Down on the Farm with ChiknGirl

It's Almost Here, It's Almost Over

School and summer.  I like them both.  I worked hard this summer to make it a summer of memories for the kids, they missed out on the last 3 or 4 summers dues to family issues.  We had a few hiccups and plans didn't always work out, but overall I think we'll all look back on the summer of 2012 with fond memories.  I'm working on a "memory book" for the kids, I've kept souvenirs and taken pictures when I wasn't too busy having fun.  It will include:

• a camping trip at Ohanapecosh
• spelunking at the Ape Cave
• a picnic, swimming, and a short hike at Flaming Geyser State Park
• a wedding
• attending a Tacoma Rainier's game
• visiting Owen Beach at low tide
• overnights with both grandparents
• hiking the Silver Falls and Grove of the Patriarchs trails
• going to the spray-park with friends
• Anneliese went to Camp Oh Ah Lay Lay

We canceled one camping trip due to illness and there is one more trip I want to make before all the good weather is gone.  We're going to sneak in a day-trip to the ocean to play in the water and fly our kite.

We are taking one more week before we begin our formal studies.  This week Anneliese and Trevor are participating in a 3-day science camp put on by two moms in our homeschool group.  They will be doing activities like tye-dyeing a shirt, exploring owl pellets, making root beer floats, and launching rockets.

We have some big lifestyle changes ahead that we will tackle as a family, including a move to more self-sufficiency.

Thinking about...

blogging again.  There have been moments I've wanted to share or record for later or what ever.

all the fun things we are going to do this summer.

school in the fall.

limiting my "hobbies" so I can invest myself more fully in a few rather than spreading myself thin over a lot.

What have you been thinking about?

Bountiful Baskets

Bountiful Baskets is a nearly nationwide food co-op.  From their How It Works page they say,

This is a grass roots, all volunteer, no contracts, no catch co-operative.

Produce baskets are $15 with a $1.50 processing fee.  Most locations offer weekly pick-up and a few only have every other week pick-up.  Some locations also offer organic baskets, tropical baskets, bread, granola and more.  Unfortunately my location does not offer organic baskets at this time, but I hope that will change in the future.

I purchased and picked up my first basket from them this week and I will be doing so again.  This week's basket included:

• 4 huge peaches
• 6 large nectarines
• 2 large mangos
• 1 giant head of romaine
• 8 sweet potatoes
• 5 large beets
• 1 bunch of broccoli
• 2 bulbs of fennel
• 1 bunch of celery
• 2 large cucumbers
• 6 ears of corn

This is similar to the amount of produce we received weekly when we belonged to a CSA.  I encourage you to check and see if there is a location near you.

Weekly Wrap Up - September 24th

Another taxing week this week.  My dad went to the emergency room last Friday and ended up being admitted for 5 days.  He's home now and working on recovering.  Anneliese was very interested in all the machines he was hooked up to.  She learned a bit about oxygen saturation in blood, heartbeats and IVs.

Language Arts

• Trevor did pages for letter H in his Handwriting Without Tears book.  He also did practice lines of those letters and played the Mystery Letter Game for the "frog jump" letters he has learned so far.  He reviewed lesson 2 in All About Spelling Level 1 and completed lesson 3.  Trevor read books 11, 12, 13 and 14 in Collection 1 of Bob Books.  Trevor did the lessons 9, 10 & 11, still all about naming nouns, from First Language Lessons .  Trevor used magnet letters to make words from this last batch of BOB Books.
• Anneliese continued working on capital letters in her Handwriting Without Tears book. This week Anneliese's copywork was to write the poem The Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti which she has memorized.  Anneliese completed lesson 10 in All About Spelling Level Two.  She also completed lessons 9, 10 & 11 about naming nouns in First Language Lessons.

   Math

• Trevor continued working in his Singapore Earlybird Math and listening to the readers that go along with them. He played Sorry! with me.
• Anneliese worked in her Singapore Math 3A book again this week.  She is showing much more confidence with her subtraction since we took last week off.

  Social Studies

• Anneliese spent the week reading Meet Christopher Columbus.  We had a light week for history this week, next week we start some heavy stuff.  Both Anneliese and Trevor watched the movie about Columbus on BrainPOP Jr and completed the east quiz.

