Homeschooling Adventure: Extra Curricular - Cooking

Titus 2:4 "That they may teach the young women..."

It's Extra Curricular Activities time again.  I've already posted about Iggy's Art and Japanese class sessions, so here is another one of the subjects that falls into this category.  Cooking!  I guess some call it home economics.  Either way, Iggy loves it.  She asks about helping out in the kitchen all the time.  Unfortunately, I can't always allow it because sometimes it involves using a knife or heat.  She's often very disappointed when she can't pitch in to help.  It's always a good thing when I announce that we will be learning to cook.  Our first class was all about making cookies.  I talked about washing our hands and using measuring cups.  Here's how it went.

 

We begin with an apron and a hearty thumbs up.

 



Here are our ingredients.

 

Watching them bake.  Mmmmm.

 

I think they are about done.

 



 

She's not to keen on the beaters.  She doesn't like the noise it makes and how it sometimes whirls a blob of cookie dough across the counter or at you.  Ha, ha.  Well, thanks for stopping by! See ya! : )

 

 

Extra Curricular - Cooking

 

Well, it's another Extra Curricular/Cooking day, but this time it's not about cooking necessarily.  We are learning about washing our vegetables (cleaning our food) before we eat them.  We were having potatoes that night sooooo, why not incorporate that into a lesson? 

 

I put the potatoes in a bowl of water and let them get their hands wet.  They washed and washed and loved every moment of it.  Go figure.  They saw how the water got dirty and how I had to put fresh water back in the bowl for them to wash them again.  We had those potatoes for supper so they got to see the result of the labor of their own hands.  It was a simple lesson, but effective and fun.  : )

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homeschooling Adventure: And Sometimes We Just Chill

"The Lord is my shepherd..."

This is such a comfort to me.

The school room is our daily bell ringin', ridged (well sorta) scheduled setting.   Sometimes, we just hang out in the room.  Not sure why.  We just end up there playing games with the kids, looking at books with them, or just talking about this and that.  I'd say it's because this is where my desk is located and I take care of business while the kids play with dad.  Then after I'm done documenting the last 'actual work done' for the day or preparing for the next day, I generally plop in the floor and join them.

Does anyone else do this too??? (hang out in your school room)

 

Daddy playing the new apple tree game that Mammie and Iggy made during their art class.

 

 

I think it's Iggy 2, Daddy 1

 

 

Another school day, after school! : )

 

Sift my Thrift: Ladies Meeting

Psalm 51:7

Purge me with hyssop , and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Our church has a Ladies Meeting every so often and generally one lady of the church will volunteer to take on the challenge of getting a meeting together.  This means to find a location, to get a devotion together, and then to figure out a food or dessert plan.  While we are together, the ladies take care of the business matters as well.  Most of the time, women will just say to bring something - pot luck, but on a small scale.  I can't believe it, but I volunteered.  I decided to host it at my house which meant, clean, Clean, CLEAN!  I told the ladies to bring something sweet.  I went ahead and had some sweets ready as well as a few, salty this and thats.  It was a bigger chore than I expected.  Wow, what a day!  When night came and all the ladies said their farewells, I was one big heap of tired!

I wish I had the mind to have taken photos of my display, but, alas I was too busy to think.  So, I just took a few after photos.  Some of the things were dismantled so I just took separate photos and hopefully you can put it all together in your head.  My theme was Laundy.  My speaker had prepared a "laundry themed devotion" that went right along with it.  She had an online devotion prepared, but in the middle of the night while she was trying to fall asleep, the Lord gave her her very own message, or His very own message which was still "Laundry themed."  I was really glad that He did.  Devotions are so much more meaningful when the Lord steps in and teaches heart messages. 

Here are some photos:

I used my ironing board as the display 'table'.

 

 

Some old fashioned clothes pins in a candle stick glass.  Homemade laundry soap in a jar with a scoop.  This is a bar of soap that my cousin made and gave to me.  I thought it went well with the theme.

 

 

I made these mini cupcakes out of a box mix and used a cake decorating tool to ice them with tub icing.  I also ended up making box brownies, and finger sandwiches, coffee, tea, and had some dip for chips.  Others brought fruit and more sweets. 

