Apple Blossom Academy

Playing Catchup

2008-06-18T00:54:00.009+02:00

I have really neglected this blog over the past ...year almost!!! So here's the lowdown of what we've been up to.

Our 'Finca' rennovation in Spain is complete.We first stayed in it in December and although a little chilly it was wonderful to finally have it finished.

Christmas and new year at home were quiet and peaceful, followed by a reasonably uneventful

few months.Rose turned 4 in March and we had a little family get together, as are proving popular for both kids to celebrate their special days.

Here is the cake which I made for her, which I'll admit is a little out of shape LOL! but it made one little 4 year old ver happy indeed.

There can only be one word to describe easter here -FREEZING.But aside from that we did quite alot of crafts ,stories etc.for easter this year. Here is our lenten garden before it was transformed....

into an easter one.
And here are our Easter gift baskets...
So back to birthdays namely mine -it was a big one,I was 30 on March 31st and as dh's was April 4th we decided to go back to Spain.Weather was glorious this time and the highlight for Sam was that he got his new bike with money given to hm by my parents at christmastime.Here he is outside the house looking very pleased.

We are still using math-u-see and Sam has now moved on to Beta,Rose will be using Primer in September,LLATL and of course Five in a Row.We have rowed many books this year and made lots of lapbooks and a notebook.At the moment we are doing a really fun unit study on 'Charlotte's Web' which I got free from homeschoolestore some time ago.When we finish it we will watch the movie -in Spain,because that's where we're headed a week today.We will be there for 16 days. Dh and my MIL are staying for the first 9 and then we'll be on our own.We will be going back again at the beginning of august probably for another couple of weeks,fortunately the fights are good value at the moment.Another thing which we plan to go to this summer is something I quite by accident stumbled across online last week -Expo 2008.It's in Zaragoza in Spain,which is the other end of Spain from where we are, but we may fly there and drive home or something,still working on the details.I was at Expo '92 in Seville with my family and I am always raving about it to people,I think it will be a really fun educational experience for us all.

Well thats pretty much it for now,I'll try not to make it so long before the next post and then maybe it won't be so long-winded !!

The Bee Tree.

2007-10-05T00:23:00.000+02:00

I'm a bit late posting these pictures of our unit study on 'The Bee Tree' but here they are.We spent just over 2 weeks with this book as we were in Spain for some of the time.Here are the vocabulary flap books that Sam made by writing the word on the top and inside he stuck pictures which we got from HSS.He also did some fingerprint bees to decorate this page and stuck in some images.

I printed out a few quizzes about bees which Sam completed (one is on the page underneath 'the life cycle of a bee' circle),and he learned about hexagons.
For geography we found Michagan on the map and also observed that as the state bird is the Robin and state flower Apple Blossom that the climate must be very similar to here as both are native to here also.Sam also colored Canada's flag which he knows well as he is abig maple syrup fan!
We also learned about the Klondike gold rush,the Yukon and gold in general.I added a page on the Klondike gold rush to our timeline notebook.
Finally we read and talked about the Pslam from HSS,identified and painted string instruments, and on the theme of hospitality; invited Granny to a Honey Tea Party, complete with baking powder biscuits,an assortment of honey,banana pops(to dip in honey)orange honey butter and camomile,honey and vanilla tea!Yummy!
The children also LOVED making beeswax candles (which we burned at the tea party)as the did doing a treasure hunt which dh and I set up for them in Spain.

Here are Rose's notebok pages too!

Michaelmas Celebration.

2007-10-02T01:14:00.000+02:00

For the first time ,we decided to have a Michaelmas celebration this year.We had a roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings and invited granny and nana and papa.We had been reading all about the archangels and I decided after getting a few ideas online to make it more memorable for dc by making a dragon cake for them to slay-as St.Michael did to banish Lucifer from heaven.To make it really authentic we coloured the cake red inside.It was a memorable evening!

Holidays!

2007-10-02T01:10:00.001+02:00

Our Holidays.

