Demystifying Alcohol for Women: The White Side of the Vineyard – White Wine

On April 25, 2014August 6, 2014 By Tamarah RockwoodIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

White wines have proved to be both astonishingly interesting, annoyingly self-entitled, fabulously bold and heart-wrenchingly boring.

These are going to be rated from what I liked best to worst:

1. Gewurztraminer

2. Muscato

3 Rose` muscato.

4. Riesling

4. Sauvignon blanc

5. Pinot grigio

6. Chardonnay

7. Semillon

1) Sauvignon blanc

The attitude – This is a delicate, sophisticated wine for people who can taste subtleties easily. It is a sultry murmur of wit that can be lost if too many loud noises are around. If you are a woman who likes exotic cheeses, you will definitely appreciate this wine.

The grapes – The grapes are generally grown near the ocean, or at least in mediterranean climates that have long autumns, crazy hot summers and gentle winters.

sauvignon blanc wine – It is definitely served chilled, although letting it warm to almost room temperature will bring out the good solid notes of melon, grapefruit, green apples and crisp pears. Not very dry at all, very clean finish. Definitely a pleasant experience. But very fruity, very bold and very white-winey.

It pairs well with – Waldorf Salad, scallops, trout, prosciutto and fresh apples, sorbets.

2) Chardonnay

The attitude – Welcome to the white wine that has put us red wine drinkers off all this time! Ah, chardonnay. The pastel colored grape with a hint of 1980s shoulder pad wearing, uninspiring, vapid wine that you would drink if your soul was on fire, and you just didn’t care, because you’re re-watching Friends, from the beginning, every night at 7:00pm in your very special flannel pjs you got at Sears. I also may be a little pious with my opinions, here.

The grapes – Can be grown anywhere and will adapt to any situation with no repercussions to themselves.
Chardonnay wine – Chardonnay wine is very thin but rather dry and bitter. It has notes of grapefruit, but so light in taste that it hardly compliments anything. Very predictable white wine. It is a white wine that you will either love, or quietly dump it into the nearest potted plant (I have done this before. I think the plant survived, but I can’t say for sure).

It pairs well with – fish, salmon, chicken, caviar, brie and a well-manicured afternoon chick flick that you already know how it’s going to finish.

3) Semillon

The attitude – This is the wine for the adventurous spirit. You will not see this at Mother’s Day brunch, but you will see it hiding inside the pantry of someone who has discovered the brash, dry, unyielding white wine that is semillon. If you enjoy fire breathing on your days off; if you can just get in your car and explore, and somehow find yourself in the middle of Newfoundland; if you like absinthe with a shot of tomato juice while reading Poe…you might like semillon.

The grapes –

These are grown along the coast of France, as well as California. Crazy summers, long autumns, unoffensive winters.
3) Semillon
The attitude – This is the wine for the adventurous spirit. You will not see this at Mother’s Day brunch, but you will see it hiding inside the pantry of someone who has discovered the brash, dry, unyielding white wine that is semillon. If you enjoy fire breathing on your days off; if you can just get in your car and explore, and somehow find yourself in the middle of Newfoundland; if you like absinthe with a shot of tomato juice while reading Poe…you might like semillon.
The grapes –
These are grown along the coast of France, as well as California. Crazy summers, long autumns, unoffensive winters.
wine – This is a mysterious white wine that is normally blended into sauvignon blancs to introduce an almost syrup flavor to it. It has the taste of figs, grass, berries.

It pairs well with –

mussels, clams, oysters, roasted fig and brie, pomegranate sorbet, pasta salad, skydiving.

4) Moscato

The attitude –

If you secretly have a unicorn and rainbow sticker on the inside of your work folder, I bet you like moscato wine. If you still have your collection of Judy Blume books (that you will *never* part with!); if you are a little girly, but not too girly, but above all things *privately girly*, then this is the wine for you.
The grapes –
This is an extremely sweet grape that grows in the middle of land. It enjoys being surrounded by vines in warm climates. Snow? A cold breeze? Not on these dainty bunches, thankyouverymuch.

5) moscato wine –

serious port qualities, syrupy, very thickly sweet, melon, cherries, plums. It was so much thicker than any of the other wines that it is hard to even categorize them in the same way. If I was at a party and the only thing they had was white wines, I might take this one just because it is so different.

rose` muscato – melon, creamy, rose, strawberries. but it’s a little lighter than muscato.

Just go straight to dessert if you’re drinking moscato. It isn’t a dessert wine, like port, but it is very very sweet. A little citrus, a little musky, but not an intimidating wine.
It pairs well with –
go with something that will balance it, like dry hard goat cheese or raspberry brownies. Although, if you’re feeling a little daring…try extra spicy plum salmon, wearing your best bling shoes you got, girlfriend!

