Here are a few more pictures of what we did in our Spanish Lapbook today. The boys picked out two animals each and colored pictures of them. They then wrote sentences to describe the animals' colors. For example, Noah wrote "El perro es negro y blanco." (The dog is black and white. Zach wrote, "La rana es verde, amarilla, anaranjada, roja y azul." (The frog is green, yellow, orange, red and blue.)Here are our clothing pages. These paper dolls are real cute!!!! You'll notice that we also have a pocket for our clothing flashcards and a pocket for the word "the" that comes in four forms in Spanish.

Posted by Debbie at 12:30 PM 1 comments  

Labels: Homeschooling, Lapbooks, Spanish

We have been working on rowing The Hickory Chair which is a Five in a Row Volume 4 unit. Noah just completed his lapbook for the book. Here are some pictures. Thanks to Ami from Homeschool Share for making the booklets. The booklet "Places the Grandchildren found notes" is a pop-up booklet. See next picture. Not the greatest of photos, but you get the idea.

We used a mini file folder (available at Tobin's Lab) for our information on Louis Braille. You can open up the file folder and see the Braille alphabet and information on its inventor.

Posted by Debbie at 9:43 AM 1 comments  

Labels: Five in a Row, Homeschooling, Lapbooks

I have been working with Kelly from the Homeschool Share boards to make teaching plans and lapbook pieces for elementary Spanish. We are almost finished! I am so excited about this! The plans and lapbook won't be available for a little while longer...we probably have about two more weeks of work and then we also need Ami to post it all. So there is a bit of work ahead before it is available to everyone. However, my boys and I have been using the lapbook pieces that are done to help them review their Spanish. We are putting everything in a large spiral book that I ordered from Bare Books. The boys are loving putting this together! Here is our first page....

Here's our animal page...the animals are in alphabetically order in Spanish which reinforces learning the alphabet in Spanish.
Here is a list of topics that this Spanish lapbook will cover:

alphabet

animals (one for each letter...there are a few letters that don't have an animal).

numbers

clothing

noun/adjective agreement

"the" and all its forms

seasons

weather

months

dates

days of the week

basic adjectives

basic verbs

body parts

emotions

rooms in the house

items in the house

position words (to the right of, underneath, etc.)

I will post when it is finally up on the Homeschool Share website.

Posted by Debbie at 7:31 PM 4 comments  

Labels: Homeschooling, Lapbooks, Spanish

I just received my order from Bare Books, and I am so impressed with the quality of the materials! I ordered some spiral notebooks...I am thinking that we are going to do some of our lapbooking in these. I bought the really large spiral books and then a smaller size.
I also bought a game board. I am really impressed with it and wish that I had ordered more! For only $3.95 I got a really nice quality game board. I decided to make a grammar game for the boys. For Zach this game will be more of a review, but this is some of what Noah is learning in First Language Lessons this year. I made a parts of speech game. I decorated the middle of the board using pigment ink and a frog stamp. I let it dry overnight since it seems to take pigment ink forever to dry. I then put the parts of speech in the spaces along the edge: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. I then made cards with sentences on them (all relating to frogs or quotes from Frog and Toad). I underlined a word in the sentence. Here is an example: "Toad thought about giant sunflowers." If someone picks this card he will have to figure out what part of speech "giant" is and then go to the next space on the board marked "adjective". I also put a few cards in there saying, "Hop back two spaces.", "Hop to the next noun space.", "Hop forward 1 space." The object of the game is to be the first to go around the board.

I got this game idea from a great book called Games...Tools for Learning by Janice and Mark Vreeland. I have used this book for several years...it has ideas for board games, card games, and my favorite...what I would call the "honeycomb game". This book has well been worth the price if you want to incorporate learning games into your school day. The book is available at Rainbow Resource.

