I pop onto Facebook ocassionally throughout the day when I get a few moments to check updates. Not only do I get posts from family and friends, but I also get postings from assorted sites such as NPR, Montessori for Everyone, Skip to My Lou, Time 4 Learning, The Homeschool Channel, Lesson Planet, UU World, updates from my Church for local events, and, you guessed it!, PBS. You can imagine how shocked I was Friday afternoon when I had a few moments free to check my news feed and right at the top of the page was a blurb from PBS thanking all of Reading Rainbow's supporters as it leaves the air.
I just sat there for a few moments as the article loaded (of course I wanted to know more. What happened?!) and thought about all of the wonderful books I saw on this show as a child that I hadn't even known existed. I always went right down to my small town library and asked for many of the books I saw on this show. (I think now my librarian must have had feelings of dread each time she saw me coming. LOL) I still know the song by heart and I must admit that I honestly thought this would be one of those few shows that would last forever not only because of the quality but how absolutely important learning how to love to read is! But alas, it's not to be. Reading Rainbow is one of the longest running children's program at 26 years, coming in behind only Sesame Street and Mister Rodgers Neighborhood.
Production on the show actually ended several years ago and viewers had declined. Through research, the focus is now on literacy and the core skills. Although learning to love reading is the first step to actually learning how it's no longer considered as important. They're both intertwined very close and it's sad that they're now being torn apart. Our public schools seem to be taking the track of learning is everything, but they're not really teaching our kids how to learn, let alone loveing to learn. Just because you know something doesn't mean that you have the knowledge or experience to actually use it in your life and sadly, it's that experience that is lacking from most schools in our country today. Dropping the arts, music, even recess in favor of phonics and other heavier areas of learning are going to lead to a serious detriment to our children's knowledge, experience and leadership qualities in the years to come. The logo says it all! "Opening Books ~ Opening Minds"
Canlearn.com ~ Reading Rainbow program descriptions and suggested activities
According to one of the comments left on the post on PBS's Facebook, "A world without a reading rainbow is sad world indeed." But you don't have to take my word for it.......
Today, Deedee was amusing herself by pulling all of the picture books off of one of the shelves and then paging through them. Thankfull she did the only with one shelf. We have a ton of picture books and there were enough of them pulled off as it was. I had been busy sewing a gift for a friend and trying to decide what sort of decorative stitch I should use to fix (as well as hide) a mistake so I was busy thumbing through a book as well. Deedee started chortling and giggling to herself in that infectious little way she has and then the next thing I knew she was shoving a book under my face.
It was a board book that I had picked up at the local dollar store last year. It was one of three little lift the flap books that were on various subjects such as the presidents, the United States, and the World. This one happened to be the one for the United States. On each set of pages there is a map of the US and a few of the states color coded with little flaps. She had opened to the page with Idaho on it. She was pointing it out to me and saying that we lived in that "building". And then she brought up my good friend Patti that used to live two doors down from me in our apartment building but had moved to a different unit at the beginning of this summer. (I miss her lots. It's not the same running up the hill across the complex as it was popping over next door).
So I was asked to point out the area we lived in and I did so. Deedee then told me how Patti had moved "up the hill" and now lived really far away. She deliberated on it a little further and then I heard her little chortle and here was the book under my nose once again and Deedee proudly saying "Pattie lives here!" and pointed all the way over to....... Delaware!
I just about died laughing.
it's really wonderful listening to little ones and realizing that they just have no concept of distances. In Deedee's mind she had condensed the breadth of our great county down to the much smaller, manageable size of our lovely little town. So Delaware was now only a few blocks away, and Grandpa & Grandma Scott now lived all the way down in Utah don't cha know (instead of only a couple of miles away).
So this started a fun session about maps, geography and distances. I pulled out the globe, all of our atlases, several National Geographic maps, rulers, manipulatives, etc.We opened up maps and measured them. We looked stuff up in atlases. We spun the globe, put a finger on a country and looked it up to learn more about it. We set up different amounts of manipulatives for different states and countries and then compared them. Deedee still doesn't really grasp just how big those distances actually are. She can count and even has a crude grasp of adding and subtraction but this is still just too big for her. But she still had lots of f un!
A Few Books We Looked At:
USA Lift-A Flap Book by Greenbriar International. This is the book that started it all. Unfortunately, I can find this nowhere online except for two copies on Amazon. There is no ISBN. ASIN is B002972OEC
Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton (great little book that's good for introductory map reading) This link is for a compilation of four of Burton's books into one volume titled Mike Mulligan and More
My Town by Rebecca Treays. This is a great Usborne book
National Geographic Close-Up USA Map Series ~ OOP but certainly something to try and get your hands on. I got mine from another mom in my homeschool group. You might try Ebay. It's a large set but worth having. I only have 8 of the maps.
American Geogrphical Society Around the World Program ~ The original edition is OOP although a second edition was released in the 90's (which I've never seen). These little phamplet type books are awesome. Each book is of a different country or state (I have no idea how many were actually published but I have 24 volumes with the knowledge of at least several others I haven't acquiried). The cover looks like a map and the book itself has lots of info about the subject such as history, geography, sometimes language examples, black & white pictures etc. They originaly came with a sheet of full color picture stickers to be inserted into the book by the new owner and every once in a while you come across a volume that still has it's page of stickers not yet inserted into the book. Those are lots of fun. :) The sets also often came in boxes that could hold up to 6 volumes. I found mine originally at Salvation Army but they're on Ebay quite a bit. These are OOP but not super rare so while they're fun to have, keep in mind that some of them are no longer accurate and are not worth a ton of money so you shouldn't be finding yourself paying more than $3 a volume at the highest.
Cool Sites To Check Out
Google Earth ~ A really fun online programs that's pretty much a 3-D globe. Check out Geo Education for ways to incorporate Google Earth into your curriculum and lesson plans.
Homeschool Share ~ Just because you never know what you're going to find here. Try typing in a search for maps and see what it brings you. :)
Montessori for Everyone has some cool stuff for geography, culture, etc. including fun continent kits and study kits.
Oh, and don't forget to check out Currclick for lots of great map resources as well as other digital curriculum! I dropped in quickly to see if there was anything I could use today. There wasn't but I did see several items I've added to my wishlist.
It never hurts to be economical and frugal but it's especially important in these times. As you know, I have four beautiful rambunctious angelic little beings living with me that are extremely hard on their clothing. I love to sew and I often make clothes for my little ones, especially the girls. There is just too much clothing on the market that is just not appropriate for little girls, especially the girls the age that I have. The skirts are too short, the shirts have too many double entendres and sexual innuendos, pants are too tight, etc. And when I have found something decent, it has Hannah Montana all over it! Or some other licensed character.
