Learning Adventures with Dad

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Jeff recently took Aaron, Kaelan and Jackson on an overnight camping trip at the state part just a mile from our house.   The boys and Jeff have been camping several times with former Contenders for the Faith group, but Kaelan has missed out on those adventures and has only gone a couple of times. 

Kaelan made a list of all the items that they would need to take plus a shopping list of foods for her dad to purchase.  The day of the camping trip found them hustling to gather up sleeping bags, pillows, tackle and rods for fishing, filling jugs with water, loading the tents and many other needed items.  With the exception of hooking the boat to the truck and shopping for the groceries, they did most of the planning and the work.   Planning, packing, organizing, building fires, cooking, boating and fishing....all great learning activities.

I thought I would let Jackson tell you about their camping adventures today.  Jackson used the pictures to tell me what happened.

In this picture, I (Jackson) was chopping wood for the fire.  

I was still chopping wood when I saw Dad come up to take a picture.

So I stopped and smiled for him!

Aaron and Kaelan were boating.

I was fishing with a stick because my pole wasn't ready yet.  It was tangled and Dad had to untangle it.

Kaelan and Aaron love boating.

I am drinking coffee.  (not a every day thing, I assure you!)

I was still drinking coffee.

Aaron and Kaelan are cooking breakfast.  

Dad took a picture of Aaron cooking breakfast.

Aaron is flipping the pancake on Kaelan's plate.

I am drinking coffee because I like coffee.

Wrapping Up the Week

This has been a good week on many levels.  I was able to sit down with Kaelan on Sunday afternoon to go over her school work from last week and make out lesson plans for the next two weeks.  Yesterday we were able to go over everything from this week and with the exception of our science lesson we are on target.    Aaron is also on target for this week with the exception of those dreaded science lessons.  Hopefully today he can finish up his study guide and be ready to take his test on Monday instead of today. Jackson's new math curriculum came in yesterday and he is eager to get started.  We may go ahead and do several pages this morning as it will mainly be review.  Jordan is studying independently with the exception of history that we do together as a family.  Aside from history and literature, most of his studies are interest led.  Thankful that his interests are sound...economics, photography, writing and homesteading.

We have been able to keep up with our Bible and history studies this week which have included beginning several new books.  We read one chapter of Proverbs each morning and one or two chapters of the Psalms.  It is a joy for me to have my children gather in the den and enjoy reading and learning together.  Kaelan's and Aaron's copywork this week has come from our reading in Call of Duty:  The Sterling Nobility of Robert E. Lee by J. Steven Wilkins.

           -Lee's favorite hymn was How Firm a Foundation (today they will copy all stanzas and last night    we sang it in family worship

           -I would rather see you unlettered and unnoticed, of virtuous in practice as well as theory, than see you the equal in glory to the great Washington.   Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee to his sons

          -You cannot be a true man until you learn to obey.  R. E. Lee

          -Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character.  R. E. Lee

          -Never marry unless you can do so into a family that will enable your children to feel proud of both sides of the house.  R. E. Lee's advice to J. B. Hood

          -"Charity should begin at home."  So says _.  No, charity should have no beginning or ending.   R.E. Lee

          -Fame which does not result from good actions and achievements for the good of the whole people is not to be desired.  Nero had fame.....Who envies him?   R.E. Lee

          -Hold to your purity and virtue.  They will sustain you in every calamity.  R.E. Lee

This week in the kitchen I was able to put several main dishes in the freezer, made and froze several pounds of butter, learned to make cultured sour cream and mozzarella cheese.  My new canner came in  yesterday and I am eager to learn how to can milk and other foods using the pressure canner.  It's a little intimidating to me!

