Schedules and Limited Screen Time!

Who knew that a schedule would not only work to organize our hectic days but be embraced by my children as well.

Because of sickness we had been off schedule more than on and now that things are back to normal I've been hearing things like, "I like being on a schedule.  It makes me more productive."  Every one of the five kiddoes feel that way!  That is a huge praise.

Along with our time being mapped out we've also severely curtailed screen time (computer, video games and t.v.).  This too has had marvelous results.  My screen loving son actually got some puzzles out and started them!  Unheard of before.

We also severely curtailed copious amounts of free time.  They still have some but we've filled their days with school, chores, service to others, and skill building according to their personalities.  This prevents boredom, too much laying around being lazy and promotes a good work ethic and training for adulthood.

Also rather then separating out to do our own thing we have implemented family time in the evening.  Sometimes it's a game, sometimes a movie, TV show or listening and discussing a Generations Radio broadcast.

It's so easy to get caught up in doing our "own" thing.  It is good to reassess and make positive changes to bring the family closer together.

What do your families do?

Friday Read and Write: Baker Book House

Since I had some extra gas in my car today I went and took a trip to a local Christian book store.  I was specifically excited to go there because I had read online that they had an actual Teen/YA section in the store and I wanted to check it out.

I was a little disappointed upon arrival.  The YA (fiction) section was only 4 x 8.  But still it is a young adult section in a Christian book store.  Some of the titles did look good and it was refreshing not to have to look at a bunch of covers with Amish or Pioneer Women on them.  I haven't read a lot of Christian fiction as of late because nothing ever looked interesting... just the same ol', same ol'. But even the Adult fiction looked like it had some options. (Though Amish and 1800's romance abound.) Perhaps Christian publishing is finally maturing like the music scene has.

If I would have had the $$ to purchase a book, I would have chosen Aquifer by Jonathan Friesen. It is dystopian and I think I've mention that is my current reading trend.  The Lost Books series by Ted Dekker also sounded good as well as the River of Time series by Lisa T. Bergren.  It definitely pays to go to a Christian Books store for a bit more variety then the Christian section in Barnes and Noble.

Let's hope the Christian Publishing Industry (and typical reader) is finally branching out and wanting a bit more.

Curious what do you read?  What genres and do you read Christian, secular or a mix?  YA or adult?

Country Sundays are the best!

Spent a wonderful day of rest with my husband and my two youngest daughters on Sunday. The teens were off to Mid-Summer Lord's Day at Harbor Baptist Church in Holland so it was just parents and littles for the day.

The festivities started on the way home from church.  We were almost home and notice dust coming from the farm across from our house.  They are building a new barn to house their dairy herd but they don't usually work on it on Sundays.  As we drew closer we saw a cow out and about and then another... and another... and another.  They were running around the construction site, up and down dirt hills and out into the road having a marvelous time... at least 20 or 30 of them. (They have a dairy herd of 300'ish and a beef herd of around 100'ish.)

It isn't unusual for a calve to get out of its pen from time to time but this was the first time we had seen any bigs out.  We quickly put the car in reverse and went to go get the farmer.  He was just on his way out to catch them when we drove up and had his farm hands with him.  He thanked us and disappeared to corral cows.  They got them under control pretty quickly.

We found it all rather funny and I'm sure the farmer is glad we did.  Apparently the lady who we bought the house from was not amused by such happenings and was constantly complaining and making life hard for the farmer.  Now, he may be an industrial type farmer but I still respect what he does and appreciate the hard work it takes, not to mention I still buy my milk from the store so his service is vital to me. I don't understand why people don't treat farmers better.  Do they not like to eat?  This isn't Star Trek where replicators just make food appear.  Someone has to work hard to provide it! (I might add that this is a young farm family... second generation... we want to be an encouragement to them.)

After the cow excitement we spent the day relaxing outside.  (City daughter wasn't home to complain about the great outdoors.)  We had target practice, watched chickens, built a fire and roasted marshmallows and just in general had a marvelous technology free day!  I am so thankful for God and his wisdom to give us a day of rest.

