I am going to be doing some homeschool reviews this year, and I need Google Friend Connect, which I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to get on this blog!  It seems like most of the reviewers use Blogger, so I am headed that direction.  That account is going to be more public than this one was, though, so if I don’t want the whole world to read my post, then I will post something here. 

You can get to my new blog right here.  Come visit me!

Granola: Right now the grains are soaking in melted butter, melted coconut oil, water, and yogurt.  I haven’t made this recipe before, but it looks yummy.  It is supposed to soak for two days, which means I will have time tomorrow to make…

Bread:  I haven’t tried this recipe before.  I am halving it.  Right now the grains are soaking in whey, honey, and melted coconut oil.  Hopefully we will have some yummy sandwich bread tomorrow.

Oatmeal:  Tomorrow’s breakfast is also soaking on the counter, ready for me to add the rest of the ingredients.

Obviously, I was on a wee bit of a soaking kick today! 

Want to know what else I’m cooking this week?  I know you probably don’t, but if I don’t write it down here I may not remember.   

I have never cooked with millet before, but I bought some today, and I’m going to try this recipe for millet and cheese casserole.  I’m going to try this for lunch some day this week.

I am also going to make this peanut sauce recipe for a stir-fry, and, because I have some kale I need to use up, I’m going to try this recipe for kale quiche. 

I am also planning a breakfast night this week, and so I’m going to make soaked whole grain pancakes (which we all adore). 

I think that’s it. 

Hopefully my kids will like at least some of it.  I know Amélie will like the oatmeal, but Jack isn’t fond of the “porridge” texture. So…he will probably starve.  

I think Amélie will like the quiche (last week I wilted some rainbow chard, and the girl gobbled it up), but Jack will hate it…and he will probably starve.

Amélie will also like the stir-fry, I think, and Jack *might* like it.  I at least might get him to eat some rice.

He will hate the granola, and Amélie might like it.  I’m not sure. 

The millet and cheese recipe is anyone’s guess.  We might all starve that day.

I do know he loves those pancakes. 

But do you see where I’m going with Jack?  The boy doesn’t eat.  He does NOT like healthy food.  On his birthday he was much more interested in eating cake than opening presents.  He loves cake.  Loves it.  He basically likes anything unhealthy.  Anything.  It makes me crazy!  Amélie is such a good eater (think wilted rainbow chard), and Jack is just horrible.  I worry about him.  I know they say that kids this age won’t starve to death, but I swear he just holds out for anything remotely healthy that he might find.  He did eat 3 servings of yogurt and some cheese today.  I suppose I should be thankful.  He also eats bananas on occasion and loves the apples I dehydrate.  I am seriously sitting here thinking what else he likes that is healthy…

Hmmmmm……

Oh, he likes peanut butter sandwiches (just please don’t believe him if he tells you that he especially loves peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches). 

Does ice cream count?

He should be pretty set on antioxidants given his love for chocolate.

Every once in awhile he eats a piece of broccoli.

Yep.  I think that’s about it. 

I will just keep trying. 

 So, what are you cooking this week?  I think I have a wee bit of a recipe addiction.  Feel free to feed it. 

Amélie…and her teacher…need a break, so we won’t be drilling phonics flashcards, and she won’t be writing out her spelling words with dry erase markers on the car window (yes, we do that, thanks to an idea from the excellent book Carschooling).  But, if there is one thing I have learned from homeschooling her this semester (and wow, there has certainly been more than one thing that I have learned!) it’s that educating my kids is an ongoing process.  We took the day “off,” for example, on Jack’s and Matt’s birthday on Tuesday, and we visited the Dinosaurs Unearthed exhibit at Union Station.  We had so much fun!  We didn’t have traditional school that day, but we learned so much about dinosaurs!  The next day was our library day, so guess what kinds of books we came home with?  Yep, you’ve got it–dinosaur books!  So we can continue our “education” during storytime.  How great is that? 

