A nest necklace

 Are you enjoying Spring? I have been, even though I woke up this morning to fresh snow and then after melting some in the afternoon it started snowing again. I am enjoying that too but I am still excited about the real coming of Spring with birds singing, nest building and flowers blooming!

  I love this season, mud and finicky weather and all!

A while back I saw the idea for a nest necklace in a couple of different places online. I thought it was quite sweet and didn't think it looked to hard to make and I had everything I needed to make it.

I decided to make one for my sister Martha's birthday.

 I used decorative wire and coiled it up and twisted it around to make it look like a nest, then I took 3 pearl beads for eggs (my sister has 3 children, so one to represent each of them) and threaded a wire through them to secure them in place. Then I threaded a ribbon through the top. It was fun and easy to make. I think I might make one for me too.

Have you been making any projects lately? Has Spring really come to your area? What do you like about Spring?

 

Homesteading fun!

   I am once again joining Homestead Revival's homestead Barn Hop. We have had a lot of fun "homesteading" activities this week, for the most part in thanks to my parents. We are so blessed to be able to live near them and get to enjoy their homestead with them. They are way more advanced in "homesteading" than we are and we enjoy spending time over there and are blessed that they share much of the harvests with us too.

My Dad's goats having been kidding (that means having their babies) the last couple of weeks. I believe there are 13 babies so far. Last week we went over for a morning so the kids (my human ones) could have fun playing with and helping name his kids (the goat ones).

 Megan wanted to hold a baby. I helped her get it in her arms and then it decided to suck on her ear. She wasn't too fond of that but found it rather funny when Grandpa told her that the baby was trying to find some milk. That baby had "lost" it's mother. No mother was claiming it and Dad had been very busy when the goats were arriving (with church work) and so had somehow gotten mixed up on which baby went with each mother. The baby goat (who Megan named Daisy Flower) is now getting bottle fed.

Mara got to help give Daisy her first bottle.

 All of my kids have fun holding the babies. They each named one and left the others for cousins to name.

   With the coming of baby goats, my parents now have goats milk again. We are very blessed to have them share with us. When the goats are dry I drive 20 minutes (each way) to a natural dairy farm to get milk but I am happy to have that chore over with again for a while.  Mom and Dad also share eggs with us. Farm fresh eggs taste so much better than the ones from the store! Also in the picture is garlic which also came from Mom and Dad's. They raise a big crop.

 I took a picture of the meal above because I had fun thinking about how I knew where basically everything came from. The milk is from Dad's goats, The chicken were raised at Mom and Dad's and the kids and I helped to butcher them, The broccoli came from Mom and Dad's garden, The potatoes we gleaned at fields in our area, The wheat in the bread came from our area and I ground it, the bread also has pureed Swiss chard and pumpkin in it which both came from Mom and Dad's gardens.

 My seeds came last week! I will be starting some inside pretty soon. The beginning of the gardening season is always so exciting!

Today we went over to my parents to help some more (we had gone over at the beginning of the season too) with maple syruping. Today was our first boiling day. I would guess nearly 100 gallons of sap has been collected so far (today and earlier) and it was time to boil.

  We cleaned up the boiling pan, set up the wood stove and then poured the sap in.

 The boys and Megan enjoyed working on the fire.

 Mara thought she would try a taste of the sap.

 We did a lot of hauling! It was so fun to get out in the sunshiny weather and get some exercise and fresh air.

Those are some of the fun activities we have done in the last week. We have more fun things lined up for this week. God has certainly blessed us with a wonderful life.

If you have kids that love to read (or if you would like them to love to read!) don't miss my current giveaway of two Imagination Station books!

Imagination Station Series {Review and Giveaway}

 A while back I was asked if I would like to do a review on Focus on the Family's "Imagination Station" Series books 1 and 2. They are geared for kids ages 7 and up, good moral books and also were historical. In my mind that is a pretty winning combination. I have sometimes had trouble finding good easy chapter books for Jonathan to enjoy. So I said I would be happy to review them.

  Well after a week or two "Voyage with the Vikings" and "Attack on the Arena" arrived. The kids were quite excited- especially Jonathan (who is 9). He ended up reading both books twice the very day that they came in the mail. They each have 15 easy chapter (just over 100 pages) with a few illustrations thrown in every once in a while and they were fun!

  Later on I read them out loud to all the kids (especially for Aaron's sake as he isn't ready to read them on his own yet) and they were enjoyed by all even Jonathan though he had read them many times by then. We enjoyed following Patrick and Beth on the Imagination Station to Greenland where they met Eric the Red and Lief Ericsson. In the second book we went with them in the Imagination Station to Rome and learned about Christians being taken to the arena to be gladiators and the end of that practice.

