Thursday Thoughts... A Recipe...

It is that time of year... the temperature has dropped a bit, and the air is crisp, a little chilly in the mornings. This is the time of year that I start baking more. Now, while we are not following a Paleo diet, and we are not grain-free, both The Boy and I seem to have some issues around gluten, so I like to experiment with new recipes. This one, which we love already, is originally from PaleOMG [see original recipe here]. Naturally I tweaked it a little!

Apple Spice Muffins (grain-free, dairy-free)
1 large, or 2 smaller, tart apples, peeled, cored, chopped (cut quite small if you're making mini muffins)

photo courtesy of PaleOMG

1.5 cups almond flour/meal
4.5 Tbsp. coconut flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tbsp. honey
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
pinch of salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)
Optional spices: a few pinches of ground cloves and/or ginger

Preheat your oven to 350F. Lightly grease your muffin tin, or use paper cups (or silicone ones if you have them).

Mix the dry ingredients (flours, baking soda, spices) together in a large bowl. Add the apples and cranberries, and toss to lightly coat the fruit (this helps keep the fruit nicely distributed in the muffins). Add in the honey, coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well, then fold in nuts if you are using them.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. If you're making regular sized muffins, this will make around 10-12 muffins. With mini muffins, you'll get around 24. Bake regular muffins for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, and the muffins are slightly springy to the touch. Mini muffins bake in about 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Monday Musings... Happy Fall!

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

~Albert Camus

First of all, Happy Autumn Equinox to everyone! I know I am a day late, but better late than never.

And a thank you to Kim, for much of this week's Monday Musings inspiration!

Outside My Window...

We had rain this weekend! It started very lightly while we were at our beloved park day on Friday, celebrating fall. On Saturday however, it absolutely poured in the morning, though by afternoon it was clear and sunny. It has been sunny ever since, but definitely cooler--I need a sweater in the mornings now! Today is supposed to be on the warmer side, but then it will be cooling right back down.

In My Garden...

I am down to deadheading some flowering bushes, and then I'll be working on my sketches for new landscaping plans!

In My Kitchen...

The Pozole Rojo I made for the Equinox was delicious! I did cut the amount of dried chiles used in half, and it was still spicy, but not overwhelmingly so. We used the traditional (raw) toppings - chopped white onion, thinly sliced radishes and cabbage, and some minced cilantro. Tonight, The Girl and I are making Butter Chicken (Indian food). I swear that one of the things I love about fall is cooking... curries, stews, soups... mmmm. And the kids are eager for pasta night - I always serve myself spaghetti squash rather than actual pasta, as I prefer the flavor, and last week they tasted mine, and declared "We want that!" I've found this is an easy, quick and healthy meal for Wednesdays, when The Boy has fencing and we don't get home until about 7 pm.

In Our Homeschool...

Yep, after writing this post, The Boy and I held a mini math conference. We're going to go back to a mix of things... some Life of Fred - we'll be backing up a little and actually finishing Fractions, then Decimals & Percents, and if time allows this year, we'll move into pre-algebra as well; some Zacarro's Challenge Math; and then Math Mammoth as needed for the rough spots. The Girl will be sticking with Saxon, at least for the time being. This week, I actually want to do some homeschooling! That's my major goal, since last week... um, I'm not sure what happened or where the week went!

Creating...

I want to get some yarn and start knitting again. I really enjoyed it before, and it gave me something to do while The Boy fences, or The Girl skates. I'd like to start a scarf for M, I think. And I'd like to finally get around to some art with the kids this week!

Reading & Watching...

We're down to the last two chapters of The Princess Bride, then I think we'll be reading The Story of Sigfried (James Baldwin). I am about to start reading a book called The Changeling of Finnistuath, which looks intriguing. We're watching the second season of Once Upon A Time, and we're about ready to wrap up season two of Eureka. We watched Forrest Gump on Friday, and all really enjoyed it - I haven't seen that movie in some time.

Plans for the Week Ahead...

Start checking out local firewood prices. Clean out the chicken hutch again. We bathed the dogs yesterday, so that's taken care of, at least. We need to get to the library this week too!

Have a great week!

And Wordy Wednesday... Math Thoughts... Again...

Math.

Hmmph.