While we won’t go back to the Dinosaur exhibit this summer (it was a little on the pricey side), we did buy a membership at Union Station, so this summer we will go to Science City (more “school”), the Planetarium (“school” yet again), and the KC Rail Experience (truthfully, I don’t know what that is, but let’s just assume it will be fun AND educational).  I am also excited about doing some fun school things that we haven’t had a chance to explore as much this semester as we both have been on the major roller coaster ride of figuring out how to homeschool and be homeschooled!  Amélie loves art, and I bought the first book in the Artistic Pursuits series, and we can’t wait to get started on that.  She also keeps bugging me to take her to the new Egyptian exhibit at the Nelson.  Maybe we can do that sans little obnoxious (and LOUD–did you know that the hallowed halls of the Nelson ECHO LOUDLY?) brother.

The “school” that I am perhaps most excited about starting with Amélie is this Nature Journal.  This might be the coolest book I have ever bought (maybe not–but I am very, very excited about it!).  Truthfully, and much to my husband’s chagrin, I am really an indoorsy person.  I like to be outside…if I am sitting under a tree reading a book or writing in my journal.  Once I am actually doing something outside, like gardening or hiking or camping, I enjoy myself, but it usually takes a bit of earth-shaking to get me there.  I think this book just might do it.  I must say that going on a woodland scavenger hunt, doing leaf rubbings, and following the phases of the moon sound really fun to me (maybe I should buy my own Nature Journal!). 

Another school subject we are going to have fun with this summer is music.  I have heard wonderful things about The Classical Kids Collection.   I wasn’t too thrilled about spending $50 on it, but thankfully my library has copies, so I have the first one, Beethoven Lives Upstairs, on hold. 

The other thing I am doing is making a list of things that Amélie has struggled with this semester, and we are going to slip in teaching of those items.  For example, for some reason she can’t remember what a vertical or a horizontal line is, and while I won’t spend the summer stuffing flashcards in her face, we will occasionally review our math facts.

I almost forgot the most important part of our summer school–READING!  (How could I forget that one???)  We will do the summer reading program at our library and continue to hone her reading skills throughout the summer.  We have had so much fun reading this semester, and I can’t wait to listen to her read all summer long. 

So, as you can see, we’ll be doing “school” this summer, but I don’t think I will be hearing many complaints.  And of course we’ll be doing all kinds of non-school things, like splashing in the pool, playing with friends, and riding bikes.  We both need a break from the regular structure and discipline of school, and we are both looking forward to sleeping in a little and playing a lot.

What are you doing this summer?

Amélie is spending the night with a friend.

Jack is (miraculously) still asleep.

And here I sit, with coffee and computer, alone.

A-what?

Yes, alone.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……………

This solitary space is where my soul refuels, which perhaps explains why I have been running dangerously close to empty lately. 

I think I will pick up a pencil and my journal and my steaming cup of coffee, head out to my porch, and just be.

This book is designed to be used by kids ages 4-10, but, because I learned at least as much about firefighters as my daughter did, I think they should change the age range to 4-36.  Again, I had a bit of a sinking feeling as I opened another e-book, and yet again, I was pleasantly surprised.  If nothing else, this process just may make an e-book believer out of me! 

This book wasn’t quite as clearly organized as I hoped it would be, especially since I didn’t copy off the whole thing and kept skipping around among pages trying to find the information I was looking for.  At first, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to follow the book cover to cover or if I was to organize my own way to teach the book.  I ended up starting at the beginning by exploring the history of firefighting, firefighting equipment, and reading about the life of a firefighter and then skipping around to the sections that interested us.  The history section was fascinating for my daughter who is, like most young children, enamored with firefighters, especially since she has a good friend whose dad is a fireman.   Sometimes we got a little lost in all of the terminology, though.  I am certainly not a fan of dumbing writing down for my kids (since I was in graduate school when I was pregnant with my daughter, she listened to me read everything from Virginia Woolf to Lady Mary Wroth).  Honestly, though, she didn’t care for learning about friction loss or what it means to be on probationary status or the importance of building codes.  She is just six, though, and those terms might be more interesting to her as she gets older.  She was definitely intrigued as she learned about the history of firehouse dogs, though!

