Keeping It Simple

While picking up some go-alongs from the library for our Five in a Row studies, I walked right by The Young Chef's Chinese Cookbook . It seemed like it was meant to be, so I picked it up. We don't always (or even usually) make a recipe to go with our FIAR book, but I thought it would be fun. James and I chose a recipe for Shrimp and pork dim sum. One of our go-along books is named Dim Sum, so it seem like perfect fit!  James was a bit suspicious of the shrimp as a main ingredient.   First he measured... then he stirred... and filled the wonton skins...   and tasted them. They were... okay . We probably have a bit to learn about Chinese cooking. :) The process was fun- the results were iffy. None of us loved them. Although, dad and big sis, Michelle, gave them a pretty strong thumbs-up.

James has been "rowing" The Story About Ping . Years ago this story was a favorite of Erin's (16yo), then the older boys' (especially Mark- he was pretty happy to hang out with us for this book :)) and now James (6yo). James used the Ping FIAR Fold-and-Learn and a few elements from a HOAC Project Pack for his notebook pages.

I love anything "hands-on" to help our studies along. When I first saw this a while back, I put it top on my wish list! (where it sat for several months) Then I ordered it and it sat idly by waiting to be used. Finally , we pulled it off the shelf and made our first map!! The book is leveled at grades 4-8, but my 6yo easily enjoyed making his map as much as his big brothers did-- the grade level may be correlated to the expected studies for those particular years rather than ability. I did help a bit with the more intricate cutting, but James did all of his own work other than that. First you color the map. Then cut and glue the 3D pieces to the map. When it is finished, the 3D and moving pieces make it fun! James is very proud of his map!! * One last note: If I were to have a redo on ordering this, I would get the download rather than the hard copy. As it is, each page needs to be printed. It would have been easier to have on the computer to print out- I am not sur...

You can find the this challenge and more at Delightful Learning blog. The original challenges were submitted each week. Since then the links have changed so I have removed them from this post. Visit here to see more about these fun challenges . The challenge for the day: create a structure that will hold two cups off the table surface and as far apart as possible. Dad joins the fun-- really, he saved the day when he came home from work and was drafted to help out. Today's activity was lacking a little in cooperation. View from the window. :) It appears that all is going well. When the time hit 7 minutes, they were not quite ready. It took a few more seconds to get the structure ready for weight- and, really, if we used plastic cups as the materials list instructed instead of Styrofoam, the cups may have been too heavy for the structure. By Mark's expression, I'd say that he is not confident in the ability of the structure to hold the cups. :) A view from unde...

A highlight of the boys' school last year were the two weekly " challenges " from Delightful Learning that they completed- with Christmas we lapsed even farther behind (DL is already at #8!), and I have been a bit sluggish in getting going this new year. I had some time to do some prep work though, so we are ready to go. Our "Challenge Box"-- I have all the general materials (listed with each challenge) on hand, but this will save me walking the same steps for each challenge. And, if the boys decide that they want to do one of their own (I am sure they will for the airplane ;)) for any of the challenges, they can easily assemble the materials for themselves. I also added in the items specific to the upcoming challenges, so we are really ready to go! All the materials assembled for challenge 3 & 4. And, I printed up the rest of the challenges to date-- for those who have kept up over the weeks, that wouldn't be necessary. I added these to our "C...