Cook's Journal - Popcorn

Yes...popcorn! Now, I've never cooked anything but the microwaved kind, but we're trying to cook without using the microwave as much as possible, so...I cooked it on the stovetop. You know what? It was really easy. And guess what? You could even eat it!! Yay! It definitely dirtied a couple more pots, but it was a lot of fun and I think we'll be doing popcorn this way from now on. I didn't take pics of the whole process, but i can tell you what I did:

1. Find a big pot with a lid and put it on the stove on high.
2. Put coconut oil in the bottom of the pan to cover the entire bottom.
3. Put just enough kernels to also cover the bottom of the pan.
4. Cover the pot with the lid.
5. Shake the pot back and forth a little to make sure the kernels aren't sticking while you wait patiently for the things to pop.
6. Wait for the Party in a Pot to wind down.
7. Take off the lid, pour on the butter and sprinkle on the salt.
8. Enjoy a yummy snack.

That's it! I felt so proud of myself after accomplishing popped popcorn without a microwave. It was like I considered myself a real pioneer woman. How pitiful is that, but hey...it's the simple things in life, right? And you remember, I'm a stay-at-home mom. These things excite me. :)



Home Journal - Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to My Big Nine-Year-Old!!!!!! 

Every parent says the same thing..."I can't believe it!" and every parent will also tell you..."It's true!" Where has all the time gone?

L's fave's at 9:

• drink: root beer
• food: pb & j, burritos
• dessert: brownies
• clothes: sports outfits, shorts in winter, sleeveless T's in summer
• thing to play: Lego's
• movie: Yogi Bear
• habit: biting his nails

Gotta love that sweet face! :) Love ya', Brother!

School Journal - Russia

This last week of school was Spring Break for all the public school kids in our area, but this mean mommy was going to make the kids buck up and carry a full load anyway. Well, God must have had other plans because Sunday night I got a mean headache and Ter had to stay home from work on Monday to take care of the kids - so Monday was a wash. Tuesday was L's birthday and we have a tradition at our house that we take off birthdays - so Tuesday was at least a school wash. Wednesday we read a few things about Russia and did some map work and we read some Russian stories - not too bad, but we still didn't do any of the 3 R's. Thursday we got a book or two read about Russia and then went to Granny's house - also pretty much a wash. Friday we don't usually do school at home, but I had the kids watch a video on Russia and called it good. So, the truth is out about our lack of motivation this past week. Oh yeah, I forgot that we also had a Russian meal on Friday night - Beef Stroganoff. Ter and I also had stir fried cabbage which is probably not from Russia, but cabbage is at least! E liked it, but the others wanted to leave it in Russia where it belonged! Ha! Nothing like my kids to tell you the truth. I did redeem myself that night though, by making popcorn and having family movie night.

One more thing, E and I put together our puzzle of St. Basil's Cathedral while we watched the movie.

School Journal - Angus Lost

We had so much fun this week rowing Angus Lost! We turned it into a pet theme for the week since Betty is more into cats than dogs. But we also found Angus and the Cat at our library too. Super cute books!

For Betty's sensory bin, we made some cat food for her cat. I just let her mix up whatever she wanted of pretzels, goldfish, oyster crackers and cheerios. Thn we set up a scene in her bin with carpet and bowls for food and water (pretend). We got a bed and pillow for her pet and some toys to play with and they were all set.

Making pet food.

I also made a super easy dog house. I thought of the idea in the middle of the night not being able to sleep. Anyway, all you need is a square tissue box, scissors, tape and paint and cardstock for the roof. I cut the box where the tissue comes out for the door. Then I opened up one of the sides that has a seam and cut the long seams to make triangles for the roof gable. Then I painted the outside and then used tape to attach the cardstock roof on. It was so easy and Betty had a lot of fun with all her animals. I should have gotten more pics to do a step-by-step, but it really was easy.

 

She also did some printable from Prekinders and Making Learning Fun. Links below. She loved this cat/dog sort.

We also did a few things from Confessions of a Homeschooler  on I is for Inchworm.

