Look What I Am Now Able To Do!!

Yes, I know it is such a simple thing, but when the sun is in the right spot on a sunny day….I can open this door and let he sunshine in! Spring has sprung. OK, I will just ignore the three inches of snow that fell on Sunday.

White Castle here we come, well here you come

Some how smockityfrocks how to make homemade white castile sliders post came across my path today. This is going on the menu this weekend.

Egg Rolls

Last week I made egg rolls. I attempted to take pictures of the process of egg roll making but I am not a photographer so I forgot and skipped a few steps. But they are actually very easy to make.
First I browned up a cast iron skillet of ground moose or mooger as we call it.

It took me a while to find the egg roll wrappers at the grocery store, go figure there is a small section of such things in the produce department. Is this produce? No.

My filling: mooger, some bagged cole slaw veggies and some rice noodles that I soaked in water.

Filling and rolling the egg rolls, there are how to roll pictures on the back of the egg roll wrapper package.

I rolled the egg rolls during nap time because it was naptime and I could do so uninterrupted by my most precious, curious, busy and  Mama loving two year old.

This is where the pictures end. These went into the fridge until I fried them and well, life gets full during dinner prep plus I had three extra little blessings running around my house this day. They loved my egg rolls by the way.
I also made a not so authentic sweet and sour sauce that my husband loved. 

This Morning

I am thankful that the little guy slept better than he did the two nights previous. His nasal passages cleared up sometime in the night and he could breathe better. I am also thankful for a crockpot full of steel cut oats and homemade whole wheat toast this morning. I needed that nourishment!

Two Down

Don't know what the blog will look like this week. I have two sick with colds. One happens to be Benjamin and his cold seems pretty intense which means that his nights are full of discomfort and sneezes (which require clean up afterword) and while we are awake we might as well have a drink and then where's the pacifier?, so the nights are long and not full of sleep. But I am surviving with naps.

A link

I read an article that I enjoyed so I am linking to it in case your might too! freak who homeschools

Natural Bird Feeders

A couple of falls ago, while my husband was processing our moose meat, I discovered that a variety of birds would show up each morning to dine on the discarded moose bones that were awaiting the end of the processing process for proper disposal. So, I asked my husband if we could place a couple of bones in the back yard for the birds. So, during the winter months we leave some food out for the birds. And what a variety we attract.


I think the bird in this picture is a hairy woodpecker, even if he isn't a hairy woodpecker, he is some sort of woodpecker.
We  also have chickadees, grey jays and magpies on a daily basis.

Increased Daylight

With our increased daylight we can do things like this when Dad gets home from work.

Benjamin and I getting pulled in a sled behind the four wheeler.


I am laughing because I don't know if I can get out of the sled.

I made it out by the way!

Our handsome driver


Riding partners



The Oldest Blessings getting a little more challenging ride than Benjamin and I took. They loved it!

The full swing.

Couldn't resist

I apologize for a blurry picture, but I could not resist posting this picture that I found on the camera. Not sure who took this one but I am glad they did, blurs and all!
Judith loves to read and if she has free time she is found with a book in hand. Here she is under the computer desk.

Tuesday

I grabbed the camera again this Tuesday before leaving for piano and errands. I am glad I did because was we were driving away from piano we saw the same two moose as last we saw at piano last week. They were having an early lunch!

This is the calf


The calf walking toward the cow.


The cow.


After piano we made a bee line to our local warehouse store for lunch and grocery gathering. Here are the blessings waiting in the checkout line. Benjamin was singing, yes, I know he has a pacifier in his mouth. If you lived here you would be glad! Although, when I took this picture, he was singing Jesus Loves Me with his sisters. That is precious. The lady behind us clapped for him. She was precious too.

Hair

I have been one week without using shampoo or conditioner. I am using a baking soda water combo for washing and a apple cider vinegar for a conditioning rinse.
I think my baking soda to water ratio is off. My scalp has been itching and a little dry. I will adjust the ratio and keep going.


I didn't do much to my hair today but wash and dry as my little companion woke up in the middle of my drying session so the rest of the process had to be fast.

Saturday Riding

On Saturday, we took a family snow machine ride. It seems rare that I get out, so today we made it happen.

The big kids following us.



Judith giving Benjamin a drink of water.


My wonderful husband had to do a bit of body work to a snowmachine that ran into a tree on the way.


A really neat ultra light air craft with skis. Pretty neat.

Walking back from rescuing the snow machine that hit the tree.



Rest stop.


The flood control.


Another view of the flood control.

Methods/ Philosophies

One word of clarification before I go any further: I am just a Mom, who educates her children at home. My way isn't the only way and I am not an expert. But, who is really? I can only share information I have found useful and tell the story of our family..

Now on to methods and/or philosophies....
A to Z Home's Cool has a pretty good listing of methods/philosophies posted that might answer any questions anyone would have about this. I am not going to reinvent the wheel here so use the internet sources and the wonderful information others have assembled. This is what I did when I began.

For us, as I mentioned above I use living books for most of our history instruction. We lapbook/notebook along with what we are learning. I would really call my personal education style eclectic. We use a text book for math and even for one of my students for English grammar this year.
I personally do not enjoy a "box" or traditional classroom curriculum. Too much busy work, which is helpful and often needful in an actual classroom but not for our education at home.

Education choices, philosophies are different for each child/family. In the past I have avoided using different curriculum for each student. I have combined as much as possible for my own sanity. ( I will address sanity in another post.) Learning styles play a big role in what works for each child. I have a couple who just like to get things finished and would thrive in a tradition setting. Others think differently and would flounder in that environment. I have one child who is very hands-on, project driven. Right now I have three children who are completing the same project. One is 2/3 finished, one is 1/3 finished and 1/4 finished...they are all different and they each need time to work at their own pace.

Just remember, as in most areas of life...DO NOT compare yourself to any other family who educates at home. Observe, take notes and then do what is best for your learners. You might enjoy classical education but think that unschooling is not for you. Another family might thrive in an unschooling environment yet fail if they tried to implement classical education in their home.  The method you use is completely up to you. The goal is pretty much the same, raising children who love to learn.

Being Still

It is a precious thing when a two year old is awake and still.

Digestion Theme Park--Not Your Typical Vacation Destination

Lest you think we drive hither and yon all day, every day. Think again. We use paper and scissors as well!
The girls just finished up a study of the digestive system. Their final assignment was to create a digestion theme park. I think they did well. They both enjoyed this project.
Judith's Park


Elisabeth's Park


This is Elisabeth taking a picture of Judith while Judith took a picture of Elisabeth.

An aerial view of Elisabeth's park

A close up of the kidney slides


Judith taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.


Judith's Muncha Cruncha Mouth

An Experiment

Ignore the bad photography. Some day I will take better pictures.....
This picture was taken Tuesday morning, day one of the no shampoo hair cleansing experiment. Day one resulted in manageable hair and I honestly could not tell a difference.
No, I am not weird, just choosing to clean my hair a different way from the norm.


Yes, that is grey hair and no I am not going to color my hair any time soon. No nevers here, just not any time soon. I just got a trim on Friday so I am not completely used to the new adjusted length, in two weeks I should be used to the changes.

I hope to journal my findings for prosperity sake.