Tag: grateful

Review: Internet Tool for Math “MathGames.com”

*The picture has nothing to do with MathGames.com, but it’s one of my favorites*

April 14, 2024

Review: Internet Tool for Math “MathGames.com”

My son is almost 9 years old. He is a new reader.  He loves math but it has to be practical to interest him: okay, practical to an 8-year-old boy.  

He runs around throwing footballs to himself, keeping an imaginary score.  We hear “21 Gators to 6 Bulldogs, oh, and they miss  the extra point!” and other such.  Basketball.  Baseball.  Scores.  Stats.  Boy stuff.  He also helps cook and loves to find fractions in the kitchen.  Money math is easy for him and he likes to make change.

However: getting the simplest of graphite scratches in the actual math textbook might as well be mission impossible 11!  The textbook and Lucas repel each other.  

Video games?  Ever hear of Star Ocean on PS1? I call it reading practice.  It’s like Zork with graphics… but you do have to read to know what the next move needs to be! That and the “secret” Minecraft books that look like user guides have encouraged him to read.

I had an “ah-ha” moment because he had run to the bathroom at gym and there’s my computer sitting there next to the poor copy of “Arithmetic 2” that someone may mistake for a cleaning rag. I remembered that the girls had a math game they loved called “Math King” on the long-ago tablet.  

I searched Math King – the results were not what I wanted; nope.  

I found “mathgames.com” and after our few weeks of use, I’ve decided to share this amazing find!  

Math Games is an online learning tool that has a free version.  There is a “subscribe” option that allows you access to the premium games and such, but what I want is included in the free version.

At the main screen, you see a bunch of actual games with math problems added in. I use those as rewards: Lucas can play one after getting so many stars (details below). For the actual work, you can choose “skills by standard, “skills by grade” or “skills by category” from the menu that reads “practice skills” (upper left corner).  Or scroll down until you see the “practice math by grade” and “practice math by category” option menus – they will show you PreK to Grade 8 & concepts from counting and number properties to equations and ratios. Select one.

Each section starts with a first lesson. Each set is broken up into 10 questions. Each question has videos with teachers explaining the concept.  (The video button is in the upper right corner on each screen with the green “sound” button and the “scratch pad” button.) There is also a green “sound” button reads the problem and the answers while highlighting each one.  Lucas is using this feature to help with reading practice.  (I LOVE this feature!) As the user answers, a green check mark pops up for a correct answer or a yellow exclamation point for an incorrect. An incorrect response also makes the corresponding video lecture pop up on the left of the screen. The user earns stars by completing the concept; more correct answers = more stars. After each concept set, the program will suggest moving on or repeating said concept set (depending on the percentage of incorrect answers).

Lucas started with “fractions.” Each time he finished one segment with a 9 or 10 score (out of 10 questions) it suggested the next concept.  This continued for almost four solid hours!  He moved through fractions, decimals, money, “dice” (what he called the concept of “stats”), and anything else that had “grade 2” or “grade 3” to start with.  We’ve been using this new tool for a few weeks whenever we are at gym and he chooses to consider the textbook an enemy.  

I realized over the course of Lucas’ discovery into this tool that Lucas has an innate understanding of variables in equations.  Everything math seems to make sense to him in strange ways.  He would reread the equation with “red bicycles” or “Georgia’s score” or “nickels” in the place of the variable.

Jillian (new algebra student currently using “Algebra 1” by A Beka Book) enjoyed working in the “equations” and “geometry” section.  The website breaks each concept down into easily digestible bits.  The accompanying videos are in the fashion of “teaching textbooks” explanations, actually solving various problems similar to those in the concept.  

Even Kimberly (dual-enrollment college student) sat down to try it. She liked the way it moved through the questions and concepts visually. She asked if there was one for biology (the class she’s taking her final in this week).

Just thought I’d pass along my rather “new” tool discovery.  

Thank you for reading!

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

The Joy of Building

The Joy of Building

March 15, 2024

When I was a child, legos were my thing.  I was very proud of the fact that I could build anything, especially when the box had a suggested age far above mine. 

