Little Homeschool on the Prairie - Homeschool Blogger

Changing Seasons, Changing Life, Praising God in all of it

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:02:00 -0500

The beginning of this month was pretty slow to start. We began our Weaver again and Satan quickly got involved in our lessons. I had to pray, pray, pray for him to leave us alone. Pray is a wonderful, underused tool we have to stay connected with our Lord and Saviour. I find that starting my day in pray helps and does praying with the boys each morning. I really believe this is key to a great day.

Our first unit involves learning about the many different early explorers of the western world. One of the difficulties lay in beginning the supplement for my older son. I still haven't used it. What we ended up doing instead of heavy duty research on all these people, is I bought from Little Homeschool in the Woods their New World Explorers CD unit study. This gave us lots of projects and lapbooking and notebooking things to do to spice this unit up. I do not hesitate to bring in other curriculum if I feel led to do so to enhance what we are doing in Weaver. I feel Weaver can get to heavy in writing, when something like this can be way more fun if you get into it more, especially if you have boys. This is a boy unit, in my opinion, and I felt we needed to DO this unit, not research and write about it. Learning about why and how and when these guys were out there is very interesting stuff. But it's also information that is not overly necessary either. Some of the projects have been making a quadrant, dehydrating meat, creating an Explorers Newspaper, making a captain's log which is to be journaled in and lots more to come.

The Bible to go along with this is Joshua, chapter one. He is entering into a new land with the tribe of Isreal. Going in to conquer the land and the people there according to God's will. So with that we've been discussing the call of God in our lives and that we are to go when called. Being a child is training for adulthood and the calling of God. Obeying your parents gives you an advantage of obeying God when you are grown. Also to supplement this we are using Precept Homeschool curriculum on Joshua. I'm also training the boys to study the Bible inductively.

Farm News:

Ben bought a tom turkey to go with the hen we hatched out in the spring. He seems very happy, but I dont' think she's too impressed yet. He basically saved her life.

We've aquired a new goat named Lita which is short for Rosalita. She came from the same place as Peaches. So far she's getting pushed around a lot and I feel I need to keep my eye on her closely to make sure she is getting food to eat in the barn since the other older ones try to keep her away. She has a wonderful personality and I love her. Can't wait for breeding season in January. Peaches is still milking away and we have fresh milk everyday. What a gift. On the down side, our chickens are not laying right now. Not happy about that at all. We've also bred our Jersery girl adn hopefully our beef cow Stella. I guess we'll see over the next few months if we were successful or not. Blossom was A.I'd and Stella was bred the old fashioned way. We also had to deal with conjunctivitis on her which was a pain. Trying to stay organic can be difficult when you have sick animals. We used anitbiotic eye stuff instead of going with an injection.

The garden is mostly done right now. I just finished digging up carrots and onions and cut off the tops of the sunflowers. I left the small carrots and onions in the garden to see how they fair over the winter. It sure is wet around here and I feel they may rot before we get a good frost. I lost lots of onions due to all the rain we've had and there's more on the way. I can't even get the garden turned over because it's so wet. I'll have to look at the mess until spring I'm afraid. I hope to be able to at least get most of it cleaned up and burned.

Today the boys have been raking our leaves before this next rain moves in. The goats love the dried leaves in the winter. We bag them up and store them in the barn. It gives them variety during the winter with their hay. I would put them in the garden during the day to help clean up some of the stuff, but it's too muddy for that.

We have a busy November coming up and I'm very excited about it all. My dear friends from Mississippi are coming for a visit in a couple of weeks and on that Saturday they are here, we're having a party with some friends from our church here at the house. My daughter will be here today until Saturday and hopefully again for a longer stay over Thanksgiving. Our neighbors from our old house will be coming for Thanksgiving also so we'll have a houseful. I think that's all the company for November.

I'm always a bit sad that summer is over and the garden is being put to rest for the long winter season, but this is actually a good thing for me right now since my hips have not been cooperating with what my ambitions have been and want to be. I've been down more than up and having to rely on the boys to help with most of the outside work this past summer and fall. I pray that over the winter I can get a handle on my situation and hopefully start the new season good as new. Keep me in your prays regarding this.

