Repost from 2007: A Trifle Scary

Last night our menu included a Treehouse-designed Halloween Trifle, and the Squirrelings reverse-trick-or-treated the grandmotherly lady next door with some afterwards (because it made kind of a lot).

(Photo credit: Thank you, Ponytails!)

Halloween Trifle

1 9-inch chocolate cake (we had one in the freezer, half of a mix that we had baked up and saved for such times as this)--cut up in cubes

1 package of instant vanilla pudding, plus either orange or red-plus-yellow food colouring
Milk or powdered milk to make up the pudding

1 small can mandarin oranges (save the juice to add to the pudding)
1 real orange, peeled and sliced thin (not necessary but we had only one can of oranges; if I'd had two cans I probably would have left it out)
The grated peel of the real orange

1 cup of whipping cream, 3 tbsp. sugar, 1 tsp vanilla (or equivalent other topping)
Part of a chocolate bar, grated (or chocolate chips)
A few dried cranberries (just to add colour on top)

This is what we did:

Ponytails cut the cake into cubes and put half of them into a large glass bowl. (We do have a proper trifle bowl, but since this was family-sized rather than party-sized, we used a big glass salad bowl instead.)

Mama Squirrel used the drained mandarin orange juice plus another cup of milk to make up the vanilla pudding. Actually Crayons mixed it up. We added grated orange peel for flavour and some colouring to make it orange.

Ponytails added a layer of the cut-up orange and mandarin oranges (reserving about half a cupful for decoration), and then a layer of just-mixed pudding; then another layer each of cake and pudding. (I forget whether we had enough oranges for another layer).

Mama Squirrel put the whipping attachment on the food processor and beat up the cream, sugar and vanilla. She spread the whipped cream over the top of the trifle and let it all sit in the fridge while we did other things.

A little while later we gave the top a hefty sprinkling of grated chocolate (just a regular brand of dark chocolate bar) and arranged the leftover oranges and a few dried cranberries as artistically as we could. We had debated doing the top with oranges and pineapple rings to look like a jack-o-lantern face, but chocolate won out.

Also on the menu last night: Chicken chili, three-cheese dip with carrot and rutabaga sticks, and a package of garlic breadsticks. Mama Squirrel finally got to make a jack-o-lantern face, on the bowl of dip, with pumpkin seeds (the shelled green ones you can eat as is) and a celery stem. The dip was very good, too; you can find recipes for it including everything from bleu cheese to Velveeta. Mama Squirrel just improvised with what was in the fridge: some grated old Cheddar, Parmesan, and cottage cheese, with a good spoonful of white salad-dressing-stuff and a few drops of hot pepper sauce mixed in.

Repost from 2006: October 31st

The Treehouse Squirrels have taken a middle ground on October 31st celebrations. We have never gone all out with decorations, but the Squirrelings do dress up and visit a few neighbours and Grandpa Squirrel's house, and we have been known to screen a slightly-scary movie or two during this week. October 31st is the Baptism Birthday of two of the Squirrelings, and also Reformation Day in parts of the Christian world, and we have been as likely to stick up pictures of Martin Luther on the door as we have had pumpkin pictures. (What's on the door is mostly for our own entertainment anyway, since we get very few trick-or-treaters where we live. Last year we had one kid come to the door, besides the Squirrelings.)

But since the serious stuff sometimes gets forgotten in the fun of putting on makeup, we usually have a kind of double celebration: fun pumpkin stuff on October 31st, and an All Saint's Day dinner (the kind with a tablecloth) on November 1st....with an "honoured guest" drawn from Christian history.

But for today, I have a puzzle for Treehouse readers who enjoy this sort of thing (and apologies to the rest of you, because it's not meant to offend anybody). This is tonight's dinner menu, which we will eat by the light of an oil lamp flanked by two large pumpkins. Can you figure out what we're really going to eat?

(2006)
Intestines with Sour Cabbage
Ears Stuffed With Mashed Potatoes
Green Warts
Dessert: Mooshy orange stuff baked until congealed in an old crusty pan

(2009)
Blood-encrusted slab garnished with shredded white stuff and pepperoni (Ponytails helped think that one up)
Peak Freans Assorted Spookies

Really BIG Recipes

Kimberly at Raising Olives has posted some of her favourite bulk cooking recipes. Those of you with lots of mouths to feed will be especially interested...but be prepared--we're talking 20 pounds of pork chops at a time! Maybe we can reduce the amounts a little for our small Squirrel family.

Random Dozen #9

I pulled these questions from Random Dozen #9. The feedback post about it is here. Want to play too?

1. Tell me something about your favorite teacher.

When I was in the fourth grade, Mrs. Webster gave me a blank composition book and asked if I thought I'd like to write a novel in it.

I'm still thinking about it.

2. Tell me about one pivotal moment in your life.

That would probably be the day I decided I'd had it with Toronto, twenty years ago. It started with a bus ticket out of town, and ended up two years later with our wedding.

3. About favorite colors--a lot of people will ask you what it is, but I want to know why it is. What feeling or memory does it evoke?

Brownie-uniform brown with a sprinkle of orange maple leaves. Reminds me of fall and childhood.

4. What's a sure sign that you're getting older?

You no longer think that fudge is God's second-greatest gift to mankind.

5. Please don't sermonize, but Halloween--is it a yes or no for you?

I am neutral. No pumpkin lights here, but the kids do dress up. But we also celebrate Reformation Day and have an All Saint's Day dinner the next day.

6. What's your favorite musical?

The Muppet Movie.

7. Are you more of a city mouse or country mouse?

College-town mouse.

8. Did you know that it is possible, for a small fee, to name a real star after someone? (It's true! Google it!)

Sure, I watch The Magic School Bus.

This question comes from Paula at His Ways Are Not Our Ways.
9. What's the craziest thing you've ever been doing and texted during it? I only thought of this b/c I was about to try to text during my walking video but I didn't.

I have never texted anybody.

10. "It's not a party unless _______."

I don't know...unless you have somebody else there with you to make it a party?

"Carlin: This is the pits! You know you're at a bad party when Elliot Carlin is the happiest man in the room."

11. When you're stuck in traffic or a waiting room, what do you do to pass the time? PS: There are no magazines available.

You actually think I'd get stuck in a waiting room without bringing something to read or scribble on? OK, if I was that desperate...and I was with the kids...we'd play Geography. "Africa." "Albany." "Yellowknife." "England." "Denmark." "Korea." "Africa."

12. If you weren't yourself, would you be friends with you?

Yikes. I'll let Mr. Carlin answer that one.

Carlin: I don't know, Doctor Hartley, I just hate the holidays.

Bob: Halloween was rough, huh?

Carlin: Really the dregs. No one came to trick or treat all night. And I had special treats made up, too. Here, have a butter dish. (He hands a plastic butter dish to Bob)

Bob: I wish Emily and I had thought of that. We just gave out candy.

Carlin: A butter dish is forever. Why don't you read it?

Bob: (Opens the lid of the butter dish and reads the inscription.) 'Happy Halloween, kid. From Elliot Carlin. Boo.'"

Virginia Soaps and Scents (TOS Review)

Virginia Soaps & Scents

Please note: Because the VSS products we tried bothered more than one person in our family, we feel it's only honest to share that information and a few general concerns. As they say, your mileage may vary. This review has been slightly edited since its original posting.

The Story: Roy and Richelle Spargur are "a homeschooling family with nine children living in rural Virginia. Our interest in soap making began with a history lesson and developed into an artistic passion. Our soaps are made with all natural oils – no chemicals. Each bar is hand cut, so no two are exactly the same. We thank you for your business and hope you enjoy experiencing our 'real old fashioned hand made soaps.'"

The Products: We received several sampler-sized VSS products to try: a laundry soap kit, a shampoo bar, and some soaps. VSS makes quite a few other items as well (for pets as well as people), and some sound like they'd make great Christmas presents, especially their gourmet soaps like Cookies & Cream, Badlands, and Loofah Orange Slices. The company seems to be gaining a good reputation, going by many positive reviews, including one last year in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Plus it always feels good to support family-run businesses, and to feel like you're getting (or giving) something carefully made and out of the ordinary.

The Tryout: Unfortunately, we didn't have such a great experience with the products we tried. The shampoo bar apparently works great for certain types of hair, but is too moisturizing for others. Mama Squirrel wasn't too surprised that it didn't work well for her...some squirrels' fur just fluffs better with cheap generic shampoo.

