The Quantum Learning Model

Quantum learning methodology was introduced in the 1970’s with the learning forum founder and President Bobbi DePorter. Dr. Georgi Lozanov was hosted by Bobbi Deporter bringing his research on memory and brain function to the west breaking new ground in research and established the Quantum Learning Methodology by setting up a learning laboratory. Dr. Georgi Lozanov had developed the Quantum Learning Methods first in Bulgaria where he was a Bulgarian educator and psychologist. Using the methods creates an accelerated learning bringing the fun back into learning and making real connections with students and their whole involvement bringing real meaning to the students.

The idea is to engage and energize students and create life long learners who will take responsibility for their own learning experience. The foundation Quantum Learning rests upon is called the FADE model, Foundation, Atmosphere, Design and Environment with the goal of creating a strong context. It is based off of principles of 8 keys of excellence that consist of Integrity, Commitment, Failure Leads to Success, Ownership, Speak with Good Purpose, Flexibility, This is It! And Balance which is used in all areas of subjects and grade levels.

It seems to be a complex system with framework for a variety of uses such as the 5 tenants Learning, the Learning Design frame and Models for teaching giving teachers the skills required to use the methodology to empower and accelerate their students learning in a supportive learning environment in connection with the three major learning styles.

Once Lozanov’s ground breaking theories moved west, a variety of other new techniques not original to Lozanov’s theories were introduced some of which would include breathing, biofeedback and visualization. He has been training teachers all over the world for his superior teaching model and even spent time under arrest for his innovative, free thinking ideas until Bulgariapolitical views changed and is the creator of the science of Suggestology.

Quantum Learning Strategy mixes educational theories with immediate implementation within the classroom in a way to ensure information will be stored in several places within the brain to make it easier for the brain to recall the information later. Mark Reed, a High School Teacher in Kansas at McPherson High using the Quantum Learning Model proved to be so successful that the McPherson School District is now using the practice at all grade levels where Rick Reed and another teacher, Chad Brake, is teaching the other teachers the basis of the ideals of the Quantum Learning.

It seems that many public schools would benefit from instilling Quantum learning practices across all grade levels. It leaves the students empowered, energized and builds upon a students level of confidence creating effective life long learners. Those who use its methods testify to the success of Quantum Learning raising students test scores and accelerating their learning overall. It seems to motivate and excite kids about learning in ways that their brain can process and easily recall information while keeping them fully engaged.

CarriesUnschoolers Campout 2014 Photos

If you have good neighbors and at least an acre of land with online connections to other Unschoolers, I highly recommend hosting a week long camp out event!

I am really late getting this up as it was  the first week in September we held it but it was unbelievably the best time EVER!

It was truly an incredible experience getting to connect with other unschooling families that I had made deep connections online with for the past year and a half.

4 families and one friend of a family all showed up for a total of 18 people here including my family for the course of the week. 

They pitched their tents in the yard and the teens spent a lot of time in doors playing video games and baking brownies, periodically coming out to visit around the camp fire with us. 

Since everyone who came were unschoolers, the meshing of similar philosophies and parenting styles provided a rich and safe environment for all the kids to be themselves in total freedom of being themselves in a very laid back comfortable environment.

My husband who does not do anything on the computer was able to connect with other adults on his 9 days he had taken off work and totally appreciated the interaction with some of the most kindest, down to earth, fun loving people you had ever met.

This was right after a liver sectioning biopsy surgery I had and this was the fun week we desperately needed at the time.

The intellectual conversations, teens speaking their views, campfire games and so much laughter your sides hurt  with amazing food and company was the most amazing experience we have had in a very long time!

We had three 3 year olds and 5 kids aged 12 , 13, 14, 16 and 19.........so a perfect crowd!

It was truly AMAZING!

I can NOT WAIT to  host another one!

