First Day of Summer Celebrated- Disney's California Adventure Undiscovered

I know I said we won't be taking the summer off of learning, but we will definitely won't miss out on fun!  To ring in the summer season we began our day with a wee bit o' learnin' then went to Disneyland!  We love to have a reason to celebrate and we definitely need to pay homage to the longest day of the year.

Eating lunch at one of our secret Disney get-aways.  No crowds, just us, peace.

Really trying for a "Cool" photo

We need to work on this

Back to cute...wait, did my girl close her eyes?

We still have a little guy on the injured list so a mellow, no jerky ride day was in order.  We definitely wanted to go on the new Ariel's Undersea Adventure ride that recently opened up.  In case you missed the construction, here it is.

The sign read a 45 minute wait, but it went much more quickly.  We had snacks.  I checked Facebook.  We chatted.  The kids got on each other's nerves a little bit.  I think that was because of the heat.  It was a surprisingly 80-some degrees yesterday and we were overdressed. 

Nice view while waiting in line

Ariel's Undersea Adventure

Riders sit in colorful clam shells.  The seat reminded me of the seating on the Haunted Mansion ride sans the scary creatures and music.

Tile work- the beauty of Disney

Ariel

Eric and Ariel...Happily Ever After

After our Ariel ride we stopped by two of our other favorite California Adventure stops.  Free sourdough bread and tortillas.  Mission Tortilla was closed, but the kids got their sourdough slices.  This is a great stop for families wanting a quick snack, while avoiding the high cost food.  It's also a GREAT history of sourdough field trip for homeschool families!  After, if we are still hungry and haven't packed an adequate lunch I may buy the family a chili bread bowl at Boudin's at the Wharf.  The cost is around $7-$8, but one chili bread bowl can feed our whole family.  So if you're trying to stay on budget, it's an option I recommend.

Next year, CarsLand opens.  Watching the construction from behind the decorative barriers is very exciting!  There are great things to come to California Adventure.

Here is one of the many barriers keeping the secret between us and the new CarsLand.

Trying again for "Cool"

Still Trying!

At this point in our day we were SO HOT!!  We were so overdressed!  This means it's time to frolic under the spraying water at BugsLand.  I have to admit, my kids think I'm baby stalker.  I can't help it!  The littles are so cute!  I really miss having my own teeny tinies running around.  That season went by so quickly!

One running having a blast.  The other pretending to not want to get wet. 

So happy!

Soaking the head

Looking like he wants to get into the fun!

Adorable, if I do say so.

Wetting the head some more

And so how does this thing work?

We sat there and played and tried to cool off a bit.  Then...these two twin girls came on the scene.  OH MY WORD!  They were the cutest babies I've seen in a LONG time.  I wish I could have captured their faces when they first saw the water coming down.  Their parents were precious too!  I don't know if I've seen prouder parents in a LONG time.  Their love for their twin girls was so apparent.  It was melting my heart.  Of course I had to tell them!  They were all smiles, beaming.  Super Cute!

This is EXCITEMENT!

The water kept coming down and she didn't know what to do.  She was frozen.

 Maybe I need to have a babysitting service.  In my spare time.

Getting more wet.

Now Soaked.

Super Soaked!

This is where all the water is coming from.

Love Her!

Soaked

The kids were cooled off and I continued people watching.  I then observed something that actually made me laugh out loud.  Our middle son was sitting on the bench relaxing when a grandma with three grandsons sat down.  The three boys were Biz-zee and Grandma was trying to speak to them in a way that sounded like she meant Biz-Ness!  Our middle son couldn't help but have a front row seat to this conversation going down.  The three biz-zees  were not listening to Grandma.  Our son's expression was priceless!  It was a "What the heck are you doing?" kind of look followed by a "What in the world is Grandma going to do with these three?"  Sometimes I just love kids watching kids trying to figure each other out.

Okay, I'm trying to ignore this Grandma and the three Biz-zees

I'll just watch the kids playing in the water

Oh great!  Grandma has her hand up.  (looking toward the biz-zees)  Are you listening to Grandma?

She's still hand directing.

Really, you're not going to listen to Grandma?

Oh my Biz-zees!  What are you doing now?

Uh Oh!

Enough of those Biz-zees.  Time to hydrate.  We then went in search of water fountains.  I have my favorites.  There's one by Grizzly River Run that I love.  Super cold water!  But we were in Bugsland

Excuse me, Can't you see I'm on the phone.

Yes, I'll hold.

Party Line

Did you hear that?

Really?  Seriously?

We can be so easily entertained.

Onward.

Even though we've been to Disneyland/California Adventure many times we've never been in the Disney Animation Sorcerer's Workshop.  What a treat that was!!!  There are so many wonderful learning activities for kids AND it's air conditioned!

drawing an animation scene

Seeing Crush interact with the audience was GREAT! 

All in all, we only spent just over three hours at California Adventure yesterday.  Three hours in the heat multiplies to about 6 hours.  Needless to say, I had some happy, tired kids.  What a great start to summer!

1st Day of Summer- Are We On Break Yet?

