Our Week in School

Since I haven't blogged about our school for awhile I thought I would do that today.  I have time to do that as we weren't able to get to church this morning.  The wind blew all day yesterday and plugged the roads in all four directions. 

In CtG Daniel is getting further along in the timeline.  We finished Exodus and Judges.  Yesterday he started in Ruth and read the first two chapters.  In memory work he has learned II Timothy 3:16-17 ("All scripture is inspired by God..."), the old testament books of the Bible, the Ten Commandments, and the 23rd Psalms.  He is having an easier time memorizing as his vision improves.

In history we study what is happening in other parts of the world parallel to the time period we are studying in the Bible.  I think we are finished studying Egypt for awhile.  This week we began to study ancient Greece.  By the end of this school year we will have studied up to the time of the Romans.

Daniel is able to do more work in English now.  Before we were doing most of his work orally.  As we are further along in his vision therapy he is able to do more reading and writing.  On Friday he had his semester review.  I was happy he remembered everything on the summary.

A few weeks ago Daniel started Singapore 4B.  So far he is working with decimals and continuing fractions which is good as he needs more practice in fractions.

In Genesis For Kids Daniel is up to Day 5 in creation.  He will be studying sea creatures and birds.  I really like the book.  It is just right for his level.

Daniel still struggles learning to write.  We are using Writing Strands 3.  I try to simplify and help where I can.  I hope this will get easier for him.

In music we have been listening to Bach.  Daniel is getting better at drawing.  In art he has been learning how to use shading.

We finished Treasures in the Snow by Patricia St. John for read aloud.  Both children really liked it.  We will be reading The Children's Homer by Padraic Colum for the next few weeks as well as The Trojan Horse by Emily Little.

In Kindergarten Leah will start week 19 R-r-rock.  We continue to love the work in MFW especially the science portion.  It is just right for a child her age.  We supplement with a bunch of library books mostly fiction on the topic we are studying.  The curriculum has some fun activities we can choose to do.

When we were studying Z-z zebra last week I drew a zebra on paper.  Leah painted the stripes on the zebra.  She usually loves to paint so I appreciate when there are ideas for her to practice that skill.

MFW will have a booth and some workshops at our annual home school convention in March.  I'm hoping I will be able to pick up my curriculum for next year there.  I have what I need for 1st grade but will need to purchase Rome to Reformation for Daniel.  I would like to get a foreign language from them as well.  They sell Rosetta Stone.

I was contacted by MFW as they want me to work at their booth during the convention.  I am really looking forward to that.  I will only be able to do that on Friday as we don't work on Sabbath but they were okay with that.  The convention is only a month away now.  It is always so nice to meet and visit with other home schoolers, look at all the different curriculum, attend workshops, and get a much needed boost in enthusiasm this time of the year.

My spaghetti sauce is smelling pretty good right now.  Leah is really looking forward to it as spaghetti is one of her favorite meals.  For me it is such a Sabbath smell as my mother almost always made it each Sabbath.  Since the meat and sauce could be made on Friday it requires little preparation on Sabbath.  We will enjoy it, I'm sure.   

 

Blizzard # ?

That is what I woke to this morning.  I took the video standing in my house with the screen door closed.  Still, the wind sounds horrible.  I had no idea this was coming.  When we watched the local news Friday evening we didn't hear about this blizzard for today.  I don't see how Tim will get to work this afternoon as it seems to be zero visibility and the roads surely must be plugged again.  

Last week a friend from church sent us a blizzard package.  In it she had some fun things for the kids.  They each got a puzzle and a coloring book.  Since they haven't been able to go outside and play much this past week as the temperatures are dangerously low they have enjoyed the gifts.  I found Leah especially liked the puzzle and was really good at putting them together.  When I was at Wal-Mart I picked up another 100 piece puzzle for them.  

 

I am really glad I went to town on Friday.  The plow came through on Thursday but it was so cold that day and I didn't want to be out driving.  On Friday I got up early and did my weekly house cleaning.  After the children and I finished a light day of school we headed to town.  It was windy and a little drifty but the roads were pretty good.

Before we left for town I was happy to get a call that day that my new glasses were in and ready to go.  After we shopped I stopped and picked them up.  This is my second pair.  For the first time I needed progressive lenses.  Those didn't work out for me.  So I'm trying a new type of lens and right now can't remember what they are called.  They are somewhat like a tri-focal but more modern.  While it is going to take awhile to get used to them I think they will work.

We did have church in Alfred yesterday.  It was the first time in a month.  How nice it was to see everyone and share a meal together.

A few weeks ago Whitney told us that our son-in-law, Ryan wanted to loan us a tractor for the winter.  If we would buy a snow blower for the back of it Tim could use it to open the road so we can get out of here.  Since Tim needs to get to work five days out of a week all the snow was getting to be a big problem.  We are so appreciative of this nice gesture.

Two weeks ago Whitney went with the children and me to Fargo for Daniel's vision therapy appointment.  On the way we decided to stop at the meat market in Valley City.  Whitney noticed some used snow blowers at a dealership there.  Ryan called them the next day.  They had two that would work on the tractor.  By the time Tim called that afternoon they had already sold one of them.  They are doing a good business in snow blowers this year.  But Tim was able to the other one.

Here is a not very good picture I took through my window of Ryan teaching Tim how to use a newer tractor and snow blower.  It is so nice for Tim to be able to go out and the tractor starts right up.  His old M takes about three hours of babying before it will get going on a cold day.  You can't really see the snow blower on the back of the tractor as the flash is reflected on the window.  Some of you might not know what it looks like so I will try to get a better picture of it.  The driver has to drive backwards when he uses the snow blower.

