Suburban Homestead

Boston Tea-rrier Party

We've been drilling down into the American Revolution in our studies this past month - books, audio, video, and then this silly doggy Halloween float as our art component. I had the idea for the Boston Tea-rrier Party float last year, but we weren't able to pull it off. In fact, we nearly didn't pull it off this year either having set our sights high on things like - "A super tall mast!", "Boxes full of tea dangling off the sides!!",  and "Large feather head pieces for everyone!!!". We were also hoping to make it into an online research project (identifying all the pup parades in town, maping out our attendance, travel, etc.) But it turned out there was only one in town that issued prizes and so that was the only one my kids cared to attend. Last Saturday morning, after throwing the final touches on our ship, minutes before leaving the house, we headed out to the Marin Country Mart for their annual pup parade. The dogs wore little Indian attire, cut, fringed and hand stitched by the kids, puff-painted my mom. Tiny Buns walked around like a colonist, holding a bown of tea backs and dog buiscuts saying "Tea or treat! Tea or treat!". We took first place(!!!), a $100 gift certificate at George, which we put towards a new doogy bed and some toys for Oliver. Someone gave us the great suggestion that we should save the float for 4th of July parades, which we will definately do. Happy Halloween!!!

How We Homeschool - Week 4

This week was tough. I was sick, Daddy was out of town, and two of my three were on-and-off sick the entire week. We had to miss some of our classes, some of our classes canceled on us, and each day felt like a juggling act. The good part was we wrapped-up our focus on the Rennaisance after attending the fair on Sunday, and we launched into Colonial times and the American Revolution, which will take us through Halloween week when we showcase our Boston-Tea-Terrier-Party-themed-doggie-float at various pet parades. Dork alert! DORK ALERT!!!

IN THE CAR THIS WEEK

I love audio books. I can NOT tell you how good audio books are for us. For all that time spent in the car each week, instead of the pop music, we go educational. 

Living Language - Spanish Started this as an in-car suppliment to our in-home classes (2xs/week). I secretly love it when we are all repeating words and phrases together in the car. Highlight - 5yo: "Oh, mom. Did you hear that one? I just did a really good 'Buenas noches'."

Johnny Tremain  A story of the turbulent, passionate times in Boston just before the Revolutionary War. Johnny, a young apprentice silversmith, is caught with Otis, Hancock, and John and Samuel Adams in the exciting operations and subterfuges leading up to the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Lexington. As Johnny is forced into the role of a full-grown man in the face of his new country's independence, he finds that his relations with those he loves changes for the better as well.

FINISHED UP

Leonardo da Vinci - Science of Giants Another great one and only 2.5 hours. Lots of fun tidbits to keep kids engaged. (Note: You might want to listen to track 11 + 12 of disc one before sharing with younger kids. Some heavier/sensitive content there.)

Shakespeare for Children: A Midsummer Night's Dream + The Taming of the Shrew, Jim Weiss. These short adaptations are a great starter for any age (40 and over included :). Easy enough to understand in today's modern world, they offer a nice foundation, with just enough original wording to get everyone comfortable in the world of Shakespeare. A great primer. 

 

MONDAY

Because we are down south still for the Renaissance Faire, we decided to skip our Monday Homeschool in the Forest, and spend the day in Santa Cruz, taking our time driving home along the coast. We took our breakfast at the infamous, Gayle's Bakery, and while it wasn't meant to be more than a quick *lesson* in eating snickerdoodle muffins, it evolved into a lesson in fractions after Beanie meticulously removed one muffin crumb at a time, until she was left with a perfect 1/4 wedge missing, and exactly 3/4 of her muffin remaining. What I've noticed with homeschooling is that because we know we are 100% responsible for our children's education, we step-up at every opportunity to teach them. Never does a moment slip when we might be able to awaken their senses to something new. And I just love this.

After breakfast we plopped ourselves down at Natural Bridges State Park and took in the perfect fall day with hundreds of brown pelicans and a pod humpback whales off the coast. :)

 

TUESDAY

Language Arts + Drawing Out Arithmetic were canceled this week. Instead I worked with the 10yo on some of the assignments his math tutor gave him - a math cross word puzzle, making a deck of fraction flash cards and building a dodecahedron out of rolled paper. (This took about three hours to complete!!)

I have Beanie work on her penmanship and she's off to do imaginary play with her little brother. 

Chores: brushing, cleaning, bed making.

12:00 - 2:00 Open studio art class for homeschoolers. Imagine a fully stocked open room and the freedom to create whatever you want. 10yo works leather pieces, cutting and stitching. I forget to ask Beanie what she worked on.

2:15 - 3:15 Music for the 10yo. He's super excited to get his aunt's middle school guitar re-strung and proudly brings it to his lesson. While he's in his lesson, Beanie and I hit a cafe where we order hot drinks and take turns reading Who Cloned the President. I'm thinking this series will be good for her as she just returned from DC and her reading skills are finally taking off. 

3:45 - 5:15 Soccer 

Tonight the 10yo finishes up his latest book - The Boys of Blur, by N. D. Wilson

 

WEDNESDAY

Chores: brushing, cleaning, bed making. 

9:30 Kiddo haircuts, followed by tag in the park, a stop at the library and then breakfast out. I'm feeling guilty about enjoying a quiet breakfast out with my kids and so we go over our manners once the meal arrives. 

12:30 Drop 10yo at a friend's house who will bring him to science class and back. Beanie is sick and will stay with me. Report from science instructor for this week: 

"This week we worked on our review of the nervous system.  We finished our neurons and assembled our spinal cord with the different bones that make up the vertebrae.  We added it to our posters and labeled the different parts.  Next week, we'll connect the nervous system to how the fingers move."

