My kids in the snow!

My girls!

My twins!

My sweet kids!

It snowed today!  Not a whole lot so far, but in NC, we do have winters with no snow.
So snow is always exciting for us.  =)

Li'l duckies in the wind...

At first I said, "Awwww," then I laughed and laughed.
Then I said, "Awwww" again, and laughed some more.  =)
They look like leaves.

Poor li'l duckies... hahaha!  (sorry!)

These are a "few" of my favorite things!

Ok, so I thought I'd post a few of my favorite posts...
Ummm... I like quite a few!!!
I did try to cut it down, but you know...  I love all my posts, lol.  So getting it down to 30-something posts out of over 200 was no small endeavor.  =D


•Sooo Thankful!  The day Travis decided to drive home instead of letting Rebekah drive.
•My fridge is CLEAN!  And I just wanted a picture of it, lol.
•Rebekah is 15 - Picture of the girls and Bethany's first (and only so far!) cake made with fondant, last year when she was 12.
•Snow!  We actually got 10 inches of snow last year!
•First Kill - JohnDavid is so funny!
•Egg on the Floor - JohnDavid also loves to play pranks.  =D

•Return of the Dementia - Oh my!  Anyone reading this will really have cause to wonder about me!!
•Root Observation, by JohnDavid, age 11
•Seed Experiment, by Bethany, age 11
•Sadie in Space, by JohnDavid, age 11.  I love this!  So funny.  =)
•Sahm-I-Am ♥ my family
•They Did It!  How my girls raised $400 in 6 weeks last year by selling pocketbooks they made.
•He Shoots!  He Scores!  Woo-hoo, Travis! (short video)


•Surprise Perks at Summer Camp - I can't believe my 10yo son did this!  It was so hilarious and cool.  hee hee!
•Homeschoolers - How We Do It - some funny pics I found online to demonstrate how we Moms really are when no one is looking, haha!
•Bethany's Scarf and how she made it.
•You Are My Hiding Place ♪♫ A World We Never Touch - both songs by the John Marshall Family
•Modesty - what guys say

•Diaper Cake!  My Mother-in-law and I made this one.
•Four-part harmony ♪♫ one guy
•My girls singing with Kay Chandler ♪♫
•Vengeance is Mine (Mwah-ha-haaa!!!)
•Physical Science, Module 9 - See O'Dale, Leona, Breanna, and "nameless" compete for the win!  =)
•Stuff we've made - mostly stuff the girls have made.  =)
•Physical Science, Module 11, hahaha! I got 'em good!  =D
•Error 1714 whew.


•No new thing under the sun
•I Love my Mom and Dad - in 2008, my Mom was diagnosed with cancer, but she stayed so faithful to the Lord!  After 50 years of marriage, my Mom and Dad still loved each other very much.  =)
•August 4, 2011, the granddaughters singing at Mama's funeral "I Saw Jesus in You" ♪♫
•The Best Husband ♥
•A man dies and goes to heaven...
•Travis ♥

•Standing on the Solid Rock ♪♫ My kids and their cousins, playing and singing
•Girls in the Rain.  =)
•Physical Science, Module 10 - see the explosion; hear Abigail say, "Marty!" in disbelief because I let them do this in my kitchen! =D
•My kids use something and don't put it back...
•Biology, Module 6, The Cell (incredible, edible pizza and cake cells)
•Do you REALLY Want to be Like HIM?
•...and I hope you're with me...

♪ These are a few of my favorite things! ♫

Studying...

A friend and I were talking about ideas for studying and school in general.  I told her of a couple of things I had read recently, and she said, "I'd better write this down."
So I decided someone else may like these ideas.

Taking Notes with a Twist
Have you tried in vain to get your child to take thorough notes? 
I read somewhere that some parents let their child use their notes when they are taking quizzes and/or tests.
Wow.
This may seem like letting them cheat, but it will greatly encourage them to take better notes!
They will begin to realize that taking notes is one of the best ways to study.
Seeing, writing, thinking as they write, recall as they look back at the text to make sure what they wrote is correct...
The main thing is that they learn, right?  Not that they can do a quiz without looking back.  Many teachers have open book quizzes, so this is like that.
I've been doing this with my kids for Biology, and it's working great.

