Today's Poem had us doing a A-B-A-A-B pattern for rhyming.

I read this poem to my lad and he looked all confuddled.
I tilted my head at him as an invitation to query so of course he did.  :)

"Mom, what does that mean.. only the back of him active?"

So I showed him this video.
And he was "OH!"

It's just a simple poem but the rhyming is in a different pattern which makes it interesting, and hey... who doesn't smile at a happy dog running around?   They can seem to be so full of glee.

The simplicity allows the reader to consider the actions of the dog and how simple they are and grin in remembrance (at least it does me).

When I asked what other words she could have used, or even what words words rhymed my lad thought of ground hogs...and how a dog could be sniffing after them, even as he said "that wouldn't fit in the poem though mom" and "it wouldn't be as funny if it didn't rhyme".

I think he has a point don't you?

“It is good to praise the Lord and make music to Your Name.” Psalm 92:1-2

Lyrics:
It is good to sing Thy praises and to thank Thee, O Most High,
Showing forth Thy lovingkindness when the morning lights the sky.
It is good when night is falling of Thy faithfulness to tell,
While with sweet, melodious praises, songs of adoration swell.

Thou hast filled my heart with gladness through the works Thy hands have wrought;
Thou hast made my life victorious, great Thy works and deep Thy thought.
Thou, O Lord, on high exalted, reignest evermore in might;
All Thy enemies shall perish, sin be banished from Thy sight.

But the good shall live before Thee, planted in Thy dwelling place.
Fruitful trees and ever verdant, nourished by Thy boundless grace.
In His goodness to the righteous God His righteousness displays;
God my Rock, my Strength and Refuge, just and true are all His ways.

Well.. that was interesting (NOT).
Did you know I couldn't find out a single thing about the history of this hymn other than it hails back from the 1900's (for being in a hymnbook).

The words come out of The Psalter in 1912, and we sing it to the tune Ellesdie,

Regardless of the lack of information about this hymn, its still a nice one to sing, rich in meaning.  Our worship of him, how God is GOD, being our strength, our fortress, our very ROCK that we can stand on.

Good Hymn.

Sources:
CyberHymnal.
Hymnary.

My son and I continue to work our way slowly through our Drawing Around the World Curriculum: Europe curriculum that we reviewed this past year.  
​
​This week we made recipes from Russia.

We've done our video learning about Russia, drawn our maps and learned a few of the basic facts about Russia.   Now it was time to eat some Russian foods.

​We made three (had planned to do four but ran out of time).
​Limonyk (lemon pie), Knishes, and Piroshki.

Lymonyck

​Is a great pie.  It is best served warm.

Ingredients:

• 250 gr/1 cup sour cream
• 113 gr/4 oz unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• Approximately 2 cups of flour (start of with 1 and 1/2 cups of flour)
• 1 and 1/2 lemons (I prefer meyer lemons as they are just what needs to be used)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg yolk (optional)

​For Directions on how to make it GO HERE.  
It has excellent images to walk you through making it.   It wasn't hard to make.   Just lots of different parts.  :)   We found it easy to chop up the lemons rather than use a food processor. 

Taylor's Piroshki

​I find these excellent served cold or warm.    Could totally see packing these along as a luncheon.
Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ground black pepper to taste
• dried dill weed to taste
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water

