mini me

Maggie was in her first cross country met on Tuesday, coming in 3rd place overall with a 8:08/mile pace. The course was wet grass with lots of standing water and mud, though afterwards she said she "could" have run it faster. Yesterday was the second meet on a tough wooded course with lots of rocks and roots and even a small stream to jump over, but she improved her pace to 7:56/mile, coming in 7th place. For the team it was the story of "the little Catholic school that could" as the girls won both meets, over much bigger schools with almost as many kids in each grade as we have in the entire K-8th grade. This youth sports experience is the best I've ever seen with kids who are cheering each other on as well as other teams, a prayer before each race, a coach who is really great with the kids and keeps parents informed, and parents and teachers who come out to support the the school. I'm surprised at how well Maggie is doing as she hasn't been very enthusiastic the past year or two about races. But she is finding it much more fun running with a bunch of friends, ice cream practices, and being on a team competing against girls from other schools.

our golden eggs

Although our chickens are now 4 months old, and technically 2 months shy of when they are supposed to start laying, I went out Wednesday mid-morning to check on the girls and found two eggs tucked in the hay in one of the nesting boxes.Tim claims that he has calculated how much each egg is worth based on how much we have spent on housing and fencing them in and that they are worth more than their weight in gold.

We celebrated their achievement by having scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast for supper. Both eggs were double-yolked, one tiny and the other super-elongated. Apparently, the first few eggs each chicken produces are a little off in terms of shape and size, but soon we will be making lots of cookies and pound cake with our very own farm-fresh eggs.  

a warning

Never go into a chicken yard with flip flops and painted toenails. 'Cause chickens go wild over blueberries, crazy wild. I almost had to bean one on the head with my compost bucket to keep her from pecking my poor feet. 

Yes, I have very spoiled birdies, every morning I throw in their pen a few handfuls of Sungold cherry tomatoes, the Japanese Beetles I find on the raspberry plants, and any fruit I would otherwise throw in the compost bin. The kids and I also feed them clover leaves one by one through the fence like we are at the petting zoo. I certainly feel like a real farmer every morning, having to don my rubber boots and take them fresh water and feed. They don't peck my toes then, no matter how blue they are in color.  
 

labor day race results

After pouring up until twenty minutes before the race began, I stepped up to the starting line in damp shoes and socks and ran one of the best races of my life. I stuck like glue to Robin, my only real age-group competition this year, for the first two miles, and then pulled in front right before Goat Path, a gravel and sand track that seems to go straight up. The humidity was high, but I kept a steady sub-7 minute pace to finish in 34:17, coming in 5th place among women and winning the master's award.

I get a kick out of surprising people when I tell them that I have 6 kids, but it still shocks me every time I do well in a race too. I only run about 35 miles a week and have to stop and walk during runs when it is hot/humid. Running is something that gives me strength and mental toughness, something every mommy of many needs to get through each day.   

not risking it

Last night Charlie, Maggie, and I got in the car to go to the last track workout of the summer. We turned around when, halfway there, lightening flashed and the rain started in earnest. "I'm not willing to die to gain a few seconds," I said when the kids started to protest. So, I didn't get to run yesterday, but I did double up on Monday with 5 miles at lunchtime and a fast 6 mile group run that evening, followed by a few cocktails at the Sea Dog. 

I did well enough on Saturday (21:23) to bring home a free pair of New Balance shoes and hope that my missed day won't throw me off too much at the Labor Day 5 miler. Last year I ran it in 35:40, so I'm not shooting for a PR.   

sewing up a storm

I thought I was beating the competition (the other ladies in my quilt guild) by bringing in this quilt to show and tell earlier this month, but then in an email I found that 2 of the ladies have finished all 3 projects, well ahead of the December deadline. 

So, this morning after Mary's riding lesson, the girls and I bought backing for my 3rd project, a star quilt I've got to baste and quilt before Christmas. I haven't been exactly slacking off, since I've already made notebook covers for the girl's teachers for gifts... 

and all 100 blocks for the school's auction quilt...

