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This is the second part to my post about Ambrosia Restaurant *here.

after enjoying the salad, shrimp and French Onion soup, I ordered the lamb chops- creature of habit that I am, I was re-creating my previous wonderful dinner here.

see...it's fancy food



I had a moment of panic, when the salad arrived- because I suddenly could not remember what to do with all of the silver-ware on the table.


yesiree, me and jim-bob don't get out to these fancy eatery's much...
Think Jen, think...do you start at the outside of the dinnerware and work your way in..or do you start at the inside and work your way out?

It worked itself out, because everyone
at the restaurant is very gracious....




Here is my dessert, Creme brulee with raspberries. You know it had to be good, I usually only order chocolate... This was soooo worth every bite.


Philippe is a true artist when it comes to his cooking, here he is putting the flourishing touches on Sky's banana flambee.

Did I tell you that he is French? And he speaks with a French accent? The whole time he was cooking for us, I could hear the song "Be our guests" running in my head...it was just like that, the hospitality, I mean..not the dancing dishes...


His cooking was such a treat, you had to break out in wild applause as he finished. Did I mention that the bananas, after he flambeed them in I don't know what (but is was yummy)-were then placed on top of hand-made Madagascar-vanilla-bean ice-cream? I may never eat a plain ole banana again.

I bet I can talk Sky into going back just for dessert...

This is the best dining experience I've had to date.

You know you are having an out of the ordinary experience when you smile ear-to-ear as you make your way through each course.



Ambrosia is a 5 Star Restaurant located in down-town Santa Ana. It is on the second floor of the OC Pavillion building, and the building itself is a treat, we had a tour and it is an amazing building.

Philippe Antione is the General Manager, and Michael Rossi is the Chef.



Our first dinner here was so amazing, I asked Sky to take me again for my birthday.




Here is a photo of the Ambrosia 'waldorf' salad. The best salad I have ever had. I have decided I could live off this salad. This and a diet coke everyday, I'd be all set.

baby spinach, Gorgonzola cheese, candied walnuts, winesap apples, lots of onion....are you jealous yet?




We are saving Ambrosia for special occasions,because- the food is so spectacular that we want to order everything, and we don't want to share... We did share the signature shrimp scampi, but only because Sky ordered French Onion soup, so there was enough to go around..and yes, it is the best onion soup he's had, and that is a compliment, because Sky loves French Onion soup and tries it everywhere.


This is Philippe doing the tableside flambeed shrimp...in cognac garlic butter, yeah-baby!

more to come in my next post...

I've gone back to school, sort of..I call it "mom-school".
Here is my new study- RosettaStone French. I have been saying for many moons that I would like to study French again, and I have to thank Sky for finally getting me going with it. He studied a little Spanish with RosettaStone, and then decided he was interested in learning French with me.
Somehow, that makes all the difference.

I took 2 years of French in high school, so far the RosettaStone has been a refresher course for me.
Except
for the pronunciation part. Oh boy... I realize now that my French teachers let us get away with consistent, dreadful pronunciation. RosettaStone has brilliant units where you hear a pronounced word and then you have to speak into your headset and repeat it. It is very effective. I am learning quick to listen to the small change in pronoun or consonant ending to figure out a change in verb...instead of the dreadful "ment" we high-schoolers tacked onto the end of the verb. Which, I was surprised to learn...you don't hear in real French. Ahem.

I have to tell you all, the simple word "garcon" is kicking my arse. (pardon my uh, French) Every-time it comes up, I have to try like 15 times before I can say it passable. I am beginning to cringe when I see it come up. It's pretty humbling, since it was one of the first words I learned in high school. I thought about going across the street and asking our neighbor, the real French chef extraordinaire (...look, more French, I am soo talented!) to help me with that one, sorry, horrible word...but then I imagined facing him and trying to say that word correctly over and over for like 20 minutes, and I just couldn't put him or I through that...

All of this to say, that Mother Culture is always important, but I think doubly important when you are a homeschool mom. As teacher to our own children, we are apt to get lost in the job of homeschool mom, forgetting that we need to feed our souls, too. A new language, a new hobby, a challenging book- all are pursuits we should continually cultivate. -If not all, then pick at least one.

