Our very first nature table

We collected leaves and acorns on the library lawn in town. Sort of funny since we live on 186 acres here. But we had some time to kill while we waited for the library to open. The little "masks" were the craft at story time. We purchased the roving for our "tree" at the Common Ground Fair. I sent the boys out for the branch with Forrest, I am still looking for something bigger with more branches.The pumpkin, is of course, from Sara and Andy. I think it's called Cheese pumpkin? we will cook it soon and make cookies and muffins, but it was so darn pretty! The kids really loved putting the table together. Indigo loves taking it apart even more though. I am finding acorns and corn kernels everywhere!

Our two WHOLE weeks of summer have come to a close, and I'm thinking about Christmas????

Sorry, it was just a little complaint. But honestly 2 weeks is about all we got. We had a nice 3 day vacation with my family in nearby Rome, Maine. My parents did all the cooking and meal clean up helped with the boys (forrest and Mike stayed home) so it was unexpectedly restful for me. I took a kayak ride with my sister, and even got some knitting done.

It's just about time for our first hard frost here in Maine. As sad as I am about our non existing summer, and my barely existing garden. I am very much looking forward to fall. The Common Ground Fair is coming right up, an Organic Maine Tradition. Columbus Day will bring our trip up Sugarloaf Mountain to see the amazing fall view of the mountains and hopefully our Christmas picture. And we are planning another "grown-up" vacation. I know the last one didn't actually happen, but i have a plan this time! We will be going with our good friends Sarah and Andy. Now other people are depending on us to pull through, so Mike can't talk me out of it. We are swapping houses with my parents (oh ya, they get 4 boys and 2 puppies with mine ha ha!) and site seeing in Boston and on Cape Cod. Kind of funny since I grew up there, but I have never done the FREEDOM TRAIL or biked the Canal at the Cape. It's going to be a great time!

Our school year starts Monday. I have made up the boys schedules and posted them on the fridge. Forrest has been excepted into a half day(every other day) technical school as a "Bio-Tech" student. He is sooooooo excited. It's going to be a little crazy trying to work "school" back into our school day. Luckily they are going to let him take the bus and drop him down the street on their way back to the regular high school. This will save me close to two hours of driving time daily. His days will be busy if he wants to complete all the courses he has started but i know he can do it. Sometimes I find, the busier you are, the more you get done.

Gaynor will be continuing with his Oak Meadow (Waldorf based) curriculum and Math-U-See plus Rosetta Stone French. Harland will be playing and working on his reading and writing. He has stared writing phonetically on his own, making lists of characters from books and movies.I am still amazed to see this child, who has never been exposed to a traditional school model, learning all he needs to learn, basically on his own. My older ones were not this way when I took them out of school. They still feel they need a curriculum and "work" and that is fine, it is just very different for Harland. I am secretly looking forward to a more scheduled day. Although, I am quite sure Indigo has other plans.

My house is slowly coming back to me. The play room looks awesome. I got rid of tons of toys. Our school area is more organized, there is still work to be done though. I have lots still to do but I am happy with the results so far.

I have all ready started holiday knitting. I am hoping for a homemade/local Christmas. We have not followed through on this plan yet, maybe this will be the year. It really is totally mental for me. I need to get over the idea of my boys having tons of gifts to open. Quality not quantity. It just continues to be harder than expected to wrap my brain around this change. Sarah has convinced me to work on developing new traditions for the season and the big day. Maybe if I start planning now I can accomplish this goal. Got any advice for me? Bring it on! What type of non gift traditions do you have for Christmas day? Games? Meals? I would love to hear what you are doing. Yes, I realize it's still August.

Library fund raising Bake Sale a huge success!