Pre-teen to teenager: it was the Sauder stuff, you know, that really cheap particle board furniture you bought at Wal-Mart and it might last through one move if it wasn’t damp.  I had a coffee tin full of spare Sauder pieces because the same locks, nuts, screws, and bolts were used in all kinds of furniture.  I was so confident in my wood-building ability that I charged people to put their Sauder stuff together.  Basically, if it had instructions, I was on it.  (Even mistranslated instructions, because I had intuition!)

Wednesday, the plan was to get off before 2pm.  The kiddos and I were supposed to have an afternoon with my sister and niece.  Her internet guy stole the late afternoon (you know, “I’ll be here between 2pm and 5pm”).  I went home.  Laud, Lucas, and I pull up to… wait, I thought Louis was bummed out because they canceled his order?

This crate, just a little too heavy for Lucas and I to team lift into the garage, was sitting outside the garage.  “Stump Grinder” was stamped on the thin plyboard it was packed in. 

I couldn’t wait for Laud to load up and get full!  I haven’t gotten to build anything solid since the Guinea Pig cages!  (The silly three-chicken-run was made of scraps and hurried; not something I was proud of and definitely not solid.)  

Bingo!  Laud is out and building is on!  It came with almost all the tools needed (sweet!  13, 15, 17, and 19 mm wrenches! – yes I’m nerdy enough to love tools.)  I love spare 9mm and 13mm wrenches because they are the most commonly lost in my toolbox. 

Lots of parts and bolts with locknuts later, I’ve almost finished with the star performer for Saturday and Sunday’s adventures!  I enjoy the thrill of completing something practical.  I can’t wait to build the giant bird aviary for Becky’s parakeets, our guinea pigs, and baby chicks.  I am super excited about the prospect of building!  I laughed at my own thoughts while I was building the machine because I actually like the smell of the bolts – weird, right?

I handed the user’s manual and engine manual to Louis – “tada!  The machine is all yours.”

Now onto Saturday!

Thank you for reading,

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

Thea’s Counting

Thea’s Counting

March 9, 2024

“Listen mom!”  Yells Thea, “listen Christina!”  She excitedly counts down from 20.  She’s been doing that for a while, but today had both of us in the living room when she was showing off.  She had just read a picture book to Laud and spelled four or five words from memory. 

“Wow, Thea! High five!” Christina smiles, “how many sisters do you have?”

“Wait!”

*excited little giggles and a hopping Thea bounds toward the barracks*

“Wait?” Christina laughs and looks at me, “there’s no one down there.” 

True.  Becky is at Pensacola.  Kimberly, Jaquline, Jillian, and Lucas are at gym.  I smile and laugh.  “She’s counting.”

Christina laughs harder, “she’s counting the beds!”

*Thea races in, jumps over Christina on the couch, and ends up standing in the corner of the couch* “Five!  I have five sisters because we have six beds!”

Christina is still laughing.  She pauses enough to give Thea a high five and comments to me, “she even subtracted herself from the total.”

“How many brothers do you have?” Christina challenges.  Thea smirks, “two but if you don’t count Laud, only one.”

“Why wouldn’t you count Laud?”

I’m hiding my face because Thea is conniving.  Little cheeky child looks pauses her bouncing to look straight at Christina and reply, “because he doesn’t have a bed yet, just a bassinet.”  Leaving us smiling and chuckling, my just-turned-five year old skips back to the playroom. 

I am so thankful for the joy God gives us through the smiles and laughter children bring to our home!

What cute funny antic made you smile today?

Thank you for reading,

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

New Year, 2024

January 3, 2024

New Year, 2024

Wow!

Read that again!  Wow!  It’s a new year full of possibilities!

I’m always so thankful for new years.  New seasons, new months, a new week every Sunday morning, a new day every sunrise… newness always reminds me of the opportunity God gives us to make a new start.  

Our possibilities this year look amazing!  

Laud got a tooth for Christmas (just one, two more are sitting there in the wings where we can see them but they haven’t popped through just yet).  He’s growing so fast!  I’m so blessed to watch this fast-moving change from totally-dependent-baby stage to exploration-baby-stage!

