Gingerbread Cake

If you are studying early American history, it’s fun to incorporate the foods our ancestors used to enjoy.  Molasses was a special treat for the colonists, because of the shortened supply of processed sugar.  Many of their foods were sweetened  by molasses, and a real treat was spreading it on their homemade bread for breakfast like you would use honey.  Try tasting it plain and see what you think.

Gingerbread, which uses molasses, was a favorite of the early American colonists.  There is a story that in 1784, Lafayette returned to America to visit George Washington’s mother in Fredericksburg.  She served him mint julep with “spiced gingerbread” that included West India molasses, a wine glass of brandy and the juice and rind of an orange.  More usual ingredients are found in the recipe below, which is known as Fort Atkinson Gingerbread.  This recipe was found in the Gold Medal Cook book that was always given to brides in the 1870’s.  I like to serve it with a good dollop of Applesauce Whipped Cream – a spicy treat for a cool Winter day!

This is also a good cake to have the kids cut out a snowflake pattern from paper, lay it over the baked Gingerbread, and sift powdered sugar over the design.  Carefully remove the paper to leave snowflake pattern made by the powdered sugar for a pretty presentation.

Favorite Gingerbread with Applesauce Whipped Cream

½ cup soft shortening

2 tablespoons sugar

1 egg

1 cup dark molasses

1 cup boiling water

2 ¼ cups flour

1 teaspoon soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and flour the bottom of a square pan, 9X9”.  You can spray the bottom of the pan with spray shortening (Pam) and sprinkle a tablespoon of flour, tipping the pan back and forth to cover the bottom with the flour.  Discard any excess.

2. Stir the flour in your storage container to incorporate air – this way you don’t have to sift the flour.  Measure the flour into another bowl by lightly spooning flour into the dry measuring cup and using a straight edge to level off the excess.  Use measuring spoons for the soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon, leveling off the excess with a straight edge.  Mix all the dry ingredients together.  When baking, it is important to be accurate with your measurements, because it can affect the outcome of the baked product.

3. Using a mixer, thoroughly mix the shortening, sugar, and egg, scraping the sides with a rubber scraper.

4. When the mixture is fluffy, add the molasses and water.  Use the same measuring cup for the water to clean out the molasses.

5. Add the dry ingredients and beat until smooth.

6. Pour into the pan and bake 45 to 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. It’s best served warm, cut into squares.  (9 servings)

Applesauce Whipped Cream

1 cup chilled whipping cream

¼ cup sifted confectioners’ sugar

½ teaspoon Vanilla

1 cup applesauce

1. Chill a deep bowl and beater.

2. Place whipping cream, confectioner’s sugar and vanilla in a bowl, beating together until stiff.  Don’t overbeat or you will get butter and buttermilk!

3. Fold in the applesauce.

4. A shortened version is to use a container of Cool Whip and add the applesauce.

A simile is a figure of speech in which one thing is likened to another, usually through the use of words such as like or as.  The word “simile” comes from the root word “similis” which means like or similar.

A simile can either be explicit (“The wind cut through me like a knife”), constitute a stereotype (“as comfortable as an old shoe”), or represent irony, which is the opposite of what your reader might expect (“square as a billiard ball”).

Sometimes, it’s up to your reader to interpret in what ways you mean to compare “a” with ”b.” By providing further detail, you can make the comparison clearer, if that is your intention. (“The light was so intense, it seemed to shine like the sun.”)

Do not confuse a simile with a metaphor, which uses descriptive words normally applied to one thing and applies them to something else instead (“The news article screamed for attention.”)

To practice similes and learn some of the most commonly used, here are some links to online games.

• Animal Similes Crossword
• Quia:  Similes and Metaphors
• Similes Matching Game

In the HMHS Store, there is now available a fun seasonal activity on similes.  It is a make-your-own book for all ages at the VERY modest cost of $0.50!  Download the Christmas Similes Workbook using your Paypal account or any major credit card right now for some fun practice on using similes!  The kids will really enjoy it, while also learning!  Also, don’t forget the simple lesson on writing thank you notes and stationary available as well!

Send in grammar questions to Contact HMHS and I will answer them in upcoming blogs!

