How many of you remember this book? I do not know what brought it to mind, but I remembered reading it to my little brother when I was a teenager. It was SO much fun!!

Then I got to thinking that I don’t even own this book, nor have I ever checked it out from the library to read to my own kids!! So, I ordered myself a copy. I couldn’t wait to read it to the kids.

When it arrived on Thursday, I snuck it into the laundry room so the kids would not see it. I didn’t want them asking me what was in my package. You know how nosy kids can be especially when they see a package in the mail. Plus, they were still doing their studies and I didn’t want to distract them. But oh how I so wanted to just say, “STOP! Mom has a book she wants to read.” But I didn’t.

I waited until story hour at 7:30. Usually we start with the Bible, but that day, I announced that I had a book I wanted to share with them. They got curious when I headed to the laundry room and not the bookcase.

I showed them the book and explained how I use to read it to their uncle when he was a toddler. The looked at the cover and read the title, “The Monster at the End of This Book“. I never let go of the book so they couldn’t thumb through it. I sat them down and we began to read.

They made remarks about how Grover is a monster so why should he be afraid of a monster! I just chuckled to myself and continued reading. I read the book using my scared voice, my frustrated voice, bringing Grover and the story alive. I used hand motions similar to what it looked like Grover was doing and the kids were having a blast! They were so into the story laughing and giggling and smiling. What more could I ask!!

I have re-read the book to them twice already and they each have read it aloud to themselves or eachother. Donnie read it to me and it was cute to see and hear him read with such expression!!

This book was too much fun!! I am glad I got to finally read it to my kids who are now 8 and 10 years old!!

You can read it online here. Pretty neat!

Blessings,

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Well, this year as he was entering 3rd grade, I knew we would have to work and improve on his penmanship because more writing would be required. So, I bought the italic course because it seemed the simplest to do.

I started him out on the first book, the very basic book with just the alphabet. He did a page a day, sometimes two. We made sure he took his time. Sometimes I had him recopy the page on a primary writing pad we had bought some years ago.

He then moved to the second book. And now he is beginning the third book. Even in his everyday writing that he does outside of studies, I can see an improvement.

But as he did his other writing for other subjects on wide ruled paper, I noticed that his writing would be uneven. His lowercase letters would sometimes be as tall as an upper case letter. Sometimes he would not bring the stem of a ‘p’ or ‘g’ below the line.

So this is where the primary lined paper comes in. I made this up for him to use during his studies. It helps him bring what he is learning in his penmanship book, into his other subjects. We have been learning about margins, so I made it up with the red lines going down both sides. Without the lines, he tends to start at the edge of the paper.

So, as with most everything else, I thought I would share these simple pages with you all. Maybe, someone else can use them too.

MaryEllen has been writing since she was 4, learning to write her letters, but I have noticed that her writing is a little sloppy. So, I started her in the Italic course also beginning with book C (the third book). I am hoping this will help her with neatness. She wasn’t too thrilled, but I told her until her writing improved, she will have to do the book concentrating on neatness.

~Download~
Primary Lined Paper - Line Height - Small (169)
Primary Lined Paper - Line Height - Medium (171)

Blessings,

Fun teaching resources to use in your homeschool.

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Before we began studies the other day, my daughter asks me if she can bake a cake. I know she likes to bake and the last two times she asked, I said no because we already had sweets around the house that needed to be eaten first. So, this time we did not have a goody for after dinner and today Daddy would be home for dinner, so thinking all that in a split second, I said okay. Plus, the kitchen was clean and ready to be used. Our kitchen is small and with our renovating, it sometimes is hard to move in. I can’t function in a mess, so I try to find things to cook that are in and out. Anyway, with all that looking good, I said she could after her studies.

She got to work on her studies and then she began her baking. She just turned 9 years old, so I keep myself close incase she needs me, but she can make the cake by herself from scratch. I got out the mixer for her since it is heavy and made sure nothing was in the oven before it was preheated. As the cake baked, we jumped in my bed to watch a Little House on the Prairie episode.

