Pancakes and Pajamas, typical homeschoolers

One of the great advantages of homeschooling is the freedom!

Freedom to still be wearing Minecraft pajamas in the middle of the day and have no one teasing you about it.

Freedom to make pancakes for lunch, because you have as much time as you need and no one ringing a bell to alert you that your lunch is over.

Easy burger patties - no touching!

I don't like touching cold, raw hamburger meat, but we all love burgers for dinner.

I came up with this simple, nifty trick for making burger patties that are relatively equal in size, but don't require me to keep sticking my hands back into the meat bowl.

By the time I mix up the spices and the meat (bare handed), my hands are miserable... so I want to wash them and be done with the meat touching.

First, I decided to use my ice cream scoop to get even servings...

Next, to make them patties, I used my potato masher to get them flat.

And, then, tada
Decent looking patties with no touching!

Share your cooking tips in the comments. I would love to hear them.

Sports Night Crock Pot Lasagna

Cheap and Easy - that's not an ad, that's what I want my meals to be... well, let's be honest, I would like lots of things to be cheap and easy, but this recipe actually is.

I call it a Sports Night recipe because that is usually when we usually need a convenient meal. It has to be yummy and filling enough to stop me from running through the drive thru after practice.

This lasagna needs the following ingredients (this feeds 2 adults, 3 teens, and 4 kids):
2 lbs cooked ground beef
2 lbs lasagna noodles
3 cans/jars of pasta sauce (2 quarts will work if you can your own)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 lbs cheese (mozzarella is the staple, but whatever you like will work)
some spices to your preference (I use oregano and basil)

I prep this about 11am while making lunch. Layer in crock the following:
Sauce, meat, noodles, cheese, noodles, sauce, tomatoes, meat, cheese, noodles, sauce, meat, cheese. Add spices to layers of sauce as you go.

I leave on high from lunchtime until about 2:30, then turn to keep warm. Kids can meander in from school and eat right away, athletes can get a hardy carb and protein meal before practice or the night before a big game, Dad can eat when he comes in from work, and Mom will, of course, taste test throughout the day to make sure it is just right.

Tip: make sure all noodles are covered with sauce, exposed noodles will not soften

If you have time and inclination, a simple garlic loaf goes well with this dish.

The Great -ish British Baking Show Homeschool Style

This adventure started with this book

You can buy it on Amazon or from Veritas Press.

All really good adventures start with a book, don't they?

It started out simple enough, like most workbooks, with reading assignments and comprehension questions... stuff about England...
but, then
page 13

Two recipes + two boys + no time limit =
our homeschool version of the Great -ish British baking show.

And, the competition begins...

I did not know when we started this project that it would take two days, but we are flexible (one of the many blessings of homeschooling), so here we are on day 2.

Noah learned about separating eggs to get egg white and he learned about burning cookies. Sadly.
But, he figured out that if he took them out sooner than the recipe said, they would be just right. (I think the recipe time was fine, but our oven is wonky.)

When the time arrived, they both proudly presented their British baked goods right on time for afternoon tea.
From my perspective, this adventure was more fun to watch than anything on TV.

Things We're Afraid To Talk About

I have recently, like in the last few years, had several meaningful conversations that have stuck with me and informed me about my local culture. What they have in common is the quick and succinct, "Shut up about that!"

I shared this photo on my Facebook page today:


It expresses exactly how I feel about this issue. Except, if you could hear me, I would be yelling it.

There seems to be a sort of cultural understanding that we will not discuss anything that actually affects our salvation, unless we can agree wholeheartedly on it. So, it's okay to say, "Jesus loves you" to a fellow Christian (although not to their unbelieving friends) and you can't say "Jesus hates sin" to anyone because Sin is one of those forbidden topics - primarily because the definition of sin is something we struggle to agree on. Using God's Word as a guide for this definition is not even to be suggested because we might not interpret it the same way...

The root of all this is that we seem to have come to a time, over generations, that keeping a friendship alive is more important than seeing that "friend" in Heaven.

I have tried to dialogue about this with my peers, and some nod in agreement, others shake their heads in frustration, but no one seems to have a solution as to how to solve it. Well, except to teach the next generation Logic and Rhetoric, so they can actually have arguments that lead to Truth. And, there are some (Hillsdale College, Veritas Press, and others) who are trying to do just that.

So, the problem I have with all of this is a deep, dark looming sadness over what I know to be True. When I am told that we will not discuss matters of salvation - I'm talking about what is sin? how are we saved? - or debate theology in any way because it might put our friendships at risk, I can only see this one of two ways:

1. You don't really believe that God's Word is true and sustaining and clearly shows the way to salvation and that without it I am doomed to Hell - so you don't feel a need to warn me that I am on my way to Eternal Damnation.

OR

2. You really do believe that God's Word is true and sustaining and clearly shows the way to salvation and that without it I am doomed to Hell, but you hate me and don't feel a need to warn me that I am on my way to Eternal Damnation.

Both of these scenarios make me sad, and I really wish we could talk about it.

Expert Parenting Advice From Me To You

When I read parenting blogs or advice columns, I often wonder about the qualifications of said advice giver.

