Words of Encouragement

I realized I need to fall back on the Lord, especially when I'm faced with adversity because when I don't fall back to the Lord- I'm moving away from the Lord. So here are some tools that I'm taking with me as I visit family next week.

1 Chronicles 21:13
David said to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men."

Romans 15

1We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me." 4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs 9 so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written:

"Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles;
I will sing hymns to your name." 10Again, it says,
"Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." 11And again,
"Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and sing praises to him, all you peoples." 12And again, Isaiah says,
"The Root of Jesse will spring up,
one who will arise to rule over the nations;
the Gentiles will hope in him."

13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Maybe it'll be better just to memorize all of Romans 15? A hymn based on this scripture is Clear the Path. I am taking my Bible with me this coming week, to read-to remind myself and to fortify.

(Thank you Karen)
Jessica

5 Blogs That Make Me Think

Sandie has honored me with the Gold Thinking Blogger Award; it's a nice way of recognizing the many great blogs that are out there, and it originated here. Once you've been tagged, it's your turn to select -- in no particular order -- five blogs that have impressed you for one reason or another and tag them with this award. Be sure that when you tag them, you link back to the original source of this award.

Choosing five blogs that have made me think are pretty easy, choosing five blogs that have challenged me to think and encouraged me is another story!

HigherUpandFurtherIn by LindaFay: Whenever I need inspiration, encouragement and just a refreshing perspective LindaFay is there to provide through her experiences of homeschooling that she shares on her blog. Her words of wisdom have helped me strike a balance in our own homeschool and she has helped me shape our own educational philosophy.

Classical Bookworm by Sylvia: Ever since I first came across Classical Bookworm, I've been inspired. Inspired to learn, to read, and to share because of Sylvia's blog. She's an amazing person and she helped me realize that blogging is about sharing experiences, sharing what you learn, sharing what resources you've found. My blog found it's personality because of Sylvia and I can think of no better person to give a Thinking Blog award to.

HarmonyArtMom by Barb: Barb is one of those people that once you meet, you know that you've found someone special. She has enriched my life through her helpful posts, her gracious heart, and her love of art and music. She's a wonderful photographer and now a good friend. Her enthusiasm is contagious and her ideas endless, she truly is a kindred spirit.

Epistemological Relativism by Roodee: This is a man serious about his studies! He makes me think and pull out my dictionary. I am grateful that he decided to share his autodidact journey even though my own journey has taken a different road at this time. You don't have to agree to appreciate the effort he puts forth, in fact discourse is very welcome. Here's to you Roodee!

Journey Back in Time by Kris: She's got a Super Hero costume underneath her regular clothes, I just KNOW it! I've never met anyone like Kris before, she is a professional juggler of tasks and goals and she blogs about it all! Homeschooling, reading, frugal living, cooking, you know name it- she probably has a post about it. Kris is an inspiration and a woman after God's heart. I am very blessed to know her.

Baby Got Bible

Passing this on after a fellow hsler shared this on the WTM Board.

Flustered and trying to maintain

Camille is still working on the ten books from the library from last week because our travelling interruption. It seems we're going to experience a lot of travelling interruptions in the next month. This Friday she goes to her Dad's, then Monday we'll be at dh's family's house, after that the kids and I are going to my parent's house. We'll have a week or so at home, then we'll be going to mil's birthday party (6 hours away) that will be a gathering of *everyone* for her.

It's just so sad. Everything we do from this point on is a way of saying goodbye and it kicks me in the stomach. I don't want to say goodbye! Who's going to get my rankles up and keep me on my toes? How is dh's dad going to handle her being gone? This overwhelming sadness lingers throughout the day whenever I allow myself to think of it.

Our lessons are still happening, I'll have to take them with us when we're visiting. Planning for second grade has come to a halt, I can't focus on that right now. I have product reviews to do and I've got to accomplish at least two before we leave Monday for the inlaws. I've got enough to keep me busy and keep me from dwelling on the situation. Let's see...ds2 (about to be 3), dd6's lessons, learning French, puppy, vet appointments, dh's trying to catch up with his school assignments that he missed last week plus this week's, arranging travel, etc, etc.

