My kids seem to miss two things about ‘real’ school: the playground and field trips. But here’s the deal with homeschool field trips. We take them all the time; my kids just don’t realize it. Grocery store. Post Office. The hardware store. The nursery (plant, not baby). When we go to those places, we talk about how they work, why they’re important, and sometimes even things like supply and demand, marketing, and such. But my kids don’t think of these as field trips. Their friends in ‘real’ school go to places like the aquarium and to the strawberry patch and the pizza place. Luckily, Georgia Cyber Academy offers some really great ‘real’ field trips that we love! We’ve been to see the Atlanta Symphony, the Museum of Arts and Sciences, several local historical sites, the Children’s Museum, and more. (Next week we’re going to The Rock Ranch! But…there are still things that they hear friends talk about and wish they could do. And if it’s something that I can make happen, I try to do it! We know the people who own our local Mellow Mushroom and with one quick message, we had that ball rolling. We were to be at the store at 10:45, enough time to get our cook on before the lunch crowd got there. The first thing we did was tour the whole store. The owner took us through the whole store, showing us where they store all the food and how they prep and how they clean. I must say I was very impressed with how many fresh ingredients they use and how few pre-packaged items. The only things that I saw that weren’t cut fresh on site were olives and pineapple. Mr. David told us all about how one person types the order in on one computer and it prints out a ticket for the kitchen. We even got to see him change out one of the bags on the soda machine.

But the best part was making their very own Mellow Mushroom pizza. He taught them how to press out the dough, stretch it, and shape it. They put on gloves and put on the sauce and toppings just like a real employee. After a few minutes in the oven, they learned about how to butter the crust and add some cheese for that special MM touch. We all had such a great time. Thanks, Mr. David!

After we finished up with lunch, we took a break at our favorite playground before heading to Kroger. There we met Mr. Gladden, who took us all through the store. We even got to peek behind the counter of Starbucks! We saw the meat slicer at work in the deli, learned about how produce gets to the store and where it comes from, the difference between organic and regular foods, and more. The kids loved looking at the live lobsters, but my favorite part of the whole tour came at the end.

Did you know that when you walk into a Kroger store there is a heat sensor that counts how many people are coming in. Based on that count and a fancy formula that someone really smart designed, the computers can calculate how many check out lanes need to be open. On the screens you can see 3 circles. The first circle shows how many lanes should be open right now. The second circle shows how many lanes are currently active. And the last circle tells the employees how many lanes need to be open in the next 30 minutes. (I’m pretty sure I throw those numbers off because I tend to be a lingerer in the grocery store if I don’t have the kids with me. If I have them, we fly through like a speeding bullet.)

Big thanks to both Kroger and Mellow Mushroom for making arrangements for us to come visit!

There are some days in homeschool when we take a break from our regular lessons. Often that day falls on Friday and we use it to catch up on anything we’ve missed or go out exploring or do something fun. But on weekends that are so full of busy that I’m left spinning on Monday morning, we do Homeschool Lite. (The spelling “lite” has always bothered me, but it’s a key word here. You’ll see why in just a sec.)

This past weekend I was in Dallas, TX for the BlissDom Conference. There’s so much to say about finding my bliss with some of my favorite ladies, but I just can’t get caught up with all that there is to be done! By the time I got home Sunday, I was ready to collapse. Then the wave of pollen attacked me and I’ve been watery-eyed and sniffly since. So Monday morning was just too much for me to handle. I declared it a Homeschool Lite day and we started getting a few things done around here.  I needed to do laundry, make a grocery list, go to the store, wash dishes, and a hundred other little things. And I decided that instead of Homeschool Lite, we’d have a Homeschool Life day. I’d teach them the things they really need to know, like how to plan your meals and shop effectively and make healthy choices. They helped me sort, wash, fold, and put away laundry. They started dinner in the slow cooker. They made bread. They dyed Easter eggs. They were on the ball! We make a pretty great team once we get rolling!

But one of the coolest things we did was make butter.  When the decided to make bread, I figured we might as well make butter, too.  I’d heard it was easy, but I thought it was one of those things that people tell you is easy, but then it really isn’t. But this? This making butter? Super easy (but maybe a little tough on the arms).

Get heavy whipping cream and pour it into a container with a screw on lid.  You want the screw on lid so that it doesn’t accidentally pop open! I’d recently made pimento cheese and had two small pimento jars, so we used those. We also used a small jelly jar. Fill the jar 2/3 of the way full of heavy whipping cream. Close it up tight and shake. And shake. And shake.