Turtle Lessons About Living and Learning

I am a firm believer that if one takes a moment each day to observe nature, many lessons can be observed and answers given to live a natural lifestyle deeply connected with the earth in which we live. Everything from trees and plants, weather patterns and seasons, to the animals and their behavior all can act as teachers and guides.

What can a turtle teach us about living and learning?

To start :  If slow and steady wins the race.......why then does public schools take the position of the hare and not the tortoise? Why are they is such a hurry to cram more and more information into younger and younger minds and then scream how it is a flawed and broken system that needs to be reformed?  Perhaps they should reconsider the message of the Tortoise and Hare!

Some things we can learn from our Turtle friends:

1.) Keep it slow and steady and you will see progression of learning and not as likely to have periods of burnout or a frustrated child overwhelmed by too fast a pace. Kids learn, well people in general really all learn in their own time, at their own pace and that is perfectly okay. Not over scheduling activities gives us plenty of time to take a laid back approach which allows us to take in more and observe more. By observing more we can rise to the challenge of taking cues from the observations on bringing in and seeking opportunities of things that would light a fire of passion to learning.

2.) How to Shield yourself from negative energies- the outside world can be highly critical of homeschoolers, even more so to unschoolers. Their words can be hard, cold and given without thought based in information, only fear of the unknown. While the outside world can be hard, we can be soft and kind, safely tucked into an environment of love, connection and safe boundaries where natural learning can flourish. We do not need to let the thoughts of others harden us to the core, but we can keep a thick skin on the outside so we go about our lives unaffected by others opinions.

3.) Sometimes life gets in the way, stuff happens, health fails, our world gets turned upside down. Don't give up, while it is extremely difficult to right yourself, and may take great effort, it is NOT impossible!

4.) Home can literally be where ever we go, which works splendidly for gypsy souls, travelers and world schoolers. Home does not have to be bricks and sticks and permanency. Home is not a building, it is what lives inside the building that makes it a home. Where family goes, home goes. Taking our home with us does not mean keeping yourself chained within a small world, but by being able to take it with you, you can become part of a much bigger world.

5.) Develop ideas, and even though they may stay buried for awhile, allow them to hatch naturally. Fully explore your ideas, nurture them, grow them, give them light and let them expand and develop by going with the flow, naturally without rushing it.

6.) That it is okay to retreat  inside to the safety and coziness of your home, you do not always have to be out and about, visible and on the go.

7.) That some of us may seem a little cold and hard on the outside but is just our defense after dealing with too many who don't "get" it. Give it a little time to get to know us, many of us are really quite soft, loving and generous on the inside.

8.) Stay grounded and connected within our daily environment, take a moment to breath in all the goodness in the morning. Take a few minutes to meditate or yoga, breathing exercises and find your calm for the day trying to hold on to that for the duration of the day.

9.) That it is okay to be a teenage, a mutant or a ninja as one friend so humorously puts it! I will not expand on that, I will leave it to your vivid imagination for the deeper meaning!

10.)  As their are varieties of turtles, same is the number of homeschooling methods, find which one works for you. Each species of turtle has very different needs and habitats and you will find this goes for homeschool methods as well.

11.) Know it is okay to take a little longer to get somewhere but take time to always be in the present, taking in everything about your surrounds and what is going on within it. Plan accordingly so you can take your time without having to rush.

12.) Know your goals ( goes for life in general!) and do not let all the little distractions move you off course. Keep heading in the direction of your goals and you will get there!

As you can see, our friends the turtles have a lot to teach us, can you think of  lesson from turtle that is not mentioned here? Leave a comment and let us know!

Creative Sprees

Cutie Cube Plushy

Latest Magna Drawing

Dragon

Cooking Pot Sewing Project

Coffee Mug ( tan piece sewn in top for "coffee" you can not see in this photo)

This winter has been LONG and COLD! Becoming bored from being cooped up inside can turn into a creative boom, a frenzy of activities that stem from internal motivation.

I have really enjoyed this frantic spurt from my daughter this winter! 

