Push me to the edge but my will is stone. ~Ben Harper

Monday, 06 July 2009

  • Currently
    Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson
    By Darwin Porter
    see related

    Holden did super duper good at speech therapy today.  His therapist is so impressed with how well he is progressing.  While he was in therapy I was finally able to touch base with the person who runs the local food bank about the Thanksgiving dinners.  She had called last week but, of course, my Blackberry was Dead when she called.  We meet tomorrow to go over various ideas.  She seems really excited.

    Also today Holden read a book! It was a short Bob book style story from readinga-z.com.  All of the kids have had a good homeschooling day, actually.

    I am convinced that Roselle is pregnant.  Her behavior is just far too sedate considering that she should have gone into heat this week.

    I finally finished reading Reading Lolita in Tehran on my Kindle and am now reading Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social & Sexual History of Michael Jackson.  It's totally tabloid and has the credibility of, say, the defunct Bloomfield Free Press but it's interesting enough to read (if it's interesting to read about a bunch of entertainers calling Michael Jackson a "fag"). 

    Ah, well.  I'll read something worthwhile next.

Sunday, 05 July 2009

  • Currently
    Paul Blart: Mall Cop
    By Kevin James
    see related

    Weekly Homeschool Schedule

    I haven't posted one of these in awhile, have I?

    London

    History--SOTW3 ch. 17 "Russia Looks West"

    Literature--(literature consists of books that we read together) Island of the Blue Dolphins ch. 1-2

    Reading--(reading consists of books that she reads independently) "The Ugly Duckling", "The Princess and the Pea", and "The Little Match Girl" by Andersen

    Spelling--we're going to try McGuffy's Eclectic Speller

    She'll also do daily math, violin, poetry, grammar, and copywork.  Latin and Science she will do with Alexander--Latin Primer 1 for Latin and for science we're doing a Young Scientists Club kit on fossils.

    Alexander

    History--SOTW2 ch. 18

    Literature--The American Story "First City", "People of the Longhouse", "The Lost Colony", "Pocahontas of Virginia", and "The Wanderers"

    Grammar--First Language lessons #151-155

    Spelling--McGuffy's Eclectic Speller

    He'll do the daily things that London does as well with the exception of violin. 

    Holden

    History--A Child's History of the World ch. 4

    Science--the baking soda and vinegar expirement from More Mudpies to Magnets

    Literature--The American Story

    Music/Art--study "Battle of Alexander at Issus" by Albrecht Altdorfer and draw our own version, Mozart for music

    Poetry--"Where the Sidewalk Ends"

    Math--we'll be starting Right Start Math

    Phonics--readinga-z.com

    We also do a daily circle time and sing songs reinforcing his address, the days of the week, et cetera.

Saturday, 04 July 2009

  • Currently
    Michael Jackson - Video Greatest Hits - HIStory
    By Michael DeLorenzo, Simon Fields, Traci Guns, Iman, Michael Jackson
    see related

    The living room floor is packed, literally, with dogs, shoes, and children.  I feel claustophobic but it's raining so the dogs don't want to go outside.  It isn't a large living room (we have a small house) and it looks especially cluttered this morning.

    Rainy Fourth of Julys suck.

    I have reached my threshold of whining for a month. 

    Nobody knows where any of Seryozha's spoons are.

    Alex and Holden agree that the video for "Thriller" is, as Holden puts it, "A little bit scary."  All three boys have spent the week working on Michael Jackson dance moves (well, Sergei mostly just bounces up and down).

    Before it started raining I did manage to start a load of diapers, fold a couple of loads of laundry that had been getting progressively more wrinkled in the clean laundry basket, fed the birds in the chicken coop, and put out hay in the goat pasture.  I waved at the cows, way down in their pasture (Roselle condescendingly swished her tail in response) and saw Mama Hen with her chicks.  Anthony fed the pigs.  I gave Sergei a bath after a particularly frightening diaper.