 (this is the photo from the magazine pattern, only I'm doing it in King size)

I had  thought about entering some projects in the Blue Hill Fair, but with Will starting school on Monday and the girls starting the following week, I'm a bit overwhelmed and don't really feel a strong desire to drive 2 hours round trip just to drop off quilts for judging. Instead, I'll sit on the glider with a wonderful view of fields and garden that Tim and I got for a wedding present 17 years ago and of which I finally managed to make a cushion and pillows.  

gearing up and slowing down

Every week for the past month I have looked over the office supply store ad and circled super deals such as notebook paper and tissues for $0.01 each. My schoolroom now has stacks of supplies for each older child according to their (demands) list sent out by their schools. I guess I didn't realize how cheap homeschooling is until I was attempting to find every item needed and ended up spending hundreds of dollars on double sided tape, specially colored binders, and colored 4x6 index cards. We always just used cheap notebooks, dollar store pencils, and Crayola thin markers on sale at Walmart for $1. So, while the older ones are getting ready to start school, my youngest son has been doing schoolwork all summer....  

Late on Friday afternoon I called the counseling department of Seton, the homeschool curriculum we use. "I need some reassurance that I am doing the right thing by cutting back with my 5th child." I explained that Timmy had just turned 7 and was reading one painful word at a time. "Words like 'and', 'this', 'some', and 'know' take at least a minute to figure out. I'm getting a headache every day from banging my head against the wall in frustration!" I told the lady that my older boys also had a tough and long road on their way to reading prowess, and that Timmy had sort of fallen through the cracks in the past due to me having to spend so much time with the older children's schooling. "This past year was good, he has made a lot of progress, but it seems to be one step forward 3 steps back, some weeks."

She definitely agreed that he was young to be going into 2nd grade and the benefit of homeschooling was that the child can progress at his own rate. "Don't push it," she said. So I put away the reader and over the past week we have done 1 page of math, 2 pages of phonics, and 1 spelling lesson each day. His attitude has improved and the reading aloud he does do for phonics is faster and more confident than before. We will finish these three subjects before going back to the Faith and Freedom readers (a Catholic version of Dick and Jane). I will start some 2nd grade subjects in a few weeks, but not enroll him until he is completely finished with everything from this year. It doesn't matter how long it takes him to learn to read and subtract properly as long as he does get them eventually with as few tears shed as possible.   

hold on tight!

The ride for the next two weeks is going to be very bumpy. We still are doing summer activities such as swimming lessons and riding lessons, but now the coaches of fall sports are gearing up with soccer camp and group runs for cross country. Will was taken back to camp for the last time, his 8th week, and the Union Fair starts Sunday with rides, cotton candy, and my once-a-year dinner of a steak bomb and a Coke. On several days I'm just going to have to pick which kid is going to be disappointed, I can't physically be in 3 places at the same time. 

Tim was subjected to some of this over-scheduling induced stress this weekend while I was up at the County Half Marathon. Friday he had to pick up the girls at camp, an hour round trip and then on Saturday drop off the little boys at sailing (30 minutes south), pick up Will at camp (45 minutes northeast), drop off Will at sailing, come home and pick up Julia Ellen and take her to sailing for the picnic, and then back home. My 13 mile run may have been less mentally exhausting, but did leave me so tired that I slept 11 hours straight on Saturday night. I was the 5th female finisher with a time of 1:41, beating my old half PR by 4 minutes, and winning $50.  

in a time warp?

Will is at his 6th week of camp, Mary and Maggie got dropped off yesterday at their camp, and so I am, for 5 days, back to being a mom of 3 children, all under the age of 10. The boys have sailing this week from 9-12, so for several hours each day I will only have one 4 year old directly in my care. I could say that it is like going back in a time machine to 2004, the last time I had 3 kids, but I was pregnant with Charlie, so it doesn't really compare. 

