Aug. 25, 2008 - Just another Reason why we homeschool.
Clark Chatter brought this to my attention this morning:
From Foxnews:
SAN FRANCISCO — School officials in Palo Alto are reconsidering their use of a popular speaker for an annual career day after he advised middle school students that they could earn a good living as strip dancers.
William Fried told eighth-graders at Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School that stripping and exotic dancing could be lucrative career moves for girls, offering as much as $250,000 or more per year, depending on their bust size.
"It's sick, but it's true," Fried, president of Foster City's Precision Selling, a management consulting firm, told The Associated Press. "The truth of the matter is you can earn a tremendous amount of money as an exotic dancer, if that's your desire."
The school has asked Fried to give his 55-minute presentation, "The Secret of a Happy Life," for the past three years.
You can read the rest of this sad story here.
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Aug. 19, 2008 - Why we homeschool....
These are just some of the reason we homeschool.
http://www.101reasons.org/index.php
There are many pro-homeschooling reasons. But this page says enough for now.
~MotherOfBlessings
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Mar. 2, 2008 - Our co-op
This is the 3rd year that I have been doing a co-op with my friend M and her 2 children. I always find it helpful when other homeschoolers explain how they do things so I thought I would explain how we "do" co-op.
We plan 3 units each year (Bible, science, a country). We may change this in the future but for now it works. We plan out our calandar first so we know how many days we will have to cover the material. We meet on Fridays so we take a calendar and plan what Fridays we will meet. We must take into account when each family starts and stops their school year, family vacations, Christmas break, etc. Then we just count the Fridays and decided how many will be used for each unit.
Then we "brainstorm" ideas for each unit. We usually do this over lunch. We tried doing it at a resturant once but it didn't seem to work so well. We choose the unit topics ahead of this "brainstorming" so we have had a chance to think about it and have ideas for activiites and books ready.
We then pick out goals, things to cover, and texts. We use mostly e-books for the main texts. I think they have proven to be a good skeleton for our studies. I get most of mine at www.homeschoolestore.com. They have lots to choose from and many that use lapbooking, notebooking, and copywork. We use a combination of these for our units.
After that we each take a unit or two and plan it out. We break down what will be taught on each friday, what materials will be needed, and what pages to print/copy out of our materials. This saves a lot of time when prepping to teach. We also schedule a wrap-up day for each unit (to put our notebooks together) plus a Family Nay at the end of the year. Family Night is when work is displayed and presentations are done for Dads and Grandparents.
Once all of this planning is done the planning sheets and schedule are printed out and we each keep a copy in our Co-Op Planning binders. If I knew/ was able to attach files I would put up pdfs of these sheets but I don't think I can.
Well that is our co-op planning in a nut-shell. I will cover what we actually do on a co-op day later. Stay tuned!
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Feb. 5, 2008 - eye dissection
We are currently doing a unit study on the human body. Our latest topic was the eye. So we dissected a cow eye. I like dissections. They are fun and interesting. My girls also think so, lucky for me.
I found step-by-step instructions on the internet. Just Google "cow eye dissection" and you will too.
Have fun learning!
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Jan. 21, 2008 - My Refrigerator
So my very good IRL friend mommaofmany tagged for this "show your fridge" thing. So in the spirit of fun here it is...........my fridge:
The top shelf is the "leftover shelf". In addition to the leftovers, my overnight pre-ferment for our pizza dough is there.
The next shelf holds our soft drinks and condiments. This is where I stash our weekly soda (for pizza night), our juice or tea (that's tea), yougurt, sour cream, plus whatever condients will not fit in the door. Here we have raw butter, salsa, and the jar in front holds the flour is leftover after grinding. Can let such a good thing go to waste, now can I?
Next shelf is the milk and kefir shelf. From left to right: raw milk, store milk ( only becasue going all raw is too much $$$) and a half-gallon jar of finished kefir. When this picture was taken my gallon jar that holds my grains and kefir-to-be was out on the counter.
Next is the chesse & lunchmeat drawer. Right now we have raw cheddar, kraft american, parmesan (plus the mini rotarty grater that holds it), mozzarealla, ham, cream cheese, plus a baggie with a couple of leftover waffles in it. An icepack is in there too.
Next is the veggie drawer. In here we have: carrots, zucchini, spinach, and celery. Here we also have a baggie with leftover pancakes in it and an icepack (hmmm.... I see a theme here).
