Happy @ Home

I am a home schooling mama of 5, and we follow a Labor Day to Memorial Day school year. I love it when the school year starts back up, yes for the uber cheap school supplies, but more than that, for the rhythm and flow it brings back to our home. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the freedom of summer! I love that Science class in July is taking a Tobacco Horn worm off of our Tomato plants, researching it online and then making a habitat for it to pupate in that we can see through and watch the process. I am an eclectic person, who doesn't enjoy being stuck to a strict time frame, so I relish in the constant spontaneity of summer. Last Spring, when my girls wanted to do 2 assignments every day to finish school 2 weeks early, I encouraged them every step of the way. I don't know who was more excited to officially put an end to the school year, them or me.
However, I am looking forward to start of a new school year. When school begins again, our days seem to have a direction, a purpose, a built in goal. I very rarely hear, "I'm bored. What can I do now?" By the time they've finished the day's schoolwork they usually have a mental list a mile long, of things they would have rather been doing.
Our school days follow a routine, not a schedule. We have an order of events, but handcuffing our routine to the clock is like torture for me. One of the joys of homeschooling is the flexibility. The freedom to take as long as we need to conquer, understand, repeat, give everyone a turn, or even to (GASP!) skip easy stuff they don't need to practice. I love to be the one to help my struggling child, to relish with them in the victory of figuring something difficult out; of learning History I have long ago forgotten, finding a better way to make sense of Math, or our family favorite, doing Science projects together. (If you haven't poured Mentos into a 2 Litre of Diet Coke, you've got to try it!) We have so much time together to build deep relationships and work on character development; and believe me, with 5 children ages 2-10, there are plenty of characters around here that need a little help developing!
Learning is a way of life in our house. It's not about doing problems 1-25, it's about understanding the concept that problems 1-25 are repeating. About why and when, in real life, to use those concepts. I love it when people ask what our 'hours of school' are, I say that it's from when we wake up to when we go to bed. When asked what age we start schooling I reply, "At the Hyberger's, schooling starts at birth." As parents, if we are alert and ready, we can use just about any situation to teach and mold our children. If we simply can't live without cookies today, then we'll seize the opportunity and review some Math and Science (not to mention Home Economics) while we bake. We talk about fractions and how to add them, since we have to make double batches around here, and why it's important to add baking soda. Which brings me to my next point, life is messy. Kids are messier. And when you're with the kids, living life, all day every day, it's the messiest!! So, if you happen to stop by my home, heed the warning hanging on my front door: Please excuse the noise and mess, my children are busy making memories.

Kefir to Curds and Whey, and lots of it!

I started learning about Kefir a year or so ago, but I didn't know anyone who made it. I knew I needed some live little grains, but I just didn't want to order them online. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I was taking dinner to a (very deserving!!) friend and we were chatting in her kitchen. I looked over on the counter and thought to myself, "Why does Julie have a jar of milk sitting on her counter with a paper towel on the top?" Then it hit me, she's Kefir-ing! As soon as I asked her if that's what it was, she very graciously offered to give me some grains next time she had extra. I was so excited! Well, Julie is a woman of her word, and in less than a week I had Kefir grains, including a handout with all kinds of great info and recipes.
I made my first batch, about 12 ounces, and turned it into a strawberry smoothie for my husband before work. That was great and he loved it, but the rest of us were left wanting some also. Well, on the handout Julie gave me, there was a technique for brewing a gallon in 2-3 days. "Great," I thought, "I'll make a gallon and then there will be plenty for all of us!" Probably not the best idea with my 2nd batch of Kefir. Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing yet!! All was going well, and I woke up on the day 3 and thought it looked ready. However, I had to leave early that morning and didn't have time to separate the grains and refrigerate the finished Kefir. "I'll just do it when I get home this afternoon," I thought to myself. I arrived home about 5 pm, to find my 'Kefir' floating on about 3 inches of some unkown, clear fluid. It turns out, when you brew the Kefir too long, you get curds and whey, who knew?! Well actually, plenty of people know, and thanks to the internet, I am now one of them. Determined not to let it go to waste, I separated what whey I could and the rest will be made into smoothies with frozen strawberries, bananas and real maple syrup for sweetener. The kids and I had it for breakfast and it was actually really good! If you are wondering what exactly Kefir is, this gal has a great page explaining it. Now I just have to go buy some more frozen strawberries so we can use up the rest of my Kefir, uh, I mean curds and whey. Maybe we'll have Kefir next week . . .