Lesson 4-42 with select pictures

After she was reading fairly well and enjoying the lessons, I starting adding some handwriting practice for her.  It was basic really.  She got to write the last sentence in the reading lesson.  These were sometimes really basic such as lesson 4 but as we went on I was amazed at her desire to change the story with that last sentence such as in lesson 40.

Lesson 4

Did the dog teach the cat to swim?  No, the cat ran away.  The cat ran far away.  The cat got lost.  That cat ran very far away.  He got lost.  That is sad.

Lesson 5

We do not need to teach the dog to swim.  The dog can swim.  The dog likes the pool and so do I.  We can both swim in the pool.  I do not have to teach the dog to swim.

Lesson 6

The dog is swimming.  The cat is not swimming.  The cat is still lost.  Can we find the cat?  We looked for the cat.  We did not find the cat.  We can look more but I do not think we can find the cat.  Look, there is the cat.

Lesson 7

The cat ran.  The cat chased a rat.  The rat ran away.  I do not want the cat to catch the rat.  I do not want a rat.  The rat can be sick.  Cat, do not catch that rat.

Lesson 8

The cat is not lost.  The cat did not catch the rat.  The cat still cannot swim.  Can we keep the cat inside?  If we keep him inside he will not run away and get lost.

Lesson 9

Watch me jump.  Watch me run.  Watch me sit.  Watch me eat a hot dog.  I like hot dogs.  I like hot dogs with buns.  Do you like hot dogs?  Do they like hot dogs with buns?

Lesson 10

We can run.  We can jump.  We can eat hot dogs.  We can go to the park.  We can jump at the park.  We can run at the park.  I like the park.  Can we go to the park now?

Lesson 11

The dog is out.  Can we let him in?  No, do not let him in.  Why not?  He was in the mud.  I do not want mud inside.  The dog will need a bath.  If he has a bath, then he can come inside.

Lesson 12

Did the dog take a bath?  The dog took a bath and washed off the mud.  Is all the mud washed off?  No, there is still mud on the dog.  Then he cannot come inside.  He is sad.

Lesson 13

Do you like the park?  We go to the park but not if it is cold.  Do you go to the park if it is cold?  We do not go if it is windy.  We cannot go if there is too much wind.

Lesson 14

We went to the park.  We ran at the park.  We ran in the grass at the park.  We sat at the parl.  We sat on the swings at the park.  We sat on the grass at the park.  We like the park.

Lesson 15

The tree at the park is green all the time.  It is an evergreen tree.  The tree at the park is big.  There are other trees at the park.  I like the big tree at the park.  The other trees are not big and they do not stay green.

Lesson 16

I saw a red ball.  It was a big red ball.  I saw a big, red ball at the park.  I kicked the big red ball at the park.  It was fun to kick the big red ball at the park.

Lesson 17

The dog sat on the big rock under the big tree at the park.  We cannot go to the park when that dog is there.  I was sad that dog was there.   Go away dog, I want to play.

Lesson 18

The dog was not at the park today.  The dog was not under the tree.  The dog was not on the rock.  We looked but we did not see the dog.  We got to go to the park.

Lesson 19

How much food did the dog eat?  It will make him sick.  I did not give him much.  He will not get sick.  If he eats too much he will get sick.  He did not eat too much, he is not sick.  That is good.

Lesson 20

This is a mess.  I never saw such a mess.  How did this mess get here?  How can I fix such a mess?  I wish it were less of a mess.  Now I have to pick up the mess.  I do not like this mess.

Lesson 21

What did we get for lunch?  We got hot dogs for lunch.  I like hot dogs.  Not all of us like hot dogs.  That is all we have for lunch.  If they do not eat hot dogs they will not eat lunch.  That is sad.

Lesson 22

What can we eat for lunch?  Can we eat hot dogs for lunch?  Can we eat rolls for lunch?  Can we eat eggs for lunch?  Can we eat hot dogs and rolls for lunch?

