McBenning School Updates

I apologize to my blog friends if you haven't seen me comment. I have only the response of I am busy. I am not using this as an excuse, just a response. When we returned from vacation, life was on catch up, and I still am.

Also my gardens required me to weed, weed, and weed some more. It is so funny that if you don't water a planted veggie or whatnot it will die, but the weeds flourish! Go figure! My garden beds are doing very well, surprising the whole family. This is our biggest garden and it is in the driest place that we have ever lived in.

We have planted even more vegetables. We have Anasazi beans, pinto beans, green beans, peas, onions, beefsteak tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, jalapenos, Serrano's, garlic, cilantro, spinach, broccoli, watermelon, crookneck squash, zucchini, pumpkin, cucumbers, strawberries, mint, basil, lemon basil, marjoram, dill, rosemary, sunflowers(edible), bell peppers, and a few more things to plant. All except the cilantro seem to be thriving!

I actually ate a sugar snap pea right of the vine this morning(I couldn't help myself!)

Fourth is reading to me(as I type) all the projects that she would like to work on this summer for Keepers at Home, and she is very excited! In June I need to send away for all the badges that she has earned. Lots and lots are completed!

Second and Third are working on a spoof of The Deadliest Catch, a show about Alaskan fishermen. They are writing the script, planning to fish at White Sands, clearly making this a huge spoof that will of course have me laughing so much! They are going to build a boat(small) and have several extra parts that will be filled by there crowd of goofballs(kidding their friends are so well behaved, and kind).

First is busy working, saving, saving, working, and then planning his move to Las Cruces for school. He is truly a young man with wonderful work ethic, and such a gentlemen to boot. He makes his dad and I very happy.

Our mascot, Sasha seems to be struggling in this, her 13th year. She is such a wonderful dog, I pray that she is just feeling under the weather and recovers fully. She has been the very best friend to each and every one of us. She used to sleep with Fourth every night, now she lays on the floor beside her bed. Well the most wonderful thing is this...someone else gave up on Sasha...we rescued her from the pound, and boy how lucky we have been! She has given all of us such joy!

Bill and I continue to going to school, studying God's Word and being the parents that God has designed us to be.

McBenning School Updates

Although it is a busy time for me in preparation of Field Day, school must go on! The schedule for our school is probably different than public school, so I will give an overview of our day.

My husband and I are both going to school on line, so we wake up around 5:00 am. He studies while I do a heart smart routine.(This is a friendly way of saying I need to exercise to maintain my mom of four physique!) Bill then makes his breakfast while I iron and catch up on any chores, and write the days school requirements on the dry erase board. Bill leaves for work at 7:45 am and I begin blogging. Sometimes earlier. But by 9:00 am I am getting the kids going on the day.

First they must make their beds, then read a scripture. We have a rule in the house, No Bible No Breakfast, No read No feed! So if the natives are hungry they read. Usually a Psalm. After breakfast they begin their kitchen chores. After kitchen chores they begin school. Each of the kids has a column of what is required of them. We have group Bible studies, group History studies, and group grammar studies. They also have individual grammar and History. I just use the group time to reinforce the basics.

We also have devoted the entire year to biographies so they must read 2 biographies a month. I have a large selection of books, and the biographies are either of historical figures(Julius Caesar, George Washington Carver, Thomas Paine, Lewis and Clark to name a few) or Christian biographies(Corrie ten Boom, Nate Saint, or Amy Carmichael, just to name a few). This has been a wonderful time for us all. It really is uplifting to find out about our early leaders, and about those who left the comforts of home to serve the Lord.

So the kids work on school self paced, as long as they stay on track. Around 1:00 pm we have lunch. Lunch is usually Ramen Noodles spiced up with corn and hotdogs! They can take a break for about 25 minutes. Then back to school. They use the computer for typing and research. This is why for school I am so grateful to have 2 mac's. My brother gave them to us, and I love all the updates, and parental controls. The kids also have a windows computer for editing, writing, and movie making. I share a laptop with my husband in the Living Room.

The kids then work on math and science. Reading is a daily event in our house and I am so pleased that all the kids love to read.

We continue school until around 4 pm then I release the monkeys.

I hope you enjoyed our window into McBenning School.

(My oldest, First is finished with school and works full-time at a local custard shop, saving money for college. I guess that's really an sneak peak into our day.)

McBenning School Updates

Our school has been very busy, putting in the garden. The soil where we live is not the best, so we've had to add manure and potting soil. The ground is so hard and I can actually understand how flash floods occur. The ground is so hard that the moisture doesn't seep into the ground, it flows on top.

We have tomatoes, peas, potatoes, cilantro, garlic, mint, watermelon, cucumbers, broccoli, lettuce, dill, marjoram, zucchini, sunflowers, Jalapenos, and Serrano's. On Saturday we are going to plant the second wave of plants, so that we will have producing plants throughout the summer. (We will do this every 2 weeks for the next month).

I love that the kids have this opportunity to help grow the food. It will definitely be a savings on the budget, to have our own produce, plus the surplus each week we will sell at the farmer's market.

The students have finished 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, and Amos. They have stayed on track on our goal of reading the Bible through the year. We also have done a study on Proverbs. It has been very exciting understanding what God wants for us.

In history, we are continuing our study of Southern Mesopotamia, we practiced cuneiform writing. It was very neat to try this method. We used plaster of Paris, and the hardest part was waiting for the plaster to harden enough for us to write. It was quite telling, how much we take for granted having paper and pencils.

We are also continuing our penmanship using the Spencerian method. I wasn't very happy with the materials promoting penmanship. I bought this series to teach the theory of cursive writing. All are doing very well.

In our biography studies, we are now reading George Washington Carver. I collect the older Landmark books and this book was published in 1953. It is a very good book and there is no hesitation in telling that George sought the Lord. I must say it has been enjoyable for me to read also.

In the rest of our classes we are still working on course. Steady pace reinforcing the fundamentals.

For any non home schoolers we are in constant interaction with other children their own ages, through gym days every Friday, activity in the park every Thursday, Bible studies, church and bi weekly get togethers with their friends. Every week there is Keepers at home for my daughter, and Contenders of the faith for the boys. All three of the boys in the house also have outside jobs, one working as a manager of a custard shop, and the other 2 working as yard boys.

For the staff of McBenning School: full time staff- study of Philippians, Old Testament Kings, Study of Proverbs, Christian Marriage Counseling, Church Missions, and Science and the Bible.
Part time staff- Theology 201, and Evangelism 201