Life at Oak Grove

I am sort of fed-up with some status lines in Facebook....    I don't mind learning when a new baby is born and so on... but honestly I don't really care about whoever did clean their house or has a crappy day or is sick ... well you get the point!

So since I went back to Facebook, I am trying to keep my friendships low and I was wondering what to do with the status line.

While on our trip this summer, we went to some outlet stores in PA and in Maine.   In the Maine ones, there was an outlet from Reader Digest and I went in it.   We found christian books for the kids as well as a little treasure book for me.  The title is THe Teacher's Calendar (school year 2007-2008) a dayd-to-day Almanac to historic events, holidays, Famous Birthdays and more!  This book cost me 1$ !!!   And it has a lot of interesting facts.    I already had Every Day a Holiday by Silvana Clark but this one has something for every days of the year.    Mind you it's not the new edition (as they print a new one every year) and I have to be careful for certain things but the historic information is accurate.

So every day - from Monday to Friday - I change my status... I then remove it on Saturday as I don't touch it during the week-end....

For example:  Today is November 7th

Did you know that in 1885 at 9:30am (PT) the last spike was driven at Craigellachie, BC, completing the Canadian Pacific Railway's 2,980-mile transcontinental railroad track between Montreal (QC) (Hey I was born there!), in the east and Port Moody (BC), in the west?   HAPPY ANNIVERSARY CP!!!

Did you know that Marie Sklodowska Curie was born in 1867?   She was a polish chemist and physicist.  Born in Warsaw, Poland.   In 1903, she was awarded with her husband, Pierre, the Nobel Prize for physics for their discovery of the element radium.  She died in Sallanches, France, in July 4, 1934.

Did you know that today is the anniversary of the republican symbol (1874)? Thomas Nast used and elephant to represent the Republican Party in a satirical cartoon in Harper's Weekly.  Today the elephant is still a well-recognized symbol for the Republican Party in political cartoons.

Did you know that today is the anniversary of the first black governor elected?  In 1989, L. Doublas Wilder was elected governor of Virginia, becoming the first elected black governor in US history.   Now, Nov 4th 2008 will be the anniversary of the first african-american president....!

I love this little book and now I can change my status line and "educate" my friends at the same time... *Grin*

Geez!  I never thought I would have the writer's block...  But I am pondering on what to write...  You see I have to submit something on homeschooling.   And if my text is selected then I will be published in an e-book.   So I already have something in mind - I just need to take the time to put them on paper (or in this case in Word)....   It's just that there is no two days the same in this house... For example, today we had the annual family picture to get done at 10 am.   So I sent my 7 year old to do some Rosetta Stone while we prepare the rest of the crew....   No problem there.   But he didn't do his workbooks and it kind of bother me in a way.    I don't want to stress about it...

Honestly, I find it hard to be splitted in four.  Giving attention to Alexandre, Dominic, Jérémy and Jasmine and trying to teach.    Most days, I give Alexandre his assignments and then I try to work with Dominic with Jérémy following....   Mmmmm!   The school room is not done yet and I can't wait to have that finished.   Wish it would be done miraculously....   Hey I can dream...

So today is not quite lost after all...  Alexandre spent some time on the site of Time4Learning which I will write a review for in the weeks to come.   Alexandre can easily do some things there by himself.  Dominic and Jérémy ? that's another story.  Dominic is too fast and doesn't listen to the instructions... Jérémy is having trouble with the mouse...    So I do it for him but he gives me the answers.

Now back to my text I need to write...   How can I find the words to explain how homeschool is done in our house.   I think I will start with what I wrote for the newsletter of our association in town about reflections from a 1st year homeschooler and go from there.....  explain the differences between last year and this year - now if I can only find the time to sit down and write without disruptions....

Okay, I think this is well done... Not sure I would attempt it though.  

However, I wonder why thesong Brown Eye Girl is attached to it....   I would have picked something with vegetables on it like the song in French....Tous Les Légumes which I learned when I was in the girl guides - looooooog time ago!

Tous les légumes
Au clair de lune
Étaient en train de s'amuser HÉ !
(En faisant le HÉ!, on saute dans l'air en faisant un tour sur soi-même et en levant un bras)
Ils s'amusaient HÈ!
(En faisant le HÈ!, on saute dans l'air en faisant un tour sur soi-même et en levant un bras)
Tant qu'ils pouvaient HÈ !
(En faisant le HÉ!, on saute dans l'air en faisant un tour sur soi-même et en levant un bras)
 Et les passants les regardaient...
(S'arrêter et mettre la main en visière et regarder alternativement de gauche à droite)

Les cornichons tournaient en rond
(Tournoyer sur soi-même vers le centre du cercle)
Les artichauds sautaient à petits sauts
(Faire des petits sauts désordonnés)
Les céleris valsaient sans bruit
(attrapper la personne la plus près et valser avec elle)
Et les choux-fleurs se dandinaient avec ardeur
(Se plier légèrement vers l'avant et se dandiner à reculons pour reformer le cercle)

Check how to dance the French song from this video....