Easy Gardening

I usualy don't on Sundays, but I had to today. Go in to work, that is. I work 20 hours a week at a local Healthfood store.

I did my nails all fancy today. (I have kinda bad nails, so I keep them covered to help keep them from splitting and ripping)


My spinach box has been open, as the temperature has been 40-55 the past few days. I planted carrots Dec 26 and left that area exposed to the milder temperatures. My smart phone informed me the temperature was dropping to 27 overnight. (I had to ask it first; it may be smart, but doesn't volunteer information)

So, I did quick, easy gardening today. I paid my 18 year old to cut and place covers for the carrots and put the covers on the salad box.

CARROTS (Nelson) :  I had small hoops in place already, my son added gardeners quilt and garden plastic sheeting.

  TWO BOXES with stepping stones off the side of the porch have spinach and Purple kale.    SALAD BOX: by the back door. It has lettuce and beets. I think. I forget. It all looks the same right now to me.

  

Beach Bum...mer (KIA)

Beach Bummer Blues....
But in a good way.

I should have spent more, I should have bought more. I should have gotten more blueberries from the Farmers Market. First of the Season Blueberries.

A Sensory treat for my pallette. Some were deliciously sweet and some were deliciously tart, but it was a surprise for my toungue. Even Ki ate some. He wants to make milkshakes with them next time.

Yesterday was grey, gloomy, overcast. and chilly. I never seem to watch the weather. I had been hoping to go to the beach. Today started out a beautiful day. Ki suggested we go to the beach today since it was nice and I didn't get to go yesterday. We went to Oso Flaco. I like is best, I think.

Due to the recent rain, the hills are such a bright green! it is lovely to drive anywhere. But I keep missing my exits.

The sand dunes are always awesome as they welcome us to the beaches!

We paid our Parking Priveledges and as I was getting out of the van, Ki closed the van door for me.... before I could snatch my bag out, with the keys. Yes, the doors were locked. Yes, we were outside of the van. Yes, my phone was in the bag, too. No, I don't even have anyone's number memorized for borrowing a cell phone. No, my husband isn't home from Ohio yet. Yes, I did have the skylight partially opened.

Ki found a stick, climbed the van, and tried to fish out my bag. Or maybe push the unlock button. The stick was too short and too flimsy.

Enter Beat-Up Orange Pick-Up. Exiting the pick-up was a young man, our To-Be Savior! He asked the Obvious; "Locked out?"

I answered to Obvious. "yes"

he asked if they inforce parking fees, he hadn't planned on coming, just decided to kill some time fishing in the lake.

I helped him with his first catch of the day:

I have NO IDEA what we would have done if he didn't come along with his last minute plans to go fishing!

After we got the van situation dealth with, Ki and I took off down the path to the beach. It takes about half an hour to actually get to the ocean.

We start with a walk down a wide path:

(I said something to Ki about his jeans.. he replies; "They Fit!" to which I say; "if your Huckleberry Finn!" the toe shoes make pants look even shorter, too)

At the end of this road there is a lake on either side. To the Righ is just a lake, it is pretty.

On the Left is a larger lake, with a board walk:

There are lots of water fowl. duscks, egrids, commorants, etc.

After the walk across the lake, we continue down the boardwalk through native plants. I always love this part of the walk, I love the colors in the native plnats. I like how they can look brown and dead and yet have a sprig of new and vibrant color.  I like the thick leaves and the feather flowers.

And there are plenty of lizards out sunning along the edges:

I got a couple pictures at the ocean... then my battery died. it was sad.

I spent the time laying on the sand with my eyes closed, listening to the roar of the ocean.  I could hear the waves crash from right to left up the shore.

Foodies

The above treats I made for my friends at church. They are Peppermint Patties. Ki had asked for a big one for his birthday, s I decided to make a batch of regular ones while I was at it. I wrapped mine in foil and put heart stickers on them.

2 things-
[1] they were DE-LISH-OUS !!
[2] they were VERY VERY MINTY
the recipe calls for a mere 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint oil. That stuff is PO.TENT!

Last year I bought a little Summertime Kids cookbook.
We have never used it. I decided it was time it got some use.

