Susie-Q&A
• Nov. 10, 2009 - The Cox Chronicle--Latest Edition
I'll try to put all the "new news" in one post, for convenience' sake.
In recent weeks, we'd battled a chicken thief--a red, furry chicken thief. He made off with one, and we caught him in the act with a second, but he sagaciously dropped the hen and made his getaway. (Hubby had to doctor the poor chicken by stitching up a huge gash in her back. He had a surprisingly able assistant in Anna Kate.)
So, in addition to reinstalling and improving the electric fencing around the chicken yard, hubby's taken up yet another side hobby: trapping. To make a long story short, he's downstairs tanning the thief's (or his relative's) hide as I type.
We do have pictures of the skinning process, but I'll spare my sensitive readers. :) The older children were fascinated, and Anna Kate even got a little biology lesson (identifying organs, checking stomach contents, and other gruesome "extras").
We caught the fox on Halloween, and that same day added a new friend to our chicken yard.
He's a handsome Rhode Island Red, same type that fathered our Golden Comets. Once we find an incubator, we will be able to add to our flock!
We had a fun holiday. We went to a little dress-up activity with some homeschooling friends, planned brilliantly, as usual, by the super-amazing local homeschool mom, R.
Indoor marshmallow toasting:
Cowgirls, soldiers, fairy princesses and froggies, oh my!
Ian went as "Guy in a Flannel Shirt":
Anna Kate, as usual, went as Mom's right hand.
Don't know what I'd do without her, and neither does Aidan. Both my big girls are hugely helpful.
Making mask cookies...
We went to the pumpkin patch right down the road a couple of days later and bought carving punkins. Here is Dad's barfing pumpkin:
Lights on...
Lights off...
Once again, I tried roasting the seeds, but even though I boiled them first, the shells were quite crunchy. I liked the spicy recipe better than the sweet.
Last Friday marked week 10 of Classical Conversations. Hard to believe we are almost done with the first semester! We have memorized a large body of material. I say "we," but the children easily out-memorize me. Here is the timeline they have mastered so far:
(FYI: Those last few are not in order, I discovered later. :) )
Eight cards per week! And that's in addition to history sentences, science facts, Latin declensions, math facts, and more. The history timeline is repeated yearly in CC, and I do hope my younger students will be able to stay with the program through the three years' cycles to benefit from repetition (we are in Cycle 1 this year). It's an expensive program (for a family our size) but so very worth the investment!
Of course, my three older students are also mastering grammar and writing in the afternoons. I am thoroughly enjoying sentence diagramming, something I missed out on in school. Anna Kate and Olivia are taking ownership of their writing now, and really blossoming.
We are learning the tin whistle, along with basic music theory, as part of the CC fine arts segment. I was inspired by this gentleman's lessons to take up the tin whistle myself. So far this week, I've gotten in daily practice. I've mastered "Dawning of the Day," but still stumble through "Peg Ryan's Polka." It's fun and motivating, starting right out with traditional tunes. My limited experience with the recorder has helped a bit. Unfortunately, our only remaining computer speakers are on the fritz, so I'm not sure when I'll get to the next lesson.
In other news, we snagged a used woodstove last week, and hubby is preparing to install it to specs, and have it inspected (for insurance purposes). It's a cast-iron stove. We want a soapstone, eventually, but this one will keep us toasty warm and prevent nasty electric bills this winter. Pictures of installation to come...
Yesterday, I thoroughly cleaned and de-cluttered the master bedroom in a desperate search for missing tractor keys. We later found the keys outdoors, but I sure was glad to get a clean bedroom out of it. I can actually relax in there now that the clutter's gone. Naturally, anything I couldn't get rid of went straight to the junk room, but at least it's out of sight. The "decider" can deal with it whenever he sees fit. :) I'd love to tackle the schoolroom next.
The big girls are still involved in riding lessons. We'll take a break when the weather turns truly cold, but we've had nice weather here, for the most part. Mondays ordinarily are riding days, but this week's lesson (Olivia's turn) is on Wednesday. I'm so pleased to see them gaining confidence with the horses. Like our CC work, proper horsemanship takes much practice and repetition. It's starting to pay off! I'm even learning a bit, since I typically catch the tail end of the lesson (literally, as the girls lead the horse back to corral or pasture).
We're eagerly expecting a visit from Mama Cox and Uncle Barry tomorrow. That probably means I should tackle the guest room before the schoolroom. Heh! It's a tangle of clothing containers right now. Our CC family presentation is this Friday, and I hope all our family members will be able to come and see it, as well as introduce themselves to our CC friends. :) We're hoping Daddy can steal a bit of time from his work schedule to be there as well.
Until the next update...God bless you friends! |
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• Nov. 11, 2009 - :)
Those VP cards are so familiar. We have our sets laminated just like that... ours have holes punched in the upper left corner so we keep them on rings. It is a great timeline.