Coincidence

co·in·ci·dence

   [koh-in-si-duhns] 

noun

1.

a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance: Our meeting in Venice was pure coincidence.

In our schoolwork this week we have been reading about Vikings and their settling of the countries they settled and their "i viking" habits to sustain themselves when they needed more food or luxury items.They came from Greenland all the way here about 1000 A.D. and settled probably on Newfoundland, but they called it Vinland because of all the grapes Leif and his pals found when they first landed there. Where the vikings went they often left Rune stones. Some have even been found as far inland as here in Minnesota! I found some here in my oven today. I am not sure it was a coincidence, but, maybe.

I was reading a book the other day about an English lady touring our country in 1873. She landed in San Francisco and visited a bit and then headed east, her destination Colorado, but she stopped here and there on her way. Her first stop was Truckee, CA near the "lovely Donner Lake", it sounds like it was quite lovely. When I turned the calendar the next day to February there was a bird's eye view picture of Truckee's train track and a bit of the town.  One thing I thought was fun, the English lady noted that the train was precisely on time at 11pm to take her on to her next destination. So that makes me wonder, Why can't trains be on a schedule in these modern times that I live in?


It is probably a coincidence that although I spent much of the month of January cleaning and organizing my house I feel like it is worse than ever now that February is here. It has nothing to do, I am sure with the fact that my mother-in-law came for a visit last weekend and brought a truckload of stuff in an effort to clean her house. We are now set in all sorts of crafting endeavors! We are having a lot of fun browsing through it and thinking about all the things we can make, but currently I don't want anyone to visit my basement. Soon all will be under control but right now it is a masterful mess.


It is not a coincidence that Margaret has been creating sweet pictures on leather with all of the tools Granny brought up in one of the bins we now harbor in our basement. This puppy is my favorite.

2011 RePlay

January

 Although I know we must have done many exciting things in January I seem to have lost those pictures. I know we took pictures because Jaten Rae came for a visit with her family and Margaret can't be around her without taking at least a few pictures. We went to the Winter Carnival, froze our feet at the Grand Day Parade and toured the Bakken and did school work.

February

 We had a visit from the Johnsons. Had tea parties. Went bowling, went ice skating and did school work.

 March

 We traveled to Bemidj and attended the annual winter retreat at the church there. Where we sang songs, listened to others sing songs, watched a play, heard good preaching and had good fellowship. Harrison attended a one day band festival, we did school work and were involved with other church activities. Beatrice had a frenectomy done and we finalized our decisions about braces on the children's faces.

 April

 We went on a hike at one of our favorite spots for the first time this year. We played Pooh sticks over the little crick. We did school work. Harrison was in Honor band one Saturday, he was honored by Grandma and Grandpa, Keren and Irindee coming to be in the audience for the evening's concert. We also were honored to have the Cobbs be our guest one weekend. We took the first bike ride of the year.

 May

 Beatrice made the decision to have Christ as her Savior and to follow Jesus for the rest of her life.
Gregory turned into a six year old, he chose to have a pyramid cake and asked his friend Walter to come with his family to make the day more special. We went camping at the Wilderness and had more visits from the Johnsons, among others. We did a little school work, but the weather was getting awfully fine to be committed to wholly to the books. We rode bikes. We took a walk to Cub in a down pour so Martha bought shampoo to use on the way home. We try to keep the neighborhood entertained.

June

 On Travis' birthday the girl's had their music recital. Margaret played beautifully on her violin and Beatrice did amazing on the piano. We did a photo shoot with the soon to be newly weds. We went to Feed My Starving Children a couple times. We went to Sharon Bluff Camp for a week. We visited Grandma Cleone. We played with Pandas for a week at VBS. We finished the Life Group year. Travis got a basketball hoop for the kids to play with their friends at. It has been well used. We took a canoe trip on the hottest Sunday.

July

 We had a blast with our neighborhood shooting fireworks and visiting on the fourth of July. We went to Bemidji and had wonderful fellowship with our dear family who live there and joined us there. Pay Day was the board game of the summer, the boys played it most every day, taking breaks to drive Henry crazy with wild nerf wars through out the house. We went to the zoo. Took a canoe trip. We packed bags at Feed My Starving Children. All four of my offspring played in the Junior Horseshoe league this summer.

August

 My little brother married his Molly Bea. 

 We toured the Landmark and took a picture for old times sake. It was one of the first places we toured when we moved to the area.

 We went to our first Twins game and said that was enough.

 Took a trip down the Cannon River. And packed bags at Feed My Starving Children. Took bike rides. Cleaned our teeth and put braces on them. And we had friends and family come visit us!

September

 Margaret turned 11. We did FMSC. We started the school year. We went camping at our favorite camping spot. We took our final canoe trip and bike rides for the year. We had family and friends visit. We sang songs, we read stories, we prayed. Life Group started up for the  year.

 October

 Beatrice turned eight and Harrison turned 13! I grew older. We played bocce ball. We worshiped the Lord. We learned about bridges and arches and concrete. We took a short trip.