Notebooking and Lapbooking
Notebooking or Lapbooking is an illustration of what your child has learned.  This is for the child to do, and it is a way of taking notes, but usually with drawings, maps, diagrams, labeling, etc.   For lapbooking, it is usually like a fold-out scrapbook made with one or more colored file folders (to fit on a shelf), and is more crafty.  Pictures, fold-out "books", pockets to put things in, etc.  Lapbooking examples here.  
I am focusing mainly on notebooking here since my kids are teenagers, and none of them are scrapbooky type of people.  =)
Notebooking examples here.
►Here are links to some notebooking how-to's.
Notebooking Exhibit
Make Your Own
Lapbooking vs. Notebooking
►For math, notebooking can be explaining a rule, and illustrating it with math problems.   Drawing and labeling (geometry), etc.  It can be writing out a chart.  We have done some of this even before I knew what notebooking was.  We usually do ours rather simply, and just write in the regular math notebook on whatever page they are on, although I can see the benefits of having all the "rules" in one place.  Also, for younger children, they enjoy looking back at their creations, and by looking at it again, are reinforcing what they've learned.
Here are some examples of math notebooking.

Here is the same site, but at the top.  Scroll down a little to "Contents at a Glance."  There are a few free notebooking pages too!
►I can see how this would also work for grammar, diagramming, punctuation rules, etc.  Just think, "What would I put on a bulletin board in a classroom?"  Ask your child what s/he would put on one.  Find cute little illustrations online to print out.
►Here is a link to science notebooking.  Scroll down for ideas for pages and for example pages, as well as a few links to printable pages.  Keep scrolling!  There are more freebies!  One site has lots of free ones.  Scroll a little further and find the labbooking pages for Chemistry and Physics.  These can be revised for notebooking if you want. 
►Notebooking pages for Bible.  Drawing, illustrating Bible stories, a fold-out timeline, some free printables.  These look great for younger kids.  Some would be good for older ones, as well.
On this site, there are many links to other sites.  Some free and some not.  Bookmark your favorites!  =)

Learning on their own
If your child is old enough, let them do their own research to find, for example, a good, labeled map of Europe.
By the time they have looked thru several to find the best one, they are already learning.

I let my oldest daughter look up videos to help her do her algebra.  I have her tell me when she finds a good one so I can save it.  By the time she's sifted thru several with the same concept and finds a good one, she has gleaned little things here and there from each instructor.

If you have any great ideas, I'd love to hear them!  =)

A man dies and goes to heaven...

St. Peter meets him at the Pearly Gates and says, "Here's how it works.  You need 100 points to make it into heaven.  You tell me all the good things you've done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was.  When you reach 100 points, you get in."

"Okay," the man says, "I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart."

"That's wonderful!" says Peter.  "That's worth two points!"

"Two points?!?  Just two?" the man's mouth drops open.
After a moment, he continues.  "Well... I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service."

"Terrific!" says Peter.  "That's certainly worth a point."

"One point?!?"  The man's eyes widen as he stares at Peter.  
Worriedly, he continues.  "I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans."

"Fantastic!" cries Peter.  "That is certainly worth two more points!" 

Exasperated, the man cries, "At this rate, the only way I'll get into heaven is by the grace of God!"

"Bingo!  100 points!  Come on in!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a fictitious story of course; no points are needed or no works need to be done to enter heaven. 
But the only way to heaven is by the grace of God.  He, and He alone will save us from our sin. 

Happy Thanksgiving! =D

Hee hee!

Thanksgiving Menu

Every year, we say we should make fewer dishes.
And every year, we don't.  =)

We had nearly the same foods last year, and the year before, and...  
Therefore it stands to reason, why mess with a good thing?  =)  The only thing that may vary are the pies other than pumpkin, and sometimes a couple of extra dishes.  Everyone always brings extra bowls, and while we are putting away the food, we share and take home leftovers.  What a blessing!
(I think this year we have more dishes than people!)

