Two for Tuesday: Buttermilk Cinnamon Syrup

Yep. You read that right. Syrup.

Because what syrup really needs is real melted butter and buttermilk to round out the whole American eating experience.

This was borne out of desperation. I made my standby of fluffy pancakes and cheesy scrambled eggs for dinner. I knew the bottle of syrup was running low, but also knew that I had another bottle in the downstairs pantry. I was right on the first point, and very wrong on the second point.

Allrecipes came through with this delicious and miraculously easy solution. I don't keep buttermilk on hand, but I put a half tablespoon of vinegar in a half a cup of milk and let it sit for five minutes. The original recipe made two and a half cups of syrup. I halved it for our family dinner. (Thie amounts give are the amounts I used. It filled my little creamer pitcher perfectly.)

Buttermilk Cinnamon Syrup

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 Tbs vinegar (or 1/2 cup buttermilk)
• 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 Tbs corn syrup
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add everything else except the baking soda. Stir. (The milk looks curdled and horrible at first. Don't panic. It blends in eventually.)
2. Bring to a simmer while stirring.
3. Whisk in baking soda. Mixture will froth like a volcano. Whisk 10 seconds and remove from heat.
4. Continue stirring (but not whisking.) Syrup will begin to lose its foamy top.
5. Let sit for a couple minutes, then pour into small pitcher for serving and pouring. It will be very thin at first, but will start to thicken as it cools.

This stuff is creamy, smooth, rich, and heavenly. The cinnamon is a very subtle flavor.

On a completely different subject.....

My family needs to love zucchini. I love zucchini. Zucchini is delicious.

And this scrumptious looking stuffed zucchini dish might be hitting our kitchen table sometime in the near future.

Life Skills

At the beginning of the school year, I was writting about how to make sure Sweetling really learned everything she would need to know to function as an adult. (Even though I don't really want to think about how few years we have left before she is an adult. Why do they have to grow up so fast?)

Shortly after that, I got a call that our co-op needed someone to teach the high school Life Skills class. Hmmm......

Yesterday was my first class. Other than me being the smallest person in the room, I'm really excited about the class. I decided that trying to teach life skills in a lecture format, or from a book, is just pointless. So, we're going to have a project driven class. I put together a syllabus and a list of projects and their requirements. Each week in class, the students will share with each other what they learned by doing that week's project. Then we'll briefly discuss the upcoming project with the time we have left in class.

I don't think this approach would work with a begrudging group of students, but I happen to have an awesome group of young men who I feel confident will really do great with individual projects that require a lot of self-initiative.

And because I labor under the delusion that someone else might be as interested in this as me, here is the front page of my syllabus for the class.

Welcome to Life Skills. This is a single semester, project driven class. Students will be expected to work independently to conduct research and complete multi-step assignments outside of class. We will be using class time to share the results of our projects and to discuss the next project. However, the bulk of the students’ effort and learning will be taking place outside of class.

The goal for this class is to help prepare the high school student to step into the role of an adult with confidence and integrity.

Students will be receiving a letter grade for this class. Each project will receive a letter grade, all of which will be averaged together for a final semester grade. Projects will be assigned a letter grade based on the following criteria:

A—Project completed with excellence. Project meets all given requirements PLUS includes an additional student selected and student driven element.

B—Project completed with excellence. Project meets all given requirements.

C—Project completed but is substandard OR lacks one requirement.

D—Project lacks more than one requirement.

F—No project is presented.

Please note that projects will be accepted up to one week late but will be marked down one letter grade on the grading scale. If a student is unable to attend co-op that week, projects can be emailed to the instructor before class time or can be sent to co-op with a friend or other family member. (With advance written notice, exceptions will be made for extended travel time.)

A single class is insufficient to completely prepare a student in all the skill and knowledge areas needed as an adult. However, we will try to focus on some key concepts. It is my hope that the experience of researching and problem solving can be used and applied to other areas of life as needed.

Several of the assignments will have more than one project option so that students may pursue an area of unique interest to them. Some projects will require more than one week to complete, and should be started in advance. A three-ring binder to organize projects and assignment sheets is recommended. Regular Internet access is invaluable for research. Parental involvement and assistance will also be needed for some of the projects.

And here is the list of projects with their due dates and their requirements.


Christian Life (due January 30th)

1. Complete a personal gift inventory. (There is a youth or an adult version on kodochrome.org or you can use another of your choosing.)
2. Give an interpretation of what this inventory means for you. This can be a written essay, a power point presentation, a video file, or other format.)
3. Research options for personal discipleship and present your findings.
4. Keep a record of when and where you are engaged in discipleship. Make note of the strengths and weaknesses of this plan.

Time Management Log (due February 6th)

1. Record how you spend your time for three consecutive days. Pick days that are fairly typical of your normal life.
2. Add up the amount of time you spend in various categories (school, work, sports, activities, tv, computer, video games, hobby, etc). Create a graph or visual display of the proportion of time.
3. Make a basic weekly schedule for yourself based on the activities and time breakdowns you are currently using.
4. Review your time log and weekly schedule. Are there any areas which should be adjusted? What and how?

Project Completion Sheet (due February 13th)

1. Pick any medium or large project that is of interest to you and is something you haven’t tried before.
2. Write out the steps needed to complete your project and the approximate time you think you will need to complete each step. It’s better to estimate a little high in terms of time needed than to estimate too low.
3. Look at your weekly schedule and pencil in when you will complete each step of the project.
4. Work on the project, make note of time differences, difficulties, and what you did to adjust in each of these areas.

Post High-School Options (due February 20th)

1. Research at least three different and specific options you might like to pursue post high school. These options should be ones which can be pursued within a few months of graduation.
2. Make a list of the requirements needed for each option as well as the benefits to be gained by pursuing them.
3. For each option, complete a brief financial analysis (cost to pursue the option or wages earned from the option.)
4. How on track are you for meeting the requirements of any of these options?

Menu and Grocery List (due Feburary 27th)

1. Create a basic 6 day meal plan for one or two people. Include balanced choices for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
2. Using your meal plan, create a grocery list for all needed ingredients or components of your plan.
3. At any store, or stores, of your choice, compute how much you menu would cost for a week. If you “purchase” some of your food in bulk, include both the total cost for the trip as well as the cost for just the amount you would have consumed that week.
4. With this data, project how much you would be likely to spend on groceries for a two week period and for a month.

Housekeeping Schedule and Application (due March 5th)

• Option ONE—Check out FlyLady.com. Read about her concept of developing daily routines and dividing the home into cleaning zones. Either complete her detailed zone cleaning list for this week, or complete a daily mission for the zone each day of the week. Share what you learned.
• Option TWO—Take over all regularly scheduled cleaning in your home for the week (including laundry, dishes, etc). Share what you learned.
• Option THREE—Develop your own cleaning schedule for a home. How will your schedule ensure that both the regular maintenance and the less frequent deep cleaning gets accomplished? Try out your schedule for one week. Share what you learned.
• Option FOUR—Use another resource of your choosing to implement a housekeeping system. Try it for a week and share what you learned.

