Garden Update - Getting Ready for Fall Planting

This is the very weedy state of our garden at the moment. We are pulling up the bean plants and harvesting the last of the beans from them. My plan is to plant fall crops as soon as we get the current plants out and the ground reworked.

Michael, Hunter and Austin loved shelling the brown beans.

~ Linking Here ~

 TUESDAY – Tuesday Garden Party,Garden Tuesdays WEDNESDAY Frugal Gardening 101, Outdoor Wednesday, Garden Party

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 SUNDAY - Strut Your Stuff, Sharing Time, Creative Bloggers Party and Hop, So Sweet Sundays, Sunday Showcase , Not “Baaad” Sunday, Think Pink Sundays, Sunday Linky Party, DIY Project Parade, Just Something I Whipped Up, Sew Darn Crafty, {K.I.S.S.} Blog Bash, MONDAY - Made by You Monday, Savvy HomeMade Monday, Inspire Me Mondays, A Marvelous Mess, I Made It, Making the World Cuter Monday, More the Merrier, Craft-O-Maniac Monday, Making Monday Marvelous, Sharing Monday, Making a Home, Motivate Me Monday, Market Yourself Monday, TUESDAY - Titus 2sdays, Domestically Divine, One Project at a Time, Teach Me Tuesdays WEDNESDAY - Homemaking Link-Up, Living Well Wednesdays, THURSDAY - Delightfully Inspiring Thursday, Creative Juice Thursday, It's a Party, FRIDAY – Fridays Unfolded, Finer Things Friday SATURDAY - Weekend Wrap-Up Party



WOWW - Updates on my Projects

A few weeks ago I shared some projects I had started. With school starting I've moved a little slower than I had hoped but I am slowly making progress.

I've sewn together the patchwork curtains for one window, now I just need to iron them and get some curtain rods to so I can put them up.

I've also sewn a set of curtains for the downstairs bathroom and they also need to ironed and put up.

One of the bean bags I cut out is now sewn together, I just need to get the stuffing to put inside it and close it up.

And I tried my hand at braiding fabric strips for a braided rug for the playroom. I definitely need some practice but it's going to be fun.

And that's what is on my "workdesk" this week.

~ Linking Here ~

SUNDAY - Strut Your Stuff,  Creative Bloggers Party and Hop, So Sweet Sundays, Sunday Showcase , Not “Baaad” Sunday, Think Pink Sundays, Sunday Linky Party, DIY Project Parade, Just Something I Whipped Up, Sew Darn Crafty, {K.I.S.S.} Blog Bash, MONDAY - Made by You Monday, Savvy HomeMade Monday, Inspire Me Mondays, A Marvelous Mess, I Made It, Making the World Cuter Monday, More the Merrier, Craft-O-Maniac Monday, Making Monday Marvelous, Sharing Monday, Making a Home, Motivate Me Monday, Market Yourself Monday, TUESDAY - Titus 2sdays, Domestically Divine, One Project at a Time, Teach Me Tuesdays WEDNESDAY - Homemaking Link-Up, Living Well Wednesdays, THURSDAY - Delightfully Inspiring Thursday, Creative Juice Thursday, It's a Party, FRIDAY – Fridays Unfolded, Finer Things Friday SATURDAY - Weekend Wrap-Up Party



Morning Musing Over Coffee - The Adventure of Discovery

credit: Michelle Meiklejohn

The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.

~ Robert Maynard Hutchins

I love learning. There is so much to learn, a world of fascinating wonders just waiting for me to discover them. I love the moment when something "clicks" for me and I understand something that was once a complete mystery.  And I love the sense of awe when I discover something that I know is fact but that I can hardly comprehend.

The challenge for me is to share that love of learning, to inspire in my children a sense of excitement for the adventure of discovery. As we study cell structure, Egyptian history, prime factors, and as we discuss the awesomeness of God and his grace and love for us. As we try new recipes, teach the dogs new tricks, and watch our garden grow and produce - or not. As we learn gentle speech and self control and understanding of another's point of view. As we travel this journey of learning together I hope my children injoy it as much as I do.

The whole earth if filled with awe at Your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. Psalm 65:8

~ Linking Here ~

Wordless Wednesday - Michael and Roni

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La-La's Home Daycare, Linda's Lunacy, Mama to 4 Blessings, Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas,

Frugality Is Free, 3 Princes and a Princess 2, The Education of a Stay At Home Mom,

Verena Schone Welt, Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom, Say “Cheese” at It’s a Blog Party, A Beautiful Mess, Live and Love Outloud, Wordy or Not So Wordy Wednesday, Dear Crissy, Baba’s Farm Life,

Preschool Science - Frog Life Cycle

Our circle time reading this week is a little article about frogs and toads in an old issue of Your Big Backyard.  We are also reading two poems about frogs/toads - The Bullfrog Song and Our Tree Toad. 

For our corresponding activity Monday morning we completed these Frog Life Cycle pages. There are several different ways to make these but we did a simple paper craft.

