Monday Bits & Pieces...

Not as smooth a title as Monday Musings, but oh well! It feels more bits and pieces today.

Yesterday, we headed out to a free mini-workshop offered by Lowe's. The kids got to construct a dragon (the dragon in the Shrek movies) from a simple kit. Hammers were involved, so it was fun!

I'm back at work this week, regular hours, more or less. My boss and I did adjust my schedule a bit, so I work 5 hours on Mondays, and 4 hours a day the rest of the week. I will have an occasional longer day here and there, as my target is 1000 hours per year. Since M is home, the kids are only heading off to my mom's house a couple of days a week right now. Things are definitely a bit different when I have work... and I am going to try from today on to establish a good rhythm to our days, perhaps something like this:

~ When I/we get home, I will have the kids do a couple of chores each while I make lunch.
~ While we eat, we can watch a documentary.
~ Everyone clears up their dishes, and then we settle in for some reading from the Afternoon Basket (which yes, I am putting into full use this week. I decided to add it another subject or two a week over the next couple of weeks rather than starting up out of nowhere in September.)
~ Then, they can play while I get my workout and some housework out of the way, before tackling dinner, etc.

I'd like to establish this routine now, and get everyone into the groove soon, since next week I go back to school myself, and September is drawing near!

This week's agenda:

~ Establishing a routine
~ Getting my project/experiment book basket set up
~ Switching out some books in my Afternoon Basket
~ Finish cleaning the kitchen, and get the living room done (I am deep cleaning one room at a time)
~ Go swimming at a pool with friends!
~ Try to get out hiking again over the weekend, or maybe even mid-week
~ Get geared up for the big airshow that happens around here next weekend!

It should be a good week. And just for fun, here is a recipe for the recent family favorite...

Quinoa Salad

Quinoa:
Rinse 1 cup quinoa well. Add to 2 cups boiling water, bring back to a full boil, then cover and simmer about 15 minutes, until all the water is absorbed. Put quinoa in a bowl, and chill.

Once the quinoa is chilled, add the following:
About 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved, or larger tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup fresh salsa
About 3/4 cup cooked corn kernels (I like grilling corn for this recipe)
1 avocado, cut into small cubes
A good handful of chopped cilantro
A squeeze of lemon juice
About 1 Tbsp. good olive oil
A few dashes cumin, salt, and pepper

Mix well, return to fridge until nice and cold. You can serve this by itself, with meat or shrimp or black beans, over mixed salad greens, etc. Yum!

Hope everyone has a good week!

Monday Musings... On the Agenda...

With the upcoming election, I've decided to throw a little U.S. government into our studies, with some additional books for the Afternoon Basket over the next few weeks (see my sidebar for the rest of the Basket)...

*How The U.S. Government Works
*A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution
*See How They Run! Campaign Dreams, Election Schemes, & The  Race to the White House
*The Story of Presidential Elections




Other things we have going on...
*More of Reading Pathways and various books/readers with The Girl
*The Boy is reading Throne of Fire now, so we may
watch some documentaries on ancient Egypt
*I am really hoping that this week we'll get some fun science projects done!
*And I'd like to get some outdoor math activities underway, using Family Math
*Swimming with friends, if the weather cooperates! Right now, it is chilly and overcast here.
*Our weekly Park Day!
*Maybe an art project or two
*I have work this week again, but only once for 4 hours


And maybe a little more relaxation while summer is still here....

Sunday Scatterings... A Fresh Month...

Thank goodness it is a new week, and a new month. I am hoping for less stress than the last week!

Today has started out well, with a delicious and healthy breakfast treat (I made mine in a regular muffin tin, not mini, because that's what I've got). The kids loved these, and I think even M will like them! The zucchini for the recipe, I am proud to say, came from our very own garden, and the eggs from our own chickens. Our garden is not doing quite as well as we had hoped... the weather has been so up and down this summer. But, we are getting a trickle of veggies, and we get at least 2 eggs a day!

Yesterday, when the car overheated on my return trip from the library, and I was forced to sit for nearly an hour waiting for a friend to show up (and tow me home), I read a fantastic book - A Picture Perfect Childhood. The author, Cay Gibson, writes:

   "We really must rethink the way we think of storybooks as learning tools. They are treasures. They are works of art. they are gateways and portals that open up a whole new world for you and your child. This world can be enjoyed at the age of five, at the age of fifteen, and at the age of fifty. The idea, as one mother wrote, that "Too many parents think that the beginning of schooling should mean the end of picture books,: needs to be abandoned."

