Week 5 - Sonlight, Birthdays and Teeth!

 This week was again not a typical week as we had my mom come into town to celebrate Lily turning 6! We enjoyed a wonderful birthday dinner on Tuesday (thanks mom!), a first lost tooth that fell out in a pear on Thursday,

and a Cowboy/Cowgirl party on Saturday...whew, I'm exhausted.

Our homeschool week was kind of sporatic, and we did a lot of work in the car on the way to different events or shopping for the party. I'm excited for next week because we will have our first TRUE full week of school. I am very ready to get in a groove and rhythm.

As far as schooling topics for the week, we continued on with our Math-U-See. We only have 10 lessons left, and then Lily will head into the Alpha book. We are really loving this curriculum! Our All About Reading is coming along nicely as well. My mom even pitched in a taught a lesson or two.  One of the activities we did was play Letter Sound Bingo. The girls liked this game a lot.

 We explored the Vikings, and made fun masks that made us feel like big burly men...

I wanted to talk a little bit about how we used the birthday party to teach about the time and era of the Cowboys heading West. We panned for gold which the children enjoyed immensely. I used this tutorial from Restless Risa.  We talked about why the cowboys headed West to search for gold.  Each child got to bring home a little bag of their own gold. 

 
The children also learned 'Wild West Lingo'. lassoed a horse, shot a bank robber (with a marshmallow shooter),  learned how to line dance AND roasted marshmallow s'more pops over a fake campfire while singing camp songs. Overall, the party was a huge success!
 

Week 22: Where We Live! Florida

{Source}

Our last lesson on Butterflies is actually still going on.

We just received our caterpillars and they are sitting

in our dining room in their jar eating

until they get big enough to do something...er,

get out of that jar.

(We are so excited to watch this whole process but boy,

does it take a long time!)

Updated Pictures to follow.

Our library is teaching about the Continents this summer.

I was thinking that it would be great

to do some sort of geography with the girls.

I also thought how important it is to teach

them about where they live....

hence, our lovely state of Florida.

We will also be memorizing our town,

and trying to memorize our address.

Sidenote: Lily has been reciting her phone number for a while now...

It is about 4 digits less than a real phone number.

Perhaps that is the next topic....our phone number!

As I am thinking about this topic of Florida,

I am realizing that there are so many things to talk about!

We will focus on where it is located on a map of the US,

what types of animals are 'indigenous' here,

and special facts about our state.

I also found that there are a ton of fictional children's books

that are based upon Florida which is what you will find in the list below.

I love to read books that are based on our topic

and not just informational books too.

Books:

The secret river by Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan, 1896-1953.

Felina's new home : a Florida panther story by Wlodarski, Loran.

The last egret : the adventures of Charlie Pierce by Oyer, Harvey E.

Duck, duck, moose by Horowitz, Dave, 1970-

Florida manatee by Spilsbury, Louise.

Roy makes a car by Lyons, Mary E.

Florida A to Z by Ryan, Susan Jane.

How to draw Florida's sights and symbols by Quasha, Jennifer.

S is for sunshine : a Florida alphabet by Crane, Carol, 1933-

Django by Cech, John.

Crafts and Activities:

Here is a site I found that has information about Florida

1) We have been going for a while to the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary which is has almost every native Florida animal you can think of. We will definitely be visiting this week to learn about native Floridian animals.

2) Artists Helping Children has a ton of Alligator/Crocodile Crafts

3) We'll be going to the Daggerwing Nature Center to learn about Florida!

Songs:

FYI- The Swanee River is the Official State Song of Florida!

The Swanee River
(Old Folks at Home)
Written by Stephen C. Foster

Way down upon de Swanee Ribber,
Far, far away,
Dere's wha my heart is turning ebber,
Dere's wha de old folks stay.
All up and down de whole creation
Sadly I roam,
Still longing for de old plantation,
And for de old folks at home.

Chorus

All de world am sad and dreary,
Eb-rywhere I roam;
Oh, darkeys, how my heart grows weary,
Far from de old folks at home!

