Ultimate Blog Party 2013 -Welcome!

Welcome to my little spot on the internets :)

My name is Jenn, I'm the mad-blogger/ Bridget Jones -A.D.D. Mom / homeschool-mom.

I've had the title of blogger since 2006  (wow- I can't believe I've been blogging so long!) and I did my very first UBP with 5 minutes for Mom way back in 2007.

So, let's get this party started!  Come on in, make yourself at home.  There are tabs on the top of the blog about our homeschooling, our books, etc. and a subject cloud on the sidebar.  There is plenty of diet coke on the patio.... pour yourself a cup-a-cuppa...

I write about family life, homeschooling, books I/ we read (I love books) materials we use in our homeschool, our adventures, our faith, my constant tries at organization/cooking/laundry...I am under-gifted in the domestic department.

Diet coke, dark chocolate and all things carb keep me going.  If procrastination was an Olympic event, I'd have several gold medals by now.  I'd rather walk than run, I like to say I  do yoga, but it is rather, uh sporadic.  I like to paint, read, learn about photography, putter.  I have mad puttering-skills. <For real.>

Our kids are:  Meg -senior, high school, Josie- 10th grade,Demi-Sky7th grade, and Amie5th grade.  I homeschool all of them, and until this year, I had a bonus student.  (No, these are not their real names)

We have always homeschooled, it's just what we do, and frankly the public schools in my area are among the lowest performing in the State.  We started homeschooling when we realized we would not be able to afford the church private school we had looked forward to...for 4 kids.  Once we started, we were hooked and never looked back. <maybe?> Our high school students are enrolled in a few classes with the Biola Star program.  Biola University runs homeschool  classes at different satellite campuses.  These classes are top-notch and rigorous.  Rigorous is good, because I am a softie.... Demi is taking a short 8 week Creative Writing class with them. I teach the other subjects at home.

But, the winds of change are blowing; our oldest, Meg, will be graduating this year and starting college.  And then, Josie decided she wanted to apply to the performing arts high school in our area (a charter school).  We just received notice that she was accepted,  next year my life is going to look very different.  I have gone from homeschooling 5 last year, to homeschooling 4 this year, and then to homeschooling 2 next year.

Change is always good, though.  I am currently looking for new adventures/mishaps :)

Sky is my husband and best friend.  He is an artist with woodworking and is a building inspector for schools and hospitals. He is usually my co-pilot for adventure, though any adventures prefaced with the title "hair-brained" are all my own doing- like the time I decided to go to Singapore right during the height of swine-flu pandemic, or the time I decided to start Irish dance, or the time I went to Canada and forgot I was in a different country. {{Homeschool-mom geography fail!!}}

or the time...oh, you get the idea...

We have a labradoodle, Emma who owns a big corner of my heart, and my nemesis, Evil-Kitty a.k.a Oliver who is a favorite photograph subject here on the blog.  Make no mistake though,  the cat truly is my frenemy and is trying to slowly drive me crazy. Well, that probably covers it.

My name is Jenn and I'm an introvert who likes to talk/write...and this is my spot.

{{Welcome to my crazy life, I love making friends,

please leave a comment so I can visit you!}}

7 Quick Takes -Flies and other homeschool relics edition

~1~

Meg's homeschool chemistry experiment went a little south and several large blue-bottle flies escaped. But wait, it gets even better!  Meg then went away for highschool girl's church camp and left me home alone with the two youngest kids and her escaped flies for company. Yes, I live the glamor life!!  Early on in our fly campaign, we discovered  this jumping spider on the outside of the glass, spending time stalking a few flies on the inside of the glass. It was fascinating to watch.  Eventually, I opened the window on top (double hung old-fashioned windows) and a few flies flew over and ended up between the glass and screen, which is where the spider happened to be.  I have to report that the spider did catch one of the flies, with Amie and Demi watching, mezmerized.  More homeschool science, yay...

~2~

Amie's Hogwarts for Muggles class last week was a potions class.  The kids had containers of  interesting things like "dragons breath", "mandrake tears" etc.  They conducted several experiments with their concoctions and made a lap book filled with chemistry facts.  So much fun!

~3~

extra bonus photo of my cute doggie.  I {heart} her.

I was lamenting that Oliver (a.k.a. Evil Kitty)  is a favorite photo subject because he is so much more easier to photograph, even though my dog is my big love. So, I thought I'd try to spend more time capturing her on camera.  She is a hard subject because she is so dark, she tends to show up as one big blob.

