1, 2 , 3, 4, 5 --- Whew! I still have all my fingers!

On Friday we rented a log splitter. For those of you who have never seen one, here is what they do. My thought was that we would surprise Mike by splitting all the wood we hauled a couple months ago. All was well until I slipped and fell against the log splitter, getting my fingers on my right hand crushed in between the hydraulic axe blade, the wood, and the metal stand. Luckily, I was wearing thick leather gloves, which most likely saved me from loosing the tip of my middle finger.

There was no blood; just black, blue, and purple finger tips. Think of slamming all your fingers hard in a car door and you should get a good idea of what it felt like. The ER said my hand was the best looking log splitter injury they have seen all year. They said most people are missing fingers or have crushed bones.

I am very blessed that my injury was not much worse! I know my Heavenly Father is watching out for me. Thank you, Heavenly Father!

September '09 - Week 4

I don't have a full week to post about because I injured my hand...(see my next post).

Together Lessons

Devotional - "Let Him Ask of God" daily inspirational readings.

Government/History - "The 5,000 Year Leap" by Cleon Skousen - Principle #1 - "The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law."

Family Projects -

• Reading: "On the Banks of Plum Creek"
• We are making apple butter.
  
• We are splitting the wood we gathered a couple months ago to get ready for the winter.

Individual Phases and Studies

Marlayna (Project Scholar) - Projects: Guitar practice, loom knitting. - Reading: "Animal Farm", "On Thin Ice" - Math: Math-U-See: Epsilon.

Christian (Love of Learner) - Projects: Guitar practice, Harmonica, Roping. - Reading: "Stormchaser" - Math: Math-U-See: Delta

Marlayna & Christian's Business: Their chickens are laying really great eggs every day and they are working on advertising for selling the extra eggs that we do not eat. This week they made signs to let neighbors know that we have eggs for sale.

Mom (Ready to be a Mentored Scholar - but, still looking for a Mentor) - Reading: "Jo's Boys" by Louisa May Alcott - Math: Math-U-See: Algebra - Projects: Loom knitting hats for the Soup Kitchen. I am also working on a Community Service fieldtrip for our local homeschool support group.

Mom Notes:

Apples Galore

We purchased apples this year. I typically alternate peaches and apples. We did peaches last year, so apples are this year. We seriously were SICK of peach jam by the time it was all gone. I think we are feeling the same way about applesauce right now. I made the peach jam too sweet, so that is an adjustment I make now. We either only use half sugar or do not add sugar at all.

Here are the recipes I used:

• Applesauce - I do not add anything...just pure apples.
• Apple Butter - I have not made this before this year, but we decided a few jars of it to use alternating with peach jam will be nice. I used half the sugar.
• Crockpot Apple Crumble - I doubled this one because we have a very large crockpot.

Marlayna also made a delicious apple pie. She has been gathering recipes for a cookbook to take with her when she leaves home, which is hopefully a long time from now!

I've had a few people ask where I buy my bulk produce from. We are part of a co-op called Bountiful Baskets. Currently they are in Arizona and Utah, but I know they are open to starting up in other states.

September '09 - Week 3

Together Lessons

Devotional - "Let Him Ask of God" daily inspirational readings.

Government/History - Constitution Day! - September 17 - We studied the Constitution of the United States of America. We spent quite a bit of time on the Bill of Rights and also discussed what it means to "ratify" something. We have a poster size replica of the Constitution, which we love. We also watched "Creating the Constitution" (see Mom Notes).

Science - "Concepts and Challenges in Physical Science" - Air Resistance - "Chemistry for Every Kid" - Experiment #10.

Family Projects - Reading: "On the Banks of Plum Creek" - Our main projects right now are Apples and Onions. We have been dehydrating apples and onions, making applesauce, and basically trying to find creative ways to use up what we have. The homemade onions rings were a big hit!

Individual Phases and Studies

Marlayna (Project Scholar) - Projects: Guitar practice. - Reading: "On Thin Ice", "Septumus Heap Book 4: Quest", "Fearless" - Math: Math-U-See: Epsilon.

Christian (Love of Learner) - Projects: Guitar practice. - Reading: "Stormchaser" - Math: Math-U-See: Delta

Mom (Ready to be a Mentored Scholar - but, still looking for a Mentor) - Reading: "Animal Farm" and "1984" both by George Orwell - Math: Math-U-See: Algebra

Mom Notes: I found a website that I like - Teacher Tube. It has video, audio, documents, etc. for lesson plans of all sorts. This is where we got "Creating the Constitution" from.

Fall Is In the Air

Fall is definitely in the AIR! We are busy dehydrating apples, making applesauce, and baking apple pies and apple crumbles. YUM! Have I said lately how I have the BEST kids in the world...well I do!

What we're up to lately:

Sam was in a car accident a couple weeks ago (not her fault). Her head made a 4 inch indentation into the windshield, her chest and stomach hit the steering wheel, her knees hit the dash, and she broke her right arm just above the wrist. Miraculously, she is doing fine and has no major injuries. The doctors and nurses kept checking her over and over, exclaiming how lucky she was. We feel truly blessed and know that Heavenly Father was looking out for her. Sam is getting ready to take her SAT's soon. She turns 18 in ONE month! Where has the time gone?