Mr. Fixit reacted badly to one of the hand soaps. Within fifteen minutes of using it, he experienced redness and a burning sensation. Too late, we pinpointed the probable cause: Mr. Fixit is sensitive to coconut, particularly in skin products, and the VSS soaps are made with coconut oil because it makes a good lather. (According to the Apprentice, it may have been the fragrance oil that he was reacting to, rather than the coconut oil in general.) Mama Squirrel tried out the same bar of soap and didn't have a problem. Because we didn't want to douse Mr. Fixit in coconut oil, we hesitated to mix up the laundry soap; however, I just realized this week that that soap isn't made with coconut oil, because you don't want lather in a washing machine. So we may decide to risk doing a couple of loads, and will post about that if we do.

Our teenaged Apprentice doesn't share her father's coconut sensitivity, but she also had a skin reaction (unusual for her) to one of the soaps, and that sparked a discussion here about knowing what's in the products we put on our skin. While we understand the need for a company to protect its recipes, these days people really want to know what's in the products they're buying. The coconut oil wasn't a hidden ingredient, so that was just Mama Squirrel's fault for forgetting about Mr. Fixit's coconut problem and other sensitivities.

The prices: Some sample prices: a fragrance-free sampler, including bath bar, shampoo bar, talc-free powder, and body butter, is US$16.95. Single-scent Christmas soaps (choice of wild bayberry, pumpkin spice, or peppermint) are 3 for $12. A laundry soap kit that makes 2 gallons of gel (to wash 64-72 loads) is $4.95, or 6 kits for $25. You can also buy their cleaning bars (the same soap as in the laundry kits) and add your own borax and washing soda.

Final opinion (ours and others'): Although we didn't get along too well with these soaps, other users have felt quite differently (and some are doing a lot of their Christmas shopping from the VSS website). For other reviews of this product, see the Old Schoolhouse Review Crew website.

Dewey's Disclaimer: These products were received free for review purposes. No other payment was made. The opinions expressed in this review are our own.

Last two days to nominate

(Bumped to the top today!)

Click on the button to nominate your favourite blogs in 25 categories--nominations are open until the end of October 30th (Friday).

Are we doing any regular school?

Besides being guinea pigs for Review Crew items? Oh, yes. I just haven't been blogging about it lately--too busy doing school. We're in the eighth week of our fall term, which is supposed to go twelve weeks but I'm allowing the extra couple of weeks before Christmas in case things take longer than they do.

We are still doing workboxes, although our way of using them is still evolving for our family. Lately I've been putting all of Crayons' "work with Mom" boxes first, so we spend the hour or so of morning workbox time on those; then her independent ones come after, and she does those while I work with Ponytails in the afternoon. Vice versa for Ponytails. We also have three group times during the day--first thing in the morning, at the end of the morning, and at 2:00 in the afternoon on the days that we don't have dance or co-op.

Most things are working out pretty well. Ponytails says she likes Key to Geometry, and Apologia General Science with Mr. Fixit is going fine too. We are continuing with Write with the Best for composition, and with some of the other books we do together like The Book of Think, Ocean of Truth (Newton biography), Analogies, and Larry Burkett's money workbook. She does history mostly on her own, from Genevieve Foster's Abraham Lincoln's World. When we have some extra time we play Perquackey.

Crayons' history alternates between several books: H.E. Marshall's Canada's Story with Cartier Discovers the St. Lawrence as a supplement, and Marshall's An Island Story for British history, though right now we're reading Good Queen Bess instead of those chapters from AIS. We also read from Kingsley's The Heroes and Lassie-Come-Home. Crayons reads her tall-tales book to herself, and also listens in on readings from Pyle's King Arthur and Swiss Family Robinson. And Mr. Pipes and Bible stories first thing in the morning.

For math, Crayons is doing a mixture most days, things from Miquon Math, Childcraft's Mathemagic book, Calculadder, and time-telling review. We also just learned a different game to play with dominoes, Muggins, and we've been doing that during math time. These are the rules we're using, but I know there are variations. We've also started All About Spelling, a hands-on curriculum that uses magnetic letter tiles.

We're continuing with some of the other group materials that we bought or were given to use this year: Nutrition 101 for health, Roots and Fruits vocabulary, and Artistic Pursuits. This week I made the decision that we'll drop French until after Christmas--there's just too much else to do right now. The girls enjoy listening to the Easy French dialogues, but I don't think a lot of learning has happened with them yet this year; they're a bit too basic for Ponytails, but I don't want to do them just with Crayons. I'll have to figure out a different way to work with everybody's needs.

I've probably forgotten some things we do (like memory work), but those are the basics most days.

Better than a can of spray paint

Well, not as much fun as a can of spray paint. But what a cool toy for grammar nerds--pre-printed APOSTROPHE NOT NEEDED stickers! And other handy phrases to avert grammatical road rage.

(Linked from the In Our Write Minds blog.)

How about creative dishwashing?

We don't read For Better Or For Worse as much as we used to...but I've been sort of following Elly's enrolling in creative writing classes.

I liked this one--sorry I can't copy it here, you'll just have to go look.

Amazing Bible Timeline (TOS review)

There are a couple of Review Crew products that haven't made a wonderful impression on me. It can be a struggle, when those come up, to balance honest blogging (I didn't much like whatever it was) with the simple requirement that we share facts about a product. Even if it didn't match our style, or we couldn't afford it, you might like it, or you might know somebody who might, or maybe if enough people don't like one particular aspect of something, it might get adjusted. Do I start right out with a negative, then wonder if anyone will read the rest of the review? Or do I include lots of facts, then explain why I/we didn't like it, and make you wonder why I bothered to share all that if the product is "no good?"

Actually that's an important point. Most things we're looking at aren't "no good." Somebody's taken time to develop a product; somebody felt strongly enough about its value to publish it or produce it, and thinks it would be of interest to homeschooling families. So we'll have a look at it, and try to consider the pluses and minuses.

With that said...the subject of this review is The Amazing Bible Timeline (with World History).

"Quickly view 6000 years of Bible and World History together!"
"See Bible and World History together - the research across multiple cultures and books has been done for you"
"Understand the Bible better by seeing everything organized in one view"
"Know when key people or events happened"
"Visualize the rise and fall of nations, the history of man at a glance"
(from the website)

The story on this? The original chart was created years ago; the current publisher discovered it in the 1970's; he showed it to his friends who wanted copies; he updated it and had it printed on generous-sized cardstock with a "scuff coat varnish." It's slightly bigger than the Treehouse kitchen table.

The selling point? This is a ROUND, or clock-shaped, timeline. (You can see it right here.) Instead of trying to show history in a long format, it goes around in a circle. There's a deliberate emphasis on detailed and literal Bible history/genealogy; there are also sections showing what was going on in church history and general world history.

The homeschool drawbacks? The format, the font, and the glaring colours make the chart, in my opinion, unattractive and hard to read. It lacks the charm of an antique-style timeline, but doesn't have the authoritative punch of contemporary graphic design...it reminds me of those uninspiring turn-of-the-last-century Bible translations that lost the interest of the KJV but kept the difficult language. None of my children were interested in looking at it. Overall, it does not seem very useful for homeschoolers.

The other drawback? There is an issue here, for many Christians, with at least one reference on the timeline to the Book of Mormon. The publisher also sells an LDS version of the timeline, although that isn't linked from or mentioned on the main website. They have posted an explanation of where they're coming from on this. I didn't fully understand the explanation. It did make me wonder, though, if people with formal Bible training would welcome this chart as a real aid to continuing study; or if they would think that the scholarship was questionable or out of date, or that it was possibly coming with some extra agenda that you have to look closely to figure out. I am still discussing this with one such friend, and may post her take on it later; for now, I'm just not sure.

What did bother me as well, and I don't think anyone else has mentioned this, is that there also seems to be an anti-Catholic, or at least anti-Pope, slant to the historical events and related Scriptures. Example: it's noted that "From the fall of paganism to Napoleon abolishing the civil power of the Pope 1290 years....[some Bible references]....'That man of sin' reigned 1260 years. Rev. 13:1-18. II Thes. 2:1-18." Which is strange, since according to the publisher, "the Timeline is used by Non-denominationals, Baptists, Fundamentalists, Evangelicals, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists, Friends Churches and more."

Final opinion? I'm not sure who would most appreciate this product. Possibly students of senior high school age and up, or adults interested in the history of Biblical scholarship. The price is US$29.97, which gets you the chart rolled in a good sturdy box, plus downloads of interactive maps and a smaller-sized download of the timeline.

For more reviews of this product, see the TOS Review Crew Website.

