You homeschool your children? What About Socialization?

Hmmm...what would it be like if the shoe was on the other foot?

We invite you to read one of the most unique and entertaining takes on the question of "socialization" that we have yet to come across posted by our friends at Living Simply.

Highland Games Pics

Thus follows some overdue pictures of the festivities in Blairsville, GA:

"Excuse me...I'm TRYING to take a picture, and that's not exactly what I wanted in the foreground."

"There we go. Thank you."

This reminds me of my idea for a new line of jokes...
You might be a Scotsman if..

1. You have a problem with your leg-hair getting tangled.
2. You often think, "*GASP* That man is wearing PANTS!!!"
3. You think your beard is supposed to act as a beverage filter.
   

Yummm...Haggis. Well, there wasn't a warning sign, and I burnt my tongue....thus my expression.

JL

Wanted: Book Lists

T.S. Eliot quipped, “I love reading another reader’s list of favorites. Even when I find I do not share their tastes or predilections, I am provoked to compare, contrast, and contradict. It is a most healthy exercise, and one altogether fruitful.”

A most interesting discussion was begun a few months ago among friends in Tennessee. We each tried to name our top 5 favorite books other than the Bible. Well, this proved nigh impossible for everyone mainly due to the fact that no one could limit it to only five. Then, there was the difficulty of deciding whether a book was simply a "favorite" or whether is was "influential" to our way of thinking about the world. We decided that a list of books takes time; that one must mull over such things for a while. So, now here's your chance to share your list. There are no limits. Share as many titles, authors, and comments as your heart desires!

Here's my list so far:

Fiction:
Quo Vadis? by Henryk Sienkiewicz (a tale of the Christian persecution under Nero)
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss (inspires me to press on in the Faith, knowing that He who began a good work in me will be able to complete it, though I often feel that I'm making no progress)
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (witty, silly, satirical, full of rich language)
The Ox Cart Man by Donald Hall (the simple life, reward for hard work and frugality)

Education:
Home Grown Kids by Raymond and Dorothy Moore
The Socialization Trap by Rick Boyer
Teaching the Trivium by Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn
Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola
When You Rise Up by R.C. Sproul, Jr. (the best book on home education I've read)

Paradigm Shifting:
Be Fruitful and Multiply by Nancy Campbell
The Way Home by Mary Pride
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
Her Hand in Marriage by Douglas Wilson
The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace
Holy Cows and Hog Heaven by Joel Salatin
Angels in the Architecture by Douglas Jones and Douglas Wilson
How Should We Then Live by Francis Schaeffer
L'Abri by Edith Schaeffer

Disconcerting:
Heiland by Franklin Sanders
Henry and the Great Society by H. L. Roush

Useful:
Pastured Poultry Profits by Joel Salatin
You Can Farm by Joel Salatin
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery
Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew
College Without Compromise by Scott and Kris Wightman
The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer

Fun Read-Alouds:
Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back by Shel Silverstein
Scottish Seas by Douglas Jones
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

~Trish

Garden Progress

Our garden is growing nicely so far. The hanging tomato plants are doing very well, and are about the same size as the ones in the ground. Putting the chickens in the potato rows did not work, so do not try it at home. They did not eat the bugs, and they made a mess of the plants, even digging up some of the 'taters. The best solution that I found to get rid of the potato beetles was to dust the plants with Rotenone, an organic pesticide. The drip irrigation system is wonderful. I like it, and the plants like it. It saves me a lot of time. We ended up doing a fourth experiment...a square-foot garden. I have a 4'x8' box with 32 squares in it. I really like the results. It's amazing how many plants will fit in such a small space. The plants are much healthier than the ones in the row garden.

Here are some pictures. I'll post some of my herb garden later when my Zinnias are in full bloom.

~Tricia Ann

Aren't baby watermelons cute?!

Banjo on the wishing well

Lazy Summer Afternoon

Dad and Mom drove up for a visit a few weeks ago. We went out to lunch at our favorite local deli, came back to the house and enjoyed an afternoon of much-needed leisure.

Target practice from the deck.

Dad takes his turn.

"Tricia Ann"ie Oakley?

A churn of homemade ice cream with chocolate sauce tops off a perfect afternoon!

~Trish

Latest Fashion at the Lingo Farm

Here is the picture I promised you, Laura! This is the "prairie" dress I made a few weeks ago. I used this pattern with a few modifications.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is my dear Daddy's birthday. He is the best daddy in the whole world!!!

Father of mine, some years ago
You showed me the way I ought to go;
You led my feet past the treach'rous sand
By the gentle clasp of your own strong hand.

Gather of mine, let me thank you for
The prayers you prayed and the burden you bore.
Like a guiding star thro' the tempests' strife,
All your precepts have shone on my path of life.

Father of mine, when the time has passed
And the work of my life is complete at last,
when I step ashore on the glory strand
With grateful heart I will clasp your hand.

~Sarah K. Marinee

I thought y'all readers might enjoy a few pictures of Daddy when he was younger, so here are some good ones I found.

