We're Moving! And some other random things...

Wow. Where do I start? The last time I blogged anything was back in June. 4 months ago.

Part of that was due to the garden/summer season. And I knew it would happen. It does every year. My sewing machine collects dust- literally- and we spend out time outside and busy with warm weather projects.

At the ocean

Riding one of Uncle's horses
 

Let's do a quick recap:

Our county fair this summer was really fun. I'll have to apologize though for the lousy phone camera pictures.
 

Timber and her prize winning arrangement

 

 

 

Layton showing his calf 

The garden and green house both did well. Layton grew the best corn we've ever eaten! We got about 25 pumpkins off our pumpkin vines and our fruit trees were amazing.

The Lord really blessed us this year with a bumper crop of everything. What a wonderful last summer to remember at our old home.
 

Main Garden 2013 

 

And speaking of old homes, did you read that we were moving?

Oh, this has been such a long, patient process for our family. My husband and I have been looking at property for close to 5 years now. Looking and waiting. Waiting for the Lord to provide the right time and the right place (not to mention something affordable so that we're not in debt for very long!)

 We are purchasing a 5 acre parcel with a fixer upper, off grid home. We are beyond thankful to the Lord for His provision of this piece of land. It is going to take a lot of work and a lot of fixing (home and land wise) but we are excited about the possibilities that await us. If any of you have ever read Michael Bunker's book "Surviving Off Off-Grid" then you'll know what we are shooting for with this new homestead. If you haven't read his book yet, may I humbly suggest that you get your hands on a copy and read it. Then re-read it. And then apply it to the best of your ability.
 

Mason and Oakley
Mason is wearing his "mountain boy" shirt I made this summer using a pattern from here.

 

A few other notes...

I have read the book Trim Healthy Mama and am using the methods in it to change my eating habits. So far (about 8 weeks into it) I have lost nearly 17lbs. I am thrilled and am well on my way to being a healthier mama for my family. It was easy for me to employ the eating methods in the book since we already eat a organic/whole foods diet. All I really had to do was cut out the sugar (which everyone should do anyway) and reduce my grains significantly. I then used the way my body burns fuel (fats and carbs) in the S and E meals to lose the weight. It may sound a tad bit confusing but if you read the book, it becomes clear.
 

I was also supposed to cut out whole raw milk. That made me sad. So instead of being ultra strict with the diet, I now consume much less raw milk than I did before, maybe drinking 1/4 cup per day. I still want the beneficial bacteria and all the yumminess whole, raw milk has to offer, I just don't need all the fat.
 

 

We started school in the beginning of September. This year I have a Jr. (in high school), a 1st grader and a kindergartener. Wyatt is using a combo of Apologia, Rod and Staff, Journibles, and Notgrass American History.
Layton and Timber are using Heart of Dakota. Mason is just hanging out, being an almost 4 year old.


 

I found some of these at Fred Meyer a few weeks ago.

 

If there are 2 things I am a sucker for it's quilts, canning jars,.. and bowls. Wait, that's three.
 Anyway...

I restrained myself to just purchasing the one 6-pack of them.

I canned Spiced Apple Peel Jelly in them. I used Quinn's recipe as a starting point and then altered it from there.

 

I took my peels and cores and poured water over them to almost cover. Then I strained that, added the ACV and a handful of cloves and cinnamon sticks. I placed a cover on my pot, brought it to a boil, turned the heat off and infused the spices in juice for about a half hour. I then strained the juice, removing the sticks and cloves. From that point I pretty much followed the instructions in the Pomona Pectin box for jelly making. For sweetener I used a combination of coconut sugar and evaporated cane juice.

 

From 20lbs of apples, the peels and cores made up a nice finished 6 pints of jelly.

Signs of fall

 

So far hunting season has been a bust. Well for the most part. My dear husband has been so incredibly busy with work this fall that he hasn't had the time to go hunting on his own. Hunting this season has included mom (me), a 16 year old, a 6 year old, a 5 year old and a 3 year old. All piled into a truck. A loud, diesel truck.
Or walking along paths, breaking sticks underfoot, jumping, laughing and generally running off anything within 500 feet of us, 2 minutes before we even get there.
So here is the fruit of our labor so far...

 

One Grouse.

This coming weekend is the last weekend for bucks here in Northern California's B zone but thankfully upland game bird and bear season continue.

(Oh, and as a note, the 3 year old is holding a bottle of ROOTbeer. Just to clarify.)

