The CommonSenseMom

Circus Magic Act

2008-08-15T22:15:00.001-05:00

My kids have made a (silent) home video. I'm in the process of figuring out YouTube so they can share it with their friends on their blog. So, to help me understand how it all works, I'm sharing it with you as well.

A Plug for the Materials From the Institute for Excellence in Writing by Pudewa

2008-08-14T09:53:00.003-05:00

I hope to write a full review later on, but here is a quick plug for the writing program available from the Institute for Excellence in Writing. Andrew Pudewa is the author and teacher of most of the materials. If you are on the fence about using the program, you have my full recommendation. My reluctant writer actually likes it. I have been extremely pleased, and it has been worth every penny.

For Homeschoolers, a Copier is Definitely Worth the Investment

2008-08-14T07:04:00.003-05:00

Our HP Printer/Scanner/Copier definitely gets a workout. We've had it for several years, so it is older than the one pictured at right. It has held up well, and I've been pleased with its performance. You can get these machines for a very reasonable price, but the ink is where it gets expensive. You can help save yourself some ink by always copying/printing in draft mode and grayscale. Even considering the ink expense, I still think a copier is a great investment for a homeschool.

I use it to copy worksheets, schedules, blackline masters, etc. (I'm a stickler for copyright and intellectual property--so I only copy what I have rights to copy). It's also handy to have around for any other copying you need to do (insurance forms, taxes, receipts). We use ours as a secondary printer for the computer. I'm rather scanner-challenged, so I don't scan very much. But, it's nice to have that functionality on the occasions that I need it.

Farkle is a Fun (and Very Cheap) Dice Game

2008-08-13T14:18:00.003-05:00

All you need to play Farkle are 6 dice and a piece of paper and pencil to keep score. You just can't get much cheaper than that. You can see the rules and everything else you want to know about the game on Wikipedia.

If you play with kids, you can use it to help with mental addition and probability. Or, you can just play it for fun!

Recipe for Taco Seasoning Mix Like Ortega

2008-08-06T09:10:00.004-05:00

2 t. onion powder
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. chili powder
1 t. cornstarch
1/2 t. ground cumin
1/8 t. ground red pepper
1/4 t. oregano
1 t. salt

Combine and use just like Ortega's taco seasoning packets.

Wuthering Heights: Yuck!

2008-08-04T19:22:00.003-05:00

Since I so thoroughly enjoyed Jane Eyre, both in video and book form, I thought I'd try out the work of the other Bronte sister. Wuthering Heights was a huge disappointment. Just plain creepy. Skip it and re-watch Jane Eyre instead.

The CommonSenseMom's Best Banana Muffin Recipe

2008-08-01T06:30:00.005-05:00

The CommonSenseMom's Best Banana Muffin Recipe

2 overripe bananas (the browner, the better)
2 eggs
1/3 c. buttermilk, or substitute
1/4 c. canola oil
1/4 c. olive oil
1 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
1 c. white whole wheat flour
3/4 c. all purpose flour

With mixer, beat bananas until completely mashed. Add eggs, beat. Add buttermilk and oils, mix. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat well. Add dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Fill muffin pans (I use paper liners) about 3/4 full and bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes or until done. Makes about a dozen muffins.

I frequently double this recipe and freeze the leftover muffins to eat at breakfast time when we are in a hurry.

You can also use this recipe for banana bread, but I find that the outside of the loaf gets overdone while waiting for the inside to cook.

Great Resource for Finding Lists of Titles in Kids Book Series

2008-07-31T16:26:00.001-05:00

Juvenile Series and Sequels Database

Would you like to be able to get a list of all the books in the Amelia Bedelia series? Maybe you'd even like to see the list in order. This is a great database that allows you to find series and sequels by searching on Series Title, Series Subject, Book Title, or Book Author. Check the database to find out if a favorite book has a sequel. Mary Poppins, Pippi Longstocking, and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle all have additional books in the series.

If You Love Books, You'll Love PaperBackSwap

2008-07-31T16:19:00.003-05:00

I've been a member for a couple of years, and I've been so pleased! As with most things I like, it is free to join and use.

Trade free books in the mail for just the price of postage. The site has over two million books already available for swapping. If you sign up and list at least 10 books of your own books for swapping, you can start ordering right away.

Click this button to go there now and join!

Walk to Canada: The International Bridge Walk in Sault Ste. Marie

2008-07-25T13:42:00.004-05:00

It was a Saturday morning, and I awoke in our pop-up camper. It was early but the sun had already risen. Thunder rumbled in the not-so-distance. Uh oh.

