Are You Ready for Some Geography?...

Tonight begins Monday Night Football, noted on my calendar for the entire season as "MNF."  Why does a middle-aged mama note Monday Night Football on her calendar? I like to keep track of my husband. He won't be on the couch with a beer and a bowl of chips. He'll be at every Monday Night Football site all season long (with the exception of San Francisco tonight--he can't bi-locate so when MNF is at two locations, he's only at one of them;-). As much as we love sports around here and as grateful as we are for this job, this is a very long haul through the fall.

Last year, as my younger children began to figure out the rhythm to Mike's travels, we started moving a Post-it note arrow around on a big wall map so that they could see where he was. But a flat map on the wall doesn't really do much for a child's imagination. They couldn't really picture him where he was working.  Kim introduced me to the idea of geography textboxes these wonderful picture books, and an idea was born.

Every week, on Monday, we spend the afternoon reading and writing about the state where Monday Night Football is being played. The books are packed with information and illustrations and pictures. There is a short rhyming verse on each page, perfect for the little ones. The older children spend more time with the book, reading the more involved columns on the page for detail.

Last year, the baby arrived four weeks into football season. I relied heavily on the idea in these free unit studies which are keyed to the books. This year, I think we are going to focus only on the information in the book during our study time. Each child is creating his or her own book. The books vary according to age and interest and I'm giving the children free reign to pull out of the alphabet books what matters most to them and then to express that in their notebooks.

On Monday evenings, we watch ESPN beginning well before the game. In all honesty, this has nothing to do with geography and everything to do with our Daddy's shows. But, the bonus to our devotion is that we see great scenic shots of the places we've just read in the books. All the way up through the pre-game show and the introduction, there are sights and sounds of the state we've studied.

Finally, as he dashes through the airport on his way home, Mike collects a few postcards from each state to add to the book. All the books we will use for Monday Night Football geography are linked on the sidebar. Maybe you'd like to travel with us this fall!

What she said...

You don't need a perfect world to teach well. You need a perfectstrategy. You need a strategy that does not involve manipulating events that are largely out of your control. Each year I have discerned "what" we need to accomplish. We make checklists to help us stay on track and cover the necessary ground.  The "when" of it varies but it always happens and surprisingly well.  Real life and real learning are unnerving to those who are wedded to absolute control. With faith and a fun loving attitude you can roll with the punches and thrive. It just requires a bit of thinking outside the box. : )

Read the rest here.

Faithful Over Little Things

I'm back to posting over at the daily notes blog. I actually have a plan up there this morning instead of just the jottings of what we did. I've had a little too much fun with Google Calendar in the wee hours of the morning lately. We'll see how long this lasts;-). Stop in over there, say hey, and let me know what your planning tools  are this year.

Baking Bread

This is for Jen:

I made this every other day for years, using a Bosch mixer. And yes, it was way too much of a good thing. I am now very allergic to wheat flour. But it is wonderful bread and a very reliable recipe.
Daily Bread

4 cups  water -- 110 degrees
2 tablespoons  yeast -- SAF instant is best
about 9 cups  whole wheat flour, more or less (I sometimes use a
multi-grain
blend)  I grind my own flour from Golden 86 wheat
½ cup  vital gluten
½ cup  olive oil
½ cup  honey
2 teaspoons  sea salt

In a large mixing bowl (I use a Bosch) place warm water, SAF yeast,
honey, oil, gluten,  and 5 cups flour.
[If you are soaking overnight, just add water flour, honey and oil to
the bowl.  Be prepared to use a little less flour than otherwise in the
morning. You have to play with this. Then add the yeast and gluten in the
morning and proceed.]
Stir to mix well, then cover and let sponge one or two hours, more time
makes the bread sour and sort of rancid and not in a good way.  The
shortest sponge time is about fifteen minutes.  I've done this in a pinch.  Any
shorter, and the yeast won't be developed enough.
Stir to punch down; add salt. (I tend to forget the salt-without salt
your bread will over-rise.  Salt checks the yeast. So, put the salt bottle on top of the covered bread while it's sponging, that way you won't forget.) Mix to blend; add 2 cups
flour and turn mixer on low. Add flour by 1/2 cupfuls until dough
cleans the sides of the bowl and is no longer sticky. Knead on low speed 6-8 minutes.  The
flour  amount is approximate; use only enough flour to cause the dough to
pull away from the sides of the mixer bowl. Do not add more flour.  The dough
should be a little sticky and you should require oiled hands to work with it.

