Burns Best Farm

Opening Line in the Mind of a 7yo Boy

For today's creative writing exercise, my second grader opened with this sentence:

"Last night, the Mona Lisa got pinched from the Louvre."

I can't wait to read the following paragraphs.......

DeniseB

A Mother's Excitement

I know this is not an "official" homeschool blog, but since I don't have another blog on which to post this major milestone event in the lives of our little family, you get to read about it here.

My second grade son stayed up past eleven last night, reading "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (the Treasury of Illustrated Classics version).  He started it and finished it last night in bed.  He retold the story to me this morning.  He loved it. Loved it.

I know I should be all worked up about him staying up too late and reading by too little light and he should go to sleep when I put him to bed.  There's a time and a place to read, and last night's effort isn't either.

You know what?  I'm thrilled.  I am so excited that he loves to read that I let him sleep two hours late this morning to make up for what he missed.  And I can do that because I'm the teacher and we're flexible.  Plus, the Prinicpal saw what was going on last night and he said it was OK.

So if my mother is reading this, I'll pose a question:  do you remember confiscating the flashlight from under my covers when I was trying to read at night?  I do.  And the circle is broken with this generation.  I'm not taking the flashlight. 

Sunday Night Tradition

Breakfast for supper.  Pork sausage patties, homemade pancakes (some blueberry, some banana), real maple syrup, eggs, and cold milk.

I love making it and the man/boys love eating it.  On a cold fall evening, it really hits the spot.

Other than this little peek into our dining habits, there wasn't much else to report for the weekend.  Mike and I did attend a John Rosemond seminar Friday and Saturday, which was great!  I have read a few of his syndicated newspaper articles but had never even read one of his books.  He is so full of wisdom that we could just listen to him for hours.  Funny, too!

Art class on Tuesday, then driving up to farmland for Thanksgiving.  I'll probably have more to say later in the week after we get on the land and get our boots dirty.

Gardening @ Church

I love reading about the churches our blog community attends.  If you haven't been visiting my blog for long, you might not know that my family lives a double life:  we live in the suburbs during the week where my husband actually drives down into the urban jungle for his work.  But we farm on the weekends.  Sometimes it's only on Saturdays. 

We have churches in both places.  In the suburbs, our church is a big megachurch.  We have a large group of home school families and the moms have a wonderful support group that meets monthly.  The church also allows us to use classroon facilities for home school classes one day of the week where we can enroll our kids in classes that we might not be able to teach as effectively at home.  My kids take Spanish and chess, both of which I am clueless to teach, and they take PE in a gym with lots of other kids, not necessarily their own age.  Boys like to run and jump with other boys. That is an undeniable truth of life.  The whole program is a great outreach to our community and the classes and parents each do one hour of service to the Body of Christ per semester.

Our big church has granted our home school school the privilege of offering a gardening class and I am going to teach the class!  This is the first time I've taught within the school program and I'm excited and a bit nervous to get it going.  The kids will be starting seeds and I hope we'll have the equipment and the space to be able to at least get some peas and lettuces and spinach ripened before we break for summer.  Everything we grow will be donated to a local homeless kitchen (after the kids get to taste the fruits of their labor!)

So this is a new blogging topic for me.  The rest of this year will be focused on putting the class curriculum together and then we'll start in January with class. I'll have a lot more to say then.. Registration opens tomorrow.

Pretzel Recipe Bleg

You know, when you beg on a blog, it's called blegging. I'd do it more often but  it might make me look needy.

Anyway, I need a really good proven recipe for Homemade Yeast Pretzels.  Very flavorful, but something that won't take three days and a starter that grandma gave you in college.  I have a very impatient five year old boy who is looking to make homemade pretzels and so far, the recipes I've come across have not been winners with him.  He is a pretzel afficionado and he's actually telling people that when he grows up, he wants to be a daddy and a baker, if he can find a good pretzel recipe. 

So there's no pressure out there on any of you to HELP ME find a good recipe for my sweet little kindergartener.......NO PRESSURE!

Seriously, when you send it (please please send it), make a point of telling me if you use white flour, white unbleached flour, bread flour or whole wheat.  I am not picky; I just want to make it like you make it if you think it's good enough to pass along.  And perhaps set in play my son's future career......but again, no pressure. 

Thanks! Ya'll are the best.

Psst! Want to enter a contest?

Then surf over here to Amy Scott's Humble Musings blog and leave a comment for a chance to win "Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe" by Todd Wilson.

After you leave your comment, click around Amy's site for some very entertaining reading and helpful tips on making homesteading a condition of your heart, no matter how rural or urban your location.

Blog Silence Interrupted

Clearing away the static of dead air,  I just wanted say hello and dampen down the rumors of my untimely demise.  You all know I don't have another blog that I post to, so I don't put my homeschool thoughts in one place and my homestead experiences here, and my oh-so-active social life in yet another.  But I'm telling you, these last two weeks have just flown by with each day busier than the one before.  I apologize to all of you who have stopped by here and been disappointed or irritated with the lack of new material.  I will try harder!

All that to say, schooling two boys and managing a toddler (who is sick this week, I might add) is taking it's toll on my free time.  If I thought farming this summer was difficult, schooling is a bit more time-taking.  Which is the point, I know.  But it still eats into my computer time.