5) Pinot grigio

The attitude –
If you like the briny air of the coast, the grit of sand between your toes, the smell of seaweed in your hair…you will prefer pinot grigio. It is pinot noir’s cousin who prefers to kick back, rather than knock your socks off.

The grapes – This is because the black grapes grown for pinot noir wines are grown on the coast of California where it is significantly cooler than inland. The grapes are pelted with ocean fog every day, and they become very bold grapes due to the climate.

Pinot grigio wine –
The most intense tangy, sour white wine of them all. This one stands out for the tang it brings to the table. Crisp, clean finish, notes of pears, but very white wine finish….terrible aftertaste. I will say, it has the most memorable flavor of them all, and that alone would draw me back to it.
It pairs well with – salmon, pears, hard cheese, spicy Thai, sushi.

6) Gewürztraminer

The attitude – This wine shocked the socks off me. It was a very, very complex wine. If you like scotch, you will appreciate this wine. If you like your books a little more complicated, the plot lines a little messier, and for the conclusion of your novel to be a one-two punch to the gut, you’ll like this. It’s just….so…different.
The grapes – Just between you and me, though: These are the most spoiled, entitled grapes on the face of the earth. “Oh, the soil is too moist! It’s too dry! I’m too hot! Why isn’t it cold enough, you are doing this on purpose. You’re breathing on me…now I have mold.” Get over yourself, sister.

Gewurztraminer wine – Much more complex nose, much stronger taste than reisling. Lots of apple, grapefruit, but the flavor is so much more complex. Dry, but bitter after taste. Sweet front, complex middle, fruity, but really complex after taste. By far the most complex white wine of them all.

This wine is hard to describe. It is crisp, yet has distinct floral notes. It isn’t exactly “refreshing,” and you won’t feel better after drinking it. But it is a little peachy. In a very snotty, self-righteous kind of way. So, there’s that.

It pairs well with – Chinese, Thai, Cantonese…but I can’t really speak for it. It’s giving me a dirty look as I’m typing, and it’s making me a little uncomfortable…

7) Riesling

The attitude – This sucker is just one big huge note of apples. I’m not a fan of hard cider, but if I was, I would love riesling wine.

The grapes – They grew and became grapes. However,there are a TON of riesling vineyards popping up in Washington and New York. So, it needs it a lot colder, a lot moister, with a hipster beard and a scarf knitted from a rare breed of alpaca wool that you’ve never heard of.

riesling wine – It’s definitely good on its own, but you really have to like apples. A lot.

It pairs well with – waldorf salad, salted caramel

I’m not finishing any of these, though.

Demystifying Alcohol for Women: The Dark Side of the Vineyard – Red Wine

On April 25, 2014April 27, 2014 By Tamarah RockwoodIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

The Grapes

I live in California, and being here has great advantages for drinking wine.

We have Napa.

Okay, so we have Napa…but the grapes aren’t all grown there, actually. There are vineyards all over the place, from Northern California to Coastal California to Southern California, that grow different grapes for different wines, and the big wineries are in Napa. Napa of course has the big players like Mondavi, or my favorite, Stag’s Leap.

There are also wineries all over the central-coast, like Concannon Vineyardsin Livermore, which is where Cupcake comes from, or further in you will findGallo who has the corner of the boxed wines, but you wouldn’t believe all the other bottled wines they have under their label, as well.

There are literally thousands of wineries all over every part of America, and even more great dark red wines from Argentina, Australia, France, Italy…maybe not Siberia, but who knows. Wines are ubiquitous to life, and you will find wineries all over the globe.

Now, the reason why this brief review is important, and interesting, is because who you are will very likely reflect what kinds of wines you like.

Red Wines

pinot noir.
merlot.
petit sirah.
syrah.
cabernet sauvignon.
zinfandel.
sangvioese.
malbec.

1) pinot noir.
The attitude – If you like the briny air of the coast, the grit of sand between your toes, the smell of seaweed in your hair…you will prefer pinot noir.

Pinot Noir wine – is a bold wine with a full flavor. It is a little spicy with hints of black cherry. The front is sweet but the back is very dry.

It pairs well with – salmon, steak, rosemary roasted chicken, duck, shellfish, prosciutto, cheese, mushrooms and risotto.

Honestly, this is a very well balanced wine and you could drink it with any course, or no course.

2) merlot.

The attitude – Merlot is an uncomplicated wine. It is easy on the tongue and gentle on your soul. If you prefer a life with harmony, melody and easy friendships, merlot is your wine. It is a friendly, unpretentious drink.

The grapes – merlot grapes are a very dark wine grape, but not a black grape. They are grown in rocky soil that requires a lot of watering, so the flavor will be much more mild than that of the very concentrated pinot noir black grape. These grapes need warm weather and lots of sunshine.

