BREAD BAKING 101

Okay, I came across a book called Bread Baking for Beginners, <—— Click on the title for purchase link if interested! On instagram I follow Jenna Fischer…yes that would be PAM from THE OFFICE! Anyhow, she was doing these stories on baking bread, and they were both entertaining and inspiring. I couldn’t stop thinking about learning how to do it too! Honestly, it took me months to summon the courage to purchase the book. It felt like something I wouldn’t be able to do, but alas…I can!

And so can you!

Also, wow! From beginning to end the process is rewarding, especially when it turns out beautiful and DELIGHTFULLY DELICIOUS!

This was a whole two day affair for me…It literally took up my entire weekend. The first day I spent over 8 eight hours to get just ONE loaf. The second day 5 hours but this time I made three loaves! Success from round one was so inspiring I had to make more to share with my family…at a safe 6 ft. distance we broke bread, freshly baked by yours truly!

I got better at it in just one day! Hooray!

Reading the book for two nights before beginning the process was helpful I believe for successful bread baking.

Baking bread definitely takes more than just reading through steps on a recipe, it feels like a science experiment, it involves time, the right ingredients, different temperatures and lots of waiting!

It’s funny how the older I get, and the more things I learn about and work to apply, the more I understand about my own learning process and how much of a hands on learner I really am. Things don’t make enough sense with just words, I have to explore and experience it to fully connect and understand. Making things is a creative outlet for me, sometimes I don’t need music, nor people around, simply a quiet atmosphere where I can clearly think. Nothing feels confusing, which is why creativity is so rewarding for me. I feel a sense of clarity.

This all might sound strange, I mean we are talking about baking here…I don’t know, I just enjoyed it. If I hadn’t run out of supplies to make more, I can almost guarantee my weekend bread extravaganza would have continued into the week.

Well, I have to admit, I had baked corn muffins before 8 am this morning. These do not take nearly as long as a bread loaf from scratch, and it’s not as rewarding a process, but still it brought me some sense of relaxation before starting my day. My son enjoyed them. Every time we took a break from school today, I noticed a muffin would disappear. You don’t want to know how many are left…I dare not say. In addition to bread and muffins, my mother texted asking if I wouldn’t mind baking a carrot cake for my dads birthday. Then just this a.m. my dad left me a voicemail, requesting oatmeal raisin cookies, and that he would be by to pick them up around noon!

Can someone please request some kale cookies, or broccoli pudding? I’m dying ovah here! 😂 🥖 🍞 🍪 🍰 😂

Happy Quarantine!

✌️

Happy Spring!

In a world seemingly turned upside down, I needed some spring cheer! My plant and paint class at my kids school has been postponed due to this quarantine of 2020, so I felt something was missing in regards to honoring mother earth! I had to do something to welcome in my favorite season! I needed new growth!

Around 3pm I ventured to Stop and Shop and it was surprisingly NOT chaotic. Daringly, I walked in and made it out alive, with a bouquet of tulips in hand. And yes, some more salad toppers to accompany the kale my iron hungry prego body has been needing…so here’s a picture of my tulips and my pretty spring lunch!

Not sure if anyone else can relate but “school from home” today did not share the same enthusiastic vibes as the past few days. That’s to be expected, so I hope no one is feeling like a parent-teacher failure. I thought I’d list some helpful reminders I have to keep telling myself during this process of “teaching from home.”

* TEACHING FROM HOME MANTRA*

• My kid will survive this home learning process
• Don’t stress about not finishing EVERY WORKSHEET
• Purpose for CONNECTION rather than just getting the work done
• Take the lessons to the floor, the outdoors, a cool or different setting – kids sit at desks for lots of days out of the year…the floor or a fort can’t hurt.
• Think of how I enjoy to learn and apply information in those ways
• Use what I have, and teach what I know
• Try not to over complicate lessons…have fun with it! and lastly
• REST in MY NEST!

Today was rainy, dark and dismal, so we did our work early. I’ve been purposing to dedicate a few hours to teaching, and not just “here, take this paper and do this….” but actually being involved in the learning process. It will make the work get done quicker, even if it’s only ONE or TWO assignments!

Do it together! Make a connection! Get on their level! It motivates them, and you give yourself more time to accomplish things you need to do too. A helpful tip is find what your child’s strengths are, UTILIZE THEIR INTERESTS, and incorporate into your lesson! Same goes for their “NOT SO STRONG POINTS”. I re-read my childs’ report card and am trying to work with the constructive critiques from teacher feedback to try to improve and strengthen the areas that I can influence during this time at home.

Working hard to connect, connect, connect!

A little sacrifice of time does make a difference!

I learned today that my kid really loves being able to use our laptop. He enjoys opening his daily newsletter, printing things out, typing in the websites, clicking on resources. Knowing what is expected, and following a realistic timeline to accomplish those tasks helps too. A simple sticker chart can help motivate a kid to get things done.