Seems like the question we are asked most frequently this time of year is, "When are you out for summer?" or "When are you done?"  Because we're asked this question so often, it's been on my mind.  When are we out?  When does this homeschool family call it quits and take the summer off?  When do we say, "Enough of this learning business, I'm taking a break."  Hmmm....not quite sure. 

I've always hoped learning would be something we continue to do and want to do.  So much of our day is so unlike a public school experience there's not a lot to take off from.  Our kids don't get up at 6:00am or need to be somewhere by 7:00-8:00am.  There's no panic rushes in the morning looking for backpacks, socks, or missing homework.  There are no lunches to pack.  There's no carpool schedule.  We're just here at home during the summer as we are the rest of the year.

In the mornings, during the regular school year, we read from Catherine Vos's Children's Bible.  I can't imagine not doing Bible just because it's summer.  After Bible, we read what happened today in history in the American Patriot's Almanac.  We learn something new and the kids enjoy knowing what happened on the given day in American history, so we might still do that one over the summer.  Following the history tidbit, we read from the fiction and non-fiction book(s) we're enjoying.  I can't imagine not reading to our kids for a whole summer!  The rest of our school year mornings are spent doing activities like reading, science, doing experiments, cooking or baking, doing historical projects, talking, spending time together, playing games, making art projects, cleaning, learning math, silent reading, going for bike rides, nature walks, field tripping, and going to the library.  Most of this is doing life together and learning.  I don't want to break from these things.  I love learning with our kids and spending this time with them.

I know our kids would love to take a break from math, but we're still working on that over the summer too.  Sorry guys.

There are a few things we will do differently over this summer break.  We're taking a break from our American history studies and focusing on our family history.  We'll be following two books for this along with websites on genealogy.  As we study the pioneers in our families, we'll also read about pioneer life in some Laura Ingalls books.  It's been a LONG time since we've read them and it'll be good to revisit.

I hope our kids won't be too disappointed that they're not completely getting the summer off.  I wouldn't want them to get bored.  We'll stay busy, learning and having fun in the mornings.  The afternoons will be spent at the beach or poolside with friends.  I'm sure we'll squeeze some educational field trips in too.  That's what summer is about!  Family, friends, sunshine, and of course FUN!

Paleo-ish Blue Cheese Burger Wrap & Grilled Apples

Okay, maybe when reading the title this doesn't sound so good, but let me reassure you it was a TASTY meal tonight!

I'm now in the fourth week of a paleo month and feeling great!  I must admit the first couple weeks were pretty much the pits.  I'm not sure why because I usually eat pretty clean, not perfect, but overall pretty well.  But the first couple weeks, as gym members can attest to, I was on the floor.  When we had to do burpees, I'd lay on the floor after about 5 and have to re-group.  I was exhausted and it was all about food!

I'm feeling GREAT now!  I had the best 2-mile run I've had in weeks this morning, had a great CrossFit workout and then went for a 45 minute walk with a friend tonight.  Life is good!

Back to the burger...I've been thinking about ground beef with blue cheese for days.  Couldn't shake it!  If you're going strict Paleo with no dairy, this may not be the meal for you.  Actually, in two pounds of ground beef there is only a few tablespoons of blue cheese, so in my book not a deal killer.  The taste of the blue cheese is very subtle as is the faint sweetness of the apple and cranberries.

As I kept thinking about assembling a burger with blue cheese my mind went to one of my favorite salads we eat regularly at our home.  Greens, sliced apples, dried cranberries, onion, and blue cheese.  I wanted to make a burger out of this combination.

Kimberly's Blue Cheese {Paleo} Burger with Grilled Apples


Heat outdoor bbq for grilling.  We grill around medium depending on the fat content in the ground beef.  I'll cook a little lower just to control the fire that may result if the meat is too fatty.  I have a bad history of grilling fatty ribs!  Very humbling experience.

Ingredients:

2 pounds lean ground beef
1/4-1/2 cup diced onion (I love onion so I'd go more than 1/4 cup, but my sweetheart would lean to the 1/4- It's up to your taste).
3 Tablespoons dried cranberries (or more depending on your taste)
2-3 Tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
1 egg
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4-1/2 teaspoon pepper

Place ground beef and next 6 ingredients in a large bowl.  Incorporate all ingredients together with your hand.

Ready for patties

Using your hands, take a tennis ball size of meat and form into patty.  Place on grill.  Watch so the meat doesn't cook too quickly on the outside...I mean Char!

Cut a couple apple slices and place on the grill also.  Make sure they don't get too soft.

Grill burgers until they're desired doneness.

Assemble:

Take large leaf of Iceberg lettuce.  I know iceberg is the least nutritious lettuce.  If you want to wrap your burger in a giant spinach leaf, it'll be much better for you.  I miss my giant spinach I used to grow in my garden, so now I have iceberg.

Place burger inside lettuce, top with grilled apple and onion (yes, more onion- I love them and they're VERY good for the immune system).  Wrap it up and enjoy!

Burger on the lettuce, topped with grilled apple slice

Onions

All wrapped up!

