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!
It was Our Lady's birthday yesterday and we were all so pleased to finally attend mass. It has been several months since we last made church due to the down-turn in my health, but so far I have stabilised this week, so all is good :-) The mass was also offered for our daughter Emma, as we remembered the anniversary of her final profession four years ago:
Oldest and youngest, who have only met twice! Once when Pip was too small to remember at her christening and then here at the wedding. Pip misses Em and sends her emails and the odd letter when she can.
The kids helped set a nice table for Our Lady and we even lit the birthday ring in her honour:
Salad, crackers and crisps followed by a hot chocolate and twirl flake bar :-)
After lunch Pip finished her study on wheat and decorated the front cover of her book:
One farmer singing our harvest song and scattering the wheat from his satchel.
Thanks to Eva we have had several links emailed to us this week! Our home school day consisted of morning work only as we were scheduled to meet with friends in the afternoon. Despite this we still achieved a decent amount of work, it is surprising what you can do when you start work at 8am :-)
Pip read from this sheet and we talked about some of the descriptive words used and the differences in spellings between American and British English. The word 'dormant' sparked a mini rabbit trail of, "What native animals hibernate in the British Isles?"
The hedgehog and dormouse are the only two animals that hibernate fully during the winter months.
Flora has also been busy with her lessons and she was lucky enough to actually spot the 'Harvest Moon.'
It's Fri-Yay tomorrow and I think an end of the school-week treat is in order! It will be interesting to see how next week unfolds :-)
I already had a rough plan in mind but thanks to Eva we added to it and a rabbit trail began this morning!
September's full moon is known as the harvest moon or corn moon because of it occurring at a time when crops could be harvested by the light of the full moon. One source said that it will peak at 8:06 am tomorrow the 6th. However, According to the Farmer's Almanac, the "Harvest Moon" actually describes whatever full moon arrives nearest to the fall equinox,
or the time of year when crops are traditionally harvested. Most years,
that is the full moon of September, but this year is an exception.
October's full moon which
is known as the Hunter Moon or the Blood Moon will rise 13 days after
the equinox, putting it three days closer than September's full moon.
The different names for the moon.
We are following the stories from this book as well as re-reading the "The Little House" stories by Laura Ingalls-Wilder.
Pip copied the relevant passage from the book to accompany her drawings.
Continuing with the moon theme, Eva shared a link to this page which enables you to keep a phases of the moon journal for a month. As a treat break we also watched this film as a reward for all our efforts. The insert below is a trailer for the film:
"Everyone knows the moon is made of cheese!"
After lunch Pip worked with Dave on her maths problems followed by our handicraft time, learning to knit the purl stitch. We are using a really great book that teaches the different stitches and shaping technigues in a gradual progress. As a result you are incorporating the previous skills into the next project:
We finished today's lessons with a history story about Boudicca followed by some free time on the computer playing a Roblox game. The free time for both Pip and me (knitting) were well deserved :-)
Ben was also busy with his own projects in addition to making all the meals today:
Tomato, carrot, lentil and ginger soup for lunch.
Lamb casserole, with finely shredded and steamed cabbage for tea.
The kitchen was left spotless both during and after each meal prep, which was much appreciated.
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!
