Perfect Hobbies for Kids

by Meghan // September 11, 2019 // Comments off

When young children adopt new hobbies, they discover all sorts of new skills and learn some important life lessons. Through hobbies, children can find what lights them up and excites them at a young age, as opposed to doing it later on when they feel it’s ‘too late’ to do anything about it.

My husband and I are both huge hobby lovers- crafting, journaling, sewing, embroidery, painting, woodworking, gardening, leather work, and animal husbandry … the list goes on! We have enjoy distilling a love for handicrafts and hobbies in our children, and watching them grow in their skills.

Here are just a few hobbies children of all ages could test out!

Pexels – CC0 License

Reading And Writing

Reading to children is essential for language social, emotional, and cognitive development. Reading aloud to children will improve their listening and speaking skills, and they might even become good writers themselves, as it can help them to develop their own imagination. Once children have learned to read on their own, cultivating a love for reading is one of out biggest jobs! A child that loves to read loves to learn, and from there they will grow into unstoppable, teachable, curious adults. Loving to write often comes when a child enjoys reading, because they are driven to write their own stories.

Visiting Places of Interest

Traveling to visit a historical site, a history or pop up museum, a well loved author’s home, and other sites of interest can be a brilliant hobby for a child. As well as having fun and exploring, they will learn plenty from immersing themselves in culture. It gives them a base to build plenty of other hobbies on – writing, crafts, and reading, for example. Anything you can study in science, history, art and literature can be turned into a field trip, or family road trip. There is so much to experience no matter what your child loves to learn about-get out there and explore!

Building and Engineering

Children love to build- what they can build and create with blocks, legos, and Magnatiles is endless. From model bridges and giant towers, to cars and boats, they can have an incredible amount of fun building just about anything that takes their fancy. Expand their possibilities by providing a child-friendly tool kit which allows them to build whatever they like-a small hammer, screw drivers, age appropriate nails, nuts, bolts, washers, screws, zip-ties, etc can be kept in an old tool box near some scrap wood, so kids can easily create!

Painting

Painting is an excellent way for children to learn to express themselves. Open ended art-meaning, no defined assignment, no rules- allows for the most creativity. If they paint the sky green, let them have a green sky. This again goes back to helping them develop their imaginations and having confidence in their abilities. You never know – you may have the next Picasso in your family! =)

Gardening

Gardening not only helps children develop an interest in nature and stay active, but it also strengthens their immune systems. Why not give them their small plot of garden to play with and grow things? You could let them grow things inside the house if space is at a premium. A plot of land, or a potted plant, either way we are cultivating a sense of responsibility and nurturing in our kids!

Cooking & Handicrafts

Cooking is an essential skill for anybody to learn – after all, everybody needs to eat! Let them cook with you from a young age, and maybe start letting them use cooking kits when they are old enough. Children of all ages can help in the kitchen-prepping oatmeal, mixing, stirring, browning meat, poor liquids, measuring ingredients. Get them involved and enjoy your time together!

Handicrafts are anything children can do with their hands- sewing, knitting, crocheting, whittling, calligraphy, cross stitching, dyeing yard, quilting, bead work, wood working, pottery, mosaics the list goes on and on and on. We do handicrafts while listening to audiobooks, while I read aloud, or while watching an art video.

Let your children find a hobby that they enjoy and you’ll notice a vast difference in their confidence. Starting them off while they are young gives kids the chance to know what excites them and can help them find their passion in life later! Most any hobby requires a skill, and those skills can mean enjoyable work later in life.

Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Gaining Independence and Responsibility

by Meghan // August 28, 2019 // Comments off

Gaining Independence and Responsibility

We have BIG jobs as parents; not only do we need to nurture and care for our children, it’s our job to guide them, teach them responsibility, and how to grow into productive adults later in life. One way we can do this is to teach them responsibility when they’re young through age appropriate chores, so as they grow it’s something that comes naturally to them.

