Rainbow Rivers Journey

Waz up part 2

2009-11-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

Well I had to cut short the blogging yesterday when the neighbors called as they had gotten a deer and wanted to teach me and hubby how to dress it. Our daughter wanted to go but she has been coming down with a cold so we had her stay home with her eldest sis. To our suprise they not only showed us how to dress and gut the deer but they gave us all the venison as well so we got a weeks worth of meals. Awesome I love vensison and we have not had any for 10 years! They told us more would be coming our way but now that we know how to dress it, we will be doing the next one! I brought home the chunks of meat and cut it all up for seperate packages for the freezer where my youngest daughter delighted in helping wrap it up in butcher paper for the freezer. All in all it gave us 2 roasts, a package of steaks, a package for breakfast meat for hubby to use and 3 packages of stew meat, not too bad!

We watched the secret lives of bees as a family the night before last..........terrific movie with queen lateffah and dakota fanning in it. The movie showed about the civil rights movements, beekeeping and interacial relationships in the south and how difficult it was for blacks that had just earned the right to vote.

We have been playing Uno and Liars dice over the last week, I love Liars Dice as hubby will sit there and outloud work through logic, percentages and probability.

We have been noticing the changes in our Yorkshire Terrier and preparing for her due date, her due date to have her pups is on Thanksgiving! They will be Shorkies, as the father is our male Shitzu.

Hubby has been scavenging all sorts of useful materials and items from some abandoned properties near us including a bunch of tools we could use.

I have been brainstorming and doing a little research for writing my articles and looking for chickens.

Our daughter has been doing a lot of writing projects of late, from writing notes and letters to family members to making best friends forever scrapbooks with her friend.

I have been brainstorming ideas for more family involvement, interaction and unity, do not get me wrong, we have a close family and do many things together, but for me it never seems to be enough. I am always looking for more ways that will unite us in enriching activities together for a whole learning experience and family quality time.

I also have been thinking I really need to start writing in a journal as so many things go forgotten by the end of the day as my memory is just not what it use to be and I miss sharing so many wonderful moments of our days. A journal to quickly jot things down to help my memory out and chronicle our journey would be a great thing.

Well that is about all for now, this completes the post I started yesterday!

Waz Up?

2009-11-14T05:53:00.000-08:00

Okay Okay, my bad! It has been awhile since my last post, but I assure you I have not forgotten, just time has not been on our side since my last post.

Okay number one, kids messed up my computer again so it crashed and I worked on it for several days, but hey I lost all my photos I was going to share! I had some great pics of my daughter helping me build the chicken tractor but those all disappeared from the computer..........lost forever. One bad thing about digital cameras, they do not have negatives to make reprints on!

Number two- we have been VERY VERY VERY WET. It rained for days from hurricane Ida dropping tons of rain on us.

So in the mean time things we have been up to...............

Getting our car and drivers license all switched over to North Carolina...........they do NOT make that easy here and since Hubby had lost his wallet just before moving here it was a REAL PAIN but finally it is all done and everything all legal for our new state now.l

Watched 2 great movies with the kids- one called HOLES and one called FREEDOM WRITERS, freedom writers I just loved, terrific and touching movie which generated a discussion prompted by our son on how Hitler died.

We had a bonfire where we invited the neighbors and all had a wonderful time..........weird having bonfires in November to me but it felt great and so much fun was had.

We took the kids to a Mall, it is the first REAL Mall our youngest daughter has ever been to. In the UP of Michigan where we lived everything in the Mall had gone bankrupt and nothing was left but a movie theater and a place for hair cuts..........that was the mall she was use to. It was fun watching her reaction to a real mall and she was delighted. Our eldest daughter brought home a PUG PUPPY, that makes 6 dogs now in our household but hey our eldest is an Adult and it is her money and what SHE will be taking care of, not me so I am fine with it...................BOY IS SHE CUTE.

Me and my youngest on a sunny day spent around 4 or 5 hours building a chicken tractor.....our portable chicken pen. I will make a seperate post and take a photo of the finished product explaining all about chicken tractors. My daughter enjoyed measuring and using the hammer, saw and stapler , we really enjoyed building this together.

Oh I got to post more later, the neighbors just called and have a deer for me where me and hubby have to go learn to clean and dress it! More Later!