"I think it is a definite gain to the whole family when mother is able to take a little time to pursue her own interests,..."I have no time for these simple pleasures," is the mournful cry. Yes, there isn't time for all of them. Think seasonally. One interest per season, coupled with thirty minues of reading a day, may be all that is needed to keep up the Mouther Culture... Billy Graham said, "Mothers should cultivate their souls, that in turn they may cultivate the souls of their children."
-A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola, pg.350

Labels: Charlotte Mason, curriculum, mom school

My nephew E asked his mom about why she had the t.v. on most of the morning. (He is 3). His mom went on to tell him about MLK, and the historic significance of our first African American being sworn in as President. It was too much information, and went over his head. You know that moment? You realize you are lecturing to yourself and the kids are looking at you glassy-eyed? Yeah, that moment...and yet you keep going, because you are already so invested in the conversation... So, his mom finishes -the big fanale is "So, we are so excited because anyone can become President someday, no matter what color their skin is!"

..and to her surprise E is very energized and goes running around the room. His big, joyful, arm-waving, jumping up and down declaration?...

"Mommy!! -I'm going to be the first ever RED President!! 'cause red is my favorite color!"

* * * * * *

-I found this blog account of a very young homeschool boy's thoughts on being- 'Presidential'- click on over, it is very sweet. Sigh, I wish I could take photos like this mom does..

Social-networking sites share breaking news - did you know that minutes after the US Airwaves crash this month into the Hudson river, a photo of the plane floating in the river was uploaded to twitter? We live in such an interesting, changing age; our ways of getting news and even socializing are being changed. I'm wondering readers, do you use social networking sites such as facebook and twitter? Do you think our generation is slower to jump onto new modes of communicating?
-And, do you view these social networking sites at the modern version of the watering hole...or as the beginning of societal demise?

I am a facebook loser over at Motherwise cracks

The blog of 'Unnecessary" Quotation marks - it just feeds "something" in my soul...ha!

Finally, we have finally joined the ranks of '24' viewers...and we finally understand what all the excitement is about. We started episode 1 this week, we are renting from netflix..and I have to say, we are addicted. Too many nights up late watching this, blogging friends...

And, no, I am not getting a 24 shirt...

The painter Andrew Wyeth died, did you know he was homeschooled? Here is an interesting interview about his homeschooling, click *here.

Looking for teaching materials about Martin Luther King Jr.? The Teaching Co. has a free audio download titled "The Stride toward freedom".

Are you wondering if the Inaugural Event is an historic event, a historic event or a historical event? Well, Grammar Girl has your answer...

A couple of educational websites for the Inaugural are:

Our White house

and from the library of congress collection

Labels: homeschool

Fridays I plan to work out of our health books, some Fridays I don't...(another hazard of being Jenn) But, mostly I do plan to tackle our health readers from Abeka.

This is a page from Health, Safety, & Manners reader 1- chosen because Amie is my new reader, Teddy is my struggling OPD reader, and Demi is coming along nicely-but not a prodigy reader.
I chose the grade 1 reader hoping I could have all 3 read portions out-loud..look, it's a reading lesson, too! (I love to multi-task when I can)

Friday was all about serendipity for me, because just the day before-I hauled Demi into the bathroom and initiated him into the rite of using the nail- brush
..because
I.Just.couldn't.look.anymore.

And, he was preparing to leave for his piano lesson and I didn't think I could subject his poor teacher to the state of his nails. I then got onto amazon and ordered him his own blue nail brush, so he wouldn't have to keep using mine. I ordered one for the girls, too.

Friday's lesson was just perfect, I couldn't have ordered a better one if I tried.

The next page is even better, it has 5 black & white nail brushes and they are supposed to color on in every day that they have clean nails.

I heart Abeka sometimes! (sigh)

Labels: homeschool

We are having some crazy weather here in Southern California! You won't believe it, but it was actually 90 degrees here in Orange County. We live in an area that experiences an event called "The Santa Ana winds", these winds are pretty blustery and blow in from the desert, bringing warm, dry air with them.

I have always lived here, so I am used to them...but as an adult I don't find them as fun as I did as a child. Now, I go to bed and listen to things bang around and worry. As a homeowner I worry about fences falling over and trees falling on my car or house. They pick up in intensity at night, making it hard to sleep.


They blow in for a few hours, then stop for a few hours, then pick up again. The hours in between are kind of nice, but strange.

Sky and the kids went bike riding to Barnes & Nobles on Sunday. It is so hard for my mind to wrap around the fact that much of the country is locked in snow right now...