November

 We went to the Minnesota History Museum for like the 5th time this year. We celebrated all of our blessings on Thanksgiving. We harvested the last fruits of our garden for this year in the form of carrots. They were great and we were pleased. 

December

 We traveled a round about route to Indiana by going to Bemidji first to watch Keren perform in the Christmas Carol-so well done. We got to spend time with our grandparents! Such a treat. They are such great people. We have been so blessed to have them in our lives. 

We got to spend time with other great folks too and we are so Thankful for that time. Margaret drove the Polaris all by herself for the first time. Harrison had a Christmas concert with his band. Beatrice drew a thousand pictures. Gregory showered love in many ways, I hope he keeps his sweetness. We dreamt dreams, laughed laughs, cried tears, hoped hopes and shared memories. 2011 has been a good one.
Thank you for sharing it with us,
~Anna

Armistice Day

Happy Veterans Day to you all! Thank you, thank you to all who have served in keeping me free!! I do truly appreciate what you have given up for me.

A little history for you. This day began as a holiday at the end of the Great War. A cease fire was called at 11 am on the 11the day of the 11th month of 1918. It was a great and sudden silence that was the end to four years of horrific fighting all over Europe.

In 1954 it was changed to Veterans Day so we could remember all who have served our country to keep it, and so many other countries of the world free.

Our family remembered this day, this year, by, writing letters to some of the veterans in our life and thanking them. A rousing time of singing and playing the trumpet, recorder, piano and harmonica to a whole host of songs that remind us of different wars and other patriotic tunes. We may think of more to do this afternoon, we shall see.

Making Salt Crystals, a fun recipe

Here is a fun science expirement to do to revive the last few days of school for this year. It would be especially good for you if you are doing a study on salt or salt water like we were.

Here is what you do to grow your very own salt crystals.

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and remove water from the heat.

Add salt 1 Tablespoon at a time until the salt no longer dissolves.

Pour the salt water into a clean, clear glass jar.

Tie a paperclip to the end of a string or thread. Tie the other end of the string to a pencil and balance it on the top of the jar.

Allow the paper clip to hang in the water about 1 inch from the bottom of the jar.

Place the jar in a sunny window where it will not be bumped. This is one day later. Two or three days later. One week, four days later.

It was really exciting to see it growing at first, and to see how perfect the cubes always were. The growth has really slowed down now.

People are now regularly asking what are you going to do with them and I don't know. So I need to figure that out I guess. Maybe if I shellac them they could work as jewellery. What do you think? I don't want to loose them by eating them in our supper.

Enjoy!

~Anna

Why I Enjoy Homeschooling

1. When Travis is home we are able to do something fun as a family or just he and the kids. Being flexible is very important for Travis' job. If we sent them away from home they might only see their Daddy every week or so.

2. Playing games with a purpose. Climbing Mount Everest allows them to know what mountain climbers go through and some facts about the mountain. Chinese Checkers is cultural. Playing games is not really a favorite past time of mine but I think it provides a great bonding time so multi-purposing my time is really nice.

3. Home school kids are not as bound by age limits in their friendships. Gregory's best friend right now is 13 years old. 4. When the days are sunny and it is beautiful weather we take a walk and enjoy the changes of spring. The mallards appear to have set up housekeeping on Ames Lake. The snails were huge sitting on the lily pad stumps from last year. Without all the greenery on the plants you could see them. We never have before. It was pretty cool to me. 5. When time is running out and Beatrice hasn't gotten all of her school work done, then her mini teachers kick in and get the job done. Computer time can't start until all of the school work is completed. I like seeing my kids helping each other. 6. Gregory wanted a story read. Harrison was doing his schoolwork but he happily read his little brother a story and the girls gathered round. Sweet fellowship is fun to watch.

7. When our schoolwork is too frustrating, we can take the rest of the day off to do less stressful activities. When a new morning breaks and we are rested we will likely have no problem with the previously frustrating material. 8. When the opportunity presents itself for an exciting adventure we aren't bound by predetermined time tables.

(the macho team from the Hurricane 2009, they came to almost the exact weight limit)

9. I am learning so many neat things that I must have forgotten since my school days.

10. We get to eat the product of our research and labors from the countries we are learning about. 11. Great grandparents are the recipients of more letters than would likely happen if the kids were away all day at a different school.

This is not a complete list, I am sure, but, some of the reasons I do homeschool.

Enjoy your day.

~Anna

James Herriot

For the last year, or maybe more the kids and I have been reading these books in the evenings when Travis is not home. (He always reads when he is home). I started them because Margaret has often thought that she would like to be a vet, and because I had fond memories of them. I think she has grown out of that ambition but none of us grew tired of this series. For me they work best as read a loud books since he does throw in quite a bit of rough language that I would prefer my children not reading. Aside from the language it is a very wholesome story of life as a vet in Darrowby England before, during and after World War II. There were many evenings that at least one of the chapters had Harrison and I laughing pretty hard. And several had me in tears (but that is pretty easy).

They make for an excellent animal anatomy science class I am sure. We certainly know more about labor and delivery of cows, sheep and pigs then we ever did before these books.