We enjoyed many of the suggested activities in this book as well.  It was fun for Amelie to think and write about things she could do now to help her be strong like a firefighter (eat well, exercise, etc.), and it was also a fun memory and writing exercise to have her write about what she would do if she were a fire fighter and had just received a call that a fire had broken out.  Also, the one firefighter we know should be expecting to receive a thank you note soon for the brave work he does.   

I wasn’t as impressed with the Science section on robots, although I think that she might enjoy those activities more as she gets older, but she did enjoy reading the graphs and discovering which months had the most fires, the least fires, and the number of fires for the whole year.  There was a very long section of copywork at the end, and while we worked through a few of these, Amelie is submerged right now in learning cursive, so I didn’t discourage her from practicing her individual cursive letters rather than the copywork sentences. 

I especially enjoyed the physical activities that were suggested at the end of the book.  As a homeschooler, I find it hard to incorporate specific “PE” type activities in our schooling.  We play outside and we go on walks, but I think that she sometimes misses the organized games from her physical education classes.  Who could resist, though, a game of “Stop, Drop, and Roll” or “Put the Fire Out”?  We couldn’t, and even my 2-year-old got involved in the activities. 

This is a book that we had fun with as a whole family, and while I didn’t like all of the suggested activities in the book, there were plenty of educational, fun options to keep us occupied as we learned about these brave men and women who keep us safe!

The first book we went through was called Expedition Australia by Amanda Bennett.   It is a “Download ‘N Go” unit study series by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. 

As I was clicking the “download” button, I must admit that I didn’t feel too hopeful.  Generally, I am not a fan of e-books.  They may be the wave of the future, but I am rather old-fashioned.  I love the lovely smell of a new book…the soft creak as a new book opens…and the serendipity of reading words on a page rather than a screen.   I also, honestly, wasn’t keen on the idea of printing off a 103-page book.

 I was pleasantly surprised, however, when I opened the downloaded book.  First, it explained quite clearly how the book would work.  This book is meant to be a week-long study of Australia, and the book began by describing an overview of what we would be studying each day.  It also included a list of recommended resources that could be checked out at the library to complement each day’s study, a definite plus for a research junkie like me! 

 The “Download ‘N Go” books are intended to be lapbooks, a concept I, as a rather new homeschooling mama, only vaguely understood.  Basically, all I needed to make a lapbook for our expedition into Australia was a file folder, glue stick, safety scissors, brass brads, and crayons or markers.  This concept was very appealing to me, because sometimes our homeschooling days don’t follow a predictable schedule.  I had a hunch that this was homeschooling we could either do sitting on the comfort of our own couch or in a doctor’s waiting room.  I was right.  The book included a clearly written explanation of lapbooks as well as some links for those of us who still felt a bit intimidated by the process.  Throughout the book there were links connecting me to suggested lapbook activities for each section. 

After reviewing the setup of the book, it was time to jump into our study of the Outback!  Each day’s study was an interesting, entertaining, and instructive mix of studying spelling, math, geography, geology, art, history, and science.  It was a complete week-long educational package!  The chapters included written information about Australia that was both educational and interesting.  Do you know, for example, what a lolly is?  Amélie and I do!  We also found Australia on the map (thankfully that is at least one thing I already knew about the continent!), compared temperatures in Australia and Kansas City, and learned about kangaroos, koalas, tasmanian devils, and wombats.  We even listened to the Australian National Anthem and looked at pictures of the constellations that appear in their night sky.   Each day also included extra links we could go to for more information about what we were studying that day as well as coloring pages and video links. 

 To do this program we had to take a respite from our regular homeschool lessons, but honestly, it was a fantastic way to have an educational “break” that we really needed.  At first, I got overwhelmed with all of the extra links and activities, but soon I learned to just do what we felt like doing and to save the rest for another day. 

