Every fall when I go to buy apples I find myself in a quandary because I can not, for the life of me, remember which apples are best for what. The list that follows is intended to fix that problem. Maybe you will find it helpful, too?

Lodi

Early summer, tart, makes fabulous applesauce that takes a bunch of sugar to turn sweet (which I don’t do because we like tart). To get the full “fresh apple” taste, freeze this sauce.

Summer Rambo

My second favorite apple for sauce—it yields well, perhaps because the apples are dry, requiring more water during the cooking process.

Ginger Gold

Good for sauce, but so sweet and mild that it needs sugar just to bring out the flavor.

Super Gold
Good for sauce, but flavor is quite mild, almost watery. Best mixed with other apples.

Gala
Good for eating out of hand. Also very good in crisps and pies.

Golden Delicious

Excellent for drying and fresh eating. Also good for sauce.

Lowry
Good for fresh eating. Crisp and juicy, though not the most flavorful.

Jonathan

Great for baking, but not good for long-term storage as they tend to get little (non-wormy) spots all over them. Okay flavor, but mushy texture.

Stayman

Excellent for long-term storage and fresh eating (they’re quite tart) but too dry and mushy for baking. Do not, under any circumstances, use these for drying as they will draw your mouth most wretchedly. More notes: the peels are way too tough. Used these for applesauce, mixed with super gold and golden delicious, and that worked fine.

York

Great for baking, drying, fresh eating, and long-term storage.

Empire

Good for baking, drying, and fresh eating. They are a little on the soft side (more tender than mushy), and they are small. Also, juicy with a snap of tart. We serve them at the donut party.

Fuji

Our absolute favoritest eating apple—crisp, tart, and juicy. It also dries well.

Honeycrisp
Large, crispy, and sweet. But almost too sweet. They taste almost like the bruise of an apple.

What are YOUR favorite apples for long-term storage, baking, sauce, and drying?

(For a huge list of all recipes apple, check out the Hazel Bloom’s Applepalooza Wrap Up post.)

This same time, years previous: horseback riding and my year of homeschool torture

One of the (late-coming) presents we got for Yo-Yo’s birthday was a book called The Dangerous Book For Boys, by Con Iggulden and Hal Iggulden.

He also got walkie-talkies, the Big Shebang Gift, the gift that inspired the jumping up and down happy dance and spontaneous bear hugs. But after a couple days of walking and talking, interest in the battery-powered objects faded a bit and the new book started getting more face time.

The book has rapidly become a prized possession. There’s crafty fun (the kids have made water bombs out of paper and the world’s best paper airplane, and it really is good), directions for games, and tons of useful facts and information, including first aid of which Yo-Yo has already tried out on himself after ripping off a scab on his foot while he was in the shower. (Unfortunately all the blood didn’t stay in the shower.)

“You know how I stopped the blood? he asked. “I pressed down on my leg right above the wound to cut off the flow and it stopped real fast. I learned that in my book, and it worked!”

So now, thanks to this book, when my kids interrupt me on the phone, instead of my standard screening question of Is anyone bleeding or dying? I’ll be able to say, If you’re bleeding, take care of it. If you’re dying, let me know.

The kids got (fresh) inspiration for a treehouse from the book.

For two days now, they’ve been loading up the wagon with old wood, nails, and hammers, and tromping down through the field to the construction site. It entertains them for hours.

It’s fun to watch Yo-Yo. He gets fully engrossed in his work.

He whistles when he’s happy, and while building, he whistles constantly. He only leaves off the pucker flute to pause, take stock of what he’s doing, and make disgusted statements such as, “That board is seven inches off!”

And then the whistling resumes.

It cracks me up, this focus that washes over him when he’s in possession of a hammer and some nails. He’s totally his papa’s son.

(Though Mr. Handsome is not a whistler and I’m sure he’d like me to inform you that he is never ever off seven inches of anything. Ever.)

This same time, years previous: chicken and white bean chili and peanut butter cream pie

I’ve been reevaluating my homeschool methods. Putting my practices and theories under a microscope. Nitpicking my decisions. Streeeeetching my mind.

See, I’ve had an epiphany. I’ve done a pretty good job at tossing institutionalized/organized learning and its markers to the wind…up until my kids reach the ripe old age of about ten. At that point my happy-go-lucky, “they’ll learn when they’re ready” theories mysteriously evaporate and I suddenly find myself exasperated, irritated, frustrated, and, most humiliating of all, feeling worried because my kids aren’t reading/spelling/multiplying according to my time schedule.

