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Who IS Patrick, anyway?

If you wear a clover today, you might want to make sure it has 3 leaves, instead of 4, if you want to be true to the meaning of St. Patrick’s Day. If you’ve never read about the real Patrick, of whom the day speaks, it is one exciting story.  I thought I would share a bit of it here today, by quoting an excerpt from our favorite history book, The Mystery of History (Vol. II): “Patrick was born in England in 389.  (He was not Irish as most people would think!)  His parents were…

The Original Valentine

You know I love books, right? And history. And learning of all kinds. I pretty much try to make a learning experience out of everything. Even holidays. I told you how much I loved connections. Holidays are a perfect opportunity for making connections. In the midst of the candy-buying, valentine-writing, and heart-making, you might just wonder why in the world you’re doing all of this… or more likely, your children ask you something like…Mom, why do we do this anyway? Bam.  Instant teaching opportunity. Share with them the story of St. Valentine…

Jazzing up January with New Books

We got new school books the other day. Please excuse the lonely little cotton stem; he needs friends. Yep.  In January. Adds a little excitement to the drab days of winter.  I mean, who doesn’t need a little sparkle amidst the gray? We’re conditioned to think that our students must begin a new textbook in September and be finished with it by May.  And sometimes it works out that way… sometimes, it doesn’t. The reality is, a child might speed through a book because they love it and be ready for the next…

The Santa Question

I remember where I was when I was first confronted with the truth.  I’ll bet you do, too. A cousin of mine (who was much older and wiser, six months older than I was) informed me as we stood in my grandparents’ house after Sunday dinner that, of course she “didn’t believe in Santa Claus anymore…there’s no way he could get to all those houses in one night.” I stood there, stunned.  She had a point there. It’s a funny story now, but at the time, I…

How Summer Days are Meant to be Spent

This summer, we’ve had fun speeding down waterslides, eating watermelon (an absolute summer requirement around here), going to the park, watching fireworks on the 4th, playing volleyball (they play; I watch), gardening (mostly, we grow weeds), and working on projects (fun for me, anyway!) Active things.  Fun things. But today I looked outside, and saw this… Maitland & Wyland (brothers) and Bekah & Joe (siblings) and I thought…THAT is how summer days are meant to be spent.  At least some of them.  Green grass, warm sun, a breeze, and leisure.  Permission to be lazy.  To…

And the winner is…

  Lara Leger! Congratulations to Lara, who won the Giveaway for this book.  🙂 I wish everybody could have won, because I want everyone to have it. If you are still interested in owning this book, I have listed some links where you can find it: http://www.themysteryofhistory.info/volumeI.shtml and http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntt=mystery+of+history+volume+1&N=0&Ntk=keywords&action=Search&Ne=0&event=ESRCQ&nav_search=1&cms=1 Also, there are companion products, as well as volumes II and III (and soon…