May The Fourth Be With You!

Happy Star Wars Day! 

The Beano comic shared a recipe for Wookie Cookies and Pip had fun in the kitchen today:

Making And Using A Balance Scale

We have been sharing and following along with Eva and Flora for our home school journey.  Both girls have been working on a unit study based around farming and harvesting.  We have also been using some of the practical activities from the " Pioneer Sampler" book and Pip had great fun with this week's practical task:

 Dad making the initial hole with a bradawl.

 Pip using the old DSLR whilst I am using the Pen-F

 Cutting the strings.

 Pip widening the holes.

 Running a first test using pennies on one side and sugar on the other.

 Calculating the weights. 

 1oz = 8 pennies and so 4oz = 32 pennies.

 32 Pennies.

 Weighing the oats

 Well Balanced.

 After we had weighed the oats we also measured the sugar.  The oats and dried prunes were placed in a mixing bowl.  And the honey, sugar and butter were placed in a saucepan and heated until melted.  The wet ingredients were added to the dry and the mixture was baked in a moderate oven for twenty minutes.

 Chopping the prunes.

The finished afternoon treat minus two pieces which were packaged and sent on to a neighbour who is recovering from knee surgery.

It has been a very tiring week with all the extra college travelling and so I am grateful when the weekend rolls around! 

 

Waldorf Grade Three :: Farming Block ~ Wheat

We are joining with Eva and Flora and the Live Ed, Grade Three Waldorf Curriculum.  For those of you not familiar with the Waldorf setting, children aged 8-9 years are in grade three as opposed to grade four in a regular school programme.  Pip therefore will be following grade three for her main lesson work and grade four for all her other subjects, English, maths, science and humanities.

Eva has been  extremely helpful in sharing what blocks she will be teaching and when, so this means that Pip and I can join in from across the pond :-)  Today's first lesson was all about wheat.  We lit the candle and sang our harvest song 'We plough the fields and scatter.' 

   We then read the story of wheat from the curriculum book, followed by the 'harvesting story' in the Pioneer Sampler book.

  By then it was time to  watch three programmes relating to wheat, one using industrial processing and the other a more simplified model:

Watching the programmes inspired us to make our own Harvest Bread and for the first time ever we successfully plaited a gluten free loaf!

 Pip had fun being involved in all aspects of the bread making.   From finding the ingredients, to weighing and measuring but I think her most favourite by far, was kneading :-)

  Ben had made spiced carrot soup for lunch and the bread was enjoyed with butter and a cup of tea as a 'dessert.'  I had forgotten that I react badly to home made bread ( which will explain why I very rarely make it!) probably because of the amount of yeast used and so consequently my insides have been grumbling along all day.  At least now I know how to treat the problems and that by sticking to the paleo plus diet any gut flare ups are short lived. 

After lunch, whilst Ben washed the pots and tidied the kitchen, Pip mowed the lawns.  It was then time for maths and our last lesson of the day which involved our Patchwork Prayer book.  And would you believe it, the prompt for the day was bread!  

Round Up

I am actually managing to upload a post before the end of the week :-)  In the good old days I used to post on an almost daily basis but at the moment a weekly post is about my limit.  It has been another busy week:

On Monday Benedict had his first ever sleepover.  He stopped with Connie and co and she very kindly took both him and her son Sam to a woodturning group in our home town in Cumbria. Connie was a superstar as the diabetes did not play fair that day and Benedict's blood sugars were rebounding all over the place, whacky highs with crashing lows, one of which occured in the middle of the night!  Thankfully he woke up and was able to treat the hypo himself and then settle back to sleep.  

 Catching up over a cup of coffee on the Tuesday morning.

 Benedict giving himself insulin, he holds that pump just like a gaming keypad!

 A little bit of "steam up" for Dave :-)

Montessori Maths

 A fun hands on way of reinforcing place value.  Pip works really well with hands on activities and she gleaned the information much quicker than using a stand alone text book.  She is making steady progress with her maths and has almost finished Singapore 2A.  She was showing some weakness in place value but this hands on task soon sorted that problem ;-)  We are dovetailing with Galore Park maths especially for the topic on money which is based on the UK currency.

