Home Is Where You Start From — a homeschool diary

Notes from Home

by Jenn on January 23, 2012

Sometimes it is the little things that make your day. This soap, they had me with the word “chai”

those anemia headaches (iron-deficiency) headaches I mention now and again? …turns out they were migraines. Turning the page on a new chapter, it seems. At least there is medicine that works (hopefully) for this.

Pinterest continues to be a greatest love=time-suck. Have you ever actually done anything you’ve pinned? I am a step closer, I went out and bought an apple corer and gluten-free pancake mix to make these neat apple rings I have pinned…but, haven’t actually made them yet. I’ll keep you posted.

the reality of homeschooling 5 kids, two of them being highschoolers, the normal busyness of family life and my migraines have really kicked my rear lately…feeling a bit overwhelmed.

it rained today here in the OC! Yay! It seems like most of our rare rain happens at night. I got to wear my snow boots today (: I bought them last year in Washington, they make good rain boots, too.

currently I have chickent tortilla soup in the crock-pot, and I am about to go mix up some blueberry corn muffins right this minute.

Hope your week is off to a happy start! <3

{ 5 comments }

7 Quick Takes Friday, Life of Fred edition

by Jenn on January 14, 2012

~1~

This is Oliver snoozing with Demi-Sky. He actually likes to curl up with the girls in their loft, but because we had company for the Bible Conference, he was locked out of the girls’ room. He fussed quite a bit, and then reconciled himself to cozying-up in Demi’s room.

~2~

Demi Sky’s room is in need of a make-over. Can you see the wall-paper border on the wall? It has these cute cartoon-y spiders. Demi was fascinated by spiders when he was little, not usually something you would think to decorate a room with, but these spiders are cute and friendly looking. But* he is 12 now and needs a more grown-up look. His room is next on my decorating to-do list.

~3~

I am going through The Life of Fred elementary series with the 3 youngest. Life of Fred is a Math storybook series. Yes, a storybook. I resisted the siren call of Fred for many moons…I am not a Math person, so the concept of a Math storybook just seems unappealing. I’ve heard so many great things about it though, that I finally ordered one. I have to admit, I love Fred now.

~4~

We started at the beginning, with Life of Fred -Apples. So far the concepts are easy for the kids, but we are still enjoying it. The other day, one of the questions after the story asked which day of the week did we think was the most difficult for most people to spell. I had the kids give their own opinion. Teddy voted for Thursday, Amie voted Wednesday, Demi thought Thursday was the most difficult. The answer was Wednesday and also Saturday, for many people. I really <3 this kind of learning. :)

~5~

Meg and Josie are working on the song, “I see the light” from the movie Tangled – as a duet for an upcoming recital. Josie is playing the piano part and Meg will be playing the violin. It’s a sweet song, I really enjoy listening to them play it together.

~6~

Sky was not home for dinner tonight, so I made meatloaf. I make a mean meatloaf, but Sky does not have the culinary refinement to appreciate this delight. (I use the Quaker oats recipe-the one with just tomato sauce, not ketchup) Every once in a while, I really have a hankering for it. I have to eat it with corn and rice (mixed together- the corn and rice, that is- not mixed with the meatloaf!) because that is how I would eat it when I was a kid. It’s funny, but certain things I have to eat with certain other things, like grilled cheese- it has to be eaten with fruit cocktail. Tuna fish sandwiches have to be eaten with Fritos.

Do you have food traditions from your childhood?

~7~

Amie has been really into dog books lately. She is currently reading through this Waggit series (Waggit’s tale, Waggit forever) and others like it. At the library the other day, I picked up this dog book – Sheep by Valerie Hobbs (it’s about a sheepdog) anyways, it was a bit of a higher reading level than the other books, so I decided I would read it out loud to her. She saw it lying around, picked it up, and read it in one day. Yay! She has turned the corner and has become a book-devourer. Only Demi is on the outside, looking in on this – he is only interested in comic books. I keep hoping and trying to tempt his book appetite

…someday, I hope, he will join us all in our book love.

*7 Quick Takes Friday is hosted over at Conversion Diary, click over and join up!

{ 6 comments }

days like these…

by Jenn on January 4, 2012

well, it’s a new year- time to kick it up with new resolve, right? Back to homeschool, back to eating healthy, time to get my house all clean after having lots of guests….

and….

I’m sick.

Fun times. I spent Tuesday mostly in bed, and today either sleeping or going to the Dr.’s or getting ready to go to the Dr.’s. Wednesday’s are my “light” days, I’m really put-out that I spent it sleeping. :(

Well, around here, we are trying to get back to normal after having a boat-load of people here for our week-long Bible conference.

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Sky bought me a new lens for my birthday. It is a 35mm 2.0 lens, PW says it is her favorite, I asked for it on her recommend. (because I still don’t really know what I am doing, photography-wise…this will be the year I really learn!) I love my lens, it takes better photos in low-light, but I have to actually use my feet to zoom-in, my only other lens had some zoom to it…it’s hard to remember I have to actually move in! I am hoping it has some wide-lens properties, but so far I haven’t noticed.

