It's a Zoo!

 Recently we made the time to go all the way to Milwaukee to the zoo! Since we had studied land animals for the last school year, we promised the kids a trip to the zoo. And my, did we ever enjoy it. Especially meeting up (and spending the night!) with some very special friends whom we hadn't seen for awhile.

Watching the monkeys is always a highlight.

Some weren't so sure about getting so up close and personal with the snakes! 

A couple of Ibex buck fighting. Quite entertaining.

By far the cutest little creature we saw!

The Cheetah stopped to take a good long look.

We had a very sweet weekend, complete with late nights, lots of talking, and fun activities. Even wading in Lake Michigan! (Well, it was supposed to be wading, but you know how that goes. "Don't go in over your knees." quickly ends up with kids soaked from head to toe, and blaming the waves. Thankfully we had a long walk back to the car for them to dry off!)

I was reminded again how important fellowship is. Deeply sharing our hearts, crying together, being honest when it hurt, accepting challenges, laughing together... all of these make up such an important part of a complete and healthy life.

I've admittedly lived through the other side of the coin as well. Feeling very, very alone. Not knowing who to trust. Wanting to walk away from all relationships altogether. Because people hurt. People let us down. People are too much work. Please, let me go live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, where I can go to town and check email when I feel like it... maybe never? Some days I still feel it!

But the truth of the matter is, we were created for relationship. We were created to need each other, to need that deep heart caring, loving, challenging, and uplifting. It's sometimes hard to find people safe enough to open up to, and we become cynical and jaded... but let me tell you, it's worth it. Worth trying one more time. With caution, with wisdom, with hope.

But, Feelings!

So many times I have been told, "You can't go by your feelings. You need to just do this anyway." Only to watch that person turn around and use that to force me to do what they didn't feel like doing themselves.

"Suck it up, Buttercup."

"Put your big girl panties on and just do it."

"Deal with it."

"You can't live by your feelings."

Feelings are so often dismissed as problematic, for anyone who isn't feeling them at that moment. Or, called out as sin. But feelings, in and of themselves, are not sin. And they tell us an important story of how we're really doing inside. God created us in His image. He acknowledges His feelings, and I believe He wants us to do same.

We can't dismiss our feelings and pretend they don't exist. If we do that, they bottle up inside of us and cause problems later, that may or may not be able to be traced back to these feelings. That doesn't mean we act on our feelings, either, but we should be aware of them. Being aware of how we feel without trying to stifle them can actually help not acting them out. If I feel like I'm becoming upset, instead of trying to pretend it's not there, I can trace it back to the source. Maybe, like this morning, Candi was sitting in my lap and constantly moving. She was pulling my hair pretending to fix it, stealing her brother's markers, insisting I tickle her, and pushing me over the edge to sensory overload as I was also dictating a spelling list to one child, helping another child figure out where on his blank map the Battle of Trafalgar happened, and giving oral math problems to the other. I started getting frustrated. Then I realized that I needed to nip this in the bud before I blew up at someone. In a matter of seconds I had sensed the reason, realized it was not anyone's fault so there was no need to get upset, and dealt with the sensory overload by implementing the boundary that Candi needed to sit still and be quiet if she wanted to remain on my lap. School went on without interruption, and soon I wasn't feeling upset anymore.

Don't deny your feelings. Don't hide from yourself, even if it isn't pretty. Bring it to light. Face it. If it's not a good feeling that will have good results from acting on it (and here, even anger is sometimes a good thing depending on the circumstances), then you need to dig deep to the bottom of why you're having that feeling, and deal with the root cause.

It's ok to feel. It's very important to acknowledge how you feel. So often we are silenced by judgement, either from within or from others. "Don't you know anger is a sin? If you're angry at that person, it's the same as murdering them, so you're basically a murderer by feeling this way!" Stuffing that anger, pretending it's not there, isn't really helping anyone. Honestly confronting the anger, and digging into why it's there, brings healing.

