Monday, September 28, 2009

Sh sound, letters S and H

*I should have spent more time practicing this sound, as it is a hard one for my little guy to say...Things were crazy, so it was mostly writing and being read to.
Monday: Letter S worksheet (this is a very hard letter for my little guy...very frustrating for him. He still does it backwards sometimes, or adds an extra loop to look like a backwards 3.)
Read: Seashells by the Seashore by Marianne Berkes. (A book in poem format that rhymes. It shows different types of shells and what their names are.)
Tuesday: Letter H worksheet. Read Old Shell, New Shell by Helen Ward. (A story about a hermit crab looking for a new shell that is just like his old one, except bigger.)
Wednesday: Storytime at the library. Piano lessons: learned the note "A." Learned a new song and "passed off" the first two, making the number of songs to practice this week: 4. Read: Shapes, Shapes, Shapes by Tana Hoban. (No words, just real life pictures to find shapes.)
Thursday: worksheet that colored in the words that start with letter S to show a picture. Practiced writing S lots of times on back of old paper. Read: Sheep on a Ship by Nancy Shaw. (Story about sheep's misfortunes on a ship. Nice pictures made with colored pencil.
Friday: test day: write S, H, and C three times each. Read Kermit the Hermit by Bill Peet. (A rhyming book about a hermit crab. Reminds me of Dr. Suess (though no made up words.))

Monday, September 21, 2009

Food Storage

We have recently completed our year supply of food. (yay us.) Some friends have asked me to blog about it, so here we go.
1. What did we store:
  • 3 month supply of foods we normally eat. I buy alot when it's on sale and this is what we use in the kitchen, so it is rotated. I include the things I can (bottle) myself: applesauce, peaches, jam; in this category.
  • 6 month supply: our ward put together packages of food that equaled 3 month supply, so we bought 2. It had long term stuff: rice, wheat, macaroni, oatmeal, beans, etc, and some things that we need to rotate through that won't last as long: crisco, oil, yeast.
  • The last 3 months I wanted just basic rice and beans. But there were some sales, so we got some wheat too. I went to www.providentliving.org to see that we would need 25lbs of grains/person/month and 5 lbs of beans/legumes/person/month. This website tells how long the long-term storage stuff is good for too. Since this stuff is good for 30 years, I'm not planning on touching it (unless we need it because of unemployment, lack of food, etc) until 2035.
  • As you can see if we had to live solely on our foodstorage, we would be eating the best at the beginning and eating blandly or creatively towards the end.
2. Prices I paid at Macey's grocery store in Utah this week:
  • 50 lb white wheat (I heard it digests better than red) $12
  • 20 lb long grain white rice $9
  • 25 lb flour $7
  • 25 lb sugar $10
3. How to find space: Now we have a house with tons of storage space, so it isn't an issue for us. When we lived in an apt, we put our bed on lifters and stored it under that.
4. Tips: Buy a little at a time when things are on sale. Start by getting one weeks worth of food, then two, then build up to a month, then three months. Then buy your other nine month stuff a bag at a time, when you can.
5. Stuff I still want to get: baking soda and vinegar for cleaning &/or cooking...since it is so useful and cheap, I want to get alot. And spices...I need to restock that. I guess we are never really done, are we.

EE sound, number 2, trees

Monday: Letter Ee worksheet (writing 3 times each). Talk about short e sound. Number 2 worksheet. Read: A Tree is Growing by Arthur Dorros. (A sciency book about leaves, bark, and differences between trees.)
Tuesday: Wrote #2 two more times (still needs practice!), circle Ee worksheet (same website). Read: A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry. (He loved this book! It is a Caldecott book that talks about different ways we use trees-climbing, apples,etc. Nice pictures.)
Wednesday: storytime at library and piano lessons (learned the note 'e' and added 2 songs to what he can practice making a total of 5).
Thursday: Wrote #2 two more times, circle pictures of things that start with E, talk about ee sound. Read: Tell Me, Tree by Gail Gibbons (Sciency book that talks about different varieties of trees and how to tell them by bark and trees. Has sciency activity suggestions.)
Friday: Test: wrote E, e, 2, C three times. Read: The Alphabet Tree by Leo Lionni. (Cute story about turning letters into words, then sentences.)

Homemade Costa Vida/Cafe Rio

Tomatillo Ranch Salad dressing
*makes 1 Quart
*recipe from http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/ , with my variations
1 packet Ranch mix (I used Western Family)
1 c. mayonnaise
1 c. buttermilk (I used 1 C milk+1 TBS lemon juice, letting it sit 10 mins)
2 tomatillos, remove husk, diced
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lime (1 time I used 2 TBS lemon juice)
1 jalepeno (if you like it milder, just remove the seeds)
Mix all ingredients together in the blender.
*freezes well, just stir well with a fork after it defrosts in the fridge (do not microwave!!)
*The longer it sits for, the spicer it will be...(you might want to make it a day in advance) but I wouldn't leave it in the fridge longer than a week...no preservatives.

Easy Sweet Pork:
1-1 1/2 lbs pork (I use boneless porkribs...less than $1.50/lb.)
1 C salsa (I use Western Family)
1 C brown sugar
Cook in crockpot until shredable. (3-4 hrs on High) Shred. Mix in with juices in crockpot.
*Thanks Jessica!

Friday, September 11, 2009

CK sound, clocks and #1

Last year we did a co-op preschool using mothergoosetime (look it up, it was great!!) This year I didn't have anyone to do a co-op with, but am happy about it because I realize now that it would have been hard with a new baby. This year it is just me and my little guy one-on-one while the baby is sleeping. Here is a website I use: http://letteroftheweek.com/ Here's how the last two weeks went:
Monday: write letter C, and number one worksheets (he needs practice writing, so this is what we are focusing on this year. http://www.beginningreading.com/Alphabet%20Set%201.htm
Tuesday: write letter K worksheet, highlight CK combo in hickory, dickory dock poem.
Wednesday: storytime at library, piano lessons (learning middle C, D- find them on the piano and practice 1 song).
Thursday-off
Friday-off
Monday-off
Tuesday- practice writing CK together (I made 4 big boxes on a plain white piece of paper), read "The Clock" by Trent Duffy (a history about telling time. We just read the info about the pictures)
Wednesday-storytime at library, piano lessons (learning B, add 1 more song to learn and work on rhythm)
Thursday- write the word "clock" 3 times (I made 3 big boxes on a plain white piece of paper and wrote "clock" in all caps at the top), read "Starting off with Time" by Peter Patilla (how to tell time, other time concepts. Some things were too advanced, we just focused on things his level. It would have been fun to make our own clock (with a brad to move the hands) to practice telling time, but I didn't get around to it.
Friday-test day: I divided the paper in thirds. He had to write C, K, 1 in separate columns, 3 times. Read: "My Grandmother's Clock" by Geraldine McCaughrean.