update update, chocolate & preschool

on the chocolate front...
I have mastered the nut butter to chocolate ratio in a nut butter cup. they how ever do not look very pretty. to be honest they look like lumps of poo. Kaitlyn has however given them the official thumbs up and requested several more.
I however still have not made any caramel. i need to make sweetened condensed milk from soy milk and buy some arrowroot. The condensed milk looks easy enough to make but haven't bothered to yet since i have forgotten to buy arrowroot for 3 trips to the store.
If i can make a decent caramel, twix bars are in the future. mounds bars are also on the to-do list. Of the chocolates that i have made so far the fruit filled hearts are my favorite with marshmallow lips coming in second. The almond butter cups are good but almond butter is NOT peanut butter and well peanut butter is better. Although i am tempted to make peanut butter cups, with Kaitlyn the risk is not worth it.
in the preschool universe....
"P" week was sooooo much fun. We painted. We made Puppets. We did Pattern blocks. We made Play dough. We ate pizza and made pirogies. Anyway P week was a blast. I was worried that "Q" week would be dull. What fun things to do start with Q? Well i found i science lesson on Quick sand, it was so much fun. In fact we will be making quicksand again for S week so we can compare and contrast sand and quicksand. Super neat stuff quicksand. We also made quilt blocks. They were fun but not as cool as quicksand. Today we have started "R" week. In my web browsing for spring planting and then fun R things to do, I am sure i am now on the the FBI's watch list. i started the day with fertilizer, poly tunnels and polyurethane coverings, composting mixes, how to hide fertilizer or compost bins, gardening in plane site, home made rockets, rocket fuel, fuel for the home made rocket. well you can see how maybe those searches might have put up a red flag some where. If i can't come up with a preschool level rocket experiment, we will stick to recycling, rescue responders and (if i can locate a prism) rainbows. Not that rainbows aren't cool, it's just not a rocket.
Well I had better go. Laundry is calling and i really need to get some sewing done.

Happy October 1st

This has been a fun week for us. It has gotten allot colder outside. With the cold we are more reluctant to stop snuggling under our blankets to actually get the day going. Colder weather means all that wonderful cold weather slow cooked dinners. Less to do at dinner time but I am doing allot of cooking each morning between breakfast, dinner, lunch and a snack by noon.
This has been E week. It's been fun with Elephants, Eggs, Ovals, Pomp & Circumstance composer Edward Elgar, and Amelia Earhart. Granted we have had lessons after lunch everyday this week instead of our usual 10am. That just means our mornings have been free play with me cooking and our afternoons the more structured part of our day.
I did cave in yesterday and turned on the furnace. It was still 63 in the house at lunch time and when we went out to play it felt warmer outside. It was only 54 outside but the sun was warm on your back. It was 90 a week and a half ago, what happened? I will have to start my marathon leaf raking soon. The yard is actually littered with leaves now. I have ignored them until now because i am stubborn and silly and decided that I would not acknowledged the leaves until it was October. It is now the first of October and the last two cold nights have tripled the amount of leaves in the yard. Ugg!
I think we will decorate the house today for fall. My spring/summer decorations just seem very out of place with the furnace on. Daisy's to fall leaf bouquets & jacks to gourds in the vases in dining room, Flowers to leaves & scarecrows in the large picture window, sandals to slippers by the back door, fans to blankets in the corner, oh yes and the heavy drapes for our drafty windows. Yes it's fall, no more ignoring, I love the fall, but winter was just so long last year, I don't even want to consider winter, and to love fall, to embrace fall, I must consider winter.

learning, preschool, & me

I learned several new things today. Just typing this makes me giggle just a little, well OK allot.
I learned things today while teaching preschool to my darling little girls.
Yes, I said Preschool.
As the weeks have passed I have actually learned quite a few things during our hour of preschool or during my collection efforts for preschool.
I have learned allot about modern American Music through our weekly composers. The largest crab in the world lives off the shores of Japan and has a leg span of 12 feet. And I had no idea that the Dalmatian Puppy was from the country of Dalmatia.
Between the composer, sign language, 2 animals, and a historical figure each week.. so much learning for me. Then there is the other stuff too shapes, ABC's, number's, math concepts, writing, cutting & pasting, singing, and poems.... lots of learning for everyone.

Neat art project

Thursday is Social Studies and art project day in preschool.
It being "C" week our historical figure was Christopher Columbus today.
I found an awesome little art project that happened to be about our historical figure. It was "ship in a bottle" construction paper, markers, scissors, glue, and plastic wrap. Needless to say the girls had fun & their "ship in a bottle" is really cool.
http://www.alphabet-soup.net/columbus/columbus.html
If you scroll down far enough on the link you will find the instructions and a picture. Very cute and very fun project.
Tomorrow is Friday and we will be wrapping up "C" week with a cookie making marathon. We will make several different cookie doughs and then ball & freeze them. Way better than Pillsbury and just as easy. Fresh baked home made cookies when ever we want them, straight from our freezer.

