I’m just posting a quick note about these two book series for unschoolers. It’s so great to have some fictional books appearing that reflect some of our lifestyle when most books my family reads about other families talk about school, homework and grades. Both these authors had found the same and created these books to fill that need:

For younger readers:

“I Am Learning All the Time”
Written by Rain Fordyce
Illustrated by Audrey Miles-Cherney

Description: A large, eco-friendly, perfect binding,
soft-cover, 8¼” x 10” full illustration color book.

I Am Learning All the Time is the story about 5 1/2 year-old Hugh as he begins the discovery process of what it means to not go to school. He reflects on life at home and life of his neighborhood friends, who go to school.

A fun, compelling story narrated by Hugh about his life at home. Full of bright, eye-catching illustrations with realistic (and realistically messy) scenes from family life. Your children will love and identify with the characters in this book.

And for older readers:

The series follows the fictional Wright family as they travel the entire United States of America in their RV. The children, Nadia and Aidan, are homeschoolers. Each book is set in a different state with a different fun and educational theme. The Wright on Time books are:
* Exciting and Mysterious!
* Fun and Educational!
* Feature homeschooled children and active, involved parents!
* Contain characters who actually like each other!

Wright on Time: Arizona, Book 1: Explore a desert cave with the Wright family as they begin their 50 state RV homeschooling tour of the USA. What will Aidan & Nadia discover? Bats? Gems? Minerals? Speleothems? A mysterious device? This is where the fun begins!

Click here to see a movie about the book!

Your Recommendations

Do you know of other fiction written about home schoolers or unschoolers?  Please let me know so that I have a look at them and share the details.

Thank you!

Here are a selection of recipes I am or have recently enjoyed from the sublimely healthy to the dangerously decadent! I’ve probably been loving the smoothies so much just to overcome the birthday cake I had two weeks ago. Whatever the reason, they’re my favourite of the three and seem to be giving me loads of energy these days.

Delicious Organix pumpkin muffins recipe

Rustle up some of these yummy muffins to keep your little monster’s tummies full ready for trick or treating!

Makes approx 12 muffins

Ingredients:

300g cooked, pureed and cooled organic pumpkin flesh

2 tbsp organic sunflower oil

3 tbsp organic maple syrup

2large organic eggs

175g organic plain flour

50g organic wholemeal flour

1 1/2 tsp organic baking powder

1 tsp ground organic cinnamon

1 tsp organic vanilla extract (optional)

Small handful of organic raisins or organic sultanas

Small handful of organic pumpkin seeds (optional)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C

1. Sift the flour (add the wholemeal pieces to the bowl after sifting), baking powder and cinnamon into a small bowl

2. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, sunflower oil, maple syrup and vanilla and beat with a whisk until combined

3. Add the pumpkin to the large bowl with the eggs and sunflower oil and beat until combined

4. Add the flour mixture, the raisins or sultanas (and pumpkin seeds) slowly to the large bowl, stirring gently to combine.

5. Spoon into the muffin cases and put in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden on the top.

Supercharged Breakfast Smoothie

Serves: 2 adults and 2 children

1 cup of raw cashews
750ml of your favourite cold water

Blend in a blender until smooth to make cashew milk

Add around 9 stoned dates and blend until smooth (add more if you need it sweeter, or add agave syrup to taste)

Add vanilla powder or good quality extract (I use around 1tsp of extract), 3 ripe bananas, 1Tbsp raw chocolate powder and 1tsp spirulina powder

Blend until smooth and serve

Ultra Decadent Devil’s Food Cake
with Dark Chocolate Ganache

This is the cake my husband made me for my birthday. He left out the baking soda by accident but whipped the mixture very well so that the air and the eggs made it a deep rich and surprisingly not very heavy cake. In any case it couldn’t have been more fudgy and exactly as I wanted it if he’d tried! He also put cherries in the ganache sandwiched between the two layers. The ganache didn’t whip very light and fluffy for the filling layer like in the video on Martha Stewart’s website, but he added icing sugar and made it a bit more like icing and it was delicious.
Ingredients