1:00 - 4:00 Tiny Buns does PreK  

3:00 - 5:00 10yo and his buddy go to Nana's house and fish on the creek. They get nibbles, but no bites. I'm just happy that they are on their own, doing boy stuff. I will always wonder what they talk about, if anything. ;) Beanie and I are at home, I'm super under the weather, she plays in her room. I start reading her an easy reader edition of Les Miserables. We've been meaning to do this since we went to Paris. 

 

THURSDAY

8:15 - 9:15 Math tutor for 10yo. 

9:30 – 3:00 Homeschool 4-wheel drive - the 10yo's second day a week in nature. Run by the same organization as Monday's class, this group happens have only boys enrolled at this time, which I love. It's great to see them just go off a wild adventure with a great male leader. This week's report:

"We started our day playing a migration game in the morning, as the "Hawk Watchers" tried to 'catch' the migrating hawks on their journey south (and north).  Our day started warm and sunny, but as we approached Mill Valley we could see the fog lingering...and linger it did, all day long.  We enjoyed some sound exploration in the tunnels up there, and made our way up to the top of the hill for snack, only to realize how cold and windy it really was.  Like animals, we made our way back down the hill to a little microclimate that was protected from the wind.  Some stealth games in the tunnel, with fog rolling in, while I played flute or didjeridoo made for an epic game - that they didn't want to stop.  After a couple rounds, we came back to the warm spot for some raptor journalling, drawing and learning more about the birds we chose at opening circle.  We headed up the hill to explore wingspans of various raptors and see how we measured up.  Atop the hill, we were still in the fog, we we found a place to process some acorns.  Since our last search for Black Oak Acorns, at Azalea Hill, wasn't a success, I brought some from home.  We cracked open hundreds which I've since leached on the stove, using a hot-water leach.  I'll dry out the acorn meal and save it for some autumn treats.  If we had running water, we could have done it that way as well.  Our search continues for more wild ingredients to make some wild foods this autumn."

Tiny Buns has sickness flare-up, stays home from soccer and PreK. Instead we drown our sicky sorrows in comfort food for lunch. 

Meatballs and French fries. 

1:15 - 2:15 French class for Beanie. This is a time when I plan to walk for an hour and get some much needed movement. I am finding that I'm sitting entirely too much with all the driving around I do. But Tiny Buns is with me today and sick, so we just hang out. :(

3:00 pick-up 10yo, 3:15 soccer drop 7yo 4:15 soccer pick-up

8:00 We watch Johnny Tremain, a 1950's Disney movie on the classic, and perfect for the kids. I found it while online at our county library, searching *Boston Tea Party*. I love, love, love our county library and all that it affords us. Every few days I'm on the website, researching subject matter and ordering audio, books and videos to be delivered to our local branch. 

 

FRIDAY

Our Friday morning Spanish class was cancelled due to it being Tiny Buns' birthday party. Unfortunately, Tiny and I have been sick all week and so the party is cancelled. We are home all morning which gives us the perfect opportunity to get started on our big history/Halloween project - a doggie float which we plan to enter into local pet parades. We'll call it "The Boston Tea Terrier Party". More to come on this exciting project. For today, we begin crafting our float out of cardboard, making templates, learning about planning one's project out, mock-ups, pattern making, trial and error. When the kids need a break, I have the 10yo read to the others about the BTP while I keep going. They spend much of the morning crafting a first round of doggie costumes. Despite me throwing my back out during this activity, it was super cute to see them all get so into it. 

Kiddos scrubbing a wagon which will serve as a base for our history project/Halloween doggie float.

The doggie costumes (colonists disguised as Indians!) are coming along!!

7:00 Kids watch Old Yeller. 

 

EXTENDED LEARNING (aka THE WEEKEND)

SATURDAY Soccer games and I'm out with a bad back. Daddy takes kids out to play and eat burgers. These awesome, never before used board games arrive! I found them on Etsy while looking for math games. I'm super excited to try them with the kids. 

SUNDAY Pancake breakfast at the firehouse, a birthday party for one, fishing with Daddy for the other two, dinner with three other families. Phew!

The Renaissance Faire

Last month, when I realized we would actually make it to this year's Northern California Renaissance Faire (I haven't been since I was 13), I began peppering our home studies with books and audio that touched on the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods. This is how I like to approach travel and other areas of interest, from all angles. To be able to oversee this with my own kids, has been an incredible gift. I've realized that while the world is full of subject matter that kids might not necessarily gravitate to on their own, almost all of it will interest them if presented in the right way. Is Shakespeare *the man* really interesting to a child of seven? Methinks not, my lady. But what if that child learns about the playwrite's impact on history, and the English language, by way of crafting 500 year old housewares, creating new words for the English language, or listening to his plays, modified for young, modern ears? One of the many things I love about homeschooling is that we can do this, in depth. We focused on this period in history for an entire month, and then we put on our tacky costumes and topped-off the whole thing with a day at the Renaissance Faire. I LOVE my job!!!

I had big hopes of crafting our own costumes, starting with Beanie's. I might have even made OVERT suggestions that we could "CRAFT IT OUT OF PAPER!!!", just to be super nerdy and annoying. But she didn't bite. So instead we threw a couple cheap Halloween costumes in our Amazon cart and called it a day. I, myself, had big dreams of being Bottacceli's *Flora* (the goddess of flowers + the season of spring), as she was depicted in Primavera, but time was not on my side this year. 

Moving on. The *rides* were a huge hit with the kids, of course.

These guys were amazing with their show on sword fighting. Informative and hilarious, I now know more that I ever cared to about swords. 

 

My kids are now begging to take rock climbing lessons. Weekly. :-/

 

The highlight of everyone's day was the magic and fire-eating show by Broon. 

 

And this guy... what was going on with this guy?? He was our favorite faire-goer, and we were lucky to keep running into him again and again. 