Composting Bin

2009-11-03T15:40:00.000-08:00

Today we got the materials to put together a fairly cheap compost bin. I bought 6 green stakes for a buck a piece, sort of like a tomato stake. I then bought a roll of black Weed Block Netting for around 10 bucks. This roll is enough to put up 3 or 4 if not more compost bins which for future ones I will go in the woods and cut thin saplings for the stakes. I put the 6 stakes in the ground in the shape of a fairly decent sized circle around 5 foot in diameter. I then wrapped the Weed Block netting around the stakes cutting it a few inches longer to overlap at one point. I then went around and placed 2 clothespins on each stake, one at the very top and one on the bottom to help hold the netting in place. On the last stake where the netting overlaps I put 3 clothespins, one on top, one in the middle and one at the bottom, I can remove these 3 clothespins so the netting opens as a door to allow easy access with a wheelbarrow to either dump leaves in it or when it has decomposed and I want to fill the wheel barrow to use the compost in garden areas.

My 2 daughters had a blast today where Miss N raked the leaves and Little Miss C used a shovel to fill the wheel barrow and then go dump it in the compost bin. She was learning all about composting, decomposing and how it helps the garden with its rich nutrients it will provide after it decomposes. We placed it in an area of the yard that gets full sun all day, with it's black netting to help absorb and store even more heat. It is also placed to where it will be central to the future organic garden beds.

To me this is the first and most important step of our plans for gardening which starting it now in the fall, it will be decomposed enough to use it on the beds in the springtime.

Our next step will be to build a chicken tractor that will have a dual purpose, providing us with eggs and meat as well as creating raised beds for gardening. We have the supplies to build one which we bought today and I will post pictures and information on the chicken tractor in a later post!

A fun weekend

2009-11-02T07:38:00.001-08:00

We have had a busy yet fun weekend for our Halloween weekend.

Friday I played a game of chess with Master S and me and my eldest daughter played a game of rummy with Little Miss C. Each of them played a little while on computer games and we went on an afternoon walk. Then we were all invited over to the neighbors for a bonfire. At the bonfire the kids got to play on the trampoline and roast marshmallows, it was tons of fun. We came back home and watched Lost in Space, a movie we had borrowed from the library.

Saturday the kids took turns going over to the neighbors to play and then bringing the neighbor friends over to our house to play. Little Miss C had also worked on some reading and spelling, she has recently begun to be able to spell quite a few words out as she does her searches on the computer, it has been helping tons in her spelling areas. Master S spent quite a bit of time playing Math games with Little Miss C where I joined in the game to giving him problems to solve. Then it was time to take them out for Halloween so we took them to a nearby town. We were blowen away at Halloween is celebrated and just had a fantastic time! They block off a large area of town where the store owners all have all sorts of things for the kids to do, games to play to earn candy and even a small haunted house, free hot dogs and a hayride. It really draws a large crowd and was just so much fun and WARM. We are not use to celebrating Halloween like this and being warm enough to enjoy it so it was a wonderful new experience for us all. Then we came back home and we all made our beds up on the living room and stayed up watching scary halloween movies until we all got tired and went to sleep.

Sunday was mostly spent with their friends where Little Miss C and her friend spent a long time making Best Friends Forever Scrapbooks for each other, Master S played video games with his friend which is fun to see because their friends do not have video games. Master S spends a lot of time explaining how to play it and teaching his friend how to use the controlers.

Of course these are just the things I remember over the last couple days that stick out in my poor memory banks! Hope everyone had a fun and safe weekend as well~!

From my Fathers Desk:

2009-10-29T11:42:00.000-07:00

I had Lymphoma cancer cells along my spine, in my chest, my lungs, and in my adobmen area. The most recent Pet Scan found no cancer cells in any of these areas. So, to ensure we put this Lymphoma in remission, I have to have three more chemo cycles starting next Tuesday and ending around February. How is that for a great birthday present?

WHOPPEE!!!!!!!!!

I got this email from my Dad today, Woo Hoo Dad, I am so happy and relieved! That is just wonderful news!

Dayna Martin on Youtube

2009-10-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/DaynaLeighMartin?ob=1#p/a

Dayna Martin is a passionate unschooling mom and advocate and author of Radical Unschool the revolution has begun. Check out some of her videos on You Tube! She is really a great advocate for Unschoolers.

Part of our Day in Photos

2009-10-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

Sundays Laid Back Day Log

2009-10-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a very laid back day of relaxation for us, I try to keep at least one or two days a week I force myself to be laid back and relaxed to help recharge my batteries. However the things that we did yesterday…….

I woke up early, around 6am and wrote a blog post here on this site then read other blogs and checked my email. The kids woke up around 8am and had hot cereal for breakfast and watched some cartoons.

When hubby finally woke up around 11am, I helped my daughter play Pet Vets, a computer software game we own. When she tired of it, I played my Pet Vets game for a while. My son played battle net on the computer when I was finished, he also played SIMS on his adult sisters computer while he waited for me to be done. Hubby played video games and watched some TV. Our adult daughter spent most the day playing her SIMS game on her computer in her room.

