KinderBoys: Community Workers - Bakers

Yesterday we had our third KinderBoy class at the house.  We have yet to get our whole class together.  This is a nasty time of year for illness!  But we had a great time discussing Bakers as community workers.



AS usual, we started with a book  called Bakers (Community Helpers)

Side note: I so much prefer the term Community Workers instead of Community Helpers.  Maybe I'm about to get all right-wing conservative on you, but I think that Community Workers more accurately portrays the way our economy works on capitalism:  You get paid when you WORK and produce.  Yes, helping is important, but it's not something we do for money. We help because it's the right thing to do, not because the government is paying for it or for any personal motive.  So we work to earn money in our community.  We help in our off-time hours because that's just what Christ taught.  Yes, sometimes we help while we are working. That's always a bonus.

Moving on....

Then we pulled out the Baker's Hat!  Each boy got to wear it for a moment as he remembered something from the book about Bakers.
 


I knew the boys would want one to take home, based on past experience so we made chef hats.  Not quite as cute as baker hats, but the best I could do with construction paper and tape.

 I used the extra large sheets of paper.  And that didn't even seem to be big enough so I added on another regular size sheet with tape.  TIP:  Make the black line higher.  The strips were cut down so low that they began to flop over and I had to tape them up again.  I put the envelop there to cover up the name.  But...then realized that was silly because I didn't also cover them up in the following pictures.  Sigh.

 Here they are cutting out their hats.  They only had to cut on the lines until they reached the black line. The lines were 2 inches apart.

I explained to the boys that baking is very exact.  Bakers have to measure things very carefully.  So to introduce the concept of measuring/weighing, I decided to use a food scale and teach them about grams. I know that in the US we don't usually use grams as we cook, unless it's a foreign recipe.  But my son loves to play with the food scale, so I went this route. I could have (Should have?) let them practice measuring blue or green water with measuring cups. Or shown them a set of measuring spoons and let them practice filling and leveling the spoon with flour.

Anyway, here's the chart I made on our white board

 And the food I collected to be weighed.

First, I let them look at the food (without touching it) and guess which was the heaviest, then the next and the next heaviest, until they thought they had all the food lined up in order of heaviest to lightest.

Then we weighed each food and graphed the results on the chart to see if they were right.  They weren't.  But it was a good lesson in "Looks can be deceiving."

My food scale doesn't sense things lighter than 5 grams. So our lightest item, the tea bag, didn't register.  So that's when I pulled out the Right STart balance

WE put the teabag in one cup, and the boys put in ONE gram cube at a time until the balance was, well, balanced.  We discovered that the teabag was more than 3 and less than 4. So we had a chance to discuss halves!

Ok, at that point the boys were more than anxious to move upstairs for some real baking!

I had risen some soft pretzel dough in the fridge overnight.

It was perfectly risen in the morning! Love it.

I divided the dough into 16 pieces according to recipe and showed the boys how to make snakes, and then how to fold them into pretzels.  So fun!

The pretzels needed 15 minutes to rise.  So during that time we decorated cupcakes that I had made the night before.  I'm big on advanced preparation for these classes. It keeps everything running smoothly.

Sprinkles were FLYING around the kitchen.  But that's ok.  Instead of using food coloring to make the frosting pink, I used a beet that I had baked, grated finely, and added to the frosting.  It didn't change the flavor and it colored the frosting so well!  Check it!

I like the flecks of color actually.  Maybe you don't. ? I let them eat one cupcake now and take one home for later.  Frosting was being consumed at an alarming rate, however!  So I think I just discovered the best way ever to get kids to eat beets!

As they muched away, I was boiling the pretzels in baking soda water until they floated.  Then I let the kids help me put an egg wash on the pretzels and sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar.  Here's a finished plate of baked goods to take home:

Oh, while the pretzels were baking, I kept the kids busy by explaining to them how yeast works and I let them watch a bowl of yeast "proof".

And then I read them the classic Gingerbread Man. I have had this book since I was THREE years old, so it's pretty special to me. My kids know it by heart.

Parents were arriving just as the pretzels were coming out of the oven.  Those were the fastest 90 minutes in home education history!!

While I teach KinderBoys, my older girls go to another HS mom's house for cooking class.  You can follow their adventures at this blog:
http://4littlepiglets.blogspot.com/2013/02/cooking-class-part-2.html

Home Schooling: It's WORK Baby!

