Friday, September 30, 2011
New addition to the farm
So we finally decided on a side by side. I will be pretty helpful around the farm. Of course we went a little bigger that we probably should have but it will be fun too.
Homeschool updates
This week has been a little better not as much whining and crying from either side. I was pretty strict and his attitude improved. I hope it continues to improve! I think he will realized that we mean business when it comes to school.
In arithmetic we are currently working on division we did 2's yesterday and we did 3's today. He does really well in Math probably because he like it and it comes easy to him.
In Language arts we are working on homophones, writing paragraphs, and of course spelling, vocabulary and reading. I ordered some Mad Libs and they came in this week. He loves them. I forgot how fun they were. They changed a bit, my Mad Libs didn't have a word bank to choose from and these do but we don't use it. I let him be as creative as possible with these. When I was ordering them I saw the had adult ones ;) hummmm I wonder?! I didn't buy them but I was tempted :)
History is really cool we are learning a lot, yes I said WE. I love the History curriculum I have, it starts in the beginning and goes through history chronologically. We are currently in Volume 1: Ancient Times. This week we have learned about Hieroglyphs and Cuneiform. We also learned about how and why mummies were made and about Egyptian Pyramids.
Science is always our favorite subject. We are currently learning about different types of plants and trees and how seed are scattered. Plus, science is always ongoing since we live on a farm.
Next week we are going to get back into cursive writing. I not big on cursive but he has to learn it so he can read it.
In arithmetic we are currently working on division we did 2's yesterday and we did 3's today. He does really well in Math probably because he like it and it comes easy to him.
In Language arts we are working on homophones, writing paragraphs, and of course spelling, vocabulary and reading. I ordered some Mad Libs and they came in this week. He loves them. I forgot how fun they were. They changed a bit, my Mad Libs didn't have a word bank to choose from and these do but we don't use it. I let him be as creative as possible with these. When I was ordering them I saw the had adult ones ;) hummmm I wonder?! I didn't buy them but I was tempted :)
History is really cool we are learning a lot, yes I said WE. I love the History curriculum I have, it starts in the beginning and goes through history chronologically. We are currently in Volume 1: Ancient Times. This week we have learned about Hieroglyphs and Cuneiform. We also learned about how and why mummies were made and about Egyptian Pyramids.
Science is always our favorite subject. We are currently learning about different types of plants and trees and how seed are scattered. Plus, science is always ongoing since we live on a farm.
Next week we are going to get back into cursive writing. I not big on cursive but he has to learn it so he can read it.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Around the farm updates
Big Mama's maternity ward is ready. She is due towards the end of October so we got everything ready this week. We went ahead and moved her into the pasture by the barn away form the other pigs and cattle. We wanted to make sure she was getting enough to eat and being left alone. She loves all of the extra attention. So far 8 piglets are spoken for plus 2 on a waiting list and we would like to keep a few for ourselves. Since this will be her first litter, we have no idea how many she will have.
She is one big pregnant pig!
Chickens....really?! We were getting about 12-16 eggs a day about 2 weeks ago and now 1-4 eggs a day. What the hell? It could possibly be because a fox got in to the hen house and killed 3 chickens and the are afraid to lay because they don't feel safe or they are going through molt. Either way they need to work through whatever issues they are having and start laying already!
The cows are doing well. The 2 new ones are doing fine. Snooki is the only one that won't come near Mark or I. Of course she lets Ryan go right up to her. Our current spring fed concrete watering trough may have a leak so we are currently trying to figure out a solution. The trough was here when we moved in and was put there in 1956.
The Goat.....is still strange.
We went to Princeton, WV today looking at RTV's/UTV's or side by sides, whatever you want to call them. We test drove 2 today and will hopefully make a decision soon.
Mark took this pic today, I Love it.
Chickens....really?! We were getting about 12-16 eggs a day about 2 weeks ago and now 1-4 eggs a day. What the hell? It could possibly be because a fox got in to the hen house and killed 3 chickens and the are afraid to lay because they don't feel safe or they are going through molt. Either way they need to work through whatever issues they are having and start laying already!
The cows are doing well. The 2 new ones are doing fine. Snooki is the only one that won't come near Mark or I. Of course she lets Ryan go right up to her. Our current spring fed concrete watering trough may have a leak so we are currently trying to figure out a solution. The trough was here when we moved in and was put there in 1956.
The Goat.....is still strange.
