Currently working on getting the video on our YouTube page, we’ll keep you posted…

Recently, some of our readers began coming forward and emailing us their personal stories. Let me tell you, I had no clue our little blog had become an influence on other families! I tell you this humbly, but it honestly shocked me when one woman said she and her husband bought 20 acres and a camper, in part because of the encouragement our story offered them!

Every reader here is so important to us. We really appreciate the small, but growing community we have found ourselves in, and hearing from you has inspired us to take this as far as we can.

What does this mean? Papa and I want to take the giant leap from basing American Family Now on a free blog to starting our own blog-style website! This would enable us to have more control over what our blog looks like, and what features and resources it has to offer you, our readers. There is but one little setback.

Neither of us are computer programmers or website designers, and when it comes to making a website of our own, we are in way over our heads. Believe me, we’ve tried other web pages in the past, and never got beyond a basic front page design.

With that said, Papa and I are always up for a challenge, so we have downloaded a program to help us, and expect to use WordPress hosting so we are familiar with the management aspect. I can’t give you a date when our new site will be open, but I wanted to let you in on our project for two reasons – so you can join in on our excitement, and so you can offer us ideas while we are in the development stage. Is there something missing from our blog that would make it more enjoyable or useful to you? Anything you would like to see more (or less) of? Here are a few ideas we’re working on.

• A page with how-to posts and videos to help you on your own homesteading journey
• A community page to help bring our readers together
• Sponsership and affiliate programs to support the website

We have even created a slogan, and a button you can share that express our family and our purpose for AFN, but you’ll just have to wait until the website is open to see them!

Papa and I have been tossing the website idea around for a while, but because of you we decided that 2012 is a good year to get started. If you have friends or family interested in a homesteading, off-grid journey, please share our blog with them. The bigger the community we build, the more helpful and supportive we can be for each other. Let’s do this!

9:15am Pal and I woke up after an evening grocery shopping with Papa. We breakfasted on leftover pumpkin pancakes, graham crackers with peanut butter, and soymilk.

10:00am I made a few phone calls while Pal sat on my lap and played with toys. We got dressed and I had my morning coffee. Pal brushed his teeth for about 10 minutes.

10:55am Outside together we fed and watched the chickens, collected eggs, and filled the generator with gas. Pal hitched a ride on the sled I used to drag a tank of kerosene up to the porch, and watched me take pictures of the sun lighting up the snow.

11:35am Back inside Pal helped me fill the heater with kerosene and then we cuddled and read “The Little Plane” and Sesame’s “Eyes and Nose, Fingers and Toes” which led to tickling and peek-a-boo.

11:55am Pal ate a banana and colored while I took notes for this post and called Papa to plan our evening. Hand tracing with Pal, picking up a few things, and fixing the binding on my home management binder with duct tape interspersed.

12:20pm Lunch of turkey, cheese, and mayo sandwiches, sunflower seeds, and yogurt.

12:40pm Pal to bed. I began journaling about our lovely morning and how much I look forward to the end of Girlie’s difficult transition between toddlerhood and being a preschooler. I remember Buddy going through the same process and then think about how I still have two more kids to get through age 3, but how blessed I am to only have to do that one child at a time.

1:00pm Back to earth, Mama. Change poopy diaper and put Pal back to bed. Snag a couple pieces of the kids’ gum and write a couple blog posts.

3:00pm Blogging done for now. Pal still not awake. Ate a snack and did a word find page, then closed my eyes for a few minutes planned to close my eyes for a few minutes.

3:15pm Pal is up. We cuddled and looked at pictures.

3:35pm One more phone call on the to-do list and finished straightening up while Pal played on his own.

4:05pm Signed a birthday card I made the other day and had a tickle war with Pal while we waited for Papa to return home from work. Then off to my grandparents for pot roast and picking up Buddy and Girlie.

This is my homeschool planning binder, or idea book. Whatever you want to call it, this is where I keep all my plans, hopes, ideas, wish lists, and resource information. I collect info from anything I find useful and tuck it in here for current or future use. Despite our laid-back approach to the early years, I would feel directionless without it.

If you are a new homeschooling mom, you should definitely start one of these to offer you encouragement and inspiration. Based on what I’ve come up with, here’s how to make one.

1. Purchase a 1 or 2” three-ring binder. Personalize it however you wish, with a simple title or an artistic cover that expresses your family
2. Purchase a set of dividers to make your binder easier to use, and label as you see fit – based on subjects, notes you have, whatever works
3. As you read books on homeschooling, share ideas with others, attend classes, or find inspiration, jot down your ideas and store print-outs in your binder. It will fill up faster than you think!
4. Every time you feel your days need a little more spark, or you are planning the next few weeks (or more!) of your school days, review your binder to find useful activities and resources to fit your needs

And now, for the winner of Ann Lahrson-Fisher’s book…

Sarah!

