Hiking Smith Mountain

What did y'all do on Labor Day? We decided to drag our kiddos on a hiking adventure in the blazing 95 degree Alabama heat to Smith Mountain in Dadeville, Alabama. Yeah we're kinda crazy like that! Some of our crew really wanted to go while others were less than thrilled at the idea. But hey, we didn't have anything else going on so why not go exploring? Family bonding at it's finest, right, lol.

We have never before ventured to this part of Alabama and I was super excited to see what it had to offer. Despite warnings that some of the trails were not fit for 'small or unruly children' (the Smith Mountain website's words, not mine), we decided to go there anyways. We were hoping some of the trails would be suitable for our little ones. Ha! Sometimes ignorance is bliss, eh?

Smith Mountain Historical Fire Tower trails are nothing short of spectacular in more ways than one, I can assure you of that fact! Labor Day 2019 we officially put our motley crew to the 'hiking test' ~ and we actually lived to tell about it (which is nothing short of a miracle!). What was suppose to be a quick and easy leisurely ONE hour hike turned into a two hour battle of strength and endurance for ALL of us! 

My husband did offer to carry Lydia on his back at the start of our adventure, but I was stubborn and didn't want to adjust my baby carrier settings. I had no idea it was going to be such a difficult hike or I would have let him carry her. There were too many instances to count where I was scrambling on all fours up and down and all around the many, many rocks that made up the Smith Mountain Fire Tower trails. Thankfully we never fell and she had a grand ol' time, never the wiser of how strenuous the hike was for dear old mama, lol.

The trails were steep and blanketed with huge rocks. When we reached the top of the trail a fellow hiker was impressed that our three year old had made it up the trails (so was I!). He just so happens to be my little hiking buddy, and he asks every week when are we going to go hiking again ~ melts my heart, especially since some of my people give me a whole lot of grief when I announce we're going on a hiking adventure {{sigh}}.

Once we reached the top of Smith Mountain, the views were absolutely breath-taking!!!! A few of my older children climbed the fire tower and took this picture over-looking Smith Lake. 

 Last week I posted how we had only ever had one incident hiking where I was slightly worried about our safety. Well, make that two times now. {{Groan}} The trails at Smith Mountain were terribly marked. Very, very confusing is putting it mildly. I assumed since the trail heading up the mountain was so intense that perhaps the returning trail might be just a tad bit easier ~ I was wrong. Not only was it steep and many sections had you sliding down on your rear, but most importantly it was NOT marked well AT ALL!! It took three wrong turns before we found a trail that eventually lead us back to the van. And it wasn't even a trail but a service road. Never a dull moment in our life, folks.

It isn't often my oldest gets to go hiking with us, but this trip he was able to join us. He was a good sport jumping into pictures and even suggesting pictures I should take. It was a lot of fun having the entire family hiking and enjoying the great outdoors together.

Massive pinecones aren't something you see too frequently on Alabama trails, but this particular hike we were all amazed at the monster-sized pine cones we found lying along the trails. 

After a major detour we eventually found our way off the mountain and back to our van. We were all soaked to the bone with sweat and ready to eat our picnic lunch. While Daddy and big sister were getting the food ready and refilling water bottles, the boys filed in for this final picture of the day. It's a rare treat to get a picture of all the boys in the family. 

Believe it or not, this over-picture-taking mama was so enamored by the views and bluffs at the top of the mountain that I did not get a picture of the fire tower. {{insert eye roll) So this is a screen shot of one I found online, lol. 

Here's a little history lesson on Smith Mountain Fire Tower: The fire tower was originally erected in 1939. It was built by the Alabama Power Company in an effort to keep a visual lookout for forest fires. The tower and surrounding 10 acres rotated ownership between Alabama Power and the Alabama Forestry Commission over the years. By 1980 technology improved to the point that there was no longer a need for a manned fire tower. Unfortunately, the tower was left to ruins and the land became a dumping ground. In 2010 the Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail Association acquired the deed to the land and tower. With the help of volunteers and donors the tower has been restored and the land is now a beautiful place to explore. 

