In our front yard

Our budding naturalist
Jake spotted this nest in one of our trees, and I was excited to see a Robin mama in it.
We actually have a similar one that we found on the ground in our collection. .

Same nest a little farther back. I tried to sneak up and get a photo with mama in it, but I was about as stealthy as an elephant in combat boots while dragging a chair across the yard in my flip flops.

In another tree we found a Mockingbird's nest.

He's 7!

Review of The Old Schoolhouse Planner

The Old Schoolhouse has given me the opportunity to review their 2009-2010 School Planner, and I have to say I am impressed! This is so much more than a school planner - it really is a life and home planner.

It's available as an E-Book in typeable PDF format which I think is the most impressive feature. This means you can fill in the forms on your computer and then save and print them as you need them. The entire document is 375 pages so this is a real bonus.

While some of you may balk at the cost - $39 - I encourage you to keep reading...I'm confident you'll be glad you did!

Here's the description from the TOS website:

"The 2009 Planner is bigger and better than ever. With more forms (over 40 ADDITIONAL forms will be included), 12 new essays from favorite homeschool authors, including Amanda Bennett, Dr. Jay L. Wile, and Tammy Duby, 12 new "Must-Know" lists, 24 new recipes, and more!

Each month has a theme such as Fire Safety, Weather, or Classical Languages and includes:

"12 Articles (one for each monthly topic) from homeschooling's most well-known authors. Here are just a few . . .
~"American Government Basics" by Amanda Bennett
~"The Thirteen Colonies" by Michelle Miller
~"Weather" by Dr. Jay L. Wile, PhD
~"Lap Books: A Creative Road to Retention" by Tammy Duby

12 "Must-Know" Lists that correspond to the monthly topic/articles including these and more...
~Common Latin and Greek Roots
~Letter Writing Tips
~Miracles and Parables
~Getting into College Check List
~The Planets—Basic Information to Know
~Emergency Preparedness
~Branches of Federal, State, and Local Governments
~Cloud Types
~Alphabet Writing Charts for Copywork—Beautiful! Ready to print and use!

TOS Resource Lists—A huge inventory of ideas to include in your studies, corresponding to each monthly topic.

This is such an excellent feature. It's 12 unit studies with all the supporting resources at your fingertips.

Let's look at July, the first month of the planner, for example:


We have:

• The typeable July calendar,
• An essay titled, "The Thirteen Colonies," written by Michelle Miller, author of Truthquest History,
• A table of the thirteen colonies outlining the name of the colony, year it started, the primary origin of the people starting it and more
• A list of resources offered by the TOS Store to supplement your colonial studies, and
• Two delicious sounding recipes

Each month is like this!

These are followed by nearly 20 pages of "Miscellaneous Educational Information" such as:

• Famous Composers,
• Countries & Capitals, and
• The 7 Wonders of the Ancient World

The "Homeschool Forms" section is comprised of 116 pages containing every homeschool form you can imagine- all in typeable format!

A sampling of the forms:

• Curriculum Planning Sheet --where you can keep track of the vendor information and cost for each subject
• Transcript Forms
• Daily and Weekly Schedules for one up to five children
• Journaling Pages for Nature Journaling and Science Observations
• Book Report Forms
• Co Op Weekly Planning
• Community Service Log
• and so much more

The "Household Forms" section is where this planner earns its paycheck. It's a 60 page Administrative Assistant in your home - again, all in typeable forms!

Some of the forms are:

• Family Health Information -- the contact information for all your doctors, dentists, and specialists in one place...not a handful of business cards floating around in your purse!
• Chore Charts
• Grocery List
• Menu Plan
• Budget Forms
• Bible Reading Schedule to read through the Bible in a year
• Prayer Journal
• Address Book
• Loaned/Borrowed List
• Website Login/Password Quick Reference --This will be such a time saver for me! I continually forget my login information to the various sites I belong to.
• Garden Planning Check Sheet broken down by season
• Even a Vacation Planning Sheet
• And that's just the tip of the iceberg!

This planner is logically organized and visually appealing with nearly every form you could ever imagine needing in your home and school. Even if you don't homeschool, this planner is worth its price.

Another bonus is that you don't need to buy an expensive binder or specialty refill sheets. You can use a standard 3-ring binder and printer paper. Wa La!

You may be thinking - I have many of these things already. But do you have them in One Location, Uniformly Formatted and Easily Updated?

I sure didn't... Address book in one drawer; Meal plans in another cabinet; Homeschool Forms on my computer, in a notebook, on a shelf (which one!?!) and so on.

I spent a couple of hours over the course of a day reading and familiarizing myself with the Planner and filling out and printing the forms I needed, and then I printed the Table of Contents and put them in the front of my notebook so I could easily glance at them when I start my actual school planning for next year.

Definitely, definitely give this planner a look. I think you will be extremely satisfied with this outstanding product. You can buy it HERE.

