Lunchables

I bought a couple of Pizza Lunchables (generic-Aldis) for the kids for the first time.  They LOVED making their own little pizzas, and I loved the convenience....but I knew there had to be a better way.

So I found this recipe...http://www.goinghomemade.com/2009/12/homemade-pizza-lunchables-store-versus.html and decided to give it a try.  

The kids both helped with the mixing, rolling, and cooking of the crusts...we easily made 12 little crusts, and could have probably done 15 a little smaller ones.  Next time I try, I might use 1 cup whole wheat flour.  

The sauce was a bit salty for me, and I like salt.  Maybe it needs more sugar, I don't know.  I might skip the sauce altogether and use jarred spaghetti sauce.  I put the leftover sauce into ice cube trays to freeze for the next time I make the dough.  

The kids decided to put theirs in ziploc bags so that it seemed more like a lunchable.  They put in a plate, spoon, 3 crusts, a baggie of cheese, and a piece of candy.  (The sauce was still cooling)  The only thing that would make this perfect for them would be if I had juice boxes like the store-bought lunchables.

And what was Nicholas doing during this time?  Just hanging around....

Workbox Wednesday

Hello, my name is Stephanie and I am a bookaholic.

Today our homeschool organization had a used book sale.  I bought so much that I had to make two trips to the car.

What's in the workboxes...

1.  An Aladdin book on cassette for one to listen while the other gets one on one.
2.  Horizons 1 Math for Nathan, HWT for Becca
3.  A We Both Read book for Nathan and 100EZ lessons for Becca
4.  A Cinderella book that Becca picked out for the library reading program
5.  A new book of mazes
6.  A bag of Chocolate chips (we get to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!!)
7.  Beginning sewing project for Becca and Wii controls for Nathan.  We might skip this box to play outside later...it's beautiful today!

CAMP!

We just spent another exhausting wonderful weekend of camp. We had great kids this year....11 boys and 9 girls. Nathan and Nicholas went too, but Becca stayed the night at her best friend's house. I think that a 3rd kid would have pushed me over the edge.

Nathan of course, does fantastic. He's been doing camp with us since he was 2, but this is the first year that he slept in the boys' hogan instead of with mommy. He went right to sleep, though, and Mark couldn't even get him up for breakfast in the morning! The other boys did well too, I think that this is the first year that Mark actually got in a full night's sleep.

Nicholas did pretty well too...he's at the perfect age for camp: he's playful and sweet, but not mobile yet. It was so cold that I had him sleep with me, though and he didn't sleep through the night, but he did ok. I never sleep well at camp anyway =)

Becca spent the night with a friend, and had a ball!  They took her to a little fair and she got to do the big slide, carousel, and some spinning ride.  She ate some funnel cake and cotton candy.  She got a new bow for her hair, and got to go to a birthday party.  I don't think she missed us a bit!

Homeschooling Mother's Journal 6/24/11

In our homeschool this week…we actually had a day of school, and the kids were begging to have more again today, though we didn't get to it.  Hopefully a couple of days/week this summer will be good enough to maintain routine.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…The my husband, the boys, and I are doing a weekend at camp (with 22 third and fourth graders).  We're excited, but the weather is going to be much colder than last week, and the kids probably won't get to swim.   My daughter is going to her first ever sleep over at a friend's house.  I'm nervous...I can't go pick her up if she gets homesick, I'll be too far away.  

Things I’m working on…Organizing and cleaning.  Boo. 

I’m praying for…Camp  to go well for everyone.  The baby has one middle of the night feeding, and I'm worried about how it's going to go with no lights.  Or running water.  And hopefully I can make it fun for the big kids despite the weather.  And that my daughter survives her first sleepover!

Workbox Wednesday

We haven't been schooling much this summer, mostly because the house has been messy and we've been busy.  But after much fighting and raining this week, I figured we needed a day of school.

Box 1:  Horizons Math 1 for Nathan, a dollar store Disney handwriting book for Becca

Box 2:  Frog and Toad Together for Nathan, 100EZ Lessons for Becca

Box 3:  Leapfrog Tag books and pen...while I'm working with one child on box 1 and 2, the other plays with the tag pen for awhile.  

Box 4:  Pop Rocks Candy Experiment

  

Box 5:  Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary

Box 6:  Wii Controls...they haven't gotten to play wii much lately, but rainy days are perfect for wii.

Not a really heavy school day, it's still summer, just enough to give us some structure.

This post should be Rated R for nudity (j/k)

Today was Nicholas's first official Big Boy Bath (he did have a few quick ones at Grandma's).  Of course Sissy loved having him in there with her, and I let her wash his hair.

I think he liked having more room to splash and play.

Afterwards, Becca stayed in the bath, and I helped Nathan take a shower in my bathroom.  Nicholas played in the hall of mirrors...AKA my closet.  

It kept him entertained for quite awhile!

Olde English Faire

For Father's Day, we decided to go to Wildlife Prairie Park for a picnic.  When we got there, we found that they were having an Old English Faire.  It was interesting, lots of people were dressed in various medieval garb.  If I was a good homeschooling mom, I would turn it into a lesson, but for the most part, I was just amazed at all the freaks people that were there. Somehow scantily clad tattooed women were not exactly my view of medieval times. It didn't really help that the paper bracelets that we had to wear when we were admitted were covered with the Miller Lite icon...nothing like covering your kids in beer advertisements.  The jousting area the most interesting, and the group in charge of that was very entertaining.

