Handmade at the Farm

CuTe Valentine Crafts from the web!

2012-02-14T08:38:00.000-06:00

Same blog has this adorable 2 x 4 heart tut.

And some more 2 x 4 Love

so I guess my new favorite craft blog is Under my Polka Dot Umbrella...lots of cute stuff!

Oh. And Mr. P rocks! I was gifted with Valentine Roses (a dozen of 'em!), chocolates (the big heart, of course!) and a pretty Brighton bracelet. It has little starfish and shell charms on it. So dainty and pretty. The girls also got roses (half a dozen pink ones) and the boys got more appropriate boy type things and chocolate candy hearts for all. Hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day!
Blessings,
Mrs. P

survived the fair

2012-02-13T14:35:00.000-06:00

Lots of fun was had by all...ribbons won, money earned, projects completed. Now I'm back to getting the house recovered from all the fun and kids are attempting to get back into their regular school routine that isn't so handicraft heavy.

Lapped Zipper application

2012-01-29T16:38:00.000-06:00

So these next few days I will be the supervisor of all types of fair projects. Miss A is sewing, sewing, sewing. Mr. C has a model airplane to construct as well as some other crafts and foods to make. The show animals are also busy with exercise and preparations for the livestock show. School is still in session as well. Miss A is not looking forward to her Biology and Latin exams on Friday, but this is real life. Even when we are busy work/school still has to be done. Today, just as I've done every year before this one, I vowed to organize the fair projects into our summer vacation. Maybe this year, I will actually follow through on that plan. ;-) Today, Miss A is working on a decorative pillow. Here is a video on how to put in a lapped zipper. Except for one small step, it appears to be pretty close to the zipper package instructions.

House on Hill Road Zipper Video

Baby Proof Your Homestead!

2012-01-26T17:49:00.001-06:00

It's FREE! It's EASY! It's a WIN-WIN! Just place two empty toilet paper tubes on the toddler's hands. (Just for the record, I found him like this. A certain 10 year old boy baby proofed him.)

And all is good. The toddler cannot open drawers as seen in the above photo. He can't eat Legos off of the floor. He can't drink carpet cleaner! It's all good.....until the toddler figures out that he can eat the baby proofers and get free. A few minutes after this picture he started to chew on them to try and get free. Double ICK! So while I don't recommend this baby proofing technique, it did result in about 5 total minutes of peace and quiet at our house...and lots of giggles while I tried to get him to pose for the picture....thus the very blurry photo.

WFMW: Dry Erase and Page Protectors

2012-01-25T10:11:00.000-06:00

See more tips at We Are That Family

WFMW: Dry Erase Pens and Page Protectors

These are two tools that I really could not live without at my little homeschool at the farm. I used them a little all along in my teaching journey, but after a year of Classical Conversations, I really began to see that the possibilities are endless. Here is a listing of ways that I use them.

Trace a map several times for geography study.
Reuse math fact drill sheets.
Reuse any worksheet.
Make chore check lists. The kids mark through when their chores are done. In the evenings they erase to have a fresh new list for the next day.
Scratch paper for math...somehow they will not complain about working long problems when I do this
As a reward with Crayola Dry Erase Crayons...a very fun art tool
Lay over a page in the child's reader...let them mark vowels and underline phonograms they are learning. It turns their reader into a fun phonics workbook page.
Handwriting pages for tricky letters that need more than one page to learn...like cursive r
Veritas Press Timeline Cards...2 will go in one protector sideways...let kids write dates on the fronts of the page protectors (two dates, one per card). Set out a few at a time; maybe 6-8 and remove cards. Then the kids put the cards back into the right protectors that have dates written on them.
Learning states and capitals. Put in a US map that has the states labelled. Have the kids write in the capitals. You can also have kids label rivers, mountains and other features.

Make Your Own Lined Envelopes

2012-01-21T15:09:00.003-06:00

Envelope Template Download

Invitation Download

Ballet Birthday E-vite

Miss J is turning 8 next week and she has chosen a Ballerina themed party. We sent e-mail invitations with a ballet theme from punchbowl, but there were a couple of kids that I didn't have an e-mail address for. So I printed out a few and then realized I needed an envelope to put them in. That's me...all ready to paint the Golden Gate Bridge, but not a drop of paint or a brush in sight. Sigh.

What's a girl to do, but get crafty. After all I don't hord craft supplies (well, I pretty much hord most things) for nothing. I sent Miss J to my closet (where shoe shelves conveniently house fabrics, threads, ribbons, and craft supplies) and she came back with some baby girl themed scrapbook papers. I just used the above template and strategically traced it onto the papers so that I didn't get any words like "sweet baby" onto my envelopes. It worked well. And then I put names on them with my sharpie...which is really my favorite writing utensil of all time. The only problem is that you could see the ink on the inside of the envelope. So I took scraps from the papers and lined the inside. It ended up looking very intentional and cute, rather than a big OOPS! To make the lining, I just used the flap portion of the template and cut another piece from a coordinating paper. It didn't line up exactly, but if that is a concern you can trim the flap to make it perfect. I wasn't that concerned so I just left it. Although if I stumble across some decorative edge scissors before tomorrow, I just may add a little pizzazz to the envelope and give it a little trim. If you have time, be sure and check out the page with the ballet invitation printable. It was really the inspiration for the ballet themed party. The lady who designed it has put it out on the web as a free download and it is just so elegant and pretty. We plan to make the matching cup liners and maybe even the popcorn boxes.

Works for Me Wednesday- OrGanIzInG with Cozi

2012-01-18T12:02:00.004-06:00

Join the Fun! Works-for-Me Wednesday

One thing that Mrs. P needs more than a Starbucks Caramel Brulee (so sad their season has ended!) is organIzation! This farm is in DIRE need of organization and it just so happens that "getting organized" is one of my New Year's Resolutions....that and learning to say the word no..N-O. I have a hard time with no, thus if I'm not careful I find that we are rarely home because I have said YES to many wonderful things. I realize that part of being organized at home would require actually BEING at home. So after a nice long Christmas break and being home all that time, I realize how much better organized life could be at the farm. I've been reading organizing websites, organizing books and organizing magazines. I even listened to organizing devotionals like Dishes in the Dryer. But what it all comes down to is putting some action to all that knowledge. I have found a wonderful tool. And no, it isn't my home management binder (although I do LOVE it dearly) because I lost it for 3 days and utter chaos resulted in all of my mommy brain being recorded into that one notebook. So now, I'm backing up my written lists, notes, appointments, really everything into an online organizer called Cozi. It organizes my calendar, meals, shopping lists, to do lists and because I signed up for the FlyLady version, it even tells me what to clean and when to clean it. I can even have it text or email reminders to me, Mr. P or anyone else that needs to know what is going on at the Farm. Watch this short video and see if it won't work well for you too!

Gluten Free Ginger Shortbread

2012-01-18T11:47:00.004-06:00

This is an easy recipe...I simply substituted Bob's Red Mill gluten free baking mix for the flour.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 teaspoon (up to 1 T) ground ginger
1/4 t. baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and ginger. Add flour, salt and baking soda; mix well (dough will be crumbly). Press dough into an ungreased 8-in. round baking pan. Using a fork, prick score lines to form eight wedges. Bake at 325 degrees F for 32-35 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Immediately cut into wedges along score marks. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

Today's schedule

2012-01-17T08:08:00.003-06:00

Why do things all tend to pile up onto the same day?

Today's to do list:

Miss J- eye appointment at 9:15
probably eye glass fitting afterward
Miss J- speech therapy 2:15-2:45
4-H Meeting 6:-7:30

Now throw in a full day of home school between all of those appointments..anyone remember the fun of pre-algebra and 3 digit addition along with Latin, geography, history, phonics, etc???
Also toss in 3 meals and clean up of said meals...I think we may just eat out for dinner.
AND... one of the big kids just fed the baby a piece of peanut butter toast...now I'm back to square one. I have to run and give that child another outfit change and wash him up before I have to leave in 20 minutes! And I can almost guarantee you that I will also have to change a diaper after the complete costume change and de-peanutbutter-ification. (It's my blog. I'm allowed to make up new words.) And add to the "House Rules"...Do NOT feed toddlers peanut butter toast when mom has already dressed him for the day!
Folks, it's going to be a busy day around here....wish me luck!

So it's been a poopy day....literally

2012-01-16T22:30:00.005-06:00

My day started off in a normal way. I was sitting at the desk, checking my menu to see what was for dinner, Mr C and Baby C were playing, Miss J was next door at Meme's and Miss A was feeding show goats. Soon (we are talking less than 5 minutes) Baby C walks up to me from the kitchen. He has a plastic spray bottle and he is just spraying himself down with carpet cleaner. I grabbed him and he giggled and tried to run away. I see that his entire shirt is wet and he has a fresh floral scent instead of baby breath. Man. He had ingested some of the cleaner. I send Mr. C for a wet wash cloth and look up poison control's phone number because of course, the handy poison control magnet that the pediatrician gave me at the last well baby appointment is no where in sight. Here's the dialog-

Me: My toddler has sprayed his face and ingested carpet cleaner

Health care specialist: What is the brand of cleaner?

Me: it was unlabeled. I bought it in bulk and I can't remember what kind it is. I use it to treat spots on carpet.

Her: Hmmm (I think this means "LOSER!")

Me: I got it a long time ago. He couldn't have eaten much. (translated to---I promise I'm not a loser)

Her: Is there a list of ingredients?

Me: Um no, I mentioned it wasn't labelled.

Her: hmmm (double loser, maybe???)

Me: I know it's like Folex or spot shot or something like that.

Her: What is your name please?

So I tell her my name and the baby's name and age. (so she can make a proper report with CPS---just kidding) And after a bit she tells me to shower him and give him some juice in case the probable alcohol/hydrogen peroxide content of my unlabelled chemicals causes him to have a drop in blood sugar.

Baby C gets stripped and I make fresh juice in the juicer to make up for being the loser mom who let the baby drink carpet cleaner. About the time I had him all clean and Johnson baby bath smelling instead of fresh country floral scent, he poops in the tub. And not just a little. He poops a giant man size poop. He immediately starts screaming because he is afraid of the poop. And honestly, I'm not too thrilled about it either. I wanted to scream and run the other way too. But, what's a mother to do.

After I get the tub cleaned up and baby C all washed and dressed again, he manages to climb onto the bar while I move chemicals to higher cabinets until Mr. C gets home with cabinet locks. Miss J gets him down and in the process he kicks off a cereal bowl. Cereal bowl plus ceramic tile equals lots of sweeping and mopping. I clean that mess up and we go rather eventlessly through the rest of the morning as it's by now about 8:30 am. (Of course in my book, when you have bathed a baby twice, cleaned poop from the bathtub and swept up a broken cereal bowl half full of milk and corn flakes, that's eventful enough for TWO days.) At nap time however, I hear him screaming for all his might. I get into his room and realize he's done it again. Another poopy diaper. At least it wasn't the in the tub this time and to my amazement it isn't even a diaper blowout, although the smell is horrific. He is screaming "Mommmmmmyyyy!" I decided I better change him fast before he grows up with some sort of poop trauma. I change him (3rd times a charm) and rock him back to sleep. I guess all the day's events caught up with him and he just wasn't going to sleep in his crib, because every time I laid him down he popped right up crying. At that point, I just gave up. So Baby C and I snuggled up on the couch and took a much needed nap declaring it a poopy day.

Strawberries!

2012-01-14T08:29:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I found little strawberry plants at Wal-mart. I have had strawberry plants before, but they only made a few strawberries. Still, we enjoyed them. Then one day I met a man at the farmer's market who was selling strawberry plants. He explained how strawberry plants like sandy soil. So I'm going to add lots of sand to a little skinny flower bed around the bay windows. I planted flower seeds there a week or two ago and they didn't make it. So this will be plan B for that bare little bed. And I feel a little better about this choice, since I know strawberries have grown well before. I have pretty limited gardening experience. Mr. P is the master gardener and canner around here. Hopefully I can get the right soil mix and they will thrive because I would love to can some strawberry syrup. Which brings me to a simple recipe to top your Saturday morning pancake or waffle. It can be made with refined sugar, but I opted not to. If using granulated sugar, the amount is 1/2 c.

