Preparing your High Schooler for Adult Life

The one thing that I noticed when I went to college was the lack of preparation in many students for the responsibilities of adult life, or even the semi adult life of college. These kids were like kindergartners released on the playground and all the teachers had gone back inside the school. They were wild, out of control, and had no clue how to manage their time, money, or obligations. These also were not necessarily the typical party kids. These were just kids who had no clue and had always had someone to "manage" life for them. They didn't know how to go about it for themselves. So, here is my list of "must teach my kid" before she leaves home.

1. How to manage money and live within a budget. This is a big one! They always make jokes about the phone calls from college asking for more money, but truly it is no joke. I had no clue how to manage money or live on a budget when I graduated high school and boy did it show when I was in college and struggling to live on a small amount of money. I plan for Petunia to work with our budget as it is for a few months starting in January. Then this summer, when she has a summer job, to work within her own budget to pay rent, utilities, food cost, and other typical living expenses. Now, this money will go back into her account at the end of the summer, but it will give her the experience of working within a budget based on her earnings. I didn't know how to manage money at all and I fell into that deep dark hole of debt that so many people are in. It took years to dig out and I want her to learn early to live within her means and give her the experience of knowing how to do that.

2. Teach them the basics of managing their own home. Many kids leave home and don't know how to cook a meal or do laundry. These are important things to know. So basic home ec is important to teach your highschooler. Petunia does most of her own laundry and she does some cooking. It is basic and not elaborate or complicated, but at least she will be able to cook a few meals and follow the recipes that I give her when she is on her own. This will help her stick to that budget even more because she will be able to keep her food cost down.

3. Teach them to manage their time. This is not only for schoolwork, but for everything. If they need to make a daily list, or a calendar let them figure out what management tool works for them now. Give them deadlines, let them work a summer job and let them learn the consequences of their actions. You can't always protect them and cover for them. If they don't learn now to meet deadlines and work obligations then they will have a very hard time with adult life. If you set a deadline for schoolwork or chores, then there must be a consequence if they don't manage their time well and then miss that deadline. If they take a summer job and can't manage to get themselves out of bed and off to work then don't be their alarm clock. It is their job and their responsibility. If they get fired then they get fired.

4. Let them make choices and decisions within reasonable limits. Let them decide what social activities they will participate in, or sports they will play, or what clothes they buy (within reason). If you control every single thing they do then they won't know how to decide for themselves. I saw kids who were so excited to have so many choices of extracurriculars in college that they couldn't decide between them and were trying to do them all. This left no time for academics and their grades suffered. Kids need to learn to control their impulses and desires, and in doing so control/limit their choices. If we as parents do that for them then they won't learn how to say no and how to choose what they would like to do most.

Teens need to learn how to start being adults and the best way to let them learn the ups and downs is when they are safe at home with us. Then they will be as prepared as they can get for what life might throw at them. Blessings from the farm, Kat

The Overextended High Schooler

It seems like things really pick up in high school with our kids. There are social activities with friends, church activities, schoolwork, volunteer work, etc. It can be very, easy for the high schooler to become over extended. We have fallen into this trap a few times over the years and here is how we now avoid it. We have a calendar on the wall in the kitchen just for Petunia. This way it is easy for her to see what she has going on and she learns to manage her time. Assignment due dates are written in red, church activities in blue, social activities in black, other miscellaneous stuff in purple and college prep activities (scholarship application deadlines)in green. All of this is written on her calendar, so she can see before making plans what she has going on that week. If it is a busy week, then she can see that and decline an invitation for something if needed. Our kids don't have to participate in everything and it is ok to say no! Sometimes those volunteer things need to be limited, or they may not need to go to every football game with friends that are in regular school. Or they can plan their time so that they can get what they need done, and then plan fun time with friends or going with the church on another activity. They can also see when they might need to say no simply because they need to rest. For us this works out better than a planner because we can see the whole month and I can help keep track of what she has going on. When she had the planner I had to remember to ask her for it, or I had to ask if she had anything planned if I was setting something up for her. I try to let her decide her schedule and activities because she is at that age where she has to learn to manage her time herself. But I am still here to make suggestions and offer guidance and this is much easier when I can see everything at a glance. Hope this helps. Blessings, Kat

Transcripts and Record keeping for High School

Many homeschool parents get overwhelmed at the thought of keeping records and filling out transcripts. Hopefully this post will take a little fear out of the process. I believe in keeping things relatively simple. So I have one chart that I started for Petunia. It has 4 columns of boxes. One column for each grade year of high school. The rows are for her subjects. Core subjects are first and then the rest of the rows are for electives. Each box is large enough for me to write in. I use this chart to document what books are used for what subject. That way I have a record of what material was used for when on one sheet. This chart stays in my Mom Notebook in the same sheet protector as her transcript. Now, for transcripts. There are many places to download a blank transcript for free. I got ours from our homeschool cover group. I like the ones that have some space to put in extracurricular activities and maybe a little box under each year to write in things like volunteer work or such. These things are just as important on a transcript as grades. I keep a paper copy of this in my mom journal and an electronic copy on my computer. That way I can quickly update the transcript and print a new copy when I update. If you can't find a transcript with a box on the front then you can simply write down dates/grade year and activity on the back of your paper copy. I know a mom who did this and both of her sons are attending the Naval Academy, so it works just fine.

