Oh, What Do You Do....

I get this question a lot..."What do you do about homeschooling? What are you going to do about graduation? What about socialization?" It cracks me up that nobody asks, "What do you do about education? Are your kids learning better at home than at public school?"

I saw a fantastic shirt on a little boy at the library today. It read, "Unsocialized homeschooler...interact or communicate with at your own risk" with a warning sign look to it. I started laughing and wondered where I could get some for my kids so I found them at this website. I'm going to have to invest in some t-shirts I think.

Chris wears a shirt that says, "Homework Kills Trees...Stop The Madness!" He tells people it is a political statement. Most people who look at it think he is talking about public school homework, but he believes he is making a stand for homeschooling and that kids waste their time going to school all day, only to come home with an hour or more worth of homework. He tells people he can get all that done in 4 hours a day. Smart boy!

So, here are the answers to the top three questions I'm asked:

1. "What do you do for homeschooling?" - We read and study from "real" books, not textbooks. We focus on classics like Heidi, Robinson Crusoe, Charlotte's Web, Jane Eyre, Shakespeare, etc. We use fieldtrips, simulations, and life experiences to explore deeper into subjects and we allow our passions and zeal for learning to take us to new things to learn about.
2. "What will you do about graduation?" - Our children will attend a homeschool graduation where they will walk the isle and get a diploma. No, this one is not recognized by the state, but does that really mean anything anymore? For college entrance, they will take the same placement tests or ACT/SAT's that everyone else takes.
3. "What about socialization?" - My kids have so many social activities that we can't fit them all in! We have scouts, church events, homeschool group meetings, fieldtrips, enrichment classes, 4-H Club, Roots & Shoots, etc. Not to mention their family and friends.

Thank you for reading about my answers to frequently asked questions.

Chris Freaks Out

We have motion detector lights on the back of the house that constantly go off. It really does not even light up much of the yard, especially when your back yard is over an acre. It only lights up about 20 feet. It was making me pretty freaked out having those lights flick on and off while I'm trying to sleep, so I decided to turn them off. I figured, "Stupid feral cats keep making that thing go off." Well, tonight as Chris was getting ready for bed he heard something outside his window. All I hear is, "Holly Crap!" and my son comes running out of his room yelling for us to come look. He saw two deer eating the grass right outside his window, one he said had huge antlers. Of course, by the time we come to look, the deer are long gone. I guess it is not just "stupid cats" setting off the motion lights.

Here is what that part of the backyard looks like in the daytime, after we removed all the brush anyway. Picture deer eating that patchy grass...I hope my garden survives the deer, rabbits, gophers, prairie dogs....

What's "Hop"pening...

Dust Bathing Chicks

Chris filmed some funny video of our 4 week old chickens...(P.S. Brother Cluff, we hope you see this one. You are a great scout leader and we appreciate the example you were to our son!)

Bunny Walk

We were given this sweet, adorable Mini Rex bunny named Little Jim yesterday from Freecycle. He is a very domesticated and social bunny. Thank you Linda Rae, Corey and Justin for allowing us to give him a good home. We love him already! He is so incredibly soft and cuddly.

Other News

Good news! Mike is getting promoted. He was notified today that starting June 1st he will be on his own route. This is very good news for us and much sooner than was expected. We are very thankful to Heavenly Father for providing us with this opportunity. I know that He is looking out for us, even if things do not go perfectly and we have trials and tribulations along the way. We feel very blessed despite the setbacks we are experiencing in other ways.

April Showers? or Just Windy?

April Showers Anyone?

Where are the April Showers? We have either had snow or blasting wind that closes highways and rattles windows at night. I do not remember so much wind the last time we lived here. I know the weather patterns seem to have changed a little bit in the last few years...but this is ridiculous! I hope we get a few showers in to help keep the forest green over the summer. We saw a lot of smoke yesterday due to a forest fire.

Finding Joy!

It was one of my goals this year to focus on happiness and joy in life. I can say that I am happy, even through the trials and tribulations. I have learned, thanks to previous trials and tribulations, to be patient and realize that things could be a lot worse. Really, things are very good! After watching April General Conference, I felt that despite our economic hardships, everything else is really, REALLY GOOD!

We are very busy in our new home with getting the land "fire safe". The previous occupants let the back 3/4 acre become very overgrown. We have worked on the weeds, but the wind keeps blowing our neatly piled weeds around. We have tried to burn the weeds but cannot because of high winds, I had to get a burn permit and I call every day to see if we can burn. So, we stopped working on that for now and pray that the winds will cease long enough for us to get the weeds gone!

The flower bed is planted with seeds and Marly diligently waters it every day. Our eight chicks have more than doubled in size and are now living in their remodeled coop. We do not let them outside much yet because we are afraid they will blow away! They are not big enough to handle the wind yet.

We found a local homeschool group...there are five other homeschool families in our ward alone. We have been excited to have so many "close by"...meaning within 20 minutes drive. LOL! There are TONS of teens here. There are 40 young women and about 15 young men in our ward. They have all welcomed Marly and Chris with open arms and invited them to lots of things already. The boys are particularly happy to have another boy so they are not so outnumbered.

I hope to get some more pics up soon. I have just been so busy...

New Sun Oven Kits Available!

This year I have launched four new Sun Oven Kits! Save money by ordering a kit with no extra shipping costs for pots. Check it out at http://solar.thesolarcook.com/.

Save over $60 by ordering a kit!

Town Hall for Hope

I am regular viewer and fan of Dave Ramsey. Mike's dad gave us Dave's first book "Financial Peace" about 10 years ago. We were hodge-podge about following his advice and struggled because of it. We got serious about 6 years ago and have paid off over $80,000 worth of debt, $30,000 of which were medical bills for our daughter, Marly. Last year we paid off the last credit card. We now only have a truck (stupid tax even after knowing we shouldn't buy it) and some student loans that we have been paying on for 10 years, other than our house in QC.

We wanted to share with you a free event that is coming up from Dave Ramsey. You don't need to pay any money. His books are readily available at your local libraries. Get them! Read them! Apply the principles to your lives! I promise his system works.

And Then There Were Eight...

One of our week old chicks died last night. Marly and Chris had noticed that it wasn't moving very much and so they were gently trying to drop water into it's mouth, but it would throw-up everything they gave it. Chris came into the house to get Mike, but by the time he came back out, the little chick named Jada was dead. Marly was crying her eyes out as she held the little chick while it died. We buried her today in our yard. This is the first chick we have lost and hopefully it will be the last.

And now we have 8 chicks...