While I was quite surprised at how difficult the hike was, we all made it and we all drastically improved our abilities in rock scrambling and hiking in general. We had an acute lesson in confidence building and perseverance. We laughed, we struggled, we got frustrated, but most importantly we spent time together as a family in God's beautiful creation. The Lord's grace and mercy overflowed, especially as mom and dad were kind of panicky at one point ~ anxious to find a way off the mountain. 

Was our little adventure hiking Smith Mountain drama-free HA! NOT hardly!! But, I'm glad we went, I'm grateful for the memories we made, and I would do it all over again, even knowing what I know now. That's the perks of being a perfectly imperfect family: we try, we get knocked down, but we pick ourselves right back up and keep on going ~ all the more stronger for challenges we conquer. Not to mention the pictures and stories we have to share are epic!

With Love and Hope,
Jennifer

Apple Fun School Week

Johnny Appleseed Directed Drawings

Fall isn't quite here and most folks aren't even thinking about apple picking season, but for us it just worked best in our schedule to do our apple fun week the last week of August. And we've technically already gone apple picking and made applesauce; so I guess for us it isn't really too much of a stretch to do our apple fun week so early in the year.

Most of the activities are geared for the younger ones in the bunch, but I made an effort for the bigger kiddos to have a few fun apple learning activities on Friday. 

Over the years I've had the tendency to go overboard on our fun schooling weeks, so I made a major effort this year to taper things down just a notch. For our apple fun week I planned for one apple-tailored activated a day and then Friday had a few more sprinkled in for the older ones.

I read these books during our read aloud time. The top two right books are fairly long so I divided them up throughout the week.  My collection of apple themed books is not that extensive, but it's enough to get us through the week. Each year I try to grow our home library and it looks like I really need to work on this particular theme, lol. 

First we started off with apple stamping. I cut apples in half, painted the inside with red paint, put a corn poker into the apple and let the children have a go at 'stamping' their construction paper.

The sensory box this week was apple themed with old fashion oats, faux apples, cinnamon sticks, green pieces of yarn (to imitate worms, lol) a small scooper, and a small tin pail.

Another day the children made torn paper apples. I printed off an apple template on card stock, poured some glue on it and let the kiddos glue bits of red torn construction paper onto their apples.

We made marbled apples by placing another card stock apple into a pan, squirting some red paint onto the middle of their apples, and then placing three marbles into the pan for them to roll around.

For our apple themed snack activity day the children made no bake apple pie in a cup. We put graham crackers into a baggie that I let each child take a turn smashing with a rolling pin. We put the crushed graham crackers into the bottom of a cup, scooped apple pie filling on top of that, and then topped with cool whip. I let each one help make their 'apple pie' in a cup as best I could, lol.

On Friday the older children added to their ongoing interactive notebooks (we do a daily history science, or project interactive notebook activity) with a writing assignment regarding Johnny Appleseed, whom we'd read about during the week.

We discussed and labeled the parts of an apple which also went into their interactive notebooks.

Finally they added an apple lifecycle craft to their interactive notebook.

One of our favorite art projects is Directed Drawings. This is where I advise the children step by step what to draw. I love how everyone's pictures turn out and since we've been doing this for years, it's amazing to watch each child's drawing skills improve over time. This week we did a Johnny Appleseed directed drawing that I found for free at Teachers Pay Teachers.

The last project the younger children did was a paper plate Johnny Appleseed craft that I found for free on Pinterest.

I'm still hoping to take the children on a field trip to an apple orchard in North Alabama, but it's a really long drive and we have to 'piggy back' the public school tours or daycare tours; so it's not always something we get to do yearly. The children did ask if we were going to get to go this year as it has been a couple years since we've been, Lord willing I'll be able to make it happen. 

It can be mighty hard to find the balance between 'real homeschooling' and 'fun schooling'. There have been seasons of homeschooling where we've done no fun learning activities and then other seasons where that's all we've done. I'm currently on the platform that it's okay to plan and incorporate fun learning activities and field trips into your academics, they just shouldn't be the 'meat and potatoes' if you will. 