Now, onto record keeping. For each subject Petunia has a folder. After I grade a paper or test then it goes back in the folder. At the end of the year I take all graded assignments, clip them together by subject and put them into their own folder. Any certificates for that year go in this folder as well. Then everything goes into a box labeled with the grade and her name. It takes about 15 minutes to do this and then the school year is complete and I am ready to move onto the next year. If I need to provide records of what she has done for college applications then all I need to do is pull the top folder from each box.

So you see there really is no mystery in record keeping or transcripts. I am sure it can be made more complicated, but I like to keep things simple and easily accessible. Blessings for a happy, drama free school year.

Getting Started with High School at Home

High school at home seems to put so much pressure on the kids as well as the parents. I know for me when we first started I was a nervous wreck. I knew that if my child chose to pursue college after high school, the competition was tough. So, this month I will be posting my series of tips for getting through high school with the least amount of anxiety. We are almost done, Petunia graduates next year. Of course, I have a little while before Little Britches will be graduating so these posts might be helpful to remind me of a few things in a few years. If you are just starting high school then this post will definitely be for you and if you have already started then it will be a good check off list for you. Blessings, Kat

1. Make your plan early. Check out what you need to cover and how much you need to cover to be considered a high school graduate. Some states are very specific and homeschoolers are held to the same standards as public and private school students. For instance in my state, 4 years of the core subjects are required...4 years of math, English and science. Know what you need to "graduate" and plan accordingly. High school years go by quickly.

2. Does your child plan on going to college? Technical school? Get your child to start thinking about what they might want to do with their life early. Parents...please realize that formal college is not for every student. Don't push your child in that direction if that is not suited to them. Plumbers/electricians/etc. make an excellent living at a respectable occupation without having a college degree.

3. If your child thinks they might be bound for college, then start looking at requirements early. It doesn't really matter if you have picked your colleges or not, most of them have similar requirements. Start working on meeting these requirements.

4. If you aren't prone to keep records, now is the time. I have a folder for each year of high school that has a good assortment of Petunia's work. She probably won't need it, but if she does it is there. Start a transcript now and put everything on it. If your child went on a mission trip with the youth group at church...put it on the transcript. Update the transcript regularly. Don't wait until your child's senior year to try and remember everything they have done and all those little extras that make a transcript stand out.

5. Start looking for scholarship money early...junior year at the least. There are many scholarship search sites online that will make a profile for your child with their graduation date and match them to potential scholarships. Competition for scholarship money is tough and gets even tougher the later you wait to start applying for them. Start early.

6. Don't ignore the small scholarships. Many people tend to see those large numbers on the big scholarships and only apply for those. So your child might be competing with 30,000 other students for that one scholarship. Those smaller scholarships can add up and can really come in handy. I once won a small 1500.00 scholarship which didn't seem like much but that one little scholarship paid for my books and lab fees for 4 semesters. So, in essence it was a lot of money because books are expensive and those lab fees add up, especially for science majors.

7. Start taking tests early. This is especially true if you don't live in a state that requires standardized testing. Homeschooled kids usually are not exposed to that type of test taking and it can be nerve wracking for some. Petunia was nervous when she went to take the ACT the first time and then the proctor was 2 hours late (yes 2 hours), so then she was mad. After all she had to give up a Saturday to go and take the test. So being nervous and then angry did not make for a good mindset and she didn't do very well. If you wait until the last minute to take these tests then you might not have another chance and it might affect your ability to get into college or at least put off your entry date.

8. If your child isn't going to take the college route then start thinking about internship/apprentice opportunities. Going back to the plumber/electrician or any other type of trade, summer jobs working in that field can be exceptionally helpful. You never know if they work for the same company year after year in high school then once they graduate trade school they might have a job position waiting for them or someone willing to recommend them for another job position for another company. Word of mouth and recommendations go much further in the trades fields than resumes.

9. Prepare your child for adult life. If you haven't already teach them to manage money, meet obligations/deadlines, etc. This is something they will have to do once they graduate even if they are in college or trade school. They will have to manage their scholarship money if it comes from sources outside the college. I knew kids in school that had won large amounts of scholarship money and blew through it partying instead of paying their college bills. When they were broke they either had to go home or rely on student loans to finish their education. Teach them to manage their money and time now. If your child is college bound then they will need to be able to meet deadlines. The professor will often issue a class syllabus at the beginning of the year and never mention due dates again. It is the students responsibility to use that syllabus and meet all due dates and prepare for scheduled tests.

10. If your child is college bound then prepare them academically. Don't choose the easiest courses and the minimum requirements to just meet high graduation requirements. Push them to write those hard papers, do the extra math, choose academically challenging courses, books etc. These are skills they will need to have to be prepared to enter a college classroom. It doesn't matter that the child is a math genius and plans on an engineering career. They will still have to get through those core classes in their freshman and sophomore years in which they will have to read literature or history books and write lots of papers or take essay type tests. If they fail those, then they will never get the chance to take those advance math and engineering courses to complete their degree. Everybody starts out having to take the same stuff, then you move into your chose field to finish up.

Well, hopefully these few tips will help many parents out there who just simply don't know what they should be doing. Happy high school!