Turkey (that's a given)
Gravy (it goes w/ the turkey, of course)
Cranberry sauce
Creamed Potatoes
Potato Salad
Homemade Yeast Rolls, with honey butter (sometimes homemade)
Squash Casserole
Sweet Potato Casserole
Broccoli Casserole
Green Beans
Baked Beans
Corn
Dressing Balls
Crockpot Macaroni n' Cheese
Deviled Eggs
Pasta Salad
Vegetable Casserole
Layered Salad
Pumpkin Pie with whipped cream
Other pies - this year, it's Apple Crumb, and Pecan Pie, plus some cookies.

This is for 18 people.  This is just for Day 1.  Day 2 is tomorrow.  =)

How to Bathe a Cat

1. Thoroughly clean the toilet.
2. Lift both lids and add shampoo.
3. Find and soothe cat as you carry him/her to the bathroom.
4. In one swift move, place cat in toilet, close both lids, and stand on top so cat cannot escape.
5. The cat will self agitate and produce ample suds (ignore ruckus from inside toilet; cat is actually enjoying this).
6. Flush toilet 3 or 4 times. This provides power rinse, which is quite effective.
7. Have someone open outside door; stand as far from toilet as possible, and quickly lift both lids.
8. Clean cat will rocket out of the toilet and go outdoors where its hair will self-dry.

Sincerely,
The Dog






From GCFL

Biology, Module 6, The Cell

Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M6, part 1
Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M6, part 2
Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M6, all 
Videos, etc. for M6 

We have been looking forward to this module since last year when we were doing Physical Science!  I had seen the posts at Applie's Place, and I told the kids we would make pizzas for our Incredible, Edible Cells.  (Links at my other blog to Applie's and Julie's cells.)   I think the boys liked this "experiment" the best.  =D

Our Incredible, Edible Cells.  
Animal Cell.  I love the celery centrioles (Isaac's idea) and the sausage link mitochondria.  The ham is supposed the be the rough and smooth ER, but the bacon bit ribosomes are lost in the cytoplasm (cheese).   Do you like the secretion vesicle?  Looks like someone took a bite.  =)  We also made another pizza since there were three boys here!  On that one, we just put whatever toppings we wanted.

The girls took care of the dough, sauce, and cheese, and I had the boys cutting and chopping.  =) That Endoplasmic Reticulum ham was a little tedious.  Isaac had gotten a good piece cut, and JohnDavid ate it thinking it was a leftover piece! It was our best piece of ER.  Oh, well!  (My son is not in the Biology class, so he didn't know something in such a strange shape would be important! lol)  They all had a lot of fun sneaking bites now and then.  I knew they would!  We had some extra.

Our Plant Cell - We forgot the Golgi body!  So this is a non-functioning plant cell, hee hee.  =)  The rough and smooth ER were improv since the poptarts that we had planned to use crumbled when cousin A tried to cut it to shape.  The green jelly beans are chloroplasts so I guess the pink marshmallows will have to be both vacuoles and leucoplasts.  (oops!)  But it was a pretty tasty cake!  =)

As you can see, we learned about plant and animal cells.  We learned the 11 functions that a cell performs, and which organelles do which jobs.  All that going on in one tiny cell.  Wow!  Isn't our Creator marvelous!?!
Then we learned about cellular respiration - how cells make their energy.   We learned that the formula for cellular respiration was the opposite of photosynthesis.  Your cells take in glucose and oxygen, and from the reaction of those two molecules is made energy, water, and the carbon dioxide that we breathe out.
It is a very complicated process, more so than what is in our textbook even!  I've never been to college, nor do I remember much about biology from high school.  (I do remember something about leaves...)
So it took me awhile to plow thru the explanations, and looking up stuff online.  Once I got the gist of it, I decided to make a game.  The kids love games.  They will listen better if they know we're going to play games so they can win points for their team.  So.... a game it is!  =)
We had the 4 stages of cellular respiration to learn, plus the overall effect of what was used and what was the end result of cellular respiration.  They learned a little at a time, and kept adding stages until they had (temporarily) memorized all 4 stages and the overall effect.  We only played about 4 rounds because we were running short on time.  This was a preview of the next part of the chapter, so we had to study it first!
Rebekah and cousin C's team won.