While I'm not a fan of recreating the public/private school's broken system; I am of the mindset that children need to be in a constant state of learning which must be encouraged by their parents. What works for one family may or may not work for another. This is why it is so important for homeschooling families to share the nitty gritty of their homeschooling days ~ for no other reason than that we may all glean and improve our methods of educating our own children. Which is why I try to share what we do. I have gleaned so much from other homeschooling families over the years. And maybe, just maybe this is a tiny way I can pay it forward. 😊

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Hiking with Children

I grew up hiking. I love hiking. I could easily go hiking weekly if not daily. Being in nature calms my spirit. I went years without hiking ~ like 15+ years and never graced the entrance of any trails. But, one day I realized how much I missed hiking and that I really wanted to share the hiking experience with my children. So, I started planning and taking my littles on hiking adventures. 

When hiking you naturally need some gear to safely and comfortably get you and your little crew onto the trails. I'm a minimalist hiker and bring the bare minimum. When planning our hiking excursions I try to make sure we are on heavily trafficked trails that are adequately maintained. I am NOT taking my children on eight hour long hikes, shoot most of the time our hikes our under two hours.

My main reason for keeping our hikes to under two hours is that we currently have several under the age of five. Trust me folks that age bracket can be highly temperamental, especially on the trails, lol. Keeping our hikes short and sweet insures we all get out and back to the van with as minimum meltdowns as possible. But, I have found that the more you get out there, hiking with your kiddos the more they want to do it and the better they get at it; actually wanting to keep going once you get to the 'turn around point'.

I started back hiking when I was pregnant with baby number eight. I didn't want to stop hiking because I was pregnant or had a baby, so I had to make sure I had the necessary gear to enjoy hiking with a baby. For me that's simply one item: my Becco baby carrier. Now I know there are awesome 'hiking baby carriers' available, but this one suits multiple needs and I LOVE it!! When they're teeny tiny I can wear them on my front and as they get older I wear them on my back. It is so comfortable, but most importantly it does not hurt my back!

Ok y'all another must have item for this mama is decent hiking shoes. I'm just going to go ahead and share this ~ I'm highly uncoordinated AND accident prone (insert eye roll and groan!!). Having good quality hiking shoes is a must for this mama. I love my Merrell's. I bought them at an outlet shop a few years ago and they have held up wonderfully. Our children do not have designated hiking shoes, I simply make sure they're wearing good tennis shoes.

Other items I make sure we bring on our hikes include:

First aid kit, diapers, wipes, tissue, cell phone (not always with service but good to have), bug spray, and sun screen tucked into a fanny pack (like this one) that I typically wear. This fanny pack is awesome because you can wear it like a backpack, over your shoulder, or around your waist. There's so much room in it and it's comfortable to wear. Plus I can wear it while I am wearing my babies. It's best to be safe and have the essentials in the event of an emergency.

Two lightweight backpacks (like this one) filled with water for each person and usually a snack. The older children rotate carrying these packs throughout our hikes. These little backpacks have been put through the ringer! I actually love them more than my light weight Osprey (which cost a whole lot more!). They're easily adjustable, packable, and have held up for several years now, being overloaded with the weight of multiple stainless steel water bottles and snacks. AND they're super affordable! I bought enough light weight backpacks for most of my children to tote their own backpack during our hikes, but for now we just bring two and disperse our water bottles and snacks between the two.  

That's it! Nothing overly complicated to getting out into nature and exploring with children, even when they're babies. Of course I must say a small disclaimer ~ be smart, research your hiking destinations, tell someone where you're going, start small, but most importantly don't stop (even when your hiking adventure doesn't go as you had envisioned)! Trust me y'all there have been plenty of hiking excursions I've dragged my kids on that have been a total bust. 

Thankfully, we've only had one time where I was concerned for our safety and that was 100% my fault as we took a wrong turn on some poorly marked trails. But, in that instance I never let the children know I was worried, I just kept encouraging them to keep going, and it ended up being one of our fondest hiking memories. That little hiking adventure gone terribly wrong turned into our longest hike ever, reigning in at three hours! It truly pushed us all to our limits, but we did it, we made it out, and even though that hike didn't go as planned, it made us all better hikers! 