 

 

The flower at the bottom is actually an accessory shirt pin.  The little flowers were homemade by my mother in law.  They are called yo-yos.  I was supposed to sew them onto a pillowcase dress that she made for Iggy, but I just hadn't got to it yet.  : )

 

 

This sign was hanging on the right side of the white skirt by twine.  Just some fabric with a piece of paper with "Laundry" printed on it.  I scalloped the edges with craft scissors.  I got the frame at a yard sale this summer.

 

 

These photos were hanging on the left side by some twine as well.  Iggy was the model.  I tried to make the photos appear to be 40's 50's ish by adjusting the brightness and color.  Have you ever made any of these laundry faces before? 

 

 

 

 

Everything on my display was just things we had around the house.  I just tweaked/combined them a bit.  Affordable solution to decorating, Marsha style.  Ha, ha.  Actually, I did a lot of this kind of thing for my wedding.  It was an Asian inspired wedding, so I used a lot of things from my mother's home. 

 

 I didn't get to hear all of what our speaker talked about (I was in the other room typing up some laundry tips and trying to listen at the same time), but I did catch one part.  She said something like this, "Isn't it amazing that we have the hardest time getting the 'red' stain out of our clothes, but Jesus can take His red blood and wash us whiter than snow."  It's truely amazing that the Lord, the God of all life would see fit to give us, a flawed people, an opportunity to live with Him, to be with Him by sacrificing His own Son and His Son willing to do that freely.  That just amazes me. 

  Thanks for sifting my thrift!

Sift my Thrift: A Bouquet from the Discardables

Psalms 103:15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth

When it comes to landscaping, I'm no competition.  In fact, I really don't care much how our yard looks, as my main focus is on decorating the inside of the house.  My husband on the other hand does care about the yard and landscaping.  He's always thinking about how he can make the yard better, just like I'm always thinking of how I can do this or that to the inside. 
 
Yesterday, he decided it was time to re-do part of our front landscaping, which meant ripping out some of what was there.  Somehow we ended up with some wild flowers growing right smack dab in the middle of our landscaping among all the weeds that were beginning to take over.  My husbands plan was to just rip them out and discard them.  It was a shame since the wild flowers were in full bloom, so I picked and put in a jar of water the loveliest of the bunch.  Here's the result!
 

 

The color combination is so pretty!

Maybe you can identify the flower?  I have no idea.

 

 



 

 

 

I wonder if this bud will bloom?

 

 

 

Just a little 'show and tell' from me.  Hey, and they were free!

Thanks for sifting my thrift.

 

Oh, and hi moms!

 

   

Homeschooling Adventure: Buy! Sell!

Proverbs 31:16
"She considereth a field, and buyeth it..."

I want to teach Iggy the value in money and how to evaluate the worth of it versus the worth of what can be bought with it.  I want her to learn to spend wisely, to consider her purchase, to be less impulsive when it comes to spending.  I understand that 'loving' money can be a bad thing, so I don't want her to be obsessed with it, just thoughtful about how she uses it. 

So, about the title.  No, we're not talking stock market.  I'm actually discussing our little store, our 7/11, our very own piggly wiggly that resides in my closet.  I began a system to try and keep Iggy on her toes when it comes to being on time for class.  I also, want to teach her about buying and using money.  So she is able to earn these 'Bean Tickets' (little northern beans with a black dot marked on them).  She gets one per day that she is on time.  That's it.

Today marks the very first day that Iggy spent her Bean Tickets and bought something.  Ok, so I caved in on her third day and let her pick something out without having to spend her tickets, But that was IT.  No more melty mom after that.  She MUST earn her treasures in her efforts at being on time for class (if I can keep those puppy dog eyes from drawing me in again).  As a side note, she didn't ask for something free.  I just saw how she kept eyeing the buckets of treats, and felt that 'proud of her for not asking/wish I could just give her a break' sorta feelings and then gave her a 'begining of the year' freebie. 

No, but seriously, she must now earn them and has.  She saved up 10 Bean Tickets so she could get the biggest 'thing'.  It was a mesh bag filled with plastic food, and mini tableware.  Well, and also a piece of candy that I attached to it a couple of days before she was going to buy it.  Okay, okay, melty mom had a weak moment, BUT she did wait and wait for it.  She passed up the 3 Bean Ticket bucket that had some candy and things and kept saving her beans.  She also passed up the 5 Bean Ticket bucket that had better candy and better things in it and kept on saving her beans.  She had her sites set on the 10 Bean Ticket prize!  The dollar Tree is wonderful by the way.  So now she is beanless, but so liking her new digs.  That is, her new cooking things digs, if I can call it that.  One happy girl = one happy mom.

