Fall Happenings Around the Homestead

This weekend was all about getting some more wood put up for the winter. For those of you that don't know, Scott is a wood collector. We have two wood stoves in the house for heat and cooking for the power goes out. In the 10 years we have lived in this cabin we have never paid a dime for any of the wood we use. Scott collected it from everywhere. All our friends, etc. know if a tree falls to call Scott and he will come collect it. It has gotten to the point where we need more wood sheds to store it. We have so much that we were able to barter a truckload recently for three months of raw milk. 

More wood that still needs to be split and stacked. 

All Saturday afternoon was spent with Scott splitting and me stacking wood. We are half full with still more to go. I should also mention that all the wood and metal were just laying around the yard, so no money spent there either. 

Fall is hands down my favorite time of the year. I love the smell of the cool crisp air. I love not using the air conditioner and getting to open the windows wide all day long. I so wish Fall and Spring were our only two seasons, the weather is always perfect. Also most of the bugs are gone away.

This is the view from our side porch to the front of the yard.

Scott built us a new campfire area for this year.

What We're Reading

Christian Unschooling has started a new monthly blog hop, What We're Reading. I love the Christian Unschooling Blog and hope to join up with the blog hop each month.

Current Read Aloud
I love YA fiction so usually there is at least one book me and Grace are reading together as a read aloud. The read aloud is 9 times out of 10 a fun book to enjoy together, but can also sometimes be something educational.Currently we are reading Michael Vey and The Rise of the Elgen. This is number 2 in the Michael Vey Book Series. Great read.

What Grace is Reading
Grace is fickle when it comes to reading and sometimes is reading a few things at one time, which is the case this month. Believe it or not she has never been interested in reading the Harry Potter series until now. She is about half way through the first book of the series Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. A friend let her also borrow another Warrior's Series, which she just started. For school she is just about finished with Island of the Blue Dolphin which she is reading for literature. Her all time favorite is still The Naruto Series. She is only about halfway through the series at volume number 23.

What I Am Reading
As I mentioned before I am loving YA fiction at the moment. Also I am a zombie story fanatic so my choices have reflected that. Last night I just finished Dearly Departed, and really enjoyed it. Also started yesterday The Eleventh Plague. It is taking a bit to get into this story. Still my all time favorite YA reads that I have read in the past three months are The Mortal Instruments Series, Matched Trilogy, and The Divergent Series.

To see what other folks are reading visit Christian Unschooling Blog.

New Anime Character Creations By Grace

Grace is really enjoying creating new characters and coloring them with copic markers. Copic markers are THE marker to use with anime illustrations. Only problem is they run about 7.00 a piece. I know on ebay you can purchase sets for cheaper and for Christmas that is what we will be looking at, especially if she gets extra cash from grandparents. Until then we plan on purchasing one marker per week. Tonight Grace went on the copic website and wrote a list of all the colors she wants to purchase. Luckily where we hold our cooperative is an art store that carries the markers. So after I teach my art journaling class and Grace is in drama I take a short little walk down to the art store and purchase a coke, chocolate, and one copic marker. I figure in one year she will own 52 markers and we will put out only 7.00 a week to accomplish this goal. I know some folks would really balk about spending that kind of money, but this is her passion. She literally sits in her room and draws for hours and she is kind of good at it too. In order to do quality work you need quality supplies.

TOS Review - National Tax Training School

Have you ever wanted to prepare your own taxes? How about make some extra money from preparing taxes for other individuals? If so, I would recommend checking out National Tax Training School. NTTS has trained more than 40,000 students to become tax professionals. They are also the only nationally accredited correspondence school that specializes in tax training.




Not only that, but they also must go through the accreditation process every five years. To me it means this is a company you can trust.

For the purposes of this review I was given the opportunity to review Federal Income Tax Course through the TOS Review Crew for National Tax Training School. According to the website,"this is the most up-to-date tax preparation course available". Some items that make this program really stand out are:

• Awesome Training Materials (binder, two books, software, and sample forms)
• Real life case studies
• Tax planning
• Instruction from experienced instructors
• Exams and grading
• Post graduate benefits for 2 or 4 years

Currently they offer two payment options. The program including 4 years of graduate benefits is $795.00, while choosing two years of graduate benefits will be $595.00. Before you wonder, yes, they do offer payment plans.

Some individuals may also be interested in the fact that completing the Federal IncomeTax Course can count for college credits that can transfer to more than 1500 colleges.


When a student enrolls in the program they will receive a plethora of materials dealing with all matters to become a tax professional. Here is what a student will receive:

1. Complete Text Material - 20 assignments that walk you through the whole tax filing process for individuals and small businesses.
2. Self Check Practice Problems - each assignment is followed by a self test with answers.
3. Examination Problems - after taking the self test you will then take the exam and mail it in to be graded.
4. Instruction and Grading Service
5. Practical Case Studies
6. Student Guidance Service
7. Building and Operating a Successful Tax Practice Book
8. Reference Book
9. Graduation Certificate
10. Post Graduate Services

This is an incredible amount of material. Anyone out there that might be looking to change or start a new career can really get a lot of bang for their buck with this program. Everything a person would need to start their own business. NTTS states this program can be finished in 8-10 weeks, but the student is allowed up to a year to finish the program. After completing the course the student will still need to take the IRS Tax Preparer Exam to prepare taxes for others or to open up a tax business.

