A Common Shepherdess

Loop Scheduling

2012-01-29T09:19:00.000-08:00

I wish I had heard of loop scheduling earlier in our home schooling journey. It makes so much sense that I'm amazed I've gone this long without figuring it out!

The basics: make a list of all the subjects you want to cover during your school year. Then determine how often you want to cover them. This is what our community loop schedule looks like. The community loop is for the subjects that all (or some) of the kids do together.

We start each day with Bible reading and prayer so I put that at the top of the list. Our state study is done irregularly (2-3 times a month) so I put that in the middle. My aim was to get through the schedule once a week. (It doesn't always work out that way but that is the great thing about loop scheduling. We quit missing subjects!) You can see that I've scheduled Zoology twice on the loop since we need to do that more often to cover the material.

Our day works like this: We start at 8 a.m. We all meet at the table at do our Bible reading (we are reading through the Psalms this year) and have prayer together. Then whoever is part of the community subject for that day stays. (Usually it is the older two boys. My second grader does independent reading during this time and my 5-year-old will read or play on Starfall if they are not part of the subject.) We work together until about 9 or 9:30. From there the older two start on their independent schedules while I work with the younger two girls. The idea is to work for a set amount of time and then move on. The next day, just pick up where you left off. Sometimes we make it through the schedule in a week and sometimes we don't. Before I would assign subject to days. For example, geography was slated for Thursdays. If we had a field trip on a Thursday or took the day off, geography wouldn't get done.

After making a community schedule and an independent schedule for each child, I used this form from Donna Young to make a checklist for each child. These checklists are mine and each child also got one (listing both community and independent subjects) for their notebooks. It makes it easy to see at a glance where we left off.

This way of scheduling has been so great for us! Too often at the end of the week we were trying to catch up so subjects like art and classical music were allowed to slide. I never feel behind anymore and we are consistently covering all subjects.

Kansas State Dinner

2012-01-22T18:32:00.000-08:00

Buffalo Burgers
Chuckwagon Potatoes
Rainbow fruit platter
Rustic Apple Pie

The American buffalo (bison) is the official state animal of Kansas. They once roamed freely all over the Kansas prairie. And they are very tasty! Bison meat is lower in fat and cholesterol than beef but tastes very similar.

I made a rainbow of fruit as a nod to The Wizard of Oz, which took place in Kansas. (Red - strawberries, Orange - peaches, Yellow - pineapple, Green - kiwi, Blue - blueberries, Purple - grapes)

Lewis and Clark crossed the northeastern corner of the state in 1804, opening the way west.
Many pioneers followed and blazed new trails: the Santa Fe Trail, the Oregon Trail, the Chisholm Trail, the Western Cattle Trail, and the Pony Express. Pioneer women served pies frequently. Pie is an adaptable recipe that could make use of regional fruits. A galette is a rustic pie that can be baked on a baking sheet rather than a pie pan.

Nebraska State Dinner

2012-01-06T18:07:00.000-08:00

Grilled steaks
Baked potatoes
Corn salad
Kool-Aid (official state soft drink)
Sorghum Cookies

If we hadn't just gotten through the holiday season, I would have made the dessert. With all the cookies and sugar we have had lately, I decided to skip it. The kids didn't miss it! In this area I haven't seen sorghum syrup but I have found sorghum flour and we also have sorghum fields nearby. I also served corn salad instead of fresh corn on the cob because it is January! I can't find the link but this is the recipe we used:
1 bag frozen corn, thawed
3 cups grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup diced red onion
4 Tbsp olive oil
4 Tbsp fresh lime juice
salt and pepper to taste.
Just throw it all in a bowl and mix!

Sorghum is one of the important crops grown in Nebraska with corn being the number one crop. It is, after all, nicknamed the "Cornhusker State." Much of the corn is used as feed for Nebraska cattle. Beef is also a major product of the state. Kool-Aid was invented in Hastings, Nebraska, in 1927 and in 1998 the Nebraska legislature named Kool-Aid as the official state beverage. The original six flavors were Cherry, Grape, Lemon-Lime, Orange, Raspberry, and Strawberry. We opted for orange.

Iowa State Dinner

2011-08-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

Grilled Pork Chops on a Stick, brined with a dry rub
Salad on a Stick
Grilled corn on the cob
Milk
Dutch Letters

The Iowa State Fair is the largest event in the state and is known as "America's Classic State Fair." It was the inspiration behind a novel, three motion pictures and Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway musical, "State Fair."

Iowa is the number one pork producing state in the U.S. The Iowa Pork Producers Association serves up over 6,000 pork chops on a stick each day during the state fair. In order to expand healthier options, vendors at the fair started serving salad on a stick.

Iowa alone produces more corn each year that most other countries in the world. It has produced the largest corn crop of any state for the past 14 years. Most of it is used as animal feed.

Dutch letters are traditionally made into an "S"-shape but any letter can be formed. I made one for each kid in the shape of the first letter of their name as well as some "S"-shaped ones. These treats are popular during Christmas time and can be found in many bakeries.

South Dakota State Dinner

2011-08-05T19:40:00.001-07:00

Chislic with crackers
Fry bread (official state bread) with honey
Wild blueberries, plum and cherries
Milk (official state beverage)
Apple kuchen (official state dessert)

Chislic is a food that is apparently unheard of outside of South Dakota. Chislic is chunks of seasoned meat that has been deep fried. I used beef. Other choices include lamb, venison, and elk. Before frying, I sprinkled it with a simple seasoning of garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Fry bread has become a popular Native American treat. The honey bee is the official state insect of South Dakota so we chose to use honey as a topping. Toppings can be savory, like taco fixings, to sweet, like berry syrup or powdered sugar.

Blueberries, plums and chokecherries all grow wild in South Dakota. I don't have access to wild plums or chokecherries so we just cut up some plums and cherries and mixed them with wild blueberries that are readily available frozen at the grocery store.

For the apple kuchen I used the official state recipe. The family loved it! In fact, they loved all the food.

North Dakota State Dinner

2011-07-25T22:43:00.000-07:00

Knepfla Soup
Rolls
Cucumber salad
Milk (official state beverage)
Chocolate-covered potato chips

Knepfla (or knoephla) soup comes from the German-immigrants-by-way-of-Russia that settled in North Dakota in the late 1800s. It is basically a dumpling soup with potatoes and cream. My kids loved this, even on a hot July day. My seven-year-old daughter made most of the soup herself. She chopped the vegetables, rolled and cut the knepfla and dropped it into the soup. I made a simple brioche dough in my bread machine and then baked them in the oven. We used a simple cucumber salad recipe: salted sliced cucumbers and sliced red onions in a dressing of 1 cup apple cider vinegar (heated to boiling first) and 4 tsp sugar.

Carol Widman's Candy Company in Fargo is home of the famous chocolate-covered potato chips, or Chippers as they are called. These were a bit of a challenge to make since I am allergic to sunflower oil which is in most potato chips. I opted to cover a baking sheet with plastic wrap. I poured the bag out and drizzled melted Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips on top so I didn't have to handle the chips. The kids easily broke them apart for serving later. The kids sure loved those too!

Minnesota State Dinner

2011-05-28T14:44:00.000-07:00

Wild Rice Soup
Lefse
Milk (official state beverage)
Blueberry crumb bars

Wild rice is Minnesota's official state grain. For many years, Minnesota produced almost all of the world's wild rice. It was a staple food for the Ojibwa, Cree and Menomini Native American tribes. Lefse is a traditional Norwegian flat bread and still a popular treat among Minnesotans. Milk is the official state beverage. Blueberries can be found wild throughout Minnesota.

This dinner is very white. I lived in Minnesota from about age 5 until I was married. I remember after having dinner at someone's house, we remarked how everything on the plate was white. Growing up with parents raised in the South, we were more used to sweet tea with dinner than milk and definitely used to more spices! My kids loved the wild rice soup, lefse and blueberry bars though! (My seven-year-old daughter added plenty of Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning to her soup!)

Quick, Easy Apple Sticky Buns

2011-05-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

I'm a sucker for a good deal. This past week I was able to purchase four cans of Pillsbury Grands! Biscuits for only $0.70 total! My kids aren't that fond of them plain however. I managed to come up with an easy recipe that guarantees the biscuits will be eaten in a flash. My kids love these for breakfast with strawberry smoothies.

Apple Sticky Buns

Topping:
4 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp light corn syrup or honey
1 small apple, peeled and diced

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Pour into a buttered 9" round pan. Place one biscuit in the center and place six more around the edges. (There will be one biscuit left over. I'll coat that with butter and cinnamon sugar and bake that on a small baking sheet.) Spread some softened butter over the tops of the biscuits and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350*F, until biscuits are golden brown. Remove from oven. Place a large plate upside down on top of the pan. Invert the pan to remove biscuits. Serve warm.

If you like nuts, you can add 1/2 a cup or so of pecans.

Nature Walk

2011-05-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Nature study is an important part of Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education. It doesn't really feel like nature study to talk a walk around a city block though. We love the opportunity to escape the city and enjoy a more rural setting. Today we took the chance to visit the Hassayampa Nature Preserve. A guide took us through a couple of trails and encouraged the kids to make notes in their nature journals.

One exercise that I will use in the future was to divide blank page into four sections by drawing a cross in the middle of the page. Then devote each section to four senses: touch, hearing, seeing, and smell. Our guide asked the kids to sit for 1-2 minutes, concentrating on one sense and then to write or draw.

We came across this little fellow. His scales shone iridescent and yet he still blended in well with the tree.

"Hassayampa" comes from a Yavapai word meaning "upside down river." Most of the Hassayampa River flows underground. It is an unexpected surprise in the middle of the Sonoran Desert!

Wisconsin State Dinner

2011-04-14T20:59:00.000-07:00

Bratwurst
Beer cheese soup topped with popcorn
Spinach salad with bacon dressing
Milk
Cream puffs

Wisconsin is known as "America's Dairyland." According to the Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service, the total monthly milk production in Wisconsin is 2.2 billion pounds and in 2008 Wisconsin produced 2.5 billion pounds of cheese. The official state nickname is The Badger State, but it isn't what you think. The "badgers" were miners in the 1800s. They would tunnel into the ground looking for lead (galena) and many of them lived in the tunnels they dug. Thus the nickname "badger". Wisconsin has since adopted the badger as its official state animal.

Bratwurst is a German sausage and many Wisconsin residents have a German heritage. That might have something to do with why Wisconsin has so many breweries.

Pork is a popular product throughout the midwest region. My mom made this salad dressing that is especially good on a spinach salad:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
crumbled bacon

You can fry up some bacon slices and then crumble or use real bacon pieces found in the salad condiment aisle (not imitation bacon bits!).

Milk is the official state beverage, of course. Cream puffs are a good dairy dessert and another popular midwestern dish. My kids really liked these which surprised me as cream puffs aren't all that sweet.

Illinois State Dinner

2011-03-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

Chicago-style deep dish pizza
watermelon
Cracker Jack

Pizza is always a hit! Chicago-style pizza was invented at Pizzeria Uno in Chicago in 1943. We made ours with sweet Italian sausage and pepperoni. I didn't have a 15-inch deep dish pizza pan so I made it in two of my cast iron pans. It turned out great. I used a 10-inch pan and an 8-inch pan. I always like to serve a fruit or vegetable with pizza so we choose watermelon. Watermelon certainly isn't peculiar to Illinois but it is popular throughout the whole Mississippi Valley area. Cracker Jack was first introduced to the public at the World's Columbian Exposition (more commonly called the Chicago World's Fair) in 1893--most likely America's first junk food. Although consisting of peanuts, popcorn, and molasses, it is probably healthier than most of today's junk food! The Chicago World's Fair popularized many new things: electric lighting, motion pictures, elongated coins (I collect these every where we go!), the Ferris Wheel, Quaker Oats, Juicy Fruit gum, ragtime music, even spray paint!

