Lionden Landing

I know that eating breakfast is a healthy way to start the day. I am just not very good at it. One of my goals for the new year is to try to be better about it. So far this week, I have sat down at the table and eaten a real breakfast (not just a cup of coffee - my standard breakfast) with Froggy both days. Not only are we eating breakfast together but this has become our "school" time as well. Right now, we do so little real school that it is easy to do during the meal. We read our parsha, talk about it and then do writing. We are making a rainbow letter of the week. I am also going to add in counting with a Hundred Chart as a way to do a bit of math prior to receiving my Singapore Curriculum. But now I am out of breakfast foods and need to experiment. We can't do cereal and milk because it is gross with soy milk. I could do yogurt but I don't happen to have any plain yogurt on hand and Froggy's snack containers are too sweet for me to start the day. To...

What with coming home to an empty fridge and not having any activities scheduled, today is a cooking experiment day. Yesterday I soaked both navy beans and red kidney beans in preparation for making Pasta Fagoli. We even had pasta for dinner last night so I would have leftover to put in the soup. So today I cooked the beans. The kidney beans turned out great. The navy beans are bit crunchier than I would prefer. I set aside the needed amounts for the soup and froze the rest. The kidney beans will go into chili later this week. I am still not sure what I will do with the navy beans. Probably they will gradually go into soups. And on to the soup. I sauted onion and carrot (about a cup of each) until just tender and then poured in the broth. I used purchased organic chicken and vegetable broth because I had them on had. I really need to make own broth both as a cost savings but more importantly to cut down on the salt. The soup as it stands is too salty for my preferences and ...

This week's menu is still part of the holiday times and has more eating out and parties in it than an average week. Next week, we will get back to normal. Next week also marks the start of the new budget which has a reduced grocery allowance so our menus will reflect some cost saving strategies. As part of redoing our budget, the Froggy and I will packing lunches much more often when we are out. That means I need to plan lunches as well. This is mostly a problem for me since I have already been packing food for Froggy everyday. We are also going to be trying to sit down for a real breakfast before heading out for the day. To that end, I am adding breakfast and lunch to our menu planning Sunday – Spaghetti with homemade Sauce, salad and bread Monday – Family Swim Night – Dinner at Five Guys Tuesday – Tofu Stir Fry , rice, keem – No Classes of any Kind Wednesday – First Night – Dinner Out. Thursday- Frittata and Salad Friday – Shabbat – Pot Roast (crockpot) ro...

When life gives you lemon, make lemonade. That is what I did this morning. Froggy woke up a little before 4am needing to use the restroom. It was hard to get past the crying to find the problems. But once we did she went back to sleep fairly easily. I did not. So instead I made good use of the time. When we came home from visiting the grandparents on Saturday, I found all the shelves in my craft room on the floor. They had just come right off the wall. Yesterday, the wonderful Daddy put the shelves back up. So instead of sleeping I started restocking shelves. I also did a load of laundry so that I can finish making the new window seat for the learning/play room. I most of the fabric back out the living room and still sat down to do school work at my designated time of 6 am.

We are halfway through the academic year. It is time for me to take stock of what we have done so far this year in order to make some course corrections as we navigate through the sea of home-schooling. I have a lovely new calendar with lots of clean white space to keep detailed plans and notes. Reading Froggy is confident with her letter names and sounds. We are now starting on sounding out words. She is not interested often. Personally I am a strong proponent of phonics based reading. However, Froggy seems to prefer a more whole-language based approach. We will still be doing Starfall and the Bob Books but we will also be adding in some dolch words to give a more balanced approach. Writing At Froggy's request, we have just started introducing writing. I have ordered Handwriting without Tears workbook for Pre-K. We have a blackboard on which I will introduce the letter and we will make a rainbow tracing of each letter as we learn it. These rainbow letters will become a ...

Edith Nesbit (1858–1924) was a writer and poet whose most famous work is Railway Children. Her works have inspired many others. The modern child may be more familiar with Magic By the Lake . But it is the wonderful works of Nesbit that prompted Edward Eagar to write his fun series. Take your child back on in time and share with them the original ideas. Other writers such as Arthur Ransome were also strongly influenced by Nesbit. In Railway Children , Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis have a series of fantastic but non-magical adventures while they try to make sense of their father's mysterious disappearence. The story, like the slightly more modern Swallows and Amazons, is particularly appealing to many parents because it portrays realistic children having realistic adventures. Some may argue the realistic comment with me but there is no magic involved. The adventures the children have are all activities that occur in reality. People get saved from fires, homeless people nee...

Froggy is just not a big breakfast eater. That makes mornings hard especially when we need to be somewhere at a certain time. Many many days breakfast gets eaten in the car on the way to our morning activity. But it is important to me that she not eat much in the way of processed foods. And she gets bored with food easily. Together that means I need to be very creative Well here is the idea I am currently working on. I am modifying the recipe to use ground turkey rather than sausage since we do not eat sausage. The first batch will use shredded soy cheese. I am not hopeful. Froggy seems to like the soy cheese in her mac&cheese but the rest of us think it is vile. I am still looking for other flavoring / texture options to use instead of cheese.

