A Common Shepherdess

I have started a new blog at https://creativeinstinct.blog/ and moved my State Dinner and information there. Come visit my new site! Finally resuming our state dinners and state studies! This was our Missouri state dinner: St. Louis-style ribs Toasted ravioli Corn on the cob Green salad Ice cream cones Dr. Pepper In 1904, St. Louis, Missouri, hosted the World's Fair.  Introduced at that fair were ice cream cones and Dr. Pepper.  Toasted ravioli is a dish unique to Missouri and was also introduced at the fair.  It is ravioli that is breaded and deep fried.  You can eat it plain or serve it with marinara sauce for dipping.  Corn is an important crop for Missouri.  The only state that produces corn cob pipes is Missouri. 

I have started a new blog at https://creativeinstinct.blog/ and moved my State Dinner and information there. Come visit my new site!

Narrating is so important to learning but for some reason it is one area where I tend to slack.  My kids have an puppet theater that they rarely use. I had my two younger ones use the puppets to tell back what they learned from their history readings for the day. The Black Douglas (a leader under Robert Bruce during Scotland's fight for freedom) The Story of the Mayflower

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 re...

I have started a new blog at https://creativeinstinct.blog/ and moved my State Dinner and information there. Come visit my new site! 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...

I have started a new blog at https://creativeinstinct.blog/ and moved my State Dinner and information there. Come visit my new site! 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, ni...

I have started a new blog at https://creativeinstinct.blog/ and moved my State Dinner and information there. Come visit my new site! 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 tradition...

I have started a new blog at https://creativeinstinct.blog/ and moved my State Dinner and information there. Come visit my new site! 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 pl...

I have started a new blog at https://creativeinstinct.blog/ and moved my State Dinner and information there. Come visit my new site! 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....

I have started a new blog at https://creativeinstinct.blog/ and moved my State Dinner and information there. Come visit my new site! 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 t...

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 pla...

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 u...

I have started a new blog at https://creativeinstinct.blog/ and moved my State Dinner and information there. Come visit my new site! 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 brewerie...

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 w...

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 t...

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 produc...

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.

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 decid...

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 Ri...

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 m...