Outdoor Hour Challenge #1

With the fog of this morning, a perfect opportunity presented itself for studying some interesting cup shaped spider webs in our neighbor's barberry bush. (I know, not OUR yard, but pretty close :) ) We saw them from our front window during breakfast and decided we better go investigate before the sun dried them off.

Vaida thought the webs looked like cotton candy. I agreed, and we both decided together that it would be best NOT to eat them. haha.

Titus liked that there were two layers of the web, the cotton candy layer on top, and a thinner sheet on the bottom. We found a tiny brown spider clinging to the underside of each cotton candy cup. Hoepfully we can do some investigating tomorrow to find out more about this tiny brown spider. We did go to the library and picked up a few books about spiders. But, mostly it was the WEB we found interesting. We will draw them tomorrow for our journals.

Since we were already outside, and since the goats were crying because we were outside and NOT petting them, we decided to give them some fresh hay and their breakfast grain. On the way to feeding them, we noticed several yard violets, which was surprising since it is almost November. Titus said, "What kind of flower is this?" I said it was a wild violet. Vaida asked, "Is that because it is purple?" Who knows? Maybe. I told her I wasn't sure, but that was certainly a good thought. Titus wanted to know how such a "girlie" little flower was growing when it is so cold. We decided probably because of the strong sun, and because it has unseasonably warm the past 3 or 4 days. Vaida was disappointed that the violets didn't seem to have a smell. Perhaps a drawing of these little beauties will appear in the journal some time over the next week.

A walk around our yard is always fairly interesting. Here are our goaties, eating their alfalfa hay.

And here is Vaida saying good morning to the chickens.

When we went to the library after lunch, we rechecked the "spider" bush and found it difficult to find the webs. Titus was disappointed that none of the spiders had caught any meals yet.

More Drawing, and some bread

Tomorrow, we will be starting our Nature Study Notebooks. We are taking the Out Door Hour Challenge, which is a once per week nature study schedule on a great blog that I frequent. I have been interested in Nature Studies since I first became interested in the Charlotte Mason Method of homeschooling, but I have always been intimidated about getting started. It certainly SEEMS difficult, or at the very least, slightly overwhelming. When I found the Out Door Hour Challenge, it was a small blessing. Finally, I have a jumping off platform, and if I start to craze out, I will always have a point of reference to return me to normal. I tired to begin Challenge #1 today, but after we were outside about 10 minutes, my (still) sick little boy started coughing and wheezing, so we had to cut it short before we even got started.

Basically, the purpose of the nature study is a sort of old school way of learning science via hands on experience. Nature is investigatedin an up close way. Instead of reading about frogs in your textbook, you go out and try to find one - hold it, smell it (do frogs have a smell? lol), see where it is hanging out, feed it a fly, see if it swims, feel it's leg muscles when it jumps off your hand...you get the idea. Your nature studies are recorded in your own personal notebook. Narratives of what you saw, pictures you took, drawings, information you looked up about your subject, are all included in your notebook. Eventually, you have your own sort of nature textbook of things YOU have actually done. Pretty cool, if I do say so myself. It sure beats an hour of television (I'm trying to wean us off the box - it's going very well. The tv never comes on during the day until 4, when the kids watch Arthur on PBS while I make dinner.) I want the kids to love the outdoors and have an appreciation for God's creations. Hopefully, the Out Door Hour Challenge will help! :)

Vaida decided she wanted to make bread for her Daddy today. She followed the recipe, I watched and helped (but only a little.) Unfortunately, it didn't raise, but Daddy was nice enough to eat it anyway, and V had fun. V ALWAYS has fun. :)

We also worked a little more on our Drawing lessons. We need to work more on the Mirror Images. I used some from HarmonyArtMom which is an excellent resource, but these were probably too difficult for us just starting out. That was my mistake for not realizing we were in over our heads!

