Something I've always wanted to try is bake with sourdough so for Christmas 2022, I got a dry starter and on January 1, 2023, I began to activate it. Thus started a Bubba Blue like journey to all things sourdough.
Here are some of my creations.
As Bubba Blue says in the movie, "That's about it."
We embarked on our longest road trip yet - 2509 miles - and it was a success.
Departing home early on October 20, we arrived that afternoon in Lancaster County, PA to spend a couple of days with our friends for our annual autumn getaway. As always those too short hours included lots of good talks, delicious food, campfires, and the search for the perfect pumpkins. This year we also had basketball, a fall hike, and Amish icecream.
On October 23, we hopped back into the van and made our way toward Boston. As I think I have mentioned before, Craig and I have a goal of visiting all 50 states and while we have been able to check some Northeastern states off our list, this was our chance to knock off the rest and let the kids expand their own lists.
On the way to Boston we stopped in Connecticut to pick apples (in order for a state to count we have to do something in that state - just driving through is not enough). Craig and I had been to Connecticut a long time ago when I was a summer camp counselor at Yale University, but we figured why not make a quick excursion to let Connecticut count for the kids on this trip, too.
On Monday evening, we reached our trip's VRBO home base where we met our friends from Germany whom we had not seen in six years. They traveled from Berlin just to be with us.
October 24: Kittery Point, Maine (Fort McClary); lunch at River House in Portsmouth, New Hampshire where the epic cat drawing contest went down in history; and Salem, Massachusetts
October 25: Freedom Trail in Boston
October 26: Emily Dickinson House in Amherst, Massachusetts and lunch/shopping in Vermont
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October 27: Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower and Newport, Rhode Island
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The two days it took driving back home after all of these great adventures were pretty rough, but it was worth it for many reasons. We were really proud of how the kids held up through so much daily activity and had a wonderful time re-connecting with our friends.
Thirty-five states down, fifteen to go.
Our first short story for the high school home school literature class was The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. I read this story in college and since Big Girl likes horror movies, I thought why not dive into a sort of horror story. With The Lottery we had the following assignments - trying to write this without too many spoilers:
1) Comprehension and analysis questions, including the concepts of superstition, authority, continuity, fear
2) Writing an obit for one of the characters
3) Writing a front page newspaper article about the annual event
4) Comparing and contrasting the lottery with the reaping in The Hunger Games
5) An essay explaining why even children are included in the tradition of the lottery
6) Watching the 1996 movie inspired by the short story
For the rest of November we will be studying the poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson and then we'll slow down a bit in December with some holiday selections (The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry and Robert Frost's winter/Christmas poems).
During her Christmas break, Big Girl will be reading Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, so she's ready to roll with that big unit at the start of January.
After reading and studying Eli Wiesel's Night in September (and yes, I do realize that Wiesel was European, but he lived in the US for a long time), we moved on to the poetry of Emily Dickinson for October in our US Lit high school home school class. While Big Girl had access to the entire collection of Dickinson's work, I chose six specific poems to analyze further. In the process of doing so, we learned about Emily Dickinson's biography, slant rhymes, critical literary lenses, and new vocab. Among others, there were a compare and contrast assignment, an assignment to re-write a poem into today's language, an assignment to write at least one original poem in Dickinson's style, and an assignment to create a piece of visual art that represents one of the poems. We watched the movie Wild Nights with Emily and as the grand finale (a surprise to Big Girl), we visited Amherst, MA, including the Emily Dickinson House and Museum.
In November we will spend some time comparing Dickinson's work to her contemporary Ralph Waldo Emerson's and also read The Lottery by Shirley Jackson as our first short story selection for the class. Big Girl likes horror movies, so this story seemed fitting to introduce on Day of the Dead.
Big Girl was once again a participant at the Under One Roof community art exhibit at our Jewish Community Center. This event is held annually in celebration of Sukkot. This year we even managed to attend the reception and enjoy the art, music, food and company.
