A "Snow" Day in August

Hello weekend!  Today we were blessed with a cyber snow day.  The kids' online school's server was down!! Unprecedented!! It affected quite a few schools across the country, in fact.  And you know what, it was just what we needed, this little breather day.

This ends the 3rd week of our online learning.  Overall, I am very happy with our decision.  There are compromises we made, like with any decision, however, they are minor compared to what we are getting in return.  The best part of online school is the teachers.  They are amazingly helpful and available.  My struggling student is getting one on one Algebra help.  The curriculum, while secular, is rigorous. I have never seen my kids work harder. They would never work that hard for me, ever.  Yet, I also love having them still at home where I can be a big part of their day.  They enjoy participating in online teaching sessions. They are super motivated by grades.  I can see they will have opportunities to grow as learners in this environment.

So today when the server was down, it was not hard to find meaningful ways to fill our time.  I saw glimpses of their homeschool background emerge. They turned on classical music, got out paints, and enjoyed some art time. They got out their independent reading books, and read.  They worked on their essays that will be due in a week.  They rode their bikes for PE.  And they watched Star Trek while making salad for dinner. All in all a great day!

I still feel a bit awkward about our decision to enroll them in an online school.  I am glad it is working out as I had hoped.  I know many people in the homeschool world would think I sold out.  I try not to worry about "them", whoever "they" are. Truth is, when it became evident that my kids needed something different, I put aside my desires, and found something that worked better for them.  All three of my kids are unique and have needed different things as they matured.  Having Ryan flourish in public high school was not my dream, but it is about him and what he needs.  And this online school is giving us a chance to keep on learning at home, just in a different format with a lot more help.  I have to get over my fear of man. The Lord is who I must please.  :)

A Happy Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving this year. Typically I stress out about hosting. Thankfully this year was different.  I started praying for a peaceful heart several days in advance. I prayed over my menu. I prayed over my housekeeping plan. I hired my kids at $5 an hour to help with little projects that were out of the ordinary,  like vacuuming the stairs, washing cabinets,  and dusting baseboards. It ended up that I only needed one man hour.  I had a great plan, and started the Monday before Thanksgiving,  each day after lessons. By Thursday, only a few things had to be done.  And the day went pretty well, too!

Summer Break

Summer break is here.  That means freedom!  Well, not really freedom, but a change in routine, which is always appreciated.  As usual, we are not totally abandoning our books or chores. In fact, we are revisiting our old chore system of having a morning and afternoon chore.

Each morning, after our chores and exercise, we are reading aloud from the Bible, a poetry book, and The Harvester by Gene Stratton Porter.  We are putting away our math studies, which is not a usual summer habit.  I hope we do not regret this break in our math studies.  I just felt we needed one.

This week we will sign up for the summer reading program at our local library.  The kids usually enjoy participating.

Our oldest is enrolled at the local high school to take summer school, which will keep him busy the month of June. ( Yes, he is choosing to go to the public school this coming year. )

We also hope to swim at least once a week this summer.  I want to build into our summer days a lot of time for downtime, and less running around.  The school years are so busy.

We are also scheduled to camp a few times this summer, which we are looking forward to very much.  We will see if the weather cooperates.

Summer is going to be a little shorter for us, as we are going to adopt our public school's balanced calendar, so we can all be off at the same time.  I am looking forward to the 2 week break in October, prime camping time!

How are your summer plans shaping up?
~Jenn

I Have a Cold

Unfortunately, I have caught a cold.  I hate being sick!  This one is mainly in my sinuses.  Thankfully, I cannot remember the last time I was sick, and I really have not been down and out sick, either.  I credit this to the ingredients in the above photo.  Twice a day, I have choked down the following.

In 6-8 ounces of warm water add:

• 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• the juice of one small lemon  

I have also consumed great quantities of homemade chicken stock, so yummy.  I have continued to exercise at half the effort.  I have cut out the sugar, which amazingly enough, I have not been craving as usual.  All I crave right now is sleep!  

