole in front of you, and because you were farther back than us.) We were close enough to take good pictures without zooming in too much, and being able to see them on the pics! LOL! Here is a pic of Mom, Gracie and I at the concert, right…

A while back, I posted that I bought tickets to go to a Jonas Brothers concert.....well.......tonight IS my concert! I'm so excited, and it's only noon~ another like four hours before we actually have to leave to go to the concert! I was really excited to find out that Demi Lovato is touring with the Jonas Brothers, and that I'm going to get to see her in concert too! I can't wait! HAHA! I really like her music and her voice. I am hoping that we have good enough seats so that I can take pictures and some videos to show (the videos will DEFINITELY have screaming girls in the background...but…

Hello. I just wanted to let you all know, that my friend, Kylie and I started a blog together. We started the blog, because we both really like to write stories and we thought that it'd be cool to have a place where we can share our thoughts about stories and where other people can read them. We are going to have a weekly assignment, for kids/teens to do, so that they can be challenged in their writing. Anyone who likes to write (and anyone who even doesn't), can go and check out our blog. We would like for you to leave us a comment, and tell us if you want to participate in the weekly…

This time for Destination Disney, the catagory is Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom is probably my least favorite Disney Park, but I do like some things there. I really like Kilimanjaro Safaris and the Tree of Life. In January, when my family goes to Disney, I'm looking forward to riding "Expedition Everest". Here are some pictures taken at the Animal Kingdom on my two trips to Disney: Here I am with Minnie and Mickey: (and I thought I had big hands! LOL:) This gorilla was six years old, and I was five at the time. Here is a picture of my whole family at Animal Kingdom, in 2005: Here's Gracie…

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that hard as it may be to change myself, it’s a whole lot easier than changing other people – and more fruitful, too.   And yet… it’s a lesson that doesn’t seem to stick nearly as good as it should.   How many times have I persisted in trying to change an attitude in a child when the better route would have been to change my own attitude?   I once tutored a boy who on a Challenging Scale of 1-10 rated a 25. We spent the first 30-60 minutes of many tutoring sessions getting past attitude problems so we…

With the new school year starting I can use some fast and easy casserole recipes to help get dinner on the table. HERE is a free E-Book that is loaded with casserole recipes!  I am looking forward to trying out Taco Quiche, Spinach and Cream, Broccoli and Cheese and Florentine Casserole just to name a few.  I hope you enjoy it too!  Happy Homeschooling, Jamin

How did you find out about homeschooling? We found out when we met the Gregg and Sono Harris family. They used to live in Dayton, Ohio and Gregg had a single's Bible study at Wright State University.  Gregg led me to the Lord, introduced me the that handsome man in the pic who would later become my husband; Sono discipled me and told me that they homeschool their son. Yep...the cute little kid in the pic is Josh "I Kissed Dating Good-bye" Harris when he was about 8 years old! He was my little buddy and the 1st homeschooled kid I'd ever met. And the rest...as they…

If you have a dog lover at your house you are going to LOVE this new item we just added to the Schoolhouse Store. Come along for 10 "playful" lessons on dogs: 10 mini Units for a terrific discounted price!  Brandenburg Studies' The Daily Dog Bundle Set includes all top 10 single unit looks at each breed of dog. Whether it is about a pet you already have, of one you enjoy--these little units are just the ticket to get the school day going. Includes lessons on the following dog breeds: Labrador, Retrievers, Beagles, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, Dachshunds, Boxers, Poodles, Shih…

  Minute to Minute Readers Helping Readers   Greetings! As we conclude our Month of Special Needs Minute to Minute E-Newsletters, we take this issue to focus on two very special needs, homeschooling children with Down Syndrome or ADHD.   Be sure to take advantage of all the wonderful resources TOS Magazine has to offer to homeschool parents with special needs children. On TOS website you'll discover the Resource Room which is filled with articles from TOS magazine and special web articles all geared to encourage and aid homeschoolers with special needs…

