On The Hour

Our unit study this past week has been on time.  Pip has copied poems relating to the months of the year and the number of days in each month.  Today's challenge was to take a photo on the hour from rising to retiring.  In this way we would not only be tracking time, but activities throughout the course of the day.

7:00am ~ Pyjama clad Pip having fun with magnetic tessalations.

 8:00am ~ Post breakfast spelling test with a little bit of help from Maisie Mouse!

 9:00am ~ Multiplication worksheet en route to college.

 10:00am ~ colouring in said worksheet at Barton Grange.  I nearly took a photo of their completed Christmas displays but recanted, the whole thing is just ridiculous :-(

 Pip being silly, Moi very tired!

 11:00am ~ Dad using the flip screen function on my camera, whilst I popped into the GP surgery to deposit a whole slew of Diabetic Sharps Bins.

12:00pm ~ Now home and working in her English book, followed by copywork of The Harvest Moon  poem.

 1:00pm ~ Working on the water clock.

 2:00pm ~ Having a well deserved coffee break after having prepped a fruit bread and whilst waiting for it to rise.

 3:00pm ~ One Harvest Moon Scarecrow all decorated and waiting for his second proving in the oven.

 4:00pm ~  Round two of the college run and  looking just a wee bit tired.  All I can say is thank goodness Dave did not take a picture of me at this point!  I was feeling well and truly wrecked ;-)

 5:00pm ~ Almost home, just stopping by to post some letters.

6:00pm ~ An almost empty plate.  Salad, pate and rice crackers were demolished fairly quickly :-)

7:00pm ~ One Harvest Moon Scarecrow completely finished.  If you look closely you just might see, a tiny mouse like nibble at the very bottom!!  I wonder was Maisie Mouse the culprit or could it have been Little Miss PJ?!

We searched high and low but no Harvest Moon could be found, so this treat was a welcome supper just before bed. 

A Birthday Celebration For Our Lady

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.

A really good first week back at school.

Wheat Sheets

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 :-)

The following sheets were printed via this link 

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 :-) 

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!