What we've been up to {and a peach cobbler recipe}

{Packing}

{Schooling}

{Playing with favorite toys...while we should be packing)

{Hanging out with friends}

{Baking - after finding three quarts of peaches in the pantry} 

We're moving Thursday.  We're putting all of our stuff in storage and camping at a local RV park for (hopefully) a few weeks while we close on a house.  We're kind of excited.  I'm hoping there will be less house work?  We'll see.  After weeks of chaos, it's nice to have a plan.  I told a friend at church yesterday that I don't really care what the decisions are, I can pretty much live with anything, but I really struggle when there isn't a decision made.  

The chickens will be staying here until we actually move into a house and the owner's children are going to take care of them for us.  We have a friend who is going to take our dog and another friend who is going to babysit our "orchard". 

The cool thing about packing is finding things that we've lost or forgotten about.  Like the four sketch pads I found in some nameless youngest son's room, or the boys dress shoes that don't fit anyone and yet we still have them in our closets, or the last of the peaches that I canned last summer in the back of the pantry.

The peaches were a treat and we made cobbler using our favorite cobbler recipe.

{Peach Cobbler Recipe}

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

2 cups whole wheat flour (I used freshly ground soft white wheat)

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/3 cups milk

fruit filling (I used a quart of peaches, sometimes I use a quart of dewberries)

Melt butter in 9X13 pan.  Mix other ingredients except fruit.  Pour butter into batter.  Pour batter into pan.  Pour fruit filling on top of batter and bake 350 degrees for 1 hour. 

You can leave the butter in the pan and then just pour the batter in and then the fruit on top if you want to.  It will make for crispier edges, but the butter won't get mixed throughout the cobbler.  I've done it both ways and no one ever complains. 

For more great recipes check out Tasty Tuesday.

eggs...eggs...eggs

The Rhode Island Red hens have started laying!  Phoebe and Benjamin are collecting 10-12 eggs a day.  They are brown and the Barred Rocks and Buff Orrpingtons will also lay brown eggs.  But we did adopt some hens from a neighbor and I think that 4 of them might be Americanas and if they are we'll have a few green eggs mixed in with the brown.  We should know in a couple of months. 

breathe::pray::do

one year ago today

"Breathe" is what I texted my sister the day of her bridal shower when many little things tried to overwhelm her and zap her joy.

"Breathe" is what I tell moms when the stress of caring for the blessings tries to turn the blessings into a burden.

"Breathe" is what I tell my friends when there are so many things that must be done, all equally important, that life become paralyzing. 

With that "breath" comes the ability to stop the crazyness that goes on in our minds.  It is what at times allows me to then pray and "cast my burdens upon the Lord."  And then after that, I have a much clearer picture of what I need to do next.  Maybe not what I need to do tomorrow, but what I need to do right now.  Then I can put blinders on and just do what truly needs to be done first. 

We are in the trenches of school, packing boxes, looking at houses, drama and co-op starting, coughing and fevers, Eagle Scout Court of Honor and trying to stay present and enjoy my many blessings.  So, I'm not going to be as present in this space for the next 4 to 6 weeks.  I need time to breathe, care and, of course, work.  I will be popping in a couple of times a week but probably more with pictures than with words. 

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. (Amanda Soule)
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

planning our school without lesson plans

disclaimer:  Ths post is in no way intended to offend someone who writes lesson plans for her homeschool.  We each need to do what is best for our own family and for my family it is best to not have official lesson plans. 

This week is a great example of why I don't write lesson plans.  I've had 3 sick children (another child was sick for the previous week and a half), we're packing up our house, we're still looking for a place to move although we've put a offer in to buy a home and I've had insomnia.  I don't write lesson plans because I could never in my wildest dreams plan for a season like the one we're having.

When I first started homeschooling I just kind of did my own thing.  We read a lot, did some math and writing and we were all good.  Then I met real homeschoolers.  Homeschoolers who spent the entire month of August reading through their curriculum, planning out the school year for each child, making grade sheets and report cards.  I felt like a complete slacker and very inadequate to teach my child.

I mean, Christian was getting older, he was going into second grade, for goodness sake.  If I didn't get on the ball with some planning, he might never go to college.  So, I got out the math (Miquon Math) and decided what lessons he would do on what days.  I did the same for our Five in a Row, for reading, handwriting, our together Bible reading.  I planned our days off.  I could tell you in October what we would be learning in March. 
The problem was we never made it October.  One day in September Christian struggled with some math and we needed  to slow down.  Then I got sick and didn't do the Five in a Row or Bible reading or anything else for 2 weeks.   I couldn't just change the dates because math got done some days and so did handwriting and reading, just not on the same days. 

I was so overwelmed, I had no clue what to do.  Carl said, "Just do what you did last year."  Oh, please, (eyes rolling) don't you know that you're supposed to have a plan?  As we talked I realized that I did have a plan, I just didn't need "lesson plans". 

So, what is our plan?  Well, it depends on the child and the subject. 

For subjects that have numbered lessons like math, spelling, grammar and handwriting we just start with lesson 1 and then lesson 2, etc.  It doesn't really matter if lesson 1 was done on Monday or Friday in September or January.  We aim to do one lesson each day we school.  If a child is sick, it's okay, he can take off of school and the rest of us can continue on.  He just picks up where he left off when he is feeling better.  There's no feeling like your behind because you just keep working through the lessons until they are done.

Our family does participate in a local co-op on Thursdays. On Mondays I remind them that they need to have their co-op work done too.  I usually don't know what the homework is unless they ask me for help or it is a classs I'm teaching.  Again, there's no need for me to write lesson plans for co-op work. 

For our together time, Bible reading and Rip the Page we aim to do these each morning as we start our school day.  Having our together time first thing seems to ground our day.  For Bible reading we just pick a book of the Bible and read and discuss a section.  For Rip the Page we just do the next section.  I thought about skipping around in this book but then I'd have to write it down.

Our history and science is divided into units and we aim for a unit a week.  Since I'm teaching the science this year at co-op, I will have to make sure we stay on track with the syllabus. 

I also make a syllabus for each subject that my high schoolers are taking.  I have target dates on it but if they miss a day it's okay I don't have to rework the entire plan. 

I have a very simple student planner that I picked up at WalMart that I write what I need to do each day in. This is for home, school, co-op, etc. Now, I don't include things that we do as part of our routine anyway so you won't find do dishes or laundry or any of the above school stuff unless I need to buy something for a project. I might write that I need to focus on cleaning a certain room this week, but that is usually decided the week before not 6 months before.

So what about you, do you do lesson plans?  If so,  what do you do when life interups?  If not, how do you plan your school time, or do you?  I'd love to hear what's working for other families.