I don't know when I'm going to get to run this week and with a big 13.1 mile race staring me in the face on Saturday, I better figure something out fast. But for today, I'll enjoy not having to threaten anyone to get them out of bed, not having to yell to get everyone to practice the piano (Charlie is compliant in that venue), and not having anyone ask me in a wheedling tone if they can get on my computer. I'm sure it has always been difficult to be a parent who expects more than the average from their children, especially with a large brood, but sometimes the constant criticism from the grandstands as well as the griping from the younger set wears me down.     

computer free summer

Since Will has been at Boy Scout camp as a CIT for 6 weeks now, with 2 weeks left, my stress level has been much lower than anytime in the past year. It isn't due to not liking my child, but the fact that I haven't had a teenage boy harassing me every day about being able to get on the computer or not doing anything else because he won't get off. The big kid's school let them take home Mac Books and an evening didn't go by that we weren't fighting with him over time-wasting games such as MineCraft. Mary didn't seem to have as many issues as her brother, but I'm glad that they supposedly won't be able to bring them home this upcoming year. The little boys got sucked in to the world of computer games as well, but after something happened that crashed my hard drive and required replacement, I haven't let them on my laptop. The result has been them attempting to watch more movies downstairs, which led me to then confiscate the DVD player. 

We live on a beautiful farm in Maine, full of fields of flowers, homemade tree houses with rope ladders, woods to explore, chickens to chase, and a garage full of roller blades, bicycles, games, and wood scraps with which to build stuff. Summer is short and before they know it the snow will be falling and the opportunity of warm days to spend outside in shorts and flip-flops will be over for the year. Maybe I'll get the mean mommy award for trying to keep them outside and away from electronic devices, but they will have many more good memories if they do something, rather than stare at a screen.   

my trick worked again

Back in early May I took an all day quilt class and then got up early again to race and did very well. Yesterday morning I got up early, drove 25 minutes down the road, and had to turn around because I forgot the little table that slides onto my sewing machine. But then I drove like the devil to Augusta and made it to my Intro to Modern Quilting class only 5 minutes late. After spending the day sewing this wall hanging, 

wandering around looking at quilts (including my entry), and driving home, I got up early this morning for my previous least favorite race in the Sub5 series. 

I have never done well in the Bucksport Bay Festival 5K, but today, perhaps due to my semi-relaxing day yesterday, I finished in 2nd place overall, with a time of 20:53, a 6:44/mile pace. I was all set to give it up to my friend Lisa, but then I decided that all those Wednesday evening track workouts would have then gone to waste, so I poured it on and flew that last quarter mile. The next race on my schedule is the County Half Marathon, waaaay up in northern Maine. I'm certainly going to run much slower August 10th, even if the weather cooperates and the scenery lives up to my high expectations.   

a week off from regular life

This past week my dad and his wife came and visited us. I've never really been close to my father since we haven't lived in the same house since I was 5, but I have to say that this was our best visit yet. Tim took a few days off and we went swimming off the boat at Swan Lake as well as Craig Pond. 

Philomena kept me company several times during my 3X day trip down to the fruit trees to knock off Japanese beetles into a bucket before they ate every leaf to nothing. They took each of the big girls out for some shopping and lunch and we spent every evening sitting on the porch admiring the view, chatting, and indulging in adult beverages. One night we went to the lobster pound for an evening of good food, gorgeous views, 

and conversation that mostly consisted of, "Children put that crustacean down!"

It was a good week, but I fell off the wagon in terms of running, partly because of not wanting to disappear for several hours, but also because it has been so blasted hot. Maine is not supposed to be 90F, especially for more than 3 days. The combination of heat and high humidity means that garden has been growing madly and my diligence with the bucket means that the Japanese beetles are almost gone much to the chickens' culinary chagrin. But since I have a 5K on Saturday and a 1/2 marathon in 2 weeks, I better have my feet hit the pavement more often and lay off the booze if I want a decent performance.     

Carnival of Homeschooling

One of the beauties of homeschooling is the opportunity to educate a child as well as help form their character. Those of us who have taught our own children from their earliest years through 8th grade, or even all the way to 12th grade graduation, know that this is a long, and sometimes arduous process. One of my hobbies is quilting, a useful art that transforms fabric into a beautiful object that can warm the body and soul for a lifetime. It takes a great deal of time and perseverance to make a quilt, just as it does to teach a child to read, write, count, and slowly learn to think and reason.

First you select yardage of fabric in your favorite colors, wash it, press it, and cut it according to the pattern selected. There are many homeschooling curriculum choices available from traditional, to classical, to unschooling.    

Jamie at Time 4 Learning boosts our enthusiasm with 5 Steps to Planning An Awesome Homeschool Year.

Jennifer at Time 4 Learning shares a video that poses the possibility of an addition to the English language in The 27th Letter of the Alphabet?

