Healthier Breakfast Options : Kefir

There's a new phenomenon showing up on the dairy aisle of even the most mundane grocery stores....it's a kefir revolution!  The products can be expensive, though, and maybe you haven't given it a shot yet.  Not to worry...you can make it at home for considerably less!

If you're a milk drinker, kefir is probably going to taste a little 'off' at first, but it's an aquired taste, and one that's well worth it!  Kefir’s tart and refreshing flavor is similar to a drinking-style yogurt, but it contains beneficial yeast as well as friendly ‘probiotic’ bacteria found in yogurt. 

The naturally occurring bacteria and yeast in kefir combine symbiotically to give superior health benefits when consumed regularly. It is loaded with valuable vitamins and minerals and contains easily digestible complete proteins. 

Make Your Own Kefir (for way cheaper than you can buy it!)

Makes 1 cup

Ingredients

1 cup milk, preferably whole fat (see Recipe Notes)
1 teaspoon active kefir grains (See Recipe Notes)

Equipment
1 pint-sized glass jar
Cheesecloth, paper towel, or clean napkin
Rubberband
Small strainer (preferably plastic, but metal is ok)
Storage container with lid

Instructions

Note: Avoid prolonged contact between the kefir and metal both during and after brewing. This can affect the flavor of your kefir and weaken the grains over time.

1. Combine the milk and the grains in a jar: Pour the milk into a clean glass jar (not metal) and stir in the kefir grains. The milk can be cold or room temperature, either is fine.
2. Cover the jar: Cover the jar with cheesecloth, a paper towel, or a clean napkin and secure it with a rubber band. Do not screw a lid onto the jar as the build up of carbon dioxide from the fermenting grains can cause pressure to build in the jar, and in extreme cases, cause the jar to burst.
3. Ferment for 12 to 48 hours: Store the jar at room temperature (ideally around 70°F) away from direct sunlight. Check the jar every few hours. When the milk has thickened and tastes tangy, it's ready. This will usually take about 24 hours at average room temperatures; the milk will ferment faster at warmer temperatures and slower at cool temperatures. If your milk hasn't fermented after 48 hours, strain out the grains and try again in a fresh batch (this sometimes happens when using new kefir grains, when refreshing dried kefir grains, or when using grains that have been refrigerated).
4. Strain out the kefir grains: Place a small strainer over the container you'll use to store the kefir. Strain the kefir into the container, catching the grains in the strainer.
5. Transfer the grains to fresh milk: Stir the grains into a fresh batch of milk and allow to ferment again. This way, you can make a fresh batch of kefir roughly every 24 hours. To take a break from making kefir, place the grains in fresh milk, cover tightly, and refrigerate.
6. Drink or refrigerate the milk kefir: The prepared milk kefir can be used or drunk immediately, or covered tightly and stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Recipe Notes

• Activating Dried Kefir Grains: If you bought your kefir grains in a dried form, rehydrate them by soaking them in fresh milk at room temperature. Change the milk every 24 hours until the grains begin to culture the milk and make kefir. It may take 3 to 7 days for the kefir grains to become fully active.
• What Milk to Use: Kefir works best with whole-fat cow, goat, sheep, or other animal milk. You can use low-fat milks, but refresh the grains in whole fat milk if they stop fermenting the kefir properly. Raw and pasteurized milks can be used, but avoid ultra-high temperature (UHT) pasteurized milks.
• Making More or Less Kefir: You'll need about a teaspoon of grains to ferment 1 to 2 cups of milk. You can also ferment less milk than this, but fermentation will go more quickly. Your grains will start to multiply over time, allowing you to ferment more milk if you like. Maintain a ratio of about a teaspoon of grains to 1 cup of milk.
• Taking a Break from Making Kefir: To take a break from making kefir, transfer the grains into a fresh container of milk, cover tightly, and refrigerate for up to a month.
• What to Do if Your Kefir Separates: Sometimes kefir will separate into a solid layer and milky layer if left too long. This is fine! Shake the jar or whisk the kefir to recombine and carry on. If this happens regularly, start checking your kefir sooner.

Other Ways to Use Kefir

• Use as a substitute for buttermilke
• Soak your grains in it, to release more nutrients
• Mix with herbs for a salad dressing
• Substitute it for milk in ice cream (we have not tried this one yet)

YouTube Schooling??

We use YouTube for all sorts of things these days.....   

In the past week alone, I've learned how to : unlock something I accidentally locked on the computer, fix the door handle of my car, and store eggs long-term.  I've also looked up reviews for school electives that we're considering using.  YouTube can be a great resource!

Some advantages of YouTube include :

• It's free
• Videos are often short - right to the point
• You can find just about anything on there

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for curriculum reviews & videos to accompany the Good & the Beautiful

However, YT isn't the place you want to go for in-depth material and long-term classes.  Some of the reasons for this are....

