Winter Wrap Up

So.....blogging about our Homeschooling adventures has been playing second fiddle to the rest of our activities. Unfortunately for my children, homeschooling itself, has NOT. They are still getting edumicated daily and grumbling about consistently. But here is a Winter Wrap Up of our very busy lives. First and foremost, the above picture took up most of our January. We spent every weekend getting ready to put the house on the market. Why is it that we always wait and do those projects, that you've been meaning to do for years, right before you get ready to sell? Hmmmm....
This Winter we watched Liam crossover from Cub Scouts into Boy Scouts. Boy Scouts will be a great experience for him. He's so excited about his first week long camp out this Summer. This will be his first time away from us without being with other relatives. My biggest fear is the education he'll get from the other campers!! After all...I still remember my camping experience when I was his age.

We also welcomed a new cousin (my great-nephew) into the world. This is Malachi John Petersen. He's perfect! We spent 5 days in Michigan with the Hansen family and had a blast. We went sledding, hiking, Mommy had a day out with sister, watched movies, laughed, played games...tons of fun. I somehow, even snuck in a nap that visit. That is an amazing feat considering how many people live there. Remember, my sister has 9 kids still living at home. Add my brood to the bunch and that's a whole lotta kids.

Quinn lost his first tooth this Winter, much to our amazement. The other boys all waited till they were 7 before they lost a tooth. Quinn, our little early bird, lost his at the age of 5.

Both Simon and Quinn took art classes this Winter at the Delaware Arts Castle. Quinn even had his picture in the Delaware Gazette during one of his art classes. Simon is so into watercolors these days that he is actually watching an instructional video about it right now!!

Whole Foods has been a great distraction this Winter. We've been taking a class there on the first Tuesday of each month. They do a great job. Each class has a different theme and the best part is......IT'S FREE!! This actually works out very well for WF because I always go shopping after the class and spend plenty of money. Maybe the class isn't free after all. In February the boys learned all about Chinese New Year and made yummy dumplings. Mmmmm

For Christmas, Simon received some Kitchen Science kits from his Grandpa and Karen. We've made hard candy, suckers and gum. Before you make gum, give me a call. I would love to help you avoid a few mistakes that just about ruined my Pyrex bowls.

In February, Liam turned 11. We've decided to upgrade all the boys' bikes for their birthdays this year. Liam is quite the stud on his new mountain bike. This is Liam with his Grandma and James.

One very warm (42 degrees) Winter day, we went sledding with some awesome Homeschooling peeps. We had Highbanks all to ourselves until the highschoolers started showing up. Darn schoolies! Just kidding.

This Christmas, my Dad welcomed help from these little hands, as he taught us all how to make Italian cookies. This is definitely an all day affair. We made two batches and used up 2-5 lb bags of flour and I don't even want to think about how much Crisco. I'll just block that part from my mind. Those of you that know me, and my blond hair and pale skin, can you believe I am part Italian? That gray hair you see on my Dad used to be jet black. Not a one of his 4 kids took on those genes. We are all pale and quite lacking in black hair. My Mom had high hopes for me when I came out all nice and olive colored. Turns out I was just jaundice.

We are quite blessed to have some tremendous chefs in the family. This is Liam learning how to make chocolate something-or-other from his Aunt Jen. My brother-in-law met Jen in culinary school (in France, by the way,...ooh, la, la!) so they are our resident cooking experts.

To wrap up our fabulous Winter, we took the boys skiing and snowboarding. And yes, Mom even went snow boarding. Quinn did a great job on skis while Liam and Simon both snowboarded. It was a great day at a not so great ski resort. You can't expect fantastic skiing in Ohio so I shouldn't complain.

Pizza!!! French Fries!!

Every Winter the boys look forward to the Pine Wood Derby race with the Cub Scouts. This was Liam's last year to race but we have many more to look forward to with Simon and Quinn. Here's Simon with his trophy and car.

So that was our Winter in a nutshell. We did many other things that kept the days busy but I can't even remember them all. The boys continue to attend Homeschool gym, have fun play dates with other homeschoolers, play with the neighbors, bake things Mommy shouldn't eat, create fun art work at home, play Play-doh, create Lego designs, and so on and so on and on. Now that it is Spring, let's hope I don't wait another 3 months to log our adventures.

Liam's journey to independence...YIKES!

Why did I choose to Homeschool? I get this question all the time, as if I could answer it in one easy sentence. I never know what to say. Sometimes I'll feel the need to clarify that I have nothing against the public school system. Olentangy schools are great...right? Other times I will simply say "It was a hard decision that we didn't come to easily." That's the truth. One thing I know for sure, is that I can NOT answer this question in a two minute chat standing in the grocery aisle. You better have a pot of coffee brewing and sit back and relax.