Lesson 23

Do we get to see the trees today?  No, we have to stay inside.  I do not want to stay inside.  It is too windy.  Why is there so much wind?  It is spring.  In the spring there is lots of wind.  I am sad.  I want to see the trees.

Lesson 24

I saw a green balloon.  Then I saw a red balloon.  Then I saw the girl at the park that sells balloons.  It was fun to see the balloons.  I like balloons.

Lesson 25

This is so much fun.  What is fun?  I am reading all by myself.  No, I am not reading to you.  I am reading.  I am good at reading.  I can read long words like little and inside.  Can you read hard words like every and day?  Yes, I can.

Lesson 26

Do we have balloons today?  I like balloons.  I like red balloons and green balloons.  I even like brown balloons but I do not think they make very many brown balloons.  How many brown balloons do we have?  We do not have any brown balloons.  I think we can get some.

Lesson 27

Have we ever had a brown balloon inside?  I do not think we have had a brown balloon inside.  We had a green balloon and a red balloon.  We even had a yellow balloon.  I do not think we ever had a brown balloon.  We could get a brown balloon.

Lesson 28

The balloon got lost when he opened the door.  I did not want to open the door.  It is too windy.  We will never see that balloon again.  I liked that balloon.  Now we lost that balloon.  I am sad.  He is sad.  We wanted to keep that balloon.  Now that balloon is lost.  That is sad.  Poor lost balloon, now it will pop.

Lesson 29

We did not see that car turn.  It was a black car.  Now we do not see it.  Will it come back?  I do not think that car will come back.  When it turned we did not see it.  Did it turn left?  I did not see if it turned left.  I saw a black car, bit I did not see it turn.  I saw the car stop.

Lesson 30

I saw a red car hit a black car.  I do not think anyone got hurt but the red car is broken.  I do not think the black car is broken.  I saw the black car drive away.  The red car did not drive away.  The red car sat still.  Then a big truck took the red car down the road.  I am glad no one got hurt.

Lesson 31

I saw a big black dog run in the street.  I think that big black dog was lost.  I think that dog is sad.  It would be sad to be a lost dog.  It could be he was not lost bit I did not see anyone with him.  I think that big black dog was lost.  He did not look sad.

Lesson 32

I sat on a big rock.  The rock was hard.  I sat on the rock as long as I could.   I saw a small brown bird.  It sat still, then, the small brown bird left.  The rock was warm.  I sat still on the rock and the bird came back.  I liked seeing the bird.  I wanted to see a bigger bird but I did not.

Lesson 33

When I woke up I saw that it was sunny out.  I wanted to go to the park.  It was sunny outside but it was not warm.  It looked warm but it was cold.  It was too cold to go to the park.  I wanted to go to the park so I was sad.  I had to stay inside.  The next morning it was warm.

Lesson 34

When I woke up today I sat still on the bed.  I think I am sick.  I want to go back to sleep.  I feel bad all over.  I do not want to eat.  I will go back to sleep.  I want to feel better.  I do not think I will feel better today.  I am sad.  When I am not sick I will be happy.

Lesson 35

The black cat is in the yard.  The black cat hunts the birds in the yard.  I like the birds.  I do not think I like that black cat.  I wish that cat would stay away.  If it would stay away from the birds it could be in the yard.  It hunts the birds so it must go.  I will chase that black cat away.

Lesson 36

I like to sit at the table when I color.  I think I color better when I sit at the table.  When I color I like to color with many colors.  I do not like to use only one color.  I can put my colors on top of the table, then no one can step on them.  If colors get stepped on, they can get broken.  Then they get broken that is sad.

Lesson 37

I like the color green.  Some girls do not like green.  Some boys do not like green.  Some girls like pink.  I do not think many boys like pink.  I think most boys like red or blue.  Some boys like yellow or brown.  Some girls like yellow too.  Some girls like purple.  Some girls like red.  I like green best.

Lesson 38

I had a dog when I was a little girl.  It was a brown dog.  Dogs can be fun.  Dogs need work.  Dogs need food.  Dogs need beds and dogs need love.  Some dogs need big yards.  Some dogs get cold.  Some dogs like to stay inside.  Some dogs do not like to stay inside  Some dogs chase birds.  My dog was a big dog.  He did not chase birds.

