Live and Learn Farm

Meet the Chicken Snatcher

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Hello and good afternoon!

See, I told you I would be writing on Tuesdays… here I am!  I thought I would update you on Les and let you know he has been moved out to the big chicken pen and is fitting in quite well.  There are a few ladies hogging the food from him, but we are making progress. Do you remember back in August, when I told you something was getting our chickens?  This post will give you all the details and you will get to Meet the Chicken Snatcher!!!!! (cue: dramatic horror movie music here).

Meet the Chicken Snatcher

It all started back when we allowed our chickens to free range.  Regularly, we started finding piles of feathers and another chicken had vanished. One day mom walked outside and came face-to-face with a coyote (it was only about 10 feet away). So, we assumed the coyote was our culprit.  In order to protect my babies, I decided to put them back in the pens. The attacks stopped … but only for a short while.  

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About a month ago, it started all over again but for some reason the snatcher was only going after my big chickens (Rhode Island Reds) not my round little basketballs (Bantams).  I got really serious about catching this chicken snatcher.  Dad borrowed a live trap, and we put it by the chicken’s door with cat food in it.  For several days… nothing.  No food gone.  No trap triggered.  Nothing.  Then, one evening as I was putting up my babies, I happened to catch a glimpse of a large bird flying away. The next afternoon, I decided to bait the snatcher!  I was going to leave the coop door open for the snatcher to get in… but with a twist.  

That night, when I put my babies up for the night, I put the live trap inside the coop right at the chicken door! So, when the snatcher walked into the coop, it actually would walk right into my trap.  We returned to the house to help mom get dinner ready.  It wasn’t too long before we heard Molly, our Australian Shepherd, barking up a storm and the chickens raising a fuss. We go out to investigate and my little brother, Blake yells “Oh No! We caught Nipper”.   But, as it turns out, it was not Nipper… it was a much larger bird.  

Nipper the Rooster

Chase and I grabbed a hoe and fished the trap out of the coop … but it was so dark, we really still couldn’t see what we had caught.  We yanked out our flashlights and shined them on the cage.  There it was … the Chicken Snatcher and it had the most beautiful eyes staring back at us.  This bird was huge. It was a Great Horned Owl.  

We raced back to the house to tell mom and to do some research to confirm that it was indeed a Great Horned Owl.   Once we determined that it was, we quickly realized it is on the endangered species list! So we were very careful not to hurt it… we would never want to hurt an owl anyway!  However, we had to do something to keep it from killing our chickens. So dad relocated it about 4 miles down the road from our house.  No birds were harmed this evening… not my chickens nor the owl!  

Beautiful Eyes Staring Back at us

 

One of the harder parts of being a chicken keeper is dealing with the loss of chickens precious to you.  These chickens are my pets. Being on a farm, you do get half-way used to it, but it still hurts.  

Thanks y’all  for reading all my posts!!!  See ya soon!

 

We love linking up with blog hops.  Be sure to visit them and see the other posts:


Manic Mother

Fowl pox in the Pen

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Disclosure

Good Afternoon! Sorry I have not posted in a while.  But I am going to be catching up and starting to write every Tuesday, so be watching for my posts.  Five weeks ago when I fed my chickens I noticed one of my frizzled red roosters standing out in the middle of the walkway not going after the food. This was strange since when I feed them they normally go straight for it.  As I approached him to see why his behavior was not normal, he turned his head to look at me, and I noticed a bunch of odd lesions on his comb and wattle.  Oh no, it looks like we have Fowl pox in the pen again.

Fowl Pox in the Pen

I immediately went to create a “sick pen” for him in the garage.  I reformed the small pen out of book cases and feed sacks that we made months ago.  I filled the floor of my makeshift pen with the normal pine shavings then I added a small roost, food and water feeders and a door. Then I worked with my brothers to catch him. I gingerly put him In the temporary pen and put the wire covers on top.

Chicken Sick Pen

I had been researching this virus and it is transmitted through mosquitoes which have the disease, the only other way it is transmitted is by getting in contact with another bird with the disease. Although it is not transmittable to anything but other birds it is still reasonable to to wear safety gloves when touching or treating the bird. At first my research brought up “If you leave it alone in about 1-2 weeks it will go away” after two and a half weeks I knew that my big boy had caught a severe case of it. By then it had covered both of his eyes and he could not see to drink or eat.  We regularly set him on a plastic bowl similar to what he regularly ate out of so he just knew what was in the bowl so he pecked down and ate food. But after it had come to three and a half weeks he mostly slept.

