We are on a bit of a 'health-kick' here right now - we've invested in a juicer, a manual grain-mill, and we are sprouting seeds, making yoghurt and kefir, brewing kombucha, and having all sorts of fun! My 12yos is even growing wheatgrass to juice (though I am the only one who is willing to drink the stuff!)

I discovered that grain is easier to store for longer than flour, and there are advantages to milling your own grain in that the nutrients present in the flour begin to disappear after the first 48 hours after milling. I'm reading a book called "Nourishing Traditions" (I'll review later) which talks about the necessity of soaking grains the old-fashioned way, so we'll try that sometime too.

This got me to thinking about Välling - the staple drink for babies in Sweden. I thought it was something you had to buy ready-made, but then I found a recipe:

Skrädmjölsvälling 1port

Ingredienser

Skrädmjöl 2-4 tsk
Vatten 2 dl
Salt

Gör så här

Koka upp tillsammans under omrörning och söta gärna med honung eller fruktsaft. Önskad mängd vatten kan naturligtvis bytas ut mot mjölk.

Basically, what you do is boil 2-4 teaspoons of flour, it can be wheat, whole wheat, rye, or oat, with 2dl water or milk. Stir constantly. Add salt and sugar (honey) if you want to and think the taste requires it.

Basically, I don't recommend it - paediatricians in the UK and the US (and, I suspect, the World Health Organisation) don't recomment wheat for babies under 8 months old, and don't recommend putting any cereal, no matter how thin, in a baby's bottle due to the risk of choking.

Another interesting fact that I discovered when my brother was diagnosed with Crohn's disease is that it is a disease commonly found amongst Swedish and Jewish people, and the suggestion at least on the Swedish side is too early introduction of wheat - before a baby's digestive system is mature enough to stop the wheat particles from entering into the bloodstream.

Nevertheless, Välling is something so homely and conforting I can't imagine Swedish people giving it up any time soon!

If you're in the US, you can try and buy Välling at http://www.scandiafood.com/ (Just don't give it to your kids

I'm a big fan of the Homeschool Lounge, and I do a lot of 'networking' on the internet, and I find it invaluable, especially lacking as we are in real life fellowship. I started a group on the Homeschool Lounge as a contact point for people in the UK and Europe, but it occurred to me that there was nothing similar for people in the UK, and so I decided to take it upon myself to create one.

The result is the Home Education UK network - a much smaller and humbler version of the Homeschool Lounge, and with a decidedly British 'flavour'. I'm hoping that it will develop into a really useful resource, a kind of 'one-stop-shop' for advice, support, encouragement and information on all things relating to home education in the UK. It's designed to work in partnership with the Homeschool Lounge rather than as competition to it.

There are groups for every kind of home education method (Charlotte Mason, Unschooling, Classical, etc.) and various different curricula (Sonlight, ACE, Ambleside Online etc.), and I'm planning on starting regional groups as an aid to making local contacts; there's a forum with various categories, including Teaching Methods & Learning Styles, Curriculum Subject discussion (History, Geography, Maths, English etc.), Special Needs and a Marketplace. If you join up, you also get your own profile page where you can blog, (and upload your homeschool blogger using the RSS feed), post photos and videos and more.

Come take a look today!

We met our Swedish-Finnish friend again for our monthly coffee date, this time at the park by the lake (we thought we'd reserve Ikea for rainy days!).

It's funny how you remember words you haven't thuoght of for years when you hear them - like the word 'gunga' - swing (noun and verb, just like in English), and 'rutschkana' - slide.

When we lived in Sweden and Dragon-tamer was little, the 'rutschkana' was his absolute favourite thing in the playground. I can hardly believe it was 10 years ago now.

I asked him if he still had any memories of Dagis (short for 'daghem' - day-home; in other words 'nursery'). He hardly remembers it really, apart from a favourite toy - a water track toy thing. I I wondered whether the dagis teachers were still there. It would be nice to go back and visit. I thought we'd do it last year, but we still don't even have passports, so it's looking less and less likely that we'll even manage it this year, but you never know.

Homeschool is being drowned out a bit by 'life' at the moment, but I keep thinking that I would like to try and teach the children some Swedish so they'd be able to speak a little if and when we do visit. They do recognise the sound of it, which is good, I think - they can tell it apart from French or German or Hebrew.

Well, we'll see how we go. I'm looking out for any good teaching materials for Swedish as a second language for children. If I find any, I'll let you know.