Things That Make Me Smile 10/10/14

Jake (8½), Alyssa (6½), Zac (4½), Tyler (2½)

Happy Friday! For some reason, I don't have many quotes from the kiddos this week. I figured I'd add an extra picture this time. Besides, those cute faces make me smile! Did you have any Smiles this week, too?

1, Alyssa, looking at a picture of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea: "Why didn't they draw the water red? Is it poisonous?"

2. Alyssa: "Do you want red or blue?"

Tyler: "Green!"

3. Alyssa  wanted to help Zac with his reading.

4. Alyssa: "Is apple pie good for you?"

Me: "No, too bad, huh?"

Zac: "Are apples good for you?"

Me: "Yes."

Zac: "Then apple pie should be good for you! It's made with apples."

5. This post.

6. Tyler, and his cheesy smile, getting ready to help me make an apple pie.

 

7. Jake: "Is it hazelnut or nasalnut."

Me: "Hazelnut. Do you know what nasal means?"

Jake: "No."

Me: "It's referring to the nose."
Jake: "So, Zac called it a nosenut?"

8. Alyssa, praying: ". . . Thank You for letting me be in Mommy's family, and thank You for Tyler, and thank You for giving us a new baby . . ."

9.  The boys needed new tennis shoes, but Alyssa didn't need anything. Leighton let her get some pretty, pink, "high heels," just because. She was so excited! Daddy has a soft spot for his little girl.

What made you Smile this week?

Wordless Wednesday 10/8/14

Things That Make Me Smile 10/3/14

Jake (8½), Alyssa (6½), Zac (4½), Tyler (2)

Happy Friday! I'm late in getting this posted and really, you're here for the Smiles anyway, so without further ado . . . let's Smile!

1. Jake: "If I had a nickel for every time I heard Tyler Joseph! I'd have 5 million dollars."

2. Jake: "Mom, I actually sharpened this pencil with my teeth!"

3. Tyler, pointing at dandelions: "Mama, wook! Sunfwowers!"

4. Watching Leighton get beat up, I mean, wrestle with all 4 kids.

5. Zac: "May I have a piece of cake now, please? I done all my book."
Me: "You done it? How about you did it?"
Zac: "Yeah, I did done all my book."

6. Alyssa: "May I play the iPad now, please?"
Me: "Yes."
Alyssa: "Huzzah!"

7. Jake, tasting the cake batter he made (recipe coming): "Mmm, coffee."
Me: "Who are you?"
Jake: "Jacob."
Me: "And since when do you like coffee."
Jake: "Mom, I'm almost 9. I'm going to need to start drinking coffee soon."

8. Alyssa: "Ooh, are you making apple pie?"
Me: "No, not right now. I am making apple pie oatmeal though."
Alyssa: "I'd rather have apple pie."

9.Finding Jake reading to his siblings, just because.

10. Jake: "I really hate that book! Every time I finish a chapter, something really exciting happens and I just want to keep reading!"

11. Tyler, while we were talking about our Christmas tree: "Yeah, BIG one! Ty-Ty cwimb it!"

12. While praying for breakfast . . .
Me: "Help Ty-Ty be good boy,"
Tyler: "Help Ty-Ty be good boy,"
Me: "Help Daddy be safe,"
Tyler: "Help Daddy be good boy," 

13. Alyssa: "Do you want the new baby to be a girl? So it's not trouble? I think only boys are trouble."


What made you Smile this week?

Wordless Wednesday 101/14

Fix It!

I know, I say it every time I talk about any English-type of curriculum, but it's true: I love grammar. I love parts of speech and punctuation, diagramming sentences and listing homonyms. I admit to correcting others in my head when they make mistakes (and, yes, I even mentally correct my own writing for the blog, ha). I always laugh at grammar jokes and am so proud when my children speak properly. So, naturally, you'd assume that I started formally teaching my little ones grammar at very young ages, right? Wrong. I've said before that our main curriculum focuses mainly on reading for learning. We don't have separate classes for English, science, and history, but instead, learn about these subjects through the books we read. Of course, the kids hear me speak proper grammar (mostly) and mimic what they hear. We also practice language arts with fun games, like mad libs.

When I heard that Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) was offering us one of their grammar products to review, I was tempted get an advanced level for myself--for fun! But, alas, I knew that it would be better for my 8-year-old to start systematically learning grammar. We received Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree (book 1) both the student book and the teacher's manual.      

To a grammar nerd, like myself, this book is a lot of fun. The purpose is for the student to look for the mistakes in the lessons and fix them. It's like being an editor of a book! What I really appreciate about this book is that it teaches the concepts through a real story and not random sentences. Seeing how it all works together gives the student a better understanding of the material, helps him to retain the knowledge, and gives the assignments a sense of purpose. 

The student will need the Nose Tree book, a notebook with two sections (rewrite and vocabulary), and an envelope to hold the review cards. The set-up for the teacher is simple. Prepare the notebook with the two sections, cut out the appropriate review cards (in the back of the student book) for the week, and teach new concepts at the beginning of each week.

So, how does it work? The student is given one sentence of the story each day. There are multiple things that he does with that one sentence:

• Look up the bold word in a dictionary and write in the vocabulary section of the notebook which definition best fits the story  
• Mark and fix the sentence, using the review cards as reminders
• Rewrite the sentence in the rewrite section of the notebook

New grammar cards are added each week. For instance, week 1 starts with the indent paragraph symbol (¶), nouns (n), homophones and end marks. Week 2 adds articles (ar), week 4 adds quotations, and so on. 