Indiana State Dinner

2011-02-15T18:36:00.000-08:00

Breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches
Orville Reddenbacher's Popcorn
Van Camp's Pork and Beans
Hoosier Sugar Cream P ie

Pork is a major product of Indiana. Pork tenderloin sandwiches are popular throughout the Midwest but are also a famous sandwich from Indiana. In 1998 there was even a documentary released called "In Search of the Famous Hoosier Breaded Tenderloin."

Orville Reddenbacher was born and raised in Brazil, Indiana. He developed his own hybrid of popcorn in Valparaiso, Indiana. In 1970, he started selling his gourmet popcorn which is still the most popular brand of popcorn in America.

From the Van Camp's website: "America’s #1 Pork & Beans since 1909! Van Camp’s Pork & Beans traces its roots back to 1861 when Gilbert Van Camp and his wife Hester opened a family grocery store in Indianapolis, IN where they canned fruits and vegetables. Gilbert’s son, Frank, discovered that their Pork & Beans tasted even better when served hot in tomato sauce. He began to advertise the notion, and an American favorite was born." The Van Camp family also supplied pork and beans to Union soldiers during the Civil War.

Water is the official State Beverage.

Sugar cream pie was voted Indiana's Official State Pie in 2009. Sugar cream pie is about as old as the state itself and believed to have been brought to the state by Quaker settlers. How does it taste? Sugar. Cream. Pie. Need I say more?

Michigan State Dinner

2011-01-07T18:44:00.000-08:00

Pasties
Baked Apples
Vernor's ginger ale (bottled in MI since the Civil War)
Cherry Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

This was a very beige dinner but tasty! A pasty (past-ee) are a savory filled pastry. Copper and iron deposits were discovered in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during the 1840s. Many of the first settlers to the area were immigrants from Cornwall of England, with years of mining experience. Pasties were a convenient lunch to carry into the mines. It could be held by the crust on the edges with dirty hands with the crust was tossed after the meal was completed. The traditional filling is meat, potatoes, and onion. There are also two-course pasties. The meat filling is on one side, a stale bread or roll of dough in the middle, and jam or fruit on the other side.

The apple blossom is the state flower. Vernor's ginger ale is the oldest brand of ginger ale in America. It was developed in Detroit and has been sold since 1866. Michigan is also a leading producer of cherries.

Ohio State Dinner

2010-11-08T15:20:00.000-08:00

Cincinnati-style chili
Fried Apples and Onions
Tomato juice
Buckeyes

The kids thought the chili was pretty good. They liked it even better the next day served on tostadas topped with melted cheese. We choose an apple side dish because Johnny Appleseed, although born in Massachusetts, lived and planted many apple trees in the Ohio region. Tomato juice was voted the official state beverage in 1965. Buckeye candies are delicious bites of peanut butter and chocolate. They resemble the nut from the official state tree, the buckeye.

Louisiana State Dinner...and Breakfast and Lunch

2010-10-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

Breakfast:
Beignets and cafe au lait

Lunch:
Fried shrimp po-boys
French fries
milk with nectar soda syrup

Dinner:
Gumbo
garlic French bread
Barq's root beer
Bananas Foster

My dad was born and raised in New Orleans. My parents married there and taught in a one-room school house down in the bayou near Port Sulphur. My older brother and I were also born in New Orleans. We moved to Minnesota when I was still young, but we carried all the great food recipes with us. Food from this area holds so many memories for me. I've eaten beignets and sipped cafe au lait at Cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter. My brother and I used to sneak into my grandmother's refrigerator on her front porch and drink nectar soda syrup straight from the bottle. Family get-togethers always had amazing food: boiled crawfish, gumbos, and etoufee. One of the first places we would stop when we visited New Orleans was some little hole in the wall place for a po-boy. My favorite was the roast beef.

We decided to have a whole day of Louisiana food and we still didn't even begin to cover all the famous and unique foods from this area: mirliton casserole, jambalaya, red velvet cake, red beans and rice, muffulettas, king cake, boudin, dirty rice, pralines, bread pudding, shrimp creole, not to mention all the different types of gumbos (seafood or chicken? filé or okra?).

Mississippi State Dinner

2010-09-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

Fried catfish

Creamed Pimiento Sandwiches

(my Mississippi grandmother's recipe)
1 egg
3 T flour
2 T sugar
1 tsp salt
3 T water
3 T butter
1/2 lb. grated cheddar cheese
3 T vinegar
1/2 c evaporated milk
1 small jar chopped pimientos, well drained
Beat one egg; add flour, sugar, salt, water, butter and cheese. Cook in a double boiler until thick. Add vinegar, evaporated milk and pimientos. Cook again until thickened; cool. Spread on crackers or between slices of bread for a sandwich.

Crossroads Coleslaw

(from a cousin who got it from a fish house in Crossroads, Mississippi)
1 large head cabbage, finely shredded
3 carrots, finely shredded
Dressing:
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c parsley flakes
1/4 c onion flakes
1/2 c mayonnaise
1/2 tsp liquid garlic
1 c pickle relish
Salt and black pepper to taste
Mix all together. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.

Fried dill pickles
Speckled butter beans
Sweet tea
Mississippi Mud Cake

The state Mississippi takes its name from the Mississippi River, the Father of Waters. What else could we eat but catfish? The pimiento cheese spread isn't necessarily a Mississippi recipe but my paternal grandmother, who was born in Mississippi, made it often. We loved it! It is especially good on Ritz crackers. Coleslaw is a must with fried foods. The above recipe came from a Mississippi fish house. Fried dill pickles are a part of many Southern all-you-can-eat buffets, alongside fried seafood, fish and chicken. My maternal grandmother, also born in Mississippi, made speckled butter beans every time we visited. So, so yummy! Be sure to add some bacon grease and lots of salt to the pot when cooking them. I buy bags of frozen butter beans at Walmart. Sweet tea is a must with any Southern meal. There is Mississippi mud cake and Mississippi mud pie. We chose the mud cake. The recipe I used for our dinner didn't include marshmallows. The recipe linked above does.

First Two Weeks

2010-09-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

Our first two weeks of school have gone well. I am so proud of our oldest son. He has never liked school all that much and needs so many reminders to focus. He really liked the checklists and I think I had to remind him only once or twice the first week to get back on task.

I think everyone's favorite subject is music. They have pretty much learned their hymn for this month and folksong for this term. The only problem is that I have those songs rolling through my head constantly. Have you ever sang "Waltzing Matilda" for three solid days and even had it invade your dreams? It's not as fun as it sounds.

Our artist this term is Albrecht Durer. These first two weeks we have been studying his woodcut "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." We made some prints of our own using potato "cuts".

We do our Bible reading, music (hymns, folksongs and classical), art, nature study, and zoology together. Our 1st grader also reads a daily poem and does math, spelling, literature, history, nature study through literature (we are reading Burgess Bird Book for Children and James Herriot's Treasury for Children), and geography. Our 4th and 6th graders also do all these subjects plus a science experiment every other week.

Alabama State Dinner

2010-08-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

Country-fried steak
Mashed potatoes
Fried green tomatoes
Sweet tea
Sweet Potato Pie with Praline Sauce

I found this recipe on a message board:

2 eggs
1 c sugar
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 c whole milk
2 Tbsp butter
1 c cooked sweet potato pulp
1 unbaked pie shell

Beat eggs slightly; add sugar, salt , spices and milk. Add butter to sweet potato pulp. Then add liquid mixture to sweet potato pulp. Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake in hot oven (450F) for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until filling is firm.

Praline Sauce
2 c (7 oz.) pecans
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 c water
1 c cream
1/4 c bourbon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, Spread the pecans on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 12
minutes, or until browned and fragrant. Let cool, then coarsely chop the pecans.
In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and water and cook over moderate heat without
stirring, until a deep amber caramel forms, about 20 minutes. Gradually stir in the heavy cream and continue stirring to dissolve any lumps of caramel, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the bourbon and the pecans. Serve the sauce warm or at room temperature. The sauce can be made up to 3 days in advance and refrigerated.

Could this dinner have any more calories?! The trouble with all these southern states is that so much of the food is interchangeable between states. This Alabama dinner could represent just about any state south of the Mason-Dixon Line! Country fried steak is probably German in origin (think wiener schnitzel) but it has become closely associated with Southern cooking. And you can't have country fried steak without mashed potatoes and gravy.

Fried green tomatoes are another delicious Southern dish. I put them with Alabama because of Fannie Flagg's book Fried Green Tomatoes, set in Alabama.

The sweet potato pie is a nod to George Washington Carver. Carver wasn't born in Alabama but spent much of his life at Tuskegee Institute. He is famous for developing many uses for the sweet potato as well as the peanut. I added the praline sauce not only because it is delicious, but because the pecan is the official state nut of Alabama. (The kids also enjoyed the praline sauce on waffles the next morning. Mmm, it would also make a good topping for cinnamon rolls.)

First Day of School 2010

2010-08-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day of school! For our 6-year-old it was her first day of 1st Grade. We have never really made a big deal out of our first day since we tend to do school work year round, but our 6-year-old is big on celebrations so I thought we should do something.

This year I did much more advance planning. This year everyone has their own color coordinated books of checklists and materials. We spent some time decorating the covers of our Zoology notebooks. Our 4-year-old has a bunch of bird coloring pages in her book.

(Both girls insisted on wearing dresses for their first day!)

Each child made a First Day of School page that included a cut-out of their hand (I forgot to buy fingerpaint at the store), a photo taken this morning, a list of their favorite things and what they want to be when they grow up. Our 4-year-old wants to be a bunny doctor. Not a doctor who takes care of bunnies, but a doctor who dresses like a bunny. Her current favorite accessory is her bunny ears headband.

For lunch we had apples, a school of fish (goldfish cheese and graham crackers) and a stromboli made to look like a ruler with mustard and pepper inch marks.

Our 6-year-old said it was a fun day but that it wasn't really a party because we didn't have a pinata. Well, maybe next year we could have our new school supplies stuffed into a pinata!

Florida State Dinner

2010-08-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

Cuban sandwich
Florida fruit salad
Tostones (fried plantains)
Orange juice
Key lime pie

This is more of a southern Florida menu. Cuban sandwiches and fried plantains are found throughout the Miami area. Miami, of course, has a large Cuban population. We can't get Cuban bread around here so I used a loaf of French bread. If you wanted to make your own Cuban bread, here is a recipe. It's a two-day process, so plan ahead! My husband is not a big sandwich eater but he really liked these sandwiches. I roasted a pork ribeye roast the day before after marinating it with some Italian dressing. After it cooled, I sliced it thinly and then it sat in its own juices in the fridge overnight. As a result, it added moisture to the bread. I pressed the slices of sandwich in my George Foreman grill until the bread was crispy. Then I wrapped them tightly in foil and put them in a warm oven (about 170*F) to heat thoroughly before serving.

Florida is famous for her citrus crops. The orange blossom is the state flower, the orange is the state fruit and orange juice is the official state beverage.

Key limes are not exclusive to the Florida Keys (the ones I used came from Mexico) but they are different from regular limes you'll find at the grocery store. If you can't find fresh Key limes, you can probably find a bottle of Key lime juice. The recipe above calls for 1/2 cup Key lime juice, about 12 limes. I ended up using about 24 limes to get 1/2 cup.

