Wordless Wednesday {sort of}

Here's what it looks like at our house after a trip to the library...

 

"The most common and monstrous defect in the education of the day

is that children fail to acquire the habit of reading. "

~ Charlotte Mason

Have a wonderful Wednesday, friends!

Our Falconhurst

Hi friends,

One of our favorite read alouds from last year was the Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss. My children loved this book!

I read the unabridged version and it took some time to make our way through the book, but it was worth it.

And hearing about the awesome tree house ( named Falconhurst) that's mentioned in the book  made the children want one of their own. They mentioned it to their dad and the planning began.

Thankfully, we have a small patch of woods on our property, and in that patch of woods is the perfect sycamore tree for tree house.

My boys helped their dad every evening after he got home from work. It took several weeks to build it, and the best part is that it cost very little because my hubby's boss gave him most of the lumber that was left over from jobs; lumber that would have eventually ended up getting thrown away.

Here are some photos of the whole process...

Building the deck of the tree house..

The "bridge" that leads from the platform of the rope swing (pictured below) ...

Hubby put in this 40-ft. rope swing a few years ago...

The kids like to do this trick and give me a heart attack lol..

Ok, back to the tree house..the decking for the bridge leading to the tree house..

All of the supporting posts were cedars taken from our woods. Hubby wanted to give it a rustic look. :)

Handrails on the bridge...

 More of the rustic look....pickets are made of cedar branches.  :)

Bridge to the tree house is finished..

Deck of the tree house. I love the way hubby built it around the trees. And this fall, it will be carpeted with red oak leaves and yellow sycamore leaves.  :)

To get down from the tree house, my hubby cut the top off a dead cedar tree and attached it to the tree house as a ladder..

Next, he decided that we needed a crow's nest. But from the tree house to crow's nest (14 feet high), we needed another bridge..

Looking up at the crow's nest from the ground...

Now for handrails and pickets..

The bridge and crow's nest are finished!

Looking up at the finished product..

 And last, but certainly not least, hubby wanted a spot for us to sit and watch the children play. So he used cedar to posts to hang this swing on. This swing is very special to us. It's the porch swing that belonged to my beloved father-in-law. He used to love to watch the children play when he came to visit. Now we sit and watch them on his swing.

So there you have it  - our very own Falconhurst. I need to be careful about what I read to my children. You just never know what they're going to ask for.  ;)


Thanks for reading, friends. Hope you have a blessed week!








sharing with The Modest Mom

Homemaker Beatitudes

Blessed is she whose daily tasks are a work of love; for her willing hands and happy heart transform duty into joyous service to all her family and God.
Blessed is she who opens the door to welcome both stranger and well-loved friends; for gracious hospitality is a test of brotherly love.
Blessed is she who mends both stockings and broken toys and broken hearts; for her understanding is a balm to her husband and children.
Blessed is she who scours and scrubs; for well she knows that cleanliness is one expression of godliness.
Blessed is she whom children love; for the love of a child is of greater value than fortune or fame.
Blessed is she who sings in her work; for music lightens the heaviest load and brightens the dullest chore.
Blessed is she who dusts away doubt and fear and sweeps all the cobwebs of confusion;  for her faith will triumph over all adversity.
Blessed is she who serves laughter and smiles with every meal;  for her cheerfulness is an aid to mental and physical digestion.
Blessed is she who introduces Jesus Christ to her children;  for Godly sons and daughters shall be her reward.
Blessed is she who preserves the sacredness of the Christian home;  for hers is a divine trust that crowns her with dignity.
 
by Ella May Miller

Patriot's Day 2012

In memory of all the lives that were lost 11 years ago.....

In memory of our fallen heroes since then...

And for the heroes who are still fighting...

New Life Update {Guest Post}

My 10 year old son volunteered to do this post.  :)

Since my brother's post about starting our chicken-selling business we have hatched more baby chicks - 3 to be exact.

And we have our first customer (and possibly a second one), who bought 3 chickens from our first flock. We had a hard time deciding which ones to sell because we loved all of them. But when our 2nd flock hatched, it was a little easier to sell the older ones since we had 3 more to take their place.  :)

Here is a photo of our first flock on bug patrol in Mom's flower garden...

And here are some photos of our second flock..

Mom has claimed this one for herself and named her Gwynevere.

And as of last night, one of our hens is  in the hatching coop setting on another clutch of eggs. Hopefully we'll have another flock of babies in 3 weeks.

We have decided that even if we don't  have a booming business, it sure is fun and educational to watch the baby chicks hatch and grow.  :)

~ Asher

I Never Thought I'd See the Day.....

Hi friends,

Well, our first 2 weeks of Ambleside are over and what a wonderful 2 weeks it has been!

The children have gotten up each and every morning eager to get started, and oh, how that has blessed my heart.

I never thought I'd see the day when my children don't want to miss a day ofschool for a holiday.

I mean, what more can a home school mom ask for than hearing her children gripe and complain because we didn't have school on Labor Day?!

I love that!

 But instead of writing about it, I thought I would show you what we've been up to for the past 2 weeks...

Nature journals...

Handicrafts: crocheting and wood carving....

Math lesson...

Reading a book on the Kindle...

Narrations: written....

and oral.

Musical instrument practice...

Picture study...

Studying dictation...

A hands-on reptile demo, courtesy of Ian's pet black rat snake...

Yes! Our children love Shakespeare! *gasp*  ;)

A peek at some of our books. The rest are on my Kindle or on the Ambleside website.

We spent lots of time outside since our lessons are short and we finish earlier.

Playing basketball..

Riding dirtbikes...

Playing badminton...

Looking for specimens...

for Natty's butterfly collection.

Fun on the zipline...

We spotted a garden spider in the flower bed.

And Aaron decided to hold her (he loves arachnids!).

Playing with the baby chicks..

We look forward to many more years of learning with Ambleside.

And Asher told me yesterday, " Mom, do we have to take a break next summer?? I want to do Ambleside year-round!"

Ahhh...that's music to this home school mama's ears.  :)

Have a blessed week-end, my friends.  :)

"You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk  of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up."
 Deuteronomy 6:7