~4~

My sister and I spent an afternoon packing up mom's china.  This set of china has some history; her eldest brother brought it home from Hong Kong, during the Vietnam war- on the aircraft carrier he was stationed on...tucked away in boxes in the freezer. He was the cook. It's a special story, we wanted to make sure that her china ended up safe and loved.  I was lucky enough to take it home with me.  My sister took home another all white set.

~5~

my man-cub just moved up from a boy's size 6 shoe, to a man's size 8 shoe.  I was kind of sad.  Sky traveled up North for a family wedding, I stayed home with the two youngest, while Meg and Josie went to church camp.  Demi needed some up-keep done, such as a haircut (he wailed to me after it was done that he was now almost bald...I said, "good" in my best grumpy cat imitation) and then he needed new shoes and socks. Mission accomplished...it's sad though, how quick they grow up.

~6~

The new Dr. Who season starts this coming Saturday!!! We are so excited!  We are planning special food for the viewing, kind of like superbowl, but instead with time travel and mad men with a box  :)

Dr. Who Series 7 part 2 prequel

~7~

Just found out last night, that a new Miss Julia book will be out on Tuesday!  It has been a few years since the last one.  If you don't know Miss Julia, she is definitely worth a read- she is a very Southern older lady with moxie and a nose for mystery.  Outside her hard, proper shell is a heart of mush.  She is one of those characters that makes you wish that book characters were real and lived in your neighborhood :)

Miss Julia to the rescue

7 quick takes Friday is hosted at Conversion diary, hop on over!

Pinterest cake -nailed it! sort of

Our Amie had a birthday recently.  She is now Eleven-teen (ha!) and when I asked her for a cake request, she said, "not chocolate" which gave me a lot of creative leeway.  I let pinterest have its way with me....and decided to try out this recipe:

Vanilla cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting from Baby Gizmo

I make a truly from-scratch-cake about as often as the locust swarm...I'm usually a boxed-mix girl.  This cake was very, very tasty.  It was very, very gooey though.  I'm thinking next time around, I will try making little mini cakes or muffins and put the filling and frosting on top.

I realized, about half-way through trying to frost it, that I shouldn't have frosted the sides... My first thought was "Nailed it!!"   The un-frosted side is very pretty, though.

It was a very yummy cake, though very big!

The verdict?  A keeper recipe.  -I need to add a board on pinterest for pins I've actually done.

what about you, do you just pin things, or do you actually try many of them?

7 Quick Takes Friday -wild parrots of spring edition

~1~

Here in So. Ca we don't have seasons that stand up and shout, so to speak.  But, I know Spring is here when the magnolia tulip trees in the neighborhood bloom.  I {heart} these trees.  This is the tulip tree across the street.  I opened the blinds in our big front window the other morning and saw a flash of green.  The wild parrots were in the tree, eating the flowers.  I see seven here, how many do you see?

~2~

My kids are sick, so the great homeschool progress we made last week has been nullified this week.  Yeah, team!! We did manage some read-aloud time, we read 3 more chapters of Don Quixote (but didn't finish it) and we finished the chapters on Jamestown and John Smith in The Story of US vol. 2.  Amie continues to love her Hogwart's for Muggles class and Demi starts a new 8 week creative writing class tomorrow.

~3~

I was so excited to have this book arrive from paperback swap:

I read the first in the series, An Assembly Such as This- and thought it was the best Pride & Prejudice spin-off that I have read.  Our library didn't have the sequel so I was so excited to get it from paperback swap.  And then, about 1/3 through it, I started thinking that the story seemed really, really familiar...and then I realized I have already read this one and I needed vol. 3  Oh well, this one is a really good read, so I will finish it and order the next.  This is so good that I suggested to Sky that he would like it.

~4~

Did I mention my kids are sick?

~5~

Sky is building a really large round table for someone (6 feet in diameter).  He made this amazing jig to enable him to cut out a huge circle, he is really amazing.  When I saw it, I told him that I would have just run around for days, trying to find a really big circle to trace...and that is why he is the "do-er" in this relationship and I am the "non-doer"...

~6~

Demi-Sky's lacrosse game last Saturday was amazing. They were missing some key players because of an out-of-town tournament, and because of bad weather and they had just enough players to take the field. This meant that there were no substitute players, the boys had to play the entire game with no resting.  This also meant that if players were taken off the field for a penalty, that the team was short players on the field. This is Demi (number 57) and a team-mate out for a penalty. Ahem.