I've started adding fall touches throughout our home, and I thought it would be fun to show you all a little corner of our "nest" every few days. I started here in the dining-slash-learning room; the other day I had Bill put up a garland of russet silk leaves, twining them around a string of little grapevine ball lights. I also spent a good chunk of the afternoon neatening this corner - "my corner" - which was postively chock full of hot spots (that's FlyLady speak for clutter, lol). There was a lot to go through - the in-box, the file crate, the tote bag, my pocketbook,…

{Please bear in mind that when I brainstorm ideas for a given theme, I know I'm not going to do them all. In fact, I'm not even going to try - but it's nice to have so many ideas to choose from. Also, because I have to work with and around Earlybird's attention span and energy levels, I don't really schedule a day's worth of activities; instead, I refer to this list throughout the week and work in things that fit the given mood of the moment (his and mine).}    Themes this Week: the letter B and the b-sound, name recognition (identify and write letters of name), begin a photo-book…

~ Do stop by Peggy's for all the Daybook links this week. Outside My Window ... a warm hazy day unfolds, a nuthatch pecks at the suet, morning glories climb all over the birdhouse. I am thinking ... about our officially broken computer. Rats. I am thankful ... I still have a laptop that works.  From the kitchen ... homemade pizzas with salad, fresh raspberries and cream. I am wearing ... sage green tee-shirt, black pants, slippers. I am creating ... a weekly shopping list and fall menu plan. I am reading ... the morning paper and the current issue of TIME. I am hoping ... to have enough…

I'm happy to report it was a good first day. :) Though I like to think that we're learning all the time, we do take the summer off from formal lessons. And by formal lessons I mean things like reading assignments, map work, penmanship practice, etc. In the summer, it's all about informal learning. Ideally, we spend our time relaxing, reading and exploring the casual interests that may pop up - like where do bats sleep, what's in a tidepool and how do fireworks work? But it's all child-led, and if all they want to do on a given day in July is sit and read a comic book, then so be it. Come…

I have only a few precious moments to spend online this morning - first day back and all! - but I wanted to quickly share with you my outline for Earlybird's Kindergarten this year. I'm sure you're not surprised to hear that when I plan a curriculum for my children, I like to work around themes, and that those themes mostly tie in with the seasons. As we move through the year, I will be posting our weekly activities and books etc. here at my blog. And so, this is our first week of Kindergarten, and we are focusing on Bugs and the letter B. (Yes, I'm starting with B, rather than A; just call…

The comic strip For Better or For Worse officially ended its long run; it's going into a sort of re-run-plus-extras mode, but the ongoing saga is finally over.Readers of this blog may remember that I am a longtime fan of step-grandmother Iris. Well, Iris got to have the last word, at least in the black-and-white strips.For better or for worse.

In 16 mm, with a sputtering projector.Each of these movies was shown at least three or four times in my early school years, but I hadn't seen any of them since until I thought of searching online. Looking for "Clown" required a bit of creative Google searching (it couldn't have been called something easy to find like "Purple Fossils From Venus," of course). But I did find them, actually without too much trouble, and the only one I haven't been able to watch is "One Little Indian"--we don't have the right plug-in at the minute. But at least I know that it exists and that I didn't make it up!If…

Frugal Upstate's lunch-packing advice was exactly what I needed this year. And here's a bonus lunchbox post about keeping hot things hot. Thanks!

Today (Monday) is the last day to check out the End of Summer/Labor Day Bash at Homeschool Freebies. Several past freebies have been re-opened and marked with the "Bash" symbol--you have to hunt through the past posts to find out which ones. (Hint: if you missed the cookbooks, there are a couple of those being re-offered.)Some good stuff, and there were three extra downloadable books added to the list, just for today.