At dinner time my son asked to help so he made the baked chicken and the homemade cornbread while I made the potatoes and rice.

After dinner we all went for our family evening walk except for our son who really does not enjoy going on these walks all that much so he played video games until we got back home. Back at home our adult daughter played a game of rummy with our youngest daughter while I did the dishes.

During the day in between things I re-read “Parenting a Free Child:An Unschooled Life” by Rue Kream and started re-reading “Radical Unschooling A Revolution has Begun” by Dayna Martin.

My youngest daughter hereby out known as Little Miss C went to bed around 10pm and the rest of us including our son hereby on out known as Master S, watched Storm Chasers.

After Storm Chasers me and hubby retired to our room to watch Children of the Corn V and then went to sleep around 1am.

Our adult daughter had gone to bed and since Little Miss C was still awake they stayed up talking about Humans getting Spayed and where babies come from LOL. Little Miss C wanted to know if getting Spayed was as painful as having a baby and if you get spayed so you can not have babies then you can woo hoo all you want? She is very curious about the cycle of life and since we have always had many pets, she relates humans to what she knows in pets, thus getting spayed in her eyes.

Master S has the livingroom to himself at night after everyone else retires to their rooms to talk or watch tv so he stayed up playing Resident Evil until about midnight at which time he shut everything off and went to sleep.

Peek at our Week

2009-10-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

I have not had too much time for posting and photos this week so will just give a brief overlook right now.

Anyhow our week highlights have included

Movies of Note: Ann of Green Gables and Slumdog: Millionare (what a fantastic movie!)
We have also enjoyed are you smarter than a 5th grader

Cooking activity of the week included us all making brownies and learning how to double fractions as we doubled the recipie.

Our most memorable activity included 2 days of Lizard catching! The first day we caught 5 Green Anoles and 2 Ground Skinks, set up a natural habitat and the kids delighted in observing them all day, looking them up online to find out their species, what they ate and how to tell males from females. The very next morning they were released and we caught 3 more Green Anoles for another day of observation. Again they were released the next day.

Our son has been working on his ideas to design some video games

Our has been playing ecobuddies on primary games, she has also been working on spelling words, building forts and working with a hammer.

We are still looking for work and have an appointment with a Temp service for Wednesday.

My eldest daughter cooked dinner tonight , she is pretty new to cooking so this is a great skill for her to be learning right now.

I have read my book on Chicken Tractors than a Homeschool book, I can not remember the name of it right at this moment but noticed I did not get anything out of the text I wanted but did get some wonderful resources I will be checking out later.

We all played Candyland today.

Tuesday

2009-10-21T09:29:00.001-07:00

Tuesday was a high energy day for me and I concentrated on spending the day on those wonderful mundane tasks........chores!

I started my day off by doing our laundry by hand and getting it hanged out on our lovely sunny 73 degree day! Every couple hours I went out and flipped it all over and by the end of the day I had it all folded and put away.

I took our dogs out to potty twice among all this, hubby does it twice as well.

I applied for 3 day care positions, a dog sitting position and a position at McDonalds for a crew member. I am going to meet a lady and her toddler Sunday for a possible full time day care position starting out on an on call basis but decent pay for only 4 hours a day.

I wrote 2 freelance articles for associated content.

I scoured the tub, sink and counter and toilet in the bathroom.

I picked up the house and vacuumed.

I swept the Kitchen floor.

I fixed baked chicken with mashed potato's for dinner.

Me and hubby went for our evening walk.

I helped hubby throughout the day while he was on the computer looking for work. Trust me he needs A LOT of help while on the computer!

I did not have much time yesterday to do much with the kids as I was pretty much busy the whole day taking advantage of my high energy. I did not get floors mopped or bread made so that will be Wednesdays work.

While I kept busy working on chores, our son researched on the computer........ he is trying to figure out how to make an online RPG subscription site for online gaming. I am going to try to get him to start a video game idea journal as he really has some wonderful ideas for video games. He even acts out his ideas with his army men on the kitchen floor working out his strategy ideas LOL! He also was learning about Alcatraz and asking a lot of questions about it.

Our daughter was as usual off in her own little world drawing pictures and playing. One of her creative ideas was hooking up our dogs as a dog sled team hauling our cooler behind them as she enticed them to move where she wanted using treats for them. Our dogs will do anything for their treats! A cattle dog is an unusual choice for a sled dog! She also went through a library book she had borrowed and tried to go to her friends but we forgot it was tuesday and her friend has dance lessons on tuesdays. She also worked on some project that involved a hammer and a rock.......don't ask I have NO CLUE what she was up to but to her it was fun!

Well I think that about sums up our Tuesday! What did you do yesterday?

