It must be a Monday thing, last Monday was pigeon study and again this Monday the kids happened to both want to dive into pigeons again. After some interest sprung hearing that a Poultry show next month would have Parlor Tumbler Pigeons the kids and I were quickly sucked into some youtube video's on the breed....then to training pigeons...then to baby pigeons....then after videos we read from the books we still had from the library and our daughter took out her pigeon and spent time with it, petting it, holding it then we went through all her showmanship poses for 4H along with terms and definitions and they both pointed to the parts of a pigeon as I read them out loud. Pigeons completely consumed the morning.
The afternoon brought a trip to the grocery store. The grocery store is always a great learning experience. The kids take turns on different trips- either keeping track and rounding pricing so that we stay under budget or gathering the items, weighing them and making sure everything is organized in the cart, as well as taking a look at labeling and nutritional facts. So at the end of the trip our son saw a Venus Fly trap he wanted...he had wanted one last year but we never found one- I told him we had $55, asked him how much we spent if we had money for it....he and sister conversed and decided the bill would be $43 so yes, he could get the $4 plant and with tax we still wouldn't go over. Correct! $51 and some change- good shopping today kids!
Dinner this week has an array of new recipes to excite our non-meat taste buds...
Lentil Taco Meat Taco's on Home Made Flour Tortilla's
To make Taco Meat: Start with 1 cup dried lentils....just rinse and bring them to a boil in plenty of water and a pinch of salt for 20 minutes. Low heat and simmer until tender then drain.
While the lentils were cooking we made some simple creamy guacamole....3 avocado's, a few spoons of sour cream, salsa, chili powder, garlic and salt- taste...yummy.
Lentil Taco Meat Recipe: Saute 1 small yellow onion with 2 cloves of garlic in 1 tbsp of oil with a pinch of salt for a few minutes until brown. Add the spice mixture: 1/2 tsp Oregano, 2 tsp Chili Powder, 1/2 tsp Cumin, 1/2 tsp Ground Coriander, 1/2 tsp salt. Add Lentils plus 3 tbsp of Tomato Paste and mash as you heat/stir together. If needed use a fork to mash. And done! Lentil Taco Meat.
Home made Flour Tortilla's: (We doubled the recipe to make 16 instead of 8) To make 8: 2 cups of Flour, 1/2 tsp Salt, 3/4 cup water, 3 tbsp Earth Balance Soy Free 'butter'
Mix ingredients, knead dough 10-12x, let dough rest for 10 minutes. Divide into 8 and roll out each section in a 7 inch circle. Heat on med heat for 1 minute on each side in pan. YUMM.
Topped with romaine lettuce, cilantro, guacamole. A hit with everyone!
Simple home made pleasures....Winter approaching is bringing homemade back to our kitchen!
Yesterday was the indoor, slow day and today was the be outdoors and work day. The wind only died down for a few hours, but just enough to let us clean out a few animal pens, bleach them out and let them dry in the sun. Unfortunately it did not die down enough to let us trim weeds without them blowing all over!
We also bathed our old bunny boy. We have currently 6 rabbits, one a beloved black rex boy of 6 yrs old has not been doing well. He has skin problems and he has recently not been able to move his back legs as well along with no longer using his litter box or cleaning up after himself, so daily we use baby wipes and help him and weekly we bath him with lavender oatmeal baby shampoo to soothe his skin and help get him super clean. We tell him we love him and we'll take the best care of him for the rest of his days. I love the kindness, compassion and love I see our daughter show this creature.
Room cleaning, finishing up some book work that was left not done on Friday, a little reading, some drawing, listening to music and it seemed to be dinner time already.
LOVE new recipes, so tonight was Pad Thai...courtesy of: http://www.theppk.com/2013/09/everyday-pad-thai/ and let me tell you- a HIT! Well for hubbie, myself and our son...our daughter the picky eater turned her nose up at the smell and opted for plain rice noodles, raw veggies but did try the browned tofu and thought it was yummy!
The eve brought us hunting down a newspaper for the Fair Results page...getting home super late and the kids crashing straight to bed...with me right behind them.
Good night! Restful sleep then starting Monday out fresh!
Good morning sunshine and no wind. Waking up to peaceful quiet this morning was a joy as the wind has been howling for two days straight now. It is much less enjoyable to clean out animal pens with everything blowing every which way and try and clean up the yard being able to barely bag weeds without them blowing off into the field when it is blow you down windy outside. So today we rejoice that there is a break and since yesterday we had an indoor day, today shall be our outdoor day.
Our family has been looking at our priorities, re evaluating importance, meaning, our family life, our family direction, praying and looking for some guidance through some hard times and changing times....as hubbie applies for a new job and I look at how to manage and prioritize working, home schooling and keeping a home. I get caught up as I know many mothers do, in doing it all yet knowing in my heart I can not do it all. I don't like anything to suffer and I like to do everything well...yet when taking on so many things it at times does not feel like I do anything well. Realizing that my house will not be as clean if I spend more time being with my children or realizing that because during the week working and homeschooling take priority we may not have every meal home made and some nights will be quick and easy to ease my pressure- I've got to be okay with that and slowly I'm working towards this change to let go, prioritize and bring back the life balance that has been thrown off these past few months. As I change and have goals, so does my husband for himself as well as we both have for our family....with him working nights, me being up in the day, we are praying that we will both adjust to allow our family more family time...we are a work in progress, our family is, constantly growing, changing, bonding together. We go through ups and downs as we get into a groove, a rhythm then it gets tilted, off balance- life events, challenges, but we always find our way back and I know we will this time as well.