~7~

Sky and I are a bit practical and we don't like going out to crowded restaurants, which is why we don't have date-night during the weekend, so we spent a very quiet evening home for Valentine's day.  The highlight was taking Emma to the groomers for her "day of beauty" which was actually a gift I gave myself- a nice smelling dog is a gift that keeps on giving...

hope your week was wonderful, internets :)

7 Quick Takes Friday is hosted over at Conversion Diary, hop on over!

7 Quick Takes -homeschool winter formal edition

~1~

This was Josie's first formal dance; Homeschool Winter Formal.  She went with Meg and two friends.  I heart the girl-power!!  I also loved the photo opportunities :)  They had a blast, the dance was at the hotel at Knott's Berry Farm.  The girls got ready at our house, and then I took them out for photos.

Josie is on the right in burgundy, and Meg is on the left in cowboy boots {of course}

~2~

I have admitted my adult-A.D.D.-ness, and will try some home remedies first, like green-tea.  I already self-medicate with diet coke and dark chocolate... I think it might be time to discuss this with my Dr. I spend so much of my time spinning my wheels aimlessly, it is very frustrating.

~3~

Sky thinks I should start drinking coffee, since coffee has more caffeine then green-tea.  (the A.D.D. thing) I'm just not willing to go over to the dark-side.  Sky is a true coffee-snob, he drinks french-pressed coffee.  Right now, his favorite blend is one he picked up on San Juan island.  I am about to experiment with bullet-proof coffee for him- basically it is good coffee blended with almost a stick of grass-fed butter.  I'll report back....does sound kind of yummy, though, doesn't it?

~4~

I have abandoned my much-loved MFW curriculum and switched over to Oak Meadow.  This is related to #2 above.  I wrote in an earlier post how much better following a simple spine-text works for me and realized I needed to live this truth and simplify things.  *Using spine-texts for homeschooling

We are now using Oak Meadow 5 History/English and Science texts with Demi & Amie, and Oak Meadow High school World History for Josie, and Oak Meadow High school U.S. Government for Meg.

~5~

So, I started Demi and Amie with the second half of week 5 in OM...not exactly where we were in MFW, but I didn't want to skip reading about Jamestown, so this is where I decided to pick up at.  Sooo, I look through the text and see that it centers mostly on indentured servants and relates that to slavery, but I really want to delve more deeply into Jamestown, so I look through my MFW books still on the shelves, then rifle through the student worksheets I have for MFW, looking for something on Jamestown.  I don't find anything, so I pick up Hakim's Story of US vol. 2 -(I love this series) and find a chapter on Jamestown.  Perfect!  Not quite satisfied, I also search online and find a neat animated journey through Jamestown history on National Geographic for kids.

The next day, after all this searching, I realized I just failed the whole A.D.D. thing, didn't I?

~6~

Meg just started a class for Economics at Biola Star.  I am really, really glad I don't have to teach this one!

~7~

Amie started a Hogwarts for Muggles class.  It is a wonderful/creative class and so fun! Down-side? It is a one-hour drive from here.  She was jumping-up and down excited about it.  I figured, she is almost 11 years old and this is probably the last time a totally magical world can excite her and fuel her imagination, so I decided to go for it.  It's a 12 week class!  She is having a blast, and doing some really creative things, so it is worth it.

*7 Quick Takes happens on Fridays at Conversion Diary blog, hop over and link up!

open windows

Josie celebrated another birthday.  It was a small, family gathering

familiar birthday-fare for our family.  Our family life has a definite rhythm, an ebb and flow and a sense of sameness to our days. I love sameness.  I love predictability.  But all things change...

My daughter is spreading her wings.

She has applied to a performing arts high school.  I am equal parts proud, excited, terrified and cautious.  I worry, what if she has to eat alone at lunch?  What if she struggles with Math or a foreign language?  We were going to have her take sign language as a foreign language- because I kind of know innately what she will do well with and what she will stumble with. (they only offer French and Spanish at this school) *what if- she doesn't get accepted into the school?

she went with Demi and I to the open house at the performing arts high school.  You see, it was actually Demi who wanted to spread his wings and fly away, first.  So, we went to the open house and Josie tagged along because she is interested in graphic media arts...but being in school all day, not so much...

The very first class we visited, which was creative writing, (and which I immediately decided I wanted to go to school there for...)  a girl sat in front of us, wearing a fedora.  -which you don't usually see on a teenage girl.

Josie wears a fedora.

I knew immediately that this was the place for Josie.  Her creative-nerdiness would be okay here.  Homeschool world is nerd-world...but that's okay because nerds employ everyone.... {nerd power!}

happy birthday, daughter.

Be free, be fierce, be yourself

stretch your wings.

