Collage...Saturday?

I have wanted to join Collage Friday for the past couple weeks, but Friday is an extra busy day for us and I find that I rarely have time to blog on that day. I guess I should set it to autopost? Today: Better late than never.

Recently I started lactofermenting vegetables for their amazing probiotic power. Fermenting has always intimidated me. It sounded like such a big deal. I have friends who make kefir, yogurt, kombucha, and sourdough, and I guess in my mind that is what fermenting was all about. Complicated with a lot of trial and error.

Also, there is conditioning. We are taught from infancy how important it is to refrigerate food, and then some fermenting afficiando says, "Leave your food out on the counter for a few days and it will turn into a delicious and healthy substance!" It feels "wrong" because we have been conditioned otherwise. (And obviously there are lots of foods that should stay refrigerated!) My mind was put to rest when I read a mainstream article (can't remember where now) that said lactofermentation is actually extremely safe.

I worked up the nerve to try my first batch of sauerkraut (the white stuff in #1--I used the recipe from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook with coaching from my sister) and I could not believe how easy it was to make this amazing probiotic food! Next I tried dilly carrot sticks. Once again I could not believe how simple this was. And my kids loved them! They have a great crunch with the flavor of a dill pickle.

I decided to turn this new obsession into a science project.

We made 4 jars of carrots. One we made the same way as I originally had, according to this recipe. No garlic. The second, we added garlic just to see how it impacted the flavor. The third, we used red pepper flakes instead of dill. And the fourth, we halved the salt and opened a probiotic capsule into the jar to see what would happen. I heard once that you couldn't use a capsule instead of a ferment starter, and I wanted to see if it would work.

Pic #2--I boiled water to sterilize the jars and lids.

In pic #3, we loaded those babies up!

In #4, my cute little first grader made pretty labels for our lids.

The results: Everyone liked the original variety but the garlic flavor was a bit much for some of the kids. The red pepper flake jar was good but VERY spicy! It is still in the fridge. I don't know if anyone will have the nerve to finish those. As for our big question mark, the jar with the probiotic capsule, the carrots fermented beautifully, probably better than the regular jars that contained only salt.

The kids really enjoyed this project. We looked up lactofermentation and learned about the process. They were excited to open the jars after 4 days. They bubbled and fizzed when I took the lids off and that added to the excitement! All in all it was a great experiment!

{Forgive the poor picture quality! I decided not to let perfectionism get in the way or participating!}

Read Aloud Thursday 3-29-12

We reinstituted library day this week. The library has been a struggle for us. We lose books way too often. And we don't return them on time. The library became stress instead of joy, so we took a break.

It was great to be back.

We have a few strategies that hopefully keep us on track. One is that each child can get the same number of books as his age. This prevents the 3 year old from coming home with a red wagon full. The other is that I keep all the receipts. When library day is approaching, we can check our books against the receipts to ensure that we have them all. Also, I keep all the cards in my wallet. Theoretically. I allowed one of the olders to go to the library with a friend and the card never came back. It was last spotted on the bathroom counter, and we have hope that it will turn up again before said child has to buy a replacement.


My littlest ones just love to choose books I abhor, like Disney picture books. I rarely say no (unless the book is truly objectionable), but I make up for it by choosing books that are lyrical and beautiful. Eric Carle: One of my all time favorite children's book authors. 10 Little Rubber Ducks includes counting and numeric order. One of my goals is to include more living book math, so here we go.



I truly love The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse. It's an encouragement to people like me that we can all be artists, even if our art is unconventional. And the pictures are bold and colorful. Really lovely.



The Secret Remedy Book has charming illustrations, a sweet story line, and lovely text. The little girls and I enjoyed it this afternoon, but I think the big kids would love it just as much or more!



This sweet book is not that exciting, but I adore the way it captures the essence of a rainy day in sweet rhyme. I grew up in the desert till my teens and I still never tire of the rain. "A wind comes whooshing/Through the trees./It shakes the raindrops/From the leaves."

So what are your favorite read-alouds? How do you keep up with library books?

~Linking up with Read Aloud Thursday~

Nature Journaling, Leading by Example, and Mama Creativity

It's important, I think, for kids to see us lead by example. I have been thinking about this recently in regards to reading. I want to raise readers, but do they see me reading? I do read a lot, but mostly on the computer. When they see me on the computer, they think "games" not "books" or "information." So one of my goals is to read more paper books in front of them, to create a culture of books in our home.

