Adobe InDesign CS4 Digital Classroom

I've been using Quark for my desktop publishing software, but have been wanting to move to Adobe InDesign. I just wasn't looking forward to the learning transition. This month, I received a review copy of Adobe InDesign CS4 Digital Classroom from Wiley Publishing and tried it out. It wasn't near as painful as I thought it would be!

Adobe InDesign CS4 Digital Classroom is better than a classroom. There's no waiting for others to catch up or missing a tip because I'm busy practicing something else. I can do the video on my time, in my home, at my pace. I love that!

The instruction is excellent - very clear and easy to understand. The book comes with a DVD (includes video training from Adobe Certified Experts) and lesson files. I can watch the video and work on the lesson files at the same time. The instruction is well organized enabling me to work through the lessons one by one in the order presented or select a specific topic, as needed. The graphics and sound quality is professional and positively enhances the learning experience.

In the lessons, you’ll learn all the essential skills you need to get started. The first lesson teaches you all about the tools. Although I had used InDesign a bit before, I learned a lot of nifty tricks from this lesson. For instance, how to set up my master pages so that they are horizontally rather than vertically aligned. This is important when you work on large documents like books.

Other chapters include:

• How to format type
• How to create style sheets
• How to add and manipulate graphics
• How to design and edit a table
• How to use and manage colors
• How to create special effects such as drop shadows, feathering, emboss, and blend
• How to create a book, an index, and Table of Contents
• How to share documents in various formats
• How to use XML with InDesign
• How to create interactive documents using flash

For a novice like myself, this book and training DVD is just what I needed to get started. For Intermediate users, you will probably benefit by picking up some tricks to help you use InDesign more effectively.

Visit the www.digitalclassroombooks.com Web site for updated lesson files.

For more information, see the Wiley Web site.

Does this tell us anything?

Five basic reasons for the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire from Edward Gibbon's book by the same title published in 1788:

1. The undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis for human society.
2. Higher and higher taxes: the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace.
3. The mad craze for pleasure, with sports and plays becoming more exciting, more brutal, and more immoral.
4. The building of great armaments when the real enemy was within - decay of individual responsibility.
5. The decay of religion, whose leaders lost touch with life and their power to guide.

From: The Great American Bathroom Book III, 1994, Compact Classics, Inc. (Out of print)

1st Day of Homeschool With Chaney

What a joy Chaney is to teach - I should say, mentor. She is extremely smart and very self-disciplined. Here's how our day went:

We spent most of the day working on Unit 1 of my Oklahoma History Online curriculum. I didn't realize how fun my curriculum was! In the process, I did find two bad links, which I fixed. (Make sure you refresh your browser if you're using my course.) We even read my kids' book, Adventures at Spiro Mounds and Chaney helped me do some editing. One of these days, I'm going to send it to a publisher - after I polish it enough!

Next, we went over what her mom is teaching her at home and her assignments for her other classes. It looks like I am responsible for History, Grammar, Literature and Composition. Joetta gets the hard stuff: math and science!

We're going to read LOTS of books. She already read the first book I assigned her! For grammar, we're going to work through Gary Provost's book, Make Your Words Work. This will also help her writing. If you have an aspiring writer, I recommend this book.

Then we had lunch - hamburgers and sweet potato fries. (I had no roll and only 12 potatoes - well within my Weightwatchers points!)

After we did all we could for my portion of school, we decided to watch two Astronomy videos that I had. Creation Astronomy by Dr. Jason Lisle and Everyone's Space from !zzit.org. The first video was an explanation of how astronomy relates to Scripture (highly recommended). The 2nd video was about economics and space. We learned how free enterprise will eventually make space travel inexpensive and available to everyone. Chaney wants to go to the moon - currently, it costs $100 million!

By this time, Chaney's sister, Shandra, came by to pick her up. Chaney took home the book, Writing for the Soul by Jerry Jenkins for her reading this week. She is also reading Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Chaney wants to be a writer and is already well on her way. She started her own blog on HSB called, Thoughts of a Bible Kid. Check it out and sign up to be her friend!

The Watermelon Party of 1961

I tugged my cardigan tight, trying to barricade the biting wind blowing from the Atlantic Ocean three miles away. My Dad and two brothers finished balancing the mountain of melons in the back of our rusted, Studebaker; it's tires slightly squished from the extra weight. The truck would hold no more.

I scanned the two acres of greenish-brown vines in front of me and attempted, unsuccessfully, to count the herd of watermelons lounging in the still warm, sandy soil. There were so many!

"What are we going to do with the leftover melons, dad," I asked. The season was over. Today's sales would be the last. Normally, we preserved everything we didn't sell or eat ourselves, but we'd never grown watermelons before.

Trooping over the melons and crusty vines, my dad headed towards the center of the patch. "We'll have a watermelon party," he said. He reached down and yanked one of the largest melons from its vine. His muscles flexed under a white t-shirt as he hefted the 30-pound melon into the air and let it slam to the ground. The melon split in two with a muffled pop.

I breathed in the sweet aroma of ripe watermelon and watched with bugged eyes as my dad tore off a huge chunk from the heart of the melon. He shoved it in his mouth and bit down. His eyes twinkled, and melon juice dripped from the corner of his smile.

I watched, speechless. Who was this man? This couldn't be MY dad. My dad re-lived the Great Depression on a daily basis. He made us eat everything on our plate and wear our clothes until they could be worn no more. He even built our home from a building used as a prison-of-war camp during World War II. I watched, stunned, as he ate one watermelon heart after another, leaving the rest of the melon untouched.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked.

I shook my head in disbelief and watched as my brothers joined in. Finally, I reached down, gently unsnapped a melon from its vine, and tossed it in the air, peering out the corner of my eye to watch my dad's reaction. Nothing. He was busy tossing a melon for my younger brother. Smiling, I pulled off a chunk of exposed watermelon heart, placed it in my mouth and savored its sweetness. There's nothing as sweet as the heart of a watermelon, unless you compare it to the memory of my dad and the watermelon party of 1961.

Toastmasters

I joined Toastmasters! Three weeks ago, Melanie invited me to go and now I'm hooked! I gave my first speech this week. It was the ice breaker. My theme was "I am the Checklist Lady." I did ok for my first time. I need to work on movement and depending on notes less. I'm looking forward to getting more involved after I finish school in December. For now, I'm just going to go to the meetings and learn.

I'd love for you to join us. We meet at the Broken Arrow Chamber from noon to 1 p.m.

Activity TV

Here's a fun site for the whole family: ACTIVITY TV! 

Online videos with activities for kids and their parents. Categories include cartooning, cooking, dance, jewelry, music, paper airplanes, room projects, summer fun, crafts, family gifts, juggling, origami, puppets, science, seasons like Easter and Thanksgiving, and MORE! 

Under the Room Projects, you'll find a cute activity for making a window flower box with tissue paper, a beaded curtain, a memo bar, drawer pulls, and a pirate lampshade. And that's just a sample!

You watch the video, print out instructions, and then do it yourself with your family! How fun is that!

The Pioneer Woman Cooks

If you are looking for good, old fashioned, high calorie yummy food that sticks to your ribs, you'll want to check out The Pioneer Woman Cooks. My friend, Liz Eubanks, sent me the link and it's my kind of food! You might even find some salads!

She also writes about gardening, her farm animals, homeschooling and more. A very interesting blog!