School Buddies

We generally have a no toys rule when we are doing school. Sometimes toys come and join as part of the school but for the most part we keep toys away when we are doing school. It just helps and keeps both kids of bringing things to the table. That works for us.

The other week I thought maybe a school buddy would help. Someone that could give them encouragement, somebody to hold, somebody special that was only for school. I went to a basket that had some beanie babies and found in there Focus and Excellence.

 Focus and Excellence as they have been named are Hallmark Love 'Em, Bug 'Em animals. I had them in a basket with plans for Valentine's Day. No, I didn't buy them for this year they were from last year and I hadn't done anything with them.

I decided these would be perfect for study buddies.

We named them Focus and Excellence as reminders to the kids on what they need to do. Focus is Miss K's and you might hear us often say, "focus on what you are doing." Bob needs to be reminded to work with excellence. His is a bee and he was going to name him zero because buzz ends in z and zero just fit. I wanted him to strive for 100% not zero so I changed his name.

One of the fun things about these is the zipper pocket in the back. This is a nice place to put a treat for enjoying after school is finished. One of the first treats that they had were cans of sardines. My kids love them. Miss K calls it, "dead fish."

I have put sardines, Christmas candy, seaweed, fruit snacks or whatever I have around. Some days they have nothing.

The front has a clip where you can clip notes. That is where I put their names but I have also used this for other notes.

Focus and Excellence stay on my desk when they are not at school. That is one way that they are a bit special and don't get dragged to tea parties and other events around the house and lose some specialness.

The kids have enjoyed them. I have heard Miss K say, "I need Focus" as she gets her and brings her to the table.

Excellence is watching Bob do his work. Maybe Excellence will help check his work before he finishes.

Do your children have a study buddy?


Beth

Weekly Wrap-Up - January 17, 2014

We were away for the first part of the week, visiting family. We enjoyed our time together and made lots of memories including tea party, a "eat all grandma's food before she goes on a trip" party, time with cousins, going to the theater to see Frozen, and eating lots of the food we miss.

We had a girls outing while we were visiting family and all the girls went to see Frozen. That was the first time that Miss K has been to the theater. She loved it. Every now and then you could hear her say, "I love it."

On our return flight Miss K was asked if she wanted to meet the captain. I think Bob was more excited that he was able to sit in the co-pilot's seat. He still dreams of being a pilot. Miss K wants to be the "cocoa pilot".

Miss K was up bright and early. I think she is still on east coast time. The kids did have a tea party this morning with all their animals. She really enjoyed the tea party at grandmas and was asking to have another one.

Friday, we did a bit of school to ease back into school. We read Marguerite makes a Book. That is a wonderful story about a young girl who helps her father, a famous manuscript illuminator, make a book. The book gives all the details of what is needed and how to make the paint.

We then illuminated a letter. I just had them use Sharpies because that was easy and what we had around the house to grab.

Miss K talked the whole time she was drawing. She said she was drawing a flower and then an eagle.

I thought Bob had a creative page when he was done. He said he decided to draw a dragon as that was something different.

We don't have much planned for our weekend. I need to go grocery shopping. My husband has some writing that he needs to do so the kids and I will find something to do. I can guess that cleaning the house is not on their list.

I did buy a 5 pound bag of lentils so we will continue the Lentil Challenge. I did rip with my mom's permission a recipe out of one of her magazines for lentil burgers.

Beth

Teaching Etiquette

It might have been teaching a little etiquette but it was more having fun and making memories.

My niece decided she wanted a tea party this afternoon. It seemed like a perfect time to use all the fancy dishes that have been sitting in the china cabinet for years. So Grandma and E went to work and found all kinds of treats for the tea party.

The littlest attendees were able to use their great aunt's tea set from when she was growing up. The rest of us used a set that my mom said was my grandmother's.

We had clothing to wear -- some hats that were nana's, some gloves, a fur wrap, and some pearls. We each had something special to wear.

We enjoyed tea, crackers, biscuits, and a few other things that Grandma found to serve. We talked and used our manners and British accents.

