Homeschool

I love homeschooling my 3 little beauties, I do.  That's not to say that there are not rough moments or days or (dare I say it) weeks.But I do love learning at home with them.  What I don't like are intrusions.If I am approached about homeschooling by someone who is genuinely interested I don't mind at all answering questions or letting them know what resources are available.  What bugs me are the ignorant comments.  You know the ones

"Is that even legal?"  or "will the school LET you do that?"  (OK HELLO this is my child I get to choose how they are educated not the school.)

 " Oh but the school gives you all the books, and supplies you need right?"  Well actually no they don't give me anything thank you very much it all comes out our pockets.

 "You just homeschool so you don't have to pay taxes"  WHAT????  Ok I pay taxes just like everyone else same amount.  They don't cut me a break because I am homeschooling.  In fact in our state, because we have to notify the BOE our children are counted in the infamous 4th friday count. This means that our schools are getting money for students(mine included) that they are not even servicing....in ANY way.

"You just homeschool because you are cheap, you don't have to buy back to school clothes and supplies"  Well, alrighty then.  Last year I spent over $1000 for 2 students (That was just curriculum).  I bought all my own supplies for them including special art supplies for my then 5th grader. I had to feed them breakfast and lunch.  They still need clothes and shoes since we are not nudists.  They even have backpacks and lunch boxes ,we usethem for school on the go and field trips. which by the way we pay for those also.

Sometimes Silence is golden people!

Blessings
TopMom

Settling In ...

Tonight I am thinking about settling in.  Autumn is officially here and right on schedule came cooler temperatures. I love autumn and I love settling in for winter.  We will soon leave for a vacation to visit grandma and grandpa in Florida and then to the beach for the week.  I jokingly say I am stocking up on my vitamin D for the winter.  When we get home, and to a lesser extent these last few days before we leave, We are putting things to bed for the winter.  Taking down the pool.  Harvesting the last few bits of yummy goodness from the garden; mostly peppers, a few tomatoes both ripe and green, and lots of yummy sweet potatoes.  TopDad has been mowing for the last few times of the season, cleaning up around the outside of the place.  We need to work on getting those cellar doors fixed before the cold weather sets in.

Lately I have also been thinking that, after 7 years here in the bluegrass state, maybe I am finally settling in here.  It has been a LONG HARD fight for me.  After 20 some years as an Air Force wife I was used to moving and landing in a ready made community.  Here in our small town everyone is mostly family and or has known each other forever.  They are tight knit and honestly, while they are friendly,  they don't think to include "outsiders".  Or that is how it seems to me.  So it has been a struggle for me, I am not from here, I don't work outside the home. I homeschool my children, Most people my age have teens or grown children.  Most people with younger children are much younger than me.  We still do not have a church home (that is still excruciating to me)  But I have persevered and now I feel like maybe it is finally paying off.  Slowly and surely I am settling in to a life here.  For that I am immensely thankful.

Blessings,
TopMom

Well, Hello again, computer problems and trying to post from a mobile device mean that I have not had the opportunity to post here.  New Laptop...So I thought I would give it another try.  I won't even try to catch you up on the last 8 plus months. :)

Today TopDad had a doctors appointment near Louisville.  He stopped at a greenhouse on the way home and brought home 2 flats of bedding plants for our fall garden.  So tonight we put in a half row of cauliflower, a row of Broccoli and a row and a half of cabbage.  Hope everything comes in before or after our beach vacation in October.  The Broccoli and cauliflower will likely go in the freezer and the Cabbage will go into sauerkraut.  The summer garden did fairly well considering the drought.  We have put up lots of spaghetti sauce and tried several other new things with our cherry tomatoes.  I have more peppers than I know what to do with, mostly sweet banana peppers.

I have stared School with the little girlies. We are just slowly getting started.  BeeBug and DooCat are enjoying Heart of Dakota again this year.  They are using Creation to Christ and Bigger hearts for his Glory this year.  I am looking at a letter of the week type Curriculum for FooFoo who just turned 4.

Big news from the past few months Artsy Girl got married so we gained a son-in-love and an eight year old grandson.  I guess I should think of names for them also....Cake guy and KB.  Our son-in-love makes the most beautiful cakes. I like to say I that Artsy Girl got married and I gained a grandson....a wedding present for me, KB is very sweet and gets along very well with the girlies. :) We are glad to have them in our family.

Other big news.Our home sustained some serious hail damage in the early spring storms in our area.  So we...well mostly TopDad...have been doing lots of work on our home. With the help of friends, relatives and acquaintances we were able, in one day, to remove all the old aluminum siding and tear down 2 outbuildings that were damaged beyond repair.  I don't think those who helped will ever know what a HUGE blessing they were to us.  New roof, metal of course in a very pretty charcoal gray.  All new double hung vinyl replacement windows.  TopDad has put all new  crisp white vinyl siding on our home.  He is almost finished with it.  Then he will have to finish the trim and the gutters.  Hopefully we can make some cute board and batten shutters this winter.

Those are just the highlights....It has been a busy year here in the bluegrass. Thanking God for his abundant blessings as always.

Blessings,
TopMom

Taking the Plunge

Seems like lately I have a lot to say...a lot on my mind so I thought I would give this blog thing a try. I know, I know a bit slow on the uptake but sometimes you just cannot fathom one more thing on your plate to do.  Perhaps this will be a creative outlet for me.  If no one else reads it that is OK too.  So this is about the journey of my family to find out "gold" in the Bluegrass State.  When DH retired from the USAF nearly seven years ago we purchased an old farmhouse and a small plot of land (about 4 acres) just outside a small town in KY.  Our dream was to fix up the house and have a large garden, maybe a few animals.  We weren't really sure where we were going in life.  We just knew this was our dream.  So we moved here and DH retired without a job.  God has been faithful and DH has a job he likes with the USPS.  It has been a wild and, I admit, not always fun ride since then.  We are still seeking, still growing, and in many ways still searching for our gold.

Blessings
TopMom