Since The Boy keeps insisting on getting older, I am getting more concerned about math. Where we're going with it, what we'll use when we get there, things of that sort. I have friends that unschool math, or simply turn their kids loose on Khan Academy (which I agree is a fantastic resource!!!), but I don't know that I am comfortable with that.

We started out this year with Saxon 7/6, but had to take a break to review long division. I was planning on The Boy doing 8/7 (with pre-algebra, so a newer edition) next year, and then Algebra 1 after that, in 9th grade. That still might work out. I do love that if you use the older Saxon books, geometry is incorporated in both Algebra and Advanced Mathematics, rather than being its own separate course.

But...

I also have Lial's Basic College Math on hand, which might be a good overview of math for the year (and which might work better for my boy?), and may well cover both 7th and 8th grades, and then we could go into Algebra 1 for 9th grade.

Or, I could take some of the pressure off myself (I am not really a mathy person), and go to Teaching Textbooks next fall?

The Girl is a no-brainer with this. She loves, loves, loves Saxon Math. And for now that's what she will do, though I'm again not sure about high school.

Right now I feel just about like this...

Any words of wisdom from any been-there-done-that parents?

{Mostly} Wordless Wednesday... Meeting the Queen...

Last week, I hinted that we had some fun plans for the weekend. On Saturday, we headed back to the late 1500s, to the glorious Renaissance, with a trip to our local [small] Renaissance Faire! This is the third year in a row we have attended, and we always have a great time!

We saw, and then were presented to, the Queen herself

There was singing and we watched a few comedic stage acts

Tug o' war!!

And pillow fighting!!

And the Danse Macabre came by...

We admired costumes, watched knights battle, and learned a good deal about daily life in that period, with the scavenger hunt/Passport to History program. The kids launched little bean bags with catapults, to "storm the castle"; checked out chain mail; watched craftsmen ply their trades; and of course we played the Giant Jenga game! All in all, it was a delightful afternoon! Now the family is curious about the SCA, as they had an informational booth there. Anyone have any experience with them/their organization?

Tuesday Tidbits... Planning & A Book...

Homeschooling Agenda This Week...

History

Read aloud another chapter or two from Our Island Story
Listen to 2-4 chapters from The Story of the World

Sciences

The Girl: nature observation & journal entry; a chapter from Life in a Bucket of Soil; 2-3 chapters from The Story of Dr. Doolittle; and she'll choose a documentary, probably something on animals, to watch on Thursday
The Boy: a project from Stop Faking It! Force & Motion; 2-3 sections from The New Way Things Work, along with entries in his science MLB; documentary of his choice

Literature

I'd like to start reading The Story of Siegfried, by James Baldwin (from this list I made), and we should finish up The Princess Bride.
As far as rotational literature, we'll be reading from The Complete Book of Marvels; Nonsense & Common Sense: A Child's Book of Victorian Verse; and A Really Short History of Nearly Everything. Next week, I'll add back in mathematical stories, and philosophy.

Of course, we're doing math, reading, spelling, writing, and Latin.

Then there's my sort of writing project. The idea came from a homeschooling message board... someone said they wished there was a book on using Charlotte Mason's methods with MODERN books and the like.

I feel very inspired! So I am drafting a rough outline in my "spare" time. It will be secular, and will address many of the ideas CM wrote about, but updated for the modern family. IF I get it written, and then published... well, we'll see. This means too that I am re-reading much of the original series, and making copious notes. This may take me a while!

Hope your week is off to a good start!

Monday Musings... Waiting for Fall...

Fall/autumn is my absolute favorite time of year. I love the cool, crisp days, the gray rainy ones, apples and pears, the sound of leaves when you walk through them... I also enjoy the dark evenings, and the anticipation of fall and winter holidays. Unfortunately, it still feels more like summer here. Last week, it was sunny and hot, in the upper 80s to the low/mid 90s. This week though is finally slated to be cooler!

Outside My Window...
There was some lovely, thick fog this morning on my way to work. Gray, and misty, and damp. It smelled like fall outside! Now it has cleared off, the sun is shining, but the temperature is still hovering in the 60s.

Things I'm Thinking About...
Getting ready for fall, and then winter. We need to fix a leak in the roof over the family room, and we'll need our backflow device replaced this year. On a more cheerful note, the kids are beginning to think about Halloween costumes, and we're planning a camping trip for the Thanksgiving weekend (yes, instead of a typical dinner!). And we're planning for the Equinox next weekend. Maybe a hike in the redwoods, or a trip out to the coast.