After the cake cooled, she began making the frosting. She then colored it and I stuffed it into the parchment cones with the tips. She then went on decorating the cake. As she decorated, I went to check email, and her brother was reading quietly, so I thought. From behind me, they both come caring the cake and saying, ‘Thank you Mom!’ I turn around to see what they were thanking me for and I see the cake with the words written on it. It surprised me so much that my face lit up. I said thank you to them, set the cake down and gave them hugs upon hugs. I asked what they were thanking me for. And they said for everything I do. Awe! That just made my heart smile. And of course the guilt comes on. Because our house is a mess right now during our renovating, I get irritable when I have to dig to get something simple or when I am trying to get something and everything falls. Ugh!! I am trying to bear it with good spirits, but I will admit that when I was trying to locate the cake decorating supplies, I let out a little frustration. I am working on it though because I do not want to rub off on the kids. I apologized for my bad attitude and commended my daughter on hers because she did not get upset when I got upset.

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It began to fall around 11a.m. and we quickly dressed in shoes, jackets, mittens and beanies. I grabbed the camera, and we went outside. The kids jumped right in. They began to throw snowballs and build a snowman.

By the end of the day we had about 5 inches! We were shocked! It took a few days for it to melt completely. We were not prepared either. The kids had mittens, but they got soaked so quickly. Their hands were freezing. I had them come in to warm up and to switch mittens. I them put the wet ones in the dryer. They did this switcharoo the whole time. At the end of the day when they came in, they took nice warm showers. Ahh! Sounds good! I went out and helped with the snowman and had a few snowballs hit me, but I didn’t stay out as long as they did. It was beautiful to see the snow fall so gracefully to the ground. The tree that our van is parked under had one of its branches lying on the van’s roof. It was weighed down by the snow! The kids helped knock the snow off and then it sprang back into place.

For the last week, the weather has been warm, not hot yet, but warm. We’ve been getting a little yard work done. We have three pine trees in our yard, so we had quite a bit of pine cones to pick up.

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Our Thanksgiving went well. We had SO much leftovers! It was just us this year, me, my husband and our two kids, and I cooked a full fledged meal. If it is ever just us again, I will NOT cook so much. We even took some to my husbands sister and mother.

I thought I would never say it, but I am tired of pie! I even had to freeze our second sweet potato pie because we, or I, was just not going to finish it.

I told my husband that I am also tired of turkey. We had turkey for a week! It has been 4 years since I have eaten turkey, and in less than a week, I am already tired of it. LOL! Go figure!

So because I do not want a turkey for Christmas, I am going to try my hand at Tamales. We use to eat these every year when I was growing up and since marrying and moving to the south, I haven’t had any in years! So, I am going to make some this Christmas! I already bought the pot and just need to acquire the corn husks.

If I enjoy the process enough, I just might take up the tradition again with my family.

So how is the baking going? I cannot believe how unorganized I have been this year. But with our moving and our house still not in order, it has been a challenge. I cannot work in a mess and that is pretty much what I live in right now.LOL!

The kids have made a double batch of sugar cookies. They did it all with my supervision. They are getting so good at baking. I do handle the oven though. But they mix it all up, roll it out, cut and decorate. We do have to work on clean-up!

They want to make more today, so after studies I think we will relax and bake a little. I also want to make some snicker doodles. Mmmm! I was wanting to make fudge, brittle and other yummies this year, but I think I will destress by just making the sugar and snicker doodles. Maybe some chocolate chip cookies too.

Can anyone say ‘diet’ after the holiday season? LOL! I already told my family that come January it will be one dessert a week! I love the holidays, but I put on too much weight and then I have to lose it in the beginning of the next year. This is pretty much how it goes each year. I will say that the last few years I have not been diligent in losing it after the holidays, and so now I have a ‘little’ work ahead of me.

Happy Baking and Merry Christmas!!

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