Another Year Is Going By

Tue, 1 Sep 2009 20:55:00 -0500

I can't believe summer is almost over, by the calendar that is. I know lots of you go by when we start lessons, when September starts or if the weather takes a turn for the cooler. I like to drag it out as long as possible, so I go by the calendar or how about when we close the pool down for the season, even if we haven't been in it for weeks because the water is too cold!

We did start our lessons today. So September 1st was the official day of our new year. To flip over the new lesson planner, to change over my binder to new things, to get out the books I've been waiting to dig into........to let another year slip by and my boys are going to be another year older. I find it very sad. I've only got a few more years before they are out the door more than I see them come in. I pray I see them come in lots, maybe even stay awhile and some day, come in trailing lots of grandchildren! I pray we can raise them in the way THEY should go, not my own ideas. I pray that they have a solid love for the Lord on their terms and not my own. I pray they grow into men who fear and love the Lord and can lead their own family someday. I can tell I will be on my knees for a long time, time that will tick away quickly.

I don't know why I'm feeling this way right now. Maybe it's because I can ask for their assistance and I get the help I need and actually get a good job. I get help in the garden with the weeding, and picking of produce. They take care of all the animals, with some gentle reminders of special orders. Also they are in charge of all the lawncare. These young men are not too shabby at house keeping either. The reason all this can happen is because they are growing older and stronger. Yes, they are becoming young men. I'm thankful for the times that they still like to snuggle with me or show affection. I think we have a pretty special relationship together. Reflecting on this reminds me that my daughter is grown now. She was in their shoes what seems like yesterday. She'll be 21 in a couple of weeks. How I miss her younger days. My special girl. Gone in a blink of an eye. So to all who wonder if these young years will ever pass the answer is YES unfortunately and quickly, too. Relish every moment, even the bad ones because you will find them funny later.

Being Single is Overrated

Sat, 8 Aug 2009 15:52:00 -0500

Ok, I changed a setting on my computer and lost what I was originally writing and I feel like saying Phooey! to it all, but I will press on.

It's amazing how much time I can manage to waste when left to my own devices. I've had the opportunity to get all sorts of things done over the past few days and I really haven't done any of them except laundry and a bit of canning. I did get in an incredible nap yesterday until my son's rooster woke me up. I think I'd like to have him for dinner. I was wanting to get all this gardeing done but the weather decided to get hot, muggy and windy. Yesterday it rained, so I've had two indoor days that I was not counting on. All I can say is that I've had lots of time to talk with the Lord.

Since it is so hot today and again tomorrow, I thought I'd kick on the A/C since it was 85 degrees in the house. I usually dont' mind the heat in the house, but I knew that this evening it would not be good sleeping in the humidity and such so I turned it on......nothing, nada. Hmmmm.....check the automatic thermostat to see about any weird programming issues. Check. Go to basement to see the circuit breakers are in the correct position. Check. Nothing. Ok, flip the breakers to see if that helps. Nothing. Hmmm. now what? Back up stairs to check thermostat again. Seems fine. Back downstairs, look at breakers to see if I missed something. Check. Go over to furnance to see if I can fix something (if you hear a gasp, it's my hubby as he reads this!) I discover a switch in the off position. Flip switch to on position and WA-LAH!! The beautiful sounds of the machinery kicking on. Sorry guys, I know you are camping in this weather, but the house will be cool when you get home.

I've been collecting our books for lessons for the upcoming year. We will be starting Weaver Volume 3 with the supplement added alongside. Aaron will be primarily using it with Ben on occassion. The supplement is intense, so we'll see how it goes. I really like what I'm seeing though. It's very thorough and meaty if you do all the activities. I don't think even a robot could do all the stuff that is listed. Wish I had unlimited time to do it all. It's great!

To compliment it, Aaron will be starting Apologia General Science. I found a lapbook/notebook to go along with it. I downloaded a free sample of the first module and it looks really nice. I think it may make this a bit more fun for him, but I will have him take a look to see if he wants to use it or not. I think it would be an excellent addition for him and ease him into using this textbook style of learning. Ben will be doing the science in the volume.