So Good!  Enjoy!  I think a jalapeno would be a great addition too!

Preparing for Next Year...Where to Start? A Homeschool Must Have

Last Year's Book- Well Loved!

When I first started homeschooling I didn't have a clue where to begin, where to find the "right" curriculum for our family, or what to buy.  Through careful listening, research, and asking a lot of questions I've learned a few things over the last seven years.

One resource I learned about early on and look forward to spending my summer perusing is the Rainbow Resource Center catalogue.  I love this book!!  It's about two inches thick, bigger than most phone books.  It is filled with an exhaustive collection of curriculum complete with a descriptive evaluation written by one of the staff at Rainbow.  Much of the staff is composed of Schneider family members.  They've successfully homeschooled 7 children who tested on an average 97th percentile on the ACT exam.  Perhaps they have some experience on the subject. 

Rainbow provides a vast collection of products for preschoolers through high school students.  The catalogue reports that they supply over 40,000 products!  There is much more than curriculum offered from this company!  Just about anything you can dream of teaching can be found in this resource available to purchase.

One year I was considering switching our oldest son from one math program to another and needed to speak to someone regarding the differences in curriculum and what would work best for our family.  Rainbow provides over-the-phone advice and from what I gathered, they really know their stuff!  The recommendations were excellent!

I don't work for Rainbow, and don't receive any compensation for this blog post.  I just think they're a well-run, reputable company. If you're in the early stages of homeschooling or just enjoy reading about curriculum, I'd highly recommend their website and catalogue.

So, if you see me out and about or at the pool, I may just be carrying around my NEW 2011-2012 catalogue.  It just arrived yesterday!  Remember the Sears Wish Book?  That's how I feel about my Rainbow Catalogue.  If you'd like to request a catalog visit their website.

Inspiration abounds!

State Study: New York State Apple Muffins

This spring I stumbled upon a homeschool state study unit on About.com.  It is a 25-week study of the 50 United States.  If you sign up, each lesson is emailed to you with worksheets, links, recipes and supplemental study information.

One of our children has a knack for geography.  He memorized all the states on his own and was looking to learn more.  He began his memorization at GeoSpy and was able to quickly identify the locations and names of all the states.

These are a couple of his favorite books.  He shares all sorts of important information with us from these books.

When homeschooling, if one of your kids has in interest in something...run with it!  When doing a unit study on something they love, kids will accomplish reading, history, geography, science, hone their computer skills, improve vocabulary, writing, English, and grammar.  In addition, you can find supplemental activities to further their learning experience.  Some examples would be baking, field trips, educational videos, art projects, etc.

With all homeschooling material I come across, I evaluate what will work for our family and add additional activities or glean applicable resources.  The About.com study provides worksheets including word searches, crossword puzzles, vocabulary, coloring pages, writing forms, information about state symbols and fun activities unique to each state.  Some homeschoolers are anti-worksheet.  In that case, you can do the questions and research as a group/family.  One idea would be to take the worksheet with names, historical information, and locations to the library and have your kids find books on the topic.  Because our kids have limited computer time, they love to look up (Google search) the questions and find the answers.  (Note: when they are on the computer, I am present.  We talk a lot about computer safety).  Also, I grew up doing word searches with my grandma.  I love them!  I think a lot of kids like them too.  It's good brain exercise.

About.com recommends completing two states per week.  We are flexible.  If it takes us a week to complete one state, it's not the end of the world.  Enjoy your time together with your kids and make learning fun, not stressful.  They'll have enough deadlines and stress when they're grown.  Enjoy this time!

We're finishing up New York this week.  We learned the "official" muffin of New York State is the Apple Muffin.  It's a June Gloom kind of day here, so it's a perfect day for baking Apple Muffins.

The Official New York State Apple Muffin

Makes 24 muffins
Ingredients:

Topping:

1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon peel (lemon zest or grated lemon peel)
2 tablespoons melted butter

Place above ingredients in a bowl, stir.  Set aside.

This is a great recipe for three kids!  Each one had something to work on: topping, dry ingredients, wet ingredients.

Topping.  See the lemon zest? 

  

This is a lemon zester.  I didn't know I was missing anything in life until I got one.  It's great!

It is very easy to use.  Much better than grating my fingers!

Muffins:

Dry ingredients:
2 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Mix dry ingredients in large bowl.

Dry ingredients

Wet ingredients:

2 cups apples, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix apples and next 6 ingredients in large bowl.  Gradually add dry ingredients to apple mixture.  Stir until just combined.  Do no over mix.  Line muffin tin with liners.  Portion the batter into the muffin tin.  Sprinkle topping on each.

These are great apples.  It was hard for the kids not to eat them before they made it into the muffins.

We chopped in the Cuisinart, but you could do by had or with other chopper.

Wet ingredients

Adding dry ingredients to wet ingredients

Look at these cute muffin cups

Topping is sprinkled on top of each muffin.

Ready for the oven

 Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Fresh out of the oven.  Let cool a bit before taking them out of the tin.

A great cloudy day afternoon treat.  Enjoy!