New Relaxed Schedule to Schooling

I am an organized, scheduled person. I make daily to do lists and complete them unless there is a darn good reason for not completing something. If I say I am going to do something then I do it. At least that is how it used to be and that is how I was. I seem to be getting older and relaxing, there is way more important things in life than daily to do lists. Now I am still intense but less so. One of those things are my precious children. Mariah and I have struggled with school from the beginning. I schooled her at home through Idaho Virtual Acadmy K, 3rd and 4th grades. The program is wonderfully educational but not for us. First of all I am not sure how Mariah's brain works but it works really well but not the way mine works. Give us the same problem and we will get the same answer but not in the same way. That is great to an extent but makes teaching certain subjects hard. I have decided to relax, let go and see where we end up.

Here is our new schedule:

First chores must be done. She is responible for her room, her personal hygiene including clothing being put away or in the dirty clothes or hung up. She is in charge of her own breakfast as she gets up later than the rest of us. Now I am not neglectful I will help and do. She must decide what she is eating and prepare it. She can make french toast, scrambled eggs and many other breakfast foods by herself. She uses the stove very safely but I am always there watching. She has animal chores outside that must be done also.

Then daily she picks 3 of the following:
- Bible Time
-Story Time
-Vocab
-Spelling
-Writing
-Puzzle Time
-Lego Playing

Next we will do Math - she can choose addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, but must work at grade level

Then she chooses either
-Science
-History

The we will work on
-Art Projects
-Creative Writing (including stories, songs or poems)
-Random Projects
Physical Education

Library Day will be on Tuesday or Thursday with other field trips also.

If it works wonderful, if not we will tweak the schedule. I will not put her back in public education unless I have to go to work full time and even then I truly may not.

This is NOT working.....

Mariah and I are doing school tonight. She has been sick and is way behind in her schoolwork with Idaho Virtual Academy. First of all, school is extremely hard for her, don't get me wrong, she is not dumb, far from it, which is part of the problem. She is extremely smart but can waste far more time than I can tolerate. She can make a 10 minute spelling paper turn into an hour. I know putting her in public education is not what I want or totally not what is best for her, but I can't do this anymore. The lessons are intense, there is so much schoolwork to do. I am not sure what to do but I know I can no longer do this. I am interested in unschooling but so scared that I will fail her. All I know, that right at this moment I am failing her and myself.

Editted to add:

LOL;LOL:LOL Mariah just brought me her sentences and one of them says, 'My mother is never weary". I had to laugh my head off at this sentence especially after I just posted my rant.

Editted again to add this quote I found from the internet:

"You can not make a child walk before they are ready. You can not make a child read before they are ready. You can however make a child think they are dumb or learn to hate reading if you push them before they are capable." -Stephanie, Throwing Marshmallows

Necessary Good-Byes are Sad....

Years ago when I craved self-sucifiency, I decided chickens, ducks and some goats among other things would be a good start. I didn't do much research on breeds something I truly regret now, but the past is the past and can't be changed and I have learned alot. However, in order to par down the feed bill, things needed to be changed. Mariah has two ducks that were babies and they will remain here and live a good life. However after much research, I have decided Indian Runners were the breed I wanted to work with. That meant that the other ducks need to find new homes. So in a few minutes we will leave to deliver Rainbow and Colors (Rouen ducks) to their new owner. Also today Cocoa, the cat, went to live at my sister's house. We had two cats already when my friend managed to rescue 5 kittens from the road. She took 2, we took 2 and my sister took 1. Cocoa lived here for three months and they were good months to him. He was rid of his fleas, his worms, he was brought back up to weight and he was neutured. Cocoa loved Dale (my husband) but it was not a mutal relationship and so today he begins his new life with my sister and her family. 3 good-byes in a matter of hours, but in the end necessary ones.

It is a good life...

It is 8 am and the house is quiet except for the squeaking of Emilee's swing. She woke up at 6:45 and I let her lay in there and babble until I went and got her at 7am. She always makes my morning when I go into her room, she always grins and stretches and her hands get excited and shake. She looks at me as if to say, "well there you are, where have you been, the day is wasting." She amazes me each day. It is hard to believe she will be six in March and as I think about what we have been through with her, she amazes me.

It is officially the last day of January and it is like spring. It is sprinkling rain and the the temp is 45 degrees. I am thrilled with the weather but I worry about the lack of snowfall this year in the upper mountains and I worry now that the raspberries are budded; a deep frost will kill them. Those raspberries are delicious and I am really hoping for the best.

