When Life Gives You Lemons

When Life Gives You Lemons...

Make Lemonade!

And Lemonade Ice Pops with Blueberries!

Zombie Math

Here's a game we made up called Zombie Math. We have 100 zombie and 6 people figurines. With those figurines we can do grouping, talk about percentages, add, subtract, multiply and divide.

To play zombie addition we have all the figurines standing. Each of us picks two people to be. We roll two dice. One figurine knocks down the number of zombies on one die and the other knocks down the number of zombies on the other die. Add them together for a total of ___ zombies. If a 6 is rolled, the person figurine is knocked down. The player continues to roll two dice but has his person knock over the  higher number of zombies. Once both people are knocked down, they can be brought back by rolling a 6. At the end of the game either the zombies win or the people win.  The kids know zombies eat brains and are not afraid. The honorable mention goes to the player who has had no human casualties.

Country of the Month: Ireland

This month we are studying Ireland. Dagan wanted to study it because his kindergarten teacher Ms. Gill is from Ireland. Dagan said that double decker buses in Ireland have a door at the back. We danced Irish dances, listened to Irish music, and ate Irish soda bread. We colored maps and talked about the flag. The boys delighted in learning about the middle ages and engaging in sword combat and shooting arrows with their bow.

Weekly Baking Project- Fresh Strawberry Cake With Strawberry Swiss Buttercream

Sage chose to bake strawberry cake this week. We used only fresh strawberries. The cake turned out a light shade of brown instead of pink because we didn't add any food coloring or jello. We didn't make a cream cheese frosting because I didn't want to use powdered sugar. So we ended up making vanilla Swiss buttercream and adding pureed strawberries.

The boys enjoyed turning on and off the stand mixer, measuring and weighing, placing strawberries, piping icing and using the food processor. They were also surprised that tall cakes are made from two or more shorter cakes glued together with frosting. They had fun watching the icing turn from a thin syrup into a creamy frosting and watching batter rise and brown into a cake.

Science- Rock Candy Crystals

A fun and easy science project to do with the kids is making rock candy.

1.  Wrap the top part of a pipe cleaner around a pencil. Set the pencil horizontally over a glass so the pipe cleaner hangs 1 inch from the bottom. You can also use a string though it needs to be weighted with a lifesaver or you can use a bamboo skewer (to prevent eating fuzz).

2.   Dip the pipe cleaner in water and roll in sugar. Set aside to dry.

3.  In a saucepan, boil 3 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water. Stir until sugar dissolves. Let cool slightly.

4.  Pour warm syrup into glass. Place pipe cleaner in syrup.

5.  Leave it in the syrup for 1 week. I poured the syrup into another glass and moved the pipecleaner every few days because I found that too many crystals were growing on the bottom and sides of the glass. When the syrup got low, I reboiled and added some more. Some websites will tell you just to leave it alone for a week, others will say just to scrape off the crystals that form on the top.

Our New Schedule

One Hour of Rest Time

 

Clocks From Paper Plates

 

Weekday Schedule

 

House Rules

Homeschooling has allowed us to be more flexible with some things like being able to wake up at 9 instead of 8 if we are tired, schooling in our pajamas and having lunch late because we were having too much fun doing an activity. To give ourselves some structure, the boys and I sat down and collaborated on a daily schedule and agreed upon house rules. This has taken some of the pressure off of me as everything is written as clear as day on the fridge. It gets easier each day as they adapt to the new schedule. 

Station time is a time where I set out three different activities. We have station time in the morning after breakfast and in the afternoon after rest time. The activities range from art projects to educational games to worksheets to objects to ponder over. These are always changing and the boys are excited to see something new each day. Sometimes they are not interested in the morning but will choose to do it later in the day. I often see them doing worksheets while waiting for lunch. They are not forced to do any of the activities. Ones that they do are often jumping off points for new station activities.

Daily activities we do either in the morning or afternoon. Monday is music where we often do a piano lesson and listen to different types of music and dance. Tuesday is baking day where the boys get to bake what they want. Wednesday is field trip day where we will go somewhere fun. Thursday is art day where we will talk about famous artists and  use different types of materials. Friday is science day where we focus on science projects as well as biology, anatomy, zoology, and botany. We study French after lunch each day. It used to be once a week but I think that if we study a few new words each day our French vocabulary will increase much faster by the end of the year.

We try to make it to the park as much as possible for physical exercise and so Dagan can get together with his friends who get out of the Montessori class at 5. We will be putting the boys in sports soon. They both love swimming and gymnastics. We hope our social circle will increase to include other homeschooling parents. Though I haven't met any yet, I have signed up for a few yahoo groups.

I do not have the two and a half hours of free time I used to when they were in school. To counter this I have instituted an hour a day rest time right after lunch. Though they don't nap, they must stay in their room for the hour and do something quiet. This gives me time to recharge and exercise. It also gives them some calm in the midst of a busy day. The boys go to bed at 9 and after that is adult time. I also have time off on the weekends because August is so wonderful that he cooks or picks up food and takes the boys out for energy burning activities. I would not be able to homeschool without his love and support.

Chocolate

Sequencing Cards

 

 Rainforest Where Cacao Trees Grow

Chocolate Babka

 

Cocoa Nibs

Dagan's Chocolate Factory

The Great Glass Elevator

 We've been studying chocolate these past few weeks.  We've read books, watched factory videos, and tasted chocolate in many forms. We've learned about the process that chocolate goes through from cacao tree pods, harvesting, drying, transporting, roasting, shelling, grinding, adding of milk and sugar, pouring into molds, packaging and then selling. The boys and I talked about percentages of cocoa in different types of chocolate. They've seen me tempering chocolate and using molds to make truffles.

After reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, we watched the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory from 1971 which I remember watching as a child. We discussed the similarities and differences between both films and the book.

Dagan build Wonka's factory out of legos. There's the chocolate river, the boat, a few of the characters including Charlie, Grandpa and Willy Wonka. He made the grassy field, the glass elevator, and Sage made his own form of vehicle for transporting the chocolate from the factory to be distributed.

Preschool and Kindergarten Graduation

Sage the elephant 

Ms. Gillian- Dagan's kindergarten teacher

Ms. Shey and Ms. Lowey- Sage's preschool teachers

 

Dagan the owl

 

Dagan receiving his diploma

 

Sage the elephant in Handa's Surprise

 

Dagan singing "Reach for the Stars"

 

Dagan's kindergarten class and Ms. Sharry, Ms. Clarke and Ms. Gillian

 

Sage's preschool class

The boys graduated last week Friday. Dagan was an owl in the Gruffalo play and Sage was an elephant in Handa's Surprise. We are grateful for these past few years at Yaletown Montessori. The teachers are so loving, caring and skilled in dealing with children. We also made wonderful friends who we hope to continue to see even in the years ahead. Montessori has given the boys a great start.

They have become more independent, outgoing and taken on leadership qualities. They've learned to write their letters, read basic words, do addition and subtraction, play well with others and sing many songs. They've also learned French, Mandarin and yoga. I shall use the skills they learned at Montessori as a jumping off point in our homeschool. We plan to continue French, yoga, learning about a different country each month and getting together with their classmates.