One of my concerns with our decision is making sure other moms know that I don't feel superior for homeschooling. Most days I feel like I am nuts for doing this. All I know is that this feels right for me. I would get a pit in my stomach every morning as I watched Liam ride away on the bus. On the first day of 2nd grade he left and I didn't even know what his teacher looked liked! I was sending him to strangers and that didn't feel good to me.


I could be damaging my children beyond repair, I don't know. But this is our journey, you all must make yours.


With that said, I am updating this blog to document a new beginning. This week, Liam will start online school at Connections Academy.


I am really struggling with this because he is essentially enrolled in a public school. Isn't this what I was trying to avoid? I thought I wanted the freedom to study at our own pace, be it fast or slow, and dive into topics that interest us. I don't want to be tied down to a curriculum that mandates what we are studying. I don't like standardized tests. I don't like having my hands tied!!! So why am I doing this?

Over Christmas break I got a call from a different online school letting us know that they still had room for enrollment. I don't remember giving this school my phone number! How did they know to call me? How did they know I was considering this option? Hmmmm......I took it as a sign. We'll give this a try.

I think I will be able to balance our desire to "go with the flow" and still meet the requirements of the school. I watch other families that use online schools and they seem to be relaxed and not on a specific schedule. This will be good for Liam as well. It comes as no surprise that he sometimes "resists" my instruction and help. What does Mom know anyway? Right? Just don't say that to Gramps, Liam, or he will regret those 5 years of Engineering school he paid for!!

So we will give this a try for the remainder of the school year and then reevaluate again for the Fall. I may want to throw in the towel after a few weeks but I am committed to this for Liam. He seems excited and eager to get started, although I still think he is mostly excited about the computer he's getting. Hey..whatever works.

Liam--Why I love thee!

It is not big news that our children drive us nuts most of the time, and that some children do it more than others. So as we wrap up the holiday season, I feel it is important to reflect on what I love about them, what makes them unique, what brings out the best in them....because it isn't always me!! I need to sift through all the daily trials and tense moments of this household and find those precious things I adore about my children. So here it goes, I'll start with my eldest.



If you know my family at all, you know that Liam is my biggest challenge so far. He has humbled me as a parent so many times. When I first had children, I thought you could discipline anything out of a child. I read that "Dare to Discipline" book when Liam was just a toddler and assumed I had it all figured out. WRONG!!! Children will be who they will be. His personality has nothing to do with my discipline or lack of it. As challenging as Liam's stubborness can be, I love him for it. Someday that will help him stick to his guns during a job interview, or a debate with a professor or, scary as it sounds, a marriage proposal. (I hope my husband reads this!!!) Liam is Slagle through and through when it comes to his stubborness. I need to keep reminding myself that this is a good thing!

I love Liam for his goofy behaviour, although inappropriate at times. I love that he loves babies. I love watching him with his cousin Sammy. I love that he loves pets. I love his crazy cartoons that he draws. I love ALL his poetry, although inappropriate at times! I love that he still finds time to thank adults for things. I love that one little mole on his cheek. I love it when he genuinely gets the giggles. I love his sarcasm, also inappropriate at times. I love that he still likes to cuddle with me at night. I love that he wants to sit with me during movies. I love his curious nature. I love how he dives into new topics that interest him even if it drives me crazy at times. I love that people think he looks like his dad. I love how he enjoys calling family members to check in on them. I love that he likes to cook. I love how he uses big vocabulary words he reads in books. I love that he can make fun of himself.

And I love his goofy faces!! The list could go on and on. I simply love this boy.

History in the Kitchen...sort of.

We have moved past the Revolutionary War (how much of that can you really cram down a 10 year old's brain) and taken a giant leap to Lewis and Clark. I was hoping this would be more interesting to a boy. There's adventure, fighting, white water rafting, Indian encounters, etc. etc. etc.
We started out with a very cool video from National Geographic that was a reenactment of Lewis and Clark's journey. Not sure what Liam thought of it, but I loved it! As a mom I kept picturing myself traveling the country side with an infant, just like Sacajawea. Really, women today couldn't do it. We would have a gigantic diaper bag filled with butt cream, diapers, assorted plastic toys and teething rings. And we would be concerned about where we could plug in the butt wipe warmer. Sacajawea travelled though rain, snow, ice, treacherous mountain climbs, dangerous river crossings....all with a baby!!! She is my new hero.