We went to Princeton, WV today looking at RTV's/UTV's or side by sides, whatever you want to call them. We test drove 2 today and will hopefully make a decision soon.
Mark took this pic today, I Love it.
Roasting Chestnuts
So a guy at the bottom of our mountain brought us a huge bag of chestnuts from his tree, we were all excited. We ate a few raw then decided to roast some. I got online and figured out how to do it in the oven, not roasting over an open fire in 75 degree weather. I even took pictures of my roasting process. When they came out of the oven they looked delicious we couldn't wait to dig in. They finally cooled off enough to eat, we all grabbed one peeled it adn took a bite and YUCK! Nobody liked them and we all wanted too. I think we all tried a few to try to make ourselves like them but we just couldn't do it. Anyway, the pigs got some nice roasted chestnuts, at least they liked them!
Friday, September 23, 2011
Homeschooling, it has its ups and downs.
I love the homeschooling concept especially after we tried the school here and he had 2 years of public school (PS) in Virginia Beach. I love that I can go at his pace whether fast or slow. I love that on beautiful day we can do school outside. I love that we can take day off when we want. I love that I am responsible for his education and not some stranger who doesn't care about his education as much as I do. I love that we can home school in the barn. I love that I can pick the curriculum.
With all the things that I love, I have and a few problems with homeschooling. I dislike the fact that my son "hates" school! Unfortunately, he never really liked it. In kinder he did OK, 1st not so OK. He basically refused to do his work on most days so, it all would get sent home and I would have to sit with him and do it at home. This went on all year no matter what the teacher or my husband and I did. I was an exhausting year for us all. He passed the year but he struggles in reading because he "hates" that too. I was hoping that he would change over the summer and with moving and a new school, he would forget that he "hates" school. Well after a week or two in, I hated the new school and so did he. We didn't like it for different reasons. I didn't like that their 2nd grade curriculum was a repeat on his first grade. I didn't want him to fall behind in the subject he excelled in. They also only do 6 weeks of science the whole year, same goes for history. He had already slipped back in the habit of not doing his work even though it was easy. So, the only things left to do was take him out and home school. I got a curriculum based on some recommendation of a few people I met that home schooled and boy did i dislike it. Not all, but most.
This year, we have some new curriculum for Language Arts which I love! Ryan doesn't like it because it requires a lot more reading that last year. I see improvement in his reading already. We also have a new History curriculum which is great, I am learning right along with him. Even with the great new curriculum, we are not having fun! There is whining, crying, fits, and tantrums everyday! Most from Ryan but, not all. We started out the year with a bit of a schedule but now we have a strict one as of this week. This week I laid down the law, Tues-Thur. were still bad but today was amazing. I hope he finally has given up the fighting and complaining and will actually do the work. I will keep my fingers crossed. I let him know that the strict schedule will remain in place until he can do school with out all of the issues. Privileges will slowly come back as his behavior improves. Today we covered every subject in 3 1/2 hours. Before it was 2 subjects in 6hrs. Oh please let today not be a fluke!
With all the things that I love, I have and a few problems with homeschooling. I dislike the fact that my son "hates" school! Unfortunately, he never really liked it. In kinder he did OK, 1st not so OK. He basically refused to do his work on most days so, it all would get sent home and I would have to sit with him and do it at home. This went on all year no matter what the teacher or my husband and I did. I was an exhausting year for us all. He passed the year but he struggles in reading because he "hates" that too. I was hoping that he would change over the summer and with moving and a new school, he would forget that he "hates" school. Well after a week or two in, I hated the new school and so did he. We didn't like it for different reasons. I didn't like that their 2nd grade curriculum was a repeat on his first grade. I didn't want him to fall behind in the subject he excelled in. They also only do 6 weeks of science the whole year, same goes for history. He had already slipped back in the habit of not doing his work even though it was easy. So, the only things left to do was take him out and home school. I got a curriculum based on some recommendation of a few people I met that home schooled and boy did i dislike it. Not all, but most.
This year, we have some new curriculum for Language Arts which I love! Ryan doesn't like it because it requires a lot more reading that last year. I see improvement in his reading already. We also have a new History curriculum which is great, I am learning right along with him. Even with the great new curriculum, we are not having fun! There is whining, crying, fits, and tantrums everyday! Most from Ryan but, not all. We started out the year with a bit of a schedule but now we have a strict one as of this week. This week I laid down the law, Tues-Thur. were still bad but today was amazing. I hope he finally has given up the fighting and complaining and will actually do the work. I will keep my fingers crossed. I let him know that the strict schedule will remain in place until he can do school with out all of the issues. Privileges will slowly come back as his behavior improves. Today we covered every subject in 3 1/2 hours. Before it was 2 subjects in 6hrs. Oh please let today not be a fluke!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Fencing! How could I forget all about our fencing projects.
