What We've Been Reading...
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| Liv's on left, Trusten's on upper right (except the Ranger Rick), and Jaden's on bottom right (except Ranger Rick Jr.) Got those two backward when I took the pictures, because we just read those two, and William interfered, and I didn't notice my mistake. |
We've been reading children's books, magazines, and other science stuff and history lessons. History lessons Jaden William and I have read:
*Nehemiah
*Pericles
*Peloponnesian War
*Malachi
*Plato and Aristotle
*Philip II of Macedonia and the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
*Alexander the Great
*The Split of Alexander's Empire
What We've Been Eating...
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I've also been experimenting a lot more lately with lentils (red and sprouted green). The picture on the top right features an experimental Italian dish. I had fun with it, and it turned out tasting nicely. It includes rice and lentils, various seasonings (Italian herbs included), and oven-roasted cherry tomatoes in olive oil. The picture on the bottom was made using spices to make a Middle Eastern dish. Still rice and lentils. Main difference is different spices, which included cinnamon, chili powder (that includes cumin), etc. It was ok (the kids all said they liked it quite a bit), but I didn't think it was nearly as good as the later-made Italian one. I got the idea for this one online, switched it up slightly, and then I tailored a different recipe to make an Italian dish, using the same basic idea.
I LOVE blueberries, and so do the kids. When local blueberries become available, I buy them by the gallon (that container shown is a two quart bowl). We love to eat them fresh by the handfuls, toss them in cereal (organic Heritage O's pictured above) or on top of pancakes, or made into a blueberry syrup for pancakes (didn't do that this time), or loaded down in muffins, or included in a fruit salad. Mmmm-mmmm!
What We've Grown in our Gardens...
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| Sunflower in back row of "sunflower house," lettuce and spinach mix, and cucumbers |
Finally I've been successful in planting a sunflower house (of sorts) up here in the rocky soil! It's not much of a house (look for picture in near future), but the kids are delighted by the big, bright, yellow sunflowers nevertheless, and so am I! Just today Trusten came to me and said, "Whenever I see the sunflowers, they make me smile."
We've been getting cucumbers galore! All but one of the cucumbers shown above were picked off one plant when I made a quick trip outside a few days ago. I didn't have time to look over everything really well, because it was raining!
We've gotten yellow squash, too, and we should soon be able to harvest cantaloupe. Something happened to the one carrot plant that was still growing, so I'm sad for Trusten. Not sure what happened to our potatoes, but we got them before they were all destroyed, so we got a few little ones. We just started harvesting some corn. The lettuce! We loved the lettuces (black Simpson and bibb) and spinach we grew. When we planted again, the crazy chickens went and scratched it all up. I left some of the original spinach plants to seed, but they didn't replant, either, I don't guess. I should have just harvested the seeds.
What We've Crafted...
I painted a rock blue with a pink heart for my Livi, and I sorted through our shell and wooden beads, had her help me sort them to match so that we could have some symmetry on both sides of the rock (she loves matching games, and this was good practice), and then I had her help me string the necklace (we used hemp cord), which was also a good skill for her to practice. She was so thrilled with the finished product. She was waiting patiently for it to get done, because I'd washed, dried, and painted the rock a good while ago, in stages, but then she messed up the heart before it dried, so I had to go back and fix it. The boys wanted to make things, too.
What We've Done for Summer Fun...
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| Girls on swings at park, Elizabeth looking out the window, and Olivia sitting on windowsill playing a game |
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| Picking black raspberries/dewberries and blackberries; Trusten chewing on a wild carrot (Queen Anne's lace). Do you see that Liv has her baby Agliss (Aglice?) in her shirt? |
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| Playing in the sprinkler, pushing Elizabeth in dump truck, Liv acting like a monkey in the redbud tree |
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| Butterflies in the mud, nuthatch on sycamore tree, JW with Little Hen |
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| Trust and Liv wearing their puddle pants and running in the falling rain (while William was away with his daddy), and Elizabeth and I watched at the door |
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| A lovely damselfly at a nearby creek, lizard in Jade's hands (such a beautiful blue), sweet Happy sitting in toy dump truck and petting Soft Meanie (who is no longer really mean, Jade says, so "...she should be called "Zebra Soft.") |
We have also made some visits to Roaring River for the kids to swim, then of course went to visit the cave I posted about last time, and have done other great things.
