Autumn Preps and Homeschool

Autumn is truly upon us now. The days are warm and evenings are getting
cooler. It is again time to start winterizing the home. We are taking
stock of the supplies we need to purchase. We are making a change this
year. We are purchasing a propane heater for the home's main living
area. Up until this year, we have only heated with wood. We will still
have the wood cook stove in the kitchen, but the large wood stove we
used for heat was taken out over the summer. Using the propane stove is
a choice we wanted to make for some time as an optional source of heat.
Beloved likes it due to a propane heater being far less maintenance than
the wood stove is for me to work with while he is gone on the truck. He
is always looking for alternatives to make our lives easier while still
maintaining our simple lifestyle. We will be adding more insulation to
the bathroom and putting clear plastic on the windows throughout the
house to help in keeping the cold weather at bay. Overall, it is a lot
of work, but worth it when winter winds start blowing.

I am planning out a better layout for our pantry shelving. I am wanting
to add more shelving to the room so that I can expand what we store. I
want to add the non-food items that we use most often. This will
eliminate the extra trips to the store. I don't like driving on winter
roads, so having a ready supply of paper goods and other supplies makes
like easier and less stressful.

We are doing well with the homeschooling. Beloved was so thrilled to
hear our daughter read to him when he was home. He was surprised at how
many words she can read. We are so proud of her and all of her hard
work. I have backed off a little on our son's schooling. I noticed
that he sometimes needs to take a step back and have a chance to absorb
things going on around him. I am focusing more on the hands-on things
like letting him paint or decorate paper with paint daubers. He loves
playing with them. Once I show him what to do, he is very independent
and enjoys himself. On Tuesday, I showed him through hand-over-hand
technique how to make a flower using the paint daubers. I then left him
to play as he wanted. After he was done painting, I noticed that he
made a cluster of the paint spots that looked like he had attempted to
make his own flower. I am thrilled to see that he is picking up small
details.

In reading, our daughter is still enjoying the Little House books. We
are gradually buying the series to read to her. I ordered a dress
pattern and am waiting for it to arrive. The pattern is for a dress
with pinafore similar in style to what little girls wore back then. The
dress and pinafore are easily made more modern simply through the fabric
choices. Our son is finding a lot of enjoyment looking through books
also. His book of choice so far has been one that we have of Clifford,
the big red dog. He loves those books. At the library, I showed one to
him and he came running to me. We are so blessed to have kids who like
books as much as we do.