    Science

• The kids got to start R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Level 1 Life this week.  So much relief!  We are enjoying this so much more.  We completed lesson 1 reading and the first lab.  We are waiting to do the second lab until Saturday when we will be at a waterfront park.  We made science notebook covers with awesome National Geographic stickers I picked up at Micheal's on clearance last winter.  Angela (I hope I got that right, it's what came to mind and now I can't find it anywhere) at Satori Smiles has an awesome updated list of supplemental books and more to go along with this curriculum.

  Fine Arts

• Anneliese and Trevor completed lesson 5 of Artistic Pursuits Grades K-3 Book 2 Stories of Artists and Their Art .  We made an animal out of paper mache after reading about Limbourg and his visits with Duke Berry who had quite a few animals, similar to a zoo.

Five in a Row

• This week we read How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World .  This is such a great book, I wish I had known about it sooner.  We copied the trip on our world wall map, going from our home through all the places in the story and back home again.  We colored flags for all the countries we visited and made mini-books with them for our notebooks.  We made country mini-books and read J Is for Jamaica by Benjamin Zephaniah.  We made cow taxonomy charts and a cattle products and uses mini-book and read Grass to Milk by Julie Murray.  We made butter from local cream and used some awesome molds to make it pretty and shared some with my parents.  We made an apple pie, had chicken and apple salad sandwiches and apple pancakes this week.  Anneliese and Trevor watched the Reading Rainbow episode of How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World.

  Health

• Thanks to good weather the kids and I have been on our bikes a lot this week.  Anneliese has logged the most miles, 10 miles!  The three of us also took a hike around Snake Lake.

First Day of School

Today is our first day of school.

The kids woke up at 6 AM and were dancing with excitement for the first day of school.  It's possible they were even more excited than they are on their birthday or Christmas.  Our school work was completed in about 1/4 the time I had expected it to be, we'll see if that continues or if today was a fluke. 

We went outside and across the street and took our first-day-of-school photos.  This afternoon we're going to pick blackberries.  A lovely day, and I'm glad for it.

Trying This Again

It was fun to read my year-end wrap-up and goals for 2010 that I posted 8 months ago.  I did manage to let go of the blogging guilt.  The funny part is that I am always wanting to blog.  Speaking of which, I really need to update this thing,.  The last month or two I've been finding myself detaching from my computer and online activities.  I'm certainly not a Luddite, my new iPod proves that, but I am discovering that I am much happier when I don't feel "chained" to my computer anymore.  I need it to be a TOOL, but not a LIFE.

It's back-to-school time around here and I've been making plans and getting supplies.  I'm excited to start another year of homeschooling.  This year I have 2 official students, Trevor is 5 and will be starting kindergarten.  We homeschool through a virtual academy that provides us with the curriculum of our choice, within public school parameters, and funding for off-campus classes by providing them with a little information about what our school year plans are, a commitment to school a certain amount of hours, and have weekly and monthly check-ins with an advisory teacher.  I've picked up a few things myself this year to save more of my funds for classes.  Back-to-school shopping has always been my favorite.  I love paper goods and pens and pencils and doo-dads and all that good stuff.  And books.  Oh how books make me swoon.

I'm participating in the Not-Back-to-School Blog Hop this year and hopefully it will kick-start a new blogging habit.

This week is curriculum week, so here is what I have planned for the year.  It is, of course, subject to change and my children's interests and needs change.

Anneliese - Grade 3

• Math - Singapore Math 3A and 3B, lots of boards games and fun manipulatives, and Mathematicians Are People, Too.
• Social Studies - History Pockets "Explorers of North America," "Life in Plymouth Colony" and "American Revolution;" lots of living books and biographies about Christopher Columbus, the Founding Fathers and the American Revolution
• Language Arts - Handwriting Without Tears Cursive Success, All About Spelling Level 2, Grammar Tales and Five in a Row vol.1 with Trevor
• Science - R.E.A.L. Science for Kids pre-level 1, homeschool science classes at the Tacoma Nature Center
• Fine Arts - Artistic Pursuits Grades K-3 Book 2, lots of museum trips and classical music listening, possibly a drama class with the Broadway Center.

