Do You Like Radishes?

Well, do you like radishes? Some people don't. They're spicy...too hot...tough...just don't care for them. Nice garnish, but nothing to really consider eating. I never was much of a store-bought radish person either. But home-grown radishes are really tasty. We have been growing Cherry Belle for the last few years, and then added Scarlet White Tip this year. These are good!

Radishes are pretty easy to grow if even you have a small garden space. Only thing to remember is that they need to grow quickly enough to avoid being invaded by root maggots or becoming hot and tough. They also need plenty of cool, moist soil. They are a  perfect vegetable for growing in the spring or late fall. The fact that they mature in 30-something days makes for a rewarding effort in the garden when there isn't much of anything else growing. OrganicGardening gives some great tips on growing radishes too.

But what to do with these guys other than putting into a salad? Here's what I do. It's not much of a recipe; pretty much more of a procedure:

Toast a somewhat thick slice of peasant/rustic bread.
Butter it. (THIS is the key ingredient. Don't skip this step.)
Layer thinly sliced radishes over the entire slice.
Sprinkle with kosher salt. (Table salt would work but would not taste quite the same.)

Enjoy, and then find yourself making another helping.

It's the first part of June here, and the radishes are still growing strong. So I've kept up my succession planting. We've had an extremely damp, cool spring which has probably helped. I know that once our temperatures start climbing, the radishes will just be a memory until fall.

Homeschooling With Work Boxes - Writing/Grammar - 8yo

Part six in my series on homeschooling with workboxes in our family.

I'll have to admit that this work box has been empty quite a lot this year. We just have not done a lot of formal writing. But as an 8yo, this child is not ready for anything too programmed.

What we do find ourselves doing is narrating back what has been read in other subject areas or our nightly read aloud. Impromptu books are put together by the 8yo on her own. We will pull out our Storybook Weaver Deluxe CD for the computer. And I also count the work that we do in history and science putting together notebook pages as composition. Sonlight does have a weekly composition assignment at the first grade level where she is reading, but it hasn't been a great fit with us this year. Thank you notes and a nightly journal in which she dictates a short note to different family members for them to respond back to her rounds out this box.

As far as grammar goes, the alternate day from the copywork assignment in Sonlight is a worksheet page to go along with the copywork pointing out grammar basics...capital letters, punctuation, rhyming words, etc. This is plenty enough for this year. I did break down and print out a scope and sequence for first and second grades just to see how we were doing. Once in awhile I will pick a topic from that list that hasn't been covered such as alphabetizing or pointing out the parts of a children's dictionary and use that as the lesson for the day. We have always overkilled grammar at the older ages, so she has plenty of time down the road.

I want to develop a person who enjoys writing, and so at this age, it needs to come naturally and mainly in the oral form. What philosophy do you follow? Do you adapt for each child as they pass through the same grade level? I admit that I still would love to pick up some new creative ideas.

Also in this series:

Homeschooling with Workboxes - Copywork/Dictation - 8yo
Homeschooling with Workboxes - Math - 8yo
Homeschooling with Workboxes - Phonics - 8yo
Homeschooling with Workboxes - Reading - 8yo
Homeschooling with Workboxes - Bible - 8yo
Homeschooling with the Workbox System

Homeschooling With Work Boxes - Copywork/Dictation - 8yo

Part five in my series on homeschooling with workboxes.

Everyone approaches language arts differently. We tend to follow Charlotte Mason's approach and use copywork and dictation as the basis for early composition which provides for so much flexibility in this area.

With this in mind, as long as my child is working through readers at their level in Sonlight, then I use the corresponding copywork/dictation assignments outlined from them. Makes zero planning on my part. My 8yo is still in the copywork stage though she may be ready for dictation some time soon. So here's how I organize this box:

On Mondays I put in her copybook with the selection for her to copy from her Sonlight reader.

On Tuesdays I have a sheet of lined paper with her Sunday school curriculum memory verse on it to copy as there is only Sonlight copywork two days per week.

On Wednesdays we are back to the copybook and her next Sonlight passage to copy.

On Thursdays and Fridays as there is no Sonlight copywork, I put in a page from her Reason for Handwriting lesson book. By next year sometime, we will need to focus perhaps a little more as we will be approaching learning cursive, but for now this is just enough concentrated practice.

Some families might find this too much work while others not enough. Most passages are only a short sentence or two. If we are focused on a history or science topic, I might forgo our regularly scheduled copywork in favor of something in conjunction with our current project. Another nice change is to use a passage from Draw Write Now which she can add her art work to later. Sometimes I will substitute something from her science reading or most anything that has come up in real life. Lots of possibilities for copywork and handwriting practice.

