(Thank you to Kathryn Jones for her guest post and fun ideas for hot summer days!)

When I was little I spent hours outside in the summer. My favorite pastime was digging holes in the dirt with my mother’s kitchen tablespoons. (Boy, did she love that!) Digging long driveways underground for matchbox cars was “the thing” then, and far surpassed playing anything inside the house. Being outside where other kids were doing similar things in their own backyards had its own charm.

I remember one particularly great day, a friend of mine was moving. Although the fact that she was moving away was not great, but what was splendid, was the Going Away Party my mom threw. There, right in the side yard along with my car tunnels, she’d placed a small table with a pretty cloth, and on it were the pinkest, coldest, yummiest looking drinks I’d ever seen.

My friend was smiling grandly. I was probably doing the same. But, what I remember most was how good the drink tasted, and how my friend and I giggled all the way down to the end of the tall glass. It was only later, when my friend was gone, and the tears had dried, that I asked my mom what we’d had to drink.

“Pink Lassies,” she said.

“Pink dogs?” I offered.

“No. It’s a drink made with ice-cream,” my mom said.

And so I offer it today, along with nine other cool summer treats kids (big and small) will love.

Pink Lassie
I cup cranberry juice
¼ cup orange juice
I cup vanilla ice-cream
Mix in blender until smooth; makes two servings.

Easy Popsicles
Fill ice-cube trays with your favorite juice. Place toothpicks inside each cubed section. Freeze until ready to serve. (Or freeze a larger version in a plastic cup with a Popsicle stick inserted).

Frozen Bananas
Skin banana. Cut banana in half. Push banana onto Popsicle stick. Freeze in plastic wrap until ready to serve. (For an extra-special treat, roll banana in melted chocolate before freezing. Place on waxed paper on a cookie tray and freeze).

Frozen Fruit in a Bag
1 bag of frozen or fresh mixed fruit
Small freezer bags
Allow the bag of frozen mixed fruit to unthaw a bit; just enough to be able to work with the fruit. Separate the fruit into small freezer bags. Freeze. When ready to eat, let the bags set out for about 15 minutes. Serve. (Grapes are great as a frozen treat).

Ice-cube Heaven
Place three or four large ice-cubes in a plastic cup. Serve. This treat is especially great for one and two year olds.

Jell-O Squares
3 packages (3 oz.) Jell-O
1 (4 pack) Knox unflavored gelatin
4 c. boiling water

Mix ingredients and pour into glass pan. Set. Cut into squares and serve. Do not refrigerate to set.

Yogurt Fruit Salad
As easy as it sounds. Mix your favorite fruit with just enough vanilla yogurt to cover. (Allow frozen fruit to sit out for a bit and mix with yogurt when it is still partially frozen).

Ice-Cream in a Bag
There are various sites that have the recipe for this great treat. Try MomsWhoThink or Kaboose for some great recipes.

Orange Julius
6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
I cup milk
I cup water
½ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Ice-cubes
Mix all ingredients together in a blender and serve. (Slowly adding ice-cubes until you get the drink to desired consistency is best).

Yummy Slush
(This recipe comes from my grandmother)1 46 oz. can unsweetened pineapple juice
1 6 oz. can frozen lemonade
1 6 oz. can frozen orange juice
7 bananas, either whipped in a blender or mashed with a fork
2 Quarts 7Up
Place mixture in containers and freeze until solid. To serve, let mixture stand out for a short time, then mix with 2 quarts 7Up. The more 7Up you add the more like a punch it becomes.
With the summer heat upon us, these cool treats are sure to be a hit!

Proud boy with a plate of sushi he made himself.  I just love that I get to be home with my kids and teach them things like making sushi.  Here is some of the fun we had learning how to make sushi:

• looked up recipe online
• bought ingredients at the store
• read and followed directions
• Learned some fine motor and detail work, patience, and perseverance – assembling, rolling, and cutting 10 rolls of the stuff.
• Math – how much did we save when 8 rolls costs $6 at the store and we made 50 rolls for the cost of our ingredients and labor.  The result is about $40 worth of sushi for about $8. 