Life at home

2009-10-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

The home of an unschooler ideally will reflect the interests and personalities of the people that live there. There are no schedules, textbooks and workbooks are generally only used if the person really enjoys using them, there is no rules and no awards, letter grades or even grades that a child is categorized into. When we lived in the UP of Michigan, our apartment had over time reflected the interests of those who lived there from writing centers for our daughter, video games and computer software for our son, microscopes, telescopes, books on basic survial and homesteading for me and such. However when we moved here to North Carolina, adding an adult daughter to our household as well, we needed to downsize our belongings to a 5 x 8 Uhaul trailor. Needless to say this meant other than our computers, Tv's and Video game systems this primarily meant basic survival neccessaties that could come with us along with our 5 dogs and a ferret. We had no clue it would take this long to find work, we are still looking although hubby has a very promising possability lying ahead for one we are keeping our fingers crossed for.

We have wiped out our belongings to pretty much a shell, a blank canvas we can dance through and weave a new cloth of interests and new possabilities with. We can now be free to truly become the artists of our life and create the interesting atmosphere that will reflect all who live here. While we did keep a few items of interest in our move, the designing a new work of art on our blank canvas will for the most part have to wait until either hubby or myself find work to improve our finances, or we can glean for free, barter for and find at huge discounts through garage saling or resale shops.

Some of the items we kept were our board games we enjoy, some of our favorites being Liars Dice, Battle Ship, Family edition of Cranium, Are you smarter than a 5th Grader and Don't Quote me. We kept our 8-inch lens Telescope we bought of my dad for our love of Astronomy and our Video games and systems for hubby and our son to enjoy. I also kept some of our "School Books" now I am not talking standard Curriculum here, these are all hands on type books with lots of fun and interesting projects such as Janice Vancleaves hands on series and a Math Projects book along with art projects books and boredom busters, car school and games for learning books.

I have ideas and plans for our future as money will allow though, however I made a rule when we moved here that we can not buy ANY THING unless we have a place to put it to try to keep the place organized. For example if we want books, then we need a bookshelf to put them on! We have a 16 wide 2 bedroom trailor on 2 acres, organization will be of neccessaty here however what a wonderful blank canvas we have!

Some of the things that are being planned for our future of creating a fun and interesting environment that will reflect each of our interests will be......

1.) Growing our library to include field guides, historical fiction books, self sufficiency books, video game design, sewing, crafting and metal smithing books, treasure hunting , cook books and oh can not list them all here to include all our interests in books!

2.) Using small scale farming methods to get the most use out of our small plot of land which will include building chicken tractors which will give us raised beds for gardening without having to till or spade up the land while raising chickens at the same time for meat and eggs. We will use the chicken tractor method as well for raising quail which we will order quail eggs with an incubator, dwarf nigerian and pygmy goats, and pheasant. This are moveable pens you move around your property where ever you want to plant gardens using a deep mulch system. There will also be life experience math applications to these building projects.

3.) We will also raise rabbits which I have scavenged a free hutch for where I just need to fix the roof on. A pig or two is a possable future addition as well, although this one I am still debating on.

4.) We will get a decent microscope for microscope activities which will include but not be limited to our creek that runs through our wooded part of our 2 acres for water samples.

5.) We do plan on getting a pool and a trampoline down the road, perhaps after tax refunds in spring. Some sort of swing and play structure will be built as well. Maybe even an observation tower for our wildlife feeding stations we are putting up.

6.) Speaking of wildlife feeding stations we have already put up 2 bird feeders and a couple places for ears of corn for squirrel. We plan on building a feeding station that will encourage deer and wild turkey onto our property. We have bluebirds all over so I will put up a row of blue bird houses and a wood duck nest box near the creek. A butterfly and humming bird garden are in the plans as well.

7.) Within the house nice additions will be a chemistry set,legos, building blocks, interesting posters on the walls, star charts, arts and sewing supplies, binoculars set on a tripod for inside or out on our decks, new board games, furniture ( we gave up ALL our furniture in the move) and anything else I come across as interesting!

8.) Of course the gardens for herbs, veggies and fruit trees and vines will be an interesting focal point and along with these, it would not be complete without the bee hives as my hubby has had a long interest in beekeeping so this addition will be for him! Beekeeping can be a facinating hobby and perhaps will interest the kids as well.

9.) I am hoping as money improves to be able to add things outside the house as well such as joining a local homeschool group, dance lessons for our daughter and boxing or martial arts for our son and of course there are all sorts of wonderful field trips in the future needing to be explored.

For now, this is a start to a plan for an interesting and exciting future of learning for us. I am sure there will be more to add as we get more settled into our new home and as my families interests change but there always needs to be a beginning and I think this is just a fine beginning to starting to fill in our blank canvas of learning, living and growing..............