Our B week

On Sunday we spent time at grandma & grandpa's house extracting honey. Honey made by grandma's Bees. Bees that had collected nectar from the Apple orchard. A wonderfully sweet transition from A to B.
Monday we had Biscuits with honey for breakfast. With honey still sweet on our lips we acquainted ourselves with the letter B. Bird, Ball, Banana, Bread, Bus, so many B things.
Tuesday we had Blueberry muffins and colored Two Blue Bears holding Birthday Balloons.
Wednesday we had oatmeal, because we were in the mood for oatmeal. We learned all about Butterflies and made a Buzzing Bumble Bee. Then we listened to "Flight of the Bumble Bee" by Beethoven while we had Bread with honey.
Tomorrow we will learn about Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox Babe.
Friday will be all about Bananas. Banana books, Banana Bread making, and banana eating.
Have a happy B week. :)

I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee
Won't my mama be so proud of me
I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee
Won't my mama be so proud of me

yeah

I am finally feeling better. Yeah! And so are my girls.
Kaitlyn has not had a tummy ache in four days.
Samantha is going on two days tummy ache free.
I am hoping that this means that my ability to drink coffee and still feel ok this morning is a good good sign.
To add to my overall feeling better good mood.
My house is clean. It hasn't been all clean since June. I know it may sound strange but I get a kinda zen feeling when my house is clean. To add a cherry on top I am caught up on the laundry too.
Preschool has been going wonderfully. My darling little girls are soaking up the lessons as fast as I can give them. Tomorrow will be the last day of "A" week. We are going to make an apple pie tomorrow and this weekend we will visit Grandma Bev's Apple Garden to finish off our week. If we are lucky we will get to see some honey extraction from her bee hives which will lead nicely into "B" week.
Happy learning all.

preschool- is fun

Alright, preschool has been going better than I could have hoped for.
It's really really awesome!
We haven't started our full fledged curriculum yet, but it's still going great. This week we have been working on the intro week. I am suppose to be introducing the alphabet to the girls. The girls are already very familiar with the alphabet. But sitting and having lessons for an hour is a new concept. So this week we have been creating a routine and doing various activities that we will do in our lessons, with no real focus on any one letter but just letters in general. I have been gathering up the materials needed for our lessons and storing them in a functional spot. Each time we do a sample lesson I think to myself, "______ would make this so much easier." Hopefully by Monday we will have all the kinks worked out.
The only unforeseen problem so far is, Kaitlyn doesn't want to stop at an hour.

Preschool, part two

I am going to do preschool at home!
I have found an online curriculum that is adaptable to both Kaitlyn and Samantha and doesn't expect us to spend more than an hour on lessons each day. It's called "letter of the week" and well we learn all about a letter each week. There are poems, songs, coloring pages, even letter themed snacks. http://www.letteroftheweek.com/index.html
I figure with some scheduled planned teaching instead of just learning based activities, I should be able to properly stimulate Kaitlyn. That along with a few extra curricular activities, like dance or art classes should be just about right.
I had been hoping to have her join girl scouts but the web site says Kindergarten is the youngest they take. Camp Fire has a pre-K group for three to five year olds. That may work but I really wanted her to be with other five year olds. I have sent off e-mails to both groups. Having been a girl scout myself, I know Kaitlyn would love it.
I am going to start with the intro week tommrow and do "A" starting on the 1st. Wish me luck!

preschool?

I have worried and worried about PRESCHOOL.

Well point blank we can't afford preschool. We earn to much to attend any state run facility and the private run preschools are out of our budget. If our children need something, Eric and I will do what ever it takes to make it happen.

But that is the essential question, Does Kaitlyn need preschool?

I have read so many books, articles, parent polls, parent & expert blogs, completed tests, answered questions, and anything else that is relevant to preschool that I can get my hands on, this has lead to many sleepless nights and one answer. No, Kaitlyn does not need preschool. Kaitlyn is a well socialized child that is confident and kindergarten ready.

Then the question became, Do I need Kaitlyn to go to preschool?

Her almost five year old mind, is craving, no demanding more complex and involved stimulation. So I returned to my books, websites & blogs to determine how I would cope with a five year old at home. Almost everything says, send them to preschool. I quickly learned that, keeping a five year old entertained at home with out the help of preschool is not for the faint of heart. I still can't afford preschool but my sanity is also a valuable asset.

What to do, What to do. I am still figuring it out but I am close to a solution.