The best part?  Everyone got to eat as much as they could until they were full.  The even better part?  My kids are learning how to make dinner!!

How much ‘school’ do you do in the kitchen?  Do you have any kid friendly recipes and activities to share?

Enjoy!

Jacob has just discovered the most amazing creation in the universe . . . THE PARK!  He bolts out of the car when we get there and runs from slide to swing to climbing wall the whole time we’re there.  I’d love to suck some of that energy out for myself.  Any ideas on how to do that?

So, this morning he headed out to the garage to throw away his diaper (starting chores early ) and before I knew it, he had climbed into the van, up into his car seat and told me very firmly, “Park!”

The rest of us finished our writing (while Jacob screamed at us) and then loaded up our school books, hats, water bottles, a box of crackers, and headed to the park to do school.

Here’s how much more fun it is to do school at the park:

Alex had jotted down his spelling words and I quizzed him while he circled me on his scooter.

The slide and the swing sure spiced up Brooke’s reading, so she didn’t mind so much (We’re waiting patiently for her to discover that reading is fun!)

And here’s a video of Jacob happily practiced his colors (though the red step kept throwing him) and crazy toddler jumping skills.  That’s what happens when you have three older brothers to show you what kind of acrobatics are possible, even if you’re not quite 2-years-old yet:

I just read an interesting article here by Peter Gray, a professor of psychology, that says over and over, “School is Prison.”  He says that a main reason kids don’t like school is that they’ve lost their freedom and their time and activities are completely controlled throughout the public school day.

Since my husband pretty much loved school (the geek)  as a kid, and I was banging my head (figuratively) against the classroom walls the whole way through, I’m interested to hear what you think?  Did you have that kind of experience in public schools as a kid?

Here are a few fun prison public school moments I remember:

1. Writing in my journal with my left hand during a class in a desperate bid for something challenging to do.

2. One teacher erased the current homework assignment off the board, because I was doing that night’s homework during his lecture instead of ‘paying attention’ like I was supposed to.  (That just meant I did his homework in the following period so I didn’t have to ‘waste’ any of my free time after school)
3. I wrote an essay detailing what I knew the teacher thought the interpretation of red in “The Scarlet Letter” meant, even though I completely disagreed.  (I had quickly figured out that getting an ‘A’ meant telling a teacher what he/she wanted to hear.)

To be fair, here is a great experience:

4. Mr. Sergeant, a history teacher, handed everyone a folder on a significant figure in the WWII era and after a week of research, we all had a debate with each other representing our WWII V.I.P.

Ahh . . . why weren’t all my classes like Mr. Sargeant’s history class?

So, in remembrance of public school, I have an essay question for you:  (please answer in the comment section)

1. How are public schools like prisons?  How are they not?  Please explain. 

I’ve been a bit scarce during August as we’ve been spending every second we can outside in a desperate attempt to pretend that summer isn’t almost over.  We have a couple months of summer left, don’t we?

I hope you’ve had as much fun and family time as we have.  I’d love to hear what your favorite experience was?

Here are a few of mine:

Picking and eating raspberries in our backyard with my 1-year-old who thinks he’s too big to be my baby any more.

Summer blueberries

Raspberries off the bush and in the mouth in less than 2 seconds!

Tomatoes from the garden, fresh salsa, tomato sauce, and pulling out the pressure cooker to bottle a few for later.

Water, water, water, pools, and the beach!

Passing the swim test at the pool.

How tired the kids are at the end of a fun summer day!

 ____________________________

Do you have a blog post about your fun summer/homeschooling activities?  Enter a direct link to your summer blog article below to share it with us!

P.S.  I’m experimenting with ‘Mr. Linky’ below, for the first time, so I’d love a few links to test it out.  Thanks!!

Homeschoolers have Style!  Lots of it, in all kinds of flavors.

