CursiveLogic Review

My daughter has been interested in learning to write cursive for several years. She has worked a bit on her own in several cursive programs but nothing really stuck and it was not something that made it onto the list of things that we require and work together on during our school time. But that is a discussion for another time! I recently had the opportunity to review the CursiveLogic program. She was very excited to try out the new program. We received the CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack as well as the Art of Cursive coloring book.

Part of the CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack is their instructional webinar. You can purchase the book without the webinar, but I highly recommend the webinar. It really walks you through their program and how it works making it so much easier to understand and explain. I went through the instructional webinar on my own at first to get a better understanding of the program before I introduced it to my daughter. The webinar is designed to ‘train the trainer’ and teach you as the parent or teacher how to teach cursive using their program. However, I felt that my daughter was mature enough to sit with me and watch the instructional webinar and then with some guidance from me begin working on the program. This worked very well for our family as it freed up some of my time to work on other things but still gave her the support she needed to be successful.

We watched the first section of the webinar together, I talked through it with her and then she was able to complete the first week’s assignments. I also noticed her practicing those first letters in her free time during the week. She even took the photograph below to show her dad how much she had learned after the first day or two. The program uses an innovative approach of teaching letters in a chain from the very beginning instead of stand alone letters. They also use some catchy phrases to help remember the letter formation and by the end of the first week they are writing real words. They learn a new letter string each week for four weeks to complete the lower case alphabet. After that first week we would watch a bit of the video each week and then she would complete the lessons for that week. There were four days lessons for each week. She was able to learn the entire lower case alphabet in one month including putting them together to make words! She starts on capital letters next week.

CursiveLogic

Whether cursive is an important focus for your homeschool or just something one of your children wants to learn this is a great program. For younger students (they recommend the program for ages seven and above) you will need to spend more time walking them through the process and teaching them how to make the letter strings but older children can work more independently with the help of the webinar and some guidance. My daughter has enjoyed the program thus far and is looking forward to the work she is starting in capital letters. She also has the Art of Cursive coloring book sitting on her dresser just waiting until she finishes the program so that I’ll let her start the coloring book. The coloring book is not a necessary component to the program but is a great addition to reinforce the skills once they have been taught or for the parent to use to freshen up on the cursive and enjoy the stress relief of coloring.

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After

If you are looking for a thorough but easy to use cursive program that allows for an early feeling of success, I highly recommend this program. The webinar makes it very easy to teach and the workbook gives enough practice to help achieve mastery without being tedious. Check out the CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack for your home or co-op and use code CREW2018 for a 20% discount through March 31, 2018.

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This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Pencil Grip Magic Stix Markers

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You may be thinking, why is she reviewing markers? I mean a marker is a marker right? Well Magic Stix Washable Markers from The Pencil Grip, Inc. are a bit different from most other markers that we have used. The first thing I noticed was the nice plastic case that they came in. The markers are all laid out in it so you can see the colors and so far the case has held up well to the wear and tear of my children using them. Next, I know I’m not the only mom that has found markers without caps all dried up and unusable. While I do work with the children to remember to put caps on them, it still happens and ruins otherwise good markers. So when I heard that these markers were guaranteed to not dry out even without their cap for at least seven days I was interested in checking this out.

My daughter picked out a color to help me test the seven day guarantee and because she knows that typically a marker would dry out she picked a color that she wasn’t as fond of (brown) so that if it did dry out she would still have her favorite colors. At the end of the test (which actually ended up being eight days because life was a little crazy on day seven) the marker was still just a dark and sharp as it had been on day one.

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One thing that stood out to me when the children were using them to make some Valentine’s Day projects is that the colors were very bright and vivid. Some markers give dull or muted colors but these were some of the brightest we have used especially considering they are washable and non-toxic. I will note that if the paper is very thin there was a little bit of ‘bleed through’ so if you have important papers underneath or ‘valuable’ surfaces you may want to be careful. However, it wiped off of the kitchen table without any problems and didn’t bleed through the thicker paper. Due to the ‘bleed through’ issue we did decide that in our family these were great markers for my 10 and 11 year olds but probably not the best choice for the three year old.

