Our Homesteading Quest

Another New Pet?!?

NOT! I can't even freakin believe it! Can you?

I'm sure you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about. Right? Well dear readers, let's play a little guessing game. Shall we?

Can you tell me what's in this picture?

 

Still can't figure it out? Here's another hint.  Guess what's in this picture. Note: The two pictures are related.

 

Just in case you're a little slow, or haven't been following my blog very long, that creature pictured in the first photo was our Stinging Rose caterpillar. It's had a metamorphosis and we now have a Stinging Rose moth! Yay me! Just when I thought it was probably dead. Of course, keeping it in the house has caused it to come out of it's cocoon a couple of months early when there isn't a lot of greenery to feed it. What am I supposed to do with it now?! I'm seriously thinking that I should go ahead and ship it to New York now.

If you want to get up to speed on our comical little story of how we ended up with this creature check out these previous posts. Post One: How this all happened. Post Two: The first time I thought I killed it. Post Three: The cocoon and my first realization that this little sucker might be around for a while.

Now. This is the last time I'm going to offer. Does anyone want a really cool science experiment? Anyone?

A Funny but True Video Skit

I saw this video posted on Homesteading Today and had to share it. It's really cute and had me and Stacey cracking up.

The Fourteen Days of Homeschool Lyrics (summarized):                                                                                           

On the first day of home school my neighbor said to me, "Can you home school legally?"
Are they socialized?
Do you give them tests?
What about P.E.?
YOU ARE SO STRANGE!
How long will you home school?
Look at what they're missing
Why do you do this?
They'll miss the prom
What about graduation?
I could never do that
Can they go to college?

Our family is just a little bit strange, but most of you either already know this, or are strange as well. If we are strange then I don't want to be normal! Enjoy the video.

Off The Wall

I had meant to post these pics back in August when they were taken, but it seems like today was as good a time as any. I hope these pictures make you laugh today. Even if nothing else on this election day does.

On with the story. My kids found this HUGE Walking Stick. See picture below.

 

Little Mark, being the little dare-devil that he is, decided to EAT it.

 

Stacey, being the older big sister, couldn't let him out do her so she found a Leaf bug. Just to prove she could, she ate it!

 

I realize that any of you that actually know my children know that they wouldn't touch these bugs, except for Princess Maddy go figure, much less eat them. No, this is what happens when you home school your children. You actually have time to stop and smell the roses or in this case stop and check out the really cool bugs. Then stick them on the window and pretend to touch or eat them while mom takes pictures. I feel so honored to be able to experience these everday things daily with my children! 

 

 

 

Of course, I could have printed out a whole bunch of worksheets for them to do on these particular bugs. I probably could have made it into a one week or even month long study incorporating science-of bugs, english-spelling bugs, math-counting bugs, history-of bugs, etc. However, for this time, we just enjoyed the moment.

What Have I Gotten Myself Into This Time?

For those of you who've been following the story of our Stinging Rose Caterpillar, I decided that I better hurry up and take a picture of our little friend (I use this term loosely cause the little sucker inflicted quite a bit of pain to my hand and had I not unknowingly flung him into my blueberry bucket where he proceeded to hitch a ride all the way home with me we would never even have had any of these meaningless conversations) before he decided to leave his cocoon.  You see, I actually meant to take a picture of him before he went into his cocoon because he had grown so large and even more interesting looking, in a very creepy sort of way.  The day I got my camera out and went to pull him out of his jar it was already too late. This is what I saw...

Well, wouldn't ya know?... I decided to do a little research before this post because it had been a little while since I had looked up our little friend. Guess what? I overlooked one important, tiny, little detail.

It seems that our little friend....  "winters as a pupa inside a cocoon and emerges the following spring and summer"!

How could I have missed this!?! Now what am I supposed to do? Hang a Christmas stocking for it?

He's Back!

Do you remember my post on the Stinging Rose Caterpillar? Go back and read it if you haven't, or if you don't remember. Go ahead, I'll wait....

He's NOT dead!  Yes, you heard that right. A couple of days after the original post, we got the container down. We were going to pry him off the wall of the container, throw him out, and then clean out the container. Guess what? He MOVED! So...what does a home schooling mom of five do? Naturally, get a jar. We put some fresh leaves in there and we are hopefully going to get to see the life cycle of the moth/Caterpillar. How cool is that?!

Of course, if and when he makes it to a moth, I don't think I'll be setting him free in my neighborhood. Maybe I should ship him to New York. After all, they are worried about the little guy. Right?

I'll be sure to keep you updated.

Grand Opening

Before the kids left for the fair last Sunday, we had the grand opening of our Chore Store.  Wow! The kids were so excited. We had free samples (gummies) which we offered to those waiting in line. Our limited time specials (for the whole month of September) are: Fishing trip $5.00, trip to the science center $10.00, shopping trip for one outfit (and trust me, I've taught my kids well...or passed on my "cheap" gene...whatever) or equivalent $20.00. Everything else in the Chore Store, and ONLY for the grand opening was only $1.00! They had to come in the store one at a time to pick only one item each turn while the others got to enjoy the free samples. I think I enjoyed it just as much as the kids. Shhh!

Burning question, I know. So, has it lasted? Absolutely! The kids get up, make their beds, brush their teeth, and run to the fridge to see their chore chart. Even the three year old is vacuuming, wiping counters, feeding the animals, etc. In fact, the other night Maddy got to pick what we had for dinner and help cook it. Who ever helps cook also has to help with the dishes. Maddy was at the sink washing dishes and I heard Miles (the three year old) ask if he could help her!