Lesson 39

There is a big tiger at the zoo.  I like to watch the tiger.  He walks around in his cage.  He is a very big tiger.  I think he must eat a lot of food.  If he did not eat a lot of food he would not be so big.  I think he ate a lot of food when he was little too.

Lesson 40

Dot is from Mars.  Dot has a brother.  Her brother is from Mars too.  I think I would like to go to Mars.  There are no trees on Mars so I could see all over.  I like trees so I think I would not stay on Mars.  Dot likes trees so she moved here.  Dot got tired of trees so she moved back.

Lesson 41

I do not like grass in the spring.  Grass makes me sneeze.  I do not like to sneeze.  Most days I do not sneeze.  Some days I sneeze all day long.  I do not think those days are fun.  I do not feel good when I sneeze that much.  I do not want to sneeze.

zoo day

I love going to the zoo with my children, we spend the day walking and talking and running and laughing.  I wonder sometimes if it has anything to do with the animals.  I know that some people don't like zoos because they see that the animals are in un-natural settings and people aren't really seeing wild-life as it should be seen and they worry about the well-being of the animals.  I can see that they might have a bit of an argument there.  I however love the zoo.  I cannot afford to take my children to Africa, Australia, the Arctic, and all the other places around the world to see wonderful animals.  I also cannot explain to them what all these animals look like and eat and how they live without the zoo.  The zoo also provides a wonderful environment for me to talk to my children about being considerate of the wild animals all over the world and how we should take care of the planet.  If all they saw were the animals in our yard I don't think they would worry much about taking care of the environment.  The stray cat in the shed and the crazy squirrel by the gate don't mean much to them.  The birds are all slightly annoying because they poop on the sidewalk and dive-bomb our heads.  The rest of the wild-life eat our strawberries so we don't like them.  Without the zoo and the wonderful people who work there, and are very kind to my children, we would not really want to do anything environmentally friendly in our house.  As it is, today we discussed recycling and reducing shipping.  We talked about habitat preservation and reusing building materials.  We also discussed the history of the wolf and the bald eagle.  I'd say it was a good day, full of teaching moments, thanks zoo.

My Son Was in Fine Form Today

I started the day WAY too early, with my wonderful, cute, 3 year old son telling me it was morning and I should get up.  When he said "pretty cheese with please Mom."  I had to get up. 
Then, I got to have some wonderful conversations with him:

Conversation 1
Him: "Mom, here."
Me: "What is this?"
Him: "A peice of my body, it came off when I scraped the wall."
Me: "Did it hurt?"
Him: "No, why would it hurt?"

Conversation 2
Him: "Mom, I cleaned my room a little."
Me: "Is it all the way clean?"
Him: "It's so clean that you won't hurt your toes tonight when you come cuddle."

Conversation 3
Me:  "Sweetheart, these socks don't go in the pantry."
Him: "They aren't in the pantry."
Me: "Where are they?"
Him: "In the middle of the floor."

We'll see how tomorrow goes, but right now I am so happy that I was paying attention and got some pretty cheese.

Lesson 2

Here's what she read:

We like to swim.  Dogs like to swim.  Cats do not like swimming.  Did we jump in the pool?  The dog jumped in the pool.  The cat walked away from the pool.  I like the pool.

Here's what she drew:

Lesson 3

Here's what she read:

Can we teach a cat to swim?  The dog could teach the cat to swim.  The cat jumped into the pool.  Then the cat jumped out of the pool.  I like the pool but the cat does not.


Here's what she drew:

Lesson 1

This is what she read:

Can the dog sit?  Can the dog jump?  Did the dog teach the cat?  The cat ran away.  Will the cat come back?  The dog did not run away.


