Peter Piper's Picks: May 2nd

A series of photographs taken by a West German of East Germany in 1990 just after the Berlin Wall had come down. The article is pretty interesting, too. I had to keep reminding myself that this was 1990 - not 1950 as some of the photos make it seem.


Wonder what exactly "Clean Coal Technology" is? I do. Now we can both figure it out!


Ann Kroeker , Christian mom, writer and speaker, has just announced her new book, Not So Fast: Slow Down Solutions for Frenzied Families, due out August 1st. In the meantime, she has a companion site and some sneak previews. Stroll on over and check it out!


Don't miss this: A Board Game Creator! Enter your own information and make a board game for your kids! There are a number (and I mean a NUMBER) of already created games to use or make your own.


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How Swine Flu Got Started

There ya go!

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7 Books for Prospective Homeschoolers

Decided to homeschool, but don't know where to start?

Or been homeschooling and need some re-inspiration or redirection?

Read on for some not-to-be-missed books!


My blogger friend, Jessica at Homemaking Through the Church Year, has just made the decision to homeschool, at least for next year. (Her posts on making the homeschool decision are admirable in their prayerful, reasonable decision-making.) She asked for reading suggestions as she prepares for her homeschool year.

When we decided to begin homeschooling our then 7 year old almost 6 years ago, I spent the spring and summer before we began devouring all the books I could find on the subject. I continute to read on the subject here and there, too. Here are some that I've found particularly helpful over the past 6 years:


1. Should I Home School?: How to Decide What's Right for You & Your Childby Elizabeth and Dan Hamilton - I took copious notes from this book. I found it to be a really well-balanced guide to making the decision about homeschool.


2. The Moore's The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook - a really great place to start. Actually, anything by them (Better Late Than Early: A New Approach to Your Child's Education is another good one)! The Moores are pioneers in the homeschool movement. To miss this book is to miss what many consider to be the "soul" of home education!


3. Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks For Homeschool Curriculum
- This book is more than just product reviews (which are excellent, by the way). It begins with an excellent section on the various methods of education, personality and learning types, and a fantastic chart detailing what curricula matches which method of education and personality type. That portion is invaluable...and then come the thorough product reviews!


4. How to Homeschool: A Practical Approach- by Gayle Graham is a fantastic resource as you begin to figure out how you'll get it all done. She covers everything from tacking the laundry to tackling spelling! This book may be hard to find, but if you need help juggling home and education, this is a gem worth digging for.


5. Ruth Beechick has a series of books: Home Start in Reading, Strong Start in Language, and Easy Start in Arithmetic. These are for teaching early elementary. She also has another book: You Can Teach Your Child Successfully: Grades 4-8. These are classics from another homeschool pioneer. If you need to educate on a shoe string or keep homeschool simply and effective, these are not to be missed!


6. For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and Schoolis particularly good for those interested in following the Charlotte Mason method. But I'd recommend it for anyone contemplating home education! Susan Schaeffer MacCauley (yes, that is Schaeffer as in Francis and Edith Schaeffer) presents a winsome vision for home education.


7. Climbing Parnassus by Tracy Lee Simmons is an highly recommended book for those interested in Classical Education: "...defense and vindication of the formative power of Greek and Latin. His persuasive witness to the unique, now all-but-forgotten advantages of study in and of the classical languages constitutes a bracing reminder of the genuine aims of a truly liberal education."



Learn more about each of these titles, and see other recommended books, at the Ten O'Clock Scholar aStore.

This post is part of the Carnival of Homeschooling.

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Kale and White Bean Soup with Chicken

This recipe was my first real adventure with kale. I always thought I didn't like kale, but I was wrong! I was inspired by a traditional Portuguese soup with kale and beans (and sausage) which sounds wonderful, but this one uses up my leftover chicken!

This dish is great for many seasons: late fall, winter or early spring whenever kale is available in your area.

Kale and White Bean Soup with Chicken
1 T olive oil
1 large spring onion (or a small yellow onion), halved and sliced
1 to 1 1/2 quarts of chicken stock
2 cans cannellini beans, with the liquid
1 large bunch of kale, well rinsed and chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 cups (more or less) chopped or shredded, cooked chicken
a rind of parmesan or some parmesan to top at the table

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot or dutch oven. Add onion and saute until transluscent. Add stock and bring to boiling. Add kale by handfuls (allow to wilt a bit and then add the next handful), stirring well. Let kale boil for a few minutes to soften well, then reduce heat and add beans and liquid from can. Cover and simmer until kale is tender. Add cooked chicken and keep soup simmering to warm chicken through. You can toss in a rind of parmesan into the pot for extra flavor or top with freshly grated parmesan at the table.