When Learning to Read is Hard

For some children, learning to read is a very difficult task. My first child, Petunia, learned to read almost on her own. Then came Little Britches, and learning to read suddenly became a nightmare. So, if you are struggling to figure out how to help your struggling child, here is a little bit of advice and empathy.

Stop paying attention to other people's timelines. Your child's cousins and friends might be reading chapter books while your child is still struggling to put letter sounds together. Don't worry your child will read when the timing is right for them. Paying attention to what other children are doing only puts stress on you and through you onto your child. Celebrate your child's progress, instead of worrying about their lack of progress.

Make reading fun. Play games that include reading skills. We used hopscotch to teach the alphabet and then we used hopscotch to find site words. We made up a treasure hunt game based on site words that we were learning. There are websites that make games out of learning words. Read fun books together.

Find a reading program that works for your child. Little Britches and I went through several highly recommended programs that were simply frustrating for her and in turn frustrating for me. Finally, we found what worked and she is finally reading. Don't be afraid to try something else, because if it isn't working then it isn't going to work.

Read every day. Little Britches picks a book that she wants to read, then we start working on that book together. She reads the words that she knows and I fill in when she gets to a word that she doesn't know. Depending on the book and the level of difficulty, depends on how much of the book we read each day. However, we work on it every day until the book is finished and then we start with another one. I think this has really been key to her reading progress.

Learning to read has been really slow for us and we have changed "programs" several times. Little bit by little bit we have had progress. She is still not a strong reader, but she is reading. Most importantly, she wants to read and enjoys it. Hope this helps those others out there struggling to find their way along the path to reading. Blessings, Kat

Amazing Kid!

This kid has got to be my new hero. He is truly an amazing speaker and he has been invited to speak at a California conference. I believe he will be the intro speaker for Joel Salatin. Blessings, Kat

Thanksgiving Update

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my darling little sis here from Maine. It is always so nice to have her home since she doesn't get home very often. The girls' have really had fun with their aunt. Yesterday they went to Chuck E'Cheese and then to the mall for some shopping. My little one came home with Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer from Build a Bear Workshop and the great thing is.....it sings. At 5:30 this morning, Rudolph started singing and a little hand patted me on the shoulder all accompanied with a little voice that said, "Don't you love this song?!" My reply was that yes I loved the Rudolph song, but she and Rudolph needed to go back to bed. She said ok and pitter pattered off to her bed. I on the other hand was wide awake so off to the coffee pot I went. The only bad thing is that my computer has now totally and completely crashed, so I will have to update the blog from my mom's house. I will update at least once a week until my computer is fixed. So this is this week's update and I will try to cover all briefly.

Sewing and Scrap Challenge
I have finished another Sunday dress and just about finished the pinafore that goes with it. I will put some embroidery on the sleeves and the peter pan collar and then it will be done. On the scrap challenge, I had some linen pieces which I made coffee filters from. I like the linen because it is unbleached and natural. It is also a loose enough weave that the water flows through easily. I took small squares, folded them across into a big triangle. Then I cut the tip to make it more flat and then sewed the seam. Easy as pie and I have new coffee filters. I have a bunch of this linen from my art days (it is used for canvases), so I was thinking of making some of these to sell at the store blog. Do you think anyone might be interested in them? They last a long time and wouldn't cost much at all. Anyway, just an idea. I am now working on a needlework piece that I picked up several years ago, started, put down and never got back to. It is a small piece and I am not really sure what I will do with it, but it is a nice change from cutting and sewing types of things. I will have it finished in a day or two and then need to work on a couple of shirts for my little one to go under her jumpers. The jumpers still fit but the shirts are too small, so I will just make a couple new ones and then we will be set. I think that is about it in the sewing area for this week.

Montessori Preschool
I completed the counting cards and ladybugs that will be a Christmas gift for my little one. The ladybugs were shells that I painted to look like ladybugs. I also got the sandpaper numbers finished so that she can trace and feel the symbols for her numbers. I painted the red rods which is beginning math concept teaching longest, shortest and everything in between. It also teaches that several can equal one. These will later become counting rods which will help her learn addition and subtraction concepts. I have the sandpapers letters written on the sandpaper, but not yet cut out and put on the cardstock. I will get that started this week. She can sing the ABC song, but this will be her first formal introduction to the symbols and have the ability to feel their shape. I am right proud of myself that I free handed the cursive so that they can be cut out and put on cardstock leaving enough of the letter to be traced. We also this week will continue with our geography by painting the flags of our state and the United States. We also plan on doing leaf rubbings of trees and then talking about the parts of the leaves, then continue with tree drawings and talking about the parts of trees. Anyway, I am sure there will be more and of course we will continue with what we have already introduced.

Food
We are getting ready to start our Christmas baking and will get the breads done and in the freezer since the candies need to be done relatively fresh. This will free us up a bit to do some other things. I have a great rabbit recipe that I tried out on everyone last week and they liked it. I thought it was really good and it is a crockpot recipe. So here it is:

Creamy Rabbit and Rice
1 rabbit cut into pieces
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 package of onion soup mix
Salt and pepper to taste

Places salt and peppered rabbit pieces in crockpot. Then mix the other ingredients in a bowl and dump on top of the rabbit making sure that all of the rabbit is covered. Cook on low for about 6 hours or on high for about 3 1/2 to 4 hours. When the rabbit is tender it is done. I served this over brown rice with a side of asparagus and sliced tomatoes. I also served with garlic bread. Super yummy and oh so easy.

