A is for Apple.

We started rowing a new book this week call How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. Yet another great read. We spent a good chunk of time at the library first thing this week; picking up picture books about all the places the girl travels to get her ingredients because the market is closed: France, Italy, Sri Lanka, England, Jamaica, and Vermont. One of my favorite aspects of this curriculum is getting to water the adventurous-spirit-and-travel-bug seed with geography.  

We're also going the uber classic route and doing the letter A and apple activities. Because I can play the cliche card every now and again. ;)

We discussed the parts of an apple.

Who doesn't love a good time of apple stamping?! 

{grandma disclaimer: he's snacking on the previously cut-up apple, while painting...not snacking on the painted one. k, thanks. ;)}

Give you three guesses what our field trip will be for this book. 

And one guess who'll I'll be delegating the apple pie makin' to. 

The one who went to culinary school...

Art With Lentil // Whittling

In the story, Old Sneep grumbles while whittling on a park bench because he's jealous of Colonel Carter and the town's celebration of his return. 

Whittling is where you carve something into a shape by cutting small slices off it; typically used with a knife and wood or bone. Little kids have most likely not heard of this trade-skill before, if you're pre-scout age that is. So, we gave the boys a chance to whittle using a butter knife and ivory soap. This activity was right up W's alley so we saved it for the weekend so he could teach them in the backyard.

The boys were way too young to really have the fine-motor skills for this, but they thoroughly enjoyed it and W loved being able to instruct them.

E somehow managed to shape his into a gun with random cuts.

They sure loved this art project.

Math With Lentil // Fractions

We did a little lesson with music and fractions for Lentil. I was kinda hesitant to try what the book suggested, and pleasantly shocked that E grasped the introductory idea of fractions.

We sang a few songs that they know by heart and tapped out the beats to show him examples. He used the work "split" in place of "divide" so I went with that. Together, we split {cut} the two other whole circles into halves and quarters. We practiced splitting a handful of nails and popsicle sticks {it's what I had quick on hand}. And a banana as well. 

We reviewed where Lentil lives on our US map, and where we live.

And on our world map.

We also played the "hearing game" to add to our senses. I pulled up youtube and played a sound effect for him {ie. lion, monkey, fire truck, motorcycle, waves, rain, etc} and had him guess what he thought he heard. He "drew" a picture of his guess, then we checked the screen to see if he was right. He enjoyed me "trying to trick" him and he figuring it out.

I feel like I'm starting to warm-up finally. Like prepping lessons, being intentional about getting school in during the days I have planned, and including T where I can. And it's nice that so far, the lessons have been just the right amount of time before E is done. Short and sweet, but with enough time for instruction and practice. 

Science with Lentil // Sense of Taste

So we started rowing a new book this week for school: Lentil. It's such a cute story about a small town boy named Lentil and his determination to overcome the handicap of not being able to pucker his lips. He finds he can make music in another way: the harmonica. The conflict of the story revolves around Old Sneep and his devious plan to stop a celebration by making everyone's lips pucker via him sucking on a lemon. Lentil saves the day with his harmonica.

So our science consisted of taste testing and learning about our tongue and where the difference taste receptors are.

Of course, the lemon was THE most fun for the boys. T's expressions were my favorite. He tried it a few times before handing the entire thing over to Ezra. Some honest and true distress right here. ;)

E's initial reaction was similar to T's, but on a much smaller scale. And after awhile, I think he just got used to it, because he sucked on the lemon for quite some time AFTER our experiment was done.

Throughout the week, we've also been talking about the other four senses. We've also touched on the letter M for Music and US geography for California and Ohio {where Lentil takes place}. Hoping we can squeeze in a few more activities for math and art this week too. This book has some great content to study!

Pre-K // Homeschool Style

We "started" preK this week. I use that term loosely only because we've only done a little of our reading program. PreK is really nice like that. So is homeschooling. 

We'll be working our way through this curriculum. And we're in our second day of "rowing" the book The Story About Ping. Very similar to unit studies. I made a make-shift homeschool corner...because there really isn't a corner left in our small space. There's a world map that we got in a random mailer, the ping duck to place in China {where the story takes place}, and a few 'artifacts' that I scrounged up. Hoping my planning will get better in time?! ;) And our dining area chalkboard will work perfectly for scripture memorization and reading highlights. 

So far, E has worked on numbers, the letter D, and sewing and tracing for fine motor skills--in addition to reading our book. We're going on our first "field trip" this afternoon to...to observe and feed the ducks with friends who are also sticking to our program/schedule.

He's randomly picked up on recognizing numbers 1-5 and 8 {which may have something to do with helping me press numbers around town.} Glad to know I wouldn't have to formally cover those.

Normally, the stories are covered in a week, but we're starting out with two. Next week, we'll be covering science {buoyancy, animal kingdom} and social studies {China geography and culture} and hopefully art.

This will certainly be a marathon journey and lots of "figuring out as we go", but I'm so excited to be able to do with my kids!