Category Archives: Musings

Musings, Recipes/Food

Name this fruit

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Anyone recognize this fruit? I had never bought one before but Costco had them for such a great price, I couldn’t resist.

papaya

The children, always open and eager to try new foods (ha!), were SHOCKED to see the seeds inside. How can they know what fish eggs look like? Really, I have to wonder what kind of science they are taking at their school.

None of the children liked the fruit at all. Joshua said it was too much like cantaloupe (and this is bad how?) and rejected even his small little bite. Daniel and David, who both LIKE cantaloupe , weren’t impressed either. Hmmm. I think this is one of those cases where you just keep presenting a new food until it’s not ‘new’ any more. Theoretically that works for picky eaters. I’ll have to ask my sister-in-law (who has a picky eater or two in the family) to report on that theory. Eliz, any thoughts?

Needless to say, I made up a fruit smoothie this evening (including this mystery fruit, banana, frozen blueberries, milk and honey) and all the children loved it (except for that cantaloupe hater, Joshua).

I know some people have smoothies on a regular/daily basis. We fix fruit blends more in the summer when it’s warm. Hard to really cozy up to a glass of iced drink when it’s grey and cold outside. Still, what a great snack – sweet and healthy – I may need to get back in the habit.

papaya two

Kathy

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P365 – Day 54 (Civil War)

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History was never one of my favorite subjects. In fact, I have to say I don’t remember a single history course from high school. In college I took the one required class but all I remember is the exam (and how thankful I was to pass).

Homeschooling has completely changed my attitude towards history. I have grown to thoroughly love history. I find it thrilling to dive into the different periods of history and study the people, places and events. Our homeschooling curriculum, Sonlight Inc., is what I credit for my transformation. Sonlight’s approach is to make history a living subject. We read fascinating books that take us through the different years in time.

All of the children enjoy history, but Joshua is probably the most interested in the subject. It is because of him that I agreed to teach a Civil War class at our homeschooling co-op. Of course, there is a big difference between teaching your own children and a class room full.

For example, I can send my children to their rooms. I tried to send these co-op kids to their bedrooms but they just looked at me blankly. My own children have a healthy fear (uh, respect) of our “principal,” a.k.a. Dad. These other students don’t even know Tim much less worry about getting one of his famous lectures.

In our school, we snuggle up on the couch and read books for hours. Um, that doesn’t seem to work with a co-op class. In the Duckabush Academy we can stop and take a break if mom/teacher needs a cup of coffee or a little nap. At co-op we have tables and chairs and NO couches anywhere in sight. It’s VERY difficult sneaking in a nap on those plastic chairs, not to mention the looks you get from the other teachers.

This week I missed my chance to have coffee by five minutes. Sigh. It was bad enough I was settling for old coffee, but it turned out they had packed away the microwaves and I had missed my chance even for a reheat. That would NEVER happen at home. Coffee is just too important to me.

So, you see there are many challenges to teaching a co-op, and it is a great sacrifice on my part to be a brilliant, creative instructor for a bunch of couchless, microwave-hiding kids. Thankfully the classes are small and the periods relatively short in duration.

One advantage to having your son (who is completely obsessed, I mean interested in, the Civil War) in your class is that he will often help come up with creative ideas for the lesson plans. Sometimes, if you are very quick-witted and clever, you can hand practically the entire class over to such a beloved son. And, if you are especially sneaky and cunning, you can fool him into thinking he’s just “helping” and that you are actually teaching the class.

This is the primary book I’m using for the course. It has worksheets and maps and offers a general overview of the war.

book

Such was my success this week. The library has a wealth of videos/dvd’s featuring the Civil War (it being a rather pivotal war in the history of our country) and I have checked out as many as I think appropriate. The ones produced by Schlessinger media are particularly well done. Joshua is more than willing to sacrifice his time to preview the videos and see if they are appropriate for our class.

Here is what we watched in class.

civil war video

The subject for our study this week was the Battle of Bull Run, the first major battle of the Civil War. The story itself is interesting as people gathered to watch the battle, going so far as to bring picnic lunches and blankets. Not content with letting me give a simple lecture on the Battle of Bull Run, Tim and Joshua came up with the idea of re-enacting the battle with toy soldiers. Who, I asked them, was going to create such a wonderful presentation. I spent some time online researching the details of the battle. Joshua poured over the different websites and began taking notes.

“Do you want to teach the class this week, Joshua?” I inquired (a plot beginning to hatch in my devious mind). “Uh, of course not, Mom,” he replied, beginning to sketch out a rough map of the battle ground.