Georgia Dinner

2010-07-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

Brunswick stew
Vidalia onion rings
Roasted peanuts
Coca-cola
Peach cobbler

Brunswick stew is traditional in the southeast. There is a debate over whether it originated in Brunswick, Georgia, or in Brunswick County, Virginia. As the Georgia humorist Roy Blount Jr. quipped, "Brunswick stew is what happens when small mammals carrying ears of corn fall into barbeque pits."

According to www.vidaliaonions.org, "it is only in the defined production area in Georgia that the soil and climate combine to produce the special characteristics of the sweet Vidalia onion that has attracted the attention of gourmet taste buds everywhere. Under the terms of Federal Marketing Order No. 955, as well as a state law, Vidalia onions are defined to include only those produced in 13 counties and portions of seven others, all in Georgia." If it is labeled Vidalia in the grocery store, you can be sure it is a Georgia onion. Vidalia onions are also the official state vegetable.

Peanuts are Georgia's official state crop and the peach is the official state fruit.

The original Coca-Cola formula originated at the Eagle Drug and Chemical Company, a drugstore in Columbus, Georgia. It was originally an alcoholic beverage. With the passage of prohibition laws in 1886, the Coca-Cola company was formed and began producing a non-alcoholic version and initially was sold as a patented medicine. It supposedly cured many diseases including morphine addiction, dyspepsia, headaches and impotence. Coca-Cola is now headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

South Carolina Dinner

2010-07-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

Chicken Bog
Boiled peanuts
Fried okra
Sweet tea
Huguenot torte

Chicken bog is a type of pilau, probably African in origin. This particular type of pilau is found only in South Carolina low country cooking; however it is similar to Cajun jambalaya and other pilaf dishes. We used a turkey smoked sausage to cut down on the fat. The recipe above was very good. Definitely going into my recipe collection!

Boiled peanuts are the official state snack. I had several cans on hand from when my mother traveled south and sent me some. To make your own, you have to have access to raw, green peanuts which are hard find outside of the southeast. If you can't find canned boiled peanuts at your local Walmart (sometimes carries a pretty good selection of southern food), maybe try a specialized Asian foods store. My sister finds them fresh boiled at a local Asian market. They contain sugar so are a little sweeter than what you would find down South. Boiled peanuts are a popular street food in places like the Philippines and Thailand.

Fried okra is a side dish very common throughout the southeast. We grew our own okra this year so we had fresh okra to fry. I have seen breaded okra in the frozen food section of Walmart. The kids loved it!

Sweet tea is the official hospitality beverage of South Carolina.

French Huguenots settled in South Carolina early in our nation's history. The Carolina colony established religious freedom for many groups like the Huguenots, Quakers, and even Jews in order to attract more colonists. Huguenot torte is named after the Huguenot Tavern in Charleston where it was first made. When I served it, I realized I forgot to add the vanilla. They all loved it anyway! My oldest son even asked if he could have that for his next birthday instead of a regular cake.

North Carolina Dinner

2010-06-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

North Carolina-style pulled pork barbecue sandwiches
Three-Potato Salad
7-layer salad
Pepsi
Blueberry Sonker

North Carolina-style barbecue has a vinegar base rather than a tomato base. I chose the Three Potato Salad because potato salad is great with barbecue and it uses sweet potatoes. North Carolina is the leading producer of sweet potatoes in the US. Pepsi was first made and sold in North Carolina in 1898. A sonker is a variety of cobbler unique to North Carolina.

Today's Children's Literature

2010-06-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

I am becoming increasingly disappointed with modern children's literature. Recently I decided to add some literature to our state studies. With the help of a friend, I finally figured out how to search our library's online catalog for children's books by setting. [Do a subject search for "juvenile fiction - (insert name of state or region)". Works great!] After pulling up the books available at our library, I used Amazon.com to get some reviews and synopses. Keep in mind that these books are written for 9-12 year olds.

Here is one book I found set in Georgia (opinions of reviewing librarians and educators in bold):
Daniel's nickname, D-Man, came from his Uncle Clay, who has been more of a father to him than the boy's mean, beer-drinking, cigarette-smoking dad. One fall morning, Clay gives his nephew his Granddaddy's shotgun and they go out to bag a few rabbits. Daniel's queasiness about hunting is embarrassing, so he tries to mask his qualms, and, concentrating only on his relief at escaping detection, inadvertently shoots Clay. The 11-year-old's first-person narrative of the ensuing trauma describes a community doing its best to understand the accident and support the boy, except for his abusive father. Even as his mother, teacher, neighbor, school counselor, and friends attempt to help Daniel return to normal, guilt overwhelms him....These are tough topics to read about, but the book will bring up many discussions. An appendix provides statistics on gun violence and a list of sources to contact for more information.

Yikes!

Here's another choice book:
"Brutal" describes the life that 11-year-old Jordan and her 8-year-old brother live with their abusive father. Never knowing what will set Papa off, they are terrorized by his illogical rages that leave them bruised and clinging harder to each other: "She got a beating with the belt. Not for not coming when he called, or for where they had been-.But for talking back. Jordan only meant to be explaining, but Papa thought it was the wrong tone. And Brother got a beating, too. For whining. It was the wrong tone. It was important to not use the wrong tone with Papa.....Short chapters, believable dialogue, and elegantly simple prose combine with superb character and plot development to create a memorable and touching story. A winner.

A winner? Really? I don't care how wonderful the character and plot development is. I think my kids will pass on that book, thank you very much. Another thing that bothers me is that at least half of the juvenile fiction books at our library set in the South are about segregation, slavery and/or racism. There are also a good number set during the Civil War where the hero or heroine spies for the North or in some way aids the Northern cause. I can't help thinking that in most people's minds the South is like an embarrassing relative that one would rather not claim. I think the South has more to offer than racism and can't be defined solely by one part of its history. (Good grief, as if racism is a sin unique to the American South!)

I know there are good books for children being written by modern authors but it is just sad that so much junk is being lauded by educators. And for what purpose? I just don't get it. I don't shield my children from everything (a common criticism directed at many homeschooling parents). I don't believe children's literature has to have Disney-like happy endings for it to be good. Literature is a good way of exploring different aspects of life and the human experience. But why burden a child with graphic descriptions of abusive parents? A child has no power to change that in the real world and no way of coping with that. Some topics are best left for when they are older.

This book sounds more promising:
Ida Early is as tall as the tales she tells, a gangly scarecrow who comes to the rural Georgia home of widower Mr. Sutton during the Depression years. Her offer to help out for a spell delights the four Sutton children and their father ... and life becomes a three-ring circus for the kids.

I'll be putting that one on hold at the library. But I'll read it before handing it over to the kids--just in case!

Tennessee State Dinner

2010-06-11T18:43:00.001-07:00

Barbecue chicken
Buttermilk biscuits
Wilted lettuce
Variety of pickled vegetables
Strawberry lemonade
Molasses stack cake with apple butter

I'm sure the barbecue chicken recipe I linked above is very good. But tonight I didn't have time to make my own barbecue sauce. I marinated the chicken pieces for 2 days in Kraft Italian dressing. I used Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce since that is our favorite barbecue sauce.

The buttermilk biscuit recipe is the best I've tried. I did add an additional 2 Tbsp of butter. Maybe it's the dry weather here but they turned out better with the added fat. The biscuits are so soft and tender. My six-year-old ate four of them with supper.

For the pickled vegetables I used some homemade refrigerator pickles I already had on hand.

According to AppalachianHistory.net, the stack cake is one of the most popular southern Appalachian cakes.

At holidays and weddings, early mountain settlers traditionally served stack cake in lieu of more fancy, and costly, cakes. Neighbors would each bring a layer of the cake to the bride’s family, which they spread with apple filling as they arrived. It was said that the number of cake layers the bride got determined how popular she was.

The molasses stack cake recipe linked above is a little vague on some things. For the 1 tsp mixed spices I used about 1/2 tsp cinnamon and scant 1/2 tsp ground ginger with a few shakes of ground cloves and nutmeg thrown in. I used a buttered cookie sheet and put several large spoonfuls on the sheet. I swirled it around to flatten the batter to about the size of a dinner plate. My dough wasn't stiff enough to roll out. I baked it at 350 degrees until golden brown.

My four-year-old kneaded the biscuits, whacked them with the rolling pin, rolled them out and cut them. My six-year-old made the salad. They had fun and were a big help!

Gluten-Free Zucchini Fritters

2010-06-09T09:26:00.001-07:00

Grate:
1 small zucchini (or 1 small yellow summer squash)
1/4 small onion

Mix together in a bowl:
1 cup gluten-free oat flour (I grind my own from Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Oats.)
3/4 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt

Stir in:
3/4 c club soda

Add:
grated vegetables

Drop by the teaspoonful into hot oil. Deep-fry 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt. Serve immediately. Sprinkle with lemon juice or serve with sour cream for dipping or just enjoy plain.

Kentucky State Dinner

2010-05-22T20:45:00.001-07:00

Southern fried chicken and cream gravy
Mashed potatoes
Spicy green beans
Milk (official state drink)
Blackberry cobbler

Colonel Sanders perfected his fried chicken recipe in Corbin, Kentucky, during the 1930s. His endeavor was so successful that in 1936 the governor of Kentucky granted Sanders the honorary title of Colonel. The blackberry was voted the official state fruit of Kentucky in 2004 and milk was voted the official state beverage in 2005.

State of Virginia Dinner

2010-04-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

Ham and red-eye gravy
Grits
Collard greens
Sweet tea
General Robert E. Lee Cake

Virginia is famous for her country hams. Country hams are quite salty and may be hardwood smoked then aged anywhere from several months to a couple of years. Red-eye gravy is made from the drippings of pan-fried country ham and black coffee. One legend surround the name is that President Andrew Jackson requested ham with gravy as red as the eyes of his cook, which were bloodshot from a long night of drinking. To make ham and red-eye gravy, simply pan-fry slices of country ham in a skillet. Remove the ham. Deglaze the pan with about 1/2 a cup of strong coffee. Scrap all the bits and pieces from the bottom of the pan. Boil until it has been reduced to about half it's original volume. Season with black pepper.

Grits is a corn-based porridge very popular in the southern United States. Corn is a crop native to America. Native Americans ate a mush made of softened corn and offered bowls of the boiled cornmeal to the early settlers and colonists in Jamestown, Virginia. One of Sir Walter Raleigh's men recorded notes on the foods of the Indians. Corn, he wrote, was "very white, faire and well tasted." I used Quaker's Quick Grits, found in the breakfast aisle at the grocery store.

Collard greens are a member of the cabbage family and date back to prehistoric times. The Southern-style of cooking greens originated with African slaves. Slaves were given the leftover food from the plantation's kitchens. Often these leftovers consisted of tops of turnips and other greens and ham hocks. The traditional Southern way to cook greens is to simmer them slowly with a piece of ham or other smoked meat. Add enough water to cover the fresh greens, add a touch of cider vinegar, chopped onion and a pinch of sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least 1 hour, until the greens are nice and tender.

Sweet tea is the staple drink of the Southern United States. I put 6 cups of water into a glass container and then add 4 tea bags. Set the container outside in the sun for about 4 hours. For fairly sweet tea, add about 1 1/2 cups of sugar and stir to dissolve. Add another 6 cups of cold water. Serve over ice with a slice of lemon.