Although I often hit the sales at the local fabric stores, I can't always find what I need or had in mind at a price I can afford. And then one day, I found a blog post talking about cutting a pair of baby pants out of an old shirt. I did more digging and found tons of sites where an adult sized shirt had been turned into something new for a little one. So can you guess what type of fabric I turned my mind to? You guessed it. Old shirts, skirts and dresses that I have been cutting down to make my girls' summer & winter wardrobes. Their winter flannel underclothing is coming from old flannel sheets! What I especially love is that I can hit my local Salvation Army and pick up an adult sized article of clothing for only $1.79. Depending on what I need it for and how I cut it, I can get a full outfit for Kitty or a dress for either of the girls. There is always a small amount of left over fabric that can be used for other stuff such as pockets or just a scrap bag for the kids to play with. I can't beat an article of clothing that is not only unique but affordable as well!
Here's a quick line up of a few I've either finished so far or is still on the cutting board (*= still in the works):
A raspberry w/ white floral print woman's sz L T-Shirt ~ complete sleeveless top and shorts for Kitty
*Blue shorts w/ white floral print that belong to my grandmother ~ A dress (with another plain blue t-shirt used as well)
A yellow sz 14/16 youth T-shirt ~ A dress for Kitty. The original sleeves turned into generous pockets on breast and skirt. (I added a fabric transfer on the breast pocket)
A yellow sz 12 youth T-shirt ~ A sleeveless top for Deedee (I added the fabric transfer)
*A long black T-shirt (perhaps actually a T-shirt dress for a girl?) with white sleeves for a layered look ~ two dresses and the white sleeves turned into a pair of leggings.
*A pair of white shorts with multicolored stripes that belonged to my grandmother & a lime green childs shirt ~ A dress for Deedee
A size X-LG purple T-shirt w/ 3/4 sleeves: A shirt & shorts for Deedee. The top was cut from the main body and the shorts were originally the sleeves. I had to add a panel around the top of the shorts because the crotch wasn't quite deep enough for my liking. The panel was taken from around the bottom of a pink sz. M woman's shirt. The rest of that shirt will be made into a dress with a black skirt (a sz X-LG Man's shirt).
*A babies outfit made from two identical pink & green striped Woman's T-shirts (two so I would have enough fabric for what I wanted to do).
A swimming suit! Yes. I made Deedee a tankini out of a sz 14/16 girls one piece bathing suit
*A sz 10/12 girls red sweater w/ pink, white and orange stripes on the sleeve cuffs + a sz 6/7 girls turtleneck with pink, white, orange and red stripes ~ A dress for Deedee with matching leggings. Should I use the sleeves from the sweater for the leggings or use the turtleneck sleeves and use the sweater sleaves on the turtleneck instead?
*An old quilted ankle length skirt that belonged to my grandmother ~ A robe for one of the girls
*A lined wool patchwork ankle length skirt ~ A robe for one of the girls
*A long ankle length multicolored skirt (this one has a heavy tapestry feel to it; it makes me think of something from the Andes with the patterns & colors on it) ~ a pinafore and maybe matching bolero for one of the girls (probably Deedee)
*A white maternity top that belonged to my mother (and I wore) ~ not sure yet, but something for Kitty.
These are pics of just a few items I've made. There would be more but the rather ancient digital camera I've been using has decided to bite the dust. :( The few outfits pictured correspond to the number on the afore mentoned list. I have even more still on the cutting board and some ideas still rolling around in my head. When my grandmother died, I was was blessed with several boxes of her clothing. They sat for well over a year before I even felt ready to go through them and now, I have a ton of stuff that can be cut down for the kidlets. At one time, my grandmother was a very generous size so the articles of clothing have plenty of fabric in them. I also have a couple of corduroy dresses that belonged to my husbands grandmother I plan on cutting down for the girls.
Because I've gotten so resourceful and frugal (both big words for me, I'm not usually this creative) the kiddos will have plenty of clothing this winter. Probably too much since it's so fun to make! LOL
Here's a list of some of the sites and tutorials that have been helpful and inspirational.
Blueprints ~ tons of great tutorias including Adult Tee to Child's Dress Recon (this is the one that gave me the idea of tracing around articles of clothing the girls already have to help with the patterns; you can see that in #3 for the bodice), Easy Peasy Underneathy (toddler underpants from baby jamma bottoms) and Infant Pants from Sleeves (the other part of the inspiration for the shorts in #7) And tons of other great items to make!
Instructables ~ How to Turn Old Socks into Toddler Leggings (My best friend did a similar one with tube socks and just cutting off the toes, and hemming that bit letting the original cuffs hold up the now legging)
wikiHow ~ How to Make Leggings from Tights (This one isn't my original inspiration. I had seen it in a magazine but can't remember which one)
Now that I know I can actually do this, I've been having a blast assembling differnt articles of clothings and bits of scraps to make something new. I especially like using items that belonged to family members or close friends because they can bring a lot of memories to the fore when you see a special little one wearing them.
Tuesdays are always a little busy and hectic for us. We have to get up early and plan enough time for a 20+ minute walk to James therapy appointment after which we hang around downtown for about 40 minutes before craft hour starts for the littles. Today, Carey just took the boys home after we stopped in at Salvation Army but I still had 20 minutes before the class started. We wandered over to the center anyway to wait in the shade and that is when the girls discovered that the raspberries were ready! There is a huge set of raspberry canes in the yard of the center that is very prolific every year. These are one of my favorite fruits but they are too expensive to buy very often. The girls went nuts picking them and they were especially cute sharing their berries back and forth. I think the canes must have been the thornless variety because the girls had no problems forcing themselves to the center of the patch and getting berries no one else had gotten to. Deedee called it her "castle" and they played in there for several minutes before the center opened.The feel of fresh berries in my hand and the bursting of the sun warmed juices in my mouth always bring back many happy (for the most part) memories.
When I was growing up, my grandparents had a good sized garden that included a whole patch of raspberries. One of my oldest memories is of eating them straight off of the canes, hot from the sun and the flavor just bursting in my mouth. Perhaps that is why I love them so much. I can remember another time one of my grandparents kittens had been attacked by some bald faced hornets and it had gotten pretty chewed up. Of course I designated myself as the caretaker but I still had to pick the berries for my grandmother so I would stuff the poor cat in a makeshift sling I had made and hauled it right along with me. LOL I can also remember grumbling because my grandmother had sent me down there with buckets to fill so she could put them up in jam or one of her preserves. Of course, the whole time I was grumbling about filling the buckets I was just as quickly stuffing my face! But oh, the jam. Raspberry jam has always been one of my most favorite things in the world and every year my grandmother would put up a huge batch of freezer jam. I would get myself in trouble because I would eat it by the spoonful. And I still do it! Sometimes, for a speciall treat. :) I no longer hide a container to eat whenever I felt like it. I discovered a few years ago my grandmother always made a few extra containers knowing that I would get into it and she still wanted to be sure there was enough for the winter. LOL
There are tons of great ways to enjoy raspberries other than straight off of the cane. I love piling a few cups of raspberries in a bowl with a bit of sugar and a dash of lemon juice to sit for a bit, at least an hour. It is awesome over vanilla ice cream (especially homemade) or pancakes or a spongecake etc.