In My Garden...
I need to deadhead much of the yard soon, and start thinking about mid-late fall and winter veggie gardening. We harvested a few ears of corn that were delicious, and we're drying several for homemade popcorn.

Around the House...
Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. I swear dirty dishes multiply on their own. I need to finish getting the kids' bedrooms cleaned and reorganized, with their help, of course. I want to make a new fall wreath for the front door, then design a winter one to put up at the Winter Solstice.

In Our Kitchen...
Mmmm. I've been daydreaming about fall foods, so I went ahead and made this delicious soup for my lunches this week (note: I blend the whole thing until it is nearly smooth, not just half of it, which makes it slightly brown in color, but so good!). I was thinking about a Three Sisters stew for the Equinox, but I believe we're going with a spicy, rich Pozole Rojo instead (insert drooling here). My mom has been making a lot of jam lately, for her church's food pantry, and we have benefited from that! My favorite is the Asian Pear & Ginger, with the Apricot Green Tea at a close second. I also need to harvest and deal with all my basil.

In Our Homeschool...
I'm going to start reading The Story of Dr. Doolittle with The Girl, and The Boy is going to read a few sections of The New Way Things Work over the week. I'd like to make sure we hit the basics daily, and I'd like to get through another 3-4 chapters from the Story of the World. I swear I'll get in our rotational reading this week too (geography, philosophy, living math, and poetry)!

Other Plans for the Week Ahead...
Blackberry picking for sure, before they are gone. I want to get enough to freeze a few small containers for winter enjoyment. The Girl had derby practice yesterday, and The Boy will have his two fencing sessions later in the week. I need to start planning my class presentation for early October, so that I am ready ahead of time. I need to finish going through our cold weather clothes, to see what still fits the kids, what The Boy can hand down to The Girl, and what we need to donate, then replace. And planning for our Thanksgiving camping trip! I also need, now that my back is better, to start exercising again. I plan on just walking on the treadmill this week, so I can finish healing, before I start the Couch Potato to 5K program again. I also want to start strengthening my back, upper and lower, to maybe avoid future issues!

Week 2... Rough Waters...

What a week! My sciatica flared up last Friday, and I was in excruciating pain for the next 3 days. Then I took my father to his dr's appointment on Monday, and one the way home, a hose blew out and the car overheated. Took the tow truck driver (nicest tow truck driver EVER) about 10-15 minutes to get my dad into the seat in the tow truck so we could be hauled 8 miles. Get to the car repair place to find out it is closed on Mondays, so I had to have my mom (they're divorced) come and pick us up. Then I borrowed my mom's van to pick my husband up from college, and while waiting for him (class ran over) dealt with a very nasty screechy woman who accused me of purposefully blocking her driveway (which I didn't), and screamed at me, while honking nonstop from inside her car, that I had better never do it again.

Yep. That was about it. After that, I managed to get home, put food on the table, and collapse. Great start to the week!

As of today though, the sciatica flare-up has almost gone... phew!

On to schooling now, which did not go as I hoped. But, we did hit the basics much of the week.

The Boy

He worked through a few more division lessons in Math Mammoth, and feels ready to head back to Saxon next week, much more confident!

He also enjoyed working with a thesaurus this week in Write With the Best. He likes finding unusual words, so this was a good exercise for him.

And of course, he did a lot of reading! He finished Goliath and started Over Sea, Under Stone. He also worked on a house made from popsicle/craft sticks and hot glue, which he is making for a friend.

The Girl

She was very happy to work on math again this week, and was especially excited by the challenge of adding columns of numbers! She also really enjoys the exercises where she has to find the missing number... good practice for algebra later on.

Her work in Reading Horizons is going well too. This week it was about adding suffixes, so a little review of phonetic families, and some new work on when to double an ending consonant, and when not to.

She helped cook dinner again this week, and made most of a tamale pie by herself! She worked on some cartooning and abstract painting as well.

Both

We listened to another chapter in Story of the World, about ancient Egypt. They are both in love with the way Jim Weiss reads, comparing it favorably to another favorite narrator, Jim Dale. They agree that Jim Weiss is the American equivalent of Jim Dale!