We enjoyed seeing the animals as well...the cougar was up, but most of the others were napping. We did watch the workers feed the wolves. It wasn't really hot today, but the humidity was unbearable, and we were all pretty miserable so, we came home and made more ice cream. =)

The Homeschool Mother's Journal June 17th

One of my friends has been participating in this journal every week and I've enjoyed reading hers, so I thought I would try it too...

In our homeschool this week…nothing much...just reading a bunch.  With VBS, it's been hard to have them do school as well.  I do want them to have some school this summer, but the house needs work too. 

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…We went to the strawberry patch for the first time.  The kids didn't last very long, and I broke out in a rash, but the strawberries are yummy!  We also went to the park for a playdate, and spent the week doing VBS at the church that they do AWANAs.  

What’s working/not working for us…This house.  It's a mess.  Clutter and papers everywhere.  Books abound.  Legos are underfoot.  I feel like I get one room halfway worked through, and another is trashed.  This HAS to get under control in the next few weeks as our scooter becomes a crawler.  

Things I’m working on…devising chores for the kids.  And how we want to reward the chores.  I struggle between giving them an allowance tied to chores or giving them other rewards.  I don't always want to be paying children for doing things they should do anyway.  I would like them to have their own money though...it really curbs the gimmies.  

I’m reading…A LOT.  We discovered the We Both Read books at the library....I read Night Road by Kristin Hannah, and I've been slowly working on Shoeless Joe on my Nook.  Our read aloud has been Ramona the Pest, but as we've been working on the summer reading program books, we haven't gotten very far in it. 

I’m grateful for…The church that my kids go to AWANAs....these people really have invested a lot with our kids.  

6 months already!

Nicholas is 6 months now.  I can't believe how fast the time has gone....I just want him to stay my little baby!

OK, I guess he has never been a little baby....look at my chunky monkey on the day he was born!
He can roll and sit up, he's even trying to crawl.  We all adore this sweet little boy, who is always full of smiles and giggles.










This is his "trick"....I sing hickory dickory dock, and then he stands up when I say up!  He's been doing it for a month and a half now, but this is the first time I've caught it on video.

Summer Reading Program

So...when we moved out here to the boonies, we lost library privileges.  Our small town does have a small volunteer library, which until recently was only open for a seemingly random 2 hours per day in a building with no running water or bathrooms.  They recently moved to a new building, so I thought I would try it out.  It doesn't have enough selection for adults, but for new readers, it will do =).  There aren't any computers or card catalogs, so I guess when you're there, you're on your own.

We joined the Summer Reading Program...and it seems to be a bit stricter than the others that I've ever joined.  The kids have to read 10 books/week (or have them read to them) which is stressful to me, because that's a lot of library books to keep track of.   They are sharing the books...I can't imagine having 20 library books checked out. (Plus, if we read 120 books this summer for the program, we will have conquered quite a chunk of the library)  They are also required to read at least 1 non fiction or biography and complete an easy worksheet.

Anyway, while I was there, I discovered these amazing books in a series called We Both Read.  The stories are actually good stories and not the usual boring readers, and the illustrations are fun too.  Parents read one side, and then the kids read the other.  They even have nonfiction selections as well.  Nathan read this one pretty easily yesterday, so I'm guessing we can go up a 1/2 level.  This one is an adaptation of an Inuit tale about a fox who tricks some animals to get what he wants and the consequences of that.  We finished one, and I showed Nathan another and he begged to read it too.

The library has quite a selection of these (including one on space!), so I can imagine we'll be reading a ton of them in the coming weeks.  

How we rule our school

Sometime in our homeschool journey this year, I learned about Sue Patrick's workbox system, which I implemented towards the end of the school year. Every night (ideally) I load the boxes with their work, and they start at the top box, and work their way through the boxes. When they're done with the boxes, they're done with school for the day. I love how excited they get to explore the boxes and how independent this has made them.

These are our workboxes right now...

But these are the workboxes I want (from ikea)....

In Sue's system, each child would have their own set of boxes...but upwards of 30 boxes in my living room is WAY too much, so they've learned to share boxes.

What do I put in the boxes??

EVERYTHING. Their workbooks (handwriting, phonics, math), cards and board games, puzzles, art supplies, science experiments, our read aloud book, their readers. Gross and fine motor activities, stuff I find at garage sales, toys they haven't played with in ages....you get the idea. I've even put in a brownie mix.

I'm still tweaking the system and plan to use it full force in the fall when school "officially" starts back up. (we school in the summer, but not as rigorously).

What can you do with an empty formula can....

MAKE ICE CREAM!

Today I let the kids make homemade ice cream. We got the recipe from here...http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/a/aa020404a.htm

1/2 c whipping cream

1/2 c milk

1/4 c sugar

1/4 t vanilla

They put all of those ingredients in a quart-sized ziploc bag and sealed it (as well as taped it shut just in case). We put that in the formula can along with 1/2 c rock salt and as much ice as they could fit in. I taped the can shut and told them to go outside and shake it, roll it, or whatever they wanted to do for about 15 minutes. (I think Nathan put it in the baby swing for awhile.)

The result was some pretty good ice cream! I planned on taking a picture of them eating it, but I couldn't get the camera fast enough...ha. We'll did vanilla today, but we might have to experiment with other flavorings soon.

No ice cream for him...but if you look closely, you can see his tooth.