 It was quite fun exploring Australia through this fantastic e-book.  Now we would love to experience our own Australian Expedition!   G’day, Mates!

“You stopped and pointed, and you said, ‘That’s a crocus,’ and I said, ‘What’s a crocus?’ and you said, ‘It’s a flower.’ I tried to remember, but I said, ‘What’s a flower?’ You said, ‘I still love you.’”  ~Dar Williams, “February”

I have been thinking a lot about why Lent resonates so much within my soul.  There is a pull, a tug, a call that I don’t think I could ignore even if I wanted to. 

We didn’t practice Lent growing up, mostly, I think, because it was something Catholics practiced, if you want the honest truth (I talked about this a little bit two years ago here).  While perhaps it might be true that Catholics focus too much on the image of Jesus on the cross (think the ubiquitous use of the crucifix), I also believe that Protestants focus too much on the resurrection.  I said that wrong.  I don’t mean that Easter should not be focused on and celebrated—I do.  But before the brightness of Easter, I think you need to feel your way through the darkness of Lent, and I don’t think that attending a Good Friday service alone demonstrates enough the sharp contrast between the darkness and the light.  Before rejoicing in the light, it is much more meaningful, for me anyway, to have journeyed through the “Bright Sadness” of Lent. 

For some reason this is my favorite time of year, perhaps because it is a time of sadness before joy, perhaps because it just appeals to my melancholy nature, perhaps because the “Bright Sadness” is shadow and light (chiaroscuro), and perhaps it is because this time of year is very difficult for me, and as I process through a time of personal darkness, I am accompanied by the comfort of Lent’s Bright Sadness.  I don’t know what it is exactly.  I just know that I do find comfort, and I feel closer to God, as I walk through my days cloaked in the shadows of Lent.  And I pray that you, also, will find comfort, and God’s presence, and healing this Lenten season.

Peace.

Here we are, four days into baby step 2, and I have yet to utilize this baby’s step only ingredient: vinegar.  Here is the next baby step:

Baby Step 2: The Wonders of Vinegar
Discover a multitude of household uses for vinegar, puzzle over why you haven’t used this incredible, frugal and even nutritious substance before, and add a few uses to your repertoire. 

I learned some interesting things about apple cider vinegar from these websites:
http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/apple-cider-vinegar.shtml http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/homemaking/vinegar.html

I have decided to try out 5 uses for vinegar by February 28^th (which is my birthday, btw, in case anyone is interested). 

* I want to buy some raw apple cider vinegar. I didn’t realize the difference between raw and conventional apple cider vinegar until reading the first online article.  Actually, as an aside, from some other books I have been reading (Eat Fat, Lose Fat and Nourishing Traditions) I am realizing more and more how all of the processing of our foods is such a horrible thing.  I am trying to integrate more “real food” into our diet, and I suppose raw apple cider vinegar is another real food to add to my growing pantry and fridge (although for cleaning, I will certainly use just regular vinegar).  I can’t say in all honesty, though, that I actually picture myself swallowing a tablespoon or more of vinegar before my meals, even though doing so might very well save me from various maladies.

* Add 2 Tbsp of vinegar to water before boiling eggs to keep them from cracking.  We eat a lot of boiled eggs in our household.

* Use vinegar as a window cleaner.  Has everyone else had a problem using vinegar as a cleaner?  Every time I use vinegar it streaks.  I’ll try it again, though.  Maybe if I use newspaper instead of paper towels it will work better.

* Add vinegar to warm water to rinse hair after shampooing.  According to the second website, vinegar “adds highlights to brunette hair, restores the acid mantel, and removes soap film and sebum oil.”  I don’t understand half of that (acid mantel?  Sebum oil?) but I like the highlight part at least. 

* Soak wilted vegetables in 2 cups of water and a Tbsp of vinegar to un-wilt. 

 Stay tuned to see how I perfect myself in yet another path to becoming the perfectly healthy—and perfect—homemaker. 