They placed the names of the molecules on the "blanks" to fill in the chemical formula.  Each time we added a stage, they had to mix up all the cards.  Eventually we had all 10 posterboard pieces on the bar!   =D  Even though they won't retain without more studying, at least they got a jump start on it.
Later I was commenting to Rebekah that it was amazing that all that could go on in such a tiny cell.  And 2,000 of them can fit in a line across your fingernail!
She laughed, "Yeah, and we used the whole bar!"  =D
We also learned about how substances traveled in and out of cells and about passive and active transport.  Since we don't have a microscope, I posted pictures and videos at Homeschooler's Resources so they could see closeups of cells.
Each time I look through an upcoming module, I'm slightly overwhelmed at all the stuff that's way over my head!  But I just keep re-reading until I get it, and I am pleased at how well I actually do understand it.  I'm also a little astounded!  I learned all this?  And it's just a drop in the bucket compared to the vast information there really is!
I'm just in awe at all the things God created and how intricate they are!

and I hope you're with me...

The Story of Jonah

The story of Jonah from Corinth Baptist Church on Vimeo.
From the comments at the above links, this little girl has apparently memorized this from a video.  What talent she has!  =)

Gmail: multiple accounts - receiving and replying from default email account

If you use google mail, here's what you can do for free:
►have all emails forwarded to your default (main) email
►have all forwarded emails automatically labeled so you'll know to where they were originally emailed
►reply from your default email as "From:" any other gmail you own without signing in and out!
►get visual and sound notification when you receive email at any other gmail account(s) you own

If you don't have a gmail account, it's easy to set up.
Create a gmail that will be your main email.  The one you give your friends and family, or the one you will use the most. This is your default email.

A new email can be for your business, for your blog or website, or even for your children if you want to be able to see if they have email without signing out of your own account.
►1.  First sign out of your default gmail account.
Sign into your second gmail account, or if you don't have one yet, click Create an Account.  You are allowed to use the same password for multiple gmail accounts.
You may have several that you want to manage from your default account.  These will all be referred to as new email accounts to differentiate from your default account.

►Remember to always scroll down to see if you need to SAVE CHANGES.

IN THE NEW EMAIL ACCOUNT

►2.  Click the gear symbol at the top right, then Settings.  
In the menu that goes across, click Forwarding and POP/IMAP, click Add a forwarding address...
Put in your default email address (that you want mail forwarded to), and click Next.  It will tell you a verification has been sent.

►If you have several to forward to your default mail, sign in to each account, and do all those now before signing back into your default mail.
►Sign out of the new account and back into your default gmail.

IN THE DEFAULT EMAIL ACCOUNT
►3.  In your default email, for each email address you forwarded, you should have an email that says Gmail Forwarding Confirmation.  Open this email and click on the link to confirm request.  Then you may delete this email.
►Under the gear symbol, click Settings, Filters, Create a New Filter.  In the To: box, put in the name of your new email (like Martysahm@gmail.com) that you want forwarded to your default email. Click Next Step.

►4.  Check Apply the label, Choose Label, New Label, type in name of new email (but not the whole email address - like "MartySahm") OR the name of a person if you are managing another email account.  Click Create Filter.

Incoming forwarded emails that are set up to be automatically labeled will look something like this.
This one is labeled "Info Morsels" -- a blog I used to have.
Labels can be any color you choose.

►5.  You're still in the Settings, so click Accounts, click the circle Reply from the same address the message was sent to.   (If you have already set up accounts in this way before now, this circle should already be marked.)
►Click Send mail from another address.
►In the pop-up window, put in your name as you want it to appear to others for this new email, and type in the name of the new address.

►NEW - now there is a setting to Treat as an Alias.  In other words, if you reply as Sam, but your default email is Tom, it will tell the receiver that Sam sent this as Tom.

If you don't want this to happen, uncheck the Treat as an Alias box.  
If you have past accounts you have already set up in this way, you can go change all of them if you want to.  Read more here.
►Click Next Step, Send Verification.
►Close window.

