History and Culture Lesson

So this will be my last entry until my trip is completed. (if you take the link at the end listing location you will find my heritage)
Next week we will head out to the homestead in Tennessee.  It is a beautiful place and has remained in our family for five generations. I spent much of my childhood there. It has never had electricity, running water or any comfort items that I grew up with in my home.  My mother was born there and even as late as 1950's she still did not have comforts that one would think of for the time. 
There are two plots of land, one is almost 100 acres in the middle of the Tennessee Ridge and the other is 10 acres owned at one time by my grandfather and now shared with my mother, aunts and uncles. A clear creek called Hurricaine Creek flows through the middle and it includes an area called Cinder Ford and has an old Iron Ore Furnace on the land called the Eclipse Furnace. So much history sitting in one hollow.  There is a spring that comes from a rock under a large tree, many years ago my grandfather put a pipe in it and that was the running water that my mother had. The water was about 1/4 mile from the house and when the bucket was full it was a steep walk back.
I know it all sound cliche' but it is real. She even attended a one room school house and was not permitted by culture to continue school during her sixth grade year as she came into her womanhood. NO JOKE! 
I hear tell that there are still several families in the Appalachians like  how she was raised. 

So I am going with G and F to the family cemetery.  We will meet with a cousin that I met two years ago via ancestry.com but this time she is bringing her mother.  Her mother left the hard luck, hard life area a long, long time ago and did not return. She has not ever been the her grandparents graveside and does not recall how to get there. I am going to take her.  She recently lost her husband of 66 yrs and now wants to return to home for one last visit.  It is a bitter sweet moment. 

In the meantime, we will all be enriched by this experience.  I will take G and F along, they have been there once before.  I also am going to stop at THE HOME PLACE along the Trace of the LBL area.  It will be a learning opportunity for them. I will take them again to the area where Danville, TN use to be prior to the TVA flood and to the cemetery moved for the flood. 

I will post pics if I get any good ones. I expect that the copperheads will be near the creek with this heat so rather than a lot of photo ops at the creek I will be on the look out and carry my "snake charmer".  When I was a child my grt-grandmother had a snake dog named Tony that always went ahead of us. He always seemed to get them. No one lives on this land anymore so the pathways will not be well traveled. 
I will put up the location on this post.  THIS is my heritage!!!

Fixin' tu get reddy

I just had to do it.  I love hearing my Texas friends speak but wonder how in the world they ever teach their children phonics.  Well,  except for my friend Seresa, her phonics are clear yet I am not sure about her boys. :)


So yes indeed, I am getting ready for school  I am awaiting the arrival of the curriculum but also looking forward to this Fall's Master's Lyceum (our co-ops group enrichment).   Last spring I conducted a Curious George Rides a Bike lapbook class. It was filled right away with teachers children and many said they wanted to get in but it was full. So I will do it again this Fall and then offer it every other year.  I am looking forward to two classes that another parent is conducting. She will have a Magic Treehouse book club and an Expedition Earth class. I know G will enjoy both of these classes, then she will continue ballet and art. However, G did voice an interest in the gymnastics so we will have to see how the schedule plans out.  For F this semester I know that although she is young the Learning Centers program will really not be a challenge to her and I hope to get her into the FIAR program this year. This will be a good one for her for several years to come. G love FIAR but she will have so much to choose from and frankly we can do some good FIAR programs at home.  The lapbook we did last year from Make Way for Duckling was very much a FIAR type of study.

I went through the math objectives listed on the ABeka web site and printed them out. You see, I have not been good about follow through with any summer lessons as I had thought. As it turns out we only missed three objectives which are shared objectives for second grade.  Therefore, I must re-evaluate my teaching strategy a bit.  It was very relaxed last year which was great but I also began making it the norm to begin closer to 10:00 a.m.   This cannot continue as I have so much I want to get in and after lunch they are essentially done.  So I am going to be firm about 8:30 start time, there is so much I want to do that can also be fun but when I get going to late it seems we just get in the required items for the day.

Kelley bought some great supplemental items this summer that will be here in mid August as well.  I also think we will begin each day with a 5 minute exercise session.  Get our blood pumping and the morning squirms out of the way. 

They have a baby brother due December 3rd so we know we will have to be flexible. Kelley is doing good with this pregnancy, but this time she is also seeing a Perinatologist.  Owen's beginning was a rough one but he hung in there and seems to be growing well now.  It is possible that near the end I will loose my team teacher to bedrest as usual so I am preparing to manage on my own again. 

I am so blessed to share in my grandchildren's education and daily life!

This year I am going to use the free version of  Homeschool Tracker.  Eventually I do think I will purchase the upgrade and use it to keep transcripts.

This will be a fabulous journey!!!!!!!!!!

Time to prepare for the school year.

So we await the arrival of the new books and lesson plans in the next  two weeks. Final payment is received! 

I also have found that the co-op is gearing up for the Master's Lyceum program and they want the syllabus for the class I will teach already.

WOW the break felt short but then again we have been doing little things that teach all summer.

Nothing more to say for now.

Living with Great Danes

A moment away from my primary blog purpose:
I have been the owner of Great Danes for 22 years now.  I enjoy other breeds but these gentle creatures are my favorite. I have a friend who loves Greyhounds and one who adores Beagles.  I have owned other dogs and even until recently had a Rott with me for 9 years. But my last two Danes passed aways within the past 6 months.  I had decided that I really did not want to start the pup routine again.
Then I accidentally came across a 2yr old Dane in a no kill shelter.  She had be surrendered by her owners. Her story touched me and when I say her pictures I knew she was meant to be with me.  This is not an easy decision as I also fear the possibility that my life is coming to a close and a commitment to a pet like a Dane is hard to make. Still, I made contact and she has been with me since June 24th now.  She is beautiful, had I purchased her as a pup from the breeder her cost would have been no less than a grand and possibly more.  So here are some pictures of Allie to enjoy.  She has really filled my heart with so much joy and is a part of our family very quickly.  It was like the love you have the moment you actually touch your baby, it was real, it was instant and it will be lasting forever.