Apple Chips

We made apple chips last week as an activity to go along with our unit on The Giving Tree. I found the recipe on Babble so you can check that out if you want to see what they did. :)

We had kind of small apples so I used three. We didn't need to peel them just wash and core. I actually bought this apple corer to use on cupcakes but it worked perfectly for this recipe since I wanted slices.

The mandolin made slicing quick and easy since you will want them thin.

We then laid the slices out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. They aren't really supposed to touch each other but I didn't want to have to use another cookie sheet. I will tell you why in a minute. ;)

We mixed 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. I put it into a sprinkle container I had saved and let Meghan sprinkle it on. Well she didn't realize how quickly it could come out so it got used up on about 10 or so slices. ;) So I mixed up some more and we did the rest. While we were doing this we preheated the oven to 200. After they are all sprinkled with cinnamon sugar in they go. They bake at 200 for 2 hours. This is why I didn't want to use another cookie sheet, I didn't have space for two in the oven and it takes a while for them to bake.

Here they are all dried and ready. They aren't burnt, those are those ones that got the heavy sprinkling.

Loosen from the parchment paper after they are cooled. You can store them in an air tight container for up to three days. Ours didn't last that long. They were sooo good. A nice healthy snack and so crunchy. I recommend this recipe and now I want to see if I can dry (dehydrate?) other fruits in the oven. :)

First Week Review- The Giving Tree

We had a great first week back to school! Our first unit study of the year was on the book The Giving Tree, from Homeschool Share. Have I mentioned I love that site? I do! There are so many units and we are constantly adding new stuff.
The unit had a lot of great information in it. The first thing we did was make a mobile of the Fruits of the Spirit and read Galatians 5:22-23. The mobile has one Fruit listed on each apple. We talked about how the tree exhibits all of the Fruits.

Meghan used a map to find our state and major apple producing states. She colored the states and we talked about why apples grow well in those states.

We found out apples are a member of the rose family.

We talked about the different uses for trees.

Kaden and Ellie learned about the letter A and it's sound. They had coloring and tracing sheets to play with. Kaden used his maze book.

Ellie was covering each A with a crayon or pencil. haha

 Meghan made a list of things you can make using apples. She also graphed a list of apples I gave her and helped Kaden sequence the story with story strips.

 

We discussed fractions using an apple and we made apple chips.

 

For art the kids all made a tree using their arm and hand. We traced them and then they painted their trees.

 

 

Some other things we did this week...

Baking cookies. This is the first time I have had her follow the recipe and pretty much do it herself. I was there just to answer questions.

We started calendar time.

Ellie's pretend time with Barbie.

Kaden using the counting beads.

They also went outside a lot more this week than in weeks past. I guess they can feel the little bit of cool down. :)

Here they are opening their back to school gifts. They got new art supplies.

Over all a great week back!

 

First Day of School Pictures

September 6th was our first day and I always try to take some school pictures. :)

Kaden- Age 4, Preschool

Ellie- Age 2- Tot School

Meghan- Age 9, 4th grade

Then the class pictures. :D

A first day of school breakfast picture. :) They had chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup.

Just Some Fun Stuff

I have some pictures I wanted to share from last week. First off... A little horsing around. ;)

These two are very close in height and weight so this was just funny. I didn't get a picture of when she made him top heavy and they both fell over.

Daddy is a good one to ride, he's got room for two.

Too cute!

I asked Meghan to get the clothes out of the dryer for me. After a couple minutes I went to put the next load in and this is what I found. haha Of course, I told them to stay put so I could take pictures.

One of Meghan's favorite breakfasts, Egg in a Hole, or whatever your family calls it.

Crafting (they made puppets)

and computer time.

Menu Plan... Not Monday

We made this yesterday for Labor Day if you want the recipe. Doesn't it look yummy?

Yea, it's Tuesday so? ;) Since it was a holiday yesterday I didn't get a menu plan done. It's going to be a busy week so I am glad it's a short one. :) Our meals this week will include...

Beef pot pie (I made a beef stew for Sunday after church so the leftovers plus more veggies make the pie, I thought it was a fabulous idea. I will let you know how it turns out.).
Spaghetti (always have lots of leftover so this will probably be two meals)
Homemade pizza

I worry about the weekends on the weekend. :)
I am also going to work on making a Bone Broth this week. Read more about it here if you are interested. I feel like it's something we need to be doing.

Other things I will be making...
bread
banana bread
scones (I hope)

Labor Day 2011

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! I love long weekends with nothing special to do. We just hung out and relaxed. The kids played in their little pool and played games outside. We made cheeseburgers and sides, and homemade Honey Vanilla Ice Cream with Fudge Sauce. YUM
Later the kids went out to ride on their bikes and then they watched a movie. My brother came and had lunch and hung out with us a while too. A nice day was had by all. NOW we are ready to start school!

Yes I took these pictures when it was starting to get dark. I should have gotten some earlier.

 Oh well... ;)

Back to School

Tomorrow, Monday the 6th, is our official back to school day. We have already been doing some things but we'll add in the rest. I like to give little gifts and do some fun things the first day back. I am excited about this school year and hopefully that feeling keeps on going through out the year. :)

Last week my business was slow so I used my free time to prepare for this week. I found the books from our shelves that fit our theme, printed out the unit study and any other pices we needed and I found crafts and recipes to add to the fun. (Meghan has been keeping up with her personal reading and she started her Math program, she tested out at 4.5 level, which is about where she is with reading too.)

This year we are going to continue with our Unit Studies, I just like teaching that way. It's a gentle way to teach and really keeps it fun and interesting. Meghan chooses a lot of the subjects we study. She will also be getting a journal to write in daily and she will have reading and math with the computer program. She loves to use the computer and loves doing those subjects on there. I don't think we will have any resistance with math this year. She has a list of extra's she would like to do also. At the top of her list is singing lessons so I am searching for someone that can help with that. She would also like any and all of the following; horse riding, ballet, volleyball. haha We also found a homeschool Girl Scout troop late in the summer and she has started attending the meetings and our church has a youth program for her age on Tuesday nights that she is going to as well. She loves being busy and hates to miss anything. She will often ask me the night before if we have anywhere to go the next day. I need to add activities to her personal calendar.

Kaden and Ellie will follow along with some of the subjects Meghan does. Kaden will do some normal preschool-ish activities and they will both have lots of play time. Kaden knows how to count some, lots of letters and sounds and all his colors and shapes and I didn't even do anything! Ellie pointed out three colors and knows her upper case R, she is constantly finding them on everything! Again, I did nothing. So I am not too worried about them at all. ;)

This week we are starting out with an apple themed unit, The Giving Tree. The little ones will do what they can too and they will focus on the A sound too. I have crafts, recipes, books and more for us. It's going to be a good and busy week!