Grumpy Kitty

Old school times tables

Once upon a time I was a third grader whose excitement overfloweth when I was able to take my little dime and buy a multiplication card in anticipation of hours of memorization. Big kids knew their times tables and I was determined to be a big kid.

These days it seems kids are having a hard time getting their tables down and many move on into higher grades and still do not know them. Butter began working on them in the late fall and is 80% competent, but a few were still giving her trouble. I realized she just neded to buckle down and memorize them before going much farther into divison so during school the other day I got busy typing them all out and laminating a couple of cards for home and car use. Butter loves them and got to work right away and mastered a couple that were giving her trouble.I'm all for conceptual understanding of multiplicatin, but good old fashioned memorizing also has its place!

 

 

 

 

Hobbits can cook

Mondays are always crazy, so cliche, but true. Getting back into schoolwork, cleaning up, 2 hours of ballet and a sundry of other things make the day feel more hectic than the others. This week was no different and at 1:30 I realized dinner was not planned and we had to eat it by 4. Hmm. I also have begun to not use the microwave again. I succeeded in not having one for many years and then even after marrying the Professor kept one out. Somehow it sneaked back in a few years ago and I have one that is built in now. Well a few weeks ago I just said no more. I have figured out how to defrost somethings fairly quickly and without a ton of hassle, especially my chicken stock.

It really is true that if you get kids in the kitchen they will be more excited about what they are eating. Plain old potato soup doesn't get my kids hoping at dinner, but when they peeled and cut potatoes for it they really do feel more ownership of the meal.  

Potato Leek is my favorite soup on a rainy day and this did fit the bill.

8 good size potatoes

2 leeks

garlic cloves

4 cup of chicken (or turkey) stock

sea salt

a bit of milk (optional)

This soup was ready by 3:30 and the kids did 1/2 the work. Even the Baby washed the potatoes once they were peeled.

Art and Craft

As I said before I want the kids and me to spend more time crafting.  Art plays a good part of this. They all love to color and draw and if I pull out a project they want to know how to do and love to join in. The Baby really likes to paint and play with our homemade play dough. She cleans up on her own and knows where all of her things are kept. Butter and I are participating in a handmade swap in a few weeks so there has been much planning and beginning of things. Here are bits of our crafting this week.

 

Sticking together

I picked up finally picked up this book and Butter quickly began devouring it. She read parts to the Kitty and they got very excited about magnetic repulsion. Score one for pre-buying because I just happened to have a magnetic science kit I bought on deep sale last Spring for this year. The kit is for 8 and up, but Kitty was able to do the experiments and understand them just fine. Even little J had fun with the fishing game and running around sticking her magnets to everything.

I'm determined that this sort of strewing is important to their future academic success: making sure that they are lots of book with information and hands on activities to further explore a concept. It's a bit more expensive, but I think if you plan ahead and get creative (that's what pinterest is for;) you can do it. I paid less tahn $10 for this and it contains over a dozen experiments.

I have such a formal and classical nature, but I love the peacefulness of Waldorf, especially for the younger years that this type of unschooling for content subject areas works well for me. Right now, Butter is investigating and documenting all the parts of a lady bug. She found one in the library and pulled out the books and magnifying glass to do her research. Then she began studying pin worms:O I'd say today we did a good bit of science and it was all unplanned.