So the boys wanted to do this Craft Fair/Bake Sale to benefit the New Vineyard Public Library. It's in the town we used to live in. We don't go there too often any more, but when we lived there the boys were there every day it was open. Sandy, the Librarian is wonderful! She does some remarkable stuff with the space and resources she has. She also lOVES my boys! The first time I saw this library I told mike it was as big as my van! It is by far the smallest library I have ever seen. But that doesn't stop Sandy. She ran a great "Story camp" over the summer. Like story time with an activity and maybe a guest. Harland loved it! Forrest volunteered to help. 17 kids and older helpers and even some adults would cram into the library every tuesday to see what Sandy had planned. It was too funny. Any way. Small library, maybe but a small library with a huge heart. So, all that being said, this was a cause that we could sink our teeth into! We baked and baked! All our favorite vegan treats. We made mocha and pumpkin muffins, pumpkin oatmeal cookies, Ginger cookies and Cinnamon Buns! plus Sarah and Andy (Marble Family Farms) donated some yummy home made loaves of bread for us to sell. We also made playdough and put four colors in a baggy and Harland sold these. The deal was any one could have a table and donate what ever they wanted out of the money they made to the library. My boys and I decided to give them everything we made. It ended up being $50 even! WOW! even i was impressed! Sandy was so happy she gave us all hugs. My boys felt great and they should be proud. They worked hard! We can't do much in the way of donating. Even time is hard with the kids. But, Bake we can do and so we did. Even Indigo behave the whole 5 hours we were there. Remarkable considering the size of the space we were in. He even took a nap in the Ergo on my back! LOVE THAT THING! check out our pics.

me kneading the dough for 3 dozen cinnamon buns! it was so much i had to do it. notice, Forrest's fancy, yet somewhat annoying photography!






sitting at the table rolling UP!

just some pics

Gaynor is working on an Oral Presentation for his Maine Studies/History project. He is making a story board with a time line.(all his idea) So yesterday Harland decided he too needed to do an "Oro presentation" but on Dinosaurs. So his brothers helped him search online for pictures, which he cut and glued onto poster board. Today he will do research for facts to add to the poster. So cute. So here they are working hard.






Our first real snow, all though it didn't stick. I love Indigo's face while he is watching Forrest catch the snow flakes. He really loves his brothers!

Bad Day..........GOOD DAY!

Today started out crazy and hectic. We are having a new water heater put in and our furnace was being cleaned. In a mobile home your furnace is in the super narrow hallway. So I decided we should leave for the day. We had to get up, clean the house and get out of here. So normally rushing equals chaos and today was no exception. The kids were great. Forrest offered to call in to work to help out. We got everyone ready, house cleaned, bag packed, etc. Then my land lord called to say the burner guy was not coming. UUUUGGGGHHHHH! i know its not a big deal but now the boys were expecting to go out and we will have to do it all again next week.
Any way, we decided to go to the farmington library. Then I couldn't find my wallet. Seriously!!! nothing can send me over the edge like my own giant lack of any organizational skills what so ever! Forrest had allready put everyone in the car. I looked and looked. NO WALLET! Now, I'm cranky! I got out to the car and one was crying and two were fighting. So, I yelled. I was sure it was going to be a rotten trip/day.
So, we got a snack, put the diapers in the dryer at the laundromat, and headed to a cool store called Outskirts. its a totally punk-rock vintagey place. its rad. Then i ran next door to a pottery place Forest Rhythms to look at pestal/mortar sets. Here is where it all changed. The owner, Steve, was throwing some pottery on his wheel. The boys were fascinated, we started talking, he started teaching, my boys asked great questions. He got some clay out for them to try pinch-pots. As a bonus, josh the glass guy was there. Its funny we noticed him when we first moved here because he has a mercedes disel wagon, and we want one. Then we started seeing him everywhere! Turns out he's a glass blower. So he was there to put some of his work in the store. So forrest picked his brain for a while. Learning learning learning! I love it! We asked about lessons, he said maybe in the future. Turns out he has 4 boys! Any way he is firing the bowls the boys made and he sent us home with a huge bag of clay to make more. What an amazing adventure. So cool. This all came the day after i read everything i could find on unschooling! is this a sign? Forrest thought so. Then we went to the library, and home. Forrest is currently doing science experiments with harland at the sink. What could be more fun than baking soda and vinegar??? Today is a great day!