Yesterday I took Josie to the Orange Circle for a bagel and to sit outside. It was actually too hot to sit in the sun... Here is one of my favorite buildings at the circle, it is a bank building and has a Starbucks inside, though I've never been inside...because there is another Starbucks across the street! Chapman college is down the street, hence the many coffee shops. The orange circle has been used in several movies, off the top of my head, "That thing you do" -my mil's favorite coffee shop from her youth was featured in it...and "First Daughter" had several scenes done here.

Stay warm bloggy friends!

Labels: hens, Wordless Wednesday

The Charlotte Mason philosophy of homeschooling is known to most people for two shining areas; nature study and narration. Most simply put, narration is the practice of 'telling back' what one has learned. In the old days, I believe it was called 'reciting' a lesson. We practice a form or narration when we are excited about a book we have just finished, or a movie we have just watched, and we tell someone all about it.

Narration is a very effective tool for the homeschool mom. It can be very effective for teaching a child how to summarize, and I believe it leads a child naturally and gently towards writing well...how less painful to learn to first 'tell' all about a subject, using well-chosen words, grammar and flow. The children also unconsciously grab onto the original author's well-chosen words, and add these pieces of higher vocabulary to their own store-house of knowledge.
The best reason to have your children narrate, I believe, is that is the best way to have your children "own" the material. Having someone learn something, and learn it well enough to then present it to someone else...to be able to take the knowledge and teach someone else- that equals mastery. Learning material and being able to tell it back, makes the material forever their own.

I am actually more of a worksheet girl myself, it must fit into my own personal learning style- or maybe it's my own personal teaching style-best. But, a girl just can't find a worksheet for every book you read to your kids..and if you could, it would be expensive, and maybe a little tedious after a while...

I love narration, because I can read a book on history..and then, wham-o...ask for a narration! It's done! Ta-dah!

We just finished up "The Trojan Horse" by Catherine Storr. I broke it into 2 readings, there were just so many characters and events happening I thought the littles would get a little lost in it all.

The first half, I had the kids draw a scene from our reading, and then I had them write 2 or 3 sentences describing what happened. Much groaning and sighing followed. They thought it was too much laborious writing. For the second half, I asked for a drawing, and then took each child to the computer separately, so they could dictate their narration to me. I get much longer and detailed content that way.

Here is Amie's narration from today. She is 7 and in first grade:

The war of Troy
By Amie

Achilles didn’t want to be in the war, and his friend went to go fight for him, dressed up in his armor. His best friend was killed, Achilles killed the soldier, got on a chariot and dragged the dead soldier around the city 3 times. An arrow got his foot and Achilles died. Odysseus had a plan, he told the Trojans that they were leaving. The Trojans saw a giant horse statue, they brought it into the city. They had to cut the door, because the horse was too big to fit inside. The horse got inside and everybody decorated it and had a party. Queen Helen knew that something was wrong about the giant horse statue. All the soldiers of Troy were inside the houses sleeping, every person was sleeping and the belly of the horse opened and Greek soldiers came out. The Greek soldiers opened the gates and let the army inside. They fought. They made the people of Troy slaves. They took Helen home.

The End.

Labels: Charlotte Mason, homeschool

Fish and company may spoil in three days; but company in general, and company of the male, large-shoe/big of voice variety in specific- brings out all the disdain that our cat, Oliver can muster.

When we have the college boys over for dinner on Sunday nights, Oliver hies his way outdoors.

Company during the winter Bible conference is specially unappreciated.

This year, Oliver hid out in my room. We placed his favorite blanket on my bed to invite him to bide...



On this particular day, Oliver appeared at the back door for breakfast around 8 A.M. and then made himself cozy on my bed.

3 hours plus later, at 11:30 A.M. found little change.








2 P.M. we found a change in position










4:00 P.M. he is still contemplating world affairs deeply.

My flash finally caused him to lift an eyelid...

he decided it was time for supper...

and then he went out for an evening constitutional.

I might not have believed it, if I hadn't chronicled it.

He blinks upon the hearth-rug,
and yawns in deep content,
accepting all the comforts
that Providence has sent.

Louder he purrs, and louder,
in one glad hymn of praise
for all the night's adventures,
for quiet, restful days.

Alexander Gray

We homeschool for many different reasons. No homework, was not actually on the original list..but it has been an unexpected blessing. I am sitting here, blogging, while 5 kids play on the floor around me. They are not sitting at the table working on homework, but playing with the playmobil sets that live permanently (it seems) in my front room. Another blessing is the reality of 5 kids, ages 13 down to 6, -playing with each other.