2007-10-02T00:27:00.000+02:00

We just returned from our holiday in Spain last Thursday.It was a lovely relaxing time for all of us with way too much good food,gloroius weather and lots of swimming for Sam and Rose.
We spent our time in my parents finca(spanish for country house),as our new house is not finished yet.It is looking really good though,and will hopefully be completely ready in about a month,it is very close to my parents.I am going back to Spain next week with dc,my mum,aunt and cousin to furnish the house.Unfortunately dh can't come as he is really busy in the midst of the apple harvest.
While we were there we spent a day in Malaga-Picasso's birthplace.I had an appointment so dh took dc to the Picasso museum which they seemed to enjoy and we went on a horse and carriage ride around Malaga.It is a really beautiful city which up until recently was very neglected by tourists.There is a magnificent cathederal,the alcazaba (old castle), port,tropical gardens,many traditional streets with pretty pavement cafes, and much much more.We agreed that we must go back in the winter when it's cooler and spend a few days staying in the city.
We also went to see where honey was made just down the road from the finca.The man keeps his beehives in my father's orange groves amongst other places.We bought some Orange Blossom and Milflores(which is made from wildfolwers)honey and also saw Avocado and Eucalyptus honeys.We tasted some of the Avocado honey which my parents had in the finca and
were surprised that it was qiute mild and very good!!
The only slight problem that we encountered during our stay was an unbelieveable thunderdstorm on our second night there.Some time in the middle of the night it began and I had never seen or heard anything like the thunder and lightning.Then it rained torrentially for hours on end during the night and finished up with hailstones the size of icecubes!!!
Thankfully it had ceased by morning and while it took all of the day to dry up,there were no repeats.

Beauty and the Boy.

2007-10-02T00:05:00.000+02:00

On Thursday 13th September,I took Sam & Rose along with my aunt and cousin to see the Disney musical 'Beauty and the Beast'.It was a fantastic show and just by luck while we were returning to our car we met the Inventor(Belle's father) and the Beast leaving the theatre! They kindly signed my aunt's programme while stopping to chat.I absolutely adore musicals and this one was no exception,my aunt admitted that she too chokes up at the final curtain,so hopefully we will go to some more musicals together as dh doesn't really share my passion for them!

Weekly Menu

2007-09-11T00:34:00.000+02:00

Our menu for this week reflects that we are all cutting down,and trying to eat a bit lighter as we are off on holidays to Spain next week.Dh and ds especially have had to loosen their belts recently so we're trying to be in healthy mode this week.
Monday
Trout baked with lemon and pepper,with lightly creamed leeks,corn on the cob and
baby new potatoes.
Followed by fruit and yogurt.
Tuesday
Carrot and Parsnip soup,with baps and Avocado butter.
Followed by banana muffins with strawberriesand blueberries.
Wednesday
Sausage and Lentil stew with garlic mashed potatoes.
Followed by Tropical fruit salad.
Thursday
Chicken Curry with Rice.
Followed by Tropical fruit salad or banana muffins.
Friday
Fish cakes with Pea and Garlic Puree and cabbage with bacon.
Followed by Stuffed baked Apples.

Papa Piccolo

2007-09-10T00:36:00.000+02:00

Our book for this past two weeks has been Papa Piccolo,we rowed this one last year too,it was very popular,especially with the yummy Italian food to accompany it.

Here's what we did and our scrapbook pages.

-We learned about Italy's geography in Europe,looked at it in our atlas and talked about the continents,and coloured in the Italian flag.

-I chose some new vocbulary from the manual and we found pictures to illustrate them with.Then Sam wrote the words on the front flaps.He also coloured in a gondola which I stuck in his notebook.

-We read about Marco Polo and traced his route
on a map.We also included an entrry

about him in our timeline notebook.

-We read 'The Fox and the Sour Grapes' and dicussed 'sour grapes'.

-Everyone had great fun learning about the colour wheel,Sam played some online quizzes and games and the we did some colour experiments with markers,food colouring and water.

-Sam and Rose painted masks and did a little bit of roleplay as Piccolo and Sophia(left).

-We learned about 'Nocturnal' animals and I printed out sheets of some different types which Sam painted and stuck in.For his background he used watercolours to make a night sky and then put some gold flecks on it to look like stars.

-Sam stuck the correct pictures of how a kitten grows on the table from HSS.

-I typed out Sam's narration of the story and stuck it in,and I also added some photos from 'Our Italian Dinner' and also of dc making Biscotti,yum!

Here are the Photos closer up;

Here are some pictures of Rose's notebook also.She did some of the same things as Sam,and she learned a little rhyme and learned about the letter 'C'.

Tuesday Tea and Crafts

2007-09-06T00:51:00.000+02:00

For the first of our tea and crafts this week we decided to have it after dinner so that dh could join in the fun.

We had homemade carrot cake which I made the previous day,and our new favourite tea 'Camomile,Honey & Vanilla'.

We read about Noah from 'The Pray and Play Bible'.Then we did some of the suggested activities which included playing a game,singing a song and a craft.

