Sprouts Homeschool

Madeline the Movie

kathleenslp — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:41:01 +0000

Mama is still sick and after a day of work doesn’t have much steam left. Netflix was kind enough to bless us in the mail today with the full length Madeline movie so we are going to watch it after rereading the book.

Free Bird Study Notebook

kathleenslp — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:06:42 +0000

Currclick’s freebie this week is a nature journal for birds. Cool!

The Human Body

kathleenslp — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:13:11 +0000

Madeline has her appendix out in the story so today we learned a little bit about the human body. I found a cute site that shows animated videos about parts of the body:

And then Doo colored a human body coloring sheet.

Mama’s human body is aching this weekend – yesterday I woke up to a head cold and sore throat. Boo. Today seems better then yesterday so that’s good.

Madeline and a picnic

kathleenslp — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:12:05 +0000

Yesterday Doo made a little Madeline craft and then we watched My Fair Madeline which was a short animated movie that we got free through Netflix streaming (Xbox.)

Earlier in the day we had a picnic – I like this spot because it’s almost always deserted and Doo can explore far off from me while I keep an eye on her. She had fun finding birds in trees, playing with sticks, looking over our nature books and finding ladybugs. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day.

Madeline

kathleenslp — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:29:21 +0000

Today we rowed Madeline, which is the well known story about a little girl in Paris who has appendicitis and goes to the hospital. Doo was familiar with Madeline because we own Madeline and the Gypsies.

We did just a simple counting activity with cutouts of the girls from the story. Doo slowly counted them out (after I reminded her to slow down) and then placed them in a pocket. Unfortunately, the Madeline girls PDF is no longer available at the link on Homeschool Share – good thing I saved it to my computer when I saw it months ago.

Russian for the Day

kathleenslp — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:22:43 +0000

For our last Another Celebrated Dancing Bear lesson, we learned about Russia. Doo easily found it on the map (she already knew where it was) and we looked over some Russian facts such as the capital and how lovely Siberia must be.

We then headed to a Russian deli about 10 minutes from our home. The deli was inside a Russian market plus there was a bakery as well – “Fairytale Bakery.” Doo helped pick out some items for lunch and we also grabbed a couple of bags of Russian cookies and a juice. The woman at the cash register started to speak Russian to me until she actually looked at me and immediately spoke English. I guess nothing about me appears Russian. Maybe it was the L.L Bean sweater?

Our lunch consisted of some sort of veal and rice dish (I did not know it was veal until I had it in my hands – it was Doo’s choice. That aside, it was delicious), stolichniy salad and beet salad. There was also wafer cookies, a chocolate-type of cookie and cherry juice. Doo did pretty well with the new flavors and consistencies. She was not a fan of the beet salad and definitely preferred the veal and rice the best. I liked the rice a lot plus the stolichniy salad.

Stop Child Abuse

kathleenslp — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:38:20 +0000

Seems rather insane that this is even an “argument” or an issue, but it is.

Tea Party

kathleenslp — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:58:29 +0000

In Another Celebrated Dancing Bear, the two bear friends drink tea and dine on bread with strawberry preserves. We put on some Tchaikovsky, drank chamomile tea and ate toast with strawberry preserves.

Boris the bear takes dance lessons from his friend Max in the story so Doo also “took” a ballet lesson via her DVD from her Ballerina book. She loved this lesson and even stopped the DVD midway through so she could deck herself out in silks and an old, ratty tutu I made for her years ago.

(Paper bear wagon from here.)

Bears Say Grrrrr!

kathleenslp — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:49:04 +0000

Yesterday we studied bears for Another Celebrated Dancing Bear. We learned bear facts and read about how to stay safe in bear country. We also watched some bear videos – the one of the cubs playing was Doo’s favorite. The bluff charge and salmon fishing videos were also very interesting.

Afterward, we made bear claw biscuits. I made them sugar and gluten-free since that’s how I eat so I invented the recipe myself. I personally thought they turned out blah and way too spongy but Doo gobbled hers up and asked for more today! So what do I know.

Gluten and Sugar Free Bear Claws

Trader Joe’s Gluten-Free Pancake Mix

Cinnamon

Agave Syrup

Almond slices

Make TJ’s pancake mix according to the package. Add cinnamon to taste. Pour into muffin cups and bake at 350 for around 15 minutes. Pop out of the muffin tin and, while still warm, poke 4 almond slices into each “paw.” Mix agave syrup and cinnamon to taste and spread onto each one.

Voila!

Another Celebrated Dancing Bear

kathleenslp — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:28:22 +0000

Another Celebrated Dancing Bear is about a bear from the circus who teaches his friend how to dance. His friend then joins him in his circus act. The story takes place in Russia during “the days of the czar.”

We reviewed some vocabulary from the Five In A Row manual before our first reading, such as “samovar” and “czar.” Two words I feel should have been added to their vocabulary list was “preserves” and “phonograph” – definitely two words not in Doo’s regular rotation!