And then there is a lovely quote from children's author Melissa Wiley:

  "I strew the path and I open the door to conversation. And we have books for breakfast, literature for lunch, Tennyson for tea, Dickens for dessert, a Midsummer Night's Dream for a midafternoon snack. We enjoy daily feasts of living books."

This all circles back to my post on the Morning/Afternoon Basket. And now I've decided I should add a daily picture book to the basket! Gibson's book has lists upon lists of good picture books.... by month, for cooking, art, music, Shakespeare, and more!

I also found another treasure to use next year. On a Yahoo! group, a friend recommended a vintage, out-of-print text, called The Rainbow Book of American History. I managed to get it through inter-library-loan, and had it out in a stack of books this week. I started to flip through it, when Cassia came in to look over my shoulder. She immediately loved the illustrations (which are on nearly every page), and asked me to read her a little. I told her the name of the book, and then read a bit from the first chapter. I had barely gotten two paragraphs in when she stopped me. "Mommy, that's the history I want next year!" She was very excited about the idea! So when she finally managed to extricate herself from the book (she decided to look at all the pictures), I flipped through the rest myself, reading a bit here and there, and I think that yes, we have found a good history book to read from once a week, or so! The rest of the time, we'll be doing child-led history, with any number of documentaries, vintage books, and just plain good books.

So what are my plans for the week, now that I am officially on summer break (5-6 weeks off!)? We're going to start up the Morning/Afternoon Basket; work on Cassia's reading with easy reader books and word family work; maybe watch some documentaries and movies; the kids will play in the pool; we've got a field trip on Thursday; and I really hope to make it back to Park Day this week! I'll also be making lists of books (a favorite activity)  I'd like to read in the next year - I expect this project to last all month.

And we're cleaning. Throwing things away, donating books and clothes, selling homeschool materials we won't use, maybe reorganizing furniture... my goal is to start August with a very clean and uncluttered house!

Here's to a good week, and a Happy July!

Monday Musings... Morning Basket...

Edited to Add: I just got word, literally minutes ago, that my layoff notice is officially being rescinded! Financially this could not have happened at a better time, though I admit I was looking forward to being at home with the kids more... at least I have 6 weeks off to enjoy with them.

I am feeling very inspired by Wildflowers and Marbles' Morning Basket, which you can read about here and here. So much inspired in fact that I have decided to set up my own, which I plan to start using with the children next week. I think summer is a good time to try something new like this, as long as it is gentle and not very demanding since, after all, summer is a time to relax! Anyhow, I'd like to see if this routine is something that would work well for us before I launch into it full on this fall! Due to the above news, mine will be an Afternoon Basket though.




I do have a lovely basket to use already at hand. It is a strong, sturdy affair made of sea grass, so it also has a lovely smell. Right now it is full of miscellaneous homeschooling papers, perhaps a book or two, so I plan to clean it out first.




Then comes the fun part... filling said basket with books! I've been considering very carefully what all to put in the Morning Basket, and have come up with:


Tales From The Odyssey (which we've already started!)
An Everyday History of Somewhere
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
Stories of Rocks & Minerals
and
Turn Homeward, Hannalee (this last because there are some local Civil War days coming up!)


I think this will easily get us through July, then in August, I can switch it up! We'll still keep our bedtime reading intact as well, which generally includes some reading to The Girl while The Boy reads on his own, and then a whole-family story.

What We're Up to This Week:

Another quiet week on the agenda:

~ I work every morning this week, and am taking my dad to a doctor's appointment.
~ The Girl has roller derby practice
~ The Boy has a piano lesson.
~ I think our one fun excursion for the week will be Park Day!
~ I've gone ahead and started sorting through more clutter, and "summer cleaning" has commenced! I want the house in uncluttered, spick-n-span condition before fall.
~ BIL is finally actually moving out, so soon we will be moving lots of bedroom furniture about the house. The kids are very, very much looking forward to having their own rooms! I have a plan for this too: 1. Steam-clean the BIL's bedroom once he's moved; 2. Move our stuff into the master bedroom; 3. Steam-clean and hopefully paint our old bedroom for The Girl, move her stuff in; and 4. Clean out thoroughly, and perhaps paint, what will now be just The Boy's room. See? Very organized! We'll see if it really works out as well as I have it working in my head.

And that's our exciting week! Of course there will be reading (see sidebar for what we're reading now), arts and crafts, some TV and computer time, swimming/splashing about in the pool, chickens to care for, a veggie garden to weed and water... and so before we know it, the week will flash right by.

Hope you all have a good week!