What works for me today is tolerance. Many people forget their standard tolerance during this holiday season. Every one gets rushed and stressed. Families descend in on one another. Many people get hung up on their traditions. Traditions are important. I love my traditions. They are what make Hanukkah feel like Hanukkah. Yet there is room for tolerance while maintaining your own traditions. Tolerance allows that other people's traditions are valuable as well. Tolerance says that maybe we can create new traditions together. I hope every one is enjoying their holiday. For more cool tips check out Rock in my Dryer.

I turned in the final project for my class this morning. The project not only marks the end of this dreadful class but it marks the completion of the entire set of courses that began August 2007. This final course soured my taste for the whole program. The subject of the course was "Culture in the Classroom" and yet this professor was the most culturally insensitive, biased professor I have ever met. Completing the requirements has been difficult because of the tremendous anger that arose just thinking about the course. It is a great joy to be done and today is indeed a celebration.

I have never been so conflicted about our plans to homeschool Froggy. Saturday night, I took a tour of the local Jewish Day School (assuming by local you mean 30-40 minutes away). It is a K-8 School with only 144 students total. The director took me on a tour and it was amazing. I have no doubt I can give my daughter an excellent secular education better than even a private school. I doubt my ability to give her a good Jewish education. At this school the children learn the morning service by the middle of first grade. I don't know it now. How can I teach it to her? I posed that question to some other Jewish homeschooling moms and they came back with some great answers. The first and most common answer was to start attending a daily minyan with her. I cannot functionally do that. Our shul is 30 minutes away and does not even offer daily services. There were also many suggestions on how I can learn with her so that we can do morning services here at home. I think that is th...

I love to read but frequently find myself in a rut. Well this year I am breaking out. I pledge to read nine book in nine categories in 2009. The challenge is simple and was inspired by Ruth . Pick any nine categories of books. Choose your books in each category. Start reading. Change the list as it works for you. Keep track of the books you read in each category. When I first decided to do this, I did not think it all the way through. It did not sound so hard. In making the lists, I realize what a true challenge it will be. 81 books that is an enormous amount of reading to cram into my busy life. But if I succeed, I will be a much more literate person able to converse on interesting topics. Here is my tentative category list. I will add books to it as I think of them. I have also added links to my reviews of completed books for those I have written. Educational Theory The Well Trained Mind Oak Meadows How Children Learn* The Laughing Classroom Raising The Spirited Child ...

I am keeping our menu simple for this week because we leave town on Monday and are trying to spend this week eating out the existing leftovers rather than making more. It is a clean out the fridge week here. Well I say that but then we have our annual holiday party here on Sunday (yes the night before we leave) so we will still have tons of leftover food to deal with. I am so so tempted to cancel the party. I am not in a festive mood. Looking at all I need to do between now and the party is rather overwhelming. I do not even have a menu for the party yet let alone have the groceries purchased. And today my MIL told me I need to make three different kinds of her cookies to bring for Christmas, two of which I have never made and are "fussy" cookies. Ok enough whining on to the menu Sunday – Crockpot Cranberry Chicken - I use a whole cut up chicken. Monday – makeup dance class – Family swim night – Dinner out Tuesday – dance - Homemade spaghetti sauce and salad Wednesda...

Welcome to a special festive Hanukkah edition of Friday Finds. There are more wonderful Hanukkah books out there than most parents realize. There are books that even preschoolers can enjoy that actually tell the story of Hanukkah. Books about draydles and counting candles are fun and provide variety but including an explaination of why Hanukkah exists is important and difficult for many parents. And on that note - here is this week's Friday Find. Grandma' s Latke s by Malka Drucker . It is a modern story in which a young girl learns the meaning of Hanukkah with her grandmother. We read it for the first time last year. It is a good story that weaves culture aspects of celebrating the holiday for her family with the telling of the Hanukkah story. The illustrations as well as the dialog with Grandma help young readers and listeners to be attentive through out. The book is thirty-two pages with more text per page than most picture books of a similar age rating (ages 4-8) ...

For the Fall Semester - I kept our "schooling" obligations simple because we were starting a preschool coop with some friends. The coop is an important part of our week and we are very committed to it. However it is more a playdate than a learning opportunity. The real schooling we have been doing (which has been well-received by Froggy) is My First Parsha . I hate it. The language is so stilted and choppy it is driving me nuts. Add to that the editing choices and I am ready to chuck it out the window. I will keep with it though until I find a replacement. Outside of academics - we are doing dance and swimming and parkday which we will continue as well. For the Spring Semester I want to add more academics. Why I hear you ask, because I think Froggy is ready and interested. I need structure to keep me on track. Without siblings for Froggy to follow, she needs me to provide her with opportunities. We are going to do Handwriting without Tears, something for reading and...

