Homemade Yogurt using dry milk

My family eats a lot of yogurt. My kids don't like to drink milk (unless it's chocolate or in cereal), so yogurt is almost a daily food for us. The price of yogurt at the store keeps going up, so I have been looking into making my own. I found a system that works for me with which I can use my food storage dry milk.

This is all that you need:

4 cups water
1/4 cup of plain yogurt (or starter)
1 1/2 cups of dry milk

Put it all in a blender and mix it well.

Pour the mixture in your crockpot.

Leave in the Crockpot on warm for 10 hours. My crockpot has a low, high and warm setting. Low is too hot, but warm is just right. After 10 hours in the crockpot, put yogurt in the fridge to cool overnight. That's it. Very easy!

We have been stirring in some jam to sweeten and flavor it, but I plan to experiment with other flavorings like honey and fruit.
We have really enjoyed it in our home-made smoothies.

I love that I don't have to heat anything to a certain temperature or boil the milk before the fermenting process. I think because the milk is dry you don't have to boil it to get rid of the bacteria that may exist in regular milk. That is my theory at least. All I know is that this is what I do and it works well. My kids love the yogurt and I love that I am not paying so much for yogurt and I have total control over what additives are in there.

Here is a much harder way to make it.

Call me Crazy

I don't know what has possessed me to add yet another thing to my schedule. I guess I just love feeling super busy. Either that or I just love getting away and doing something for me once in awhile. But two weeks ago I joined a band. No not a garage band but a symphonic band. I have a friend who has been playing in this band for years and she invited me to join. So I went last week to check it out.
When I was in the 4th grade I started playing the flute. I played for years all through elementary and high school. While in high school the band teacher often had flute players switch to other instruments, usually a brass instrument which weren't as popular. So I played the Euphonium the last two years of high school. I didn't play anything in college. I kept meaning to take a class or something but it just never worked out. Besides you had to audition which I never wanted to do. So, I haven't played my flute since my Sophomore year of high school. I have had a flute and it has moved around with me all over the place. Last year I even paid to get it refurbished. I needed new corks and pads. So for almost a year I have had a flute in perfect condition just waiting for me to play.
When I went to my first band practice and tried to play the music, I was very overwhelmed. The music is way harder than anything I ever had to play in high school. And to try anything this hard after all these years....let's just say I felt like I was drowning. Last night I went again, after practicing a little during the past week, and had a much better experience. I was actually able to play rather than just sit and stare at the pages covered with notes so high that I didn't know the fingering for them and so fast that I was getting the first and last but missed all the ones in the middle.
We have 4 Free concerts a year. I am glad that my kids will be able to see mom perform. It should be fun, I will learn a lot, and I don't have to wear an outfit like these below anymore.
This is an actual picture of my high school's band. When I was there the uniforms had a yellow cape on one shoulder and a yellow plume or "chicken" as we called it, on the hat. I won't miss the uniforms at all or the marching for that matter.

A Poem

My friend Anna just sent this poem to me that she wrote after hearing about the prophet's departure Sunday night.

Prophetic Passing

I imagine he’s running to Marjorie now,
Yes, running, not waving his cane.
I see him embracing his father and mother
While they keep repeating his name.

I see him now meeting his forebears,
Brother Brigham and Joseph are there.
Sweet reunion of prophets, united by service
That only such noble men share.

I see him embraced by the Savior
While Father says, “Good and well done.
So faithful in stalwart endurance, I welcome
My noble, most excellent son.”

I then hear the ripples of laughter
As he says the reception’s just fine,
But he hopes that he’ll get an assignment or two
Since there’s no need to waste any time.

I hear his clear voice in the stillness
At the close of this sweet Sabbath day,
Have faith and move forward – there’s work to be done.
President Hinckley would want it that way.

Anna M. Molgard
January 27, 2008

Me in 1978

I had to dig out an old photo of me for an upcoming activity and I found this one tucked in my photo box. This is me when I was about 2 or 3. On the back of the photo my mom wrote "Sarah wants to be beautiful". I remember sitting under this hair dryer a number of times when I was small. It seems so strange to think we didn't have just a small little hand held blow dryer like we do now. I had forgotten that those are a new convenience. My mom must have been very patient to go to all the trouble of putting all those curlers in my hair. At 6 years old I am lucky to get Sophie to even run a comb through her hair.

Here are 10 things that I remember from my early years.

