Middle School Homeschooling Archives |

Honey Bees Farm – Field Trip

May 8, 2016 By Laura 3 Comments

The kids and I enjoyed a very interesting visit to a nearby honey bee farm, on quite a beautiful day of this spring. We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather that day! It was sunny and awesome. We invited some friends to come along with us, as a little educational homeschooling field trip.

* We are/I am . . . sharing all kinds of things we learned about beekeeping in this post.
But YO, DISCLAIMER!: We’ve been trying to remember all of the great information we were taking in by ear that day, as accurately as possible, and did a little research here and there, too. But no guarantees we got it all exactly right in this post! We’re just new beekeeping-learners, chatting with you, here.

So, having very local, raw and organic honey in our house is a must for us, at all times. We not only enjoy it immensely as a sweetener in tea, on oatmeal, toast or waffles, and in many recipes, but teaspoon a day goes a long way with helping fight the symptoms of some our environmental allergies! Not to mention the numerous other health benefits, that consuming organic honey provides. And seriously, this natural medicine could not be any sweeter, or delicious! So we’ve been buying honey locally for a few years now.

But this spring, I found an even closer source, right down the road! It is one of the locations of Bee Well Honey, in Sagamore Beach (MA). They have a very convenient road side stand there, where we can pick up more honey any time at all! After learning of them and picking up a big jar of honey, I reached out to them via messaging their Facebook Page, and asked if they would be interested in doing a field trip for us, and teaching us what they could, about beekeeping. We were thrilled that they responded they were, so the communications and plans to arrange it, went from there.

We thought we’d share with you some photos, and a bit about it. While we can’t relay all we learned to you that day here in this post, we hope it inspires you to want to learn more yourself, about how honey bees play such a crucial part in environment, and in all of our lives! Without them, we’d all be in a world of trouble. And maybe, you’ll even feel inspired to find a honey bee farm in your own local visit, and arrange a visit for yourselves.

The beekeepers, Rich and Aaron. One lives here on this property, with his family, where there are some beehives. The other lives at another beekeeping location, in a nearby town, where the processing of the honey is also done. However, they have beehives set up all over the south shore, which they manage. And the system as a whole balances and benefits us and our environment, in countless ways.
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Our Homeschooling Year 2011-2012, Kicks Off!

October 6, 2011 By Laura 9 Comments

Well, forgive me for the delay with any updates about our new homeschool year we’re in the midst of here! Once we kicked it off at the beginning of September, we’ve been very occupied finding our groove, with our new schedules. Things are quite different for us this year! With the kid’s respective ages and levels, life has opened up new and exciting opportunities, of experiences and learning, for all of them. Not to mention new territories for us parents! We have a high schooler now, for example, and with it comes all kinds of things. But the younger ones are also following their passions and gifts, more so than ever.

Some of you may know this, but for those of you who do not, we are year round homeschoolers. We keep a lighter (academic) schedule in the summer, and begin a whole new school year/grade levels, in September. It’s always a very, very exciting time, as we love to plan out and begin a new school year! We’re really blessed that our kids are enthusiastic students, who love school and learning. This coming school year, was filled with more anticipation than ever, and it’s been as CrAzY and exciting of a ride, as we expected.

I always take the kids’ new school photos on the first day of school. This year, it was almost a week later, but we got it done. We have also ‘always’ taken their portraits in the school room, at the side of the cabinets. But if you follow our blog, you may be aware that we drastically changed our school room set-up, and those cabinets are gone! You can see the old and new set up of our school room, as well as the style of school photos we were taking in all previous years, in this recent post.

So this year, I did all of the kids’ school photos outside. These photos will be in the sidebar quite soon, so that new comers can see the kiddos who make up our homeschooling world. In this post, we wanted to share with you a little about their (book) subjects they are studying this year, as well as some other little interesting tidbits of information. In coming posts, we’ll be sharing a lot more, including activities/learning experiences outside of their academics, some deeper thoughts and observations I have had as a homeschooling parent, and lots of other fun and interesting homeschooling related posts. We hope you’ll join us for it all, with discussion and sharing of your own!

