In the thick of it.

Yup, you read it right.  We are officially "in the thick of it".  We have begun our homeschoolin' and thar ain't no turnin' back now!

OK, but, anywayzzzzzzz....

We have finished our first week of homeschooling, and we have finished two days of the curriculum I planned.  Hhhmmm.....  I think we are a little teeny weeny bit behind.  But, on the same note, I know that we have been learning, which is the whole point of this little adventure.

One of the lessons that we had this week was on the poem Catch a Little Rhyme by Eve Merriam.  I highly suggest looking this poem up as it has a lot of fun words to play with.  We read the poem together and found all of the funny lines throughout.  Then, my son came up with his own verbs to replace all the verbs that the author had used.  He was laughing so hard at some points that I didn't think he would be able to go on.  We then looked at the authors use of couplets in the poem and I had him add one of his own, which again had him laughing quite hysterically.

The next day we were riding in the car and he was talking to his older brother, and what do I hear, but my middle boy reciting Catch a Little Rhyme in its entirety!  How awesome!  Then, this afternoon, my middle boys receives his Highlights magazine in the mail and as he is reading through it he calls me over to see a poem written in couplets.  Wow, it is all worth it during moments like those.

To finish off our Catch a Little Rhyme lesson, we decided to make a kite, since at the end of the poem the rhyme flies away as a kite.  I found some kite making directions online and I will leave you with a couple pictures of my boy attempting to fly his kite made all by himself without a lick of wind. (We will try it again when we get some wind around here.)

Until later,
Gail

 

1 amazing boy

Can you believe that these three amazing boyz are all the same boy?  Yep, that's right.  My oldest son has grown so big and so amazing, I am sooooooo proud of him. 

Last week he ventured off to his sophmore year in high school.  The time has slipped away much too quickly.  I hate to be one of those people, you know, the ones who tell you not to let time get away from you.  Buuuuuttt, that is exactly what I am going to do!!

Treasure every moment with your child.  When they come waddling up to you with a book in their hand, stop what you are doing and sit down on the floor with them and read.  Create an everlasting moment.  The dishes will be there at the end of the story, I promise.  If you figure out how to make them disappear, please let the rest of us know (we would pay big bucks for that secret!).

Bake cookies with your babies, your toddlers, your elementary ones, your middle schoolers (even while they look at you weird), and at least share the bowl of cookie dough with the high schooler.  I speak as a mother who missed many of these moments with my older son.  I was working, he was at daycare or going to school and everybody would come home tired just to do the routine of homework and baths and dinners.  So many times that we could have slowed down, that I am only now appreciating.  I am blessed to have two younger boys that I can do it right with, but I cannot take back the time I lost with my oldest son.

I pray for each parent out there that they treasure every child and that God gives every parent time to spend with their child.  Please Lord, do not let the parent miss the opportunities that you give them, do not let the parent fill the times that you give them to spend with their child doing other things.  God, you have given us each child for a very specific reason, please help us to love them and raise them up by your love and grace.  AMEN.

This is my boy, an amazing and wonderful boy.  He is a genius, a friend, a little bit crazy, and he drives me nuts throughout most of the day.  He is too smart for me and constantly out thinks anything I have to say to him.  He likes to prank his little brothers which results in many squabbles and tears.  He is full of joy and God has given him gifts of gold.  To my son, I love you.   

MMMMM........

MMMMM...........  

Did I make your mouth water yet?  Yes, this was my families dinner tonight.  I am quite proud of it, if I do say so myself.  AND...... everybody ate some.  This is an unusual event at my home.  My husband grew up on southern cooking, I have high blood pressure and the three boys all have different taste buds which never seem to mesh at the same time.  So, when I rave that everybody ate some, it is a HUGE accomplishment!