Spelling/Vocabulary Lesson spelled.....S C R A B B L E

So I get so excited when things like this happen. The older boys discovered Scrabble 2 days ago. All by themselves. We have owned the game for years but they have never wanted to play it. Well during our days of rain I found them on their bedroom floor with the game and a dictionary playing Scrabble. I think they played for like two hours! I heard giggling and joking and...and...no fighting!!! Harland was in his room playing (he plays so darn good by himself) and Indigo was watching the Backyardigans....AGAIN. It was weird! So...Quiet...So Peaceful. I made dinner and talked with mike, no interruptions. So when I mentioned to them it counted as school work, well, they played again yesterday! CRAZY!
I found out that Farmington (where my kids would go to public school) has full day kindergarten. At first I had a fleeting moment of HE's SO THERE! (its just a joke) But then i was thinking how sad i would be to send my little fresh hyper spazomatic buddy away all day. Besides they would probably throw him out any way! Like maybe the first time he blurted out "Voldermort't NIPPLES" (thanks boys and your goofy you-tube videos) or when he tells the teacher...(MRS. SIPPI) very calmly and plainly that he is not going to sit in his chair right now because he is going to play. Ya, I'm glad he's staying home with me. Harland is actually just about reading. He was online playing games at pbskids, like super why and word world. They are spelling games. i honestly didn't think he would be able to do it but he did. he knows all the letters and their sounds. he does get a few confused but this is so much earlier than the other two. I'd like to take the credit but, well, i think it's the TV.
I just read about a new education theory called "Thomas Jefferson Education" it seems like a pretty cool theory, I only read it briefly but I'm going to check it out more today.I really love the idea of unschooling but my public school brain is having a hard time letting go of "traditional education ideas" I'm getting there. I also wanted to brag. we went to the library yesterday, I took Gaynor and Harland and Indigo. Usually the bigs go by themselves. Any way Sandy, Our librarian, told me people are constantly making comments about how wonderful my boys are. I love IT!! That makes me so happy! All right three silly and loud boys are going to wake little boy blue. bye now

Field Trip!

So we took the boys to the Common Ground Fair. Its a Maine Organic/Sustainability fair. It was really awesome, except for out timing. We went saturday so Mike could get a full day of work in on Sunday. It was jacked! we sat in traffic to park for over 20 minutes. Then there were so many people there it was tough to see anything. Next year we will go early on Sunday morning. There were some really awesome booths and displays. Mike met a guy who does "light clay" plastering on timber frame houses, both interior and exterior. it is really beautiful and healthy! The kids had a great time. Harland's favorite part was sliding down the hill on a piece of cardboard. It was my type of fair, no rides! It was great to see sooo many families and so many people wearing their babies! The music was awesome. The food was awesome. I could have done without seeing all the animals in cages. especially the bunnies. But the sheep dog demo was great. What we saw of it. We also became MOFGA Members so we will get their newspaper now which i love. And you get into the fair free as a member. They had this crazy trash tent. They basically recycled and composted just about everything. They pre-sorted at the trash station, and then they actually had volunteers who went through the trash and sorted more. YUCK! as green as i would like to think myself.....no way! Thank goodness for those wonderful people. The nicest thing was the atmosphere. everyone was smiling and polite, no "scary fair" bull. I am all ready looking forward to next year. The whole thing just made me ache even more for our own place. I am sick of talking the talk, i'm so ready to walk the walk!

