Chocolate!

Back in February (yes, I'm really behind!), we used the Chocolate Unit Study at Homeschool Share.

A few of our notebook pages...

We read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and watched both versions. Jack knows pretty much every song from the newer one now!

We also read the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Jack seemed to like it, but I found it excruciating.

Another book we read was The Chocolate Touch.

I had several activities to go with this book from The Mailbox. Jack made a candy bar book report!

In addition to our other snacking, we tried the Make Your Own Chocolate Kit. (I think I found it somewhere besides Amazon for less, but I can't remember where!)

It came with cacao beans to try!

This kind of looks like the chocolate put him in a trance! It was just okay tasting, but it was a fun activity.

I *think* I'm finally caught up on sharing all the things we've been doing lately. Hopefully I can keep up for the last few weeks of school!

Mrs. Katz and Tush

Last week we rowed Mrs. Katz and Tush by Patricia Polacco.

We used printables from Homeschool Share.

Proof that Martha Stewart has a craft for just about anything: The Bag of Plagues.

I switched some things up so I didn't have to buy anything other than Tic Tacs (for hail) and it worked just fine. If Jack is ever on Jeopardy and they have a plagues category, he's gonna clean up.

I found this book at our library and it was great for showing the different parts of the Seder plate.

This one was really good for showing the different plagues. (And if you're looking for a movie, The Prince of Egypt is good as well as Moe and the Big Exit for littles.)

Alice enjoyed this one!

This is technically a chapter book, but we read it all in one sitting. It has some great pictures, too!

The Orphan of Ellis Island is a great go-along for older kids. If you have ever read George Washington's Socks, the premise is similar--a boy from present day goes back in time and learns about history.

Artist Study: Monet

Our latest artist study was on Monet. This went a little longer than a month since we had so many interruptions in March!

I showed Alice's waterlilies before, so here are Jack's!

This isn't the best photo, but we had fun doing these bridge paintings.

This idea for showing reflections came from the book below. I think it would have worked even better if we had used construction paper, but we were working with what we already had!

This book is a great resource and has several good activities!

We read both of these during tea times.

This one actually has Monet's words along with his paintings.

We love the Getting to Know series!

I love this series for Alice. Sometimes I can find them at Half Price Books pretty cheap!

I picked this game up at Philbrook one day and we played it a few times. It will come out again as we study different artists.

We're going to finish up the school year with Matisse!

Fun Friday: Finally!

Way back in September we went to this park and Jack has been begging to go back ever since. It's on the other side of town, though, and it's not convenient at all. Every time we pass it on the highway I silently will him not to look over and notice it because I know if he does, I'll be subjected to an onslaught of begging to please, please, please not do whatever we're doing and just go to the park instead. Today was the day.

Even Sister took a spin. This was the long-awaited attraction.

The kids figured out how to climb on top. He doesn't look so sure, does he?

Eventually he relaxed and enjoyed it.

I'm pretty sure I was making the scrunchy scared face while Alice climbed this thing. It was way over my head and she did a little crossover thing at the top each time that had me sure I was going to have to visit the ER.

She did it!

Happy Friday!
(Pizza Party post at Metro Family today!)

Marathon

While Jack watched a Ninjago marathon today, I had a reading marathon. In 4 hours and 29 minutes, I had finished one of the best books I've read in ages. If you've read my blog very often, you already know that I'm a big fan of Kelle Hampton. As I was googling for something the other night, I came across some blog posts by people who found her annoying, usually because of the way she does stuff up big. You know what? I like stuff done up big. I don't necessarily do it, but I like it, and I think it's better to sit back and enjoy it when someone else does rather than blog about how you can't do that because you don't have time and it's terrible that someone else does. Seriously, people.

This is why I like her:

I felt far more put together than usual--almost arrogantly so--because I was so proud of the way I pulled a suitcase, pushed a stroller, jiggled a baby, and balanced a camera, a laptop, a cell phone, and three boarding passes all at once that I actually had to consciously tell myself to wipe the "Hey, look at me, I'm doing it!" expression off my face. Actually, it took seeing a mom wearing spiked heels and leather pants, pushing a twin stroller and holding a toddler's hand that did it for me. Because I may have made it across the country along with two kids but I sure as hell didn't look that good doing it. I wore my ugly shoes for comfort and my scarf was wet from rinsing it in the airport sink after the fringe dragged in the toilet. But hey, I did it. (from Bloom)

She's all about trying to do your best, and when you realize someone else is doing it better, which is pretty much always going to happen, you just keep on doing it and enjoying it. You should definitely read it.

Speaking of good books, my latest post is up at the Homeschool Share blog--a review on 26 Fairmount Avenue, a big favorite around here!

Little Nino's Pizzeria & Pizza Party DNG

Last week we spent some time with Little Nino's Pizzeria.
(Seriously? Blogger hasn't twisted my pictures in a long time and tonight it's making up for it. Sorry.)

Because Little Nino's is a shorter book and we were going to be doing so much of it orally, I decided to add in some things from the Pizza Party Download N Go.

Some of our notebook pages.

I have found that it works best for us to print off the components and treat it like we would a regular lapbook/notebook.

I had originally planned to row Little Nino's when Jack was much younger, but it kept getting pushed back. I had gotten this Pizza Math game as a go-along, and even though the math part is way too easy, Jack still thinks it's fun to play to see who can make a certain kind of pizza first.

In addition to our family pizza party, we had dessert pizza one evening. I used this recipe, but I used my own sugar cookie dough.

I made this felt pizza for Jack years ago (the idea was from ToddlerToddler) and it is still a huge hit with Alice.

We used this book for learning about different places in Italy.

It's been a couple of years since we did Papa Piccolo, so we got it back out to learn about Venice.

Alice enjoyed both of these books!

I'm pretty sure we've never found a Monica Wellington book we didn't like!

It seems we've been hungry lately--I'll have pictures from our chocolate unit up soon!

Happy Easter!

Easter morning started early with these empty tomb donuts, which I found on Catholic Icing. Jay said this would probably be the kind of thing Bill Maher would make fun of, which I think means they are the best donuts ever.

The kids were pretty groggy when I got them up for baskets and breakfast.

By the time we had to leave, though, they looked pretty spiffy.

We hunted eggs at my parents' house--photo stolen from my sister's facebook page.

(Another stolen from my sister!)
Happy Easter!