Lee-Jackson Day is a state holiday in Virginia. It is observed in remembrance of two Confederate leaders: Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. Lee's birthday is January 19 and the holiday is celebrated on the Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Naming cakes and cookies in honor of Civil War heroes on both sides was a common practice in the years following the war. This orange and lemon layer cake was traditionally believed to be a favorite of Gen. Lee's. The first written version of the recipe appeared in the 1879 cookbook titled Housekeeping in Old Virginia and was called Robert E. Lee Cake.

West Virginia State Dinner

2010-03-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

Pepperoni Rolls
Fried potatoes with green onions
Apple Butter Oatmeal Bars
Apple Juice

This dinner is a little heavy on the carbs.

In the early 1900s, Italian immigrants moved to West Virginia to work in the coal mines. An enterprising restaurant owner created pepperoni rolls, a meat and cheese filled roll that was easy to carry into the mines for lunch. At one time, these rolls were rarely seen outside the state. They are found in just about every grocery store, bakery and gas station in West Virginia.

Ramp is a wild vegetable that grows in West Virginia. The Ramp Feed is held in Richwood each April. Ramp is a member of the onion family. They look a little like a green onion and have been referred to as the King of Stink. Ramp is often fried with potatoes. I used left over garlic mashed potatoes, added an egg and a bunch of chopped green onions and then fried up the patties in a little olive oil.

The Golden Delicious apple is the state fruit of West Virginia. The West Virginia Apple Butter Festival is held in Berkeley Springs every fall. I smeared a little more apple butter on top of the bars when they were cooked.

Maryland State Dinner

2010-03-11T18:17:00.000-08:00

Maryland-Style Crab Cakes

Maryland Spoonbread
Marinated tomato and cucumber salad

Smith Island Cake (official state dessert)
Milk (official state beverage)

Blue crab is one of Maryland's leading products. McCormick, the spice company that makes Old Bay Seasoning, is head quartered in Sparks, Maryland. A friend of ours who grew up in Maryland said that whenever he wants food to taste like something from his childhood, he sprinkles some Old Bay Seasoning on it. (I cheated and bought premade crab cakes. They were on sale at our local natural foods store.) Corn was one of the foods discovered in the New World and cornmeal quickly became a staple in Colonial times. Spoonbread is a cornmeal-based pudding or souffle culturally connected to the Southern states and often served with fried seafood. Tomatoes and cucumbers are important vegetable crops grown in Maryland. Smith Island Cake is the official state desert of Maryland. Smith Island is the only inhabited island in Chesapeake Bay. Needless to say, everyone loved the cake! The frosting is very fudgy.

C is for Carnival

2010-02-16T16:53:00.000-08:00

This week the girls have been studying things that begin with the letter C. Since today is Fat Tuesday (the last day of Carnival), it worked out perfectly. We read about Carnival and made Mardi Gras masks. The girls chose a butterfly template we found online.

For supper the girls helped me make creole pork chops and a king cake.

Letter of the Week

2010-02-01T06:33:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I started our oldest daughter in Year 1 of Ambleside. It proved too much for her. She just wasn't ready yet. Last week we switched to Letter of the Week. Big improvement! One thing I like about the switch is that our 3-year-old can sit in on the lessons as well. It has been easy to adapt the lessons to each girls' ability. Math for the week was addition. We used animal crackers as manipulatives. Our 3-year-old did some simple problems orally while my older daughter wrote out problems using mathematical notation. When we are done with Letter of the Week, we will move on to Sound of the Week.

I have chosen books with a little more depth than picture books. For the letter A we read a short chapter book that was a biography of Johnny Appleseed. We read two chapters a day. I am also able to use some of the material from Year 1 Ambleside where I can. For the letter B we will be learning about bluebirds from the Burgess Bird Book. We will also read "The Bundle of Sticks", an Aesop Fable.

State of Pennsylvania Dinner

2010-01-11T19:04:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia cheese steak sandwiches
Dutch spiced cucumbers
Dutch red cabbage
Milk (official state beverage) with Hershey's chocolate syrup
Shoofly pie

State of Delaware Dinner

2009-11-16T13:45:00.001-08:00

Peach and Bourbon Glazed Roast Chicken
Pumpkin bread
Succotash
Milk (official state beverage)
Peach pie (official state dessert)

The blue hen chicken is the official state bird of Delaware and the peach blossom is the official state flower. Delaware is also a leading producer of broiler chickens. Pumpkins, corn and lima beans were new foods discovered in the New World.

The kids absolutely loved the pumpkin bread. I'm glad the recipe made two loaves.

State of New Jersey Dinner

2009-10-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

Submarine sandwiches
Marinated tomatoes and red onion
Cranberry Splash Sierra Mist
Saltwater taffy

Hoagies, or submarines, are a popular food in all the mid-Atlantic states. The fresh tomatoes and onions (plus the veggies on the sandwich) are representative of the nickname The Garden State. I would have added cucumbers but forgot to pick some up at the store. I simply tossed the vegetables with Italian dressing. Saltwater taffy originated in a candy shop on the Jersey Shore. I chose Cranberry Splash Sierra Mist because it seemed like a summertime, seaside treat. Cranberries are grown in the northeast.

5552 miles!

2009-10-02T14:03:00.000-07:00

Road trips are so fun! We recently returned after a 5552-mile journey across 13 states. When my sister told us of her wedding on September 12, I started checking prices for airline tickets. It's expensive to fly six people halfway across the country! We decided to take our Nissan van with over 200,000 miles. We have a motorhome but gas alone would set us back about $3000. We decided to tent camp our way to Minnesota, over to California and back to Arizona. The night before we left we saw an ad for a tent trailer on Craigslist. Early the next morning we took a look at it and bought it. I'm so glad we did! It gave us extra room for storage as well as a comfortable place to sleep. It was an adventure!

Arizona

New Mexico

Santa Fe Trail Museum in Springer

Kansas

Front Street in Dodge City

Iowa

Minnesota

South Dakota

Wyoming

Utah

Nevada

California

Back to Arizona

New York State Dinner

2009-08-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

Buffalo chicken wings
Brooklyn bialys
Delmonico potatoes
Waldorf salad
New York egg cream
New York cheesecake

This has been a fun way to get the kids to try new foods. Our oldest likes new food but the younger three can be rather resistant to change! Tonight's dinner was hit and miss. I let the younger ones try the buffalo wings but they preferred the wings with no hot sauce. My older son thought they were hot but ate a bunch anyway because he said they were so good. The kids all loved the bialys. Only my husband liked the potatoes. That surprised me. Who wouldn't like potatoes in a creamy sauce topped with cheese? I guess since my kids have never liked scalloped potatoes, I shouldn't have been surprised. Everyone liked the Waldorf salad. I went the traditional route and made it with only apples and celery with mayo. The egg cream drink was a miss with everyone. It is a little strange--club soda with a little whole milk and chocolate sauce. Cheesecake is always well liked! I had to use a regular pie pan since my springform pan is back in Oregon.

The Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, serves over 70,000 pounds of chicken wings per month. Bialys orginiated in Bialystok, Poland. In the early 1900s, many east European Jews settled in New York City. Manhattan's Lower East Side is famous for its bialy bakeries. Delmonico potatoes originated at Delmonico's Restaurant in NYC around 1830. The Waldorf salad was created at the famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC in 1896. According to Elliot Willensky, author of When Brooklyn Was the World: 1920-1957, "a candy store minus and egg cream, in Brooklyn at least, was as difficult to conceive of as the Earth without gravity." Historians believe cheesecake was served as long ago as the first Olympic games, 776 B.C. A dairyman in upstate New York made cream cheese on accident while trying to recreated the French cheese Neufchatel. A true New York-style cheesecake is made with pure cream cheese, cream, sugar and eggs.

Weekend Decorating Project

2009-08-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

I've become obsessed with decorating shows. I had my wisdom teeth out a week and a half ago and I spent several days in bed watching DIY and HGTV. It was great!

This was my weekend project. I had a nasty, cheap bookcase I was using in the bathroom. The bathroom is quite small and the bookcase at least fit the space. I finally decided to go with a travel theme for the bathroom and got an idea on how I could disguise the ugly bookcase.

I sanded it and stained it. The stain didn't take like I wanted it to but it worked out in the end. I went shopping at Goodwill on their 50% off everything day and bought an old brown leather suitcase and two pillow shams. At JoAnn Fabrics I bought some upholstery tacks and three baskets (at 50% off--yay!). I cut up the suitcase and cut strips from the leather. I used the upholstery tacks to attach them to the bookcase. I used the material from the pillow shams to cover the back of the bookcase. I used decoupage glue and it seems to hold fine. My husband helped me take apart the handle so I could reattach it to the side. I printed out some pictures of vintage travel labels and decoupaged them to the sides. It was a fun project and turned something plain and boring into an interesting piece!

New England Lapbook

2009-07-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here is our first lapbook of our study of each state. In order to break down the information into manageable portions, we decided to study each state by region. Our first region was New England which includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode island and Connecticut.

For each state we made three mini-books. One book of symbols including a picture to color of the state bird and flower, state quarter, state seal plus two other symbols such as state insect, gemstone, shell, folk hero or tree. Our flag mini-book includes statehood information such as date admitted into the union, the state's nickname and motto. Our map mini-book includes information on the capital, postal abbreviation, products of that state, the origin of the name, geography and climate. We also looked at pictures of each state online and in books (our 8 yo son was excited that I came home from Goodwill last week with a book full of photographs from New England) and found some musical montage videos on You Tube of the New England area.

On to the Mid-Atlantic states next--New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland! I see New York-style cheesecake, hoagies, Philly cheese steak, succotash and crabcakes for dinner in the coming weeks.

Rhode Island and Connecticut State Dinner

2009-07-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

NY System Hot Weiners
New England coleslaw
Coffee milk (official state beverage of Rhode Island)
Connecticut apple pie

This dinner was a hit! The kids loved the coffee milk. I made my own coffee syrup using this recipe. I made it with decaf coffee. Our boys who prefer cold hot dogs actually liked these hot dogs topped with mustard, meat sauce, chopped onion and sprinkled with celery salt. We are enjoying eating our way across the US!

New York System Hot Weiners (or Gaggers) are a unique Rhode Island dish, despite the name. One story says that Greek immigrants working at Coney Island brought the food with them and added "New York" to the name hoping to capitalize on New York's reputation for good food. Coleslaw is a dish that went from the Dutch to the English and then on to New England. Coffee milk was voted the official state beverage of Rhode Island in 1993. It has been a popular drink in New England, Rhode Island in particular, since the 1930s. Apples are a big crop in Connecticut. Every year there is a state-wide apple pie contest at the state fair.

State of Massachusetts Dinner

2009-07-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

Boston baked beans
New England-Style Clam Chowder
Corn muffins (official state muffin)
Green salad
Cranberry juice (official state beverage)
Boston cream pie

The kids weren't so thrilled with this dinner. At the last minute I bought a can of clam chowder for my husband. My oldest son likes it but only at restaurants. Go figure. The Boston cream pie was a hit, but when is a dessert not? I liked the baked beans though! If I ever made them again, I'd go with salt port instead of ham hocks. We had to eat very carefully because of all the bone fragments throughout the beans.

Nayv beans, the type of bean used in Boston baked beans, are native to the Americas, or the New World. Every region has a different, traditional way of preparing beans. In Boston, traditional recipes contains molasses and pork instead of a tomato-based sauce. Boston's nickname is "Beantown." The corn muffin and cranberry juice are both official foods of Massachusetts. The Union Oyster House, located in Boston, is the oldest restaurant in continuous service in the United States. It has been open since 1826. It has always served clam chowder. Boston cream pie (really a cake, not a pie) was first served at the Parker House Hotel in Boston. A French chef, hired for the opening of the hotel in 1856, is credited with its invention.