Fall is Fast Approaching

It's chili again this morning. Can't stop thinking about that wood stove and giant wood pile at the new house. It will be so nice when mike gets up and puts wood in the stove before i am out of bed, ha ha ha! We may have found a speed skating program for mike and the boys, its ice skating. maybe we'll have the next Apollo? The only problem is it is in Portland, I just don't know if it is feasible with the winter coming and the price of gas. Plus Ice time is really pricey. We are going to check it out this weekend and we'll see.
Indigo is learning to sign like crazy. he gets so excited when you know what he is trying to say. His new one is train. He seems to like Thomas as much as Harland. GOOD! now the hundreds of dollars in trains will get some more use. Harland actually has been using them allot lately. Its possible Indigo's interest has sparked the renewed obsession. Lets not forget whose trains they are... OK?
Forrest is loving working at the farm. He really enjoys Sarah and Andy's company. They are really cool. I am glad he is getting to spend time with other adults. If only we could find some kids his age to hang out with. He worked yesterday harvesting potatoes. He comes home so excited and tells us everything he learned. He is going to come in very handy if we can pull this farming thing off. I am excited for him getting the work experience as well. I think finding paid work around here might be tough for him and this could really help. It really doesn't matter, The experience alone is priceless. Did I mention he brings home veggies! Yesterday he brought me tons of yummy carrots. You all know how i feel about carrots and these ones are the best ever! needless to say, they are gone!They even sent us their first batch of vegan chocolate chip cookies. They lasted about 3 minutes! With the last one being snatched out of the container and the taker chased through the house. Forrest is also preparing seeds from a seed tomato Andy gave him. A striped German! they are pretty and yummy! so we can grow our own next spring.
Gaynor is working constantly on his games and short stories. He mostly likes to develop characters. They usually consist of creatures with some type of power. He gets really into it. Maybe he'll develop the next big trading card game. He has also been playing with Harland allot. Sometimes forced but they have such great imaginations and make up some really cool games.
Harland is really into cutting and pasting right now. he calls it his school work. But his favorite thing to do is play with Gaynor. He is outside as much as humanly possible. It will be even better when we move and have a huge yard! He would stay out all day if he could. Too bad Gaynor doesn't share his love of the outdoors.

The Boys Have Their Own Blogs!

So, If you click on the boys pics to the right, it will take you to their blogs. check them out and leave them comments.

It's all new again

So obviously its been a while and everything is different. But does anyone expect less from our family? We are in Maine, and loving it. Getting ready to move to our new, much larger, place in a few weeks. The boys are beyond excited, as are Mike and I. 186 acres! I am hoping for lots of walks, snow shoeing, cross country skiing etc. All I know is I can see the mountains from my kitchen when i look out over the hay fields. What more could you ask for. Oh yeah, a giant wood cook stove. Now I won't have "wood pile" envy any more.
Homeschooling is going great. Its funny to read past blogs about strict curriculums and schedules since we are doing the total opposite now. i think its natural homeschool progression. We are still doing Math, Saxon but everything else is more chill. For History we are watching the HBO mini-series "John Adams" which is excellent! I highly recommend it. The boys spend most of their time reading. Forrest is really into Stephen King right now which is ironic since we live in Maine. Gaynor is working on a few different short stories. He has soo many ideas he keeps starting new projects, thats ok, he is really enjoying the process. Forrest has been writing quite a bit as well. He just got a short story published on the TeenINK raw site. He is so proud! So are his parents. He has written some amazing poems lately too. i'll try to get him to put some on this site. He is a natural writer and Gaynor is right there with him. For science they boys spent some time with mushroom books in the woods searching for and identifying different species. it was a stellar mushroom year here in Maine. I guess the rain has to be good for something! Forrest is also working at a local Organic farm. Marble Family Farms. He helps the young farmers harvest crops in exchange for work and life experience as well as good company, conversation and some times even free produce. They grow the most amazing tomatoes and salad greens, you'll never eat store bought lettuce again! What better way to learn plant biology, economics and of course the value of small farms and sustainable agriculture. Plus the 7miles he rides his bike each way is Phys-Ed right? life is after all the best education! Other than that, the boys write letters to pen pals, use different mediums for art projects, cook and bake, and use the internet to research any and every whim. Today we are learning how to make baskets from cattails which are everywhere here! They are loving it and so am I.

