If you:

* met with me last year for an in-person portfolio evaluation * met with me last year for an in-person homeschool consult [...]]]> It’s getting close to that time of year when we homeschoolers are making our lists and checking them twice, making sure we have all the necessary items in our yearly portfolios.

If you:

* met with me last year for an in-person portfolio evaluation
* met with me last year for an in-person homeschool consult
* book a virtual evaluation with me for 2012

You will receive a $5 discount on this year’s evaluation

Virtual evaluations are becoming more and more popular. Last year almost half of my clients chose a virtual evaluation. Simply scan and email your student’s work and then I will call them or Skype afterward for a short conversation.

Book your evaluation today. You don’t have to wait until your anniversary date!

The history of Valentine’s Day–and the story of its patron saint–is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman [...]]]>
The Legend of St. Valentine
(Taken from History.com)

The history of Valentine’s Day–and the story of its patron saint–is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?

The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl–possibly his jailor’s daughter–who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and–most importantly–romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.
Origins of Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Festival in February

While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial–which probably occurred around A.D. 270–others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.
Valentine’s Day: A Day of Romance

Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”–at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.
Typical Valentine’s Day Greetings

In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings.

Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.” Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.) Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.

Last time I ordered so many I still haven’t had a chance to get to them all. You can search [...]]]> Once again, Scholastic Teacher Express is having a their Dollar Deals on downloadable pdfs for your homeschool. The offer says it is through 1/18 but I just read today that the offer is still going.

Last time I ordered so many I still haven’t had a chance to get to them all. You can search by subject and grade level or just browse through them all!

Click here. Enjoy!

Check out the free until plans for the month of December on hip2homeschool.com! Lesson plans include history, art, science, language and more. Good for a variety of ages and levels.

Enjoy!

Click here for more.

Head on over and sign up soon because the quantity is limited!

Next, for all you families near Sanford, FL, pick up [...]]]> Living Social has two current deals running that you will want to grab before they’re gone!

Stanley Pond Adventure Farm, in Astatula, FL has a deal right now for a fishing adventure. You can buy this deal for only $20 for four family members.

Next, for all you families near Sanford, FL, pick up a $50 voucher for KidTropolis for only $25!

Mark Sanchez, quarterback for the NY Jets, and others will be hosting a free webinar titled “Feed Your Mind With Exercise” for students on September 26th at 12:00 ET.

Head over to hip2homeschool.com for more information!

If you’d like to take your read aloud time one step further, today you’re in luck! Scholastic is giving away 10 free book downloads and one of them is Teaching With Favorite Read Alouds .

Head on over here [...]]]> You all know that I am a big fan of reading aloud to my kids.

If you’d like to take your read aloud time one step further, today you’re in luck! Scholastic is giving away 10 free book downloads and one of them is Teaching With Favorite Read Alouds .

Head on over here to place 10 in your cart and enter coupon code 10 THANKS.