Yesterday was the kind of day that doesn't come to often around here and it was so nice. Started off as normal with household and animal chores and then my sister, Kelly came out with my two youngest nephews. It was so relaxing, nobody had anywhere to go and we just sat and visited. She wanted to see the chickens, the new compost bins, the goats and so forth. Dale let Brandon (oldest nephew) drive the tractor and then he gave Michael (1 year old) a ride. Michael thought was cool and was upset when the ride was over and Uncle Dale left. We came back in the hosue and I popped popcorn on the stove and we just visited and goofed around. It was a nice break. In the afternoon I delivered two dozen eggs, sold two ducks, dropped a birthday present over at my best friend's house and visited with her. Mom came up and got her compost and then later mom and dad came up for supper. It was a wonderful day! Also got our taxes done and sent off. Getting a small refund so hopefully that will allow us to catch our breath and continue to work on paying down our expenses.

I really hate debt. It is my goal to be as close to debt free next December as possible. I keep looking for ways to make this happen. I would like to say if we don't have cash forget it, and while that sounds great, it is hard. Our gas bill alone, with the two 80 miles therapy trips each week is high and running Emmy to school Monday through Thursday. However, I know that she loves school and needs it and I need for her to go. It is a break from the constant demands of having a five year old that is like a 8 month old. Okay ENOUGH whining and justifying, I just need to do it and I will.

I have more to say, but feel like I am rambling so I will be back later.

Garden 2010

Well after much thought on my part and sighing on Dale's part I finally ordered my garden seeds. He kept saying, "just order them, just order them, just order them. Which was followed by me saying, "they are going to cost money, I am not sure this is what I want or the best kind, they are going to cost money, I am not sure this is the best choice". When the kids start rolling their eyes I realized I just needed to do it, I was driving my family crazy. So here is the list.......

Drumroll please......

- Perfected Detroit Dark Red Beets
- Tendersweet Carrots
- Early Spring Burpless Hybrid Cucumbers
- Bush Pickle Hybrid Cucumbers
- Annie Oakley II Hybrid Okra
- Bright Light Swiss Chard
- Bon Vivant Blend Leaf Lettuce
- Earli-Dew Hybrid Honeydew
- Howden's Field Pumpkins
- Early Prolific Straightneck Summer Squash
- Cherry Belle Radish
- Spaghetti Winter Squash
- Royal Burgundy Bush Beans
- Northern Xtra-Sweet Corn
- Cherokee Purple Heirloom Tomatoes
- Sweet 'n Early Hybrid Cantaloupes
- Black Krim Heirloom Tomatoes
- Better Boy Hybrid Tomatoes
- Super Sweet 100s
- Carnival Mix Sweet Bell Peppers
- Hot Pepper Mix

In addition I will be buying my onion sets and potatoes locally. I am getting excited now. Come on spring!!!

The Sweet Smell of Stinky Compost...

So in our yard away from the house under a pear tree was our or rather my first attempt at composting. Uhmmmm, it really was not working or so I thought. I wanted to fix it. After reading about compost bins on the net I decided to make one out of pallets. I called the two of the local lumber yards and one of them told me they returned their pallets but the other one told me that the received two kinds of pallets (one that they returned and the other they gave away). The nice gentleman told me that a guy had been coming in for weeks now and taking all of them. I was okay, thanks anyway. He asked how many I wanted and I told him 7 would be perfect and he said he would look around. He called me back and told me he found some. My nephew went to pick them up today and he brought me five pallets. It was an awesome start but I would be happy if I could get two more. So like every project around here I have no patience and decided today would be the day to get going on this. I started at 11:30, knowing I had to go to a staff meeting at 1:30. My first item on the list of things to do was take down the wire around the old compost bin. I originally wanted to move all the pile of rotting stuff and make the new bin in the same spot. BUT the pile was tall as me and it was wet and heavy and I quickly gave up on that brilliant idea. Dale went and got the tractor from grandpa and the ground was too muddy to get traction with the tractor even with chains on the tires. Hmmmmmmm. Then we decided to just build it on the other side of the tree, it would be okay. Now Dale had rode the 4-wheeler over to get the tractor and he was in a lot of pain today so that left it up to me to carry the pallets from the front of the house to the backyard. It is not terribly far but they were heavy and it was a distance. With them in the backyard I figured out how I wanted them and left Dale to screw them together. Went to the grocery store, the staff meeting and delivered two dozen eggs. When I got home, it was now time to fill up the new compost bins with the old stuff. Well lets just say that is was not easy. It was a mess and there was things in there that don't belong in a compost bin, makes me wonder how they got in there. We started pitchforking that stinky stuff in and as we got further in the pile, the pile started steaming. I soon realized that it was cooking and had been the whole time. We filled up the two new bins and there was a compost left. Honest to goodness compost that I had made out of chicken poop, goat poop, rabbit poop, shavings, grass clippings, veggie scraps. I made that stuff. It was wonderful beautiful stuff and I just played in it. Then I filled 10 wheelbarrows of that wonderful stuff and wheeled it down to my garden. Put two wheelbarrows full of compost in each raised bed and still have some black gold down there. I told my mom I loved her enough to share some of it with her, if she was extra good. That stuff is awesome and I made it.