The same is true of anything, leading by example. I try to keep a nature journal alongside the kids. Actually I think my journal has had more entries than theirs lately. I enjoy it. I am building my own skills of observation and drawing. It's a simple way that fills my need to be creative.

It takes time to do things with them instead of just pushing them off to do an assignment on their own. Sometimes I have to make time. The picture above? The table was a disaster, covered with I-don't-even-remember-what--a colossal mishmash of things that probably didn't belong there. I made myself just push it aside (literally--a big shove!) for a few moments to watercolor the sketches I had done earlier on our nature walk. It was a little hasty, but so worth it.

Waiting for the perfect time to do things with our kids will just mean that we'll never get to it. Or I won't anyway. The best thing, I've found, is just to plunge in and do it. Seize the day!

Great Educational Links

I've added a section for educational links in the sidebar. I'll be updating it often.

Schooling Outside

On beautiful spring days, what a gift to be able to take lessons outside! Sometimes the kids get too distracted, but lately they have really enjoyed reading aloud on a quilt in the yard.

Our class had a cute little guest.

And the little one sure enjoyed his swing!

Not so long ago, I was too scared to break out of "real school" and take our learning somewhere besides the kitchen table. Relaxing and being flexible has brought joy back to our homeschool!

If we didn't homeschool, we would miss out on this! Don't be afraid...Take learning outside!

~Linking to Mentoring Mamas Monday~

Simplicity Through the Day

I have realized more than ever over the past few days how vital it is for me to simplify in as many areas as possible. It is so easy to compare myself to my “super productive” friends and those who are involved in many activities and create very involved, complicated lessons with the newest and shiniest curriculum, and feel like I am not doing enough. I can crush myself under my expectations, and then become paralyzed because everything is not getting done.

There are parts of my life that are complicated and probably will be for many years. Food at our house will always be complicated and very time consuming (long story). I can streamline laundry to a certain degree, but with 7 people in the house, laundry will be a big deal for a long time to come. Relationships with children, neighbors, friends, even marriage, require a lot of time and effort and they can be messy and complicated.

I am realizing that when one or more areas of life require a lot of effort, it’s so important to streamline other areas.

Here are a few ways I am simplifying.

Declutter.

I’m not a minimalist, but I try to keep the stuff rolling through. I hope one day to be more minimal. It’s a process. I rarely purchase home décor items these days, even thrifted. I amassed quite a collection of tchotchkes when I was learning to decorate, but once I pegged what I like, I purged my things and don’t add to it unless it’s a really special item or something specific I need. I try to purge the kids’ rooms often. I even reduced our books by quite a few recently.

Personal care.

It’s hard to strike a balance between pretty and functional sometimes. Lately I’ve thrifted a little collection of cute wrinkle-free summer dresses and skirts, and it’s just as easy to throw on one of these outfits with ballet flats, statement earrings, and air-dried hair as it would be to put on sweats. 5 minute makeup makes all the difference. Most moms don’t have a ton of time to spend on their appearance, but we can still look nice for our families if we learn tips and tricks along the way.

Activities.

I have to keep our activities under control. Between church, sports, and homeschool group, we stay plenty busy…Especially if we add having a friend over or some other social event during the week. Music lessons, martial arts, art classes, and so forth are really tempting, but they are not at the top of the priority list right now. It is key, I think, to not give way to guilt when we can’t do it all.

Simplifying curriculum and homeschool method.

This is the first year that I bought a number of items that haven’t really worked for us. I am looking forward to a simpler year next year in the curriculum department. I am re-evaluating…Where can I eliminate the expectation of a fussy notebooking project or busywork when a simple oral or written narration will do instead? Where can we use the library and read, read, read about topics we are interested in? How can I inspire interest in subjects that we “need” to cover? Is it necessary to do every item on this page? How can I incorporate language arts with projects the kids are doing for fun, like writing a story? Where can I use a video, internet resource (like Khan Academy) or book on tape to reinforce or teach something?

There are many, many more areas where I am considering how to streamline.

Tell me: How have you simplified daily life to make room for the complicated stuff?

Great Article on Why I Homeschool

Loved this article from Frugal Girl on why she homeschools her children. So many great reasons!