By Lynn, on October 15th, 2008%
Princess of the Universe woke up yesterday and exclaimed that there was nothing to eat for breakfast.
Nothing?
Really?
She did not want oatmeal. Or cereal. Or Toaster Strudel. Or Cream of Wheat. I remembered something she loves.
Hearkening back to How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World , I asked, Was it cinnamon that came from Sri Lanka? How about cinnamon toast?
Her eyes lit up!
Get your apron on!
It’s the simple things that are the memory builders.
Simple things are easily retained and used in real life.
Simple is so wonderful.
We made cinnamon toast together. In our messy Tuesday morning kitchen. Me and my Princess of the Universe.
I love having her here to remind me to step out of my busy life, get in the “row boat” and just enjoy our relationship.
Lynn
By Lynn, on September 25th, 2008%
I would definitely recommend doing a science lesson each week with Five In A Row. They are so easy to do and hands-on science almost always leads to other, natural questions on the part of the student.
Here’s Princess of the Universe measuring the water for one of the science lessons we did for How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. We are still watching it to see what happens…
Lynn 
By Lynn, on September 23rd, 2008%
Is it just me, or is this just cute as pie?
Do you see the apple pie on the table? I had a bottle cap from my ginger-ale today and thought this would make a perfect doll house pie pan, if only the edges were brought out some.
And what a way to finish up How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World!
We finished up with a geography review and a final reading of the book and some talk about art and now it’s on to a new adventure tomorrow!
This little pie is just a bottle cap with the edges flattened out somewhat by pliers, a circle of felt glued in for the bottom crust, little pieces of felt glued in for apple slices, and felt strips glued on the for the top crust. I think the dolls will have wonderful conversations about Italy and Sri Lanka and England…
Happy Homeschooling,
Lynn
By Lynn, on September 17th, 2008%
I know I am fortunate to have a daughter who likes to write. The contrast between her apparent ease with spelling and writing and my son Joseph’s struggle to spell even the simplest words is amazing. I do think they will be a benefit to each other, though, as he is thoughtful and settled compared to her being somewhat silly and impulsive.
Today for Michaela’s writing assignment, I tried something new. I took the 8 vocabulary words from the Five In A Row manual for How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. I wrote all 8 of them on little pieces of paper, folded each one in half, and put them in a little pile. Princess of the Universe had to drawn one word and write the first sentence of a creative story with it. Then draw another one at random to write the next sentence, and so on until eight sentences were done to create one story! This really made her think because she had to work around the words she drew by making a sentence containing each word.
I am really loving having Michaela close by all day and getting the chance to interact with her and talk with her about things throughout the day.
I found a few new books to add to our homeschool library. I need to take a closer peek at the chapter book to make sure it’s okay. Anyone read Stones in Water ?
I wanted to let you know that I’ll be away for a few days, with Miss Priss and our school books in tow.
I will post an update when we return. I also want to catch up with all of you when I return. I have made blog visits but had very little time to comment this week. It has been a VERY busy week here. Whew!!
Lynn
By Lynn, on September 16th, 2008%
Yes, I’d say the apple pie recipe in How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World is a really good one!
I let Princess of the Universe just have her time in the kitchen tonight! I was close by and supervising, but she and the little neighbor boy next door put all the ingredients together! They measured and they used my apple corer, peeler, slicer to prepare the apples.
Once out of the oven, I had a kitchen full of men and boys wanting APPLE PIE!
Pardon the mess in the background (we live here), but doesn’t this little chef look absolutely proud of herself? :)
We had a very nice geography discussion today and enjoyed finding Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean. We are really enjoying our school lessons and getting into a nice routine.
On A Garden Note…
I saw this big grasshopper out by my front steps!
Isn’t he pretty??? Wow. He let me get very close for a picture. In fact, he sat so still that I wondered if something was wrong with him. I moved in closer and he flew to the nearby lamb’s quarter that I am letting go to seed over my flower garden (yikes), but they are edible greens and that’s another post entirely. Anyway, he finally flew away when I got THIS CLOSE.