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Each year we try to send Valentines to some widows that we know to help brighten what might otherwise be a sad day. This year my daughter used the Magic Stix Washable Markers to color the Valentines and they turned out beautifully. Next, my daughter did a beautiful Easter picture that we had printed on card stock. The colors turned out wonderfully and we are using it as one of the decorations in our home.

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When we first received our set they stayed at my desk so that I could try them out, test one, and see what I thought. The children had to ask to use them (which they did and were able to quite often). They are excited that now that I have finished my review they can keep them in the art cabinet to use anytime they want. We may get an extra set so that each of the older children can have their own set at their desks.

As an added bonus, The Pencil Grip, Inc. has agreed to give away another set of these wonderful markers to one lucky reader! Enter below for your chance to win a new set mailed to you! This giveaway is for US addresses only!

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PI Day! Ideas and Resources

What is Pi Day?

Some of you are as excited as I am about Pi day, some of you think I don’t know how to spell, and a few are wondering why we are celebrating a math concept. Pi day is a fun day that in our family also involves pie. While we didn’t celebrate when my children were really young, we have been celebrating Pi day for several years, and last year started celebrating with a group of our friends. It is celebrated on March 14th because the number PI starts with 3.14.

Homeschool Pi Day Celebrations

We gather together with round snacks, anything from sweet pies, pizza pies, and even a few moon pies. Then we have lots of fun with a variety of activities. Last year we did an art activity about pi, read some of the Sir Circumference Books and enjoyed our time together with friends.

We intend to have a very similar Pi day this year though I’ve found a few new resources and come up with a couple of extra ideas to keep things interesting. One thing we are going to do this year is to have the kids work together in teams to come up with as many words that begin with the letters ‘pi’ as they can in a set amount of time. This is a great way to include a little spelling and a lot of fun. We will still enjoy a read aloud from the Sir Circumference series though I will choose a different book this year. They are always so much fun for all ages and do a great job introducing or reinforcing the geometric concepts.

Preschool Pi Day Ideas

In our group each family contributes, so there will be several other activities or ideas included in our Pi Day party. I also found these simple ideas for including preschoolers in Pi Day. While our group is geared towards tweens and teens, as is the case with many home school groups there are plenty of little sibling tag alongs. They will enjoy the some of the other activities but can enjoy one of the simple crafts like cutting out circles or doing some circle painting while the older children focus on the more complex ideas.

Pi Day Snack Ideas

For food you can make your own homemade pies and pizza, find other round foods (burgers, english muffins, etc) or call Papa Johns and let them take care of it. Since I will have a new baby and a busy day we plan to order pizza and let the children either bake a pie or some chocolate chip cookies. This is our favorite easy homemade pie crust and it works great with any filling we have tried. If you want to make a savory pie this recipe uses that pie crust to make a potato bacon torte that is really yummy, or if you’re feeling adventurous and historical you can try onion pie. If we are not all tired of pie by dinner, we may have one of those for dinner.

I hope that you enjoy Pi day! Tell us your Pi day plans in the comments!

A Few Pi Day Resources:

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Deals and Freebies

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

You Are An Artist Clubhouse Membership is back open for enrollment!!

Drive Thru History Review

When the opportunity came to review Drive Thru History Adventures I jumped on it. We had seen a few of the videos before and knew they were something we would be interested in. We have been working our way through their Bible History course, The Gospels as a part of our one year subscription Drive Thru History Adventures. This program can be used as a full course for students with videos, discussion questions, scripture, worksheets, and other articles and information to help students dig deeper into the topics.

Each lesson has a video and discussion questions to get you started. They also include a worksheet that could be used to guide a student through the lesson if they were completing them independently (with a separate answer key). There are articles and updates included at the end of the lesson to allow students to dig deeper into what they learned about in that lesson. There is a lot included and they are continually adding various things to this component. Even while we were reviewing the product we saw several articles added to various lessons.

screenshot Drive Thru History

Most Christians have read about the many places that they visit in the Bible history course and know that they are real. However, when you have not seen them it can sometimes be really hard to conceptualize. I love that these videos are taken in actual places giving our whole family the opportunity to see the places where Jesus actually walked, the palace (or remains of) where King Herod lived, and other places that were important parts of Jesus’ ministry.