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| The 2023 theme was Dream |
The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 585 which was held on June 27, 2023:
1) US dossier from December 2022 referred a female child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status
2) US dossier from June 2023 referred an identified waiting child
3) US dossier from June 2023 referred an identified waiting child
4) US dossier from June 2023 referred an identified waiting child
The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 586 which was held on July 14, 2023:
1) US dossier from August 2021 referred a female child aged 2 years and 6 months with features in health status
2) US dossier from July 2022 referred a male child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status
3) US dossier from July 2022 referred a male child aged 7 years and 3 months with features in health status and a family history
4) Canadian dossier from March 2023 referred three brothers aged 6 years and 6 months, 7 years and 8 months and 10 years and 2 months
5) US dossier from May 2023 referred a male child aged 11 years and 11 months with features in health status
6) US dossier from July 2023 referred an identified waiting child
7) US dossier from July 2023 referred an identified waiting child
8) US dossier from July 2023 referred an identified waiting child
The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 587 which was held on July 21, 2023:
1) Spanish dossier from February 2015 referred a female child aged 2 years and 3 months with features in health status
2) Spanish dossier from February 2015 referred a male child aged 1 year and 5 months
3) US dossier from May 2017 referred a male child aged 3 years and 10 months with features in health status
4) US dossier from May 2023 referred sisters aged 12 years and 10 years and 1 month
5) US dossier from July 2023 referred an identified waiting child
The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 588 which was held on August 11, 2023:
1) Spanish dossier from April 2015 referred a male child aged 1 year and 5 months with features in health status
2) US dossier from October 2017 referred a female child aged 1 year and 10 months with features in health status and a family history
3) French dossier from December 2020 referred a female child aged 2 years and 7 months with features in health status
4) US dossier from February 2023 referred an identified waiting child
5) US dossier from July 2023 referred an identified waiting child
6) US dossier from July 2023 referred an identified waiting child
7) US dossier from August 2023 referred an identified waiting child
The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 589 which was held on August 25, 2023:
1) Spanish dossier from November 2015 referred a female child aged 8 years and 6 months
2) French dossier from August 2016 referred a male child aged 4 years and 10 months with a family history
3) Luxembourg dossier from January 2020 referred a female child aged 2 years and 6 months with features in health status and a family history
4) Italian dossier from September 2021 referred sisters aged 8 years and 8 months and 6 years
5) Canadian dossier from November 2022 referred a male child aged 7 years and 6 months with features in health status and a family history
This was a bonus week... kind of like that extra donut in a baker's dozen. We requested another week off before our in-home teachers return to have a couple of last hurrahs.
1) Two sleepovers for Big Girl
2) Kings Island for everyone plus extended family
3) Golf for Craig, Middle Kid and Uncle J
4) Errands, errands, errands
And now it's time...
As summer is winding down, we had a quiet week...
1) Kings Island for Middle Kid, Little One and dad
2) Oma's return to Europe
3) Prepping for vacation
4) Summer salsa and bread and butter pickles
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The following referrals were issued by the IAC in Bulgaria on May 9, 2023 in IAC Session 582:
1) US dossier from January 2015 referred a female child aged 1 year and 1 month with features in health status and a family history
2) US dossier from March 2018 referred a male child aged 3 years and 10 months with features in health status
3) US dossier from December 2021 referred a male child aged 2 years and 4 months with features in health status
4) Italian dossier from April 2023 referred three sisters aged 5 years and 4 months, 6 years and 9 months & 10 years and 7 months with features in health status and a family history
5) US dossier from May 2023 referred an identified waiting child
6) US dossier from May 2023 referred an identified waiting child
The following referrals were issued by the IAC in Bulgaria on May 16, 2023 in IAC Session 583:
1) German dossier from March 2016 referred a male child aged 1 year and 6 months with features in health status and a family history
2) Italian dossier from January 2020 referred tow brothers aged 8 years and 8 months and 7 years and 7 months
3) US dossier from March 2023 referred a male child aged 2 years and 7 months with features in health status
The following referrals were issued by the IAC in Bulgaria on May 26, 2023 in IAC Session 584:
1) Italian dossier from November 2015 referred two sisters aged 8 years and 4 months and 7 years and 4 months
2) Italian dossier from April 2016 referred two brothers aged 3 years and 3 months and 4 years and 11 months
3) Canadian dossier from August 2022 referred a male child aged 5 years and 3 months with features in health status and a family history
4) Italian dossier from November 2022 referred an identified waiting child
5) US dossier from May 2023 referred a female child aged 16 years and 10 months.
