Something wicked this way comes...

Today we found the best Story of the World activity since mummifying a chicken-- Eye-of-Newt Soup. We have been studying Shakespeare. Macbeth, to be exact. Michael made the connection between Shakespeare's "weird women" and the Weird Sisters from Harry Potter. They also enjoyed seeing how many common phrases were originally coined by Shakespeare. But they were pleasantly surprised when they discovered that we were making Eye-of-Newt Soup for desert.

Imagine their surprise when they walked into the kitchen and found this:
Eye of newt? Severed fingers? Hey, are those chocolate frogs?!?! Yes. Yes they are.

We didn't use all the suggestions from Story of the World. Our recipe included:
Severed fingers: Tootsie rolls
Eye of newt: Chocolate chips
Tongue of dog: Red licorice bits
Lizard's leg: Broken up pretzel bits
Fillet of fenny snake: Gummy worms
Owlet's wing: Cake decorating pastel circles
Scale of dragon: Smarties
Tooth of Wolf: Good and Plenty
Gall of Goat: Chai chocolate drops
Baboon blood: Grape juice

Daniel was very excited to see what would happen next.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hot broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
Gall of goat removed in the dark






Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

Daniel REALLY like the baboon's blood.





Stir it up.
And then we snack.
Sigh. They don't get much candy.

Daniel liked the fillet o' snake, possibly even more than the baboon's blood.

The discerning reader may note that there are some changes between Shakespeare's original scene and our version. I'm totally OK with it, although I wish the authors of Story of the World would make a note when they change the text in this manner.

Tomorrow we're trying our hand at stage fighting.

I Am a Robot

Nicholas still has a thing for robots and loved this recycling project-- take an empty orange juice carton, some toilet paper rolls, some recycled tin foil, and other odds and ends, and you have a robot! The front is an old sucrets tin. Nicholas likes to hide stuff in there.

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

Hard to believe you've grown from this


to this!

Daniel, wearing an outfit Katie Grace picked out for him and sneakers Nicholas chose for him, and playing with the baseball bat Michael bought him.

Opening a gift from Mimi and PeePaw

He loved his car track.

And of course, cake!

Art Lesson: Snap the Whip by Winslow Homer

This week's art was "Snap the Whip" by Winslow Homer. It was a great opportunity to talk about perspective, the idea of repetition in art, and how objects look smaller when they are in the distance. We also talked again about foreground and background.

To create their own "Perspective Pictures," the children chose two colors of paper, one for the foreground and one for the background. They then each took an object (apples for Nicholas, flowers for Katie Grace, and footballs for Michael) and drew it in three different sizes. The added the most details on the largest object, and the least detail on the smallest. Then they added them to the foreground paper.


We also found this lovely sculpture and had fun duplicating Homer's painting by playing "Snap the Whip" ourselves.

For a more in-depth lesson on perspective, visit here.

Finally Finished! Katie Grace's Rainforest Main Lesson

She did it! She finished her project, previously discussed here and here. She wrapped it up by learning about three flying animals: flying squirrels, flying lizards, and flying fish.
The whole thing is kind of cumbersome, but she wants to keep it up until Grandma and Grandpa come to visit next week.

Circle Time: Dig a Little earth

We've expanded out beautiful flowers on the mantle to include some pansies we won at the church potluck on Sunday. The walnut, Nicholas found in the yard.

Here's Nick, "giving a little sunshine".

Dig a little hole,
Plant a little seed.
Pour a little water,
Pull a little weed.
Chase a little bug,
Heigh-ho, there he goes!
Give a little sunshine,
Grow a little rose.

You can find the complete "Dig a Little Earth" circle, along with four others, in Spring Seasons of Joy. For only $15, this curriculum guide includes 10 weeks worth of circles, stories, painting, modeling, coloring, nature table crafts, playtime activities, and much, much more!

