101 reasons as to why I homeschool

This is absolutely INSANE and UNACCEPTABLE. There is nothing more to say. Well, there is but cyberspace isn't big enough.

Reason 97

What's on your breakfast table?

There are lots of empty tummies in my house in the morning. So how do we fill up these tummies with food that will keep them going, and going, and going....? Here are a few of our late summer, fall, and winter favorites. During the summer months they are happy with smoothies, yogurt, or just fruit and toast. But once the cool air sets in something happens to with their appetites and they prefer a meatier breakfast.

Oatmeal porridge-only a large pot of it will do so it can be 'snacked' on all morning

This is the amount we use for our family but it's very easily adjusted.

The night before mix together 4 C. oatmeal, 4 C. water, and 8 T. buttermilk, yogurt, or whey. Cover till morning and add 4 more cups water and heat. In only 5 minutes you have a yummy pot of oatmeal. There are many ways to serve it. Here are some we do.

1. add about 1/2 dozen eggs while heating it. Sweeten with cream and honey or maple syrup. Adding a bit of vanilla is good too.

2. We like to put a few spoonfuls of homemade apple, cherry, or blueberry pie filling and sprinkle cinnamon and natural can sugar on top.

3. Sometimes when I am feeling nice I will scoop in some Breyer's ice cream into their bowls.

4. My kids' favorite though is to stir in some peanut butter. Really a stick to their ribs meal when you use the peanut butter and eggs together.

Swedish Rice Pudding. Another favorite of ours. Again, making a huge pot leaves enough for snacking on later. We use Basmati rice since that's our favorite type.

Basic recipe, adjust to your family size.

2 C. water

1/2 t. salt

1 T. butter

1 C. rice

4 1/3 C. milk

1 cinnamon stick

Bring water, rice, salt, cinnamon stick and butter to boil. Simmer 10 min. Add milk, cover and bring to boil. Once it's boiling lower heat and simmer for about 30 minutes or until rice is soft. Sweeten as you like. We use the same add ins for this that we do for oatmeal.

Cracked wheat cereal. This is extremely inexpensive, quick, and very tasty. Especially when you though in some of your favorite add ins.

The night before bring about 3 C. water to boil. Pour into thermos and add 1 C. cracked wheat and 6 T. buttermilk, yogurt, or whey. Close lid and leave overnight. In the morning it is finished and ready to eat. Talk about a fast food!!

If you really want a "wheatie" breakfast try raw wheat pancakes.

The night before soak 1 C. wheat berries in 2 C. water added with 2 T. buttermilk or other souring agent as listed above. Drain reserving liquid. In a blender add the wheat, 1 T. coconut oil, 2 eggs, 2 t. baking powder, 1/2 t. salt, 2 T. dry milk powder (if desired) and enough of the remaining liquid to create a nice pancake batter. Fry and serve as you would a pancake.

Fried corn meal mush. Another favorite of ours. The night before take 1 1/4 C. cornmeal, 2 1/2 C water, and 1/2 t. salt. Bring to boil stirring constantly. When it thickens pour into a bread pan and set in fridge overnight. In morning slice, fry, and serve as you would a pancake.

Southern Spoon Bread around here is eaten ONE way only. They love it with butter, maple syrup or honey.

In a large saucepan add the following....

2 t. salt

2 C. cornmeal

2. C. water

cook until it begins to thicken and quickly stir in

3 1/4 C. milk

4 eggs, beaten

4 T. melted butter

Continue stirring until it thickens and is mixed well, pour into baking dish and bake at 400 for 1 hour.

Other ideas for a heart breakfast are.....

Whole wheat pancakes, preferably with flour that has been soaked in buttermilk for 12 hours.

French toast using homemade wheat bread.

Toast using your homemade bread and fruit or sausage patties.

Scrambled eggs with potatoes and toast.

Bread pudding. I use no particular recipe for this most of the time. I add about 1/2 loaf leftover homemade bread, mix up about 8-10 eggs, 2-3 cups milk, a few T. cinnamon sugar and vanilla and bake in 350 oven for 40 minutes or until set. My kids add maple syrup or jam to this. It's like a baked french toast casserole.

Muffins of all kinds are always a hit. Add some fruit, scrambled eggs or a meat and it becomes a really filling meal.

Biscuits and gravy served with eggs and potatoes are a great weekend breakfast.

Wordless Wednesday

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Psalm 19

101 Reasons as to why I homeschool

Reason 98

"Homeschooling and public schooling are as opposite as two sides of a coin. In a homeschooling environment, the teacher need not be certified, but the child MUST learn. In a public school environment, the teacher MUST be certified, but the child need NOT learn."~~Gene Royer

Reason 99

"It's absurd and anti-life to be part of a system that compels you to sit in confinement with people of exactly the same age and social class. That system effectively cuts you off from the immense diversity of life and the synergy of variety; indeed it cuts you off from your own past and future, sealing you in a continuous present much the same way television does."~~John Taylor Gatto

How on earth do you get 5 girls in one room?