1. Green carpet. - The house my family lived in must have had green carpet. I must have spent a lot of time on the that green carpet the first 2 years of life. It is the only thing I remember about the house we moved out of when I was 2. It does seem strange to remember carpet but when a shaggy green carpet is hard to forget I guess. The house that we moved in to that you can see in the picture is the same one my parents still live in. New furniture, flooring and drapes, thank goodness.

2. Popcorn in the house - When I was young we had horses. Our Neighbors also had horses and we would go riding together. One of my older sister's friends who lived up the street had a pony named Popcorn. A little black and white shetland pony. One day when Mom wasn't home we lead Popcorn right into the house and she ate dinner right off the table with us. Sophie loves to hear this story. She thinks it is so funny that a horse was in the house.

3. Sam chopped down the apple tree - My Dad has tried a number of times to plant fruit trees. When I was very small there were two new little seedlings that my dad planted in the front yard. My brother, who is just older than me decided one day cut one of them down. Nobody knows exactly how he did it. Or maybe I just don't remember.

4. Waiting for the bus - I was the 4th of 6 kids. We are all at least 3 years apart in age. My older siblings went to school and caught the bus right at the end of our long driveway. Before I was old enough to go to school I would go down and wait with them. I remember walking across this small board to cross the mud out in the pasture at the bottom of the hill so I could stand in the field and talk across the fence to the other kids from the neighborhood that were also waiting for the bus. Finally when I was 4 almost 5 I got to start Kindergarden. I rode the bus to school everyday for years after that.

5. Running to catch the school bus. - Having the bus come right at the end of the driveway was nice. We didn't have far to walk. Some mornings we would be running late and have to run down the hill to the bus. One morning I remember running across the lawn and jumping down the little rock wall to the drive way and falling right on my face. I picked myself up and ran the rest of the way to the bus and got on. Someone pointed out that I was bleeding. I had a big road rash on my face.

6. Skinned knees - I must have been really clumsy when I was small I always seemed to have skinned knees. My knees are scared up now. I remember tripping over a dog and reopening the scabs on my knees. Falling while roller skating was common too. We loved roller skating down the driveway except for all those acorns that always covered parts. But that just added to the fun.

7. Lois - We had a black dog which just showed up at our house one day and didn't leave. It was the best dog. We had such fun with that dog. She would follow along on our riding trips and patiently let us ride her at times. She could jump right over the 4 ft high fence. She was with us a long time. I was in High School, she was old by then, when she had to move on. I sure hope to see this dog up in heaven.

8. Karen drew on my dolls and animals - My younger sister, when she didn't like something that had happened or that I had done she would retaliate by getting a marker and drawing all over the faces of my dolls or all over my stuffed animals. My mom was a miracle worker and got the marker out of some of the animals. I have a killer whale that I remember Karen drew all over, that Sophie now plays it. Sophie loves to hear me tell this story as well. So far she hasn't taken after her auntie. I spent years playing with dolls that had black scribble all over their faces.

9. David ? - He was the older neighbor boy that would come and play at our house. He went riding and swimming and everything with us. He just had to climb over the fence and he was at our house so he was always around. He even has a hand print in cement in the back of house. I thought I was going to marry him. He must have been very patient with 4 year old me who had a crush on him.

10. Living in a swim suit - I don't remember exactly when or how I learned to swim. With a pool in the backyard you just swim. I do remember learning to jump off the diving board. That was quite a step in my life. Summers were spent in the pool. I don't remember taking my swim suit off most of the summer. We would go swimming off and on all day long all summer. I think we even slept in our suits some nights after a late night swim.

It sure sounds like we spent a lot of time out of doors when we were kids. We were always building tree houses and digging animal grave yards. I often feel like my kids are getting short changed. They don't have any real unsupervised outside play. This is something I struggle with. I know I loved it when I was a kid. I am sure my mom didn't love how dirty we were and how much mud and dirt we brought into the house. But it sure was fun!

Prophets

I love this image of ancient and modern prophets. Having a Prophet on the earth is one of the greatest blessings we have. Last night we read the news of President Hinckley's passing on the internet. We were a bit shocked but calm knowing that all was well for him now. When we told the kids, Sophie's reaction was wonderful. She said "Oh my, he went back to live with Heavenly Father". We said "Yes, and he is with his wife again too". "Oh he must be so happy" was her reply. After a few moments she then voiced her thought by saying "Then we don't have a prophet anymore?" My husband and I explained that all the members of the twelve apostles are called as prophets and that at the moment we don't have a President of the Church but that a new President would be called shortly. She was relieved.

President Hinckley will be missed!

Didn't hate it.