Here are a few ways we nurture responsibility and work ethic in our home:

Family Pet

A pet is a fantastic way for children to learn responsibility. There’s work involved but there’s also reward- the fun times and love returned from a pet helps children to know work is worth it. Caring for animals is a great way to build a sense of responsibility and nurturing in our children for others.

A smaller pet like a rabbit is a great place to start; after acquiring a hutch, food and hay bales for them, children can then take on the responsibility of feeding the pet, playing with it, and cleaning out the pen/hutch as needed.

If your home is suitable for a dog, children can be responsible for walking, practicing training, and teaching commands, depending on the child’s age. Our kids are in charge of feeding animals, filling water pans, brushing, and changing litter/bedding on the farm (some jobs with help). Start by showing your child how to take care of the animal, and then slowly wean them onto doing the chores themself.

Assign Chores

As adults we’re aware there are things we need to get done in life- Going to work, paying bills, running errands and keeping house; we do them because we have to, not because we necessarily enjoy them. Learning from a young age that there are tasks to be done can help when children get older and have more responsibility. Assign age appropriate chores to children and make it a habit. Simple acts like making the bed, setting the table or loading/unloading the dishwasher are a few examples.

We do a lot of tidying and cleaning up in our home through out the day-maybe not the brilliant lego tower, or the perfectly arranged doll setup, but the piles of books, random toys spread around, clothing, and shoes, etc are tidied throughout our daily routine.

Let kids be kids and have fun, of course- but it’s no bad thing to get them used to life skills. In our home responsibility is part of being in a family, living well, and being good stewards of our blessings.

Teach Budgeting Skills

Finally, teaching kids about money and budgeting skills can be useful. Kids dont understand the concept of money and can find it ‘unfair’ when mom and dad say no. Understanding how money is hard earned and finite in quantity can be really useful from a young age. Let them earn allowance by doing extra chores, helping a loved one around their home, and teach them how to divide it up- savings, spending, and “bills” if necessary. They’ll quickly learn that once it’s gone it’s gone, and how saving for the things you really want can be incredibly satisfying.

Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Real Food Remedies for Cold and Flu Season

by Meghan // August 22, 2019 // Comments off

If you have a young brood at home, chances are you’re going to need to fight off ailments at some point. While most of these are acute and short lived, the odd one does require a visit to the doctor.

However, antibiotics and medication are prescribed less often today because of antibiotic resistance. There have been instances we saw the doctor and she told us to go home and rest, continue the remedies we were using, and let my kiddo fight it off over the next few days (advice I greatly appreciated). Always go to the doctor if symptoms are serious, but for more minor child ailments, take a look at these home remedies that could be beneficial!

Ear Ache

Nearly every child will have an earache at some point-some are more prone than others. This can range from a mild dull ache with few other symptoms, to the ear being painful to the touch, hot and red, and accompanied by a fever and tiredness. Consider a honey and lemon warm water mixture if accompanied by a sore throat and ensure that your little rests. Seeing a doctor for tinnitus may be necessary; you can learn more about that here. Some olive oil drops may be prescribed. (We like using Wally’s Naturals.) We have found relief from ear aches using diluted Thieves and Purification essential oils on a cotton ball around the outside of the ear.

Common Cold

Colds can be picked up throughout the year, but particularly at the start of the school year and in the winter. We homeschool and the first week all the public school kids were back to school, we ended up with 2 colds in our home (germs are shared everywhere!). If your little returns home from church, the store, or school with a sore throat and congestion, make sure they get plenty of rest. A hot water bottle taken to bed can relieve chills and aches, along with a little homeopathy remedy like Cold Calm. We also like taking elderberry syrup.

For a sore throat, we love our homemade cough medicine, but an ice cold Vitamin C smoothie can offer relief when it hurts to swallow food. Our kids love my homemade smoothies (strawberries, ice, milk of your choice, baobab powder, and a dash of vanilla, maybe a little stevia).

