Revamp & Haggis

I'm going to be trying to revamp the ol' blog here. I'd like to focus on more homeschooling stuff mixed in with homesteading, recipes, and writing. Heck, I know there are a ton of blogs out there that cover those things, but it's nice to get my ideas out in the open too. I write a lot at my history blog as well, so things might be sporadic here, but I'm going to try to keep it going!

Right now I'm preparing for a co-op class I'll be teaching - Holidays and Holy Days. Our first lesson is going to be about Robert Burns Night from Scotland. I've made some haggis (it's really good, people!) and shortbread. I was thinking we'd act out a mini Robert Burns Night, and I've got a craft planned for designing your own tartan! I hope it goes well.

I found a recipe for crock pot haggis. It uses ground beef and ground lamb with steel cut oats - pinhead oats as the Scots call it. It was a little fatty, but if you pair it with neeps and tatties (mashed golden turnips and mashed potatoes) it's wonderful! The combination of beef and lamb is good. If you're not used to lamb, it's a different sort of flavor to get used to, but I like it.

Crockpot Haggis

Here is the tartan design I made as an example using strips of cardstock over a sheet of plain cardstock.

I'm a huge fan of cardstock and loathe construction paper. If you want to keep a project, cardstock keeps its color and integrity much better over time than construction paper.

It's Been Awhile...

Oh, dear! It's been awhile hasn't it? I've taken a long break from my homesteading blog to nurture my history blog. Lately, though I've been wanting to post things about our homeschooling, gardening, and other such things. So I thought it might be nice to post here again now and then.

Some exciting homesteading updates - we finally got chickens! Out of 12 chicks we ended up with 4 roosters and 8 hens. Right now we're trying to figure out where to send our roosters because our neighbors have late hours and I don't blame them for not wanting an alarm clock at 5:30 am!

I've expanded my garden to 3 raised beds, put in asparagus, some thornless raspberries, and planted a fig tree. It's already got a dozen little figs growing and I'm so excited! The deer have left it alone too, which is a miracle. I even got some rhubarb to grow by accident. I quite gave up on it last year and I thought I planted the dead plant in the fall in my garden, but this spring my husband found a rhubarb plant in the compost and I have NO idea how it got there! Happy day, though! I've had a heck of a time getting rhubarb to grow.

We're also in the midst of some big home improvement projects. As we've stripped away the layers of time, it's been interesting to see the original beams and methods of construction in our 1900s house. It's slow going, but we're excited about getting the house closer to the way we want it.

Also, while we were in northern Montana for vacation I did a little photo shoot of farm equipment. It sounds a bit funny, but I love the look of industrial mixed with other things like nature.

I'm busy planning for our next year of homeschooling and I'm excited! We're studying American history with an emphasis on technology. Some field trip highlights: Robert Fulton's birthplace (invented the first working, practical steam boat) and the Daniel Boone Homestead with a functioning, original saw mill - both in Pennsylvania. We're also studying Physics this year with a fun trip to the Maryland Science Center for their homeschool week. Lots of fun planned for this year!

Well, that's a pretty good update. Happy Summer!

Colonial Projects

Right now in homeschooling, my son and I are doing a unit on the colonists. So we started reading about the Jamestown settlement and now we're reading about the Mayflower. As a historian, I am very careful about what we read when it comes to history. History is a tricky thing because primary sources are often very biased, and reading secondary sources can be even worse! It is very difficult to find neutral accounts of history, so sometimes it proves to be rather difficult to find just the right books to read. (Don't even get me started on Christopher Columbus!) For now we're using Mayflower 1620: A New Look at a Pilgrim Voyage done by the Plymouth Plantation. We will also be taking a look at 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving also done by the Plymouth Plantation. Their books look very impressive, with photos of reenactments of the events, and I love that they really seek to bring an equal point of view from the Wampanoag people. 

Anyway, I also found some fun books on Colonial crafts. I was surprised with how many I found! Our first project was knotting a fishing net, because fish was a very important part of their diet. My son is still learning how to tie knots, so I helped him a lot, but it turned out really well, I think!

The cool thing about this project is that it could be applied in so many ways - for the fishing for food aspect, a religious context with Jesus and the apostles who were fishermen, for studying jobs or industries, etc. It was actually pretty simple! We found the project in Projects About Colonial Life by Marian Broida in the Hands-On History series. I think some of the other crafts in there are a little pointless, but I'm picky when it comes to crafts, so that's really just me. Check it out!

Healthy TV Habits in a Technologically Saturated Culture

I had my fair share of TV watching growing up of which I have fond memories. (I was a child of the 80s!) But I also spent a great deal of time playing outside, having loads of imaginative play indoors, and going for many long walks in nature with my family. (My mom was a huge advocate of exploring.)