Computer Maintenance (due March 12th)

• Option ONE—Learn what you can about spyware, firewalls, virus protection software, and data back up. How do each of these affect the performance of a computer.
• Option TWO—With the permission or assistance of an adult, learn how to install software.
• Option THREE—With the permission or assistance of an adult, learn how to install or upgrade hardware or how to set up a computer.
• Option FOUR—Research the rates outside services charge for data recovery, virus removal, or other computer repair services.

Home DIY Project (due March 19th)

• Option ONE--Pick any home or garden repair, decorating, or building project that you would like to attempt. Use the internet or library resources for instructions and get permission before you begin. Work on and complete the project. Take before and after photos and share what you learned.
• Option TWO—Assist in any home repair or building project which requires skills or knowledge that is new to you. Share what you learned.

Community Service (due March 26th)

1. Complete at least three hours of community service in a field or area which you have never worked in before.
2. Explain how and why you picked the project and whether it was a good match for your skills, abilities, and interests. If it wasn’t, what would be a better match?
3. How can you continue to include volunteering in your regular life?

Car Maintenance and Repair (due April 2nd)

• Option ONE—If you don’t already know how, learn how to safely jump a car or how to change a flat tire. With supervision, practice the new skill.
• Option TWO—What is the recommended maintenance schedule for changing the oil in a car? How do you check the oil level? If you haven’t done so before, find someone who will let you assist in this process. How much does it cost to do it yourself? How much does it cost to have it done somewhere?
• Option THREE—What fluids go into a car? Where do they go? How do you check their levels? When should you add more or change them? How do you check the tire pressure? With supervision, check all these items on a car and add more if needed.
• Option FOUR—Assist a friend or family member with any car repair or tune up.

Apartment Costs (due April 16th)

1. Shop for a basic apartment in the area which you might like to live. How much is the rent? The utilities? The deposit? How much is it to get phone or cable connected?
2. What furniture would you need to move in? How would you get these items? (Include dishes, towels, pots and pans, small appliances, etc)
3. What basic cleaning supplies would you need? How much would they cost? (hint—check the dollar store for some of these)
4. How much money, total, would you need to have in savings in order to move into this apartment?

Personal Budget (due April 23rd)

1. Using the research from your post high school options, your apartment cost project, and your menu and grocery list project, complete a possible personal budget. How much money would you need to earn in a pay period to make such a budget work? (don’t forget items such as gas, car insurance, phone bills, entertainment, clothing, tithing, and savings)
2. Is your budget achievable based on the type of jobs you might be likely to get soon after high school? If not, what adjustments could you make?
3. Do you know how to balance a checkbook against a bank statement? Ask your parents to let you observe how they balance their own accounts.
4. Keep a real record of your own spending and any earnings for a one month period. Is how you are handling money now consistent with how you hope to handle money in the future?

Safety (due April 30th)

• Option ONE—Research dating violence. What warning signs should you be aware of? How do you protect yourself on a date and in a relationship? (Remember, abuse isn’t always physical. Men can often find themselves in a relationship with an emotionally abusive woman.) Share what you learn.
• Option TWO—Research identity theft. What precautions can you take to protect yourself from fraud? Share what you learn.
• Option THREE—Take a self-defense class.

Relationship Reports (due May 7th)

1. Select and read ONE of the following books:
• For Young Men Only, or For Young Women Only, by Shaunti and Jeff Feldhann;
• Love and Respect, by Dr. Emmerson Eggerichs;
• The Five Love Languages, by Gary Chapman;
• Saving Your Marriage Before it Starts, by Les and Leslie Parrott
2. Write a brief report or summary of a few of the key concepts you learned in the book.
3. Talk to your parents or to another married couple you know and respect. Ask them about their marriage. What makes it strong? What difficulties did they have to overcome? What advice would they give to a newlywed couple?

Jesse Owens

I've just realized I've been avoiding posting on the "week in review" because our history projects this year haven't been as photogenic as our projects last year. We've still been learning, and I really like Homeschool in the Woods. All the same, Sweetling's main project has been writing articles for a newspaper (which doesn't lend itself to a photograph....unless I get her to dress up as an intrepid reporter). Likewise, Toa of Boy has been working on the components of a lap book, again, not the most exciting thing to photograph.

And without photos, just saying "this week we learned about some of the famous people who became between 1870 and the break out of WW2," just doesn't make for an interesting blog post.

But, it does when I tell it in a story like this.

Our lesson last week was a huge smattering of famous Americans from the Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression. As always, I popped the Time Traveler disc into the Media Center PC which is hooked up to the big flat screen in the living room. We read the lesson, and as we were reading, we'd pause and do google searches on the people and topics we were reading about. We pulled up photos of P.T. Barnum, of Jumbo, and Tom Thumb. We pulled up photos of Buffalo Bill and Anne Oakley.  We listened to "The Entertainer", to "Stars and Stripes Forever", and to a few famous hymn written during this time. We watched the Fantasia 2000 segment of Rhapsody in Blue as well as a silent film of Harry Houdini performing a rope escape. We read about Helen Keller, Jesse Owens, Charles Lindbergh, and Amelia Earhart--people who did what others claimed couldn't be done.

The next day, Sweetling churned out another page of newspaper articles and Toa of Boy put together a fan book of many of these famous people. The day after that, Toa of Boy added five fact cards to his 100 cool things about America, choosing 5 of these famous people to highlight. Sweetling added an advertisement for The Greatest Show on Earth to her newspaper.

And I didn't write up a week in review because I didn't have any pictures to make our learning look interesting. And somehow, I thought we weren't doing as many cool projects and learning activities as we had done last year.

Then Sunday night at church, the kids were asked to name some people who were truly great. The nearly all boys group came up with Michael Jordan and another basketball player whose name I'd butcher if I tried to recall it.

And then Toa of Boy raised his hand and said, "Jesse Owens." And then he proceeded to give a brief reason of why Jesse Owens was truly great.

I had this "aha" moment where I realized, wow, we really are learning cool things this year after all!

Yeah, I know, I'm slow like that.

Jesse Owens, I am not.

Two for Tuesday: Spaghetti Pizza

This is a great answer to the "what's for dinner?" question.

Spaghetti Pizza (or Pizza Spaghetti, if you prefer!)

This was born out of the realization that I had little on hand to make a decent dinner with, not a lot of time, and I didn't want to fall back on my boring old staple of plain spaghetti. Thus the last minute birth of Spaghetti Pizza!

