14 April 2020

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPppppppppppppppppppppPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP[PPpoOOOOOOPPpPpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp-ppppppppppppppppppppppppp chips I want chips mama!!and mick and ike. I want water!

 

I told them to write something. I guess this counts.

School is still going good most of the time. Yesterday I let them stay in instead of coming with to feed and it was awful. Today I made them come and they were great again. Apparently they need lunged before getting down to work 😉

The Goblin Child flies through a days worth of school work in an hour when she’ll sit down and concentrate. They each get one Mike and Ike, or whatever candy we have on hand for each paper finished then a jackpot of free time on the computer when school is finished.

My favorite part is when they work together, usually on math. The Goblin Child quizzes 8 on the answers and they work through them together, on her math homework that is. Nothing cements knowledge like teaching someone else.

It’s been really cold the last few days but when it’s nicer out they are coming with to feed and helping feed the bottle calves.We have three right now and it’s a big job for them. The Goblin Child is old enough now to hold a bottle on her own. It can be pretty intimidating and heavy. The both got hammers the other day to help do repairs to the calves windbreak and didn’t even bash themselves in the face.

They come with most of the time to check cows. 8 is very good at driving the 4wheeler he can drive all the way through the pasture and is getting really good at backing it. The Goblin Child wont try yet but she will drive it through gates, which is better than nothing. They both are good at working the controls in the feed truck and helping with that.

 

 

Category: 8, Goblin Child, School | LEAVE A COMMENT
2 April 2020

Great Timing

Now. Now when riding your horse isn’t politically correct, The Goblin Child has decided she wants to ride horses.

All this time I’ve been trying to get her to participate, to get her to do ground work or just sit on a horse and she’s refused.

I was working with Harvey the other day and she ordered me to lead him over to a place where she could get on. Of course I let her. The next day she decided to sit on Rusty while we worked and go for a ride. Yesterday I saddled Smoke for her and we went for a walk. 8 decided he wanted on behind and the four of us walked out to the mail box and back.

8 decided at the mail box that he wanted to walk. He is very slow. Smoke was headed home and going fast. It made for an interesting trip.

 

Category: 8, Goblin Child, Horses | LEAVE A COMMENT
28 March 2020

Pony Poetry

This was a prompt for a poem for little kids. Kind of a fun looking project I thought. The kids not so much.

It took me a few days to find time and get them sat down.

From The Goblin Child about Harvey.

As black as the night  (never mind that he’s actually a bay -my comments not hers)

Like coal

An elegant pretty horse

My pony is as pretty as they can get

 

From 8 about Smoke   -some help from me

As old as a mole rat (?!) The Goblin Child thought turtle

Like an old weathered tree

A goofy fun nice horse

My pony is tall and really good

 

My demo about Rusty

As smart as they come

Like a dog not a horse

A beautiful red boy

My pony is practically perfect

Not exactly great poetry but it was kind of fun for the five minutes I was able to get them to sit still and think a bit.

Category: 8, Goblin Child, Horses | 1 Comment on Pony Poetry
26 March 2020

Mummies

I thought mummies weren’t real. That they were monsters that walked around in movies.

Mummies are disgusting, even if they aren’t monsters.

Why do they mummify things?

-Because Egyptians believed in an afterlife

How did they mummify things?

-They washed the body with some water and wine stuff. They cut out all the organs. They pour salt onto the dead body. Then they wrap up the dead body. And put it in a coffin.

Mummies are weird.

Category: Goblin Child | 2 Comments on Mummies
24 March 2020

The Way That Calves Get Born

We were checking cows and we came across a cow that had a water bag out. Then we went and looked around. Then we came back, we saw the outline of a calf head and front legs. They were in the water bag.

We went and played around a bit more. Then we came back and it still wasn’t out!

We went and played around a bit more. When we came back it was hanging out.

We drove over and looked up close. The calf was stuck. Then mama went and tried to pull it out. Then it came out.

The end.

Category: Cows, Goblin Child | 1 Comment on The Way That Calves Get Born
23 March 2020

Random Stuff

A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,&,Z

a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,&,z

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

mom,dad,big sis,little brother

qwertyuiop[]\asdfghjkl;’zxcvbnm,./`-=

`~-_=+;:'”,<.>/?