We read The Fantastic Adventures of Krishna, and both kids made a Main Lesson Book entry, though both also said the story was absolutely bizarre.

We read more in our bedtime Harry Potter book, and a little more of The Princess Bride.

And we finally started Latin! We're using Getting Started with Latin, and each kid is keeping track of what we've done in a composition book.

For Next Week

Honestly, I think we're just going to stick with daily basics (math, reading/writing, Latin, a chapter of SOTW) and then interest-led for everything else--we actually get stuff done, and the kids really look forward to learning more about the things that interest them. I picked up a beautifully illustrated (Michael Hague) version of The Story of Dr. Doolittle to start reading with The Girl for her animal studies. And The Boy is going to start reading through The New Way Things Work, as part of his physics and engineering studies. We decided that we'll stick too with our plan of having me "do science" with each of them separately, so The Boy will watch a documentary on Mondays, while The Girl and I study zoology, and then it will reverse on Thursdays. I added a bunch more documentaries to both our Amazon Watchlist and our Netflix Instant Queue, so we'll be ready to go!

I also hope to get back to our rotational readings next week. No more back pain, and no more car trouble, I hope!

Have a great weekend! We have some fun plans which I'll share pictures of next week!

Week 1 Wrap-Up... I Lied...

I'm sorry, but I lied yesterday. I don't have any pictures at the moment to add to my first week's wrap-up. Sorry. For what it's worth, it was an unintentional lie. I did mean to get pictures taken, organized, etc., but you know, life itself gets in the way!

What Worked in Week One

I am so, SO happy to say that all the basics - the reading, wiring and math - worked!

The Boy:
He loves Write With the Best. With minimal assistance from me, he completed the first three days of this program. He reviewed parts of speech, read a passage from Jules Verne (from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and then analyzed it for the parts of speech, and we had a fantastic discussion about what made the passage so very vivid. I was afraid that we had wasted money on yet another writing program that would gather dust sitting on the shelf, but no. He actually uses and enjoys this one! (At least so far, knock on wood)

In math, we started Saxon 7/6. He got through a lesson and a half before hitting the wall with division... again. Tricky stuff, that long division. So we set the Saxon aside, and turned to a review with Math Mammoth. Two lessons in that, and he's already getting his division skills back up and running. He'll finish out the Math Mammoth pages I printed next week, then back to Saxon!

And in spelling, I set aside Sequential Spelling in favor of The Natural Speller. I put the first list from the 7th grade section into Spelling City, and just let him play a game/do an activity each day. Yesterday he had his first spelling test, which he aced!

The Girl:
I don't know where this child came from. A child of mine that loves math? Umm, okay. She worked mostly in Saxon 5/4 this week, completing three lessons. Plus she did a little place value review with Math Mammoth, then begged to be allowed to do more Saxon. Crazy child. True, it is mostly review work at this point (addition and subtraction fact families, place value, etc.), so it isn't hard for her. We'll see how much she loves it later in the year when it gets a little more challenging!

And in Reading Horizons, she got through three lessons, working on suffixes, and a review of some phonetic families. She also read from one of the books that accompanies the program (thanks again, Jessica!). I don't worry about spelling either with her using this program, because in addition to basic reading skills, the program teaches spelling, some typing, and grammar!

She also worked on nature studies this week, capturing (briefly) a moth that she could sketch and label, in her new little nature notebook.

Both:
Hot Fudge Monday (grammar) definitely worked well. We read about verbs, and then we read some sentence examples. Finally, the kids each wrote five sentences with vivid verb usage. Nicely done!

We started watching Leonard Bernstein's Concerts for Young People (on you tube), completing parts 1 and 2 of episode 1. It was really good! We enjoyed his explanations of music and stories in music, so we're looking forward to more!

And the kids were very happy to see Richard Halliburton's Complete Book of Marvels back off the shelf! We read about Joan of Arc, and the Reims Cathedral. Another hit was Mapping the World with Art, which led us through a brief history of map-making, and then a drawing of Mesopotamia. Cassia especially seemed to like this, and both kids' maps turned out well.

And I almost forgot, we read and discussed chapter one of Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery, which was really a good discussion! Throughout the week, the kids would randomly bring up the "discovery" and practice it... first, sentences beginning with "All" are not true when reversed (All cats are animals. versus All animals are cats.), and secondly, sentences beginning with "No" are still true when reversed (No dogs are cats. versus No cats are dogs.) It was great to see them actually applying what they learned!

