Making Homemade Butter

Well, Summer is underway and we are having a great time doing the different things on our Summer list. Since the last few days we have been busy going & doing, today's activity of making homemade butter was perfect. We could sit on the back porch, talk, & relax while completing our butter making!
Let me just say, making homemade butter is one of the easiest and most rewarding projects ever! Keep in mind that I have lots of boys and boys LOVE to eat, so butter was something they would be interested in since making butter = making food to put the butter on!
We started out with 3 simple things: a recycled applesauce jar w/ lid, a dishtowel, and heavy cream (2 1/2 cups). We poured the heavy cream into the jar a few hours before we were actually going to make it, so that the cream would be at room temp and make butter more quickly. When we were ready, we all went to the back porch so we could sit outdoors and shake, shake, shake! And that is what we did! Basically, we sat in a circle and passed the jar each time one of us got tired. Of course, being boys, they were competitive, which in this case was a good thing! So they tried to out-do each other and shake longer than they would have normally.
Initially the butter seemed to be turning into whipped cream, but after about 10 minutes, we began to see that clumps were forming and we were pleased with that. So we kept shaking and chatting! After 20-25 minutes the butter was completely whipped and ready to transfer to another container to refrigerate.
I was expecting to have to drain off excess liquid (buttermilk), but we must have whipped it more than necessary because there wasn't any at all! Not a drop! So, instead, we salted it a little, stirred it, tasted it, of course, and then put it in the refrigerator. Easy & Super delicious!
If you try this yourself, you may have to drain off the buttermilk. If so, all you do is tilt the bowl with the large clump of butter, drain the milk off, and then use a rubber spatula to work the butter into a mound, draining off more liquid if necessary. The buttermilk can be used in any way that you normally use buttermilk (biscuits, muffins, etc...)and then you can refrigerate the butter or eat it right away! Some people rinse their butter to get all milk off for fear of spoiling, but if you plan to use it pretty soon, don't worry with that!
Overall, I would say the butter-making was a huge success and a great lesson for my children (and me!) about where butter comes from, the work it takes to make it, and the truth that all things homemade are SO much better than store bought! I hope that you will make butter with your family soon!

The Learning Lifestyle

In my journey as a home-school Mother, I have learned so much about my children, how they learn, and what method seems to impact their lives the most. I have also read countless books and articles on homeschooling. In both my own experience and through the wisdom of others, I truly feel that the most beneficial way to homeschool is through creating a "learning lifestyle".
What exactly is a learning lifestyle? It is living our lives in such a way that learning is not confined to a book or a curriculum, but instead the whole world is our classroom. It is making practical, every day tasks lessons for my children.
Everywhere I go and everything I do is a teachable moment for my children (and often times, for myself) as I go about the life that God has given me.
Though I understand this concept in my mind and I recognize it immediately when it is happening, it is still hard for me to grasp at times how to make it happen on an on-going basis.
During the school months, I feel under more pressure to "perform", more pressure to make sure the boys hit the books and cover the subjects that are required. However, when Summer comes, alot of that pressure melts away and we are free to live the learning lifestyle more completely! It is a wonderful time to be carried away by our interests at the pace that we choose ourselves!
Most families try to make Summer a fun time so there are trips planned, vacations, and even "stay-cations" and all of these include the opportunity to live the learning lifestyle. For example, the 1st thing we planned to do this Summer was hike up Stone Mountain. Now we have done this in the past but that time we merely hiked straight up and then actually rode the lift back down! No exploring, no conversing about what we were seeing, etc...
Today, however, was a different adventure altogether! As we traveled to Stone Mtn. I challenged the kids to make it their goal to find at least 10 interesting things as we hiked that we could look at & discuss. In my mind I was thinking I would be happy with 5 or so, but I didn't tell them this. I wanted them to be on the look-out for things that interested THEM and then I could give information to help them or at least I could show interest as well and we could admire the handy-work of our Creator!
To my surprise, they eagerly took the challenge and not only did they find 10 things, but as we drove back home, they rattled off 13 things that they thought were really neat! Here is our list:
~ Flowers & Cactus at the base of the mtn.
~ Flag display
~ Gumpole (pole covered in thousands of pieces of gum!)
~ Old chimney and fire pit we found to the side of the mtn.
~ Blackberries growing on the mtn.!
~ Heart shaped rock.
~ Carvings in the rock.
~ Yellow striping that goes along the path - similar to highway striping.
~ Rock "caves".
~ Interesting insect we found.
~ Chains and equipment attached to the top of the rock.
~ Interesting bird that we kept spotting.
~ Tree roots shaped in odd ways growing in the rock.

