Our Ant Farm

Yep, we have one! :) I wanted to share a little about it today because it is so fascinating. Watching the ants work and create an entire community of tunnels has been a lot of fun.

The ant farm we purchased actually consists of gel, not dirt. The gel serves as their food, water, and home! This is a picture of our ant farm after we (very quickly!) dumped the ants in.

There are four beams of light from the base that make a great night light. The directions that came with the ant farm instruct you to 'poke' holes in the gel to help the ants get digging. You can see the beginning of the holes that we poked in the above photo.

Within 24 hours the ants had already started to tunnel in the direction of the light beams. Here is what it looked like.....

They tunnel very quickly! Here are some more pictures to show how fast they work. These are all within a week.

Pretty cool, huh? We love watching the progress. I am glad I took (too) many photos of these little guys! :)
There is a sad side to this story though. All the ants will eventually die, as they can not survive without a colony. This was a little difficult for the girls to understand and they did tear up when we told them.
But, having the ant farm has been a positive learning experience. We researched these particular ants and found out a lot of information on them. We printed photos out explaining all the ant parts and, Emma has been keeping an ant journal, too.
We are going on our fourth week with the ants. The longest they can survive is 3 months without a colony. We have noticed that they are starting to die off more rapidly now. :(  So here are two more recent photos I took. These are from the back side of the farm because the ants are hard to see from the front. There are two ants on top if you look closely.

It still amazes me how much these ants work and work! And it doesn't surprise me that you can find their diligence in the Bible.

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.  Proverbs 6:6-8

How much better could it get? A bible and science lesson in one!

Getting a Homeschool Schedule That Works

We are entering into our 21st week of school. Yay!!!

It has been a journey as we get this to work for everyone. One of the biggest factors in a successful day has been finding a well balanced schedule.

 At the beginning of the year, I would try to push my girls to try to get school completed by noon. Why? I am not sure. Maybe it came from other homeschool mom's I have talked to, and had said they could get done by noon. Maybe it came from ME wanting to get done by lunch and just be done. Looking back though, both those attitudes were wrong. How silly of me to, first off, compare my homeschool day to someone else's. Secondly, what did I have to get done by noon that couldn't wait till 3:30?! The worst thing is that I would get frustrated. And guess what? That frustration filtered to the girls and it ended up being a bad day.

Another brilliant (insert sarcasm!) idea I had was to save the more challenging subjects for the end of the day. Nope.  Really, really bad idea ! My girls are much more attentive in the a.m. hours. (I am too!)

 So I came up with the following schedule:

• Bible
• Language Arts
• Math
• Break
• History/Geography
• Science
• Break/Lunch
• Mom's Read-Aloud
• Extra work, fixes on papers, anything that needs to get done

This set-up has been working nicely. One thing I had to add was a morning break. This took me awhile to really understand the reasoning behind. And since I moved math to an earlier time, a break was needed. Math is a challenge for one of my students, and a break afterward is required. :) This break is for a quick snack and a lap around the house! :) After they get the jumping beans off them, (that's what I call it!), they are ready to dive into history. We have a very in depth world history curriculum so I need their full attention. After that, science is a little less demanding and then we have lunch.
Before, I would try to push read-aloud time in with language arts and it just didn't work. I moved it to the afternoon and they can do some type of quiet work while I read.
I posted our schedule so they know what is coming next. No surprises, no "I thought we were done!" remarks.  I also wrote down everything we could possibly do during every subject. Most days we do everything on the schedule, but there are exceptions on some days.

FYI, my camera broke, so I am using my phone. Which really doesn't help my limited camera skills!

I know the schedule says we start at 9 o'clock, but most days my girls are ready by 8 or 8:30. Just depends on how the week is going or if anyone is not feeling well. You know what I'm talking about. ;)

I am by no means, an expert on homeschooling. I do, however, have a good understanding of how my children learn. Remember, every child is different. What works for my children may no work for anyone else. That's OK. Find out more about your kids and do your best. I am still, and will always be learning more about my little ones. Which is one of the benefits of homeschooling. I am learning so much about them. And on the flip side, they are finding out quite a bit about their momma!

My Goodwill Chair

Awhile back, I found this chair at Goodwill.

 

It was love at first sight. And for only 5 bucks, it found its way in the back seat of my car!

I kept it in the garage for a few weeks. I kept looking at it. Should I keep it black? Then I thought... this is my chair. I don't want it to be black.  So I found this lovely aqua color spray paint, and painted my chair. Then I found this chevron fabric and stapled it on. The result..... is so me.... not so much--> the hubs.  :)  But, I love this chair. The thing is, I thought of what I wanted it to look like instead of what others would like. This is the first time I have ever thought this way, though. Who would have thought a chair would bring me so much liberty! And as we are doing some major changes in our home right now ,this is the attitude I want to keep.

It is our home.

We live here.

I want to be happy in our home.

And this chair makes me happy.

:) 

  

Curling Doll Hair

So, I have these two little girls that love their dolls. One day, the older one asks, "Mom, can you curl my dolls' hair?" I respond, "Uuuhhh, I don't know?"