 (No one needs to know that as I write this I am drinking a Diet Pepsi, that I just sneaked a piece of chocolate that I wasn’t even hungry for, and that I am pointedly ignoring the mess Jack just made when he dumped out my purse.)

 And now for Lent.

Let me say, first, that I am incredibly disappointed in how my Lent began.  Last night I had to miss the Ash Wednesday service at Revolution because I had been at a birth since 1:30 in the morning and I was driving back home from the hospital during the service. 

I had this idea in my head that Lent was going to be different this year because I was going to start it with the sacredness, the ritual, and the solemnity of an Ash Wednesday service.  As I walked out of the service with the ashen cross swathed upon my forehead, I was going to walk through the portals of the sad beauty of Lent and into 40 days of quiet reflection and simplicity, and, perhaps, a bit of poetic melancholy.  (Um, anybody remember this?) 

Instead, at 7:00 last night, I was driving home, and I was exhausted, I was disheveled, I was hungry.  I had witnessed a miracle that evening, for sure, and I don’t want to trivialize that.  I had seen the wonder and beauty and sacredness of birth somehow unfolding under the artificial glare of a birth room spotlight.  My experience at that birth was valuable and useful and beautiful and sacred, and if I had actually had the choice of attending the birth or attending the Ash Wednesday service I would have chosen the birth. 

But I think that I had hoped for Ash Wednesday to be a magic pill that I would have had brushed across my forehead rather than swallowed.

But the thing is…while I wish I could have attended the service, it would not have been a magic pill.  Perhaps I would have walked out of the service last night feeling peaceful and solemn, but this morning I would have woken up to my real life–the noisy, disorganized, crazy one.  And then I would have felt disappointed that the magic feeling had faded away.  And then I could have felt disillusioned.  And then I might have given up.

Instead, my Lent beginning has been more fitting: it has begun in chaos rather than quietness.  The quietness and the sacredness and the reflection of Lent are going to have to come with work.  I have to carve it out of my day and into my heart.  There is no Ash Thursday service to escape to tonight.  It’s just my life, and the beautiful mess of it. 

And so today, my Lenten season roots itself in a life that is blown about in the winds of chaos and battered by some uncertain storms.  My hope and my prayer is that the holiness of this Lenten season plants itself in my heart and that it grows, and that I grow, and that, perhaps by Easter, something sacred within me will have bloomed. 

 Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.
                     ~Leonard Cohen

Good question.

So here I am.  Blogging again.  I am deciding to blog again at a very bad time to start anything new.  Life is c.r.a.z.y. 

I am homeschooling Amélie this semester (which is at least three blog entries worth of a story).

I have a precocious two-year-old.  He is a joy.  He is a challenge. 

My grandma is sick, and we have been trekking out her direction more than usual to check in on her.

I have no.free.time.  No time to myself.  No time to breathe my own air. 

And, perhaps, that is why I am blogging again.  Perhaps here, in this space, I will remember to breathe my own air, process my own thoughts, untangle my emotions.

Also, Lent is approaching, and I seem to feel compelled to blog through my Lenten experiences. 

So there you have it.

I recently ordered the e-book Healthy Homemaking: One Step at a Time by Stephanie Langford.  I am the type of person who decides she wants to change her life approximately 101 ways, and I want to make all of those changes NOW, and I want all of those changes to be TOTAL, COMPLETE, and PERMANENTLY INGRAINED in my head and body and habits.  The thing is….I fail at this.  Every time.  You would think I would learn, but I don’t.  Therefore, I decided that a program to follow that included baby steps would be perfect for one like me.  I downloaded the e-book, copied it off, and then my computer rebooted so I can’t find the flippin’ book on my computer.  I am very frustrated.  Matt tried troubleshooting the finding of my lost book over the phone, but that didn’t work, so I am hoping he can find it when he gets home.  I thought I had saved it.  I really did. 