A soup made from warm bone broth, with plenty of tender veggies to boost your little one’s immune system is a great dinner (or any meal). We like to drink it from a mason jar when we are fighting illness. It is a good immune supporter, and helps coat the gut (where most of our immune system lives) so we can get well faster. not to mention it is full of collagen and minerals!

Hayfever

In our home, hayfever is very real-there have been times when my son and I couldn’t breathe at all through our noses because of hayfever. If your child has a runny or swollen nose, is sneezing and has itchy eyes, hayfever can be to blame. Encourage them to stay hydrated, and try an allergy remedy like Borion’s Histaminum Hydrochloricum 6C.

My mother in law read changing the pillow case helps prevent laying and sleeping in the same pollen over and over-so changing pillowcases frequently, or rinsing off every night before bed in the shower (which may be difficult with very young ones). Also, a hypoallergenic pillowcase can be a good preventative.

Being a parent is tough job- especially if your child is struggling with their health. Children tend to go through a period where they come down with every bug going around-and other times they’re healthy no matter what they come in contact with.

Try these home remedies at the onset of a rundown immune system.

Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

The Heart Changer- a mid grade novel {a review}

by Meghan // July 12, 2019 // Comments off

Our family (my oldest child in particular) enjoys learning through historical fiction; we have been reading a wonderful Biblical fiction book from Jarm Del Boccio, titled The Heart Changer.

The paperback is 116 pages, with a glossy cover and thick, bright white pages.
The Heart Changer opens with a poem, The Master Weaver, and closes with a beautiful note from the author.
The fictional details of a true account in the Bible bring meaning to what may have been happening to a young girl behind-the-scenes; her life story may seem almost insignificant at first glance, but The Heart Changer is a book that helps dive a little deeper to see God’s hand at work in this famous Old Testament story.

This is the story of a young Israelite girl and the heartache she endures, the losses she experiences, and the changes she goes through. Much like our every day lives, Mirriam has no idea that the Lord’s plans for her life far exceed the angst and tragedy she has endured thus far. Torn from her family during an attack and chosen to serve the family in charge of destroying her village, Mirriam must overcome these obstacles (and more) in order to fulfill God’s victorious plan for her life, and those she will impact.

We hear Mirriam’s dialogue as she talks to God, wonders about Him, his authority, and his will. We watch as her heart changes from almost rebellious against The All Powerful One (because He could have stopped everything bad from happening) to one of love, understanding, and faithfulness.

She comes to realize, through the people Jehovah has placed in her life, that He is A God that Sees.
He sees her, her family’s situation, and all along had a plan of redemption.

I will say, seeing some favorite people from the Old Testament emerge in this book was exciting!

What We Think and How We Used It

My almost 9 year old, third grade daughter read The Heart Changer front to back in the course of a day and couldn’t put it down! We talked about what Biblical fiction means, in relation to history, and fact vs fiction. She enjoyed comparing this fictional book to the Bible’s Old Testament book, used as the base of the story.

We also used the free Teacher’s Guide (provided on the book’s page) to open some discussion, and learn more about life surrounding the story. The what’s in a name activities were the most fun- we looked up the Biblical characters’ names, our family names, and the different names of God. We enjoyed finding where those names are found in Scripture, and how they’re used differently. The Teacher’s Guide offers other activities and recipes that can be made together.

This book is lovely, and has been a blessing to our family. It would make a perfect gift for a young (or old) person in your life-it is suitable for ages 7+, easy to follow the story line, and full of surprises.

Connect with Jarm Del Boccio:

To read more reviews of The Heart Changer from the Crew, click the banner below.

The Heart Changer {Jarm Del Boccio, Author Reviews}

Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Livestock Guardian Dogs (puppies) and Goats (kids)

by Meghan // July 9, 2019 // Comments off

A little bit about how our days work with LGD puppies & goats, goat kids, their jobs, temperament, behaviors, etc. This was filmed back in June. I will do another update soon! I plan to make a series on our

feed/schedule
vetting
supplements
kidding/disbudding and banding

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Blog Intro Video

by Meghan // July 3, 2019 // Comments off

So I’m trying to re-learn imovies on my Mac, so I can get some blog videos up. I’ve made so many, and never get them edited, so one of my goals for this summer is to start learning imovies and uploading to YouTube.

