Feeling Sick? Go On a Field Trip! (What To Do When You're Sick And You Need to Homeschool)

For the second time this winter, I was sick and in desperate need of educating my children.

In the homeschooling world, there is no such thing as "substitutes teachers."  I was going on day ten of a bad case of pneumonia and my children had been running amuck for way too long.  

I had laid in bed for two days listening to my children watch "Jimmy Neutron" and "Scooby Doo," thinking of all the lessons I had been building on, the plans I had and the co-op we had to skip.  Needless to say, it was killing me!

So once I was on the antibiotics and starting to feel better, I decided to take a field trip.  I know. Most moms would say that was crazy talk. But for me, taking my kids out of the house,  placing all of us in a new environment and allowing someone else to teach them was just the plan!

We had been told about this very cool armory museum about an hour away, and I knew it was right up their alley. So, we piled into the car (with plenty of tissues for me and snacks for the boys) and made the trek.  

The Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, Mass is truly a jewel in the rough.  Right off the highway, behind a small mall, the Museum towers over all the industrial buildings. The founder of the museum, John Woodman Higgins, turned his personal armor collection into a destination for people to learn about medieval history. In 1929, he built the five story building to house his collection. 

It is an amazing building full of wood and iron work and art deco style.

  As we chose to go on a Homeschooling Wednesday, the Museum was busy with kids enjoying the displays, creating their own shields and playing with a huge chess set. Needless to say, the boys absolutely loved it.

So what do you do when you're sick?

Here are some ideas

1. Educational videos.  Pull up some videos on topics your children have been learning about.  You can also go to websites like www.watchknowlearn.org and www.neo12.com. These are both websites your children can move around in with no fear of them stumbling on things that are inappropriate like you might on www.youtube.com.
2. Do an art project.  Get a really big piece of paper and all your markers and crayons, and ask them to draw on a topic that your have been studying.
3. Pull some toys out from the attic that your kids haven't played with in a while.  I especially like to pull out old building toys.
4. Board games! Scrabble, Monopoly, Sorry, Make 7, even Bingo.  
5. Call a friend.  One of the days I was sick, my homeschooling friend grabbed my six year old and taught him along with her daughter.  He got to learn all the Presidents of the United States that day.

- Jenny

And So It Begins...Garden 2013

Hello fellow gardeners!

If you are like me, you have been thinking about your gardens for about three months already.  In the depths of the winter, when all is white outside, and you are beginning to crave green....the garden planning begins!

Mostly in our minds. 

But that's alright.  That is where all dreams begin.  And of course, gardeners must be the biggest dreamers of all!  Year after year, what begins with seeds turns into a beautiful garden to look at (flowers) or to eat (food), but a true accomplishment on you part at the cultivator.

Undoubtedly, the garden is also a yearly spiritual experience as well.

What begins as untamed, weedy, dry and grassy ground, can be molded into a healthy, green and growing bio-environment. 

Like an uncultivated garden, our hearts can begin weedy and lacking in nutrients, but with daily, persistent and deliberate communion with God we can keep our hearts growing, becoming all it they were meant to be.

Go away on vacation, and come home to weeds attempting to take over your tomato bed.
Hide away from God for a week, and watch your heart grow full of invasive weeds. (Like my invasive Jerusalem Artichokes, see below)

It can show up in a few different ways depending on the person. You may be the type to become jealous, or have angry thoughts, to grow inpatient with your children or to  fall into laziness or selfishness.

But, if you maintain your heart and work at it diligently, it can develop into healthy fertile soil, protected from the worries of our lives.  A place which is potentially a home for future growth, as I hope the below strip in my garden will be for Butternut and Summer squash. 

It's never too late to weed.  Start today!


Matthew 13:18 -23
¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ²² The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Happy New Year, Be Gracious To Yourself

Happy 2013!
Are you like me?  Do you face the new year with some trepidation?  Maybe it's just me, but I hesitate to make goals and resolutions because, well, I am afraid I will disappoint myself.  I know. I need therapy.  But seriously, I want this year to be GOOD and when I put artificial carrots out there, and I fail to achieve them, well, it can be disappointing.