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This is our oldest daughter/student, Alexis Grace (14). Also known as {A} around the blog here. She has been homeschooled (not necessarily at home…right? lol), since 3rd grade, and just started 9th grade this year. We can’t believe we have a high schooler now! That means I worked hard over the summer, researching, and piecing together a serious 4 year college prep plan for her. And maybe panicking, just a little. The girl scares me, and excites me, and makes us all proud, all at the same time! She has huge aspirations, and her heart set on really great colleges. We cannot let her down, and we believe in her, because she is so unique in her focus of her life at her age. She is so faith-filled, determined, intelligent, tough, independent, and firm on the path she is laying out for herself. What fascinates me, is it’s all a far cry from anything her father or I ever dreamed for ourselves, or were interested in. But that’s why each one of us has our own calling, and why it’s important as homeschooling parents, to help shape our children’s character, and foster the calling they feel God has put in their heart, as the work He has meant for them to do, in their life. It’s all about guiding and supporting them, to be the people they are meant to be.

Throughout this past summer, Alexis taught the 4th Grade Religious Education at our parish (2 weeks), and ran the games activity for the kids of Vacation Bible School (1 week.) She also earned herself a Catholic High School scholarship, that has covered all of the expenses of her academic and extra-curricular school year. We’re proud of her, and grateful as well!

This school year, as a high school Freshman, Alexis’ courses are: Language Arts (Alpha Omega /LifePac), Algebra (Math-U-See), Biology (Apologia), History/Social Studies (Streams of Civilization-Volume 2 Cultures in Conflict Since the Reformation), Latin (Latina Christiana), Spanish (All Bilingual) , Art and Music (Piano – private lessons, and the Recorder – all kids at home.).

Alexis is also playing sports now, for our town’s public South High School! She is really involved there. That is a whole other exciting post. I could easily ramble, so I’ll save it, but suffice it to say it’s been really wonderful for her so far, and exciting for us. It is extremely time-consuming on a daily weekday basis. But I’d say we best get used to it and keep making it work.

In the light of sharing all of their subjects in this post, I feel it’s important to mention, that we live our personal faith, which is Roman Catholic. So it’s not a subject the kids study for school, but more something we are always teaching them, and they are always living and learning it as they grow. Just as we still are as adults, actually. That said, they do begin each day all together, with a Scripture, discussion, and prayer. As a tool, we still really love Living Faith-Kids!!

JackMichael (9), the first-born of the triplets. Also known as {JM} around here. He and the other 2 have the same academic subjects of course, being in the same grade level and age. As I said, I’ll be posting more about what they love to do outside of their academic studies, and I’m excited to do so, because they are all so unique, with their interests and personalities. And yet, the differences from within their unique selves, meld together so well with each other. It’s fascinating to me, to observe, frankly. But anyway, for today, here are the subjects all 3 of them have this year:

Language Arts (Alpha Omega / LifePac), Math (Delta / Math-U-See), Science (Exploring Creation with Astronomy-Apologia), History/Social Studies (Christian Liberty Press / Our Nation Under God, and, History Stories for Children), Writing Strands, Spanish (All Bilingual), Latin (Prima Latina), Art and Music ( Recorder – all kids at home).

Olivia Faith (9), the second triplet born. {O}, which we tend to call her 1/2 the time, ourselves. The boys especially, refer to her as “O”, a lot. And you know what she calls them, when she’s talking to the both of them? “Boys”. It always cracks me up, because there is such a motherly air about the way she says it. So….our own little baby boom is “O and the Boys”, I guess. It has a cool little ring to it, now that I think about it. : ) Oh, speaking of their names, and {name initials in brackets}, I know we’ve been a little all over the place with it. The thing is, using initials for any sake of privacy or protection, is pretty irrelevant by now, considering they’ve been on TV a few times now, (related to our Catholic faith) as well as the newspaper, for different things. All times with full names. On the flip side, I have found myself continuing to use their initials in brackets sometimes, for the sake of brevity. As you can see, my posts tend to be perhaps a little lengthy, so I need to use all the brevity tricks I can. : ) The kids are all well aware, lots of people know who we are by name, but the reverse isn’t necessarily true. (Especially around our town, and the people we meet and run into in person.)