I started the process on Sunday, January 31^st, and I am allowing myself two weeks on each baby step.  There are 26 baby steps, so it will take me a year to transform myself into the perfect, and perfectly healthy, homemaker.  Just kidding.  I am sure I won’t be perfect.  Just almost perfect. 

I started with…

Baby Step 1: Reduce Waste

 The objective of this baby step is “to find three practical ways to reduce the amount of waste that your family is producing.”

I felt pretty good about this one, because we are already doing several of the suggestions she listed.  We recycle, we reuse plastic bags, and we compost.  As stated above, I am just supposed to pick three ways to reduce waste, but I always want an A+, so I picked more, of course.  Here are the suggestions I chose to help us reduce waste:

 * Bring cloth shopping bags whenever you grocery shop.  I have the bags, and I always remember to use them at Aldi’s, where I would have to either pay for bags or scrounge for empty boxes if I didn’t bring my own bags, but when I shop in other stores, I invariably forget.  It makes me crazy, and while I should probably trek back out to the car to retrieve the forgotten bags, I never do.  So, I have been trying to remember my bags when I grocery shop.  On Sunday I visited three different stores, and I remembered to bring bags in at two stores.  It’s a start.

 *Examine your recycling habits—Before throwing anything out, examine it carefully to see whether it could possibly be recycled.  We are pretty good about recycling, but sometimes I am lazy.  If I finish a roll of toilet paper, for example, I may very well throw the empty cardboard roll into the trash rather than bring it back to the recycling bins by the back door.  Pure laziness.  I am really, really trying to be more conscientious about recycling absolutely everything I can.  I think, though, that there is one empty toilet paper tube roll in the trash can in the bathroom right now.  As soon as I finish blogging I will dig it out and return it to its proper, environmentally friendly home in the recycle bin.

 *Try to use as little tin foil, paper towels, plastic wrap, etc. as possible.  [Try to use] glass jars with lids and re-usable Tupperware-type containers to store everything in the fridge (or [reused] Ziplocs).  As I write this, I have a plate of brownies covered with foil to deliver to some friends tonight.  I guess I should have put the brownies in a Rubbermaid container instead.  Obviously I am still learning.  I have, however, been trying to use containers rather than Ziploc bags.  For example, I have been compulsively buying bagels from my sister-in-law Becki.  To keep them fresh, I keep two of each flavor in the fridge, in a plastic container, and the rest are in the freezer.  Also, over the weekend we had pizza, and I put the leftovers in the plastic containers rather than Ziploc bags.  Yay me.  I have to admit, though, that I hate washing Ziploc bags.  Hate it.  I never know how to dry them, and, admittedly, I think I am a wee bit lazy about it.

 *Use cloths and rags for cleanup.  I don’t have that many worn out t-shirts or socks or towels right now, but I am trying to use those rather than paper towels as much as I can.  Jack just spilled his drink everywhere, for example, and I used a kitchen towel rather than paper towels.  It’s still a lot easier for me to grab a paper towel, though, so I need to be more conscientious. 

 *Use cloth napkins  to completely remove the excuse to ever need to use the paper ones.  I bought some kids’ cloth napkins on Etsy, which they love using.  That has been fun.  I have some cloth napkins that Rachel made me that I have been using more diligently, and I would like to get some more.  I have enjoyed this step, although I am just remembering that I just served Amélie a brownie on a paper napkin.  I’m still learning, and I also have exactly three more days to perfect myself. 

 *Look for used items on Freecycle or Craigslist before considering buying them new.  I actually looked for cloth napkins on Craigslist before buying some new ones, but there weren’t any listed.  I am not a member of Freecycle in Kansas City, so I should join. 

 Stay tuned for Baby Step 2: The Wonders of Vinegar.  Sounds exciting, no? 

Also stay tuned for this year’s Lenten Adventure.  I have yet to decide what to give up.  Here are some ideas:

Sugar
Chocolate
Caffeine
Soda
Coffee
Facebook
Blog-reading
Sleep
Alcohol

 Any other ideas?