At the Beach, Remembering Papa

We celebrated Papa's birthday this weekend. He would have been 74 on Sunday.

Blessed with unbelievably beautiful weather, we spent both days at local beaches, relaxing, reading, playing ball, refereeing the kind of time-outs that don't include balls, and just generally trying to keep the screaming to a mild roar.

Papa loved these days. He loved to be out in nature and he loved, loved, loved his grandchildren. (He also loved sausage so I made sure to serve that for dinner, Nana, was our guest.) It's a very sad thing to all of us that he is no longer able to join us, to share in the joy, and to see his grandkids play on the beach.

It still pains me that he's not here.

When driving out to our West Marin beach destination on Sunday, I realized we were returning to the same exact spot we'd discover with Papa, slightly over five years ago. How fitting! That fall day was a magical one - back when there were only two kids, and they didn't yet know how to fight, before either one had any shame in running naked, when perfection could be found in a simple baguette, filled with brie and salami, and when Papa was there to share it all. 

2008

 

Washington DC - Day 5

Our fifth and last full day in DC was on Friday. I had no idea how much we'd actually crunched into the day until I loaded up all our pictures. Wow. Here is a quick run through:

9AM: Ford's Theater to see the location of Lincoln's assassination. I remember coming here when I was ten years old, but the visit is so much more with the new visitor's center, as well as another one across the street at The Peterson House.

Thank gawd for my son's newfound love of American history. I doubt I knew much of Lincoln when I first came here thirty years ago, and still, I've never forgotten the experience. We've read, watched and listened to lots on our 16th president this fall, and it of course made our visit that much more meaningful - for the both of us!

A visit to The Peterson House is quick, but powerful. Once you've walked through the back room where Lincoln took his last breaths, you take an elevator upstairs and step out into April 15, 1865, the day after he was shot, and the day the manhunt for his killer began.

I read somewhere that there have been over 16,000 books written on Lincoln, and my son said this stack down the middle of a spiral staircase leading to the exit contained every single one of them. I have not confirmed either, but nevertheless, it's a pretty impressive sight. (btw - we picked up the audio book of Manhunt while in the gift shop - it came highly recommended. We started listening to it today and it's incredible - so beautifully written. There is so much more to that night of April 14th, 1865, than you could dream of.)

11 AM: Ok, ok, ok - did you know you can tour NPR's new building in DC? Neither did we, nor anyone else we spoke to! I happened to stumble on the ad one day while listening to one of their podcasts with the kid. We thought it sounded super cool and so we signed up. It's not the most exciting thing we did, but certainly worth the visit if you have the time and are a fan of public radio

Hanging out with Bob Boilen of Tiny Desk Concerts! The nice guys of NPR saw my camera and said "You need a Tiny Desk Concert photo with your son." Towards the end of our tour we got to watch some TDCs in a sound room and I absolutely fell in love with this Oregon band: Typoon

"From NPR news, this is All Things Considered." :D

After our tour concluded, we walked down to Union Station for a quick bite and look around. We never intended to spend the next two hours at The National Postal Museum next door. Uh-uh. Wasn't even on our radar.

1PM: The National Postal Museum is another one of those stops, like The Newseum, where we had no intention of stopping, but ended up dropping in for a quick peek, and staying for a long stretch. So cool and great for kids.

The kid designs his own stamp.

You don't have to be a stamp lover to get a lot of enjoyment out of this place. There really was something for everyone.

Above, the 9yo plays this game where you have to pick-up, identify, and sort the packages ASAP. A sensor, connecting box to drop, keeps track of your score.

3:30PM: The National Building Museum was one place we wanted to go under the understanding they had a Buckminster Fuller exhibit, an architect and inventor kid had just studied. Turns out the exhibit no longer exists, we did however, manage to run through some of their others before ending up in the kids building room. Next, we wrapped up our museum/tour spree with a stop at The National Portrait Gallery (5:00PM). On our way there, we caught sight of these amazing street performers:

 

6:30PM - Lincoln - the sister restaurant to Day 4's Teddy and the Bully Bar  where the floors are tiled with pennies, and the decor plays a twist on the mid-nineteenth century. Drinks and pendent lighting are served up in mason jars, dishes pay tribute to American classics, and mama might have even picked up a t-shirt for herself. A super fun way to unwind and dine after a long, long day of site seeing in our nation's capital.

***NOT ACTUAL SIZE!!!

Washington DC - Day 4

The first (and last) time I ever set foot in the National Air and Space Museum, I was ten years old, and we had about an hour to explore. If you've ever been to A+S, you know how ridiculous this sounds. You can literally spend days in any one of the Smithsonians, A+S is no different. Back in 1983, I barely scratched the surface of its collection, but all the incredible machinery hanging overhead left such an impact on me. My dad bought me a pouch of astronaut ice cream from the gift shop, and we dashed-out, deflated we couldn't stay longer. Flash forward thirty years, and I was so eager to get back with the big kid. I had set aside an entire day for us to roam, a full seven hours to just lap it all up. We came early, we launched ourselves in full-throttle, and then we kind of fizzled-out mid-day. Turns out neither the kid, nor I, are terribly interested in machines that fly. Birds of prey, yes, rocket ships, no.

It's not that I didn't find anything interesting, I just found myself gravitating more towards the culture and design of flying, rather than all that technical stuff. And the kid liked everything else.

There were definitely some highlights for the 9yo - an exhibit on the science of flight, which pertained to a block of study he just did and enjoyed. Through that, he had also read about the Wright brothers, so seeing their exhibit also helped to bring everything full circle.

All in all, we probably clocked about four and half hours at A+S, before walking across the mall and finishing the last hour of our museum day at Smithsonian's American History. The absolute highlight of our Thursday though, was dinner at Teddy & the Bully Bar.