Thea has learned to read!  She’s officially started her “schoolbooks” aka book work.  We don’t really start books until they can read.  Her favorite school book is “The Beginner Book of Words” – the Dr. Seuss “kid dictionary” that belonged to her dad and uncles!  She announced to me, “mom, since I can read, I need real schoolbooks to do work in.”  I’m not sure if I’m ready for that!

Lucas can do some crazy cool gymnastics stuff!  His favorite thing is to show off his muscles – Kimberly consistently reminds him of the proper muscle names as he’ll flex and say “look at this one.”  Lucas told me his favorite thing he wants to happen this year is “work with Dad and build our house.” 

Jillian has her first gymnastics competition of the 2024 spring season January 13th!  She’s competing Xcel Silver again this year with WGV Gymnastics and is super excited about her routines.  Her confidence has grown with her strength and flexibility the past few months.  Her self-discipline is growing and took a huge jump right at the end of 2023 when she decided to apply herself seriously to both gymnastics and academics.  I’m so excited for what 2024 will bring in Jillian!

Jaquline has set her mind on a goal at the end of 2023 and I’m excited to see where it takes her.  She’s refocused her study path toward law.  She’s been devouring history, literature and debate, and the history of founding documents like our Constitution.  She says she wants to learn the laws, how and why they were written, and how legal changes are made.  Jaquline has been learning a lot about household management in the last bit of 2023 and says she will continue that in 2024.  She’s also deepening and polishing her collegiate writing skills.  She wants to write informational reports and persuasive (as she calls them, “enlightening”) papers well.  

Kimberly has her first gymnastics competition of the 2024 Spring season January 14th.  Kimberly competes Xcel Diamond with WGV Gymnastics this year.  I’m so excited to see her perform with all the training she’s persevered through in the past year.  This girl’s strength continues to astound me as she grows.  Kimberly also starts her first official college classes this semester.  She’s both excited and terrified – probably in the reverse order – about this.  I love seeing her set and accomplish goals!

Rebeccah returns to her college a little early this semester for work.  I’m both selfishly sad because I will miss her smile, watching her exercise patience with Thea, quietly observing as she paints (oh, by far my favorite thing to watch is someone create a masterpiece in front of my eyes – I got to watch her paint on canvas over this break), hearing her laughter, hearing her gaming; in short I will miss everything about her and there’s a Rebeccah-sized hole when she leaves home.  But I love hearing her adventures and chatting with her in her tight breaks between chapel, work, study, and classes.  She has such precious little free time and I’m honored when she chooses to use that time for me! 

Christina will be taking steps into her career path!  I’m so excited to be a part of her next adventure!  Resuming flight training is only the start of her 2024 adventures.  I am thankful she still shares her hopes and dreams and plans with me.  (And I get to borrow her car)

As a family, we bought property and cleared it in the last few months of 2023!  This is our first step toward building a home of our own!  Our designs are hopefully finding an architect willing to perfect a small, compact plan; hopefully we can start utilities and building soon!  

Thank you for reading!

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

And We All Made It!

December 31, 2023

And We All Made It!

Butterflies swam in my heart, stomach, mind… anywhere… everywhere all at once.  

I’m sitting in one of the folding seats in the Ocean Center with a baby nursing… I’ve been here, done that before, but never have I been in this venue for the event that is unfolding before me.  

A cycle of pictures of young men and women in more childish images showed on the screen that usually displayed my gymnasts’ scores.  

My gymnasts are sitting in the row behind me because our group of twelve takes almost two whole rows.  They are not in warm-ups cheering teammates, but keeping siblings entertained as they all wait for Christina. 

Marching Music!  

There they come!  Hundreds of young people in black gowns and caps.  Christina has a decorated cap with a quote from The Hobbit.  Her cap is bright green – and that makes her easy to pick out of the sea of black gowns and caps.  

Christina is graduating with her 4-year-degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University!  Her graduation from high school with her AA degree from St Johns River State was the first college graduation ceremony I’d attended.  I look around me at six of my other seven children and my niece.  I smile; it definitely won’t be the last!