Raspberry jam is also pretty easy to make, and it needs nothing fancy. Especially if you're just making a few pots to give as gifts. There's nothing so wonderful as receiving a pretty jar of ruby-hued jam with a pretty bow around the top. Christmas isn't so far off so keep that in mind! I have a super easy recipe that even a young child can help you with and they'll be so proud of themselves after their effort, especially if they're presenting it as gifts. It has a small list of ingredients and makes a small batch which is why it's so ideal for children to help with.
Easy Raspberry Jam
3 c raspberries
3 c sugar
Mash the berries in a saucepan and stir in the sugar. Bring it to a boil and then boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and beat for 6 minutes. Poor into your jars and allow it to cool. Remember to keep refrigerated if you're not canning it.
A raspberry cordial is also always nice. Who can forget when poor Anne Shirley served Diana Barry with currant wine instead of raspberry cordial! When I was a child, that was (and remains so) one of my favorite books so of course I had to try some!
Raspberry Cordial
1 lb 3 oz raspberries (It says frozen but I have used fresh. This sort of recipe can be fudged.)
1.25 c sugar (I use organic unrefined)
4 c boiling water
2 lemons (or equilavent juice, usually about 3 tbsp per lemon)
Combine the sugar & raspberries in a saucepan and cook for 20-25 minutes until the sugar has completely dissolved. Mash the mixture thoroughly and then poor through a sieve or cheese cloth to strain out the juice. Discard the pulp. Here is where a chinois sieve comes in handy if you have one. It is a long, conical mesh sieve that has a long usually wooden pestle. Some come with a stand and some just have a little hook so they will sit over your container. This is what I use. I combine the two steps into one by putting it into the sieve to mash it. Once in a while it looks cloudy so I might use a jelly bag to get out the last little bits. Add your lemon juice, stir thoroughly and then add your boiling water. Let it cool and then bottle. Must refrigerate!
Want more recipes like this? Look up The Anne of Green Gables Cook Book by Kate McDonald! It is out of print but you can usually find it pretty reasonably priced at most used book vendors including thriftbooks.com.
In deference to the hot weather, I have one more addition. Juice and yogurt pops are extremely easy to make and really good for you too (don't tell the kids though). If you can't find a popsicle mold, just use paper cups and wooden craft sticks (otherwise known as popsicle sticks, but don't buy the colored ones). Simply plop some berries in the bottom of your mold, pour in some juice until it's 3/4 full and put it in the freezer. If you're using paper cups, keep an eye on them and when the mixture is slushy add the sticks. Freezer for 2-4 hours or until frozen solid. Simply peel the paper away when it's time to serve.
Sunrise Yogurt Pops
18 oz. plain or vanilla yogurt
6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
6 c. fresh or frozen raspberries
2 bananas, peeled and sliced.
1/4 c honey (optional, I usually find it sweet enough)
Prepare your molds by putting 2-3 berries in the bottom of each one. Puree the rest of the berries, the oj, yogurt, honey and banana in the blender. (One hint here: If you don't want the seeds, puree your raspberries seperately in a blender or foley food mill and then mash through a sieve so you still get the juice and most of the pulp.) Pour the mixture into the molds until they're approximately 3/4 full and place in the freezer for several hours or overnight for a yummy breakfast treat. Not enough molds the amount that you made? You have yourself a lovely Sunrise Smoothie. :) This is one that I do with the kiddos a lot. If the mix is too thick for your liking, simply add a bit of milk, rice milk, soy milk, juice etc. until you get your desired consistency. And don't be afraid to mix and match the fruit and yogurts. There are a lot of lovely flavors out there that really come together for a great combination.
Want a layered look instead so it really looks like a sunrise? Split your yogurt roughly into thirds. Take 1/3 and spoon it evenly into your molds. Pop it into your freezer for about 20-30 minutes until it's solid enough to hold the next layer (do this with each layer). Combine your oj, 1/3 of your yogurt and the banana together. This is the second layer. Mix the other third of your yogurt with the raspberries for the third layer. When you're putting your layers in, make sure to leave adequate room for the next layer. It's ok if you have leftovers from each layer. Remember what I said about a smoothie? If you're not up for each layer freezing separetly, carefully pour each layer on top of the other. It will swirl together but it won't completely mix as long as you go slowly. This is where a thicker mixture comes in handy.
A lot of my friends are having babies this summer, so of course the kids have had a lot of questions. My little ones are all close enough together that even James was still pretty young when Kitty arrived and I didn't have home births as I would have wished so the kids don't really know much about it. Recently, they've had lots and lots of question and James has gotten big enough that we've had a much bigger discussions with although not a ton of details as yet. The big thing right now though is just babies. The kids wanted to know how they're born. That in itself is really hard to explain so I looked up a few videos of home births for them to watch. And I got the one question that I wasn't prepared for but just about had me rolling on the floor laughing.
The children were all intently watching a birth and while there was some comment on anatomy and stuff, there wasn't much. At least not as much as one would think from a bunch of children that still think it's yucky to kiss someone. And then Charles popped up with "Babies are born naked!?".
This correlated in with a similar question given by a three year old girl that happened recently. One of my friends was making an outfit for a little baby girl expected by another good friend any day now. The little girl comes up to her mother and stands watching her for a little while and then asks what color her (the baby) shirt will be. It took a couple of minutes for the mother to realize that her daughter wasn't talking about the outfit she was making. She wanted to know what color of shirt the baby was going to be wearing when she born! LOL
So, here are a couple of books that I have found helpful with my guys and explaining stuff.
There is also a set of books that is out of print that you can find relatively cheap on Amazon (I found my set at Salvation Army and paid only $0.50 for it) called The Life Cycle Library for Young People. There are four slim volumes and it goes into everything that deals with reproduction, not just your bodies anatomy. I like these books for that fact because it's really helped me answer some of the kids questions. It doesn't get super graphic if you're concerned about that. Most of it is black line drawings, some colored illustrations etc. The set was originally printed in 1969 so that should give you a good idea. The illustrations of a babies development especially game in handy, especially one drawing that compared the size of a fertilized cell to the point of a pencil. It really helped the children grasp just how little it was.
There are also a few other resources that I found helpful and the kids liked. Watch Me Grow by Stuart Campbell is a wonderful book of week by week baby development shown in a series of 3-D photos. There are also a few films that I found at the library.
