Today is a "town day" as we have an orthodontist appt and then the kids have a Toastmaster's meeting this evening. It's just not worth it (gas) to go back and forth twice in a day so we have made plans to go to both libraries - Fargo and Moorhead. They are both great libraries with different features. Fargo has a great, separate, children's section. The books are current and are well-shelved for easy access for kids. Moorhead has the definite advantage of an incredibly friendly and helpful staff (Fargo has shown improvement in this area - but is not equal to Moorhead) however, at Moorhead the non-fiction books are shelved with the adult books. There are just some sections where I don't want my younger children to go - yet.
We do love libraries - the library card is one of our most precious possessions. We used to have to pay a fee for the card that we use in F/M. A "non-resident" fee. I was shocked when I had to pay for a LIBRARY CARD. Needless to say, we had one for our entire family. The fee was rolled back last year so that everyone in our family could get a card. That makes things challenging as each of us has a 50 (?) book limit. We impose a 10-15 book limit on ourselves because if we get 10-15 each from two libraries (you do the math) - well, gas mileage goes down on the way home from the library! We keep the books in clothesbaskets to separate the books by library.
I need to get the kids up and get things moving! Have a great day.
7/19/2005
7/15/2005
The view from my front porch
This is what the day looked like from my front porch today at 6:45AM. The wheat field is starting to turn - harvest isn't for another few weeks though. The sun looked like it was coming up in the north - soon it will begin to turn south again.
7/14/2005
What about SOCIALIZATION?
Oh, the favorite question to ask a homeschooling family - what about socialization? Do your kids ever see anyone? How can they possibly know how to function in society if they don't spend time in a traditional classroom? OR there are more subtle forms of this question - Do your kids get to spend time with anyone outside of your family? Statements like - Oh, it's so nice that your kids got to get out and be with other children.
USUALLY, I just smile and nod - "it is nice that they get to spend time with other children. Yes, they do get to see other kids."
Here is my somewhat cranky question for those of you with the socialization question on your lips - DO YOU FUNCTION IN A SINGLE AGE GROUP IN THE REAL WORLD? In other words - do you only talk to people who are in your "class"? That is basically what you are asking me about my kids - why don't you put them into a classroom so they can learn to relate only to other 4th graders and generally exclude children who are younger and be intimidated by those kids who are older. Let's face it - homeschooling is a lot more like the real world (the one after school is out) when you need to, for example - work with the young computer programmer in the company and the older manager who has been with the company ever since it began. You have to know how to make intelligent conversation with people other than your immediate age-mates.
This is how I grew up when living on a farm for 6 years. All summer long I had to play with my brothers - our nearest neighbors were 4 miles away or more. Had I decided I could only play with kids my age, I would have been one lonely little girl. I went to small parochial schools where multiple grades were in a classroom - much like homeschooling. At recess we all played the games together or there weren't enough kids to have a game.
GET REAL with the socialization question - be happy that we are teaching our kids to have conversations with people that are older than they are and to be kind and inclusive for the kids who are younger.
P.S. I run my kids around to far more places than I care to sometimes - yes, we see many people.
USUALLY, I just smile and nod - "it is nice that they get to spend time with other children. Yes, they do get to see other kids."
Here is my somewhat cranky question for those of you with the socialization question on your lips - DO YOU FUNCTION IN A SINGLE AGE GROUP IN THE REAL WORLD? In other words - do you only talk to people who are in your "class"? That is basically what you are asking me about my kids - why don't you put them into a classroom so they can learn to relate only to other 4th graders and generally exclude children who are younger and be intimidated by those kids who are older. Let's face it - homeschooling is a lot more like the real world (the one after school is out) when you need to, for example - work with the young computer programmer in the company and the older manager who has been with the company ever since it began. You have to know how to make intelligent conversation with people other than your immediate age-mates.
This is how I grew up when living on a farm for 6 years. All summer long I had to play with my brothers - our nearest neighbors were 4 miles away or more. Had I decided I could only play with kids my age, I would have been one lonely little girl. I went to small parochial schools where multiple grades were in a classroom - much like homeschooling. At recess we all played the games together or there weren't enough kids to have a game.
GET REAL with the socialization question - be happy that we are teaching our kids to have conversations with people that are older than they are and to be kind and inclusive for the kids who are younger.
P.S. I run my kids around to far more places than I care to sometimes - yes, we see many people.
Drama
Oh, the drama of losing a tooth. Some children are quiet about it - others, well, aren't. Child #3 isn't quiet about anything. The loss of this tooth happened Tuesday evening and was anything but silent. How many teeth do kids have to lose???? Can I just make an appointment with the dentist to get this over with?