2nd verse

All round de little farm I wandered
When I was young,
Den many happy days I squandered,
Many de songs I sung.
When I was playing wid my brudder
Happy was I;
Oh, take me to my kind old mudder!
Dere let me live and die.

3rd Verse

One little hut among de bushes,
One dat I love
Still sadly to my memory rushes,
No matter where I rove.
When will I see de bees a-humming
All round de comb?
When will I hear de banjo strumming,
Down in my good old home?

Snacks:

Thought we could try a few recipes out of here for dinner!

The flavors of the Florida Keys by Gassenheimer, Linda.

Here is a site that has Florida Seminole Tribe recipes

Week 20: Honesty

This week we are going to do a topic that

the girls did not necessarily choose...

but rather one that has come about due to necessity,

so it kind of chose them.

I really want to see if we can get the topic of the Big L (lying)

to be better understood,

and more so focus on telling the truth, or honesty.

I did some research online, and apparently,

many pediatricians and doctors agree that lying

is a part of cognitive development and it is actually a

recorded 'milestone' to show that your child is learning

to make decisions on their own,

realize that they are separate from you,

and also that they have an imagination

which can make the real word a lot better!

I am really interested seeing how this lesson impacts

Lily and her understanding of telling the truth.

Alright,

To be totally honest ( ha ha),

we all came up with a plan to have a

"Gum Night"

if we can all go three days without lying.

We start the day with a sticker, and if we lie, we lose our sticker...

Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy were the first to lose their stickers.

Who needs this lesson more?

hmmm...

(FYI- my lie was exaggerating ( a weakness of mine)

that the girls have seen a million cats....not true.

My husband's lie was that he wanted to eat the rest of the trail mix

and told the girls there was no more...

his guilt set in, and a sticker was lost.)

The only one at the end of the three days

to get to have gum was our 2.5 year old Claire...

great job Claire!

Books

Fancy Nancy : my family history by O'Connor, Jane.

Big whopper by Giff, Patricia Reilly.

Tell the truth, B.B. Wolf by Sierra, Judy.

Princess K.I.M. and the lie that grew by Cocca-Leffler, Maryann,

Honesty by Pryor, Kimberley Jane.

Honestly, Mallory! by Friedman, Laurie B

Honestly! by Doudna, Kelly

Ruthie and the (not so) teeny tinylie by Rankin, Laura.

Miko. "It was me, Mom!" by Weninger, Brigitte.

Alex did it! by Weigelt, Udo

Edwurd Fudwupper fibbed big by Breathed, Berke

Edith & Mr. Bear by Wright, Dare

Crafts & Activities

We will make a truth wheel using a printable PDF- Click on the website, and then scroll down and click on the PDF entitled Telling The Truth vs Lies.

I couldn't find many crafts, so I decided that we would do a story board... I will ask Lily to come up with a story where a child has the opportunity to tell the truth, or lie...we will have two different endings. Lily can draw her own pictures of the story, and hopefully the ending for telling the truth will be a positive one for her. I'm excited to see what she comes up with!

Songs

Snacks:

We will read the book The Empty Pot by Demi- which is a Chinese fable about rewarding a child for telling the truth.... the main part of the story is about Seeds, so I thought we would make some kind of snack dealing with seeds...possibly a trail mix that has seeds in it, or even a lemon poppy seed muffin..mmmm.

On a personal note, I ordered these If/Then charts to help me with consistent discipline. They also include verses that go with the particular behavior. To go along with that, you can order the Blessings chart which rewards your children for being a blessing to others...best of both worlds!

Thanks!

Week 17: Jam and Jelly & Cooking!

(Photo Source)

Last week while we were learning about the moon(updated photos),

my 'nighttime' blackberry jam was a huge hit!

Lily was interested in making her own jam with raspberries.

I thought it would be a perfect lesson

for the girls (and me too) to spend the week

in the kitchen and experiment with making jam!

Books

Jam & jelly by Holly & Nellie by Whelan, Gloria.

Making plum jam by Stewig, John W.

Bread and jam for Frances by Hoban, Russell.

The giant jam sandwich by Lord, John Vernon.

Resource Books

Jam it, pickle it, cure it : and other cooking projects by Solomon, Karen.