Merlot wine – is a very basic red wine. It has flavors like currant, blackberries and cloves. The front flavors are very subtle but a little sweet, the middle palette flavors are hardly noticeable, and the back flavors grasp the tartness of the grapes and berries. It is much less tannic than any other wine, and very smooth and mellow in nature.

It pairs well with – pizza, tomato pasta dishes, roasted chicken, turkey, chinese food, herb crusted pork, garlic asparagus, spinach salad, cheese stuffed mushrooms

Merlot is a friend to us all, on the wine spectrum. It can do no wrong; although it can get very boring very quickly.

3) petite sirah.
The attitude – This is a dark, complicated wine for dark, complicated people.

The grapes – Once upon a time in a vineyard in France, a vineyard Peloursin cross-pollenated the neighboring Syrah vineyard, and created the Durif grape, also known as the petite sirah grape. The grapes are very small and tightly packed in little clusters. They flourish in direct sunlight and can withstand drought and heavy rains without their flavors being compromised.

Petite Sirah wine – is a very bold, very dark, very aromatic wine. It is heavy on the plum, currant and blueberry notes. The flavor is very full in the front, big rounded flavors in the middle and heavy on tannins on the back. This is a well balanced and bold red wine, and you definitely get your bang for your buck with this one.

It pairs well with – life. It is really that good. It also goes well with prime rib, duck, turkey, veal, apricot pork, mexican food and grilled bell peppers, eggplant and zucchini.

4) syrah.
The attitude – imagine the gypsy caravan that has just settled in the outskirts of town, blowing in clouds of dust it has brought with it from thousands of miles away. The clothes are well worn but still bright in color. The canvases and leathers holding the tents together are stretched from the baking sun. The smells are vegetative, a little angry from the long travel, sunburnt and claustrophobic. This is syrah.

The grapes – These grapes need isolation, the sun and quiet. They are a very dry grape from very dry regions, but the flavor they kick out is out of this world. The best areas to find syrah vineyards will be in Argentina, Australia and Central California.

Syrah wine – This is the boldest, driest wine you will find. It holds a conversation all on its own. The flavors are very spicy dark cherry, black pepper, currant and leather.

It pairs well with – pork with rich plum compote, rosemary and garlic roasted lamb, grilled bison, spicy bbq shortribs, curry fried tofu, dark cherry and dark chocolate ice cream

5) cabernet sauvignon.
The attitude – Let’s take things down a notch for cabernet sauvignon. This is the floral sundress of wines, you could say. It is fruity, bold, fun and lively. Cabernet sauvignon is your best friend who gets seriously chatty after 2 drinks, but you keep busting up laughing because she is so funny when she does this. BFF forever status.

The grapes – These grapes can grow anywhere. The plains, the mountains, the hills, your backyard…they’re totally cool with whatever you got. They areso okay with adapting to climates that they tend to overtake native plants who might also be planted nearby. They’re like a very friendly Borg who gives you wonderful wine after they assimilate your land. So, who’s complaining?

cabernet sauvignon wine – This is a very fruity red wine. It has notes of grapes, cherries, watermelon, lavender, sunshine and secret friend notes you pass under your desks. Still a much bolder flavor than merlot, but not nearly as dry as pinot noir, it is very well balanced and is quite uncomplicated while still being interesting.

It pairs well with – fish, fruit dishes, monterey jack and pesto omelettes, spinach and strawberry salads, chicken, pasta, bbq, brown sugar glazed carrots and cheese

6) zinfandel.
The attitude – Zinfandel is Betty Francis from “Mad Men”. She is a beautiful character with white wine overtones, but the punch she leaves you with afterward makes you wonder what she was actually drinking all night….

The grapes – This grape prefers company, but it is like the biggest sorority that has taken over the best part of the beach with the most sun, the driest sand and the cutest lifeguards. In California, it is mostly in the Central Valley that has insane summers and foggy winters.

Zinfandel wine – is the red wine for white wine drinkers. It is much more bitter and dry on the pallette, similar to white wines, but much lighter in taste. It can be found in a red variety, as well as a rose` variety.

It pairs well with – 6 inch crystal stilettos and a perfect smile. It also goes well with pasta.

I haven’t found the last 2 yet, amazingly! So I can’t really say much about them, personally.

7) sangiovese

8)malbec

Demystifying Alcohol for Women

On April 25, 2014April 27, 2014 By Tamarah RockwoodIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

When I turned 21, I didn’t really touch alcohol.

Mostly because it is expensive when you are in college, just married, trying to make a living, etc. But I was also scared of it, in a way. I had lived my teenage years under the house of a raging alcoholic who drank unbearably cheap beer, and I can’t say I was too fond of alcohol at that point.

But I also simply didn’t understand the differences between good wine or bad wine. Did I like port at all? What as bourbon besides something that will burn your eyeballs? Does all beer taste like a gutter?

