TulipGirl

Okay, so my boys might be a little old for playdough, but I think we’ll be making this recipe this week anyway. It’s good for fidgeting with while discussing school or reading books and we have plenty of younger friends to pass it along to when we are through. For friends who lean earthy-crunchy, instead of the artificial colors and scents of Kool-Aid®, you can use cinnamon, cocoa powder, essential oils, beet juice or other creative items around.

So, from the archives, Kool-Aid® Play Dough.

_______

Kool-Aid® is a valued American commodity in our household for the aromatic and colorful properties it adds to home made play dough. The packaged dough gives me headaches, and so when I want to be a good-n-messy mama, I use this recipe:

Kool-Aid® Play Dough

1 cup flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 packaged unsweetened Kool-Aid®
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 cup water

Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar and Kool-Aid® in a pot. Add oil and water. Stir over medium heat until texture changes and forms a ball in the pot, about 3-5 minutes. Let cool to touch. Kneed until smooth. Store in a platic bag in the fridge.

Notes: I usually double the recipe or make a bunch of batches at once. This can be made without the cream of tartar (which is a preserving agent.) You can also use glycerin or vinegar as a preserving agent. This has been a fun party favor with our Ukrainian kid-friends.

How can it be a large career to tell other people’s children about [arithmetic], and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman’s function is laborious because it is gigantic, not because it is minute.

–G.K. Chesterton

(Via Chris)

This has been a long week. A very long week.

And somehow in the midst of the craziness, Hubby and I marked our 14th anniversary! And considering we met 18 years ago, our lives have been mingled longer than they have not. I’m looking forward to a long, relaxing weekend together.

Hubby had to rescue me at 9:30 pm on our anniversary — I had locked my keys in the van. Today I forgot my phone at home. I’ve been a tad absentminded.

The boys have been on a Shakespeare kick. I’m not yet sure what instigated their interest, even though the past year we have been integrating some of the Bard into our schooling. (We’ve read more of Charles Lamb that we have the actual plays and poetry.) Tonight we’re watching Ian McKellen as King Lear. Amy (who loves books) suggested In Search of Shakespeare. I haven’t found a place to watch it online, so maybe we’ll order it. . . The boys are trying to organize the neighborhood kids into a play. I love delight-led learning!

This morning read Barlow’s take on Cash for Clunkers. I tend to agree — it seems to be wasteful, and substituting one form of pollution and inefficiency for another.

On a happier note, Roadfood.com seems to be a great resource for finding yummy local food whether at home or when traveling.

Similarly, Eating Like an Immigrant is very inspirational! This is the first post of a series — I can’t wait to read the rest over at MbG. Food blogging is one of those things that prods me to enjoy cooking again, even when I have to cook. We’ve been making easy bread this week, thanks to ThatMom’s links to online resources for Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I have a loaf rising now, and plan on trying whole wheat this weekend.

We have treats and cooking planned for this weekend, much of it for the church picnic. Jalepeno Hummus and tortilla chips, brownies, Mrs. E’s Mac and Cheese, regular hummus and veggies, something else which I’m blanking on right now. . .

I’m hoping to go to Chicago (along with the two younger boys!) in a few weeks to see my parents. Very excited about it.

It will be too late for the Michigan Ave Arts Fest — but doesn’t that look like fun? I found out about that from a friend’s link on facebook. Finding some neat (and sad) links from friends lately. . . Like Embracing the Least of These, about orphans in Africa. Or, this cool project that uses Google Maps to vividly illustrate the crisis in Darfur.

I’ve been listening to Steve Brown’s lectures on Grace in the Church, thanks to Camille. It’s been relaxing during this busy week.

But I need to take a break from it, and finish up this semester’s courses. I’ve been taking Financial Management in the Public Sector (ugh!) and Nonprofit Administration. They’ve both had their challenges as well as provided opportunities to learn. I’ve stressed out over them more than I needed to, as well. Still trying to find the right rhythm in school. My fall classes? Nonprofit Organizations and Nonprofit Financial Management. I’ve already ordered my books. (I *heart* the free shipping from Amazon Prime!)

Hubby starts teaching in a few weeks (if you are local, take his American History class!) The boys were going to have a “short” summer break, but with their hard work work all July, we’ve decided to start when the local public schools start — August 24th. I need to do quite a bit of planning.

On the upside, I finished a project I really wanted to do this July. I sorted all the kids books and school books by type, and have them stacked and organized. You know the boxes with lids which contain reams of paper? They are perfect for books. Thanks to Bob, our local printer, and the office supply store, we had plenty. Now I just need to work on the boys’ schedules — we’re trying to finish up US History since 1865 using Ambleside as a guide (Term 3 of Year 5, Term 1 of Year 6 — adapted to each of the boys).

That will give the boys time to join the YCS group in campaigning for Dan Quiggle. We like Dan a lot, and he has great Reagan stories from his internship. I’m glad the boys get to see the local side of politics in an off-year election.

So, that’s the rambling on we’ve been doing around here. . .

“Hey, Look! It’s Van Gogh!”

