What beautiful gardens on the farmstead. We sure enjoyed visiting them.
We visited the Farmstead with my parents and we all had a good time. It was a special treat.
Dad wore his straw hat to protect from the sun... and used his cane... and wore his insulated vest so he didn't get cold! :) You can see him in the picture below.
So many beautiful flowers...
This shows my Dad, 2 of my daughters and one son.... and my son is actually pushing my mom in a wheelchair. She can walk, but long walks like this are too hard on her since she injured her back a couple of years ago, so we push her in a wheelchair for such a trip.
This woodland garden was quiet and peaceful.
There was a nice collection of large chimes in the trees in the woods and what a beautiful sound they made!
A fun idea for a planter... appropriate for a farmstead garden!
I especially LOVE the picture below! That little girl had just hugged the statue of the little girl. I didn't get a photo of that, but I did get this photo of her saying good bye to the "little girl". So sweet! :)
The grain bin tops out there house an eagle, bobcat and other animals and birds.
My dad loves the farm equipment and he tells us what each item is and if he used it when he was a kid on the farm. These are precious times.
The bridges in the woods were closed because of flood damage and some of the paths were closed. This tree's roots have become exposed by the flood waters and hopefully, the tree won't be damaged from it.
I loved looking at the barn through the flowers.
What beautiful gardens they have. We have been to this place before and I posted about it in this post:
Getting More Out of a Field Trip
The flowers are different this time... and so were some other things, but it was another enjoyable trip.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures of the homestead gardens. Thank you for visiting today.
#FarmsteadGardens #gardens #farmstead
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We do artwork for homeschooling and one of the activities is drawing. This year, I have been making up some specific assignments for them and here are a few of them.
This first assignment was:
Draw a tree with at least 2 other items in the picture, for interest.
These are the drawings.
The kids have different drawing levels and interests and I am so pleased to see them improve their skills. I do not want to have them all do the same thing.
This tree drawing was done very nicely... I love the various methods of shading he used... and the details... even the type of bark he put on the tree. I think it is important to keep challenging their skill... they know I love their work... but I want to keep teaching them more and leading them to discover more also. :)
This is a culmination of teaching various techniques and I love how it all comes together. Their work has changed much over the years and it was very simple in the beginning. If you haven't taught drawing, please don't be intimidated by it. There are books at the library or homeschool fair... and online. Start simple... praise their work... make suggestions... enjoy their learning... draw with them(they love that!).... and more.
I like the rocks... the way the water flows down over rocks. There are so many details here that lead the eye to keep looking. Obviously, he is very good at noticing details and being able to put them down on paper. By the way, this son rarely looks at something to draw it... most ideas are stored in his head from things he has seen before.
The other pictures are in no way less important because of this emphasis.
This son enjoys designing houses on computer... and would love to have architectural training. Will learning drawing just be a waste? No. By they way, a few of the techniques he uses so nicely... are things I didn't teach him to use.... opening the door to learning allows them to keep learning on their own. :)
This assignment was simple: Draw a door. I love how they did these... the stairs and railing on one, the door panels, the windows, welcome mat, shadowing, doorknobs, and more.
I have been asked why I would push my children to draw better than they do since they already do well. I think it is important to continue to learn and to use the skills God has given to us. I do not want to build a spirit of pride into my children, and I do want them to develop their skills more and more.... and it is happening.
This assignment was to draw a close-up picture. Sometimes they are frustrated by such an assignment and would rather I say to draw a specific thing. One chose a book, one dominoes and one part of a car.
By the way, these are currently hanging on our pantry doors... it has been such a blessing to use these doors to display such work as it allows my husband and their older siblings to see what they have been doing. :)
This assignment was to draw a country scene.... and again, I love the details... a bird on a fence post, a wagon wheel, doors, barbed wire on the fence, and more.
As we come to the end of our school year, I have given them their last drawing assignment for the year. The assignment is to draw a garden path. Sounds simple, doesn't it? I wonder if they will have stepping stones... or plants... or an arbor... or bushes.... maybe a fruit tree.... so many possibilities. I look forward to seeing what they come up with.
I think drawing is very beneficial to our children, whether they ever get a job using it someday or not. I took art classes in high school and have loved being creative and using art. I was offered a scholarship through art, but chose not to use it because when we toured the college, the only realistic art I saw, was a statue of a naked woman. This was a time when abstract art was so popular and I really didn't care for it(and I still don't). My art teacher was very disappointed in me and said I was throwing my life away, but I felt that God had a different plan for me and I am so glad I followed it. I have used art so much in teaching, in homemaking, in letter writing, in decorating, in rag painting, in mixing paints, in repurposing items, in gardening, in cooking... and more. The art I have learned and the creativity God built into my brain... haven't been wasted... they were just used differently than my teacher thought they should be.
