Planning update

Last year I went back to my homeschool tracker program in January.  I really love the ease of putting all the lesson plans into a grid and then moving them over to the assignment grid each week and being able to print out a daily to do list for the kids. 

I should say that its easy, after its all put into the program.

I am currently putting in all the lesson plans for the year into this program.  For some subjects, like math, its extremely easy.  Others like history or science, not so much.  For those subjects, I have to sort lessons outs and I'm working on making note sheets for the kids.  For example, TL's biology has the reading assignment, vocab words, and questions all ready for him to work on.  Its taking some time to do this, but once its done, I can use it for all five kids so no problems really.  Same thing with History.  We use Tapestry of Grace so I design sheets for the kids to take notes and work off of each week.  It seems to work out much better for them and me.  I know, I make a lot of work for myself but I'm OCD and everything has to have a place.

On the farm:
We're starting to get some veggies in.  The massive load should be in a few weeks and then I'll be canning canning canning!

The chickens are getting huge!!  We need to finish up their nesting boxes and do a little clean up to their coop.

My dad is here right now and has been busy for the last ten days doing projects with the kids.  They power washed the deck and put a new screen door on.  TL and dad put up motion lights outside the barns because we don't have any outside lights here and it gets dark!!  Dad also fixed the lights inside the big barn and outside of the garage.  And he fixed the exhaust fan from the bathroom....the pipe was filled with bird nest fixins.  And most importantly he fixed the shower.  I think all of his projects are done except to help me hang up stuff in the house.  We still don't have anything on the walls.

In the house:
I made my own laundry detergent the other day.  No problems at all; it was easier than I thought.  It seems to clean the clothes just fine so I don't have any problems with that.  I've also started using vinegar mixed with essential oils for softener.  Works great!!

I hope to work on making some mixes for taco and ranch seasonings.  And I'm going to be blessed with a freezer (mine died a few months ago) next week so I can start working on stocking up again and freezing some meals. 

I also hope to get the living room and dining room painted in the next few weeks. 

And I'm still doing cleanup outside.  The weeds shot up during our two months of rain and then I didn't have a weed eater, so you can imagine how it looks.

Take care everyone and have a blessed week!!

Michelle

Summer....

Summer has finally arrived here the last few weeks.  We've enjoyed rain only once or twice a week instead of every day.  I'm still trying to weed eat around the farm and the garden beds as those areas are about two to three feet high.  All that rain just fed those weeds.  I did just pull out a bunch of them, it was easy peasy to do because the soil was so wet.

The chickens are huge and running around the yard.  They love to perch up in the corn crib, which is the barn where their coop is.  I don't think they realize that that's not entirely theirs, but whatever.   We should start getting eggs in another two months but first we have to build more nesting boxes.  I didn't expect thirty chickens and up till this week all have survived.  We lost one the other day to illness.  I pulled it out and gave it medicine but it didn't make it. 

TL returned from boy scout camp this week.  He had a great time and really got to know some of the boys.  He was appointed ASPL during camp, which is great.  He has two eagle required merit badges to work on during this summer/fall to earn life hopefully by Christmas.  I think he's excited to see how close he is to Eagle.

The girls have made an entire list of badges to work on for American Heritage girls.  I hope to go through one or two this summer.  They will also earn three at camp, which is in August.  I know they are a little nervous, but they will have a great time.

I've been working on lesson plans.  I hope to have most of them done before August.  My dad comes this week though and we'll be doing projects around the house so not sure how much I will get done.

I've designed our school year as I've wanted it in the past but never really been able to do it.  We will start August doing math, spelling, and reading.  September we will start a full schedule through the second week of June.  We will take a week off in September because my mom comes.  I have figured out that we will have seven weeks of school and then one off.  I will change up the weeks if I have to for visits from Kevin or my parents.

Here's how it looks so far:
                  August 5-Sept 20     school
             Sept 23-27              off
            Oct 30-Nov 15          school
            Nov 18-22                off
            Nov 25-Dec 20th       school
            Dec 23-Jan 3            off-Christmas break
            Jan 6-Feb 21            school
            Feb 24-28                off
            March 3-April 18       school
            April 21-25               off
            April 28-June 13       school

This gives us 39 full weeks of school.  I plan to school on most of the holidays that schools are off or we will do field trips those days.  The Christmas break will be flexible depending on when Kevin comes home. 

This week we'll be working with Grandpa and enjoying the pond up the street.  We swim all summer on a family pass which is pretty cheap.  Love fun summer days!

Cow chasin'

Seriously, I need to write a book.  We went to our friend's house last night and got home around 10:30.  I pulled into the driveway and my lights hit the cow standing out in front of the barn..........which means they got lose out of the pasture.  It moved into the pasture which holds my garden and there were the rest happily munching away.  I was upset thinking that they were eating my plants but they didn't.  Anyway, they went over and stood next to the gate that led them into the pasture with the barn so we opened it up.  Two got spooked and took off in the other direction.