• Staying focused.  With autoplay and all of those suggested videos off to the side, it can be very distracting.  As an adult, it's easy to fall down into that bunny hole...can you imagine how the kids feel?
• Filters.  While we have a restricted mode on the kids' accounts, sometimes they still get 'unsavory' suggestions or pop-ups.  I don't want my child exposed to these while watching school, do you?
• Quality / source.  There are many self-proclaimed experts out there, just waiting to share their knowledge.  True, some of them have quite a bit to offer, but there are quacks out there as well.  How do you judge which to watch?

This is not to say that we don't still use YouTube.  As you've seen through the playlists on our channel, we supplement schoolwork with short clips.  YT is not their primary source, but it helps the kids to visualize what they've just learned.

If you've got a child who wants to learn a skill that you are not prepared to teach, there are several great online options out there, including :

• Udemy (almost every subject)
• Craftsy (various craft skills / homemaking)
• AV-Stem (aviation science)
• Code Academy (computer science)
• Fascinating Education (high school science)
• SchoolhouseTeachers (every core subject, plus electives)

Another fabulous option is Sparks Academy, where your students will be part of an interactive co-op with other high school students. Current class offerings are for The Good & the Beautiful language arts and Notgrass history (four levels of each subject), Consumer Math, and Apologia / Berean Builders science (three levels). Classes begin on August 18th. Enrollment closes for the '25-'26 school year on August 19th. Use code LASTMINUTE to save 25%  (exp 8/10/25)

These resources provide an expert instructor, thorough (and filtered) video instruction, and the ability to ask further questions by contacting the instructor.

Hardware

If you're going to be schooling through videos, this will probably be a combination of DVDs and streaming services.  Having one device dedicated to school has been a lifesaver in our home, and I highly recommend it for you, too!  This Sony blu-ray with streaming player is capable of playing anything we need.  It doesn't take up a lot of space, connected easily and 'plays nice' with our tv and computer network, and pretty much gets the job done.  One of my favorite things about this player is that it not only plays the new stuff and streams well, but it also plays all the older DVDs, which isn't always the case with newer players....

SchoolhouseTeachers is one of our go-to resources for video-based content because we know that it has been vetted and is appropriate.  They have hundreds of courses - ranging from preschool to high school - with video content.  Some are video-based (meaning it is all video content), while others are both text and video.  There are also interactive courses, worksheets, activities, and printable materials to accompany the videos.  You can see a list of all the video courses here.

In addition to the classes, we also love getting a video streaming service as part of our SchoolhouseTeachers membership.  It's one annual cost, which covers all of the curriculum for all of the kids (sweet!), as well as a printable magazine and other cool extras for the parents, and a streaming service -- so no need to pay for Netflix or Disney+.  The service includes vetted videos that are family entertainment.  Some of the videos are included in classes, while others are purely for entertainment value.  You can see all of those videos at this page.  

There are many more options for online courses, but these are the ones that we, personally, have used in our homeschool and can vouch for (there are also a few we've used and have not included in this list, because we would not recommend them).  

What online courses have you and your family tried?  What was your experience?

Within These Lines + Novel Study

We've been studying another aspect of World War 2 - the Japanese internment camps.  This is not an area that's covered in the We Were There series, yet it's an important part of history, and one that must be remembered...

Within These Lines (Stephanie Morrill)

When Evalina Cassano and Taichi Hamasaki are torn apart by the events following the attack on Pearl Harbor, they must fight if they want any hope of returning to one another before World War II steals their future together. Within These Lines is one unflinching, haunting, historical novel you don’t want to miss; perfect for fans of Monica Hesse, Ruta Sepetys, and Elizabeth Wein.  Evalina Cassano’s life in an Italian-American family living in San Francisco in 1941 is quiet and ordinary until she falls in love with Taichi Hamasaki, the son of Japanese immigrants. Despite the scandal it would cause and that inter-racial marriage is illegal in California, Evalina and Taichi vow they will find a way to be together. But anti-Japanese feelings erupt across the country after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Taichi and his family are forced to give up their farm and move to a Japanese-American internment camp.  Degrading treatment makes life at Manzanar Relocation Center difficult. Taichi’s only connection to the outside world is treasured letters from Evalina. Feeling that the only action she can take to help Taichi is to speak out against injustice, Evalina becomes increasingly vocal at school and at home. Meanwhile, inside Manzanar, fighting between different Japanese-American factions arises. Taichi begins to doubt he will ever leave the camp alive.  With tensions running high and their freedom on the line, Evalina and Taichi must hold true to their ideals and believe in their love to make a way back to each other against unbelievable odds.

