Homeschool Review: Circle C Beginnings Series

Nothing like HAVING to read a fun book about an old fashioned girl! I was soo excited when I found out that we would get to review a book from the new Circle C Beginnings series. Kregel Publishing sent us  Andi's Scary School Days to review.
The Circle C Beginnings series is a new series designed for children ages 6-8 and tell the story of six year old Andi (Andrea) and her life on a ranch in 1874. The book we got to review tells the story of Andi's first few days of school and how she adjusts to this new environment.

This is such a cute little book! It's a short chapter book. A couple days after we got it, MiniMe was whining about being bored because she'd just finished the book she was reading. So I handed her this book to read. She disappeared to her room and reappeared a couple hours later & handed me the book. She had read the WHOLE BOOK in one sitting! I was stunned (she tends to be my slower reader and generally not as big a fan of reading as Sassy). So, obviously this is an easy read for young readers. When I asked her what she thought, she said she LOVED it, and yes, of COURSE she wanted the REST of the series (so much for review products being free, not so much when it means we "have" to buy the rest of the series LOL.  We haven't yet, but we'll be adding them to the girls' Christmas list, and I'll keep them in mind as a possible surprise for any long road trips or similar that we have to do between now & then). One thing MiniMe said she liked was that there weren't any "hard words" so she could read the whole thing by herself.

While I prefer to use books like this as a fun "free time" activity, and in think alll children, homeschooled or not, should have good books like this to read for the pure joy of reading, if you wanted to incorporate these books into your history curriculum, the Circle C Beginnings website has some GREAT resources! There are FREE coloring pages and activity packs to go with each book. These could easily be used to turn each book into a unit study or lapbook. OR you may purchase lapbooks for a more complete study.

These books would make a nice read-aloud for preschoolers, and an easy chapter book for early elementary children to read on their own. I think much older than 8 or 9 would find it too simple to read on it's own, but as a "Tween" or early teen, I might have chosen to read the Circle C Beginnings series if I had already read, and enjoyed the Circle C Adventures series that is about the same girl at age 12. I would guess that older children would also be fine with listening to the story as a family read-aloud.

 At this time there are 4 books in the Circle C Beginnings series and they are available for $4.99 each. Or all 4 for $15.96. The website indicates that 2 more books will be available in August 2011. Also, as I mentioned above, there's another series about the same girl at age 12. It is designed for children age 9-14.

I was sent this review as a member of the TOS Crew. You can see what others have to say about this series, including the other books in the "Beginnings" series by going to this post. 

Disclaimer: I received this book in exchange for writing an honest review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

Mock Orange Julius

I've had this recipe on my "to try" list for quite awhile now, but I had alot of excuses . . . it seems like a summer thing to me, but oranges aren't in season in the summer and lots of other yummy fruits are. I don't have an ice maker and am HOPELESS at keeping ice cubes filled. . . I don't generally have buttermilk in the house, and don't use it enough to be worth making  . .

So finally, today, I put my thinking cap on and adapted the recipe to how things are in our house!

about half a can frozen orange juice concentrate
several spoonfuls plain yogurt
a little more than one can (from the OJ) milk
a little maple syrup (actually this time, I had some powdered sucanat still in the blender from last time I made it, so just used that for sweetener, but if it wasn't already there, it would be easier to sweeten with maple syrup, it doesn't need much sweetening though)
1-2 tsp vanilla extract

Dump it all in the blender & blend it up. Adjust ingredients as needed for taste. Enjoy a yummy, nutritious version of an orange julius for breakfast, or a snack or whenever!! I'm thinking this will make a quick, not-too-messy breakfast or lunch if we need to eat in the car. I also want to try making this ahead & freezing it, to take in lunches, it can keep the rest of our food cold, and then be an icy drink (or possibly still frozen enough to eat w/ a spoon) at the end of our meal.

Since I know that fresh squeezed orange juice is healthier than OJ concentrate (or store-bought, pasturized orange juice), I'm thinking next winter, when we can get, if not local, at least in-season oranges, I'll squeeze some of them and freeze the juice, then it will be frozen and ready to use in this, and other smoothies, etc.