The day of the annual (free!) International Bridge Walk in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan/Ontario was at hand. The thunder rumbled closer, but I got up and headed for the shower. When I returned, the storm was nearly upon us. I helped the kids get dressed in our matching USA flag t-shirts. I brushed hair and did ponytails. The storm got very close and very loud. Finally, in a slight break, I sent the kids running next door to Grandpa & Grandma's motorhome for breakfast. I followed in a few minutes and checked the weather on their laptop. Maybe, just maybe...

The 3-mile International Bridge Walk was to be one of the highlights of our vacation. It was part of the reason we had come to Sault Ste. Marie on this particular weekend. Hopeful that the rain would end, we headed to a parking lot at Lake Superior State University for the kickoff. We were standing in wetness, but the rain finally stopped. Local dignitaries made brief remarks and we were off. Grandpa, age 72 and a veteran of several bridge walks, was the oldest of our crew, and 5-year-old Gretl was the youngest. The gentle slope of the bridge surprised me, and we enjoyed walking at an easy pace.

It was kind of a gray, dreary morning, but we didn't get rained on. We had a lot of fun looking over the locks from above and taking photos that wouldn't be possible on a normal drive over the bridge. The U.S./Canadian border is marked near the center of the bridge with a flag from each country. Once we stepped over that line, our kids considered themselves international travelers.

The International Bridge is a two-lane bridge with just one lane going in each direction over the river and rapids. For the walk, one lane is reserved for walkers while the other lane is used for traffic. (The traffic lane alternates direction.) Upon reaching Canada, there were school buses waiting to give us a ride back across the bridge, through U.S. Customs, and to the starting point for a nominal fee of $1 per person or $5 per family.

Buying and Selling Used Homeschool Curriculum

2008-07-22T13:32:00.002-05:00

My favorite place to buy and sell used curriculum is vegsource. Vegsource is a vegetarian website. I'm far from being a vegetarian, and I don't even remember how I learned about vegsource.

Aside from their vegetarian content, they have very active homeschool swap boards. I've had great success both buying and selling on vegsource. There are some rules that you'll want to be sure to follow, and the best part is that it is FREE! There is no charge or commission for either buying or selling. Actually, it is even better than free--you don't even have to register.

The format is very simple. There are For Sale and Want To Buy forums for different age levels. Each new post is added at the top of the list. After your post has aged off the bottom of the list, it apparently disappears into cyber-space. You can repost your message each day if you want to. Vegsource pages are typically rather slow loading, and (as far as I know) there is not a good search feature. So, when selling, you'll want your Subject to be very descriptive--basically a brief list of your items for sale.

Ebay is still a good choice for buying and selling used homeschool curriculum, and I use it often as well. But, especially for selling, vegsource is the more economical solution and my first choice.

Announcement/Menu Board in the Kitchen

2008-07-21T15:37:00.004-05:00

I've mentioned the advantages of having a huge whiteboard in our homeschool room. Before we had the large board, I used a small one on a tripod easel. After the new, large marker board was installed, I hung the smaller one up in the kitchen and sold the tripod easel on ebay.

Each day, the kitchen marker board lists the supper menu as well as which kid is the day's kitchen helper. I also list our known plans for the day and give a word or two to describe the expected weather. Before he goes to work, my husband leaves a Bible reading assignment (one chapter each day) for the kids on the board. More recently he has begun leaving them a map assignment--just a place or two to find on the kitchen table map).

Our kids seem to enjoy the kitchen marker board. If I fail to update it, they either remind me or take matters into their own hands.

Get a BIG Whiteboard for Your Homeschool Room

2008-07-19T21:41:00.003-05:00

About a year and half ago, my husband decided I needed a very large whiteboard in our school room. I already had a small whiteboard on a tripod easel, and we used it occasionally. It was fine for our needs. I didn't think we needed anything more.

Well, he was insistent. Around back-to-school time, we went to Office Depot to look at white boards. They had special discounts for teachers (including homeschool teachers!). So, we got a great deal on a 8-foot by 6-foot white board.

Over the course of the past school year, I have been continually amazed at how much we have used the whiteboard. It is so simple to just walk over and illustrate something or work something out with the kids. I never would have guessed how much I would appreciate it. I especially like its very-large size. Also, the stability of being attached to the wall is helpful as well.

I've seen suggestions for making your own whiteboard out of shower wall board you can buy at home improvement stores. If, budget-wise, that is your only option, go for it! However, if you have the means to buy an actual whiteboard I would recommend it. One of the Sunday School rooms in our church has both. I tried several cleaners on them, and the whiteboard cleaned up just fine. The shower board, one the other hand, didn't clean up very well.

Learning Geography at the Kitchen Table

2008-07-18T13:06:00.002-05:00

This is not my original idea...I've read it several different places.