Dewey's Disclaimer: This product was received free for review purposes. No other payment was made. The opinions expressed in this review are our own.

Happy 50th Birthday to Weird Al Yankovic

Pumpkin Playset--and more about Frugal Family Fun

(I'm posting this especially for our friends at the Blue Castle--thinking of all your Calico Critters!)

Valerie Frugal Family Fun sprouts some homemade fun--if you don't have Calico Critters, maybe this idea would suit your knitty gnomes or other little beings.

(A Journey to a Simple, Happy Life just posted an interview with Valerie.)

Wendell Berry on the cost of simplifying

From this interview with Jeff Fearnside in The Sun Magazine. Thanks to Holy Experience for the link.

Berry: They didn’t have electricity. All their technology was nineteenth century. But they were satisfied, and they lived a great life — they made a great life. It was a work of art.

Fearnside: So their answer was to simplify their lives so that they required less income and could do the things they were passionate about.

Berry: They reduced costs, but when you do that, you make your life more complex. It’s much simpler to live by shopping.

Special Offer from Sarah Books (TOS Crew)

Jim Baumgardner of Sarah Books is now offering a special deal for blog readers:

"Sarah’s Wish – 126 pages, $8.50
Sarah’s Promise – 245 pages, $10.50
Sarah’s Escape – 304 pages, $15.50

Extra special offer: Purchase all of the items above and add an extra copy of Sarah’s Wish for $4.00. You can give it to a friend. They will think you are great!"

You have to order on a special form, which you can get by emailing Mr. Baumgardner.

[UPDATE AND DISCLAIMER: I've been reminded that I should point out the fact that if a certain number of people order the books and mention this blog, we get a free book. That's not why I posted it, though--I just wanted to pass on the current special price if anyone was interested.]

Fireworks and Frugality Carnival

The 200th Edition of the Festival of Frugality is up--with the theme of Guy Fawkes, fireworks, and bonfires.

Frankenpops at Little Birdie Secrets

If you don't mind a bit of monster fun at this time of year...these are just cute.

Unbelievable...from unmentionables

Dollar Store Crafts posted the link to Good Old Days, Good Old Ways' clothes for an 18-inch doll. (Crayons usually plays with smaller dolls, but she found one new friend that size at a yard sale last summer.)

What makes them unusual is the choice of fabric.

ABCTeach.com (TOS Review)

Abcteach.com Homepage

Membership Prices: $40 per user per year / $70 two years, for individuals or groups of 2-9
Discounts available for larger groups--see the website for details.

Abcteach.com isn't a site strictly by or for homeschoolers, and if you've ever Googled a free math worksheet, you've probably been there and know that. (If you're not familiar with the wonderful world of public-school-ese, it's an education in itself to browse through "word walls," and see "reading comprehensions" used as a plural noun. I also avoid anything involving "prediction skills.") It's partly free, and you probably know that as well--there's lots to explore there even without paying for a membership. But over the past month I've had the chance to check out the members-only part of the website (thousands of extra pages), and I'm pretty impressed, particularly with the make-your-own tools for things like math, handwriting, and word puzzles. (Even CM homeschoolers and other non-worksheet types can appreciate custom page generators.)

Some files on the site are so basic that you'd wonder why people bothered writing them out, such as instructions for making a dollhouse out of a cardboard box and carpet scraps. Classroom-oriented busywork may be most helpful as a reminder of one reason we're homeschooling--so that our kids don't have to spend time on it. But I found things that did come in handy for our family. Middle-schooler Ponytails and I spent several English lessons working through "How to Write Without Flab." I found diagrams to go with our health unit on the digestive system; a page of puns and double meanings from Alice in Wonderland; something called Literature Circle Ideas (creative narration suggestions); a grammar lesson we haven't used yet called "Case Closed...or Confusing? A Quick Guide to the Three Cases"; and a bunch of pages to help third-grader Crayons review time-telling. Some of these items (like the literature circle ideas) are available on the free section of the website; others require a membership to read or print.

One thing you might not know is that abcteach offers pages in French, Spanish and German (as well as ESL materials)--and some of them are useful for second-language lessons. Here's a free page using the fable La cigale et la fourmi.

If you search for a particular topic or school subject or concept (like puns, or Alice in Wonderland), you can see what's available to members as well as for free (or you can limit your search to free documents); you just can't click on the member pages unless you're signed in. The search function on the site is not bad, but sometimes it doesn't find what you know should be there; however, there's a Google search-this-site button, and that usually uncovers more items.

The website provides an article called 10 Reasons ABCTeach is Great for Homeschool, and these include the "abctools" I've already mentioned (which include tutorials to show you how to use them), and the general range of printables (including unit studies, book report pages, craft activities, tangram pages, word puzzles, language worksheets, and file-folder games). To quote the article: "Homeschoolers often have limited access to or funds for those little things that make teaching easier. Here are just a few of the little extras you will find at abcteach: forms, lesson planners, maps, field trip report forms, border paper, certificates, flashcards, word walls, word strips, posters, incentive charts, graphic organizers, holiday materials, and much more." (Whew.) They've set up a homeschool-start-here page with links to the materials they think will most interest homeschoolers, such as these birdwatching journal pages.

Creative homeschoolers can also take an item labelled A and use it for an B, C or D. Clip art can become colouring pages. Small "posters" and "mini-office" pages (the basics of things like spelling rules and long division) can be printed out and put in a binder, or posted individually on the wall as reminders. The "word walls" (really just word lists printed out in a large font, like flash cards) might be used in a way similar to what Harmony Art Mom does with literary terms--as a reminder of the terms and names that we want to make sure we cover in a particular study.

And the last thing I'm going to say as a plug for this website is that a lot of the printable pages offer a choice of colour or black and white, which I really appreciate.

Check out the free pages, and if you like those, or want to try the worksheet-making tools, you might want to consider a membership.

For more reviews of abcteach.com, see the Review Crew website.

Dewey's Disclaimer: This membership was received free for purposes of review. No other payment was made. The opinions expressed in this review are our own.

What's for supper? Crockpot Cabbage Chicken

Tonight's dinner--a variation on Cabbage Roll Casserole--wasn't a complete leave-it-in-the-Crockpot recipe. Maybe you could figure out a way to do it all in one dish, but I liked the way ours turned out even if it was a little more complicated than dumping it all in and forgetting it. I wanted to be sure that both the rice and chicken were done properly, and I figured that baking them separately was the best way to do that.

P.S. For having cabbage cooking all day, this was surprisingly non-stinky. It smelled like cabbage rolls, not like CABBAGE, and there is a difference.

Crockpot Cabbage Chicken

In a 3 1/2 quart slow cooker I combined:

1 cup chicken broth (you could use water)
1 can tomato paste (you could use a small can of sauce)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced (I was out so I used some garlic powder)
2 tbsp. prepared mustard
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 cup liquid honey

On top of that, I added as much chopped Savoy cabbage as I could fit in the pot. Actually I didn't bother chopping it--I just tore it apart like lettuce for a salad. I cooked it on high until after lunch, then turned it down to low for awhile.

I let a package of chicken breasts partly thaw, and in the afternoon I put them in a casserole with a cup of brown rice (rinsed) and 2 cups water. I baked this at 350 degrees until the chicken and rice were both cooked through--about an hour and a half.

By this time it was about 4:00. The cabbage had cooked down quite a bit in the slow cooker, and I mixed the cooked rice into the cabbage and sauce. I cut the chicken into large chunks and put it on top of the cabbage-rice mixture, then turned the slow cooker back to high and cooked it for another hour.

Sarah's Wish (TOS Review)

Sarah Books Website

Sarah's Wish, Retail $10.99, Author's Price $9.99 (free shipping and handling)
Set of three: Sarah's Wish, Sarah's Promise and Sarah's Escape, Retail: $47.97, Author's Price: $39.95 (free shipping and handling) (That looks like an error, but it's because the second and third books cost more than the first one.)
Sarah's Wish Audio Book - 4 CD's, approx. 4 hours listening; Retail: $24.99; Author's Price: $16.99.

From the back cover of Sarah's Wish:

"With the recent death of her mother, Sarah Smith now had the lives of Rachel's 'packages' in her hands. She must act today. Sarah's Wish invites you to enter the 19th century world of secrets and broken promises, runaways and slave catchers, colorful gypsies and noisy riverboats, and Granny. Although Granny's hilarious dialect and lively antics are sure to keep you laughing, not all is happy. Emotions take a ride as Sarah's big wish appears hopeless. But when life is at it's [sic] darkest, the butterflies come!"