So that is what R&R is!

I went to St. Simon's Island, GA for a pastor wives' retreat and it was wonderful. To be able to gather with those that are experiencing what you are, that have gone through the trials and joys of being in the ministry- it was refreshing. I learned so much just by listening to my elders. It was a weekend of rejuvenation and renewal for me and I finally was able to r-e-l-a-x and lay all my burdens at God's feet. There's something about the combination of being able to relax and being able to let go, I think that as we live our struggles we can't seem to separate ourselves from them enough to give them to God and to rely on Him.


The inscription on the front:
We Thank thee for the majesty of the heavens, We rejoice in the sky born music of a night of stars, the rush of the dawn when the world wakens to the warmth of the sun which causes the earth to bud and blossom for the bounty of creation, the loveliness of nature and the beauty of a garden, for all this we lift our hearts in thanksgiving.






The sign for this very old live oak tree - very funny if you think about it. The branches of this tree extend to the ground, which makes it a very tempting spot to climb or sit.












I miss the coast- the smell of the marsh, the salty breezes. I sat every morning and evening sharing my heart with the Lord at this bench among the azaleas with the water of the fountain cycling through. St. Simon's is not my "home" but it does reflect the areas that have touched my life- Charleston, Beaufort, Hilton Head, and Savannah. I know the Lord will bring us home when He needs us there but until then I'll enjoy it from afar with intermittent visits.

Butterflies at Callaway Gardens

Inside Callaway Garden's Butterfly Pavilion, the little waterfall there is where Danny jumped in up to his waist.

So cute, but look at that face! Camille dressed for the butterflies.

The parrot that almost bit Danny's finger as he pointed to it excitedly. We have it on video, and of course it was while Danny was soaked from the waist down. (lol)

Who are you people?

Do you ever look at your in-laws and your spouse and think, "how in the world did I think getting married and joining this family was going to be a GOOD idea?"

My mil has stage 4 lung cancer with no timeframe because she didn't want to know. I don't know what I would do, I guess I'd want to know but I understand her not wanting to. My fil was uptight and hovering over her every minute, dh was trying to "entertain" us and Danny is being two and a half years old. Camille was wonderful, albeit ignored- (unspoken gripe).

The three of them, dh, mil and fil, like to talk incessantly- mostly about nothing important and have arguments about who remembers something correctly or whose opinion is best. Throw in some unsolicted parenting pointers, moans and groans about Danny's behavior although he hadn't taken a nap in 3 days, and you've got me playing nanny moreso than being a member of the family. FIL and MIL have spoiled and indulged Danny since he was born but if they're tired, wooo baby the 2 year old is now "unruly and acting like a brat". I lasted 24 hours.

A hotel room with a 2 year old, 6 year old, 35 year old is not a good idea. The 6 year old kicks violently in her sleep, I found out. The 2 year old doesn't like it when his Daddy takes his pillow so Danny whopped him one in his sleep. (he, he, he) The worst part of the trip is I realized dh is going to take out ALL of his anger about his mom on me. There were times when I HAD TO walk away. DH was left with Danny 2x while I walked away- I later heard about it. "You could have taken Danny, you know I'm trying to spend time with my mom." (another unspoken gripe)

There is just SO MUCH I want to say about this trip but I will call my mom. I swallowed a lot for 24 hours, including sitting in a vehicle driving 45 minutes looking for a restaurant because when I offered directions to go in the opposite direction and go to a restaurant 15 min down the road- it was too difficult. Then I sat for the entire 45 minutes listening to, "I hope we find a restaurant soon." 45 minutes vs. 15 minutes, hmmmm.

I didn't get to see much, I was the nanny. I did take a "walk" in the butterfly house and I'll post some pictures tomorrow. Danny decided to take a swim in one of the waterfalls within the butterfly house and get bitten by a parrot. Of course 4 hours later, I was told this was all my fault. URGH. Grace, Jessica show grace. This is going to be a very difficult season, I can tell. : )

A little hiatus

My inlaws are in town and they are taking us to Callaway Gardens for the next two days and then we're coming home and I'm leaving Friday to go to St. Simon's Island for a retreat. We're very excited to go to Callaway, especially to visit their butterfly house. Here's a little blurb about it.