The weather has warmed up considerably (high's in the upper 80's this weekend) so more plants can go outside.  Hopefully the extra table full of plants in my dining room can be put away this weekend. ; )

Kaelan, Aaron and Jackson worked extra hard on school work yesterday so they wouldn't have as much to do today.  They are planning a tent camping trip with their Dad tonight.  They have made lists, hooked the boat up to the truck, got out tents, sleeping bags, fishing poles and flash lights.  I think all they need now is to load up on food and cooking utensils.  All that to only go 1 1/2 miles from home!  We have a wonderful state park with a lake just around the next bend!  Jordan has decided he prefers his own bed now and will be the "man of the house" while the others enjoy sleeping on the hard ground and cooking over an open fire.

Devin has been painting up a storm and is considering selling some of her canvases.  She made a door hanging for our front door with a "C" on it and has painted many canvases with crosses.  Perhaps I can post pictures of her work later.

Caedmon's potty training has been put on hold as he seems to have a stomach bug this week.  Disposable diapers handle THAT much better than the training pants.  ; )

That pretty much sums up our week around here.  What's been going on in your home?

Homeschooling Update

Yes, we are still homeschooling!!  Even though I (we) have been busy with early gardening and milk production the book learning is continuing.   I thought I would give you a run-down of what is going on in the homeschooling arena at Busy Hands Busy Minds.

Together we are studying the War Between the States.  In our group time we begin the day reading a chapter of Proverbs and a chapter from the Psalms.  We review our Latin or Greek root for the week from English from the Roots Up.  I have then been reading through Facts the Historians Leave Out A Confederate Primer by John S. Tilley.  We finish that up today and will begin Walt Whitman's Civil War Poetry and Prose.  We had started Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, but just couldn't stand it.  I decided it was fine if the children just had a small taste of it and knew the history of this fictional story written by Stowe using second and third party sources.  It is said that upon meeting Stowe in 1863, President Lincoln said, " So, this is the woman that wrote the book that caused this war."  We are also reading Two Little Confederates by Thomas Nelson Page and Call of Duty:  The Sterling Nobility of Robert E. Lee by J. Steven Wilkins.  We are using All American History Volume 2 by Celeste W. Rakes as our spine for our history studies and hope to finish up our two year stretch of American history this fall.   The older two boys and I are also studying the rather hefty volume The War Between the States:  America's Uncivil War by John J. Dwyer.  This is a fascinating book and has lots of great quotes that you most likely have not read in any other modern day textbook.  Devin (22) is taking the children through A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers by Melissa E. Craig and Maggie S. Hogan.  She meets with them once a week for this and we are supposed to listen to the music selections throughout the week.

Jordan (18) is studying Biblical Economics by R. C. Sproul, Jr. which he is greatly enjoying.  He has edited several programs for The Homeschool Channel on economics and many of R.C. Sproul's talks as well and finds them very interesting and beneficial.  He is also studying American literature through Learning Language Arts through Literature, doing an algebra review using VideoText and is doing lots of research on homesteading topics.  He is pretty much in charge of our gardening endeavors this year and has started hundreds of plants indoors and out and has built all of our raised beds and some planters by himself.  He is quite the handyman.  In addition to his film editing responsibilities at The Homeschool Channel, he spends a few hours a week taking and editing photos of his own.  He also has a huge stack of homesteading, theology and historical works that he is reading through.

Aaron(14)  is plugging through Apologia's Physical Science.  This has been a stretch for me to prepare and keep up with as most of our science studies have previously been through unit studies as a family.  Aaron feels led to study medicine, so we felt he needed to have a more formal science curriculum.  I am interested in looking at other science curriculum to see if I can find a better fit.  He has recently started VideoText algebra with Jeff and is finishing up Learning Language Arts through Literature (green).  He also using Daily Grams for daily grammar review. He is also using Building Thinking Skills Book 3 and doing some spelling review through Natural Speller.   Typing and Quarter Mile math drills are done on the computer.  He does Spanish independently using PowerGlide.  I hope to move him to Rosetta Stone this next year.  He also greatly enjoys reading through the Ballantyne books of world wide adventure stories and is reading some theological works, historical fiction and biographies.  Practicing piano, drawing, painting, chores,  and editing audio programs for his dad's home business round out his days.

