Getting Started with Sourdough Baking

I've been baking with sourdough starter on and off for about 4 years.  Lately, friends are wanting to try it, so as a way to simply give instructions to get them started, I've created this.

My current sourdough starter was gifted to me from a friend.  I keep it alive in a pint jar.  When I have plans to bake with it, it's on the counter being fed once a day.  If I'm not baking right now, it lives in my fridge.

If you were given a starter, here's what to do:

Are you going to bake with it tomorrow or the next day?  Great!  Keep it on the counter with a lid on but not screwed on tight.  (It needs some air.)  Feed it once a day.  (Some suggest twice a day.) Get out a scale and set it to weigh in grams.  Scoop / pour out about half of your starter.  This discard can be saved in the fridge for a future recipe, or diluted and put down the drain.  Add the same weight of flour and lukewarm water to feed your sourdough yeast.  I usually give mine 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water.  That's 100 grams I'm adding to a starter of about the same weight.  Stir it all together with a fork or spatula.  You can choose what flour you prefer.  I use half whole wheat and half all-purpose.  Some find rye flour makes the most active yeast.  Some prefer all purpose flour.  After feeding and stirring, I like to put a rubber band on the outside of the jar to show the level at that point so I can see it bubble and rise over the course of the day.  Once it has doubled, it's considered "active and bubbly" and ready to bake with.  The amount of time this takes is dependent on the temperature of your kitchen.  Watch yours to learn its pattern.

If you're not going to bake with it for a few days, keep it in the refrigerator with the lid screwed on.  I still like to discard and feed it once a week to keep it fresh if I'm not out of town.

Ready to bake?  Great!  Choose your recipe and make a plan.  If you need more starter than what's in your jar, you can increase the amount of flour and water you add and use a quart jar or other larger container.  After taking out what your recipe calls for, you'll want to have enough starter left behind to keep feeding and alive.  As an example, you could put half your starter into a new container and feed that to increase it's volume - keep it on the counter; but what's left in your jar can be fed and then put into the fridge for next time.

Once a week or two, I transfer my starter to a clean jar so I can wash the one I’ve been working with.

You can do this!  Just find a recipe you want to try, and go for it!

There are many variations of managing and baking with a sourdough starter, so there will be other ideas you can try, but this is what is working for me.

Great website resources:

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/guides/sourdough

https://www.pantrymama.com/

https://traditionalcookingschool.com/food-preparation/recipes/free-video-make-a-sourdough-starter-the-science-of-it/

Sourdough Geeks Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2841604162602509

Recipes I love:

Sourdough sandwich bread:https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/sourdough-sandwich-bread

English muffins: https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/how-to-make-sourdough-english-muffins

This can also be made as a loaf of English muffin bread instead of spending the time cooking English muffins at the stovetop.  I bake it at 375 for 35 minutes.

Sourdough Artisan Bread: https://anoregoncottage.com/easy-sourdough-artisan-bread/

Sourdough Pancakes or Waffles: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/classic-sourdough-waffles-or-pancakes-recipe

Homeschool to Public School and Back Home Again

I didn’t homeschool all our children for every grade.   Our firstborn began Kindergarten in public school, but within three months, we decided it was going to be easy enough to homeschool her.  And that is what I ended up doing for her K through 2nd grade.

When she was ready for 3rd grade and our next child was ready for Kindergarten, we chose to enroll in public school for a time.  My Army husband was deployed, and I thought it would make my life easier.  It didn’t. 

This particular public school was a good experience.  It was a block from our house, so we walked to and from most days.  The two were in school, and I had a preschooler at home.  Third grade public school buoyed my confidence that I had been doing a great job teaching her at home for the past 3 years (K through 2nd) because she handled her work easily, she scored well on school testing, and was identified as among the top of her class and invited to participate in extracurricular science club.  The school was fantastic.  We had great teachers and a fabulous principal.  The oldest sang in choir, and I volunteered as their accompanist. 

But for the following reasons, I discovered I wanted to homeschool again:

- I dislike packing lunches

- I dislike getting everyone ready for school in the early mornings

- I dislike that my children have homework after being at school all day, especially in grades K and 3.

- We had no time for laid back fun because we also chose to participate in dance and gymnastics after school.