Flights of fancy . . .

. . . await you in the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center, where 1,000 tropical butterflies, representing more than 50 different species, flutter freely through the air. Tropical plants and birds, reside peacefully with the colorful winged jewels in North America's largest, glass-enclosed tropical conservatory. The award-winning film, On Wings of Wonder, plays continuously on two wide-screen monitors in the center's multi-purpose room , explaining the life cycle of butterflies.

We hope to take a LOT of pictures and have a great time. You know I'm counting this trip as a field trip! This will be so much better than raising a caterpillar! Busy, busy, busy week but I think it's the best kind of busy we could be. See you next Monday!

Our Decision About Latin

The "plan" was to start Prima Latina in 2nd grade. We're going to wait, probably until 4th grade so that Camille can learn English grammar first. We also want to cover as much ground as possible with French and we'd like to focus on that for a couple of years. I definitely want to my children to study Latin but after much thought, prayer and bugging other homeschoolers, I believe it would be in our best interest to wait a couple of more years.

Danny will be in kindergarten when Camille is in 4th, so may even wait until 5th grade so that they can do Latin together- so Prima Latina is getting shelved. (Urgh. I hate to say that!) This will be first time I've bought something we're not going to use when I intended to use it. Here's an overview of our thoughts.

Camille: 5th - Latina Christiana I, 6th- Latina Christiana II (or another Latin product), 7th & 8th- Henle I
I'm only interested in completing one year of high school Latin and having them take the Latin Exam.

Danny: 1st- Prima Latina, 2nd- Latina Christiana I, 3rd-4th- Latina Christiana, 5th-6th- Henle I
If he needs it the studies will go slower for him but it would be nice to see if they can work together.

Spanish will be during high school years if they wish to take it. French will be K-12 for Danny and 2nd-12 for Camille.

Okay, that is officially out of my head and I can move on to other things. I get that way, once something is in my head- it's there until I make a decision and have a general plan. What is that!!!?

Forget Tadpoles, We're Raising Snails

We started with 5-6 tadpoles, now we have one and about 25 snails. See the egg sacs? Those are from the snails. In the top picture, those are all snails! The tadpole is on the other end- will someone tell him to sprout some legs!!! What do I do about the snails? A snail race might be fun...

In other Trivium Academy news: Camille is starting her piano lessons Monday!
Woo-hoo, we're so excited!
1/2 hour lessons, $10 each, one lesson a week- PRAISE God, he is so good!

Life Right Now

Sometimes I don't know what to call a post, I typically call it whatever day of the week and month (Friday in March). We've been a little busy, a little preoccupied. MIL & FIL are coming this weekend, we just had a few church events this week to attend to and I have a retreat coming up.

I was going to list it all but now I can't because if I do, I might overwhelm myself today and not accomplish any of it, which with in-laws coming my house HAS to be PERFECT. At least in my mind it does or I won't be able to relax. I'm working on a few product reviews, a book review that you will on my blog in a day or so, learning French, labelling the house in French...

Which brings me to a question - if you're labelling a house, would you use the feminine or masculine form? Or put both? I labelled with just the word without "le" or "la"/"un" or "une" - sometimes I did put them only because I wasn't sure what to do. I wonder what the in-laws will think of all the post-it notes around the house. LOL, it looks a little littered. I've decided to make my own French posters about colors, numbers, clock times, etc.

The Berlitz French Language Pack is a complete HIT! Included is a parents' guide, "Help Your Child with a Foreign Language" and it's wonderful. The pack has a first words dictionary, a french/english book with cd, the parents' guide and a certificate of completion. The parents' guide is worth the price of the whole kit, other items are just gravy. Lol.

Okay, I'm off the teach and clean....all day.