Roasting hot dogs

The perfect skipping rock

 

 

 

The Creator's creation is simply amazing. All through out the year but especially, in my mind, in the fall. The crispness of air, the changing colors and temperatures. Stunning.

Thank you, Lord.

 

 

Lastly, quilting.

I have started a bit more here and there. I wish I could share some of the finished tops here on my blog but alas, I have readers (family and friends) who will be receiving some of these come Christmas and I'd hate to spoil the surprise. It is wonderful to hear the hum of my machine again though.

 

I will say though that I am working on another quilt for our bed. I'm using Jenny Doan's tutorial below. It's quick and easy. When you're making a quilt to cover a CA King bed, you want quick and easy. At least I do. I dug through my fabric stash and found the perfect fabric for this quilt... Wildflower Serenade by Kansas Troubles Quilters for Moda.

 

Yes, I know that the line is about 5 years old but I don't try not to stash fabric unless I know I'll use it at some point in the future.

 

 

Have you ever used a tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Co.?

 

There is more but I won't go into it for now. If you've made it this far you must be dedicated.

 Did I hit you with enough stuff?

Thanks for sticking with me.

 

Hopefully I can post again before the year is over.

 

I hope that your fall is full of His wonderful grace and blessings!

"Lessons From The Hen House" - A Review

This ebook review is so timely and appropriate with all we have going on in our own hen house lately!
When Carol Alexander asked me to review her new ebook, Lessons From The Hen House, I knew nothing about it. From the title I gathered that it was a book about lessons on what to do or not do with chickens. I was wrong. And, once I read the ebook I was so glad that I was wrong!

Carol has done a wonderful job putting together a homeschool book that uses your backyard flock to complete activities in math, art, science, language arts and literature.

After reading it, I feel that this book would be best geared towards children in say, 2nd-7th grades although there are things for your preschooler and highschooler to do as well! If you're looking for a fun little curriculum that can encompass all the children in your home, this is it!

My favorite thing about the ebook is simply that it takes real life and turns it into education. Which is what true education is about anyway! Instead of being stuck in a stuffy text book, you're using a wonderful homestead animal to learn some basic and creative subjects. Your children will enjoy learning when it's taught this way. They'll feel engaged instead of bored.

A little about the author: Homeschooling since 1993, Carol J. Alexander lives with her family in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. She and her husband have graduated three of their six children from homeschooling.
You can visit Carol's blog Everything Home With Carol and see other lessons that Carol has put together at her Lessons From the Homestead website.

Thank you Carol for asking me to review this ebook. I can't wait to use it here on our homestead with our chickens and children!

This post is linked to the Barn Hop.

Is Public Education Necessary?

I purchased "Is Public Education Necessary?" from Amazon used books a while back and just got the chance to sit down and start reading it. I'm only on page 7 but I wanted to share a bit of what Samuel Blumenfeld writes because I whole heartily agree with it .......

"Today, most of the young adults who emerge from the process [of public school] read poorly, write miserably, have stunted vocabularies, cannot do arithmetic well, know little geography and less history, and know virtually nothing about the economic system in which they live. At school they fall under strong peer pressure, are introduced to drugs and sexual promiscuity, while their teachers preach the moral relativism of secular humanism as a substitute for the outmoded codes of religion. Traditional discipline has been replaced by behavior modification techniques, which include the use of powerful drugs developed by behavioral psychologists. Some students, puzzled by the deeper, spiritual questions of life, which neither the humanists nor behaviorists can address turn to astrology, black magic, or religious cults for answers. The average graduate, however, tries to make his way into the adult world with a serious deficiency in basic skills and the use of logic. The process, in short, is a stunting of intellectual and spiritual growth. Every September a new generation of American children are fed into this crippling process, and American parents are at a loss to understand why the young adults emerging at the end are the way they are. The school buildings look fine from the outside. But parents are only vaguely aware of what goes on inside."

WOW. Did that hit you like a ton of bricks? Or maybe you're saying, "Yep. That's what I've been saying all along!" Either way, this book looks as if it is going to be wonderful and I'm excited to read it.

Want to know the crazy thing? This book was first published in 1981! Over 30 years ago! How have we been so blind for so long?

I may share more as I read through it. Want to read through it with me, for free? Here is the link to read the book online.

IndoctriNation: A DVD Giveaway

I have been so impressed with the IndoctriNation movie. If you missed it, you can read my short review of it here. I wish that this movie could be handed out to all Christian families, for free, so that everyone could easily have a chance to see it. It's that important. It's that good.

