Lazy Sundays and Homemade Pizza

Saturday, I was sick, and since I wasn't feeling up to much, my plans for cooking up a storm and meal prepping went out the window.  The boys were supposed to make home made pizza for their Home Life class, but I was just not up to it.  I usually save Home Life classes for Saturday, because there's more time to work on them, and we can focus on one subject.

Luckily, I was put on call at work this morning, so didn't have to go in.   I was at least keeping food down, so the boys and I decided to tackle to home made pizza pie project.   This is what I love about Connections.   It's so flexible.  Instead of the boys missing out because the lesson wasn't done on the scheduled day, they still got the lesson and all the benefits; just on a different day. With that flexibility, we were able to make it work.



Don't get me wrong; you can't just put off lessons inevitably.   But you can make up late lessons. Because the goal is learning. So   if you or your child is sick for a day, you can still get that work done and make it up.  You don't lose that day.

It took us two hours, but we - they -  made pizza -- from scratch.   The boys made the dough, and rolled it out, and made their crusts.  They spread their own sauce and put on the toppings.  We had a blast. Granted, Kaos tried to sneak in there and steal some toppings, and while I was removing
her, Clay (my literal one) added all 4 cups of water (it called for 3-4 cups), and I turned around to find a very liquidy batter.  My initial reaction was exasperation, but I realized he'd never made dough before, so we used it as a learning opportunity.   You add water gradually to dough, Just enough to make it sticky.  Ethan thought we had to throw it out and start over.    But we fixed it.   We added to more flour.  And we made it work.  And they both learned.  One, to exercise caution.  Two, that mistakes can be fixed, and not to throw in the towel the first moment something goes wrong.


The dough was super sticky at first, before we started kneading.   But we added flour, and they got in there and started kneading.  They got their hands covered in dough.  But, they learned how to knead and make dough from scratch. They chopped vegetables, and no one lost a finger.   We all worked together and had fun, and the kids learned how to make food from scratch with their own hands and their confidence in the kitchen, and in themselves grew.   Ethan declared that it tasted better than Little Ceaser's (where we usually go, yeah, I know, the height of gourmet dining).

And they got to see that making a meal from scratch takes work, and time.  But that wasn't the most important thing.  It got us together, working  together.  It got us talking.  And instead of everyone off in a different room doing their own thing, like we usually do on weekends, we were working and learning together outside the classroom and having fun.

The Connections teachers keep telling me I'm giving a gift to my children by doing this and being their learning coach, but the truth is, Connections has given ME the gift.  We are spending more time together, the boys are growing closer, and we are growing closer as a family.  And that is the best gift of all.