Both guys will continue on with Math U See Epsilon that they started at the beginning of summer. They are both doing so well with this program. Also, I will be testing both guys to see where Ben needs to be in spelling and if Aaron still needs to do it at all. He was almost finished with the program when we set it down for summer. I'm hopeful he won't really need to do any of it.

As an addition to our Bible lesson in Weaver, I purchased the Precept homeschool curriculum on Joshua. I'm eager to teach the guys how to study the Bible inductively and I love the Precept materials. We will be starting Joshua in Weaver and this will be a great supplement, not that Weaver needs any supplementing. It's great all by itself. I just want to teach them the inductive study methods. This is so important. Plus, they are going to love Joshua, it's such a guy book.

The garden is plugging away. I will be taking pictures soon. The boys have been helping some with the weeding and such. There's always a lot to do. Having trouble with squash type plants this year. Also, the tomatoes are taking FOREVER!!!! What is with that? I've heard the same complaint from everyone else. So strange. I have 25 tomato plants and have had only two tomatoes so far and you always get a couple of really early ones to tease you, then nothing for weeks on end. On the upnote, the sweet corn is coming in and it's wonderful. I think we'll be picking it this week and putting it up. It also looks like I'm going to have a lot of acorn squash, tons of potatoes, onions, for a little bit longer I'll have zucchini (one of the affected plants) and I'm hoping for lots of pie pumpkins, but I'm thinking I won't get very many (another of the plants affected), I also have Blue Hubbard squash and it can't make up it's mind whether to live or die. At least I will get one big squash and hopefully another before it makes up it's mind for the latter. My buttercup squash is doing ok, just not as prolific. I think that's because I'm trying a bush plant and not vining. We'll see how it does. Digging potatoes is a bit of work. I'm slowing digging my first patch I planted in early spring. I have two other patches still going. I planted a 50 sack of seed potatoes for kicks, well we'll see if I kick the bucket digging all those out!! I'm getting lots of beautiful potatoes though. Watermelons are coming along nicely. This happened last year when it took the plants forever to get going and when they did they took off! WE had lots of watermelons. I think the same thing is going to happen again. Only this time I have 3 varieties taking off on me instead of one. I had a nice crop of kohlrabi. This stuff is great fried up with potatoes and zucchini with butter and herbs. YUM. I also like to eat it just raw.

The goat milking is going great. I"m getting about a quart or more a day. I milk only in the morning since I separate the kids from them in the evening so I get the morning milk. Then they are all together for the whole day. We are picking up another doe at the end of the month. I'm excited about that. She's a cutie.

A few more weeks until animal swap comes again. I"m looking forward to getting rid of most of these ducks. We have too many. Aaron will be selling off one of his goats too. Hopefully the momma of the kid he had this spring. She has horns and a bad disposition. He's not too eager to sell her, but he can keep the kid which is a doe and dehorned and sweet as can be, breed her and have those kids to sell.

Aaron has been working at a dairy farm for a day about every other week. He loves it! Both boys have also done some bean walking in an organic field making $9 an hour. Pretty good cash for kids. I think they may walk beans again this week, we'll see. They've been staying pretty busy with helping in the garden, chores and all the animals to take care of. Plus we did do lessons over the summer. We'll be taking a break either starting this week or the next, depends on whether they are working or not.

Life on the farm is not dull.

Blessings,

Ann

Summer update

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:59:00 -0500

I've been terrible about keeping this blog updated. I guess life gets in the way. I think of it often and wish I was so clever in having pictures and slide shows and such, but it's so cumbersome getting them on here. I do wish there was an easier way. I hear they are changing things up a bit to make it easier, but I don't know if that will affect importing pictures.

My goat and I have been getting along so much better since I made some homemade hobbles. I just use velcro tape the 2" variety and doubled it up and also some drapery cording and made large loops that encircle the legs of the stantion and then go in between the goat's leg and velcro. Works like a charm. Now the kid is separated at night only and I milk first thing in the morning and leave a bit for the kid for her breakfast. I've been getting a quart or more from the morning milk. This is plenty for us and it is delicious. I've been making yogurt and ice cream from it. I will soon be making different cheeses.