In a blender:

2 cups red ripe strawberries, washed and hulled

1/4 c maple syrup

1/2 t vanilla extract

Blend until smooth. This will make a thick strawberry purée or syrup type topping. I think sugar gives a more syrup consistency.

Toddlers terrorizing your home school?

2012-01-04T12:59:00.005-06:00

It's been a long time since I've had a toddler in my little school on the farm. In fact, it's been about 7 years as my next youngest will be 8 in a couple of weeks. And the thing about her toddlerhood is that I also had a 3 year old....so I was only actually teaching the oldest, Miss A. Not that it wasn't a challenge, because it certainly was. I have not so fond memories of training the two youngers to stay in their rooms for "quiet time" while I taught MissA to read, and to stay on a blanket for other activities. However, most of the time the two of them played well together. In addition, you can homeschool a first grader and be completely through with all your teaching well before noon. Today, I have an 8th grader, 4th grader, and a 2nd grader....and Baby C, the toddler. He needs a buddy, but not really as he has three older kids who serve his every need and desire. He loves school time. His only issue is why on earth can't he "help" Mr. C with his math, color on Miss J's coloring sheet of Moses and the burning bush, and why oh why is it bad to throw Miss A's 300 Latin flashcards over the stair railing? He especially loves to see it rain Latin. So I'm rolling up my sleeves and trying out some new things..or rather bringing back some old ideas from the deep recesses of my sad middle aged brain. We can't just school while he naps, because of course, he isn't a huge napper and besides, with that many grades, it takes me from early morning until 2 or 3 of no distractions and serious school focus to get everyone taught in a day. If we have toddler terror (quite common), then we will be looking at still having a few things left to read or work on when Mr. P walks in the door from work. So yeah, I have a full time job even though I don't leave my house.

So first things first, I am taking my vitamins and even some spirulina every day so I have more energy. Prayer is another way to help meet all the demands in your day. And I can't speak enough good things about a cup of coffee around 2 in the afternoon! Somehow reading aloud at that time just makes me soooo sleepy. So I've learned to make my coffee and have it before read aloud time.

I need to "blanket train" Baby C. I did this with the other kids and it is invaluable. When I took allergy shots weekly, I always had all 3 kids. All I had to do was tell them to sit in a line and they did. No running about and digging in forbidden drawers, no screaming/yelling, no whining. They sat, "criss cross applesauce" and watched while I got my shot. Maybe they thought if they moved I would have them get shots? Anyway, due to being trained at a young age to stay in a defined area (the blanket), we could later use that training for things like waiting at the doctor, etc.

It is also time to institute the "box time" with Baby C. Basically you have about a dozen plastic shoe boxes with lids. Each box holds an activity. My only dilemma is do I hunt down all the boxes or just make it easy on myself and go by new? I have purchased no less than 50 over the course of teaching, but somehow I never have an empty one about. They always get put to use. They are one of my favorite things ever.

Here is a list of things I will put in Baby C's boxes. 1 activity per box.
stacking cups
snap beads
board books
baby lego (the big kind)
blocks with letters
small balls (we have a variety because he LOVES balls of any kind)
musical instruments (you can find them in a set at wal-mart, teacher's store, etc)
fabric squares made silk, wool, minky, batiste, cotton, linen, metallic, etc...cut with pinking shears
rice and a measuring cup...not for the faint of heart!
puzzles
pom poms, spoon and plastic cup or small bowl
foam letters
lincoln logs (with older toddlers/preschoolers...presents a choking hazard)
farm animal set
small trucks and cars
his little plastic "laptop"
play dough (we limit this to only being used at the high chair with close supervision)
board books
cotton balls and clothespins or plastic salad tongs (they love to try and grab the cotton balls with them...or if they are really young, they just dump the cotton balls and throw them)
wooden blocks (his cousins made these super cool blocks that are little chunks of tree limbs...they are round and some even still have the bark for tactile discovery...they don't fit in a shoe box, but have their own bigger box)
You can even have one box with a snack (ie, fruit squeezie and cheerios or rice chex)

The blanket training helps immensely in both teaching discipline as well as clean up. Basically you only allow ONE box at a time. You also remove the box and it's contents BEFORE the toddler is bored with it. Since you have one box at a time and they are sitting on a blanket or beach towel, then clean up of little pieces is a breeze. Just pick up all four corners of the blanket/towel and dump back into the box. If some pieces are not on the blanket or towel, then have the toddler pick them up. It only took twice for Mr. C to realize that if he kept his lincoln logs on the blanket then he didn't have to pick up anything. Replace the blanket/towel on the floor and give baby a new box.

Now I would like to add a note about the blanket/towel training. If you do not put a towel/blanket down and your kids are trained to it, then the kids will definitely scatter toys to each and every corner of your room and you'll be picking them up for centuries...don't ask me how I know. Somehow, I missed the transitional training of I'm a big kid and don't need to leave legos/barbie shoes all over the house.

And now that I've reminded myself of how to manage the toddler at school, I will head up to find some boxes and start working on the blanket training with Baby C. Wish me luck!

Blessings in the adventure,
Mrs. P

Honey Baked Lentils

2012-01-03T18:47:00.005-06:00

Here is a tasty, yet frugal and healthy dish to make this winter.

What you need:
9 x13 pan oiled with 2 T. of olive oil
garlic press
sharp knife and chopping board
oven preheated to 350*

Honey Baked Lentils
Ingredients:
16 oz. lentils (any color) soaked overnight
1 small onion sliced thinly
4 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
1 t. ground ginger
4 T. honey
2-4 T. soy sauce (depends on your taste buds)
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups of water (or broth)

Put all the ingredients into the 9 x 13 pan. Stir it around to mix in the seasonings.
Bake uncovered at 350* for 90 minutes. Serve with brown rice if you want a complete protein or add a little cooked chicken. You could also use chicken broth instead of water. You can also add in other vegetables.

Bread in Five...GF

2011-12-30T09:49:00.002-06:00

Here's what I'm up to today....

I got the danish whisk and plastic dough rising bowl from King Arthur Flour for a Christmas present! The Bread in Five website looks really fantastic. I love how they make bread baking easy for anyone.

Mrs. P

January Gardening Lists

2011-12-29T17:34:00.003-06:00

So this is the time of the year to get started with Texas gardens! Today we planted 6 live oak trees for some much needed shade at our little farm. I also threw some snapdragon seeds in a flower bed, but I'm not expecting much from them. I think they needed to be started indoors first. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised though.

So here are some lists for all of our garden projects for January.

Tool Care and Repair:
Sand down how handles (due to a misfortunate accident with a rototiller)
oil handles
sharpen hoes
clean blades
clean and care for lawn mower...a grandad job as I know NOTHING about mechanical things.

Flower beds
pull weeds
add mulch or leaves for beds that won't be planted yet
till beds that will hold salad greens and flowers

Vegetable Planting from seed or set:
lettuce
kale
chard
carrots
spinach
beets
peas
broccoli *
cabbage *
cauliflower *
onions
*first attempt to plant from seed rather than plants
and Hopefully, I will find some strawberry plants...but that will require a dedicated bed

Herbs to plant:
chives
cilantro
oregano
parsley
rosemary
sage
thyme

Flowers from seed:
alssum, calendula, cornflower, delphinium, echinacea, feverfew, larskpur, poppies, snapdragon, sweet pea, hollyhock

All tips were from a newsletter printed by Jim Gober. You can read the full newsletter here.

And Just so you know...

2011-12-21T15:30:00.000-06:00

I'm not superwoman!

:-(
Mrs. P

Baking Day

2011-12-13T09:30:00.005-06:00

We have several things on the agenda today, but the main thing is baking day (because I am in denial that sorting/decluttering the girl's clothes will actually take the most time and suck the life out of of me.) Baking is nice. I love the warm oven and yummy smells of vanilla, butter and cinnamon through out the day. I love keeping my tea cup full of True Blueberry or Red Raspberry tea. I do not love sorting children's clothes. So I'm combining the two, hoping (and crossing fingers) that the lure of baking cookies and hot cups of tea will motivate me to quickly move through the sorting/decluttering. And because I live in a complete state of fantasy, I have even more added to my list. The dream wish list, I shall call it! I mean if I get the parlor cleaned top to bottom, and my baking done, AND the clothing thing done, then I might as well just trade my sweat pants in for a wonder woman suit, because I will be all that AND a bag of chips! OK...so onto the baking. Last night I ground flour and started a soaked grain cracker dough. I made it this morning, and the children are nibbling on them and telling me how they remind them of cheeze-its. The recipe is from Nourishing Traditions, but you can also see it on Nourishing Gourmet. It makes a TON of crackers. I used whole wheat flour and whole milk yogurt. I also roll the dough out on a silpat and they bake up perfectly.

Here are some other things I'm baking today:
Mary's Sugar Cookies
(our family's traditional Christmas cookie) I'm making a triple batch. Some dough will go in the freezer and some cookies will be bagged up for AWANA sparks.
Brownie Pudding Cake (original recipe is from an OLD Betty Crocker book)
However, I'm making this version at Nourishing Gourmet.
If time permits I will also make those drop boiled oatmeal cookies that are fast and easy. Hopefully, I will get the AWANA treats all bagged up and ready to go today and tomorrow I can move on to other things.

Other things on the list are:

finish putting up the garland and Jesse Tree ornaments (I'm SOOO BEHIND!)

sort through the girl's clothes & declutter too smalls, torn, stained, etc (I think the clothes have been reproducing like rabbits in their closet and under their beds!)
Tally up points for AWANA store night and email it out
Rock baby, tend to baby, change baby, chase the baby, save baby from near death falls off of chairs, stairs, etc -repeat throughout the day
Arrange and set up Christmas Caroling at the nursing home for 4-H
Clean the parlor top to bottom
Make sure Miss A does her "over the Christmas Break" homework from CC. Aren't you glad that you don't have 40 pages of Latin, 10 lessons of algebra and more haunting you all Christmas break???

Hmm...that list is looking a little scary...especially the part about sorting the girl's clothes. Wish me luck and if I don't come back, then you will know I got lost in the girl's clothes. Seriously, they could clothe a small country of girls!

I won!

2011-12-08T16:13:00.002-06:00

I entered the Joyous Home 12 Days of Christmas Give Away and I won a copy of the Joyous Home Journal. I have not yet seen it, but I can tell you that the print magazine is absolutely WONDERFUL! It is a beautiful, full color magazine with great step by step articles on all things lovely. I own about 4 or 5 of them. Go to the Joyous Notions blog to see some great Christmas ideas and join the fun. Today's freebie is lovely recipe cards to print off. Yesterday was delicious candied nuts. Each day is a different and fun way to celebrate the Season of Christmas.

DIY Liquid Stevia Drops

2011-12-07T11:06:00.003-06:00

UPDATE: I used 1 teaspoon of the powdered green stevia to about 3/4 c. boiling water. It did not work at ALL. It was not even sweet. What a bummer.

Check out this link to directions on how to make your own Liquid Stevia. This stuff is around $14 dollars a bottle where I live. And the good news is I have an entire bag of the green powdered stevia leaves that I can use and an old dropper bottle so this will cost me zero out of pocket! Now let me tell you a secret about the powdered green stuff. First off, I bought a pound of it. It seemed like such a good deal. And I thought it would be good that it wasn't processed. It is just ground up stevia leaves. So let's recap that...bulk purchase meant it was a good price and no processing seemed like a win-win situation. That is until I made cookies from it. I found a recipe online and proceeded headlong into it. The cookies were sweet enough. That wasn't the problem. The fact that they were GREEN was the problem. And as an added bonus, large amounts of stevia tastes a lot like licorice. Eck! I so do NOT like licorice. And even if I did, it would not go well mixed into a chocolate chip cookie. So if this recipe for the liquid stevia works, I will have found a way to redeem the money I wasted on my pound of green stevia. So I will cross my fingers and get this mixed up soon so I can report on how it turns out.