Thanks to my dear children, my hypocrisy has been forced into the light. See, my kids aren’t learning how I think they should be learning by now. For Yo-Yo, learning to read did not automatically translate into learning how to write (or spell or multiply or close his dresser drawers). For Miss Beccaboo, well, reading still hasn’t clicked.

When kids learn at (or before) grade level, it’s easy to spout off about different learning timetables and staying relaxed and trusting the child and yadda-yadda-yadda. But when you’ve got a couple late learners on your hands, it’s not quite as easy to stay relaxed.

My children, it appears, don’t have any interest in making my life easy or relaxing. Which is quite unfortunate for me since I have a hard time relaxing under normal conditions.

There is a lesson here and it appears the teacher is the one who has to learn it.

It’s not that my methods aren’t working so much as I’m not sure I enjoy my methods. After wallowing in mediocrity for awhile, I decided it was time for a week-long experiment.

Which I’ll get to in just a minute. But first, let me share some ideas I’ve gleaned from friends, magazines, and good ol’ self-analysis (because when I find myself floundering I talk, read, and think, and in that order, too).

*To effectively learn, there has to be a true-blue desire and need. Trying to replicate that need is (mostly? always?) superfluous—it has to come on its own.
*Math memorization is very different from thinking mathematically. The latter can be had without the former and vice versa, but the “vice versa” is not all that great. Follow? (I fall more in the category of the bad “vice versa.”) (Thank you, Cindy Lind of the September-October 2010 issue of Home Education Magazine.)
*In regards to education and learning, I’ve fallen victim to mainstream thinking more than I care to admit.
*Playing is super important, more important than I give it credit for. When a person plays, they are learning out the wazoo. (Odyssey Magazine, Iforgetwhichissue.)
*I need to learn to trust more.
*College readiness has almost nothing to do with academics and almost everything to do with: a) knowing how to seek help, b) the ability to work in groups, c) flexibility, d) critical thinking skills, e) the ability to understand one’s own cognitive processes, f) time management, g) inquisitiveness, h) a passion for learning, i) intentionality, and j) the desire to contribute to society. (Kudos to Karen Kirkwood, another author in the most awesome September-October 2010 issue of Home Education Magazine.)
*My children (so far, and in as much as I can tell) are not of scholarly ilk. I am. Sometimes I get confused because of these differences. That’s understandable.
*Finding joy in my life and in my children is perhaps the biggest gift I can give them. Here, extravagance is key.

So now, I’m sure you are itching to find out what it is I’m doing differently.

Because of my personal limitations/traits—namely, that I don’t have an abundance of scholarly information buzzing around in my head with which to enlighten my children at the least provocation (because I was a student who passed classes by memorization and not by actual learning) and because my favorite times of the day are when I’m doing my own thing away from my children—I decided to actively engage with my kids over something other than lessons. And because I do not have the energy (or desire) to “do fun stuff” and direct their studies; therefore, the studies get nixed. It’s as easy as that.

For Day One we played a rousing game of Farmopoly. In which, for those of you (me included?) who need to see results, Nickel learned to count, Sweetsie started to figure out the concept of money, Miss Beccaboo did some wicked addition and subtraction and was benevolent towards her siblings, and Yo-Yo managed the bank (counting out money accurately but quite differently than how I do it) and learned about sportsmanship and flexibility.

Day Two involved a discussion revolving around writing and performing our own play and several rounds of Uno.

I have no idea what Day Three will bring. But that’s okay because I feel more present and peaceful than I have in a long time (even with a wicked case of PMS, so that’s saying a lot).

I know myself well enough to recognize that this method will not be The Answer (and I did say this is just a week-long experiment, after all). I’ll continue adapting, experimenting, and tweaking, depending on where the kids are at and what level of energy I possess. But either way, I bask in my freedom to try new things. This freedom to self-direct is one of the biggest privileges of homeschooling, a privilege for which I am most grateful.

And, in case you’re concerned, I’m not a lone reed blowin’ in the wind. The members of my inner circle rigorously challenge and question my ideas and motives, but ultimately, they back me one hundred percent. These people are to me what principals are to regular school teachers. They give me the strength to get up and do what needs to be done (them and the powdered milk biscuits), like Farmopoly.

Ready? (Rattles dice.)

Set? (Tosses dice.)

GROW! (Onward ho!)

(And don’t forget to collect two hundred dollars!)

This same time, years previous: brown sugar icing, sausage quiche with potato crust