Lessons on looking down!

2009-10-19T06:38:00.000-07:00

I have read, that most snake bites occur from people basically stepping on the snake.........after yesterday I can believe this! Hubby, our 2 daughters and myself went on our usually daily walk yesterday, it was in the 50's with clouds and wind so chilly enough to have to wear jackets for the first time so I was not really thinking about snakes. We ALWAYS look down at the road and always scanning the road ahead of us but nope, not yesterday! For me I was thinking it was too chilly so I had let my guard down, hubby was just distracted playing and having fun with the girls while we walked. Well I should of knowen with the chilly weather they may be coming out in mid afternoon to seek the heat of the pavement.......but I just was not thinking too clearly I suppose! As we were all walking,talking and goofing around the next thing we knew was that the sound of a very loud rattler sounded it's warning. I tell ya, not one of us at first saw what had made the sound, not one of us has ever heard the sound of a rattler snake yet instictively we all started side stepping backwards and sideways as quickly as possible, AWAY from the sound. Of course there was shrieking from the girls and a suttle quick burst of profanity that emitted from hubby as he was the one that had practically stepped on it! One more step and he would of landed right on top of the snake! A close call we were all thankful to have recieved a warning and a good lesson of looking at the ground while living in rattle snake country. Sure got the old heart pumping good! Matter of fact, I was so shook up that I forgot to take pictures! So I headed back and thinking he would of been long gone as he had slithered off the road into the grass to escape from us. He had come back out onto the road though to seek the heat and in the short time it took me to walk back with the camera, he had been apparantly hit by a car so was not too lively this time around. We took some pictures, unfortuantly a lot came out blurry but we did get a few and then even brought him back to show our son who did not go with us. We took him back where we found him than came back to identify what kind of snake he was.

He was a Timber Rattler, that averages 3 feet in length, heavy bodied, Triangler head, a black tipped tail and has highly toxic venom. Usually shy and not too quick to rattle or strike, will usually choose to use his color to camoflauge himself in danger although I am still glad he did rattle so hubby did not step on him!

To find out more on this beautifully marked snake check out

http://www.bio.davidson.edu/projects/herpcons/herps_of_nc/snakes/Crohor/Cro_hor.html

http://www.dlia.org/atbi/species/Animalia/Chordata/Reptilia/Squamata/Viperidae/Crotalus_horridus.shtml

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/gaston/Pests/reptiles/canebrake.htm

http://www.ncaquariums.com/askaquarium/snakes.htm

http://www.wcu.edu/4516.asp

Unglamourous chores

2009-10-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

As of right now our laundry needs are one of our least glamourous of chores. I wash them out by hand in our bath tub, ring them out then hang them out on 2 lines which are simply dog tie outs on a nice and sunny day. By the end of the day I bring them in and what is remaining that did not dry I hang for the night around the house on hooks. Not glamourous at all but it gets the job done and does just as good a job as our local laundry matt without the $8 dollars a week or the gas to drive to the laundry matt.

Eventually as I salvage free supplies or acquire as cheaply as possible the needed items, I want hubby to build me, or I shall build if I can not get hubby motivated to build it........ a bicycle powered washing machine made out of a barrel.

Here are some links for you to explore on bicycle powered washing machines that are self reliant, especially if you use collected rain water , uses no electricity and can give you a great work out on washing day.

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000lSh

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/02/bicilavadora-the-bike-pow_n_170983.html

http://bikehacks.com/green-power-bike-washing-machines/

http://www.humboldt.edu/~ccat/pedalpower/washingmachine/pedalwasher2.pdf

Tuesday

2009-10-14T07:04:00.000-07:00

I can not believe how late I woke up Tuesday morning! I have not slept in that late forever but I finally rolled out of bed around 11am! However even with the late start we managed to get some things done. I started by making a almost lunch bacon and eggs for the fam, which ended up being really adorable when our son came in and asked if he could help, I set him to cracking the 13 eggs for scrambled eggs. After he cracked all the eggs ( which is all he wanted to do,) our daughter came and asked to help so she seasoned the eggs with salt and pepper then scrambled them for me. She poured the eggs in the fry pan, stirred them a couple times then she decided she was done. I just took the spatula from her when hubby came in and took over deciding I needed help, never knew it took 4 people to make scrambled eggs! I did the bacon and our eldest daughter sliced up the homemade bread and toasted it so everyone had their hand at making our meal. Hubby then bathed all 5 dogs while all of us girls took a trip to the library where we borrowed 5 movies, ( our eldest daughter has her own card so she borrowed 5 movies as well.) My daughter then picked out 5 books that I will be reading to her this week and I borrowed 5 as well. I borrowed a book called Chicken Tractors, 2 books that are specifically for gardening in the Carolinas, The book of Witches a spellbinding guide and a book called the Internet and kids yellow pages. When we came home it was sunny and warm so I took advantage of the warm and sunny kitchen window and made homemade bread, another 3 loaves. Then we made Mac and cheese for dinner served with fresh and hot homemade bread. Then hubby and I along with our daughter and our 11 year old dog went for our evening walk. Our son took his shower while I finished putting up clothes that had finished drying inside the house when we left for the weekend to hubby's sisters. Then we all settled down and watched Tremors, Tremors 2 and Tremors 3, we still have to watch the 4rth one but it was 11:30pm so time for bed for everyone! All in all it was a really nice day, in between things our son and daughter had played together which I always get a kick on listening too as they act out things they have recently learned or watched in a movie. There was a few other things I know I am already forgetting........but that just comes with my old age!