Where to begin!? The recently opened sister restaurant to the popular Lincoln (where we ate the following night), Teddy was a spot I thought would be fun for the kid after the president's appearances in this book and this mini series, which we've enjoyed together. We had also heard a funny story at The White House about Teddy and his installing of animal heads in one of the rooms, and how Mrs. Taft had them promptly removed upon her arrival. Having enjoyed these stories about the former president, we were feeling well prepped for our upcoming night out.

When we were walking towards the restaurant I ask the kid to guess what we might see at the new restaurant and he said, "There'll probably be animal heads on the walls." #proudmama

When you first arrive in the Bully bar, there is a textured wall that looks vaguely familiar. You can't quite figure it out so you walk over to get a closer look...

...and then you realize - it's a giant wall filled with mini Mount Rushmores!

As soon as we ordered (Buttermilk Bully Rings, Teddy Clam Chowder and Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin), we were served a basket of warm bread and biscuits with salted butter and BACON JAM. We just about lost ourselves right then and there. The menu was a hoot to read with all its nods to our heritage.

I have to give up total control when I hand over the ordering of dessert to the kid. He's never going to order anything that sounds go to me. He's just not much of a fan of dark desserts. This cheesecake wrapped in phyllo dough had all sorts of weird sounding stuff in it, like rosemary. But it was delicious and so fun to eat with the flaky outer crust.

Rifle sconce.

Last but not least, I always have to check-out what's going on in the ladies room. Sometimes the greatest details are hidden behind bathroom doors.

Washington DC - Day 3

I can't help but feel the need to apologize when I have to post crummy iPhoto pics to my blog. I'm sorry. We had an early tour of The White House Wednesday morning and they have a no purse/backpack/camera/explosives policy. All you can bring in the gates are a wallet and cell phone. It was pretty freeing in that I lugged around four-and-a-half less pounds of camera gear that day, but of course, these pics stink.

This is the only pic we have of our visit to Barack and Michelle's pad, but it was still worth it. I loved seeing all the family photography through the various terms, and the secret service men on staff in each room were incredibly knowledgeable! I learned a bunch of fun facts, but my favorite was that Madison stood only 5'2 and weighed just 98lbs! (Taft goes down as the presidential heavyweight champion, coming in at 330lb., and 6'3.)

After our tour, we set out on foot towards the Newseum. I took the above of some construction zone posters. I love how everywhere you go in DC, you are surrounded by references to either history or politics.

PAUL on Pennsylvania. This was a FIND! I first tried a Beignet au Chocolate at a PAUL in the Paris airport last fall, while on a stop-over. I have never lost sight of what that chocolate and hazelnut donut did to me, and was always sad to think I'd have to fly back around the world if I ever wanted to indulge in one again. But Tuesday night, while heading back to our hotel on the bus, I spotted one - right here in 'merica!!! We made a point of going the next morning and it was absolute heaven to come in from the cold to a hot coffee and one of these:

The baker said the filling is their own blend of hazelnut-chocolate. Your first bite into the donut is pretty manageable. But each subsequent bite gets more and more explosive until you're groaning with pleasure while blobs of nutella-esque goodness are dropping on the table, running down your chin, and melting on your fingertips. It's a rare experience and one that every good child deserves. So when in DC (or France) get yourself to PAUL.

The Newseum - we LOVED it! I didn't have it on our original itineray but I'm so glad our DC based family recommended we go. Just incredible! My favorites were the Kennedy exhibits (there are two), one specifically on how the Kennedys were the first to use the media to their advantage, allowing the public insight to their family life.

The Newseum bathrooms are tiled a simple white with occassional glass tiles showcasing awkward newspaper headlines in our history. So fun!

There was an entire room dedicated to the ORIGINAL front pages of world papers through the centuries. Here, we have a look at one on the Salem witch trials!

Stuff interesting to boys.

My son learned about 9/11 at The Newseum. (sigh.) It was something I knew would be there, but at the same time, I wasn't really ready. We walked over to the wall of newspaper covers and in he marched to the movie room before I had a chance to think. I followed and asked him if he was ready for this and he said yes. The feature was more about reporting on the event, and how emotional it was for the reporters to remove themselves emotionally from the event. It was less about making us, the viewers, emotional. So in that sense, the video wasn't as heart-wrenching as it could have been, but there was still the imagery of the planes crashing, the buildings falling and people running for their lives. All of these things still make me very emotional, which I was. He was quiet afterwards, visibly affected, and so I pulled him to a quite corner and asked him if he was OK and if he had any questions. He said no. I asked him if he thought it a mistake for me to have let him see it and again, he said No. It was just really, really sad, Mom.

And all I could think to do was agree.

The Newseum was close enough to The Capital and The Library of Congress that we could walk over. Not that we actually did...we took a cab instead because by this point our legs ached something fierce. I think I mentioned that we are both walking 5-10 miles a day here? Lots of leg work going on this week!

Our tour at The Capital wasn't great. I think it was just the guide we got (her nervous laugh did not help matters from my end). To start the tour was a short film about the building and its history and that was great. Beyond that, our guide didn't seem to have any great little nuggets of information - like the guys over in The White House did. :) 

Across the street at The Library of Congress we finally understood why everyone kept telling us to Go to The Library of Congress!  It's just beautiful! We tagged along with another tour group already in motion and learned some great stuff, especiallyy about Thomas Jeffereson's prized book collection, which is on display right now. I do regret not having a complete tour of the entire building as I was told their is a lot of wonderful symbolism in the interior details. Next time.

Washington DC - Day 2

Once again, this will be an abbreviated post of quick notes due to timing and overall exhaustion. This morning started off with an 8:45 tour at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. Very cool experience, and quick too. The best part is tours start here long before the other museums open at ten. So if you like to maximize your time like me, this one is for you.

