Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Is it summer yet?


Today we had a beautiful day! I think that the end of spring and maybe even summer might be here! The PNW has had an unusually long winter this year. We were still snowing in April and it rained more days in May than what it should have.



We had been putting off our garden since it was still cold out and were supposed to plant it last week but my little tumble from Gryphon kept me inside nursing my wounds for a week. Today Josh finished the fencing in the backyard and fenced around the garden itself. The kids and I planted our seeds and put our started seedlings in the ground too.
Gnomeo, the garden gnome
 
When we did our theme of food a few months ago we researched how to plant a garden and decided to do companion planting. Companion gardening allows you to plant certain plants together that either help each other grow or they repel certain pests so it will allow us to grow our veggies totally organic without using pesticides.

In a month or two we will *hopefully* have fresh organic pumpkins, cucumbers, carrots, cabbage, camomile spinach, rosemary, onions swiss chard, tomatoes and basil in the back, then green peppers, parsley, snowpeas, radish, beets, garlic, broccoli, strawberries, dill and cilantro :)


Brody and Gryphon enjoying the sun and grass



Monday, May 23, 2011

Emily Carr

Replica of the Victoria Emily Carr statue

Each month the kids and I focus on a new big subject to study- have I mentioned how much I adore homeschooling? We all learn together- it is something I cherish and hope that we can continue.

This month we decided to focus on art, both applications and history. This month we have researched the life and art of Emily Carr, one of Canada's most beloved artists. Emily was from Victoria, BC and was a woman ahead of her time. She loved spending time in nature as well as with the indeginous people and a majority of her work either focuses on the beautiful West Coast forests or the West Coast Native peoples. She was not accepted initially but he public though, many frowned upon her, a single woman who paraded around with her many pets (dogs, cats, birds, a rat and a monkey!) filled with early feminism ideals who disagreed with the way European settlement was affecting the Native tribes. She was also the first woman in Victoria to ride a horse with split legs, rather than sidesaddle!

Emily Carr featured with one of her painting
Emily's childhood home in Victoria, BC


Her writings, rather than her paintings, is what intially made her famous. The CBC featured many of her stories on the radio and the public wanted to hear more. Klee Wyck, a collection of stories Emily wrote about her time spent with the Native tribes was published and became required reading for all BC students. Unfortunatley, it was not published in its entirty. At that time the BC government was removing all Native children from their tribes and sending them to residential schools. The purpose of removing them from their culture was to groom these children into a European (white) and "accepted" way of life. Emily was disgusted by this and voiced this opinion in her writing and any text pertaining to this was removed. It was not until much later that the book was published in its original entirety.  









Ross Bay Cemetary in Victoria, BC


Emily died in 1945 and is buried in the historical Ross Bay Cemetery.Her grave is simple, just a stone and visitors leave paintbrushes and other art mementos. There is a small beautiful monument built in her memory highlighting one of the things that Emily loved best, nature.
A beautiful yet humble monument featuring Emily's words


The kids loved visiting Emily Carr's childhood house in Victoria. They enjoyed viewing her art in the Art Museum. We have plans to visit the BC Museum as well which is featuring a huge Emily Carr exhibit. Aidan, Mia and I are reading "Emily Carr's Woo" and "Emily and Her Dogs", books featuring Emily and her many pets. Brandon is reading her autobiography and I picked up a copy of the beautiful Klee Wyck. We have also watched a documentary about her life and also hope to visit the Vancouver Art Museum, which features the largest collection of Emily Carr's work. This has been our family's favourite subject by far!

Chemainus, BC

Chemainus, BC



A few weeks ago we went to the cutest little town, Chemainus, BC. We have lived in the Cowichan Valley for a year and a half and have only discovered this old sawmill town that is now filled with art and artists.



The town is "word famous" for its outdoor murals featured on buildings all around downtown Chemainus. Many of these murals feature real people, both natives and English settlers and shows a beautiful way to study the past of this pioneering town. I recommend buying the $3 map that shows where each mural is located as well as information on each one.







Chemainus is also where we discovered The Crafty Cuppa, a paint your own pottery store. We had so much fun picking out our pieces and designing them. I will have to add pictures of our finished projects, they turned out very nicely.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Aerial Acrobatics on Horseback

I got some disturbing news today. Apparently I have a concussion after having a pretty bad fall off of my horse last night. Everything is ok but it was a little worse than I had thought last night after it happened.

