Shelf-Work Choices:

We actually had time to do shelf-work today :). Keep in mind that it was after Math (45 minutes) , Writing (free writing today!) (30 minutes), Spelling (Spelling Power, very short), and History (worked on their lapbooks at their own pace) (30 minutes). Thus the name Eclectic Living for the blog - our school and lives are eclectic. That said, I really miss the nice long shelf-work times. It really makes a difference when they can get into the groove and have the full 3-hour work period on a consistent basis. Today's only ended up being about 1-1/2 hours (unless you count laundry and lunch prep for practical life!).

Middle dd's first choice was the recorder which I thought was a good choice since she had already been doing brain work. She set a timer for 15 minutes and went to a back room. Then she asked youngest dd to join her with the globe ball. Later she did birds of the world 3-part cards.

Youngest dd chose the scale first and compared weights. She discovered that different combinations of weights can weigh the same. She also drew an incredible picture of some flowers and did the US state puzzle without the guide. The shell rubbing plates from sister's zoology box caught her eye so I moved them to the Topic Table for easier access. She was going to choose from the topic table next but it was time for lunch.

Oldest dd chose the zoology box first. She did the birds of the world 3-part cards for zoology, the globe ball with her sisters, and some theology work (she pulled out a workbook). (I'll add photos tomorrow, I hope)

The time went by so quickly and it was a wonderful school day!


What's Cookin'?

- I'm experimenting with 2 different bread recipes. They just came out of the oven. 1st contestant: our regular sourdough recipe. 2nd contestant: a yeast-free standby recipe that I tried soaking for the first time. It's usually my go-to recipe when I haven't gotten the sourdough going but I may need to nix the sourdough for a while due to some time constraints in our new schedule.

- Pinto beans are in the crock pot although I have no idea what I'm going to do with them. Basically, they are handy to have ready.

- The ever-present almonds are soaking and ready to be made into almond milk (It would wake everyone up now so I just changed the water and will do in the morning).

- I cooked up some pork sausage at dinnertime. 1/4 went into tonight's spaghetti, 1/2 went into little patties for tomorrow's dinner of patties with cream of mushroom sauce served over rice, and 1/4 is ready for another dinner (sausage with rice, some sauteed veggies, and cream of mushroom soup).

Multiplication Checkerboard

This is one of my favorite Montessori materials for older math. It sort of works like the lattice multiplication but with manipulatives and it's more concrete. The dc didn't use it for very long, but it made the difference during that short time. You can make it as simple as gluing paper squares to cardboard or as fancy as actually doing a patchwork-type quilt. Mine is in the middle. I made this when I knew even less about sewing/quilting than I do now so please keep that in mind!

At the time I had some super old fabric crayons that you had to actually color on paper, then iron on the fabric. So I had to make it in mirror image and then iron the color onto the plain fabric. That was a pain and any quilters out there are probably wondering why I didn't just cut/sew the squares. Make sure that you leave a big enough border on the bottom and right for the number tiles.

Once that was done I quilted it with black for the back and finished the edges. I LOVE the quilted feel of the material and it was so easy to store - just roll or fold and tuck in the math shelf. The tiles are in a little plastic box (I think a little box that the T-pins came in that I used for pin maps).

[I tried to uploade from my webshots and it's not working, so here is the direct link...]

http://image59.webshots.com/459/1/48/11/2908148110100452258CRBTVm_fs.jpg

One thing to keep in mind is to use your own bead bars to determine the size of the squares. I think I used the standard size and felt that they were too small once we started working with it. You may want to pile 10 10-bead bars and see how much room that would take.

Enjoy your Multiplication Checkerboard (and let the dc use it sometimes too)!!

What's Cookin'?

I made the yogurt dough from Nourishing Traditions yesterday and used it to make empanadas. They're for dinner tonight or tomorrow but of course I had to taste test - delicious! I used some cooked pork sausage that was leftover from tacos, diced and boiled a potato from the farmer's market, and cooked some green beans from our garden. A bit of each made up the filling.

I happened to have a neat little gadget I got a million years ago from Pampered Chef that cuts and seals at the same time. After rolling out the dough I cut it in half with a pizza cutter. On one half I lightly scored it with the cut/seal just to know where to put my piles of filling. Then I brushed water lightly on the other half, set it on top of the half with filling, cut/sealed and moved them to a cookie sheet with parchment paper. I debated baking or frying but opted to bake at 350 F. They took about 30 minutes to bake to a light golden color.

These would make great snacks served with any variety of sauce or just by themselves. Light enough for snack or lunch, heavy enough for dinner. Mmmm. Now to decide what to serve with it...

Oh! I had a bit of extra dough so I rolled it out, cut into squares (okay, really they were rectangles), and fried them in palm oil. Next time I'll mix the salt into the dough right before doing this because it just bounced off when I tried to salt them after frying. Excellent 'chips'!

I also have Kelly's fermented tortilla dough on the counter ready to make. I used only wheat this time so we'll see how well it goes over with the family. The dough is not as pliable as when I use both wheat and white. Here is her most excellent tortilla recipe (and I've tried lots of tortilla recipes!):

http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/05/homemade-fermented-soaked-tortillas.html

I need to get some bone broth going. I'm going to try roasting the soup bones before making it this time and see if I like it better. I doubt I'll get to it today but it's on the backburner, so to speak.

What's on the Topic Table?

Since they are studying ocean animals in Apologia Zoology-2 I pulled some things to highlight that topic. On the little table in the kitchen we have: a basket with an assortment of shells; parts of an orca cards; an ocean floor puzzle; and whale cards. I have shell sorting (univalve and bivalve) in the zoology box and I may just leave them where they are for now - I haven't decided (it's a small table).

We also have a soil testing kit (yes, that one has been out all summer and we still haven't done the experiment!!) and the materials ready to 'pan for gold.' Those aren't related to THE topic :) but they are pending and go along with other current topics. I guess I should call it the "Topics" Table.

If I can figure out how to post pictures here I'll upload one.

What's Cookin'?

Quiche is in the oven. Tortillas are mixed, waiting to be cooked (I like Kelly's Fermented Tortilla recipe - except that we never have any leftovers!). We'll cook them tonight after dinner so they'll be ready for tomorrow's burritos.

BTW, Kraft cheese now has "mold inhibitor" in its ingredients. Kroger and Wal-Mart store brands do not (yet) have that in the blocks although I think they do in the shredded. We shred the blocks and it freezes well. Kroger/Wal-Mart brands also use annato for coloring in the blocks. Annato is a spice so I believe that's fine.

Timer is beeping for the quiche, yeah!