I’m A Kangaroo

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“I’m a kangaroo. Will you buy me?” said my five-year-old daughter as I entered her room and spotted her sitting up on her bed. She was in the process of folding her clothes. I suppose it helped to escape and become a stuffed animal kangaroo. I joined in. “Sure. I’ll buy you. How much do you cost?” I asked her in Romanian. She understands everything I say in Romanian, but answers me in English. “How much money do you have?” “$100.” “I cost more than that…”

McGillycuddy Could!

I had a lot of fun with this dialogue. It continued for a few minutes. Finally, she could not decide on a price for herself. Out of the blue, she  goes, “Do you got a kid or something?” “Yes,” I said, stifling another laughter. She said, “I think I’ve seen him in this store. He’s got brown hair and looks about this tall, right?”  Continue reading »


Sex Education for Homeschoolers

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In my book, 101 Tips for First Grade Homeschooling, I dedicated an entire chapter to sex education for homeschoolers. Here’s a brief summary, Start early. Have age-appropriate conversations brought upon by their own questions OR by books which you read to them.

The Wonderful Way Babies Are Made

I have found the following books to be helpful:

Continue reading »


Letter to A Teacher

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Teachers can make or break a student. They have a lot of power. Homeschooling teachers wield even more power over their students, because homeschooling teachers are the parents of their students. It is a deep relationship, one which can go really wrong or infinitely well.

Albert Camus, Nobel Prize for Literature, 1957

Albert Camus, Nobel Prize for Literature, 1957

For now, let us learn from a letter written by a Nobel-prize winner, Albert Camus, to his elementary teacher, Louis Germain. I am not sure if this is copyrighted text, but I found it on several websites.

19 November 1957

Dear Monsieur Germain,

I let the commotion around me these days subside a bit before speaking to you from the bottom of my heart. Continue reading »


Thoughtful Thursday Week 47 – Burning Books

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They are burning books in Don Quixote’s yard but it strikes me that they have been burning books throughout history. Different groups have been so scared of certain books, they burned them. It’s called biblioclasm or book burning. Look it up. It has been going on since the dawn of civilization.

You know what that tells me? Books have power.

Thoughtful Thursday - Burning Books

People burn books because they are scared of them, of what they can do to the reader.  Continue reading »


Family History Day

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The Saturday after Thanksgiving, the Tennessee State Library and Archives will be open to the public for the fifth Family History Day. The event can become your new family tradition. A lot of Tennesseans have taken to discovering their roots.

Tennessee State and Library Archives

The archives will be open to the public under the guidance of library staff. This is when you can look things up and learn more about your great-great-great-great grandparents. Family genealogy is fascinating.

My husband is a third generation Tennessean. His paternal grandparents moved here from Louisiana. So there would not be as much about them in these archives either. On his mother’s side, though, we could find more information, as they came from Tennessee.

It sure would be fun to look up things about them, just to see what pops up. Maybe when the kids get older.

I know for a fact that I do not have Tennessee ancestors, but lots of you living in the Volunteer State might. Watch this 18-minute video about the power of archives to enrich your life.


Knoxville Remembers Paris

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Tonight, at 7pm, on Market Square (in front of the stage) in Knoxville, a remembrance for Paris will be held. Organized by the University of Tennessee French Department and the UT French Honor Society, this vigil is open to the general public interested in showing solidarity with the French people.  Continue reading »


Smithsonian Associates Event

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The Smithsonian Associates is the largest museum-based educational program in the world. They offer over 750 events in a calendar year: workshops, tours, lectures, performances, summer camps etc.

My educational guru, Susan Wise Bauer, will be lecturing there on December 5, about one of her books – The Story of Western Science. I have read the book and learned a lot from it. I highly recommend it. It will give you an overview of the scientific themes humanity grappled with over the centuries. The book also contains enough details about each important scientific manuscript to help you understand specific topics.

Her all-day lecture (with lunch break) at the Smithsonian it titled Reading the Great Books of Science. The cost to attend is $150 if you are not a Smithsonian Associate member.  Continue reading »


Long Live the Library

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A quick post to show off a picture of our children’s craft time at the library last summer, during one of the workshops for the Summer Reading Program. I cannot say enough about how much we enjoy going to the library, getting books and doing crafts throughout the year, not just during the summer.

Boy and girl working on a craft at the library

My children working on crafts at the library

This winter will be interesting, as we say good bye to our long-time children’s librarian, who is retiring. Continue reading »


Operation Christmas Child

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My children are part of a scouting group called Adventurers through our church. It’s scouting with a religious component. They earn badges and learn about the world all through the lens of a Christian worldview. It all boils down to “learning more about Jesus.”

That’s what I have to remind myself when I get tired of driving them to Knoxville for this club’s meetings twice a month. It’s easy to get swallowed up in details about logistics, uniforms, badges that must be sewn onto their sashes etc and forget we are simply doing this in order to learn more about Jesus Himself.

NaBloPoMo2015

For the first time, I am posting every day for a month.

For their service project, they raise funds for Operation Christmas Child by standing at the church doors once a year. As people exit, they pass out prayer book marks and hold a platter out for donations. The program’s director has already made an announcement from upfront so people know why cute children dressed in Adventurer uniforms are standing at the door with collection baskets and book marks.  Continue reading »


French Friday, Radio France Internationale

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This morning, like on any morning while I am preparing breakfast pour mes petits, I turned on Radio France Internationale on my cell phone. I usually listen to the news in easy French (Le Journal en Français Facile), which I have to download first.

French Flag

If you have not yet taken advantage of rfi.fr resources to learn French, I am here to encourage you to check them out. They have a whole site dedicated to learning French from newscasts. You can get the transcript of Le Journal en Français Facile, too.

Somehow, this morning, I just wanted to push play on the regular broadcast, which is streamed live.  Continue reading »