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Have a Summer Project? Please Share


mom2bee
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Do you have a summer project that you want to do? What is it--please share, I love reading about what others are up to and summer is such a great time to do those medium-term projects for many.

 

I want to learn to type using Dvorak keyboard.

I want to learn more about GUIs in programming.

I want to learn to use the iPhone properly

I want to learn to use Anki and build custom decks for my field

Get better at programming

Work on my school project.

 

Purge, downsize, organize,

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I'm going to try my hand at cooking authentic African cuisine. I've had some and it is downright tasty! (This is a real adventure because I can not cook.

Mmm. Northern African food is so amazingly delicious. It's next on my list. 

 

I am having to set it aside, but I have been learning to cook vegan Indian food. It's been hit or miss.

 

One of my children is now gluten/wheat free, sugar free, dairy and soy free. I am working on learning to bake for him. If he can tolerate oats, this will be so much easier.

 

 I am knitting a lot of little projects. Lightweight, easy to pop in my bag and go.

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Going through the entire house and getting rid of anything we don't need/use.  We moved in four years ago this month and we don't have a lot of room to spare, but  one of our rooms is still unusable because of boxes piled out there.  It's time!!!  Other than that, fun with the kids.  I work on a school year schedule so we all enjoy having time off together. 

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Cooking and cleaning lessons for my kids, followed by more regularly assigned tasks around the house.

 

Sewing this year's Christmas presents to extended family.

 

Focus on piano, art, latin, logic (electives we had to slack off of during part of this year).

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Mmm. Northern African food is so amazingly delicious. It's next on my list.

 

I am having to set it aside, but I have been learning to cook vegan Indian food. It's been hit or miss.

 

One of my children is now gluten/wheat free, sugar free, dairy and soy free. I am working on learning to bake for him. If he can tolerate oats, this will be so much easier.

 

I am knitting a lot of little projects. Lightweight, easy to pop in my bag and go.

Would you mind sharing recipes and ideas, please? I personally have found dairy, soy, and sugar to be problem foods for me, and I need to cut back. I also want to reduce wheat, because I react similarly (though to a lesser extent) as I do to sugar. I would especially appreciate ideas for quick-fix meal options.

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THIS is my summer to get organized! I intend to do that every summer but this time I'm going to be intentional about it.  I will make a plan to hit all areas of the house (except basement, garage and storage shed, those are dh's areas) as well as organize my time with school schedules, menu plans etc. THIS is the summer!!

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The non-academic/school-planning things:

 

Dh and I are rebuilding our entire veggie garden area! We'll have raised beds around the perimeter, each with integrated 6' fencing (deer), with a nice gate-door. In the center will be some additional raised beds with integrated trellises for pole beans and other things. I'm not yet sure what to do about the exposed ground---perhaps some slate pavers (to match the nearby patio off our basement slider) surrounded by pea gravel or river rock ($$$$$).

 

I spent a long time on Pinterest searching for ideas, and then we sat down together and drew up plans based on the features I liked :D.

 

Of course, this means my veggie garden this year is limited to tomatoes and peppers in pots on the deck. Oh well.

 

After that, we'll plan out similar changes for the fruit garden area-----fencing with integrated beds surrounding the plants. I currently have 11 blueberry bushes and 10' ea of raspberries and blackberries. I will plant strawberries, herbs, and perennials in the external beds. I also want to expand the inside area for a row of black raspberries and, eventually, some grapes. That project will take much longer and be more expensive than the veggie area as it will easily be 4x the area :eek:

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This summer we (loosely - this is mostly DH) are ripping out the front yard just in front of the house, jacking up the house, removing a crumbling layer of brick foundation and rotten sills/floor joists/wall studs, forming up and pouring a concrete sill plate on top of the existing stone foundation, installing new sill, and then sistering new wood on all of the joists/studs that need it.  Of course, then we'll be lowering the house back on top of it. 

 

I plan to put 2-3 years worth of homeschool portfolio stuff IN the portfolios.  It's all in a big box right now slowly driving me mad.

 

Next winter my job will be to paint most of the inside of the house after DH fixes the walls that cracked and shifted.  They look awful from doing the back sill last summer, so I can't wait!

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Would you mind sharing recipes and ideas, please? I personally have found dairy, soy, and sugar to be problem foods for me, and I need to cut back. I also want to reduce wheat, because I react similarly (though to a lesser extent) as I do to sugar. I would especially appreciate ideas for quick-fix meal options.

I am finding paleo (in our case vegan paleo) is the best fit. We are new at this.I am mostly adapting my regular recipes.

Last night I made clam chowder. I skipped the roux, cooked the veg in water, ran an immersion blender through it to make it creamy, then added clams, seasoned it and finished it with unsweetened almond milk.

A few days ago, I made broccoli soup the same way. My kids ate both huge pots. They seem to prefer this method.

I will be making corn chowder, and baked potato soup, too. 

We eat a lot of beans and rice. So for he's handling that fine. 

We like salads. I top them with homemade stevia sweetened dressing or oil and vinegar, nuts,seeds, olives, assorted pickled veg.

We like hummus and crudite.

Clear soups are quick and easy. Use rice, quinoa, or millet in place of pasta.

We eat a lot of eggs. Quick, easy protein.

We do smoothies with fruit, dates, coconut milk, almond milk, cocoa powder, nut butters ,vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, lime... We have design- your-own-smoothies.

I have had good luck with millet flour crepes and pancakes.

 

I will be trialing oats next week. If he can handle them, I will start trying some breads.