That doesn't give excuse to act, or not act, because of the way we feel. Feelings are very, very real. They should not drive us, neither should we ignore them.  As in the opening paragraph, what that person told me was right, but they refused to live by that themselves and created a lot of hurt and resentment. I have the power to create a place of healing by putting my feelings where they rightfully belong, acknowledged but not master, and allowing others to have their feelings too, without judgement. 

First Day of School

It's the first day of school for the 2018-2019 school year!

Aren't my scholars adorable?!

This tyke, now a big 3 year old, is doing school officially for the first time this year. She is SO delighted to be included. AND so cute I might add!

And this beautiful girl is finishing up a bit of 1st grade, and doing a bunch of second grade since she's determined to be ahead of "schedule". Her favorite pastime this summer was reading books like the "Little House" books. I'm impressed!

This sweet boy is going into 3rd, and he's been begging to start since we finished in the spring! He loves to learn new things. Especially if it has anything to do with machines. Like his daddy, maybe?

 SIXTH GRADE. 

How can that be?! I mean, wasn't it yesterday we were digging out the kindergarten supplies? Somehow, he's growing up.

Homeschool Organization--Papers, papers, everywhere!

Post #3 on homeschooling... again, if you don't homeschool, you can just skip this one!

One of the biggest, best things I've ever done is find a system for organizing all our papers and worksheets. I love workbooks, and my kids learn well that way... but it means a lot of papers everywhere. An area I tend to lack in is checking up on my kids' completed work, making sure they're learning what I'm teaching, and this system takes care of that too.

Our first day of school last summer, in our freshly painted brand new school room. The white board has since retired as I started using a small one that fits better in our space. Yes, it's in need of more finishing touches, still, but I love how bright and cheerful and happy it is.

The backbone of my system is two simple little organizers. The first is this hanging file box, just the right size to store the kids' books on top of organizing their work for the week. It comes with 5 hanging files, and I label them Monday-Friday. Every Friday I put the pages into those files the child needs to do on their respective days, to prepare for the next week. If we have to run somewhere, they can grab their pages, attach them to a clipboard, and school is ready to go. They can get up early and work on their school, because they know exactly what to do. (I have one amazing child who actually does this!) Once their papers are completed, they're done for the day. I can customize for our schedule week to week. It's pretty sweet.

The other organizer is this letter/paper organizer. I buy one set for each child. One tray per child is on my desk, and the other two are on a high shelf. Once the child finishes a page, they put it in their tray on my desk. At the end of the day, I go through their papers and check them. Anything that still needs work goes back into their folder for the next day. Anything they are done with goes into the organizer on the shelf, one for tests, special projects, and art work, one for regular pages.

The stacking organizer on my desk for completed work that I need to check.

Where I put the completed pages, one tray for regular pages and the one beneath for tests and other special things.

It seems like a pretty simple system, but it's working amazingly for us. I have an easy way to make sure I'm checking all their work, and the papers always have a place to go. It takes me about 5 minutes per child to get their work ready for the next week, and then I don't have to fuss about anything again and I'm always prepared. No moments of panic when we're all together for class and I suddenly realize I forgot to copy the history page!

And since we're here, I might as well mention that I have a closet of shelves where extra books, paper, and art supplies are stored. The kids each have a pencil box where they keep their very own tools such as colored pencils, crayons, scissors, etc. I have a couple small trays where I keep things handy like extra lead, glue sticks, the timer, and stickers. Under my section of desk are shelves where I keep teacher's manuals, answer keys, and the textbooks for our shared subjects. I also keep an adult coloring book and my bag with my cross stitching project inside under there for any quiet moments. I simply love our school room, and the way we have it set up... for now, anyway! Once Jaron starts higher level classes and isn't quite so involved in our group classes we'll be needing to figure out another system. But that's another year or two away yet, so we'll be happy with what we have for now.

