Tiny House

Call me crazy but I am really concidering building a tiny house.  Now I am a family with 3 children so it wouldn't be as extream as the ones that are only just over 100sq ft on a pull behind trailer.  Now that I would be crazy to live in LOL. 

In general speaking as far as my life style goes I am a minimalist.  I do not require much and nothing has to be fancy.  Not to say I do  not look at those georgous homes and drool a little, but I am still happy with out it.  I encourouge my children to play outdoors as much as possible, growing up that was my option.  I think getting a home back to the basics is really the best thing I could do for my family.  I grew up in an old farm house and we did not even have running water or electric for many years.  We lived with candles and an outhouse.  We pumped our water from the well and cooked on the old black wood stoves.  We had a huge garden and my dad hunted our meat.  We had to buy very little from the store, which ment we rarely went into town.

 

Now my idea of what would be good for my family would be something around 500-800sq ft.  That would give us plenty of room and the added privacy for bedrooms as the kids aged, since I have one boy and two girls.  The smaller the home means the less the untility bills would be as well.  We have already paid for land, so we would have well water.  I would put in a wood stove for heat since it would be efficent enough for a small space, as well as free as there are trees all over (just replant each year).  The area I live in generaly has mild winters as well as mild summers, so if we had to a window a/c unit would be sufficent for cooling.  Or windows with a box fan in it ;).  Only requirement is I MUST have a full size kitchen.  I love to cook and trying to live "off the grid" it is a must to be able to prepare foods you grow as well as being able to preserve them for later.

 

That point brings me to the next task, I would love a HUGE garden.  I  have always been able to garden until this last home I moved into.  I hate renting for that reason alone!  Being able to grow fresh food and freeze/can them so you have them for all year is just a dream.  Once again this is how I grew up!

 

I think we depend on to much of the outside world anymore.  We forget where we came from and I think in turn that makes us a less grateful nation.  When I was a kid even it wasn't always I want at ever commercial or toy that was walked past.  The I wants was; let's go to the creek, can you fill the barrel up with water so we can play, or I want to go catch critters on the glades.  I think the experiance would be great for my kids.  Once in awhile we go stay at "the farm house" for a night or two to visit family and my kids enjoy it.  There is no TV, if they want entertained they go play outside or in the barn.  The barn is fully set up with a rope swing, and last time we had even made a teeter totter out of a small bale of hay and a board.

 

What are your ideas on a tiny house and living minimaly?  Could you give up all the extra "stuff" in your home to move in something that would cost much less and leave a much smaller foot print on the enviroment?

 

How green are you?

Giveaway hosted by At the Fence

At the Fence is hosting an AMAZING giveaway in the form of a pair of LUGZ boots!  What better way to keep your feet warm and syling this winter then with a pair.  Go check it out!  It ends today so hurry hurry.

 

http://www.atthefenceonline.com/2012/11/winter-weather-and-lugz.html

Synonyms and Antonyms

I made a quick little worksheet to go over synonyms and antonyms.  This is for probably about first to second grader work.  We have been reviewing the difference and I thought this was a good little mid learning quiz for my kiddos.  I hope you like it!  Feel free to use it and share it but place mention my blog if you do.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8wq4OcNTjwKX0pUd0NycmsxSms

 

Schoolhouseteachers.com Review

     I generally try to teach my children for as cheap as possible.  I was given the chance to use Schoolhouse Teachers with my children, which is a product of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.  The cost to join is $1.00 for the first month then $5.95 each month after.  To save 10% on that cost you can buy a year upfront for $64.26.  This is a very nominal amount for all the stuff you get with the site.  You have access to lesson materials for many subjects as well as grades.  The site is fitting for Pre-K all the way through high school. You get a free monthly e-book, 5 different planners (my favorite part), and Expo-To-Go sessions all included in the price as well as other perks. 

     The site is very easy to navigate as there are 4 main sections; teachers, dailies, extras, and library.  The teacher section gives you complete monthly lesson plans that come with activities and printable.  The next main section is the dailies, these are updated daily and has things you can do with your kids daily to keep them brushed up on their skills.  I really enjoyed the copy work it provided as it helps with writing as well as spelling.  Next there is the extras which has back issues of The Oldschoolhouse Magazine in it.  This is also the area that gives you your free monthly e-book for being a member as well as your planners.  Last but not least there is the library.  The library contains book lists, copy work, and articles on different things such as arts/crafts/nature.  This is also where lesson plan archives are.