Hiking with children can be done and it doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. Yes, sometimes your children may not want to go (half of mine really do not enjoy hiking), but once I get them to our hiking destination everyone usually has a great time. To me being in nature is like being close with the Lord, our wonderful Creator. It's peaceful, calm, and void of worldly distractions that vie for our attention. Hiking is a perfect way to decompress, relax, regroup, and most importantly connect as a family. 

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Homeschool Preschool

Homeschool Preschool, it's a topic of quick division amongst homeschool families. To do it or not to do it? I've swung to both sides of the pendulum, but I'm currently under the persuasion of including Preschool lessons into my little ones daily routine.

My main reason being that my little kids easily get ushered around here and there as I'm bustling around trying to manage our home and educate my six older children. I want to spend time with them and include them in our day. I find that they love to have their own little 'school' time and it really doesn't take much time out of my day. Plus, I like knowing they're getting a head start on their academics and getting into the habit of how to do 'school' for when they get older. 

When I had only one or two under five I did 'calendar books', which were a compilation of a traditional 'circle time' activities that I would do one-on-one with each of my little bitty ones. Now that I have four in that age bracket, I created a circle time board which we use together (saving a lot of time doing it once as opposed to 4 times). It's more of a fun approach with songs and hand motions to get the children involved and learning.

This year our circle time board includes:

• A welcome, good morning song which we do first to try to get everyone focused.
• A days of the week chart
• A weather song; we sing the song and then discuss the weather 
• A letter chart where we sing the alphabet
• A months of the year song
• A monthly themed fun song 
• A calendar where go over the month and day. For whatever day it is we clap the number, stomp the number, and whisper the number
• A weekly color, shape, and letter. The color and shapes have a matching poem
• For the weekly letter we have a motion activity card (for example: letter C we shiver acting cold)

While I love this circle board and we're having loads of fun with it, AND the children are learning from it; I already have plenty of updates I plan to implement next year. Some of our circle time activities I created, found for free on Pinterest, or found at Teachers Pay Teachers.

I made up these homeschool 'week at a glance' schedules to help me keep up with our table time and preschool time. Our preschool time includes story books, usually two or three that I have collected over the years. The children watch an education movie, we have a weekly sensory box, and they have worksheets/crafts that we do together.

These are the preschool educational movies we rotate between.

One year I bought the Abeka preschool program (yeah, that was not our cup of tea) and it came with these awesome letter posters and letter songs CD that coordinates with the posters. They're a lot of fun and the children love doing them, so we do that along with our circle board time.

Each week I rotate our sensory box, with a new theme each week. Tabitha (my 13 year old) lets the little ones play in the box (supervised) during her block of watching them each day. The sensory box is not left out for free play, it is put away each day.

The worksheets that I do with them is dependent on their age. For my two year old, she does a series of worksheets I created that review the weekly letter, shape, color, and number. My three year old does a set of worksheets that I purchased from Teacher Pay Teachers. The projects I do with them include a lower case and upper case craft each week that coordinates with the weekly letter. 

Every few weeks we have an 'off week' where we do not do a weekly letter, number, shape, or color. During that week we focus on seasonal themed crafts which I found on Pinterest. I will share in the future all about our 'fun themed weeks' and the activities we do.

I try to keep our preschool time play based and more like fun schooling. I don't want my little ones to be burden down with 'seat work' and flash cards. Not that those things are bad, but they're not exactly fun for small children. It's taken many years of trial and error to come up with what works for our family and this is finally exactly what I've been trying to create for 15 years! Even though I still have some tweaking I plan to do in the future, lol. I guess that's par for the course for homeschooling a large family. What works for one family won't work for another, but I love seeing what other families do for their homeschooling, so that is why I'm sharing our Homeschool Preschool routine. 😊

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Applesauce in the Making

Canning applesauce is some serious work, but for some reason the kids love doing it and homemade canned applesauce is just soooo yummy! I shared a couple weeks ago that we went and picked some apples with the hopes of putting up some jars of applesauce. We didn't get as many apples as we had hoped, but since our stock of home canned applesauce is dwindling, I thought it would be best to go ahead and process the few apples we did pick.

