Tatyana  and Natasha took out the seashells to play with this evening while we visited with with company.  Here are some of their creations:Natasha's little shell houseTatyana's  shell house.

I don't know about you all, but I can't seem to read this book without forcing back tears.  Just the thought of the kids growing up and leaving makes me sad. I guess it's selfish, but I wish they could stay little.  You moms out there who are in the midst of diapers, messes, no-sleep, and all ...listen carefully...time passes so quickly. Enjoy every moment.  Start a journal now .   Soon they will be teenagers and then you will look at pictures of them as toddlers and long for those days...   Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying all the teenage stuff, but reading this book makes me miss the baby stuff.  Now my youngest is 5 years old already.   The oldest is 19.  If you want to get all mushy, read this book!!!!!!!

Well, we have been feeding our "pet, wild"  porcupine for a few weeks now.  I guess it's not such a good idea after all.  These pictures should be self-explanatory.  Poor doggie!!!!

There were 35 quills in all.   This had educational value I think...

Well the weekend is over and time to get back to work.  This week we will work on trying to catch up on all the projects that we put off for this unit.  Let's see,... there's a river info/game chart thingy,  State notebooks, Native American notebook, Presidents notebook, and World notebook. Lot's of recipes to cook from around the world, Art projects including:  Plaster of Paris, stained glass for cathedral study, leather nature journal, french impressionist paintings, river word pictures, and art facts book.  Maybe that's too much for one week.  We'll be all arted out.... but ,but...I really like ART...it's more fun than other stuff....like math...Ugh
   Last night after gospel meeting, we had banana splits for supper....yum...
 On Sundays, we usually have a big lunch when we come home from meeting , and then don't usually eat supper except for a snack or popcorn or something similar.  Saturday evening we had pumpkin bars with whipped cream for an evening snack.  It was a big hit even though I didn't put any sugar in it. 
     Well, let's hope that this will be a productive week for school.   I need to send in the quarterly reports this week. (NY state requirement) 
   Another dumb requirement for NY state are attendance records...Let's see..Anthony, are you here today?
Monica, are you here at home today? Oh I forgot,,, you LIVE here..of course you are here today!  We are learning all the time, not just at certain hours of "school". 

      Well, we got lots of science done today.  We studied mountains,  The Capitol building, verbs, volcanoes, labeling the human body skeleton,and Kentucky, and England.    They all did math...
                                                                                    
     Natasha did another animal report.  This one was on beavers.  Vincent did his usual self-directed huge load of schoolwork.  Monica learned more about fractions.  Anthony worked on American facts nobody knows.  Tatyana drew countless pictures of fancy-dressed girls. And almost all the kids cooked something in the kitchen....
    The boys watched how to put up a door.  Then I dropped off the older boys for a birthday party.
I think it was a pretty good day.  ESPECIALLY because it was 70 degrees out!!!!!!!!!!   Can you believe it in November??   I,ll take all we can get...  
    

We were just finishing up studying rivers and now we move on to mountains.  Today we were supposed to make a brownie mountain, but just ended up eating them instead.  I told the kids to just imagine that we made a mountain......They were sure good brownies.. There goes my diet for the umteenth day in a row!!!!!!   I printed off some lapbook type booklets about molehills.  I thought that maybe that would be a stretch when studying mountains, however the kids seemed to enjoy writing about moles and molehills!
    Tomorrow we will make some more salt dough and study the types of plate shifting that forms mountains.  Maybe even make a releif map of NY state, if we are ambitious.
   

Winter  is coming!  Can you believe  K1 kerosine is over 5 dollars a gallon.  That's the type you use for portable space heaters.  We use our in the morning and evening to warm up the house.  Hopefully we can fix our furnace soon.... It needs a new  firebox. Found out that the repair kit doesn't cost that much.
    We will probably put straw bales outside all around the kitchen to help keep out the cold. I suppose the bales could be quite inviting homes for cute little mice.
 I haven't done anything with the garden yet.  I decided that this year I was going to just let everything keep standing there in the garden so the winter birds have plants to land on and seeds to eat.  They will probably enjoy landing on the tall corn stalks when snow is everywhere.
    So nice to drink a cup of decaf with cream when it's warm inside and when curled up with a good book.
There are good things about winter.  Lets not rush it ,though!!!   For now we are enjoying the leaves and apples and all the scents and scenes of Fall....

Well  I am getting a lot done while the family is away.  Robert took all the kids except one to our church convention about 5 hours from here.  I stayed home to take care of the animals and stuff.  Since I already got to a convention a few weeks ago, I thought he should be able to go.  It's something we look foward to all year.  It is so encouraging and the kids love it.

    I also was meaning to get the IHIPS done for school.  In NY state, you have to send in a complete plan for each child of everything they are going to do and all the books/curriculum you will be using.  It is one of those dreaded things I have to do every year.  I guess I'll do that next week.

     I didn't realize how much work it is to keep a 5 year old entertained without any of their siblings around!!   I've had to resort to cupcakes and presents so long as I can get some things done!

I feel sorry for moms trying to do projects with a little one to entertain at the same ti me.      