I just didn’t know anything about alcohol when I was younger besides the experiences I had while growing up; and being in lower-middle class America, this was pretty much restricted to lager beer and random wines.

My husband and I have taken our time over the 14 years we’ve been married slowly going through the spirits, and I finally understand and appreciate what I’m drinking. I also know what I like and don’t like now!

There was one night a few years ago I went out with a bunch of women for dinner, and a few of us ordered wine. I ordered Clos du Bois pinot noir, because I was in my pinot noir season then (I’m in a petite sirah season now, but I’ll get to that!), but the other women didn’t seem to know where to begin in selecting a wine to go with their dinner.

I didn’t want to impose on their selection, and most of them chose a merlot. I can totally understand their choice, since merlot is a very safe wine to choose. Over the course of dinner we were discussing wines, and I shared my wine with a couple of the ladies…and the look on their face when they tasted a full bodied wine, compared with a more watery merlot, was a reaction of understanding. Not all wines are the same!

When it came time for desert and they were staring at the port menu, I stepped in and ordered Fonseca 10 Year Tawny Port for all of us. It was so much fun actually enjoying good alcohol with women.

The thing with drinking as a woman is that there is so much more involved than just drinking, which is the obstacle that keeps women from exploring the wide spectrum of alcohol, from mixed drinks to beer to wines.

Women are worried about their health, their diet, how their experiences reflect what they drink, if they drink at all. They worry about alcoholism in their home, alcoholism in themselves, alcoholics in their families.

Even social stigmas are hard to break: are you a woman who sips white wine, or do you enjoy beer, and what does that say about the type of woman you are?

Or do you enjoy whiskey and hard liquor, and how do you drink this in the company of women who don’t drink at all without looking just flat out odd?

Drinking as a woman is a very emotionally charged experience that will reflect who you are in ways you may or may not be comfortable with.Especially with the holidays coming up, there will invariably be alcohol available and offered…

And maybe if we understood what we were offered a little better we wouldn’t be stuck walking around with some glass of mystery drink called Chambord with the promise, “You’ll love it!” when you actually aren’t a Chambord drinker at all.

What I would like to do is to demystify some of these areas for us. I am going to be breaking down 7 areas of alcohol so bourbon will be just as appealing as merlot wine!

The Seven Areas of Alcohol

1. Wine

2. Sherry, Port & Vermouth

3. Beer

4. In The Clear: Vodka & Gin

5. Aged In Barrels: Rum, Whiskey & Bourbon

6. margaritas, martinis and mixed drinks

7. Traditional drinks, like egg nog

Science & Art: Leaf Impressions

On April 25, 2014 By Tamarah RockwoodIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

From left to right: Sycamore, Glossy Privet, Glossy Privet, Oak, Oak, Glossy Privet, Birch, Birch, Willow, Sycamore

My family takes knowledge to a rather competitive level. When we discover something new, it is as if we have found a treasure chest full of wild gems.

Camping is always a wonderful place to utilize these gems. What type of tree is that? I know! What types of flowers are these? I know! What type of bird is that, and is it naturally indeginous to the area? I know that too!

Incorporating art into science is a wonderful way of getting a hands on approach to both the creative spirit as well as the hands on field scientist experience.

For this project, I highly encourage you to incorporate identifying trees by their leaves and bark while you are doing leaf impressions. We have been doing plant identifications this season, and it certainly makes driving through the neighborhoods more interesting! The plants and flowers are no longer landscaping flora, but instead rows of Society Garlic flowers, or “wild orchid peacock flowers.” It is so exciting to have names for these plants, finally!

A few good resources for tree identification can be found here:

Urban Tree Key

Discover Life

So go through your neighborhood, or find a nature trail to explore, and pick up as many different types of leaves you can find.

Once you have a good stash, you can go home and start on your art project: Leaf Impressions!

Materials –

2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Salt
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
3/4 – 1 Cup Water
leaves
Modge Podge
Cookie sheet and parchment paper

Directions –

1) Mix the flour, salt, oil and water until a good smooth consistency.

2) Roll a small ball in your hands (about 1-2 inches in diameter)

3) Place on the parchment paper in the cookie sheet…and first, spray your hands with PAM. You’ll thank me later...

and press down with the palm of your hand until it is rather flat. Then use the rolling pin to flatten it out until it is about as thin as a sugar cookie. (caveat: do not make shapes too thick or they will crack with baking)

4) Now, take a leaf and place it in the middle of the dough, and evenly press it into the dough so the leaf makes an impression.

You can lightly roll the leaf with the rolling pin if that works better for you.

5) Then, bake in a 250 degree oven for about 1 hour (I found an extra 15 minutes helped,but every oven is different)

6) Remove the sheet from the oven and let the disks cool completely. Once they have, you can gently paint the leaf and disk with modge podge to seal inthe beautiful colors!