Bargain of the Day Sites

Mama Bargains: mainly baby gear. They carry clothes, shoes, diapering accessories, eeboo and Jackrabbit toys, some strollers.
https://www.mamabargains.com/

Babysteals: cute stuff for babies
http://www.babysteals.com/

Ecosteals: Ecologically-friendly goods
http://www.ecosteal.com/

Schnoop: "Deal a Day"
http://www.shnoop.com/index-maint.php

Green Baby Bargains: eco-friendly baby gear
http://www.greenbabybargains.com

Dillyeo: Seems to be a lot of tech stuff
http://www.dillyeo.com

Returns for Sale: one-of-a-kind returned items
http://returnsforsale.com

Woot! Again, seems to be a good bit of tech stuff.
http://www.woot.com/
There's also shirt woot!
http://shirt.woot.com/
And wine woot!
http://wine.woot.com/

If you know of any others, let me know. I'll add it and even give you credit!

This week's feasts and festivals, plans and projects

Monday, April 27:
Soccer for Michael, followed by Scouts, and the rest of the day is business as usual
Tuesday, April 28:
Ballet for Katie Grace
Wednesday, April 29:
Daniel turns 2 today!
Also, the feast of St. Catherine of Sienna
Thursday, April 30:
Nothing going on today except chimes for Michael and Brownies for Katie Grace
Friday, May 1:
Feast of St. Joseph the Worker and of course, May Day
I also plan on leaving the kids with Chip in the morning so I can go to the co-op mama meeting unhindered by small people.
Today is also First Friday, so we might check out what's going on downtown.
Saturday, May 2:
Two soccer games today, one at 9:30 AM and one at 2. It's also Scout Day at Knoebels.
Sunday, May 3:
Church in the morning and children's choir at night, as well as the feast of Sts. Philip and James

Michael is working on a zoology/animal classification main lesson block. He's making a lapbook as his cumulative project. He'll also be creating a "pet store" with an animal from each classification. I'm interested to see how he'll do this! He's reviewing double digit multiplication and working through Life of Fred on his own, and is also working on a research paper that needs to be complete by the end of the year. The book he is reading is The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963. He also has orchestra this week.

Katie Grace has completed her rainforest main lesson and wanted to learn about music. The materials I am using can be adapted for Nicholas as well, so the two of them have been working together to learn about the different families of instruments as well as note values. Katie Grace has really taken off with reading. I believe she has started her first Bobbsey Twins book.

During May, Nicholas will be learning nursery rhymes about flowers, with corresponding activities.

Other plans this week include calling the Rescue Workers to come take away the fruits of our decluttering, tidying up the backyard, getting to the recycling center, and starting our garden.

Have a great week!

Katie Grace's National Parks video

Last post, I promise! Here is Katie Grace's final project for her National Parks class:

Introducing my new nephew!

Trip to New York City!

We had the opportunity to visit New York City with a German exchange student our church was hosting. I've never really done the "touristy stuff" in NYC, so it was a unique experience for me! We also usually park in Hoboken and take the PATH over, but took the Staten Island Ferry for this trip. Here are the kids waiting patiently for the ferry:
And Nicholas pretending to be a race car driver:

At last, the ferry arrives!

And away we go!


Seeing the Statue of Liberty in the harbor was amazing:
One of Katie Grace's co-op classes was a National Parks class, and she had to do a presentation. We were very excited to discover that the Statue of Liberty Island and Ellis Island are national parks!
As impressive as the statue was from the boat, it was even more amazing up close:

And we even got to eat lunch with Msr. Batholdhi, the designer!
Next we headed over to Ellis Island. Unfortunately at this point, Katie Grace was pretty sick with a nasty cough.
Also unfortunately, this is where our camera ran out of juice:

After Ellis Island, we took the subway to Time Square and checked it out. From there, we walked to Rockerfeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral. We also made a stop at American Girl Place. We took the subway to Chinatown for a most excellent dinner at the Excellent Dumpling, and then headed home.

Now you're cooking!