So, here is a little something I put together for the intro to videos. It isn’t perfected by any means, and will transition more smoothly into videos, hopefully. (I should probably shorten it, but for now this will do).

Enjoy! (and follow us on Youtube)

Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Signs of Goat Labor {Officially on Baby Goat Watch 2019}

by Meghan // May 16, 2019 // Comments off

To say Lucy is about to pop would be an understatement.

This beauty is due to kid on May 20th, but I’m pretty sure (first timer here, her and me!) that her ligaments are gone, which would mean baby goats in 24 hours or so.

I’ve read, I’ve researched, I’ve watched who knows how many goat birthing videos… yep. So here is a regurgitation of what I take as signs of impending labor.

Signs to watch:

Ligaments- the ligaments that go from the tail base, down towards the hind legs (pin bones) are shaped like a V. Begin feelings these ligaments in the last month before due date; once labor is close these ligaments will go from hard like a pencil, to soft, to super squishy/not there. The pic below gives a general idea of where those ligaments are. They will be firm, the size of a pencil, and go down in a V towards the sides. Once they are close to labor (24 hours do so) those are nonexistent.
Swollen vulva- typically the goats vulva will increase in size once they are pregnant. But when labor is very near it will become swollen and very puffy. Below you can see her bag has been filling up and her vulva is enlarged. My other doe Wendy is 3 weeks out and neither her bag nor her vulva are as larger as Lucy’s. The color will turn very pink.
Discharge- Typically a goat will have discharge (mucus) from her vulva very near labor become very full before labor, more full than usual. Lucy’s udder is looking very full, but first fresheners don’t typically bag up as large until after labor (they say).
The tail- this is sort of part 2 of the ligaments. Once the ligaments are gone, and her body is prepping for labor, the tail does a sort of “dip”, instead of being straight.
Does will straighten back legs, stretching and arching back. This gets the kids into position. Lucy began doing this a little on May 16, this post was started on the 15th)
Bedding down/pawing- this one is tricky. All my goats “bed down” even my whether. However, I would expect the pawing to increase as their pain increases during contractions and labor. It is a sign of discomfort.
Active labor should look something like the tail dipping down and coming straight up, as if they’re going to potty, but instead they’re pushing through contractions. Lucy is doing this, but every time it is just her pooping … She is going potty NON stop, and I wonder if goats clean themselves out before labor like other animals, and sometimes people?
I’ve read they will also chew at their sides, and look at their rears a lot during early labor. Lucy has been doing this a lot today.

Lucy has been grunting non stop, panting, and laying a lot. This could be because she’s miserably pregnant (ha, I know how you feel sweet girl) or, she’s close to labor. I supposed my next update will include what was early labor, actual labor, and just misery.

Below are some too cute pics- Wendy being jealous of Lucy getting attention, and the puppies laying with the goats. We have 4 boys left for sale as of today and they’re just all so impressive. I love watching them and learning about their behaviors.

Mid Homeschool Year Update{2018/2019}

by Meghan // April 25, 2019 // Comments off

You’ve been asking, so here it is:

We have made it to March, which is actually pretty far past mid year. I will break things down per student/age and what we do as a family.

This is going to look like … a lot. I think I say that all the time. We loop schedule our extras, so extras are on a continuous loop that we don’t fret over doing every single day. Because my 8 year old is a very independent learner in most areas, she has a lot of independent-learning-style subjects, as you will see.

Keep in mind we do a LOT of oral learning via reading, memory work review, and research interest led learning. I have each child tell us what they’re learning about so everyone can learn from everyone, in a school house style environment.

In our homeschool, like most, learning time isn’t confined to the table, so while we do the things listed below, learning expands over our entire day, our entire life.

