Harvest Weekend

We went to Harvest UMC's pumpkin patch yesterday to choose our pumpkin family.

I have pumpkin seeds roasting for Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin Seeds. I need to buy another pumpkin for cooking and baking. Read Mollie Katzen's tribute to this humble gourd, and add it to your autumn menu.

I had some free "me" time on Friday, so I went to the library. Two of the books I checked out are worth purchasing. I'm going to keep watching the used bookstores for now, but may break down and buy them on amazon. This first is Home Comforts, a book I first heard about from Carmon. Not only do I want to own this book, but there are several people I'd love to gift it to. *grin* The other is Valerie Worwood's The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy, which presents EO ideas and recipes in a way that's accessible to urban earthy-crunchies like me.

Last weekend, we found an ancient copy of Risk at a secondhand store. Of course Hubby snatched it up. Yesterday we spent several hours teaching the boys the rudimentary strategies of taking over the world. Speaking of which, J9 recently finished reading a two inch thick, small print history of World War II. For his fun reading. That kid. . . I'm glad that he alternates betweent he heavy stuff and "Choose Your Own Adventure" books.

Since I've mentioned fluffy reading, I have a teensy-weensy gripe. It's really hard being a homeschool mom with kids in school. I'm disappointed at how ugly the phonics program is, since the boys and I are used to the Phonics Museum from Veritas Press. It bugs me that curlique style handwriting is taught, rather than the more direct italic handwriting. And I cannot imagine *why* the teacher chose a Frank Peretti kids' novel for a class reader / book report instead of one of the many, many children's classics. It seems the fourth graders are all at a reading level to appreciate the Chronicles of Narnia. Or Tom Sawyer. Or any number of books. Why a silly Peretti mystery?

That said, I really appreciate the school the boys are attending. The staff continues to go out of there way to help our boys with their transitions to school and the States. The teachers are attunded to the students. And the quality overall is excellent. Even if I would have done things differently.

R6's class had a "Farm Day" last Friday. They ate corn and did lots of cool farm animal crafts. R6 went to school dressed as a cowboy (the farmer's neighbor. *grin*) And he told his classmates that Florida cowboys are called Crackers.

One of our biggest family excitements is the anticipation of family visiting at Thanksgiving. My sister and her children and my parents are coming! I'm so excited!

When my sister when to pick up her plane tickets, the lady asked my neice, "Are you going to Florida to see Mickey Mouse?" She replied, "Oh, no! My cousins and alligators!"

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Comments

I also find half.com excellent for new/used books.
Posted by: skerrib at October 30, 2005 09:47 PM

I loved Home Comforts, as well. After studying it, I felt like a more professional homemaker.
Posted by: Meredith at October 30, 2005 10:30 PM

Those books look neat- thanks for the recommendations! I'm very interested in aromatherapy buy have been a bit overwhelmed. That book looks like it would be good.

P.S. I like the smallest pumpkin!
Posted by: Anne at October 30, 2005 11:19 PM

Just saw you on Vegan Momma's Blog. Thought I would stop by. Neat place! Have a great day!
Posted by: Harmonia at October 31, 2005 11:02 AM

I love the pumpkins. My daughter and I will be carving one later today. I plan to make a pumpkin pie with some of the pumpkin. The remainder will be chopped up and frozen. :-)

The Complete Book of Essential Oils is an excellent book. The Fragrant Mind and The Fragrant Heaven are also excellent choices I easily have over 50 books on the subject of aromatherapy. Michael Scholes is another excellent teacher. I met him in person in the late 1990's. He was teaching an Aromatherapy certification course at a store I go to. I only use essential oils/herbs in the products I make/sell.
Posted by: Vegan Momma at October 31, 2005 11:37 AM

I have yet again pledged my love to you for the Pumpkin Seed recipe. Oh my goodness. They have to be the most dangerous thing I have put in my mouth in quite sometime. I put them on a plate and here they sit in my office. Everytime I walk by, I pop a few more. Definitely a new favorite. Thank You!!
Posted by: amoore at October 31, 2005 11:23 PM

We made the pumpkin seeds last night. They are so yummy! I can't believe how easy it is to "harvest" pumpkin seeds. The girls were thrilled to eat the seeds out of their pumpkin. Thanks for the recipe!!
Posted by: Jessica at November 1, 2005 01:09 AM

there is a trend in education to read more contemporary fiction. it is pretty astounding to me. when i started taking education classes (89-90), nobody would even mention veering away from the classics. last year, my school district put a number of very contemporary books (less than five years old) on the list of novels each grade can teach.

i'm not sure what i think about it, but i am actually starting a unit today on a very, very contemporary novel (that i picked willingly). it will be the first time i've taught something that is not a "classic". it will be interesting to see how it compares.

without personal experience, i'd say that i think contemporary fiction is fine as long as it is tempered with a good dose of exposure to various "classic" texts.
Posted by: amy at November 1, 2005 06:26 AM

Home Comforts is a fantabulous book. I have given two away, also. Marla Swoffer is also reading it.
Posted by: Julana at November 1, 2005 06:29 PM

Hi TulipGirl,

Well, this is a little off topic, but you tagged my wife Who in turn tagged me.

Since I read the "serious blogs" (ya right) I tagged the Pyromaniac just via my blog ( I didn't accually email him). And he blog spotted me.. he just couldn't get over wondering what the 5th sentence to his 23rd post would be.

{{{Candleman}}}
Posted by: Candleman at November 5, 2005 01:57 AM

Hi, just curious, Halloween is a fairly new thing in New Zealand and I dont know any christians who take part because of its origins, I'd be interested to know from a christian mama why its ok with you to take part in a pagan celebration.
Great blog by the way!
Posted by: jess at November 6, 2005 04:17 PM

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