In the event that you already have a bottle of the liquid stevia I'm including a link for a really tasty recipe that uses it. It is even kid friendly. Here is the Spunky Coconut's recipe for Sunbutter Brownies that uses liquid stevia. My kids and I love this recipe. It's a treat, but so good for you since it doesn't have refined sugars and really packs a protein punch with the sunbutter and almond butter. It's one of the few gluten free recipes that my kids will eat. I will add that if I am making it for my kids, then I will use peanut butter in place of the sunbutter.

Reddi-Wip Love

2011-12-06T10:41:00.004-06:00

So my husband and I have a weakness. We LOVE to put a big shot of reddi-wip on our coffee. However, at the grocery store last week, I forgot to get some. I forgot cheese and olive oil too, but I won't go into that. Let's just say that shopping without a list and with 4 children isn't the optimal way to shop, especially if you are at the new grocery store in town and you still don't have the layout down.

I made coffee last night and was lamenting the fact that I didn't have my spray whipped cream. It's the little treats that I really enjoy in life. I thought for a minute about just whipping some up in the kitchen aid, but I already had the dishwasher running and just am a tad bit allergic to dish washing. ;-) Still, I really wanted to have a little of that whipped cream goodness on my coffee. Then I remembered my blender and the fact that I had about a half gallon of heaving whipping cream in the fridge. So I grabbed the cream and and my blendtec recipe booklet. I don't have an exact price, but I think you can make at least 4 cans worth with one quart of heavy whipping cream. And if memory serves me right, I bought a QUART of heavy cream for about the same price as ONE can of reddi-wip. I suspect, though that one can of reddi-wip does NOT have 2 cups of actual cream in it though, so the savings is most probably even more...maybe even twice as much.

Here's the simple recipe:
2 c. cold whipping cream
3 T. sugar
1 t. vanilla

Pour into the blender and pulse a couple of times to blend the sugar into the cream. Then I hit the pulse button for about 30 seconds and had perfect whipped cream. Do not overblend or you will have butter. And as much as I love butter, it is not too yummy on coffee. I put big dollops of that creamy goodness on each cup of coffee, filled a pint jar to the tippy top, and then fed the rest to kids who came in and begged like little birdies. I think it will still be fluffy for about 3-5 days in the fridge in a jar with a lid. I think it would also work fine to cut the recipe in half if you don't need that much whipping cream at one time.

The Jesse Tree

2011-12-03T08:33:00.003-06:00

This is about our 4th year to celebrate the coming Christmas season with a Jesse Tree. A few years back I got a Christmas planning notebook and it included the Jesse Tree Devotions by Ann Voskamp. If you haven't read any of her writing, you are really missing out. She is a very gifted writer. I was going to write about it today and when I went to her website to add a link, I found that she has it available for FREE. So how about that. You can join the fun! Go here and grab the book. Print out the ornaments and paste them onto cardstock. Punch a hole and add a little raffia or ribbon. Now you are set to celebrate Christmas while learning all about Jesus. There is an ornament for each day of December leading up to Christmas. Each ornament has a picture depicting a part of the Bible that tells the story of Christ starting with creation. We read the devotions at dinner and then the kids put the ornament onto some garland that I have hung over the windows. We end up with more of a Jesse timeline than a tree. It's one of the traditions we look forward to each year.

Garlic Lime Chicken

2011-11-30T15:50:00.000-06:00

One of our favorite dinners is the original garlic lime chicken as seen in this video. I usually double or triple the seasonings and keep it on hand so I can make up a batch of garlic lime chicken whenever the mood strikes.

Here is the printed recipe:

Garlic Lime Chicken

(by Leanne Ely...the dinner diva)

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon thyme
6 boneless skinless chicken breast
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 tablespoons lime juice

In a bowl, mix together first 7 ingredients. Evenly sprinkle mixture on both sides of chicken breasts.

In a skillet, heat butter and olive oil together over medium high heat. Sauté chicken until golden brown on each side, about 5 minutes on either side. Remove chicken and add lime juice and chicken broth to the pan, whisking up the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Keep cooking until sauce has reduced slightly. Add chicken back to the pan to thoroughly coat and serve.

Garden #2- Hugelkultur

2011-11-29T10:08:00.004-06:00

For our second garden, we will attempt to build a hugelkulture garden. The idea is that the piles of logs provide nutrients, drainage, and moisture to the plants. I say we will attempt it because it is ideally, 6 feet tall. I'm not sure we can come up with that many logs and sticks on our flat, mostly treeless farm. The concept makes a lot of sense though, and with our serious issues with drought, it would be worth the effort to have a garden with little to no need for rain. I guess I'm skeptical that it really will provide all the moisture needed for plants. However, that is the main point of the project..to learn about ecology and botany. The kids have formed a hypothesis about this type of garden. And I will just say that they are much more optimistic than I am. Already, they have beautiful drawings of green lush foliage with deep roots in their sketch books. My favorite quote was when Mr. C first saw this drawing. He immediately said, "Cool! The logs are the food for the plants." We also had a good discussion of our garden as it now stands (in long straight rows) in comparison to these other types of gardening that we are studying. Obviously, we won't be planting much since we are now getting freezing temperatures every night, but I suspect it will take a while to prepare the beds. After all, it is myself and 3 young helpers, plus a very "helpful" toddler. And we only will have about 30 minutes a couple of times a week to work on it during our regular science class during school. And with that, the bell has rung (so to speak) and science class is now over. Time to put away our science sketchbooks and plans until science class tomorrow.

Click the link to read more about HUGELKULTUR. It really is an interesting read. I only wish I had read it before we cleared the fence line and burned piles of trees and shrubs.

Real Life Science project

2011-11-29T09:51:00.001-06:00

In order to have a hands on science lesson in ecology and botany, we are creating 2 gardens. The kids watched this first video and are today making a list of supplies needed and drawing sketches of the garden. They are also forming a hypothesis of what will happen in our garden. What information they do know is that the flower beds in front of our house have soil that is completely devoid of nutrients. Only long rooted weeds will grow there. Here are the resources that we have readily available.
*lots of rabbit waste
*paper/newspaper that we can recycle
*lots of decomposed cow manure in the barn
*a friend has mountains of mulch and will allow us to have some
*tools for gardening
Today is a planning/learning day and tomorrow we hope to implement the first part of the plan and lay down a layer of papers and newspapers and cover it with mulch

My Heart is Full

2011-11-26T13:40:00.000-06:00

A repost from my homesteading blog on Sept. 5

My Heart is Full

Rocking a sweet baby boy

Soft creaks of the old rocker

Scents of baby soap in his hair

Sweet snuggles and soft skin

Feeling cool breezes drift through open windows

On a fine fall day

Girls giggling in the background

Sweet scents wafting on the breeze

As they make soapballs

Soapballs lined up neatly

Drying in the sunshine and breeze

Whistling of the tea kettle

Cups of hot blueberry tea with honey

Scones with fresh goat cheese and raspberry jam

Crumbs on my new couch

Smiles on all

School books strewn across the kitchen table

Long division, graph paper, maps of Canada,

Mechanical pencils, and big fat pink erasers

A big girl that once was a baby in my arms

So pretty and getting all grown up before my eyes

Sewing machine waiting patiently

Fabric squares being cut

Colorful threads standing in a row

Snaggle tooth grins from a 7 year old girl

Proud of her first sewing project

Excited to sew on the sewing machine

And not by hand because sewing machines are for big girls

Sweet baby boy sleeping in his crib

Tiny eyelashes closed and fluttering

With sweet baby dreams

Arms stretched out for the whole world

Soft blanket tucked in tight

My heart is full.

Flaky Pie Crust from Scratch

2011-11-26T13:10:00.003-06:00

Years ago, an elderly lady took several young moms aside and taught us to make a chocolate cream pie. I stared as she whipped out the flakiest pie crust ever. The really amazing thing was that she didn't even roll it out! She just took the wad of pie dough and divided it into two pie plates. She then smashed it all around the pie plate until it looked like she had rolled it out. No messy counters, no dough sticking to the rolling pin. I was in awe. So I will share with you the easiest pie crust recipe. I have adapted it by using butter instead of oil. Because butter makes everything better. Just ask Paula Deen.

Easy Pie Crust
2 c. flour
1 pinch of salt
2/3 c. butter, melted
1/3 c. milk

Stir the flour and salt together until they are well blended. Melt the butter and stir in the milk. Now dump the milk/butter mixture into the flour/salt mixture. Stir this together until it all comes together into a ball of pie dough. I have found that a fork works well for blending the liquid with the flour. You can either put half the dough into a pie plate and press it into place or you can roll it out on waxed paper. Both work equally well, with the rolled dough looking a little neater. This recipe makes 2 crusts.

Just some changes....

2011-11-11T18:30:00.000-06:00

Well, I have finally realized that one with as many commitments as I have, cannot manage two separate blogs. I'm not really all that good at managing one blog. As seen by sporadic posting on both blogs. I have decided to combine the two blogs into one. I will probably change the name of this one to Handmade at the Farm, since most of my writing is about the things I'm making by hand, whether it's cheese, dresses, quilts, crafts or educated children. ;-) For a while I will leave up the other blog over at homesteadblogger, but will work on adding those posts into this blog as time permits. For those posts you can look over at this link so see the other things I'm up to when I'm not teaching.

Many Blessings,
Mrs. P

A Nursery of His Own

2011-11-11T18:27:00.002-06:00

Back in August, I finally moved Baby C into a room of his own. I know that with Miss A, we had a room painted and decked out 3 months before she arrived, but Baby C is child number 4. And momma is getting old and lazy. I did not desire extra exercise in the form of running stairs at 2 am. So I did what any lazy mother would do. I stole the crib from Mimi's house and put one upstairs and my crib downstairs in my own bedroom. So at the ancient age of 1, my sweet baby finally got his own space. And I won't go into how it was my sewing nook, and technically not a real room. It has worked out perfectly for him and everyone else. Mr. C's Lego creations are safe and he doesn't have to endure the fussing and crying that babies are prone too in the middle of the night. Baby C now has a longer lifespan from having his own space that isn't full of choking hazards and pocket knives, tiny model pieces, and various other hazards that 9 year old boys are known to collect. So here is a picture of Baby C's new space.

Thanksgiving Fun on Pinterest!

2011-11-11T18:21:00.000-06:00

Oh yes! I am ADDICTED to pinterest. It is my newest way to ~~waste time~~ find creative ideas. And here are a few of my favorites with a Thanksgiving theme...enjoy!!! And let me know if you need an invitation to pinterest. I would be glad to invite you.

Habit Formation

2011-06-30T12:18:00.001-05:00

Do you have any dawdlers in your house? I know I do. I've recently been reading about habit formation in some of my books about the Charlotte Mason method of education. I didn't have any particular reason to read those chapters, it was just the chapters I had gotten too. It is one of the aspects of a Charlotte Mason Education that I've read the least on, in fact. So I was reading it and seeing lots of benefits to good training in habit formation. I had no idea that today, I would see the fruit of not spending time in training habit formation.

About an hour ago I went to put the baby down for a nap and gave Mr. C the instructions to take out the trash. Which must sound just like, "play lego games on the computer," because when I came out of the baby's room, there he was happily playing lego games on the computer and there was the trash. It was sitting the trashcan right where it was when I left the room. Just a few minutes ago, I told a certain teen to unload and reload the dishwasher. Apparently that sounds a lot like "Wash your hair and paint your toenails," because when I found her she was about to shampoo her hair and showed me her freshly painted toenails. Just to be fair, I did make a phone call and ask another adult if in fact take out the trash and unload the dishwasher sound anything at ALL like, shampoo hair and play games. It was agreed, that there must not have been a communication problem, but rather a "habit formation" problem.

So the children will be working on "habit formation." A quick google finds that other moms are utilizing Charlotte's approach to habit formation. Check out this article for a quick overview of the method. This quote from the article hooked me in right away! This woman must LIVE at MY house! Or maybe, it's just a universal issue with all kids???? Either way, I'm agreeing with Charlotte. I have NOT trained them in the habits I wish they would perform. And for their sake and mine, I will be training them.

