meeting new friends!

I am connecting up with all my new friends on the TOS CREW, and I encourage you to as well.

If you want to follow the Crew on Twitter, here's a link to our crew group feed:

https://twitter.com/HappyLHomemaker/tos-review-crew-2013

This makes it so you can follow all of the members with one subscription, or go to the member list to follow each one. :)

Here are a few new ones I've "followed" this week. It is definitely not everyone, but a start. If they had a blog button, I grabbed it. :)

Ok, I'm out of time for today, but there are a LOT more crew members to visit! I'll be sharing more soon, but this was a taste to get you linked up. Enjoy!

Highlights of the High Plains

A morning sunrise, with the bluffs and hills in the distance.

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Stopped on the way to town so a cattle drive could cross the road.

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Swirling winds made a cornhusk bed for Buck overnight.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

It's starting too look like Christmas here. Still no snow, but the lights are up, and the tree is decorated. I've made up several fresh wreaths, and the smell of pine that comes from them is intoxicating. :) But truly, Christmas is not something we unpack from a box of decorations. It's not something we bake with sugar and sprinkles. It is a GIFT.

It is the reminder of God gift, Christ, and in Him, Salvation. So in this season of giving, we give, of ourselves, of our talents, of our time. We are endeavoring to show that to our kids. I want them to see past the mall santa, and the toy commercials, and get into the spirit of giving...

So this year we participated in Operation Christmas Child. Wyatt exclaimed as we walked out, "When will I get a shoebox?" I am reminded that this self-centeredness comes very naturally, and that it will take lot of practice for my 5 year old to see beyond his own wants, to the needs of others.

Proverbs 22:6
"Train up a child in the way he should go,
Even when he is old he will not depart from it."

This week we went shopping and made little care packages for some missionaries our church supports. Wyatt was a little less self centered when we talked about what to send the missionary boys who were his age. He began to get excited about thinking of giving them joy. Of course, my favorite part of that project was the look on the face of the clerk at our tiny post office when I said I had packages for Germany, Slovenia, and Peru!

Emma and Mayda shared their talents in the Christmas program at church. Emma was thrilled to portray Mary, and to sing a solo. Mayda was terrified to have a short line to recite, but she memorized it and did very well. Wyatt was a shepherd  and Tyler was (for the very first time) too old to be in the program. That made me feel a bit old! Sharing our talents for the Lord is always a pleasure.

That afternoon we headed to the Christmas party at the nursing home where my grandma lives. Singing and laughing with the residents there, I was SO thankful to see how comfortable my kids were with loving and serving them. They were certainly more comfortable with the sweet lady whose dentures came popping out as she sang than they were with the "Santa" who showed up and wanted to talk to them. Wyatt hid under his chair at that point. hehehe!

Then we went back to grandma's room to help with her Christmas cards, but had to pause to step out into the hall and enjoy the carolers who come through. This is what Christmas is all about. Taking a moment to give of yourself, of your talents and gifts, and to share! I hope we can keep it going all through the year. :)

"What if December looked different this year?

What if we all just

Give this Christmas away

If there's love in your heart

Don't let it stay there

Give this Christmas away

And your life will be changed

By the gift you receive

When you give this Christmas away"

-Matthew West

Please go watch the video at this link and enjoy the whole song that touched my heart.

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Join us on a Blog Cruise?

More posts will be linked up here on Saturday December 15th

Chicken Drama

Friday morning hubby went out to do some work in the shop and went around back to check on something. Behind the shop we keep bales of fencing for the farm, and they are stacked up sideways. He realized some of our free range chickens had been messing around there (and sometimes they hide eggs in the weeds back there) but this time one had gotten stuck in the roll of fence! And then another had seemingly followed her in there... and then another... and  here he discovered 3 chickens STUCK!  It was a Rhode Island Red on each end, with a Black Star in the middle. Crazy things.

We had to unroll the entire thing to get them out, and my heart just broke for them! We have about 34 chickens, so we don't always count heads when we shut the barn for the night. By the number of eggs stuck in the roll, I think they had been stuck there for about 2 days. The third chicken seemed to be in pretty good shape, and I'm assuming she was a latecomer to the party. The middle one had the "runs" when she started eating and drinking, but 24 hours later seems fine. I'm pretty worried about the first one in though. Her back end was much attacked by the chicken stuck in the middle (right behind her). Poor baby!

So she is inside for the weekend. Yes, in my house, in a pet carrier, on some pine-shavings to recover. I spoil my chickies. :)

Needless to say, we plan on storing all the fence rolls upright now...

Hanukkah Party

Today is the first day of Hanukkah. This is a new celebration for me. I had never really understood this special festival. I always assumed it was the Jewish equivalent of Christmas. I would try and explain the history of it, but I suggest that you pop over to the wiki and read up. Or you could have an awesome homeschool mom, like my friend Lyn, share the story with you. :)

In short, it is a celebration of the re-dedication of the Temple at Jerusalem, about 167 years before Christ. The lighting of the candles for 8 days is to remind the Israelites of the miracle that the last jar of oil found in the ruins, when the lamps were lit, lasted for 8 days. This was the amount of time for new oil to be pressed and prepared, but truly a miracle. I see Hanukkah as a special national day for the Israelites, much as Thanksgiving is to us as Americans, a day to give thanks for what God has done. Whether or not Jesus celebrated the day is much debated, but it was being celebrated in His time (John 10:22).

I was so thankful for Lyn sharing with us her family's special traditions, and even singing a Hebrew blessing for us as she lit the candles. Then we all played games and celebrated while the candles burned. I even got to try out making a special Challah shaped like the Star of David. I think I'll be making more Challah soon. It was a special afternoon, and a great cultural treasure for our family.