Lesson 1D "Duplication"

Lesson 1D - "Mirror"

Lesson 1D "Duplication"

Lesson 1F "Mirror"

Reading, Drawing and no more chocolate

Well, we have been plugging along with school. Too bad for Titus that when you homeschool, you don't get sick days. We did find out that Titus has bronchitis and an ear infection. In addition to that, he has probably an allergy to chocolate, and is banned from further partaking in said contraband. It's been a little around here. We are definitely mourning the loss of chocolate, and so it has been necessary to have pumpkin pie and pound cake since we got the news.

School marches on. We started a new reader yesterday. Pathways Readers First Steps. We like them so far, but our experience with them is admittedly limited. I did catch Titus reading a few of the stories in the reader AFTER school was over. That is always a good sign.

We also started the Monart Program - Drawing with Children - this week. We are planning on implimenting the Lessons on a twice-weekly basis. Hopefully as we progress, we can use these drawing techniques to make our Nature Study Notebooks look more realistic and super snazzy *wink, wink.*

Lesson 1C - Random

Lesson 1C - Random

Lesson 1C - Random

Lesson 1C - Random

Lesson 1D - Duplication
Lesson 1D - Duplication
Lesson 1D - Duplication

Lesson 1D - Duplication

We also finished reading Stuart Little late last week, so we made a Stuart out of felt to put in our Narrative Notebooks. Now we are "shopping" for the next book to read. Any suggestions?

A fun week

School is well here at Goat Feathers Farm. Last week was jam packed with excitement. Tuesday, we had our regular homeschool playdate at the gym. The kids pretty much ran wild and played the wildest, weirdest game of Duck, Duck, Goose you have ever seen. Vaida and one of the other little girls her age played together very well. Last year, they both just looked at each other, but never talked. I am so glad for her to have a little girl friend since she mostly plays with Drew and Titus.

Wednesday, we went to see replicas of The Nina and The Pinta in honor of Columbus Day. The ships were really interesting. We had a group of close to 40 that went with our homeschool group, which is normally about half that size.

Friday, we had scheduled a visit to the Bob Evans Farm Festival, but the weatherman was calling for torrential rains and thundershowers, so we decided to move our field trip to someplace indoors. We met the Krulls from Ohio at the Highlands Museum in Ashland, Kentucky and spent the day doing really boring homeschool stuff. Vaida got to play with ANOTHER little girl. Too cool!

We have another busy week coming up. The greens that my Grandpa planted are ready to pick, so I need to take care of those via either freezing or canning. My plan is to freeze bags and bags of mixed greens and use the rest for two different soup recipes, which I plan to can. Hopefully by this time next week, we will have several quarts of Black Eyed Pea Soup and Sweet Potato Sausage Stew stored in the pantry cabinet. In addition to that, we are planning a reunion of sorts for some of the folks with which we were friends in high school. The Dear Husband has requested a huge pot of Gumbo for the event, so I will have to make that. Plus, I have to whip this house into shape between now and then, and still make sure we get our school work done. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it!

Goat's Life

My name's Betty. My name used to be Ilsa, but the new tiny people decided to change it. They still bring me food and treats, so I don't really care what they call me!

There were lots of goats where I used to live. LOTS! Big girls and little girls, funny boys, and stinky boys that cried a lot and kept jumping the fence, much to the chagrin of my previous woman person.

Here, it's just a few girls. In some ways I like it. In other ways, meh, not so much. I do get A WHOLE LOT of attention from my new servants, but it's kinda boring with just us 4 girls. There aren't nearly enough heads to butt around.

Here, it's just me and three other girls.

There's Oreo. I knew her before. She takes pretty good care of me, but she gets kinda wild when the servant brings the grain, or when she brings the new hay. The new people keep talking about how "beautiful Oreo is" "She's so shiny," they say. "Look at her gorgeous blue eyes," they say. I wish they would stop saying it! It's turning her into a real princess. Now she runs over to be brushed EVERY TIME one of the people comes in the pen. Even if we are right in the middle of playing. It's irritating, really. But she is my friend, so I have to put up with it. She is kinda fun, too. You never know what she might do! She even had a scur, but she knocked it off horsing around with Sophia. She's crazy!