Trying out a schedule.....again

So as a family we decided on a few things. First, more formal curriculum. if i have realized anything, its that homeschooling is all about trial and error. We were basically unschooling but i just wasn't happy with the way our days were going. Any way i won't get into too much boring detail but here is where we are at now. Wind is going strong with his Saxon Math curriculum. i love it it is soooo straight forward. I just ordered 5th grade for Rain. We are also looking (desperately) for a good Secular Biology program, I think i may have found one. I am also considering a language program of some kind.
Our days basically go like this: Boys up at 7:00 ( I sometimes sleep in if the baby has had a bad night-meaning up more than three times) Then they do their chores, usually finishing up by 8:30. Then we sit at the table for "school time" Earth actually loves this time he cuts or colors. We are working on the Wacco, Animaniacs song of the states and capitals while we color code and label a map. Next is math: we do a timed test and mental math together then Wind goes into another room to work without distractions. what we do next varies greatly. somedays its errands( their favorite is grocery shopping with the shopping buddy at Stop and Shop!) some days we cook, some days we do language arts, the kids are writing a three part paper, reduce, reuse, recycle. If its warm enough as it has been this past week, the boys go out in the woods to work on their fort. They will even take Earth. What good brothers, Now with our new radios we can talk so i always know where they are. I try to get them to practice their instruments every day. Wind-electric guitar and Water-Drums.
Earth even uses his xylaphone. After like 1:00ish they have a few more easy chores and then the rest of the day is free. This is when they read, alot! i love that i don't even have to suggest it, now even with Water. he caught the reading bug....yeah! Actually they seem much happier. I know i am.
We have also been setting some goals. Wind really wants to look more into taking his GED exam so he can take courses as Massasoit. He is very excited about the bio curriculum we are looking at. Science is his love! its 10th grade bio but a general course and i know he is more than capable. I even plan to include water. He also mentioned he wants to learn to take notes so he can handle a college level corse.
I feel like i am finally getting into a groove with Fire, oh and fire soooo suits him! he is a bit more demanding that i would like but nothing i can't handle. i like to think of it as assertive but with out spoken language! Lucky for him he is soo stinkin cute i plan to keep him!
On the home front, we are working on our home plans, met with the architect. We are still unpacking....the story of my life. I bought new cloth diapers. m-says i am way too excited about them. i pointed out how it is no different from his excitement over a new tool for work. this is my job and these fantastic pocket diapers just made it a whole lot easier check em out at http://www.mommystouch.com/ . $350 ish for 18 one size fits all diapers. as apposed to $2500 ish for disposables for 2-2 1/2 years then into the landfill they go! plus the rash and exema fire had from the pre-folds i was using is gone gone gone! i wash them about every other day. they clean beautifully and they are easy and cute. Earth wears them at night too...no more pull-ups! i'm gonna stop here cause i could go on and on! i am trying a new laundry strategy it seems to be working out. I am loving my new "vegan with a vengance" cook book! The food is amazing! i can't wait to have my own kitchen again. i miss having one of the boys cook with me everynight.
On the personal front. i could use some more sleep! i get a weird hung-over feeling some mornings. funny since i have't had a drink! i miss summer, i miss heat and sun and the ocean and tank tops and sandals. I am soo diggin Paramore definately need to pick up that CD the best movie i have seen recently is "the last mimzy" i love my new hair cut, need to buy some clothes that fit. am sooo excited about Moes at the mall (one of my favorites from tennessee). My last date with m-was to IKEA and i loved it! see ya soon.

Peace GI GI.......we will miss you but we are happy for your peace, finally resting in peace!

School, when you least expect it!

I am really starting to get the whole unschooling thing. This is the theory of letting your children self lead and self teach. I am still doing some minor "work with them" little things like having them write a letter once a week to someone. I also assign them little research projects, like find 3 facts about cicadas or measure the distance from here to there on the map. I also am teaching Wind some computer skills, he just typed up a master grocery list with prices in excel. things like that. i do intend to do a formal math curriculum but this should only take less than 20 mins a day. Here is my point. First let me tell you i woke up at 8:30 am. Everyone was fed and dressed, the laundry was folded and the washer was running. Everyone was on their way outside to vaccume the pool and sweep the desk. Wish every morning could start off this way. So then they came to ask if there was anything else i needed done. they had something they wanted to try. They are outside right now trying to make plaster casts of cicada holes. i don't even know where they found out about it but what a great science project. its a holiday and i had no intention of doing "school" but thats what its all about isn't it. They are having fun! and learning comes naturally when you are having fun, check out the pics, cant wait to see how it turns out.-M.E.
p.s. i just like the way the diapers look hung out on the line, i'm a dork!

