Category Archives: Homeschooling

Herbs

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Houston

Cinnamon: Cinnamon helps lower blood sugar, as much as 10-25% in diabetics. It can also lower cholesterol levels and help fight inflammation.

Cinnamon.

Peppermint: Peppermint has been shown to be a pain killer and can help with irritable bowel syndrome and nausea. It can relax the muscles in the colon which can reduce pain during bowel movements.

Peppermint.

Holy Basil: Holy Basil is not the same as regular Basil or Thai Basil. It’s has the name holy because it’s considered a sacred plant in India. It also helps with anxiety and can lower blood sugar. Holy Basil also inhibits the growth of bacterias, yeasts, and molds. 

Holy Basil.

Zeke

Fenugreek: Fenugreek is a herb that helps your body in many ways, like improving your blood sugar. It contains a plant protein which can help diabetics. Fenugreek is overall a great herb and is very helpful to your body. 

Fenugreek.

Garlic: Garlic is used as a medicine and also is used for various cooking purposes. Garlic can be used to combat the common cold and reduce your blood pressure. Garlic can be very delicious in many dishes too. 

Chives: Chives contain many different minerals that help your body, and can relieve you from sunburns, headaches, and migraines. They have culinary uses too. They grow on flowering plants. 

Gabe

Ginger 

Ginger

Ginger can be used to aid digestion, reduce nausea, and help get rid of the flu and the common cold. There’s an oil inside that can also be used to help your body, which is called gingerol. 

Lavender 

Lavender

Lavender contains lots of iron, gives you many vitamins, mainly vitamin A, and provides lots of calcium. There is an oil called Lavender oil, and other benefits are to relieve stress, promote restful sleep, lower skin irritation, and prevent stomach bloating. 

Cayenne 

Cayenne powder and peppers.

Cayenne pepper is a pepper that has many health benefits, such as: it helps weight loss, prevents blood clots so you can sprinkle some of the flakes onto a cut and it will stop the bleeding, it helps digestion, boosts your metabolism, reduces hunger, and lowers blood pressure. 

Sage

Sage

Sage is highly nutritious and it has lots of healthy vitamins and minerals. It is also loaded with Antioxidants and helps your Oral health. It is known to ease menopause symptoms. Other benefits are: improves brain functions, lowers inflammation, boosts your immune system, strengthens bones, and prevents diabetes. 

Turmeric 

Turmeric

Turmeric can reduce blood cholesterol, relieves chronic kidney disease, but it can also be fatal if taken during pregnancy. 

The Deserving Diplomatic Defender

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By defending against invaders, challenging heresies, and leading his flock as the Bishop of Rome, my patron saint, Leo, rightly deserves the honor of being the first Pope to be called, “The Great.”

Orthodox icon of Saint Leo.

Leo was born in Tuscany, Italy, part of the Western Roman Empire, around 400 AD. By 431, he had been tonsured as a deacon in Rome and his zealousness for the Church was known outside the city. About the same time, Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III sent Leo to settle a dispute between Aetius, a military commander of Roman forces in Gaul, and Albinus, a consul. 

While in Gaul in 440, Pope Sixtus III died and Leo was elected to succeed him. During his reign, Leo defended against Dioscorus of Alexandria and Eutyches who believed in the Monophysite heresy that Christ was fully divine, but not fully man. In 451, the Great Bishop called the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon to condemn the heretics. The council concluded with the anathematization and excommunication of the heretical Dioscorus, Bishop of Alexandria, and the monk Eutyches. The next year, Leo persuaded Attila the Hun and his army to refrain from attacking the ancient city of Rome. In 455, Gaiseric, leader of the Vandal tribe, agreed to Leo’s requests not to kill civilians or raze the city. While Gaiseric kept mostly to the agreement, he did take some citizens as slaves during the sack. In addition to these diplomatic feats, Leo also wrote 96 sermons and 143 letters, of which the best known is his “Epistle to Saint Flavin.” 

The meeting between Pope Leo and Attila the Hun.

Leo reposed in peace in 461 after serving his flock for 21 years. He is venerated in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican Churches, with his Orthodox Feast Day being celebrated on February 18. 

Without the guidance of Saint Leo, the Huns and Vandals could have destroyed the entire city of Rome and the Monophysite heresy could have continued to corrupt the Church for many years. Pope Leo was a truly deserving diplomatic defender of the Christian faith. As he said, “Virtue is nothing without temptation, for there is no conflict without an enemy, no victory without strife.”

Minerals are mind-blowing!

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Houston

These are some minerals found in our area.

Bornite

Bornite.

Named after an Austrian mineralogist Ignaz von Born (1742-1791), Bornite, also known as Peacock Ore, is a metallic mineral that is made up of crystalized copper. Bornite has a grey-black streak and becomes magnetic when heated.

Limonite

Earthy Limonite.

Limonite is a type of earthy iron ore with a yellow-brown or red streak. Limonite doesn’t crystalize itself but only becomes a crystal when other minerals, such as pyrite or quartz, mix with it making a redish-brown crystal.

Quartz

Smokey Quartz.

Quartz is one of the most well-known minerals and is mined all around the world. There’s many different types of Quartz including Smokey Quartz, Rose Quartz, Clear Quartz etc. It can be almost every color but is most recognizable when clear.

Gabriel

Magnetite

Lodestone Magnetite crystals.

Magnetite, also know as lodestone or rainbow obsidian, is the nearest mineral mined near us. It is mined in the Hopkins Occurrence mine, in Reidsville, North Carolina. Magnetite is a type of Iron ore and is very important. It was found in 1548.

Apatite

Apatite crystal.

Apatite is a term for unidentified calcium phosphate that is part of the apatite group. It is mined in the Reidsville Quarry, in Reidsville, North Carolina. Apatite crystals are short hexagons. Apatite is sometimes confused with beryl, milarite, and phenakite.

Fluorite

Fluorite made up of crystals.

Fluorite is found commonly in veins that also contain lead and zinc materials and veins that have a high temperature. It is also mind in the Reidsville Quarry, in Reidsville, North Carolina. Its color can be purple, lilac, golden-yellow, colorless, pink, champagne, brown, and green-blue.

Zeke

Below are some Minerals that are mined in the area around my house

Calcite

Calcite crystal.

Calcite is mined in the Pomona Quarry, Greensboro, North Carolina. Calcite has a hardness of 3, and it feels waxy or pearly to the touch. It comes in many different colors, such as: white, yellow, red, orange, blue, green, brown, and gray. It’s most commonly white, yellow, or see through. Calcite’s most common use is in marble and limestone counter tops or marble structures. It is a extremely common mineral and is in most layers of the earth’s crust.

Hornblende

Hornblende Rock.

Hornblende is mined at the Buchanan Quarry in Guilford County, North Carolina. Hornblende has a hardness of 6. It’s usually black or dark gray, and has a pointy tip. It’s made in temperatures around 293 fahrenheit.

Pyrite

It’s called “Fool’s Gold,” because it looks so much like Gold.

Pyrite is mined in the Lindsay Mine, Guilford County, North Carolina. Pyrite has a hardness of 6- 6.5 and is also know as “Fool’s Gold,” because of its pale brass-yellow color. It has a metallic lustre, and it was discovered in 1904. Pyrite is used process gas and oil.