The program does a great job of combining theology with history. The Bible is a historical account but it is also so much more. Drive Thru History does a great job of showing the historical aspects while not leaving out the important theological implications. That said it does not delve into denominational theological issues, making it appropriate for most Christian homes.

For our family, based on the ages of my children and our current needs we watched the videos together in the evenings and then discussed them using a combination of the discussion questions provided and any thoughts or questions from the children. I consider this part of our school; however, the children think we are having more family movie nights than normal. They enjoy each lesson and request to watch one almost every night (though we are only watching about 3 per week). As a bonus for me, they do a great job helping get the kitchen cleaned up after dinner so that we will have time to watch an episode.

I have an 11 year old, 10 year old, and 3 year old that watch along with my husband and myself. We all enjoy the episodes although my three year old does not fully grasp the content. I can tell he is paying attention though because in talking about it one morning at breakfast he chimed in with, ” I like how he just changes cars”. He had noticed that he was driving two different vehicles in one episode. He also knows that they jokingly call one of the main cars that Dave Stotts drives the “Holy Land Rover” and will start talking about that the minute I turn on an episode.

In addition to going through the curriculum videos, we can go into the Adventure TV section or download the Adventure TV app and stream both the curriculum videos and some additional content. The app is available for both iPhone and android devices. Some are short videos talking about various holidays (the Groundhog Day one was a big hit in our house). There are also some great behind the scenes videos as well as some that dig deeper into various topics covered in the curricula.

20180124_195815 — We use a cable to stream the videos from our computer onto the television.

The Bible History Program starts with the historical background that was pertinent to the time around the birth of Jesus and then goes through his life, crucifixion and resurrection. We enjoyed all of the episodes but one of our favorite’s was Jesus Travels the Sea of Galilee. I have always loves the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with just one little boy’s lunch as it is such a reminder that He can use even me. The children really enjoyed the historical information about the ‘Jesus Boat’ which while not actually linked to Jesus himself is an archeological find dating to the time of Jesus that shows us what a fishing boat would have really been like and helps us to better understand what the disciples were using to fish when Jesus called them to be ‘Fishers of Men’. I am also really looking forward to using the lesson on the Resurrection of Jesus as we move into the Easter season.

As you are working your way through the programs they are fairly self-explanatory but they do also offer a Facebook group where you can ask questions or get ideas to go along with the curriculum.

Once we have finished up the Gospels series it is my intention to have us work our way through the Ancient History curriculum. We love that the curriculum allows us to incorporate education into our family movie nights. While I have been a Christian for many years and have studied the Bible, I am still learning things as we watch each episode. It really is good for the whole family. I recommend this series for both entertainment and education. For older students it could be a curriculum or like our family it could be something you work through together in addition to whatever you are already using. For more information check out the Drive Thru History Adventures website or ask in the comments.

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Starfall Home Membership Review

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I am so excited to be able to share with you our review a one year subscription of The Starfall Home Membership by Starfall Education Foundation. Years ago I used the basic version of Starfall with students when I was teaching in the public schools. I enjoyed the program and used it some when my oldest two children (now 11 and 10) were younger. However, at that time they did not have the subscription program available and I had not used the program since they were younger. During that time it was almost exclusively phonics and early reading. I was excited to see that it has been expanded to a variety of early skills including math up through second grade.

Registration was quick and easy and then I was able to download the app onto our Kindle device. While my three year old does not have his own Kindle he enjoys getting to occasionally use his sister’s Kindle. Once it was downloaded I pulled it up and let him choose which activity he wanted to try. He is enjoying colors at the moment so he chose the Colors! activity. After spending just a few minutes doing the activity with me, he understood what he needed to do and how to navigate with-in the program. The program can also be accessed from a computer if that is your preferred method. We have found that the kindle is easier for our family but the program works well on either device.

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When you go to the website you will see that some activities are still available for free. This is a good way for you to get an idea of how your child would enjoy the variety of activities that are available with the subscription. However, the subscription has many more activities and a larger variety so the free activities are not a substitute for the home membership.

