Hoot
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Posts posted by Hoot
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Harry Potter.
But then, I am not a huge fan of LOTR so...
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I make a list and let him choose X number from each category.
That Amazon idea is brilliant!
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Do you give set bed times/times to be up? Do you limit time on electronics such as ipods? I'm constantly not sure how much freedom to give and how much control to keep. Dd is 15, so I feel that she needs to learn to manage her own time, but if I see her making irresponsible choices, I feel that I'm her parent and it's my responsibility to intervene.
How do you handle these issues with your teens?
DS is 13 and I'm still the parent so, yes, we still manage his time to a point. His bedtime is somewhere between 8 and 9 right now, with occasionally being allowed to stay up until 10 to read. He's an early riser and not very pleasant when he's up late. He also gets pretty severe migraines when he doesn't get enough sleep so we have to enforce bedtimes more often than not.
Personally, I HATE electronics like tv, video games, iPod etc. I allow them very minimally because I think there are things far more important to do than zone out in front of a screen all day. TV time must be cleared with me first. No channel surfing or just turning it on for noise. You must have a show in mind to watch or it doesn't come on. There are many days when the tv doesn't come on at all during the day. Of course, he is not deprived at all. We watch plenty together. Video games are for special occasions. DH and I like to thrift shop sometimes and DS is allowed to stay home and play his game while we're out if he doesn't want to come with us. Sometimes he will do extra chores and opt to be "paid" in video game time. The iPod can be a little harder to regulate at home but I don't allow him to walk around with earbuds in either at home or elsewhere. I think that's incredibly disrespectful. He prefers to use it in his room for things other than music anyway; movie making, face time, MLB updates etc.
DS is a VERY active kid: karate and baseball are his structured extracurriculars and he swims for fun. He could very easily become a couch potato though since he is very much a home-body by nature.
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What I was looking forward to this week happened last night: Delaware Shakespeare Festival's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." It was awesome!
As for the rest of the week, I'm looking forward to starting our Olympics Unit Study today, going to the fair and getting a day by myself while DH and DS go do a different fair. :001_smile:
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One of DS13's favorite books is Animal Farm. He read it a few years ago and requested to read it again this year. It is only about 128 pgs.
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Bible - Who is God?
Math - TT Pre-Algebra/Algebra (I haven't decided if we're going to bother finishing Pre-Algebra or just move right into Algebra. Right now he's kind of doing both in tandem.)
History - Mystery of History 3 + Map work to incorporate Geography
Science - Apologia General Science
Logic - Fallacy Detective & Thinking Toolbox
Language Arts - IEW U.S. History Based Writing Lessons (slower pace); Writing With Skill; KISS Grammar; Total Language Plus Literature Guides (DS13's choice in books: The Hobbit & The Hiding Place)
Latin - Getting Started With Latin
For his Free-Reading he chose 3 fiction and 3 non-fiction books to read each semester. Some of his choices I was quite surprised at.
His choices are:
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
Night by Elie Wiesel
Dawn by Elie Wiesel
Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
A Lion Called Christian by Anthony Bourke
Bells on Their Toes by Frank B. Gilbreth
More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father by James Wight
Reflections of God's Glory by Corrie ten Boom
The Magic Never Ends: The Life and Works of C.S. Lewis
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathon Swift
God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew
Through the Gates of Splendor by Elizabeth Elliot
Rebekah's Diary by Rebekah Pearl
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Just a note on chocolate, for what it's worth. If you have a rat in respiratory distress, you can give it a nibble of very dark chocolate and it will help to ease the breathing until you can make it to a vet or get some meds.
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Bassoonaroo,
Just wanted to say that you. are. awesome.
All excellent information.
I love other ratty moms who are just as "neurotic" about their care as I am. :001_smile:
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One of the best websites is http://www.ratfanclub.org/. She also has a Yahoo Group. From her website regarding foods that rats should avoid:
Generally, if you would eat a food, you can give it to your rats. Here are some exceptions and notables:
raw dry beans or peanuts—contains antinutrients that destroy vitamin A and enzymes needed to digest protein and starches, and causes red blood cells to clump. Roasted peanuts are fine.
raw sweet potato—contains compounds that form cyanide in the stomach. Canned sweet potato is cooked and is fine.
green bananas—inhibits starch-digesting enzymes
green potato skin and eyes—contain solanine, a toxin
wild insects—can carry internal parasites and diseases
raw bulk tofu—can contain bacteria; packaged raw tofu is safe
orange juice—forbidden for male rats only, d-limonene in the skin oil, which gets into the orange juice during squeezing, can cause kidney damage and kidney cancer due to a protein that only male rats have in their kidneys. Pieces of the orange fruit are okay if you wash the orange-skin oil off of it after peeling it.
