Another Baking Day

This morning I awoke to the sweet fragrant smell of apples cooking throughout the house. Yesterday before our “Little” project I managed to cut up some apples for apple butter in the crock pot. I  followed the aroma into the kitchen to see how it was coming along and somehow tried to focus my mind to the day ahead. Today there was no drama class due to Miss Sky’s teacher was out-of-town. For breakfast I made bacon, eggs, and potatoes. I guess I wasn’t the only one effected by the aroma flowing through the air because I turned around to see a pair of little noses making their way into the kitchen sniffing the air. After our morning chores we started circle time singing our pumpkin songs for the last time. Then it was time for Miss Sky’s spelling test . She also drew this weeks form in her MLB. We went ahead and took our break and I gave the Little’s a some extra playtime while I started the chilli for our lunch. After lunch we started this weeks baking project.

We were going to make sheep cupcakes. While these babies cooled I read the story Smudge, The Little Lost Lamb from James Harriot’s treasury for children and Miss Sky finished Cam Jansen and the Ghostly Mystery. We iced up our cupcakes and I really have to give Naturally Nora’s vanilla icing two thumbs up. It is the first time the icing hasn’t put us in sugar shock. It was also time to jar up the apple butter. All in all it was a great day spent at home just enjoying each others company.

Next week’s story is Jacob and Esau. Wishing everyone a very safe and Happy Halloween.

Audio Books and Handwork

Thursdays is our day to run errands and to catch up on any chores we might have left out. The Little’s on the other hand had other plans in mind. They came to me with a pattern.We have been loving the audio books from librivox.com but The Little’s have taken to one in particular http://librivox.org/raggedy-ann-stories-by-john-b-gruelle/. Yes it has been in rotation everyday this week so you think I wouldn’t have been surprised with their request. We started down the hall to look at what supplies I had on hand for the task. Both Little’s picked out what they wanted and went straight to work on their project.Meanwhile you can only guess what was playing in the background as Miss Sky and I worked on our stitches

The project was finished just in time for bedtime snuggles.

Your Descendants Will Be As Numerous As The Stars

Today I awoke with a much clearer mind. Whatever was bothering me must have worked itself out in my sleep. I got out of bed eager to get the morning started. After focusing on my inner work I started breakfast making breakfast burritos and cut up all the veggies I would need for jambalaya later. Little Sis helped set the table while Miss Sky poured the juice. After morning chores Miss Sky lit our morning candle and we sang our transition song for circle time. After singing our songs we practiced lesson 4 on the penny whistle. Then we continued our clapping game working on our 2 times table. First clapping once saying 2 at the same time then pause and say 1 then clapping twice saying 2, 4 again pause to say 2 . We continue thru 12 then I clap 3 times and say 2, 4, 6 Miss Sky says 6 is 2×3. I also added in some mental math problems like Abraham has 5 sheep and 2 got out of their pen. Abraham journeyed out to find his sheep meanwhile he found 4 sheep grazing along with his 2. Bringing all the sheep back to his pen how many sheep does Abraham now have? Today for main lesson Miss Sky told me what part of this weeks story really stuck with her. I wrote what she said on the board and she copied it down in her MLB http://www.flickr.com/photos/24734949@N04/4054149294/. Then for grammar I asked Miss Sky to underline all the nouns from her spelling list. She informed me they were all nouns. I asked her to circle all the nouns from her list that were plural. She pointed out sheep could be both plural and singular. Then working with the rules we learned these last 2 weeks I had her make the singular nouns plural. She found out donkey does not follow the rules. She finished looking up her vocabulary words and practiced her form drawing on her little chalk board. Today we used the game bananagrams to practice her spelling words.We wrapped up our main lesson painting wet on wet with water colors. I tied the painting into the story reading the verse from Genesis 22:17 ” your descendants will be as numerous as the stars.”http://www.flickr.com/photos/24734949@N04/4054160068/

We took our hour break and finished up with handwork and story time. I read Bonny’s Big Day from James Herriot’s treasury for children. Miss Sky read chapters 4-6 from Cam Jansen and the Ghostly Mystery. Wishing everyone a blessed day.