Sophia is the biggest one of us. She sort of acts like such a mom. She's so prim and proper. She is polite and WAITS for her grain bowl. She is polite and WAITS for her treat. She is polite and just leans against our peoples' legs when she wants them to pet her. She never butts us at the hay feeder like Oreo does. She is smart, too. She knows just when to jump out of the way so that Oreo runs her head into the goat barn or the fence post instead of Sophia's side when they are playing. The woman person says, "Oh, Sophia, you are such a pretty girl." "Sophia, how is my good girl?" The man person says, "Sophia might have the best ears of all our girls. She will have pretty babies!" Let me tell you, people talk about the weirdest things!

Then there is Wilma. I don't know Wilma very well yet. She is closest to my size and I would like to be friends with her, but Oreo insists that I hang around with her. And she always butts Wilma. Then Sophia butts Oreo. Then Oreo butts Sophia. Then sometimes Sophia butts me, but never very hard. Well, that makes Oreo really miffed. So, usually Wilma and I kind of stay away from each other. But at night when the big girls are sleeping, then us two little girls snuggled up together. When the people come in the pen, the woman peron and the girl person with the curly hair always find Wilma and sit beside her on the sleeping bench. They rub her neck and pet her cheeks and sometimes she goes to sleep RIGHT ON THEM! Well, she is just a baby - she's two WHOLE months younger than me - she doesn't know yet that she is supposed to jump around and act nutty when the people come in.

And, like I said, I'm just Betty. The woman person at my old place called me a pistol, whatever that means. I have very important jobs to do around here. When the man person put up our new hay feeders, it was my job to show him the flaw in his design. He keeps saying, "Betty, get out of there! No one will want to eat that after you have smashed it!" So far, none of the other girls seems to be complaining, though.

When the big people come in the pen, I have to run over and put my feet on them until they pick me up so I can hug their necks and sniff their ears. The man person, in particular seems to need this behavior, probably because he is really tall and I am really short. The woman person sometimes comes in and sits on a blue box so she is really short. I know that means she wants me to come over and kiss her nose. It's a tough job, but I gotta do it. It's my job.

The Herd

Ah! Well, we finally got our goats! Four beautiful mini-nubians are now calling our home, "home." Mini-Nubians are a newish breed which is a cross between a Nubian (which is a LARGE goat with excellent milking capabilities) and a Nigerian Dwarf (which is a very small, small goat that also is very dairy in its qualities.

The husband and I really like the look of the Nubian goat. They have very long pendulous ears and very arched, Roman type noses. They are also extremely chatty and friendly, but stubborn as mules. But, Nubians are very large girls. We don't have room for very large girls. the Mini-Nubian is a good shade smaller than a Nubian, but big enough that there milk production is enough for our family and more, plus they are mechanically easier to milk than the Nigerian Dwarf does, who are very short and have really small udders and teats.

Finding Mini-Nubians in our area, especially in the fall, was tricky. We ended up driving nearly 6 hours to North Carolina to get two of our girls, and picked the other two up in VA on the way home. We are very much exctied about these girls. They are all very sweet and are already working on stealing our hearts. I am so looking forward to what kids these girls can give us in the Spring. There are not any mini-nubian herds that I know of in our area. I would love to be a good source of quality minis in this area. Additionally, I am anxious for milk. I am looking forward to making our own soap and cheese.

So far, these goats have been a blessing. They have sure affected a great bit of change in our lives already. Between the goats and chickens, there is starting to be a real "farmy" atmosphere around here. Getting up early is so much easier when there are four smiling little fuzzy faces waiting for you to feed them. Even our sleep-half-the-day children are up before 8 am to say good morning to the goats before we start school.

Here are our beautiful girls...

