I can’t believe we’ve already completed eight weeks of school!
Ladybug reviewed finding the perimeter of different shapes in geometry. She finished the chapter on ecology in science. In history, she read about the fall of Sumer. Our theme for recipes from The Little Women Cookbook this week was desserts…Parisian cream puffs, apple slump, and Meg’s “plum” pudding with a delightful orange caramel sauce:
Chickadee started solving equations with parentheses in math. She added direct objects to her sentence diagrams in grammar. We started reading about sea turtles in science. We visited Central and South American in Another Trip Around the World. We made both beef empanadas and dessert empanadas filled with blackberry preserves when we learned about Panama, and Pan de Jamón when we read about Venezuela.
It looks like next week we’re going to have some real fall weather, and I can’t wait!
As part of Chickadee’s geography lessons this year, we’ve added some cooking and baking to our school days. We just finished A Trip Around the World…Before we start Another Trip Around the World, here’s a look at the recipes we’ve made so far, either found in or inspired by the first book:
Here’s the full list:
Brigadeiro (chocolate truffles) from Brazil
Palace Bread from Egypt
Tapioca Pudding with Pineapple from Kenya
Dutch Egg and Cheese from The Netherlands
Pflaumenkuchen (plum cake) from Germany
Cucumber Salad from China
Hummus from Saudi Arabia
Damper Bread from Australia
Meat Pie from Australia
Blueberry Crumble with “snowballs” (vanilla ice cream) from Canada
I can’t wait to start the next book and try even more new recipes!
For the second year in a row, we didn’t get to go to the inaugural Great North American Oktoberfest in St. Louis (and at this point, I’m kind of thinking that the event will never happen), but we did have a happy Markel Family Oktoberfest at home! I started last week by assembling all of our favorite German foods from Aldi’s Deutsche Küche:
For lunch, we had cheddar and beer fondue with homemade pretzels, German pickles, and Nürnberger Bratwurst, plus more pretzels with beer mustard and nacho cheese sauce for those who don’t like fondue:
Dinner was schnitzel with optional Jäger sauce, spaetzle, sauerkraut, artichoke and cheese strudel, and red cabbage with apples:
And dessert was, of course, Black Forest cherry torte:
I also had a fun Oktoberfest celebration with my neighbors in Animal Crossing: New Horizons:
It wasn’t quite the Oktoberfest I had hoped for (again), especially after I derailed our pretzel-making to go to Urgent Care to have a splinter removed (that was unpleasant!), but it was a fun day of celebrating our German heritage!
Fall is finally here and this was a beautiful week for school! On Tuesday, we enjoyed a cool (albeit rainy) walk around Forest Park and the St. Louis Zoo:
Ladybug learned about complementary and supplementary angles in geometry this week. In her study of comparative religions, she traveled to the Far East, where she read about Shintoism, Confucianism, and Taoism. She started learning about ecology in biology. We finished the first book of Little Women, and made a bunch of new recipes from The Little Women Cookbook: Meg’s chicken and macaroni soup (plus more maple-cornmeal drop biscuits), oatmeal porridge with apples, cinnamon, and maple syrup, Meg’s macaroni and cheese, vanilla butter cookies with Mr. Bhaer’s chocolate drops, Hannah’s smoked sausage and potato “mess” and Meg’s currant jelly sauce:
Chickadee worked on rounding in math, including rounding money. She started learning about pinnipeds in science…so far, we’ve learned how to identify a true seal. We worked on diagramming adverbs in grammar. We finished our first trip around the world, and made three new recipes…a meat pie which was surprisingly well-received, plus damper bread, both from Australia, and a blueberry crumble with “snowballs” (vanilla ice cream) from Canada:
Since the weather was so nice, we spent some extra time doing our school work outside this week…I especially enjoyed reading Little Women under the tree in our yard!
It’s supposed to warm back up, so I guess next week won’t be quite as pleasant as this one was, but more beautiful fall days are on the way!
