Wordless Wednesday

Big Snow

We don't get snow very often, so we when do we drop everything and go outside to enjoy every minute we can stand of it. Today finds us rolling in it, making snowmen, and catching flakes on our tongues! Good Texans know it could be 80 degrees tomorrow, so you'd better make the most of it today. A good motto for life, by the way. And it really was 80 degrees here Sunday.

The trampoline is always fun on a snowy day! I guess spelling can wait a while for today!

Homeschooling Articles

Go HERE for a REALLY great article on the 25 must read articles on homeschooling! What a great list of some wonderful information! These articles would be the first source for anyone considering homeschooling as a possibility.


It just so happens I have been asked this week by 2 different people to tell about why we homeschool. I'd love to be all spiritual like so many homeschoolers and talk about how we do it for God reasons, and that certainly is excellent, but I feel like spiritual training, Bible training, teaching children Biblical values is a priority we would make time for no matter our schooling situation. I have to say my number one reason for homeschooling is academic. I'll never forget being in an English literature class in college where I was put in a small group with an older lady and a former homeschooler. They were tossin' off names of classic works of literature that I had no idea existed. I quickly found in much more than one area my public school education had put me way behind!


The 2nd huge reason we homeschool is time - theirs and ours! We started out with our oldest in public schools. She quickly developed a love of reading, writing, art, and science - she was bored the whole school day, and when she came home she was too tired to do anything much. When you add in an evening of church activities, t-ball, dance or any extras - everyone is exhausted. I felt like we never had time to just read aloud a great chapter book snuggled together under a quilt. I wanted to give my kids time to read the classics, to paint with real paints, to spend the morning studying real insects in a field, and to write about all their adventures without page limits. Now my children are involved in a lot of afterschool activities, church groups, softball, volleyball, flag-football; but these activities are a blessing to our family, not taking away from our time together.


My husband as a youth pastor often had a crazy schedule when we first started homeschooling. Because we were homeschooling, he could customize his day and be home and spend odd hours like 7 - 9am or 12-3pm if he knew he wouldn't see the kids in the normal evening hours. Now, we can take vacations at off-peak times and we can take off and go hiking (one of our family passions). Our kids have time to play together and be friends, there is time for imagination and creativity.

I love the range of experiences our kids can have! We are learning Haitian Creole now in preparation for a mission trip to Haiti. My girls know how to sew and quilt, my son is learning to hunt, and build, all of our kids have learned survival skills. The all know how to cook and garden. The younger two decided last week they wanted to go ahead and learn the states and capitals. My 3rd grader decided our history textbook didn't tell her enough about Clara Barton. We can cater their education to their interests - which is what makes learning really fun. Schooling changes from "schooling" to a life full of learning and adventure. It's funny, my kids don't really think about reading, writing, art, and science as "subjects" they learn. They are just really fun things we do.

Now, we certainly have our difficult days, and I do fuss at them about schoolwork from time to time. I get worn out and I want to send them anywhere but here! But, overall it is a choice that for us brings less chaos and more peace, more time to savor what is important, and allows us to fill our time with the things we feel are most beneficial to us as a family and what we believe.

100th Day of School

I love to do something for the 100th Day of School! Did I ACTUALLY keep up with the days, well, not exactly. But, it was a pretty good estimate. I love to do fun food things -making trail mix with 100 things in it, that kind of thing.


Kids (in jammies still) estimating different items -trying to guess which ones have 100

We made 100 piece collages + then we got carried away with collages and glue and made several more too. There are so many great books and activities, but we have done most of them. I love to do a self portrait, then crumble it up to make a self portrait of themselves at 100 years old.

We have done so many great Math Activities - our favorite is 100 M&M graphing. The Internet is full of great ideas and printables.

In My Crockpot Today

Smockityfrocks is doing a neat recipe collection today - AND my favorite recipes -crockpot recipes! I always put something in the crockpot on my way to co-op on Mondays. Today, it will be my good friend Christie's Crockpot Chicken (see recipe below)!

