Dad's Twenty-Year-Old Shirt Becomes Our History Fair Project

Two days before our support group history fair and we needed a history fair project for a younger learner. Sister had a project and she NEEDED one, too!

A Google search landed me on a grand find: the instructions for a Nettie Doll. We read the information we found online, talked about the era in which Nettie Dolls were common, and gathered scraps of fabric we had in the sewing area. We also rounded up some old clothes no longer suitable for wearing, including Dad's twenty-year-old shirt. Nestled on the carpet among a growing pile of 1/2 inch fabric strips we selected our colors. Each girl counted 35 strips of fabric and arranged them on a horizontal pile.

Then they counted 25 shorter matching strips for the arms. We followed the directions and presto...a Nettie Doll.

After making 6 (our niece was visiting) our living room carpet was covered with fabric threads and trimmings, but the end products were priceless. One young learner took an afternoon nap with her Nettie and the others are planning a "Nettie sleepover" with theirs. What fun! We learned something new, completed a project together, and built deeper relationships.

History fair will be extra special this year.

So, just in case a history fair event is in your near future, find some fabric, start cutting, and make some small authentic friends.

Pumpkin Bread and More

Pumpkin, squash, fall, oh YES!

Everybody's itching for fall. Our family begged me to make pumpkin bread this week. Our mouths watered as it baked. That scrumptious smell of cinnamon. Who could resist cutting the bread as soon as it appeared from the oven? Yummy indeed!

Here is the recipe we use. It is our absolute favorite. I came upon it fifteen or so years ago when my husband brought home the PTA cookbook from his school. Sadly I don't know who submitted the pumpkin bread recipe so I cannot credit the source. If, as you read this blog, you recognize the recipe and know the source, please let me know. Shame not to know the source of our family's favorite!

Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup oil

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2/3 cup water

2 cups pumpkin

3 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

Mix all liquid ingredients followed by sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin, flour and baking soda. Pour into greased and floured stem/bundt pan or two loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

*For a sensory experience, we always smell the cinnamon and nutmeg before we add it to the batter. Just something little noses enjoy!

Last evening as I prepared a squash for baking (eventually pureed to make baby food) my children noticed the seeds were smaller versions of the pumpkin seeds they had come to recognize. Discussion grew and eyes widened as we cleaned out the inside of the squash. We compared pumpkin and squash insides, noting they HAD to be members of the same food family if they had the same seeds (smile- kids are so curious). We compared seeds, talked about how each grew, compared the leaves of each plant, and wondered if they would taste similar. The questioning and learning that took place. Warms my heart.

If you are on a fall pumpkin or squash adventure, here are some book links you might find helpful:

Picking Apples and Pumpkins by Amy Hutchings

Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie by Jill Esbaum

From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer

The Pumpkin Patch by Elizabeth King

A Great Blog Find

Just thought I would share this great blog find. Abundant information for reading when you have time.

http://www.hsclassroom.net/2010/08/19-everyday-helps-for-a-smoother-homeschool-year/

CH, CH, Chocolate Chip Pancakes

What do "CH" sounds and CHocolate CHip pancakes have in common? Yummy learning!

This morning I ventured to the local grocery for a bag of grapes. Fast forward fifteen minutes into my shopping journey and I found myself dreaming up an engaging learning activity, sure to spark the young ones' curiosities.

Arriving home, I was greeted by three youngers and one older all wondering what was tucked in the grocery bags. To their utter surprise, mom had purchased buy-one-get-one chocolate chip pancake mix. Not the healthiest breakfast choice, but a grocery bargain as well as a catalyst for a morning of learning fun.

We read the box, followed directions, and mixed the ingredients. As I "wrote" in the pan, three pair of eyes gazed eagerly.

"MOM, you wrote a 'C'!"

Yes, indeed! Encouraged by her excitement, I "wrote" another letter.

"MOM, you wrote a 'H'!"

Yes, indeed! We now had two letters bubbling away.

"What sound do they make together?" I inquired. We all made the "CH" sound.