It will feel glorious.

and I'll be right here if you need me.

love, mom

**yes, the art work is Josie's

Sunday round-up

On our way back from Eastern Washington, we stopped and visited friends in Seattle.

I really like downtown Seattle, it's a neat place.  I enjoyed it this time through the eyes of a dog owner.  It's a very dog-friendly city.  We had lunch at our favorite Crepe place and took Emma with us inside.

I have to confess that a big part of my Seattle-love is the great photo opportunities.  Downtown Seattle is a feast for the eyes.

*******

Demi-Sky had his very first lacrosse game this weekend.

Have I mentioned that Demi is now taller than I?

We weren't the only family totally new to the game of lacrosse.  Several boys were new to the game, and at times it was sheer comedy.  We parents had a good time laughing at the antics.  The stick-hitting was a total surprise to me.  We asked in surprise "is that legal?!"

it's a tough game.

here's the tip-off, or whatever you call it in lacrosse.  Have to admit, we laughed through this, too.  We were used to seeing it done in hockey, but the kids stand over the puck, we were surprised to see the guys on the ground here... this is Demi in blue.

***********

• Sky is currently making us a new bed.  He is using this design from Ana White plans -Farmhouse queen bed

• I am trying to get my homeschooling more organized.  13 years and school organization is my swan-song; or, more to the point, my albatross-song.  There is an interesting discussion on organization and motivation over at the hive boards.  This site,  The Power of Moms was linked to.  It seems to be a organization-central site, with an e-book, a program and message boards.  I know for me, I would crash and burn with it, but I thought I'd mention it, it might be just the sort of program to help someone else, just not me... They were running a special discount last week, keep your eyes peeled and you might see another sale.

• Mystie, who blogs over at Simply Convivial is running a series on home/ life organization here- Applying GTD at Home.  She is also working on an E book about converting home organization over to completely digital formats.

• And finally, I {heart} pinterest.  I love that I don't have to bookmark things anymore, I just keep everything on my boards now. :)

Here are my boards, if you want to follow...

henjenca on pinterest

7 Quick Takes -Thanksgiving edition

We spent Thanksgiving up north, in Washington State, visiting one of Sky's brothers....

                            ~1~

I really love it there.  Eastern Washington is beautiful.  Actually, all of Washington is beautiful, I just prefer a bit more sun- which is why I have a hankering for the east side.

These are crab-apple trees and they line the driveway of Dr. Bros.'s house.

I {heart} these trees so much.

Dr. Bro. says they are messy, but I think that is rather un-poetic of him.

~2~

The kids were in horse-heaven.

Aren't they sweet?

True fact:  Dr. Bro is allergic to the hay he feeds them.

~3~

We had a plethora of good eats.  I mentioned the now-legendary snickers salad in an earlier post... we also had several pies- Pumpkin, apple crisp and lemon meringue...just to name drop a few.... and I have to admit that I am lusting after his stove-top. I've already priced out the brand and I'm bugging Sky to get me one.  I never thought I'd prefer an electric stove-top over gas, but this wolf electric stove-top has won me over. It's the simple cleaning possibilities that I am drooling over...

~4~

Emma-doodle, she loved it.  She reveled in it.  She ran and ran and let the wind run through her ears.

Yes, it was 4 kids, 2 parents and a labradoodle in a van for 22 hours.  Oh the joy.

Actually, they were all good traveling companions.  Emma is a quiet soul, and was just happy to be included with her pack. We rented a van for the trip, and she had her own seat  :)

~5~

The kids did a lot of riding.  Amie and Emma did a lot of exploring of the woods behind the house and saw deer several mornings and beautiful pheasants.  The kids, Sky and Dr. Bro also did some gun shooting.  Demi-Sky and Josie were total cracker-jack shots and had a bit of a rivalry going.  Josie edged him out,  I think.  She had incredible aim.  Hidden talent??

We did a lot of cooking, eating and lounging around.  Of course we visited Barnes & Nobles. Twice.

The second time was on Black Friday, because we are hardcore like that....

~6~

Photo opp with the wonder-labradoodle!!  Her best trick?  She is no-touchy.

Seriously.  She will ask to be petted and then lean away from you/ move away from you.  She loves it/but can't handle it. And yet, she follows me all around the house.  She is a finicky lover.  I think she is perfect for us, if she was too touchy, she would drive Sky crazy.

Can you see the not-so-subtle lean away from me here???

~7~

It was a great trip, we had a blast.  Next time though, I think we are flying  ;)

*7 Quick Takes Friday is hosted weekly over at Conversion Diary