“No Puppet Show Today”

I awoke this morning to another dark rainy day here in the Hoosier state. The soft sound of the rain gently falling outside my window beckoned me to pull the covers tightly up around my head and drift back to sleep. I found myself staying up way to late these last few days pondering the many thoughts I have running through my mind. I feel distracted and can’t quite put my finger on why. It is times like this I am very grateful to have a solid school rhythm that seems to just flow on its own. The stiffness that seemed to follow me down the hallway informed me I was in need of a good stretch ,or a new mattress. I settled on the first and tried to focus my mind on the day ahead. I made apple strudel muffins for breakfast and was glad to have my spaghetti sauce and meatballs already made to toss in the crock pot for todays lunch. Miss Sky helped with morning clean up and informed me today she was not going to do a puppet show for her retelling of yesterdays story. I told her that was ok and poked around to see why. A shrug of the shoulders was all she had to say. It was time to light our morning candle and start circle time. I sang the transition song We’ll All Join In A Circle, then we said our morning prayer. We sang our morning songs Good Morning Dear Earth and Buenos Dias. Then we recited our verses I Can Turn Myself, October, We Are Straight and Strong, I Wake Myself, Chip Chop,and The Acorn and Oak. Next we sang Father Abraham (with lots of giggles), Did our Pumpkins fingerplay along with 5 Little Pumpkins.We sang The Pumpkin Song and Miss Sky and I sang Mr. Pumpkin as a round. Then we sang Little Sis’s favorite Pumpkin Time ,she awaits anxiously to shout BOO at the end. Next was The Pumpkin, Pumpkin song and we ended circle time with Autumn Time Is Coming again as a round. I transitioned into pennywhistle by playing Nolan’s Tune from Jodie Mesler’s music curriculum and we worked on lesson 4 from the book. Today for beanbag we did something different we clapped out the times tables starting with 5′s We clapped twice saying 5, 10 and Miss Sky said 5×2 is 10. We clapped 4 times saying 5, 10, 15, 20 and Miss Sky said 5×4 is 20 and so on. It was time for main lesson. Miss Sky impressed me by telling the story back almost in the same manner I told it. She added in all the details of Abraham’s tent and how they packed up all their belongings to go to the place God had planned for them. She retold the part of the dreaded sacrifice stressing the halt of Abraham’s hand. It feels really good to see a blooming storyteller in the works. Miss Sky copied her picture in her MLB. Little Sis drew her picture too http://www.flickr.com/photos/24734949@N04/4051232633/. For grammar I taught Miss Sky irregular plural nouns and she drew her picture in her MLB http://www.flickr.com/photos/24734949@N04/4051231755/. Then I wrote her new vocabulary words on the board.

barren

descendants

possessions

wanderings

halted

hesitate

heir

covenant

inherit

provide

She looked up the first 5 words in her dictionary. Today Miss Sky practiced her spelling words and this weeks form drawing in corn meal http://www.flickr.com/photos/24734949@N04/4051978126/. We took our hour lunch/ break and finished up the school day with story time and handwork. I read the story Only One Woof from James Herriot’s Treasury for children and Miss Sky read chapters 1-3 from Cam Jansen and the Ghostly Mystery. Hope everyone else had a great day. 

    

Father Abraham Had Many Sons

Well today was the day to tell the story I have been nervous about. I started my day with yoga, prayer, and meditation. I ran the story over in my mind how I wanted it to flow. I have been debating about Hagar and Ishmael and finally decided to leave them out of the story to revisit later when Miss Sky in more able to comprehend. For breakfast today I made waffles and sausage while The Little’s started their morning chores. I prepared the chicken stock last night and had my veggies cut up and ready for the vegetable soup that would be our lunch today. Since it is my recipe I thought I would share. This makes a really big pot with lots left over to jar up and can or freeze.

10 cups stock( I use chicken)

28 oz can crushed tomatoes

4 carrots sliced in half then diced (I like bite size pieces)

3 stalks celery diced

4 potatoes diced into cubes

2 onions diced

Bring to a boil and let simmer on med low heat for about an hour. Then add

2 cups corn

2 cups peas

2 cups cooked white beans(or of choice)

half head of cabbage diced(don’t have to , we just had some to use up)

Salt and pepper to taste

Simmer for 30 minutes and serve  goes really well with crusty french bread (yum).