Saint Maybe, by Anne Tyler (re-read)A Breath of Air, by Rumer Godden (reviewed yesterday)A Mother's Rule of Life, by Holly PierlotThis is a book that's been around for a couple of years and was recommended by other homeschooling friends. More than how to organize your life--how to organize your Life. As Coffeemamma pointed out to me--it's easy to relate to Holly's "I've had it!" moment that propelled her into searching for a better way for her family. Like Alice Gunther's book (below), this one comes deep out of Holly's Catholic faith, so the suggestions for building the day around rosaries…

Welcome to the Thoroughly Organized Thursday Meme!  I hope you are having a good week.   Organization tip: Set aside time to do planning.  I know it sounds simple enough, but a lot of us get caught up in the day to day grind and forget to plan.  If it's not on the calendar or in the planner, it will likely get forgotten.  If you need a button for this meme, you can go to this website: Grab A Button http://lynnsgrababuttonplace.blogspot.com/   Thank you and I hope you have a great rest of the week.  Please don’t forget to leave a comment so I know…

This week's assignment is to post your routine. This assignment is VERY hard for me. I don't really have a routine. Sure, there are a few things that I do in order out of habit, but I doubt I do them at the same time every day. So the routine that I'm going to post is the one I HOPE to follow, that I'm going to TRY to follow.  8:30  Wake Up  9:00  Breakfast  9:30  Get Dressed and Hygiene  9:45  Begin School  11:30  TV (World World)  12:00  Lunch  12:30  TV (Between the Lions)  1:00  School  2:00  TV…

Weblink Wednesday- http://www.fortunatelyforyoubooks.com/free-product-of-the-week.html For more Weblink Wednesdays, go to Valerie's blog.  Psssst..... She's also having contest this week! Blogger Friend School- Feelings on homeschooling....  Wow, what a topic!!!  Hmmmm.... over all I have pretty strong feelings on homeschooling.  I feel I got a lousy education in the public school and I really want much better for my children.  I get discouraged sometimes because I don't have a lot of family support.  Please let me stress, for those of you that are lucky enough…

     Great title, huh??? lol!!!!   How was your weekend?  Ours was busy.  I was preparing for school which starts on Tuesday!!!   Hubby had a lot of work to do too.  He had a 4 day weekend, but it was not a pleasure time.  We just had TONS to get caught up on.         First I wanted to mention that I will be doing Blogger Friend School this year and they have a nice contest going on right now to kick it off.  If you like nature studies, you will like the prize!  So why not go check it out!

Last week, after my oldest son had been to the ER for the second time that week, I mentioned that Hubby and I were taking Little One out for a treat because he had been so good during the hospital trips.  Well, I thought I would share a picture of his delicious treat this week for Show and Tell. One of my dear friends mentioned not to forget to treat myself while I was at it. Let me assure you I most certainly did not forget!!!! Here was my treat for such a hard week! YUM!!!!! To see more Show and Tell posts, visit Mary's blog.

We have assembled another lapbook -- The American Revolution. (No, that's not a nightgown. That's her prairie girl dress sans the apron. Today she dressed in a white silky dress with a silver tiara. Another perk of homeschooling -- wearing costumes to class.) Like all our lapbooks, it's a hodgepodge of many resources. Mainly it's based on our studies from Winter Promise's American Story 1. So the 3D maps that are part of that curriculum, we simple adapt to fit into a lapbook. Other ideas for minibooks and graphics came from the Homeschool in the Woods Time Traveler CD (which was not part of…

Sprite and I really enjoy lapbooking. The creative and artsy component is a great supplement to our homeschool adventure. But I refuse to let lapbooking take over. Sometimes it tries. Let me share some mental temptations which alert me when I’m about to let lapbooking take over. We’ve got to make minibooks about these next four topics in the series. We already made minibooks for topics one and two. If we don’t keep going, we can’t make an entire lapbook. I know that we’ve exhausted the topic and are ready to move on, but what about these two orphan minibooks?

Theme --Beautiful From top to bottom: 1.  spicy peppers stuffed with a sesame seed mixture and fried with more fresh peppers 2.  seasoned and fried shrimp (crispy so you can eat the shell and all) 3.  goose liver Beautiful and delicious! This is fancy food served to us at a wedding. You may subscribe to this blog in a reader or by email.

Theme --Wrinkled Some sort of petal. My guess is that this is for Chinese medicine. But then again, it certainly could be food. On sunny days, lots of peppers, peanuts, green beans, bitter melon, and seeds come out to dry. I am just as amazed as you that they put the food directly on the (dirty) ground. You may subscribe to this blog in a reader or by email.