My garden is looking so gorgeous! I can't believe how wonderful it is. I've picked zucchini, kohlrabi, tomatoes, green and yellow beans, potatoes, and onions so far. Nothing is out of control yet and I'd like it to stay that way. But, I know that is just a dream and soon I will be canning and freezing like a maniac. ONe thing is for sure, I'm going to have tons of potatoes! This afternoon we had fried potatoes with kohlrabi and zucchini mixed in. Very tasty. I"m always anxious for the tomatoes and beans to get going. Also the sweet corn. Ok, I'm getting hungray again just thinking of it.

We've had lots of visitors lately with lots more to come. I do love having guests. I'm so glad to open my home to all who want to visit. Anytime, anytime. But bring work gloves!!

Well I think I have our homeschool lessons figured out for the fall. I"ve been stewing over them all summer. I've been praying and seeking the Lord's guidance on what and who will be doing what and when. I won't get specific at this time, but things are a changing a bit. But then my boys are getting older, too. Weaver it is all the way, with some other things added in. The Lord is very clear on using Weaver each year. I"m so glad because it is a wonderful curriculum and fits our family so well and I love how the Bible is our main text. Goal number one is to have the boys love and know the Lord with all their hearts, soul and mind. I want them to have great character and work habits/ethics. I want them to be able to think and speak well on their own. I want them to be able to defend their faith. Last of all, I want to train them in the way THEY should go, not the way I want them to go.

This may seem weird, but I feel it's a privilege to watch our children grow up. I look at my beautiful daughter and can't believe what I see. Now I'm seeing my older son turning into a young man right before my eyes! I'm going to miss these children, but I'm starting to get a little excited over the adults they are becoming. I'm going to enjoy this, too. Granted I have one son left and try as I might to hold on, it wont' work. He'll grow up, too. It's definitately exciting to watch (through the fingers covering your eyes!)

Amanda has one more full year of school left to get her associates as a pastry chef. She pounded the pavement and laned a job in a bakery decorating cakes. She is still working IHop on weekends and dating a nice guy for over 2 years.

Aaron is coming into his own. This summer he has been going to a dairy farm to work the day with a great guy we've come to know. It's suppose to be an apprentice type thing and not get paid, but he gets slipped a twenty each time with thrills Aaron. He is really loving it and gets to go for a day about every other week. The rest of the time he spends doing chores around the farm and taking care of all the animals. He's a great help to us and a good worker.

Ben is growing, too. He has expanded his chicken operation to include another breed of chicken for his egg business. He got an incubator for his birthday so he also wants to do some hatching and selling of chicks. He gets lonely when Aaron goes to work at the dairy farm but we try to have a little fun. He's been helping in the garden weeding and when Tim was staying with us, helping him with the jobs he had to do. Ben still loves the computer and will hopefully be our computer fixer /web designer someday. If you want to know anything about chickens, ask Ben.

Our pool has been getting a good workout this summer. The weather has been really gorgeous. In the spring it was really wet and rainy, but now it is very nice. Great outside working weather.

My hubby is still driving two hours each way to work. Pray for a different job for him so he is closer to home. His honey do list is long, but he is patient to get things done. All in good time.

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:37:00 -0500

If anyone would have told me I'd be milking a goat twice a day I would have laughed in their faces and said "No way!" Not only am I milking twice a day, but I'm enjoying it for the most part. We are still learning together and she is a bit fiesty but we will come to terms soon (after I rig hobbles, that is) I'm exhausted after a milking because I hold one of her legs up so she can't kick over the bucket, but is still capable of moving her leg around which I have to hold. My arm does get weary after one side. Otherwise, the milking part is pretty easy actually. I thought my hand would tire, but that's not the case. Soon I'll be trying to make feta cheese, yogurt and ice cream with the milk among other items.

