Snapshot Summary, December 14-20, 2012

pictures by Katie

The weather has turned a bit nippy at night, as Katie captured in these morning photos.

December 14-20

week 14.5

Things have been crazy with us lately, so we only managed a half-week's worth of school.

Spinach and Mushroom Quiche, Fresh Honey-Lime Fruit Salad and Artichoke Hearts with Lemon-Mayo sauce. Not pictured, French Bread.

We had our French Dinner in celebration of our completion of our study of France.

 I attempted to make a Eiffel Tower out of cookies and icing, but the result was this...

 then my builder son took over, and despite the fact that the icing was too runny (you really need to use royal icing if you are going to do this)...

he managed to make one that stood well enough for Quentin to put on the French flag without collapsing.
Sometimes I wonder if all these hands-on activities are worth it. I mean, what does it teach them to make a edible model of the Eiffel Tower? Then, I see them actually do it and even if you don't count all the building and perseverance skills that were put to the test, think of all times they looked at a picture of the Eiffel Tower to make this as much like it as possible. I certainly think that they have that picture in their heads forever and have a greater appreciation for what it took to build it. Discussions of what the building is really made of and how it was built went on during the cookie construction.

We also began our study of Germany.

  In addition to our usual mapping and reading about the country, we decorated Gingerbread houses, a tradition that comes from Germany.

We have been learning about hydra and other invertebrates.

We have been using the unstandardized measurements that we have been taking with graphing activities.

The girls didn't stand a chance against the boys in tug-of-war. : )

The little boys also enjoyed their gym class twice this week.

related posts:

• World Geography: France

• World Geography: Germany
• Snowflakes for Newton

books:

• JRR Tolkein, Alexandra Wallner
• Charles and Claudine, Harold Berson
• Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot, Margot Raven
• Gingerbread Baby, Jan Brett
• The Wild Christmas Reindeer, Jan Brett
• Grimm's Fairytales, Grimm brothers
• Pete the Cat, I Love my White Shoes, James Dean and Eric Litwin
• The Story of Christmas, Jane Ray
• Mary, Mother of Jesus, Tomie DePaola
• Hattie and the Fox, Mem Fox
• Katie's Sunday Afternoon, James Mayhew

Glimpses of Christmas Advent Celebrating...

This isn't the actual luminary display as I didn't get a chance to snap a picture, but it is close to what it looked like. source

We went to a luminaries display in one part of the town we live in. For several blocks all the neighbors set out luminaries. It is quite magical.

I made a advent calendar out of a couple of Playmobil sets, the nativity and the three Kings, and as it grows, it has been so fun to see them setting up scenes and playing with it.

Katie and James made birdseed ornaments for the birds.

 We also made Gingerbread Houses, a conjunction of our study of Germany with Advent activities.

My friend Howard showed us how to make paper snowflakes just in time to make them for Newton.

We have a tradition of all our family members drawing names for a Secret Santa gift and us all going to Cracker Barrel to shop and enjoy a meal together right before Christmas. It is a wonderful way of taking a calming break between the hectic lead up to Christmas and Christmas itself. With space being very limited this year, it also helps to keep the abundance of presents down. (If everyone in our family bought just one present for each other, that alone would be 56 presents!)

On The Menu This Week

Lasagna Soup

Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce from Martha Stewart Recipes
I usually don't like Martha's recipes, because they are too complicated for what they are, but this one is surprisingly simple. I just tweaked it a bit and subbed cilantro instead of the parsley because I so love cilantro.

Pesto-Chickpea Salad from Budget Bytes
which my vegetarian husband liked a lot, but suggested that I add a bit more pesto next time.

Angel Chicken at Cleverly Inspired
This went over well, even with my family members that don't really like mushrooms. The sauce is heavenly.

Tomato-Tortellini Soup from Mrs. Schwartz's Kitchen
A particular favorite with my vegetarian husband.