Not Just a Family Scrapbook

• I got spoiled this weekend! It was my grandmother's birthday. The last few years my mom, aunts, and grandmother have had a scrapbooking party. Jean a Creative Memories consultant has hosted the party. Jean (www.mycmsite.com/jeannibbe) and her husband go out of their way to provide a warm relaxing atmosphere. The food and drinks keep coming and the Creative Memories store is open! I had nine hours of uninterrupted scrapbooking time. Wow!
  
  Scrapbooking can be used for more then just organizing and preserving family memories. The same skills you use to scrapbook can create incredible portfolios for your kids.
  
  As more homeschool students become college bound, colleges are looking at more then just transcripts to decide who makes the cut. A well designed portfolio can help get your child noticed.
  
  It's never to early to start working with your children on their portfolio. Help them to take ownership of their own books. Six year old Beth loves to scrapbook. When she found out she wasn't coming with me this weekend her parting comment was "Don't forget to take pictures so that I can scrapbook them when you get back!"
  
  When I develop pictures I always get doubles. Then Beth and the other girls pick through and choose their own pictures to scrapbook. They enjoy cropping the photos and arranging them in their own books. Then they journal about the photos. This is a fundamental part of scrabooking. At a minimum you should include the names of the people in the photo, the date, and the location. The more information that is recorded about the photos the better you will remember the event. Journaling is also a wonderful opportunity to develop writing skills. (See, your sneaking in language arts with out even trying!)
  
  The fun part is when you include graphic design. This is not necessary to a good scrapbook or portfolio. I have seen beautiful books done with only photos and journaling on basic white paper. But for those who want to get creative the graphic design element is a place to play. Have fun and be creative. There are multiple websites and books available if you want to get some ideas.
  
  Other things you will want to include in your portfolio:
• List of Books
• ReadField
• TripsProjectsSportsService
• GroupsVolunteer
• HoursHobbies

Contact the admissions department of the colleges you are interested in to get a more detailed description of what they are looking for.

How to Raise a Hen

One of the writing activities that we do each day is journaling. The March girls all have their own notebooks to write in. There are very few rules. Spelling, punctuation, and grammar are not evaluated in their journals. This is a time to just put thoughts on paper. In the early stages the books are mostly full of pictures. Actually, some of the books are just scribbles. The girls were about two when they got their first journals. Sometimes I would scribe their thoughts for them. A lot of these first journals are just list of words. They eventually became stories over time. Anyway, Jo wrote this piece about how to raise a hen before she got the egg she carried around for a month and a good six weeks before Omelet, Frittata, and Souffle came to live with is. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do!

How to Raise a Hen

by Jo March

First you take one egg from a hen. Next you heat the egg but do not cook it. Next you wait for a few days. Next you will have a chicken. Next you take care of the chick. Next you feed it. Next you water it. Next you keep it warm. If your hen is a boy you will use it as an alarm clock. If it is a girl you will have more pets to take care of. So keep your chick healthy and happy. Keep it away from cats and killer dogs and mouse traps. Make sure the chick is safe and warm and healthy and happy. When it is big enough to leave the house or go on a walk or live in the barn you could visit your hen. I hope you take care of your pet.