From Blanket House to Mongolian Ger

A few weeks ago, Josh built the kids a blanket house in our living room on a Saturday morning, as he has done many times in the past. This time, however, he made a huge house, using our larger dining room chairs, a sleeping bag, and several blankets. The large, roundish house fit all three kids comfortably, and sometimes both cats as well!

In this past year's World Vision Gift Catalog, I had seen a special kind of round house, built by Mongolian nomads, called a "ger" or a "yurt." The blanket house very much reminded me of these houses, and that gave me an idea. Instead of moving to the next Asian country in Galloping the Globe, I would piece together my own unit on Mongolia. Using sites like the CIA World Factbook, we researched information about the country of Mongolia and its people and began adding pages to the kids' geography notebooks.

Later in the day, I visited National Geographic's website, looking for more information or photos, and I stumbled across the opportunity to participate in a real expedition in Mongolia, by simply labeling satellite images from home. After a period of training, I could identify roads, rivers, modern structures, ancient structures, and points of interest with a reasonable amount of accuracy. I then included Hannah, allowing her to make suggestions and guiding her to understand the images better. She absolutely loved helping out as a real researcher for an actual project, and she found the satellite images quite interesting as well.

Eventually, when we wrap up the unit, we may even have a "Mongolia party," just as we had a "China party" in the fall. I had a difficult time finding Mongolian recipes easy enough for kids to prepare, but we might try making some non-lamb version of Steamed Buuz . I decided to pass on preparing fermented mare's milk however...

I love that homeschooling allows me to turn Saturday play into school day learning, to harness the kids' experiences and games and use them to teach about a country many kids have never studied. And, I enjoy seeing the kids' faces glow with excitement when I say, "Hey, let's do some geography today! What do you think?" Typically, they respond with cheers.

Strolling Through China

For the past couple of weeks, our geography curriculum has focused on China. We colored and labeled maps, explored China on the globe, and read through a few non-fiction books and a student atlas from the library. The kids learned what the flag means and colored the flag for their geography notebooks, and I pulled out an old BBC movie about pandas for them to watch. They have learned quite a bit about the country.

On our visit to the library, I also decided to get out a handful of fiction books about China to add some literature to our geography study. The Story of Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wise takes place on the Yangtze River, which the kids labeled on their maps. The Empty Pot by Demi tells about an emperor seeking his replacement and teaches about honesty and the courage to do what is right. Huy Von Lee has written a wonderful series of books teaching Chinese characters and where they come from, for example, how the symbol for fire looks like a little campfire. We chose In the Leaves because it focuses on autumn and harvest time, and it fit in well with the time of year. However, I found another favorite book in the new edition of The Seeing Stick by Jane Yolen. The story begins by telling about an emperor's blind daughter and the search for something that might help her see. An elderly man treks to the inner city with his special "seeing stick" that helps the young girl see - not with her eyes but with her hands. The illustrations are stunning, black and white in the beginning and becoming colorful and vibrant by the end. And, the end of the story is simple and lovely. I think I will be adding this book to my Christmas list!

Additionally, when I purchased my geography curriculum this summer, I stumbled across a kids' cookbook with simple recipes and activities from all over the world. The book's section on China includes instructions on making your own chopsticks and writing numbers 1-10 in Chinese. I decided that the chopsticks activity would better suit older children, but we did practice writing the numbers.

As a new family tradition, every Friday night, we have family game night, so we turned this past Friday into our "China party." The cookbook had two delicious and very easy Chinese recipes - honey-glazed chicken wings and birthday noodles with peanut sauce. On Friday morning, the kids and I made the noodles, so we could serve them cold as the recipe indicated, and we prepared the marinade for the chicken. Friday evening, I broiled the chicken and made a salad with an Asian dressing, and we all ate a delicious Chinese dinner. We even ate with chopsticks (the kids at least tried!) and had fortune cookies for dessert. For our game night, we taught the kids how to play Chinese checkers. It was such a fun way to learn about China!

