The HerdKeeper

When I first "discovered" workboxes Don said no way can we have 108 plastic shoe boxes and 9 racks floating around the house. I really wanted to try this and loved the look of the Trofast system I saw on the yahoo group but didn't want to spend the money for a possible maybe. I am an organizing junky. I have spent hundreds of dollars if not thousands on organizing books, systems, baskets etc. I was skeptical but I kept hearing rave reviews. So....... I bought a cheap coat rack and some shoe organizers and tried it out for a few of the kids. I loved loved loved the system, but hated hated hated the shoe rack it was weak and kept toppling over. After brainstorming with Don and explaining to him how effective this system is he caved in and bought the Trofast system. I just wanted a more permanent rack to hang my system from but Don was sure there was something that looked neater so I was forced to show him the Trofast system at Ikea. I originally thought this syst

We are using Konos with My Father's World and Tapestry of Grace. Wow what an odd way to do this. My high schoolers are using TOG so I was tyring to keep us somewhat on the same page but I know how well my younger ones learn from Konos. So in my planning I used My Father's World and Konos simultaneosly. We will not reach the end of MFW because we are smelling the roses along the way and I am okay with that. So this week we watched a Nest video on Columbus, a National Geographic video, read the D'Aulaire book on Columbus and my big kids read The World of Columbus by G. Foster. The younger kids also studied water, ships, bouyancy. I was amazed ( I should know by now how amazing my kids are) at all the questions they asked, all the conclusions they came to just by building simple tinfoil boats and floating them, blowing on them. Wish I had pictures to show but their dad couldn't figure out why there was three pieces of tin foil in the boys room so he tossed them.

Emma's last year as a high school cheerleader . My sunshine is growing up.

Took the big girls shopping. We had fun shopping and Melaina loved being a big girl.

Everyone was so excited to go, the trip down was fun. No pictures of our trip home we were to tired to lift the camera.

Zachariah James ( Zach, Zachman, Ack (courtesy of Aliyah), Zachy (courtesy of Lydia)

Each and everyday I am more and more grateful for the privilege of freedom in the United States but moreso the freedom I have in Christ. Our personal celebration

Noah was so proud!!

born july 2nd

Workboxes are all the rage among homeschoolers. I think they are fantastic but Don vetoed having multiple shoe racks with plastic bins floating around the house. So I came up with my own version. It is having serious problems as the shoe racks are too heavy and it keeps falling over. Looking for a way to use these without spending big bucks.I am filling boxes for 6 children and two preschoolers and two file folder systems for highschool I have a "plan" I work off. Math always goes in the same slot, Bible always goes in the same slot etc. I set up a schedule and we just do the same thing everyday in the same order. Not terribly creative I know. So I have Bible, Math, SS (which may vary- sometimes work with mom, sometimes a learning center, sometimes just a book but it is always in the same slot. box #1 My worbox schedule has been Bible first - everyone has Bible first. The teens have a personal study to do, my middle age kids a Precept Bible study to do and then my

He is such a loving boy. I can't even begin to tell you all the good things about Ben. He loves animals and is very kind to them. He loves to wear his robe all day. Ben has an amazing imagination. He is daily inspired to take on a different career. Ben is sensitive but hides it with a good tough guy act.

We did a quick tour through the Honor unit and it was great. I hope to get back to dig deeper.

My husband blessed me with this awesome cake.

Asher Elijah born on May 9, 2009. Asher now

Picnic at Muddy Run. We devoured fried chicken, chips, watermelon and gallons of ice tea.

He was born at the end of July and life has not been the same since. He is tiny tiny tiny

Lydia is a highly sensory oriented kid always touching and wanting to be touched to the point of driving me crazy. Poor thing also suffers from eczema. So this morning she climbs in my bed as is our usual custom and she tells me she is starving and I say okay and then we snuggle for a few minutes before I bring her downstairs to make her breakfast which she never eats. So I am rubbing her tummy and her legs when all of a sudden she sits up and says stop that you are going to hurt my baby. Something I say frequently as she is always climbing on my belly. It is a girl baby not a boy baby like Sam's. I had a boy baby once and it escaped. I dug a small hole to catch it but it climbed out so I had to dig a very big hole. So this one is a girl. Aliyah was getting into the kids shelves with their school books and saying to herself "Aliyah did it". She must here this every time someone discovers a new mess somewhere. LOL