CC Week 10 Geography

I love the base that CC gives me. I feel like I can run with it if I want or just stay with the memory work  when my week is feeling busier than usual without guilt because I know that the kids are really getting alot no matter what! This weeks geography was Japan. I had a bunch of crafts planned but time slipped through my fingers and we didn't get all the fun stuff done that I wanted, but...that's OK. We did do this cool water color and crayon map, watched a fun video of 2 dudes climbing MT. Fugi and we're making sushi this weekend....we're good.

Best grilled veggies EVER!

I've had many a grilled veg at many a BBQ and though I like the idea of it...it's execution has always fallen short. Usually they are over cooked and under seasoned. On my own I have even struggled with the flavor and texture....and I LOVE veggies, so I know it's not because of general dislike. I stumbled upon this recipe from "The Taste of home" collection and I have to say that this really is...The Best Grilled Veggies EVER! I have taken this platter to many a function and it has gotten rave reviews. I added tofu to "beef" it up a bit... so print it out, grill it up and gobble it down! (I used my indoor grill pan for mine)

Ingredients

1. 1/4 cup olive oil

1. 2 tablespoons honey
2. 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, divided
3. 1 teaspoon dried oregano
4. 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
5. 1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed
6. 3 small carrots, cut in half lengthwise
7. 1 large sweet red pepper, cut into 1-inch strips
8. 1 medium yellow summer squash, cut into 1/2-inch slices
9. 1 medium red onion, cut into four wedges

1. 1/8 teaspoon pepper

1. Dash salt

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine the oil, honey, 1 tablespoon vinegar, oregano and garlic powder. Pour 3 tablespoons marinade into a large resealable plastic bag; add the vegetables. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 1-1/2 hours. Cover and refrigerate remaining marinade.
2. Place vegetables on a grilling grid. Transfer to grill rack. Grill, covered, over medium heat for 4-6 minutes on each side or until crisp-tender.
3. Transfer to a large serving platter. Combine reserved marinade and remaining vinegar; drizzle over vegetables. Sprinkle with pepper and salt. Yield: 6 servings.
   

School Lunch

In our house...food is the deal. We live to eat...or at least I do and force the rest of them to go with it...Cuz mama like food. I even like the days when the food is craptastic...like a a plain hotdog (Non GMO, hormone and nitrate free, of course) wrapped in a piece of bread(Organic & NO HFCS) because that is all we have for the moment. It's not always the gormet that moves me...but the breaking of bread with my peeps in as healthy way possible that makes the meal an experience. It makes me feel good to feed my people. I spend the majority of my time planning, making and eating food...oh, and then loads of time cleaning up so I can do it all over again....so food matters. My kids don't get to be picky eaters....we don't do picky in these here parts! Unless you're gagging...you eat up. Sound harsh? Nothing grates me more than people poo pooing food they haven't tried...my kids won't be those people. You don't have to love it but you do have to eat it! When our kids were in school I had the great pleasure of joining them for lunch. (talk about gag) Wow, no wonder kids hate real food. The colors were gray and their plates were very sad looking. I wanted to gather all the trays and do a complete food make over. Don't get me wrong....the kids thought it was yummy...it just made me want to cry. Below is a pic of a typical school lunch in our home...xo

Mothers Little helper

I'm always looking for ways to improve our homeschool action. I still feel we could be streamlining things more but am super stoked on my latest gizmo..the Tri-fold board. Did you hear the angels sing just then when I said Tri-fold board...oh there they go again. Yes, it is an amazing piece of gear and I recommend it even if you aren't doing Classical Conversations...because it rocks! I'm thinking of making another one for art, music and other subjects that we do. I just open it up and go.....got the idea from this gal who is very popular in the CC world. Directions are here if anyone at all is out there looking at this and remotely interested. xo And, of course, here are a few pic's of ours.

Art, crafts & history

We are always doing some sort of art around here. There is a craft that goes with almost every lesson....and if it isn't a craft it's a song. We are like Schoolhouse Rock on crack. I love it when a huge lesson sings or crafts it's way into their brains. It's "feel good" learning in Casa de Conley. In this lesson we have been going over ancient Egypt. We cover our Classical Conversations memory work, do a little "Story of the World" , load up on many associated books & DVD's from our local library (Voyage to the Pharos, Drive through History, etc.) and naturally sing and craft our way right to the end. Below are a few pic's of our pyramids and color sheets...girls loved writing their names in hieroglyphics.