That's when I recognize that I probably need to go to God about it. Let's dive right in.

2 Corinthians 12: 7-
"...Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger^[a] of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself. ⁸ Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me. ⁹ But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power^[b] is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. ¹⁰ So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

God wants me to be my best.  But, does he look down on you and I with a disapproving eye when we fail?  No. Of course not. God knows we will fail!  It's us that think we won't!  (LOL!)  He looks down on us, and quietly reminds us: "Child, I still love you. Don't quit."

I need that desperately.  As a Type A personality, I am hard on myself and I am hard on others as a result. If you are like me, you know who you are. Raise the bar, achieve, fail, feel bad...your confidence and self esteem is too closely entwined with productivity/achievement/success.   

But, gratefully, we have a God who isn't like that.  If he was, he would have given up on us a long time ago.

The same reminder applies to homeschooling. 

There was a three week stint where I had to work a long week, I got sick, then the kids got sick, then Christmas break came. Ask me how much 'actual' school we had during that week and I couldn't tell you. It wasn't much.  And I didn't like it.  I felt it. It gnawed at me.

But I kept reminding myself: Grace.  

Ephesians 2:8-9

⁸ For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— ⁹ not from works, so that no one can boast. 

Grace through faith. Not grace achieved. Not grace earned. It's a GIFT. 

What do you say when you get a gift?  "Thank you," not, "I don't deserve this" or "I can't take this." 

So, I am going to go ahead and set some new goals...I like to give myself direction. But, if in 2 months, I haven't done it all, be sure to remind me, as I remind you, be gracious to yourself.  God is.

Fine Art for our Kids!

This past week I was sick.  Mommy never plans on being sick, but there I was.  Yuck. I spent an entire day in bed.  I had to call my husband at work and ask him to come home - which I hate to do.  What do you do when you are sick?  I mean really sick. 

The next day I felt a little better, and was having homeschooling mom guilt. I should do something with them today.  

So I got them in the car and we motored up to Springfield, Mass. to visit the quadrangle of museums they have.  I provide the link below.

First we stopped at the Science Museum.  It was so fun.  We walked from floor to floor and saw everything from Native Americans, to the solar system, to how the earth's plates move (which we happen to have been studying) and then....

....the HUGE gingerbread house display.  It was so amazing.  We got to vote for our favorites (Hogwarts).

Earthquakes...

Then we had lunch in the gift shop.  It was really special.

In the garden right outside is a major display of brass Dr. Suess figures from all his best works.



... Even Dr. Suess himself.  





Blowing off some energy...





"You're a mean one....Mr. Grinch...."





Then I quickly rushed the kids into one of the fine art museums, thinking this was going to be exceedingly boring for them, but something mommy had been looking forward to.  Amazingly, they LOVED IT.  My older son became silent as he looked at the work of Monet, Renoir and other  great artists.


 
 There was a wall of pop-art too and each of my sons saw something different in it; a hotwheels race track and a city.



It turned out to be a highly educational day.  When I came home and collapsed on the couch, I felt like we had really accomplished something despite the fact that I needed a nap. 

Here is the link!  You and your kids should really go!
www.springfieldmuseums.org

Here is a link with fine art coloring pages....
http://www.coloring.ws/artwork.htm

- Jenny

Being Called...Again and Again and Again

When you clicked on this blog, you might have been thinking, "What? Is this about phone marketing?"

While this entry is not about receiving endless political or retail phone calls, this article is about receiving a calling of another type: a spiritual calling. 

I was afraid to start homeschooling.  I had been praying about it, thinking about it, talking to people about it since my son was 2 (he is 8 now), and I had not been able to make a final decision.  I was totally afraid.

Would homeschooling ruin my life?  Would it ruin my kids lives?  Could I teach them? Would they listen? Would I go plum stark raving crazy?

As my son got older the feeling inside I had to home school him didn't go away. I desired to center his life around our home, around his family and to educate him daily while exposing him to our values as relayed through the Bible.  And...he was getting older.  I was afraid that before I knew what was happening, he would have flown the coop and I would have forever regrets.