Well, the boys didn't want to be left of the fun. I really think they wanted the food and the snacks. We decided to give a tea party for the boys. We hurried to the kitchen to see what we could food we could find for them -- some clementines, a few carrots, some biscuits, cheese, and crackers.

This was a time that the boys needed to dress us as well. Grandma keeps everything including all the ties that Grandma no longer wears as well as the ties that my brothers left at the house when they moved out.

There were reminders to not put her arms or elbows on the table. There were words of advice on how to ask for things to be passed. What do you do when you want something that is not on the table. That came as a result of one boy wanting Coke at a tea party. We were kind and served them but some of that was to make sure that everyone got some of the food. We had to remind them that this was tea and not a meal.

My husband and son drank all their tea -- it must be the Asian or British in them. Bob asked for more tea and I heard my niece say, "for real?"

I think we created some fun memories and I know one brother that was glad he went home for the afternoon and missed the event.

Beth

Weekly Wrap-Up - January 10, 2014

This week was getting back into the school routine. In some ways it seems like our school year has been a year with not much routine.

We had full days Monday and Tuesday. Well as full as we could have with having flute lesson at 1:45 on Monday. I have found that the more we have done before we need to go out.

Tuesday we did get more done as we didn't have any place to go.

I did get the Play Foam out to give the kids something to do while I read. Bob made an alligator.

Here is Miss K and her creature.

Then we did some traveling this week. I think we are eating our way through our time visiting family. I don't think we have enough time to eat all our favorites -- soft pretzels, long johns, bagels, Rita's, Sonic,  steak, and a few other things. We did get our soft pretzels we we are happy.

That about wraps up our week. Maybe someday we will have a few normal weeks in a row.

Beth

Plan Book - My review

For the past year or so I have been on a search for a planner that I liked. I like paper and so I wanted a paper planner.

This is my 5th year homeschooling and I think I have used three or four different type of planners. The first two years I just had one student and I would buy an academic planner. That was fine and worked. It had enough lines for me to record what we did each day. As I added another student and more subjects, I need more space.

Last year I used one of the popular homeschool planners. In my opinion and for the way that I used it, it wasn't worth the $26.95. I didn't need the articles or the pretty flowers. I wanted more space to write, to plan, and record.

I spent time last spring searching online for the "perfect for me planner." I looked at various planners, but couldn't come up with one I would consider worth spending the money. I wanted something simple with lots of space to plan and record, to be able to make notes to myself. Something that allowed me to write all my own subjects or books. I found lots of free printable planners that people have created. I started the year with just some pages printed from various sites in a notebook and had a nice pretty lime green notebook to put it in.

I was still on the quest for the "perfect for me planner." Then one day at co-op I saw someone planning and using a big planner. It had lots of space to write all kinds of information. I asked her about the planner and learned it was a Carson-Dellosa Planner. It is for traditional classrooms.

There are a few different designs. The cover is not necessarily pretty so if you ware looking for cute this might not be the planner for you. If you want one that has a section for meals, this is not the planner for you. Mine is usually open so I don't even see the cover. It is about 13"x 9 1/4". If you want something that is notebook size, this will not work. For me the size is fine. It is not too big to carry in my bag when we are out and it sits nicely on the shelf at home.

Since it is for a traditional classroom there are pages relating to conferences, substitute information, seating plan, birthdays, transportation information, and various things that a teacher needs to keep track of. I just ignore those pages though I would if I fill in the substitute information I could find a substitute to fill in. Those pages could be used for all kinds of notes. There is a yearly planning page which would be great to plan field trips and activities or special learning units. There is a daily schedule which could be used to record your daily schedule. It is nice as it lists each day.

This planner does not have dates printed which for me works great as we school year round. Finding a planner that includes the summer can be tough.

On the left is the days of the week, absences, extra duties and reminders. I fill in the date and add any extra things that we have that day like flute, piano, or swim.

On the left page there are eight columns with six lines.

We normally begin with us together with history and geography so those are on the left side. I think list Miss K's subjects on the remaining columns. I add colour by using my markers and my washi tape.

Here is what a blank page looks like. There is a faint dotted line dividing the columns but you could easily combine and make the columns bigger if that works for you.