- I dislike mandatory dress-up days at school (crazy hair day, halloween, school spirit day, etc.)

- I dislike the constant barrage of fliers coming home in my child’s backpack

- I dislike fundraisers

- I dislike that my children only had 10-15 minutes to eat their lunches

- I dislike that with our military life and the regular moves it requires, our children would be constantly adjusting to different academic standards in each new school district we moved into.  With homeschool, my student's learning has continuity of education in spite of our moving every few years.

- I prefer to avoid the pressure of dressing my children cute for public school when we can be more laid back with play clothes at homeschool.

- I didn’t like the way my oldest treated her siblings during this time.  Because she was accustomed to spending time with other children her own age, she acted as though playing with her younger sisters was beneath her at times.  This changed for the better when we came back to homeschool where they interacted with each other all day, and at our co-op where she spent time with various ages of children.  My children don’t focus on the ages of their peers as much as they focus on interests in common.

- I didn’t like the negative social influences my daughters picked up from her peers—snarky attitudes toward me and each other, annoying popular culture stupidity and twaddle. 

So, when the Army said it was time to move, I chose to return to homeschooling.  I’ve not regretted it since.

There have been times we have considered public school again, when the school district we moved to had a good reputation and when our child asked us to consider it.  But prayerfully and as a married team, we discussed the pros and cons and were convinced that homeschooling was the choice we still wanted for our children.

In the beginning of our homeschool journey, we took it one year at a time, making the decision on whether we should continue or change course.  At this point, we have one graduate who thrives socially and academically and is college bound.  The other four are learning and growing equally well in this environment, and I have learned an exceptional amount along the way about my children, myself, teaching, and parenting. 

How I Homeschooled High School

Yes!  Homeschooling high school is doable!  If I can do it, you can too! At the time of publishing our oldest child is a few weeks from graduating high school and our second child is almost finished with 9th grade. Here are resources and plans that are working for us.

RESOURCES:

My first source of information comes from “The Homescholar”, Lee Binz at https://www.homehighschoolhelp.com/ .  Her free webinars and ebooks are encouraging.  She’ll show you it can be done, explain how to plan the right high school credits, how to keep records (report cards, transcripts, course descriptions, and work samples—all that scary stuff), how to find scholarships, and more.  She offers a paid support option as well, but I haven’t signed up for it.  

Other places I've gained guidance and resources include HSLDA.org and https://allinonehighschool.com/ . Since 2013, I made a habit of attending a homeschool convention near me at least every other year.  I recommend attending workshops on teaching at the high school level.  I gained a lot of insight and inspiration from them, and I refer to my notes from them often.

OUR CURRICULUM:
When our oldest was in 5th grade, my husband and I attended a homeschool convention, and spent time visiting the curriculum booths together.  I had spent grades 1-4 bouncing from one curriculum to another and was looking for something I could teach from high school.  I wanted some continuity for our children.  I was indecisive, so I wanted my husband’s input and accountability to stop thinking the grass was greener on the other side of the curriculum fence - you know, where that perfect, dream curriculum lies. We both loved what we saw from My Father’s World (https://www.mfwbooks.com/) because it appeared to be rigorous enough to prepare our children for college, should they choose to go.  We also liked that the books have a Christian worldview and teach critical thinking skills.  It is designed that the student be virtually independent, lightening the load on the teacher / mom, though I am available as needed.  The complete 36-week schedule lays out the lesson plans for the student to follow himself/herself.  There is a parent meeting once a week to go through some discussion questions and check in on how the student is doing.  This independence prepares the student for managing responsibility, due dates, study skills and time management - all valuable for adulthood.

For a Health credit, I wasn't happy with the "Total Health" curriculum which MFW recommended, but we have been using Apologia Science's "Health and Nutrition" this year for our second daughter and have been very happy with it. Total Health seemed to have outdated health guidelines and was unengaging. Apologia's book came out two years ago with current information, a colorful workbook with activities to complete, and relevant information for my growing teen. For example, she often let me know what she had learned that applied to the nutrition content of certain foods or how to stretch a stiff neck.

Our oldest is nearly done with her senior year, has scored very well on the ACT, and is accepted to attend the college she chose.  All that said, we are very happy with MFW and plan to continue using it for high school. 