So, in the summer of 2012, I finally put pencil to paper and started planning.  And I quickly became overwhelmed at the thought of being responsible for my children's education.  The pressure mounted and I caved.

I even decided, no, I would not do it.  When I told him, he was sad.  "You can do it mommy!" he said.

Ugh. Okay, back to square one.

So, then it hit me.  I am not doing it alone.

God would be with me.

On my weak days, He would be with me.

On my tired days, He would be with me.

On my disorganized days, He would be with me.

He would be with me.

And I said, "yes."

The week I went in to remove my kids from the public schools, I had some serious heart palpitations, but, I promised myself, that if it all became a royal mess, I allow myself the grace to say, "I tried, and it just didn't work."

So, fast forward to three months into the school year and I am happy to report that I am sincerely happy. The boys are happy too.  We have discussed the Revolutionary War, rocks and gemstones, volcanoes,  done endless crafts, mathematics and even some geography.  Andrew even won second place in an essay writing contest put on by the local historical society!

And me?  I am alright.

Tired?      Yes.
Super busy?      Yes, yes.
Pleased and content?     Thank God, YES.

I am so grateful to God for the faith he allowed me to grasp on to in order to make this decision and furthermore, I am grateful for the Grace he has me clinging to in order to make it every day.

Jeremiah 29:1,1 Message
"I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me.  Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree.  I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”—God’s Decree—“bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it."

Here we go...planning for homeschooling

I can't believe it's August already and whether or not you are sending your kids back to school or keeping them home, you know what August means....school shopping!  In our case this year, things are a little different.  I don't 'need to' go out and get my two boys new backpacks and lunchboxes like I do every year.  Because we are beginning to homeschool, I feel perfectly fine recycling last year's supplies.  I will however be stocking on on other needed school supplies like paper, pencils and big pink erasers.  

No doubt every family's approach to going back to school is different.  Similar to every family's homeschooling approach being unique and special, I have been learning that as much research as I do (online, in books, talking to others) I will ultimately have to come up with a schedule and plan that works best for me and my boys, and, as my homeschooling friend Juliana says, "And is fun for you too!"

 As many of you know, as I homeschool, I will continue to work as a freelance writer.  I had an article the other day and I had to take the boys with me.  It was at a one room school house in South Windsor CT called the Pleasant Valley Schoolhouse and Museum.  I thought for sure they would be bored out of their minds, but it turns out they were totally into it.  And I have to tell you, it's times like those that I say: "We going to be able to do this!  We're going to be able to homeschool!"  Not only were my fears allayed that sometimes I can drag them along to stories with me, but they surprised me with their curiosity.  

Andrew says he was "acting like a statue."

This month I will be attempting to accomplish the following:

- organize the homeschool area

- de-clutter

- make a tentative weekly homeschooling schedule

- make a schedule of what topics we will be covering over the first three months so I can be on the lookout for enrichment opportunities.

Wish me luck!

Homeschooling - ME?

As many of you know, our family has made a BIG decision within the last month.  After about 2 years of praying, seeking input from others, researching, talking to friends, etc., we have finally made the decision to teach our boys at home next year.

You might be surprised.  I would be surprised if you weren't! 

Why are we doing it?  It's not what you think.  I don't have a hatred for public schools. Actually, my boys have had a very normal, happy and educational experience so far - one of my boys just finished 2nd grade, one just finished preschool.  In fact, the 2nd graders' teacher was voted Teacher of the Year in our district, she was incredible.  The reason we are heading this direction is because since my older son was about 2, I have been fantasizing about teaching him at home.  As he has grown, that desire has grown too, and each year, as I send him back, I feel a little sad.

He and I talked about it quite a bit (as much as you can with a 7 year old) and he is excited about it.

Then there's my other son.  I actually thought I would be sending him to public kindergarten, until about 6 weeks ago. Then, the more I started to think about it, the more I became concerned with how he would feel about me being home with his older bro all day.  So, one day, I asked him.  I decided, it couldn't hurt, right?  "Jeff, how would you feel about me homeschooling Andrew and sending you to school?"  He replied: "Jealous."  I praised him for telling me the truth and for being so smart to figure it out!