Jim Baumgardner has written a historical novel (now a series of three) that will be quite useful and no doubt popular with Christian homeschoolers wanting to study the Underground Railroad and that time period. He is a grandfather, and a historical interpreter (he plays the town barber at the Old Cowtown Museum in Wichita, Kansas). He took the time to autograph every copy of Sarah's Wish that was sent to the TOS Review Crew. He's a funny, friendly guy.

But is he a good writer?

While Sarah's Wish was fairly enjoyable and full of historical detail, I'm not sure just why it didn't quite grab me. Was it something as simple as the small font? Maybe it was the frequent use of italics for peoples' thoughts; or the occasional punctuation oddity; or the multiple viewpoints. Maybe it was the heavy use of written dialect (a problem that would be remedied by buying the audio book). [NOTE: If you buy the book, you also get a link to a free audio download.] Maybe it was Sarah's frequent giggling, squealing, and shouting--by the end of the book she was making my head hurt.

There are places where the writing slows down otherwise good dialogue, or kills a funny line:

"Suddenly, her voice took a strange turn--at least it sounded strange for a young lady. 'Yes, Miss Evans, I must act like a lady," she spoke quietly, putting her nose in the air. 'Ma'am, may I gather herbs from the garden, ma'am? It would be sooo lovely to help with the cuttings,' the girl said, in a breathy voice with a snooty tone.

"'Sarah girl, are ya makin' fun? What be that new voice I jist heared. [sic] Sounded pert near like a high-toned fancy woman talkin'.'

"'Yes, Mum, by all means it was fancy talk.' Sarah broke up laughing at her attempt to mimic some of the high society women who belonged to the local garden club.

"Granny laughed along with her. She enjoyed a good joke, and Sarah was a jokester.

"Then, the old lady took up where she left off. 'Cain't use most of them straight from the garden...."

My "editing brain" thinks that most of that passage after Sarah's imitation could be dropped--it's funnier without the editorial asides.

Another example, about slave catchers:

"The doctor spat the words out as though they tasted bad to say them. 'But, how would you know one if you saw him?'

"'Ain't hard,' Granny butted in. 'Ya smell them afore ya see them.'

"Doc gave the old lady a confused look, not knowing what to say."

I would just give Granny her line, and never mind the doctor's reaction.

I also wasn't sure about the opening. The first page begins with a buggy accident; by the end of the third page Sarah's mother is dead. This kind of slam-bang entrance into the story is risky in children's literature (The Secret Garden is an exception), and I'm not sure that Mr. Baumgardner pulls it off successfully. I think my third grader in particular would find that kind of violent parental death at the beginning of a book very upsetting. (She's at a stage right now where she resents the death of any good characters, as if the author had played a mean trick on her.)

Coming out of a weekend immersed in library-sale books and trying to pick the best-of-the-best-of-the-best, it didn't seem fair to stack Sarah's Wish against our favourite children's classics or big-name historical novels. It is what it is, and many readers will appreciate it for its historical content and message without closely examining its literary style. But one of the books that I brought home yesterday and quickly re-read is Underground to Canada by Barbara Smucker, a book published in 1977 but which is still popular with Canadian homeschoolers. Because of the similarity of the subject matter and target age, and because both writers include their Christian beliefs in their writing, Underground seemed a reasonable book to compare with Sarah.

Underground to Canada focuses on a young runaway slave. Sarah is told almost entirely from the perspective of the white characters; the only black character of real interest is the old slave Charlie. Underground, unfortunately, uses non-politically-correct terms to describe African-Americans; Sarah takes pains to get around this by having even the slave catchers refer to "runaway slaves" rather than use The N Word. (I think the word "Nigras" appears once.) Both books contain harsh details of slave life, including death caused directly or indirectly by whippings. Underground deliberately uses less dialect, noting at the beginning that it can be difficult to understand.

Underground ends on a mostly-happy we-made-it note, although when the slaves reach Canada they are cautioned that their life there will not be easy. The ending of Sarah is a bit jolting, almost too fast (like the beginning); perhaps that's because it's intended to lead into the next book.

Maybe the old and new books could be read in combination...there's a thought.

Here's the end of chapter 1 of Underground to Canada:

"[Julilly] lay down on the hard floor beside the fireplace and wrapped a thin blanket around her. 'Canada.' She thought the name again and again inside her head.

"The slave trader meant some kind of trouble. But there had never been trouble on the Hensen plantation. She and Mammy Sally wouldn't be sold.

"Julilly yawned and hummed a quiet tune and the unsung words made her smile and forget the trouble-filled day....'When we get to heaven / There'll be slave no more.'"

From the end of Sarah's Wish:

"Looking bright and fresh as the flowers about her, she called out in a clear, strong voice, 'Mama, ask God to give Mr. Charlie the best mansion.'

"Peeking over at Doc, Granny said it well. It was well spoken, indeed. 'She's gonna be jist fine. Let's light a shuck fer Ohio.'"

Read more TOS reviews of this book here.

Dewey's Disclaimer: This product was received free for purposes of review. No other payment was made. The opinions expressed here are our own.

Back to the Library Sale

We did go back to the library sale, and brought home another boxful. The Apprentice also filled up a bag with CDs, audio books and books of her own (including some Biochemistry software).

Still it was kind of sad leaving all the rest of those boxes behind to be euthanized recycled.

Books we didn't have:

Give the Dog a Bone, by Steven Kellogg

April's Kittens, by Clare Turlay Newberry (I got this to replace another copy which I was scolded for selling)

What Do You Do, Dear? by Sesyle Joslin, pictures by Maurice Sendak

Exploring Nature Around the Year: Fall, by David Webster (we have the Winter book in this series)

Hurry Home, Candy, by Meindert DeJong (to replace that copy that we couldn't use for school because it was missing a section)

Puppy Summer, by Meindert DeJong

Circus Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild (we do have The Circus is Coming, which is the same book, but there are a number of changes between the two, and it's uncertain whether Streatfeild herself revised it or whether someone else had a hand in it.)

The Fearless Treasure, by Noel Streatfeild

Missee Lee, by Arthur Ransome

Kaleidoscope, by Eleanor Farjeon, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone

Minnow on the Say, by A. Philippa Pearce

David Balfour, by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth (really nice hardcover)

Saints: Adventures in Courage, by Mary O'Neill (rough shape, but interesting)

God's Troubadour: The Story of St. Francis of Assisi, by Sophie Jewett

Miss Bianca and the Bridesmaid, by Margery Sharp

My Father's Dragon, by Ruth Stiles Gannett

Companion to Narnia, by Paul E. Ford

The Swans of Ballycastle, by Walter Hackett

Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, by Rumer Godden

The Fairy Ring, edited by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibad Smith, revised by Ethna Sheehan

Pegeen, by Hilda van Stockum

The Carved Lions, by Mrs. Molesworth

The House of Arden, by E. Nesbit

The Wonderful Garden, by E. Nesbit

The Second Mrs. Giaconda, by E.L. Konigsburg

Emily's Runaway Imagination, by Beverly Cleary

Otto of the Silver Hand, by Howard Pyle

Underground to Canada, by Barbara Smucker

Chemistry For Every Kid: 101 Easy Experiments That Really Work



Books we already have but these are nicer copies or particular editions:

The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame, hardcover illustrated by Graham Percy (I like Shepard's illustrations, but these are nice too)

Rufus M., by Eleanor Estes

Little Plum, by Rumer Godden, hardcover to replace our paperback

Pilgrim's Progress (Mary Godolphin's version), illustrated by Robert Lawson


Books we already have but I got them anyway to swap or sell:

The Young Brahms, by Sybil Deucher

The Happy Orpheline, by Natalie Savage Carlson

Homeschool Blog Awards: Nominations Start Today

All categories, rules and details are here, and the actual nominations post is here.

I found this rule amusing:

"3. Do not nominate one blog for MORE than one category. Sorry, but no more nominating your mom’s blog for all 25 categories."

Okay, Squirrelings, you heard that.

Library sale!

I can't believe it's been a year since the last big library sale here. Seems just last week I was grousing about Crayons' predilection for pink books.

This year's sale worried me a bit--there were just too many books in the children's section. Now, granted, I don't always get there during the first few hours, so maybe it's always like that--but it seemed to me that they were getting rid of a few too many good books this year. Nice for us, but not a good sign of the times.

I bought one boxful, and wished I had time to go through more of the boxes--maybe I'll get back sometime later in the weekend.