Shane Jacob (9), the last born of the trio.

(Reaching for ‘brevity’ now………..). Shoot. I forgot what I was going to say. Ummmm. Oh yeah. You see that beautiful little school desk in the background? That is Michael’s, from when he was a little boy!! What a treasure, huh? That sweet and sentimental little antique is going to be another blog post coming up, that I am planning, as well. There’s some story to tell, and some specific things that are part of the desk, that you will not believe!! Michael’s antique school desk, is not the only one we have to show you, either. So if you’re interested, be on the look out for that post too!

homeschooling-new-year-5 I am glad I thought of doing a quick ‘class picture’ of sorts, while we were at it. I sure love my class!!

Honestly, I’ve struggled a little with this homeschooling section of the blog, right along. It’s a lifestyle to us for sure, but one that is just so normal to us, I think…”What is there to blog about?”. But I know there is LOTS. Lately, my realization of that has really broadened, and in the process, I have realized why I am not as active in this section. Which is crazy, because I so passionately love homeschooling my kids, and living this life I do with my family, that it hardly makes sense. But I see now where it comes from, and I think I’ll be sharing those thoughts very soon too.

So stay tuned!! This homeschooling section should be picking up steam, real soon! You should know, we love comments and hearing from all of you! But if you are a homeschooling blogger as well, we especially encourage comments with your blog-linked names, so that we can visit your stories and shared, comment, and connect with you all as well. Our hope and goal is that we are all an inspiration and encouragement for each other, in raising and educating our children, as homeschoolers or not. homeschooling happens to be the route we have happily taken, with a deep love and passion for it. So our posts will derive from that life we live, as a homeschooling family. But proving a great education, however any of us do, is the more common thread. So thanks so much for stopping by, and please DO again! God bless you all!

Gosh, I promise I’ll work harder on that brevity thing, too.

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The Metamorphosis of Butterflies – Photos, Our Experiment & Study | Homeschooling

July 27, 2011 By Laura 2 Comments

Hatching butterflies is probably a pretty standard experiment and study for students, in both formal and home school educations alike. It’s one that can be used as a Science participation lesson more than once in the course of ones education, because the benefits of the lesson are different for various ages.

For very young students, such as toddlers-K, it’s a really fun & exciting process to watch every day. At this age, they are full of both intelligent, and sometimes humorous, questions. They are able to grasp the basic understanding of the stages. Some little ones may rather non-nonchalantly accept the transformation from a caterpillar to a butterfly, simply as magic, in a way.

Older students comprehend the cycle and the information of the lesson at hand, on a bit of deeper level. Their more mature experiences of curiosity and intake of the study of nature and Creation, throughout their ages of years, has led them to a wiser perspective. They are more fascinated than ever, by the works of God, and the magnitude of His power. They may also more readily make observations, younger ones may not pick up on, such as happened in our family, that I’ll tell you about shortly, further into this post.

Our study was of the butterfly species, the Painted Lady. We purchased what we needed at a lovely nearby place called The Butterfly Garden Boutique, in Bourne, MA. The owner was very friendly, helpful and informative, and supplied us with live caterpillars in a container with their food, and a small net pavilion. (Larger pavilions are available as well.).

metamorphosis-butterflies-study-homeschoolig-1 We had 5 live caterpillars, and it wasn’t a day or 2 after getting them home, did a couple begin to make their way to the top of the container. Inside the lid of the container provided, is a fabric like piece of material, for the caterpillars to attach themselves to for their transformation process. We learned they do this, by dispensing a thread from a hole beneath their mouths.

By the following day, the rest followed.

Once each of the 5 were hanging, the transformation begins rapidly. They first shed their skin, revealing a the green casing that is their chrysalis.

