Category Archives: Farm School

Our family doesn’t homeschool full-time so we call our committed to home learning and hands-on learning throughout our days farm school. From picking up construction and engineering skills in our chores; to hands-on service opportunties; to spontaneous nature study; our days are filled with books, movies, and moments that we use to enrich our crew’s love of life and learning!

Key topics: Book lists and reviews; family field trips; history lessons and unit study ideas; learning with movies and audiobooks; nature study and wildlife experiences; service projects and community outreach opportunities.

On the Trail of the Beaver, Part 2…the Daily Farm Adventures {112}

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So on Monday I started to share how we spent all of last weekend scrounging through the woods on the tree farm looking for beavers. They’re damaging and flooding out young pine trees–which is the main product on the tree farm. {smile} But our adventure stopped just short of finding the new beaver hut… Well, here’s what we found–not just a den, but an entire new ecosystem! There are three different dams built to create a two-tier pond system.   Of course, Coal the Cattle Dog had to immediately jump … Continue Reading…

On the Trail of the Beaver, Part 1…the Daily Farm Adventures {111}

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You might think that tree farming is about the easiest farming there is. I did at first. I mean, you’re growing pine trees, and surely they don’t need much supervising…right? Wrong. For crying out loud, sometimes it feels like growing those trees takes more work than raising our human children! {smile} You have to cut, mow, burn, plant, pray for rain…mow, cut, thin, spray…and then the predators…rabbits, mice, rats, voles, disease…apparently everything that doesn’t eat meat loves to eat trees! And now beavers. I wrote before that we’ve found some beaver damage … Continue Reading…

Sign of the Beaver…the Daily Farm Adventures {103}

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No, not the book by Elizabeth George Speare (although we like that too!). I’m talking about the real thing. Brown. Wet. Big flat tail. Makes ponds where there should be no pond. Beavers. He was here… And here… We’ve got beaver problems at the tree farm. We’re not immediately ones to campaign against the local wildlife. We try to have a live-and-let-live philosophy. We only target wildlife that is specifically damaging our resources. For example, we know there’s coyotes around here–but none have ever bothered our stock, so we don’t mind sharing … Continue Reading…

50+ Resources for Learning About War Dogs and K-9 Heroes

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Have you seen the movie Max, about a Marine Corps dog originally stationed in Afghanistan? As a boy momma, with an equally adventure and animal-loving girl, it was right up our alley for family movie night. We enjoyed it! A little predictable? Yes. But still a quality family movie. And it sparked a lot of interest from the crew about military working dogs. The boys are already crazy about anything military and the Ladybug loves everything dogs right now so this angle on their favorite topics was very fresh for them, … Continue Reading…

Kids Need More Than Book-Learning

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Ok, we’re not even a month into the school year and I’m already over the homework. Sheesh. I’m just the Momma, it’s not even my homework! And the more I read and think and pray, the more oppose to homework I am, except for two cases… The child is not being diligent and getting their classwork finished and has to bring it home to work on it. This would go hand-in-hand with a student with a specific learning challenge that needs extra work. (Um, we have one of those. Maybe two. … Continue Reading…

The Night-Stalker…the Daily Farm Adventures {66}

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Well, I posted on Monday asking how everyone felt about pictures here on the blog–do you mind my sometimes blurry, sometimes grainy, sometimes shady pictures? Or would you prefer for me to find only good photography to share (which would probably not be my own!!). All the comments and emails I got were “yes, we like your pictures!” so here’s some more! {smile} I mentioned on Monday that we’ve got an owl in the neighborhood that seems to have made himself quite comfortable and is settling in. Well, he’s taken … Continue Reading…

The Value of Serving TOGETHER

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If you follow us on Facebook, you might have seen some of our summer posts about Mr. Fix-It and I leading a VBS class together this past summer. Not just being someone else’s helper, but planning, teaching, and leading our own class. Together. It was a completely new experience for us, as individuals and as a couple. I’ll just come right out and admit that I was nervous. One, because it was new. And two, because Mr. Fix-It and I are very different personality-wise and this kind of activity really, … Continue Reading…