With the freedom homeschooling affords, comes individual style.  We can afford to experiment, jump around, take a leisurely path through phonics, or whatever suits our family best.

Check out these styles!

Proactive

ChristineMM of The Thinking Mother shares thoughts about unique classes taught by subject matter experts that homeschoolers can take advantage of in her article The Thinking Mother: Homeschool Filmmaking Class for My Kids This Fall.

Shannon tells of her experience with filing a “notice of intent” to homeschool: Get this . . . posted at Mountaineer Country.

If you’ve wondered why public schools don’t teach based on skill level instead of age, Susan Gaissert writes about how that may be changing in:  Who is Leading When It Comes to Educational Innovations? posted at The Expanding Life.

Elena LaVictoire presents A few tips for Ohio homeschoolers posted at My Domestic Church.

If you’ve given some thought to a homeschool name or ID cards, Beverly has some tips in “Do You Name Your Homeschool?” at Beverly’s Homeschooling Blog.

Barbara, from Barbara Frank Online, motivates us with some encouragement for the new school year in Fasten Your Seat Belts…..

And Christine gives us her take on planning the school year and juggling paperwork in Planning the School Year at Our Curious Home.

Playful

Need a fun, make-at-home, game to liven up your school drills?  Kris presents Giant Board Game posted at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Kaye presents Rainy Day + Chuck E. Cheese = Happy Grandkids & Grandparents! posted at SandwichINK.com.  “Chuck E. Cheese can be a great “friend” to grandparents who help with their grandkids’ homeschooling programs!”

Summer presents A Day In Our Homeschooling Life posted at Wired For Noise.

Beautiful

In How to Educate for Beautiful Results, posted at Pajama School Blog, Natalie Wickham shares the importance of identifying and working on the parts that ultimately contribute to a whole education.

Make sure to check out these great art ideas:  Julie Moses presents Follow the Yellow Brick Road- More Oz projects! posted at Kids Art Projects and Lessons at Ms. Julie’s Place.  “Just a few projects to get us going somewhere over the rainbow!”

Annette Berlin presents 37 Ways To Share Crafts With Kids posted at Craft Stew.  “If you love crafting, chances are good you want to share that love with your children. Here are some easy (and frugal) ways to help your child also develop an interest in crafting.”

Studious

Kathy presents her review of Andrew Peterson’s North! Or Be Eaten: The Wingfeather Saga Book 2: Homeschool Review posted at Homeschoolbuzz.com Reviews.

Dave Roller presents Reading Programs posted at Home School Dad.  “I wanted to share some of the reading programs my children have been participating in.”

Amanda gives an in-depth look into the history of the atomic bombs dropped at the end of WWII in The Daily Planet » Blog Archive » The “Little Boy” Was Dropped posted at The Daily Planet.

Stephanie shares her excitement about learning Latin for the first time together with her children in I Am Just The Lead Student, That’s All at All About Homeschool.

Ruby shares her insight into using computers, the internet, and online learning to have a positive impact in schooling with one article at Freehold2 called “Internet as a Teaching Tool” and another titled “Online Learning Benefits” at School’s Out.

Adventuresome

Need some ideas for field trips?  Kristen Hamilton presents A Day in the Life – Field Trips posted at A Day in the Life – Homeschool Blogger.

If you’re trying to plan for fun AND learning this fall, check out this post:  The Family presents What to do, what not to do posted at Once Upon a Family.

Lynda at The Adventures of A Princess and the Bear writes Bear’ Geography: “about our doing geography and learning the continents with literature and lapbooking. We are making an apple pie in this post, to go along with the book, How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World”

John shares thoughts along with the inspirational story of a Zac, a homeschool teen who sailed around the world alone.  He writes Home School Encourages Independence In  Learning and Life at Independent Learning and Home Schooling.  He says, “Rather than isolating students, home school encourages students to develop independence in the way they handle the way they live and the way they learn.”

Amy shares her summertime adventures in Summer Time Learning posted at Kids Love Learning.