The right side has 10 columns and for me that is where I write Bob's work. There is plenty of space in the columns that I can combine some things on the same column i.e. Spelling and Editor in Chief.

One thing that the planner does not include are space for weekends. There are times that we do things educational on the weekend and when that happens I just record it with some of the extra space on the right page.

I have been using this for almost three months and I love it. I purchased it at Lakeshore Learning. My list of things for next year includes another Plan Book.

What is the biggest thing that you look for when selecting a planner?


Beth

Lentil Challenge -- We did it.

Remember the 10 pound bag of lentils that I purchased. That became the Lentil Challenge. I purchased that bag the beginning of October and we ate a number of lentil meals.

Look what happened today -- we finished the bag.

For a long time our favorite dish was the first one that I made, Lentil and Spinanch Dhansak. The other day I made lentils and brown rice taco style and that might be the favorite.

I finished the bag today with a Spicy Thai Curried Lentils, it is pinned on my main dishes on Pinterest. It was not our favorite. I loved Thai food and especially curry which probably comes from having lived in Thailand. This was disappointing.

I have found so many more good recipes that I would like to try. I have a number of recipes pinned and waiting to try.

Here is one more recipe that I would like to try.

Moroccan Lentil Soup

2 tsp cooking oil
1 cup chopped onion

2 tsp finely grated ginger root
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 bay leave
1/8 tsp salt

6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 cup dried green lentils
1 cup diced carrot
1/2 cup diced celery

1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
1 tsp grated lemon zest

Heat cooking oil in large saucepan on medium. Add onion. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until softened.

Add next 7 ingredients. Heat and stir for about 1 minute until fragrant.

Add next 4 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, partially covered, for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until lentils are very soft. Discard bay lef.

Add remaining 3 ingredients. Stir Makes about 7 cups

1 cup 151 calories
2.2 g total fat (0.8 Mon, 0.6g Poly, 0.6g Sat)
0 mg Cholesterol
24 g Carbohydrates
4 g fiber
10 g protein
808 mg sodium


Here are my other posts regarding the Lentil challenge.

Lentil Challenge
Lentil Challenge - More-With-Less
Lentil Challenge - Lentils & Rice Taco Style
Lentil Challenge - Lentil Soup

Lentil Challenge - Lemon Lentil Soup

Have you ever cooked with lentils?

Beth

Weekly Wrap-up - January 3, 2014

Happy New Year!

We actually did three days of school this week. I had told the kids that we wouldn't take much of a break. We were back at it on Monday.

We finished the first semester of Mystery of History Volume II. Then we moved to Iceland which was perfect timing as my husband had gotten some books out of the library. We had a layover there last summer and since then Iceland has been a place of interest. All we saw was the inside of the airport. Did you know that 10 percent of the people in Iceland will write a book?

Both kids did math this week. I will say that getting Miss K to do more than one page is a challenge. I give her a page with the date and day and then some things to practice it might be sequencing, or counting by 2s, 5s, or 10s, or some addition problems to do. Then she does a page in her Math-U-See book. The other week I asked her what is 3+0? She said, "25" so I told her, "3+0=3, what is 3+0?" She told me "7". And you wonder why I have gray hair.

Bob is working through Christian Kids Explore Physics. He is enjoying it and I think getting a basic understanding. We have not done the hands-on things the way we should.

Today I decided to do an art project. I have seen a few instructions for painting with egg yolk and chalk or pastels. I had bought pastels to use and even bought some pastel paper.

Bob really would have rather been outside but mom said he needed to paint. We read the book about Giotto. The nice thing about Mike Venezia's books is they can be read easily in one sitting. We crushed our pastels and then mixed it with egg yolk.

He did get into the pairing a bit. After painting the red dots he added some green around it and titled it, "Rose Garden at Night."

Miss K painted and painted. I have to tell her to move her brush and not paint the same spot. I think she painted about three pages one was all red and the other had some brown in it. She was excited that she was able to make brown.

Last week my husband took the kids o the library and one of the books that they got was called, Press Here. The book has a white cover with a yellow dot. Each page has instructions of things to do, press the dot, shake the book, etc. It was fun to watch Bob read the book and follow the instructions.

That is about all for this week.

Beth