How To Make Relaxed Summer Learning Plans

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I already introduced you to why we make summer learning plans. Today I’m going to share simple steps for creating your own simple, relaxed summer learning plans. I did this for the first time in 2012 and it worked great–even though we were not strict about sticking to it. It’s an outline, not an itinerary. In 2013 I did less pre-planning and I feel like we got less out of it as well. So I’m going back to my first-year concept. I’m not done (obviously–since I pretty much just started last week!) … Continue Reading…

What ARE Relaxed Summer Learning Plans?

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I’ve gone back and forth for several years not knowing where I fit with homeschooling (since we don’t homeschool full-time) and finally embraced the fact that we do homeschool–just not full-time. But I am–we are–intentional, teaching parents and we create a constant learning environment at home. Well, we try, anyway. {smile} So this week I’ll be sharing some of my planning process and what our summer calendar looks like. But first I’d like to share some thoughts on why I go through the trouble of making summer learning plans, and how we … Continue Reading…

20 Adventure Series Chapter Books for Young Girls

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Last week I shared a list of 25 Adventure Series Chapter Books for Young Boys–books that really engage their minds and imaginations and make them want to keep reading. This week I’d like to add to that list (because my Ladybug loves all those “boy” books too!) a few series that have key female characters or have really captured my daughter’s interest. As you may know, she’s a reluctant independent reader, but will listen to me read aloud all day long. And again, these are not just for girls, our … Continue Reading…

25 Adventure Series Chapter Books For Young Boys

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Well, it’s been 70 degrees for a few days, so we’re starting to think about summer plans around here again–and part of that is summer learning plans. Summer is a great time to work on some fun family unit studies as well as some local field trips. I was also spurred on by finding 16 books in The Sowers Christian Biography series at our local thrift store for only $4.00!! What a treasure! The kiddos can’t wait until we dive into a few for read-aloud! I’ve started reviewing our little playroom … Continue Reading…

10 Books for RUBY…Valentine Surprises

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If you follow us on Facebook, you might have seen my post the other day about finding a book with Speedracer’s name in it. His real name, I mean. It’s a treasure, and a tough find! I love finding books with our kiddos names in them because it makes them really connect with the character–which also makes having good stories especially important! It’s something that’s going to stay on their shelves long past the age when they appreciate the story. It’s a love gift more than a literacy gift. Which is … Continue Reading…

Nature Encounters…The Great Horned Owl

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Have you noticed how much hustling about there is right now out in the world of wildlife? Everyone’s scurrying around to find new homes and territories and stock up their dens and burrows and bellies for winter. Seems like the squirrels around here are having a festival of foolishness around the roadside ditches. Mr. Fix-It and I were off for a walk, alone, the other day (how often does that happen!!) and collected a bunch of turkey feathers and an empty turtle shell to take back and show the kiddos. … Continue Reading…

Costumes and Cows in the Chicken Coop…Thankful Thursdays #5

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Boy, I’m thankful that lamb harvest for the year is over. We just reduced the amount of mouth to feed over the winter by about 50%! And everyone seemed satisfied with their product and how it went. (Except for the Cowboy who is totally bummed that he missed it all just for school!) And I’m thankful that the weather seems to have cleared up. It’s still a bit soggy, but nothing to complain about since we had a week of steady rain! I’m also thankful to Mr. Fix-It for taking … Continue Reading…

Resources for Studying Jamestown

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In honor of Columbus Day, I thought I would share something about explorers, but not at all about Columbus! {smile} We have been reading and studying and talking and learning about Jamestown and early Virginia colonization and woodland Indians for several weeks now. It started this summer when we started reading Blood on the River together as a family read-aloud. I had been collecting Jamestown resources for most of the spring and fall to put together one of our mini unit studies. You know, stalking Amazon for price drops, haunting … Continue Reading…