Frog snack

Frog snack apple cut in half with peanut butter green grapes for eyes with chocolate chips. I saw this on Ramblings of a Crazy Woman's blog. I thought it would fit perfectly with our review of the frog unit for Tippy-toe's first grade curriculum. I am not the perfect lunch mom. I do NOT do benito boxes. I think benito's are excessive, wasteful, and for special occasions only if at all. But even I couldn't reist this little frog that fit our theme so nicely.

Nature Walk on the Rail Trail

We took a nature walk on the rail trail Sunday. We saw a pair of mallard ducks, robins,red wing black birds. We heard frogs peeping. And best of all, each of the kids found an old rail spike. They picked up locust pods and tulip tree petals. Little-man worries me he can only walk so far then he squats down. I need to get him checked out at the doctors since our family doctor left we haven't really seen our new doctor but the office has some weekend hours. Now that I don't have the drive to Midland we can find some time to go again. I really enjoy our nature walks and feel like the kids do a lot of learning about the world we live in on our walks.

Rainbow Lunch

Yesterday, for lunch we had cottage cheese,strawberries, kiwi,apples, bananas,yellow peppers,lettuce,cheddar cheese,and pea pods. I try to teach the kids to eat healthy foods. Mostly by example by eating healthy myself. I encourage them to try new things and keep trying new things more than one time before they say "I don't like something". Three of them had never tried kiwi before but liked it yesterday. The kids like to serve themselves new food rather than me just fixing them a plate.

homemade granola/ cereal bars

Granola Bars

 Oats or cereal combined with your choice of other dry ingredients such as wheat germ, sunflower seeds, crushed peanuts, dried fruit, etc. to equal 4 1/2 cups.

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

4 T. butter or peanut butter

2 tsp. vanilla (optional)

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. salt*

*If your butter or peanut butter is salted, 1/2 tsp. salt may be too much.

 Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. Cook the sugar, honey, butter or peanut butter and salt together until it comes to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Mix with dry ingredients and press into a wax paper coated 9 by 13 inch baking dish. Let cool completely... putting them in the fridge so that they're very cold when you cut them works well. Turn them out onto a cutting board. Remove the wax paper and cut them into bars.

I found the recipe here while searching other homeschool blogs and it looked so easy I wanted to try it.

Bunny My honey

We just found my favorite Easter book at Walmart. I read this book over and over to Cam when she was little. We have lost or worn out many copies of this book through out the last 14 years. I was so happy to pick up a new copy last night. I look every Easter for a new one. I couldn't wait to give it to her so when everyone else had gone to bed I gave it to her. She smiled as she read it. After she had went downstairs I looked for the book to put it away but she had taken it with her to bed. I guess you are never too old for your favorite bedtime story.

St Patricks Day

We went exploring by boat this time. We took the boat up the pine river behind our house. We found several Mallard ducks, Canadian Geese, A pair of Swans, seagulls, a Muskrat, painter turtles, snapping turtles, squirrel nests, muskrat lodges. It was 77 degrees and beautiful weather to go exploring by boat! Who would think we would be boating instead of walking on the ice in March in Michigan. It was a great day to go explore nature.

Bugs, bugs and more bugs

Found a House Centipede on the ceiling tonight. The last three years I have seen more bugs than I ever thought existed. And I collected bugs as a child in Florida! This thing was huge by centipede standards in Michigan. We looked it up and released it outside where it belongs. This thing looked like a shrimp.

counting and writing numbers

The boys are using their magnetic boards to learn to write numbers and letters. Tippy-toe is using it to count as well. They love the boards and no more stacks of papers with scribbles that have to be saved. "Write" on the boards and then swipe with the magnet and erase. No mess and they are proud of their work just as if it was on paper. Call it my green learning style.

FIAR The story of Ferinand

The Story of Ferdinand is a favorite of mine. We are rowing this story this week. I love the reference to this book in the movie where Sandra Bullock fosters a boy who becomes a professional football player and they are reading this book to teach him to read. My oldest daughter went to Spain so we have gotten out her pictures to study Spain. I love rowing books with my first grader, third/fourth grader and preschooler all together. This system is working quite well with our relaxed attitude that learning is a way of life not eight hours in our day.

Reading

Pitty-pat is reading the Magic Tree House books, with lots of help and encouragement! Hurray reading has been such a battle with her.

What do we do all day?

We got a pack of Wildlife Fact File cards in the mail. Pitty-pat has been fascinated all day. So I went down into my homeschool storage and dug out the 3 ring binder of the same set of cards that L.H. my coworker gave me a few months back. Her boys had out grown them years ago so she was kind enough to give them to us.  Pitty-pat has sat on the sofa and looked at them all day. It has given us the opportunity to talk about all kinds of animals and where they live. I think I will order a new set as the one we have is not complete. Glad we got to try them before we bought them. Don't tell her it's school science. She thinks we don't "do" enough school. I think learning should be fun and spontaneous. It definately should be interest led.

Things I've bought this week for homeschooling

I bought a wire christmas tree for our Joshua Tree. It's perfect and I can't wait to pick it up. I got it from a garage sale site on facebook for $5.00. On the same garage sale site I bought an American Girl Doll-Josephina. I have the books already so I plan on turning the doll and books into a study for Pitty-pat. The doll and accessories was only $65.00 a mere half the price new. Great Deal for us and the older girls each had a doll I bought and took good care of them so I know Pitty-pat will also enjoy hers. At Family Dollar I bought a new travel perfection and travel hungry hungry hippos game for them at $5.00 each.

Mamma time

Aaron took the bigger kids bowling tonight.  Littleman turned to me when they left "Mamma what happened" He is not used to having the kids and Aaron leave us at home. It was so funny.  While they were gone we read books and played with blocks. time well spent one on one.