The Autodidact

Summer break is here, even though summer doesn't officially start for another three weeks. The books are closed, the cabinet that stores all the school stuff is waiting to be cleaned out, the mornings are less harried and I have time to actually enjoy my coffee at leisure. My desk is clear of tests and papers waiting to be graded, and I have some much needed organizing to do. As much as I love homeschooling, I start to get summer fever in late April or early May. Summer brings a change of pace to my life just when I need it. Some home educators choose to do school all year round. There are various reasons for doing this: the kids won't get behind or forget what they learned; in "real life" there is no summer break, so why should kids get one; some kids do better with structure year round. And to that, I say: to each his own. I've realized that, while my kids are the focus of my educational attempts, as they should be, I am part of the equation as well. I need a ...

Paella has been a staple for some time in our family. Over the years I have tweaked it to please even  the youngest kids, and  there are usually  no  leftovers.   This dish can be expensive or not, depending on the ingredients you use. Apologies to my friends and readers who are really good cooks; I am on a budget, have 7 kids to please, and not a lot of time to prepare elaborate dinners. I don't have a paella pan, so I use my wok. I start with 4 thinly sliced cloves of garlic and 1/4 cup olive oil and saute them on medium heat until the garlic turns brown. Then, I add 2 cups of rice and stir. While the rice is cooking, I prepare some chicken bullion in 6 cups of water. If I happen to have some chicken stock in the freezer, I'll use that. I add 1 tablespoon of saffron to the broth and let it sit a few minutes while I stir my rice. Saffron is really expensive, and will be the most costly (pound for pound) ingredient in this dish. I feel that saffron makes th...

We are rapidly approaching summer vacation and the mid-point of the year (hurrah!), so here's an update on what the kids are doing. Debbie is finished with school, is signed up for classes at Tri-C and, in the space of a week, has painted three bedrooms (yes!). She was hired twice this year by the Performing Arts Academy at a local high school to assist with sewing costumes, and has continued riding and working at the barn. She's looking forward to a summer at the pool, teaching and guarding and having fun in the sun. Here, she's stealing a snuggle from the baby. Lewis is almost done with school and is looking forward to lifeguarding this summer. In cool shades, no less. He recently participated in a competition with his Explorer post involving various law enforcement agencies from all over the state. He was selected for Honor Guard in his post, and marched in the annual parade for fallen officers in downtown Cleveland. Here he is ready for the parade in his Honor Gu...

I'm sitting in my apple tree, a place of peace and respite. It's warm, and I see the blue sky through the leaves as I recline on my favorite branch. I hear the neighbors playing outside, the birds singing, bees buzzing: country sounds. It's a lazy day, as if nothing in particular is going to happen. Cutting through the quiet, a car is coming, but it's too loud and going too fast and there is loud music, and I jump out of my tree. Something tells me to run, I feel an urgency, but don't know why. And then I'm running across the grass and over the ditch and into the neighbor's yard and I hear something like an explosion. I'm running toward the street with the other kids and the car is there at the end of the driveway, where it landed, crumpled in the front and the windshield is cracked. And we all stop and time seems to stop with us. There are two young men in the front seat and they seem to be sleeping, which doesn't make sense; how can you sleep and d...

     For years, I made quiche with a homemade pie crust. It was really tasty, but everyone knows pie crust adds mostly flavor and calories, but not much nutrition, even if it is homemade. So, I finally decided to go crust-less! It turns out that you don't really need a crust to hold the pie together; once it cools, it sets up nicely.      Alas, I never paid attention to how I made quiche; I just gathered what I had on hand, and, much like Amelia Bedelia, threw the ingredients together. I really don't like following recipes as I feel they place too much restriction on creativity and spontaneity. But, today, I (sort of) paid attention, and made (mental) notes so that I could share.      I have to make two quiches to feed my family, so you could easily cut this in half, or go ahead and make two, and have the extra quiche for breakfast the next day.      I start by greasing two pie dishes. You can use whatever you like: bu...

