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If you haven’t gotten into the American Girl collection, then you need to.  Even boys will enjoy these books.  I remember when these books came out, and Addy was the first American Girl I read about and fell in love with.  When I saw these books at the library, I snatched them up.  We’ve been reading them a chapter at a time, then discussing it afterwards.  The kids really have a hard time understanding slavery. (Quite frankly, so do I.)  They just cannot imagine why someone would consider another person “less human” or “not human” because of their color.  We’re all the same race…. HUMAN!

Soon, we’ll visit an old plantation that is paused in this time period.  We’ll get to watch the workers do what they do (milk cows, make butter, repair building without power tools), eat authentic food for the period and culture (creole/cajun…mm), and (hey hey!) browse through the gift shop. I hope to do that within the next couple weeks.

Psalm 91
14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
       I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

 15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
       I will be with him in trouble,
       I will deliver him and honor him.

 16 With long life will I satisfy him
       and show him my salvation.” 

Nearly every morning, as we enjoy our breakfast, the children and I do a family devotional.  Today’s devotional was focused on prayer.  After we finish our meal, we get ready for the day, then meet back at the table for “projects”.  The kids always look forward to these fun crafts and often come up with a few projects of their own.

Today, we traced our hands and made “prayer hands”.  I read a few verses in the bible about prayer, then we talked about what sort of things we pray for.  We closed with each of us praying.  I LOVE listening to their little prayers.

Nolyn’s went something like this, “Tank yooo for Mommy and Daddy. Tank yoo for letting me sleep in my bedwoom. It’s really cool. Amen.”

Merika’s was a little longer. “God, thank you for Nana and Poppa.  Please help  us to behave. Especially Keagan, because he can be a little booger because he cries sometimes.  Thank you for my ring. It has bunnies on it, and I really like it because I like bunnies, even though I don’t have any.  Bunnies.”  She said a few other things, which I cannot recall, before ending with, “Love you Jesus, thank you.”

Sometimes we aren’t able to get out of the house, so our field trips often take place indoors.  We love playing pretend, and so, on this field trip, we were all professional chefs in the McGoobie Kitchen (that’s the name we decided on for our restaurant). 

The McGoobie chefs voted to make jambalaya (with andouille sausage).  I love it because it doesn’t require too many dishes (less clean up) and makes a great one-pot meal (because it includes meat, vegetables, and grains)!

The Mohawked McGoobie was in charge of placing the andouille in the pan.  Merika McGoobie cut up vegetables (bellpeppers and onions) with my assistance before we dumped in sliced okra and minced garlic along with a can of organic diced tomatoes (optional). Meanwhile, a pot of rice bubbled to tender perfection.

The Head Chef (that’s me) gathered bowls from the cupboard.  Keagan and I set the table while the pot of jambalaya simmered.  (Okay, I set the table. He slobbered on my spoon.)

By the way, a good way to de-slime okra is to cook it (by itself) with a little vinegar, then rinse it after a couple minutes. If you don’t have vinegar, like juice will do just fine.  Rinsing with water, then continuing to cook it for a bit longer, will wash away the tart taste.

The Jambalaya at the McGoobie Kitchen was rated 2 thumbs and 2 big toes up.  It’s a favorite around here!  Just load up your bowl with rice and spoon the jambalaya over it.  We keep the rice and “soup” part of it separate so the rice doesn’t get too mushy if we happen to have leftovers to set aside.  We usually serve it with saltine crackers, which are a staple in our household!

Baby Keagan will likely grow up to be an essential part of the McGoobie kitchen, as he often has front row seating when it comes to our cooking productions.

See…

If you wear your baby while cooking, please be extremely careful.  Make sure you aren’t cooking anything that splatters (like bacon).  Also, pay attention to what your baby is doing.  You don’t want him sticking his hands or feet into any pots or pans or pulling them off of the burners!  You could also wrap your child on your back, which is much safer.

Here are a few of the fun projects my children enjoy!  Feel free to leave some of your own ideas!

Keep a Journal:
Help your children make a journal. You can either buy a journal, or make one using a variety of materials.  For example, you can staple loose leaf papers (lined, unlined, or construction paper) into a manila file folder.  Have the children decorate the front. You may want to put a picture of your child on the cover.