New Hampshire/Vermont State Dinner

2009-07-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

Red flannel hash
Fried eggs
Homemade applesauce
(eaten frequently in Understood Betsy, one of our favorite books)
Apple cider
Maple syrup pie
(served with whipped cream or maybe Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, made in Vermont)

The red flannel hash was a big hit with our kids! I was very surprised. I mean, it has beets (shudder). I baked russet potatoes at the same time I baked the pie. After they cooled I diced them. I used canned beets and didn't add too many. I added them only after the potatoes were browned. I used three different kinds of apples in the applesauce: Fuji, Pink Lady and Granny Smith. It was very tasty! This time I remembered to serve dinner with our USA map placemats.

Red flannel hash is a testament to New Englanders' reputation for thrift. It is a make-do dinner using up leftovers from a Sunday dinner of corned beef. It is often served with fried eggs. The applesauce, as stated above, came from the book Understood Betsy which is set in Vermont. One of Betsy's first chores upon arriving at the Putney farm was to sweeten the homemade applesauce simmering on the stove. (If you like stories like Little House on the Prairie and Anne of Green Gables, you would probably like this charming book.) Apples are so common in the New England area we decided on cider as well. Vermont, of course, is famous for it's maple syrup. When I came across the recipe for maple syrup pie, I couldn't resist!

Sundials

2009-06-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

We made pocket sundials, or shepherd's dials. We found instructions in the book Nature Crafts for Kids.

State of Maine Dinner

2009-06-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Lobster rolls
French fries
Root beer
(since we can't get Moxie, the official state beverage)
Blueberry tarts

I have to admit I cheated. When I got to the store and was told it would be $15 for one 5 oz. frozen lobster tail (and the recipe called for five tails), I opted to go with a pound of cooked shrimp instead for only $3.99. (Shhh, don't tell anyone from Maine!) It was a big hit with my oldest son. He said it was almost as good as the shrimp in the white sauce at the Chinese buffet so that is a big compliment! :-) I made homemade New England-style buns (no crust on the sides, split top down) since we don't have them here. I used this recipe and shaped the dough into 12 long, fat ropes. I placed them on a greased pan 1/2-inch apart to rise and placed them close to each other so I had crustless sides. I baked them at 375 for about 10 minutes or so. I forgot to get whipped cream for the tarts but nobody complained!

Lobster rolls are a fairly modern creation but extremely popular in Maine. The typical side is French fries. Moxie, like some other soft drinks, was first created in the late 1800s and marketed as a tonic. Moxie, specifically, was supposed to be a remedy for paralysis, softening of the brain, nervousness and insomnia. The flavor is described as "distinctly different." You may remember the book Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey. This book takes place in Maine and is the story of a little girl out picking blueberries with her mother. Maine is the leading producer of lowbush blueberries in the United States and the wild blueberry is the official fruit of the state.

Menus for the Pacific Northwest

2009-06-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

Oregon
Caprial's Crab Club Sandwiches
Cranberry Pear Salad with Curried Hazelnuts
Milk (official state beverage)
Mixed berry cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream (We wish we could get Tillamook Ice Cream here in Arizona!)

Washington
Garlic Prawns
Buttered noodles
Baked Apples
Starbucks coffee ice cream

Alaska
Smoked salmon
Roasted root vegetables
Poppy Seed Potato Bread
Baked Alaska

Menus for the Pacific West

2009-06-09T12:38:00.000-07:00

California
Cobb salad
Sourdough rolls
White grape juice
Pistachio pudding cake

Hawaii
Loco moco (if you are feeling brave and very hungry) or Hawaiian sweet and sour chicken
White rice
Tropical fruit punch
Haupia or go out for Hawaiian shaved ice

Menus for the Southwest

2009-06-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

Texas
Texas-style chili
Pan de Campo
Texas sheet cake

Arizona
Carnitas with corn tortillas
Nopales
Caramel milk
Navajo Fry Bread

New Mexico
Green Chile Stew
Blue corn chips with pico de gallo and avocado
Hot chocolate with cinnamon
Bocaditos de Miel de Abeja

Menus for the West

2009-06-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

Montana
Blackstrap Steaks with Carmelized Onions
Country-style Fried Potatoes
Fruit leather made from applesauce
Huckleberry Buckle

Idaho
Grilled hamburgers
French fries with Fry Sauce (1/2 c ketchup, 1/2 c mayonnaise, 2-3 tsp chopped dill pickle)
(I had never seen fry sauce before moving to Idaho. Every restaurant had it!)
Cowboy beans
Huckleberry pie (or substitute blueberry pie)

Wyoming
Cowboy Beef and Beans with Roundup Bacon Biscuits
Mixed Greens Salad with Blueberry Vinaigrette
S'Mores Bars

Colorado
Baked fresh water trout or Eggroll Chile Rellenos
Potato and tomato bake
Millennium Mocha Rocky Road Oatmeal Cookies

Nevada
Basque Lamb Stew (We may substitute beef since we've tried lamb before and found it to be quite nasty. We will just pretend it's lamb!)
Basque Sheepherder's Bread
Grape juice

Utah
Pastrami Burgers (topped with Spanish sweet onions)
Mormon Funeral Potatoes
Fresh cherries
Utah's famous green Jell-o

Menus for the Great Plains/Mid-West Region

2009-06-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

North Dakota
Dakota bread
Knepfla Soup
Milk (official state beverage)
Chocolate-covered potato chips

South Dakota
Chislic
Fry bread
Milk (official state beverage)
Apple kuchen

Iowa
Grilled Pork Chops on a Stick, brined with a dry rub
Salad on a Stick
Grilled corn on the cob
Milk
Dutch Letters

Nebraska
Grilled steaks
Baked potatoes
Corn salad
Kool-Aid (official state soft drink)
Sorghum Cookies

Missouri
Toasted Ravioli
Green Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette
Raspberry cordial
Gooey Butter Cake

Arkansas
Chicken and dumplings
Sliced tomatoes (pink tomatoes are the official state fruit and state vegetable)
Berry Fruit Salad
Milk (official state beverage)
Biscuits with chocolate gravy

Kansas
Buffalo burgers (official state animal is the American buffalo) or Sliders (White Castle was founded in Wichita in 1921)
Chuckwagon Potatoes
Rainbow fruit platter (a nod to the Wizard of Oz)
Honey cake (official state insect is the honeybee)
(Since I'm allergic to sunflower seeds, I decided to stay steer clear of this state symbol!)

Oklahoma
Oklahoma actually has an official state meal. It includes fried okra, squash, cornbread, barbecue pork, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, corn, strawberries, chicken fried steak, pecan pie, and black-eyed peas. We pared it down a bit.

Barbecue pork
Biscuits
Strawberries
Black-eyed pea salad
Pecan pie

Wind Chime

2009-05-21T15:39:00.000-07:00

The girls and I made a wind chime today. We wanted one to hang in our new backyard patio area. This is a great handicraft for boys or girls.

We washed a can. (I believe this one held green enchilada sauce!) The girls helped me decide what design to punch into the can with a hammer and nail. They chose a heart on one side and a star on the other side. We used fish line and strung glass beads on the line from an old broken necklace and added some interesting keys that have long laid forgotten in an old bucket. Our oldest daughter added a metal heart she found at a garage sale.

Science Projects

2009-04-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

This past Tuesday at our homeschool group was Science Project Day. Here were our kids' projects.

Our 5-year-old daughter studied whether or not the shape of a blower would affect the shape of the bubble. It doesn't. All bubbles are still round!

Our 7-year-old son studied what dye combinations make which colors in Skittles and M&Ms.

Our oldest son tested different types of wood and found which wood needed more force to drive a nail through it. He made a hammering device that ensured equal amounts of force was used to hit the nail each time.

The nail went through redwood in 6 hits with the hammer. After 210 hits with the hammer, the nail had still only gone halfway through the oak piece of wood.

They all love hands-on projects!

Gluten-Free Shortbread

2009-04-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

I love shortbread. I have Scottish ancestors. How can I not like it?!

I came up with this tasty, gluten-free recipe.

10 Tbsp softened butter (1 1/4 sticks)
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1 cup oat flour

Beat the butter, sugar and salt on medium speed until very fluffy. Stir in the tapioca, rice and oat flours. Knead until well blended and smooth. Firmly press the dough into a 8 x 8-inch baking pan. Bake at 300 degrees for approximately 45 minutes, until pale gold. Remove pan and cut almost through the dough to form bars. If desired, sprinkle with 1 to 2 tsps sugar. Let stand until completely cool. Gently retrace cuts and separate into bars.

Spring in Arizona

2009-04-23T13:21:00.001-07:00

Cactus in bloom

Grapefruit

Orange blossoms

Pomegranates

Figs

Grapes

April Fool's Day

2009-04-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

We like to play with our food. This is what my 5-year-old daughter and I made to eat on April 1.

For lunch we had hot dogs and fries.

For supper we had cake and berry soda.

Can you guess what the foods really are?

The hot dogs were mini-bananas coated with peanut butter and topped with some strawberry jam. The fries were really apple slices coated with cinnamon sugar and baked for about 10 minutes.

The cake is meatloaf and the frosting is mashed potatoes, tinted with some pureed beets, and topped with celery leaves and grape tomato roses. The berry soda is strawberry Jell-o with berries added.

The kids loved it!

Homemade Nativity

2008-12-04T13:05:00.000-08:00

This is our nativity set. We made it last year. The kids love to play with it. I love it because the kids can handle it and I don't have to worry about it. I found the instructions on another blog but I can't remember it. I wish I could because I would link it! The kids and I had fun making it. The figures are made from wooden candle holders with wooden balls glued on top for the heads. We decorated them with felt and bits of ribbon. The three wise men are holding colored beads in their pipe cleaner arms. The baby Jesus is cream-colored pipe cleaner folded up and wrapped in white felt. Some time during the last year Mary misplaced her head covering. We will have to make her a new one.

Marinated Cucumbers

2008-12-02T19:45:00.001-08:00

My new favorite way to eat cucumbers.

2 English cucumbers (or regular), sliced thinly
1/4 onion, sliced thinly (or use dried onion)
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar

Layer the cucumbers and onion and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dissolve the sugar in the warm water. Combine with vinegar and pour over cucumbers. Allow to marinate overnight.

Weekly Report 9

2008-11-07T21:10:00.000-08:00

The most exciting thing this past week is that our 7-year-old graduated from Year 1 of Ambleside to Year 2. One thing we have kept from Year 1 is reading a poem every morning. We like all the crazy, goofy poems we have read so far.

Many winter people have now come into our RV park so my days are crazy busy. The boys aren't doing too well with staying on task with the distractions. The assignment books have helped some. For my oldest I have also started writing out his daily tasks. He needs the additional structure.

Today the boys got to spend the morning outside painting their new clubhouse their dad finished on Thursday. The girls will get to use it too. Our oldest is already planning on how he wants to paint the interior.

Election Day

2008-11-04T08:38:00.001-08:00

I came across this great link. It is a map of the USA with the states labeled and each state's electoral votes listed. The boys will be coloring it tonight as we watch the election results.

2008-11-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed.

The Rules:

1) Look at the list and put one * by those you have read.
2) Put a % by those you intend to read.
3) Put two ** by the books you LOVE.
4) Put # by the books you HATE.
5) Post.