Bonus: you can get a permanent marker and write the name of the tree from which the leaf came at the bottom of the disk!

The Rope Bridge of Homeschooling

On April 25, 2014 By Tamarah RockwoodIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

The beginning of the school year has come, and I’m rethinking how we are going to strategize next year’s schooling goals.

I’m pretty happy with the books and programs we’ve used this year, so I’m going to keep those. Horizon ROCKS, so we’re sticking with that for now for one of the kids, but I moved to PACE for the older child, and it is definitely more attuned to her mind. Story of the World is absolutely fascinating, but it’s pretty dry, so we’re doing History Pockets which is a lot of fun and very crafty. I’m still on the fence with that one. R.E.A.L. Science was good. The grammar from The Well-Trained Mind series was pretty phenomenal, so we’re keeping that.

The funny thing, at least for me, is that I have been reading “The Element” and “Out of Our Minds” by Sir Ken Robinson for a while now, and they are both just absolutely the most riveting books to read. The thing is, this is my element: learning. I love to learn and I love to pass on the learning through education and writing.

I remember exactly when I realized what I wanted to do this for the rest of my life when my family was camping one summer. Our dad was sitting on the back of his truck, and we had gotten distracted from unloading it and ended up listening to him tell us about WWI leading up to WWII. It was just absolutely fascinating stuff to me, and that is when I discovered that I wanted to know everything. Not in a “powerful Wizard of Oz” way, because I can assure you that I will never understand electricity the way Ben and Glenn do. But I just wanted to keep discovering until I could find nothing left to discover. That’s why I read so much, this is why we explore crazy places, this is why our trip to Beijing was the most incredible experience: there was SO much to discover and learn. My degree in Literature enabled me to learn about societies, from the point of view of the people, which barely reach the surface of understanding today. Okay, I’m going off on a tangent here…

So when Robinson was describing how this one dancer, Gillian, came into her element when she entered a dancing school and saw every other girl there who couldn’t keep still and had to keep moving in order to maintain themselves, I completely understood. This is how I feel every time I read about another learning system, or a new curriculum, or I discuss styles with other educators. I LOVE education. It is just the most fascinatingly amazing thing in the world to me. I could talk about the strategies of Aristotle, of Waldorf, of the theories of Classical vs. Traditional vs. Modern Thinking…I find them all just amazing.

Recently I have been up to my ears trying to fully understand The Blue School, which is rather difficult since it is in New York and I am out here in CA.

There are a number of obstacles with understanding The Blue School though: foremost, I think, is that the people running it are from Harvard and Ivy League universities. My degree is from a podunk state university. Now, while this isn’t the end of the world, I will say that the mentality of Harvard is quite different (yes, I realize this is kind of an understatement, but stay with me). The people who graduate from my university talk about going on to teaching, going into the Peace Corps., going into small businesses, etc. We’re thinking workers.

However, in higher universities, such as Harvard, it is typical to instill the thought of making the world a better place by giving. Give your money if you are rich (see: Bill Gates), give your gifts if you have gifts (see: FDR and his ability to instill hope during the Depression). You can see a list of Harvard graduates here and get an idea as to what these people hoped to get out of life: giving something to the world to make it a better place. This is seriously overgeneralizing the point I am trying to make, so just keep reading; I don’t want to go down a rabbit trail of what every graduate from Ivy League schools have or have not accomplished. I just wanted to point out that the mentality is “society” instead of “individuals.” They leave with a bigger picture of how the world is run, and how they can participate in running it; as opposed to my position, which is happily “individual.”

So with that said, The Blue School is the crux of Modern Education.

Just a quick perspective on why this is interesting: Classical Education (at least from an American point of view) ranges from Colonialism-1810. You learned Latin, Greek, Literature, Math…but specifically it has a system of Trivium where there is the level of Grammar, Dialectic and Rhetoric (basically, Elementary school, Jr. High and High school). Then there is Traditional Education, which is essentially the one-room schoolhouse idea; but the lessons start moving away from Classical education in Latin, and more towards applicable subjects. Finally, around 1910 came Modern Education, and this was much more pragmatic in structure. Kids needed a more pragmatic education in order to learn how to be functional citizens post-Industrial Revolution, and education helped this idea along. This makes sense to me. If a student is schooled in Latin and Literature, how will they be able to work in a factory when they graduate? Not very well. So Modern Education supplemented where Classical and Traditional Education left gaping holes.

The thing about today, though, is that there aren’t many factories to participate in anymore (unless you count public education, which is a valid argument, I think). So we’re back to educating for ideas. This is where The Blue School comes in. They want their students to really explore their minds through education, through art, through creativity, and come out the other side with a bigger idea of the world than any textbook could offer them. But it is thickly Modern Education: society over individual, creativity over Latin, self-expression over “the right answer.” Kind of. Big sweeping generalities here.