Do you use a handwriting program? Do you find copywork enough handwriting practice as it is?

Also in this series:

Homeschooling with Workboxes - Writing/Grammar - 8yo
Homeschooling with Workboxes - Math - 8yo
Homeschooling with Workboxes - Phonics - 8yo
Homeschooling with Workboxes - Reading - 8yo
Homeschooling with Workboxes - Bible - 8yo
Homeschooling with the Workbox System

Demerara Sugar and French Press Iced Coffee

It seems most everyone has a food vice of one sort or another. Mine...at least since I've entered that 40-something age bracket...happens to be of the caffeinated kind. Unfortunately, I don't guzzle straight black coffee though. It has to be dolled and dressed up with sweetener and milk.

So what's so bad about caffeine? Now that it has redeemed itself with its discovered antioxidants, I'm not worried in the least about it. And milk? Full of calcium. Besides I tend to use our lovely rich goat milk when I have it on hand. So what's the vice? Well, it's the sweetener I find myself stirring in twice a day. High fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, and the like. Those additive things that aren't really good for us. But what's one to do?

Enter organic Demerara sugar. I just so happened to stumble across it in the bulk food bins while looking for something else. It looked interesting. It looked like something you would find sprinkled on the top of baked goods at a high end pastry shop. It looked intriguing enough to buy. So buy some I did.

I decided that I needed to figure out what this Demerara sugar was. Wikipedia says that Demerara sugar is, "...unrefined, granulated brown sugar made from sugar cane extract...It takes its name from the Demerara colony in Guyana, the original source of this type of sugar..." The rest of the article goes on to show how Demerara, Turbinado, and Muscovado sugar are all relatively unprocessed varieties of sugar. Good news to me, not to mention the fact that this particular Demerara sugar was organic as well.

Next up was to try out my new sweetener. I decided to stir a teaspoon of it into my coffee before splashing in my milk. To my surprise, it was more than just sweet. It had hints of caramel and a tinge of molasses, much more depth than plain white sugar or corn syrup would ever have. I then found out that I happened to be behind the trends of culinary experts of the world, not that I would expect anything different. Billingtons, an unrefined cane sugar producer, reports that "with its distinctive aroma and crunchy texture, Demerara is the traditional accompaniment to coffee." And here I thought I had discovered something new.

So here's my favorite way to enjoy this natural sugar:

Iced Coffee

1/4 cup Coffee beans, coarsely ground
1 cup Water, cold
1 cup Water, cold
2 teaspoon Demerara sugar
Ice cubes
splash Whole milk

The evening before, place 1/4 cup coarse ground coffee and 1 cup of cold water in a French coffee press. (Alternatively you could mix together the coffee and water in a glass container and use a fine mesh strainer the following morning.)

In morning add the additional 1 cup cold water and use the plunger to press down the grounds.

Divide the coffee between two glasses; stir 1 teaspoon demerara sugar into each glass. Fill to top with ice cubes or crushed ice. Pour a splash of milk over the top if desired.

Serve immediately.

So I say, go ahead and have your food vice. But just see if you can't tweak it to make it a tad healthier. You might find as I did that the healthier version is actually much tastier!

Homeschooling With Work Boxes - Phonics - 8yo

Part four in my series on homeschooling with workboxes. For our 8yo, phonics instruction goes right along with her basic readers to complete her beginning literature program.

Phonics for us is another not so straight-forward work box. We do our two-page spread daily in Explode the Code but that gets rather monotonous. I have picked up a lot of practical ideas from Peggy Kaye's Games for Reading which can be subbed out in the workbox instead. After some on-line poking around, I also found a lot of printable resources that I plan to stick in now and then. We have some language arts games that were above my 8yo's abilities, but I think I will start trying some out shortly. I usually work through the Explode the Code series with the kids through all six books, and since we are just about through with book four, we have some time before I will think about spelling.

When spelling does roll around, I almost always go with Spelling Power for my children. Another no-frills but short and sweet spelling program.

My guess is that there are some pretty creative ways to make this work box fun. I'd love to hear from you how you tweak your box so that it keeps up interest on a subject such as phonics or spelling that can get tedious at times.

Also in this series:

Homeschooling with Workboxes - Writing/Grammar - 8yo
Homeschooling with Workboxes - Copywork/Dictation - 8yo
Homeschooling with Workboxes - Math - 8yo
Homeschooling with Workboxes - Reading - 8yo
Homeschooling with Workboxes - Bible - 8yo
Homeschooling with the Workbox System