** 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
** 2 The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë (never could finish this one)
4 Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

** 6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë (couldn't make it through this one either!)
* 8 1984 - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
* 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
* 12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
* 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (almost all)
15 Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
** 16 The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
* 19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
** 21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
** 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh -
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
** 30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
** 33 Chronicles of Narnia- C.S. Lewis
** 34 Emma - Jane Austen
** 35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
** 36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis de Bernières
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
** 40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
* 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
** 46 Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery (I can't wait until my 5 yo daughter is old enough to enjoy this with me!)
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
# 48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood (I HATED this book!)
* 49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
** 54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
* 59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
* 65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding (Does seeing the movie like 100 times count?)
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
** 72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Émile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - A.S. Byatt
* 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
* 87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White
* 88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
* 98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I've read 27 out of the 100. Not too bad I guess. Who put this list together anyway? Some of these I don't think I would ever have the desire to read! Sylvia Plath? No thanks! And then there are some where I feel like I've read them but then realize I didn't. Like The Secret Garden, Alice in Wonderland and Little Women.

Happy Reformation Day!

2008-10-31T10:42:00.000-07:00

We like having fun with Halloween but we also recognize that it is Reformation Day. Here is a biographical sketch of Martin Luther.

Luther (played by Joseph Fiennes) defending his writings at the Diet of Worms:

Halloween Menu

2008-10-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

Breakfast: Pumpkin pancakes and Scary Eggmen (I used sausage in the middle with a tomato tongue and drew eyes with a marker with edible ink.)

Lunch: Spiderwiches, Goblin Eyeballs (melon balls) and Goblin Fingers (baby pickles)

Supper: Batwings (apricot glazed chicken wings), Ghosts (mounded mashed potatoes with olive eyes)

Weekly Report 8

2008-09-14T12:57:00.000-07:00

Homeschooling while working full-time, 6 days a week is hard. But we are hanging in there. I made some assignment books for each our boys. Now there is no excuse for wandering away from their desks if Mom is called out to pump propane, take someone's rent money or anything else. They have their daily assignments and if they finish one thing, they should start on the next thing they *can* do. (Instead of "Mom, I couldn't do spelling so I didn't do anything else and that's why I'm over here playing with Legos instead of focusing on my schoolwork.") Of course, it doesn't always happen that smoothly but it has been pretty good so far.

This week we had the chance to observe a baby bunny. We have a lot of bunnies in our RV park. One resident brought it over to us because she didn't want a cat to get it. It stayed huddled up underneath our hibiscus bush all day. It was so little!

We took this opportunity to do our Green Hour Challenge #2: Using Your Words. The assignment was to observe quietly. Then with one word describe what you heard. With two words describe what you saw and with three words describe what you felt. Here is what my 7-year-old son came up with: What I heard: tweet-tweet, bzzzzzz; What I saw: bunny rabbit, red spider, some birds (well, he got his two words!); What I felt: hard concrete sidewalk, hot air. Here is what my 10-year-old said: What I heard: buzz, wind; What I saw: baby bunny (and he drew hearts around that); What I felt: rough dry dirt, nice clear water. I was good for building observation skills and strengthening their use of descriptive words.

Couponing

2008-08-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, coupon is a verb. I'm addicted. I'm a coupon geek.

Here is what I got this morning at Walgreens:

This is the run-down (including sale prices):

2 boxes Wheat Thins (2/$5)
2 bags Ritz Toasted Chips (2/$3.79)
2 boxes South Beach Cereal Bars (2/$5)
1 Crystal Light lemonade ($1.99)
2 Crystal Light On The Go ($3.98)
1 Peter Pan peanut butter ($1.67)
1 Neosporin (with free Band-Aid carrying case) ($5.99)
1 box Band-Aids ($3.99)
1 Oscar Mayer hot dogs ($2)
2 Ocean Spray CranGrape juice (2/$5)
1 Puffs facial tissue ($0.89)
1 Chemistry hair masque ($7.99)
1 L'Oreal Anti-Wrinkle Concentrate Serum ($12.36)
2 packages filler paper ($1.98)
1 L'Oreal hair color (clearance for $2.50)
1 Revlon nail color ($4.79)
1 Nivea men's body wash ($4.99)
1 Northern bath tissue ($4)
3 Glade scented oil candles (clearance for $1.49 each = $4.47)
1 CapriSun juice ($3.79)

Total before coupons: $86.17
- $38.04 in coupons (both manufacturer and Walgreens Qs)
= $48.13 + $2.77 tax = $50.90 total out of pocket

Walgreens has a monthly rebate program. I will be getting back the following rebates:

Buy $15 of select Nabisco products, get $5 = $5
Chemistry hair masque Free After Rebate (FAR) = $7.99
L'Oreal Anti-Wrinkle serum FAR = $12.36
Revlon nail color FAR = $4.79
Glade Scented Oil Candle = $2 off 1 (August rebate ends 8/30) = $2

Total rebate = $32.14

If I choose to receive my rebate as a Walgreens gift card instead of a check, I'll get an additional 10% so obviously I choose this option.

Total rebate + 10% bonus = $35.35

In the end I will have spent $15.55 for almost $90 worth of products!

And actually I made a couple of mistakes like buying the CapriSun because I mistakenly thought I needed the additional $3.79 to reach the $15 limit for the $5 rebate. So if I hadn't made a couple of mistakes I would have paid $44.31 oop instead of $50.90. Oh, well! The kids were glad I got the CapriSun anyway.

The best way to get started couponing is to first start collecting coupons and then organizing them. I bought a handy, dandy binder (free, of course! I got a free $10 Walmart gift card for signing up to receive the daily newspaper and bought the binder on clearance for $9.99.) and use plastic card holders to hold my coupons.

I separate them into four categories: personal items (cosmetics, shampoos, etc.), pharmacy items, household items, and food. Personal and pharmacy coupons are organized alphabetically so it is easy to find them for sales and clearance items. Household items are grouped by product like paper products, cleaning products, etc. Food coupons are organized by how I find them at the grocery store, produce first, then breads, then meats, etc. It just makes it easier to find things. My binder also has side pockets for coupons I haven't cut yet. And pockets so I can have all of my coupons together according to which stores I will be shopping at that day.

A great place to get started is Hot Coupon World. You can see advance copies of sales fliers so you can plan your shopping trips better. It's a great website!

New Assignment Books

2008-08-24T15:20:00.000-07:00

We have all been very sick this past week. We are still recovering. So what does a homeschool mom do when she is too weak to do much except lay around all day? Why, more planning of course!

I put together checklists and organized the assignments for my two boys. I bought them each a three-ring binder and made them each a cover sheet using a picture from their readings. The boys colored them. (You can see my younger one is still learning his spelling rules. "Mom, we can't end an English word with an 'i' so I added the silent E." "Or we change the 'i'..." "OH! *smacks forehead* I should have changed it to a 'y'!")

In each book I put their weekday schedule, showing them which subjects we study on what days. There is also a calendar to mark off each day we do school. Another page helps them keep track of which week of the curriculum we are doing. Last week my 7 yo finished week 26 of Ambleside's Year 1 and my oldest finished week 1 of Year 3. I've also discovered that my kids love checklists. It's a great way for them to see progress and also they know ahead of time what we need to accomplish that day. (Each of the kids are also color-coded. 10 yo is red, 7 yo is yellow, and 4 yo is green.) (And I have uploaded this photo three times and it stills comes out sideways.)

For Bible, we started at the beginning and are hitting all the major stories in the Bible. We are up to the story of Saul becoming king. We are also reading through the book Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland. It is an excellent book of basic theology for children. The boys had fun embellishing their checklists.

Even our 4 yo daughter has a binder. She has the Bible readings checklist, Leading Little Ones to God checklist, and the Music checklist. She sits in on all those subjects. She prefers to color all of her boxes in the checklist with a pink marker. We do Music three days a week. Monday is for Hymns (one hymn every month). Tuesday is Classical Music. We listen to a new piece every two weeks but only one composer per term. Wednesdays are Folksongs, a new one every term, which is 12 weeks.

And then how do you keep the kids occupied while you lay on the couch, exhausted and sipping Pedialyte, because, of course, they recover so much faster than you? Well, that's when my favorite subject is handicrafts and life skills. Our oldest loves working with his hands. Someone gave us an office chair but the frame was slightly bent. He did get it back together but couldn't get the frame straight again.

This keeps my 2 yo occupied for a very long time. And the carpet looks so much better when she is finished! (Actually, she saw me sweeping the kitchen floor and ran to get the small canister vacuum out of the closet by herself.)

Pancakes

2008-08-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

Most days I try to fix a hot breakfast. Pancakes are a staple in our menu. I'm always fooling around with the recipe and trying new things. Here was my creation this morning.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

In a large bowl, mix together

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 Tbsp sugar
Generous sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice (or even just cinnamon)

In medium bowl, mix together

1 oz. softened cream cheese
3 Tbsp leftover sweet potato casserole (complete with melted marshmallows!--or use canned sweet potatoes or pumpkin, then
use 3 Tbsp sugar above)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk

Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in 3 Tbsp melted butter. Cook on a hot griddle.

The kids seemed to enjoy them!

1930s Wife

2008-07-27T10:03:00.000-07:00

I always knew I was living in the wrong era. :-)

107

As a 1930s wife, I am
Very Superior

Take the test!

Weekly Report 7

2008-07-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been really lousy at these Weekly Reports! This new job of ours is taking much more time that I had anticipated. It has been a good thing though. We have always lived out in the country where our kids were free to roam. Since moving to Arizona, we stayed in our RV and then moved into a house for a few months. Living in a suburban house was not all that fun for us. The kids were used to running around outside and had to get used to being inside. Our backyard was dirt. No landscaping, trees, grass. Kind of boring.

Now we are back at the RV park but the kids are much more active outside. Our oldest is 10 and has taken on most of the responsibility of mowing the grass. Most days he spends about an hour mowing. Even our 4 year old daughter has a chore outside. Every morning she goes out and picks up all the old grapefruit and oranges that have fallen from the trees. She throws them into a bucket and one of the boys takes it to the garbage. The boys rake and pick up the piles. They like having things to keep them busy outside...most days they like it!

Our oldest would prefer to work outside than read. We are working on that reading bit. I've actually seen some glimmer of hope! Right now he is reading King of the Wind. He seems halfway interested. The other day we read about Henry VII. When we were finished with our history lesson, my son actually started asking questions. In the four years we have been homeschooling, this was the first time we didn't end our history lesson with, "Good! Are we finally done?!" There is hope after all!

New Job

2008-06-17T06:41:00.000-07:00

Life has been so busy lately. We have moved and my husband and I are now managing an RV park. I handle the office work. We will see how this works with homeschooling thrown in the mix! We set up a desk in the corner of the office to give the kids a spot to work. The office is connected to the house so I can keep an eye on the kids not doing schoolwork. Summer is the slow season here in the Sonoran Desert. (Today it is supposed to be 113. No wonder people head out of here in droves when summer hits!) Slow means I'm having time to learn the job and get the kids into a routine before it gets busy around here.

Listen to Your Mother

2008-03-31T12:39:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when your lip is numb after a visit to the dentist and you don't heed your mother's constant refrain of "Stop chewing on your lip!!"

More Nature Study

2008-03-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

In the last couple of weeks we have had more opportunities to do more nature study. We took a trip to the Hassayampa River Preserve. (Yes, there are rivers in Arizona!) It actually rained on us most of the morning. The only animals we got to see were some ducks. The Hassayampa River is a year-round river. It doesn't just flow after a heavy rainfall. We went with a group of other homeschool families following the Ambleside curriculum.

A few days later we took a trip to the zoo. A zoo isn't the best place for a nature study since the animals aren't in their natural habitats. But it gives the kids a chance to get up close to animals they might not have a chance of seeing otherwise.

