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We are a family of 8 who travels full time around the United States.  At The Lemonade Digest we record our adventures as we visit incredible locations across the country.  Join us as we explore, meet new people, hike, bike, 4-wheel, kayak, and squeeze every drop out of life! 

Gardening Supply Stores

Hello!

On March 1st my mom, Sheri Smith, is going to be teaching the SHEM Basics and Beyond class.  The subject is:

GROW!

Growing your child's education while gardening.

Cultivate the imagination and education of your child while growing your own garden.  Easy how-to tips from homeschool mother and gardener, Sheri Smith, will encourage and inform you on how to plan, construct, plant, and harvest a low maintenence and inexpensive garden in your own back yard.

The Library Center, Springfield, MO

6:30-8:30 p.m

Meet half and hour before and half an hour after for fellowship time.

Here are some gardening supply stores in the Springfield/Ozark Missouri areas where you can purchase supplies, seeds, and hardware for your garden!

Ace Hardware - 2350 South Campbell Avenue, Springfield, MO   (417)-887-8601

Race Brothers Farm and Home Supply - 2310 West Kearney Street, Springfield, MO  (417) 862-4378

Ace Hardware - 508 East Commercial Street, Springfield, MO (417) 862-6775

Vinton Supply Company - 1706 West Grand Street, Springfield, MO   (417) 869-1836

Botanical Tree Trail and Nursery - 4925 West Farm Road 128, Springfield, MO   (417) 866-8558

Nixa Hardware and Seed Company - (417) 725-3512 ‎ · nixahardware.com

Larson Farm and Lawn Inc - Old US Highway 65, Nixa, MO   (417) 724-2226

Ace Hardware - 1791 James River Rd, Ozark, MO   (417) 582-2700

Wheeler Garden and Florist - 601 North 4th Street, Ozark, MO   (417) 581-6794 

MFA – 1616 St. Hwy. 14 E., Ozark, MO   (417)-581-3523

Happy Gardening!

~Hanna Smith

SHEM Basics and Beyond Class I am Teaching

I want to personally invite all of you to a class I will be teaching for SHEM called Basics and Beyond. This month's class is on getting out of the home and learning from our surroundings which includes the yard, neighborhood, community, and state. I hope to encourage you to take what you have learned in books and live it, smell it, touch it, and do it.




My family and I have been traveling full-time for over three years. We had lived in the Highlandville, MO area for over 12 years when we decided to head out on the open road. We have six children who have all been home schooled. Through our travels we have enjoyed learning by doing. We climb mountains, hike through deserts and forests. You will find us on kayaks, four wheelers, and mountain bikes. Walking where George Washington walked, climbing the hills that the Civil War soldiers died for, finding Indian homes in the middle of National Forests are just a few of the ways we have learned. I hope to share some practical ways that you can do the same, right here, in Southern Missouri.



I will be giving away numerous prizes to those who attend. Some are:

$10 in SHEM bucks

A free one year subscription to the Independent Scholar

A free one year subscription to the Christian County Headliner News, whom I have written for for almost five years.

A free one year membership to FHE

A book donated by World Missions Alliance out of Kimberling City, MO

A beautiful, hand made bread knife by Smith Knives

As well as other small items.



Hope to see you there!



Jan 24th, Tues, The Library Center, 6:30 to 8:30 pm

www.shemonline.org



www.facebook.com/smittysinfo
http://www.smittysinfo.com/
http://www.smittysinfo.blogspot.com/

Negative comments about our lifestyle and home school! What a night!

There aren't many times in my life that I feel like I am going to explode.  Tonight is one of them.

Do family, friends, and COMPLETE STRANGERS feel the need to tell me we do not need to control our children and how to raise them?


"You have to let them go sometime!"


"They need to get out on their own!"


"What, are you going to follow your son everywhere he goes?  He is almost 20!"


"You can't protect them from everything!"


"They really need to socialize more."


"Are you really going to home school all the way through high school?"


or how about this one, I heard it a few days ago..."Are you really smart enough to teach your kids?"


"What about friends and socializing?"


"They need to date other teens!"


I'm sure I could give you a hundred examples of comments made by some well meaning people and comments made by some completely nosey and ignorant people.

Breathe Sheri....Take a deep breath....forgive....calm....they just don't know.....they just don't understand....

Ok...I'm calming down.

Are you like me and some days you just don't know if you can take another comment?  Today was one of those days.

It is surprising to me how much advice people like to give out on a subject they know so little of.  I wonder what they would do if I told them how to do their job?  How about I start telling people how to treat their husband or point out anything that I disagree with in their life...all in the name of love...humph.

Sure, we think we can get away with giving our ignorant opinions out all in the name of so called "love".  If you ever find yourself telling someone something they have done is wrong be sure that you are doing it after much prayer, research, more prayer, think of everything you do wrong, ask yourself if it is your place, ask yourself if it is really any of your business, ask yourself if you really do have enough info to give your opinion, and then sleep on it.  IF you still feel strongly in the morning then ...maybe...maybe...talk with the person, respectfully.

Otherwise, for my sanity and your sake - please keep your opinion and advice to yourself!  Ok, maybe not you exactly, but YOU - the person who feels the need to tell me what to do and how to do it.

Dear family, friends, and complete strangers who feel the need to tell us how to raise our children without spending time with us or our kids,

I love you but please think before you speak.  If you have concerns please come to me after you really think about it.  I have enough to do in a day and enough stress to try to manage without you unnecessarily adding to it.  Do I tell you what to do?  Do I tell you all the things I don't agree with?  So please, consider well before you tell me the things we need to change.I have worked hard to educate my children.  Home school is quite normal now a days.  There are 100's of thousands of children that home educate.  Some of our country's most famous leaders were home educated.