Family Learning:

Sonlight Core B: History, read alouds, and Bible reading. We have LOVED the read alouds this year! (I paired up the SL read alouds with different Arrows from Brave Writer for my oldest, to make a LA program.)
Free Writing: We journal and freewrite as part of our family culture. All of my kids enjoy writing stories, and are especially into poems right now. Sometimes I choose something the kids have written to edit and revise together, so they can make their favorite freewrite into a polished piece. Most of these are in their personal journals or school writing notebooks. My husband often gets them journals when he travels to different places/countries, and they are filled quickly! I keep them in hope chest downstairs when they are full.
Science/Nature Study: We are currently working from Anatomy of Nature and Anatomy of a Farm; from these pages I choose a topic to study. We recently did honey bees and butterflies. Soon we will begin pond life, because spring is the perfect time to study from our pond! We have also touched on anatomy this year, and a few other topics as interest has arisen.
Handicrafts: We do a LOT of handicrafting around here. Almost 100% of it is child led-they have free access to most of our crafting supplies, so crochet, hand sewing, embroidery, whittling, wood working (simple with hammer and nails/saws) ink making, and the list goes on, are done by them during their free times. Thankfully, homeschool allows for a LOT of free time; boredom = creativity and problem solving.
Art: We follow a few favorites on youtube and online for art. Our Read Aloud Revival premium access membership has live artist workshops we attend to learn to draw with wonderful illustrators and authors, these are my kids’ favorites! We also enjoy ChalkPastel.com’s tutorials, and may add their membership to our wish list next year!
We use the IXL app on the ipad (read my review here) for extra learning practice because they love it. Because I limit what they are allowed to do online for now, this is something special and educational for them =)
Games are part of our schooling and family time. We love games like 4 Way Count Down, uno, and Pass the Pigs. Any GameWright game is a hit here (I don’t do super complicated games). We add family games via Christmas gifts, birthdays, spring basket, and of course, homeschool box day!
Morning Basket: (AKA any time of day basket) This is just a fancy homeschooler term for circle time… you know, the thing we all did in preschool through elementary school? Calendar, read a book, learn about something new, review something, sing songs, listen to music, read poetry, do a fun activity, share knowledge, and/or handicrafts? Yep. That’s morning time basket.
Read Aloud Revival premium access membership: I cannot emphasize enough how much I love this resource! We missed this months events, due to illness (the flu had us sleeping/resting a LOT), but you can see the schedule

8 Year Old/2nd Grade

Lady works on different levels, anywhere from 2nd+; we still struggle with reversals but writing and spelling continue to improve with cursive and lots of oral practice. Numbers and math operation orders can be difficult with reversals, including reversing math signs. But she knows her stuff and likes oral math challenges against her little brother 😉

LA/Writing: We are using Brave Writer Arrows for copywork, and supplemental focus areas (in grammar and spelling), as a literature based approach. We are finishing a Narnia Arrow, because we read, The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe together this winter, and will continue the series through part of spring. All of my kids have just loved this, as have I (since I never read the whole thing as a child-fantasy wasn’t my favorite).
Reading: Along with the Arrows that go to read alouds, we are also working through AAR 3. This is not something we do often, because she is such a great intrinsically motivated reader. She needs more emphasis in spelling, so we do way more spelling practice than reading at this time. She does read aloud to me throughout our daily life, a LOT, so we call that reading =) We mostly use AAR when we “do” reading, because she really likes reading the readers to me-haha. At this point, the Arrows from Brave Writer are really enough for her reading and copywork.
Spelling: We are using AAS Level 2 with resources from Level 1
Vocabulary: We really enjoy the Wordly Wise books, especially their crosswords puzzles and activities found in them. She has learned a LOT from these.
Grammar: Along with the grammar topics discussed/pointed out in our Arrows, we are using Easy Grammar. Lady does this independently, without much help from me. We apply what she learns when writing spelling sentences, journaling, freewrites, etc.
CLE Math: Lady is working through grade 2 CLE math. We use Saxon math worksheets as a supplement-FYI-I do NOT have her do every page from Saxon. We use the even lessons, sometimes skipping some lessons between. Saxon and CLE are similar on levels, but each approaches their questions and answers differently, and I like this! I feel like it gives her a different way to approach math, and Saxon is good about reminding us to get our hands-on learning things out for practice! Sometimes we don’t even use the worksheet, but just set up hands on learning activities that fit what’s on the paper. It is really just a jumping off point for me, as well.
Extras: We loop extras throughout the week. Lady uses CLE’s geography and science workbooks. I am not a huge advocate of workbooks, however, the CLE books are very nice! The illustrations are simple, and very … nature study-ish; they’re lovely and fun to color with pencils if you have a art lover on your hands like I do. She is a visual and audio learner, so reading is one of her best learning super powers, however, she needs practice writing, which the CLE books provide. They bring us both joy, so we stick with them. I also find they are great for her to open on her own when I need to work independently with another child; I love hearing about what she’s learned in these!