Here is my answer to this oft asked question.  In pictures that is.  It does work and work well.  My girls love being together and so nobody has a problem with all being in the same room. We have dubbed it "The Nursery." They spend lots of time reading, playing, singing and dancing in here and not to mention, sleep!!

A bed underneath is pulled out for the 2 youngest.

This is one secret I have landed upon. Put lots of great reading material in their bedrooms and you will find yourself with children who can't get enough of books. I'm not sure how it works, but I think they have this feeling of, "This all belongs to ME." Because in the beginning when all the books were just on shelves in the livingroom I think the children just thought they were mine instead of theirs!! I have them organized a bit into reading levels. Sonlight books, FIAR books, etc. all have their own space! The "teaching" books are still in the livingroom.

The twins, from the beginning have ALWAYS been in the same bed. They will NOT have it any other way. So here is their little nook, which they chose on their own. The closet!! They have their American Girls books, Sonlight books, Elsie Dinsmore, Milly Keith, and other "maiden" type books on their own shelves.

101 reasons as to why I homeschool

Reason 100

"You will not reap the individuality in your children if you clone their education."~~Marilyn Howshall

A bedtime story in reverse....

I always thought a bedtime story was designed to make the children fall asleep. But around here the opposite is true!!

101 reasons as to why I homeschool

Reason 101

"There is a big difference between sending fully trained disciples into enemy territory and sending recruits to our enemy's training camp. If we do the latter, we shouldn't be surprised when they come home wearing the enemy's uniform and charging the hill of our home waving an enemy flag."~~~Voddie Baucham Jr.

A narration from The Lion in the Box

Here are the drawn and written narrations my daughter did from our reading of The Lion in the Box by Marguerite De Angeli. It was such a fun book. All my little girls loved it.

Narration is retelling. It is not memorization or parroting. It includes feelings and reactions. It is not word for word, but point to point. It is a type of essay response to a broad open-ended questioning, a recall of information. In the strictest sense, narration is an immediate recall of information seen, read, or heard. in a more liberal sense, it is often used as a quest for information that has been seen, read, or heard after a period of time in the form of exams or evaluation of a child's knowledge on a particular subject. But even in the latter sense, the work of oral narration must have gone on before in order that the child retain the knowledge in question. Maryellen St. Cyr

And all of this of course leads us to the idea that the child be attentive. Charlotte Mason said,

"When the mind has not attended or had the leisure to do the work of the mind, only superficial activities of impressions and less thought can be the result of dealing with this information."

Wordless Wednesday~The praying toddler

When babies come in two's~a birthstory & portfolio

I was in about my 5th-6th month of pregnancy before finding out I was having twins. With 7 children under 15 years of age this came as quite a surprise!! A most wonderful surprise!! My pregnancy was uneventful for the most part. Of course I had the normal morning sickness for about 5 months but other than that the babies were growing well. I continued my step workouts until about the 5th month and at that time I found I was getting too nauseated to continue so I began to walk about 3 miles a day. That lasted until daddy put his foot down in my 8th month when he found me doubled over after a long, tiring walk!! I was determined not to fall victim to my bed during the last weeks so I wanted to keep up my strength through walking and staying on my feet plus my midwife was wanting me to make it to my due date. I did and then some!! My labour was uneventful and moved along nicely. Both babies were head down which is a plus when birthing twins. When delivery came the first baby came quickly and twin 2 decided she liked her space and spread out in the womb making delivery impossible except by c-section which in my mind was NOT an option. Our midwife left us alone for a bit to see if contractions would turn her but it didn't work. So my husband fell back on what he knows to be best and he began to pray. And pray, and pray!! An hour and a half later baby number 2 decided it was time and she too came quickly. Both babies did well. We still call them twin one and twin two when talking about their birth. To this day neither twin knows who is the eldest!

On the left is Kaydee, Emma is on the right

Emma weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and Kaydee ran a close second at 7 lbs 10 oz. I gained a total of 28 lbs the entire pregnancy!! The best one yet!!

Daddy carrying both babies in a pack. They are both sleeping and that's why it looks like they are just hanging there!!

My big, strong boy showing off his strength!

Some of the children enjoying the new babies.

The wedding of their big sister.

Vance Jr. and my 3 'babies' in Colorado!

Enjoying some grandpa time!

Daddy time!!

More daddy time!!

Celebrating their 6th birthday, seems so long ago but only a few years!!

Meeting our Aunt for the first time!!

Our Aunt Jennifer, (our mom's oldest sister) Uncle Joe and cousin Geoff stopped by our house last week on their way back from the Boy Scouts Jamboree. They were loaded down with all the camping supplies their troop took from home. (Which is in Washington State) Some of us have never met even met Aunt Jennifer until now. She's a really fun Aunt!

Being silly on top of her trailer!

Aunt Jennifer helping us do some sewing on Janai's new machine!

Saying see you later. The boys were trying to see who the strongest was!

Mary and Aunt Jennifer hanging around!

More fun climbing on the truck!