Makes one 9-inch layer cake

* 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pans
* 3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted, plus more for pans
* 3/4 cup hot water
* 3/4 cup sour cream
* 3 cups cake flour (not self-raising), sifted
* 1 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 1/4 cups sugar
* 4 large eggs
* 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
* Chocolate Ganache

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 9-by-2-inch round cake pans; line bottoms with parchment paper. Butter parchment; dust with cocoa powder, tapping out excess. In a medium bowl, whisk cocoa with hot water until smooth. Whisk in sour cream; let cool. Into a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating to combine after each; scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in two parts, alternating with cocoa mixture and beginning and ending with flour; beat until combined.
3. Divide batter between prepared pans; smooth with an offset spatula. Bake until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 15 minutes. Invert cakes onto rack; peel off parchment. Turn cakes over; let cool completely, topside up. Transfer half of Chocolate Ganache (3 1/2 cups) to clean bowl of an electric mixer; set aside remaining. Let cool completely, stirring frequently, about 40 minutes. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until ganache holds soft peaks, 5 to 7 minutes.
4. Using a serrated knife, trim tops of cake layers to make level. Transfer one of the layers to a cake turntable or platter, and spread top with 1 1/2 cups whipped ganache. Top with remaining layer, cut side down, and spread remaining whipped ganache in a thin layer over entire cake, covering completely. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.
5. Transfer cake to a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Pour reserved ganache over top, letting it run down the sides. If necessary, use a large offset spatula to spread from the center toward the edges, so that the cake is evenly and completely covered. Refrigerate until ganache has just begun to set, about 30 minutes. Transfer cake to a serving plate. Serve immediately, or refrigerate, covered with a cake dome, for up to 2 days.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

Makes about 7 cups

* 4 cups heavy cream
* 2 pounds best-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
* 1/4 cup light corn syrup (we used golden syrup)
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring cream to a full boil; turn off heat. Add chocolate, and swirl pan to completely cover with cream. Slowly whisk mixture until smooth. Add corn syrup and salt; stir until combined. Transfer to a clean bowl.

With the change of the seasons, the sun has disappeared from our skies and I have some very energetic children indoors.  So I’ve decided to head boredom off before it arises and have a lot of fun with my kids at the same time.  I hope you enjoy these ideas.  Please leave me a comment to say how you got on with these ideas and leave me some of your own favourites!

Here are 5 brilliant boredom busting ideas to try out this week:

1.  Indoor gardening

photo by briannaorg

Using glass jars or vases, fill with gravel or marbles so that a bulb placed on top will end up with its tip level with the top of the container.  Use more than one bulb if using a wider container, or use one bulb per container and arrange a row of containers on your shelf.  Fill in the rest of the space around the bulb with more marbles or gravel to support the bulb.  Place in a bright spot, water to the base of the bulb and keep topped up to the same level with water.  Paperwhites are a great one to use, bloom as quickly as 3 weeks and are wonderfully fragrant.

2. Make music

Fill small plastic bottles or cardboard boxes with uncooked rice, lentils or beans, sealing the ends well with tape.  Using different grains in each shaker will result in different sounds.  Let the kids paint them or decorate with stickers or pictures cut out of magazines and get shaking.  Upturned pots and pot lids make great drums when hit with a wooden spoon and pot lids clanged together make great cymbals.  For older kids, let them fold tissue paper over combs for mouth organs and get everyone adding their vocals too.  The noise alone is bound to chase the blues away.

3. Record a bedtime story

Read a favourite story or make one up as you go along with everyone adding their bit in turn into a tape recorder (or digital mic if you have one).  Let the kids use household items to make the sound effects too.  Having them dress in character can add to the drama and help them play along.  Then listen to the tape, or burn a CD for listening to, at bedtime.

4. Create an obstacle course

Use cushions as stepping-stones, chairs covered with blankets as tunnels to clamber through and chairs and stools to climb over.  Depending on the layout of your house, you can make a circular course, or one that leads to a treat, like a cuddle, snack or story time.

5. Find a treasure

Try different sorts of treasure hunts.  Hide things around the house and draw a map with picture clues to the treasure.  Lead the kids around the house with word clues left at various points, each one leading to the next and the last leading to one great treasure.  Or give them a list of treasures to find such as things beginning with a specific letter and have them take digital photos of them to bring back to you.