   

The now empty Bean Ticket Container after she cashed in all 10 of her Tickets.

Inky gets to earn them too, though I do all the 'getting her ready for class' duties for her and have to remind her like a 1,000 times to be in her seat before the bell rings.

I'm proud of her for being able to resist the immediate satisfaction of 'candy now' in order to get something that she really wanted later by saving her 'money'.

Time to start earning more Bean Tickets.

Thanks for stopping by.  Do you have a Bean Ticket system of your own?  I'd love to hear about it!

Vacation: Ocean without the Salt

Psalm 34:8
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him

It's was vacation time for the Rossimores and we decided on Holland, Michigan. Why you ask?  We wanted water without the super long distance drive and that's what we got.  I mean, I expected water, but what I didn't expect was the 'ocean feel'.  In fact it was EXACTLY like being at the beach without the salt water (and as silly as it sounds - without the fear of sharks).  There were waves and loads of beautiful sandy beach.  The weather was perfect as well.  Definitely glad we opted for this instead of Florida.

Me enjoying the water and waves



The girls and me in the sand

We also visited the dunes while we were there.  They were amazing too!  

We went on a Dune Buggy ride and it was like being on a roller coaster (even that wierd funny stomach feeling when we went over hills). 

After a while, the driver stopped on one of the hills and let us stroll and view the lake below.

Then we traveled on toward Chicago and took a little boat trip.

I'm not sure what's up with my posture here.  I'm just gonna blame it on my outfit.

We rode a double decker tour bus. 



Then we visited Chinatown.

Here's the view from our Hotel window on our one night stay in Chicago.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope we've inspired you to take a peek at Michigan for yourself one day.

Homeschooling Adventure: 2nd Week Blues

Romans 15:5

"Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus"


Well, I dreaded this moment and it's here already.  I think we've hit the 2nd Week Blues.  Not for me necessarily.  Iggy woke up saying, "It's school again?".  Thinking back, we had only said that on such and such day we would be starting school.  We had never discussed that it was a long term commitment.  I had to then explain it's permanency in her life's schedule for long period of time.  She loves the educational games we play, but is not so thrilled about the more disciplined things such as practicing writing her letters and numbers.  It's a little too precise a thing for her, but it's something she has to do.  I've already seen improvement in her penmanship in writing her name, but it was a tug and a pull to get her there.  Her response to me when I told her that she needed to make sure her little y wasn't as tall as her big L?  "This is the way that I do it."  I then opened a book to show her that there is a proper way to write our letters and that using capital letters the correct way, was the way they did it in books that we read.  She was still a little insistent, but eventually gave in.  Whew. 

At the very beginning, the first day of school that is, she didn't quite understand that this was all real.  She had pretended 'school' for so long, that when it was actually here, I had to keep reminding her that it was real.  That we weren't pretending.  She kept saying, "I'm gonna call you teacher" much in the same tone that she might say, "I'll be the princess and you'll be my white horse and we'll ride to the butterfly palace to get my glass slippers."  Well, after the 2nd day, Princess glass slippers was fully aware that we were in school, but periodically she would exclaim very giddy-like something to this nature, "We started school.  This is so neat!"  So, I guess we have went from pretend mode to the giddy mode, and then now on to the 'some things about school are super neat to some things about school kinda stink' mode. 

Ideally, she would stay forever in that giddy, jump up and down, let's do it again, let's do it again stage, and from subject to subject carry that continuous enthusiastic smile (as seen here),

but even I, a newbie homeschool mom, know that it won't be that way.  In fact, I think I've prepared myself for the worst - hopefully.  I went to a homeschool meeting and met some really nice ladies.  One lady shared a story about how she dealt with those tough days.  She said that she had had such a difficult homeschooling day that one time she ran out of the house and took a few laps around it in an attempt to get her frustrations out, and just came back in and apparently started teaching again.  I've got that on my to do list just in case.  : )

So, in saying all this, I am trying to keep in mind how I can be patient with her, and not lose my cool when things aren't going my way (my ideal way).  I have to remember how much patience the Lord has had with me, for it has been given to me over and abundantly.  When I feel that audible sigh trying to escape my lips, or sense my voice begining to raise out of frustration, I'm going to try to consider the patient leading that my Father in heaven is giving me.