Grandma's Office...

Welcome to my office. Can you see my computer and desk over there, in the background? This used to be a rather boring place with my books and office supplies, my ipod/clock combo and some other office-y things.                                                               But you can see the transformation it has undergone. Now it is a fun place where two little girls can play and make McDonald snacks, feed farm animals, do puzzles and play house--sometimes all in the same day.

I guess it makes sense. I do work in my office and so do they. Because for toddlers, Play is Work.  They practice fine and large muscle coordination by playing with small toys,stacking blocks, jumping, dancing, playing the harmonica, riding little ride-on toys and balancing on the little chairs.

Elinor was especially intrigued with dogs this week and as you can see has one riding in a little car while our dog, Scrappy, watches from a spot near my desk. Elinor was reinacting a scene from "Go, Dog Go!" one of the books Bob and I got her for Christmas. It was included in Sonlight's P3/4 package which we gave to each girl.  She is still a bit young for most of the books, but we figured the girls would grow into it and you can never have too many books, right?

These busy girls are finding my office the perfect place to work and I couldn't be more delighted. I love my co-workers--and Allison can make a pretty mean plastic milk shake and oyster cracker snack. 

Take care,

Jill

The Greatest Human Strength...

I was listening to NPR and specifically "The Splendid Table" this past weekend and heard an interesting interview with Roy F. Baumeister concerning his book, "Willpower, Greatest Human Strength. "

It was so interesting. He cited a study done quite a few years ago--maybe 30--where children were taken one by one into a room and a marshmallow was placed in front of them and they were told if they didn't eat it for 10 minutes [or some such length of time] they could have two. The study was to see how many kids resisted the temptation to eat it and what the successful ones did.

Interestingly enough, the ones who resisted looked away and distracted themselves. Years later they looked at the lives of the kids in the study and the ones who practiced the most self control as children were the ones who were happier as an adult [rated by job satisfaction, longevity and happiness of marriage, parenting, and so on].

This led the author to state that "intelligence and willpower" are the two main attributes of successful/fulfilled people. If you have willpower you will probably no cheat on your spouse, do well in work, be healthier, etc. Intelligence without willpower is not as important as willpower with lesser intelligence. Interesting, don't you think?

He went on to relate how glucose and regular sleep seems to be what fuel the body/mind to have willpower. That is why it probably is not the best idea to try to resist an amazing dessert when you are tired and hungry.

As a homeschool parent, I think this is really something to ponder. You can't really do a lot about your child's intelligence, but I think we can help our kids learn how to strengthen their self control. The authors suggest that it is like a muscle and needs to be flexed in order to become stronger.

I haven't read the book, but I am did place a hold on it at our library. Intelligence and Self-Control [Willpower], it makes sense, doesn't it?

Take care,
Jill

Blogging for Sonlight®...

I have been doing some blogging for Sonlight® Curriculum
If you would like to read any of these educational blogs, you can go here.  I have touched on learning through baking, limiting toys, Christmas school, Character Training and more.  If you have ideas for future blogs, please let me know. I am always looking for good ideas.

Take care,
Jill

Christmas Recipes...

I posted a few recipes on my Bluegrass Mom's Perspective Blog and thought I would post a link here in case anyone is intersted.

Healthy Gingerbread Muffins
Hot Cocoa for a Crowd
Cinnamon Rolls

Have a Merry Christmas,
Jill

Christmas with the Grandgirls...

OK, So I know it isn't Christmas yet, but our daughters in law came over last week so we could get some Grandparent photos. Sharon took pictures while Jen and Molly did antics to get their babies to smile. 

Elinor was anxious to get on to other things, but Sharon managed to get some good shots. After a bit of frustration, we got the girls orange juice popsicles and I think this is my favorite shot. They are starting to play together a bit, which is fun to see. So, for your viewing enjoyment--Bob and Jill with Allison and Elinor.

Merry Christmas and may you have a wonderful time with family and friends.

 

If you are looking for a great educational-game gift for your kids (Preschool through about 2nd grade) check out Mathtacular. For $39.99 this is a real deal. This has a DVD, tons of manipulatives and lots of great instructions so that Math will be fun for your kids. Also, you can get free shipping if you pick the Media Mail option.

If you do order. PLEASE put my name -"SL Consultant Jill E"- in the comment section. I am a Sonlight Consultant and that will make it clear that I tipped you off to this good deal. NOT just for homeschoolers. Seriously, this is a great deal and the kids in your life will love Mathtacular. 

This is packaged in a game--a great gift for under the tree this Christmas.

Also, if you are looking for great books to read aloud to your children may I recommend a couple to you? 

• The Great and Terrible Quest--This is my favorite book of all time. If you would like to know why I love it so much you can go here.

• Little Britches is another family favorite.  You can't go wrong reading this autobiography. Delightful for parents and adults. A couple of "cowboy swear words" which you can read right over if you are reading aloud.

If you would like other recommendations, let me know. I would love to recommend a book or two for you to read aloud to your family.  

Take care,

Jill

My Spaghetti Sauce Adventure...