Congratulations and happy reading!

“Remember that it is not what children learn that is most important, but that the learning twins, the love of learning and the ability to learn, flourish within each child.” ~ Ann Lahrson-Fisher’s

To be honest though, even though his hair was becoming unruly (in a cute way), one of my reasons for cutting his hair was quite selfish. You see, I’m beginning to feel that March is just around the corner, and I’m going to have to let my baby grown up a little more when Chap/Chickie becomes a more real part of our family. Cutting Pal’s hair was one way I could visualize letting go of his babyhood and moving on.

I have also begun working my way through Birthing From Within by Pam England again. An excellent book that I used during Girlie’s and possibly Buddy’s pregnancies. As a birth doula and aspiring midwife, it’s difficult to find a book or other resource that will help me to prepare for birth. I know everything that is written in the What to Expect book, or any other pregnancy and birth book intended for parents. Birthing From Within is different because it focuses on the mental, emotional, and spiritual preparations that are unique for every woman and each pregnancy.

The first chapter addresses the one thing every woman needs to know to give birth. Are you curious as to what that is? Hint, hint: they don’t tell you. They can’t because it’s different for every woman, but the author encourages women to dig deep, find their question, and really think about it. The answer will not be found in a pregnancy book, no one can tell them what to do about it; it is a very personal issue that must be worked through on the inside.

While I do have normal concerns about birth, my question, the one that has spent a great deal of time on my mind, is this. Can I be a good mom to four kids? Some days I feel confident and then others I am so doubtful it worries me. I’ll be spending some time working through this one so I’ll be ready when baby comes… as ready as I can be anyway!

Speaking of which, Chap/Chickie is growing well, although smaller so far than my others were. Despite losing a couple pounds with the bug I had a couple weeks ago, I have managed to gain it back. My vitals and iron level are all good, and baby is head down. The other good news coming from my prenatals is that I got my second choice for the assistant midwife, so now I can be confident in who will be present for my birth: Papa, midwives Susi and Lyndsay, and my mom.

Girlie has been requesting to be at the birth more frequently now. I’m not sure if it’s because she wants to be there for the birth or because she likes babies, but I showed her Pal’s birth video to help gauge that last week. I’m open to it, but I don’t want to assume that she is ready. We’ll see.

I don’t need to have my birth supplies ready for another five or six weeks, but I did make my list more readily available so I can add one or two extra things to the grocery list each week. This week it’s one roll of paper towels and one roll of toilet paper.

One of my biggest concerns about the postpartum period is how long Papa can stay home with me. He’s sure he’ll be able to use his one week vacation if he needs to, but I’m nervous about being alone for a while, so I need to start asking family and friends to help me with chores, meals, and childcare soon. I know I’ll manage, but having family around sure makes it easier!

31 weeks down, 7 to 11 left to go.

Here’s a fun game, based on my history as follows, what do you think we’re having?

1. Boy, 8lbs 2oz
2. Girl, 8lbs 8oz
3. Boy, 9lbs 9oz 

(pictures featured in this post were taken by Papa on our honeymoon trip to Ireland in 2004)

What happens when you lose your job, when the job market is horrible, and when you are forced to decide between housing and groceries? What happens when the answers are not clear and the future is in question?

I found an article in the July 4, 2011 issue of Time magazine on where the jobs are. In Papa’s industry of construction, the rate of unemployment is more like 16%, and for every job opening there are 12 workers looking for employment. That’s a lot of jobless people, and that’s only one line of work.

The future is unknown for so many Americans and fear is a common reaction, leaving marriages and families in shambles, and individuals with serious health problems, or worse.

To suggest that there is a certain way anyone should handle a job loss feels inappropriate to me because everyone is different; different expectations, personal and family needs, goals, etc. There is no on-size-fits-all plan that an unemployed person can carry out to get themselves back in line with success, and to suggest that would also be presumptuous for us, who are still living in substandard (though comfortable) conditions.

However, there were two things Papa and I did do that I think every unemployed family should do, for the sake of their family and their sanity.

Togetherness

Facing the unknown can be a bit scary, but it is imperative that you face it together, and you face it with a positive attitude. Money problems are one of the top marriage killers, but unemployment due to a layoff is not anyone’s fault, and arguing about it is not going to make the road any easier. We can’t see it as something happening to one of us that the other has to deal with. We are a team, and we will face the unknown together.

