Sunday, November 14, 2010

Fun on the Farm with Grandma and Grandpa...

Waiting for Grandma.
Chad and Molly went to the last UK home football game which means we got to spend some quality time with our 4th month old granddaughter Allison. We had some chores to do out at the farm so Allison have her first farm visit and seemed to enjoy herself. We have a Jeep all terrain stroller so she took a nice tour of the farm and eventually took her nap in the stroller while I sealed the grout in our soon-to-be-completed cottage.



Getting final operating instructions

She seem a bit small to run the tractor--you think?

I don't know Grandpa, I think I am too little.

Sitting on a stump in front of the cabin. The stump is for the fire ring.


Sitting on KY Limestone. Grandpa carried all those rocks up there today.
We were both ready for a nap when we got back home.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Christmas School Ideas...

CHRISTMAS SCHOOL:

I started in 1990 the week after Thanksgiving! This was not a good time, but we were desperate. [To see why, go here]. At any rate Christmas and all its activities was looming.
I was so stressed out--I mean really! Ugh! School, decorating, shopping, cards, school, shipping presents--oh, my--I mean I was totally stressed out.

So, the next year I got smart. I planned for Christmas. We did no formal school for the two weeks before our Christmas break [for late middle/high school kids I did have them keep up with their math]. I had the kids help with cleaning, baking and addressing the Christmas cards. I had them help with wrapping presents, deliver goodies to neighbors and everything else there was to do. It was part of the school day.

In addition, I read great Christmas Classics--I read the Best Christmas Pageant Ever  annually for 20 straight years. Several years I read the original Christmas Carol by Dickens aloud and then we watched the Mickey's Christmas Carol Cartoon. Christmas was fun and not stressful. The difference--I planned for Christmas, made it part of school and included the children as much as possible. The work got done and we were not stressed out at all.

So, my advice: Plan for the times you will be stressed and incorporate your children as much as possible.f

More later,
Jill

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Jolly Gingerbread Men...

In the next few weeks I want to give a few ideas for how to make the holidays less stressful if you are a homeschooling parent. I call it Christmas School. The first year I homeschooled I had a 7th grader and 4 and 1 year old at home and a 3rd and 5th grader still at the local elementary school. I was totally stressed at Christmas trying to get it all done. [Whatever that means.]

At any rate, the next  year I got smart and planned for Thanksgiving and Christmas and made the preparations part of school and not in addition to school. One part of this is having the children help with the baking and making the Christmas cards.

For years our children each did some sort of art work or wrote a poem and then I put it all together and got it printed. Then they helped fold, stuff and put labels on the envelopes. There are lot of skills involved in this and it made getting ready for Christmas a fun, family event.

We also made caramel corn and Scrabble [our version of Chex Mix] to give away, plus baked a couple of types of cookies. Though I didn't have the recipe for Jolly Gingerbread back then, I want to share it with you. As you can see in this photo [taken after the kids were mostly grown up] I arranged the cookies, took photos and made this the front of our Christmas card. Another year, we put holes in the top of the dough before baking [cutting out a hole with a drinking straw works great] and we hung them on the Christmas tree. That along with some strung cranberries and popcorn gave our tree an old fashioned look.

I will give some more hints in the coming week or two, but for now, here is the recipe for THE BEST gingerbread cookies I have ever eaten. I thank my old homeschooling mom friend, Cheryl, for this recipe.


This simple recipe is really THE best gingerbread man recipe I have ever tasted. They can be decorated, but we eat them plain. The buttery goodness of these cookies are wonderful. I always make a double batch for a total of about 100. They don’t last long and make terrific gifts.

JOLLY GINGERBREAD MEN
These are the best gingerbread men I have ever eaten

Thoroughly cream together:

1/2 C butter
1/2 C shortening
1 C white sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 C light molasses

Mix the following together and then stir into the butter mixture:

3 1/2 C flour
2 t baking soda
2 t cinnamon
1 t ginger
1/2 t ground cloves

Mix till all is blended and chill.  Roll out cookies to desired thickness , cut with a cookie cutter and bake at 375° for 7-9 minutes.  After you get the dough  mixed up it may still look pretty dry, but just take it in your hands and work it into a ball. I use a 3” gingerbread (tin) cookie cutter and this make about 50 cookies.

As a tip, it is easier if you dampen your counter and lay a plain cotton (not terry cloth) dish towel on the dampened counter.  Sprinkle the towel with a couple of tablespoons of flour  and  then put 1/3 of the dough (rolled in a ball) on the towel.  Flatten it slightly with your hand, sprinkle it with flour and roll out like a pie crust on the towel.  If it gets sticky, sprinkle with a bit more flour.  After rolling and cutting out all the cookies, shake the towel off outside and  throw in the dirty clothes hamper.  

Take care,
Jill