Serve with a nice crusty bread!

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How to Create a Daily Oasis in Your Home

Do you need a bit of quiet in the midst of a busy day? Do your kids need some downtime each day to collect themselves? Does everyone need just a little bit of "alone" time? I have a simple idea for you that will give you a daily oasis for your family: Read or Rest time.

The idea:
Provide your kids and yourself with a bit of calm and quiet each day by instituting a time of quiet reading and resting.This sets a wonderful rhythm to your family's day (and it establishes a good habit of daily reading). You spend the morning working or learning together and then have a little time to relax, regroup, and process what you've learned.

The Basics:
1. Select a timeslot that works for your family schedule.
2. Provide your kids with a good selection of books (personal collection, the library, etc.).
3. Determine the rules that work for your family situation (together, seperately, reading only, books on tape, quiet playing, etc).
4. Discuss the rules and enforce them.
5. Make it a regular part of everyday.

Here's how it works in my home:
Each day after lunch, my kids head up to their rooms for an hour of quiet reading or resting. Simple enough, right? The "catch" is in the rules...the rules are that everyone MUST be on their beds reading a book, listening to a book on tape, or just looking at a book...or they must be resting. Even mom abides by this rule, although my read or rest time is spent downstairs on the couch or in "my chair".

Some other ideas:
You might choose to allow pre-readers to play LEGOs or draw while listening to music or a story on tape instead of reading. Or you might decide that instead of doing a seperate read time, you all lay down together and listen to a book. (This might be especially nice if you aren't together in the morning and you need time to reconnect as a family.) There are many ways to make the basic idea work for your family! It may take a few days to reinforce the rules of Read or Rest time (whatever they are for your family), but I bet you'll find as I have that your kids really need and enjoy the time.

Do you do something similar to Read or Rest? Let me hear about it! Did you try Read or Rest - how did you like?


This post is part of the Carnival of Homeschooling hosted today by Susan at Corn and Oil. It is teeming with great ideas this week. Don't miss it!

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Roasted Potatoes and Turnips

Roasting turnips brings out a little bit of their sweetness and combine them with the savoriness of potatoes and they are just delicious! This makes a wonderful side to Roasted Chicken (try my favorite recipe for Roasted Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary) since you've already got the oven on and everything can cook at the same time.

This is my recipe.



Roasted Potatoes and Turnips
4-5 medium potatoes
5-6 small white turnips
1 small onion (in spring use green onions, in fall use a nice yellow onion)
1/4 c olive oil (or whatever seems to be enough to coat your vegetables)
a few dashes of salt, pepper and dry or fresh dill

Wash (peel the onion), trim and roughly chop the potatoes, turnips, and onion. Place in a large bowl. Pour the olive oil over the vegetables and season with salt, pepper and dill. Toss to coat well. Lay the vegetables on a rimmed cookie sheet - one layer as best you can. Use two cookie sheets if you must to keep it to one layer.


Place in an oven preheated to 375 degrees and roast for approximately 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and golden. Keep an eye on this as it cooks - stir if you see your vegetables getting too browned on the edges.


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Scandinavian Radish Salad

Oh, my this is refreshing: slightly peppery and slightly sweet! Slice those radishes as thinly as you can for a really delectable salad. I made this with an assortment of white, hot pink and deep fuscia radishes and it was beautiful as well as delicious.


Scandinavian Radish Salad

2 tsp white wine or rice wine vinegar
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp dry or 1 1/2 tsp fresh dill
a dash of garlic powder
a pinch of sugar
a pinch of salt
a grinding of fresh black pepper
15-20 medium radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced (or shaved)

In a small bowl, combine vinegar, oil, dill, garlic powder, sugar, salt, and pepper. In a large bowl, toss radishes with vinegar, oil, spice mixture. Cover and refrigerate about an hour (more is fine, of course) before serving.

For a different, and still Scandinavian, flavor you could replace the dill with caraway seed (1 tsp).


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Green Tomato Casserole

You've heard of Fried Green Tomatoes, but there are other ways to enjoy those early (and late)green tomatoes. They have a nice tang that goes really well with cheese, so why not combine them into a casserole?



