Food with Justin

Just a note to remind myself about the fun afternoon I had with Justin. He really loves to cook and prepare food (even though he won't eat it) and I absolutely LOVE the churrasco with green chimchurri sauce we made together for our Brazilian day with h.s. club! I wonder what we did incorrectly with the Brazilian cheese bread, though! The dough was very thin and didn't work well using their instructions, so I put the second half of the dough into mini muffin tins and they seemed to hold together better...

Recent stuff

"I want to bake lots of stuff, Mommy." says Justin. Ok, kiddo. Here's the pretzels we made. YUM-MEEE. We've also gotten REALLY adept at making homemade pizza and working on the homemade bread ideas...
Poor little homeschooled girl... Allowed to dress herself any which way she likes and to play in buckets of water to see which animals float... Also, the Barbies are welcome to visit in the water but must be naked or else Mommy gets mad. Ever try to dry a Barbie wedding gown? It's not a pretty picture...
Every day can be pajama day, if you want it to. Which we do on Monday, Thursday and Friday as we have nothing pressing on any of those days. Also, it's much easier to do your physical fitness in comfy pj pants than jeans...
Corinne is liking her new math games from the library book I borrowed. Mostly just reminders about using dice, bundles of ten and matching different types of numbers together. I think I'll make another set of cards with Roman numerals on them, too...

We are soooo glad that February is almost over. With March comes the possibilities of outings and field trips. Spring break is right around the corner and I know that we all need a week off of the handwritten stuff. Evan has been working harder with his multiplication tables and spelling, thanks to some short books from the library that group certain types of words together. He is basically learning new words each week without having the stress of "Spelling Tests". Justin alternately has fabulous days and horrendous days. There doesn't seem to be much of an in-between for him. Though he DID do wonderfully on his science test today! After that, though, the day went downhill and FAST. I think he was just eager to move onto his Birthday stuff, though.

Tomorrow will find us at the library getting the second book in The Hunger Games and then at our homeschooling group meet-up. It's been a while since everyone's been healthy enough to get together and we really miss the other families! We're doing a study on China which is an interest of Justin's. I think we'll also bring Evan's National Geographic map of China that has been taped and re-taped...

A cozy, happy morning...

It's 10:52 am. Most of the schools near us are closed today or will be closed tomorrow. You know, a few (or 12) inches of snow and they get all wimpy about opening their doors. ;) My kids have been doing their work since they got up and are taking a late breakfast break of bacon and eggs and a kid tv show. This break follows Evan's own P.E. regiment (I do believe he can do over 100 sit ups and 50 push ups. HE'S SEVEN.), Justin's cookie baking break, several chapters of Jigsaw Jones read by Evan on the couch (in our jammies) and 15 minutes of absolute bliss where I stood by the stove frying bacon, listening to Justin explain a worksheet to Evan while Corinne colored paper doll clothing. All of this happened before 11 am and includes the two youngest kids following me into the snow drifts at 8 am to "help" clear the fluff off of the driveway before it piles up to my waist. And even though the house is quite messy and the laundry is beginning to form legs of its own and I probably won't get a shower in before the baby that I watch in the afternoons comes over, I am quite happy in my cocoon...

Today? Today is a good day.

Chilly fingers are hard to type with.

Brrr!!! We were supposed to go to a local petting zoo and playground for our weekly homeschooling meetup, but it is REALLY cold, and we are REALLY tired. So instead? We are doing our work in jammies drinking coffee and hot chocolate. After we do our schoolwork, there are peanut butter cookies begging to be baked by 3 little kids.

Corinne and I have already spent an hour doing sweet watercolors. Fall scenes, ballerinas, dragons, everything. Very random and very tiny, cute pictures. Rediscovering my love of painting and drawing has been a big plus for me. And it's been showing the kids that EVERYONE does art. That's a big deal for the boys. They aren't as imaginative when it comes to arts and crafts as I'd like, and I think being able to just paint or draw SOMEthing helps you in other areas. I.e. I have a 10 year old boy whining behind me that he caaaaan't just "write" a paragraph about dolphins without having specific instructions!

Coffee. More. Coffee.

Ahhhhh....

Some pics. Some captions. Enjoy.

Baking brownies in the afternoon, just because we can! My kids are excellent egg-crackers and I've been making a conscious effort to have them read the boxes or cook books as we bake. Corinne and Evan are already grasping the whole "fraction thingy" much earlier than I expected!
Not brownies, but one of the biggest perks of homeschooling: home-baked breakfasts without the rush to get it down the hatch and get out the door. Today we made baked French toast and it was HEAVENLY to eat it with my children at 9:00 am. It baked while Evan did spelling. If that's not a perfect way to start a school day, then I don't know what is!
Best $1 I ever spent at a clothing/toy sale is this floor desk. Evan does 90% of his work here...
Her handwriting is going to quickly surpass Evan's. I'm keeping that fact on the down-low, though... Can't be beat by a PRESCHOOLER, you know!

Guitar Hero TOTALLY counts as music appreciation. Ok, ok... I know. I'm working on something a little more educational. But, for now? This will have to suffice.
I dug out my good old Discovery Toys to find other preschool stuff for Corinne to occupy herself with while I'm working with the boys. She is adoring the shape sorter, even though most of these foam pieces have cat teeth marks on them...

Both of the boys are working on lap books right now and I'll update more about that once they're finished. I'm finding that they are a great stand-in for the traditional book reports or class projects that children would normally work on in a public school classroom. Plus, they're perfect to use as a marker for that question every homeschooler hears: "What did you learn this year?"

Going with the flow...

Days like tomorrow are one of the reasons that homeschooling appeals to me. We are taking a spur of the moment trip to the arboretum. It is supposed to be beautiful out and, best thing: Friday is a FREE DAY!

Rock on.

This flexibility is something I had back when the boys were little, but had lost a bit due to the scheduling of public school. I adore the fact that we are going to enjoy a little nature and fresh air. I love that the kids will get lots of exercise while having a blast. The math can wait. Monday will still come and the problems will get done then. But Friday is calling to us... All of those newly budding trees and interactive exhibits!
~~~
I did find a way to "encourage" Evan to get his paperwork done without the arguments. Now, before I tell you, just remember not to judge until you've been where I am, ok? Also remember that the idea here is to help him to enjoy learning. And he wasn't enjoying ANYthing before. In fact, we were arguing just like when he did p.s. homework.

What is this magic solution?

By Gum, it's GUM!

Yep. I paid Evan in gum to get his work done. We set the timer with pleeeeenty of time to accomplish each sheet. After each sheet was done in the allotted time, he got a high five and a piece of gum from the Easter basket.

Bribery? No more so than the bribes his public school teachers gave him for good behavior. (paw prints for finishing work which could then be turned in for special treats.)

See? I AM a Genius!!! It has been confirmed.

The remains of the monkey bread that Evan made ALL BY HIMSELF. He read the instructions, measured the ingredients, and did (almost) all of the prep work. It was delicious!