I'm sure if you live in America, everyone in your house was fully aware of the total solar eclipse that happened on August 21, 2017. How could you not?! That's all anyone could talk about and for good reason! What a cool event to witness! There were plenty of places to buy the safety glasses, and if you didn't buy the glasses to check it out, I'm sure you joined us in making a pinhole viewer. They popped up all over Facebook, so it was hard not to, right? My 1st grader loved viewing the eclipse through our cereal box. He was completely amazed by what he saw -- even at the 60% coverage that we got where we live. So cool!


With that said, I realize that the big day has come and gone, but it's still a great topic to cover regardless! Our first day of school was also the day of the solar eclipse, so we're kind of learning about it in reverse. We witnessed it and now we're taking the time to learn about it. My guy can't stop talking about it, so it's been the perfect topic of the first week of school! If you're interested in doing a lesson on it and aren't sure what to use, this is what we have been doing...

First off, we've already chosen to use Apologia's Exploring Creation With Astronomy this year, so it worked out perfectly! We used pages 24-28 in the text book, but also pulled a bunch of other items up to make it fun -- printables, library books, videos, etc. Below is a list of a few of the items that we used...








SaveSave

School has officially begun in our house! I can't believe I have a 1st Grader and a Preschooler! Time goes way WAY too fast!!! I feel like our summer break just started, and yet here we are...

Because the first day is always a day worth celebrating, we started it off right with a fun breakfast. Sam picked pancakes with strawberries + whipped cream -- can't argue with that!

Caleb was still asleep or else he would've been in the photo, too.

Preschool teachers and parents alike, this might be of interest if you have a preschooler (or kindergartener!). My sister recently started her first year as a Preschool teacher, so she requested this for her class. What a fun way to start the first day!

So, I'm sure you've heard of the Instant Pot by now. It's this magical device that makes delicious meals in minutes! I've known people who bought it for the past year or so that rave on and on about it. Always. Knowing the cost of it, I always just dismissed it all and continued on with my dependable crock pot. That was until Prime Day when I finally gave in and bought one! After all, the pricing was equivalent to Black Friday, so why not?! If I was going to get one, it was as good of a time as any, right? Boy am I glad I did!!! We've only used it for the last month, but we're in LOVE! Everything we've made in it has come out delicious in a matter of minutes. Okay...I think some of the recipes are deceiving due to the prep time and various additional extras in between, but generally speaking, it's WAY faster than using the stove or any other device. I encourage you to look into it if you haven't already and consider putting it on your Christmas list. Trust me, between homeschooling and extra-curricular activities, you'll thank me!

With that said, we used it tonight to make Mac and Cheese for the first time. Even though we already had flap steak in the crock pot ready for fajita tacos, neither of our boys showed any interest. Normally, I'm that mean mom that makes them at least try it before getting a PBJ or something else that requires little to no effort. However, I didn't even have the energy to fight them on it tonight. So when they sweetly asked if they could have Mac and Cheese instead, I gave in. We usually just buy Annie's, but we were out of it and knowing that it wouldn't take long, I thought I'd try it in the Instant Pot instead. I figured, we still had a few minutes since the rice was still cooking for our main dinner. Turns out, using the Instant Pot to make homemade Mac and Cheese is actually faster than making the boxed version! What?!?

If you have a cheese lover in the house, they'll thank you. Both my boys asked for thirds. I know that's not unheard in this household -- my boys eat A LOT -- but this happened within minutes of being served their Mac. Like me, they both love the gooey, cheesy goodness that you get when you order Mac at a restaurant. This was better than what you get at Panera or Corner Bakery Cafe (both of which the boys and I really like) and it only took 10 minutes! In fact, my six year old, Sam, shouted, "Wow!!! Mom!!! This is 1,000% good!" Haha.

What you'll need...

• 1 box (16 oz) noodles of choice
• 4 cups water
• 2.5 tablespoons butter
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 can (12oz) evaporated milk* 
• 2-3 cups shredded cheese of your choice**
• pepper/paprika/spicy brown mustard to taste

*I've read some recipes call for heavy cream or half and half. I used evaporated milk, because that's what I had on hand. I think I'll just stick to that, since I can easily keep some on hand in the pantry.

**I used 3 cups of the trio blend (mix of cheddar, American, and Swiss cheese) this time around and felt it was the perfect amount. It really depends on how cheesy you want it...


