A Home For a Leprechaun

My oldest son is an extremely literal child.  He is creative but he likes his world to play by the rules, as he sees them.  The other day he declared, "I believe in Santa.  And I believe that he has reindeer.  But I DO NOT believe that they can fly."  He went on to explain that reindeer fly using magic and that there is no such thing as magic.  During the Christmas season he was troubled for days until he came to the conclusion that Santa must somehow hang the reindeer from the overhead compartment of a jet, therefore allowing them to "fly."  I've wondered lately how to help this boy feel secure but still enjoy the "magic" of childhood.  So when he came home yesterday and told me a classmate had seen a REAL LEPRECHAUN!! ("he only saw it's boot, but it was real") I let him run with it.  He built them all sorts of homes and a restaurant and left them notes... "Please kome too this house and let us see you guys and we will not catch you."

We've been watching this pair of birds hanging around our porch for the last couple of days, hoping they were going to build a nest.  Last night my son came running in to tell me one of them had flown into our house when we found it dead by the back door.  It had flown right into the glass.  It was all very sad.  But ever the naturalist, my son sketched a picture of the dead bird before we gave it a proper burial.  He left the picture out for the leprechauns, thinking they might appreciate it, but left them a note asking them not to take his drawing.

Apparently leprechauns prefer a more natural environment then the lego homes my son had created so we went and gathered a bunch of rocks, bits of wood, and twigs this morning.  With a little help from a glue gun we were able to put together a snug little home.  (The boys made it clear that they didn't want to trap these leprechauns; they wanted them move in as permanent guests.)  My sons covered a rock with moss to create a cozy pillow and left them one of the little quilts they had made in a culture class last year.

They used bits of left over felt to hang little curtains and glued a sparkling rock they found on the wall to cozy the place up a bit.

They even painted a little welcome mat and planted a few "trees" in the front garden.  How could any leprechaun resist?

Soft & Light Whole Wheat Bread in About an Hour

.
Before I had my last baby my husband and I made it a point to spend our Sunday afternoons baking loaves of wheat bread and taking them around to neighbors, a tradition we need to pick back up again considering my baby is one.  I have had so many requests for this recipe that I finally decided to post it here. Nothing quite like the goodness of freshly baked bread...especially when you can get it done in about an hour!

Source

This bread is truly soft and light, better than any other recipe I have tried.  This is due to the added gluten.  You could adjust any of your favorite wheat bread recipes by substituting some of the flour with a little extra gluten.  The following recipe makes 2 loaves and calls for 1/3 cup gluten.  You can find gluten flour in the bakery section of your grocery store (I've even found it at my local Walmart), usually with the Bob's Red Mill products.*

When you add gluten you will also want to add vitamin C.  This recipe uses lemon juice but I have also heard of people crushing up a vitamin C tablet.  My understanding is that the vitamin C helps to develop the proteins is the gluten, allowing it rise more and to support the heavier dough.  I also like to grind my own flour just before baking, allowing the flour to retain it's moisture and to avoid leeching any vitamins, but you could certainly have wonderful results even with packaged whole wheat flour.  There are packaged dough enhancers available but I really feel I get the best results with my gluten and vitamin C.

Soft and Light Whole Wheat Bread in About an Hour

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 Tbs. yeast

1/3 cup gluten*

2 1/2 cup warm water

1/3 cup oil

1/3 cup honey (or sugar)

1 Tbs. salt

1 Tbs. lemon juice

2 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Place 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, yeast, gluten, and warm water in a bowl and mix with a dough hook for about 1 minutes.  Place a towel over the bowl and allow the dough to rest and sponge for about 10 minutes.  Set the oven to 200 degrees (F).  When the oven is warm  TURN IT OFF.  Add oil, honey, salt, and lemon juice and mix to incorporate into the dough.  Add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing for a minute or two after each addition.  Oil 2 loaf pans. Divide dough in half and shape into loaves, rolling dough around in pan until all sides are greased.  Set loaves into warm oven and allow to rise until the top of the loaf rises above the top of the pan.  WITHOUT DISTURBING THE DOUGH, turn the oven to 350 degrees (F) and set the timer for 30 minutes. It's that easy!

