Linda's Lunacy

Faith, Home, & Family

Food and the Olympics

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As part of using the Olympics as a learning experience, we always make food from the host country. This year 2020, happening in 2021, the host country is Japan.

Here are some recipes that we have used so far this year. with pictures of our food!

Food and teh\\he Olympics

Food & the Olympics

I started with Japanese Zucchini and Onions. Very good! I served it as a side dish with burgers. Sounds weird, but it worked. lol Everyone liked it!

Japanese Zucchini and Onions

After starting my Japanese cooking endeavor with a side dish, I moved on to a main dish. Bone in Chicken Curry. There is no coconut milk in this recipe, so it’s different than an Indian curry. So good! And again, everyone like this recipe.

Bone in Chicken Curry

There is no coconut milk in this recipe, so it’s different than an Indian curry. So good! And again, everyone like this recipe. I’m not a fan of dark meat chicken, but really liked it in this dish.

Bone in Chicken Curry

I made a Chicken Stir Fry. I kind of followed my recipe for Left Over Stir Fry, except I diced up chicken breast, cooked it part way, added the frozen stir fry veggies, some soy sauce, a little chicken broth, and thickened it with a little cornstarch. Instead of adding the rice to the pan, I served the stir fry over rice. So, yeah, nothing officially Japanese about this dish. lol But it was yummy! lol

Stir Fry Chicken

My daughter made these Japanese Savory Pancakes. They are not for breakfast! They are Japanese street food. And very good!

Japanese savory pancake

Another night she made Japanese Rice Balls. The whole family was glad she left off the sea weed. lol Of course we didn’t know until she told us. lol But thank you Hannah for not feeding us sea weed! lol She put salmon in these rice balls. Cooked! lol And served it with salmon filets, for those that wanted more salmon. She also served them with the green recipe below.

Japanese Rice Balls

She made this Green Bean Gomaae recipe. It might look a little messy, but it’s really good!

Green Bean Gomaae

I think it’s a given that we would have Japanese snacks while watching the Olympics! We went to the local Asian store for ingredients for these recipes, and snacks. Then as if that bin wasn’t enough, my daughter went online and bought a bunch of different snacks, too.

Japanese Snacks

These strawberry covered chocolate biscuit sticks Pocky were our favorite flavor. Yum, yum, yum. lol

Last night, my daughter made the best recipe yet. Japanese Cheesecake. Oh my! It’s sometimes called a Soufflé Cheesecake. I think that if lemon cake and cheesecake had a baby, this would be it! lol It’s such a different texture. Unbelievably good! We polished off this cheesecake in one sitting. lol But there was 6 of us, so it’s not quite as bad as that sounded. lol

We are definitely going to make sure she makes this again! lol She will probably have to make 2 at a time from now on. lol

Japanese Cheesecake

So it’s been fun trying out new Japanese recipes. And trying new Japanese snacks. We have a few more recipes that we want to try.

Like Cucumber Sunomono. And we have some Nama Chocolate chilling in the fridge.

Whether you are using the Olympics and food as a learning experience, or just looking for new recipes to try. I highly recommend these recipes!

Check out my Olympics Activities for Kids post for some fun, and educational, things for the kids to do.

*This post contains affiliate links. If you click the links, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Olympic Activities for Kids

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*This Olympic Activities for Kids post contains affiliate links.

My youngest just turned 21. I thought my days of doing Olympic studies and lapbooks were over. We had a foster kid for the week, so I was able to do some with him!

Homeschooling with the Olympics

He had never done a lapbook before. He seemed to really enjoy doing it. Here’s what he did. I was having printer trouble, so just overlook that part. lol

I used this Olympics Lapbook.

I have used this Olympics Unit Study with my kids in the past. It’s so good! I highly recommend it.

You can see some of the things I used to do with my kids in my Homeschooling with the Olympics post.

Here are some more links. I ran out of time to use them with my visiting kid, but they look great!

15 FREE Olympics Printables and Easy Olympic Crafts for Kids

Free Summer Olympics Activity Pack

*This post contains affiliate links. If you click the links, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Teaching Kids to Call 911

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I learned all about calling 911 with my oldest son. He was around 7 the first time he called 911.