I realized this morning that we’re already a quarter of the way though our countdown to the 100th day of school, and that’s really hard to believe!
Ladybug got to have fun with her compass in geometry this week when she bisected angles. She read about pyramids in history…not just the Great Pyramids with which everyone is familiar, but the different styles that led up to them. She practiced writing both sides of an argument. In science she wrapped up the second chapter by learning about hydrolysis. We made four new recipes from The Little Women Cookbook (maple-cornmeal drop biscuits, New England fish chowder, black raspberry jelly cake with lemon cream, and “Indian meal” griddle cakes), plus a variation on the cheese and jam turnovers we made previously.
Chickadee reviewed rounding numbers to different place values before adding them in math. She learned about baleen whales in science. She started diagramming adverbs. I introduced a new poem for her to memorize. We moved farther east to Asia in geography, where she learned about Saudi Arabia and we made hummus, as well as China, which featured a delicious cucumber salad:
I’m starting to hope for a fun, outdoors field trip for fall…I just need it to cool off a bit more first!
Ladybug identified different types of angles in geometry, so nothing too difficult there. She learned a bit about the pH scale in biology, and we did a fun experiment with water, vinegar, antacids, baking powder, and baking soda. She read about Gilgamesh in history. In writing, she worked on adding to sentences to make them more interesting. We continued reading Little Women, and we got to the part where Beth gets sick for the first time (we discussed putting the book in the freezer). We tried a lot of new recipes from The Little Women Cookbook…a dinner of apple orchard chicken, Hannah’s pounded potatoes, Jo’s much-improved asparagus and Amy’s lemonade (again), with “lemon cheese” tartlets for dessert, and another dinner of Hannah’s cottage pie, which is the best shepherd’s-style pie I’ve ever had!
Chickadee practiced word problems in math, including identifying if she had not enough or too much information in them. She finished memorizing “The Land of Nod,” and ahead of schedule, too! We read about dolphins, porpoises, and killer and beluga whales in science. Our geography study took us to Europe, where we learned about The Netherlands and she helped me make Dutch egg and cheese for dinner one night, and Germany…we made a Pflaumenkuchen (plum cake) for the first time!
I’m looking forward to more adventures in school and cooking next week!
We had a fun week of school! On Monday, we got to visit a sunflower field, something I’ve been wanting to do for months, but hadn’t gotten around to. It was a beautiful morning, and seeing that many bright and cheerful flowers was a really nice way to start the week!
Ladybug worked on measuring and drawing angles in geometry. She learned a little about the periodic table and chemical formulas in biology. We discussed ancient forms of writing in history. We read one of my favorite chapters in Little Women…Camp Laurence. I love the part where they play “rigamarole!” We also made two recipes from The Little Women Cookbook this week…Amy’s lemonade, which had the added flavors of orange and clove (so tasty!), and Amy’s “Christmas Day” muffins, which really did taste like Christmas thanks to orange, cranberry, and cinnamon. I’m a little disturbed that three of the four recipes we’ve tried are attributed to Amy, but the next bunch of recipes on the schedule represent a more wide variety of characters, which is good.
Chickadee reviewed Roman numerals in math, as well as adding and subtracting fractions. We started reading about whales in science. She reviewed verbs in grammar. In our study of geography, we traveled to Africa, where we visited Egypt and made a simplified version of palace bread, and Kenya, where the featured recipe was tapioca pudding with pineapple. I especially loved the pudding!
I haven’t decided if we’re having school on Monday or not, but at the very least, we’re looking forward to not having to get up early!
I was right…this week was weird, too! Turkey and Bunny started college, and getting used to their comings and goings is going to take some work. It’s definitely quieter in the house while they’re gone, which is also weird!