 Well folks, I am happy to tell you, you can curl a doll's hair.

 

Here are the lucky girls!

 

 

I used Hotsticks because I was afraid to use a curling iron on their plastic hair.

 

 

And here is the gorgeous after...

 

Stunning!! Absolutely stunning!!

;)

 

FYI, the American Girl doll's hair curled much better than the Target doll. I don't know why, but as soon as the curlers came out off the Target doll, her curls went flat. Personally, I have the same problem and still have not figured out how to curl my hair. :)

 

I was not paid by American Girl for any of my comments! 

Trim Trouble!

Here is a little update about my adventures in painting trim.

 

1.  It has made me cry!

 

2.  Sometimes, 50 year old trim just doesn't want to be painted!

 

3. Seriously, how many coats of primer and paint do I have to do!

 

To start off, I did not know what I was getting myself into. I did some research before I started this project and asked questions at home improvement stores for some guidance. But really, you don't know what is going to happen. How hard is painting trim? IF you have my trim, REALLY HARD!

 

The biggest problem I have is that my trim has old, really stubborn stain on it.  Our trim is also real wood, so the trim is soaked to the bone in stain. Really..... to the bone I tell you!  This is a pic of some trim before sanding.

(Yikes!)

 

 

Now here is a pic of trim after I sanded it.

 



 

The sanding helped take away the orange oak look.

Now, this is where the problem occurred. I took someones advise and used a latex primer on the trim. This is a big no, no when you are dealing with an oil based stain. You need an oil based primer to cover an oil based stain. Well, I learned the hard way! After sanding and priming for 6 hours (the wrong way), I am left with trim that looks yellowish.

This is where I cried.

 All the work I did was in vain!

Alas, I have taken some time off, and am now OK to talk about it.

:)

Sorry for the dramatization, but it really hurt! So this is where the hubs steps in, does his own research, and came to my rescue!  After sanding some more, I used a latex primer on the trim this time, and it seems to be working. I do have a few spots where the stain is still seeping through. But, this is better than an entire wall of yellowish trim. I can deal with a few spots. I am thinking that I may have to sand the smaller spots down again and start over. Trial and error, I guess. I am not an expert, just here to tell you what not to do. :)

 

Here are some progress pics.

 

 

 

 

I know it will look good when it is finally done, but it has been more work than I anticipated. Maybe I should have just did a small piece of trim first, or perhaps done more research. Oh well. I have definitely learned patience with this project.  

 

Changes at the Homestead

I painted our living room an orange color about 4 years ago. I love the color, but it is time for something new. Our living room is very dark and the orange color only makes it more dark. So I have decided to lighten things up with a very neutral grey color. That all sounds great, but I also have to prime and paint ALL the trim before I even start on the wall color. I really love white trim, so to achieve this look I must sand, prime, and paint ALL our trim. Here is a pic of one of the windows in my living room.

 

You can see all the elements in this picture. The orange walls, the dirty oak trim, and the darkness! Well, I already tore down the window treatment. I just want a nice, clean look and the brown floral just isn't doing it for me. (On a side note, I have an identical window on the other side of the living room, so if anyone would like 6 yards of brown floral fabric let me know:))

 

 

Just removing the window box has made a huge difference! The next step is sanding all that oak trim. I am not looking forward to this, but it has to get done. I have seen quite a few other homes where they changed the color if the trim, and it makes such a huge impact. I can't wait!

Another dilemma I have in the living room is the wall with the fireplace. I have some ideas swirling in my head, but not quite sure about the first step to take. This is what I am talking about.

 

 

See all the wood paneling? I was thinking about just painting all of that an off white. Or possibly just tearing it all down. Once the other walls are painted, and the trim is white, I will get a better feel of which direction to go. At least I hope so!! 

 

Nothing like a good DIY project to start the week off!

 

 

Happy Monday!!!



Our Routine

I spend A LOT of time with my children. They are my little treasures, and I see that time as an investment. I enjoy their little personalities, even when some can be a bit......dramatic! Thankfully, most days are productive and we get quite a bit accomplished. So, here are some random pics of our everyday.

 

Breakfast

 

Yummy pancakes!!  

 

 

Homeschool

 

We usually can get a few hours done and then they need......

 

First break

 

You would be amazed at the train tracks they can assemble in the 30 minutes!!

 

More school

 

My instructor guide (to the left) and my pile of books for read-aloud time.

 

Lunch

 

It HAD to have tasted good to get that reaction!

Maybe I can cook after all. :)

 

Midday activities

 

This girl loves her paper dolls!

 

She is turning into quite the pianist to her mothers delight :)

 

This little man will fall asleep anywhere.

Much to his mothers delight!

 

Later, we wait for daddy to get home and we eat supper.

Then it is a bath and bedtime.

 

Some days run smooth.

Some days are just off and mommy needs more coffee!

 But, for the most part, I feel so blessed to stay home with these little people.

 

 

Enjoy the day!