Julie at Brave Writer gives us good advice with 10 tips for homeschool newbies. 

Hire A Nanny shares many links in 25 Blogs to Think About Before Committing to Homeschooling. (I didn't look at each link, so I can't guarantee what you will find)

Tiffany at As For My House writes about homeschooling ethics in Seeing the Right and Wrong in Used Curriculum.
 
Then you piece together the blocks, using a 1/4" seam, pressing after each step. My educational philosophy of little steps repeated frequently has worked in teaching 5 children to love to read, play the piano, and memorize the times tables, just as using an iron correctly leads to properly squared and sized blocks.

 Mrs. White at The Legacy of Home shares with us a beautiful summer day in Homeschooling With Grandbaby. 

Shalynne at Wonderfully Chaotic gives us pictures and the recipe for Easy and Cheap Summer Bubble Blowers. 

Christina shares with us her philosophical musings in Weeding at Home Spun Juggling. 

Pamela at Zesty Mom reminds us to take time for fun in Summertime: 3 Ways to Keep the Living Easy.  

Chris at Home School vs Public School shares some more ideas for keeping the kids busy and learning in Summer Learning.

Once the blocks are completed, they are sewn together, using sashing to separate them and a border if it is desired. As a child masters the basics, they can progress on to more complicated and difficult subjects that help round out their intellect.

Annette at A Net in Time Schooling gives us a step-by-step how to in Building an Indoor Ant Colony.
Annie Kate of Tea Time with Annie Kate give us the blow-by-blow of letting her daughter bake her own dessert in Miss 9's Lemon Meringue Pie.

Ann at Harvest Moon by Hand shares with us a detailed art study with her two daughters in Artist/Picture Study-Georgia O'Keefe.

Jodi at Magical Mouse Schoolhouse gives us tips on visiting Disney when it rains in Magical Blogorail Yellow: It's Raining, It's Pouring!

Amy at Hope Is The Word shares some fabulous art work of her kids with Kaleidoscope Painting. 

The quilt is basted with batting and a backing and then quilted for beauty and to provide stability. A binding is sewn around the outside to keep it from unraveling, and finally a label is tacked onto the backside to show who made it and when it was completed.

Erik reminds us of our goal at A Guide to Great Kids with his post: What Do We Want to Accomplish as Parents?

Elena at My Domestic Church gives us the blow-by-blow of dealing with the bureaucrats in How to take the GED in Akron, Ohio if you are under 19 and a homeschooler.

Henry at Why Homeschool shares his daughter's summary of her summer in A report from my youngest daughter.

Of course we hope that a person who graduates from high school or college never really "finishes" their education, but continues learning their whole life. Just as a quilt is completed and the quilter goes on to another project, a homeschooling parent or child can go on to another phase of life and learning after they receive their diploma. My 10 year old daughter Maggie is currently making her own quilt after finding a simple pattern.

I'm cutting the pieces since I would rather she not cut off her finger, but she is doing everything else. Perhaps one day she will also teach her own children, not only how to quilt, but how to read and think, and be contributors to the world around them. 

Thank you for reading the Carnival, if I have missed your submission please accept my apologies. We are off this morning to enjoy another lovely Maine summer day at the pond with our company from North Carolina. 

4th of July disaster

When I attempted to swing by the library prior to Thursday's race from Brewer to Bangor to drop off a tote bag full of books, we were thwarted by road barricades. "I guess they have decided to close off the roads really early for the parade,"I thought. But as the 10:45 race start loomed closer, I found out that there was a different reason for the road closure. A man in Bangor decided to shoot off 70 rounds in his apartment and after a 4 hour standoff with police, only emerged after they used tear gas to smoke him out. 

Due to this "incident," the race and parade route were changed and shortened, which we found out 2 minutes before the race began. I didn't know exactly where the race was to go or how long it would be, but ran a 5:45 first mile and only started to be passed on the bridge. I guess I could have run a bit faster, but a 9:10 time was good enough to give me 5th place overall and 1st in my age bracket. Mary, Maggie, Charlie, and I walked back along the parade route, watching the floats and slapping hands with Governor LePage. 

