Another week gone by

Just a few notes about school. We finished weeks 23 & 24, India. The book about Amy Carmichael was excellent. Even the children found it interesting. Reading it gave us good insight to the customs and beliefs of India.

One of the things we did while studying India was to make "beautiful jewel inlaid boxes." We used air dry clay and some "jewels" we purchased at Walmart.

I think I mentioned that we have been watching the Olympics. I love how Daniel and Leah are recognizing the flags from the other countries we studied. Daniel liked the snowboarding half pipe competitions. He would so love to have a snowboard or a pair of skis. Leah and I liked the figure skating.

In science we studied mountains and their ecosystems. We did some volcano experiments that Daniel absolutely loved!

Tomorrow we are off to China. Leah has been waiting for China. For some reason she is very interested in it. I've got a whole new basket of books from the library that we have already been delving into.

Now I will tell you a bit about the weekend. Brandon called me Thursday night to say that he was planning to come home and bring his friend, Riley, who shares his apartment. They were planning on doing some snowmobiling and shooting. Riley is a very nice young man so I didn't mind at all.

Riley came to church with Brandon yesterday. Since it was fourth Sabbath we had potluck and an afternoon program with specials and readings. I think it was a good informal time for him to visit our church.

After church Brandon had another friend come over. Dan lives in Valley City. Brandon had met him in his first year of college though we had never met him. Alex, our cousin, came, too. Of course Daniel was outside with the big boys while they shot guns and rode the snowmobile. It looked like they enjoyed themselves. After we enjoyed some frozen pizzas and root beer floats the young people all went to town for some bowling.

This morning I cleaned the ashes out of the wood stove. I've discovered if I use the ash pan under the stove it doesn't create the dust in my house like it does when we use the scoop it into a big pan method. I do have to clean the ashes out either every day or every other day. I take the ash pan outside on the back steps and dump it into the big pan we use for ashes. Once the ashes cool Tim dumps that somewhere outside. I have to make 3-4 trips to get the stove cleaned out. I leave most of the live coals in the stove to start a new fire.

Now I am getting geared to start getting my house cleaned for spring. I didn't want to start the cleaning until we were done using the wood stove for the season which could be awhile yet. Now that I won't have all that dust to dirty things up again I can start doing some things now.

A few weeks ago I cleaned out a bunch of books from my back room which is beside the wood stove area. It is so cluttered back here I can't stand it anymore. I decided we only needed one set of encyclopedias. I had a lot of books I had got free at the library. Tim hauled five boxes of books to the Salvation Army. Before I put things back I washed the shelves. Already it looks better back here.

I want to go through the boxes I have on the top shelves. Most of them hold knick knacks that I can probably give away. I hope I can do it. I want to get rid of some of my things so my children won't have to do it some day.

Leah is up and dressed but all the men folk are still sleeping. She is playing nicely with her little house and Littlest Pet Shop animals. But I should get something out of the freezer to make for lunch.

Computer Problems

It has been awhile since I have posted. The reason is that last week Wednesday my computer quit working. I took it to a shop in town that I had previously taken it. Then we picked it up on Friday afternoon. I never did get to talk with the man who fixed it so I'm not really sure what caused the problem. He did have to restore the operating system. It cost me a big bundle of money that was all for labor.

I was so excited to get it back and even got all the cords hooked up right as I had labeled them as I took them off. Boy, was I disappointed. Everything looked different. And most of my programs are missing so I will have to take it back to the shop again. Some things I have slowly been able to figure out and put back to normal. One thing that did not work was Internet.

At first I thought it was a problem with my computer. Finally I called our Internet provider. She had me do some tests on my computer and thought it might be our dsl box. Now one of their workers would have to come out and check it...more waiting! Thursday morning the repairman called and said he would be here in 1/2 hour.

It took him longer than that. I guess he had some trouble on our roads as they hadn't been cleaned. By the time he got here I had found that the problem was in the phone jack. All that was wrong was a wire had come loose! I'm sure Tim could have fixed that. But the repairman did find a problem in our line somewhere that was causing a loud humming noise on our phone line. So it is good he came out here.

The last two days have been busy with school, house work, and cooking but I have tried catching up on my email and favorite blogs. It is nice to be able to do that again.

I also wanted to say that I have been enjoying watching the Olympics.

ECC Weeks 21 & 22

It's hard to believe our study of Saudi Arabia and that part of the world is almost finished. We have read or looked at all the books in our book basket and found them to be very interesting. We learned a lot about Islam. One thing I learned that I didn't know was that there are no permanent rivers or lakes in Saudi Arabia!

In Science we have been studying man's impact on the environment, endangered and extinct species, pollution, acid rain, and global warming. We will be doing an experiment on acid rain. I need to get two identical small plants. One we will spray with plain water. The other we will spray with a vinegar water solution (acid rain.) Daniel said, "Poor plant!" He already knows what will happen.

