Two for Tuesday

Today's Two for Tuesday are other blogs that I enjoy, and hope you will too.

Counting Coconuts


The Princess and the Tot

Two for Tuesday.

Homeschool Creations printable packs are some of my favorite things. There is some Jesus in there...but to each his own, and I have an amazing ability to overlook that which does not apply to me personally. :) But for those of you with less of a filter for that sort of thing, just let it be known that homeschool creations is a christian site, made by a lovely homeschooling mama.

Homeschool Share free lapbooks page. Three and I did a Frog lapbook last week, to go along with the tadpole discovery in the pond, a class on Frogs that we attended at the university, and our preschool co-op discussion about Frogs. It was really nice. I hope to do more lapbooks with him, since he seemed to enjoy it too. This link is to the directory of lapbooks and is broken down by age and/or subject matter. Enjoy!

BONUS:

Starfall Earth Day online book/game.

Wordy Wednesday

My Wordy Wednesday post is going to be a discussion loosely based on some conversations I've had this week with various friends (yes, I have friends, don't act all shocked.)

Monday: Bestie, Friend and I had a discussion about the lack of "fun" in middle school. Bestie and Friend both have kids that will be entering middle school in the fall...whereas we've been in the the throws of boring for a few years now (One is completing 8th grade.) When you look at elementary curriculum choices, they are bright and brilliant and full of manipulatives and art and projects and then you hit 6th grade and they become black and white, mundane, and lacking of all enjoyment. Friend reported that she had attended a homeschooling conference and was surprised by how different even the sales pitches were when the vendors find out how old your kids are. They just assume you know what you're doing....but as she pointed out, it's her FIRST time educating a middle school-er, it's uncharted waters and she could use their help. She tried to find middle school homeschooling blogs and they just don't exist. And, why don't they exist? Because it's hard. It's hard to make it fun and interesting and bright and pretty unless you are puttin gin some SERIOUS man hours outside of teaching the basic curriculum. I know there have to be some (better than me) homeschooling families out there who are doing it--but my theory is they are just too tired to blog it. *wink* I admit, I have not made middle school interesting for my girls....and it does sadden me because I don't want them to start disliking learning, but at the same time, you're never going to love everything you have to learn and when you get to high school or college or in the work force...no one is going to sugar coat your work and go over it with a fine tooth comb and make it all more fun for you. Maybe some lessons are easier to learn now. *shrug* I do hope that high school can involve more projects and be more fun (assuming One stays home for high school...at the moment that's up in the air.) And, I hope that if we move to a computer based curriculum, which involves less planning and input and record keeping on my part it would free up more time to plan "fun" projects. Of course, One is the kind of kid who probably will hate every project I plan and just see it as more work. *eye roll*

Monday: Bestie is struggling with a child, much like One, who is less than motivated to do her lessons. Friend and I offered the advice that she has to make it clear that school is not optional. You don't get to decide you don't feel like doing it today, and if you do, you need to be prepared that there are consequences. Consequences suck. They suck for the kid, sure, but they sort of earned it. They suck for US as parents....last week, I stopped One from attending dance class (where there was going to be a celebration for their performance at competition the previous weekend) because of irresponsibility. She did understand how it was her responsibility and she hadn't lived up to her end of the deal, but she was still upset and crying...which made it really hard for me. I told her "Sometimes learning the lesson is hard." But it didn't take the sting out of it for either of us. In positive news, Bestie's child has done her school work with much less struggle the last 2 days. There's always hope.

Tuesday: Friend and I are sitting on a bench talking about homeschooling, while the kids play at the park (her K aged child is on spring break from public school.) We were discussing Kindergarten at home versus Kindergarten in school....and my philosophy on how quickly it can be done (because it's one on one....) but also how that free's up a lot of the child's time which may mean they expect you to entertain them. Especially after they've spent a year in PS Kindy where there is something going on at all times. I'm glad I don't have to deal with that. Three will be Kindergarten age in the fall. He is not the best at entertaining himself, but he doesn't expect me to do it either. I usually give him direction: Go play "this." Somehow he can't think to play with his own toys. Go figure. Then we discussed middle school struggles, how mean the kids are, and how bullying is rampant because if you tell it just gets worse! It is so frustrating to me, and I don't even have a child over there. I do have friends who have kids there, and I'm sad for them. Friend is kicking around the idea of homeschooling, as they were before K, and I'm not sure I made it sound like such an appealing option. I'm probably not the best spokeswoman.

Lazy Housewife Dinner

I made the most fantastic fettuccine alfredo last night. I've made it 2 other times, but last nights was a hit out of the ballpark. I've been tweaking the recipe, and last night I was working loosely off of Emeril's Recipe.

Changes I made:

I used minced garlic instead of shallots. I added dry italian seasoning, and 1/2 a container of Philly Cooking creme savory garlic variety. Seriously. That shizz is the bomb. And SUPER easy. I used the minced garlic in the squeezy bottle. And, all that cooking this meal involved was boiling water, dumping things in and stirring. WIN.

Wordy Wednesday

I loved this (above pic) when I saw it! I had to share.

