Field Trips are the BEST

We just started school on Monday, and I was already itching for a field trip!  It was a spontaneous trip to Seattle to the Ballard Locks to see the salmon ladder.  We've been there several times before, but we've never seen any salmon in those stinking ladders!  Today was our lucky day.  Jackpot!

We talked about the life cycle of a salmon, and of course I had to mention how amazing this whole journey is, traveling all the way back to their birthplace to spawn, even though it's upstream the whole way.  (Is this an appropriate time to say how great smoked salmon tastes?)

We also spent some time watching the boats go through the locks, and it was a great chance to talk about how locks work, and even daydream a little about where each boat was going and what they'd be doing.  The sun was setting in Seattle, it was a gorgeously sunny day, so I'm sticking this in my memory bank to latch onto in about two months when the "gray winter" hits the Pacific Northwest.

Almond Milk

My youngest, Little Bear, has had quite the time in his little year on Earth, with terrible itch-all-over-open-sores-in-all-the-cracks eczema.  While I was nursing him, I tried to narrow down what exactly was causing him to break out so badly, and finally decided it was eggs and soy.  But I've had my suspicions about dairy.  Now that Bear is a ripe old one year and I'm no longer nursing (yay I can eat scrambled eggs again!), it's easier to see what he's reacting to, and I do believe the whole milk is bothering him.  My friend Steph has been making almond milk for awhile now, and so after a personal tutorial...here I am.  Making almond milk!

The recipe:

raw almonds soaked in water for at least 8 hours (with a dash of salt)

(I soaked enough for about 4 batches, to hopefully last the week)

3/4 tsp vanilla

2 TBSP real maple syrup

4 cups water

Drain and rinse the almonds, add 1 1/4 cups of almonds to your blender.  I have a food processor.  It was messy, but got the job done.

Add in about 2 of the 4 cups of water, and blend for 60-90 seconds, until almonds are tiny bits and pieces.

 

 Add in the vanilla and maple syrup while blending, and the rest of the water, if you can.  My food processor couldn't handle that much liquid without making a HUGE mess, so I left a little bit out for the time being.






Get a cheesecloth (I used a flour sack cloth) and drape over a pitcher.  Pour the almond milk in.  This is when I added the rest of the water, right into the cloth!  Allow to drain into the pitcher.  Then grab that cloth, gather the top together, and wring out the rest of the liquid until all you have left is pulp, or "almond meal."

I spread out the almond meal from each batch on a cookie sheet, and baked it in the oven at 170 degrees for several hours, until it's all dried out.  Then you can food process it and bam!  You have expensive and fancy almond flour!  Or leave it more granular and Google up some recipes for it!  Yum!!

I feel like such a farmer, or chef after all this!  What a great feeling to be able to make milk for my little baby!  And know EXACTLY what's in it!  I just about put on my pioneer apron in celebration of this little moment.  I gave my little Bear a bottle full of fresh almond milk, and he drank it right up! 

Sore Throat Season?

Poor Ramses, he had a fever on Sunday with a sore throat, so we took it easy, stayed home, relaxed, and it was actually kind of nice to chill.  But Monday morning comes, and I'm ready to go, and he's still complaining about that throat!  So I hit the internet, looking for a natural cure for strep throat, in case that's what this is.  I found a great recipe, by Dr. Christopher, for throats:

Dr. Christopher's Sore/Strep Throat Remedy:
1 tbsp raw honey (preferable I'm sure, I used regular honey from Winco bulk section)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
4 cloves of garlic pressed through a garlic press (I grated mine)

Take the ingredients and stir them all together.  Take 1 tsp every 30-60 minutes.  You'll need more than this, but it's a good place to start.

I whipped up this concoction, and was ready to administer it to Ramses like the good nurse that I am, and he was ready to take it, until he tasted it.  It's tough getting a nine year old to eat something he doesn't want to eat, but he did his best.  When using this, it's best to not drink or eat anything right after, to let it coat your throat, and to also take it faithfully while symptoms last.  We'll see if that happens or not.  But I'm excited to find something that I don't need to run to the doctor's for.  I'm all about being self-reliant, and this is a step in the right direction!

2013/2014 Here We Come!

I've been homeschooling for awhile, and yet I still feel like an amateur!!  Every year brings new ideas, and this year I've decided to blog our experiences, good and bad.  I'll try and be honest, yet optimistic, as I record our days.  Late at night, I've gone blog hopping, and after about 6.4 minutes I feel like a failure as I see everyone's great and fantastic projects, their perfect looking children, and the amazing lengths some parents have gone to when teaching concepts....as I sit on the couch, eating ice cream and Cheetos, after a day of "morning gone wild", where I've spent the whole day nagging, cleaning, and running around, with no schoolwork to show, and somehow the house never did get clean... So this blog is to uplift us all as I remember the great days, and give hope for tomorrow on those days I'd rather just sweep under the rug.

I have five children now, Ramses is 9, Goldilocks is 7, Luigi is 5, Pinkerbelle is 4, and Little Bear is 1.  My husband is affectionately known as Pa, since one of my favorite book series in the world is Little House on the Prairie...which makes me Ma.  We follow more of a routine than a schedule, and since I love something about every teaching method I've read, we mix in Charlotte Mason, Thomas Jefferson Education, Unschooling, and a little Classical into our days.

We've recently moved to a bigger home, with just under half an acre in the outskirts of town, I'm fumbling my way through urban homesteading...raising chickens, making jam, and dreaming of an underground bunker like the one on Blast From the Past (love that movie!)

I'm all geared up for my 5th year of homeschooling, using minimal curriculum, and hoping to keep the love of learning burning bright in each of my children, and myself.  Of course, I deemed tomorrow as our First Day of School, and the feverish pukes decide to make a special visit to my home today, so we'll see how it goes tomorrow.

I've decided to start our day with filling out our Compass plan for the fall--something from TJEd, where we record our goals for this fall and then we can keep ourselves headed somewhat in the direction we need to.  I also have high hopes for a weekly planner for the kids, because this seems to be a weak point in my life.  I start out so hopeful every Monday, and then with errands, life, and house craziness, I feel like school slips through the cracks a bit.  Cross my fingers, I hope this helps.

Here's to an exciting and wonderful school year! Maybe it'll be so smooth and awesome we'll start schooling through the summers!  hahahahah...That'd have to be pretty dang awesome...