Want to inspire your children to write?
I found these completely cute how was your day printables over at Silverbox Creative Studio. Can’t wait to print these out for my oldest two. I think my scrapper girlie girl will especially love them! Great for a journal or just to tuck into a book bag with an after school note to say mom loves you.
Courtesy of Silverbox Creative Studio
Pinned this. Don’t forget to check out my other pins!
A good friend from church sent me this email. I thought this pretty much sums things up. I couldn’t have said it better myself! Thank you!
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The Green Thing
In the line at the supermarket, the cashier told an older woman that she The woman apologized to him and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing
He was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, soft drink bottles and beer bottles to But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day. We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every department But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day. Back then, we washed the baby’s nappies because we didn’t have the Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used a wadded up old Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. But she’s right; we didn’t have the green thing back then. We drank from a water fountain or tap when we were thirsty instead of using But we didn’t have the green thing back then. Back then, people took the train, tram or a bus and kids rode their bikes to But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks |
It’s been rainy and dreary all week but the cool air is refreshing from the summer heat. Our windows are open. Our cinnamon candles are lit. And we are playing outside more. Even if it means having to clean the carpets of dragged in mud!!! Because, at the end of the day, who can resist a little girl in a red riding hood? Or grass turning burgundy wine? Or sun gold flowers dappling the countryside with the last bit of bright summer color? And then there is exploring and homemade maps…
Maybe some of you remember the $5 Food Challenge invitation?
Yesterday was the big day. I admit, I was a little worried. Because of time and money restraints I wasn’t able to go shopping until the day before. But due to the generosity of friends and being able to go shopping at a new wonderful all local food store, Tomato Tomato, everything came together beautifully!
The Challenge ~ Can we eat a local, real food meal for less than the average value meal ($5 per person)? Do we have to sacrifice nutrient-dense healing food for processed, mass produced pretend food?
How did we do?
People attending: 20
Challenge Food Budget: $100
Actual Spent: $50.73
Per Person: $2.54
~ Dinner Menu ~
Herbed Arm Roast
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Buttered Green Beans
Smoked Bacon Swiss Chard Gratin
Fresh Baked Bread
Local Fresh Farm Milk
~ Dessert Menu ~
Fall Apple Crisp with Fresh Whipped Cream
Locally Roasted Coffee: Columbia Sierra Nevada
~ Movie Snack ~
Local Stove Popped Popcorn
The biggest challenge was deciding how legalistic I was going to be about the whole event. Does every little thing have to be local? Does it all have to be organic? It is easy to fall into a trap in every ideology, whether religious or worldly, that one must adhere to strict rules and never fall off the path. But the biggest life lesson I am learning is that grace abounds and that allows flexibility and freedom while seeking the heart of an issue.
The heart of this challenge for me was two-fold. First I wanted to bring people together to share in food and good conversation. That is so key to what my family believes in. Second I wanted to offer up fodder for conversation on the food war front. We can only change things if we are making informed decisions. I was excited to share a film that would spur debate and critical thinking that we greatly need right now about our food industry.
Some of my local, real food challenges for this dinner…
I needed butter. I wanted vitamin-rich grassfed butter. There was none to be found. So I had to settle for butter at my regular grocery store and just made sure I picked the most local vendor.
I decided to go ahead and use the spices already in my cupboard…salt, pepper, garlic, etc…and not stress about whether they were local or organic.
Price Breakdown ~
Arm Roast – $17.85 (3.50 x 5.10 lbs – Range West Grass Fed Beef)
Potatoes – free (neighbor’s farm)
Green Beans – free (neighbor’s farm)
2 Onions – $ .96 (Spring Valley Gardens)
Swiss Chard – free (own garden)
Herbs – free (own garden)
Apples – $8.74 (4.5 lbs)
8 oz Smoked Bacon Cheese – $4.60 (Jisa Farmstead Cheese)
Gallon Whole Milk – $6.22 (Burbach – $4 credit for bringing back bottles)
Pint Cream – $2.87 (Burbach – $1 credit for bringing back the bottle)
1 lb Butter – $4 1lb (Highland Dairy)
Flour – $2 for 2lbs (Grain Place Foods)
Oats – $1 for 1lb (Grain Place Foods)
Popcorn – $.49 for 1/3 bag ($1.49 bag – Hilger Agri Natural)
Coffee – $3.00 for 1/3 bag ($9.30 16oz – locally roasted at Midwest Custom Roasting Inc.)
