Horses

Brillant name for the post, I know. But I haven't posted here in ages, and I know the best way to tackle this is to start from most recent and work backwards.
In August, Mia and Abigail started coming out for riding lessons. They are both doing so well and I got some great pictures of them this week!

We have been working for the past few months to get the pony to drop much needed weight. This is the "skinniest" we've seen her in ages...you can actually press down now and feel her backbone!! This makes her MUCH easier to ride, although she could still lose some more weight...

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the start of week 5

well, we are 5 weeks in to school now - and moving right along. My new dateless lesson plan system has freed me up to skip a few things here and there - thankfully not many - and although we have added subjects this year we seem to be keeping on track. I think the biggest change we have made this year is adding several activities. Bella and Izaiah are both taking piano once a week, Bella has weekly voice lessons, and all three are taking twice weekly PE classes at the YMCA. Izaiah's starting cub scouts this year, and everyone is participating in 4-H. Mommy is teaching weekly horse lessons, and daddy is coaching everyone in soccer.

If you know me, you'll know that I abhorr shuttling kids to and fro - and I generally think America's children are overscheduled. But for the past several months, the house has been very full, and scheduling 'fun' and healthy activities seems to be one of the better ways I can create some normalcy for the kids. Most of the time, I feel like I am walking a tightrope with them - on one side is total immersion in HFH, and on the other, emotional detachment. We are working towards healthly involvement and sustainability for all of us - and asking God for the grace to do it.
Blessings to you,
Mylissa

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grow your own: fresh food

A few pics of the stuff we are growing this year (ignore the weeds):

watermelon and cantaloupe

eggplant, both Italian and Japanese

the butternut squash is just starting to fruit!

The green peppers are doing fairly well, but the reds aren't

pretty Zinnias!

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grow your own: compost tea

We've been gone for a week, and last night I noticed that several of my plants were looking a little iffy. I had to clean out the fridge anyway, so I decided to break out the food processor and make some compost tea.

1.) I have never done this before
2.) If you decide to try this, don't do it with a weak stomach. It smells like puke when it's done.

Now technically, you are supposed to let compost tea steep, hence the name. Usually sitting it outside in the heat is in order. But since I am terribly inpatient, and am also in awe of a few gardeners I know that dump raw kitchen scrap on their prolific plants, I decided to make and toss quickly (the smell may have had something to do with it).

First, gather all your nastyness that you have from your fridge (or the coolers you used while you were camping). No animal products, please - and you probably shouldn't use citrus (ignore the lemon).


Now you will need to dump all the old food into a fairly powerful blender, vitamix or Cuisinart. While you are doing this, don't rush. Try not to drop all the nasty on the floor. If you do, it will wind up looking something like this:

I love this beastly machine that my mom and sister got for me two years ago.

Depending on what types of food you are using, you may want to add some hot water. You will wind up with something like this:


If you have an eldest child, you really should let them mix it up in the bucket. I discovered that they will then torture their brothers by yelling, "Look guys! Mom made you smoothies for dinner!!"

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here comes the end of 2009

I realize its only the second week of August, but this morning I laid in bed mentally checking off things I could accomplish this month to make the holiday season less busy. We have been on the road CONSTANTLY this summer, and honestly I am ready for some home-time! One last trip before we start school...Mulberry Mountain Harvest Fest in Ozark, AR. Looking forward to some great bluegrass and jam bands - hopefully enough music to hold us over till next spring.

This is the time of year I start getting inspired to craft and create, and praise Jesus for the internet and new ideas. Thought I would share some of my favorite inspiration places with you:

Laura Gunn is a mom, painter and brand-new fabric designer - her watercolor inspired fabrics are so pretty!

Paint in my Hair

Craft Magazine originated as a paper publication out of Great Britian. They have found their blog to be so popular they have quit printing the paper version. They post constantly (its really too much to keep up with) but grab some of the most interesting craft and art that I have seen online. Lots of modernity here.

Craftzine

This is sort of cheating, since there is no obvious craft involved, but I love this farm blog. The pictures on here are fantastic, and inspire me to get serious about my gardening and management of the land we occupy.

Tiny Farm Blog

Thats all for now - Mark is packing the car for the trip and I should probably look active.
More soon!

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Homeschool 2009/2010

Well, I know I've been absent a while - but not without good cause. We were able to escape Memphis for a full three weeks, thanks to our awesome volunteers and staff here in town! Since we've been home, I've been busy getting school ready for the fall and doing some last minute cleaning and organizing. Also trying to catch up on my sewing projects - have several to finish before I can start on some Christmas projects! So...for any of you who might be interested - here is my FINAL cirriculum list for the upcoming school year. Feel free to stop reading now if you could care less about homeschool! :)

Bella - 4th grade

Bible - Considering God's Word Book B
Critical Thinking - Mind-Benders
Math - Horizons 4
Spelling - Spelling Workout D
Writing - Writing strands 3 (about halfway through this book)
Grammar - Evan-Moor daily language practice 4
Language Arts - Language Lessons for the Elementary Child book 2 (Queen Homeschool)
Literature - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Dangerous Journey comp guides from Veritas Press
History - Story of the World Middle Ages/Early Modern
Science - Sonlight and Nature Journals

Izaiah - 2nd grade

Bible - Considering God's Word book A
Critical Thinking - Mind-Benders
Math - Horizons 2
Spelling - Spelling Workout B
Grammar - Evan-Moor daily language practice 2
Language Arts - Language Lessons for the Very Young book 2 (Queen)
Literature - Black Ships before Troy comp guide from Veritas Press
History - Same
Science - Same

Sam - Kindergarten

Math - Horizons K
Reading - 100 easy lessons
phonics/spelling - explode the code series
History and Science - same

So what do you think? Overarching? We homeschool moms like to start August off planning on schooling 14 hours a day - but usually by October we have scaled back. I am using a slightly different scheduling format this year, so although this might look heavy, hopefully its attainable. I'd love your thoughts!

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Where in the world...

So what have I NOT been doing?? Sewing, crafting, riding my horses, blogging. What have I been up to? Working for HFH, keeping up with my excercise (although not as intensely as I'd like) and trying to finish out the last tidbits of school with my kiddos.

Historically, summer has always been our busiest season at HFH. When I realized we were once again entering the hectic cycle, I figured I had two choices - buck up and deal with it (and help) or say 'no' and grab that time for myself, my hobbies, etc. Thankfully with God's grace I have found some additional time to devote to HFH this summer. The reward has been meeting some precious new moms and helping my husband in the work that he is so devoted to - he amazes me with his dedication! Even when he's having to do things that I know aren't his favorite, he presses on and honors God with his discipline.

Tomorrow, we leave to go spend some time in NY with my mother-in-law and the rest of Mark's family. We will take your prayers - we will arrive thursday at the cottage, and this is the first overnight this year that anyone will have spent there since Gary passed away. We are looking forward to helping Margaret get settled in to what we know is the new "normal" - one that none of us want to deal with but with God's grace we will see it through.

At the end of our time in New England we will make a quick trip to Boston to see our precious and long-time friends Annie and Adam, to visit Eli VanZanten and his family, and to spend a bit of time at L'abri Fellowship in Southborough, MA. L'abri. AHHHH. Enough said. Some of you may know that we have modeled some of what we do here at HFH after the L'abri model. Mark will need to drag me home (I love Memphis, really I do!!). We would appreciate your prayers for our summer trip and I will try to post some pictures while we are away.

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