Ingredients

• 1 lb spaghetti noodles ( a little less than a pound actually)
• 28 oz jar of spaghetti sauce
• shredded mozzarella cheese
• any pizza toppings you might have on hand (pepperoni, diced ham, chopped peppers, etc)

 Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 425.
2. Pour a tablespoon or two of oil onto of a large pot of water. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Add spaghetti noodles.
3. While noodles are boiling, grease a 9x13 or so casserole pan. Also, heat spaghetti sauce in a separate pan. Complete a scavenger hunt through your fridge and pantry for "pizza toppings".
4. When noodles are cooked (but not mushy), drain water COMPLETELY. Trust me on this one. Put a lid on the colander and shake all the water out. 
5. Spread noodles in the greased casserole dish. The entire pound probably won't fit. (Remember, you need to leave room for sauce and toppings.) Put the extra noodles in a container for lunch leftovers or something.
6. Spread warm spaghetti sauce over the noodles. 
7. Sprinkle shredded cheese over the top until sauce is covered. 
8. Top with whatever ingredients you have on hand. Place toppings on half or on sections if you have certain family members who don't care for a particular topping.
9. Pop it in the oven for just long enough to melt and slightly brown the cheese. (Just like a 'real' pizza.)
10. Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then cut it with a pizza slicer and use a spatula to serve out the pieces. (They won't maintain their structural integrity, but that's ok.)

We had this last night for dinner, and my family loved it! It might just go on our regular menu rotation. 

 Meanwhile, I just finished baking a batch of pineapple zucchini muffins. My children are very skeptical about such a combination. A conversation with a certain young lady went like this:

Sweetling: What kind of muffins are you making?
Me: Pineapple zucchini muffins.
Sweetling: Wait, seriously?
Me: Yes, they will be delicious.
Sweetling: Of course. And you're not crazy at all, are you?

I have just laid down the "you have to ate least try these" law with both my children. It's good to be the Mom, baby.

Weekly Wrap-Up: In With the New!

I don't think I've written a week in review since August. But, to quote Flylady, "....just jump in where you are."

This week. I'm just going to focus on this week, and not go into a lengthy explanation of how I got so far off track.

This week started with taking down the Christmas tree. That's always a bittersweet thing. I like the Christmas tree, and yet, I'm also ready to get back to a routine. (Well, I'm a little ready to get back to a routine.) In our family, each year we take turns deciding how the tree will be decorated. This year, it was Mama's turn. (My mama, my mama lives with us now.) She decided we were each going to make heart shaped paper ornaments and write our favorite Scripture verses about Jesus on the ornaments. It was lovely.

Since the tree was all decorate in red and pink hearts, I considered petitioning leaving it up until mid-February for Valentine's Day. But, in the end, the tree needed to come down so that we could get back to the business of school.

So, by Tuesday, we had gotten back into the swing of things. We're using Homeschool in the Woods' Time Traveler series for our history curriculum, and our timelines are coming along so well, we need the entire living room floor to spread them out.

Art led us to a cool pop up of Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Waters (part of our Time Traveler's pack). AND, to a neat cardinal in winter art project, courtesy of Deep Space Sparkle.

Showcased behind the cardinal is some bare winter tree branches. We took our camera outside and snapped some pictures of branches highlighted against the blue sky. We each took turns with the camera and zoomed in on the section of branches we wanted to photograph. Of course, it was a warm, beautiful, sunny day....so this turned into an excuse to take a walk around the neighborhood.

Back inside, we pulled the photos up on the computer, talked about the negative space in between the branches, and used our photographs to inspire us when we drew the branches behind our cardinal.

Then we followed Deep Space Sparkle's directions to complete our art. We painted the sky using blue metallic acrylic paint. We painted in the cardinal and the branches and used a thin black brush to add details.

We haven't done the final step of using a Qtip dipped in white paint to add snowflakes. We're waiting for the rest of the paint to dry first.

Sweetling's science has been on hold since October. Her November subjects got paired to the bone in order to free her up to participate in NaNoWriMo. This week, she got back to her amazing glider. Check him out...I put a folding yardstick by him for a scale.

His wings are covered in this cool plastic which she shrunk to a perfect fit using a hair dryer. Supplies and directions were all part of her Education Exploration science curriculum.

Toa of Boy is more than ready to move on in science, and he wants to study space next. So, Apologia's Exploring Creation through Astronomy has been ordered and is being shipped. In the meantime, Chapter Two is available as sample pages on Apologia's home page. Chapter Two is all about the sun, so we read about the sun, got a soccerball and a peppercorn to compare the size of the sun with the size of the earth. (It was supposed to be a basketball, but we don't have a basketball, so we did our best.)

And, most importantly, Toa of Boy got to witness a small fraction of the awesome energy of the sun by using a magnafying glass to burn a hole in a leaf outside. (We tried a piece of paper first, but wound up using a dried leaf.)

Not bad for a first week back in a long time!

To read what other homeschoolers are doing this week, hop on over to Weird Unscocialized Homeschoolers.

One for Wednesday: Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ok, it's really Two for Tuesday. On a Wednesday. And though I was going to post just one recipe, I now have another.

So it is Two for Wednesday, really. But I can't use that as a blog post because it doesn't have any poetic value.

Maybe there's some sort of 12 step program for alliteration addicts.

Anyway, love this cookie recipe. It makes a TON of cookies (maybe 4 to 5 dozen?). Be warned. You should half it if you don't want to spend all afternoon taking trays of cookies in and out of the oven. But they keep well, and they are full of whole grains. And, most importantly, they are delicious.

I always divide the dough and make half with semi-sweet chocolate chips, and half with white chocolate chips. Plus, I believe cookie dough is the stuff that holds the chocolate chips together, so I tend to go heavy with my chips. Stir in as much or as little as you and your family personally like.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 5 cups rolled oats
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups EACH of white chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to just 325. Not 375 like most cookies!
2. In a huge bowl, cream  together butter and brown sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla.
3. Add oats, flours, baking soda, and salt.
4. Divide dough. Place half in another bowl.
5. Add between 1 and 2 cups chips to each bowl. (White in one and semi-sweet chocolate in another).
6. Scoop by heaping teaspoon to cookie sheets.
7. Bake at 325 for 10 to 12 minutes. Don't overbake!

I think a couple batches of cookies might be hitting the counter in the near future. The very near future. We've burned through almost all the Christmas goodies. Time to restock!

And the Two part of my Two for Tuesday. I haven't made these yet, but I've asked the Jedi to give me one more week to do something with the pumpkin sitting near my desk downstairs. The pumpkin might be volunteering for this:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Told you I was in a cookie mood.

New Year's Resolutions

Every year, I promise myself I WILL NOT make any New Year's Resolutions. I never keep them.

Yet, every year, I come slinking back and make a couple New Year's Resolutions. Telling myself the lie that this year, this year, it will be different.

Here I am again. But this year, this year, it will be different.

This year, I'm not makin a whole list of resolutions. This year, I'm going to start small and keep it simple. I'm going to make one resolution. Only one. I'm going to keep it for a month. Only a month. And they are going to be small, manageable, easy things. Small manageable easy things that will make my life better.

