NANOWRIMO

So the month is almost over and I totally forgot that November was National Novel Writing Month.  So, we are going to do ours in December instead.  We’ll be putting down some of our regular work and focus on writing a (short) novel and holiday activities.  On the young writer’s program site they have a workbook to help kids write their own novel.  I’m not going to set a word count goal for us this year, instead we’ll focus on just getting a story written, illustrated, and self-published.  The recommendation for 1st grade is 300-3,000 words.

We recently found the website Kerproof which has really caught X’s attention.  So I am hoping we can use that as a tool also.  I’m really excited that he’s interested in this.  He has such a creative mind, always coming up with ideas for cool futuristic inventions- I just know this is going to be a fun project!  We’ll keep you posted as we make progress.  No more school this week for Thanksgiving break!

Granola Bars

I had a number of requests for the recipe for the granola bars we made yesterday so I will attempt to write it here for you.  The original recipe is from The Freezer Cooking Manual which actually lists it out in number of batches.  I did approximately a 2 batch, but it all fit into one pan and are thick like a “bar” not a store bought granola bar.  I also improvised a LOT so below is with my improvisations, but you can always borrow the book from me to see the specifics.

The book is great because it lists the ingredients in the order that you should add them!  This says its for 32 bars, but I put it in one cake pan.

Vegetable Oil     2/3 C

Brown Sugar     1 1/2 C (doesn’t say to pack or not so I didn’t and it was plenty)

Honey               1/4 C (I did NOT measure this, just eye balled it as I poured)

Vanilla                2 t.

Eggs                  4

Flour                  2 C (I used whole wheat but book says white is fine)

Cinnamon           2 t.

Baking powder    1 t.

Salt                     1/2 t (I used kosher)

Oats                   3 1/2-4 C (ummm, not quite sure I just dumped it in)

Accessories         2 C  (I used raisins, cranberries, chopped pecans, slivered almonds

                                   flax seeds, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and m&m’s)

 

Put in sprayed cake pan and bake at 350 for 25 min.  Says do 300 for 50 min to make them crunchy but either way to trust the timer and take out on time.

The original recipe calls for adding 4C rice krispies cereal in addition to the oats, I think this is why mine are more like cookies than bars and only made one batch vs two ;)  I also only put the pb ones on one side of the pan and chocolate on the other side so we have two different types of bars. Made this before with sunflower seeds and more nuts as well.  I think it would be good with more fruit pieces.  Next time I will also put in finely grated carrots.

A Little Holiday Fun

So I went a little overboard today at Michaels.  I went in to buy an ink pad for stamping and some cork for a project then walked out with enough project supplies to rival Martha Stewart herself.  Family members shouldn’t be surprised if they get hot glued Christmas trees with glitter on them.

So then of course I came across this website to bring you even more holiday cheer.  Its shared on Facebook already, but I know not all the grandparents are on there yet ;)  Enjoy!

Fieldtrip & Cooking

Today we went to Ice Crystal Engineering which was pretty fun.  MY kids didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as I think they should have (Big X wanted to get back to the car to play video games…) but it was cool.  The essentially make fireworks that help to make it rain and others that help breakup/prevent hail.  The guy who gave us the tour actually is a pyrotechnics guy!  Anyway, here’s a few pictures.

While A was at music tonight X and I made homemade granola bars and snack mix.  Mmmm.  BTW- yes these pictures today are all brought to you courtesy of my phone camera hence the blur and weird color.  We'll pretend thats why the kitchen looks cluttered and messy.

Invention Blueprints

Big Hugaboo has LOTS of ideas for inventions.  Of course he does, he’s going to be an inventor when he grows up, of course.  So I told him he needed to start drawing up his blueprints so he doesn’t forget his ideas.  I gave him a huge piece of paper & some markers and away he went.  Note that many of the things coming out of the robot are booby traps so please be careful around this bad guy. And the little people drawn inside of it were trapped in bags and other various traps that didn’t get labeled. I did help him spell a few of the words, but not much at all.  I was super impressed with how much he did on his own.  However, for your sake I will translate…

Upper Left title:  Cowboy Badguy (notice the cowboy hat!)
Middle Left: Laser (spelled Lazer)
Lower Left in yellow:  Fishing Pole (spelled Fishen Pol)- we can thank Grandpa Bill for this idea of course.
Right Corner:  Whip, Bomb (spelled Bom), Rocket, and signed his name Xander

test

I’m testing out Windows Live Writer for posting to the blog.  Seems pretty cool ;)  Just wish my computer hadn’t crashed last week.  I’ll try to get to more updates soon!!

A Typical Thursday

I haven't posted in a while and have had several requests to do so (thank you, grandparents!)  Also thought you might be interested in seeing what type of work we do in a typical day.  We started out reading a book (usually he reads to me, but this was a more difficult book so this time I had him read with me instead.)  Then we did some word family cards We're reviewing TouchMath addition.  I learned math this way and still add with the touchpoints LOL. Then we did a few phonics worksheets, focusing on the long A sound.   He did some journalling and finished up with some fingerprint art.  As I type the kids are wearing blanket capes and pretending to be superheros.  After lunch he will read another short book to me and practice his Bible verses for Awana he's been memorizing about three verses a week.  Then we will go to a homeschool fitness class at the YMCA this afternoon.  This evening little A will go to Kindermusik.  Yes, we keep VERY busy!  No wonder my house is never clean!!

I wonder...

I wonder if the kid who put this sign up was homeschooled??  Proloblie not.