Creating the Perfect "Harry Potter" Magic School Party

My oldest daughter turns eleven on Sunday. If we lived in England, she'd be getting her letter to Hogwart's about now. But, alas, we live in Arizona, USA. Then, of course, there is the fact that we have chosen homeschooling, Radical Unschooling to be precise, as the form of education in our household... Still, the magic siren has been calling to us. Our solution? A "Welcome to Magic School" party.

Ingredients for this MAGIC SCHOOL party:

• Money from Gringott's (this site has lots of high quality Harry Potter merchandise)
• Yummy candy to sell to the arriving students -- most purchased from Vegan Essentials
• Plenty of new wizards and witches to invite
• Parent/Grandparent/Older Sibling Professors (we couldn't do this without them!)
• Magic Wands and a couple of Alivan's magic wands
  
• One good sorting hat (these say suede, but it is a polyester faux vegan suede)
• Spells for all the magic we are planning
  
• Enough materials for at least seven classes
• Good imaginations

Directions: Mix together and have fun.

A few of our specific classes (with notes on the magic behind the magic):
Care of Magical Creatures -- Glow in the Dark Squidies
Transfigurations -- three forms of magical paper 1, 2, 3
Charms -- buzz magnets, water suspension magic, and static lights
Potions -- Making slime and worms
Herbology -- Planting magical plants
Divination -- tea leaf reading, crystal ball reading, magic fish
Defense Against the Dark Arts -- Making air blasters to defend against dark creatures

Our Vegan Feast includes:
NOTE: Cynthia from Friendly Feast created the menu and all recipes are hers (thus we can't share them).

• Hagrid's Special Birthday Cake
• Three Broomsticks Inn Butterbeer
• Hogwart's Express Iced Pumpkin Juice
• Quidditch Player Shepherd's Pie
• Mrs. Weasley's Home-Baked Mini Pumpkin Pies
• Kreacher's Treacle Tartlets
• Cauldron Cakes
• Canary Creams
• Honeydukes Sweet Shop Chocolate Fudge

And, of course, we have a few more magical surprises up our sleeves...
We can't tell you everything, or the magic would be gone.

Audible Books and iPods

My Unschooled daughters and I have become enamored with audio books. On a recent trip, we knew we had to finish listening to the last Harry Potter book (our consensus is that it is the best one of the bunch). Thus, we started looking into MP3 players.

Our criteria were (1) SUPER SMALL and (2) easy to use. Thus, the purchase of our iPod Shuffle version 2. We started with only two and now have three. These have become excellent purchases and we're zipping through books as we go about our daily lives. It is wonderful to be doing the dishes while listening to a book! I'd so frequently had to put my book down in order to do laundry. Not now. :) With the iPods, the best source of instant audio books out there is by far Audible.com. (Thanks to my friend, Andrew, for that recommendation). Not only is their product easy to understand and use, but their customer support is excellent. I highly recommend them, despite the fact that they won't allow Do Life Right, Inc. to be an affiliate of theirs.

Audible books, music, television shows, and movies can also be purchased through iTunes (an excellent free program). I've tried all of the above and found them to work superbly. The downloading process is simple and easy. Amazon's Unbox, however, still needs some work before I can recommend them. I struggled with attempting to download a video for weeks before I finally asked them for a refund (which they quickly did).

Sensible Foods for Sensible People

My family is vegan. We eat no animals and no animal products, including honey. Yet, we are modern vegans living in modern society. We don't garden (we tried for several years, but all the plants died even with hundreds of dollars of care and water); if you can garden -- WONDERFUL! I also don't enjoy cooking and only do it as necessary. This could cause a dilemma, but it doesn't. Yes, I want the absolute best nutrition for my family at all times. I am a strong believer that "You are what you eat". Our health reflects that.

You can "disease proof" yourself and your kids. Check out pcrm.org for more information on curing diseases with diet. The China Study gives an amazing account of how diet can change the health of a society. It is highly researched over many years.

Back to us, we want to eat with our friends and family, yet we never sway in our vegan ideals. So, we are always looking for snacks and foods that meet our needs, yet are so tasty that all the people around us want to steal our food. This actually happens a lot and we don't usually mind. :) Afterall, we want our friends and family to live long and healthy lives, too.

Here are some of our current "take to the park" snacks:

• Sensible Foods "Crunch Dried" Fruit and Vegetable snacks -- WOW, these are good! I usually buy them on amazon.com since their price is the best. The corn is our favorite.
• Primal Sticks These come in actual sticks (like Slim Jims) and jerky flat strips. I usually buy these from Food Fight Grocery, but Vegan Essentials has them and so do several of our local grocery stores. Check yours! You might be surprised.
  
• Organic Rice Krispies with Ricemellow “Marshmallow” Crème No need for vegan butter to make these treats. They are perfectly delicious with just the rice and fluff mixed together. I buy the fluff from Vegan Essentials. The Marshmallow tastes amazingly good in every form I've tried, including frozen, although I am partial to it in hot chocolate.
  
• Baked Tings These "vegan Cheetos" are delicious! The only place I can find the baked ones are at amazon.com and robscape.com. The regular ones can be found at many grocery stores.
• Eco-Planet's "cheese" crackers The only place I've found these are at Vegan Essentials. They are super cute and taste better than goldfish crackers. The best part is they are dairy-free and organic.
• Mary's Gone Crackers These are wonderful tasting crackers that are the healthiest I've ever seen. They taste great plain, or with toppings (such as Eggless Egg Salad). We usually buy them locally, but I've seen them on Vegan Essentials and amazon.com.
  
• And, of course, fresh fruits and vegetables (but these don't hold up well in 100+F summer heat over a few hours and you all know where to buy these).