I estimate we walked between five and ten miles today and a lot of that was in freezing temperatures with the wind blowing, albeit lightly. We are not conditioned for any of this but whenever we start to feel sorry for our sensation-less toes, I remind us both that this is NOT a winter in Valley Forge - we do have shoes for goodness sake! Oh, and God bless all those tough, brave men who fought for our independence. Good lord! With all I've (re)learned about American history in the last several months I'm beginning to think we've grown quite soft.

Per the kid's request, Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History. Of all our planned stops this was actually the one I was least excited about. Strange to admit that now because it really was incredible in so many ways. 

I know - right?!? I totally want one of each too!! You are looking at a Chinese Water Deer above, and a Pink Fairy Armadillo below!

I loved the human origins section. We had fun with an interactive photo booth that showed what we would have looked like as Neanderthal. (No, I will not be posting those.) Above I'm standing with my favorite - Homo floresiensis - and yes, her head is at actual height!

The room of bones. Clearly an older exhibit but one of my favorites! Hundreds of skeletons displayed on a gorgeous color palette made more of an artful statement to me than anything else.

Need. This. Rock.

My little birder loved the incredible collection of native DC birds we discovered while walking down a quiet hallway... looking for the elevators... after leaving the basement cafe. :-/

We visited with family tonight in DC and after cooking us a wonder dinner they toured us all around the city for a taste of DC at night. Light or dark, rain or shine, Lincoln's Memorial never disappoints.

Washington DC - Day 1- Veterans Day

We had a phenomenal first day in our nation's capital and are exhausted from all the walking, emotional moments and heavy food. So I need to keep this short. But here is what I know about today:

Ted's Bulletin on 14th is the kind of breakfast joint you want to accidentally stumble upon on your way to Starbucks. Jaws on the sidewalk, we drooled over all the homemade pastries in the window, and so we invited ourselves in for a sit-down coffee and pop-tart at the counter. With the most exciting menu imaginable - yes, it does say Peanut Butter Bacon Burger - we headed back for a dinner of sloppy joe and spaghetti with meatballs.

Arlington National Cemetary. I knew it would be the ideal place to spend Veterans Day, and was eager to take my son to his great uncle's grave. What I didn't realize is that besides all the usual points of interest, we'd have a chance to see our president. We two stood on the curb while Obama drove by, waving at us, a small crowd of unsuspecting tourists. He was literally ten feet away! Here is the evidence as well as video shot immediately after of the guards leaving post.

 

 

It must be mentioned that we saw too many young women today, crying alone at headstones. I saw parents camped out in folding chairs, staring at their child's headstone. I saw a mother lying down on the lawn and grabbing at the grass her son lay beneath. A beautiful morning in a peaceful park, but I left, and took with me, a heavy, heavy heart.

Mount Vernon was just as captivating as I remember it thirty years ago. Although expanded now, so many of the details that have remained clear in my mind were still as they were even 150 years ago! The newly established visitors center was incredible and I only wished we had more than two hours to explore everything. If you go, give yourself 3-4.

Heading to Washington DC

When I first announced to my mom that we would begin homeschooling the big guy, I was very nervous about how she might react. Not that my mom is the least bit reactionary, because she's not. It was just that in general, because I always allow my mind to explore the worst case scenario, I had prepared myself to have any, and all family members, unload their fear on us. Of course, nothing close to that happened, and everyone was incredibly supportive and excited for the change. My mom ended up being one of our greatest supporters(!), offering to help in any way she could. At the time of announcement, she only looked a tiny bit surprised. Then she smiled, leaned into me and said - "Just take him to DC for one week a year and he'll be just fine."

(Did I mention my mom is awesome with the accidental one-liners? Hi Mom!!)

So I'm off to DC to ensure that our son is just fine this year. ;)

See, one of my mom's best friends relocated to DC several years ago and she has since been visiting her for two weeks, every year. She falls in love with our capital every time, always returning with a suitcase full of wonderful stories about free museum exhibits, a thousand things learned, incredible food, and of course, an eagerness to return.

For us, studies of Washington and America's history began our first day at home, quite by accident, really.  When we first sat down to crack open the 9yo's curriculum, he immediately rejected my teaching efforts, mumbling "This is just like school". It was 9:26 and mommy needed a break.  He got up and wondered around the house, I poured myself a second cup of coffee. When he came back, he was holding a magazine on world history (one I'd recently purchased for a rainy day car ride). He sat on the couch, and spend half the day reading it cover to cover.

This is what I see as self-directed learning at its best. :)

Tossing the curriculum, and embracing his new-found love of history, we dove in deep for weeks and learned so much - all of us! He read mountains of books and magazines, listened to audio books, watched programs, played games, and built models. It was so mind-blowingly exciting for me to observe from the side lines. My mom kept saying - "Get that boy to DC!"

Everyone I know who has been to Washington seems to have done so right around the age of ten, and in all of us, it left an indelible mark. I can't wait to get there and see it for the first time in thirty years, but even more so, to see it through my boy's eyes. Here were some our family's favorite resources that brought us to this point:

- The Libery's Kids series is great starter, especially for the small kids. Think Scooby Doo meets American Revolution. Good stuff if you can get past the phony English accents.

- History Channel's America The Story of Us.  An incredible way to see history come to live. Some heavy parts, but nothing horrible. Lots of wonderful teaching moments.

- Discovery Channel's North America. Stunning and perfect for the whole family.

- Incredible podcasts about George Washington and colonial life, offered by Colonial Williamsburg. We would listen to these together while on a hike or while he built a model.

- The Green Glass Sea (book on tape) by Ellen Klages.  Beautiful!

- The games of Risk, The History of America and Destination USA.

Not to mention countless books on George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, US presidents, the Revolutionary War, The Civil War, WWII, the making of the bomb, the Little House on the Prairie series, etc., etc. Our local public library has been the greatest resource in our homeschooling and we are there weekly, always checking out the maximum amount of books allowable (which is 25, btw!).