Green Tomato Casserole
4 medium green tomatoes, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups soft breadcrumbs
1 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon butter, softened

Butter your casserole dish, or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Arrange one layer of tomatoes in the bottom of 1 ½ quart casserole. Sprinkle with sugar, salt and pepper 1/3 of bread crumbs and 1/3 cheese. Repeat layers twice omitting the cheese from the top. Dot butter over the bread crumbs on top. Cover and bake at 400 degrees for one hour (if you reduce the recipe, be sure to check for doneness earlier, say at 30 minutes). Add remaining cheese, bake uncovered until cheese melts.

This was delicious and surprisingly filling. You could even "jazz" it up by adding a layer of onions, if you wish. Although the tartness and slight sweetness of the tomatoes with the cheddar was so delicious, I'm not sure I'd mess with it!

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Peter Piper's Picks: April 25th

Haunting and beautiful photos from Rwanda - 15 years after the Rwandan Hutu-Tutsi genocide. Want to remember or learn more? I highly recommend the movie, Sometimes In April.


A satisfying, but short, essay on Earth Day from a Christian perspective.


Need some ideas for getting your laundry room in better shape? Check out Mary's ideas at Owlhaven- and read the comments for more ideas!


And for a laugh (and a little lesson), enjoy this essay on cliches. See if you can spot the ones used in the essay. I double-dog dare you!


Chocolate cake in a mug.... in 5 minutes? Won't your kids love that?! Won't you love that?!


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7 Quick Takes: April 24th

One
Just started a funny little book called The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald about a "city" girl who gets married and moves to the country to start a chicken ranch. It was written in the 1940s, I believe. Quite funny and sweet. I love a book that causes me to laugh out loud. The last book I read that did that was In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson.

Two
My son got an "A" on his Latin final exam! Not only an "A", but the highest grade in the class! I wish I could take any credit for helping him achieve that, but with the adoption craziness, my Latin lessons with him went out the window. He's done that on his own this semester. I'm so proud of him!! It is the one area I required him to keep up with at all costs...guess it paid off.

Three
Our landscaping project is coming along. The beds in the front and to the right of the house have been laid and mulched. Yesterday, we went to buy a load of rock for the other side of the house and the back yard project. We are coming to the place where I can start planning flowers and bushes and trees. I've got my mind set on a few for varoius spots: dogwoods, azaleas and hydrangeas, but I need to branch out a bit, too. Any ideas? Keep in mind: southern, middle-class, suburb, small lot.

Four
Ok, I'm home from Ghana, baby is settling in, couple weeks of homeschool under our belts, hubby goes "back to work" (he works from home) Monday...life is getting back to normal. All except my housekeeping! I think I need to start FlyLady again. Any flybabies out there? How oh how do you jump back on the wagon after being off it for so long!?!

Five
A couple years ago I inherited quite a bit of silver (placesettings, serving pieces, trays, even a champagne bucket. Some of it was in pristine condition and some of it needed serious polishing. I polished my little heart out for a few weeks (I enjoyed it so much that I even started taking in friends' silver to polish!). Then I found these little 3M silver strips that you put in with your silver to keep it tarnish free. The strips treat the air (much like silver cloth does) to reduce the tarnish - ingenious! They have kept my silver beautiful for two years and have only been replaced once. However, I think I let them go too long inbetween replacing the old strips with fresh ones. My silver is getting black again. Time to polish...luckily I kind of enjoy it. How, you ask? I get a really good book on tape and polish away.

Six
So, we are approaching the teen years with our eldest. He turns 13 in May. Wow. A couple years ago hubby took him away for a weekend to have the "talk" with him and that included discussing dating and our family's approach. Recently, we've seen lots of "boy and girl" stuff going on in various groups church, co-op, etc. All innocent, but we feel it might be time to readdress this with him and as a family. There are some other families we are close to who are in the same place. I'm wondering what resources out there might be available to help us in that conversation (with our kids and among each other). Anyone have suggestions for DVDs, books, etc that discussing a Christian approach to dating, courthship, etc.?

Seven
I have another new blog (I know it is a bit of a sickness, no?). I love the idea of a commonplace book, but I find I won't keep one unless it is online. So, I've started an online commonplace book. I'm really enjoying it and having it online makes it so much easier to sort and organize. Come check it out: Forest of Things.

Have a lovely Friday! Go enjoy some more Quick Takes.


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Saint George: April 23rd - 7 Ways to Celebrate

Saint George and the Dragon by Paulo Uccello - c. 1470

From The National Gallery

Tomorrow, April 23rd, is Saint George's day! Need some ideas to celebrate Saint George's day?

Here are SEVEN ways to celebrate:

1.Wear a red rose in your lapel (or display red roses in your home).