This is what we found:

Books we didn't have:

Open the Door: Stories Collected and Arranged by Margery Fisher (with a nice jacket by Edward Ardizzone)
Stories for Nine-Year-Olds and other younger readers, edited by Sara and Stephen Corrin
Favorite Fairy Tales Told in India, retold by Virginia Haviland
Sir Gibbie, by George MacDonald
The Golden Key, by George MacDonald, pictures by Maurice Sendak
The Ordinary Princess, by M.M. Kaye
The Children of Odin, by Padraic Colum
Theras and His Town, by Caroline Dale Snedeker
With Wolfe in Canada, by G.A. Henty
The Siege and Fall of Troy, retold for young people by Robert Graves
The Light Beyond the Forest: The Quest for the Holy Grail, by Rosemary Sutcliff
The Big Six, by Arthur Ransome
Fu-Dog, by Rumer Godden
The Wandering Wombles, by Elisabeth Beresford
Tingleberries, Tuckertubs and Telephones, by Margaret Mahy (a book The Apprentice used to like)
The Five Sisters, by Margaret Mahy (this one has some wizard stuff in it)
Warton and the Contest, by Russell E. Erickson (one of the Warton and Morton Toad series)
Betsy's Busy Summer, by Carolyn Haywood
The Middle Moffat, by Eleanor Estes
The Most Wonderful Doll in the World, by Phyllis McGinley
River Winding: Poems by Charlotte Zolotow
Looking at Architecture, by Roberta M. Paine
The Young Author's Do-it-Yourself Book
The Golden Book of Fun and Nonsense: Lightly Comic, Highly Humorous, and Largely Nonsensical Verse, selected and edited by Louis Untermeyer, illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen
Birds, Beasts and the Third Thing: Poems by D.H. Lawrence, illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen
Clever Cooks: A Concoction of Stories, Charms, Recipes & Riddles, Compiled by Ellin Greene
The Pooh Song Book
The Pooh Cook Book

Books we have but these are different editions or special:

The Worker in Sandalwood, by Marjorie Pickthall
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow & Rip Van Winkle, by Washington Irving, illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher
The Rainbow Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang, illustrations by Michael Hague (not in very good shape, but I brought it home anyway)

Books we have but I picked them up to swap or sell:

The Gammage Cup, by Carol Kendall
The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey
Seabird, by Holling Clancy Holling
The Light Princess, by George MacDonald, pictures by Maurice Sendak

Videos and misc. stuff: an audio book of Ramona the Pest, and some videos including Runaway Ralph, the puppet opera version of Hansel and Gretel, and The Love Bug.

Got your aquascutum?

This column isn't new, but it answers a question that I had this month while reading a John Buchan spy novel.

What's for supper? Last of the Swiss chard

I adapted tonight's dinner from a recipe in the November 2009 Canadian Living Magazine. They used sausage--I used meatballs. They used diced tomatoes and seasonings--I opened a can of spaghetti sauce. They used rigatoni--I used penne. Does it even resemble the original? I think we got the general idea of it. And it did use up some of the Swiss chard that's still very, very healthy in our garden--even with frost on the grass this morning. I liked the way the chard turned out in this--it had a different, less overcooked texture from the way we use it in lasagna (pre-steamed and mashed up with cottage cheese).

We ate it with baked sweet potatoes--orange is always good with green. I made lots on purpose so that we'd have leftovers. You could cut these amounts in half.

Pasta, Meatballs and Swiss Chard

8 to 10 cups washed and chopped Swiss chard, as fresh as possible

A few fresh mushrooms

1 680-ml can pasta sauce (I used Primo Original Recipe)

2 cups grated mozzarella cheese (or a combination)

Meatballs prepared from whatever recipe you like (I used about 1 1/3 lb. ground beef, and added lots of parsley but not too much extra seasoning)

1 lb. penne (tubes) or other similar pasta

A spoonful of butter, margarine or oil (optional)


Prepare your meatballs and bake or brown them, whatever you usually do to them. (I baked them on foil at 400 degrees.)

Cook the pasta until pretty much done, still slightly firm. Drain off most of the water, leaving a bit behind. Put the pasta back into the pot and combine with the can of sauce, the chopped (uncooked) chard and mushrooms, and the cooked meatballs, OR leave the meatballs out at this point. Spoon everything into a large greased pan or two; I used two large lidded casseroles, spooned the mixture in, and then added the meatballs on top. Cover with grated cheese. Bake, covered, for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees and then 10 minutes uncovered, till everything is heated through; or longer if you are starting with cold ingredients or you have it all in one pan. When I took the casseroles out, I spread a spoonful of butter over the top of each one, just because the beef was very lean, I didn't use a lot of sauce, and some of the chard around the edges looked a bit dry. It probably wasn't necessary but I thought it looked better with a bit of moistening. If you used sausage as originally recommended, or used a bit more sauce, you probably wouldn't need to do that.

The five of us finished off one of the casseroles, so I would guess that this amount should serve 8 to 10 people. You could increase the amount of pasta sauce, even double it if you like things very tomatoey; some of the Squirrels here are sensitive to tomatoes, so we preferred it with less, and I think it allowed the flavour of the chard to come out well (it didn't get drowned in tomatoes).

You could make this in a slow cooker, although if you have only a 3 1/2 quart pot as we do, you'd probably only be able to fit half the recipe in it.

Thrift and thanksgiving

This is a response to The Common Room post Thrift, Parsimony and Freegan Living, which the DHM wrote after reading the NY Times review of Lauren Weber's book In Cheap We Trust. As the DHM mentioned, you can read an excerpt from the book here.

While making a day-after-Thanksgiving leftover casserole, I thought of a definition for sensible frugality: frugality (vs. miserliness) means cutting the meat off the bones, but not so close that you cut yourself with the knife. (Don't go spoiling my metaphor by telling me I should have been boiling it instead. It really was a very little turkey to start with, and I doubt I would have gotten much broth from what was left.)

Re-dipping your teabag so many times that you poison yourself is miserly. (Some will argue about that but I'm sticking by what my auntie told me.) Depriving people of what would make their lives pleasanter, healthier or safer, if whatever it is really does take money and if you can afford it, is miserly. Spending half an hour looking for a free parking spot (as an acquaintance of Weber's does) is just silly, especially if you have other people in the car who will never get that time back that you wasted. There are definitely ways to be too much of a tightwad.

On the other hand, those who slam Amy Dacyczyn, for example, seldom bother to bring up some of the most sensible and thoughtful articles from her Tightwad Gazette. She once described a frugal meal that her family served to guests: it included chicken, potatoes, and fresh vegetables from their garden. There was nothing miserly-sounding about it at all; in fact, some people would think that all that fresh, homecooked food was a treat. A Family Fun article about the Dacyczyn family focused on the cool and creative toys and other amusements that their children--those poor, deprived children of tightwads--spent their time with. And the point she was trying to make by using things like metal strips from waxed paper boxes (see Weber's excerpt) was that if you have it, then use it, instead of wasting your time and gas and money going out to buy something else while the metal strip goes into the landfill. She wasn't suggesting that you spend your life stockpiling metal strips in case you might someday need one to hang a picture. (I might also point out that some of the ideas such as jump ropes were actually sent in by TG readers.) It's not crazy to re-use things, and to keep using them until they wear out or smell bad. Sometimes it's not worth the fuss over what something costs; other times it just makes more sense to look for a tightwad solution. As Amy pointed out more than once, frugal living, including used stuff, can be better than its equivalent in new things, and it can help you achieve other goals that are important to you (like staying home with young children, or buying a house).

Lauren Weber is right about the fact that when we think we can afford to "live better," we usually do--although we sometimes confuse "living better" with "living more expensively." In the Treehouse we have a 1929 floor radio that originally sold for $275. Quite a chunk of change in those days, but someone must have thought it worth the money. (Mr. Fixit bought it at an estate sale before we were married.)

I knew an elderly woman whose husband refused to update the worn linoleum in their kitchen. For forty years she waxed that linoleum and hated it. One of the first things she did after he died--and she told me this with a chortle--was put in a no-wax floor. (Was she justified in wanting this? Did she deserve it after fighting the linoleum all those years? Is that just small potatoes compared with people who want bigger cars and fancier furniture?)

Some of Mr. Fixit's relatives survived very lean times during the Depression, when opportunities for immigrants on the Prairies were scarce. But they worked hard, saved all they could, and eventually built themselves a house with an oil furnace and--an amazing luxury--a thermostat to control it. They had no desire to return to methods of home heating that involved chopping or shovelling. It reminds me of another article I once read about a woman who grew up through tough times, and never could get over her amazement over simply "standing in the warm."