Everyone is waving and trying to get Christina to see them.  Christina’s fiancé was also watching along with some of his family a little higher up in the arena!  Kimberly is impressed with this use of the floor that she’s been competing on for three seasons and will be coming to again in 2024.  

The keynote speaker starts: Rebeccah’s plane hasn’t yet landed.  Louis is monitoring that.  The keynote speaker’s last encouragement?  “Adapt and overcome” – my Daddy said that all the time.  It almost made me feel like he was watching.  

A text.  Rebeccah’s plane landed.  She’s getting a taxi from the airport.  It’s a couple of miles.  She’d managed to get out of her college classes and work early so she could catch the earliest flight from Pensacola to Daytona.  I had prayed she would get to the venue to see Christina walk.  

I walked out to change Laud the same time as Louis said Rebeccah was here but not sure how to get in.  I walked to meet her; she is very enterprising and self-reliant so had discovered the entry herself.

We took our seats.  

Christina’s group of graduates stood.  My crew waved and Christina looked up to see Rebeccah here.  

We were all present.  

Louis, me, Rebeccah, Kimberly, Jaquline, Jillian, Lucas, Theadora, Laud.  Grandma Tina.  Aunt Becca and Anastasia.  Louis had his mom on video phone or something like that.  She said she was watching it live-streamed.  All of Louis’ and my little Tart clan was here to cheer on our Christina as she graduated.  

Our determined, ambitious, perfectionist whose smile lights up rooms.  October had been her 20th birthday.  My mind flew backward to that box of confetti in plane shapes.  She’d been accepted to the only university she wanted to attend: and Louis and I wondered how we would pay for it.  Scholarships, grants, loans, and flight training on a few credit cards – she’d worked as much as possible to make it happen.  We’d helped some.  Christina had made it happen.  

Christina walked up to get her diploma.  With honors.  (My perfectionist was bummed she didn’t make “with highest honors”) She did her little dance move she did at her “high school” graduation.  She looked up and beamed at us.  I am so proud of her!  (And Thea yells “you got this!” – even though it wasn’t a gymnastics meet)  

All of us were there.  Sure, our baby won’t remember it.  He actually slept through the keynote speaker and woke just before Christina walked.  Thea and Lucas will remember playing and being bored, respectively.  From Anastasia up to Rebeccah though; they know it’s a big deal.  They know, with varying degrees of understanding, how much work Christina put into getting to this goal.  They watched, with varying degrees of understanding, as she studied, worked, stressed, complained, forced herself to take fun breaks once in a blue moon, prayed, and pushed on.  

With Little Cousin
Mom, Graduate, Grandma
With Littlest Sister
Our Graduate!
Sister-Cousins

We all celebrated with Christina. 

I am so thankful for miraculous appearing of funding at needed times.  I am so thankful for my determined young woman who made her goal happen.  I will cherish this memory.  

Soar high Christina!  Remember what your determination and ambition made happen!  God opens doors but you have to choose to walk through them!  Your graduation didn’t happen “just because” – there were lots of late nights, missed sleep, forcing yourself to go to work when you wanted to sleep in, exams you stressed far too much over, budget cuts to pay for the next simulator, and other challenges you rose to and overcame.  

Keep on flying high – you are “forever an eagle” now!

Thank you for reading!

Type at you next time!

~Nancy Tart

Growing Young Women

December 28, 2023

Growing Young Women

It struck me with a text I sent: I have the littles at gym with me

I had Jillian, Lucas, Thea, and Laud.  

Half of our “biggers” are actually adults.  That’s a strange place to realize I am at.  I paused a moment, glancing at my phone on my work desk.  The notice underneath my text went from “sent” to “read” and I smiled.  I thanked God for the honor of having so much time with my growing young women.  I thanked Him for getting to mother so many of His children.  (My heart reminded me that we get them for a short time.) 

I don’t want to think about that.  

My heart loves that they love to do stuff together.  Like when they got a “big girl trip” for their combined birthdays.  Such happy faces!