Spring Woods Sophia, who is sweet and shy. She is a true beauty, and I can't wait to see what kind of kids she produces.

Winters MoonOreo, our herd Queen is an attention hog. She is always the first to come trotting over when we come in the gate. She must be brushed, petted, given treats, etc., if anyone else is recieving any attention at all. She is always very helpful, making sure her nose is in everything. She has a recessive blue eye color, which is somewhat desirable in the goating world. I am interested to see if her kids have blue eyes, too.

This is Spring Woods Wilma, she is our youngest doeling and is very sweet. When we first brought her home, she hid behind Sophia for three days, but she is starting to come around. She loves for you to brush her and likes to give little goat kisses.

Here is Miss Personality, Whispering Pines Betty (she came to us as Ilsa, but recieved a name change in order to match Wilma. She is silly and bouncy and loves to give goat hugs and kisses to the man farmer here. She also stands with her feet on the fence and cries for T and V to come and pet her.

Chickens, Eggs and Life without the Yellow Schoolbus

As chickens are apt to do, ours are growing and growing. They are all starting to finally look "henny" - except for Mr. Muffin, of course, who is becoming more and more worthless as the girls are finally becoming useful. Rosie, our White Leghorn, has laid 6 beautiful, hard shelled white eggs in FIVE days. Yes, that's right. The first day she laid, she gave us two eggs! You might think I am mistaken, but she is our only girl that lays a white egg, so there you have it. One of our other hens is laying now, too, but I can't figure out who it is. She has laid 3 eggs in 6 days. That is more normal. I think Rosie is just an egg machine!!! Here she is with her best girl friend...we should have named them Ebony and Ivory. I really think this is the other girl that is laying because they are both much more friendly and calm than they were even last week.


Here are our first eggs...and our first " homemade" breakfast. They were YUMMY.

Lately I have been considering the benefits of this homeschool gig. I know there are people who do not believe in homeschooling. Some people will never be supportive of the idea, and that's okay. A lot of people think that homeschooling equals no learning and wild street urchins who do nothing but steal apples and read comic books all day. True, some homeschooling families do operate that way. Comparatively, there are some teachers in the public school system who have no business teaching dogs how to use pee on paper. According to what I can find as far as Scope and Sequence, Titus and Vaida are 2 years ahead of where they "need" to be in phonics, reading and comprehension and 1 year ahead in Mathematics (we didn't concentrate on math much last year.) Additionally, we can concentrate on things like good character and hands on nature studies.

Generally, I am NOT a morning person. My children have inherited this from me and from my dear husband. Hey, even our chickens are laying their eggs in the afternoon instead of the morning. I simply can not imagine dragging myself out of bed at 5:30 to make breakfast and get the kids dressed, ready and up to catch the bus at 6:50. They would never make it!

Third, there is this issue of vaccinations. When the kids were first born, and through their baby and toddler years, I kept right up with their shot schedules as recommended by the AMA and our most knowledgeable federal government. Then, it came time for the chicken pox vax. I declined it because it is not proven. It has been found to NOT prevent children from getting chicken pox, but has been proven to cause severe cases of Shingles in adolescents and young adults (after the "vaccine" wears off). The kids' pediatrician was fine with my refusal. She didn't even argue about me refusing flu shots for me and the kids. But times have changed, just in the last two years. Now, in order to enroll in public school, your child must have the chicken pox vaccine in West Virginia. No thanks. I also heard a rumor that children in public schools this year will be required to have an H1N1 vaccine. If you don't get it from your doctor, the school nurse will kindly inject it into your child while you are not around. Again, no thanks.

All that said to say I am finally feeling motivated and ready to start this school year. We are going to try a few new and hopefully fun things this year, including keeping a "journal" with narrations of books we read. We have already started Charlotte's Web, and I have been pleasantly surprised with their comprehension and attention to a book that only has a few black and white line drawings. I am SO glad to be reading a real book finally. There is only so much "Angelina Ballerina" that one mom can be expected to tolerate!