Dance She hears the music and lifts up her hands to me. "Mommy, hold me." Wiggling and giggling, she puts her arms  around my neck. "Mommy, dance." She smiles and coos and puts her cheek on mine. "Mommy, sing." Laughing and kicking her feet, she presses her body  close to mine. "Mommy, spin." Stretching the moment, I bury my face in her hair, her neck, and breathe. "Baby, hug me." Twirling and dipping, she holds tight to my soul. "Baby, give me a kiss." Spinning and singing she looks and laughs into my eyes. "Baby, don't grow up." We hear the music end, the dance is over, except in my heart. "Baby, I love you."

     Three women, one girl, ten years; it won't leave my head, and I cry out to God to show His mercy on them. I don't even know how to pray for them, it's all so overwhelming and unreal, and unimaginable. Today is the first day the tears started, even though it's been all over the news all week. Many wonderful things have happened to me in the past ten years, but what happened to those women? Nothing but pain, misery, fear and death. All my petty "problems" are so puny and insignificant in comparison, yet, I know God cares for the small problems as well as the big ones. I look at my own children and see how beautiful their lives have been, and my heart starts to feel squeezed when I think of one of them being taken away from me and made a prisoner.  I try not to go there, but what mother doesn't? I can't help it, my heart is so heavy from thinking of these women and asking God "why" and "why so long" and "why, why, why?" ...

Some mornings, I just don't want to get up and cook breakfast. I have pretty much eliminated cereal from our diet, except for granola, so I often feel pressured to feed a bunch of hungry kids, and do it quickly. With this recipe for overnight oats, I can sleep in a little because breakfast is all ready. Right before you go to bed, put all the ingredients in a crock pot: 2 cups diced apples. No need to peel, but it's up to you. 1 1/2 cups steel cut oats. Don't use rolled or quick oats- it will be too mushy. 1/2- 1 cup of dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, dates, or a combination) 1/3 cup finely chopped nuts 5 cups water 2 t cinnamon 2 t pumpkin pie spice (or any spices that you like) 2 t butter 1/3 cup sweetener of your choice Stir and cover, and turn the crock pot on low.  When you wake up, breakfast is waiting for you. Just add some milk or cream and maybe a dash of maple syrup. This serves all 9 of us, and sometimes there are leftovers, but it re-heats nic...

     There are days when I am so weary of hearing the kids bicker and assert their rights over their siblings. It's hard to protect your personal space in a large family, and we experience a fair amount of growing pains. But then, just when I am questioning my own sanity in this pursuit of home life and homeschooling and mothering, God reaches down and gives me a hug and a pat on the back. Today has been one of those days, a kind of day a mother takes joy in. A kind of day a mother tucks away in her heart to save for a day when everything goes wrong, and she yells, and the kids are disobedient and hating each other; and she brings that day out and holds it in her hand and reminds herself why she is walking this path.      School was going fairly well; it was quiet and the subject matter was easily understood by each of the kids, when out of nowhere, the 10 year-old started to play a beautiful song on the piano. When asked if it was a new song his piano tea...

There it is again, the music that fills my house from morning to night. Sometimes I tune it out because I am doing something "more important" and just can't be bothered to listen. But then something attracts my attention and I start to listen. Behind the obvious music of the 16 year-old practicing guitar solos and the 13 year-old singing along to a song she has taught herself on the piano, while elsewhere, the 10 and 7 year-olds are singing a song from the Lord of the Rings; behind all that, lies the real music. It's the music of growing in wisdom and discernment, of goofing off and joking around. It's a music only a mother can appreciate, sometimes a music only a mother can hear. It's the sound of the little children hiding and giggling and whispering in the fort they made with couch cushions and blankets. It's the 4 year-old asking a big sister to read him a story, and she says yes; it's the baby running and laughing and throwing her arms up in the a...

     Recently, I read a blog post about screen violence and what place violent movies and video games have in our homes and in the raising of children, in which the author indicated that such violence has no value in a child's life, and, possibly, even in the lives of adults. The author rejects outright any screen violence for her children as well as for herself.  A lot of people make this type of choice in response to the proliferation of violence we see in our culture today, in hopes of preventing more violence. But I feel that this is too complex an issue to blame on just screen violence; there are far too many factors that play into this issue. I commented on her blog that I agreed with her to a point, but that when I am considering a movie for the family, I not only take into account violence, but more importantly, the deal breaker for me is the sexual content. Ironically, people are too busy guarding the front door and not letting any violence in their homes, t...