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Hi Friends,
  I've finally returned to my blog after a year or more!
We've been keeping pretty busy with life as we know it. Feeding the chickens,feeding the kids,
   weeding the garden, altering clothes from the thrift store (which has become
really fun lately,   I just finished a denim skirt from a pair of jeans). I also
       am making aprons out of old lacy pillow cases...check out
          www.maryjanesfarm.com..  She has some neat ideas for stuff.
   I've started a new business to help with the bills. I have racked my brain to
come up with some way to get more income and just couldn't think of anything. 

    I was even considering doing a medical billing course. The cost was just too much, though.                    Then it just came to me
like a light turning on!!!!!
     Why not sell Usborne Books again!   I used to make quite a bit of money doing
that and the books pretty much sold themselves.
      I used to sell Usborne Books about 5 years ago, and  am now starting
 to do it again! At that time I had two babies plus homeschooling, but
now I am more free to devote time to others to promote literacy and knowledge
with great books.
      We love Usborne Books, and own several hundred at least. Almost all of them
I got free or deeply discounted just by becoming a consultant.
   

        High quality, interesting and funny, colorful, and the kids devour them.
If you would like to help me get my business going, and get good deals
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My friend in Alaska's kids sent our kids some letters and I had to realize how lacking my kids' "handwriting neatness skills" are .  I hope it is not too late to improve their handwriting, but I am really going to work on it for the rest of the school year. Unfortunately, I accepted papers with barely legible handwriting from my kids, and was just glad that they did something.  Not Anymore!!!!!!!

From now on I hereby declare that if their papers are not neat, then they will not be acceptable and will have to be done over.!!!!!!!!   How's that.   Now I feel better............

I thought this was neat about how to make a straw hat .

LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS

Charlotte's Straw Hat

When Pa harvested his crop of oats in late summer, he "cut the heads from several bundles of the oats, and brought the clean, bright, yellow straws to Ma."  Ma then made hats for everyone in the family by braiding the oat straws together, and sewing the braid around and around.  When she finished the hat, she shaped and dried it in the hot summer sun.

Even though Laura was only five years old, she carefully watched Ma and learned how to make a little hat for her rag doll, Charlotte.

To make a small straw hat for one of your dolls, you will need:

• A bundle of oat straws or a bundle of natural raffia (Raffia is available in craft stores and may be easier to locate than oat straws.
• Pan of water
• White thread
• Needle
• Scissors
• Narrow ribbon
• Thimble (optional)
• Dried flowers (optional)

1. Soak the oat straws in water for several hours or overnight, until they are soft and flexible.  You do not need to soak the raffia strips.
2. Select three straws or raffia strips and knot the ends together firmly.
3. Braid the straws.  As you near the end of each straw, add another one to it by overlapping the ends about an inch and continuing to braid.
4. Keep braiding until you have 2 to 3 yards of braid.  Tie a knot in the end.  Soak the finished straw braid in the water as you work on it.  You do not have to soak the raffia braid.
5. Thread the needle.  Bring the two ends of the thread together, and tie a knot to hold them.  You now have a double thread to sew with.
6. Coil the braid into a flat round disk like a mat, and sew the edges together as you continue to coil.  This will be the top of the hat.
7. When the top of the hat is large enough for your doll (about 1" to 2" across), coil the braid tightly and at a right angle to the top of the hat so that the braid will draw in to make the crown, or the sides, of the hat.  Sew as you coil.
8. When the crown is deep enough (about 1/2" to 1" deep), coil the braid more loosely, as you did for the tip, at a right angle to the crown.  Sew the braid so that it lies flat.  This is the hat brim.
9. When the brim is as wide as you want, cut the end of the braid diagonally so that the long side of the point is on the inner edge of the brim.  Stitch the end firmly to the brim so that it will not unravel.
10. Soak the straw or raffia hat in warm water for a few minutes.
11. Remove the hat from the water, and shape it with your fingers so that the top is smooth, the crown is rounded, and the brim is flat.  Let the hat air-dry completely for a day or two.  If necessary, set some weighted jars or cans around the brim to keep it flat while it's drying.
12. Decorate the hat with the ribbon.  You can also add a few dried flowers, if you like.

Well, we spent the day running around town, but the kids brought their schoolwork and books to do in the car. We went library hopping for the last two days.  There is a library in almost every town around here. The good part is that you can return books to any library, no matter where you checked them out.  I think we have enough books now.  It's a good thing there are no limits on the cards......    We love books.    It's so nice and lovely to come home from town with a bunch of library books and the house is quiet because each kid is curled up in some cozy corner with their new books.    The silence usually lasts for several hours before they make the trip down to the kitchen to sneak a bowl of mini wheats before supper.                                                      

Sorry I've been away from my blog for so long.  I guess several months have gone by .

I really didn't mean to be gone so long.  Actually I've been here, but just not writing stuff.