So, I just finished a 3 day event in a Classical Education forum, and it was pretty awesome but completely different from The Blue School. The direction they want to take the kids is fantastic, the bar is really high and the kids are collaborating in a group to achieve academic goals…while still homeschooling. It is FAN-TASTIC. I love it. But there is a lot of Kool-Aid to drink.

I am not a Kool-Aid drinker. Even when I lead Kool-Aid groups, or am a member of Kool-Aid communities, I just swirl it around in the glass the whole time. I just can’t jump in that far…because it’s ridiculous. I think Classical Education is great, no two ways about it. I am looking forward to teaching my kids both pragmatic and Classical education, so they have a good balance between thinking and doing. But do I think Dewey killed education, and we should go back 300 years in educational learning?

No. This is the dumbest thing I’ve heard….well, the second dumbest thing I’ve heard so far. The absolute dumbest thing was that our daughters don’t need higher education because they were designed to be helpers, and only our sons really needed the higher education because they would actually be working.

No, I didn’t laugh my way out of the auditorium. But I took a big huge note never to interact with that woman’s group ever again. wow.

Ok, so this whole “300 years ago was so much better!”idea is just absurd. 300 years ago, I wouldn’t be able to teach anything. Heck, even 100 years ago women weren’t allowed in University libraries unchaperoned. 300 years ago we were still trying to figure out how to start a nation and farm the land. 300 years ago we didn’t have the internet, we didn’t have cars, we didn’t have telephones, we didn’t have freaking pavement on the streets. So teaching our kids now in the same way kids were taught 300 years ago is a good idea? Really?

But what about the Blue School idea? Do I really buy into the extreme education of self-pacing/student-directed education? Ehh, not so much. A little, but not so much. On one hand, students really do get to pick what they learn, and the instructors help augment the lessons to hit every subject. I love this idea, and we’re doing this now actually. We had a huge unit on The Universe, and it included constellations, biographies, writing about what we’ve discovered, etc, etc. But it is applicable on a very, very small scale. Just for an example: the Khan Academy, which is also totally awesome, had a little experiment in Oakland. 6th graders were given self-directed math lessons for a few months, and the instructors checked the results afterward. The kids did SIGNIFICANTLY worse when they were self-taught…because they didn’t care. In the public school system, students are motivated to get through the tests. “Will this be on the test?” if not, then who cares. And that’s what Khan discovered: if kids didn’t need to be tested on something, their motivation to learn was gone. So they just breezed through the math and retained none of it.

Now, this is a systematic problem and not an academic problem. The problem is in the culture of the school, which is why The Blue School started with pre-school kids and moved up from there, as opposed to starting with Jr. High kids and tried to re-engineer learning then. It just wouldn’t work.

But for us homeschoolers, how about we realize that we are in the middle of a societal revolution, and start teaching accordingly. There needs to be a balance between technology and textbooks, between individualism and society, between Latin and learning German, between academics and pragmatism. We need to learn from the masters, and see what is and isn’t working in Modern and Classical forums, and pass on these lessons to our own kids.

Less Kool-Aid, more re-discovering hydration in general.

Enjoying the Holidays As A Homeschooling Mom

On April 25, 2014 By Tamarah RockwoodIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

During my first year of homeschooling I realized something that I had never previously realized was important to me: my kid would not be making a Mother’s Day craft in school to bring home. She wouldn’t be doing snowflake crafts in December, or hand turkeys in November, or baskets in the spring.

I understood the academic side of homeschooling just fine. The curriculums to use, the daily agendas to follow, what benchmarks to hit. But, if I wanted her to experience any of these small, seasonal traditions she would have to get them from me.

Including Mother’s Day!

Homeschooling during the holidays can become a very stressful time for mothers. Not only do you have the Christmas presents to find, family to organize, shopping to do, a house to decorate, parties and events to attend, cards to address, and 5 pounds to lose (…just keeping it real here)…

but you also want to keep up with school, maintain the extracurricular classes during the week, family to visit, Christmas crafts with the kids, homemade ornaments to decorate, traditional meals to prepare (or create, for those of us without traditions!)…

plus the nightly Bible verse and quiet time with the family to remember that this is the reason for the season….right?

Homeschooling means you can’t pass off a lot of things off for the school to take care of, like daily learning, crafts, carols or parties. It’s all on you, baby.

I have a husband, 5 kids, and 18 workable hours during the day. I have to budget with the wisdom of Solomon to get things done…so let’s get things done!

