Sunday, March 13, 2011

Almost Thin Mints

We had company the other night, and I decided at the last minute, it might be nice to have cookies to serve to them. It was too late to mix up a fresh batch, so I went to the freezer, to see what I had in the way of frozen, left-over dough.

Remember the shamrock heart cookies?


They looked kind of strangely green, and plain as round cookies...


...so I popped them into the freezer for 15 minutes, and then dipped them into chocolate chips, melted in the microwave for 90 seconds, stirred every 30 seconds...


...and then, back into the freezer, for a few minutes, to set up the chocolate.


They not only looked more company ready, they tasted exactly like Thin Mints (or pretty close, anyway). Yum!

It's great to be a homeschooler.

11 comments:

Christy Killoran said...

Oh, those sound and look delicious. We are big fans of Thin Mints, so this is going on my MUST DO list!

Phyllis said...

They do look delicious!

Sheltie Times said...

That sounds good. I love the extra chocolate.

Pebblekeeper ~ Angie said...

I'm thinkin' I need to gets me mint extract! Yum-o!

Ticia said...

ooohhhh, yummy.

Summer Kinard said...

What a great idea! Thanks for sharing it.

Toodlebugz said...

HI! I am new here.I just stumbled across your blog looking for ways to do homeschooling differently. Wow is all I can say. I wish you lived next door!;o) I was wondering if you just pick up a book and go with it or do you have more structured time? I have been homeschooling for eight years and gone from traditional to every thing else. I am burnout and really want my kids to have fun.Do you have seatwork time for things like LA & Math and then do all the other subjects more on a Unit study or interest based approach? Your children look like they hare enjoying learning & I want that for my family. Help Please! ;o)
Joy

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Toodlebugz - That sounds about right - though seat work is a really loose term here. We do a little math, a little grammar, a little Bible, and a little foriegn language each day (and some of them practice piano) - but if it flows into a book we're reading, or some trip we're taking, or whatever, then it can look completely different from the day before. We do tend to just stumble into books, that spark the children's interest in other subjects, and scramble from their to pull in more books, and activities for all of them. From a teacher's perspective, it means a lot of hustling to stay one step ahead, but it has been a lot of fun so far - on most days :) - and the older children often take off and pursue things on their own, which is my ultimate goal.

Toodlebugz said...

Thank you for responding to my comment.I hate to keep bugging you but I am trying to understand how you do this. Do you plan a unit study for history & science or just read aloud any book and then roll with it. Or do the children read and then ask more about it.

I am sure all of these might happen but I wonder how you direct the day. I get overwhelmed trying to figure it out. I normally assign LA & math and then from there I do not know what to do without a lesson plan or something.I use Apologia & Sonlight but still they are not always interested.

I thought about just picking up one of our many books and giving them something to do in it but then I think that it is not interest directed. Do you have a post on say a typical day or how to start down this road? Or any example of how a new interest starts and proceeds through steps of learning and discovery and then wraps up? Like your Around the world in 80 days post,was all of the learning just from you reading aloud and then taking your children down numerous rabbit trails? I noticed you do research on the computer or in books for things but I wondered if you direct it or just leave them to do this own their own. I think if I leave my three they will just want to play all day. Thanks so much for taking time to answer my questions.;o)
blessings,
Joy

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Toodlebugz - I do have a guest post over at Mouse Grows Mouse Learns, and one at Children Grow Children Explore Children Learn, about how we got started, and how it works with multi-ages. And, here on this blog, I posted a blow-by-blow of one of our less unschooled days. I haven't posted a completely unschooled day, because those are so everywhere, I'd have trouble writing it all out. I'll get you the links as soon as I can - right now we're in the middle of one of those everywhere days :) In the meantime, Google "unschool deschooling" and you'll find lots of advice on how to step back, and relax a little, while still letting learning happen - even if you don't end up letting things get that loose, it can give you some good perspective.

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Toodlebugz - Okay the links I mentioned are: http://almostunschoolers.blogspot.com/2011/01/play-by-play-of-one-day-of-almost.html,
http://learningwithmouse.blogspot.com/2010/06/view-on-unschooling.html,
http://whisperswhispering.blogspot.com/2010/08/homeschooling-multiples.html

But, before you convince yourself we have nothing but fun - you might also want to check out my post on Unschooling Panic Disorder - http://almostunschoolers.blogspot.com/2011/03/unschooling-panic-disorder.html

I hope these help!