I got out my Post-It flags. I have 4 colors. I marked 1 dessert and 1 main dish for each boy.

Today they drew straws tiny pompoms from fuzzy bag to decided who got to be chef on Friday.

Ki is making the main stuff (actually, he is making grilled cornbread, and he'll help with the main dish, but the cornbread was the recipe from the book)

Gavin is making Orange Torte. It is a fancy ice cream cake, I think.

I think I might make fettuccine with bolgnese sauce. I'll have Dashnyam help me.

also, on the topic of food.......
You may have noticed that a little over 2 weeks agog we got back from a 4 day gaming convention. Not healthy eating.
You may have noticed that Gavin had a birthday 2 weeks ago. cake. ice cream.
You may have noticed that last week, we went out to dinner twice for our anniversary.
You may have noticed that we had taco & cake on Friday for Ki.
You may have noticed we had pizza and a giant peppermint patty Saturday.

Soon, you may notice my hips are subsequently wider and more jiggly.

HENCE, it is Juicer Time! I want to do a 2 day Juicer Fast. This takes some pre-work. A juicer fast should be proceeded by a week of abstaining from caffeine, alcohol, dairy, and they say wheat- but I am not that crazy. I will try to limit it though.

I will post about my juicer journey, for those who are interested. Those not interested are still free to read and comment. :)

Oh, here are pictures showing how I made ONE GIANT PEPPERMINT PATTY. It was 9" in diameter.

I made a 'double broiler' with a medium sized pot and a metal bowl. I melted the chocolate chips (Ghiredelli bittersweet) with a Tablespoon of Shortening.

I used disposable foil pizza pans...

CLICK HERE for the recipe

Truth Is... Scrambled Pancakes are good

Truth Is..... I have had this headache since Saturday. Or maybe Friday. I forget. I am out of Fioricet.
Truth Is..... I am wondering if my husband's Vicodin from his surgery will work in place of Fioricet.
Truth Is..... I am too scared to try it, though.
Truth Is..... My son just brought me a bowl of Scrambled Pancakes. Breakfast in Bed. He 'scrambled' the pancake batter while cooking the pancakes, like one would scramble eggs. Then sprinkled them with Cinnamon Sugar.
Truth Is..... they were pretty good.
Truth Is ..... I don't like coffee at.all. But I do like espresso.
Truth Is..... I am a week late mailing a birthday card to a friend's daughter in Japan.
Truth Is..... I am thinking of having the boys make their own school schedules this year.
Truth Is..... Gavin spends most the day on the computer. Perfecting his art skills. Check out his Videos he posted today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axYukjlbxHw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39nZJUh21WI&feature=related
and here is the 3rd in his series today:


Truth Is...... Apple has inefficient shipping. I got my iPad Power Adapter today.... my iPad won't be here until next week. Apparently, Apple thought it was important to have the adapter with nothing to adapt to yet.. Now there is a lonely power adapter in the drawer waiting to be joined by an iPad.
Truth Is....... my iPad2 will be here next week!

Location	Date	Local Time	Activity
EPZ, China	07/14/2011	2:22 A.M.	Origin Scan
China	07/14/2011	11:15 P.M.	Order Processed: Ready for UPS

Mango Spaghetti and Raspberry Ravioli

Today, Ki made a snack for us. Mostly for me, as Gavin was asleep and Connor won't eat this.

Today, Ki used his Molecular Gastronomy Kit for the first time.

Today he made Mango Spaghetti and Raspberry Ravioli.

Today he learned what agar Agar is and what 'real' caviar is.

Culinary Arts is Ki's main school subject.

here are pictures from today's class in Molecular Gastronomy.

Puree mango (with a little sugar)

Pour into saucepan-->


Add Agar-Agar. heat to a boil -->

suck into a syrnge.

Fill Tube, (put in ice water for 3 minutes)

Squirt onto a plate. (Ki let me do this one!)

Raspberry Ravioli- Puree raspberry with sugar & Calcium Lactate

Drop by teaspoons into a Sodium Alginate bath

Ki made too many at once and they stuck together. But has a game plan for next time! and smooshy or not, it was yummy!!