Buying apple sauce is fairly cheap, especially at Aldi. And they happen to have a sugar free version which is fairly tasty. Regardless of these fast, I think one of my favorite items to can is applesauce. Yes, it makes a gigantic mess, and takes forever to process, but I don't think there's anything more nostalgic than canning applesauce; other than maybe making jelly and jam.

A few years ago we invested in a Squeezo food mill and it WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY!! It makes quick work of turning apples into applesauce. I'm a firm believer in acquiring the necessary tools which make canning and other homesteading activities as easy as possible. To me the Squeezo is a double bonus because it's a nonelectric device!

All the children love to take turns working the mill. This year Joshua and Matthew were totally into the applesauce making. Tabitha was kind enough to quarter all the apples so we could cook them down to put through the Squeezo. I try not to force the children to help, but encourage them to be involved as they choose. After all our kitchen is only so big. This year there were several children in and out, helping as they saw fit.

Of course the kiddos didn't fly solo making applesauce just yet. Since I didn't get to the applesauce making until late in the day, Daddy was able to head up the Squeezo operation.  

Once it got to cooking the applesauce after being run through the mill, it was just me in the kitchen. There really isn't a need for more than one person at this point unless of course you have several ladles and funnels. I don't mind, I enjoy the making the applesauce and was grateful for all those who did help make the applesauce this year.

The applesauce turned out nice and thick, which is just the way we prefer it. Sorry y'all I'm not a fan of runny applesauce. I find that the thicker applesauce last longer and stretches for more meals. When you're feeding as many folks as we are that is a major plus!

I honestly didn't think we'd get more than four jars, but we managed to get 10!! I was over the moon about this especially since we have so few jars left over from last year. Sadly, one jar did bust during the waterbath process. UGH!! I really hate it when that happens!! In reality I know in my heart God knew what we needed and how hard we worked to get those ten jars. Sometimes life just happens and we have to accept it. Thankfully we will not starve, and our food supply does not depend upon these few jars of applesauce ~ they're just nice to have. 

It looks like these few jars of applesauce will wrap up our canning season for the year. It was a whirlwind of nonstop intense labor: picking, canning, cooking, and preserving! But, as I look at our shelves (and freezers) filled with fresh homegrown produce, I'm overwhelmed at God's provisions and the strength He gave us to get it all done. As we wrap up the main gardening season with pulling up sunburned and withered plants I look forward to a slower season of homesteading and the opportunity to enjoy the fruit of all our hard work.

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Many Hands Make Light Work

We have many quirky family sayings. Many Hands Make Light Work, just happens to be one of them. But, my husband and I mean those words and we LIVE it. Intentionally teaching our children, daily, to be positive contributing members to our family. 

Being apart of a family is a gift, not a right. There are plenty of people walking around in the world who have no family. Sadly, there are even people choosing not to be apart of their own family's. 

The more people residing within a family, the more work there is to be done. Children don't just magically learn to work or volunteer to do said work (for the most part). It's the responsibility of the PARENTS to teach children to work. 

There's nothing like the topic of requiring children to work within a family to draw the proverbial line in the sand of parents. I am unapologetically on the side of children participating in the maintaining of the home. 

Working within the home teaches children a multitude of character traits that they can take with them for their entire life. Some of which include: a hard work ethic, how to serve others, how to clean their own home, how to work with a purpose, how to work within a team, and on and on I could go.

From the time our children are old enough to walk they begin learning how to work. From simple responsibilities like taking the cloth napkins to the laundry room or helping tote the bedroom trash bags to the big trash. Little ones love to work and typically help with a cheerful spirit. If children are taught from a young age that working within the family should not be done begrudgingly, they're more likely to continue that positive attitude as they get older. 

Our children's level of responsibilities increases as they mature. Each child matures at a different rate and we evaluate their abilities to do chores individually. Only parents can determine what their children can and cannot do. But, the following charts are what we currently have posted for each of our children's and what they're required to do.

