CHRISTEPHI

My mom bought this book years and years ago, probably shortly after it was published in 1989.  I can’t remember not having it around!  Recently, she loaned me her copy and I thought it would be fun to work our way through the recipes.  I may not get to all of them because some are not appropriate for my kids ages yet, but we’ll do many.  It’ll be a great activity for cold winter days or wet, muddy ones! Today we made Oily Dough 1 which says it is “ easy, models well, keeps well ” and is appropriate for ages 1 and up.  It only has flour, salt, oil and water.  My kids are happily exploring it!

I used part of this week's grocery budget last week to buy scrumptious peaches and plums on sale ($0.99 per pound is probably the cheapest we'll see till next year!) and put up 12 jars of sliced peaches, some peach jelly, and plum butter.  I also bought cantaloupes at $0.99 each that I sliced up and put in the freezer.  So my menu will be based on a slightly smaller budget this week.  About $55 instead of $75. Monday : Runzas Tuesday : Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green salad Wednesday : Corned beef, fried eggs, Brussels sprouts, rice = Hubby's favorite meal! Thursday : Chickpea curry and rice Friday : Black bean burgers with sweet corn Saturday : Leftovers Sunday : Ham and potato casserole

Miss M enjoyed science most this week.  From the very first day she opened our Calvert box, she wanted to use the “themodeder” and she finally had her chance this week.  (I don’t let her play with stuff ahead of time or she’ll have nothing left to look forward to, right?)  She also loved charting people’s favorite fruits! I queried my friends and family on Facebook so we’d have a nice list to work from. For literature this week, Miss M was supposed to listen to “The Blue Jay’s Nest,” but I had her read it to me instead. She does very well!  But she was heartbroken about the eggs that fell from the nest and were broken.  Kids have such marvelous sensitive spirits! In social studies she viewed photos and drawings and identified the difference between the two. At first I think she was a bit befuddled by the concept, not because she couldn’t tell the difference between the two images, but because who ever thought of comparing them?  But she quickly caught on.  Maps were always one o

Monday : Asian corn cakes, sweet potato casserole, rice Tuesday : Hot roast beef sandwiches Wednesday : Pancakes for supper! Thursday : Oriental chicken in the crockpot, broccoli, rice Friday : Chili Saturday : Leftovers Sunday : Chicken curry, rice

It was a short week since Monday was Labor Day. We took the day off from school since Daddy was home from work.  Then Tuesday felt like Monday and Wednesday felt like Tuesday and by the time Friday rolled around I was all jumbled up!  Miss M on the other hand keeps careful track of the day of the week and the current date. Right now her reason for doing so is the new “hero” on Super Why! that will be premiering on Monday.  She always finds something to count down to! We finally received our social studies book today!!  We have managed without it, but I’m glad it came. Miss M very much enjoyed measuring this week, using both nonstandard and standard methods.  She now knows that her school desk is 4 combs wide, or 22 inches.  And she loved being able to take paperclips out of my canister; she’s not typically allowed to touch them!  This week’s Math also focused on counting and writing numbers 1-10.  She is doing so well with holding her pencil properly!!! Reading is still far bel

I had my meal plan ready, just forgot to schedule it for Monday! :-) Monday : Labor Day meal with family, supper is popcorn, sliced cheese, fruit Tuesday : Personal pepperoni pizzas Wednesday : Grilled chicken with acorn squash and rice Thursday : Potato soup with fresh sourdough bread Friday : Chicken enchiladas Saturday : Leftovers Sunday : Grilled cheese and fresh tomato soup

This was our second week of 1st grade.  We read several poems this week, but our favorites were “White Sheep” and “Secret” from the Lesson Manuel. White Sheep by Christina G. Rossetti White sheep, white sheep On a blue hill, When the wind stops You all stand still. When the wind blows You walk away slow White sheep, white sheep, Where do you go? Miss M was quite enchanted by the idea that there could be a meaning other than just what the words say.  Her eyes  lit up and she exclaimed, “That was hard!” In math she worked on patterns including ABC patterning which she hasn’t formally encountered before. She did well, though if a pattern stopped before completing the set (e.g. ABB ABB AB), it usually threw her off when extending the pattern which I chalked up to lack of attention to detail, rather than lack of understanding of patterns. She very much enjoyed the Change of Pace exercise: tossing a paper cup and tallying how many times it landed on it’s bottom, side, or t