    According to the UPS website Holden's Right Start Math is in Nebraska with a scheduled delivery date of Tuesday.  I can't wait until it gets here.

    I got my netbook! It is so little bitty, the size of a paperback novel.  It fits right in my purse.  I'm still getting used to the size of the keyboard (the semicolon/colon key and the apostrophe/quotation mark key are the size of fingernails) but I really like it.  Way more portable than even  a standard sized laptop.

Friday, 03 July 2009

  • Currently
    Dangerous
    By Michael Jackson
    see related

    We more than doubled the cows' pasture yesterday so this morning I briefly lost Lucy as she wandered through the new area munching on the tall grass.  It looks like a jungle only instead of coming upon a tiger you come across a pretty brown Jersey cow.

    I also ran into Mama Hen, who has five little chicks in tow.  Go Mama Hen!

    While we were working the other day I snapped a couple of pictures with my Blackberry.  Here is Lucy--I think this is the first picture of her I've been able to post:

    lucy

    Well, for pity's sake.  I didn't want them to be that small.  Just bear with the little pictures today and I'll work on real pictures in the next few days (I'm getting a netbook today so no more fleeting posts from the desktop!)

    Roselle, for good measure:

    roselle

    Two of the kids, playing with Romeo Blue the llama, in the goat pasture:

    llamakids

    I should add that while Romeo Blue thinks I'm the bees knees (I give him sweet feed twice a day) he is not so jazzed when the kids go in there to play.

    Joni and Carly don't care for it either:

    jonicarly

    Tomorrow we're going to go to my Mom's and barbeque.  If it's warm enough we'll go swimming but it's been unseasonably cool this week (I'm so not complaining).  Tomorrow night we'll do our customary ritual of going to the Stadium to see the fireworks.  Anthony got an amazing deal on fireworks himself (one of our customers owns a shop that sells fireworks so he promised to hook Anthony up) so he and the kids have been setting off fireworks in the cow pasture the last few nights.  The cows don't particularly care for it, nor do any of the other animals, but the humans have had fun (well, Sergei and I have been seizing the opportunity to lay on the couch with the Kindle and nurse--no fireworks for us).  In fact, the first night they set the fireworks off there was a "boom" and then the dogs came racing through the house from the back to out front where the people were.  First Natasha, a big lug who is too large really to even go through the house (she's literally nearly Holden's size right now and is still growing), then Sadie, then Roman.  They were going to protect us, which was totally cute.

    Speaking of Natasha, she's taken to following the kids' every step when they are outside.  She does this especially with Holden.  It really annoys him, as if he stops she runs into him (nearly knocking him over every time), but I've explained that she has made it her responsibility to protect him.  I love having Natasha here.  Roman is my beloved pet, of course, that one dog you get in a lifetime that is Your Special Dog, but Natasha is truly a helper to me and I'm grateful that we have her.

    The other animals are doing well.  Anthony is heading out to work in the garden and he promised to take Frankenfurter, my two geese, with him.  Franken is the female, Furter the male.  We're going to see if geese, as we've read, eat garden pests. 

    Next week I can do a blood draw to see if Roselle is pregnant.  I'm so hoping that she is.

    I've been reorganizing my homeschooling information.  I ordered Holden Right Start Math.  I've also picked up nearly all of our soapmaking supplies so that early next week we can begin soapmaking.  Another one of our customers gets some kind of bulk deal on coconut oil so she offered to sell it to us as cost which is a huge help. 

Thursday, 02 July 2009

Tuesday, 30 June 2009

  • The other day there was an incident regarding a glass of sweet tea and my Blackberry. It was terribly ugly.

    So, for two days, I have been without my lifeline. Although London has let me use her phone (a model that I chose because of its music and game capabilities) it is NOT the same. I have no contact info. From a business standpoint I'm unreachable as I even use a Blackberry email address.

    I load every bit of info on the phone and being without it was hard to say the least. Heck, I use the internet more from it than I do a computer.

    I have to give Verizon credit--they switched out phones for me and waived the fee.