But then I discovered something scary… if his eyes stayed closed for too long, he could go blind.  The only treatment for the pox was to put drops of Saline solution on the pox via q-tips (being very careful not to get it in or around his eye) and Triple Antibiotic ointment for his eye.  I also started spoon feeding him yogurt. After about a week his pox started shrinking!  

Then we started the wait to see if his eyes would open.  In three days one of his eyes opened and he could see out of it!  Then the lesion fell off his other eye, but the eye had remained closed. Today when I went out to check on him, his closed eye is cracked (as in cracked open, barely)!!  Hallelujah!  So he might not go blind after all! He only has a few more lesions but it is still there so he will stay in his temporary pen a bit longer. Please pray for my rooster to get better 🙂

Update:  ~~A week later~~ Les is now free of fowl pox! Another small issue arose when we put him back in the pen.  All the other chickens wanted to pick fights with him. After being around him for a few hours, everything seemed to calm down, and was able to be around them without being picked on. Then 2 days ago, I went out to find him with a bloody comb and acting very shy toward the other chickens. He was all by himself standing in the chicken house door instead of out with them. I dropped what I was doing, grabbed my baby and ran back to the garage (where his makeshift brooder pen was) I gave him clean water and more food immediately. Then, when all was taken care of, I had to sit down and think of what to do, he could not stay in the sick pen in the garage, nor could he stay in the big chicken pen because Rocky our rooster didn’t want him in there. Nor could he stay in the little chicken pen with the newly nicknamed “rooster attack force”.  Then yesterday my answer came as our oldest rooster who was in the big chicken pen passed away.  He was over 6 years old!  Now my big boy Les can move in and take his spot as “the boss”. Thank you all for praying for my big boy!!!

I decided to name him Les because of a man named Les Stroud who is best known for his television series Survivorman.

Survivor Man / Rooster named Les

 

See ya soon!

Edmund Scientifics and Hip Homeschool Moms

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Just wanted to be sure my readers saw this fabulous giveaway happening thanks to Edmund Scientifics and Hip Homeschool Moms!  The first giveaway is for a Tech Light Kit.  It is fantastic!   Jennifer, a local friend , sister soccer mom, and teammate on Hip Homeschool Moms, reviewed this product and she said her son, River,  just loved doing these experiments!  Be sure to check out her review and share your thoughts on it!

We covered the study of Light in our Astronomy curriculum from Apologia!  I wish we had this kit to help us study the bending, blending, reflection and refraction of light back then!  It is so much fun to watch their eyes light up when they have the “aha” moment that happens with understanding… the moment  we are all addicted to!

Edmund Scientific Tech Light Lab

As a Montessori homeschool mom, my goal is to ignite my children’s interest, to spark their imagination and offer tools that encourage exploration… these products do just that!  If you are not familiar with the products from Edmund Scientifics, you should get to know them!  When I was the Chairman of the Board for my boys’ former Montessori School, I purchased so many of their items for the school… and have continued since we brought the boys home to homeschool!

This review / giveaway is  only the first of 9 weeks of giveaways from Edmund Scientifics!  Be sure to watch for all the fabulous reviews and giveaways coming up for the weeks leading up to the holidays! We celebrate Chanukah and it comes early this year… it starts around Thanksgiving!

The Hip Homeschool Mom team and their families are thoroughly enjoying writing these reviews!  Thank you Edmund Scientifics for the opportunity to partner with you!

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5 Hands-On Field Trip Ideas for Memphis TN

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There are just so many wonderful field trip destinations, but I’ve decided to write about 5 Don’t-Miss Field Trip Ideas for Memphis TN.  As most of you know, we are Montessori-ish homeschoolers, so we prefer  hands-on experiences to help create active learning opportunities.  So, that is the aspect that I’ll be focusing on for my field trips list.  For each Field Trip destination I have provided their address which is hyper-linked to MapQuest.  (Note:  If you have not used MapQuest lately, you need to check them out.  Their directions now include landmarks and “if you see xyz, you have gone too far” directions!  When I am traveling to unfamiliar territory, I love having landmarks to help me know I’m still on the right road!)  Also, all the pictures link to the website of each field trip destination.  I have not linked hours nor days of operation because they are seasonal and subject to other variables I can’t track.  And, lastly, I provide a phone number.  Worse-case scenario, you can call to see if they are open!  So, let’s to those field trips!