After a delicious dinner that everyone felt was much more like Thanksgiving rather than a usual evening meal, we retired to the living room to watch the controversial documentary Food Inc. The first time I watched this movie I literally walked out of the theater crying. I was already much more in the know about the food industry then most people I knew yet I was still shocked by what I saw. Having studied much more extensively about food since then, watching it this time just made me very angry. My first viewing left me wanting to change and I did make small baby steps. This viewing left me with a steely resolve that I need to get this food thing figured out for my family. We had some great conversation starting points and I think most everyone left with something to think about.
It was a great night of delicious food and even greater fellowship.
And it gave me much to talk about and share here in this virtual space. So I will be picking my own brain and hashing out thoughts throughout the next couple of weeks in a Real Food Series. Be sure to check back for more discussion and how your family can start making changes.
In the meantime, watch the movie Food Inc. Start reading (your local library is a great resource) and thinking. And check out Slow Food USA and “like” them on Facebook for real-time news stories. Let’s stop pretending that our world is fine and that we don’t need to change. Let’s start taking a real look at food and get back to eating food as God intended it to be.
Want to hear about our night? Listen to my husband on a radio podcast on in-season eating over at Judy A La Carte’s radio talk show.
A certain pair of aunts heard me say dress up for gift ideas. Dress up conjures up cheap princess style dresses that start raveling at the seams right away and are made up of a conglomerate of synthetic fibers. Not these sisters! They have taste and class. I haven’t the faintest idea where they bought this dress but she hasn’t taken it off in over a week. (We’ve washed it several times already and holds up like a real dress!)
Little sprout didn’t want to be left out either. She just assumed that her stained linen dress was perfect princess apparel for a wooded area. And she’s right!
Thank you, sisters, for making a little girl’s life brighter this past week!
It’s Read-Aloud Thursday again and I had nothing planned to write. In fact, I wasn’t really going to do much blogging this week. It is fall break for us here and I have been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing and very little schooling and reading. But then our darling 7 year old girl came down with the flu. And I had just happened to have picked up our library holds the day before. And there just happened to be several of Marissa Moss’s Amelia books tucked into my bag that I could share with her.
She started with Amelia’s Notebook (I believe that is the first one?) and devoured the rest over the course of two days. She loved that she had a girl version of something akin to Diary of a Wimpy Kid which her older 9 year old brother loves so much.
I had first spotted this series in a chance walk through a little gift niche store here in town on my anniversary date. I often choose books based on their covers (Superficial, yes…but I am visual. What can I say?) and happened to spot this darling book called Amelia Writes Again. I picked it up, flipped through it and immediately told myself to remember the name (easy since my husband’s nickname for me is Amelia) to request from the library when I got home. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a whole series and requested as many as I could for her.
What is it about this diary style writing that attracts young readers? I think it may just be that they know this is especially for them. There is an inherent trust that the topics discussed will be relevant to said life and will contain NO educational-well-meaning-parent-content! They are books to escape in and enjoy exactly the stage of life they are currently going through. Even my five year old boy looks through these in anticipation of learning to read. He can’t wait to join the ranks of his older siblings in this secret right of passage.
Love, love, love these books! I just love how the books look and feel like those composition notebooks that are on sale everywhere right now. What better time to encourage your child to start their own journal? Can’t wait to get the rest of them from our local library!
Just thought I would share this amazingly cool blog today.
Head over to Everything Etsy to look through some amazing fall tutorials…101 of them!!!
Image courtesy of Everything Etsy
And make yourself a pumpkin spice latte to drink while you browse. Gotta love fall.
What are some of the best things about the homeschooling lifestyle?
Always getting your birthday off!
Being able to go to Chuck E. Cheese for a birthday party on a school day.
No crowds!!!!!
Happy 4th Birthday, baby girl!!!!
We love you sooooooo much.
Have a great day at Chucky Cheese.
P.S. You look beautiful in your princess dress!
Love, mommy and daddy
*This series will be a 2 post series. Check back next week for part two!