Regarding workbooks– These are going to depend on your family’s learning style. Each child is different; some will be bored to death with workbooks! My 4 year old loves them, my 8 year enjoys them, my 6 year old is reading independently enough to do his math alone, and some language arts, but isn’t in love with workbook style learning (with the exception of CLE Bible 1). I am 100% okay with that, so for his age and development we keep them to a minimal.

6 Year Old Boy/Kindergarten

Language Arts: We are using AAR Level 2 for his reading. He just finished level 1.
LA Extras: We are using The Good and The Beautiful Level 2 for him as well. This is a beautiful curriculum that includes grammar, spelling, and reading, however we don’t use it that way. I will try to make a video on how we implement the program, but we use their spelling list for sight word spelling/common words, and enjoy their readers for extra practice. I really LOVE their practice pages and the grammar concepts covered. This is working better for him than Easy Grammar, at this point. Easy Grammar is a bit more dry and fill in the blank (again, my 8 year old begs to do this!), and that just isn’t Mister’s jam.

**I do not believe there is ever such a thing as too many books or readers at appropriate levels-hence me using so many different ones. Variety is the spice of a nurtured reading life haha**

Spelling: He is doing AAS 2 with his sister. Mister is a natural speller, and things that are harder for my 8year old (due to dysgraphia symptoms) are easier for him right now, so they’re actually in the same level.
Math: He is using CLE math 1. Math is super easy for this boy, he flies through his books and often asks for more than 1 lesson. He loves dictation word problems, writing math problems, and speed drills.

4 Year Old Girl/PreK

This one tags along, and we are slowly going through AAR 1. She can read CVC words pretty well.
We use Handwriting Without Tears; next year she will move into A Reason for Handwriting like the others have.
Math is Math Eggs K, she loves this book.
We also are using Rod and Staff Preschool Set, because *I* love them. They’re so simple, much like the CLE books we use, but they allow her some independent style work, which she likes.

The toddler tags along, of course. As summer creeps upon us, I won’t be doing as many “extras.” We strip down to basics when the weather is nice to allow lots of outside play-we have a farm that is blooming into spring and full of life, so we need to enjoy it while it lasts!

Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Poetry for the Grammar Stage with Memoria Press {a review}

by Meghan // March 28, 2019 // Comments off

My 8 year old has been using the Poetry for the Grammar Stage Set from Memoria Press and is enjoying it so much! We’ve included this in her loop studies-the independent subjects she rotates through the week- and she asks for it all the time.

About Poetry for the Grammar Stage

We received the physical copies of books in this set, which includes:

Student Guide
Teacher Guide
Anthology

Poetry for the Grammar Stage is a supplemental study to your literature study. The anthology is 62 pages of poems. The student book (159 pages) is meant for 1 individual student to work through; it covers vocabulary from the poem being studied, as well as comprehension/analytical questions. These questions challenge students to think critically about the poetry they are reading. It helps them break down the imagery they are reading, and apply it to life.