It was then, that I realized it was either both of them, or neither of them.

Now, I was AFRAID.  Afraid of being with them 24-7, afraid of failing, afraid of feeling overwhelmed and trapped, afraid of just basically stinking it up.  I had been carrying those fears around for some time, when I finally decided to just talk to people about how I was feeling. It's amazing how when you open up, you get answers.  Gee, we spend so much time in our own heads, and we think we have the answers....

Anyway, in a matter of weeks, I felt God really start to turn around my fear and actually bring me excitement!  It was then that I knew it was going to be OKAY.

So, my husband and I attend the local homeschooling conference held in Hartford a couple of weekends ago, and we felt like we learned so much.  We learned what we wanted and what we didn't want as well.  

This is a photo of my boys at the Lego table at the homeschooling conference. 

Yeah, they'll fit right in.

The kids are getting more and more excited and mommy is still praying that God will be her strength as I head in this direction.

The curriculum we chose for Jeff.  Kindergarten level mathematics.  

Only I would take a picture of that!

I guess I look at this as an adventure.  I am not committing to homeschooling for the next 10 years, but I am going to give this year a try.  Prayerfully, it will be a blessing to both of my boys and to our family as a whole!

And as always I plan on journaling my way through it on this blog. PLEASE tune in.

Many thanks, Jenny

Trashing The Chemicals

I am trashing the chemicals.
This hasn't been a quick decision, although I'll have to admit, I never thought I'd do it.
Not that I hadn't thought about it.
I had those "practice what you preach" moments. 
Like "Come on Jenny, I can't believe you're using that stuff."
As my children came along, my cleaning tools got more and more convenience oriented.
I wonder why.

One of my goals this year is to do more to protect the environment and live a healthy life.  Someone like me, who has seasonal and "other" allergies should probably go as basic as possible, right?

So, I happened to tune into this docu-movie called "Chemericals," and one line got me within the first 8 minutes of the show.  The narrator said that stay at home moms have a 54% higher chance of developing cancer. 

Why?  Because they are surrounded by cleaning chemicals all the time! (I mean why else do you decide to stay at home, right?)  But, wow, that is a high percentage don't you think?

So this evening, while my husband put the kids to bed, I pulled together as many chemicals as I could find.

Several carpet cleaners, two "light" bleach sprays, several air scents, a few hardcore bathroom and kitchen cleaners and the ever popular Drain-O.

Needless to say, I am sure I will find more as the days go on and I start looking in dusty corners.

Here are some things I think I am going to use up and then most likely not replace with store bought items.  I will look for a good homemade replacement.

I am not just afraid of developing cancer, although that should be a large enough reason to make this change.  I am concerned about chemicals that we ingest, breathe, smear on, spray on, paint on, walk through without even thinking about it.  I also have allergies, and so do my children, and I would like to see that improve.

Check out these informative websites:
www.cosmeticsdatabase.com
or
Trying to Eat, Bathe and Breathe Something That Won't Kill me at:
https://www.facebook.com/T2EBB

So, what have I purchased upon the advice of others?

A really big box of baking soda.

That's it.

I already have in my pantry, vinegar, lemon juice and some essential oils and Borax, washing soda and Fels Naptha (a mild bar soap which I purchased at the hardware store).

Don't you want to know what I am going to do with all that stuff?

Well, thanks to the miracle of the internet, I will be researching recipes for different types of cleaners avidly for the next week.

I already feel cleaner and healthier!

Next week: homemade cleaners ..... tested!

Tour Of The Coe Homestead 2012

It's time to see what's happening on the homestead.  This year, there is a lot of gardening, and quite early in the year too. The way everything looks, it should be late May or early June, but, it is actually May 6, people!  Amazing!  There's so much green out there.  As you might imagine, I am super pleased!

My happy place, the garden!

Leeks, onions, garlic, cucumbers, radish 

This bed is squash, tomatoes, peppers, basil...sounds like a good soup!

Butternut

Cabbage

Arugala

Cilantro

Spinach - this is the first year I have been successful at spinach!