You can click on the link above and go to the smockity website and see all kinds of great crockpot ideas.

Most of my crockpot recipes come from my favorite crockpot recipe book: Fix it and Forget It - I love that book! Here's one of my favorites from the book:

Crockpot Tortellini and Broccoli
1/2 Cup water
26 oz. jar of pasta sauce
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
9 oz. pkg. spinach and cheese tortellini
16 oz. pkg. broccoli florets

1. Mix water, sauce, and seasoning together in bowl.
2. Layer 1/3 of sauce, all tortellini, 1/3 of sauce, broccoli, remaining sauce
3. Cook on High 2 1/2 - 3 hours - longer and the tortellini might get mushy.

I sometimes like to add cheese, or ham or some other meat I have on hand.

And how I love the hidden spinach AND broccoli - double whammy veggies!

Christie's Crockpot Chicken:
Ingredients:
3 large chicken breasts or 4-5 small ones (you could also use chicken thighs if you like dark meat)
1 16 oz.jar of salsa
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 can corn, drained
1 can beans, drained and rinsed (I used black beans but you can use whatever you like)
Shredded cheese (any variety you like)
Any taco toppings your family likes-- shredded lettuce, diced tomato, sour cream, guacamole, etc.

Recipe: Put your chicken breasts (thawed or frozen) in the crock pot. Pour beans, corn, and salsa over them. Add your taco seasoning and stir. Turn crock pot on low and simmer for 6-7 hours. 30- 60 minutes before serving: Remove the chicken breasts and shred. Add back into pot and stir. (This lets the chicken soak up all the good stuff!)I served with tortilla chips, shredded lettuce and cheese. Great with rice!

No Spoons!

This afternoon we went to have lunch and all the spoons were dirty. I hadn't ran the dishwasher and we've been eating so much soup. So, we ate sandwiches. It's okay I'll run the dishwasher.

Then, it happened - we found the littlest baby chick dead. The little one we helped out of its egg. Maybe the science fair did him in. I suspect the others pecked him. I didn't want to touch him, it was a sad, limp, nasty, dead chick. Don't tell Gracie but even alive it was REALLY ugly. Gracie wanted to bury him, but the garbage man was coming and I took him quickly out with the trash. Which was wrong, I should have let her have a funeral, I guess. I just wanted it outta here.
I'm not entirely sure I have what it takes to raise livestock and be like a tough farm wife -type girl. After this afternoon, do I really think I could've wrung it's neck and plucked it when it was grown?

I don't think I've really blogged about it, but we are considering a move in the near future to the country. We are looking at a little old farm house and a lot of land. It will be a back to the basics kind of change for us. We'll still be close enough to town for the kids to take part in all their co-op and church activities. But, we will be in the middle of no-where basically 30 minutes from everything. So, we'll have to plan well to go to town only 2 days a week. We are planning to have the chickens, add some cattle for beef, and probably farm about 3 acres at first.

It is going to be a life style where I am going to have to buck up and be alot tougher than I am! I tend to depend way too much for Byron for the real difficult or dirty stuff. I'm tough I think, just maybe a little spoiled?

This little farm house has...hang on, it's really bad...no dishwasher. What are we going to do for spoons!?

Science Fair

We had our homeschool group science fair tonight. The kids did a lot of work on their projects and they all did some GREAT work! They all 3 won door prizes too! The projects aren't actually judged at this event -mainly because they span so many levels, groups, and category.Ally did her project on Caffeine. It was very interesting, she surveyed a lot of people who she asked to go without caffeine for a day, and did several other experiments.

Gracie's project on hatching chicks was the highlight of the science fair. She had a lot of neat information and I think the chicks survived the trip, and all the handling. She had to dress like a farmer-girl.

She blocked the isles with a big crowd gathering to see her babies. So, this was the point of hatching the chicks, now what do we do with them? Um...I think we have all gotten attached.

D was really much more excited than he appears here. He did a wonderful job on his volcano, and all of his research and drawings.