For our craft we made 'Helping Hands',by tracing around our hands on coloured card then we wrote our names on them,decorated them and made a handle from a pipecleaner.When someone is going to help out in a certain room they hang their 'Helping Hand' on the door.So hopefully I will get lots of help with chores now ! lol.

It was fun to share our tea party with dad hopefully he will join in from now on!

Menu of the week

2007-09-03T21:45:00.000+02:00

I have just finished compiling our weekly menu and here it is;

Monday
Cheesy Fish Bake - Trout fillets covered with courgettes,babycorn
and cherry tomatoes,topped with parmesan breadcrumbs and baked.
Served with boiled potatoes.
Followed by Banoffee Pie (leftover from sunday)

Tuesday

Pasta with Marinara Sauce served with Garlic Bread.

Followed by homemade Carrot Cake with cream cheese icing.

Wednesday

Kids night: Cowboy Casserole -sausages,bacon and baked beans

cooked together served either a baked potato or mash.

Followed by homemade Carrot Cake.

Thursday

Chicken and Vegetable Risotto topped with cheese.

Followed by homemade Iced Apple Sponge made with apples from our garden.

Friday

Fish Lasagne served with a green salad and warm crusty bread.

Followed by homemade Iced Apple Sponge.

One other thing we will be cooking this week will be Biscotti to accompany the book we are reading 'Papa Piccolo'.We will have some of this with our tea and crafts on wednesday evening.

2007-09-03T15:06:00.001+02:00

On board Titanic's Little Sister

2007-09-03T14:32:00.000+02:00

On Sunday, which is the only day that dh can spend the day(well,most of it!)with us I decided it would be fun to do something exciting.
So,I had read about a boat trip you can go on in Belfast around the Titanic quarter,where Titanic was built.We set off for the 3:30pm sailing but it was not to be.Firstly we ran into lots of roadworks which made us late,then we couldn't find the dock where the boat trip left from,then we found it and no-one was there(wrong side!),then we couldn't find a car park nearby,and when we finally did we just spotted the ship pulling out! TOO LATE.
Just as tempers were getting frayed and all seemed lost dh spotted another bigger ship,- S.S.NOMADIC docked at the harbour.So we went for a look.It is actually the sister ship of the Titanic,built at the same time, by the same men and launched on the same day.She was designed to carry the wealthy upper classes out to the waiting liners(of which one was Titanic).During the great war & WWII she served as a troopship,then from 1968-1999 when she had retired she became an exclusive restaurant on the Seine in paris.
They had an exhibition on board of Titanic artefacts and some things used in the film,so we had a look.(slideshow above)It was very interesting,as this is the last surviving 'White Star Line'ship in the world.The dept for social development here plan to fully restore the ship to her former glory by 2012,the money raised from people visiting the onboard museum will go towards doing this.
So there was a silver lining to this cloudy sunday after all!

Feasting on Friday

2007-09-03T13:58:00.000+02:00

On friday I invited my Grandad to have dinner with us.I haven't seen much of him all summer as he has been away in his caravan.

He is a wonderful man,so youthful for eighty three!So now he's off to his house in Spain now for a month.We had a lovely evening with him,the kids are very fond of him too.

I cooked one of dh's favourite teas 'Fish Pie' with salmon & prawns,which was a big hit with everyone.Dessert unfortunately wasn't such a sucess.After spending a good part of the afternoon with dc making a large 'pineapple upsidedown cake' I DROPPED IT !!!!!!! lifting it out of the oven.So for dessert I had to improvise and make a sort of strawberry mouse,luckily I had some fresh strawberries to make it with and some rice crispie buns(from thursday) to eat with it!

So all was not lost.

Out and About

2007-08-31T02:53:00.001+02:00

2007-08-31T02:25:00.001+02:00

Sam,Rose and I had a fun day out this week with some fellow FIAR friends.We met up at the playground and all the kids had lots of fun as you can see(above)!.Then after a little walk we enjoyed a picnic and our friends brought some yummy banana muffins (the recipie for which I have been promised)

Thankfully the weather stayed good and we had a great time. We're planning to do it again next week and hopefully a few other home educating families will join us!

Tea and Crafts

2007-08-27T23:44:00.000+02:00

Ok,I have been reading lately about people having 'Tea' and crafts time with their children and using the time to talk about bible studies or religion.

I thought this was a great idea, so this evening we had our own version of it.

We started off by making 'Good Deed Beads' which are simply 10 beads threaded onto thread/string/wool and at the bottom could be a cross or holy medal.At the top you tie the thread/string/wool onto a safety pin and the child can then pin it onto something.The idea is that every time you do a good deed or say a little prayer you can move a bead up or down the string and you should try to do ten of these things each day.

