The good news is that we harvested many fine sweet potatoes.
Aren't they nice?
The bad news was that some nefarious rodent-like creature chewed on a number of sweet potatoes. But as you can see, we still got a lot to eat ourselves.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Sweet Potato Harvest
Kevin harvested our sweet potatoes last weekend.
The good news is that we harvested many fine sweet potatoes.
Aren't they nice?
The bad news was that some nefarious rodent-like creature chewed on a number of sweet potatoes. But as you can see, we still got a lot to eat ourselves.
The good news is that we harvested many fine sweet potatoes.
Aren't they nice?
The bad news was that some nefarious rodent-like creature chewed on a number of sweet potatoes. But as you can see, we still got a lot to eat ourselves.
NEW CHICKENS!
We are very happy! We have new chickens.
Loyal blog readers will remember that our last batch of chickens got old and stopped laying much. So we took them off to the butcher. Two of them are in the crockpot right now.
We wanted more chickens, but the closest reasonable place to get chickens was some 2 hours north. This weekend, the big girls are visiting their grandparents and we are meeting my parents 2 hours north, close to the chicken farm. Ok, fine, we thought. We'll go get chickens this weekend to combine trips.
Except that earlier this week, we discovered the chicken farm wasn't selling chickens anymore.
Kevin did another Craigslist search and found a place an hour away with 10 month old chickens that have been laying for about a month. PERFECT!
We were originally going to get all Golden Comets, which is a breed that lays eggs like crazy. But it turned out their were only 8 Golden Comets available. So Kevin did a little mix and matching, kind of like when you get doughnuts at the doughnut shop. A couple Auracanas, a few White Rocks, a few Barred Rocks, perhaps a Buff Orpington or two, some Black Sexlinks, and we were in business.
We bought 20 ten month old chickens, and the seller threw in 4 younger pullets for free. So now we have 24 chickens and a very grateful, very happy, very relieved guinea hen named Cookie.
Cookie has been ours for years and was disturbed by the removal of her flock. Very disturbed. She took to standing mournfully on our back deck all the time and peering through the double doors into our breakfast room. Kevin would sometimes go outside and chase her around to give her a little social interaction, but it wasn't enough. Now she has a flock and she is delighted.
And so are we. The chickens are really attractive and we hope to get many eggs from them. So far, we've only gotten one egg (and we brought them home 2 days ago.) That is not surprising as when chickens are moved, it takes a while for them to get back on track with egg laying.
Here are they in the minivan. They were obviously packed in quite tightly but didn't mind too much. It was after dark so they were mostly asleep.
Here is one of the white chickens.
The first egg!!
Naomi wrote a great post about the chickens. Here it is:
http://onegirlinabigfamily.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-chickens.html
Loyal blog readers will remember that our last batch of chickens got old and stopped laying much. So we took them off to the butcher. Two of them are in the crockpot right now.
We wanted more chickens, but the closest reasonable place to get chickens was some 2 hours north. This weekend, the big girls are visiting their grandparents and we are meeting my parents 2 hours north, close to the chicken farm. Ok, fine, we thought. We'll go get chickens this weekend to combine trips.
Except that earlier this week, we discovered the chicken farm wasn't selling chickens anymore.
Kevin did another Craigslist search and found a place an hour away with 10 month old chickens that have been laying for about a month. PERFECT!
We were originally going to get all Golden Comets, which is a breed that lays eggs like crazy. But it turned out their were only 8 Golden Comets available. So Kevin did a little mix and matching, kind of like when you get doughnuts at the doughnut shop. A couple Auracanas, a few White Rocks, a few Barred Rocks, perhaps a Buff Orpington or two, some Black Sexlinks, and we were in business.
We bought 20 ten month old chickens, and the seller threw in 4 younger pullets for free. So now we have 24 chickens and a very grateful, very happy, very relieved guinea hen named Cookie.
Cookie has been ours for years and was disturbed by the removal of her flock. Very disturbed. She took to standing mournfully on our back deck all the time and peering through the double doors into our breakfast room. Kevin would sometimes go outside and chase her around to give her a little social interaction, but it wasn't enough. Now she has a flock and she is delighted.
