A Plantation Homeschool

I can't believe that I haven't written in months.  So much has happened.  The saddest thing is that my father passed away this summer.   He is with the Lord, so I am grateful for that! 

Soon I will try to upload pictures of the work we have done on our old house.  We repainted the dining room, and my sister-in-law painted a beautiful 18th century  China Trade picture on the wall.  We are now in the process of working on our living room. 

Outside, the new barn is coming up (slowly but surely).  My husband works on it when the weather is nice on the weekends.  It will have two stalls and a tack room along the back of it.  Our lovely horse, Grace, will make her home there as soon as its completed.  We are so anxious to get her home with us.  The driving to the stables is taking too much of my time.  

About two weeks ago we had about three inches of snow.  I know for you Northerner types this isn't much, but for a southern plantation it certainly was something to take note!  This was our first snow here since we moved to South Carolina four years ago.   Here is a picture of my house in the snow.

Here are two more pictures.  The first one is of a field south of our house and the other is of the area between the back of the house and our garage.  Enjoy!

I can't believe that I haven't written since August.  We recently acquired a former rescued racehorse (thoroughbred).  She's gorgeous!!  She was underfed, but my dd and I have been feeding her twice a day.  It has been a bit of a hassle since she is kept at a stable thrity minutes away.  Going back and forth has cut into our school time, but hopefully this won't last too much longer.  DH will be starting work on a fence soon, and then a small barn will be built.  It can't get done soon enough!!  Hopefully I will download some photos soon when I remember how to do it. 

Also there has been work on my dining room.  It is a sheet rock dusty mess for now.  There seems way too much to do around here! 

Blessings.

Today dd#1 turns 16.  It is so amazing how the years have flown by!  I still haven't the nerve to let her drive yet.  I was not as scared with my ds starting to drive as I am with my dd.  Have others felt this way with their daughters?   We are "caked" out.  Saturday I gave her a big party with her friends, so there was one big cake with leftovers.  Last night the youth at church gave her another little party with a big cake left over.  We are swimming in cake!  Alas, they are not home made,  so at least I'm not as likely to eat as much! 

I thought I might give a little review on the books I used last year with my dc.  It seems that the biggest hits as usual were simply the novels that they read.  I've tried both a Charlotte Mason approach and a Classical approach, but school is school to my dc.  They prefer to do their "own thing".  I guess this is simply the foolishness of children.   They prefer to eat cake instead of their veggies.  No wonder the Lord has made "parents" as the authority figures in children's lives.   Well here are some thoughts:

Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings.  I enjoyed reading the author's "take" on each chapter, but the rest of the book was too work booky for us.  I sold it.

Paradigm's Integrated Physics and Chemistry.   The reading portion of the program was great, but then again these were too work booky for us too.   I still may use it with my younger dd, but we'll definitely skip the workbook portion.

Math Relief Videos:   My dd didn't get very far with these.  I felt that the videos dragged too much.  They are very thorough, but the approach just didn't work with my dd.  I'm using a different Algebra 1 program this coming school year.

Italian Now!  I think that my dd is doing well with this book.  We will continue with it and supplement with various cheap Italian software.  I'm hoping to get Rocket Italian as a download.   I heard the samples and the speakers speak slow enough for me to "get it".  This will be a big plus for dd.  I can't afford Rosetta Stone.  However I might check out e-bay. 

Susan Wise Bauer's Ancient History of the World.   My dd didn't enjoy this book, but I like it.  So I'll at least keep it for me to read. 

Well, I may continue this another day.  I'm having computer difficulties. 

Blessings,

Jan