 Daddy and daughters (Every girl needs a pink gun!)

 Reagan (Katniss Everdeen) Lewis

 Target Practice!

 Dancing in the great outdoors...

 

 Chickens on the move...

 

 The rare red-headed, blue clothed squirrel posing in her natural habitat! (There isn't a tree in our yard that she can't climb.)

Construction site across the street where the cows were playing.

Homeschool Season Is Fast Approaching!

 

 

It's almost that time of year again.  Back to home-school!  I've got schedules made. (Notice mine- up above- starts at 3:00am in the morning. Yuck! But that is what time Farmer John has to get up for his new shift so, why not.  I hope to accomplish much in the wee hours while children slumber.) I also have subjects and curriculums picked out.  Now I need to individualize assignments and purchase the remaining things we need.

This is my first year schooling all five.  Last year I did start pre-school with my littlest but it was quite lax.  This year I'm starting her in Kindergarten so we'll see how she does. If she was in public school she wouldn't start until next year since she turns 5 after labor day.  I figure if she needs a couple of years of Kindergarten we're okay.

So here is the break down:

Seven (Junior in Highschool)

Algebra - Alpha Omega Life Pac
History/Geography- Great Courses Daily life in the Ancient World
Spanish - Instant Immersion
Biology-  Apologia
Personal Bible Study- her choice
Personal Reading- her choice
PE/Nutrition- Work out videos/Nutrition 101 Choose Life
Theater- Homeschool Performing Arts group
ACT Preparation/Study Manual
plus she has her general chores and homemaking/entrepreneurial skills to work on
(I'll assign writing/language arts based on her history course study)

Andi (Sophmore in Highschool)

Algebra- Alpha Omega Life Pac
History/Geography- Far Above Rubies
Spanish- Instant Immersion
Science- Far Above Rubies
Bible- Far Above Rubies
Personal Reading- her choice
Reading- Far Above Rubies
PE/Nutrition- Work out videos/Nutrition 101 Choose Life
Practical Arts- Far Above Rubies
Decorative/Perfoming Arts- Far Above Rubies
Health- Far Above Rubies
Writing- Far Above Rubies
plus she has her general chores and homemaking/entrepreneurial skills to work on and she will be teaching cursive penmanship to her little sister to refresh hers

Remington (Jr. High)

Math- Spectrum
Guitar- Private Lessons
Typing- Typing Instructor Platinum
Bible- Blessed Is The Man
History/Geography- Blessed Is The Man
Reading- Blessed Is The Man
Writing- Blessed Is The Man
Science- Blessed Is The Man
Health- Blessed Is The Man
Personal Reading- his choice
PE/Nutrition- Work out videos/Nutrition 101 Choose Life
plus he has his general chores and entrepreneurial skills to work on

Reagan (4th Grade)

Math- Spectrum
Reading- Mom's choice, her choice, sister's choice
Cursive- Handwriting Without Tears
Grammar- Up With Language
Spelling- All about Spelling
Science- Apologia
History- Various sources following topics listed in what your 4th Grader Needs To Know
Bible- Character Building For Families
Art- What your 4th Grader Needs To Know
PE/Nutrition- Work out video/Nutrition 101 Choose Life
plus she has general chores and homemaking skills

Taylor (Kindergarten)

Math- Alpha Omega Horizons
Reading- Alpha Omega Horizons
Writing- Alpha Omega Horizons
Bible- Character Building For Families
Art- What Your Kindergartener Needs To Know
PE/Nutrition- Work out video/Nutrition 101
plus she has general chores and homemaking skills

Whew!  There done!  It's not as heavy as it looks really except for my oldest who has decided to go to college at this point.  I really only work with the younger two as the olders teach themselves! I very much love homeschooling and am glad God led us in that direction.

What do you all use/do?  How do you fit it all in? Do you schedule or fly free?

