this week's winning sentences

Down to two players this week...I do hope that's simply because everyone has been busy and not because you're dropping out for good! Anyway, we missed you!

So, here are this week's chosen gems:

The plump FACTOTUM ABSCONDED as fast as his chubby legs would carry him, before his master's MERCENARIES realized his PERFIDY. (Jean)

Besides DESPOILING you toys or even DESECRATING your diary, little brothers can be quite PESTIFEROUS when they aren't being just BANAL. (Jean)

As the moon rose over the prairie, the warriors DISSIPATED to the CADENCE of the drums. (Jean)

As he walked toward the edifice at Hogwarts School, Harry was weary from being harried by the perfidy of Voldemort and the Deatheaters. (Rich)

Americans now demur the desecration and despoiling of our nation by the nefarious man known to the world by a single letter...W. (Rich)

And this week's bonus word: banal (Jean, Rich)

Congrats to both of you! And do come back everyone!

Using that Vocabulary, Game 3, Round 4

So, what did you all think of the new rules? Annie and I thought it worked out pretty well, so we're going to stick with them for now.

This week's words:

*banal

*mercenary

*abscond

*spurious

*cadence

*perfidy

*despoil

*harry

*edifice

*pestiferous

*vestibule

*desecrate

*redoubtable

*equanimity

*demur

*dissipate

*edema

*factotum

*interregnum

Good luck...and have fun!

this week's winning sentences

Not sure how you all felt, but we think the new rules worked out well. Think we'll stick with them for the time being and see how things go.

The winners:

The wolf cub studied his sire's visage, seeking a clue to his mood. (Jean)

Rich tried to establish close rapport with his students; unfortunately, his garish dress, peremptory manners, and cumbersome lectures repelled them. (Jean)

The disrepute that the dog felt after it was discovered that he could not chase cats or pee on fire hydrants was a personal travesty. (Rich)

I wrote my powerful new theory on why fish swim on the whiteboard only to have it effaced by a careless custodian while I was out having a celebratory aqueous martini. (Rich)

The dog's loud flatulent miasma caused the woman and her cats to flee the room in search of fresh air. (Rich)

This week's bonus word: scion. (Jean, Awesome, Rich)

Thanks everyone! As always, we really enjoyed your sentences, each and every one. Hope you'll all be back next week!

Using that Vocabulary, Game 3, Round 3

O.K., as I explained in the last post, we're in need of a change in rules here. You all are just too darn clever for your own good. ;) So let's try these out for a bit, and see how it goes...

1. You may use up to, but may not exceed, 10 vocabulary words.

2. No more than 4 vocabulary words may be used in any single sentence.

3. You may use less than 10 words. If you just want to write one sentence, using just one word, that's perfectly fine!

4. Annie will choose her five favorite sentences. Each vocabulary word in these sentences earns a point.

5. A "secret" bonus word will yield everyone would happens to use that word an extra point.

6. Sentences must be posted in the comments by late Thursday afternoon (EST), as judging will take place Thursday evening.

Words at your disposal for this week:

*disrepute

*travesty

*cumbersome

*efface

*rapport

*acclamation

*peremptory

*garish

*cerements

*adamantine

*interstice

*pabulum

*scion

*coeval

*importunate

*matelot

*pullulate

*miasma

*gamut

*denigrate

*visage

*pique

*rend

Good luck, everyone!

Game 3, Round 2 Points

O.K., it's obvious that we're going to have to change the rules, aren't we? Since you all are so talented, and so willing to risk going down in flames for the big score, it's sort of making things boring, isn't it? What fun will it be if everyone uses all 10 words in one sentence, so Annie is forced to choose every sentence? (And Rich, I apologize for handicapping you this week by asking you to write more than one sentence, but otherwise it just would have been pointless.) Anyway, we'll be sure to let you know the updated rules when we post the next list.

