Autumn Oak Homestead

Advent Week One

This past Sunday started the first week of Advent...I am not sure how most people who celebrate Advent go about their celebrations, but in our home we set the nature table up pretty bare the day before, then we add stones and crystals on the first day of Advent in honor of the mineral kingdom, the second week we add some sort of plant or greens in honor of the plant kingdom, the third week we add animals (toy ones of course, LOL) in honor of the animal kingdom, and the fourth week we add figures of Joseph and Mary to represent humans, and on Christmas day, we add baby Jesus to the table...Each Sunday of Advent we light a candle and say a little verse...We also light a final fifth candle on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas Day...

Christmas is an important time for our family...I love celebrating Advent this way as it brings our focus all month long on the things God has created, and not just a focus on the gifts the boys will get for Christmas...Don't get me wrong, the boys are always going to be excited about Christmas gifts...This way, it just adds a bit of thought elsewhere :-0

Our Advent wreath, week one...Decorated with holly from a neighbor's tree :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, better late than never I suppose...We are still having trouble with our computer...Maybe we will actually replace it in the new year :-)

We had three days of Thanksgiving - we spent Wednesday evening with friends, Thursday family, and then I cooked our dinner on Friday...That is usually how it has been for the past few years...We spend Thanksgiving day at my mother in law's and then I cook and start rearranging the house for the holiday season on Friday...I still have a lot to do, but hope to be almost done by Wednesday, because that is when we get our tree...

The boys at my mother in law's on Thanksgiving Day...

My bird on Friday...

                                                                                                                               Happy Thanksgiving!

Update and Pleasant Surprise

First I want to say "Thank You" to everyone who emailed me or posted to offer prayers and well wishes for Mekai...He is doing fine, but still has to have an MRI...He has not had another seizure, and we are really hoping he is in the 60% that never has another seizure after the first one...

Now for the pleasant surprise...

If you have the latest Palumba catalog, you will see two of my boys there on pages 14 and 18...My catalog just arrived and I was so excited to see them there!...

No, you won't find our boys on the Disney channel and they aren't exactly headed for stardom, but it is kind of fun to see them enjoying their toys in print :-)

Loving Mekai

I am very grateful to have spent the day with my boys...I feel especially grateful today, mainly because Mekai had an unexpected seizure in the car while I was driving yesterday...I didn't know what was happening to him or if he would be okay...I had many thoughts run through my mind while waiting out in the street for an ambulance to arrive...Would he wake up again?...Would he still be the same?...Are these my last moments with him?

Germain and I spent the day with him at the hospital...He went through a series of tests, and there was a team of pediatric neurologists working with him...He became coherent, recognized us, and was able to have a cat scan done without being sedated into staying still...The doctors decided to release him last night, but he will have to have further tests done over the next couple of weeks...It felt so good sleeping next to him last night, even though he kept complaining about my leg being in his way :-)

I can be easily annoyed by the boys most days, but not today...Even though they were pretty much back to normal, arguing again and just being their normal selves, it didn't bother me today...I don't think I will ever forget the feeling I had not knowing what would happen to Mekai, or if our family would be forced to live without the Mekai we know and love...

I am very grateful for my boys...They are worth every challenge I face being a mom...

 

 

No CSA Today

Our CSA at our local biodynamic farm ended last Tuesday, so we had no pick up today...This was our first year being apart of the CSA, and I had become use to picking up on Tuesdays...I missed going today...

Caroline, our dedicated farmer...

Pizza I always made with our veggies...

Me with our farm fresh goodies (photo taken by Keanu :-0)

So until next June, I will have to get my veggies at a Farmer's Market or the Whole Foods Market!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween...I am so glad that this night is over!...Don't get me wrong, Halloween is a lot of fun...But it is also a lot of work...The task of coming up with and making costumes is one that I dread, and I waited until the last minute this year...We still managed to have the boys trick or treat ready, in spite of it all...

Keanu dressed as a ghost...

 Mekai dressed as a Rubik's Cube

Noali dressed as a bag of jelly beans...

Germain in the making of the Rubik's Cube...

This was such a busy month...I am getting ready to go to bed and enjoy my extra hour of sleep, before I have to get up early for church :-)

Looking forward to November...

Rainbow Rosenbloom!

Last night, I was fortunate enough to have hosted a Waldorf homeschooling talk with Rainbow Rosenbloom of Live Education! ...Rainbow came to my home and discussed Waldorf inspired homeschooling with moms from my area (and one that was not so close by :-0)...When he left, I felt much more inspired to "find the joy" in my everyday life with the boys...I also have a greater appreciation for Waldorf and what I am trying to do as a homeschooling mom... He is truly an amazing man and a wealth of information and knowledge...I was very nervous about having anything in this tiny house, but it worked out well...

I didn't take any pictures at all during the evening...I didn't even think of it until everyone was already gone...I do have one photo to share though...

Keanu made a clock for us to use during our math block...He drew the pictures and I wrote the numbers in...Keanu was very proud when I informed him that Rainbow liked his clock :-)

If you ever have a chance to go to a Live Education! workshop or a chance to hear Rainbow speak, I highly recommend it!

Where to Begin?

I feel like I haven't blogged regularly in a while, so I have so much to say and post about that has now passed...We have been trying to stay on track with our studies so far this year and will begin our math block Monday - two weeks after schedule!...I redid our schedule, which I am sure I will have to do again...I guess that is the life of a homeschooler :-)

We have a classroom this year for the first time, and I have really been enjoying that...It is a VERY small room, but we are making it work...

 

 

 

Pretty soon it will be time to decorate for winter...The year is going by so fast!

I Miss You Guys...

My computer has gone down and will need to be replaced, making it almost impossible to blog...I managed to get it working right now for the first time in a while...I am not sure how long it will last, so I could not resist the chance to update the blog!

