Our Goat Family

July 22, 2008 – 9:11 am

The goats who recently joined our family our Nigerian Dwarfs. They are sweet and friendly, for the most part. We love having them around. They love to have us around, too. :D They seem to be missing the kids during these two weeks that the kids are away. They really clamor for Jeff and I to pay them attention. I go out frequently during the day to visit them and in the evenings, Jeff has been working outside and they’ll hang around with him.
Would you like to meet them? The first three pictures will show you how amazingly the babies resemble their mothers. What I love to see is how strong the mother-baby bond is between them.  The babies are always near their mothers.
Starle with his mom Jasmine

Starle with his mom Jasmine

Rainbow with her mom Sally

Rainbow with her mom Sally

Sweetie with her mom Patches

Sweetie with her mom Patches

Fiddlesticks

Fiddlesticks, our three legged matriarch

Annie

Annie, the 1 plus year old who was bottle fed and really loves people

Annie challenging Fiddlesticks

Annie challenging Fiddlesticks

Posted by Wardeh | Posted in Creation, Goats | Comments (6)

Homeschool Planners?

July 22, 2008 – 8:47 am

Every year I have considered making homeschool planners. In fact, some years I have done so without realizing it and other years, I guess I decided not to do it because I fell back on the Instructor’s Guides from Sonlight for my record-keeping (and I don’t have that anymore, do I?). I’m still a bit confused as to what a planner actually is, but Applie (and here) is helping to set me straight. (Thank you!)

I have looked around at Donna Young’s website full of home and school forms. What a good looking bunch of helpful forms! I suppose the trick is to find the ones that will be truly helpful, otherwise one could get overwhelmed by setting up a planner that will get in the way of planning by the sheer magnitude of forms it contains. (Kind of like that run-on sentence got so clunky you couldn’t understand it.)

I am not familiar enough with planning (in terms of forms) to know what would work for us and what wouldn’t. So I’m planning to do more exploring before I print anything.

So, here’s a post about planning to make planners, without making any plans yet. No wonder I feel overwhelmed.

Posted by Wardeh | Posted in Homeschool | Comments (4)

Homeschool Curriculum 2008-2009

July 21, 2008 – 11:46 am

Our homeschooling choices, narrowing them down… This is going to be a great school year! Though it is hard to nail down exactly what the kids’ grades are, I am considering Mikah to be in 2nd/3rd, Naomi to be 4th, and Haniya to be in 6th.

  • Language Arts. We’re making the switch back to Pathway readers and workbooks, which we have explored in the past. This feels like a breath of fresh air. Not only will I have simple, old-fashioned readers for the kids, but the corresponding workbooks will cover phonics, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and simple writing exercises. I will supplement with Daily Grams.
  • Writing. Writing Strands (previously purchased) for Naomi and possibly Mikah. Because Haniya’s passion is writing, she will be working on a special curriculum — the One Year Adventure Novel.
  • Science. Continue using God’s Design for Science, but implement more experimentation and hands-on science in the kitchen and on the homestead. We’ll finish “God’s Design for Heaven and Earth” before moving on to “God’s Design for Chemistry.” We will purchase a weather station to do in-depth weather studies. Because Naomi’s passion is science, we will seek out additional science books, requiring her to read, research and write/present her findings. We will be challenged to find hands-on science projects for Mikah. He loves building and machines, but his hands are still little. We’ll do the best we can with projects around our property and continue to encourage him with his Legos and Fischertechnik.
  • History. Mystery of History, Volume I: Creation to Resurrection. I’m excited about beginning this program, based on the reviews it gets and the relative simplicity of implementation. I have a dear friend whose family uses (well) and loves it, and her recommendation made a great difference in this decision. We can supplement as time or desire allows, but mostly I intend to rely on it as a one-book read aloud to draw our attention to God’s hand through the history of our world. I chose to purchase the reproducibles and the audio CD to enhance our enjoyment of this program.
  • Art. Naomi and Mikah will continue drawing practice using the Drawing Textbook. I highly recommend this simple and comprehensive little textbook; I have enjoyed drawing with it myself. Haniya will use that along with How Great Thou Art.
  • Music. This is an update to the original post. The children will continue taking piano lessons once per week.
Posted by Wardeh | Posted in Homeschool | Comments (5)

One Year Adventure Novel

July 21, 2008 – 9:22 am

Took the plunge… ordered the One Year Adventure Novel writing curriculum for Haniya. She’s not old enough by their guidelines, but she’s plenty ready for it! The girl has been writing stories for awhile and she needs direction. I’m really excited about this program. The website offers a free DVD demo disc with two sample lessons and it is done well. Free samples are great, aren’t they?