  The books had lots of action which was quite appealing to both of my boys. The girls and I enjoyed the books too however. Jonathan is impatiently waiting for more in the series to come out! I thought you might enjoy reading this interview with Marianne Herring:

Paul McCusker

Marianne Hering



Imagination Station Blog Tour


Q&A with Marianne Hering






1. What inspired you to write the Imagination Station series?


Paul (McCusker) had always wanted to write stories about the Imagination Station. When looking to do a kids’ series about it, we chose early elementary to introduce new readers to the Adventures in Odyssey world. We also wanted to touch on a group of kids that didn’t have many Christian books written for their level. There seemed to be a gap from picture books to later elementary readers.


2. The Imagination Station device is well-known to fans of the radio drama Adventures in Odyssey. Why did you and Paul decide to use it in a book series?


It lends itself to stand-alone adventures. It’s a fascinating device. Why wouldn’t he want to write about it? It allowed us to write about settings outside of Odyssey. We’d like some of the books to augment the history kids learn from public school textbooks or TV. The Imagination Station radio dramas are also among the most popular. We thought that kids would like them, that’s all!


3. The first two books focus on the Vikings and ancient Rome. The next two books focus on Kublai Khan and the War of the Roses. How did you and Paul decide which historical events to write about?


They just seemed interesting and we thought they’d be popular with boys. I also looked through the Bennett books on core knowledge to make sure the things we write about would be taught in schools. Also, the Rome book is based on an actual Adventures in Odyssey radio drama. It is one of our favorites, and so we wanted to retell the story. The Kublai Khan book started out to be more about Marco Polo, but Kublai took the stage. He was a fascinating character. We don’t always decide with concrete objectives. Most times the story just sounds plain old fun.


4. How true to history are the books?


Now, this is a spoiler. Mr. Whittaker isn’t real. Neither are Patrick and Beth. Though they are named after Paul’s children. Patrick and Beth are his children’s middle names.


Most of the events are based on sagas, legends, or some sort of historical base—except for book 4. All the characters in the War of the Roses story are fictional. For plot purposes, I sped up the storytelling. For example, the events in the Kublai Khan story took place over months, not hours. Same with the Viking book. I wanted Leif to leave for the New World shortly after he brought back the gospel from Norway. In reality, a lot of time passed between the events.


I did make some vocabulary exceptions. For example, Marco Polo was Venetian, but I called him Italian—a more familiar term for the readership. But the basic events of books 1 to 3 are true, and the War of the Roses did occur in England with Lords fighting their neighbors, etc. We really just wanted to write about the jousting. Paul did a lot great research for the jousting scene. I had to cut a lot of it, and that made me sad.


On the website The ImaginationStation.com, I’ve listed what’s true and what’s exaggerated for each book. There are also nonfiction pages for the kids to read about Leif Ericsson and the other Christian heroes.


5. These books are geared towards young readers, ages 7 and up. What is the number one issue that children learning to read struggle with?


Speed processing. The kids who are slower reading learners usually need more help with sight words and fluency. That’s just practice at an accessible reading level. These are just slower readers in general—I’m not counting kids with true auditory processing issues or other learning disabilities, which represent between 3 and 10 percent. Most kids can learn to read better with one-on-one instruction and a loving atmosphere. I’ve posted reading tips on the website for each book and lists of words to practice before tackling a chapter. See TheImaginationStation.com.


6. What kinds of books do you recommend children read?

I don’t only recommend books. There are fabulous magazines out there for this age group. Not all kids like fiction, so magazines draw them in with nonfiction and pictures. There are some good book series out there—I personally give my children the tried-and-true series written years ago, like Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books. My boys enjoyed the Horrible Harry books by Suzy Kline. My daughter was a Gertrude Chandler Warner/Boxcar Children fanatic. Parents can ask librarians to recommend books. One of my sons loves anything about animals in the nonfiction section—I don’t make him read fiction unless it’s for school. I do have to review their books first, and that can take a lot of time, but it’s worth it.

7. What are some ways that parents can help their children develop their reading skills?


(Get their vision checked for not only vision but for tracking issues as well.) Turn off the electronics and make reading a fun time. You can read to them or they can read to you. Make reading an event. Your kids will complain for about two weeks while the electronic addiction wears off. Then they will be better able to engage in literary pursuits. For free reading, let your kids read “easy” books. Don’t judge. If they want to read Hop on Pop twenty times, that means that’s where they are comfortable. If you push your kids beyond what they perceive to be the right level, they will rebel. Better a lot of fluent reading at an easy level than choppy reading at a higher level. Reading with starts and stops is a bad habit to let them get into.


