Life on the Homestead

A fall favorite around our homeschool is visiting Parker Homestead. We enjoy walking around and learning how rural pioneers survived way back when. It's also fantastic to spend the day with our homeschooling friends. This year our group represented seven families! The Tims' Family attended and Mr. Don jumped right in to show the kids how it's done.

Trying to use the cross cut saw is always a hit. Maybe I need to get a saw and some logs and help these kids burn off some energy. Cutting wood warms you twice!

Of course, the best station is the old fashioned games area. Boys and girls alike enjoyed firing the sling shots and playing with marbles.

This gentleman shared some of the weapons and gear used by the military during the civil war. This fit in well with our recent studies in year 5 {1850 to Modern Times} of My Father's World.

Liberty and Felicity had the best seat in the house. Liberty needs to work on her exit though. Several times she had to be rescued from a trapped headstand. She never did figure out that bailing out head first wasn't the best method.

This boy cracks me up. He loves to rough house, be Mr. Rough and Tumble, get as dirty and sweaty as possible, and then come to me and say, "Take my picture, please."

Liberty's favorite part of the homestead was the playground in front of the school. She and Mary Claire are very close in weight and the see-saw proved to be lots of fun!

We can count balancing the see-saw as math, right?!?

Cupid's Cuties

This year, I decided to host a little Valentine's Day party with some of our friends. Since Valentine's Day was on a Friday we got to enjoy our party on the actual day. We invited the Tims and Mashburns over for a homeschool Valentine's Day  party.

Miss Jess brought an extra visitor so we had 20 students total. The kids decorated boxes (the Mashburn kiddos get bonus points for the best boxes) and selected valentines. I talked to my kids and all the boys wanted to give out food related valentines. LOL

I was a bit of a lazy mom and didn't fill out the "to" portion of the cards. Since I have more non-readers that readers, I thought that would make things simpler for them. It proved to be a real time saver, and I'll continue to be lazy in the future.

The younger kids didn't really grasp the concept of giving out cards. In fact, a few tears were shed at the thought of giving away their sack of goodies. However, when the delivery of cards was complete there were lots of happy campers! I heard several discussions of having a party next year and schemers trying to develop a plan to pass out cards for lots of holidays. LOL

Candyce made handmade valentines that were super cute. Even though she gave my 8 children whistles, we're still friends. Haha! This little girl couldn't quite figure out what she was doing wrong. Unfortunately for me, her older siblings helped her out.

Tie Dye Take 2

One of our absolute favorite things to do is have friends over, especially the Mashburn and Tims families. Back in the late summer the kids and I tie dyed shirts. It was so much fun that we wanted to do it again. After looking at our blog pictures about our experience, our friends thought it sounded like fun as well so we decided to have a tie dye party and decorate shirts together! I was hoping to make our dying experience into a great Christmas party but I found myself greatly lacking in the energy department and 37 weeks pregnant. We had a great time and there's always next year for a party!

Getting the tables out was a much better plan than dying shirts while sitting on the ground (not to mention that I've grown quite a bit since then and would have found myself stuck there!).

I also recommend that mom put on gloves before mixing colors or touching anything in the box! I *might* have had blue fingers for a week after a lid wasn't properly secured. The mommas helped the kids get the shirts folded and wrapped with rubber bands. Then we let them squirt dye, mostly as they pleased.

Mary Claire got in on the action this time and her shirt turned out great! She might be the next Picasso of the tie dying world!

We used the same kit that I purchased from Amazon previously. I won't be doing any tie dying without it! I do recommend enough gloves for each person that will be touching the shirts or dye and lots and lots of rubber bands. It comes with a fair amount and if you were only dying 5 or 6 shirts it would probably be plenty. The rubber bands could also be dried and reused but I decided to throw them away. Dye covered rubber bands waiting to dry would result in dye covered children in my home. The disposable pans are nice because they help contain the mess and can then be dropped in a large outdoor garbage can.

Madisyn enjoyed the tie dying and visiting with friends but holding baby Stella was her favorite part of the day. Candyce had quite an exciting birth story and I can't wait to "hear" all about it again on her blog. Candyce also amazed us all with how well she was getting around just a little over a week after Stella was born. I'm in the hermit camp and tend to stick close to home after a new little one joins our family. I'm hoping for a little of Candyce's energy this time. ;-)

Our finished product! I purchased two kits and so far we have been able to do 9 short sleeve shirts, 8 long sleeved shirts, and two baby one piece short outfits. We still have 1/2 bottle of all three colors of dye.