Now we are nearing the end of Rebeccah’s winter break. (I didn’t want to think about that, either.) Soon those giggles across the table at meals, board games, and roblox and minecraft shenanigans, the gamer shouts from the newly re-setup PS1 and Xbox in the playroom, and the kitchen laughter will again be missing our Rebeccah.  I am so thankful for her beautiful life!  I love the connectivity and humor she brings.  I miss her when she’s gone.  I thanked God for Rebeccah.  I pray she will always choose to talk to me when she needs to.  I pray I am keeping our communication open.  I pray she chooses wisdom. 

Kimberly and Jaquline go back to their respective schedules (as does everyone else) and move forward in their busy study, work, and training lives.  Kimberly recently found a friend who encourages her in faith and sports commitment; a very good thing for her at this time.  I thanked God for Kimberly.  I pray she chooses wisdom as she keeps moving toward her long-term goal of studying sports medicine or physical therapy.  She has such a heart for healing (and preventing injury) and an intuitive understanding of how the body works.  

Jaquline has recently started to focus her studies on law and debate – her new goal is to be a lawyer.  She does have a way of getting people to see merit in her direction.  I laugh sometimes at her logic.  She has such a wonderful attitude about life and her cheerfulness is catchy.  She takes the responsibility of helping raise children so seriously – she assists in the nursery and I often hear her say “my babies.”  She has a helpful heart and wants to see everyone treated fairly.  I thanked God for Jaquline.  I pray she continues to seek God and chooses wisdom in her life’s path.

Christina, our first with a Bachelor’s degree, is stepping forward toward her career.  She continues to live with us.  I am so thankful that she stays close.  I feel honored that she chooses to keep talking with me. I thank God for Christina.  I pray she seeks God in all aspects of her life.  I pray she chooses to chase her dreams and grab opportunities that arise.  I pray she chooses wisdom and can live with no regrets.  Christina has a mothering soul.  Her determination and ambition have served her well so far!

I love all stages of our family life.  Today I’m grateful for being able to watch our little girls grow into vibrant young women.  I am thankful I still get to be a part of their lives.  I am reminded that just as we can contain multiple emotions at once, our homes can contain multiple stages at once.  Thank you, Jesus, for the honor of being a mother.  

Thank you for reading!

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

Focus on What is Important

What is most important in your life?
What came to your mind? Your career? Your family? World peace? Your children? Leaving your positive mark on society? Your business?

Focus on What is Important

September 10, 2023

What is most important in your life?

What came to your mind?  Your career?  Your family?  World peace?  Your children?  Leaving your positive mark on society?  Your business?

How about Jesus?  For me, when I heard those words this morning (sitting in the Good News Church first service), my mind created a list like words from Jillian’s history and science lesson she has to look up:

Jesus

Family

Showing Jesus to others.

Whatever is the most important in your life directs everything else in your life. 

Don’t believe that?  Seriously.  Consider it objectively.  Whatever you consider most important shapes and directs your life to achieve each step in your life to honor that important thing. 

My mind reflected back to decisions I made as a young person: a lot of decisions as even a preteen are life-shaping. 

I chose to keep myself pure for my future husband. 

I chose to honor my parents and respect them even if I disagreed.

I chose to better myself so I could love my brothers and sisters better. 

Each of these I decided to do because I loved Jesus.  I saw it as my honor to be able to shine Jesus’ light reflected through my life.  I wanted my life to be lived in worship to Jesus.  I wanted people to see that I was different and ask why.  The “preteen/teen” choice that led to me having the most conversations with other teenagers was my choice to love Jesus by honoring His desire for my sexuality.  It was counter-popular-culture to stay sexually pure (yes, as my kids can’t understand, I am young enough that I was laughed at for being a virgin after 18).  I wore a birthstone ring my Daddy gave me on my ring finger and told others it was to remind me that I belonged to Jesus first; He wanted me to stay pure for my future husband.  So many people laughed.  A few asked deeper questions and I would get to share about Jesus and how He loved me first and my joy was to honor Him with all of my life. 

