Happy Birthday Grandma

My Grandma would have been eighty five years old today. Even though she has been gone for three years, it still seems so foreign to speak of her in the past tense.

I can still remember her last birthday and Christmas before she died. In past years, I had always bought her  coffee and chocolate for her birthday ( once I tried to buy her nice soap and learned not to, instead of using it, she put it on a dish and told me it was just too pretty to use ), and books for Christmas. My Grandma loved to read, and she loved quality coffee, she just would not spend the money on it herself. That last year though, I sat in front of the books at Barnes and Noble, tears in my eyes, knowing she may or may not ever read it. My Grandma had lung and brain cancer, I knew her time was short.

That year, for the first time in my adult life, I did not buy my Grandma books for Christmas. I still bought her the coffee and chocolates for her birthday. but for Christmas I opted for something I knew she would actually get some use out of. My Grandma also loved flowers, so that year I bought her a beautiful Christmas floral arrangement. When I talked to her on the phone, she told me that she just loved the flowers so much but my heart just ached. Grief is funny that way, I was grieving long before my Grandma passed. I started grieving the day I heard that she was dying.

Ever since she passed, the holiday season has been hard on me. Having her birthday so close to Christmas, and not having her here is just plain hard. I miss her so fiercely. If your reading this, and you still have your Grandparents, do me a favor. Love them with all you have, because trust me, it leaves a hole when they are gone.

So happy birthday Grandma. Today I will read a book and think of you, drink some coffee and remember how much you loved the good stuff, maybe have some chocolate cake, because I know you loved it. I miss you.

Goodbye Summer 2019

Just like that, summer 2019 has come to a close! We packed a lot of great fun, adventures, trips, learning, and more into our summer, but it still did not seem to last long enough!


As you may know, since I wrote about it earlier this year, we made garden boxes this year. It was a strange growing year here in Iowa, and our little garden did not do as well as I wanted. We had a cool spring, summer weather that was all over the map, and a large invasion of squash bugs. Through all that, we still managed to get some nice produce. We harvested bunches of cherry tomatoes, loads of green peppers ( which we still have loads more to pick, about a dozen butternut squash, some peas, basil, mint, strawberries, a few zucchini, and some of our other plants may still produce this fall. We are holding onto hope that our watermelon and egg plant has enough time to ripen.

The kids did enjoy working in the garden with me. We have already talked about what we want to plant next year, and adding more boxes!

I had the kids help with every aspect of the gardening, from planting, to weeding, harvesting, prepping, saving, cooking, and even saving seeds for next year. It was a great learning experience for them.

Another fun family summer activity was a family camping trip. We love taking the kids to the cabins by three mile lake. We spend loads of time at the beach, lots of family time, and just enjoy getting away from life for a few days. I am hoping that these are the memories that stick with the kids as they grow.

We also enjoyed several trips to the zoo, lots of family walks, cook outs, swimming, and so much more. We are always sad to see summer go, but we love the upcoming holiday season as well!

Stay tuned for more posts about our wild little family.

Revolutionary War Study

Alexzander and Destiny are starting history this year be doing an in depth study of the Revolutionary War.
We use Story of the World for history, and I did not feel like it covered enough for this subject, so we are doing our own study.

We are starting the study by discussing the events that lead up to the war, this site has some great information on it, and we will be using it as a guideline for this portion of our study.

We are going to travel through the War using this simulation.

We will take some time to learn about some of the women who play important parts in the war, including a women who became a man so she could fight!

We will be completing this lapbook.

A couple fun activities we will be doing are using code and making invisible ink.

I will have them each pick a book about the war to read, and they will write a small paper about the book.

Other resources will be using -
Local library for books
DK Witness American Revolution
Youtube for videos on the subject

3rd Grade Required Reading

The new school year is fast approaching. I have been working away on getting everything ready.
We start our new year of school September 9th.

We prefer to have the kids read classic novels for their required reading class. I feel that classic novels help them expand their vocabulary, open their minds to the ways of the past, and show struggles we no longer face today, among many other things.

Amelia will be entering third grade this year. She will be reading the following books and book reviews on each book.  We are using this worksheet for each review.


Book list -
The Giving Tree
Adventures of Little Bear ( I do not recommend buying this amazon, I bought mine at a book store years ago, for very little. I would suggest looking at ebay for it. )
Adventures of Paddington Bear

Amelia is still what I would consider a fairly new reader, so I am keeping her list small. If she completes this list quickly, I will be having her read The Magic Tree House series, as she can.

4th Grade Required Reading

The new school year is fast approaching. I have been working away on getting everything ready.
We start our new year of school September 9th.

We prefer to have the kids read classic novels for their required reading class. I feel that classic novels help them expand their vocabulary, open their minds to the ways of the past, and show struggles we no longer face today, among many other things.

Kairi will be entering fourth grade this year, she has come a long way in her reading, but she still is a little behind most kids her age when it comes to reading. We are starting with some easier readers, and hoping to work our way up this year.

She will be reading the following books and book reviews on each book.  We are using this worksheet for each review.

Book list -
The Adventures of Grandfather Frog
The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat
The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver
( I would suggest looking for these books at half priced or on ebay )

The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh
Charlotte's Web

7th Grade Required Reading

The new school year is fast approaching. I have been working away on getting everything ready.
This week I finished all the required reading lists for the kids!

We prefer to have the kids read classic novels for their required reading class. I feel that classic novels help them expand their vocabulary, open their minds to the ways of the past, and show struggles we no longer face today, among many other things.

Destiny will be entering seventh grade this year. She will be reading the following books and submitting book reports on each book. Her book report skills are lacking a little, so I am going to have her work through this workbook first.

7th Grade Required Reading List

Anne of Green Gables Series
( she started this last year and is still working on it, she has already read the first two books )
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry

8th Grade Required Reading

The new school year is fast approaching. I have been working away on getting everything ready.
This week I finished all the required reading lists for the kids!

We prefer to have the kids read classic novels for their required reading class. I feel that classic novels help them expand their vocabulary, open their minds to the ways of the past, and show struggles we no longer face today, among many other things.

Alexzander will be entering eighth grade this year. He will be reading the following books and submitting book reports on each book. His book report skills are lacking a little, so I am going to have him work through this workbook first.

8th Grade Required Reading List


The Princess Bride  ( I bought my copy of this book on sale. You do not have to have this version, but I do want to say it is a beautiful copy of the book. There is a lot of artwork, and notes from the author. )


A Christmas Carol
The Giver Series
The Phantom of the Opera
Anne Frank : The Diary of a Young Girl