January's goal is to remember to turn the dishwasher on before I go to sleep.

Simple, right?

And how happy will it be to start the day out with clean dishes.

Traveling for Adoption

No, not me this time. But, a very good friend of mine will be traveling to China, hopefully very soon, to bring home their four year old boy!

She asked me a while ago if I would write a blog post with a list of suggestions of what to pack. I said "sure!" and was very excited about the thought, but then got busy with this, with that, and I was shamefully neglecting my blog, and forgot about the notion.

We just got back from a wonderful dinner with my friend and her family, and I remembered....oh yeah! list of what to pack.

So here it is. Packing suggestions for traveling to pick up an internationally adopted child. (Not baby, child. Babies have a whole other set of needs.)

Making him feel more comfortable--

A few small, interactive toys to use as an icebreaker. Toa of Boy was scared to death of us when he was first turned over to our care. We had visited him the night before on his own turf, surrounded by people he knew and trusted, and he was having a ball playing with us then. He even called me "Mommy". I was *thrilled.* So, it took me off guard the next day when he was brought to the room where we were staying and just sat on the floor, frightened. We sat on the floor, a little ways away from him so as not to crowd him, and played with a small, foldable cloth frisbee. Passing it back and forth between us and Sweetling and talking and smiling and encouraging Sweetling. After a few minutes we braved a pass to Toa of Boy, who snatched it and tossed it back. We gradually pulled him into the game that way, and he became more comfortable and animated with us. Having something fun and nonthreatening like that was so very, very vital.

A present just from his new sibling. Often, children warm up to children faster than they warm up to adults. Toa took a birthday card and small present from Sweetling almost right away. (Before we had even started the frisbee game.) Plus, being the first person in the family to give the new family member a present gives the sibling an important task and reaffirms the pre-existing child's sense of belonging and value within the family structure. It shouldn't be wrapped, because the new child might not ever have had any experience with unwrapping a present, and the prospect of tearing paper might be confusing, since they've likely been taught that tearing something is a huge no-no.

A small bag with his name on it. This should be something small enough to fit in his backpack later, but easy to get things in and out of. With Toa, I quickly realized that he was afraid to put down his card from Sweetling or his stuffed Nemo, or some other little thing that he had attached to. He was trying to walk around and hold onto all of these little things to keep them safe. I took a gallon sized ziplock bag and wrote his name on it in permament marker and showed him how his things could go in it. He was thrilled and it was much easier to carry around than all the little things were. In retrospect, I wish I would have brought a small canvas bag with handles. (We had to keep a close watch to make sure he didn't try to wear the plastic bag on his head. Yeah, I know. Don't call child services on me. He's still alive.)

A picture communication card. A card (or a strip) with simple pictures on it to help him communicate basic needs. We didn't need this for Toa, because Toa spoke some basic English. But, for a young boy without any background in English, you can relieve a lot of the stress and scariness of communicating a simple need (like I have to go to the bathroom) by having a card with simple pictures on it that he can point to, letting you know what he needs. I'd suggest a picture of a toilet, a picture of a bowl of food (something that he will recognize like a bowl of rice or a bowl of noodles), a picture of a cup or glass to represent something to drink, a picture of a bed or pillow to represent sleep. You keep one copy with you, especially if you are out of the hotel room, clipped to the outside of your purse or worn as a lanyard around your neck. You keep one copy with him, clipped to the outside of his backpack. And you keep a couple of spares in your suitcase in case one gets lost.
You use the cards a lot when you are talking with him. "Are you hungry?" "Do you want something to eat?" (If you know the Chinese word or phrase for food or hungry, you can use that with the picture and with the English.) With a lot of repititions, he'll pick up on if he's hungry, he can bring a card to you and point to the picture of the food. Later, he'll learn the English words for all these things. But right now, your main concern is helping him feel safe and cared for. It will help him bond, and once that basic emotional need is met, he'll be more able to tackle a language as alien and strange-sounding as English. 

(Alternatively, you can use simple infant signs for some of these basic concepts. This has the advantage of not needing a picture card. It has the disadvantage of he needs to remember the sign to be able to use it.)

A safe zone in the room you'll be staying. Ok, this isn't something you can pack and take with you, but establish an area (an armchair, a corner, a side of a bed) that is his safe zone. With Toa, that was the lower bunk of the bunkbeds he and Sweelting were using. When Toa climbed up on the bunk, that's where he could go to be left alone. He needed a safe place where he could retreat when things got overwhelming.

Keeping him entertained--

Now, I'm going to give you a list of things that are nice for keeping a scared, confused little boy entertained and happy in a strange hotel room, in the American Consulate office where you'll be waiting for forever, on the plane, and in the airport while your waiting in the immigration office. Don't give him all of these at once. You will overwhelm him. Give him one at a time, maybe just before you go to a new place. (In other words, don't introduce a brand new toy or activity in the Consulate office. That's just one more new, confusing, overstimulating thing. Introduce it in the hotel room a half hour before you go to the Consulate's office. It will still be very cool and intriguing for him, without contributing to the overwhelming factor.) The twelve hour airplane ride is an exception to this subrule. You can introduce a new thing on the airplane, especially if you've already been on the airplane for a few hours.

Bring the same set of toys for the pre-existing sibling! Being older, the veteren sibling should have a couple of special things suited for her interests, (Sweetling brought books and a couple of her own stuffed animals), but the basic toy set should be pretty much the same. Mark everything with a permament marker, and let each child keep their things in their own backpacks. But having the same set (or at least similar sets) serves a couple of purposes. One, the existing sibling is getting new toys at the same time that the new sibling is. That makes it less "all about the new sibling" and helps the existing sibling remember that this is an exciting time for *everyone* in the family, including her! Two, if the new sibling has no earthly idea how to play with the toys, the existing sibling models appropriate play easily and naturally. Children learn from imitation. Having a good role model will help new little brother. Three, new little brother won't be as tempted to grab big sister's stuff, because the stuff will be the same. Yes, new little brother will pick her stuff up by accident, but that is easily remedied and is much less of a threat or an offense in big sister's book.

Here's some field tested winners of what to bring--

Crayola Color Wonder Markers. These are cool because they only mark on the color wonder paper. Not anything else. Not knowing how much experience or training he might have had with crayons and markers, you might just want to play safe and give him something he can draw with....but only on a certain surface. Bring extra paper. Don't give him the whole pack of paper at once. Doll out just a couple of sheets at a time. (You can bring regular paper and washable crayons and break them out if he seems to be doing well with the wonder markers.)

Cheap tiny animals or dinosaurs. Cheap, because they won't all be coming home with you. One will get lost here, another over there. Take a little bag or special container just for them. Some of them come in a storage tube, but if not, take something. Toa of Boy kept himself enterained for quite a while just taking them out of their container, lining them all up, and putting them back in. Farm animals or zoo animals are good for naming and at least hearing their English names. You could also count them as they come out of the container and go back into the container.