It was dark.  Pitch black and we don't have any lights outside on the farm and I can't get the ones to work that are here.  When the previous owner comes next month I will have him show me the trick of turning the lights on.  But I digress.

Here we are hunting them in the dark.  We found the gate they got out of.  TL and his friend had gotten rid of some weeds for me and forgot to close the gate.  I felt bad because I had to call the owner so late because I couldn't remember how many cows there were.....he was adding some and took some home, another one had had a calf.....too much for my little mind to keep track of.

The other two had ended up going through the gate before we shut it and got back in themselves.  In the end, we caught all before the owner even got there and he only lives ten minutes away.

good times.  good times on the homestead!

Been so so busy

May and June we had about forty inches of rain.  I didn't have a weed eater, so my trim and around the garden beds got to be about two feet tall.  This was the first week of sun we've had, and I've been working all week and haven't made a dent in the trim and weed eating.  Guess what I'll be doing this week?

I spent thirty hours selling fireworks at a tent in front of Wally World to raise funds for our church.  We have a building we call the Refuge with a large gym and a large game room.  We offer free after school programs for K-6th grade and open it up to the teens every Friday night.  We include free snacks in with this, so it takes a lot of money to run.  The town where our church is has about 600 people, and we have about 125 kids run through the programs each week.

I also had to get TL ready for boy scout camp, he returns today.  Today is the first day of rain in a week and its pouring.  I hope they're a little drier up there trying to pack up.

Last week we also hosted a boy scout troop from NE on their way to camp in WI.  They need a place to over night and I offered my place.  They were going to set up their tents but didn't arrive until almost dark as the youngest had gotten car sick.  There were four boys and two leaders so we had boys all over the living room.  I tell you, they were the nicest boys ever.  They played dolls with the little ones and let Bug-a-bug do their hair.  They even took time out of camp this week to get together and call and wish Bug-a-bug happy birthday.  We are excited as they have asked if they could stop in again on their way home and relax with us.  Of course we said yes!!

And of course it was Bug-a-bug's tenth birthday this year.  She's very excited that she will be getting her military id soon. 

I'm busy trying to work on lesson plans and some sort of schedule for next year while trying to keep up with the inside and outside.  I made a new chore chart and it seems to be helping a lot.  I'm also trying to work on a few wallhangings to get up when my dad comes next week.  I hope to do some painting while he's here and he can take the kids out for a while so I don't have to worry about them putting their hand in the paint.  Right now we have nothing on the walls and I really want to get stuff up soon.....we've almost lived here for a year already!

Garden produce should be coming in soon.  I'll be a canning mad woman.  I haven't canned in about twenty years so this aught to be interesting.    I'm also working on making our own laundry soap and softener this month.  I buy from a wellness company but we just can't afford it anymore....its too pricey.


So just super busy this summer.  I hope to take the kids to some state parks and check them out on the cooler days and already have field trips lined up to a Civil War Reenactment and a Pow Wow in Sept.  Oct we will hit the zoo and another state park.  I plan on doing a field trip once a month if I can.

Take care all and enjoy your summer!!

Cow Tippin'

I grew up in a rural area where the farmers were just starting to fizzle out and the reaches of the city were extending into the rural areas with new subdivisions and new laws telling families that they couldn't have cows or horses anymore.

Still, we had plenty of fun catching tadpoles, playing with the barn cats, getting lost in corn fields, and always joking about cow tippin'.

When I started working in Buffalo, many of my "city" friends wanted to know if I'd ever been cow tippin'.  Seriously, did they really think you could walk up and push over a cow ranging from 500-1000 pounds?  Yes they probably did.

We had a septic system at my house and of course a leech bed in the yard where the grass was really green and long.  Once I invited my city friends over and they wanted to know about area of the yard to which I replied, "its the leech bed."  They wanted to know if there were really leeches out in it to which I sarcastically replied that yes there were and we used them to drain off our blood when we were ill just like in years past.  I still wonder if some of them believed me or not.

As you all know, we've had quite a few eventful weeks with things breaking and leaking around here.  So last night, I went to shut the chicks up for the night and I noticed our dog on the other side of our fence in the neighbors bean field.  The cows that are in our back pasture were bellowing so I figured he was bugging them and I had no idea how he got out there.  So, I called him and he appeared at my side.......the black animal on the other side of the fence was one of the calves.  It was dusk and I really didn't look thinking it was Shadow.  So we called out Trey and the owner of the cows came over and we chased the calf threw the bean field and back to her mama.  It was quite the adventure.

I silently pictured cow tippin' the whole time the Green Acres theme was running through my head.