Happy Mother's Day
No, I'm not confused. This is the day, 15 years ago, that I became a mother. Our son turned 15 years old today. Parenthood is the time when you learn about unconditional love. You think you know everything about loving another person when you get married - and then the world is turned upside down when you hold that little one.
How did our 5'11" son celebrate his day? The "boys" in our house went fishing. They claim they caught the same bullhead over and over. Lots of good male bonding time, sunburn, mosquito bites, and all the other stuff that made the girls and me stay at home!
Happy birthday!
How did our 5'11" son celebrate his day? The "boys" in our house went fishing. They claim they caught the same bullhead over and over. Lots of good male bonding time, sunburn, mosquito bites, and all the other stuff that made the girls and me stay at home!
Happy birthday!
7/12/2005
7/6/05
This photo was taken on 7/6. You have to look carefully for content as we couldn't get closer to the subject. Hank is the small black spot sitting next to the driveway (you are looking straight south from our front porch). This was the first time he had realized that there were animals on the farm other than the barn cats. He sat there for about 5 minutes, jumping slightly each time the horses would snort or the sheep would move, and then seemed to have had enough and trotted back to the house.
Big Thoughts
Last night I was reading a book that one of the kids had checked out from the library (I sometimes do this to check content). Alyssa walked by and asked why I was reading one of Matthew's books. I told her the previous explanation and added that I sometimes enjoyed reading books that they (the kids) like because I spend much of my reading time in the summer reading books about homeschooling and my brain turns to mush after a while. She replied, "Well Mom, you ought to try thinking about forever for a few minutes. It really keeps my mind busy and I just can't wrap my mind around it."
7/10/2005
Farm Update
I realized that I haven't kept you up to date on the happenings on the farm.
After the excitement of lambing, this might be a bit of a let-down. Anyway - the adult sheep had their hooves trimmed and were wormed two weeks ago. Mark and the kids did most of it. Mark is becoming a professional hoof trimmer. When you have 20+ sheep, it does become an art form. The working process consists of each sheep getting one or two pills in a pill shooter. It's a long tube that basically puts the medication at the back of the sheep's throat, hopefully eliminating the option of spitting it out.
On 7/3 the lambs were all wormed. This was a liquid application. The medication was concentrated so each lamb received 1.5 ml. Again, the nurse/husband administered the medication (fortunately he is much more gentle with his human patients). He fabricated a device to shoot the liquid into the lamb's mouth so that, again, the option to spit out the medication was lessened.
The six kittens in the barn have all opened their eyes. The kids need to keep petting them to keep them tame as we have an aversion to feeding wild cats. Their mother is a wild thing and disappears whenever we come near.
Hank has adopted two cats - Lewis (an orange cat) and York (a black cat). Both Lewis and Clark hang around the house and have developed an agreement with the dog.
My Dad picked up Candy, the palimino horse. She hasn't been trained and is a huge horse. If there is something she doesn't like, she just kicks at it. Well, Alyssa decided to pet Candy and Candy whirled and kicked at Alyssa. Fortunately Alyssa only got a bruise on her upper arm (no other damage), but we can't have a horse like that on our farm so off she went.
The kids and I have been discussing how many sheep we will keep over the winter. We think we have agreed on 25 ewes that will be bred. We also have our oldest ewe that is no longer bred (she is 8 years old) and Peter, a former bottle lamb - he is wither (look it up) so he is just with the flock for decoration. Katelyn thinks she wants to keep #48 (a male), but we haven't reached a consensus. Over the next two months we need to look at the records of how many lambs each sheep had and check body shape on the young females. We are looking for a long body and solid stance. We will also see how many lambs their mother had. Next year I would like to sell the wool, but I also need to make coats for the sheep to keep the wool nice.
That's all down on the farm today!
After the excitement of lambing, this might be a bit of a let-down. Anyway - the adult sheep had their hooves trimmed and were wormed two weeks ago. Mark and the kids did most of it. Mark is becoming a professional hoof trimmer. When you have 20+ sheep, it does become an art form. The working process consists of each sheep getting one or two pills in a pill shooter. It's a long tube that basically puts the medication at the back of the sheep's throat, hopefully eliminating the option of spitting it out.
On 7/3 the lambs were all wormed. This was a liquid application. The medication was concentrated so each lamb received 1.5 ml. Again, the nurse/husband administered the medication (fortunately he is much more gentle with his human patients). He fabricated a device to shoot the liquid into the lamb's mouth so that, again, the option to spit out the medication was lessened.
The six kittens in the barn have all opened their eyes. The kids need to keep petting them to keep them tame as we have an aversion to feeding wild cats. Their mother is a wild thing and disappears whenever we come near.
Hank has adopted two cats - Lewis (an orange cat) and York (a black cat). Both Lewis and Clark hang around the house and have developed an agreement with the dog.