Memphis Hands-On Field Trip Ideas

1.  Memphis Zoo.

 2000 Prentiss Place. Memphis TN 38112.

(901) 276-9453.  Memphis Zoo

With 3,000 animals on over 70 acres in the heart of Memphis, the Zoo is always the top of my list.   And I’m not the only one that thinks the Memphis Zoo is fantastic… In 2008, the Memphis Zoo was ranked America’s number one zoo by TripAdvisor.com. In 2009, the Memphis Zoo was rated the top zoo in the country in a national survey by Morey Associates!  My favorite exhibit is the giant pandas.  Memphis is one of only four zoos in the United States that have giant panda residents full-time!  And just for a bit of interesting trivia, you know the lion roar heard at the beginning of the classic MGM movies?  That was  recorded in the old Carnivora Building at the Memphis Zoo and featured one of the Zoo’s lions, Volney!

The Memphis Zoo is also very homeschool friendly, even hosting Homeschool Academy, a week long homeschool program for interactive learning!  To bring a trip to the Zoo alive, you can approach from various perspectives.  The most obvious is a zoology perspective, but you might also want to study geography and the animals of a certain country.  Or you could study biomes and why certain animal characteristics would fit each biome better and then identify the animals with those characteristics.  Or how about studying camouflage and how animals might hide in their environments.  Finally, it can be a writing activity and they can record their zoo trip in a field trip journal!

2.  Children’s Museum of Memphis.

2525 Central Ave.  Memphis, TN 38104.

(901) 320-3170.

No list of hands-on field trips in Memphis should exclude the Children’s Museum!  It is a fun and very interactive private museum with ever-changing learning activities.  The site says it is for children 1 – 100,CMOM but I would say once you reach upper elementary, the exhibits are “babyish” and your children will tell you so (as mine have)! Some of the things that we find so unique about our Children’s Museum is the ability to fly an airplane or drive a firetruck!  Honestly, this is very high on my don’t miss list of Memphis!

3.  Pink Palace Museum.

3050 Central Avenue.  Memphis, TN  38111.

(901) 320-6320.

The history of the Pink Palace Museum is quite interesting even before you get on site!  The palace was built by the Piggly Wiggly grocery store magnate ClarenceThe Memphis Pink Palace Museum Saunders.  He named his 36,500 square-foot house “Cla-Le-Clare” after his three children.  Memphians nicknamed it the “Pink Palace” because it appeared pink due to the pink Georgia marble exterior.

The museum focuses on cultural and natural history of the Mid-South.  It presents history through engaging exhibits, dioramas, and audio-visuals. I was a bit skeptical about my boys liking this museum, but they were fascinated and have asked to return many times.   But with exhibits that include such intriguing items as a shrunken head, I really should not be surprised they enjoy returning!

3a.  IMAX Theater.

3050 Central Avenue.  Memphis, TN  38111.

(901) 320-6320.

Yes, this is the same address as the Pink Palace Museum and no, this is not a mistake.  The only IMAX Theater in the Mid-South is also housed at the Pink Palace Museum!  So, I’ve added this field trip as being a part of my number three field trip (is that cheating?)!IMAX Theater But, this IMAX Theater is different … it is only one of three in the WORLD with a movable screen that is four stories high!  I’m telling you, this IMAX experience makes viewers really feel like they are part of the action!

The movies change out about once per quarter or so.  We are about to visit before Mid November again to go see Journey Into Amazing Caves.  My middle son is fascinated with Blue Holes and caves, so this will be a great field trip!  The only downside is the theater is only open three days a week (Saturday – Monday).  And the best movies are only shown on the weekend…. so they are not very homeschool friendly!  But that won’t stop us from being a frequent visitor!

3b.  Sharpe Planetarium.

3050 Central Avenue.  Memphis, TN  38111.

(901) 320-6320.

Deja vu!  Yes, you have seen this address once (or twice) on this list.  Believe or not, the Pink Palace Museum is also home to the Sharpe Planetarium.   It is a 130-Sharpe Planetariumseat theater-in-the-round, which uses planetarium technology to project star fields, visual images and patterns on a domed ceiling.  The Sharpe Planetarium is now open Tuesday through Saturday.