I'm not going to post vids of the births on here simply because there are different styles people prefer such as home birth vs. hospital birth vs. cesarean as well as those that would not wish their child to view a live birth in the first place. I would not be able to please everyone so I simply won't try. If you are interested in viewing some, go to Youtube and type in a search for "home birth", "babies birth" etc. There is one vid I am going to post however. It is a simplified time lapse 3-D animation of a birth that shows only the mothers skeletal system and baby in utero. This is the one I showed the kiddos first, after looking at illustrations, before watching real births. I also didn't get my hands on the previous listed films until after I'd shown the kiddos the home birth vids.
Ok, I am the first t o admit that I really don't like slugs. Their slime is horribly sticky and it doesn't come off very easily, they're rather ugly, and it really freaks me out when I step on one.
However, I'm a live and let live sort of person and as long as they stay out of my container garden I just ignore them. Even when I do find them in a plant, I just have the kids transplant them back to their proper area. The kids? Yep. Something about those slimy little things fascinate my littles and has since the day we moved in and they discovered them.
We share our garden with Limax maximus, otherwise known as the Great Slug or the Spotted Leapard Slug. Does that give a good indication of appearance and size? They're a rather drab greyish brown with black spots. The first day the kids saw them showing their slimy little heads, we looked them up. And let me tell you something. You can have an exceelent Nature referance library including a complete 12 volume set of the Audubon Nature Encyclopedia and you will be able to find almost nothing about slugs! Everything refered us back to snails! Thank goodness for the internet because there is a plethora of info out there.
My children will now routinely go hunting through my garden containers to find these creatures and they delight in them so much that they even leave bits of food out for them! LOL But why am I posting about this now? Because Deedee, bless her little heart, managed to find a slug in the act of laying eggs! She came in the house yelling about something and I'm in the midst of canning appricot jam so I wasn't paying much attention until she shoves her hand in my face that was full of a rather large pile of eggs with a good sized slug on top of it! Talk about a heart attack!
All of that has revived interest in slugs in my household and my kids have been wanting to know everything. So for the last day or so, we have been looking at lots of pictures and reading lots of stuff about slugs and I thought I'd share some of it. I regret that I was unable to get a picture of Deedee with her prize before I had her return it to the nice safe dark spot where she found it behind her play kitchen outside but I do have some pictures taken of the Limax maximus a little over a year ago that I will share.
I've been so busy lately that this one kind of snuck up on me. :D I knew it was soon and already had a few ideas in mind that I would like to do with the kiddos. But was I ever surprised this morning to check my email and discover that a good friend had sent me a Happy Earth Day card. Ok, I thought. She's on the ball and getting it sent out early so she doesn't forget. So I did a quick search thinking it was a couple of days off and t hen just sat there when I saw that the date was TODAY!! Argh!
So, here's the line-up that I had planned (in no particular order):
Get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather (and our Home at the same time)
Going on a Nature Hike and pointing out local flora and fauna (I guess this goes hand in hand with #1)
Tend to our garden! Feed and care for the plants to ensure a bountiful garden. This not only helps your garden but refreshes your spirit as well. Care for your houseplants as well. If you don't have any, today is the day to plant some seeds or buy seedlings at your local nursery. Make a terrarium! My kiddos did this yesterday at their craft group. You can find an easy one at Kaboose. I especially like this one because you're reusing what you already have!
Watch Wall-E ~ This is an excellent movie that really, sadly enough, protrays where we're headed if we don't start taking better care of our Home. We have the power to change the path we are on but it will take a concerted effort by everyone to take care of the mounds of trash that are already starting to form in so many areas.
Pick up trash in our neighborhood and on our walk. It's amazing just how much you find when you're looking for it that we often pass right by. Assorted toys (lost, broken, or otherwise), beer bottles, fast food wrappings, water bottles etc.
Paint the Earth. This is a super easy craft. All you need are round paper coffee filters (white is best), some blue & green water color paints (or you could use water w/ a heavy concentration of food coloring for little kids that get frustrated trying to remember to dip the brush before getting paint) and a brush. Just randomly brush blobs of color onto your Earth to form the oceans & the land. These look really pretty taped up in a window!
We can't forget the animals we share our Home with! It's great any time to put out feed for them but today is especially appropriate so we'll be filling our bird feeders and cleaning their water containers. There's lots of stuff you could do for this but it seems that birds are the easiest to feed. If you don't have a birdfeeder, make one by smearing peanut butter on a pinecone, dipping it in birdseed and then hanging outside. Or you could make birdsee biscuits! You can find two different versions at Kaboose and Family Fun. For those of you with older children something I did recently with a group to welcome Spring and the return of t he birds are birdseeed mandalas. All you need are mandalas printed on card stock (Mandala Healing has a few appropriate ones ~ they need to have large open spaces), assorted birdseed, and peanut butter. Just smooth the peanut butter onto the area you're working on and then cover it with your birdseed. When you're finished place them outside for the birds to enjoy. If you're concerned about the paper, simply go through in a few days and police it up. Craft Test Dummies also has a fun birdbath craft.
Assorted little Earthday activity books. You can find some at Enchanted Learning. There is also a great little freebie at CurrClick by Teacher Book Bag (one of my favorite resources for curriculum) called Happy Earth Day!. In fact, there are several Earth Day items at this great site, so check it out!
A trip to the local recycling center! This isn't something super special since we're often there but it seems a little symbolic walking our wagon over there filled with this weeks refuse on this day. My homeschool group even did a field trip there last year but I can't seem to find that post. I can't possible have forgotten to write about it? (Gasp!) However, here is a link to the Earth Day post I did last year, Earth Day Prep.
Trek Earth (this is an awesome site I discovered recently that has photos posted from all around the world. Go on a journey and check out different areas of our Home!
For those of you that watch TV, assorted kids shows are going green with special episodes for Earth Day.
BLue Boat Home by Peter Mayer is a beautiful song that is often sung by Unitarian Universalist congregations. It talks about how we're all travelers on the Earth, our Home. The notes oftentransport the listeners to a feeling of unity and moving forward as one. So this is definitely one of those perfect songs that really captures the feeling of what Earth Day is about. You can find the lyrics at The Great Story.
Michael Jackson's Earth Song also seems appropriate today. I'm not a huge fan of it, but the the children love it.
Today was absolutely gorgeous. It was almost 80! It's been one of our nices spring days so far and we really took advantage of it. We wound up spending most of the morning outside walking to various appointments and hanging out at the park. We left at not quite 9 and got home after 2! I was happy I remembered to pack stuff for a quick picnic lunch.
On our way home, our path meanders through a stand of pine trees and one tree happened to be damaged so there was a bunch of fresh sap running down the bark. So of course Deedee had to ask lots of questions! Kitty was asleep in our big Burley stroller, James was in class and Charles had ridden ahead on his bike so only Deedee benefitted from this impromptu lesson.
