Easy Healthy "Dippin' Dots" recipe

So, I'm trying to come up with foods that Rory can eat with his very restricted diet.  One of the most difficult has been ice cream.  It is extremely difficult to find ice cream that is free of dairy, soy, and chocolate all at the same time.  There was a sticker on my banana yesterday, advertising "yonanas."  I went to the website, and they were trying to get you to buy a machine which basically mushed up frozen bananas with other ingredients and came out with something like soft serve ice cream.  "Well," I said to myself, "I don't need a new machine for this!  I have a Ninja Kitchen System 1100!  So, I proceeded to freeze some bananas.  Then, I put them in the blender with some frozen strawberries, and voila!  Not exactly soft serve, as there were tiny bits of bananas and strawberries mixed all together, but Rory said they were like Dippin' Dots.  They passed the kid test, as both of them wanted more!  I put the leftovers in the freezer, so we'll see what happens to it next (oh, boy - science!)  But in the meantime, here's what we did.


Homemade Dippin' Dots
2 bananas, peeled and frozen
1 cup frozen strawberries

Put all ingredients in blender, blend on "Crush" until desired consistency, stopping blender to scrape down sides if necessary.  Scoop into dishes - enjoy!

Tired!

Too tired.  Exhausted, really.  I can feel myself walking around with a drawn expression on my face.  My mind is wandering around somewhere else.

Rory's blood tests came back this week, and the results were not particularly good.  He has allergies to dairy and gluten, borderline vitamin D levels, and low adrenal function.  That last one is the worst.  And because of it, we now have to keep him away from not only dairy and gluten, but chocolate, caffeine, soy, artificial sweeteners, and artificial coloring.  It seems that his adrenal glands are taxed beyond their abilities, and we have to try to get all of the toxins out of him, while putting only good stuff in.

This is a little difficult, as it involves a really hard food switch, but more than that, I'm a worried mom!  I find myself watching him for any little sign that he's getting better, or worse.  I read labels, and find out there's all sorts of junk in so many foods I thought were healthy.  Innocuous things like milk and wheat are now the enemy, and soy is in everything!  It is incredibly difficult to find foods that don't have at least one of the things he's not supposed to have.  I'm even having trouble finding the vitamins he should have - why in the world do vitamin C pills need yellow artificial coloring ?!

So right now I should either be doing dishes, or be in bed, but I'm writing because I have to get this mess out of my head somehow.  I'm not sure it's helping, but hopefully I can make some sense of things.

Rory is also tired, and hungry.  I think he's been tired for a while, and just didn't realize what it was, because it was just normal to him.  I'm trying to get him to pay attention to how he's feeling, and take it easy when he needs to so that his body can start to heal.  I'm not sure why he's hungry.  Maybe it's psychological, because he knows there are things he can't eat.  Maybe it's his body going into some sort of withdrawal from the dairy and gluten, like trying to give up cigarettes or coffee.  Maybe he's growing.  Maybe his body needs more food to heal itself.  Whatever it is, it seems to be real, because he gets really tired, and then perks up after he's eaten something.

The good thing is, there are plenty of things he can eat;  vegetables, fruit, meat, rice and some other grains.  He's not allergic to goat or sheep's milk, so he can have some cheeses.  He can have nuts.  I guess it's not a terrible thing to avoid candy, cookies, ice cream and chocolate.  Well, I'd have a pretty hard time with that last one!

So right now, I'm trying to find alternatives for the things he really likes, and to figure out how to bake without wheat or dairy.  Other than that, we will all be eating a whole lot more "meat and potatoes" type meals, and a lot less pasta and pizza.

I just pray that he will heal.  That this will be enough.  Even if he has to watch his diet for the rest of his life, it will be much better than medications and surgery.  And I thank God that we switched doctors when we did, because his former doctor didn't catch on to any of the signs that he was having problems, and I didn't realize what was going on, either.

Okay, now I will try to catch up on my dishes and get to bed, because we have baseball practice tomorrow!

Simple Homeschool...For Me

Okay, after all of the things we've been through the last few weeks, I'm finally back to my series about simple living.  Today, I'm going to try to tackle how I've simplified our homeschool.

When we first started homeschooling, Rory was already partly through the year of kindergarten at the public school.  He had a very hard time at school, and we decided to pull him out for the rest of the year.  This was pretty easy, because you don't actually have to attend kindergarten in our state.  I only had to write a letter stating that I was withdrawing him from school.  At that point, I knew very little about homeschooling.  I also didn't know if we were going to continue for the next year, or put him back in school for first grade.  So kindergarten was a bit hectic for us.  I was really worried that he would be behind if he did go back to school, so I pushed him very hard.  I got phonics books and workbooks and math books and all sorts of things to make sure he was staying on track.  I  made him sit at a desk and write.  It was HORRIBLE!  Luckily, we both survived, but I had to make some changes after that.


First grade went much better.  I realized that we had to do state history sometime in elementary school, and figured that was a good place to start.  So, I came up with a book and activity list and we learned New York History by reading books, looking at maps, doing projects, and going on field trips.  That was the fun part.  The other part was the math and reading and writing, which I was still a little too worried about.




For second grade I decided to use a packaged curriculum.  It was really a good one, but had one problem.  It was scheduled for 180 days, exactly the number of days we are required to log for each year.  You may think this would be a good thing, but it drove me batty!  If something happened and we didn't get everything done one day, it meant having to do extra the next.  If we had a field trip planned, we missed a day and had to make it up.  Also, there was too much writing for my dear writing-phobic son.  By the end of the year, we were squeezing in the reading portions and skipping a bunch of the rest of the stuff.  I also ended up adding in a handwriting book in place of the copywork from the curriculum, and further modifying things to suit our situation.  Not so simple after all.

