Produce!

Our produce is...producing! Look what I picked from garden #10 this afternoon:

We have a bazillion radishes coming up, and I'm the only one here who likes them. Therefore, I need some radish recipes that will show my family the tastier side of this awesome pink veggie:
Pickled radishes and radishes with homemade butter: http://www.shesimmers.com/2009/06/how-to-make-pickled-radishes-quick-and.html
Pickled radish omelet - yes, omelet: http://blogs.denverpost.com/preserved/2011/06/06/pickled-radishes/1544/
10 radish recipes, including radish sandwiches and baked radish chips: http://dancinggecko.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/10-tasty-radish-recipes/
Braised radishes: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/braised-radishes-recipe/index.html
Glazed radishes: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/glazed-radishes-recipe2/index.html
Roasted radishes and carrots: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/roasted-radishes-and-carrots-recipe/index.html

The best part of eating a radish? Radish breath. Nothing like some good, spicy radish breath to welcome your husband home with, right John?
John?

Delayed Obedience is Disobedience

I'm gearing up for our parenting class tonight, and though this is from a couple of lessons ago, I'm still struggling with it (as are the kids):

Obedience is immediate, complete, without challenge, and without complaint. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Whiny obedience is disobedience. Reluctant obedience is disobedience. Sometimes I'm so frustrated with the kids that I accept (even thank!) them for whiny or sullen obedience, when really, this is not obedience at all. You confuse your kids when you accept anything less than complete obedience, because your standard isn't clear or consistent. I've decided that I'm pretty good at being confusing. Ah well. What fun would parenting be without room (lots and lots of room) for growth and improvement?
In unrelated news, Grace is officially rolling over! This picture is from the cell phone, so it isn't very clear, but feel free to admire it - and our darling baby - anyway! She had just rolled from back to tummy when I snapped this.

One more fun thing - I got this from a fellow homeschool mom, who got it from another homeschool mom's blog. It's a clock made out of chalkboard paint, so you can write math problems for the hours (example: 5x2 = 10 o'clock). Just Call Me Jammin Clock Post
I was thinking about having one whole wall in our new downstairs TV room painted in chalkboard paint, and I'm thinking about attaching a clock mechanism - the hands or whatever - directly to the wall. Wouldn't that be cool?

July 4 Crafts

I am inspired. I found some really cute crafts on the Family Fun magazine website, and I've decided that we're all going to make matching eagle t-shirts for our trip to KC this weekend. On the back, I'm going to add "One Nation Under God" using iron-on computer paper. Aren't these adorable???
http://familyfun.go.com/4th-of-july/4th-of-july-crafts/hand-some-tee-895365/

And, for our church picnic on July 4, I'm going to make these very, very cute eagle treats, using Oreos, marshmallows, coconut, and cashews.
http://familyfun.go.com/4th-of-july/4th-of-july-recipes/patriotic-recipes/edible-eagles-699768/
Will anyone eat them, what with the coconut and nuts? I don't care. They're too cute to eat anyway. 

We are having the busiest week ever - homeschool family picnic for lunch on Wednesday, Growing Kids class Wednesday night, dinner with our church friends who are moving back to Ohio on Thursday night, bible study after that (and a church meeting before it, actually), then leaving for Aunt Ann's on Friday. I may have to switch to caffeinated Diet Coke.

Grace in Boots and the Big Storm

Two highly unusual things happened at the Schoonover house last night: we had company over (who were NOT members of my immediate family) and we had a big storm that downed a couple of huge branches.
We ate build-your-own shish-ka-bobs on the grill, pasta salad, and rhubarb bars with John's friends the Larsons, from Kiron. Yum. Although...my rhubarb bars were runny, which was disappointing. I think the rhubarb had too many ice crystals on it from being in the freezer, and I should have added extra flour. I'll have to try again. Anyway, I love having them over, and we had the added bonus of drooling over their new Camaro. Am I the only one who had no idea that holographic dashboard displays existed? They show in your windshield. How cool is that??
Another rare experience this weekend - Grace wore boots. Very, very cute boots that even have rubberized soles for extra traction. Because when she runs, Grace needs lots of traction. Check it out:

Also, I had a dream last night that we had started school, and Isaac was some kind of small rodent, like a chipmunk or a chinchilla. I blame this on the storm.

