Farm Market

The kids and I went to our first local Farm Market. Nothing makes you want to eat your veggies like going to the Farm Market. Everything looks so beautiful and fresh!

Besides the vegetables, the kids and I had homemade pizza rolls, apple tarts, homemade chips and Salsa, and Detroit's famous, Evie's Tamales.

When I saw the green tomatoes, I had to make Fried Green Tomatoes for dinner.

I bought a basket full, and used THIS RECIPE. Instead of using cornmeal or bread crumbs, I used jiffy corn muffin mix.

The Fried Green Tomatoes were yummy! The tart fresh tomatoes with the sweet corn bread crust had these little beauties eaten up quick!

I'm planning a trip to the Farm Market next week. I think I'm hooked!

Our Homeschooling Day

We have been Homeschooling for over a week now and it has been going great. We are using the Seton curriculum. Our two oldest are enrolled and our 1st grader is not.

I read a lot about Seton and talked to a few homeschoolers about it. From what I gathered, you either love Seton or you think it's a bit harsh. I happen to love it. I was worried it would be to advanced but my children seem to be doing just fine. We are only on our 2nd week and haven't written any book reports yet, so I hope the good feelings continue.

I do think art appreciation is a good thing to have and my children do like looking at the art and learning about the artists but they need some more hands on fun art. I found this site I really like, The Incredible Art Department and the blog That Artist Woman, we will be doing the Fall Trees project.

Our days are going pretty much as planned. We have been starting school around 8:45am-9am. My first grader gets done around 12:30 (besides daily reading) my 4th grader gets done around 1:30-1:45 (besides reading and studying) and my 7th grader gets done around 2:30 (besides reading and studying)

Some people have been asking me if home schooling is hard and how do I do it with five children. I know people who do it with 10+ children. I am no hero!

Is it hard? No harder than any parent raising children and teaching them. You do need some discipline in place. The children need to know school is school and the are required to do what is asked of them. And I need discipline too. I need to get up and do it everyday and try to be cheerful about it. It's like anything, if you want to do something and enjoy it, it will be easy. I also feel Seton's curriculum makes it easy. There are a lot of ways to home school and many different curriculum. I like Seton because it spells it all out for me. Here is an example of Seton's daily lesson plans for 7th grade English.

How do I do it? My children have taken to homeschooling very well. Sure there are days that are not filled with sunshine and smiles, but that happens no matter if you're homeschooling or not. I count on my children to do what is required and they count on me to be an example of how the day should go. I guess I just do it. For me success has a lot to do with prayer. I pray for the confidence, patience, and grace to give my children what they need. No different than any other parent.

Watching my children learn and how they learn through home schooling is a big plus to me. My 7th grader was looking at art pictures in her History book. She wanted to know about the story that went with the painting of Judith beheading Holofernes. She also saw the painting at the art museum we went to. We found the story in the Bible (Which is in the Book of Judith 13) I believe my daughter said, "Judith is one bad lady." Bad meaning "tough" in tween language. :) We went from History to Art to Religion and Bible Study. I love that type of learning!

This has been our experience with homeschooling so far.

On to the new week, I can't wait to see what happens!

Staycation

My family and I had a wonderful week Staycation.

It was wonderful to have my husband home and be able to do everything as a family. I am so happy we had this chance before we started school.

We took the kids to the art museum. None of them had ever been before,they really enjoyed it. The little ones liked it too. My two sons loved the Knight armor and all the weapons. They pretty much were into any weapon displays the museum had. My oldest daughter was a fan of the American art. The other two were happy with the echo sounds their voices made in the museum. :)

We also went to the cider mill. Cider and donuts makes anyone happy. This mill also has a winery, that is something that makes moms and dads happy.

The rest of the time was spent at home being together. A fantastic week! I think my husband will have to take his vacation time right before school every year!

School starts tomorrow! I'm excited! Everything is ready to go. I'm counting down the days to our next field trip. :)

Wish us luck!