It wasn't until the next morning, when I went on the Bangor Daily News website to find the details about the shooter that I read with horror about the accident that occurred after we left the ending point of the race. An antique fire engine lost brake power on the sharp turn and decline where the parade was rerouted and ran into the 1940's John Deere tractor, driven by Wallace Fenlason . He was thrown off the tractor and crushed under the fire engine. I found out yesterday that our babysitter and her whole family saw the accident. 5 days later, I still get teary-eyed when I think about how this poor man, who just wanted to share his love of America, Maine, and antique tractors with the crowd, lost his life. Our prayers go out to his family and friends as well as the fireman driving the truck.

chickens and veggies getting bigger every day

This year's garden was planned much better than previously, I staked each row of crops and tied a string across to designate exactly where the seeds were planted, I put bird netting over the corn right after I planted it to keep the crows off, and put up sturdy fencing to contain the pea plants. The first two improvements worked like they were supposed to, but the pea plants grew much more than I expected and ended up pulling the poultry netting down to the ground by their weight. Likely too late, I tied them all up with taller stakes and string,but I doubt the pea crop is going to produce enough peas to keep my children happy all winter. Two of the beds are dedicated to raspberries, hopefully one day producing enough to make at least a raspberry pie or two after I eat my fill of fresh berries.

The chickens are growing like weeds, gobbling down their crumbles as well as all the cottage cheese I put out on a paper plate in their yard. They also like watermelon rinds, eating all the red fruit in just a few hours. Tim built them a proper gate and has now decided, after seeing a predator slinking around, to rebuild the fence with cedar posts instead of metal ones. 

My morning routine begins with "the girls" when I go out to let them outside, give them fresh water, and top off their food. I'm trying not to think about how, 6 months from now, I will be pulling on wool socks, boots, and a thick coat to do these same chores, but enjoying the idyllic experience of walking across the yard in my nightgown and Crocs each warm summer morning.     

vacation bible school exhaustion

Last week was filled with getting everyone up and out the door to sing, dance, do crafts, and learn about Saints with a "kingdom rock" theme. Timmy, Charlie, and Maggie had a great time going from station to station in the heat and then the cold, and then the rain, but Julia Ellen was plumb overwhelmed. The first day she ran out to the van, with her teenage crew leaders following, locked herself in, and wouldn't come out until I arrived and ordered her out. Even after a few days of not clinging to my leg every time she spotted me in the hall, on Friday she locked herself in the bathroom stall. Luckily her sister Mary was a crew leader for another group of preschoolers and was able to help the sweet girls in charge of my youngest. But the daily schedule of games and snack with 170 other children wore my crew out so much that a few took naps in the afternoon and had to be woken up for supper.

Luckily the long days didn't affect my running and I took 3rd place in the 10 mile Tour de Lac in Bucksport on Saturday. Since it had been so hot, I bought myself a fancy shirt I saw advertised in a running magazine that reacts with your sweat to cool your skin. Perhaps it worked, but since it was misting the entire race the heat wasn't much of a factor overall. I ran a little faster than my 7:30/mile pace during the first 8 miles, but started to fade by the end. Maybe it was the training, maybe my new shirt, but somehow I beat my PR by 30 seconds. The next race in the series is Thursday, a downhill 3K that precedes the 4th of July parade from Brewer to Bangor.

why do I do this to myself?

Summer is supposed to be down-time, a season of being able to relax with a cool drink on the front porch while watching the children play tag and basketball knock-out. Instead, I have signed up the children for activities that require me to be a logistical master and be in the car for at least an hour each day. No, it isn't that bad, but Tuesdays are going to be a little tricky. Charlie finished school for the year yesterday, but Mary has about 30 minutes worth of work in English and Math, while Timmy is still progressing through first grade (1 hour's worth). Then I have to get the four oldest to practice the piano each day. They all have lessons on Tuesday afternoons, but I can't leave all 4 at once because they would not just sit quietly and read during the other's lessons, so I have to take 2 down to the library to wait their turn. Maggie and Julia Ellen have swimming lessons in the next town starting later in the afternoon, so my schedule looks like this: 

get up, dressed, start laundry, tidy house, take care of chickens... starting at 6
get children up, dressed, teeth brushed starting at 8
school with Mary and Timmy at 9
stand over children with a stick to practice starting at 10
get some sewing done, work in garden 
go run when babysitter arrives at 12 
herd everyone to the car at 2:15
drop off 2 children at piano, 2 children at library, go back home for 1 hour
pick up Maggie and drive to swimming lessons at 3:45
finish swimming lessons at 5:30
race home and fix dinner
tidy house, bathe children, and put everyone in bed by 8:30

