Kaake Family Blog

Here you will see the second round of plant starting for the Kaake family this year :) I was watering my plants the other night when I realized that they were not holding in water as much anymore.  Every day they were drying out.  This was a huge clue that they needed to be repotted into something bigger.    The other clue was in the picture above; they were root bound.  If these plants do not get repotted, they will die from lack of water because they will lost it very quickly.  Here's a few steps in repotting your plants you've started for the garden. 1. Purchase a potting mix - not garden soil.  Potting mix has special components in it that will help your plants grow strong.  It was also keep the water in better. 2. Purchase or use either smaller pots or you can use something deep and large enough for your plants to all sit in and then cover them with the potting mix.  Make sure your plants roots have plenty of room to spread out...

We have found that if we can add fun into our homeschool, the kids learn much faster.  I was at Goodwill yesterday and found this game; Sunken Treasure Adventure.  Jon and I played it for the first time this morning and had a fabulous time!  The best thing is that he was learning while having fun!  Below is a list of games we have played that have been very helpful not only for schooling, but good, quality family time.  Some are for younger kids and some are for higher elementary/middle schoolers. Games: Sunken Treasure Adventure board game - phonetics Candy Land  - counting, colors Go Fish by Playchest Games - memory Wild Craft - my daughter loves this game! - plants and their healing benefits. Battleship - strategy Almighty Heroes Adventure - bible Checkers - the jumbo version - strategy. Yahtzee - strategy/chance

My big helper! Using a seeder to make littles holes for the seeds. Some of our plants on the mini greenhouse shelves. Bottom of the "planter" labeled so I know what's in each one.  I write down what seeds they are and when they should germinate by.   I recently ordered seeds through Seed Savers Exchange.   They have been my favorite company to purchase seeds along side with Mountain Rose Herbs.  The quality is always great!  Today I planted my tomato and pepper seeds.  I have provided a list of what I used today, how many plants it will yield should they all survive and what I paid.   I still have to plant my bean seeds but they have not yet come in the mail.  However, the price below will reflect the beans. Supplies: 2 boxes Jiffy Refill Pellet's = $5.30 1 Jiffy Professional Greenhouse kit (w/36 pellets) = $4.24 1 package each of Ancho Peppers, Jalapeno Pepeprs, Tomato Plants and Bean Plants = $11.66 3 (3-pack) pack...

My daughter and I had so much fun planting more seeds today. I planted 28 pepper seeds and will hopefully have 100% yield. Ok even 50% would be cool. She planted 72 seeds consisting of Impatiens, Marigolds and Zinnias. As you can see above, she had a lot of fun doing this. There are a lot of sites out there for kids activities for earth day. I'm only going to give you one link. The below link is celebrating the creator, not the creation. Let's keep that in mind as Earth Day approaches. I do feel as Christians we do need to take care of what he has given us in any way we can or know how. :) http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/EarthDay.html In lieu of the coming Earth Day 2010, we're going to have a giveaway. We will send you the leftover seeds of what we're using this year and a few from last year. So far the mix includes marigolds, basil, a few organic pepper seeds and more. There's the possibility there may be some other goodies in the...

Thanks to my friend Mandi on amomshideout.com, I've started tons of felt board fun with my son. My church had this felt board they were getting rid of and I started making everything to put on it. So far his favorite thing to put on the board is the coconut tree tailored after Chicka, Chickan, Boom, Boom. As I'm typing he's saying, "mom, you have to come here and see my coconut tree". So off I go.