OFF KLTR!

I read ALOT of homeschool blogs.  These mamas always seem to have everything under control.  Their children are light years ahead of their peers academically, their children are fed three hot, home-made, organic meals a day, and they and their families are fully engaged in their communities.  And I wonder to myself, “what the hell am I doing wrong?”.  Truthfully, if at the end of the day, we (collectively) have learned ONE lesson (academic. spiritual, moral…all count!) and my family has eaten ONE hot meal, I feel like the day was successful.  My blog’s tag line could easily be “homeschooling for the rest of us”.

But Thursday was different.  It was a magical homeschooling day.  Keira has been reading the series The Cupcake Club.  I’m not sure that the content is entirely appropriate for her, some parts are over her head…but she LOVES the premise.  It’s about a group of girls that form a cupcake club and the plot revolves around the girls’ cupcake club/small business and incorporates the members’ families, and their friendships, of course.  Included in each book are cupcake recipes.  Keira was desperate to try one out!

So Wednesday after dinner, Keira and I went to the grocery store to buy the (many!) ingredients.  The next morning at 8AM, we started the cupcake making.  NEVER in my life have I ever made such a complicated recipe!!  The cake recipe had one ingredient in it “caramel drizzle”.  Turned out that “caramel drizzle” was an entirely separate, 30 minutes-to-make, recipe!!  So…we made the caramel from scratch.  Did you know that caramel is the combination of heated sugar, butter, and heavy cream?  I did not.  I’d learned something new by 8:30!!  So from 8 to 10:30, we baked our hearts out!!  And get this, Lauren worked on a separate art self-directed art project nearby for the most of the morning.  She came in and helped off an on…but she was pretty much engaged in her own project.  Keira did lots of reading.  Keira did lots of math (measurement).  From 10:30 to 12, we took a break and played card games (math, math, math!) and ate lunch.  The frosting and decorating continued ’til about 2.  So much fun.  So much learning.

My sweet husband came home from work, and was smiles ear to ear when Keira joyfully described our day to him.  He is very supportive of homeschooling, but struggles with unschooling.  But this was his kinda unschooling day!!  Maybe we’ll have a day or two like this next year?  HA!  I am kidding.  I know that we’ll have lots of good days like this in June AND next year.  We’re hitting our stride.