There is a third drawer (not pictured) that I use for thawing meats most of the time. Right now all that is in there is a gallon bag of gluten. Maybe there is an ice pack in there too. Wait....my oldest daughter is going to check.....yep, there is one there too! I have got to get a handle on those things! What can I say, you have 6 children and you are going to need some ice packs. OK so they are not technically "ice" packs. But they don't hurt so much when cold verses frozen.
I'd like to stop here but I can't let momma out do me......
....so here is the door
Top: Mostly baking stuff: meringue powder, color flow mix, (I do cakes ~ see my homestead blog), butter, miso paste (use it in soups), and my pan release mix (equal parts of flour, oil, and shortening mixed together). I brush this mix on pan before baking. Never sticks. Good stuff. Thanks to my first Wilton teacher for that tip.
Next: Beef soup base, a tin of homemade wound salve, tabasco sauce, capers, Super Fruit spread (I hide it from the kiddos), black cherry concentrate (for ice cream and shakes), oster sauce, tattle tonic (a horrible tasting concoction we make for treating tattle tales), lemon juice, organic apple cider vinegar, and liquid chlorophyll (good for energy and anemia).
Next: Mustard, mayo, roasted rep peppers, grated parm cheese, relish, hot fudge sauce, syrup, corn syrup, and cocktail sauce.
Last: Jelly, peanut butter, applesauce, and ketchup, and pace picante sauce.
OK, I am tired now. I am going to lay down and watch Monk while the children have their quiet time.
By request I am tagging my daugther Kit. This should be fun.
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Jan. 14, 2008 - Our current unit study
I decided a while ago that I wanted to use this blog more for school stuff but that has not happened yet. So here is my attempt to "focus". 
We have a study co-op that we do with another family who attend the same congregation that we do. The mother of this family and I have known each for about 9 years. She doesn't have a blog name so I guess I will just call her M.
This is our third year studying together. I really enjoy it. The children do too. It adds something different to our school week.
Our plan is to do three units each year. We do a Bible unit, and science unit, and a country unit. The units we planned this year are Genesis, The Human Body, and Italy.
We like making lapbooks for the units we are do. If you have never tried them then you should. This year we are using a lot of e-books. I get most of mine from www.homeschoolestore.com. I like ebook for projects since I only print out the pages I need and printing pages from an electronic file is easier that copying them from a book. Also they save shelf space for classics that will be read over and over.
We are done with the Genesis unit and are in the middle of the Human Body unit. I will try to remember to take some picutes this week so I can show you what we do.
Here are some picutres from our past unit on Mexico. We went to a Cinco De Mayo celebration. We enjoyed the Mexican music, dancing, and food.
Hopefully I will have picture of our current study soon. 
May the Lord bless your homeschool.
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Jan. 14, 2008 - Finaly...an update!
Wow! It has been a long time since I have posted anything. When you're busy you don't have the time to write about how busy you are.
So here is the quick version~
The construction on the girls room is done but we have not painted yet. The shed is built. All we need to do is finish putting the shigles on the roof and put the double-bolt latch that Hubby's ordering for the door.
Even though we have been here for 3 months I still don't have everything put away. This is partly due to the fact that I don't have all of the shelves and closet organizers (yet) that I had in the other house. This is also partly due to the fact that it takes me a while to get things just the way that I want them. In my perfect world everything would have its own lables and places to be. Did I mention that Monk is one of my favorite shows? LOL
We enjoyed the holidays. Thanksgiving was good but Christmas was even better. Hubby deep fried the turkey a la Aton Brown (Good Eats is my other favorite show). It was delicious! He built the rig with the ladder and everything via Alton Brown's specs. He did such a good job!
We celebrated with Hubby's family on Christmas Eve. My mother came with us and we all had fun. Christmas morning was spent at home. The girls made each other the neatest gifts and I really enjoyed watching them give and receive them with love and joy. Of course they all liked what Santa brought them. The oldest four asked for American Girl things for their dolls, Munchkin asked for more Little People to go with her LP house, and Baby C got a piggy bank.
Hubby and I had agreed on sticking to a small dollar amount which he completely blew off by getting me the grain mill I have been wanting for some time! If you think a grain mill is nothing for me to get exicted about then you don't know me!
Hubby's parents parked their RV in our yard for the week and we really enjoyed visitng with them.
New Year's Eve was spent at home. We did our traditional movie marathon. We made pizzas and had plenty of snacks and soda. We woke up the children that fell asleep right before midnight so we could litter our front room with confetti from poppers! In the morning I used the leftover pizza dough to make cinnamon rolls which we ate while watching the Rose Parade. We stayed in our jammies until noon then we cleaned up our mess. What fun!
