Very Last First Time Unit

This week, we rowed a charming book by Jan Andrews called Very Last First Time, a story about an Inuit girl in Northern Canada, who walks on the seabed to collect mussels when the tide is out, for the very first time. This story captures a slice of Inuit life and echoes common feelings experienced by children everywhere-- the pride completing a rite of passage, the fear of the dark, and overcoming an imagination that spirals out of control.

 

This was the perfect book to read during this time of year when the weather gets chilly and we start talking about the north pole.

 

 

This, of course, is a Five in a Row: Volume 1 selection. I gathered many ideas from the FIAR book as well as the FIAR forums and Homeschool Share.

 

Social Studies: Geography

 

After reading for our very first time, we immediately checked the globe for Ungava Bay, Canada. We looked at the location in relation to where we live, and I asked Aidyn to consider the weather, being that Ungava Bay is even further from the sun than we are.

 

He colored his story disk before finding Ungava Bay on his world map.

 

We also explored some facts about Canada.

Social Studies: Inuit Culture

The Inuit culture was a completely new topic for Aidyn. I, too, had never known about their mussel-collecting tradition.

Aidyn and I both watched a video about real Inuits digging a hole in the ice after the tide has gone out and collecting mussels in the eerie ice cave.

We also watched a video about the Inuit way of life.

In our Childcraft: About Us book, we read about Inuit families and learned how they prize their children and rarely punish them. We also learned how they hunt and live day-to-day.

Art: Colors and Artistic Style

Illustrator Ian Wallace used warm and cool colors and a pointillist style to make these beautiful pictures of arctic life. Before reading on this day, I prompted Aidyn to pay attention to the artwork throughout the story.

I showed him the difference between warm and cool colors and pointed out colors later to informally quiz him. Because of the nature of the story (cool conditions of the arctic vs. Eve's warm parka), learning the difference between warm and cool colors was easy-peasy.

I also asked him to look at the dotting style of the work before we replicated it ourselves. We used cotton-tipped swabs to make the dots.

Aidyn said this was two people looking into an ice hole while the sun was shining:

 This one's mine:

 

 

In Aidyn's Art Adventures class this week, they learned about shading, and he came out with a beautiful black-and-white picture of objects with shading.

 

In his K-2 Art class, he made an adorable mouse pad (which really resembled a mouse!).

 

 

Science: Dressing for Conditions

 

We had a lot of fun with science this week! We talked about how the Inuits must dress in the arctic cold. We looked at their parkas, fluffy hoods and sturdy boots.

 

I arranged piles of Aidyn's clothes in the living room. I mixed up summer clothes, sandals, swim shorts and winter clothes, snow boots, gloves, and scarves.

 

 

Beforehand, I had set up two videos to play of either summer or winter conditions. When I put on the video, I gave him some preliminary clues such as temperature and plans for the day (for example, "It's 100 degrees outside and we're going to the beach. Get dressed quickly!). He loved that I used a stopwatch to time him and, in a flurry, he dressed for each condition, thinking and correcting errors (like forgetting to take his swim shorts off before putting on snow boots!).

 

 

Silly monkey face in summer outfit. Total time: 1 min, 31 sec.

Winter outfit. Total time: 2 min, 32 sec. (Due to more layers, I suppose).

Language Arts: Vocabulary and Drama

I had printed out 13 verbs used in the story. Some of them were familiar to Aidyn (singing, shoveling, dragging) while others were new and a bit challenging (prying, heaving, peering). We played a little game with them to make remembering easy.

First I would pull a vocabulary word for him to act out. If he were stumped, he could say, "Definition, please." After I read the definition, he could usually act the hard ones out. He earned a point for every word he successfully acted out (he got all 13).

Then I cycled through them again, only without definitions and only hints for the really hard ones.

The third time, I timed him. He loves being timed and acting out words instead of explaining them. It was so fun watching him learn new words through drama.



In his other studies, he's progressing with learning phonics and has been working on long a sounds, specifically with -ai-, -ay, and -a_e.

We use Letter Tiles for hands-on practice.

I place -ay, -ai-, -ame, and -ane tiles to the far right and beginning and ending sounds (multiple letters and blends like bl-, fr-, and sh-). I made flashcards with long a words and one-by-one challenge him to recreate the word with tiles and read it in "chunks" and then fluidly. I'm hoping, in doing this, he learns that morphemes can be manipulated and placed at the beginning, middle and endings of words.