To put it in perspective, here is the sentence for day 1, week 1:

¶ Did you ever hear the story of the three poor soldiers

1. The first thing the student does is look up the bold word and write it and the best definition in the vocabulary section of his notebook. Jake wrote down poor: lacking sufficient money.
2. The second thing is to mark the sentence, using the grammar review cards. He put an n (noun) above story and soldiers. He also put a question mark at the end of the sentence.
3. The final thing is to rewrite the sentence in the rewrite section of the notebook, remembering to indent because of the paragraph symbol. 

 

We are currently 5 weeks into the book. The sentences are longer and more complicated and there are more things to mark and fix. Of course, the rest of the book continues in this fashion. By the end of the 33 weeks, the student will be finding pronouns, clauses, coordinating conjunctions, and more. He will also be familiar with words such as elegant, divulged, immense, laden, forlorn, as well as many others.

The teacher's manual is full of information and contains everything you need to teach this to your child, even if you don't hold a grammar degree. I, personally, did not reference it often. There were times when it came in handy though, like when I wanted Jake to mark certain words as nouns. The book refers to them as advanced words, meaning words can look like one part of speech but be acting as another. Obviously, my 8-year-old hasn't learned these concepts yet. It was helpful to be reminded of that.

 

The Nose Tree book has been working very well in our house. As of now, the lessons are taking Jake only about 10 minutes to complete (that is, as long as he doesn't get distracted looking up other definitions, too, haha). When I first mentioned to him that the curriculum was coming, he said, "What? I don't need help with English. I snuck a peek! {hysterical laughter} I did that on purpose!" Yes, even my child thinks grammar jokes are humorous. (In case you missed it, snuck is not a word. Sneaked is the correct form.) Since working through the book though, he has told me that this is fun and his favorite part of school. That's my boy!

Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree student book (3rd grade+)  costs $15 and the teacher's manual is $19. Even though I have not used the teacher's manual daily, it is very important to have and I would recommend purchasing them together. Both books are spiral-bound. 

The Fix It! Grammar series has a total of 6 books. If you're not sure which to order, there is a placement test on the IEW site. 

Are you interested in how other families used this book or another one of the books in the series? You can head to the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog to read more reviews.

Tasty Tuesday: Maple-Filled Pumpkin Spice Spritz Cookies

I am so excited that it's fall! This is my favorite season for so many reasons, but especially for the flavors: apples, pumpkins, cinnamon, nutmeg. Within the past few weeks we've already made pumpkin bread a few times and zucchini muffins. And cinnamon swirl bread, but we make that year-round. With all the bread baking, we were needing a change. These cookies were the perfect solution.

Not only do they taste yummy with just a hint of pumpkin spice, but look how adorable they are! The kids love whenever we pull out the cookie press. Treats are even more fun when they're in cute little shapes.

I love how the end of one color bled into the beginning of the new one in some of the cookies. I think it would be really pretty to fill the cookie press alternating the different colors. It would make wonderful multicolored leaves--perfect for fall!

While the cookies themselves are not quite as buttery as our typical spritz recipe, they make up for it with the maple filling. To me, they taste just like the maple cookies my grandparents used to buy in the bulk section of the grocery store. Leighton said they taste like a cross between pancakes and waffles. Haha, I guess the maple filling just means that we can eat these for breakfast!

Because you don't need a lot of filling for the cookies, I used the leftover goodness to frost a loaf of that cinnamon swirl bread I was talking about. And, yes, I most definitely ate a piece of that with my coffee for breakfast!


Whether you prefer these cookies by themselves or filled with maple goodness, why not make a batch to celebrate fall.

 

Pumpkin Spice Spritz Cookies
 Ingredients:
1 cup (16 tablespoons) butter softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
 food coloring (optional)

Directions:
1. With an electric mixer, beat butter and powdered sugar until fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.
2. Mix in the egg and vanilla extract until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice. Slowly mix dry ingredients in with the butter mixture until combined.
4. If using food coloring, separate the dough, and add coloring accordingly.
5. Fill the cookie press with dough and press cookies onto ungreased baking sheets.
6. Bake at 350* for 7-8 minutes, until firm and edges are just beginning to brown. Remove from oven and let stand for 2 minutes before transferring to cooling racks to cool completely.


Maple Filling
Ingredients:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon maple extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Blend in maple and vanilla extracts. Slowly beat in powdered sugar until combined.

Sandwich maple filling between 2 cookies.

Recipes adapted from diethood.

Things That Make Smile 9/26/14

Jake (8½), Alyssa (6½), Zac (4½), Tyler (2)

Happy Friday! This week was filled with many memories: Alyssa's half birthday (post coming soon), Tyler's many shenanigans, and God keeping Alyssa safe through a very scary experience. That pretty much sums up life: good times, stressful times, and difficult times. I'm thankful that through it all, we still have many reasons to Smile.

1. Jake, about Tyler: "Look at him! He looks like a perfect little boy who never gets into trouble. And then you turn your back . . . and wham! He throws a baseball at a lamp!"

Me: "What?"

Jake: "It's just a figure of speech."

2. Jake: "If whoever created Legos was still alive, I'd want his autograph."

3. Zac, walking into the kitchen where I was making bread: "Mmm, I love the smell of dough."

4. Alyssa: "I like all of them, but my favorites, are all of them!"

5. "Mommy, wook at me!"

6. Tyler helped me load the dishwasher. After I started it, he said, "Good job, Mom! High five!"

7. I was blowing Tyler kisses across the room, trying to get him to blow one back. He said, "No!" and ran over to give me a real kiss. 

8. Jake: "Why do kids shove their toys under the bed?"
Me: "So they don't have to put them away."

Jake: "Nope. To keep the monsters away since there's no room!"

9. Tyler, eating homemade cinnamon swirl bread: "Mmm, belicious!" 

10. Jake: "As soon as I tasted the cookies (recipe here) I thought, An angel must have brought those down from Heaven."

What made you Smile this week?