Return to Reading...Ahhhh

Funny how motherhood changes us in ways we never expected.  The biggest surprise to me was that I no longer read voraciously. I still wanted to read and needed to read, but it was causing unexpected trouble in my life.

When I realized that I was so frustrated at my kids for interrupting my reading time, I decided to take a break from reading my own books. I can assure you that I've read countless books to my children over the past 10 years. And, finally, my children are all old enough to enjoy hearty "real" books now.  I very much enjoy the time I spend reading to them. But, I still long for my own reading.

I've decided it's time for me to get back to reading just for me - sometimes. 

My personal reading goal for 2015 is to read 24 books.  In my pre-mommy life that would have been a laughable goal - easily finished within a couple of months.  At this stage in my life - mothering, working full-time, starting a new "school," and homeschooling our children - this goal seems huge, and I am just barely staying on track.

I finished my latest 2 reads at the end of April just in time to keep me on track for my 2 per month pace.


I read, for the first time, A Wrinkle in Time.  Umm, I don't get the excitement over this book (for the record, it is not my preferred genre). I'm glad I checked the classic off my list and I'm glad it's done. I will likely not read others in this vein.


A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was a completely different experience. If you have not read this - just go do it!  It was fabulous. I usually prefer non-fiction, but this was meaty enough fiction that I didn't feel like I was wasting time. I started reading this book on a flight to Arizona and I couldn't put it down until I finished (except for required meetings, work, and child-rearing).


I am thrilled that I am on track to meet my reading goal. I am excited about the great books that I get to read over the next 8 months.

Do you have reading goals or books that you consider "must reads?" Share them in the comments.

Beef Straight from the Farmer

Occasionally I get puzzled looks when I say that I'm going to pick up 1/2 or 1/4 of a cow.  We buy our beef in bulk from a local farm that raises grain-fed beef with no hormones, steroids, or antibiotics.

Keith at Otter Creek Farms is our supplier. He also sells at the Farmer's Market in Richmond on Saturdays if you'd like to try his meat before you buy in bulk. I have never purchased from him at the market; so, I'll walk you through our purchasing process.

Placing the Order

When our freezer is low on beef we contact Keith (or rather he usually texts us to ask if we're ready for more) and tell him how much we want to order.  Usually we get 1/2 a cow.  That lasts our family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) about 9 months.  Sometimes, like last week, he only had 1/4 available from what he had planned to take the processor.  So, we ordered 1/4 and he has us on schedule to get another 1/4 soon.


Once he knows how much we want, we do a "cut list." Sometimes he takes our cut list and sometimes we talk directly to the processor, Foothills Country Meats. If you know the cuts of meat you usually buy at the grocery store, this is a simple process.  If you are are not sure how to cut the mean, the folks at Foothills are very helpful and explain options and make suggestions.

Here is our cut list for the beef we picked up yesterday.

What you see there is that we prefer steaks packed with 2 steaks per package and we want them 3/4 inches thick. We want our hamburger in 1 pound packages.  Apparently my husband ordered the liver, but not the heart or tongue (it may be that the folks ordering the other 3/4 of that cow beat us to the punch).

Further down on the sheet, you see that we want chuck roasts that are 2-3 lbs each.  Of the chuck roasts available we wanted 1/2 in hamburger, the same with Arm Roasts - 1/2 was made into hamburger.

Our brisket and sirloin were cut in half.  Our Ribeyes are not boneless.  We did get ribs, but not New York Strip or beef tenderloin (it may have been a choice of which of those 3 - but I Mike was the one who talked to them this time).

We did not get cubed steak or stew meat, but we did get round steak.

Some of our options are limited by the fact that the cow was split between 4 families.

Once we order, we wait for Keith to let us know which day he'll be back in town with the frozen meat. We usually get our beef about 1 - 2 weeks after ordering - depending on when Keith takes cows to processing.

Pick up

 Keith texts me the day before he picks up the meat to let me know his planned schedule and the rendezvous spot - that was fun to say!  We usually meet him in the evening at the AgCredit building on the bypass in Richmond.

Once there we load up our boxes and write him a check for the entire order. For 1/4 cow I get two large boxes of meat. In our case, one box had all of our hamburger and the other had all of the other cuts of meat.

 At this pick-up we had 24 lbs of ground beef.

 Don't let the "not for sale" labels scare you. Those are required because as an individual without a permit I am not allowed to sell the meat.  There is nothing sketchy going on here!

The beef is packed in vacuum sealed bags and frozen before we pick it up.

Here is a list of everything we got.  I did not measure the weight of each steak or roast (but you have the general dimensions from the cut list).