So with all the excuse making and finger-pointing out of the way, I can say that we haven't been farming much lately and I'm hosting a farm field trip for my homeschool group next week.  Which will probably keep me busy for another 8 days, and then my hostessing responisibilities are over for another year!  Nothing like shedding responsibility to make me happy!

Ya'll have a good day and I'll be back later to update the details.

Life Lesson #18

If you expect a kindergarten boy to sit down to do his handwriting without complaining (too much), you'd better follow the session immediately with an M&M break.

As an addendum to this life lesson, the second grader will always finish his math 8 seconds before the kitchen timer goes off indicating that he is now "overtime" and will have to do another page.

Such is the bribery and motivation here on our first day of school.  I work for M&M's, too. The currency in our family just happens to be sweet and multi-colored. 

Principal/Teacher Conference

I had one last night.  At Dairy Queen.  We discussed the supplies, books, and other needs our students would be requiring, and when I informed him that everything was in place, the Principal set our start date for Monday, August 14.

As in, this coming Monday. 

Just because I have books doesn't mean I have a PLAN!

So, in addition to picking tomatoes and peppers this weekend, I will at least be planning out the month of August. 

Man, that principal is tough.  At least he paid for the ice cream, though. And wiped up his students mouths and hands afterwards.  He's very thoughtful......I like him! Which is good since I'm married to him.........

Where has the summer gone?

I have just finished placing the motherlode of all curriculum orders for school this fall.  We have two students here at the farm this year, so the books are many and the plans are doubling for the teacher.  I was prompted to place my order today after talking/emailing with several friends, both homeschool moms and other-school moms and hearing everyone talk about "one last week away before school starts".  And then it hit me:  next week is the first week of August!

WOW!  This summer is really our first summer to harvest anything of quantity at the farm.  We've had blueberries for a couple of years but the bushes have been so small, we could pick through them in no time.  And we haven't stayed up there for days on end like the boys and I did this summer.  I've been picking all summer, one crop after another, and all of a sudden, I look up and it's back-to-school time!

I am glad we home-educate.  I am thankful that it's possible and that my husband and (most of) my extended family sees it as worthwhile. 

Meanwhile, back in the tomato kitchen, Daddy will be making some salsa tonight.  I'll let you know how it goes! 

Small Engine Repair

Our lawn mower needs some tuning up, so Mike asked me to take it to the repair shop here in the suburbs.  The boys went with me and were a little fascinated by the shop:  dark and cool, with engines and mowers and chippers sitting around everywhere.  I could visualize my grandaddy behind the counter with grease on his hands (and his shirt, and his pants, and his handkerchief, etc.) Just the sort of place little boys would love, right?

So I tell them, after we're buckled back in the van, that I wanted them both to learn how to repair small engines when they get a little older, maybe work for someone as young teenagers who can teach them their way around a motor.

The Medium Son, whose Protestant work ethic needs a lot of work anyway, responded to me that he planned to go to work at an office because he thought it would be a lot easier than repairing engines. 

Not more fun, mind you.  Just easier.  And isn't that what's important, really? 

Big sigh.  On a much happier note, the same son did come home and work really hard on four pages of Phonics Pathways this afternoon, and he did really well remembering his short vowel sounds.  Still having a little mix-up with the short "e" but the other four are solid and he's showing a lot of improvement. 

So he'll be able to read when he takes that office job!  Assuming I can finish MY job this next year.....

Mmmmm....strawberries

That's right, we took a field trip to the strawberry patch today.  As I type with red-stained fingers and wipe my sleeve across my chin to catch the juice, I am sorry you all can't smell the inside of my car and then see for yourselves the bounty that two boys and one mamma can pick in two short and breezy hours.

I stopped buying strawberries in the grocery stores over a month ago. The berries in February were pretty tasty, but by mid-March, even the baby wouldn't eat them, and he can eat his weight in berries (blue or straw....he's not picky).  I tasted one after he pushed it away and I haven't bought more.  Until today.

I don't know what kind of variety they plant out at Washington Farms in Loganville, GA but this year the berries are on the smaller side but very juicy and extemely sweet and tasty. My picker helpers today did a great job of staying focused on picking, but once we paid for what we'd picked, I quickly had to strap them into car seat retraints so they couldn't continue to reach into the buckets. Otherwise, we'd have nothing to show Daddio for our efforts (and our money!)

If you haven't gone picking with your favorite small children, I would suggest you do so straighaway.  Sure fire cure for spring fever.  And don't you need a refill on jam?  I know I do.

Contest for Science Equipment

One of the homeschool blogs I read most every day is having a contest that I thought some of you might be interested in entering.

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Spunky is giving away a Benz Microscope and Apologia Biology Set this week.  Click Here to get the details.

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This is sweet science equipment and even if I don't win, knowing that some of you will head on over to read Spunky and her wise approach to raising kids and educating them at home will be a small comfort to me! 

Have a great day!

Character Education

The only school we did today before noon was Character Education.  It's a long story and I won't go into details.....I read somewhere that if you put it on the Web, it will forever be there, waiting for someone to find, read and remember. If God can remove my sin as far as East is from West, I certainly can decline the temptation to air my child's sins to all of cyberspace for eternal reminders. 

But I am thankful that we got to spend that hour or so this morning talking about what makes God sad and how to make it right when we make Him sad. 

Just reason #365 I am thankful we can homeschool.

T minus three school days and counting until we observe Spring Break.  And no one is more excited than the teacher......who next week becomes the Head Gardener.  Beans, anyone?