I have a map on the top of my kitchen table. Over the map is a clear, plastic tablecloth. Right now, the map is a map of our city. In the past, I've had a world map, U.S. map, Illinois map, and most recently a map of Europe.

While your kids munch their Cheerios in the morning, they can peruse the map on the table. It doesn't have to be a map -- you could put anything under there that is mildly interesting and educational.

At my husband's seat, I also put our scripture memory passage under the tablecloth. That works great for him to lead us in our 2 or 3 minutes of memorizing work at lunchtime.

When I first did this, I got some clear tablecloths at the dollar store, but they were thin and difficult to deal with. Eventually, I figured out you could buy much better clear plastic off a roll. I buy it at WalMart in the fabric section. I've also seen it at fabric stores.

Recipe for Camping Potluck Potatoes

2008-07-13T16:31:00.002-05:00

These potatoes were a big hit at our camping group potluck on Saturday night. They were great because they were easy to prepare and made a big batch.

Camping Potluck Potatoes

5 pounds potatoes, scrubbed
1/2 c. diced onions
1 stick butter
salt & pepper

At home a day before leaving, wrap the potatoes in foil and bake in the oven for 1 hour or until tender. Place them in the fridge to get cold overnight. Dice the onions and place in a jar. During the camping trip, store them in a cooler.

At the campground about 45 mins. or 1 hour before serving, melt the butter in a large pan or electric skillet. I use a 6-qt. teflon pan. Add onions and cook a little until tender. Unwrap the potatoes and dice. Add potatoes to the onions and butter and cook until time to eat, stirring occasionally. They are best if they brown a little, but it's OK if they are just warm. Mix in salt & pepper to taste before serving.

Grandpa's variation of this: Bake foil-wrapped potatoes in campfire coals in the evening. Chop and cook for breakfast the next morning.

The Best Jane Eyre

2008-07-08T15:08:00.002-05:00

Jane Eyre
(Masterpiece Theatre 2006)
Starring Ruth Wilson & Toby Stephens

Wow. Let me just say wow. Hands down, the best movie I've ever seen. I thought Pride & Prejudice was good, but this rendition of Jane Eyre is just spectacular.

There are numerous film versions of Jane Eyre, and I haven't seen them all, but I've been steadily working through them. It's really tough when you see the best one first, and this one is, by far, the best of them all. I'm not going to review each version as I did with Pride & Prejudice. If you can only watch one, let this be the one.

The book is now on my library list, so I'll be reading it shortly!

Book Review: Tutankhamun, the Untold Story

2008-07-06T14:22:00.003-05:00

Tutankhamun, the Untold Story
By Thomas Hoving

I was headed off to give blood a couple of weeks ago, and it occurred to me at the last moment that needed to take some reading material with me. I'm not a big fan of mass market magazines, so a book is a must-have companion in a waiting room. Since I was in a hurry, I just reached into our library book box and grabbed out Tutankhamun, the Untold Story by Thomas Hoving. It looks like some heavy reading, but I figured it would occupy me for a little while at least.

As expected, I ended up having to wait for my turn, and I cracked open the book. After 3 or 4 pages, I was hooked. It turned out to be fascinating reading. Now, you must bear in mind, that my favorite genre to read for pleasure is biography. This book is really a biography of Howard Carter who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922.

The author obviously had unique qualifications to write this book. He was formerly head of the Metropolitan Museum of New York. He helped organize the American tour of "The Treasures of Tutankhamun". In his own words he "read virtually every piece of the literature, popular and scholarly" regarding the discovery of King Tut's tomb. He also had unique access to the original documents from Howard Carter's excavation.

The author traces Carter's early years and his beginnings in archaeology. Eventually, we find Carter in Egypt, where he works at various times in archaeology, tourism, and antiquities dealing. It is during this period that Howard Carter becomes convinced that one final tomb remained unaccounted for in the Valley of the Kings. Carter finally finds a benefactor in Lord Carnarvon, and they set out to find the tomb of the little-known Pharoah, Tutankhamun. Years pass with no success, and Carnarvon is nearly ready to pull the plug. During the last year of digging, a step cut into the limestone is uncovered. The step leads to Tut's tomb.

It all sounds so simple, but there is a web of politics involved every step of the way. World War I has passed. British colonial power is waning, but Britain's influence and authority is still very much evident in Egypt (along with France's). Nationalist political currents are rising in Egypt, and Carter's excavation of Tut's tomb becomes an issue in Egyptian elections. The Americans are involved too, due to the participation of the Metropolitan Museum of New York in the dig.

