DEERFIELD, VIRGINIA

We live near(about 2 miles from) the booming metropolis of Deerfield, Virginia. The closest large town(Staunton) is about half an hour away. So today we took a trip into Deerfield to put it on the map!THere's the post office, the "Mall"(LOL), the fire dept(not pictured), and the best library in the whole world.

TIME FOR THE GARDEN AGAIN

"My heart leaps up when I behold..." a garden in the making....(to borrow a few words from Wordsworth). Truly, I just love this time of year when the earth is awaking and putting on her green finery. Even on rainy, foggy days like to day, the earth just seems to hold a promise of things to come. Travis planted four rasberry plants at the edge of our garden, and the boys were cutting up the seed potatoes. We hope to have potato and pumpkin patches separate from the garden this year. The children all plant their own little gardens, so it gets quite crowded in the family garden! Last year some of their plots did better than others...so we'll see what Happens!

HELP AROUND THE HOUSE

Today we had the somewhat dreaded task of cleaning the bedrooms. After we had finished, we felt much better!! When my older children were young I read a lot of Montessori's writings. I wanted to implement some of her discoveries in my own my own home. I was disappointed, however, to find that all the "Montessori" teaching materials are very expensive!!!Then I stumbled upon Michael Olaf's website-not sure of the URL, but basically it's a website for Montessori-style homeschooling. Olaf stresses having the chidren help around the house as much as possible, doing useful work with real tools! Actually, the Montessori schools try to implement a homestyle setting with household tasks. Why buy "fake" tools, when they can use the real thing? Even though it is more trouble some times to have the little ones "help," when they are older they will be very proficient at household skills from baking to cleaning! Having the children help when they are young is a long term investment that pays high dividends!!

ROCK ART ROCKS!!!

We have had so much fun painting rocks, I thought I would share this with you so you could get in on the fun. My kids have even earned money selling their creations and have given many away as unique gifts. We started out with a book (pictured) called: "Painting On Rocks For Kids," by Lin Wellford,and we quickly moved on to our own designs. Even Travis and I were in on the action. John Paul did the hamburger, Travis did the wood duck, and Ben made the monk(?) (I thought the monk was especially cool-don't know where he got the idea!) Once you start painting rocks, you will never look at a rock the same way again!! And you certainly don't need the book to get started. Find any rock, wash it, and paint it with acrylic paints. You can use enamel, too, but it is more expensive and not as kid friendly. You can finish it with a clear sealer if you want. So what are you waiting for?! Rocks are everywhere!

A Little About Us

Hi! My name is Eileen Smithdeal, and I welcome you to our family blog. We are a Catholic homeschooling family living in the beautiful Shenandoah valley. My husband Travis and I have been blessed with nine wonderful children: Will (18), John Paul (16), Ben (14), Emily (13), Oliver(11), Sam (9), Mary Margaret (7), Tommy (5), and Anna (3).  We have bustling, messy, fun , frustrating, crazy, joyful, silly, tense, happy, mellow (rarely) times together. I do my best to chronicle our family life in this humble corner of cyberspace. Some times I get a bit philosophical, and  other times we just like to share with others the meanderings of our days. Thanks for coming to visit us...we love hearing from you in the comment section. I hope we get to know you well, kindred spirits!