First, put the pasta noodles, water, butter, and salt in the Instant Pot. Set it to 4 minutes on Manual. When it's done, do a quick release. Maybe you'll have more luck than me, but if not, make sure to have a towel on hand at this point. Mine sprayed the steam along with buttery water ALL over the place. No other time that we've used it, did we deal with this. Steam, sure, but not the sudsy mess that followed. Either way, after standing there in shock for a minute just looking at the mess being made, I grabbed a towel and hung it over the vent to catch the rest. Might be worth considering...


Next, set it to sauté, add the evaporated milk and stir thoroughly. Once it's mixed in well, add the cheese and stir until completely melted. Lastly, add a dash of your preferred seasoning. Since I didn't add any this time around for fear of my boys refusing to eat it, ours was incredibly simple. However, next time, I fully intend to add a little paprika at the end and possibly some mustard. Now that I know the family loves it, I'll start experimenting a little...


Serve immediately and be ready to get back up before you've even started yours to get seconds for the kids. ;)

Considering Mac and cheese is the #1 request by my boys when we go out to eat, I know this will become a regular in our house -- especially on hockey nights when I usually just give in and grab fast food due to how late we get home...


***Edited to add...when I was putting my boys to bed earlier tonight, the last thing my 6 year old said was, "Can we have the Mac and cheese you made again for breakfast in the morning???" Ha!!! Clearly, it was a winner...

In our house, aquariums and all things ocean-related are loved. In the last few months, we visited the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, went on a whale watching tour, and visited Sea World in San Diego. I don't know who loved it more -- my boys or myself! I could spend all day, everyday, learning about marine mammals. There's just something so peaceful and beautiful about them!

So with that said, my 6 year old happen to run across a fun documentary on Netflix that I'd highly recommend!


Self-titled -- Humpback Whales is an in-depth look into the lives of Humpback Whales (obviously). According to my son, the best part (that he could watch on repeat ALL DAY LONG) is when they show the whales playing with the song, "Best Day Of My Life" by American Authors playing in the background. Sam will literally rewind it and play that scene at least 10 times in a row before I have him continue through the rest of the film, ha. The documentary is well made and it doesn't hurt that Ewan McGregor is the narrator -- does he do any other documentaries? Ha. I love his accent...Okay, anyways. It's an up-close look that helps kids (and parents) get a better understanding and appreciation for the animals in a fun way. If you happen to live near a coast, it's also the perfect precursor to a whale watching tour. Or, if you happen to be covering animals in your science curriculum -- I imagine this documentary would be the perfect addition to Apologia's Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day!

SaveSave

If you have little ones in the house, I'm sure you've gone through the dinosaur phase. My boys are currently hooked. They both love watching Dinosaur Train and reading various books about them. A perk to living in Southern California is that we have a few awesome museums nearby -- they both loved going to the La Brea Tar Pits and the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Palentology during the last year! Over the last week, our family did a road trip up to Yellowstone and when I found the Dinosaur National Monument on the map, I knew we had to go!

To be honest, I had never heard of the Dinosaur National Monument, but I'm glad I found it while browsing Google Maps. It was the perfect addition to our trip and the boys had an amazing time checking it out! It's pretty surreal standing there next to a wall of rock that has dinosaur bones in it that were found long ago. I think it's amazing to think that bones found there have been shared to museums such as Carnegie and the Smithsonian. I never really put much thought into where they came from when we've visited those museums, but to stand there where they were initially discovered -- it's pretty awesome!

Since my son, Sam, has been wanting to create videos to put on YouTube, we made one about his experience at the Dinosaur Quarry Exhibit Hall. I decided if I can make this love for YouTube into a learning experience, then why not? Check out the video below to see Sam's take on his visit there. If you feel compelled, also leave a comment (on the YouTube page) for him to read later. It's cute how excited he gets about this stuff!

So, I wrote last week about lesson planners and how I was still debating which route I was going to take. There are so many options and great ways to approach it! Well, after my little guy "helped" me organize our All About Reading flash cards earlier this morning, I decided I had better get moving on the planner issue so that I could start making lesson plans. After all, school will be here before we know it and if it's on my mind right now, I had better do it. So, I decided to go ahead and print out one of the styles that I had created for Etsy. (see below)