    So now I'm plugged in again, thank goodness. I still have to go home and sync it (still have no contacts or business info) but it's There.

Sunday, 28 June 2009

  • Currently
    The Essential Michael Jackson
    By Michael Jackson
    see related

    I'm Finally Getting Better!

    Thank goodness! Yesterday I was too sick to even hold my head up.  I slept until noon and didn't milk Roselle (Anthony did, as well as doing all of the chores). 

    But I feel better today.  When i cough it sounds nasty but that's ok as long as I feel better. 

    This morning I've been reading about milk fever prevention diets.  Everyone has a different opinion and there doesn't seem to be any tried-and-true way, even among huge dairies, of preventing this (not that I put any stock in large dairies for animal health, but I mean that they have bovine care down to scientific formulas because cows are numbers there).  Some say to give no grain for the last eight weeks, some say 5 lbs per day until a week before calving and then bump it to 10 lbs.  Some say give 2/3 grass hay for every 1/3 alfalfa.  Then there are all kinds of opinions in between. 

    Lucy is due in August.  While I don't imagine that she'll calf on the coldest day in recent history during the worst snowstorm in 31 years I still don't want to take any chances with her.  So Tuesday, when I get paid, I'm going to order some calcium paste and stock up on molasses.

    Anthony wormed all of the goats and Sylvia day before yesterday.  Just putting that down because I'll forget and read back over my blog later to try and remember.

    Last night we got home and there was a note on the door.  Being, well, as infamous as we are (seriously, we get recognized all over the county now that we fought the guvment and *won*) I'm always on edge when we crest the little hill before our house comes into view.  I always look for Natasha and then at the goat pen for the goats (the cows are over the ridge, you can't see them from the road).  I wonder how long before I get over that?

    Anyway, last night I saw Natasha, saw the llama eating hay, but there was a note.  We get out and read it and it says "Check your fridge".  We have an old fridge that we keep extra milk in so we went around to it and there was another note on it.  It was from a Mennonite family that we met at the benefit for the two burned boys (sadly, the second little boy passed away last week--please keep his family in your thoughts).  They had dropped us off a cake and a Mennonite devotional and their note said that they wanted to get to know us better and to give them a call.

    How nice was that? It totally made my evening. 

    I need to fill out the stuff for the rebate on London's cell phone.  There, another Sasha blog reminder.  get this done!

    I think Anthony is going to butcher a couple of chickens today and then we'll probably go swimming.  London and I finished reading By the Shores of Silver Lake and are now starting Night by Elie Wiesel.  Holden is *rocking* www.readinga-z.com   It's really schoolish but if your kid likes that I recommend it.  Alex has been learning about the Revolutionary War and memorizing "Yankee Doodle" from Wee Sing America (now, I dig a good patriotic song now and then.  i like the Battle Hymn of the Republic and Dixie, but why must it be those gratingly annoying Wee Sing voices?!)

    Seryozha is practicing standing on his own while clapping his hands.  Any time you sing or he hears music he begins swaying back and forth in this supremely adorable way.

Friday, 26 June 2009

Thursday, 25 June 2009

  • Currently
    Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
    By Azar Nafisi
    see related

    Holden had another seizure last night.  Even though I trust his pediatrician and his neurologist that seizures (of his kind, anyway) are not harmful it doesn't diminish the ice-cold fear that grips my heart when he has one.  I'm going to call his pediatrician's office today when they open to just have them note it in his chart--with his medication he shouldn't be having seizures at all. 

    Despite that I slept like a rock (usually after a seizure I hold an all-night vigil).  I was worn out from helping Anthony with the fence and then going swimming.  We got the goat pasture moved to an entirely different area.  It had been within the cow pasture which ended up presenting a problem I hadn't anticipated.  The cows wanted to go into the goat area.  They couldn't, of course, because of the fence, so they'd stand in front of the gate all.day.long and poop there.  It was not good.  And we're not talking nicely formed cow patties (I pick those up throughout the day and put them lovingly in my compost pile) but this mud/waste muck.  So we moved the goats out of that area.  As soon as Anthony took the cattle panels down Roselle skipped into that area and promptly waddled her behind into the goat house.  In fact, that's where both cows are right now (actually, I haven't checked but I'm assuming that's where they are.  They could have hitchhiked halfway to Vegas for all I know).

