Monthly Archive: December 2009

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Picasso

The new artist we put up in the calendar this week wasPablo Picasso. I remembered a wonderful Picasso artlesson at Art Projects for Kids that was aimed at firstgraders.  There’s a similar lesson at Deep Space Sparkle.LD did well with it; he said it was hard, but he wasproud of his picture when he was done. DD colored inone that I outlined and did an impressive job too. Most weeks...

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Things Continue to be low-key on the homeschool front

We’ve been having lots of play-dates and time at the poolwith friends who are on school holidays. We’ve beenpretty low-key here at home. LD has worked a bit on hishand-writing.  We’ve played a few math games, done mazes,dot-to-dots and things like that, but we’re still on breakfrom the big units (and I continue to plan and prep behindthe scenes).  Here are a few snapshots lately: 1) The kids both put...

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Homemade Mini Golf

LD told us the other day , “my favorite sports are soccerand mini golf.” Then he went on to ask, “can we make ourown mini golf course?” Today we pulled out lots of stuffand set up the back yard to be our own mini golf course.Luckily we have more than a few boxes from Christmas. LD’s mini golf course had 8 holes. We all had a greattime. Even ED played...

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LD was very frustrated because he couldn’t get his ballto go under the chair. DD won the hole and LD was nothappy. Luckily he did well on the next several holes sothe game ended on an upbeat note!

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Homemade Bagels

You can buy frozen bagels where we live, but they arevery thick/chewy and pretty horrible (in my opinion). This evening I decided to try making bagels based onthis recipe. It was faster than making bread since youdon’t have to let it rise very much. I was able to makethem while preparing the rest of dinner. They were done bythe time dinner was on the table. (A total of 50 minutes,I...

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Geography — Australian Pin Map

DD has been putting together the Australian states and territories foam map most every day (top picture). She’s very confident with that so I thought she was about ready for a pin map of Australia. I find pin maps pretty easy to make these days. I’ve explained how I make them before, but if you missed the world map post, I’ll briefly explain how again. 1) First I laminated a...

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Handwriting Resources

During this break I’ve been looking into handwriting skills.  I have a few minutes and thought I’d quickly share what I’ve come across lately. I found an extremely useful 32-page article about handwriting.  It’s a handwriting resource for (pre-K and kindergarten) teachers in a Maryland school district.  You can find it here: http://www.fcpsteach.org/docs/Handwriting.pdf It has some suggestions for building handwriting skills from a young age (preschool) such as activities that...

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Happy Holidays!

Our family went out to view the Christmas lights aroundtown last night. The winning families spent days settingup their display. The family pictured below spent 12 fulldays and 15 half-days putting up their display. Anotherfamily started putting up lights in September. In the second photo below you’ll see Santa on his sleigh with“Six  White Boomers” (or kangaroos). This is in reference to asong by Rolf Harris.  Since  Santa’s reindeer can’t...

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Christmas Candy

I made a batch of Christmas candy that was a big hit withthe kids. I used the candy corn recipe, and added greenand red food coloring. It took long enough that I had toplace the candy mixture in the microwave for 10 secondsseveral times, but I thought it turned out well. What doyou think? I also made a small batch of fudge today from the BetterHomes and Gardens Cookbook: *Cook...

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Planning for the new Semester

Here in Australia, most kids will be starting a new schoolyear at the beginning of February.  We follow the Americanschool year, so LD will still be in first grade and DD is stillin preschool. Since we take days off as we need to, I generally continueat half speed after the holidays (getting together for play datesor going to the pool at the drop of a hat).  Still, I’ve beenspending time...

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Christmas Math Tracks Game

Because of our road trip and swim lessons, we haven’t been doingmuch in the way of academic school work lately, but I thoughtI’d share a math-game I put together this weekend.  This is a place value game I made using two sets of dominoes pictures fromhttp://www.activityvillage.co.uk/christmas_dominoes.pdf Both LD (6) and DD (age 4) enjoyed playing the game, thoughI only had LD tell me the number value of the dice(ie. saying...

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A Place Value Game

Each player gets one figure (Santa, Rudolphor the snowman in each of the four colors) On the player’s turn he/she rolls all four dice and placesthe proper color on the dice board. (See 2nd picture) The player moves each of his/her Rudolphs (orSantas or Snowmen) the number of spaces indicatedby that color dice. I have my older child say one thousand, two thousand, etc.or ten, twenty, thirty, etc. as he...

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Fudge Cookies

I love this recipe and it’s really easy to make, especiallyif you need something quick and easy for holidaycelebrations. They are VERY rich. MELT:1 cup semi-sweet choc. chips2 oz (2 squares) unsweetened choc, chopped2 Tbsp. butter ADD and MIX:2/3 cup sugar2 eggs1/4 cup all-purpose flour1 tsp. vanilla1/4 tsp. b. powder1 cup chopped pecans or other nut BAKE:8-10 minsat 170/350 in the oven By the way, you can store this dough...