Do you find yourself always telling or asking your children the same things over and over again? I know I do. If I had a nickel for every time I told them to put the milk away, I’d be rich. Charlotte Mason taught us that when you find yourself always telling them to do the same thing, you have not trained them in the habits you wish they would perform. She wrote, “the habits of the child produce the character of the man . . . every day, every hour, the parents are either passively or actively forming those habits in their children upon which, more than upon anything else, future character and conduct depend.”

I also have a secret weapon in this training. I have the "Grandma Jane" method of child training. It involves weeding. And fortunately for me, I am weed rich! So in addition to what I've been reading, I think I will add on extra weeding just for some good character building. And if that doesn't work, I can fall back on my own parent's secret weapon...rock picking up. One summer, I spent a large amount of time picking up rocks. (My parents were rock rich instead of weed rich. ) Oh how my mom and dad will laugh when they read this. Because I think more than once I said something along the lines of, "I'll never, never, never make my kids pick up rocks!" and thus the cycle of life continues, one parent following in the footsteps that the said parent SWORE they would never follow. How fun life is. Do you think sometime when I'm old and gray, I'll be giggling as Mr. C, Miss A, Miss J and Baby C are all having their own children weed and pick up rocks? Somehow I think that is exactly what my future holds.

Blessings,

Mrs. P

Easter Lessons

2011-04-20T10:19:00.003-05:00

Today, we are rushing through our book work so that we can attend an Easter Pageant at lunch time. The local university that I graduated from is having it's 72nd annual Easter Pageant and we look forward to it every year. The entire production is acted, planned and directed by the students. It is always a blessing.

A fine morning to study wildflowers

2011-04-12T08:58:00.003-05:00

In all places then and in all seasons,
Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings,
Teaching us by most persuasive reasons,
How akin they are to human things.
-Longfellow

This morning we enjoyed a lovely nature walk. It was just a little cool, maybe the lower 60's or upper 50's and there was absolutely no wind, a most delicious and rare treat at our little home school on the farm. Our goal was to learn to sketch in detail as a scientist might do. So we gathered sketch books, clip boards, pencils, mud boots and jackets, and strapped the baby onto my waist with my moby wrap.

We found many things to explore, but we were all drawn to the wildflowers that are blooming this time of year. We found that our honeybees were also drawn to them as well. They were buzzing happily from flower to flower just as my kids were. We collected several specimens to study. 2 wildflowers that are unidentified as of yet, Colorado Potato Beetle eggs from the garden, Kermes scale from the oak tree, Indian Paintbrush and Bluebonnets - two of our favorite Texas natives.

We originally planned to draw outside, but the large amounts of dew made that a little difficult, so we came inside to finish our sketching and studying. Mr. C plugged in the microscope and they were all delighted to see that what appeared to be eggs in the galls were really, miniature bugs with legs and antennae. In the same way, they were delighted to find pistils in their wildflowers and pictures of the beetle eggs on the internet.

As we finish up our nature study this morning, my breakfast bar is still covered with samples, some neatly cut in half, others in mason jars with water to preserve them so we can enjoy them all day. Our water color pencil colors are working overtime and I'm enjoying hearing their comments and discussion on what they are learning. More than once I've heard the comment, "I'm going to be a scientist when I grow up!"

So I leave with this quote from The Handbook of Nature Study:

"The only right way to begin plant study with young children is through awakening their interest in and love for flowers. Most children love flowers naturally; they enjoy bringing flowers to school, and here, by teaching the recognition of flowers by name, may be begun this delightful study."

Beethoven's 5th

2011-04-07T12:09:00.003-05:00

I have added a playlist of songs we are currently studying. Just be warned, there is one version of Beethoven's 5th that is...well, rockin'. It will cause your children to jump about like little miniature Eddie Van Halens. It will be necessary to send them out to play afterwards and you may even need to dose them with some strong chamomile tea in order to get them calmed back down for the remainder of their school work. Also, if you happen to have a 7 month old crawling about, he will be greatly entertained by the children's rockin' movements. An added bonus is that if you listen to it enough times, you can count it as PE class as well. ;-)

math fact practice

2011-04-07T10:42:00.002-05:00

Timed Math Fact Practice with printable sheets for your records....

Apollo 11 Moon Landing

2011-03-29T08:33:00.001-05:00

This week we are learning about the Cold War. After reading pg. 385-389 in Story of the World Vol. 4, I had the kids watch this short video.

Below are some links that you might find helpful if you are studying the Apollo 11 Moon Landing or just a study of the moon.
Facts about the Moon from Enchanted Learning
The First Moon Walk a summary by Scholastic with links to other space missions
First Step on the Moon coloring sheets (I had to select the text and image to print a clean copy)
The coloring sheets are part of a series of coloring sheets that together would make a huge timeline of American History. Here is the link to the original page with all of the coloring sheets.
General Space Crafts and Poems These would be geared to younger children.

Back to Blogging...

2011-03-29T08:01:00.002-05:00

Just a note to mention that I have looked through my blog this morning and realize that there are many links that no longer work and I even had a comment from February that needed approval. :-( I'm sorry I have been absent so long. I will work on getting the links all working this week and next. And I've already approved the comment and added a new link for the drawing book in the comment area. I plan to get back to my regular blogging about our school adventures. The wee babe is now 7 months old and is no longer wee. Well at 9 pounds 9 ounces, I guess he wasn't too wee to begin with. He has just started crawling around the house. Boy are we in for trouble! :-) In fact, I am ordering a couple of wide opening gates today! Now that he is past the unpredictable newborn phase, he is now very happy with his new found mobility and has more or less fallen into a predictable schedule that has gotten our Home School on the Farm back into some semblance of "normal."

Conjunction Junction

2011-03-10T13:28:00.001-06:00

Anyone remember conjunction junction from their childhood?

Magic "e" - Reading Game

2011-03-10T13:21:00.001-06:00

I found this fun game for extra reading practice with the "magic e." It has 3 levels and moves from finding the correct magic e word to using magic e words within a sentence. Fun music and lively colors along with a frog prince theme will make even the most reluctant readers want to play again!

Magic "e" - Reading Game

New Baby. New School Year

2010-08-30T08:57:00.004-05:00

Mr. P and the newest little P.

We will officially start school this Tuesday. Today we are cleaning house and getting organized for tomorrow. I'm rereading sections of The Well Trained Mind and using bits of it to add to our eclectic Charlotte Mason type approach. I was able to get one kid's lesson plans done for the first 6 weeks and have the 1st and 7th grader still to finish up today. Wish me luck on that...I'm always bad about leaving the hardest jobs for the last. In addition to school, we are happy to announce the newest member of our family. Colton was born August 11 and weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds and 9 ounces. So far he has been the best baby. He doesn't seem to be bothered in the least by the noise and activity in our busy household. The older children just adore him.

Wednesday we begin Classical Conversations and I hope to have a picture and post to tell about it.

Mrs. P

2010-2011 School Year

2010-08-07T10:53:00.002-05:00

I'm working on lesson planning while waiting on this baby to be born. My due date is today and he doesn't seem at all eager to be born, so rather than sit and wait I'm trying to be productive. I'm not exactly sure which day we will start school. It will depend a lot on when the baby arrives and how quickly we all settle into a routine.

This year, I will be doing something a little different in our home school. I have enrolled the children in Classical Conversations and it will begin on September 1. I'm looking forward to this and have at least 2 kids that I think will just love it. The younger two just love memorizing and this seems to be well suited to them. I'm crossing my fingers for the oldest. Memory work isn't her strong suit, but I'm hoping that she will love it just the same.

I updated the sidebar of things we will learn to reflect the upcoming year. I don't have everything listed as I have not ordered some things yet. After I order logic and Latin and a few other books, I'll be sure and add them to the list. Currently this list is just the things we will cover the first 6 weeks of school. So my lofty goal is to update that list every 6 weeks. We will see how that goes.

Homeschool or Clean House???

2010-05-20T13:40:00.004-05:00

I have found that I firmly lay in one of two camps. Either I'm in the "clean house" camp OR I'm in the "we got all of our homeschool work done" camp. I find that it's hard to do both. For one thing I haven't trained all my little helpers as well as they should be trained; so messes are made at a rapid rate around here. For another thing, I tend to be a pack rat. I find myself holding onto various items with the thought that I might *need* it some day. The problem with this attitude is that I've now used up every square inch of space in my home storing all of this clutter. And guess what, I bring more things into the house daily. Every couple of months I add more books to my library. What homeschool mom doesn't? We have a new baby on the way and now I'm adding things that the baby will need. Those two things alone present a challenge to keeping a tidy and organized home. Now add in the home school day.

As far as school goes, I now have kids going into 7th grade, 3rd grade and 1st grade. The days of having my oldest two finished with school by noon or even earlier are long gone. So in a sense I have a full time job of teaching school, just like I did when I taught public school. One difference is that I'm teaching at home and I have no janitor to come and dust and vacuum my classroom everyday. In other words I get to clean up glue and glitter and scraps of paper. On top of that my "classroom" often has at least a load or two of laundry being folded. It isn't unheard of for me to find a missing sock in the crayon and marker bucket. So currently I'm to the point of just trying to do one thing at a time. I'm doing house keeping tasks before school, at lunch and after school and when it's school time I'm no longer attempting to multitask. Somehow a trip to reboot the laundry leads to a sweeping of the kitchen, thawing of dinner, and possibly even a straightening of cushions on the couch...all the while the students are now playing with legos and tea party sets instead of handwriting and math. So then I have to get them back on task and I find we've wasted lots of school time. And I also found that after 3:00 little children seem to zone out on you and so I really need to keep their school between the hours of 8 and 3. I have a couple of ideas on how I'm winning the war on clutter, even if it's one tiny baby step at a time.

I have loved the Flylady System, but never really fully implemented it where my house "cleans itself." However, even following it a little bit will improve your home management. I'm continually amazed at how much better my house looks after a 27 Fling Boogie or a Hot Spot Fire Drill. If you aren't familiar with it and you also collect clutter you should go visit her website. It does work and if you follow through the babysteps and establish good housekeeping habits while getting the clutter out you can find yourself in a really clean and peaceful house in about a month's time. Now if you are like me and somehow have to get the clutter under control as well as keep the home school running, then you might be interested to know about a yahoo group that I am a member of. It's called Large Family Logistics. It is sort of a Flylady meets the homeschool mom type of group. It is run by a real life home school mom with a whole house of kids. She also has a blog if you like the yahoo group. She does send out reminders like Flylady and also the group doesn't have discussion, like the Flylady. So when you sign up you will get her reminders and that's it. She also includes reminders about various homeschool tasks, daily Bible study, exercise and her weekly plan is set up for a mom at home with lots of kids. I also love that she sends an occasional reminder for things like "Friendship Friday." The notes on this reminder are: Schedule a lunch date with a friend for the first Friday of every month.

Friendship Friday
If the first Friday doesn't suit your life, pick a different date. Ideas: one on one at a restaurant, picnic lunch with the children, an afternoon of crafting

While I haven't yet followed through with this particular reminder, I do need to be reminded of it so that I don't forget to get out of the house or invite a friend over. I also love that she sends a reminder on Saturday night to lay out and iron church clothes, to send a child to gather everyone's Bible and start breakfast and load the crockpot for Sunday lunch.

One thing I've found is that by signing up for both groups and putting my settings to read on web only, I can customize the two systems into one. I use my yahoo mail for my email address on the yahoo groups. Once you get to your yahoo mail, choose to look at your calendar. All of the reminders will be on there even though you are set to read on the web only. You can then pick and choose the reminders that you want to come to your email box thus eliminating lots of email reminders that don't apply to you. For example, I chose to only get the Flylady morning routine reminder. There are even times that I have NO reminders sent to my email due to vacations or just really busy seasons of life. It's worked well for me and I hope this post helps other moms who like their clutter but also like a tidy house.