OK, that's enough for now. Here is a recent picture of my blessings!
Bye for now!
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Nov. 17, 2007 - Early morning ramblings
11/17/07 -
As I type this it is after 1 am. I am typing one-handed from a standing position with a feverish baby on my shoulder. So while I wait for the Snooze Time Tea to brew, I am going to type a bit. Since he only lets me stop walking and patting for a few minutes between laps of the living room this could take all night. Unless this little guy goes to sleep I may have all night. J
Since I have not done so in a while here is tonight’s thankful list. Just one thing tonight:
I am thankful for my beloved hubby. Today, the 17th is our 17th wedding anniversary. Wow! It amazes me to think of all we have been through together: little money in the beginning, separations due to business trips, training, and a deployment, births of our children, losses of family and friends, illnesses, major accidents, joys and sorrows, poorer and richer, walking this world together. As most of you know marriage is not easy but it is worth what it takes to keep it together. Neither of us is perfect, which is a good thing. If we were perfect we would not need each other. Happy Anniversary honey! May the Lord bless us with many, many more.
Yea! The baby is sleeping. The tea hasn’t even cooled down yet. Oh bother. Guess I’ll drink it. Well I’m still typing one –handed but I can sit now so I’ll give a quick update of what has been happening around here.
We are still under construction in the girl’s room. Dry walling is happening slowly. The girls and I will head to Joann’s soon to pick out fabric then we will choose paint. This is going to be so fun. So far I have OK’d a disco ball and hanging butterflies. We want the girls to have as much say in this project as possible. We are not going for a magazine cover but I would like a coordinated décor.
We have chosen a hard wood bamboo floor for the whole house except for the kitchen and bathrooms. That’s a lot of boxes! We bought all the flooring because it was on sale. Since our new trailer holds only so much it will take about 5 loads total. 1 load is sitting in the school room, one is in the pole barn, 1 is in the trailer waiting to be unloaded and 2 loads are still at the store.
Today we will be building an 8’ by 8’ shed which will be my extended pantry. It will house the upright freezer and whatever will not fit in the inside pantry. Considering the fact that I buy things like rice and wheat in 25 pound bags, a lot does not fit. I will be so happy when it is done!
Well the arm holding the baby is about to fall off and my back is sore so that is it for now, Have a blessed day!
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Nov. 11, 2007 - Happy Veterans Day!
Here’s to all the members (past and present) of our great military who do what they do so we can enjoy the lives that we do. Of course my hubby is my favorite veteran J.
Here a pic of my hubby while serving in Iraq. He was there 9/04 to 4/05. While I am glad he is home I am painfully aware that many are still there while their families keep the home fires burning here. Please make sure you thank the vets you know and wish then a Happy Veterans day.
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Nov. 9, 2007 - Where did the last two weeks go?
I really wanted to write last week but it came and went in a flash. My mother moved away 5 years ago and decided she was missing her daughters and grandchildren. Last Monday she arrived with a truck full of her earthly possessions. My Uncle came along for the ride so she would not travel halfway across the country by herself. It was so good to see him. He stayed all week and left Monday.
We spent last week looking at mobile homes that are for sale. My mother could rent an apartment but she would rather buy a mobile home and have something that is hers. Until then she is living with us. She asked that we pop up our trailer so she could sleep in it. She has a back injury that makes it hard to sleep through the night and she does not want to disturb us.
We are still in the process of getting settled in our new house. Our current project is the girl’s room. We are converting 2 regular sized rooms into one big room for our girls! As of now the wall separating the rooms has been demolished and the new closet has been framed. The drywall has been purchased and our BIL, who is in the construction biz, is trying to find someone to do the drywall as a side job.
We got a great deal on our flooring. It is bamboo; a real hardwood floor! It is in boxes right now. Our plan is to work on one room at a time, finish it completely, and call it done. The girl’s room is first, then the boy’s room, and so on. I call it the “boy’s room” even though we have one boy right now. We would like our son to have a brother but only the Lord knows what the future holds.
I have 3 different blogs going right now. So I write my blog onto word then copy and paste. Why do I do this? Well I have a yuwie blog that my family and friends read, and homeschool blog that my hs friends read, and I just started a homestead blog because of the move. So I have decided to divide them as follows:
· Yuwie will be an overview of what is going on. This way and family and friends who are not into Homeschooling of homesteading can be updated without every single detail.
· Homeschoolblogger will have what we are doing in school, children’s projects, and whatever else I feel like putting there.