New Books from Kim!

My wonderful ex-teacher friend Kim stopped by with school books this week. All kinds of activity & reading & workbook books. What a cool surprise. I'm so excited to have some Laura Ingalls Wilder books again - I read them when I was a little girl and am thinking that Esme might be old enough to start listening to them. You're never too young to start learning about life on the prairie, are you?? Did you know that there are whole years' worth of multi-subject ("unit study") curriculum built around these books? Awesome. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Kim!! You've filled up a sad little hole in my bookshelf. A medium-sized hole, actually.

Books from Kim - both shelves!

Stuff we want to try today, if we get ambitious:

Two of the Thams girls are over today. Aren't they cute?

Weird, Cool Stuff I Bought at the Store

And of course, by store, I mean Wal-Mart.
Usually, I can restrain myself at the grocery store, or the kids are being so crazy that I have to go as fast as I can and I don't have time to really look around, but today I got a bunch of strange things. Let's say that's because the kids were being so well-behaved. Due to my awesome parenting skills.
Here's a photo (I did get the usual staples, too, I really did):

From left to right:
Great Value brand Stevia sweetener (is this better for you than Splenda? This is my hope)
World Table strawberry poppy seed crackers
Grown-up hair pretties
Dark chocolate almond butter (very tasty on the strawberry crackers)
White yarn with bits of bright blue, green, and yellow
Whole almonds
Organic tea that claims to promote good lactation (Grace will be reporting back on the accuracy of this claim)
An avocado

No coupons were used in the purchase of these items.

Barbie Outfit for Haley

Finally, Haley's Barbie outfit is done. Shirt, skirt, vest, socks, and of course, panties:

Is 2 weeks late too late to be called a birthday present?

The Shawl

I keep forgetting to post pictures of the shawl I knit for myself...I finished it last week and wore it to church last Sunday. I don't think I got any compliments, but I was in kids' church, so I'm not going to be discouraged by that. Here it is:

 See how the photo is off-center? That's my attempt at being artistic.

The 5,000 Year Leap

I got this book at the NICHE conference, and while I'm not making much progress, I love it and think it's a must-read for everyone over the age of 12. Homeschoolers, it would make a great junior high or high school study for history/culture/social studies. Here's a link to the book with a description of the 28 principles on which our country was founded, which is the focus of the book:
http://www.nccsstore.com/5000-Year-Leap-MP3-eBook/productinfo/5000YL/
I never liked studying history, even American history, when I was in school, so I'm always on the lookout for opportunities to catch up on what I've missed. This book is a thorough, well-researched (the author spent 40 years writing it!), well-written account of the process our founding fathers went through to write the constitution and the principles on which it was based. So far, I've learned that one of their primary sources of inspiration was the form of government used by the Israelites in biblical times - which was designed by God himself. Aha. The woman I spoke to at the conference said that some churches in the Des Moines area are doing this as a weekly study, with 1-2 principles per week. I think that would be really cool, so if anyone in the Carroll area is reading and is interested, let me know! I always think better with other people around to do some (most) of the thinking for me. :-)

Getting Ready for School

I know...I'm the only person on earth who's excited for school to start already, but we're getting the homeschool room ready, and I'm ordering curriculum, and my inner teacher is awakening once more. We've got books, we've got desks, we've got kids - all of my ingredients are just sitting here waiting to be baked into a nice school pie.
That was a weird metaphor, but you get the picture.
Here's the new room, which used to be the TV room:

(Looking at it from the basement steps - the desk right in front of the bookcases is mine. Yes, Isaac, it's MINE.)

 (looking at it from my desk - Simon and Esme will be on the right, Isaac on the left)

Here's the old homeschool room, which is going to be the TV room, as soon as we get the cabinets and carpet ripped out:

Aren't you excited for school now too??? If not, what about dill bread? We made dill bread today with dill from Em's herb garden. I used a white bread recipe and substituted extra-virgin olive oil for the oil and added a whole bunch of dill. We're going to have this with Jambalaya for dinner. I don't know how this happened, but I discovered shrimp, polish sausage, and Jambalaya mix all in my house at the same time. Prepare your stomachs, Schoonover family.

