Evolution of Homeschool

Life just seems to somehow get ahead of us here at the Zerangue house. There are always pitfalls and challenges that need to be faced navigated, waded through and overcome. Here in Mississippi we recently went through a rather brutal rainstorm that was really damaging for some parts of out state. We live on highground, and even though we came through it okay there was still a bit of challenges around us. The ended up being minor compared to some, but there were lessons in them all the same.



I posted these pictures because the kids overcame a fear of the unknown that day. We have lived here about ten years. This amount of water has never happened before and the kids wanted to know how much water covered the road...I told them to find out. They asked how, and I said the only way to do it is to walk in. They were hesitant, but eventually they did it, and then it was quite fun to run and splash through the water. Overcoming the fear of the unknown is one of the most difficult lessons in life and I want my kids to know that most times you have to wade out into something to find out if it is were you want to go. The path ahead in not always going to be clear and the clear path is not always a safe or sure bet in life. Sometimes it takes faith and trust and wading out into the muddy water to discover something amazing.

Between the schooling, and the activities, and the part-time jobs, it seems like we can never really catch up to our life and something always falls behind. Right now that is mostly our social post and our side businesses.

Last year was rough and we no longer have farm animals and our bees...they were picked off by the predators that live around our woods. No matter where we patched and protected, something always managed to get through to our chickens and rabbits. It is a difficult fight and a hard lesson.

We are on the fence at this point on whether to try again. The kids are all gettin older and not as interested, time is not our friend at this point.

I miss spending time in the yard, having garden space, but it seems like it is only me that is interested I am re-evaluating our life to see what is important and what needs to be let go.

Part of the focus of homeschool was to help the kids to find their way and as a parent I need to move with them in that direction. One of the things we are considering is looking at animal rehabilitation. It is something that would fall on me, but it is something that one of my children is interested in and it seems like it may be beneficial to have the opportunity for them to watch and learn and see if it is truly a direction they want to take.

This week we rescued two baby squirrels that fell out of a tree in our yard. The person we brought them to has confidence in their survival.

The evolution of a homeschool life...

Spring is in the Air

It is already April, and somehow, life has just sailed by and I haven't updated in what feels like an eon. Spring is in full swing again, it's warming up and flowers are popping up everywhere.

Noah and I have flown across the world and seen some of the most amazing places on Earth. We had an unbelievable experience and I hope to post an review of the week we spent in Israel. I hope that this is the first of many adventures in Noah's life. I hope that the reality of how truly small our little corner of life is and how amazing, and huge, and wonderful the possibilities of seeing more of our wonderful world can be has been fully engrained in his young life.

We got home just after Christmas and as usual life has been moving along at full speed with little time to stop and take a breath.

Nathan is now 18 and on his last few months of high school. In February he was awarded the honor of Eagle Scout and we are truly proud of his accomplishments in that regard. We look forward to see what he will do moving forward.

Benjamin turned 5 in January, and is growing like a bad weed. He is starting his Pre-School/Kindergarten work and learning his letters and numbers and how to tie his shoes and using his ninja skills.

We still have the chickens and a goat. We are also trying to raise rabbits for meat, and the kids have decided that they want to learn tanning and use the rabbit pelts. I am assuming that the process will be long and arduous and probably will become another project for Matt and I, but I really like the idea of using all of the rabbit, being respectful of it's life and not wasting any part of it.

So the reason for this post was mostly to update on that process and progress. It has been a rough start, and our first experience lead to quite a few fall and winter births and a lot of deaths because of cold, wet baby bunnies and inexperienced moms and inexperienced "farmers"; we lost most of the young rabbits before they got to an age that they could be used for meat.

This past year we had several times that neighborhood dogs attacked and killed most of our population of rabbits and there again we never were able to grow any out to an age of harvesting meat.

Just a couple of weeks ago, we(Matt, because I was busy making cakes for Cub Scouts) harvested 5 of our youngest rabbits that survived from last year. There were just to many young males and they were terrorizing the females that we had left. So now we have three females and two males.

Today we discovered that our little grey female gave birth to five beautiful healthy, active little bundles of joy, and over the next couple of weeks we will have two more bunny nursery boxes to set up, so we should be up to our ears with bunnies again soon.

We also have two dozen eggs incubating that will be hatching on the 18th of April. We will have baby farm animals coming out of our ears before too long...

We have also collected a turtle that was buried in the nest in our back yard that it was hatching from, and today while walking the new puppy(yes, we have a new puppy also...her name is Sadie and she is such a cutie) Noah found a new turtle trying to cross the street. It is about the size of a quarter and is so very tiny compared to the one we found last month. So now we have two red-eared sliders to entertain us. They are very entertaining they have such great personalities.

So...Spring is definitely in the air...



How is your Spring shaping up?

Trip Fund Raiser with Noah

This December Noah and I will be going to Jerusalem, Bethlehem and hopefully other places in the area. We are going to meet friends and will be staying there for about ten days. Noah recently came to me and offered to help with funds for the trip so that we would be able to go on some of the many tours that are available in the area. This amazing opportunity is a trip of a lifetime for us and we are hoping to see as much of the exciting history especially the rich Christian/Judeo/Muslim history that the area is steeped in.

These are some types of bookmarks we will have available. We are using leather thread, glass and metal beads. Many of the beads we are using are going to be recycled from old costume jewelry and being repurposed into something new which makes many of the items truly unique. The leather items like the feathers, leaves, and flowers are hand cut, shaped and dyed by us. 

 Over the next couple of months we are making small gift items out of our leather, and adding in items like bookmarks and wine glass markers that will be made with glass beads, leather string, small handmade leather decorative pieces and charms. We are hopefully going to have items available at several local stores. The items would make great hostess gifts, teachers gifts, and small happies like stocking stuffers and secret pal gifts. We will also still have some soap, and other leather goods available. 

 These are some of the Wine Glass Markers that we are making with some of the smaller left over pieces of leather thread. Each one is unique and different. We will have these, the bookmarks, and other leather items at the Art Vending Machine located at the Powerhouse, and they will be available when we are at markets and by contacting us directly. 

We will also be attending local markets when able. A list of stores and markets will be created soon. 

Thank you for your consideration

Noah Zerangue
Michelle Zerangue

I will update and post other crafts on my Facebook  page and our Family Page @handmadeandhomegrown