Week #3

Caden started out the week with a cutting exercise.

The letter of the week was Mm! Caden also worked on writing his address.

His bible memory verse was 1 John 1:9.

PB&H

One of Caden's assignments was to identify the ingredients in a

peanut butter sandwich and to then make it all by himself.

He did a wonderful job!

AND he's made a peanut butter and honey sandwich every day since...

for lunch or snack, basically whenever he has

an opportunity to flaunt his independence!!!

Caden also had his first creative writing assignment.

He dictated his own version of What Happened in the story

based on what he observed in the picture.

Nuts and Bolts

Creative Story Making

By Caden Clinton 8-24-11

Typed by Mom

Once upon a time there was this guy who made a robot. He didn’t have any oil left, so he threw the robot in the junk yard. The robot just had a little oil left so he walked to this little boy’s house. And then he fell down right on the front porch stairs. This little boy was playing with some cards. The boy’s name was Jake. He went to play cards with his friends when he saw the robot just laying there. He put some oil in the robot to make him move. The robot shredded paper so the boy named him Shredder. They became friends. The end.

We did math each day and Caden's is working diligently on his addition. We were at the grocery store and he was in the cart working problems from his book. He asked me about an addition problem and so I got out my trusty dusty fingers to show him the addition...

here is how the convo went:

"MOM! Put your fingers down!"

"What? I can't use my fingers to add?"

"I don't want to USE my fingers!!!"

"Are you embarrassed to use fingers?

Do you think only little kids use their fingers to count?"

"Yes!"

"Well, I'm 31 years old and STILL use my fingers,

especially in the GROCERY store

and I DO USE them in front of other adults."

So he began using them again, low in his lap, VERY discreetly.

Super Duper Fun Stuff!

This week we made brown bread in honor of our wrapping up the Boxcar Children book. The recipe comes from my best friend's mom, Karen who is a super cook/nutritionist. Caden and I had this bread while home this summer to Lincoln. To say we snarfed it would be a HUGE understatement.

We inhaled that bad boy. It was SO good!

So we attempted it at home and found all the ingredients at HEB.

Vocab word of the week:

Biga: p

ronounced bee-gah

is a type of pre-ferment used in Italian baking.

Using a biga adds complexity to the bread's flavor and is often used in breads which need a light, open texture with holes. Apart from adding to flavour and texture, a biga also helps to preserve bread by making it less perishable. A biga is made from a mixture of flour, water, a small amount of commercial yeast, but no salt, and typically uses a hydration sufficient to achieve a generally quite stiff, dough-like consistency, much like the final dough into which it is to be incorporated. It is allowed to ferment and ripen at room temperature for several hours (typically 12–24 hours or more) before incorporating into the final dough.

NUTTY WHEAT BREAD

from Karen Creswell

(The biga allows the bread to rise more.)

For the biga combine in a bowl:

2 ½ cups bread flour

1 1/3 cups warm water (100 – 110 degrees)

¾ teaspoon instant or rapid rise yeast

Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours.

When the biga is ready add the remaining ingredients to the biga

and mix with a stand mixer on medium speed until combined:

1/3 cup wheat germ

3/4 cup unprocessed miller’s bran

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons instant or rapid rise yeast

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons potato flour (optional)

1 teaspoon molasses

¼ cup powdered buttermilk

Line an 8 ½ x4 ½ glass loaf pan with parchment paper. Put the dough in the lined pan. Brush the top with oil and cover with saran wrap. Let rise in the microwave at 10% power for 20 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, cover with foil and continue baking until the internal temperature of the loaf is 190 degrees (about 15 more minutes).

OUR BIGA!

The Final Product!!!

Brown Bread and Wild Blueberries are what the boxcar children eat for Supper one of the

first nights they are in the Boxcar. This was Caden's snack for our final chapters.

He learned the difference between Supper and Dinner.

WE finished

The Box Car

Children today!!!

Caden LOVED

the book.

We truly enjoyed

this little jem and

I am so thankful

that it

was a

part

of our curriculum!