Liam also read a book titled The Captain's Dog by Roland Smith. This was a book written through the eyes of Lewis' dog, Seaman (snicker snicker). I think he secretly liked the book but would never admit it. Instead he debated that he shouldn't be forced to read books he wasn't interested in. This is when I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud. This boy has a very rude awakening when he gets into high school. I had flashbacks of The Grapes of Wrath in 11th grade. What torture!

On to the fun stuff. Liam and I read a list of possible items Lewis and Clark would have taken on their journey. They didn't pack much food but instead focused on taking things to document their progress. They took plenty of paper, journals, maps, etc. They did, however, try and pack some dried fruits. They knew it would be very helpful since fresh fruit would be hard to find.
I'm not sure what brand of dehydrator they used. I bet they had one of those big Excalibur types with 9 trays. They were so lucky. All I have is my small, 4 tray dehydrator. We are really roughing it around here.


Here's the glop we made by simply cooking down some apples (actually a LOT of apples) and then running them through my handy dandy fruit strainer on my stand mixer. That device is the bomb!

I must say that I don't think I will EVER do this again. Not only did we use a lot of apples, but it had to dry for quite some time. AND...This is all I managed to wrap up for future consumption before the kids gobbled it all up. I am now convinced we would have starved if we were on that Corps of Discovery team. And I would still be looking for a massage therapist after carrying that darn baby over a mountain.

Help! We need a name for our game.

The kids made up this game that we've been playing for about a year now. We've tweaked it here and there and I think we have a winner. It's fun, it's simple, all it needs is paper and markers.....but it needs a name.

So here's the low down. We have two versions of this game.

Version 1:
Every player has a piece of paper and a marker or pen. It is preferable for each player to have a different color so everyone can admire each other's artistic style.
When the game begins, everyone starts drawing whatever they desire on their paper. After about 20 seconds, someone yells "GO!" and then each player passes their paper to the player on their left.
Everyone starts drawing again on their newly acquired picture, adding or enhancing to the last person's drawing.
You keep doing this for as many rounds as you want. By the end of it, you will have some very interesting drawings.

We had to come up with a few house rules after we played a few times.
Rule #1: No scribbling or crossing out pictures. This rule was created for Simon.
Rule#2: You can't just draw farting speech bubbles out of every creatures' behind drawn on the page. I bet you can guess for whom we made this rule.

Version #2: (pictured above)
In this version, you again start with a piece of paper and a drawing utensil for every player. This time you pick a "drawing comentator", aka DC, to facilitate the game. Using his/her imagination, the DC will begin to tell the other players what to draw, giving only one detail at a time. The DC will also draw so that a comparison can be made at the end of the round.
For instance, in this round, Roy told us all to first draw a barn. Then he told us to draw party lights on the barn. Then dancing goats, DJ chickens, a cow as a bouncer, and so on and so on. By the end, we all had very different drawings and they were hilarious!

So we've got the game but we need a name. Can you help us out? We're thinking of contacting GameWright and seeing if we can get this thing in production. Wishfull thinking, I know. This game may already exist on the market and we are again, a day late and a dollar short. But we're having fun.

Father Son Cake Bake or Son Cake Bake with as little help from Mom as possible.

Every year our Cub Scout pack holds a Father Son Cake Bake. The cakes get judged for creativity in several different categories; Scout spirit, patriotism, cartoon characters and sports. The idea is that the boys have to make a cake with their dads with no help from the moms! In some households that is a disadvantage. But in others......not so much. That would be the case in our house. Getting help from Mom does not guarantee a victory.

This year Dad was very busy "migrating" something or other so that WaMu customers can be bona fide Chase customers. Yada Yada Yada, Blah Blah Blah. I know it was all very important stuff but it was all very confusing. Long story short, Mom had to be the Dad this year. I really tried to do as little as I could and let the boys do the rest. The only help they really needed was with the stripes. It wasn't our best cake but it wasn't anything to be embarrassed of either.

Here's Liam icing the cake. Simon did all the baking.

Final result. Go Bengals!

Science in the Kitchen - Bread Part 2 (Gluten)

Gluten. Not just a new allergy.


I've learned a lot about gluten during our Science in the Kitchen series. Let's hope Liam has also picked up a tidbit or two. So here's the low down.


Flours that are high in protein will produce more gluten in your dough. There are basically 2 proteins in dough, whose names I cannot remember, that combine during the kneading process to create strands of gluten. Think of gluten like a balloon. The gluten will hold the gas needed to make a dough rise. Therefore, you should use a flour high in protein for yeast breads. Flours low in protein are best for pastries and cookies.


For our experiment, we took four different kinds of flour; all purpose, whole wheat, pastry and semolina. We created 4 separate "doughs" by mixing the flour with water. After letting it sit for 15-20 minutes, we took each dough ball and ran them under water. We did this until most of the starch was washed away and we were left with only the gluten strands.