Later, in the business world, I was faced with repeated pressure to falsify information on forms to cut financial corners.  I held my ground and honored God.  When I was told I could choose to either “serve the company” or there wouldn’t be any more hours for me.  I actually told my boss that because I loved Jesus, I couldn’t lie.  The hours available to me dropped to where I would spend more time driving to the office than working; that would have made it a financial burden to work rather than an income.  I was unable to stay.  I often wonder if that choice did any forever good (did my decision or words help anyone see Jesus?); but would I change my decision?  No.  I choose to honor Jesus’ commandments because I love Him.  I get to honor Jesus because He first loved me. 

I pray my children discover that it is an honor and privilege to love Jesus.  We are loved by Him from the foundations of the world.  Even while we were yet sinners, He loved each of us so much that He died for our sins and rose to conquer sin and death!  Because of that, we have the honor of choosing to love Jesus and serve Him with our obedience. 

I looked at little Laud sleeping in my lap and smiled.  I choose to look at every part of loving my babies as a privilege and honor!  I wonder at how blessed I am that God would allow me to raise one of His children!  (Okay, 8 of His children so far) Still, each one is specially loved and was created piece by carefully knit piece by God as they were formed inside me.  God has gifted me the honor of being their mother; one at a time and altogether.  I am humbled, awed, and enthralled by the enormous blessing each child is.  I thank God for them when I think of them. 

Thank you, Jesus, for loving me!  Thank you, Jesus, that I get to love You!  Thank you that I get to love my children!  Keep reminding me of how I should always choose to love You first.

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

Father’s Day 2023

“It all starts with a bachelor…” starts the old cartoon that highlights Fatherhood in a Goofy sense but before the entertainment industry really made fun of Fathers…

Father’s Day 2023

A time-warp Story from June 18, 2023

Father’s Day.  Because of childhood memories, I’m always hearing the Disney Cartoon narrator from “Goofy Celebration of Fatherhood” when I read those words.  “It all starts with a bachelor…” starts the old cartoon that highlights Fatherhood in a Goofy sense but before the entertainment industry really made fun of Fathers.  

Our culture has tried to reduce fathers to a joke.  Sadly, that is the farthest thing from the truth yet popular movies, songs, and tv shows portray fathers as not worth respect.  The butt of jokes.  Maybe a breadwinner.  Unimportant.  

In truth, it’s movies like “Courageous” that get it right.  Fathers are vital.  The Bible tells us the father is the head of the home.  The primary moral compass of the family.  It’s summer camp at my gym.  I love to watch the excitement the kids get when they get picked up; “Daddy!  Watch what I can do!” or “Mommy! Look what I made!”  I hear a lot about mommies and daddies.  

We heard about spiritual fathers at church today too; those like Paul who calls Timothy his “son in the faith” and “beloved son” though he wasn’t his biological son.  My father lost his father as a young man just entering adulthood.  I never met my grandfather Theodore Pearson, but I know he was a strong, giving, loving man because of the legacy he left in his children whom I met.  Our daughter “Theadora” was named in honor of him.  My father also had a spiritual father; Mr. Bob Suber.  I loved him.  I first met him when I was about 7 or 8 years old.  His wife Betty taught me how to embroider and sew clothes.  I watched him talk with my Daddy as we spent many evenings at their house for supper and the adults would go into discussions.  I sat cross-legged in front of him with starry eyes listening to stories of his childhood in the nineteen-twenties and thirties where he and his buddies used to swipe fruit from orchards and try not to get caught or pick raw corn and dig potatoes from the edges of farmland and would roast them for lunch on fires they’d make and share food with traveling hobos.  He said his mama always cooked a big broth pot from whatever squirrel, rabbit, or game he or his younger brother got that day and would toss in root vegetables and greens and herbs.  He said her pots could be smelled for miles.  After her family ate, she fed a bowl of broth to any hobo that stopped and asked.   Mr. Bob died when I was about fourteen and I saw my Daddy cry.  He said that Bob Suber’s graceful acceptance of death reminded him of other men of faith that Mr. Bob had pointed out – and he wanted to be sure he had that peace and grace when his time came.  In December 2018, he showed that grace and peace at his own time when God called him home.