Images are projected on the domed roof of the Memphis night sky and common constellations are located and pointed out.  The planetarium’s projections change every quarter or so, which keeps the night sky pretty current for what constellations you see each season.

4.  The Metal Museum.

374 Metal Museum Dr. Memphis, TN 38106.

(901) 774-6380.

The Metal Museum in Memphis is the only institution in the United States that is exclusively devoted to the advancement of the art and craft of fine metalwork…Memphis Metal Museum so it is truly one of a kind!  The museum has exhibitions that rotate in and out throughout the year, as well as permanent exhibitions.  But the thing I LOVE the most about the Metal Museum is the hands-on aspect.  They offer classes for you to learn metal working and make your own items!  They offer many different choices for these classes  from afternoon ones to weekend long workshops.  For this Montessori-ish Mama, this is one of the most fascinating museums in Memphis to visit (and certainly the most unique of them all)!

5.  Mud Island.

125 N Front St. Memphis, TN 38103.

(901) 576-7241.

Mud Island is another venue in Memphis that has multiple things to see and do here.  One thing my children love is the Monorail to get to the Island.  Mom is not so wild about it and would prefer to walk the sidewalk above it.  It’s only 1/3 of a mile, after all!  The first to see on the island is the Mud Island River Park, with it’sMud Island primary feature, the Riverwalk.  It is an exact scale model of the Lower Mississippi River (scale is 30” =  One Mile) and is one of the most unique representations of the river Mark Twain loved to write about in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. If you visit during the warmer weather, they also have peddle boats in the “Gulf of Mexico”!  

The next feature to explore on Mud Island is the Mississippi River Museum.  The museum is made up of 18 galleries that show the history of the Lower Mississippi River Valley.  The exhibit cover the early inhabitants in the valley to modern day transportation and contain over 5,000 artifacts; including two full size boat replicas which you can board and explore.

For more Fun Field Trips Ideas Around the World, see the growing list at Hip Homeschool Moms.

 

 

Another Reason I love homeschooling

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Tuesdays.  They are not my favorite days.  Not because of the day of the week, but because we are on the road for 40 minutes one way to our local homeschool co-op.  I love how much the boys are getting out of their art Class (Thanks Ms. Mary), but I just hate driving that far for one class.  This is our second year taking art classes and the boys’ skills are improving dramatically. (Remember, I am determined they will not grow up to be an art vacuum like me, so we will soldier through.) However, this Tuesday was different. It was one of those days that remind me of why I love homeschooling.

This morning we worked on their Institute for Excellence in Writing, Student Writing Intensive A. it is really review, but is a great place to start before they leap into major history writing via Trisms.  Because it is review, success is almost guaranteed. We love those scenarios! After we finished IEW and lunch, we piled into the car for the drive to co-op.  Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of the book my nine-year old has in hand. This book.

Light Reading

Blake brought it along for the boys to quiz each other about the elements… for FUN! Have I mentioned lately I LOVE HOMESCHOOLING! I’m sure over the course of writing I’ll end up sharing the other 999,999,999 reasons along the way.  

Until next time!  

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Our Middle School Classroom

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When my boys were young, we had a full Montessori elementary curriculum and classroom with very hands-on materials to assist with their learning of abstract ideas.  Now that they are abstract thinkers, our middle school classroom has morphed along with them. As you will see, Montessori Middle School and High School classrooms look VERY different. Once your students have passed the need for those beautiful works (see my post about when I fully mourned the passing of this fabulous stage), it’s time to move to a more traditional curriculum and classroom.  It still has the Montessori educational philosophy at its core with lots of hands-on experiments and exploration, but all grown up! 

Classroom Pictures

Montessori and the Outdoor Classroom

One aspect the older classrooms have in common with the younger classrooms is that our classrooms are everywhere. Wherever there is a teachable moment THAT is the classroom.  This is foundational for the Montessori curriculum. Montessori starts teaching botany at the age of three in the early childhood classroom and with the customary Montessori approach of being very hands-on. So we have always spent a vast amount of time outdoors, on our farm and in our community exploring not only botany, but astronomy, zoology, physics, chemistry, geography, photography, art, and the list goes on and on.  So the outdoor classroom has always been intricate to a functioning Montessori environment.

Montessori Inside Middle School Classroom

The inside classroom is where you will see the most dramatic changes taking place. Our classrooms look more like a library or study now. The boys are at the age where they are doing a lot of research, so we have a ton of books! We still spend a lot of time in the kitchen conducting experiments, studying geography via cooking regional dishes and using the kitchen table to spread out on. 