Inside we've watched some good videos on Amazon (played on tv via PS3), most of them free with our Prime membership.
What We've Watched...
*I Shouldn't Be Alive episodes from Animal Planet (good to teach kids what can happen in survival situations, as well as teaching them things they can do to make it, plus these are greatly inspirational)
*Faith Like Potatoes (movie I've been eyeing for years in catalogs and on Amazon, we finally watched it and actually own it in our Amazon video library for just $4.99) I loved the movie, though their was a sad event, and I especially appreciated the end when it was revealed what was meant by Angus Buchan's "faith like potatoes." This wonderful movie is based on a true story.
*Science Channel's How's It's Made (mostly watched by William)
*Jack the Giant Slayer. I really liked this one. Any movie that induces meditation on my part is good in some way. It had the typical good vs. evil theme. My favorite part was the end where the original story that was played out in the movie was shown to evolve over time as it was told to various children throughout the ages and the hint that a lot of what we think are just fairy tales tend to have truth to them. I do believe this. I do believe a lot of the things in myths—like dragons and giants and genetically-modified creations like satyrs and centaurs—reveal an underlying truth.
*Beneath the Blue. This movie was a good one, too, involving a dolphin and researchers and the Navy conducting sonar experiments that start killing the dolphins. The story line goes deeper than this, but you'd have to watch to find out the details. This was also based somewhat on a true story, I think. I liked this movie overall, though I was really turned off by the scantily-clad young women and some sexually-laced language. Besides this it was a pretty moral movie.
*A Little Princess. I played this movie for the kids one day. It's summed up as "A wealthy, precocious, and loving child is raised in India, but [she's] sent away to a New York boarding school by her beloved father when he must of off to war." Oh! There were parts to this movie that caused me to cry. It has a wonderful ending, though.
*The Book and the Rose. This is a really short movie (like half an hour or so), but it has an AWESOME moral lesson, and I highly recommend it. It IS a Prime movie, so all you fellow Prime members can enjoy it for free.
*The kids (mainly the "twins" Trust and Liv) have watched a plethora of cartoons, including their usual Care Bears, as well as Martha Speaks (educational, boosting vocabulary), and newly-found Olivia, with which I don't remember a single thing I've found wrong, yet. William and I keep our ears open for questionable things, and if some cartoon starts pushing getting your vaccines for good health, promoting witchcraft or pagan holidays like Halloween and Christmas, or celebrating superstition, etc., it's changed immediately with a reminder that such things are not of God.
What We've Done on Sabbath Afternoons...
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| Sycamore swing! And the leaves and bark rolls are pretty cool treasures, too. And then our other sycamore gives shade for our table, where we sit and relax, listen to our sermon, etc. |
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| Elizabeth sits so nicely in the girls' wagon to be pushed and holds on. Here she knows it's time to get out. The oldest three kids recently played in our own creek at the edge of our property, while Nathan and I sat with Elizabeth on one of the large rocks. The water was wonderfully clear before the kids stirred it up. |
And yes, we've done some other school work here and there. The boys both have done Language Lessons and their math. Jade has done spelling (not Trusten, yet), and Trusten has continued reading through the Learn-to-Read Bible. Jaden and I started the first book in the trilogy by Lois Lowry, The Giver. He'll do a book report on each of the books before we start the next.
Also we are about to witness the entire butterfly life cycle. We've got the butterfly pavilion, and we're waiting on the arrival of our caterpillars. We're excited!
I hope to be able to talk about some of these things more soon.
Until next time...
