52 Books Week 40

"A library is a hospital for the mind." Anonymous

I have been sharing quotes about reading from a list located here if you want to check it out.

56. A Song For Your Honor by Kay Evans

Fit Mommy Friday Week 5

I had a pretty good week!  We got back to walking in the morning.  I did work in the garden Thursday morning instead of walking.  I got some extra walking in when we went to the airport to pick our son up Wednesday night.  I missed a day of PBS and HD.  I didn't garden each evening cause I was doing extra work inside.  I did give up the chocolate and grains when I started the Specific Carb Diet on Monday.  I was feeling better until I took my supplements again, so I will not take them for awhile and see if that is part of the problem. 

Next week, more of the same.  I'm not going to add onto my fitness goals until I am more consistent.  I'm removing the BWO+ from my list until I can walk daily without pain in my toe.  I guess that's it for this week's report. 

***Have a great week***

Click here to join other mommies who are getting fit.

State Of The Homeschool: Our School Style

We use the Robinson Curriculum in our homeschool with ideas from Charlotte Mason and the Well Trained Mind. 

The children read great books on different topics and narrate or write a notebook page about what they have read.  After they have learned their math facts using flashcards they move on to the Saxon 5/4 math book.  As you can see our emphasis is on reading, writing, and arithmetic.  We have been schooling this way for about 6 years.

Here is a basic run through of our day so you can get an idea of how we work in different subjects and extras like grammar.  The younger students go through their flashcards for 30 minutes while the older ones begin their math lesson.  We use D.I.V.E. dvds when they reach the harder maths otherwise they read the lesson in the book and then begin working their problems.  After flashcards are finished I read aloud and then they work on writing, grammar(3x a week), reading, and computer work.  We use the computer for spelling, learning the states and capitols, and vocabulary for the 6th grade and up.  By then it is usually time for lunch.  After lunch they have another 30 minute session of flashcards and more quiet reading time.  In the colder months we also have another reading time after dinner.

We do a few things once per week such as craft, science experiment, nature book/lesson, mapwork, and Spanish.  My older students each have a checklist of what they need to do each day.  They work more indepently and turn in their work as they finish it.  I also have a checklist of what they need to do so I can make sure they are keeping up with everything.  My seventh grader is mostly in the independent cattagory but still needs a nudge from me every once in awhile. 

I was using Old Fashioned Education last year which we liked but I was reading all of the books aloud to my younger students.  I started trying to plan out 4 different levels of O.F.E. and how I would get them all to keep up with their reading when I had the brilliant thought to use what I already have!  Duh!  I have many of the R.C books printed already so why should I print more books?  Instead of having them read just one R.C book I am going to give them books on different subject(which is what I really liked about O.F.E.)  and let them read and read and read.  So my 7th, 5th, 3rd, and 1st graders have books on History, Literature, Natural Science, Geography, and their Bibles on their personal bookshelves to read.  I am supplementing the R.C. list with books by Holling C. Holling, D'Aulaire, and nature readers I have on hand.  As our budget allows I will add more Natural Science books to our shelves.  My 7th grader will also be starting more formal science this year. 

So that is a small look at how we homeschool.  Next week I will share some of the free resources we use in our homeschool. 

Winter Garden To Be

I am going to start a series on our winter garden.  If I have to write and share pictures of it I will be more motivated to follow through with my plans.

Here is a picture of where the winter garden will be.  I will also have things planted in the big veggie garden.

I am making this a school project.  My goal is to be able to harvest something from the garden every day of the year.  I don't know if I will be able to grow enough produce to do that this year but it will be a fun challenge to try.

How will we be able to have plants to harvest in our zone 6 garden on the coldest days of the year?  We will plant some things such as cabbage, lettuce, and greens which we can harvest up through the first few frosts.  One area will be planted with crops such as carrots, beets, and swiss chard which we will cover with a foot of hay and then a layer of plastic.  The last section will be made with hay bales around the edges and plastic on top to make a mini greenhouse.  We will plant lettuce and other greens in the hopes of fresh salads. 

I tried mini tunnels last year.  I didn't keep up with the watering and harvesting so it wasn't very productive.  I also planted too late for the plants to mature in time.

Here are two links to posts I wrote last fall about winter gardening and how to build a mini tunnel.

mini tunnel and photos of a large tunnel we used in the mountains

How and why to build a poly tunnel.

Have you ever grown a winter garden?  Any tips for me?

My Teen Is Keeping Himself Busy

Boys have lots of energy.  If you don't keep them busy they will find something to do.  That can be good or bad.  My sixteen year old decided we needed grass out front so he took out all of the overgrown junipers. 

Then he had to burn everything, of course.  The plan is to make grassy mounds in two different areas of the front yard.  This will require moving a lot of fill dirt.  The boys are out there digging right now.

Yesterday he decided to give his younger brother's basic guinea pig cage an upgrade.  Here is the only before picture I have.  It was one level.

Now it is two level with plans to expand the top level later.  He recycled some cupboard doors and paneling.  This is a surprise for his brother.  He will be home tomorrow.

See two levels.  I call it the Piggy Palace.

That's it for this week.  It's amazing how much work they can do in a day.  I need some of their energy!

My Veggie Garden In July

It's time for our monthly garden walk.

See my short corn?

Not much of a corn fort yet.

Morning glory is finally growing up the arbor.

Can you tell I like sunflowers?  Most of these are volunteers from last summer's plants.

There is still a lot of empty space. 

I'm glad I planted lots of flowers.  I call this my ornamental vegetable garden since we aren't harvesting much yet. 

I think I need to water less. 

I keep finding this animal in my herb garden.  He keeps sneaking outside to roll around on the catnip. 

Well, that's it.  Hopefully next month I'll have a better harvest report, like more than one tomato for the year!

Weekly Memory Verse For Children #1

I want my children to memorize Bible verses as I did when I was a child.  I will share a verse that they have memorized or are working on each week.  The verses will be from the New King James version of the Bible.

O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8:9

Even our four year old was able to memorize this one.  I print the verses out in large type and hang them on the wall.  When they have memorized one I add another.  We try to remember to practice the new verse each day and the old verses once a week or so.  If we don't add a verse a week that's o.k.  I'm just happy that they are learning them and enjoying the process.

52 Books Week 39

"Beware of the man of one book" Anonymous

54. The Revolutionary Paul Revere by Joel J. Miller

55. Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis

Good thing I was ahead on my reading list because I've only finished two books in the last three weeks. 

Fit Mommy Friday Week 4

I had a decent week although it started out HOT, 100's, Yuck, which took away my desire to do anything other than try to keep cool.  After I survived that part of the week it was easier to exercise.  So here's the breakdown of my week with my new goals below. 

M- no walk, no gardening- Too Hot!!!

T- same as above

W- worked on winter garden instead of morning walk + gardened in evening

T- same as above

F- worked on winter garden in morning.  Looks like rain this afternoon but I will go grocery shopping and walk then.

I did do a PBS (primary back stretch-T-Tapp lingo) each day.  I did lots of extra housework since our dishwasher broke and I had to do the dishes each day.  I also started flylady and my bathroom has never been so clean.  I didn't ride my bike or do T-Tapp. 

Hopefully, I'll get out for a walk and a bike ride this weekend.  I like spying on the gardens in our neighborhood!

Next Week's Plan

*PBS and HD(hoe down in T-Tapp lingo) each day
*Walk each morning+garden each evening
*Ride or do BWO+(T-Tapp Basic Workout Plus) 1 time
*Think about giving up my dark chocolate habit
*Think about going off grains again.  I don't eat them everyday and I do think they cause problems for me.

***I hope everyone else had a great week! ***

Click here to join other Mommy's who are getting fit. 

State Of The Homeschool: High School Senior

Caleb didn't start his Spanish studies soon enough so if he goes back to NMMI he will graduate a year late.  He was o.k. with graduating late but not a whole year so he has decided to finish his school career at home.  He does want to go back to NMMI for Jr. college next year.

So here are the subjects he will study this year and some of the resources he will use.

Advanced Math- Saxon

Chemistry- Apologia

English- Easy Grammar daily lessons program, daily essay, lots of reading, my husband and I will work with him to improve his writing skills

Spanish- Tell Me More and I will have him do lessons and tests from Spanish I and II textbooks that we have.

World History- DK History of the World, Timetables of History, R.C(Robinson Curriculum) books, one research paper on a topic of his choice each semester

Economics- Fiat Money Inflation in France, Economics in One Lesson, What Has the Government Done To Our Money?

P.E.- daily workouts, teach siblings different sports

Leadership/C.A.P(Civil Air Patrol)- study daily to earn next promotion, mentor his younger brother

Art- we will rotate through drawing, sculpting, and watercolor 

My son is very good at math so I know he will do well.  He doesn't like to read so we are going to emphasize improving his reading and writing skills.  We are starting his studies now so he will have enough time to master the first two years of Spanish by next summer.

I am a little worried about whether he will get all of this work done.  He made the decision to stay home and he knows what he needs to do so I just need to let go and let him take on the responsibilities of his decision.

Book Review: TOS Travel Kits A Simple Way To Bless Others by Donna Rees

This ebook  presents the who, what, when, where, why and how of making travel kits to give to your friends and family.  There are many pictures throughout the book so you can see exactly what the author is teaching you.  The book is 93 pages long and filled with more ideas for putting together unique travel kits than you could ever come up with on your own.

I was amazed by all of the details Donna Rees included in this ebook.  She has many creative ideas for making fun travel kits and goes into the details of exactly how to assemble them.  There was much more to this book than I thought there would be from reading the title.  She has so many different ways listed for how to wrap, assemble and present the gifts.  Donna covered the contents of the kits in great detail, with a breakdown of what kinds of toys are appropriate for boys or girls and also different ages.  She explained the best places to buy the gifts and listed some of her favorites to give.

There were many ideas that I could easily use for occasions other than travel such as stocking stuffers, a scavenger hunt, or even party goodie bags.  I can see myself using the information in this book for my own family and others.  One of my favorite ideas that she shared was to assemble a travel kit and mail it to someone who will be traveling to visit you.  What a great way to build anticipation and excitement for the visit to come.

If you are interested in putting together travel kits for your family or others I highly recommend this book. 


Travel Kits A Simple Way To Bless Others
ebook format
For all ages
$12.45

Visit the Old Schoolhouse store
Click here to purchase from TOS Magazine's Schoolhouse Store.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from The Old Schoolhouse and the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The King's Kippage

See the nifty button over on the right, below my archive list?  Mrs. Mandy made it for our mini crew.  What's a mini crew?  We are a group of four ladies who are being mentored by a more experienced crew member(known as our first mate) for our year long cruise with The Old Schoolhouse Magazine's Homeschool Crew.  We get to review homeschool curriculum and other products for the magazine.

This year I am on the older crew which means I get to try out products for 6th grade and up.  There are also products that will be useful for my younger students that all of the crew members get to try.  I am grateful for this opportunity since we don't get to buy many extras for our homeschool.  It will also be fun to work with my 12 year old who often gets lost in the middle between the teens and the needier younger children.

Wanna See Our Mostly Finished Schoolroom?

Come on in.  Remember we still have to tape, texture, and paint the walls.

Here is the preschool play area. 

Here is our elementary school.  We found the desk and chair sets for $7.00 each at a garage sale.  I need to find two more sets.

This is the Junior High school.  I found the maps at Costco for $6.99 each.  They are laminated, I'll show you the other one in a second.  Oh, our Jr. high student is visiting his grandparents and has a few surprises waiting on his desk.

Here is my desk.  I put my Beware of Mama sign on my desk, it seemed like the perfect place for it!

A cozy spot for the little boys to sit and look at books or play quietly, we hope.

Three bookshelves which were given to us.  I was hoping to find two at a low cost and we were given these three and the other shelves which hold the toddler toys on the same day.  Thank you!  I am only going to bring the books we need for the year into the schoolroom to keep it nice and tidy.  I had enough room to give each student a shelf to keep the books they are reading.  The stuff on top of the bookshelves are rewards the children can earn for winning the room and bedroom competition we hold each week.  I also have some bribes if they have a good school day.

Our first experiment brooding(hatching chicken eggs) with lots of space for crafts and other projects.  There is the other map from Costco.  I only have a few things in these cupboards.  I don't have a lot of curriculum type things since we use Robinson Curriculum.  We just have lots of books! 

It is nice to have all of our school things in one room.  Before this they were in dressers, closets, and any extra storage space in four different rooms of our house!  So that is that.  I would show you the Senior High but that is our dining room or my son's bedroom.  You really don't want to see the bedroom! 

If you have a schoolroom tour post can you leave a comment so I can visit? 

Book Review: The Revolutionary Paul Revere by Joel J. Miller

There is so much more to learn about Paul Revere than his ride to warn of  the coming of the British.  Joel J. Miller writes in an easy, interesting to read style which keeps your attention and the pages turning.  This 258 page biography of Paul Revere includes an appendix which lists his family and further notes about some of them.  There is a notes section which lists sources and books for further study and the book is also indexed. 

I enjoyed learning more about Paul Revere as I read this book.  I didn't know anything about him beyond what is taught in school so I read about his family life with great interest.  The progress he made in his abilities as a silversmith and artisan, who would try his hand at many different types of metal work, showed he was a revolutionary in his work life as well as his political life.  Although this book focused on Mr. Revere it helped me understand more about the founding of our nation and the many struggles people faced during that time.  I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to learn about the man, Paul Revere along with the part he played in our country's history.

I received a complimentary copy of this book to review. 

Carrots in the Flower Bed?

Sure, why not.  You do have to be patient to get these results.

The flower is reminiscent of Queen Anne's Lace which I have always admired.  Now you can have these pretty white flowers in your border with very little work.

I planted a bunch of carrots along the veggie garden side of the flower beds last year and left a few during harvest time.  They won't flower the first year but carrot foliage is pretty and will add a nice backdrop for other flowers. 

The roots will overwinter without any fussing on your part and they will be one of the first plants to make an appearance in the spring, then during summer they will produce the pretty white flowers.  I'm going to deadhead the browned blossoms to see how many flowers I can get out of one plant.  Then I will let it go to seed.

So go out and buy a packet of carrots to plant in the next month or two and then sit back and wait for your pretty flowers to show up.  I'm going to add many more to my flower beds this summer.