Must Haves for a Middle School Classroom

Some of the pieces we could not live without in our Middle School classroom are:  

  • Computers and Printers (I still require about half of their research to be done in books);
  • Research Books with lots of biographies, World Books, How to books, etc;
  • Comfortable chairs to spend hours reading;
  • Kindles for the vast amount of books;
  • An animal to love and have full responsibility of its care — we have two red-eared slider turtles, one in each classroom and lots of cats.  Gage has started a business raising chickens (Deluxe Clucks).  This is very much a piece of the Montessori middle school curriculum.  Teaching them, via the farm environment, how to earn a living, run a business and care for animals.  
  • Science equipment — microscopes, prepared and clean slides, dissection equipment, measurement equipment;
  • Storage areas for all the materials, reports, art works, etc. they are creating!  
  • Games, games and more games — educational games, thinking games, strategy games, we love to play games!

The Rest of the Story and Pictures

If you are interested in seeing how a Montessori Middle School works and what we use for curriculum, be sure to read my post here.    

I created two slide shows, one for each environment!  I hope you enjoy seeing how a Montessori Middle School Classroom works.  

Here are a few pictures from our outdoor space, where so much of our time is spent!

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Here are a few pictures from our indoor spaces. You will see, we use the whole house!

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I hope you have enjoyed getting a peek into our middle school classroom! If you have any questions about how we do something, please leave a comment!  If you are interested in seeing other classrooms, be sure to visit Hip Homeschool Moms the week of September 16th for more classroom pictures from the team and our readers!  There will even be a linkup where you can share your own classroom!  

Remember to walk your faith and not just talk about it… be a blessing to somebody today!  James 2:14-26

Until next time…. 

 

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They are Laying!!

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Hello! Sorry I have not posted in a while I have been busy with ALL kinds of stuff from chicken accidents to school to a friend’s birthday party!  So I have not been keeping you updated on my babies.  

I have a surprise… They are laying!! Our baby chicks and teenage chicks are laying eggs!  YAY!!!  If you remember, a friend of ours, Mrs. Pamela, gave us the teenage chicks. They are Red Sex Links and White Leghorns and there are four of them. We bought the bantams from Welp Hatchery.  There are probably 15 hen bantams laying eggs. With another 15 or so roosters… anybody want some roosters?

 

Hens are a' laying

 

Here is a picture of the variety of eggs we are gathering daily. The eggs vary in shape, size, color, and weight. The biggest ones are from our Rhode Island Reds that we have had for several years. The next brown one and the two white ones are from the teenage chicks. The cute little bitty ones are from my baby bantams… but they are not babies anymore!  I have not found any itsy bitsy eggs from our Dutch, Blue Bantam chicks yet… but am expecting to find one of them soon! Can you imagine how little they will be? The smallest eggs so far are about 1.5″ x 1.25″ to the big eggs that are 3″x 2.5″. The color ranges from a white/cream color, to a reddish-brown and then just plain tan. And the shape of the eggs can range from a normal ovular shape to a pointy bullet-shaped egg. I now have to check all the boxes every day, not every 2-4 days on the bantam side, since they were not laying yet.  

My mom loves the little eggs, she was so surprised at how small they are. Speaking of small eggs… my brother, Chase, loves omelets. My dad has been joking around with Chase saying his next omelet will be a three egg omelet using the littlest eggs. We have not cooked with any yet, but we are having breakfast for dinner tonight… I’m sure my mom will have me comparing eggs and photographing our dinner.  I’ll post those pictures soon!  I am sorry I left you all waiting for another post, while all these things at my house were going on. From now on I will try to post more often. 

One final note, we have a possum or raccoon attacking our chickens, and we have lost 3 chickens including two of my favorites… Cuddles and Sunny and another barred rock, Checker, who I have not talked about before. We just borrowed a live trap to try to trap the animal. Please pray we catch whatever it is getting my babies! I’ll update you on that soon too!  

See ya soon!

Start the Homeschool Year Strong

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Start the Homeschool Year Strong

 

I would sure appreciate you visiting Hip Homeschool Moms to check out my FIRST post as an HHM contributor (and co-owner) … Start the Homeschool Year Strong!!! I have never written for another site, so this was a bit nerve wracking 🙂 I’m sure I will get accustomed to writing over there … but it was not easy THIS time!  