I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was to start this unit. I remember my rock collection as a girl. Our neighbor had a bed of river rock in their garden and I would spend hours digging through it always looking for just the right specimens. I imagined finding a glorious Indian arrowhead or a real dinosaur fossil. I would pour over the limestone that made up part of our wall in the front yard and carefully pick out chunks of rock that did have fossils in them. My imagination of what part of the dinosaur it might be from was far superior then the actual fossil sea shells they actually were. I remember combing the shores of a nearby river on family fishing trips searching for pieces of fool’s gold. I remember visiting a real cave and being mesmerized by the stalagmites and stalactites. I couldn’t wait to share this love with my children. As I was pouring over books and settling on activities, my husband would sigh and say, “Are you ever going to be done working?” But all I could think was this is not work!
Our school mission: head to the park and collect rocks. Use recycled egg cartons to hold specimens. Collect only 12 of the most interesting ones you can find. Head back home to identify and classify.
~ Experiments and Activities ~
The first thing we did was sit down and try to identify all the cool rocks we found. We have two wonderful field guides for this that the kids used: Smithsonian’s Rock and Gem and Eyewitness Rock and Minerals. I believe the kids classifie about 75% of their rocks and are still trying to figure out what the others are. This part was by far their favorite part of the week! Part of our identification came in the form of vinegar tests. Apparently any rock that has a bit of carbonate in it (think calcium, baking soda, chalk) will fizz when drops of vinegar are applied. Lily had great fun with this experiment.
Next we discovered how sedimentary rock is formed. We watched the Magic School Bus video on erosion (see below) and then did our own experiment in a mason jar. Fill jar with dirt (sand, soil, rocks) and water. Shake and let sit for an hour or two. Discuss the layering that happens.
We also talked about the layers of the earth. We listened to the kids favorite song (haven’t forgot the layers yet!) and watched this video:
Then we did a hands-on experiment to show how this works. We filled a tub with water (our liquid, moving magma mantle layer) then set pieces of wood to float on top (our continents, or earth crust). I showed how even not touching them they were always moving just slightly on the magma because of a solid floating on a liquid. This transitioned beautifully into a discussion on plate tectonics and how they work. We practiced butting the wood pieces up against each other in different directions to see how direction of force changed the outcome.
This led beautifully into a discussion on how mountains were formed. We used clay to showcase this phenomenon. We layered colors (our rock) into two long strips and then pushed them against each other until they buckled and folded causing both a mountain and the layers we so often see in rocks.
We also discussed climate change and how that affects the earth’s crust. The ice weighs down the crust sinking it deeper into the magma and then, during time of warming, suddenly (or violently) lifts back up to the surface again. Pretty cool stuff that I’ve never thought about before.
All this talk of plate tectonics led to a natural discussion of Pangaea. I had the kids trace the continents with tracing paper and then cut out their own Pangaea puzzle. They first had to fit it together how they thought it might go then I showed them what scientists theory was.
We went to this really cool site: Continental Drift Puzzle and they were able to interactively try their hand at the Pangaea puzzle. The really cool thing about this site is the ability to rotate the continents. And you can do it how you think, you can try with a Pangaea outline, or just see how you measure up.
The main book I used as inspiration for these experiments was an older book I found at our library called Rocks and Soil by Robert Snedden.
~ Geology Living books ~
Magic School Bus: Inside the Earth
Magic School Bus: Rocky Road Trip – this one is a chapter book that we used as a read-aloud at lunch time. It corresponds to the free lapbook below.
Geology Rocks!
50 Hands-on Activities to Explore the Earth
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~ Free Rock and Mineral Lapbooks, Printables, and Unit Studies ~
Magic School Bus: Rock Road Trip Lapbook – Yee Shall Know
Rocks and Mineral Lapbook – Homeschool Treasure Trove
Geology ideas and printables – Eclectic Education
Geology printables – Enchanted Learning
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~ Rock Videos ~
Eyewitness Rock and Mineral Video
Magic School Bus Rocks and Rolls ~ Parts 1
Magic School Bus Rocks and Rolls ~ Parts 2
Magic School Bus Rocks and Rolls ~ Parts 3
*Note for you creationist science moms ~ I know many people, Christian and secular, debate the young/old earth theories. You will have to deal with a lot of editing of pretty much all the books if you do believe in the young earth theory. That said, here is a wonderful source via Answers in Creation to draw from if you need.
simply necessary 