I went into this viewing of Mansfield Park not expecting to like it. From the articles I had read and the pictures and even clips I had seen I wasn't impressed. Last night I tuned in to watch this movie because it is Jane Austen and I can't pass up the opportunity to see an Austen flick. I was fully ready to just pick it apart and point out all the flaws.
I can't say that I loved this production but I didn't hate it either. I thought Billy Piper looked totally wrong for the part of Fanny Price. The hair and eyebrows were bothersome. But she did a decent acting job. I think the writing wasn't that good and I actually didn't recognize many actual Austen lines. I don't know Mansfield Park as well as I know other Austen novels so that isn't surprising. From what I do remember from the book is that there is a whole lot more to the story then what was shown last night.
I also don't remember Lady Bertram playing matchmaker. If I remember right Edmund's family was against the match. I could be wrong.... maybe I need to read this book again. It has been a long time.

So I don't totally recommend this one but if you are an Austen fan you really should at least view it once. It could have been a lot worse.

Our Week

Our week has been full of rain, rain and more rain. We have spent a lot of time indoors this week. We tried the make the most of it anyway. I actually picked a book for us to row this week. We learned all about pizza with Little Nino's Pizzeria. We had a great time reading all these pizza books. There are a few more that we read but I couldn't seem to find them when I went to take this picture. I think they were taken into Sophie's room for early morning reads.
This is one of the books that Sophie particularly liked. I have read it several times. It is a great little math book. She liked it so much that I found one of Paperbackswap and it should arrive in the mail shortly. Probably about the time we have to return this one to the library.
Of course with all these pizza books we had to make pizza one night.

This is Sophie's recipe for making pizza. She wrote down each of the ingredients that go into the dough and some of the toppings. These were also her spelling words for the week.

Here are the kids each with their own bit to dough to kneed and roll out. They each wanted to have a pizza of their own.
All three of them had to grate the cheese too. It was hard to convince them to do it one at a time.


Then came the toppings
Sophie decorated hers to look like a face.

One of the lessons from the FIAR manuel to do with this book is about the food guide pyramid. Since we had already done this a few months ago. We just talked about the food groups that each of the parts of pizza belong to. Then I broke out my spices and we smelled them trying to decide which ones would be good on pizza and which smelled like they would be good in cookies. Sophie decided she really loves garlic. She reccognised that smell from when I make garlic bread sticks. She loves these and they make the house smell great!

So we had a great time with this book.

We did do a few other things as well. We of course have been reading more and more greek myths. Here are some of the books we have been reading.
Sophie and Ian are at this moment enjoying watching Clash of the Titans. It is one of the movies I remember watching a number of times as a child. It is a great rainy day movie.

We also have been learning the poem "The Months" this week. Thirty days hath September.... etc. Sophie knows this poem quite well now. It is one I learned when I was young and use it all the time to remember how many days are in each month.

As for Science... We reviewed a few books about birds but Sophie has decided she wants to study the rain forest. So this week, when at the library, we filled our bag full of Rain forest books. It will be our subject of study for a week or two.

That is about all we have been up to this week. My kids have had the best time with this game I bought this week. I found it at Target on the clearance shelves for only a few dollars. Well worth the price! They have enjoyed it thoroughly.
So while the rain keeps coming, and it is supposed to continue for a number of days more, we are spending a lot of time indoors. We are playing a lot of games, reading a lot of books, baking a bunch, and watching movies.

Minerva Teichert

I look back on my BYU years with fondness. I had a great time during college. I don't think I appreciated all that BYU had to offer me. I didn't go the the MOA very often when I was there. I was busy doing other things I guess.
I got the BYU alumni magazine in the mail yesterday and on the cover is a picture of some cowboys painted by Minerva Teichert. I remember walking through the halls of the Joseph Smith building and seeing her art work on the walls. I always loved her style and the way she approached the subjects.
In the BYU magazine they talk about her and about the exhibition that is now showing in the BYU Museum of Art. I would love to be able to go and see her paintings. I will have to content myself with what I can find online and that are included in the magazine. Oh to be a college student again and getting to see an exhibit like this for FREE.

The Virginian

I finished The Virginian a few days ago and can't seem to pick up another book yet. I keep thinking about this one. This was actually my 2nd time through this book. I read it last summer and loved it. When it was my turn to pick a book for my Book Club to read this one came to mind.
As I read it this time I took notes, especially knowing I get to lead the discussion at book club. Most of my notes ended up being quotes from the book. There is a lot of wit and wisdom scattered through this book. Here are few from my notes:

"The letter means nothing until the spirit gives it life."

