Goodie Making Day!

Every year we make yummy goodies to give to friends, neighbors, teachers, and family members for the holidays. Our good friends from Carlsbad come and help create the goodies with us! All the kids help out with making, and packaging the goods. This year, we made Coconut Clusters, Peppermint Bark, Chocolate Lollies and jars of Black Eyed Peas for good luck in the new year!




If you'd like to make some "Good Luck" jars or just enjoy some delicious black eyed peas for the New Year, here is the recipe...

In the Southern U.S. eating black eyed peas on New Year's Day shows humility and thus invites good fortune. Enjoy this recipe and have a prosperous New Year!

1 C. black eyed peas cooked (soak peas first)
4 tbsp. oil
1 large onion, minced
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp. dried parsley
salt and pepper (to taste)
2/3 cup bean water
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 large tomatoes chopped

Drain beans after cooking and save liquid. Heat the oil and fry the onion for 4-5 mins. or until soft. Stir in the garlic (add a little fresh garlic if you'd like), cinnamon, cumin, parsley, salt and pepper and cook for 2 more mins. Add to beans, bean water, tomato paste, soy sauce, and tomatoes. Stir and bring to a boil. Simmer 15-20 mins. or until thick.
Enjoy!
Happy Holidays from Mt. Moe Academy!

Gaia Girls Giving

by Micayla

Gaia Girls* went to a senior home in Torrance. We delivered vases of flowers and potted plants, we put them by rooms and on the tables in the dining rooms. Nate got lots of hugs (I don't think the seniors see kids very often)! A few of the employes got poinsettias. The seniors were happy to see somebody bringing color to their home. Nate gave out mini poinsettias to seniors who were on their way to their rooms, so they could put it on their night stands. Someone actually asked if they were real!! (From the few I saw in the halls, I guess they don't get many real ones.)

We had lots of fun putting together the bouquets, and adding the colorful stones. The employes were exited too - they where a little baffled when we said we had 3 more trips to take!! When we left it smelled much better (it had a funny sort of yucky food smell before), and it looked very nice! We could not wait until the seniors came out for dinner!!

*Gaia Girls is in an alternative homeschooling scout group. They meet a few times a month to explore nature, create something, and/or give to the community. This week they made the flower arrangements with flowers donated by Trader Joe's and vases collected by the kids. The joy on the faces of the seniors was priceless. Nate (who calls himself a "Gaia Guy") definitely got his fair share of hugs and kisses (some of them quite wet ones, he informed us:). It was such a worthwhile project and one the kids will surely have engraved in their memory banks.

More Music Fun!

Barry Cogert has been conducting a fun homeschool music ensemble this fall. A group of kids meet in his garage once a week to play a variety of jazz and rock pieces. It is quite an eclectic group with three drummers/percussionists, two pianists, two guitarists, Carly on flute and Micayla on violin. This Saturday (December 12th) the group is performing at the "Yule Ball Celebration" at Saint Luke's Episcopal Church (525 East 7th Street, Long Beach ~ 562-682-0231). The event is free of charge however they are accepting donations of new unwrapped toys which will be distributed at the Long Beach Women's Shelter. The kids will be on at 7:30p.m., so if you haven't any other holiday plans, come and take a listen! If you are interested in learning more about Barry's music groups/programs, you can contact him at 562-223-0086 or barry@jazzangel.org

Homeschool Book Club

(by Carly)
I've recently started a homeschool book club. There weren't really any book clubs for the homeschool community near Long Beach, so I thought, heck, why not create my own? At the moment the club consists of me, and my friends Lauren, Katie, Meagan and Annabel. At first the book reading kinda got off to a bumpy start. The first book that I picked was by one of my favorite authors, but I hadn't read it, and it turned out to be...lets just say...not what I thought it would be like! A bit bizarre. But we've just finished Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris. We had a great discussion about it, and some yummy gingerbread lemon cupcakes, homemade by Annabel! Whoever picks the book, brings a snack and leads the meeting. Here is our list of "books to read" for the book club: Leonardo's Shadow, A Mango Shaped Space, Ophelia, The Smile, The Secret Life of Bees, The Rising Star of Rusty Nail, Tuck Everlasting, Mara Daughter of the Nile, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life. Happy Reading!

Advent Chain

As a Christmas tradition Allie and I make an advent chain. We cut out colored paper, staple them together, number them, and at the very end - for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we put gold or silver paper (this year we did it a little different because we couldn't find silver and gold paper) with *Christmas Eve* or *Christmas * printed on them. Each day we rip a strip off, and keep tearing them off everyday until Christmas morning! It is lots of fun. And is another way to remember what day it is!!

posted by Micayla