Once we had 5 chrysalises attached to the material, we carefully took off the lid of the container, and pinned the material to the inside of our pavilion near the bottom, as instructed.

Here is a closer look. It was evident which chrysalises attached first, and which were more recently formed. It was absolutely fascinating to learn, that the inside of the chrysalises in this pupa stage, the caterpillar is turning into a complete liquid form, before forming into a butterfly. In this photo, you can see the the patterns of butterflies, through the somewhat transparent casing.

As a reference of sizes, this is our small tent-like pavilion, and you obviously can see the chrysalises pinned to the back bottom. The door is only unzipped and open for the sake of this photo. Throughout the entire study, the pavilion resided here on the shelving table-top, between our school room and kitchen. The kids were allowed to look anytime, but not touch the tent, as to not disturb the chrysalises. Of course, I carefully did open the door now and then, to take photos.

Some mornings later, there was all kinds of excitement in the house…..

Michael got up (very) early for his morning church job, and discovered a butterfly had emerged sometime during the night! He woke the little ones up to show them, and soon they were running through the house to spread the word. To {A} and Mama. Darn! We missed it.

Right above the butterfly, you can see the empty casing the butterfly emerged from.

Those who observe butterfly hatching for the first time, may be surprised to learn that the hatching process is somewhat of a messy business! The red staining you see, almost appears to be blood, but it is actually just the leftover liquid excreted from the formation of the butterfly, through the pupa stage. In other words, waste.

Just as mentioned before, it is even more noticeable now, which butterflies are likely to hatch next. Can you guess? It would be the darkest one.

Our first hatched butterfly of the 5.

As unfortunate luck would have it, we unbelievably missed the actual emerging of every butterfly from it’s casing! Seriously. The 2nd one came out while we were not aware, because we were busy doing a math lesson. 2 others emerged while we were sleeping, once again. And the 5th was while we were not home. So you know what this means! We need to do this again!

At the beginning of this post, I was talking about the benefits and differences of children doing a butterfly metamorphosis study. Our oldest, {A}, hatched butterflies twice, consecutively, when she was very little, and an only child. This time, being much older and wiser teenager, was a whole different experience for her, such as the following occurrence:

It was fairly late at night, and the little ones were in bed, when I was in the kitchen and peeked in at the butterflies, and spontaneously exclaimed, “Oh my!”. {A}, who was in the kitchen too, looked in and, without surprise or question, said “Oh yeah, they’ve been doing that like, every night.” Then gave me some wide eyes and a giggle. Butterflies waste no time, to get mating, once they are emerged! They only live 2-3 weeks, so they have little time to get pro-creatin’! ; ) Over the course of our study, there was many observations she had had, as the oldest, and more in-depth facts she was aware of. So it’s a continual learning process as the kids grow, and still the fascination of the whole cycle, never wears off. Not even for me!

We decided that the evening of {A}’s 14th birthday, was the perfect time to release our butterflies. We had had a wonderful family day together, and the time had come, and seemed right.

Our gardens seemed to be the perfect place to let them go, as well. We hoped perhaps they would stick around the garden beds for at least a few days, and do some pollination work for us! But first, the kids took a few more minutes to just watch their Painted Ladies, and say goodbye.

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Then they opened the door, to set them free.
One flew out right away!

The others needed some encouragement.

Finally, out flew another. {A} was reaching in to lift one that was determined not to move…

….while out flew 2 more.

This one seemed quite as hesitant to leave us, just as we have been to let them go.

metamorphosis-butterflies-study-homeschoolig-20 Soon, it fluttered off the kid’s hands, to a nearby garden flower.

We really enjoyed this study, and plan to return to The Butterfly Boutique again very soon, to spend some time in their Butterfly House, which is a screen house guests can enter, full of plants, flowers, a water fountain, and you guessed it…..lots of live butterflies! There’s also a Gift Shop, with beautiful butterfly-related jewelry, home decor, and more. And the Hungry Caterpillar Snack Bar! The boutique as a whole is a small but charming and fun place, for kids and adults alike. If you live nearby, or find yourself visiting Cape Cod, The Butterfly Boutique is very near both the Sagamore and Bourne Bridges. Visit their web site to get more information, and their exact location, which is so easy to get to.