We can all empathize with Janine at Why Homeschool who writes about struggles with starting backup with school in “Not Quite Ready to Start School.”

Successful

Margaret writes about her plans for not teaching history this school year at Semi-Schooling History posted at Two Kid Schoolhouse

Barbra Sundquist presents Do You Need to Get Angry Before Anyone Listens? posted at Barbra Sundquist.  “Have you ever found yourself thinking, “Why is it that I have to get angry to get what I want?”

Lynn shares her successful first week of school along with some great resources, ideas, and links.  Check out First Week of School Done! posted at Eclectic Education – Homeschool Blogger.

Ben presents 7 Ways to Save Money on Back to School Shopping posted at Money Smart Life.

Scott Palat presents Parental Involvement Affects the Academic Success of Children posted at TutorFi.

Freestyle – a bit of everything

Susan Ryan presents Open Education – It’s the Learning that Counts posted at Corn and Oil.  “There are many high quality, free learning resources available for homeschoolers, including MIT’s free online courses.”

Shelly presents Vintage Video – Jay Can Do It posted at Homemade Homeschoolers.  “This episode of Vintage Video – Jay Can Do It – is part of the Homemade Homeschoolers Podcasts. The post includes thoughts about the difference between how non-homeschoolers define “socialization” and how we at Homemade Homeschoolers define it. We hope you enjoy!”

And if you haven’t settled into a homeschooling style yet, check out Choosyhomeschooler’s article PURLs of Wisdom Blog » Choosing a Teaching Style or Homeschooling Method posted at PURLs of Wisdom Blog.

Help Aimee out with some new lunch ideas as she shares hers in Homeschool Talk: School lunches at Aimee’s Land.

Experimental

If you haven’t done the soda bottle and Mentos experiment, you’re in for some fun.  See how Lara DeHaven did it in A Homemade Geyser posted at Texas Homesteader.  My boys are itching to do this!

And if you need some ideas to let your enjoyment and study of nature branch out into other science topics, check out Katie Glennon and her article: Using Nature Study to Study all Areas of Science posted at Katie’s Homeschool Cottage.

Grateful

Leah at The Courtney Six shares Just In Case I Haven’t Mentioned It Lately…:  “My thoughts on why I’m so glad we homeschool.”

Amy at Raising Arrows presents “The Shame On Me Sea“.  The homeschooling parent’s life is often fraught with guilt. Amy writes about her own personal struggle to stay out of the Shame On Me Sea.

I’m grateful, too!

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Homeschool Carnival.  Thank you for all your contributions!

Please take a moment to comment and/or spread the word by posting to your blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Next week the carnival will be held at Home Grown Mommy.com and submissions are due Monday, Aug. 31st at 6 pm.  Visit here to submit your post.

Or if you’d like to peruse previous editions, they are listed at Why Homeschool.

Thank you again to all those who took the time to submit posts and share!

– Misty

The Story:

We’re on a declutter kick lately at our house.  It’s more of a panic response to the possibility of moving in the near future.  Suddenly the precariously balanced stacks of toys, books, boxes and more that cover all the flat surfaces in our home make me cringe much more than usual.  I can’t imagine moving it all.  We have to purge!

The only problem is that I’m on the ’once-every-seven year’  cleaning schedule, instead of the usual ‘spring cleaning.’  Who knew that meant I was supposed to declutter every spring?!

If you want a laugh, you’ll love my husband, the engineer’s, solution:  Build pyramid-shaped contraptions to place of every flat surface in the house so nothing can be placed on them!  Yes, the anti-thesis to counter space.

Thank goodness I have a few amazing friends that helped me get started while a herd of all our kids ran rampant together.  After four days, we had filled five huge trash cans, and my kitchen and school room were whipped into shape.

Then came the kids, their toys, and clothes. . . and the tears, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.  Who knew the old, tiny, bike my daughter learned to ride on was precious enough to deserve it’s own shrine and label, “Never to be given away, sold, or otherwise disposed of!”

