A Peak at Our Week: Session 3 Week 2 - Into the Groove

In My Life This Week
Why do I always slack on keeping bedtimes and no screens until after dark?! ::sigh:: I'm telling you - best rules evah! (That /ah/ at the end is Mainer talk; just so you know. ::wink::) Everyone, well, everyone but my teen son (of course), wake up  "bushy-tailed", and they spend their days being creative, imaginative and productive. Our days just seem so much calmer! Now, to keep those habits in place. Isn't that always the hardest?

My Favorite Thing

Balsam Fir's Writing Notebook Entry

Homeschool High School
Can I just say that White Pine has been "rockin'" school since coming back from vacation? PRODUCTIVE! He's already finished Grammar 101 mod 3 for this session! And a chapter and 3 labs in Biology! And most of a unit in Excellence in Literature II! 

Getting Ready to DNA Labs - Googling Asia History

He's also TOTALLY loving his Google Earth SketchUp class at the high school. He chose to design the hospital for the group's digital town, and has been hard at work creating it. Problem? He's on MY LAPTOP doing it! ::wink:: But I'll give up my Facebook time for him.

Images of White Pine's SketchUp Hosptial - 3D Imaging In Progress

Accomplishments
A Grief Observed, CS Lewis Approach Paper, Grammar 101 Mod 3, Graphs of Linear Equations, DNA and Acid Experiments, Google Earth SketchUp, Asia Geography and History

Homeschool Elementary
Balsam Fir has learned to "borrow"! Such exciting news, huh? We've had a challenging math year with little progress so learning something new was a big "thumps up"! And we've continued to trudge on with Time Bingo and Coin War. Wonder when those concepts will click?

Balsam Fir Reading Fly Guy Books - Balsam Fir's Visual Helper Word Wall -Sugar Maple
Hiding Behind Math - Learning to Borrow

We're still covering the finer points (elementary-level) of states of matter for Chemistry with Chem4Kids and watched this You Tube video and made Rock Candy (crystals).

And we briefly headed to the Americas to learn about the Nazcas who carved HUGE animals, flowers and other things into the earth that can be seen from planes and the Olmecs who made a mud pyramid in Central America and created sculptures of HEADS only. Then we returned to Ancient Rome in SOTW.

Balsam Fir's States of Matter Notebook Page - Sugar Maple's Mapwork -Balsam Fir
Reading

Sugar Maple's Accomplishments
Phantom Tollbooth, Heroes of Olympus: Son of Neptune, Creative Writing (on Computer), Spectrum Reading Comprehension, Sequential Spelling Days 32-36, Operations with Mixed Fractions, Decimals and Percentage, States of Matter, Ancient Rome

Balsam Fir's Accomplishments
In, Out and About in Catfish Pond, Thank You Notes, Book Report, Word Wall, Borrowing During Subtraction, States of Matter, Ancient Rome

Books, Books, Books!
I'm still reading aloud the Treasury of Greek Myths: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes & Monsters to my younger saplings. Sugar Maple is SO into Greek Myths! (Note: There are some questionable areas in the book. I'm OK with them, but you may not be, so skim through before sharing with your kids.) And Balsam Fir can't wait to hear Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever before bed.

Places We're Going, People We're Seeing
☃ Basketball (SM/BF) ☃ Scout Achievement Awards (WP) ☃ Scouts (BF/WP) ☃ Enrichment Class (WP) ☃ Library (All) ☃ High School Basketball Game with Friends and Overnight (All) ☃ 

Something to Share

Thanks for visiting us at Our Side of the Mountain! We hope that you and your family are well! We're linking up to these awesome blog hops!

Surprise! We Dropped Goodies Off!

Merry Christmas!

One of our favorite family traditions is to bake, make and decorate a bunch of homemade sweets to give to friends and neighbors.

This year Sugar Maple chose our sweet treats from my Pinterest boards. (Don't you love Pinterest?)  And on today we spent the morning baking.

A perfect way to enjoy a fun time with my saplings and make something to surprise our neighbors and friends with!

Sweet Treats Menu

(Click on the name to see sources and recipes)

Holly Crackles

Hot Cocoa Packets with Candy Cane-Chocolate Stirrers

Christmas Tree Brownies

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

Peppermint Chocolate Fudge

Why yes, there is a lot of chocolate in that menu! ::grin::

Once all those sweets were cooled, cut and decorated, we divided them onto sturdy, Christmas tree themed paper plates, wrapped them in plastic wrap, added homemade Christmas tree Paint Chip tags, and delivered them to some wonderful people.

