Day 2 Homeschool - Nailed It

 

Continuing with our Hawaii theme curriculum today... 

In an early morning haste,  I quickly printed out the first Hawaiian recipe I could find with Google.  (Mistake #1)

I wasn't prepared with any activities for today so my easy go-to is always a cooking project.  Plus making donuts is an activity that any kid would whole heartedly embrace!   

I have a love/hate relationship with kids in my kitchen.  Love the fun but hate pretty much everything else, especially the gigantic mess that ensues.  Nevertheless, we bake a lot together, so much so that I can typically trust them to follow the recipe without too much supervision. (Mistake #2). 

As a math challenge,  I printed the recipe out in a quanitity that could easily be halved.  Our recipe today was for Malasadas, a popular donut in Hawaii.   The receipe boasted that it was easy,  fail-proof and that it made 2 -dozen small donuts.  

 I asked Zach to cut the recipe in half and away we both went. Him to the kitchen and me to my computer to check in on my Ebay and Poshmark stores sales. (Mistake #3)

Of course not more than a few minutes had past, when I hear Zach screaming for me.

"MOM -  I'm stuck."   He yelled from the kitchen.

"What do you mean your stuck?   Do you need help with the recipe?  Bring it up here and I'll help you with the math."  I yelled back, feeling rather perturbed at the early work disruption.

"I'm stuck in the dough!  The dough is way too sticky and I can't get my hands out."

"Oh, that's easy!  Just use more flour!" I  yelled back feeling a bit smug.

"There is NO more flour.  I used it all.  What do I do?"  he whined.

"Ok,  Legitimate problem." I thought to myself.  "But shoot,  there goes my 10 minutes to get my orders packaged for the mailman."

I ran downstairs to Zach's blob of sticky dough.   Oh my,  this was WAY messier than day we used a whole box of cornstarch to make Obleck.

"What happened to all the flour?" I demanded.  "The flour container was nearly full." 

"I got so excited cracking all the eggs that I forgot to cut the recipe in half!   I'm so sorry, Mom."   He cried,  on the verge of tears.

The original recipe called for 8 eggs and 8 cups of flour.  We now had a enough donut dough to feed the entire island of Molokai!  And we were officially out of flour.

"Ok Bev,"  I said to myself, taking in a deep cleansing (I'm not going to ring his neck) breath. Time to improvise... we had a small bit of bread flour that we could use.  At least that would allow us to handle the dough enough to get it back into the bowl.  Scraping the dough off Zach's hands was another ordeal.    

Zach is a very, very sensitive child. He couldn't stand the feeling of socks or anything form fitting for the first 7 years of his life.   YOU try scraping dough off the hands of a sensitive kid... (Mistake #4)

We were able to salvage the dough enough to deep fry it.   Of course, not without almost burning his eyeball with hot grease shooting out of the fryer.  

Malasada donuts -  you can stay in Hawaii from now on. 

After cleaning up the fried donut disaster,  I was utterly exhausted.   It was going to be a short school day for us.

The kids spent the rest of the day reading books to Grandma via our Facebook Portal and playing their favorite computer math game, Prodigy.   We did find some time to build and test sail our LEGO outrigger canoes.  Can't say they looked like the one in Moana (pictured) but I think we NAILED IT!

(Good night all.  Tomorrow,  I'll be more prepared... ay,  probably not, its feeling like a bath and bed kind of night.)

Day One Homeschool - The 50th State Volcanic Disaster!

 

Here we are at the 50th State - Hawaii!    I wish!   We were suppossed to be going to Hawaii next week but stupid COVID regs are holding us up.  So when you can't go there,  create it in your own backyard.

To launch our official start of homeschool,  I am creating a 'fly-by-the-seat-my-pants' curriculum around our 50 wonderful United States.

Today we read books about Hawaii,  we colored and drew pictures of the fabulous island state and checked out the Google maps satellite images of the 8 main islands.   We talked about the food, the fun and the history of Hawaii's revolution.

  For science hands-on fun,  we went out into our sandy backyard and created our very own islands complete with erupting volcanos. Hawaii is so interesting that we may spend a whole week here learning about the plants, food and weather that makes island living so inticing!

Uber excited to kick of homeschool with every kid's favorite science experiement, I eagerly led my kiddos outside to build their own fantastic sand volcano islands.   Instead, we cussed and cursed as our beautiful sand volcanos cracked and fell over when we tried to add the plastic cup to the center.   