My Dad picked up Candy, the palimino horse. She hasn't been trained and is a huge horse. If there is something she doesn't like, she just kicks at it. Well, Alyssa decided to pet Candy and Candy whirled and kicked at Alyssa. Fortunately Alyssa only got a bruise on her upper arm (no other damage), but we can't have a horse like that on our farm so off she went.
The kids and I have been discussing how many sheep we will keep over the winter. We think we have agreed on 25 ewes that will be bred. We also have our oldest ewe that is no longer bred (she is 8 years old) and Peter, a former bottle lamb - he is wither (look it up) so he is just with the flock for decoration. Katelyn thinks she wants to keep #48 (a male), but we haven't reached a consensus. Over the next two months we need to look at the records of how many lambs each sheep had and check body shape on the young females. We are looking for a long body and solid stance. We will also see how many lambs their mother had. Next year I would like to sell the wool, but I also need to make coats for the sheep to keep the wool nice.
That's all down on the farm today!
7/09/2005
Air Conditioning?
We don't have it - air conditioning that is. Face it, people in ND need air conditioning about two weeks out of the entire year. We are in the midst of one of those two weeks. The heat was stifling today - due to the humidity or the dew point (whatever the weather guys are saying). Hank, the new puppy, was so hot that he forgot to chase the outside cats.
Matthew and Katelyn are camping with a church group tonight. Yuck (If I haven't mentioned it before, I really dislike camping). We went over the signs of heat exhaustion with them so that if any of the symptoms are recognized they can seek appropriate remedies.
Tomorrow (or nearly today) is supposed to be the same, or worse, but better next week.
OH, did I mention that I received a rain gauge for my birthday???!! Now to get someone, possibly me, to put it up.
Matthew and Katelyn are camping with a church group tonight. Yuck (If I haven't mentioned it before, I really dislike camping). We went over the signs of heat exhaustion with them so that if any of the symptoms are recognized they can seek appropriate remedies.
Tomorrow (or nearly today) is supposed to be the same, or worse, but better next week.
OH, did I mention that I received a rain gauge for my birthday???!! Now to get someone, possibly me, to put it up.
Mossies
The mossies (to use a term from down under) are here in force. The kids all look like they have chicken pox because the bites from the little monsters are covering the exposed skin. Surprisingly enough, I don't feel the bites as much as I did at the beginning of the season. Can you become accustomed to being bitten?
7/07/2005
Gas Prices
I mentioned that I might rant about gas prices. What is there to say that hasn't been said many times? Well, it was interesting when the small town gas stations had to fashion a "2" as the first digit on their signs. Now everyone has had one printed to match the other numbers, but for the first few weeks they didn't have a digit other than the usual "1" to put in the slot.
I weary of hearing that oil is a volatile commodity. I marvel at how quickly gas prices go up at any news of any sort - it might be a cold winter (up); hurricanes are coming (up); the summer might be hot (up); the wind was blowing (up); someone might blow up a pipeline (up); you get the picture (up). The prices at the station go up the same day the oil price increases, but certainly don't come down as fast when the prices fall. I'm thankful we don't live in California or Illinois - but then we might be able to take mass transit - OR NOT. It's time to get one of those gerbil or squirrel powered cars or go back to horse and buggy. Now there's a thought.
I weary of hearing that oil is a volatile commodity. I marvel at how quickly gas prices go up at any news of any sort - it might be a cold winter (up); hurricanes are coming (up); the summer might be hot (up); the wind was blowing (up); someone might blow up a pipeline (up); you get the picture (up). The prices at the station go up the same day the oil price increases, but certainly don't come down as fast when the prices fall. I'm thankful we don't live in California or Illinois - but then we might be able to take mass transit - OR NOT. It's time to get one of those gerbil or squirrel powered cars or go back to horse and buggy. Now there's a thought.
Hank Again
Check out those eyes. He really does smile (although not at this moment). His eyes are two different colors - one is brown and the other hazel. Look at those paws - they look like snowshoes now, but we know he will grow into his feet.
7/06/2005
Frustrated...again
Did I blog last fall about attempting to get into school and have the local university not recognize that I'm a mother first and wanted to be a student second? Frightening story about those in academia not listening.
Well, last week I dig in again and attempt to work with the same university (why not a community college you ask - because there isn't one within 100 miles OR MORE!). I review the financial aid report and find that we (my family) are expected to pay all tuition, books, fees, etc. I HEAR about all kinds of grant $ that doesn't get claimed, but according to those who know (whoever they are) there are not grants for people my age - I guess if you miss it the first time around it isn't coming back - I can't claim to have edited my high school yearbook last year, didn't run for student council, the community service that I do doesn't count, my blood pressure is going up... Anyway, my project today is to point out to the financial aid department that we are a single income family, gas prices are going up - now there is a rant for another post, and I'm not available to attend classes 24/7.