Homeschool post #1: http://lifeonhegehill.blogspot.com/2018/07/homeschool-organization-planner.html
Homeschool post #2: http://lifeonhegehill.blogspot.com/2018/08/homeschool-organization-big-dreams.html

Homeschool Organization--Big Dreams, Little Steps

Homeschooling post #2:

One of the most important parts of our homeschool journey is the vision we have for it. WHY am I doing this? What am I hoping to accomplish? Homeschooling isn't for the faint of heart. It is struggle and pain and, well, it's expensive. How many times I long to be able to be "just" mom and not have to fill the role of teacher too! For me, the why is to give my kids a great education. An education they can use to thrive in their chosen career. Whether they choose to be a doctor or a self-employed carpenter, they need strong skills, tailored to their dreams. As a small aside, we are expecting as much from our girls as our boys. Even if they choose to be "nothing but a mother" (one of the most demanding jobs on the planet!), they are entrusted with raising, and possibly teaching, the next generation. Of anyone, they are the ones who need a strong education! As a homeschool parent, I can pick and choose from among the best of teachers and curriculums and give my children individual attention to make sure they're grasping what they're being taught.

But that isn't the type of goal setting I am wanting to focus on this time. I'd like to talk about the baby steps, and the ridiculous amount of pressure we homeschool moms put on ourselves.

I know the dreams that happen around this time of the year. Starry eyed looking forward to the next year. The freshness of unsullied pages, the planner still clean and perfect looking. Surely, this year we found the best curriculum. Surely this year will be better! This year I AM going to make it a great year. I am going to make the time for each of my children. We're going to have fun. We're doing to do more crafts and more field trips. We're going to play in the leaves and build snowmen. I'm going to pay more attention to problem areas and make sure test scores stay up this year. And on and on... depending on your particular area of struggle.

Yeah right.

Oops, did I say that out loud? Year after weary year, within a week or two, or if you're lucky a month or two, those starry eyed dreams have fallen by the wayside one by one. Frantic, hectic, harried, you are just scraping by... again. The kids aren't enjoying the new curriculum the way you thought they would, so they're not having fun, and they're making sure to rub it in all the time. Guilt sets in. Snacks degenerate from freshly baked cookies or veggie sticks to a handful of Cheese-Its or a few gummy worms. Someone gets sick, and you get behind. The tot scribbles in that beautiful text book. You know the drill.

We are HUMAN, moms! We can only do so much. We can only change so much. And it's ok. We're growing and learning right along with our sweet, challenging little charges. You don't expect your first grader to go from simple addition to long division in one year. Neither should you put that on yourself.

One of my biggest struggles has been making sure to check my children's work in a timely manner. I let the days of uncorrected work add up, until it's a daunting pile... and also irrelevant as they, two weeks later, know a whole lot better something they struggled with and kept getting wrong, but I didn't know what it was since I wasn't checking up on them. What was the point anymore? So last summer as I prepared for the last school year, I decided to just make that one little thing better. There was oh so much I wanted to do differently, but I chose to focus on just that one thing. I set up a system to help myself succeed. And I determined that this one little bite sized chunk would be done. And I did it. Before I went to bed, the "finished work" folder was emptied, and the papers filed. The first thing we did the next morning was work through their problems. (Or, in the case of my 5th grader and math, Jere helped him after supper.) If for some reason I didn't get it done before bed, I did it before breakfast in the morning. The kids did so much better! We were able to work through their struggles in a timely fashion, and what a relief it was!

My goal for this year, is to stay off my phone and computer during "school hours". I tend to think I can just check on this important thing real quick... only to be sucked into a time consuming monster bunny trail and not notice when the kids need something. Sigh. They are worth more than that. I have an adult coloring book and a bag with my latest cross stitch project handy, both things that will help keep me from getting bored and yet leave my brain available to notice when someone needs me. This is going to be tougher than last year's goal, but it's just one step in the right direction. One do-able step.