Family and Ocean Visits

2009-10-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

Sandcastles destroyed as the Ocean claims the kids hahaha

First time for any of us being at the Ocean on the East Coast of North Carolina........terrific!

Our eldest enjoying the fam

It was a mini renunion at hubbys sisters house as their mom came in from Greece to see us all........ this is Aunt S, a truly beautiful lady!

Hubbys sis here is Aunt L, another beautiful and funny lady!

The water was a little rough for me to venture in but hubby and kids had a wonderful time swimming in the salty waters, Me and my eldest daughter had fun gathering the sea shells the waves were bringing in.

Here is Hubbys brother, Uncle J, a lot of fun to be around! It was the first time me and the kids got to meet him as he came down from Michigan with their mom from Greece as she went to Michigan first. I am so glad we finally got to meet him!

Enjoying their Aunts pool when we were not at the Ocean!

Here is hubbys Mom visiting from Greece showing her grandaugher her cousins that live in Greece as Hubby has a sister who lives in Greece, hopefully we will get to meet all them next summer!

We went down, 3 1/2 hours away to the East Coast of North Carolina and spent one night and 2 days with Hubbys sis as family came in to visit, it was a housefull and a long time since they have all been together like that so it was loads of fun for everyone! Saturday we all went for a little bit to a beach on the Ocean and that was really wonderful! Well it was all wonderful but it is always fun to experience new things including getting to meet family members you never have had a chance to meet yet! It was a nice little reunion with lots of laughter, great food and wonderful people and great weather......what more could anyone ask for?

Unschooling philosophy links

2009-10-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

Here are some great links for unschooling

http://lifewithoutschool.typepad.com/lifewithoutschool/2007/09/what-is-unschoo.html

http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/unschooling/unschoolingphilosophy.html

http://runhomepam.blogspot.com/2009/03/homeschool-philosophy.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_Unschooling

These are just a few of many links that can help you understand the philosophy behind unschooling.

For us, our unschooling began almost a year ago now and while we still are making adjustments and adapting I must admitt that it is becoming more natural to us as each day passes. It is quickly becoming a way of life that enriches us each as individuals and as a whole, a family. Even our eldest daughter who before did not see the validity of this path, now sees the learning taking place that she did not see before, when she did not live with us but would just visit. Living with us now she has been able to witness much of the learning and even be part of it. Living and learning side by side has been an amazing journey and watching my children come into themselves living and learning in freedom is awesome. I have had some moments of doubts from time to time as I am quite sure that is natural for most but I have quickly gotten over them.

Campfire Cooking

2009-10-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

We have been really enjoying cooking over a fire pit outside. With our 2 acres a blank canvas, our fire pit was our easiest and first steps towards self suffiency, lowering electric bills and just plain enjoying a reason to be outside. Cooking outside over a fire pit is very relaxing and enjoyable. We live in a real rocky area so we spent a little time combing the woods for rocks to line our pit with, no need to dig a pit as we have natural holes around the yard so I chose a decent pit to line that is not too far but far enough away from the house. For now I just take a rack from the oven and place it across a cement block and a decent sized log placed over hot coals after much of the flame has died down.

This meal was a chicken dish each in individual foil packets which consisted of:

a chicken leg quarter

chopped onion

sliced potatos

sliced carrots

seasoning to taste

wrap in foil packets for individual servings, place over hot coals cooking for around an hour turning every 15 minutes.

Homemade White or Whole Wheat Bread

2009-10-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

If you bulk buy flour on sale and get yeast in bulk, this can be around a 50 cent a loaf savings from a typical cheap white bread that sells for 96 cents a loaf in your grocery store. Buying Flour and yeast packages at our local store I still saved around 6 cents a loaf and of course this tastes much better. These 3 loaves lasted a whole week where typically I would purchase at least 5 loaves of cheap bread a week as it is not near as filling as home made bread so I still saved around 3 or 4 dollars for the whole week, or around 12 bucks for the month by making bread once a week at home. It is also a very enjoyable activity for kids to participate in!