5 Years of Leaves Moved In One Day

This homesteading thing... whew... it's a lot of work.  It may be a simpler life but it isn't easy.  We had an opportunity to help out our pastor recently.  He had been saving his very ample supply of yearly leaves in an ever growing compost heap... for five years.  This heap was a breathing, growing monster in the back corner of his yard.  He had dreams of setting up a great system but the time to work on it escaped him and it was apparent that it was time for the dream and the pile to go.  His fence and neighbor relations on the other side of the fence were falling down.  Enter the Lewis clan.

Would we like to have all that compost and leaves for free if we would haul it out of there?  Why yes, free stuff for compost, we will most assuredly come get it.  Little did I know that when my husband and I said yes to this that I would be required to come along and help along with all the kids.  My understanding of the situation was that it would be good father/son bonding time. 

So last Saturday morning all of us slumped out the door early with tools in tow; shovels, pitch forks and rakes. We arrived at Pastor's home around 10:00 am and didn't pull out until around 2:00pm.  We shoveled, forked, raked and hauled load after load into our be-tarped trailer and then traveled the 30 minutes back to our property very carefully as the trailer was riding low because of the weight of the leaves.

Then of course we had to decide what to do with all of it.  Do we dump it in a heap somewhere on the property, do we run it through the chipper and shred it so that we can mulch our fence lines or do we start new garden beds with it?  Secretly I was hoping for dumping it in a heap.  That seemed like the quick fix and I was exhausted.  But dumping it in the back forty would mean hauling it by wheel barrow to where we would need it thus actually creating more work.

We decided to make garden beds for next year.  We were able to back up the trailer to the general area where we wanted the beds.  We laid the leaves down for one and then remembered that we have a lot of cardboard left over from moving here last year.  So for the second bed we laid down cardboard and then covered it with leaves.  Then we called it a day.  We still have more leaves sitting in the trailer waiting for us to make at least one more if not two beds.  This way we will kill the grass, create more topsoil and not have to till or if we do till we won't be fighting growing grass which is a bugger to weed.

I came to two conclusions while doing all this work.  1. Farmers don't need to go to the gym. 2. Large families and farm work go hand in hand!  Without the help and hard work of our children we wouldn't have stood a chance getting those leaves moved.  Thanks kids!  I love working together as a family.

A special thank you to Pastor Sam and Miss Jill for giving us the leaves and to Pastor for helping us move them and to Jill for providing tasty refreshments and lunch!  We look forward to sharing yummy produce from our gardens with them!

 The start: 10 feet long and three feet high

 

 From the pile to the tarp

 

 Across the yard

 

Into the trailer

 

Finally full!

 

 A new home and more tarp filling and pulling

 

 The first bed done!

 

Lewis Family Version of Homework

Today was just too nice of a day to spend inside in school books.  That's the beauty of homeschool. We took the learning outside and did "Homework".

 

Science and art: Planting lettuce and greens, laying wood chip pathway, Painting stepping stones, placement of stepping stones.  The kids learned repurposing and frugality with this too.  The wood chips are all shredded in our chipper from fallen branches around our property. The stepping stones are left over wood from building our chicken tractor's nesting boxes.  The paint was leftover from the kid's bedrooms.

 

 More hands on garden experience: Three freshly tilled garden beds.  Our fourth bed wasn't tilled but covered in layers of leaves last fall and then covered with a tarp to promote decay.  We will compare which method (till or no till) produces better crops.

 

 Animal Husbandry: Feeding chickens dandelion greens, worms and grubs and learning that the chickens really prefer you to till the garden bed rather then do it themselves.

 

 Auto detailing:  Something my 12 year-old son is interested in doing to earn some $$.  Today was step one- learning how to properly wash the outside!

 

 Yes, a lot of kids are already proficient at washing cars by 12, 14 and 16 but when we were suburbanites our cars didn't need washing often and we just drove them through a pay car wash.  Now that we live on a dirt road the cars get a wee bit more filthy.  They will get a lot of practice.

