Some Fun Pictures



homemade butter



Wild animals



Making sugar cube igloos



      



Quilring Pillow Tops





Baby lamb triplets




Summer storm





















Stackin hay, summer 2010



Spooky.....






















So Much Snow



Lets Talk School...

  Well, since this is a home school blog, I guess I better talk a little about what we are doing right now in our home education.  I am only going to share what we are currently using and working with, otherwise I will be up all night typing!


Evan and his pottery bowl

   I am going to start with my youngest son, Evan.  He is 7 years old, LOVES anything to do with tractors, likes math and science and hates everything else about school.  
  His experience at the public school was very limited to 2 great years of playschool, and 4 months of kindergarten.  To him, school is nothing but an interruption to his day.  He is still learning how to read, which is the one subjects that daily brings him to tears.  He has the ability, but just doesn't have the confidence yet.  It is a slow journey for us.  Daily there is improvement, but it is taking it's sweet time.  Having said that, I am very proud of him for struggling along with something he hates to do.  I know in my heart that when it clicks for him, he will devour books by the basketful!  He loves looking at books now, but just has no desire to read them.  To help him on his way, I am using 'Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons' by Siegfried Engelman.  We are on lesson 66, and he is doing well.  Then there is reading from some very simple readers.  He does small spelling tests with words that we have already covered in the lessons, and we try to spell all 10 words every day.  I should say here that we don't really do spelling 'tests'.  I have a list of 10 words that he spells out for me every day, I just mix up the order.  I hated spelling when I went to school.  You know the way it was.  Look at the words and have a pre-test on Monday, then study the words all week, and the big test on Friday.  I always hated that method, so we just don't do it.  We are also workingon Five In A Row- Volume 1,but onl once in a while when the mood strikes.
  For math we use 'Right Start Mathematics' by Jaon A. Cotter, Ph.D.  This is an asian aproach to learning math with the focus on mental math.  All my kids are using this program and we all really like it.  It was, however, a bit challenging at first for the older kids who had to switch their thinking from what they learned at school.  We do one lesson each day and it comes with a ton of math card games the the whole family can do.  It also has a great geometry section and money skills.
  Science this year we are using 'A Reason for Science'.  We like this science very much.  It comes with a kit that has everything you need for every experiment in the workbooks.  It is a christian baised program that has related scripture readings for each unit.  You can easily expand on these as much or as little as you like.  Each lesson is ment to expand to a full week, but we can easily do the entire lesson in 1-2 hours, depending on how much we talk about the lesson and how long he experiments take.  Evan and his sister are both working in level B right now.  This works well for us since the lessons are geared toward 'reasearch team' learning.  Each level in this seires covers 4 main areas.  Life Science, Earth Science,Energy & Matter, and Forces.
  'The Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times' by Susan Wise Bauer is the history curriculum we are following.  It comes with a book filled with stories and then an activity book that expands on what your reading.  There are naration exercise for the kids, coloring pages, and some really cool hands on stuff like making a mummie from a chicken!  (we didn't do that one though, too weird for me)
  Evan also has a few workbooks the he is doing.  These include: Explode the Code: 1 1/2, Printing Power by Handwritting Without Tears, Plaid Phonics-level A, and Complete Math Smart-grade 1.

Our Newest Student

A couple of days ago, some dear friends brought us their cat, Pekoe.  They were unable to keep him any longer, so we agreed that he could come here. 
We already have 2 house cats, (named Fuzzy and Oreo) so we weren't really sure how it would work out.  The first 2 days there was a lot of hissing and growling, and our new friend had to be rescued twice from behind the hot water tank!  But this morning, he was upstairs with us and was acting like he has lived here all his life.  He jumped up with Sarah and Evan while they were working and it looked like he wanted to learn too!  The other 2 cats have also started to accept him.  Well, at least the is no more growling.  I think he is going to fit in very nicely with our family!

Killer Bunnies

We have discovered a great new family game called "Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot!"  It is for 2-8 players and is rated for ages 12 and up.  However, my youngest son is only 7 and a non-reader and loves to play.  Once we read the cards to him he got it in no time!  This is a quote from the back of the box, just to let you know what it's all about.

Something to Ponder

Winter is almost over!!!!



Living in Alberta almost my whole life has made me aware of just how long winter can sometimes be.  Many times there is at least a foot of snow by halloween, and it can be 30 below!  That doesn't happen every year of course, but often enough!  Once in a while we are blessed with a brown Christmas.  Living in the Great White North, this can make viewing all the decorations and lights a strange experience.  This year, however, the winter seemed to us to be exceptionally long and cold.  There was a bit of snow at Christmas, and it wasn't really too cold, but January was a different story. 



First big snow fall



It snowed almost everyday, any where from a couple of inches, to 2 feet!  This combined with -20 to -35 really put a damper on our winter activities.  February and most of March were not much better.  The kids and I caught an extreme case of cabin fever, and tensions were running high most of the time.  Combine this with only about 9 hours of daylight, and you get one grumpy family!  School work ground down to the basics, and there were many tears. (I'm not going to say from who.)  We had a few warmer days, and the sun would even attempt to break through on occasion.  The kids spent some time outdoors, bundled up so much it made excess movement almost impossible.  They usually only spent a few minutes outside as it was so cold.  On the days that it was only minus15C, they would stay out for longer and come in with red cheeks, and ice cold toes.  Time for a round of hot chocolate. 



Adding to the snow pile



My husband and my oldest son spent quite a bit of time pushing and piling up snow from our drive way and yard with the tractor.  When you live on a farm, that is by far the best way to deal with multiple feet of snow!  The pile out by the barn where they pushed all the snow grew and grew and grew!  According to records, the most snow we have had in the last 30 years.  I have been teasing the kids by saying the we will be able to put the slip-and-slide on it this summer for some extra fun.  



But the last week has seen blue sky every day!  Sunshine, melting snow, and the shift from a snow filled yard to a mud filled one.  That's just another benefit of country life.  We go from snow pants and winter boots, to jackets and rubber boots.  From  an entry filled with melted snow to one filled with muddy boots. Sigh, more mopping.  We have witnessed the return of some Canada Geese, the Crows are back full force, and we even saw a Robin on our front step!  Poor thing, I  have no idea what he will eat until the rest of the snow is gone.  I was hoping that school would return to normal, but I am out of luck once again.  The warmth and sunshine draws the kids out to play in the mud.  The older two have started the gopher hunting season early this year (yes, they come out before all the snow is gone!) in hopes of keeping a control on their population and saving some of our hay crop.

Soon the snow will be just a memory, and I am hoping for enough water out in the slough this year so we can go out and try to catch some frogs. Then there will be the garden to think of, and all the yard work involved with farming.  This year I am going to try something different for my garden, but you will just have to stay posted to find out what it is.

I hope that spring is well on the way in your area and you and your family will be able to enjoy all it's beauty!



Austin & 'Sugar'