By the time the night ended Joshua had taped paper onto a large piece of plywood and drawn out the map of Manassas Junction. He also made up a list of the main commanding officers and detailed events of the battle. Here he is plotting how to organize the re-enactment.

plotting battles

In the end, Joshua practically ran the entire class. We watched part of the video and then Joshua took over. He handed out assignments to the students – General Johnston, General Bee, Commanding Officer Beauregard and so on – and then gave them a representative amount of toy soldiers. I pretty much sat down and mourned the loss of my hot coffee. Joshua took us through the entire battle, having the kids move their soldiers up and down the countryside as was appropriate. It was great! We not only learned about the choices that led to the Confederate’s victory but got to play with toys (maybe this is a little bit like our school at home).

joshua's battle

A little more time and Joshua would have painted the battle scene true to life. Salt dough maps anyone?

Kathy

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P365 – Day 53 (Fort in a …)

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I have a true love/hate relationship with forts. I know, this is a strange thing to admit, but they say it helps to share these kind of deep seated struggles.

Exactly who “they” are I’ve never been too sure. One day I might run into one of “them” and when I do I want to be ready.

Back to forts.

I love forts. I love the homemade forts that involve pillows and blankets and chairs arranged strategically around the room. I remember spending hours making forts with my three brothers (of course, those often involved weapons of some sort, depending on if we were fighting Indians or robbers). As a long-time babysitter, I have built many a fort in my time.

I hate forts. This is where the hate part of love/hate comes in. Forts make a mess in so many different ways. First, they are usually placed in the very center of a room so the entire area is unusable – you can barely walk through the room. Also they require blankets dragged from every corner of the house (“How did you get that collection of Mexican blankets down? They were packed away in the garage!) and, of course, books (the biggest and heaviest ones possible) pulled off bookshelves to “stabilize and secure” the fort.

The older kids spend so much time building “cool forts” for the little ones that we often have to put school on hold, just waiting for the building process to complete. They take such a long time and involve such creative planning that I sometimes wonder if we need a permit of occupancy in order to start playing.

Sigh. These are the crazy, twisted, mixed feelings that I live with in this house of kiddos. Thankfully I have a blog, so I don’t have to suppress these conflicted emotions any longer.

Today Daniel left our school reading time to “make a quick fort for David and Sarah.” Cue a rather long break. Joshua has taught Daniel well in the fort making business (if only there was some money to be made in this line of work). Daniel often creates elaborate reading nooks and fun spots for the younger two children.

Today was no different.

tub fort

Yes, that is a bath tub. Yes, if you look closely you can see the face of my six year old son. Yes, that is a crib mattress on top of bathtub and six year old.

Rub a dub, dub, two kiddos in the tub.

david and sarah

Having the time of their lives. “Can we sleep in here?”

Daniel pulls back the mattress to reveal the children. Unlike my own childhood, where forts were modeled after military structures (the Alamo comes to mind), these kids usually bring in a pile of books and a few toys. You never know when a good football might come in handy.

daniel and kiddos

Ah, it’s most likely because we are doing such a wonderful job as homeschoolers of instilling a love of reading and quiet play. Or … maybe this is just the one spot in all of the house were they can have some peace and quiet and actually finish a book without being interrupted. Hey, is there room in there for me?

The fun lasted until the blankets started getting wet. Not sure how that happened. Hmmm? Can’t imagine. The subliminal messages were too hard to resist; both of the younger children begged to take a bath later on in the day. I guess you can take the kid out of the bathtub but you can’t take the bathtub out of the kid. No wait, that makes no sense at all. You can take the fort out of the bathtub but you can’t take the bathtub out of the fort.

Do you ever get the feeling that some people shouldn’t blog late at night?

2 Obscure Movie Quotes for the Day:
1. “Lex, why do so many people have to die for the crime of the century?”
“Why? You ask why? Why does the phone always ring when you’re in the bathtub?”

Which leads to the next one (different movie).

2. I never put a phone in a shower before. Do you get many calls in here?
A steady stream.

Kathy

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P365 – Day 40 (School Spot)

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Whoops–It looks like I have two Day 38′s. Well, these things happen. I’ll just jump ahead to Day 40 and fix the other post.

Somehow I went through the entire day without taking a single picture (gasp!). I even had my camera with me and still forgot – too busy teaching, I guess.

I was exhausted this afternoon/evening. I came home from co-op, read my e-mail and then climbed into bed with my Bible, journal and a magazine. Tim’s home office is upstairs in our room so I was able to talk with him about my day, spend some time praying with him (been TOO long since we’ve had our couple prayer time), and then just relax reading. Rachel came and read her book next to me. Very cozy.