My garden is doing great although I'm having troubles keeping up with the weeds, er, pasture grass. I have the boys moving out straw from the hayloft so I can mulch as I clean out areas. HOpefully I can at least try to keep up. My flower gardens look like I haven't even done anything to them and I've weeded them out twice already. I will have mulch coming very soon. It's ordered. This should help me keep those in good shape longer. I've also been putting in place barriers from the Japanese beetles. I have used tulle and made tents over my raspberries and have tied it around my grapes. I will also put it over my baby fruit trees while they are small enough to do so. I'm using row covers over my cabbage and cauliflower plants to keep off the cabbage butterflies. So far so good.

Our very large American ELm tree is dying . We are saddened by this since it is very beautiful and provides lots of shade. It probably won't last another month. So much for the hosta garden I planted under it. At least I have a place to move them to after all is said and done.

We started on our summer lessons a couple of weeks ago. The guys seem to be doing fine with it all. I think the TOPS science projects are fun for them. Ben's requires more work but it's neat to see what it taking place. He is doing Corn and Beans. Aaron is doing great with the electricity unit. We are continuing with math and using Wordly Wise to work on volcabulary. Our Trek group is meeting once a week to work on their garden they have planted as a service project. They also get pool time afterwards.

The boys stay pretty busy with all these animals we now have. When I think about it, it's overwhelming. Plus they do all the mowing of the grass and any other jobs I can come up for them to do. BORED is a dirty word around here. They will help when the vegetables start coming in.

Tally on animals at the moment:

2 adult goats, 2 baby goats

3 beef cattle 1 dairy yearling

4 cats

2 dogs

9 adult ducks, 4 teenage ducks, 17 baby ducks

1 turkey

17 adult chickens, 26 chicks

Boy, I think that's enough!!

Summer is here!

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:27:00 -0500

We are on our short break before we begin to work on our summer homeschool projects. The boys have each selected a TOPS science books to work through this summer. Aaron will be doing electricity and Ben is going to do Corn and Beans. These should be fun for them and easy enough for them to do on their own. We will also continue with math and will be working through volcabulary books Wordly Wise. I've actually enjoyed our little break and it's nice to have a bit of time off.

I've been trying hard to get our pool up and running. Well it's running, but I'm having difficulty with the water balance and having our vacuums work properly. Very frustrating. One of these days I 'll get all this down and it won't be such a problem. Kevin is already fed up but still perseveres in helping me. The boys have been in it already, clear water or not!

I've also been slowly getting our garden in. At least it's in earlier than last year. I've got potatoes doing very nicely and a beautiful lettuce patch. I'm trying to do companion planting so as to not have so much soil exposed. This will take time to master and of course the plants have to get larger to shade exposed soil. This will help with the weeds eventually. In the meantime, I'm going to lay down wet newspapers and cover with straw as mulch to help with the grass that thinks it needs to still grow. I will have all sorts of heritage melons, squash, tomatoes, lettuces, carrots and whatever else I can't remember. My Trek club even planted a section of it for their service project they are working on. The produce will go to needy families we know or the food bank in the area. It should be some garden when it kicks in. They palnted all sorts of things in a small space. I let them, it will be fun. At least its one section of the garden I won't have to worry about.

We are patiently waiting on baby goats. We were off a week on one of them so she should be due anytime starting tomorrow. The other one hopefully will be a week behind her. I'll be milking and will become the official goat lady. Long story!

Ben has a new batch of chicks for his egg business. He also got an incubator for his birthday so he can hatch out replacements and sell the chicks. We were also suppose to get turkeys and they sent us a box full of ducks. I guess it's a tough job when you cant' tell the difference between the two. Anyway, Aaron is going to raise those up and sell them at the swap in the fall. We'll get our turkeys in a couple of weeks.

our baby turkey and runner ducks the boys hatched out. the turkey thinks it's a duck

Kevin has been busy rerouting fencing to keep livestock out of my garden yet give them access to more pasture. It starting to shape up around here. I've been also working on landscaping and it's slowly coming along. I"m in no hurry. Kevin and the boys also built me a goat stantion for milking. So we are set up and ready to go, just waiting........

part of a new hosta garden I put in

my new purple clothes line. Yea!!!!! I can finally hang out clothes

Is this terribly cute or what? A miniature daffodil I found on the property.