And so are we. The chickens are really attractive and we hope to get many eggs from them. So far, we've only gotten one egg (and we brought them home 2 days ago.) That is not surprising as when chickens are moved, it takes a while for them to get back on track with egg laying.
Here are they in the minivan. They were obviously packed in quite tightly but didn't mind too much. It was after dark so they were mostly asleep.
Here is one of the white chickens.
Here is the happy guinea with a variety of chickens near her.
Naomi wrote a great post about the chickens. Here it is:
http://onegirlinabigfamily.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-chickens.html
Budding Book Enthusiast?
It is fun that she is moving now, but we have to be on our toes to keep her safe, and there are more messes to clean up at the end of the day!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Been Thinking About...College
So the issue of college has wafted across my consciousness the last couple of weeks. There was a lively discussion on Facebook about whether it was good for girls to go to college. Then my blog friend Annie Kate had a discussion about college.
http://anniekateshomeschoolreviews.com/2011/09/weekly-wrap-up-harvesting-debt-free-college-and-addition-drill/
Our eldest daughter, Naomi, is 11. So she's ONLY 6 or 7 years from potentially being ready to attend college. And given that many homeschooled teens start attending community colleges during high school, it could be earlier still.
Here are my perspective and my thoughts right now. I'm sure they will change and adapt as our children grow.
First, some background. Kevin and I both have Ph.D's in engineering. You don't get a Ph.D. without an amazing amount of time in college. We each spent close to 10 years attending college. (Ack, ack! Just writing that amazes me!)
The good news was that we both graduated with comparitively little debt. We were both blessed to have substantial scholarships as undergrads, and graduate school was paid for. Kevin went on the Air Force's dime. He committed to many years of working for the Air Force in return for them (it?) paying for his Ph.D. I got fellowships and assistantships in college, so while I had to live modestly, I did not incur any debt.
Kevin has spent the last 11 years working as an engineer on base. His salary is good, and he is able to comfortably support our large family.
I got my Ph.D., got married, worked full time for 2 years as Kevin finished his Ph.D., and then had Naomi. And then had many more babies. I have actually worked on a very part time basis most of the time I was a mother. I taught one class a quarter at a local university for a few years. For the last 7 years, I've worked one day a week at the Air Force base where Kevin works.
So, some questions.
1. Do I think that college is necessary for everyone?
NO! I do not. Some young people have skills and gifts that are not best served by a college education. I love the idea of apprenticeships for some young people. I would say that MOST people would benefit from some kind of post high school training, however. There are jobs out there that require a high school diploma, but they generally (not always) don't pay particularly well. I am not obsessed with salary, I really am not. But I know that if a couple of blessed with many children, it is a struggle to get by on poverty level income. It can be done, but it is really tough.
2. Do I think that girls should go to college?
Well, maybe. See #1...obviously I don't think every young woman should go to college. There are those who argue, however, that a young woman shouldn't go to college at all because she should be focused on being a wife and mother.
I resonate with that a little. I don't remotely think that a woman being "only" a wife and mother is a demeaning thing, like some feminists imply . That is absurd. Being a stay at home mother is a wonderful calling. I am SO thankful that my husband is commmitted to me being home most of the time. And he is very happy to have me here.
Having said that, my argument for women pursuing some kind of career has a lot to do with not "testing God". Let me explain THAT.
It seems to me that if parents are focused on training their girls up to be wives and mothers, they are making the obvious assumption that the girls will get married, and get married relatively young. I personally have known more than one godly young lady who greatly desired to get married, but it didn't happen at all or until the lady was much older than she desired. I have a dear, dear friend who longed for marriage in her early 20's, and God led her to her husband when she was 37! The timing was perfect from God's perspective, if not for my friend's perspective. (They have 3 children, praise God! That is one dicey thing about late marriages, in my view...the possibility of not being able to have children.)
So, I would prefer not to have all our eggs in one basket for our girls. One of my grandmothers married at age 30. My parents married at 20 or 21. I married at 26. Sometimes a woman doesn't get married young, and in this day and age she may need to support herself in some way.