And as an added bonus, if you order before July 12, 2009, you'll recieve the 2008 Planner Excerpts for free

You can read other reviews of this planner HERE.

Homeschool Reviews

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine has come up with an extraordinary idea. They’ve assembled a team of homeschool moms to test the products of different vendors and write reviews about them.

So if you’re wondering….’is my 7 year old too young for Prima Latina?’ or ‘man, I need to find a planner, but there are so many out there that I don’t know where to begin.’

You can go to the TOS Crew blog and read about real families who have tried the products in their homes and see what they have to say. And it’s not just one or two supermoms who classically educate 10 children while setting up orphanages in Somalia and organizing fundraisers for three different charities.

It’s about a 100 regular moms, like me, who have a bunch of kids and a couple dogs, who spend a week painting one hallway because they have to stop every 5 minutes to settle a disagreement or cook lunch, and who love to homeschool their kids and tell other people about great products they might not have otherwise known about or thought to buy.

That’s right…The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew chose lil’ ol’ me to be on their team!! I am extremely honored to be chosen and excited about the opportunity. So check back often because you never know what I’ll post next. Shane’s latest hair raising moment or a review about a Bible curriculum that you’ve wondered about but never bought.

Jumping beans

We went to DeeDee's for Memorial Day and the kids jumped for joy

And Shane jumps for joy when he sees Uncle Mark because he has all the cool toys. Shane may have a future in the XGames or as a stunt man. He gets on the bike and says 'go faster!' and reaches for the throttle. I just turn my back and trust that daddy and Uncle Mark are going to keep an eye on him.

Our road trip to New Jersey

I'm still catching up...
Last month I learned that my grandparents were going to be in New Jersey to visit my Grandmother's brother. If you know my grandparents, then you know this is earth shattering, stop the presses kind of news. My nana has been all but bedridden for much of the past 6 years after a nasty fall that left her with a broken femur and countless complications.

My grandpa is an enterprising man, and found a way for them to fly from Texas to Philly with the medical support nana would need.

Here we are at the Smyrna, DE rest stop. I thought I'd better get more up to date maps just in case Map Quest led me astray, or I goofed up and got off at the wrong exit or something...

Here's the gang

Nana's little sister, Aunt Frieda (whose real name is Philomena) and Uncle Larry.

Big sis told them they 'had to come' so they drove from WI. I'm going to try that with Todd and see if it works. :)

Nana's little brother, Uncle Stephen (whose name is really Stephen) and Marie

They were so gracious and kind as I and 4 kids invaded their peaceful home. Actually the kids were really good. Uncle Stephen was a Major (or a Colonel??) in the Army and he did a great job of keeping them in line. I thought about taking him home with me.

Looks like the front stoop of a barber shop. A bunch of old men sitting around talking about the weather...and the old women were inside talking about old men

Learning a thing or two from Uncle Stephen

Jake is now taller than Grandpa. Actually Jake is taller than a lot of people, but to me Grandpa was always a giant

Thank you again Stephen, Marie, Larry and Frieda for putting up with us so we could visit with Nana and Grandpa. We had a wonderful time with you all!

I went to a garden party

The Historical Society of Frederick County had a mother/daughter tea this afternoon. We paused our maniacal flurry of activity to shower and primp and put on big red hats (thanks, Mom! They were a hit!) so we could sit for tea.

We made a dancing doll craft and played 19th century games like pick up sticks and hide the slipper. I was really bad at the stick and hoop so it wasnt' much fun for Ella. Her good friend Bekah was there so they got to play hide and seek...well Bekah hid and Ella forgot to go look for her, but I guess the game can go like that when you're little.

Then we ate cookies, sipped lemonade and played some more. It was a nice break, and it's always good to spend time with my favorite 5 year old.

Local folks should check out their website; they have a historical story hour for preschoolers. They also do walking tours of Frederick which I highly recommend. We did this as a field trip at the beginning of the schoolyear and the kids learned a lot.

Summer To Do list

I realize it's been a while since my last post (well, except the one I just did). School is mostly out. Jake is finishing Geometry and the kids are going to do some math and phonics so they don't forget all the great things they learned. We're also doing the reading program at our local library, and I have some fun science and nature things I'd like to do as well.

In the meantime, I've been doing my annual purge and massive clean. So far I've deep cleaned and reorganized 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, and 4 closets.

I was scrubbing the carpet in the back hallway and being that close to the walls made me realize that I can't live with my mangy walls any longer so they have to be painted. While I'm at it (of course) I might as well paint the front hallway. And why not the kids bathroom and the stairwell to the basement? See? This is how it always starts...

The basement is a work in progress. Though we've made quite a bit of progress. I have 10 (yes, really) 50 gallon trash bags filled, lined up waiting their turn to be snuck into the regular trash so the poor guys who pick up our trash don't die (or call Social Services, because what kind of people can have *that* much junk??)

Somewhere in all this we need to get started on building the chicken coop. My babies are quickly outgrowing their temporary home so we better get ourselves in gear or we'll have a chicken revolution on our hands.