Whole Wheat Bread ( Makes 3 loaves)

2 pkg yeast

1 tsp. honey

1 c. warm water

1/4 c. butter or oil

1/3 c. honey or molasses

2 c. boiling water

1 c. non fat dry milk

2 eggs

8 3/4 whole wheat or white flour

Dissolve yeast and the 1 tsp honey in warm water and set aside for 10 minutes

In large bowl put butter or oil and honey or molasses and add the boiling water and stir. Let cool to luke warm. Add the yeast mixture, dry milk, eggs and 4 cups of the flour and mix. Keep adding flour until you have a soft workable dough, slightly sticky and turn out on a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, adding flour as needed, dough should not be too sticky, slightly sticky is maybe okay. Place dough in a greased or buttered bowl turning once to coat both sides and cover and let rise to double in warm spot ( about 1 hour.) Turn out on floured surface and punch down, knead for 2 minutes, cover with bowl and let rise 10 minutes then divide into 3 loaves. Place in greased bread pans, cover and let rise to double ( about 45 minutes)

Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes ( cover with aluminum foil last 10 minutes to prevent burning) cool on wire racks.

Back Online!

2009-10-02T07:41:00.001-07:00

Well we have online again YEAH! Here is where we are living now, it is bigger than it looks, perfectly comfortable with a large one acre yard and another acre of woods with a creek running through it. We have been having a lot of cook outs, roasting hot dogs, S'mores, marshmallows and yesterday cooking chicken with seasoning, potato's, carrots and onions wrapped in foil over the fire. I want to get it to the point I am cooking a lot of breakfast and dinners over a fire. We also were able to take the kids this past week to a really awesome historical site called the Town Creek Indian Mound and learned about the Pee Dee culture of mound building Indians the mysteriously disappeared long before European settlers. It was a very interesting Field Trip.

Of course also learning to live in the South where we had a bizarre infestation of ants that seemed to only be attracted to our eldest daughters clothes, thankfully that was nipped in the bud in a hurry, never had I had that many ants in the house before including one that seemed to slip unnoticed in my shorts and bit me in my um........... butt crack! Ouch, that really hurt, thankfully it was not the Fire Ants! We are adjusting to our new area and culture although I am not sure I will ever get used to words being used such as "You want to hear something stupider?" Yes they really use the word stupider here in the South! I can not believe how many spiders they have here! They are everywhere and I have learned to walk in the woods swinging a stick in front of me to knock down the spider webs so they are not in my face the whole time, while keeping a close eye on the ground so I do not step on a copper head or other rattler snake that we never had to worry about before. The deer however walk in our yard morning, afternoon and night a few feet away from our house which is nice, and oh how quiet it is now where we live. We shall be slowly implementing self sufficiency and homesteading life style to live in simplicity and frugality. Hubby has not found work yet but will be working 3 hours away for a few weeks with his sister who has her own business and will make some serious cash which will be nice. When he gets back, the search for work shall continue. I may be doing a complete revamping of this blog so you may want to go through and copy any thing you may want to keep as it will be taking a whole new direction in it's face lift.

Glad to be back with ya all!

At the library today

2009-09-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no pics as we do not have internet yet however I am at the library so I can at least update some! We have moved and been in North Carolina now for a couple weeks and just loving it so far! On moving day we drove for 28 hours straight through with only one nap stop for an hours sleep. Coming through west virginia and virginia was just breathtaking and the family just loved it. We have been to see hubby's sister who lives on the coast 3 1/2 hours away here in North Carolina where the kiddos had fun trying to catch the lizards all over her porch. Hubby took the first week off but is now looking for work, no luck yet but no worries, he should be able to find something soon. We have been to 2 area libraries, both are wonderful compared to our UP of Michigan one we were use to. We started homeschooling September 9th and have been having fun with that. In math we are working on a Math project where the kids are finding out how many calories they are eating each day for a week then they will find their daily average calorie intake. We went on a field trip for social studies to Reed Gold Mine where the first Gold Rush occured in the states, 50 years prior to the california gold rush. We took out a field guide for reptiles to find the snakes, lizards and turtles that live in our area and the kids are studying astronomy and the constellations for science as well as finding out the local plants and animals. They have been working out on the neighbors trampoline and 4-wheelers for fun and fitness and we have also been playing baseball and frisbee in our yard. They have been working on Reading and Spelling will start this week. My daughter has also been doing some nature crafts, gathering items on our nightly nature walks and coming back to make things out of her collected items. I know there is more but I can not think of everything right now. I have been taking lots of photos so when I do get back online at home I can share them with you!