Preserves : the complete book of jams, jellies, pickles, relishes and chutneys, with over 150 stunning recipes by Atkinson, Catherine

In a pickle : chutneys, preserves, salsas, sweet treats by Brewis, Jill

Jam and Jelly Resource Sites:

Jelly Folklore

Key Learning Points

1. All Jams and Jellies come from real fruit that is cooked.

2. Adding heat to fruit makes them change their shape and the way they feel and taste.

Crafts and Activities:

First, we will be going to pick our own strawberries...you can visit PickYourOwn.org to find out the closest u-pick places to you.

Update: The girls and I had a wonderful time picking strawberries. The farm we went to had hydroponic organic strawberries...

We picked about 6 pounds of strawberries.

I loved that the girls each got their own basket, and scissors.

It was a great opportunity for them to practice their coordination skills.

I also took this opportunity to include a little science lesson too.

A lot of the strawberry plants had flowers on them

where you could see the middle portion becoming a ripe strawberry. Love it!

We'll be doing a little computer work and learning how to print out our jam labels. Here is a site that provides free labels- Tip Nut

Since I am a visual person, here is a tutorial for making jam from the Blog- Make Cupcakes

I love this tutorial which actually has kids making the squishy jam...so fun!

Songs:

Peanut Butter and Jelly Song

Chorus:
Peanut butter — And Jelly!
Peanut butter — And Jelly!
Peanut butter — And Jelly!
Peanut butter — And Jelly!

First you take the peanuts
And you dig them.
Dig them.
(Children repeat.)

Then you take the shells
And you crack them.
Crack them.

Then you take the shells
And you crack them.
Crack them.

Next, you take the peanuts
And you mash them.
Mash them.

Then you take the bread
And you spread it.
Spread it.

Chorus:
Peanut butter — And Jelly!
Peanut butter — And Jelly!
Peanut butter — And Jelly!
Peanut butter — And Jelly!

Next, you take the grapes
And you pick them.
Pick them.
Next, you take the grapes
And you pick them.
Pick them.

Then you take the grapes
And you squish them.
Squish them.

Then you take the bread
And you spread it.
Spread it.

Now, you take the sandwich
And you eat it
Eat it.

Dig them
Crack them
Mash them
Spread it.
Mmmmmm Mmmmmm looks good.

Pick them
Squish them
Spread it
And eat it
Tastes good.

Peanut butter — And Jelly!

Snacks:

(Photo Source)

OF course we will be 'testing' our jams and jellies all week long! MMMmmmm can't wait!

Update: Here is a photo journal of our experience making jam....

Step 1- Occupy your 2 year old washing dirty dishes... and getting wet

Step 2- Exercise your hand cutting many, many, many strawberries

Step 3: Sterilize your jar... we used a 1 quart jar and boiled for 10 minutes

Step 4: Add this funny looking ingredient...oh, I mean vanilla bean..and sugar

Step 5: Get to work squishing....so fun!

Step 6: Take some time to enjoy having red hands!

Step 7: Give the 2 year old a break from dish duty, and let her squish a few...

Step 8: Have a heart attack that there is

strawberry drippings and pieces all over your kitchen...

then remember that preschoolers can HELP clean up!

Step 9: Enjoy the fruits (or jam) of your labor...delicious!

Simple Jam Recipe: I love Jamie Oliver and how simplistic his recipes are...source Food Network

Strawberry Jam

Recipe (c) Jamie Oliver 2002

Prep Time:

5 min

Inactive Prep Time:

45 min

Cook Time:

4 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

about 2 jars

Ingredients

Seeds of 1 vanilla pod
10 1/2 ounces (300 grams) sugar
2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) strawberries, washed

Directions

Run your knife
down the vanilla pod scrape out the seeds and add with the pod to the strawberries and the
sugar. Mush it up a bit with a whisk leaving some large chunks. Put on a medium heat to
bring to a gentle simmer and leave to cook for about 4 minutes. Using a ladle remove the
scum from the top and leave to cool. Place in sterilized jars and store in the
refrigerator.

Copyright 2011 Television Food Network G.P., All Rights Reserved

Thanks!