When we're feeling really indulgent we top it with honey butter:

1 cup butter

1 cup honey

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup marshmallow cream

Blend until fluffy.  (Like I said, we only have this when we're feeling really indulgent but the marshmallow cream really helps to keep the mixture stable so you could keep extras in the fridge.)

George Washington: A Narration

{source}

"George Washington liked to ride his horse, maybe because he really liked horses.  He saved the people and made them free by fighting in the war.  He won the war.  He was the first president of the United States.  Because of all that hard work they should have taken him to go bowling or something."

--Logan, 5

I love Charlotte Mason's method of narration to prepare children for writing.  I got a real kick out of Logan's history narration above.  After reading A Picture Book of George Washington by David A. Adler I asked Logan to tell me what he knew about George Washington.  I allowed him to flip through the book to remind him of what we had read.  I will copy this down onto a nice notebook page to include in his history notebook.  Someday I will start a Book of Centuries; a family book that will grow throughout the years, documenting people and history on a timeline.  To learn more about narration and the Book of Centuries you might enjoy visiting my favorite Charlotte Mason sites, AmblesideOnline.org and SimplyCharlotteMason.com.

A. A. Milne: Winnie the Pooh

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, 
"what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
"It's the same thing," he said.  
 

Blake-age 3

 A. A. Milne is the creator of the beloved tales of Winnie the Pooh and a few collections of children's poetry.  Milne's style is definitely unique and my boys are loving it.  "Oh bother!" my oldest son mumbled when his paper ripped while completing a math assignment the other day.  And Ernest Shepard's delightful illustrations have always inspired me.  Accept no substitutes for his originals.

We've been reading chapters of Winnie-the-Pooh  for a few days now and today we decided to try out Shepard's illustration technique for ourselves.  As with the boys' John James Audubon paintings, I sketched out an image they selected from our reading onto heavy watercolor paper (it really is worth the extra buck or two for paper that doesn't warp).  Of course, for other art projects I want my boys to be creative and sketch out their own ideas but for today's lesson I wanted them to focus on the application of the watercolors. We discussed two main concepts of watercolor painting. First we talked about wetting the paper and dabbing on color to watch it spread to create a soft background.   Then I showed them how to gently hold the brush to allow for more control as they painted the characters.  They noticed that when they pressed harder the bristles spread out and it was harder to keep the colors where they wanted them.

Logan-age 5

My five year old practiced mixing colors on the paper.  I should note that we used watercolors from a tube; much better for getting rich colors in a better variety.

I considered having the boys go back over their paintings with thin black ink lines. I really should if I want them to really experience watercolor and ink...we'll see if we brave that or not. 

I wanted my boys to have a little background information about Milne's writing and I found just what I was looking for at this site.  I read through it and paraphrased the information my boys would be interested in. We learned that Winnie was a real bear at the London Zoo and Christopher fed her condensed milk on a spoon and that she was originally a military mascot.  I printed off some pictures, which my boys then pasted to notebooking pages. My oldest copied out a caption and my youngest dictated his to me and I wrote it out for him.  You can find some nice free notebooking templates at Notebookingpages.com.

I found these nice pages for copywork at Home School Launch.  My 5 year-old is copying a page a day for his writing practice and should end up with a nice little notebook by the time we finish our unit.

 We've been sick at our house so we enjoyed reading "Sneezles" from Milne's When We Were Six.  This collection of poetry is available for viewing online for free through the Rosetta Project, though I think I may pick up a copy at the bookstore for more convenient reading.  Don't forget to read the introduction; it's hilarious.  Milne's When We Were Very Young is another great collection of children's poems.  To celebrate Milne's poetry, I put cards with various ending blends (-old, -ish, -uch, -oth, etc.)  into an old Winnie the Pooh box.  The boys draw out a card and create 3 sets of the ending sound with our moveable alphabet.  They can then choose beginning sounds to create rhyming words.  Or we do as we did today and sit in a circle and take turns drawing out a card and calling out all the words we can think of that end in that sound.