With math, he's continuing practice with subtraction. The other day I generated and printed a worksheet and mistakenly used double digit numbers. After a little squirming and a new way to learn how to subract (using his base ten blocks), Aidyn was able to catch on pretty quickly. He has been scoring 95% consistently on worksheets (without assistance) and yesterday got a 100% on a 20-question sheet.

This month, we're taking a break from FIAR and will be reading holiday stories and doing activities based off those particular books.

 

 

 



 

Healthy and Tasty Cereal

I have been playing with different breakfast cereal combos in search of a healthy, relatively inexpensive, and tasty morning meal. I just may have found it:


Step #1:

Add a bit of Multibran Flakes to your bowl. I use Nature's Path Organic Flax Plus Multibran Flakes,

but you can use any variety of whole grain flakes cereal so long as the ingredients are simple. This cereal offers 5g of fiber, 10g of whole grain plus some omega-3 and 3g of protein.

Step #2:

Next, add a bit of whole wheat biscuits like Autumn Wheat or Shredded Wheat.

Adding this will enhance the cereal with  50g of whole grains, 6 more grams of fiber and 6g of protein.

Step #3:

Next, sprinkle in some Grape Nuts, which is a natural whole grain wheat with barley cereal.

A half a cup will give you 100% of your day's whole grains (not to mention what you already received from the previous two cereals). It also provides you with loads of vitamins (like 90% of your daily value of iron!).

Step #4:

Now, toss in a small handful of uncooked quick oats. I use Mom's Best Naturals Quick Oats, but Quaker Oats works too. As long as you choose something that is 100% whole grain rolled oats with no other ingredients, you're set.

 

Step #5

 

Next, I toss a bit of organic agave nectar for sweetness. Be careful with agave nectar as it's super sweet. Only a teaspoon is needed.

 

 

This is a low-glycemic sweetner, a great substitute for sugar. You could also use raw local honey as your cereal sweetner.

Step #6:

Sprinkle a bit of flaxseed meal to your cereal.

Flaxseed is packed with omega-3 fatty acids and has been known to help fight against breat cancer, heart disease, cancer and stroke.

Step #7:

Load on some fruit and nuts. Go crazy here!

I like adding:

-sliced bananas
-blueberries
-raisins
-dried cranberries
-sliced almonds

but you can also add kiwis, peaches, mangoes, strawberries, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, etc.

Adding colorful fruits and nuts not only makes it tastier but adds a wealth of vitamins and minerals for you.

Step #8:

Pour in some unsweetened almond milk and enjoy!

I know this seems like a lot of steps, but it gets easy. Little bit of this, little bit of that, and done. The most important thing is to choose whole grain cereals without added sugar (the more basic, the better), fruit, and some sources of omega-3 fatty acids.

Please let me know if you come up with more combinations! I love tweaking my cereal combos. : )







Cranberry Thanksgiving

For the last week and a half, we have been snuggling up and reading Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin. Readers peek into the lives of Maggie and her grandmother, who live on a lonely cranberry bog in New England. On Thanksgiving Day, Mr. Whiskers, a furry and foul-smelling but generally nice friend, helps Maggie gather firewood while Grandmother bakes her famous cranberry bread, all while suspecting that Mr. Whiskers intends to steal the recipe. This is a story of simple farm life, warm holiday traditions, and the importance of character. We all learn (and re-learn!) by the end of the story, not to judge a book by its cover.

Cranberry Thanksgiving is a Five in a Row: Volume 1 selection.


Aidyn and I loved reading this little gem from the 70s. Here's what we covered:

Social Studies: Geography - New England

We talked about how this story is set in New England on a cranberry farm. After coloring the story disk, Aidyn went to his world map in search of New England. I prompted him to recall the Mayflower and what we learned last week about the pilgrims before asking, "Now where do you think New England is?" Luckily he plopped it in the right spot and even theorized why they named it New England.

Social Studies: History - Thanksgiving

The previous week, we had learned about the pilgrim's journey on the Mayflower. He colored in this picture of the crossing of the Mayflower from Enchanted Learning. We also watched some videos, including The Mayflower Voyagers (This Is America, Charlie Brown) [VHS].

You can see it on Youtube here.

We also read Gail Gibbon's Thanksgiving Day and talked about current Thanksgiving traditions.



Social Studies: Relationships

On another day, after reading Cranberry Thanksgiving, we talked about the special relationship Maggie has with her grandmother. Then Aidyn, with help, made a Grandmother Book with facts and stories all about his "Branny," with whom he has a very close and special relationship.