For a small container*:
After shaking for about 3 minutes, it’ll start to thicken up a little and be the consistency of pudding.
After 3ish more minutes, it’ll be looking like whipped cream. If you want a little whipped cream, just add a dash of sugar.
After 4ish more minutes of shaking, you’ll see it start to separate into butter and buttermilk.
It’s wild how all of a sudden it happens!  You’re shaking along and then BOOM! It’s a solid!
Drain the buttermilk off (and save it if you’d like) and then add seasonings.
I used a little salt and a little bit of Italian seasoning. Imagine how good it’ll be with fresh herbs this spring!
Let it get firm in the refrigerator and then try not to eat it all at once!
That’s it! Homemade butter in less than 15 minutes! AND you get an arm workout.
I call that a win-win!

*You do the same thing for larger containers, but the times are longer.

Today is our 100th day of school! (Okay, I honestly have no clue how many days we’ve done school, because we often take off Fridays but we sometimes do school work on the weekend and I don’t really keep track of the days. But everyone else is celebrating and it seemed like something fun that the kids always liked and so we’re celebrating.)

The big kids wrote about what they’d do with $100.

We played a Race to 100 game.

They drew pictures of what they’d look like at 100 years old.

We made 100 piece snack.

We made a list of 100 things we love.

We picked up 100 (plus some) Legos.

And I gave them each 100 kisses!

We’re all still really loving homeschool and have decided to do it again next year.
I don’t know how long we’ll do it, but for now it fits and everyone is happy.
I’m not gonna mess with that!

1. Daily flexibility – We start when we start and finish when we finish. We often will do morning work, eat lunch and take a big break (and sometimes a nap), and then finish our school day well after traditional school hours. And if we don’t finish everything today, we’ll catch up tomorrow. We’ve actually structured our weeks so that Friday is a catch-all day. Anything that we’re behind on or anything we missed gets done on Friday. If we get all of our work done by Thursday night, Friday is a completely lazy-daisy day! (Those are my favorites!)

2. Overall flexibility – We need a day off? We take a day off.  An opportunity pops up to take a trip or visit someone? We can do it. We have time to do a project with Daddy on the weekend? We can count that towards our learning hours, too! I was able to take special trips with each of the big kids that never would have worked if we’d been in a traditional school setting.

3. Pace – Carter is in 2nd grade. Lydia is in 1st. Both of them are ahead of schedule for at least one subject. Once they finish all their grade-level work, they can go ahead and start on the  next level!

4. Fund Raisers – None! I don’t have to feel guilty about asking people to buy overpriced stuff that none of us really need anyway.

5. School Politics – There are certainly things I care about (see also: Amendment 1) because I believe that public education is very important and the best option for many, many children, and I imagine that we will re-enter the brick-and-mortar public school system at some point, BUT that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the nyey-nyeying and blah-blah-blah that goes on locally. We are zoned for a great school (which we loved) and a nice district, but still…there are always things that make you want to beat your head against the wall.

6. Variety – We aren’t chained to one location. We have been known to pack up all our stuff and do school at the playground or park. We use mundane chores (like grocery shopping or even cleaning the house) as learning opportunities. Twice now we’ve been in the middle of studying something and I realize I’m not explaining it well and we hop in the car and go on a field trip.

7. Family time – When my kids were in a traditional school setting, mornings were horrible. Lots of crying and whining and complaining. Lots and lots. From them and me. Our mornings now aren’t perfect (I’m SO not a morning person), but I can’t remember the last time there was an all-out morning meltdown. (Those were fairly common for my sleep-loving Lydia the past few years.) And then afternoon pick up would often interfere with naps and everyone would be tired and grumpy. When they’d come in, I’d want them to start on homework; they would just want to play. And I’d have an internal debate about giving them a break after a long day at school versus having to do homework later in the evening. And then by the time it was time to make dinner, we were all grouchy and miserable because either I’d pushed them to do homework and they were dragging it out or I’d let them have the break and now struggled to get them started. Blech! Now our afternoons and evenings are a lot smoother and more comfortable. When Marshall gets home, I’m not (as often) frustrated and haggled as I have been known to be. (There are still moments, I assure you! But overall it is much, much better!)

8. Pants optional. (You knew I had to mention that, right? Because it’s totally awesome!)

9. Nap Time (or Quiet Time) – If we need it, we take it. The big kids rarely need to take naps, but I do! 🙂 We most often use that time for reading. Sometimes the little kids and I nap while they read. Sometimes the littles nap while we read together. Sometimes I get things done around the house while they read aloud to me. I’ve discovered that a little downtime in the middle of the day does wonders for what we manage to get accomplished in the afternoon!
Same subject, different thought process: If the littles are sleeping, I don’t have to wake them up to go get in car-rider-pick-up line. That is a HUGE blessing!

10. No homework!