I've accepted that fact that one major reason for my keeping this blog is for my own sake.  Homeschooling is a pretty thankless, behind-the-curtain, kind of work.  It's not like "public" teaching, where everyone knows that you have a degree to do what you do, and they can imagine and appreciate the kind of work you do and the effort you make each day.  Nope. Pretty much the only people who know anything about what you do are your own kids (not that they always care) and sometimes your hubby.  Certainly, other home school moms can appreciate what you do, but mostly....it's just you that  REALLY knows what it takes to run your home school.  In fact, most people think that I have endless hours to do what ever I like at any time of day BECAUSE I home school.  oh my.  That's a good laugh.

But you know what I mean.  It's real work and sacrifice.  It's putting together lesson plans when you'd rather soak in the tub or try out that new recipe.  It's testing out the science experiment at 11:45pm to make sure it works before you show the kids tomorrow.  It's skipping your favorite workout class at the gym so you can get math in today.   It's searching for new curriculum that will hopefully be a better fit, when everyone else has already been in bed for hours.  It's interrupting your read aloud to change a diaper, to grab a sippy cup, to referee a fight, to admire a drawing or to soothe a boo-boo.  It's coming up with a new way to organize your school area so that siblings don't fight (as much) and there will still be enough shelf space for all the books. It's planning field trips when your dirty toilets and grimy floors are screaming your name.  It's digging up every last shred of patience inside of you while you try to manage a squirming toddler on your lap while also trying to demonstrate a proper  cursive Z to your second grader, while simultaneously tracking your kindergartner's reader with your finger as he's reading aloud, and answering questions like "Mom...how many times does 9 fit into 148?" from across the room.  Ahhh.....

You know that I love it of course!  But let's be real about this. IT'S WORK BABY!  It doesn't just happen on its own.  And that is why my living room and the downstairs sometimes look like this:

AT least they put away the monopoly game this time so I'm not stepping on little green houses for days!  I won't show you what our school room looks like sometimes.  You'd be too discouraged!

So, yes.  I'm formally giving myself a little pat on the back via this journaling/blogging experience.  If some of it helps you, then fabulous!  But be aware that this is mostly about me just saying, "Good job ME!  I accomplished something worth while today!  Look what I did!" Just don't look too closely at the dusty end tables or the crumbs on the floor. 

Presentation Day

We are not currently attending any of the classes that a local Home School co-op is running.  But every six weeks they host a presentation day where kids can show up and share what they've been learning about. It's a great outlet for some mild showing off,  and I think it's great for the kids to gain some presentation skills.

Since I was helping with some of the presentations, I didn't get many photos, but my girls managed a few.
My Kindy-boy showed off the calendar that he made all by himself

(Right Start Math Level B)


 as well as his sight word fish.  We write words on his fish when he has mastered them and we watch the fish fill up with colorful scales.  It's surprisingly motivating for him, as it was for my older girls at this age.

Here's a link if you'd like to print one out:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8DXg4_j5C40c0laaVgwWlVFM3M/edit?usp=sharing 

My second grader wanted to share some work she'd done in with her 30-60 triangle and the T-square to make a star inside of a hexagon. It was very beautifully colored

(Right start math Level C).


My 4th grader had more to share.  She showed off some posters she had made about the lives of George Washington and Abigail Adams after having read their biographies in class.  This was part of the reading badge  she earned as a Dolphin in the Frontier Girl's program.   www.frontiergirlsclubs.com 

Then she shared a salt dough map she had made of the US eastern seaboard, showing the Appalachians, the coast line, the continental shelf, continental slope, sea plains, Bermuda rise, and the mid Atlantic ridge, complete with rift. (Trail Guide to Learning Series, Paths of Progress unit 3)



 I'll be very glad to get my cookie sheet back now!

She also demonstrated what she had learned about folding the American flag. I was her partner for this.  This was also an activity from Trail Guide to Learning, Paths of Progress unit 3.

You can see that she is also wearing her Frontier Girl uniform.  I took the opportunity to publicly present the kids with the badges they have recently earned in Quest/Frontier Girls.

 

Kindy Boy earned his horse badge and his Joy badge.
2nd grade sweetie earned her violin, horse and Joy badges.
4th grader Big girl earned her reading, Joy, horse, and Dance (hip hop) badges.