3. But what about college debt?
Ok, here is where I want to jump up and down and scream.
Yes, I think college can be appropriate for young women. But, but, but! They should do everything possible not to have a huge amount of debt when they graduate. That's true of boys too, but maybe especially for girls. Because what if a young lady does go to college and graduates with lots of debt, finds the man God has for her, and gets married?
With lots of debt?
I think she is stuck to some degree, or at least she and her husband are greatly burdened. They may be led to have children right away, but the debt will drive them towards the wife working full time and/or delaying childbearing.
That's an unpleasant situation.
I'm definitely not of the view that a young person needs to "go away to college" to be fulfilled in life. Jesus didn't. I mean, we don't know for sure what he did until age 30, but he was still in Nazareth so was probably living as a carpenter with his mother.
There seems to be this idealistic view that college is the place where a young person matures and "finds" him or herself. I think college can be a positive experience but it isn't necessary that a young person LIVE on campus.
Also, what do we look for in a college? There are books and articles that have discussed this far more superbly than I can, but let me say this...many so called "superior" universities are not providing a particularly good education.
I'm going to gently slam the University of Michigan, where I got my Ph.D. The graduate school was very good. I would argue the undergraduate engineering programs have their flaws...namely, most professors put teaching at the bottom of their priority list and sometimes it shows. Add to that the truth that many classes are taught by graduate students (yes, I taught classes) and sometimes those grad. students (through no fault of their own) had major communication issues because English was not their first language.
And here's another pet peeve I have about U of M. They put tons of money into their atheletic program. I actually like college football, but the truth is that while football MIGHT make money, most athletic programs in college are totally money sinks. All those salaries and scholarships are being paid for by the common student. And are athletics remotely vital for learning a profession?
U of M of course isn't alone about athletics...many top tier universities spend a lot of money on athletcis.
So my thought, for now, is that yes... probably our kids will go to college. But likely they will go locally and live at home. Likely they will go to a community college for a couple of years.
I pray that they can avoid going into much debt. We can't afford to send them to Harvard. But perhaps we and they can work together to pay for a local school with modest tuition prices.
Well, that's probably enough cogitating for now...
http://anniekateshomeschoolreviews.com/2011/09/weekly-wrap-up-harvesting-debt-free-college-and-addition-drill/
Our eldest daughter, Naomi, is 11. So she's ONLY 6 or 7 years from potentially being ready to attend college. And given that many homeschooled teens start attending community colleges during high school, it could be earlier still.
Here are my perspective and my thoughts right now. I'm sure they will change and adapt as our children grow.
First, some background. Kevin and I both have Ph.D's in engineering. You don't get a Ph.D. without an amazing amount of time in college. We each spent close to 10 years attending college. (Ack, ack! Just writing that amazes me!)
The good news was that we both graduated with comparitively little debt. We were both blessed to have substantial scholarships as undergrads, and graduate school was paid for. Kevin went on the Air Force's dime. He committed to many years of working for the Air Force in return for them (it?) paying for his Ph.D. I got fellowships and assistantships in college, so while I had to live modestly, I did not incur any debt.
Kevin has spent the last 11 years working as an engineer on base. His salary is good, and he is able to comfortably support our large family.
I got my Ph.D., got married, worked full time for 2 years as Kevin finished his Ph.D., and then had Naomi. And then had many more babies. I have actually worked on a very part time basis most of the time I was a mother. I taught one class a quarter at a local university for a few years. For the last 7 years, I've worked one day a week at the Air Force base where Kevin works.
So, some questions.
1. Do I think that college is necessary for everyone?
NO! I do not. Some young people have skills and gifts that are not best served by a college education. I love the idea of apprenticeships for some young people. I would say that MOST people would benefit from some kind of post high school training, however. There are jobs out there that require a high school diploma, but they generally (not always) don't pay particularly well. I am not obsessed with salary, I really am not. But I know that if a couple of blessed with many children, it is a struggle to get by on poverty level income. It can be done, but it is really tough.
2. Do I think that girls should go to college?
Well, maybe. See #1...obviously I don't think every young woman should go to college. There are those who argue, however, that a young woman shouldn't go to college at all because she should be focused on being a wife and mother.