New Information from National Tax Training School

NTTS is launching this entire course online. Currently lessons 1-10 are available. In the future they hope to add audio and video lectures as well as discussion forums. So far I found the navigation of the website easy and user friendly. I am very much looking forward to lectures, so that I will better understand all the tax information and concepts.

Why I Wanted This Review and What I Thought

I applied for this review because knowledge is power. For 26 years a professional tax preparer has prepared our taxes. With the knowledge I gain from this program I can prepare our own taxes. Currently I am a co-director of an educational cooperative and it will be handy to have this tax information for future use. When I received the binder in the mail I was impressed with the material. Then a couple of weeks later I received four more items and thought this is great. Once I started reading, it became a bit overwhelming. Definitely material that should be taken one bite at a time. The tax language at times was over my head and I had to read segments over and over to gain understanding. To be honest this is the first class I have undertaken that a grade would be attached to since college. That in itself had me feeling some pressure. I received my first grade back with a B plus and felt good about that. NTTS reportts that they grade the test the same day they receive it to get it back to you in a timely fashion. I have found this to be the case. Eight - 10 weeks to finish the program would be tough for "me", but others that can devote a few hours each day could do it in that time frame. When I reached assignment 7 I became frustrated and decided to take a break from the program. A few days later I received my scores for assignments 2-5 and actually got good grades. This encouraged me to go ahead and finish the program. I have the remainder of a year to finish it and will take my time. So far the program has taught me so much I had not idea about in the tax world. So far I have learned that I can do my own taxes and feel confidant that I did them correctly. Getting into the tax business could not be easier with using all the materials and guidance you will receive from National Tax Training School. I highly recommend them.

Please take a few moments and peruse National Tax Training School to see if this is something that could benefit you.

To view what other TOS Reviewers think about National Tax Training School go to TOS Review Crew.

Disclaimer:  As a member of the TOS Review Crew, I received this product at no cost to me in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine.

Memories - Gilmore Girls

               This is one of my all time favorite shows. I love Gilmore Girls. It has been years since I watched this but it is available on Netflix. I've decided to to start from the very beginning and watch it all over again. Currently watching season 1 episode 1.

My Heart Stopped

This afternoon after lunch I let both my dogs out in the fenced back yard. They seemed to be enjoying themselves so I decided to let them stay for a while. I went upstairs to watch relax and watch some TV. About a hour later I noticed that neither of dogs had scratched to come back in so I went to check on them. Doodle was waiting at the door to come in but puppy (aka Angel) was no where to be seen. At first I thought maybe I had let her in and forgot. I called for her in the house and in the back yard to no avail. I really started to freak out at this point. You see this dog is like my third child (I don't mind admitting this). As I was calling her name out inside the house I looked out the front window and say a white blur running out from the wood area into our gravel driveway. Sure enough puppy had somehow gotten out of the back yard fence and went on a road trip. Luckily she heard me calling her and came right back, although I don't know how long she had been out and about or how far she had gone. We think we discovered how she got out and hope that doesn't happen again.

The Week Where Something Was Going On Every Day

Some weeks are just super packed. This week was one of those. I guess I will go day by day and let you in on all the awesomeness. I'll start with last Friday:


Friday - Grace and a friend went to see the Wonderquest production of The Frog Prince. After the production we went to Burger King for lunch and ran some errands to a craft store and Party City.

Saturday - Up early in the morning to attend Camp Mikell for Acts of Faith retreat. Team building exercises all day as well as intensive drama practice. Afterwards the team came to our house for dinner and worship around the bonfire. I cooked tacos with all the fixings for 13 of us. I also walked/ran for 45 minutes this day.

Sunday - Up early again to attend worship with the youth team. Acts of Faith led the service with music and skits while Scott did something way out of his comfort zone and delivered a 20 minute message. After the service we had a potluck lunch and visited. Both me and Grace came home a took a nap.

Monday - Since no school happened on Friday we decided to take Monday off as well and call it Fall Break. Went to visit with some friends and had a wonderful afternoon. Walked 45 today too.

Tuesday - Back to the books with all the regular stuff plus 4 items we are reviewing for TOS. Currently our favorite new item that we are using is The Pilgrim Story. You can read my review here to see why we liked it so much.  In the afternoon was cooperative with art and drama.

Wednesday - School in the a.m. again. Grace has been working on waking up earlier and get school work accomplished mostly by lunch. This afternoon I led the first meeting of our Youth Service Group from 2 - 4. Thirteen students showed up for the meeting which was a few more than I expected. Lots of ideas where thrown around the table. Each student went home with an organization, etc. to research and in two weeks when we meet again we will decide on a name for our group and what type of service we wish to start. I came home after the meeting and rushed out to walk while hubby brought home pizza for dinner.

Thursday - More school work in the morning. Grace attended her writing class after lunch and then we both headed to cooperative for choir and puppetry arts. After cooperative Grace went to Acts of Faith practice. Next weekend is our first performance at Victory Home which is a men's home that battles addiction.

Friday - This brings us full circle to today. School work this morning, going on a walk in a few minutes and Grace will go off to spend the night with a friend tonight. Other than cleaning out the chicken coops tomorrow I plan on a lot of down time at home watching television and reading.

To see what went on this week in other homeschoolers lives visit Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.