Picky Eaters and the Vitamix

I don't know about your house but I have a picky eater for a husband.  The word picky doesn't even begin to describe him.  Even if it's a food he has been eating for years and he walks out into the kitchen and sees me making it and thinks I put something in it he "won't" like - all of a sudden he no longer likes that food.  So the rule of thumb is if he is home while I am mixing the ingredients he can not come into the kitchen!  I tried letting him fend for himself or stave once - but that was more bother than it was worth!

To compound this issue our eight year old took after her father in this area!  Talk about a tag team in the kitchen!  Enough to drive a person crazy.  Our oldest daughter on the other hand loves eat all kinds of fruits and veggies and try new things.  Nothing too too wild mind you but more adventurous than the other two.  You know the surprising thing is every so often he gets in a mood to try something and always ends up liking it.  These are far and few between but they do happen.  Hummus was the result of one of those times when he wondered off the path to the dark side of tasting new foods and he LOVES it!  Bar B Q chips were another item.  I thought they were safe in the pantry one time when I went away and after 10 years of being together he tried them and can't get enough of them.  He even texted me a photo of the empty bad that day!  Good he did or if I had found it when I got home the poor dog would have been in trouble for eating them lol.

My two new kitchen helpers are the Vitamix and the Kitchen Aid Mixer.  Today I made a Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake w/ Chocolate Chips!  Sounds yummy right?  Well, last year he saw me make it and saw a tiny itsy bitsy piece of green fleck in the cake and you would have thought the man was poisoned.  Well I have found my Vitamix is a way to add in ingredients and no one knows the difference!  Check out the Food/Recipe page for how to make this yummy cake!  Let me know if your picky eater likes it too!

Minecraft

How could we get away from talking about this phenom?  My daughter lives to play this game.  I had tried and tried but just "don't get it" like she does.  She will spend hours - probably days - if she was given free range!  She might even forget to eat!  But when she was a struggling reader and I had tried everything to get her skills to improve guess what came to the rescue?  YES, that's right Minecraft!

She had to figure it out.  I gave her guidance and was there to help her find her footing but she figured out how to read everything she could need.  Now she even writes books for her "library" in her town.  It is really a surprising and amazing tool that we have incorporated into our learning.  Plus during this past few months it has taken her math skills to a new level.  She is graphing, figuring out money, adding and a ton of other applications. 

She has garnered team building and taking charge of a group just from this (ahem) silly game.  Just go to Bing or Google and do a search for Minecraft images and see some of the creations that are being made!  It truly is amazing to see what is in their imaginations take form.
She even now has her father playing on Xbox One with her and a group of friends from across the pond in England.  And that is another plus - using the Xbox she is making friends across the world.  Learning about other places and cultures and sharing about our world here in the USA! 
 I was a reluctant parent at first but I have seen first hand what this game can do to help a struggling child improve. 
Here is a link to an article about just such a topic!
Minecraft - What is it Doing to your kids?

This year as we try to be a bit more content focused we are going to start learning the 50 states. 

Each week we will delve into a new state -- of course -- starting with the state we live in -- Virginia.  I plan to take this road trip slow and easy - keeping to the speed limit with lots of rest and recreation breaks along the way.  I have a lot of cool things to do for each state.  Some weeks we will do something each day other weeks we will have a state focused day.  But how you use it is up to your school plan.
As an added bonus to our family we will soon be enjoying journeys with Dad - if a state is near or on our planned route - a visit is always in store!

As we visit I will post pics and things you can use in your state studies.  For the detailed information and links to sites and printables check under the STATES tab up top.

That Time of Year

Well it's that time of year when we are outside and my little (well not sooo little anymore) girl is playing with all her neighborhood friends.  And then they all appear in my driveway - begging and pleading in that cacophomy of voices that only little girls can make! 

Wondering if it's time yet!!!!!  Time for what you ask?  Scavenger Hunts!  Last year the girls grew bored of jump rope, sidewalk chalk and water balloons!  I know who ever thought water balloons would grow old - but me being the homeschool mom that I am decided the real problem was mushy brain!  So I devised Scavenger Hunts for the girls a couple times a week.  Once they got the hang of it they couldn't get enough!  Well, needless to say I was glad when all those long lazy evenings drew to a close because I was running out of ideas.  

Now over the winter months I took time to devise new and hopefully creative ones to keep these girls not only active and busy but protect them from MUSHY BRAIN!!!

If you would like some printable lists and ideas - go to the tab above marked Scavenger Hunts.  Let me know if you have any to add to the list or if you used some of these and how it went for you!  Thanks for reading along! 

Here are some fun ideas for scavenger hunts -  printable lists on their way!

• Alphabet Hunt - if you have a camera or a cell phone camera use it to take photos of 26 items!  One for each letter of the alphabet!  Don't forget to set a timer.  If you do not have a camera available - then take along a paper bag and start collecting.  You can write on the bag each letter as you acquire an item so you know what you have 
• Shape hunt - you can do the same as the alphabet hunt but hunt for shapes - squares, rectangles, triangles, diamonds, pentagon, octagon, circle, oval, cube, tube . . . . .