Posted by Debbie at 7:43 AM 6 comments  

Labels: Homeschooling, Language Arts, Stamping

Posted by Debbie at 9:19 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Homeschooling, Language Arts

I will be showing a friend of mine tomorrow how to make yogurt and since most of this is in my head and not on paper I thought I would blog about it and then print it out for her. There are several methods/recipes using...only dry milk and water, whole milk, a yogurt maker, or crock pot or some other way to keep it warm. I took the easy route and bought a yogurt maker off Amazon a few years ago. It was under $20. It has been well worth the $20! I have saved a lot of money by making my own. And besides, it tastes so much better. It reminds me of my days in Argentina where all the yogurt was much fresher than what we buy in the stores here. I would suggest though that if you decide to buy a maker don't get the one that has individual jars...they are a pain to clean. Get one that will make a quart at a time in one container. Here is my recipe:

Homemade Yogurt
1 quart milk
1 packet of yógurmet starter or 1/4 cup yogurt (from store)
1/2 cup to 1 cup dry milk powder
Mix the milk and the dry milk powder in a saucepan...heat the milk (stirring constantly) until it reaches 82°C (or 180°F). Let it cool to 42°C (108°F) in the fridge. This takes about 20 minutes in the fridge...longer at room temp. Add the yogurt starter or store bought yogurt. Stir gently. Put in yogurt maker. Let set in the maker for four hours. Take it out and refrigerate it until set and totally cool. It is ready to eat. We add honey and jams to it to flavor it.
HINT: I actually use the metric system when doing yogurt...it is easier to read Celsius on my candy thermometer and it is easier to remember the high and low temps you need to get the milk at (82° and 42°).

I have also used this recipe when making yogurt only with dry milk powder. The instructions are long, but she gives a lot of great tips!

Posted by Debbie at 5:37 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Homemaking, Recipes

We just got back from a talk done by Dr. Mike Riddle from Answers in Genesis. We really enjoyed his talk and he had some amazing facts about creation and evolution. He geared the talk towards kids with a lot of humor and concepts that kids could relate to. Check out their site! Answers in Genesis has built a creation museum in Kentucky...I would love some day to be able to visit it.

Also, this past weekend, Tim and I watched Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. This film (done by Ben Stein) was a documentary on the issues surrounding evolution and intelligent design. Even though it was a documentary we found it enlightening and entertaining. Well worth the watch!

Posted by Debbie at 12:16 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Homeschooling, Nature

Here are a couple more altered clipboards that I finished this afternoon. I love making these...although they do take a bit of time. I will take this to The Stash which is a local store that sells "all things handmade". We will see if they sell.

Posted by Debbie at 5:52 PM 1 comments  

Labels: Stamping

Here is my first attempt at an altered clipboard. My friend, Linda, came over for a few hours today to show me how they are done. It turned out surprisingly well for my first attempt...although I have to admit that the flower is strategically placed to cover up a small tear in the paper. We didn't do any stamping on the clipboards we made today. We painted the clipboards, used Modge Podge to adhere the paper and then used ribbons and flowers to decorate. I gave this one away to a friend's daughter, but I plan to make more and sell them at The Stash where I sell my stamped cards.

Posted by Debbie at 8:55 PM 4 comments  

Labels: Stamping

We have used Five in a Row from the beginning of our homeschooling journey. I thought I would take a moment to review what we have done for these many, many years. If you are looking for a curriculum that will inspire your kids to love learning then check it out!

There are four different levels of Five in a Row: Before Five in a Row, Five in a Row, Beyond Five in a Row, and Above and Beyond Five in a Row. We have used Before, Five in a Row, and I just recently bought a volume of Beyond.

For Before FIAR (Five in a Row) there is a selection of great preschool picture books that the author of Before, Jane Claire Lambert, uses as a jumping off point for different activities. We enjoyed Goodnight Moon, Runaway Bunny, The Carrot Seed, If Jesus Came to my House, and many other great books during those early years.

For Five in a Row, you use one picture book for the week and read it for five days and do the activities for the book. Each day a different subject is covered. On Mondays, we do social studies. Tuesdays is Language Arts day. On Wednesdays, we do an art related activity to the book we are using. On Thursdays, it is science we delve into, and on Fridays we do applied math.

We haven't used Beyond yet as I am waiting for it to come in the mail. I bought Volume 2 and we will start with Helen Keller (the boys' choice). Can't wait to get started! Beyond and Above and Beyond are set up differently. They use chapter books and you don't do a certain subject each day. You pick the subjects or activities for each chapter that you are interested in.

Using FIAR has greatly expanded my boys' horizons. We have covered so many subjects that we wouldn't have normally covered in a regular curriculum. Just to give you an idea here are some of the topics we have covered over the years...