Lauren had a brillant idea to put the cup into the sand mold before adding the sand.  This worked well for her which just angered her brother to no end! Convinced to do things his own way, Zach brushed aside the sand molding buckets and created his own realistic volcanic cone.  

 He was quite proud of his ingenuity and insisted on creating his own lava eruption concoction.  As any great teacher would,   I gently suggested that it works best to add the baking soda first to the cup and then pour in the vinegar last.   

"No, mom"  he screamed.  "I want to do this my own way.   I am adding the vinegar first and then I'll pour in the baking soda."

"Ok" I responded.  "I'm not sure it will work out very well that way but give it a try."

To his great disappointment, the mixture bubbled but didn't erupt into an overflowing lava field.   He cried, he screamed, he kicked the sanda and ran inside- utterly defeated.

Lauren and I both had great success with out volcanos eruptions!  This justseemed to just add fuel to Zach's disappointment.

"Let me try again!"  he exclamed after he regained his composure.

"Ok,"  I responded again.  " Can I help you this time?" 

"No, absolutely not.  This is my creative experiement and I want it different." 

Again,  he concocted a mixture of way too much vinegar and way too little baking soda.  The result was a slightly bubbling cup similar to last time.

"Arrrgh!"  he screamed,  throwing down the empty cup of baking soda..   

I couldn't contain my laughter this time.  I had to turn around so he wouldn't see me breaking out in giggles.

 Truthfully, I felt so badly for Zach.  But meanwhile, I couldn't get the Charlie Brown kicking the football image out of my mind.   He didn't need Lucy to foil his plans, he was his own Lucy.

Ah,   the joys of a child who just wants to learn his own lessons - the hard way.

Stay turned... in my industrious yet unfocused mind,   I envision us taking learning 'trips' to every state of the union.  We will learn the capitals, the industry, the food and environment that makes each state unique.  We can expand our knowledge in science and math via cooking up different experiments and food dishes.

The Homeschooling Adventures of Two Stubborn Kids and their Absentminded Mother

Yesterday was a very bittersweet day -  not only was it the most disappointing inconclusive election day in history,  but it was also the day I submitted the official "Letters of Intent to Homeschool" for my 2 elementary kids.  

Today I have a huge pit in my stomach...it is really sinking into my core now...how am going to pull off this "mom/home schooling" thing.  Virtual school was one thing - easy to brush off the ineptness on the teachers or school.   Now it will be all my fault if my kids are complete idiots!  What was I thinking... the kids loved their school,   I loved the parents and community.   What the heck are we doing???

We are doing what every parent needs to seriously consider - homeschooling their children.    Schools today have lost their foothold.  Their hands are tied when it comes to disciplining children.  Their hands are tied with relation to COVID safety protocols.  "Stay away from your friends,  no touching, no seeing your teachers face and absolutely no hugs.   It just doesn't compute for us. We are in a true epidemic - one of anxious and depressed kids.

Homeschool - easy peasy right? -  Not in this household.   Two independent, strong willed, learning different (or disabled) kids and a Mom that has a hard time keeping her focus on one thing at a time. 
"Yeah,  homeschool,  sign me up!" said no parent ever in their right mind.    But here we are... maybe our school will just focus on PE, cooking and science projects all day, hmmm.

Truth is, my husband, Marc and I, had been considering homeschool for our kids since our oldest, Zach, was in kindergarten, yes, way before the COVID lockdown happened.  Our oldest is a enigma,  very challenging to teach.   Teachers have labled him every learning disability in the book and still the most seasoned teachers scratch their head and ask me for advice as to how to get him engaged.

Sounds like a recipe for success, right?   Well maybe or maybe we will just teach each other and have lots of fun along the way. 

So here we go... meet the players

Mom (Bev) - hopefully not the most distractable, disorganized homeschool parent out there.

Turn ons:  Other people's obedient children

Turn offs:   My children, sitting still, focusing on one thing at time

Favorite Food:   Steak, hamburgers or just cow meat in general... Cowboys too!

Meet Zachary Taylor (9) - the most interesting boy in the world, evil by day - cute by night.

Turn ons:  Bendy and Unspeakable

Turn offs:  Authority, getting taught to do anything, his sister, reading, writing, math

Favorite Food:   Sushi

Lauren Avery (8) -  bug lover extraordinaire, cute by day - evil by night.

Turn ons:  OMG and LOL's,  all creatures big and small, and blankets.

Turn offs:  Her brother,  school assignments, wearing only one outfit a day.

Favorite Food:   Green Olives and Pickles