Piñata

I'm not a big birthday party mom. I usually invite a few people but it's really low budget & low key. I hate goody bags....hence the Piñata. I throw up the recycled b-day sign, add some streamers and whatever balloons I might have on hand (this year it was congratulations...I don't know why I have them)

My daughter really wanted a Hello Kitty Piñata for her birthday....I could have saved a ton of time by buying the mass produced Piñata from Walmart...but then we wouldn't have had ALL that fun now would we??? Yeah, it was a process but the girls loved doing it. I found myself up till 2 in the morning the night before her birthday finishing it but in the end it was worth it...kinda! We started with a balloon...I blew it up too big. I have done this before and I seem to always have the same problem. It doesn't look big when I blow it up, but after you get the layers of paper mache on, it's always bigger than planned....which means more candy and a heavier Piñata. I had issues with weight on this Piñata. But the result was still a happy kid who got the Piñata she wanted and that makes it all good! So here are a few pic's of the hot mess we like to call...a birthday party.

Morning's

We're well into the first cycle of Classical Conversations...week 5 to be exact. I think we're jammin!

I've been really getting us into a routine...which is great. I need a routine just as much if not more than the peeps! At night I lay out their Great Adventure Bible coloring books. I love this lesson we chose because it's easy and colorful. We're Catholics so we haven't been taught to read the bible...so this is as new to me as it is to them. The Great Adventure Bible has some fun stuff and it's introducing us to the bible in a chronological way. So I have that set out so they can get started coloring while I get a quick workout in. I've been keen on these ZWOW workouts. They are super quick and pretty gnarly. You can pick 10 minute workouts or 30 minute workouts....don't let the 10 minutes fool you....I'm sore every day! The cool thing is that they are free and she is continually updating them!

Ok, back to the school bit. So I also grab video's from the library....A.K.A. our second home.  They are either educational, bible based or "good for your soul" based. This week they watched Pollyanna (it took 3 days because they only get about 20 minutes or so in the AM to watch. Sometimes I let them stream A couple episodes of "leave it to Beaver",  though I find Ward a tad irritating and June needs to lose the dress while she mops. So many cool little DVD's to choose from at the library...it's endless!

We don't have a large flag but I popped a hand held one into the planter in the back and we do our pledge and national anthem to the little guy each day....hey, it works....and that's the start to each day!

Math drill

Skip counting can get boring for my kiddo's so I'm always looking for fun ways to work on our math memory work. The other day I printed out a couple of 100 number chart sheets and we whipped out the bingo blotters. I played the CC skip counting songs and the goal was to hit the numbers WITH the music.... If  it passed and you didn't hit the number you try for the next one and wait for the song to replay and blot the ones you missed then. It isn't easy because the songs are fast in some spots. It's a challenge and it's super fun!

CC week 4 Geography lesson

This week we were working on the 7 wonders of the ancient world for Geography. Each day we did a little something along with our memory work (Below). I got a ton of help from my CC blog moms:

Abecedarians

The cork Board

• Seven Wonders of the Ancient World coloring pages. (Pharos Lighthouse,Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Artemis, Colossus of Rhodes, the Mausoleum,the Great Pyramids, Statue of Zeus)
• books: Wonders of the world, Seven wonders of the ancient world
• Bible: Read about nebuchadnezzar
• 7 wonders matching game I actually printed these out, cut them and pasted them onto card stock and then we did a matching game vs. a mini book. When they got a match we read about it.

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Here we go....

Here is our first post as a classical homeschool fam. Though we are groovin... we've yet to get into a "groove". Still trying to figure out how to make it all happen, look hot and not have my house a wreck. So far all I can say is that the kids ARE learning....working on the hot part and my husband will have to be in charge of the house cleaning for a bit. It will come....I can feel it! We started with Classical conversations this year and so far I am LOVIN' it. What I like more than anything is the group of super moms who have shared all of their idea's (which I am totally using) on their own blogs and Pinterest! How they do it is beyond me....I'm currently putting off making dinner just to post this. We are in week 4 of Cycle 1 and because of the info I've picked off the net I am seeing the light and getting more excited with each passing day. It's all very daunting but if I could scrape a few extra hours in the day I might be able to actually do this! We've been working on plant and animal cells these past few days...here are a few of our lessons.

Today we made a plant cell out of bread and sweets....kids loved it.