Colorado Crockers

WARNING: This bread is a work in progress.  I  have the best childhood memories of homemade bread. Even better was the homemade sourdough cinnamon rolls! I would "help" my mom mix, kneed, and of course, served as quality control. It reminds me of Christmas and family and FROSTING. I hit my early 20's and found out I was a Celiac. *SOB* No more amazing bread. It has been my mission for years to figure out how to do a good sourdough bread that is gluten free and doesn't taste like sand/cardboard/icky things. Then I heard about a study out of Italy and it renewed my interest in figuring this out, more on this in a moment! A long time ago, bread made this way wasn't considered anything special, it was just...bread. The woman of the house would feed a starter, remove some and mix with salt and flour and water, let it raise for a day or longer, then bake. Repeat daily. Bread took TIME, and science now tells us that it was actually better for us! Commercial br...

Can I tell you a secret? Well, its only kinda a secret to those who know me. I am a half-ass homeschooler. This isn't because half-ass is what I am aiming for, its just that we all seem to like to do other things MORE. Things like going to the pumpkin patch or Littleton Historic Farm, things like the museum and the zoo, even things like going for a walk with my 90+ year old grandmother. We are aiming for EPIC childhood with a passable education. Every state is different, and here in Colorado, we are required to do testing or teacher review every other year starting in grade 3. I am not against accountability, I think testing gives us so idea of where the gaps lay in our children knowledge. Testing makes me crazy nervous. See, I am ok with our kids learning what they need to know when they need to know it. I also know that much of the knowledge my children posses is not that kind they test for; things like what chickens eat, how to care for foster kittens, the colors to...

Most days we spend about 4 hours total doing school-ish stuff. Each kid has a notebook of core subjects (math, reading, writing, language arts, science, geography) and we read Story of the World with cookies at bed time for our history. We also watch all kinds of documentary's and shows like Cupcake Wars and Good Eats. School days start around 10 (because mornings suck) and there is usually not too much kvetching. Until there is. Griping, that is. It starts small, building over the weeks until I hate calling them all to the table for school because I know bad attitudes are coming along. It usually takes a week or two of this before I remember that one of the reasons we homeschool our kids and so we can enjoy learning together. When that stops happening it is usually because I have managed to suck ALL the fun out of learning and made home school look way to much like "real school". I can be a little slow on the uptake. We were in the grumpy phase of school last w...

"Baby, don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more..." Maybe the rest of the world doesn't think in song lyrics, but I do. Valentines Day. The haters call it the "Halmark Holiday" and while I am usually the first to be skeptical about all the things, this is a holiday I enjoy. Actually, I believe we should have MORE days that focus on love and making other people feel special. My kids love Valentines day. Maybe it it the cherry coffee cake cut into heart shapes (a tradition I have continued from my mother) or the little boxes of chocolates or the little gifts from grandparents. It could be the party at school and the extra games and treats. But I chose to believe its more than that. My kids are good at loving. Most kids are. Us adults have all these ideas about the "right" way to love someone, about the "correct" path to romance. Kids just like to love. My kiddos have been creating handmade Valentines for their family and friend...

I have anxiety about homeschooling. I have been told by public school parents it isn't any less stressful to send a kid to school that to school them yourself and I have to agree. We all wonder "am I doing enough" or "is my kid really learning what they need to know?". Some day, most even, I feel like we are doing pretty good. My kids all learn differently and are good at different thing and we do our best to encourage them to take on hard tasks with integrity even if they will never be the very best. Sometimes I am pretty sure I suck at all the things, schooling my children included. This is a story of a big, fat fail. Addilyn has always been a reluctant reader. Learning to read takes focus, which comes hard for her. It also takes attention to detail (n is a different letter than m) which isn't her strong suit. She has performed at grade level-ish, but has no love for reading, which KILLS me. This year she has struggled. As a 3ed grader, she is beyo...

Ahhh the American Dream! Keeping up with those Jones', the house in suburbia, 1.5 children, the job with benefits and a retirement account.... And maybe a bit of "rat race" and consumerism thrown in there for good measure. It might be my issues with authority and conformity, or maybe the base lies in my general disdain for doing what is expected of me, but the above doesn't seem to hold the pull for me that is expected. So, we homeschool our kids, and any career I might have is pretty much on hold. We have chickens and ducks in the back yard. We have a rotating cast of furry critters that we foster. We place creativity over information regurgitation. We spend our money more on activities ( Zoo pass! Museum Pass! Piano Lessons!) than stuff. My kids have no idea that the Nick/Disney tween programs even exist let alone do they care to watch them. We are not exactly fashion forward. My children are decidedly themselves, and maybe a little quirky, and most like...

I am generally not too swayed by marketing. Cynical by nature, I see through the bull easily....and yet... Pinterest is of the devil. It is brain-washing at its finest. I see pictures of families doing "fun" things and I think "OH MY GOSH!! What a great idea! My kids would love to make hand-prints/use sensory bins/make Christmas cookies!" I forget, that in reality, nothing actually looks like Pinterest. This is truth, sisters. I know. I have been sucked in to the deep, dark marketing hole that is that stupid site which I love. And I do it again and again and again. My innate cynicism about all things seems to fail when it comes to ideas from Pinterest. My most recent stumble? Decorating Christmas cookies with small children. This is what I was promised: Mom is so happy! The mess is neatly contained! The kids are enjoying themselves! WHAT A GREAT IDEA!! And don't even get me started on all the adorable cookie pictures of snowmen, Santa, g...