A backpack for travel. His personal things (ie--his new toys) should go in there. His canvas bag with the handles should go in there. (His canvas bag is just for use in the hotel room. Yes, there is a difference. But, he should still have access to his back pack in the hotel room.) He needs something that zips up when you leave the hotel room. His change of clothes, his extra socks, etc DO NOT go in there. Otherwise they will get pull out when not needed and risk getting lost. For long times away from the hotel, a sippy cup or a snack could go in there. (I don't know what the current airplane regulations are on those things.) If he seems worried about where his next meal will be coming from, knowing he has a granola bar in his backpack might be comfort. (Warning, he will eat it immediately. Keep the snack you want him to have later in your own backpack.)

DVDs and a DVD player, or a laptop with a few movie files on the hard drive. Say what you will about this, but there will be a time in the hotel room where its 7PM and no child is sleepy but Mom and Dad are exhausted. (And frankly, both kids might have also had an exhausting, overstimulating day.) A 30 minute veggietale will be your salvation. Don't expect the 4 year old to sit through a 90 minute Disney movie (he might, but likely not). But 30 minutes is a real possibility.

Other possibilities, these might work, they might not, depending on the child. These aren't the sure fire winners of the above list, but if you want a couple of possibilities to hold in reserve, these are it.

Sticker sheets (and paper for them to be placed onto). Be warned, stickers might go everywhere. My recommendation is to save them for the airplane ride. He might need some help 'starting' the stickers. (Pull up just one corner or edge.) But its a good fine motor activity that should keep him quiet and busy. Don't go for fancy stickers with lots of wierd shapes that could rip when he pulls them up. Go for simple shapes that are easy to pull up. Big sister, of course, can have the fancier stickers (or even a sticker story book).

A koosh ball. The ones that have all those soft rubber wigglies on it and look like squishy sea anenomes. Don't get the ones that are filled with gel fluid. Those will rupture. Trust me. But the squishy sea anemones can be used for a game of catch, they can be used like a rubber band yo-yo, and they are a neat sensory/tactile object to hold and fiddle with.

A simple bedtime story book. If you are planning on using a book as part of the normal bedtime routine, bring it and start it reading it. It should be realitively short, with not too many words per page. But, the more routine you can build into your days up front, the easier the adjustment will be for the child. Part of the stress of adoption, for the child, is not knowing what to expect. Everything familiar has been taken away. If you do the same bedtime routine every night in the hotel room, that will help start building up a sense of consistancy in his life again.

Practical stuff to have on hand--

Over the counter medicines for children and for adults. Trust me, if big sister comes down with a cold and a sore throat, you don't want to be in China trying to figure out how to by a child's cold medicine. Likewise for the grownups, and for new little brother. Put any liquid medicines in a ziplock bag and keep the medicines in the bags you check, not your carry ons.

Motion sickness medicine or ginger tablets, if this is an issue for any of you. I don't know how long its been since your little girl has flown, but even if you and your husband don't have a problem with this, it might not be a bad idea to have on hand in a child's dosage for the two kids.

Lots of boy socks and underwear. I packed a gabillion pairs of socks and underwear for Toa, and we ran out. I don't know how that happened. I packed way more pairs than we had days in Gautemala, but we still ran out.

Pull-ups. Yes, I know your new little guy has been in big boy underwear for quite some time, but this falls under the 'better safe than sorry' column of advice. But you will want to put him in a pull up at night time and for the airplane travel. Let me tell you why. First, many children who have been staying dry all through the night experience bedwetting in response to a drastic change or stress in their lives. At three a.m., you don't want to discover the sheets need changed and the hotel room mattress is soaked, especially if big sister is sharing a bed with new little brother. Much easier to put little brother in a pull up for the night. Second, if you are in an airport or on a plane and suddenly the little guy has to go to the bathroom...but your in the middle of boarding or there's a huge line for the one restroom in the plane and little guy doesn't quite make it... Well, it much easier in those cases to change a pull up than an outfit. Plus, if he is already nervous, scared, and insecure, you don't want to unnecessarily add the drama and stress of wetting himself.

Wet wipes and hand sanitizer. I'm betting you already keep these in your purse anyway. Use them a lot :)

A small toothbrush or nail brush. Scrub like you are going into surgery whenever you wash your hands. After our bout of illness in Guatemala (and we were careful and followed all the traveler's rules), I can't stress thorough handwashing enough. Even in Guatemala, I washed my hands and used hand sanitizer like crazy, but the doctor that we saw down there recommended brushing under the nails. He said that the bacteria can get under the nails and not get washed out when the hands are washed regularly.

Antibiotics for the adults and for the children. We got a presciption filled for each of us and took it to Guatemala with us. And we needed it. Did we ever need it. As bad as our illness was, it would have been so much worse if we hadn't started an antibiotic immediately.

Shoes for the little guy. The ones he will be wearing might be too small for his feet. I had gotten this as a tip before we went to Guatemala, and it turned out to be a good tip. The tip I got was to bring along the sandals that velcro around the ankle and velcro over the top of the foot too. Get them in a slightly larger size than you think you need and then use the velcro to adjust them down as necessary. This worked beautifully for us, but we were in Guatemala in late May, not northern China in January. So, maybe the velcro sandals won't work so well for the climate. Regardless, take along a couple pairs of shoes.

Jacket, clothing, etc. I don't know what the policies are where you will be adopting, but its safe to assume he won't be coming to you with anything but the clothes on his back, so take everything else you think he'll need for the few days you will be in China and for the travel time home.

A camera. Like you needed me to tell you this one. But take lots of pictures and try to document as best you can where he came from and the story of how he came home with you. That's an important piece of his life and of who he is. He will need to have that, to hear that, to look at the pictures again and again. Our Toa of Boy used to wake up in the middle of the night crying. I found that one of the only ways to comfort him and help him settle down was to go back to those pictures, to talk about where he used to live, and to tell him again the story of how he came home with us. In that telling, it helped reassure him of how much we love him and how he will always be with us and how God has always had a special plan for his life.

Hope that helps!

I'll ask the Jedi to read over this and see if he has anything he can think of to add. He's the more practical minded of the two of us. (Big shocker there, right?) I'll tag on any of his suggestions in a separate post.

Runaway Blog

Help, Help, A Horrible Heffalump!

I got a facebook message from a friend the other day. Here's what it said:

I don't know how to fix it, but your blog is spamming my blog with links to your blog. I've deleted quite a few links, but still have about 40 to go! I think the problem is on your end, but I don't know what to tell you about how to fix it. I'm going to see what I can find out.

The joys of technology!

Really? Really?

First, let me say....if my blog has spammed anyone else's blog, you have my sincerest apologies. I promise, it was absolutely without my permission, intention, provocation, knowledge, awareness, etc.

It was, in fact, one more strike in the great computers and electronic conspiracy.