She smelled the sap, rubbed her fingers in (and then got upset at how sticky they became LOL), tasted it etc. This was not the right type of tree to harvest the sap for chewing gum so it tasted quite nasty. If you want to do that, you need a spruce! I know this from experience. Years ago, I read a book that took place early in our history, I think around colonization. There was a young boy that met an Indian and became quite good friends with him. Of course, they talked about chewing the sap of a pine tree so I had to try it as well. I didn't know at that time there were different varieties and that they all taste different so I tried the first pine tree I came to in our yard. LOL I can not remember what that book was called but it's right on the tip of my tongue. If I remember correctly, it was about a young boy that is left at their homestead while his father goes back to collect the mother and other siblings but he's delayed so this boy winds up being alone over the winter and his Indian friend helps him survive. If this rings any bells with you please enlighten me! It's going to drive me crazy until I remember what book it is now!
So, we talked a little bit about the origins of chewing gum. SInce we were on a "tasting the sap" expedition I asked her if she knew what other kind of sap we eat. She looked pensive for a moment, acted as if she was about to answer and then said "leaves". Sigh.... I'm not sure what she meant about that. However, as soon as I said maple syrup she got all excited. And she does know what the real stuff tastes like! I buy that over the flavored stuff almost exlusively. So she started talking about what syrup is yummy on and t he she likes to drink it! LOL
By this time, she was getting a little bored with it I think so we started on our journey again only to come to another tree with sap on it a few meters along. The difference was that this was an old wound and the sap was now hardened. She scraped at it a bit but complained it was too hard. So of course that got us talking about amber and we were off. That conversation lasted us the 10 or so minutes it took us to arrive home and then she insisted on looking at my amber jewelry. She wasn't satisfied so we went online to find more fact and pictures about it. She was even more surpries that sometimes bugs can be found preserved in it and she was really enamored of that fact. :D She also really like that it comes in different colors! Talking about amber also led to fossils! We didn't explore too in depth about that though. I've left if open for another time.
Mystery Tree Challenge from Arbor Day (PDF) Arbor Day has a lot of fun stuff for kids, including a little online game to identify mystery trees. That was fun.
I am a fan of NPR, so of course when I found out they were on Facebook, I connected with them and I now get great articles on my home page every day that have been posted by NPR. Today, the first thing I noticed was a headline entitled "NPR Picture Show: Balloon Art by William Lamson" and it had an interesting picture of several expaned balloons kind of squished between wooden pallets. I bookmarked it to check out later but all of the kids insisted on checking it out right away. So off we went.
Balloon Art by William Lamson opened with "Your first reaction to this footage may be something like: "Huh?" And your second reaction: "Anyone can string bananas to a tree!" But let's be honest. Have you ever thought to do it? That's William Lamson's strength -- creating unlikely pairs in simple but surprising ways. He's a Brooklyn based artist, interested in photography, sculpture and performance. Using inexpensive materials and simple structures, he creates visuals that are mesmerizing and, in one word, playful."
He certainly is all that. The pictures are interesting, but nothing to really grab my interest and keep me there. It was the kids whose interest was caught and spent quite a while looking at the pictures and videos included with the article. The first video was simply of some balloons surfacing on water, floating around a bit and then floating off into the sky and out of view. I watched it the first time, enjoyed it but planned to move on. But the children saw more, and they stayed clustered around that little video for at least three repetitions! And then they wanted more. So we looked up more of his work and they found all of it fascinating. I admit that I've been taking pains to introduce them to all the great art and we got a lot of books on that subject. It never entered my head to show them this kind of stuff, or that they'd even like it so this has opened a whole new door.
This whole balloon theme has reminded about a short movie the children have seen in the past entitled Le ballon rouge (aka The Red Balloon) that was filmed in 1956 and is only 34 minutes long. A red balloon with a life of it's own follows a young boy around Paris. There is very little dialogue, and what there is is in French. This simple little thing has won an Oscar as well as several other assorted awards. We don't watch a lot of movies so they're a special treat and this is one that the children often requested last year. Those of you that have Netflix. this is available as a double feature along with White Mane on Instant View.
More Fun With Balloons
Paint with them! Pour small amounts of paint on paper plates, swirl together if desired, dipe balloons of different sizes into the paint and then stamp onto your paper. This is a lot of fun. My kids did this a year or so ago with their craft group. Ramblings of a Crazy Woman has a good ecample of it.
Recently, both Charles & James participated in the local Science Fair; James as a member of the public school system and Charles as a homeschooler. They had a ton of fun working on this stuff and both learned so much. There are tons of great science books out there to help give you ideas for inventive projects and I've got some of them. Were their final projects that iventive? LOL, unfortunately, due to various reasons, no.
James was rather outside the box originally. He had looked through one of our books and came upon a green house experiement where you grow some quick sprouts, put a plastic glass over some of them and see how they then compare. He took it a bit furthter and added a paper cup as well. His hypothesis was that the paper cup would work better growing the plants than the plastic or none at all. LOL He had a lot to learn about how plants and light interact. However, less than a week before the fair (after working on this for almost two months) Kitty knocked it all over and was dancing on it when I discovered her. Two year old toddlers move too quickly! But we had no time to fix it, we hadn't taken much pictures yet, and there wasn't anything for display anymore so as a quick rememdy James got to pick up a little potato clock kit. He had a blast with that and loved messing around with it all. He ttried so many different food substances it wasn't funny. And surprisingly (this is coming from one who reallyt doesn't understand much about electric currents etc.) a lot of stuff worked much better than I had anticipated. His new hypothesis was that tomatoes would work the best. They worked well, but not the best. The best was actually plain old soda!
Charles made crystals! He had a lot of fun if also a lot of frustration with this. He loves doing this kind of stuff and we let him choose a project we thought would provide ample opportunity for satisifaction of a job well done and quick results since it's so easy. Or, at least, it's supposed to be! We wound up making several different solutions. The first one was with ammonia & liquid blueing and it was supposed to work really fast. It didn't. We following the directions but it just would't do anyting. We even did it again just in case we messed it up the first time. We have come to the conclusion that it just wasn't warm enough here for the proper evaporation to happen. It took over a month for those crystals fo finally appear (after the fair was over of course). The second solution we made was epsom salts and it was touted to work even faster than the one with ammonia and blueing. It didn't do anything either! So by this time Charles is getting really upset. He wants crystals! So we go digging some more and I found out about crystals grown with washing soda and borax. So we made solutions with those and by golly it finally worked! And fast too. Charles would check them every 30 minutes or so and itw as obvious that they had grown. He got so excited over that.
http://www.terimore.com/ This one has over 300 projects to choose from. These cost money, $6.95 apiece (or cheaper if you buy in bulk) but the blueprints are supposed to have
Details about the scientific method
List of needed materials
Vital information on how to make your presentation
Details about "What the judges are looking for"
+ 16 free original science games
This one was a little confusing because it wasn't set up by age, although if you looked at
project idea, it would say who it was appropriate for. It did at least group it into K-7 and
8-12
I have a ton more sites that are just too numerous to list here. If you're looking for something specific,
such as where I found some of the graphics used on their boards, just let me know!