Well, that is about all I can think of right now. Like I said I will update once a week at least until I get the computer fixed and then I will be back to normal. Hope you all have a blessed week. Kat

Montessori this week

Well, so far we have done pretty well at setting up our Montessori area. Here are some photos of our area so far.

This is our reading and art area. I am still working on getting our art supplies here so it is still a little bare, but she is happy to be able to get them out by herself with the exception of the paints which live on the porch for obvious reasons.

This is our sensorial area the buckets to the right have her geometric blocks and regular blocks which have been great for learning geometric figures like cylinders and pyramids. In this area we mostly have stuff that will build her fine motor skills along with presenting her with concepts that will build into math skills later.

This is our practical life table with pouring and spooning excercises. We also have a basting and funnel activity in the middle. Again these types of activities teach body control and concentration along with developing fine motor skills and hand eye coordination. We don't have a whole lot in the practical life area since so much of her practical life takes place elsewhere in the house. For instance, we washed carrots and potatoes in the kitchen and then she peeled them with a vegetable peeler (the kind that can be pulled along), then she washed windows and learned to properly dust and wipe tables. She is also setting the table for dinner and helping to fold clothes. Anyway, just a little start to our Montessori blogs to give everyone an idea of where we are going and what has been happening. Blessings, Kat

Montessori Homeschooling

Our toddler is now reaching preschool age. This means it is time for a more formal educational approach. While we have taught her her colors and how to count 11-10, etc. we have not really approached these concepts in a formal way. It has taken me some time to decide what would fit her best. The final decision came when our Sunday school classes started up this fall and she moved from the toddler room to the Atrium. Let me explain what the Atrium is. We started the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd a few years ago. It is a Montessori based curriculum for churches. The atrium is a Montessori learning area in which the children are guided in their understanding that Jesus Christ is their good shepherd. He knows them and loves them. It is a place where children develop their personal communication with God. While this is just a nutshell view of the COGS, it is wonderful. The works in the room are based on the Montessori method of learning. I have seen how our little one loves this room and loves learning the new works each Sunday since I am one of the facilitators of the Atrium. Montessori is a good fit for her. Montessori is broken into 4 parts for the primary level of age 3-6. Practical life are what we would think of as homeskills, they are things that we do in everyday life such as folding clothes, baking, cooking, preparing vegetables, cleaning etc. She already does much of this around the house and loves it. Sensorial engages learning through the senses. This is something that our children do from the day they are born. The learn comfort from their mother's voice, language from those talking around them, familiarity in faces from seeing them, they smell and hear their surroundings all from day one. Montessori education takes this natural instinct to facilitate cognitive learning about spatial concepts. Then there are language and math. Montessori approaches these a little differently. Each work in the child's area builds upon skills. Montessori is a progressive step by step ladder of education with each activity building the skills needed for full "preparation for success". We have incorporated a few Montessori activites before now, but since this is the way we have decided to go with her we are transforming the playroom. Montessori stresses order, which means that everything has a place and that place is easily accessible to the child. It is a child guided education in which they choose which of the works available to them. Before the work is made available then the child is presented the work and taught how to use the work. They pick up on this a lot faster than one would think. Montessori is a self correcting type of education in which there is no need for the facilitator to correct wrong answers because the child understands that their work is not right and corrects it themselves. The main concepts of Montessori are to promote the joy of learning, self-reliance and independance. It also is something that engages the whole body in activity as the child moves from work to work, removing it from the shelf and replacing it when finished and moving on. Montessori works are tailored to the child and allow the child to move at their own pace, building skills and knowledge as they are ready. Montessori materials tend to be very expensive since they are geared toward Montessori schools. However, you can make your own or substitute less expensive things to gain the same concepts. We will be making our own and substituting quite a bit. As time goes by, I will be doing posts to show the things that I make and will be adding our materials in the sidebar on the left under our homeschool curriculum. If you are interested in learning more about Montessori here are some great websites to learn more.

Montessori Mom

Montessori at Home

Montessori Education

Montessori Primary Guide

Montessori Science

Of course, if you google Montessori education you will find tons of stuff to keep you busy for hours. Hope this helps those of you looking for a different way to educate your children. Blessings from the farm, Kat

School Time Again

Well, technically it has been school for us all year. However, my daughter has had a light load for the summer with simply reading, book reports and Grammar. It is that time of year to gear up for a full load again and a full load it will be. I don't think she quite realizes that the easy stuff is over and it is time to really buckle down. Boy is she in for a surprise! Unfortunately she is at that age that we all grow through at some point or another in which she sees school as a pointless nuisance. We all go through that stage to some degree. I was different in that I saw school as a pointless nuisance because it was a hindrance to what I wanted to learn. I got tired of teachers telling me that I wasn't ready to learn more, especially in science. While I wanted to learn more, my daughter wants to learn NOTHING! Talk about frustrating! Even now at my ripe old middle age (and that is as close as you will get to finding out how old I am!), I am always seeking new knowledge. It is as if I am as thirsty for knowledge now as I was as a child. So, having a child that does not have that thirst can be a bit difficult. I simply pray that she is retaining some of the information taught to her and that the Lord will see fit to give her the desire one day to learn more. This is probably the biggest test of patience I have ever undergone, waiting for her to get some desire to learn something! Please Lord, help her soon because I am not sure how much longer I can hold out! She is a great kid and I am so thankful that the Lord saw fit to bless us with her. A kinder soul you could not find. And truly dear Lord in Heaven I am so very thankful for the blessing of this beautiful child. I just need a little help. Thanks from your faithful servant.....the frustrated mom here at the farm.