I participated in an Seasons Round swap for the Autumn season...Here is a picture of what I sent to my partner...I just learned how to do a purl stitch, and this was my first attempt at it...Germain made the card stand for me...

We are still schooling and I am waiting until I can update with some photos of what we have been up to...

Hope to be back soon :-)

Goodbye Bilbo

We lost Bilbo our mini lop rabbit today...He had pasteurella which is also known as "snuffles"...I found him dead this morning in his cage when I went to feed him...We found out he was sick the day after he was given to us, and only lived with us for a few short months...He was a sweet rabbit and we will miss him...

Our School Year has Began

Our school year has finally begun...

We started with an Old Testament block...Keanu painted the days of creation...

We will continue with this block throughout the rest of September and into the first few days of October...

I also forgot to mention that I broke my ring finger last week playing football of all things!...I was trying to catch the ball and instead fractured my finger and damaged a tendon...I think my football days are over :-)

I hope I can still knit...I haven't tried yet...

Happy Birthday Mekai

Mekai turned five today...He was born five days after Keanu's birthday, so that makes this time of the year very busy for us!

Keanu made this card for Mekai...

And presented him with a gift...

Mekai wanted the cow present at all of the festivities :-)

Potato Harvest

We did not do a good job with our small garden this year...We lost most of our tomatoes and green peppers...We did harvest potatoes this weekend...We probably got about two or three dollars worth, but it was exciting for the kids to dig them up...

I have started reading through the book, Gardening with Young Children and hopefully this will help us to have a better garden next year...My ultimate goal is a biodynamic garden, but I am taking one step at a time...Right now I would settle for just a garden with edible food actually :-)

Happy Birthday Keanu

I have been a mom for nine years now!...Keanu's birthday is always special for me personally...I age as a parent as he ages as a person...

Nine can be a tricky age...Is he a big boy yet or still a young boy?...In some ways he seems so much older, and in others still young...I am looking forward to being his mom as he grows...

As you can see, Noali suddenly thought it was his birthday!


I love you Keanu :-)

Someone Needed a Nap...

School Year Plans

September is finally upon us and our school year is starting soon...We are actually going to start main lessons and early childhood stuff on the 14th, but we are going to do an unofficial start on Friday...We are starting this year (third grade) with an Old Testament/Hebrew Studies block...I want a chance to paint the days of creation, so we will do a painting a day starting on Friday and then start really doing things on the 14th...

Here are my preliminary plans for third grade...

September - Old Testament
October - Math
November - Shelters/Native American Studies
December - Grammar and Festival Handwork
January - Old Testament
February - Math
March - Old Testament
April - Hebrew Studies/Old Testament
May - Math
June - Farming/Fabric and Cloth

These will be our main lesson blocks with other activities woven in through out the weeks...We are sticking with what would be traditionally taught at a Waldorf school for third grade, and I am mainly using Live Education for my inspiration in forming our main lessons...I am also using Learning about the World Through Modeling for our beeswax modeling, and I can't recommend it enough...There are also weeks off during the year that I did not mention...Each block is either three or four weeks except the one in June which is two weeks...

As for my Kindergarten and Nursery age boys, our weeks will look like this...

Monday - New Story and Woodwork
Tuesday - Crayon Coloring and  Story
Thursday - Craft and Story
Friday - Puppet Show or Dramatization of the Story
My third grader has violin practice on Wednesdays, so no early childhood focus that day...We will read the same story for the week...

I will have the boys together for the following, each working at their level...

Monday - Painting
Tuesday - Baking
Wednesday - Handwork
Thursday - Beeswax Modeling
Friday - Gardening

I am going through and planning out each week now...I am not the most disciplined person...I probably could be considered one of the least disciplined people actually...But I have really been working on it and want to start out this year in a better place than I started out last year...

As a side note, I took this picture on my way home yesterday...

The days are definitely getting shorter :-)

Happy Birthday Michael

You'll always be one of my favorites and your music will live on in my life and the lives of so many others...

Rest in peace and happy birthday...

Meet Blanket

The newest addition to our family...

His name is Blanket and I think he is the cutest!

Now back to homeschool planning, though it is a bit more difficult with this cutie around :-)

Planning for September

I finally took the plunge and bought the Live Education! curriculum package for the third grade...I have been wanting to use it, back when Keanu was in Kindergarten and again last year...But each time I talked myself out of it, figuring I could save the money and pull together my own curriculum from various sources...I guess I still could do that, but after reading through some of the materials, I am glad to have it!...The style seems to fit what I am looking for, inspiration with all the information I need to plan our lessons...I feel like it is a mini teacher training course...I know some people don't like that, but it is just what I needed at this point...So I have been busy planning!...I will include more of those plans in a future post, for all of my homeschooling friends who read my blog...All two of you :-)

Here are the books that have been keeping me busy...

  

 

    

I am so curious to read the new Kindergarten books...I will definitely have to save my pennies for that one!...Mekai will start Kindergarten this Fall, and Noali will start in two years, so I have an excuse to go after it :-)

A Pretty Good Day

Yesterday was such a rainy day...We stayed in all day, which was nice...

Since it was a little chilly as well, I decided to do a little baking and made some banana nut muffins...I kind of made my own variation of a recipe I had on hand...I used maple syrup and yogurt instead of sugar and milk...

They were okay, not great, but the boys loved them...They tend to love anything baked, no matter how it tastes!

I was also lucky enough to get some spinning done...I made a very small skein (if you can even call it that) using some natural wool with some I had dyed...I plied the two together and it came out kind of weird, but I am still happy because it is the first time I went from beginning to end...I washed, carded, dyed and spun this yarn so I have to think of some really small project to knit with it...I am definitely still spinning beginner novelty yarn though :-)