The salad bed.  mmmm, salad.

 Strawberries.  We added a lot of new strawberry plants this year. They had sort of petered out.

The new herb bed, things like Dill, Thyme, Rosemary, Sage, Flax, Milk Thistle etc.

Here is my husband enlarging my corn bed. The corn all ran into each other last year.

I helped too!

There's more going on - but that's enough for today!  Now, go outside and garden!  - Jenny

Protect Baby Plants From The Cold: Homemade Floating Row Covers

It's late April and I have gotten a lot done in the garden, but with a few decently cold nights coming up, I am getting a little nervous about the baby plants making it through the Brrrr! 

Floating row covers are designed to protect plants from the cold.  They also act as little incubators - they trap the heat and sunshine and make a little hothouse for the plants.  You may not know, but you can grow food all winter long, if you have the right circumstances.  Another goal for the future...

But, floating row covers can be expensive AND I need them ASAP, so....of course I made them myself!

They're so easy!

First of all I went out and purchased my supplies.  For a little over twenty dollars I got the following.

If you order a row cover online or go to your local store, you may pay upwards of $60.

After I disassembled the wire fence, I cut the painters' drop cloth so that it reached down to the floor on both sides and had extra cloth on each end.

Then I used clear tape to tape the cloth on to the wire.

Keep taping till it's secure.

I walked the cover outside and stuck it in the ground, being careful to tuck in the extra cloth so that cold air didn't get in.

Here it is from the side.  

Voila!  Easy peasy!  Let me know in the comments if you try it!

April Showers Bring May Flowers, Yada Yada Yada

The last 5 days have basically followed this weather pattern: wake up, cloudy.  Lunchtime, sunny. Just when I run outside to work in the garden, clouds again and rain.  Yes, I know April showers bring May flowers, but to be honest, I want to be out in my yard working!

Ok, so what that 10 days ago, when I was watering a bare spot in the lawn it was so dry, it literally bounced off the ground.   So what that 15 days ago when I went on a little vaca with my family a friend came over to water the garden because it probably would have died from drought if she hadn't.

I am just kidding. I am not really that callous, but, I am ready and eager to be growing food this year like never before. 

I have reflected back on where I was one year ago.  I was just getting over a seriously bad reaction to a new medication I had started.  I had 10 days or so of debilitating nausea, and fatigue.  I was so pitiful, I couldn't even garden, I just sat out there in the middle of my garden in a chair.  And that's when I was feeling better!

I am so glad to have the energy and health that I have right now, I want to use it! 

The garden is actually coming along.  I am persevering with some things that in the past I would have given up on.  Cabbage for example.  It seems that cabbage takes a really l-o-n-g time to grow from seed.  I am definitely feel a little impatient, but I put in 4 today, regardless.  Then I went to Lowe's and looked at the cabbage they were selling.  That was a mistake. It was like 12 inches tall, haha.

As you know, we have planted fruit trees, 3 apple and 1 plum.  Maybe we might even get an apple or two this fall? I also went out and got new strawberry plants to add to the dwindling plants I have had for about 3 years.  You need to do that every once in a while. ;)

So, because I have so much going on here on the "homestead" I am excited to see it "bear fruit."

Do you every get frustrated with Mother Nature?  Do you ever feel impatient with your garden?

Let me know in the comments!

Jenny

MANY of our seedlings are in or on their way in.

Our partial, WAY TOO ambitious list includes: zucchini, peppers, carrots, swiss chard, potatoes, asparagus, squash, arugula, garlic, onions, broccoli, mint, dill, rosemary, thyme, milk thistle, pumpkin, tomato, blueberry, and strawberry.  We also have three new apple trees, a plum tree, a mulberry tree and a dying...sorry to say....grape vine which needs to be trimmed back to the root.  

Did I forget anything?  Probably.  Will it all make it through the summer and produce fruit?  Probably not.

But, here are some cool and inspiring pix for you!

One of the baby apples...

Rhubarb....

The new herb bed, facing the house...

 

The new pumpkin bed, still needs mulch....

 

Happy days!