Have them write in this journal on a daily or weekly basis.  Include pictures of what they did throughout the week if possible.  Younger children will have a lot of doodles and scribbles, but that’s okay.  You may want to ask them what is going on in their pictures or scribbles, and make note of it at the bottom of the page.  If your children like to write a lot, you could make a journal for each month.  Making one out of a file folder is a great idea because they don’t take up much space and you can save them for a long time.  You could punch holes in these folders and keep them all in a binder to remain organized.

You can also make themed journals.  My children’s favorite journal (they flip through it on a weekly basis) is one about things they enjoy, titled “About Me“.  With my help, they cut pictures out of magazines and pasted them into their journal book.  It’s made out of different colors of construction paper. 

Texture Time!
This is a fun activity, but can be messy as well.  Get out finger paints and squirt them on a plate or tray. (You could line a cookie sheet with foil for easy clean-up.)  Wad up a grocery bag for the kids to dip in the paint and “stamp” on their paper.  You could keep it wadded up by wrapping it with a rubber band.  Also, have leaves and other items (like lace) they could dip in the paint and stamp on their sheets.  If you have a couple little cars (Hot Wheels), show them how to run the wheels through the paint and roll them on the paper.  Talk about the textures and colors you are using.  Look around your house (inside and out) for different textures you can use to paint.  For example, you could use the eraser end of a pencil to stamp perfect polka dots!  Lids from water or soda bottles have ridges on the side that can be “rolled” on the paper to reveal a neat texture.  Let your children help pick out the textures you will use. Don’t forget, they have wonderful textures at their fingertips…. literally! Show them how their hands have special, unique grooves!

Dance-Dance
Put on goofy clothes and turn on music with a good beat.  Start out by dancing “freestyle” around the house.  Then have one person make up a dance move and the rest of the people copy it. Take turns making up moves.  If you are able, video tape part of it and play it back at the end of the session.  It’s a great way to get in some exercise and have fun doing it (especially for parents).

Working Together
Use a scarf or rope to tie together your children’s legs (three-legged-race style).  Ask them to do something, and watch while they struggle to work together to complete the task.  Once they have mastered that, tie them back to back or hand to hand.  My children absolutely LOVE this game.  They giggle through it!  Parents can try this together to show them how it works! It’s quite hilarious! 

HOTM MeMe: A Day in the Life
What happens in an Unschooling home?

We have a relaxing morning.  We bath, brush our teeth, and talk about the bible. The kids ask for cookies for breakfast, which is what they usually ask for and rarely ever get until lunch time.  I make peanut butter and (strawberry) jelly sandwiches instead and slice them in half before serving. 

Nolyn holds up a half and exclaims, “It’s a triangle, Mom!”
Merikalyn takes a bite out of hers and says, “Triangles are cool.”
Before I know it, the triangles are gone, and the kids are moving in on my own sandwich. I scarf it down before it’s stolen.

We start talking about elephants because Keagan’s room is decorated with them. Merikalyn asks, “How do you spell elephant?”  I write it down on paper and show it to her. She takes out her favorite pen and tries to copy what I’ve written.  For the most part, it looks like a bunch of O’s L’s and A’s.  Nolyn points to one of the letters and says, “It’s a P,” then draws a perfectly shaped P on a napkin.

Merikalyn wants to draw an E, so I show her how.  I draw a lowercase e, and she laughs. “It looks like a curl.”

Natasha calls because we’ve been trying to get together for a playdate.  She brings her son Kale over, and we all make pizza.  I roll out dough (Pillsbury crescents) on a pan and bake it (350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes, FYI).  When it’s done, the kids help me smooth pizza sauce over the crust, then take turns sprinkling cheese on top.  It’s something I could do much quicker, but it’s fun watching them do it.  Natasha helps while I put the chocolate chip cookie dough the kids and I prepared earlier in the day in the oven.

Nolyn can’t wait to put the pepperoni on top.  Actually, he can’t wait to put them in his mouth, but he manages to get a few on the pizza as well.

Natasha and I talk about homeschool and pregnancy (she’s due April 1st, on my Dad’s birthday) while Kale, Merikalyn, and Nolyn play.  Time flies, and, all too soon, it’s time for them to leave.