He walked along a stem of lamb’s quarter, hanging upside down, showing off. He hung around for awhile. He’s probably out there somewhere even now thinking he’s got the best garden in the world. 
Lynn
By Lynn, on September 15th, 2008%
The core heart of our homeschool is a curriculum called Five In A Row. Each week we’ll be taking simple but most effective lessons from our Five In A Row manual, all centered around a wonderful children’s picture book. This week we have chosen to “row” How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World.
It was so special to snuggle up and read our story together this morning. Miss Priss loved this story and so did I. For our lesson today we took a language arts lesson (there are a variety of lessons to choose from, which makes Five In A Row very versatile). I had Miss Priss write down the vocabulary words (five times each), but only after we had talked about each one and she pretty much acted out what they meant. Not because I asked her to, but just because she’s pretty dramatic sometimes.
She colored the story disk for us and we put it on her bulletin board to dry. She put quite a bit of glitter glue on the apple leaf to make it 3D, she said.
I have to tell you that How To Make An Apple Pie And See The World is one of my favorite books as far as illustrations. Well, as far as everything, but this page right here…
is one of my favorites. I love row houses and I love the way these businesses are all side by side with their own personalities (buildings have those, you know). I got so inspired that I decided to make a building of my own and just casually show it to Princess of the Universe to see if she wanted to make one too. I did not even have to ask. She jumped right in and started making her own building, with me knowing all the time that these buildings we were making were going into an art piece.
The simple art piece went into a frame just recently purchased from Goodwill for $1.88 to commemorate our first Five In A Row book after bringing Princess home.
Miss Priss did the three businesses on the left, and I made the two houses and the business on the right.
Close-up detail of my tall house shows that Miss Priss lives there, the date she came home and that she lives in a home school. Sweet.
Thought you might want to see the shops that Princess of the Universe did. The one in the middle I think was inspired by the trip to France to get an egg and their elegance there!
Of course you don’t have to make framed art each week with Five in a Row. This was something special and extra that I wanted to do, but by involving Michaela in my love of buildings and their personalities, we got to know each other better.
For the next four days, we will be choosing a lesson each day. My plan is to do:
- Tuesday – Geography
- Wednesday – Math
- Thursday - Art
- Friday – Science discussion
Math? Not to worry. We will be doing math every day by way of an independent math curriculum, but Five In A Row includes basic applied math lessons. Also, even though Geography will be our lesson for Tueday, geography is really a daily “given” in this curriculum because every day we will place our story disk on a world map in the location that is most appropriate for the story. Over time, Princess of the Universe will be very good at geography!
Just wanted to give you a peek at our day today.
Lynn
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About Lynn
I am the mother of four delightful children: a 23-year-old son, a 20-year-old son, a 17-year-old son, and a bright and bubbly 13-year-old daughter. I share an apartment home with my 17-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter. My little home on the internet is called Rose Cottage because of my love for gardening, roses, and all things romantic and Victorian. Welcome.
I'm a North Carolina girl and I love sharing North Carolina links and information. I do medical transcription from home. My hobbies include making sweet little dolls from clay who are named and have their own stories to tell. I also make old-fashioned brooches. These are for sale in my Etsy shop.
For 13 years continuously, I homeschooled some or all of our four children, but the time came that our homeschool had to be closed. It was the end of a beautiful chapter in my life. I will always be a strong supporter of homeschooling and I will continue to review books and maintain my homeschool website, The Healthy Homeschool. The Players
Lil Ol' Me
Son Daniel, 23
Son, Big Joe, 20
Son, John, 17
Daughter, Michaela, 13
Annie Fatso Beagle
My Symphony
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
William Henry Channing
1810-1884
What You Do Sow a thought, reap an action.
Sow an action, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow a character, reap a destiny.
Contact Me 
I would  for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com
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