After looking at only the gluten strings in each ball, we could tell which dough ball had the most gluten and which had the least. I won't tell you our findings....you have to do the experiment on your own!!



Here's one of our gluten balls. I think this was the Whole Wheat.

Science in the Kitchen - Bread Part 1

Yeast. It's all yeast these days!

Liam and I are continuing our studies in the kitchen. We've exhausted our studies of the egg and we are moving on to bread! Look out hips, here comes another 5 pounds.

We started our studies by discussing leavening agents. We made some cookies and muffins using baking soda and baking powder. But everyone knows that the Mack-daddy of leavening agents is yeast. And yeast is so entertaining. First question of the day....."does yeast like sugar?"

We did a quick little experiment by using equal amounts of yeast and warm water in two separate bowls. In one bowl we also included a teaspoon of sugar. Can you guess which bowl had the sugar?

If you guessed the bowl on the left, then you are right. In the same amount of time, the bowl with sugar created huge amounts of yeast foam compared to the bowl without the sugar. So the next time you make a yummy bread, be sure to proof your yeast with sugar.

The Arts Castle - 2D

Simon and Liam took a 7 week art class at the Delaware Arts Castle this Fall. Simon seems to love these classes but Liam....not so much. I get this impression because he likes to comment "Mom, why do you sign me up for things without asking first?" My response is always "Liam, did they ask you if you wanted to go to art class in public school?? I don't think so!" Keep in mind that by the time I pick him up from class, he seems to be enjoying himself and the projects.


This session was all about two dimensional drawings. Here is Simon's glue picture (they drew the creature with glue and then filled in with pastels.) Not sure what this little guy is. I think Simon mentioned something about a hamster.


Here is Liam's creation. This one I know. A dog!!

My favorite part about Art class was the one-on-one time I got with Quinn! It was worth every penny. Sometimes we would go shopping or out to lunch. And then if I'm honest, we would sometimes go home so that Mom could take a nap all snuggled with Quinn watching a video on the couch.

Fall Time Fun with our Homeschooling Peeps

Circle S Farms...good times. The boys had a blast. This place had quite a corn maze and a very intimidating Hay Barn. Again, I am just thrilled that the boys are making friends with some other Homeschooled kids. This is really helping Liam and Simon. Liam actually came up to me the other day and admitted there were some advantages to homeschooling. Wow! This is big!! Quinn still just tags along everywhere we go and loves it.

There were a gazillion of these caterpillars at the farm and the kids had them crawling all over them. We later found out that from Grandma that the orange stripe on these critters has something to do with how harsh the Winter will be. Not knowing how long their stripes were last year, I can't dole out any Winter tips. We will all just have to wait and see.

Science in the Kitchen - The Egg, Part 3

We continue our egg investigations with a little Flan!! How could science be so tasty? So if you are wondering how flan could possibly be tasty AND educational, well sit back and learn. Proteins! I won't bore you with all the details, but it all boils down to the proteins....oh and the fat. Gels love protein and fat.

Science in the Kitchen - The Egg, Part 1

Liam's current interest (which changes frequently) is cooking. Uncle Jeremy would be proud! If I tell the kids they can watch a video, 1/2 the time they will pick a Good Eats video. I might need to give credit to Alton Brown for schooling my children. Even Quinn is coming up and telling me how to pickle vegetables and how to get the seeds out of a vanilla bean. There's one thing I know for certain, these boys will know how to cook for themselves. I won't have a daughter-in-law coming to me and telling me their man can't take care of himself. Next thing they will all learn is LAUNDRY!
But I digress...
With this new found love of cooking, the homeschooling Mom took over (with Dad's creative insight as well!) and decided to take school into the kitchen. First up....The Egg!

Specifically....The Egg White! What better way to teach about proteins and amino acids in egg whites, than Meringue Cookies!! Mmmm...Mmmmm
Here's Liam giving those egg whites a good whipping.

And here are the fruits of his labor, or I should say the cookies of his labor. We may have let them cook a little too long but they were still tasty little numbers. They tasted a bit like a nice toasted marshmallow. The Egg, Part 1....success!

It's the small things in life....

It is really the small things in life that bring us the most joy....right? I have been reflecting on my own blog title and realizing that I need to practice what I preach, so to say. Today does NOT seem like a gift. It seems more like a practical joke.

In the past few weeks I've noticed evident spikes in my stress level during certain moments of the day. Unfortunately, those moments are frequent and close together (I was trying to figure out the opposite of "few and far between!) Those moments happen to be........schooling my eldest!!! Particularly during times where he has to actually listen to me! He has a problem with that. We bump heads so many times during the day that it's a miracle neither one of us has a concussion.

