how-to – Page 35 – Home's Cool!

How to Treat Weekend Guests (With Recipes!)

Posted on February 24, 2011May 1, 2014 by Katharine

I just sent my brother on his way from visiting us for a long weekend. It was wonderful to have him and his two grown kids here with us. All my own offspring came to honor him and the long trip he made to be here, and to visit with their seldom-seen cousins. I enjoyed them all, too.

Of course, there is work involved in having important company, which my brother is. If someone makes a twelve to fourteen hour trip just to see me, I feel it important I bother with his comfort once he is here.

What does a guest need? Several things:

A light meal for the first meal. After traveling, snacking, and sitting for a whole day, a guest wants a simple, easily digestible meal. Not knowing when the guest will actually arrive, you also do not want time-sensitive foods. Put the two together and you get SOUP! I served my visitors a light, homemade chicken noodle soup and an apple salad with honey/yogurt dressing. They loved it.
Privacy. A person naturally wants to be able to dress, brush teeth, and snore in peace, without feeling watched, censored, or odd in any way. He also needs a place to hang clothing. I put my nephew with my son on twin beds, my niece with my daughter in bunked beds, and my brother in our sunroom on the daybed with doors shut and curtains drawn.
Bath Tap (Photo credit: butkaj.info)

Cleanliness. You may know the smear on your vanity faucet is just a dab of soap, but your guest wants it off, wants clean. Extreme clean. Towels must be fresh, and if possible, color coded, so your guest knows his is his. Sheets should be your best set with pillow cases ironed to kill germs. Bathroom surfaces should shine and all dust, hair, and smears should be removed daily, during their stay. (You may be comfortable staring at your husband’s toothpaste droppings from yesterday while you brush your teeth, but who else would be?)
Entertainment. Find out what your guest might like to experience. We live rural, so it’s mostly parks and other natural events. We took my brother and kids to one he and I had visited as children. His own had never seen it. It is impressive and they were impressed. Anything, though, to break up sitting and chatting, will suffice. Bike riding, fishing, antiquing, strolling through woods, or rock collecting are affordable and fun ways I would enjoy burning a few calories and getting out.
Internet access. Not all want this, but if you do not have Internet in your home, seek the nearest hot spot.

We had the best old time. I taught him how we make grilled cheese sandwiches and he taught me how he makes French toast. Mmm.

Here are your recipes:

Chicken Noodle Soup

One whole chicken, cleaned
one cup plain salt
one gallon water
whole onion
stalk celery
clove garlic
3 – 5 sage leaves
salt and pepper
1 ½ bags egg noodles or homemade noodles from 3 eggs (for homemade noodles, see here)

The night before, soak chicken in covered bowl, in gallon water with one cup salt added. In the morning, drain and rinse chicken. Make sure it is cleaned of unnecessary parts. Boil chicken covered with water in large pot. Add all ingredients but salt. Simmer until flesh falls from bones, at least three hours. Cool. Debone. Return meat to broth, boil, and add egg noodles. Simmer until noodles are tender, thinning broth with added water, as desired. Adjust salt, if needed. Remove vegetables, if desired. Serve hot with crackers or bread and butter. Serves eight or more.

Simple Fruit Salad

one yellow apple (Opal?)
one red apple (Roma?)
one pear
one orange
one banana
½ cup golden raisins
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 carton Greek yogurt
¼ cup raw honey

Peel orange and banana. Wash apples and pear. Cut all fruit into bite sizes. Mix all fruit together with remaining ingredients until well blended. This salad is outstanding for aiding digestion.

My Brother’s French Toast, Which Is Better Than Mine!

For ten slices of bread:

ten eggs (yes, one egg for each slice of bread!)
half that volume of milk
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
dash vanilla
butter

Beat egg, milk, spices, and vanilla, thoroughly. Seriously soak each slice in some of this egg mixture until completely sogged. Set aside until all pieces are soaked. Pour any remaining mixture over already-soaked bread, using it all up.

Fry soaked bread in butter, at pancake temperature, until lightly browned. Turn and repeat. Serve with syrup, powdered sugar, and/or pureed fruit. Serves five.

Now: Invite me to spend the night! 🙂

Believe it or not!, Good ol' days, Home School, Inspiring, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

The Last of the Unsupported Homeschoolers

Posted on February 18, 2011April 21, 2015 by Katharine

We were homeschoolers when homeschool wasn’t cool.

We had no support because there was no such thing as a homeschool support group.