We lived in Ohio at the time, but were visiting my parents in Kentucky. My husband cut his hand with his pocket knife. It wasn’t bad, no stitches required, but I guess it scared our son. He went in the other room and called 911.

I found out when I answered the phone when 911 called back to check to see what was going on. I had to explain the situation, which they accepted, and we avoided anyone coming to the house.

So we had a big discussion with him about how 911 was for emergencies only. To which he replied it was because dad was bleeding. So we continued that discussion. We thought we had finally gotten through to him.

Teaching Kids to Call 911 My Story Part 2

Until a couple of days later…..

We were back home in Ohio. And as moms do, I went to the bathroom. Since kids can come up with all kinds of trouble while mom is in the bathroom….

My son called 911 again. So much for our conversation.

So I’m in the bathroom when I hear the answering machine in the other room. “We received a call from this number. We are checking to see if everyone is ok”

Oh my! Guess who flew out of the bathroom?

I ran out to the phone and replayed the message. Yep, I had heard it right. So now I’m freaking out! What do I do? Call 911 back? That didn’t seem right. I didn’t want to tie up the line. So while I’m standing there trying to figure out what to do, I hear a knock at the door.

2 policemen. “ we got a call from here so we’re checking to see if everything is ok”

So yes, I had to stand there and tell the police that my son must have called while I was in the bathroom and that I heard the callback but couldn’t get to the phone in time. Because I was in the bathroom. Lol They believed me lol and I didn’t get arrested for making false 911 calls.

So we had another discussion. Apparently this one sunk I because he never called 911 again.

Teaching Kids to Call 911

Before you start, you need to make sure that your child has memorized their full name and address. Even a 2 year old can learn that pretty quickly. A land line call can be traced to your address, but cell phones will take a long time to trace, if it is even possible with your phone/ where you live.

After learning those, the first step in teaching kids to call 911 is to teach them WHEN and WHY to call 911. This can be in general terms, or in more specific terms if someone in the family has a health condition. I’ve linked some resources below to help you.

Once they know the when and why for calling 911, it’s time to teach them how to use the phone to call.

If you have a landline phone, teaching kids to call 911 is easy. Just make sure the phone is hung up when dialing!

Teaching kids to call 911 on a cell phone is a little more complicated. You need to check out the phone that they would most likely have access to in an emergency. Cell phones have a way to access the phone to call 911 without having to put in the phones password.

On my phone, when the home button is pressed, the keypad comes on the screen to put in the password, but at the bottom it says EMERGENCY. When that is touched , the phones number pad comes on the screen. I think on some phones it’s a swipe. So check out your phone so you can teach the kids the correct procedure to use to make the call. Go over that procedure often so they remember. When you get a new phone, remember to check it out to see if it works differently so you can show them that way.

What to Do When You Accidentally Call 911

While you are teaching your kids how to call 911, they, (or you!) may accidentally make the call for real.

When that happens, it is recommend to stay on the call, don’t hang up! Then tell the dispatcher you were teaching your kids, and the call was an accident. As I learned they will make a call back if you hang up that takes extra time for them.

It’s helpful to look up the non-emergency number for dispatch. So if your kid calls 911, you don’t have to freak out like I did and not know what to do. Call the non-emergency number and tell them what happened if you miss the call back, like I did.

Teaching your kids to call 911, the correct way!, isn’t difficult, but might be tricky depending on your kid, (or mine, sheesh, lol) and your phone.

Here’s a book 911 Coloring and Activity Book: Learn Emergency Situations that will help reinforce what you have taught them.

Check out this website and resources that will help you.

Visit 911 for Kids for lots of helpful information for teaching your kids about 911.

They have a 911 Lesson Plan, that I wish I had had! lol

And a pdf for teaching kids about emergencies that looks amazing.

If you are having to teach your children how to call 911 because of health issues in your family, you may find my Homeschooling in a Crisis post helpful. If your kids are still having virtual school, you may find it helpful, also.

