80 Miles Round Trip

Yes the round trip from our home to our home school group meeting and then back home is 80 miles. I know it seems like a lot and some days it feels like double that. I had thought about not going to the meetings anymore then I get reminded of how important they are. I also get to thinking about what we learn on that drive.

We learn things like this:
Time, distance, careers, patient, money, laws, reading, direction, manners, spelling, history, geography, language arts, math, science and my goodness, so much more.
On one of our little trips we watched men working on clearing under the power line. They were using heavy equipment and putting limbs into a chipper. We talked about why they were doing it, how they were doing it and how dangerous it could be.
On another of our trips we talked about the train that we saw. The cars on the train were full of coal. That started a conversation about electricity, coal miners, our planet and more.
Yesterday - oh yeah - yesterday!

Yesterday on the way home I saw smoke. I mentioned it to the boys and tried to point it out, but with the trees in the way it was kind of hard to see. We came to an area that is farmed and I could see it really well and pointed it out to the boys. As we drove we kept looking for it. We were getting closer and closer. Excitement was building. Oh my - it's in our neighborhood. What's really cool about is that MJ is studying about neighborhoods, helping and sharing (such as neighbors, fire departments and such). Oh the boys were all paying attention now and the excitement was getting more intense.

"MOM!!!" Yeah I know. It's getting fun now. I pick up my cell phone and dial 911. The fire was huge! It was running across the tops of the trees. It was burning on the ground. It was growing and growing. I'm on the phone with 911 and the boys are excited. The dispatcher was asking me question after question. I was giving answer after answer. Something you may need to know about cell phones - when I dialed 911, my cell phone was still on the tower that dials into another county 911 center. I was giving the address and the dispatcher was telling me that it didn't exist. I know I wasn't going crazy.

Finally - transferred to the right 911 center. I knew I wasn't crazy! LOL I've been a 911 dispatcher and I know how all this works. I should have known before the dispatcher ask me what county I was in. I was amazed that no one had called in this fire yet. It was pretty darn close to a house too. And get this - the house that it was close to had cleared some land, piled up the brush that they had cleared (right next to the woods). Now I don't know and I am just assuming, but who ever lives their had to have set that fire. They were actually inside the house, we found that out once the fire department arrived on scene.

Less than 5 minutes after my call to 911 the Forestry Department and the local Fire Department were there. I was very impressed. A total of 5 brush trucks, 1 Forestry truck and dozer, and one tanker truck showed up. One of the brush trucks was from an adjoining county and the tanker truck was from the adjoining county. The tanker truck was there to refill the brush trucks. The boys were able to see all of this happening. They thought it was the coolest thing and they could hardly wait until their dad got home from work.

What an exciting 80 mile round trip!

Boys Will Be Boys

Boys! I love our 3 boys. There is no doubt that "Boys will be boys"! But isn't that why we love them so. With all of the issues or problems or whatever you want to call it that JD (our middle son) has or reportedly has, he never ceases to amaze me. He has to be pretty darn upset for either myself or Superman not to make him smile. But generally, if we keep after it, the smile will peek out from under the frown.
We are gradually reducing his meds. Today I discussed this with his therapist (who wasn't happy about it), but then decided that it may just be time to reduce them and that is just what the therapist did. And - get this...The therapist ask when school starts and so on and so on...I told the therapist that I would be homeschooling JD and his brothers. Well with that said the therapist had to ask me why. Oh yeah, I told him why - peer pressure, bullies, crime, lack of one on one time and more. Making a long story short, when I got back home and checked the mail there were letters addressed to the "Parents of" all 3 of our boys. Here is a quote from the letter from our School Board - "Please only return the attached transfer application if you would like to transfer your child to Florida Virtual School or want your child tranported" to another school (I didn't list the school name). Look at the bold in that sentence. Yeah - I know, we all make mistakes. But really - from the School Board?! One would think that they would use spell check or something.

Today he discovered spitting out the car window. Sometimes I just have to giggle to myself. It's the kinda thing a parent does when they look the other way - that's only because we don't want the kids to see the smile on our face. LOL
Not only did he discover this new thing today, but yesterday he found out that when you put the hose nozzle in your mouth and then pull the trigger that your cheeks pop out and water sprays out your mouth. Oh yes - he just had to show me that trick yesterday. Funny thing is - when his cheeks pop out, his eyes get as big as saucers. They really do!

The last couple of days WW and JD have been helping Granny Karen move furniture, take out carpet and tack strips and paint the floor in her bedroom. They finally got half of the floor painted. I don't know why they are doing it in halves but that's what they are doing. Today WW, JD and MJ all sprayed their feet with spray paint and walked across the painted floor. Don't panic! That is how she wanted the floor done. I think it is a pretty darn cool idea. I guess over the next couple of days they will finish the other half. Once it's done I will have to go and see what it looks like.