She has been working on her YouTube channel at Little Kitty treating it very much like a home business. She works really hard at getting videos made, editing them, uploading them and responding to comments. She also works hard at trying to increase her subscribers, so if you have kids that love Webkinz be sure to have them subscribe to her channel!

She also has been watching a variety of YouTube channels which is where she learned to sew the Cutie Cube Plushies that are shown in the photos above, my favorite is the coffee cup! She also made a few that she gave away as gifts before I could take pictures of them. I see an etsy shop coming up in her near future! Better start buying a lot more felt fabric and sewing supplies for her! This is incredible to me because I don't sew and I am not really crafty! She finds inspiration all the time from a variety of sources and it is really amazing to me to watch her start to flourish in her creativity.

Of course drawing is still going on too, 2 photos above show her latest that she would let me photograph, some of her recent drawings she wanted to remain private, so that is all good, I respect her need for privacy. I remember at her age, I use to write a lot of stories and poetry and some of it was very private, not for others to read.

She has been going around giggling at just how busy she is and is going to be AND she is excited about that which of course excites me! 

She also was able to send out and receive quite a few Valentine cards this year and a few pen pals will be coming out of that which is good because she loves to write letters as well as make new friends. She continues to write her older sister in Monster High characters and even in their own coded language. 

February has been a good month!

How has yours been going?

Unschooling Through Terminal Illness

Well I was going to do an art spree post with tons of photos that my daughter has been so busy drawing!  She has been on a roll and drawing almost daily, BUT blogger is being stubborn and I am having some issues with it.


So, then I thought well you know, everyone that follows any of my blogs, knows that I was really sick for 2013. But I have never really talked about how we got through the year as unschoolers and little things we did, to ensure even if learning slowed down due to me disengaging it still would continue. I am not sure if I would even call it disengaging, after all I was knocked off my feet and incapacitated. I stayed connected and engaged when and where I could but it was vastly different than when an unschool family is in top health. I am sharing here in hopes that it may be helpful to others out there, not that they necessarily will be terminally ill but also for those that perhaps suffer chronic illnesses. So here are my thoughts and a few hurdles we needed to overcome.

• GUILT and Depression-  This was my first and largest hurdle and something I did not come out and openly talk about. Ironically I never really got depressed at all over my Stage IV Breast Cancer diagnosis, I pretty much saw that one coming and even came to terms with my possible death before my children turned 18. But when it came to our homeschooling, our unschooling lifestyle, I withdrew, quit blogging about it, quit writing articles and screamed and cried inside over the guilt, feeling like I had failed my family. I lost all trust and faith and questioned if unschooling was right for us, if it had ever been right and if I was doing a great disservice to my babies. Their care and learning experiences after all have always primarily fell on my shoulders. At any rate being involved and actively engaged, coming up with ideas, projects, games, places to visit, where to go, has always been my department. After a couple months of being very withdrawn, I realized that even if I died in 2013, that I did not fail my kids, nor did I set them up for failure, that indeed their learning would continue, just as mine has, for life.  I started connecting with homeschool and unschool groups again, reading and commented and renewed my faith in the path, and put my trust in it again. It would not look the same as an unschooling family in perfect health and that was okay. It would be unique to the new needs of our household and yet remain beautiful and organic, the way learning should be. I embraced it again, as I embraced LIFE and decided to give both, my all. Talking with others who have major health issues or chronic illnesses, I have realized when one discovers this for themselves, the guilt and depression related to their family in an unschooling lifestyle is not only quite common but a natural step one must go through in order to move forward. While this may not make it easier, just know it is a natural process and perfectly okay to go through. Those that told me to just put the kids into public school were typically those who did not agree with homeschooling in the first place. From time to time, when the doubts were strong, I did actually consider it. In the end I decided to trust our journey and take it one day at a time to see where each moment brought us.