Some days my son would play on his own exploring the ones that looked most fun. His favorite was the colors activities. Some days one of my older children or I would work with him and encourage him to try activities that were different or slightly more challenging. My daughter enjoyed showing him the various holiday activities and the talking books. We were able to incorporate the Groundhog Day activity into our other fun activities on that day and the Valentine’s one for Valentine’s Day.

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There are some great activities to introduce phonics and reading as well as sections for math. While my son is not yet ready for the first and second grade math, I took some time to try them out myself to get an idea of how they worked and how we might be able to use them as he gets older. I liked that they were simple to understand but varied enough to hold the interest of a young child. They had activities from a variety of math strands including arithmetic, geometry, measurement, and place value.

While this program is not a full curriculum that will teach your child everything they need to know, it is a great resource. It can introduce or reinforce many phonic and math concepts for preschool through early elementary age children. We limit screen time in our home but have found this program to be a good use of screen time that is both fun and educational. It is also very reasonably priced with the The Starfall Home Membership being only $35 per year. If you have any questions about the program feel free to ask in the comments.

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The Gilded Age: Biltmore Estate

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Our family went to Biltmore Estate back in September even though we knew it was out of order for our history journey. We wanted the chance to go during their homeschool days. The theme for that session was Farm to Table, which is a concept that is near and dear to my heart. We make a concerted effort to teach our children where their food comes from and to buy local whenever possible.

Biltmore had a variety of activities set up for the children to participate in and learn more about food and where it comes from. These activities took place at Antler Hill farm which is on the estate property. They were able to see farm equipment from the early 1900s, watch a blacksmith and a carpenter at work, see a bee keeper and his equipment and participate in a variety of hands on activities. They played farm to table matching, made corn husk flowers, carrot seed tapes, learned about and matched up a variety of foods with different methods of preserving them, and other fun activities. They also had a chance to see and pet some farm animals. My three year old particularly enjoyed an activity where they used a variety of vegetables to paint pictures showing different patterns and textures.

My eleven year old son enjoyed seeing the blacksmith and the carpenter at work. My daughter loves anything crafty, so the corn husk flowers, bean seed magnets, and painting were favorites for her. They also sent us home with several activity sheets that the children could work on at home and we had a packet of education activities that they could do before and during our trip that incorporated Biltmore and the Farm to Table theme.

Biltmore raises part of the food for their on-site restaurants. They were able to show and talk about how they use hydroponics for lettuce and sprouts, raise their own beef cattle and pork, as well as eggs from chickens and other crops.

We spent our morning going through the activities over at the farm and then having a picnic lunch. After lunch we drove over to the actual home for our tour and a chance to see the gardens. The tours are self-guided and self-paced. There is information in the handout about the rooms on the tour and some of the rooms also have employees available to answer questions. They also offer a scavenger hunt/information sheet for the children. I highly recommend this as the house can be a bit overwhelming for children and this helped to keep them focused.

You do not see all of the rooms in the house but there are a good variety on the tour. You see bedrooms, kitchens, pantries, laundry, living areas, the library, and much to the children’s pleasure the pool and bowling alley. While I truly have no desire for a house that big, I have to admit that the wonderful walk in pantries did make me a tad jealous. I can’t quite imagine having a kitchen that large with so much storage area around it. The children all wanted the indoor pool. I really enjoyed the tour but do think that the highlight of the day for the children were the extra activities and the waterfall at the lower end of the bass pond.

Once we had finished the tour we went on a walk through the gardens and green house area. This was beautiful with many roses and other flowers still in bloom. On the far end of the garden is a bass pond and a small waterfall. That was a fun chance for the children to run, play and get a little energy out after a long day. It is a great deal of walking so you want to be prepared for that, especially if you have small children.

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All in all this was a great chance for them to learn about agriculture as well as how the wealthy would have lived during this time period in history. One of the unexpected connections and ‘take-aways’ that the children had was that the games they demonstrated, Graces and hoop and stick, were essentially the same games that they played during colonial times. In today’s world of new games and toys every year it was interesting to see the longevity that toys had in past times.

