Week in review

Our first day of school was Tuesday. We took this week to ease back into it.

Steven is working on memorizing his multiplication facts, we are using Times Tales to help. He is really enjoying the silly stories they use. He is also working through Mammoth Math 3 right now, just picking things that he needs to work on, then he will be switching to Mammoth Math 4 after the first of the year.

Growing with Grammar 4 he worked through lessons 1-3 refreshing his memory on subjects and predicates.

Spelling, Steven reviewed spelling rules that he learned last year. We will continue with All About Spelling finishing up level 3 and then moving onto level 4

He started reading More stories from Grandma's Attic 

Austin is working on Mammoth Math 1 doing review and will start 2 after the first of the year.

Growing with Grammar 2, lessons 1 and 2 this week working on complete sentences and fragments and also reviewed "The Goops" poem for First Language Lessons (the second half), and Explode the Code book 5 lesson 1.

He read Clara and the Book Wagon and is really working on comprehension.

Austin also started his Montessori class this week. He will be going Mon-Wed. 12:00 - 3:00. (The school district is running a test program, part time first and second grade Montessori, if all goes well they hope get a full time program going next year.) He really had a great time, he was very excited to tell me all about what they did. I think he is happy to have something that is "his", he kept asking if Steven and Abby were also doing Montessori and when I said "no, just you" he would smile. I also think it will be good for him to make his own friends. The boys are so close in age and since we homeschool they have the same friends and we all know that when you get 3 kids together one usually feels left out.

We are starting Latin this year, using Latin's Not so Tough level 2, this week the boys started going through the Latin alphabet and learning the sounds.

This week was also the first week of Classical Conversations, which I think went really well. I am teaching the Apprentices (7 - 8 year olds).I was a little nervous, but everything went well, I didn't forget anything, and I even had fun. Steven has had a bad attitude about Classical Conversations, saying, "I'm going to hate it", "I am not going to make any friends". At lunch time I asked him how it went and he said, "AWESOME!!" I said, "what, did  I hear you say?" He obviously didn't hate it and he was even sitting by a new friend he had made. I really think it's going to be a great year.

The kids learned (in week one of CC) about Charlemagne, the 7 types of Biomes, 8 parts of speech, Latins 1st conjugations present tense, European waters, skip counting by 1's and 2's and the first 8 important moments in the history timeline. I am really amazed at how quickly they pick it up. 

Abby is also doing Classical Conversations, she is in Challenge A. This was actually the second week for her, the Challenge program runs for 30 weeks while the Foundation/Essentials only runs for 24 weeks. This year I have really put the ball in her court so to speak. She is given her assignments at Classical Conversations (CC from here on out) and then she is expected to plan how she is going to get it done and make herself a weekly schedule, I then look it over add Growing with Grammar 8, Copywork for Girls, Critical Thinking Word Roots and eventually some readers. The first week she did great, I even think her CC teacher was impressed.

This last week she was been busy studying the United States map, states and capitals. This week she will add in the mountains and major rivers and will be drawing a map of the USA from memory and adding the states and capitals. She has also been writing using Bible Base Writing Lessons from Institute of Excellence in Writing. Studying Latin Declensions and vocabulary words from Latin's Not so Tough Level 3. In Math she worked with the Pythagorean theorem and also reviewed solving for an unknown with the additive inverse. For science she has been researching protozoa, writing about it and drawing pictures. By the end of the year she will have made her own biology text book.

Next week will be a full week, with full homeschooling, ORLA (Olympia Regional Learning Academy ~ enrichment classes) starting, and Abby starts volleyball and Austin will start hip hop. Steven has decided not to do anything for right now which is a good thing, because I am not quite sure how it would fit in. It's kind of nice to get back into a routine since summer is so relaxing and laid back. Give me a month or so and I am sure I will be ready for a vacation again.

Planning and Organizing

I love planning and trying to be organized. Most people who know me would probably say I am organized, but I rarely feel like it and always in search of the best system to make life easier, whether it's for school, the housework, chores or meals.

Last year we did Sue Patrick's Workbox System,  quick overview, you take your children's assignments for the day and divide them up into a set of boxes that they work through fairly independently. The great part is that you can put fun things in some of the boxes - things that you may have on hand for the kids but you usually forget to pull out. Or things that you never make time for. The kids can see the fun things in the boxes and it is motivation to do the work in the other boxes to get to that fun activity. This worked great and the kids really liked being able to see what they needed to do that day and knew when they finished everything they were done.

This year I have revamped our workboxes and have also adding in a filling system for me that makes it easier in planning.  Each of the boys have a file container, with 1-36 dividers. 

I took all their consumable books apart and broke them up into weeks (1-36), anything else needed (readers, etc.) for week 1 will go in that file, anything needed for week 2 will go in week 2 file etc. For books that aren't consumable I made a chart divided into lessons and we will mark off each lesson after it is completed.

Behind the week dividers I have a file for each day of the week (Mon. - Fri.), this is where I will take the weeks work and divide it into days, so it is easy to grab in the morning and place in the workboxes. No having to hunt for each book or supplies, there are all right there.

Next, I have a file folder for "text" books by subject, so we don't have to hunt those down either. 

Last I have a file folder for each subject. This is where I will put their finished work.

This makes it really nice because everything is all in one container/file box that sits right by their desk on top of their workboxes. I don't have them work in any specific order they can pick and choose which workbox they want to do when. There are a couple boxes like Latin and Classical Conversations that we do together, but the rest is up to them.