· Homesteadblogger will have our adventures of learning out live out of the city. Since my husband and I grew up in the city and the biggest animal we have ever had until the move was a dog this should make a great comedy!
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Oct. 21, 2007 - Our First Homestead Day
Yesterday was the first day that I have felt like a homesteader. There are two events that brought this on…
First: My very close friend, MommaOfMany, and her family came for a short visit. We have 5 pomegranate trees that are very full of fruit.
We had yet to harvest any due to the move and getting the house we just moved out of ready to rent. Just before Momma and her family left they asked if they could pick more of the tasty fruits. So they filled a box and we said our goodbyes. That inspired me. So we spent the next hour picking and cleaning pomegranates. I decided to do this the way Alton Brown did. After all, Alton is awesome!
We held the fruits underwater as we split them open and cleaned out the seeds (I think he called them aerials). The seeds sink and the waxy part that you can’t eat floats. Voila! You pour off the water and are left with the seeds.
We filled my biggest colander with seeds before we stopped for the day.
I don’t know how many fruits we did but we filled 2 gallon bags and had a little more for a third bag! Now I just need to figure out what to do with them.
The birds cleaned out a few while they were still on the tree!
Second: As if that were not enough we were blessed with…
A pair of pygmy goats! Best of all they were free. We are all thrilled. Well not everyone is…
Our Rott tried to convince the male that she was the boss. I don’t think he believed her.
So there you have our first “homestead day”. Now I have some serious unpacking to do!
No herbal tip today. I need to get off of this PC. J
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Oct. 17, 2007 - Our new home
Here are some pictures of our new house and property:
There are a lot of things we want to do over time. Green is great in the Lord's creation. However, I do not care of it as a house or decorating color. So we will be buying a lot of paint!
That's all for today. My last post was long enough.
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Oct. 16, 2007 - Too much too do!
I haven’t blogged in almost a week. There has been no time. However, I will take a few minutes before I clean off today’s paint drippings to catch up a bit.
Pretty much all of our stuff is out of the Tulare house. We will now call this house “the rental”. It hard for me to really think about other people living in the house where we spent 12 years and built so many wonderful memories. Sniff, sniff. OK, moving on. Yesterday and today have been spent painting. There are 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms that needed painting. All but one bathroom is done now. A BIG thanks to D & M for all of their help! We still need to get he carpets cleaned. Some touch-up painting needs to be done in the living room, hall, and kitchen but that is easy. After that the floors will be mopped and the inside will be good to go!
There is still a lot to do here at the new place. We want to think of a name for it but have not yet. We know this place is not really so big as to warrant a name like The Ponderosa but we think it will be fun. We just have yet to agree on one. J
So between all of the driving, painting, fixing, daily living in our state of unpacked disorder we are doing OK. I really do not like disorder. I like the show Monk because I would like to live in his house. When we were newly married I did stuff like he does. The Lord cured me of that by giving me 6 children. I no longer have the time or energy to do such things.
OK this has gone on long enough for today. Please keep our family in your prayers as we go though this transition.
It been a while but here’s my herbal tip:
A steam with eucalyptus oil can really clear up your congestion. Just take a large bowl and add a few drops of eucalyptus essential oil. Then add a couple of inches of boiling water. Place your head over the bowl and a towel over your head and the bowl. Close your eyes and breathe. Get the tissues ready! For a child, only use 1-2 drops of the oil. It can be powerful.
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Sep. 27, 2007 - We have keys
Our deed was recorded this morning and the house is officially ours. We met our realtor at the “homestead” (for lack of a better word) today and picked up the keys. Kevin was a great realtor and I highly recommend him to anyone looking for a home in our area. We have been packing all week and I hope to be completely ready to go Saturday morning. Our friends have access to and are bringing a huge trailer and we hope to get everything in one shot. However, anything not yet packed can wait. I don’t want to stress over it.
Tonight I am making paper “footprints” of all of our furniture. Just measure the bottom of a piece of furniture and cut it out of paper. Don’t forget to label it so you know which piece it is. Presto! Your have your footprint. Tomorrow the children and I will take these paper footprints and the kitchen boxes over. Then I can arrange all of my furniture without someone waiting on me to make up my mind or asking them to move it all over while I make a decision. Neat idea but it’s not mine. I read it somewhere. Then we will unpack most of the kitchen so it will be there for us right away.
Please keep us (and all of our friends who are helping us) in your prayers this weekend. Moving can be stressful. I want our family and friends to have good memories of this move.