Yes, I mentioned "school hours". They aren't public school hours, but they are something that has become a vital part of our school day. I've come to look at it this way: when we're doing school, it's my job. I need to be in the school room tending to business, just as if I were a teacher getting paid for this job. I don't do housework, outside of switching some laundry here and there. I don't cook. I don't clean. This year I won't be answering emails, messages, or phone calls. I'm teaching school, and that is vitally important. For my sanity's sake, we stick to our schedule as closely as possible, which means we don't skip school days unless there are pressing circumstances that can't be avoided, like sickness, or a funeral, or a doctor's appointment.

BUT when school hours are over, I'm done. If a child isn't done, they get to finish alone. They can come find me if they need help with something, and I'll help them as time allows. But that's the time I'm training horses, doing the housework, making supper, spend one on one time doing special projects with one of the kids, and working on my own writing and study projects. Most of the time the kids are done and off playing by then, and the one who doesn't tend to be done in that time can finish on his own without much help. It's part of my commitment to give each one the best education possible, and yet give myself guilt-free freedom to do what I want and need to do too.

So, what is your little step goal for this year?

Homeschool post #1: http://lifeonhegehill.blogspot.com/2018/07/homeschool-organization-planner.html
Homeschool post #3: http://lifeonhegehill.blogspot.com/2018/08/homeschool-organization-papers-papers.html

Homeschool Organization--The Planner

I'm going to be doing a couple of posts on homeschooling, since it's the time of year we're looking forward to getting started up again. Now, I realize that these posts are going to interest only a few, but that's ok. If you're not a homeschooler, go ahead and skip it!

I love organizing. And I love teaching. (Just don't ask about the regular housework I also have to keep up on!) Jaron is entering 6th grade this year, so I've had a few years to work on and perfect a system. It's what works for us, and works well... and I'm hopeful someone else will benefit from what I've learned.

I always start my planning by deciding when I want summer break to start. I find it MUCH easier to get the kids to sit in the late summer than spring, so I like to be done in early May. Then I start counting backwards, adding in breaks and holidays as needed, to arrive at our start date, usually early August.

School year overview

Next I lay out our calendar of the months we're doing school. I actually draw out the calendars because it allows me to be a little more creative, but I've also used school year planners for students. Then I start writing in lesson numbers in their days, realizing that this is just a general guideline. We use a lot of Abeka, so we stick to their 170 lessons for the school year length, and I work in our other curriculum around that.

Our general weekly plan is science (Apologia) Monday and Tuesday, history (History Revealed) Wednesday and Thursday, and then a short day and/or art/field trip/finishing a hands-on project on Friday. On Friday we clean our school room for the weekend, and I plan out school for the coming week. That includes writing out the lesson schedule for the upcoming week, usually what's on the monthly calendar but not always since some break days we end up jockeying around due to doctor appointments, all day field trips, etc., that I couldn't plan for at the beginning of the year. I take this time to make sure we have the supplies we need for any projects and that I know what's coming up for each child.

My daily task list

A sample of a child's overview of what needs to be done for their grade that year.

Schedule of Bible class

History lesson plans

Science lesson plans

I also have begun a separate planner for Jaron, since he has a bigger variety in his curriculum and I want him to start being responsible for doing what he's supposed to be doing without as much oversight from me... eventually. Since I'm starting Candi with some preschool stuff this year, I need Jaron to start being more independent as I just won't reach around with all 4 children in school!

Jaron's planner above and below

We also have a sticker rewards system. For every day the child completes their work with a good attitude, they get a sticker and some "prize money". If they manage 5 or 10 consecutive days, they get more "prize money" as an incentive to keep things going well. IF I can get all my boxes checked during the week, on Friday once everything is cleaned and prepped for the next week I treat myself to a little something too.

So far I LOVE how this comes together. And that's my planner!

