Junior High Literature Lessons

"Diana"...
someone isn't hardwired
for spelling...

Can you guess the book we're reading right now? 


Artwork is not part of the assignment, but has mysteriously appeared on my board like some fantastical crop circles.    Sort of.... not really... I know exactly who drew these. She seems to have a love hate relationship with this course thus far. She hates that I am slowing the reading of this book down, as she's rather used to consuming a novel whole in a day or two. Instead, we're dissecting chapters, extracting vocabulary words, and asking questions which (one hopes) will lead to deeper thought about the characters in this building roman.

 

 

Egg drop

Everyone surely must remember doing the egg drop experiment sometime in their academic career, right? Our assignment was to device a way to protect an egg from breakage before hurling it off the highest point accessible to us. In my day that was the top of the football bleachers. For my kids, it was the top of our deck. Since we have an abundance of cushy vegetation, I insisted we aim for the walkway and avoid the fall breaking affect those hostas would have, undoubtedly provided.

The results

Tissue box filled with baby doll quits: Pass

Tupperware lined with cotton balls and

pencils taped to the sides  and paper parachute: Fail

Lesson, insulation works better than rigid stilts. Perhaps if something with springs or coils had been used, the second design might have worked out better.

Disclaimer: No eggs were wasted in this experiment. They went right into the morning hash... along with my "sneaky greens" folate fortification.

Breakfast: 2lbs of precooked chopped red potatoes (with skins, which I had frozen) defrosted
1/4 olive oil butter
1/2 tsp Himalayan salt (natural minerals)
1tbs Lawry's season salt (flavor...live a little)
1/2 a package of goat cheese (for us bovine intolerant types)
4 eggs (Omegas!)
1/2 tbs chia seeds (iron, omegas, calcium...ect)
1/2 tbs flax seed (can you really have too much omega... NO!)
1 tbs coconut oil (good fat, feeds your nervous system, fights yeast and infections... nature's antibiotic)
Big fist full of super greens (I keep a bag in the freezer, cause we all need natural folate, vitamin K, yada yada... and roughage).

Defrost potatoes, add to the pan with butter, cook till hot.
Mix goat cheese, chia and flax seeds, and coconut oil into the potatoes.
In a small bowl mix eggs and salt, then pour over the potato mash, allowing it to seep into the potatoes. Cook till golden crust begins to form, stir occasionally to avoid burning. Finally, add sneaky greens and mix in, allowing to cook for another 2-3 minutes before serving. The kids will cover it in ketchup anyhow, so who cares, go crazy adding in the green stuff!
Optional: add sausage or corn beef, or cook in bacon grease... yummy!

No breaks

If we're going to take any time off from our studies and learning activities it's going to have to be scheduled... and I haven't worked up the nerve to schedule down time... though I know I should. But.. but.. but...

There's so many new things we're integrating into our routine, one of which is Integrated Listening Systems (iLs), which our Occupational Therapist began with our oldest a couple months ago. We're increasing our sessions by doing more at home.

The regular task of washing clothes, cleaning, cooking (at which I genuinely lack talent), and keeping little folks safe remain. 

While doing dishes my toddler brought me this Mei Tai carrier I completed a few days ago, and wanted some up time. Given his baby sister was sleeping happily in her swing I was glad to oblige. After a minute he whispered over my shoulder, "Jesus." At which I realized he was identifying our statues. So I asked him to name everyone else in the Holy Family. He said, "that's Mary," and as I pointed to the tallest figure, he insisted, "that's Jesus." It's actually Joseph, so we had to work a while to convince him of this, because he wasn't buying it. Finally, he conceded that Jesus was the baby, and the tall statue was Joseph.

Near occation of pride...indignation

Selecting Godparents is always a challenge. Kicking around the prospects for Godparents for our newest little girl, the "proof of being a practicing Catholic" requirement played heavily into our decision. It's often quite a chore and I dread having to ask it. The wonderful couple we settled upon probably wouldn't need to go to extra effort since they're fellow parishioners. We'd had them in mind for a while, but hadn't gotten up the gumption to ask till today when I finally got up the nerve to make the phone call. Facebook messaging just didn't seem right. Having obtained gracious acceptance of the request, my husband was tasked with the job to stop into the parish office to fulfill the rest of the requirements. I expected the following to go smoothly.  To our surprise, the Godparent selection did not lead to an immediate smooth path to a scheduled date.

In the past I've taken all or most of my children into the rectory when submitting our paperwork, and the secretary (or in one instance the priest) note our large family and give us the pass for the Baptismal class requirement. Large families with many young recently baptized children are often granted an exception, since it's assumed we've already learned what we need to know before this very important sacrament.

I had expected my husband to return home with an appointed Baptism date. Instead he told me that the office lady told him he had to attend a class before he could proceed. Incidentally, the class was tonight! My prideful indignation got the better of me and I resolved that indeed we all would attend this class (even though they said only one parent needed to attend). I was so incredulous I was determined to drive home how ridiculous a request this was by showing up with our entire family in tow for the class. And so we did.

I joked that they would see us coming and run out to tell us we didn't actually have to take the class after all... and that's exactly what happened. Apparently, very shortly after my husband left the rectory someone else realized how silly it was and tried to run after him to let him know he didn't need to attend the class. All the same it was nice to see his reaction to it all when he actually told the religious education coordinator, "I didn't want to make a fuss or act like I was more special than anyone else." Utterly refreshing... as I am keenly aware of how much my inner being was wanting to be like, "I can't believe you think I need to attend a class!" He looked absolutely genuine, whereas I doubt I was able to mask my pride completely.

And now I contemplate my own character... or lack there of...

We have yet to procure a date, however, as the Baptism coordinator has left and the new person is still in training and not currently scheduling at the moment. We're to call tomorrow and see try again, but our paperwork is done. I just hope the baby won't outgrow the gown I knit for her.