My rattie girls LOVE:
hard-boiled eggs (occasionally; crack but leave the shell on)
blueberries
chicken
cheerios
sunflower seeds
grapes
green beans
raisins, craisins, and dates
oats
coconut oil (just a little dollop and they go CRAZY for it)
seaweed (especially Nori)
broccoli
Dubia roaches (I breed these for my rats and reptiles)
Superworms (I breed these for my rats and reptiles)
I also keep Ox-Bow Regal Rat blocks in the cage at all times.
Mine do not like strawberries. Personally, I don't feed cheese. I know it's one of those stereotypical rat foods but I've never read anything good about it.
Their big treat about once a week is a carob chip dog cookie from the pet store. I buy them in bulk and they get one after I do their big cage clean every week.
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For us it is a non-issue; DS13 stops when he's done with a lesson or task. When I worked in a special needs classroom; however, each child had their own timer. We used it for everything: classwork, down-time, rewards, nurse visits, therapy times etc. It worked out BRILLIANTLY and allowed the kids to be a bit more independent.
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What is a "morning basket"? Things they are supposed to do before mom is available to help? Is it stuff they *have* to accomplish (like a math page) or optional stuff they just might find interesting (like a secondary resource book on the history period you are studying, that they can peruse if they want to)?
I'm intrigued because I'm trying to figure out how to waste less time in the morning before I am able to actually sit down with DS... :bigear:
For us, the morning basket is a catch-all for the little things that don't take a lot of time on their own but can fall through the cracks if I'm not intentional about making time for them. DS13 is pretty independent with the majority of his work, but the morning basket contains the stuff that we do together.
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Avocado Fries
avocado
1/2 C. ground flax seeds
1 - 2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. oregano
1 Tb. nutritional yeast
Slice avocado in long thick strips.
In a plastic bag or bowl mix the other ingredients.
Add avocado strips and shake to coat.
Either eat them as is or dehydrate.
Personally, I liked them better after they dehydrated overnight. They developed a far denser, fry-like texture.
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Lasagne
On a mandolin, thin slice a zucchini. Even though I used the thinnest blade for this they weren't paper thin or anything. They were about the same thickness as a regular lasagna noodle, which was just perfect.
Rawcotta Cheeze
1 C. cashews
2 Tb. pine nuts
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 Tb. lemon juice
fresh parsley, a few shakes of dill weed and some dried Italian seasoning (I didn't measure any of these)
a little nutritional yeast
a little apple cider vinegar
about 1 C. water
I found this recipe somewhere and then just added things to taste which is why there are no measurements for some things.
Toss it all in the blender and give it a whirl until it's nice and smooth. I started off with about 1/2 C. water and drizzled more as it blended until I got the right consistency.
Sauce
2 ripe tomatoes
about 12 sundried tomatoes (unsoaked)
dash olive oil
sea salt
onion powder
garlic powder
pepper
Italian seasoning
splash of water to help it blend
Toss everything in the blender and whirl until smooth. Again, I don't measure, I just taste as I go along.
Spinach
few handfuls of fresh spinach
dash sea salt or herbamare
garlic powder
dash olive oil
Pulse chop in the food processor until finely chopped but not blended.
Marinated Mushrooms
button mushrooms
olive oil
tamari, Braggs or Nama Shoyu
Put everything in a bowl and stir. Leave until the mushrooms become sort of wilty and shrink. This happens faster in the dehydrator or you can just leave them overnight on the counter.
Now just layer everything in a small dish -- zucchini noodles, rawcotta, spinach, marinated mushrooms, tomato sauce, zucchini noodles, tomato sauce -- and pop it in the dehydrator for a few hours. I think I left it in for maybe 6 hrs. on 100* and then ate it the next day for lunch.