Review: Schoolhouse Teachers dot Com

I am reviewing this website with several of my *new* homeschool friends on The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew. To get the best picture of SchoolhouseTeachers.com, be sure to read all of their reviews!

This week, I had the wonderful opportunity to try out SchoolhouseTeachers.com, provided by the trusted online magazine The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. I was super excited about it. I usually don't try out subscription websites because I'm worried about getting all signed up, not seeing what I was looking for, then having to go through the trouble of un-subscribing. I'm so thankful I didn't miss out on this site for that reason; there is so much I would have never seen! 

To be sure they meant EVERYTHING, I tried several different categories all week long with my kids... and was impressed that there was more there than I could ever use.  To try out the site, I focused primarily on the elementary age material, since that's where my kids are right now.

We used the SchoolhouseTeachers.Com website to tailor our lessons this week, starting with reading. I grabbed their December recommended family reading list, and took it with me to my library. Unfortunately, none of the titles recommended on the reading list were at my library. I'm sure this is partly due to the fact that we have a small town library, and that  a lot of the Christmas themed titles were "out". We did find lots of similar titles with the help of a sweet librarian, and the kids enjoyed that. I think I would still use the recommended reading lists, but maybe be more proactive and see about inter-library loans, or utilize my paperbackswap account to order books on the list.

I printed off a whole week of Spelling sheets for Tyler and Emma (5th and 4th grade). They used the spelling sheets all week, and really enjoyed them. They loved that they incorporated vocabulary in a fun way, and made working with each word fun. For example, they had to decode each spelling word in a game one day. They both really got into it, and they are not usually so positive when it comes to spelling.

I found a Geography Assignment that centered around England, which was awesome since we were studying Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol this week. There were facts, questions, and even printable maps. Pretty much all the lessons on SchoolhouseTeachers.com were available in pdf format for easy printing.

I loved the Math Worksheets from Classroom Professor as well. There were video clips teaching the material, as well as printable worksheets and tests. They were really thorough and professionally done, and the answer sheets were included too. This part of the website, I was certain I would be using on a weekly basis, to supplement our math curriculum, and maybe even as a way to re-enforce difficult math concepts.

Since my kindergartner is learning to make letters, I downloaded the Print Alphabet Practice Sheets for him. While I was there I tried out the cursive ones too. I may never need another handwriting worksheet book. I'm beginning to see how the main tool anyone needs to make the most out of SchoolhouseTeachers.com is a good printer and reams of paper! I could spend all day printing out fun things to fill in the kids' lessons.

But printed material isn't all, I found some wonderful videos about Science for the kids to watch too. They were just the right length, and fun enough to keep the kids' attention. I love how science and fun experiments mix! Following the theme of hands on, I explored the "Ditch the Desk" feature. I wasn't sure if this would be something I'd use, but when I opened the first lesson and it talked about using Christmas time and giving as a way to do math, and the assignment was baking for the neighbors... I knew, these people know WHY I homeschool. I want my kids to learn, not just from a book, but in life, where the rubber meets the road, just like it will when the years of school are done. I want homeschooling to be a lifestyle for the rest of their lives. That was when I knew, SchoolhouseTeachers.com, gets what I'm doing here in my home. Probably because a lot of this is created by homeschool parents and teachers. People like me, thinking beyond the page.

My opinion about this product: I love how this one source has all the categories and all the tools to fill out my coursework. During the review period I felt I only scratched the surface of finding everything that could be used for my family. Overall, I found this to be a very good value for an eclectic teacher like myself. Especially since just trying it out is SO very reasonable. You can get access to the site for only $1 for the first month. If you like it, a subscription is only $5.95 per month after that, and only $64.95 for a year. (There is actually a sale going on, only $49 if you act fast!) Considering it would give you access to a complete curriculum for preschool through high-school,  as well as college/career tips... I think that is a real bargain! Now to just find a good sale on paper and printer ink... ;)

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

A Buggy Blog Post

This week, in Wyatt's kindergarten work, he is studying insects. As you may remember, we are using My Father's World, and are doing a different letter each week. (Check out this craft for "O is for Octopus") This week is the letter "I", and I will admit that when I scheduled this lesson, I figured the actual insects and spiders to study would be sparse... Little did I know!

Last month we found our first Black Widow since moving to the farm. I'd rather not have made this discovery in the name of school science, but since she was here, we swept her into a jar. We have been feeding her other spiders and house flies ever since. She is definitely on top of the arachnid food chain around here. Once this week of studies is over (yes I know she is not an insect, but she eats them!), I'm not actually sure what we will do with her. "S" for was for "S"un, and that was back in "S"eptember...  So no waiting around for the "S"pider lesson.

But for our main Insect exhibit, this week we had an outbreak of fruit-flies (thanks to a fruit bowl on the counter and a forgotten banana). It seems once they get going, those things are everywhere. I'd seen a picture somewhere online about how to make a fruit-fly trap, so Tyler helped me and we disposed of the banana and used the peel for the trap/bait.

Basically, you...

• put some very ripe smelling fruit in a jar, 
• make a cone of paper with a very tiny opening at one end, 
• tape around where the cone meets the jar,
• and wait for the fruit-flies!

They can go in, but they can't get out. Amazing. They are pretty much all gone now. We did dump this mess and reset the trap with a few orange segments. It is catching the last few. It's been great for Wyatt to observe live insects anyway! He has had a great time peering into these two jars on the table, watching a spider eat flies, and watching flies eat banana. Strange things you see in a homeschool house...

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