French: Why, How, When & What

I'm going to share what I'm thinking about French, what I've looked at and what I've read so that if someone else gets the crazy idea to teach their children a language they themselves don't have experience in, maybe this will be helpful.

1. We have a unique situation- dd's dad (my ex) is 1/2 native french and can speak fluently. I don't know how accurate his fluency is but it's something. It is part of Camille's heritage, her paternal grandmother (Paris native) is no longer with us but this is a wonderful way to honor her.

2. We also have a former french professor in our little country church that is willing to be my tutor and go-to person while we remain at our current church appointment.

3. I have a multi-lingual homeschooling friend that has provided an excellent example of a multi-lingual home. I see the benefits in her children, who by the way, take their Spanish speaking skills to minister to the field workers here in Georgia. She's an awesome child of God, wife, mother, and friend.

Why French instead of Spanish? We'll learn Spanish later, we want to be bilingual in French first and here's why. Why French?

http://french.about.com is one of the most information sites about French, why to learn it, how to learn it, how to teach French as a second language to children, etc. This site in combination with others, including two private schools elementary curriculums- Hillcrest Academy and Wyndcroft School show that it is not necessary to have a curriculum when you start young.

Of course, it is ideal to have a fluent speaker in the house, which is why I'm studying French. It is possible to learn French in a year in a French-speaking country. Laura Lawless of French.About.com says it can take 5 to 10 years for someone living in a non-French speaking country. I intend to do it in 2 -3 years. How? I'm going to use multiple resources to simultaneously study pronounciation, grammar, reading and communicating. Here's an example of what I plan to do.

I will go to France. I will go to France. I will go to France.- This is a goal for the next five years. I hope to take my mother (dutch) because she's never been anywhere whereas my Navy-retired father has been EVERYWHERE! Plus, there's no better way to learn something than to teach it. Even if I don't reach the 2-3 year goal, I can stay way ahead of my children.

I looked at the homeschool offerings for French, I don't want a software program so that leaves out PowerGlide and Rosetta Stone. I'm not sure about Learnables French, Easy French/Le Français Facile! and L'Art de Dire. With the help of family, we just ordered Le Français Facile! Junior and Level 1 which will take some time to get here. I feel this will give us the structure we need for a good foundation. Through Amazon, BookMooch, library and friends, here's what we're using or will use:

Ordered through various sources, Amazon has 4 for 3 deals* on most of these books linked:

1. Un Deux Trois: First French Rhymes (with audio cd) by Opal Dunn*
2. Lonely Planet's French phrasebook*
3. 101 French Idioms by Jean-Marie Cassagne*
4. 101 French Proverbs by Jean-Marie Cassagne*
5. French Copywork K-3 by Le Français Facile! - at KnowledgeBoxCentral.com (bought during sale)
6. Michel Thomas 8 Cd program (from dd's dad, free)
7. Weather/Les Temps (Bilingual First Books, English-French) By: Clare Beaton*
8. Food: English-French: La nourriture (Bilingual First Books/English-French) By: Clare Beaton*
9. Bonne Nuit a Tous: Goodnight Everyone (I Can Read FrenchLanguage Learning Story Books) By: Lone Morton*
10. Mon papa (Parlons Livres!) By: Debbie Bailey*
11. Milet Mini Picture Dictionary (French-English) (Milet Mini Picture Dictionaries) By: Sedat Turhan*
12. Ma Maman/My Mom (Parlons Livres!) [written in French] By: Debbie Bailey *
    
13. French workbook by McGraw/Hill - A Bit of Everything French (Un Peu De Tout)
14. Berlitz Kids French Language Pack! By: Inc. Berlitz International
15. Aventures Book 1, Aventures Book 2 and Aventures Book 2 Workbook
    
16. I can read French;: My first English-French word book by Penrose Colyer (1971)
17. Webster's French-English, English-French dictionary
18. Parole et Pensée by Lenard - old college textbook for Intro to French (from my tutor)
19. Baby Einstein DVDs (we already had) and Language Discovery Flashcards
20. Movies we own that allow us to play them in French or use French subtitles
    