In February I adopted a sweet but green thoroughbred from the BCSPCA. We actually fostered him first and I fell in total love with him. Since then I have been working very closely with a wonderful trainer to get him back under saddle. My main goal is to remain safe for both him and I and I really feel like we have made wonderful progress. He is a great horse- kind, sensitive, usually quiet and very eager to learn but last night I got a taste of his other side.

Our session started out nice. We worked on transitions on the lunge line and he did great so I decided to hop up in the saddle. I kept it at a walk and went around the ring nice and calm. As we were going toward the side with the opening he started to go a little faster. (note to self: must get the damn gate up so that there is an actual barrier!) I calmly asked for a "whoa with my seat and voice and then a little with the reins. Because he is a green horse, he is still learning to deal with contact. We have worked on it through long lining and now I feel some lunge work with side reigns may not be a bad idea. Instead of slowing down he went a little faster and again I asked for a whoa but the next second I was flying over his head chest first onto the ground. It was definitely the biggest buck I have had under saddle and I was terrified when I hit the ground because it knocked the wind out of me. I never lost conciseness and was with it enough to tell my daughter to go get my husband (even though I had a cell phone in my pocket, stupid me!)

 After a few minutes I realized I was not paralyzed or dead and was able to walk it off but later that night I developed a bad headache. It lasted all night and by morning I had pretty severe nausea. I went to the doctor and he confirmed that I did in fact have a concussion and I am not allowed to do any horsey things for at least a week :( My bruises have started to show a little darker and I have owies  on my chest, shoulder, knee, thigh, and I have swelling one side of my forehead and eye... that part could have been MUCH worse but I wear a helmet!

Sigh. I called my coach and she put me at ease. We will work on him accepting contact better and I am determined to not let this ruin my confidence with him! Next week I will be back on his back (although it will probably be on a line with someone at the other end, lol!)

**After going to the doctor again, we found out that all of my ribs in the front were fractured and a back rib was completely broken. It took over six months to heal and even now (in Jan 2012) I feel uncomfortable in my chest area.  I even rebroke some of my ribs after a spell of large sneezes this past summer!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Konnichiwa!!!!



Blogger has been down for a couple of days so I have not been able to share the wonderful news:

WE ARE GOING TO JAPAN!!!! 

We will be reporting in December, which thankfully leaves me just enough time to get the dogs ready to go so that they don't have to be in gov't quarantine for six months upon arrival. We are so excited and it is what we have been wishing for :)

I also just noticed I have a few blog posts missing from this month... I sure hope they are able to recover them- I will be very upset if they can't!!!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

I heart Self Design!



It is always nice to see what you have done in writing, for me it validates the hard work I have done and reminds me that I am doing the right thing for my family by homeschooling. This week I turned in my report of all of the things we have done and I received the final draft product that will be sent to the Ministry of Education.  I would love to include them in my blog but I haven’t quite figured out where to put them because they are all quite long even though they only cover the last ten weeks, which is how long we have been enrolled in our current homeschooling organization.




From the beginning of the school year until February we were enrolled in a distance learning school. I have learned that it is not technically home school. Distance based learning is more of home learning because you are given curriculum that you have to complete and there is no freedom to explore or try out other things that your child may like. This was one of reasons I decided to leave the program, that and it was purely Canadian based history and for the past three years my kids had not learned anything about the US or the rest of the world, only Canada. I am glad my kids are getting a 
chance to learn about Canada in depth but I also want 
them to know about their own country’s history and 
geography s it was important to me to find 
something that included that as well.




A Blue Whale skeleton at the Biodiversity Museum   


 Right now we are with an organization called Self Design and I LOVE IT. I mean I really, truly, with every ounce of my heart LOVE IT. It is an enthusiasm based methodology where the learning is directed by the student. In early February I made the switch and had to decide exactly how we were going to home school since the distance learning school required all of their books to be given back.


 

Self Design is amazing because they supply you with a certified teacher called a learning consultant (LC) who is there to encourage and help when needed. She also reads my weekly reports of what we have done and translates them into learning goals for the Ministry of Education. I love my LC- she has been so encouraging and has answered all of my questions and concerns with care. We are also eligible for a learning incentive throughout the year to help pay for schooling items and activities since our organization reports to the Ministry. The boys got just over $1000 and Mia got just under $500 since kindergarten is only funded half day in B.C. The incentive has helped us really have fun with our learning. I especially love how excited my kids are to learn. I have never seen them this happy or excited!