I'd like to give away a copy of the movie here on my blog. If you'd like to win this DVD, here are the giveaway rules:

1. Leave a comment here telling me if you're already a homeschooler or looking into homeschooling or if you've never even considered homeschooling.

2. FB or Tweet about this giveaway and leave me a separate comment telling me you did for an extra entry!(optional)

Please make sure I have a way of contacting you if you win.

Giveaway will end Friday January 20th at midnight- California time!

IndoctriNation: A Review

My husband and I watched the documentary "IndoctriNation" by Colin Gunn the other night. We were blown away. And we're already homeschoolers!

Here's a quick synopsis of the film- Mr. Gunn and his family load up onto a used school bus they found on Craigslist and take off traveling around America to learn about the origin and history of compulsory schooling, as well as talk to pastors, educators, authors, students and parents about public schooling.

I loved the array of people that are interviewed in this documentary. People like Ken Ham, Doug Phillips, Erwin Lutzer, and John Taylor Gatto (who as far as I know isn't even a professed Christian.)
This documentary shares verse after verse, far beyond Deuteronomy 6:4-7, to give Biblical reasoning for educating your children at home.
It also has some surprising twists (well, surprising to me at least.)

What we enjoyed the most from this film was not that it convinced us to homeschool, since we've already been convicted to do so, but that it made me rethink the way I homeschool in general. Why am I comparing my children to the children in schools? Who's standards am I trying to measure up to?

This film is also highly encouraging. It reaffirms your entire reasoning for homeschooling. I am so thankful that I purchased it as we can now watch it as often as we'd please.
I would encourage all Christian families to watch this film and then pray about what the Lord would have you to do with your children.

Here is the movie trailer:

Winter is near

The days of fall are quickly coming to an end as the rain sets in , the trees are getting more and more bare, and Thanksgiving is just a few days away. Soon it will be winter.

This fall has been a wonderful time for us here at the homestead we have butchered pigs and bucks, chopped LOTS of firewood, spent time with homeschool friends, picked out pumpkins, baked new goodies, celebrated birthdays, planted garlic, tried our hand at smoking pork, finished up most of the canning for the year and even made time to sew! Here are a few pictures to recap our fall.

{Special pumpkins}

{Tree climbing}

{Mason turned 2!}

{Timber's new skirt}

{Timber's new jumper that ended up looking like a pillow case!}

{ Playing in the leaves}

{ Outdoor School with our homeschool group}

{Scarecrow parties}

{Bucks}

{Wyatt turned 14 and got a laptop for his birthday!}

{Smoking pork}

This Thanksgiving we won't be eating a home raised turkey. I only purchased one hen this year and about 3 months into her stay, she died. We couldn't afford the cost of purchasing another chick so we ended up buying our turkey from Azure this year. Organic turkeys have to be one of the most uneconomical animals to raise. Has that been your experience too?

If I don't get to check in again before Thanksgiving, I pray that yours is a blessed one this year! We truly have so much to be thankful for.

"Oh give thanks unto the Lord for He is good." Psalm 118:1

"Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" Ephesians 5:20

A Pumpkin Unit Study

I love pumpkins.
I always have. I always will.

I don't know how I came to love them but I do and I have since as far back as I can remember. Really, I used to hug pumpkins. But that was in those weird teenage years. I don't hug them anymore but I do still love them.

When I saw this post on Growing Up Homeschooled I knew what we had to do. Pumpkins. An entire week devoted to them. Normally I don't choose the topics that my children "study" so precisely. We try to fall somewhere in the learning realm of Charlotte Mason. I lean towards unit studies and a little bit of unschooling too.





If you're interested in doing a pumpkin study here are some great resources that I have found. One of the greatest things is that a pumpkin study can be done at any time in the fall. This is not a Halloween study or a Thanksgiving study, it's simply about the pumpkins!

Growing Up Homeschooled Free Pumpkin Unit Lesson Plan

Growing Up Homeschooled Pinterest Fall Learning Page

The Virtual Vine Pumpkins Aplenty

Moments of Mommyhood Pumpkin Pie Spice Playdough

Hostess with the Mostess Paper Pumpkin Ornaments

Devotions in Motion Pumpkin Devotion

Almost Unschoolers Pumpkin Shaker

Craftaholics Anonymous Mini Paper Pumpkins

University of Ill. Pumpkin Facts

2 Teaching Mommies Pumpkin Study (this is one of my FAVORITES!!)

Here are some of the books we've read this week....

