The Farmhouse Adventures: The Most Busiest Time of The Year

Riley asked us in the car last night, "How many days until Christmas?" I thought for a second, and answered, "39." And then my eyes popped out of my head, and Roger nearly drove off the road.

Yes, it's true, folks. The Holiday Freight Train has reached top speed, it's coming, like it or not.

So to avoid that for a while, let's talk about something else. My hair is the last short thing (get it? Short....haha) I posted about, so let's revisit that. I chopped it. About 10 inches gone. It felt GREAT, because it needed to. You see, my hair was so damaged and broken from not taking proper care of it (think impulsive grocery store color dyes and cheap shampoo), that the only thing left to do was a fresh start. Like a lot of women, I've always wanted to try short hair. So I went and did it. A lot of things the internet said were true. You love it for a second, then get home and hate it, then spend the next two weeks flipping back and forth with how you feel. You take about a week to stop pumping all that shampoo in your hand in the shower. Everyone says they love it and you don't believe them. It's grown in for about a month now, and I do actually love it. It's so freakin' easy. And I need easy right now, that's for sure. Being a Mom, a Wife, homeschooling the kids....... is actually nothing compared to trying to keep up with my husband's business!

In October, the big kids took the Terra Nova Survey Test, a test that satisfies PA's requirement that testing be done in 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade for homeschool students and included in their portfolio. Testing locations were set up by PA Homeschoolers, an organization dedicated to, you guessed it, homeschoolers in PA. We were a little nervous, testing the kids in fall for the grade that they were currently in. I warned them that we were just doing this to fill a requirement, there might be some things on the test they didn't know or hadn't learned yet, etc, and not to worry about it. We had the 6th grader take the test, too, just to give us an idea where he was. Apparently, we had nothing to worry about. Both kids scored in the 99th percentile nationwide. Which led us into doing some further placement tests (many placement tests are offered free from curriculum sites, in hopes that you will then buy their curriculum). The placement tests showed a couple of things. That they both are well ahead of grade level in reading and comprehension, which is not a surprise. Indy placed into 5th grade language arts, but we're going to do 4th grade, just because this is our first experience with moving them up. It's a little scary, honestly, because with public school you just go with the flow. Chase tested a grade level up in language arts, but only after he was given the definitions of all the vocabulary. This is the second public school (PS) deficiency we've found so far, he wasn't taught the vocab in a way that he retained it (but of course got all A's). We've sucked stuff off the 'net and are reviewing all the vocab before moving forward. The other thing we've found is that all of his 3-digit and greater multiplication is wrong. The method is wrong, meaning he does the same wrong thing every time. So it sort of screwed us, because that's the only reason why he didn't test into 7th grade math, last year at school and in a home placement test. We purchased 6th grade math curriculum due to those tests, which he's flying through because he knows everything except correct multiplication. So we're remediating the multiplication errors, and he'll most likely start 7th grade math in early spring. But again, he got all A's last year in math... hmmm. There was nothing that indicated to us that he was unable to do written multiplication.

Also in October, we attended the elementary school's Monster Mash and the kids got to see lots of their friends. I had the urge to make a sign that said, "Homeschool Weirdo" and wear it on my back as my costume, but I resisted. And actually, once there, we didn't feel so weird. Everyone was happy to see us and made us feel included. The little guys and I went on a Hayride to the Pumpkin Patch trip with her old Preschool. They are so considerate of us, they invited us along with their whole school, knowing that Riley was doing homeschool this year. She had a blast connecting with friends and teachers.

We won our short, but time-consuming, mini-battle (not really, it stayed friendly) with the district over whether or not Indy could join the Strings Ensemble. We had originally been told that she could not join since it was "an extension of the curriculum" and the law supports inclusion on extracurricular activities only. I spent hours researching PA homeschool law, put calls in to the Department of Ed., spoke with lawyers at HSLDA (Homeschool Legal Defense Association), speaking with the Director of Student Services and educating him about all I was learning. I hadn't set out to be an advocate, but I became one during this process. My Mom and my awesome neighbor encouraged me throughout, which I needed. I had letters typed and ready to go to the school board and the local paper to bring attention to our issue... but I didn't end up needing them. I woke up from a half-sleep one night and shook Roger awake to excitedly inform him that I had figured it out... I had it. "Had what?" he asked, sleepily. "If Strings is an extension of the curriculum, and in PA, school districts are required by law to lend home ed students the curriculum, then all I have to do is ask them HOW they plan on lending us the Strings Program?" I was so proud of myself for coming up with that - Ha! But it turns out I didn't need that, either. The very next day I got a phone call that said she was invited to join, that the Director had spoken with the superintendent and other administrators to clarify what we could do. And that was it. We drove and got her a rental violin that very day. She started lessons 3 weeks late, but since she had been a Suzuki student for a year, she caught up in 2 days. Her BFF also joined Strings, so they have violin playdates now.

Grandpop came up for Halloween, and we had a great weekend with him.

Dr. Who, Mickey Mouse, Vampire, & Scooby-Doo

Dr. Who costume - $10 total for pants and jacket at the thrift store plus some hemp string to tie down his Red Solo Cup fez hat, Mickey - borrowed from sis-in-law, Vampire - $6 dress from thrift store plus $1 make-up kit, Scooby - $5 thrift store find. We no longer purchase cheaply made kid costumes to celebrate Halloween, as they always tend to disappoint in some way. I am not a sewer, so making them myself is out. We happened upon the dress and then Scooby in the thrift store one day (thrift stores, clean ones of course, cannot be beaten for kids' knockaround shoes!) and that settled that as the girls fell in love, we went back for Chase's Dr. Who outfit. We were impressed at the options for Halloween in our local thrift store, and we loved that we bought something used (repurposing) instead of contributing to the excessive amount of new "junk" being produced just for this fun holiday.

Mickey rides in style. He was quite serious, riding to the foot of each driveway, then running to doors to collect, and never letting go of that bucket!

That is one happy Puppy!

We finally got the girls sort-of, kind-of moved in to their new room (beds and dressers, waiting on a closet organizer), and we got the toilet installed in the hall bath about an hour before Grandpop showed up. We figured he probably didn't want to walk all the way up to the Master Bath to pee. We finally have two toilets again!! This is so exciting, you have no idea. We have learned A LOT over the last 8 months sharing one bathroom with all of us plus everyone who comes through our home.

Roger puts the bathroom door on, while Indy grabs some shims.

A sneak peek of the new laundry area. Bathroom tile in the background.

Old room in progress of moving STUFF. Why do girls have so much STUFF?!?

Indy's new loft bed goes in first. The mattress on the floor is for Grandpop to sleep on.

Some stuff moves in

Nice, big 8 ft closet. Dresser goes in the middle, and we'll custom build the storage around it.

In the meantime, the kids play with old toys and jump from slides onto beds.

Moving the girls over finally meant repurposing the old room, and although over the many months we had tons of ideas, it was obvious that we needed homeschool storage, badly, and the big kids also needed a space to able to go to work quietly and independently, without the distraction of the little guys. So that's what we did. And, bonus, I can see the office floor again!