On Monday, we began our school week with the usual stuff. French lesson, penny whistle lesson, math review, spelling practice, and reading. Everyday last week started with this same routine.
In addition to that, we got into the spirit of Saint Nicholas Day by telling some Saint Nicholas stories. Afterward, Johanna and I drew a picture of Saint Nicholas.
Mom's Drawing
Johanna's Drawing
Grant and I moved into the kitchen for his main lesson. Today we reviewed liquid measurement by making butter from heavy cream. We've done the shaking-in-the-jar-with-a-marble-technique before, so this time we put it in the food processor, and let it do all the work. We found that a pint of cream made about 1/2 lb of butter and about 1/2 cup of buttermilk. We just had to have something to put our yummy homemade butter on, so we made some yummy homemade bread. Every one got to knead their part of the dough and shape it into "rolls". The girls were happy to be a part of what was going on in the kitchen.
The kids also put their shoes out for Saint Nicholas on Monday night.
On Tuesday, the kids woke up to find the goodies Saint Nicholas had left in their shoes.
Saint Nicholas Day also brought our first snowfall of the year. It was barely anything, and it didn't last long, but the kids were super excited, and thought that was the best gift Saint Nicholas brought.
This was the first snow for most of our chickies.
Odin enjoyed the snow, too.
Once I was finally able to get the kids into the school room from playing in the snow, Grant and I worked through our daily routine, and then I read the kids another Saint Nicholas story. Afterward, Grant and I moved up into the kitchen again to make cheese. Grant measure out the milk, and we worked on doing some conversions, and everything was going well until my "pot-stirrer" left his post just long enough for some milk to scorch on the bottom of the pot. Unfortunately, the whole batch of cheese tasted like burnt milk. Oh, well! Next time we'll have to be a little more diligent with our cheese making.
On Wednesday, I read one more Saint Nicholas story, and then Grant and I talked about Biblical liquid measurement, worked out a few conversions, and he wrote this page in his lesson book:
On Thursday, Grant and I finished up measurement by writing more on the chart we are going to hang up in the school room. We will add to it down the road as Grant learns more about measurement.
I also pulled out this nifty little "Crafty Christmas" kit I ordered from Land of Nod.
The kids decided to make some ornaments. They were all cut out and ready to go. First, they put stickers on:
Next, Johanna and Grant sewed the edges and stuffed them:
They had fun making them, and it was fast and easy since all I had to do was help them thread the needle (and sew up Julia's ornament).
Next week Grant will learn about the Jewish festival of Chanukah, and I also look forward to celebrating the Swedish holiday - Saint Lucia day. Being the Swedes that we are, it is one of our favorites to celebrate. It's nice to bring a little bit of Sweden into our home.
No comments:
Post a Comment