Homeschool Update

We've been slowly ramping up over the past couple of weeks. I want to keep at least a brief record of our year, but my nights are still consumed with pouring through books, blogs, the library catalog, and Amazon. But we're getting there! Wherever there is.

  The kids collected, studied, and sketched several abandoned birds' nests from our yard this evening. It was fascinating to discover that two of them had many strands of Kona's hair woven into them! Birds are pretty resourceful little creatures!

And now a brief update:

I took Evan for his check-up a few weeks ago. Upon finding out I was giving homeschool a go this year, my Naturopath remarked that most of the parents she knows who homeschool spend every spare minute of the day/night in preparation, and it's a huge, albeit rewarding, undertaking. We both laughed. I laughed because that has totally been me these past few months, and she probably laughed thinking I'm CRAZY!!

Anyhow, I am cutting myself some slack on the temporary obsession with research. I wanted to really get an overall grasp on the various approaches and curriculum options before I took the plunge. But the problem is, there is always more to learn. One thing always leads to another. And there are so many amazing resources out there for homeschoolers. So many different ways to do it "right." Actually, I think every single homeschooling family does things differently to some degree. This is awesome, yet difficult at the same time. Awesome because the flexibility to choose the best for your family is one of the hallmarks of homeschooling, but difficult because that basically means everyone is on their own journey in many respects through trial and error. I really wanted to  bypass the error part, but I've heard and read enough to know that's a pipe dream. I'm grateful I had the time this summer to put a great deal of thought and study into this, although it never feels sufficient. Even if we only do this for a year, I will be so happy for all I've been learning. I'm feeling bad for Rollin, but he's happy in school, and I think this is all I can handle well at this point. He does join us in the afternoons though, which has been so nice.

Now back to the point Dr. Candace made referring to balance or lack thereof.

I do want to keep the balance in my life. My SIL does it beautifully, and still seems to have time  daily to focus on her interests, so that is heartening.  I know others who do so as well. So I've decided I will strive for the same.. I will maintain balance in my life. I'm really happy being home. There are no shortage of things to keep me busy, engaged, etc. But I definitely love to get out and spend time and connect with friends and pursue my own interests. I don't want to lose that, and I know I will miss these dimensions of my life if I let them slide. However, I can tell I'm just going to have to make a conscious effort to do so. Already this week I've started to talk myself out of book club as well as seeing a film with friends tthinking I really need to nail down my history program or whatever. No Bueno.

I got off topic. This post was supposed to be about how things are going so far. And I must say, Sela, Nina and I are loving the transition. There are some bumps and I still feel unprepared, but even my imperfect efforts seem to be met with enthusiasm. And THIS is what I love most....All the after school rushing around, drama, crazy shuffling to activities, tired kids, what's for dinner, homework, no family time is gone! Oh, I can't express how much I love this aspect already! The girls had voice lessons today, in the morning. We did Math, Science, and Writing this morning before they went to Voice and then PE at the school. This afternoon we began a U.S. History series and were able to sit and watch two segments (form the History Channel)together from 3 -5pm. We ate dinner together, played outside, did nature journals and then read together for an hour. The girls read in bed for another hour or so. I love that school just becomes a part of life, and it doesn't have to end at 3:30. I can feel the stress disappearing. The girls feel the PE is plenty to keep them in touch with their friends, which again, surprises me.

It's also starting to cool off here (well, it never really got hot), and there were even a few drizzles today. I panicked, but then I realized I can leave!! Yes, I don't mind sacrificing my free time right now if it means a ticket out of here in the winter. Hallelujah!

Meal Planning

I love having a meal plan for the week. Even if we deviate a bit, I have a plan and this makes our evenings more enjoyable less stressful. I also notice we eat dinner on time more often because I can prep little parts throughout the day when I have 5 minutes here or there.

Sunday: Potato-Leek Frittata, Panzanella, Cantaloupe
Monday: Lettuce Wraps
Tuesday: Asian Noodle Salad with Pan-Fried Tofu
Wednesday:Lentil Walnut Burgers w/ Sesame Carrot Salad
THursday: Tomato Soup w/ white cheddar melts, spinach salad
Friday: Fish Tacos
Saturday: Purple Chop Salad

On a slightly different note, we watched Forks Over Knives last night for our Sunday night documentary and it's given me a lot to think about. We don't eat much meat, but I may keep a closer eye on the dairy now. It's a thought provoking film worth watching. Especially if you need a pep talk to get back on the veggie train!

