Mothers Homeschool Journal 10/30/11 - 10/14/11

In my life this week…

We have had a busy past two weeks. I have been working on canning apples and grapes. We are finished with the grapes now, but we will still have some more apples to can. I am looking forward to a break.
In our homeschool this week…

We have had a busy two weeks. Last week we went to a corn maze and pumpkin patch with our homeschool group. The corn maze was huge with intricate patterns of a pumpkin, owl, witch, and other designs. The pumpkin patch was also very large. We were allowed to take home a medium sized pumpkin (I love living in area where pumpkins grow abundantly.) This week I organized an event in our homeschooling group to go on a hike along a river. I made a last minute decision to put together this event because we had an Indian summer at the beginning of the week which was fabulous. A lot more people showed up than I previously thought would show up.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

Go outside as often as you can. Good weather does not last forever, so you want to enjoy it while it is here.

I am inspired by…

I am inspired by the leaves changing color outside. I have finally got into the fall spirit. I finally stopped lusting after the summer that has passed, and I am now fully enjoying the fall that is here. I am a summer baby, and I have never lived somewhere summer is so short, so I find myself feeling like summer never go started around here. I am slowly learning to adapt to my environment. I am focused on schooling the kids, wrapping up canning, and throwing our homeschool Halloween party.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We visited the corn maze and a park along the river. I think it has been for our kids to see some of the same kids over and over again. We were supposed to go to another pumpkin patch yesterday, but the event got cancelled due to rain.

My favorite thing this week was…

Dr. Lazy Palate and I were discussing what to get the kids for Christmas. I mentioned that I wanted to get Little BBQ a keyboard because he has been taking in interest in piano, but I did not think that we would be able to fit a piano into our budget. Coincidently, Dr. Lazy Palate and I were looking at dressers on Craigslist to try and modify for Miss Bubbles to turn into a doll house when we found a good condition organ on Craigslist for free. We contacted the gentleman, and he even delivered the organ to our house. The organ came with a bench, a light, and all the manuals. We plan to surprise Little BBQ with the organ for his birthday. It is amazing how life just works out sometimes.

What’s working/not working for us…

Little BBQ finally seems to be enjoying reading. He used to fight me when I mentioned sitting down and reading. Today he sat down with me to read three books including one longer book. I am very happy with his progress. With nonfiction he seems to be coming around there as well. He fought me on doing some activities based on a very short nonfiction book that he picked from the library. I wanted him to practice picking out facts out of a nonfiction book. I do the writing for him since he is a slow and messy writer, so I did not bog him down with handwriting, and he fought me. We ended up putting the activity down for a day. After discussing why he did not want to finish his school work with Dr. Lazy Palate, he told Dr. Lazy Palate that he did not like the book. I do not know what changed Little BBQ’s mind because the next day he reread the nonfiction book and picked out the facts for me write down. Then, he was upset when we returned the library book to the library. Sometimes it just takes time.

Questions/thoughts I have…

Please show me your best Halloween crafts, food, games, and decoartions!

Things I’m working on…

I finished canning grapes this week. We made Concord grape juice concentrate and grape jelly. Both are fantastic. I love grape juice. This just leaves apples to can for the season. I am switching my focus from canning to our homeschool Halloween party.

I’m reading…

I am still reading Chiles to Chocolate. I am almost finished with the book. I have been focused on so many other things that I have not had much time to read lately.

I’m cooking…

My cooking group this month made mu-hsu pork, Chinese pancakes, and hoisin sauce which came out amazing. The hoisin sauce was the best hoisin sauce that I have ever tasted. The sauce had the perfect sweet and spicy combination. Plus, the sauce was super simple to make. I can see myself making the hoisin sauce again with stir fry for a fast meal. I also made ground cherry pie filling from our ground cherries in the garden. The ground cherries taste like pineapple, and they are very easy to grow in the garden. They were Miss Bubble’s favorite thing that we grew in the garden this year. I also made a fruit kimchi which was spicy and excellent. I like the spicy fruit kimchi for breakfast. Lastly, I made a moussaka or Greek lasagna from garden produce for the freezer, so I can have some easy nights of cooking.

I’m grateful for…

I am grateful that I live somewhere with fall foliage.