I am nearly ready to give up and remain among the "uneducated" because even taking a single class at a time is 1/4-1/3 of the full-time tuition and there are not even loans available for that. What is the deal? In addition to the $ issues (that must be solved first) - how about a few more on-line or evening classes?
Frankly this quite stinks as I have been quite cautious about even approaching this whole thing and prefer to remain in my personal comfort zone. I was good at the job I used to do (as an administrative assistant) and don't like not being good at things. However, my favorite husband keeps telling me that I would do great; it would be good for me to have my mind challenged by new and different ideas; I would enjoy seeing "big" people; someday I could work for a living - outside of our home and not attempt to work in the same capacity as I did previously; I read and absorb so quickly that it would easy (I think he's messing with me on that one); etc.
I"ll have to get a more positive attitude before calling this woman or I'll eat her alive right after she says hello. I have realized that anything less than a subservient attitude gets you absolutely nowhere with anyone working in a university/college setting (even if the individual is just the receptionist answering the telephone!). Last year I learned that regular business logic (or even just normal courtesy) doesn't seem to apply to universities in ND! TO WHOM WOULD I ADDRESS CORRESPONDENCE ABOUT THE ENTIRE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM IN ND? WOULD THAT PERSON EVEN READ MY LETTER AS I DON'T HAVE A LIST OF LETTERS AFTER MY NAME?!!! Maybe I'll wait to make that call.
Well, last week I dig in again and attempt to work with the same university (why not a community college you ask - because there isn't one within 100 miles OR MORE!). I review the financial aid report and find that we (my family) are expected to pay all tuition, books, fees, etc. I HEAR about all kinds of grant $ that doesn't get claimed, but according to those who know (whoever they are) there are not grants for people my age - I guess if you miss it the first time around it isn't coming back - I can't claim to have edited my high school yearbook last year, didn't run for student council, the community service that I do doesn't count, my blood pressure is going up... Anyway, my project today is to point out to the financial aid department that we are a single income family, gas prices are going up - now there is a rant for another post, and I'm not available to attend classes 24/7.
I am nearly ready to give up and remain among the "uneducated" because even taking a single class at a time is 1/4-1/3 of the full-time tuition and there are not even loans available for that. What is the deal? In addition to the $ issues (that must be solved first) - how about a few more on-line or evening classes?
Frankly this quite stinks as I have been quite cautious about even approaching this whole thing and prefer to remain in my personal comfort zone. I was good at the job I used to do (as an administrative assistant) and don't like not being good at things. However, my favorite husband keeps telling me that I would do great; it would be good for me to have my mind challenged by new and different ideas; I would enjoy seeing "big" people; someday I could work for a living - outside of our home and not attempt to work in the same capacity as I did previously; I read and absorb so quickly that it would easy (I think he's messing with me on that one); etc.
I"ll have to get a more positive attitude before calling this woman or I'll eat her alive right after she says hello. I have realized that anything less than a subservient attitude gets you absolutely nowhere with anyone working in a university/college setting (even if the individual is just the receptionist answering the telephone!). Last year I learned that regular business logic (or even just normal courtesy) doesn't seem to apply to universities in ND! TO WHOM WOULD I ADDRESS CORRESPONDENCE ABOUT THE ENTIRE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM IN ND? WOULD THAT PERSON EVEN READ MY LETTER AS I DON'T HAVE A LIST OF LETTERS AFTER MY NAME?!!! Maybe I'll wait to make that call.
New Addition
We have added another member to our family. Hank is one of the puppies from Moco, my parent's dog. The kids (especially our son) fell in love with the little guy. I have tried to attach a photo, but apparently that feature isn't working this morning. Later.
Your thoughts?
Last night one of the kids presented a reading at the Toastmaster's meeting (for kids). In keeping with the July 4 theme she read the beginning of the Declaration of Independence. During the meeting wrap-up one of the moderators asked the kids to ponder several questions that I pose to you.
Consider the phrase:
"that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
Do you believe this? Does it apply to all people that live in the United States of America? All men (and women)? Does your belief apply to other countries? If yes, what should be done?
No answers here - only questions.
Consider the phrase:
"that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
Do you believe this? Does it apply to all people that live in the United States of America? All men (and women)? Does your belief apply to other countries? If yes, what should be done?
No answers here - only questions.
7/01/2005
Milestones
A quick look at Lewis (or is it Clark?) heading for the barn.Another milestone - it's birthday time here. Not telling the year. I hope to hear from all three of my brothers today. One already called this morning. Adult birthdays.....you don't get the day off from school, you make your own cake (if you want one), you don't take cupcakes to school, blah, blah - however - it's much better than the alternative.
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