• Providing Enough Tools- We spent money to ensure the kids would have access to learning whether or not I could be involved. Now granted being 12 and 15 helped where they did not need me for every little thing! We already had a laptop computer and a regular computer, along with 1 television and Xbox gaming system. We purchased a Kindle Fire and was Gifted another Television with a DVD player.  We then bought a game-cube for that television set. This allowed for everyone having access to something when we were all home. The gifted TV with DVD and game cube went in me and hubby's bedroom. This way on bad days, ( which all in all were way to many days for the first half of the year!) that I could watch a movie in bed or play harvest moon. This also meant the kids would come in and cuddle with me while we watched something together and just be together. Those were some nice and tender moments that I have fond memories of. The kindle Fire provided a way for me to go to the hospital and communicate with the kids with. It also provided a way to download learning apps and books that I felt due to the audio features may help  our dyslexic daughter with reading. This also gave me something to do on days I was good enough to come out and curl up on the couch, which I spent many days on my  hubby's man chair with ottoman or couch too!  Besides electronics, we did make sure we had new books available to them as well as art and craft supplies for our daughter.   Board games and cards were increased as well.  While our budget may be small as a low income family, I found what I could used, on sale, or a small amount set aside from our tax refund for certain educational tools.

• I'm Bored! -  Even with all the tools we made sure they had, I was told almost daily from my daughter at some point how bored she was no matter how much she had done that day. It was a huge adjustment for her to being staying home far more than normal as I was spending much of our free time being taken by hubby to all my doctor appointments, emergency room visits, testing and scans, and dentists. Not only that but my daughter was use to a very high energy mother that had spent her days all day, every day doing projects , activities and fun things with them. Even though my energy had been depleted in 2012, I was still functioning and was not until my diagnosis in January of 2013 that I became bedridden almost over night. This was a huge change for my daughter and it was hard on her, really hard! At any rate I have never met a child who has NEVER complained about being bored from time to time! You know what though? by the end of the year, it seems like she has renewed her unschooling lifestyle too. She now actively seeks out doing things on her own without requiring someone to always be there doing it with her. She finds things to do on her own, by herself and that is a good thing to be able to figure out things to do when feeling bored, something her Dad in his adult years does not know how to do! In the end she learned and grew from the experience and no longer required me to be the idea man, she was able to think of ideas for herself and creativity blossomed.

• Ways I Found and Embraced to Connect-  Our World was flipped upside down over night and I had to find new ways of being involved and trusting the process of an unschooled lifestyle. The kids certainly had to step up and help out some, by doing dishes, vacuuming and helping keep the yard mowed, usually this was done on a rotating schedule between the two. While we have never ever had required chores for them, it became an necessity for all to pull together as a team. When they would ask for me to do something that I could not do, I would let them know the things I could do, which granted was not much, but it let them know what was possible to do together. On days I could not get out of bed, we would either cuddle watching a movie or if that was too much, while drifting in and out of sleep I was available to my daughter who would be on the computer near me to ask how to spell things. Or she would spell something off to me for me to let her know what a difficult word was she was having a hard time reading was.  Some days I was so bad, my son would wake me up on a regular basis to have a cold bottle of water for me, knowing dehydration was a large concern. During these days, they made sure to be very quiet and do everything electronic or run off and play at the neighbors.  They were invited to go with us on a few occasions to chemo sessions or blood work days in order to ask questions they may have and to understand my treatments better along with meeting my wonderful team who was eager to meet our children. On a really good day we would go for a small walk or play a board or card game of some sort. Some days I laid in bed playing Harvest Moon while one of them would sit on the bed and read a book next to me or just talk.  Some days they would want to cook dinner since standing and cooking were difficult for me to do for a long time, I found if I sat in a chair in the kitchen I could guide and help them being present, but not physically involved and we found it to be highly enjoyable to do in that fashion.  I embraced these small to many but huge achievements to me and allowed myself to be amazed by the many small ways we still found to let life unfold in amazing ways and learning so organically. I would read books to my daughter while we sat together on the couch, at lunch time we almost always watched Documentaries together. On really good days we would take them to the movie theater or out for Ice Cream and later to the beach for swimming. I found that by embracing the small moments throughout each day of the things I could do, rather than worry about all what I could not do, allowed a beautiful flow and I did what I could to help them when they needed help, and connect. While we perhaps also may not have gone out all that much, we had far more company visiting than normal which helped too.