Now, on to this week's point winners:

Donald gamboled through life, his bibulous bonhomie contrasting sharply with his brother Steven's bellicose diablerie, a trait their mother disavowed as leading only to the gibbet, and which she not so trenchantly attributed to Steven's ill-gotten wealth rather than to her poor parenting. (Jean)

Much to my dismay, the dog was a Republican, but he disavowed the party after 7 years of George W. Bush. (Rich)

The dog dabbled in diablerie in an attempt to get the Master to cook some bacon. (Rich)

On Monday, the much maligned monkey migrated to Montgomery, Mississippi. (Rich)

Russet faced and bellicose at the memory, I, a humble fakir--a liaison of Allah--hereby bequeath to you this tale of diablerie, with all bonhomie, of that malign night whence that roly-poly rascal, my so-called brother, didst eat the last of the jelly donuts and then, to my great horror, proceeded to gambol about the room, wiping his rubicund face on my most cherished antimacassar. (Carl) I think I pulled off the melodramatic ominous part, but I'm afraid my English accent was a total failure.

This week's bonus word: russet (Carl)

As usual, great sentences everyone! Hope to see you all next week!

Using that Vocabulary, Game 3, Round 2

First let me apologize for posting these a bit late this week...Miss Annie was at a sleepover so we couldn't klatch last night. So as not to shortchange you on time, judging won't occur until Friday morning this week.

Anyone new playing along? If so, you might want to check out the rules here.

And here's this week's list:

*liaison

*enjoin

*bibulous

*russet

*accede

*disavow

*peregrinate

*bellicose

*diablerie

*bonhomie

*trenchant

*gambol

*expostulate

*depute

*gibbet

*inculcate

*rubicund

*fakir

*presumptuous

*malign

*antimacassar

*ill-gotten

*attribute (we're focusing on the verb, but feel free to use it however)

*broach (again, we're focusing on the verb, but feel free use it however)

*fusillade

Good luck to one and all!

home school highlights

Week one of quarter two is now behind us. There's always something fun about starting a new quarter. While we always try to keep things fun and interesting and relevant, at least as much as possible while still "following the rules," there are definitely times when we're just ready to move on to something new.

For example, under the heading of literature, our focus has moved from poetry to short stories. (I knew before we started the year that quarter two was to be set aside for short stories, because that's when Halloween falls. Not only do both Annie and I simply love dark, eerie, spooky type stories, but I also ran across a pre-planned unit using the short stories of Stephen King. It looked great, and anything to save me a little work is a definite plus.) Anyway, we spent this week reviewing the elements of short stories. And Annie is reading "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs this weekend. That's one of those short stories that has vividly stuck with me since the first time I read it back in my school days.

As far as English goes this quarter, Annie will be in her Advanced Composition class through the end. Good for me because I don't have to do all the work. But really great for her...she's loving this class. And it's definitely keeping her challenged! And of course, we're still handling vocabulary in the same way, with weekly lists, our vocabulary klatches, our weekly games, and FreeRice.

Math...still plugging our way through algebra. And in "real world math" this week, Annie worked with input/output tables.

Our new unit in science is "the history of science". We're using The Scientists by John Gribbin as our "sort of" textbook, and going off on tangents from there. (By the way, so far at least, we're both enjoying the book.)

The original plan was to finish up with The Civil War last quarter, but Annie has been so fascinated with it that we've gone in a lot more depth than originally planned. (One of those home school perks!) This week we spent mostly comparing/contrasting Lincoln and Davis, now that we've had a chance to really "get to know them". We also watched a biography about each of them.

In geography, we've switched to world geography, and our starting our journey around the world with Africa. To this point, we've focused mostly on Africa's physical geography and climate.

We've set the U.S. Constitution aside (seems to be a popular thing to do these days) for the time being, and are focusing on elections for a while. Would be a shame to pass up this timely opportunity. This past week we learned about primaries and caucuses, and spent some time "meeting the candidates".

In addition to regular reading/listening/watching of the news, we're still focusing on the issues of poverty under the heading of "current events".

For phys ed, swimming lessons have started again (one night a week). And Annie continues jogging with Rich, as well as spending a lot of time bike riding with her friends.

Annie is still adjusting to her braces when it comes to the flute, but she thinks she's about back to par. She's been practicing away for a mini-recital she's giving us tomorrow.

For visual arts, Annie started taking classes with a friend at a local art studio (one night a week).

In health we've begun a unit on HIV/AIDS.

And if we did anything else this week, well, it's just not popping to mind right now.