Yesterday as the kids had their quiet down time in the afternoon, reading, playing, resting, napping, drawing, I took some time for myself as well. Every person in a family needs their alone time, their outlet, just their time. I took all of my thoughts, and prayers and put on some music, a candle and went to the kitchen, first washing dishes- because cleaning is calming to me, having a fresh organized environment soothes my soul and then I baked which also is relaxing. I love baking bread. First some biscuits for the kids for an afternoon snack with honey and jelly then on a whim, a loaf of our daughters favorite bread. Then taking time to look through recipes phoning my mother for a chat about pie crust and pies...a thought as the holidays come up in the next months...
Dreaming more of gardening...but making plans now....Winter is slowly approaching. With our big dream of 'Four Farming' to be 'farming' we believe the gardening part of that is coming to a start. We have a plan, a map of our area, when to plant what, and our plot in the yard picked out on where the previous owners had a successful garden. The wind has officially died down today- so out to the yard we will go- attack those crazy weeds and begin cleaning and clearing it for some fall/winter produce. Starting some seedlings indoors, the kids are so excited to plant things- anything- and we would love gardening, farming to be a huge life part of their schooling this year. Our future plan is to grown enough to live off of- maybe not completely, which would be nice- but mostly, and to grow enough hay for the animals to not have to purchase it (for our small animals- rabbits and guinea pigs). Dreams are lovely, I love viewing pictures on blogs, pinterest, but its time we worked and made our dream a reality, slowly but surely....here's to starting!
Seriously- there was a garden under all that at one time!
Blessings from our family to yours this beautiful Sunday. Hoping it finds you enjoying your family and rejoicing in Gods beauty and grace.
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no
words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special,
extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If
you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the
comments for all to find and see.
This is what math for my '3rd' grader looked like today:
*Sidewalk Chalk Adding and Subtracting
*Balloon Pop Multiplication
*Math Bingo
*Play Store with real money, and making change
Spelling & Writing he also used chalk then scootered back and forth as I asked him different words to spell out loud. He loves to do spelling and math as he scooters or as he plays ball, one bounce another word, one lap another problem. He's always got to be moving!
This morning for our structured time our daughter immersed herself into learning about Japan, the language, the country and found herself stumbling upon and researching Kendo. She then after dinner shared a few videos she had found. I love it when she finds something out on her own and is so excited to share it with everyone.
Does it seem as if all we do is play outside? We do have indoor study time, traditional study time but why not be outside everyday for several hours at least?
I think the kids and I would spend all of our time outdoors if we could! A park day is never just a park day, its a reading day, its an exploring day, its learning about nature, bugs, flowers, tree's, weather, physical education, body mechanics....so many more things! Give up your indoor studies your traditional books for an outdoor exploration day. or like us...take some books with you and get the best of both worlds!
Home for the afternoon from our Park day and Library trip....pulling out a packed away box labeled 'Fall', the kids helped decorate the mantel, the tree outside, the table and looked online at other fun craft projects for this fall season of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Also, our son thinking as fall and winter approach the birds won't have much to eat, decided to talk his sister into helping make outdoor bird feeders for the tree as well.
I have all of these thoughts as I sit down to write this. Our daughter and I had a very meaningful conversation last night. She is 13. I feel blessed she was able to come to me, blessed she felt comfortable to speak with me openly. At one point during our conversation she got up, ready to leave, ready to walk away from us speaking- I re adjusted my words, my tone, took a deep breath...she stayed. No matter how you school, how you parent, the type of person, mother, father you are- parenting is hard. Hard.
I believe when I parent I look back on my time working for a Charter School years and years ago, who had an innovated goal- to work side by side with children, to treat children with as much respect as you would a colleague, a peer, to be equals, to be role models. Their goal was to change their way of thinking that most adults or teachers or people have that children are meant to listen to adults, do what they are told. They believed children, students should have their own say in their education, their lives, speak openly, speak respectfully, make choices, have choices. As an aide in the school, at recess there was no yelling across the field at a child to get down off some equipment that was dangerous- adults would walk to that child, speak calmly, speak on their level, eye to eye, explain thoroughly and respectfully regarding the reasons the child was being asked to come down, the reasons for the danger- educate the child to make good choices, then give them the freedom to choose whether or not to come down. Its a whole different feel when the child feels truly respected in an open and loving equal environment. It was a remarkable experience that opened my eyes. I try and take pieces of my experiences to hopefully parent better, parent more respectfully, parent more openly.
Our conversation between my daughter and I steamed from our schooling choices. We school by letting our children choose the direction of their education by their interests. At any point we are flexible to school any other way as well...any way they need. The beauty of homeschooling- schooling to your child's needs, the way they learn. Our daughter voiced just that- voiced that if we are doing this based on their choices why are we..meaning me, as her mother, limiting her choices or influencing her choices so much. True. Respectful, honest conversation. I need to respect her and her choices as much as I ask respect from her towards me. We think we as parents are meant to teach our children, yet they teach us so much through life as well. We went back and forth- her voicing her opinion and telling me what she needed from me and me telling her why I felt certain things were important and telling her what I needed from her.
Compromise, love, understanding, respect.
Even though I don't understand why some things are so important to her and ask her to study more variety, she has voiced that at this point only these certain things are important and that's not to say other things won't come up that she has interest in but she just doesn't at the moment- and I've got to be okay with that and respect that. I should have from the start- but I needed that reminder from my own child to be respectful and have faith and trust in her and our way of educating. A great lesson learned. And at the end of the conversation she thanked me...for listening, for really hearing her, for having faith in her and she expressed does understand what I need from her, she does realize why some things are important to have and she's willing to compromise with me as long as I also listen to her. Always daughter of mine, always.
I believe we both learned from each other last night, and as we grow and learn we only bond closer.