I am really praying that no one else gets this, but yesterday, Ryan said he thought he was getting sick, too, but so far it is very mild.  He will not take my concoctions.  He will drink EmergenC, so that is making me a little happy.  

Oh well, this too shall pass, right?  If only the world would stop until I am well.  :)  

Things Are Coming Together

Two huge answers to prayer have come our way lately.  The first has to do with finding local friends.  I have been praying for a way for my kids to meet other Christian kids in our area, something I thought would be very difficult since we don't plan on changing churches.  And God provided a way!

We had two separate families who live nearby that we have known for a long time tell us about a youth ministry that has blessed them and their children in our area.  And finally, the younger two kids went last Friday.  And they enjoyed going!  They said the other kids were welcoming and the message was right on. Ryan's age group meets on another day, and we were not able to get him to his group, but hope to one day soon.  This is such a huge blessing and perhaps another step towards settling in our new town.

In addition, I have been praying about what to do next fall with our church commitments.  We have been very active in our church for years and we don't want to change that totally.  But, I think I have a plan.

Right now on Sundays, Grace serves in the first service at 8 o'clock.  A few times this winter, it has been difficult to get to church that early as the highway is not cleared of snow until later.  So, we are going to sign her up to work in the Sunday school second hour next fall.

Ryan already works the second hour in 5th grade Sunday school.  He wants to stay there.

Trevor will be in the Jr. High during the second hour.

We are all going to drop out of AWANA, most likely.  This will be an unpopular decision, but frankly, we can't afford the gas.  It's $10 round trip.  And with the local youth group option, I think it will be less an issue.

We are going to switch to attending the third service at 11:40 on small group Sundays.  This way we won't leave the house at 7 AM and get home at 5PM twice a month as we are doing now.

For karate, which meets at our church, my dear husband is going to adjust his work schedule so that he can get off an hour early on karate nights.  He will be able to take the kids or we all go as a family, and the two of us have a date night.  :)

Community life is so important when you belong to a church, but if you live 33 miles away, it can be prohibitive and stressful.  With prayerful adjustments, I think we can make this work!

The French Press

My sweet friend, Sharity, asked about making coffee in a French press. 

This is all you need! 

I love coffee, good coffee that is.  I've used an automatic drip coffee maker for the last couple of years.  Before that I used my lovely press.  Why I got out of the habit, I don't remember.  It just happened that one day that I wanted to use the automatic feature of the automatic coffee maker.  I was in love with the idea of waking up to the sound of coffee brewing and then that faint whiff of coffee floating up the stairs to my bedroom!  (Yes, I do really love coffee that much.) 

Anyway, I recently rediscovered my French press.  (So glad I did not give it away.) Oh, what joy!  I really did miss it's rich, deep, almost chocolate-like flavor.  However, let me say, if you are not a coffee snob, you're probably better off just using your old drip coffee maker because there is a huge difference in taste that you might not appreciate.  :-) 

To make about two 8-12 oz. cups of coffee in the French press, I first heat the water in the kettle, and coarse grind my espresso beans in the grinder.  I put the ground coffee in the brew pot, about 1/2 cup of coffee.  Pour the hot water over the grounds.  Put the lid on the press and set my timer for 4 minutes.  When the timer goes off, I press down on the plunger and serve the coffee.

One thing I noticed is that when I have regular brewed coffee, I need a lot of cream.  When I drink pressed coffee, I use a lot less.  It just tastes so good that I don't need as much sugar or cream. 

Do you press or drip?  Or *gasp* not at all? 
~Jenn

Making Yogurt in a Crock Pot

Good Monday morning to you!  I hope you had a great weekend. I am on the mend, although, I think it is going to take another week to get rid of this cough, if I follow the same course as my husband.  You remember him?  He is the one who gave this rotten cold to me!  He is also the one who gave me flowers, did laundry, ran out and got me more tissues, and took over for me at Sunday school.  So, it's hard to be mad at such a kind and caring guy. 

