By Lynn, on November 21st, 2008%
Yesterday was a big field trip day! All I can say about Noah’s Landing is WOW. It is truly an impressive family operation. A mom and her now-grown children have basically built an animal sanctuary over the years. There are exotic animals there that we would never have had the opportunity to see anywhere else. And believe me the animals are well loved and cared for!
We learned about llamas.
If you knew how much Princess of the Universe loves animals… Well, I’m sure you can imagine. She loved this field trip.
I dreamed about this animal, the donkey, last night. I’ll tell you why in a little bit.
Forgetting myself (and apparently where I was) I leaned in toward the fence at one point to get a picture. Almost immediately I felt warm breath and something nuzzling the scarf wrapped around my head. 
But would you look at this face. How could I be scared? Or mad? I’m just glad the children had food with them so that my fuzzy scarf was not such a disappointment.
As the children get into lines for our tour, the very nice and knowledgeable woman who runs Noah’s Landing shares the rules and some safety tips, i.e. How many fingers do you have? How many fingers do you want to leave here with?
I’m excited!! Are you?
Ohhhh, now I can tell you about my sweet dreams last night. The donkeys above are Sicilian donkeys. We were given quite a bit of information about them. Then I came home and read a bit in Matthew and different places about Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. I just slept really well last night and dreamed about a different landscape and a different time and a different way of traveling. There were donkeys there. Funny where we go in our dreams!
Legend has it that the Sicilian donkey is the type that was used to carry Mary on the long journey to be taxed and to where she ultimately gave birth. It is also apparently the type of donkey that Jesus would have called for not long before his death, when he rode into Jerusalem. The donkey is the animal of peace, whereas the horse is the animal of war. The legend says that the patient and lowly donkey had been such a good friend to Jesus that, even standing by at the very last, when the evening fell after Jesus’ death, a shadow of the cross was cast on the donkey’s back, leaving the mark of the cross forever. We were told that many years of breeding have allowed people to perhaps alter the color and size of this donkey somewhat, but that cross has never been able to be bred out. It’s the first time I had heard that story. I found it inspiring.
This ring-tailed lemur watched all of us walk away from its cage.
The serval cat acted like a great big kitten, climbing and playing.
I probably should have used my flash, but I wanted to capture this tortoise just as he looked, sitting under his warming light, with his wise eye looking at me. He tracked my movements with his head.
She is closing her eyes, though she was not scared at all. If only I could have gotten another picture with her eyes open, but my camera battery gave out. Sigh.
If you visit the Noah’s Landing website you’ll see that the list of animals is most impressive. There were many, many more animals that we met and learned about that are not pictured in this post. This was a long and informative field trip, one that we won’t forget for a long time to come.
Several other moms and children were taking pictures yesterday, so maybe I’ll get some more pictures soon – of things I was not able to photograph myself.
As far as school today, Princess of the Universe will be writing a journal entry in her nature journal about what she learned yesterday. She’ll be looking at the atlas to locate the countries and continents we heard about. Then, of course, is the standard math and spelling. It’s a work day for me, so I’ll be right here, but not doing as much hands-on, so we’ll pick back up with our rowing of The Raft in a couple of days.
We read another chapter in Caddie Woodlawn last night.
When Father or Mother made a decision, the Woodlawn children accepted it as final. There was very little teasing for favors in a large pioneer family.
Caddie Woodlawn
Have a wonderful Friday!
Lynn
By Lynn, on November 20th, 2008%
We have continued to enjoy fall nature projects here. They are things that are easy to do and don’t take long. We’ll have to move on to winter projects soon because the colorful fall leaves that were everywhere just a few days ago are now gone. We have had a couple of bitter cold nights here and the leaves have turned dark and mostly fallen now.
I did find a few bright red and yellow leaves for our wax paper stained glass project today. This idea is another one from Nature Crafts for Kids .
When I look up, I see what I think is my favorite tree: a crepe myrtle I planted a few years back. Crepe myrtles grow fairly quickly, have wonderful bark, and the leaves and seeds are so pretty in the fall.
We took two pieces of wax paper, about 12 x 12 each. First I layered a piece of newspaper over the ironing board. Next I layered one piece of the wax paper. Princess of the Universe then placed the leaves in the pattern she wanted on the wax paper, leaving enough space in between and around the edges for the wax paper layers to bond. We layered the second sheet of wax paper on top. With my iron on low, we gently ironed over the wax paper to fuse the two sheets. Of course you must closely supervise this or do the ironing yourself since there’s a risk of burns. Also, I suppose you’d want to wipe your iron off after it’s cooled down.