Theme -- Colorful What do you think of my new red and white striped broom? Nice, huh? I'll bet you don't have one like it. Yeah, because mine is made of 100% real juice! And only 140 calories per serving. So what's your broom made of? You may subscribe to this blog in a reader or by email.

I’m taking a few days off from blogging because I have a rather large project I am working on and would like to have done as soon as possible.  I expect to be back to normal blogging Monday, however I will still try to get up at least one chapter of Homeschool:  An American History up before then.  I fell behind last week due to icky pregnancy stuff and having more to do to prepare for the first full week of school than I realized.  I don’t want to get any further behind on that! Some reading: Carnival of Homeschooling over a The Homeschool CPA. Carnival of Education over at…

Join me on Labor Day (Monday, September 1) for Home School Talk’s first ever holiday special! (Monday, 1PM CST)  The show is now archived at that link if you want to listen to it! This will be a shortened show, only half an hour, but will feature positive and encouraging stories about homeschooling.  I will also have a very special guest and co-host:  my own nine year old daugter.  She will be discussing the stories with me and talking a bit about her own homeschooled experience.  Which unfortunately hasn’t been entirely positive.  In fact, she doesn’t want to go to…

Rare for me, but a firm “what she said” to Valerie over at Home Education Magazine on the recent firestorm over vaccines and homeschoolers.  Her conclusion, backed up with nifty graphs and summaries: In any case, homeschooling is not the cause of the choice to not vaccinate.   That cause, in the noted cases, is an objection to vaccination. Case in point:  here, we are up in arms about 131 cases of measles.  In Canada, it is mumps with 116 confirmed cases.  Traced not to homeschoolers, but to the Netherlands Reformed community.  Who, as it turns out, also seems to have been…

Last week, Thomas Sowell almost wrote quite an interesting column regarding homeschooling over at Townhall.com.  Almost.  He starts off going one direction, more the tried and true direction of pointing out the failures of public education by pointing out the success of homeschooling.  (All block quotes come from the article.) When amateurs outperform professionals, there is something wrong with that profession. We have gone over what it means to be an amateur before, but to recap briefly, it is a “lover of”–someone who does something for love rather than money.  There…

…but turn on the computer only to find an email that says a three year old boy is missing.  And then an update that he had died. I don’t know Marsha personally, but I’ve interacted with her online a little and she is a fellow writer over at Heart of the Matter. It’s weird how small the world seems over the internet.  My prayers go out to the Drews family. There is a dedication to little Christian and an address where you can send a card if you wish over at Heart of the Matter.

Here is Obama's political record, how he got to office:When Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004, he was not the initial favorite. Instead, businessman and longtime Democrat Blair Hull led in the polls. Then reporters started pestering the courts to get his divorce records unsealed. He fought it, but they were released -- revealing that his wife had accused him of threatening to kill her, and he was arrested. No charges were ever filed in the matter, but the accusation was enough -- Hull was humiliated and withdrew from the race. With Hull gone, Obama won the primary handily.Then…

Hearing on replacing Malonis as attorney for the 17 year old Jeffs girl.Judge rules that Malonis is to stay on as her attorney.Agreement reached on stay of discovery:The agreement affects 13 mothers in the case represented by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and sets up deadlines for CPS to respond to requests for documents and other evidence pertaining to the women who remain under investigation."I think we reached a good neutral middle ground that we can work with," said Rebecca G. Flanigan, attorney and deputy director of litigation for the legal aid group. [...]Attorneys have said CPS filed the…

An estimated 125 people were shot and killed over the summer. That's nearly double the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq over the same time period.More here.

Just as pro-abortion forces inflated the numbers of back alley abortions and subsequent deaths in order to alter the political landscape, it seems that the AIDS pandemic was an exaggeration:Chin’s book offers a comprehensive exposure of the hollowness of the claims of the AIDS bureaucracy for the efficacy of their preventive campaigns. He provides numerous examples of how exaggerated claims for the scale of the HIV epidemic (and the risks of wider spread) in different countries and contexts enable authorities to claim the credit for subsequently lower figures, as they ‘ride to glory’ on…