Let dough rise in covered Bosch bowl about 30 minutes until doubled. Turn
machine on to punch down, let rise again in the bowl, then remove from bowl to
oiled counter, divide into four pieces.
Form loaves and place in greased and floured loaf pans (the smaller
ones, not the real big ones).
Let rise in warm oven (turned off) until 1 1/2" above the rim of the
pans.

With loaves still in oven, turn oven on and bake at 350 degrees for
about 30minutes.

Remove from oven and cover with clean towel to soften crust, if desired.

The First Week of ... Whatever

We've just come to the end of the first week of school for children in our town. Since we don't send our children to school and we don't "school at home," it wasn't our first week of school--at least that's what I keep telling myself. This week:

We celebrated Grandma's 80th birthday with the cousins. It was a very sweet time. It just so happened that it was Karoline's last "month birthday"--she's officially eleven months old. The next one is a biggie!

The college boy came home for a quick visit. He reclaimed his Sox hat and tried to claim the block stacking title. He was pretty impressive, but Christian reached the highest heights.

Everyone came down with a nasty cold. The nebulizer once again took up its seasonal song. I met the new doctor in our practice. My dear, veteran doctor and good friend is fighting a losing battle with breast cancer. Please pray for her.

The new doctor and I became buddies. I made several trips to the doctor and spent a several hundred dollars on medications to ensure my children will breathe through the fall. I willfully brushed away my irritation at having to pay to breathe and instead prayed for two friends whose children's breathing problems are not so easily fixed with medicine.

The washing machine broke on Monday night. Three or four times a day, all week long, I drove my laundry up the street a mile and lugged it up two flights of stairs to wash it at my friend Mel's house. Then, I lugged the wet laundry back down the stairs and back home. I have biceps. And triceps.

I called the washing machine guy no fewer than six times this week. His voice mailbox is now full. I filled it with desperation.

I bought paper diapers.

Nicky was devastated by his inability to build block towers of any commendable height. We distracted him with Connectagons. Way cool.

The girls fell in love with Cicely Mary Barker and the little boys discovered Elsa Beskow. I think we are about to ditch the Colonial America plans for a woodland fairy rabbit trail.

I watched my friends' little boys on their packing day. And their moving day. Sure hope they didn't take our colds with them to Florida.

Christian did some math. I am certain of this because Teaching Textbooks allows me to check his progress with a click of the mouse. I think I have found math heaven.

I managed to make Indian food on the feast of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

We read the book for the feast on the morning after the feast.

We had the tea and sweets for the feast at 9PM on the evening after the feast. We never got to the craft. Oh well, I get points for trying, I think.

In an act of utter insanity, I decided this was a good week to get Karoline's first set of shots. A faraway friend's recent tussle with Pertussis and the counsel of the new doctor led me to go ahead and do it. News flash: Karoline is 1 in 1000 who would scream for three hours or more. What's the chance of three of my children being those 1 in 1000 children? This is a purely rhetorical question. Please don't attempt to teach me math. Whatever the chance, that's the reality. I'm just grateful it wasn't worse.

We spent an hour or so of quality time drafting for Family Fantasy Football. I'm glad we made sure to do the important stuff;-). Yes Michael, you missed it. No worries, Katie picked for you;-).

The long awaited art supplies arrived and I fell in love with Lyra pencils.

Mike hit the road for the first installment of Monday Night Football. Yep. It's officially the beginning of a new season. School or not.

And Monday will come again, right? And we can start "real school" then? Maybe not.