1+56=57 2+56+58

10    <    12        59     >     10

1-56=55 2-56=4

1×56=56 2×56=112

Category: Family, Goblin Child | 1 Comment on Random Stuff
22 March 2020

Still Schooling

It’s been busy around here. Although we are just starting this having school at home thing it is going pretty well. That might change after a few weeks 😉

We’ve fallen into a bit of a routine, wake up and eat with my husband before he heads off to work. School is being taught at home and someone needs to make that possible and be there to support the teachers just like when they were teaching from the school.

Then we go feed cows. With school going this wasn’t mandatory, now it is. After feeding we check the pasture for new calves. Back home we do our school work. Short bursts and lots of reward for their work. My daughter is blogging as part of her schooling. She needed work on her writing, how better to learn than to talk about her experiences of the day. My son, in preschool, is doing his sisters math homework. Why not take something he likes and is good at and concentrate on it? We can tailor their learning to their individual wants and needs far better than a school that has to keep the whole class together in their learning.

Then free time on the computer or outside.

The rest of the day is spent playing, working, learning. Who says any one of those is separate from the other?

I firmly believe in the importance of play as learning, now we get to do it. Checking cows we learn about science, how a body works, what is inside of us, or cattle, how calves are born, what happens when things die. We use math, counting new calves, remembering what number we were on  clear until we find another calf.

They’ve been helping get the garden ready to plant, digging the remaining, still very edible, carrots from last year, helping clean out the greenhouse, and they will soon help plant the seeds of cold weather plants.

We’ve had in depth computer science classes, something we are lucky to be in the unique position to be able to offer much better than schools are. They, and the cousins, have helped build a computer and make repairs.

They’ve gotten better about playing together, learning about team work, as long as they think they are causing trouble. Hauling old posts out of one pile and stacking them in  the middle of the garden. They learn so much in that little act of defiance 😆

 

Category: 8, Family, Farming, Goblin Child | 1 Comment on Still Schooling
20 March 2020

Facts About Cows

There was a dead calf so we decided to cut it open so that is why we are doing facts about cows.  We took the dead calf to the pasture and then we started cutting it open, but the knife wasn’t really sharp enough.  But we got it cut open.  We saw and talked about the intestines, then mama tore them out.  Then we talked about the liver.  The liver filters the blood and makes it clean for the rest of the body.  We wanted to see the heart, but we couldn’t get to it because the skin was too difficult to cut with the knife we had.  Since we couldn’t see the heart we cut the neck and found the esophagus and saw the rings of muscle in it.

We cut open the stomach. Last night mama and Lala fed the calf some colostrum. All the colostrum spilled out.

I felt disgusted, and like I would throw up. Mama was fascinated.

It was cold but mama said it was beautiful out. 8 thought it was all too gross and rode home with Lala

I want to learn more about the insides of calves and cows.

By The Goblin Child

 

Category: Cows, Goblin Child | 1 Comment on Facts About Cows
19 March 2020

My Side Of The Story

We were looking through the calves. My daughter was on the fourwheeler behind me. My father in law was putting out bales of hay for the calves.

As we drove across the pen I said look a chipmunk! It was hopping across the pen, big and grey with it’s long scaly tail stuck straight in the air.

That wasn’t a chipmunk! It was a rat!

Daisy was on the fourwheeler behind us. She’s a good rat dog. I started calling to her, trying  to get her to notice the rodent.

It was getting away though. I floored the fourwheeler and we aimed at the rat. It disapeared beneath us.

Slamming on the breaks I turned to look behind.  It was still running. Leaping off the fourwheeler I ran for it still calling Daisy.  She wasn’t caught up yet, I was there, I did it. My dad always told a story about him stomping a rat that ran under him while he stood talking along Lower Wacker in  downtown  Chicago. I had to  do it, the rat was under my feet already. I forced myself to stomp. The rat squirmed, wrapping  up around my boot. I could feel it. Screaming in  fear and horror at what I was doing I kept stomping, to keep it from  crawling up my leg as much as anything.

Daisy finally got there. I stepped back  and let her finish up.

The Goblin Child was cackling historically on the fourwheeler then hopped off to come see it for herself. Upon inspecting the now very dead rat she shrugged and we walked back  to the fourwheeler and home.

Daisy was  left with her prize. She carried it off the other direction.

Category: Cows, Family, Goblin Child | 1 Comment on My Side Of The Story