So, we finally come to The Tuesday Tip:

• Plan a garage sale.
• Tell the kids that they get to run it.
• And the carrot:  Tell the kids they get to split the money among everyone who is willing to do the work and help out.
• THEN- start the decluttering process.  Hopefully they’ll see dollar signs instead of precious treasures being sold.

The Results:

• The Prize:  The boys have drooled over a Nintendo DS for ages and I’ve refused to buy them one.  So, they decided to combine their resources and buy one together.  They had about half the money and hoped to earn the rest at the garage sale.  Boy, did the toys and clothes start flying into the garage sale boxes! 
• Math, math, and more math!  After every sale, my oldest jotted down the amount, added it to the running total, divided it by the three kids working the sale, and then added his and his brother’s two parts to the previous total and their original money.   They even went hopping around the sale, making a running total of possible income if everything sold.  Whew!  That’s more math than they’ve done in a month.
• Delayed gratification!  At the end of the day they were bursting with excitement because they had enough to buy the DS.  But I found a code to get almost $20 off a DS on Dell.com.  The $20 off was exciting for them, BUT they would have to wait 4 days to get it shipped instead of going straight to ToysRUs that evening.  I was so proud.  They reluctantly decided to wait and save the money, even though they had the extra $20 to spend.  If they can do that now, there’s hope they will do well with credit cards as young adults.

So, what do your houses look like this summer?  How do you control the clutter?  How do you mix housecleaning with homeschooling?  Have you had any luck getting your kids to do the “out with the old”? 

Or do you have any other ideas that have worked well for you lately and would help us all out?  Please share by commenting!

“I don’t like that!” 

“Is this what we’re having?”

“Why did you make this?”

Some of my least favorite reactions to dinner.  But, like most parents, I’m interested in having both healthy food, AND food the kids will enjoy eating, which isn’t easy. 

Here are a couple tips that helped me:

• Try my favorite recipe website:  www.Allrecipes.com   It’s like having everyone on your block (or in your city) try out a recipe, rate it, and write informative reviews before you invest your time and ingredients.
• Score recipes at dinner.  Give everyone a vote:  0 – didn’t like it, 1 – ok, or 2 – loved it.  Write the total right on your recipe and you’ll begin to collect high scoring recipes that appeal to almost everyone at the table.
• Let the kids cook a dish – they’ll have a harder time criticizing something they make themselves, and they’ll be a lot more appreciative of the amount of time and effort a nice dinner entails.  Not to mention the life and school skills that cooking teaches.

How about your house?  Do you have any quick tips to share with the rest of us?

Photo by Erin

If you’re looking for a different take on ‘conflict resolution’, look no further than your sock drawer (or toy box).

“Will you PLEASE stop arguing?”

“How do you think your sister feels?”

“Why can’t you be nice to each other?”

. . . and on and on.  It seems like conflicts between kids crop up all day and my tendency is to lecture ‘ad nauseam’ while my kids roll their eyes and pick up their fight as soon as I’m out of earshot.

Next time you have a few minutes (preferable when everyone is NOT hot and heavy from arguing), grab a few puppets or stuffed animals and:

• Using fake names, have them act out a typical conflict – exaggerate and add sillines to make it fun.
• Repeat the scenario with the puppets making better choices and resolving the conflict.
• Start a dialogue with the kids about what worked, didn’t work, pros and cons to the two scenarios, etc.
• Pass out the puppets and let the kids join in.

Puppets help kids respond well because they are switching from participating in the conflict to observing and analyzing the conflict . . . and it’s much more fun than the traditional lecture followed by stuck-out tongues behind your back

Do you have a quick tips for the rest of us?  Something helpful you’ve discovered that you’d like to share.  Please do.

They are working on building these small handheld-sized miniature computer ‘blocks’. It only seems slightly interesting, until you see some of the incredible ideas they come up with to have them interact. I thought ‘pouring’ paint from one to the other was great, and the music making was incredible. I want a set for my homeschool!