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Well, lets see...we are going to visit family and friends. We are going to continue schooling through the summer (ramping up Spanish and focusing on content-heavy reading), I guess our big project is our "Action Plan" where we are going to try and get in a minimum of 100hrs a month of outdoor play and/or (in)activity using new and old methods such as:

  • fishing
  • hiking
  • biking
  • playing in the neighborhood
  • running
  • play ground
  • water fights
  • camping (?)
  • swimming
  • sailing on a boat
  • skate boarding
  • walking on trails
  • skating
  • beach
  • anything else I find a chance to do with them.

And without making myself a complete and utter nut, I'm going to be trying to figure out the curriculum for 2015 (which implies finding, reviewing, budgeting, etc...)

Oh, and I want to get a 4.0 this summer, so there's that.

 

 

 

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This summer we (loosely - this is mostly DH) are ripping out the front yard just in front of the house, jacking up the house, removing a crumbling layer of brick foundation and rotten sills/floor joists/wall studs, forming up and pouring a concrete sill plate on top of the existing stone foundation, installing new sill, and then sistering new wood on all of the joists/studs that need it. Of course, then we'll be lowering the house back on top of it.

 

I plan to put 2-3 years worth of homeschool portfolio stuff IN the portfolios. It's all in a big box right now slowly driving me mad.

 

Next winter my job will be to paint most of the inside of the house after DH fixes the walls that cracked and shifted. They look awful from doing the back sill last summer, so I can't wait!

You win. The rest of us are all slackers in comparison. Slinking away in shame...

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Tearing the wallpaper all my bedroom walls and painting the room.  One of the walls may have to stay papered and I'll have to paint over it.  This house is very old, there are lots of layers of paper underneath (some over 100 years old!) and they are very difficult to get off (I have done it before).  The real issue is that the paper on the one wall may be keeping the plaster on that wall intact. :tongue_smilie:  We don't want to rebuild any walls.  

 

We have painted over the paper in the living room and halls because tearing the paper down would have done too much damage.  I hate wallpaper......but on the upside, when we had it tested, there was no lead paint on the walls because the owner only ever wallpapered. 

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We may build a catio. It's a cat patio surrounded with double layered chicken wire, to give indoor cats a taste of outdoors safely. You can put it up against an open window so cats can come and go as they please.

 

I really like this idea - is there somewhere online I could go for more info? We have a almost year old male cat that was a stray, and he really misses the outdoors. But with all the hawks, snakes, traffic, and stray dogs around here I am not comfy letting him out.

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I have an art journal and some supplies. Though I have the desire to dive in and start playing and experimenting with different techniques and media, I'm hesitant to actually do so because I'm afraid to "ruin" all those blank pages. I know that is an irrational, downright stupid way for me to think about it, so one of my summer goals is to muffle that inner art critic and get to work play.

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I really like this idea - is there somewhere online I could go for more info? We have a almost year old male cat that was a stray, and he really misses the outdoors. But with all the hawks, snakes, traffic, and stray dogs around here I am not comfy letting him out.

Well, I saw a picture of one on Facebook and we are just going to wing it, without plans. Here's a link to a few ideas. http://koenigshof-lippstadt.de/fotos/catio-enclosures

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Enjoying reading everyone's plans.  My plans include

 

get a garden plant & take good care of it

clean the yard 

paint outdoor furniture

getting rid of everything we don't need - inside & outside house

organize house

deep clean house

play catch up on school things I don't feel got learned as well as could have

plan next year school

go through and organize photos -- there are tons of these 

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Build a shed in the backyard so I can have my garage back.  Put in our pantry (!) in the kitchen.  I'm more excited about the pantry.  

 

Do some prep work for school next year.  

 

Other than that, we're pretty well booked this summer.  

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My 6 year old and I am going to build some planters for our front porch. If that goes well we may tackle shelves for our closets. Other than that lots of swimming and hiking. Plus planning our first real family vacation, Glacier NP and Yellowstone.

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summer plans:

 

Start a tutoring business.  My girls are both off to college now and I find I miss teaching.

 

Stop shopping for new books and read the ones I currently have waiting.  I have a large (too large) LARGE back pile of books to read.  

 

learn to make a drinkable kombucha.  :lol:

 

Get together with friends once a week, I get isolated if I don't make a point of getting out. 

 

 

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Purge. Organize. (Rinse and repeat)

 

 

This is my plan.  We're in a different phase of life with older teens and the end of homeschooling on the horizon, and I need to purge the bedrooms and basement.

 

We're also painting the upstairs.

 

I teach for pay during the school year, so I have several projects related to improving/redoing certain aspects of the courses I teach.  I'll probably do an hour/day per course and call that enough.  It is summer after all...

 

And lots of gardening and then canning.  Always!

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More decluttering and organizing is definitely on the list, but the biggie is trying to transition our backyard from a pit of rocks and wild blueberry bushes into a level, functional play and relaxing area.  I have no idea yet how we're going to accomplish it, but that IS the goal!

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My plans for the summer

* Have a baby - I've been working on this project for months. I can't wait to see the finished product.

* For the elder two, have a dedicated art day - I just want to pull out the art supplies, show them a lesson, and let them work. I always resist because I dislike the mess, but this summer, I'm embracing the fact that my house is not going to be picture perfect.

* Finish up planning for 2014/2015 school year

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I am redoing my kitchen this summer. No physical  changes, but lots of paint and putting handles / knobs on the cabinets and  drawers. Painting the cabinets as well as the walls and ceiling. If I get another wild hair I may also repaint  the master bedroom. I've just never loved the color (I picked it out at 6am with a sleepy toddler in tow!). I'll also be doing lots of traveling with the kids and continuing  reading / math  with my Ker :)

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