It’s Been A While

I know it has been quite sometime since I last wrote a blog post, not that I didn’t try it was my internet not allowing me on to WordPress. Stinks I know.

The last half of  2017 brought many changes to my household to include sending all of my school age children to public school, the have previously attended a private preschool and were homeschooled. So that was one heck of an adjustment for my oldest daughter and myself. While they are at school I was lost on what to do with myself other than go back to bed for a few more hours with my toddler. I started volunteering at our local food pantry, help has been desperately needed there as most of the volunteers are at least 65 years old or older. One of our volunteers just turned 94 years old, I can only hope I can look as good and be as active as she is at 94.
Volunteering takes up two mornings a week and the occasional extra day when we have our food deliveries, I have enjoyed volunteering and giving back to my community. I even bring my toddler with me while I volunteer, she keeps the ladies entertained on those morning.

Another change is buying a farm, my husband and I are in the process of buying our own farm, while we haven’t closed yet we have taken over the care of the farm and animals that live there. We won’t be moving for a while as the house will need a large amount of renovation to it, so look for those renovation blog posts hopefully starting sometime in April or May.

That is all I have time for, I hope each and everyone of you have a blessed day,

~Kristen

Updating Children’s School Desk

Last September my husband and I bought this child’s school desk for our now 4 year old to use for school work and coloring as his older sister already had a desk I had updated the same way in the same color. We bought this treasure at the Springfield Antique show and Flea Market Extravaganza in Springfield Ohio for a mere $15.00

As you can see this desk was in pretty rough condition rust wise and need some TLC which I gladly gave it.

We whisked the desk over to the family farm pole barn for a good sanding while the children played with the farm kittens. I used an electric sander, so the whole sanding process took less than 15 minutes.

Sanding really cleaned it up quickly, don’t you think?

Once this beautiful was completely sanded I wiped it down with a rag to remove any particles from the surface before painting.

I then with the a little bit of help from my children covered the seat and a few other area’s with painter tape. I used a spray paint and didn’t want to get any on the seat, back or desk surface.

A well covered seat kept all of the paint off. Once the desk was sanded and taped up I had to wait a few days before I could paint due to time constraints and the fact I had to go buy paint which was easily attainable.

The final step took a day to achieve, after 2 coats of paint and 1 1/2 cans of gray spray paint. An adorable desk is brought back to life and is ready for its next student.

     

Until next time,

~Kristen

Top 10 Reasons Why I Homeschool

I live in a county where homeschooling isn’t well known, which has been interesting to say the least about the social stigma’s that has come our way. So I am going to give you my top 10 reason why I homeschool.

So why do I homeschool?

1. I disagree with the common core teaching styles and refuse to put any of my children through that.

2. The school district I live in has very few good teachers that actually (gasp!) teach, many of them are teaching their students how to pass standardized testing they must take at the end of the school year. I have talked with many parents and students alike about it, one student moved to another school district through open enrollment and as a Junior was behind in her math not because she is bad student because she was never taught something that most schools teach in 7th grade. She had to have a tutor to get her up to her grade level in math, that took one whole semester to do so. Thankfully her new school was able to do that so she will graduate in the spring.

3. I want God to a part of our school day, Oh my goodness did I just say God. Why yes I did. Christ centered learning is what we do here, from our daily devotional to our unit study God is a part of our day.

Now to the most dreaded question any homeschooling family gets: “What about the social aspect of public school?”

5. Most homeschool families are fairly active in group activities like homeschool groups, 4-H, Girl/Boy Scouts, Youth Group, Play dates, etc. My children learn to interact with not just children in their grade level but people of all ages, I would love for you to have a conversation with my 8 year old. She loves to talk to anyone and everyone regardless of their age or social standing.

6. Don’t push your all unsocialized kids are shy thing at me either, I’ll point out that there are public school, private school and charter school students who are shy to yet I don’t see you talking about them.

7. School starts when I say it does, which is usually between 8:30 and 10 am, I am not a morning person so getting up and getting kids dress and off to school complete with a lunch box is totally not my thing.

8. What is this get dressed thing do you speak of? We have been known to wear pajamas all day if the mood strikes and we are on a roll with school, who wants to stop to get dressed raise your hand?? Anyone?

9. School is fun, yes I said it. Learning should be fun and interactive, when you make learning fun that is the stuff your child will remember.

10. I want to be in charge of what my children are learning, not what is just taught in the classroom but about every day life. I want my kids to be kids and keep them naive until they are ready to handle grown up situations.