This is what she drew:

Reading lessons

My oldest daughter learned to read using the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons book.  She loved it, she liked the order, the consistency, and indeed the simple stories.  She liked that she could do a lesson and that she had an end to learning to read.  In her mind she was going somewhere, the end of the book was the goal.  Her sister did not agree with any of that.  We got to lesson 23 before the complete mutiny.  We tried Bob books and we got through four sets, she liked reading a whole book like sister, but at the end of the fourth set we had another day of deep despair.  We tried getting easy readers from the library, or reading pages or paragraphs, or indeed words in chapter books but nothing was working.  I finally sat down and asked her how she would like to learn to read.  I was slightly frustrated because she kept asking to learn to read and she kept making books herself, with words and stories that she would dictate to me and then copy down in the books.  She loved to tell crazy and funny stories and write them out and draw the illustrations.  I couldn't understand how she couldn't learn to read.  We sat down together and came up with some ideas.  Finally we settled on an idea of hers.  I wasn't sure if it would work, and I wasn't sure if I had the ability to do it, but after 5 months of her idea, I must say it worked for her.  I wrote stories for her every day, silly stories about animals, aliens, and outside (her ideas).  She read the stories to me and after she read the story she got to illustrate the bottom of the page.  I thought she was crazy but it worked.  She can now read quite well when she wants to, although she still asks me to write stories for her.

Camping update

So the tent is still up, that makes three nights in a row of living room camping.  Luckily, there was a cricket under the fridge the whole time so the children got to hear real outside sounds.  The most enjoyable part was watching them work out how to share the tent space with one another.  The tent is a true three man tent so it's pretty big for three children, of course I wasn't going to let the baby in there with them.  I thought it was interesting listening to them work it out and discussing who got to sleep where.  Big sister lead a story time each night, and one morning so she was working on reading without any help, I think this might have been the best part of the camping experience.  Of course brother's book was "boring" to the girls and they bemoaned having to read a boy book.  Read "boy book" here as something with a car in it.  They have asked to actually go camping so I think we will have to do that in a couple weeks.  Hopefully it will be as positive an experience as living room camping.

Camping

Tomorrow is the great American backyard campout but our backyard is not exactly conducive to camping so we set the tent up in the living room.  The children think this is awesome, I think this may lead to more summer camping trips than originally planned.  This is ok of course, I just hope they don't think real camping is like the living room.

Tea at the park

We had a tea at the park with our friends today.  It was so much fun and it reminded me of the time when tea was an activity not just a beverage.  People used to meet for tea and visit with their friends.  I started thinking about what a pleasant thing that is, to just spend time with friends for no other reason than to enjoy their company.  It was so fun to watch our children enjoying playing and sharing imagination with friends.  Children really need to imagine, and share imagining with other children.  It was a great reminder that children need to be children and they need to play. 
Of course then I started wondering when that need seems to go away, don't adults need to relax and imagine too.  People seem to think it's a bad thing when adults "play" as though they were children but one of my professors once told me that invention is just imagination, determination, and hard work so creative play must be important to people of all ages.  I do believe I need to have more tea, not the drink, the activity.

Diaper pails

We are now changing diapers for our fourth baby so we know a bit about diapering.  We discovered this inexpensive and effective diaper pail.  A five gallon bucket with a lid.  It takes any trash bag, the lid controls the smell well and the handle makes taking the diapers to the garage so easy that my seven year old can do it by herself.   Now I just found out that the home improvement store now has very nice blue buckets for $2.50.  I wonder if I can get a new one.

kids say crazy things, but what do they make us say?

We all know that kids say silly things, remember Bill Cosby.  I however never considered the miriad of things that I would find myself saying, in a completely normal voice, once I had children in my life.  Had you told me seven years ago that I would have said any one of the things I found myself saying yesterday I would have thought you were crazy.  Yet, yesterday I said many things all in the course of a normal day, that I found interesting.  I actually said all of these things in a calm rational voice, because I actually meant all of these things.  I started writing them down primarily because I figured my husband would not believe I had actually said them.  Here they are, in order:

No, you eat the cookie, I don't want it.

Can you slow-motion walk a little faster?

It is your sister's turn to have the paper bag on her head.

Please take the plate out of the spaceship.