This year, I think we've finally hit on something.  You won't believe my simplification secret, although those of you who have been homeschooling a while will probably laugh that it took me so long to figure this out.  Are you ready?  Here it is...You don't have to finish everything by the end of the year!  You also don't have to start everything at the beginning of the year!  If you think about it, the whole grade level marking thing is much more necessary in schools where kids have to move together in all the subjects.  And because of the age cut-offs, the oldest kid in first grade is really a whole day younger than the youngest kid in second grade.  If you're only worrying about one kid, you can move ahead at their pace, instead of worrying so much about the grade level they're in.

So, here is what we do.  We have a basic schedule of things that we do every day.  It looks kind of like this:

• Bible time
• Piano practice
• Math
• Language Arts
• History or Science
• Extra subjects (gym, music, art, co-op, library, etc.)

The order of things can change a bit, depending on what's going on, but the first three generally stay in that order.  One thing I've found which simplifies things is working on a "loop" schedule for history and science.  The loop has changed over the year, depending on what books we're using at the time.  We started out the year with an American history schedule which included "living books" I've chosen arranged in chronological order, along with a basic history text.  We also had a book about Native Americans, a Nature Reader, a book about the 50 States, and a literature book (The Wind in the Willows).  So, we started a 3-day loop, reading two of these books each day.  We'd go through the list, then start over again.  

Since the beginning of the year, we've finished the book about Native Americans, and have started a new book on Astronomy, and another one on Ancient History.  So, we now have an "American" day (history, and states), a "World" day (The Mystery of History), and a "Science" day (Astronomy and Nature Reader).  We just keep rotating through these subjects, getting done whatever we can each day.  

We also changed the grammar book we were using, from one that required me to teach every concept sort of from scratch, to one that Rory can work on by himself for the most part.  It's a book that's supposed to start with 4th grade, but he just seemed to be at that level even though he's not quite finished with third.  So far, he's doing well with it.  I'm also trying to teach him to do more work on his own, partly because he's able to do it now, and partly because I need to start working with Lily more on her letters and numbers and things.  As it is, she joins us for Bible time, and for history and science and most of the extras.  She enjoys being part of things, so she has her own history notebook and joins in on the projects and experiments and sometimes the reading.

So, this homeschool thing is a bit of a work in progress, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it!

Other Posts in this Series:

Living Simply...For Me

Simple Food...For Me

E-Book Review - The Matthew 6:33 Piano Teacher: How to Teach Piano for the Glory of God

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I have been privileged to be allowed a free copy of this book to review, and I do mean it was a privilege.  It is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or 633music.net, and truly costs less than you'll make teaching your first lesson.  It is written to the first-time piano teacher, but I have been teaching for years, and found plenty of information in this book to help me improve both my teaching and my business skills.

The book is set up in a question - answer format, and it covers everything from the spiritual to the practical.  Just the fact that it includes a spiritual component sets it apart from and above other piano teaching books I've read.   The first question addressed is "Can Teaching Piano Really Affect the Kingdom of God?"  I have to admit that as a Christian and a piano teacher, I had never really considered this question.  I am so grateful that K.M. Logan did, and that she has shared her insights with the rest of us!  It really brings a new meaning to my teaching.  

This book has, in fact, given me a jump-start in getting my own business off the ground.  As I said, I've taught piano lessons for years, but I have never considered it a serious business.  This book came along just when I was trying to figure out how to acquire and manage more students, and I am completely inspired!  Using the information in this book, I have been able to work out a teaching schedule, decide how to bill students, and even set up my own website using an online program she recommended in the book.  I also feel better equipped to help students and prospective students with questions they may have.  

I would recommend this book to any piano teacher, or anyone thinking about teaching piano.  I have read it through and have already started implementing some of the ideas, but I expect to go back to it again and again.  It is 104 pages of great information, covering everything from "Is teaching piano something I want to do?" to "How should I file taxes?" and "Should I require my students to participate in music competitions?"   It includes information from the author's own experience, along with a list of her favorite books and resources.    

Now, I have to get back to working on my advertising!  

What if Easter is a Bad Day?

This was the latest question from my 9-year-old. I know where he's coming from. This Easter seems a little different. First of all, his sister has a cold, so we're not planning anything too much. It will just be "us" for Easter dinner. We're hoping she feels well enough to go to church at least, but she may not be able to sing with her Sunday School class as planned. Second, and maybe more important for him, he is still on a dairy-free diet, which I think he realizes means a lack of chocolate in his Easter basket. Third, he's a natural worrier, with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and we all know that the world gets heavier, the older you get. Just the same, it's a pretty good question.

The truth is, Easter could be a "bad day." People can lose loved ones on Easter. People who have lost loved ones since last Easter are still trying to adjust to a new "normal." The fact that the word "Easter" is written on that date on the calendar does not make it any different than any other day. There are people all over the world who are sick, or lonely, or starving, or homeless, and all of this happens on Easter just the same as any other day.

But Easter can never be a bad day.  "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen:  for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."  2Corinthians 4:17-5:1.  We have this assurance.  No matter what happens to us in this life, good or bad, it is temporal.  It will not last.  We can have hope in affliction, because this world is not all there is.  Jesus proved on Easter morning that there IS life after death.  And that it is more glorious than this life.  The difficulties that we deal with in this life will be over, and we will receive new, heavenly bodies without sickness or hunger or pain.  So as we go through this life, even through the bad days, we live in hope and joy because Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Easter morning.

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 8:38-39.