For those of you who are freaking out because of lack of "studious" school, today we also had personal reading time, Bible study, WW2 history, and guitar practice. It was a full but fun day.

End of Summer Rush

Ack!  Summer is almost over!  All those things I wanted to do and put off (because there was plenty of time) need to happen. Potty training the almost 3 year-old, garage sale, homeschool planning and working on starting a new cottage biz.  Oh, well... it's what I get for playing all summer and procrastinating.

1. Potty training... didn't fly yesterday... The kitchen, where I was going to train her, is the largest of the non-carpeted rooms.  It also houses the washer and dryer.  She was freaked out by the noises the machines were making and didn't want to go potty there.  Sigh.  Trying again today- without the machines going.

2.  Garage Sale... Happens tomorrow, Thursday and Friday!  Come on "BUY" if you are in the area.  Spent yesterday (instead of potty training) sorting through our piles and pricing.  Still have some more rooms to go through and purge.  Most of our stuff is small and quarter/dollar stuff.  Still anything I sell is less to cart off to Goodwill.

3. Homeschool Planning... I need to plan and organize 5 different bins of activities for Taylor, our pre-schooler.  One for each day of the week to keep her busy during "school".  My second grader is pretty much set.  She is using workbooks, except for science and geography/history. So I only need to plan some reading assignments and activities for those two subjects. Most of our time will be spent perfecting her reading which isn't too hot yet. My fifth grader is moving away from workbooks this year, except for math, to get him ready for upcoming Jr. High.  He's going to take the most planning as his Language Arts studies will be incorporated into science and history/geography.  I use the "What Your ___ Grader Needs to Know" series for those two subjects and have him do the reading and make up assignments based on that. I really like tailoring assignments to each individual student.  The books aren't "Christian World View" but I either have him skip sections that we don't agree with or we discuss the differences in world view and what the Bible says.  I also supplement these subjects with a lot of  documentaries and other learning tools from various homeschool sources and of course the library.  My Jr. Higher and my Highschooler use the Far Above Rubies curriculum by Linda Coats.  LOVE IT!  It gives them a well-rounded education while emphasizing homemaking. It also helps you document everything for transcript purposes for any college bound student.  F.A.R. is for girls but they also have Blessed is the Man for boys.  That is what my son will use when he gets there.  These programs are self-directed but I like to sit down with each child and help them choose their assignments.  I'm also going to be teaching family art, music, and nutrition plus we have family Bible time in the morning and Biblical Character training and Spanish with Dad in the evenings.  Oh, and family exercise.  Our days are full. 

4.  Cottage biz... focusing on home arts... still forming in the head.  Like my days aren't full enough...lol!

All this to say... sorry that the "homesteading" focus isn't very back to the land orientated right now.  I'm focusing on my "home" and those in it.

Homestead Potty Training

I've said I'm going to do it all summer and decided I can't put it off any longer.  We have been "unofficially" potty training for a couple of months.  That means when ever one of us has to use the bathroom we just take Tay in with us and have her sit on the potty chair.  But today I start Official Day One of training.

Step 1: Choose an uncarpted room to plan to stay in most of the day.
Step 2: Put a variety of toys and activities in this room to keep your child occupied.
Step 3:  Have lots of drink options and salty snacks on hand as well as rags to clean up accidents and changes of underclothing.
Step 4: Put child in panties/underwear and move potty chair into chosen room.
Step 5:  Encourage child to drink (to fill up their bladder).
Step 6: Explain the process to child and ask often if they need to sit on the chair.
Step 7:  When successful reward with M-n-M's.
Step 8: When misses come, and they will, get the child to the potty chair quickly and then clean up.

You will need to stay with your child and watch pretty close/not get distracted.  This is an all day thing.  (Or at least a few hours.)  This way gets the child to learn and recognize when they need to go and most kids only need the one day of extensive training.  There will be accidents after this...kids get distracted but the initial day of "wet underwear" they usually are well on their way.

Wish me "Good Training"!