Finally, we are beginning to wrap up our study so we can move on to the next country. I may still spend a little time discussing the Chinese new year and learning about parades, but we are just about finished. At this pace, I think we are strolling, rather than "galloping" around the globe, but I feel sure that the kids will remember these experiences, instead of packing them away at the end of the year with their old notebooks and completed worksheets. Their learning has not been all fun and games, but the fun and games have definitely helped with their learning!

A Little Yeast

Today began as a plan-less day at home, but the kids quickly began bickering and getting into mischief with nothing to do, so I did a quick inventory of my cabinets and then asked, "Who wants to help me bake bread?"

"Me! Me! Me!" they all exclaimed.

I brought them all into the kitchen and then carefully measured the yeast into a tiny cup. I explained to them that yeast is alive and that it "eats" the sugar and creates bubbles that cause the bread to rise. Ben carefully studied the tiny, beige grains and seemed very disappointed when I stirred them into the warm water. When I questioned him, he told me that he was upset because he did not get to see the "bugs" moving! I had to convince him first that the yeast was not "bugs," and second, that living things are not always moving things.

Once I had combined the ingredients in the bowl and added enough flour to make the dough the right consistency, I allowed the kids to take turns helping me mix and knead the dough.

They enjoyed helping very much and patiently stayed with me through the whole kneading process. Finally, I shaped the dough into a nice ball and placed it in an oiled bowl to rise.

While we waited, I opened my Bible to a verse about yeast. I told them that a small amount of yeast mixed through the dough makes the whole thing rise. Similarly, sin in our lives, such as anger or selfishness, is like yeast - even a small amount can have a large effect on who we are and what our lives will be like. I explained that we want to work on becoming pure, meaning without "yeast" in our lives that will keep us from being who God wants us to be.

Two hours later, I lifted the towel and showed the kids the much larger ball of dough. "Wow!" they squealed, amazed at the difference in size.

In the afternoon, I took Ben to get his new glasses frames. When we were driving home, he began talking about the yeast again.

"Do you remember what I said that yeast is like?" I asked him.

"Sin," he replied.

"Yes," I said, "Just like a small amount of yeast can make bread rise, a small amount of sin can affect our whole lives. Do you remember our Bible time the other night, when we were talking about the tongue and said that it was like a small spark?"

"Uh, huh," he answered, "and a small spark can set a whole forest on fire."

"Right, Ben," I said, "and little words or lies that we say can hurt other people a lot or cause big lies to get out of control. That little spark is just like the yeast we were talking about before, how something small can do big things, so we have to be careful about what we say and do."

Ben nodded and agreed with me, and I think he really understood. I try very hard to use everyday activities and examples to teach spiritual lessons, just as Jesus used parables to convey larger spiritual truths. I hope that even if the kids never fall in love with making healthy, local, homemade foods, that they do fall in love with Jesus and His truth and that they learn to live "yeast-free" lives of integrity.

Understanding Food

In a previous post, I wrote about my desire for my kids to know more about their food and its origins. In the past few weeks, we have experimented with food in several exciting ways, and the kids are experiencing the joy of eating food we have produced instead of food bought at a store.

We began by trying a new whole wheat bread recipe. My last recipe turned out quite bland, and the bread was only slightly edible when loaded with jelly or peanut butter. This recipe, however, resulted in two wonderfully light and tasty loaves of whole wheat bread. The kids enjoyed watching the whole process and look forward to helping out more next time, now that I know that the recipe works.

Additionally, I had a bunch of mushy apples and plums that we accidentally froze by turning down the temperature in the fridge drawer too far. I found a delicious recipe for Plum-Apple Butter and made some of that as well. I cut the sugar in half and estimated the amount of apples and plums because I do not have a food scale, and it was very yummy - much better than any apple butter I have purchased at the store. The kids love it with peanut butter on a sandwich instead of jelly.