What a good day!

Today was a good day even with two sick girls. E did go to school and when she got home I was almost ready to go to Lewiston. The ducks are driving me crazy, crazy, crazy. I split some of them up and then one duck quacked and quacked and quacked for days until I wanted to wring her neck so I took her and her mate up to the other pen. Then another duck started and she wouldn't shut up either. I carried her up to the other pen and sat her down not so gracefully. I mean come on ducks, we live in town, get a grip. I have an ad on Craiglist for some of them and hopefully they will go. Please let them go!!! Anyway, off to Lewiston we headed. First stop was to fill the gas tank, then pay the power bill, then the feed store, then we went to the music store as Josh's guitar was having issues and Mariah needed new strings for hers. Mariah really needs a bigger guitar but I have to get Josh's paid off first. SIGH! I hate debt.

Then we took E to swimming and she was moving both arms in the pool, it was so cute. She is getting so big. I mean she really isn't swimming but she is having a great time so who cares. Then we went to the bank and then I delivered 12 chickens to their new homes. I sold them for $5 each and didn't make much or any money of them but that is quite okay. I needed to part with some. I realized tonight I had no idea how many chickens I actually have and boy when I counted it was quite a surprise. Hmmmmm, do I dare post the count on here. I will take a chance on who is reading this. I have 44 hens in my laying coop with one 1 rooster (who I have no idea why he is here except I am rather fond of him), then I have my blue Orp coop, with 1 roo and 2 hens. Then I have my Americauna coop with 1 roo and 7 hens. Now I am not sure my math skills are very good because I accidently almost overcharged the lady who got my chickens but if I am right that is 56 chickens, with 14 ducks, 2 geese, 3 goats, 1 rabbit, 2 dogs, 4 cats and 1 fish. Gee, when you list them all out, we do have too many animals but they are all well fed, happy and content so who cares. Here is a chicken side note, I tried incubating some of my blue Orp eggs and after a week realized they weren't fertile so I have been keeping an eye out of Mr. Big Man to figure out his job. Well today another hen got in that coop, and I was like oh well, well of course he figured out his job with her. I have no desire to have any of her babies, she is a complete spazz. So Grrrrrrrrrrr!!

On the gardening front, my tomatos are up, my peppers are breaking through the soil and we moved them into the laundry room with a floursecent light over them. It is an awesome set-up and I am very happy. I think I have the greatest husband in the world, but for goodness sakes don't tell him that.

For Real

OCTOBER 2ND, 2009 is that for real, that was my last post. Where in the world does time go. Up to speed, we had a wonderful fall, great Thanksgiving and super nice and relaxing Christmas. We are so blessed and I am grateful. I am sitting her staring at my window at the pine trees and enjoying how beautiful it is and thinking about the Haiti victims. Sad, sad, sad. I wonder how many children are hungry, lonely, scared and all alone. It makes me once again eternally grateful.

Spring is coming bringing numerous projects and I am ready. I started tomato seeds and they are up. Too early I am afraid but that is okay, it broke up the winter doldrums. Sold 12 chickens today, including two roosters so that is great. Will put the money back into feed but that is okay. We ordered 10 ducklings last spring, 9 made it. They need a much bigger pen and soon. Tomorrow wouldn't be soon enough, but we will just wait and see how it goes. Fencing costs money. They are Indian runner ducks and they are hilarious to watch. Split my chickens up. Three coops now, one for the layers, one for the BBS Orpingtons and one for the Ameraucaunas. I will hatch pure chicks from these breeds and sell them hopefully. Fingers crosed. I have six eggs in the incubator but don't think they are fertile. Will candle them on Firday and again next Monday and see.