We started about the same time as Home School Legal Defense Association started, but they and we did not know about each other, so we also had no legal support.

Internet was only a child, then, and had not maximized its potential to help homeschoolers. Computers had no practical applications in home schools.

All, all the curriculum available to us was published for collective schools and some publishers refused to sell to home educators.

Back in these very good, old days, only the driven, committed, principled, loyal, persevering, stubborn, maverick, determined, motivated, obsessed, dedicated, devoted, steadfast, unswerving, faithful, home educating parents survived. We had somewhat of a reputation for being a pain, especially among status-quo legislators.

Many of us could relate to the Washington/Jefferson/Adams triumvirate, always questioned by those around us and always questioning ourselves, testing ourselves, proving ourselves.

Always hunted and attacked by the government that claimed to protect us.

Always in semi-hiding.

Always ready with an escape plan.

Always losing money on this project.

Always making do with do-by-self.

We faced obstacles, penalties, hindrances, impediments, barriers, hurdles, deterrents, limitations, and interference.

We were hated.

We were arrested.

I guess it’s the American way.

Now that home educating is the bright star that it has become, and we have retired after a quarter century of it, people want our opinions.

What curriculum do I think is best? Pick one you like and get busy.
What is my child’s learning style? Lazy and stubborn. What about yours?
Do I homeschool during summer? All parents homeschool at all times.
Do I think you’re harming your child? Probably, but better you, than someone who doesn’t care.
What do I do about socialization? I talk to my child; I teach my child; I read to my child.
What about computers? Teach your children to read, spell, write legibly, and type, and to love English, first, in that order. No computers allowed until high school and no Internet until the last half of the senior year.

Does all that sound harsh to you?

Does it sound grumpy?

You will not get a marshmallow answer from a homeschool-callused person.

We did not plant our homeschool garden with a tractor, but with a shovel and a hoe.

We did not have curriculum choice unless we wrote the curriculum, so we did.

I beg you, for your own and your children’s sakes, pick one you like and get busy.

Believe it or not!, Homemaking

Six Steps to CFL Safety

Posted on February 15, 2011March 28, 2015 by Katharine

Have you ever broken one of the new twisty light bulbs? You know, the ones that cost so much you hate to break one? It is so easy to do because the glass is so delicate.

I don’t have any of those in my house because when real light bulbs started to become scarce, I bought up a bunch of them. Then, when folks began to squawk and they started making real ones over again, I bought a bunch more.

But I don’t mind using sunlight or oil lamps or candles–not at all.

those blinkin’ lights!

The main reason I will not install a fluorescent light in my house is that they blink.

Blinking light decreases your attention span and slows your reading. Think of them as a sort of “light pollution”, as are TVs and computer screens. They effect the ability to think. For some people, especially young children, this effect is drastic, shutting down straight-line thinking almost completely. No child should study under a fluorescent.

So, as a source of light in a homeschooling home, they are a failure, in the first place. The rooms in our house with long-bulb fluorescents installed by the builder were never used for children doing schoolwork. In fact, one of my children asked not to use that room, which woke me up to the real problems inherent here. (I had not been noticing, but he had.)

caution! poison!

The other reason is their toxicity. The bulbs contain powdered mercury, which can kill. Add to it the fact that these light bulbs are extremely easy to break–far easier than the old enormous tubes–and you have a recipe for disaster, something that definitely should be labeled “keep out of child reach”.

now for the safety rules:

If you have one, though, you must memorize a long list of protocol for how to survive the experience of breaking one, with your health intact. If you want, why not print this list and post inside your broom closet? Here is what you have to do and why:

