Things are starting to crank out in our garden. This was truly just an experimental year for us, we planted things we've never planted before. We enjoyed the fresh peas and absolutely LOVED the fresh lettuce but those have been gone for a while now and I've been watering the corn, potatoes, tomatoes, beans and cukes.
My corn is all dried up. Not sure if I over- or underwatered it. It just turned reddish brown and is crispy dry. It has been hot here.
Everything else is starting to produce and I'm trying really hard to fight that 'Just let it go' attitude I usually have about this time every year. I love preparing for and planting a garden. Love to water and weed when my plants are small and just getting going, but for some reason, as the year wears on and the plants get bigger and more unruly looking, and it gets HOTTER, my love for gardening wanes. Usually by late Aug and Sept, I just quit watering or even setting foot out there. I'm just DONE with it. So, I'm fighting it this year, because of my goal to learn to garden better and can/preserve what we grow.
I have done one large batch of tomatoes, making salsa and spaghetti sauce out of them. But I just picked another bucketfull this morning and I'm wondering what to do with these. More salsa would be the best option I guess.
We didn't plant enough green bean plants to be useful. There are not enough ripe at the same time to bottle them. I may just pick for a few days, then blanch and freeze them. It might be enough for one meal.
I found some lovely strawberries for 3.99 a flat, so I bought two flats and we did 5 batches of freezer jam. It's been eons since we last did jam and everyone was very excited to have some in our freezer again.
We do have one pumpkin on our vine also. I guess since Sadie planted the seed it will be her pumpkin for Halloween.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
My Head is Spinning.....
I have been spending SO much time trying to figure out what method or curriculum to use with the girls. There are so many choices and resources out there for homeschooling. I feel very fortunate to have so many choices, but those who know me know that the more choices I have the less likely I am to make a decision. Just ask C! I absolutely drive him crazy when we go out to eat and can't pick a restaurant. It would be easier if I only had to pick between two choices rather than infinity.
I love the principles of the TJEd, and have come to understand that I can do some curriculum and still incorporate those principles. So for this fall, we will be doing Five In A Row for reading, geography, science, & social studies. We will incorporate some CM by doing copywork, memorization/narration, and nature walks/art. The math is the hardest decision for me. The girls have done Saxon at AHS, but both of them struggle with it and don't like it much and I am trying to find a way to make math more inviting, exciting and still learn. This is hard for me, because I don't like math, or at least I don't understand it very well. So this will be a journey for all of us. I found the website, Living Math, and I think that we will get lots of info from there and we will be reading about famous mathematicians to help us understand more about math and how certain formulas were developed. I think as we develop a greater understanding of and appreciation for math, we will be ready to move back into text and workbooks. We will also be playing lots of math games and trying to learn the concepts of math that are all around us.
I am going to a homeschool convention on the 18th and hope to be able to look at some more curriculum close up while there before solidifying my decisions. Then it's full steam ahead!
I love the principles of the TJEd, and have come to understand that I can do some curriculum and still incorporate those principles. So for this fall, we will be doing Five In A Row for reading, geography, science, & social studies. We will incorporate some CM by doing copywork, memorization/narration, and nature walks/art. The math is the hardest decision for me. The girls have done Saxon at AHS, but both of them struggle with it and don't like it much and I am trying to find a way to make math more inviting, exciting and still learn. This is hard for me, because I don't like math, or at least I don't understand it very well. So this will be a journey for all of us. I found the website, Living Math, and I think that we will get lots of info from there and we will be reading about famous mathematicians to help us understand more about math and how certain formulas were developed. I think as we develop a greater understanding of and appreciation for math, we will be ready to move back into text and workbooks. We will also be playing lots of math games and trying to learn the concepts of math that are all around us.
I am going to a homeschool convention on the 18th and hope to be able to look at some more curriculum close up while there before solidifying my decisions. Then it's full steam ahead!
The Day I've Waited For............
It finally happened! I've been waiting for Soren to call me Mama for the longest time and last night when I got back from the store, he saw me and said, "Hey, Mama, Mama!" and ran to hug my legs. It nearly made me cry!
Then, when I was hugging all the kids as they went to bed, he came up to me, threw his arms around me and said, 'Nigh, nigh!'. So cute! and he proceeded to do this about 5 more times.
He has really caught on to this talking thing. For the longest time, he would babble and we could not understand a word of what he said, but lately he has been really trying to mimic what we say and he is now speaking in English! Yay!
Just one more sign that my baby is not a baby anymore!
Then, when I was hugging all the kids as they went to bed, he came up to me, threw his arms around me and said, 'Nigh, nigh!'. So cute! and he proceeded to do this about 5 more times.
He has really caught on to this talking thing. For the longest time, he would babble and we could not understand a word of what he said, but lately he has been really trying to mimic what we say and he is now speaking in English! Yay!
Just one more sign that my baby is not a baby anymore!
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