I did share something over on Hip Homeschool Moms that I never thought I would share anywhere! Our curriculum spreadsheet through highschool for each of my boys. It is something I put together years ago and modify as I need to. It’s not the prettiest spreadsheet I’ve ever created, but it is a work in progress!  

I would LOVE to hear your feedback so be sure to leave me a comment! Until next time… focus on being a blessing!  

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Henty Books in Chronological Order for History Immersion

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Don’t miss a post! Receive all our blog posts in your inbox by Subscribing to our Newsletter.  We regularly update our Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest, and would love to connect if you are on those networks!  Thank you for reading our posts and being a part of our community!  If you have time, leave us a comment below and let us know how you found us!  My boys LOVE making new friends and meeting you all (and so do I)!!

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With three boys who are voracious readers, we have the ultimate challenge of finding wholesome books that they want to read. One set of books that we found and both the boys and I love are G.A. Henty books. Even Henty Books in Orderthough his books are fiction, they are historical fiction and provide a great vision of the era he was writing about. His books are historically accurate and are full of noble character traits… traits we want to instill in our boys such as: honesty, chivalry, integrity, courage, loyalty, honor, hard work, charity, justice, and the list goes on and on. Henty was masterful at weaving action and adventure throughout his novels!  Putting the Henty Books in chronological order has helped me organize his books into our schedule to be more useful in our homeschool.

Here is a brief bio of GA Henty from Wikipedia:

George Alfred Henty, was a prolific English novelist and a special correspondent. He is best known for his historical adventure stories that were popular in the late 19th century.  His children’s novels typically revolved around a boy or young man living in troubled times. These ranged from the Punic War to more recent conflicts such as the Napoleonic Wars or the American Civil War. Henty’s heroes – which occasionally included young ladies – are uniformly intelligent, courageous, honest and resourceful with plenty of ‘pluck’ yet are also modest.  These virtues have made Henty’s novels popular today among many Christians and homeschoolers.

Reasons you might want to include Henty as part of your children’s reading goes directly to character!  Quote from the Henty site:  

G. A. Henty lived during a time in which honesty, integrity, hard work, courage, diligence, perseverance, personal honor and a strong Christian faith were greatly valued. This was especially true of members of the British armed forces, of which Henty was a part. As a consequence, Henty’s heroes are models of these virtues of personal character – and always owe their successes to these characteristics.  The young reader identifies with Henty’s heroes while he is vicariously reliving their experiences as he reads. These heroes become, for the duration of the story, his peers and examples – and, children learn, almost entirely, by example.  American and British educators a century ago were as much concerned in building good character in their students as they were in imparting to them academic knowledge. This accounts for the great popularity of Henty’s works during that golden period of education.

My oldest son, Chase, has started reviewing the books he has read and the first Henty book was Cat of Bubastes. You can read his review here. Read for yourself what a teen thinks of the Henty books! We are using the Henty books as an immersion in our historical studies… to better understand the culture and time. I hope this list will be beneficial to you and your homeschool as well!! I will be creating many lists over the course of our homeschooling years to help you find books that instill honor and character in our boy’s reading experiences.  

 

