Our son, Xander, loves the farm life! I'm sure you'll see him many times over the course of our journey here at Homeschool On the Range. If you love his work, click on the Xander tag at the bottom of this post to find more!
This is our outside winter garden. There isn't a lot there, but it is cabbage, beets, and lettuce....rabbit food. Maybe I can get a rabbit!
It doesn't look like much, but my brother and I spent the whole day hoeing rows down this garden and planting seeds. I will take another picture in few months. There better be plants there then!
Last summer, our lettuce bolted (that means it got bitter and too yucky to eat), and it looks like the smoke from a space shuttle taking off!!!
We also grew squash and green peas. I don't like either of those things, but my mom cuts them up teeny tiny and makes stir fry with them.
We got a small greenhouse to start our plants in. This is us putting together the greenhouse. It worked out really well because we got a lot of beets and kale this winter. I hate beets and kale. Yuck.
Tucked into an area that was plagued with murder, money, and mystery*, Woolaroc is a throw back to another era of Oklahoma history...
Woolaroc! The name is a conglomeration of woods, lakes, and rocks. At the entrance, they give you a map showing general areas for the various wildlife, and a nice CD to narrate your drive along the five-mile trail.
We saw deer, longhorns, ostriches, emus, and bison wandering freely and undisturbed. The ranch is designed to make you feel as though you've stepped back in time at least a hundred years, and it does a good job of conveying that spirit. Along the route, we came to the Mountain Men camp, one of the living history exhibits.
The boys learned about fur trappers and traders, the Mountain Men of the early 1800's, and how they co-existed peacefully with the Native American tribes. They also learned to throw tomahawks, make a pouch from a turtle shell, and stretch beaver skin. It was hard to top the Mountain Man exhibit, which was by far their favorite stop on the trail! We stopped by the petting barn, playground, and bison exhibits.
The mission of the Woolaroc Museum, built by Frank Phillips, founder of Phillip 66, was to preserve the western spirit of Oklahoma for future generations. Half of the museum focuses on Native American heritage (this part was closed for renovations during our visit), while the other half focuses on the oil industry.
One piece of the museum that we found fascinating was the 1927 Dole Air Race. Of the eighteen planes entered to fly from northern California to Hawaii, only two landed safely. Phillips entered the race as a publicity stunt, to get his new oil products into the spotlight; and he won the race in 26 hours, 17 minutes, earning him the $25,000 first prize.
At his "getaway lodge," which could double for a good-sized hotel, you will see numerous trophies on the walls. It's difficult to see, but the elephant head on the wall came from the Ringling Brothers circus. During a poker game one night, he won the entire circus, but later allowed the circus owner to win it back. When the elephant died, Mr. Ringling had it stuffed and sent to Mr. Phillips as a token of the 'time he owned the circus.'
Not surprising, the thing that the boys remembered the most was the Mountain Men exhibit. When we got home, they immediately went to make their own costumes and set out on a trip. They brought their pack, pup tent, (toy) guns, and other necessary items for being successful trappers! Hubby and I taught them the Ballad of Davy Crockett to sing while they hiked...
One way to cut down on waste and be a frugal mom is to make your own beeswax food wrap. It can be used as a replacement for foil, plastic wrap, or sandwich bags...
A few things you'll want to know...
Just get it a little bit warm (hold it in your hands) and then shape it over what you are covering. When it cools, it will hold that shape to create a seal.
Don't put it in the microwave or dishwasher. This will melt the wax, damaging your wrap and the items near it.
Wash it by hand with soapy water.
Don't use this to store raw meat.
Grab your list of ingredients (below) and prep your cloth. Cut it into the size(s) that you want, using pinking shears to keep the edges from fraying.
Cover the pan and lip with tin foil -- this will make clean up MUCH easier, plus it'll save your pans!
Lay out your material and sprinkle beeswax on it.
