I’m sure we’re not done with Recipes from the World of Tolkien, but here’s a look at everything we’ve made so far…it’s another really fun cookbook to have around!
Turin Turambar Tarragon Chicken
Bilbo‘s Seed-Cake
Barliman Butternut’s Blackberry Pie
Spiced Pear and Cranberry Muffins
Lake-Town Beef Pot Roast with Horseradish Dumplings
Whole-wheat Molasses Scones with Molasses Butter
Elvish White Bread Rolls
Lembas Bread
Sam’s Coney (but actually chicken) Stew
Apple and Blackberry Cake
Fish and Chips
Bilbo’s Eleventy-First Birthday Cake
Beorn’s Warm Baked Cheese
Westfarthing Fairings
Traveler’s All-in-One Breakfast in a Pan
I’ve really enjoyed trying some new things and learning some new techniques…I’m grateful that cooking has become such a big part of our school!
This was a weird week of school because it fell between our short Thanksgiving week and the start of Christmas school. We did wrap some things up, and even though we didn’t read The Fellowship of the Ring this week, we did make three new dishes from Recipes from the World of Tolkien: Beorn’s Warm Baked Cheese (brie baked with honey and topped with pecans and dried cranberries), Westfarthing Fairings (light, crispy cookies flavored with lemon and fall spices), and Traveler’s All-in-One Breakfast in a Pan (which we had for breakfast-for-dinner).
Ladybug worked on isolating a variable in an equation full of variables in algebra. In chemistry, she finished the chapter introducing the concept of moles. We also finished reading The Scarlet Letter. We wrapped up adverb clauses in grammar. In history she read about the Persians and the Byzantines.
Chickadee learned how to identify and measure angles in math. She finished the chapter on rodents and other animals (including rabbits, hedgehogs, armadillos, sloths, and anteaters) in science. In history she read about the Medes and Persians (and Cyrus the Great), as well as Athens and Sparta. She also enjoyed reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever for the first time!
Up next: two weeks of Christmas school featuring crafts, cookies, and stories related to Christmas in Germany/German-speaking countries!
We started the week with another favorite field trip…we took a hike around Cahokia Mounds. The Interpretive Center is still closed, so we couldn’t go in there, but we did take a trail we’ve never been down before, and really enjoyed seeing some different things (and we also came across several deer!).
Ladybug worked on calculating percents in algebra 2. She learned about moles (the measurement, not the animal) in chemistry. In history, she read about the deaths of Justinian and Khosru of Persia. We started the last section of The Scarlet Letter. She worked on writing non-linear dialogue in creative writing. Although we took a break from reading The Fellowship of the Ring to focus on some of our favorite Thanksgiving stories, we did bake Bilbo’s Eleventy-First Birthday Cake (even though it’s also not currently his birthday!):
Chickadee reviewed time zones in math and worked on converting units of time. She started learning about rodents in science, by learning what makes a rodent a rodent. We continued to read about the ancient Greeks in history, including their alphabet and how it relates to ours, and some of the stories of Homer. She continued to identify prepositional phrases in grammar, focusing on ones that work as adjective phrases.
Next week will be a short week of mostly fun and catching up, and then Thanksgiving!
This was a busy and fun (not to mention short!) school week! We had one day that was a field trip day (Tuesday) and one day off (today, for Veteran’s Day). But first…cooking! Ladybug helped me make another three recipes from Recipes from the World of Tolkien…Lembas Bread (spicy cornbread), Sam’s Coney Stew (but actually chicken thighs according to the suggested substitution in the cookbook), and apple and blackberry cake:
Chickadee also did some baking with me this week…we made “Canterlot Cornbread” from the My Little Pony Baking Book. It was some of the best cornbread I’ve ever had!
Our previously mentioned field trip was to Creve Coeur Park for our annual walk on the four-mile loop around the lake. We timed it so Turkey, Bunny, and Moose could come with us, and he had a great time!
