Tag: United States

INDEPENDENCE DEFINED

U.S. Declaration of Independence ratified by t...
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For this Independence Day week end, my daughter Esther did a little research and compiled this beautiful message as her way of honoring our country’s birthday. Home schooling never stops; yes we’re on summer break. But that doesn’t stop my kids from continuing to learn. That is home schooling at its best; when you can impart to your children a hunger for knowledge and a love for learning, then you have done your job as a teacher. Have a great holiday everyone!
 
 
Independence defined:

 

in·de·pend·ence

–noun

1.

Also, independency. the state or quality of being independent.

2.

freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others.

3.

Archaic . a competency.

Woah, wait, did it say NOUN?? it’s not an adjective, or even a verb, it’s a noun.  A noun is a person, place, or thing. So INDEPENDENCE isn’t a person, or a place, perhaps it’s a thing. Why would they catergorize INDEPENDENCE as a thing?

For 235 years, America has seen alot of events good and bad:

 

Lewis & Clark expedition (through 1806)

 Louisiana Purchase

Congress declares war on Britain 

 British build naval blockade

Americans burn York (Toronto)

British burn Washington, D.C.

Jackson wins Battle of New Orleans

 Women Strike

Gold Rush

 African American slavery

Texas declares independence from Mexico

U.S. declares war on Mexico

 Atlanta Fire

13th Amendment ratified, outlawing slavery

Roe vs. Wade

Cold War

Watergate break-in occurs

The Declaration of Independence

OUR Constitution

King George’s control on the Americans

The Civil war

 World War 1 and 2

The economy crashing in 1929

The Pearl Harbor Attack

9/11

The Iraq War

The Great Chicago Fire

Hurricane Katrina

Assasinations of Lincoln, and Kennedy

Washington becomes the 1st president of the United States of America

French Revolution begins

Bill of Rights adopted by Congress

Judiciary Act of 1789

 

 

 

 

 

The inventions of :

cars, light bulbs, baseball, telephone, potato chips :D, toilet paper, burglar alarm, electric stove, jelly beans :), machine gun, motorcycle,TV, refrigerator, washing machine, football, phonograph, electric fans, skyscrapers, dishwashers, AC, and the airplane. There are alot more, but these are some of the important ones 😉 haha

“I pledge allegiance, to the flag of the United States of America and to The Republic, for Which it Stands, ONE NATION, under GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” 

 

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

 

INDEPENDENCE IS a thing, not only a thing but a feeling. For 235 years we have stood as ONE as a nation. We have had difficulties, but over all, it is the best country in the world because AMERICA will always have the help of GOD on our side, he made that promise to us. 🙂 and God NEVER breaks his promises.

 

We all sing this:

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,

O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

 

 It’s our national anthem, but do you recognize this? :

 

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:

‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,

A home and a country should leave us no more!

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

 

 These are the “forgotten” verses of our national anthem, who bothers to sing those? We remember the easy part, where we stand up and take off out hats, but we forget the heart of the message. The juicy tidbit. Francis Scott Key wrote these lyrics too. So this 4th of July, let’s salute our country, and sing the WHOLE anthem..

 

 written by a patriot, who loves her country, and will die for it. WE WERE MEANT TO BE FREE! MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday!!

It is our nation’s birthday week and and I want to tell you I get sentimental ever 4th of July. I am an immigrant; I came to the U.S.A when I was 6 years old in 1976. I remember getting out of church that sweltering July day; being that we lived in a beach town the humidity was off the charts. As we were driving home for some much needed afternoon swimming in my uncle’s pool all of a sudden people starting honking their car horns.  I noticed all the cars on the road had their lights on even though it was 12 p.m. I asked my uncle what was happening and he said as he kept honking his horn that it  was our country’s 200th birthday. I was amazed because I had just come to live in the U.S. a couple of months before and I had never heard of a country that celebrated its birthday. That night we swam late, we ate lots of water melon and watched fire works light up the summer sky and I have loved celebrating Independence Day ever since. It is one of my favorite holidays…have a great 4th!
 
 
 

Unlock Treasure

My 3 girls attend dance lessons at an academy. They have teachers they learn a lot from and other teachers they don’t learn much from. Do you want to know what is the difference? I will be more than glad to tell you! The teachers my kids consider good and they can’t wait to see week after week are teachers who impart to them in a noble spirit; they are patient with the students and supportive. When they correct the students they don’t tear them down with harsh destructive criticism; they use constructive criticism to build up the student  thusly, the student grows. The other teachers are the complete opposite and they wear down the kid’s morale. Oh I’ve heard it from other grown ups that at times harsh critical words can aid the student in toughening her up and giving her a back bone. I disagree. ” No one has yet to fully realize the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of true education should be to unlock the treasure.” –Emma Goldman This quote shows me that in order to bring out the best in our children we need to value them and nurture them , it doesn’t work any other way.

Part Three

Who is up for some States/ World Capitals Bingo? This game I came up with to teach my kids U.S. States and World capitals. Using some plain white card stock  I designed a two sided board; on one side are the names of U.S. Capitals and on the other side are various capital cities from around the world. For chips I cut up red card stock paper into small squares.
 
The object of the game is to get a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row of capitals and then you call out Bingo!  I have written then names of all the states and different countries on small cards. Once I call out the state or country the first student to raise their hand can answer and if he is correct, he has to look up the city he said as his answer on our Rand McNally Classroom World Atlas. Then we continue until the first player calls Bingo!
 

The Heyday of The Blood

One day during the last school year, my daughter Esther read this story as an English class assignment. I found the following excerpt from The Heyday of The Blood to be relevant to our times. I hope you enjoy the excerpt and I encourage you to find this short story and read it in its entirety.

 

 

                                       THE HEYDAY OF THE BLOOD

 

” I tell ye Joey, I’ve lived a long time and I’ve learned a lot about how folks is made. The trouble with most of ’em is that they’re ‘fraid-cats!”…..

    ” The only way to manage this business of living is to give a hoop and let her rip. If you’ve just about half lived, you just the same as half die. And if you spend your time half dying, someday you turn in and die all over;without rightly meaning to at all, just a kind of bad habit you’ve gotten yourself into.”

     “Some live and some die; but folks that live die happy anyhow…Live while you live and then die and be done with it !”

 

Dorothy Canfield Fisher                           

 

Homeschooling on a Shoestring Budget

Greetings!
I wanted to share with you today some ideas that I have used over the years as I have grown in this field. I believe home schooling families can attest to the fact that it doesn’t take a whole lot of money to give your children a good education. If you have a good imagination and a little bit of $$ then you are on your way! For starters, books and curriculums cost and they cost more when you purchase your materials brand new. I am fortunate to live in a city where the local libraries sell their discarded books to the public. I have found the majority of my kid’s text books there and I’ve paid very little for them. I also go to thrift stores where I have found a complete volume of A Beka and Rod & Staff books for my kids at a crazy price. So ask around at your local libraries and see what they do with their discarded books. I want to leave you with a list of books that I have found to be valuable tools for teaching over the years. Adios!
 
PEARABLES Character Building Kingdom Stories (Volume set of 3)
-McGuffy Readers Set of 6
America‘s Providential History -Mark A. Beliles
– The Gift in You -Dr. Caroline Leaf
-The Parables of Peanuts – Robert L. Short