Halloween Night

Halloween has got to be my favorite night of the year. We had so much fun last night, I only wish I wore a costume of some sort, but I didn't pull it together in time. Big, regretful FAIL. The kids went as a ranger being choked by a rhinoceros viper, a bride, and a ninja hamster. We have always traded-off trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood with going to my sister's. Last night, we went to sissy's. She is ideally located on the flats in a great neighborhood. She does a wonderful job of decorating, always makes herself and her kids fabulous costumes from scratch. She usually serves-up some sort of goodness in a carved-out pumpkin. With one too many dogs dressed up in silly costumes we meandered up and down colorfully lit streets while the grandmas stayed back to pass out candy. My kind of wonderful.

Halloween Happenings

I think I might have just taken a little unintentional break from blogging.  It happens sometimes, not always for a reason. We've been doing the usual, and while homeschooling is not nearly as demanding or taxing as we've all convinced ourselves it should be, I'm still finding it hard to take time out these days to post. But on the eve of Halloween, I thought it a good time to share some pictures from a Halloween party we threw last year. We invited neighbors from the old and new neighborhoods, for a night of costumes and candy apple making.

I am keeping a log and photo journal of all we do each day for homeschooling. It's recommended for a variety of reasons, one being it just helps to calm your mind on those days when you worry you are not doing enough. And it's something we all experience at one time or another. It's those days that you crack open your log, read about all the great stuff you do daily and then with new-found calm and satisfaction, continue powering on!

We spent our first six week of the school year really drilling down into American history which was so fun for all of us. My son rejected the prescribed curriculum we purchased on our first day, and instead of fighting him and having us resent each other, I instead took a lead from his interests and walked alongside him while he directed me towards what excited him most. He read a ton, specifically about America in wartime, we watched a variety of history programs on TV, we spend hours in the local library loading up on more books, videos and audio books, we played games on geography, history and war strategy. There were many highlights during this time, but my favorite was when I overheard the younger kids in imaginative play yelling "Quick, run! The Redcoats are coming, the REDCOATS ARE COMING!" The older kid's interest has spead on down to his siblings and the learning bug was contagious!

Then one day he said, "Mom, I think I'm all done studying war. Too much destruction. Can we learn about anatomy for a while?"

And so we changed course. That night I stayed up and ordered anatomy models, coloring books and study guides. It seemed the PERFECT subject to dive into right around Halloween! The boys loved assembling all the models. Each one came with a pamphlet explaining in simple terms the function of each individual part. So far, both have been mostly interested in the assembly aspect of anatomy, but I'm confident the big kid's interest will deepen in time and when it does, all the necessary information will be waiting for him to explore.

On a final note, we've been making these animal skeleton cookies with gingerbread for several years now. This is the first time we ever looked up the skeletal forms BEFORE piping out the icing, making these the most accurate of all our batches. (But please ignore the bunny ear *bones*, my kids are small and I had to allow them some artistic license ;)

Farm to Table Photography Workshop

A year ago this week, I had an incredible weekend-long experience on the beautiful Whidbey Island in Washington state. It was a farm-to-table photography workshop (!!!) led by a lovely food photographer from Seattle, Clare Barboza. The fact that it's taken me twelve months to post about something so wonderful should give you a little insight into how I'm keeping up in my personal life these days.

I attended the workshop with Granny A, and together we devoured every aspect of the experience. We arrived on a Thursday night to a lovely rental house at the end of long private road. All together, we were ten students, plus Clare, her husband and brother. Most of us had traveled from neighboring states, one woman had flown in from Taiwan, a professional wedding photographer had traveled down from Canada. We all shared rooms and meals, and took most of our down time together in the very open living and kitchen space. Everyone was great!

On our first day, we traveled to two different family-run farms where we were granted access to all areas and spent several hours walking around, honing our skills. At some point, in one of those fields, a light went off in my head (I light I'd been trying to throw for the better part of ten years) and I finally, (FINALLY!) I wrapped my head around *aperture* and *f-stop* and all that mind-blowingly complicated camera crap I've never seemed to grasp. (Thank you, Universe!!!) Later in the afternoon, back at the house, we set-up shop in a neighboring barn flooded with natural light. Individually, we plated packaged desserts and snacks on Clare's collection of dishes, incorporating a variety of textiles and textures for backdrops, and snapped away.

Our second day started out at the local farmer's market where we actually got to see and photograph the produce stands of the farms we'd visited the day before. Now I don't know about you, but that rates a *10* on my too-cool-for-school scale. We then returned to the house for a second session in food styling before our final presentation where we each shared and discussed our ten favorite shots from the weekend. It was nothing short of this suburban homesteader's dream weekend.

To learn more about Clare's workshops click here.

To see Clare's beautiful farm photography click here.

Homeschooling + Chocolate = LOVE

Friends and family are so curious as to what we've been up to on our new adventure in homeschooling. Everyone wants to know how it's going (great!), if we are following a curriculum (not since day two) and how the heck we've been filling our days (all sorts of cool stuff!!). When I fill everyone in on some of the details of our first three weeks - like museum trips, board games, home-grown science experiments on the lawn, reading, more games, nature walks, model building, audio books, reading and more reading, weekly trips to the library, the History Channel at night, ethnic meals with supporting conversations, and on and on and on -- people have started to ask - "Who's having more fun with the homeschooling? Him or you?"

And after today's visit to the Tcho factory in SF, I'm beginning to wonder myself...



...eeny, meeny, miny, moe...

Yep - it's official - no one is having more fun than me!















What's not to love about learning when you whip out a couple worksheets with your Mama next to you while riding the ferry into your city? We strolled through the ferry building talking about everything we saw, grabbed lunch, and then headed to Tcho so we could learn all about how chocolate was made. Afterwards we walked over to the America's Cup Park where we refreshed our knowledge of sailing, and the science of wind, currents and really, really big boats! The kid was loving it, and so was I.



