A Day in Our Boots

If you ever wondered what homestead, homeschoolers do all day. Here is a sample schedule of what a day is like for us. I try to get our family to focus on mind, body and soul each day. If we have touched upon each of these things throughout the day and the animals, the children and myself are still alive I believe it to have been successful.

4:30 a.m. - Dad leaves for work. I try to squeeze in 2 more hours of sleep.

6:45 a.m. - I leap out of bed late . . . screaming "we only have 5 minutes to make it to daily morning Mass, people!"

7:03 a.m. - We arrive to our pews just in time to hear the last half of the 1st Reading. Despite our usual tardiness we enjoy the rest of the Mass and still get to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. It gives us strength to make it through the rest of the day.






















8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. -Back at the homestead we take this time to eat breakfast, feed all the animals and milk the goats. We also gather materials for our school subjects in between our many moments of distractions, fooling around, bizarre conversations and peeks at social media.

10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - School work either at home or the library (the library is less distracting for us . . . and all the kids can get onto a computer without rotating on the one we have at home. But sometimes due to weather or car problems we have no choice but to stay at home for school work. The kids than take turns between book and computer work.) I am here for help or sometimes I work on blog posts.

We believe every animal on the
homestead deserves an education.
Here Millie learns more about rodents!

Homemade bread with peanut butter
and homemade raspberry jam!

12:00 p.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Angelus prayer and Lunch (which is usually a salad or green smoothie for me and for the kids leftovers or sandwiches made on homemade bread. I do however encourage them to to have the green stuff too!)


12:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - This time block usually is my flexible scheduled time. It may contain one or more of the following:
- More Schoolwork
-Workout at our Community Center (which includes swimming)
-Meeting with friends
-Errands
-Crafts or Hobbies

-Other must be done homestead chores (depending on day and/or season)
-Baking, cooking, canning, cheese making or soap making
-Silent reading, personal art or writing
-Playing with or walking the dogs
-Volunteer work

Gigi prays while watching the fire.

3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. - Divine Mercy Prayer and the kids get some free time. They usually choose to watch Doctor Who or check out their social media. I take this time to prepare supper.

One of our suppers. This is
boneless pork chops stuffed with
apple stuffing on a bed of
swiss card.

4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. - Last of the homestead chores, hay for the goats, collect eggs and close the chickens in for the night. We also tidy the house before Dad gets home. After Dad arrives home we eat supper. Supper is sometimes pretty gourmet or as simple as lentil soup and homemade bread. After supper we clean up.










7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. - Family Rosary and Relax Time.  Sometimes we watch a movie or show (while I knit or write). Sometimes we play a game or just take the time to talk and laugh together.

Once a week the boys film a local t.v. show.

Other nights the kids order pizza and the hubby and I get to go on a date.

Sometimes we meet friends at the Community Center Pool so the kids get to have fun with friends.

Bonnie pooped out from our busy day.

9:30 p.m. - Everyone retires to their bedrooms. Some chose to read, while others just flop down on the bed and fall fast asleep.










Even with everything I have to squeeze into our busy day I feel truly blessed to have such a wonderful life!

Thanks for looking in on one of our days!

Homestead Reality

A pretty little display
I set up in my kitchen

Before I started blogging about homesteading, I used to read a lot of homestead blogs. I would wonder about these blogs. I would see all the pics of their pristine land and beautifully clean homes. They would write about doing all these different things. How in the world did these people do all this stuff? Their homesteads stayed clean and they have the time to blog about it. Since I started homesteading it has been anything but clean and perfect. It has been more like: mud, sweat, tears and sometimes blood. 

Calm, cute goats hanging out by the fence.

So why did I add myself to the many other homestead bloggers. It may have started with our friends telling us we were unique and we should blog about our life. Seriously? I could barely get through a homestead day never mind blogging about it afterward. 

Just when I started to think I was a homestead failure I started to see our homestead from a different angle. The angle from the lens of my 14 yr. old son Kolbe's camera. And so I began to blog. Wow, pictures and a little thoughtful writing can really put things into perspective. I guess I could make us look as cool as all the other homestead bloggers.

HOMESTEAD REALITY: Goat getting into the feed
bins in the barn. Donovan and I struggle to get her out!

But for the sake of honesty to myself, the homestead and my faithful readers I have to show and tell you some of the  bad realities of homesteading. 

Homesteading is a lot of work. It is often times messy and tiring and downright gross.  Rain, snow or sun chores must be done.

HOMESTEAD REALITY:
Home under construction.

HOMESTEAD REALITY: Endless hours
in front of the
stove in a tiny, messy kitchen.

We make plenty of mistakes, but we learn from them. Every time we are completely exhausted we appreciate our rest.  I could give you so many examples but I will spare the long boring post.  Just know only a few homesteaders continue to live "the simple life" I just hope we are one of them.

HOMESTEAD REALITY:
Getting hay in the pouring rain.

I know I am starting to make it sound horrible. But for every homestead bad reality there is so much amazement and joy. Watching our garden grow, watching our kid goats grow, watching the chickens and collecting there eggs. We get to watch our children grow and learn so close to all of God's creations. Homesteading with all of its realities good or bad is just the right thing for us.

Fresh goat milk being poured into a filter.

HOMESTEAD REALITY:
Covering a milk pail
with a towel
to keep flies out!

HOMESTEAD REALITY: Junk piles from old barns,
home construction and other toys and projects.

Beautiful serene farm scene.