Now, I know the picture doesn't show our great treats well, but with a hustle and bustle of getting everything baked, decorated, cut, and wrapped, I forgot to take photos!

The saplings love dropping off the plates and seeing the excitement from our neighbors and friends. A very special way to spread holiday fun!

Weekly Wrap-up: Session 1 Week 4

In Our Life This Week
Blue Spruce was away for additional job training this week, so I was on my own with the Saplings. It's always strange having a family member away! But you know us - we were "busy beavers" and the week flew by!

What's Cooking?
It's the Girl Scout Bake Sale Fundraiser tomorrow, so Sugar Maple and I whipped up some quick, easy sweet treats to bring to the sale. Looking for something yummy? How about some No Bake Chocolate-Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies? Or Peanut Butter Bars?

Homeschool Elementary

So, what's our fun way of reviewing our Botany? Why, we go on a hike of course! ::wink:: During our stroll near the lake, we discussed and found samples of Angiosperms and Gymnosperms, Vascular and Non-vascular plants, and Monocots and Dicots, and explained photosynthesis and chlorophyll to Balsam Fir while looking at fall foliage and saw several species of fungi. Then we found animal tracks along the water's edge and followed them. Later, we searched through our nature books to ID those tracks. And the rest of the week? Well, we dissected flowers, watched phototropism in our Plant Maze Box, measured the growth of bean seeds in light and non-light environments, and made a list of all the tree species in our yard (just because the kids were curious).

This week's handicraft project was Brown Paper Bag Autumn Trees. (You can find the instructions here.) But they didn't follow the instructions to the T. ::wink:: They created paper bag FORESTS, complete with logs, bushes, people, and birds. Our favorite resource this week! Are you doing any fun, creative fall crafts?

Sugar Maple read Children of the Lamp (PB Kerr) and Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson), and Balsam Fir continued on with Nate the Great and the Snowy Trail (Marjorie Weinman Sharmat) and The Lorax (Dr. Suess)

Sugar Maple

✔ English - Personal Narrative Writing, Using Time Words, Past Tense, Reading, Cursive, Spelling with Samson

✔ Math - Geometry (Line Segments/Points), Tally Marks, Word Problems, Money, Missing Number Problems

✔ Botany - Flower Dissection, Phototropism, Carnivorous Plants (Pitcher/ Venus Fly Trap/ Bladderwort/Sundew)

✔ Ancient History - Gilgamesh, Indus Valley Citadels

✔ Extras - Nature Hike, Lowe's Build and Grow, Soccer, Clarinet/Band, Girl Scouts Outdoor Day, 3D Art, ZooWhiz (computer), Spanish (computer)

Balsam Fir

✔ English - Personal Narrative Story (with I/me), Nouns, Sight Words with Samson, Oral Reading, Handwriting

✔ Math - Subtraction, Writing Equations, Logic Puzzles, Number Lines

✔ Botany - Flower Dissection, Phototropism, Carnivorous Plants (Pitcher/ Venus Fly Trap/ Bladderwort/Sundew)

✔ Ancient History - Gilgamesh, Indus Valley Citadels

✔ Extras - Nature Hike, Legos, Lowe's Build and Grow, Soccer, 3D Art, Baking (Frosted Brownes)

Homeschool High
So, White Pine continued on with his studies. I wish I could put something new and exciting here, but his days pretty much look the same: he piles his books and laptop on the sectional sofa beside him, puts ear-buds in his ears with music playing to block the noise from the rest of us, and he quietly and intently goes about his learning in his PJs until he gets ready for soccer in the afternoons. Very college-like! ::sniffle:: He's certainly growing up!

✔ English - Walden (Thoreau), The Further Adventures of the Swiss Family Robinson (Defoe) Approach Paper, Grammar (Adjectives/Adverbs)

✔ Algebra - Multiplication/Division of Signed Numbers, Inverse Operations, Perimeter/Radius, Geometry (Lines/Segments/Area), Order of Operations

✔ Biology - Water Molecules, Water Properties, Acids/Bases, Carbohydrates, Carbon Compounds (Macromolecules/Lipids/Nucleic Acids/Proteins/Enzymes), Ecology

✔ World History - Africa

✔ Extras - Scout Mountain Hike, Corn Maze, Soccer, Scout Meeting

Ponderings

Have you ever seen a molting chicken? Poor things! Our hens are about 15-16 months old now...and starting to go through their first molts (after chick-hood). They'll lose all their old feathers and grow in new ones for the winter months. New feathers are better for keeping the chickens warm. We've got a coop full of flying feathers and grumpy girls! But most of them are still laying!

