Wedgets Rock

What an amazing educational toy these are....
My girls have enjoyed this open ended fun by designing their Wedgets into amazing shapes. They had fun stacking them up, over, and across, and they actually designed shapes together. Wedgets are rhombus and octahedron shaped toys that help stimulate perception and reasoning skills. We purchased this set on Amazon, here.  I also purchased these soft Wee Wedgets for my nephew who just turned on here.

Out of all the stacking and shape toys we have these are super fun!

Our Curriculum for Kindergarten!

The decision has been made.....drum roll please.....

Olive’s Kindergarten 2010
Math:
Hooked on Math and then Math-U-See

Reading:
Teach Your Child In 100 Easy Lessons, Bob books, and Hooked on Phonics

Writing:
Draw Write Now

History:
Story Of The World

Science:
Living Learning Books

Language:
Wordly Wise K

Art:
Fun projects

We are also excited to take part in a Classical Conversations Co-op that will meet on day a week!  We will still be lapbooking with Five in a Row and doing Daisy girlscouts. I think this should be a very good year (fingers crossed, prayers said).

Living Learning Books- Butterflies

Our caterpillars have arrived in the mail and have already started making their chrysalis. This is the third year that we have ordered monarch butterflies from Insect Lore and it never gets old for my two girls. In about 3 weeks the butterflies will be named and released into grammy's garden.

I am so excited to be using our new science curriculum called Living Learning Books,  created by veteran homeschool mom, Sandi Strenkowski. In level one science we will be learning about animals, human body, and plants. The best part about Living Learning Books new format is that you are now provided with weekly lesson plans and an easy downloadable format for both vertebrates, invertebrates, and the human body (coming soon). I love that these lessons can be used for multiple ages and you can add as much to a subject as you would like or keep it simple with just the basics. Each lesson has coloring and activity pages, crafts, cooking, and suggested reading.

Our Butterfly Lesson: 
Read-                                     Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons
                                              Waiting for Wings by Lous Ehlert
                                              The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
                                              The Butterfly House by Eve Bunting

Projects-                                Antennae headband
                                              Baggie Butterfly Garden
                                              coloring pages
                     
 Cooking-                              Butterfly Apples
                                              Caterpillar Cookies                          
                                              

I think this is a good start to the week ahead...plus as an added bonus their is a free sample unit to download on Sandi's site here!

My New Summer Theme

It's still me, but with a new summer theme for Sippy Cup Central. I would love to know what you think...? Have a great weekend and I'll post Jem's birthday pics soon.

Alligator Cake Sneak Peak!

Here is a quick look at Jem's very green gator cake for her 3rd birthday tomorrow. I think it turned out really cute for her alligator jungle themed party. I'll show more photos tomorrow.

Hungry for a Party!!!

My little Jem turns 3 on Friday and we sure are "hungry for a party" at our place. The theme is an alligator jungle party so I am attempting to make an alligator cake. Today I baked the parts and tomorrow I'll use my homemade buttercream frosting to decorate it.

(Use you imagination) - We used a Christmas tree pan for the head, loaf pan for the body, cut a bundt cake pan in half for the tale, and used heart shape muffin tins for the feet.


Stay tuned for the finished cake tomorrow!

Beach discovery with visitors

We had a wonderful time with our German friends who stayed with us for the week. The days were lovely and we spent as much time as possible on the beach. Here are some great ocean discoveries we made during their visit!

 a sand dollar

a horseshoe crab

Now it gets interesting a jellyfish, cannonball jellyfish, also known as the cabbage head jellyfish, is a harmless (it’s edible) variety that sometimes washes up on beaches in large numbers. 

a dolphin

We have been friends since S was an exchange student in high school. How lucky I am to have a fantastic friend across the ocean, who is always close in my heart! Even though our children speak a different language they played wonderfully together, it was really special to see.

Playdough under the sea

I found the perfect playdough recipe, it's just like the real stuff! Olive and Jem both agree that it's soft and easy to mold. They spent a good part of an hour playing with this new blue dough. They had a good time pretending that their little animals were under the sea.

Perfect Playdough
1 c. flour
1/2 cup salt
1 T. cooking oil
1 T. cream of tartar
1 c. water
Food coloring of your choice
Add-ins of your choice (i.e. spices, extracts, glitter, etc.)

Stir ingredients together into a saucepan. Over medium heat cook the dough until it pulls away from the pan. Lay onto a cutting board and knead well, it will be hot to touch. Allow to cool and enjoy.

Here is a fun chocolate playdough recipe from My Montessori Journey and Counting Coconuts has a variety of fun colors here.

Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting!

To celebrate the end of our school year I made a super yummy chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream frosting!  Buzz says it's the best frosting I have ever made! The recipe could easily be made into just vanilla buttercream too. I think everything taste better when it's made on my Grandmother's old Sunbeam mixer that still works wonders.

The Best Frosting Recipe:

• 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 of milk or whipping cream
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• dash of cinnamon

I

Freezer Pop Fun

Why wait for bathing suits when it's hot outside....just turn on the sprinklers, and grab a homemade freezer pop!

:

Summer Freezer Pop Recipe:

1 cup yogurt

2 cups lemonade or any juice

1 big handful of fruit we used strawberries

Blend it all together and pour into molds. 

I plan to keep the freezer full of yummy pops all summer long, Enjoy!