Summer Education

I realized how neglected my sidebar for our homeschool activities had become. So I have updated it with our homeschooling activities for this summer. My little one will just continue learning while she plays. Since she is out in the barn with me every morning while I milk maybe she can learn to milk. I am not sure if she has the hand strength, but we will see. Sure would be nice to have a second pair of hands one day to help with the milking. Especially with more does freshening. As far as my oldest goes she will be kept busy as well. She is not so much a farm girl and while she does like to be outside and occasionally play outside, she is more of an inside kinda girl. I simply cannot stand to hear children say, "I'm Bored" during the summer. There are also a few things like math that take her a little longer than some so we work on those throughout the year. Science projects will be done all throughout the summer. I have found this is a great way to really buckle down into science and we have more time to devote to large projects that require hours of work and research to complete. It also makes science a lot more fun for a girl that isn't really into science. We will begin much more serious studies of literature during the summer so there will be extensive reading assignments along with creative writing assignments and daily journal assignments associated with each thing that we read. She will be reading some classics along with a collection of short stories.Along with the literature we will begin a new grammar series that I think is much more comprehensive than the one we have been using. It uses a lot more application of the concepts and I think will work better for us. It is a much larger book with much more involved so we will start it this summer. She has just started learning to compose music with her piano instructor so I imagine lots of music will be written here this summer. Guitar lessons have been added to the mix so we will be hearing guitar music floating through the house as well. Along with all of that we will have many hours of playtime and home education during the rest of the day. That should keep her pretty busy, so that I don't have to hear those words that every parent hates to hear during the summer. Blessings from the farm, Kat

Incubating eggs

Well, I have decided since I have a surplus of eggs at the moment that I am going to save the eggs for the next few days and then incubate them. My husband and I built our own incubator and it cost us nothing. So I thought I would describe our very simple incubator for anyone who would like to build their own. We took a large cardboard box that we had laying around waiting for a use or the compost pile. We cut the flaps off on the top and taped the bottom completely closed. All edges and gaps were sealed with duct tape (my favorite farm tool). Then we had some styrofoam insulation board hanging around left over from a project which we used to line the entire inside of the box. We then took another piece of cardboard that just a little larger than the opening of the boxing and taped some insulation board on that so that if it was set on top of the box the insulation board would fit snug inside the lip of the box. We then took an old lamp and took off the light bulb part and the elecric wiring. This is where my hubby came in, because I don't do electricity. He rewired a new cord (since the old one had been cut off) so that it could be plugged in. We then cut a hole in the side of the box, duct taped the light fixture in place and put in a 60 watt light bulb. You have to use a regular light bulb as the fluorescents don't give off any heat, and heat is what you are looking for. Our only purchase was the 2 dollar outdoor thermometer that we purchased at the dollar store. We placed the thermometer in the box down at the bottom where the eggs would be. Then I got a small shallow dish of water and placed that under the light bulb. The light bulb was located near the top of the box, so there was a good bit of space between the two. I then took an egg carton and cut the top off. I took a dozen eggs that had not been refrigerated and marked an x on one side of them with a crayon. Then I placed the eggs sideways on the egg carton pieces so that each egg had a little space around it. I turned the eggs several times a day until I think about day 25 or so. I would have to look that up to make sure that is the right day that you are supposed to stop turning. On day 30 we started hearing little chirping and pipping noises. For our first time we didnt have a great hatch rate, 7 of the 12 hatched. Two were stuck to the shells (to dry in the incubator) and died while trying to get clear of their shell. One more died within the first 24 hours, it was pretty week after hatching and we figured it wouldn't make it. So we had 4 that stayed in the house for several weeks. They were doing quite well and we finally moved them out to the chicken house. At night we kept them locked up in a large dog cage to protect them from the big chickens. Unfortunately, the cage did not protect them from whatever got into the chicken house during the day and killed all 4 of them. We think it was a stray cat, but weren't sure. Well, the chicken house has since been resecured and so far so good. Now we have an abundance of eggs and until someone starts buying these things, we have to do something. So, I thought we would try the incubation thing again....so that we can have more eggs we can't eat fast enough or give away to enough people (makes sense huh?). Maybe we will have lots of little roosters that can go in the freezer. That is my hope anyway. I have some black australorps and they are supposed to be pretty good at going broody. Ours are young and have just been laying for a couple months now so maybe broodiness hasn't kicked in. Watch with my luck I will start incubating eggs and a hen will go broody, then we will have more baby chicks than you can shake a stick at running around here. Ah, well....life on the farm is never dull. Anyway, back to the incubator. You can use a styrofoam cooler, but I didn't have one and the 10 dollars that they cost was more than I was willing to pay for my little experiment. Some people even put computer fans in theirs to move the air around a bit and get more even temps. I might do that on my next one. I have a couple of computer towers sitting around waiting to be destroyed so that is definitely an option. It is a good science project for the children anyway and loads of fun to see those babies hatching! Blessings from the farm, Kat