Something to Share

Well, that's a wrap from Our Side of the Mountain this week! Thanks for stopping by! Have a GREAT week!

Blog Hops 

Weekly Wrap-up: And We're Off! Session 1 Week 1 (9/1-9/7)

In My Life This Week

Kitchen Chaos! Over the weekend we made 6 Chocolate Zucchini Breads (me), 1 quart Sweet Zucchini Relish (White Pine), 1 Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (me), 3 quarts Bread and Butter Pickles (White Pine and Blue Spruce), 1 2-layer Chocolate Oreo Cookie Cake (Sugar Maple), and enough Chicken Noodle Soup (that I just made up "on the fly") for 2 dinners. (Click on the highlighted names for recipes.) Phew!



I'm reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. It took about 150 pages of what I'll call "background drudgery" before the story took an interesting turn. I almost gave up on it - a RARE thing for me - but I didn't and I'm enjoying it.

Anyway, we started Week 1 off with a rainy trip into the city for a Portland SeaDogs AA baseball game at Hadlock Field.  It was Field of Dreams Day so the kids were able to walk around the field (before the rain delay and the game started) and the players came out through the corn stalks before playing. The SeaDogs lost, but that's OK.



And we ended out week with a Back-to-Homeschool get together at the lake for swimming and picnicking and a free curriculum swap with a small group of homeschoolers. 

Homeschool Elementary

My revamp of our work binders are working like a charm! (Did you see my post on the workbox cards here?)  The grumbles were at a minimum, and Sugar Maple and Balsam Fir had a productive first week! I know - it's still early, right? ::laugh:: Now, was it perfect? No complaining? No whining? Well...

Parts of our return to Charlotte Mason have made the Saplings very happy. Sugar Maple really likes having breaks this year and shorter, more focused chunks of learning, and Balsam Fir is digging handicrafts. This week he learned to use a paper template to make a bi-plane from a TP roll and empty cereal box. (I would share the link to the bi-plane, but the website carries a "malicious" something or another that my computer security picked up on and stopped.)

Sugar Maple

✔ English - Main Idea/Topic, Supporting Sentences, Punctuation, Proper Nouns, Spelling (root -/in/), Vocabulary, Dictionary Use, Cursive, Paragraph Writing
✔ Math - Sequencing, Odds/Evens, Place Value, Money

✔ Science - Taxonomy, Binomial Nomenclature (Scientific Classification)

✔ History - Family Tree, Nomads, Fertile Crescent

✔ Extras - Latch-hook, Making a Tin Foil Dinosaur Model, Spanish, Computer, Salt (History/Geography), Word Processing, Kayaking

Balsam Fir
✔ English - Sight Words, Oral Reading, Sentences, Nouns/Verbs, Punctuation, Questions, Wrote a Chicken Story, Spelling
✔ Math - Sequencing, Before/After, Greater/Less Than, Calendar (Months/Days/Date), Tally Marks, Place Value
✔ Science - Taxonomy, Binomial Nomenclature (Scientific Classification)
✔ History - Family Tree, Nomads, Fertile Crescent
✔ Extras - Built a Cardboard Bi-Plane and Submarine with TP Rolls, Computer, Scouts, Spanish, Salt (History/Geography), Kayaking

Soccer started for Sugar  Maple and Balsam Fir on Wednesday. Let the goal-tending begin!

Sugar Maple read Matilda by Roald Dahl and started D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parrin D'Aulaire. And Balsam Fir reluctantly read Nate the Great and the Lost List by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat. Someday my little boy will enjoy reading!

Homeschool High School
White Pine started his Excellence in Literature II focus book this week: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. He's read it before so it's been a quick, easy one for him. Perfect to start off the year! He wrote up his author profile and wrapped-up Honors English with 15 lessons on English Grammar 101. He worked through 4 lessons of Saxon Algebra 1, and got a GREAT start on his Biology and World History studies. His days were long, but he had a positive attitude about it.