Homeschool post #2: http://lifeonhegehill.blogspot.com/2018/08/homeschool-organization-big-dreams.html
Homeschool post #3: http://lifeonhegehill.blogspot.com/2018/08/homeschool-organization-papers-papers.html

End of school! And other notes...

Yes, we have reached the end of the school year! What a joy to see our children growing up and learning. And what a relief to not have school assignments every day! I love teaching them, watching them learn so many new things, and learning alongside them (yes, I'm learning too!), but I'm also glad for summer break.

End of school year party! Jaron finished 2nd and most of 3rd grade, and the other two did preschool work. Hooray for them!

Here are a few random glimpses into our lives...

Occasionally the boys' parakeets are allowed to fly around the house. One day they decided to join us for lunch. We discovered parakeets don't like rice. 

Jere built this shelf for a client's trophy buck, and also did the chinking in this fancy log cabin.

Happy birthday to Jaron!!! What a big boy he's getting to be. 

Delighted with a nice, new, binoculars. A gift I was happy he got, since one of our big subjects for the next school year is birds and other flying creatures!

Things are going pretty well around here. We have broiler chicks in our basement right now, which will hopefully provide meat for the coming year in a couple of months. Our cow and heifer look like they'll both be calving in the next month or so. The cute little garden is all planted. We decided on only enough garden to provide fresh veggies through the summer this year, since I doubt I'll be up to canning much over the time Baby is supposed to come! With one of Jere's sisters getting married, I have some serious sewing to do in the next month. But thankfully I have nothing else to do for it besides show up early with a camera.

Baby seems to be doing well, growing and kicking just like he or she is supposed to. We did have an ultrasound to make sure we didn't have another repeat of Jaron's hernia, but the tech was not able to tell us if we are having a boy or a girl--much to my disappointment! As for how I'm doing... well, the end of July can't come quickly enough!

Raising children has its challenges, but it has its fun too. This morning the power went off suddenly, so I did a few non-electric things and waited for about 10 minutes before letting Jere know. I might have waited longer if we hadn't had chicks that need a heat lamp. He called me and said that he'd had the boys recently helping him with some electrical things, and taught them to turn the outside (main) breaker off and on. Sure enough, the main breaker was switched off! One of the boys confessed to it and both were educated with the importance of leaving electrical stuff alone unless under direct supervision. *smile* Life is a never-ending adventure!

First day of school!

On Monday we had our first day of school! It was an incredibly hectic day, but the children were SO excited about getting to do school again! I was actually seriously thinking about setting it back a day since we didn't get the bookshelves and desk installed until fairly late Saturday night, leaving me very little time to get anything organized. I have had the books organized for the better part of a week, but all of our supplies, odds and ends of art projects, etc. were still tucked away in the little, old, falling apart dresser we used to store our things last year. Everything had to be moved out of it, and onto bare shelves, before we could get it out of the middle of the floor. So it would have been nice to have Monday yet to finish up getting ready for the "perfect" first day of school. BUT the children wouldn't hear anything of it! So I got up late (more on that later!) and tried to find other things to occupy little hands while I finished trying to figure out how everything that had been in drawers was supposed to look neat on shelves. Thankfully I had on hand a handful of clear plastic "shoe boxes" I had gotten for something else and hadn't gotten around to using yet, and the art supplies fit nicely in them. Whew. There are a few things I still wish I could hide in a drawer or behind doors, but hey, at least I have shelves, and a MUCH nicer setup than we had last year!

We still have some bugs to work out of the schedule. Schooling two formally this year, and with an over-eager preschooler determined to participate in everyone else's schoolwork too, makes scheduling a challenge when there's only one Mama who also has to think about laundry and meals... I love to teach, though! And am anxious to figure it out!

The schoolroom all fixed up bright and fresh. The shelves and the desk Jere built over the last week!

Leanna starting her preschool books.

Eliott is beginning Kindergarten for 5-year-olds!

And Jaron is doing Second Grade Phonics/Language, and Third Grade math. Smart boy!