"Do you think there ought to be fifteen varieties of good people?.... there ain't fifteen, there ain't two, there's one kind. and when I meet it, I respect it... one or two people... they thought more o' me then I deserved and that made me behave better than I naturally wanted to."

"A man, any full-sized man, ought to own a big lot of temper. And like all his valuable possessions, he's ought to keep it and not loose any"

"The whole secret lies in the way you treat people. As soon as you treat men as your brothers they are ready to acknowledge you - if you deserve it - as their superior."

"When a man ain't got no ideas of his own... he'd ought to be kind o' careful who he borrows 'em from"

Taken out of context they may not have the impact they do when found in the book accompanied by the stories and incidents that they are selected from. If you have never read a western I encourage you to give this one a try. There is a reason is a classic. Great characters, teaches great morals about right and wrong, even a little romance thrown in too.

A Holiday

It is Martin Luther King Day and my husband didn't have to go to work. Sophie of course claimed that because it was a holiday we didn't have to do any school. As I went to the gym this morning, I passed the elementary school and it was closed. So I guess we too could have a day off of school.

It is also raining, which isn't the most exciting for a holiday, so my husband decided to take Sophie and Ian to see the new Veggie tales movie.
This was Sophie's 2nd movie ever and Ian's first. We knew Henry wouldn't be able to sit through it so I stayed with him while they all went to see the show. Not having seen it myself I can't tell you much about it. But the kids came home all excited about it and said that it was great. Even my Husband said it was very clever and like all veggie tales movies, taught a great moral, Faith, prayer and trusting in God. It looks like I will have to put it on the netflix queue so we can watch it again once it is out on DVD.

Sophie then decided she had to have even more of Dad's attention so she asked him to help her play Civilization. She claimed it was for School is she was the greeks this time. I thought we weren't doing school today?

I also decided to rearrange the furniture in the boy's room. I have been meaning to move the bunk beds because they have been right under the heat vent. Ian has had a very nice cozy bed but the heat doesn't distribute through the room well. He got it all. So now everything is shifted and the boys are thrilled with the new arrangement. Change is good!

So it has been quite a holiday. It feels like we got a few things done.
No school though. Just as Sophie wished.

Oh.. and Happy Birthday Auntie Kewan

What I thought.....

It is strange to look forward to Sunday Night other then that my kids usually go to be early, but having Jane Austen films on each week is something I am really enjoying. Last nights film, Northanger Abbey was very well done.
I thought the actors were great in their roles. They each seemed to fit the image of that character I had formed when reading the book. Catherine was sufficiently innocent and Henry was the teasing, friendly, and gentlemanly without making him a dandy like they did in that older film.
The movie did seem to fly through the story rather quickly. But that may be due to 30 min cut from this showing by PBS. I know I am going to have to netflix the DVD of it because there was a bunch of scenes I have seen online that weren't included in last night's broadcast.
I saw an interview online with Andrew Davies, the screenwriter. He spoke about how horrid and racey the novels are that Catherine is reading. In the film they voice over some of the text for these books while they show Catherine reading and dreaming about the stories, and wow... they are rather shocking. I didn't really mind these additions to the story but I didn't love the Isabella Thorpe story told so blatently. In the novel it is left unsaid and you know what happens without having to see it. I would have appreciated if it had stayed that way.
But overall. It was a good production. I enjoyed it and look forward to watching it again.

I haven't read many good reviews about Mansfield Park which is going to be playing next week. From the pictures and clips I have seen I will still have to wait to see Mansfield Park done well. It is my least favorite Jane Austen novel. But I will still be here next Sunday night watching it.

My hold finally made it.

Yesterday at the library I went to pick up my holds and found a CD there that I had placed a hold on way back in December. It is this Classical Kids CD about Tchaikovsky. It would have been great if it had made it last month when we were studying Tchaikovsky, but oh... well.

We listened to it last night while I made dinner. Sophie of course was at the table coloring greek gods and goddesses. But she was listening. She loved it and asked to hear it again today. This is the first of these Classical Kids CD's I have ever tried. She even wanted to take it out to the car so we could listen to it while we drove around. We really enjoyed the story that wove together the pieces of music.
I am going to have to give the others in this series a try. I hope the library has them all. I hope they will come in a timely manner too. Don't you love it when it takes over a month to have the holds make it to your library? I should just be happy. We have a great library system!

Who needs another subject.