Our family went on a nature hike the other day.  It’s a beautiful time of the year to hike because it’s cooler, there’s little-to-no bugs, and the trees are changing gorgeous colors.  It was like walking through an enchanted forest!  Any minute I expected to see Galadriel stepping out on to the path (another Lord of the Rings tie-in, of course)!  Nature walks are perfect for learning the names of plants, how they reproduce, how they grow, and biotic interactions while the kids enjoy themselves the entire time.  It’s the kind of learning that does not feel like “school” - our favorite kind.

I assigned the kids one task.  That was to collect samples of plants that they would later make botanical illustrations of at home.  We took a baggie with us and collected lots of interesting stuff.  My son had sugar maple leaves in brilliant yellow and black walnuts with different layers of covering.  Both of my daughters gathered oak leaves, moss, a gnawed bone, bean pods, and a sample particularly interesting to them, lichen.  We took these specimens home, looked them up on the internet to identify them, and drew them.  Since we needed to research lichens a bit more than the rest, and because they are so interesting, I thought I would share some information on them here.

What is a Lichen?

A lichen consists of two different organisms, a fungus and an algae, living in a symbiotic relationship.  To understand what a symbiotic relationship is, go to this root word website and look up the meaning of the prefix (sym-), the root (bio), and the suffix (-sis).  Go to Dictionary.com to read several definitions of symbiosis.  There are two very good descriptions of lichens here and here.

Challenge your kids to answer these questions using the websites listed after each:

• What do the fungus and algae provide for each other?  See:  Backyard Nature and Lichens
  
• What is a photobiont and a mycobiont?  Which refers to the fungus and which refers to the algae?  See:  Photobiont and Mycobiont, Myco and Lichens.
• What is a thallus?  See:  Online Glossary and Lichen Education (see the top boxed portion of the page).
• What are the three main types of lichens?  What are the two other kinds sometimes identified?  See:  Backyard Nature
• Draw a representation of each type of lichen.  See:  Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3.  Also, see representations of each here and a gallery of images on Wikipedia.
• How do lichens reproduce?  What are the two main methods of reproduction?   See:  Lichen Reproductive Structures and Backyard Nature
• What is a bioindicator?  Why are studies of lichens important?  See:  Wikipedia and Bionet
• Finally:  What animal eats large amounts of lichens?  See:  Wonderclub

Wow, aren’t lichens amazing?!  Take a trip to a local park, nature center, or cemetary to find examples of lichens.  (That’s right - a cemetary is a great place to find lichens.  They grow well on tombstones!)  At the park or nature center, look for lichens on boulders, stone walls, and trees.  Take a sketchbook to draw some that you find.  Below are examples of my daughters’ illustrations.  Have fun!

Hailey 10 years old

Maddie 5 years old

To discuss nature studies, science, or other homeschooling topics, please visit our HMHS Discussion Forum.

All good things come from the Lord and He rightly deserves all thanksgiving.  But are we filled with the same thankfulness in early August or run of the mill late January?  And how does our gratitude express itself in our daily lives and interactions with one another?  Thankfulness is more than a feeling, it is an attitude and a character trait that we must work to develop and retain beyond the warm coziness of late Fall.  It should translate into our lives as kindness, hospitality, selfless giving, and contentment (that’s a hard one!).

Our children are not born thankful creatures.  They are selfish little beings (as we were also) and must learn to humble themselves into gratitude.  We are in a special circumstance as homeschooling parents to consistently work on the development of thankfulness in our children.  We must point them always toward God as the originator of all good things.  But, we must also teach them to show this grateful attitude in little kindnesses to each other every day.

Attempting to teach gratitude to my own children, we have made it a habit to consistently write cards and thank-you notes.  A note of thanks, no matter how simple, will in turn reward the giver and the receiver.  It is giving a gift back to the person who has given to you.  It also develops in you the wonderful habit of giving thanks.  And giving thanks is so much MORE than just feeling thankful.  It is developing the character traits of kindness, thoughtfulness, and gratitude all at once.  Of course, we don’t receive gifts everyday.  So, our thank-you notes are for more than just gift giving.  We express thanks for a kind deed, friendship, hospitality, help given, a playdate, a shared treat, and much more.

