It costs HOW MUCH to take guitar lessons???

I've been fairly decided on the idea of getting guitar lessons for Isaac for Christmas. I was eventually going to get around to checking the cost, but, remembering the $5 a week it cost for piano lessons when I was a kid, I figured cost would not be an issue. I keep forgetting that "when I was a kid" was 20 years ago. So John was talking to a friend from work at our Halloween mask making class at Swan Lake last night, and she said her son just loves his lessons. He goes to the same place I would send Isaac. His lessons cost $70 a month. That's for one 30-minute lesson per week. So, what do we do? I'm debating whether I could learn guitar with him at home, for free...but part of the point of the lessons is for him to get out of the house, and perform with other kids, and for him to be taught by someone perhaps a bit more patient than his mother. I can't imagine finding $70 a month to spend on this, especially when I was going to get art lessons for Simon, which surely cost this much as well. Argh. If I have to revisit my food budget and start trying to extreme coupon again, I will cry. Give me your opinion - is this something I need to do, or is this an outrageous luxury that the kids can do without? And what about the school band? Can I dual-enroll him in band and get free lessons at the school?

Clickschooling

I just signed up for another free e-newsletter, but I'm pretty sure I won't just be deleting this one every morning. (Sorry, all of you devotional and homeschooling newsletters that I currently get. I just don't have time to read you right now.) It's called ClickSchooling, and it includes a new, free lesson every day, based on the day of the week. Monday is math, Tuesday is science, and so on. They include a bunch of great website links and ideas, and I've learned that having a backup plan for your normal daily lesson (and a backup for your backup) is a good idea. If the kids start pouting, throwing tantrums, running around like wild apes, or otherwise getting distracted from what you're "supposed" to be doing, it's awesome to have other ideas handy to try to reel them back in.

Pumpkin Pie Baked in a Pumpkin

It works! You really can make a pie in a pumpkin. The trick is knowing whether your pumpkin is ripe, because one of mine was a lot riper than the other. However, I have no idea how you judge this without cutting open the pumpkin. The ripe one was a lot easier to cut into, so I suppose it must have felt a little softer from the outside? It was darker too. I found them at Wal-Mart in the fruit section...make sure you don't try this with a carving pumpkin. They're too big and too watery.

Here's what I did:

Cut open two pie pumpkins and scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff. You won't be able to get all of the stringy stuff - at least I couldn't - but get as much as you can. I roasted the seeds with salt and pepper, but that requires a lot of washing and picking off slimy pumpkin guts, so if you're going for speed, just toss the seeds.

Next, put some butter (a tablespoon or so) in each of the pumpkins and stick them in the oven at 350 (without the tops). Put them on a cookie sheet, because stuff will ooze out the bottom. Bake them for about an hour.

Take one of the pumpkins and peel off the skin. This should be easy to do; if not, stick it back in and cook it longer. Cut the pumpkin flesh into chunks, then put it in a bowl and beat it with a mixer. I strained mine, but that took forever and I'm not sure that it really did anything. Add two eggs, a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, 1/4 cup honey, and 1/4 cup brown sugar (substitute maple syrup if you're going for an authentic pilgrim experience, because they didn't have sugar when they first arrived). Beat until combined.

Pour the mixture into the other pumpkin until it's about 80% of the way full. You can use the extra to make a traditional pumpkin pie, or pour it into small glass or ceramic dishes and bake them like custards. Put the top on the pumpkin, slightly askew, and stick it back in the oven. Bake at 400 until the filling is set (pudding vs. soupy consistency), which took about an hour for mine.

Peel the skin from the pumpkin and slice it into wedges. Serve with whipped cream and sprinkle with cinnamon. If you don't like squash, you won't like the pumpkin flesh, but I thought it was great. It tastes just like acorn squash except maybe a little bit sweeter.

Bendy Straws and Fuzzy Sticks

Looking for a way to pass two hours with your kids free from whining, fighting, crying and complaining? Buy a bag of bendy straws (at Wal-Mart, these are in the juice aisle) and a bag of fuzzy sticks and let them go nuts. We were supposed to be making native Brazilian flutes, but those were boring, and Simon discovered that you can make a bendy straw look like a person by attaching fuzzy stick arms. We had little stick-on rhinestones too, which make great eyes. I'm sure this taught them something (fine motor skills?), and they loved it. And, unlike many art projects, it didn't turn into a mom-will-you-make-this-for-me whine fest. Although I do make a pretty cool bendy straw bug.