Blessings,
Mrs. P

Updated Curriculum and Books

2010-04-06T13:42:00.005-05:00

I spent a little time this afternoon updating our curriculum and books list on the sidebar. It now shows the books we are currently using. I'm using Living Books Curriculum Grade 5 but am not going in the order of the lesson plans so if you are using that curriculum you may wonder why I'm on term 1 books in April. We are using what books we can from the library and due to the availability of them, we are using that curriculum in a very different order than is suggested. For the younger kids, I'm mostly using Ambleside Online Year One with my own eclectic additions. I'm trying to mostly focus on utilizing the Ten Things to Do list from Teaching the Trivium by the Bluedorns.

I'll be changing things up next year as I'll have a new baby arrive in August. I'm thinking of ordering a packaged curriculum for multiage to simplify lesson planning. Currently, I spend about an hour writing out lesson plans, making copies, and making other preparations each week and several hours once a month organizing the month's activities into a chart format that is easy for me to keep track of things. I plan to school on throughout the summer in order to be a little ahead of the game when the baby comes in August.

Here is one curriculum that looks like it might be a good fit for me. My Father's World is a Charlotte Mason type study that has 2-8th grade go through a 5 years history cycle. We will be ready for Year 3: Exploration to 1850 of that curriculum this fall. I'm still researching, but this one looks like it would cover most of my kids leaving me with Miss J who will likely do Abeka 1st grade since I already own all the first grade stuff and would only need to purchase a student kit. I've not used MFW before so comment if you have used this curriculum. I did LOVE Winter Promise, but it would cost almost twice as much to cover the same history period with their curriculum because they don't have any units that cover this broad of an age group. Even so, I still have it on the list of things to consider due to such a pleasant experience with it in the past. It really was very user friendly. Another consideration is Sonlight, although I've not used it before either. If you have other suggestions, please post them in the comments section. I'd love to know if there are other packaged curriculums that cover a multiage group.

Teach Me to Crochet

2010-04-06T12:48:00.006-05:00

Leisure Arts *COOL STUFF*
Teach Me To Crochet

This is the book that the girls and I are using to learn to crochet. Miss J and I made crochet flowers and a crochet scrunchy yesterday. The book progresses in difficulty from quick and easy projects like a chain to the final project of a lap blanket. All of the projects are things that young ladies would want to crochet. It is a full colored book with pictures of all the steps for both right handed and left handed kids.

Some of the projects include: crochet flowers, hair scrunchy, spiral coaster, round pillow, ruffled hair scrunchie, curlicue key chain, floppy hat and scarf, dog's toy ball, cat's toy fish, cotton dishcloth, and ripple lap warmer.

Watercolor Pencils

2010-03-30T17:52:00.002-05:00

If you need to get your kids excited about drawing and coloring their nature journals, get a set of these. They are a nice pencil color, but when you go over the colored picture with a wet paint brush the picture is transformed into a beautiful water color. My oldest daughter used them most recently on her Fashion Design Storyboard and now wants to use them for everything. I got my set at Michael's and they were pretty pricey (about $10 for a set of 12). If you are looking, you might want to wait for a coupon.

Mrs. P

A Pillow Case Dress

2010-03-30T14:54:00.004-05:00

Want to teach your littlest girls to sew? Have them make a pillowcase dress!

Miss J made this pillowcase dress for the County 4-H Fashion Show. She had a great time sewing it and is so proud that she wants to wear it on Easter Sunday. Instead of buying a pillowcase, I purchased the fabric at my local Wal-Mart for $2 a yard. I then made a pillowcase and she followed the directions from there. After I had the pillowcase made, it took about an hour for her to sew. Here are basic directions for a pillowcase dress. Instead of using elastic, I just had her sew a casing and she then threaded long pieces of ribbon through. This was pretty easy to do, but the ribbon comes out easily so you may prefer to use the elastic as in the tutorial. Here is another tutorial starting with fabric instead of a pillowcase. Miss J is 6 years old and she sewed hers on the sewing machine. In order to make that work, I put the presser foot on a huge stack of books until she could easily reach it. Also, my sewing machine is a Bernina 180 and is able to sew r-e-a-l-l-y slow. I helped her guide the fabric through so the stitches came out reasonably straight. This had just enough sewing for her to remain interested, yet feel very fulfilled to have a completed project in such a short time.

Happy Sewing,
Mrs. P

Learning to Crochet

2010-03-29T08:06:00.002-05:00

Miss J learned to crochet at a recent 4-H workshop. She can now make crochet chains with the best of them and can't wait for read aloud time to work on her newly acquired skill.

Finished Botany today!

2010-03-12T09:25:00.003-06:00

Today we finished up our study of Botany. We used an Answers in Genesis book called The World of Plants. It was a good fit for our family, with short chapters and interesting activities for each lesson.

Topics included:
Classification system
Carl Linnaeus
Plant and Animal Cells
Flowering Plants
Grasses
Trees
Seeds
Monocots & Dicots
George Washington Carver
Roots
Special Roots
Stems
Stem Structure
Stem Growth
Photosynthesis
Arrangement of Leaves
Leaves
Tree Identification
Flowers
Pollination
Pierre-Joseph Redoute
Fruits
Annuals, Biennials, and Perennials
Meat Eating Plants
Parasites and Passengers
Tropism
Other Survival Techniques
Reproduction without Seeds
Ferns
Mosses
Algae
Fungi

Next up we will be learning to use a microscope.

When Mama has Limited Energy

2010-03-03T09:32:00.003-06:00

Having just left the first trimester of pregnancy and all it's entails from nausea to extreme lack of energy; I was glad to read this article and see how one experienced Mama has handled that and so much more. Kendra blogs at Preschoolers & Peace. She utilizes many of the principles in Teaching the Trivium as well as ideas from Charlotte Mason. I really love all of her book recommendations and classical ideas. In addition to that, she is homeschooling a large family and all the challenges that go along with such age varieties. So if you are wondering how you can "do it all" during times of life when you have less energy, pregnancy, hospitalization or other issues that try your soul, read When Mama Has Limited Energy for encouragement and ideas to help you get through those tough days. In fact, I regularly read her blog for ideas and encouragement as she is an experienced homeschool mom that I can learn a lot from. I hope you enjoy the article as much as I did.

Handicrafts: Decorative Eggs in a Basket

2010-03-03T09:23:00.004-06:00

Here is a cute Easter Handicraft for you and your kids. I am thinking that my oldest daughter could do this independently. My 8 year old son could do the paper covered eggs with a little help. My 6 year old daughter could easily make the doily baskets or the glittery eggs. I'm always looking for crafts that won't require a spendy trip to the craft store and this fits the bill. We have an abundance of eggs, I happen to have a collection of fabric and crochet doilies, and I always save scraps of pretty tissue paper and scrapbook papers. So really, I would only need the fabric stiffener to complete this project as everything else is already here from previous crafting moments. Click here for the directions.

A First: Handmade Basket

2010-02-12T11:06:00.003-06:00

We purchased a basket making kit at a children's craft fair. It wasn't fancy, it just included a book and lovely rolls of reed waiting to be woven into a basket. Lots was learned with wet reed in hand, ruler sitting on the table just so, trying desperately to get the reed to line up straight and properly. Weaving is the easy part. Measuring, bending, finishing...these all take more time and effort. Wet reed has a habit of inching from side to side and doesn't want to stay put, but she perseveres and the basket comes together. In the end there are some mistakes, but overall the artist is well pleased with her first basket. The reed dries a lovely pale white. I kindly suggest stain, but she just shrugs and says that white is best. And I am reminded that this is her art, not mine. This to me is the hard part of being mom and teacher...letting the children create as they desire. Not trying to make choices for them. Just letting them pick the color, style and art that suits them best. After all, as a child I was able to choose my own art, my own colors, my own projects. This is the part of art that I love, the creative part. So I will learn to be silent and let her enjoy the creativity and the making of art. This is her work and her work is well done and lovely and she is right. White is best for this basket. It is not only lovely but useful and I'm anticipating more baskets in our future.

Nature Study: Digging for Arrow Heads

2010-02-12T10:27:00.002-06:00

This summer we found that there was once an Indian campground on a river bed near our house. The folks that own the property allow you to come and dig for a daily fee. We took a field trip there and found several interesting things. Above are some pictures that I snapped with my phone so the quality isn't great. The last photo is my son digging into the dirt with his friend.
First they would dig up a chunk of dirt and then sift it through a sifting screen. Arrowheads and other rocks would be filtered out while the dirt goes through the screen. After a day of digging they were lucky to have found some arrowheads themselves and then to be given some from others who were digging where we were. Those guys dig all the time and had some really nice artifacts to show the kids and tell about them.

Vowel File Folder Booklet

2010-02-12T10:18:00.002-06:00

Jumbo Fun with the Alphabet can be purchased from Handsandhearts.com.

For my kindergartener, I'm using Phonics Pathways to teach her reading. I also have a book called the Jumbo Fun with the Alphabet. While the latter sounds pretty hokey, it really is a very nice book and I've gotten a lot of use from it. It has several activities for each letter of the alphabet including snacks and crafts. In the file folder book, I've just taken various pages from those two books and let her paste them in. For cut and paste activities, I attach velcro instead of having her glue them and then she can do that activity over and over. It takes her a few days to complete a folder and she thinks it is the best fun. Also, she gets to reinforce learning those letters without the dull moments of sitting in front of flash cards.

Mrs. P

Librivox on your iPhone!

2010-01-25T19:23:00.004-06:00

I do love the librivox website. Many, many of the books we use are available as free audio downloads there. From the amble ramble group that I'm on I learned that librivox also has an iPod/iPhone app. It is called Audiobooks. I just type in the name of the book and it automatically plays so that we can all listen to our books anywhere.

This week we've been working on sewing projects and have listened to several great books during that time. If you haven't read/listened to The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, you really should. It is such a heart warming story. We also listened to The Princess and the Goblins as well as The Heroes by Charles Kingsley. Other greats from that site are Heidi, Otto the Silver Hand, and many more.

So if your voice could use a break and you have an iPhone or iPod, download the audiobooks apps. You'll be glad you did.

Started LBC Year 5

2009-10-15T12:07:00.002-05:00

We started the new Living Books Curriculum year 5 this past week. However, just as we were getting started sickness hit the house. Thursday night Mr. C started with fever that lasted 2 and a half days. Sunday night Miss J got the fever and on Tuesday afternoon I got it. I'm sort of coming up for air now and trying to get the house back in shape. Mommy being in bed for the past couple of days has resulted in a rather trashed house. Considering that I've eaten almost nothing for 2 days I'm amazed at how messy the kitchen is. They had things to make sandwiches with and also canned soup for their lunches. Toast and peanut butter was there for breakfast. Who knew soups and sandwiches could make such a mess? I think I see some kitchen training lessons in their near future.
Lesson one: It only takes one knife to spread mayo on sandwiches. No you don't need a new knife for every single sandwich.
Lesson two: If we keep up with our glass then we don't have 30 to wash at the end of the day.
Lesson three: When mommy is sick, is not the time to attempt to clean out the refrigerator. It was a sweet thought, but if you don't wash those dishes they sit and get stinky. ;-)

So all of that to say, once I recover from the illness and the messy house I'll be posting about the Living Books Curriculum.

Mrs. P

Living Books Grade 5 Overview

2009-09-12T10:57:00.005-05:00

I've had the teacher's manual for the Living Books Curriculum for some time now. I really like what I see and am gearing up to get started on Grade 5 the first full week of October. Since I also have a 2nd grader and kindergartener to homeschool, I'm planning ahead as much as possible. I didn't order a curriculum for the younger two so I'm planning those lessons using various resources I've collected over the years with available resources from the internet. I also combine them with the oldest daughter as much as possible. My goal was to simply life by ordering a complete curriculum for my oldest daughter. She is actually in 6th grade, but the grade 5 curriculum picks up where she needs for history. In this post, I plan to explain how I will modify the curriculum to fit our particular needs. I also will tell of substitutions we plan to use.