Homemade Greek Style Yogurt

So a few months ago I discovered Greek yogurt. Oh my gosh, I was in heaven, so thick and yummy, low fat and a ton a protein to boot, but EEK, the price was ridiculous. I did find it at Trader Joe's for $2.79 for 16oz which was an okay deal. After about a month of buying it, I figure there has got to be a way to make this on my own, so where did I go...you bet, Youtube. Don't you just love youtube, it has everything! I watched a few videos and thought okay I can do this and so started my venture in make my own much cheaper greek style yogurt.

The first time I made yogurt I used a medium size cooler, you can also use a crock-pot.  Now I use a big electric turkey fryer, I replaced the oil with water and it works fabulous, keeps just the right temperature I need.

Items I use to make my yogurt; 1 gallon 1% milk (you could use whatever % you like), big pot,  electric fryer filled with water, thermometer,  and some already make plain yogurt (live cultures)

I first start my electric fryer heating my water to 120 degrees

 Then I pour my milk into big pot and heat over medium to medium/high heat stirring constantly so it doesn't burn  (then it would be wasted.) Heat it to approx. 180 degrees, you do not want it to boil.  Remove from stove.

After it reaches 180 degrees you want to remove it from the stove and cool it down to approx. 120 degrees. I do this by putting it in an ice bath. It take about 15 minutes this way.

After it has cooled to 120 degrees add already made plain yogurt. You can also use store bought plain yogurt if you don't already have some made. Mix this throughly. You want to make sure it is cooled down so that you don't kill the live cultures.

Pour into jars and place in water heated to 120 degrees. If using a cooler or crock-pot check out youtube for those directions.

I cover with lid and place a towel on it. I usually leave mine sit overnight at least 12 hours, depending how tart/sour you want your yogurt. The longer it sits the more sour it will be.

This is what it looks like in the morning. Some whey on top and it is gelatin like, pulls away from the side when tilted. Now you could just mix it well and there you have regular yogurt. But I like mine thick and creamy, so I drain the whey that is on top, mix it well and then pour it into this...

a colandar on top of a big pot with an old clean t-shirt placed on top like cheesecloth.

This is what it looks like poured straight from the jars. I then cover it and let it drain until it is the consistence that I like, for me about 2-3 hours. You could drain it longer and make yogurt cheese (similar to cream cheese)

This is what it looks like after 2-3 hours. Nice and thick! You are left with a lot of whey in the bottom of the pan, but that is another post in itself...what to do with the whey?

1 gallon of milk makes this....about 48oz. of thick yummy Greek style yogurt.  Cost me $1.99, much cheaper than $2.79 for 16oz.

I like eating mine with a little honey and walnuts. Sometimes I use vanilla stevia and it's just as good. Other options are: preserves, fresh fruit, granola the list is endless. 

Enjoy!

Blogging Again!

Okay, so I am a blog failure. I always have good intentions and then it just doesn't get done. I am trying once again to start my blogging back up...a new goal for me.

Well, summer is fast coming to an end. It seems like it took forever for it to get going here in Washington, then it just took off and I can't believe it's almost over now.

The beginning of the summer I sat down and made a list of all the fun things we could do and tried to plan some out. Well, we didn't get to a lot of the things listed, but I guess there is always next year. Here are some of the fun things we did do.

*Camping trip with friends to Cape Disappointment. The kids had a great time as always playing on the beach. We saw lot of wildlife; deer, a baby seal and a brave and pesky raccoon who wanted to steal our garbage while we were siting around the campfire. Unfortunately we had to cut the trip a little short since the rain was going to be coming in.

My friend Angie demonstrating a new way to keep the smoke from

getting in your eyes while sitting around the camp fire.

*Abby celebrates her 13th birthday at Ocean Shores with a few of her friends.

*End of June my parents came for an unexpected visit, it is always great to see them.

*Abby and I did the Down and Dirty Mud 8K Mud Run. This was a total blast, we can't wait to do it again next year.

*Fourth of July we spent with friends on Long Lake. Turned out to be a nice day even got the Seadoo in the water. Lee, Vanessa and their 3 boys were here for a visit from Australia, it was great as always to see them.

*Spur of the moment Mom's camping trip with the kids at Cape Disappointment. The weather was awesome. The second day it was about 85 degrees on the beach, which here in Washington is very rare. It was really warm so we had bought 1.5 gallons of ice-cream and cones, brought it back to camp and told the kids they had to eat it all because we couldn't save it. The kids were so excited, "This is the best day ever" was one of the comments made. They did pretty well, there was only a little left after everyone had there fill. We even offered some to the neighbor campers.

Kids eating their ice-cream

*We enjoyed some of the Parks and Rec. kids series concerts in the park.

*Took the kids to Dirty Works. A local community garden where the kids can help out weeding and harvesting in the "children's garden". The food then gets taken to the local food bank. Every week they have story and a little talk about something garden related and then have a craft project to go along with it. I enjoyed going almost as much as the kids, it was so inspiring for me to walk around and see how they created all their wonderful garden areas.

*Fun with friends at Lake Sinclair

*Banks Lake, Steamboat Rock camping trip was great this year. We enjoyed the boat in sites once again this year, I truly think it is paradise. We decided to stay a little longer than we had planned it was so nice. Saw the laser show at Grand Coulee Dam and also hiked up to the top of Steamboat Rock just in time to see an amazing sunset.

*Lake-fair the boys got to drive/ride go carts for the first time...the had a blast.

Fire Power!

*Thurston County Fair

*Steven celebrated his 9th birthday with friends at the movies and then a sleep over

*Relaxing day at Volunteer Park, topped off with a Shakespeare play "As you Like it" put on by 

Green Stage Theater

*Boys went to football camp

*Goodenough Family Reunion

If everything works out we will be able to get one last trip in to Banks Lake before the summer end.

Then we are back in the swing of things with Classical Conversations will starting on the 2nd for Abby and the 9th for the boys. Wow this summer has flown by.