Ello! Won't you join me in linking up over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers today?

I thought it might be fun to link up this week. Maybe every week. It might keep me a bit more accountable with my schooling time. We put a pause on Math this week, mainly because she further than where I wanted her to be at right now. And, because it is so nice out we focused more on nature studies this week. 

We found a bunch of shells in our crawl space this past week. Since this wasn't an ocean previously, we determined that the old owners might have had a hermit crab farm. Then ate them. 

​Speaking of nature study, we did add this lovely handbook to our curriculum.

It is a wonderful resource! You can purchase it HERE. (affiliate link)

Princess was also curious about spiders this week. We googled pictures of them (I tried not to barf) and researched them in our nature handbook. Then the hubs made spiders with them.

I had copy work planned for handwriting this week. But then I found signs hanging on the bathroom doors. I suppose Princess got tired of her brother making the bathroom stink. Ha!

Translation: This is the girls bathroom. No boys can come. 

Handwriting done. Right? We did work on spacing words later on in the week.

And most days there is usually a battle between an ice princess, power rangers, ninja turtles and the transformers saving things from the sharks. I almost always am the pink ranger.  

Pterodactyl!

How was your week?

My husband and I were in youth ministry for a number of years. A couple of years ago we chose to take a break or a sabbatical as we call it (ha). We sold everything and moved into a fifth wheel that was less than 200 square feet. Our first stop was west Texas where my husband worked on the oil field for a while. Then we traveled to Colorado and lived there for a time in our camper. It had it's difficulties, but I secretly loved the freedom and simplicity of it.

Don't get me wrong, I love having a permanent home, a shower, hot water, and a yard for our one chicken that runs around and craps on everything. But, I loved getting to stay at so many parks and the world was literally our backyard.

It was awesome.

I say all that to say we bought another camper. No, not to live in this time. Since I am a stay at home mom and my husband has a pretty flexible weekly work schedule we can take off and explore the surrounding areas for a few days at a time. We had a budget for how much we wanted to spend on one and this one was right on. Our budget was incredibly low because we wanted a fixer-upper. 

And a fixer-upper is what we got. It is perfect! 

At first we thought we might just clean it up and spray a fresh coat of paint on the whole place. Give it new cushions and curtains. 

After all, it did have that vintage charm...

There were only a few damaged areas.

Like I said, it was super cheap. 

There was a closet there and a sink in front of that window. That was all we were going to demo. Then we changed our minds and have decided to gut the whole thing. 

We are taking out the nasty shower that was built for hobbits. (haha pun intended cause my blog name has Smial in it) That will create more sitting space as we will not be putting a new shower back in. All we need is a throne. If you have ever stayed at a campground you know they have amazing showers that are hot and have enough pressure to take the first layer of your skin off. It's great.

Hey look! I found the before photo with the closet and sink. We plan on relocating the kitchen to the back for more seating up front. 

I am so excited about this reno project!! Our goal right now is to get most if not all of it tore out with some new walls and insulation up.

​After all, deer season is just around the corner and we plan on setting up camp the whole week. 

My husband is starting a vlog on YouTube for specific renovations that he is doing on the beast. As soon as he gets that up and running I'll get a link on here. 

This reno will be slow, we want it to be set up so that it can be used for years and years.

​I can't wait to share more of our progress with you! 

What do you and your family enjoy doing together?

My husband and I celebrated our nine year anniversary yesterday. Last night, we layed in bed reflecting on some of our favorite and not so favorite moments about our marriage. We have experienced a lot of life in the past nine years. Three kids and living in five different states later, I wouldn't trade any of it.  To recap the last nine years, I thought it might be fun to post one picture from each year. Enjoy.

2006

1. I've learned to give myself a bit of grace.

I attempted to plan out our entire homeschool year. They are young I know. But, I like to plan. I am just not good at following through with plans. I have an AB personality. If that is a thing. For the most part, we do what goals I had for the week. But, this being our first year, I never anticipated the rabbit trails we would go off on. Like studying about leaves and reading way more books and not doing subjects back to back. We want our kids to fall in love with learning. In doing so, that means my plans aren't always the best ones.

Some days we read and play so much the laundry doesn't get done. Heck, most of the time it gets clean and folded, just never put away.

Some days we don't get to copywork that I have planned out. But it is ok because Princess is making a list of family members that can check out books from her library and writing love notes to all of us.

Some days we don't get to math. But it is ok because Optimus wants to take his tape measure outside and measure leaves and worms. 

Some days we don't get to our reading curriculum. But it is ok because Princess all of a sudden wants to sit down and read Fox in Socks to us. 

Most days dishes are left on the counter to do the following morning.

That is not ok because then the next morning the house smells like death and I can't smell the coffee brewing.

6. If you have glue farts, you stick to walls...

I learned that from my five-year-old.

What did you learn this month?

I'm linking up with Emily P. Freeman.