Happy Anniversary...

...to us.

Today is the 10th anniversary of our move into this house. (If you haven't heard the story of our move in a blizzard, you can read about it here.)



It's been a wild 10 years starting with the fixing up of this poor neglected house we bought...










... and continuing through storms and sunshine....














.... an education every step of the way.





Here are a few more of my favorite blast-from-the-past photos of the past 10 years...

The goat days... how much hay CAN you fit into an Isuzu Trooper?






The day we realized M should probably not plan on getting a driver's license...



Got mud?




R and Grant...



The ever present deer...



... and even a rare albino one!



The day the circus came and painted our house gray and ran off with the kids...



... thanks to my brother's extreme photoshopping skills.

And, of course, the years of homeschooling...





It's been an amazing 10 years.

Here's the house before we moved in....



... and this morning... shrouded by fog from a cold front that blew in last night.



The barn back in 2006...





... and last summer.



If you like before and afters, there are a few more here...

frosty morning...

After Sunday's fog, I woke up yesterday morning to a lovely coating of hoarfrost on everything....



I especially loved how it looked on the netting covering the chicken yard (keeping the hawks out), it made the usually almost invisible tree netting look like a circus tent...



(Here's Lili, stretching her neck out, and Hazel behind, both insisting there is NO WAY they're going out into the cold! Yes, they basically live in the coop these days...)




We stayed home and sewed yesterday... R has been wanting to learn to sew, and M has always liked sewing, so I helped each of them make a new "warmer" for bedtime (a rice filled fabric tube, heated in the microwave right before bed, makes for a toasty place under the covers for cold feet...). It took most of the afternoon to make two warmers, but it was also a lesson in pinning and cutting out a pattern, reading the markings on the pattern, pinning and cutting fabric, using the sewing machine, etc.

Once M and R's projects were finished, as long as the sewing machine was out, I put it to use and made a Christmas gift for one of my "big" kids. It was good to sew again, I haven't sewn much in years. I still think I prefer more active projects though... like those involving lumber and power tools for example. (I have plans for a lovely, big "slow feeder" I want to built Murphy and Tucker... but alas, it will have to wait until spring. ;)

time4learning... a review

I signed M and R up for time4learning a few months ago. I went back and forth about it before doing it... wondering if it would be too childish for them, if they would use it, and especially... if they would learn from it.

My thought was to use this online program as enrichment for them... screen time that is more worthwhile than playing another game on the wii. M and I spent an afternoon looking at sample lessons, and although I worried the graphics were too young for him. (Time4learning has high school material too, which has more more grownup graphics, but because of M's developmental delays the material is too challenging.) Anyway... I shouldn't have worried, M was fine with both the graphics and material. I signed both kids up, getting a discount on R's membership, and M couldn't wait to really get into the lessons.

That was a couple of months ago, we used it a lot at first but I have to say we didn't use it much while S was here... Next week, though, as we get back into a schedule that includes academics again (not just running around to doctor's appointments!) it will be part of M's day. He especially loves the science, and will work through several lessons at a sitting... periodically calling out "Mom, did you know ________?" and sharing whatever new fact he'd gotten from the lesson. It's been a good fit for M.

It's probably not been as good a fit for R... she has her delays and learning disabilities too, but for some reason she hasn't gotten into it the way M did. It wasn't a bad fit for her, she just hasn't enjoyed it the way M has...

So... I'm looking forward to getting back to our academics next week and getting M, at least, back to time4learning. My kids are older, and we're using the program in a non-traditional way, but I've found that there is enough flexibility in the program that it works for us. It's worked great as an enrichment program, it's been great for reviewing material they've learned in the past, filling in gaps in their learning, and just having some worthwhile fun on the computer.

As a member of Time4Learning, I have been given the opportunity to review their program and share my experiences. While I was compensated, this review was not written or edited by Time4Learning and my opinion is entirely my own. For more information, check out their standards-based curriculum or learn how to write your owncurriculum review.

Postcrossing update

Back last fall, we went to a co-op class through our homeschool group that was all about Postcrossing.

Postcrossing is an online project that lets you: "send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person in the world!". Which means each time I send a postcard to a postcrossing member, I will receive a postcard back from another postcrossing member. (You can read more about how it works here.)


When I went on Postcrossing the other day to register a postcard I'd received, I realized we'd hit a milestone... we've sent and received 50 postcards!

I do love facts and figures... so you can imagine the fun I had checking out our "stats"...