The LBC Curriculum is very complete and truly you could just open and go following the instructions in the manual. Even if you aren't all that familiar with the Charlotte Mason philosophy, there are a number of articles and resources included in the curriculum to explain how to implement various subjects.

A suggested daily schedule shows that you can easily finish your core work before lunch, leaving your afternoons free for silent reading, music & picture study, nature study, handcrafts and life skills. I am using a book called Training Our Daughter's to Be Keepers at Home for lifeskills and handcrafts. It is an excellent book and even includes some character study that I will incorporate into the Christian Studies lessons. This is the first year my dd will have a written schedule to follow independently. I have a list of subjects with times next to them. It is her job to follow the schedule. She is very excited and sees this as a new freedom. She doesn't have to wait on me for instructions and thus can make the best use of her time.

Science and History are exciting to me and this year will be a little different than how I've handled those two subjects. In the past we have alternated history and science doing each subject a couple of times per week. This year she will have both subjects daily. American History and World History will alternate days. In American History the focus is Growth and Industrialization. In World History the focus is the Renaissance and Reformation. This picks up where the LBC Middle Ages guide ends. Geography is integrated into the history lessons. Literature selections are also complimentary to these studies as well as the science studies. Science will address four major strands: life, physical, earth, and health. We have a Botany book that we are incorporating as well so some of the lesson plans will substitute this book instead of buying a new book. We also look forward to using a microscope this year.

The Language Arts section is the area that I will modify the most. Because my daughter is dyslexic she has needs that wouldn't normally be present in a language arts program for this age. I will keep all of the language arts suggestions of Grammar, storytelling, copywork, dictation and Shakespeare, but will also add in phonics and spelling as she still needs special instruction in these two areas.

For math, I use Math U See. Singapore Math is recommended, but we've been happy with Math U See so I see no need to switch. The lesson plans call for daily math instruction for 30 minutes which is just about how much time we take now.

I love the way that ChristianFaith Studies is laid out in this curriculum. The child is to read from both the New and Old Testament each week along with time to reflect in a journal entry. This year she will be reading from Matthew, I Samuel, I Kings, Daniel and Jonah. We will also incorporate the character lessons from The King's Daughter and Other Stories for Girls.

Picture Study is an area where I have not done a very thorough job of teaching. I am very glad to see that the curriculum includes clear instructions on how to study great works of art. The pictures are included in the curriculum and just require that I get them printed in color and framed for us to view during the week. Sheila Carroll estimates the cost of having a picture printed to be around $1, plus you can recycle a picture frame or find one inexpensively at a dollar store. If you prefer, you can also study the picture from the computer with no additional costs.

Composer Study will include a study of Handel, Haydn, and Mozart. My children are familiar with some of these, especially Mozart. You can either find CD's to listen to or there is an online service where you can listen for free, or for a small fee make your own CD's. When I taught public school there were many studies on how listening to classical music increased language skills and we were required to listen to Mozart and Beethoven daily in our classrooms. I have yet to meet a child that doesn't enjoy classical music.

For other Electives, we will do daily exercise (PE) with Jack LaLanne, play games with other homeschool families, take music lessons, and hopefully start Latin instruction.

We found the Jack LaLanne website after reading an article on just how fit he is in his 90's and how sick he was when he was 15. His exercise show was televised for over 30 years. He gives God all credit for making our amazing bodies and encourages healthy eating habits with lots of exercise. It is a black and white TV show and the kids seem to like his enthusiasm--at least one of them does ;-). We also hope to organize a regular "game day" with other homeschool families so that we can learn team sports such as baseball, volley ball, basketball, etc. My husband and I decided to hold off on having the children join organized sports leagues until they are older, but we would still like them to learn team sports in a non-competitive way. It is good exercise and lots of fun.

Last night, Miss A was gifted a used flute from her Meme and Grandad. If it isn't too late, then she will start the beginner homeschool band. That will be an inexpensive way to have music lessons as they are group lessons instead of private lessons. This will require driving 30 minutes to a nearby town so we will adjust that days schedule to reflect that day trip.

Latin is the other elective I would like to add later this year. I'm still researching which program to use and if it is the right time to introduce it. As I find out more about this area, I'll have posts with resource links under the label Latin.

The only other thing I'd like to mention about this curriculum is that I will likely write my lesson plans out to make it a 4 or 4 and a half day curriculum. It seems like it will be pretty simple to do. On the suggested lessons, Friday are the lightest day of work. So it stands to reason that when we need a four day week, we can easily double up on a couple of things and have that fifth day available for field trips, music lessons, or project days. In addition there is a flex week built in for narrations, field trips, etc. I'm so excited to start this curriculum. It is going to be easy to implement and we have been so pleased with the reading selections in past LBC curriculum guides.

Mrs. P

2009-08-11T12:15:00.002-05:00

The King's Daughters and Other Stories for Girls is used for the character study in Training Daughters to Be Keepers at Home book. It is character stories from another time period. So far the two stories we have read instill that chores are a pleasant part of life and that they help lift our spirits and make life more enjoyable. There are several stories in the book and it is also available as a free download on Gutenberg. The stories are about 7 pages long (when copied and pasted into a word document) and simple to understand with nice line drawings throughout the story.

Training Daughters to be Keepers at Home

2009-08-07T10:58:00.002-05:00

For a post on this book and another series I plan to use with my girls click here.

Living Books Year 5

2009-08-04T18:16:00.003-05:00

One box of books has arrived and I've spent a lot of time trying to decide what I still need to order. Today, I ordered the Living Books Curriculum Grade 5 Teaching Guide. I ordered the instant download so that I could begin looking through it to see what I still needed to purchase. Many of the books for Grade Five are available through Rainbow Resource, while others are available at my library. I'm also trying to use the Bluedorn's Teaching the Trivium Method. The two actually mesh more than you might think, even though Teaching the Trivium is a classic style of home school. For your convenience, I'm listing the books available through Rainbow Resource that are required in Grade 5. There may be more, but I didn't check to see if they had books that are available at my library.

Old Fashioned Farm Life
World in a Drop of Water
Joseph Haydn: The Merry Little Peasant
Mozart: Wonder Boy
Prudence and the Millers + workbook
I, Juan De Pareja
Handbook of Nature Study
Bible Smuggler
Man Who Laid the Egg
Thunderstorm in the Church
Exploring the World of Physics
Sowers-George Frideric Handel
Who in the World was the Forgotten Explorer?
Shakespeare Stealer
Helen Keller

In addition I ordered:
Training Our Daughters to Be Keepers at Home (for handicraft)
Mr. Pipes & Psalms & Hymns of the Reformation

Planning for the school year...

2009-07-31T07:33:00.003-05:00

I got the UPS notification that a box of school books will be delivered at my house on Monday. I can't wait to get them and get my school year organized. I can't wait to see that big brown truck pull into the driveway.

Mrs. P

Summer Break

2009-05-25T09:07:00.004-05:00

Our little Homeschool at the Farm is taking a summer break. We'll start back up in a couple of weeks as we are going year round this year. For now we will enjoy the outdoors, fishing, garden, swimming, and get lots of sun and fresh air.

Fingerplays for the littlest homeschoolers

2009-05-20T16:39:00.004-05:00

My littlest homeschooler is Miss Jessalyn Claire. She turned 5 in January and is very eager to begin her schooling. In fact, when I print out the assignment sheets for the older two children, she often asks for her own assignment sheet. For her preschool experience I like to use age appropriate resources several times a week. She could just tag along with the older children but she really does get a lot of enjoyment out of her own lessons. She is having a fun time with Alphabet Color and Glue and Simple Scissor Practice (both e-books from curriclick). Today though, I found this lovely little book of fingerplays. Not only does it tell the words to the fingerplays, but it shows little drawings of hands so that you know exactly how to do each fingerplay. This is a Gutenberg Project book and it also includes music clips that go along with the words in the book. What fun she will have learning new fingerplays next week.

Medieval Fashions

2009-05-18T12:19:00.003-05:00

This kids are enjoying coloring pictures of the Kings, knights and lady loves that they been reading about in school. Dover Coloring Books are always excellent. This one is giving us an additional bonus. It tells about the fashions on each page and which century and country the clothing would have been worn as well as what fabrics the garments would have been made from. Miss A is doing a 4-H record book on clothing and textiles and this coloring and reading about medevial fashions will count toward her clothing and textiles project. The coloring book is pretty cheap ($3.95) and is available online at the Dover Website.

Colonial Redwork Patterns

2009-05-17T20:54:00.005-05:00

Here is a link to patterns for redwork that tell the story of Colonial America. If you have young ladies that like to sew, redwork is a great project. This quilt would look very nice in my bedroom. Maybe I can get some time to sew myself one.

Here is another link with a description of each quilt block.

The Crusades

2009-05-15T09:52:00.003-05:00

The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott

The Talisman is a gripping tale set near the end of the Third Crusade. King Richard the Lionheart is grievously ill, and all around him the leaders from allied countries plot and scheme to gain personal power, putting the future of the crusade in jeopardy. Sir Kenneth of Scotland finds himself caught up in events, and finds both his honour and his life are now on the line. Can a cure be found for the King? Can Kenneth redeem his honour? – Written by Rowen.

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
This text is not quite finished on librivox.
If you click on the link you can be emailed
as to when it is finished and listen to what's been recorded.

Heroes of the Middle Ages by Eve March Tappan

“The object of this book is to bring together stories of the most important movements in the history of Europe during the Middle Ages, and to make familiar the names of the most important figures in those scenes. I have endeavoured to weave a tapestry in which, with due colour, may be traced the history of the rise and fall of the various nationalities and the circumstances and mode of life of each—in short, to give the young reader an approximation to the background for the study of his country’s history which a wide reading gives to a man.” (Summary from the Preface of Heroes of the Middle Ages by Eva March Tappan)

The above books are available on Librivox. As we get further into the Living Books Curriculum Middle Ages guide, I find that we really love the literature choices. We are reading books that
1) I didn't really know existed
2) are rich in vocabulary
3) are very well written and
4) are exciting and interesting.

I have not read any of the book above. Sad but true, somehow I missed Ivanhoe and Talisman. These are additional reading suggestions. Heroes of the Middle Ages is not listed in the guide, but I found it on librivox and it is a nice fit. We will only listen to selected chapters as it covers the entire middle ages. I like Eva March Tappan's books. She has a way of making them easy to read without watering it down into "twaddle." My daughter is enjoying them, as the chapters are short enough to not be frustrating. Other things coming up in next week's lessons are a medieval feast, a report about the Knights Templar, and some time working on her timeline. I believe all of the books I linked on librivox also have free online texts that you can read as well.

Note: Links have been updated and I have added summaries of the books from the librivox website.

A Short Study of Tornadoes

2009-05-14T13:32:00.004-05:00

Since we live in Tornado Alley, I decided to take a short break from our regular science and have a unit study on tornadoes. I am using lessons from Middle School Science.com. They have a variety of themes and resources. However, the Tornado Theme Page has 6 organized lessons complete with fun little worksheets if you have a kid who likes puzzles and such. We also found video on National Geographic.

What to Draw and How to Draw It

2009-05-06T12:13:00.004-05:00

I'd like to introduce you to What to Draw and How to Draw It by E. G. Lutz. This particular book is copywrited in 1913. It is 78 pages in length and would be suitable for about 9 or 10 year olds and up. Some of the animals look a bit dated with their chunky shapes that were common in art of this time frame. The people too look as though they live in the turn of the century as can be expected. However, I really like the step by step approach to drawing figures. Also, my kids like all things old and antique so they will like drawing little girls and boys that look like antique paper dolls. I think they will especially get a kick out of the page with expressions. There are little men with the most wonderful mustaches and facial expressions. As I was looking at it my daughter has already chosen about 10 that she wants to draw today. I had the sad news to tell her it is scheduled for next week. Now, to choose which page to have her draw first. And maybe if she gets her work done today I can print her one to try out ahead of schedule. ;-)

This lovely little book was on www.homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com a few days ago. Unfortunately, it is not there now. However, I did find it in the American Library's Internet Archive. If you have a child that likes to draw, then this would be a great download. Just print out a sheet at a time and the child can step by step draw all sorts of animals and pictures. In fact it looked easy enough for me to draw, and that's saying a lot.