1. If you have a list of 20 different things you have to do during December, I say pick 5. This is the process of editing. Cut out the things you don’t need. Then cut out the things that are marginally important. Then cut out a couple that would be an honest sacrifice. You now have 5 solid things to accomplish with your family that will be memorable and have a lasting impact on your children. If it doesn’t line up with your values, if it is stressing you out, if it costs too much money, if it overlaps with a more important event…cut it. Go for quality, not quantity.

2. Forbid yourself from comparing what you are doing with what other families are doing. This is a hard one, but it is going to save you a whole lot of trouble in the end. The family who volunteers at the homeless shelter every Tuesday? The neighbors who make homemade turkey dinners for half of the state and include handwritten notes with each one? The mother who has sewn new dresses for the entire church play…by hand? You have to remember: these are their lists, not your list. If you have “visit Santa at the mall” and “send Christmas cards out before December 24th,” that is your list. Keep them seperate, and keep it real. I’ll tell ya, I would enjoy nachos and craft beer on Christmas Eve with my husband a lot more than I would enjoy a 24 course meal with 1,000 people.

3. Be realistic with your schedule. We have 4 classes of martial arts a week, between all the kids’ classes. We have Awanas. We have church. We have things that come up. To include more items in our schedule, in this season of our life, would be foolish. I would love to volunteer at a senior’s center, or carol at the children’s hospital…but that is not my season right now. I’ll just pack those ideas away for when the kids are older and we can fully enjoy the events together; but with 2 toddlers, a preschooler and 2 older kids still under the age of 10…any of my grand ideas are going to stress them out, stress me out, and in the end it wouldn’t be a blessing to anybody. Keep that in mind.

4. Find small moments during the day to relax. When I think of the idea to “just relax,” I really think of a huge bed filled with pillows in front of a fire in a cabin far, far away. In reality, I have a tupperware bowl of leftover shepherd’s pie from last night, a cup of coffee, in a Disneyland sweater and jeans wearing my neon pink running shoes…in front of a fire at my suburban house soaking up the hour of rest between events on a rather busy Saturday afternoon. This is my hour of rest, and I’m not passing it up to work on the dishes!

5. Do not pass up the opportunity to spend quality time with your family…alone. I know this season is hectic, and it can get overbearing at times. But you need to be disciplined and carve out time every day (yes, every day) to spend time with your family. Maybe it’s over dinner, maybe it’s during a 2 hour car trip, maybe it’s after an event at night before bed. But this is the season of love, and it is important to weave love into the fabric of your family. Make time for them, and make time for you. Making time for your children is the one thing you will never regret, and you are going to be the one to make it happen. Enjoy it all 🙂

Homeschooling Product Reviews: Curriculum & Books

On April 25, 2014May 26, 2014 By Tamarah RockwoodIn Homeschooling, UncategorizedLeave a comment

We are going on to finish our 6th year of homeschooling, and we have used quite a few homeschool curriculums by now.

When I first got started, I was pregnant with our 3rd child, had just moved an hour away from where we thought we were going to raise our kids so we had a big fat ZERO community around us, and I had never homeschooled before. We started with Kindergarten and we are all the way to 5th grade by now!

I have definitely paved our own road with this, and it has been absolutely amazing!

How about I give back, and do some reviews?

Continue reading “Homeschooling Product Reviews: Curriculum & Books” →

Homeschooling: The Path of Blood, Sweat and Tears

On April 25, 2014 By Tamarah RockwoodIn Uncategorized1 Comment

My day as a homeschooling mom is a lot like running on my treadmill.

Lemme ‘splain.

I was not bred for running. I wasn’t even bred to be athletic. When I was in Elementary school I was on the worst softball team in the section, The Sprouts. In High School I was on the swim team, but I wasn’t in a rush so, consequently, I lost most of my swims. Okay, I lost all of them.

As I got older, with a few pregnancies under my belt and the extra weight that comes with them, I took to running.

This was to help my heart be stronger, get the blood pumping better, my muscles to get a good workout. I intersperse this with yoga, so I can give the muscles a good stretch.

But still: my body is not a runner’s body.

If you were to look at me, you would agree that I just look maternal. My face is roundish, my body is roundish. When I do flex, you will never see the muscles underneath. I am not a runner, and yet I run.

Last night I was on the treadmill, trying desperately not to look at the timer (4:09min…I can do this…runrunrun…4:15min?! Seriously??) My mind was pacing back and forth between “I want this. I want to run. I want to be stronger. I want to be in better shape. This is a good thing.”

and

“I could be sitting on the couch reading. I could be working on lesson plans. I could be drinking coffee right now. I could be relaxing. Happily.”

Instead of relenting to what would be easier, I pressed on. By the end of the run, I advanced half a mile farther than the previous run.

But I was still tired, still out of shape, I hadn’t magically lost 15 pounds from one run, and I knew I had to run tomorrow all over again.