This isn't really a question that is often asked. While my children love playing on a piano, whether it's Gramma Sue's full size upright or their Melissa & Doug Toy Piano, they have never come up and said "Mom, how does this work?".
Well, today, quite by accident they got a first hand account of how their little toy piano works! While this isn't on par to a full size piano (there are no strings in the toy model) it still gives them a very good idea striking something against something else and forming vibrations produce sound. Our little piano has seen a lot of action over the two plus years since Santa left it as a Yule gift. It had become a little rickety along the wooden pegs holding it together and the glue was no longer holding very well. A small girl that I was watching while her father was presenting a project to his class didn't know this so she picked it up. It fell apart in her hands and we had keys everywhere! LOL
Only Deedee helped put it back together. She made quick work of matching the notes of the ivory keys to the notes I had written in front of the keyboard. She has been especially proud of herself lately since she knows all of her letters! She was especially surprised to learn that all of the metal rods comprising the sound board were all different lengths producing a different note. She had lots of fun pressing the keys and then watching the hammers hit the rods to produce the sound. She even held onto the rods to stop the vibration to see what would happen. We had a very happy 30 minutes messing about with this little toy and lot of new stuff learned.
Of course, this led to questions such as how does the piano work? I found a good video at Youtube. It's very in depth and lasts over 20 minutes but it was well worth it. I learned more than I ever thought I'd know about the innards of a grand piano and Deedee learned even more of how a piano works.
Set up several glasses with water in varying amounts. Strike the glass gently to see what sound it produces or lightly wet a finger and rub it along the rim. Put a few drops of food coloring in each glass (make each one a different color) and you could compose your own songs!
Talk through old paper towel or toilet paper rolls. Roll sheet of paper up and tape them.
Experiment with water in the bath tub. Let them lie back with their ears under water and listen to different sounds such as your voice, their own voice, etc.
Experiment with the treble and bass settings on your sound system and listen to the different effects. Let them feel the vibrations of sound on the speaker covers.
Make easy musical instraments! Tape two small cups (such as little paper bath room cups) together after placing a small amount of beans/popcorn/rice/lentils inside and shake to your hearts content. You could do the same with an old water bottle, an oatmeal canister, etc. Make a quick drum with a plastic frozen juice container and a balloon stretched tight over it. Make a quick rainstick with a cardboard tube that has long lengths of aluminum foil scrunched up inside of it, rice/corn/beans and tape for the ends. Decorate any instrument with markers, paint, stickers, pretty paper etc. My kids have had fun making all of these at various times!
Sense of Hearing (PDF) is appropriate for kindergarteners. It's part of a larger unit, but it can easily by modified to suit your purposes. It had several interesting sound experiments.
The Mudcat Cafe ~ Make Your Own Instruments. This one is really cool. These instruments, while still homemade, are a little more involved and are suitable for older children.
Tonight, I was sent a really awesome link by my SIL. I can have a FREE personalized video of a message from Santa sent to my kids! It's really awesome, and easy to use. At Santa's Portable North Pole, you simply plug in a few basic bits of info such as age, name, something he or she may be receiving for Christmas so Santa could mention it in his message etc.. You can even upload a picture of your little darling and make it even more memorable for your child! One note on that though: be sure it's a fairly decent close up since it does seem to be cropped pretty closely to make it fit. Also, this is from Canada. If you don't live in a Canadian province, just choose "other country". You also have a option for French. Not all names are listed either. It does give you an option for unlisted names. You will be able to type them in. They won't be spoken in the video as they would if they were listed, but the name will be in Santa's special book along with the child's special picture.
Once you have submitted your info, along with your valid email, you will be sent a link to your video and you will be able to watch. It's not very long, but the kids go wild over it. I know mine did! Here is a smaple vid so you can get an idea of how it works. I randomly typed in information. There is no picture in Santa's book; instead there is a picture of a tree but you'll still get an idea of the size. Enjoy making these for your kids and watching their little faces light up when they recieve them!
Our fourth day of Mexico! So far the kids have had a lot of fun and learned some great stuff about another culture that really isn't that far removed from us anymore and is becoming more entwined every day. Spanish is now one of the leading languages spoken in this country.
I had planned on doing this Fiesta tomorrow night since I thought it would b an appropriate end to the week. I was going to look at religion today and stuff. However, the wanted tamales for dinner tonight! So I switched them around. That's what's cool about homeschooling; you change it to fit your needs. Besides, in the end, I discovered that it was best this way anyway. I forgot that we're usually out of the house all afternoon on Thursdays! It's the weekly children's story hour at the local library and then craft hour done by a local organization for kids birth to age 6. These are both great, fun ways to ge tthe kids out of the house and let them have fun with other kids with no pressure. So, instead we looked at lots of books about Mexican cuisine this morning. We looked at pictures of prepared foods as well as lists of different ingredients that are used in Mexican cooking. Besides the more commonplace burritos and tacos most often seen in our country, there are the foods reserved for special occasions such as tamales, atole, mole, empanadas etc. These are all foods that are labor intensive which is why they were often made only for special ocassions.
We looked at a lot of vids, pictures and books about the cuisine. We smelled & tasted spices such as chile powder, garlic, and cinnamon. I even had a little cone of piloncillo which is a hard cone of pressed sugar (can be used as a sub for brown sugar). We talked about other foods used such as peppers (both hot and bell) and tomatoes. We talked about the desserts we might find there such flan, churros, fried icecream, tres leches cake (three milk ~ really good) etc. We learned the names to lots of different dishes such as enchilada, tostada, tamale, tortilla, quesadilla, burrito, taquito, carne asade. I also bought a few Mexican sodas and candies from the ethnic section of our grocery.
So, tonight we had authentic tamales made locally (it helps to have a brother-in-law whose family is not only Mexican but owns a very popular local restaurant), beans, rice and atole. I've had tamales and stuff before of course, but I've never had atole before so I was interested in trying that. I already have the ingredients so why not! I'm one of those people who will by a food if it looks or sounds interesting, even if she doesn't know what it is. So my kids have tried lots of interesting stuff because of that. We've even eaten cactus! For dessert, I made my own impression of Pan de Muertos, the special sweet egg-rich bread made at this time of the year. I made it more as a cake but kept the orance and anise flavorings. I made my own frosting and then decorated the cake to look like a skull. It was all really good.