Math: Estimation

On the weekend, we read the book in the morning and did some fun math and science activities.

I brought out a 12 oz. bag of cranberries and a strainer. First I asked Aidyn to estimate how many cranberries were in the bag. He held it, squished it, and tossed it around before proclaiming that there must be "100 billion cranberries" inside. I taught him how to scale back that number and come up with a realistic estimate and how our guesses of estimation are rarely correct. The goal is just to get close. He still insisted on guessing 800.

I want to say "painstakingly," but we really had fun counting all 304 cranberries! Aidyn was only 500 off, but I think he learned about over-estimating, for sure.

He's also in Chapter 8 of his Houghton Mifflin California Math book. He's a pro at adding and subtracting single digits now. Yesterday we played Minus Maze, a board game where players solve subtraction problems in order to move their pieces. We played twice with Aidyn winning once and me winning once.

Science: Buoyancy and Bounce!

Right after estimating the cranberries, I asked Aidyn if they would sink or float. I hoped that he remembered we had watched How It's Made: Cranberries on Netflix, in which they show a cranberry bog!

He guessed, "float," so we made a mini-bog in a bowl and found that they do float!

The next experiment was to see how high they bounce. We pulled out our tape measure and launched those berries to the ground. The poor things barely bounced more than 18 inches at most, and that was mostly due to how hard we threw them. On their own, they probably bounced a whole 2 inches.

Wah-wah.

Still, it was fun!

Cooking 101: Cranberry Bread with Fresh Orange Juice and Zest

After talking about after 10 days, we finally made Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread, the recipe at the back of the book!

Aidyn helped chop cranberries, juice 3 oranges in the juicer, and crack and beat the egg. He also licked a spoon or two. In the end, we got a fresh loaf of citrusy, tangy cranberry bread, and it was delicious!

Non-FIAR activities:

At Aidyn's K-2 Art class, we've been busy making Indian Corn and a Teepee and an autumnal landscape scene.

He's been busy at his other art class, and only yesterday brought home a beautiful watercolor painting.

He's been perfecting his karate skills once a week and loves it! He has said that he would like to remain in karate and earn a black belt.

When it's not raining and pouring outside, he plays with his friends outdoors, making forts and building Legos.

Phonics and Reading:

He has mastered CVC words and is working on long vowels (CVCV words) and '-ai-' and '-ay' words, as well as a handful of new sight words.

His reading has become much more fluid, and his understanding of what he's read is sharp. I usually ask for oral narrations after he's read a story to check his comprehension.

We have been gently "testing" him on things we've covered during this first trimester. Surprisingly enough, he loves testing (probably because he's never had to take a test in public school!).

We had such a great time with Cranberry Thanksgiving. Next up for us is a virtual trip up north with Very Last First Time. Check back next week to see what we did!

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World + Apples in Harvest Unit

September is not only apple season, but Johnny Appleseed is remembered on his birthday, September 23rd, when children around the nation learn of his love for apples, animals, and humankind. In our homeschool, it was no different.

We rowed How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman, which is a Five in a Row: Volume 1 selection.

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World is a humorous story of a girl who wishes to make to apple pie. When she finds that the market is closed, she hitches a ride to Italy for "superb semolina wheat." But she doesn't stop there. She travels all around the world for the best and freshest ingredients to make the best apple pie.

This book was unavailable at our library so we watched it on Youtube. Thank goodness for Youtube!



Day One: Social Studies/Geography

I had printed geography cards from Homeschool Share, and after "reading" we applied the cards on the map while talking about each location.

We talked about Sri Lanka being a pear-shaped island off the coast of India and Italy's resemblance to a boot.

Day Two:

The home-based charter school we belong to had an adorable K-1 Camp on Tuesday. Their theme was Apples in Harvest. Aidyn spent a few hours there with other children reading apple-related books, making crafts, and devouring applesauce. When he came out of his class, he was wearing a towering apple hat.

He made us smile when he walked out of the door. With the new autumnal wind that's starting to blow, we had a bit of difficulty walking this apple-sail boat to the car.

Day Three: Johnny Appleseed and Cooking

On the third day, we read The Story of Johnny Appleseed by Aliki. We read slowly and perused the pictures of the pioneering naturalist. Aidyn asked for an encore so we cuddled up and read through the story again.