"Another attraction of Charlotte's [Mason] philosophy is that her schools never gave homework to students under the age of thirteen. When a child follows her method, there is no need for homework in the elementary years, because the child immediately deals with the literature at hand and proves his mastery by narrating at the time of the reading....
...Instead of homework, my children enjoy cozy evenings with good books and parental attention."
-A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola,pg.15

Unexpected bursts of creativity are another bonus blessings. The first photo is of a fairy house Meg and Josie built in a neighbor's garden. The second photo above, the girls took a few mornings ago when we had some unexpected fog roll in. The things they think up usually surprise me. I am really glad that their childhood is cushioned with lots of free time to be creative.

Why I love homeschooling

Labels: Charlotte Mason, homeschool

Labels: Wordless Wednesday

Okay, first order of business...isn't my new camera awesome?! This is a shot I could not have captured with my old camera...the shutter was one of the delayed ones.

Did I tell you all that I looove my new Nikon D80? Thank you Sky!!

So...how is your New Year's so far? Have you broken any of your resolutions? All of them? Canceled some of them and made new ones?

I ignored all of mine for a few days, because as a Bridgette Jone's homeschool mom...my New Year didn't start until Monday- that would be January 5th. And, I have to confess that this is my second New Year's, because as a homeschool mom...in my mind my New Year is the new school year in the fall. So, for a procrastinator like myself, it works out rather well. I start my new year in the fall, and then in January I get a do-over!

Well, my exercise "intentions" are going well- I have been walking/running almost everyday, and to further my intention of taking my yoga practice to a 5 day practice, I signed up for a membership at a local yoga studio. It was a really, really good deal- I would save money by only going once a week. Yesterday I went to a yoga class. I have to say..."ouch".

Amy over at Amy's Humble Musings is hosting a 12 week challenge group...go on over for some encouragement, I think she is going to start up a separate blog for the group. I've lost a 1/2 lb so far..but I keep losing and gaining the same couple of lbs, so I am not celebrating yet. I have this problem with Sky and I liking to go out for dinner once a week...which we did last night, not good for one's dieting efforts!

Homeschool rocked yesterday! It rocked because I wrote out a plan of what I wanted to cover this week, and then I wrote out a plan for the day. And I didn't get onto the computer at all yesterday...that helped, too- not that I want to contemplate that much. Very much.

I was amazed that it rocked so much, even after I had to take out a chunk of time for my yoga class, and then a chunk of time to take Teddy for his meeting with his special ed teacher. I think it rocked because I knew I had to accomplish much in between those two appointments.

How is your New Year going, bloggy friends?
(going to sign off now, so I can keep on with the rocking thing..)

We began the week before our week-long Bible conference with our house-guests arriving on staggered days. I took the home-school gang out for skate-board-park-day, which we wrapped up over at Border's bookstore.

House-guests Phillip from Boston and Erin from Oregon like to read, too- so it was all good, all around. Our bonus student, Teddy is front and right.



Christmas Eve found us at the ice-rink!

Here are Demi-Sky and Amie.

Sigh, the photo is a little blurry, still trying to learn how to use my new awesome camera...

Demi was the natural out on the ice, Amie was just plain determined, as usual!





Late night Inn & Out Burger run!!
It is after 10 p.m at least, when everyone returns from the meetings. We then all proceed (even the kids) to stay up too late talking, snacking, playing fooz-ball, facebook-booking. Our friends Jona and Paul determined that the nearest Inn & Out from their town in Washington State is roughly a 15 hour drive...so they had to get it all in before they left. Our house-guests, Jonah, Paul, Phillip, Jenna, Erin and Evan.






Meals were a big consideration, we had breakfast at 8 followed by a study time from 9 to 12...sometimes we would have extras for breakfast and study time. We would take a study break in-between, then resume and have lunch. Because we have to take a sack-dinner to the meeting, we reversed the big meal to lunch time and had sandwiches for dinner.


Here is sky working on the sandwiches
for everyone to take to the meeting.



Sky's Grandmother celebrated her 90th Birthday this month, and Sky's mom planned a surprise party for her. Here are all the relatives waiting in the front yard for Grandma to arrive. We are a big bunch!

The week was very jammed-packed for us!