In addition to using it once a week in our lessons, I plan to choose 10 pages to use in a small co-op setting. I find that most children would like to draw and so I think this will be a good co-op choice. Another idea I have for this book is for a Christmas present. My mother is an artist and I know that she would love one of these pictures drawn with charcoal on crisp white paper and presented in a simple black frame. Can't you just see a proud Grandma telling that her 11 year old granddaughter drew this for her? And I can see said granddaughter thrilled to use "real" art tools such as a charcoal pencil and nice paper. In fact, if they turn out as nicely as I anticipate, I may have the kids make me some to hang at my house. Some of my favorite art work has been created at my kitchen bar with crayons and copy paper. Yes, I will definitely put an order in for my own art for Christmas as well.

Here is the black and white pdf of the book.
Here is another pdf. This one is scanned from the original book and the pages are yellowed with age.
Here is a flip book version. When you click the arrow the pages turn like when reading a real book.
Here is a link to the home page of American Library's Internet Archive. I have not had time to search it and see what all is offered. This may be one of my new favorite links. Who knows, I have so many.

Loving and learning,
Mrs. P

2009-04-27T12:12:00.005-05:00

Men of Iron by Howard Pyle is historical fiction that transports us back to the 1400’s, a time of knighthood and chivalry. Myles Falworth is eight years old when news comes they must flee their home. His blind father is accused of treason. We see Myles grow up, train as a knight, and with perseverance, clear his father of any wrong-doing and restore their family name.

(Summary by Laura Caldwell)

Today is a rainy day on the farm. It is perfect for listening to a story while sipping hot tea. I couldn't find some of the extra reading choices in LBC at the library this week. Rarely do we get to the additional reading, but this week the reading was short. I decided to see what Ambleside Online is reading. Immediately, I noticed that in year 3 (Renaissance-Reformation) they had listed Men of Iron by Howard Pyle. I had heard that it was really good and after reading the summary, realized it would fit right in with this week's study on knights.

I found it on librivox and we are enjoying listening to it. If you don't have the book, but still would like to read it, then click here to find the text online. Of course, you could buy it as well if you are book poor and bookshelf rich. ;-) It is still being published even though it was first printed in 1891. To me that is a good sign that the book is worth my time.

I also found copy work from this book. Those AO folks are just so organized. They have a yahoo group that is just copywork to go with each year on their website. So I joined the yahoo group and found a 171 page pdf file of copywork for year 3 which included several copywork selections from Men of Iron, nicely organized by chapter. I just love it when I don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Here is what I assigned Ashley for today's copywork:

I think this particular passage would lend itself well to a narration that the child draws instead of telling. The language gives a very clear picture of that knight riding up on his horse.

Men of Iron by Howard Pyle
Introduction

The year 1400 opened with more than usual peacefulness in Englad. Only a few months before, Richard II - weak, wicked, and treacherous - had been dethroned, and Henry IV declared King in his stead.

Chapter 1

Myles Falworth was but eight years of age at that time, and it was only afterwards, and when he grew old enough to know more of the ins and outs of the matter, that he could remember by bits and pieces the things that afterwards happened; how one evening a knight came clattering into the court-yard upon a horse, red-nostrilled and smeared with the sweat and foam of a desperate ride- Sir John Dale, a dear friend of the blind Lord.

When Knights Were Bold, Eva March Tappan

2009-04-24T06:40:00.005-05:00

This book is in no degree an attempt to relate the involved and intricate history of the Middle Ages. Its plan is, rather, to present pictures of the manner of life and habits of thought of the people who lived between the eighth and fifteenth centuries. Our writings and our everyday conversation are full of their phrases and of allusions to their ideas. Many of our thoughts and feelings and instincts, of our very follies and superstitions, have descended to us from them. To become better acquainted with them is to explain ourselves. (Summary from the Preface of When Knights Were Bold)

Librivox is my new favorites website. A nice bonus is that I can have librivox running in one tab and then click on another tab and see what the Nester is doing on her blog or rearrange my virtual bedroom on Better Homes and Gardens. This is sort of the equivalent of having your cake and eating it too. Seriously, I do have another reason for loving librivox and it has to do with dyslexia. If you have child who struggles with reading (dyslexic or not) listening to books read aloud is a great way to improve their reading. In fact, it improves all kid's reading, but is especially helpful for those with dyslexia or other reading difficulties. [I'll try to edit this post later with some research to support that statement. ]

I did a quick google this morning and found that librivox has recorded When Knights Were Bold. This is a book used in the Living Books Curriculum Middle Ages study. Being dyslexic, my daughter really benefits from reading along while I (or librivox) read aloud. This helps a great deal with fluency as well as comprehension. It is sort of like when you are teaching a child to write and you hold their hand to help them make the letters. With dyslexia, they often struggle with the decoding enough that by the end of a paragraph (sometimes even the end of a sentence) they may have entirely forgotten what they read because the decoding required such effort. Read it aloud, while they read along, and you are holding their hand through the decoding so to speak. The correct decoding is reinforced, the comprehension is better, and they enjoy that reading instead of dreading it. There are lots of reasons why this helps, but I'll not bore you with all of that. :-)

Although this is my 11 year old daughter's school work, my 7 year old son insists on listening along. He is now officially over his obsession with dinosaurs and it is firmly replaced with a new one of dragons, knights, and castles. I love how he puts on armor, a helmet and shield and holds his plastic sword while we read it aloud. For fun, I think I'll have the girls put on their dress up clothes and instead of our usual narration, I'll have them act out today's chapter from When Knights Were Bold. It's Friday after all and they have worked really hard all week.

If you would like to read this book, it can be purchased from Living Books Curriculum here or found as an e-text here. I would say that a child that can read independently on a 4th grade level (or can read a Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys book easily) could read this book alone (although I did not do an official readability on it). It is 312 pages, but the text is larger than usual and the chapters are not too long. You could also easily read part or all of the book as the chapters each stand alone in content.

The Book of Dragons, E. Nesbit

2009-04-23T10:59:00.004-05:00

What a fun surprise I have for you today. I found The Book of Dragons read aloud on librivox today. Of course, I found it after I'd already read most of what has been recorded. But if you have not started this book yet, you may be able to listen to the book in it's entirety. for free. online. It doesn't get much better than that. I don't mind reading aloud at all. It is just that I currently read aloud 1-2 hours a day. Anytime we can listen to a story it is a welcome blessing to my voice.

Anyway, if you have not heard of The Book of Dragons, I say that you MUST read it. It is a collection of 8 dragon short stories. You can find it at your library, amazon.com, or also as an e-text on the gutenberg project. It fits in nicely with this week's lessons on castles, knights and such. And if you have boys, especially if you have boys, just read it because all boys love dragon stories. Connor, my 7 year old son thinks it is the best book I've ever read. In fact, I don't even have to ask for a narration. He freely gives a lengthy narration the minute my husband walks in from work. The short stories are also nice and short, perfect for even the youngest child's attention.

Real Math

2009-04-20T20:44:00.006-05:00

Moola Moola from the magical land of Lotta Loot
Mascot for Our Banks Savings Account for children

Today, Miss A and I went to the bank. She set up a "Moola Moola Account" at our credit union. A "Moola Moola Account" is a special account for children under thirteen. The idea is to let them learn to save money and earn "moola moola bucks" toward fun prizes, like pencils, water bottles, posters, etc. She put her youth fair check in and will be learning to keep a record of her money. This is a good skill for real life and a nice bonus for her 4-H record book as she needs to know how much money she spends/earns on her fair projects. You may have a similar program at your bank for children. Generally it is pretty easy to set up, requires a small amount of money (ours is $5) to start an account, and the parent signs for them as they are a minor. The two younger children are contemplating starting an account with their tooth fairy money after seeing the (cheesey to a mom) (cool to a 5 year old) moola backpack and pencil. Well at least one of the children has tooth fairy money...the youngest one has "Meme" money...lol. I guess if they decide to part with their money, then I'll be headed back to the bank to let the younger two have their own "Moola Moola Accounts."

Learning Grammar is FUN!

2009-04-17T09:12:00.005-05:00

Yes, you read that correctly. Learning the parts of speech can be fun if you use this lovely book from 1878. It teaches the 9 parts of speech in a story format. Each part of speech appears before a judge to plead his case and tell which words belong to him. My dd (age 11) is really enjoying it and learning a lot. Each chapter ends with a very short passage where the children can practice what they learned. It fits nicely with a Charlotte Mason education or if you follow the Bluedorn's book Teaching the Trivium.

Grammar Land was so interesting that my dd was not too happy to find that she had completed all her grammar for the week and it would be next week before she could read about Mr. Pronoun. She thought the sad little Mr. Article was funny and and also loved the rich and wealthy Mr. Noun. We did the exercises assigned to the children of Schoolroom-shire by the judge and found them to be nice short lessons. I knew right away if she understood the part of speech in that short oral language lesson. You could easily make a short worksheet to go with each chapter with very little effort, if you need a worksheet for some reason.

I got my copy as a free e-book from www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com a while back. I found it online here as a free online text since that freebie has long since expired. You can also purchase it from amazon.com. Either way, it is a nice, informal way to enjoy learning your grammar.

Castles, Pages, Squires, and Knights.

2009-04-15T13:48:00.005-05:00

Castles of the World website

My dd (age 11) is working through the Living Books Curriculum guide to The Middle Ages. We have enjoyed all of the literature that came with it and today spent some time oohing and ahhing at castles and learning more about feudal life in the Middle Ages. It appears from our little bit of research that due to the high quality of materials a lot of castles are still standing. Many have been updated and restored and some are now museums. We read about one castle that took 100 years to complete. Looking at the detailed photos you can see how that is possible. I'm amazed at all of the intricate carvings in stone as well as gorgeous paintings on ceilings and walls. All time consuming jobs that require great talent as well as patience.

Today's reading was from When Knights were Bold by Eva March Tappan. This book as well as other great books on the Middle Ages are available from LBC. The chapters are fairly short and interesting enough for a 7 year old boy to sit and listen intently even though it isn't part of his school work. I count that a definate plus. A boy listening is a boy not antagonizing his other sister or making a mess. ;-) The books in this unit are geared for the intermediate to middle school aged child. I'd say they are for grades 5-8. In this unit, we have especially enjoyed reading Son of Charlemagne and The Lantern Bearer. This unit from LBC is a history unit and you will still need to supplement with other sources for your math, language, copywork, etc. I use Ambleside Online for a lot, Writing Road to Reading (not a CM type resource) and Math U See. It's been fun to create my own lesson plans, but I think next year I will just go ahead and order the LBC curriculum for the grade and get all the lesson plans and books in one box. The idea of having everything all mapped out for the year just sounds very nice as I try my best to write lesson plans instead of walking around outside smelling the roses and soaking up the sunshine.

Here are some links to websites with information on life in the Feudal Middle Ages. I hope it is a help to your study of the Middle Ages.

The Starry Night

2009-04-13T12:02:00.005-05:00

The Starry Night
Vincent Van Gogh
1889

Here is a coloring sheet so that your children can color their own Starry Night. This is one of my all time favorite art works. My children are coloring it in water colors to achieve a look similar to the original. I think it would be fun with pastels, pencil colors or even crayons.

Storytelling

2009-04-13T10:43:00.004-05:00

As I spend more time reading about the Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling, I get a little giddy. As a young adult, I chose to become a teacher. I spent most of my childhood forcing my poor siblings into "playing" school. I loved every moment of school, well except for those junior high years, but even then the school part was good. I love the smell of new crayons and the sound of chalk on a board. I especially love little desks with ugly plastic chairs that are just the right height for little children just learning to write. Brown paper with little dotted lines just makes me smile. The process of children learning is fascinating to me. I loved to read about all of the theories of education then and still do. What I am finding about Charlotte Mason is that her philosophy utilizes those elements that I liked about various trends that have been seen in education over the years. She really did understand children. She understood how they learned and she understood how to peak their natural curiosity and desire to learn.