As you probably know, butterfly kids can be ordered online as well, such as from here. There is also numerous resources to assist you and your children with educational information and activities. I have gathered just a couple of links for you today. For your younger ones, this web site has simple and minimal basic information about the life-cyle of the butterfly. Here is a print-out as well, to just review, or use as a guide with what to expect, as you are hatching your own butterflies. For your older children (middle school +), this link offers more in-depth information about the life of butterflies.

It’s important to remember, that children who have fun learning, will enjoy it and seek to learn more. Case in point, our children have continued to use the butterfly pavilion, with self-launched studies all on their own. Following the release of our butterflies, the kids found a HUGE furry, nasty-looking cocoon in our woods, and were excited to see what would emerge! (I was rather scared. I thought maybe a bear….or one of those seemingly evil hummingbird-moth-things.) I will share photos of what came of THAT pupa, on our Facebook Page, very soon! So be sure you are following us! At this very moment as I type, that pavilion now holds 11 moths, and 1 large grasshopper, as the kids study them.

The learning never ends, at Our House Of Joyful Noise. Thanks for visiting with us for this post, and please feel welcome to share your own experiences, studies and observations, with butterflies, or any other insects!

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JFK Library & Museum | Field Trip | Homeschooling

March 16, 2011 By Laura 10 Comments

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I’m a planner. I plan everything. Call me not-very-fun, but there is not much I do spontaneously. Especially when it involves, like…..a whole day. Or traveling a small distance. Or worse……changing plans I already planned!

So when a friend of mine sent me a message one bright and early morning not long ago, asking if we’d all be up for a trip into Boston, to visit the John F. Kennedy Library & Museum that day….well, I started having heart palpitations, and immediately started brainstorming excuses to say no. For examples: I had a full day of lessons planned! The kids had a test. My camera battery wasn’t charged! (My gosh! I can’t take a field trip without taking photos! How would I blog it?!) And honestly… I had work to do after schooling the kids! And…and….I hadn’t planned, on going to the JFK Library & Museum! I can’t just TAKE OFF like that!

All of those things were the truth. But it was also true, that going to the JFK Library & Museum, had been on our field trip agenda, for at least a year, and we just hadn’t gotten to that one yet. And my oldest daughter {A}, had been nagging me about it all-365-days, (or it’s seemed like it anyway), because she’d been dying to go. Beggin’. She has a deep and peculiar passion, for American History, for a 13 year old girl. She loves to learn about past U.S. Presidents, and especially has a keen interest in the Kennedy family. My camera battery could charge in an hour. Also, my friend’s kids had a 1/2 day of (charter) school, and therefore would be out early, so that’s why it was a perfect weekday for them to go, with us. But the truth of all truths was…..it could turn out to be one fun and exciting day, if I could just wrap my brain around <gasp> changing plans, last minute.

jfk-john-f-kennedy-library-and-museum-boston-ma Well, it was, and I DID IT!!!

It actually turned out to be a very, very interesting trip. Downright fascinating, at times. It blows me away, because I could have cared less about American History when “I” was in formal school growing up, on top of several other subjects. Or, all of them. (Except art of course!). But I just love, love, love schooling now. As I always say, “I’m being re-schooled”, while I school my kids. And I thank God they are loving it, the first time around! Because 13+ years is a dang-long-time, when you don’t like school! (Ask me!)

So…..let me show you some of the things that we got to see on our field trip, and intriguing things we got to learn more about, at the JFK Library & Museum.

THIS….Is John F. Kennedy’s high school report card/transcript! But here is what is sooooo interesting. If you look closely, you will see…..