We ended up with a stained glass “pane” to hang in our living room window. It’s pretty when the sun shines through. This marks the last fall leaf project we’ll be doing this year. Nature Crafts for Kids has a nice section on why trees lose their leaves. We read it together and then Princess of the Universe wrote in her nature journal about it.
Then It’s On To Math…
Our large white board has been one of the most handy things I have purchased for math. It stands behind the armoir you see in the corner above. When someone does not understand something, it’s so convenient to have our large white board to work on to show examples of whatever is causing grief. Also, Princess of the Universe just thinks it’s fun. If she has a worksheet with not enough space to do long problems, I let her do the problems on the white board and then just write the answer on the worksheet.
Is there anything that makes math easier for you?
Lynn
By Lynn, on November 19th, 2008%
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year. I love getting together with family, which thankfully we have done every year and plan to do this year as well. I love the fact that everyone is together in the kitchen cooking and then eating and laughing and talking.
This year some of my family are coming here, so I’ve begun to put some of the clutter away (there’s more to put away yet) and get things cleaned up and ready for the big meal next Thursday. We did get our thankfulness tree done yesterday as planned and it is out where everyone can enjoy it.
I’ve seen several variations of this thanksgiving tradition around the internet and we are really enjoying incorporating this tradition into our own home in our own way this year. I first read about a thankfulness tree placed on a wall at Tenderhearted Daisy by Liane. Then I saw this really cute thankfulness tree placed on a wall at Homemaker’s Cottage and then another one at Little Stair Steppers. But knowing I don’t have a lot of wall space, I got the idea in my mind to use more of a real tree, as in branches! Lo and behold Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight put pictures of her gratitude tree up and had the wonderful idea of tracing leaves and making extras to hang on the tree. We are such bird lovers here, we used Dawn’s idea for tracing, but we traced birds for our tree.
I popped into a local thrift store yesterday and found this very heavy vase for just a couple of dollars. Can you believe they also had many large containers of potpourri made from pinecones and bits of nature? It only took 3 containers to fill up my vase, and at 99 cents each, it was just the right price. So for 5 dollars total, these are things we can get a lot of use from now and in the future.
I’m am sure you are noticing the tag that says “y’all.” Of course I am thankful for y’all, but that’s not exactly where it came from! My oldest son’s girlfriend was over last night and when I asked her what she was thankful for — so I could put a bird on the tree for her, she said in her sweet voice, “y’all.”
Yes, there’s a bird that says muffins. That was my 20-year-old son. But when the muffins come out of the oven, warm with their melted chocolate chips and a glass of cold milk close by, you might say muffins too.
I said I popped into a thrift store. You’ll never guess what I paid for this desk for Miss Priss! $6.99. Yes! Six dollars and 99 cents! It was very cold yesterday, but it was dry with gusts of wind all day. So this desk, spray painted in almond (mostly because that’s all I had), dried in NO time.
Now I need to find a very cute chair for her desk and she’ll be set! The tall cabinet in the corner came from a local antique store and is perfect for storing her art supplies. She has been needing a set-up like this for a long time.
Who wouldn’t love a cabinet like that? Next on the list of things to do for her room is to paint the walls a bright vintage green. Yes, that’s what she wants. I also want to make some new curtains and get her a big cozy rug. And of course that thrifted chair we’ll be looking for. Isn’t it fun to have projects to work on?
While I was waiting for the muffins to come out, I took a picture of the cereal I bought especially for our muffins this time. Very healthy and they made the taste and the texture even better (if that’s possible).
Here’s the recipe again, if you’re interested:
Chocolate Chip Bran Cereal Muffins
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 TBSP baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups bran flakes cereal (Wal-Mart has one by Great Value that includes whole grain wheat and wheat bran; there are actually many brands and many types of bran cereal that would work, based on what you like. The organic flax cereal above works great.)
1-1/4 cups low-fat milk
2 egg whites
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup of chocolate chips (preferably semi-sweet or dark chocolate)
- Stir together first five ingredients in a large bowl until mixed.
- Add cereal, pour milk on top and let stand for a few minutes for cereal to soften.