Sophie loves the ancient Greeks. She just can't seem to get enough of the stories and adventures told about the Greek Gods and Goddesses. Last week we went through chapters of Story of the World, and I thought that was a lot. Sophie just didn't want to stop listening. We have listened to those chapters again plus 3 more this week already. I am going to have to slow this girl down. We have borrowed a number of Greek Mythology books from the library and I have read all about the trojan war and adventures of Odysseus. Plus many more. Sophie sits/stands at the table and colors in her Greek Gods and Goddesses coloring book and listens to story after story. She doesn't want to do anything else. I have gotten her to do a little bit of other things. She rushes through them so she can get to History. It is a little strange. She even did some math quickly in order to get to the Mythology stories.
If I pause in my reading to stop the boys from killing each other, or make lunch, or heaven forbid use the bathroom, Sophie gets upset and asks me to keep reading. When it was time to go to the park yesterday for our weekly park day group, Sophie didn't want to go she wanted to stay home and "do History". We went to the park anyway because we all needed an outing, especially the boys.
I am amazed at how much she loves these stories. She tried to convince Ian to let me read more of the adventures of Odysseus yesterday when he handed me a magic school bus book to read. I read the magic school bus book and then went back to Odysseus. At least the boys do sit through these stories too. Ian loves to hear about the different monsters and how the greek heros do away with them. I think today when we go to the library I am going to look for an audio book of Mythology. My voice will give out if I read aloud all day again.

Animal Classification

To further our lesson on animal classification we decided to gather up all the animals around our house and put them into their groups.



Amphibians, fish and birds are not very plentiful in our home. And there are no stuffed reptiles lurking in dark places either. We tend to collect mammals. I sure it is the same in most everyone's house. Somehow those stuffed animals are more fun with furry bodies to pet and cuddle.

Even with so many Sophie can't seem to part with any of them. She says they are all necessary. She does actually play with most of them so they stick around.

We did a little better when we broke out the plastic animals and put them into groups.


There was actually a group made for invertebrate. I was surprised we had even these few. I didn't even try to break them into their subcategories yet. We haven't really studied the invertebrates yet. So they just got clumped all together.













This was a fun activity. The kids loved doing school this way. Sophie had a great time dividing her animals into their groups. Even Ian was very helpful. He could tell you that sharks were fish and whales were mammals. I was impressed. He does listen to a lot of what we read. We went through a big ocean stage with Sophie so we studied whales and sharks a lot.

Persuasion

Jane Austen's novel Persuasion is my favorite Austen novel. Ok, It is hard to pick a favorite but it is right up there with Pride and Prejudice. I have read each a number of times. I have been looking forward to the new BBC movie based on the book that would play on Masterpiece Theatre. Last night I curled into bed to watch the film, excited that I would finally get to see it. PBS has been talking about The Complete Jane Austen on PBS for months building up the anticipation. And my visits to Pemberley don't help either.

I had checked the Persuasion board at the Republic of Pemberley off and on for a bit to see other's thoughts on this production. Those lucky Janeites in the UK have already seen this newest film and were able to share their feelings about it. There were mixed reviews so I went into the film with somewhat low expectations. I haven't been really impressed with the latest Hollywood attempts at Austen's novels. BBC is usually good about adapations. They usually keep to the book without adding in a lot of Hollywood to the story.

I don't want to say I was disapointed in this Persuasion. But I can't really say I loved it. I did enjoy Rupert Penny-Jones as Wentworth. And I didn't mind the actress that plays Anne. Most of the actors did a good job. I think I was disapointed in the screenplay. For some reason the writer felt it necessary to explain everything. Jane Austen is often very subtle and you have to catch on to some of the plot points. But this film had everything explained and spelled out.

I don't know if it is the actress, director or writer to blame but Anne was far too emotional in this movie. She wore her feelings on her sleeve for all to see. That isn't the Anne Elliot that I know from the book that leaves Wentworth wondering about her true feelings. Both Wentworth and Anne were pretty easy to read in this production.

This I could have handled... but the writer botched the best scene. The overheard conversation between Anne and captain Harville which prompts Wentworth to write the letter.... gone... non existing in this film. The conversation was moved up in the film and was between Anne and Benwick and wasn't overheard at all. The letter at the end was useless, especially since it is handed to Anne in the street while she chases around Bath looking for Wentworth. The letter might as well have been left out all together.

So before I dissuade you from watching it. Give it a try but just know it isn't the best production. It is lovely to look at and Rupert does look dashing in his period clothes (I am used to seeing him in MI5). I still love the older BBC/Masterpiece Theatre production from 1995.