Social Studies Various states and countries, history (Civil War, WWII, Immigration, Native Americans)

Language Arts alliteration, foreshadowing, interjections, story within a story, vocabulary

Art color theory, foreshortening, media, vanishing point, music

Science food chains, ears, eyes, different animals, animal classification, water cycle, pollution

Applied Math Ordinal numbers, fortnight, time, geometric figures, skip counting, calendar

Here are some photos of activities we have done over the years in relation to FIAR.Reading one of our favorite FIAR books...Hanna's Cold Winter. It's about the people of Budapest, Hungary, saving the hippos at their zoo during WWII.

Posted by Debbie at 12:00 PM 1 comments  

Labels: Five in a Row, Homeschooling, Memories

We have been busy making Valentine's day treats...here are the felt fortune cookies that we made. Each one has a couple of Hershey's kisses in them with a slip of paper that says "Happy Valentine's Day". Here are the instructions.

We also made these pretzel buttons, too. I couldn't find any round pretzels to make them look like buttons so we made them with square pretzels. Here are the instructions.

Posted by Debbie at 12:45 PM 3 comments  

Labels: Holidays, Memories

I just pulled out Times Tales for my younger son. I bought it years ago for my oldest when he was struggling to memorize the multiplication facts. This tool is wonderful for helping kids memorize the upper times tables (6x6 and up). Basically it is a set of ten pictures (one for each problem) each with a short two sentence story to help the child memorize the fact. The numbers 6, 7, 8, 9 become characters in the stories. For example, 8 is represented by Mr. or Mrs. Snowman because an 8 looks like a snowman. Here is an example of one of the stories. In this story there are two tree houses (which represent #9). The first tree house grew 8 apples and the second one grew 1 apple...therefore 9x9=81.
I was able to sit down with my 2nd graders and go through the stories...in about 20 minutes he had all of them memorized. We will continue to review the stories in the next few weeks to solidify the facts. This program is so amazing because it is easy and it works!!! Visit their website!

Posted by Debbie at 9:43 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Homeschooling, Math

Mix 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 t. baking powder, 1/4 t. salt, 1 t. vanilla, 3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional), 1/2 cup flaked coconut, 1/2 cup cranberries. Pour 2nd mixture over crust and spread gently. Return to oven and bake at 350 for 35 min.

Posted by Debbie at 9:32 AM 1 comments  

Labels: Recipes

Posted by Debbie at 8:03 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Family, Memories

This is the meme for this week:

In March, we always celebrate St. Patrick's Day by having a little visitor come to our house the eve of March 16th. He leaves his footprints and a pot of gold...and sometimes some Lucky Charms.

Posted by Debbie at 8:22 AM 5 comments  

Labels: HOTM Meme

My friend and I normally bulk cook the first Monday of the month, but last Monday was too crazy! Here is what is on the menu...

Santa Fe Quinoa
Thai Green Curry
White Roasted Veggie Pizza
Black Bean Picante Sauce over Pasta
Caramelized Onion and Garlic Tart

Here are the recipes:

Santa Fe Style Quinoa
(Cook 1/2 C quinoa in 1 C water until fluffy (see package for instructions). This will give you 2 C quinoa.)
2 C cooked quinoa
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 C tomatoes, chopped
1 can corn, drained (or 2/3 C fresh or frozen)
3 T oil
1/2 C chunky tomato salsa
1 1/2 t Spike seasoning
2 t Mexican spice blend
1/2 t onion powder
1 t cumin powder
1 C Monterey jack cheese, shredded
Pour oil into a large skillet. I use a big cast-iron one. Add the peppers, onion and garlic. When they begin to become tender, add the zucchini. As it becomes tender, add the tomatoes and corn.Stir in the beans, quinoa, salsa, and seasonings and anything I forgot to mention individually. When it is hot throughout, you can either serve as is, or top with cheese and put in the oven until the cheese melts (just a few minutes). Or you can refrigerate this and serve it cold. By the way, Spike is a vegetarian seasoning mix. I find it in the natural health food section of the grocery store.