- Add the rest of the ingredients except the chocolate chips and mix with a mixer until well blended.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into muffin pans coated with healthy, low-fat cooking spray or lined with paper cups.
- Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until light golden.
Makes 12-14 muffins.
I know I’ll be making plenty of these for thanksgiving.
Are all of your thanksgiving traditions and plans well under way?
Lynn
By Lynn, on November 18th, 2008%
Though the air was biting cold yesterday, Miss Priss and I set out on our nature walk. We were sure to wrap well our scarves around our necks and cover our ears. The landscape becomes more barren here as winter approaches, but there are still many beautiful sights to behold.
I love the tall grasses in this yard.
How could we not notice these cheerful berries? Looks like something in the genus Euonymus.
Oh, I thought these seeds were lovely! I think it’s a type of clematis. I am so tempted to gather a few of these seeds and see what type of clematis will grow. These are at the edge of a property, creeping over the shrub line and toward the street.
Nature offers an abundance of things to study, any time of year. Do you have your nature journal and sketching pencils handy?
Shiver me timbers, this tree looks so cold and stern! It has personality. It reminds me a bit of the whomping willow from Harry Potter. Let’s keep our distance, shall we?
Bright nandina berries abound this time of year.
I love how the pretty yellow leaves contrast with the dark seeds on this Crepe Myrtle “Natchez.” I am reminded that tomorrow on our walk we need to find some handsome branches for the thankfulness tree we’ll be using throughout the rest of November.
Obviously the nature walk ended much earlier in the day. You’ve caught me hiding! I was just commenting to a reader yesterday that I have to remind myself occasionally which side of the screen I live on. Between having my work all on computer, surfing around looking for homeschool info and getting encouraged, and blogging, I could easily spend too much time on line. All computers were shut down early last evening and I disappeared from everyone to start a book just for me: A Redbird Christmas: A Novel .
It was a good day here. I hope you had a lovely day. Did you? What’s on tap for the rest of the week for you? Here, it’s a lot of animal and nature study as we continue our studies of The Raft with lesson plans from Five In A Row. There’s a great fieldtrip on the horizon. We are really focusing on math today and tomorrow. We will put up our thankfulness tree today. I have a couple of errands to run today and perhaps will have the chance to step in a couple of thrift stores.
Happy Tuesday,
Lynn
By Lynn, on November 17th, 2008%
Brrrrrrrrrrrr! It’s really cold outside this morning and it was cold last night. But I had a wonderful evening last evening, cozy and snug in my old house, writing out lesson plans and planning out the upcoming week. I’m very thankful that things seem to be getting back to normal around here. We got a VERY good report from the cardiologist on Friday, so things are looking up!
Happy Monday! I hope your week has started out on the right foot.
When I wake up on Mondays, it’s hard sometimes to make myself go to my work desk and work all day. I could easily get started doing little projects in the house and be content to mess around with house-related things all day long.
To satisfy the domestic side of me (which is my largest side, by the way), I do just a little something in the house before the work day starts. This morning I dusted and straightened a little area where I keep a lot of family photographs. Do you see the beautiful new tablecloth from my Five In A Row friend?
I lined the backs of the shelves with some retro-looking wrapping paper. I love the retro colors. Princess of the Universe loves anything Christmas-y, so she’ll love this.
We are continuing on with our reading of Caddie Woodlawn. We snuggled up last night and read a chapter.
 Caddie Woodlawn. With the Wisconsin big woods theme, goes along great with a FIAR study of The Raft.
We will also continue along this week with our study of The Raft, using lesson plans from Five In A Row. I have written out lesson plans for today using items that Princess of the Universe can do on her own.
I printed out some Caddie Woodlawn paperdolls from the Wisconsin History site for Miss Priss to have fun with this week.
I have a lot of nature activities planned for this week. More later. Off I go to type.
I hope you have a wonderful week!
Lynn
By Lynn, on November 16th, 2008%
I have posted 12 “new” old postcards over at Innately Gray.
Enjoy,
Lynn
By Lynn, on November 15th, 2008%
Sometimes when I’m out driving through my little neighborhood, I’ll think to myself, did I really spend that much time on line today? In comparison to real life (or IRL as we say on line) the internet seems like make-believe in a way. Compared to living trees with falling leaves, the little old lady crossing the street, and saying hello to the postman we know so well, the internet doesn’t even seem real sometimes. And yet, I’ve developed some profound friendships on line.
