Happy Halloween....part 3...Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween!

Festivities Prior to Trick or Treating...part one

Lunch at Munchies, followed by fun on the Hay at Cahills!

I Confess.....

I just can't keep up--and it's mostly the homeschooling preparation!  I cannot maintain having a fun family life, attempts at getting back to very healthy cooking, my band, my writing, my bracelet business, trying to fit fitness back in, all the travel we do, and WRITING MY OWN CURRICULUM for homeschooling.  I've had to shift some things and figure out what to do to keep things balanced and smooth....the biggest time-consumer for me would be writing my own curriculum...it doesn't come naturally to me (especially as the girls get older; I have to keep evolving with them;), it's SO open-ended and unlimited, I find it sucking a lot more time than it probably has to....we already pay for our math curriculum: (Math U See)...I wanted more...the workboxes are great, but I'll save that for additional fun projects, or days when I am unable to sit with the girls through school and need them to work independantly.  After MUCH research and soul searching, we decided to purchase unit studies for the girls.  Amanda Bennett has some fabulous unit studies, where you can pick and choose and download.  We worked on our very first one today!  But for the long-term, we still want to do things with more flow, and structure, and mindfulness of the developing child.  (As opposed to just randomly choosing projects...though there is merit to this method too, nothing is a waste).  In a week or so, I will be ordering a complete and somewhat costly curriculum program called: http://movingbeyondthepage.com/

Most of the curricula, especially unit study based curriculum, have been written for "Christian" homeschooling.  Nothing wrong with that, I was born and raised in a Christian Faith...but our homeschool approach is more secular (quite frankly, we just don't want the girls growing up believing one religious teaching is the ONLY way).  We want our girls to be very open, accepting, and considerate girls.  But, I digress, my point is, it's a challenge in homeschooling (which was once mostly done for religious reasons) to find non religious curriculum.  We wanted more "neutral" curriculum.  Moving Beyond the Page looks like it will fill our needs and so much more!

Here is their philosophy:
"
Moving Beyond the Page is a comprehensive research-based curriculum designed to challenge and stimulate creative, hands-on, and gifted homeschoolers.
You will find Moving Beyond the Page to be an academically rigorous homeschool curriculum that will challenge and engage your child.

Components of a Curriculum for Gifted and Creative Learners

1. Start with state and national standards so you can be confident that your child is learning the skills and content needed in each subject area - including math, language arts, writing, science, social studies, and history. But don't stop there. . .
2. Wrap those standards in a concept-based curriculum so children learn skills through big ideas that they can take with them through their lives. It will help them to understand complex interactions, become true innovators, and see the interconnectedness among people, ideas, and environments.
3. Differentiate the curriculum to meet students at a level that is both challenging and rewarding. Children of the same age can be at different levels. Challenge them all.
4. Be cognizant of different learning styles. Help children learn in a way that feels natural to them. Don't force all children to learn in the same way all the time.
5. Work through your child's strengths by utilizing each of the multiple intelligences. When children work through their areas of strength, they achieve greater levels of success.
6. Encourage the many dimensions of critical and creative thinking. This dimension will set apart the book smart from those who are innovators, inventors, and designers.
7. Implement project-based instruction to reinforce the real-world application of a child's learning. Instead of isolating math, reading, and science lessons, children should use their skills in a variety of areas to solve problems or create products.
8. Utilize an interdisciplinary curriculum to help your child discover connections among subjects. Math and science go hand in hand. Social Studies cannot be understood without reading authentic documents and literature from different time periods and different perspectives. Life does not isolate these subjects, and your child's curriculum should not teach them in isolation either."

Ok, and without further adieu, our first officially purchased unit study began today (*note, following is from http://www.unitstudy.com/) Amanda Bennett...she has terrific fun unit studies which you can download for a small price...we had a blast with day one on PIZZA!!!!  (ok, more than just pizza, it's about Italy, but presented in a fun manner).