Yahoo Groups

1. Two yahoo groups: The Easy French, French/English Tutor

Books I'm receiving from BookMooch:

1. The First Thousand Words in French: With Easy Pronunciation Guide
2. Schaum's Outline of French Grammar
3. Essential French Grammar
4. See It and Say It in French (See It and Say It)
5. French bilingual dictionary: A beginner's guide in words and pictures
6. French Complete Course (Living Language Complete Courses. Cassette Edition)
7. French Step-By-Step: A Unique, Short-Cut Method to Learn and Speak French Fluently

From the library:
What we're currently using

1. Bonjour Les Amis videos
2. Berlitz's Think and Talk French
3. Michel Thomas 2 Cd set
   

What I want to look at and is on its way via interlibrary loan

1. French for beginners by Wilkes, Angela.
2. The Kids Can Press French & English phrase book by Lacourcière-Kenny, Chantal.
3. KidSpeak 6-in-1 language learning French by Transparent Language
4. French : level one by Modern Language Materials Development Center
5. Growing up with two languages a practical guide by Cunningham-Andersson, Una
6. The bilingual family : a handbook for parents by Harding-Esch, Edith.
7. Easy French exercises : practice for beginners by Rybak, Stephanie.
8. Vis-à-vis : beginning French by Amon, Evelyne.
9. French is fun lively lessons for beginners by Stein, Gail.
10. The ultimate French review and practice : mastering French grammar by Stillman, David M.

My goodness! The books from the library are to see what we may find worth purchasing if we need it or like it. I'm walking around with my iPod with Michel Thomas, Berlitz French from the library and other free audio resources from the internet playing in my ear. I'm reading children's French books, we're watching Bonjour Les Amis children's videos from the library at least once a day. I'm also watching French in Action once a day. Okay, here's the links to website resources.

AUDIO
AudioFrench
FluentFrench Audio
Songs and poems by Grade
Poetry & Folk Songs
French Single Serving Audio - Alphabet, Numbers, Basics, etc.

TRANSLATION
Basic English to French Phrases
French/English Translation Games, Activities and Quiz
French-English Dictionary Online - Verb Conjugator


BEGINNER'S FRENCH PROGRAMS - MOST FREE
BBC French Online K-12 & Adult Resources
Bonjour.com Free French lessons w/ audio files
Fluent French English speaker explains French- *very good*
French Lessons - Links galore! - Different urls for french lessons online
Tennessee Bob's Famous French Links
Fun French - For Beginners- French with audio files
French Assistant - Practice Your French Free
iLoveLanguages French links - Little bit of everything here

HOMESCHOOL PRODUCTS
TELL ME MORE French Homeschool Software
Nallenart - French Curriculum for Homeschool and Classroom; Music
Check out Rosetta Stone, Learnables, http://theeasyfrench.com, PowerGlide too.

PRIVATE SCHOOL CURRICULUMS
check out what the private schools are doing, scroll down the page
Wyndcroft School
Hillcrest Academy

FRENCH IN ACTION - FREE
CPCC- French Multimedia Language Lab - Quizzes for French In Action
French In Action Summary Quizzes - Find French in Action at www.learner.org
Questionnaires French in Action Video series

CHILDREN'S BOOKS & ENRICHMENTS
Project Happy Child- French
French ABC- Interactive
French Nursery Rhyme@Everything2.com
Multi-lingual Books- French courses, books, audio, etc.
Language Lizard
LITTLE EXPLORERS by Enchanted Learning Software
Mama Lisa's World - Children's Songs and Nursery Rhymes
Petite librairie, french books and music for children

CHILDREN'S ONLINE GAMES
London Speaks French- Online Games
Poisson Rouge- Games for Children


PARENTS/EDUCATORS TEACHING FRENCH
FLTeach FSL Resources - Foreign Language Teaching Forum
French Culture | Education
French Poetry lesson plans
French Proverbs
French Resources- Classroom Materials
French Teacher's Discovery Classroom Resources *Favorite*
National French Library
French Institute Alliance Franaise
Montessori French Files
Nacell Language Supplier
Volterre-Fr, Ressources France
Resource Center for the Teaching of French

BILINGUAL SUPPORT & INFORMATION
FrenchParents - French and bilingual culture, etc. for families in the US
Parents' Press- Article Learning A Second Language
Bilingual Kids

Get a French Name

Your French Name is:

Sophie Dupre

What's Your French Name?