    One of the coolest things I found on the site was guitar lessons.  My daughter just got a  guitar as an early birthday present from her dad last week.  I hand planned to enter that into part of our homeschooling lesson plans under music.  I had been searching high and low for something that I liked to work with her on this and then I got this review and was on cloud nine!  She really loves it and seems to be catching on quickly with it as well.  Jerry Jennings (whom is doing the lessons) has really made it easy.  It starts out with step by step directions about the guitar on into the music and playing portions.  He uses pictures and videos to help show what he is teaching as well.

     With it being close to Christmas and all there was no way that I couldn't jump right to some of the Christmas lesson plans.  To my great pleasure there was a lapbooking project on the site!  My family LOVES lapbooking!  Decembers lesson is Christmas in the Barn, which we read while curled up in mommies warm bed.  The lesson also comes with a 9 page printable of activities to do with the directions attached.

Working Hard

 

 



     There are so many lesson plans that are easy to follow.  There is a range of different subjects that fit all different age ranges.  My children are 4, 6, and 7 and we have found many things to suite them.  They really love the easy to follow writing prompts too. I think this is a great tool to use for anyone needing a full curriculum to pick and choose as you go.  You can make it as you wish and learn what you wish.  It would also be helpful to add suplemental lessons in a cirriculum you are already using.

     You can go to the samples page and check out some of the things that Schoolhouseteachers.com offers.  Here is a link as well to view other reviews done by Schoolhouse Review Crew.

 

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse review crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

Oh the trips we will take...

After going about 2000 miles round trip I am glad to be home. It is always so hard to figure out how to entertain children while on a road trip as well as teach them something. As a homeschool family we have to take every thing we do and make it educational. I believe the highlight of the trip was for the kids to see cotton growing.  It is not something that ever really come up about where it comes from.  We have watched sheep get sheered and maybe they just thought cotton was the same as wool. They were very interested in the fact that something we make clothes out of comes from the ground.  Pretty sure the 6 year old had a vision of a shirt growing out of the ground when we started to talk about it. It was a nice thing to pass by and be able to not only tell a bit of history but to also learn about clothes being made. They also now see that many resources come from the ground and not just food.

 

Now no trip to the south is complete without a trip to the beach! We now have a project to learn about now that we are back home and can do some research. While on the beach we found a dead horseshoe crab. His shell was all yellow and clear. Now we have found one alive before and they are a very dark color. So our.question is what makes them dark when their shell is see through?

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

 

Do you ever just need to know that you are not alone in homeschooling?  Or maybe want to know how others are doing it?  Well The Old Schoolhouse Magazine has just that.  In The Old Schoolhouse Magazine's November issue there is so many interesting articles.  Every issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is free.  You may also get the app at http://www.TOSapps.com.

 

I started homeschooling my oldest daughter midway through Pre-K after a bad experience in the public school system.  I had no clue about homeschooling or where to start.  I searched for books and magazines that could help guide me in the direction I belonged.  I came upon The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.  It is filled with so many different things each month that you never get bored of it.  From helpful tips to help you on your way to homeschooling to stories from other homeschooling families.  It is nice not to feel alone out there and you get that comforting feeling after reading these stories. 

 

In this issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine you will find many articles on different styles of homeschooling.  There is also an article about how the Amish home school as well.  The Amish: Gentle Souls was a very touching read.  It was very interesting to learn the way that they learn.  It is not traditional school or traditional home school either.  They usually learn in a one room or two room building with one teacher that teaches all grades up to eighth grade.  Eighth grade is the highest level of formal education that they believe in. 

 

It's the Little Things hit home with me.  Just a few days ago I was posting on a home school group page asking how in the world do they keep house and home school.  This article made me see that each little thing makes a difference.  We need to learn that each chore in the home is important to learn as much as the next one. 

 

I could go on with even more great reads in this book as so many of them are so fitting to me.  I also have a child that has issues with learning and there was even an article in there about that.  Check out Homeschooling a Struggling Learner: Where Do I Find the Time?

 

I hope you enjoyed my review and if you would like to see other reviews on this magazine hop on over to The Schoolhouse Review Crew.

 

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse review crew in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive nor was I compensated in any other way.  All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

I'm Thankful!

Today we made I'm Thankful Sunflowers!  They turned out great!  We used brown construction paper for the center and yellow construction paper for the petals.  I then used a hole punch to punch out the center of the brown paper I used for the center.  Then a hole at the end of each petal.  I used a metal brad to put it all together and wrote on each petal something we was thankful for.