Late Summer/Early Fall

The perfect season.

Lemon Pancakes

 Thank you, Erin! My sister sent me the recipe for these delicious lemon pancakes. We all loved them, but Zig, who typically doesn't eat pancakes, thought they were fantastic.


The kids were so eager to eat these that they couldn't even wait for the berries to defrost, hence the frosty raspberries!


Lemon Pancakes
 Combine the dry ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Combine the wet ingredients:
3/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk
Zest of 2 lemons
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix wet and dry ingredients together and prepare the pancakes. Erin said maple syrup would overpower the lemon flavor, which is the special part of these pancakes, so we served them with raspberries and drizzled some lightly sweetened creme fraiche on them (Rollin still wanted a little maple syrup on his). The rest of us thought they were plenty sweet with just a slight sprinkle of raw sugar at the end. Pretty tasty! Oh, and I also added a few drops of lemon oil to the batter. Definitely not necessary, but that stuff is extremely powerful and really ups the intensity of the lemon flavor.

And speaking of breakfast, Zig typically goes for savory breakfasts like this one, all from our garden. We have some amazing tomatoes right now and these little yellow ones are our favorite.

Swifty

This week one of Sela and Nina's dreams came true.



On a whim, my friend, Kim, and I decided very last minute to surprise our girls and take them to the Taylor Swift concert. They were very excited just to be having a girls' night. When they climbed in the car dressed in their sparkles, they still had no idea what we where doing. And oh the screaming, squealing, and carrying on once we broke the news!! They were kind of in shock and not sure whether to believe us at first.

The concert was darling. Taylor Swift wore lots of pretty, sparkly dresses, sang all of their favorite songs, had beautiful and creative sets, great dancers and dance routines, and our girls had a blast at their very first "real" concert. They sang their little hearts out along with Taylor Swift. I was totally impressed with how wholesome the entire concert was. Perfectly appropriate for their ages in every way. Go Taylor!


Emma, Nina, Kate & Sela


Tacoma Dome after 3 hours in traffic!




I took my small camera so forgive the red-eye and blur in most of these photos.


Here she is, right in front of us! She had so many cool guitars.

We made it home at 1:30am with some very tired but happy girls.

a lazy sunday afternoon

Sela was playing with her camera yesterday while we were all just sitting around after lunch talking and reading on the patio. I was trying to do some planning for the week ahead while Evan was trying to thwart my every attempt at being productive. That's alright. As I looked through Sela's camera later in the evening I realized how big my baby is getting. He's growing up quickly. He started stringing little sentences together this week. I'm not quite ready to call him a toddler, but it's obvious that while he still has one foot in babyland, the other is firmly planted in toddlerhood. Sniff, sniff.










Zig and his big baby.

Electives

While we haven't formally commenced our studies yet, Sela was chomping at the bit to go to PE with Mr. Hogle. At the end of last year when Nina let the cat out of the bag that we were considering homeschool, Mr. Hogle quickly found Sela and let her know she could still come for PE. I think this made her decision to homeschool so much easier. The kids all adore Mr. Hogle. She wanted to go the first day to see her friends, of course, but also because PE "spots" are assigned. I have no idea what that means, but I dropped her off at school for 45 minutes on Thursday and she came out just beaming. I think having this interaction with her friends in addition to all the other activities (art, activity days, tennis, cross country) where she sees friends is just the right balance.

The girls have been asking to take horseback riding lessons again. I don't think they want to seriously get into the sport (thankfully), but I think they just want to learn the basics and ride for fun. They just love all animals and have been visiting lots of the horses up and down our street lately. They got very excited when they found out that one of their babysitters was teaching horse back riding lessons. She lives right up the street and today they had their first lessons. Evan and Rollin got to ride at the end as well. Evan wailed when he had to get off. His love for horses can't be overstated.








We went to the library where I picked up a bunch of my nature study materials and some more homeschooling resource books. We ate lunch at PCC and then spent the rest of the afternoon at home. I sat on the porch all afternoon reading through my stack of books while the kids played. I find that rather than telling them over and over to go outside, if I go outside, they follow. And it was a beautiful day, not to be wasted inside for sure.  Rollin caught a firefly and a moth and we had fun looking them up in the Handbook of Nature Study, a book I will certainly be adding to my collection. It's fantastic for adding details to the kids' nature journals and for answering the many questions about animals, insects and plants that come my way. Not to mention there is beautiful poetry in the mix.