Sucking up Mango S'getti!

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Test FAIL!

Yesterday (Fri/Dec31)was to be a milestone day! Ki was to take his very first PANERA TEST!
Being the Quasi-Unschoolers that we are, we really don't do/take tests. But when the boys get about high school they have tests with their chosen Sciences. This is Ki's first Science with Testing. It is Chemistry. They all wanted Chemistry, though I think Ki is changing his mind as he is seeing MORE math and less "blowing things up with chemicals"
I had to change the Chemistry Lessons for Ki. The program we are using is Apologia and is a High School book. Ki is just not ready for the math. So I start the lesson with terms, experiments, videos, and notes with all 3 boys. Then Ki goes off to his desk in his room and has file folders with worksheets. He does what he wants from those while I teach Chemistry Math to his brothers.
Before this, when he sat with the whole time, he had meltdowns. Melting into a puddle of limp noodles and tears. But this new way works well. His brothers are actually bored with the 1st half of class (so far... because it is chapter 1- wait until we get a few chapters into it!)- so the math keeps them into it.Ki actually likes worksheets and does well with them. I don't use worksheets to teach, but they are good for review and Ki is the type of kid that needs plenty of review.
I wanted to just BE DONE with chapter 2 before we start J-Term. For some reason (holiday rush? Skit rehearsals? Brian's Surgery? my birthday?) we never got to the last section of Ch1 or the test. So we finished those this week.
SO, we gather calculators, notecards with formulas, pencils, papers, etc... Ki searches HIGH & LOW for his notebook all morning and finally finds it....
We get to Panera. The Bagels, cookies, hot drinks are all ordered. We sit down.I open my Orange Folder that contained the tests.They were not there. They must have slipped out at the house or something. All that work to get everything ready, everyone out the door, waited in line, had a cashier that had to go through the order 4 times and then still mess up my Peppermint Hot Cocoa (but I got it free)... ALL TO NOT HAVE THE TESTS!

He had his notebook though, so I took a picture of him and am pretending it is Ki taking his FIRST Panera Science Test!
On the drive home, Gavin (17) ask what kinds of questions are on the test. he asks because Chapter was was the BASICS which he already knew.I'm driving. driving takes up 98% of my brain function, so I rattle off something that I thought I remembered.
"Something about a farmer finding a chunk of gold. They tell you the mass and volume and ask you to find the density."Gavin:"Gold has a density of 19.3 grams/cm³."Connor: " .. and Uranium is 19.1!"
Me: (sighing in my head):" Well, they give the volume and you have to find the mass- or the other way."
Gavin: "O.K. - - - And diamonds have a density of 3.5" (I think that is what he said it was)
While taking the test, Ki calls me over. It goes something like this:
Ki: "mom, gold has a density of 19.3, right?"Me: "yes, why?" (the test gives the density of gold for this problem)Ki:"Well, it has 2 items that look like god and I need to find the density to determine which really is gold. I got 19.327. Would that be gold still or something else because it's not 19.3?"
Ki refuses to use cm³ or cc. He crosses them out on his tests and writes in "mL"

Well, all the tests are now done. I guess I should go grade them.
**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

I have never been interested in Reading Through the Bible in a Year. Not in the 30+ years of being a Christian. It just never struck me as something I should do. Brian got me a new Bible for my birthday. It is a chronological Bible. It actually goes pretty much 'in regular order' until Psalms. But then it's all over the place. Verses out of 3-5 different books per page sometimes.

I was getting ready to start reading it today (Sat Jan1) and I decided to try reading thought from start to end; and hopefully in a year. So, we'll see how that goes. According to my math, if I read 4 pages a day that'll leave a buffer for missed days. click for My Reading Log

Gavin found a $20 while looking for the Wisemen in the laundry room. I knew I should have done laundry today. (The Wisemen brought Chocolate covered gingerbread men today!)



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Plans for Ki’s Theater Class

I published this straight from my WORD Document! How fun! So, Ki is doing Theater & Lightwave. (as I did not think either alone was a 2-3 hour a day class)
Theater will be on M/W/F and Light Wave will be on T/Th.