That’s what C8 said, as he brought me a sadly neglected Christmas leftover, a snowman pencil topper missing one of its pom-pom ear muffs. I guess the books we’ve been reading and pictures we’ve been observing have been making an impression.

.

We’ve been using Ambleside Online Yr. 5 as the framework for our homeschooling since January. It’s been a good fit, the right balance between structure and flexibility, keeping the boys studying similar things but on their own levels. AO encourages the exposure to and study of an artist each term.

Our local museum doesn’t have a Van Gogh in its permanent collection, and unfortunately not in its special exhibitions either right now. My favorite Van Gogh is at my favorite museum, The Church in Auvers-sur-Oise at Musée d’Orsay.

The screensaver on the kids’ computer rotate Van Gogh works and the boys know them better than I do now, and these are some of their favorites. . .

The boys and I joined the YCSers to meet Marco Rubio. Don’t know who Rubio is? Read this great interview with NRO — especially if you live in Florida, I recommend you take the time to read it.

.

April 15th. Taxes. Tea Party Day. We participated in our neighborhood Tea Party. The boys went with our neighbors, until Hubby and I could show up later. I would say there were easily 300 people when I arrived, and was told the crowd was larger earlier in the event. While I was there, I saw many people come and leave — so I would easily estimate 5-600 people participated throughout the event.

Besides our neighbors, we saw friends from church, the lawn guy who works in our neighborhood, our dentist and a lot of small business owners. Later on we met up with some of the YCSers. I think I even saw Steve as he took his almost-great photos of the event (would have been great pics, had I found ones of my boys!)

In addition, we saw people of all ages, people with disabilities, people of various socio-economic backgrounds, people of different racial and cultural backgrounds. Even some people who had a few too many beers. The “right wing extremist” stereotypes were blown away by this Tea Party.

As the Tea Party went on, the scheduled speakers finished and the organizers opened up the microphone to anyone from the neighborhood. It was interesting to hear the common refrains of liberty and responsibility. J12 leaned over to me and said, “I think I have something to say. . .”

And so, he went up to the podium and had his first experience with extemporaneous political speaking with a microphone. He announced the Young Conservatives of Sarasota and talked about how his generation, and every child today is already laden with tens of thousands of dollars in government debt. I was pretty impressed. (Our kids’ futures being mortgaged — talk about taxation without representation!)

.

“We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our selection between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat in our drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labors and in our amusements, for our callings and our creeds…our people.. must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses; and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live.. We have not time to think, no means of calling the mis-managers to account, but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow suffers. . . .

This is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle becomes a precedent for a second; that second for a third; and so on, till the bulk of society is reduced to mere automatons of misery, to have no sensibilities left but for sinning and suffering… And the fore horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in it’s train wretchedness and oppression.”

Thomas Jefferson

C8, Beyond the Summerland
R10, The Iliad for Boys and Girls
T11, Father of Dragons
J12, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (yet again)

This afternoon the boys and I read about Trial and Triumph: Stories from Church History. It was interesting to hear what the boys latched onto from the story — C8 mentioned the babies being thrown into the river and fed to alligators and the sati ritual, J12 was impressed with the myriad Bible translations. . .

We talked about the caste system and the dalit. We talked about the persecution of Christians then and now, and read about India and how even recently Christians there are being persecuted.

I still want to protect my children from so much. . . I want to shield them from the realities of the effects of sin in the world. And yet if they must learn about the brokenness of the world — and they must — I want them to learn about it in the context of God’s redemptive plans. I want them to see hope and healing. I want them to internalize that what Christ has done is real, and will really impact their lives. And yet. . . we still suffer the effects of sin, we still see persecution, and we still know that God will triumph over all.

.

Related resources:
You Can Change the World: Learning to Pray for People Around the World
Voice of the Martyrs
Kids of Courage
Dalit Freedom Network / DFN Facebook
Bold Believers in India Activity Book

With an eye on starting fresh for the New Year, we have done quite a bit of school restructuring. This was our first week with the new routine, and we have success to report! Not that I naïvely think that all weeks will go as smoothly as this one has school-wise — but it feels good to be on the right track.

We’re using the outline from AO Year 5, with modifications to fit each of the boys. The copywork is a good catalyst for us to finally tackle handwriting, that dreaded of all skills. (At least to me — my lowest marks in school were always in handwriting. I heard my grandfather extol the virtues of skilled penmanship many times, though I don’t recall his being particularly neat.) The boys are enjoying having weekly checklists and an easier way to monitor their progress.

Many of our resources are available as e-texts or audio books from Librivox. The boys’ “big” presents for Christmas were speakers for the “kid computer” and an mp3 player — both loaded with books from librivox and good music. T11 especially has been asking for more audio books. I love coming into the living room and seeing two of the boys snuggled together on the big blue chair, listening to audio books.

I like being nudged out of my usual routines by our new schedule. Today I read about Alcibiades to the boys. We read from Gould’s Greek tales for children, but maybe next week we’ll actually tackle Plutarch. One of the perks of living in a family of bibliophiles and book collectors is that we already have Plutarch’s Lives, Complete and Unabridged on the shelf. Not that I’ve ever read it. . .

