Read Aloud Week!

This is our final read aloud week for the year, but actually we have several things we're doing.

Since I want to finish our math books before the end of the year, we're starting each day with one page of math instead of our usual 2 pages. This hasn't taken very long and then we are on to the main event: reading!

Abby, Thomas and I are reading Winnie-the-Pooh. I think it's actually the first time I've read all the stories and I'm enjoying it as much as they are. We are also reading Laddie by Gene Stratton-Porter. There is so much nature study that I keep thinking I should do a unit study instead of merely reading it, but I've managed to squelch that idea, since the whole idea was simply to read the book and discuss it.

For history, Abby and I finished Bread and Butter Indian and have started Bread and Butter Journey by Anne Colver. These stories are based on pioneer journals from the author's family and are sweet reads for young girls. They are illustrated by my favorite, Garth Williams.

For Christmas I got The Apple and the Arrow by Mary and Conrad Buff for Thomas and we started it today. It's the legend of William Tell and it's pretty exciting so far!

Thomas has been studying the science sections in Beyond FIAR's Neil Armstrong. We're nearing the end and I've spent a good bit of time on the internet, trying to figure out how to pull all the information together and do something hands-on at the same time. I decided to make the space lapbook in The Ultimate Lap Book Handbook by Tammy Duby and Cyndy Regeling. This handbook has instructions for lapbooks and minit books, as well as other kinds of books, such as pizza books, stick books, accordion books, etc. and projects for each school subject. We'll post some pics of it when we finish up. This week, we're working on hamburger-fold minit books about each planet and learning information about each one as we go.

Abby and I are finishing up The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco. We spent a couple of days talking about the orchestra, reading Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin and The Story of the Incredible Orchestra and playing on a neat website done by the Dallas Symphony for kids. We read about bees, of course. And today we read Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney and made maps of our neighborhood and the inside of our house. I have some beeswax sheets to make candles, but will have to wait until I get to the big city to get some wick.

Next, Abby and I will begin rowing our last FIAR book, Miss Rumphius.

We've had a busy week with lots of other things going on, but we've learned a lot, too!

Girdle Buster Pie

I saw this on another blog back in the fall and just loved the name of it! I had planned to have a mom's night out for the moms at church and serve this, but with one thing and another, I never got around to it. When we decided to make it for this weekend, I thought I would post the recipe since warm weather is approaching (we hope!).

Girdle Buster Pie

1 box of graham crackers
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or 4 oz. dark chocolate pieces

Process in food processor until blended thoroughly. Press into 2 pie plates (recipe said one, but it made so much, I was able to easily get two pies) and freeze for an hour.

Meanwhile, let 2 pints of coffee ice cream soften (I couldn't find coffee, so I got chocolate chip. I think any chocolate flavor would work well, too). Spoon into crust(s) and refreeze.

Make the topping and let it cool.

3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons corn syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
3 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons bourbon (Optional. You might try a teaspoon or two of vanilla. I used rum flavoring, but I didn't use enough and couldn't taste it.)
1/2 cup heavy cream

Put syrup, sugar, salt and butter into saucepan. Let melt over low heat, then turn up and let boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add the bourbon, and let it hiss in the pan. Add the cream, stir to mix, and let cool.

Pour the cooled sauce over the pie and return to freezer. After it's set, cover with plastic wrap until ready to serve.

Menu

Thursday: Sloppy joes, whole roasted potatoes with olive oil and kosher salt rubbed on the skins, baked beans.

Friday: Chili.

Saturday: The girls and I are going shopping, Katie will be out of town, David and Rach are going to a concert, Joshua will come over at lunchtime, so we'll all be eating at different times, probably. Beef stew in the crockpot.

Sunday: Heavenly Chicken Lasagna, French bread, Girdle-Buster Pie (this is a new recipe for us and I'll post the recipe if it turns out well). Since Katie is going to be gone, everyone wants milk, milk, milk for lunch.

Monday: Hamburgers, black beans with garlic, peppers, and onion. I'm trying to get away from baked beans because of all the sugar.

Tuesday: Roast, baked sweet potatoes.

Wednesday: Chicken noodle soup with carrots and peas.

Thursday: Pinto beans, rice, tortillas.

On My Nightstand

There are lots of books on my nightstand and I'm excited to have the opportunity to read a couple of new ones!