Most important: open a window for at least 15 minutes before beginning cleanup. The bulbs contain powdered mercury, which is extremely toxic, and we must not breathe it. Mercury poisoning can kill. Opening the windows is essential to safety, even during rain or cold weather. (Who knows what it does for the birds and butterflies?)
Do NOT handle the pieces with bare hands; wear disposable rubber or latex gloves. A cut from glass coated with this fine powder would also poison.
Place the pieces into a plastic bag, and then into another one, and use duct tape to pick up the tiny fragments. A paper bag could allow fine particles of mercury to escape.
Wipe the area clean with damp paper towel and place the towels in the bag, too. Damp toweling would most safely collect the finest particles, which might even be invisible but would probably cling to the damp towel.
If the bulb broke over carpet, you’ll have to vacuum the carpet, but you must immediately remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wash or wipe out the canister) and put the vacuum bag in with the other CFL trash.
Vacuuming is the only way to remove most of the fine mercury particles and remaining glass hazards from carpet (there is no way to remove all the mercury), but it is totally unsafe to breathe in the same room while you do so. Go outdoors to take deep breaths and then hold your breath, enter, and vacuum until you need to breathe again. Repeat. Vacuuming would be foolhardy on hard surfaces, and could easily spread the dust more, if using a multi-surface upright.
You also must not breathe while emptying the bag and wiping out the canister. Also, you should wipe out the insides of your vacuum even if you do have a bag to throw away. Of course, you should shower and shampoo thoroughly, afterwards. You probably should also immediately launder the clothing you are wearing, in a separate wash load and machine dry them, taking precautions that the dryer does not vent near any pets, children’s play areas, or edible plant materials.
Check with your trash company or recycling center for specific disposal directions. Usually, fluorescent bulbs can be put in the trash or taken to the dump if your state and local regulations allow, but please call your trash or recycling company. Do not ask them about your broken CFL; ask them about mercury toxic waste disposal or about recycling mercury. Few people, even professionals, make this connection, otherwise. If you receive permission to throw away your CFL, please label it clearly to avoid accidentally poisoning the trash pickup personnel.

There you have it: why I don’t use CFL’s and what to do if you do use them.

Have fun.

Inspiring, Wisdom

Extending Your Boundaries

Posted on February 10, 2011November 13, 2015 by Katharine

padded deck furniture — Padded deck furniture

Look at this dock, extending the fishing surfaces around the pond, into the pond.

Boundaries in life can extend this way, too. When does this happen?

In emergencies. Someone might drive too fast with a passenger who needs medical care. A widow might need to take charge of money she never thought of before. A bystander might direct traffic around an accident, just like a policeman, and with the same success. Anyone could dive into the pond above, to save a life, even if it were posted “no swimming”. It would be the right thing to do.
With maturity. When we learn more, practice more, know more, we can find ourselves freed from old boundaries and invited to do or to enjoy more. Little children would not be safe on the above dock, but older ones who know how to swim can have permission to try it out. It’s a fun, wobbly experience!
On special occasions. We skip diets for weddings. We block streets for parades. We eat with our fingers for bar-b-que. The dock above has had very little people who were non-swimmers on it, sometimes, when grown-ups decided it was okay, and when the little ones held someone’s hand.

So, are your boundaries extended these days? Have you had to extend yourself because of an emergency? Have you “graduated” to a time of fewer restrictions or more privileges? Are you in a special bubble of different boundaries? Look around you and enjoy the stretch.

And catch a few fish, while you’re at it. 🙂

Husbands, Inspiring, Wisdom, Wives

Illegitimate Boundaries

Posted on February 9, 2011November 13, 2015 by Katharine

Bound!

What makes a boundary that is not good?

It comes from someone who is not over you in authority.
It comes from someone who is not heeding his or her authorities.
It takes over an area of your life not under its authority.

First, when someone tries to set boundaries over or around you and is, himself, not your legitimate authority, you need not heed these boundaries. For instance, if someone else’s husband thinks you should wear your hair a certain way, he’s full of beans! Wearing your hair for someone else’s husband is preposterous. The same would go for someone else’s boss. Only your own boss should be able to tell you what to do on the job and when. This really is simple.

Second, if someone is not minding the law or other authorities over him, he may be out of line for telling you what to do. For instance, a policeman who asked you to rob a bank would be too obviously not one to heed. If your boss asked you to vote a certain way on a jury, that would be similar. Any authority who tried to make you break any law would be contemptible.

Third, the particular areas of your life that are yours, alone, do not fall under any other authorities. Your boss, although he is expected to be over you, still cannot tell you how to feed your children, what TV to watch, when to plant your garden, etc., because it is none of his business.

Also, these scenarios are not truly boundaries; they are bondage. Pay attention and learn to tell the difference.

Home School

Do You Need an All-in-One Curriculum?

Posted on January 28, 2011May 20, 2017 by Katharine

Every man, woman, and child in your home owns a computer. You built them yourselves. You like them. You can’t help it.

You really wish someone would put everything your children need for their entire school career on a few disks, to save you some time. After all, when you prefer life in front of your computer, you hardly feel like shopping at curriculum shows in some out of the way huge city.

Funds are tight for you, too, and you’d be willing to do more than your share to save some money. You could use a true, budget-saving curriculum that has no frills but doesn’t charge for them, either.