A Little Bit of What Little Bit has Been Learning - April Review

Little Bit is 25 months old

It's been awhile since I've done a Tot School post. So I thought I'd scroll back through my camera and summarize some of the things Little Bit has been up to in the last few weeks, in no particular order.

One of the most important parts of "learning" this time of year, for all of us, is plenty of outside time while the weather is nice! Running through a field of dandelions with big sister is about as perfect a "school" activity as I can think of for a 2 year old (and the 8 year old)!

More outside fun.  Riding her "bike".  She so desperately wants to ride bikes with big sisters, but can't keep up with their 2 wheelers. She still has great fun with it. This is one of my favorite pictures at the moment. She was riding and then said "Mommy. Picture. Me. Bike" (she puts a period at the end of every word when she talks, I love it!) and gave me this great cheesy grin!

Even rainy days, or post-rain days, are an opportunity for outside fun now that the weather's warmer. Little Bit thinks jumping in puddles is great fun!

Little Bit continues to love her puzzles. This one is one that my parents have from when I was little. I LOVE this puzzle! And now Little Bit seems to love it too!

Reading books is another favorite. Sometimes Little Bit likes to be read to (Brown Bear Brown Bear is a current favorite, she has it memorized!), other times she likes to "read" books herself. I about died when I was driving somewhere and the older girls were singing and she said told them "Quiet. PLLEEEASSE! Me Readin!"

Another favorite "treat" at Mama & Papa's house is the piano. She spends TONS of time banging away on the keyboard whenever we're there.

And of course, Easter. She LOVED the Easter Egg hunt! And, I think, was better at finding some of the well-hidden eggs than her sisters. And then, after our "official" egg hunt, she continued to enjoy her afternoon by having sisters and Mama re-hide the eggs 2 or 3 more times! Great fun!

And a final outdoor fun! Wading in a friend's creek! She LOVED it! We learned about balance and such on the uneven rocks of the creek bottom, saw minnows swim by. Saw a BIG turtle hiding under s thorn bush (smart turtle, with 7 little girls running around his woods), threw rocks in the water to see them splash, and otherwise had a blast! It's re-inspired me to make sure we take time to go down to our creek in our woods this summer and let her and her sisters wade and such.

You can see what others are doing for Tot School at 1+1+1=1.

Warm Breakfast Pudding

This is my adaptation of this recipe. But for some reason, when I make it, it turns out to be a soft pudding, not a drink. I've left out the arrowroot to make it a drink, but the girls prefer it as a pudding.

3 c whole milk
4 egg yolks (make SURE none of the white gets in)
1/4 c maple syrup
3 T Sucanat
4 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 T arrowroot powder (dissolve well!)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all but the vanilla in a saucepan and heat over med. heat, stirring, until it begins to thicken. Once thick, remove from heat, stir in vanilla extract and pour into mugs.  This recipe fills 3 mugs with a little leftover, so it works well for the 3 girls and I for breakfast. Sassy and MiniMe each gets a full mug and I start Little Bit out with whatever won't fit in the 3 full mugs, but often give her some of mine as well.

I also scramble the leftover egg whites with browned butter, and sometimes some onion, and give some of that to Little Bit. MiniMe often eats some of it as well, and if there's any left, I get it LOL.

This makes a quick, filling breakfast that make my children think they're getting "dessert" for breakfast!

Overnight Granola

I love granola. And I love the convenience of dumping some in a bowl with milk and calling it breakfast. BUT I don't love the price or ingredients of most store-bought granola. And I found with most "normal" granola recipes, I would get busy and forget to stir it, and it would burn. Or I would never get around to making it because it requires a day when I'm home all day to actually be there TO stir it as needed . . . then I came across this recipe. Finally, a recipe that doesn't require babysitting! I can throw this together at bedtime if need-be, though I typically try to have the older girls make it after supper.

Here's the recipe with my changes.
1/2 c Sucanat
1/2 c coconut oil or butter, or a combination
1/2 c honey or maple syrup, or a combination
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
7 c oats (or replace some of the oats with seeds, nuts, etc. . . whatever you like in your granola)

Combine sweetners and oil(s) in a small saucepan. Bring to a low boil. Remove from heat and stir in cinnamon and vanilla. Pour over oats and add-ins in a large bowl, stir until well coated. Spread into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 375 for 10 min. Stir. Return to oven, TURN OVEN OFF! Leave in oven overnight.  In the morning, break up chunks, stir in mini chocolate chips and/or dried fruit. Store in an air-tight container.

