Food for Thought Tuesday: Bread

This week I bring you bread. Some call it the staple of life. I call it delicious. In a continued effort to eat healthier and eat organically, I purchased millet flour. I tried my first batch on Thursday, using 2 cups millet, 2 cups organic white, yeast, maple syrup and vanilla rice milk. The result was a rather crumby, dense bread, which the girls declared was "bleck." Honestly girls, it wasn't that bad. So, I decided I needed to try recipes that others have tested.
This one looks promising. It is for an indian flat bread, and it is gluten and dairy free.

Easter: A UU Story

As a Unitarian Universalist homeschooling family, we, much like many other religious homeschoolers, celebrate important holy-days, special seasons and do so in a way that makes sense to our family.

In a discussion group that I participate in, we have been discussing Jesus. The Easter Story is a story of life after death, the resurection but as a UU, what meaning does that have for us? So, I began searching for a story for the children that helped to give the sense of Jesus's life and death. I found this. I found it on a blog but it is originally from Jim Wallace.

I also purchased a Tomi DePaolo book,Easter. I have become a fan of his stories in the last year, and have used many of his books in our homeschooling. We also found a stained glass coloring book of Jesus, so we will use the pictures as a jumping off point to discuss the parables.

The Wiki link is actually fairly decent, especially if you are curious as to what titles he has written.

Montessori Inspired Lessons: Pencil Sharpening

Building Practical Life Skills: Pencil Sharpening

Most, if not all, Montessori activities are introduced via a lesson. A lesson is when the adult introduces a new activity by showing the child the parts of the activity, the necessary materials, and how to use it appropriately.

Pencil Sharpening

Materials
Tray
Pencil holder
Pencil(s)
Pencil Sharpener
Dish to put shavings in

Introduction: Ask the child to bring the tray from the shelf to you. Sit with the child and name the various items.
Pick up the pencil and the sharpener. Show the child the tip of the unsharpened pencil.Place the pencil in the sharpener and turn the pencil clock wise over the shaving container.Show the child the slightly sharpened pencil.

Ask them if it needs to be sharpened more?
How many times should they turn the pencil before it is sharp?

Once it is sharpened, place the pencil back on the holder. Pick up the next pencil to sharpen. Once completed, show the child how to empty the shaving container into the waste basket.

Give the activity to the child to begin working.



**At this time, in my current understanding of Montessori, this is how I view a lesson.

Montessori May Be a Good Investment for Many Childre

I believe a Montessori education can significantly affect a child's sense of self and create active, think out of the box, self directed learners.

http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/04/05/the-montessori-mafia/

Food For Thought Tuesday

After visiting another blog, I became inspired to add another section to this blog- Food for Thought Tuesday. As a homeschooling family, one of the most rewarding and appealing parts of it is the food. I love that we can cook together, creating healthy, well, usually healthy foods. As a UU family, we strive to use local growers and organic products as often as we can.
This week, I am picking up grass fed ground beef, no-gmo's, no growth hormones. So, this weeks Food for Thought Tuesday brings you a recipe for Mexican Albondigas Soup Recipe.
Thankfully, we have on hand most of the ingredients, so this recipe only requires a bit of shopping, as I haven't picked up the beef yet.

Monday Morning Material: Lapbooking

This week, I bring you a lapbooking Monday Morning Material. The girls have been working on information, facts and other tidbits about Massachusets. Enchanted Learning had a great little page filled with the state bird etc, even the state dog was included.
If you visit the site, you will find lots of print outs on a variety of topics. As we wrap up our mini unit, the girls made 3-D maps, and really seemed to enjoy the experience, so I decided to add another 3-D activity to our plans.

For this activity you will need:
Cardstock
Printer, paper for printer
Scissors
Glue
Crayons or Colored Pencils

Print out enough copies of the planned topic (in our case the state of MA)so that each child can make their own.
As the children cut, you could review with them what they have learned about their topic.
Color the individual pictures.
Fold the very bottom edge of the picture so that it can stand up on your cardstock and glue it in place.

Added appeal- using magazines or other colored print outs- the child could add trees, flowers, grass to their card stock.

You could also hole punch the card stock to make a book out of this activity.

Music Education: Do I Need a Curriculum?

Today, I am seeking advice as well as writing a quick post. I believe most children are born singing,even babies seem to babble to a tune at times. My children, all three of them, will often sing as they work. Yes, three young children, singing different tunes, at different volumes, at different times. Yes, I sometimes need tylenol to get through my day. Be that as it may, I love that they have so much joy in their heart, that they want to share it with the world.
Last year we used a wonderful book and CD that introduced the children the composers, styles and time periods. (The book is upstairs, so I will share the title later.) They were quite enraptured with baroque music and some classical. It was something I could share with them, a passion of mine.
Still, I felt like we were missing something. I really wanted us to sing as a family, to learn how to read music (which both my husband and I can do) and get involved in composing. So, here I sit, almost a full year after I had this brilliant idea, no music program or curriculum to help us reach our goal.

Do you have any suggestions? Ideas for websites, DVD's or other resources? We live and work at SUNY Fredonia, which has an excellent school of Music, so that is one resource but I am looking for others.
Please leave a comment!