This Blog Is Being Moved

This Blog Is Being Moved

Dear Subscribers of Dora & Diego Homeschool Spanish,

There's so much competition out there for blogging it's hard to know where to start. As you all know I originally started this blog on Blogger. My experience has been fantastic. This blog creation website is very user friendly. So why move my blog? Well I'm not leaving Blogger completely as I will be keeping one other blog here. The type of blogging I want to do with certain types of bells and whistles I have found are better suited for my blog at the competition.

Blogger, if you are reading this please don't be mad at me. You are my first love for blogging websites so I will keep my other blog here. A very wise person told me once to not put all my eggs in one basket, share the love, so that's what I'm doing.

From now on all Spanish learning activities, mission trip information, and games will be at the new home for Dora & Diego Homeschool Spanish blog. Just click on the words and then bookmark the new location. Dora & Diego Homeschool Spanish participants thank you so much for your patience and understanding.

See you at the new location,
Michelle Rothwell, Founder
Dora & Diego Homeschool Spanish

P.S. Well Blogger are we still good?

How to Make a Piñata.

For your next birthday party why not make your own piñata? It's quick and easy to do. Piñatas are an easy craft for kids and parents alike.

Making a piñata can be a fun craft that gets the whole family involved. You can make one for any theme or holiday. Of course a piñata at a birthday party is always welcome. Make an animal shaped one for a farm themed party, a big oval shaped one all different colors, a car shape or even one that looks like you! The choices are endless - only limited to your imagination.

What you need:
• 1 large balloon
• newspaper
• large bowl
• water
• flour

What you do:

1. First you need to make the paper maché. Tear the newspaper into 1 inch strips. Do not cut it. Lay a ruler along the paper if you need help tearing straight. The strips can be different lengths. You will need a lot of paper strips.

2. Now make the paste. Pour 1 cup of warm water into the bowl. Add about 1 cup of flour to 1 cup of water and mix until there are no lumps. Let set for a few minutes to make sure all the flour is dissolved.

3. Spread some of the newspaper onto the table. Working with paper maché is messy. Now blow up your balloon and tie the end.

4. Dip a strip of paper into the paper maché. Run the strips through your finger to remove excess paste. Place the strip of paper on the balloon. It helps to have a friend help you. One of you can hold the balloon while the other puts the strips in place.

5. Repeat with the strips of paper until you have the balloon covered except for the very top. You need this area to put the candy into. When you have a single layer of paper covering the balloon repeat the whole process with more strips going in the opposite direction, The more layers of newspaper you add the harder it will be to break the piñata.

6. Let the balloon dry completely. When the paper is dry, puncture the balloon and pull it out. Place your candy inside the piñata. Always use wrapped candy.

7. Cover the opening with small strips of paper taped in place. Then cover that with paper maché strips. At this time tape and paper maché down the ends of the string for hanging. Cover the ends with several layers so it is good and strong.

8. Now paint your piñata. You can make paper maché ears or a nose. Build it up however you like. You can also cover it with tissue paper.

In the meantime, feliz cumpleaños (happy birthday),
Michelle

Easter from the Eyes of an 8 year-old

One of our teachers, Mirdza Hayden, sent out an e-mail a couple of days ago sharing how excited her son, Emmanuel, is about Easter this weekend. What does Easter mean to you? Are you into the Easter candy and programs or does it go deeper than that for you? Just to show you how real our teachers are here I thought I would share these Easter moments. Easter doesn't get any simpler than this:

For those of you that don't know my 8-year old son, Emmanuel, let me start off by telling you that he is a kid that has such an excitement for life, it's just amazing. It is just so cool to see that kind of excitement and thrill for life. Not many people have it...

I want to tell you about what happened when I took him to kids choir on Tuesday. The teacher asked "what day is Sunday?" and Emmanuel immediately answered with so much excitement and thrill in his eyes "It's Easter!! I love Easter" The teacher asked what was so exciting about Easter and Emmanuel answered excitedly "Jesus gets alive again!" The teacher asked "and what does that mean?", and Emmanuel answered "we get to go to heaven!" He was jumping up and down and the other kids were really being influenced by his excitement. It was great. It wasn't about easter eggs or the easter bunny or new clothes, but it was all about Jesus. Sure, he likes looking for eggs and seeing what is in them, but it's just because he likes games like that. For him Easter is not at all about that - it is all about Jesus. Last night he drew a cool picture that had three scenes: a cross with the title "good Friday", a tomb with the title "Silent Saturday" (I don't know if it's called that here in the U.S., but that is what it is called in Latvia, the country my dad is from), and then Jesus with radiance around him in yellow marker, with the title "Easter Sunday". WOW!! He definitely knows what Easter is all about and he is excited about it.

May Easter be very meaningful to each of you this year. Allow the excitement for Jesus' resurrection permeate your life so that others can see how Jesus has changed your life in a powerful way!


If you would like to know how Jesus can change your life, please write to us at Michelle@dorahomeschoolspanish.com, and we will be happy to share with you how Jesus is the reason for the season.

From Dora & Diego Homeschool Spanish Happy Easter,
Michelle Rothwell, Founder
Dora & Diego Homeschool Spanish

Homeschooling Is Abolished

At least it looks that way in the California courts.