So I must turn to the small things in life. Is it possible to find comfort in that cup of Oolong tea? Can 20 minutes of peace compensate for the last 6 hours of debates, arguements and head-butting? Or perhaps my newest addiction, Trader Joe's Non-Fat Plain frozen yogurt, can bring balance to the force. Thank you Jenilee for introducing me to this delightful little concoction. This yogurt with fresh raspberries is a little scoop of heaven. Ahhhh...I'm pretending that I don't hear any kids right now!

Silly Liam

Liam loves to be silly. He doesn't always know when to stop, but he definitely has a passion for being the home clown (I can't say "class clown" since I'm a homeschooler!)
A few weeks ago we did a small study on Picasso and his cubism. We decided to do self portraits in this style. I love Liam's interpretation of cubism. His artistic side is always fascinating to me. He doesn't get it from me!


Have you all heard of the book "The Dangerous Book for Boys?" Or how about "The Encyclopedia of Immaturity?" I would have to say that these are Liam's daily reference materials. He's got them dog-eared and ready to go at a moments notice. Not sure what book this idea came from, but it was fun running into "the leg" for a few days. We never knew where it would end up. Under doors, windows, couches, desks.....

Liam's comics, installment 1

This must be "Brag about Liam" day. Boy would he love that.
Liam has been drawing comics for quite some time now. As I post Liam's comics, you'll see a lot of similarities between his comics and those of Garfield and Calvin & Hobbes. Those are his favorites. He burns through those books. I just love that he has such a great hobby. I'll admit that much of the humor is lost on me. And I'll admit that I don't always "get" them. But I love them still the same.

We just got a scanner on sale the other day so Liam is now experimenting with scanning his comics and coloring them with a Paint type program on the computer. The results are great. He's doing a fantastic job. Here are his first 2 that he completed on the computer.

Burns' Night 2009

Every year, my mother-in-law, treats her Scottish husband to a night of total Scottishy things. She does this by celebrating Robert Burns, Scotland's most treasured poet. Some of you may have heard of him, others probably not. The only thing that seems remotely familiar to me is "your love is like a red, red rose"....or something like that. I personally believe it is just an excuse for people to get together, get drunk, eat haggis (because when else would you eat haggis) and write silly poetry. Good times! Really it is. We enjoy it every year.

This year, Liam by far, wrote the most creative poem. He was inspired by an ABC song written by The Barenaked Ladies. We had recently heard this song on the XM kids chanel and we all found it quite entertaining. Liam rewrote it, inserted his own special humor, and the result was a fantastic poem. Here it is.

Alphabetics

A, is for aardvark. B, is for bleach.

C, is for chalkboard, for someone to teach.

D, is for dropping, a deuce.

E, is for exceptionally mediocre or loose.

F, is for floccinaucinihilipipificate,

and G, is for Georgia, a southeastern state.

H, is for her, and him, and he.

I, is for I, oh gee, what irony.

J, is for jackpot, you’ve hit it right in the spot.

K, is for kicking, that really hurt a lot.

L, is for licking, like slurp or pow,

and M, is for moo the noise of a cow.

N, is for nausea. O, is for 1, 2, 3.

P, is for pie, a food that’s very tasty.

Q, is for earthquake, if you leave out the earth.

R is for rhombicosidodechahedron, that’s a shape with some girth.

S, is for shut up, I’ll do that in a minute.

T, is for tub, with a couple folks in it.

U, is for umpire, now let’s play ball.

V, is for vacant, this is a free stall.

W, is for Winn-Dixie, full of cheapskate mothers.

X, is for xtreme, I couldn't think of any others.

Y, is for yip-yap, this song is full of it too.

Z, is for Zs, now it’s time to catch a few.

"Mom, the dog ate my homework!"

Well, Liam can now honestly say "The dog ate my homework." The story begins on a Monday morning when I went to grade Liam's math homework from the previous week. Lo and behold...no homework. Well, needless to say, Liam was not very forthcoming about what happened to his math homework. He tried many excuses as to why his math homework wasn't in the folder, and yes......please try and and hold back the shocked look on your face....he even tried "the dog ate it" excuse.

After about 3 hourse of denial, he finally came forward and told me the truth. He didn't do the homework! For a whole week! Well, being the stearn Mommy I am, I had him do a whole week's worth of homework in one day. To Liam's credit, he got it all done in a timely fashion.

Later that night we all left that house for a few hours. We came back to this.

After all the hassle of dealing with this homework issue, to come home and find out that a dog really can eat your homework.