The new meme as the left insists they don't deify the One: "Jesus was a community organizer" "Pilate was a governor" Treacher's response:Hey, you know who else was a community organizer? Don Corleone.And if you didn't know it, the right has a Sarah Palin idolatry thing of it's own going on, although it seems more self mocking, all in good fun than worshipful. They aren't making a Messiah of her, they're making her into a legendary Paul Bunyan, John Henry sort of figure. Here's a sampling:Sarah Palin is the reason compasses point North.Sarah Palin doesn’t need a gun to hunt. She has been…

Another spectacular sunset on Kalaloch Beach, Washington. I don't know the couple walking on the sand, but I appreciate them being in the right place at the right time!After four good days of school this week, the kids are settling back into a routine.My daughter's getting the hang of it, only she's decided that she doesn't want to do anything easy. Math review is out of the question. "Too easy!" she declares. Straight on to the big numbers we go.She listens in on some of her brother's 5th grade lessons and thinks that's where she should be. Maybe she should... She frequently helps him out…

Just in time for the new school year, it's another huge book giveaway from the good folks at Hachette Book Group USA.This time, they're offering an amazing selection of ten new non-fiction titles:1. Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, by Vicky Myron2. The Book of Calamities: Five Questions About Suffering and Its Meaning, by Peter Trachtenberg3. Say You're One of Them, by Uwem Akpan4. Bo's Lasting Lessons: The Legendary Coach Teaches the Timeless Fundamentals of Leadership, by Bo Schembechler5. Knowing Right from Wrong: A Christian Guide to Conscience, by Fr. Thomas D.

Today's guest post is from Dr. Rajiv Vaidyanathan, Professor of Marketing at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and Executive Director of the Association For Consumer Research. His biggest claim to fame, however, is being a groomsman at my wedding. I'm not sure why he's remained friends with me over the past 21 years. Maybe it's the fact that his children owe their very existence to my wife and me (we introduced Rajiv to his wife). I would point you to his blog, but he is currently without one, so today he's taking over mine...Give Them What They Wantby Dr. Rajiv VaidyanathanI was in class…

Father and son enjoy a Kalaloch Beach sunset.An episode of The Munsters was in the player last night, but I accidentally hit the "antenna" button on the remote and up popped Barack Obama's acceptance speech. It was compelling enough that we watched the whole thing. Not once during the 45 minutes did either one of my kids ask me to turn the channel! At the end, my son said, "Daddy, you should vote for Obama." I would explain to him that in Idaho a vote for a Democratic Presidential candidate is an exercise in futility, but he's too young to be jaded, so I'll vote for Obama and hope for the…

Well, that was so not fun.Today was my first day of homeschooling BOTH of my kids.Neither of them was enthusiastic about school starting again. They've enjoyed a carefree summer with nothing on the schedule beyond playtime and daydreaming. Just like most kids, they wanted an endless summer.But my son was a real trooper, diving right into lessons in history, literature, vocabulary, and math.I set him up so he could guide himself through a good portion of the work, while I began his sister on her homeschooling journey.She was eager to start, but quickly switched into brat-mode during math.I…

First of all - the winners of the Mark Batterson book, Wild Goose Chase, are Jen and Casey. Way to go, girls; I know you will be blessed by reading it. Second - I’m going to be busy with fun family activities for the next week, so I’m not keeping to my regular posting schedule. If you are new to my blog, and simply must have your fix of me and my adventures, feel free to poke around the archives. To get you started, I’m republishing one of my favorites from last summer. Enjoy these last warm days of summer with your family. — Originally post July 24, 2007. The most…

If you followed me on Twitter last night, then you know I have a new hair cut. And because this is a mommy blog - meaning you are all subject to the most mundane aspects of my life - I’m posting the pictures. Before: After: Ta-da! My head feels amazingly lighter.

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Today is September 1. If you teach your children at home, many of you are back to the books, and if not yet, you’re getting ready to start again after the summer break. The school room (if you have one - I don’t) is clean and organized, book shelves (we’ve lots of them) are tidy, pens and pencils new and sharp, notebooks fresh (yup, lots of paper and scribbling tools too). It’s the start of the new year. And you are energized to get started. Today I want to encourage you, home schooling mom. The day will come when all is not shiny and new. That school room neat today…

One last thing...The Buzz:We're excited here about McCain's choice of pro-life champion, Sarah Palin, for his running mate.The Humm:This little Hummingbird flew into our garage and Alex has coaxed it to perch on the end of a broom. They were even able to hold him a bit and got him to feed from a bowl of sugar water before helping him find his way out. Hummingbird sounds. OK, now we're really going.