8. What encouragement can you offer parents who may have reluctant or struggling readers?


I can encourage parents by letting them know that there are GREAT reading programs for kids. Most kids, 60 percent, need extra help at home to make it to the fourth grade reading level. That extra help can come from parents who gently and lovingly make reading a family hobby. There is no lack of teaching material, and your school districts should be able to help you find the right tools. The biggest factor in children’s success at school is a loving parent who takes the time to work with their children. One of my sons could not learn to sound out letters quickly enough to “hear” the word. I couldn’t help him, and so I hired a reading specialist who was more of a cognitive trainer and we worked through his auditory glitch. There are some terms to search “phonemic” awareness and “phonograms” that will help parents read more about how to help emergent readers. When the kids know how to sound out words, speed training on sight words can jump start their reading fluency. On the website, TheImaginationStation.com, I’ve prepared this long essay on how use a metronome to speed up your child’s reaction time to sight words. It’s under the book The Attack at the Arena. Don’t give up. Virtually every kid can learn to read well enough to go to college if his or her parent(s) invest in them.


9. What do you hope kids will walk away with after reading Imagination Station?


A smile and a desire to learn more about history and faith in Jesus Christ.


10. Can you give us any “sneak peeks” into what we can expect in future books?


Book 5 is a Bible story, a familiar Bible story. The title is “Showdown with the Shepherd.” I think that’s a fairly strong clue.


Book 6 is about Miles Standish and William Bradford and Native American relations. It centers on a certain holiday in November.


That will end the first story arc. As for the next set of 6, that may depend on sales of the first set. (That’s a strong hint to readers to buy the books so we can keep developing the series.)


Be sure to check out the click book for book 1 at TheImaginationStation.com. That way you can tell if these books will be at the right level for your kids.

If you have young readers, especially boys, I highly recommend these books!

And guess what? One of you gets to win a set (books 1 & 2)! If you would like to be entered to win, please leave a comment below and tell me who you know that you think would enjoy these books. Be sure to leave me a way to contact you (and not just a link to a blog that you never use) should you be the winner.


This giveaway will end on Sunday, April 10th.

And the winner is.....Sue D.  Congratulations Sue!

Loving discipline?!?

 How many of you loved it when your parents disciplined you as a child? How many of you love it when someone corrects you now? 

  Personally I never have found it much fun. As an adult when someone suggests I could do better in some area, I admit that I often struggle with feeling hurt. I don't think that is a good thing. In fact I think it is a pride problem. It makes me wonder if inside I am reacting that way to God when He disciplines me too?
This verse below was a good reminder to me this week of how I should be responding.

    "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid." Proverbs 12:1

This is something I want to sink in! I need to love discipline and reproof so that I can grow and mature. I DON'T want to be stupid!

Hebrews 12:4-11 talks a lot about this too. I recommend reading it as well. I will share verses 5 & 6:

 "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son He receives."

Do you need to learn to LOVE discipline too? Pleases join me in working on that.

Ultimate Blog Party {It's a lunch date at my place}

Hello. I am so glad you stopped by to visit! Whether you come often or this is your first time (thanks to the Ultimate Blog Party), I am glad to have you here. Please come in, I can't wait to visit and get to know you better! (Side note- this is what I love about blogging. Not only can I stay in contact with family and friends across the world- I can meet new friends too!)

In case we have never met before I guess I had better do some introductions... My name is Abbi and I am happily married to my husband of 12+ years, Ken. I am very blessed to be the stay at home and homeschooling mom of 4 beautiful children, Mara, Jonathan, Aaron and Megan. If you have kids I hope that you brought them with you as my kids would love to play with them!

Mara-11, Aaron-7, Megan- almost 5 and Jonathan-9

They can be pretty goofy and silly but they have a lot of fun and I am blessed to be their mother. 

 So lets send the kids outside to play in the tree fort if it is warm or they can play inside if it is cool. Come to our living room and have a seat and lets get busy visiting!

  What would you like to visit about? It is my goal in my visiting (whether face to face or on this blog) to say things that encourage and build up others and glorify my heavenly Father. I know that unfortunately I don't always succeed but that is my goal.

   I have many, many interests (I think the woman in Proverbs 31 did too!) so I am pretty sure we have at least something in common. Maybe you would like to talk about....

