Month: December 2021

Homeschooling: Ice Age..

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling4 Comments

This week just sort of evolved organically. We are reading all Jan Brett this month for language arts, and when I remembered The First Dog, I thought about Sunset of the Sabertooth, and we just leapt from there. This was a very fun week!

Since our language arts revolves around Jan Brett this month, most of our reading/literature work centered around her book The First Dog. This is such a cute book! We discussed whether we thought Kip should have befriended Dog or not (yes of course), characters, setting, and vocabulary. We also learned about the different ice age animals that pop up throughout the story – sabertooth cats, woolly mammoths, cave bears – which were also present in the Magic Tree House book we were reading as well. Wyatt diagrammed each animal, we read books about them, and watched a few videos about them as well.

Wyatt’s favorite part of the week was the cave painting he did. It was very messy but sometimes being creative is messy. This kid loves to paint, no matter how. We found some Native American flute music to listen to while he painted; Sunset of the Sabertooth focused on a flute and that was as close as I could get. We both really enjoyed it. Wyatt’s second favorite thing is music.

Science this week actually sort of meshed well. We were learning about weathering, erosion, and metamorphic rocks. I had a bunch of experiments lined up for Wyatt that I thought for sure he would love, but he seemed sort of ambivalent about them. Lol. Our science curriculum gives a few different options – the book basket crew, outdoor crew, the tabletop demo crowd, and arts and crafts crowd. I switch it up all the time, but it seems Wyatt is definitely in the arts and crafts camp pretty solidly, so if I do switch it up, we will also do the arts and crafts project as well.

And for a fun finish, tonight we are going to watch Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas.

What We Read:

(this section contains Amazon affiliate links)

The First Dog by Jan Brett || Sunset of the Sabertooth || Woolly Mammoths || Sabertooth Cats

Resources:

Besides our Blossom and Root curriculum, we also used:

The First Dog by Jan Brett Book Companion and Ice Age Animal Diagramming from Curriculum Hound via Teachers Pay Teachers

The First Dog by Jan Brett Book Companion by Amy Labrasciano via Teachers Pay Teachers

Next week: Reindeer!

What Wyatt’s Reading – December Edition

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized11 Comments

It’s the holiday season, and I tend to go overboard with the holiday books every December. I am constantly at the library, picking up and returning huge piles of books. But, we both love books and it’s Christmas time and..why not?

This is a list of what we have read together so far…I feel a part two might be coming closer to Christmas…

It’s been fun reading for the most part! Gingerbread Baby and Tough Cookie we read during our week of gingerbread; of the two, we both liked Tough Cookie a bit more. And, I like gingerbread more than the story, I have decided – don’t you think the Gingerbread Boy is sort of obnoxious? Lol.

Finding Christmas is a sweet little tale of kindness, with the cutest little illustrations. Little Mole’s Christmas Gift is similar, with the idea of giving what you want to someone who is more in need. Plus, how adorable is that cover and mushroom? The whole book has spectacular illustrations.

Little Blue Truck is always a favorite of Wyatt, for years. And I have to admit, I think they are pretty darn cute too. In this one Little Blue Truck is trundling about delivering the perfect tree to each of his friends.

And on the subject of trees.. The Christmas Eve Tree. Hmm. What can I say about this one? Neither of us really liked it. Wyatt kept looking at me like “What are you reading to me Mom?”. I understand where this book was going and the point it was trying to make, but it was just depressing. Marguerite’s Christmas was actually a wonderful picture book, but I think the message is a bit deep for kids. I always preread Wyatt’s book, not with the intent to censor ever, but just so I am familiar. This one I ended up not reading to him – but I did give it to my mom to read. I thought it was a beautiful book but I thought the message would be lost on Wyatt a bit.

Norman the Slug Who Saved Christmas is a favorite around here. This was a gift to Wyatt from his aunt and uncle, and it is so darn cute. Maybe we are biased because we like all the creepy crawly things like snails and bugs, but this book is just so fun. Little Witch Hazel is one we are adding to our library. It contains four stories centered around the seasons, and is so enchanting. The illustrations are gorgeous and magical and the stories so sweet.