Bk# Title Subject Location ~Year
1. Those Other Animals Animals n/a n/a
2. The Cat of Bubastes Ancient Egypt; Egyptian religion Egypt 1250 BC
3. The Young Carthaginian Hannibal’s Campaigns, Punic wars North Africa 220 BC
4. Beric the Briton Roman Invasion, Gladiators, Burning of Rome, Nero  Great Britain 61
5. For the Temple Fall of Jerusalem, 1st Century Jewish Revolt, Vespasian, Josephus and Titus Palestine 70
6. The Dragon and the Raven The Days of King Alfred Great Britain 870
7. Wulf the Saxon Norman Conquest,  Viking invaders, Battle of Hastings Great Britain 1066
8. Winning His Spurs
The Crusades, Holy Wars, Holy Land, the Saxons, the Normans Palestine 1190
9. In Freedom’s Cause Wallace and Bruce, Scots Scotland 1314
10. St. George for England Crecy & Poitiers, English and French  France 1340
11. The Lion of St. Mark War of Venice and Genoa Italy 1380
12. A March on London Wat Tyler’s Insurrection England 1381
13. Both Sides the Border Glendower & Hotspur Great Britain 1400
14. At Agincourt Hundred Year War, Henry V, French, English France 1415
15. A Knight of the White Cross Siege of Rhodes, War of the Roses, Moorish corsair pirates, Moslems Greece 1480
16. By Pike and Dyke Spanish-Dutch War, Spanish Inquisition Holland, etc. 1579
17. St. Bartholomew’s Eve Huguenot Wars, Protestants, Catholics France 1580
18. Under Drake’s Flag Circumnavigating the Globe, Search for North West Passage, High Seas Worldwide 1580
19. By England’s Aid Fall of Spanish Armada, Freeing of the Netherlands, Corsairs Holland 1588
20. By Right of Conquest Conquest of Mexico, Cortez, Aztecs Mexico 1595
21. The Lion of the North Thirty Year War,  Sweden, Scotland, Gustav II Adolf Germany 1630
22. Won by the Sword Thirty Year War, Richelieu, France Europe 1640
23. Friends Though Divided England’s Civil War, the Cavaliers, the Roundheads, Charles II England 1650
24. When London Burned Anglo-Dutch Wars, Great Plague, the Great Fire Great Britain 1666
25. John Hawke’s Fortune Monmouth Rebellion, Duke of Monmouth, Battle of Sedgemoor Great Britain 1685
26. Orange and Green Battle of Boyne Ireland 1690
27. A Jacobite Exile Swedish-Russian War, King Charles the XII of Sweden, Jacobite: a political movement dedicated to restoring the Stuart kings to the throne of England and Scotland Europe 1695
28. The Cornet of Horse War of Spanish Succession, Holland, Hapsburg, Hanover and Prussia against the French and Spanish Belgium 1703
29. The Bravest of the Brave War of Spanish Succession, Spain and France, and the British and her allies,  Earl Charles Mordaunt III of Peterborough Spain 1705
30. In the Irish Brigade War of Spanish Succession, King Louis XVI of France, War in Flanders and Spain France 1710
31. Bonnie Prince Charlie Fontenoy and Battle of Culloden Europe 1745
32. With Wolfe in Canada Fall of Quebec, Battle of Britain and France for supremacy in the North American continent. Canada 1759
33. True to the Old Flag American Revolution written from a British point of view US 1760
34. With Frederick the Great Seven Years War,  Battles of Rossbach, Leuthen, Prague, Zorndorf, Hochkirch, and Torgan Prussia 1760
35. Held Fast for England Siege of Gibraltar, Tangiers, Gibraltar and the Spanish Coast, the Straights Gibraltar 1780
36. Colonel Thorndyke’s Secret or The Brahmin ‘s Treasure English Society / Adventure, Pre-industrialization England 1783
37. With Clive in India Battle of Plassey,  English influence at the point of extinction in India India 1786
38. In the Reign of Terror French Revolution, French marquis France 1793
39. By Conduct and Courage Napoleonic Wars Europe 1795
40. No Surrender! French Revolution, The revolt of La Vendde France 1795
41. A Roving Commission Great Revolt in Hayti, Story of the Sea West Indies 1795
42. The Tiger of Mysore Mysore War, India India 1795
43. At Aboukir and Acre Napoleonic Wars, Alexandria, Napoleon’s Invasion of Egypt Egypt 1798
44. At the Point of the Bayonet Mahratta War, India, British India 1800
45. With Moore at Corunna Peninsular War, Napoleon, Britain  Europe 1808
46. A Final Reckoning Bush Life in Australia Australia 1810
47. The Plague Ship Adventure on the Ocean, Malay Pirates The Ocean 1810
48. Under Wellington’s Command Peninsular War, NOTE:  Really a sequel to “With Moore at Corunna”, “Minho” Portuguese,  Europe 1810
49. The Young Buglers Peninsular War Spain 1810
50. Through the Fray Luddite Riots England 1811
51. Through Russian Snows Napoleonic Wars Russia 1812
52. One of the 28th Battle of Waterloo Europe 1815
53. With Cochrane the Dauntless South American Revolution S. America 1820
54. On the Irrawaddy First Burmese War Burma 1824
55. In Greek Waters Greek Independence Greece 1825
56. In the Hands of the Cave Dwellers Southwestern Adventure, Mexican, American US 1833
57. With the British Legion Carlist Wars Spain 1835
58. Queen Victoria Biography (complete) Great Britain 1837
59. The Sovereign Reader  Biography (incomplete) Great Britain 1837
60. The Curse of Carne’s Hold Kaffir War South Africa 1840
61. To Herat and Cabul First Afghan War Middle East 1840
62. The Treasure of the Incas Adventure Very Indiana Jones-ish Peru 1844
63. The Lost Heir Adventure, lip reading, deaf, death,  India 1846
64. All But Lost Volume I British Society Great Britain 1848
65. All But Lost Volume II British Society Great Britain 1850
66. Captain Bayley’s Heir California Gold Fields US 1850
67. Through the Sikh War Conquest of Punjab India 1850
68. All But Lost Volume III British Society Great Britain 1851
69. Out On the Pampas Mexican-American War S. America 1851
70. Redskin and Cow-Boy Western Adventure US 1851
71. Gabriel Allen, M.P. Adventure England 1854
72. Jack Archer Crimean War Russia 1854
73. Facing Death Coal Mines Great Britain 1855
74. In Times of Peril Indian Mutiny India 1856
75. The Queen’s Cup Yachting Adventure England 1856
76. Rujub, the Juggler
 Indian Mutiny India 1856
77. A Search for a Secret Adventure, Search for a Will England 1856
78. In the Heart of the Rockies Western Life US 1860
79. With Lee in Virginia American Civil War US 1860
80. A Hidden Foe Adventure, Proving Inheritance England 1862
81. Out with Garibaldi Liberation of Italy Italy 1865
82. The March to Magdala Abyssinian Campaign Ethiopia 1867
83. Dorothy’s Double Franco-Prussian War Great Britain 1870
84. Maori and Settler Second Maori Rebellion New Zealand 1870
85. Sturdy and Strong English Society / Classes England 1870
86. A Woman of the Commune 
 Franco-Prussian War France 1870
87. The Young Franc-Tireurs Franco-Prussian War France 1870
88. By Sheer Pluck Ashanti War Africa 1873
89. The March to Coomassie Ashanti War Africa 1873
90. For Name and Fame Second Afghan War Middle East 1879
91. Condemned as a Nihilist Escape from Siberia Europe 1880
92. The Young Colonists Zulu and Boer War South Africa 1880
93. The Young Midshipman Bombardment of Alexandria Egypt 1882
94. The Dash for Khartoum Nile Expedition Sudan 1885
95. Through Three Campaigns Tirah, Chitral, Ashanti India/Africa 1896
96. With Kitchener in the Soudan Battle of Atbara and Omdurman       Sudan 1898
97. With Buller in Natal Breaking out of the Second Boer War South Africa 1899
98. With Roberts to Pretoria South African War South Africa 1900
99. With the Allies to Pekin Boxer Rebellion China 1900