I also splurged and bought myself supplies for making yogurt, mozzarella and ricotta cheese, and sour cream. I have not attempted the cheese or sour cream yet, mostly because of a lack of ingredients, but I have already made two batches of yogurt. Hannah and Ben love the homemade yogurt, even plain or sweetened just with fruit, like bananas, berries, cherries, or peaches. Becca will eat it in small amounts, but she has never liked yogurt much. She does eat more of my yogurt than she does of store-bought yogurt, but it still is not her favorite food. I made the first batch while the kids were sleeping, but I encouraged them to watch me make the second batch. They were amazed that simply heating milk, adding a small amount of plain yogurt or yogurt culture, and then letting the mixture sit in an insulated container all day resulted in a fresh batch of plain yogurt. I am still learning the best way to culture the yogurt, as my second attempt came out a bit more sour than the first, but I am excited about the health benefits (and cost benefits) of making my own yogurt instead of buying it in the store.

Finally, after a productive trip to the farmers' market, I taught Hannah and Ben about preserving an abundance of food. I began by measuring a bit more than four cups of blueberries into a bowl. Then, I handed Hannah a potato masher and told her to crush the blueberries as much as possible. When she was finished, I gave Ben a turn and then did the last little bit myself. When we had four cups of mashed berries, I combined sugar and pectin in a bowl and then mixed that with the berries. Following the recipe on the back of the pectin, I stirred for the required length of time, poured the mixture into plastic "jars" and allowed it to rest and thicken for 30 minutes. Voila! Freezer jam! The kids love the taste and enjoy eating something that they made on their toast and sandwiches each day. I also found an excellent recipe for freezer pickles, which Hannah and Ben also helped me make and love to eat.

So, now the kids have a bit more understanding of what goes into the jars of food on supermarket shelves, and I have begun having healthier and cheaper options for our family by making a lot of it myself. Amazingly, the recipes are very simple and tastier too! Not bad for a couple of fun and productive summer afternoons...

Making Butter

I asked Hannah about her kindergarten screening the other day, and she could not remember most of the questions.

"Oh, I know!" she exclaimed. "She asked me what french fries are made out of, but I didn't know, but then she told me it's potatoes!"

"Hmmmm," I thought, "perhaps my kids need to know a little more about where their food comes from... other than the grocery store!"

Josh is out on Wednesday nights, so I often look for activities to reign in some of the wildness that bubbles out of the kids in the evenings. As they began to bounce around the living room, I announced, "I'm making butter! Who wants to help?" Instantly, three kids hopped up and down at my side, yelling, "Me! Me! Me!"

I grabbed a glass jar and poured about a cup of heavy whipping cream into it. Then, sealing it tightly, I handed it to Hannah. "Here, shake this!" As she gently wiggled it back and forth, I laughed, "No, like this," and I grasped her hands and the jar together and shook as hard as I could. Giggling loudly, she began jumping and shaking all over the living room.

After a minute or two, she handed the jar to Ben, and he took a turn.

Then, Becca shook the jar for a while.

As the cream became stiffer, the kids passed the jar to each other more frequently. Soon, I opened the jar and showed the kids how the cream had become whipped cream.

Of course, everyone needed a taste!

Eventually, I did most of the work, as the whipped cream was much harder to shake. The kids and I sat on opposite sides of the room and rolled the jar back and forth. The cream became thicker and thicker, until suddenly it separated into a solid clump of butter surrounded by buttermilk.

I removed the butter from the liquid and pressed the remaining liquid out into the sink, shaping the butter into a pretty pale yellow lump.

With the kids circling my legs, I grabbed a couple slices of bread and spread the fresh butter on each slice.

The kids loved the taste of the creamy, slightly sweet-tasting butter on the bread.

I explained to the kids that the cream had fat in it, like tiny floating balls of play dough. As they shook the cream, the little balls of fat stuck together, like balls of play dough would, until eventually they formed one big ball.

Hannah finished the evening by writing a beautiful journal entry about making butter. In case you can't read it, it says (with the spelling corrected), "We once made butter. We took a can and poured some milk in the can. We shook it. It turned into whipped cream and then butter. We had toast."