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This post may contain affiliate or referral links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Dr. Seuss’s Birthday!

Dr. Seuss is among our favorite children’s authors. There are so many fun options to read aloud and enjoy. While I use his books with our young children as fun stories and to encourage an understanding of rhyme, even my older children will sit and listen as I read them aloud. His birthday, March 2nd, is celebrated in homes, schools and libraries across the country. Often it is used as a day to encourage reading books by many authors.

Reading Ideas for Dr. Seuss’s Birthday

Since reading is such an important part of our educational philosophy and the Dr. Seuss books are such favorites, we typically try to take the day off of our ‘regular’ studies and enjoy a fun day of activities and reading. This year each of the older children will pick a favorite Dr. Seuss book to read aloud to the family. I will also set aside some time for everyone in the family to read independently. Next, we will play some rhyming games. My older children enjoy them and the 3 year old is starting to learn about rhymes so it will be a good opportunity to encourage that skill in a fun way.

Dr. Seuss Book Display

One simple and fun way we encourage reading and a variety of books is to feature books for various holidays, events, or authors on “display’ in our dining room. We set up the books we have for that theme across the top of our cabinet where they will stay out until we change themes (normally every few weeks). The children can take them down to read and just put them back up when they are finished. This helps highlight different books from our shelves and keeps them reading books on a variety of topics.

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Hands-On Dr. Seuss Learning Ideas

In addition to reading, they will enjoy making ‘oobleck’ to play with and talk about the science behind it. Then we will enjoy some fun Dr. Seuss food. As you can see in the pictures above we enjoy ‘Cat in the Hat’ Pizza and our own version of green eggs and ham (simply adding spinach to the eggs). Depending on how the day is going I may allow my son to pick out an additional snack that we can make together. All of my children love helping in the kitchen.

My three year old really enjoys his dot markers, so he will probably do the Red Fish Blue Fish dot painting activity while we read aloud. I have found at that age having something quiet to work on while we read increases their attention span fr listening to the stories.

There are many other fun crafts, writing prompts, math activities and more to make this day fun and meaningful for children of all ages. I have included a list of resources below with more fun recipes, printables, and activities. I’ve also included a list of a few great Dr. Seuss books in case you do not have any in your collection. Most years we use this as an opportunity to add one more Dr. Seuss book to our growing collection. You may also check with your local library or literacy group to see if they are doing any special activities.

Dr. Seuss Food Ideas:

Dr. Seuss Pizza
Cat in the Hat Smoothie
Cat in the Hat Fruit Snack
Dr. Suess Cheese and ‘Fish’ Snack
Cat in the Hat Pancakes
Green Eggs (we simply scramble eggs and add chopped spinach for the green) with ham. These are yummy, nutritious, and simple to make.

Dr. Seuss Lesson Resources:

Dr. Seuss Copywork
Red Fish Blue Fish Dot Painting
Oobleck
Dr. Seuss Lego Math
Seussical the Musical Music (free with prime)
Lesson Plans for Specific Dr. Seuss Books
Writing Prompts
Name That Dr. Seuss Book
Dr. Seuss Math
Dr. Seuss’s World War 2 Cartoons (for your older children, note that some of them are politically controversial but a great study for mature middle grades or high school students)

Dr. Seuss Books:

Oh, the Places You’ll Go

Hooray for Diffendoofer Day (we read this one every year before testing)

There’s a Wocket in My Pocket (great for rhyming)

The Foot Book

One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish

Green Eggs and Ham

Six by Seuss ( a collection of six books in one)

Dr. Seuss Beginner Board Book Collection (a wonderful collection of books)

Little Blue Box of Bright and Early Board Books ( a great starter collection)

Who Was Dr. Seuss? ( A chapter book about Dr. Seuss)

Green Eggs and Hamadeus (This is a CD of an opera based on the book. We had a chance to see it preformed several years ago by our North Carolina Symphony and it was wonderful. )

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Deals and Freebies

Little Women is only .99 on kindle right now! (Amazon prices subject to change always check before purchasing.)

FREE Baby Yoda Art Lesson from Nana!