Patty's Pumpkin Patch

I Know It's Autumn

From Seed to Pumpkin

The Pumpkin Blanket

We have one more day in our pumpkin study (tomorrow) and we'll be reading, baking pumpkin bars, coloring a pumpkin picture, and making the play dough (that's the one craft that my kids have been looking forward to all. week. long.)

Have fun!

Here we go homeschool!

Well, I did it. I lept in head over heels with high school homeschool. So far, it's been good. Of course, we are only just over half way through week 2. Hopefully I'll be able to say the same thing on week 32.
Curriculum was totally new to me this year. My 4, 3 and 1 year old don't' require any obviously. But this is high school. This stuff counts. (In a "you have to complete this or don't get your diploma kind of way.") It all really counts no matter what you're doing. Even the non-school time counts. Is there really non-school time anyway? Life is school. My children are learning every day. They're gaining knowledge from books and experiences but they're also learning habits, character, morals, ways of thinking and more from the environment around them each and every day.
Wyatt is using Rosetta Stone this year for Spanish. They call their way of teaching "immersion." You are immersed in the language so thoroughly that you can't help but learn it. Life is the same. What you are immersed in, you learn. I'm thankful to have all of my children home with me so that I can, in the best way I know how, teach them God's word, kindness to others, respect, honesty, and hard work along with all the book knowledge.
So here's what we're using this year:
Math: Saxon Algebra. Math isn't my strongest subject (right, Dad?) so Saxon is perfect for me and for Wyatt. It repeats/reviews problems from lesson to lesson to make sure you're actually getting it. Plus, there is a companion CD set that has the availability to take you step by step through each problem (yes, really, each problem in the book) in case you're just not getting it.
English: Rod and Staff English, "The Fallacy Detective", "Eats Shoots and Leaves", and tons of readers (ones like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Pilgrims Progress, The Mark Twain Reader, Death of a Salesman and Gulliver's Travels)
Spanish: Rosetta Stone, as mentioned above.
Bible: Rod and Staff 9th grade Bible, Morning and Evening, Matthew Henry's Complete Bible Commentary
Music Study: Beethoven and other composers. I know that these books are somewhat juvenile for Wyatt in the reading level but all of it is totally new to him (he's never studied any kind of music- let alone classical) and it works well as an elective.
Health: Yeah, I know. Who knew? Apparently California has a new requirement for graduation that requires 1 year of Health starting with students who graduate in 2014 or after. That would be us. I didn't find that out until about a week ago. I ordered this health book by Susan Boe. I like that it's sciency (is that a word?) yet upholds Biblical values.

I did buy the 9th grade Reader from Rod and Staff also.

When things get tough or I feel overwhelmed, I remember that instead of saying, "I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!" all I have to say is "I know He can!"

the birds

This spring the kids and I have really gotten into bird watching. We have seen so many beautiful birds in our backyard. So many in fact that we haven't even had to travel out of the yard to find a variety of these wonderful animals God created.
Here are a few of the one's we've found that rank near the top of our favorites list!

First, the Western Tanager. Now it could be that we simply haven't paid that much attention to birds in the past but I don't ever remember seeing these in our yard. They showed up about 2 weeks ago and their feathers are such a lovely contrast to the green of the trees they're in.

The Oriole. These boys just started visiting our feeders this past week. Oh the orange and black! Stunning! The females are here too and while they're not as bright, they are still a very pretty bird.

The Varied Thrush. This one is my personal favorite. I haven't seen them lately in the yard but earlier this spring they were abundant. The picture here doesn't really do them justice. The colors of their feathers are so beautiful together.

The Norther Flicker. This bird is actually part of the woodpecker family but mostly scurries around on the ground. Look at those spots! The males have the bright read feathers near their beak while the females don't have any red at all.

And remember those Starlings? Well, we still haven't made that pie but they did make a nest in a tree hollow in the back and, with the help of a ladder, the kids were able to see the babies up close. That was so exciting!
Do you bird watch? If you have children and homeschool, have you done a nature study on the birds in your yard? What is your favorite native bird?

*Oh, and I wanted to add that we have found some great bird books on Amazon used books. I got a book specifically on birds in N. California for $0.18!*

Fall Field Trip

I know, I know, it's not quite even Spring yet and I'm already planning a homeschool field trip for the Fall! I got wind of this expo yesterday and can't wait till September. The National Heirloom Exposition!