Uh Oh! I forgot to call my sister yesterday. I know, I know! Today I called and there was no answer, but I did leave a message. Well - we left a message. The boys and I sang Happy Birthday on her voice mail. It was so cute, it kinda reminds me of the animals in Madagascar singing Happy Birthday. Hopefully she still has her sense of humor and will get a really good laugh at it.

Did I tell you about the ring tone that the boys wanted me to put on my cell phone? We listened to a couple of ring tones and the boys wouldn't have it any other way than for me to have "Bad Boys" as my ring tone. Now they laugh everytime my cell phone rings.

We did get to go swimming this week. Once! A darn thunder storm came up and out of the pool the boys had to get. Today is Friday and I finally see the sunshine. That was some thunder storm. LOL But that dosen't mean this was the last week of swimming. Summer isn't over yet. The rain hasn't slowed the boys down any at all. Since we havn't had any lightening I just let them play outside in the rain. What the heck, they would have gotten wet if they would have went swimming. JD thanked me over and over for letting them play in the mud all week. Summer camp is next week, it starts on Monday. This will be their last week of camp for the year. I will finally have a little time to myself. I'll probably be lost and not have a clue as what to do with my free time. Imagine that!

Homeschool - The Beginning

Okay, I admit it. I took the plunge. Yeppers. While the boys were at camp this week, I snuck off to the home school store and started asking questions and I brought home a catalog and a little starting point guide. I have just about worn out the pages on both tidbits of information. The boys found my guide and my catalog and they had all kinds of questions and really showed genuine excitement.

Today I took a friend to have a medical procedure done, had to have my mom pick up the boys from camp because I wasn't able to be there on time. What a blessing both ladies are. I called my mom and ask her to meet me with the boys so that I could run an errand with them. She met me and when she pulled up beside my car, the boys called "Hey Mom!". What a feeling. I gather them up and off we went to run our errand. Oh yeah - that was after I thanked my mom and told her to be careful and that I love her. The boys were so curious about where we were off to. We are off to the home school store. "Oh did dad give you money to buy our test"? "Yes he did, are you excited about taking your placement test"? I could hear a chorus of 3 say "Yes Ma'am". Now that's what I'm talkin about! I really think that their excitement cup runneth over. And that's a good thing.

While we were at the home school store the boys were on their best behavior. I was very proud of them (to say the least). Darn it - they only had one placement test package. No big deal though, I ordered 2 more of the packets. We are getting all set and ready for action. When we got in the car, our middle son claimed the test packet as his. He wants to take it now. Mr. I don't like school wants to get started, NOW.

The placement packets should be in one day next week. I am considering getting them all started on taking this set of test now. There are 5 test books in the packet, History and Geography, Science, Language Arts, Math and Bible. It is the LIFEPAC collection. I could start one on Science, another on Math and another on one of the other subjects. And when the other 2 packets come in, I could continue on from there. One of the boys wants to wait and do it as a team and the other 2 want to get started now. I will have to see how our weekend goes. I think I may just wait on the other books. Then again...I am anxious to get started - NOW.

Fun and Free

I think that I mentioned a couple things about me. I want to Homeschool our boys, however, I haven't quiet made the decision to Homeschool them yet. One thing that I have just started is that I am Summer Homeschooling our boys.
I started out with my 3 boys. Their ages are 9, 11 and 13. This Monday (yesterday) the 3 neighbor children joined us for class. Their ages are 7, 9 and 11. Our public school has all of the children in the following grades: 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th. So you can see the range of grades that I am working with. We all read together as a group. Even the younger ones read aloud in class. I have even assigned them spelling words that will benefit all of the age ranges and grade levels. They all help each other out and I try to get them to learn a little patience while listening to each other. It isn't easy but they are all trying and that is part of learning.

I have found some wonderful links where you can print out free worksheet. Our boys really enjoy working together as a group and working on their own with the worksheets.
Some of these websites are free to join, others thre is a fee. I find free worksheets and information on all of the links.

Find the 50 State Capitals.
Lots of Free items at School Express
Songs for Teaching
Free Math Worksheets
Great printables
Teacher Stuff
The online reading program Reading a-z.com
Connections Academy—the free K–11 public schooling program that students attend from home.
Sites for Teachers
Free Educational Worksheets
Learning Page
abc teach
Printable Certificates
Teacher Planet
Carl's Corner
edHelper.com

Also - I wanted to invite you to join me on Gather, a social networking site where people like us meet, talk, and stay in touch -- all for free. The content is great and ranges from politics to cooking, plus you can publish your own articles or photos and comment on other's contributions. We even earn Gather Points just by using the site! You can exchange your points for great stuff like books, CDs, wine, and vacations. Check it out! Hope to see you on Gather.

125 Pounds vs 1500 Pounds Times 3

I walk around my little 4 acre farm and I think of things to write about. By the time I finally get sat back down at the computer all of my thoughts are one big blob. LOL Could that be were the word blog came from? A misspelled word like blob. Just a random thought that went through the fog in my head.

I haven't mentioned the name of our children because the internet is not the safest place. I like the way Karisma from Down Under has talked about her family and the names that she uses for them. For my husband I use the word "Superman". Why? Simply because that is what he is to me and our boys. It isn't easy to give our 3 boys names because they are intersted in so much. Their interest include hunting, camo, guns, knives, fishing, 4 wheelers, critters of all sorts, football, baseball, camping, swimming, mother nature, video games, movies and so much more. If I think and pay close enough attention I suppose I could pin point one thing about each one. Now the question is, can I remember them. LOL Guess I better get to thinking and paying attention.

This morning as the boys went off to school, I decided to turn the horses out early. I put up the barrier (survey tape) across our dead end road, opened the gates so that the horses could go from our property to our neighbors property. I come back inside to get the laundry out of the drier and do a few other things inside. I hear our little beagle barking and stick my head out the door to check on her. I take a closer look and see that our horses have past the barrier and are now in another neighbors yard enjoying their beautiful grass. Oppsss. I call and I call and the horses just lift up their heads with a mouth full of grass and kinda grin at me. Silly little things they are. Little really isn't the right word for a 1500 pound horse. But it will work for now. Ok - what to do? Go to the barn and call and call. Didn't work. Grab the carrot stick and head over to the neighbors house. Aha - I got in front of them and headed them out the gate. Good deal! Nope - they go the wrong way down our dead end road. Of course they do, there is always greener grass on the other side. Now I have to cut through the neighbors yard and get in front of them again. I did it! They trotted back in the right direction, kicking their heals as they go. Oh they are taunting me. LOL Now that I have them on the correct side of the barrier, I put the barrier back up and start back to the house. And they taunt me some more. Our little filly just has to walk right up to the barrier and touch it with her chest. Then she keeps walking into it and stretching it and waiting for it to just break so that they can be free again. I head back toward her and she turns with the bright orange survey tape down her side and across her back end. Trots off kicking her heals and tossing her head. Taunting me again. My turn now! I encourage them to go onto the correct property and then I close the gate. No more getting out today. Hmmm...I certainly hope the neighbors front gate is closed. LOL Maybe I should check that out.

Now to finish hanging out the clothes and get started on all the other things that either need to be done or that I want to do. Oh yeah - the gate...gotta go...see ya!

Join Our Family

I would like to have one or two more writters for this blog. If you are interested in writting on "A simplier life. Made in the USA. Ramblings from a Country family and the country life. Crafts, critters, cooking and more..." Then you are invited to write for this blog. If your speciality is crafts then write about crafts. If you love cooking and sharing your recipes or tips then join us. There are many things that you can write about. Be creative, have fun and share with us all how you do it.

Calm Cool Collected

I sure didn't feel Calm, Cool and Collected at first. There were so many thoughts running through my head on how to handle the situation. It was really funny and yes, I laughed at myself. Here is how I maintained myself.

We have a wonderful neighbor who owns 5 acres. I ask him if it would be possible for me to put our horses on his property so that they could graze. He said it would be fine and there was nothing that they could hurt.

Yesterday I decided to put the horses on the neighbors property. Because I am a person who tries to think of safety most of the time...I thought that I would walk to the front of the property to make sure the gate was closed. Well...I opened the gate for my horses and out they came and started following me onto the neighbors property. They would sneak off in the woods and then run up behind me to catch up. Off into the woods again and then run to catch up again. This happened a couple of times while I was walking down the driveway to check the gate. I get about 30 feet from the gate and "Oh my" the gate was open. Yeppers, you guessed it...The horses came running to catch up again. This time they passed me and right out the gate they ran. Now I am by myself and at least a 5 minute walk back to the barn and then another 5 minute walk back to find the horses. Oh it was funny and scary all at the same time.

The horses trotted down the lime rock road very proud and excited all at the same time. They ran into another neighbors yard and I am standing in the road calling them. I look and see 3 heads sticking out from behind the trees. They look at me and looked the opposite way from me. Like they were thinking...hmmmm...now which way do we want to go. And of course they decided to go the opposite way from me. They were so silly.

I started hearing the neighbors dogs barking and then I hear a vehicle crank up (start). Then out comes 3 horses trotting back down the road toward me with a white mini van behind them. Off the horses trotted down the road right past me and then into the woods again. The lady in the mini van stops by me and we talk for a minute. She ask me if they were my horses and how would I get them back in. I said that they would come back in and they were fine. And to think that my insides were crawling with excite and wondering how I would get them back in. LOL

Three little heads poke out of the woods again. Hmmm...their thinking again. This time they come trotting toward me and my goodness...they turn right up the driveway and go right in the gate. It was amazing!

Deep down I knew that they would come back to me. I know this because I know my horses. I live a good distance from any major roads and that is a good thing. Our vehicles stay dusty from the dirt roads and the lime rock roads, but our animals and our children are safer.

It was a lesson learned and a blessing to have the knowledge of how to handle the situation of one 5 foot woman and three (3) 1500 pound horses.