Amazon.com has over 200 vegan foods in their grocery section with new ones added all the time!

Our other favorite online food sources are:

• veganessentials.com This shop sells many of the products that I've mentioned and thousands more!

• rightfoods.com Dr. McDougall's ready made vegan meals. Just add hot water and enjoy! These are super delicious, easy, quick, and affordable. If you don't know who Dr. McDougall is, check out his awesome site!
  

• foodfightgrocery.com Funky vegan shop that has many new items before anyone else.

• robscape.com Online source of Tings and Baked Tings (we also find these locally and on amazon.com).

I've just discovered the Go Dairy Free site. What a fantastic resource for finding out more about what to feed dairyless children.

Celebrating "Not Back to School" 2007

It's that time of year again: NOT Back to School time! Whoo-Hoo for all Radical Unschoolers like my family. It is time to celebrate our freedom and life long journey of learning all the time.

What have we been up to?

I've been busy updating my list of Unschooling books, websites, and magazines for all new Unschooling families out there. Happily for the children of the world, there are more and more each year. Unschooling is living life fully and completely with no matrix of false reality.
No matter which definition you put on it, Unschooling is a journey of self discovery for the parents as well as the children.

We are planning adventures, art projects, and more. My eldest daughter's current favorite activity is making Art Trading Cards (otherwise known as ATCs). We make these 2.5"x3.5" cards and trade with other people in online and in-person "Anything Goes" and specialty themed trades. We've made a "How To Guide" and we regularly update our Flikr page with our own creations and those of trades that we host.

My youngest daughter's current favorite activity is Webkinz. These are brilliant and I would like to officially congratulate the creator. I'm not sure there is anyone out there that doesn't know how great this is, but on the off chance, here is a quick summary: Webkinz are lovable stuffed animals in two different sizes (regular Webkinz and the small "Lil' Kinz" version - close in size to Beanie Babies). Both come with a tag that has a special code that allows the owner to play with a virtual version of their pet in its own world. Each pet gets a room and some special gifts, as well as Kinzcash. There are games to play and jobs to work at and so much more! All earn the user more Kinzcash, which in turn, allows the user to make themselves a mansion of fun. If you have a child between the ages of 5 and 18, you might check these out. Of course, I'm the first to admit that I have two Webkinz of my own. I can't wait for the turtle. :)

Just say NO to added oils

I think I've read just about every vegan cookbook out there. One thing in common with most of them is that their recipes contain an abundance of oil. Should oil be a regular part of a healthy diet?

No! It should not. This is why I primarily promote only low fat vegan recipes (most raw vegan recipes have olive oil in them). All the McDougall books and other books that I recommend qualify. I'm frequently adding more recommendations to my aStore, so please check it frequently. My most recent finds are Skinny Bitch and The Vegan Diet As Chronic Disease Prevention: Evidence Supporting the New Four Food Groups and Disease-Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right.

Check out www.fatfree.com for an online listing of great lowfat vegetarian recipes (I only recommend the vegan ones).

Dr. McDougall's research and knowledge have changed my life. His information is a testament to how a healthy person should eat. If you aren't the healthiest person that you can be, try the McDougall diet for a few days (ideally for the rest of your life) and you will be shocked at the results. I certainly was; I was a completely different person after a mere three days. While I had tried a variety of other "diets" before, I'd still been plagued with migraines, ulcers, colitis, and so many other maladies that I'd bore you with the full list. I've now been pain free and symptom free of all diseases I had even been diagnosed with for four and a half years. Rather than spending money on medications and doctor bills, I use it on organic fruits, vegetables and grains. Yum!

Dr. McDougall writes an excellent monthly newsletter, complete with amazing recipes. I particularly love his most recent article on oil added to food. I highly recommend that everyone scour his website. There is even a section where you can put in your ailment and read about its cure. Yes, cure. Between the McDougall site and the PCRM site, I am excited about the future of medical care in the United States.

While my family and I eat a very strict vegan diet, I can tell a huge difference in my attitude, energy, and health when I am eating "McDougall style" instead of a typical high fat one. My personal balance comes from allowing higher fat foods into the house only for special events. When my kids crave brownies (I can't actually remember the last time this happened), we eat brownies from a mix (such as Dr. Oetker's Brownie mix) with either a can of pureed pumpkin or two cans of squished black beans with a little water instead of the eggs and oil the mixes recommend (if you want the best tasting brownie recipe, try the McDougall site or the fatfree site). We do not have any liquid oils in the house. You can't add them to your food if you don't have them in your house! It is very easy to cook without oil. Add extra water instead.

No, my children do not feel deprived. Anything they desire, we make. We just make it tastier and healthier. They haven't come up with a food desire yet that they couldn't have. For ready made snacks, check out veganessentials.com.

What do you eat?

Some of the questions I get asked most frequently, are: "What do you eat?", "What do you eat in groups of omnivores?", and "What does your family do with all that time with your children since they aren't in school?". With this blog, I am going to attempt to answer these questions over time and I'll mention our most recent great finds.

Check out Vegan Done Light's new cookbook. You can purchase it here. This cookbook is downloadable and can be purchased for only $9. You can see wonderful interviews of Dr. John McDougall and Dr. Neal Barnard, two of my ultimate favorite vegan advocates, on Vegan Done Light's website. While you are at it, be sure to check out the McDougall Program and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Both are life changing for a person that wants to live the healthiest life possible.

Joining the Blogging World

Due to popular demand, I've decided to change this site into a blog. This new format should make all articles and recommendations easier to search for and find. I still take recommendations and requests for consulting on Radical Unschooling and living a vegan lifestyle with children. I will be slowly integrating more and more info, so return often and ENJOY!