white bearded iris that looks like an angel

Very cool rainbow after a shower

Rain Rain Go Away....For Awhile

Fri, 1 May 2009 18:11:00 -0500

I do this to myself every year. Wonder if I will ever get the vegetable garden tilled and planted. I put in some potatoes eons ago and it's been so cold and wet that they haven't sprouted. I checked them and they seem fine so far, just not wanting to come out. I'll wait longer next year. I haven't been able to do any tilling for two weeks due to weather conditions and my tiller did die, but it's fixed now. I've got lots of baby plants to set out. I haven't even gotten my onions out there yet. I hope the starts are still ok and not dried out. Tomorrow I am planning on weeding around the asparagus and blackberries. My new raspberries are coming out as are all the new fruit trees I planted. Maybe in 10 years we'll have quite the orchard

I am bummed about one thing. I just found out that there won't be a farmer's market where I was planning on going this year. I can't decide if I want to go else where or just stay home and try selling from there. Kind of an odd dilemma. Wondering what the Lord has planned for us with regards to selling the produce. I make all sorts of plans and he changes it up. Gee, I wonder who knows what's to come? I just have to follow His infinite wisdom.

We are nearing the end of our Volume 2 finally. I am making it end by the end of May. Over the summer I will have us doing a TOPS electricity science kit, volcabulary, writing, Bible work and maybe finish up Book 1 of our computer course. I've enjoyed the last chapter of volume 2 but I'm ready for it to be done. I think spending 6 months on this chapter is long enough. Below is a comic strip my younger son made on the computer. Everything you see was made on the computer. Instead of having them write a boring report, I thought making a book telling the story of the Boston Tea Party would be more fun. It was suppose to be for a younger child with drawn pictures and such. Well, this guy still didn't want anything to do with writing even a fun project such as a book, so he asked if he could do it on the computer and this is what he made. I was pretty impressed by this since he taught himself how to use this particular program.

I love homeschooling.

Sunrise in Melvin

Tue, 7 Apr 2009 05:56:00 -0500

The Stoll house is busy again. Spring is in the air, I think. Our little haven is full of new life with more to come. Right now we have 24 Cornish X chicks, a new calf was born yesterday, and lots of chicken and turkey eggs to hatch soon and another calf will be born soon. The calves aren't ours, I wish though. We won't have calves for some time yet. Hoping to breed our almost yearlings in the fall. The goats won't be due till the end of May and early June. Lots of activity on the ranch. These things keep you hopping.

I finally made some whey and my first soft cheese. The whey turned out fine, but I'm not sure about the cheese. It sort of turned out like cottage cheese and I'm not fond of that. It was suppose to be more like cream cheese. The dogs will eat it. The whey is used in making homemade mayo, and using it in baking. It's another way of getting healthful goodies in your body. It aids in digestion and since I have issues with all this, I need all the help I can get. My homemade yogurt is the best. It's really good with yellow raisins, chopped nuts whether almonds or walnuts, and raw honey. It is sooo good.. All these things were made with raw milk. I'm very careful on my tempuratures as to not kill off the enzymes and good bacteria. The way I make the whey is to use a half gallon canning jar and put in the raw milk. I put over it a cloth to keep dust and such out and let sit for a few days. On day three it curdled where the whey splits off from the curdled milk. I then strain it through a cloth for several hours and do not squish it. When I though it looked drained well, I then gathered it up and hung it from a cabinet to drain for a few more hours until it quick dripping. The whey is in the bowl and the cheese is in the cloth. Pretty simple. Now the yogurt is easy, too. I heat the milk no highter than 118 degrees. As soon as it hits that temperature, I shut off the heat and add my yogurt culture and some unflavored gelatin and mix well. I pour into canning jars and place in warmed water in my crock pot. I keep a thermometer in there to not let it get over 118 degrees. The pot stays off most the time. The yogurt is usually done within 6-8 hours. For those of you wondering about milk spoiling, well that's only milk that's bought in the store. Raw milk sours, not spoils. it ferments and that's a good thing.