Today is our third day of our adventures in Mexico and we've found out a lot. Today, we learned more about the culture and art. We looked at books about art and crafts, and we watched some videos about Mexican dances.
An area of art assosciated with Dia De Los Muertos are calacas though they are made year round. Calaca is a Mexican Spanish term for skeleton and is a figure of a skull or skeleton. Their origins are traced to Aztec imagery, and are frequently shown with marigold leaves and foliage (marigolds are the flowers of the dead). As with other aspects of this festival, they are generally depicted as joyous rather than mournful figures. They are often shown wearing festive clothing, dancing, and playing musical instruments indicating a happy afterlife. This illustrates the Mexican belief that no dead soul likes to be thought of sadly, and that death is a joyous occasion.
However, a twist on that is the Guatamalan culture where "calaca" is understood as "death." The figure of a bare skeleton represents death as with any culture. However, it implies fear of death thus, it is not depicted as a joyful image as in Mexico. Calacas aren't just depicted in art through clay, carvings, paper mache, drawings, etc. They are also in the movies. If you're ever seen The Nightmare Before Christmas or The Corpse Bride (both are done by Tim Burton), you're looking at calaca type figures. These can also be found in games such as the Grim Fandango (lots of fun, a mystery game that I used to enjoy when I still had the time to do so).
Todays craft is string paintings. As we explored Mexican art, we discovered beautiful artwork done by the Huichol Indians of Mexico. These are actually gorgeous and extremely intricate works of art. The artist spreads wax on the surface and then pushes yarn into it. It doesn't sound like it would be that great but they're exquisite. That got me thinking it would be a fun craft for my little guys. However, I didn't feel like pulling out the wax I have set aside for the lip balm and salves I'm supposed to be making. So, instead, I got the idea to pull out the glue instead.
All you need are books or pictures of Mexican art, cardboard or heavy paper, glue, yarn in various colors, and scissors. Look at examples of art and then have the student draw out their picture. Spread glue over it and lay on your yarn. Alternatively, you could use calaver and calaca pictures as templates and use them as a guidline. There are also coloring pages in the teaching packets I posted yesterday. I hauled out my copy of Art Activities from Around the World by Paula Corbett (this is OOP but you can find used copies at Amazon and Alibris). This book is full of reproducibles with one and sometimes more from several different countires. I did a post on this a couple of years ago and you can see that here.
There are three crafts for Mexico: a picture frame with flowers that could work for the Ofrenda if the flowers are colored red, orange, and yellow; a skeleton puppet wearing a hat and holding a guitar; and a string art frame with a thunder bird in the middle. I printed (or rather drew) the skeleton puppet out. Because of the way it was drawn, there were several areas for the kids to lay on the yarn. The whole idea behind calacas is that though the body may be gone, the essential personality remains which is why the skeletons are depicted enjoying so many things as they did in life. That's why the skeleton puppet was a perfect choice to blend these two art forms together. I'll get pics of their art posted as soon as I remember where I stashed the battery charger for our camera.
A few examples of string paintings, some lesson plans and templates you might use:
Today, we continued our foray into the Mexican culture and it's holiday of El Dia De Los Muertos. First, of course, we read The Day of the Dead by Tony Johnston again. Then we learned a little bit more about the culture by listening to samples of Mexican music and the Spanish language. And today's craft was calavera masks.
Calavera is the Mexican word for skull. It refers to several types of assosciations dealing with this holiday. It can refer to the "calaveras de azúcar", or specifically, the sugar skull that is often eaten at this time of year, as well as found on the special altars (ofrenda ~ offerings). Calaveras are songs, poems or satirical obituaries about the dead or Day of the Dead. Calaveras are also artistic impressions of skulls, such as these by José Guadalupe Posada.
~ Calavera Masks ~
This is the craft that the kids chose to do and they look really cool. I would have preferred to leave this craft for the day we explored Mexican folk art but, ah well. It was still a lot of fun, and the kids learned stuff, which is what counts. This is super easy. All you have to do is print the template, color, cut out the nose and eyes, and then either glue a popsicle stick to the bottom to hold the mask with, or use a hole punch to make a hole on each side and run string through it to tie on your head. Super easy and fun! And very colorful as well. Ours were actually a little more complicated since our printer is still incommunicado. I suck drawing things out by hand so I didn't do it that way. We do however have our computer hooked up to our big flatscreen tv (great way to conserve space!) so I brought up the document, taped a piece of cardstock over the template and then then fiddled with the viewing size until it fit within the paper and then I simply traced it out. I took advantage and used different colored markers for different areas so they were already brightly colored when I handed them to the kids to color. Oddly enough, only Deedee really got into coloring hers and the others chose to pretty much keep them as they were.
I have five different templates you can choose from, all really cool. Two of them are included with Day of the Dead units (one for k - 2 and the other for older kids).
Day of the Dead (pdf) ~ unit for K - 1 (This is the one that Charles, Deedee & Kitty have.)
Dio De Los Muertos teachers packet (pdf) ~ This is the one that I made. Unfortunately, the top of the skull is cut off in this template. However you can see a pic of the original here so you can draw out the end (or the top?) yourself.
The Calaveras Skull ~ For those with a scientific bent, this is an article about a fossilized human skull found in California in 1866. To the Pliocene Skull is a poem written by Bret Hart only a few days after the find.
I caught Deedee on video singing her ABC's! She's very proud of herself. I'm not huge on the whole "learn the alphabet so you can learn to read" thing since I don't believe being able to recite the alphabet helps with your reading skills. However, I saw no reason not to teach it to her when she requested it. So we sang it whenever we thought of it. We got some really weird looks from people as we walking around town and sang the alphabet! We started out with me reciting the letters and she would repeat them. After a while we added the tune and she would sing along. And then it was all her! It took approximately a month for her to be able to sing without any mistakes. This is her favorite song and a day doesn't go by that I don't hear her singing it at least once during the day, at the top of her lungs. :D In fact, she's listening and singing along to the video of her singing it right now. LOL She sings this so much that Kitty is picking it up to. She knows the tune, the little end bit (Now I Know My) that she will often attempt to sing and several of the letters. One of her favorite things is to follow along behind Deedee and repeat it after Deedee as she sings it. :D I don't think it will be too long before this one knows her alphabet either.
Yesterday, I'm sure you caught the referances to The Day of the Dead. Since my Church has planned a Day of the Dead service for November 2, I decided that this week, that is what the kids and I would work on. So not only would they learn about a great holiday, they would also learn about a county rich in cultural traditions, unlike our massive commercial based holidays here. While lots of things are marketed for Day of the Dead, the Mexican culture understands it's roots and they still observe it in it's full glory.