Love you, Daddy!
~Tricia Ann

Daddy played a lot of baseball when he was little.

This is his graduation picture.

Daddy and Mommy skiing

Horseshoe Champion, Reformation Day 2004

Hiking Trip

Last Wednesday morning, Daddy decided to take us to hike up Mt. Yonah (pictured at right). So after breakfast, we slathered on some sunscreen, packed a backpack full of water, cookies, and beef jerky (necessary for any hiking trip), got in the truck, and started out to find the trail-head. We arrived at about 8:00. It was a beautiful hike. The woods were so pretty, and some of the mountain laurels were still blooming.

We had gotten about halfway to the top of the mountain when Jacob spotted some men in camo on the trail ahead of us. They were almost invisible. We watched for a few minutes, and we saw that there was a large group of soldiers doing some rock-climbing training. This so inspired Jacob that he decided to try a little rock-climbing himself, but I'll let him blog about that. We ended up taking another trail to the top so we wouldn't disturb them.

This new trail was fairly steep, so our legs were really tired when we finally did reach the summit of the mountain. We were not able to see as much as we had hoped because the trees blocked our view. On the way back down the trail (part of which was gravel), it was so steep in places that we slipped and slid all over the place! Jacob declared that he needed a shirt that said "I skied down Mt. Yonah!"

After 4 hours of hiking, we came again to the beginning of the trail. We were all tired and hungry. Since it was lunchtime, Daddy took us to Yonah Burger to eat. We had a nice time (even though we could hardly move the next day from being sore).

~Tricia Ann

Zachary's Easter Lilies

Zachary, my sweetest tutoring student ever, gave me these last year right before we moved to this farm. I was thrilled to see them pop out of the ground in late February, and I have been anxiously anticipating their blooming. Now, here they are in all their glory!

Thank you, Zach, for the fresh reminder of Christ's provision. Every time I walk out my back door, I see them and think of His grace, and I think of you!
Love,
Mrs. Lingo
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;
and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Now if God so clothes the grass of the field,
which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
will He not much more clothe you,
O you of little faith?
Matthew 6:28

Garden Experiments

This week, at Pop pop's clever suggestion, we decided to try hanging a few tomato plants up-side-down in 6 gallon buckets. We read some articles that said tomatoes grown in this fashion are more resistant to disease and pests. Daddy drilled 2-inch holes in the lids and bottoms of the buckets, then we carefully threaded the plant through the hole in the bottom of the first bucket, and filled the rest of the bucket with potting soil. We left them sitting upright for a few days, and today, we hung them up. So far, they are doing quite well.

We haven't gotten a good rain in weeks, so I've had to water the garden almost every day. Last week, Daddy ordered a drip-irrigation system for the garden so I wouldn't have to spend all morning watering with the hose. All the parts came in the mail on Monday. We installed it yesterday morning, and now it's all set up. This morning, all I had to do was turn on the faucet. It's working really well so far.

I've been having problems with Flea Beetles and Colorado Potato Beetles eating my potato plants. I tried dusting the plants with powdered lime and spraying them with a noxious concoction of garlic and red pepper, neither of which solved the problem. Today Jacob fenced a couple of chickens in the potato patch to see if they would eat the bothersome bugs. Hopefully, this measure will get rid of the pests, and I won't have to use chemical pesticides.

~Tricia Ann

Nike!

That's the one word that an Athenian soldier could gasp out as he came limping into Athens after sprinting 26 miles from the Battle of Marathon. Well, we didn't exactly run a marathon or win a battle, but we did (through much study) pass our Western Civilization 1 CLEP test on Friday. We ended up having to do a bit of cramming on Thursday night. We were trying to memorize 50+ pages (front and back) of notes we had taken from our Western Civ. book by copying them. We didn't finish until about 2 a.m. There's obviously a lot to study when your test covers all the history between 25,000 B.C. : ) and A.D. 1600. We got really tired, but we had fun anyway.

Here are some pictures that Mom took.

~Tricia Ann

Daddy got us some Coke so we could stay awake.

We each used up a whole pad of paper!

After writing about 30 pages, our middle fingers got sore, so we broke out the Band-Aids!

Veggie Towels

Tricia Ann and I made some pretty tea towels using a ribbon embroidery technique that we saw in a Martha Stewart Magazine recently. We thought the little veggies were so cute. I did the machine sewing and Tricia Ann did the hand embroidery.
~Trish

Many Hands, Light Work?

We spent last week helping our dear pastor raise his barn. Well, actually the upper story will be his home! Thanks to the skillful leadership of a builder-friend and the help of the men and boys of Heritage Presbyterian Church, the feat of drying in the entire home was completed in a mere 4 days! By the Lord's Day, the men were exhausted but exultant in the results of their labors.
~Trish


And the evening and the morning were the first day.And the evening and the morning were the second day.

And the evening and the morning were the third day.

And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Other Barn Raising Activities...

Of course, the ladies cooked a lot of meals! And we had such fun together.
Mrs. Marcia was such a blessing in the kitchen! Such a servant's heart!