Entries categorized as ‘CATW’
We’re back in the groove of school. After the holidays we moved to The Americas. This week we’re visiting Mexico and we overdid it at the library. We just couldn’t decide on a couple of books, so we brought home a bunch. From Josefiná (American Girl) to Cinco dé Mayo to Mexican Folktales. One of our favorite book series is “A Kaleidoscope Kids Book“. We are enjoying Mexico! and plan to make tortillas and a heddle loom this week.
On the political front, we went to the voter registration desk at our library. The kids reviewed the form and documentation required to prove citizenship. This lead to discussion about rights. Of course my kids think there should be no age limitation on voting. Knowing the time they’re spending researching each candidate, they may actually be more informed than most legally registered voters. I decided not to leave out the issue of abortion and have cautiously opened that discussion. Like me, my kids had an immediate reaction, but carefully listened to the debated “options”.
Our copywork this week was to transfer a favorite recipe to our 4×6 card file. Nicholas, who has the tendency to look for the shortest distance between two points, picked “Parmesan Chicken”, something he has never eaten. Noticing his shorthand, I put the cookbooks away and announced they could each make their recipe for dinner. Do you know what 1 2 c flour is? He “thought” it was twelve cups, so had to do a little research. After repairing his writing in numerous places, he was able to skillet fry parmesan coated chicken breasts! He chose cooked corn, crescent rolls and pan gravy to round out his carb-loaded supper. It was delicious.
Categories: CATW · Election 2008 · Homeschooling
Tagged: cooking, election, Homeschool, Mexico
December 13, 2007 · 1 Comment
“Christmas Crackers - Invented by Tom Smith, a London sweet maker in 1846. The original idea was to wrap his sweets in a twist of fancy coloured paper, but this developed and sold much better when he added love notes (motto’s), paper hats, small toys and made them go off BANG!”
Ours aren’t going to explode, but the kids made these to hand out to their friends at our “Caroling and Cocoa” party tomorrow night.
Categories: CATW · Homeschooling · Kids Did It!!
Tagged: christmas crackers, crafts, English, Homeschooling
We’re studying Christmas Around The World during December and yesterday the kids decided they wanted to make a nativity set. We have several in our collection and I thought it would be a great keepsake, as well as some busy work for the kids since the weather is cold and wet. Flour, salt and alum (don’t mistake for cookie dough!) made a nice molding clay and the kids set to work. 
Lexi: Mary has to be fatter, she just had a baby!
Nicholas: Mom, was there a pig in the stable? My sheep looks like a pig.
Lexi: The head won’t stay on the wiseman, poke your thumb in his neck.
Nicholas: No, that’s not a wiseman, it’s a camel.
Lexi: Nicholas, this isn’t Noah’s Ark - we need THREE wisemen and a Joseph.
Nicholas: How about two wiseman and a llama?
Work in progress, stay tuned…..
Categories: CATW · Homeschooling · Kids Did It!!
Tagged: Craft, Homeschool, Homeschool Activities, Nativity
Today is a fun day at our house, it is St. Nicholas Day. We will read the story of St. Nicholas (again) and my son will beam with pride. He LOVES the idea that he shares his name with such a cool guy. If you’re not familiar with the original Saint Nick, you can read more here.
Saint Nicholas did many kind deeds and he sought to be closer to God. He was generous, a friend to all and the little children loved him. Much like our son, however, this is where the similarities end. St. Nicholas gave his money to help the needy. My Nicholas gives all of his money to Wal-Mart. I’ve encouraged him to think of others this Christmas. He agrees to THINK, just not with his cash. I’ve actually threatened to take a gift out from under our tree if he buys himself one more item. If he has $10.00, he’ll find something he “needs” for $9.84 and beg us to pay those unfair taxes if it exceeds what’s in his wallet. He’s a pretty good kid though. We’ll keep him.
Categories: CATW · Homeschooling
Tagged: Nicholas
Week 12 - Russia
The kids are back and that makes me very happy. Kaci experienced a whole new world homeschooling them last week and after she got past the fright stage, she was Mrs. Teacher Extraordinaire! She included pictures of their week here: Russia from the Oklahoma frontier. They all painted matryoshka dolls, ate stroganoff, in their science study made a “world” with a core (gumball), mantle (marshmallow) and crust (chocolate), visited a fire station, and marched in a parade for Veterans. 