Don't panic! The story hasn't ended. If you would like to read Bob Unruh's report at World Net Daily, you can do so by clicking here. Unfortunately for the Long family they have had to fight for their rights before. They will appeal to a higher court because they believe, "the impact of the order for their family, as well as the precedent that could be construed" needs to be looked at from a higher authority.

This ruling affects so many people it's unbelievable my family included. Part of my reason for starting Dora & Diego Homeschool Spanish was because of my brother's family. My Sister in law has been homeschooling my Nephews and Niece in California from the beginning of their education. These kids are doing fabulously and are advanced in most of their subjects. Lucky for them they will be fluent in Spanish by the time they are done because they are my students. They will not only be able to speak Spanish but they will be able to witness the love of Jesus to others in Spanish.

Please pray for the Long family as they continue their fight. If you want to know more about how they are progressing, you can get more information at the Home School Legal Defense Associations website by clicking here.

Are we still living in the land of the free?

I think so. Sometimes we have to pay for those freedoms.

In the meantime, keep up your homeschooling. Your kids deserve the best teachers in the world, YOU!

Dios te bendiga,
Michelle Rothwell, Founder
Dora & Diego Homeschool Spanish
and
Bookworms United

Children's Games from Across The Border

We can all learn a lot from each other if we just share.

Today I would like to share with you a Mexican game called "Gallina Ciega" Blind Chicken. This game is similar to our blind man's bluff.

You blind fold one person.

Turn that person around a couple of times as everyone says:

"Gallinita Ciega
Sí, tu quieres ver
a la que toques
la has de conocer."

"Blind Chicken
Yes, you want to see
who you touch
no one knows"

Once the "blind chicken" touched you and knew who you were, that person would then become the blind chicken.

My good friend from high school, Maritza shared this game with me. Maritza shared that when she was growing up they would play "house", "school" marbles and escondite (hide and seek).

Thanks, Maritza for sharing some of your childhood with us.

I encourage everyone to practice this game before you go with us on our mission trip. We will probably have the opportunity jugar (to play) with some of the children while we are there.

Buenos dias,
Michelle Rothwell, Founder
Dora & Diego Homeschool Spansih
and
Bookworms United

Missions Trip 2008

DESTINATION: Guadalupe, Chihuahua, Mexico
PURPOSE: Help build an orphanage for the Lord's children.

"I wanna be Your hands
I wanna be Your feet
I'll go where You send me..."
by Newsboys

This song is the cry of my heart this year as we are preparing to take a group to do the work of the Lord.

We will be teaming up with Tapestries of Life Ministries a non-denominational 501(c)3 corporation. Please visit their site to see what it's all about.

In order to go on this trip we have to do many fundraisers. So far the most profitable one we've found is selling fundraiser cards for Pizza Hut. A person sells these cards for $10 keeping $6 then sending Pizza Hut $4. We have 60 days to sell the cards and whatever we don't sell we just return. The good part about this fundraiser is we don't have to pay Pizza Hut up front. The customers get 12 medium pizzas for $10. This deal is awesome for the customer because if they use the card only once they've made their money off of it. The cards are good for up to one year. The only catch for the customer is they must buy a large pizza in order to use their medium pizza card.

If you want details on holding your own fundraiser, contact your local Pizza Hut restaurant. Each franchise offers their own fundraising options.

Dios te bendiga,
Michelle Rothwell, Founder
Dora & Diego Homeschool Spanish
and
Bookworms United

Accents Can Give You Fits

Many times while learning a language it's hard to get the accent right while speaking. My question is how can you show the accent(s) when typing that particular language?

Diacritical marks - (1.) A mark, such as an accent, that is used in conjunction with a character to indicate phonetic value. (2.) Marks added to letters or symbols to distinguish it in some way, often indicating pronunciation. (3.) A diacritical mark or diacritic, also called an accent mark, is a small sign added to a letter to alter pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words. The term derives from Greek διακριτικός (diakritikos, "distinguishing").

Microsoft Windows® and Macintosh® have codes that you can type to have your accents inserted. Or like in the Word® program if you go under "Insert" then choose "Symbol" you can choose whatever language you are typing. A list of symbols will show up, click the one you want.

I personally like to do things on the fly and don't like to take the time to do all those steps. Plus I'm a numbers person so it is easy for me to memorize the keystrokes. The following list will give you the codes to use with Microsoft® products.

The Following Must Start With The Alt key

All Spanish questions start with an upside down question mark then ends with a right side up one. The code for the upside down question mark is 0191. So type holding down the (Alt) key the number 0191 and then hit (Enter). ¿ See even in HTML you can create anything you want.

Here are the rest:

(Alt)0161(Enter) = ¡ The exclamation mark is used like the question mark. Always upside down at the beginning of the sentence then right side up at the end.

(Alt)0209(Enter) = Ñ
(Alt)0241(Enter) = ñ

(Alt)0193(Enter) = Á
(Alt)0225(Enter) = á

(Alt)0201(Enter) = É
(Alt)0233(Enter) = é

(Alt)0205(Enter) = Í
(Alt)0237(Enter) = í

(Alt)0211(Enter) = Ó
(Alt)0243(Enter) = ó

(Alt)0218(Enter) = Ú
(Alt)0250(Enter) = ú

¡Aye carumba! That was a lot of work but in the end you will all be better off for it. If you have any questions, please feel free to post them here.

Have a great day,
Michelle Rothwell, Founder
Dora & Diego Homeschool Spanish
and
Bookworms United