Stop biting your brother's toenails.

Please use this marker to color on your stomach.

Then, in the course of typing this in today I got to say...

Even alien turtles walk with their heads outside their shells.

I think today will be another interesting day.

Afghanistan dessert (Kashmiri Naan)

My daughter also likes to make this, my son likes to eat it, so it works out well.

Kashmiri Naan can be eaten during the meal, or after, it's sweet though.  This also makes a lot, so invite some friends.

Make 3 batches of naan dough, add an extra tsp of sugar if you like, then make the filling.

Filling
1 cup sugar (white or brown work, but I think white is more common)
1/2 cup cashews (chopped)
1/4 cup almonds (chopped)
1 cup Marachino Cherries (well drained and chopped)

You can chop the ingredients separately or all together, I use a small electric chopper, some people use a food processor and can do everything at once.  If you chop them separately them mix them together well.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Make the dough into 12-14 small dough balls.  Roll the dough balls into circles and then put some of the filling in the center of the circles, cover with another circle.  Pinch the edges together to seal in the filling.  You can bake this like regular naan.

Afghanistan side dish (naan)

My daughter (age 7) loves to make this, and can do all but the baking herself, it's a good easy baking recipe to start learning the basics.

Naan

1 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
1/2 cup warm water (not too hot about 100 F)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup clarified butter or oil (vegitable or olive)

Combine the yeast, sugar and water and stir well, let sit until foamy (about 5 minutes).

Mix flour and salt in a large bowl.

Make a well in the center of the flour and add the oil or butter, then the yeast mixture.

Mix together with your fingers until you make a smooth dough, knead for about 3 minutes, add flour if the dough is too wet.

Coat the dough ball with oil and let sit about an hour in a covered bowl in a warm spot.  It should double in size.

Preheat oven to 400

Make 6 dough balls, on a floured surface roll the dough balls into circles.

On a baking stone or lightly greased baking sheet bake the circles about 12 minutes, or until light brown and poofy.

Enjoy.

Afghanistan main dish

This is a delicious and easy recipe to introduce some new flavors.
It makes a lot, so invite some friends...

Kabli Pulao

4 cups of uncooked rice (I used Basmati)
2 pounds of chicken, cubed (I have used boneless/skinless breasts, and also tenders)
2 onions, chopped (I've only used yellow, but I don't think it matters)
3 medium carrots chopped in 3" pieces
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 tsp Cardamom seeds
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
10 cups of water
1-2 Tbs olive oil

In a large skillet with a lid, heat oil, add onions, saute until transparent, add meat, fry for about 5 minutes.  Add 4 cups of water, cover and cook on low heat until meat is tender, (about 10-15 minutes).

In a heavy bottomed pot boil 6 cups of water, add rice and cook for 5 minutes, remove from heat.

Combine all the ingredients in a large baking pan with a lid.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Enjoy.

Countries

My oldest daughter is fascinated by other cultures and learning about how different people live.  She asked to learn how to cook food from other countries.  This lead us into a journey, starting with Afghanistan, I will start posting the recipes we tried on this adventure.

Teaching my 3 year old shapes

Sometimes my son is smarter than I expect, this can make teaching him the basics a challenge.  Today we were reviewing shapes and I was trying to make it less abstract and more real world.  I got some fruit from the pantry for circles.  I asked him what the orange, the plum, and the apricot had in common.  I was assuming he would say, circle or round.  He thought for a while and finally, with emphasis, said "They are all juicy!"  I will count that as a correct answer and find another way to discuss shapes.

Mermaid Giraffes

My five year old daughter spends much of her free time drawing pictures.  Some of them are related to movies or tv shows she watches, some are from books she's heard.  She draws a lot of giraffes, baby giraffes, mommy and daddy giraffes, but these mermaid giraffes she drew yesterday are a first.  Enjoy.

Free Saturday? What?