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…..He got a D in his Sophmore year!! IN HISTORY! Did you know this? Because it’s quite a shocking revelation, to me! Now, {A} is a little upset with me, that I’m telling you about this. She says, “But Mama! He really loved History though! He did!”. And she’s concerned I am embarrassing him. To which I replied, “Well, Honey, you know…come on. He’s dead.” And also, “It’s in a public museum! I think more people blow through that place, than my little ole’ blog, in a day. Don’t you?”. Because I just feel the need to tell you all! I find this little tid-bit of info shocking, but also encouraging, to children everywhere!! As I see it, if a kid can get a D in History, and go on to be the President of the United States, there is hope for anyone!

(She’s in the kitchen right now mumbling, “Poor Jack.”)

Check out the appliances of those times. My three 8 year olds just stood and stared through the window here, dumb-founded.

This display really got me. As an educated graphic and package-designer, all I can say is….it is really no wonder, why the decade following the 60’s, involved tie-dyed shirts, and psychedelic-color-inducing drugs. I mean, I do understand there was printing limitations, and limited inks to work with then. But goodness…..what horrid looking packaging. It all looks the same! Honestly, I had to walk away, as depression was setting in.
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We had a great tour guide. She popped in and out, as we made out way through the place, giving us more info here and there.
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There are mini theaters there in the museum, and we watched two very interesting films. I can say that in my own experience of watching these films, I was able to really feel more connected to exactly who JFK was. To see him in motion, and hear him speak, in his own words, was…fascinating, and mesmerizing. He had a great voice! I’m going to link you to some of the film at the end of this post, so you can experience it yourself. In case, you know, you’re as young as I am. ; )
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A mock set-up of (one of?) his campaign offices. I desperately wanted to take the desk, and the chair. And maybe the door knobs.

Possibly the hanging light fixture, also.

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The pavilion, was a cool place to be. All glass and steel-work, overlooking part of the Boston Harbor. To think, that JFK and his siblings’ great-great grand-parents, had at one time sailed right by here on their arrival to the United States from Ireland, in 1849, because of the “black potato famine”.
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Our crew of kids.

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Here, a replica of the desk in the Oval Office. It was interesting to note, that the little door under the front of the desk, that JFK Jr. was later photographed playing behind, was put in to hide Franklin D. Roosevelt’s leg braces. They felt that, when photographing him at his desk, it may appear that the President of the U.S., was weak. (Nice.)

Also interesting to note: My flash went off when taking this photo of the desk, and I got in trouble. Once a rebel, always a rebel! ; )

Call me ‘Silly’. But this is my favorite shot of the day. RFK’s glasses.

I actually took the shot, through glass.

Bet you’re impressed now.

Or…not.

They are on his desk, shown more below. Robert was appointed Attorney General, when his brother was President.

It was cool to read all of the documents and notes lying about the desktop. And laugh at the phone.
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RFK’s Dept. of Justice badge, and the football that the Dallas Cowboys gave to Robert, because the Kennedy’s loved the game so much, and were known to play.

I have to be honest here…..some of these details I am not actually remembering all on my own. {A} is over my left shoulder, dictating some stuff to me. Lol. Just keeping it truth, People!

A bit of Jacqueline Kennedy’s wardrobe. On the right is her Inaugural Ball gown.
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jfk-john-f-kennedy-library-and-museum-boston-ma-17 THIS, I do remember on my own. I did not know, that Jacqueline (Bouvier) Kennedy was a photographer! In a round-a-bout way, it was through her photo-journalism work, that she met her future husband, JFK. I was saying to myself, out loud, “Well I’ll be a blue-nosed gopher.” And someone said, “……What?!”
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The baby with us loved this purse. He kept saying “Ooooo!!” (Short O sound.) It was rather eye catching!
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These are ‘doodles’ of JFK’s from a meeting during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the top-right, you can see where he wrote and circled several times, “Missile. Missile. Missile.”
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News publications from over the years.

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The polls.

