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| The girls with my Uncle (who lives in Spain) while on vacation last week. |
After a well-deserved and much enjoyed break, we got back to school this week. It was a short week and we only eased into it, but we did manage to get a few things done. I thought I'd share with you some of the stuff we did. As I mentioned in my last post, I have no way to upload my pictures at the moment, so I can't show you what we did, but I'll throw in a few random older pictures for your enjoyment.
Daddy had to work on Monday, but we still decided to take the day off. Other than playing, the only notable thing that happened on Monday was that we baked muffins together. Not a bit of sugar or oil and man, were they yummy! I decided to just use a cookbook (for a change) and have the girls follow directions directly. So, this recipe came out of the children's vegetarian cookbook Better than peanut butter & jelly. You should check it out!
Apple-Carrot Muffins
3 eggs worth of Egg Replacer
1/2 cup Maple Syrup
1/2 cup Unsweetened Applesauce
1 cup grated Apple (we used Organic Fuji)
1 cup grated Carrot (we used Organic)
1 cup Whole-Wheat Flour
1 Cup All-Purpose Flour (we used Unbleached)
2 tsp Baking Powder (we used Non-GMO)
1/4 tsp Salt (we used Kosher Sea Salt)
1 tsp Cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 12 count muffin tin with spray (we used paper liners AND sprayed the inside of the paper). Blend egg replacer, maple syrup and applesauce until well combined. Stir in apple and carrot (we used the food processor to grate them to make it easier). In a separate bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Blend dry ingredients with apple mixture until well combined (I just stirred them with a fork). Spoon into muffin tins and bake 25 minutes. YUM!
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| November 2009 ~ Baking Bread Together |
BIBLE:
This week's Bible chapter dealt with the story of the first Passover. Moses instructed the Israelites to kill a lamb and sprinkle the sides and tops of their doors with its blood. In case you didn't already know, this was so that when the Lord came through the land to kill the first-born of every Egyptian family (the tenth plague), He would pass by their houses. After the final Plague, Pharaoh finally told the Israelites to leave. So, the Israelites set about getting ready to go. They ate the lamb that they had killed so that they would be full for their journey. They packed all of their things and started to make bread. They ended up having to leave before they had a chance to add the yeast to the bread. When they baked the dough in the desert, it tasted more like crackers because of the lack of yeast. This is where we get the idea of eating lamb and unleavened bread each year to celebrate the Passover ~ in remembrance of how God had rescued them from slavery.
The Princess narrated a small part and the Hippie narrated the rest of the story. The Hippie drew a picture for this story and copied the following sentence:
It is the Lord's Passover to make us remember the night He smote the Egyptians, but passed over our houses.
CHARACTER:
This week's chapter from Wisdom and the Millers was a lesson that we are always teaching our daughters ~ to share and to give whatever you have to give. The chapter was about Proverbs 11:24-25 and dealt with the idea that those who are generous and share with others often end up with more than the selfish person who hoards everything for himself. This is one lesson that we demonstrate regularly. We live at or below poverty level, yet we always give whatever we have to give when we someone in need. When we see the man on the side of the road with the cardboard sign, we always pull up and give him any food or drink we have on hand ~ we pretty much always have a granola or breakfast bar or some fruit with us. We teach our girls to give what you have to give. In our case, that isn't money. But, we have food and we have hair (the girls and I have donated to Locks of Love a total of 4 times in the past few years) and we have smiles and conversation. Every person we interact with feels so good after we've given to them. They always say "God bless you" and rave about how thankful they are. It is a lesson I am eager to pass on to my children and I was happy to see it addressed in our Millers book!
WORLD HISTORY:
We started reading Boy of the Pyramids this week. It is a mystery set in Ancient Egypt and my goal is for it to provide insight into what daily life was like in Ancient Egypt. We only read the first chapter, but the Hippie requested to keep reading. I think it will be an enjoyable read.
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| Cave Painting October 2010 |
AMERICAN HISTORY:
We didn't get to a lot in American History this week. We left off (before the break) with the story of Pocahontas, so this week I let the girls watch a little 50 minute Pocahontas story (animated) that was on our cable's On Demand. They enjoyed it and then I had them tell me what was different about it from the story we'd read in school ~ only the ending was different in this version. Next week I will have the girls draw their pictures and do their copywork from the story of Pocahontas.
NATURE:
We read this lovely book this week. It explained in amazing detail the life cycle of the bumblebee. We all learned a few new things from this book. Did you know that when it is hot in the summer, it is the job of three worker bees to become a sort of ceiling fan? They hang on to the top of the hive and flutter their wings at a speed that creates wind and circulates the air inside the hive, cooling things off. God is so amazing! Anyway, both girls drew pictures in their Nature Notebooks and copied a line from the book, the Hippie's being much longer than the Princess's. The Hippie then proceeded to tell us a marathon story about a bumblebee ... with chapters and everything. If she could write or type as fast as her brain worked, she could write a novel. It sounded like I was listening to her read a novel to me when she was telling me this story. She tells it just like a well-written novel sounds. Too cute. If only I'd had a tape recorder.
LITERATURE & POETRY:
We continued reading The Wise Enchanter this week (we have now read letters A through H) and we started reading Trumpet of the Swan by EB White this week. I only read two chapters and the Hippie was hooked. After we read those two chapters, the Hippie proceeded to make two swans out of fuzzy sticks and yarn. She colored their beaks and feet black (as described in the book) and wrapped the fuzzy sticks in white yarn. If only I had the ability to show you a picture. :) She also made them a nest. This was all on her own. You really don't need parent-directed activities and lesson plans ~ if you just give your children the good stuff and the time and freedom, their creativity will take over. The girls also played swans either later that afternoon or the next day (I can't remember). They built a nest with blankets, the Hippie sat on the next (I believe they used wooden Russian dolls as eggs) and the Princess "swam" around our house bringing food back to the Hippie. So cute.