Kaelan (11) is studying plants through Answers in Genesis God's Design for Life series.  Jackson is tagging on this study at times. She started a pressed flower collection and will be doing some identification of plants as well.   She is working through Teaching Textbook 6, typing and Quarter Mile math drills on the computer.  She also likes to email extended family members frequently.  ; )  She keeps up with family members all over the world!  She is studying Learning Language Arts through Literature (purple) with Daily Grams for daily grammar review.  Spelling lists come from Natural Speller and she is also using Building Thinking Skills Book 2.  Kaelan also has a tall stack of books that she is reading from based on our history studies, but usually pulls some old favorites from the bookshelves to read as well.  I think she is now reading Little Women...again!

Jackson(6) is finishing up the primer level of Math U See and will be starting MUS Foundations (the old version) as soon as it comes in.  I decided to put him in the older version because we already have the teacher's edition and I have already gone through it myself, ummm, like three other times and it won't be something that I have to relearn. ; )  We are s l o w l y making our way through Alphaphonics.  Little by little, bit by bit, I am seeing progress.  One of the great advantages of  homeschooling is that we can go as slow or as fast as we need to.  Right now, for this child and his phonics studies it is slow going.  And that is OK!!  He is using the Italic Handwriting Series as have all of my children.  I think I like it much more than any of them do.  Jackson participates in most of our group time and usually enjoys coloring a page from a historical Dover coloring book while he listens in.  I am trying to have some time each week where he is listening to audio books like Charlotte's Web or programs such as Your Story Hour or Jonathan Park.  He is read to daily by either me, Jeff or one or more of his siblings and he "reads" books by himself several times a day.  His favorite right now is  David Macaulay's The Way Things Work.


Two year old Caedmon is now enrolled in Potty Training 101.  He is now 2 1/2 (as of tomorrow) and as the weather is warming and he can now go half dressed without getting too chilled, big sister Devin has declared it TIME!.   We have been putting him on the potty for several months before bath time and he has had some success.  We are now going into full mode with training pants (no pull-ups here).  Diapers are still going on at nap and bedtimes.  Caedmon enjoys books, puzzles and most of the activities in his daily boxes.  Some of my favorite resources for this age come from Lauri and Melissa and Doug.   Some of the activity bags and folders have become too easy for him and I need to reorganize his materials.  He is a genius, I tell you, a genius!

So, that is what is going on in the homeschooling department of Busy Hands Busy Minds.  If things weren't so busy around here I would have linked all these wonderful resources so that you could look at them and purchase from my affiliate links, but my children need more time from me than this blog does.  If you have a question about any resource, please leave me a comment and I will get back to you ASAP.    Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

Creating

There is still time to add your recipes for milk products here!

While we've been busy staying on top of all the milk coming in we haven't let school or extra activities slide too badly.  The bedrooms could use a good hour or two of work and reorganization and some floors need to be mopped, but sure and steady wins the race.  In spite of the extra work I am enjoying filling the freezer with fresh homemade butter, making yogurt and yogurt cheese and making all kinds of breads and treats with buttermilk and milk.

I found a recipe for making cream cheese in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook, but I am not sure it turned out right.  I need some help to determine whether this is indeed cream cheese and just needs to be whipped up some or needs to be dumped.  This is what I got after draining in a bag overnight.  The lighting is kind of dark, but the cheese is white.

The children have been busy creating as well.  Jordan has been faithfully tending the seeds that have sprouted in our dining room.  I will be glad when they can go in the ground and my dining room can be cleared of the extra table and plants. ; )  He is as always busily editing photos and writing.

And outside we have seven raised beds full of little sprouts.

Aaron and Kaelan have been spending lots of time practicing for piano and violin recitals.  Kaelan has been helping me in the kitchen a good bit and has also created a large hanging collage of the solar system that is suspended from above her bed.   She wouldn't let me post a picture, though.  She has been working on this project with Jackson.....and used up all our styrofoam plates. ; )  She also created a beautiful table arrangement of blooming dogwood.