6 Chuck Roasts

1 Brisket

24 lbs ground beef (more about the cost later, but for reference at $4/lb at the grocery this is $96 worth of meat)

1 small flank steak

1 rump roast

4 Round Steaks 

4 2-packs of T-bones, 1-1 pack (remember the cut list - we wanted them packed by 2s, but obviously
our share didn't have enough for that last pack)

2 Sirloin Steak

4 Ribeye steak packs (2 steaks per pack)

4 Packs Ribs

1 Sirloin Tip Roast

2 Arm Roasts

Pricing

We write one check to Otter Creek when we pick up our meat.  They take care of paying the processor directly.

When you place your order there is never a specific price given  - just a general estimate because until the cow goes to the process we don't know exactly how much it weighs.

Here are our expenses for this 1/4 share.

We pay the farmer $1.75/lb of the live cow.  Our share of the cow (1/4) was 262.5 lbs = $460.00

Foothills processing charges were  $74. Those charges were based on the 1/4 of Animal slaughter cost ($7.50), and $0.36/lb hanging weight for processing, cutting and packaging, at $51.48.  Then we paid a "split fee" of $15.

Finally we pay a hauling fee to Otter Creek (taking the cows to the processor, and returning with meat), $50.

$460 + $74 + $50 = $485.00

It is interesting to compare live weight (1050 lbs) and carcass weight, which was 572.25. Apparently for 1/4 this means we got around 143 lbs of meat.

$485/ 143 lbs = $3.39/lb That's a bargain!
ETA: That 143 was hanging weight. I still don't know exactly how many lbs of beef, but I still think it is quite a bargain considering the list of what we got.

If you have questions post them in the comments!

Workboxes the Hale Way

Many homeschoolers use a "workbox" system to keep organized and on task. I first learned about workboxes and variations of them while reading homeschoolers' blogs and forum post. Sue Patrick is the developer of the system. 

I have not read Sue's book, nor have I read her website in depth.  Most of what I know about the system is based on descriptions and photographs of various workbox systems I have seen across the web. So, my understanding of the system most likely differs from yours and from the original intent.

From my understanding, the system is designed to help children work independently and know what is expected for school each day. One goal of the system is to assist the homeschooling parent work with multiple children, who may all want attention at the same time. This system gives them a way to keep moving forward with their school work without depending on an adult to tell them what to do.

The system works by the parent places the child's (or children's) assigned work for the day in a series of boxes, trays, or baskets and the student works through the trays. Some families have the children work through the trays in order, other families have a more relaxed method and encourage the children to do them in any order they prefer. There are usually tags of some type for the child to indicate that the box is complete. There are also tags to let the child know if it is something that is a "work with me" activity or if it is an independent activity.

Due to our current school space, I could not get a set of boxes or trays for each child. While shopping at the office supply store I found an excellent solution for our family. Plastic folders. The colored ones can hold up to an 8 1/2 X 11 sized paperback/workbook type of book.  As you can see in later photos, in addition to the inside pocket with the snap closure, there is a back pocket that can hold several pages.

 

The clear folders are much larger and can easily accomodate a textbook and a notebook, pencils, and other items.

Each child has a set of folders, and I have some "family school" folders as well (seen below). The family folders include curriculum/lesson plans, books we're reading together, and any maps, worksheets, or other materials we need.

Each child has a set of clear and colored folders. Kenna's are purple. Inside each folder is the work she needs to do for the day. For example, one purple folder has her math workbook and pencil. The other purple folder has the grammar book, and paper or pencil if we need them for the day. 

Her large clear folder holds the All About Reading Level 1 materials. That folder can hold the instructor's manual, the student worksheets, and the reader - with room to spare.

I store Kenna's materials on the top of the counter in front of all of her school materials. Her desk usually is covered with projects and toys; so, keeping them with "my" stuff makes it easier for me to find what we need to do. The two stacks are for "completed" and "not completed."  

 

Morgan's books and notebooks are stored in this oversize milk crate. She has pink folders - that hold the work that we do together, and clear folders that are independent work. We often do some of the independent work together, but those things do not require me to be directly involved.

At the start of each day, I put the stack of folders that Morgan needs to work on that day out on her desk (or as seen below, on the table).  As I rotate between children Morgan can work on the independent activities or do work that is mostly independent. When the other two children are busy with work, I work individually with Morgan.

As Morgan finishes work from a specific folder she puts all of the materials back into the folder and puts it in the crate. This gives her a sense of satisfaction because she can see the amount of work diminishing as she works.

It also provides me a quick visual of how much work she has left to do for the day, and which folders aren't completed. When I look at the stack, I can easily see if I need to work with her or if she has independent work left so I can finish up with Kenna and Moxen.