• Benjamin Franklin
• George Washington
• James Madison
• John Quincy Adams
• James Madison
• John Tyler
• FDR
• Woodrow Wilson
• Abraham Lincoln
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Agatha Christie
• Mark Twain
• Charles Dickens
• Robert Frost
• CS Lewis
• Beatrix Potter
• Walt Whitman
• Laura Ingalls
• Booker T. Washington
• Whoopie Goldberg
• Charlie Chaplin
• Louis Armstrong

This is just a small part of a huge list of people who have been homeschooled either their entire education or at least part of it.

Click here to go to a more complete list. http://www.homeschoolacademy.com/famoushomeschoolers.htm

The curriculum I buy is excellent.  My children learn just as much as public school if not more sometimes.  

Well...you get the idea.  I could continue this letter for hours.  I could continue this post for hours.  

It is hard when someone tells us their unwanted, negative opinion of a choice we make for our family.  Usually I smile and politely explain our decision to them.  But, every now and then, someone is quite rude to me about it.  Tonight was one of those nights.  I did give a firm response and by the time I was done talking they said they were sorry and now realized we were right.  Normally I don't get so upset but tonight was an extreme situation.  I do believe I handled it right.  I was able to respond to their nasty attitude and comments with a firm response and the truth.

The truth shall set them free...

I'm thankful to have a community of home educators that encourage me, help me, and understand our family.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

New Year Schedule and Goal Setting

Once again, January is upon us.  I usually use this time to hit the books hard.  The wind is blowing and the temperature dropping - what a great time to stay indoors and make a huge dent in our book work.

Every state has different laws.  Here in Missouri, we are required to keep a log book and record plans.  So in January I get the book out and get caught up on the lesson plans and record keeping.

We also take time to discuss our goals for the year.

1. What does God want to accomplish in us this year?
2. What is God doing in our family?
3. What is God's long term plans for our life?
4. What educational goals need to be met legally and personally?
5. Are we exercising?
6. Are we doing our character training?
7. How are our relationships within the home and outside the home?
8. Are we reaching out to widows and orphans?

These are a few of the questions you can ask yourself and work through with your children as you teach them proper goal setting.

• Be realistic in goals.
• Set goals that can be met.
• Do not be afraid to set hard goals.
• Let there be rewards if that will help your children.

Now, take a look at your life.  Remember you?  You are the wife.  You are a mother.  You are a child of God.  What does God have for you this year?  What is His plan for you life?

For me, this is what I wrote:

• Grow closer to God
• Continue to teach my children about the Lord
• Spend more time with my dear hubby
• Lose 20 more pounds
• Finish first year of bible college
• Get business going
• Be debt free
• Buy a home base

Be flexible and enjoy your year.  Jesus came that we may have life and have it more abundantly.

Enjoy!

By the way, if there are grammar and spelling errors - please forgive me.  My eyes keep shutting to go to sleep but I have pushed on and finished this post.  I better get to sleep, though.  So thanks for understanding about my errors in this post.....sleep here I come!

Hands On; a Great Way to Learn

We spent the afternoon riding up into the mountains.  It is so hard to spend all day at a desk or table when there is so much to learn in the amazing world around us.

I do believe some bookwork is necessary but to get so textbook bound and miss out on the educational opportunities that are put all around us is a shame.  Our kids will learn from their books, but they can also learn just as much from the experiences to be had in the woods near by or the back yard.

I hear stories of children who sit behind a desk all day and then spend the evening being shuttled from activity to activity.  That night the family might have moment together - or they might not.

I'm not sure if this is your family or not but I do think we all have a responsibility to examine our schedules and decide what is truly best for our children and our family.

To sacrifice the entire family for one person's hobby is selfish in my eyes.  I teach my children to think of others in all the plans they make.  Every decision effects someone else.  Sometimes that sacrifice is acceptable and other times not.

Teaching a team vision in a child's life is important at their young age and even more so as an adult.  We must all think of the "team" and not just our own personal desires.  We can and should teach that at a young age.

Go get em' parent!  You can do it!

Back to School Again!!!!!

First day back to school.  It went well.  The first week always is a little rough. 

I decided to order the students book that goes with Shurley Grammar.  It will save us a lot of time with copying sentences and such.

I also had to order the next Apologia Elementary School Botany course.  I got the Notebooking Journal that goes with it.  It adds a lot of great content to the curriculum.

My older two are doing Apologia Biology this year so I had to put some money into the microscope.  It sure was tough spending that money but I know it is necessary.  I hope we can find lots of fun uses for the microscope; leaves, skin, water, minerals, blood, animal hair, etc.

My 7 year old sure did great today.  I am very proud of him.  He is ready to learn and actually wanted to do more school that I had planned.  Maybe that zeal will hang on for the duration.

We made schedules that we will attempt to keep but still allowing some flexibility for life skills and unexpected educational opportunity.

We are going to have our outside time in the morning tomorrow because of the monsoons here in Colorado.  I plan on climbing the bluff with the kids and hiking the volcanic lava beds. We will study geology hands on, such a great way to learn.  Then, when we are hot and tired, we'll come back and eat lunch and do our seat work until later in the evening.  With the faithful afternoon rains, we like to be able to adjust our schedule to it.

I sure enjoy homeschooling!