Baking Secrets - and Brownie Try-Its

Well, M came up with the idea that her 'kinz are having a party tonight, and she absolutely had to make "Wacky Cake."

And thus we began work on her VSC Confectionarily Yours Try It (which we got approval for, from the GSVSC, over a month ago! )

We have to do four Activities....

07/18/09 - #2 With your troop, or a friend and an adult, make a cake from scratch or from a mix. Help purchase the ingredients for your cake.

Well she decided she wanted muffins/cupcakes instead. She helped buy the ingredients, printed the instructions for the cake, and with very little help and a little guidance prepared the batter! (me I just took photos and offered suggestions! - it was hard to stand back and not dig in with her, but I'm getting better! Holding a camera helps! :)) (Image Blurred to protect the innocent.)

She's going to share her wares with a couple of the girls from the troop tomorrow when they go on another little try it adventure!

Potty Train

Learning my lesson, the little one is more stubborn than her sister. Bribery will work.

When she gets all the stickers on her "Train" chart, she will get this cute little guy on the left. She is madly in love with dinosaurs, and Land Before Time's Chomper has hit the big one. He's just adorable!

We have had one success making it to the potty - well mostly - she kinda missed and hit the floor first but finished in the potty! But that's okay! That's what vinyl flooring is for right!? We seriously haven't focused much this week so back to it we will get on the weekend, in the mean time I need to get this wee lad ordered! Well, its not really bribery - its a reward for success!

Super Why and the Alphabet - Brag!

And they say kids need taught!

My oldest likes to watch TV occasionally. The youngest developed a love of Super Why when she was little little (not Sesame Street or the like! LOL!) I've recently noted that she was interested in letters so we pulled out the fridge letters we had kicking around. I started singing and signing the Alphabet to her a while ago, but it wasn't sticking. This last week though M (my oldest) started sing in the Super Why tune, and dang-nabbit if the little one is getting about 90% of the alphabet song... not that - that means anything at the moment because she doesn't recognize the letters, but it is a start and means we might get some letter recognition going soon too! LOL! I love it. She's 2.5 for the record!

She actually sung the alphabet to my mum last night on the phone and missed maybe 3 letters - which is cool

Sung to the regular alphabet tune we get
ABCD XYK NNNO P - sign (not sing) with me!

To Super Why's Tune.....
ABCD EFG HIJK LNNOP cubeRS N TUP W becks XY and Z - sing with me!

I like the cube and becks! :) hee hee!

The funky thing in all this too is that she is wiggling her fingers around like she is trying to sign the alphabet too... I should look for a sign video of the alphabet complete with "sign with me" at the end!

And the Adventure Begins - Potty Training

We are about to begin the adventure of potty training with S the 2.5 yr old. Not sure she is ready - not sure I'm ready but we're going to plow ahead as she is expressing a desire to wear panties like her sis.

Have read Potty Training in Less than a Day (years ago but read it - remember the basics)
Have read Making the Terrible Twos Terrific (read it a few years ago too!

Once Upon a Potty (girl)
The Potty Book - For Girls

Here are some charts for it. This is the Chart we'll use S likes Trains

We were going to try Training pants, but she just doesn't get them, so we'll just do panties. Easy on off.

Tads and Frogs

So its been a while since I posted about the froglets.

Well Lily is HUGE, let me rephrase that - she's GIGANTIC, compared to what I expected. The girls have taken to calling her the piggy. With that said, Tad now called Lucy - but forever Tad in my book - is as big as Lily was when she arrived.

We put them together in the same tank for a bit, but poor Tad became quite skittish and freaks out when anyone comes near. Plus she didn't seem to be getting any of the food we put in the tank, so I separated her out so she could get as big as Lily and at least be able to hold her own in the food department.

So the girls are doing well. Caring for them is super easy. My girls feed them each morning and each night after dinner. I've been dealing with the water changes, though M will have to do it for a week in order to ear her Animals Try It.

All in all its been a good experience though M seems to address the worry of Lily or Tad dying soon... I told her whatever happens as long as we were good to her while she is with us we will have memories of her.

I truly think I might some day like to get another froggie - different kind this time (along with the doggie) but we'll need to do more research on their care and maintenance.

All Straightened Out - ha not

Did I say we had most of next year's curriculum figured and that we were putting all our eggs in one big basket! Silly me... In the last couple days I've been skulking around the internet looking at ideas and places and things, and suddenly I find myself in an uproar over what we will really use! So get back to me around September if you want to see what we really end up doing.

For now I'm happy with our LA
Grammar

Creative Writing - writing process

Reading - comprehension, sequencing and literary response

Vocabulary through reading

Penmanship


LA- I'm testing out a sample Literature unit from Moving Beyond the Page.

SCI - We're gonna hang with the K-12 Science curriculum because I can work with it and add or take away stuff as I see fit. I like that everything is housed there including experiments and activities that make it seem more than just textbook work!

SOC ST. - I may yet end up with an embellished form of the Story of the World for History or I may slink back to K-12 for History - I'm just not sure what I want there.

MAT - Math - we're leaning to K-12, but I could if the right curriculum jumped up and bit me on the hand run with something else - ideally not terribly workbook related - but definitely on par with what is being taught in the schools.

MUS / ART - I'm at a loss, so I need to skulk around some more with my main focus on this! We've got ART covered in some of the classes that she takes, and its something she comes by naturally but MUS.... *sigh* MUSIC I suck at!

Ah well, all good plans need to be revised.... so we have some more leg-work to do!

Summer Brownie Badges

We're going to work on some Brownie Badges over the summer. It'll be fun and it will keep her busy.

Here is what we're going to work on - with additions and changes of course.

1. WeatherWise (BDC - WV)
2. Colors and Shapes (pg 90)
3. All in the Family (pg 58)
4. Hobbies (pg 36)
5. Animals (pg 86)
6. Me and My Shadow pg 42 - along with our Science curric
7. WildFlower Finder (BLC - PA)
8. Art to Wear (pg 18)
9. Eco-Explorer (pg 102)
10. Friends are fun (pg 62)

Unsure where this will take us and how long it will take to get there. But we're on our way!