We have successfully entwined the habit of writing thank-you notes into our overall writing curriculum.  As a double-fold bonus, it also helps the children with recognizing when thanksgiving is due and expressing that gratitude in writing.  To aid you in adding thank-you notes to your lessons, Michael and I have put together a package on how to simply write a thank-you letter along with some beautiful stationary for various occasions.  You will find Thank You Letters in our brand-new HMHS Store.  We hope they will aid you in adding this habit in your own home and begin to develop a grateful attitude in your children.

To discuss gratitude, writing, or any other homeschooling topic, please visit our HMHS Discussion Forum.

We are completely absorbed in the story of The Lord of the Rings.  Being very creative children, mine feel the need to be constantly dressed as their favorite characters.  We have the Hobbit clothes and weapons down pat.  We have an axe for Gimli, and swords for Aragorn, Eowyn, Eomer, Faramir, and Boromir.  However, for Legolas, we were lacking a quiver.  My son already had a play bow and set of arrows, but, alas, had nowhere to keep them handy while battling Orcs!  My inventive Mommy juice got flowing and I made him a quiver myself (VERY simply and for free!).  Since there are many boys out there enjoying play arrows, I thought I would share my creation.

What you need:

• 2 empty Pringles chips cans
• Construction paper
• Black electrical tape
• Stapler

How to assemble:

I cut the bottom off of one Pringles can and taped it to the open end of the second can.  Next, I attached a strip of tape long enough to sling across the chest of my boy and attached another strip of tape to the first, sticky sides together.  This is the strap of the quiver.  Then I covered the cans in brown construction paper and stapled in place.  I covered the staples and edges of the cans with more tape, giving it a finished look.  Drop in the arrows, sling the quiver, and off he goes to the battle!

Finished Quiver

To share crafts or talk about homeschooling, please visit the HMHS Discussion Forum.

We sure would appreciate it if you would take a few seconds to vote for Homemade Homeschoolers. There are prizes to be won, but honestly we haven’t looked at what those might be; the important thing is the exposure that the Homemade Homeschoolers (HMHS) Community website has already had thanks to the fine people at the Homeschool Blog Awards. We, like any other website are seeking to share our resources with as many internet users as possible in order to build up the homeschooling community in any way we can. So, if you would please visit the post called “Let the voting begin“, scroll down to the “Best New Homeschool Blog” category (the second from the bottom), and cast your vote for us! Maybe even tell your friends about it too.

Voting ends at Midnight, November 21st.

Thanking you in advance,

Michael & Shelly

Twitter is an Internet multimedia form known as “Micro-Blogging” where users are able to post interesting (or, in some cases not) updates in 140 words or less. Twitter has grown by an amazing rate recently and is used by some of the worlds largest businesses and news outlets, as well as common people such as you and I. Signing up for a Twitter page takes all of about 30 seconds and you are able to modify your profile theme to make it all your own. It is actually really fun to see what people can say in 140 characters or less! A wonderful use for Twitter is posting links to things that you find important and would like to share with your friends. Extra long URL links are automatically shortened by Twitter into a “tiny URL” so that they will fit into your allotted character field and have room to spare for some extra text. If you use the “Share/Save” option at the bottom of each post on Homemade Homeschoolers you will notice an option for sharing a favorite post on Twitter. Just click the Twitter button and it will post to your account so that your friends can find it too. Once you start using those options you’ll find yourself sharing all sorts of neat things with your friends.

Sign up and follow Homemade Homeschoolers on Twitter and keep up on all the latest news. It’s fun! We’ve included a video called “Twitter in Plain English” by those same, easy to understand guys that produced the “Podcasting in Plain English” video posted here a while back.

We’ll see you there.

Kids Can cook – A “Girl Scout” Dinner

Sometimes it’s hard to get kid’s to eat their vegetables, but if they are involved in helping cook, it’s surprising how much better the food tastes!  The “Girl Scout” dinner, a favorite from Girl Scout campouts, is an easy way to do it, because your child can choose which vegetables to include in their meal packet.   A variety of vegetables (all cut to equal size) and a small piece of meat are placed on a square of heavy duty foil.  This is folded into a drugstore wrap, allowing space for steam to expand, and either placed on the grill or baked on a cookie sheet in the oven at 350 degrees until cooked through (usually 30 to 45 minutes.)  Turn the packets at least once.  Carefully open the packet because it will be filled with steam.  Each child can enjoy their own creation.