In the garden, I managed to plant some potatoes, but that's it. They will probably spoil since it's been so wet and cold. I haven't even been able to finish tilling it yet since there were pockets of damp soil. I think I need patience in this area. I've got lots of seedlings going. I have pansies, lavender, tomatoes, peppers, basil, lemon mint and I will be starting my cauliflower and cabbage this week. I'm running out of room for all these plants. I will hopefully sell some at farmer's market but that doesnt' start until May. By then they should be a nice size. I have been busy relandscaping in front of one of my barns. I planted some hydrangeas a friend sent me. I was so happy with those. I also dug out all the hostas, which I'm also selling off. That's as far as I've gotten. I've bought a few bald cypress trees and a redbud for the yard. There's also lots of fruit trees, raspberry and grapes coming, too. I want strawberry and blueberry, but that's for next year. A girl can only do so much a season!

We are slowly getting to the end of Weaver volume 2. This week they are to pick an Act and write a paper on the one that they were interested in. This is more of a review exercise since we went over these a couple of weeks ago. I think next we'll be seeing the Revolutionary War and finally the writing of the Constitution. The boys are doing a great job with all the required reading I've given them. All along they have been reading historical fiction books on the different times we went over. I think that has helped them a lot. Ben, who is not fond of reading at all, even gets conversations going with me over what he's reading. This I find very pleasing. When we are finished with the volume topics, we'll spend some time going over colonial life and doing more handson projects. I'm hoping we'll be done in June so we can change course for the summer.

For the summer, I want to use an electricity kit I bought last year for them, but we moved and things got a bit hectic, It's a small motor and I'm not all sure what it's about but should teach them the basics of electricity. It's definately a guy thing to do. I also have a Bible lesson from Answers in Genesis I'm hoping to use over summer. I think we can get it done in time. Of course, we'll continue with math and I think we'll finish our computer course. I sort of let that drop when we started this American history chapter since it takes us a bit of our day. So our summer will be fun along with all the gardening and animals. I'm looking forward to it all.

In case you wonder why I do our studies over the summer, here's why. If we take any amount of a break longer than a few days, I have boys wandering around not doing much of anything productive. I only have so many chores to keep them busy. It also relieves me from doing any sort of review in the fall and we can just keep on going. We take breaks throughout the year when we need them or have something else to do that day. I just have found that a long break like that is counterproductive to the goals of our homeschool and family life. I find it keeps us focused and on track. It also gives them a sense of knowing what to expect most days, at least for a bit. Our days are shorter and we don't do our lessons every day in the summer, usually 3 or so. It all takes less than two hours usually. We like it this way.

The sun is coming up and as usual it's beautiful. God is good.

iPod update and other musings

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:09:00 -0500

Well, after some time learning to get around iTunes, I was able to get some podcasts downloaded. This has been really fun. I came across sites with free podcasts from well known preachers and such. Just what I was looking for. Now I have Kay Arthur on my iPod and I can have my study with her everyday and not have to deal with the computer buffering. I have also managed to get the Homeschool Expo on there, but that was a bit of an ordeal. I don't know what happened, but I thought I couldn't get any but one of the speakers to download. After a few days I was randomly clicking on my podcasts to get to know how everything works better and I found that all the speakers were indeed there, but I have to download them individually. My settings were all ok, so I don't know why this has happened. Just as well, I really don't need all of them anyway. Now I can be out in the garden and listening to inspiring sermons or homeschool speakers. Thank you my Hubby, I love the iPod!

The kids and I had a great lesson yesterday regarding the Stamp Act. I was king and I gave them 20 nickels each to have for the whole day. The catch was that everytime they used a piece of paper, whether it was a book, music books, notebook paper, even toilet paper, cost them a nickel. They were so funny in that they did become outraged about the whole thing and thought it wasn't fair I didn't have to pay and my pile of money kept getting bigger. Hey, I was the king! I made the rules and got all the money. I think I made my point.