We joined postcrossing 266 days ago, so it took just about 9 months to hit the 50 postcard milestone... Since the more cards you send, the more you can have traveling at one time, we should hit our next big milestone of 100 cards in about half that time.

Since we began postcrossing the cards we've sent have traveled 232,569 miles (or 374, 284 km). 

We've received cards from 24 different countries (including the U.S.). We've received the most cards from Russia and Germany (7 from each) and have gotten cards from as far away as Malaysia (9,358 miles) and as close as Sioux Falls, South Dakota (635 miles). 

Postcrossing started as a school activity, but the kids quickly got tired of writing and addressing the cards, so I sent them out now.  We all enjoy receiving them though, and our postcards live in a big dough bowl on the dining room table where we can look through and enjoy them often...

Here are some favorites...

I love these cards with donkeys... (the card on the left is from Germany, the one on the right is from Lithuania)



The kids like this one from Barcelona.. it reminds them of Harry Potter.



Our cards from Germany:



And our Russian cards:



Isn't this one from Czechoslovakia pretty? I like it's unique shape too...



And our map cards... Joe likes these a lot...



We love getting mail and this has been such a fun activity... often we get out the globe or go online to learn about where the cards are from... it's truly been something that all of us have enjoyed.



Has anybody else out there discovered postcrossing? Leave a comment and let me know! With 478,000 postcrossing members worldwide, I'm sure at least a few have found their way to my little blog... 

a practically perfect day...

Yesterday was one of those days I wish I could preserve somehow and replay again from time to time...

It was not an exciting day... we just stayed home... but it was nice and restful (at least mentally!).

The morning started with the guy who hauls away our manure coming out and hauling the manure and....drumroll please... pulling the last of the metal chain link fence posts out and drilling the holes for the new fence around the pumpkin patch!



The very very good news is he didn't hit any part of our septic system with the drilling... whew! The other good news is that we are ready to start setting the new fence posts.



By the time he left it was lunch time (we eat early) and so we ate and then I headed back outside and cleaned up the mess from the hole drilling (broken concrete, the old metal fence posts, etc) and started moving the landscaping timbers from what had been the west side of the pumpkin patch to a spot a few feet east of it. It will be the "curb" protecting the new fence from people bumping into it as they pull in to park. Once the fence is up on that side I'll landscape the strip between the timbers and the fence with the same cobblestone I used next to the driveway...



It took an hour and half but I got the timbers moved and another tiny piece of this project was done!

See the timbers kind of half buried along the right side of the pumpkin patch?



Now they are on the other side, and actually serving some purpose!

We did school next, and R was on top of things. She tends to be either "hot" or "cold" when it comes to academics... sometimes she learns and remembers well, other times... not so much. Yesterday she was amazing and felt so good about herself when she pretty quickly mastered a new concept in math.

Michael also got school done, but he's been having a lot of trouble lately keeping his thoughts organized... he was settled and happy though, which is huge.

We got done in time for me to make a nice dinner (rather than a quick thrown together one!) and we worked outside a little more after dinner while we waited for someone from my freecycle group to pick up the chain link fencing that had been along one side of the pumpkin patch. (Check another job off the list!)

It was getting dark by the time we came in, but I had time to read to the kids before they went to bed (our read aloud right now is "Gathering Blue" by Lois Lowry) and even managed to help Joe figure something out on his computer before I called it a day.

I just love relaxed, productive days like yesterday...

Resources...

We are incredibly blessed to live in a community that is rich in resources for young adults with disabilities. There are honestly too many educational, interesting, or just plain cool things for M and R to participate in... I've found I have to pick and choose activities and classes so we have a good balance of down time mixed in with busy times. (A good balance keeps us all feeling good!) 

 This past month was a little busier than usual though, M's having a busy basketball season (his team is doing to the State Games this weekend!) and the kids had the opportunity to take an indoor kayaking class at the rec center (and we couldn't pass that up!), and they've been going to the "Access and Functional Needs Citizen's Police Academy" down in town. The name of the class is a mouthful, but basically it's a citizen's police academy designed for young adults with disabilities. They went last year too and it was such a great class they decided to do it again! 

It was a five week class and here's what they learned each week: 

 Week One they toured the Police Department, seeing everything from the dispatch center to the holding cells, got their police academy ID's, lanyards, and T-shirts, and played some ice breaking games to get to know each other better. 

 Week Two they learned about about Disaster Preparedness, 72 hour kits and "shelter in place". They filled out emergency information sheets to keep at home, and, for homework, we had to make an emergency plan for our family. 