Last Post for a Spell.........

2009-08-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

Moving day is almost here , with only a few days left, I probably will not find any online time. Once we get there we will not have online for awhile while hubby is looking for work. So Until we find work and get settled into our new home and get online services this will have to be my last post. I do however promise to return as soon as possable to you though to share pictures and what is happening in our new school year and new place. I will miss all of you who take the time to read my blog and leave your messages. Hopefully I will not be gone too long and you will hardly notice I was ever gone at all! Have a great new school year everyone!

Dad

2009-08-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

Dad you have always been there,
my hero through life,
now let me be there through
your time of strife.

It may be only by phone
or a letter sent your way,
or a special online card to
make your day.

But my thoughts are always with you
as I offer you my prayer
as you start your fight now
to beat your Cancer.

You have before you your greatest
challenge ever to face,
your positive attitude being as
good as any prayer or grace.

I hope you know how much
I love you
and really wish I could be
there with you

You are a major impact
that influences how I live
and I really wish for you
I had so much more to give

But for now these words
are all I have to offer you
but know my arms are invisably
wrapped around you

I love you Dad and wish
I was not so far away
you are and will always be
the hero within my day.

Getting closer to moving day

2009-08-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

Well what can I say other than I have been BUSY BUSY BUSY! Moving day is approaching quickly and the closer it gets, the more knots I have in my stomach! We can not afford a moving truck that can haul our car, can not afford even the moving truck itself so we are getting a hitch put on our car in the morning and will be renting a 5 x 8 uhaul cargo trailor. With that being said......well we will not be taking a whole lot with us! I am already looking at the things I have packed thinking I may have to give up yet even more to get it all to fit into that small space. Now on top of that I have thrown out around 30 bags of garbage in the last 2 weeks and sent a new homeschool mom of 6 children away with her van stuffed FULL of homeschool books, games and supplies! Still so much more downsizing to go in the next several days we have left! Our car will be full with 5 people, 5 dogs and a ferret! With a car so full of living things that leaves us really nowhere to stop for a quick nap anywhere so we will be driving the 20 hours straight through, wow I REALLY look forward to THAT! I really will not miss much from the UP though however I will miss Lake Superior on a very HOT day, the Northern Lights dancing in the night skies and the Fall colors........that is all I shall miss! Other than those 3 things I will not miss a thing from the UP, I surely will not miss 8 months of winter and 30 feet of snow with negative 30 temps! We are so looking forward to our move to North Carolina that is just FULL of things to do and see, we can barely wait! I may not blog for awhile when we get there as for now online service and cable will be put on hold until hubby finds work and we can get on our feet again and hopefully be able to get some furniture soon! So if I do not blog for a spell you will know why!

Fort Wilkins

2009-08-18T05:36:00.000-07:00

Fort Wilkins is located in Copper Harbor of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They hold living history reinactments their and although we missed a big event of everyone in dress and shows by one day we had a great time there while our family was visiting. Fort Wilkins is a fun place to go for the whole family and we could not of asked for a nicer day to go with a mild breeze and 70 degree weather. I am glad we got to go here one last time before we leave for North Carolina which is coming up fast! My mom got to enjoy the use of a wheel chair we got from the gift shop so the walking would not wear her out and the kids and their uncle got to burn off some energy! Afterwards we all went the a place called "The Hut" to eat with it's low ceilings, made out of copper mining materials and great food.

Visit from Uncle and Grandma!

2009-08-15T05:53:00.000-07:00

When you eat, you draw a crowd.........faithful followers who wait patiently for something to fall .......... (My brother from Florida)

Grandma, looking good grandma! ( this is my mom)

Can a Floridian stand our icy lake superior?What a brave soul! ( It was NOT warm enough to be there that day!) ( I would not even stand in the water that day!)

It was only in the 60's and the wind made it a very chilly day at the edge of the beach. Kids loved it though, they go in no matter how cold it is.

Running along the beach........

Should of worn a hat! That glare from the sun sure lobsterized his poor head that day!

LuLu tuckered out in a corner, we lifted up the green pillow in the corner to find her wedged into the couch with only her head peeping out. Glad we did not sit on her!

My brother was enjoying his 3 week vacation getting a chance to visit our mom and dad down state michigan, flew out to New Hamshire to see our eldest brother and even got a chance to come up here bringing our mom for a 3 night, 2 day visit. It was a lot of fun and we all had a great time. My brother is always such a fun uncle and makes sure he keeps everyone active, I think my daughter may of worn him out though, he found out quickly what an energetic child she can be! Of course he never said no to her so she kept him hopping as well!