Picture Post, and a book review ~ July 2018

The Ranchsliders are finally in and glazed

One of the engagement cards Daisy crafted

The first wedding card Daisy's ever made, she really struggled with it.

Leroy LOVES to be in on piano practice

Daisy's current read. I edited the profanity out first.

Adding a review of a 'highschool' audiobook I've just listened to: 

To Destroy You is No Loss ~ Joan Criddle, Teeda Butt Mam,  narrated by Christina Moore   (5) Biographical    Audible Audio  

This was a recommended homeschool history book (Sonlight Core 300) that we never  read with the children - we have heard some first-hand accounts from Cambodian friends who were young teens in Cambodia during the late 1970's.
This a sober, harrowing, and gritty listen. The love, care and respect this family have for one is heartening – along with their deeply held Buddhist faith – those traits seem to undergird the incredible resilience Teeda's family required to endure each next heartache and hardship.  The fact that all, bar one member of their family group make it through that holocaust seems miraculous.  Although the writing may not rank as the very best in literary terms, I felt compelled to keep reading.  This is a story that stays with you, long after the last word is read.  

    

(Extra: while the author/s detail the atrocities of a despotic, genocidal, regime it is done in a more sobering, factual tone without “glorifying” the very real horror or the gore of the events taking place.  Beheadings, mass murders, the horrors of slavery, an account of gang rape, the desperation and vulnerability of fleeing refugees.) 

Picture Post March 2018

I'm still a little short of time to post yet, but still wanted to share an NZ picture post :)

Our favourite local lake to walk around

The other side of the same lake.

Our house build is at this stage.  We're all learning so much.

The start of narrowing down books for Daisy to read this year. 

Homeschooling Boys Through High School ~ Archive Post for me :)

I'm nearing the end of educating my high school 'boy'  - who is actually a young man now - and yet topics like this one still hold great interest for me.

• SS #23 The Nitty-Gritty Guide to Homeschooling High School Boys  (with Cindy Rollins)
• Circe Institute (topic: boys)

These topics sound encouraging/interesting, so archiving them here also:

• SS #01: Preventing Burnout Through Levity   
• SS #20: Mothers, Don’t Let Your Methods Grow up to Be Systems (with Karen Glass)

Card Crafting , Colouring, Art and Turkey

Card crafting met school stationary this year.
Daisy and her friend, Fleur, enjoy card crafting and Fleur decided to get creative with covering her schooling exercise books this year and crafted these:

Aren't they lovely (!) and much more appealing to use than just plain ruled exercise books.
Daisy, and I, thought they were so pretty that she put some of last years calendar pictures to work on her exercise books too :)

Daisy likes to cover notebooks, and send them as small gifts to family and friends, here are a few of her recent creations.

Jazzed up 3B1 notebooks

This one is my current favourite

 A few of Daisy's current card creations:

The student diary she customised for Jay

Colouring in while she listens to audiobooks is a favourite pastime for Daisy; the following are out of the colouring book Be Still and Know That I Am God.

Thank you cards are an old fashioned observance that never goes out of style! Handmade ones from a friend's children... so lovely to receive!

The same friend has very artistic children, her 10 yr old created the following lovely works of art for us.  So talented!  The tractor, coloured pencil, piece was a gift to Dn.

And her, then, nearly 6 year old drew the next gorgeous 'fridge art' picture for me. I love it!

One of our turkey 'babies' feet started to deform and cripple up so we had to use the plaster trick on them... which makes him look like he has duck feet :-)
Crippled feet can be painful for the bird and as soon as we straightened them out with plasters he was happy and chirpy and racing around.

Critter & Pet Post ~ Dec 2016

♥ Snow White.  2005 to 30-11-2016 ♥

We've found, out of all the breeds of chickens that we've had, that our Japanese silkie bantam made the best pet.  Snow White was the most placid chicken, and wasn't fazed by kittens trying to leap on her,  little children picking her up at odd angles,  nor the dog racing past her at full speed barking. We had her for 11 years and will miss her 'bullet proof' demeanour in our back yard.