THEATER CLASS

• PLAYWRIGHTS
  
  • Shakespeare (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare )
    
  • Tennesse Williams (http://www.zeroland.co.nz/theatre.html )
    
  • Choose a 3^rd playright from the list at the above link
    
• WRITING A PLAY
  
  • http://www.playwriting101.com/
    
  • VIDEO How-To
    
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHmm8qncTp8&feature=related
      
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcJ-UB67QQ0&feature=channel
      
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoEDMfP9nRY&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=PL8191D67D4070401A
      
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnTOxfu2RXw&list=PL8191D67D4070401A&playnext=2
      
  • http://www.ehow.com/how_2045040_write-play.html
    
    • Write a short play or a skit- to be acted or done as a puppet show.
      
    • Make a Story Board
      
  • Play NANO-FICTIONARY & Mad Scientist University.
    
    • make a short story board (comic book) of one of the 'game stories'
      
    • Write a Short Skit using one of the games
      
• IMPROVE WEDNESDAY
  
  • http://improvencyclopedia.org/games/index.html
    
  • http://www.whoseline.net/show/games.html
    
  • Maybe have kids over for an hour on Wednesdays, after lunch. Have Ki lead this hour
    
• YOGA/STRETCHING
  
  • Do Daily-with all kids- market as exercises to strengthen muscles for balance and performing plays
    
  • Start Improv Wed Groups with these stretches!
    
• VOCBULARY
  
  • use Notecards on a ring
    
  • when a new or important word/term is read- write it on a new card
    
• CAREERS
  
  • http://www.collegeboard.com/csearch/majors_careers/profiles/majors/50.0501.html
    
  • Click on Related Careers in the side. And again on the following pages
    
  • Make a List of all possible careers in this field with a brief (1-3 sentence) description
    

THEATER CLASS (pg 2)

MONDAYS

1-1:45 Research/Notes

2-3:00 Writing/Designing

WEDNESDAYS

1-2:00 IMPROV at the Park

2:30-3:15 Writing/Reading

FRIDAYS

1-1:45 Research/Notes

2-2:45 Writing/Designing

3:00 Quiz

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This will be what I email to Ki. I still need to make a Break Down of what exactly do do each of the days. But this is about 80% of the planning work I think.
IMPROV WED will be at a local park and we are inviting all of our homeschool friends to join us!

Good Chemistry

It was a good day. Ki made Breakfast, as it is Friday. He had Banana Muffins that he & made last night & he cooked bacon. He also made tea for me and brought it all to me in bed.

Nothing like Breakfast in bed on a Friday! In the shape of a HAPPY FACE!

We started our day by lighting our Hanukkah Candles. We do not have a real Menorah. Just votives. But It works for us. And we have no idea the real day Hanukkah started, but that is OK with us, too. We are learning about Hanukkah.

We light our Candles, then read from Daniel and then do our Book of Daniel Lessons. I am doing a Beth Moore study with a group of ladies, then I teach some if to the boys. Then we pray and blow out the candles.

MORE PICTURES FROM TODAY CLICK HERE

Chemistry Class was divided into Part A: the hands-on-not-so-mathy- part [done with KI] and then Part B: The mathematical application [done w/o KI]

Part A was talking about the proper way to take measurements. Terms like Meniscus, Accuracy vs. precision. Then they took measurements of different things. a group of graduated cylnders & beakers and then a stash of stuff for length.

Gavin found a science experiment online to do, so he did that with his brothers.

Light a candle in water, put a glass over it, watch the water level rise under the g;ass as the fire creates a vacuum.

{after lunch we did Part B: G&C finished the sections and practice problems then did their ALEKS online math ....while K did worksheets}

I printed a LOT of worksheets for Ki and sorted them into [math], [science], [language arts]. He put them into their own folders and went to work. He was told do to a couple from each folder. He got a 4th folder for finished worksheets to turn in at the end of the week.

THIS seemed a very good compromise for doing chemistry with all them at their different levels from the same High School CD-Rom. How Great to avoid a Sensory Meltdown!

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