Unschooling - Gardening

We've been enjoying a fun week as a family.  Monday we relaxed at home, Jon played with the kids while I tutored in the morning.  Yesterday the kids had gymnastics in the morning, I went to the doctor, and then we all went out to dinner at Red Lobster.  At things that I probably shouldn't have, but I figure every once in a while isn't going to kill me.  I get no side effects from eating wheat either.  This morning we went to the library and then the park.  This afternoon we broke ground on our garden.  Looking at the weather forecast, I think on Sunday we will spend some time splitting off the doubles/triples from the indoor seeds and try planting those.  Won't be too upset if they don't make it.  Likely start everything else the end of April.  Feels great to start the garden though!

Tried a new recipe for dinner tonight, from the Wheat Belly book.  It turned out okay, but the kids weren't big fans.

Three Cheese Eggplant Bake

1 eggplant, cut crosswise into ½” thick slices

1/2C olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

3-4T sun-dried tomatoes

4-6C spinach leaves

2 tomatoes, wedges

2C tomato sauce

1C Ricotta cheese

1C shred mozzarella cheese

1/2C grated parmesan

4-5 basil leaves, chopped

Preheat oven 325.  Place the eggplant slices in a baking pan.  Brush both sides of the slices with most of the oil, reserving about 2T.  Bake for 20min.  Heat remaining 2T of oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and spinach and cook until onion softens.  Scatter tomato wedges over eggplant.  Spread spinach mixture on top.  Top spinach with tomato sauce.  Mix together ricotta and mozzarella.  Spread cheese mixture over tomato sauce and sprinkle basil.  Sprinkle parmesan on top.  Bake uncovered until bubbling and cheese is melted, about 30 min.

Probably won't make it again, but got me thinking about using eggplant to make a dish similar to lasagna.  Might have to give it a shot sometime.  Thinking it might work if I cut the peel away and use the insides as a noodle layer.  Perhaps I will try it with some of the eggplants we grow.

Picked up some more homeschooling books today and got a chance to start one on Unschooling.  So far I feel like it's the way we already live.  I try to take advantage of any time my kids ask questions.  Carolyn has been loving counting the newly opened flowers every morning.  We found lots of worms in the graden area today as we were digging, so we looked up why worms are good for the soil.  The village is about to do some work on a sewer drain near the big pond at our neighborhood entrance, so we talked about drains and sewers while on our walk this afternoon.  So many easy ways to teach our kids, without even really thinking about it.  Some days (like today) I wish that I could get Jon on board with homeschooling.  I really do think that both of our kids could thrive at home.  But he's already firmly stated he's against it.  So I have the next year to work with Carolyn, and then hopefully we can continue to keep her interested in learning through unschooling at home even after she starts school.  The next few years are going to be interesting.

Crepes, Compost, and Homeschooling

In our effort to eat more healthy, we are going to be planting a bunch of vegetables this summer.  Once it's planting season, we might see about getting a strawberry plant as well.  To help with this, we decided to make out compost bin and rain barrell.  These often run $80-100 each, which is really out of our budget.  But with some searching online, I discovered you can make both with a garbage can.  So Jon picked up 2 garbage cans for <$7 each.  He picked up some bungee chords today and we made the composter.

Garbage can with lid
Drill - 1/4-1/2" bit (we used 1/4")
2 bricks (still need to grab these)

Drill holes up, down, and around the garbage can.  Be sure to put some in the top to allow rain water in and the bottom for drainage.  Put compost into garbage can (we gathered sticks and leaves from our gardens for the "brown" material, will use food scraps for the "green"), add a little dirt.  Add water to wet mixture enough so it is damp, but not overly wet.  Secure lid with bungee chords, then roll around on ground to mix everything up.  Secure to something sturdy so it doesn't blow away.  We will add food scraps as we go and roll daily for a little while, less often once it really gets going.  I'm exciting to use this on our garden rather than store bought compost!

I also made a new recipe for breakfast this morning, crepes.  It's a recipe I found online, but really not a recipe at all.  Regular crepes are made with flour, but these are just eggs.  1 egg, 1T water, a little salt.  I used 4 eggs, 4T water, some cream, and some cinnamon.  They were good, but definitely very eggy.  I might try adding in some almond flour or flax meal next time.  I made homemade whip cream and we filled them with strawberries, dusted with cocoa powder.  Will definitely skip the cocoa powder next time.  It was a nice change from usual though.  The only breakfast thing I still need to figure out how to make is french toast.  Need to find a good bread recipe first though.

Off the food topic a little bit, I've been thinking more about homeschooling lately.  Carolyn has such an awesome attitude when it comes to learning and she's ready to go.  I am going to start putting units together so we can work on things that go together rather than just bits and pieces here and there.  We will start looking at plants tomorrow.  A part of me wonders though, if we do a lot over this next 1.5 years, that's she's going to bored in Kindergarten.  Let's be honest, she already knows all her letters and their sounds, and is starting to sound out words and has some sightwords.  She can legibly write all of her letters as well, including her name.  She is doing basic math as well, starting by using her fingers to add.  She can count up to 20 unprompted.  Her language is spectacular for a 3 year old.  On top of all of that, she's inquisitive and wants to know about everything.  And then she's strong - can almost do a full push-up already!  I don't feel like we've really "taught" her any of this either.  We're going to take advantage of her desire to learn before she starts school.  But with the emphasis on testing in our schools these days, I really ponder keeping her home.  If it wasn't for the social aspect, I think I would do just that.  Well, and I don't think Jon would be real excited about the idea either.  We'll see how life develops in the next year though!