I stayed in bed until dinner time – had Daniel and Rachel fix frozen pizzas. It was wonderful. We watched part of Calamity Jane over dinner.

calamity jane

How is it possible that I have somehow missed this little treasure? It was hilarious – songs and dancing and Indians – a perfect mix not to mention Doris Day and our favorite, Howard Keel (Adam Pontipee from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers). I definitely want to add this to our collection of musicals.

7 brides

Tim went back upstairs to work after dinner and, at some point, I got a sudden burst of energy. I decided to rearrange the dining room and vacuum the downstairs. I turned the music up loud and got to work. We have Bible study at our house this weekend so I was motivated to do some cleaning. Somehow my energy lasted through all the furniture moving and vacuuming. I’m beat now and ready for bed. Not sure who is going to clean the kitchen. Tim is still upstairs working, bless his heart. Joshua is off at the middle school retreat. He’s the dinner dishes person this week so I guess I might have to tackle the kitchen myself.

My Project 365 picture(s) of the day comes from the living room. Our favorite school couch time/reading spot and the very full bookshelves next to it. Rather boring with no children in sight but at least the floor is vacuumed. Lol!

Big Bluebookshelves

Kathy

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70 Things My Dad Taught Me (part 7)

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Dad taught me about Life

Read your Bible and pray, every day. I’ve alluded to this already, but Mom and Dad put a high priority on spending time in the Word and in prayer each day. This has paved the way for me in making these things a part of my daily routine.

How to do the “Eustace voice” (in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis). While this may not seem to be a very important life-skill, it is symbolic of the many special humorous touches my Dad has inserted into his life. Dad used to read aloud to us (and to Mom) a lot, and he always did have good voices. Dad is not afraid to abandon his dignity and be a little foolish if it would entertain his children — an example I have taken firmly to heart.

How to have a great family vacation. I still remember taking a month to cross the country when we moved from Fort Lewis to New York City, camping and hiking and generally having a glorious Summer. We skied in Switzerland and Germany and traveled throughout Austria, Holland, Italy, France, Spain and England during the four years we lived in Heidelberg. Wherever we went, Mom and Dad made sure to find things that were interesting to the kids yet at the same time pushed us to expand our rather limited cultural horizons. We didn’t always stay home having rubber-band fights.


Sometimes we went camping, but mostly Mom did the cooking.

If everyone is doing something, that is a good reason not to do it. Dad used to speak derisively of the ‘peasants’ who followed the ways of the world, who chased after fame or popularity or money or self-indulgence. Through ceaseless repetition, he taught me that following the lead of others was often a recipe for displeasing God, and encouraged me to passionately seek the will of God and to resist peer pressure.

Leadership is best taught by example. Dad was never afraid or too self-important to do any hard or unpleasant thing, but walks his talk consistently. Much as I would have liked to (during some of my rebellious phases), I was never really able to make the charge of hypocrisy stick on my Dad.

Know when you are right and stick to your guns. A choleric in personality type, my Dad (well, and my Mom, too — but this is Dad’s blog) taught me to hold my ground when I knew (especially from scripture) that I was on the right path. Not quite the diplomat that my Dad is, sometimes this gets me in trouble, but I value it highly nonetheless.

How to be humble. Jesus taught a parable rebuking those who sought the best seats at banquets:

When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:7-11)

My Dad lives out the principle of this parable, and has often been asked to ‘move up to a better place’. Humility is something I have lacked in any significant amount, and I’m striving to be more like him in that regard.


I guess I just love my Dad. Here he is.

Be polite especially when speaking hard truth. Some years ago my Dad used to send out little one- or two-page notes to the soldiers he worked with in the 9th Infantry Division. Sometimes he would speak critically of a deficiency in leadership or have some other hard-to-accept teaching to communicate, but he always ended his letters with “Warm regards”. I learned (and am still learning) from my Dad that hard words don’t have to be crammed down people’s throats — sometimes “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”. Kind of makes you want to burst into song, doesn’t it?

Take care of your stuff. Dad grew up in the years that the United States was entering World War II, and his parents were alive during the depression. Dad tells stories about the shortages their family faced, and has consistently tried to be a good steward of the durable (and not-so-durable) things that he has owned. In this age of disposable everything, it is good for me to remember a time, through my Dad, when people didn’t throw things away until every bit of value had been squeezed out of them.

People value what they pay for, but sometimes they need to hear things even when they don’t ask for it. Dad has often been the dispenser of unsolicited advice, and seems cheerfully unfazed when his advice is not accepted. As a veritable fountain of unsolicited advice in my own right, it is very good for me to see the way my Dad handles this.

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