I was just thinking of how similar my drive for running was to my drive for homeschooling. It isn’t going to be finished in a day, and tomorrow we are going to look for the same pencils we are missing today. We haven’t even begun on Calculus or “Lord of the Flies,” but that’s because we’re still in 3rd grade! It is going to be a long, arduous road; but it is going to be worth every effort you make, every day you put into it, every year you complete.

——

The path of homeschooling is the path of Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Blood: Quite simply, you are teaching your own blood. Your students are your own kids, in your home with your hand-picked curriculums. Your schoolroom is the heartbeat of your children’s education. Everything you put into the school day, all the effort of choosing what you study emanates from you. You are putting everything you got into this because you believe in your kids, and you believe in yourself!

At the same time, the days of high blood pressure because no one knows where any of the 50 pencils are, even though you just got them the other day. Someone has misplaced their math book and have a look in their eyes that questions whether they ever remember even having a math book in the first place…those days are hot blood days, for sure!

Sweat: Have you ever spent a weekend reorganizing the schoolroom, instead of relaxing outside in the sunshine? “These bookshelves need to go over here, and I’m going to put all of our history books over here, and now I’m going to redesign our lesson plans, and after that I’m rethinking English entirely.”

You put a lot of sweat into your school, no two ways about it. Every wall has something hanging on it, and every scrap of fabric is kept just in case you need it for future school projects!

You also have those days where you are sweating bullets, wondering if this is going to work. The truth is, most of us spend a small percent of our week panicking that we aren’t doing enough. Did the kids get enough out of our study on Greece? Could we have done more? What is the balance of schoolwork and childhood? What is the balance of teaching and being a Mom? Where are the boundaries of when we teach and when we play? We sweat, and we sweat hard.

That’s the truth of it.

Tears: Oh sure, there are days when you are wrestling with the kids to get work done. You start rubbing your temples at 10:30 in the morning repeating to yourself, “I can do this, I can do this, I can do this…” We have all had a few (or more) teary days, especially in the beginning. It seems like nothing is going right. We don’t know what we’re doing. What is going wrong, I had all this planned last week? Why have we regressed on subtraction all of a sudden? What is dyslexia? What books can help with dyslexia? How did the 2 year old get into the cereal, again?? Where is the 2 year old…..

But the tears when your 4 year old spells “Mom” for the first time are imprinted on your heart, I know it. When your child who struggles with reading finishes her first page for the first time and looks up at you with the biggest smile, just for you. After you have completed an entire book of multiplication after drilling the times tables into their heads for months…those tears are worth all the blood and sweat you guys have put into this. I remember being so overcome with emotion when my kids first learned how to read, when they figured something out, after a huge project was finished.

I have cried buckets of tears during my years of homeschooling, and every single one of those tears are worth diamonds.

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White wines have proved to be both astonishingly interesting, annoyingly self-entitled, fabulously bold and heart-wrenchingly boring.

These are going to be rated from what I liked best to worst:

1) Sauvignon blanc

2) Chardonnay

3) Semillon

The grapes –

It pairs well with –

4) Moscato

The attitude –

5) moscato wine –

5) Pinot grigio

6) Gewürztraminer

Gewurztraminer wine – Much more complex nose, much stronger taste than reisling. Lots of apple, grapefruit, but the flavor is so much more complex. Dry, but bitter after taste. Sweet front, complex middle, fruity, but really complex after taste. By far the most complex white wine of them all.

This wine is hard to describe. It is crisp, yet has distinct floral notes. It isn’t exactly “refreshing,” and you won’t feel better after drinking it. But it is a little peachy. In a very snotty, self-righteous kind of way. So, there’s that.

It pairs well with – Chinese, Thai, Cantonese…but I can’t really speak for it. It’s giving me a dirty look as I’m typing, and it’s making me a little uncomfortable…

7) Riesling

riesling wine – It’s definitely good on its own, but you really have to like apples. A lot.

The Grapes

Red Wines

When I turned 21, I didn’t really touch alcohol.

The beginning of the school year has come, and I’m rethinking how we are going to strategize next year’s schooling goals.

Chances are if you are a homeschooling mom, you have an entire library devoted to the science of homeschooling.

1) The ESV Study Bible

I will always be a member of Enchanted Learning (link!!)…I found them about 10 or so years ago, and I have used their ideas constantly!

We are going on to finish our 6th year of homeschooling, and we have used quite a few homeschool curriculums by now.

When I first got started, I was pregnant with our 3rd child, had just moved an hour away from where we thought we were going to raise our kids so we had a big fat ZERO community around us, and I had never homeschooled before. We started with Kindergarten and we are all the way to 5th grade by now!

How about I give back, and do some reviews?

My day as a homeschooling mom is a lot like running on my treadmill.

The path of homeschooling is the path of Blood, Sweat and Tears.