What Almost Worked in Week One
Story of the World, Our Island Story... while we enjoyed both to a fair degree, we're thinking of trying a week of this instead OR there's another option, see below. To just focus on ONE thing instead of so many.

What Didn't Work in Week One

Because we felt rushed and a little overwhelmed with all that we had going on, and probably in part because it was the first week, we didn't get to:
physics for The Boy
our math or science reading... or poetry for that matter
our literature (The Princess Bride), most days. I think we did read 2 chapters this week.
There were also no short stories, and worst of all, no art.

In a Nutshell

For a first week back, it was overall very positive. No misses on the basics, which for us is huge! It will be interesting to see what next week is like. I have materials on hand, including:

The Adventures of Rama
Ancient India (People of the Ancient World series)
Ancient India (Find Out About series)
Diwali: Hindu Festival of Lights
The Fantastic Adventures of Rama
Stories from India
And I am waiting on The Ancient South Asian World from the library.

Image courtesy of Live Education

I'm not saying we'll even use all these, but this way I can pick and choose. I'm thinking we'll start with the Demi book, simply because her books are so beautiful! What I am hoping to accomplish is:

Some good reading
A cooking project for The Girl (maybe some Chicken Makhani?)
At least one art project, if not more! I'd like to do some [wet-on-wet] watercolors (I love this painting
to go along with Indian mythology), and some geometric art.


Hope you all have a good weekend!

Ahhh... Experimenting...

I am experimenting, on my children to be exact.

This week, we tried Option A when it came to homeschooling. There were pros and cons to this...

Pros:
The basics have gone really well! The Boy is enjoying Write With the Best, and both loved Hot Fudge Monday for grammar. The Girl is happy to have her Saxon Math at hand again (strange child). We enjoyed a few chapters from the Story of the World (audio book with Jim Weiss, who strikes us as the American version of Jim Dale, one of our all time favorite narrators!); The Girl had a pleasant nature study; etc. [More details and pictures tomorrow] I did have The Boy start some review work from Math Mammoth on long division, so he hasn't gotten far in Saxon Math this week, but that's okay too.

Cons:
We feel like we're jumping around a lot. And The Boy has said, with The Girl emphatically agreeing, that our days seem long. I think maybe we have too much going on! Probably no maybe about it... we do have a lot going on.

So, the experiment
Next week we're going to switch gears, and try out Option B. Just the basics and a study of ancient India. Nothing else. No extra reading, no actual science. The Girl was browsing through the stack of books on ancient India that I had picked up at the library "just in case", and is eager to get going. The Boy wants "things to be simpler". It'll be an interesting contrast to this week!

I'll do the full weekly report tomorrow, with some pictures, I hope. We have accomplished a lot this week, but maybe next week will feel calmer and less rushed.

Focus on The Boy...

We have started seventh grade! I can hardly believe it is going by so darn quickly. From this...

To this, in what seems sometimes like the blink of an eye...

So, just a couple of days into seventh grade, what and how are we doing, you might ask! And I'll answer, so far, so good! He's very willing to sit down and get some work done this year, at least thus far--here's to hoping that lasts!

He seems more independent this year, or at least ready to be independent. Yesterday, I asked him to read a selection from Write With the Best. He finished it, re-read it, then asked for more. We discussed what he had read, read the three rules of writing the program asks for, and discussed those. I love being able to discuss things with him in this manner! He worked through his spelling and math with very little assistance/interference too.

He'll be doing physics this year as an "independent" study. After some flipping back and forth through various books and resources, he'll be reading through and working from The New Way Things Work. Our library has the dvds that compliment it, which will be very helpful. And he's looking forward to using his lab book soon!

As for math, we decided to stick with good, old, trustworthy Saxon, at least for now. We'll still be working in some Jousting Armadillos this year as well!

As far as following his interests, he still reads... a lot, especially anything Steampunk or mythology oriented. He's watching documentaries on physics/quantum physics/space at least once a week. He's researching Victorian attire in preparation for the Dickens Faire this year. He works on animation programs, computer coding programs, filming/editing, and always art. He loves his twice weekly fencing classes as well, and has asked his dad for help with an exercise program to build muscle.

Oh, and he's taller than me. But he'll still sit in my lap once in a while!