*This post contains affiliate links. If you click the links, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

VOOKS Storybooks Brought to Life Review & Giveaway

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*This post contains affiliate links

I was recently able to check out VOOKS, storybooks brought to life to review. VOOKS is a really cool streaming library of kid-safe animated storybooks. Be sure to check out the giveaway below!

VOOKS is trusted by teachers, and loved by kids around the world. It encourages independent learning, and a love of reading.

VOOKS Storybooks brought to life

VOOKS Review & Giveaway

Once you get a subscription to VOOKS, you can make profiles for your kids. This is easy, and only takes a few seconds. You put in their name – first or a chosen screen name, age, and their preferred language. You can pick from several options for a profile picture. All the options are similar in style to those you can see in the picture below. I actually like that they don’t give you the option of uploading the child’s picture.

Switching between profiles is very quick as well. The kids can do that themselves.

Once you are signed in to VOOKS, you will see a large selection of books, in different categories to choose from. The pic below is how it looks on the computer screen.

Below is a picture from my phone. When you click on a title, you can see how long the book is, what category it is in, and the age group it is best for. You can click the heart to save it for later in favorites.

Not only can they save the books that they want to read, this is useful for you to “assign” books for your child to read.

VOOKS even has lesson plans, offering discussion topics and engaging activities. They are fun, free, and printable. So whether you are a teacher, homeschool teacher, or parent looking to supplement your child’s learning, you will find them very useful. You can see some of the categories in the picture below.

If the child has to stop reading before they finish it, the next time they sign in it will tell them how much time they have remaining in the book. Then they can click on the resume button when they are ready to finish the book.

The words are displayed on the screen, with the words highlighted as the story is being read. This helps kids that are learning how to read, and also helps their vocabulary and spelling.

Below is a short video so you can get the feel of what the storybooks are like.

I have thoroughly enjoyed using VOOKS. The children in your life will enjoy it, too! It’s 100% kid-friendly and parent-approved!

Try Vooks free for 30 days! Go to VOOKS to sign up!

VOOKS Giveaway!

Enter below to win a one year subscription to VOOKS! Be sure to read the terms & conditions on the form!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#VooksMIN #MomentumInfluencerNetwork #vooks #betterscreentime #vookspartner

Disclosure: Many thanks to Vooks for providing this product/product information for review.  Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation.  I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

*This post contains an affiliate link. If you click the link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission.

My #1 Piece of Advice to Homeschool Moms

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I have 6 kids, and began homeschooling in September 1991 when we started kindergarten with my oldest.

 

Now, all six have graduated from our homeschool! Our youngest graduated in February of 2019.  I did the math for you. We homeschooled for 27 years.

 

So I have a lot of experience homeschooling. And  now, I’m going to share my #1 piece of advice to homeschool moms.

 

My #1 Piece of Advice to Homeschool Moms

 

My #1 Piece of Advice to Homeschool Moms

 

Are you ready for it? Here it is!

 

Relax!

 

Yes, that one word is my #1 piece of advice to homeschool moms. Really. Here are just a few examples of what I mean when I say relax.

 

Relax. Make learning fun for your young elementary ages kids.  It’s ok if your kid doesn’t learn how to read until they are 10. Or doesn’t memorize the times table until they are 12. The list could go on and on. It really is ok to relax and let your student learn at their own pace.

 

Relax. It’s ok if your middle school and high school students don’t play every sport or join every homeschool club or co-op you can find. It’s ok to let them pick only one sport or one club.  It’s even ok if your student doesn’t want to play sports or join any club at all!

 

Relax. There will be gaps. I have heard so many times over our homeschooling years about gaps in homeschool students learning. Guess what? No matter where you go to school, no matter how hard the homeschool teacher and classroom setting teacher try, there will be gaps in a student’s learning! It is not humanly possible to learn everything there is to learn in 12 years of schooling.

You know what? College graduates will have gaps in their learning, too! It is also not humanly possible to learn everything there is to learn in the world in four years of college. If your students don’t like and study British Literature, they will still be ok. If your students don’t learn Greek Mythology, they will still be ok. Relax. Let your high school students follow their interests. Let them study what they are passionate about. No, I’m not saying they can skip the core subjects they need to graduate. Those are mandatory. But let them have a say in what they are studying. And definitely let them choose their own electives. Learning can be, and should be, still fun in high school.