• 1 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 cups oil for frying

Directions

• Prep  1 h 30 m
• Cook  20 m
• Ready In  2 h

1. In a medium skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef until evenly browned; drain. Stir in the onion and cook with the beef until translucent. Sprinkle in salt, pepper and dill weed to taste. Allow to cool before using.
2. Dissolve the yeast in the 1/4 cup of warm water and place in a warm location until frothy, about 10 to 15 minutes. In a medium saucepan over low heat, warm the milk and gently whisk in the eggs, oil, sugar and salt. Remove from heat.
3. Place half the flour in a large mixing bowl and gradually stir in the milk mixture. Then add the yeast solution alternately with the remaining flour, stirring after each addition. Mix well. Knead until the dough forms a ball and does not stick to the bowl. (Note: Start with the 4 cups of flour. You may need to add more, a little at a time, as you knead the dough). Cover the bowl with a clean cloth. Set in a warm location and allow to rise until doubled in volume.
4. Remove dough from bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Pinch off pieces approximately the size of golf balls. Roll the pieces into disks about 3 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter.
5. Fill center of each disk with a heaping tablespoon of the cooled meat mixture. Fold disks over the mixture and firmly pinch edges to seal. Arrange on a flat surface and allow to sit approximately 10 minutes.
6. In an large, heavy skillet or deep fryer, heat the oil to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Deep fry the piroshki in batches until golden brown on one side; gently turn and fry the other side. Remove and let drain on a plate lined with paper towels.

Knishes
Ingredients

• 5 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large onions, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed

​I have to admit, I made ours different than the recipe.   Same basic process but I made ours to look more like perogies in shape as that's what seemed to work best when working with a 10 year old. 

The Old Tank
This tank was simply getting too small for him.. he was as long as the tank and simply wasn't going anything anymore.   And since lately he's eating really really well and growing better because of it, so new digs were getting imperative.   I wondered about getting him a new tank when hubby said HEY!   Why don't you use one of the big tanks we have in the basement.  

The New Tank
The only real expense we'll have with the new tank will be buying a filter for the pond and I needed to get a reptile lid.   It cost a fair bit more than i would have preferred, but one does what one needs to do eh?   The wood stumps came from our Christmas tree, the rocks from and old rock garden we had, and Fireheart's hidey hole is an overturned in/out tray.

I am feeling a tad annoyed because my lad asked me to take a couple videos of Fireheart enjoying his new set up and they seem to have completely disappeared so I'll just have to get you some still shots.

it's amazing the difference it has made.   Fireheart, a garter snake, normally spent ALL his time (unless hungry) hiding under his yellow water bowl.

NOW we'll see him sitting next to his logs.

Checking out his mini pond.  Garter snakes are one of the few snakes the regularly eat fish.   Once we get a filter in it, we'll be moving his fish into the pool so he can snack whenever he feels the urge.    We get him minnows from the pet store and not small goldfish since overtime goldfish can make a snake unhealthy.   My son has a tank of guppies in the basement that we hope will soon over populate thus negating the need to buy minnows from the store.

We built him a burrow as that's what snakes like.   We made it in such a way that we can still see him.   It's actually quite fascinating...he sits there watching us almost as much as my lad sits watching him.   

It's rather neat with the new bigger tank.  There are distinct warmer and cooler spots so he will come out more and bask in the heat and then retreat to a cooler more "hidey" area.   Then come out again and move around.  Often after he eats we'll see him basking under the heat lamp.   My hubby postulates that it helps with the digestion.

We have successfully transitioned Fireheart onto eating mice.  it is not a normal part of a wild garter snakes diet (they mostly eat toads, worms, snails, slugs and the like).   But with the judicious use of worms and baby mice we got him transitioned.  He doesn't need the worm scent anymore to have a mouse meal.   it's a better diet for them to be on mice when in captivity... means their poops are firmer, there are less parasites, and it a more complete meal which means a healthier snake.

I have to admit, we only give him one at time, and if I, or the lad am foolish, we have two cats who find themselves VERY intrigued by Firehearts diet.   Our next goal is to get him eating dead mice... but we haven't quite gotten him to that stage yet.  I need to, along with my lad, do some research about how one does such a transition.

My son plans to give Fireheart's old tank to his toads.   I told him it'll need a good clean and we'll add a debris section so he can run crickets in with his toads and an area where they can eat and grow and the toads can help themselves to a meal whenever a cricket is silly enough to wander in front of them.    Currently the toads enjoy mealworms for their lunch.

To learn more about garter snakes check out these links below:
garter snake info.
reptiles.
PDF on caring for garter snake.
Take care of g.S.

Lapbooks and Unit Studies.
Homeschool share.
imam's homeschool.
LaToya.
A moment in our world.
Middle school lapbook.
Free unit study snakes.