My Bible, with the Lenten devotions written by my oldest son, which are thoughtful and convicting.

Jewish Family Celebrations by Arlene Rossen Cardozo because I'm working on the Passover Seder for our church and I always need to refresh my memory about what all needs to be done for this joyful celebration.

A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver Van DeMille, which I'm studying slowly.

A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola. I like teaching with living books and gentle learning and enjoy re-reading this book often to make sure I'm still on track.

John Adams by David McCullough. I'm so excited about the HBO documentary/drama that I checked out the book and started it early this morning.

What the Bible Says About Healthy Living by Rex Russell. Anna, Emily, and I are reading this for health class. I'm trying to catch-up this week while Anna's gone to TeenPact because I've gotten woefully behind.

Abigail Adams by Natalie Bober. I bought this book a couple of years ago and we haven't read it yet, but it looks interesting.

The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer. I have to say that Mrs. Schaeffer is one of my all-time favorite authors. I'm not exactly reading this book word for word, because I've read it many, many times, but I like to look through it again and get some fresh ideas, especially this time of year when I'm hopeful that spring is coming soon.

The Fruit of Her Hands by Nancy Wilson. I went to my bookshelf a few weeks ago and pulled out a couple of Christian books to encourage myself. This book is always convicting and encouraging. And reminds me how I should behave as a Christian woman and example to younger women.

Just for fun: Friends at Thrush Green by Miss Read. Love English books and this one is like eating a nice cream bun - good all the way through! And Jane Austen's Little Advice Book by Cathryn Michon and Pamela Norris. Katie picked this up on the bookstore sale table, knowing how much I like Jane Austen.

Here's a great quote: "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book!" from Pride and Prejudice.

Arts Week!

Our final artist this week was Paul Gaugin. He liked to use very bright colors and paint things the opposite of their real colors. Thomas and Abby also enjoyed painting a lake purple, the sky green, and the grass blue.




One of the goals of Arts Week is to have time to do some cooking and sewing. Carrie covered a picture frame with fabric and started making a table runner, which she'll probably post on her blog at some point. We have a couple of aprons cut out, too, which she'll sew when she has time. Thomas made breakfast this morning, with a little help from Mom: apple oatmeal and toast.

We're off today and the sun is shining. The kids are outside riding their bikes on the driveway and I'm catching up on some projects and longing to go back to my book, John Adams by David McCullough. It's nice to have a little sun after several gray days, isn't it?

Arts Week!

Interesting day today!

Our yard this morning.

Artist: Degas. We did drawings that show motion since Degas gives the impression of movement in many of his paintings.

Thomas' drawing is a bullet. Abby's drawing is a ballerina.

Science: Invertebrates (worms). A couple of science experiments about heat from our Beyond unit, Neil Armstrong.

Literature: Winnie the Pooh and The Cabin Faced West.

Bible: Proverbs 2:5. And Abby's Wisdom and the Millers book and workbook.

Drawing lesson for Thomas: Right-brained drawing, which consisted of copying a drawing which was upside-down. He got rather frustrated and tried it another way and actually did pretty well. (It looked hard to me!)

Cooking: Our first attempt at snow cream, from a Paula Deen recipe. I found the recipe just by googling. Who knew Paula Deen makes snow cream???


This afternoon: I worked on a menu/grocery list and we watched the first disk of John Adams, which is excellent! I got so inspired, I found a book on my shelf about Abigail Adams which I intend to start reading right away, too. I'm so excited because I like learning more about the Revolutionary War. Thanks, Shelley, for recommending this program from Netflix!

Arts Week!

We having Arts Week! We're so excited - it's like a little learning vacation in the middle of other subjects. I decided to keep a diary of the day instead of the usual format.

5:30 AM The alarm went off, but I couldn't bear to leave the warm bed. Anna got up, however, to grab the shower first and get ready to go off to TeenPact for the week. Rachel went along, too, for an appointment at the orthodontist, so she was running around as well.

6:00 AM I'm up and getting dressed for the day. It's not so cold this morning, so I made Kitty-Kitty eat his breakfast outside instead of the comfortable laundry room. He didn't really want to go and stood in front of the wall heater, just looking at me while I was opening the front door and trying to lure him outside with the plate of cat food. Then I started our breakfast: bacon, eggs, and leftover ww rolls from yesterday. Emily and Thomas were up and helped with the table and Katie, whose vacation has ended, got up early, too, with Carrie. Abby was still snoring away.