• Where we are at Now- With a terminal illness it can go either way, you can either get better, even if for awhile or you can take a turn for the worst. I am happy to say for us, they have certainly expanded my life and I am in a much better place than I was this time last year. I most likely will never be 100% of the woman I use to be, I have had to say good bye to that work a holic, always busy, physically strong woman.  But I am back to being able to function as a woman, wife and mother again and have shown my kids humor and grace through out this whole year. I am excited that while things crawled along for 2012 and 2013, that this year will bring back more activity, growth and learning with my renewed energy and healing.  Our motto has certainly become more of a Life is Amazing LIVE IN THE MOMENT type of living but I can tell you it feels great to be excited at what we may be able to achieve this year. After all my health could have certainly gone in a different direction and I would not even be here to type this post. When you have terminal illness though, you cant put the energies into what ifs, should haves, and can'ts.  Embrace each day for what it is, the one thing I do know is that if I had it to do all over again, I would not change a thing. We still would be unschoolers that allow the natural learning coupled with peaceful parenting. My kids had a lot to deal with for 2013 and they themselves had their own internal battles to fight knowing their mother could die. They certainly went through some depressions and emotional roller coasters themselves. In the end though we are stronger than ever as a team, as a family unit and they have both blossomed into amazing kids. This year will bring us to having 2 teens in the house, 13 years and 16 years and so far it has been a wonderful journey with them.

In closing, I just want to say, I am glad we did not give up, learning still continued and I would not have changed a thing.

End of 2013 Art Work and Happy New Year!

This is what our daughter was up to the last week of December, even the photo of the bruised arm is art! 

She drew the 3 adorable characters, something she usually does while watching TV when the inspiration hits her.

The bruised arm is done with makeup as she is taking a real interest in special effects 3D makeup and watches a lot of youtube videos on it.

It has been one very long emotional year for us and while my battle with Stage IV breast cancer continues I am in a much better place today than I was this time a year ago when I was diagnosed! On that note I am very happy  to say:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I am so looking forward to 2014 while in a better state, to embrace our life of learning, breathing in new life to it again.  I am excited at what we may be able to do this year and have this blog get out of quiet mode as we move out of just survive mode!

It has been a heck of a ride 2013 and my family has been amazing throughout the whole journey and I am very thankful for that. But now for 2014, it is a new year, time to bring back vital living full of life, energy and joy.

May your New Year be amazing, full of joy, health and love.............let the learning through living continue!

Minecraft Cake

The other day Corin watched a You Tube video on making a Minecraft cake. For those who may not know, Minecraft is this video game as well as an online computer game that is very popular where you build and create. Much like virtual Lego blocks in my opinion!

Well she asked if I would print off recipes for chocolate cake, vanilla cookies and frosting, no problem get right on that! The photo may not be a pretty picture ( her one big mistake was not letting the cake cool  off  enough so her frosting melted everywhere!) but I am really proud of her as she  made all 3 recipes with absolutely no help from me!.

This is her first kitchen accomplishment without requiring a  little aide from an adult to clarify an ingredient, or measurement for her ( the ones that are not marked on our measuring cup.) Not only did she make it all on her own, it was pretty darn tasty! Not bad for 12 years old!

Now, if I can just get her to sit down long enough to watch the cake decorating DVD I got her............. LOL.

Just Dance, Cooking, Sewing and Documentaries

Been a nice week with a very natural and pleasant flow going on, and here is a glimpse to what we have been up to!

TV shows:

4400-  an older series we had never heard of that Corin found for us and we all are enjoying!