Like stingrays and sharks:

and some kind of vulture (I don't remember):

Sad Songs

2008-02-26T14:28:00.000-08:00

My favorite thing is when my kids connect with what they are learning. Our folksong last term was Cockles and Mussels. This afternoon we listened to it again, just to refresh our memories. My 6 year old son said, "This song breaks my heart." Then a moment later, "Play it again. I like sad songs. Is this song real? Did she really die from a fever?" Our folksong this term is The Minstrel Boy, another sad song.
Our hymn for this month has been It Is Well With My Soul. The song is not sad but the story behind it is. If you have never heard this story, you can read it here.

Trouble

2008-02-18T11:10:00.000-08:00

You know there is going to be trouble when your 4-year-old runs into the kitchen and says, "Mommy, can you go upstairs please?" (Am I really that easy to manipulate?)

"What do you need, sweetie?"

"Umm....okay, there are no more dirty spoons outside so I need to get a clean one to take outside so I can dig."

Nature Study

2008-02-15T12:56:00.000-08:00

I feel like we never get to nature study. I have it scheduled for Fridays but by the end of the week, we don't seem to have the time or energy needed for this subject. Not all is lost though.

During the week we do spend time outdoors and I found a couple of great picture books that even my two older boys enjoy.

The first one is Bedtime in the Southwest. It's a funny look at how southwest critters might behave when Mama and Papa tell them it's time for bed.

The second one is Way Out in the Desert. It is new words to the old song Over in the Meadow. It's a great, gentle introduction to ten southwest animals as well as different Sonoran desert plants.

The other night, outside our boys' tae kwon do gym, our 4-year-old daughter was inspecting some of the flowers. Suddenly she ran over to me, yelling excitedly, "I saw a bird! It had the long pointy nose for drinking juice from the flowers!" I asked, "A hummingbird?" "YES!" she yelled. We have been doing Nature Study, we just didn't know it.

Big Brothers

2007-12-05T07:16:00.000-08:00

One of the fun things about homeschooling is that you have time for more of these moments.

Exam Week

2007-11-15T15:46:00.001-08:00

Last week was exam week for my oldest. (My second oldest only started his term three weeks ago so I didn't bother doing exams with him.) I was interesting to see how well he is doing and see where we need to change things a bit. It was fun to be surprised at some of the details he remembered. Exams were done orally and I recorded the questions and his responses in a composition notebook. For every exam week we have, I'll add questions and responses. I will be able to keep quite a few years recorded in one book.

I'd say his strongest area is Bible. He remembers much of what we have read. (Why did Joseph's brothers hate him? Because he got most of the attention and he dreamed dreams that made his brothers mad. The dream that really made his brothers mad was when he dreamed that eleven piles of hay bowed to one pile of hay. His brothers talked behind his back about how they didn't like these dreams.)

We are slowly making our way through Pilgrim's Progress. It is a tough read but our oldest seems to enjoy it. He's understanding the plot and we discuss how it relates to our lives as Christians. (Who is the main character and where is he going? Christian is fleeing his death. He has a burden on his back and wants to get it off.)

For math we used four pages of review work from his workbook. That was not a pretty sight. :) Math used to be his strongest area but now he doesn't have the patience for the longer work the problems require. We are working on that though.

History didn't fare much better. He remembered a lot from the historical fiction book we are reading based on the real-life Richard, duke of Normandy and grandfather of William the Conqueror. (Why is Richard called The Little Duke? His father died and he's only a little kid. He became duke after his father so that's why he's called the Little Duke.) But he didn't remember much from the actual history books we are using. (Who were Harold Godwinson and Duke William and why did they not like each other? Um....I don't know.) From now on, he will be writing his own narrations after we finish reading the chapter in history. I'll ask more questions as well. He did remember something of Thomas a Becket. (Why did Henry II fight with Thomas a Becket? What was the result of their fight? Thomas didn't agree with him on everything. Some knights killed Thomas. Henry said, "Can't anyone get rid of this man?" The knights thought Henry meant it but he really didn't.)

I'm very glad we did an exam week. I plan on doing them again. It was a learning experience for both of us!

Photo Contest

2007-11-15T06:28:00.000-08:00

A picture of my 9 yo son won a photo contest! The contest was for Simply Charlotte Mason. You can view the winning photos here. All the photos are great. How cute is that little boy with his guitar and cowboy hat? My son won in the Child Doing Handicraft or Life Skill category. While we were staying at the RV park, he helped a woman put up a temporary fence around her lot. That boy loves to work with his hands.

Weekly Report 6

2007-11-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

With everything that happened last week, I didn't get to write a report. Last week we finished up Week 10 and did most of Week 11. This week we finished Week 11 and Week 12. The end of Week 12 also marks the end of Term 1. That means we will be starting a new composer and new artist.

On Tuesdays we meet at a local park with other homeschoolers in the West Valley. The kids have an organized physical activity and then we eat a picnic lunch together. On the first Friday of the month we have book club. Each child brings a book he has read (or Mom read to him) and shares it. Homeschooling doesn't give a kid much opportunity to speak in front of a group so this helps. My 9 yo shared Understood Betsy. My 6 yo shared Mat, one of the Bob Books. He has been able to read this book since he was 4 and thinks of it as his very own, most favorite book. Our 4 yo shared Gus and Button. The story is a little silly but the pictures are very cool. All of the characters and scenery are carved from vegetables. I had to help her out at first but then she got the hang of sharing a book and showed the pictures to everyone. After everyone spoke, one of the moms read a book, The Giving Tree, and the kids did a craft. The craft was making a bookmark decorated with real leaves. Since there was painting involved, I made the kids wear old shirts over their clothes. The other day I left them alone with paint for a few minutes. When I came back into the kitchen, they were covered with it.

The book club meeting was probably the highlight of our last two weeks.

Our 9 yo started learning fractions. He is almost done with Singapore book 3B. We've also been using daily timed math tests to cement those multiplication facts. He tests for his brown belt in tae kwon do this next week. For his test he also has to know answers to questions like "Explain the five tenets of tae kwon do" so we have been working on those as well. (The five tenets of tae kwon do are: courtesy is always being kind and humble to others, integrity is always being honest and having a strong sense of right and wrong, perseverance is always being patient and diligent to achieve my goals, self-control is always being in control of my emotions and my surroundings, an indomitable spirit is when confronted with injustice, always deal with the situation without fear of reprisal.) Not bad values to be learning.

Last week our 6 yo started Year 1 of Ambleside. He enjoys it. He thinks I'm just reading him stories instead of teaching him anything. He likes listening to stories on Librivox so if I can find the selected reading there, I let him listen to it while I work with his older brother on math or spelling.

This next week will be exam week. I want to see how well the kids are remembering what we are learning. I thought it would be fun to also have a few hands-on activities later in the week as well in order to review things we have covered. Maybe we will have a medieval dinner or review fractions with pizza (or, better yet, pie!). The oral exams will no doubt show me areas we need to review. I'm sure understanding of the dreaded long division will be sorely lacking.

Vote for Ree!

2007-11-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

If you love Ree's photos as much as I do, then vote!

2007 Weblog Awards: Best Photo Blog

Halloween

2007-10-31T22:16:00.000-07:00

We tried to liven things up around here today. We had fun with our food today.

For breakfast I made ghost waffles. I used half-melted ice cream to make the ghosts and used chocolate syrup for the eyes. I wrote "Boo" on each plate with maple syrup. The kids loved them. Well, it's not every day they get to eat ice cream at breakfast.

For lunch we had deviled eggs and bones in the graveyard (apple slices piled on my pitiful excuse for dulce de leche I tried to make from sweetened condensed milk). I also made some pumpkin rolls. The rolls weren't a big hit. And bat's blood to drink. It tasted suspiciously like strawberry-lemonade.

For supper we had rolled cobwebs filled with spiders (shredded beef and black bean enchiladas) and zombie fingers (green beans).

After supper we took the kids trick-or-treating. We had a skeleton, Sleeping Beauty, a skeleton pirate (don't all skeleton pirates wear rain boots? those decks can get awfully wet), and a little bunny. Usually my husband and I dress up too but this year we just didn't get around to costumes.

Sad News

2007-10-26T22:39:00.000-07:00

We received sad news yesterday when I went in for a prenatal visit. We estimated I should be 12 weeks along. The doctor did a quick ultrasound in the office and didn't like what she saw. She said that everything was looking small. She immediately sent me across the street to the hospital to have a more thorough ultrasound done. The second ultrasound revealed what the doctor guessed--no heartbeat or bloodflow could be detected from the baby. If I don't miscarry over the weekend, I am scheduled for a D&C on Monday.

On Thursday our 9 yo son overheard me say something to my husband. He asked what was going on. We explained that we learned that the baby I was carrying had died. He looked a little puzzled and said, "How did that happen?" We said that we didn't know but that sometimes that happens. I had recently read that the chance of miscarriage increases when the mother is over 35. I leaned back on the bed and whined, "I'm too old!" He sat next to me and said, "That's not true. Remember that lady who had a baby when she was like 100?" (A reference to Abraham and Sarah!) I'm happy he is remembering the Bible verses we have been reading. I had to laugh and answer, "Well, that was a very special case! That doesn't normally happen to women who are 100 years old!" He had probably been wondering why Grandma isn't having any more babies.

I'll have to update my stick family. :(

Stick Family

2007-10-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered what you would look like as a stick figure? Here's our family. (Thanks, Lee!)

Weekly Report 5

2007-10-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

We didn't finish our week as planned but we got a little accomplished.

I started my 4 yo daughter on a handicraft. I could tell she was ready for something. She already helps me in the kitchen. She loves to chop green peppers and celery. (Onions burn the eyes.) She is the official "salt girl" when we make popcorn. I pour on the melted butter and she sprinkles the salt. But she needed to do something more. We've started simple sewing exercises. I found what I needed on clearance at WalMart. Only $2!

I bought some yarn, children's plastic needles, and some plastic canvas. Here's what her first attempt looked like. At least she enjoys it!

Our 6 yo son had to give it a try too.

He also started Year 1 of the Ambleside curriculum this week. He has been doing math, spelling and copywork since July. Music and Bible reading have always been family activities. I think all we added was reading a few Aesop's Fables. But it's good to start slow, right? He narrated the fables back to me without any prompting. I think he will be an easy one to teach!

Our oldest, on the other hand, does not enjoy his schoolwork very often. I recently asked him, after a history lesson, if he didn't find it at least a little bit interesting. He shrugged and said, "I guess so...a little bit." I guess that is better than "I hate it!" I need to come up with more hands-on projects for him. He is definitely a kinesthetic learner.

Four Plus One Makes Five

2007-10-19T08:39:00.001-07:00

Here is a copy of an email I recently sent my husband:

Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 6:8 For your Father knows what you need before you ask.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.

Matthew 6:25-33 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we wear?" For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

Psalm 127:3-5 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!

Creeped Out!

2007-10-18T18:02:00.000-07:00

Yeah, this is what I like to see inside the front door when I come home. I'll be shaking out the bedsheets tonight.

And, yes, that is a black widow. At least it was dead.

Goodbye Saguaros, Hello Trees!

2007-10-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

On Friday my husband took the day off. It is his normal day off but he usually works. (You can't make sales if you aren't there!) He wants to find a place to fly fish. I keep reminding him that we are in the middle of the desert but he is convinced there must be some secret fishing hole nearby. We drove up to Prescott. It was a pretty drive. A while back we had been as far as Peeple's Valley but a sudden thunderstorm and non-working windshield wipers forced us to turn around. There is a cool rock on the road between Wickenburg and Yarnell.