Tim picked everyone else up at the library after work and was shooting model rockets with Charlie in the front field when I can home with a van full of groceries. (note to self: getting to the commissary 7 minutes before they close does not make for a pleasant shopping experience) The boys have swimming lessons on Thursday afternoons, and I still have to call Lisa about scheduling riding lessons for the big girls and Charlie. Luckily Will leaves for camp on Saturday, leaving me with only 5 children at home for the next month. The rest of the week seems to be filling fast with doctor's appointments, birthday parties, and such, leaving me with little time to sit on the porch with my glass of iced tea. But this is only the first week of summer and I'm sure I can somehow squeeze in trips to the pond and other fun hot weather activities that make Maine such a wonderful place to live.     

UFO challenge

For our first summer meeting all the members of my local quilt guild brought in 3 unfinished projects (UFOs) that have been collecting dust in our sewing rooms. Some were finished tops, some were assorted blocks in a basket, and some were kits with fabric washed and pressed, still in the bag. Our goal is to have them finished by our Christmas party with the incentive of $5 gift cards from Mardens, a local salvage shop with a huge fabric department, and a chance to win a $25 gift card as well. My first of the 3 projects is a red, white, and blue throw size top I worked on while 7 months pregnant with Julia Ellen, trying to make the time go by faster. My goal is to donate it to a veteran at Togus VA hospital in Augusta. My second project is a huge quilt top with blue stars on white background that I would like to make as a gift. The Bonnie Hunter quilt that I was planning on making for my dear SIL has 1000 blocks and since I have finished 50 so far, I think that might not happen this year. My third project is a tote bag we started at a guild meeting a few months ago, and since I didn't have a clue as to how to make a box bottom or make handles, I was stuck. After a lot of help last night after the massive show and tell of everyone's projects, I finished my tote this morning. The only problem was that I somehow turned the lining upside down and my inside pocket was facing the bottom of the bag. I guess I didn't want a pocket in there after all since I would have had to undo almost everything to get it put right. 
 


I do like how the bag turned out, I might try to make another, this time with black and white fabrics and a red cuff, but making sure that the darned pocket is facing up.     

cleaned up big time

On Saturday morning it was cool and raining like the dickens, but I had signed everyone up for the Garelick Milk Run in Bangor. Tim and Julia Ellen stayed at home, but the rest of the crew were still game to run a mile downhill as fast as they could. Charlie came in 3rd overall in the family run (7:05) with Will close behind, followed by Timmy, Maggie, and then Mary. I followed in the competitive run with a time of 6:04. Timmy won $25 from Hannaford, Maggie won a water bottle, and I won a cooler of dairy products, and that was just from the door prize drawing. The local outdoors store, Epic Sports, always gives gift certificates, so Charlie got $15, I got $25, and we won the family category, netting us another $45. With our winnings I bought the girls new Speedo bathing suits (the most modest suits I can find locally), and Charlie's birthday cake. 

There are a lot of local races in the next two weeks, everyone keeps asking me to join them, but I'm taking a little rest and doing my prep work for the Tour de Lac 10 miler at the end of June. The prizes there aren't monetary, but Margaret's homemade raspberry jam prizes are worth the effort. 

wrapping up the school year, sort of

Will officially graduated from 8th grade last night and the girls only have to attend class until Friday, but school is still going on at home. 

Charlie only has about 1 week's worth of English left as well as CAT testing, but we just started a new biography of Robert Goddard from the Childhood of Famous Americans series and began reading Treasure Island aloud. 

Since Timmy didn't officially start 1st grade until January, he obviously isn't going to be finishing his work anytime soon, but I'm not worried about intruding on his summer vacation, his work only takes 1 hour per day max. Mary and I decided that she could use a little 8th grade prep work this summer in grammar and math so we will be doing that for about 30 minutes a day. 

Add to that workload swimming, piano, and riding lessons and it will already be a jam-packed summer, but I'll still cram in races, gardening, taking care of my chickens, and finishing up some quilting projects.