Planning our Upcoming Homeschool Year

The first year that we homeschooled, I had spent quite a bit of time finding material and printing and bookmarking lessons and such off the computer. I carefully gathered books and composed a list for library trips. With all this planning and work that I did, our first year was a bit discombobulated to say the least. The one thing that I forgot to do was to organize all of this material into some semblance of order. I know that there are many out there that don't think education should have scheduling and order. That may work for their home, but it will not work in mine. First, my children like having a schedule and they like order. They know what to expect. Second, I like order and schedules as I tend to get distracted easily and try to do to many things at one time. Having a schedule reigns me in and keeps me from overwhelming myself and my children. Thirdly, we have too much to do to fly blind. So that first year I didn't have a schedule or a plan. All I had was a bunch of great material. Oh boy, that first year was rough and so much time was wasted in trying to decide what to use and where to go next. I wasted so much time each day and each week looking for what I knew I had either printed or bookmarked. We made it through that year and my daughter did gain some knowledge, however I had no desire to repeat the performance. So the next summer I spent 2 weeks out of the summer with my major project being to organize the school year and gather our materials. The following years have gone much more smoothly without taking up much of my daily time. For anyone following an eclectic school of thought or a Charlotte Mason school of thought in their homeschooling I highly encourage taking some time to organize your schooling material and to have a plan. Without planning, the year seems to be discombobulate and does not flow smoothly. I believe that these disruption of trying to figure out what I wanted to do next or where I wanted to go with my child's learning take away from the value of the education. So the best thing that I do each year for our homeschool is to plan it. Our schedule and plan is not set in stone, but it is a guide that keeps us on a smooth track with very little disturbance. I feel that planning is essential to a healthy educational environment, just as some sort of planning is essential to run a home well or a business well. Nothing has ever been a successful venture without planning. For our planning we use a simple calendar in which we have materials that we wish to use that month and the resources from which to draw. Each day is planned with what we wish to do that day. Not every subject is covered everyday. Things like Shakespeare and Plutarch are only done once a week, but because of our calendar I know which day of the week we are planning to cover that material. At the close of each school session we look to the next day on the calendar make any adjustments that need to be made and lay out our materials for the next day. Having a plan also allows my daughter and I to plan our intense schoolwork in which she needs to focus more and I need to devote my attention to her around my toddler's naptime. This gives us a good 2-3 hours of one on one time in which we are not interrupted by a busy and precocious toddler. Planning is essential to a well run educational environment. I encourage you all to spend a little time thinking about how you want your school year to run and make a plan.

Homeschool Plan of Attack!

I have found in homeschooling that sometimes it is necessary to adjust how we do things. With my daughter Petunia, this is even more necessary. She becomes bored very easily and when boredom sets in learning stops. After 2 years of following pretty much the same path and way of teaching, I find it necessary to change things up a bit. For one reason is to meet her educational maturity level. She is ready for a little more meat and challenge in her schooling. For the second reason is that she is getting bored and frustrated with a few of her core subjects. I have said before that we follow an eclectic path to homeschooling. We will continue with this but will be moving a little closer to the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling. This method does offer more meat and substance. I am not a CM expert, but the gyst of this method is learning from "living books". Next year will involve lots of reading for us, hands on nature studies, field trips, and writing. With the inclusion of Shakespeare and Plutarch, there with be much more challenge. I will let you know how this goes next year and will post the new schedule for next year soon. For the little one, we will continue with ABC's, counting, colors, shapes, and all that basic stuff. She really is not formally schooled, just simple games here and there as her attention allows. Then of course, they both learn simply by participating in farm activities. I love homeschooling my children, it is a journey that will be remembered and cherished for a lifetime. For more information about Charlotte Mason and a good schedule and examples visit Ambleside Online

Guest Blogger

I have no time for extras these days. This means that those photos I would love to post on the blog keep getting put off. So I have invited someone to take the photos and write a few posts to go along with them. Hopefully this will give all of you folks something to look at besides my rambling words and she absolutely loves to take photos. So our guest blogger will be my oldest daughter "Petunia". Yes that is her nickname and that is what she will go by when writing and posting. Hope you enjoy her posts. God bless.

The Children of Caesar

This morning I have been reading some of my favorite blogs (see blog list). I came across these videos over at A Wise Woman Builds Her Home. It is truly awesome for those of us that homeschool and truly full of information. This man is brilliant. Enjoy and ladies I highly suggest this blog.