You are still in your default email.
►Again, if you are doing this for multiple accounts, while still in your default email, repeat steps 3-5 for each email address.

IN THE NEW EMAIL ACCOUNT

►6. Then sign out of your default email, and back into the new email.  There should be an email for you to confirm that your default email can send mail "as" your new email.  Confirm by clicking the link in the email.
►Also, click on the gear symbol, and go back to Settings, Forwarding and POP/IMAP, and make sure the circle is ticked beside "Forward a copy."  Save Changes.
Sign into and do this for each email you wanted to send mail as. 

 

Now sign back into your default email.

IN THE DEFAULT EMAIL ACCOUNT

►7.  Click Compose mail.  In the From:  line, click the drop down menu, and click on the new email address.  Now you are sending email from your new email while still in your default email.

All email including replies to your new email address will be sent to that new email address and forwarded to your default email account.
You're done!  =)

►You can also create labels for anything, and apply them to any email after you receive it. Videos, Pictures, Important, etc.  Just checkmark the email you want to label, click on Labels, create new, and type in your label name, then Ok.  Then if you want to Archive (file) an email, you can find it again by clicking on the name of the label in the sidebar of your email account.  This is like a folder.
Do not archive until you have attached a label, or it will be difficult to locate again.
Under Settings, Labels, you can decide which labels (folders) you want to show in your sidebar.

►To get visual and sound notifications of any new mail even if your browser is not open, get Gmail Notifier.  It displays an icon in your system tray that is white when there is no mail, blue when you have mail.  Notification sounds when you get incoming mail.  Now you'll know if you've received email in any gmail account you own!

Biology, Module 5, The Chemistry of Life

Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M5 
Videos, etc. for M5, Part A
Videos, etc. for M5, Part B

This module was a lot of fun!  We did 4 experiments and one game.  =)
We played a game as a preview before they began the module.  I knew they would need to really understand structural formulas of molecules or their eyes would fall out of their head when they turned the page and saw this! →
And that was just the small molecule!
You may be more familiar with the formula for glucose being written this way:  C₆H₁₂O₆

They played team against team, winning points for their 2nd contest.  Rebekah & Cousin C vs. Isaac & Cousin A.  We played the chain structure first, since it definitely was easier, then the ring structure.  Sometimes one team would be finished and I would check their work, and an atom was out of place and the other team would win!  They had a lot of fun.  We reviewed where to put the atoms a few times, then had one practice round.

Finally we began, and after 5 rounds, Rebekah and Cousin C's team won 150-100. The fastest time for chain structure was 21 seconds, but the fastest for ring structure was only 25 seconds! I thought it would be more.

Experiment 5.1, Diffusion was done at home.  The kids put a spoonful of sugar in a napkin and brought the edges up and secured with a twist tie, making a little sac so that no sugar could seep out.  This was immersed in a glass of water for a minimum of two hours.  The purpose of this experiment was to show that water molecules could flow freely through the napkin, and that sugar, once dissolved was able to flow through the napkin too.  This illustrated diffusion. 
In diffusion, both the solvent (water) and the solute (in this case, sugar) are able to flow through the fully permeable membrane (napkin).  Solutes naturally move from an area of high concentration (in the napkin) to an area of low concentration (outside the napkin).  Solutes moving from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration is diffusion.  In the end, the concentration of sugar to water evens out in the napkin as well as outside the napkin.  However, the water level inside the napkin (fully permeable membrane) and outside the napkin stayed the same.  Remember, this random movement of molecules will continue even after everything is equaled out. 

The next experiment was done at home as well.  It took several days.  In Experiment 5.2, Osmosis, the kids were to measure a raw egg, then place it in vinegar for 24 hours.  The vinegar dissolved the shell, and if it wasn't fully dissolved, they were to place the egg in fresh vinegar for another 24 hours.  Then it was to be measured again, and placed in Karo syrup for 24 hours.  Then measured again, and placed in distilled water for the last 24 hours.