Here's what the exhibit has to offer:
Join seed companies, farmers, gardeners, chefs and food organizations for the National Heirloom Exposition in Santa Rosa, California, at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. This will likely be the largest event for heritage agriculture ever held. Learn from America’s top growers and food celebrities! Enjoy workshops, demonstrations and great music.

See over 2,000 varieties of heirloom produce on display. Growers and seed companies alike will display the diversity of heirlooms at this historic exhibition of our culinary heritage.

Enjoy our heritage livestock show brought to you in part by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. Dozens of heritage poultry and small livestock breeds will be on display.

Bid on art, farm products and produce at our Garden Benefit Auction!

Vote on your favorite works of art during our Garden Art Show.

Participate bring your produce, animals and art to display at this historic event!

All profits from the National Heirloom Exposition will be donated to school garden projects and other food and garden-related charities!

This is going to be a fantastic day of learning about seeds, plants, gardening, food and animals for all of my kids (and me too.) If you're within driving distance to Santa Rosa, CA, I'd love to see you there!

1 reason why I homeschool+giveaway*CLOSED*

If you're a follower of my blog then you've probably gotten the impression that I adore Vision Forum. Such great stuff for personal and homeschool use is available on their website and through their catalog. I'm a avid Vision Forum shopper (when money allows of course.) I had ordered the book below to get some inspiration for homeschooling next year. I'll be starting Layton in kindergarten, Timber in preschool and Wyatt in.......9th grade! Yikes!
Wyatt has been attending public school (with 1 year of private school thrown in there around 5th grade) and Gavin and I have decided that next year I will start home schooling him. This has been a decision that I've been praying about for a while. For those of you who don't know already, Wyatt is my stepson. Gavin and I married shortly after his 7th birthday. At that point, I really hadn't given much thought to school. Wyatt went to a public school and that was that. Over the past 4 years though I have begun to think about what I wanted to do for Layton. It has just been a natural progression that I've come to the conclusion that I wanted to homeschool my little kids.

I started to wonder, "What are my little kids going to think about Wyatt going away to school everyday and them staying home?" I guess I just figured I'd have to explain to the little ones that Wyatt had been going there for a long time and there was no sense in pulling him out so late in the game. Then it hit me (don't ask me why it took me so long to realize this) why would I not be willing to send my little kids to government school but I'd feel o.k. sending Wyatt? Why wouldn't I be as vigilant guarding his heart and his mind? I must be crazy!
Of course, it then hit me that I'd be starting homeschooling, beyond preschool, with a high school kid! At that point, fear set in. How am I going to begin in high school?? It sounds much easier to start at kindergarten and work your way up rather than be thrust into a 9th grade curriculum. So I prayed, and prayed and prayed. And Gavin prayed. Was this the right thing to do?

God was so gracious to show me very clearly that homeschooling was indeed what I needed to be doing with Wyatt. From the stories he'd come home with, to the sick to my stomach feeling I'd get when I'd drop him off at school in the morning occasionally. See, Wyatt usually rides the bus to school but once in a while I'll actually drive him there. I realized that not taking him to school directly was making it easier for me. The bus was a crutch. After all, he just got on happy as a lark and then drove away. I wasn't making the direct correlation between him and school. Once I had to actually take him to school, as we drove up and waited in line to drop him off, this heavy knot feeling was welling up in my stomach. I wanted to just keep driving through and not drop him off. I wanted to just say, "You're not going to school there today" as I drove back home.

I am now very excited to be starting high school with him next year. The Lord has really given me a peace about it, a confidence that yes, I can do this!
A terrific little help to me has been the Vision Forum book, "Building a Winning Curriculum." This book puts together ideas and suggestions for you through each subject using the resources available on their web site. I have decided that I will be using this curriculum for Wyatt's history next year and I can't wait to start it!

If you'd like to win a copy of "Building a Winning Curriculum" for yourself, or someone you know that may be new to homeschooling then please follow these rules:

This giveaway is open to everyone!
Giveaway ends February 18th at 8pm PST
For 1 entry, please leave a comment below; any kind of comment is fine.
For a 2nd entry, please Facebook or Tweet about the giveaway and leave another comment telling me that you did
For a 3rd entry, please blog about it and leave another comment telling me that you did
Winner will be drawn randomly by Random.org on or around the 19th.