So, I thought I would share this wonderful meal with all the wonderful people out in the Internet world who might want to grab onto this amazing meal and make it one of theirs.  I took the basis of this recipe from a book by Dick Logue called 500 Low Sodium Recipes (am I supposed to underline the names of books - I honestly do not remember and I haven't gotten to that part in my sons 3rd grade curriculum yet, so please bear with me).  The name of the recipe in his book is Sesame Shrimp Noodles, but I made a few changes so I call them Tempura Shrimp in Sesame Noodles.

Tempura Shrimp in Sesame Noodles

For the tempura batter, I went ahead and purchased a box of tempura mix.  Now, because I have high blood pressure, I looked around and found one that was low on the sodium.  I found mine in the asian food section at my local Walmart.  Unfortunately we only have Walmart or Kroger where I live, so I am VERY limited on my food options.  (That will fill a whole separate blog - pages long).  But, getting back to the shrimp thing.  I made the mistake of not buying my shrimp deviened and peeled, with children running around this can be a HUGE mistake.  I added at least a half hour to my prep time that is difficult to find with a toddler.  My suggestion, spend the extra bucks to have your shrimp ready to use. 

Follow the directions on the box of tempura mix for preparing the mix and the oil to cook in.  I tried adding some coconut flakes to my tempura mix, but I'm not sure that it really affected the flavor.  A thought I had was maybe adding some coconut milk to the mix and not putting in as much water, maybe?  Play around with it, and if you find something good..... please let me know!  Make sure that the oil is nice and hot, and fresh.  Yucky oil tends to cook yucky food.  Just an opinion from me.

Alright, now we get into the copyright stuff from 500 Low Sodium Recipes.

For sesame noodle sauce:

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

1/4 cup (60 ml) rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated, or 1/4 teaspoon dry ginger

2 teaspoons (6.5 g) honey

2 teaspoons (3 g) cornstarch

1 tablespoon (8 g) sesame seeds

Mix together all ingredients for sauce.  Set aside.

Cook pasta (the recipe calls for 8 ounces linguine, but I prefer to use fettuccine - your call) according to package directions.

While pasta is cooking start dipping and cooking the shrimpies according to directions on your tempura mix box.

When pasta is 3 minutes from being finished, add a frozen sugar snap pea mix to the pasta pot.  Bring water back to a boil and finish cooking the pasta.

Drain the pasta and pea mixture.  Add the sauce to the pasta and pea mixture, make sure to mix it up really good.

Place noodles on plate and top with shrimp.  Sprinkle with additional sesame seeds if you so desire.

Sit back with the fam and enjoy!  YUM!!!!!!

We had minor baby sadness last night, so I finished this in the morning.  Where is says tonight, is really last night.  But.... I went to take care of baby and fell asleep myself.  So life goes, I just try to roll with it.  :)

Here is the cutest thing ever.... my littlest boy was trying to help my middle boy tie his shoes! 

BOYZ ARE AMAZZZZIN'

Until we meet again,
Gail

 



 

New Beginnings!

Hello!!!!

This is all brand new to me.  This will be my first year homeschooling my 3rd grader and my toddler, YIKES!  I am excited to get started and a bit nervous also.  My high schooled boy is continuing his adventures at the public school, where he is doing AMAZING!  We are so proud of him (Mom's gushing ensues). 

I am also new to the whole blogging thing.  I have a lot of good ideas that I want to share and I enjoy telling others about the things that my family is doing.  Sooooo..... it only seems natural that I start the blogging.  And so, the blogging shall commence.

I hope to be able to share the excitement of my family with others out there and I also hope that other families will feel free to share information with me.  We are going to be teaching an eclectic homeschooling curriculum this year.  Our basis is the Core Knowledge Sequence founded by E.D. Hirsch, Jr.  I strongly believe in this sequence which relies on building knowledge upon knowledge.  If anyone has the opportunity to check out their website, I highly recommend it: www.coreknowledge.org . 

Alright, I think I will leave everyone with a picture of my boyz being amazing boyz!!!!!

Until next time,

Adios,
Gail