I'll be linking up this week with blogging through the alphabet.

As a child I loved to play with lego.  So many pictures were taken of me playing with lego.     But I hated tye searching through a bin and trying to find the little pieces that I needed.     It seemed to take forever and I just wanted to be able to build and play.

I have to admit it.. I am STILL that way.   :)  

So I have a boy who likes playing with lego.   Building things and playing with them.   I like playing with him.   But since I am older now... I can choose NOT to fight with lego pieces so I decided I would organize them.

I used to have all the lego in one bin and thought I was kinda stuck with that, then one day I ran across the blog of a lady who put her lego into clear totes and had all her little stuff divided into a smaller version of these plastic shelf/bins.   I said to myself...OOH!!!!   I Could do that.

I promptly went out and bought three of these and then the next week got a fourth (what can I say we have a LOT of lego).    Did you know I have a dream to build a lego town?   It would be SO much fun to do so, and then to have a train track running around it... ah... some day!  :)

So how does it work for us?

The largest bins hold the larger items... which we have divided by type.   1's, 2's, flat etc each have their own bin. 

We have a bin for the odd ball pieces and a bin for mini figures and their gear.

I made a point of putting all those little, hard to find pieces all in one bin.

Our manuals all have a bin of their own as well.

We have a few meccano pieces as well.    Some we got free, others I got cheap.    My lad is not highly impressed with them but is reluctant to give them away, so stored they are in a smaller shelf.

Try as I might, I could not figure out how to put our K'nex into the bins as well.   I used to be able to before we were gifted with a large amount, so they now have a bin of their own.

We used to have our lego set up on the main floor of the house, and have since moved it upstairs to the book room.   To that end my lad had to pack up all his creations and they are currently waiting to be unpacked.   Normally we have a white shelf sitting on top of the bin/shelves for his creations to sit on.

It makes it so much easier to add lego to our schooling.days, which of course makes the learning go SO much easier indeed.  :)     Check out our day here.  :)

So tell me.... how do you organize the lego in our house???   I'm curious to know how others do it.

A young woman struggling with addiction.   A man on the run from the law.   They collide.   God intervenes, her life is spared, the book Purpose-Driven Life is instrumental in bringing about change.  

Check below for the giveaway.

Movie Synopsis:
About the movie:
Based on a miraculous story about the power of faith, Captive is an "amazing, inspiring" drama about the spiritual collision of two lost souls, Brian Nichols (Golden Globe Nominee David Oyelowo), on the run from police and desperate to make contact with his newborn son, takes recently widowed mother Ashley Smith (Kata Mara) hostage in her own apartment.  Fearing for her life and desperately hoping to see her daughter again, she turns to Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life for guidance.  Ashley and her captor face a crossroads where they discover hope and light in the midst of despair in the moving film that Dick Rolfe, CEO, Dove Foundation hailed as "powerful."

My Thoughts:
For a movie that was supposed to be based on a lady surviving a hard situation based on the Purpose-Driven Life book by Rick Warren, well.. two-three incidences of the book popping up in the movie doesn't, to me, constitute the book being instrumental in her life story.

My personal thoughts were, well, I wasn't a fan.   I found it very slow moving.   I found it intriguing at the end that Ashley spoke to him during the police stand-off working to convince him that enough was enough.  In the end there was a peaceful resolution.   But overall.. VERY slow moving.   For a Christian movie I didn't feel pointed to the Lord at all.  It was basically a story about a down and out girl, who gets a solid scare, and finds out that HEY there are more important things in life than doing drugs, and discovers a true will to live.. if only for her little girl.   The purpose-driven life book helped, I think, to point her in the right direction and change some of her thinking.

Ashley's daughter was as cute as a button.  :)

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.
Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway.  If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win.  Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

Today my son did our introductory work for Nova Scotia.   I found this page from Crayola and printed it off and used it as the basis of some study.

