Introduction to Multiplication for my Third Grader

I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos. Our scanner is not working and this is the best I could get for the photos without uploading huge files.

As you can probably tell from this blog, we are very eclectic and somewhat relaxed (when I can relax, anyway) in our homeschooling. When N expressed an interest in multiplication, I decided to try a Charlotte Mason-"ish" approach to help with not only memorization, but also understanding the process. Here is what one of the pages looks like.


I try not to be too particular about small mistakes. In this example, he'd written the two backwards the first time (in red). A little while later, he came back to it on his own because he realized it was backwards and he corrected it. I really prefer this to me constantly correcting him. He almost always catches his mistakes and I think he learns better that way.

Here is an example of what he currently wants to do for reading/ spelling practice.

We both like it for the simplicity of it and the shortness of it. He's often happy to do many of these each day. He also writes all the words we review on an index card and files them alphabetically in a card file. He likes having lots of words in his file (our Kindergardener also has his own file of words).

Garden Update

With the move, the fall garden is very small (I'm actually surprised we have one at all). The only things I have growing right now are spinach and lettuce. Both are doing very well and we are having a salad with dinner tonight :o)

Here's our little spinach patch. I'm so skittish about commercial lettuce and spinach since the e-coli outbreak a few years back. We rarely eat leafy greens that we haven't grown ourselves, and since we live in the deep south, our greens growing season does not include the summer. Its been a long time since we've had salad on a regular basis and we are really looking forward to tonight.



Here is one of the lettuce squares. These are growing so quickly. We ate all of the "big" leaves on Saturday and already the smaller ones have grown enough for use to eat them - yay!

Are you growing anything this fall?

Menu Plan (Not) Monday: Week of Nov 2

I spent the weekend and beginning of the week being sick then recovering from being sick. Our menu for the week reflects my lack of motivation in the kitchen, lol.

Breakfast:
Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday it was "every man for himself" style breakfast with a choice of yogurt, cold cereal or peanut butter sandwiches

Strawberry Smoothies
Eggs, bacon and grits (twice)
Pancakes and bacon

Lunch:
Again, Mon., Tues., & Wed it was basically "get your own" such as Pizza (provided by my parents), hot dogs, peanut butter sandwiches

Leftover (really yummy) Potato, Corn & Shrimp soup
BBQ Sandwhiches

Snacks:
Chips and Salsa
Homemade granola bars (first time we tried them - they came out pretty good - nice taste, but a little too crumbly - we'll try again and tweak the recipe a little).
Yogurt
Hummus and homemade flat bread
grapes
strawberries
grapefruit halves
cucumber and dip
carrots and dip
Way, way too much Halloween candy

Supper:
Monday: Store bought roasted chicken, mac n cheese, cantaloupe, crescent rolls (relied a lot on convenience foods)

Tuesday: Used the rest of the chicken meat to make a Macaroni Grill Restaurant Favorites at Home boxed dinner (Creamy Basil). We got this as a free sample from Psst. It was tasty and convenient. If you would like a $1.50 off coupon, please leave a comment with your email address and I will email you a printable coupon. We had broccoli and mixed veggies on the side.

Wednesday: Cooked down the chicken bones to make a really yummy stock that was the base for Potato, Corn and Shrimp Soup (I'll try to post the "recipe" soon). We had these in homemade bread bowls that the boys helped to make.

Thursday: I cooked a roast in the crock pot and we are going to shred it and add BBQ sauce to it to make BBQ sandwiches. We'll have cucumbers and carrot sticks on the side.

Friday: We're having Spaghetti from the freezer with garlic bread and a veggie

Saturday: Baked fish, yellow squash, cheesecake for desert

I'm hoping to be back to menu planning on Monday. :o)

Settling in and Solar Car Project

I'm having trouble adjusting to a new routine. That's why I'm not blogging regularly. My kiddos are getting up before the sun since the move and that was usually my time to write. I'm hoping to find a regular writing time soon - I miss it.

I'm sneaking in a minute to write while the kids are outside playing with the solar car we just built from this kit Solar Car Book (Klutz) . It was fun, easy and the kids had fun working with circuits again. My oldest has already claimed the solar cell to use on the robot we built last week :o)

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Moving - Blogging Break

We're down to the wire on the move and I have not been online much for the last week. I know that I will not be online much for the next week either. I'll try to post once we're settled.

Our Indoor Cat - update

Well, Kisa has still not come home. This is the fifth day she's missing and we've not even seen her since Thursday afternoon. While we're pretty sure this means she's not coming home, the fact that we're moving in less than two weeks concerns us, too. What if she does come back after we've left :o( Honestly, though, that's not very likely. She is a pure bred (we adopted her as a rescue) who has spent all of her life indoors. I don't think she is going to be able to survive long outside. We keep putting food out for her every night and hoping.

Recipe: Shrimp and Corn Chowder

Easy, easy, easy!

Shrimp and Corn Chowder

Boil about a pound of russet potatoes, rough cubed, until tender. Drain. Saute about 1/2 onion and butter in dutch oven over medium heat until onions are tender. Add a few tablespoons of flour (it will bubble) and blend. Then add milk or cream (about 1 cup) and stir to blend. Continue stirring until mixture thickens. Add chicken stock (about a quart), potatoes, creamed corn (one can - or 2 cups if homemade) and about a pound of shrimp (season shrimp with salt and pepper before you start cooking). Cook, stirring occasionally until shrimp are cooked through and soup is the consistency you want. Salt and pepper to taste.