Animals and A Giveaway!!

Don't you just love National Geographic?  Since I am using Galloping the Globe as my spine for this coming year's curriculum, I am gathering all sorts of resources to study places around the world.  For each country we are studying, I am also making mini-units on animals that live in that country.  My hope is to end up with a Stanley-like "Great Big Book of Everything" at the end of the year.  (Are you familiar with Stanley?  That is one show I wish Disney had not dropped from its line up.)  I think it will be great to have our very own, homemade animal encyclopedia!  Anyway, Galloping the Globe directs its readers to this National Geographic Animal page. On the right side of thie page, there is an animal A-Z search where you can find great pages on tons of animals with facts, pictures, and maps of where the animal lives.  How cool is that?

Do you want to study the aardvark? No problem - they have a page for that.

Interested in the spotted salamander?  You're in luck!  There's a page for that, too.

I am really enjoying planning the year using Galloping the Globe.  I think it is such a great book, I'm giving one away here!  This book is adaptable for K-4th grade and covers geography, history, and science, and also give suggestions for literature, language arts, and Bible.  In addition, it has ideas for activities and cooking projects for each country.  This giveaway is for one copy of the 2010 version of Galloping the Globe with included CD-ROM.

To enter, simply leave a comment telling me what your favorite homeschool resource is.  Simple, huh?  It can be a web site or a book or a piece of advice you've been given. 

Rules:
1. One entry with a resource per person.
2. Earn an additional entry for each of the following: (leave a separate comment for each one you do)

• Mention the giveaway (with a link) on your blog.
• Facebook about the giveaway.
• Tweet about the giveaway.

3. The contest will close Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 8:00 PM CST.
4. Winner will be chosen randomly and announced Friday, July 2.

I cannot wait to lean what all of your favorite resources are!

Tag, Belly, and a Contest!!

Well, Joanna tagged me, which I'm not sure is totally kosher since we are here on the same blog, but I've never been tagged before and it seems kind of fun, so I'll do it.

10 years ago: I was married just a year and a half, living in a tiny town in Ohio and teaching PE in one Christian school, piano in a montessori school, and running my own piano studio out of our home. I had just been in a car accident that left me with nerve damage and stuck in bed on disability for an entire month, unable to use my hands at all or feel my hands or feet. Sometime, I'll have to blog the whole story, because God healed me miraculously when I went to the elders of my church and they prayed over me and annointed me with oil. An amazing testimony to God's power and his faithfulness to do what he says he will do when we do what he tells us to do. (Did that make any sense at all??)

Things on today's to do list:

• school
• finish the four embroidered blankets I started yesterday
• Do some heavy cleaning in my kitchen (a friend is coiming over to help me with this!)
• get milk from store (very ambitious, I know. But hey, I'm 9 months pregnant - it is ambitious!)
• Put feet up at some point

Snacks I enjoy:

• clementine tangerines
• milkshakes
• cereal
• guacamole

Five things I'd do if I were a millionaire:

• Tithe (I put this because others are mentioning it, but I do it now, so is it really something that fits this category??)
• Pay off my house
• Invest more
• Set up a trust to better fund our favorite charities
• Make sure my children never have college debt

Places I have lived: Woodstock, IL; Oak Cliff, TX; Cedar Hill, TX; Duncanville, TX; Upland, IN; West Milton, OH; Arlington, TX; DeSoto, TX. Lots of Texas in there.

Jobs I've had:

• Babysitting - lots and lots of babysitting.
• Hand solderer and inspector at a printed circuit board manufacturing plant
• Retail clerk at department store
• teacher (piano, pe, music, computer, jr. high science & Bible, jr. high & high school English, speech, creative writing.)
• Mom

I think I am only going to tag one other person - Shannon. She is a great friend of mine and new to blogging.

In other news, I'm going to have a baby soon. Yeah, yeah, you already knew that. I know, but it is on my mind since I cannot escape the looming reality. I think I finally snapped out of my denial that this little boy is coming soon last weekend. I hit 36 weeks, had a baby shower, and had my doctor chastize me for not being more prepared, since he found that I was dilating. Hmmm. Okay. So I came home and ordered a car seat, packed my bag, and got the nursery together. Oh, yeah, and pulled a ligament in my stomach because I did that all in about 24 hours. Fortunately, I had a prescription filled the day before for some great, strong pain medication that I need to sleep at night now that this boy's huge head is resting very, very low in my pelvis. (I know, too much information.) Even with narcotics, I could barely walk Tuesday. Ouch! Much better now, though.

To help you all understand the last post better, where I said I was suddenly getting many comments on my size, I give you this picture, taken at exactly 36 weeks. The day after I took this picture, I dropped significantly, and I think I've grown even more. At some point, this has to stop!

I'm officially huge. Actually, I think now is a great time to have a contest. I think we should all predict a few things here:

• What day will this baby be born? (I am officially due Nov. 16)
• How big will he be? (My others were 8lb. 14oz. and 8lb. 12oz. and both were 21 3/4 inches long.)

What do you think?? Leave your comments here and after he is born, I'll pick the person who came closest! I'll come up with a nifty prize for the winner soon and add it in. Right now, I cannot think clearly because my kids are loud. Maybe when they nap, I'll think again!

ETA: I have come up with a prize! I will go today and purchase the rest of the items I need for it and then post a picture, but here it is: The prize will be a collection of things that I am looking forward to enjoying once again after Andrew is born. Included will be

• Bath salts: representing being able to sit (or in this case soak in the tub) for more than five minutes at a time without my backside falling asleep.
• Nail polish: representing being able to paint my own toenails again! I normally keep them painted all the time...
• Starbucks Gift Card ($5): the last time I tried to drink coffee (an iced coffee from Starbucks with dulce de leche syrup added - yum, yum) I got heartburn that lasted hours and hours and resisted all medication I threw at it! Needless to say, I haven't tried again.
• White Chocolate Coconut bar: these are my absolute favorite indulgence. As a general rule, I don't eat sugar, but when I did (and occasionally now when I do) these are amazing. This bar will represent all the foods I currently am avoiding due to heartburn, which are mostly tomato based or spicy, but how fun is it to mail you a jar of spaghetti sauce?? :)

There it is! Worth playing for? Tell your friends - I love seeing your predictions! I will write down my prediction too, and photograph it for proof to see how well I can gauge my own growing belly! I won't post it until afterwards though. With my other two, I guessed more accurately than even the nurse who assisted with the delivery. As she was walking to the scale, she and the doctor both made guesses, then I did too. I was the closest by a good 8 oz!