Here they all are at their workstations.

Eliott's Bible story coloring page from today. Gotta love that deer! 

 

Now, I said I would explain about getting a late start Monday morning. Leanna has had a cold over the last number of days. I've been fighting it too, and being fairly successful on myself using essential oils. But with everything else going on I wasn't being as observant as I could have been, and Leanna's cold kind of got away from me. And then Saturday night came along. I was feeling extra tired from trying to get school things ready, plus a few of the Saturday chores done around the house. Jere bathed the children and put them to bed while I was working at getting things set up. Once we finally got to bed, Eliott and Leanna spelled each other waking us up crying and/or coughing. About every hour. No one was getting much sleep! Then I decided enough was enough, and since Leanna's coughing was getting really nasty sounding, I doused her up with a couple different oils. She hardly coughed again the rest of the night! We got up late and got to church late, and though the boys both had runny noses for the first time, she didn't need her nose wiped and she didn't cough, and acted perfectly fine. So, Sunday evening we wanted to get to bed early. But then we had a campfire and roasted hot dogs for supper, and it just got late on us. And then we put oil on all the children before bed, and they slept great! Only... the dogs didn't. So I didn't sleep too well, and with still fighting my cold I knew I needed the extra rest. Maybe one of these days I'll have the privilege of sleeping through the night again...

Here are a few pictures from Sunday evening...

Belated update

Summer, as you may have guessed, has been a busy season of life for us! With three little folks growing up SO fast, it's hard to keep up with just them, never mind house and jobs and normal life. Which has also been taking our time and energy.

Our garden decided to not do anything this year. With the house in a different spot, it seemed most convenient to move the garden as well. We didn't have time to properly prepare the ground, due partly to a very wet year, and then the grass grew. It's been growing much more thickly in the garden then it's even pretending to do in the yard, and with it being wet I wasn't able to really do much about it, till it was too late. Our corn is only knee high, and tasseling. The tomatoes never grew after I set them out. But the carrots and peas are doing well, and I'm still hopeful we'll end up with a few zucchini and maybe some cucumbers. The garlic is looking fantastic, and that reminds me it's about time to dig it up! The flower gardens are looking quite nice, though, so I'm enjoying the food for the soul...

 

Work on the house has been almost to a standstill, with so much going on outside. We finally have all the landscaping done, and are preparing to tear into residing part of the house, hoping to get that project done before it thinks about getting cold. Meanwhile, I spent a few hours yesterday cleaning lumber out of Leanna's bedroom (lumber waiting for us to work on our upstairs bathroom, which will be awhile yet I'm afraid) and getting it girlified. Thanks to Grace for sewing up the curtains for her! It feels so much more finished, even though we still have flooring to put down, and Leanna's tickled pink. Or is it purple?

Leanna's bedroom 

The new railing and gutter on our front porch.

 

The Princess enjoying the porch

 

 Another project we've had is chickens. Jere finally broke down and let me get some laying hens, and we are also raising another batch of broilers. The broilers will be put in the freezer sometime next week, and the pullets are running around making our yard feel really homey. There's just something about the pert little layers foraging around for bugs and other tasty tidbits that makes a place feel so comfortable. Guess that's what I get for growing up around chickens! (Dad, can I blame that one on you?!) And our other animals are still around, mostly. Bossy had another bull calf a few weeks ago, and Buster, our two year old steer, is about to go in the freezer. Button, the heifer from last year, is getting big enough that she should be able to have a calf next spring. Our faithful Mama Cat had raised a litter of two kittens before being hit on the road last week. But we had just picked up 3 more kittens (one for each child) the week before, so our cat population actually went up. Both of our lady dogs look like they're going to be having puppies in late August, so that will up the work load for a few months. I'm super excited to see Tundra's pups--they should be nice ones!

 

A pullet and young cockerel taking advantage of the lovely day.

 And last but not least, look for a post next week as we begin our school year!