Here's a closeup of his volcano. We are going to fire it off this weekend. We decided not to do it at the Science Fair because of mess. We'll do the standard baking soda/vinegar thing, then we will fire up the Pepsi and Mentos just for fun.

Great Free Resources!

Go HERE for some great printable art resources! A really neat lapbook set - and scroll down on the page to find all kinds of great stuff for a study of Impressionist Art!
Speaking of freebies - Go HERE for info about free Auntie Annie's Pretzel's on Saturday! My kids love those things - especially the sugary cinnamon ones!
AND in honor of National Pancake Day - free short stack of pancakes at IHOP on Tuesday the 23rd. They ask that you make a donation to the Children's Miracle Network.

Our family is part of a Lifegroup that will be going to Haiti in June to help with rebuilding! We are praying about this opportunity and seeking God about it. And, honestly we are not sure if we will pursue it our not. Certainly, Byron has lots of useful skills which would be helpful! In the meantime, we have managed to find some CD's through our public library on learning to speak Haitian Creole - so we will be adding that to our current schooling program. Ah! The beauties of homeschooling! Can't get Haitian Creole in many public schools, you know! Whether we go or not, the kids are excited about learning this language. If nothing else, we hope to be able to teach some others in our church who are going some of the language we learn through our study.

Valentine's Day

I LOVE handmade Valentines! My poor kids know their gonna make somethin' new every year. I get alot of my ideas from the great Family Fun Valentine issue. Of course -The Crafty Crow (see button at right) is the ultimate resource for any Valentine's craft. Okay, I know it is past Valentine's now, but these cute alligators were so easy, I had to share them with you. Go HERE for the full info on how to make them, and to print the file. I printed them out on green paper and whipped them out in no time. Then I filled the middle with M&M's. In their mouth it says, "I'd Snap at the Chance to be Your Valentine." Ally made some cute Valentines this year -she adapted THIS printable Valentine for her Bible study group and printed "Lord, break our hearts for what breaks yours" on her hearts. It was a neat thought because the hearts have to be torn in two to get to the candy.

Meal Planning and More

Breakfasts: Whole wheat pancakes or waffles, and Chocolate Chip Waffles

Lunches: Monday's always sandwiches on the go with lunchboxes packed for co-op, leftovers, soup and grill cheese, steak fries and veggies, goody plates (my version of a lunchable?)

As always, I shop for 2 week's groceries at a time. I come home, and brown 5 lbs of ground meat. I leave 1 lb. plain (just a little seasoning), 2 lbs. with taco seasoning, and 2 lbs. mixed with onion soup mix (just for good seasoning and keeping it good and moist -it freezes especially well). I freeze most of it in 1 lb portions in baggies. Then, on Monday I cook a whole chicken in the crockpot and then Tuesday debone and skin it and put it in baggies for the freezer as well. Ah, now meal planning for the 2 weeks is a breeze!
But, I don't always plan out exactly what I am going to do with it. The beauty of it is - I can make something last minute without much planning this way. However things go so much more smoothly when I write down a big plan! And I love writing it down on the blog. I know YOU may not care, but somehow I feel you will hold me accountable.
I get so much out of all the great ideas and step by step instructions posted Mondays on the orgjunkie.com site for Meal Planning Mondays too! So here's the plan for this week -
Monday: Taco Night

Tuesday: Life Group - Kid food night -tator tot casserole

Wednesday: Mexican casserole with leftover taco meat and beans

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Crispy Chicken and mashed potatoes

Saturday: A big pot of Stew to eat off of until Monday!

We SO loved the White Chili recipe I found recently! It was wonderful! I gotta make that again! I really thought the kids would think it was spicy and complain, but they loved it! I put in a can of tomatoes and green chilis instead of just 2 cans of green chilis -maybe that helped with the spicy-ness.



I found a great post about how to Start seeds indoors - that's on my do list this week as well. Although there is an old wive's tale that says Feb. thunderstorms mean an April freeze.