 

There you have it.

 

My #1 piece of advice to homeschool moms. Relax.

 

 

 

 

St. Patrick’s Day Ideas for the Whole Family

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Even though I do have Irish blood, I don’t remember doing anything special for St. Patrick’s Day growing up. Well, except wearing green to school so no one would pinch me. I always felt sorry for the kids who forgot to wear green, and got pinched so much. I have never really celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with my kids, either.


Don’t pinch me, ok?

So when my kids requested to learn more about St. Patrick’s Day, I turned to the internet for more information.

 

St. Patrick's Day Ideas for the Whole Family

 

 

St. Patrick’s Day Ideas for the Whole Family

 

I remember hearing that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. Turns out, they weren’t real snakes. Ireland never had any snakes. The pagans used to worshiped serpent symbols. St. Patrick was a Christian missionary. The snakes being driven out of Ireland was symbolic for putting an end to the pagan practice.

 

Do you know why the clover is a symbol of St. Patrick’s day? St. Patrick used the three leaf clover to explain the Trinity. Pretty cool.

 

Here are some links to help you learn more about St. Patrick’s Day, some fun activities to do with the kids, and projects for you!

 

Watch a YouTube video about The History of St. Patrick’s Day.

Facts About St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day Online Games

St. Patrick’s Day Activities, Crafts, Recipes & more for everyone from toddlers to adults.

17 Ways to Bring St. Patrick’s Day Into Your Home

 

Corned Beef and cabbage is a traditional dish to eat on St. Patrick’s day. While we don’t usually eat corned beef, we do like cooked cabbage. I also think I am going to make Boxty for supper on St. Patrick’s Day. Pretty sure my family will love it!

 

What do you do to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?

 

 

What Should Your Homeschool Day Look Like

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That is both a hard and easy question.

 

What should your homeschool day look like?

 

Homeschool moms & dads everywhere struggle with that question.

 

What Should Your Homeschool Day Look Like

 

It’s tough because we want to make sure we fit everything in. All the required school work, the supplemental music, art, sports, church activities, scouting, etc, and family time.

 

I think I have fried a few brain cells over the years trying to answer this question. We started homeschooling kindergarten with our oldest in 1991. We are still homeschooling our youngest. That’s a lot of years, and a lot of homeschool schedules to figure out!

 

~ To make answering this question easier, start with how you want your family’s life to look outside of school hours.

 

Does Dad or Mom have a work schedule that is different from 9-5? Adjust school hours to coincide with the work schedule. Some people do school on the weekends, so the family can have the same days off together.

 

Want to be done with school in the morning so you can have afternoons & evenings free for family time or visiting others?

 

Want mornings free for family time before Dad leaves for work in the afternoon? Start school after Dad leaves, and work into the evening if necessary.

 

~ Then  you will need to decide what activities you will do on school days.

 

Does your homeschool group have classes you attend during the day?When my two oldest were younger, we belonged to a group that had classes one day a week. Some groups meet 2 or 3 days a week.

 

What about sports? Often times, homeschool sports meet during the afternoon or early evening hours. Then games are often during the day. Two of my girls played on a homeschool volleyball team. We had to adjust their schooling schedules around volleyball practices and games for a few months.

 

~ There will also be certain seasons that you may have to curtail outside activities, and have a lighter school work load.

 

Like after a new baby is born, or when someone in the family has a scheduled surgery. Maybe you are going to be taking care of an elderly or sick parent for a time.

 

A schedule doesn’t have to be forever. It may be just for a season. Fall football, winter volleyball, spring soccer. Until Dad or mom’s work schedule changes, or until the baby sleeps through the night.

 

~ There are many activities, and daily living activities that you will need to adjust your homeschool schedule for.

 

By planning what days and times work best for your family, you can make sure everything gets done without the kids, or you, being overwhelmed.

 

Deciding on a schedule that will work for your family is a must do first step. You have to have the schedule written before you get to the fun part. Lesson planning!

 

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