Not doing Sonlight will allow more time for each of the kids to pursue their educational passions. Haniya’s passion is definitely writing and communication. So, Haniya, if you’re reading this… go on over to the One Year Novel site and just see if it is something you’d like to do. :D

Posted by Wardeh | Posted in Homeschool | Comments (3)

Please Take My Poll

July 20, 2008 – 12:24 pm

Are you interested in sensible kitchen tool and storage solutions? Please take the poll!

By sensible, I mostly mean permanent kitchen solutions made from glass, stainless steel, wood, and bamboo. But also, in the case of paper products, that they be from recycled materials and any wax additions be from paraffin, not plastic, wax.

I appreciate your taking part in the poll!

Posted by Wardeh | Posted in Home, Household | Comments (3)

Homeschooling Shift

July 20, 2008 – 9:58 am

I’ve spent the better part of the last three days going through homeschooling curriculum. It has been bittersweet. I’ve gathered together and prepared for sale the last four Sonlight Cores (2,3,4 & 5) that we’ve used. These are history/world culture books that we’ve loved and cherished. But it is time for us to do something different.

I’ve listed everything for sale (and I’m still not done yet) on the Sonlight Forums. One core has sold, another has interest, and I’m sure the other two won’t last long. Our books are in very good to excellent to like new condition and I’m not penny pinching on the price.

Now, what to do instead? I am looking for a history/world curriculum that involves one — yes one — read-aloud. My top choices are Story of the World and Mystery of History. While I am leaning toward Mystery of History, the Story of the World is much simpler to implement. So I don’t know yet what I’ll do.

Because of not using Sonlight for the Core or the reader-related language arts, there are other things to figure out. What books should the kids read for their readers? What workbook approach to follow for language arts — grammar, vocabulary, language mechanics, spelling? I have some options there. A friend recommends Daily Grams and I’m almost certain we’ll use those. I’ve looked at the ACE English workbooks, which would seem to be perfectly comprehensive for Naomi and Mikah, while terribly boring and babyish for Haniya.

Science may see changes, too. Our resident science teacher (Jeff) has such a breadth of science knowledge that he sees flaws in just about every science lesson we cover from the God’s Design series (sold now by Answers in Genesis). Those may go up for sale, too. What to use instead? Are the kids ready for Apologia? What about Biology 101?

The idea behind all these changes is to focus more on the kids’ basics, which in our opinion are these areas: Reading/Writing, Math and Science. Of course, Bible is a daily topic no matter what. History will be as I mentioned before, in the form of a daily read-aloud. So you see, I have some things to figure out.

Posted by Wardeh | Posted in Homeschool | Comments (3)

Rock Climbing

July 20, 2008 – 9:41 am

I mentioned that we got a load of rocks the other day. We have gotten one more load since then, too. We will be getting more, too, we hope. We have retaining walls to build and we love the look of rocks. The goats love the rocks, too. They’re on them more often than not (except when they’re off eating in the pastures).
Goats on Rocks

Goats on Rocks

This weekend, Jeff has been out placing rocks, building one wall. He won’t let me take a picture of his progress yet. He’s a perfectionist and isn’t satisfied yet. This job is difficult, placing them. He’s borrowed a friend’s fork lift, which helps, but we won’t be able to use that much longer. The backhoe is helpful but would be more helpful if it had a thumb on it. So this is slow going. I love the look of what he’s done already.

Posted by Wardeh | Posted in Goats, Property | Comments (2)

Thrift Store Report

July 17, 2008 – 11:23 am

Yesterday, I went to one thrift store. I found a soft, purple (lavender-ish) knit cotton sheet. I wanted to find a color that would work for Jeff’s t-shirts, but only purple. I don’t think he’ll want that. I could try over-dyeing it, though.

