Coffee anyone ?

[Baymule]

Sully may take awhile to finish out nice and plump. He'll probably put on weight fast, then slow down and still look ok, just not slick and pretty. That takes longer.

 

[MatthewsHomestead]

we are going to go and see how much work is involved in putting up the pasture fencing and the barn repairs this evening. hopefully it goes well and we can move all but one so they can have some good yummy spring grass....

 

[greybeard]

Just 1 cup for me this morning as I had an early eye dr annual appt......but I now have a pair of those free & fancy (& foldable) designer sun glasses all "The Beautiful People" yearn for and wish they could afford....since he dilated my eyeballs clean out of their sockets.
Good news is my 3 yr old prescription is still good and no glaucoma or astigmatism to amount to anything. (I'm diabetic)

 

[MatthewsHomestead]

great news! glad to hear all is well. i bet you rock the socks off those designer shades!

 

[Alaskan]

I am looking at ordering next year's curriculum which one do you use

I never used 1 single curriculum. I used different things for different subjects .

(Rodcand Staff) It's a solid curriculum... but yes a lot of work.

I agree, I love their stuff...but much of it is too much work for us. Hack.

I did use and LOVE their reading series, starting with their 5th grade "a time to plant" Those are SO GOOD for character training and values etc. I didn't like the grades 1 through 4 ones.

Their "Christian Light Readers" are fantastic, all grades. And those go I think from grade 1 to 8. I also loved the "God is Good" set for little kids.

Also loved their "Health for the Glory of God"

Ok... done with Rod and Staff stuff.

For phonics and early reading, I like the Bob's Books.

And the Explode the code series. Explode the code is all work texts, and very well done.

She loves math and science it's the phonics an d reading we have more problems with but I get kinda tired of the constant amount of work I think she currently does 36 pages a week (she is six started first grade early). I have two main concerns one beIN when the boys are old enough for more the just preschool and the other being that next year add historvand an actual science along with are and music with them. Not sure wit as much time as rod and staff takes each day if we could do it. Normal we start at ten and finish by four.

For math, especially the lower grades, I loved Right Start math. I really think it gives the best math foundation.

For the younger grades (below grade 5) we would do mostly fun science kits that everyone in the family could participate in. And nature walks, gardening, cooking, and make all of those science. I would also take them to the library and they got to pick 3 books each for that week. Sometimes I would make them find books on the science topic we were covering. So weather, lighting, bats, whatever.

History we always did together, still do. Sometimes we still do science together. I read a bit, then ask them questions, quiz them, make them find places on the globe, in an atlas, etc. I love History and Philosophy and the Philosophy of Religion. So I would pick a different era for each year, and then find books on that that were good.

When several were getting into high school we did an American History year which was a great deal of fun because I found an antique American History book (written before WW1, when the Panama Canal was halfway done), and alternated reading that book with a modern American History textbook. It was cool because that was not only history, but how do we view ourselves, how do we view what America has done. How does the viewpoint of the writer completely change how things are written and presented.

Music is hard, because that is usually a single child activity. However, it is manageable. To be honest though... I only managed to get the first 2 a few years of piano lessons. We did sing though as a family.

 

[Alaskan]

Just 1 cup for me this morning as I had an early eye dr annual appt......but I now have a pair of those free & fancy (& foldable) designer sun glasses all "The Beautiful People" yearn for and wish they could afford....since he dilated my eyeballs clean out of their sockets.
Good news is my 3 yr old prescription is still good and no glaucoma or astigmatism to amount to anything. (I'm diabetic)

That is good news!

 

[Jesusfreak101]

I actually use the Bob books as well. My favorite part of sonlight was that they aren't grade basied so much more age range 5-7 ect and they had you reading together then talking about wat was read and then Coby work and things like that not the current book work and the estimate time to complete each day is 3 he's for all of it so yay

 

[Bruce]

It's grading essays for standardized tests

That is SO subjective!!!! I couldn't do it.

As for chicks, I'm still slightly confused about what I want to do. Want good egg layers, want some that go broody, want some good for meat.... so I guess an all around dual purpose bird. Different breeds are cool bc then you never know how the chicks come out and it's like Christmas watching them hatch and feather out.

I don't have Orps because they supposedly tend to go broody (and IIRC aren't real feed efficient). No need here for girls that don't lay because they are "hatching" pine shavings. If you want some for meat, you might want to just get some meat breeds, I'm always amazed at how fast they get to "eating size" compared to the egg laying and dual purpose breeds. I don't have Rhode Island Reds but they are the classic "lots of eggs" brown layers. My Exchequer Leghorns are pretty little birds but don't lay as big as claimed (supposed to be med to lg) or as often so for white eggs, I think you need to stick to white or brown leghorns. Black Australorps and Rocks are also good layers. Then you NEED some Easter Eggers for blue/green eggs.

but I now have a pair of those free & fancy (& foldable) designer sun glasses all "The Beautiful People" yearn for and wish they could afford

Mine aren't foldable, they roll up into a small cylinder. I think I have 4 of them. At least I remembered to take one with me the last time so I didn't get yet another.

 

[promiseacres]

Well just got an email. I can continue with training on a probationary status.... guess it's good though... just an adjustment. I like the thought of getting paid and being at home with my kids.

 

[MatthewsHomestead]

I dont butcher a lot so dual purpose is more up my alley. Think we will keep a couple of what we have (for a colorful egg basket) add some speckled Sussex, some splash ameracauna, austrolorp, and a few buff brahmas.then either silver appleyard or Welsh harlequin ducks. Whichever I can get a hold of first at a decent price. I've only ever had my jubilee and my chocolate orpington hens go broody once last year. It was awesome and they stuck it out as a team. I loved not having to incubate. I think my chocolate is wanting to go broody again. She isn't quite ready yet so maybe in a month or so I'll let her set....

All this homeschool talk has piqued my interest.... we talked about it but I dont think my two youngers mom would be on board. We share week on week off with her..... makes things tough but we get to have them consistently....