Manna and Workout Videos

First, manna. We just finished reading about Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt and God giving them manna in the desert, so we decided to see what manna might have tasted like. We being me and all three of the older kids, even Isaac, who generally wants nothing to do with the kitchen. I found a pretty simple recipe that's kind of like sugar cookies, and although I'm not sure I would want to try to live on it alone, it's pretty darned good when you compare it to other stuff that falls from the sky:
Manna Cookies:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp. honey
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Add honey and vanilla. Add flour slowly. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet and bake at 400 until very lightly browned. And now that it's a day after we made them, I can confirm that, unlike real manna, these do not get infested with worms if you save them overnight.

Okay, now for workout videos. I LOVE workout videos. I have owned dozens of them. Back when we had cable, I also loved the FIT TV channel, and I still love www.exercisetv.tv (check out their free online workout videos - the best free online videos I've been able to find). I have a bunch of The Firm DVDs that I inherited from my sister and stepmom, and I love them too. This is the best way to accumulate workout videos, but EBay and consignment stores are a close second. I was at the library last week and they even had a Firm workout VHS tape on the "free" table. There is definitely no reason to spend a lot of money on these things, especially when you don't usually know what to expect until you watch them.
Have you heard of P90X? It's a 90-day workout video program that costs a LOT of money. I have been drooling over it for months, but it's just too expensive. Here's another 90-day program recommended by Fitness magazine that's only $20: https://www.supreme90dayworkoutdvds.com/?mid=1121222. I think this is going to be my next purchase, so I'll let you know how it goes.

Anyway, compared to an exercise class, videos are cheaper, more convenient, I don't have to buy cute clothes or attempt to look cute to in them while I work out, I don't have to look at other people while I work out or worry about how their abdominal muscles look compared to mine, and I can skip the parts of the videos that I don't like. And I can grunt, sweat, and complain unselfconsciously. And if I have to stop to nurse a baby halfway through, I can pause and go back later. However, this morning, a couple of things were bugging me. The one benefit of a live exercise class is that if something goes weird, like the instructor making a grammatical error or accidentally skipping a step, you hardly even notice it. But if it's on tape, it happens over and over and over again every time you work out, and it starts to grate on your nerves. Here's what has started to bother me about the workout I did today:

1. She keeps using the word "supine." As in, "roll to supine." Can't she just say, "roll onto your back"? Or "lie down"?
2. At one point, she says "remove the body from the box." Um, really? The body? I always picture myself flinging a corpse off of my box...which is funny but creepy and annoying. How about "get off the box"? Or even "remove YOUR body from the box." This is just weird.
3. She tells me not to do a certain exercise "until you be of strength in the legs." I don't know whether that's grammatically correct or not, but it sounds ridiculous. Shouldn't it be, "until you ARE of strength in the legs"?
4. She keeps calling the front of the box the back of the box. Isn't the front the part that's farthest away from you when you're standing behind it? It messes me up even after a hundred times of doing this video.

So my advice for tomorrow morning? Eat some manna with your coffee, then find a couple of good workout videos to try. No hair-combing or cute sports bra-wearing required.

NICHE Conference

How exciting was this weekend? I can't even describe it. It was very, very cool. We picked out our curriculum, and I'm busy hunting down used versions all over the internet. Here's what we're going to do:

My Father's World: Exploring Countries and Cultures
Link: http://www.mfwbooks.com/L04283B5243A8A9017078011+M50+ENG
Description: My Father's World is designed for multi-level teaching, so I'll be using it for Simon and Isaac simultaneously (and Esme will get her own workbook to doodle on too - she'll participate but won't be officially being "taught", if that makes any sense). The Exploring Countries and Cultures package is the first of a 5-year cycle, which progresses chronologically from ancient to modern times, incorporating biblical and secular history. It encompasses all subjects except language arts and math, which Simon and Isaac will be doing separately at their own "grade" level.
What I'm excited about: Since they're being taught together, I'm looking forward to this strengthening the kids' relationships with each other and with me. It also uses a lot of read-aloud material, which many homeschoolers say is/was their favorite aspect of homeschooling. I also think that weaving biblical history in with secular history is a crucial part of developing the kids' Christian worldview.