The fun thing is to hand our children ways to develop their skills.... then sit back and see what God will do with them. :) He does have a wonderful plan for their lives. Thank you for visiting my blog today. :)
UPDATE:
I am so excited that Son #3 is now working with me to illustrate my book! We are working on the cover and his drawings will be on the cover of the book when we publish. I am working hard to get everything done to get it in print. Exciting and overwhelming too! :)
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Today, I have a guest post....written by.... my husband. :)
He has worked in retail with customers, and has had to keep a cash drawer and maintain a balance. He has stressed to the kids and I the importance of counting back change. I admit that I didn't really know how to do it until he taught me and now I use it every time we have a garage sale and other times, as well. Anyway, here is my husband:
Have you ever been in a situation where you were out shopping somewhere and you were in the line to check out, only to have a power outage happen? If you were the cashier, would you be able to make change without the use of a cash register or a calculator?
In our day, many people are reliant on computers to do the work for them, and it is rare to have someone count change back to you. Instead, they just put the bills and the coins in your hand with the receipt and that is it.
If change is counted back correctly, it assures that neither party will come up short in the transaction.
The correct way to count change back to a customer is to first state the amount of the purchase, and for the sake of our illustration, we will make a purchase of $2.57. If the customer pays with a $20.00 bill, you would say: "$2.57 out of twenty," and then you would count the change back to the customer beginning with the lowest coin. Here is how it sounds....
"$2.57, out of twenty dollars."
"Three cents makes $2.60".
"One nickel makes $2.65".
"One dime makes $2.75".
"One quarter makes $3.00"
"2 ones makes $5.00,
a five makes $10.00.
and a ten makes $20.00."
Counting change back seems difficult, but it is quite easy to learn and with practice, you can do it flawlessly, and assure that you don't lose money.
This is Gentle Joy again.... counting change back can sound awkward, but after doing it, it really makes sense and it is a great thing to teach to our children. It's one of those very practical things for them to learn.
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Tip Tuesday
A yellow jacket nest in the house sounds like a nightmare! We found a big one under the bathroom sink! It was not a happy find.
It was quite large.... we forgot to measure it exactly, but judging by a picture I have of it with one son's hand next to it, we are estimating it to be about 13" x 8".... like I said, it was pretty big.
Here is the bathroom sink cabinet where we had a water leak, but didn't know it. By the time we found it, most of the bottom of the cabinet was saturated. The guys tore it out and took it out to the driveway and when they put it down on its back, they found this stuck to the underside.
They called me to come to see it.... I had a hard time imagining that had been IN our house for quite some time. Shudder.
We have lived in our house for about 18 years and this cabinet was here when we moved in... we have painted it a few times and there was no water leak until more recently... and we have no idea how long that nest was in there. For a while, we found a few yellow jackets inside and couldn't figure out WHY.
This is one of those times that a problem(the leak under the sink), became a blessing (finding and removing this hive from our home)!
I guess we could say that another blessing was the impromptu homeschool lesson from the find.... with a great exhibit. :)
Thankfully, there were no living yellow jackets... but there were some dead ones.
We homeschool and encourage exploring, so of course, the guys had to seriously investigate this thing. :)
There were several layers to it.... they removed the outer shell to find the stacks of combs. There were 7 of these layers inside the outer shell.
It is a pretty amazing work of these creatures... the uniformity of the compartments, the marvel of the engineering....
It was interesting since there were no living wasps to try to avoid.
The whole nest was very lightweight and papery. This is what my guys told me... I didn't actually TOUCH it. :) Seeing it was enough for me.
Here the top (or bottom actually) was lifted of to expose the other sections.
So many perfectly formed sections.
An interesting work....
Sorry about the color of this one... wrong angle with the sun, but this one shows the supports between the layers.
I am glad this isn't in our house anymore... and I am glad the yellow jackets were already dead. The sink cabinet was dismantled and thrown in the trash... by the way, the pictures here have shown the ugly wetness, but the cabinet still looked really good from the outside. We would have continued to use it if the water hadn't damaged it so much.
Currently, we have no sink in the bathroom and are looking on craigslist for another one... or we may buy one new. We are looking and praying. Thankfully there is no leak and thankfully, we have another bathroom. :) It would be nice to get this project done, as it was not on the project list... and we have been working on several things ON the project list, and have been pretty busy.
I was reminded that the leak we found that was such an overwhelming addition to our already overloaded lives.... was actually a blessing in disguise. I wonder how many times that is true. This time, we were able to SEE it, but even if we can't see it.... I wonder how many times God is actually doing His work in our lives... and we just complain. Hmmmm...... it is certainly something to think about. Thank you for visiting my blog today. :)
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