Fathers are so important.  

I am very grateful for my Father.  For the blessing I had of being his daughter.  

I’m also so thankful for the Father God chose for my children.  Louis is always striving to be the most godly father he can be.  

I pray for the men God will lead to my girls to be fathers of their children.  I pray that we raise up Lucas to be a godly man and father.  

Life is far simpler than we make it out to be.  Love is our center.  Family is our core.  God made it that way from the beginning.  I pray that we shoo away the distractions and focus on the truth; choosing to follow Jesus in all things and put our families first.  Fathers bold enough to be fathers have that power inside them; God put it there from the beginning.  Each man simply has to choose.  

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Thanksgiving Week 2022

Much to be thankful for!!

December 6, 2022

Thanksgiving Week 2022

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house for those who could come.  It lasted from November 22 (our 20th anniversary) to November 27 (Sunday).  This was our “vacation” from gym/work.  It included lots of traveling (for me, Becky, Christina, Jaquline, Lucas, and Thea), lots of fun, and lots of food!

For my anniversary, we still had to work (thank you, Hurricane Whatever in September – I don’t commit names to memory) because we had school and a make-up day at gymnastics.  This started our Thanksgiving Break because I started out just before midnight on 11/22 with Christina to go pick Becky up from college.  

This car trip was super fun!  Christina and I drove.  Lucas and Thea went with us as Kimberly had early practice (Xcel Platinum) on the 23rd (a friend played taxi), Louis still had work like regular, and Jaquline & Jillian were cleaning and cooking with Grandma Tina.  

We got home to take naps, help finish cooking, cleaning, and such.   The table was set so pretty! (Yes, that is a marble chessboard that we use as a hot plate to set the turkey on! – Louis had it when we were dating and after some “accidents” happened to the pieces over the years, it was just too pretty to toss so was repurposed.)

Uncle Buddy came.  Anastasia came.  Gavin came.  Aunt Becca sent yummy desserts! We had so much fun!  Louis brought in new chairs.  (our table was used when we bought it and was missing chairs – we originally used the piano bench, but since the piano & bench are in storage for lack of room…) We played games.  Okay, yes, most were group video games or Frogger Challenge (two players, winner takes on next player…), but there were a few Boggle games and it seems we can’t have Thanksgiving fun without a campfire!

Uncle Buddy wanted to play Age of Empires with Lucas & Becky; even Louis and I joined in on a 5-person hot-seat Heroes 3 game that lasted all day (and we didn’t finish).  The kiddos (will leave anonymous which adults joined in as well) did a super-multi-player Minecraft / Imposter with phones and computers.  The shouted directions in the living and dining room had everyone else laughing! 

My Angel Eggs were a different story.  I made two platters.  I love making food look beautiful but most of the time we are short on time so I can’t.  (I used to even make everyone’s birthday cakes from scratch & even made two wedding cakes!)  Today I made beautiful piped eggs. 

One platter was gone in T-5 minutes!  Jaquline did warn us she was going to eat more than the eggs she shelled!  I love making food people enjoy.  

Being around my family when we aren’t rushed always reminds me to be thankful for them!  Uncle Buddy had prepped his head for military service (more on that next time) and Lucas thoroughly enjoyed playing video games with and snuggling with his uncle.  I am super thankful for this life God has given me and I pray my home becomes the gathering point for family and friends always on any Sunday we have family day or any holiday.  Food and good company is always a reason to gather together!

Thank you for reading!

Type at you next time!

~Nancy Tart

A Peek At Textbooks: Autumn 2022

A Peek At Textbooks: Autumn 2022

October 19, 2022

Our textbooks are usually a medley of what works best. 

This year Christina and Becky have college books only.  Christina still digs into our American Government high school textbook this semester because it “makes it easy to understand” as she’s taking a law course. 