We also started into the book of Leviticus. I know, I know, but it's still history and it points to the fact we need a Saviour. If we are not with Jesus, we are still under the law carrying that heavy burden that we cannot carry alone. Jesus came and was the perfect sacrifice for are sins. The Isrealites had to make their own atonement with a burnt offering and because we are sinners, we cannot possibly make enough sacrifices. Jesus fulfilled all the laws and set us free as long as we profess He is Lord. What a promise He offers us. Think of carrying heavy loads uphill on a hot day. If we just ask, Jesus will take that load for us and quench our thirst with the living water.

The point of Leviticus in our studies goes along with the setting up of a new nation (America and Isreal) and the laws that were put into place.

I got our new Math U See books yesterday. We got the new editions and they are really nice. I think I may miss the comb binding, but we'll see. I realized something the other day, too. MUS takes a different approach in teaching math skills. Each book is geared for certain math functions like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and now we have fractions. Each books takes you as far as you can go with each function and exhausts it. Now what I've realized is that I have worried a bit that the boys are not doing what other textbooks are doing, but I feel the Lord telling me to stay put. Plus the boys are doing well with this curriculum. I did happen the other day to see some scope and sequences from another curriculum and I see that my guys are just fine. They in most cases have gone beyond their grade level in that function and they might be only missing a few things but will eventually pick up later. My mind has been officially been put to ease and we are staying the course. I'm glad because I really love this math program. I've learned so much.

My spinach and lettuce is springing up in my cold frame. I feel like a horse straining at the bit. I'm so eager to get the veggie garen going this year. I have big, big plans for it. There's so much I want to do, but let myself get overwhelmed with doing it. I need to S..L...O...W...down and enjoy the time. I've got raspberries, nectarines, apricot, and peach tree, grapevines ordered. I have seeds sprouting in trays with more to plant. Do you think 66 tomato plants is too much? That's of course they all come up. No I'm not planning on trying to grow all these. I think I'd like to take them to farmer's market and sell the baby plants, just to get aquainted with the whole process. I'll be growing lots of heirloom vegetables this year. I want to be able to save seed. Gotta figure that one out yet, the whole cross pollination thing. AND I 've got to get my wits about me to do battle with the bugs. No spraying here, just ways to deal with them. Row covers come to mind and companion planting.

No, I still haven't done any winter projects!

Sun, 8 Mar 2009 19:36:00 -0500

I can check off another year for myself. The Lord was good to me this year. I had a beautiful day and got to spend it working outside. I was able to stick in spinach and lettuce here and there hoping to get a jump on things before my garden area gets tilled for the year.

My wonderful hubby got me an iPod nano. I've been wanting one of these things ever since Cindy Rushton has this homeschool conference online. You are suppose to be able to download all the speakers onto your iPod. Well, it's not working for me. I've followed all the directions and Cindy has been so gracious to me in trying to help me. I'm so discouraged about it all. I really have issues with new tech gadgets. I'm serious about this. It's almost becoming a hindrance to me sometimes. I want to stay up on things, but I end up with awful results and lots of frustration later. And I don't want to bother my hubby on the matter. I was able to get it set up and synced just fine though. A little encouragement there. What I didn't know it was going to do was pull my audiobooks off my computer, which I love, but it copies them by each track, yikes there's alot. I'm not sure how to go about resolving this and making it more managable.

We are having a huge wind storm today. It has ripped off one of our barn doors that house our goats. We were also struck by lightening last night. Luckily it hit a lightening rod and we did't get really any damage. It just blew the answering machine plug out of the wall and fried the plug thingy (see, I'm such a techie by saying thingy) We also had one of our ducks fly right through one of our garage door windows. Amazingly enough, she wasn't hurt really, but did a bit of damage to my hubby's car. It got quite a few scratches from all the glass and probably her claws. I"m sure she landed on his car. She was stunned to say the least, but was fine a bit after. Let's just say, it's been an interesting weekend so far.

The kids and I are still getting along in Volume 2 chapter 10. I think we will be starting module G this week. We have made a nice salt map of the colonies and we've been marking with flags on toothpicks depicting what type of colony it was and the settelments we've studied so far. I would love to do religions, but I think that is a bit complicated. We will be adding what their industries are also. I will add a picture soon.

Well, I need to help button down the hatches around here. It's really howling!