After making a batch of pancakes, we sat to eat. As we enjoyed our yummy CHocolate CHip pancakes we thought of more CH words.

Later in the morning, as I helped the olders with math and language arts, a younger learner cut CH words from the weekly grocery ad, creating a CH meal on a paper plate.

A productive morning indeed!

It's A Revolution!

There is a little bit of the American Revolution going around. I have several friends working their way through it, others asking about it, and we are in the middle of it, so why not post one blog and help everyone on their journey through the American Revolution?

Rather than learn about the Revolution as a whole this year, we're taking a look at the events from the angles of the men and women who lived it. As a way to tie it together, we are putting all the famous faces on a timeline so the kids can visually see where the people fall in line time-wise.

Our timeline. You can see we've just started. In fact, we have two more pictures to add today: Abigail Adams and Martha Washington. A side note- our study and reading about George and Martha Washington made the kids curious about Abraham Lincoln. One of our daughters had read Meet George Washington (Step Up Books series) independently and then borrowed Meet Abraham Lincoln (Step Up Books series) from friends, so when the topic came up, the girls started sharing all they knew about our sixteenth president. Later we read about Annie Oakley somewhere, and well, our history study moved forward to the Civil War. Not sure I was done with all I wanted to study about the Revolution, but intrinsic motivation increases retention, so I decided I would rather move on and have them remember what we are studying. Later this week we will add some Civil War era folks to the time line.

Back to the Revolution. Here are some of the books we enjoyed as we studied those who fought for the independence of our country.

George Washington

Adler, David A., A Picture Book of George Washington

d'Aulaire, Ingri, George Washington

Harness, Cheryl, George Washington

Heilbroner, Joan, Meet George Washington (StepUp Books series reprinted in paperback with similar text as a Landmark book)

Stevenson, Augusta, George Washington: Young Leader (Childhood of Famous Americans)

Abraham Lincoln

Adler, David A., A Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln

Brenner, Martha, Abe Lincoln's Hat (Step Into Reading series)

Cary, Barbara, Meet Abraham Lincoln (Step Up B

ooks)

Winters, Kay, Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Bo

oks

Betsy Ross

Wallner, Alexandra, Betsy Ross

Weil, Ann, Betsy Ross: Designer of our Flag (Childhood of Famous Americans)

Paul Revere

Adler, David A., A Picture Book of Paul Revere

Fritz, Jean, And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, Paul Revere's Ride (illustrated by Ted Rand)

Stevenson, Augusta, Paul Revere: Boston Patriot (Childhood of Famous Americans)

Benjamin Franklin

Hareness, Cheryl, The Remarkable Benjamin Franklin

Scarf, Maggi, Meet Benjamin Franklin (Step Up Books)

Stevenson, Augusta, Benjamin Franklin: Young Printer (Childhood of Famous Americans)

Sam Adams

Adler, David A., The Picture Book of Sam Adams

Fritz, Jean, Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams?

The American Revolution

Dalgliesh, Alice, The 4th of July

McGovern, Ann, If You Lived In Colonial Times

Moore, Kay, If You Lived At the Time of the American Revolution

We have used various activities from History Pockets: Colonial America and History Pockets: American Revolution by Evan-Moor. Homeschool Share also has lapbook ideas for the American Revolution.

As we move onto the Civil War here is a lapbook one of my daughters created. Some of her graphics were cut from old history textbooks. Templates for some of the topics were used from Homeschool Share.

Learning and Life Collide: Making Yogurt

Dining at a friends home recently, the hostess inspired me as she began heating milk to make yogurt. As we visited, she told me she had been doing this for quite some time. Me, I had never tried. However, with a family of nine consuming a minimum of 3 quarts of yogurt a week, I was empowered to give the process a try. My friend shared her yogurt making wisdom--explaining the cooler method she found by trial and error to be easiest.

When I returned home, I began my first yogurt making attempt by placing "homemade cooler yogurt" into a search engine. I read. I compared. I gathered needed equipment, most of which I had. My first attempt was successful, very successful, and I realized this process was yet another example of how learning and life collide. I wanted to involve my children in the process.