Something cute and something ugly

This hideous thing is some kind of frog that lives underwater. I picked it out for our aquarium because it's ugly and scary and thinking about touching it gives me the shivers. I named it Yanomamo, after a tribe of people in Brazil that we just learned about in school. Esme thought we should name it "Mom."

This is Gracie's Christmas present (one of several, I'm sure, but this is the coolest, specialest one). It didn't take very long, and I like that the arms move.

My cute kids

I'm going to admit something very shallow and vain this morning. One of the things I worry about with homeschooling is that my kids are going to look...homeschooled. You know what I mean. Bad hair, clothes that don't match or fit, goofy, slightly vacant smiles - basic disregard for personal appearance and hygiene. I don't know why I associate these things with homeschooling, because I've been to lots of homeschooling things and this definitely isn't the norm, but I think it's the picture society has painted of our kids - backwoodsy hicks that are totally clueless about how to fit in with the rest of the world. I'm not so sure that's all bad, but it's not all true either. So for one thing, I need to focus on more important stuff and stop being so concerned with appearances (hygiene, yes; appearance, no), and for another, I need to be proud of my kids for who they are. And they ARE cute, darn it. Here's a picture from Grandpa Jim's funeral day, on which the boys got to wear "suits" and sunglasses and look grown up. Jim would have gotten a kick out of them strutting up to the church with their hands in their pockets and their glasses on.

Allison's Favorite Show

We got rid of cable, then we got rid of Netflix, but I just can't survive without some kind of TV. I'd like to think that I'm intellectual enough to live on books and conversation alone, and maybe the occasional documentary from the library, but I'm not. Sometimes, my brain just needs to stew in its own juices for 23 minutes or so while I lounge and stare. My new favorite show is Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home on Hulu (http://www.hulu.com/watch/233291/julia-and-jacques-cooking-at-home-roast-chicken). Hulu is free - although I think there are additional shows available if you pay - and the picture quality (on my laptop) is just as good as Netflix. I think if you buy an internet-ready TV you can watch Hulu on that too.
We watched The Miracle Maker, a claymation film about the life of Jesus, at KIDS church last night on Hulu too...because I didn't have time (okay, I didn't make time) to prepare a whole lesson. We did play a game that the kids liked - I put each word of their memory verse (Matthew 6:21) on a balloon, and they took turns finding the next word and popping that balloon. Simon was the best popper.
I did a search for "Christian" to find other suitable movies for church night, and I couldn't figure out why it pulled up a bunch of episodes of Project Runway (which I love but is definitely not church night material). Turns out there's a guy named Christian in one of the seasons of the show. Aha.

Matthew 6:21 - For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Geocaching

Have you ever heard of this? I hadn't either, but it's like a secret society. A secret nerdy society, maybe, but, since I like nerdy things, the kids and I had a blast. You take a GPS device (any that will let you enter manual coordinates) and search for these "geocaches" that other people have hidden - all over the world (there's even one on the international space station, I've been told). Inside the geocache, which can be any kind or size of storage container, are little treasures that you can take and exchange for whatever you've brought with you. Except food, which animals will try to get to and in the process, mangle the geocache.

Go to the geocaching site: http://www.geocaching.com/ to find hidden geocaches in your area and get the coordinates. Enter the coordinates into your GPS, and start looking! Usually, they are hidden in trees or other natural areas, but some are in metro areas too. Once you find the geocache, you can go online and post comments & tips. If you have a smart phone, you can use it to do all of this stuff too (as long as you have the app, which I think was $10 or something like that). You can hide your own geocaches too, but you have to make sure to get permission from the property owners first.

Our curriculum has weekly "nature walks" built in - I'm thinking you could incorporate a nature study into your geocaching and make it even more fun. We haven't been doing the nature walks, and we don't have a GPS, but I'm definitely considering giving this a try. I heard you can snag a cheap GPS device on ebay...

We miss you, Jimbo!

Handwriting Practice

Esme goes through worksheets faster than I can churn them out, even with the help of the internet, preschool curriculum, and several preschool workbooks. This is a great site that lets you customize your own handwriting worksheets - printing and cursive, letters and numbers: http://www.handwritingforkids.com/.

Getting Discouraged

There has been a lot of crying - nay, sobbing - going on during school lately. We sob during math (long division is hard), we sob during spelling (who can spell "neglect"? not us), we sob during bible study (I have to write this WHOLE verse by myself???). And I don't know how to make it better. I give hugs, I give pep talks, I relent and put off the hard stuff until tomorrow, but then tomorrow, the same thing happens. I think maybe we've all been listening to the wrong voice. You know whose. The one that says we're stupid, we can't do this, we need to give up and give in. Who? Well, 1 John 4 says:

This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Greater is the one who is in you than the one who is in the world. Notice it doesn't say greater are we than the one who is in the world, but greater is the one who is IN us. So we can't overcome the sobbing (or anything else) on our own, but we can if we ask God to help us. What a relief, huh?

