Slices of Life

The children in our town all headed back to school yesterday and, in what has become a homeschooling tradition for us, we spent the day on a field trip.  Typically we head to the beach, the zoo, or the aquarium. Yesterday we headed to the Ecotarium in hopes of getting a glimpse at their new baby otter.  Unfortunately, the otters were not cooperating and we never got to see them.  Luckily, there were lots of new exhibits and a few of our old favorites to check out.  We saw lots of live animals.   This turtle cracked us up The porcupine seemed undecided  as to whether or not he should go outside  Alec sat in a mini class about camouflage and got to feel an arctic fox pelt.   We saw an albino skunk  For once the opossum was up and about; he came walking right up to the glass  We also saw two other varieties of turtles, lots of frogs, a red tailed hawk and a sugar glider. The boys learned about city life in their new exhibit.  We learne...

There seem to be two schools of parenting or teaching when it comes to encouraging kids to read:   One camp wants to see kids reading quality literature and frown upon " fluff " (books of little substance or consequence that are superficially entertaining) while the other camp is just happy to see their kids reading. In case you couldn't tell by the title of this post, I'm one of those moms that is just happy to see her kids reading. Out of my three boys I only have one that LOVES to read and the other two tend to shy away from it. I usually have to cajole them into reading for just 15 minutes. Having struggled to raise two reluctant readers I have found so much value in allowing them to read fluff that I'm not even sure I can see the validity in the argument that kids should read quality literature! (Kidding!) Any books that make my non- readers happy to read is just fine by me!  I have always let my boys choose their own books and we count whatever they are read...

Our last link up of the summer!  When I next "see" you it will be September. In New England September signals the start of school for everyone, thoughts turn to apples, pumpkins and fall.  The air is already turning just a bit cooler though I continue to hope for a few last days of summer to enjoy with my boys. I can't deny that I do love fall though and look forward to sweaters, crisp cool mornings and the beauty of the changing leaves. Welcome to the Love to Learn Blog Hop A collection of educational activities to instill a life long love of learning in our children. Enjoy learning through play, nature, crafts, and many other educational activities. This is a PIN-IT PARTY Your hosts will pin our favorite posts to our Pinterest boards! I encourage you to do the same! and SOCIAL MEDIA HOP! Add all or some of your favorite social media links below the main hop. Please: Follow your Host & Co-hosts We work hard to share all your fantastic content! Click on our badges t...

I have three boys and their personalities are so very different.  From day one each asserted himself in a unique way and I have always tried to treat them as individuals.  That said, it's not always easy to stop comparing them. Lately I have been realizing that I am trying to force my youngest son to be a bit more like his brothers.  He is reluctant to grow up.  Holding onto childhood likes and interests, resisting learning any new self- help skills, etc. and I have been struggling to accept that. My oldest two boys were always pushing the envelope to try new things.  They were in a hurry to grow up! Often they asked to take on new skills before I thought they were ready. My oldest was driving heavy equipment around by the time he was 8! My middle son potty trained himself in just a few days at the age of 3 because he so badly wanted to go to preschool with his older brother.  He never had one single accident!  (We let him start school the month he tur...

My boys are not big fans of vegetables.  They'll eat salad and some raw vegetables but they rarely eat any of them cooked. I thought I might be able to sneak a few veggies in if I made some vegetable Alfredo.  I have tried this a few different ways over the past few months and found that sneaking the veggies into the Alfredo sauce worked much better! The first time I sauteed and steamed my vegetables and made a traditional Alfredo cheese sauce using these Knorr sauce packets. Mixing up two packets of sauce mix following the package instructions  My boys ate only the pasta and sauce leaving all the vegetables behind.  The second time my Alfredo sauce itself was made using cauliflower and cheese.   My boys gobbled it up! Look how thick and creamy it is!   I found a few recipes on the web for cauliflower Alfredo and then read quite a few posts on creamy, cheesy, traditional Alfredo sauce and decided to try pairing the two. I just knew my boys would not e...