Tag: worldschool

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Valkyrie’s Log – Blending, Baking, Confucius and confused Cultures

Milk and Whisk

Location: Home, Colorado.
Status: Cultured.

Today should have been a day of long walks and cupcake baking. But instead was all culture killing and Zhou dynasty quizzing. Our Saturday had consisted of Kombucha bottling and Banana Bread baking, banana bread so good that we totally ruined our appetites for dinner and ended up going for a very pleasant guilt induced evening walk for nearly an hour. Guilt for putting ice-cream in our lunch time smoothies (1 apple (peeled), 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1/4 vanilla ice-cream, splash of milk and 2 ice cubes) that were supposed to be paired with salad but somehow the salad became unnecessary😅 Also mild guilt for the accidental dinner of L’s freshly baked banana bread, only mild as it was almond flour banana bread with relatively low sugar content (comparatively speaking).

So today started out as a “back on track” healthy active day. We had tuna salad for lunch and only the smallest square of banana bread 🤤 Then I was going to make yogurt and L was going to knock out the rest of her Social Studies from the previous week. But boy oh boy do the social studies of the Phoenician culture and the Shang & Zhou dynasty’s know how to swallow a day whole! Mid lecture, having pasteurised the milk to 180ºF, while clarifying the tactics behind the Mandate of Heaven and the influence of Confucius… I dumped my thermophilic culture into a piping hot half gallon of milk. Yogurt makers of the world will be simultaneously gasping in shock and groaning in sympathy. I put the whole pot in the fridge in a vain hope that if I cooled the milk down to the required 110ºF fast enough and scraped the meagre amount of leftover starter yogurt into the pot, things would somehow magically be saved… tune in again tomorrow to hear the most likely inevitable plight of our latest batch of Instant Pot yogurt (I’m going to give it the night in the hope that those few mighty cultures will take a leaf out of their Viking host’s book and conquer the whole darn pot!).

Grateful for:

  1. Banana Bread and Skype
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Valkyrie’s Log – How to teach your homeschool student to enjoy exercise

Location: Home, Colorado.
Status: Working it out.

We became the proud owners of an FTX Inspire home gym a couple of weeks ago and now that it is all set up, we’ve made ourselves a fitness plan. I told my husband I wanted to work out a little every day, I find it much easier to pop down to the gym in the evening and knock out a 20 minute work out than to commit to an hour 3 times a week. These workouts will supplement our morning dog walks of 40 mins minimum and keep us in good shape for twice weekly hikes!

I love a good table so here is what I made for my daughter L and I (M for Mom). Explanation of exercises is below. We can fill in the sheet as both a record of (hopefully) our improvements in strength, and as a record of L’s Physical Education.

Upper Body 3×10

1. Pull Ups 3 x 10 or 4 x 5
2. Inclined seated press  3 x 10
3. Negative Push ups 3 x 10
4. Standing Shoulder row 3 x 10 each side
5. Rotator Cuff Pull out (elbow in) 3×10 each side
6. Bent Row 3 x 10 (3-5kg)
7. Tricep extensions with rope. Elbows tucked
8. Tricep dips on bench
9. Bicep curl elbow tucked
10. Hanging knee lifts

Cardio
1. Squats x25
2. Push ups x10 (Knees down if needed)
3. Straight arm pull down (v low weight) x25
4. Lying leg lifts x15
5. Crunchies x25
6. Russian Twist x25
7. Jumping Jacks x20
8. Burpees x10
9. Mountain Climbers x20

Lower Body 3×10

1. Side Leg Out (handle on ankle) 
2. Goblet Squats
3. Reverse Lunges
4. Calf Raises (stand on toes)
5. Hanging Knee lifts
6. Hands through reverse squats (rope through legs, back to machine, heavy weight)
7. Glute Bridges 
8. Back Extensions 

The quantities for Upper and Lower body work are a target for us to work towards as we build our fitness over the next couple of weeks. The cardio numbers were higher originally but my husband decided it was best to start low and build up rather than to have numbers that felt wildly unachievable.