This experiment showed the difference between diffusion and osmosis.  In diffusion, water molecules and the sugar that was broken down were both able to pass through the fully permeable membrane, the napkin.
In osmosis, only the solvent (water) has molecules small enough to be able to pass through the semipermeable membrane, the membrane of the egg.  The solute was the 'stuff' inside the egg.  When the egg was placed in vinegar, the water molecules that are in vinegar could pass through the membrane.  This made the egg grow larger.
When the egg was placed in the Karo syrup, not only did the water that was in the vinegar come back out of the egg, but water from the egg came with it.  This is why the egg had shrunk.  This shows something very important.  Water is not just leaking out... it is seeking the higher concentration of solute.  It is gravitating to the Karo syrup because it has a higher concentration of solute.  Just like if you lay a sponge on a puddle of water, it doesn't just wet the bottom of the sponge; it soaks up into the whole sponge.

Osmosis

The tendency for a solvent (the water) to move from an area of low concentration across a semipermeable membrane to an area of high concentration is osmosis. Solute cannot cross a semipermeable membrane, so in an effort to balance it out, the solvent (water) will cross the semipermeable membrane to dilute the solute as much as possible.
Water, a solvent, will always gravitate to the higher concentration area, trying to even out the solvent to solute ratio.  This is why when a person drinks ocean water, the water in their cells will move out of the cell by osmosis to the higher concentrated salt water, which can be fatal.
When placed in the distilled water, I bet you know by now the egg swelled up again.  But this time it grew much larger than it did when in the vinegar.  This is because vinegar has more solute than water in it.  We used distilled water to make sure there would be no solute in it.

choppin' cabbage

I was glad I still had the leftover distilled water, for it worked right in with one of our experiments this week, The Cabbage pH Indicator.  We had learned about pH, and I wanted the kids to see this amazing experiment.
They boiled red cabbage (cut into large pieces) in distilled water for about 10 minutes.  Cousin A labeled cups with the different substances we would be testing.  Some needed to be mixed with distilled water.  (baking soda, washing soda, salt, sugar, and lye soap)  For the dry ingredients, they mixed 1 Tbs. with ¼ c. distilled water, and for the lye soap, we just rubbed some off, maybe ½ tsp., and mixed until it melted.
I had them make sure to use a clean, dry spoon each time they measured or stirred.  Glad we were next to a sink!  =)
Other liquids we tested were milk, lemon juice, vinegar, ammonia (whew!),  distilled water, and my tap water.  We didn't have any rain water.
Then we strained the cabbage juice that had been boiling; it was dark bluish-purple.  They added about 1 Tbs. of cabbage juice to each of the cups.  In the videos, you can see it is still hot!
Isaac wrote down all the substances that were to be tested, then Rebekah wrote the results as they did them.  I made copies of this page for the all kids to use at home when they did their lab reports.
Here is what happened:








The end result:

The blue, bluish-green, and yellow-green are bases, and the pinks are acids.
I would say the salt is somewhat of a base, even though it is lighter, and a little bluish purple. 
The distilled water is neutral.  It is more clear than it appears in the picture.

We also did Yummy DNA!  I saw this last year at Applie's Place.  Here is the link to the original instructions.
The kids worked carefully, as they held their lives in their own hands, making sure to link the correct nucleotide bases together:  adenine with thymine, and guanine with cytosine.  They used different colored "backbones" to make the sides of our double helix, as our DNA is all different, right?  (and much tastier this way, too!)  The backbones of DNA are made up of phosphate groups (arrangements of phosphorous, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms) and deoxyribose (a simple sugar that contains 5 carbons).  These alternate down the sides of the double helix, but aren't shown in the experiment.
Click for a cool DNA game.  =)

We had a great time today!  Even with the smelly ammonia and cabbage, lol. 

Settings on Blogger

So if you've started a blog with Blogger, there are a few settings you may not realize you have.
Some are self-explanatory, and others, I'm still not quite sure, so I leave them alone!!  =)

At the top of your blog, click Design, Settings, then Basic.
Or, at blogger.com, click the down-arrow to the right of your blog, and click Settings.