As you can see on the page it talked about Canada's provincial flower.   We learned more about the Mayflower here.  and then had a chance to see a real one via video.   We were amazed by the huge proboscis on the bee fly.

The Osprey in the provincial Bird.   The Osprey is a fish eating bird.   Therefore they are generally found around water... streams, lakes, oceans etc.   The gripping pads on their feet help them hang onto their fish after they dive 9-30 metres into the water after them.   it's rather neat... if osprey have to carry a large fish for quite some distance they will orient the fish so that it has the least wind resistance.  :)   Cool how God built that intelligence into them.

Bald eagles will share the same habitat with them, being larger they will often force an osprey to drop it's fish and take it for it's own meal.   Osprey have a black stripe extending from their eye to their back, and it's one of the ways you can distinguish it from the bald eagle.

They have a staggered nesting season, which means in times of poverty the older bigger offspring eat while the smaller ones will starve.

My son really liked what happened in this video.

We filled in our Canada map showing where Nova Scotia was located and it's capital.

We also learned the history of the flag.   The crest being from old Scottish roots.  It is the St. Andrews cross in the reverse colours with the Scottish coat of arms.  Nova Scotia stands for "New Scotland".    For a brief period of time they used a different flag/coat of arms issued by Queen Victoria, but it was not well received, so the old flag and coat of arms was again put to use.  

We learned a bit more about the history of Nova Scotia as we coloured our pages.   Isn't Youtube a neat way to expand our horizons?   :)

So that was our introduction to Nova Scotia.   Gives me a week to find a craft to do next week as we expand our knowledge base.  :)

As soon as I saw the word prompt this morning I wondered.. is it present (as in a gift) or is it present (as in to show something, to bring something forward) or what about just being present (you know.. here right now).    I had no clue and as I pondered it I thought hmmm... To present a present for the present???  I could do something along that line.  :)  Or maybe that's being a little cheesy.

So I would like to take the time today to present with a gift so fine you won't believe how much it will change your life.

Time.  Eternity.  Inner peace.   A present and ready helper.    A sense of purpose.   You get all these things if you take the present.

God promised it to us long ago, from the very foundation of the earth.
He promised a son who would bring us into right relationship with God.

That Son came.  He was born, lived on earth, taught people many things, showed them the truth of God in the scriptures, and then DIED for us.  That's what he did.  

And then the coolest thing EVER.  He rose from the dead.  He defeated death.  He defeated the result of sin in our lives.   He Did THAT!  

He made it possible for us to have a right relationship with God.   And in him we have an ever present help.   AN EVER PRESENT HELP.   Always.  Never alone.  Never ever having to make all the decisions all the time without support.   ALWAYS.

It's rather cool. 

And all you have to do is believe that this is true.   To know that God will forgive your sins (If you are sorry for them).   To know that you will ever be in right relationship with him if you just believe in him.   And have a home forever with him.

Won't you consider him seriously?  Accept this present won't you?   And just so you know,  I'm happy to talk with anyone about it.  :)

The rules of Five Minute Friday are simple.
1. Visit Kate's blog on Friday for the word prompt.  This week it is Present.
2. Write for five minutes on that topic.   No editing,No rewording, just write from the heart.
3. Link up.
4. Then visit the person or two who linked up before you and offer a word of encouragement. 
Simple.  Takes for me.. 10 minutes start to finish with adding pics and encouragement.

So come on.. JOIN IN!

Rampaging polar bears, a missing father, a threat to a group of individuals, Soccer, gene-ing and nutri-nuggets.   Can Sawyer's Grandfather, his friends and himself sort through that needs to be done so they can indeed save Mars?   This is my review of Dinosaur Boy Saves Mars.

Book Synopsis:
Dinosaurs, Martians, and mystery, oh my! You will love this hilarious, action-packed adventure series. What would life be like if you were part dinosaur?

When you're part Stegosaurus life can be a little crazy. (Yes, sleeping with plates is weird. No, dino-human hybrids do not have second brains in their butts.) But Sawyer's life is normal(ish) - until he's yanked aboard a UFO and sent on a mission to Mars.