My grandparents took a trip to Alaska a couple years ago to celebrate their 50^th anniversary, and they blessed us with a copy of their book of experiences from that journey. In the front was a handwritten note to Papa and I that read:

“The world can be green and rich. It can also be dark and foreboding. Walking through it together is joyful when green and so much more possible when dark and risky, so clasp hands and walk boldly to see what wonders await.”

They also quoted from an old song:

“We ain’t got a barrel of money, we may look ragged and funny, but we travel along singing our son side by side.”

Perspective

Second (and how do you follow up with wisdom like that?), unemployment is not the end of the world. You can’t always plan when it will happen, or what you will do if it happens, but there are so many creative possibilities for living without a job that you have to be able to see the unknown, not as a scary place, but as an adventure, an opportunity for growth and change. Perspective is where it’s all at.

If you find yourself without a job, and you’re waiting in line at the unemployment office, unsure how to explain your situation to others, stop. Stop sitting in the fear, stop fretting about the unknown. You can do this! Start imagining the possibilities of a career change, a change of living space, or other adventure you’ve wanted to attempt but never dared commit to. What is the best thing you can do with the resources you still have? Run yourself into the ground trying to keep your house? Stressing yourself out to the point of emergency room visits? Fighting with your spouse about the expense column? Or is there something better for you and your family?

Perspective. It’s all in the perspective.

To quote from Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame:

“Today, to him gazing south with a new-born need stirring in his heart, the clear sky over their long outline seemed to pulsate with promise; today, the unseen was everything, the unknown the only real fact of life. On this side of the hills was now the real blank, on the other lay the crowded and colored panorama that his inner eye was seeing so clearly.”

Is the unknown really something to be feared? Or, is it an adventure waiting to be had? Clasp hands and walk boldly to see what wonders await.

(writing a thank you letter for a gift)

In the past seven months I have not only checked off every accomplishment teachers say preschoolers should know (which I’m really not all that concerned about, just so you know), but he has also taken advantage of our laid-back approach to schooling (as any child would do) to explore interests and grow his knowledge. With all the narrations he has drawn of observations, field trips, experiments, artwork, my observations, and beginning penmanship papers, Buddy’s preschool portfolio is overflowing!

For bookwork, he has memorized the first 11 questions in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, worked through 44 lessons in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and quickly finished a preschool math book that emphasized comfort with, and penmanship of numerals 0-20. I do have to brag though, that he can comfortably count to 100 and backwards from 10. :::smile:::

Considering the arrival of our fourth baby sometime in March, and regularly reviewing and adjusting our goals for the early years of homeschooling, here is what I have on my goal list for the remaining four and a half months of Buddy’s preschool –

• Finish Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
• Continue Charlotte Mason habits, narration of reading and life experiences, math games, and Bible study
• Delve into maps, directions, and use of a compass
• Begin a family tree back to his great-grandparents using pictures and interviewing grandparents to discuss their childhoods
• Research worms and grow our worm farm
• Learn about classical music instruments, and possibly attend a local school performance
• Learn to tell time confidently
• Learn the worth of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters
• Study of a balanced diet – plan meals together
• More access to craft materials in our craft cupboard
• Look for ways to develop a healthy self-image – explore recognition of things he enjoys, things he likes about himself, things he wants to improve about himself

We may not accomplish all the things on this list, but it is helpful to have a direction we want to move in. Emphasis in the last few months (and on into the next year) for Buddy, and Girlie who will begin preschool, will be on learning skills for personal care, application of ideas and concepts, and getting his hands messy.

Our philosophy of homeschooling remains the same, including our long term goals, but I have been doing a lot of reading this year of homeschooling books; books on the Montessori and Charlotte Mason methods, books with ideas about education through conversation and games, books with ideas about what kids should learn and resources for getting started.

Based on these books I have created an idea binder, which I will soon share with you, that will help me through each year and stage of homeschooling.

One of the books I have found very useful is The Fundamentals of Home-Schooling by Ann Lahrson-Fisher. Because I love taking notes to help me process thoughts and ideas, I have taken so many from this book that I’m not sure I will need to reference this book again, at least until high school. So I’m offering it here in a drawing!

The Fundamentals of Home-Schooling has so many helpful resources. It really connected with me on the concept of learning through family life, and hands-on learning opportunities found around the home. At the same time, Lahrson-Fisher manages to design the content so it is helpful to parents designing a curriculum around their own style, whatever that may be. A great read! And if you aren’t a note-taker like myself, it is one you will want to keep on your shelf for many years.

