We have "in-house" mailboxes. We all made our own mailboxes, except my dad. We made them out of oatmeal containers, baby wipe containers, and one was from a cardboard cracker box. Now we can go around and give my mom or my brothers mail. We can send messages and letters to each other. It’s a nice surprise when you look in your mailbox.

You have to put an opening in your box for the mail. I drew pictures on mine and also put stickers on it, and we put our names on them.

I like seashells. They are pretty and interesting. Seashells come in many shapes and sizes. Some like the Giant Clam may be four feet, six inches, and weigh 579 pounds. The largest pearl found was in a Giant Clam and it weighed fourteen pounds. The outer shell was used for tables, bowls, and bird feeders.

Indians used seashells to trade for other items that they wanted. Wampum was the Indian name for money. These were pretty strings of shells that they made. There were two types of wampum. One was made from Black Helmet shells, and another was worth three times as much made from Whelk shells which were white.

The Murex shell is my favorite and can be any color of the rainbow. If you find a pure white or black Murex shell you will be finding one that is very rare and worth a lot.

The Cowrie was worth a lot in ancient Egypt. They are shiny and come in tortoise-shell color or light purple and brown. To tell you what, I’ve got one myself. Mine is mainly purple with dark brown spots on white.

Cone shells are found in many different seas from the Atlantic to the Pacific. There are over 400 types of cones. One that I have is light brown with dark brown stripes around it, and is approximately four inches long.

Scallop shells are a symbol you might recognize. They are also called “the Lion’s Paw,” the “Asian Moon”, and “ears.”

There were certain shells that when crushed were used as a dye. They were tiny purpura or nucella shells. Their color was purple and they were very expensive during ancient Roman times. The dye was used for clothes of kings and queens, and churchmen.

Our family went on a trip to Florida. We went to the beach there. I found lots of oyster shells but I didn’t find any nice seashells. They smelled terrible when I got home, because there was parts of the oyster that was still on it. When you get pretty seashells you should put them in a pot and boil them to kill the creatures in them. After you boil them, you can take an old toothbrush and clean the old mucky stuff off of them, and take a long skinny utensil to take the creature out of them. You can use baby oil, coconut oil or mineral oil to make them shiny.Then you will have a pretty collection of seashells.

I hope to have more chances of finding seashells, and I hope you have fun collecting seashells too.

"Over 200,000 families are without power in the state of Washington. Did you hear?," Mom was saying to me over the phone. "No, you're kidding!," was my response. She lives in Florida, yet she knows more than I do, and I live here! Poor people, I thought. Thank you God, that we are not among those numbers.

Author's note: I like humor - stories that make you smile. It is fun to liven up your stories with a little bit of it, and always a good idea to see the humorous side of things, even in difficult circumstances.

My sister Autumnrose was going out to our barn to milk the goats. It was raining very hard. She came back in the house and told us there were wild turkeys in the barn. We all ran to see. My brother Isaac thought they were quails but I guessed they were pheasants. My dad and my big brother chased them up to the barn from the woods. When they got close they could tell they were peacocks. They got near the feeder but didn't want to go in the barn and flew up into the trees.

We didn't know where they had come from, since we have no neighbors. We fed them for a week because we wanted them to stay. They make lots of funny noises.

If anyone would like three pretty peacocks please come and get them because they are eating our garden.

We got our turkeys as chicks. Only one of them died. They grew really well. We had them in a little pasture below our house. They stayed together and went into their pen at night. One morning a turkey was gone. We walked all around and found the missing turkey and it was missing it's head. An owl snipped his head right off. Turkeys make a vibrating noise in their chest. When they are upset they drag their wings on the ground. Turkeys are pretty interesting to watch but I like eating them best.

What is it like juggling the responsibilities of teacher, mother and wife? Wow, what a jungle! Teaching three children, looking after the mischief where abouts of a two year old, keeping a four bedroom home clean, laundry done for six people, keeping regular and healthy meals cooked, doing things my husband asks and keeping family and friends happy with regular outings to see them. How do I do it?

Wow, I must be Super Woman. No, I have three wonderful little helpers. They make many messes too, but they help pick them up and also help with the ones they don't make. This is the whole idea behind a homeschool. Not only do we learn together, we work together too. This is when children learn the most important lessons of all. How to work and how to do each job thoroughly and correctly. And to complete what they start. Book learning is only part of education. We also learn how to get along with each other.

Few people full understand the concept of homeschooling. We are schooling all day long, every day. Because homeschoolers are taught to look for a lesson in everything and to learn it well and remember it.

I am not super mom. I am a mother and a teacher who is thankful for three great homeschooling helpers.

I was walking along one day with a friend and we both saw a bird that had some dried grass in his beak standing on a fence post. I thought perhaps it was making a nest.

About a month later, my brother and I were walking down in our backyard, and we wondered what was under a log. Something that was about the size of a big rat came racing out. Then it flew off, and we noticed it was a bird.

I looked around, and I saw a bunch of grass hanging down from the fence, and I saw a little hole dug into a circle shape that was put into the ground. I looked in it and there were four little black and pink speckled eggs in a nest. I thought that was really neat! I believe that nest was from the bird that my friend and I had seen before.

I looked in a bird book to see what kind of bird it was, but I couldn't find the right one. She was brown with a dark brown tail, and was 5-6 inches long. I hope we get to see some baby birds in a few weeks!

(A week later the eggs hatched and we saw four very cute, pink little birds.)

I took a trip to California, and on the way home we drove through the Redwoods on the Avenue of the Giants

Many of these tall trees are over 2,000 years old, so it wouldn't surprise me if they are the tallest trees on earth. They are so tall, that they reach into other climates depending on the size! People carve things out of them and they've even made a drive through tree! When a Redwood falls, it starts to break down into fertilizer.

Then plants grow on it. This is called a nurse tree because there are plants growing right out of the decomposing tree! If you ever go through the Redwoods like I did, don't forget to watch the Redwoods. They're right up against the road!

One sunny afternoon, I went to the Fair with my Mom and three brothers. The first thing I saw was a BIG THING! It looked like a big ride that went up and down, and around and around. I was scared of it, because people were yelling. I put my hands over my ears. I didn't want to go near it!

I saw a bunch of animals at the Fair. I saw pigs and lambs and I saw a chicken, and a goose, and some cows. The pigs had some babies. There were seven baby pigs. Some were trying to get away from their mommy.

Jeremiah was scared from the dogs, because he thought they were going to bite him. One dog had a trophy. Two looked like Lassie.

I wore a hat at the Fair. It was Gideon's cowboy hat. I like wearing it. It is blue and black.

We drank orange pop, and we had some blue and purple cotton candy. I'd never had it before. It tasted like it melted in my mouth.

Some children had ballons, and we saw a bunch of them going up in the air.We saw a boy clown up on the stage and he was throwing some balls and he opened up his pants, and balls fell in his pants. I thought he was funny.

On my birthday, I want to go there again.

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