Sawyer, Elliot and Sylvie travel to Mars to find her missing father, but they find even bigger trouble. Mars is trying to kick Pluto out of the solar system. And the fate of both planets will be decided by the upcoming Pluto VS Mars soccer match.

It's an intergalactic mess, and only Sawyer can save Mars, defend Pluto and protect the galaxy

My Son's Thoughts:
"I liked it.   It was a good book, I enjoyed it.   The people in it were good."

My Thoughts:
This was an enjoyable book.  I have to admit, At first I thought it was a little ridiculous to have a boy half human, half dinosaur, but it ended up working out okay. 

My son kept asking.. "WHY did he need to have tennis balls on his spikes?   Why would they be sharp mom"?    That detail kept getting lost on him, and I really don't know why.  :)

Sawyer is struggling with figuring out what his Passion is for a paper he needs to write for school.   He was unable to answer that question so his mom got an extension on this paper for him, but his grandfather snatched he and his friends up before he could get it written.   The topic weighed in Sawyer's mind as he worked through the mystery of Sylvie's dad's disappearance and what was planned for the people of Mars.   By the end of his book he discovered what his passion was.

Cory Putman Oakes wrote a book that explores what might happen if we take genetic research too far and/or put it in the hands of people who don't exercise due caution.   He turned it into an enjoyable book about a boy and his friends needing to find out more about who they are and in the process help two groups of "people" to mature in their relationships with each other.   

As I do this review I am reminded of a topic I researched a while back about animals that glow.   Here are seven animals that glow.   I know that I find it amazing what they can do with science nowadays, and how important it is to have good oversight of such projects so that people don't get lost in the joy of discovery without thinking through well potential results of such research and knowledge.   Such potential to discover new ideas that will be of help to mankind exists.   It surprises me sometimes.  BUT, as this book points out, without good oversight the unthinkable might happen.  Gets people thinking and that's a good thing.  :)

Raincoast books can be found at the following links:
www.raincoast.com
https://twitter.com/raincoastbooks
https://www.facebook.com/raincoastbooks
https://instagram.com/raincoastbooks/
https://www.pinterest.com/raincoastbooks/
http://raincoastbooks.tumblr.com/
https://plus.google.com/+raincoastbooks/

Linking up here: Dinosaur theme at Dear Homeschooler.

 Rev. Robert Addison was the second commissioned missionary to Canada, he was appointed to Niagara-on-the-Lake.   He spent his first winter in Quebec  Where he bought a book of poems by James Thomson with one of those poems being called Winter), to help him cope with his first winter in Canada.   He arrived at his post in 1792.

However it all worked out, it worked out.  :)

Before becoming a minister Addison worked as a tutor.  He helped young men prepare for their education.    Between his work and his need to visit his wife he had no way to advance himself.

He turned his thoughts to the Colonial Church and sought to go and minister there.  We are not sure if his wife passed away and he left his two surviving children with an aunt.  OR if he travelled with the aunt and his children while his wife remained behind pregnant with their last child.   The details are a bit fuzzy.

He had great plans for his time in Upper Canada.   By the time he passed away he realized some of them.  The work was hard.  He had a circuit of 150 miles to cover, people minister to, battles to work around and so forth.

He said "My Mission, is very laborious; I must either neglect my duty, or make a circuit several times in the year of more than 150 miles through a wild country;" and he adds, that he had performed his duty "with humble and conscientious assiduity, and had struggled with very narrow circumstances."  (source)

He enjoyed his work among the Indians, baptizing several of them.

He ended up on house arrest after the War of 1812.  He made regular Chaplain type service to different divisions of the army.   Continued to minister to the Indians.   He was a hard working man, who allowed his house to be a place of refuge.   He was the longest serving missionary (serving for 40 years) and when he died, his death was regretted by all.   His hand was active in the start up of many churches, and in the conversion of many Indians.  

Sources:
Early Canadian Missionaries.
Rev. Addison on Niagara.
Ministries on-line.
Wiki.
Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
History Sleuth.