 

 

Training Our Children to Think

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Disclosure

In our Logic studies, we spend a lot of time just doing deductive reasoning and plain ole’ training our children to think!  So many real thinkers, like Albert Einstein and Maria Montessori, have emphatically stated that children are not empty vessels to be filled, they need to be taught how to think and how to solve problems. One of the things we love are Mind Benders! They can be such a challenge to complete, but we love them!  We do these Mind Benders over lunch most of the time!  This was the next to the last puzzle of B1. Notice the tools we had to use to solve this one! Rulers, pencils (with erasers) and highlighters. This puzzle was matching five variables!!! We will be using graph paper from here on out! 

Mind Benders

Since we homeschool we have the luxury of trying different ways to teach our children to THINK. Another thing we have been doing since our boys were little is to discuss current events, problems and issues of the day, topics that require deep thought. We trouble shoot and think of ways to solve various problems. We get them to help diagnose stuff around the house when we are fixing stuff.  A perfect example happened yesterday. I ran around the corner to pick up some school supplies and my truck would not start when I was headed back home. After hubby came and jumped the truck and we were back home, he sat with our youngest son, Blake and got him to think through what went wrong.  As it turned out it was not a weak battery, but a loose connection with the battery. Blake nailed it after three or four important questions and exchanges with his dad. I love these impromptu lessons!  

We also have several different curricula that we will be covering over the next few years too.  

I look at what we are doing now as setting the groundwork. All of us get caught up in teaching information to our children at some point, but we all would do well to stop and remember that facts are easy to research… we need to ignite a love of learning and teach them how to think!   

I’d love to hear how you are training your children to think!!  Please leave a comment below and let me know!  

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