I promise to post soon about our decision to homeschool and I will do my best to share how we go about our days. It never ceases to amaze me how much my guy is taking in on daily basis when it's his interests driving the learning.

Breakfast, Lunch + Dinner

I've got a new favorite dish this season. I know I didn't invent the heirloom salad with mozzarella, and it's not like I haven't enjoyed a version of this masterpiece 100xs before, but something about this year is different. It's got to be the switch to burratta cheese (a creamer version of mozzarella) and the delicate sprinkle of - get this - Croatian Sea Salt(!!!), a gift from a friend returning from her homeland. I can not get enough of these towers and find myself eating one at least once a day. I even found myself craving one for breakfast this morning which tells you a lot!

The Evolution of *Cabin Time*

There has been a beautiful evolution to the way we take our time together at the family cabin. While some things will likely remain constant throughout the years - long days, extended family, multiple generations, river time, skiing, rich foods, and holidays, there have been some undeniable leaps in the quality of our time spent as cousins grow older and less dependent on us adults. This past summer was incredible as two complete generations were finally able to hike up-stream together and explore the wilderness without some kids and a parent needing to stay back for napping or safety reasons. I am equally grateful that the small toys have started to dwindle in quantity as we acknowledge their waning attraction and begin sorting and purging to make room for more group-oriented playtime. We graduated to board-game-playing-heaven this Thanksgiving weekend, and the hours spend together on the floor, on the bed, the deck or at the dining table, conversing and playing games amid stacks of plastic chips, pastel paper bills, folding cardboards and transparent red die, was simply priceless.

What’s more, we had incredible weather for all four days of the holiday weekend.  While the river was too cold to dunk a toe in, the mountain air was in the high 60's and so we got to prop lots of windows and doors open, allowing for the sounds of the river below to rise up and wash over our happy souls.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well our 14lb. turkey rubbed in 2 cups of sage butter, wrapped in a pound of bacon and drizzled with maple syrup is finally in the oven and three generations of family is about to sit down and relax before the final push.

May your home be filled with love, laughter, beautiful music and incredible food tonight.

(A Pilgrim cookie creation by the five-year-old, atop one of our favorite desserts - Martha Stewart's Pumpkin Spice Cookie)

SuperNatural Halloween at the Academy

We did something new and different totally spectacular this past weekend when I took a friend's advice and bought tickets to The California Academy of Science's SuperNatural Halloween Party.

Imagine dressing up, being first in line, and getting to sit all alone on one side of the museum, eating ice cream...

...and getting to watch this:

It had been 33 days since we'd last visited the museum and met these baby ostriches, just over a month old. On Saturday, they were 66 days old!

The museum served up great food and activities. We took in the rainforest with just a handful of families, no lines, no fussing...just wide open spaces, eager docents, crafts, trick-or-treating for quasi-healthy treats, live music and choices, choices, choices. :)



























I wonder if SuperNatural is this good every year... or if we just got really lucky because the Giants were playing the third game of the World Series that night? We stayed until almost nine o'clock, and just as we walked out, a great cheer erupted throughout the building and we were told - "The Giants won!"

Dinner in Croatia

I wanted to share some images of a simple but incredibly delicious meal we shared together when we first arrived in Croatia. It was a tiny spot in Lovran, a small coastal town in Istria, called Wine Bar Loza. The area is known for its wines and truffles, however this night, we shared a plate of mixed cheeses and cured meats, a basket of *grandma's bread*, and a side of salted cod pate. To call any Croatian meal *locally harvested* or *sustainable* would be redundant, I gather. I get the feeling that it goes without saying - when you sit down at a restaurant in this part of the world, your food did not travel far to get to your table. I hope you can both see and taste this with these photos taken while dining beneath a walnut tree, listening to church bells chiming and savoring the local traditions.

Hunting for Truffles in Croatia

This is an incredibly special time for us as we take a week to celebrate ten years of marriage and three wonderful kids -- only, we didn't take the kids along on the celebration. ;)

Today, the two of us ventured down quiet, winding country roads, lined with massive family gardens of pumpkins, squash, corn and fruit trees, to partake in a bit of truffle gastronomy.  It all began at the Karlić family house, where the mother, Radmila, prepared us an incredible lunch of all things truffle.

There was salami with truffles, cheese with truffles, cream cheese on bread, olive oil and honey - all with truffles. And after the first course, we were treated to a look at all the truffles that would be added to our second course omlette!

After lunch, Radmila's son Evan walked us past a small vineyard, and down to the forest below where his grandfather began the family's tradition of truffle hunting in 1966. There were no promises that we'd find anything...

...and yet their sweet pooch found three! It was such a cool experience and one that I know we could only have had here.

Click here to learn more about the Karlić family business.

Apple Canister

How cute are these apple canisters? I just picked up a couple at The Container Store ($16) and filled them with new crayons for the kids of some of my garden loving gals. Happy birthday, kiddos!

Wordless Wednesday

Our Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving this year!

And like every large party we ever host, I'm always disappointed the day after when I upload my photos with great expectations, only to realize that I didn't properly document all the wonderful food people prepared nor does it look like any adults were in attendance. I seem to only ever photograph the kids.

While this was the second Thanksgiving I hosted at our house, it was only the first where I actually cooked the turkey!  Here is our organic bird, wrapped in organic, nitrate-free bacon, ready for a long bake in the oven.

All the food was prepared ahead by me, or brought over by contributing family members. While the turkey cooked, I ran around the house in my jammies, tiding up spaces that had needed attention for months and pulling out my wedding china that gets used (maybe) once a year.