How cool is that! I'm going to have to continue to keep the Chore Store well stocked, but it's so worth it.

They're Finally Motivated

I read this post the other day on thepioneerwoman.com about Choreganizers. A visual way to organize household chores.  Being a home schooling mom of five (read as collector of books and curriculum) I thought...hey wait! I have this too! I picked it up (brand new) at a used curriculum sale a couple of years ago.

I immediately went to my mini library (ok so it's not really mini) and retrieved it. If it worked for Pioneer Woman then it must work for me as well! Right?

Well, it has! I LOVE it! The kids are waking up and first thing running to the fridge to see their new daily chores. How cool is that! From making the beds, brushing their teeth, picking up toys, to school work, it's all getting done!  Even Miles is cheerfully helping with laundry, sweeping, and wiping the table! If you can believe that one? The Chore Store will open tomorrow and they are eagerly waiting to spend their Mom Money. Dad hasn't had the opportunity to give out any Dad Dollars yet.

I don't know how long, or even if, it will last. For now, I'm thoroughly enjoying it! Thanks Ree (Pioneer Woman). I don't know why I hadn't tried it before. Duh.

Stinging Rose Caterpillar

It figures. If there's some kind of weird, rare, exotic, or practically extinct creature that could sting or be poisonous, of course I'll be the one to find it. The hard way.

The last time we were out picking blueberries I was picking away minding my own business, or so I thought. All of the sudden, I had this intense burning stinging sensation in the palm of my hand. Naturally, I looked down into my palm.  What I saw was one of the freakiest things I'd ever seen in my life. At least that I'd seen, or cared to have seen, that close-up and personal.

I started shaking my hand trying to fling it off, but the burning and stinging just got more intense. So I shook my hand violently and finally it disappeared. To where I did not care because my hand was on FIRE or so it felt. However, I poured some water on it and quickly regained my composure because the sun would be setting soon and there was still work to be done. After all, those blueberries were not going to pick themselves. Of course, being a mommy of five crazy thoughts started running through my head as I was finishing up my bucket of berries. What if it was poisonous? What if I'm allergic? What if I start hallucinating? What if I'm already hallucinating? Get a grip on yourself! It wasn't even half an inch long! Whew, flashbacks, but I'm ok now.

Anyhow, when I got home we started going through the blueberries and wouldn't you know HE WAS IN MY BUCKET! Yes, that's right. When I shook my hand he flung straight down into my blueberry bucket and hitched a ride home with me! I was NOT happy I tell you! Although, it did give me a chance to prove I wasn't crazy. I mean a tiny blue caterpillar with sharp orange spikes that could set your hand on fire? Yeah right! They listened...but did they really believe?

Ha! Well here ya go! Meet my friend, the Stinging Rose Caterpillar! He was purplish blue and his spikes were UT orange before he...well...umm..I just found out that in some areas, such as New York State, it is considered a species of conservation concern. Well, don't you know that figures too! Leave it to me to... well...never mind, I'm pleading the fifth.

By the way, he is so tiny that those silverish looking spikes that you see on the orangish looking spikes aren't even visible! The only reason why you can see them here is because of the zoom on my camera. Creepy huh?  

For more information check out the sites listed below: http://bugguide.net/node/view/426 

http://entomology.uark.edu/museum/stinrose.html

Is It Time For School Already

I can't believe it's that time of year again. Summer has just seemed to fly by. I'm getting ready to start our official home school year again. Although, here, with my kids, everyday presents MANY new learning opportunities for them and me. Some are good, some not so, but I savor every moment of it. Before long they will be grown and gone and I will wonder where the time went. Some days I already do.

I know some of you are wondering how Lil' Mark's EPGY classes are going. He's doing really well. Of course, starting in the summer when there's so much to be done and so much fun to be had probably wasn't the best of decisions, lol. Needless to say, he isn't doing the classes as often as he probably should but it is summer, right? In another couple of weeks things will slow down and we will start school back full time and I anticipate for him to continue to fly through the grade levels. But if he doesn't, because he's just six, that will be ok with me too.

On the EPGY reading, they keep telling him that he needs to choose higher level books for his reading comprehension. Some of those listed for him to choose from include To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, and Double Helix, by Nancy Werlin. Regardless of how good these books may be, NO my six year old will NOT be reading these books thankyouverymuch! I just keep letting him choose some of the other "easy" books to read and he is enjoying it. Before EPGY he absolutely refused to read anything that wasn't fact, science, or at least a fictional mystery type that was based on fact like the Magic Tree House Series or the A to Z Mysteries Series. Now he is enjoying more books then he ever would have before.

I took a couple of pictures of screen shots of some of the math he was doing the other day so you could see a little of how it works. The EPGY math is really neat. Rather then presenting one subject, mastering, and then presenting the next, they incorporate all terms from the beginning as it's all related. It's not all addition, then subtraction, then multiplication, division, and geometry as individual concepts. They're all interrelated and interchangeable (probably not the best choice of words but hey I'm not in the EPGY program now am I). What I'm trying to say is that he is learning the concepts together. Geometry, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction is all taught in the same lesson. I think it's really neat. I'll try to take some more pictures tomorrow.

I started him out on the lower level because I didn't want him to get frustrated with too many new concepts all at once. If he has to think on something very long he has a tendency to think "it's too hard" and not want to even try (yes, I'm working on that with him...very funny story by the way. Maybe I'll share it later, lol). Anyhow, I now know that he would have done just fine in a higher level, but this is the second grade level and I sure don't remember doing this when I was in second grade. Of course, I could be wrong.