Second, I have gone over all my settings. I hadn't changed anything in the past few months, but I double checked everything anyway. I've poured through the blogger help forums. But I have NO IDEA why my blog would do such a thing or how to fix it.

My best game plan is to hope that it stops itself as mysteriously as it started.

Third, if it's still happening to anyone, please let me know. If the problem hasn't resolved itself, I'll write about it directly to blogger help. I'm sort of saving that as a last resort, because I don't want my blog to get flagged as a spam blog. Or deleted.

But, I also don't want it spamming other blogs for no good reason.

Wordless Wednesday: Ice Pirate

Contents of the Kitchen Table

At the end of the day, after the dinner dishes have been cleared off, there's always a few scattered things pushed to one corner of the table. (On a good day, its just a few things pushed to one corner. On a bad day, we eat in the living room. Don't judge me.)

The type and amount of items left on the table serve as an indicator of how the day went. Today was a great day for school. After the Jedi took the kids to Tae Kwon Do, I sat down with my phone and half a cup of hot chocolate, and recorded what was still on the table. (Besides my hot chocolate cup, which was a new arrival.)

Remnants of a good day:

• One plant in surprisingly good health
• One homemade basket filled with napkins
• One bottle joint supplement
• One miniature pumpkin
• One glass bowl with 2 apples
• One box ibuprofen
• One roll medical tape
• One thank you card from neighbors
• One painted tile (still waiting to be hung on wall) 
• One cut scrap of paper leftover  from earlier project
• One awana handbook 
• One halloween pencil 
• One pink highlighter 
• One baggie of awana bucks 
• Two glue sticks 
• One yellow highlighter 
• One chapter 5 math test 
• One history portfolio and time line 
• One green plastic army man

In other news, its been a while since I've blogged. One would think I would learn by now that whenever I have grand plans and schemes for my blog, that my blog posts actually decline in frequency. I get "behind" on the arbitrary standards I set for myself, and then I stop blogging until I can get "caught up."

Forget that.

Instead I bring you contents of my kitchen table. You can thank me later for not including the contents of my kitchen counter.

Retooling the Curricula

We're a month into our school year, and so far, I couldn't be happier with the bulk of our curriculum. 

I'm especially pleased with Toa's language arts curriculum from Royal Fireworks Press. Anytime a very active 8 year old boy says, "can we just read one more part please, Mommy?" That's a winner. And, when I quickly agreed to the request, the response was, "Hooray! I get to learn what a conjunction is!" 

No lie.

I am also super pleased with Sweetling's science curriculum from Education Exploration. I can't tell you how cool it is to see her assembling a wooden glider with a wingspan slightly greater than two feet. Her projects are so cool, and she can work through her science curriculum completely independently, which has a huge appeal for her.

Likewise, the Writing the Breakout Novel text is really a great resource. I'm stealing it from her on weekends and reading it, and taking notes, myself. I've spied on Sweetling, and she keeps her writing notebook close at hand while she's reading.

And, while her Geometry text has had a couple of unfortunate errors, on the whole it's been a win. (And Sweetling has zipped off an email to the author about the most blatant misprints.) I was also please to note, that when she was picking out folders and notebooks and color co-ordinating them to match each of her school subjects, she picked green, her favorite color, for geometry.

Our Bible curriculum isn't the most exciting thing in the world, but it works for both kids. That's a pretty nice trick in itself. And its rather thoroughly covering the basics of all the books in the Old Testament.

Last, skipping third grade math was absolutely the best choice for Toa. He's picked up the fourth grade math book and run with it. We're in the third chapter, which has had a 'theme' of sharks. Bonus for lots of cool shark facts.

However,

There are two key areas which aren't working for us.

First, Toa's super cool science curriculum that I was so super excited about? It's too easy and way too elementary for him. We're going to finish it up, because we spent $60 on it, and I think that some of the projects and lessons will still be really cool. But, overall, we are going to fly through this science curriculum. I wish I had purchased the Intermediate Level for him instead of the Elementary Level.

I think when we finish this science curriculum, we'll try something new. I'd love to try Apologia Science, but since I've already blown my budget on curriculum, I'm not sure how feasible that will be. I might have to settle for  a cheap used copy of Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space.

Second, putting together my own History of the 20th Century course is a wash. It's way too much work for me and for the kids. I feel like we're reinventing the wheel, and coming up with a bumpy, lumpy one at that. I'm officially throwing in the towel on this idea.

I took a second look, (ok, really its a third, fourth, or fifth look if you want to get technical), at some pre-assembled curricula kits. There are several that I really like, but remember, I've already burned through my homeschool book budget and then some. So, money was definitely a factor.

I'm going to order the Time Travelers: The Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression curruculum CD from Homeschool in the Woods. I'll have to add in my own library books, but we'd be doing that with any curriculum. I think it has everything I'm looking for. And, here's the real sell, check out the project pics in the left hand column.

We'll use this through the fall. (So, what's left of September and the whole month of October. We're taking a break from most curriculum in November for NaNoWriMo. In December, we'll focus on making our own Christmas presents, which we will tie in to our study of the 1930s.)

In January, we'll order the next in the Time Travelers series, World War II. I'm sure that will take us through at least the beginning of March.

And then we'll be back to winging it for the second half of the 20th Century in the spring.

Two for Tuesday: French Toast Casserole

Originally, this recipe came from allrecipes and was called "Overnight French Toast II". I haven't changed much about the recipe, just added a sprinkling of cinnamon.That and I rarely make it overnight. Hence the name change.

French Toast Casserole

Ingredients

• 2 Tbs corn syrup
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• cinnamon to sprinkle
• 1 loaf French bread (white or wheat)
• 5 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

1. Combine the corn syrup, butter, and brown sugar in a small sauce pan. The original recipe says to simmer until the sugar is melted. I've never figured this step out. My syrup always seems grainy, but it works.
2. Grease a 9x13 casserole dish. Pour syrup mixture into the bottom of the casserole dish. Sprinkle the surface with cinnamon.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and salt.
4. Slice bread into thick slices, like an inch and a half thick. Place bread slices in casserole dish over the syrup mixture.
5. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the bread slices. Yes, this will completely fill the pan and the spaces in between the bread slices. It's supposed to do this.
6. Cover with plastic wrap. Place the dish in the refrigerator overnight OR prep this in the morning and let it soak all day for dinner in the evening. (And as a side note, don't be like me. Clear off a place to put this before you open the fridge door and try to hold the heavy dish full of liquid with one hand while you precariously stack plastic containers of leftovers and half full salsa jars with the other hand. That sort of scenario rarely has a happy ending.)
7. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. 

This dish does not need a syrup, since it makes its own. This makes it great for taking places, as long as you do the appropriate prep work the night before or early enough in the day. (In other words, you can't wake up at 7 and try to make and bake this dish for a 9am Bible study.)