1) Kings Island for Middle Kid and Little One with dad
2) Hiking and dinner with friends in Kentucky
3) A paid mother's helper gig for Big Girl assisting a friend with her 6 yo during the final weeks of another pregnancy
4) Golf for just Craig
5) Golf for Big Girl, Middle Kid and dad
6) Potato digging at a local farm for all
We're well over the mid-summer hump, but still going strong.
1) Kings Island for Little One and Middle Kid plus dad
2) Take Your Child to Work Day for the girls plus dad
3) Pickleball and lunch with grandpa for Middle Kid and dad
4) Cincinnati Reds game for both grandmas, the girls and Craig
The Ohio school year runs from July 1 to June 30, so our annual 900 required home education hours fall into this span... which means that Big Girl's high school U.S. Literature class with me has begun. I won't make any promises about posting everything we do in this class, but here's what happened in July thus far. I told her it was a warm-up.
Big Girl read The Giver by Lois Lowry and kept a list of words specific to the community described in this novel as well as some notes on theme(s). When she had finished the reading, we discussed The Giver in general and her assignment in particular.
Further joint discussion centered on a variety of topics including utopia vs dystopia, infanticide, euthanasia, active vs static characters, external and internal conflicts, euphemisms, open/ambiguous endings, and the themes of sameness vs individuality and conformity vs self-expression.
Next, Big Girl was assigned an essay. She had two topics from which to choose and decided to discuss whether the role of Receiver of Memories was an honor or punishment for Jonas. The essay went through three independent drafts which we reviewed together each time. The final essay will be added to her home school portfolio.
As a last discussion, Big Girl and I tried to find some parallels between Nazi Germany under Hitler and the dystopian community in the novel. We closed out our July warm-up by watching the 2014 movie version of The Giver and talking about how it compares to the book.
(Home education hours logged for this unit: 17)
Today, the girls had an exciting day at Craig's work with the Take Your Child to Work event.
Big Girl was on her own with a high school group and got to do three activities: Virtual Reality Cave, Flushability Lab, and Chem Lab. After lunch, she and her group made cards for recipients of Meals on Wheels before heading to the carnival.
Little One was in a younger group with Craig as a volunteer by her side. She planted flowers, designed a product box, painted rocks and did tie dye with sanitary pad material. Lunch and carnival also included.
This week was less busy and that's a good thing.
1) Medical appointment for Little One
2) Overnight getaway for Craig and me
3) Blackberry picking for me
4) Kings Island for Middle Kid, Big Girl and dad
5) Golf for Middle Kid, Big Girl and dad
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| Summer shenanigans now in full swing |
The hits just keep on coming.
1) Blueberry picking for Oma and me (11 pounds!)
2) Medical appointment for Little One
3) Kings Island for Big Girl, Middle Kid and dad
4) Sleepover for Big Girl
5) Summer Dance Day at the Cincinnati Ballet for Little One
6) Fourth of July party with friends for all
7) Neighborhood block party for all
When we face a day with many hours of driving, we prefer to pack our meals and eat them en route at a park or rest area versus stopping at restaurants. So I thought I would share what this looks like for us.
There are three of us in the family who will eat the same dishes, one of us with a very self-restricted carb-heavy diet due to hypersensitivity to oral and olfactory stimuli, and one of us who likes most foods to be served just so. Furthermore, Little One is always excited for travel, but it also drives her anxiety through the roof and when that happens, she struggles to eat at all. So in addition to everything else, we have to really monitor her intake and sometimes set aside one on one time at a quiet place for her to eat while we are traveling.
For lunch, I packed herbed cream cheese (so much goodness in the garden right now) with cucumbers on homemade sourdough bread, sliced apples, water and lemon shortbread for our mainstream eaters. Cold pesto pizza and chicken/fresh berries were on tap for the other two.
Here we are in Veedersburg, Indiana at Hub Park enjoying lunch, fresh air, and movement.
For dinner I made salads in a jar which have been a huge hit with Big Girl since the first time I prepared them for a road trip. Our more persnickety eaters happily had a repeat of their respective lunches.
Snacks in the car included pretzels, bananas, blueberries, M&Ms, and almonds.
For dessert we tried to have icecream at Park 'n Chill in Springfield, Illinois, because if we're going to eat out, it has to be local. Unfortunately, it was closed, so DQ to the rescue.
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