Aggression Cookies

"Is there anything for dessert?" Josh asked me over the raucous noises emanating from our living room.

"I don't think so," I replied, glancing into the room to make sure that the kids were screaming in play, and not in pain. Josh shrugged. "You could make cookies," he said.

"Mmmmm... cookies," I thought, "and I have the perfect recipe for a night like tonight."

I dug through my recipe box and pulled out the card labeled "Aggression Cookies" (recipe at end of post). I cut up the butter into a large bowl and measured the dry ingredients into three separate containers. Then, I grabbed a glass and some butter, and spooned a small amount of sugar into a flat dish. Glancing out the window, I noticed the evening sunshine and remembered how warm the temperature felt earlier in the day. "Perfect," I thought, placing everything on top of a cookie sheet and grabbing my camera, "We'll do this outside."
"C'mon, guys," I called to the kids as I made my way to the front door. "Ben, get the door for me. Everyone out on the porch!" The kids' eyes lit up at the thought of doing something outdoors, and they scrambled out the door.

I placed the bowl on the porch and let each kid dump a container with dry ingredients into the bowl. Then, I pushed their sleeves up and told them to squish all of the ingredients together with their hands. Hesitantly at first, and then with delightful abandon, they squished and mashed until the dough began to stick together quite a bit.
Next, I formed the dough into tiny balls and arranged them on the cookie sheet. I only got about a dozen cookies from this recipe.
Taking the glass, I rubbed a small amount of butter on the bottom, dipped it in the sugar, and used it to flatten the cookies on the pan.
While I worked, the kids began to clean themselves up a bit, and by "clean", I do not mean that they diligently washed the sticky cookie dough off of their little hands and faces. No, they cleaned themselves in quite the same way that good little kittens would have cleaned themselves... with their tongues! Needless to say, this was only mildly effective, and I sent Hannah inside to get the box of baby wipes for at least a slightly more sanitary clean-up job.

Once we had contained the mess a bit, I carried the cookies inside to bake. "I want cookie!" Becca yelled. "How long until they are finished?" Hannah chimed in. When I replied that they needed to cook for ten minutes, Ben wailed, "Ten minutes!!! That's a really long time!"
After ten minutes, the timer beeped and I removed the cookies to cool. An extremely long (according to Ben) two minutes later, the kids happily munched on their completed cookies. "Mission accomplished," I thought to myself, "Three happy kids, a yummy dessert, and a fun activity that filled that wild hour between dinner and bedtime."
"Aggression Cookies"

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup oats
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup flour
1-2 tsp sugar, set aside

Preheat oven to 350. Place all ingredients in a large bowl. Mash, knead, or squeeze dough to combine ingredients. The more the kids mash the dough, the better the cookies will taste. Form into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Butter bottom of glass, dip in sugar, and flatten cookies. Bake 10 minutes.

Pumpkin Fun

In light of the fall holidays, we decided to have a little fun with pumpkins while Daddy was at youth group on Wednesday night.

Better Homes and Gardens has a wonderful tool for creating pumpkin faces online. It is a great way for preschoolers to plan out what kind of jack-o-lantern they want. I let Hannah and Ben each have a large pumpkin, and I helped them use the website to choose their own eyes, noses, and mouths for their pumpkins. Then, I printed a stencil so I could carve their own designs into the pumpkins for them.

First, I removed the top and let them pull all of the seeds and "goop" out of the center of the pumpkin. We separated and cleaned the seeds and threw the rest away. Then, I used the stencils as a guide to carve the faces they created.

I think they turned out pretty cute:


Last year, I found a wonderful recipe for toasted pumpkin seeds, which results in the best pumpkin seeds I have ever tasted. I never liked the tough hulls, but this recipe involves boiling them in salt water to soften and season them, and then roasting them to produce crunchy, flavorful seeds. Even the kids like them! So, after cleaning up the kids, I used the seeds to make a delicious and healthy treat. Yum!