During downtimes of our homeschool day, Aidyn watched other apple-related videos, including some old Disney favorites.

This was one of my favorite Disney shorts when I was little:
 

We also watched Disney's version of the Johnny Appleseed story:



Aidyn also watched a favorite video of his from the library: Apple Farming for Kids.  (This link will take you to their website.)

Later in the day, we were busy in the kitchen making homemade organic applesauce.

 

 

While cutting, cooking, and blending, he filled out some apple worksheets about apple parts.

 

We identified the core, leaf, seeds, flesh, stem, and skin. We also guessed how many apple seeds were in the first apple we cut. Aidyn guessed 3, and we counted out 10!

 

Afterward, we had a big bowlful of yummy, pink applesauce!

Day Four: Field Trip to Apple Hill in Placerville, Ca

On Friday, the family took a day-long field trip to Apple Hill, a close gathering of apple farms (over 50 farms in all!), in the evergreen-topped hills of Placerville, Ca. As our car climbed the hills, we noticed the red dirt, mammoth evergreens and beautiful sprawling vineyards.

Our first stop was Abel's Apple Acres.

 

 

Here's Aidyn with his dad, grandma, and some random bear that made our acquaintance.

 

Abel's Apple Acres not only had apple pies, apple fritters, apple donuts, apple butter, applesauce, apple cider, scores of apple and autumnal crafts, fudge and so many amazing goodies...

...but they also had horses for riding.

Aidyn chose Boots, and the two of them took a jaunt together.

 

We even found a Johnny Appleseed cut-out and a height measuring tree.

 



 

Proud to be 46 inches tall!

Later, we went down the road to a U-Pick apple farm. Armed with his bag and some tips from the farmer on twisting and yanking the apples off the branches, Aidyn plucked several apples from the trees.

 

 

We had so much fun at Apple Hill! Before leaving, we made sure to purchase a gallon of fresh apple cider, apple-pumpkin bread, and a classic apple pie.

 

We baked the pie when we got home that evening. I know that a home-baked apple pie would have been sweeter, but with my new pregnancy status, I'm delegating as much as possible! Here's Aidyn, sleepily chomping on apple pie.

What a delicious way to end a heartwarming unit study!

 

 



 



Autumnal Outdoor Hour

It has been said that people usually favor the seasons in which they born. As a November child, I've always loved autumn-- the colors, the fragrances, the food! I'm thrilled that our outdoor hour nature walks will morph into these beautiful strolls among fiery leaves and cool morning air.

Yesterday morning, we were luckily enough to have Dad home with us, and we decided to take a walk to the corn field. It grows behind where we live, and, over the last few weeks, we have watched it sprout like magic beanstalks.

Venturing in always stirs up the excitement. For me, I was thinking of every horror movie I'd seen with creepy children or creatures emerging from the eerie corn fields. The two guys, though, bravely soldiered in.

It wasn't long before they started disappearing.

Aidyn, standing on Daddy's shoulders.

I love the excitement on his face.

 

And here's the Daddy. :)

This is going to be a beautiful season. I can just feel it.

To read about our other outdoor hour challenges, peruse these posts.

Saving-for-Disneyland Battle Plan

We are one month out from a long family vacation at Disneyland.  We know that certain items (everything from a cup of coffee to a souvenir t-shirt) are ridiculously expensive. Rather than deny ourselves the thrill of purchasing, say, a new Star Tours tee or Jack Skellington wallet, we learn where and how to cut corners.

I've already talked about to save money by cutting costs at home and how to make a trip to Disneyland a learning opportunity. Now I'll be laying out a battle plan to save money while on vacation.

1. Book a hotel/motel with a fridge.

Having a hotel with a fridge is super helpful. You can:

a) save that unfinished turkey leg you thought you could finish.
b) store water bottles, juice boxes from home, and snacks
c) store pre-prepared meals

Amount saved: Varies. Imagine all the extra meals and drinks you won't have to purchase.

2. Bring food/drinks with you (or purchase them in Anaheim)

Pack a cooler with high-protein snacks, healthy beverages, and pre-prepared meals. If you do not have room in your car for a cooler, run down to a nearby grocery store and buy sanely-priced food and drinks. Having food and drinks on hand will save you from buying overpriced selections in the park and nearby gas stations.

Plan ahead and buy these items at home using coupons or by visiting a discount store.

Amount saved: Water bottles in the park =$4 (multiply that by members in your party AND days at the park. Difference between an expensive meal ($25 to $8 or $10) adds up.