 Week Three was Basic First Aid and Fire Prevention and Safety and they really practiced the first aid skills they were learning.. splinting "broken" arms, applying pressure to "wounds" and even using a blanket carry technique to pull their instructor to "safety" (down the hall). An instructor from the Fire Department taught the second half of the class and they learned what to do in case of fire, how to put out certain types of fires, and even practiced putting out a grease fire by smothering it. 

 Week Four was Crime Scene Investigation and they learned a lot about the tools and techniques that are used to investigate crime, then they learned to take fingerprints (their own and someone else's!). 

 Week Five was 911 Dispatch, where they learned more about what dispatchers do, and how and when to make a 911 call. They got to practice with the 911 simulator phone, making 911 calls on the simulator and answering the questions the electronic dispatcher asked them. 

 Week Five was also graduation... The kids worked hard during the police academy and they were rewarded with a really nice graduation ceremony. The mayor was there, as well as several police department supervisors. (Unfortunately the police chief couldn't make it, although he was at graduation when M and R took the class last year.) I was running late that evening and forgot my camera at home.... but M did remember his. :) His camera doesn't take great photos but they are ok, and I'm glad we have a record of the graduation. 

 Here's M receiving his diploma from his instructor, with the Mayor, police department supervisor waiting to shake his hand, and his RCC adviser taking a picture

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 R receiving her diploma...

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 After graduation... from the group shot of all the students together.

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R and M with their instructor, she was their instructor for the police academy last year too and she's just awesome... She so good with the kids, and isn't afraid to have fun with them. 

They are both crazy about her...

 

 Both kids are happy and proud of the work they did at the Police Academy, and even though it was a repeat for them I know they learned... having the skills reinforced is always good. I'm so grateful that our police department spends the time and money to do this for our community...    

Will it rot, or not?

With both M and R getting older (21 and 17) a lot of our homeschool is working on life skills. We still work on our math curriculum, it's something that's so important and I worry they would forget too much if we didn't need up with it... but most everything else is hand's on learning. We work on things like following simple recipes, riding the bus, money management, job skills,  etc.

The past couple of weeks we've been following a rabbit trail that started with nutrition (focusing on the problems with too much fast food and "junk" food) and has branched off into things like advertising, product placement, and food styling.

Both kids were amazed that product placement in a movie didn't mean the actors were really consumers of that product... only that the product's manufacturer paid (sometimes BIG bucks!) for their product to be seen in that movie.

We found some awesome videos on YouTube of the food styling process, and how the food that looks so good in the pictures might not even be edible!

We've talked a fair amount on some of the hidden aspects of advertising... watching commercials, for example, and talking about the unspoken messages they are trying to give us (you will be happy, or sexy, and skinny if you wear these clothes, or eat our food, you will feel peaceful, or confident, and happy if you drink this soft drink, etc). As we were picking apart fast food commercials, I told the kids about the movie "Super Size Me" and they both wanted to see it. It took a little doing to find it (it's getting older, and not as easily available) but I did and we watched it. Lots of good discussion followed as well as deciding to replicate an experiment others have done looking at how fast food breaks down compared to less processed food. Specifically we wanted to see for our own eyes that you can leave a basic burger and fries sitting on the counter and they won't rot...

The kids decided to take it one step further and compare and contrast what happens to a basic Burger King meal with a basic McDonald's meal.

So we drove down  to town and bought a hamburger and fries from both McD's and BK. First we compared them (noticing the unappetizing color of the McD burger compared to BK's...



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...then we set them on the counter and waited to see what would happen.



Here's the McD's meal on day 1, brand new and fresh:



And the BK meal on Day 1:



This food has been sitting out on my counter for 4 days now and so far all that's happened is the food has shrunk...

No stink, no mold (despite no refrigeration)... they haven't even attracted the tiny gnats that seem to show up any time the fruit gets a little old... The only change has been a slightly smaller sandwich and fries.

Here's McD's on day 4:



And here's BK on day 4:



We're going to keep up our experiment for a month or until I can't stand it on the counter any more. ;)

It's been so cool to see R's reactions to what we've been talking about.... It's like she's feeling in on a secret, and while she watches commercials or sees ads, she loves to try to identify the unspoken messages in the ad, or point out the "styled" food. It's given her a different mind set...  M on the other hand has been interested... but he really doesn't care that much... he'd still be thrilled with lunch at the golden arches!