These folders have the same benefits of trays or boxes because they can be picked up and carried to other areas of the house. If the younger children are being too loud doing their work, Morgan can carry the folder to a different room of the house. At other times, I sometimes pick up a folder and take it and the child to another room to work together.

Each folder has everything the child needs to do the work in the folder (except the math folders that do not have the manipulatives in the folder). So, folders with writing assignments have pencils, paper, books, questions, instructions.




When we do not finish Morgan's independent work in the morning, we just pack them into a bag and take them to grandmother's house. Having the folders helps us to ensure that the work all comes back.

Virtual Book Club

I saw a post about A Jane Austen book club recently.  I've joined it. I'll admit that I've not read most of these books.

I'm looking forward to seeing what I've been missing.

Feel free to join yourself.

(https://www.facebook.com/groups/1433762100185721/) or to this post: http://gidgetgoeshome.com/2013/11/23/announcing-the-motherhood-jane-austen-book-club

Typical Daily Schedule in the Hale Homeschool

I've read posts on discussion boards and answered posts on discussion boards about how we actually "get school done" when both my husband and I work full-time. Well, it's no simple feat; so, I thought I'd outline it for us - and maybe start keeping a more regular blog again.

So, as a first in hopefully more blog posts to come. I'll share the schedule that's working for us right now.

In addition to the "official" school things listed below we read aloud daily to the kids; I count that as school time. We read a wide variety of books throughout the days when we're home and every night at bedtime ("good literature," books about history, math, and science as well as picture books and cheesy stories that make me cringe). 

Mondays: I work all day; Mike is does a million things while keeping kids all day.

Kids attend a 1/2 day co-op. Morgan has 2 science classes and a PE class. Kenna and Moxen have "class" that consists of activities and snacks around a theme. They are in different classes this year. Moxen is still "iffy" on the whole co-op thing. He has good things to tell me about it most of the time, but when asked about his favorite part it is either "when Dad came to get me early and lifted me over the gate," or "when it was time to go home, we got to leave."

Other "school work" on these days consists of domestic life skills training (cooking, cleaning house/rooms, reading books, laughing with dad and running errands).

Until the season ended a couple of weeks ago, Kenna had soccer on Monday nights. Morgan takes dance classes on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays: Mike works all day everyday (8:30 - 7:30 PM); I work 11:30 AM - 9 PM, Noon - 6:30 PM, and 11:30 - 5:30 PM respectively.

I work more by kid than by subject these three mornings a week so that I can keep my sanity and get something done.

So, the 4.5 year old, Moxen, gets his momma time first (20-45 minutes typically). I pick up where we left off and usually direct the order of activities so that I can leave him working on a "project" while I move on to the middle child. When he's done with his lessons/projects he can work on the computer (Starfall, or looking at family pictures - which is one of his favorite activities) or play quietly by himself.  We're currently working through Moving Beyond the Page, Level 4-5 and All About Reading, Pre-Reading.

Kenna's 1st grade required daily subjects with me are reading and math (this typically takes her about 1 hour between bathroom breaks, running around the room while reading words, etc.). She's working through All About Reading Level 1 and Miquon workbooks for math. She gets to pick the order. It varies by day and I NEVER know which will be first for the day. Doesn't much matter, but I've finally stopped being surprised by what she chooses. As I finish up with her, she can work at the computer (Starfall, Aha!Math, or some other random "educational" activity), play quietly alone or with her brother. I encourage the two of them to go outside to play (as it keeps the inside calmer for my oldest - who gets overstimulated easily).

Finally,  I move on to working with the oldest. I spend about 1.5 hours working with her during the morning "school time." Before we get started together she generally has completed at least one or two of her independent subjects (Life of Fred, Aha!Math, Cursive handwriting, and assigned reading). If the youngest ended with reading and we used the letter tiles from AAR then we usually start with AAS- we just started Level 3 - (can you tell we're big fans of their programs?) because then I don't have to put away and then 20 minutes later get the board with tiles out again.



If Kenna ended with math then we just kind of look at the stack of "with mom work" (MBtP Literature guides, AAS, assorted writing, vocabulary and grammar based activities) and the stack of "sometimes with mom" work (MCT grammar work, history timeline, science readings and summaries), and get started. We finish the "with mom stack" daily together, but the "sometimes with mom" stack means that if we don't get it done it goes with her to grandma's house for the afternoon and she does it independently. That is on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On Thursday's she's off the hook because there is a sitter who takes them to the library, park, or pushes them on the swing out front. Morgan does the rest of her independent work at grandma's house or in the morning before it is her turn to work with me. I usually do history based read-alouds at bed time, but we fit them in at others times when we get the chance.