Japanese Internment Camps - Unit Study

After the attacks at Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed an executive order that allowed the military to send Japanese-Americans to camps.  Similar to concentration camps, in that the people were forced to move to an area that was surrounded by barbed wire (and not allowed to leave), they were not the death camps of Germany that most people think of when they remember this time period.  Around 120,000 people ended up in these camps.  {There were 12,000 Germans and Italians held in camps as well.)

People were afraid that Japanese-Americans would sabotage the United States and help Japan win the war, so they put them in these camps.  Entire families, including children, were sent to one of the ten camps.  They left behind their homes, businesses, pets, most of their possessions, and their livelihoods.  Schools and jobs were created in the camps, but life was very crowded and difficult.

In spite of their hardships, many of the camps functioned peacefully.  Each family lived in a single room inside of a barracks.  They ate in a mess hall and shared a bathroom with other families.  They tried to maintain a sense of normalcy by planting vegetable gardens, having baseball teams, creating music and art, and holding religious services.  

In 1943, a Japanese division was created in the Army, the 442nd, that included about 17,000 Japanese-Americans.  In 1945, the internment, or relocation, camps closed.  Family members were given $25 and a train ticket home, and they went home to rebuild new lives.  In 1988, President Reagan signed a law that apologized to each of the survivors and gave them $20,000 in reparations for the damages of these camps.

Read

• Within These Lines
• This Light Between Us
• The Bracelet
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet (book for mom)
• Fish for Jimmy (younger kid book)

Make / Do

• Write a journal entry as a Japanese American living in an internment camp
• Create flower origami 
• Make watercolor brush designs
• painting by Susan Rosefielde, artist
• Create an origami swan - these are the symbol of peace, and are displayed at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial  (see We Were There at the Opening of the Atomic Era)
• Host a mini tea ceremony with green tea
• Practice the art of calligraphy

Watch

• Children of the Camps (free with Prime)
• George Takei TED Talk
• Footage from Inside a Camp

Vocabulary

• Alien Land Acts
• Barracks
• Civil Rights
• Convict
• Evacuation
• Executive Order #9066
• Internment Camp
• Issei 
• Nisei 
• Nippon
• Prejudice
• Relocation Center
• Sansei

Think

• Should non-citizens (aliens) be granted the same rights and protections as citizens? Explain your answer.
• How was propaganda used during World War II to influence public perception of Japanese and Japanese Americans?

A Study of Japan:

• Covers the history of Japan from ancient times to present day
• Examines the Japanese culture and its influences
• Explores the geography of this small, but strong island
• Delves into the technology and pop-culture of the people
• Goes on rabbit trails about art, history, and modern economics of Japan and its fellow nations
• Is the equivalent of one year of high school history

Access more US History units in the American History Novel Studies Bundle!

Includes sixteen unit studies covering American History. Each unit addresses a new topic, spanning the Revolutionary War to Vietnam.  Each unit has introductory text, which will give the student basic background information about the topic at hand.

• There are photographs and illustrations, and we have also included primary documents when available.
• After this text, there are featured videos, which augment the background information and help make the topic more accessible for more visual students.
• You will also find a short list of reading books, including a featured novel that the unit builds upon.
• There are vocabulary words, places, and people to identify.
• Reading comprehension, critical thinking questions, and writing assignments are included.
• We add fun with hands-on activities and extra videos to watch that will bring the era to life.
• Some units also have cooking projects.

These studies are directed toward upper grades students, but some have resources for younger students so that the whole family can work together. Our family has used unit studies as curriculum for many years, and we hope that your family will enjoy these, too!

Product sample:  Paper Son & Angel Island Immigration  & Within These Lines & Japanese Internment

Includes:

• Casualties of War & Vietnam War
• No Promises in the Wind & the Great Depression
• Out of the Dust & the Dust Bowl
• The Watsons Go to Birmingham & Civil Rights
• Dusty Sourdough & Alaska
• The King of Mulberry Street & Ellis Island Immigration
• Paper Son & Angel Island Immigration
• The Red Menace & McCarthyism
• Johnny Tremain & Faces of the American Revolution
• Sounder & Sharecropping
• World War II Code Talkers
• Flashback Four: Hamilton-Burr Duel
• Within These Lines & Japanese Internment Camps
• Flashback Four: Titanic Mission
• Flashback Four: Lincoln Project
• The Diviners / The Great Gatsby & Roaring Twenties

Planning the Home Garden

It's that time of year again!!!  Time to start planning out our summer garden.  This is an exciting time of year for us....we scour the seed catalogs and look forward to getting back to nature.  We even have kid-sized tools so that they can be involved from start to finish in growing their own food.  