Game 3, Round 1 Points

Whoa, you people are impressive! Annie had the hardest time weeding down to five sentences...she even asked if we couldn't just bend the rules and pick more. But she finally did manage to stick the rules and narrow it down to five.

This week's point winners:

The blogger was lauded throughout the internet for her "What's in a Name?" challenge. (Raidergirl3) Looks like flattery pays off. :)

She did not thing she would ever ACCLIMATE
To her master's tendency to VITUPERATE
And belittle her attempts to CEREBRATE
Unless her heart she could somehow INDURATE. (Jean) Oooh, and poetry nonetheless!

The chef on board the CANARD denied that he had served chicken rather than CANARD as the poultry course, and attributed the CANARD to his jealous assistant. (Jean) And you taught us two additional meanings to the word in the process!

The Vatican police chief let out a saturnine sigh as he read the file; while most of the criminals he dealt with were disgruntled votaries caught practicing the rudiments of purloining in the refectory at supper-time, this man was the apotheosis of his art, a pinnacle of sangfroid and sleight-of-hand, and the chief knew he was more than just a tenebrous canard. (Awesome) The big gamble paid off!

When Dr. Feelgood, the facinorous mad scientist and much lauded votary of dance music, asked Professor No-Body, a brain kept alive in a tenebrous jar, what his favorite song was he replied with sangfroid, “Why, Cerebrate Good Times, of course!” (Carl) Annie's favorite for the week!

And this week's "bonus" word was saturnine. (Jean, Awesome, Rich)

Thanks everyone, for playing! Hope you'll all be back!

Using that Vocabulary, Game 3, Round 1

Well, I don't know about anyone else, but Annie is mighty excited about starting a new game. In case, I haven't said it before, a huge thank you to all who play! It really is a fun way for Annie to see her vocabulary words in use, which is obviously a lot better than just reading a definition.

In case we've got any new players, here's a brief recap of the rules:

1. Write as many sentences as you wish, but use no more than 10 of the vocabulary words. (That is, you can write ten sentences each using one word each. Or you can write one sentence using ten words. Or you can write six sentences using one word each and two sentences using two words each. Etc. You choose.)

2. You may use less than 10 words. If you just want to write one sentence, using just one word, that's perfectly fine!

3. Annie will choose her five favorite sentences. Each vocabulary word in these sentences earns a point.

4. A "secret" bonus word will yield everyone would happens to use that word an extra point.

5. Sentences must be posted in the comments by late Thursday afternoon (EST), as judging will take place Thursday evening.

6. Once again, the game will consist of eight rounds. Don't worry if you have to miss a week or two or even more...it is definitely still possible to win!

*Please feel free to ask, if anything is unclear.

*The prize for this game will be a $15.00 Amazon gift certificate.

*Again, just a hint...playing to Annie's passions can pay off! (She still loves wolves, ravens, and most any other animal. She still loves fantasy. Halloween themes are likely to be well-received. And she definitely seems to go for humor.)

And now for this week's words:

*disgruntled

*vituperate

*purloin

*canard

*subterfuge

*rudiments

*acclimate

*tangential

*semaphore

*sangfroid

*facinorous

*cerebrate

*refectory

*lauded

*egalitarian

*tenebrous

*apotheosis

*saturnine

*halitus

*deliquesce

*prognathous

*votary

*ambuscade

*indurate

Good luck everyone!

a fresh start

Well, I did a really lousy job of keeping up-to-date on our homeschooling blog last quarter. Even missed reporting on the big event of Annie's starting her first class at the local community college.


I did post this picture over on my regular blog, but it really should be here. This is Annie headed out to her first day of Honors English 200 (Advanced Composition). She was so excited that morning, and a bit nervous, too. But no one can fault her for that.

The good new is that after five weeks of classes (a third of the way through), she's still loving it, and is excited about going to each and every class. And she's holding her own, too.

We completed lots of other things as well, but I'm just too overwhelmed to do an accounting. I am going to try to do a much better job of posting here, now that we're about to embark on our second quarter of the year.

(The first post for quarter two should be up later today when we'll get the words up for round 1 of the new Using that Vocabulary game.)