Marlayna is a busy cook and helping tons with the apples. Her chickens are thriving and laying beautiful brown eggs. She is learning the guitar. She has always been talented in music and the guitar is proving to be another natural talent of hers. Reading is still a passion of hers and she is storming through several books a month, including difficult books like "Utopia". She is currently thinking about her college future and determining what will be best for her.

Christian is all boy and very active, always looking for something new to try out. He is also taking guitar and had already taught himself several things before the first class by researching online. He found this great website Free Guitar Lessons. His chickens are also laying eggs and he sold his rooster due to the midnight crowing we just couldn't get used to (I thought they only crowed during the day!) Christian recently bought himself a harmonica and has taught himself a couple of songs through Internet research there as well. He is very good at research! He can seriously teach himself almost anything by finding the right sources. That is how he taught himself basic HTML. That boy has a future in finding solutions to problems.

Mike and I have been adjusting to his extremely BUSY schedule. I hate how much he works and that he is out of town so much. I miss him a great deal. But, I know that this is the path we were supposed to take. I felt a reaffirmation about our decision to move here and take this job on Saturday as Mike and I left for our monthly date. So, I know we are on the right path and that the Lord is providing for us.

I have always loved this Blogger Template called "Maple Leaf". I wish I could take credit for the design, but I can't.

September '09 - Week 2

Together Lessons

Devotional - "Let Him Ask of God" daily inspirational readings.

Government - "The 5,000 Year Leap" by Cleon Skousen - Part I - Discussion on the production of money, national debt, and current events and how these relate to Part I of this book.

Science - "Concepts and Challenges in Physical Science" - Force - "Chemistry for Every Kid" - Experiment #1.

Latin - Latina Christiana I - more review of Lessons 1-3.

Family Projects - Reading: "On the Banks of Plum Creek" - We sold a rooster and the kids are getting their egg business up and running now that the chickens are laying.

Individual Phases and Studies

Marlayna (Project Scholar) - Projects: Guitar practice. - History: Story of the World 2 - Chapter 34 - Reading: "Tricksters Queen", "Quest" - Math: Math-U-See: Epsilon.

Christian (Love of Learner) - Projects: Guitar practice. - History - Story of the World 2 - Chapter 3 - Reading: "Beyond the Deepwoods" - Math: Math-U-See: Delta

Mom (Ready to be a Mentored Scholar - but, still looking for a Mentor) - Reading: "Frankenstein", - Math: Math-U-See Algebra

Mom Notes: I don't really have any this week.

September '09 - Week 1

OK, I'm a bit late getting this out. Life has been busy, busy, busy. We made a few changes to our education plan and family work. With the addition of foster children coming and going, we had to make a few adjustments.

1. A chore wheel rather than assignments. This makes it easier on me. Each of my children can easily be assigned a "buddy" to help with the chores without me having to change the entire plan each time children come and go.
   
2. We have a list of "Daily Expectations" and "Weekly Lesson Schedule". (See Mom Notes).
   

Together Lessons

Devotional - "Let Him Ask of God" daily inspirational readings.

Government - "The 5,000 Year Leap" by Cleon Skousen - Part I - Discussion on how the Founding Fathers did not want the US to become a "welfare state".

Science - "Concepts and Challenges in Physical Science" - Gravity - "Chemistry for Every Kid" - Experiment #21.

Latin - Latina Christiana I - more review of Lessons 1-3.

Family Projects - Reading: "On the Banks of Plum Creek" - Young Jammers - My kids started a fantastic free program where they are learning Guitar and Harmonica.

Individual Phases and Studies

Marlayna (Project Scholar) - Projects: Guitar practice. - History: Story of the World 2 - Chapter 34 - Reading: "Wizard Heir", "Princess Ben", "Utopia" (The real one by Thomas Moore). - Math: Math-U-See: Epsilon.

Christian (Love of Learner) - Projects: Guitar practice. - History - Story of the World 2 - Chapter 3 - Reading: "Wizard Heir", "Beyond the Deepwoods" - Math: Math-U-See: Delta

Mom (Ready to be a Mentored Scholar - but, still looking for a Mentor) - Reading: "King Arthur: Tales from the Round Table", "The Communist Manifesto" - Math: Math-U-See Algebra

Mom Notes: "Daily Expectations" are a list of what I feel my children should work on each day. This includes a math lesson, review grammar and spelling rules, daily reading, daily journal entries, etc. By giving my Scholars these expectations, I feel it has enriched their focus on what they need to know to be successful in life.

"Weekly Lesson Schedule" is a basic outline of what we will do together each day (Kids School). Monday - Grammar & Spelling Lesson (rules reviewed throughout the week), Tuesday - Government Lesson, Wednesday - History Lesson, Thursday - PE, Friday - Science Lesson and experiment, Spelling Test.