Art: I Can Do All Things & Lamb's Book of Art, Barry Stebbing
Link: http://www.howgreatthouart.com/products
Description: Coloring/Doodling/Teaching workbooks for art. I Can Do All Things is for ages 6-10 and is a 3-year curriculum; Baby Lamb's Book of Art is for 3-5. I can't wait to get Simon started on this. He'll probably be done with the whole book in a month.
What I'm excited about: Officially teaching art. We didn't really do any art lessons last semester with Isaac, and I feel like I cheated him - and myself - out of one of our favorite subjects.

Character Training: Plants Grown Up (boys) and Polished Cornerstones (girls)
Link: http://www.doorposts.com/
Description: Hundreds of pages of character training lessons, specific to girls or boys, with topics like "Perseverence in Trials", "Hiding God's Word in Our Heart", and "Showing Patience and Forgiveness."
What I'm excited about: Incorporating character development into homeschooling. This is one of the primary reasons I said I wanted to homeschool, so I'm thrilled to be actually doing it!


Language: Primary Language Lessons and Intermediate Language Lessons, Emma Serl
Link: http://cathyduffyreviews.com/grammar-composition/primary-language-lessons.htm
Description: These are textbooks from 1911 and 1914 that incorporate narration, dictation, nature lessons, and memorization of poetry in ways that would be in keeping with Charlotte Mason's ideas. They're recommended by My Father's World as your language arts curriculum.
What I'm excited about: The lessons look small and manageable, and I think it's cool that they're from a century ago.


Math: Singapore Math
Link: http://www.singaporemath.com/Homeschool_s/60.htm
Description: These were recommended by My Father's World as well; the neat thing about the younger grades is that they teach using story problems and illustrations.
What I'm excited about: I admit it. I'm just not excited about Math. But it will be interesting to try something new, anyway.

Now, I am NOT going to buy anything new if I can help it. Here are some great sites for used curriculum:
VegSource: http://www.vegsource.com/homeschool/homeschool-talk-and-swap.html
Home School Classifieds: http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com/

Next, I have to break it to the kids that we're going to start school on August 1...

The magic baby formula

No, this has nothing to do with actual baby formula. Here it is, my recipe for fun and easy baby management at the swimming pool:

Ingredients:
A baby
The pool
A stroller
A mom

1. Feed the baby.
2. Get the kids ready for the pool. At my house, this involves 20 minutes or so of tracking down lost swimming suits and getting sunscreen in and out of our eyes.
3. Go to the pool. Snag a spot in the shade. No one likes the shade, so this is pretty easy.
4. Walk around in the pool with the baby for 30 minutes or so.
5. Put the baby in the stroller.
6. Watch her sleep for 2 hours straight. Baste her with water every once in a while so she doesn't overheat.

 It's worked every time we've gone so far. Am I a genius, or is Grace? I know...it's Grace. But still, I get credit for figuring this out.

Attention all homeschoolers in the Carroll area

We now have a website all our own: http://www.meetup.com/CarrollHomeschoolers/. The purpose of the site is to help us stay connected, share resources, and meet other Carroll area homeschoolers (and parents who are interested in homeschooling but may not be quite ready to start). Just go to the site and you can request membership. And, if you're not already planning to go, visit the NICHE (Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators) site NOW to register for the 2011 conference, which is this Friday and Saturday: http://homeschooliowa.org/home.html. John and I were looking over the schedule tonight and we're getting pumped. On my list of sessions I want to attend:

• Putting the Gospel to Work in Your Marriage
• Finding Your Family's Learning Style
• Classical, Charlotte Mason, and Unit Studies
• Homeschooling with Confidence
• Multi-Level Teaching
• Why a Bible-Based Curriculum?
• Experience Excellence in Writing
• Why Students Walk Away From Their Faith
• Lessons Learned

Sounds cool, doesn't it?