All About Learning has released the best deal of the day: A FREE Snowman Pack with reading and spelling activities for a variety of ages.

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Week 2: The Industrial Revolution

This week was a lot of fun. My husband helped the children out by giving them a list of food companies that got their start during this time and are still in business today. Then the research began. They had to look up each company and see what they were selling then and how it compared to what they were selling now. Amazingly enough some of them are still selling very similar products. For example, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and Dole canned pineapple. We narrowed down their choices a bit to make a bit more practical list and let them help me find the items to purchase for their industrial revolution tasting party.

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Making a meal out of the tasting was a little interesting and some of the products we talked about were put aside for another meal (like the Corn Flakes) but they enjoyed Campbell’s tomato soup, saltines, sliced pepperoni and dried beef, and pineapple for lunch. They washed that down with a rare treat of Pepsi. Then for dessert they had Cracker Jacks, Oreo’s, and Hershey’s chocolate. They explained each one as we talked at lunch to show when it was first produced by the company and how the industrial revolution had influenced that food.

The children worked together to build a Lego display depicting the reconstruction of the south. They had to present the display and explain what each part was and how it represented reconstruction. While it may not look like much without an explanation, they were able to talk about rebuilding homes, replanting farms, new railroads, and steamships.

lego reconstruction

In addition we found a few clips from a Modern Marvels episode on YouTube that discussed Henry Ford’s assembly line approach. It was really helpful for the children to be able to see the assembly lines and understand the process.

Next week we are going to study Theodore Roosevelt in honor of Presidents’ Day and spend some time on my favorite subject for this time period, The Wright Brothers! We have a read aloud, a model, and a few other activities to go along with the Wright Brothers.

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History Through Story: Wulf the Saxon

We had the opportunity to review Heirloom Audio Productions Christian radio drama, Wulf the Saxon this month. This is a remarkable historical tale by GA Henty. I remember sitting through history classes and wishing I was somewhere else. The information seemed boring and pointless. Much of what I’m sure I was taught, and based on my good grades apparently learned for at least a time, I have long since forgotten. When I started homeschooling my children I was determined that they would have a different experience with history. As an adult I realized the value in understanding history and wanted to make it something my children could internalize and remember. We use a variety of resources from living history events to living books to teach history in our home.

We have found that the Heirloom Audio CDs are a great way to include even more history that is fun and engaging. Wulf the Saxon is the newest Heirloom Production and it does not disappoint. It is an engaging and well-told story of how King Harold Godwinson came to power and then lost the throne. It tells of the Norman conquest of Britain while featuring a friend and comrade of Harold, Wulf of Steyning. Henty primarily wrote for a late Victorian British reader, so the perspective can be distinctly British, but he is a masterful storyteller.

British school children are as familiar with October 14, 1066 as American’s are with July 4, 1776. It is one of the seminal dates in British history. Henty uses this historical landmark to tell his tale, weaving in the Saxon Chronicles and the Bayeux Tapestry as source material magnificently. Interestingly, and in opposition to many, or maybe most, other British writers, Henty’s protagonist are Saxon. While Wulf the Saxon isn’t the ‘happily ever after’ that you see in many stories since King Harold dies, it does end with the marriage of Wulf to his love. My eleven year old son thought this was very interesting and asked, “It is a really good story but why do the heroes always end up married?”

We love including all sorts of audio in our homeschool. We most often listen in the car. This makes road trips a much more pleasant experience for the whole family, while also allowing us to continue learning. My children also enjoy listening to audio while they are doing chores and at bedtime. One thing we love about all of the Heirloom products is that they are done not in a bland reading but in radio theater style. There are voice actors reading each part of the story and great sound effects. You really feel like you are dining in the great hall, engaged in mortal combat, or sailing the English Chanel.