I also found:

  • “Power Sewing” by Sandra Betzina. I don’t like her clothing style, *at all*, but she knows how to sew. The book will be a great resource. $2.99 (kinda high).
  • 2 cast-iron skillets. An 8-inch and a 10.5-inch. I’ll keep the 10.5-inch (already used it this morning for flatbreads) and give the 8-inch away. They were each $6.99 (kinda high, again).
Posted by Wardeh | Posted in Thrift Store Report | Comments (0)

What Have I Done…

July 17, 2008 – 11:18 am

Did I scare you? Did you think I’d made some sort of colossal mistake? No, I haven’t. This is merely a post to catch you up on my fun and productive week.

As much as I dreaded the kids’ departure, I find that so far, I’m enjoying the quiet. Really. It is so nice. I’ve managed to cross a number of things off my list. I’ve made Jeff three t-shirts, loose cotton tees, from knit sheets (thrift store, yes). I’ve updated both this site and gnowfglins.com with things that have been on my mind. More tweaking to be done. I’ve read a couple books. I’ve visited with our sweet, sweet goats (who are missing the kids).

Yesterday, I had fun by getting a massage and a haircut. Sounds extravagant, I know. ;) I got the hairdresser recommendation from a friend of a friend, who reported that if you don’t mind a slow-Steel-Magnolias-type salon, it would be good. Boy, was she right. This place was sooooo like that — the chit chat, the pace, the carefree ease. I believe I got a good haircut, so I’ll go back there. I hardly said a word and was a bit put off because the lady didn’t ask me one single thing about me or my family. She and the others working there were too full of talking to each other and making jokes about their own lives to concern themselves with mine. I suppose that’s okay. I didn’t have much to talk about anyway and I felt very different from them. Oh, and the smell! That place was full of chemical nail stuff. After all this I’m saying, you’re probably shocked I’ll go back. But I think I will. I only go once a year anyway and the lady seemed experienced and did a good job.

Jeff has been working hard outside every night, using the tractor to dig out a spot for the new water system. It is slow going because he’s working around the phone line, the water line and the power line. I really feel for him. His back is breaking. We got these rocks delivered the other day and should be getting another load. Boy, it is vicious how those rocks fall out of the back of a dump truck. We are going to use them for retaining walls. The goats started climbing on them right away. I’ll show you a picture. (Okay, I have to restart my computer to get the picture up here. The USB thing-a-ma-jig is finicky.)

I watched “The Business of Being Born” last night. I got it from Netflix and wanted to return it right away so we’ll have an entertaining movie for the weekend. I thought it was pretty good. I am a proponent of home births, having had 2 myself, and both of them after a Cesarean section (VBAC). The information in the film was not very deep and also, I feel that not enough types of people were profiled. There were the hip home birthing moms and the hippie home birthing moms. Not that I have a problem with either. In fact, I’d like to say I’m a bit of both. ;)

But I am also a God-fearing mom who feels that birth is a natural, God-given process which put me in touch with my Creator and the perfection of His design. I kept hearing about empowerment from the ladies profiled, as if they could take credit for the perfect design of their bodies, rather than a thankfulness to the Lord for making the birth process as wonderful as it is. I do believe the film did a good job of showing the alarming trend of how more and more births in this country are ending up are being treated as diseases to be managed through interventions and surgical procedures, rather than miracles to be witnessed and shared. I recently ran across a very good site on VBACs and HVACs (home birth HVAC), chock full of stats, stories, encouragement, intelligence and information — VBACfacts.com.

The rest of my day today I have some research to do and I would like to sew, too.

Posted by Wardeh | Posted in Family, For Fun | Comments (1)

Project Gutenberg

July 15, 2008 – 3:24 pm

I’ve mentioned Project Gutenberg before, but it struck me today that it was time to share it again.

Project Gutenberg is a source that offers free e-book downloads for 25,000 classic literature titles. (They have a total of 100,000 titles.) This is how I first read North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.

I’m about to read Lady Susan by Jane Austen, the only Jane Austen book I’ve never read.

And here’s my favorite book of all time: Pride and Prejudice. So if you’ve never read it, here’s your chance!

Just for fun: Project Gutenberg’s Top 100 Downloads. (P & P is #3.)

I would love to hear your suggestions of other classic books I should try to find there. What are your favorite classics?

Posted by Wardeh | Posted in Links | Comments (7)