✔ English - Robinson Crusoe, Author Profile, Grammar (Verbs)

✔ Algebra - Fractions, Lines/Segments, Angles, Polygons, Perimeter, Circumference

✔ Biology - What is Life, Scientific Method/Designing Experiments, Redi's Experment, Branches of Biology, Matter, Elements

✔ World History/Geography - Africa

✔ PE - Walking, Soccer, Kayaking

✔ Extras - Boy Scouts, Computer

Soccer also started for White Pine. 

And I'm doing OK too. I know you were wondering. ::wink:: It's been REALLY hard for me to sit back and not micro-manage his schoolwork. Really hard. ::sigh:: It's time he learns to set goals, manage his own time and reap the benefits or the consequences of meeting or not meeting those goals.

What's Working/Not Working?

I broke poor Balsam Fir's heart this week. ::sigh:: Why? Well, I had him write lines for a disrespectful action towards his sister. Time-outs have never worked for him nor taking away personal items, but I've discovered that writing lines does the trick for "big no-nos". So, he had to write "Spitting is nasty. I will not spit on my sister."  5 times. Yes, he spit on his sister! ::sigh:: And does he loathe writing lines! Even just copying the rule 5 times is enough to deter him from a 2nd offense.  But, alas, he did not appreciate the punishment and drew me a picture on the back of his paper of a broken heart.  (I'll admit that a chip broke off my heart seeing his drawing though. Sometimes it's hard being a Mama! Fortunately his discord didn't last.)



Ponderings
Waste not, want not, right? Having chickens and ducks definitely cuts down on food that we would throw away. After chopping up some celery sticks, I saved the tops and bottoms and made Duck Soup. What's Duck Soup? Throw some grass clippings, pumpkin blossoms and celery bits into a plastic container of fresh water...and watch them them munch! You'd think it was GOURMET! ::laugh::

Blog Hops

It's a Keeper Thursday: Fruit, Seed and Nut Granola Bars

We're always on the look-out for a energy-type granola bar for longer walks and quick, portable snacks, but commercial bars have so much "extra stuff" in them. And, since C is allergic to peanuts, we need granola without peanuts which can be hard to find. Seeing this bar recipe in The Cookbook for Kids: Great Recipes for Kids who Love to Cook, we thought we would give them a try...and they were GREAT!

Fruit, Seed and Nut Granola Bars

Ingredients:
3 T butter
2 c rolled oats
1 c raw whole almonds
1/2 c raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1/4 c raw sunflower seeds
1/2 c dried raisins
1/2 c dried cranberries
2/3 c honey
1/4 c packed light brown sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 t salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8x12 dish with non-stick spray or line with buttered parchment paper.
2. On a rimmed baking sheet, combine oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. Bake, stirring 1-2 times, until JUST golden, or about 8 minutes. Place in a large bowl. Add in raisins and cranberries. Set aside.
3. Reduce oven to 300 degrees. In a small saucepan, combine honey, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often, for about 30 seconds, OR UNTIL BUTTER is melted. Pour over oat mixture and stir gently until combined. Scoop into 8x12 pan, cool slightly, then press into an even layer.
4. Bake until golden around the edges or about 20 minutes. Let pan cool on wire rack for 10 minutes then lift paper to get granola out OR let cool completely and remove with a spatula. Cut into snack-size squares. (Makes about 16 depending on the size of your squares.)

Did  you know that pumpkin seeds shelled are called pepitas? I didn't! We ended up using regular pumpkin seeds from the nuts and seed snack aisle at the grocery store and they worked out just fine!  You can DEFINITELY customize the dried fruit, seeds and nuts in this recipe! Next time we want to try dried blueberries and raspberries with chopped raw walnuts and almonds! Happy snacking!

It's a Keeper Thursday: Sesame Noodles

My daughter C brought home a GREAT kids' recipe book from the library a week or so ago. This book, The Cookbook for Kids: Great Recipes for Kids who Love to Cook, has some AWESOME recipes that we've tried! The kids' LOVED Sesame Noodles and has asked to make it again already!

Sesame Noodles

Ingredients:
1 t salt
1/2 package (8oz) thin spaghetti
3 T soy sauce
2 T sesame oil
2 T safflower or canola oil
1 1/2 T sugar
1 1/2 T rice vinegar
3 thinly sliced or shredded green onion
2 t toasted sesame seeds

1. Cook the spaghetti by following the directions on the package then drain.
2. In a small saucepan, combine soy sauce, sesame oil, safflower or canola oil, 2 T hot water, sugar, and vinegar. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring, until the water is dissolved.
3. Toss spaghetti with the sauce mixture in a large bowl. Sprinkle with green onion and sesame seeds. Can be served warm, room temperature or chilled.