Good planning is essential to a successful vegetable garden. Vegetables have specific requirements, and you must choose your site carefully to ensure a bountiful harvest. We like to start our seeds inside, to give them a leg up once their placed in the ground.  Here are the basics you need to consider before you select your seeds... 

Test Your Soil

Drainage is the soil's ability to absorb moisture and let excess water drain away. You can test soil drainage  by digging a hole a foot deep and a foot across. Fill the holes with water, and time how long it takes the water to drain away; two to three hours after the hole has emptied, refill it, and again time the interval it takes for it to empty. Then calculate the rate of drainage by dividing the total depth of the water (24 inches) by the total number of hours it took for the hole to empty two times.

An average rate of an inch of water lost per hour makes a "well-drained" soil, which is best for vegetable plants. A substantially faster rate is typical of a "sharply drained" soil, one that dries out quickly, and unless enriched with water-retaining compost, is suitable mainly for drought-tolerant plants. A drainage rate markedly slower than an inch per hour indicates poorly drained soil, which will probably drown the roots of most plants. 

Find Out Your Zone

To help you select the plants that prefer your climate, use the "Zones of Hardiness Map" published by the United States Department of Agriculture. This map divides the United States and Canada into 11 zones. Because winter cold is, in most regions, the single greatest threat to plant survival, the zones are divided according to the average monthly temperature they experience locally.

Plant descriptions in catalogs and labels typically refer to these hardiness zones to specify the areas in which any given plant will thrive. Once you have identified the zone in which your garden is located, purchase only plants recommended as reliably hardy there.

Consider Sun and Shade Requirements

In general, plants described as requiring "full sun" (most vegetable plants fall under this category) need at least six hours of exposure to direct sunlight daily. "Part sun" or "semi-shade" plants flourish where periods of direct sunlight alternate with periods of shade, or where the sunlight is filtered by an intermittent canopy of branches or a trellis overhead. "Full shade" describes a spot where direct sunlight never penetrates, due to shadows cast by dense evergreens or solid man-made structures, such as a high wall or porch roof. 

Understand the Difference in Seeds

Open-Pollinated (OP):These plants come from a parent of the same variety and they can, in turn, produce offspring of the same variety. This is called "coming true from seed." The seed from open-pollinated varieties can be collected from the plants you've grown and saved to grow again next year.

Heirloom Vegetables:Heirlooms are open-pollinated varieties that have been cultivated for at least 50 years. They are often more flavorful, colorful, and interesting than hybrids, but they may lack disease-resistance or require staking.

Hybrids:These plants are the result of cross-breeding to produce offspring with certain desirable traits, such as disease-resistance or uniform color or size. Their complicated genetics mean that the seed inside the fruit you grow one season will not produce a plant like its parent. Each year, you will have to buy new seeds of this variety if you want to grow it again.

Learn About Crop Timing

Vegetable crops fall into two categories: 

Cool-Season Crops:Peas, lettuces, radishes, brassicas (broccoli, kale, cauliflower, collards), and spinach germinate and thrive in the lower temperatures of spring and fall and tolerate light frosts. Many cool-season crops can be direct-sown in the garden around before the last frost. 

Warm-Season Crops:Tomatoes, eggplants, summer and winter squash, beans, and corn prefer summer's heat. Plant these only after the soil has warmed. Many warm-season crops require a long growing season and should be started indoors in late winter or early spring or purchased as seedlings ready to be transplanted.

Estimate Mature Size

Before installing any plant in your garden, check the size it will reach at maturity, and make sure the planting spot can accommodate that. You can maximize your growing space by choosing some vertical plants like tomatoes.

Map Out Your Plants

Sketch out your plan on paper. Use graph paper and draw to scale, keeping in mind the mature size and habit of each kind of plant. Site larger plants like corn and tomatoes where they won't cast shade over shorter plants. Choose compact varieties if you have limited space. Start small: You can always dig more beds or enlarge existing ones in subsequent years.

Garden Planning Resources :

• Gardening Lab for Kids
• The Essential Garden Design Workbook
• The Nonstop Garden: Four-Season Designs
• Luster Leaf Professional Soil Test Kit with 40 Tests
• Children's Garden Tool Set
• Heirloom Organic Seeds - pack of 9500+
• Planted Well has some AMAZING layouts in their post 100 Most Creative Garden Designs!

One of our favorite courses at SchoolhouseTeachers is the Homesteading course!  If you’ve ever wanted to ditch the chemicals in your household cleaners, can what you grow or purchase at a farmer’s market, make your own gifts and candles, or learn how to do things the natural way, you need to see the Homesteading class. 

This ongoing course shares tips and detailed instructions that can enable you and your family to live more simply and naturally. Printables and some how-to videos are included with these weekly lessons...and it's all included with the 350+ other courses offered at SchoolhouseTeachers.com.