Povitica

Do you see all of those yummy layers? For those of you who aren't familiar with this stuff, it's basically layers of pastry, cream cheese, and blueberries that are rolled and folded into a loaf shape. Each loaf weighs 2.5 pounds, which is shocking the first time you pick one up. There are other flavors, but this one is the best, and it's only available around Mother's Day. Until I start my petition and convince them to offer it year-round, anyway. It's outrageously expensive ($25 per loaf), but it's so worth it. I'm already daydreaming about my next slice (hunk, really)...should I try topping it with ice cream? I think I should.

What? It's 10 o'clock?

I like to make mental lists of what I've done during the day, especially of what I get done before lunch. It makes me feel purposeful. So, here's a list of what I've done so far today...
2 am: fed Grace
6:10 am: woke up; husband gone but left hot coffee (see why I love this man?). had breakfast of cereal and Strawberry Hill Povitica from Aunt Ann. blueberry cream cheese flavor. the BEST bread in the whole wide world
6:20 am: knitted my scarf/shawl. corrected a mistake and then proceeded to make it again
6:30 am: fed Grace
7:00 am: did a couple of workout videos: Cathe Friederich and The Firm - oldies but goodies. Grace looked on in puzzlement
8:00 am: watered the gardens and the hostas with Grace; pulled some weeds; trimmed the bushes in front so I can hide the hose behind them
9:00 am: Simon and Esme woke up; fed them some cereal; got them dressed
9:20 am: Aunt Ann stopped by to drop off a present for Haley
9:30 am: laundry, dishes, bed making
9:40 am: shower; tooth brushing; dragged Isaac out of bed
10 am: started blogging
Right now, Isaac is pouting about breakfast, Simon is making a hooting noise in the basement, and Esme is crying because Isaac just took his recorder back from her (and she wants a pop tart).

Cousins!

We got to host my sister's lovely daughters yesterday, and I think I only sunburned one of them. (Of course, all three of my kids are burnt. I think I need some lessons in sunscreen application.) We baked cookies, went to the pool, and made a masterpiece on the patio with sidewalk chalk. It was an awesome day. And insightful. One of the best unexpected benefits of staying home - I get to actually know my nieces. For instance...Alyssa has a bottomless appetite and is very sensitive to other people's feelings. In the middle of doing something annoying, she stopped and asked, "Am I annoying you? I'm not trying to annoy you." How can you be annoyed after that? She also kept looking in the fridge saying, "but can't I have something healthy? You have to have something I can eat in here. Don't you have any apples?" Sarah likes to do her own thing - correction: she WILL do her own thing - and she has a way of refusing to follow instructions that tricks you into thinking she should get her way...I think it's the dimples. But she had a blast playing with Esme and her dolls. And Haley is like having Em around - she's smart and funny and can hold a conversation like a grown up.

 Watching Mr. Bean.

 My two primary chefs - Simon and Alyssa.

 Can we make a silly face? And when can we lick the bowl? No, wait, the spoons. No, wait, the bowl AND the spoons.

 Drawing Jesus and the world on the chalk board. I swear I didn't stage this.

Ta-da! Jesus, the earth, and I think that might be Saturn over on the right.

Last night, the Schoonover family made a trip to Swan Lake for a homeschool family picnic, which was also awesome. I need a better word. It made me feel reassured and a part of something special. First, there was homemade ice cream. That alone made it worthwhile. Even better, we got to meet a few new people, the kids got to play with new kids, and we got to talk homeschooling with people who have been doing it for more than a decade. The big Niche conference is next weekend, and the pressure is on...I feel like we need to leave there with our curriculum picked out for next year. Check out how intense this schedule is: https://www.homeschooliowa.org/2011conference/conferenceschedule.html. Yeesh.

Esme made the front page

Esme, enjoying story time...otherwise known as lap time:
http://carrollspaper.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?image=36061280&event=1259527&CategoryID=65648

Esme is Four!

And that's all I have to say about that.