2. Read the classic Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges.

3. Fly the Saint George's Cross flag.

4. Follow the Catalan tradition: give gifts of books (or maybe buy one for yourself) - perhaps Shakespeare's Henry V: "...The game's afoot: Follow your spirit, and upon this charge cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' "(It is also Shakespeare's birth day and the anniversary of his death.)

5. Or download a FREE children's book (fully, and beautifully, illustrated) based on a book Richard Johnson's book The Seven Champions from 1596.

6. Talk about the three C's: Charity, Chivalry, and Courage with your kids.

7. Learn more...

Here is a brief history, from James Kiefer and the Society of Archbishop Justus:
George is a soldier and martyr who suffered around 303 at Lydda in Palestine. The earliest surviving record of him is a church inscription in Syria, dated about 346. Commemorations of him are numerous, early, and widespread. However, no details of his life are known. In 495 his name appears on a list of "good men, justly remembered, whose good deeds are known only to God." The best-known story about him is that he rescued a beautiful princess in Libya by killing a dragon. It should be noted that this story is unknown before the appearance in 1265 of a romance called the Golden Legend (Legendum Aureum), translated into English in 1483.

When the soldiers of the First Crusade were besieging Antioch in 1098, they had a vision of George and Demetrius (a deacon of Sirmium in Serbia, martyred under Maximian, and referred to as a "soldier of Christ," from which he was often understood to be a literal soldier) encouraging them to maintain the siege, which ultimately proved successful. Richard I ("the Lion-Heart") of England, who fought in the Holy Land in 1191-1192, placed himself and his army under George's protection, and with the return home of the Crusaders, the popularity of George in England increased greatly. Edward III founded the Order of the Garter in 1348 under his patronage, his banner (a red cross on a white field) began to be used as the English national flag in 1284, and in 1415 Henry V spoke of him to rally the troops before the battle of Agincourt ("Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, or close the wall up with our English dead. ... cry God for Harry, England, and St George!").

Saint George is the patron saint of: archers, the Boy Scouts, butchers, cavalry, chivalry, crusaders, equestrians, farmers, horsemen, horses, saddle makers, skin diseases/rashes, soldiers and places such as: Lebanon, Canada, Constantinople, England, Palestine, Portugal and Venice. See a more complete list at Catholic Culture's Liturgical Calendar pages.

Some more links:

A St. George's Day website with really thorough information about Saint George in literature, art and various traditions.
Here is a website with lots of fun printables and crafts as well as other links for Saint George's Day.
Learn more about the association between England and St. George.

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Classical Conversations Lessons for Cycle 1

A lot of people have downloaded the History and Science lesson plans I've shared here for Classical Conversations. I'm so thrilled! Many of those people have stopped back by to ask if I plan on doing something similar for Cycle 1 and the answer is, "YES!"

I plan to have the history lesson plans ready in May and the science ones to follow shortly after. I'm still catching up on school with my kids (what we missed during our six weeks of adoption travel), but as soon as that is done, I'll set an expected date for the completion of the lesson plans.

Please check back (or sign up for my RSS feed or email updates) so you won't miss out!

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Farmer's Market Report - Opening Day 2009!

Today is the first Farmer's Market Report of 2009! Come on by to check it out and participate!

Sausage and Greens Soup

1/2 lb bulk sausage
Brown sausage in soup pot and drain all but a spoonful of fat. Remove meat.


1 C onion, green onion, or chives, chopped
Saute in reserved fat until soft. Return sausage to soup pot.


4 C chicken or vegetable broth
1 C potatoes, diced
salt and pepper to taste
Add to pot, bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer unitl potatoes are soft, 10-15 minutes.


1 1/2 C evaporated milk
1-3 C fresh greens (spinach, kale, purslane, watercress, or any tender young greens)
Add and cook until tender (just a minute for spinach, a few extra minutes for greens like kale). Garnish each bowl with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

From Simply In Season , a favorite cookbook of mine.


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Peter Piper's Picks: April 18th

Nancy Wilson at Femina takes on the issue of mothers who smother with their love in "Smother Love". Good reading and a sort of cautionary tale.



Need some ideas for spring ideas? Or want to start collecting ideas for summer? Here are some great ones from Adventures of an Orthodox Mom and The Artful Parent.




This article is a bit old, but was recently linked to by Front Porch Republic (a new read of mine). I thought it was quite funny and had a lot to say about being overly dogmatic about being GREEN.



Kris from Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers has taken the time to explain her method of planning for homeschool (weekly plans). If you are new to homeschooling or need a refresher on how to plan effectively, this is a good tutorial.



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