Despite the weirdness, we had a productive week. Ladybug had another geometry test and her first biology test (she was thrilled). We also got out the microscope for the first time, which was fun. She read about Islam in her study of comparative religions. She also continued her independent study of astronomy. We discussed the unification of ancient Egypt under Narmer. We added a little fun to grammar with the use of Mad Libs. We continued to read Little Women, and made two recipes from The Little Women Cookbook: Cheese and jam turnovers (or “muffs” if you’ve read the book), and Amy’s frothy French drinking chocolate.
Chickadee finished the first section of her Bible storybook on the beginning of the world through Noah. She had her first math test. She reviewed pronouns in grammar, and also began memorizing her first poem of the year, “The Land of Nod.” We wrapped up the first chapter in her science text…next week, she’ll start learning about specific aquatic creatures. Our study of geography took us to Mexico and Brazil. I’m trying to add in some hands-on activities in the way of crafts and cooking for that class, so we made Mexican tissue paper flowers and brigadeiro, a type of Brazilian truffles or bon bons.
And tonight we even got to see a rainbow, which fit perfectly with Chickadee’s story about Noah and the flood today!
Maybe next week, things will finally feel a little less weird, now that everyone has had a chance to get used to how different things are around here this year!
It seemed like the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics would never get here, and now they’ve already come and gone. Here’s a look back at our Japan-themed summer school.
We visited Origami in the Garden at the Missouri Botanical several times over the summer. The large-scale art installation was the perfect field trip to coincide with Tokyo 2020 (and was also postponed from last summer).
We also visited the Olympic Spectacular in St. Louis at Francis Field, home of the 1904 Summer Games:
I made a few fun treats for the Olympics…Olympics torches (white chocolate covered pretzels) and Team USA CHEERios treats.
We did a lot of cooking and tried a lot of Japanese foods. I worked really hard to find things we hadn’t had before, and used a variety of cooking methods and unfamiliar ingredients. We tried:
Spicy Ramen/Udon
Pork Gyoza
Coffee Jelly
Okonomiyaki
Matcha Mochi Cake
Vegetable Tempura
Potato Korokke
Fluffy Japanese Cheesecake
Kani Cream Korokke
Chicken Katsu Sandwich
Matcha Green Tea Cookies
Oyakodon
We were supposed to go out to a Japanese restaurant this summer, but COVID-19, so we got a party platter of sushi instead:
I’ve been holding on to the Lego Architecture Tokyo skyline since last year, and we finally got to build it!
Our American Girl dolls got into the Olympic spirit:
In between watching as much of the Olympics as we could, we also did some more traditional school work. We learned about Japanese history and culture, as well as the history of the Olympics. We read a lot of books…some I read out loud, and some were book basket choices. We also watched a selection of Olympic documentaries:
First—London 2012
The Everlasting Flame—Beijing 2008
Atlanta’s Olympic Glory—Atlanta 1996
16 Days of Glory—Los Angeles 1984
Athens 2004: Stories of Olympic Glory
Seoul 1988
And we also did several crafts, including origami, paper lanterns, Koinobori (Japanese carp windsocks), pipe cleaner and tissue paper cherry blossom branches, and medals (of course!):
I’ve been holding on to Ticket to Ride: Japan since last year, and we finally had a chance to play! I really enjoyed the new game mechanics introduced in this edition, and it was fun to get to know the geography of the area a little bit better.
We updated our medal chart every evening…here’s a look at the final results…we were very excited that the US won the gold medal race and had the most medals overall!
And, better late than never, our Family Olympics, which was delayed due to heat. We only had four events this year (frisbee throw, broad jump, soccer kicks, and a running race), thanks to time constraints and a lack of basketball hoops on the backboards we normally use. Technically, Turkey came in first, but since we participate as a family, we all won gold!
This summer school was a long time coming. I think we all still have mixed feelings about the fact that the Olympics were held at this time, but we had to just accept that that was out of our control, and embrace the Olympics as we usually do. It’s always hard to say goodbye when they extinguish the flame, but the Winter Olympics are less than six months away, and we only have to wait three more years for Paris 2024!