Sleepy Hollow- New series on Fox that just started Shae Loves, Corin does not watch this one, just not her cup of tea,  the rest of us like it though!

Netflix Documentaries:

H. H. Holmes-  while a dark subject on this serial killer, it was a fascinating documentary on him

Corin watched one on Youtube about Wolves

Corin also spent a day of sewing dolls of different sizes and Daddy helping her drive around the yard a little bit and parking in our driveway. She does a really good job and has always loved doing this!


They both have been cooking this week, chili, peanut butter balls and barbecue sauce! The photo above is a raw foods Mango Mango Coconut Cream Pie with  Raspberry Frosting! Amazing!

Shae has also been reading his library books and talking about the invasion of Greece and such from World War II.

Of course there has been walking the dogs and dancing to Just Dance 4 too! Matter fact if you want a good laugh, go here to see Daddy creating his own dance for Corin to follow ( how many stars she can get, a good little competition.  Hilarious! You may want to subscribe to my channel there too as I will be trying to get a variety of videos up on a regular basis!

Math has been being done this week on the computer called Baggin the Dragon, I was going to do a few other activities with them, but ended up being sick for 2 days, but then the week is not over yet! :)

Of course there has been doing dishes and vacuuming as always.

My son does not like being photographed so you will most likely see a ton more photos of our daughter than our son.

I love when learning flows so naturally with a rhythm all it's own.  Some of the learning that would be considered life skills, others academic yet none of it separated from daily living. It is our living and what our days can look like.  It is a beautiful thing to watch, encourage and be a mentor in.

 

First Day of 2013-2014 School Year

In our home, we do not separate learning from living, for it is within living that learning is thriving and happening. So normally we do not really mark when one day begins  and another ends such as the beginning of a school year. This year however I wanted to mark it, I think in part due to me feeling healthier and my energy returning after a long year of chemo treatments. Last year I was very sick with my cancer and I was  not able to be as active or involved as I would have liked. This year seems......... oh  I don't know, special and magical so with that kind of excitement, it just  seemed fitting to celebrate a new beginning, a new year of learning!

Sadly I did not get any photos like I wanted yesterday but we are starting the year with my son being 15 and our daughter being 12. I will get photos soon and update the side bar pictures of us. Also our adult daughter is no longer here, she has moved out to start her own adult life. However our first day went something like this in a very relaxed way.....

My original plan was to spend it at the beach with the kids, but hubby's allergies were severely acting up and it was a little too chilly to want to go. So instead we rented and watched 4 episodes of the Walking Dead, Season 3!  Since we do not have cable television, we have had to impatiently wait all this time for the DVD to be released! Our family are HUGE FANS of anything zombie related and the Walking Dead is just AWESOME. We have plans for activities related to national disasters that we are all looking forward to, even if it is preparing for a zombie apocalypse! ( or War, Earthquake, Tornado.......... um yeah those may be  more likely ha ha!)

We then went to the library for our first day, which the kids love going and I love the fact we can get  books for 1 whole month at this library. Our son, Shae checked out 2 books, one on War Maps ( how cool  is that?) and one on the Samurai. Our daughter, Corin checked out 4 books, 2 Warrior Cat books and 2 Monster High books.

30 minutes of  chores were done which we consider part of life skills.

The day was wrapped up by hubby and both kids going through the 2 new basic cookbooks we go recently and picking 2 recipes they will work together in learning how to cook. They chose chili and pizza for their first 2 recipes to try.  All three of them will work together on these 2 recipes where they will cook 2 times a week. This is occurring because last year  I became to sick to cook and nobody here could cook and even though I am better now, we feel all 3 of them should work on basic cooking! Although I am better now, we know with Stage IV breast cancer, that all could change at any given moment and they need to be able to step in on things I usually do  around the house.