Snow Day

Well, we spent most of the snow day nursing our 3 baby chicks. Poor homeschoolers get no slack, even on a snow day. The local schools were on delayed arrival - our version of delayed arrival is a shortened schedule of math, spelling, and lots of reading and crafting for fun. I forgot to adjust my camera for that red heat lamp, sorry. The chicks are cute, fluffy and doing well. They are showing an interest in food.

The big one with the stripes must be a rooster -he kind of bullys the other two.

Dad was home all day because of snowy weather. We didn't get near as much as most areas around us, just a good covering on the ground.

Other kids in this family have projects too, you know. Daniel's project is a volcano, he got started on the painting today. Ally is working on a project all about caffeine - she is asking for volunteers to give up caffeine for a day and record results or symptoms.

The surgical removal of the egg (see post below) was not necessarily a good idea. We've spent most of the day wondering when this little one would pass on to chicky heaven. He might possibly be crippled -if he makes it we'll call him Miracle. We are pretty sure the others would peck him to death if we placed him with them. Plus they would probably make fun of the egg shell permanently stuck to his butt and give him a serious complex.

He's still chirping and seems to have a will to live, so we are going to put him in the broody box tonight, but in a shoe box to keep him away from others. We don't expect him to make it really, but somehow Byron has gotten kind of attached to him.

Yes, another chicken post!

Well, the 2 chicks in the broody box are doing great. They seem happy, warm and content.

But we have these 3 in the incubator that just are not progressing! We can see them breathing in there, but they seem to have lost all interest in coming out. For those of you who know about these things, what are we doing wrong?

It had been almost 48 hours and this one had not changed much. We knew he was alive, so Byron decided to do a little Cesarean? - he did not damage any of the inner membrane, but he just picked some of the shell off of the top of the egg.

We really don't know if this was a bad idea or not - this is what he (or she) looks like currently. So pitiful! Still breathing, and apparently okay, but not moving the rest of the way out of the shell yet. Maybe we just need to have some more patience! Today makes the 23rd day. Gracie called Tuesday hatch day, but it has become hatch week and I am ready to get these babies out of the incubator!

In the Broody box

We moved the 1st two chicks to the brooder box this morning. They seem much more relaxed in there. They were in the incubator all night last night. They were so sleepy, they would doze off with their heads on another egg - and the egg would peep and send them into a panic.

They aren't eating yet. The temperature seems just right, though. It is pretty cold out there in the garage so we have been worried about them. Now we will have to keep a close eye on them to make sure they don't drown in their water or something like that. Babies are alot of work!

The kids are running back and forth -to the garage to check on the big chicks - and back into the house to check on the two others about to hatch. The rest of the eggs (16 of them) seem sadly silent. But, we are still holding out hope for them. They are probably glad to get rid of the noisy 1st two! They were so rowdy -bonking roughly around in the incubator all night. They must be roosters!

They're Hatching!

After a full day of IMPATIENT waiting - some of our chicks FINALLY hatched about 8:30 tonight! Some of our friends were here to share the event and we had 7 kids and some parents crowded around the incubator watching the excitement.

A yellow one...

And a black one with really big eyes! They are so cute! It was really incredible to watch! What a great experience! I think the kids are going to have trouble sleeping. There were 20 eggs in all -one more is poking through his shell, we've heard peeps from some others; so we will see how many more hatch out over the next couple of days.

We peeped and clucked at them all evening trying to encourage them to come out. We watched you tube videos like this one to learn how to cluck properly.

Book Review: Love Your Heart

Book Name: Love Your Heart

by: Tim McGraw and Tom Douglas

Ages: 4-10

Price: $16.99

Put out by: Tommy Nelson

For more information or to purchase go HERE

We had such a great time reading this book! With her recent illness, Gracie just needed to curl up with some good old words of affirmation and this book is full of just that! I love books like this - that speak to insecurities and reassure. In the book, Katie is feeling a little unsure of her gifts and talents and her daddy gives her plenty of love and encouragement. In the end the daughter makes a self-less choice and finds out that one of her greatest talents is her ability to love others.

It is a great message, and I love when the daddy turns her to God to reveal what is best.