Jade and Hoodie (love the hair do ;) )

Chess.  Seal Point Burmese. LOVES cuddles.

Chess & Penny (Penny is a Tabby marked Burmese)

Leroy.  Our much loved Bichon modelling his new jacket

Elsie.  Tabby.  Begging to have Leroy's dinner

 Don't be fooled by the sweet slumber - this cat is the most mischievous cat we've ever had - she's always where she's not supposed to be, leaps out on anything that is walking past her hide-y hole, spends huge amounts of time trying to "get" the pigeons as they come out of their coop; and, she bites !! to show she loves you.  Daisy thinks she's wonderful.

Royal Palm Turkey chicks.  First day in the sunshine ♥

Emperor Moth just hatched.

These moths never fail to amaze me; after being in it's hard cocoon for 2 years - which was sitting on my kitchen knick-knack shelf - this fellow started tapping his way out.  Once the moth was out  I popped it outside, where the cats wouldn't get it, so it could dry off and strengthen.

L to R : Bach, Beethoven, Mocha, Mozart

 Our four new calves (wieners) above, just arrived.  They are so sweet and friendly.

Pinto.

Fr: Tom, back steer is Burt

Daisy named some of last years calves after the trolls in the Hobbit... they definitely sport the very troll like booby expression.

“You’re a booby,” said William. “Booby yerself!” said Tom.”   Tolkien  

(I couldn't get a picture of William, he's a very shy boy and doesn't like the camera.)

Possible Literature Guides for 2017 Onwards - Post for Myself :)

http://www.smarrpublishers.com/moodle/course/category.php?id=22   individual lit guides
http://www.penguin.com/services-shared/teachersguides/
http://www.softschools.com/literature/
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/
http://www.pinkmonkey.com/index2.asp
https://www.gradesaver.com/study-guides/A

Essentials in Literature 9   (Payment needed)

Already Own

• Greenleaf Literature Guides :  Ancients,  Medieval,  Early Modern
• Invitation to the Classics ~ Louise Cowan
• British Literature (Sonlight 500)
• NZ English  (assessment prep)     Level 1, Level 2 (use as a writing outline with lit studies), Classical Studies Level 3

• Well Trained Mind (book) writing ideas
• http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/subjects/english/annotated-exemplars/ 

Random Pet Post ~ June 2016

This post will only interest pet loving people ☺

Hatched December 2015

 From a cute ball of yellow fluff , above, to well grown, in just 4 months

These Royal Palm Turkeys do create chaos in our back yard ;-p

Notice the pure white one to the left, extreme rear, we're not sure what breed she is.

 Count the Cats

This one is for Tracy :-D   

Lady Penelope, aka Penny, (tabby marked burmese) and Chess (seal point burmese) often snuggle (??) up this way.  Penny is rather Garfield-ish, and it amazes us how Chess just carries on sleeping when she flops down on top of him

Study Skills 2016

Popping these links here, so we can find them easily later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9LBUf1NzU0

http://www.lbcc.edu/LAR/studyskills.cfm 

Gallipoli ~ At Te Papa

Should you be wondering if it's worth it to go and visit the ANZAC's Exhibition at Te Papa museum.... it is.

Source

 Private Jack Dunn.  Read about him on Te Papa's Blog 

A friend of mine encouraged us to go.  Since we were fortunate to arrive at a time when the museum was quieter, were able to go through the exhibition at a slower pace which allowed us to enjoy all the exhibit has to offer.  Click on each picture on Te Papa's Gallipoli page to read more about each snippet.
We came away with a deeper appreciation of the hardships our ANZAC men and women went through; and, were totally impressed with the amazing Weta Workshop displays.
Here is a documentary tie-in to the exhibition.
(We didn't have to pay to see the exhibit as we arrived after 10am.)