We had an entire Saturday with nothing on the schedule.  Yes, this seems strange to us too.  So, we did chores around the house.  I finished making my skirt that I started three weeks ago (It only actually took about 3 hours) and we got some more plants for our garden.  I am so excited about the fresh eggplant that we will have that I've actually started pulling out eggplant recipes.  This adventure brought out some of my old favorites.  Look for them soon.  Anyone have any good eggplant recipes to share?  I can't try them until later on account of my eggplants are not actually planted yet.  It was way too hot today.

Spinach that most of my children ate

in olive oil heat a few pieces of prosciutto on medium heat
add 1 cup of spinach and let it wilt
add 1/8 cup of craisins
add 1/8 cup feta
mix well
serve as soon as the feta starts to melt
Enjoy.

Dogs vs. Children

So I was listening to a conversation at the park.  I know I shouldn't eavesdrop, but I couldn't help it.  There was a lady talking to her friend about how she should be a good parent because she had yet to kill her dog.  While I agree that if you can't keep a dog alive you should not have children, I do not think this is a sufficient prerequisite to being a good mom. 

First, there are the obvious differences:
1. Children need more clothing, food, and attention than most dogs.
2. You can not leave your child at the kennel when you go out of town.
3. At some point your child will learn to talk, then you don't get to imagine them saying what you want them to say.

Then, there are the less obvious differences:
1. Children are harder to potty train than a dog.  Mostly because few children like the taste of dog treats, or have strong enough teeth to chew them.
2.  Children must be educated (at least that's what the law says) dogs can be trained, see number 1 above.
3.  Dogs will live with you for their entire life, children should not.

So, lady at the park, I am glad that your dog is alive and thriving, I do not however see this as a reason to have children.  Perhaps you should investigate your other attributes.

Wildflowers

Every time my son sees flowers at the park he picks some for me.  I love the thought of this much more than the 15 dead and squished clover flowers in my pocket, so I encourage him as much as possible.  I hope his future wife appreciates my efforts.

Morning, aka. my time, planning, and chaos

I try to wake up before the rest of the family and have some time in the morning to myself.  This is the time when I try to figure out what I have to do that day, what I should do that day, and what I would like to do that day.  I think that this helps me have a better day.  I used to think it was the planning that made my day go better.  I m now starting to think it has nothing to do with the planning and everything to do with sitting quietly for a few minutes without anyone needing anything from me.  I might say that I look forward to the day when all my children are out of my house and I can spend whole entire days with no one needing me for anything, but I don't think I really am looking forward to that.  So, I will enjoy my morning time, and not worry about the future that will be here too soon.  I will also drink some tea, this makes me think I'm having nice quality time with myself, which is rare, and I will do my lesson plans and I will know that planning is silly because my day will not go according to plan.  I will know that all other mothers likely feel the same way, and that will make me feel better because my chaos is more than someone's and less than someone elses.
My next question to ponder is how do I teach my children to plan, because some amount of planning is good, but also to be flexible when things do not go as planned?  Is this something that can only be taught by example?  Can I set up some artificial, yet real feeling, scenario such that my children see that planning is good and change is ok?  Do I need to worry about that at all, or do children just learn this through life?  I think I will worry because this was a hard lesson for me, that change is ok.  I will continue to worry about the stress my children feel because of change and I will try to help them see that change is constant and normal and nothing to lose sleep over.

TV shows that should have been

We watch one show as a family on friday nights.  We asked the kids what they wanted to watch tonight.  The response:
1.0:  "I want to watch Star Truck."
2.0:  "It's called Star Struck."
3.0:  "No, it's called Star Shrek."

The tree that started it

We went for a walk and saw a tree.  The tree was peeing.  Now whenever we walk we have to check all the trees we pass to see if they are also peeing.

Picnic

A picnic at the park requires packing and a song about peanut butter.

bugs

Why does my daughter, version 2.0, scream when she sees a spider but picks up a moth?  Aren't they both bugs?

beginning

Welcome to my blog.  This is so that I can post recipes and other fun stuff for people to see, try, and comment on.  Really, I like to make up recipes but then I need other people to test them and give me feedback because my son eats everything and my daughter eats nothing so that's not really useful feedback.