And you’ve noticed lately that the house seems to be shrinking and home school materials haven’t helped that problem much—you never guessed it all would take up so much space! Isn’t there some tinier, tidier version that you could stuff in a bag or something, and not have to build shelves or buy a storage hut for?

Is this the 21^st century or did I imagine it!

And whose bright idea was it to make the teacher book identical to the students’! Everything takes twice the space and funds, that way, and really, if you can’t score first grade math without an answer key, well, wow.

It just seems to you all the materials you need could be in one package and that could be the end of it.

Why prolong the agony?
Why keep going back and going back, just to get what you knew you would need, anyway?
Seems like if it were all pre-packaged, it could cost even less.

Is this you?

Do you need something that saves time, money, space, and doesn’t insult you?

Is it out there?

Yes.

A great old-fashioned schoolbook type curriculum has been committed to CDs and includes everything you need from lined paper for penmanship practice, through all textbooks, all the way to every outside reading book you will ever need to educate a child, ALL ON CDs. True, you’d want to print off some of it, since it is not interactive, but it is all there, from that first kindergarten matching exercise, to the last calculus test, and all points between.

At the risk of seeming to bend the guidelines, which I am NOT, (this is only an informative blog, please!) let me suggest you scout out the Robinson Curriculum.

It may be the answer to all your needs.

Home School

Do You Need Disposable Workbooks?

Posted on January 26, 2011May 20, 2017 by Katharine

Schoolbooks sitting around look like a stack of magazines.

You’ve seen these before, too: oversized, paperbound booklets, that look almost like magazines, with 30-80 pages, for reading a small amount and writing the answers directly into the book. You either loved them as a child, or else not.

As a home-educating mom, you may just learn to love them the way your teacher did: they make learning, and thereby teaching, so much easier.

If you, Mom, as the teacher, must be gone, you must leave someone you trust in charge of your students.
This person may love your children to pieces, but not feel your drive to be a good teacher.
This person may be your husband or your mom, so firing is not a resort.

But workbooks may be.

Workbooks are inherently geared to any teacher, including the student, himself. He reads a little, answers a few questions geared to comprehension, and then repeats.

Because the coursework is so intensively interactive, the student learns more, faster, and retains it longer.
Because the student can feel the acceleration of his learning, he gains confidence.
Because the incremental teaching and much-needed confidence is built into the book, the teacher finds the student needs less direction.

Sounding good?

The Non-Standard Student.

Perhaps you already figured this, but if your child is not inherently gifted for student-hood, workbooks can carry him along until those long twelve years are finally over. Many children finish the day’s work by noon, and still learn enough to do well on exit tests.

It’s just easier. Not only for the student, but also for the teacher.

On the other hand, if your student is far, far ahead of his peers—or maybe even of his teachers—a curriculum that could test and place him where he belongs could be a tremendous asset, in many ways.

Home Business.

Finishing by noon makes time for a home business.

And finishing by noon, daily, is not such a stretch, you will learn.

Early Graduation.

Finishing by noon makes time for doing two day’s worth per day, which can create time for graduating and starting college earlier than you thought.

For some students, it can mean graduating at age 18 instead of 20, after all.

For others, it can mean graduation from college by age 18.

It’s a thought.

Learning Gaps.

If you are taking a child out of a collective school environment, you probably have little idea where he is in his learning or where he should be.

He may have learning gaps or even be behind the kids his age.

But with workbooks come . . . placements tests!

Placement tests are the tool that lets you know exactly which book to buy for your child, and why. You can have the confidence that comes with knowing this material is exactly the right level for your student; not too easy or too difficult.

The Unsure Beginner.

Of course, you also are unsure about what to do or how to do it.

(Don’t feel bad; most professional teachers who begin homeschooling feel the same!)

But with workbooks, the self-explanatory nature goes both ways—for the teacher and for the student. Since the workbooks do all the work, you, Mom, will have more time, more confidence, and more understanding of what your child needs.

And more time for folding laundry? Maybe?

Accuracy in Placement.

You know this equals accuracy in spending, which is so important during these times of economic chaos.

Especially if you begin in the middle of a school year, you can buy only what you need because workbooks cover only three weeks’ worth of studies.

You could never buy half of a regular text!

Is this all ringing true for you?

If so, you may need to change to workbook style curriculum. Classic types are: A.C.E. and Christian Light.

Check them out!

Still not getting it? Try unit studies!