Confirmation

There are a lot of reasons we homeschool.

Recently we’ve added a new one. After reading about the second grader suspended for chewing his Pop-Tart into a gun shape and the 5 year old girl who made a “terrorist threat” against a classmate and the 6 year old suspended for pointing a finger at a classmate and saying “Pow”, I’m quite convinced we’ve made the right decision.

It’s likely they would just end up at home after being expelled anyway.

*In full disclosure the Nerf gun was disarmed and taken apart before spelling and grammar.

**In fuller disclosure it was disarmed because his mother thought it was funny to keep shooting him and his brother if they were goofing off and not doing their work.

**And in the fullest disclosure, the 6 yr old disarmed his mother and took apart the gun, knowing she probably couldn’t figure out how to put it back together again.

An Unexpected Snow Day

 

It is quite possible we will never “do school” again.

Hexaflexawhat?

 

David (to John): ”Hey! Let’s make a bunch of these and then we can play with them under the table in math class when we’re bored.”

John (glancing at me listening to this conversation): ”David, there’s one major flaw with that plan.”

*If you like the video check out You Tube or Khan Academy for more even more mind-blowing hexaflexagon videos and cool math doodling videos by Vi Hart.

 

What the boys have been doing this week.

 

 

O Come All Ye Ponies

Dr. Cupcake

 

I like the Cake Doctor cookbook. I’m not a huge baker so I like that it is a way to fairly easily make a cake mix cake or cupcake a little more special. I’ve learned some things from the Cake Doctor that work in almost any cake recipe. Real vanilla helps even a simple recipe taste just that little bit better. Beating the cake batter for two whole minutes yields a thicker batter and more cupcakes. I think I used to beat just until well combined out of laziness and fear of “overbeating”. Definitely better to go a little longer.

I played around with a Cake Doctor recipe for Ruth’s recent birthday and ended up with this version of a chocolate chip cupcake that I thought was very good.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes 24 cupcakes

1 box Duncan Hines Butter Golden Recipe Cake Mix
7 Tbsps. butter
1/2 cup water
1 cup low-fat sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips for about 1 minute with electric beater until blended. Stop and scrape sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Beat for 2 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into cake liners until about 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes.

Allow to cool and then frost with cream cheese frosting and garnish with a few chocolate chips.

Cream Cheese Frosting

6 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
1 Tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted

Mix all ingredients with electric beater. This frosting is more soft than a version with more butter. I don’t like it with more butter so I make it this way but it’s best to either refrigerate or serve fairly soon after frosting. I made the cupcakes a day ahead (they kept beautifully due to all that butter and sour cream) but made the frosting and frosted them right before taking these to a friend’s house. We ate them several hours later and they were delicious.

Too cool not to share.

About a year old on You Tube, but it was new to me, so maybe to some of you also. My favorite part is the glee of the scientists.

Have you seen these autotune remixes featuring PBS  icons? I love all three of them, but Mr. Rogers was a childhood favorite so it’s especially sweet. There are also videos for Bob Ross and Julia Child if you aren’t a Mr. Rogers fan. I love the way that these all perfectly capture the personality of each person.

And finally, check out this amazing deal from Amazon. They are promoting a new Kindle feature called Whispersync. When you “purchase” certain Kindle ebooks you also get the audiobook from Audible.com for free. The great deal is that the Kindle ebook is also free so you end up with both the ebook and the audiobook free. The books are all classics and include great choices like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Wind in the Willows, A Tale of Two Cities and selections by Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. I don’t know how long the deal lasts so check it out soon.

Just for fun.

Sometimes, for no particular reason, in celebration of nothing but summer and being a kid…

…let them make banana splits for lunch.

What is lost in nutritional content will be gained in memories made.

It probably won’t still work at 16 and 13.

I gave both boys math sheets to do today. The asked if it could be a race. (Because with brothers EVERYTHING is a competition. EVERYTHING.) I explained that one set of problems was much harder than the other but it was fine with me if they wanted to race. They wanted to know what the prize was. (Because there ALWAYS has to be a winner. ALWAYS).

I thought a moment and said a big kiss from me.

They both said “Cool!” and went at it.

 

Caught Reading (At his brother’s baseball game)

Inspired by Amy. I’ve always liked her Caught Reading photos, but never realized it was also a “campaign” until a quick Google search tonight.