There was another little room we went through, that was dark, and just had a few tv screens going. Airing, was the news broadcast footage, of when JFK had been shot. I can only imagine, having been born and grown enough then, to understand what was happening at that time. Because the heavy feeling we all had in that room. All silent, staring at the monitors, some with a tear rolling down our cheek. I guess it’s the closest we’ll ever feel, to having been there.
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Oh how I would have LOVED to have taken this portrait!! {A} walked up to this, and named every person in it, from left to right. As easy as counting, for her. This portrait was taken, when Joe Sr. was Ambassador to England, and they were in London. What a great photo.

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Oh…what to say here. Funny, but this vision of {A} doesn’t seem that far-fetched. You’ve got to know her, if you don’t. She’s only 13 now, but she’s really into politics, government, and planning her future! Let’s just say, she’s got a few things she wants to say, and a few things she wants done.

She’s got a dream.

We all had such a good time, and learned so much, here at the JFK Library & Museum.

We highly recommend this attraction, if you are ever in the Boston area.

There was a great little still film clip on JFK we really enjoyed.

I was really glad my friend called, and I’m so spontaneous.

So…..Did you enjoy this post? Did you learn anything new?

Please share your thoughts with us.

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Homeschooling in the Kitchen | Food for Thought; Literally!

November 14, 2010 By Laura 7 Comments

I’m sure I’ve been forthright about this before, as much as it makes me feel a little bad to say out loud. (Figuratively speaking.) But there always moments in time when these things come up, and there is some purpose in being truthful in the matter. Right?

Well, this is one of those times.

So the truth is, <whisper> my mother was just not very domestic in the kitchen. Nor was her mother. <end of whisper> Which says something not good. Doesn’t it?

I’ll answer that. Yes it does.

It says that the chances of me being one, was slim to none.

Unless of course, I broke the cycle, and took responsibility for myself. Made different choices. And God-willing, began a new cycle for my children, and grandchildren, to carry on.

(I’m not really that smart. I read something like that in a book once.)

I have to say, I did know plenty about cleaning, weeding gardens, and working hard coming into this holy-Sacrament-of-marriage-thing. I worked for a little old lady from the time I was 11 years old until I was14, every Saturday. Her name was Mrs. Flahive, (pronounced with long vowels.) I cleaned her house top to bottom, kept up her gardens, weeded her stone patio, changed the sheets on the beds, did laundry, etc. I even polished her silver with some grayish-brown, horrid-smelling stuff. I learned a lot from her. Although I didn’t really appreciate the value in the tasks, at the time. I never even thought about how they would serve me well someday, in my own home-keeping years.

Some things, she was very particular about how it was done….such as the fine techniques of folding sheets, or making a bed. It’s funny that I insist on these same techniques in my own home now. lol She was a nice old lady, made me a fine lunch which we enjoyed together, and later had an afternoon tea as well. And then she paid me too! She paid me well, I might add. For a kid. Of course, I was also risking my life twice a day, every Saturday, as this 80 year old woman who peered through the hole of her steering wheel, picked me and and brought me home. I’ll never forget that time we were heading for the side of the bridge…..

But admittedly, I was slow coming around as a new bride-to-be, in the cooking and baking area. I think becoming a mother sort of kicked me into domestic-gear. Somewhat. Until then, my husband and I did o.k., together. He did have more of a domestic mother, all the way around. From what I could tell, anyway. So he had watched, learned, and praise God, was not helpless himself when we married.

Yes, all of this story-telling has everything to do with homeschooling.
In particular today: Homeschooling in the Kitchen

I don’t know if they even have Home Economics in school anymore. Do they? But I heard they did, back when I was in school. Problem is, I went to a private Catholic high school, where the guidance counselor, was also the Geometry teacher sometimes, and the principal was sometimes the Religion teacher. (That was a bad run.). The gym teacher helped in areas he should have never been helping, with the senior girls, if you know what I mean. (But I won’t go there today.) In other words, we were just a small school, without any extras. We didn’t even have a football team. Or a field of any sporty-kind.