Oh, we also read eight more poems by AA Milne from "When We Were Very Young" and the fairy tale "The Seven Ravens". The Princess narrated this fairy tale beautifully and then the next day she drew a picture for it and copied a short sentence about it.
THE PRINCESS:
Other than what I've already mentioned (drawings and copywork for "The Seven Ravens" and "Bumblebee at Apple Tree Lane"), the Princess started working on Lesson 8 in Math (solving for an unknown ~ yes, my first grader is doing Algebra, lol). She read three Mother Goose Rhymes aloud to me and read to herself a chapter each from Porky & Bess, Tales of Amanda Pig and a Cat reader I picked up at a used book store. She also read a page from Tut's Mummy: Lost and Found. In her Language Lessons, she learned about the comma (which she already knew about) and the silent "GH".
THE HIPPIE:
Other than what I've already mentioned (drawings and copywork for Bible and Nature), the Hippie completed lesson 15 in her Math book. She finished reading "More Stories from Grandma's Attic" over the break and has been reading "Emily's Runaway Imagination" for her free reading. For the first time, I assigned some history reading to her this week. She read the first four chapters of "A Lion to Guard Us" (a story about a family of children coming to Jamestown in the New World) and told me about them afterwards. She completed a couple more lessons in her cursive book and started writing her name in cursive (on her own and quite excited that she could do it!). In her Language Lessons, she learned about the use of "A" and "AN' and we did a bit of Picture Study and Narration together.
FIELD TRIP:
We took a field trip with our Homeschool group to a working Organic Farm on Thursday. It was a scorcher ~ so miserably hot and humid. But, the company was great and the blueberries, strawberries and tomatoes that we grazed on while walking through were simply divine! We enjoyed a picnic lunch in the shade after our tour and reconnected with our friends after being away for a bit. The Hippie also picked a giant squash that we got to keep because there was a tiny caterpillar hole in it. She was so excited about the prospect of getting it home and finding a caterpillar inside. Did I ever tell you about the caterpillar habitat she build recently in hopes of finding a caterpillar to raise? She never did find a caterpillar, but still had the habitat set up and she hoped to find her new "pet" inside the squash. When the farmer realized how much she wanted a caterpillar, he found her another squash with a hole in it. So, we got to take home two fresh organic squashes. Much to her disappointment, when I cut up one of them that night to add to our soup, I did not find a caterpillar. :( Maybe next time, kid.
I think that about sums it up. I've got other home-making tasks to get to. I hope you enjoyed a peek into our week. Hopefully I will be able to make time for some of the other writing that is twirling around in my head.
Until next time,
~ Irie Momma
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| Right Whale Festival ~ November 2010 |
Oh, we also read eight more poems by AA Milne from "When We Were Very Young" and the fairy tale "The Seven Ravens". The Princess narrated this fairy tale beautifully and then the next day she drew a picture for it and copied a short sentence about it.
THE PRINCESS:
Other than what I've already mentioned (drawings and copywork for "The Seven Ravens" and "Bumblebee at Apple Tree Lane"), the Princess started working on Lesson 8 in Math (solving for an unknown ~ yes, my first grader is doing Algebra, lol). She read three Mother Goose Rhymes aloud to me and read to herself a chapter each from Porky & Bess, Tales of Amanda Pig and a Cat reader I picked up at a used book store. She also read a page from Tut's Mummy: Lost and Found. In her Language Lessons, she learned about the comma (which she already knew about) and the silent "GH".
THE HIPPIE:
Other than what I've already mentioned (drawings and copywork for Bible and Nature), the Hippie completed lesson 15 in her Math book. She finished reading "More Stories from Grandma's Attic" over the break and has been reading "Emily's Runaway Imagination" for her free reading. For the first time, I assigned some history reading to her this week. She read the first four chapters of "A Lion to Guard Us" (a story about a family of children coming to Jamestown in the New World) and told me about them afterwards. She completed a couple more lessons in her cursive book and started writing her name in cursive (on her own and quite excited that she could do it!). In her Language Lessons, she learned about the use of "A" and "AN' and we did a bit of Picture Study and Narration together.
FIELD TRIP:
We took a field trip with our Homeschool group to a working Organic Farm on Thursday. It was a scorcher ~ so miserably hot and humid. But, the company was great and the blueberries, strawberries and tomatoes that we grazed on while walking through were simply divine! We enjoyed a picnic lunch in the shade after our tour and reconnected with our friends after being away for a bit. The Hippie also picked a giant squash that we got to keep because there was a tiny caterpillar hole in it. She was so excited about the prospect of getting it home and finding a caterpillar inside. Did I ever tell you about the caterpillar habitat she build recently in hopes of finding a caterpillar to raise? She never did find a caterpillar, but still had the habitat set up and she hoped to find her new "pet" inside the squash. When the farmer realized how much she wanted a caterpillar, he found her another squash with a hole in it. So, we got to take home two fresh organic squashes. Much to her disappointment, when I cut up one of them that night to add to our soup, I did not find a caterpillar. :( Maybe next time, kid.
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| Nature Walk October 2009 |
I think that about sums it up. I've got other home-making tasks to get to. I hope you enjoyed a peek into our week. Hopefully I will be able to make time for some of the other writing that is twirling around in my head.
Until next time,
~ Irie Momma
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