Catching-up
Because our materials (books) for the next week of study were not in at the library until almost mid-week, we took this week off from our Five in a row schedule. Instead we read our chapter books Skippack School, Marguerite De Angeli and Shiloh, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor while the children colored, and we caught-up on getting some shopping done (Target and Costco). We continued our daily circle time, (Bible, letters, math games and singing) and Tristan and I also continued working on reading and writing. It wasn't until Friday when we sat down to organize Tristan's FIAR school folder that he realized we hadn't done a book this week. As he put it, "Mom, we didn't do school this week!". I am glad that he noticed and I encouraged him that our circle time our chapter book reading is part of school assuring him that we will start a new study on Monday.
We have really enjoyed the walphabet letter videos on youtube. Thanks to Aunt Becky for recommending them. They are cute and reinforce not only recognition of the letter shape but also the sound of each letter and words beginning with that sound.
The last few weeks we have also experimented with some baking and juicing. The kids were fascinated the first time I pulled the old juicer out of the pantry to juice some cuties that were getting past ripe. I told them that the juicer really comes in handy for making vegetable juice and, of course, they were instantly curious. I happened to have beets in the fridge and we proceeded to juice them the next day. I informed the children that beet root makes beautiful, sweet juice. They disagreed with me on the sweet part, but wanted to try some more veggies. The next grocery run we purchased carrots, tomatoes and apple (forgetting the beet and celery, oh well.) We made some veg. juice. They were not fanatic, despite my enthusiasm. When I gave them pure carrot juice, we finally had a winner. They decided we should try carrot with apple next... or banana... I decided I was tired of cleaning the juicer. Maybe we'll revisit juicing when the summer harvest of veggies come ripe.
We've had mixed results with baking. The chocolate cherry cookies and chocolate cake roll were less than awesome, however, the homemade hamburger buns and rye/molasses/raisin muffins were hugely successful. You win some, you lose some. It's all a part of learning and growing together. The more we bake together more we increase our skill. Ana's measuring skills improve with each recipe and Tristan is learning not only to crack eggs, but also how to separate the white from the yolk.
We have really enjoyed the walphabet letter videos on youtube. Thanks to Aunt Becky for recommending them. They are cute and reinforce not only recognition of the letter shape but also the sound of each letter and words beginning with that sound.
The last few weeks we have also experimented with some baking and juicing. The kids were fascinated the first time I pulled the old juicer out of the pantry to juice some cuties that were getting past ripe. I told them that the juicer really comes in handy for making vegetable juice and, of course, they were instantly curious. I happened to have beets in the fridge and we proceeded to juice them the next day. I informed the children that beet root makes beautiful, sweet juice. They disagreed with me on the sweet part, but wanted to try some more veggies. The next grocery run we purchased carrots, tomatoes and apple (forgetting the beet and celery, oh well.) We made some veg. juice. They were not fanatic, despite my enthusiasm. When I gave them pure carrot juice, we finally had a winner. They decided we should try carrot with apple next... or banana... I decided I was tired of cleaning the juicer. Maybe we'll revisit juicing when the summer harvest of veggies come ripe.
We've had mixed results with baking. The chocolate cherry cookies and chocolate cake roll were less than awesome, however, the homemade hamburger buns and rye/molasses/raisin muffins were hugely successful. You win some, you lose some. It's all a part of learning and growing together. The more we bake together more we increase our skill. Ana's measuring skills improve with each recipe and Tristan is learning not only to crack eggs, but also how to separate the white from the yolk.
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