Avoiding dairy is hard. It hides in everything. Since we determined that Froggy is allergic to milk I have been getting quite the education. Ofcourse if you are avoiding dairy, you cannot have milk chocolate. But semi-sweet chocolate or dark chocolate should be fine right? No so. Most brands still have milk in them in some form. My holiday baking became a real challenge. The gingerbread, sugar cutouts, cranberry jumbles and pumpkin cookies were all easy. But how can you not have chocolate. That is what makes the cookie platter look decadent. So off I went to investigate. Someone must be able to help me. Ghiradelli did. Their semi-sweet chocolate is absolutely dairy-free. The cooking can continue. Once again I am able to bake with ease. So Ghiradelli definitely works for me. For other tips check out Rocks in my Dryer .

This is a crazy busy week for us. I have meetings two nights this week as well as my final presentation for my class. Three night-time commitments in the same week and menu planning becomes a serious challenge. I am really looking forward to the new year where the only regular weeknight activity will be Family swim night and there should never be a week with more than two nights out. Sunday – Chili and Corn Bread Monday – Family Swim Night – GS Mtg 7:30 Tuesday – Daddy Date Night – Final Presentation Wednesday – Frittata / Salad / Biscuits Thursday – Leftovers – GS Training 7pm Friday – Brisket , Mashed potatoes, Broccoli, Challah Saturday – Holiday Adventures – Dinner out or leftovers I would love to add more casseroles into our menu planning especially in the winter. Trying to find healthy versions that don't use a lot of pre-processed ingredients and can be made in a dairy free manner is tricky. Still the search continues. Hopefully some results will show up here in the n...

This recipe is from my dear friend Lisa. When I first starting making this recipe many years ago, I used to whole brisket as she suggests. I cannot find it anywhere any more so I am only using the first cut. It is still a good recipe but not the same. Cooking time is aboout 3-4 hours and there is no enough juice or sauce. I do miss the whole brisket. Sure I will share the recipe, but like I said, it is technique, not quantity. The cut of meat is called a brisket. It can be hard to find. It comes from the side of the cow and it is sold as a first cut or a whole cut. The whole cut contains two pieces that are held together by a fatty layer. This is a good thing as it lends lots of flavor to the dish and a natural gelationous quality (thick) texture to any liquid. It can be hard to find a whole brisket because of people's aversion to fatty cuts, its getting more and more usual to find only the first cut of brisket sold. The firts cut is is a relatively flat rectangular piece of ...

Shabbos dinners are a special family time with all the pomp and ceremony of any holiday. We use our good china and pretty table clothes. We also have dessert like we would for any other holiday or special event. So Shabbos dinners are also a special challenge for menu planning. Here are some of my favorite Shabbos recipes Garlic Chicken Steamed Salmon in a white wine reduction Brisket And of course it would not be Shabbat without Challah Here is my recipe - It makes two smaller loaves which are perfect for our family Challah T he key for me to making challah each week is my Kitchenaid mixer. Without it, my hands would not be work. I have made this same recipe by hand and it turns out good as long as you knead the dough enough which I am only willing to do when we travel to my mom's since she does not have and does not want a mixer. Ingredients 1/4 c oil 1/4c honey 1/2c hot water 1tsp yeast 1 egg approximately 3 cups flour - I use whole wheat Add yeast to water to dissolve. P...

It is holiday baking and over the next few days I will be sharing some of my favorites as I dig through my recipe file and finish off my holiday baking. As I mentioned before I make lots and lots of cookies each year. I give them as gifts to everyone To kick things off, a traditional favorite. I like this version because it is more kid-friendly. The dough holds up well to little hands. Snowball Surprise Great recipe to make with children ½ cup butter softened ¼ cup powdered sugar 1 tsp vanilla 1 ¼ cup flour Chocolate Kisses Powder Sugar Icing Decorative Sprinkles Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl beat butter for 30seconds. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat in Flour. Shape 1 teaspoon of dough into a ball. Press a kiss into the ball and enclose the chocolate in dough. Repeat with remaining dough. Place balls on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 12-14 minutes or until bottoms are lightl...

Tamora Pierce has released a new novella, Melting Stones. It was originally released as an audiobook. According to the press release , this is the first time a prominent author has ever chosen to release the audio version first. The book was written to be performed, with specific actors in mind. The only differences between the audio version and the print version are attributes like "he said" or "she said". The story itself is a continuation of adventures begun in Street Magic , part Circle of Magic reforged series. You do not need to have read any of the prior books to be able to follow the story. Unlike other novels in the series, there is a large jump in time between these books during which life happens that is not written about but shapes the characters. Evvy, a fourteen year old rock mage, goes with her guardian Rosethorn to a "battle island" where the plants are dying off. She is supposedly along for the ride, a reluctant observer. Yet, as ...

You probably remember these from your childhood, a record (yes I am showing my oh so advanced age) that would ding when you needed to turn the page. I had a few Disney stories that I would listen to over and over again. By the time I found these I was reading on my own even at the level these books were and still loved having the record read to me. These days everything is digital and so there is a much larger selection than my parents could find for me. Our local library has a large collection of read-along books for children, with stories geared to all different age levels and attention spans. These books are perfect for long car trips. Froggy does not like ride in the car. She does a better job of it now that she is older but it is still not an enjoyable activity for her. Planning long car trips for a family is a major ordeal. We have two scheduled in the next six weeks. My solution - hit the library and stock up on these special books. I start early. Read them at home wit...