"Intellectual distinction is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for election to a Rhodes Scholarship. Selection committees are charged to seek excellence in qualities of mind and in qualities of person which, in combination, offer the promise of effective service to the world in the decades ahead. The Rhodes Scholarships, in short, are investments in individuals rather than in project proposals..."

Friday, May 31, 2013

Live Blogging at the MN Catholic Home Educators Conference

We are  at the blogger's chat at Minnesota Catholic Home Educator's Conference.  What a great turn out!

Thursday, May 30, 2013

In Praise of the Blogger Mobile App and iOS 6.x

I wanted to take just a few minutes to tell you how impressed I am with the Blogger Mobile App and iOS 6.X using my iPhone.  I created the last blog post in about two minutes using the camera on my iPhone, Siri and the Blogger Mobile App.  This is a great opportunity for people that have special needs to use technology to be able to communicate to the rest of the world.  So easy, so powerful!
And I dictated both blog posts, then edited with the keyboard.

Games For Learning

My daughter and I took a trip to the Dollar Store to see what we could get inexpensively to make games. We love making games at our house and my daughter is the chief maker. Enjoy our little video visit.
Here is our local store. We found almost every supply we needed from poster board to stickers, page protectors to markers!  They also had flash cards, workbooks to use for designs and coloring books.


So if you come to my workshop expect to here the praises of the Dollar Store and I will show some more pictures. I promise!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Short Blog Vacation

Folks, pray for me.  I volunteered to take on our church's Catholic Vacation Bible School program which usually has 200+ participants and 40+ volunteers.  It takes place in less than two months and I need to get things organized.

And, I am preparing for the Minnesota Catholic Home Educator's Conference where I will be giving my Beginning Homeschool talk and my Games for Learning talk.  I will also be facilitating the Special Needs discussion.

My dance card is full at the moment, so I will have to declare a blog vacation for a short time.  I will be back when I can come up for air!

God bless you all!

Monday, May 6, 2013

Catholic Readers

Brand new - Old books!
Folks, it has come to my attention that I have been disappointing my audiences with a lack of good CATHOLIC material.  I intend to correct that situation immediately!

I have been pouring over the free books at books.google.com and have found a wealth of Catholic school books!  I think one of the most exciting finds is that there are ENTIRE series of readers available from Primer level to Fifth level (middle school).  They are FREE.  They are Catholic.  What more could you ask?  Because they are public domain, you can download them and then print them (have you ever seen FinePrint?) OR read them on your tablet or PC. 

The three I recommend are:
Young Catholic's Illustrated Readers by the Catholic Publication Society
The Ideal Catholic Readers by Sister Mary Domitilla
Standard Catholic Readers by Mary E. Doyle

They are filled with virtue stories, biographies of Bishops, Saints and Martyrs, science and history.  Enjoy!