We added a bag of frozen broccoli crowns, steamed in the microwave, or you can add strips of carrot, snow peas, cooked asparagus, and water chestnuts. Some diced cooked pork or chicken would make this into a full meal. Makes 4-6 servings. Yum!

Cooking Up Some...Hearty Berry Stresel Muffins

Another yummy recipe from the novel How to Bake a Better Life by Barbara O'Neal! These muffins are GREAT for a quick, on-the-go breakfast or a snack heading to an activity or sports practice. We're very fortunate to have on hand throughout the year (in our freezer) hand-picked Maine blueberries and raspberries from our backyards. Yum!

Ingredients

1 1/2 c white flour

1 c whole wheat flour

1 c rolled oats

1 T baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/2 t sea salt

1 c honey

1 1/2 c plain yogurt

1 6oz container of raspberry or blueberry yogurt

1/2 c milk

3 T canola oil

1 large egg

1 c each fresh blueberries and raspberries

Streusel

1/4 c flour

3 T brown sugar

1/4 c chopped, lightly toasted walnuts, pecans or almonds

1 1/2 T melted butter

Prepare muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray or paper cups. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together streusel ingredients and set aside. Mix dry muffin ingredients well. In a separate bowl, mix all wet ingredients except berries and beat together well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and beat firmly and quickly until just thoroughly moistened. Add berries and fold in gently. Divide into muffin tin and top with streusel. Bake for 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes in muffin tin and the move to a wire rack. Makes about 30-32 small muffins or 18 larger muffins. (Adjust cooking time for larger muffins.)

My SUPER PICKY Dad LOVED these muffins! Don't tell him that they're actually pretty healthy for him! LOL And the kids wanted 2-3 at a time!  I made some adjustments though. I used low fat yogurt and skim milk and only used 3/4 c honey. No one missed the extra fat or honey! The muffins were still moist and sweet enough. However, they aren't so good several days after baking, so plan on eating these in 1-2 days. Enjoy!

Cooking Up Some...Soft Molasses Cookies

Soft Molasses Cookies

Grandma Doris

3/4 c softened butter or margarine

3/4 c white sugar

2 eggs

1/2 c milk

3/4 c molasses

4 c sifted all-purpose flour

2 t baking soda

1 t ground ginger

1/2 t ground cloves

1 t ground cinnamon

1/4 t ground nutmeg

1 t salt

1/4 c powdered sugar

Cream butter and white sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat in eggs, milk and molasses. Sift together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well. Drop by spoonful or roll to 1/4" thick and cut with floured cookie cutters and place on cookie sheet(s). Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and dust with powdered sugar.

Notes: If the batter seems too "wet", add a little more flour. You can also add raisins to the batter and bake as well. Or make small cookie sandwiches with can vanilla or cream cheese frosting.

Soft Molasses Cookies

Cooking Up Some...No-Bake Ronzoni Rotini, Ham and Cheese

It's been QUITE some time that I've shared some of our "go to" quick and easy meals or desserts. We've gotten into a "rut" of eating mostly the same ol' same ol' for some time. But then I found this easy kid-pleaser! (Shh! Don't tell 'em the pasta provides a WHOLE serving of veggies per 4oz!)

No-Bake Ronzoni Rotini, Ham and Cheese

1 pkg Ronzoni Garden Delight Rotini

5 T butter or margarine, divided

2 T dried seasoned bread crumbs

3 T all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

2 c shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 1/2 c (8oz) cubed cooked ham

salt/pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to box directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, melt 1 T butter or margarine. (I used olive oil for this part.) Add bread crumbs; cook until lightly browned. (I used panko crumbs.) Remove crumbs from skillet and set aside. In the same skillet over medium heat, melt remaining butter. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add milk all at once. (I used skim milk.) Cook and stir until mixture boils then cook 2 more minutes. Stir in 1 1/2 c cheese and ham. (I used low fat cheese.) Add pasta to skillet and toss to coat. (I added 1/2 c frozen peas and heated through. Broccoli would be GREAT in there too.) Top with remaining cheese and buttered crumbs. Makes 6-7 servings.