3. Bring food and drinks into the park.

Yes, you CAN bring food and drinks into the park, as long as you're not hording in giant picnic baskets. Water bottles and some snacks are reasonable items to bring into the park.

What You Should Bring:

• water bottles (duh). With all that walking, you're bound to get dehydrated if you don't have water. Disneyland has water fountains all over the park for refilling.

• healthy snacks. Fruit snacks made up of 99% high fructose corn syrup won't cut it. You need simple, healthy snacks that will keep hunger at bay and energy levels up. Good choices include: dried fruit, grapes, apples, oranges, string cheese, beef jerky, trail mix, seeds, or pretzels.  Snack on these while you're waiting in line, even if you're not hungry. By the time you are ready for a meal, you won't feel the desperate need to blow all your money on an overpriced burger only because it looks good or no other options are nearby NOW.

4. Bring your comfiest shoes.

How on earth does this save you money? Disneyland's First Aid station's biggest service is helping people who a) are dehydrated and b) who have sores on their feet.

Once you get a blister, it's dreadful to continue walking. Hobbling around the park means fewer rides for you, which equals well-earned money down the drain.

Wear comfortable shoes, and you'll outwalk the rest.

Saved: the aggravation of blisters, bandages, and missed opportunities.

5. Bring your own coffee maker/toaster/other needed appliance.

Some people don't think of this one. Many hotels charge guests for coffee pot use. Daily cups of joe at Denny's in the morning add up quickly. If you are someone who needs coffee in order to function, bring your own coffee pot, coffee, sugar, creamer, and cups and spoons.

Bring any other appliance that would help you make food in your hotel. Toast or Pop-Tarts in the morning is a nice way to eat something light before heading into the park.

Amount saved: daily cup of joe at Denny's = $2 (times family members and days in park)

6. Bring prepared meals to your hotel.

Make your family's favorite meal (or something they would actually want to eat) that would travel well. When we went to Disneyland for the half-marathon, we brought tupperware containers FULL of pasta. That tasty and high-protein/carb meal kept us full when we returned midday to our room and went back to the park.

You can make and bring: any variation of pasta (spaghetti, lasagna, etc.), macaroni and cheese, a casserole, a stew, burrito fillings, etc. Bring loaves of french bread or tortillas, too.

7. Return to your room midday.

There are many people who just "don't believe" in doing this. We've found that returning to your room midday:

a) restores your energy
b) allows you to refuel with food/drinks from home, thereby cutting costs
c) helps you avoid the most crowded time of day in Disneyland
d) gets you out of the sun when it's the most draining
e) helps you assess your money and come up with a new game plan for tackling the park
f) allows you to peruse the park map and see what you missed

We often return to eat lunch, take a quick nap, change clothes, swim in the pool, sit in the hot tub, zone out on TV to shut our brains off for a second, and rub each other's tired feet.  We usually come up with a new game plan for returning to the park. After an hour of recharging, it feels wonderful to burst back into the park, refreshed and remotivated.

If you book a hotel far away, you could always rest in the park. Find a quiet corner to sit and eat, watch a show like Aladdin or Great Moments with Lincoln. One time a friend and I stayed in the park, splurged on a coffee and sat for an hour, talking, on a quiet side street off Main Street.

8. When eating in the park, choose filling meals and/or share meals with family members.

If you want to eat in the park, pick something hearty that will keep you full for hours. The clam chowder bread bowls at the Pacific Wharf in Disney California Adventures are mightily filling and can be split between two people.

The Plaza Inn on Main Street serves big helpings of fried chicken and mashed potatoes that will keep you satisfied.

Rancho Del Zocalo in Frontierland serves big portions of delicious Mexican food that can be easily shared between two people.

If you're far off from a vacation at Disneyland, you could set up a savings game with your family. The Blue Bayou is an expensive but unforgettable sit-down restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. One year, we made a goal to eat there only using spare change. (No, we did not bring a sack of quarters to the restaurant!) For a whole year, we saved spare change in a jar and called it the Blue Bayou fund. Just prior to going to Disneyland, we cashed in our change, which totaled $127. With that we dined at Blue Bayou ( a $30/plate establishment) completely guilt-free.

This is our usual battle plan for saving cash at Disneyland. Saved money can be spent, without guilt, on treasure souvenirs. Are there any other tips you can think of for saving money at Disneyland? I would love to hear more!