Things have been chaotic lately around here...but what's new? We discovered tadpoles in our pond yesterday. Although some of them are almost frogs...so we clearly haven't been paying attention. Mostly, Three has had a cast on so we've been staying away from the water. He got his cast removed yesterday....hence, the discovery. It's quite exciting. It also made it super easy to plan next week's preschool co-op lesson. *wink* I'm in charge of all of April, except tomorrow when something special is planned.

We're out of the house almost every day...and this lends itself to not too many well planned lessons. We've been sort of flying by the seat of our pants and learning on the fly (see above photo.) I'm trying to work crafts in....like this one: Easter Bunny

But honestly, my boys don't really care that much for crafts...soooo they are just humoring their mommy's need to be crafty with them. <3

The girls are easier because I put their stuff into this program: Homeschool Tracker and updating it from one day to another is super easy, so I just put their stuff in and print it out. They are relatively independent at this point (score one for me...as this was ALWAYS a goal of mine...to have them largely independent by middle school.) I can leave in the morning, for an activity for Three and Four, and leave their assignment sheets and books on the table and about half the time I come home and they've completed their work. If they haven't it's usually because the directions that went along with an assignment (usually math) just weren't enough and they need me to help explain the concept better. It's nice. Really. Nice.

I had planned on using Switched On Schoolhouse for school this year, but money hasn't been our friend this year....and I decided that summer camp was more important for all of us (seriously, they need a week away from each other, and a week minus just one child is bliss, I tell you, BLISS!) So, summer camp over curriculum. Yep, that's how I roll. Again, see above pic. *big grin* I would still like to go the switched on schoolhouse route in the fall. We'll see.

Sunday Snapshots

That's me (far left,) The Bestie, and a lovely young lady friend. We were out for a girl's night prior to seeing The Hunger Games midnight showing on Thursday night/Friday morning. That's how I roll.

A trip the museum's discovery room for our preschool co-op led to:

Triceratops dress up.

Microscope exploring.
Trying to open a clam.

Examining a snail.

One had her dance pictures this week, this is one of her costumes (they have 2.) Her class is competing one week from today! I'm so excited to spend the day in Greensboro with her and her dance school. Yay!

We were running late, and she had to apply her makeup in the car.

Another shot from the museum (yeah, I uploaded out of order today, oops.) They were using binoculars to check out the construction across the street.

Our "spring tree" craft, completed.

A tour of the weather station for One and Two with our 4H club.

Spring Time Tree process, with Four.

And, spring time tree craft process for Three.

Healthy Housewife Dinner

Tonight's dinner is slated to be Smoked Sausage and Pasta. There are two versions of this dish. The lazy (I say that with love, some of my dinner posts are lazy housewife dinner after all) version involves cutting up the sausage, boiling the pasta, and dumping it together with a can of cream of mushroom soup and milk.

The healthier version involves making your own cream of mushroom sauce. It's really much easier than it sounds. You make a simple white sauce, add in mushrooms (and onions, and celery since I'm making it myself!) and voila. Better for you than the creamy soup out of can--I'm not judging, cause seriously, some days, I'm just dumping that stuff in. But, if you have 5 minutes and the motivation (this is KEY) you can make a healthier version pretty easily.

Recipe:

Smoked Sausage (I buy the all beef one.)

Rotini pasta (you can use whatever shape you have on hand.)

Flour

Milk

Butter

Salt/Pepper

Mushrooms

Onions (optional)

Celery (optional)

Start water boiling and get that pasta going. Cut up the smoked sausage and sautee it in a pan. Remove the sausage from the pan and use the drippings to cook up the mushrooms and onions and celery. Make the white sauce (recipe to follow.) I use the same pan that the veggies are in. Drain pasta. Add to pan. Stir. You can top it with some parm if you like (my kids are all secretly mice and love cheese on EVERYTHING.)

White Sauce Recipe:

Basic White Sauce from scratch.

In a saucepan over a low/low-medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter or margarine, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 2-3 tablespoons white flour. With a fork/whisker, mix and heat until bubbly without burning. You want this to become a paste. Next, stir in about a cup of milk and keep stirring on medium heat until thickened. I’ll keep lifting the saucepan up off the burner as needed to keep from burning, as I’m stirring the sauce. The key is to keep stirring.

Remove from heat and use in your recipe. Easy.

Want to make it a cream of mushroom, celery, cheese, etc? Begin by sauteing your veggies in the butter and then continue with the white sauce. This way you can make a fresh cream sauce which always tastes great.

Ideas: fresh mushrooms, celery, onion, cheese(Just add cheese after the sauce is made and melt it down while the sauce is still hot)

No fresh veggies? Try adding some celery salt or onion salt to taste. This works great too.

*From crockpotguys.com.

And, since this is doesn't really qualify as SKINNY...

A Four Minute Workout I usually do this workout a couple times a week, on days where a.) I've just not been really active, or b.) days where I ate more sweet stuff than I should have. :) It's fast, it will get your heart racing and tone places you weren't working before--I know because I'm always sore after it, so I'm not working those places doing the other things I do (Zumba, basketball with the kids, tag, etc.)