Keagan and I play for a bit before everyone settles down for naps.  Merikalyn and I talk about where Daddy is (Belize, on a mission trip) before I tuck her in.  Nolyn wants me to sing “a tractor song” and then a “Spiderman song” and then a “Superman song” and then… I read him a couple pages of a book before he snatches it from me and says, “I do it, Mom.” While feeding the baby, I hear Nolyn counting out change as he slips it under his door. (Giggle.)

Once they are up, it’s time to head to church for a Wednesday night meal.  Nolyn wants “three ketchups” (packages) on his burger.  Three is his favorite number.  He eats three Oreos.  Then they head off to their fun little classes to sing and learn about Jesus. 

We return home and hang out with one of our friends, Cheri.  Some of our friends (Christy and Billy) and their kids stop in for short while.  Merikalyn and Nolyn watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before heading to bed.

This is an abnormal day for us.  Usually we go to the restaurant.  We usually have my husband around.  And, it’s been a rainy week, so we haven’t gone out much.  Some days, it feels like they are learning loads of things.  Other days, it’s a bit slow.

Every day is different!  I realize my children are learning a lot more than I think or see.  Besides, they are only (almost) 3 and four and a half.  There’s no need to cram!  I want to make sure they LOVE learning.  I don’t need to stuff them full of work and information to make them prodigy children.  Is it just me or does anyone else feel like learning has been made a competition?

We had a blast yesterday.  I covered the table with contact paper before letting the kids go wild on a couple canvases I had laying around.  Contact paper was a great idea.  They don’t realize the table is protected, so they are still very careful.  Of course, they still managed to get paint on it, but I wasn’t worried because I knew it wasn’t a big deal.  I could wipe it off, and if the paint didn’t come off completely, I didn’t have to worry about it. Unlike table cloths, the contact paper won’t slip off.  Plus, the adhesive on the contact paper won’t ruin the table.

While waiting for the paintings to dry (we’re going to work on them a bit more later today), I pulled out an old t-shirt of mine and transformed it into accessories for the critters.  A cap for Keagan out of the sleeve, a “Ninja” headband for Nolyn out of the bottom seam, and a dress and bracelets out of the body part for Merikalyn.  Then we ventured over to the restaurant to show Daddy the fabulous transformations.  It was a great laugh for us all.

Nolyn and Merika are wearing their special aprons we decorated before Keagan was born.  Nolyn’s doubles as a super hero cape (shh, don’t tell anyone).

Today we took advantage of the first burst of cool weather and headed outdoors.  The kids get a huge thrill from digging in the dirt.  Ah, remember when the simple things were oh-so-fun?  We watched Daddy and Uncle Ryan demolish the old shed (damaged by Hurricane Rita and left by previous owners) for a bit before I decided it would be best for baby to head back indoors.  Now Merika is flipping through a Cat in the Hat book while Nolyn cracks plastic easter eggs into a bowl.  I asked him what he was cooking.  His reponse?

“I cookin’ a dirtbay cake ….. for me!”

I was awakened by the mouth-watering scent and sound of breakfast sizzling.  After breastfeeding the baby, I wandered into the kitchen to find my adorable children huddled around the kitchen with my husband.

For those of you who don’t know, Merikalyn’s favorite thing in the whole wide world to do is…..

Cook.

She’d rather watch the Food Network than any cartoon.  Her favorite ingredient is garlic.  Her favorite kitchen tool?  The wisk. She loves to season things.  We both agree….. nearly every dish could use a little seasoning.

Anyway, this is what I find my dear daughter doing:

That’s right, folks.  She was making eggs (and sausage) as a breastfast surprise for her Mama!  Brandon asked how many eggs they made (six). “Now, if you get an egg, and Nolyn gets an egg, how many eggs are left?”

Holy Moly, Puddin’ and Pie!!! She knew the answer!  I was definitely shocked.

I suppose that’s unschooling at its best!  Every day I realize my children have learned something I haven’t specifically set out to teach them. 

I am sure, according to public school standards, they would be “behind” on some things, but extremely ahead in others.  That’s what I love about homeschooling-  learning at the pace your child is ready to learn at, even if the order seems scrambled (like my eggs).