I resonate with that a little. I don't remotely think that a woman being "only" a wife and mother is a demeaning thing, like some feminists imply . That is absurd. Being a stay at home mother is a wonderful calling. I am SO thankful that my husband is commmitted to me being home most of the time. And he is very happy to have me here.
Having said that, my argument for women pursuing some kind of career has a lot to do with not "testing God". Let me explain THAT.
It seems to me that if parents are focused on training their girls up to be wives and mothers, they are making the obvious assumption that the girls will get married, and get married relatively young. I personally have known more than one godly young lady who greatly desired to get married, but it didn't happen at all or until the lady was much older than she desired. I have a dear, dear friend who longed for marriage in her early 20's, and God led her to her husband when she was 37! The timing was perfect from God's perspective, if not for my friend's perspective. (They have 3 children, praise God! That is one dicey thing about late marriages, in my view...the possibility of not being able to have children.)
So, I would prefer not to have all our eggs in one basket for our girls. One of my grandmothers married at age 30. My parents married at 20 or 21. I married at 26. Sometimes a woman doesn't get married young, and in this day and age she may need to support herself in some way.
3. But what about college debt?
Ok, here is where I want to jump up and down and scream.
Yes, I think college can be appropriate for young women. But, but, but! They should do everything possible not to have a huge amount of debt when they graduate. That's true of boys too, but maybe especially for girls. Because what if a young lady does go to college and graduates with lots of debt, finds the man God has for her, and gets married?
With lots of debt?
I think she is stuck to some degree, or at least she and her husband are greatly burdened. They may be led to have children right away, but the debt will drive them towards the wife working full time and/or delaying childbearing.
That's an unpleasant situation.
I'm definitely not of the view that a young person needs to "go away to college" to be fulfilled in life. Jesus didn't. I mean, we don't know for sure what he did until age 30, but he was still in Nazareth so was probably living as a carpenter with his mother.
There seems to be this idealistic view that college is the place where a young person matures and "finds" him or herself. I think college can be a positive experience but it isn't necessary that a young person LIVE on campus.
Also, what do we look for in a college? There are books and articles that have discussed this far more superbly than I can, but let me say this...many so called "superior" universities are not providing a particularly good education.
I'm going to gently slam the University of Michigan, where I got my Ph.D. The graduate school was very good. I would argue the undergraduate engineering programs have their flaws...namely, most professors put teaching at the bottom of their priority list and sometimes it shows. Add to that the truth that many classes are taught by graduate students (yes, I taught classes) and sometimes those grad. students (through no fault of their own) had major communication issues because English was not their first language.
And here's another pet peeve I have about U of M. They put tons of money into their atheletic program. I actually like college football, but the truth is that while football MIGHT make money, most athletic programs in college are totally money sinks. All those salaries and scholarships are being paid for by the common student. And are athletics remotely vital for learning a profession?
U of M of course isn't alone about athletics...many top tier universities spend a lot of money on athletcis.
So my thought, for now, is that yes... probably our kids will go to college. But likely they will go locally and live at home. Likely they will go to a community college for a couple of years.
I pray that they can avoid going into much debt. We can't afford to send them to Harvard. But perhaps we and they can work together to pay for a local school with modest tuition prices.
Well, that's probably enough cogitating for now...
Trip to the Air Force Museum
We live near the United State Air Force Museum. Yesterday, I bundled all the kids into the giant van and we went to the museum.
When we got there, the parking lot was full of large vehicles, even some 15 passenger vans like ours. That seemed odd. There were a number of large families heading into the museum with us.
When we stepped through the doors, a courteous museum volunteer mentioned that it was Homeschool Day! Ok, I didn't know that.
In actual fact, I wasn't delighted. There were a great many people at the museum and that made it a bit harder to keep track of my children. There were wonderful classes going on for homeschoolers, but I hadn't signed up ahead of time for them, obviously.