Anyhow, the point of this post is not to chit chat.  I want to talk about yogurt. 
I've always wanted to try making yogurt in a crock pot.  What could be more wonderful?  What could be more wholesome?  So, I did some searching and found this supposedly easy  recipe. 

My main concern was that my crock pot is a lot bigger than 4 quarts and it can get pretty hot on low.  I also did not want to double the recipe since I had never tried it before.  I wondered if I should use the low setting or the warm setting.  Since I could not know without trying, I decided to give it a whirl on low.  Although, I did it with some fear and trembling.  How I hate to waste good milk!

This is all you need?

Well,when it was all over, I am sad to say all I got was yogurt soup!   I am so bummed that it did not turn out.  I don't know what happened. But here are some of my suspicions.   It might have been the crock pot being too big and too hot.  Or maybe the yogurt I buy is not good enough with the cultures?  

I can say that I am not going to try again right now because I will have to see about borrowing a smaller crock pot and then get more precious milk.  I really did think that I followed the simple directions faithfully.

Oh well, you live and learn.  And, I really love my Trader Joe's big containers of yogurt, so...  maybe I won't bother to try again at all.  But if you find a good recipe to try and have success, please come back and tell me. I still think it is a neat idea.  

How to Write More Blog Posts

Where the magic happens. 

I'll let you in on a little secret.  Actually, it is not a secret.  It's just an underused tool we bloggers have.  It's called "Scheduled Posts." Right now, I have in my post list 3 drafts in progress and 3 posts scheduled to be published.  I love this feature.  And here is why.

First, it makes my blogging time so much more controllable.  I do not have to spend as much time all at once pouring over one post.  I simply get an idea and start a draft.  Then when a moment allows, I flesh it out, little by little.  As more time allows, I add pictures or proof read it or polish it a bit. In the course of a few days it is ready to be scheduled.  Simple! 

Second, it fosters more creativity on my part.  I find myself thinking about things I could write about.  I write more.  I get a little better at it, just like my kids, whom I encourage to write and re-write.  Perhaps it will even keep my brain younger?

And lastly, it makes my blog seem like an active, vibrant place, a place where you know you will read something new every couple days or so.  Being consistent builds a community. Communities are much needed in our line of work where we are frequently alone all day with KIDS! 

The next time you get an extra moment and an idea, sit down and start a draft.  Let it sit for a few days or come back to it when you have a free moment and give it a tweak.  Come back another day and add a picture.  When it is ready to publish, click "post options".  From there you click "scheduled at".  Pick your time and date.  Then click "publish post".  Then start another draft and repeat.  

So there you have it.  Why not give it a try yourself?

Reading Out Loud

Every one who home educates their children has their own special way of doing things.  One of the joys of my day is reading out loud to my children.  I won't even allow myself to think about the day that ends! *sigh* 

Since the day we brought each child home from the hospital, we've been reading to them.  And even now that they are 13, 11 and 9, we are still reading.  I don't see that changing until perhaps when they leave college. (If they leave! *wink*) 

Naturally, Sonlight curriculum is an excellent fit for us, since it is based on good literature that is to be read aloud each day.  I cannot speak more highly of a curriculum, by the way.  We were blessed to find it way back when my oldest was in Kindergarten. 

We don't just read during the school year.  We even read in the summer. Daddy chooses a book or author and we read aloud all summer.  Last year we read several books by my favorite author Gene Stratton Porter. (Girl of the Limberlost, Laddie)

I am starting to think ahead about what books we will read this summer.  We have some camping trips planned. I can see us now all huddled around a fire listening to Daddy.  We just love it.

I think reading aloud actually brings us closer together as a family.  It's a warm, family moment where we stop and are focused on the same thing, together. (And doesn't involve a computer or TV!)

~Jenn