Lorihadams-- hi guys...been busy!

[keljonma]

Ahhhh, the gardening fun begins! LHA, I think you could put the garden into containers for a move, if it comes later in the year. I have dug up many a plant from the veg or herb gardens and moved it with me successfully.

 

[PamsPride]

Get this, the next time Ronnie took them in the woods for a camping trip he took all the boys to his garden first and they all went in a picked all the food that they needed for the trip. He said they looked at him like he was crazy! He asked them how they wanted to fix the fresh veggies when they got into the woods (and set up snares and caught another rabbit or two) and none of them knew how to cook a fresh vegetable! He said that he just couldn't believe it. He looked at all of them and said "Lord, boys, where do you think your food comes from, the store? What do your mamas feed you?"

But...but...I though veggies only came from a can??? All you need is a can opener and a bowl so you can pop them into the microwave!! Don't they take a microwave when they go camping?? How else would you cook???

 

[dacjohns]

Have you been talking about Boy Scouts, as in Boy Scouts of America? If so this is not the same scouting I grew up with or was a leader for.

Scouts are supposed to cook, not just heat things up.

 

[lorihadams]

Yes, Boy Scouts of America, he was telling me about the newbies that he was taking out for the first time...totally green to the whole experience.


Thursday

Cleaned all the animal cages, aquariums, hutches, pens, etc. this morning. It is warmer but windy as all get out! I am still going to take the kids out to play this evening and I opened the windows for a bit to let some fresh air in the house. It felt so good! I can't wait for spring. When I closed the windows the kids kept yelling "No No mommy, keep them open Pleeeeeeeease!" Cute.

We had a visitor last night. I kept hearing a rattling on the porch and turned on the light and lo and behold there stands a raccoon! He was trying to get into the cat food bin. Chad wanted to shoot him but both of the kids were sleeping so my adorable husband goes and gets out his bow, sneaks around the back of the house, and tries to shoot the thing. I was watching it all unfold through the front window. The raccoon sneaks down the front steps in front of my hubby and he never even saw it!!! I flew open the window and yelled "he went down the steps doofus!!!" So Chad takes off running, in the dark, looking for the coon. Well, he got away. I'm just glad I remembered to lock up the chickens last night! We'll see if we can get him again tonight. If we can't then maybe I'll get a trap and see if we can get him that way. He was a pretty good sized coon too.

Never a dull moment, huh?

 

[lorihadams]

Feeling so good today! I have one major credit card and 2 store cards. One that we took out for circuit city when we got our laptop cause it was 12 months no interest and one that we got from Home Depot for the same reason. The home depot has actually been a life saver when something breaks or needs to be fixed around the house unexpectedly. I don't like using it as a crutch but it is what it is. Anyway, I just wrote checks and paid off both of them!!! Now the only one left is the biggest, around $4000 but hopefully we can get that taken care of when we get our tax refund. Then I can breathe again. I am really trying not to use the cards anymore unless it is an emergency, and no, dinner out does not qualify . I keep trying to tell my hubby that all the time!

Anyway, still coughing like crazy....to quote my granny "we'll tree that coon sooner or later". Chad has a lot of stuff to get done this weekend for the road association and he has to finish getting the tax stuff prepared for webfoot mafia. I am going to leave today and take the kids to granny's house for the weekend again so he can actually get some real work done, uninterrupted.

I am thinking more and more about homeschooling my children these days. It is really hard for me to get out of the "structured, standardized curriculum" way of thinking because that is how I was trained to teach. I have a teaching degree and hated being in the school system so I stopped. I also am nervous about standardized testing that my children will still have to take. It is hard to just let go of the "correct way" to teach and let my child explore things at his own pace. I know I can do it, I just have to change my mindset about it.

 

[keljonma]

Congratulations on getting those paid off! Isn't that a wonderful feeling?!


LHA, my daughter has been homeschooling since our grand daughter was 1 year old. Sometimes the lessons are more structured than others. But she loves the flexibility of homeschooling. Also, if they want to travel, she can change the lesson to meet their environment without a forced learning atmosphere.

She started each of the kids with American Sign Language, and as they age, progressed into simple science, math and reading lessons. The lessons aren't as age-structured as in a public school, and our grands seem to be doing very well.

DGD is now almost 11 and was recently tested at a high school reading level, junior high science, and 4th grade math level. DGS#1 is 7 and tested at 5th grade science and math and 3rd grade reading. The older two are starting to teach dgs#2 some signs at 8 months of age.

My dear daughter is not a teacher by profession, so she found the internet and a local homeschooling co-op helpful. I'm sure you'll do fine homeschooling your children.

 

[lorihadams]

Thanks Kel, it's always nice to have some positive reinforcement!!! I am reading a book by David H. Albert called Homeschooling and the Voyage to Self Discovery. Very interesting and it is helping with my confidence and mindset. My husband has been working with Tyler for about a half hour in the evenings from a little preschool workbook that he loves, very colorful and it makes him feel like a "big boy" cause he can actually write in it without getting fussed at! I think Chad is "coming over to the dark side" so to speak...he is just worried about the social interaction aspects because Tyler is still really shy in groups until he gets comfortable but that is normal for some kids his age. Once he warms up to everyone you can't keep him quiet!




Monday

Just came home from Granny's today and was dismayed to see that the new owners of the property have torn down the barn, milk house and all the lower houses on the farm. They are putting in a new road and so everything has to go. It is very surreal to see a part of my childhood that I experienced so fondly dissappear bit by bit.

We had a good weekend, though, and I ended up teaching children's church when the pastor's wife suddenly took ill and had to leave. I had the 3 and under classroom....whew, what a workout! I like to call it organized chaos! We survived, though and learned that God made all of us unique and special and that even if we look different or have different situations we are all special and valuable. At least I hope that's what they learned!!!

Chad let me soak in a tub and read a book for 2 hours tonight....did I mention that I love my husband? He usually lets me do that once a week. When I got out of the tub he and the kids had made all kinds of construction paper fish and sea creatures, even an angler fish!, and hung them from fishing line from the ceiling of my son's room. It was sooooo cool. It felt like we were underwater. They were so excited! I think he is starting to embrace the homeschooling, living on a farm, being self sufficient lifestyle more and more every day. He even told me that we needed to change our soap because the brand we are using isn't good for us. Who are you and what have you done with my husband???

 

[Beekissed]

I hope you get down on your knees and thank God for that one every so often......sounds like a good man!


Or else you are training him up right........

 

[lorihadams]

Poor thing, he called me up today and said "let's just move to Wyoming or Utah or something, we'll buy a little house in the middle of the woods and homeschool the kids and just get out of here. I'm so sick of this job." They told him this morning that they are probably going to force some of the splicers to go to WVA to work because they need people so badly. Here he is volunteering to go and they won't let him because they don't want to add any people to the head count because it will mess up their budget. But they will force people from here to go and pay for them to sit in a hotel for months, separated from their families, and pay for their expenses. Now how does that NOT affect their budget? Verizon is so backwards it is ridiculous. He is so frustrated. I don't know what to tell him other than I love him. What else can I do? At least he has a job right now!

 

[keljonma]

Corporate politics can be such a pain in the arse! I left mine five years ago this past May - partially for that very reason. I'm sure God will provide the answers.... but Wyoming always sounds good to me!