Paring down the ole blog reader

Lately I've been paring down my blog feeds and eliminating mercilessly. There is NOT enough time in my day to read blog posts that aren't interesting or applicable to me.

I'm not talking about personal blog posts here -- your stuff is always interesting. :)

I mean the informative and entertaining blog reading I do on a daily basis. Scratch that. Lately it's become the blog skimming I do on a daily basis. It takes a LOT of sparkling crafty glitter or an incredibly intriguing title to get me to click forward and read an entire post from my listing these days. Usually I scan quickly and click the delightfully efficient "mark all as read" button. I love that button. Feels like I'm actually accomplishing something important when I press it.

What's crazy is that I don't even have many blogs in my feed. I only follow a handful of blogs related to bargaining, crafting, cooking and reading. It's simply astounding how quickly a few blogs can pile up posts if I don't keep it in check. That's the mathematical principle of exponential growth at work I suppose!

On the reader chopping block are the following:

• Pioneer Woman. At first I really enjoyed PW's sarcasm. But after following her blog awhile, the writing is borderline caustic and the sarcasm is predictable. She still makes me snicker but I don't have enough interest in following her family farm life to continue. And I never win her word nerd contests even though my hubby helps me and he is certifiably THE biggest word nerd in the world. The contests must be rigged.
  
• Burda Style. Great blog but I must admit the sewing technique is WAY beyond me. I have a hard enough time just getting my mending done much less fashioning fall pleated jackets.
  

A few blogs are still proving themselves to me. On deck for chopping are:

• Geek Mom. Two in every 10 posts are super fresh and unique. The other 8 tend to involve star wars or electronics. The few posts I read really resonate with me though. The image above is from their site -- right on!
  
• Baby Cheapskate. I hate to chop this one since it was the first bargaining site I ever followed. It mostly keeps tabs on retail and since I don't really shop retail it's not very practical. Keeping it on the list for now since online Christmas shopping and Black Friday are sneaking up on me.
• Simple Mom. Not much originality here but once in a while a bright spot. I did very much enjoy her recent post on relaxation.
• Holy Experience. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Ann Voskamp's poetry and her cherish-everything-as-from-God views. Her accompanying photography is breathtaking. But I must say I'm not often in the best mood for soaking up Ann's deep thoughts and imagery. Keeping it for now because I hate to heartlessly axe such beauty.
  
• Stuff Christians Like. The author, John Acuff, is HILARIOUS. Witty and observant and not afraid to make fun of Christian churchy topics. Slightly frivolous though.
  

And since I've eliminated a few reads that makes room to add some new blogs!

• Rabbit Room. I recently discovered this collaborative blog of Christian musicians, writers and artists. The site is named for the legendary pub back-room where C.S. Lewis and his cronies, the Inklings, shared ideas and talked God. The naming itself was enough to win me over! I've been thoroughly enjoying their posts on imagination, story-telling and the gospel fleshed out in family life. My only beef is that the posts are rather lengthy at times.
  
• Shaun Groves. A rich song-writer and musician, Shaun also has a natural flair for writing humorously and finding depth in every day family experiences. Good stuff.
  

So, you know I'm going to ask . . . what are YOUR essential blog reads? Which blogs will never meet the chopping axe in your reader?

Pepperoni Rolls

In an effort NOT to devote my blog entirely to homeschooling, I must share a yummy kid-friendly recipe.

I don't know about you but in the Horn household lunch time fare can be a tad boring. If we don't have leftovers from the previous night's dinner, then we usually hover around the same 2-3 lunch options:
1) tuna, cheese, crackers, veggies/fruit
2) pbjs, veggies/fruit
3) cheese quesadillas, veggies/fruit

Blah.

A few Saturdays back I took C & C out for a morning hike and then to a nearby pumpkin farm for some fall-ish activities. After a hayride and some leaf-pile-jumping we meandered over to the food tent. My cash was disappearing quickly and knowing how expensive prepared food tents can be, I wasn't expecting to be able to buy much. Maybe we could snag a few cups of apple cider with the $5 left in my pocket?

To my happy surprise an affordable homemade menu option was listed -- pepperoni rolls for only 75 cents each! Uncertain of WHAT a pepperoni roll was exactly, I queried the friendly worker ladies. The ladies' eyes lit up as they animatedly told me that the pepperoni rolls were just baked that morning, the rolls were still warm and extremely delicious.