Here is a glimpse of our first mini lapbooks (also a new concept to me).  Today went smoothly; there was a lot less work for me, the girls learned a lot in just day one about Italy, Naples, the history of pizza, the fact that people once thought tomatoes were poisonous, what the weather is like in Naples today, and Marco Polo.  That is just day one of this unit study......oh, and we had a lot of fun too!
 http://www.unitstudy.com/

 

Working Out a Dragonfly Inspirations Deal with a Spa In Cali!

http://serenityspaonline.com/

Homemade Catalina/French Dressing (for taco salads)

Homemade Catalina/French Dressing Recipe

Posted on 06/14/2011

This dressing is especially great for taco salads or any salad with leftover meat or hardboiled eggs on it!
For more great recipes and all of the grocery shopping tips you need to ensure that you select the most additive-free versions of all ingredients needed to make this recipe (and all of my recipes), check out my book “Eating Additive-Free“!

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp raw honey
2 Tbsp tomato paste (only ingredient should be, “tomatoes”)
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
¼ tsp dry mustard
¼ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
NOTE: Only ingredient in each spice should be that spice (e.g., “garlic”). The chili powder should list just single, real spices (e.g., “chili powder, paprika, onion, etc.) and no vague words like “spices” or chemical ingredients you don’t understand!)
The original recipe that I based this on called for 1/2 tsp salt, but I just left that out when I made it, and have always thought it was fine; add if you like.
This recipe makes about 1 cup. If you try it and like it, save time by making a quadruple batch (which will fill a 32 oz. jar as shown here – although filling a bottle that full does make it difficult to shake it well); it will also use nearly the whole 6 oz. can of tomato paste, too.

from: http://grocerygeek.com/2011/06/14/homemade-catalinafrench-dressing-recipe/

Hurricane Sandy Beach Day!

We headed to the beach in hopes of seeing some giant waves (they weren't all that big---yet;)  The winds have really been going strong the last 1.5 days, which makes for a very musical backyard with my windchimes and Corinthian Bells...it's hard to sleep at night because I just want to listen to the beautiful concert!  It looks like rain...we are under a tropical storm watch (which sounds WAY more cool than "winter storm watch," wouldn't you agree?)  But, we had  quick breakfast and hit the beach.  My hunch is, the gigantic waves I've heard about (when there's a hurricane moving along just east of us) will probably hit tomorrow.  It would't kill us to head back to the beach...though explaining to the hubby that "no, you may NOT go into the water" is a challenge...he's kind of a natural dare-devil....this will be our fourth (nearby) hurricane since we've lived here, and I've learned that the riptide currents become very strong and dangerous for a few days surrounding the hurricanes.  Since John and the girls got caught in a current a few days ago (the girls were right next to him, so he was able to grab them both), I'm going to play it REALLY CAUTIOUS. 

Anyhoo, here are a few scenes from our Hilton Head Island Outing....we actually did more than the beach today.....did you know they actually have shops and restaurants too?  Only took us 2 years to explore our pretty little island;)

It's Pumpkin Season.....

did I ever mention, I REALLY LOVE PUMPKINS!!!  Just in case somebody didn't get the memo;)

Home-made Vanilla Extract---Paula Deen's Version

We are making this as we speak:

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Ingredients

3 vanilla beans, split in half with the ends still attached
1 cup quality vodka
glass jar with tight fitting lid

Directions

In a small saucepan over medium flame, heat vodka. Place split vanilla beans in a jar with a tight fitting lid and pour heated vodka over to cover.  Allow to cool completely before putting the lid on.  Screw on lid and store in a dark cool place for 8 weeks (give jar a shake every week). Mixture will get darker and darker over time.
Paula’s Gift Packaging Tip: I like to gift my Homemade Vanilla Extract in the same jars I made them in. I tie a string of twine around the lid and add a feather for decoration.
This recipe is one of our Gifts from the Kitchen.

Past Pumpkin Pix--and a copy and paste test---ran out of storage space, again:/

 

We STILL Love our Pumpkin Farms

Big News!

Dragonfly Inspirations Creations

 will now be sold in a spa in California!!!

It's Just Another Manic Monday

I do NOT like to over-schedule my girls.  I do NOT like to over-schedule ME.  That said, some of MY rules are meant to be broken, on occasion;D

Backtracking (not related to the "over-scheduling":)

Grandma and Grandpa were here! 

 and the girls had a knitting lesson with Grandma (**the note is to further assist my little leftie...apparently it is challening for a right-handed knitting teacher to teach a leftie;)

 We shopped!!!  (Fairy Girl received her very first gift card/ shopping spree!  this took awhile...Target has a LOT for a 7 girl to choose from you know.)