Trevor - Grade K

• Math - Earlybird Kindergarten Math A and B, lots of boards games and fun manipulatives, and Mathematicians Are People, Too
• Social Studies - listening to Anneliese read some of her history books aloud and Five in a Row.
• Language Arts - Handwriting Without Tears Letters and Numbers for Me, Five in a Row vol. 1 and all the books he enjoys reading himself.
• Science - R.E.A.L. Science for Kids pre-level 1, homeschool science classes at the Tacoma Nature Center
• Fine Arts - Artistic Pursuits Grades K-3 Book 2, lots of museum trips and classical music listening

Lots of our schooling involves living life and we don't always stick to the books. As a family we are striving towards more and more self-sufficiency and the kids are just as involved in that as we are.  They will be helping with the chickens after they arrive and grinding the grain for our flour.   Right now the kids think "school time" is fun and they like to sit and work on things together.  When that changes we will figure out something else.

I hope to share our progress through the year and maybe even have the kids share a book report.  Oh fun!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year friends!  I hope 2010 is a wonderful year for you.

Resolutions:

• to stay aware of the joy creating brings me and not let it fall to the wayside due to lack of time, energy, or prioritizing.
• judge people less for our differences and more for our commonalities.
• continue finding contentment in my domesticity.
• read another 50 books this year, including one by Dave Ramsey.

Recap:

• After doing very little crafting from January to October, in November and December I sewed several outfits for Anneliese's American Girl doll Ruthie, I knit a set of dishcloths for my mom, I knit a mitten, I sewed Anneliese a pair of leggings, and I did quite a bit of paper crafting.
• I spent most of April through September taking care of my mom while she had some serious health issues.  She is now doing fabulous and living only 2 blocks away from us.  It is wonderful to have her nearby.
• Gary didn't work for 9 months of the year.  We enjoyed the time together and managed to survive financially.  This amazes me.
• I read 48 different books and 52 books total in 2009.  I set myself a goal of a book a week on average and I succeeded.
• I've done lots of home organization and feel more at peace in my home.
• We had an extremely successful garden that fed our bellies lots of really good food, provided lots of enjoyable family time and an oasis of color and peace while we're stuck in the city.

I hope to be blogging more frequently, but have decided to rid myself of the guilt of not blogging.  I've got to dash to the kitchen now.  Chili's on the stove, chocolate flan cake is ready to come out of the oven and cornbread is ready to go in.

Falling

Fall is firmly in the air here.  The leaves are turning, the nights are cold, the garden is winding down.  I found a great tree at Michael's in their clearance section the other day.  I put it up on the wall in the stairway and we'll be decorating it for each season, and possibly special occasions. 

While I was gone one day Gary put that sweet "carving" on it. 

Anneliese had surgery on her hands a almost two weeks ago.  She's doing good, although frustrated at not being able to do some things.  Casts will come off in about 4 more weeks.  Hurray for new hands!

Changing Things

So far, 2009 has proved to not be crafty.  I haven't done much outside of sewing Anneliese's birthday dress.  Her dress turned out wonderful.  I used pattern #32 from Ottobre 3/07 magazine in size 122cm, which fit perfectly.  The fabric is 100% linen I purchased from Vogue Fabrics, it is a lovely ercu color with butterfly fairies and flowers all over. 

It has been a year (almost anyway) full of medical challenges, family upheaval and financial worries.  I'm crossing my fingers that we are coming out of the worst of it now, and life can start settling down a bit.  Our school year starts in a week and I'm really looking forward to it.  I've got most of our curriculum planned out for the year and I think it's going to be really fun for the kids and me.  We are using Ambleside Online's curriculum, which is a Charlotte Mason based curriculum.  We'll be reading lots of really great living books and spending lots of time outside exploring nature.  I plan to use this blog to post about the challenges and joys of this coming school year.  And hopefully I'll have something crafty to post, too.

I'll be doing a bit of remodeling to suit more homeschooling updates, so expect to see some changes soon.

Sadly Neglected

This poor, poor blog.  The worst part is that there hasn't been much to blog about.  I do intend to remedy that, though.  I've got a couple tidbits to share, I want to post about what we've been doing homeschool wise, and I'm hoping that blogging again will get me crafting again.