The first attempt, a successful walk through for me, I decided I understood the process enough to involve my children for my second yogurt making event. I retrieved the candy thermometer (left over from our yummy lollipop making experiments) from safe storage and gave the children a quick review about the care, use, and purpose of a thermometer. They were, once again, intrigued. We attached the thermometer to the side of the pot, poured in the milk, and turned the burner on medium. Each took a turn stirring. We periodically checked the temperature of the milk, giving us repeated practice reading a thermometer. One of the children drew a thermometer with the current temperature of the milk. A great way to incorporate multiple learning modalities.

As the milk heated we prepared the canning jars and discussed the difference between pints and quarts. The oldest helpers reviewed how many pints and quarts were in a gallon. One of the children suggested we pour pints of water into our empty milk jug to see if our calculations were indeed accurate; an excellent visual for our younger learners to have a concrete experience in measurements. We followed the remaining instructions and placed our yogurt into a cooler to "culture". After eight hours of "culturing" in the cooler, we placed our fresh yogurt in the refrigerator. We were all very excited about what we had accomplished together. In fact, we were all so enthused we decided to calculate how much money we had saved by making our own yogurt. What a learning experience!

My third attempt produced yogurt which was just a tad thicker than milk. Still yummy, just runny. Trying to figure out what went wrong. However, with fresh fruit, it made great breakfast smoothies.

There are several recipes, some using milk, others using soy or powdered milk. Experiment and choose what works best for your family.

Helpful links for yogurt making:

http://thefrugalgirl.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/how-to-make-homemade-yogurt/

http://fiascofarm.com/dairy/yogurt.htm

http://www.choosing-natural-health.com/make-yogurt.html

http://livelonger.hubpages.com/hub/How_to_make_your_own_yogurt_-_An_illustrated_guide

http://cookingsimplefood.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/making-homemade-yogurt-in-a-styrofoam-cooler/

http://www.nourishingdays.com/2010/11/how-i-am-making-yogurt-right-now-the-cooler-method/

http://www.mysisterskitchenonline.com/2006/10/10/homemade-yogurtcouldnt-be-easier/

Crockpot versions:

http://ourlifesimplified.com/kitchen/all-recipes/homemade-yogurt-in-a-crockpot/

This crockpot version has become my favorite, though my ancient crockpot takes six hours on high to reach 180 degrees! Still beats having to worry about stirring in between family needs. I simply put the milk in the crockpot at 9 AM and never open the lid until 3 PM when I check the temperature and begin the cooling process. When the milk lowers to 110degrees, I add the starter, wrap in a towel and place in a cooler overnight. BEST yogurt ever! It was worth the tweaking to figure out what process worked best for our family.

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html

Singing Catchy Tunes At Our House

I remember every lyric to the Saturday morning Schoolhouse Rock tunes my brothers and I would watch. Those lyrics helped me learn complicated (at least for me) grammatical and mathematical concepts. Imagine my delight when a friend sent me a link to a You Tube video of one of my favorites! It wasn't a Schoolhouse Rock tune, but it was one I remember hearing somewhere. Nonetheless, I remembered the concept of silent e after listening time and time again. This morning, I immediately clicked the link to let my seven year old daughter listen. She had just reviewed the silent e concept the day before, so she was super excited about the upbeat ditty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91BQqdNOUxs&feature=related

more silent e

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVeq9a4dFIU

two vowels go walking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o84ndBQU6vQ&feature=related

-ly words (adverbs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4KybdSi1Fc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eam2rL5S-4&feature=related

The Hound Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP0zTNPfHSk&feature=related

contractions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sScHUorw-Hc&feature=related

th words

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHWvcUjDbsg&feature=related

50 states and capitols

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNUDDaEOvuY&feature=related

first ten elements of the periodic table

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJGrwWOWt3Q&feature=related

counting by fives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_1x7V1sHd0&feature=related

Happy learning!