Christmas Post ~ Gift Ideas for My Teens

This was originally destined to be a seriously pre-Christmas post , as I was trying to create a let's -get- organised mood, but never got around to posting it until now.  I'm archiving this here for possible ideas for next year also.

Dn and I have long had the mindset that significant gifts we purchase, or make, for our children have to have a purpose; and it needs to be something they will continue to use and enjoy for a good stretch of time; not just 2 weeks and then stuffed in a cupboard and forgotten.  However, with Christmas not every gift needs to be significant; some are just given for shorter, or temporary, enjoyment ☺.

Most of the ideas beneath are not super costly - nor do they all require money; here are some idea's we're thinking of for our children for this year.... and a few we'll be implementing.  I'm also including ideas for stocking stuffers.

• Edward's Menagerie book with a select of natural yarn
• Edmond's Cook Book (Daisy)
• Artist Quality Colour in Pencils
• Plastic Modelling Kitsets, paints and paintbrushes (Jay)
• Books  :D 
• Nice journals to write in (both our children like using these)
• Board Game (not sure what though)
• A 'small' something, as in not costly, from an Antique Shop
• A really nice Wall Calendar  (like this or this)
• Hobby Magazine (relating to their interest... for those shorter of cash and who frequent 2nd hand books sales like we do, 2nd hand finds work well too) 
• Pocket Knife
• Tools  (cooking, handcrafts inc woodworking, mechanical, garden etc)
• Glasses cleaner & cloth (both children wear glasses)

Vouchers for:

A: driving practice with dad
B: sewing time with mum (includes all the material and notions needed)
C: games of their choice with mum (hoping it wouldn't be redeemed on Monopoly games)
D: a day off chores
E: learning to cook a favourite dish (Jay would like this)
F: extra computer time
G: gourmet ice-cream
H: printing photos at a photo centre
I: Wild Bird Seed
J: Stores of interest (Bunnings, Hunting & Fishing, Spotlight, Art Supplies etc)

Available at Countdown

• A few Audio books of their choice
• Novelty socks
• Daisy would like to gifted with a whole Sally Lunn, or Boston Bun pictured above,  for herself (grin)  & I may have a try with this recipe ... it's made with cold mashed potato, as opposed to yeast.
• Special summer fruit (mangoes and cherries... or South Island Apricots)
• Day trip of  'their'  choice
• Vouchers for Pizza (shop brought pizza is a treat in our home)
•  It's a bit of a Christmas tradition for us to put some bottled drink in the stockings (the fancy fizzy in glass bottles, like Bundaberg Ginger Beer or Lemon Lime and Bitters, Macs Feijoa & Pear, Sparkling grape juice ... this year Daisy asked for Coca-Cola as this is not a beverage we usually drink ;-) )
• and then there are the standard options like chocolate, lip balm, hair gel, skin cream, fancy writing cards (masculine ones work well for young men that need to/want to (have to☺) write thank you cards... include postage stamps)  and etc...

Mother Culture ® ~ My Way

Mother Culture [1] is a term used by many Charlotte Mason appreciators, yet I'll back up a bit for any unfamiliar with that term; Brandy of After Thoughts blogs about the term, Mother Culture, more succinctly than I could; and Karen Andreola writes about Mother Culture ®  in her book, A Charlotte Mason Companion , on her blog,  Moments with Mother Culture ® or Homeschool World in Mother Culture, and on Mother Culture and You.

For me Mother Culture ®,  has become mothercraft - a space where I,  a mother,  am purposefully displaying towards the children my life long desire of working towards crafting myself - with God's instruction, guidance, and help -  into becoming more as a believer in Christ and as a mother/wife/woman/sister/friend/student.  Some of my mothercraft time involves handcrafts, things that are quietly restful and restorative,  along with areas of self education that are challenging and require focused effort on my part. 

Mothercraft is an aspect of our family's home educating life style that I mull over at regular intervals - especially during the summer holidays, and how to put it in to effect for the year ahead .... and then keep it in balance.