I have trouble remembering to ask God for help, and so (quite obviously) do my kids. We try to do things on our own (dumb idea) and are surprised when we can't do them (every time!). We're going to talk about this verse/concept today, and every day, until the sobbing goes away. And then we'll keep talking about it so we don't forget (which you know we would).

By the way... my new favorite Christian singer/songwriter is Shawn McDonald, and he has a really cool song (trust me, those who doubt the coolness of Christian music) on this very topic. You can listen on You Tube here: http://youtu.be/8WroRx8vqy8. Notice how much he looks like my stepson David. Gauges and all.

Pumpkin Pie in a Pumpkin

I'm supposed to be planning a First Thanksgiving lesson for our homeschool group, and I'm desperately trying to find ideas. This one came courtesy of my grandpa, and it looks like the perfect blend of messy, gross, authentic, and delicious. Pumpkin pie baked inside a pumpkin? That is cool. Check this out: http://www.forkandbottle.com/cooking/recipes/pumpkin_pie_in_a_pumpkin.htm.

Other ideas:

Make our own pin and ring game: http://www.nativetech.org/games/ring&pin.html

Make our own pilgrim hats: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/make_a_pilgrim_bonnet.htm

Read (fictional) letters from pilgrims and the Wampanoag: http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/letters.asp

Do some kind of activity that re-enacts the journey on the Mayflower (climb into our "boat" and ...?)

Have the older kids act out a pilgrim/Thanksgiving-related skit for the younger kids?

Modern-day devotional about giving thanks?

This is a lot of pressure. Homeschool moms are very creative and good at teaching and not easily entertained. Eek.

Yoga for Grown Ups

Yoga. Sounds kind of lame to those of us who like to sweat and pant and brag about how long we were on the treadmill this morning and how many reverse crunches we did. However, I found a great yoga workout online that made me wince and grunt and sweat, which I thought was pretty neat. Maybe yoga isn't lame after all. Here it is: http://www.exercisetv.tv/workout-videos/body-sculpting/yoga-sculpt-7642.

Knit Monster

Today is a scary day for my family - the kind of day you need a stuffed animal to hug. My grandpa Jim is having both valves on his heart replaced this morning at the Mayo Clinic, so please remember him, his surgeons, my grandma, parents, aunts, and uncles in your prayers. Surgery is at 8 a.m.

Here's my latest knitting project - a stuffed animal/monster for Esme for Christmas.

See the pocket on the back? My plan is to stick a little notebook in there, and when she leaves for her dad's house, I'll put a little love note or picture in the notebook. Then, when her dad sends her back here, he can put a note in there for her. That way, if she misses us at either house, she can look at her notebook and, even though she can't read it, she'll know that it's from mom/dad and that we love her. I'm making a green one for Isaac and a blue one for Simon out of the same kind of yarn. I got the pattern from Knit Simple magazine, which I checked out from the library. You can't access the patterns for free online, but you can get a preview of the projects here: http://www.knitsimplemag.com/node/230. I also made each of the kids a pair of fingerless gloves from this issue, which they loved for a few days and have since lost track of.

I like the idea of ending my posts with a verse or a prayer, and since I'm not the best at writing prayers, I'm sticking with bible verses.

From Psalm 34:17 - 20:
¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
   he delivers them from all their troubles.
¹⁸ The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
   and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
 ¹⁹ The righteous person may have many troubles,
   but the LORD delivers him from them all;
²⁰ he protects all his bones,
   not one of them will be broken.

Psalm 1

We're studying Psalm 1 in the Wednesday morning bible study I just joined, and it's a cool Psalm. It reminds me of my grandpa, who has a poem about trees on his headstone (he's still living; he just has his headstone already). I can't remember the poem, but it has to do with trees, as does Psalm 1. My grandpa loves trees and wood and building things, and he's a great example of a man who is "planted by streams of water." I'm praying today that all of my children and stepchildren recognize the importance of who they "walk in the counsel of" and choose friends who help them to prosper - not wither. 

Psalm 1:
1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. 4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Of course, I shared this with John, and, of course, he knows it from  memory. So my goal is to memorize it too...so far, I can get "blessed is the man who" and then I start to get confused. Argh.