We did get some school work done, too. In algebra 2, Ladybug learned how to identify discriminants. In chemistry, she learned about decomposition, formation, and combustion reactions, and did an experiment to break down water into its constituent parts using an electrolysis machine. She read about dynasties in Japan and China in history. She has almost finished the second part of The Scarlett Letter. She tried her hand at crime and horror writing in creative writing.
Chickadee had mostly a review week in math, covering many of the topics she’s worked with so far this year. In science, she learned about chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas. She learned about early Greece and the Mycenaeans in history. We continued to read through Centerburg Tales. And we got to tag along with Bunny on a visit to the St. Louis Art Museum today!
Next week we have a full week of school, with some Thanksgiving fun thrown in, and then it will be Thanksgiving Week already!
Fun things first…on Monday, we went on a field trip to the St. Louis Zoo. Our top priorities were taking a look at some of the animals Chickadee has already learned about in science (mainly bears), and some she’s learning about next (the big cats). We were somewhat successful, although several exhibits we would have liked to visit were closed. We did see the polar bear, plus lions and leopards, which was good. And it was an absolutely beautiful day to be outside, which was even better!
This week was the week nobody was waiting for…Ladybug started working with imaginary numbers in algebra 2. She was less than thrilled. She finished Act IV of Romeo and Juliet and began Act V. In history, she read about Attila the Hun. She learned how to draw Lewis Structures in chemistry, and read about ionization energy. In writing, she worked on scripting internalization. We tried two new recipes from Recipes from the World of Tolkien: Whole-wheat molasses scones with molasses butter and Elvish white bread rolls:
In addition to those recipes, we also baked Romeo’s Sighs and Juliet’s Kisses cookies from our A Literary Tea Party cookbook…they were amazing!
Chickadee worked on finding multiples and factors in math. She started learning about big cats in science…so far, we’ve discussed lions and tigers. In grammar, she learned how to identify and diagram direct and indirect objects. She read about the Yellow River Valley and Huang Di in history. We only have a few chapters left to read in Heidi! We watched a few episodes of Rick Steves’ Europe that were filmed in Switzerland to get a better idea of what her Alpine home might have looked like.
I hope the beautiful weather we’ve been enjoying sticks around, because we’re really enjoyed having the opportunity to do some of our schoolwork outside!
We didn’t have any field trips this week, but we spent all day Monday watching coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral (some of us were up by 3:30 a.m.!) and a few more documentaries about her life. It was an emotional day!
On Tuesday, we returned to our regular schoolwork. Ladybug worked with fractional exponents in algebra 2. She started Act IV of Romeo and Juliet. She compared Bohr’s model of the atom to the quantum mechanical model of the atom in chemistry. In history, she read about the sack of Rome and the Visigoths. We read my least favorite part of The Fellowship of the Ring: “In the House of Tom Bombadil”…that guy makes Dr. Seuss sound sane! We made Lake-Town beef pot roast with horseradish dumplings from Recipes from the World of Tolkien for dinner one night, and it was really delicious!
Chickadee did more rounding to the tens, hundreds, and thousands place in math. We finished reading about suborder Caniformia in science, ending the chapter with minks, otters, skunks, and raccoons. In grammar, she learned about adverbs that tell “to what extent” and also reviewed the other parts of speech we’ve done up until this point. She’s currently memorizing the poem from elementary school that Ladybug remembers best. “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley. In history we read about the Indus River Valley and Mohenjo-Daro. We have reached the part in Heidi where they move to Dörfli for the winter.
Unusually for us, the first days of fall have actually felt like fall, and it looks like that trend is going to stick around, so I’m planning a day where we get out of the house and enjoy the weather early next week!
We spent a lot of time this week watching coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, but we did manage to get a lot of schoolwork done, too.
Ladybug factored polynomials in algebra 2. She read about Alaric and the Visigoths, and the division of Rome, in history. In chemistry, she learned about light, including wavelengths, amplitude, and frequency (having visited the ocean this summer made it easy to picture these concepts!). She finished finished Act III of Romeo and Juliet. In grammar, she worked on identifying infinitive phrases. As we continued to read The Fellowship of the Ring, we baked spiced pear and cranberry muffins from Recipes from the World of Tolkien.