 
One of the Orca whales we saw on our whale tour




We have found being eccentric homeschoolers works the best for our family, meaning we aren't tied to only one thing and I use a mix of classic and other education styles all together. We do use an online curriculum called Time 4 Learning  which the kids adore because it feels like they are playing video games (it is actually a curriculum designed and modeled after the curriculum used in the U.S.'s top charter schools but introduced in a fun online format)

Brandon Geocaching for Easter Gifts
We also pick subjects to research in depth throughout the year. Since February we have learned about whales, food and art. Our themes get us out of the house and active because I believe learning doesn't just take place in a book. So far some of our activities for thematic learning have included going on a whale watching tour on a boat, visiting an aquarium and a biodiversity museum, going to local farms, raise baby chicks, making a big vegetable garden, buying produce at the farmer's market, enjoying art museums and galleries, creating art out of different mediums and painting pottery! This week and next week we are researching one of B.C.'s most famous artists, Emily Carr. There are currently exhibits of her work and life at both the art museum and the B.C. History museum and we get to visit her actual house in Victoria. Whoever said school and learning wasn't fun should really try homeschooling- half of the time my kids don't even know that hey are learning :) :) :) :)      

Is it spring yet?

The past couple of days have been so busy. We finally saw the elusive sun and I had a lot of work to do outside. Maintaining 10 acres and a plethora of animals is no easy task, especially when it rains 9 months out of the year! This week during our two days of sunshine I was hoping to have the chance to pull the horses out and do some lunging work but instead the back yard got mowed, the front garden got pruned and weeded and I had to move the baby chickies outside because they have gotten stinkier and noisier as they have gotten bigger!


Thankfully I have my coach coming out to the house tomorrow so I will actually have an incentive to not get sidetracked from pulling the horses. Someone is also coming to take a look at Willow. I really hope it works out- she will be one lonely pony when we have to say goodbye to Roman later this month. She cannot go in with Gryphon and would get so lonely in a paddock all by herself. I am sure the kids will be upset but it is best for the little girl.

Today the rain came back so I had a day to finish up the laundry and pick up the house. (Oh, the glamorous life of a housewife) I also found out that I had to spend the kids' learning incentives by the end of the month so I spent a better portion of my day picking out some different curricula and things I wanted to try out. I ended up ordering the Funnix Reading Program for Mia, the Handwriting without Tears curriculum for Aidan and Mia and also signed both Brandon and Aidan up for an eight week writing course through Time 4 Writing. We have enjoyed doing our thematic studies but after May I need a break. Planning out a month of activities and lessons pertaining to a subject is trickier than it sounds, especially when my goal was to teach all of our learning goals through these themes. As the sun comes out we try to spend a majority of our time outside having fun (Our lovely Pacific Northwest sun only shine for 3 months out of the year) so these types of things are nice to have on hand to do in the morning or evening so that we can have the rest of our day free.

The other day I wrote my kids' Annual Reviews for our homeschooling office and they have met all of the learning standards for the year. We are technically done with "school" this year but I only want to take a 1 month break in June for vacations. I never understood the whole summer break thing because all of the kids would forget everything and have to spend the next 1-2 months reviewing what they should have learned the previous year. I figure that it won;t happen if we don't take such a long break :)

Monday, May 9, 2011

Happy Mother's Day

I was woken up by my beautiful Princess with kisses and hugs. This is my favourite part of each day! Mia is my last baby (in the human form, at least) and I enjoy spending everyday with such a perfect little girl. I am sad that she is growing so fast but look forward to watching her grow at the same time. Both of my boys are getting so big. Brandon is almost a teenager (yikes!)! My little Aidan is not so little anymore too :(


Josh brought me a perfect cuppa tea, egg bennies and hashbrowns in bed and it was perfect. I love nothing more than being lazy in the mornings and when I get up all of the morning stuff has been done... it really is a perfect gift to me.

The kids came in with their handmade cards, each made with some of their special 
markers they got in their Easter baskets.
Mia's cards:

The kids also made me a stepping stone to put in our garden!


Yesterday we went to a little art studio and painted some ceramics. Everybody picked out there own creations and in a week we will be able to pick them up after they have been fired up and cured. Here is a sneak peak, next week I will have pictures up of the final products!