But still, we had a great trip. And it was fun seeing all those homeschoolers roaming around. I fell into conversation with a fellow homeschooling mom who has 9 children. She and her husband have 2 year old twins AND 3 year old twins! Ok, I thought I was busy. But of course she is delighted and said it is great fun that the little ones each have a twin to play with.
Angela in space!
The children were able to walk through the body of this military aircraft. There were oxygen cylinders lined up and various other paraphernalia. And it was bright yellow! So cheerful!
This time around, I found a couple of annexes of the museum I had never seen before. The first annex had Cold War military aircraft. The second annex had space vehicles like this one.
Isn't it impressive? That's Lydia standing in front of it.
The museum is free, but they have this ride where passengers sit in what appears to be a cockpit -- and it isn't free. There is a giant screen and the ride moves around. I splurged and let the kids go on it. They were excited. I tend to be a super cheap mom (kind of need to be with our family size) but I decided to go for it. The tickets were cheaper because it was Homeschool Day, so we benefited from HD that way!
When we got there, the parking lot was full of large vehicles, even some 15 passenger vans like ours. That seemed odd. There were a number of large families heading into the museum with us.
When we stepped through the doors, a courteous museum volunteer mentioned that it was Homeschool Day! Ok, I didn't know that.
In actual fact, I wasn't delighted. There were a great many people at the museum and that made it a bit harder to keep track of my children. There were wonderful classes going on for homeschoolers, but I hadn't signed up ahead of time for them, obviously.
But still, we had a great trip. And it was fun seeing all those homeschoolers roaming around. I fell into conversation with a fellow homeschooling mom who has 9 children. She and her husband have 2 year old twins AND 3 year old twins! Ok, I thought I was busy. But of course she is delighted and said it is great fun that the little ones each have a twin to play with.
Angela in space!
The children were able to walk through the body of this military aircraft. There were oxygen cylinders lined up and various other paraphernalia. And it was bright yellow! So cheerful!
This time around, I found a couple of annexes of the museum I had never seen before. The first annex had Cold War military aircraft. The second annex had space vehicles like this one.
Isn't it impressive? That's Lydia standing in front of it.
The museum is free, but they have this ride where passengers sit in what appears to be a cockpit -- and it isn't free. There is a giant screen and the ride moves around. I splurged and let the kids go on it. They were excited. I tend to be a super cheap mom (kind of need to be with our family size) but I decided to go for it. The tickets were cheaper because it was Homeschool Day, so we benefited from HD that way!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Review: Simple Science Experiments with Everyday Materials by Muriel Mandell
I was complaining commenting a few days ago that I don't like most "experiments at home" books because they require esoteric ingredients that I don't have around the house, even though the books assume that I do.
I was going through my shelves last week, and came across this little gem. There are many experiments in it that really and truly use simple materials.
I've been trying to do at least an experiment a day with our son Joseph, age 7. He is a science nut and I realized we needed to do something fun to mitigate the struggles he is having with reading and math.
The experiments have been a hit.
Here is a fun one! I put 1 inch of water in the cup. I cut a long strip of paper towel and put the bottom inch of the towel in the water. I dripped one drop of green food coloring about an inch above the water line. Then we walked away.
When we came back 15 minutes later, the water had wicked up the paper towel and was carrying the food coloring with it. But here is the really fun part...green food coloring is made of yellow and blue dyes mixed together. And blue wicks faster than yellow. So the green food coloring started to separate into yellow and blue! You can see the blue clearly, the yellow much less clearly.
I have been praying about Joseph and school, and know God answered by directing me to this book and our new approach to school. Joseph is only just 7 years old. I want him to find school interesting, not drudgery. These science experiments are helping.
She's (Finally) on the Move!
Sarah is 10+ months old, and has mostly been content to sit and look at the world around her.
But all that is over. She is not crawling, but she is scooting around on her bottom. 4 of our previous children did the same thing. We have laminate floors and they are slippery, so most of the children have found it easier to move along with arms and legs while sitting upright.
I've looked forward to this, but then again, I haven't. Now things get exciting as our sweet little pumpkin decides to get into everything. I already stopped her from pulling books off one of our bookshelves. What IS it about babies and bookshelves??
But obviously this is an important developmental stage and it is fun to see it.
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