The Reading Experiment is Working!

Last week I posted about how we are trying a little experiment with Camille's independent reading, just to recap - I took 10 books from our shelves and wrapped the group of 10 books in ribbon and told her to read 2 a day. This worked beautifully! She read all 10 books, did a bibliography page which includes Date Read, Title, Author and Favorite Character for each book and when we went to the library Friday she wanted to choose 10 books for this week! I'm only using the handwriting paper we already have and writing Date, Title, Author and Favorite Character- we bought 1000 sheets of handwriting paper at the beginning of first grade and have hardly made a dent in it!

This week she'll read:

1. Ten Dirty Pigs by Carol Roth
2. Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin Jr.
3. Good Night, Good Knight by Shelley Moore Thomas
4. Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express by Eleanor Coerr
5. Madelline's Rescue by Ludwig Bemelmans
6. Woodpecker Forest by Tejima
7. First Delights: A Book about the Five Senses by Tasha Taylor
8. Mr. Putter & Tabby Catch the Cold by Cynthia Rylant
9. A Weed is a Seed by Ferida Wolff
10. The Library by Sarah Stewart

She gets to choose each day what ones she'll read. Next week, we'll go back to our home library books but I think this is a success if she's excited to check books out from the library to read!!! Next step is getting her own library card- I may make this a reward for reading 50 books.

Four Day Schedule?

This year we've attempted a five day schedule, Monday through Friday and it has not worked out. My school days are interrupted by dh, dd's dad (ex) and other outside influences wanting to have our time. While I am fine with life in general occurring there is something I can do to alleviate the stress of a "missed" day.

Dd's visitations with her dad usually run from Friday to Sunday or Saturday to Monday, with this is mind I am working towards a four day week for 2nd grade. The only variable is piano lessons.

The rough plan:

MONDAY
Bible, Handwriting/French copywork (i), Spelling (i)
Math, Grammar/Poetry Memorization, Latin lesson
History/Church History with Art integrated

TUESDAY
Bible, Handwriting/French copywork, Latin memory
Math, Grammar/Poetry Memorization, Spelling
History/Church History with Art integrated
Music

WEDNESDAY
Bible, Handwriting/French copywork, Latin memory
Math, Grammar/Poetry Memorization, Spelling
Science

THURSDAY
Bible, Handwriting/French copywork, Latin memory
Math, Grammar/Poetry Memorization, Spelling
Science, Music

FRIDAY/SATURDAY
Bible, trip to library, finish projects, Latin memory, field trips.
US Geography Notebook

*French really isn't a separate subject for us as we are constantly learning it and making it a part of our lives. I've got to figure out how we'll do Prima Latina schedule throughout the week.

I know we can do this and accomplish a great deal with focus and determination. This schedule with read-alouds and independent reading will bring our time spent to about 3 hours per day or more if we need it for History and Science. Copywork, Handwriting and Spelling are fairly independent studies and will allow me to focus on Danny or do housework. Although we are covering a vast amount of material, I feel this is completely doable and worthwhile. I just don't know how to put the subjects in order for the day, I'll leave that to Camille. I like to post for her what we'll need to cover in the day and she tends to like to choose what to do next.

I might need to have a memory session everyday that coverages scripture, Latin, and poetry every morning after Bible. I've got to think about that some more.

La trouvaille or the discovery

I never thought I would say this, but I love the Walt Disney Company! Today after church the kids and I went to "town", the closest urban area and visited ToysRUs, BooksAMillion and Goodwill. Goodwill yielded a few finds for science and a few parenting books. In ToysRUs, I was looked for anything French- DVDs, CDs...anything. I found a Baby Einstein DVD - Baby Wordsworth: First Words around the House that had a little sticker on the front stating that it had French, Spanish and English language tracks.