Sold.

I bought 4 and we promptly devoured them all. Not that I expected less from pepperoni and mozzarella cheese baked in white bread dough.

After a bit of internet researching, I finally landed on this recipe. I didn't make it exactly as written since I'm positive the taste buds of the Horn children wouldn't appreciate minced garlic and marinated pepper rings.

The beauty of the recipe lies in its simplicity. AND the extra beautiful part is that you can freeze these puppies! After you construct the rolls, pop them into the freezer on a greased baking sheet and don't them let rise a second time. When you're ready to bake them, just take them out 30 minutes before hand and stick them in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes as directed. I haven't found that these need any extra thawing or rising time.

Among kid and adult testers alike these pepperoni rolls are a smashing success! And they definitely add some pizazz to our lunchtime routine.

What do you typically have for lunch? Any easy faves to share?

Horn Homeschool: Week 7

Continuing with the B themed lessons, we studied BEARS two weeks ago. (I'm a tad behind with these posts -- hoping to catch up real soon.)

Learning about bears was SUPER fun! Here's the highlight reel:

• Bear Den. On Monday, we read about bears and their dens. And then we made one! We built a makeshift den in our living room by repurposing a wooden indoor house Matt had constructed for the kids to play in on rainy days. We put blankets on top, nestled it next to the couch, and filled it with all the kids' stuffed animal bears. We also ate our bear-y good snack there and read books inside the cozy den.
• Teddy Bear Day. We focused on the three bears which live in North America for our week's studies. And then to incorporate a bit of history and fun we read about Pres. Theodore Roosevelt and how he inspired the first teddy bear toy. We read lots of teddy bear books (including the classic Teddy Bear Picnic), had a teddy bear picnic with teddy bear shaped sugar cookies (which Chloe rolled and cut out almost all by herself -- nice but VERY messy), and we did the interactive "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" action rhyme. Then I helped Chloe with a simple teddy bear sewing project. We still haven't stuffed or finished the little teddy because he's mysteriously disappeared somewhere in our cluttery abode.
• Bear Class. Friday I took the kids to a short preschool level class on bears at a local nature center. The kids got to see lots of real bear things including bear claws, skulls, and a skin. And it was fun for me to see Chloe interacting in a little class. At first she had that zoned out look but after awhile she was raising her hand and answering questions.
  
• Gummy Bear Math. Who knew that buying a package of gummy bears would yield so much math?!? First we opened the pack and dumped it out on the table. We sorted the bears into piles based on color. Then I led Chloe to estimate which group had the most and which had the least. Clive was content to just line up the bears -- good counting practice for him! Next we counted how many bears were actually in each color group and then Chloe colored that number on a graph (linked here). Then I crafted simple math problems for Chloe and Clive in turn. When they got the answer correct, they were rewarded with, what else, gummy bears! After the gummy bear consumption, I put all the remaining bears in a jar (counting them as I went). We put the jar on display and at dinner time every one (except me of course since I knew the answer) guessed how many bears were in the jar. Chloe out-guessed Matt and came the closest! What'd she win? A handful of gummy bears. :)
• Bear themed snacks. Rice cakes with bear faces, bear biscuits, english muffin bear face pizzas, bear-shaped sugar cookies, gummy bears. Bears are yummy. Bonus was that my independent Chloe-girl did ALL the rolling and cutting of the bear cookies. And though she left a mess of flour on the kitchen floor, her independent baking gave me a luscious 30 minutes of quiet time while she occupied herself with a valuable activity. That's worth more than a few minutes of sweeping in my book!
  
• Blubber demonstration. To show the kiddos how bears use thick layers of fat to keep them warm (polar bears notably), we crafted a blubber glove. I put about 1 cup of shortening in a 1-gallon ziploc bag. After securing that tightly, I squished it flat and put it into a second 1-gallon ziploc fashioning a blubber mitten (better instructions here). I had the kids touch some frozen applesauce with their bare hands. Cold stuff. With the blubber mitten on you couldn't even feel it! Point made! And hopefully remembered.
  