I'm implementing a Charlotte Mason approach in my home school. Every so often I am adding in elements that I think will benefit my children in their learning. Two weeks ago I was reading about storytelling. Somehow I had not read about this before or at least I don't remember much if I did read it. I decided it would be an easy addition to our school day. Children are natural born storytellers. I think that is part of why they love to hear stories so much. The children have loved this single addition so much that they remind me if I happen to forget about storytelling. They especially love to retell their stories at the dinner table to their father. So if you are thinking about starting to implement a Charlotte Mason education, this is a good place to start. The children will naturally love it and with that success you will be spurred on to try other Charlotte Mason ideas.

Rolling out and cutting Gingerbread Houses

2008-12-16T20:04:00.003-06:00

top photo: Miss A with the favored rolling pin. It's obviously so much better than the rest. :-)

I'm so glad I had a rolling pin per child. Of course, one was favored over the rest, but we only had minor complaints. And you thought she was too cute to complain!

Cutting out the gingerbread shapes. By the way, 7 year olds will have crooked shapes regardless of how many templates, rulers, pointers, and knives you give them.

See, I can cut straight. And, I used a toothpick to label my parts. After this I realized that was probably a waste of time considering that there are only 3 parts. Oh well.

Tomorrow we will make the royal icing and do some division and word problems while we sort out the candy and decorate our mini-gingerbread village.

More photos soon,
Mrs. P

Gingerbread Houses for Math

2008-12-15T09:25:00.003-06:00

Today we are making gingerbread houses for math class. We will talk about shapes, divide and group candies, measure walls and ingredients in the dough and icing. We'll also get to work with temperature as we bake the pieces. The kids are looking forward to this yummy math lesson. We'll post pictures after we finish our creations.

Here is the pattern we are using so each child can make their own house.

Here is the recipe we are using. It is for a gingerbread house that you can eat. You could use salt dough, graham crackers, or even cardboard if you don't want to eat them.

Loreta’s Favorite Gingerbread Dough February 20 2008 at 9:43 PM		Loreta Wilson (Premier Login Gingerbread) Forum Owner


5 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons ginger 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon cloves 1 cup shortening 1 cup sugar 1 ¼ cups molasses 2 eggs, beaten In large saucepan, melt shortening on stove over low heat. While shortening is melting, in a separate bowl stir together flour, salt and spices (if using for cookies, add 1 tsp. baking soda). When shortening is half melted, remove from heat and continue to stir until completely melted. Add sugar, molasses and beaten eggs. Mix well and quickly (to prevent eggs from cooking). Add molasses mixture to flour mixture. Mix well. Dough will be soft. Cover and refrigerate until firm enough to handle. When dough is firm enough to handle, remove from refrigerator and let sit until room temperature (about an hour). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To prevent aluminum foil from slipping, wipe counter with wet sponge then smooth aluminum foil over damp counter. This will prevent the foil from slipping while dough is being rolled out. Working with a small handful of dough (about the size of a baseball), roll dough onto aluminum foil that has been sprinkled with flour. Sprinkle dough with flour to prevent dough from sticking to rolling-pin. IF DOUGH IS TOO STIFF, MICROWAVE FOR 10-15 SECONDS TO SOFTEN THE DOUGH. Roll dough to about 1/8” thickness. Place gingerbread house pattern pieces onto dough and cut-out dough pieces (don't forget to cut out windows). A pizza cutter works great for cutting out walls and roof sections. Remove excess dough pieces. Lift entire piece of foil and place on large cookie sheet. Place cookie sheet in oven. Check frequently to prevent burning. Bake until golden brown. Large pieces may bake as long as 14 minutes. Smaller pieces might take 6 – 7 minutes. Unused dough may be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 weeks (bring to room temperature and knead briefly to use again). To prevent from sagging, I bake my roof sections until dark brown, almost burnt. When dough pieces are done baking, remove baking sheet from oven. Quickly lift foil from baking sheet and place on a flat area for gingerbread pieces to cool. If pieces have distorted while baking, while still warm, run knife or pizza cutter along sides of walls/roof sections to create a straight edge. If pieces have curled up during baking, while still warm, gently push edges down to lay flat. With gingerbread pieces still on the foil, let cool overnight. Next day – gently peel foil off of gingerbread pieces. You are now ready to assemble, or add windows! www.ultimategingerbread.com

Christmas tree advent calendar

2008-12-09T13:54:00.002-06:00

My older daughter is making a Christmas tree advent calendar. The pattern for the tree is here.
Instructions are here. I know it's a bit late, but she was sick all last week so we are trying to catch up on all the school she missed.

North Pole Freebies

2008-12-09T13:12:00.003-06:00

The children are enjoying a little break from our usual curriculum and school work. We are still working on the skills needed but with a Christmas theme. This website has a number of worksheets with a Christmas theme. They are perfect for my preschooler and 1st grade son. I did google 5th grade Christmas lesson plans and found some Christmas word problems for her to practice. Somehow changing up the work just a little has made the school work more fun.

Mrs. P

Christmas Helper Freebie

2008-12-03T12:35:00.004-06:00

You can get a Charlotte Mason Christmas mini-unit free from Living Books Curriculum. It includes copywork, picture study, and yummy recipes. Just look on the home page for the presents on the left side of the screen. You will enter your email address and then it will take you to the free Christmas Helper. I started using this curriculum after listening to the authors on a Charlotte Mason online seminar. It was such a good seminar that I ordered one of the specials they offered. We are studying middle ages and I also purchased her unit for the Apologia Astronomy text. We will work on that in the spring. I have sick kids this week so I'm putting together all of my Christmas lesson plans. This freebie came in my email box today and it was just perfect so I wanted to share it for any other Charlotte Mason Home schoolers.

Living Books Homepage

William Blake

2008-11-17T21:21:00.001-06:00

From Wikipedia....

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake's work is now considered seminal in the history of both poetry and the visual arts. Blake's prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language".^[1] His visual artistry has led one modern critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced".^[2] Although he only once travelled any farther than a day's walk outside London over the course of his life,^[3] his creative vision engendered a diverse and symbolically rich corpus, which embraced 'imagination' as "the body of God",^[4] or "Human existence itself".^[5]

Considered mad for his idiosyncratic views by contemporaries, later criticism regards Blake highly for his expressiveness and creativity, as well as the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterized as part of both the Romantic movement and "Pre-Romantic",^[6] for its largely having appeared in the 18th century. Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the Church of England, Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions,^[7] as well as by such thinkers as Jacob Boehme and Emanuel Swedenborg.^[8]

Despite these known influences, the originality and singularity of Blake's work make him difficult to classify. The 19th century scholar William Rossetti characterised Blake as a "glorious luminary,"^[9] and "a man not forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known or readily surmisable successors."^[10]

The Cross in the Mountains

2008-11-03T14:10:00.003-06:00

This is the first portrait that we are looking at of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). He was a German Romantic painter. Here is what I read about him from CGFA.

He began to paint in oils in 1807; one of his first canvases, The Cross in the Mountains (1807?, Staatliche Kunstsamm-lungen, Dresden), is representative of his mature style. A bold break from traditional religious painting, this work is almost pure landscape; the figure of the crucified Christ, seen from behind and silhouetted against a mountain sunset, is almost lost in the natural setting. According to Friedrich's own writings, all the elements in the composition have symbolic meanings. The mountains are allegories of faith; the rays of the setting sun symbolize the end of the pre-Christian world; and the fir trees stand for hope. Friedrich's cold, acid colors, clear lighting, and sharp contours heighten the feeling of melancholy, isolation, and human powerlessness against the ominous forces of nature expressed in his paintings. As a faculty member of the Dresden Academy, Friedrich influenced later German romantic painters. Although his reputation declined after his death, 20th-century viewers are fascinated by his imagery.

Building Character in Young Girls

2008-11-03T07:45:00.004-06:00

"Each decision made for good, each temptation resisted, each mean thought overcome with a kind one, each stubborn feeling quenched...is a brick added to the building of GOOD CHARACTER."

from A Girl Of Beauty by Carol Fiddler

A Girl of Beauty is a lovely book that I was introduced to one year when I helped to plan a Mother-Daughter Retreat. Our theme that year was building character in young girls. I got the book then, but had forgotten it on a lonely school shelf. Last night, I remembered it and dusted it off. The chapters are titled below. Each chapter is short and to the point followed by a few questions. The chapters are based on scriptures from the Bible and give an easy addition of memory work with the weekly reading. This week, for instance, we will read the chapter on Character Building. The verse that she will memorize is Proverbs 22:1 "A good name is more desirable than great riches." I'm looking forward to character development of my own in addition to helping my daughter become a girl of beauty.

Chapters:

Character Building
Truthfulness
Obedience
Sunshine-Makers
Sincerity
Careful Words
Keeping Confidences
Ideals
Ambition
A Sense of Purpose
Service
Personal Presentation
Courtesy and Respect
Loyalty
Competition
Disappointments
Meditation
Contentment
Besetting Faults

Documenting the Journey

2008-10-27T23:43:00.004-05:00

I'm a former teacher educating my own three children at our farm in the country. The children love living out in the country and I find that it is quite suitable for home schooling. My children are in preschool, 1st grade, and 5th grade. Miss A is the oldest, Mr. C the middle and Miss J the youngest. Each as different as night and day. Each challenging in their own right. Each a joy and blessing to our family. As we journey through school, I find that I often wish I had one place to organize all that we do. My hope is that this blog will journal their walk through school as they learn to read, learn about the world around them, and learn more about their Savior. Sort of a scrap book that can't get torn up, spilled upon, or eaten by our lovely dog, Sally.

Enjoying the journey,
Mrs. P

Handmade at the Farm

CuTe Valentine Crafts from the web!

survived the fair

Lapped Zipper application

Baby Proof Your Homestead!

WFMW: Dry Erase and Page Protectors

Make Your Own Lined Envelopes

Works for Me Wednesday- OrGanIzInG with Cozi

Gluten Free Ginger Shortbread

Ingredients

Directions

Today's schedule

So it's been a poopy day....literally

Strawberries!

Toddlers terrorizing your home school?

Honey Baked Lentils

Bread in Five...GF

January Gardening Lists

And Just so you know...

Baking Day

I won!

DIY Liquid Stevia Drops

Reddi-Wip Love

The Jesse Tree

Garlic Lime Chicken

Garden #2- Hugelkultur

Real Life Science project

My Heart is Full

Flaky Pie Crust from Scratch

Just some changes....

A Nursery of His Own

Thanksgiving Fun on Pinterest!

Habit Formation

Easter Lessons

A fine morning to study wildflowers

Beethoven's 5th

math fact practice

Apollo 11 Moon Landing

Back to Blogging...

Conjunction Junction

Magic "e" - Reading Game

New Baby. New School Year

2010-2011 School Year

Homeschool or Clean House???

Updated Curriculum and Books

Teach Me to Crochet

Watercolor Pencils

A Pillow Case Dress

Learning to Crochet

Finished Botany today!

When Mama has Limited Energy

Handicrafts: Decorative Eggs in a Basket

A First: Handmade Basket

Nature Study: Digging for Arrow Heads

Vowel File Folder Booklet

Librivox on your iPhone!

Started LBC Year 5

Living Books Grade 5 Overview

Training Daughters to be Keepers at Home

Living Books Year 5

Planning for the school year...

Summer Break

Fingerplays for the littlest homeschoolers

Medieval Fashions

Colonial Redwork Patterns

The Crusades

A Short Study of Tornadoes

What to Draw and How to Draw It

When Knights Were Bold, Eva March Tappan

The Book of Dragons, E. Nesbit

Real Math

Learning Grammar is FUN!

Castles, Pages, Squires, and Knights.

The Starry Night

Storytelling

Rolling out and cutting Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread Houses for Math

Loreta’s Favorite Gingerbread Dough

Christmas tree advent calendar

North Pole Freebies