Irish Soda Bread

Since Nadia is consistantly saying she wants to be a “chef-cooker” when she grows up, I have been attempting to be more consistent with a recipe a week with her to learn new kitchen skills. Last weekend we tried Irish Soda Bread from Blossoms and Posies.

Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread

This was a great recipe because Nadia did every step with just a little assist from me (mostly reminders). I also did the final kneading of the bread and cut the cross in the middle.

Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread

This bread was very good – we tried it with strawberry preserves and with butter. Next time we try this I will use our regular gas oven because it came out too crusty on the outside and doughy on the inside with the convection oven.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Here’s what to do…
  1. Preheat oven to 375°.
  2. Pour lemon juice into milk and stir.
  3. Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl.
  4. Make a well in the flour mixture and stir in the milk/lemon juice.
  5. Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently for about a minute, then form it into a soft ball.
  6. Slightly flatten the ball and lay it on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
  7. Cut an X in the top of the dough.
  8. Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Mr. Popper’s Penguins Unit Study

Mr. Popper’s Penguins was next up in our Literature Unit Studys from Erica over at Confessions of a Homeschooler. The main thing I will say is that Nadia and I LOVED this book!! It was such a fun read and she was so caught up in it that she would beg me for “just one more chapter!” I didn’t take a lot of photos during this as we just had a lot of fun working on things as we had time.

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Once we finished reading the book we got the movie from Netflix. While Nadia and Amelie laughed out loud at the slapstick humor, Nadia immediately pointed out that it wasn’t like the book. At the end we talked about it and she said the book was better than the movie. That’s my girl!

Arctic Experiment

Nadia and I are working on a “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” unit study from Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler. She had a test to see how blubber keeps animals warm while they live in the Antarctic.

It’s a super easy experiment and Nadia loved it. First take about a cup of shortening and put it in a Ziploc baggie. Place the child’s hand in the bag and mold the shortening around the entire hand.

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Then fill a bowl with ice water and place both the bagged shortening hand and the plain hand in the bowl and see which one feels protected from the cold.

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She said she could tell right away that the “blubber” hand was not instantly freezing like her other hand.

Straws and Connectors

Straws and Connectors
Click on the photo to see album

 The director of Museum School told me at the beginning of December that the girls loved these “Straws and Connectors.” She got some out of the classroom for me to look at and I realized that this would be an awesome gift for the girls. I told Papa and Grandma Brooke about it and suggested that they get the jumbo set so they could build some big things. They have had a lot of fun with it, but they hadn’t really tried anything big until the other night. Nadia told me that they decided they were going to build a tent and they got to work.

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They were making great progress before Mike and I started helping.

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Amelie said, “Now we look like we in purse!”

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This turned out really cool, but it was very fragile. The next morning Nadia wanted to try something a little more stable and I told her to get the instructions out. Mike started looking at it with her and they decided to try another one.

Jan 12, 2012

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The final product with a sheet on top to be more like a tent. What a great gift! I highly recommend them for your kids.