Kimberly is officially 10th grade.  She has A Beka Book (consumer finance) and Teaching Textbooks (geometry) for arithmetic, Apologia Science, Literature Coursework from A Beka Book, a typing and writing class that uses A Beka Book Grammar & Composition as a textbook requiring paragraphs or essays on daily science and history work, and A Beka Book as her main history text.  She’s already done geometry previously, but this is a new way of looking at it that helps her understand it better.  Our educational philosophy is totally for repeating subject matter that allows for better understanding.

Jaquline is officially 7th grade.  Her textbooks include: A Beka Book Arithmetic 6 (yes, this is completing a repeat; she has done both the 5th and 6th grade books twice), A Beka Book Creative Writing, A Beka Book Language C, Apologia Science, Military History of the United States (it’s an children’s encyclopedia set and they write a report after each letter study), A Beka Book History Coursework, and Money Management Skills (a middle-school version of “Personal Finance” that incorporates their personal savings account, teaches them to set goals, observation of household finances, budgeting, etc.).  Her textbooks are officially scattered grade levels from 6th to 8th and she reads books voraciously – her reading level is far higher than her scholastic level is supposed to be. 

Jillian is officially 5th grade.  She is almost done with A Beka Book’s Basic Mathematics (rebranded a couple years ago as “Intermediate Mathematics” but we bought one textbook for each of the girls on our second order so we could use the same tests; Lucas and Thea will have the new book unless I can snag an unused Basic Mathematics edition) and will move into Pre-Algebra with either or both Teaching Textbooks and A Beka Book next month, she just completed A Beka Book’s Investigating God’s World last week and started Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology and Health for the Glory of God (because her goal now is Sports Medicine or Physical Therapy), History is reading and writing reports on biographies of U.S. Presidents along with Bauer’s The Story of the World, A Beka’s Book’s Language C, A Beka Book’s Cursive Writing Skillbook (that one gets repeated until they master cursive writing), Business and Money Management Skills (in addition to our normal course, Jillian has started a business with her friends and that has been incorporated into our regular coursework on finances), and she is studying art mechanics, various mediums, and art history.  Jillian’s textbooks range from 3rd grade to 8th grade depending on subject.

Lucas is officially 2nd grade.  His textbooks are any book he wants to read at the moment, A Beka Book’s Handbook For Reading, A Beka Book’s Writing With Phonics, A Beka Book’s Arithmetic 1, Practical Money Math, A Beka Book’s Language 1, A Beka Book’s Letters and Sounds 1, Life of Fred Fractions, Life of Fred Decimals, Phonics and Language 2, and his Manuscript Writing Tablet which makes for amazing work-on-the-go.  I have him copy stuff wherever he is and try to read it.  My Daddy used to have be copy my favorite dinosaur books when I was learning to write.  Lucas is still what I consider a “pre-reader” (meaning when he does “read” it is choppy and he gets frustrated with not remembering the first part of the sentence).  I tend to not move into more complicated textbooks until my student is a fluid reader.  Lucas understands Mathematical concepts very well but gets frustrated very easily with words.  He thinks math.  Once he sees the patterns in English letters, he’ll be a fluid reader.

Theadora thinks she’s in school.  She does WGV Gymnastics Gym-N-Learn on Fridays (it happens Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays, but she only listens on Fridays right now) and calls that “my real school.”  She is obsessed with writing “T”s lately.  She can write T and t in cursive and “like Coach Michelle” (that means very beautiful manuscript like calligraphy because she heard me mention once about how beautiful Coach Michelle’s handwriting is – Thea calls it “coloring letters”).  Thea has to have a “school book” because the others do.  It’s in her “school box,” because everyone else has a school box.  Hers is a writing textbook with three lines and occasional letters along it.  Grandma Tina gave her a color-by-number book and a numbers workbook which she calls “her school books” too.   I don’t do anything formal with her yet.

Just a tiny peek at what we have this semester.  We just move from one book to another as they complete the first (like from Language 1 to Phonics and Language 2) and repeat some books or portions of books occasionally.  I want them to understand it is perfectly okay to go back and reread something to better understand a subject.  (Have you ever had to go back and look up a grammar rule or algebraic formula?)  Learning is our family lifestyle.  Textbooks are tools to reach the next step. 

Thank you for reading,

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

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