My kids loved the beautiful illustrations and spunky little daughter in the story. This is the kind of book that is good to have around when you need to pull a little one into your lap for some extra love. This is actually the 2nd book about this daughter and daddy -so we are going to have to find the first!

We all highly recommend this book! We loved it and we are grateful for the opportunity to review it. You can go HERE to see a flip version of the beginning of the book.

Love Your Heart was provided by Mama Buzz and Tommy Nelson for the purposes of review only.

A Watched Egg Never Hatches

Still no babies. Now Gracie know what it's like when you are waiting for a baby to be born...and the due date arrives...and you wait in nervous anticipation. Lots of wiggling eggs, but none of them have broken through. Did you know an egg is designed to hold 8 lbs before it cracks? No wonder it takes so long to break through that shell! The eggs seem to actually be responding to the kids when they make peeping noises. They really will start moving around when they hear them.
We have finished school and chores and now we are just watchin' a bit of foghorn leghorn -my husband feels that our kids have been deprived by not being exposed to this classic. See why I try not to listen to his input too much when it comes to educational matters? He felt it was an important part of their education to learn about Foghorn leghorn. Plus, now they'll understand why their daddy always says, "Boy, you, you, I say, you just ain't right!" in that Foghorn Leghorn drawl.
Did I mention the incubator is in the front bathroom? Kinda weird, I know, but it is a HUGE bathroom with a very long counter and it was a good place to keep them in a stable temperature, where they wouldn't be disturbed.

Hatch Day!

Well, hatch day is here and the kids are SO excited! We THINK we detect a lot of eggs vibrating around, one has been reported to roll over, soft peeps may or may not have been heard. We are going to TRY to get some schoolwork done this morning, but I suspect we won't be terribly successful. We are trying to get the broody box up to the right temperature, but I think we might have to run to Tractor Supply for yet another heat lamp. It seems the luxury brooder box is a bit larger and will need 2 heat lamps to maintain the right heat.
Gracie is loving it -she won't leave the incubator. She feels the need to cluck to them regularly to tell them they can come out now. She is recording all her observations in her journal and asking tons of questions. We watched a hatching video on ytube so I could prepare them for the slimy, dinosaur-looking way they look when they come out.

So - I'll post more pictures as things get interesting! This has been such a fun project for the whole family! We have all learned so much! Today the kids were asking complicated things like, "Do chicken's imprint?" I know what imprinting is - you know, the first face they see, they think it is their mother. But I have no idea. I think that is probably the best kind of project -to choose - something that you have NO CLUE about and just ask and learn together.

NY Times Article on education

Okay, I know this is deep, educational stuff, but
HERE is a link to an article from the NY Times about Obama's educational reforms. The article describes the ideal educational environment and educational objectives. This totally describes homeschooling and reinforces my views on education.
In my teaching experience as a high school English teacher, I quickly noticed that good readers didn't need instruction in grammar, vocabulary, and in most cases spelling. They didn't need reading comprehension tests, or instruction on how to find the main idea and 80% of everything else my curriculum asked me to teach.
I remembered from my own childhood, the education and creativity that came from reading the classics, spending time in the woods, hanging out asking questions of my grandparents and parents. The richest educational experiences I remember are probably the opportunities to create, build, draw, write, play, and craft things from my own imagination. In the years when my kids were in "normal" schools, I never felt like we had the time to read, craft, and play - much less do the important things like pray and read the Word together or learn chores. It really seemed like they were beat down by the monotony of draggy days learning stuff they already knew.
Anyway, I love it when an educational theory confirms what I am doing homeschooling. I get a little "school-at-home" this time of year and start to freak about completing all our curriculum and all the science tests we have skipped because we got sidetracked on some interest. So, it felt good to read this article and remind myself that the next yucky day we could call it a pajama day and read aloud a great book and be none the worse for the adventure. I have to remind myself that almost ALWAYS an experience beats a worksheet!
Sorry, that's my little soapbox to myself.