..we'll be back with pictures.

I just played the Katydid song for my littlest ones by clicking on the link in my previous post. It sounded just as it would if I had opened our windows."Neat," Zachary said. "Now click on the frogs at the top of your blog and make them croak."

This is the sound of the end of summer.

I am so, so proud of American Bishops this week as they step forward one after another to defend the sanctity of life and the universal teaching of the Catholic Church on this important issue. This is a unique moment for the Church in America and, quite possibly, for the pro-life cause in American politics. Phil Lawler at Catholic Culture rather ironically thanks Nancy Pelosi for her fallacious and scandalous statements on Meet the Press as they have emboldened American bishops and renewed public interest in the question of when life begins and with it--the right to life.

McCain chooses Palin as Running Mate

Well, my friends, good news has come over the wire. There is an unconfirmed report that John McCain's pick for vice-president may just be Alaska governor Sarah Palin, pro-life advocate, mother of five, and crusader on behalf of babies with Downs Syndrome. I will be on pins and needles waiting to see if this report is true. If so, we can add it to the words of our marvelous bishops and say that this week we have made great strides towards a Culture of Life! [Governor Sarah Palin, her husband Todd Palin, and new baby Trig, born with Downs Syndrome (file photo April 23, 2008 by Al Grillo, taken…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 26, 2008 STATEMENT OF HIS EMINENCE, EDWARD CARDINAL EGAN CONCERNING REMARKS MADE BY THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Like many other citizens of this nation, I was shocked to learn that the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America would make the kind of statements that were made to Mr. Tom Brokaw of NBC-TV on Sunday, August 24, 2008. What the Speaker had to say about theologians and their positions regarding abortion was not only misinformed; it was also, and especially, utterly incredible in this day and age. We are…

I sat down at the computer tonight and glanced at my email, delighted to find a number of comments all in a row. "But what did I even write today?" I sat, wondering. Then I realized, it was the baby ticker!!! Earlier today, I'd been visiting Suzanne Temple's blog. I love her baby ticker (and so many other cute ones popping up everywhere) and wanted to see what my own would look like. Typepad has a feature called "pages" that allows you to create posts or highlight material without it showing up on your blog (unless you link to it). I thought I would create a page with the ticker, returning to…

Grandma and Grandpaare visiting, soI've lost track of time.What's today?I don't know.Oh, it's Poetry Friday!And, yikes, I just missed it.But please do not think I've ignoredor I've dissed it.I'm just a bit late,(clearly I'm not a leader.)The round-up this weekis at Wild Rose Reader.

We sometimes discuss our "culinary point of view" around here.Ramona's has to do with refrigeration.When Atticus sits down on the couch and looks for a coaster on the end table, it's quite likely he won't find one.Ramona has been busy making "coaster cake."Sorry, Atticus. It's a sacrifice you'll have to make in the name of culinary genius.And, to fairly credit the original genius creator of this dish, I must mention my sweet Betsy, who used to make coaster cake when she was little, but has moved on to grand Play-doh creations such as this Volcano Island, which is a model for a cake she'd like…

My children are picking up my habit of scribbling down favorite quotes. Here are a few from one of the notebooks of Anne-with-an-e, age 14:"Indeed, everything that could hum or buzz or sing had a part in my education." ~~ Helen Keller"I am constantly on the lookout for miracles. The unexpected could happen at any odd moment and I want to be on the spot." ~~ Helen Keller"She is too fond of books, and it has turned her head." ~~ Louisa May Alcott"Not everyone has the privilege of believing in holy things." ~~ Anne Frank"Never offend a writer. We will come back at you." ~~ Garrison Keillor"When…

