MI-OR-IDA-CO Minitaters

Oct. 6, 2008

Home is where the Hearth Is......

Ok so it's a play on words, but I love that word in the fall. Hearth. Something to think about anyway.

We have been so busy these last couple of weeks. I'm down to only working on the weekends, but our school time has sure beef itself up. It seems that we are always running (or maybe it's just me and they all sit back and watch). It could happen.

Well let's see, we had a death in the family. Our beloved Dodge Caravan hit it's 20th birthday and collapsed. Believe it or not it STILL had not rolled 100K miles. It stopped at 99,820. That van came to us at a time when blessings were few and far between. Someone from church had given it to us 3 years ago for Christmas. And it was full of Christmas presents when we couldn't afford them.

Well it's gone now to that great Dodge Burial Land in the dump. We were fortunate enough to find an affordable vehicle and the dealer was "paying it forward" by giving us a 2 year warranty (on a used truck). I do mean giving because he did it at no charge. Our payments came in 45 cents under budget. God smiled upon us and we in turn will smile upon others in need. Ironically we bought another Dodge (Durango).

That same week a co-worker of my sister's went out to his son's farm to help harvest potatoes (in Idaho, naw never) Anyway he had a general idea where we lived on the street and showed up on our door step with 150 pounds of raw potatoes (most of these were the size of footballs, I kid you not). Then at work the next day a friend of mine brought me 50 pounds of potatoes as a thank you. So I now have 200 pounds of potatoes in my kitchen. We joke about giving them away to Trick or Treaters but out here that could get your house tee-pee'd in a hurry.

So this week we'll be cooking up potatoes and freezing them (if you cook them as mashed potatoes and make them a little drier than normal, they unthaw beautifully and are really good).

School is cruising right along, the kids are into the swing of things. I've even been able to set aside some time to fix my genealogy database (long story).

Well my husband should be home soon, it's nice to have him home for dinner every night. Let me rephrase that, it's nice to be home to have dinner with him.

Gotta run, take care.
~jaimers~

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Sep. 22, 2008

Fall is Fall is Fall.....

Posted in Rambling On

I love this time of year. Autumn!!! Just the sound of the name is music to me. The rustling of the leaves, the smell of burning wood, football tailgater grill parties.

Summer days are fun (for about a week then I want cooler temps). Snow is ok during November and December, but come January I want autumn back again, then I'm ready for Spring.

School is finally in full swing, the homeschool group here has met and is currently making plans for outings. My husband's job is settling in and I'm only down to three days a week working.

Yep I can handle this, this is my time of year. I even got up early enough to start laundry (how sick is that, because I work in a laundry mat).

Some years it's harder to adjust to this time of year (seasonal depression is what it's referred to as), but this seems to be my year to accept it.

Yep, I'm ok with Autumn!!!

God Bless my friends.

~jaimers~

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Sep. 3, 2008

Freebies and Free Time!

Posted in Schooling or Unschooling

Homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com has some great stuff let me tell you. A couple of weeks ago they did a .pdf book called "Grammar Land". The kids love it!

Originally published in 1878 by Henry Holt and Company, it was written by M.L. Nesbitt under the original title of "Grammar in Fun for the Children of Schoolroom-Shire".

Currently I am teaching with A2 (Accelerated Achievement) and we are using the McGuffy reader's. I like them because all four of my elementary school kids like the stories and understand the teaching method. Grammar Land was written in the same style as the McGuffy's so the kids really enjoy it.

Put with that the Sentence Building Cards (nouns, pronouns, etc) and you have your basis for an in depth English Grammar teaching tool.

I liken Grammar Land also to John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress". Reason being is that in the subject of the lessons we are trying to teach become character's in the stories themselves.

Understandably because this was written in a time where they didn't shelter children from harsh realities, I encourage you to read it first as a parent and decide if the story subject is something your child can comprehend.

Let me know if you like it.

~jaimers~

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Aug. 29, 2008

Your Oasis is showing.....

Posted in Mommy Experiences

Parched and broken, I crawled my way across the kitchen. Coffee, coffee, coffee was all I could think. Ignoring the pile of corn flakes on the floor that substituted for dry cat food (she likes it with salt), I inched my way up the dishwasher to located the perfect sized cup. Knees weak and shaking, terrified of every sound I heard, my nerve endings screaming in pain as I slowly opened the fridge to locate the homemade creamer (powdered milk). Wincing at the thought of the terrors coming up the stairs. NOooo here they cooommmmee!!!!!!!

Thus is how our Friday after the first week of school started. I truly detest the first week (knowing that it has to be started). My children rebel at the thought of any type of routine. Now we aren't rigid in our learning, after all we do a polite mixture of unschooling, research, theory and just plain old discussion tactics. With a measure of actual book work thrown in for my sanity. The rebellion comes in when they actually have to get out of bed, and get personal chores (breakfast, dishes, showers, room inspection) done before 10 am. Whining because they can't watch tv (that would be the 16 year old not the 4 year old), they reluctantly sit down in various positions in the dining room to start their work.

There has formed an unhealthy competition between the 5 and 7 year old as to who is smarter and faster. I say it's unhealthy because they are both about ready to be duct taped to the next moving semi I find if they don't stop arguing about everything. (they argue about who makes more letters and numbers, who's pencil is sharper, etc). Thus joins in the 10 year old complaining that he shouldn't have to do all this English by himself. The 14 year old hides in her room under the guise that her Algebra and Latin and tougher subjects than anyone else has and why does the 16 year old get away with only having 2 classes instead of 9 like she does. The 4 year old has built a shrine to his Scooby Doo collection and the vacant spot where the PS2 used to sit. No one can find the power supply to the vSmile.

All we need now is PMS and a 3 day snow storm and hey my week would be perfect! The volume in this house rivals an elementary school playground at recess. Loud! Or maybe it's just in my head because I've not had my first pot of coffee yet.

But it's Friday and that is supposed to make up for it. This starts my four day run at work with 9 and 10 hour shifts. Good news is I don't have to plan lessons because I'm done with that. Maybe I'll work on some genealogy for a change, since I've ignored it for a year now.

Have a good weekend.
~jaimers~

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Aug. 22, 2008

What An Exciting Year Ahead!

Posted in Rambling On

You ever have one of those days when nothing goes right but it really doesn't bother you? Ok limited I agree, most of the time I'd be swinging from the trees, but this time, it's just accepted that my life is far from normal.

This morning at 1am I was picking my sister up from work (normal for us I assure you), however the flat tire was not normal. We are in an abandoned parking lot and just lucky enough to have two of my sister's coworkers be able to help us. Very southern gentlemen (wouldn't allow a lady to life a finger type). When we realized the spare wasn't an option and that the flat had to be replaced because the stem was damaged, we were given a ride home with the promise of picking me up in the morning to replace the tire (good old Les Schwaab Tire Centers).

So this afternoon things are on track and I'm getting ready to go to work. School stuff is laying in wait for Monday and the children are determined to hate the way I rearranged the living room so I could teach their science class better (it's interactive). I've also had a request from a lady at church (good friend) who is a public school teacher. She wants to set in on one of our classes to see how I am able to keep my kids interested in learning. She thinks it's amazing the way they are always equating new things to what we had touched on last year or the year before that. She can't get her grade school kids to remember what they ate for breakfast half the time.

Other than that the excellent news is that my 14 year old daughter was baptized last Sunday morning. She has taken the steps and made the commitment to the Lord. I am so proud that she is more committed than I ever was at her age. I'd like to believe it's because her home environment is more accepting than mine was.

Well like I said, off to work. Have a good day, remember to thank the Lord. And if you are having a bad day remember to thank him as well, because you can't appreciate the good if you don't understand the bad.

Love to you all my friends.
Jaimers

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