MUSIC and MOVEMENT is another fun part of the day I noticed he really enjoys! Something I enjoy about this time is getting to observe my kid. Listening to him, watching him work, and just being with him. Some days you have to just let them sing and move and wiggle…read and write later.

Goal for Tomorrow

One thing I will be working on tonight is utilizing the bazillions of online teaching resources for an easy but fun craft/project that focuses on a specific topic my kid is learning in science; the SPINAL CORD and NERVES. I think making a connection to the topic by creating something will make it easier when it comes time to write about it. So tomorrow we will start the day with creativity, and hopefully transition nicely into writing!

And now…

BALANCE *BALANCE *BALANCE

As always there are things that have to get done daily, and in order to do it, balance is key. Of course we can all relate to the harsh reality that managing home life, work from home life, and now school lessons ain’t all roses and tulips. It’s messy. I’m learning to embrace SOME of the mess and just move on. When I sense the balance meter about to topple, I have to stop, assess, and figure what’s most important right now…what can wait until later, what mess will make me feel like a lunatic if I don’t clean it up…and then proceed.

ALSO changing my PERSPECTIVE

This life is beautiful and filled with SO MANY BLESSINGS! I’m realizing how thankful I truly am for all I have, this country I live in, ummm and our AMAZING TEACHERS that work every day with not just one kid but many!!!!

Even though there is no toilet paper in the stores, man oh man, there is A LOT of other useful items still available for use and purchase…and not just in ONE place but many, let alone what we have in our homes! We have incredible resources in this country, look at what matters most, assess the important things, and damn…count those blessings! They are MANY!

Day 3…but what day is it???

Starting the day in sunshine with birds chirping makes me happy, my kid too. We began the day with reading and writing and it worked out better than yesterday! Yesterday, we did math and science early, but I lost his best attention when it came time to sit still and read quietly later on.

So today, I began the day with reading out loud, and EARLY. He sat on the hammock and watched the birds come to the feeder, while listening and even writing as I read. After every chapter I did a verbal re-cap, to which he replied “you sound like my teacher 👩‍🏫 …”

Is that so terrible I thought?? 😂 I explained why we do that- it’s more for me the reader, to remember what on earth I just read…My memory of the middle ages, the black plague, history of monks, priests and the gallows, is barely something I remember, let alone think I even learned about in fourth grade! Needless to say, I’m learning a lot!

Reading and writing took awhile-and the ☀️ sun ☀️ was too bright to ignore, so I took advantage of its warmth and presence and we ventured to stay outside. I wanted to be productive though with outside time and not have to cram in the work for the days end when energy is low, and motivation even lower. So I took a few minutes to go over the tasks of the day and thought of a way to teach the Nervous System by being outside! Kids LOVE scavenger hunts! And an easy way to do it without collecting junk all over your porch and in your house is USE YOUR PHONE! I quickly made up a scavenger hunt, and included the parts of the brain my kid needs to learn about for his science unit.

For Example:

TASK ONE

1. Another name for the Medulla is “the brain stem”, find two objects and put them together to look like the brain stem andddd TAKE A PICTURE!

Then I added fun things too, so he wouldn’t catch on that it was ALL about “work”…things like shapes, colors, bugs, etc! It was a success. He was into it, it was fun, challenging, and he wanted to make one for me!

A map

A sharpie

A polar bear 😂

a commercial

Something that the CEREBELLUM controls

For Math he is learning about how to add decimals- this could be easily taught using money! But aside from money, I decided to go with MILEAGE. Feeling super pregnant (even though I have a harrowing 12 weeks to go) I couldn’t manage to be indoors while my favorite part of creation was so visible in skies of blue! ☀️ I said, let’s go for a bike ride! He rode, I waddled far behind. We walked for what felt like 25 miles…it definitely wasn’t.

I found myself stopping a lot just to catch my breath, and be certain I wasn’t going into early labor! 😂 Ha! All was well.

Along the walk I brought one of his science print outs with me to understand better myself what the nervous system is made up of. It helps to teach something when you understand! So throughout the walk I’d ask him to tell me what parts of my brain I was using to do this or that…we made it fun, and often times funny …at my expense.

When returning home I suggested we get in the car and clock our route using the odometer. I showed him how and we found we went 1.4 miles. We then took a drive and it read 3.0, so when we got back I asked him to add the mileage…Boom…Math is done! 😂

We had another day of work, but lots of laughs, and still frustrations, but this is the good stuff. One day I’ll want these three weeks back and I won’t be able to have it.

I forget how much I miss my kid when he is in school. Kids really are cool, creative, and capable of so much!

The sun shined on us today for a reason, it was bright, lovely, and warm. I saw so many wonderful things in the day, in my kid, and in learning new things. What a day! And I’m not even sure what day it is, but it was a good one!

-Michelle