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen My mom was a wonderful mother in many ways, so don’t get me wrong. But seeing as though I was not learning much in the kitchen at home, it would have been nice to learn about some of the cooking and baking stuff, especially, somewhere. In retrospect, I mean. (Because I am quite sure I could have cared less at the time.) And so seeing as though my kids are not in school, and won’t be going to high school either, where they may or may not have gotten Home Ec classes, I feel it is up to me to be sure they get some!! Otherwise, they could end up as a floundering bride or groom some day. And if they marry the same, there is going to be a big problem. Like. . . . a travesty. Know what I’m saying?

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-1 So I need to be sure, my kids get a domestic bone from me, some way, some how, some day. Hopefully before they are married, or are out on their own. Even if they are single, I don’t want them resorting to fast foods and whatnot!

And so it was that mindset that I was in, when I got my kids (happily) helping out in the kitchen, since they were about ohhhh….so tall. (Use your imagination. It’s pretty short.)

But it was in having them help, that I realized just how much schooling can happen in the kitchen! And the more we do it, the more I see the lessons happening.

It’s a whole lot more than Home Economics!

Let’s see…….

First, there is READING…..the directions. I have them do it out loud. It’s such an opportunity for new kitchen-related VOCABULARY words, SPELLING words, and PROPER PRONUNCIATION.

On this particular day in the kitchen, we were making an ordinary box of cinnamon streusel cake, and making the apple version.

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-3 Then, comes FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS, of what was just read, very carefully.

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-4 MATH is a biggie! (age depending.) There is counting, adding and subtracting, and measuring. (Especially when halving or doubling a recipe.) Reading numbers, and temperatures!

SCIENCE is everywhere, in the operating kitchen. How does one ingredient react, when another is added to it? Why must we temper some ingredients first, before adding to the big batch. (There’s another new word! So what does it mean, and how do we do it?)

What happens with various temperatures set in the oven, and what is the difference between baking, and broiling?

Enjoying our time spent together counts for something too! For some, it truly is a learned behavior!

(Not for my kids, of course. I’m just sayin’ ; )

How about the ins and outs of KITCHEN SAFETY? We are using sharp knives, reaching into hot ovens….

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-8

…..and operating heavy machinery!

(After you read this post, you may want to find out how this sweet piece of machinery hummed it’s way into our lives, and MiXeD everything up, HERE. ; )

Uhh, by the way…….Where’s the fire extinguisher, just in case? And how do you use that?

We don’t want to learn that Science, in an emergency. You want to know how to use that thing if you need to! And if all else fails,< insert the family fire drill skills here>, and we’ll meet at the telephone pole across the street!

Back to the lessons at hand…

Learning how to WORK AS A TEAM, and also ……..

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-10 …….admitting when you need help, and allowing others to help you.

All of these lessons I mentioned, are just the topping of the cake.

I am sure you could think of plenty more, in addition to mine.

Think on it.

OH OH OH!! I just thought of another one!! The one I think we all like to forget!:

The RESPONSIBILITY of cleaning up the mess!

But most times, we can do so, while we enjoy the mouth-watering smell we’ve created in the air.

Ahhhhhh……smells…..SO…….good!!! We can hardly wait to cut into it, indeed!

Of course the best lesson of all:, our mouths and our bellies, REAP THE REWARDS OF our HARD WORK.

***

All kids, home schooled or not, can benefit from the lessons to be learned in the kitchen.

What lessons have I missed mentioning? Help me out here.

I’ll be hoping you can you add to my list, because I know there is a lot more. And you’re smart cookies.

While I wait, if you’ll excuse me, I need to head down to the laundry room, transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer, sort some piles, and start a new wash load.

And you can bet I’ll be taking a kiddo down with me. And believe it or not, they’ll be excited to come and help! (And secretly learn.)

Hopefully, I’m cutting my chances here of them coming home on weekends from college, accompanied by several loads of laundry. If they do, we’ll be repeating those lessons, that weekend. ; )

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Yes, all of this story-telling has everything to do with homeschooling. In particular today: Homeschooling in the Kitchen

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Yes, all of this story-telling has everything to do with homeschooling.
In particular today: Homeschooling in the Kitchen