Categories: CATW · Homeschooling
Tagged: WinterPromise CATW
Wow! We were surprised that The Niña was so small! The deck length is 66 feet and at one time there were 27 men on a voyage. Livestock, rations and dry supplies were kept in the hold , so they all slept on the deck, except for the captain navigator who shared a 5 foot space that was barely 4 foot tall! The Niña was at sea for 12 years, 25,000 miles under Columbus’ command. She has an interesting history. Check out our visit here: On Board The Niña
Categories: CATW · Homeschooling
Tagged: Homeschool Activities
Categories: CATW · Homeschooling
Tagged: WinterPromise CATW
Bonjour! This week, we visited France. The kids researched
The Louvre, the
Tour De France and
The Eiffel Tower, then shared interesting facts. Did you know the bicycle race is 2500 miles long? Or that they repaint the Eiffel Tower every 5 years using 50 tons of paint?
We went downtown to a French bakery and sampled croissants. Yesterday we made French toast for breakfast and we plan to make a French pasta dish next week.
More of our pictures are here: Children Around The World - Week 7
Other links we enjoyed:
Global Trek - France
I mentioned earlier Lexi is wanting to learn to sew. I made up a simple bag design, cotton lined with flannel, that she cut out and stitched together, using the fringy “seam on the outside” ragged style. Once she got her pedal speed under control, she worked on keeping the seam lined up and her stitches neat. I passed on the lessons from my grandmother: to stay stitch, clip her threads and press her seams while she goes.
We are leaving in about an hour for Branson, where we will spend the weekend on the roller coasters and fat food at Silver Dollar City. We won’t be home until Monday and I’m leaving my laptop at home! Enjoy your weekend and don’t forget:
Categories: CATW · Homeschooling
Tagged: WinterPromise CATW
September 28, 2007 · 1 Comment
Busy week for us. We were getting into a nice daily routine, so it is no surprise we got off track a little. As we journeyed through Spain and Portugal, the kids took an interest in the explorers who originated there. So we took a “bunny trail” checked out some books about the ventures of the early navigators. We read chapters in
“Around The World in a Hundred Years” and
“Explorers Who Got Lost”. It was also interesting to review how maps were originally made with the information that was available.
Our map is getting crowded. We hated to waste the country cultural stickers, so the kids decided to border the map with them. It is a nice review to go “around the world” and discuss features of each country. We put the country capital labels over the “Children” stickers. We aren’t putting all the labels on the map because it would be too crowded, but this is how it looks to date (close up pics in our album).
We also came to the realization that our student atlas left a lot to be desired, so during this Educator’s Week at Borders, the kids picked The Scholastic Atlas of the World. It breaks the continents down into regions or countries. They spent a lot of time studying their choices and were proud to make their final selection!
For our gathering today we’re making Spanish rice and flan to eat, then we’re creating some Fiesta Flowers!
View more pictures in our Children Around The World Picture Album!
Links we enjoyed:
Spain
Portugal
Categories: CATW · Homeschooling
Tagged: WinterPromise CATW
This week we traveled to Switzerland and The Netherlands. The kids reviewed the Scandinavian countries and listed historical facts in their travel diaries. They practiced yodeling (ughh!) and enjoyed reading both Heidi and our scheduled reader Mandy. Since we have already read “The Swiss Family Robinson” we checked out the movie version to watch during our Friday country celebration.
We prepared a Dutch Apple pie for our gathering. 
We sampled Swiss cheeses; gouda & gruyere, sipped Swiss Cocoa and nibbled on a Swiss chocolate bar. For lunch, they made open faced Swiss Cheese sandwiches on light rye bread…then served warm pie for dessert!
Some favorite websites are:
Our travel diaries are being enhanced with the country pages from Geo Scribe from The Homeschool Shop. This family business has unique and truly usable products for homeschoolers. PLUS, there are great worksheets on Enchanted Learning if you need a little something extra.
Categories: CATW · Homeschooling
Tagged: WinterPromise CATW