Stay warm and safe.

Another Stormed in Sabbath

I thought I would put up a few of our Sabbath photos.  I was so glad Whitney could join us for the day as again we were snowed in here.  She had to park about a mile away and walk to the farm as the road had some pretty big drifts on it.  But it was so nice to see an "outside" person especially her!

Whitney agreed to fix Leah's hair.  She used to do it all the time when she lived at home.  I just can't do the fancy "dos" like she can.

Leah all dressed up for a Sabbath at home. 

We had a nice lunch of home made spaghetti sauce I had made on Friday, garlic toast, salad, punch, and two desserts.  Whitney had said she would bring a cake.  After the wind we had on Friday I didn't think she would make it here so I made a pumpkin pie.  Her cake was something she made up and so delicious!

After visiting with us and playing Littlest Pet Shop with the children Whitney had to leave before it got dark as the roads were pretty drifty between here and their place.  Ryan didn't come as he was busy snow blowing roads and driveways for people who can't do it themselves.  Ryan's whole family had gone down to SD to see Ryan's sister and family for the weekend.  So all the farm duties fell to Ryan and Whitney.

Here's a shot of the road north of our trees.  Those drifts were really hard but not hard enough to drive over.

Here we are walking over the drifts as we hiked with Whitney to her truck.  Can you see her truck in the distance?

It took us awhile but we made it.

Here's a shot of our farm as we were walking back.  The sun was getting ready to set.

I found some cute pictures on my camera.  Leah loves Elly and I think the feeling is returned.

Our Elly.

One of these days I will get back to blogging about our school.  I'm kind of in a slump right now though we had a really great week last week.  The children are continuing to learn great things.  It was nice to have a bit of a break but good to get back into our routine.

Sunrise

Yesterday morning while I was out I got to watch the sun rise.  As it was so beautiful I went in for my camera and took a picture of it.

We are still snowed in here.  The plow has not come through to clean our roads.  Tim was able to get home Tuesday morning though he got stuck on our road.  It took him an hour to shovel himself out.  Since it blew the path shut again he can't get to town.  He had to take a sick day last night.  I'm hoping that the road will get cleared this morning as I have two appointments in town this afternoon.  And I am getting low on supplies.

School is going well.  I best get my students ready to start the day.

Happy New Year 2011

Tim and Daniel checking the sewer vent.  It was frozen.

Look at that snow!

Where's the road?  It's there going south.

There it is going north.



More snow for Tim to move.

It was a bright sunny New Year's Day.

Lots of frosting on those trees.

I don't think I will be swinging anytime soon.

Those drifts are pretty.

Those are big enough for caves.

I am so glad those storms are over.  We had a few problems during them.

Tim left for work on Wednesday with his bag packed as he assumed he wouldn't be able to get back home for awhile.  He stays at our son Brandon's house when this happens.

I had been to town on Wednesday and stocked up on supplies and felt I was ready for the storm.  Tim had brought us a good stock of wood so we shouldn't have to go to the quonset to get any.

We had our fire going good and went to bed early Thursday night.  Around 12:30 our smoke and carbon monoxide detectors were going off.  I could smell it.  I shut the bedroom door where the children were sleeping.

The smoke was billowing out of the wood stove.  Since the wind was coming out of the NNW around 40 mph and we have trees around that side of the house it created a down draft.  I felt the chimney.  It was stone cold even though the fire inside the stove was burning well.  That smoke had to go somewhere. 

All our windows are frozen shut so I opened both doors.  I did this until 3:30 when the detectors were finally silent. 

The stove was burning good.  Even though I had turned it up full blast and opened the damper and the door the chimney still wasn't hot.  I left the damper open and went back to bed.

At 7:30 the detectors started going off again.  By then the stove had burned down and it was cool enough for the furnace to kick in since I had the thermostat set at 65.  I suppose the air circulating through the furnace picked up some lingering carbon monoxide.  Again I opened both doors and left them open for over an hour.

There wasn't much we could do.  We couldn't leave.  We would have frozen outside.

This was a problem but I am so thankful we didn't have a fire burn our house down.  It would be an awful thing to happen especially during a blizzard.

When the children woke I asked them if they had a headache.  Neither one did.  I sure did as I was out in that smoke for quite awhile.

Even though the heat isn't as nice as the wood stove I was so happy to have the furnace to use.  I let the fire burn out and then cleaned the ashes out of the wood stove.  I would make a fire once the wind went down late Saturday.

On Saturday morning the furnace quit working.  Oh my...and Tim still is stuck in town.  I wasn't sure what to do or what I was looking for but I went downstairs to check it out.  It sounded to me like it was the blower had quit since I could hear the furnace make it's sound like it does before it starts to blow the hot air.  Then it would shut off before it would do that.  It kept doing that so I finally shut it off.

Daniel and I hauled the Eden Pure heater down from the school room so we could keep the living room warm until we could start a fire. 

Once they opened the interstate going west of Jamestown Tim decided to try to get home.  He made it as far as our first neighbor's to the north almost two miles away.  He said the drift going all the way down the hill was hard and four feet deep.  He wouldn't have made it through that.  So he walked home.  It was so good to see him.

Tim checked everything.  He thinks the burner isn't igniting in the furnace.  We will have to get someone out here once the roads get cleared.  Late in the afternoon he got a good fire going and the house is nice and warm now. 

It is good to have Tim take care of all these things.  He played cards with the children and I just relaxed.  He watched a movie with them.  He got them ready for bed.  It is so nice to have him home.

I think it is going to be hard to see him leave today.