Blue Skies Dragonflies: grade 2, block I, week 2 (herbalicious!)

monday, august 16th

(heart) no walk today...we had lego club!

(head) main lesson

*read loud with mama, 15 min...more tales of oliver pig

*form drawing, p. 13, fig. 22b

*tell story, "the young rabbit" (p. 63, mullein)

(hands) handwork,

*make play dough

(we used the recipe from childhood magic's blog)

*3 c flour (& a bit more for kneading)

*1/2 c salt

*2 tbsp cream o' tartar

*2 tbsp vegetable oil

*2 c boiling water

*essential oils, optional

*food coloring, optional

1.mix all dry ingredients together.

2. add oil, boiling water & essential oil (if using)

3. mix carefully as it will be quite hot!

4. knead, adding a bit more flour if needed.

aydin & i made mama & baby dragonflies & frogs..:)

ehren's creations...

even evyn got in on the fun!

tuesday, august 17th

(heart) garden day, 1 hr/week spent weeding, mulching, harvesting & exploring w/circle time

(head) main lesson

*read aloud with mama, 15 min...more tales of oliver pig

*make mullein oils...

we used mullein that we have harvested & dried last month...:)

1) massage oil (lavender, chamomile, calendula, & mullein)

2) earache oil (st. john's wort, garlic & mullein)

1. measure out ingredients, having both jars & grapeseed/olive oil at the ready.

we used 1/2c of each herb

2. rub herbs between palms to bruise & release oils.

3. add herbs to jar (we used quart mason jars) & cover with either grapeseed/olive oil.

4. poke herbs down into oil...any not covered in oil could mold, etc.

5. shake for 1 minute.

6. label, then store in cool, dry place out of direct sunlight. shake for 1 minute each day, for the next 2 weeks, then strain.

*if using fresh herbs, strain oil after 2-3 days. the water in the plants will make the oils going rancid much more quickly.

the oils didn't take nearly as long as i thought they would take, so we played legos!

aydin, our resident lego master, built a backhoe...

ehren built (from left to right) a dvd, a tv & a remote...

i built??...the boys have decided it was a rainbow army base...

note the bed hair...a lesser known perk of homeschooling, or is it just me?? ;)

(hands) baking; hummus & pita chips (mmmmm...)

i could not find our hummus recipe, so we winged it. we ended up with our best hummus yet!

hummus

*1 can garbanzo beans

*2 heaping tbsp minced garlic

*3 tbsp lemon juice

*salt, pepper & cumin to taste

combine the above ingredients in a food processor until well blended. slowly add olive oil to achieve desired consistency.

pita chips?? (we LOVE these!)

preheat over to 400 degrees.

cut pita in 1/8s, separate halves (so that you end up with 16 triangles per pita)

arrange on baking sheet, brush lightly with olive oil

bake 5 min or so, depending on how crispy you like them.

some of our boys like them a bit soft, and some like them fully crisp.

wednesday, august 18th

*play group @ the library...

thursday, august 19th

(heart) walk/hike with circle

(head) main lesson:

*read aloud with mama, 15 min...more tales of oliver pig

*recall story, draw mullein & plant profile

*tell story, "how fluff cloud gave plantain herb to the earth" (p.81)

(hands) beeswax/play dough molds...

another project inspired by ariella over @ childhood magic

gather modeling beeswax (we used stockmar), play dough (we used ours from monday) & some fun little trinkets/treasures that you think would make cool molds...

press the treasures into the play dough to make the casings...

melt beeswax. you could use a double boiler, but we don't have one. we just put the beeswax in a tin can & put that in an old pot. then we added about 1/2" or so of water.

be super careful pouring the wax into the molds as it is HOT!!