Chickadee reviewed estimating sums and differences in math, and she also did some multi-step word problems. We read about different kinds of bears in science, including black bears, polar bears, and panda bears. In history, she learned about Shamshi-Adad and the “Epic of Gilgamesh.” We also read about Heidi’s return home to the mountains in literature. In grammar, she reviewed adjective and adverbs.
I was hoping for another outdoor field trip next week, but I don’t think that’s going to happen as we’re expecting a heatwave, but hopefully it won’t last too long, and we’ll have some fall weather to enjoy soon!
This week has been more…complicated than I expected. It started out pretty well, with a day off on Monday so we could see Moose march in the town Labor Day parade. And then on Tuesday, we had a field trip day to the Missouri History Museum (for the first time in almost three years!), to see the new Coloring STL exhibit. We had a really great time…how often are you encouraged to color on the walls of a museum?!?
Even I made a small contribution, because I found something mid-century marvelous!
On Wednesday, we got back to our regular work. Ladybug reviewed radicals in algebra 2. She began Act III of Romeo and Juliet. She learned about mixtures and compounds in chemistry. In history, she read about Flavius Theodosius and the Roman Catholic Church. Her creative writing course had her rewriting sentences to make them more interesting and less repetitive. We continued reading The Fellowship of the Ring, and baked Barliman Butternut’s Blackberry Pie, which was delicious!
Chickadee reviewed calculating area and perimeter in math. In science, she continued learning about order Carnivora by starting a chapter on bears. In history, she read a brief history of the Jewish people, focusing on Abraham and Joseph. She learned how to add adjectives to a sentence diagram in grammar. We continued reading Heidi, and to my relief, we have almost reached the part where she gets to go home to the mountains.
On Thursday, our school day was interrupted by the developing news in the United Kingdom, and we spent most of our day watching the BBC. Today, I decided we should continue to focus on the life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, so we watched The King’s Speech and some of our royal documentaries. Hopefully, next week we’ll have a little more success staying on task!
We started the week with a field trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden, to take a look at the newly-opened visitors center and take a walk around the garden for the first time in several months.
It was a beautiful day to be out!
Ladybug reviewed scientific notation in algebra 2 (which also conveniently applies to chemistry, as well!). In creative writing, she practiced writing from the perspective of first person plural, which is pretty different from anything she’s done before. She had an introduction to The Periodic Table of the Elements in chemistry. In history, she read about Constantine’s heirs as well as Shapur II of Persia. She finished Act II of Romeo and Juliet. This week, we baked Bilbo‘s Seed-Cake from Recipes from the World of Tolkien.
Chickadee reviewed place value in math, as well as Roman numerals. She finished the second chapter in science, learning about different kinds of wild dogs including wolves, coyotes, foxes, and painted dogs. In history, she read about Cheops, the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza (as well as the Sphinx), and the mummification process. We continued to read Heidi, as well as The Fellowship of Ring.
I have another field trip planned for next week, and I’m really looking forward to it, because it’s to a place we haven’t visited since before the beginning of the pandemic!
I think we’re starting to feel comfortable with the new school year! Ladybug reviewed combining and simplifying fractions with variables. She finished both the first chapter in her chemistry text and the first act of Romeo and Juliet. In grammar, she worked on identifying gerund phrases. She read about the Jin in China and Chandragupta in India for history. At her request, I found a cookbook to go along with reading The Fellowship of the Ring, Recipes from the World of Tolkien. We made our first recipe from it this week, “Turin Turambar Tarragon Chicken,” and it was very good!
Chickadee reviewed simple equations and multiplication and division in math. She started learning about family Canidae in science. In history, she learned about ancient Egypt and Sumer, as well as hieroglyphics and cuneiform. We started reading my least favorite part of Heidi, when she goes to live in Frankfurt. She also got her very own library card this week!
I’m trying to make sure we get out of the house a little more this year…this week, we visited our local public library for the first time since before the pandemic started; next week, I’m hoping we might find time to visit the Missouri Botanical Garden and check out the new Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center!