I know this series of books was made into a video series at one time. Sometime soon I want to check them out from our library and see if they are very good viewing.

Happy Reading!

~Anna

Our Day, It was a good one

Our Family was hit by an awful stomach flu bug for about seven days this past week. It wasn't fun. But I am really enjoying having everyone healthy yesterday and today! We were finally productive people again. It felt good to get our schoolwork finished in one day and sleep all night long. Since it felt so good to get going I thought I would share it with you all.

This morning we,

put together puzzles,

did all of our lessons in the assignment book,

everyone took a turn practicing math skills on the computer,

We got our instruments practiced, and

We made a batch of pizza pockets. We baked one half and froze the other half for another day.

This afternoon, we went to the Como Zoo to look at our relatives. No actually we don't know anyone there. We went to check out the African livestock since we just finished studying that continent. I also always want to check out the sunken garden and see what is on display for the season. It was amaryllises and Asiatic lilies, plus lots of other fillers. The perfume was incredible from all of them. Very pleasant, not at all offensive like some flowers can be.

On the way home I swung by Rainbow to get the good deals for the week in groceries. I like to go on Wednesday because they double up to 5 coupons on that day. Well somehow I hit the jackpot and it doubled 8 of my coupons! Bringing my savings to 51% rather than whatever it would have been. I guess that paid for my buying each person an ice cream treat that was in the discount cooler for on the way home.

This evening I then taught 18 first through sixth graders a class reviewing Gideon. That may have been a few to many for that class. I am glad I will just be doing 1-2 the rest of the quarter.

Rice Pancakes from Kenya

If you are looking for a gluten free recipe this is a pretty good one. We weren't needing gluten free but when we study a country we try to find recipes from there and this one is from Kenya. I didn't follow the recipe perfectly but I am sure it was fairly authentic:) This recipe came from the book, Cooking the African Way. One thing I was surprised about as we found recipe's for this study they often used more than twice the amount of oil that I would for a similar dish. It wasn't just this book either, although we mainly just tried this books recipes. They turned out a very pretty pancake :) Here is the recipe: 1 Tablespoon yeast 1 cup warm water 1 cup sugar (decreased it by just over half and they were still quite sweet) 2 3/4 cups rice flour 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon 1/4 cup canned coconut milk (I used whole milk, since I didn't have this. I also increased this to make up for the decrease in oil ) 1/2 cup vegetable oil ( used 1/4 cup or less of canola) 1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast, sugar, cardamon and a dash of salt. Add warm water, oil and coconut milk and mix well. It should be the consistency of pancake batter. If you need more water add just a little at a time, until batter runs slowly from the spoon. 2. Cover bowl with a towel and set in a warm place for about an hour or until mixture nearly doubles in size. 3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium high heat for 1 minute. 4. Pour 1/2 cup of batter into pan and spread with a spoon to form a pancake the size of a saucer. Cover pan and cook for about 1-2 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom. Flip over with spatula and cook on the other side another minute or until golden brown. Repeat with remaining batter adding more oil to pan as necessary. 5. Serve hot with a bit of jam. This makes about 10 pancakes. Happy frying, ~Anna

Khufu's Tomb

Up high on the Giza strip looking down on Pharaoh Khufu's pyramid:

Actually you can't look down on his pyramid because it is the tallest structure around! In fact, it was the tallest in the world until the Eiffel Tower was built in 1887.

The original pyramid of Khufu was built about 4,550 years ago. Harrison just built this one last week.

~Anna

P.S. Isn't it kinda cute how Gregory took this picture through another magnetics? I like the effect it has.

African Music and the way things are around here

There was a fog watch for around here last night and when we woke up this morning it was still rather foggy. When the fog left it was a white world from all that moisture in the air. The trees as we were driving were really beautiful! We are studying Africa for a few weeks in our schoolwork, the kids and I. So I was excited to find out that the Rice St. Library was hosting a guy from Ghana who was a master drummer. He teaches African music at Macalaster College, I guess. Three of his past students were there to help him out with the music. It is neat music, but a little is all I need. The beat is hard on my sensitive head. I liked it when he sang. The songs he sang too were more mellow than sometimes when I hear this type of music. When the guys joined him they had a very nice harmony. The kids were asked to come up to do a game. It seemed like it was basically the song Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes. That is the action that they did with some words that we repeated over and over, quicker and quicker. It is hard to say what we were saying as I am not in tune with any of the 50 languages they speak in Ghana. Well one of them I am which is English but that isn't what he used for this game. Something I found interesting is they purposely make the xylophones have a buzzy sound by drilling holes in the gourds that hang under each wooden slat of the xylophone. After they drill the hole they put spider sac material over the hole to seal it. They are really pretty instruments, the drums to. Henry got shorn today. His hair was past due for a trim, and getting very matted around where his collar belongs. Travis and he are getting better and better at the job, don't you think?

To go along with the study of Africa we are trying to eat the proper ethnic foods. Today for supper we had Kuku. A delicious tangy chicken stew from Kenya (that is what is says in the cookbook).

Blessings to YOU,

~Anna