Here are a few of our previous science experiments. There is no growth on the sweet potato, yet. But I know from the other potato plant (or should I say tree?) to give it some time. As you can see the plant has grown over the top of the measuring stick. Which means it is over 2 feet tall now.
Last week in art the children decorated some little boxes with pictures of flowers cut out from a seed magazine. We were supposed to sprout some seeds and use them as a "No-Ruz" centerpiece. But we just did the boxes.

This week they wrote on clay tablets. They used no bake clay, rolled it out, and made designs on it to mimic ancient writing. They really seemed to enjoy that.

Last week we finished our read-a-loud book about David Livingstone. We found the beginning of the book very exciting and inspiring. David literally left his heart in Africa. He worked hard to try to end slave trade and had a real love for the people and they for him. When he died his African companions embalmed his body, buried his heart in Africa, and carried his body all the way to the coast so he could be buried in his homeland.

I was a bit disappointed reading the last part of the book. I felt David pretty much abandoned his family. He married the daughter of another missionary in Africa. In the early part of their marriage she and their children went everywhere with him. Later he sent his wife and children back to Scotland to live with his mother. He didn't even see his youngest daughter until she was five years old. I can understand being cautious for their lives as there were diseases and dangers living in Africa. But it was discouraging that he felt it more important to try to find an inside water passage in Africa, which he never did, than to take care of his family. That's just my opinion.

We have started a biography of Amy Carmichael. Today we are going to make a picture of a camel and write interesting facts about camels on it. Next we will be off to India.

I best get going so we can start our day.

A Fun Night

It has been a busy few days. But when isn't it busy? We continue to do school each weekday. Once Daniel remarked, "We should take a snow day!" I reasoned that as long as we are at home we don't need to take a snow day. He agreed. I guess it just sounded good to him at the time.

School went really well this week and we completed all our assignments in a timely manner, even art. I don't know why I don't like doing art or science experiments. I think it is because I am a visual learner. I would rather read about it or watch someone else do it. For the most part the children do like art and the experiments so we do them and I try not to let on that I am less than enthused about it.

Leah continues to read without being formally taught. I have just been having her learn as http://www.mfwbooks.com/ suggests for preschoolers. We have the preschooler package that this company sells. It is mainly Lauri Toys, http://www.mfwbooks.com/preschool.htm with ideas of games to play with the toys by MFW. Plus she is a quick learner. That always helps, too.

Daniel, too, is doing well. This week in Singapore Math 3B he was learning pounds and ounces. He found it wasn't as easy to convert ounces to pounds and pounds to ounces as the metric system was. Too bad our country didn't adopt that system instead. At least he is learning both.

A few weeks ago Dan from SpellQuizzer contacted me on my blog. He designed a spelling software that he now sells. You can go to his website http://www.SpellQuizzer.com and check it out. He gave me a free download of his product. I will be writing a review on my blog soon. I need to have Daniel use it a bit before I write about it. I have to say that I do like it so far. Also Dan will give a free download to one of you who reads the review and comments on it. So check back about this as I plan to do it soon.

Last week we got tickets to Monster Jam in Fargo for Saturday night. On Friday Leah came down with a cold. It wasn't too bad. But on Friday night she was feverish most of the night. She and I stayed home from church. I do get a little fearful when she gets sick especially when she gets a fever as it was only a little over a year ago when she was very ill and hospitalized with pneumonia. We thought that Tim and Daniel would have to go to Monster Jam without us.

Daniel felt so bad that I wouldn't go. Tim and I talked and decided if Leah's fever didn't come back and if she seemed better we would still go. By 3:00 she was doing really well, no fever and barely any runny nose. So we all left for Fargo.

Before the show we ate at Chili's (which wasn't very good.) Brandon and his friend, Riley, went to the show with us. It was a nightmare trying to get into the Fargo Dome parking lot. It took us 1/2 hour to park! They really need to have a better system. Their parking lot wasn't cleaned out and the snow was at least 6 inches deep. We had to park way back and trudge through a lot of snow. Leah was the only one wearing boots. The rest of us got wet feet.

By the time we got into the Dome we were about 10 minutes late for the show. But it was worth the wait. I loved the sound of power from those big trucks. You could feel the vibrations. My favorite part was the racing. Two trucks would race against each other at a time. They would start on opposite sides and go around and over the track at the same time. You could see who was ahead as there was a center line. It was amazing to see the trucks flying through the air. One truck did a wheelie and tipped over. The driver didn't get hurt and was able to compete in the "Free Style." They also had motorcycles doing tricks for part of the show. We all enjoyed it and would like to go again.

This morning Daniel got out Dustin's old monster truck, The Claw. He is having fun playing with it. On this video the truck didn't make it over all the cars. But it can and does!

Snow Forts and Fun

Sometimes I feel bad that our younger kids don't have grandparents that can spend time with them like our older kids did. Or that they don't have aunts and uncles who are interested in being with them. But then I am reminded that they have a "Grand Dad" who lives in Oklahoma who tries to come up here once a year, pulls his RV, and stays right here on the farm with us, taking them fishing, shopping, and out to eat at Burger King (yuk!) where Mom hates to eat! He never turns them away no matter how many times they come out to his camper.