Self educating, nurturing hobbies, or pursuing delight led interests I may have is not the area of life I want to be over focusing my time and energy - and dollars - into to the detriment of our family's greater good.  For me mothercraft has to compliment what Dn and I are continually working towards: A Christ centered family that is also enjoying, as much as we can, our journey through the growing up years with the children - and quietly working towards (trying to ;) ) preparing each one of us for the time when the children are wanting/needing to live life as adults away from dad and mum. 

Before I roughly outline the approach to mothercraft I've taken over the years while home educating the children,  I want to add that I'm gaining a delight led education in many of the subject areas the children are learning in also. During my own schooling years History was a 'put 'em to sleep' boring subject - not so, it's all to do with how it's presented; story format or a dry, boring, set of fact and figures to memorise and regurgitate for exams later.
Another bonus of educating  my children at home has gifted me with the opportunity to go right back and start reading through lists of wonderful books !, including many unabridged classics I'd never been exposed to - books from pre-school level right through to where we are now; finishing off reading through works written during the Early Modern Times (1600-1850) and starting to read through literature from Modern Times (1850 to present).

The list beneath is just an indication of some of the things I've focused on during mothercraft time:

Younger Years

While the children we're young I purposely chose the areas of mothercraft to develop that would compliment the age and stage of the children.

• Focus on more in-depth studies in the scriptures (bible) (this often follows on from sermons I've heard).
• Time spent expanding my culinary skills; cooking and baking from a wide range of cookbooks and dvds.
• Sip reading books of poetry.  LOVE poetry.
• Developed a love for fine quality picture books.
• Painting 'with' the children..... 
• Tried to flower garden. That was a flop!  Flower gardening and me are definitely not a love match  :D
• Personal growth and education.  I chose to read through many books on biblical based womanhood (as a wife) and parenting, and, home educating to up-skill myself.     The French/Haitian proverb Little by little the bird builds it's nest is one of my favourite, and I certainly get to live it out in my life; A huge amount of sip reading went on during those early years - little bits of reading would be scattered out over the weeks so that I could get through a much-wanted-to-read book.
• A handcraft I can pick up, and lay aside when necessary.  Right from the little years I've been slowly knitting up a few fancy squares each winter to eventually make a knitted patchwork blanket ... we'll get there little by little.

Middle Years

• Continued with more in-depth studies in the scriptures (this often follows on from sermons I've heard, or bible studies Dn leads).
• Expanded my computer skills.
• Started a blog and learnt how to create notebooking/craft pages for the children to use.
• Cooking.  Continued to expand my culinary skills.
• Still read, and listened to talks, on biblical based womanhood, parenting, and,  home educating.
• Completed the next few stages of an extramural study (with my little by little mindset).
• Worked on refreshing myself in the area of math.
• Listening or reading through classic literature.
• Started using my rusty drawing skills again.

Much of my mothercraft time, during these middle years, involved Daisy - she'd see some of what I was doing and join in too. Osmosis is such a powerful thing!

Teen Years

• Continue with more in-depth studies of the scriptures (as mentioned above).
• Read, and listened to talks, on biblical based womanhood, parenting, and, home educating.
• Cardmaking, & art.
• Upskill in sewing.
• Gardening (That means tending my teeny tiny vegetable gardening. I enjoy it very much!)
• Cooking.  Continuing to expand my culinary skills
• Continue to work on up-skilling myself with higher level education.
• Continue to expand my computer based skills with online courses.
• Listening or reading through classic literature.
• Put my rusty hairdressing (dressing long hair) skills back into practice.
• Working with Dn to upskill ourselves in our hobby farming project.
• Work towards completing the remainder of my extramural study.
• Update extra: during the later teen years we began building a home on our farmlet, this ended up becoming a self-build.

And etc... 
Mothercraft for me is a life long journey.
Wondering what Mother Culture ®, or mothercraft looks like for you? 

[1] Mother Culture ®  is now a registered U.S trademark