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Red Pepper Tortillas
(makes approximately 8 small tortillas)
1/2 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup water
1 cup red bell pepper, diced
1 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. nama shoyu
1 jalapeño, diced
1 tsp. Mexican oregano
1 tsp. fresh ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
Soak the flax seeds with the water and let sit for 15 minutes. Put the flax seeds and the rest of the ingredients into the Vita-Mix and process on high until smooth -- this will tax the machine, but that's why you bought it in the first place.
Spread out the mixture into 7" rounds with an offset spatula and dehydrate around an hour on 105F. Carefully flip the tortillas and dehydrate for an additional 30 minutes or so. Take a peak at this point to make sure they're not too dry -- you want them flexible enough so you can roll them later. You can make these a day in advance and store in the fridge if needed.
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Everything Bagels
2/3 C. Sunflower Seeds
1/3 C. Flax Seeds
1/3 C. Onion
1 Clove Garlic
1 - 2 T. Sesame Seeds
1 T. Dill Weed (dry)
1/3 C. Water
pinch sea salt
Grind the flax seeds into a fine powder in a coffee grinder.
Transfer to a food processor and add the sunflower seeds. Whirl until the sunnies are processed into a meal.
Add the onion, garlic, sesame seeds, dill, salt and water. Again, whirl until just processed.
Form into round balls and place on your dehydrator tray. Flatten out the balls a bit and make a hole in the center to resemble a typical bagel.
Dehydrate on 110* overnight (approx. 6 - 8 hrs.)
*I found that this recipe only made 3 smallish bagel halves. Next time I will quadruple the recipe so I have plenty on hand. I'll also try freezing them to see how they do.
Cream Cheeze
1 C. Cashews
1 T. Probiotic powder (any)
Water
Juice from 1/4 lemon
1 T. Nutritional Yeast
pinch sea salt
Process the cashews and probiotic powder with just enough water to turn the cashews into a smooth cream.
Leave overnight in a lidded container in the dehydrator.
The next day mix in the lemon juice, nutritional yeast and sea salt.
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I dehydrate my extra tomatoes and use them in place of sun-drieds. You can then powder the dried tomatoes in a coffee grinder to use for thickening soups etc.
Kale chips with just a little bit of olive oil and sea salt. Dehydrate overnight.
Puree various fruits, spread on a thin Teflex sheet and dehydrate until dry for a healthier fruit roll-up. I puree over-ripe bananas and use them dehydrated as crepe wrappers. For the creamy filling I use a thick Thai coconut base and add raspberries.
I make raw crackers using a buckwheat or flax base.
I'll post some good recipes below.
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I'm all about minimalism and I would LOVE to live in a tiny house... but not with my family. ;) I could do it alone or with EITHER DH or DS, but not both.
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I don't wake DS13. He is a morning person so he's up anywhere between 5 and 7am every morning. Our morning basket time takes around an hour. After a shower, we start with our Bible DVD during breakfast, which takes about 15 min., and then move to the couch to read. Once school starts we'll add Latin and Grammar onto the end and then he'll watch a 10 min. kid's news show as well.
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DUDE!!!! That. Is. AWESOME.
I love my Excalibur 9 tray.
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This is GREAT, Marty! I'm excited to look through all of your modules.
Thanks!!!!!
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These are great ideas! Thanks everyone. Anyone else?
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These are all GREAT ideas!!!!! I especially love the elements idea. Any others?
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DS is 13 now and we have never used a paid sitter. The only people who have ever watched him have been grandparents. He did go to nursery a few times at church when he was preschool age but only because he is an only child and wanted desperately to play with the other kids. Of course, at this point he occasionally goes to sleepovers, but I consider that something entirely different.
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No. I always thought I would want many children, however, I have one and I'm perfectly happy with just him. The idea of starting over does not appeal to me at all. There have been so many benefits and blessings to having just one child.
Are there any classics that you're not looking forward to teaching?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Are there any books that you are dreading reading/studying with your kids this year or in the coming years?
This year I'm definitely not looking forward to The Hobbit. Umm... can I say that here? :leaving: I'm also dreading anything involving Bronte or Austen. I've never liked Brit lit.