So, then last night I'm on the phone with Kevin relaying the events.  He tells me that he would have chased the calf around the property to get her back up into one of the front pens. (The cows are in the back eight acres of fenced area.  The front four acres are divided into four pastures and the house area.....all of which is fenced except for the driveway).  I kinda thought that was  a lot of work trying to drive her so far when the gate was fifteen feet from where she was at.  And then he told me that he would have just chased it, caught it, and put it back with its mama.  I told him next time he was home I was going to have Dan bring a calf into the back eight acres and watch him "chase and catch it".  I'll have my video camera ready.  Let the chuckles and snorting begin!!  hehe

When it rains it pours

First the fridge/freezer in the garage died.  Thankfully, I didn't lose a lot as there wasn't much in the freezer.

Then the air conditioning died in the truck.

The push lawn mower died.

We all got a severe case of the stomach flu.

Yesterday I discovered that the carpet in my bedroom is wet.  About six inches from the wall the borders the shower in the bathroom.  I'm going to rip off the baseboard and see if I can figure out what's going on.  I really don't have the money to deal with a big problem but its looking like its going to be that way. 

Pray for my sanity and an inexpensive fix.

And so it begins.....

Normally at this time of year, I have all of my curriculum already purchased for next year.  Not this time.  I'm just starting to order and hopefully some starts coming in soon so I can start lesson plans.  I will be placing smaller orders all through the summer because I have so much to get this year with five in homeschooling.  This year, I'm also placing some things on ebay and hoping that I can earn enough money to pay for the microscope that TL needs for biology.

We have been busy this week with swimming lessons down in our town's pool.  Well, okay they call it a pool, I call it a pond cause that's what it is.  They had to close it on Wednesday and Thursday to take care of the swimmer's itch.  Thankfully my kids hadn't been affected by it too much.

My father in law is currently in the hospital getting IVs full of antibiotics.  He's diabetic and has had a cut on his toe that hasn't healed in four months.  It had taken a nasty turn and they were talking about amputation but now it looks like the antibiotics are helping so that's wonderful news.

We have a friend who is also in the hospital.  His appendix burst and he is currently being pumped up with antibiotics and pain meds.  They hope to wait  until the antibiotics start to kill the infection before doing surgery.  Right now his intestines are all swollen, which is good because they are keeping the infection in one area, so they don't want to do surgery and risk hurting his intestines moving them out of the way.  His name is James, please pray for him.

The chickens are doing well.  They are half feathers and half fur right now.  Still cute, but starting to fly around and freaking the girls out some. 

The garden is doing well.  The push mower died, of course.  And we don't have a weed eater yet so we look a little ghetto right now.  I'm waiting for the farmer to pay us the money for renting out our pasture land to him so I can go and get a weed eater and then I can clean up this place.  It really needs it.

I started a new chore system with the kids.  TL has one household chore a day and cleaning up his room.  He is responsible for mowing (which takes about 5-7 hours a week with weed eating) and burning all of the trash.  He also helps the most with the chickens.  I have split up the house into three zones.  I have the smallest zone with the downstairs bath and my room....but I also have all of the garden to work on and weeding out these horrific flower beds and don't even get me started on the asparagus patch!  The oldest two girls have a small helper and get the larger zones....one is the kitchen, dining room, and upstairs bath and the other is the living room, schoolroom, and upstairs bath.  We worked together on the list and came up with chores that should only take them about 30 minutes to maybe an hour each day.  I realize I was trying to do to much, especially with everything that's outside that needs to be done and hope this new list helps out more with the zones instead of individual chores. 

I'm off to clean up the littles room and then hope to pull out my sewing machine today.  Its rainy on and off today and with the two inches of rain we got last night, its too wet to go out and do any gardening anyway.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Summer plans

As I'm writing this, I see out my window....could it be?......yes, it is the sun peeking out from behind the clouds.  I'm praying that it warms up (we've still had the heat on especially at night) and gets sunny out to help my garden.  Things are starting to pop up out of the ground but there aren't any bees around with the cold weather and rain.  I'm wondering if I'm going to have to take matters into my own hand and help out the plants.

I had planned on schooling with our shortened summer schedule through June.  I forgot to take into account Vacation Bible School at our church this week which runs in the evening.  It makes for a long day and night, and late bed times.  I've been letting the kids sleep in to try so that they aren't so grumpy at VBS.

I believe that we will run through the end of June and then take July completely off.  We have birthdays, camps, and of course, the fourth of July.  We'll start again on our easy schedule for a few weeks in August before starting in on our heavy fall schedule.  I'll add a little to our schedule each week starting at the end of August.  My mom is coming to visit at the end of September so we will take that week off and then head into the thick of it again.  I'm going to try to do several weeks on and then a week off.  Everyone likes the break, including myself and it allows me time to get things done around the house.  I function much better with order.

This summer we'll be doing a lot of work around the farm trying to get it into shape.  We have several state parks nearby that we want to explore and a swimming hole at the end of our street that the kids can go to.  They call it the swimming pool but its really a pond that has lifeguards and swim lessons.  Should be a good time, if it ever warms up that is.

Take care everyone and enjoy your summer!!

Michelle