Aaron has been experimenting with oil painting.   He is combining his love of music with his love of art. Above is an incomplete painting of Tchaikovsky.

Faure

Mozart

And this is a drawing of Gulliver from  Gulliver's Travels.

Jackson has been doing lots of drawings and composing his magnum opus.  It's not important that his staff has more than five lines....he is having fun and always has one of us sing his latest composition.  The drawing in the lower right is Bill the Sheriff  with a "cactapus" in the background.  ; )

Creating does tend to mean that messes are being made, but it is very important to let the children discover the gifts and talents that the Lord has given them.  It is my prayer that my children will use their many gifts and talents in building up the Kingdom of God.  

Too Little

Aaron is growing.  This is the pile of clothes we pulled out from his closet this morning.  Most of the jeans and dress pants are too short and some of the shirts are too tight through the shoulders.  I am hoping they continue to make the big boys' pants and jeans with the adjustable waists.  We seem to make them mighty thin around here.  I don't know how.....they sure do eat a lot!

A Boy and His Bow

Intense concentration!

Jackson asked for a bow and arrow for Christmas.  He had been using an old one of Aaron's, but he really wanted one of his own.  Actually, he wanted a cross bow, but I don't think he is quite ready for that.

Checking out the target.

              He has been shooting bows and arrows for the last couple of years.  We always have some stray arrows around the yard and a target or two.  Jackson has very good aim with the bow and with his BB gun.   The guys have even set up a shooting range out behind the barn.

This target has been shot so many times the plastic is almost off and the styrofoam is falling out!

Love his expression here!

I do believe he hit the target!

We still have several inches of snow on the ground here.  The other day Jackson and Aaron built snowmen on the back deck.....and shot them with arrows.   He also decapitated Kaelan's snow man with a sword.  He warned us before the snow came that he was going to build a snow man and cut his head off.  Do you think I need to worry?  All of this is just practice at the art of defense.  Oh, and last night I had to physically remove the bow from his hand.  He had it with him in his bed.  He was going to be ready to protect us during the night!

When my oldest son was little I didn't allow him to have play weapons.    By the time we started studying American history with him and needed to reenact battle scenes from the Revolutionary War, I changed my tune.  Muskets, cannons and pistols filled our arsenal then.  With the middle ages came swords and shields.  It seems they make weapons from anything they can anyway!!  Legos, crackers, sandwiches and sticks all become weapons of some sort.  Now we buy them weapons and teach them to use them correctly.

Yesterday we were reading aloud from Ballantyne's The Gorilla Hunters and came to this passage which was very thought provoking to me.  Ralph Rover and his companions are in Africa in the mid-1800s hunting gorillas and tromping through the country.  Just before this passage they were caught in a dangerous situation as they were confronted with an angry bull which they managed to kill and then were almost attacked by a leopard which Ralph, despite his fear and bumbling killed as well.

As we walked along I could not help meditating on the uncertainty of this life, and the terrible suddenness with which we might at any unexpected moment be cut off.  These thoughts led me naturally to reflect how important a matter it is that every one, no matter how young, should be in a state of preparedness to quit this world.

I also reflected, and not without a feeling of shame, on my want of nerve, and was deeply impressed with the importance of boys being inured from childhood by trifling risks and light dangers of every possible description, such as tumbling into ponds and off trees, etc., in order to strengthen their nervous system.  I do not, of course, mean to say that boys ought deliberately to tumble into ponds of climb trees until they fall off;  but they ought not to avoid the risk of such mishaps.  They ought to encounter such risks and many others perpetually.  They ought to practise leaping off heights into deep water.  They ought never to hesitate to cross a stream on a narrow unsafe plank for fear of a ducking.  They ought never to decline to climb up a tree to pull fruit merely because there is a possibility of their falling off and breaking their necks.  I firmly believe that boys were intended to encounter all kinds of risk, in order to prepare them to meet and grapple with the risks and dangers incident to man's career with cook, cautious self-possession--a self-possession founded on experimental knowledge of the character and powers of their own spirits and muscles.  I also concluded that this reasoning applies to some extent to girls as well as boys...those who have been advised from the earliest childhood to "take care of themselves and carefully avoid all risks," will probably fall victims to their nervous alarms and the kind but injudicious training of parents or guardians...... I beg then, that it will be  understood that I do not by any means inculcate hare-brined recklessness, or a course of training that will foster that state of mind.  On the contrary, the course of training which I should like to see universally practised would naturally tend to counteract recklessness, for it would enable a boy to judge correctly as to what he could and could not do.