As I think about the complexity of it all, I remember a friend in the deep south who’s expecting and tired and I think a quiet prayerful thought for her and the baby. Or I think of a sweet friend up north who seems so much like myself and I wonder if we’ll ever meet in real life. Or I think of my friend in the midwest who deals with some special needs, as we do here, and I wonder how her day is going. The list goes on and on. In nearly every state in America there is someone I’ve met on line, whose life I know a bit about and whose well being really does matter to me.
Will I ever meet any of them? Probably a few of them. Will I ever meet all of them? No.
I wonder. Has the internet made the world bigger then? Or smaller?
Though I have to guard against spending too much time on line (simply because real life is full and important and I must take care of it), my on-line friendships have made my life richer.
Earlier this week I received a message from one of my Five In A Row friends. She had been to a yard sale where she saw some things that made her think of me and she wanted to send them to me. I was so touched. I also think it’s amazing that on-line friendships can grow to the point that you know what would appeal to someone and what would not.
So imagine my excitement when I saw this lovely package, especially after the last three weeks of hospital time for Hubby, doctor visits, an altered work schedule and not spending as much time on school as I’d like. The wrapping alone made me happy.
Yep. I’d say she has me figured out. The word “seeds” jumps out, and a sweet little poem about the morning glory. And be still my heart, is this a tablecloth and old crocheted doilies? And a grean tea towel?
Thank you so much! You made my day. You really did.
I had already been thinking about several threads and posts I have seen on line lately about what people put on their blogs and why. I tried to remember why I started blogging in the first place. I think I can honestly say it was because I enjoyed reading other blogs done by homeschooling moms. They encouraged me so much, I felt like it would be fun to share what we did here. Maybe it’s like this for many who blog every day, but for me blogging evolved into more than just that one focus as I began to make friends on line and discover that there were others who had very similar interests. I have exchanged letters with people on line. I have had phone conversations with people I have met on line. I have met in person a few people that I met on line first. I have e-mailed back and forth with readers and gotten to know them better. And this is not the first time that someone has sent me something very thoughtful that just reminded them of me.
I guess I just wanted to say thank you to all my on line friends and my blog readers and everyone whose blog I read. Thank you to my FIAR friend for the sweet package yesterday. Thank you.
Lynn
By Lynn, on November 14th, 2008%
Lately I’ve read some interesting threads on line about mommies having “me time” — whether or not they really need it. I think that is such an individual thing. I don’t have to be eyeball deep in “me time,” but I can honestly say that it does amazing things for my perspective to have just a couple of hours every so often by myself, away from my usual day-to-day activities.
Last night I had a little reprieve from all that goes on at home all the time. I guess it’s a bit paradoxical that what I did while I was out was directly related to everything that goes on here all the time, but nonetheless I got out for awhile.
I had ordered a couple of books from the bookstore and received a call that they were in. One of them was Little Oh . We are studying The Raft
right now and I just love the illustrations by Jim Lamarche. I wanted Princess of the Universe to have a few books containing his illustrations, not to mention that the story of Little Oh is a great one. We also have the book Albert , which is illustrated by Jim Lamarche. These books are all out for display right now for our FIAR study of The Raft.
While I was upstairs, I snapped this picture of one of the dressers in our doll house. Tee hee. Miss Priss LOVES animals, which is why our study of The Raft will probably carry on for longer than planned. I wonder if this is an indication of what her real home will look like when she grows up.
Actually, I did not focus solely on things for school while I was out, but I stopped by Whole Foods and picked up some thing that I really love. The Greens and Whey is something I drink every morning with milk. Yum.
The Bragg’s seasoning are really good, if you’ve not tried them before. This is the first time I’ve purchased the plain liquid Aminos because I tend to stay away from anything that says “soy,” but my husband’s heart health information says that soy can help him, so I think he might enjoy using this. The ginger and sesame dressing, though? We all love it. Love it!
So that was my “me time” for a couple of hours last night. I think it feels good to fix up a bit and just enjoy getting out, going in a couple of stores, perhaps buying something special (like my new wall calendar for 2009), and just being me.
What do you do for ME time?
Lynn
PS – I was excited to find that my total cholesterol has dropped 30 points over the last six years! Woo hoo. I plan to post soon about why I think this is so. I’m sure diet plays a huge role.