Play Day in the Bootheel

 

Despite being 36 weeks pregnant at the time, Candyce invited us up for a play day and quilting day {more on the quilting coming soon}. We enjoyed the grand tour of their lovely new home and the kids had a wonderful time playing. She even prepared us an awesome lunch complete with two desserts!

The boys checked out all the "boy" toys and played everything from Duck Dynasty to cops and robbers to auction.

Ty happened to be wearing a camo shirt and all the kids though he made a great Uncle Si. As fast as Ty is growing it won't be long before he has a real beard!

The little girls enjoyed playing with dolls. I'm not sure why baby dolls have such a hard time keeping their clothes on but it seemed that Candyce and I were constantly helping the poor, naked dollies.

Liberty thought the baby doll pack and play looked like a fun place to hang out. I'm not sure how many times she dumped the whole thing over, cried and crawled in again. The Tims Family has become some of our greatest friends and we were so glad to spend the day with them!

Sawmill Days {Part 2}

 

After lunch, we went to school. The one room schoolhouse has been restored and placed on the edge of the park. Visiting the school is always a highlight of a visit to the park.

 

The kids learned about the purpose of the two stoves in the room and even got to handle coal. Their hands didn't fair so well after that hands on experience. :-)

As a treat the park staff makes old fashioned Kettle Corn. The kids LOVE the popcorn and the temptation to be greedy is very strong.

They visited a station and had the opportunity to play games like Jacob's Ladder, Cup and Ball and Grace (throwing/catching hoops).

Liberty is such a trooper when it comes to hanging out during field trips. She is usually pretty content to sit in the stroller and watch the other kids have a good time.

The last activity of the day was a scavenger hunt in the cemetery. No one has been buried there since 1924. The kids divided into two groups with Madisyn and Ty chosen as leaders of the two groups (they were the strongest readers). None of the boys wanted to be on Madisyn's team so it was a very lopsided competition with 6 boys vs Madisyn and JoAnna.

Once time was called it was determined that the girls were the victors! They had 9 correct answers and the boys only manged to find three! Candyce and I think that next time Madisyn might find a few more team members. LOL

Sawmill Days {Part 1}

 

What a busy month we've had! Between field trips and computer issues, blogging has been very difficult. Hopefully, I can make up for it over the next few days. :)

We started off the month by heading to Parkin Archaeological State Park for their annual Homeschool Sawmill Days. A big reason the Casqui Indian artifacts are so well preserved is due to the Northern Ohio Sawmill.

The mill employees occupied the Casqui site in the early 1900s and prevented the area from being farmed. During Sawmill Days, the park interpreters so the kids what like was like during that time.

We began the day by learning about what animals were hunted and trapped in order to feed the people and then moved to learning about food preservation.

The highlights of the morning were the making of corn husk dolls and attempting to saw a log using a cross cut saw.

Mary Claire and Henry didn't want to be left out of the experience but found themselves running alongside Ty and Griffin as they did the heavy work.

Back in Time {Part 2}

 

The heat of the day and the activity of  the morning left some of us dragging by the afternoon. Since I don't look as cute as Mary Claire when I suck my thumb and take a nap on a picnic table, I refrained {this time}. :-) 

 

 

The younger kids loved washing clothes. This sweet lady fed the same clothing through the ringer over and over and let each child have multiple turns wringing the water out.  

 

They had such a good time that Nana and the older kids left them there to play while they visited a few of the other exhibits.  Too bad I can't get the same enthusiasm for laundry at home!

Next they visited the Post Office/Newsroom. We've never had a PO Box so the whole concept of going to town to get your mail is pretty foreign to us. The printing press always impressed the kids. They can't believe how big the plates are compared to how today's printers.

The man at the outhouse was very informative. He told us that the star symbol on the door meant it was for boys and the moon was for girls. If an outhouse had both, then both sexes could use it.

He also had a "fancy" bathtub that Mary Claire promptly hopped in and spread out for comfort.

It got a little crowded when "three men" joined her in the tub!

Libby doesn't get much from field trips but for the most part, she's happy to go along for the ride.

Our last stop before heading home was the exhibit on pioneer games. The older kids all had a turn shooting the sling shot. Some even managed to get their rock to go the right direction!

Hoops and sticks also provided a lot of enjoyment. Henry would just roll his hoop and chase it down.

The older boys enjoyed the challenge of rolling the hoops down the ramp on the porch. I don't think we have any champion hoop rollers in the making.