How do you enter for your chance to win? Simply comment below and share what you have planned for upcoming homeschool projects – I really want to know! Have you written a blog post on the topic? Share the link here!

I will draw a winner on January 23^rd, giving you just over a week to participate. At that time I will also share with you my homeschool idea binder, with tips on how you can create your own.

(“I want to be a ballerina!”)

This system has made scheduling posts on a weekly basis essential, because one, I dislike typing posts and managing the blogs on Papa’s phone (our daily internet access), and two, having the ability to access the internet with my laptop more frequently is not practical for our family.

While being off-grid is a joy, it also poses its challenges, and this would be one of them. Since moving off-grid we have had many interesting topics to write about, but in the process, it has become more challenging to write about the day-to-day stuff. So much is happening every week that it is hard to squish it all together in my weekly posts with all the other things we do.

So, four paragraphs later, I want to recap the last three weeks for you as best I can, to give you an idea of what life on our little homestead has been like recently.

(“let me take a picture of you!”)

At the same time Papa was replacing frozen pipes (which we’ll be sharing a video on soon) and toilet, I was coming down with a very strange virus that left me all but immobile for the week between Christmas and New Years. Thanks to Papa and my mom I was only alone with the kids for three days, but by the end of it I was so anxious to be feeling normal again, able to be there for my kids and take care of our home.

The first week of January, Papa and Pal both came down with the bug, and while it didn’t hit them quite as hard, I was back in my prime and able to help them feel more comfortable. There is nothing like being stuck to the couch for a week to make you thankful for daily duties to give you satisfaction in life!

That same week, the kids and I worked on homeschool projects, did some extra cleaning around the home, and otherwise enjoyed quality time together after the busy (but lovely) holiday visits to family.

(playing a homemade tamborine)

This week I had another prenatal, followed by a play date with my sister-in-law and her four month old daughter. I had also scheduled an additional two play dates, which I don’t normally do all at once, but the snow/sleet storm we had kept us home. Instead of being out and about almost every afternoon we’ve been working on our January rhythm; making muffins, musical instruments, reading books, and playing in the snow.

Every day we begin leisurely around 8:00 or 8:30am (Papa leaves for work at 6:30am), eat breakfast and do our Bible study at the table. The kids then play independently a bit while I help individual ones get dressed and drink my coffee, we settle down to a half hour or so of “school” activities, usually followed by more play and straightening up together. Lunch, quick clean up, and outdoor time for the older two while Pal naps. Craft projects, reading together, dishes to wash, and more independent play make up the afternoon. Papa arrives around 4:30pm, supper at 5:00pm, visiting until 6:00pm and kids’ bedtime follows. Papa and I work on joint or individual projects, sometimes watch TV, and shut off the lights anywhere between 10:30 and 11:30pm.

Our days are rarely quiet, usually busy, but they have a rhythm which I have learned to recognize and appreciate.

As a side note, with Christmas gift-making over, Papa and I are now working on a really exciting project in the evenings which I can’t wait to share with you! There have been some really neat things going on behind the scene here at American Family Now and we are brewing up something super big in response, which I hinted at a couple weeks ago and I can hardly wait to tell you about in full! Let’s just say, we have some courageous and awesome readers, and because of you, American Family Now will soon be changing in a big and cool way! Stay tuned for full disclosure!

Just yesterday a foolish cop came barging into my place of work with his chest literally pushed out demanding to see the supervisor. He said “I saw smoke out back do you have a burn permit?” The answer was “yeah, we notified the fire department”.

You may think it sounds silly to goof about a permit but I find it disturbing. The foolish cop should have contacted the fire department before disrupting a busy production facility. It was completely apparent the fool wanted nothing more than to be seen as a force of “authority”.

I seldom talk to or meet people who have a favorable view of cops, and as society worsens that will erode more. You can see evidence of this even with the daily news. Just the other day six cops were shot and one died. The media made a splash story with it and was forgotten. But, when woman is suspected of killing a person it stays in the news for weeks, or if a child is missing it stays in for weeks.

The death of cops is not a marketed story because they are looked at with fear not trust, not character, and not self-sacrifice. Most people when see a cop think “am I driving to fast?”………”oh, wait I’m walking”.

When people fear more than admire something it is hard to get an outcry of sympathy when that something falls. As time goes by we find that the good ole sheriff days are far behind us, and now we have jacked up militant Barney Fyfe’s throwing their weight around.