We'll manage to squeeze some fun in there, too so stay tuned. :)

Charlottesville in May

Our co-op took a super fun overnight field trip to Charlottesville in early May. It rained.

But it was so fun; I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. We left Sunday after church and drove in a rain storm to Montpelier the home of James and Dolly Madison. They recently finished a huge renovation of the property and it is just gorgeous.

We split our group in two - the Grammar kids and then the Dialectic (junior high) and Rhetoric (high school) kids. I hung out with Hank so I don't have any pictures of Jake.

If you're in the area, I very highly recommend a visit. Not only is the property beautiful, but the guides were incredible. I worked with the education coordinator to schedule our tour, and he promised me his guides were good with kids. We've been on some look-but-don't-touch-talk-breathe tours with not so nice guides, and those were some loooong tours.

We were thrilled to find that Mr Cotz delivered. Our kids had just spent nearly 3 hours in the car only to be whisked into a mansion/museum- we were late so we needed to get started right away. The guide for the Grammars engaged them, drew them out, and answered an endless stream of questions with grace.

I asked Mr Cotz to challenge the older kids a little. We have a group of really smart kids so I wanted them to get their money's worth. Again, score! The guide was a college-age guy who knew his stuff and really challenged the kids to think about Madison's many, varied and invaluable contributions to the founding of our country. Very hearty 2 thumbs up for Montpelier.


Then we headed about 20 miles south to eat dinner and check into our hotel in Charlottesville. The next morning was an early start at Monticello. Everyone knows about the home of Thomas Jefferson and his many contributions. He was definitely a smart and creative man.

It was cool to see his actual home filled with actual gifts that Lewis and Clark brought back from their expedition and many of Mr Jefferson's actual inventions. He used to wake up in the morning and put his feet into a basin of cold water; he claimed it invigorated him (would me), and the water stains are on the floor next to his bed.


The house and grounds are beautiful, and we enjoyed just walking around the garden and flower walk even though it was misting. We ended up walking down the mountain instead of riding the shuttle. We followed a sign from the estate cemetary that said "Shuttle Stop" with an arrow. We didn't realize it was the stop for meeting the shuttle to go UP the mountain. It was a long but very nice walk, and the kids enjoyed the chance to run a bit.

You won't want to miss the movie at the visitor's center or the gallery. Of course the gift shop is wonderful with a great selection of things for kids and adults alike. The coolest thing is their newly opened Discovery Room. It was hands on fun for all ages. The older kids played computer games as well as chess and checkers. The little guys got to dress in burlap sacks, 'pump' water, work in a blacksmith shop and cook dinner in their slave cabin. They also got to try their hand at Jefferson's polygraph machine- the writing instrument he invented that had two pens attached in such a way that while Jefferson wrote with one pen, the other copied the letter on another sheet of paper. The first copier. Cool.

All that said, if you are scheduling a group tour, be prepared to work. hard. It took me many, many phone calls and emails to get short, incomplete replies. It was extremely frustrating and our visit wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been had I been able to talk to a live person. We actually ended up leaving early to go to our next stop...

Hanging out in the slave's cabin

Hauling water so the girls can cook

The last stop of our trip was Ash-Lawn Highland, the home of James Monroe. There was just something about this place that was so peaceful and relaxing. We all just wanted to sit on the porch of the gift shop and stay a while longer.

I didn't realize that these three men lived in close proximity for many years and were close friends for over 40 years. What a gift for these men in such important and demanding positions to have nearly life long friends live so close.

The little guys started out doing a lantern making activity while the big kids toured the house and grounds, and then we swapped. They gave us what looked like paint cans they had filled with water and then frozen. We moistened our template - a star drawn on paper- and layed it on the can. It's a one shot deal so be sure you put it where you want it. Then the kids hammered nail holes along the lines of the star in (very) roughly 1/2 inch increments. Then they got to freehand their initials on the other side. When they were done the guide dropped the buckets into a pot of boiling water to melt the ice. So easy and yet even the big kids got a kick out of it.

Mr Reinhart was the education coordinator for this site and he rocked. He answered email and returned phone calls quickly. Gave me great information and was flexible in scheduling. Once again, our guides were great and did wonderfully with the kids. I would love to return to Ash Lawn just to walk the grounds and sit on the porch. Very, very beautiful, peaceful property.

Waiting to go into the house.

They had a handful of peacocks and peahens on the property. Those are some noisy creatures. I took about 50 pictures of this one. He'd start to spread out his tail feathers and then stop. Crazy. He just stood there and let us pose all around him though.
I thought the ladder in the background was very cool for getting over a fence. I could use something like that so the kids can get into the backyard and not worry about leaving the gate open letting the dogs out. I've added building one to my To Do list...it's at the bottom, but it's there. :)

So that was our end of year field trip for Year 3 Tapestry of Grace. We were so glad to spend a day and a half with our good friends and enjoyed a lot of fun and laughter while learning a thing or two.