Does she have one perfectly docile and complacent child? My first was kind of like that.

Does she have a toddler who eats everything, climbs everything, unlocks everything, and is somehow both stronger and faster than her? I've had a couple of those. Did she survive those years? I have to know.

Every summer at camp, the kids get a group shot of the whole crowd of them. 

I had two kids at camp the same week this summer. Both of them are in this cut out of the group. One is the smiling boy in the blue Thrivent shirt. The other is the grouchy (part of me wants to say creepy looking) kid in the red hat hiding his face in the upper right corner. See him now? 

This is a great example of their personality differences. One is bubbly and smiling and full of drama who loves to follow the crowd. The other is a quiet, deep thinker who prefers to walk against the tide just to see how far he can.

One of them leaves a mess and wanders off. The other likes to keep his things neat. One likes loud music, the other likes to make his own. 

They share a room. The peace treaty is often violated between these two.

I've been doing this parenting thing for more than 20 years. I'm a mother in law and a nursing mom at the same time. I've researched scholarships while in labor. I've run the spectrum of parenting experiences and here's what I know: very little.

The longer I do this parenting gig, the more I realize how much I don't know. So, moms, take it from an expert, I believe you are doing the best you can in your experience, your circumstances and with what you know. So, keep reading those blogs and articles, but remember this: anyone who claims to have all the answers to your parenting questions hasn't really been in the parenting trenches yet.

SuperMom completes craft, saves world

To my crafty friends, how do you get anything else done?

This took half the day, first, read instructions, think about supply list, try to remember what I have/need to get and where these things are. (I did all of that the night before)

 Then, gather supplies, teach kid how to trace, how to cut, get impatient three hours later and finish cutting them for her.

Assemble flowers, wait 20 minutes for her to find her hairbrush, put up hair, realize you did a twist backwards, argue with kid about starting over, give in and leave it.

Finish braiding, attach flowers to hair pins, and place in hair. Get pictures quick because you know this is not going to last.

Pour a refreshing drink as she bounces off with her "I'm a princess hair and attitude" Sit down to enjoy said drink. Spit out first sip when you hear screams from the child's bedroom.

A flower fell out. Of course.

Try about three dozen times over the next hour to make them stay in, explaining to your daughter that it is impoosible to have beautiful hair AND do gymnastics on your bed.

Regret these words when child says, "Fine. I'll just throw the flowers away then."

Talk child out of throwing away a whole day of hard work, and save them in the box of other random pretty things her heart can't let go of.

Send her off to play, apocalypse averted for another day. Collapse from exhaustion and silently swear to throw away every kids magazine with a craft project in it.

But, hey, at least I get to keep this cool picture.

The right way to handle the stomach flu in a big family

After two decades of parenting and a few bouts with illness, I've finally discovered the best way to handle sickness in our family.

First, a tip: this last time our family was ill, I had just done a full day of deep cleaning. The next morning, I had a vomiting child. So, first of all, Moms - you must simply NEVER do too much deep cleaning. I think it stirs up something. Although, if you're going to have children sticking their head in the toilet, it might as well be clean.

Once the sickness begins, here's how you need to handle it:
1. The first one down should be a child, but one of the bigger children, preferably a responsible teenager who can make it to the bathroom, leave as little mess as possible, generally clean up after himself and give you some warning that the rest are coming.

2. Next, all the Littles should be sick at once. There is something lovely about having all the small children lay on the floor on top of a blanket with there little puke buckets (remember, you were warned it was coming) while Mommy nurses the baby and reads Bennet's book of Children's Virtues.

3.Now, it is best if Mom is generally unaffected by the illness itself. She will, of course, be nauseated by all the vomiting and diarrhea that is happening around her, but she really cannot afford to come down with an actual illness herself. If she is tired and happens to throw up once or twice, it's really just a side effect of caring for all the others.

4. This is the time to have those older children who have not yet gotten sick catching up on schoolwork and chores and helping keep things under control. Dad should get to the store for supplies - it's okay if he doesn't usually do the shopping - he's more likely to overbuy than underbuy, and at this point, you want all the help you can get. He should also pick himself up something for dinner because he'll still have his appetite, but cleaning up vomit and cooking just should not go together.

5. The other bigger children and Dad can get sick when all the Littles are done with the grossest symptoms and have moved on to lethargy. This way, Mom can take care of them (with the help of that responsible teenager who got sick at first and is now feeling much better), while the Littles are generally content to lay around with books, or even watch TV. Families - if you never let your children watch television or sit with their face glued to a Kindle - NOW is the time to just let it happen.

5. Lastly, I highly recommend picking up a bug with a short life span. Those 24-hour ones are probably the best bet. That way, with this method, you can have the whole thing out of the house and everyone recovering in about 72 hours. This is so much better than the method where one child gets sick, gets better, then another gets sick, slowly passing the crud through the family, one by one, for weeks at a time, always wondering who will be next.

On one last note, if your husband happens to be a Pastor, I would suggest not scheduling this ordeal on Ash Wednesday or any other major feast day. Otherwise, you're welcome, because at least now you know that even if you can't control the illness that attacks your family, you can come out the other side with a sense of humor.