My rap star name is U-Neek Mohagany.

What’s your rap star name? 

And how can you help but wonder just who dreams these kooky things up?!?

Have you ever tasted Greek yogurt?  If not, you really, really must. 

I of course first fell in love with Greek yogurt in Greece, imagine that!  It just seemed like the right thing to do each morning -start with a bowl of that thick, creamy plain yogurt, adding that day’s assortment of honey, oats and fruit.  It sure beats an English breakfast of hunk-a-mushy tomato with beans any day!  Of course, my initial enjoyment of Greek yogurt was no doubt heightened by the smell of the ancient ruins in the air or the sight of the Mediterranean from the roof top.

But now my friends, you too can enjoy one of life’s little luxuries by simply heading over to your local Trader Joe’s.  No, they do not carry the odor of the ancients in a bottle or anything like that.  They have Greek yogurt!  They even have options: the expensive stuff or the cheaper stuff, the full-fat stuff or the non-fat stuff, the pre-flavored stuff and the plain stuff.  As much as I like the yogurt, I would never dream of telling you which of these many options you would like best-but I like the plain non-fat (trying to do the South Beach diet demands that I stick to the non-heart stopping non-fat stuff.)

I do dream of telling you that you don’t really appreciate yogurt unless you eat Greek yogurt though…just a thought.

For even more luxury, be sure to whip up some tzatziki:

fold together some Greek yogurt, grated cucumber, minced garlic, s&p and a bit of lemon juice. 

No measurements needed-just put in a good pile of cucumber and enough garlic to give it a kick.  Perfect with so many Greek things, or just regular veggies, bread, pita, or right out of the bowl.

I started off this challenge with so many great intentions…hmmm.  The list was going to help me read across more genres, I was going to write a little review on each book.  And now as you can see, my completed books aren’t really that balanced across the categories and I am way, way behind on the reviews.  [sigh] It is a tough life.

In keeping with our history studies of the time of the Old Testament, I read Bruce Fieler’s Walking the Bible.  He also has a PBS series with the same name which highlights many of the places discussed in the book.  Without hesitation, Walk the Bible is a keeper.  I’m not going to mooch this one (don’t know what that means?!?  Look for the upcoming revelation of my new hobby-bookmooching.)  The book journals the author’s visits to key sites in the Pentateuch and includes wonderful information on the geography, biblical history, and recent history of each site.  Along the way you are introduced to many academics, devoted pilgrims and desert pioneers.  This is not a dry text of facts, but a heartfelt reflection of a man’s travels, his personal reflections, the interactions he has with many giving people and his journey to understand the God of the Bible.  The book just gets you started on all of these-you finish the book aching to see the land yourself, thinking deeper about your own thoughts and ideas relating to the history of the Pentateuch, wishing you could meet some of these extremely dedicated people, and praying that so many of the people you have met through the book do in fact find the true fulfillment of the Gospel. 

otherwise known as a candy striper

I loved the job and it is one thing that I truly hope to do again someday (except that now I would be a pink lady.)

I started volunteering when I was 14 and was so happy to get my pink and white striped jumper!  Back in those days, I knew I wanted to be a nurse so this was a very important step in my plan to enter the world of health-care. 

My first assignment was on the oncology ward and although I enjoyed it, I was ready to move to a new area after my first year.  During that first year, I got a nice look at the real job of a nurse, I formed very strong 14 year old opinions about which doctors I would go to great lengths to avoid, and I regularly saw the suffering and heartache that is so much a part of our world.  One of the images that will stay with me forever from that term, we when I first saw someone I knew from the outside world on that floor.  He was only an acquaintance, but I will never forget that day I saw him in the hall, hardly the person I once knew him to be. 