It's funny to think someone saw this frog in the rocks and decided to paint it. It quite large!

It was fun driving through the mountains and seeing our first glimpse of the tall ponderosa pines. It's been a long time since we've seen trees like that. I kept craning my neck to see down in the ravines but I couldn't see any running water.

We drove into Prescott National Forest. We saw signs that said "Wolf Creek" and "Groom Creek." This is the only creek we saw:

Do you see any water in that so-called creek? Neither do I.

We stopped at the Wolf Creek campground and had a picnic lunch under the tall trees.

Then we got to do a little exploring.

The boys, of course, started building a "camp" (as they call it) right away. They were excited to see Survivorman build something similar on his show the next day.

Our very girly tomboy keeps right up with the boys!

Weekly Report 4

2007-10-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

I've missed a report so I'll combine two weeks here. I have to say that our school days are fairly boring! I need to come up with some interesting projects for the kids to do.

One thing I have done to help day go more smoothly is to make an assignment book for my 9 yo son. He likes knowing before the day starts what is expected of him. He is usually ready to be done with school after two subjects. Now he know before we start what subjects we are covering that day and I don't hear the sighs when I ask him to get his history notebook. I write out that week's schedule on Saturday or Sunday morning. This is our plan for next week. As we finish a task, he crosses it out.

I keep track of all our work through the online organizer at Simply Charlotte Mason.

Our 9 yo son is reading the book Brighty of the Grand Canyon. After our trip through Oatman back in August, I thought he would be interested in reading about a burro living in the Grand Canyon. Reading is not his favorite activity but he is managing to slowly make his way through this book.

(Here's a video we made of the wild burros in Oatman, Arizona.)

Our 6 yo is doing well with spelling and cursive writing. We haven't gotten to the point of connecting the letters yet. Once he has the alphabet down, we will work on that. We use Spell to Write and Read (SWR) for our spelling curriculum. It is wonderful!

Our 4 yo daughter wasn't going to be left out the other day. She wants to learn to write her name. I made some dots for her to trace.

While we were all getting ready yesterday morning, our 19 month old decided to conduct a science experiment by herself. What will happen if I pour an entire bottle of liquid foundation onto the carpet? How loud will Mommy scream? How long will Mommy cry? How hard and how long will Mommy scrub before she realizes it is impossible to remove makeup from the carpet? How much money will Mommy have to spend to pay a professional to clean the carpet? Will a professional even get it clean?

Hmmm...it kind of looks like an angel.

Weekly Report 3

2007-09-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

As many people around the country are enjoying the cool fall weather and the beautiful changing leaves, we are emerging from our air conditioned homes and swimming pools. The weather is finally cooling off and the humidity has dropped. This is what our classroom looked like Thursday morning.

Fall is here

2007-09-18T07:38:00.000-07:00

I think fall has finally come to the Valley of the Sun. Yesterday it was only 94 degrees. Yes, *only*! After supper the whole family went for a long walk. I think that is the first walk we've taken since spring. By Friday the high temperature might not even make it into the 90s. It is so beautiful! We are remembering why we like it here.

This morning before we start school, the kids and I will walk over to a nearby park. I promised the kids we would go to the park as soon as the weather was cooler. This morning when we woke up the temperature was in the high 60s. We turned the A/C off and opened all the windows. Wow, I have missed this weather!

And more walks mean I can drop a few pounds. Since the community pools have closed here during the week, there is nothing to do when it is hot but stay inside the motorhome. Not good for the waistline!

Our Little Mermaid Turns 4

2007-09-16T15:13:00.000-07:00

Our third child and oldest daughter turned four today. She loves to swim. Her damaged, chlorine- and sun-bleached hair proves that to anyone who sees her. This year I had to make a mermaid cake for our little mermaid. The cake barely fit onto our little RV table!

Weekly Report 2

2007-09-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

Today we did a nature study...finally! Um, it actually took place inside. (It looks like maybe by the end of next week our high temps will be below 100.) Nature came to us. We couldn't possibly have ignored that. We studied an insect--the white-lined sphinx moth. The other night it flew into our motorhome and my husband killed it (after it landed on our 6-year-old son's nose and there was much screaming and flailing of arms by said 6-year-old). I saved it for today when we could take a closer look at it.

I think Charlotte Mason advocates that each child have his or her own nature notebook. We will have to work on that. Right now I do the writing and we all sketch our own picture. From upper left, going clockwise, we have my sketch, my 9-year-old's sketch, my 6-year-old's sketch and my 3 (4 on Sunday!) year-old's sketch. My 6-year-old made sure to include the moth's broken wing. Poor moth. We also learned how the animal kingdom is classified.

Green Beans

2007-09-10T18:49:00.001-07:00

I'm hesitant to buy certain fresh vegetables at the grocery store. I'm used to eating green beans fresh from the garden. Green beans from the store are usually tough. And peaches from the store? Forget it! I came across a recipe that sounded so good I had to buy some fresh beans. I'm glad I did! The beans were nice and tender and they tasted wonderful!

Here is the recipe I found at Meals Matter:

Green Beans and Pan-Roasted Red Onions

5 cups water
1 lb green beans, trimmed
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 red onions, each cut into 8 wedges (I used 3 very small onions)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan; add beans. Cook 6 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain; keep warm.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions; saute 8 minutes or until browned. Add broth; cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in vinegar and remaining ingredients. Stir in beans; cover and cook 2 minutes.

Weekly Report 1

2007-09-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

I've been inspired by other blogs, like My 5 Wolf Cubs, to start doing a weekly report. This is my first report but our 5th week of school. It won't be an in-depth look at everything we do. Just an example of some of the work the kids have been doing.

For Art, our oldest (our 9 yo son) is studying the painter Pieter Bruegel this term. Art is his favorite subject. He loves to draw and look at other paintings. When we looked at our first painting, he said, "Do I get to draw this?!" I said, "Sure!" This is his rendition of Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. He added a couple of embellishments (like the big ? above Icarus' leg and the fish checking him out).

Here is Bruegel's original painting:

Drawing a detailed picture is not something our 6 yo son would enjoy. He likes to do copywork. It's simple and straight-forward. He is learning cursive letters.

Starting on Monday we will be using composition books for copywork. The spiral-bound notebooks with perforated pages don't work too well. The pages keep getting torn out accidentally. Composition books should hold up much better. And I found them on clearance at Target for 35 cents a piece.

Travel

2007-08-31T22:38:00.000-07:00

The blue marks where I have visited, the red is where I have lived and the green is where I would like to go.

The Internet has infinite ways to waste time. :)

Get Your Own Map

View Larger Map

Another Contest at Life Is Like a Lunchbox

2007-08-27T23:24:00.000-07:00

Head on over and check out the latest contest on Nan's blog.

Rain!

2007-08-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

Rain! We have rain! The high today is supposed to be under 100 degrees! Could the end of summer be around the corner?

The other day, my husband stepped outside early in the morning. He came right back in, lay down in front of the air conditioner and said, "I can't wait for summer to be over so we can remember why we like this place."

Storm Clouds

2007-08-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

I love watching the clouds come and go across the valley. My husband and kids get tired of hearing, "Look at that cloud!" and "Wow! Look at those!" But aren't these clouds cool?

Children's Hospital

2007-08-21T23:30:00.001-07:00

I know what I want to do to get my "baby fix" when my youngest is grown: volunteer at a children's hospital.

For the past day and a half our 3-year old daughter was at the Phoenix Children's Hospital. She was diagnosed with a kidney stone awhile back and we have been waiting to see if she would pass it. At about one o'clock Monday morning, she woke up my husband and me, complaining about stomach pain. Then the vomiting started. I took her to the emergency room where she was immediately given pain medication and fluids. A CT scan confirmed the stone had moved from the kidney to just before the bladder. By Tuesday morning she was released but the stone is still there. The doctor is hopeful it will pass quickly and no surgery will be required.

This morning our daughter didn't want to leave the hospital after she was discharged. On her floor was a play room. Outside the door are some ride-on toys and little chairs. Inside the play room are games, books, puzzles, toys, crafts and all kinds of fun things to do. The play room is open three sessions a day. For each session there is a volunteer who works with another employee and helps care for the kids. Each time we were in the play room, there were at least three little babies. These sweet little babies have feeding tubes and IVs. And they were so sweet and snuggly. As a volunteer I could hold and squeeze each one for at least an hour!

Another Pretty Sunset

2007-08-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

Our Schedule

2007-07-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

From Ambleside online I get our weekly schedule. Our school year has three terms, each 12 weeks long. Here is how I divided up the work into a daily schedule:

Monday:
Bible reading
Math
Copywork
Spelling (a spelling, reading, penmanship curriculum)
Music: Hymn (this month's hymn is Praise To The Lord, The Almighty)
History
Outside
Literature (Poetry: this term's poet is Walter de la Mare)
Free reading
Spanish (a children's Spanish class at the library)

Tuesday:
Bible reading
Math
Copywork
Spelling
Music: Classical (this term's composer is Mozart)
History: history of England
Outside
Literature (Historical Fiction)
Free Reading

Wednesday:
Bible reading
Math
Copywork
Spelling
Music: Folksong (this term's folksong is Cockles and Mussels)
History: world history
Outside
Literature (Pilgrim's Progress)
Free Reading

Thursday:
Bible reading
Math
Copywork
Spelling
Art (this term's painter is Pieter Brueghel)
Geography
Literature (Pilgrim's Progress)
Free Reading

Friday:
Bible reading
Math
Copywork
Spelling
Handicraft/Lifeskill
Nature Study outside (this term's focus is insects)
Literature (Nature Study through literature)
Free Reading

To this we add daily swimming and, soon, the boys will resume tae kwon do. In the spring the boys play baseball with a city league.

The above schedule is for our 9-year-old son. Our 6-year-old son follows the schedule doing only Bible reading, math, spelling, music, copywork, outdoor nature study, and, as he is able, handicraft. Our first handicraft lesson is how to tie five different knots. A skill every boy should know, as long as they don't practice on each other. Our 3-year-old daughter joins in the Bible reading and music. She also has time scheduled in the day for me to read books just for her, practice her counting, simply color with her, play a game with her, etc.

The 6-year-old, 3-year-old, and 16-month-old sit in on other readings as they desire. Sometimes they are content to color while I read or sometimes they would rather play. By next year my 9-year-old should be doing many of the assigned readings on his own. Right now I make him read a paragraph or two aloud while I read the rest. His reading skills will never improve if I don't make him do it, no matter how much he complains!

Staying on Track

2007-07-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

The hardest thing about homeschooling, to me anyway, is consistently staying the course. We started school on Monday and we've already taken one day off. My husband's days off are Thursdays and Fridays. Usually he still goes to the office in the mornings, which gives us time to finish our schoolwork so we can be free by lunchtime when he comes home. But on Friday he took the entire day off. Of course, one of the perks of homeschooling is being able to do schoolwork whenever. But it's not fun to do schoolwork in the evening after a busy day. I hope to make up the work we missed on Friday over the weekend so we can start next week without feeling like we are behind.

Days off with Dad aren't necessarily wasted school-time though. We visited Lake Pleasant, a man-made lake north of Phoenix. A great opportunity for a nature study! Now, if only I had thought to bring their nature notebook... We got to the visitor center just in time to watch the park ranger feed the two desert tortoises living there.

Inside the center was a Western Diamondback rattlesnake and a Gila monster. The kids asked all kinds of questions about the tortoises and scorpions and whatever else they could think of. The park ranger patiently answered all their questions.