I'm not sure I relate to Ms. Weber's interest in fancy shoes marked down to ninety-nine dollars, or to her enthusiasm for the latest in televisions. We ourselves have made do just fine with our '70's and '80's TVs, and there's always the most radical idea of all--doing without one. To each her own, but I'm not sure how much I trust that kind of "frugal" advice. It's not wrong to enjoy good times, to look forward to a special meal, even to splurge on a bit of candy corn; but I do question large amounts of money spent on something that doesn't pay you back. (A chest freezer is an investment. A pair of high heels are probably not, unless they're sending you home from Oz.) I guess I just slice my turkey a little closer to the bone than she does.

Can you be "too frugal?" Opinions?

Thanksgiving photos by Mr. Fixit. The centerpiece was made from a vintage Native basket (free from Grandpa Squirrel's basement); dollar-store fake leaves that we bought for a craft class; a glass thingy from a cousin's wedding; a few horse chestnuts; and a spray from our lilac bush, which looks quite different in autumn. The turkey salt and pepper shakers belonged to Mr. Fixit's grandma. Most of the furniture in the photo also came from the Squirrel grandparents.

A literature roundup, of sorts

Barb at Harmony Art Mom shows a natural and effective way to teach literary terms...while reading.

The DHM wonders why people have such a dickens of a time with literature...

The Tails Gone West kids have finished a Narnia book.

Ann posted "Weekends Are for the Page Turning."

(Happy reading!)

Chris Klicka

An update to Saturday's post:

HSLDA lawyer Chris Klicka passed away today after a long battle with MS. More details are on the Klickas' Caring Bridge page.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

(Photo credit: Mr. Fixit)

Hey, I could find a rock too

How to Decorate a Coffee Table. An amusing look at making coffee table arrangements look as good as magazine photos. (Hat tip to Like Merchant Ships.)

Those of you who know Debi

Please pray for her during a very difficult time.

Prayers requested for a crossbearer

You can follow the Klicka family's Caring Bridge journal here. Please pray for this man who has been a longtime faithful pillar of Christian homeschooling in North America.

Crockpot Apple Butter

Cents to Get Debt-Free shows us how.

Gift of a book (Great Books Week)

"Friday: When I want to give someone a special gift, I give them [name of book] because…"

I give books as gifts. (Ask my kids.) One reason is because I'm much better at shopping for books than I am at picking out clothes or jewellery or knick-knacks. And they come my way more often than clothes, jewellery etc.

But as far as giving everybody the same book? Nah. Even if I wanted to, I don't usually run across multiple copies of the most interesting books I see.

If I could give every new parent the same book, though, I'd supply them with a copy of Dorothy Butler's Babies Need Books--I don't know anything about the revised edition, but I do like the original. And maybe add a thrift-shopped bag of books from her book--boy, did I spend a lot of time hunting for some of those when the Apprentice was small, and "hunting" did not mean doing an online search. And then one child or another loved "But Where is the Green Parrot?" and "Sam Who Never Forgets" into oblivion, so I'll have to round up more copies when there are Squirrel grandchildren to want them.

Because you're here to see it happen

Did you know this weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving?

Especially Heather provides some very good reasons to be thankful.

The ultimate Mr. Fixit

A New Brunswick man recently replaced his own finger with assorted spare parts.

You all are so amazing

So many good posts out there in the Blogworld:

A homeschool day at Holy Experience

A fall update from Beck's Bounty, and one from Tootle.

This week's CM Carnival

Math Teachers at Play Carnival #16

Frugal Upstate shares her standby cookbooks, and Brenda wants to know which books (or movies) make you warm and cozy.

Lizzie counts blessings and makes some true confessions.

And Kim at The Upward Call passes on a sad newspaper item about the death of nursery rhymes in our culture.

The HSBA Post You've Been Waiting For

Yes, it's that time of year!

The details and rules for the 2009 Homeschool Blog Awards have been posted.

I hated it in high school but liked it later? (Great Books Week)

Okay...what did our class read in high school? Somehow we skipped both Lord of the Flies and Catcher in the Rye (the Apprentice wasn't so lucky). We did read a lot of short stories and poems, several Shakespeare and Shaw plays, A Man For All Seasons, Death of a Salesman, and a bunch of novels:

To Kill a Mockingbird
Huckleberry Finn
Brave New World
Heart of Darkness
The Sun Also Rises
The Pearl, by John Steinbeck (you want it, you find it, but you can't keep it)
A Separate Peace, by John Knowles (don't remind me how many coming-of-age symbols there are in this one)
On the Beach, by Nevil Shute (people getting sick after a nuclear blast)
The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham (people repenting after a nuclear blast)

Very depressing, most of it. The ones I liked, I still like. The rest I'm still trying to forget.

Just keep schooling, just keep schooling

If you started your school year in September, the first few giddy weeks have passed.

It's now October. Do you know where your homeschooling plans are?

Did you lay them so thick that you can't stuff anything else in?

Are you wondering why you're only up to what you planned for Week Three and now it's Week Five or Six? Why you've skipped the last few days of French lessons? ("It's okay, kids, we'll make it up later.") Why the composer-study schedule has gotten buried under math and history?

Maybe it hasn't and everything is going along swimmingly. Everybody's still getting up early, the school room or wherever you work looks pretty good, your schooltime snacks are still nutritious, you remembered to change the calendar to October even if your "decor" is still Welcome Back To School, and nobody's begging for extra computer game time.

Maybe it's not going quite so well. You've all had nasty colds and the DVDs took over temporarily. The exercise plans lasted through the nice weather, but it's too cold out there now. All the new hymns are sounding strangely alike. The kids memorized their first poem happily, but now want to know why they have to learn another one. The one making the lapbook has only two mini-books glued in and says she doesn't want to do any more reptiles now, thank you.

And oops--you really were going to do more poetry with them this year, weren't you?

OK. This is your pep talk. You laid down all these plans, and now it's up to you to be persistent, with both yourself and the kids.

You bought that art curriculum, so make time for them to use it at least once a week.

You set them up with the history-journalling project, so encourage them to keep at it (it's going to look amazing when it's done).

You know which readaloud books you want to get through this year, so don't let them cajole you into reading only Book A when you had planned to alternate it with Books B and C. We really like this fall's Book A, and it's easier reading than Book B, but B has its own rewards.

The vocabulary chart you started is looking a bit lonely up there on the wall with only three roots filled in, so decide that tomorrow you all are going to add three more AND you're going to play one of the games from the program.

And it's NOT too cold to get out there and do an Outdoor Nature Challenge. The trees this morning looked like someone was blowing them with a hair dryer, but Ponytails went out and found a ladybug to draw in her nature journal. Crayons just wanted to draw the wind.

If you need to add a little pep to the same-through-the-year lessons, do it. We alternate Bible stories with our Mr. Pipes books, but even so the cycle of just reading, narrating can get a bit routine. Occasionally add little things in to keep the lessons interesting. This week I photocopied a kings-and-prophets timeline strip from What The Bible Is All About For Young Explorers and printed copies out on coloured cardstock; then during one of our lessons the girls cut them out, taped the two parts of them together, and made Old Testament bookmarks for their Bibles. It wasn't a major project, but it kept hands busy while we read about Elijah. Another day I gave them a Calvary Chapel colouring page about the story we were reading. We don't do that often--even colouring can get monotonous--but once in awhile it's nice to have a little extra.

Before the school year started, I put all my third-grade math ideas into a file box, and while we haven't stuck exactly to the cards as written, I'm still trying to get as much crossed off as I can before we go on to new things. This week I had noted "practice math vocabulary" (something I'd noticed on a worksheet). All I meant by that was knowing the words sum, product, and difference; not a big thing, but it's easy to overlook teaching them. I wrote each word a couple of times on slips of paper, and had Crayons pull pairs of numerals out of a bag. (We used rubber tiles from a math game, but you could use any cards.) I had her choose a slip at random, or I chose one for her. "Find the sum of your two numbers." "Find the difference between them." "Find the product." Sometimes I had her pull three numbers instead.

It's October. Switch around a little. Ponytails has been using math software during her computer time, and Crayons has been using a science CD-Rom; but it's time for a change, so now Ponytails will be using the CD-Rom and Crayons will be doing online math games. (She's also asked me if we can start using Calculadder sheets again.)