On Wednesday I made my way "back home" to the Bernadine sisters at Hyning and stepped foot into the icon studio.  It has been a year since I graced these walls but I am remembered with love and welcomed:

The prayer that we always say before beginning to paint.  We paint in silence save for the background accompaniment of some classical music and the occasional request for "help" regarding a painting connundrum.  I did not have time to stop and paint but I did catch up with Sr Stella and attended the midday prayers in the chapel.  I have recovered my painting paraphernalia from the caravan and will joining the group once more on a Wednesday afternoon :-)

Another Aestlight Shawl

 I hand dyed the yarn and as soon as it was dry the garment was cast on, knitted and cast off within the week.  I am currently working on Benedict's socks and already have my next project in mind.  I can see that if I don't have something on the needles I will suffer from withdrawal symptoms!

Random Stuff

 Pip has worked really hard on her science topic this week and enjoyed placing the food items into the relevant groups.

 Benedict had fun using up the left over mincemeat and making mince pies.  There is an online food course run by Jamie Oliver and you can gain a recognised qualification at the end.  We are currently investigating the possibility of Benedict taking part because he has a real skill in the kitchen.

 On a cold dreary day when I thought the cupboard was bare I still managed to rustle up a feast, lentil bolognese, gluten free spaghetti and baked apples for dessert.

A well deserved computer break with some online friends who blog over at pyjama school  their mum Sarah has set up Christian Home Ed (CHED) minecraft.  The kids have really enjoyed making some new friends and it is good to see them working together as a team.

Art and Cooking

In addition to the usual round of daily tasks, both kids had fun in the kitchen.  Benedict made some yummy Glamorgan sausages with salad for lunch and Pip made healthy nut and banana flapjack for after tea:

 Lovely Lunch

 Mixing

 Finished Product

Pip also  enjoyed her impromptu art session this morning.  We used the Usborne art skills book as our guide, the instructions were clear and concise and each project page contained a list of necessary art supplies:

Drawing the outline

 Adding the paint one block at a time

 Pip's finished picture on the top and the book illustration underneath

 Ta-Dah!

DPP :: Day Two ~ Moments

Pip is still off school, she is slowly improving but still has a terrible cough and so home is the best place to be.  Here are some snap shots of our day together:

Art time.

 

 

Hamming it up for the camera!

 

 

Learning a new life skill and taking great care not to burn the redundant hand, which is firmly placed well out of the way!

 

 

Poridgies, I think Katie Morag and Granny Island  would approve!

 

 

Heart shaped goodness.

 

This evening I attended my usual Monday night prayers, it was beautiful, uplifting and peaceful.  That single solitary candle on the wreath, reminded me of Jesus the light who overcame evil and the darkness of the world; no matter what may happen the battle has already been won, HE HAS THE VICTORY, HALLELUJAH!

 

 





Michaelmas



 

 

Michael The Victorious

 

Thou Michael the Victorious,

I make my circuit under thy shield,

Thou Michael of the white steed

And of the bright, brilliant blade!

Conqueror of the dragon,

Be thou at my back,

Thou ranger of the heavens!

Thou warrior of the King of all!

Thou Michael the Victorious,

My pride and My guide!

Thou Michael the Victorious

The glory of mine eye.

 

 

 

 

I was given the opportunity to learn an  interesting lesson yesterday and I know that it was no coincidence that, this particular lesson occurred on the eve of the Feast of St Michael.

 

  For the best part of this past week I have  sat under a big black cloud.  I was waiting on an answer to  prayer and when it was not what I had expected, I ranted and raved at God and the heavens above.  To counteract my inward fury I took revenge on the house and was a whirlwind of activity in tidying and sorting, it was then that it happened.  The Holy Spirit stopped me in my tracks and in a "light bulb" moment I could see that, my prayer was in fact being answered!  Just because it was not my way did not mean that it was no way! What an encouragement!
 

I then remembered the serenity prayer. We used to have it on the kitchen windowledge and it is now on the bookcase in the loft room:
 

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference"
 

So I cannot change the health problems and other concerns that are clamouring for attention, but I can change my attitude to them!  With St Michael at my side I gave that dragon a good kicking and  for the first time in ages, a smile appeared on my face.  So this morning after having dropped Benedict off at cub camp, Pip and I bought the ingredients to make our very own dragon bread in honour of St Micheal:

 

 

Mixing.

 

 

 

Tasting.

 

 

 

Ready to eat, yum!

 

 

 

For those of you that have left words of encouragment and remembered us in your prayers, a heartfelt thanks is sent from me to you.

 

 

God Bless

 

San xx