When I was in junior high I was really into Classic Pooh. I pulled a rug, a pillow and a throw I have kept from those days together, along with a stuffed piglet and pooh, to create our own "thoughtful spot" for reading.

We watched this fun video about how honey is made and since then we've been making peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Another favorite treat right now are the Winnie the Pooh animal crackers from Costco.  I plan to have a Pooh Party, like the one Christopher Robin gives for Pooh, complete with "those little cake things with pink sugar icing" that Pooh asks for in the book.  But more on that as we continue our study.

A Lesson in Laundry

Christmas came early at my house!!  We started new daily task charts with my boys and I've been so pleased to see them continue to follow through a month later.  Past attempts haven't worked so well but the oldest is feeling really empowered this time and his younger brother is always ready to follow.

Sorry for the awful pic but I didn't want to wait until tomorrow to get a better one : )

 Their charts, which I found here,  include very simple things like getting dressed, putting clothes in their laundry basket, brushing teeth, and setting the table.  I clip a new chart on a clipboard that hangs on a hook with their aprons and dusters each week.  They carry the charts with them as they complete their tasks and hang them back up when they are done.  My oldest is feeling so great about his ability to contribute that he surprised me one morning (and several mornings since) by loading and unloading my washing machine and drier without being asked!

Proud Laundry Boys

Being willing to take advantage of a good thing, I decided to give my boys a laundry "lesson" so my son could start the machine on his own (without jamming the machine or overdoing it with the detergent).  By moving a step stool into the laundry room and moving my own laundry basket into my closet (thanks for the offer but I think I prefer to wash my own clothes) I was able to accommodate my little laundry workers.  I taught them how to sort whites from coloreds and how full to fill the machine.  I taught them about the different water temperatures and what the different dials mean (and which ones they shouldn't adjust without asking first).  They now know how much detergent to use and when to put it in.  They know to check the lint filter and which setting they should use to dry.  Believe it or not, they were fascinated by all of this.  Might as well teach a child a skill when he displays an interest then argue with him about it when he's a teenager (okay, I'm sure my boys will still groan about laundry when they're older but at least they will know how to do it).  Laundry today was a good as a party as far as they were concerned.  This won't be added to their list of tasks, but they will sure be welcome to help when they are interested.  Now if I could just convince my husband that there's nothing he would rather do in the morning then put clothes away...all my laundry dreams come true!  : )

Christmas Buttons

We're really careful about the amount of goodies we make during the holidays...sugar and my family just don't go together very well. But there are so many wonderful things about creating Christmas treats together to share with neighbors that I we just picked our very favorite...our Christmas Buttons. A sweet little preschooler made some of these for me a few years ago. Let me warn you, they are hard to resist! Think bite sized minty chocolate dipped pretzel; the perfect combination of salty and sweet.

Always the Montessorian, I gathered together all the materials my boys would need to make these themselves: Candy Cane Kisses, square pretzel snaps, and Christmas colored M & M's.

First the boys carefully lined their cookie sheets with pretzels.

Then they unwrapped their kisses.  Great practice for little fingers.

I provided an extra dish for the unwrapped kisses and the wrappers:  easy cleanup and a chance to practice sorting.

Next they centered their kisses on the pretzels.  I put these into a 350 (f) degree oven for about 5 min.  You might experiment on the time to see what works best.

While the kisses were still warm we pressed the m&m's into the soft chocolate.  The minty smell in the kitchen was amazing and the buttons tasted even better.  A fun and simple treat for the boys to place in a little dish and share with their primary teachers.

Bible Videos of the Birth of Christ

. These beautiful short videos about the birth of Jesus Christ were recently released by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. These simple clips would make a wonderful addition to any Christian celebration. The church has announced that these are the first 6 of many short videos that will shortly be released about the life of Christ. To learn more visit www.lds.org. Merry Christmas!