Horn Homeschool: Week 8

Still behind with these homeschool posts; the weeks are flying by at warp speed!

Four weeks ago we embarked on a "C" themed unit study just in time for Columbus Day. During our Columbus week we learned about the man himself, the story of Columbus' discovery, boats, explorers, Native Americans, maps, buoyancy, altases, America, and floating/sinking.

Truthfully, I wasn't too looking forward to studying Columbus. I mean, the guy didn't really discover America. And even Chloe in her 5-year old knowledge of maps and globes was puzzled when I showed him where exactly Columbus landed. More like he discovered the Caribbean islands, NOT America proper. Still, there is much to admire about Columbus in his leadership, kindness to the Native Americans (it was his followers that treated him unfairly later), and his perseverance.

And even though I know next to nothing about boats we still had boat-loads of fun! And I learned many things in the process. I love that bonus side effect of homeschooling!

Here's a look at our fave activities from the Columbus week:

• Will it sink or will it float? (please excuse me while I sing David Letterman's song now) This was a simple, engaging and really educational activity on several levels. Even Clive got into it! Of course, he gets excited anytime he's allowed to play with water. :) I constructed a quick chart while the kids each explored the house and brought back 5 items each to test in our big bowl of water. Matt and I also strategically picked items to try. The process of testing each item wasn't complicated but here's the kicker -- make everyone GUESS what will happen before tossing the item in the water. That's an important step in the scientific method and in this activity an easy step to incorporate. There are so many off-shoot lessons that you could do with an older student. In seeing which objects float or sink you could go on to explore density, shape/design, materials, elements . . .
• Boat-making. We made lots of vessels this week out of a wide variety of items. The neatest part for me was watching Chloe experiment in boat-making. After making a simple egg carton type boat, Chloe took it upon herself to add many toothpicks to her boat in an effort to stabilize it. Not such a good idea when the toothpick holes began to let in water! The milk carton boat was by far the favorite though as it actually resembled like a galleon type ship that Columbus sailed. And most kiddie crafts come nothing close to looking like anything actual so this was a true treat!
  
• Maps. We have a humongous world map on our wall and a globe that we use often so maps were not a new concept for Chloe. We reviewed the directions on a compass rose, sketched and painted a world map, and then mapped out Columbus' basic route.
• Buoyancy. Reading books sure helps make you smarter. I learned, along with Chloe, that in order for a boat to float, it must hold enough air in it to make it lighter than the surrounding water. I know, DUH! Boat design sure helps too. We snagged some killer kid-level books from the library that explained the concept of buoyancy simply and included some easy experiments too.
• Pretend to be an explorer. We fashioned a crude (VERY crude) boat in the living room by moving around our furniture. The couch served as the main deck and we added a step ladder at the back for Captain Chloe who proudly sported her homemade newspaper-folded sailor hat. Clive was the first mate and used a paper towel tube telescope to scope for land. This pretend play quickly turned into playing pirates. Which was still super fun! I'm sure Columbus had to beware of pirates in his day . . .
  

Overcoming an unexpected hurdle

This week I've hit a few high frustration peaks with our homeschooling. Looking back at the various causes of my frustration, it's obvious that
1) I need to loosen up, and
2) we all need to take a break.

What did I get frustrated about, you ask? That Chloe and Clive weren't doing their crafts correctly.

Yeah, I'd say I need to loosen up a little.

For the craft pictured at left, the kids were supposed to tear up pieces of construction paper and glue them onto paper as leaves of a tree. My creative kiddos had different ideas . . .

Chloe, having just received a protractor, was DYING to use it. She insisted on using the protractor to draw straight lines for a tree trunk and then she traced the inner protractor half-circle for the tree top. Chloe wanted to cut out her own leaves but I forced her to tear them and glue them the prescribed way. She complied easily enough but later I thought to myself, WHY did I make a big deal about that?

Clive forsook all directions and proceeded to glue the pieces of construction paper together into a "book".

I totally see the value in giving directions and enforcing compliance. But c'mon now. I hadn't expected CREATIVITY to be a hurdle to overcome in homeschooling. Isn't that one of the huge pros to schooling at home?!? My kids are blossoming into their own creative little beings. That's a beautiful thing; why am I trying to squelch it?