It was on sale so I bought it along with BE's Language Discovery Cards (they go with the Language Nursery video) which are 29 sturdy, full-color, laminated cards designed to playfully expose your child to a variety of words, translated into seven different languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, and Russian, complete with pronunciation guides.

I come home with my new French materials and preview the Baby Wordsworth DVD, realizing I have 3 or 4 other Baby Einstein DVDs- they ALL have a French and Spanish language track. If you don't understand, a language track is where the words shown on the screen are in the language selected (i.e. French) and all speaking is in chosen language! What a resource!

In my excitement, I started looking at all our DVDs and some of them have language tracks! Mary Poppins; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; Cinderella; Cheaper by the Dozen; The Lion King; Brother Bear and many more. The only ones that aren't are the Sesame Street and Thomas the Blue Engine videos we have.

Can you say immersion? I am a very happy mamma or mére!

FYI: I don't love the Walt Disney Company further than what they provide as worthwhile educational products and shows. I am not a Disney movie collector, I'd rather read the original folklores and fairy tales- I really wish Camille had never seen Beauty and the Beast. She argued about the original fairy tale vs. the Disney version the entire time I read it.

A Tutor for Mom

I can't believe it. Let me say it again, I have a former French professor as a tutor. Oh! The best part, is that it is for free! What are the chances that we would have 2 former French teachers in our small country churches? This is why I've been a little confused about languages. There are too many resources available to us right now for studying French that it is inconceivable to ignore to them.

1. Dd's dad is 1/2 native french and speaks fluently.
2. There is French software at our library locally.
3. I have two former French teachers, the one tutoring me is a former professor.
4. We have videos at our library in French for the children.
5. I have a homeschooling friend that can help as well and speak with.

Hello! Although I feel crazy for doing it, we're going to go forward with both Latin and French. These two languages are not going to go away for us and the resources available for starting French, including dd's dad wanting to be an active participant (this is the best thing for her!), I have to go with it.

Forgive the shameless brag post, we've had some very hard news about my mil, they are stopping her cancer treatments. Please don't say you're sorry or comment about it, just pray if you do. I'm trying to accentuate the positive in our lives right now.

Caught up in Excitement

I must be crazy. I realized this as I looked at Prima Latina and started making labeling cards with a Latin dictionary. I pulled my Wheelock's Latin (6th ed) and workbook (3rd ed) off the shelf and started looking through it again. Make no mistake, Latin is not easy, I tried before and got bogged down in insecurity, grammar, and frustration.

I will learn Latin first. I am still excited about French, in fact dh told me yesterday that we have two former French teachers in our church. WHAT?!? I wanted to shake the man, "Why didn't you tell me this before?" I will be contacting them to see about tutoring in French for moi and in the meantime, I'm going to follow my 2nd grade preparations by completing the first 4 lessons of Prima Latina on my own. Camille wants to start now, her dad is completely excited that she'll learn French and he's started with a few vocabulary words. I had to tell him that we need to start Latin first and then we'll add in French as it's doable.

There are many resources on the web for French and Latin- my current researching is documented in my bookmarks, check them out here: for Latin, for French. I also received a reality check about curriculums, which may or may not be news to any of my readers...You do not have to use a curriculum to get started in learning a live language, especially with littles. (Let me keep my illusion that my dd6 is little, okay?)

I'm not concerned with speaking Latin any further than Prima Latina suggests and I do plan on using Memoria Press products for our journey to the extent of Henle. For now, *I* am going to retry Wheelock's using a few online helps (in the bookmarks linked above) and with more focus and confidence. My back-up plan in case Wheelock's is not the program for me is to just work through what I'd use for Camille, Prima Latina, Latina Christiana I and so on...I don't see any reason I should spend more money to learn Latin using one product and then buy another product for her.

I'm still excited, but now that excitement has to turn into resolve and hard work. Is this post clear as mud or what? Lol.