My Favorite Place to Teach

My favorite place to teach my kids, hands down, is outside. It can be in our backyard, a park, or an open field. We always learn something.

Today, my kids took off outside for a while. I headed out after a few quiet minutes by myself. While we were out there, my son set up a target and practiced shooting his real slingshot. My daughter, yelling with delight, captured a moth. She immediately went inside to find an empty jar to contain her new "pet".

Later, My son and I turned the rope while my daughter jumped rope. Then, my daughter ran laps around the yard to practice for our coops upcoming field day. Both kids decided to practice doing the long jump for the same event. Last, we took a short trek into the woods, where my animal loving daughter pointed out some rabbit poo.

All that learning and observing going on with no plans to do any of them. These are the kind of days I love.

Culture Study

Studying different cultures fascinates me. Using SOTW, we have been able to touch on a lot of different ones, from Roman to Indian to Japanese. Last week, we studied Ancient Japan. I had been wanting to take the kids to a hibachi restaurant for a long time. What a great reason to go! We went on Saturday at lunch because it was much cheaper. The kids declared it a hit! My son said that the Kani House is now his favorite restaurant.





Today, I decided to continue our theme of studying a different culture, so we headed south to Super H Mart, an Asian grocery store. My kids were fascinated with all of the different types of fruits, vegetables and meat that we cannot get in our normal Wal-mart or Kroger. My daughter declared that we have to come here at least once a month, because it is "neater" than our other grocery stores. We bought a few new things to try like a bitter melon from India,honey tangerines and Chinese eggplant. We made a list of things we would like to try later like cactus. (Can't remember the rest) I told the kids we could research each new food. Then, we will decide if it's something we would like to try.

A New Blog to Follow

I happened upon a blog. Maybe I didn't just happen upon it. Maybe it was fate. The lady who writes the blog has a way of capturing things into words that touch me and move me. Just wanting to share with those who can appreciate a good writer who tells a good story. http://www.aholyexperience.com/

This Week

Just posting a few pictures from this week. We have been taking advantage of the warm weather here in GA. I took school outside on Monday, letting the kids do grammar and math on the driveway. I let the kids just have fun, getting dirty and using there imaginations. For Story of the World, the kids painted their own frescos. I also taught this week at our coop on Tournaments in Medieval Times. The last picture is craft that Caleb and all the other kids got to make.

Cooking Up a Storm

Tonight, after cooking dinner, which consisted of homemade mashed potatos, green beans, and meatloaf, I was still in a cooking mood. This NEVER happens to me. Usually after cooking dinner, the last thing I want to do is cook anything again.

The first thing I decided to cook was something totally new, whole wheat pancakes. I googled them and pulled up a great sounding recipe. After making a few, my husband walked by and "agreed" to taste test. His verdict was that they were "great, much better than regular pancakes." This is a high compliment from him. Then, I decided to make a small batch of white bean chili for me to eat over the next few days. Yummy! And as if I had not had enough, I decided to make use of 3 overly ripe bananas and make strawberry/banana whole wheat muffins. For those of you her are thinking, "Has she started grinding her own wheat?", the answer to you is "No!" I decided to make the switch to healthier eating for the family, so buying whole wheat flour from the store is a small step for me.

The muffins turned out beautifully. Thumbs up from all of the family! Maybe I will get inspired another day to cook until I can't!