The Second Time Around!-Mother Earth

So i wrote this great long blog yesterday and i then proceeded to erase the whole thing by accident! uuggghh! that really erks me! So here goes again. We started our first history unit and we decided to start with the Cherokee Indians and the trail of tears. This area is loaded with cherokee history and the trail of tears starts in Chatanooga. We got a fictional biography of a cherokee boy and his story of the trail of tears. The story is based on fact. The boys think Pa and Gram should read it before they come. So Friday we went to the birth place of Sequoyah. He is the man who invented the Cherokee Writing system so that they could communicate by written word for the first time. Then yesterday we took a ride through some of the Cherokee national forrest and the Cherohala Skyway. Its a road that goes through some of the forest and up on top of the ridges but we didn't get that far. We stoped on the river so the boys could explore and i could feed Fire. then it was time to head back home. The trail of tears is a horrible black mark on our country. This is when the americans decided they wanted the land the tribes had and proceeded to force them to leave and move to the otherside of the mississippi. Over 4000 native americans died on the voyage and this # doesnt include the ones who died in the "camps" waiting to be moved. It is a horrible story but i think it will make for a great lesson. I am hoping to learn more about the cherokee people themselves and their ways of life. i would like to find some recipes and some crafts to do with the kids. Plus i am sure we will visit the trail of tears and some other museums.
On a side note. Fire doesnt seem to love riding in the car allthough we were in it for a long time. On the way home he started to cry, like really cry which he never does. I turned around and Water looked like he was going to be sick. He was so upset that Fire was crying like that. he thought maybe something was hurting him. It was really sweet but i told him it was a good thing Fire wasn't like him when he was an infant or he would never make it!

Now i will tell all of you who are new to reading my blogs that i am a horrible speller and i don't care so if you don't like my spelling, get out of my blog! thanks-M.E.

Deana thinks my name should be Mother Earth, thanks deana i like it!

Trying this out

So this will be our sort of web page. I will try to get the boys to post as well. Each child will have a screen name and this will be how they are known on this page. please when you post comments be sure to use their screen names. We will use this page to let you all know what we are up too.
Today was our first official day of school if you can call it that. We are keeping a mellow schedule leaving plenty of free time to explore interests on their own. Today we worked on letter writing, budget planning, geography, science, math, computer and home ec. Yesterday Wind wrote a letter to iiams to express his concerns about their continuation of animal testing. This was something he wanted to do on his own. Water is working on a letter to his 3rd grade teacher and Earth, well he played many a game of candy land and drew his own version of a map depicting where we live and where gram and pa live. The day was definately a little crazy. Earth has taken to dramatically throwing himself on to the floor at the slightest idea that he might not get what he wants. Today it was carrot zucchini bread (more and more) and playing candy land NOW!
Fire is now just about two weeks old. He is all in all an easy baby allthough nursing is not going so well. i look at this as Gods way of letting me know i don't know everything even when i think i do. He doesn't cry much though and he sleeps very well at night.
The days seem to be going fairly smoothly, so far. The boys are starting to complete their daily routine (personal chores) without being reminded. They have also fallen into a good routine with their household chores and are completing them faster in the AM. I still need to order their math and science curriculum. Also getting my car fixed will definately help with finding good educational breaks from our every day. Daddy has been getting home pretty early so he has been able to spend lots of time with them either in the pool or making dinner or just hanging out. This is especially important to Earth. He even gets up and has breakfast with daddy at 6 or 6:30 am while everyone else is sleeping.
My goals for this week: figure this blog thing out, get the boys on a good schedule, get this house back in order.