Hoving reveals the intrigue that always surrounded King Tut's tomb. Howard Carter became an international celebrity, but made monumental blunders in dealing with people, especially governmental authorities. The tides of politics changed and swirled around the tomb. It all weaves together in a most interesting story.

My 11-year-old daughter read this book also. She is a very strong reader, and has long had an interest in ancient Egypt. When I asked her opinion of the book, she said it was "mostly good with some boring parts." I must agree that there are some lengthy quotations from government documents that are rather dry, but those are easy enough to skim.

I was pleasantly surprised to find this a most entertaining and enjoyable book.

Vacation Recommendation - Sault Ste. Marie, MI

2008-07-01T20:57:00.006-05:00

I'm back from a one-week vacation to Sault Ste. Marie, MI. I highly recommend this as a fun family vacation destination. Our kids thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Upper Peninsula. If you are not familiar with Sault Ste. Marie, it lies across the St. Mary's river from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. The St. Mary's river runs between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers runs locks on the river, and HUGE ships pass through the locks many times each day. It is great fun to watch the big lakers go through the locks. Our campground was right on the St. Mary's River, so we had the additional amusement of seeing the ships up close as they were headed to or from the locks.

View Larger Map

Best Place to Buy Yeast

2008-06-20T21:48:00.005-05:00

Around here, Sam's Club is the best place to buy yeast. You get two 1-pound packages for under $4. That is a much better price than those envelopes or little brown jars at the grocery store. Depending how much yeast you use, the savings might even pay for a Sam's Club membership. Or keep your eyes open for a visitor's coupon that let's you shop at Sam's for 1 day and pay a 10% markup.

Yeast keeps for a long time in the freezer. In fact, I always keep my yeast in a jar in the freezer. You can just add it to your recipe straight from the freezer.

Butterfly Strawberry

2008-06-18T06:47:00.002-05:00

Check out this butterfly shaped strawberry that came from our strawberry patch a couple of days ago. Marta says, "It's too pretty to eat unless it gets rotten."

Garage Sale Tips from a Shopper

2008-06-13T13:34:00.006-05:00

I love to bargain hunt at garage sales. I'm very choosy, but when I find a good sale, I'll spend a good chunk of money. I'll spend more at 2 or 3 quality sales in one morning than I would wandering through a neighborhood of 30 sales. So, as a buyer, I offer my observations and tips on how to have a great garage sale where I will want to spend a lot of money.

1. Have a great ad in the paper. Specify what items and/or categories of items you are selling. Instead of saying "furniture", say "sofa, kitchen chairs, kids desk, bookshelf". Instead of saying "clothes", say "clothes: girls (0-4T), boys (2-8), maternity (S/M), women's (8/10), Men's (Talls)". If you have good quality merchandise, mention it by adding "Name Brand" or "High-Quality". There are a lot of sales I skip because of a plain-jane ad. I go where I have the best likelihood of finding what I want.

2. Have good signs. Make them bright, bold, and useful. Put one at every turn between the main road and your house. Make them all match with the same bright color and dark, heavy lettering. Don't bother with details about dates & times on your sign. Good, plain signage will drive a lot of traffic to your sale. You can save them to re-use at next year's sale.

3. Organize your sale. I refuse to dig through Rubbermaid bins and cardboard boxes filled with clothes (and who knows what). I will spend a lot more time and money at your sale if it is well-organized. If possible, hang clothing, or make neat, shallow stacks on tables. Sort by size. I know customers mess it up, but you can walk around in spare moments to straighten. Shallow stacks are fine, but deep stacks obscure your merchandise.

4. Put a price tag on everything. A lot of people won't bother to ask, and they'll walk away. Use stickers instead of pins so that you don't make holes in the garments.

5. Price to sell. If you are asking $3 for a pair of kids sweatpants just because they came from Gymboree, I'm probably not going to buy much at your sale. On the other hand, if I find a bargain for 50-cents, I'm going to stay and keep looking (and keep buying). There is a time for pricing higher for something special. Twice I have paid $10 for an American Girl dress. But, they were in new condition, and they were really nice.

Happy selling!

Our Rock Garden

2008-06-10T13:31:00.006-05:00

We made a small rock garden in the space between our driveway, front porch, and sidewalk. It is one of my favorite features of the yard. Initially we mixed sand with the soil and added interesting rocks (some have visible fossils). I can't remember where each rock came from, but I do know that we brought several home from a trip to Branson, MO. One of the geodes came out of my in-laws' gravel driveway. I'd love to find some more geodes to put in here someday. Cocoa hull mulch covers the ground.

Cocoa hull mulch and geode:

Barberry bushes and lavender:

Angelina stonecrop & woodland stonecrop (we have other varieties):

Two varieties of hens and chicks (we have other varieties):