Saturday, May 7, 2011

Hopeful for Orders

Moving to new places is one of the amazing opportunities that we have as a Navy family. We love visiting new places and meeting new people when my husband takes a duty, especially when it is somewhere we have never been before. It is important to me that my kids experience different cultures, whether they be different ways of thinking within our own country or overseas. (Believe it or not, there are many subcultures within the US!) We usually get a posting every three years but sometimes they are cut short due to some things we have experienced like promotions and hurricanes. We usually end up moving once getting to a new duty station as well, when you start out in a place you have never been before you get to know the area better and the desire to live in a better house is usually what sways our decision for us. Here in Canada the decision was made for us to move prematurely when our rental house was sold within the six months that we had been there. it was a blessing though, our home here is wonderful and we were lucky to find such a cute little farm!

I know the word "moving" strikes fear in many people but for is it is exciting. After 11 years being affiliated with the Military for me and 13 for Josh we have our own routine and I pride myself in being able to effectively pass white glove inspections upon move out and able to have a house fully unpacked within two weeks of getting our HHG shipment. Yearly we purge in the off chance that we get last minute orders, we have been given 30 days notice to transfer twice now so I am always ready.

Our assignment in Canada was only supposed to be a two year assignment but we were involuntarily extended in lieu of the Continuing Resolution with congress and their inability to agree on budgets, one of which included the DOD. Thankfully that mess has been taken care of so now we are on the hunt for new orders for either late 2011 or early 2012. Lat month's CMS didn't have much for Josh's particular skills within his job so we passed on all of them. He is looking to do sea duty again as a LCPO Afloat in hopes for E-8 advancement, although we would never turn down a shore assignment. Here are some of the places we are considering:

Yokosuka, Japan
Everett, WA
Ft Meade NSA, MD
San Diego, CA

We are really hoping for Japan. We have all been wanting to get back after our vacation to Tokyo last May. Our entire family just fell in love with the country, the people, the food... we did not want to even come home! While the kids are young I want to get them out in the world, I just feel it makes better educated and adjusted adults. So, please cross your fingers and toes, wish on a star and say a prayer that we find out that the Land of the Rising Sun is within our near future :)

*I have had some friends and family voice concerns about going to Japan, especially after the earthquake. To that I say that natural disasters happen everywhere. The news has always been filled with stories of devastating hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, tornadoes, etc. Natural disasters happen in every part of the world and we couldn't run away from them if we wanted to! I refuse to pass on the opportunity of living in amazing places where my kids can learn so much just because something might happen again. Life is too short to live like that! Where ever we go we be sure to be prepared by having a safety plan, an evacuation route and supplies.... awareness and preparation is the best thing I can teach my children, fear is not.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Obligatory Introduction

Hello! Welcome to the Not So Desperate Housewife blog, a place where I ramble about anything on my mind. You will find the joys and sorrows of being a SAHM, Military wife, student, horse enthusiast and hobby farmer all mixed together. I had started a blog lst year featuring our vacation to Tokyo, Japan but did not keep it up so I just imported all of those posts for everyone to enjoy.

This is how you will usually find me, getting dirty while enjoying the company of a horse.
As Winston Churchill once said,
“There is something good about the outside of the horse that is good for the inside of a man.”
Although, I do tend to clean up nicely.


So about me:

I am the mom of three great kids ages Mia (5), Aidan (7) and Brandon (12). Right now I happen to be homeschooling and love it. We are stationed in Canada and I do not find our local schools quite up to par. I am also a wife to my awesome husband, Josh, although sometimes it feels as though I am married to the Military instead. He is a Chief in the Navy and we follow him whenever and wherever the Navy sees fit. We love the lifestyle and wouldn't trade it for anything.



I am an animal enthusiast and have a background in animal care, both from the Army and though civilian education. Right now we live on a mini-farm and I love it even though I now it won’t be forever. We have our dogs and cats, chickens two goats and horses. I love the day to day chores around the farm and I love that we are finally at a place in our lives where I can own horses rather than just lease them. I have three retired racehorses and a little mini whom I swear is mixed with devil (aren’t all ponies?!?!) We also foster for our local BCSPCA as well as private rescues. To date, my family has helped dogs, cats, doves, a pig, ferrets and horses get healthy enough to go onto their new homes. It is a personal passion of mine and nothing in the world makes me happier.



I know we will not always be able to live on a farm but while we are we will enjoy it!