We call 'chores' a different name and have since we began having children. I always felt like the word 'chores' denotes such a negative task and I wanted my children to see contributing to the needs of the family as a privilege not a burden. So, we call chores ~ "House Assignments". 

Each day of the week my children have a specific task they're responsible to clean. This chart includes house assignments for each of our children ages 4 through 16. The one and three year old do odds and ends but they don't have a 'daily' job. They're mostly 'helpers'. And my 18 year old works crazy long hours so he no longer has a designated daily job.

Because I believe it is hugely important for children to know how to cook, each meal we rotate a Meal Helper. This person is responsible for being my assistant getting ingredients/utensils/dishes out to prepare the meal, setting the table, filling cups and making sure the proper condiments are available for the meal. My little ones love to help cook and are often in the kitchen helping too, but I like to have a big kid in the kitchen helping as well. I rotate the meal helper schedule monthly so all of the children can help on various days for experience in learning to prepare a variety of meals.

Every family has their own method for getting the laundry done. With a family of eleven creating dirty laundry, it can quickly take over. I'm NOT a fan of letting the laundry pile up. It's rarely not done at the end of each day. I have a system which has always worked to make sure we don't get behind on laundry. To help maintain the laundry, I rotate a laundry assistant. This person is responsible for making sure there's no laundry misplaced in the house, starting and moving the laundry, as well as helping to fold and put it away. 

I realize the majority of families have older children do their own laundry, and well that system just wouldn't work for us for two main reasons. #1 To be frugal and diligent with our money, we only wash full loads of laundry. It would take at least a week for one child to accumulate enough laundry to equal a full load. Which leads me to reason #2 We are limited on space and I don't have the room for dirty clothes to be piled up everywhere (not to mention that's just nasty!). So for now all laundry is washed as a family unit. 

Along with the responsibilities posted within these charts, each of our children are required to make their own beds, take all their clothes to the laundry room, and pick up after themselves. 

Also we have daily meal clean up duties for each child. I should make a chart for these jobs too, but the kids seem to memorize these responsibilities fairly quickly. Typically when school is starting back I evaluate our kitchen clean up crews and make adjustments accordingly. Because we homeschool and enjoy three meals a day together as a family, our kitchen is cleaned thoroughly after each meal. The kitchen is the hub of our home and having a nasty kitchen just wouldn't work for us. Not to mention I really don't care for preparing a meal in a dirty kitchen.

In the event that anyone is curious about our kitchen clean up tasks they look a little like this:

(Each person is responsible for taking their own dishes to the sink)

 (And each person uses the same cup all day, which is taken back to the counter after each meal)

We do not own a dishwasher ~ on purpose! GASP!!

Small dish washer: hand wash cups, silverware, cups, bowls, and plates, dry and put away

Large dish washer: hand wash pots, pans, crockpot, prep dishes, etc., dry and put away

Wiper down & put awayer (lol): clear littles tableware, put away condiments, place leftovers in container and in fridge/freezer and wipe down counters, table, chairs, and high chairs

Sweeper: sweep kitchen floor

There is no way my husband and I could physically do all the work required to maintain our home. Yes, we chose to allow the Lord to bless us with children (specifically a lot of them) and NO we did NOT have them to be our slaves. The amount of children we have does NOT dictate our beliefs in raising children to be positive contributing members of our family. Regardless if we had one or twenty-one children we are firm believers that children should be included in the daily tasks of running the home. 

Working together as a family makes it fairly easy for us to get our daily house assignments completed quickly. I love a tidy house and since my husband and I have spent years teaching our children to help around the house, my older children also appreciate a clean home. I rarely have to tell my big kiddos to do their daily tasks and they often willingly do other need-to-be-done jobs around the house just to surprise their daddy and me. 

When children are taught that maintaining a home isn't just Mom and Dad's job from a young age, it doesn't take much to keep your home in order as they get older. It's a gift and a blessing to get to work along side our children, training them in the way they should go. Even though we have much to do around our house to keep it clean, I can assure you there's no more truer words than "Many hands make light work".

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer