So busy....

I started working again this week doing online scoring for the next few weeks.  Its interesting and fun but the first week is always a struggle; trying to figure out how to squeeze work into my daily routine.

The big girls are working part time at the local greenhouse.  I'm going to help out two mornings a week also.  I can't wait to learn more about some of the plants and spend my paycheck buying plants!!  lol  It was warm here up until this past weekend and then it dropped back into the 40s.  We even had a little snow this week.  I haven't been able to finish weeding out my garden and with all the rain the last few days and with what is expected this next week, I may need to mow it.  I did manage to trim the raspberries up and weed out the strawberries. 

Our year is almost to a close with American Heritage Girls. Tonight we had a celebration to honor our newest Stars and Stripes recipient (which is comparable to an Eagle Scout project).  It was a lovely ceremony.  This week is our last regular meeting for the year and then we will be holding our end of the year awards ceremony in a few weeks.  Bug-a-bug is leveling and moving up to the highest level that AHG has.  I'll be curious to see if she decides to do a Stars and Stripes project after seeing the ceremony tonight.

I've been  working on finding homeschooling material for next year.  I think that we are going to do a few dvd programs for the big girls.  I just can't teach them everything; there just isn't time.  I'd like them to do language arts and science with a dvd instructor.  I've decided to do Homeschool in the Woods for the littles.  We have not been great with history this year so I decided to start with the colonial period and start it next week.

Our easter was very relaxing.  We enjoyed staying at home that day.  I was wiped out from everything going on.  We did manage to color eggs, which was a lot of fun.  I realized that we haven't colored eggs in so long that the littles didn't even know what to do.  Bad momma moment!  I've been too lazy to color them and didn't want to purchase eggs when we have eggs from our chickens.  Our eggs are brown though and not great for laying.

We have two new goats on our little farm.  These girls are 100% boer goats.  The little red one is Little Lady and the black headed one is Moonlight.  They are very sweet indeed.

Have a wonderful week everyone!!
 

Catching up

I didn't post the last two weeks as we went on a quick trip to TN last weekend and I was getting ready and recovering.  In the mid 40's is not the age to drive 12 hours each way in three days, plus do a major event.  Ugh.  I was exhausted for days.  

We took the littles with us and went to TN for one of my husband's friend's retirement from the Navy.  It was a very nice affair and we really enjoyed connecting with everyone we haven't seen in a year.  We went to Steak and Shake and of course, Chick-fil-a.  The girls didn't get too spend too much time in the hotel pool as we were busy most of the time but that is okay.  They played with old friends and met some new ones.  Everyone was astonished at how think and long hubby's beard was.  He's even had it trimmed twice.

Another reason I haven't posted in two weeks is that I've been really busy around here.  I started scoring with Pearson again this weekend and in June, I'll be starting back to school to finish up my master's.  Also, I was contacted by the state regent from DAR (Daughter's of the American Revolution) to help me finish up my application for membership.  I had a few holes that I couldn't find information for and she called and then called  back 36 hours later to tell me that she had the information.  I couldn't believe it.  I hope to have the final information I need by mid-May to file my application.

Tonight, we are heading out to buy two more doelings.  We want to start breeding Boer goats and these will be the first ones that are registered.  The two males we have now are 3/4 boer and 1/4 alpine so they are not what we are looking for, but they will make good pets for the girls.  They love them already.

Have a wonderful week!

Catch up

Good morning everyone!!  

These little animals we have added to the homestead certainly keep us busy.  Princess Buttercup told me two days ago that she loves living on her farm. ahhhh, warmed my heart.

The goats are getting bigger and getting their horns.  They are eating hay and solid food now so we have to get them to drink water so they can be weaned off of the bottle.  

The horse, Shiloh, is doing well.  The girls are anxious to ride but the weather is not cooperating too much.  They did jump on for a little bareback the other day.

Princess Daisy is working hard to earn her cooking badge with American Heritage Girls.  She is super excited to earn badges.  Princess Buttercup is working on a few also.

Bug-a-bug took this photo for her online photography class from Currclick.  I think she did a nice job.  

I haven't taken pictures yet but the girls are all working on presentation boards for a country fair with some other homeschoolers.  Each picked a country and it working hard on their board.  They are due on Wednesday so we will be spending most of out time on Monday working on the boards.

The littles are also busy working on their life size human body.  They are learning about the different body parts and what they do.  We traced their bodies onto paper and are cutting out the organs to put on the body.  Its pretty fun and they really enjoy it.

I'm off for now.  Have a wonderful and blessed week!

 

Crazy busy

Hello everyone!!  I have not posted in quite a while.  Honestly, I'm not sure where the time goes.  We have been very busy on our little homestead.  The cow went into the butcher a few weeks ago and the two pigs went in last week.   Our freezers will be stocked.  Hubby has informed me that he'd like to get a meat grinder and we will attempt to make our own sausage.  Hopefully that will go well!

We also added two baby goats that we're bottle feeding and a new horse.

I'll have to upload the pictures of the horse for you to see.

One the school front, we've been very busy

• Horseback riding lessons started again last week.  The girls have improved a lot from when they started two years ago.  This is helping with our horse also, as she is trained but hasn't been worked with in over a year.
• Gymnastics class with other homeschoolers has been going on since November.  The three youngest participate in the class.  It has been a huge blessing.  There are only about four more weeks left then we will break until the fall.
• We just finished up ice skating.  Twice a month during the winter, the ice rink has open skate on Monday afternoons.  The homeschoolers have taken full advantage of this.  I even skated.  It wasn't pretty as its been years since I skated but I didn't fall.  The girls have never really been on the ice and did great.
• Read alouds:  I continue to read the Betsy books by Carolyn Haywood and The Boxcare Children books to youngest two.  They love the stories.
• Bible:  Our American Heritage Girls troop is memorizing Proverbs 31 and the class at church is teaching the littles the books of the Bible.
• Science:  The littles are studying the human body.  We just started and they are enjoying it so far.
• History:  The littles are studying Native Americans
• Math, Reading, Spelling, and Grammar continue.  Both littles are making huge strides this year but are a little behind so we are working hard to get caught up.
• The two big girls are very independent in their work.  Princess is taking an Interior Design class from Currclick Live and Bug-a-Bug is taking a French class and just finishe da photography class from Currclick Live also.

I think that's it for now.  We've experienced some strange weather this winter.  We've had these really warm days and then it snows again.  We had a tornado touch down last Monday just south of town and then six hours later, it snowed.  We are expecting another storm tomorrow that may bring up to 8 inches of snow.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Blessings,
Michelle

What a wonderful year!

This past year was full of blessings!  TL graduated from homeschool and is attending the local community college.  My stepson was married to a wonderful woman and right before Christmas they announced that they are expecting.  And Hubby finally retired from the Navy and is home with us. 

It has been a busy few months full of readjusting to life with Hubby at home.  Over the winter, he'll be on the road during the week and home on the weekends (he's a trucker).  He really enjoys his new job and is having a great time. 

We had a wonderful Christmas full of fun and games.  We put together three puzzles Christmas week and watched hours of Hallmark movies.  It was a lot of fun.  Very relaxed and easy.  I didn't feel too stressed at all.  I still have two boxes to mail out and a few Christmas cards and I'm not too worried about it.

I've spent the last few days working on homeschooling lessons.  I really let the planning portion of fun things slip away from me.  I'm glad I got it back under control.  I really felt like we were just doing the book basics and not doing anything fun.  So, we're diving into American Indians and the girls will be putting together all sorts of houses and crafts and making some recipes.  And we'll be studying geology in science and spending lots of time looking over rocks.  Later this year, we'll move forward into the colonies for History and study the American Revolution.  In science, we'll be studying weather and the human body.  I have some fun activities saved on Pinterest for those units.

I pray that you all have a wonderful New Year!!  

Blessings, 
Michelle  

Christmas Planner and Christmas projects

This year I put together a Christmas planner.  It has several sections: address book for cards, elf on the shelf ideas, items to make, and my recipes.  The items to make include quilts, table runners, stockings, wallhangings, scarves, and headbands.  Obviously, I will never make everything that is in there, but its nice to have it all in one place without having to search for patterns every single year.

I've also really enjoyed having all the tried and true recipes and new recipes to try, all in one place.  I was able to put together a nice shopping list that I've been working on for several weeks.  I'm happy that I'll have all the items on hand before I start baking.

I toned my card list alot this year.  I'm tired of sending out 80 or more cards and only receiving a few dozen back, so I've cut the list way back to almost half of that.  I feel much better and not so stressed about getting cards out.

I've made several table runners and wallhangings for our house this Christmas.  I'm finishing up a few and then I will put some pictures up.

I've also finished two cowls and am starting the third tonight.  I really enjoy knitting while watching all of the Hallmark Christmas movies.  My teen girls really love all those movies so we watch one almost every night.  My DVR gets filled up with Christmas movies that we will continue to watch throughout January.

I hope everyone is doing well!!  

Michelle

Catching up

I honestly meant to post every single week this year but life has been very busy.  Right now, I'm in full swing to make some Christmas presents to save a little bit of money this year.  

• Riding lessons ended for the year freeing up Monday nights.  Unfortunately, that is payday and the only night I have to grocery shop so I'm usually out and about.
• We have our Christmas party for AHG the first Tuesday in December and then not until January.  I will enjoy the break.
• Wednesdays were very busy with the after school program, play practice, and Life Groups.  Life Groups have ended for this year so I get a little break.  I just have to drop off and pick up kids now.
• Thursdays have started another gymnastics session.  We have three more classes left.  This one is a class instead of a playgroup.  A little more money but well worth it for the little girls to get the instruction they need and desire.  So, I drive up into town in the morning and then evening for banjo lessons for Bug-a-bug.
• Friday nights are still busy with the teens.
• The big girls did a nice unit on elections and learned quite a bit.  They were actually interested on election night and even followed some of the results as they came in.  
• The littles just finished up a big unit on Space and will be working on two short units before Christmas: Mammals and Fish.  It should be interesting and fun; not too involved since we'll be doing a Christmas unit too.  I'll take a few days off after our Thanksgiving unit this week to regroups before starting our Christmas unit.  We will be working on American Indians in history until Christmas break and then dive into the colonies and revolution after the New Year.
• Bug-a-bug doesn't enjoy her science very much as there isn't many experiments for her.  I need to work on that and challenge her some more.  She seems to really enjoy her history this year
• Princess is doing okay in history and science.  She doesn't seem to be bored stiff like in previous years

I've already decided what to do for history and science next year for the big girls.  I will be writing my own curriculum for 1800-1900 world history.  They will be doing a lot of reading and writing on their own.  For science, I've decided that we will take a year and a half to get through biology.  I really want to take my time and make sure that they really understand it all.  I'm hoping that they can take the clep test when they are done and not have to take a college science.  For the second half of the year, I hope to work on an introduction to chemistry.

I pray that you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!

Michelle

Busy Busy schedule

Until the end of this month, we've been busy running around five days a week.

• Mondays is riding lessons for the youngest three.  This ends next week.  I'm amazed at how well they ride after two years of lessons.   This is an expensive activity but well worth it to see their improvement and confidence rise.  And they all love it!
• Every other Tuesday night is American Heritage Girls.  We also have other activities scheduled such as service days and fun events so sometimes we're headed out on a Friday or Saturday also to an event.
• Wednesday the little girls go to the church after school program.  From now until our Christmas play, the older girls will also be going and helping out with the practice.  I arrive at 5:30 and we eat dinner at church and then do the Wednesday night bible study at 6:30.
• Thursdays are a little crazy right now.  The littles are in a gymnastics class in the am with other homeschoolers.  That ends next week.  It's almost turned into more of a playgroup so it wasn't really what I wanted.  They would love to do lessons though, so its been a good intro for them.  Later on that day, I run Bug-a-bug up to banjo lessons.
• Fridays are for the teens.  Our church runs a teen program open to the community Friday nights from 7-10.  They have a ton of fun.

We've all been getting used to hubby's schedule.  He leaves about 5am and gets home between 6-8pm.  He has an hour drive each way to work, which he does not enjoy.   A trucker is a much more relaxing job than being in the Navy.  He's really enjoying not having that responsibility anymore.  

We've been getting ready here for fall/winter.  I have to go out and finish up the garden tomorrow and rake leaves.  Today I have to make some caramel apple jam and do something with the squash and pie pumpkins.  (this means bake and puree the pumpkin but I'm not sure about the squash yet).  

We only did three days of school this week.  MN takes Thursday and Friday off and we do also.  I usually find that I am finishing up fall or canning projects and use those days wisely.  Plus, our church is doing the fall cleaning so I was there for five hours yesterday.  The big girls are at the MN Youth Conference with our church.  They are having a blast.

Enjoy your weekend!!

I'll be outside cleaning out the chicken coop, getting ready for the arrival of some pigs, and raking!