Play with time. We are doing a combination of workboxes and group activities, and sometimes the group things get dropped if the workboxes are going slow. So some days I fill only a few workboxes, and catch up on the French and nature and singing and anything else that we might get into a bad habit of missing.

And one other thing--now that everybody's back to school, are your kids getting to see their homeschooled (and other) friends? We've been slightly sidetracked on this due to colds and such that we didn't want to pass around; but I think everyone's healthy enough now that we really need to work on some of that Socialization. (Mom needs to see friends too!)

Trust in what you have laid out. Don't worry about what you think you have left out for this year--just keep on with what's already on the table. Learn new things a little at a time. Enjoy small things. Have a wonderful fall.

My life and welcome to it (Great Books Week)

"Wednesday: I’d write my autobiography, but I don’t need to, because my story has already been told in… [what classic book?]"

I don't think anybody's written a novel yet about a wanna-be writer squirrel who decided there were too many bad books in the world already and thought she'd settle for office work, but then met Prince Forever-in-blue-jeans Charming driving a '66 Galaxy, and found her niche homeschooling three squirrelings, cooking schmecksy food, and being Cyberbuddy to assorted bloggers.

Or you could say that I've been Christian, I've been Bilbo, I've been Rabbit (and sometimes Piglet and Eeyore), I've been Anne, I've been Valancy, I've been King David and Mary Lennox and some of Anne Tyler's people. All those book places I've been, I've been those people too.

Right about then, I read The Lord of the Rings. I'd never liked books about elves and stuff but Hobbits are something else. I went around for weeks feeling that people were too big. --Jean Little, Kate (1971)

What's for supper? (Old favourite)

It's comfort food night, on a day that's gone back and forth from almost-Indian-summer to dark and gloomy:

Kitchener Special, made with ground beef instead of sausage (and I left the onion out)
White bread hot out of the breadmaker
Baked sweet potatoes
Reheated broccoli
Hot Fudge Pudding from More Food That Really Schmecks

HOT FUDGE PUDDING (with Mama Squirrel's notes)

1 cup sifted flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar, or slightly less
6 tablespoons cocoa, divided

1/2 cup milk
3 tbsp. melted shortening or oil
1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted (optional)

1 3/4 cups hot water

Sift the dry ingredients and 2 tablespoons of cocoa. Stir together the milk, vanilla and melted shortening or oil; add to the dry ingredients, mix well, then stir in the nuts if using. Pour (or push if it's thick) into a greased 9" square pan (I prefer a deeper casserole in case of bubble-overs). Now mix the brown sugar and 4 remaining tablespoons cocoa; sprinkle the mixture over the batter in the pan. Pour on the melted butter (or leave it out), then carefully pour on the hot water. Bake at 350 F for about 40 minutes or until the cake part seems done. Serve warm with milk or yogurt.

Favourite childhood books? (Great Books Week)

I was the little kid that my mother had to push outside to play.

I liked to play dolls in the bedroom, play school in the basement, listen to my '78's in the dining room, and watch Mr. Rogers in the living room.

I also liked to read a lot, so singling out a favourite book is hard. In addition to the magazines we got (Children's Playmate and Humpty Dumpty to start with, along with Once Upon a Time, an English weekly story paper my dad brought home. ("Launched on 15 February 1969, Once Upon a Time was one of the finest-illustrated nursery comics to appear in this country. Written almost entirely by Barbara Matthews, the title ran for 167 issues (the last dated 22 April 1972) and Mendoza provided a full-page illustration to accompany the Matthews-written text adventures of Winifred and Stephanie. With a full page to play with, Mendoza provided a stunning array of animal antics; the stories often played with the contrast between Winifred, the down-to-earth country mouse, and her cousin, Stephanie, who had airs and graces, and allowed Mendoza to indulge his sense of humour in a way that his strip work did not allow...." From this blog) (A bit more here.)

There were the books we got through the mail from Parent's Magazine Press, and the other books (the Golden Books and Wonder Books and Elf Books) we'd picked up at the supermarket, or the ones we'd been given as Sunday School or Christmas gifts, or the ones we bought one year from Scholastic Books, or the ones that just mysteriously appeared...we also went to the public library regularly.

I had one much-loved copy of Fifty Famous Fairy Tales. I had a nursery rhyme book that I've never been able to track down. We had Raggedy Ann books, the Better Homes and Gardens Storybook, and the Family Treasury of Children's Stories. We had a copy of Winnie-the-Pooh, although I preferred listening to Jimmy Stewart reading the stories on an LP we had.

If I had to choose one? How about Rosa-too-Little, by Sue Felt?

It's a story about a little girl who wants...a library card.

:-)

Nature Friend Magazine (TOS Review)

Nature Friend Magazine home page
Click here for $3 off new subscription (good until November 30, 2009)

Nature Friend, ca. 1991

In case you think that all my TOS reviews are going to be curmudgeonly...you're wrong.

I was sure I would have blogged at least once about Nature Friend, but I've searched the archives and somehow I never have.

About a decade ago, we came across a pile of Nature Friends from 1990 and 1991. They were 36-page magazines with colour covers, but just line drawings and black and white photos inside. (The line drawings made good colouring pages!) We made those issues a part of our homeschool, including the drawing lessons, the easy-to-read nature stories (Ponytails used a lot of those for reading practice and copywork), and articles for older children.

Nature Friend, 2009

Recently we received two current issues of Nature Friend to review. Some things have changed in twenty years, some haven't. The magazine is now full colour, slightly larger, and runs 24 to 28 pages. The old "James and Mary Explore God's World" stories are gone, but there are other easy-to-read stories like "Backyard Discovery" in the August issue.

"'Stop!' said Judy. 'Do you hear that? Is it a big bee?'

"Judy sidled closer to Tim. She had not forgotten her bee sting from several days ago.

"'It doesn't sound like a bee, does it? It sounds like Mother's sewing machine when she's sewing fast,' said Tim.

"'Or Dad's power saw,' added Judy.

"'Let's see if we can find it.'"

The drawing lessons, the "Invisibles" hidden-picture puzzles, reader-contributed issues, and other favourite features are still there. The names of young readers still include a higher-than-average proportion of Stahls, Martins, Masts, and Stoltzfuses, reflecting the magazine's origins and its continuing popularity with conservative families (although it has maintained a good reputation with readers of other backgrounds, including homeschoolers). (Note to homeschoolers: you can now get bound-in, optional Study Guide sections for $2 extra per issue.)

I found a strong hint that the magazine isn't written to your typical post-millennium frantic-lifestyled young reader in the online writer's guidelines: "A good book for study might be Marguerite Henry’s Birds at Home, © 1972 by Rand McNally & Co. " I also appreciate this advice to would-be contributors: "The overall mood we desire for Nature Friend is one that is cheerful, sunny, almost merry, but not irresponsible or silly. We will hardly ever use something that is spooky or scary, except as a contrast to another dominant mood. Libraries abound with children’s magazines emphasizing (in subtlety, at least) venomous creatures, man-eating beasts, and other monster-type animals." (We found this to be an ongoing issue with a secular science-and-geography magazine that our children received.)

In other words, fall issues of Nature Friend are going to have harvest and getting-ready-for-winter themes--not Hallowe'en ones. (There are also no talking animals.)

I really do like Nature Friend Magazine, even though at $49 a year for Canadian subscriptions (plus another $24 for the additional Study Guides), it's not exactly cheap. (U.S. subscriptions are $36/year plus the same for the Study Guides.) But consider what you're getting: no advertisements, (and in a children's magazine that's unusual and very welcome); full-colour wildlife photographs; a Christian (but not heavy-handed) approach to God's creation; photography lessons and critiques (if you get the study guides, and in the issues I saw, this feature seemed to be extremely well done, if a tiny bit gory (i.e. how the editor got photos of an owl snatching a mouse)); extra word puzzles and quizzes (in the study guides); writing and nature journalling encouragement (in the study guides); and a place for children to have their own drawings, poems and questions published.

"Children deserve to know the truth about our amazing world. As television, drugs, videos, and electronic games compete for children’s time and approval, it becomes all the more important to give them material that is true, exciting, and upbuilding to their character."--Writer's Guidelines, "Nature Friend"

For other reviews of this product, see the Old Schoolhouse Review Crew website.

Dewey's Disclaimer: These products were received free for review purposes. No other payment was made.

Seven books, one island? (Great Books Week)

Seven books I'd spend my exile reading? Me and Burgess Meredith...I'd make sure I took a glasses repair kit along as well.

Hm...books I've always wanted to read, or favourite re-reads?