I'm a big fan of breakfast for dinner once a week, and I like using this recipe for that purpose. I serve it with either thick bacon slices or thick ham slices and fresh fruit (strawberries, cantaloupe, honeydew melon) if I have some.

Normally, I'd leave you with a link to another interesting looking recipe, but right now, I'm trying to recover from blogroller turning evil and hijaking my blog. Curse you blogroller. Curse you.

Two for Tuesday: Egg and Cheese Bake

Shhhhh.....I have a secret to share.

This was a recipe I originally found on allrecipes as Easy Quiche. But, the Jedi says he hates quiche, and would never have touched dinner if I had said I made a quiche. Voila, the birth of...

Egg and Cheese Bake

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup biscuit baking mix (ie--Bisquick)
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup cooked  and crumbled bacon
• 1 to 1 1/2 cup shredded cheese mix (the kind I used is called "Fiesta Blend" at Walmart)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a deep dish pie pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together milk, eggs, baking mix, butter and parmesan cheese. Batter will be lumpy.
3. Pour into prepared dish. Dump a ton of cheese on top. Dump all the crumbled bacon pieces you have on top of that. (I think I put about 1/2 a cup of bacon on mine, but I would have added more if I had it.)
4. Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes, until eggs are set and top is golden brown.
5. Allow to cool for five to ten minutes before slicing and serving. And of course, don't mention that the original recipe was called a quiche.

 My family loved it. It was easy, filling, and went great with the homemade wheat bread and homemade apple butter that Sweetling had made that afternoon for her cooking project. I fried up some potatoes as a side dish as well. (The secret is to microwave them first, then let them cool before cutting them in chunks and frying them. That is how I finally defeated my whole potato-curse thing.)

The other thing I made last week that was TO DIE FOR was a flourless chocolate cake. You can find the original recipe here on Gluten-Free-Easily. Do not change a thing. Follow her instructions to the letter because really, why would anyone mess with PERFECTION?

Food Pantry List

Here's the challenge.

• The church food pantry would like to provide a week's worth of groceries/meals to a family whenever needed.
• The groceries should include everything the family needs for meals, with few, if any, other ingredients needed.
• The pantry cannot give out perishable foods, both because we don't have any refrigeration/freezer units and because we never know when a family will need the pantry's services, so we can't keep foods with a limited shelf life on stock. (Sometimes we'll supply groceries to three families in one week, and sometimes two weeks will go by before the pantry is needed.)
• In good conscience, I can't give out food which I wouldn't be comfortable feeding my own family, which means I'm trying to limit the amount of processed food we give out and I'm trying to ensure the meals are balanced and healthy.

Got that? Five to seven meals, plus some breakfast, lunch, and snack items. No extra ingredients. No perishables or short shelf life foods. Healthy, balanced, limited processed foods.

Yeah, it strikes me as quite a puzzler too.


Oh, and I don't want the recipes to be too involved, too time consuming, or too labor intensive. Or have too many special ingredients, since I'm depending on donations to put the bags together.


Fun mix, all of that.


That being said, I am going to keep two of the staple meals in that I'm using right now.

1. Tuna Helper. Easy, quick, and the congregation is great at keeping me supplied with the tuna and the tuna helper boxes.
2. Pasta and spaghetti sauce. Same reasons.

Which means I need three to five other meals.

Rice and Beans. Simple. Few ingredients. Few processed foods. 

Ramen Casserole. The kids and I eat a variation of this at least once a week at lunch time.

Tomato Macaroni and Cheese. Right now I'm giving out boxes of mac n cheese, but I feel bad about this since the box mix calls for milk and butter to complete. Here's a nice alternative to that.

I'm considering the Turkey and Dressing, but am not completely sold on it yet.

What I'd really love are a few other ideas. Anyone have a good suggestion?

(We do also put several cans of soup in each bag for a couple lunches.)

((And somehow, this sat unpublished for two months. Why or how, I don't know.))

Two for Tuesday: Lemon Bars

Let me start off by saying that I don't like lemon bars. I don't like key lime pie either. Lemon/lime desserts just don't do it for me.

And yet, these...THESE....are DELICIOUS.

Sweelting made these. She got the recipe from Teens Cook Dessert, which she found and checked out from the library a couple of weeks ago.

Have I mentioned the deliciousness factor? Cause they were. Delicious.

Lemon Bars

Ingredients

CRUST

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter

FILING

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

GLAZE

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 Tbs lemon juice

 Directions


To prepare the crust:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix flour, powdered sugar, and butter in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed for 2 minutes, or until crumbly.
3. Press mixture into bottom of an ungreased 9x13 pan and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until lightly brown.
4. Remove from oven, but leave oven at 350.

To prepare the filling:

1. Stir eggs, sugar, flour, and baking powder in a medium bowl until completely combined.
2. Add lemon juice and stir until completely smooth.
3. Pour the mixture over the warm crust and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
4. Let cool completely.

To prepare the glaze:

1. Stir powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth.
2. Smooth the glaze over the bars, let set for 30 minutes.
3. Cut into 2 inch squares. 

 And, because some crazy woman decided to call this "TWO" for Tuesday....I'm looking for a recipe that I'm thinking of trying. Now, for the past couple weeks, I've posted things that I never thought I'd like, until I tried them. Here's a recipe with lots of great things that I love, in a combination that perhaps should never, ever, have been brought together. And yet, I'm considering it.

Buffalo Chicken Lasagna.

Do I dare?

Things I Need to Do

I don't know why I think making a list will make me more likely or motivated to get any of these done. Maybe making a list will entice some magic list fairy into coming over and magically accomplishing one of the items. Sort of like The Elves and the Shoemaker, without all the hard work the shoemaker puts in every day.

Anyway

• Revamp/ revise what goes in our food pantry bags. Search for some internet recipes that are still cheap and easy, use only non-perishable foods, and avoid unhealthy or overprocessed food. See why my to do list never gets done?
• Develop a sign up sheet for the list of items the food pantry will need each month so that families can sign up to commit to bringing a few specific items each month
• Put together a weekly lunch menu for the kids and me. Again, quick, cheap, and healthy are the must haves.
• Clean out and organize the 6 big plastic drawers and three skinny plastic drawers of school and craft supplies downstairs.
• Put together a 'price book' for grocery shopping.
• Find some online directions for bridge building for Toa's history project this week.
• Schedule an outing with Aunt Smurf. Preferably one that involves a penguin parade at Newport on the Levee.
• Trim and hang some 'post cards from America' calendar pages as a border for our 'art door' in the hallway.
• Schedule some outings for the new LITE Lab in the Cincinnati Museum Center.

On a side note, someone got chocolate smudges on the pages of Sweetling's Geometry book today. I'm blaming the accident on the indescribable joys of indirect proofs. 

Weekly Wrap Up.....School With a Side of Summer

Once again, the weather was beautiful outside, while, theoretically, we were supposed to be doing school inside.