They have a "Great Aunt" who likes to talk to them and have them at her house. She gives them cards and presents and makes them feel special, lets them eat candy, and watch cartoons on her tv.

And they have older siblings that most children their age don't have. Older siblings who are strong and good looking and have nice sporty cars, who play with them, throw them in the air, and wrestle, who listen to them read, take them sledding, and snowmobiling, who have provided them with a nice brother-in-law who plays games with them and makes lego trucks, and who love them like only brothers and a sister can.

Then I realize how blessed they really are.

This weekend our son Brandon, 20, came home for the weekend. He lives and works in Fargo but comes home as weather permits. We love having him here as we miss him. On Sunday he fired up the old snowmobile and took Daniel and Whitney, who had stopped in, for a ride pulling them on the toboggan. It looked like fun but my back is too bad to enjoy that fun anymore. That's one time having older sibs comes in handy.

Brandon always did enjoy the snow. He started digging out a "fort" in one of the snow piles. I laughed as I watched Daniel standing on top of the pile throwing down snowballs and then hiding on the other side. Occasionally Brandon would take a break and throw some balls at Daniel. He scooped out a big cave that Daniel can stand inside. As he got to the point where he could fit inside he would pile the snow at the entry and Daniel would scoop it outside of the cave. It was good to see them working together. Not all children have someone with the energy to do this for them. Daniel and Leah have been playing in here all week.



Then Daniel dug out a smaller cave for Leah to play inside on the right of the bigger cave. He says, "She just loves it!" It's neat that he is learning from the example of his older brother to do something nice for his younger sister.


Daniel made a "window" in his cave.

Last week in our African study we learned they eat sweet potatoes and yams. For a science project we were to try to grow a sweet potato in a container. It said to get some rocks, wash them, and put them on the bottom of a container without holes. I thought, "Where am I going to get rocks this time of the year? They are all buried and frozen under the snow!" Then I remembered Walmart sold them. I thought it was worth $3 to just buy them. The potato is supposed to grow some nice vines. I hope it does.

Look how tall the potato plant grew in just a few days! Each day it would grow about 2-3 inches. Now the growth has leveled off. It doesn't look nice and bushy like a plant would that is growing outside. But it has been fun to see that it can grow inside.

This week in art the children made some nice boxes. I haven't taken pictures of them, yet, but will get to it soon.

Yesterday we went to town. I had a chiropractic appointment and got my back adjusted. It was nice to have Whitney ride along with us. Before we left town we ate at Pizza Ranch. It was a nice treat.

Tomorrow Whitney and Ryan leave for a week in Hawaii!!!! I'm so excited for them. When they got married last year they didn't have time to take a long honeymoon as calving was approaching. So they just went to Minneapolis for a few days. Ryan said they would take a real honeymoon after the fall harvest and before the new season of busy work. It's nice to see him be a "promise keeper!"

We have tickets to the Monster Jam in Fargo Saturday night. Brandon and his friend, Riley, will go with us. I hope I can stand the noise. I bought some ear plugs and stuck them in my purse. I'm sure that Leah and I will need them! I just know that Daniel, Brandon, and Tim will enjoy seeing those big trucks and all the tricks they will do. It should be a fun evening.

Lots of Pictures

It has been so long since I have been able to post pictures on my blog so I have a surplus of school pictures and thought I would just put them all on here at one time.

This is from our study of Germany. The Germans use pressed flower in their art. So we pressed some flowers we bought. I don't like spending a bunch of money on art projects but did find some inexpensive ones as well as some cheap frames at Walmart. I really like Daniel's finished picture!

Leah's is unique...

Last fall for science we planted a potato in this pot. I didn't think it was growing but got too lazy to throw it out. Then a couple months after I had planted it I noticed some growth!! This picture was taken January 19th. The plant is now over two feet tall!

This is our rain forest experiment from when we studied South America. I have not watered it since I planted it months ago. It shows how water is just recycled in a rain forest. It is always moist in there and the plant could use a new bigger jar as it has grown to the top of this one.

This is one of our African art projects, a colorful basket made from squares of fabric.

The children made some murals of African animals on the Savannah. Leah's...

and Daniel's...

In this video Daniel is explaining how we play the geography game. We play twice a week in geography class. So far we have 4 boards that we play: North America, South America, Europe, and Africa. This week we will add Asia. It really has helped us learn the countries.

Warm Morning

I was finally able to post some pictures on my blog. These are from a week ago Saturday after we had snow and before the wind came up early Monday morning. I took a walk down the road a bit as it was so warm and still outside. The woods looked so beautiful with the frost and snow on the trees.



This is the road going north. It was hard to tell where the road was!



This was the road going south.

Here I am on the road looking east.

Later the sun came out and melted a lot of the snow and frost on the trees and power lines. We were happy that we didn't loose power.

This is a short video. It was hard work walking through all that snow and I am a bit breathless as I had hurried to the house to get my cameras and back again to the road.