"Drug store folded" Packet

Choice of Ingredients:

Potatoes (I like the small red potatoes)

Onions, white and/or green

Green or red pepper

Squash, either zucchini and/or butternut

Celery

Mushrooms

Carrots

Tomatoes

Any other vegetable you have on hand

Meat can be chicken breast or thigh, a small pork chop, or fish

Seasoning, such as salt and pepper, seasoned salt or other choices

Enjoy!

To discuss recipes or any homeschooling topic, please visit our HMHS Discussion Forum.

We have always involved the kids when we actually go to vote.  However, this year they had a particular interest.  Although they can both vaguely remember the last presidential election, they had a fervor of interest this time.  During this election, we were deep into learning about the process of electing a president, we were following the campaign, discussing the issues important to our family, and learning the biographies of the candidates.  Knowing so much about each candidate and why we select one over the other gave them a vested interest in who would become President Elect.  Before we went to vote, I had the kids fill out a paper ballot with our selections.  We then drove to the polling place and each child was able to check the boxes, choosing their candidates, and finally push that big red button to cast their vote!  They felt great!

After voting, we drove to Grammy and Poppy’s house to have dinner and watch election coverage (we have no TV).  It felt like an election party and the kids watched with interest (as long as they could).  After dinner they made up questions to poll everyone in their own mock election.  They teamed up to count the votes from the secret ballots, tally the results, and announce the totals.  There were some very silly outcomes!  We continued to watch the coverage late into the night.

No matter the outcome, this is an election that the kids will remember.  They are anxious to learn about more presidents and about the upcoming inauguration.  Overall, it has been a wonderful current issue study.

To discuss the elections or other homeschooling topics, please visit the HMHS Discussion Forum.

Here’s a hodge-podge of things we wanted to share with you about what is going on at Homemade Homeschoolers:

We want to thank all those who have downloaded the free Mr. Skeleton craft. There have been a surprising number of downloads! We’ll keep that up for the next couple days for those who haven’t downloaded it yet. Please post pictures of your Mr. Skeleton on the HMHS Refrigerator, and share your family’s creation with other homeschoolers. When you register for the photo gallery you can post pictures and leave comments on others; it’s fun!

Next thing is the HMHS Community Forum. We’re scouring the internet for items of interest to the homeschooling community, such as news articles and press releases. You can expect postings of local area regulations and such as well as information on upcoming homeschool conferences and conventions. We ask that you would help out with the same. Feel free to post links that would be beneficial to the community at large, add information on items posted, and just general chit-chat. Admittedly, it is hard to get a forum “really going” when folks are checking the forum at different times of day, but check it often and contribute in anyway that you can. Tell your friends about it, and we promise that it will grow.

The HMHS Podcast Network its ramping up for release! We have several families that are working on Video podcasts; and from the sound of them they are going to be really fun. We at Homemade Homeschoolers Headquarters are also working on an audio podcast which will be a little variety show with news and views, music, comedy, recipes, unit study ideas, and a whole lot more. The neat thing about the HMHS Podcast Network will be the variety of information and entertainment by homeschoolers just like you! If you would like to join us please let us know. Our HMHS Contact Form is the simplest way.

The HMHS Store is almost ready. We are hand-crafting downloadable Notebooking Pages, Unit Studies, and more to aide you in home-educating your precious children. But, we will have more than those things available; homemade arts and crafts will be added too. Eventually we will have a general store where others can offer their own homemade products as well. Watch this site for more information.

Finally, the last few months have shown an over 60 percent increase in visitors each month! That is an exponential growth that isn’t necessarily expected to continue (it would be nice, though); a new site should have large growth numbers at the start. We do appreciate all the visitors to Homemade Homeschoolers, and hope that you will continue to return.  The “share” options at the bottom of each post are very easy and handy for sharing favorite posts with friends. Please hover over the “Share/Save” button under this post and see all the options that are just a click away! The easiest, of course is the “Email This” option. Also, use the subscribe options in the side bar.

One last thing: We are now affiliates with both Christianbooks.com and Amazon.com. If you use either of those sites to make purchases would you consider using the search boxes on our site in the side bar? Those purchases will help us pay for this website by providing us with referral fees. We sure would appreciate it.

Well, that’s it for now. Thank you so much for being a part of the Homemade Homeschoolers Community!