►See the Permissions section.
Here you can choose who can view your blog.  Anybody, Only These Readers (they must have a gmail and sign in to view your blog each time), or Only Blog Authors, which is yourself, and anyone you add as a blog author. 
People you add as a blog author can post, but not change any settings or change your posts unless you add them as administrator.  But then they could remove you, so I don't recommend adding anyone else as administrator.

►The listings and search engine options are also found under Basic, then under Privacy.  Choosing Yes for each of these allows your blog to be found when someone does a search.
• If you want traffic, you should allow Anybody, and certainly you want the google searches to find you.
• If you don't want traffic, you might still want to choose Anybody if many friends and family don't have gmail and won't be able to sign in to view.  But you can check the blog listing and search engine options to No so a search by strangers will not pull up your blog.
Either way, I would definitely moderate comments before they are published for all to see.
• Changing the search engine and blog listing settings later to No from Yes may result in people still being able to find your blog with a search.  Once your blog is listed, it gets 'spread' across multiple search engines, not just google.  Start with No if you're not sure about it yet.
If you didn't do this to begin with, but your blog is fairly new, it can still work.  It just may take a few weeks.  I have StatCounter, and can see how people have found my blog.  After I changed the settings, my seeing that people found my family blog thru a search did get less and less and finally stopped after several weeks.

►Posts and Comments is where you can determine the number of posts that show on your page. You can also decide who is allowed to comment.  If you choose Anyone, I suggest also selecting Always for Comment Moderation.  You don't want someone to post really bad stuff for everyone to see!
• I chose not to have Word Verification so that my readers don't have to bother with it.  I'm going to be checking the comments before I publish them anyway.  I can delete any spam before it can post.
• I also chose Embedded for the Comment Location.  This allows me to Reply to a specific comment rather than having to comment at the bottom.
• If you choose comment moderation, you can be notified of any pending comments by putting in your email address under "Email moderation requests to."

►You're still under the Settings, so click on Language and Formatting.  You can decide how you want the date and time to appear on your blog posts.  Check to see if the time zone is selected correctly, so that your posts won't say 4:00 am when you were in bed asleep at 4:00 am!

Have a great time tweaking the settings and seeing what they do!

Privacy and Security Settings:
Under Basic:
"Permissions"  
Under Basic, then Privacy:
"Add your blog to our listings," and "Let search engines find your blog."
Under Posts and Comments:
"Comment Moderation" 

Are you a Homeschool Blogger?

Are you a homeschool blogger that would like to find other homeschool bloggers?
You can!  Beginning today, blog links are being added at Homeschool Blogger's Update , and you can even have your own blog added!

Just leave a comment here with (1) your blog link, and (2) what name you want added to your blog title.  For instance, if you frequent any homeschool forums, you can add your screen name so that others will recognize who you are.  You can include your first name too, if you wish.  (See blog links at HSBU for examples.)
Just let me know in your comment here.

I'd also like to know how you found my blog and a little information about yourself.

Non-homeschool blogs will not be added.  This does not mean you have to post only about homeschool.  It means that we will not post the cooking or coupon blogs of homeschoolers, for example.  It needs to be a family-type blog, and it should be evident on your blog that you do, indeed, homeschool.

Questionable blogs will not be accepted, or may later be removed later from HSBU if I see the need.

Your blog needs to be viewable by the public.  If at a later date I see a blog has been changed to private, I will need to remove it.  If yours has ever been made private then back to public, check to see if your blog needs to be re-added to Homeschool Blogger's Update.

Just trying to eliminate spammers or unsavory people, etc.  =)
sMiLeS,

Puff Mushroom!

We learned about different kinds of mushrooms in Module 4, kingdom Fungi.
This is one of those "puff" mushrooms, but I don't think it would be called a puffball mushroom.
Travis was throwing football with the kids this evening, and Rebekah found three of these in our front yard.  =)
Here's a video of Bethany "puffing" it w/ her shoe.

Here is one that is still whole.  Sort of.  Doesn't really look like a mushroom, does it?
It looks like an old, dried out moon pie.  lol.  (but don't eat it!)