These last two were my personal favorites- Babushka and A Simple Christmas on the Farm. I think both of these are beautiful stories, of coming together, helping others, the beauty of Christmas. The illustrations in Babushka are amazing, colorful and whimsical, and the illustrations in A Simple Christmas on the Farm warm and cozy. These two were hands down my favorite. Little Blue Truck and Tough Cookie were Wyatt’s favorites, but he did like these two as well.

I’m still on the lookout for new and different titles to add to our holiday reading! It is only the 10th of December after all. We have two weeks of holiday reading still left to do! If you have a suggestion, let me know!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized22 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

I feel like last week flew by! Just a week ago I had my mom over for dinner, a cold weather favorite of mine Chickpea Dumpling Soup, then we drove around looking at Christmas lights. And now it is Sunday all over again. We had a pretty good week in our homeschool; we are focusing on Jan Brett books this month and we started with The Gingerbread Baby and finished the week with baking gingerbread! I have had numerous friends and family in the hospital with various ailments so that was stressful, and I always throw myself into projects when I am stressed. They are all doing much better now though, so I am relieved and thankful. This weekend I just totally let go and had fun with my family. We went for a sunny December walk around the Henry Ford Estate in Dearborn, then donated some things to the animal shelter as part of our Wolfenoot celebrations from November. And let myself relax.

That photo of us with Henry Ford’s statue cracks me up. And I also joked with Billy that my reflection in the glass makes me look sort of like Santa Claus! The actual estate is closed for renovation right now but once it is open again I can’t wait to tour it. It is one of my favorite local sites to visit.

Anywhoo..

Read Last Week:

I love reading middle grade around the holidays for some reason, and this one was so good. A cozy British mystery set in the 1930s on the Cambridge campus at Christmas time…a more perfect setting for me couldn’t be found, I am sure. I really enjoyed this book, and I will probably read more in the series at some point.

Reading This Week:

I read book one in this series, The Tourist Attraction, last year and figured I would save this one for this Christmas. I really enjoyed The Tourist Attraction so I am hoping that this one is just as good. We are also reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe together as a family this month, before bedtime.

Posted Last Week:

Wolfenoote, Baking, and Christmas Homeschool

Hello December!

Nonfiction November Week 5: New to the TBR

Watching and Listening:

Billy and I are watching Wheel of Time, which I am really enjoying. We are also watching the Brokenwood Mysteries on Acorn, which is pretty good! We have started adding in Christmas movies too, with our first family Christmas movie Friday night, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas.

As for listening, Spotify had their yearly wrap up the other day – and I was shocked to see that I had listened to so.much.Taylor.Swift. That being said, her Folklore and Evermore albums are really good. (Interesting fact: She grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania)

Here are some highlights from my Spotify Wrapped…

I am skeptical about the Joni Mitchell, considering I don’t really like her. I skip her when she comes on. So often in fact, that Wyatt can instantly recognize her voice and tells me to skip her too. So, either Spotify or Joni Mitchell is trolling me. And no offense to Joni Mitchell or her fans, her music just makes me sad.

Aaaaaannnddd that is it from our little burrow! I hope all is well with you!

Wolfenoote, Baking, and Christmas Homeschool

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn family friendly, hygge11 Comments

Wolfenoote! A totally 100% made up holiday, dreamed up by a child in New Zealand, and whose parents in a random online story shared that dream. And of course, people like me read it and were like, I’m in! Wolfenoote ” is about celebrating our pack – human and animal – helping where we can, and making the world a better, kinder place.” I love that! It is suggested that to celebrate, you enjoy roast meat, a cake hat looks like a full moon, and if you have a dog, give that dog a present! Human pack members can also receive a gift, but we haven’t done that part as of yet.