“Leave us alone or someday you will wish us to leave you alone” 1 of the 99%

http://www.prisonplanet.com/iraq-vet-threatened-by-cops-who-elbowed-woman-in-face.html

Papa

1. Is kynophobic (strongly dislikes wavy objects)
2. Homeschooled as a child
3. Was a member of the Civil Air Patrol
4. Attended flight school
5. Writes music
6. Designed a tool he named The Square Up, and was pursuing a patent at the same time a man from France patented the same tool. Papa’s notes record that he designed the tool well before the frenchman patented his.
7. Carpenter by trade
8. Has one brother
9. Passionate libertarian
10. Mathematical and logical thinker
11. Fascinated with survivalism since childhood
12. Traveled to Spain and Ireland
13. Prefers drinking from plastic cups over glass
14. Allergic to cedar
15. Built a 17 L.E.D. flashlight years before they appeared on the market
16. Always admired carnival rides and modeling them with Lego
17. Favorite food is Cheeze Its
18. Favorite car is “any piece of crap that runs”
19. Would like to change Christmas to February 7th
20. Always wanted to live in a camper

Mama

1. Grew up on an on-grid homestead complete with well and woodstove, gardens, pigs, sheep, rabbits, and other assorted animals
2. Also homeschooled as a child
3. Despized coffee until Girlie’s pregnancy
4. Took piano lessons as a child and still thoroughly enjoys piano music
5. Graduated top of her class at a private school
6. Swam approximately 1/2 a mile at 36 weeks of pregnancy
7. Has been a birth doula for nine years and aspires to be a homebirth midwife
8. Published a book, Inspired Birth: A Fresh Perspective for Christian Maternity Care Providers
9. Was an office manager for three years
10. Traveled to Ireland
11. Has one brother, one sister, three step brothers, and one step sister
12. Has been friends with one penpal for 15 years
13. Volunteered at a local health institute for three years
14. LOVES the sound of rain at night
15. Big fan of chocolate
16. Took horse riding lessons in 4H
17. Enjoys creating beautiful things with simple materials
18. Feels most comfy in a pair of jeans and a pony tail
19. Not a picky eater, except when it comes to seafood. She even mixes leftovers together to make lunch for herself
20. Appreciates a peaceful home more than time alone

Buddy, age 5

1. People watcher
2. Became interested in trains as a result of his obsessiveness with order
3. Prefers classical music
4. Enjoys designing train engine parts
5. Favorite game is Angry Birds
6. Love language is time
7. Enjoys the outdoors, regardless of weather
8. Only one of our kids currently overcoming their extreme picking eating
9. Favorite shows: Thomas the train and Sid the Science Kid
10. Aspires to be a train engineer
11. Has 2 pet worms
12. Favorite books are the Little House on the Prairie series
13. Biggest city visited was NYC, as a baby
14. Night owl
15. Problem-solver
16. Didn’t talk fluently until age 3
17. Developed a friendship with an older neighbor as a toddler
18. Walked before he crawled
19. Gets tired of sweets quickly
20. Calls soccor “football”

Girlie, age 3

1. Adventureous, very little timidity
2. The youngest of our kids to enjoy solid food, at six months
3. Sensitive to temperature
4. Corrects her improper grammer herself
5. Wants to be a ballet dancer
6. Enjoys trying big words in context
7. (Obsessively) favorite color is pink
8. Is proud of her “long” hair
9. Builds Lego cars and houses
10. Excellent at observing and making comparisons
11. Overcoming her fear of dogs eating her
12. Loves and adores babies
13. Love language is touch
14. Favorite shows are Curious George and Kipper the Dog
15. Likes to sing her own songs
16. Enjoys stories about princesses
17. Draws a mean bicycle
18. Biggest city visited was Boston, at one year old
19. Prefers pen over pencil, just like her mama
20. Has gone through a stick of chapstick in less than two days

Pal, age 22 months

1. Enjoys mimicking Papa
2. Has a birth mark on his shin of a few perpendicular lines
3. Uses the word “hi” to express many things
4. Has feet as big as his sister’s
5. Straightens home on his own initiative, appreciates order
6. Thoroughly disappointed when he can’t help Mama bake
7. Opens his sandwiches to eat the inside first
8. Enjoys carring heavy things
9. The remote control capture more of his attention than the TV
10. Can’t help but boogie when he hears music
11. Favorite books feature animals
12. Has recently developed a fear of bath tubs
13. Favorite toys are real tools
14. Enjoys stacking and sorting
15. Great climber
16. Likes to make friends
17. First favorite food was steak
18. Will not leave his pacifier willingly
19. Once reprogrammed a walkie talkie to be voice-activated
20. Climbs into his high chair for dinner time

So did you learn anything new? interesting? crazy?