    I was nervous about moving Romeo Blue, the llama, but he did fine.  Anthony just led him with a bucket of grain.

    Now everyone is happy and the problem of the poop swamp is over.

    Today Anthony is going to work on running more electric fence.  We're going to more than double the cows' pasture and allow them access to a barn (besides that lovely goat house that they're so excited about).  He also found a patch of raspberries so I'm going to try to get down there and pick some.  I need to get the okra plants in the ground before they Die and, of course, other gardening.  It's been so hot that it's nearly impossible to do anything after 9 am or before 9 pm.

Wednesday, 24 June 2009

  • Currently
    Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
    By Azar Nafisi
    see related

    Up Early

    In general, I'm not an "early dawner", as Alex says.  I had always been a morning person, pre children, but as time has passed I've gotten out of the habit of being up early.  For one thing, by the evening I'm tired and touched out and just need some decompressing time so I zone out in front of a book or television and end up staying up too late.  Now that I think about it, it would actually just be better to go to bed and get up in the morning for that 'alone' time.

    Indiana summer has hit with full force; we've had a string of heat advisories (in between storms--one of our customers was telling me yesterday that he'd read an article about how this summer is going to be the worst for Indiana farmers on record because you just can't get out into the fields because of the rain).  Today it's supposed to crack 100 degrees.  So we're going to be doing our heavy work in the early mornings and in the evenings, leaving the hot part of the day to swim in the pool. 

    Seryozha loves the pool.  In fact, I have a series of photos of him in a kiddie pool that I'm going to enter in a contest...I might try to post them later. 

    Today Anthony is going to rotate the goats', Sylvia's, and Romeo Blue the llama's pasture. 

    Holden has been responding well to www.readinga-z.com .  Next week I'm going to order Right Start Math for him.  The other kids have been plugging along at homeschooling.  Every day they do math, poetry, and literature, then several times a week we throw in history, Latin, grammar, and whatnot.  Homeschooling was so disjointed this past year because of Sergei's birth and other events that we're just all-year-rounding.  Actually that seems a bit disingenuous to say--we're really moving so far away from traditional school scheduling that we're just doing our thing.  I can't even honestly give them a grade level anymore.  When London is reading Poe and Shakespeare for fun--when Alex is asking me to Tivo any special on D-Day and Pearl Harbor--when they know how to get in the beehives to feed the bees and play the fiddle (well, only London) and chant in Latin I'm not going to give them something as...flat...as saying, "He's going into third grade."

Sashahomeschoolmama

  • Visit Sashahomeschoolmama's Xanga Site
    • Name: Sasha
    • Country: United States
    • State: Indiana
    • Metro: Bloomington
    • Gender: Female
    • Member Since: 8/11/2005
"A small garden, figs, a little cheese, and, along with this, three or four good friends--such was luxury to Epicurus." ~Friedrich Nietzsche

About Me

  • We're a homeschooling family living on a 17 acre homestead, working towards self-sufficiency and sustainability. I'm mother to London who is 10,Alexander (called Alex or Sasha) who is 8, Holden who is 5, and Sergei (called Seryozha pronounced Syer-yo-zha with the 'zha' like the 'j' in Beijing) who is 10 months and wife to Anthony, who builds and fixes with a focus on renewable energy sources. We have two dairy cows, Roselle and Lucy; dairy goats; a pet lamb, Sylvia; a llama; three wonderful working dogs, Roman, Sadie, and Natasha; as well as chickens (both for eggs and meat), pigs, and ducks. We grow much of our own food and work to lessen the carbon footprint of the food that we must buy. Read about our adventures here. :)

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