The traditional classroom teacher in me MUST be reformed if I'm going to continue homeschooling with patience and effectiveness.

With informality in mind, this week we're doing a lighter week of schooling focusing on fall. We're spending time outside, talking about signs of fall, reading fall books, singing fall-y songs, and doing fall-ish crafts. Also talking about what causes the seasons (i.e. earth's tilt and orbit around the sun) and how various animals behave in the fall. Hoping to get in at least one hike yet this week too to soak up the remains of the glorious weather.

A happy fall week to you all!





















Chloe's crafty creation. Notice the leaves falling into a pile and the VERY straight tree trunk.






















Clive's "book". Much glue was used.

Happy six month birthday, Solomon!

Six months?! Really?!?

I know we all say this but triteness doesn't make it any less true. Time FLIES. [I won't tack on "when you're having fun" because honestly, my job doesn't feel too fun most days. Being a stay-at-home mom certainly has its fun moments but overall it's tiring work.]

Our happy Solomon Asher has added much joy to our household. As the pictures show, he is THE smiliest baby to grace the Horn home. And believe me, that's not an easy award to win. Clive was a vvvvvvvvvvvery social baby. I'm fairly experienced in doing the regular mommy tricks to induce baby smileage. With Solly I just have to glance his way to create super grins.

Solly is truly an easy baby. (Or maybe I just know what I'm doing now and I'm exuding a more confident mommy vibe to soothe him? Right, that's it.) He's sleeping well through the night now, eating solids at 2-3 meals, rolling over, laughing, and getting close to crawling.

My special time with Solly is during his morning feeding at 5 a.m. Though it's dark and ridiculously early, I enjoy snuggling with him on the couch. He's all mine in those quiet moments. After he chugs down his bottle, I burp him and he usually falls asleep quickly on my shoulder. Lately I've been letting him sleep on me for a bit so I can enjoy this fleeting baby moment. It won't be long before he's too big and squirmy to sleep snuggly on me.

Instead of doing the standard monthly chronology to celebrate Solly's 1/2 birthday, I thought it'd be more fun to do a pictorial showcase of Solly's memorable firsts.

Happy six month birthday, sweet Solomon!

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Birth


















First time ever plotting world domination






















First time getting too much love from an older sibling

















First time ticking off older brother by garnering attention


















First time attending doctoral degree commencement

















First time smiling for Buelita (and not impressing Gramps)





















First (and last) time Daddy attempted to put me in the sling

















First unbearably long car ride





















First meet-and-greet with Raggedy Andy





















First huge special smile for the bouncy seat toys





















First time being abandoned on the grass at a picnic

















First time experiencing toy overload





















First time wearing a skull and crossbones





















First big kid swing ride with g-ma





















First time being dressed up in a flower headband by my sister





















First time showing off my almost-crawling skills

















First cheek-to-cheek photo op with mommy





















First moderate level 1.2 mile hike

Horn Homeschool: Week 6

I'm seriously behind in posting about our homeschooling ventures!

Week 6 we moved on from our letter A themed units and progressed to B with our study on BIRDS.

First we read and talked about what makes a bird a bird (feathers, backbone, lays eggs). Then we looked at a bird's life cycle.

Next we studied nests and tried to make them ourselves. Making nests is NOT for the faint at heart! Even though we cheated and used playdough and string nest-building was seriously hard work. And I don't think any real bird would like our end product. It was a valuable exercise though. Just as real birds, Chloe and I gathered sticks only ONE at a time and then brought them back to our pseudo-nests. We were both tired out after about 20 sticks in the pile. Birds sure are hard workers!

Additionally, I read books with Chloe in the afternoons focusing in on 3 specific birds during the week (owls, geese, hummingbirds). And then we'd do some fun craft to go along with that particular bird. We also touched a bit on migration. (Did you know that hummingbirds migrate?)

And because I'm a nerd bird-themed edibles were required for our week's study. Owl pancakes and chocolate bird nests with gum drop eggs were on the week's menu. And scrambled eggs of course!

We ended the week by reading about birdwatching and using a field guide. (I highly recommend Jim Arnosky's Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing Birds as a kid-friendly primer to birding.) I had checked out a simple bird guide from the library which categorized about 30 common backyard birds. Armed with our bird guide in hand, we headed to a local nature center. There we observed birds and the kids got to use kiddie binoculars. We also did a short hike and then talked to the naturalist about the birds we saw (she even helped Chloe use the bird guide to identify chickadees).