 We have started notebooking with the kids.  Actually, we have been notebooking all along, but

now we are doing it different.  Each of the kids has a big 3 ring binder and has divided it into areas of

interest.  This doesn't have to mean "english" and "science" etc.  They have sections like  "horses',

and "electricity", and "gardening" and "skateboard art" .  You get the idea.  We still have other standard

sections,  but it is now more fun.    Sort of like scrapbooking.  We kind of made it into a unit on organi-

zation.  We learned about To Do lists, and a list of things they each need to do in the morning. 

I am trying to get more organized myself.  Order.  We all crave order, especially the kids.  Have you ever

noticed how as soon as you get their toys all organized, they immediately want to play with them?  When

before, they just ignored the pile of stuff.    Actually , I probably shouldn't mention this , but have you ever

noticed that as soon as you get the cat litter box all nice and clean, the cats want to use it?  even

cats like order!

The recipe for carrot pudding was a failure.  The recipe forgot to mention any flour.  So I added 3 cups and turned it into carrot cake.

Oh well.

I need to hang all the blankets outside today to freshen them up.

I love the smell of laundry thats hung outside.

The baby has a cold.

Bye

           Well, Today is Friday and we will plan to do lots of arts and crafts and fun stuff today.

Already this morning , the kids made bug glasses out of styrofoam egg cartons. The little ones look like camelions running around. When Tatyana (3) saw herself in the mirror, she laughed so hard! 

           The kids also need to finish up their reports.  Anthony (13) is writing one on the history of Canada from the Vikings to 1580. Vincent's (8)   is on Edgar Degas. Monica (11) is writing party plans instead. She has to come up with four very detailed themed party plans (including costs, food, decorations, etc) for an Egg party, a Porcupine party, a Mint party, and a Chocolate party.  She LOves that kind of stuff. 

   It's an incredibly beautiful day outside.  The sky is perfectly blue and the leaves are so pretty.  A good day for a picnic. 

          Yesterday I made a big pile of cardboard, string, TAPE, tp tubes, egg cartons, etc, and told the kids to make some inventions.  They made some very interesting creations. Tatyana (3)  also made a huge interesting mess.  The mess is still there.

        But I don't care.  Actually somehow the whole house is a mess.  Hahahahahahahahaha.  I didn't get any sleep last night because of a toothache.Hahahahahahahahah.  I don't know why I'm in a good mood.Hahahahahaha.I know the money will come so I can go to the dentist. Hahahahahh... Life is still good........

          I found a really neat recipe for a steamed carrot bread that you make in canning jars, then boil them in a kettle for a few hours.  The jars of steamed bread can them be stored on the shelf. Dessert in a Jar!  maybe I will post the recipe later. I can't wait to try it.  I also need to make more laundry soap today. That's a fun recipe too.

      Gotta go...

Yessssss  life is good. Our car payment is only 2 months behind now!

  And the electric stays on!!!!    Now we can focus more on learning........

I will peel two bushels of apples for applesauce while the kids do their schoolwork and do

two things at once. I still have to get all the beets canned. Then we have to go to the skateboard park today, so George and Anthony can get in two hours of

excercise with their  friends. Hopefully at some point we can do a quick house clean up. We also have to finish doing all the experiments  in the simple machines kit. Friday the kids made wampum out of beads and string.  The little ones really enjoyed that.  This week we have to make some wire sculptures.

    We looked at the neatest house on Saturday..It was at the end of a dirt road with a 100 acres.  The setting was like out of a dream.The kids loved it, and could run to their hearts content.  Monica could raise collies. We could call it Greenfield farm because it overlooked a huge green hayfield and beautiful hardwood trees in all their autumn glory. We could have a huge garden .  It needed work, but had two houses 25 feet apart which we could connect somehow. It had lots of little sheds for animals and apple trees and grapevines. It was a really good deal,,, If only we had some money and unruined credit...........it's good to dream......

Today the kids were fighting over who had to watch the puppet show and who got to do the puppet show.  Then Tatyana stood on the stage and did a solo concert and drowned out any possible attempts at a puppet show. Then Anthony did a show that was really funny about a chicken who worked for a cow who was taking over the town. The chicken had a father who was a pig  that liked to eat eggs.

  Talking about the kids helps avoid the harsh reality of all the bills and knowing that we can't possibly pay them....I  am running out of powdered milk to add to the milk to extend it.........Fortunately I bought a good size bag of rice a while ago to make a rice box for the youngest one to play with....  We needed it for meals instead!

     Today we will spend a little gas money to go try to sell some things so we don't lose the car.... I hope it is worth it.

  I won't even go into the painful problems with my teeth right now.  I can live with it.

         I was able to find a few pair of jeans that fit Anthony at Salvation Army for a dollar each.  His other pair was torn down the front and beyond repair. 

      We also found some shoes for Monica for 50 cents. Now she doesn't have to be embarassed wearing old sneakers on Sunday.

     I know that God will come through for us. He always has.

  I have faith to believe that a better job will come through soon.

We have been through so many times like this that  we are used to it....The children have learned so much from these hard times and doing without.  It has really helped them to appreciate the value of what we do have. 

   The oldest son has changed so much in the last  few months....He has become mature and serious about life.  He is so much closer to God .  We all are..........