Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ Insane Asylum, Ice Cream, and a New Business

We have tried to resume school this week. Really we have. But let me just tell you just in case you don't seem to have this problem. Insanity breeds insanity.

WHAT? You don't have that problem? Well, welcome to my world. Let me introduce you.

Hi, my name is Tracie & I live in what I affectionately call the "Insane Asylum". This is my world. I am the queen. They know me here. And that's how I like it!

Anytime, and I do mean A N Y T I M E that we get off schedule, it takes entirely too long to get back on track.

After the crazy 2 weeks we have just had, I really didn't expect the first part of the week to be too productive. Wait - I think I have said that a few times recently. Oh well.

Through the, uh hum, raising of voices and threatening of lives, we have actually had a decent "school week". We have gotten a lot accomplished and hopefully learned a little as well.

The purchase of a new business extension on Monday did little to ease the stress of our week. Blessed Boutique officially added bottle cap jewelry to our many talents. PLEASE check it out on Facebook & help support us!

Hitler is still an evil man. People are still persecuted just because they are different. We Are the Ship shed some light on a little history of America's favorite past time.

Tuesday brought the next episode of poultry judging.

We went to church early on Wednesday to work on our Easter Centerpiece. As always, I'm a little behind. We decided to put it in Justin's office at church this year. I forgot the crosses so I still have to add them. Here and here are the links from last year. I'll add more pictures as the grass starts to grow.

We have had a few warm sunny days this week, so lunch time involved ice cream and baseball. :) I can't wait till warm weather!

Hey do you know what you get when you give a toddler a rainbow sherbet push up? A colorful sticky mess! Thankfully we ate outside.

Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ Parks, Chickens, & Hearts

Happy day after Valentine's Day!

Around here, we don't do anything very special for Valentine's Day. (Although the hubby & I are going out on a date tonight!) We didn't have any parties or anything like that, so thankfully the kids weren't too jacked up on sugar. We did celebrate with chocolate hearts & Mad Libs.

We are still reading The Railway Children by E. B. Nesbit. I'm struggling to get through it because of the way it was written. There are English phrases a plenty & lots of railroad slang, but its a fun story. The kids are really enjoying it.

Apologia Astronomy is teaching us that Earth is the perfect planet.

We have danced & indulged our way through the roaring 20s only to find out that the fun has to end sometimes. We are beginning our study of The Great Depression.

Unfortunately, Teaching Textbooks is having to be retaught this week & next. Mixed numbers & reducing fractions are just not sticking.

Makenzie is reading a little better. I NEVER thought it would frustrate me as much as it does. I'm still not sure if it is lack of effort or honest to goodness struggle.

We are still working on obedience. Somehow it seems that we will never learn this lesson.

Even though we have fought through getting our work done and focus problems, we have had A LOT of fun this week!

Several chickens got out of the coop so we had to chase them around.

We took off to the park to enjoy a sunny afternoon with swinging, sliding, & skateboarding. My dad even joined us.

Austin had the first poultry judging meeting on the year.

And the BEST part....we brought home new diddles. They are so cute. Logan doesn't know what to think of the little fuzzballs yet.

Cloud 9

Yep, the Bauguess kids have reached cloud 9 & are swiftly approaching clouds 10, 11, & 12!

After months & months of wondering when & if it would happen, Makenzie finally lost her first tooth yesterday. She pulled it all by herself during church. Um, I guess if I asked her what the sermon was, she probably wouldn't remember. I'm pretty sure that God understands!

Last night, while we were saying her prayers, Makenzie prayed for the tooth fairy to have a safe trip. Then after she had only been in her room for 10-15 minutes, she came out to let me know that the tooth fairy had not come yet. I tried to explain to her that she had to go to sleep first. She tried to tell me that she had been asleep! Yeah, ok...

Then this morning, she woke me up at 6am to show me her dollar! Of course she also bounded into Austin's room a short time later to show him. He attempted to show excitement through half closed eyes. Austin asked her if she knew what she needed to do next .... her response - Yeah, I need to pull more teeth! BWAHAHAHA

She is still talking about the tooth fairy!

Today we drove down to Raleigh for the 4H Congress. Austin was competing in Poultry Judging. Anyone that knows Austin, knows that he loves his chickens! This has been such a good opportunity for him. He is learning every aspect to chickens from birth to death & beyond.

So after months & months of studying, meeting, & preparing, I am proud to say that Wilkes County came in 1st place in the Junior Division! Those boys were so excited! Ok, the parents & supporters were a little excited as well ;)

After the competition, we left Austin to spend the night in Raleigh. This is the first time he has ever been this far away from us! I'm sure he will be fine, but will I? They are growing up so fast!

Austin has already decided that he wants to go to college at NC State. Oh, I'm not sure if I can handle pulling for the Wolfpack or not. I bleed BLUE!

Farm Life Teaches Life Lessons

The world we live in is tough sometimes. Crime, murder, lying, bullies, cheating. Our world has evolved from a slow easy pace to survival of the fittest at break neck speed. This applies to human beings and animals alike.

If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times, Austin LOVES his chickens. They give him a sense of pride & ownership. A desire to be responsible to something that is solely dependent on you. This is a lesson that I could never have taught & produced the same results.

Austin could almost single handedly take care of his chickens. He's great with the other animals on our farm too. But there's something special about those chickens.

We all know that life is hard & anything but fair. But that is hard to explain to a 10 year old boy with so much love in his heart.

Austin came in the house a little while ago & said he had to kill one of his roosters. Of course, we immediately wanted to know why. Well, it seems that this rooster was being picked on by the other roosters. The scene he described was horrible.

Graphic warning inserted here.

The rooster was bloody, missing feathers. He had numerous cuts around his neck. One eye was pecked out. He also had a whole in the back of his head where part of his brain was coming out.

Austin tried to kill it with a shovel, so unfortunately it wasn't quick.

He didn't say much else. You could see the tears that he refused to let fall shining in his eyes and you could hear the words on the verge of breaking when he did speak. I told him how sorry I was & how brave & responsible he was.

Even though Austin is growing up way too fast, those few moments of sorrow reminded me that he is still only a 10 year old little boy.