Homestead Haven Beginnings

Out of the mouths of babes...

We had an "Abraham" moment that I just had to share.  This 6yo. boy of mine colors my calander with the silly/hillarious/hysterical mind that he has.  I don't know where he gets his humor, but I will say that his rather quiet/inverted daddy of his likes to glide and prance through Blockbuster video store as if he were a gazelle.

As the story goes:

Mom - "Okay son, sound out this word."

Son - "SSSSSAAAAADDDDD"

Mom - "Now say it fast"

Son (while now distracted by the paint on the wall in front of him) says, "MAD"

Mom - "No son you did not say the sound MMMMM, you said SSSSSSS..........son please look at the page...son? Hello....it's right here....just look down...Son?"

Son - "I'm sorry mom, I'm just confused in my brain...I think there's a party going on in there!)

Mom - (Silence)

[Enter third party]  Kids in next room - (booming laughter)

Son - (big grin)

Mom - (to the calander to write this interresting reading experience amid laughter throughout the house)

Sigh...oh the joy of homeschooling!

School is in high gear!!

Well, I think I was preparing for the worst as far as school is concerned, and I have been pleasently suprised!  This is my third year, but my 1st with 2 students.  I was very nervous because my son is a very different learner than my daughter.  DD7 is a very quick learner, and she could sit and do workbook pages alllllllll day long.  Abraham is very hands on, for instance, he didn't learn his colors and numbers with flash cards like my daughter, he learned them with his cars.  "Hand me the blue car...let's make the number one using your cars."  But he has taken a shine to this school thing, and takes his role as a kindergartener very seriously.  Hopefully it lasts!

We are part of a program where the kids get to go take enrichment classes, and those start tomorrow.  They are so much fun, some of the classes are ceramics, ag. animals, and ag. plants, wood working, family history and tons more!  It is a break in our week, and a time that the kids can go practice listening to someone else!

How are all of you homeschoolers out there doing?  Believe me, I am keeping all of you in my prayers!

Blessings, Rossie

1st day of school...

Ready or not, the first day of school is here!!!  I always love the first day of school.  Even as a child I remember my mom taking pictures of us in our new school clothes, and all our school supplies smelled so good (like plastic) but I love that smell!  We have gone to uniformes this year for our homeschool.  A different color for everyday.  This will be helpful in many areas...laundry, getting dressed in the morning, keeping track of the little ones, and budget (Dh's favorite).  I have added a kindergartener this year.  So now I have two to teach , and a preschooler.  We are going to think of a name for our school.  Someone on the Family Homestead suggested it, and I thought it was a great idea.  I will let you all know what we have come up with!  We are having blueberry muffins, scrambled eggs and sausage for breakfast.  I don't want any crying that they are hungry in the middle of school time...after all I have a schedule to keep!  Think I am going to cut cereal from their diet all together.  It seems even the healthiest cereal, and they are hungry an hour later.  Anyway, I am rambling...I hope you all have a wonderful day and for all you homeschoolers out there today, you will be in my thoughts and prayers!

Blessings, Rossie

Week #1 Camping theme

This weekend I am going to begin planning out our camping theme:  Week #1 Is Saftey...  We will learn all about camping saftey, how to treat insect bites, burnes etc.  We will learn about a few different medications used to treat these things.  And we will purchase all items needed for our first aid kit.  Hopefully I will come across some excellent sites to use, and if I do I will post them. 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and your husbands have a great Father's Day!

Blessings,

Rossie

A teenage treasure hunt!

Pattisea asked if the treasure hunt idea would work for teens...My mom was so creative!  I think it was Christmas (I will have to ask her) she sent us on a treasure hunt.  We went all over town, collecting items, and clues, and at the end of the hunt, we had new bikes waiting for us!

I was thinking you could down grade that, and send them on a large scale treasure hunt, all over the farm or better yet if you live in town, all over town!  How fun would that be???  They could collect all your goods or whatever, and end at the ice cream shop or something.  You could give them an envelope labled for each stop to open so they can get the clue to the next stop!

I don't know, but that sounds like fun to me.  My mom did something similar for me on my 25th or 26th birthday...she sent me to the mall to get my nails done, and there awaited my clue for the next stop... and so fourth until I ended at the spa for a massage. I never had a massage before, and I was pregnant at the time...it was wonderful!!!!

An "Unschooling" moment

I am not an unschooler...I live by lists and schedules...however, I love to have unschooling moments!  We had one the other day that I tought I would share.  We have a hornets nest in our back yard that we have been waiting for the exterminators to come take care of.  A few days ago my kids came running in the house crying and screaming, "They're going to sting us, the hornets nest fell down."  So being the brave ( very allergic to bee stings, not sure about hornets??) but children are watching, so I must be brave, I ventured outside to have a looksee.  Sure enough it was lying on the ground, and as I got closer, I noticed no hornets!  Yeah, that makes my brave moment much easier...I put it in a bag and brought it inside.  They are the coolest looking things, and the kids were bubbling with questions, so we decided to research it online.

They were amazed (me too!) that we could identify the owners by what the nest looks like.  We didn't have hornets, we had paper wasps!!!!  We learned that the workers are all female (wouldn'cha know it ) all females!  But they were females that do not reproduce.  Males are called drones.  There is one or two queen bees, and if the colony fails, she can create another colony, or she can join another as a worker or challenge the queen.  It went on and on...I just love these times!

Anyone have other unschooling moments to share??  I love hearing ideas that we might be able to use!

Have a wonderful day!

Rossie

Treasure Hunt!

My daughter's theme for VBS this year is treasures, and inspired by a friend on another blog, I decided to send the kids on a treasure hunt:

X

MARKS THE SPOT

10 Leaves

4 Rocks

3 Toys

10 pieces of trash

15 lemons ( We have a lemon tree, and I wanted to make lemonade)

5 Items that are this long...[------------------------------------]

25 Pieces of dog food

1 Special item

My daughter got creative and made beards and mustaches for all of them!

I posted more of the pictures in my photo album.

They had so much fun, I had so much free time and we all enjoyed some homeade lemonade afterwards!