The Brooder Box

Okay, one thing you should know about my husband, he never does anything 1/2 way. And... he tends to get carried away when it comes to construction projects. It was my understanding that we were hatching chicks for Gracie's homeschool science fair project. It was my understanding that we would keep the chicks until the science fair - about 10 -15 days after hatching and give them away. I asked him to build me a wooden brooder box out of plywood. Just a square box. Here's what I think: I think he secretly wants to keep these chicks. Or maybe he knows that he won't be able to look into those big brown middle child eyes and tell her she must give her babies up for adoption.Anyway, he built this huge coop with a hinged door- not a box!

It has a covered run area so they can scratch the dirt and run around free-rangin' a bit. I don't think they can go running around like that for at least 3 weeks.

Since it was her project, Gracie helped alot with the construction. It still needs to be painted and Dad wants to add some wheels so it can be moved around, but it is basically ready for hatch day.

He's such a handy guy! But will he feel the same when they start stinkin' and poopin'? So - here's the tally so far: $50 from tractor supply for heat lamps, feeders, and that kind of thing, the coop-luxury brooder box was from mostly free materials, but chicken wire and some special touches ran around $30, thankfully the eggs were free and the incubator borrowed. So, so far we are into this project for $80. So, if we were maybe to keep 2 or 3 - we might see a 20 cent return with the arrival of 1 egg in 6 months or so.

Winterizing on the Farm

Gracie Pearl felt the need to protect her horse Midnight from the cold today. Notice the feed bucket in the bottom of the picture. Yes, this horse gets fed regularly.

I like Daddy's favorite comment, "Pearl that poor horse looks TIRE-D!"

We spent the morning shopping at Tractor Supply for chick feed, a feeder, waterer, bedding, heat lamp, and all the trimmings. Now, we'll spend what's left of the morning constructing a brooder box/ chicken coop... and I'm sure with Daddy on the job it'll be quite a project! We candled our 20 eggs again on Thursday and they all seem to have something in them, but it remains to be seen how many will actually hatch. Hatch Day is Tuesday, so we'll see how that goes. One things for sure, I think we've ALL gotten a bit carried away with this science project!

Things That Rhyme With Orange

This Album put out by Ross King of Ross King Music

Well, Byron came home last night to find us jamming out to Ross King's new kid CD Words That Rhyme with Orange! He had a fit! He's been a big Ross King fan since King did worship at a Latham Springs youth camp he took students to long ago. We are all kind of fans of RANDOMNESS in this family - so we were all crackin' up and really enjoying this zany CD! We all listened to "Don't Do It" several times at the supper table - really gross considering it is a song about boogers!

So, we are actually Ross King fans from way back - we love the Soulspeak album and the And all the Decorations Too album. Byron thought he was incredible at youth camp - he has a real talent for kind of coming up with random songs -like the one he made up at camp about Byron and another youth pastor and their sliding down a hill in the rain! How come that one didn't make the album? How great is it that all those teenagers who loved him at youth camp can now rock out to songs like "Juicebox" with THEIR kids - well ... we'll give most of you a few more years for that!

The whole CD made us think of all the cool ways to use these songs for youth groups and illustrations. As a matter of fact, the whole CD made us think of some of the random teenagers and youth leaders we love. This CD is supposed to be for ages 2 to 12 -but our whole family loves it! I think adults will love it -and love sharing it with their kids! I'd love to see Ross King at a kid's concert! Although this CD is not "Christian" CD really - it comes from a guy with a real heart for God and that makes it so much better from all the weird Raffi or Wiggles and stuff that is out there for preschoolers and little kids.

Go here to puchase this CD for $12.00 - you can even listen to a sample of the "Juicebox" song which was one of our favorites on the CD!

Ross King's Website can be found HERE with more information and other cool Ross King albums. Most of his stuff is self produced, so it might be hard to find in stores, although it is also available from i-tunes and Amazon.

Ross King is also doing a giveaway of this and other CDs at the Mama Buzz main site HERE.

*This CD was provided by Ross King and Mama Buzz for review purposes only.