Yesterday we headed out for our annual blueberry picking. I grabbed my camera and was dismayed to see that both of my batteries were dead. Since I'm not on call for a birth at the moment, I haven't been compulsive about making sure my batteries are fully charged and ready to go. Bummer. So my Instagram photos will have to suffice.
We showed up at Bjornstad Farms just past 9:30. Why Bjordstad? They have my faithful business. Becasue they like my kids. They don't automatically assume that if I show up with children numbering in the double digits we are going to destroy the place. Therefore I drove past a dozen U-pick farms to get to theirs.
At any rate, I showed up to be greeted with, "What do we have hear today?".
"We want to pick blueberries" I answered.
"Great! And what group do we have here?"
Ah. That's what she meant.
"This group is my family" I explained. Her and her husband then exclaimed over my fine looking bunch of children and showed us where to head. So nice.
Our goal was 100 pounds. One hundred because that's how much money I had to spend, not because that's all we could eat.
When we went to get our blueberries weighed we had ninety-nine pounds. Not bad.
Ninety-nine pounds of blueberries picked in 45 minutes. Add in the pound Apollo ate off of the ground, and we could call it an even one hundred.
We now have sixteen gallons of blueberries in our freezer to use throughout the year. Go Team Baker's Dozen!
Now for homeschooling… I have sat down three times so far this summer and tried to plan out the framework of our upcoming school year. The dynamics will be quite different since Keziah and Boaz are at Job Corps and Mordecai will be at school. Every single time I've at down I've drawn a complete blank. I don't know where to start or what do. Ack.
Enter Timberdoodle (my favorite homeschooling resource- it should be your favorite too!) I just saw a link to these planning pages on their Facebook page and it has solved my planning crisis. I am systematically typing in school books, number of week and feeling a sense of order. Once I do this for each student I plan to print a copy for my planning notebook and one of my students' binders.
THEN, I can get on to adding in the fun stuff.
Thank you again, Timberdoodle. You've been a resource for our family for the past ten years and a decade later are still a help to me!
Thank you to those of you who responded about homeschooling. I will be working on the posts over the next few days as time allows.
Thank you for this resource. I’ve been feeling a bit the same way, although I have nowhere near the planning you do. I don’t know if it’s pregnancy brain or what. I’m counting on the rhythm of school to get me through the next two trimesters though.
I missed your last post, too busy to stop by this week! But I do have a question. Is mordecai excited about going to regular school? I am sure you have made it something to look forward to for him as it is what is best for him at this time.
I love seeing life through Apollo’s eyes. Even though he has his health challenges I still see the look of “Life is Good!” on his face. It makes me smile every time.
Wow! Anyone who thinks large families are no good should see that. Could a family of 4 pick 99 lbs of blueberries that fast? I think not. They look delicious.
Would you and the older girls be interested in a more formal reading group this year? I know the girls have done a book group themselves, but I have some “real literature” books I want my older kids to read. I thought it might be more fun for the girls to read the same book.
99 lb of blueberries, what does that go for?
It is always fun to pick blueberries, at least the first hour. Its an even better deal when you pick wild blueberries.
Just clicked on Timberdoodle. Hope they ship to Australia. I’m definitely buying the heat sensitive putty for a little fiddler I know!
We love blueberries also,but we went too late this year.We spent an hour and only picked about 5 pounds.There were very few left.We like to pick 30-40 pounds.
Thanks for telling us about Timberdoodle,it looks like fun!
Thank you Crystal, that is so sweet!