God's Path for our Children

When I was in college my goal was to finish my degree and get a great career as a veterinarian or research biologist. I didn't do either. I fell in love and got married and developed a career in the restaurant business. Then life happened and I needed to stay home and take care of my grandparents. We moved to their farm and took care of them and the farm for as long as we were needed. Then our first child came along and instead of going back to work full time in the restaurant industry I stayed home for several years and worked several different small jobs that allowed be to earn the income that we needed in addition to my husband's income. When my daughter was about 4 we were told that she needed to be in daycare and that I needed to go back to work. So since this was what I was supposed to do because it is what everyone did, I went back to work and put my child in daycare which later became school. I wound up working 70 hour work weeks and I made good money. The tradeoff though, was that I rarely saw my child and was usually too exhausted and tired to spend much time with her when I did see her. I never got the chance to get her ready for school and take her to school as I had to be at work at 5 am. My husband did that. But this is what we were supposed to do. Society had programmed us into believing that career comes first and then family. Somewhere along the way I began to learn that something in my life was simply not right. I missed my child and my husband. I began to suffer anxiety attacks and depression. I went to counseling and took loads of antidepressants just simply to function. Somewhere deep down in my soul, I still knew something wasn't right. My counselor hit the nail on the head when she told me that the answer to my problems was simply to do in life what I wanted to do. What I wanted to do....hmmm, not what I was taught was the acceptable route to take but what I wanted to do. I wanted to see my daughter grow up and I wanted to spend time with my husband that involved something more than just listening to him snore at 2 am. I still thought that I needed a career, so I left the restaurant business and opened an art gallery. I had a host of talented artists in house and sold quite a few of my own pieces of artwork. I began selling more of my own, but I didn't earn any money because of overhead. After a year of losing a lot of money, I realized that I still was not doing what I really wanted to do. So I closed the gallery and my husband had a studio built for me at home. I came home and my daughter came home from school. A short time later we were blessed with another child. I work at home according to my own schedule which revolves around my children. I came home and I am finally after all these years doing what I want to do. We are working on our little farm and I do my art and some freelance writing to earn a little extra to help pay the bills. But the most important thing that I have now is a happiness that I have been seeking in all the wrong places. I found it at home. So why have I written this long diatribe? I got to thinking this morning about my old roommate my freshman year in college. Ann knew exactly what she wanted. She was in college to study education, not because she wanted to teach in the schools but because she wanted to get married and homeschool her children. I thought she was a lunatic at the time. Oh, if I had simply listened to the wisdom in her words I might have saved myself a very long and strenuous journey!Another thing that has brought her to mind lately have been the comments of my daughter. Most of the time when you ask a child what they want to be when they grow up they at least have some career in mind. They of course will change this a million times over the course of the years, but they will say something like "I want to be a teacher, or a nurse, or a doctor, or....a research biologist". Well, my daughter has told me on several occasions in the past couple of years that she wants to be a mom. That old dragon that I fought for so many years has raised its ugly head and I have heard myself over and over saying that is fine, but you must go to college and choose a career. Hmmmm...this is what has really gotten me thinking. Why am I doing this? Why am I saying these things? Who am I to determine the path that God himself has chosen for this child? Then I think about Ann and how she knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to be different from the rest of us in that dorm. Then I think about the struggles I have had over the years trying to fit in with mainstream ideals. I am happier now than I have been my entire life and it only took me 20 years to find the "career" that would lead me to happiness. If my daughter wants to be a mom and a homemaker then I will teach her to the best of my ability and leave the rest to God. The one thing that I have learned is that only she can choose her path in life. I can teach her all that I know, and that is where my job ends. God must lead her where she is needed and where she is to go. So that old dragon is banished from my vocabulary and I will not tell her again that she must choose a career and enter into the work force. That is such a socialist concept anyway. I will simply educate her and help her to strengthen her mind so that her knowledge expands. The rest I leave to God as I must. I think sometimes this is hard for parents to do because we want the best for our children and want them to be more successful than we were. It is just that our concept of success is twisted by a neo-Babylonian way of thinking. Success is relative, success is happiness and a feeling of accomplishment. So I pray that my daughter will find success along whatever path God chooses for her. If that is a career fine and if that is being a homemaker and a mom, that is fine too. I think I am finally ridding myself of the last of mainstream thinking that has had a hold of me. That dragon has been slain. May God bless you all.

Parental Rights Under Attack

As many of you may or may not know former President Bill Clinton signed a treaty with the United Nations, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The senate has not ratified this treaty yet. This International Law is a huge threats to parents across the country. It strips parents of their rights and allows the child to dictate and command how they are to be raised. This threat to our parental rights is looming larger than ever with the new administration. Hillary Clinton has always been a big proponent of this law. I don't know how many know this, but any international treaty that is signed into law becomes the law of the land and has more power than the Constitution of the United States. It in fact overrides the Constitution. This is just another mechanism to strip Americans of their sovereignty. This treaty strips parents of their right to be parents and gives it to an ever increasing state. Join to fight to preserve our parental rights and get the word out to parents everywhere. To view the latest news check here.

Is Homeschooling Right For Your Family?

Homeschooling can often times be a difficult decision. The great thing about homeschooling is that the decision is unique and personal to each family who makes that decision. There are many who feel like it is the only way to school and there are no other options. There are many who are walking billboards for public education and to them there is no other option. When trying to decide whether homeschooling is right for you in your family I highly suggest that you sit down with a sheet of paper. Draw a line down the middle and on one side write pros and on the other side write cons. Now gather the family together and if your children are a little older have them sit in on this also. Have each person list their ideas of what the pros and cons are. Then as a family decide whether the cons can be handled by the family or whether they are too overwhelming. If you don't really enjoy being with your children 24 hours a day, homeschooling might not be right for you. Keep in mind that this does not go for all because there are times as our children grow and go through ages and stages that we don't like them very much. Recognize whether this is a temporary dislike for a particular attitude or if you really just look forward to your children leaving everyday and can't stand weekends and their return in the afternoons. Making the decision together can make the transition much easier for older children that have been in the system. It also gives you a chance to face head on the issues that might cause problems or discontent and have solutions on hand and prepared. Remembering that each family's decision to homeschool is highly personal and should not be made because of other people's experience or lack thereof with homeschooling. Realize too that sometimes parents have to make the best decision for their children whether the children agree or disagree. Children lack the experience and the knowledge to make the best decisions for themselves. Doing this simple little exercise will give you a better picture about whether your family and homeschooling are a good fit.