We had alot of lively discussion as we hiked up and down focusing on all of these different things and the hows and whys of their being on the Mtn. I think we learned alot in the area of History, Geology, Human behavior, and Natural Plant & Animal life. It was a really fun time!
We also learned that it is a 1.3 mile hike up the mountain (2.6 round-trip!)and that Stone Mountain is 825 feet above ground and 1,683 feet above sea level! We found this out by going up to the kind, older security guard and asking him a couple of questions, which he happily answered and even wrote down things for us!

All around us there is so much to learn and oftentimes there are people who will willingly share their knowledge with us if we are truly interested and take the time to ask. Developing the habit of questioning and seeking answers is the 1st step to a lifestyle of learning! I hope that YOU and YOUR FAMILY will take some time this Summer to explore and learn together. At the least, you will make wonderful memories, and you may learn some really neat things in the process!

Yummy Concoctions

Before I really took the time to learn to cook well, I was one of those people who always followed a recipe (if cooking from scratch) or opened a box and followed the directions there. I certainly was not one to stray away from what I was instructed to do or add in ingredients that I thought would taste good. Nope, I was a complete "rule-follower" when it came to cooking!
Thankfully, that's no longer who I am! I figured out that once you know how to make a few good sauces, you can come up with all kinds of delicious meals that your family will love. For example, as I was thinking over what I was going to make for dinner, I wanted to use some turkey sausage that I had made about a month ago and put in the freezer. (Basically, ground turkey mixed with some seasonings and pattyed out like little breakfast sausages.) The last time I cooked some of it, I realized that instead of being a breakfast type of sausage, it tasted more like the sausage you would find in a good italian soup or pasta dish. Since I didn't have a recipe to go from, I decided to use some trusted ingredients and see how it would turn out.

I started with finely chopped garlic (3 cloves) and butter (about 1-2 TB) and sauteed that in a skillet a bit. Then I added in the sausage and cooked it until done. At this point I poured in an almost full qt of chicken broth and a can of petit diced tomatoes. For seasoning, salt, fresh ground black pepper, basil, parsley, and a dash of oregano. I didn't measure these, just sprinkled them in, but if I had to guess I'd say maybe a tsp of each. While that was simmering, I boiled a pot of water and cooked some whole wheat rotini noodles until al dente. After draining the noodles, I mixed them in with the sauce (about half a box), poured in 1/4 cup of heavy cream, and then sprinkled in about a 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese. Delicious! Served with some crusty french bread and a salad, it would be even better!

The point I am trying to make is that you can take a sauce such as this, add in whatever meat you want (or none), your favorite pasta, and sprinkle on your favorite cheese and there you have it - a delicious and easy meal completely ready to eat in about 30 min or so! And just as a side note, my boys devoured this! I'll have to double it next time!

Summer Learning & Fun

We are all in the mood for Summer at our house! Though we enjoy all of the interesting things we learn every year in our homeschool, we also look forward to those relaxed, fun days of Summer, where learning takes place, but it is not called "school".
As we prepare to close the books and spend more time outdoors, we compiled a list of things we hope to accomplish this Summer. I thought I'd share them with you to inspire you to make a list of your own.

Summer Fun List:

~ Hike up Stone Mtn.
~ Camp out at least twice.
~ Make homemade finger paint.
~ Build a bird feeder.
~ Read "Johnny Tremain" aloud.
~ Paint a waterfall.
~ Have a water gun fight.
~ Bake a cake together and decorate it.
~ Build weapons out of duct tape and cardboard.
~ Play Frisbee.
~ Visit a real dairy farm.
~ Grow tomatoes.
~ Make a homemade birdbath.
~ Create masterpieces in the driveway out of chalk.
~ Have a jump rope competition.
~ Go to a museum.
~ Have a neighborhood Summer Olympics Day.
~ Have a bonfire & S'Mores night.
~ Have a board game day.
~ Bake something & deliver it to someone.
~ Go to the zoo.
~ Memorize one Bible verse per week.
~ Make homemade butter.
~ Play hopscotch.
~ Build a teepee.
~ Eat watermelon & have a seed spitting contest.
~ Build a house of cards.
~ Make homemade Popsicles.
~ Complete one sketch project per week.
~ Learn 3 new outdoor games.
~ Paint a picture.
~ Go canoeing or kayaking.
~ Float down Itchetuknee River.
~ Visit a Spanish Fort.
~ Host a neighborhood Spelling Bee and refreshments.

In addition to all of our activities, I also created a book list for each of my children that they will be encouraged to complete. This will be our own "Summer Reading Program" and they will receive small prizes and praise from Mom and Dad as they complete their reading goals.

I do not expect that we will accomplish all of the things on this list, but I feel it is important to have a plan and I am looking forward to all of the wonderful memories we will store up in our hearts as we go about it!