Here's how our Monday went....

Now, before anyone is tempted to call the school board, we got all our school done that morning before we took off to play hookey ;)

That evening, we had hamburgers for dinner, and ate on TV trays in the living room so that we could watch the Civil War episode of America: The Story of Us.

Let me tell you, warn you, that Civil War battlefields do NOT make for good dinner time viewing. Even if you fast forward through the "field amputation" segment.

And I would say that maybe the loss of good dinner ambiance would be worth it, if both children had come away with a good understanding of the Civil War in a nutshell. But, at the end of the hour long video, Toa asked, "So.....who won?"

Other than that small disappointment, I've continued to love all of our curriculum. Here are some of our highlights from this week:

History:

Toa and I loved this awesome book, A Street through Time. We sat on the couch together reading the book and searching the large, two page illustrations for examples of the various technologies and changes. It was an activity unto itself.




Science:

Sweetling finished her cool car this week. She had it tied off to a cup which was weighted down by her Bible and the little guy was just zooming around in circles on our kitchen floor. I took a video of that, but I'm not techno-cool enough to be able to share that.

Having conquered that project, she went on to begin building a balsa wood glider with a wingspan of 33 inches. She is still searching for the perfect name for it.





Toa's science lesson this week was on gravity. He got to use the car he built last week to experiment with different steepnesses of inclined planes. I have no pictures of this process, because I got kicked out of the room while it was going on. There are some things, apparently, which are just between a boy and his car.

Health and Safety

Every year, the Jedi's company sponsors a safety poster contest for children of employees. (This is cool for me, because participating often covers my state requirement for safety.) This year, the theme is safety in the workplace (including overall health and wellness.) Here is Sweelting's finished poster. Because I'm not so good with the camera, the lettering is difficult to read in the photo. It reads, "Protect Your Hearing: 85 db and over is the danger zone!"

Toa's poster is on Healthy Eating habits, but isn't quite finished yet. I'll post up a picture of it next week.

Reading:

Yay! I finally got my copy of The Book Whisperer from the library! I've been on the hold wait list since early July. I only have read the first chapter, but I'm really looking forward to gleaning some insight from it. Toa considers himself too old for children's picture books, but he isn't quite ready for the traditional chapter books either. And many of the "I can read" chapter type books are just not that engaging or just not that hot when it comes to children's literature. I'm sure there are a few exceptions to that, but I'm having a bear of a time finding them!




Meanwhile, we've started keeping a literature log. And when I say "we" I mean, I'm making him write a couple of sentences about a book when he finishes it. I know, the cold depths of cruelty I am capable of is just astounding. This week, we finished Bunnicula and Friends: Hot Fudge. Last week we read Sam and the Firefly. Toa reads almost every day. He loves our reading time together, cause we sprawl out on the waterbed while he reads aloud to me. We pause and talk about the book and make predictions and discuss the character's choices. But, the reason Toa loves reading is that reading is always followed by a short tickle time.

James and the Giant Peach is our current read aloud. I love James and the Giant Peach. I read aloud to Toa in the evenings. Sadly, I don't get to it every evening, because our evenings are pretty crowded, but we do get to it fairly regularly, and he really enjoys the stories we read together.

Writing:

Sweetling finished her first chapter in Writing the Breakout Novel. I, of course, am not allowed to peak in her writing idea notebook, but I was pleased to see that she had it out while she was reading. Now I just have to pinch the Breakout Novel text back from her so that I can read chapter two :) There are twelve chapters in the book, so I think we can finish the text before NaNo, and then begin the workbook in January. This time when I say "we" I mean "me too!!!"

Cooking:

Friday afternoon is our time for cooking projects. Toa made Cuppa Cuppa Cake.

Sweetling made the world's best lemon bars from scratch and then went on to make delicious fish tacos for dinner.

Finally, having started our week out with an awesome outdoor fun time, we were blessed to be able to finish it off with a fantastic pool party. Our youth pastor's family rented out a local community pool for two hours on Friday night as a giant combined birthday party for him and his two boys. It was a great ending to a great week!


Check out what others are doing on Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Two for Tuesday: Fluffy Pancakes

Yes, it's Thursday. Why do you even act surprised about these things anymore?

Even though it's Thursday, I'm sharing my favorite pancake recipe of all time.

Fluffy Pancakes

Originally, I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. I haven't changed anything from the original except that I double the recipe when I make it for the family. We have breakfast for dinner about once a week. We don't always have pancakes and eggs, but we often do.

Here is the recipe, with the amounts already doubled. (So, don't double them again and come whining to me about it making a crap-ton of pancakes.)

Ingredients

• 1 - 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• cooking spray for pan

Directions

1. Measure milk and vinegar into a large bowl. Set kitchen timer for five minutes and allow milk to "sour."
2. Meanwhile, measure dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) into another bowl. Use a wire whisk to blend completely.
3. Melt your butter if you are still waiting for the 5 minute timer to beep.
4. When the milk has soured for 5 minutes, whisk two eggs and the melted butter into the milk.
5. Add your dry ingredients to the milk mixture and whisk until all lumps are gone.
6. Heat your skillet over medium heat and spray with non-stick spray. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into the skillet to form pancakes. Cook until bubbles begin to form on surface. Flip and cook until browned.

This recipe doesn't lie when it calls the pancakes "fluffy". These pancakes are absolutely the best. Thick, rich, light...and yes, they CAN be all three of those things at once. I've been making these for two years now as my go to pancake recipe.

I've considered stirring in some other ingredients. Blueberries or chocolate chips or bananas or sliced strawberries. I haven't gotten around to try that yet. (Mostly because I'm usually pressed for time and not feeling very creative on pancake night. There's a reason I'm making quick and easy pancakes for dinner. Stir-ins sort of defeat that whole quick and easy goal.)  If someone else does try some stir-ins, let me know how it goes.

And the two part of my Tuesday, Cuppa Cuppa Cake from the Pioneer Woman is going with me to a friend's house on Saturday. After I pick the gross rubber grapes out of the can of fruit cocktail of course.

Not-Back-to-School: Meet and Greet

Sweetling

 

• Favorite Subject: Science
• Favorite Thing about Homeschooling: "the freedom that's involved with it"
• Least Favorite Thing about Homeschooling: "It's also kind of distracting doing school in my house because there are so many other things in the house that I enjoy doing."
• Most Anticipating This Year:   learning Spanish

Toa of Boy

• Favorite Subject: Math
• Favorite Thing about Homeschooling: "I don't have sit for 800 hours and get sleepy and stuff."
• Least Favorite about Homeschooling:  Spelling
• Most Anticipating This Year: "the end of school"

Mrs. Random

• Favorite Subject: Art
• Favorite Thing about Homeschooling: "marching to the beat of our own drum"
• Least Favorite about Homeschooling: "teaching higher level math"
• Most Anticipating This Year: "cooking with Sweetling"