Books to read out loud?

It's pretty hard to say...and I suppose it's cheating to recommend a great big anthology of some kind? I'm also avoiding the "Boat Building for Dummies" suggestion.

Okay, a Bible. And Pilgrim's Progress. Two easy ones. And a hymn book for entertainment and edification. That's three. Collected Shakespeare's Play's; if it was good enough for the Noble Savage, it's good enough for me. That's four.

A book of James Thurber's mildly disturbing cartoons, because it will take me that long to understand some of them. Five.

A dictionary so we can play definition games. Six.

And I can't decide on the seventh...maybe Kipling's Just So Stories, maybe Plutarch, maybe The Handbook of Nature Study just to give us something else to do.

Boy, this one was hard. But the island game always is. (And my answers change every time.)

There's a perfect job for everyone (funny from Sir Walter Scott)

From The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Mama Squirrel's current favourite Scott novel. The setting is a courtroom in Edinburgh in the 1700's. The judge is interrogating a prisoner who thinks he should be rewarded because he stayed put during a riot when most of the others escaped.


"Your name is James Ratcliffe?" said the magistrate.

"Ay—always wi' your honour's leave."

"That is to say, you could find me another name if I did not like that one?"

"Twenty to pick and choose upon, always with your honour's leave," resumed the respondent.

"But James Ratcliffe is your present name?—what is your trade?"

"I canna just say, distinctly, that I have what ye wad ca' preceesely a trade."

"But," repeated the magistrate, "what are your means of living—your occupation?....To cut the matter short, Ratcliffe, you have been a most notorious thief," said the examinant.

[The judge and Ratcliffe go back and forth for a few minutes, and then the judge asks Ratcliffe why he didn't try to escape with everyone else.]

"I would never have thought for a moment of staying in that auld gousty toom house," answered Ratcliffe, "but that use and wont had just gien me a fancy to the place, and I'm just expecting a bit post in't."

"A post!" exclaimed the magistrate; "a whipping-post, I suppose, you mean?"

"Na, na, sir, I had nae thoughts o' a whuppin-post. After having been four times doomed to hang by the neck till I was dead, I think I am far beyond being whuppit."

"Then, in Heaven's name, what did you expect?"

"Just the post of under-turnkey, for I understand there's a vacancy," said the prisoner; "I wadna think of asking the lockman's [hangman's] place ower his head; it wadna suit me sae weel as ither folk, for I never could put a beast out o' the way, much less deal wi' a man."

"That's something in your favour," said the magistrate, making exactly the inference to which Ratcliffe was desirous to lead him, though he mantled his art with an affectation of oddity.

"But," continued the magistrate, "how do you think you can be trusted with a charge in the prison, when you have broken at your own hand half the jails in Scotland?"

"Wi' your honour's leave," said Ratcliffe, "if I kend sae weel how to wun out mysell, it's like I wad be a' the better a hand to keep other folk in. I think they wad ken their business weel that held me in when I wanted to be out, or wan out when I wanted to hand them in."

The remark seemed to strike the magistrate, but he made no further immediate observation, only desired Ratcliffe to be removed.

When this daring and yet sly freebooter was out of hearing, the magistrate asked the city clerk, "what he thought of the fellow's assurance?"

"It's no for me to say, sir," replied the clerk; "but if James Ratcliffe be inclined to turn to good, there is not a man e'er came within the ports of the burgh could be of sae muckle use to the Good Town in the thief and lock-up line of business. I'll speak to Mr. Sharpitlaw about him."

Join in on Great Books Week

This is a post passed on from a message board; the links to the original post are at the bottom. Want to join in?

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Great Books Week

I'd like to invite you to participate in a Blog Tour in honor of Great Books Week which is October 4-10, 2009. There are special blog topics for each day, and you're invited to write a post and link back to the NAIWE NewsWire blog so that others can find your post. This holiday is jointly sponsored by Excellence in Literature and the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors.

Here’s the schedule of topics:

Monday: If I were stranded alone on a deserted island with only seven books to read over the next few years, I would like to have…

Tuesday: When I was a child, my favorite book was… because….

Wednesday: I’d write my autobiography, but I don’t need to, because my story has already been told in… [what classic book?]

Thursday: I hated … when I had to read it in high school, but when I read it on my own later, I loved it because….

Friday: When I want to give someone a special gift, I give them [name of book] because…

Here's the introductory post.

Here's the Facebook Event page.

There will be a daily post with each topic so that you can leave your name and link in the comment section for the appropriate topic. I encourage you to share this invitation with other book lovers, and post it on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. Let's make it a big celebration!

Blessings,

Janice Campbell
www.Everyday-Education.com

Guardian Angel Publishing (TOS Review)

Guardian Angel Publishing Home Page

"Guardian Angel Publishing is BOTH an eBook publisher and print publisher and will sell and distribute your book for sale online and in brick and mortar stores. [The books are available as e-book downloads, on CD-Roms, and in print versions.]

"Guardian Angel publishes books that encourage principles of positive growth for children, sharing and caring and healthy attitudes."--from the website

I'm not the best person to ask to review new picture books, especially those of the didactic sort, and especially any story told in rhyme (unless it's one of Virginia Kahl's Duchess books, or Madeline). I have too many biases about what I consider a "good" book. But it's hard to be objective about literary style or content when the first reaction to a book (especially an adorably-illustrated one like Rainbow Sheep) is "Aw, that's so cute." (Especially when it's one of my own kids saying that.)

It's also hard to give an overall review of a whole publishing house when it offers books by a number of different authors and illustrators. Guardian Angel sent the Review Crew several books to look at in e-book format, and they're all different. However, when you look at the writers' guidelines given on the website, you can see that a lot of their books do fall into certain categories:

"Guardian Angel Health & Hygiene - teach our children about health and hygiene. Our books instruct and explore healthy attitudes for kids of all ages. It will deal with all sorts of health issues affecting our children today.

"Guardian Angel Animals & Pets- picture books and story books about our furry and feathered friends, and personal books for the pets in our lives. They may be fiction or nonfiction stories of heroic, faithful, heartwarming stories about our animal friends. Don't forget we have great staff artists to create your angelic pet illustrations.

"Wings of Faith -faith-based storybooks and picture books for kids of all ages even twixt and tweens! They teach simple life lessons. Look at our Wings of Faith page for examples of upcoming series."

This is where I run into trouble. I am stubborn in my belief that what well-meaning adults think is good for children, or think children will like, doesn't always equal a wonderful book.

I wasn't quite alone in my lukewarm reaction, at least in the Treehouse. Crayons, our horse lover, got partway through a book about a boy and a horse before she didn't want to read any more. She did like Maybe We Are Flamingos, although I got kind of lost in sentences like "Mum said that it takes Flamingos a year or more to turn pink. Then we will stay pink because of the foods we eat, like diatoms, seeds, blue-green algae, crustaceans, and mollusks." I also didn't find a book about bones very readable: "Between knee and pelvis, / The femur resides. / Behind the “quad” muscles, / This longest bone hides." (Out-loud readability quotient is one of my markers for a good picture book.) Even Rainbow Sheep had some lines that gave me pause: "The sheep were pleasantly steaming in the sun."

I didn't get to look at Hamster Holidays: Noun and Adjective Adventures, although some others on the Crew did; I might have been more forgiving on that one just because I'm fond of rodents. There may be undiscovered gems in the company's list. And maybe it's just a matter of my preferring chocolate when a lot of people really like vanilla. Maybe. But in a time when some of the best children's books ever are falling victim to legislated dumpsterizing, and when we're struggling against the idea that children's books are just a pretty packaged commodity with a twenty-year lifespan (sort of like toys with pages), and that there's no difference between books about pink princess parties (not what Guardian Angel publishes) and Little Babaji, between I Like Myself (also not a Guardian Angel title) and A Hole Is to Dig...it's hard to know how or whether to promote books that are...adequate. Not harmful, and often pleasant, but not amazing either.

Does it seem unfair to criticize a company that has a stated aim of publishing stories that are heroic, faithful and heartwarming, that promotes sharing and caring and healthy attitudes? I may simply be harbouring a curmudgeonly, ungenerous, cantankerous attitude towards books that have already received various kinds of praise and awards. I purposely haven't looked yet at any other Crew reviews of this publisher, because I realize that my opinion may put me in the minority. But do check out the other reviews as they get posted, and have a look at the Guardian Angel site too if you want to encourage their values-based publishing.

Dewey's Disclaimer: These products were received free for review purposes. No other payment was made.