We spent the week in our homeschool reading stories that exemplified kindness, we talked about kindness and ways we could show our families and friends and communities kindness. Then on the evening of the 23rd we had roast beef and blue cheese sandwiches on toasted bread, and meatballs. Billy had that brilliant idea, and I love him for it. Thanksgiving was just a few days out and it seemed a little crazy to have two big meals in one week like that. And it was perfect. We had a picnic (inside) since wolves do not sit at tables, ate our sandwiches and meatballs, then it was time for cake! And frankly, that cake was awesome. I am not a baker so I just made a box cake (Aldi yellow) but it was delicious! It had to be that Wolfenoot magic. I also stuck a little wolf silhouette in it. We followed up dinner with some wolfy and nature readings, and voted whether we were going to symbolically adopt a wolf from the Wolf Conservation Center or donate to a local animal shelter. We decided since we usually do the wolf thing for the wolf moon in January, that this time we would donate to an animal shelter. After making this big decision, we listened to Wyatt’s favorite Okee Dokee Brother’s song, Howl. Twice. Loudly. With howling. And then it was time for little wolf cubs to get a bath and go to bed. It was a good Wolfnoote.

For not being a baker, I have been doing a lot of it! The cake on Wolfnoote, and then a Cranberry Pie for Thanksgiving. This is hands down my favorite pie to make. It is fast and easy, and tastes delicious.

I probably could have taken a photo of it after it was finished, and the lid top was on. I blame that wine for this bad photo decision.

Then it was December before I knew it! One thing I love about homeschooling is taking the month of December and trying to theme a lot of our month around Christmas type themes. I mean, I can’t with all of it, but I can quite a bit. It’s a little more work since I go off road from our curriculum and pull it all together myself (my weekends have hours filled with planning) but it is all worth it.

This week was all about gingerbread! We read multiple versions of the gingerbread man story, created gingerbread men from paper, and finished up with a “Gingerbread Cafe” and made our own gingerbread! Well, I did. I lost my helper quickly. Gingerbread takes a long time! He did resurface for the eating of it. As did my husband who was working from home. The gingerbread was a big hit. I didn’t think I liked gingerbread, but it turns out, I do. A lot! I used a recipe from @ofbeeandbear on Instagram, subbing out the spelt flour with just regular flour, and they are delicious.

We made gingerbread girls, boys, and of course, foxes. I need to make sure to copy this recipe down, as it is a winner and will be made every Christmas from here on out.

I feel like our Christmas homeschool is off to a fun (and tasty) start!

Have you done any baking yet? Do you like to bake? Gingerbread – yay or nay?

Hello December!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized9 Comments

Well, here we are! December! And Michigan is behaving appropriately right now, with cold and snow right on cue for the holiday season. I love snow – until the end of February, when I am ready for it to be gone and for spring to arrive. But this month is the month of the Full Quiet Moon – when we have our longest, darkest nights, when we need to snuggle in our homes, eating all the good comfort foods, warming up with delicious hot chocolate and tea, reading and crafting and for the days when we are feeling squirrely, invigorating wintry hikes that refuel our spirits.

Before we move on, let’s take a look back at some of my favorite November moments.. and I just realized I never blogged about Wolfenoot! I will do that soon.

I’m pretty excited about Christmas this year. I started shopping months ago, I am all in on books and movies and music, and really, just everything. We are hoping to have a jam making day with my brother and his family soon, along with a Winter Solstice celebration with just the three of us. And frankly, I want to spend this month enjoying my family, the small moments, the quiet moments. The nights watching the snow fall gently outside, going for rides to look at Christmas lights, those hushed hikes through the woods in winter. Watching the birds at my bird feeders, and hoping for a glimpse of the little baby possum who likes to hang out here as well. I used to jam our schedule all of up – now I am going for quality over quantity. Although, I wouldn’t mind one activity..maybe the lights at the zoo? Or the Holiday Nights event at Greenfield Village, but just me and Billy, like a (gasp) date night? What is that even, I don’t remember. Hmm…maybe both?

As you all go about your months, savor these moments. Do the things that fill you up and make you smile. That restore your soul.