Pet Links:

http://delightfullearning.blogspot.com/2010/10/angus-lost.html#

http://www.filefolderfun.com/SubjectAnimals.html

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/b4_resources_angus_lost.php

http://prekinders.com/pets-theme/

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/Pets.htm

Home Journal - Spaghetti Tutorial

There is a proper way to eat spaghetti. Did you know that? And it's not rolling the noodles around your fork. That's for wimps. Let Bo show you how to really savor every mouthful and I do mean mouthful. :) 

First, get as much spaghetti as you can fit in your fist and shove it in your mouth.

Make a slurping sound and suck up the trailing noodles.

Next, be sure to feel down in your seat and diaper to catch any noodles that may have escaped.

Smile and repeat!

Now go and get your own Italian tonight!

Bo at 17 months.



School Journal - Iraq and Israel

Well, alas...I don't have any pictures to share with you for any of the last two weeks of work, but we have been working! We've continued in Asia with Iraq and Israel. The curriculum that we've been using didn't have any country study on any of the Middle Eastern Muslim nations, so I thought we'd take a little time and focus on Iraq since that one is in the news a lot and the kids need to have some knowledge of what's going on over there. Israel is just a good one to focus on because of the Jewish faith and our own faith. I kinda didn't get any meal made for either country, but we read books about each country and literature stories from them as well. We also drew or painted a picture of a mosque and the Star of David. We did the flag and map work and watched a video about families living in those countries. The kids haven't been too interested in the websites for some reason. Z only likes them if there is a game to play - so I kinda haven't pushed that, but they like the videos and reading. Some books we enjoyed reading were Magic Tree House -  Season of the Sandstorm (set in Baghdad) and The Bronze Bow (set in Bible times). We got others from the library, but these two were faves of the kids.

   

We'll study Russia next and then we'll do Australia!

Home Journal - Bo Bandit

Cowboy Bandit - Toddler Style

Make sure you've got all your cowboy gear on and your trigger finger is ready!

Enlist a partner in crime!

Make sure your victim is good and dead by pounding on his chest over and over all the while crying out in a sinister laugh.







School Journal - Reading Winners!

The boys have been working steadily throughout the school year to complete their personal reading goals. L was to read 20 books either to me or to himself which may not sound like a whole lot, but reading is a struggle for him. Z was to finish his 100 Easy Lessons book, but after about 60 lessons we modified our goal. He wasn't catching on to the lessons as quickly as the book wanted him to, so we put that on the shelf for a little bit and just brought out books to practice. His modified goal was to still finish 100 leassons but reading TWO Bob Book sized books counted for ONE lesson. Well, both the boys finished this last week and they collected their prize of a toy from Target ($10 limit). Not bribery mind you, but payment for hard work done well. Congratulations, boys!



School Journal - Letter T

T is for Ten Muddy Toes! We had a short week this week so I opted not to do a B4FIAR book this week. Betty had a good time getting outside and enjoying a few spring-like days. She is quite a little prissy pants and immediately wanted her feet washed, but I made her suffer through a picture anyway. :) Muddy toes and knobby knees are hard to resist!



We did some fun T activities using many of the links below. (Am I the only lazy one who hates to link everything within the post?) But I actually thought of this one myself. If you've seen something similar online, then I apologize. I hadn't seen it, but it was so simple that I figure someone else has surely done it (if I could think of it). Anyway... I had some green glass pebbles that we called our turtles and I twisted some pipe cleaners together to make a log. I could have used a stick, but it was raining outside. Then I cut a free-form pond out of construction paper. Blue cloth would've been cuter, but this was available.

Betty used the turtle die (had it from when I was a kid) and put the matching number of turtles on the log. Then, when it was time to roll again, we made a big deal of the turtles splashing back down into the water. Simple and fun...gotta love that!

I also must admit that she was not really into the turtle thing in general. We also jazzed things up with Twinkle T and Tinkerbell to make it more to her liking. :) How many words can we come up with for sparkly, jewel, glittery things? I need help from Fancy Nancy!



Links:
http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/10/letter-t-for-turtle.html

http://delightfullearning.blogspot.com/2009/02/t-is-for-tiger.html#

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/TurtlePrintablesandIdeas.htm

http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/category/lowercase-t

http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/category/turtle