This is Sam enjoying his tea which we had just before bedtime,we used some fancy china and enjoyed cheesecake bars which we made earlier this evening.His good deed beads are laid on the table.During this time we listened to music and talked about examples of kind things that we could do each day.

Rose is wearing her beads.The tea time was a really pleasant experience,I bought special camomile,honey and vanilla teabags today so we had tea from these and I sweetened it with some honey.I hope we can make this a regular occurence,I am going to try and do it at least once or twice a week.

Quiet Weekend & lots of DANCING!!

2007-08-27T14:06:00.000+02:00

A quiet weekend here.Dh wasn't home until sat evening from england (filling in for a driver on holidays).So, dc and I spent the day about the house,as guess what? It was raining for a change!!lol.They helped me with a few chores in the morning and we had some fun playing Snakes and Ladders this afternoon.After dinner we watched a movie,but dh was too tired after no sleep the night before so he went to bed very early.

Sunday we all had a lie in.Then went out for a late lunch before mass at 5:30.After that we went, as we usually do on sunday evening to visit my MIL -Granny.Sam went across the road to his cousin's house and ended up sleeping over,so he wasn't home until teatime today.

While he was gone Rose and I discovered that you can listen to lots of songs on nick jr radio at their website,so she did lots of dancing to all the lazytown tunes.Here she is;

Storm in the Night

2007-08-25T00:34:00.000+02:00

For the past few weeks we have been reading 'Storm in the Night'.It has been very interesting and fun.

Here are some pictures of the children's notebooks.And a rundown of what we did;

Page1 :

Sam drew some different facial expressions from the lesson in the manual.

We listed some sources of light,and learned a memory verse about fear.

There is a picture of Sam holding the "worry warrior"that he made.We got this idea from the crayola website,it is to help childern talk about their fears.
Sam decorated this page by drawing some sources of light.

Page 2:

We experimented with acrylic paints and did the lesson suggsted in the manual.

Sam completed a book on using the 5 senses,after we had had lots of fun doing sensory activities.

After reading all about lightning Sam did a few quizes about it.

Page 3:

I typed out a narration of the story which Sam dictated.

We learned the vocabulary from the story and made a mini book for it.

We made a mini book about Onomatopoeia and stuck some examples into it.

Sam illustrated the page with thunder and lightning.

We talked about Sam's relatioship with his 'Papa' and he wrote a few sentences about it.

Finally we put in some pictures of our special 'Storm in the Night' tea.

I also decided to get a notebook for Rose,although she is only 3 and won't have as much to put in it as Sam.I thought it would be nice for her to have her 'own' book to put a few things into.So,she has some painting,coloring,a rhyme and some photos too.Here's her page;

Pillowcase Prayers.

2007-08-24T20:47:00.001+02:00

I have been looking through my new book-' The Big Book of Catholic Customs and Traditions'
which arrived just the other day and there are some really good ideas in it.I spent a few hours today on one of them;It gives you a simple morning offering and night prayer for children and you write one on either side of a plain pillowcase in permanent marker.So the child can look at one side in the morning and say their morning prayer and at bedtime turn the pillow over and say their night prayer.I was really pleased with the results.Here it is!

Tuesday Tales

2007-08-22T00:26:00.000+02:00

Yesterday our new curriculum arrived from Math-u-see,so we started using it today.I have a bit of a phobia about maths and I began to fear that this was wearing off on Sam as he always groans at the mention of the subject,so after some deliberation I decided to take the plunge and buy the quite costly Math-u-see Alpha curriculum.I'm hoping that this will help Sam understand maths as we can watch the author(or teacher?)explain the lessons, which I seem to be unable to do without confusing both of us!

So maths today went well!! Long may it last......we'll see!

We also started our LLATL red book yesterday,which I'm quite impressed with so far, although there is quite a jump with the amount of written work compared with the blue book.Sam just HATES writing, although his handwriting is good and he can do it quickly when he sets his mind to it, he moans so much about it.

We did some Spanish after english, and after lunch we went grocery shopping.I bought Rose and Sam some cool new markers ,in the hope of inspiring some masterpieces.So when we got home Rose started drawing,when she couldn't draw a 'good' dog she asked me to help, so in the middle of frantically cooking tea I tried to oblige.Tried being the optimum word.Rose said very irritatedly 'Mummy you drew a dinosaur-I wanted a dog!' .That made me laugh!LOL