Putting up High-Tensile Fence is not fun at all. However, it has to be done. So we rented a post pounder, that machine scares the crap out of me. Its loud and it drives 10 ft posts in 5 ft by whacking them! So far we have done about 15 acres and many more to go. We really want to be able to do rotational grazing with our animals. All of our animals are out to pasture including our heritage breed pigs. So, this winter will be more land clearing with more fencing in the spring, I can't wait. Did you detect the sarcasm? So, since we live in West Virginia, nothing is flat so after running this fence with my husband you think I would be like 90 lbs but, not so much. I honestly think that the fencing is the hardest work I have ever done in my whole life! It is rewarding knowing that our animal will have lots of nice green pasture!
Did you catch that I said more land clearing in the winter? I swear that is the best time to clear land. We have tons of pricker bushes and multifloral rose bushes here so its much easier to clear when they not green and blooming. I would also rather clear in 20 degrees and snow than 85 and humid. I think we are the only people on our mountain that actually go outside in the winter let alone work in the winter.
Did you catch that I said more land clearing in the winter? I swear that is the best time to clear land. We have tons of pricker bushes and multifloral rose bushes here so its much easier to clear when they not green and blooming. I would also rather clear in 20 degrees and snow than 85 and humid. I think we are the only people on our mountain that actually go outside in the winter let alone work in the winter.
Time to update!
A lot has happened since my last post! Actually it seems like ages since I updated. I don't even know where to start. My goal is to start blogging once a week to begin and then work on daily. Trying to get up to date is going to be killer.
So here goes......
My first garden ever did great. There were a few things that didn't grow buy for the most part everything did well! I was just a little bit proud of myself :) The whole garden was done organically, no chemicals or pesticides here. Last week I harvested the last of the goodies and turned it over to the animals.
Last week 2 more Scottish Highland cows arrived. Rufus is our 2 yr old bull and Snooki is our yearling heifer. I will have to gets some pics uploaded to the new ones soon.
Our crazy goat! I have never been around goats in my life so I am not sure how they are suppose to act but, I think this one is strange. It acts like a dog! She even hits you with her paw/hoof if you stop petting her. She won't stay in the fence and stands at the front door begging to come in. She is so freaking cute though.
The pigs are doing great and Big Mama is due the end of October.
Ryan--So baseball is over and he is now playing football. That is a separate entry about the issues with football this year. He is doing great but there are so serious issues with the team/coaching.
Homeschooling has resumed! I love my new Language Arts Curriculum, Ryan doesn't because it is requiring him to read a lot! Homeschooling is a bit of a challenge because Ryan "hates" school. But, we are working through it slowly. There are some tears and yelling on both sides but I am hoping things will turn around soon.
So here goes......
My first garden ever did great. There were a few things that didn't grow buy for the most part everything did well! I was just a little bit proud of myself :) The whole garden was done organically, no chemicals or pesticides here. Last week I harvested the last of the goodies and turned it over to the animals.
The animals.... In my previous post i mentioned chickens and pigs well now we have added 5 cows and 1 strange goat. Our first cow was Daisy, a milk cow, she is 6 months old now and loves attention. She hung out with the pigs so long before we got other cows, we call her the big brown pig. Next came Fiona and Woolly Bully. Fiona is a beautiful white Scottish Highland heifer and Woolly Bully is a Scottish Highland bull. She is 6 months old and he is 1 yr.
Our crazy goat! I have never been around goats in my life so I am not sure how they are suppose to act but, I think this one is strange. It acts like a dog! She even hits you with her paw/hoof if you stop petting her. She won't stay in the fence and stands at the front door begging to come in. She is so freaking cute though.
The pigs are doing great and Big Mama is due the end of October.
Ryan--So baseball is over and he is now playing football. That is a separate entry about the issues with football this year. He is doing great but there are so serious issues with the team/coaching.
Homeschooling has resumed! I love my new Language Arts Curriculum, Ryan doesn't because it is requiring him to read a lot! Homeschooling is a bit of a challenge because Ryan "hates" school. But, we are working through it slowly. There are some tears and yelling on both sides but I am hoping things will turn around soon.
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