A little of Week 17 and 18...

Hellowwww everyone! Long time since I've been posting. I know- I've missed writing about our days.

It's been quite the last few weeks. In a nutshell we got a really bad virus of sort, not sure what it was- but the words, "viral meningitis" and "flu like symptoms" passed around our house as we tried to figure out what we had. So every free minute I had was either carrying a child, taking temps, administering meds, prepping meals, or teaching. So the blog had to fall to the way side a bit as I regained control of the laundry, regular chores, and sleep at night time. 

Anyone else out there that has had a similar week? It's not fun. I'm just glad that we only have 2 children for it to pass through and not 6 children as my sister- in- law does. Seriously? I can't imagine months of sickness, it's just not fun- 

for anyone.

Anyhow here is what we did from our lesson plans. 

When studying the Aztecs (lesson 17), we had to make Mexican Hot Chocolate. I bought this at Walmart. Each triangle is the serving of one mug. The real recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate uses hot peppers, but I just knew my kids wouldn't go for that, so I bought this instead.

I grew up in San Antonio, where this stuff was a normal ration in our pantry all year round. 

You just heat your milk up on the stove and let the triangles dissolve in you pot. I added whip cream, because you just need to add a little of that every time you have an excuse. 

Do you know how easy it is to make homemade whip cream? I use heavy whipping cream, agave and vanilla to taste and whip away. And of course they have to lick the whisk.

YUMMMY!

I found this wonderful Cactus looking fruit at our local grocery store. I don't know the name, but thought it would go great with our taste testing for Aztecs. It looked cactus enough and they grew cacti plants in Mexico, so there, that's the connection. The verdict? It was a cross between an apple and a pear. My kids aren't big on seeds, so they opted not to eat more than the obligatory first slice.

They had to eat the fruit before they got this...

Who doesn't love hot chocolate? 

School on that day, definitely had it's pay offs. :)

Lucy had some block cards I made her. I won't attach the file, since it only works if you have the exact same blocks. Basically I arranged the blocks in specific ways...

Then took pictures and printed them on card stock. I then sliced it up and put it in a ring. Easy Weesey!

Then she looked at the cards and matched them up accordingly. I loved the activity. It was hands on and had a large amount of independence and self checking built right in. I'm sure it has some great brain research to back it, since it's "Montessori" but I'm too tired to research that now, so you'll just have to trust me when I say- it's great!

For Week 18, we took this picture...

And I drew out the outline on three regular sheets of white paper (taped together to make a really long piece). If I were to do it again, I would use glue and let the papers dry then paint. Tony then painted the parts and we ended up with a beautiful painting that took about an hour (divided up) to complete.

Lucy did her own style of painting...

I was really proud of him finishing it and he loved showing dad when he got home. :)

My printer conveniently broke that day so I just wrote out the labels on index cards then I cut them up and we duct taped them to the dried painting. So much fun!

Last but not least, something that is not in my lesson plans, but fun nonetheless.

 I did a quick re enactment of the ocean floor in our house...

Lucy is sitting on the continental shelf with all the animals. The chair is the continental slope. Tony is siting on top of the mid ocean ridge and afraid of falling into our lava (aka: bean bag) below. The table leaf is the new land that is forming.

Last but not least, if you are wanting a terrible ocean trench, place the chairs in the room and have your child act like they are trying to get up...

This is our island and underwater sea mount, which of course meant they were stranded... left to look for food and shelter.

We lined this all up in the room and had them go to and from each item. We made up a story of how I had to get across the ocean floor and they reenacted it. They could have done this all day, but separating the table and seeing all the gunk in between the leaves really took more time then I care to admit. So if you do this, make sure you set up the table the night before. 

 I will hopefully post more in a couple of days. I have some great things I'd like to share soon.

As far as upcoming lesson plans. I'm so glad you have been enjoying them. I am currently working on Lessons 21-24. That means I'm going to skip making them for 19 and possibly 20. If I get time I will make 20, we'll just see how things go.

I know that might be a huge disappointment to some, but I had to figure out a way to regain some time before the next one is due. I am naturally a night owl, but with all of us getting sick it really threw me off my productive schedule.  So I will return with the remaining ones as soon as I finish. They will be no earlier than March 1st. 

If that works for you, great. If not I hope you will join us for the lessons next year.

 As far as that goes, I plan on having the entire year done in the summer- so this won't happen again. :) 

In the meantime, I'm sure you will be able to find some fabulous things online that can help you with lessons 19 and 20. I'll post what I do for those weeks, but I won't have web links and book lists. Those are what take me the longest to do and I really need to work ahead so I won't be up again the gun as I was before.

Next post will be the book winner and lesson plan winners for the next set! I can't wait to announce!

Blessings and health to you all!

-Crecia