• Homeschooling. I would love to hear how you do it and what books you love. I enjoy talking about the ways we learn creatively, making the world our classroom. We love reading around here and I would be glad to show you some of the ones we have really enjoyed and learned from. It is always fun to get together with another homeschooler and pick each other's brains.
• Gardening. I would love to give you a tour but it is still to early to plant here. In fact there is still quite a bit of snow on the garden. I did just get my seeds in the mail though and I will be starting stuff inside right away. I like to garden very frugally and naturally. I love to be able to get a lot of produce from it with which I can feed my family. We do also enjoy having quite a few flowers around our place and we keep adding more fruit trees and bushes about every year in hopes of someday having a lot of our own fruits. I am also studying up on and dreaming of keeping bees which will provide both honey, wax and pollination for our garden.
• Living frugally. I very much enjoy getting to visit with other mothers and sharing tips on ways to live better on less. To me living frugally is not a chore but rather a really fun challenge! I love learning ways to spend less on food though the prices go up- and this while we eat healthier. I also love to challenge myself to make most of our gifts, save on electricity, go as long as possible without buying clothes or just go without shopping in general. So many ideas! I love to hear yours and I try to share mine so that we can all be better stewards of what God has given us.
• Making things. In fact, if you want, I could pull out my stamps and stuff and we could have fun making cards together.  I love to keep my hands busy and I also really enjoy looking around our home and seeing things that we have made ourselves. To me it makes a home so much more personal to have much of the furnishings handmade.I have many interests in making things- sewing, knitting, crocheting, floral work, basket making, quilting, painting and more... 
• Baking and cooking. If you ask me if I love to cook, "Yes" wouldn't be my first response. I have however learned to enjoy it by making it fun for me. I do a lot of cooking as we eat at home most of the time and I like to have homemade meals. What makes it fun for me is in the process of creating meals that are healthy for my family and help us to keep our food costs low. I also make things interesting in the kitchen by making up my own recipes, figuring out ways to use what we have an abundance of and by using our meals to further our education. I enjoy combining what we are learning in school with our foods. (Such as having ethnic foods to go along with our geography.)
• Raising children, being a good wife,natural health, organizing, taking care of the earth God has given us and not being wasteful or maybe we could even have a Bible study. There is so much to talk about you might just have to come back again!

Can you stay for lunch? Lunches around here aren't very fancy, when it is just us we usually eat leftovers but today I think we will have soup. Would you like potato, tomato or split pea? The potatoes we gleaned from nearby fields and the tomatoes I grew in our garden.  I think we will have some homemade bread too, would you like to slice it? And we have some ginger cookies for dessert. I hope you like them!
 

So, what would you like to visit about? I would love to have you introduce yourself and tell what your favorite topic is in the comments! I look forward to meeting you all! Thanks so much for visiting!

Our homeschool science day

 Last month our homeschool group had a science experiment day. Each family or child brought an experiment to show and share with the rest of the group. We had quite a lot of fun learning together. I thought I would share some pictures and some of the projects that were done.

  The first project presented was quite a hit. "Buoyancy" was the topic. The kids were dived into teams of two and each team was given 2 pieces of paper and 4 pieces of tape and they were instructed to make a boat with it. After they made their boat they they got to float it in the tub of water and see how many metal washers they could put in it before it sank.  Each team and the amount of washers that their boat held was recorded.  After the first try each team was given the same materials as before with the addition of a sheet of aluminum foil and then they got to try again.

 The teams busily got to work and had fun creating different designs.

 Here is one loaded boat about ready to sink. I think the top number of washers (they were big, about 1 inch across) was about 23 with an aluminum foil boat.

Next was watched a demonstration of how a motor works with a battery. After that we learned how soda reacts and baking soda reacts and why.

 The above demonstration was on the earth and how it's revolving affects our days and seasons.

 The one above showed air pressure (created by temperature change) suck a boiled egg in a too small of bottle.

 Here we saw the making of some "gunk" that could be both hard and slimy. They also showed "Mooving milk". They put a few drops of food coloring in milk and then added a little dish soap. The dish soap caused the fat particles to break up which caused the milk to move around.

 We were also shown how to make a compass using a needle, magnet and a bowl of water.

 In the picture above the balloon was blown up by vinegar and baking soda being mixed together.

 Our family demonstrated electroplating pennies using zinc. My brother in law Derek kindly showed us this experiment. You can read how to do it here. Jonathan did much of the hands on work while Mara researched and told the hows and whys. I was the general helper. (Megan and Aaron were sick that day and unfortunately had to miss out.)

We also showed an experiment showing air pressure. You can see how to do it here. The video at the link it quite fun to watch too.

 All the kids were also told about and given some homemade "silly putty" by another child there. They had a bunch of fun playing with that.

I don't think science experiments will ever be my favorite part of homeschooling but I will say that we had a very fun day doing all of those! Do you like science experiments? Do you have any favorites that either you did as a child or have done with your children? Please share in the comments!