I still enjoy watching movies and television shows I like - sans commercials if I can! And while my children and I enjoy being entertained like everyone else, I need to constantly remind myself that my children also need to learn to entertain themselves. I try to be cautious in how much TV face time they get, especially my toddler. And I try very hard to not let the TV be a babysitter, though I have resorted to it from time to time. The temptation to just sit them in front of a TV show is so strong sometimes, but I am getting better at ignoring that temptation by just telling my kids if they're bored they have to go find something to do or I'll find something for them to do. I'm met with grumblings of course, but eventually they're playing happily (with or without bickering). I've also tried to make an effort to only allow television on Tuesdays and Thursdays, although I've been slipping up the past couple weeks. I should consider it a good sign that my 2 year old daughter comes wandering in to find me instead of watching her favorite "doggy talk" show (Martha Speaks).

It's not that I want my kids to be technologically slow or ignorant. On the contrary. I just want them to develop healthy habits when using technology. (Which I need to be diligent in applying to myself as well! It's so easy to get sucked up into things...) To be honest, I am very anti-hand held gaming device, but I don't mind a few old-school video games (like Atari or Nintendo) for a limited time. My 5-year-old son knows how to work the TV and Netflix, but he is also finding his way around building electrical circuits using his Snap Circuits Jr. set. I am reluctant to have the internet on my phone because I know my own weaknesses! I spend enough time on the computer as it is.

I love technology. I really do! I just don't want us to be a slave to it. We are the masters over technology, not the other way around. At least that is my constant goal.

My mother sent me this article about why TV is a bad idea for kids under 2. It is positive encouragement for my efforts and gives me more determination to have less TV time in our family life in general.

http://eartheasy.com/blog/2011/10/why-tv-for-children-under-two-is-a-bad-idea/

One last thing, is that I am concerned by how many young children are plugged into technology - MP3 players, phones, texting, internet, TV. There is something constantly entertaining them. But what about being with their own thoughts? What about forming their own thoughts without constant exposure to someone else's? It is no wonder that children's attention spans are shrinking as the use of technology is growing.

I feel a valuable way to counter this is to have real quiet, contemplative time for children. This usually comes through unstructured play time. Even driving in the car, I've noticed my son quietly looking out the window or talking to himself as his way of using the car time. I am also a strong advocate against movies in cars - unless it's a car trip longer than 2 hours. I don't mean to put down people who use the little TVs in their cars. I just find that idle time in the car to be a good exercise for our children's patience and creativity in the enclosed space. I myself didn't grow up with movies in our cars for long trips (though my husband did, as well as listening to radio dramas). I remember much of the time spent playing travel games, eating, listening to music, feeling the wind on my face from the open window, thinking, and sleeping. (I was easily motion sick, so no books for me!)

Reading a lot of books to your kids and also having them read by themselves is great  in developing attention span. I also find using a different technology - audio radio dramas - develops great listening and imaginative skills. The mind is engaged, but because it is all auditory, their mind is left on its own to imagine the pictures, people, and scenarios. What a lost art this is becoming!

I'm excited whenever I come across audio dramas. I grew up listening to American History radio dramas and my son enjoys them now. Here a few links for audio dramas:

The Living Principles of America
My Audio School
Your Story Hour

We're looking forward to using these in our homeschooling.

I'm writing this post as much for myself as for anyone else - to re-encourage myself to stay strong against overusing the TV and to get the kids playing, reading, or listening!

Homeschooling Begins!

Today I decided we'd officially start our homeschooling. I've been having our 5-year-old son working on some workbooks throughout the summer to gear him up for the schedule and expectation of school every weekday. I think it was a smart decision for us. My son has a hard time with transitions, and this easing into full-time homeschool has made the transition pretty uneventful - which is good.

For Mondays and Wednesdays we have Math and Reading.
Tuesdays and Thursdays are Science and History.
Fridays are reserved for extras like field trips, art, P.E., or whatever we feel like doing.

Since he's only in Kindergarten I'm hoping to keep things simple, do a lot of reading, go on abundant field trips and just enjoy our school year.

Having a 2 1/2 year old is proving to be a challenge for school time. So I'm figuring out that for the first hour we do things that she can enjoy alongside us like doing puzzles, reading, and occasional art projects. (She loved joining in for painting some wooden bird houses!) Once she goes down for her nap, we break out the workbooks and curriculum.

We'll see how it goes, but I'm feeling pretty optimistic!

Notebooking - A fun way to reinforce learning

So, coming up this fall, my son and I officially start homeschooling. There are various reasons why we decided to homeschool, one of which is that we can go on field trips any time we want as many times as we want! I love field tripping! I am a little nervous about starting school, but I am also very excited.

Over the past year I have been gathering some great resources to help me as a homeschooling mom. One of them is the idea of notebooking. A friend of mine directed me to notebookingpages.com (who are having a free give-away right now, by the way!) I had no idea what notebooking was, and you don't even have to homeschool to use this cool resource! Notebooking is a way of reinforcing something your child has learned by having them create a page or pages recording their thoughts about a place they've been, things they've learned, or people they've studied by writing, drawing, pasting pictures, etc. about their experience. It's a method that works for all ages, and as time passes, they are creating a journal of their own memorable experiences - from their own unique perspective.

I'm really excited for us to get started!