Weekly Wrap-Up - May 1

We had a busy week. You've already seen some of the highlights. We of course started our week with Easter. Then spent Monday and Tuesday playing with friends in their creek.

Also while we were at my parents' house the big girls helped Papa set several of the posts for their playhouse.  Little Bit finally learned to say thank you in English.  She has signed Thank You for MONTHS, and for quite awhile now has randomly said "Gracias" (gawsus), but never actually said thank you in English. Last weekend while we were at my parents' she started saying "Tanks" which for some reason makes me smile every time I hear it. Too cute!! (yes, I'm biased!).

Wednesday we headed home. Since we've been home we've done some gardening. Caught up on laundry. Done some school. And prayed for our friends and family down south. The tornados in Tennessee went through quite close to the college that I attended for all 4 years and Rodney attended for 2 years. We still have quite a few friends who live in the area and have been hearing about the destruction in an area we both have many fond memories of.

Since the same storms that tore through the south on Wednesday was headed our way on Thursday, we took some time that morning to do some impromtu discussions of emergency preparedness. Talking through what we would need to do if the thunderstorm warnings in our area turned into a tornado watch and/or warning. We didn't need to put our discussions into practice, but being home alone with 3 young children, it was important that the older girls were working with me without me needing to take time with lots of explanations.  Our basement would be about as safe as you can get for a tornado, BUT it's not a toddler-safe location so one of the things we went over was the fact that if we needed to go down there I'd need them on constant "Little Bit Duty" both while I made any necessary additional trips upstairs for things and then while I rearranged things as needed in the basement to make us more comfortable. MiniMe, especially, tends to worry (yes, that's another way she's my "MiniMe") but I think talking through things helped her to be more calm about it all.  As it turned out, all we had was wind and thunderstorms, for which we were very thankful.

So that was our week. We're so thankful for the spring weather, FINALLY!

Day at the Creek

While we were visiting my parents, we had a different kind of nature lesson. We spent a lovely morning with some friends, playing in their creek. Actually we spent Monday afternoon, playing in the creek with them, and then as we were leaving, Laura, knowing that I was planning to visit another of our friends, Vicki, the next day, and invited us all to come back and play in the creek some more. And Vicki's a lovely photographer, so here are a few pictures of our fun day at the creek!

All the big girls ran on ahead, complete with their buckets and traps, they were hoping to catch minnows, but they got side tracked once they got to the creek LOL.

The first day, not planning to wade in the creek, I was wearing a denim skirt, and found it, errr . . . challenging . . . to keep the skirt out of the water and help Little Bit wade in the creek. And she LOVED it! The rough rocks didn't phase her in the least! For that matter, when she got tired of wading, she was running around in the woods barefoot too.  So . . . the second day I planned abit better and wore a lightweight skirt that I could just let get wet, and then dry out.

When Little Bit wasn't wading, she was running around the woods. The ground was COVERED with little white wildflowers!

Laura had kindly brought a couple chairs out for the adults to sit in. But as you can see, Little Bit thought the chair was a great place to relax once she wore herself out running around. I had to bribe her with nursing to get her to share her chair with me, hee hee.

Meanwhile, the big girls were busy playing in the creek. THEY got soaked both days. Monday, I just had them take off the wet stuff once we got in the car, and handed them their car blankets (I keep some thin fleece blankets in the car for when someone whines about being cold) for the ride home. The second day, we brought changes of clothes, o they could get wet without worries, not that they'd worried the first day LOL.

Of course, wading in the creek wasn't enough, they had to REDIRECT the creek abit too. . . everyone except the littlest littles were working together for awhile to make a "pool" by building a rock wall around a sandy area they were digging out.

We all had a wonderful time. The weather was lovely, the company was perfect, and the woods and creek provided plenty of opportunity for limitless creative play.

It also inspired me to make it a priority to take them out to the creek in OUR woods this summer. Now to get it to be sunny (or at least not raining) and warm enough to actually do it!