Susan Thomsen, at Chicken Spaghetti, has a delightful article up at the Poetry Foundation entitled, Home Appreciation. It's all about how homeschoolers introduce and share poetry with our kids.I had the privilege of talking to Susan awhile back and sharing a little bit about how we approach poetry at our house. In the article, she included the story I told her of Betsy who, at age four, walked around the house reciting, "Because I could not stop for deff, he kindwee stopped for me ...."Read the whole article here -- it's full of great ideas from Jenny at Little Acorns Treehouse, Becky at Farm…

Yesterday:"Mommy, what does 'currently' mean?""It means 'happening right now.'""Well, currently, I'm hungry for some pumpkin bread."Today:"Mommy, what does 'necessary' mean?""It means 'needed.'""Oh. Mommy?""Yes?""You're necessary.""Thank you!""Yes. You and chocolate make the world go around."

Ike this time.

Red sails, the night wind is blowing

Stop by Peggy's for more entries.

Candles are flickering away at the Hurricane Grotto today. Bands of intense rain and wind are pushing through every few hours today. Yet, even as we deal with the reality of Hurricane Gustav our eyes turn to the east and Hanna. Have you ever seen one hurricane fuel a second? Watch the satellite.

High standards generally — about workmanship in the creation of objects, about what is owed in friendship, about the quality of art, and much else — far from being snobbish, are required to maintain decency in life. When the people who value these things are called snobs, the word is usually being used in a purely sour-grapes way. "Elitist," a politically super-charged word, is almost invariably another sour-grapes word, at least when used to denigrate people who insist on a high standard... Delight in excellence is easily confused with snobbery by the ignorant. [Emphasis added.]—…

From "Daydream achiever" (Boston Globe, August 31, 2008):Every time we slip effortlessly into a daydream, a distinct pattern of brain areas is activated, which is known as the default network. Studies show that this network is most engaged when people are performing tasks that require little conscious attention, such as routine driving on the highway or reading a tedious text. Although such mental trances are often seen as a sign of lethargy - we are staring haplessly into space - the cortex is actually very active during this default state, as numerous brain regions interact. Instead of…

The Misses M-mv were counting the days until their next visit to the Bristol Renaissance Faire on the way home from last year's visit. Pressed, I'd say they would take a day at the Faire over Christmas morning.This year, we wanted to impress upon them that the Faire is not exactly an inexpensive adventure, so we set out the change jar over the Memorial Day weekend. "All of the change we collect between now and our trip to the Faire will go toward our trip."Change really does add up, folks: We collected $90.54; $95.54 with the five-dollar bill Miss M-mv(ii) tucked in there. (She found and…

Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North AmericanTo celebrate the centennial of Roger Tory Peterson's birth, Peterson Field Guides assembled an updated volume that describes the birds of both western and eastern North America. In additional to forty beautiful new paintings, the new guide features digital updates of Peterson's classic paintings, as well as a website from which you can download three-plus hours of podcasts.Highly recommended.

I confess that I've always seen the Brain Quest displays around---but I never knew what they were and truthfully, didn't spend a whole lot of time trying to figure it out. Then one day I happened upon them at my beloved Costco. Upon closer examination I thought it might be something to throw in the diaper bag to help me entertain the kids when we were doing the dreaded waiting somewhere. I

Having a child on the spectrum I was excited to review Tara Bertic's Teaching Jeremiah: A Complete Curriculum for Teaching Special Needs in Preschool and Early Elementary. Do you remember your kindergarten teacher? Perhaps you were homeschooled and you merely heard the wonderful stories about the kindergarten classroom. My teacher was a round, soft, loving older woman who clearly loved her job.

Brandenburg Studies ~ Beric the Briton Novel and Study Guide Do you have a middle grade or high school student who loves history? Are you looking for a geography, history and literature experience all in one? This may be just the book that you are looking for. This novel by G.A. Henty, which focuses on the Roman Invasion of Britain. The story chronicles Beric, a young man who eventually becomes

In writing this review I have to confess one of my biggest academic weaknesses. It's math. Thankfully in addition to great curriculum where I can learn along side my children, there is this book, "Understanding Mathematics: From Counting to Calculus" by Keith Kressin. Any number less than zero is a negative number.Arguably math is an important subject and for some its concepts come rather easily,