We dined....

It was ITALIAN!!!!

Ok, so we dined...lots, until we ran out of food or food inspiration...and when I stopped feeding the grandparents, they took off (to quote Grandma J: "if you stop feeding the strays, they leave:D"

We cheered on the Pack

AND THEY WON!

!!

So, as I was saying, when we stopped feeding the grandparents....they left:D
And then we met our homeschool group for an equestrian field trip.  Here's the cool thing: on Friday we went to Hilton Head to hit the Farmer's Market (where we plan on having our own stand!!  As soon as I can build up some bracelet (and other goodies, soon to be announced;) inventory!  It's amazing that I'm not keeping up with the demand!  It's all good...working on my craft "studio" as we speak, so I don't have to share with the homeschool room, and keep setting up and putting away....photos to follow......
Well, anyway, I digress.....when we were at the farmer's market, Fairy Girl kinda sorta got bit...by a horse:/

 the story of MANIC MONDAY:

And ironically, today, we had a field trip to an equestrian farm with our local homeschool group.....but, no life-long fears, as you can see she jumped right in and is brushing the horse.  (Little Miss Angel, on the other hand, kind of steered clear;)

We were starving, so we hit Panera's, something different for us;)

there was a pumpkin cookie!!!!!!!

After the pumpkin cookie, there was  our weekly yoga class...(not pictured, as mom participated:D) 

 But I DID get a shot of their Chinese Ribbon Dancing!

 

And then there was art class, with a professional artist.

And they created these adorable bags!

And then they went to their very first ballet class! 

(they will be in leotards soon....this sort of just came up:D)

They will perform in the Nutcracker in December!

first glimpse of our NEW bigger camper!!!!  (ignore the mess, was in the process of transferring our goods from our old one)

RIBBIT....RIBBIT

Carryon

Cranberry Mustard

1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup water
1/2 cup dry mustard (Mustard powder)
1/4 cup honey (spray pam into measuring cup)
2 TBSP cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp grated orange rind

cook berries in 1 cup water and drain, reserving liquid strain cranberries to extract pulp and remove seeds and skins

Measurre the puree and add reserved big to make 1/4 cup

Blend the puree and the dry mustard into a paste.  Let stand 10 minutes to develop the flabor of the mustard.

Add remaining ingredients and blend well.

Thin additional cooking liquid if too thick or thicken a little extra mustard

Full flavor develops in 3-4 weeks.

keeps 1 year in the fridge.

Goodbye Little Popup Camper....:(

Goodbye little popup camper...you have brought us throughout Wisconsin, Ohio, the Upper Penninsula, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, The Smoky Mountains, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York, Vermont.....and I can say that if it weren't for you (and Garmin, and my awesome manifesting skills:D), we wouldn't be living in South Carolina today....we are VERY grateful for this camper which has helped us recover from much...and helped us make some beautiful family memories...and we are VERY grateful to my parents who gifted it to us!!!!!

May your new family share as much joy and happiness with you as we did!

(***on the market...not even one day***)

Journey of Faith

click HERE to order from my Etsy shop, DFInspirations

Journey of Faith was **Created October 6, 2012 in honor of my grandmother who had breast cancer (today would have been her birthday) and in honor of my mother in law who also had breast cancer (her birthday would have been October 4th).**

Homeschool Happenings: Pumpkins and such...

 Wood pumpkin crafts that the girls found in their homeschool workbox "surprise of the day" bag

Another one: pumpkin and poetry craft, along with the history of jack o lanterns

The girls working fairly independently and cooperatively with their newly implemented workbox system...this is a HUGE hit that works very well for all of us.  A little preparation on the teacher's end goes a LONG ways!

And we FINALLY made it to our first homeschool swim/gym class at the Island Rec Center pool...wait?  this is NOT a pool????  VERY insightful;)   Yes, that's right, after missing the first few classes, because we were traveling, we thought it would be fun to make our first appearance today.....just to find out that we didn't get the memo that there weren't enough swim instructors, so class is canceled this week.  But, I wasn't the only one to not receive the memo...our good friends did not; so we *settled* for plan B....poooooor us:D