A very interesting aside in the adventure story, but it does make me consider even more the times that I discourage my guys from having their own adventures....My admonitions to take care.  Don't get in the creek.  Don't climb up that high.  There is such a balance that needs to be used in teaching and training our boys.  One day they will be men who may be called upon to do hard things.  Things that they need to be preparing for now.  

Sick Day

Yesterday was a snow day....you saw all the pictures, right?  Well, today is a sick day!  No one is sick today that wasn't sick yesterday, but I did take Kaelan and Aaron to the doctor this morning.  Kaelan has had a sore throat since late Friday night and Aaron has had some sinus trouble.  The diagnosis?  Strep!

Apparently Jordan and Jackson most likely had strep last week as well.  Our doctor is very nice, but told me if they have a sore throat with a fever and maybe a headache it is most likely strep and they need an antibiotic.  Both Jackson and Jordan were fine after two days, but next time I won't risk it.  Strep can lead to scarlet fever which can also damage the heart.

I won't be taking the kids to piano lessons, but Aaron does have an orthodontist appointment and then we need to pick up antibiotics and make a Sam's run.  Traveling into town wasn't bad at all.  Even though there is still lots of snow the streets are pretty clear.  I only had trouble trying to get back into my driveway which is on a hill.  It was a little slick getting up, but I think the mud will be more of a problem in the next few days as the snow melts.

I need to study more about boosting our immune systems.  I give out vit. c tablets, echinacea, garlic, oregano oil tablets, vitamin B and try to get everyone to drink lots of water, but we still stay congested.  What are some tips you have to boost immune systems?

Snowy Day part three

Caedmon makes a snowball

Caedmon and Rebeccah

Building a pillar of snow

Is it cold, Kaelan?

The boys decide to build a snowman.

The girls start building one of their own.

Intense concentration

Jonah and Aaron put on the final touches

The boys are finished with Mr. Snowman!

Kaelan finishes up the girls snowman by herself.  She crocheted this snowman's toboggan by herself.   Buttons for the mouth, eyes and buttons and a carrot nose.  Wait, those are MY gloves!!

See you later!!  We are now snuggling up inside, preparing a great dinner and warming up!

More Fun in the Snow

Later this morning Jeff took some of the kids back out for more snow play.  I finally got Jackson to put on a coat.  He actually has on two coats in this picture!

All wrapped up

Making snow balls

Ready, set....

Aim!

Snow bunny!

Do you think I had him bundled up enough?

He had to pick his knees up to his waist to get around in the snow.  He would stop and say," Help it!"   That means please help me in two year old language!

Snow study

A little closer

and a taste!

And another taste.

And another, just to make sure!

Yes, it tastes....cold!

He is thinking about it!

Should I?

Nah, no more tasting.

I'll just throw it on the dog!

Now, Caedmon, that's not nice!

I'll show you what to do!

Let's work together to build a snowman!

Our house covered in snow

How did he get here?  The C family from down the road rode their four-wheelers down to our house.  

Snowball fight!

Kaelan is going to get Mr. Tommy

Mr. Tommy is going to get Rebeccah

Now, they are all going to get it!

Kaelan made a huge snowblock.  Now who's going to get it?

Caedmon needs some help getting up from the snow.

Mr. Tommy to the rescue

A cold Kaelan