On Monday my friend Linda and I picked tomatoes at a local pick your own tomatoes and raspberry farm. It is just a nice patch of land a lady in our town plants and then has an honor system where you put your money in a jar on her porch. I picked a little over 1 bushel [$10] and then came home to day of satisfying work.

I put my jars in the dishwasher before I left to pick so they were ready when I returned home and then I washed and cored the tomatoes.  My friend Judy, who lives in New York gave me a simple recipe for making spaghetti sauce. It is not too much work at all because you take the cored tomatoes and toss them in the blender to make a puree. It is quick and easy.

To 4 quarts of pureed tomatoes, you add 1 chopped onion [I just cut it up a bit and tossed it into the blender with the tomatoes so I didn't have to chop it.]

I assembled my spices and extra virgin olive oil and was ready to make the sauce.[I did add some fresh basil too, but I didn't have too much so I also had to add dried.]













Next I filled my HUGE pot and began to simmer the sauce, adding tomato paste and simmered some more.
I love my huge tulip shaped stainless stock pot. I don't use it often, but when I do I am so thankful I have such a great pot. 

After simmering, I put the some of the sauce in jars and fired up the pressure canner. I know my other pot is still full, and that is because I added more puree and herbs. A bushel of tomatoes makes a lot of puree!


After processing all my batches I was satisfied to see all the jars sealed and are ready for winter meals.

I included the recipe below in case anyone is interested. The making of the sauce goes pretty quickly. It takes a while to cook it down and process it, but that gave me time to clean up the kitchen and start dinner--Basil Fetuccini with marinara sauce, cheese and some local ground beef.

Delightful!

Take care,
Jill

FRESH SPAGHETTI [MARINARA] SAUCE

4 quarts of pureed tomatoes*, just wash, take out the core and put in a blender, skin and all

1 chopped onion [I put large pieces in the blender-a food processor would work great]

1/2 C olive oil

3T sugar

1-2 tsp garlic powder or a couple of cloves of crushed garlic

3 T parsley flakes

1-2 tsp basil, dried or fresh chopped

1-2 tsp oregano

2 T salt

       *Best combination is 1/2 Roma and half of a Big Boy type tomato

Cook 30 minutes on medium heat.

Add:

1- Twelve oz can of tomato paste [if not using Roma tomatoes, might want to increase this to 2 cans of tomato paste.]

Cook 45-60 minutes more at a steady simmer. Sauce will thicken nicely.

Yields 7-10 pints of sauce [depending on the tomatoes and how much tomato paste you put in].  Can at 10# pressure for 8 minutes. with about one bushel of tomatoes I made 4 batches or about 20 quarts of finished sauce. 

Back to School--How can we get it ALL done? Buddy up!

Homeschooling. Ahh, the joy of having your children home all day, learning and growing in the fertile environment of your very own home. It can be the most challenging job you will ever have. And, if you have many children it can seem impossible to meet the needs of everyone.

For years I have had moms and dads ask me how they can possibly teach 2, 3, 4 or more grades at once? Is it possible? And as this new 2011 school year is in its infancy, the questions begin again. How can we get it all done?

If you have more than one child and there is an age gap of a couple of years or more, one of my solutions is the "buddy time." You can probably guess what it is, but I will elaborate a bit by giving an example of how it looked in my home.

Around 10:00 daily I would have everyone stop whatever they were doing so we could do buddy time. I don't think I called it that, but that is what it was. Usually one child needed some special attention, so I would have that child spend time with me and the other four buddy up. It could be that Chad helped Kari with math, while Cris took Scotty out to play, freeing me to give Dusty some one on one time. Or, I might buddy an older child to listen to a younger read or give a couple of kids free time [upstairs in their room] while I had an older help and younger and I got dinner started. There are many scenarios, but basically everyone stops what they are doing 1-2 times a day and they buddy up for 15-30 minutes in order to get it all done.

I am not saying it always worked perfectly, but it worked pretty well. Another suggestion is to pay an older child to grade papers if you need help. I have a friend who has 9 children and she says that if one child wastes her time then said child has to give her the same amount of time in chores, etc. That helps get the chores done and curbs children wasting time too.

I have more ideas of how to run a more efficient homeschool and will post them in the coming days.

Facebook Friends

I started a Sonlight Consultant-Jill fan page. I will be posting various Sonlight and homeschooling information over there, so if you get a chance, go over and "like" my page.

Thanks,
Jill

In the Good Ole Summertime...

  I know that many families want to enjoy the summer with their kids but don't really have any plans or ideas on things to do.


So, for your Summer Enjoyment, here are some ideas that may help:

• Ideas to Beat Summer Boredom
• Summer learning--not so formal
• Kids mature over the summer

• Writing on Walls
• Planning for the Fall? Encouragement
• Shepherding your flock-- with links to posts about giving your children Something to Love, Something to Do and Something to Think about--Summer is a great time to start implementing these Great Charlotte Mason ideas.

And for your view pleasure, granddaughters Elinor and Allison at our farm, with my husband Bob and son Cris.

Take care and let me know if you have some great ideas for summer fun with children.

Jill