Then if we've still got time on our school mornings, I read our science or history (we rotate days). The youngers listen in and participate in experiments as they're interested, which is most of the time. They also take turns answering questions about what we've read. These are part of the history information that goes on Morgan's timelines; so, she always listens in during these times. Usually Kenna acts the whole thing out as I'm reading.

Fridays: Mike and I are both work all day; I arrive home around 5 PM he arrives around 8 PM. 

Are not really school days; however, Morgan takes piano through a free program at EKU. The Friday sitter loves to bake; so, the kids get a good deal of cooking in on those days. Usually Moxen is the cook, but some days the girls join in as well. Last week I came home to an apple pie. Are you so lucky?

The sitter takes them on playdates, to the park, or just outside to play.

Saturdays:

These are our long school days. We do our mornings very similar to the short days above, but over lunch or in the afternoons we complete science and history. Sometimes I have the younger 2 work/listen together or I set them each up with the "materials" to explore and play and then do the experiments with each independently. Sometimes we all gather round and try to do them together. I find it easier to separate the kids for projects/experiments unless there are plenty of manipulatives to share.


Sundays:

I try to make Sundays, which are our family's only day with everyone home, nature days. We like to get outside to hike, bike, play, explore, or just hang out as a family. Besides reading with the kids we don't do any formal school on Sundays. Often the kids will work on their own projects during those days or will play computer games or watch movies (sometimes educational sometimes not).

Since my youngest 2 like to work with others around and like to make lots of noise while working, this rotation schedule really works well for our family right now.

Eventually I plan to combine the younger 2 in many of their lesson times when they're a bit more independent and can work at the same time and place even if it isn't on the same lesson (especially for math, history, science).

Coming soon, updates on what the kids are actually learning and doing during their time.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Long time no post.

That's the obligatory response after my long absence. I've been over on Facebook posting snippets of our lives.

I had to come here to share some delightful things my kids told me today.

I asked each of the girls what they wanted to learn this year. Morgan started her list slowly, then Kenna went a mile a minute telling me everything she wanted to learn. Morgan picked up a few of Kenna's ideas and then became a bit more creative with her own.
I've given you their lists as dictated to me.

Best part is, that with few exceptions (owning a cafeteria), I think we can accomplish most everything on this list this year with the help of some friends and creative advertising (riding in a small place right next to or behind the pilot counts as learning how to fly a plane, right?).

Morgan's List - 1st Grade Learning wish list
Cook
about planets and the solar system
Middle Ages
Violin
read bigger and harder books
make a fire and put wood in it (from Kenna's list)
Cut down a tree too (from Kenna's list)
how to sew
learn how to fly a plane
make a basket
make a dress

ETA: The irony of the previous blog post where I suggested Morgan might request "War and Peace" and her 1st grade goal to "read bigger and harder books" is not lost on me.

Kenna's List 0 Pre-school learning wish list
Roller skate - Really!
cut down a tree
put wood in a fire and how to make a fire
how to read a giant big book (from Morgan's list)
how to put Mox down for a nap (I'd really like if she'd learn that!)
how to dress babies (Lilah Jack, look out here comes Kenna!)
write letters by myself
fix bicycles like Daddy - Really!
How to make a house - really, I'm not kidding!
fix an arm if it is broken off a little child or a baby or a toddler (I'm not sure where this comes from, and it makes me a little afraid.)
how to reach baloons if they are really high at the moon.
drive to America and drive a big giant bike
The Very, very important ones
Learn how to ride a one wheel bike - with a wheel in the front and not a wheel in the back
play basketball
own a cafeteria (Where the heck did that come from?)
how to sew (from Morgan's list)

Pizza the Great Motivator

I'm sure many of you may remember the "Book-it" program that Pizza Hut offers to schools as an incentive to get kids to read. Morgan is in the program this year.

October is the first month of the program for the academic year, and Morgan set a goal to read 5 books this month. These books are in addition to the books we read to her, and the book she reads to us at bed time.

A couple of days ago she choose a selection that was easy as pie. She had already read the book several times at bed time, but I let her count it on her chart and she dutifully wrote the title on her Goal Chart.

Today she read Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain. She has heard the book read before, but it is still a darn long book for her to read all in one sitting.  I saw her with the book this morning before I left for work. Later today, She came to her dad and told him that she'd read it and wanted to add it to her chart. He asked her to read it for him while he was cleaning up. She read the whole thing to him.

KapItI is proudly written on her goal sheet.

We better watch out, next month she may choose War and Peace!