I am looking forward to next weeks Jane Austen film that will be shown on Masterpiece Theatre, Northanger Abby. Andrew Davies does the screenplay so it should be good. He usually does a great job with adaptations. And there isn't a good version of Northanger Abby out there yet so I am hoping for the best. I will have to read up on this movie this week and see what the ladies at Pemberley have to say about it. I haven't read this one nearly as much as Persuasion or Pride and Prejudice so I won't be as well versed on the story. But I am sure I will have comments.

A Small Birthday Party

We planned Ian's Birthday Party for today. It was meant to be a small party since we planned it to be inside. We have had rain for the last two weeks so had no idea what the weather would be like. Ian invited just 4 friends. That is all he wanted and that is about all we could handle inside our small house. Ian had been very excited all week about his party and to have his friends over.

I didn't plan a whole lot. 5 four year olds don't need much entertainment. I got our train set out and built a great track and thought that would be good to start with. We were going to have a little lunch, some cake, a pinata and a lot of free play time. Well.... the night before the party one of the Moms of one of the friends called and said they wouldn't be able to make it. I thought oh... well there would still be four kids. I was wrong. We only had one little boy come over for the party. At first I was a bit worried. I thought Ian would be upset but he had a great time playing with his friend. They spent an hour getting out every toy we own and covering the living room with them. Then they ate their lunch. We all sang happy birthday and Ian happily blew out the candles on his cake. The kids had a great time hitting that pinata. Everyone got lots of turns. We even broke out our plastic swords and they all went at it. Finally when the pinata burst open they all got way more candy and toys then they needed. Even henry filled his bag with goodies.

So even though the party was small Ian had a great time.

Getting back in the Groove.... sort of.

We tried to jump back into getting an education this week. It was hard the first day or so but we eased back into our somewhat normal schedule. Sophie of course resisted just about everything but I found ways to slip things in at first and then she was hooked.

We actually went through 3 chapters of Story of the World this week. I didn't mean to but I turned on the CD and we listened to some of the chapters we had already covered and then the one we were going to do this week. We also all were sitting around the table coloring while we listened. When I went to turn it off Sophie didn't want to stop. So we listened to the next one as well. When I finally got to turn it off I asked her about the two chapters and she could tell me pretty much what the chapters were about. Then a few days later she requested a history lesson again so I turned the CD on and we listened to the two chapters we discussed but Soph didn't want to stop there again. She wanted the next chapter as well. So we studied Assyria, Babylon and Crete this week. To go along with the chapters we read a number of go along books as well. Lots of books about Persia and magic carpets. After reading the book about the 7 wonders of the ancient world Sophie drew this. She also did some map work and of course some narration with out her knowing it.

We Rowed The Salamander Room this week. Which was a great go along with our animal studies. We haven't studied amphibians yet. So we read all sorts of books about Frogs and Salamanders this week.


I don't know why we haven't done this before now but we put up an animal classification chart on the wall under our timeline.
We will be adding animals to it under their classification as they come up in our studies. Classification of animals isn't something we have really studied. We knew there were birds, reptiles and mammals and such but to divide up the animals into Vertebrate or Invertebrate was new to Sophie.
Here is the Dollar Store Frog we "dissected". We never could get all the pieces back where they belonged but it was fun for a few minutes.

We also made some clay salamanders and painted them. The kids went wild for this project. I admit I did a lot of the sculpting. They just weren't looking anything like salamanders.
Sophie wanted hers to be orange like the salamander in the book.
Henry just love painting. He didn't care how ugly and mixed up the colors got.
Ian's request was for a long curling tail.
Here is our finished products.

We also watched the Reading Rainbow episode about The Salamander Room. I think we know Amphibians pretty well now.

We listened to some Gershwin music while we played and read a book about Degas for our music and art study.

Where we really fell short this week is Math. Our usual struggle. Sophie just flat out refused to do the exercises. I forced her to do it the first day but my husband told me not to do that. He doesn't want her to hate math or have any objections to math so we didn't do it at all the rest of the week. She has never been a workbook type of kid so it doesn't really surprise me. I think I am going to have to go back to just doing math games and break out my Family Math book again for some small projects we can do for math. Singapore math is just not going to work for us. Are there any other suggestions for doing math with a kids who hates workbooks?

It was actually a great week, except for the math and maybe some life skills. Sophie also refused to clean her room, pick up her toys or help set or clear the table either. We are having a little power struggle at the moment. We are trying to work through this but it is a bit of a worry. Strong willed children.... gotta love them.