We did some work with "ir" words and also continued with our handwriting, math and chapter book reading too. All in all a great week!

Full-blown bribery

Obviously a major goal in any kindergarten education is reading.

I've been working with Chloe on phonics for as long as I can remember! When she was 2 1/2 we used the amazing supremely awesome dvd Letter Factory to help teach and reinforce her letter sounds. During her 3rd and 4th year I added onto that with a simple Hooked on Phonics set given to me by a friend.

So, launching into kindergarten this year I thought all the magic pieces would fall into place. We'd already covered lots of ground and coming into kindergarten Chloe had already read many books on her own.

The trouble was motivation. Getting Chloe to read was like pulling teeth! Torture, sheer torture it was. It was almost as bad as potty-training. Almost. I'd painstakingly sound out words with her one letter at a time and continually help her refocus. All the while she'd squirm, whine and sometimes give up in tears.

So we took a big break from phonics this past summer. We'd play rhyming games, use a small blackboard or make up silly sentences but I stopped forcing her to read from a printed page.

To start with this year I wanted to build Chloe's confidence in reading and make reading a fun rewarding experience. Now I literally reward her and it's working beautifully!

I admit it. It's bribery plain and simple. But it's working! Who cares if my girl gets a few pieces of candy or cheap toys in the process? Even traditional schools use bribery as a motivational tool so I'm not feeling too guilty about it.

I printed up a basic reading chart and using Chloe's prime motivators of candy and girly-girl toys we went to work. For every 5 books she reads, she gets to choose a bag of candy. Every 10 books nets her a choice from the prize jar. And when she fills up the entire reading chart we'll do an extra fun family activity together (swimming at a local indoor water park).

Check OUT how many books this girl has read!

How do you use bribery to motivate your littles? Or how do you use bribery on yourself? I often treat myself with special food (usually involving cheese or chocolate) to help accomplish undesirable tasks.

Reading for the Record

Today, October 7, is the official "Read for the Record" day across America. We've participated in this a few years now through our local library's story times. And if it weren't for our enthusiastic librarians, I'd have no clue about this neat national reading effort.

I'm not sure what inherent value there is in lots of people reading for a set amount of time on a particular day. I'm fairly certain masses of readers will not rise up and plow forth furrows of literacy just because there's a nation-wide Today-show-endorsed day set aside for reading.

BUT I do like the fact that this online organization wegivebooks.org gave away thousands of free books in conjunction with this reading record day. And with a website url like "wegivebooks.org" I'm going to be keeping a watchful eye on it so I can get ME some free books whenever the opportunity arises.

Seems like a great little site though I always guffaw heartily inside when I read a stat like this one below (this blurb was taken directly from the wegivebooks website - bold emphasis in the last sentence mine).

Did You Know?

Children Without Literacy Skills Face Dire Consequences

According to the Pearson Foundation Early Childhood Education Perception Poll, ninety-five percent of Americans consider early childhood literacy an important problem, but they do not know that reading to children between the ages of 3 to 5 has long-term benefits for a child's academic achievement and life-long success.

I'm speechless. Ok, not really speechless because I have LOADS of words to spout on this matter. But I am taken aback by the wording found here.

How dumb do you think we ARE? Are you telling me folks can't figure out that reading to kids obliterates early literacy problems? Or are you telling me that American citizens are just too lazy, busy or uninvolved in their child's education that they aren't reading to their kids?

You mean watching more Dora dvds won't help my kid read? (Sorry, Dora. You're great just not allowed in my house since you creep me out with your mesmerizing eyes and hyper-excited intonation.)

So, read for the record! If you want to. Anyone else out there participating? I pledged me and C & C because barring a natural disaster we'll be reading something today. Reading together happens in our house every day of the week.

What I need to buck-up on is my own personal reading. I used to devour Dickens and Lewis like they were chunks of sharply aged cheddar but now I'm lucky if I skim a Parents mag article in the bathroom. I miss that getting-caught-up-in-a-good-story feeling.

How 'bout you? How much reading goes on in your house?