Today’s herbal tip: Aloe is great for burns and other skin irritations. It is easy to grow and harvest. Just cut off a leaf, spilt it open, and apply where needed. So go to Wal-Mart and get your Aloe plant!
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Sep. 26, 2007 - Catching up
I have added a few entries and back dated them this morning. You see, I also have a blog on Yuwie. Most of my friends and Christian family are on there. So I have been neglecting this blog. So I have copied my blog from there and put it on here. I'm not sure I can keep up with two. My widdle brain may not be able to keep up.
So I will keep this entry short. Have a blessed day!
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Sep. 24, 2007 - Keepers Karnival and moving update
Keepers Karnival... turns out that we made even more for Bryan. Yesterday we had a donation and a few more members purchase crafts. We now have over $300!!! Way to go KOF troop #1442!
Moving... We actually packed up a whole room today before lunch. It was our school room. The paint in this room includes a wide stripe around the room with the children's hand prints in it. I was looking at it and actually started to cry. I have brought all my babies home to this house and Baby C was born here. I just had to remind myself that this house and this world are not my true home. I'm better now.
We should have our keys on Wednedsay or Thurday. The big move is planned for this Saturday so I had better get back to work.
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Sep. 22, 2007 - Keepers Karnival
Today our Keepers Of The Faith troop help a carnival to raise money to send to Bryan Christmas for his upcoming trip to India. The children worked hard making crafts and snacks. They also helped set up, work, and clean up the carnival.
The whole day was M's idea and I am very glad that we did it. We want to make this an annual event and we will choose a different person or group who is doing the Lord's work to send our money to.
We raised almost $250 today! Great job KOF troop #1442!
Check out our pics.
No herbal tip today. I am tired!!!
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Sep. 21, 2007 - We signed
We signed our loan documents last night! Thanks Sharron for coming to the house for that. :-) We should have our keys in a few days.
In other news... Tonight our homeschool group had an event to kick off the new school year. Rain threatened to put an end to it but did not come down too much until it was time to go. Our girls sang as part of the entertainment. I like when they sing together. Watching them grow up makes me wish my sister and I were close in age so that we could have grown up like that. (sniff, sniff).
Here's my herbal tip for today - the best cough syrup is easily made. Just put a slice of onion in a jar of honey (local and raw is best) and let it sit for a few hours. Then take the onion out. That's it. Use as needed.
Be well~
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Sep. 19, 2007 - Good to go!
We didn't think it would happen so fast but the well was fixed today. The realtor called and hubby went out to look at it. The tank (that is called the bladder) is new and shiny and the wiring has been replaced. The sellers have completely moved out. So it will be officially ours very soon.
Looks like we can sign by Friday and should have our keys next week. Wow, this is really going to happen. I knew it was but now it really is! God has been so good to us.
We are still packing. It is really hard to get boxes. The way some places guard them you'd think they are worth big money. When I was a kid (a looong time ago) you just went to the back of most stores and there were boxes for the taking. Not anymore. They cut them up and compact them into bales like hay. Crazy. A friend just offered to get me some from his workplace (yipee) so I should be getting more soon. I do have boxes but big ones and I still have lots of books to pack so I need small ones so I don't hurt myself or our friends that are helping us move. We still want to have friends after this is all done. :-)
Please continue to keep us in your prayers.
Today's herbal tip: Onion Juice is great for earaches. Just grate an onion and strain through a paper towel. Place a few drops in the ear and lay still. This will take the pain away and fight any infection. I use this on my children and they tell me it works and ask for it when they have an earache. Isn't God's creation wonderful?
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Sep. 19, 2007 - A home-buying problem
We are in the middle of buying a house out in the country. Not way out, just a few miles out of town. It is only 1 acre but that's good enough for me.
The seller's realtor had been dragging his feet on getting the well inspected. The inspection was finally done and there is a problem. The well needs some repair. The water is fine but some pump wiring and the bladder (yep, wells have bladders) needs replacing. So the sellers have to pay to have these things fixed. Our escrow cannot close until it does because our lenders will not fund our loan until the repairs are done.
The sellers have already moved out and it bugs me to know our future home is empty and we can't start moving in yet! Oh well, we must be patient.
I am a "budding herbalist" (at least that is what my hubby calls me). So I will leave a tip.
Lemon Tea - is good for sore and scratchy throats. Just squeeze the juice out of a half of a lemon (watch out for seeds!) into a mug. Add a good squirt of honey (raw is best) then fill the rest with hot water. It really works. You can drink as many cups as you want to. Like many remedies, you may have to repeat. That's OK, the vitamin C boost will do you good!
Be well~
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