So, to kick off the week, we read Day of the Dead by Tony Johnston. This is a great little preschool level book. Each page hase beautiful pictures in rich vibrant colors. It tells the story about a families preparations about this important holiday. The sentences are short, with only one or two per page. I like how some Spanish words are interwoven into it such as "Tias" for Aunt or "esperense" for wait. It talks about the special food, preparations and altar (ofrenda) that lead up to the joyful ocassion of remembering the dead. My children really liked this book, and we read it a couple of times. Google has a good preview of it here.
I'm going to run this similar to the Five in a Row curriculum. Every day we're going to read the book again and do a new activity. So, today, we looked for Mexico on a big world map. Then we looked for it on Google Earth. We also messed around in Zoom School Mexico at Enchanted Learning. I had originally planned on printing out a picture of the flag for them to color, but since the printer is still on vacation, we just looked at pictures instead. ABC Teach has a good printout here (pdf).
They wanted to know a little more about the holiday so we also looked up images on Google and then we watched a couple of vids on Youtube. Interesting enough, they already knew a little bit about Day of the Dead when I was reading them the book. They told me about the sugar skulls and the dances at the cemetary. I wasn't sure how they knew this until I remembered The Halloween Tree! This is an awesome movie (it was always my favorite Halloween movie growing up and I watched it every year) based on a book The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury.
The book and movie, while both really good are also vastly different but I recommend both. The movie has only five of the original eight children and it adds a girl. The movie also drops several of the cultures in the book and handles only medeival England (witches and Stonehenge), Paris (Notre Dame & gargoyles), Ancient Egypt (mummies and the pyramids) and Mexico (Dio de los Muertos). Since this is one of my favorite movies, of course I own it so of course the kids have watched it. I never reall thought about this movie/book as a teaching tool before but I guess it is since it opens up great conversation and learning opportunities about geography, history and culture.
Day of the Dead Vids (The last one is a rather dark computer animation that you may wish to view before your child as it may frighten them. I didn't know this and my boys watched it and loved it.)
The Halloween Tree excerpt ~ Mexico and The Day of the Dead
Today, we were held late at Church. As usual I taught the pre-k & K religious education class for the first service. Or, at least I was supposed to. There was a break down in communication between the rosters of teachers and I wound up not having an assistant, which by guide lines I have to have since teachers aren't allowed to be by themselves. So, it was thought that we could borrow one of the nursery assistants but instead we joined one of the classes upstairs. One one student attended today so it was no problem incorporating him in with the first & second graders. Besides, although we had lots of fun activities planned about Jesus (we were going to read a nice little book entitled Meeting Jesus and then look at pictures of Jesus as protrayed by different cultures) in the end I think he was happier upstairs helping to cut out papel picado's instead. The older children we cutting these out as decoration for the Church next Sunday for the Day of the Dead service.
Everyone is really looking forward to it, and I'll be doing a unit on that over this week with my kidlets so they know more about this wonderful day when we honor our ancestors. The parishners have been requested to bring pictures of family, friends and even pets that have passed to honor them. However, I'm getting off topic. Although I teach during the first service, I attend the second service and it's at that time when the boys go to their religious education class and the girls go to the nursery. It was because the boys were having so much fun cutting out their papel picado's that we got out of their a bit late and because we walked, it wasn't until 1.30 that we got home. We were all starving of course. Expending all of that energy always begets a big appetite, but there's also something about a beautiful crisp Autumn day that does it as well.
We already had a beautiful braid of hand made bread. One of our parishners also works at a bakery and he brings lots of left over bread every week for anyone that wishes one to take home and as usual I snagged one. Carey had the grand idea of soup but the only canned soups I ever buy are the creamed soups for recipes (cream of mushroom, etc.) because I'm usually too busy to make those on my own. And I don't even buy them that often. However, recently I hit an awesome sale on organic creamed soups so I stocked up. :D I threw a whole bunch of those together, spices and garlic, and a hodge podge of veggies and it was awesome with the thick bread to dunk in it. Deedee helped too (she added lots of milk when she was only supposed to be stirring it :D). But it was so good I thought I'd share it.
Easy Hearty Creamed Soup
3 14.5 oz cans of creamed soup (I had one each of chicken, mushroom and celery that I used; these weren't condensced.)
14 oz of fresh or frozen cooked vegge (or canned if you must) I grabbed a random bag from the freezer. It had potato chunks, asparagus spears with julienned carrots and zuchinni.
1 c of milk (more or less to taste but please don't add a quart, which is what Deedee did)
Garlic, pepper, herbs etc. to taste
Combine the soup and milk along with your herbs and spices and start it gently heating. Choose your vegge & any other ingredients such as cubed chicken that you might like to add. Cook time depends on whether your veggies are frozen or not. Keep it on a medium heat and don't let it boil. And don't let the 2 year old stir it if you happen to be occupied elsewhere. :D That is, if you don't care what may happen to it. The soups was still good with the excess milk. It certainly went further but it was a bit weak. This is excellent with big chunks of fresh bread to dip in it or serve with croutons on the side. Minus the excess milk, this should feed four adults or a family of six that is comprised of four rambuctious munchkins and two much suffering adults.
I know, I know, this is a bit late but I only just found it today. Honest! FamilyFun.com has a great Count Down to Halloween. It is 31 days of fun printables that are all really cute and a new one is posted every day. So, go to the beginning and start the frightfull fun with witch craft and have a full complement of spooky decor for your haunted house as well as other fun activities or start on todays date and still have time for a bit of fun before the big day. I alas, will not be able to join you; my printer has decided it's time for a vacation and is refusing to work. >:(
The musings of my childrens journey in the wonders of love, life, and spirituality. Love, Live, Laugh, and Learn. That's what it's all about. Welcome and blessed be.
* Carey ~ Beloved husband that puts up with everything.
He's majoring in history, loves to read, play D&D and Mech Warriors.
* Ami ~ Me. Busy teacher and housewife. I love to spend
time with the kids, read, garden, cook, knit, sew, make my own soaps
and salves.
* James ~ Our oldest at five. He loves to build with blocks, enjoys the guitar, adores robots and believes he
can't live without his trucks (and skateboard).
* Charles ~ My little monkey! Our youngest son at four, he
is the most precious gift ever recieved on a birthday.
He's a wonderful, sunny little guy that's very inquisitive and artistic.
* Meradydd ~ Our oldest daughter at three.
An opinionated and exceedingly bossy little girl with a temper to match her copper hair.
My little fashion diva that loves shoes, furlies, & hair pretties.
* Kathrynn ~ Kitty is my 1 year old little angel. She's a beautiful, mellow little girl that's extremely patient but is also starting to show her claws.
Abraham Lincoln ~ You have a Bible and a library card what more could you possibly need? You prefer the Charlotte Mason Method of reading living books for everything: historical fiction, biographies, real histories, nature guides, etc. No soon-to-be-outdated textbooks for you. Visit my blog: Guilt Free Homeschooling Take this quiz!