Thinking about Homeschooling

So you are thinking about homeschooling but don't know where to start?Here is a starting point it is by no means the end all guide, but will get you started.

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."~ (Prov. 22:6)

1. Find out the laws in your state- The first place every parent should go is http://www.hslda.org/ . This is a Christian organization that stays up to date on all legislation and all state laws. You can find out exactly what the laws are regarding homeschooling for your state. Although you do not have to join the group, I recommend it. In today's times of ever decreasing freedoms, homeschool families are constantly under attack, sometimes jailed. Membership with HSLDA is what I consider a good insurance policy to protect your family. any problem you have with a homeschooling issue, their law staff is available 24 hours a day.

2. Decide how you want to teach and how your child wants to learn- There are several styles of teaching. Unschoolers kind of go with the flow and let their child lead in the learning. They tend to use a lot of unit studies which will incorporate all areas of education around one subject. Say the child is really into dinosaurs. You can read books about dinosaurs, compose spelling list of dino related words, study dino archaeology, study the book of Job, write stories about dinos, do dino math problems, study history of the areas where dinos have been found, etc. They tend to use everyday life as a teaching experience versus books and worksheets. Eclectic homeschoolers pull their material from everywhere. They do some bookwork, some life experience, some internet etc. They gather a little here and a little there to create a well rounded mix for their child. Then there are those parents that buy a boxed already made curriculum and follow it to the letter. You have to make the decision what might work best for you and yours.

3. Gather your materials- Once you have decided to homeschool, how you want to homeschool and found the laws of your state, then gather your materials. Some parents just embarking on this journey like boxed curriculum for security and confidence reason. It is also a lot easier. Homeschool workbooks and such can be bought at the bookstore although I don't like them. They are way too easy, no challenge, and secular. Two places to look would be http://www.abeka.com/ and http://www.bobjonespress.com/ . Both are Christian curriculum and you can get everything you need. Abeka runs about a grade level ahead of public school. In other words if your child is in 3rd grade in public school that would be the 2nd grade equivalent in the Abeka. I have not used Bob Jones, but many parents I know do and really like it. You can just google homeschool curriculum and find tons. Then there is also Switched on Schoolhouse which is an internet or DVD program that does everything for you, teaches, gives quizzes and tests, and grades and keeps records.

4. Decide how to keep records-I don't care which way a parent decides to teach or what materials they want to use. The second best insurance policy is to keep records of what you do teach and when you taught it. There are programs and such for the computer. I use http://www.homeschooltracker.com/ and the basic edition is a free download. I spend about two weeks in the summer organizing everything with this download and our days run much smoother while there is also a record. Some people simply use a spiral notebook and write down everyday what they did. Keep some of your child's work in a folder as proof, even if it is just a picture of what they have done. My daughter recently did a salt dough map, can't exactly put it in a folder. We took about six pictures at various stages that went into her school photo album that we keep. If you ever decide to enroll your child back into school these records could keep your child from having to repeat all the "missed" grades. Yes, that has happened.

5. Jump in with both feet and don't look back-It is not easy at first and can be very awkward and frustrating. Like any new adventure you can't figure out the ropes until you grab onto them. Homeschooling while a steadily growing movement across the country and world, is still an individualized process. Each family does things differently from every other family. You have to find what works for you and yours and this takes some time. You and your child/ren also will have to establish the new teacher student relationship. If your child is coming out of public or private school, consider given them some time to deprogram. Some parents recommend one month for every year the child was in school. I think this is a little extreme. When I pulled my daughter we did one month only. We did a lot of field trips during this time so although some education was going on they were more fun and designed to deprogram her brain. Even coming from a Christian private school they still need this time to let go of the schools routines and rituals.

6. Join a homeschool group- If at all possible join a homeschool group or two in your area. That way your child can spend time with other homeschool children and you can bounce ideas around with other homeschool parents or ask lots of questions. We have about 30 to 40 children in our group from babies to highschoolers. All the kids get along no matter the age and have a good time together. think about your child joining some YMCA sports and of course there is church. Between these three I can assure you there is no social problem.

7. Be prepared for negative reactions- Negative reactions are still a part of being a homeschooler, although positive reactions do occur. The most negative reaction is the question, "What about socialization?" I have enclosed the link to my article on this very question that exposes the truth behind socialization and what it really means. Negative reactions will happen, don't get angry or upset. There will be positive reactions also and I have noticed these are the ones I get most frequently. Public education is so bad here that parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles would almost prefer that aliens educate their children versus what we have now. So do your homework and memorize how you would respond when the lady in the checkout line at office depot accosts you for not supporting public education and declaring that homeschooling is the reason for the problems in the school systems.