Thai Green Curry
We are going to loosely follow the recipe on the back of a jar of Thai Kitchen Green Curry Paste.
1 can coconut milk
I T. green curry paste
2 skinned, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 T. fish sauce
2 T. brown sugar
Steamed veggies that we will add: carrots, peas, zucchini
In a large saucepan simmer the coconut milk and paste. Add the chicken, fish sauce and brown sugar. Simmer 10 minutes. Add the steamed veggies. This will be put in Ziploc bags and then on serving day it will be served over brown rice.

White Roasted Veggie Pizza
This recipe we just came up with on our own. This is basically what we will do.
Make the white sauce which is basically alfredo sauce: sauteed chopped onion and some pressed garlic, add whipping cream and simmer til thick. Finally add Parmesan cheese to taste. If the sauce doesn't thicken you can add a bit of flour. Freeze in small containers.
Veggies that we will roast and put in Ziplocs: bell pepper, onion, mushrooms, artichokes, tomatoes, zucchini.
Day of serving: Use your favorite pizza dough recipe. Roll out dough on pizza stone. Cover dough with the alfredo sauce. Add the roasted veggies to the top. Top with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake.

Black Bean Picante Sauce over Pasta
1 med. onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 T oil
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained
2 (16 oz) cans stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup picante sauce
1 t chili powder
1 t ground cumin
1/4 t. dried oregano
4 cups hot cooked pasta (serving day)
1/3 cup shredded Jack cheese (serving day)
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (serving day)
Saute onion and garlic in oil until onion is tender. Stir in all the other ingredients (minus the serving day ones). Simmer for 15 min. Put in Ziplocs. On serving day, cook pasta. Serve sauce over pasta. Top with cheese and cilantro.

Caramelized Onion and Garlic Tart
1 package refrigerated crescent rolls
2 T butter
2 packed cups thinly sliced onions
4 to 5 garlic cloves, pressed
1 T sugar
1 T fresh thyme
2 large eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream or whole milk
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 375. Open the crescent rolls and separate into 8 triangles. Arrange the triangles in a pie pan with the long points toward the center so that the bottom and side of the pan are covered with dough. Press the edges of the dough triangles firmly together to seal. Bake the crust until is is lightly browned, 8 min.
Melt butter in a large skillet. Add the onions and garlic. Reduce the heat to med-low and cook, stirring until the onions begin to brown and take on a deep color, 8 min. Add the sugar and the thyme. Remove the crust from the oven. Press down the crust with the back of a spoon. Arrange the onion mixture on top of the crust. Crack the eggs in a small bowl, add the cream and Parmesan. Whisk to combine. Bake the tart until the custard has set, about 20 min. Cool. Wrap and freeze.

Posted by Debbie at 7:03 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Recipes

Zach's birthday is on Saturday, and my dad sent him a creative card. Noah got one last month. You can see it here. All the photography is done by Dad. We just love his cards!

Posted by Debbie at 10:22 AM 1 comments  

Labels: Family, Memories

Candace was asking me about how I manage my boys' independent schoolwork and keep them accountable to get everything done. Here is what we started this year and it has worked out wonderfully. I have to admit that I didn't come up with the idea, but got it from someone on the Five in a Row boards last summer. I first make a chart for every day of the week and what subjects that need to be done on each day. We don't do some subjects every day so it is important for me to keep record of what we should be doing. Below is an example of Zach's schedule. This weekly schedule doesn't change. This schedule is cut out and put on the front of a file folder. I then went and had the whole folder laminated. He is able to use a wet erase marker each day to mark off what he has done. We clean the schedules off at the end of the week. I then print out the second chart you see and fill it out (just write it by hand) for two weeks. The items on the second chart are his individual work that he can do on his own. In the boxes, I normally put page numbers or specific directions of what he needs to do on his own. I then adhere this page inside the folder with Repositionable glue (I call it "post-it note glue"). Zach can then go to this page and figure out exactly what needs to be done on his own. When the two weeks is over I pull out the page and then do another one. Below Zach's examples I have included Noah's schedules. If there is ever a time we don't finish all that was assigned I make allowances (within reason) or when the two weeks is up just adjust the next two week schedule.

Posted by Debbie at 6:21 PM 1 comments  

Labels: Homeschooling

Posted by Debbie at 8:32 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Holidays

Amanda won Life Skills for Kids! Congratulations, Amanda!

Posted by Debbie at 7:14 AM 1 comments  

Labels: Books