In this photo, we're using the pastilles. We also used some of the beeswax chunks from our own hives. It will melt faster if you use smaller pieces, like these pastilles.
Place in the oven - preheated to 250 - for about five minutes. Be sure to peek in every so often. When they begin to look like the cloth on the left, give it two more minutes. Pull the pan from the oven, and use the paintbrush to smooth out any bigger pieces of wax still left.
If you accidentally forget, and leave it in the oven for ten or fifteen minutes, it will completely melt the pastilles but may not smooth them out evenly.
Pull them off the tin foil and place in single layers on wax paper. Use a rolling pin to flatten completely. Allow to cool overnight.
It makes perfect sense, but it took my son to come up with this additional step to our process. Just like you'd use something oil-based (like cooking spray) to keep your baked goods from sticking to the pan, we're using water spray to keep the oil-based beeswax from sticking! This definitely made things move a little faster... He came up with another great tip, too, that you can see at the end of the video!
In the video, you see the piece we've been using for the past five or six years. Since we had just a little bit more beeswax than we needed, we went ahead and gave this one a second coat...so it should be good for another six years!
Keep the fun rolling throughout the summer with SchoolhouseTeachers! There is no need to slow down your children’s education. Simply switch gears, giving them something to be excited about! Educate and entertain your kids at the same time by selecting their favorite electives during the summer months.
Starting JUNE 3RD, 2021Use code: BUMBLEBEE during the SchoolhouseTeachers Bumblebee sale to pay only $30 (reg. $49.97) for an Ultimate Quarterly Membership, and the entire family will immediately receive access to all that SchoolhouseTeachers has to offer.
How many times have you thought to yourself "WHY do I have to do everything around here???" News flash : You don't. While we didn't create these little people to make them work, we can teach a lot of character and ethic through chores and working around the home, and it's just as crucial to their schooling. Mom, you are the CEO of the home, and need to plan for your employees. Just like you wouldn't start a new job without knowing the work expectations, they can't work without knowing what is expected of them. Let younger children work beside you. Yes, it's going to cause more hassle and a mess in the short term, but the pay out will be worth it! They will learn how you do something, and (if you'll answer a plethora of questions) why you do it that way. One of the best tools in my parent arsenal is explaining everything to my children. Why we something is just as important as how. Walk your children through each chore three to four times, BE SPECIFIC about what you want done, and then turn them loose. We have a chore card for each room of the house, and the kids have been walked through each set of chores multiple times. If they need help with something (we're out of wet wipes; the vacuum is broken; etc), they know that they can ask for help. They may not ask for help just because they don't feel like doing it. Setting Up a Chore System
Laminate the chore cards - they'll last longer. We keep these laminated cards in a pocket chart alongside our laminated school day cards, and chores are a natural extension of the school day in our homeschool. Don't expect them to do it well at first, but expect to see some effort. Also, be sure to check behind your child and offer up a smile and positive words when they've done a good job. If the job needs work, provide constructive criticism, but remember that they did the best they could do and may just need more practice. (If you can tell they didn't try at all, this is a character issue...address accordingly.) Give your children both paid and non-paid chores. This gives them a chance to work and save up for something they have been wanting. In our house, non-paid chores are everyday ones : feed the animals, clean your room, help clean the kitchen, fold laundry, etc. Paid chores are provided on an as-needed basis (ie, when I needed help collating 2,000 packets for a meeting). Occasionally, if they've been working very hard to earn something, typically a Lego set, and are very close to it, we will 'invent' a chore that needs doing, such as picking up sticks in the yard. They are doing the work, and feel proud of the accomplishment of purchasing their own Lego set. When you teach your children to do chores, you're empowering them. They're learning life skills, and they're also learning about work ethics. They can do something. They are useful. They are needed. Even our special needs child knows that he has value and things that he is very good at - he has confidence! No matter what the future brings, they will know how to work hard at anything they put their mind toward. In our opinion, this is just as important, if not more so, than the academics of school.
.jpg)