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I totally went off my low-wheat and no-dairy (ok mostly) diet and have suffered my just punishment. I’m going to go back on the wagon with healthier eating tomorrow. I am thinking that some of the paleo diet books and websites might have some yummy ideas that would be wheat-free…so I am starting to browse around. Not that I am going to go totally that route, but it has possibilities to widen my food choices. Anybody have some favorite gluten-free or Paleo diet websites/blogs? Do share~

I Just found this one on pinterest, looks like it will be useful: Everyday Paleo recipes for life.

Margarete is a blogger I am friendly with, and she has been sharing some of her tried and true gluten-free and diary-free recipes on her blog. I haven’t tried them yet, but I plan on it. It’s nice to find recipes others have already experimented with and refined…

True Blessings Homeschool gluten-free and diary-free recipes

Here are a few other goodies I have pinned at pinterest:

Apple Nachos from Manifest vegan um, yes please! they look easy, too. I like easy, I’m lazy.

Baby Breakfast Quiches

Breakfast cookies, no wheat, no eggs, no sugar from Blueberry Girl

not particularly healthy, but I am intrigued… Frozen coconut limeade from Chef in Training

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We have not yet managed to get together with my sister’s family and my mom & stepdad for a holiday gathering. Looks like we will make it this weekend. I was on the phone discussing with sister, when she admitted she hadn’t done any shopping for my family. I admitted the same- I’ve had lots of company and then I’ve been sick. Sky has been bugging me to see if we can quit exchanging gifts for Christmas, we have a new budget that budgets everything down to the last $20 and it’s a bit of a stretch in December. Plus, we don’t actually celebrate Christmas in our home- the celebrating is done for our family’s benefit. so, we are always a bit conflicted with this.

Soo, I was afraid to broach this with sister, because I think her love language is gifts. She picks out awesome/individualized gifts for everyone. Not usually expensive, but always very, very thoughtful and just what the person would love. I was afraid not exchanging gifts would be a total downer to her, but I took her confession, ran with it and suggested we skip gifts this year. And… And, she was totally relieved. She’s got 3 little ones now, I’m sure her December budget as well as her time- are stretched thin right now. We decided that all our kids would be pretty ecstatic with a small gift bag with candy inside…so that is what we are going to do! Whew.

We do give our kids 3 gifts each around New Year’s. However, the Bible conference moves around a bit and we still had guests, so we will be doing our family New Year’s celebration this weekend, my kids are really looking forward to this.

So, how were your holidays? Good, and full of family and love, I hope.

{ 4 comments }

Quick Takes Sunday

by Jenn on January 1, 2012

~1~

30: The number of games Demi-Sky won, straight in a row, against the Bible College boys. The game: Connect four.

The boys, they were humbled.

~2~

The hens will not sleep in their coop anymore. At dusk, they now roost in various places. Sky’s garage-workshop is a favorite, comfy, safe spot. Here is Dapples making herself at home on the skill-saw. (I’ll share more in a later post about why the hens will not roost in their coop anymore)

~3~

Sky recently finished a bench with a slate-tile top. It now sits underneath our big window in the front room.

I love this man <3

~4~

Christmas Eve with family. We spent the evening with my dad and step-mom, and then at Sky’s big/ginormous Family Christmas Eve Party. We are talking big family plus cousins plus their children’s big families. It is big, noisy, fun, familiar. Tamales are served every year. It’s tradition.

~5~

Sky’s sister also makes those peanut butter blossom cookies. You know the kind, the ones with a hershey kiss in the center? Yum. There is a reason I do not make these at home. I would eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Amen.

~6~

The grand-kids and cousins shared their musical talent. Most involved the piano (hard to get a good photo of a little noggin peaking behind the piano) Here is Meg playing her fiddle. She prepared traditional Christmas music to share, but the crowd demanded music from Lord of the Rings as a finale. Yes, she can play them by heart.

~7~

We just ended our week-long Bible conference. Our final guests have packed up and departed, it was a very busy but full week. Full of love, family, friendship, fellowship, music, worship, deep Bible truths. The topic this year was the second half of the book of Psalms. New Year’s Eve was the last night of the conference. Something about ushering in a new year makes things seem so much more urgent, more pressing and more personal. I’m struggling to get my thoughts into sharable order.

We begin the new week, getting our house in order, catching up on lost sleep, and preparing for the New Year. I am looking forward to new resolve, new routines, new school work.

I hope you have a Happy New Year!

* 7 Quick Takes Friday is hosted every week at Conversion Diary, click over to join up!

{ 3 comments }

Wordless Wedness: Pet-sitter

by Jenn on December 28, 2011

Oliver takes very good care of his fish. Happy Wordless Wednesday!

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Feed Your Fish! [winner]!

December 27, 2011

The winner for the super-cute “Feed Your Fish!” book and the $10 Starbucks card is comment #11 – Kari ! Congratulations Kari, I will be contacting you for your info :)

Read the full article →

Feed Your Fish! book giveaway

December 15, 2011

I’ve got a very special book giveaway! I happen to know, that the author of this very cute childrens book- Michael Madlener -is a homeschool dad. His wife is Tracy of Ask Tracy about Homeschool {the blog} I don’t know about you, but I am all about connections, and I give a bit more extra [...]