I wanted to share these adorable owl plates which I picked up for the kids at West Elm this holiday season. One of the smallest members of our family is a huge fan of birds of prey, so they are perfect for our table. Unfortunately, we were short two for the Thanksgiving kid's table.

My brother-in-law always has the job of carving the turkey, and he has not idea why.

We served the kids up first since we only have room for one table. Everyone loved their turkey feast, except for the this lil' pilgrim:

I don't know what was going on with him, but this is how he sat while all his siblings and cousins ate. Then, when all the big kids were done with dinner, his attitude about his meal changed, and he sat at the table, by himself, and ate his whole meal!

This salad was a great addition to our table: Roasted Beets and Carrots with Goat Cheese Dressing

My Thanksgiving plate:

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette, Olive oil muffin, Saurkraut, Roasted Beets and Carrots with Goat Cheese Dressing, Roast Turkey Wrapped in Bacon, Lemony Mushroom-and-Pine-Nut Stuffing Muffins, Cranberry Jelly, Mashed Potatoes.

The kids playing in the garage/playroom - the IKEA swing is everyone's favorite!

My sisters, my mother and me!

Wordless Wednesday

Incredible Cookies

I got the most incredible gift yesterday when my dear friend, Kate, made good on a promise to teach me how to frost cookies like a champ.

No, I did not frost that chicken. Kate did!

I was responsible for baking all the cookies, and Kate made the frosting. She came with all sorts of impressive tools and shared all kinds of useful tips and techniques.

Like how to check the consistency of your 'piping' without filling an entire bag.

The set-up was brutal. It must have taken about 2 hours to get all the 'piping' and 'flood' made, then colored. At first go with the pastry bag, I didn't think I could pull it off. My cookies looked like %*#@ and it all seemed to much to bother trying again.

But things picked up rather quickly as Kate watched over me and helped me get it right. I love this picture of her decorating a turkey while my daughter looks on, smiling. (But trust me, you don't want kids around while you tackle decorating at this level!)

Here are some that I did make! My absolute favorite is the turkey leg. I'm already looking forward to making Christmas cookies... I'm thinking chickens in santa caps. ;)

Thank you, KATE!!! xoxo

Wordless Wednesday

My Thanksgiving Menu

My mom often comes over on Sunday mornings for a cup of coffee. Today we took our coffee while hammering out the menu for Thanksgiving dinner.

It will be my first year hosting the turkey dinner in seven years and I'm so excited!  I've already begun the preparations - cleaning windows, hanging wallpaper and trying to finish the conversion of *le garage* into a playroom. (There is nothing quite like the anticipation of house guests to get me moving on interiors projects!)

But back to dinner.  With the help of family members who have offered to bring a dish, this is what we will all be eating come November 24th:

 

• Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette  (can't. get. enough of it.)

• Cornbread  (because the kids need a vegetable! :)

• Roasted Beets and Carrots with Goat Cheese Dressing  (anything with Michael Pollan's name associated with it is a winner in my book)

• Roast Turkey - 16 lbs.  (this will be the FIRST turkey I have ever cooked!)

• Lemony Mushroom-and-Pine-Nut Stuffing Muffins (because I need to break from tradition)

• Cranberry Jelly (because some family members just can't break with tradition ;)

• Mashed Potatoes

• Pumpkin Banana Tart  (this dessert is killer - a modern twist on a traditional dessert)

• Charlotte Rousse  (because Thanksgiving falls on Papa's birthday, our first one without him)

• Thanksgiving Cookies

This day last year: "(Homemade) Frozen Waffles"

Quince-e-dink

Have you ever seen the inside of a quince before?

Wait...let's back up. Do you even know what a quince looks like on the outside?

People always ask me that - "What is a quince?!"

I got lucky again last week when there *arose* the *opportunity* for me to visit a family friend's house and pick fresh, organic quince and persimmons from her picture-perfect trees. (OK, fine, I rang her up and begged). Both trees serve as stunning focal points in her front yard. Her back yard is a beach on the bay. 

You are correct in allowing your jaw to drop.

Anywho...I'm guessing I grabbed close to thirty pounds of exotic fruit before heading home to make a batch of Little Miss Who's favorite jelly.

When I think of quince, or olives, totally inedible fruits in their purest, raw state, I wonder how anyone ever figured out how to make them edible.

Here's what quince looks like minutes after being cut - brown.

But after all the work is done, quince makes the prettiest colored, and most wonderful tasting jelly. (Click here for recipe.)

As for those persimmons, I took a grocery bags worth home and adorned my windowsills with them, where they could ripen enough for me to puree them for baking.

This day last year: "Getting My *Persimmon* On"

Happy Halloween!

What an exhausting day and it isn't even lunch time yet!  I just got back from the big kid's class party and costume parade.  My contribution -- skeleton gingerbread men, animals and dinosaurs!

I've been wanting to try these for years, ever since I first saw them over at ohdeedoh.com

Here are the kids on Saturday, before heading out to the mall.  I shared this photo of Mr. Noodles in his chicken costume with our sitter... who then showed it to her friend... who just happens to have the adult version of the EXACT SAME CHICKEN COSTUME!!!  She sent it over to our house in case I would want to wear it. Um -- let me think abo---  YETH PWEZZZ!!!  (more photos to come :)

Yugoslavian Finger Squash

I came across this goofy looking squash at the grocery story recently.  It was labeled *Finger Squash*, which seemed so perfectly appropriate for a pre-Halloween dinner!

So I brought one home and cooked it up for dinner alongside a butternut squash. I baked both with just a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  The Yugoslavian Finger Squash was pretty bland, especially next to the butternut.  But if nothing else, it's just a really fun looking vegetable.  I love the way each *finger* sticks out on each wedge.

Even though the flavor isn't one to rave about, I saved some seeds for next years garden.  This squash is too much of a conversation piece not to grow.