This is not something that is being forced, they are all actually looking forward to it as they do like to be in the kitchen. They just like my cooking better so sit back and wait to see what I will  make usually HA HA! The only rule is hubby said I will not be allowed in  the kitchen, only him and the kids! Also what a fantastic connection activity for the 3 of them!

Now that they picked their recipes, they will make their grocery lists and we will go shopping for the ingredients on Thursday. Looking forward to it!

In the evening, was spent on the computer as well as reading the library books. Corin read hers while I fixed dinner, spelling out the words to me she could not read so I could help her. After dinner I read to her for awhile. It ended the evening by her wanting to read to me, while I just read the words she could not get ( shared reading) and it was remarkable seeing how well she is reading now. ( It has been a very long difficult struggle for her with Dyslexia.)

Well so that was our first day, nothing major but a nice relaxed, very enjoyable day!

How was yours?

This Weeks Highlights

I had a really rough ride between Mothers Day through the whole week with chemo sessions and dental infections. However this week brought


Another 2 week on $50 per person shopping trip, allowing each member to buy their own food on that amount. Everyone went and my daughter even announced she wanted to make healthier choices which she did!

Our Youngest Daughter had her 12th birthday party and she helped me make her special request My Little Pony Rainbow Cupcakes.

We had a wind storm ripping most the skirting off our trailer with us in it but we are okay.

Me and the kids set some goals for this week that we all want to get done before the weekend.

We lost power 6 hours after the wall of wind hit us, this lasted from 10pm to 3pm the next day in which we just sat having fascinating conversations, board games and then finally a special treat by all going to Tim Horton's for frozen yogurts, coffee and sweet treats. Power was back on by the time we got back.


Daughter learned she can download a free app called KIK on my kindle for text messaging. Yeah no more requests to buy her an expensive cell phone! WIN

Watched a sad video my daughter took of herself on her birthday by feeling so lonely since I was at hospital 8 hours! Poor thing! Good news is that we did come back to celebrate! LOL

Both kids learned how to mow the yard with a push mower!

While I was at hospital on Mothers Day, came home to find my daughter had cleaned the whole Kitchen.

We set up our bird feeding station and everyone has been learning what birds have been coming, they ask me because I know most of them but  I will  be downloading a field guide to my kindle fire just in case one stumps me.

Both kids have made a request for me to purchase them certain books, so will look into it ASAP!

So been pretty good all in all I would say! Hope your week has been going good as well!

Radical Vanilla Muffins

Yesterday, my daughter asked if she could make some muffins, and wanted to know if you could make just plain vanilla muffins. I said SURE!

We did not have muffin cups, so decided to make the batter and put in a 13 x 9 greased pan.

She said she did not want me sitting on the couch answering questions ( she did this several times when I was couch bound) but rather wanted to know if I was up to being in the kitchen with her, to actually be involved helping with her creation. I said SURE!

Since I have a basic muffin mix I use from my head, I helped her with that but she decided on what type she wanted to make ( pure vanilla), decided she wanted to color it with dyes and layer it, decided she wanted to use an icing and things like that. She originally was going to use cinnamon too, but decided against that.

I told her muffins usually do not have icing so originally decided against that. However with only 2 Tablespoons of vanilla in the mix, they came out a tad on the plain side, so for what was left, she made the icing.

Making the icing was a great learning experience for her because she has never made it before. I forgot to tell her to cream in the butter to the confectioner sugar and then add VERY LITTLE Milk!

So yeah, she added too much milk and had to keep adding confectioner sugar until it was an icing consistency. Since she did not cream the butter in, there are bits of butter showing in the icing.

However it made for a very enjoyable afternoon for the two of us! I loved seeing her confidence and creative spark.

After muffin making, she wanted me to watch a Documentary on Netflix called "Bully"

It was heartbreaking to watch, but then my daughter always seems to pick some very heavy topics to become aware of some very serious issues. It is on the other hand a wonderful thing to see how compassionate she is on these subjects.

It really was a great day, enjoying every minute of it!