It’s also been good to have a better plan for our memory work. The boys are continuing with the Catechism for Young Children, starting with Q72. We’re not starting at the beginning, because we usually get bogged down after the first couple of dozen questions, which they already know quite well. I also had the boys choose a Bible verse to memorize over the next few weeks. C8, imp that he is, chose John 11:35. As they are reading from Luke, the idea was to choose a verse that stood out to them in their reading. Well, we’ll build to that.

The boys are to do a very broadly defined “nature project” each week — a nature walk, drawing in their nature notebooks, collect and label leaves, go letterboxing, or that sort of thing. One of R9′s books for Christmas was the The American Boy’s Handy Book. Using the guide from that book, they are outside making bows and arrows for their nature project right now. R9 wants to raise a crow, and is looking for a baby one in the woods behind our house. I’m not so sure about that. . . but I’m not going to put a damper on his enthusiasm. I think it will wane after he finds there are no crow goslings to be found.

We’re still using Saxon for math, not thrilled with it but we have the texts for each of the boys’ levels. R9 and C8 are sharing a book, which isn’t always the easiest. I think I’d like to look at the Teaching Textbooks when J12 is finished with Algebra. With our new routine, the emphasis is consistently doing a little bit of work every day. I remember preferring to spend hours and hours on math and then skipping a week. I’m not totally opposed to that, but right now I want the boys to get into the habit of small steps, daily and faithfully taken.

Homeschooling is a lot different now from what it was when the boys were younger. A friend asked me this week about juggling a toddler with teaching older kids. I’d like to encourage her and I do remember those years, but it seems like a very long time ago now. The boys are very independent in their learning, while at the same time interacting with us a lot about their interests and work. However, now they are self-directed and they make their own routines. We still need to help them keep in mind all of their tasks and hold them accountable. I like to think they are learning how to manage their time.

I think most of all, I’m glad to not be in school myself this semester. I was disappointed at first that I wasn’t able to enroll in my grad school classes this January. Now I see that I’m more free to enjoy and do school with the boys in a way that would have been too stressful for me if I had my own school commitments. It’s a good first week of school, and I’m thanking the Lord!

Today’s planned field trip.

Update. . .

Hubby and the boys went up to the Tampa Convention Center, and got to stand between the press bleachers as part of an overflow crowd. They enjoyed both seeing McCain and hearing him speak in person. His message focused on the economy, rather than the usual stump speech. They also thought it was fun seeing the anti-McCain protesters.

The day ended up with an unusual twist — the van breaking down in the middle of downtown Tampa. A call to USAA, a towtruck that broke down on the way to the shop, and a seven-hour wait later. . . I picked them up late last night and we’re still waiting to here from the shop. No doubt, this will be expensive — and we’re trying to figure out how to juggle the next few days’ schedules when each of us needs to be in different parts of town at the same time, and our primary vehicle is in a different city.

Another update: Hubby finally has pics up!

McCain in Tampa

We joined the other families in our homeschool baseball team for a game at Ed Smith Stadium tonight. Our team won, and our family had a fun. The whole atmosphere of the game was great; the cool fresh air, the excitement, the game announcer’s voice reverberating, the hot dogs. . . I remember my folks bringing us to a game in Racine when I was growing up. It was the same thing. Minor league games are are the best. (And the boys understood a lot more now that they’ve been playing baseball, compared to their first taste of the classic American sport.)

I woke up this morning to C7 pointing both thumbs at his chest and proclaiming in a radio voice, “I’m Duncan Hunter, man of the people.”

Half-asleep, I asked “Duncan Hunter?”
“Yeah, he’s running for president.”
T10 chimed in, “Some people run for president just to promote their issue.”
“What’s Duncan Hunter’s issue?”
“Immigration. And China.”

When Hubby got home I told him of our conversation, and he explained that yesterday they learned about democratization. ETA: His lesson wasn’t about Duncan Hunter, but about Andrew Jackson. . . C7 just combined the two.

Gotta love a dad that homeschools in an election year.

For several months I’ve been listening to the weekly podcasts of ThatMom – homeschool mother and grandmother Karen Campbell. I’ve known Karen via her daughter for several years now. The podcasts are definitely included in my Mommy-Inspiration Files.

What I’ve really appreciated is how Karen keeps returning to the Gospel, and how the Lord is leading each of us in our respective families. Too often in homeschooling (and Christian parenting) there is the tendency to become ideological or strive to do everything “just right.” In doing that, it is easy to adopt manmade standards and lose sight of our focus on Christ alone.

Karen and her guests come across as just another homeschool mom. Loving, imperfect, wanting the best for their children, seeking the Lord. In her tone, I hear the experience of a mother who has made it to grandmotherhood and the experience of a Christian who has made mistakes along the way and learned to lean into the Lord.

And for me, that is the encouragement I need.

ThatMom Blog
ThatMom Podcast Downloads

Today C6 read Ella Sings Jazz and Hubby taught the boys about the Harlem Renaissance.

As part of our homeschooling, Hubby has been reading poetry to the boys. Today he exegeted this gem from Kipling for them.

The Betrothed

7 Comments »