~ Linking Here ~

  SUNDAY – Science Sunday, Craft Schooling Sunday, The Sunday Showcase, Link & Learn, MONDAY - Learning Laboratory, Made by Little Hands Monday, Sharing Monday TUESDAY -  Noted Show and Tell Blog Hop, WEDNESDAY – Kids Get Crafty, All Things Wonderful FRIDAY – Preschool Corner, For the Kids Fridays,  The Play Academy, Fun For Kids Friday, High Paw, Read, Explore, Learn,



Morning Musing Over Coffee - Loving Learning for Life

credit: Michelle Meiklejohn

 

Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study. Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life. ~ Henry L. Doherty

 

You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives. ~ Clay P. Bedford

 

As we begin another week of homeschool, it is my goal to make learning fun and to create a sense of curiosity in the many wonders of this world. I hope that my children will develop an ongoing sense of wonder and curiosity in the world around them, the people who live in this the world and the great God who created and loves it all.

 

The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. ~ Psalm 65:7-9



Homeschool, Earthquake, Doctors Appointment and Ritalin - What a Week

I never meant for a whole week to go by before I updated here but this past week was simply not my best friend.

Monday was a quiet day and since we were starting school on Tuesday I gave Austin and Amanda a very easy day, letting them sleep in and basically have most of the day off.

Tuesday we started our schoolwork. I thought I had everything well planned and I was excited to get things started. As it turned out Amanda really didn't like the science I had planned for her and I greatly overestimated the amount of time Michael could sit still and work for me.

Then, midafternoon, we were hit by a 5.8 earthquake. Having never felt an earthquake before I have to admit it shook both Amanda and I up a bit. After the initial surprise I thought it was pretty interesting but Amanda really didn't agree with me there. Austin didn't feel it very much so he didn't have much to say about it.

Wednesday afternoon Michael had his five year check up. I had quite a bit I wanted to discuss with the pediatrician and he graciously listened and talked with me until I felt we both were on the same page. Michael has been having a LOT of behavior issues, along with difficulty sleeping at night. The tantrums are hard and long, the mood swings are wild,  he's bouncing off the walls, and very defiant at times. We've tried everything we know to do on our own and seem to be getting nowhere. And quite frankly, I was feeling tired and discouraged. After talking with me and reviewing his record the pediatrician had two recommendations. The first is to get a full evaluation done at Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center. This would include physical, developmental, learning and psychiatric evaluations. I am full agreement with this. The other suggestion was to begin him on a trial of Ritalin. I hesitated here. I know children sometimes need medication, and I have no problem with that. Austin has been on medication for migraines, I am on medication for OCD. But I guess I wondered if there were other things we should try first, of if maybe we should wait until the evaluation was done. Sensing my reluctance he didn't write out the prescription immediately. But as we talked about how the other children are handling this, I think we both realized it is causing them some stress so he gave me the prescription. He said to just try it and see if we feel like it makes a difference. He pointed out that if Michael does not have ADHD we really won't see much difference while he's taking this. Either way it will help us understand what we are dealing with and what course to take from here.

So Michael started the Ritalin Thursday. Between starting new medicine and the four shots he got, he really wasn't in the mood for much schoolwork on Thursday. I was still working on some other options for Amanda and looking at a different schedule for Michael so we didn't get much done Thursday either.

Along with all this I ended up getting an awful itchy rash that started Thursday and has been getting increasingly worse. It started on my arms but has worked it's way up my neck and face, and is also now on my legs. I have no idea what is causing it but it is driving me crazy! Along with the rash I wasn't feeling very good, headache, sore throat, achiness. The rash is still bothering me, but otherwise I am starting to feel better. Depending on how I feel tomorrow I may make myself a doctors apppointment to see what going on.

Anyway, I write all this too simply say - We really didn't get very far with homeschool this week.

But, I reworked our schedule, reworked the record keeping system, and found some new options for schoolwork, and I think we're ready to hit the ground running tomorrow morning.

Sunday Evening Fun at the Park

Our Winding Saturday Fun

I told Doug this evening that this has been one of those days that just seemed to wind randomly all over the place.

Our morning began quietly, with only our own three kids in the house. Michael went with Doug to take trash to the landfill. Amanda went to a friends house. Austin slept late. I did some housework and then did some more sewing on the curtains I am making.

Early in the afternoon friends dropped by to visit. Amanda came home and her friend came with her with plans to stay overnight. Two more of Amanda's friends also came over and are staying for the night as well. One of Austin's friends came over. He's spending the night too. And there are also two younger girls who are here for the night because their mother works a late shift tonight and an early one tomorrow so it made more sense for them to just stay. So now we have a total of nine kids in the house ages 17, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 6, 4 and 2. And they are all going to church with us in the morning.

We desperately needed groceries so we loaded everyone up and went to Walmart. Our Walmart trip went well with the exception of Michael throwing three major temper tantrums that required him being taken out of the situation until he could calm down.

We came home with the intention of unloading and putting away the groceries and then roasting hotdogs and marshmallows.

We did eventually get to the food but not before we found small snake in the garage (that got away), the dog ran away and it took 30 minutes of chasing her around the neighborhood to get her back, and an unidentified bug bit Austin and I made a quick run to the store for Benadryl because the area around the bite was turning red and it was very itchy.

I know that last sentence was a very long run-on sentence, which is exactly the way the evening was beginning to feel - very long and  run-on.

In the end though, everything turned out fine and we did get our food. And we had a lot of outdoor fun in the process.

Here are a some pictures of our evening fun.

Oh look, an earthworm!

So much smoke!

Yummy!

I had to laugh at Arielle and tell her she is quite the modern teenager as she tried to roast a hotdog and text her boyfriend at the same time.

What a crazy fun day!