I think it's so adorable that my 2yo keeps reminding me that when she is 3 she will be a PENGUIN! That's the preschool level of Frontier Girls.  She'll be ready!

Better than Recess

This morning we were at the co-op for a Valentine's Day party  and Presentation Day (kids share something about what they've been working on at home over the past six weeks).  The sun decided to make a rare and much appreciated appearance this morning!! So we left early and headed to the park.  It was GLORIOUS to say the least.  Just what we needed to help shake the winter blues.  We were shedding coats, digging in sand and rocks, hurling stones into the ocean and rocking those swings!  I was feeling sorry for the kiddos stuck in a classroom with their noses pressed to the glass, waiting for the hours to pass so they too could enjoy this sparkling day.

Days like this one remind me how lucky I am to hang out with my kids every day, how much I love to see them playing together; how much I savor our time freedom and our flexibilty.

Yep, today's outing at the park was WAY better than any recess.

 Finding the perfect rock.

 Throwing rocks in the water is a sure kid pleaser.

 Ah, basking in the warmth of this February morning.

 Buddy found a friend to hang out with.

 Yeah, it took me a good five minutes to get this shot.  Worth it?   I think so.

 There goes the train

 Brave enough to hold a little crab!!

 Digging for more crabs.   This kept them busy for a good while!

On the way home we were dreaming about summer, wishing for our bathing suits, making travel plans and thoroughly enjoying some rare Seattle winter sun! 

Kinderboys - Construction workers and Carpenters

Our class with the Kinderboys was really fun this week. We started by reviewing the meaning of a community. This book was very helpful in doing that.



Letter C in this book covers community AND construction worker.  So it's a perfect lead in.

We colored a picture http://www.oncoloring.com/construction-coloring-pages_2.html
while I read and discussed two different books with them



and



From there I let the boys take turns dressing up as a construction worker.  We talked about the use for each part of their gear and tools.  I asked each boy to name one thing a construction worker or carpenter does when they came up for their turn.  The hats are something we already had at home.  We live in earthquake territory, so I keep hard hats, gloves, and flashlights under everyone's bed.  I should have thick soled slippers under there too...but somehow those never stay put!    The vests I ordered on amazon

They were anxious to use some of those tools!  So I used an idea that I got from this book


I prepared a board for each boy that looked like this.  You can see that I left only ONE nail for them to hammer in, which was perfect.  Any more than that would have taken way too long.

The boys who were waiting their turn to hammer were sanding their boards with those blocks that have grit on all sides.  Much easier than using sand paper. They loved feeling the change in the wood.  A great time to talk about texture.

Here's a finished project

From there we referenced back to the books we had read and pointed out the drawings that architects prepare for buildings before construction can start.

My brother happens to be a civil engineer. So I asked him to send me some of his old plans so I could show them to the boys.

Then I gave each boy 3 blocks, some black paper and some chalk. THeir task was to draw plans for an building they could make with their blocks.  We then shared our plans and our buildings with the group.

Then we settled down for a story of Thea House that Jack Built.  I gave each boy one of the items or characters from the story and let them add it to the house as we went along.

The little house is my 2yo's toy.  She loves it. So it was hard for her to see the boys using it. But her agony was only momentary.  I put some barely in a plastic baggie for the "malt" and I used animals from my older girls' farm set. There was no cat, so I printed a free Google image and stapled it to some craft foam.

I was going to give the boys malted milk with snack. But time was short so we stuck with home made mini banana muffins and sliced oranges.The boys gobbled them RIGHT up. 

Here's the recipe. I keep it taped inside of my spice cupboard because it's one of my favorites. It's the one my mom always used and I think she got it from her friend Pam.

Pam's Banana Bread
1/4 cup crisco (I always just use vegetable oil)
1 cup sugar
3 large or 4 small mashed bananas
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda


I think I baked them at 350. And since they were mini muffins it didn't take long. Just keep an eye (and your nose) on them.   This recipe made 24 mini muffins and one mini loaf.  Each mini cup held one scoop of batter using this scooper


                            



I should  add that I had planned to let the boys go out to the garage and saw a log that I got  from my backyard, but we ran short on time. I let my own son do this when class was over and it was by far his favorite part!  He worked hard at it and did it all by himself after some initial instruction.