To begin with we will focus on form and familiarisation with the machine. Yesterday I did 10 of each Upper Body exercise just to get the hang of it, some 10’s were enough, others were easy. L will use no weights, working mostly to her own body weight and building up strength befitting her build, for her using the machine is more about novelty rather than necessity, no baby body building here! I will work my way up to weights that make the numbers achievable but still challenging and then I’ll work to build up the numbers.

The most important factor is to enjoy working out together, focus on form & fun, quantity (repetitions) and quantity (weight) come second.

Grateful for:

  1. A healthy family who enjoy staying fit and strong.
  2. The convenience of a home gym
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Valkyrie’s Log – How to avoid a Pizza Coma

Cauliflower Pizza Base

Location: Home, Colorado.
Status: Cooking.

October in Colorado is not like October anywhere I have every been. We are in the middle of an Indian Summer. Whether this is a normal occurrence or an anomaly will remain to be seen, but with temperatures of 28ºC/82ºF during the day, I am not complaining! So sunny, dry and warm are the days that we hardly notice that night temps are around 3ºC/37ºF! In fact we open the windows in the morning to let the cool in before the thermometer rockets to the sky!

Today was Day 2 of Time4Learning Supervision. Our daughter set to work, knocking out her entire 25 left over Mathematics modules in one day. Some sets she flew through independently, some required a little explanation… some a little more. But she did it. Unfortunately she had lost two days to one subject so was not finished in time for a movie, but we did take time for pizza and a work out before bed.

Pizza and work-out may not seem to go hand in hand, but when you have cauliflower pizza, the post dinner coma is a thing of the past. Now I’m not going to pretend to be any kind of foodie blogger, so here is a link to the recipe I used. I’ll just say, the first attempt I made cauliflower puree instead of cauliflower rice. Then I used frozen cauliflower rice but didn’t thaw and squeeze it. This time I thawed it, squeezed a LOT of liquid out of it and I think it would have been perfect had I had the right amount of Parmesan and not used grated cheese as a substitute. It tasted great but had a more rubbery texture than it would have. So there are my tips, here is the recipe. Bon appetite!

Grateful for:

  1. The weather! When you have the sun everyday, it becomes easy to take for granted! Talking to friend back in Ireland has reminded me to appreciate it!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGOzGScB97W/?igshid=lkfo6jhkmtas
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Valkyrie’s Log – What to do when your husband deploys

The Mountains are Calling

Location: Colorado, USA.
Status: Floundering.

As we find ourselves in strange new lands, our native guide, captain of our ship and rock of our family departed for 3 month work rotation in lands far away, it is time to Valkyrie Up! and take the helm.

The temptation to linger in the doldrums caused by the huge hole left in our apartment by is fairly strong. But I have the ability to steer our ship into sunny, happy currents and, right now, just enough inclination to do so.

The day started with an attempt to “Keep calm and carry on… as normal” which failed fairly obviously as the remaining skeleton crew started snipping at each other, losing their tempers and all patience jumped overboard.

We indulged in a mid morning dark chocolate treat to signify acceptance that trying to carry on as normal wasn’t working and to admit that everything isn’t ok and we are allowed to feel sad.

But! Onwards and Upwards!

Our missions, over this next 3 months, are as follows:-

  1. Keep a daily log
  2. Teach Mia the Yoga dog to be calmer on walks
  3. Adhere as closely as possible to a healthy daily structure
Mia’s version of Supta Parivrtta Garudasana/Eagle Twist

So yes, my husband has gone back to work. Yes, we are displaced in a new country with no family and only a few (albeit absolutely lovely) brand new friends nearby. But we are Valkyries. So we will conquer this new land, discover its treasures and sail (metaphorically) it’s fair winds and unfamiliar seas (mountains) until we love it as much, if not more, than the native who brought us here loves it.

Read more about how we ended up in Colorado here.

Grateful for:

  1. A husband I love being with so much
  2. Dark chocolate with salt