After breakfast clean up we started circle time. For this week I added the song Father Abraham http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/f033.html. The Little’s loved doing the actions to the song. We moved on to lesson 4 with our penny whistles and I did a simple math review with the 4 processes during beanbag adding in some mental math problems. It was time for main lesson. I told the story of Abraham http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=steedman&book=nurserybible&story=abraham. I liked this story but also added in more details from scripture minus Hagar and Ishmael. I put more focus on their journey to the land God promised. Miss Sky couldn’t look at me during the sacrifice part and got a little choked up. I have to wait till tomorrow  to see what she took from the story. It was really hard no matter how much I tried to play down this part of the story. Then I gave Miss Sky her new spelling words.

nation

blessing

sheep

cattle

flock

herd

camels

tribe

message

child

donkey

wife

star

lamb

morning

She wrote them twice in her MLB and we clapped each letter to the words out. For grammar we worked on rule number 4 making plural nouns, changing f or fe into v(es). Miss Sky drew her picture in her MLB. Our form drawing  lesson includes a mirror image that looks like the fluffy sheep’s wool. We practiced in the air , on our backs, then on the board. We finished up main lesson by modeling Abraham,Sarah, baby Issac, and some sheep with beeswax.http://www.flickr.com/photos/24734949@N04/4047344119/ 

We took our hour lunch/break then I read Moses the Kitten from James Herriot’s Treasury for Children while she worked on gingerbread man cookies for Little Sis. Miss Sky wanted to read The White Stallion by Elizabeth Shub again while I worked on my handwork project. Wishing everyone a happy Monday.

A Beautiful Fall Day

One of my most favorite parts of fall, ok I do have many ,is you get the hiking trails to yourself. What a sensual experience taking a hike in Autumn becomes. Hearing the rustle of leaves crunch beneath your feet and the sight of your breath escaping from the day’s adventure.How different the woods look even though you have been there many times before.

All the new colors that seem to have changed overnight.All the places that need to be explored.And a seasonal family portrait .

Life is good. Wishing everyone a great weekend.

Sheep Street

The story of the Tower of Babel wrapped up our first Old Testament block. Starting Monday we will be starting our Shepard’s block with the story of Abraham. During this block we will also take a week to talk about How we came to be inside these clothes and will be introducing the fiber wool. We will be spinning and dyeing our own yarn. Miss Sky will be working with our yarn in her homemade knitting nell. Through a friend I learned of a sheep farm and we took a visit to get our supplies.Of course Miss Sky went crazy for the sheep while mama went crazy inside. They even have classes which I am really looking forward to. I will be honest I am having trouble with this story. I now understand as an adult what the story of Abraham symbolizes but as a child this story terrified me. I can remember exactly where I was the first time I heard this story and remember thinking what if God asks my parents to sacrifice me. I am really glad to have had the week to really meditate and let the story sink in. I will also be reading the story Mountain Born by Elizabeth Yates for storytime during this block. As much as I am dragging my feet for this story I am really excited to try out my new toys.

Yea ! The Sun Has Returned

This week due to our out-of-state company we have been enjoying the short time we have been given together out in the sun.

Instead of school our days have been filled exploring all that nature has provided for us, lots of girly make overs, and game playing.

We are going to miss you Aunt Laura

Happy Birthday My Little Angel

I have enjoyed our journey together little one .I  pray your journey brings you the love, peace and happiness you have given me.

Drama, Jenga, and Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

Miss Sky says thank you for all the birthday wishes. I am pretty sure she had a good day filled with phone calls and visits from loved ones.  The celebration continues tomorrow with special plans and visits from out-of-state family. Thank goodness todays plans didn’t include main lesson because Miss Sky’s mind is still focused on her birthday. For breakfast  today we had left overs from the week and started a short circle time singing only a few of our songs. It was time for Miss Sky’s spelling test and to write her form drawing from the week in her MLB. Then out we went to Miss Sky’s drama class. The last play Miss Sky had she was the little bird that had a broken wing and couldn’t fly south for winter.This time she plays a snow maiden. I love Miss Sky’s drama teacher, she believes in letting the children’s imagination run the performance. She also believes in letting them come up with their costumes using things from around the house. Miss Sky had no problems coming up with her costume.

In fact she was more than happy for the excuse to wear her leotard. Little Sis and I had a good time reading some of her favorite stories while we waited. Home again for our favorite part of the week, baking. I found a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe and thought we would give it a try using some of our pulp we roasted last week. I found the recipe from this lovely blog http://faeriedust2001.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_archive.html. The only changes I made was I substituted I cup whole wheat pastry flour and used only 1 cup Rapadura sweetener. While the cookies baked I read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein in honor Miss Sky received a Japanese maple tree from her big sis for her birthday. We enjoyed our snack (very good) while playing a few games of Jenga tying in this weeks story  of The Tower of Babel.

Man I love Fridays. Wishing everyone a very blessed weekend.