TESTING:

Lee Binz recommends your student should take the PSAT Sophomore and Junior years to get comfortable with the testing process and to see how well you do in each subject.  Our local public high school allowed our daughter to take the PSAT alongside their own students.  We simply paid the fee to cover the cost of the test. She showed a weakness in math, so we got some tutorial materials to help her prepare for the ACT.  I got “ACT Math for Dummies” because a fellow homeschool mom had recommended the “ACT for Dummies” as a great resource.  I also found ACT Flashcards by Barron's Test Prep to be very helpful to my daughter’s test preparation.  I see that some of these flash cards are available for free use on Quizlet.com (HERE and HERE). Understand that the way the ACT, SAT, PSAT and even the GRE exams are structured, the student needs to have some critical thinking skills and strategies to do well in the time allotted for each test. Even if the student doesn't possess a mastery of all the math skills, knowing how to eliminate some of the multiple choice answers because they don't make sense can help. These study resources help teach an understanding of these skills and strategies.

Our oldest did not do any dual enrollment classes, but she is taking 4 CLEP tests to cut college costs and receive credit for some required core courses in college. If your student is college-bound, look into how many CLEP credits they will accept, which ones, and which credits will apply your student's degree program. Then find a testing center near you and arrange to take the tests. The cost savings of 3 college credits from a passing score on the CLEP exam is well worth the fee to take the test.

RECORD KEEPING:
Each quarter, I prepare a simple report card with a letter grade for each class, a percentage grade, and the calculated GPA (grade point average).  At the end of the year, I compile and file all finished work into a hanging file box, divided by class/subject, and I complete the transcript for her high school credits and classes completed so far. 

You can view a simple example report card from my Google Docs is HERE. 

You can also see my format for a transcript on Google Docs HERE.  You'll notice in the transcript, I have created class descriptions.  It's a good idea to have this as some colleges may be interested to know what your classes consisted of, and what resources your student used.  Include in your transcript activities, clubs, and volunteer work your student completes, as well as a list of books and other materials your student has read for school and fun.  Keep samples of your student's best work in each subject as well, as some college or scholarship applications may ask for these.

CREDITS:
When I considered what credits my high school student would need to graduate, I compared what my curriculum suggested, what the guidelines were for public high school graduates in my state, and what a few different colleges required - especially colleges which offer degree programs for what my student plans to pursue.

You may need to create a course or two tailored to your student for an elective credit, perhaps Fine Arts or PE.  In that case, you should know that one credit in high school equals about 150-180 hours of work.  A half credit would be about 75-90. 

For a Fine Arts elective, my daughter is doing a combination of photography and photo-book compilation and painting.  I have her record what she does and how long she spends doing it on a one-page paper with 180 squares.  When all the squares are full, I will consider her finished.  I used a free PDF from All In One Homeschool HERE . 

For PE, she has a combination of volleyball and soccer through our homeschool co-op and some health and nutrition education projects.  She also does self-directed exercise in the back yard or bicycling or takes a brisk walk in our neighborhood to fill some time.

For a foreign language, I have not been happy with Rosetta Stone. Our oldest used it for learning two years of Spanish, and though she gained a lot of simple vocabulary and sentences, Rosetta Stone did not delve much into the conjugation of verbs as a traditional program does. She enhanced her Spanish knowledge by taking a course based on Abeka's "Por Todo El Mundo". Abeka also offers a French course. I would recommend this, either working with a tutor who understands the language well, or using Abeka's video course. Our second child has been doing German through this website. I have created a schedule for her that includes working with the DuoLingo app, as well as learning about the German culture, foods and culture. Our third wants to learn Japanese, so I found a program HERE. The workbooks and textbooks for this program were hard to find, as they are a few years old, and, I suspect, out of print. We found a few on Amazon, and one on eBay.

I hope this gives you the inspiration and resources to inspire you to consider homeschooling your high school student. It has been a rewarding experience for us.

Check out the rest of my series on “How I Homeschooled” for the following grade levels: How I Homeschooled Preschool How I Homeschooled Kindergarten How I Homeschooled 1st grade How I Homeschooled 2nd grade How I Homeschooled 3rd grade How I Homeschooled 4th through 8th grade How I Homeschooled High School