You can purchase the Wulf the Saxon CD set independently but they also offer the Live the Adventure Club that includes downloads and bonus materials for the adventures. They have many of GA Henty’s historical novels done in the same engaging radio theater style. While we do not have any issues allowing all of our children to listen to the adventures, I’ve found for comprehension and historical understanding they are best for about ages 9 through adult. My three year old listens along with us but he does not really understand the story lines. My oldest son enjoys the stories so much that he listens to them over and over again at night on his CD player after we have finished listening to them as a family. I love that they bring quality entertainment and education together with values we are already working to instill in our family. I encourage you to check out Wulf the Saxon and all of the Heirloom Audio Productions. If you have a favorite Henty story or Heirloom production please share that with me in the comments.

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Homesteading Homeschool: Our 4H Pig

I mentioned last month that I planned to share a different part of our ‘homesteading’ adventures each month and how we use it to supplement our homeschooling. This month I am sharing about the pig that my son is raising for a 4H livestock show. I interviewed my son so that he could share in his own words about his experience with this project. This is his second time raising a pig and we can already see him applying the lessons he learned last year to this new animal. He is really looking forward to this year’s show (and filling up our freezer again.)

As a parent, I love that this experience helps him with responsibility. He has to take care of his animal several times a day, and train him each day. In addition he is learning about animal husbandry, nutrition, business (he has to raise money and keep records of what he spends) and gaining a better understanding of where food comes from. By North Carolina law the pig must be processed with-in two weeks of the show. We could send it to auction or have it processed for our personal consumption. So this is also a great way to fill our freezer with meat that we raised. We use a local processing facility to process the pig after the show. Last year he also used the experience to do an oral presentation for 4H to improve his public speaking skills.

We are fortunate enough to have the space to raise the pig here in our backyard which makes it easier for my son to care for and train his animal. However, if a child is interested in raising an animal and does not have the space of ability at their home there are often options for having them at local farms or facilities. Check with your local 4H agent or cooperative extension for more information on livestock opportunities in your area.

Tell me about your 4H Pig Project.

“I have to raise the pig for several months until the day of the show, take it to the show and then by North Carolina law it must go to slaughter with-in two weeks of the show.”

Why?

“To keep from spreading hog diseases.”

Tell me about your pig.

“I have a black 130 lb Duroc cross pig that is about 2 feet high at his head and 4 feet long altogether. His name is Pork Chop. He will hopefully be over 200 lbs by the time of the show. ”

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What do you have to do with your pig each day?

“I have to feed him 5 pounds each morning and 5 pounds each afternoon and then I fill its water bucket every morning. If the pig dumps the bucket I have to fill it again around mid-day. I also have to train it for the show ring so that it will be easier to show. Each day I go out to the pen and practice walking it around with the pig stick. If the pig does well it gets a marshmallow or pop tart as a treat.”

What does showing your pig look like?

“I will take it on the day of the show. First we will do showmanship competition where we see who can best handle the animal. I use a pig stick/whip and tap it on the shoulder or hock to get it to go left/right or forward and guide it around the ring. The judge may ask questions about how long I’ve had the pig, the breed, the feed I use, etc. Then we go into market class, which judges the animal’s meat and build. Finally we go into the auction ring in which you do not actually get rid of the animal like a normal auction, but people bid and sponsor your animal.”

What do you hope to learn and accomplish this year?

“I hope to learn more about better showing a pig.”

What do you think other people should know about showing pigs?

“That is not as easy as it sounds. You cannot leave your house for trips unless someone can come over and feed and water it. They have to be fed everyday. Unlike my chickens you cannot just leave a big bucket of food out for them or they will eat all of the food in one serving and then be hungry.”

We are enjoying having the pig for this short term project, though we are grateful that it is a short term project for us since it does hinder our ability to travel away from home without hiring someone to care for the pig. In addition to my son’s pig my daughter is raising a goat for the show. She is a bit tenderhearted and did not want to raise an animal that had to go to slaughter. Goats do not fall under the same law, so she will be able to sell it as a pet or for breeding after the show. I will share more about her goat and interview her for next month’s homesteading homeschool post. If you have more questions about the pig or questions about the goat feel free to ask in the comments and we will be happy to address them. For more information on 4H in general check out our But I don’t do animals…or using 4-H in our homeschool post.

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Friday Deals and Freebies!

Last Day for a discount on this great Chalk Pastel Bird Course in honor of the Great Backyard Bird Count.