The teacher guide (159 pages) includes the answers for the student book, which is good because I’d forgotten quite a bit about poetry! The beginning of the teacher’s guide tells you how to go about teaching poetry in a classroom or homeschool setting. We didn’t use this exactly as written, but it was helpful for coming up with our study plan.

Poetry should be shared aloud! If there is anything our family poetry tea time has taught me, it is that poetry should always be shared aloud for everyone to hear together. I had my daughter read the poem she was working on aloud to us at the table before morning work. This gave us a chance to talk about it a bit, and it allowed the littles a chance to add in their thoughts about the poem. They really enjoyed listening along and I was impressed with their thoughtful responses.

The description for this set on the Memoria Press website says these are poems students learn in their literature studies, for memorization, in their classical education program. This is a supplemental set to help students have more poetry work and understanding. Because we don’t use the Memoria Press literature studies (but they do look great!), we used the poetry in conjunction with our current curriculum. It was a great fit for my daughter! The set is meant to last through the entirety of the grammar stage, but trying to slow my girl down has been hard, just during this review period!

The works do get more difficult as you move through the book; poems like Paul Revere’s Ride, The Lady of Shalott, and The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe (he’s my favorite). She loves the poems, she really enjoys the copywork, and answering the questions! This has been one of her favorite loop activities over the last few weeks; and I expect she will continue loving it through these grammar stage years. I am looking forward to memorizing the rest of the poems together!

We will continue adding in the poetry in our morning basket together as a family, memorizing the poems, discussing, and then letting my oldest work through the student book during her independent loops. I may also get a second student book in the fall for my son’s independent work (how is it he will be 7?!). I really like how well this fits into our homeschool, how thorough the program is without being “too much,” and the structure it gives us in learning new poetry together!

Connect with Memoria Press

Click the banner below to read more reviews from the Crew- we reviewed Poetry for the Grammar Stage but other Crew members reviewed different Memoria Press programs!

Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Garage Conversion Remodel

by Meghan // March 6, 2019 // Comments off

The remodel on the garage is going great! (I am back dating this post, but we just finished painting the walls, electrician comes today, then floors, trim, and sinks/fixtures).

I am so excited! I couldn’t decide on a paint color; I truly wanted a blue gray, but settled with a warm gray that will blend nicely into the rest of the house. I may actually end up using this color in the living room and dining; I love the color we have, but in winter and in certain light it becomes a really weird color (east/west facing room with big windows on either side).

Anyway, I love the gray we chose. Really, I though I was sick of seeing gray in everyone’s house on Pinterest and the internet … but now I get why it is so popular!

The pictures do NOT do the color or the room justice. It is so much bigger than it looks in the pictures; I think we are even going to put a breakfast nook/snack table in front of the window for the kids.

We are going with painted trim. I LOVE the color of the trim, and plan to paint the kitchen cabinets the same color… But part of me is mourning the wood trim. I know it isn’t trendy and people hate wood trim, but ours is actually pretty nice and it hides the farm dirt so well! Im worried we are making a mistake by painting it, but what’s done is done … so we shall see.

My favorite part of the room? Aside from the extra wide entry stairs and my window (which I begged for) is the pantry! The size and the barn door definitely take the cake!

Yall- look at that thing! IT IS HUGE! The picture doesn’t really show how big it is, but the barn door that slides across it had to be custom built by my husband and our friend (who has been doing the remodel) because it is so wide! They put together 2 barn doors, and husband is having the metal rack built.

In the back of the pantry will be the garage fridge, so we don’t have to have it out in the actual room. We will line the rest of the pantry space with shelves for storing bulk goods-cans, toilet paper, paper towels, appliances, my BIG stock pots and pans.

I know my pictures are pretty terrible. Between the lighting and my amateur photography skills, I’m not doing any favors. But, you get the idea.

Anyway, more pictures to come as the project gets finished up. Next we start on the old laundry room/master bath conversion! It won’t take nearly as long as the garage, but will definitely make a nice difference!

Happy Wednesday!

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