My next assignment in the hospital was in the ER-coveted shift, but I had to take the Saturday afternoon shift, largely because the pink ladies with all that senority, took the weekday shifts.  I loved the 2 years in the ER-the crazy busy times and the slow times.   Since it was a local hospital, I saw people I knew every now and then.  I had lots of opportunity to talk to people since most patients and family members were bored beyond belief in the ER.  The staff is usually over-worked so I had plenty to do in keeping the rooms prepped, running to the lab, the pharmacy, central supply and the cafeteria for those demanding paramedics.  Sometimes a nice nurse or doctor would even let me “help” with a procedure and I would hand them instruments or help prepare a cast. 

My third assignment overlapped with my ER time and it ended up being my favorite in the end-I became the tour guide for all the Monday morning school tours.  I had two big things going in my favor to get this job-I was homeschooled so I could take a shift in the morning and the pink lady in charge of the tours was my dad’s boss’ wife.  Looking back, I find it slightly comical that a 16-17 year was leading the tours, telling the adults to keep the kids in line or the tour would have to end, for three school groups every Monday…But I was a dedicated tour guide and boy did those kids get an interesting tour! 

All of this started as part of my future life in health-care.  Obviously that never happened, largely due to the fact that after volunteering, I came to the opinion that it was a doctor or nothing.  I was way too unmotivated to become a doctor, so that was the end of that life plan! (But I still have that striped jumper!)

One of my favorite things to do as soon as school ends is just spend a few hours (or even a few days) reading as much as possible.  As you know, I am doing the 888 Reading Challenge and I was anxious to cross some books off the list.

You can look at the updated list on the 888 Page, but out of 64 books for the year, I have finished 25 (it sure feels like I should be farther than that, but…)  I am a little behind, but I know that I would get more done in the summer. 

and now I can’t even figure out what to write…

:) 

This can be a tough time of year for all of us-kids are tired of doing school, moms are tired of sticking to the routine, I am tired of creating lesson plans; the sun is shining, the beach is so close…But even with all of this and more, I think it is very important to finish the year strong.  We want to model to our children and students the value of commitment, perseverance and hard-work, qualities that are sometimes hard to find in our society.  We do want to keep this commitment to virtue balanced with our need to enjoy the life God has given us.  So how can we make that happen in the last few weeks of the school year?

Here are a few ideas to keep you going-

1.       Take school outside for part of the day.  Do your reading on the grass.  Take a walk and observe nature.

2.       Start the day with mom reading aloud.  This is such a nice way to ease gently into the demands of the day!

3.       Make a special breakfast and enjoy it together before starting the school day.  Sometimes we all benefit from being together and just resting, after we have completed the busyness of the morning routine and before we start our school day.

4.       Declare a pajama school day and make a really big deal about the privilege to school in pajamas (admittedly this only works if you make the kids get dressed every other day! J )

5.       Take some school to a coffee shop one afternoon.

6.       Make time for oral school work-oral spelling, oral Latin practice, memory work review, reading aloud to siblings.

7.       Excuse your child from some of their math problems.  That usually makes everyone very happy!

8.       Have a picnic for lunch.

9.       Plan a field trip.

10.   Plan a creative activity-have the kids put on a puppet show about something from history or literature, make a cookie dough relief map, or have them write a song about a key person you are studying…

And know when you are going to end!  I think it is so helpful for parents and children to know that the end of this year is in sight.  Your end might be a certain time, it might be a certain place in the books, but we all benefit from having a goal we can meet.  Remember that you will start school again, but you will probably start refreshed and renewed if you give yourself a break!

Oddly enough the educational establishment in the state of Oregon has discovered  the benefits of good old-fashioned grammar.  In a wonderful trend, they are seeing a drastic rise in the success of their ESL programs with a recent teaching change:

Educators chalk up the improved results to a new way of teaching that has swept Oregon ESL classrooms in the past couple of years.

Schools have begun explicitly teaching the grammar, rules and structure of English. And they are doing it in a carefully ordered way, making sure that students don’t miss any of the building blocks of how English verbs are conjugated, words are ordered, conversations are expected to proceed and sentences are constructed.

 

You can read the full article here.  Just imagine what the results would be with the powerful combo of English Grammar and Latin.