Sunday, June 21, 2009 - The Plague
DD11 continues on with her study of the Middle Ages, studying The Plague.
For her historical fiction selections she read:
A Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli about a young boy learning the ways of knighthood during the times of the Plague. She completed comprehension, vocabulary, and enrichment activities from this Free Study Guide.
The Iron Lily by Barbara Willard about a 15-year-old girl who loses her parents to the plague.
She also read about the Plague in two nonfiction titles:
To review what she learned, she completed a Free Plague Lapbook from Homeschool Share.
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Saturday, June 13, 2009 - We got our Goat!
Meet Poncho. She is a three month old Nubian mix. We got her last Friday and it took her about three days to calm down and realize we aren't going to eat her. Now she calls us whenever we walk away, and loves pets and mulberry leaves. We will be getting a buddy for sure shortly, in the meantime the chickens and ducks will keep her company. We are going to let her grow up a bit and just "be a kid" before breeding her, so we should have some yummy fresh milk in about a year!
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Friday, April 10, 2009 - Homeschool Share BLAST!
It is that time of the year again! Homeschool Share's BLAST! And you should see the prizes this year! Just amazing! So get your creative juices flowing and join in the fun!
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Thursday, April 9, 2009 - Quack! Quack!
We got them! Four Rouen ducklings! My dear inlaws brought them for the girls yesterday. They are straight run, so we won't know for a while (how long I wonder???) if they are boys or girls. They are so cute, and messy! They keep swimming in their water bowl, throw their food everywhere, and attack every moving (and non-moving) thing. Fun, fun, fun!
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Saturday, April 4, 2009 - Apple and the Arrow
DD11 continued adding to her Middle Ages Notebook, reading Apple and the Arrow by Mary and Conrad Buff. 
She completed a lap-n-note from Homeschool Share (don't go looking for it yet, it will be posted during the BLAST! Details are forthcoming! ;-))
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Saturday, April 4, 2009 - Goats Lapbook
Well our goats still aren't here. They are taking their good old time getting weaned, I guess that's a good thing, I'm just getting anxious. 
In the meantime, dd9 added goats to her farm notebook. She read:
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And she completed a Free Goat Lapbook from Homeschool Share:
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Saturday, March 28, 2009 - Off the Grid Dreamin'
I often daydream about being able to be off the grid. (Notice I said, “being able”. It’s not that I necessarily want to give up some of the luxuries, but it would be nice to be able to, if need be.) Yesterday we were “off the grid” for about three hours, as some electrical work was done out at the road. The silence was golden. No humming computer fan, no background radio noise, just…ahhhhh…
Tonight many will be making a political statement of sorts (to each their own) and turning their power off for an hour. I chuckle at the various threads posted here and there, “what do I do?!” It’s an hour folks; you should be able to do it standing on your head.
But what if the power was off many hours, many days, many months? Would you be ready? I’m working towards being ready, just in case. My latest acquisition is a coal/wood cook stove. I don’t know a lot about its history, but I love it. J
It needed some cleaning up with the wire brush and some steel wool, and dh still needs to build the chimney, but I definitely think it will serve its purpose. After all, many a meal was cooked with it in days gone by. It has 6 burners (as you can see in the picture) and a nice sized oven, plenty big for baking breads, and maybe a 10-12 pound turkey.
One of my favorite features is this snazzy warming cabinet, so everything can be put on the table all toasty.
This brings us one step closer to “being able” to be off the grid. Wonder what step will be next…
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Friday, March 20, 2009 - Farmer Girl
My 9yo dd has decided she wants a farm. I told her that she needs to learn more about farm animals and what care they need before she makes any decisions. 
She opted to do a lap-n-note.
First, we printed out a unit from School Express. She worked on that throughout the week. She is also reading a couple of basic books, to cover all animals, and then going in depth with animals she fancies.
First animal, since we already own them and she is familiar with them, was the chicken. She completed pages from Evan Moor Giant Science Resource book about life cycle, parts of the egg, kinds of feathers, etc. and read these books:
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Here are free unit studies from Homeschool Share:
Daisy Comes Home and Just Plain Fancy
Then she moved on to ducks. She really wants some pet ducks. We have been enjoying some duck eggs from a neighbor, and that has sold us all on the idea, if we can find some ducklings local. She read these books:
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And she completed a FREE Lapbook from Homeschool Share:
Next, she is movingon to goats, which is perfect, because if everything goes as planned our kids should be arriving next week!
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Friday, March 13, 2009 - Meet My Girls
There are 11 brown hens (a cross between a White Rock female and a Rhode Island Red male), and 9 white leghorn hens, and one leghorn rooster named Henry. I thought they deserved to get their picture up because I got another egg today! Woohoo!!
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Friday, March 6, 2009 - Lunch Time!
Since we started cutting out all processed foods back in November, it has been a little tricky coming up with different lunch foods. I came across some homemade pitas here, tried them out yesterday, and they passed the family approval test! Of course, I had to do a variation of Farmgirl’s variation of Bernard Clayton’s Pita Bread. But she describes the process much better than I, and hers comes with pictures, so go on over there to check them out. J
I still had the dilemma of what to put in them. Lunchmeats are out. Store bought mayo is out (hold the soybean oil, thank you very much). I didn’t have any leftovers to use up. So, I made some mayo and mixed up some tuna salad.
Mayonnaise
Whir in blender:
1 egg
2 tsp. Sugar
¼ tsp. Salt
1 ½ T white vinegar
1 cup safflower oil (I’ve also used sunflower oil and olive oil, we like the safflower best)
1/8 tsp. Black pepper
Tuna Salad
Albacore tuna
Mayo
Salt
Pepper
Diced celery
Alfalfa sprouts
The batch of pitas makes enough for 16 sandwiches. So today we wanted to use some more up but were looking for some variety. Looking through the fridge, I decided I had some cabage and carrots that needed to be used, so we made up a batch of cole slaw.
Cole Slaw
Throw all in a bowl and toss:
¼ head of cabbage, grated
about ¼ cup grated carrot
about ¼ cup finely diced green pepper
½ tsp. Celery seed
2 tsp. White vinegar
3 tsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
½ cup mayonaisse (recipe above)
This was very tasty right away, gets even better after sitting a bit. We put it on the pitas and it was super good. Next time the slaw needs to be drained a bit more to prevent pita blowout. But I’m thrilled to have something to add to my lunch menu!
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