7:00 AM David and the girls left for the day. Everyone began doing chores and checking email and Facebook and Abby got up and had breakfast. Thomas finished chores early and began straightening his clothing drawers.

8:00 AM We started school a whole hour ahead of time. Wow! Great for a Monday morning!
First, we studied our Bible verse from Proverbs. We chose Proverbs 1:4 today and looked up the important words and talked about the meanings and application, then prayed together. Abby sat in my lap while I read a chapter from Winnie the Pooh and we talked about greed (Pooh got stuck in Rabbit's front door today) and about Pooh's lack of thinking skills (but he's sooo endearing). We finished the first chapter of Laddie (long chapters!) and discussed the characters.

9:30 AM Everyone is starving this morning and had to have more rolls and Carrie went to change out the laundry while my voice took a break from reading. Thomas went to finished the drawers and start cleaning out from under his bed (a veritable mine field!) while Abby went to draw and listen to her Heidi CD. Carrie and I read from The Hiding Place and had a short talk about the character traits of Father and Betsie and Corrie.

10:00 AM Joshua called and said he needed to eat lunch early, so I fixed some potatoes to roast in the oven and, since David was gone, I had decided that I wasn't going to really cook, so Abby and I mixed up some baked beans and I got out some hot dogs to cook with the beans. Carrie started on her geography, which is a unit study written by Rachel to go with Around the World in 80 Days and she's also doing Around the World in 180 Days. It took Thomas a long time to clean out from under his bed, so Abby and I read another chapter from The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz, in between running to the kitchen to do various things to lunch. David's closet was a mess of half-filled Rubbermaid boxes and a huge stack of suitcases, so I straightened it all out, too, while lunch was cooking. Won't he be surprised that he can actually reach his overcoats now?

11:00 AM Rembrandt was the artist of choice today. We had a lesson about drawing faces in shadow - the kids drawing in my shadowy bedroom while I folded several baskets of laundry. If you follow the link, you can see how he painted many of the faces in his portraits in shadow on the right side of the painting. We looked at paintings on some different websites until Joshua came home for lunch.

11:45 AM Our composer for this week is Brahms. We read about him from Lives of the Musicians and listened to some of his works while we ate lunch. Emily, who had been studying history for a CLEP test all morning, washed the dishes since it was Anna's job and she's gone. Thanks, Emily!

1:00 PM Thomas took a break. Carrie practiced fiddle for an hour. I read a couple of picture books to Abby: You Silly Goose by Ellen Stoll Walsh, which gave us a good opportunity for discussion, and The Prickly Hedgehog by Mark Ezra.

2:00 PM Thomas and I read a chapter in Neil Armstrong, which is our Beyond FIAR book, and learned about the digestive system. He went to my room to practice fiddle. Abby and I made Good Morning Muffins for tomorrow's breakfast.

Good Morning Muffins

Yield: about 12 muffins
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup grated apples
1 cup grated carrots
2 cups flour
1 T. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease muffin tins.

Mix together eggs, sugar, and oil. Mix in dry ingredients. Fold in apples and carrots. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the muffins test done and are lightly browned.

3:00 PM Carrie worked on a writing assignment for awhile. Thomas finished practicing and went outside to play. Abby and I put up the laundry, then she went back to Heidi.

4:00 PM Carrie figured out how to cover a plastic headband with fabric and since the sewing machine was out for that, I asked her to mend the fringe on a throw. Emily took a break from typing up her history notes to walk with me and Leslie Sansone (with the sound turned off - we get tired of hearing her say the same things every day). Thomas worked on a story he's writing while playing classical and jazz on his kazoo, keeping time with our walking. What can I say? He's a BOY.

5:00 PM Thomas has been listening to Treasure Island on tape, so he pulled out a pirate book and read some interesting things to me. I'm much encouraged when he reads without being prompted.

5:30 PM Emily made grilled peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches. Everyone started chores and baths and then read or played with Playmobil until bedtime.

9:00 PM I'm home from the ladies' meeting at church and spent some time talking to David and the kids. Time for sleeping now.... See you tomorrow!