Mommy Experiments
I will document my many mommy experiments here. We believe that learning is a lifelong experiment and it is not always a nice straight line! Learning can be messy, chaotic and hectic and that describes our farm regularly. So, I’m going to share my own adventures (and misadventures) on the blog as well! I hope it inspires you to try some new things and make some messes!
Confession time… I’ve had a Montessori Love Affair for almost ten years. I LOVE Montessori materials. I love everything about them. I love their colors (or lack of). I love their weight or their daintiness, depending on which works I am admiring. I love their design. I love how they are presented. I love the care and thought that goes into how to best present each work. I love the shelves they sit on. I love the clean, uncluttered environments they reside in. I love the methodology and thought behind the works. I just love, love, LOVE them.
I remember so vividly the first glimpse I had into the genius behind the Montessori pedagogy and materials. My oldest son was in the primary (early childhood) classroom at our local Montessori school. I was a drop-my-kids-off kind of mom and this was my first observation of the classroom with students working. I sat quietly in my assigned, child-sized seat watching. I remember being a bit bewildered as I watched the students go about their daily work. I watched children blissfully content with being focused on the task at hand, whatever that task was. I watched works being restored in their proper place with great care. I saw teachers giving lessons to small groups while the other students stayed on task in their own areas. I watched children taking turns and waiting for the opportunity to use a favored work. I was mesmerized! After my observation period concluded, I sat with the head of school and gleefully offered to purchase more of the particular favored work. She smiled, patted my hand, and patiently explained why they didn’t need another of those works. I WAS HOOKED! My Love Affair officially began then and there! I knew my children would be taught in a Montessori environment!
Making Yogurt… NOT!
We are back in milk!! Woo Hoo! The very first thing we have been doing (besides drinking our fresh milk) is saving some of the cream off to make butter. The Second thing we have been doing is planning to make yogurt. Last year we attempted the whole heating pad and cooler experiment to making yogurt and we were just not that impressed. If it is going to be effective, time wise and management wise, it has to be half way easy to implement and do regularly. So I bought us a yogurt maker! We are all excited and ready to make yogurt and go to pull our powdered milk (to add consistency and firmness to the yogurt)… and here is what I discovered:
And for those that are as blind as I am, that reads best before Feb 2010!
So, live and learn… and plan better! LOL!
2.21.13 Ricotta Cheese 2.0
Today I tried the other recipe I mentioned below. It did not produce quite as much cheese, but it does have a slight orange flavor. I am sure I will use this recipe for a recipe I found on Food Network for Ricotta Orange Pound Cake with Strawberries!
Ingredients were similar to the other recipe:
1. In a large pot (we used a smaller stainless steel pot this time), heat the milk to between 185 – 195 degrees Fahrenheit. DO NOT BOIL! Stir often to prevent scorching.
2. Once at temperature, add OJ. I still did not get curds after adding more fresh squeezed OJ, so I resorted to adding the citric acid (about 3/4 teaspoon).
3. As soon as the curds and whey separate (this time the curds were on top), take the pot off the heat and cover. Allow to sit, undisturbed for 10 minutes. (I almost forgot to get pictures of this step… I had put the lid on and was moving it off the heat when I remembered)!
This blog thing is NOT as easy as it looks! I have never been extremely technical, but this experience has left me feeling like a kindergartner in a nuclear physics class! Honestly, I have learned so much in such a short period of time, but I am still a newbie! This is part of the life-long learning philosophy that we are modeling for the boys! If we expect them to approach learning with an open and hungry attitude, we must remember they are watching us for how we react in our own learning opportunities. Do we, as adults, expect more from our children than we are able to give ourselves? If we are honest, the answer would be YES! And then we usually try to figure out how to explain away the guilt we are now feeling for not being the role models we want to be all the time 🙂 In reality, even in these moments, we are teaching our children. We need to learn to laugh at ourselves … lighten up! It does not have to be perfect (in fact, it can’t be perfect)! I’ll point out a few flaws I’ve seen on this blog that I’ve been aggressively working to figure out but they still have me completely stumped:
See! Life and Learning is messy, chaotic, hectic, and not linear! So, we just need to accept it and show our children how to walk out learning in a messy, chaotic, hectic world 🙂 In the meantime, if anyone knows how to fix these things, let me know!!!
Until next time……