By Lynn, on November 13th, 2008%
I was so inspired by The Learning Room over at By Sun and Candlelight! It was just the inspiration I needed to organize my books. I have a lot of books. (Like no one would guess that based on the arm loads I come home with every time I go thrift store shopping).
At times I have had my books very organized, but in the last year or so they had gotten mixed in with each other — science mixed in with art books, math books with the poetry books. You get the picture.
A couple of Thanksgiving books and a bowl full of hickory nuts from a nature walk.
But finally. My books are in fine order! Dawn, thank you so much for sharing the pictures of your learning room. I think when a person is multi-tasking, as homeschooling mothers are, organization is beautiful and I needed a bit more of it with my books.
The shelf in the picture above holds our art books, learn-to-draw books, make-and-do books, craft books, and a few supplies, like our acrylic paint set. On top of the shelf I will keep one or two or three seasonal books.
Above is probably what I’m most excited about. It’s the nature shelf. Our science books are there too. Now when I need that book on the elements, or that book on tree ID or butterfly ID, or the book on weather, I know exactly where to go to find it. The top will be for showcase books, nature finds, and the bottom shelf holds sketchbooks, drawing pencils ready to go, and our flower press.
Or maybe this is what I’m most excited about. Three shelves devoted to Five In A Row. Yes.
This gets the cutest bookshelf award in my house. I’m a sucker for tiny little books. This handmade bookshelf that I found on sale in an antique store holds all the little books as well as some tea set pieces.
This is going to make lesson planning much easier. When I think of a book that I want to use, I can walk to a labelled section of books and have only a dozen or so books to go through rather than ALL of them.
Part of our US history-related books, above. Every section of books is labeled like this. It’s to help me as much as the children. As I add more books, another book case will be needed at some point and we’ll just move a shelf and expand whatever section needs it.
I just wanted to share my excitement over having all my ducks books in a row!
Lynn
By Lynn, on November 11th, 2008%
That little Wanda Petronski from The Hundred Dresses stole our hearts. We were longing to find her and speak with her again, just like Maddie was.
So Princess of the Universe awoke yesterday to a table full of bright pieces of paper and cardstock, colored pencils, glue sticks, the hot glue gun (she’s only allowed to use it with my supervision), and dainty little card embellishments.
I quickly drew a lady’s head and full dress outline on plain white paper. Then I traced a couple of extras for patterns. I glued her to a pretty piece of heavy paper. Now all of her clothes — dress, skirt and blouse, whatever you can imagine, can be cut from paper and glued on. She can have the fanciest dress ever! The spare patterns were used to cut around and get the “fabric” pieces just right. (Princess of the Universe and I agreed that the paper was our fabric.)
I took out several Victoria magazines and American Girl catalogs for inspiration for our clothes.
Miss Priss spent quite a long time — an hour or so, looking through the magazines, drawing, cutting and pasting. She decided not to use my pattern but made her own.
She really enjoyed this, and I don’t think she’ll forget The Hundred Dresses anytime soon.
Our two dress creations are hanging on the art line in the living room and we’re planning to add more through the week.
I can see this as a wonderful way to make homemade cards of any kind, either buying premade blank cards or making our own.
Lynn
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About Lynn
I am the mother of four delightful children: a 23-year-old son, a 20-year-old son, a 17-year-old son, and a bright and bubbly 13-year-old daughter. I share an apartment home with my 17-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter. My little home on the internet is called Rose Cottage because of my love for gardening, roses, and all things romantic and Victorian. Welcome.
I'm a North Carolina girl and I love sharing North Carolina links and information. I do medical transcription from home. My hobbies include making sweet little dolls from clay who are named and have their own stories to tell. I also make old-fashioned brooches. These are for sale in my Etsy shop.
For 13 years continuously, I homeschooled some or all of our four children, but the time came that our homeschool had to be closed. It was the end of a beautiful chapter in my life. I will always be a strong supporter of homeschooling and I will continue to review books and maintain my homeschool website, The Healthy Homeschool. The Players
Lil Ol' Me
Son Daniel, 23
Son, Big Joe, 20
Son, John, 17
Daughter, Michaela, 13
Annie Fatso Beagle
My Symphony
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
William Henry Channing
1810-1884
What You Do Sow a thought, reap an action.
Sow an action, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow a character, reap a destiny.
Contact Me 
I would  for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com
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