Thanksgiving Weekend

Here are two great pictures I couldn’t help but post.  We’ve been learning a lot about Indians lately, and what Thanksgiving dinner wouldn’t be complete without dressing up like Indians?

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Also, every year on Thanksgiving weekend, we attend a performance of The Nutcracker.  This year was The Dancer’s first time attending, and The Naturalist’s third time attending.  The Dancer was absolutely mesmerized, and she even said that she’d like to perform in the Nutcracker ballet someday. 

Here’s a picture of them posing with a life-sized nutcracker at the theatre.

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Bella the Movie

I just saw the movie Bella last night.  It is such a wonderful movie, and I can’t recommend it highly enough! 

I’ve only seen three movies in the theatre in the past six years.  I am always so disappointed in the movies Hollywood produces.  Most movies are juvenile, unimaginative, negative, and downright offensive.  Bella isn’t any of these things.

Bella is a positive, feel-good, pro-life, pro-family movie.  The two main characters are Nina and Jose.  Nina is faced with an unplanned pregnancy, and Jose offers her support.  Jose is such a great character – he has depth and mystery about him, and it is clear that his motivation to help Nina stems from his faith. 

I thought the movie would be predictable and one-dimensional, but it wasn’t.  The movie frequently goes forwards and backwards in time, making it very interesting and entertaining.  It is a beautiful film! 

I also read somewhere that an additional motivation in making this film was to counter all the negative stereotypes of Mexicans in the movies these days.  This movie isn’t just a pro-life, pro-family, feel-good movie, but it is also a very positive portrayal hispanics as well.

I’ve gotten lots of emails lately (one forward was from the lead actor, Eduardo Verastegui, himself!) that the pro-choice industry wants to get Bella out of the theatres, and that the movie will be gone if it doesn’t do well at the box office.  Please tell all your Christian friends to see Bella this weekend!  You will enjoy it!

Even Tony Bennett loves Bella!  See the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdJ6OjAsEz0

Below is a link to the personal testimony of the lead actor:

http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=LSu6XZ45Tw4

Homeschooling and Younger Siblings

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One of the things I like about homeschooling is the positive effects it has on younger children.  The Dancer isn’t required to learn anything (she’s only three years old), but she frequently chooses to participate in her older brother’s lessons.  (The Dancer really enjoyed learning about the parts of the human body).

Recently, Smiles had her 12 month well-baby check-up.  All three children went to the appointment.  Dr. Amy was trying to get Smiles to warm up to her, so she began tickling her toes and said something like, “What do we have here?”

The Dancer thought she was asking a question and responded, “Those are her phalanges.”

Dr. Amy, completely stunned, turned to The Dancer and asked, “What did you say?”

The Dancer, now a bit confused about all the fuss, repeated herself, “Those are her phalanges.”

Dr. Amy, regaining her composure, pointed to Smiles’ kneecap and asked the Dancer to identify it.  The Naturalist responded, “That’s her patella.”

Dr. Amy smiled, still amazed, and went back to her examination.  At this point, I wanted to say something about how homeschoolers score very high on standardized tests of achievement (see http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/200410250.asp), but I just smiled and let my children enjoy their moment.

Top 20 Advantages to Homeschooling

As reported from http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/index.htm ….

 20. Your kids never tell you that you’re a lot dumber than their teacher. 

19. If you can’t find matching socks for your child first thing in the morning, who cares? 

18. Cleaning out the refrigerator can double as chemistry lab. 

17. Your kids have good reason to think they might get spanked in school, but no reason to think they’ll get beat up by a gang. 

16. If the principal gives the teacher a bad evaluation, she can stick her icy feet against his legs at night. 

15. You can post the Ten Commandments on your school room wall and won’t get sued. 

14. You never have to drive your child’s forgotten lunch to school. 

13.Your child will never go to their 20th high school reunion, meet an old flame, and recklessly abandon their marriage. 

12. You get to change more than diapers, you get to change their minds. 

11. If you get caught talking to yourself, you can claim you’re having a PTA meeting. 

10. It’s better to be slightly concerned about socialization than very concerned about socialism. 

9. Your child will never suffer the embarrassment of group showers after PE. 

8. The only debate about the school lunch program is whose turn it is to cook. 

7. You never have to face the dilemma of whether to take your child’s side or the teacher’s side in a dispute at school. 

6. If your child gets drugs at school, it’s probably Tylenol. 

5. The teacher gets to kiss the principal in the faculty lounge and no one gossips. 

4. Your kids recognize that this list is numerically in reverse order. 

3. Your honor student can actually read the bumper sticker that you have on your car. 

2. If your child claims that the dog ate his homework, you can ask the dog. 

1. Some day your children will consider you to be a miracle working expert and will turn to you for advice.

October Activities

Here are some really cute pictures of the kids from October

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Here’s us celebrating Columbus Day with a trip to the Santa Maria.

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Here are the Naturalist and the Dancer with some of their homeschooling friends on a trip to a pumpkin patch.

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Here’s the dancer sliding down a slide in hay.

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We always take a trip to the Central Ohio Fire Museum every fall.

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Here are the Dancer and the Naturalist at the Symphony’s Concert for Kids.  Before the concert, kids can try out instruments, make crafts, and do other fun things.  The latest concert had a halloween theme, so kids were invited to wear their concerts to the event.