Monthly Archives: January 2015

Homeschool

This week in homeschooling: We rebounded from the holiday break with minimal discomfort

Monday

Is there any Monday more loathsome than the Monday after Christmas break? I think not. We had a very, very slow re-entry to schoolwork this week. After multiple breaks, a trip to the library and a jaunt to the playground, the work the kids normally finish by 10:30am was still looming over us at 5pm.

We started the morning by listening to a “Story of the World” chapter that covered Metacom (who led the Wampanoag and Narraganset in a war against the settlers and came to a rather terrible end) and Pennsylvania founder William Penn. I’m not entirely sure why they shared a chapter.

Poppy is still reading “Harriet the Spy” and working through its corresponding study. She says “At least now I have something to say if someone asks me my least favorite thing about school,” if you were wondering how well that’s going. She had to list four adjectives describing Harriet for Monday’s assignment, and we practiced by describing one another. She said I’m “strict” and “comfortable (because ‘sweatshirt-ish’ isn’t a word),” while Pete described me as “funny, huggable, blue-eyed and hungry.” All of which is true enough, I suppose.

Tuesday

Between an appointment for me and tae kwon do followed by afternoon playdates for the kids, we didn’t get as much work done as we should’ve. Pete did his spelling and handwriting, and he finished his first-grade math book (he started it midway through last year), but Poppy didn’t do much of anything.

Wednesday

I had another appointment on Wednesday, but it was the only major interruption in the day so we were able to get most of our work done. Poppy took a break from spelling lessons for the first part of this year, but it became apparent that she wasn’t ready to abandon them altogether. So on Wednesday she resumed her spelling studies. The kids also started memorizing “Casey at the Bat,” and we started reading “Family Poems” (selected by Belinda Hollyer) together. For history, we tried to talk like William Penn-era Quakers for the afternoon. The kids did not enjoy it.

Thursday

Our schedule has changed a bit for this half of the year, so our at-home schedule is a little lighter than it was the first half of the year. It was a breeze to get through yesterday, even though we took multiple breaks. Next week the kids start a couple of outsourced classes; we’ll see if I lightened the workload sufficiently.

Friday

Our co-op’s council had its monthly meeting this afternoon, and it was at out house. That meant that any schoolwork we were going to do needed to happen before the meeting. There are many council-meeting days when that doesn’t happen, but this week the kids were focused and cooperative, and they finished everything on their lists. It was rather refreshing.

Wanna read more about homeschooling? Check out the Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers weekly linky thing!

menu plan Monday

I firmly resolve to make a perfect bowl of Sizzling Rice Soup

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This year I made one New Year’s resolution: To finally figure out how to make Sizzling Rice Soup. I’ve tried to make it once or twice before, but I’ve never been able to get the broth to taste just right. I did some research while we were on the road for Christmas, and I started to pull together a plan.

I started my Sizzling Rice Soup 2015 challenge on Saturday. I tried miso soup for the first time last year, and I thought the flavor I was missing might be hiding in there. So I used a miso mix in my soup this time, and it turned out pretty well. The broth is still a bit too heavy, though, and I can’t quite get the rice right. I baked it to dry it out and then I fried it lightly just before adding it to the soup, but it didn’t get crisp enough and it didn’t sizzle. So basically we had Slightly Chewy Rice Soup. I think I may need to invest in a little deep fryer to get it right.

One does not live on Sizzling Rice Soup alone, however, so it’ll be a few weeks until I try it again. Here’s what we’re having this week for dinner:

Monday: Bacon, lettuce and avocado sandwiches
I didn’t get any special bread, nor did I buy the fancy bacon. But there’s still bacon and avocado involved, so it’ll still be a satisfactory sandwich.

Tuesday: Ravioli lasagna
The world’s simplest/laziest lasagna!

Wednesday: Chicken mafé
I’d planned to have a coconut curry chicken, but the sauce I normally buy wasn’t available. Poppy spotted an African peanut sauce and thought it sounded good, and I’m certainly not going to deny her the opportunity to try a new food.

Thursday: Fish sticks and mac & cheese
This was another Poppy request. It isn’t my favorite, so there’s a pretty good chance I’ll just be having a salad.

Friday: Pizza
Friday is usually pizza night, but I might switch it up this week.

I’m linking this up with OrgJunkie.com’s weekly Menu Plan Monday thing.

Bandwagons, Photos

A new picture for a new project in the new year

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Projects I Have Started
  • The Photo-a-Day Project.
  • The presidential biographies project.
  • The 52 Dates project.
  • The terribly tardy bakers challenge.
  • The 100 books project.
    Projects Still In Progress
  • The presidential-bio one.
    • Projects I Have Completed
  • …

    • I could let that 0% success rate get me down. Instead, I’m just going to start another new project!

    I haven’t been using my camera all that much recently, and I’ve been looking for something to push me to change that. I’d also like to shake the weird, shy feeling that I get sometimes when I use my “real” camera rather than my phone’s camera. I’m hopeful that 52Frames will help on both fronts.

    52Frames is a community of experienced and aspiring photographers, all working from a new theme each week. I think there’s constructive criticism and feedback involved, which is always a little scary.

    The first week’s assignment was to take a self-portrait. We had a fire pit in the back yard on New Year’s Eve, and I liked the light and the shadows that were coming off of it. I tried to take a picture of myself there, but I hadn’t set up a tripod and my arms weren’t quite long enough to capture what I wanted with the lens I was using. I could’ve switched to my other lens — I have an 18-55mm and a 55mm, and I was using the 55 — but I was sick and didn’t feel like moving a whole lot. So I took one of the pictures that didn’t work so well and smashed it up with a picture of some Christmas lights I’d taken the same evening. And here’s the result:

    52.1: Self-portrait
    52.1: Self-portrait

    One of my goals for the future is not to rely too heavily on Photoshop. I went with this composite, though, because I tend to try to hide or fade into the background and I thought this reflected that impulse pretty well.

    I’m planning to share each week’s photo with you here, so feel free to goad me about it if I stop. Are you embarking on any new projects for 2015?