More homeschooling activities with the Prince :)

Creating words with word families; check out Thunder Love
on his lap. He takes her to do lessons with him, daily.

The container on the floor is the one he drops the "trickers" into.
"Trickers" is what he calls the letters that do not create words with
the word family he is working with :)

Viola!

This is a sheet of personalized math addition word problems that
the Prince will use the colored pom poms (from Dollar Tree) to solve.
He loves when I write silly personalized math word problems.

Sitting on our classroom couch reading his telling time book.

Thunder Love really does appear to pay attention during lessons, HA!

The Prince is matching the addition problems to the answers.
The 2 pink pieces of paper read "HELP." This way he knows he can
ask for help if he really needs it; otherwise, he can use his fingers,
the abacus, or many other solving tools to help himeself, if needed.

The Prince took this picture, he was very proud of his work :)



Working on his train lapbook. The Prince is looking at his train songs.
The lesson he completed was pasting the matching train rhyming words
into his lapbook.



I love that our lessons take place in which ever place is most comfortable.

This is the Prince's first dictated book review! He was so tickled that he
had me read it to him multiple times and then to his daddy.

Many times in our home, a lesson is as simple as reading and discussing.

The Prince and I are vegetarians and he is very insightful when it comes
to proteins, vitamins, etc. that we obtain from the food we eat. While
discussing proteins on this page he said, "She is standing in front of the beans."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I love my prince!

Fish Taco Recipe - Jerry Approved!

After Jerry's first bite he said "yum!"; after his second bite he said, "this is one of my new favorites; after his 5th! taco he said "I like these better than my favorite one's in California."

I agree that they were super yummy. The original recipe is from Aarti Sequeira with the Food Network, now just like everything else I switched things (HA! because I know more than a Food Network star....NO!!! because I am to lazy to go to the store when the recipe calls for something I do not have on hand)...Anyway, the recipe is the way I prepared it this evening. It is really only minor alterations, but you can easily find the original on the Food Network site:)

Ingredients

Fish:

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon old bay seasoning
• Pinch cinnamon
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound  mahi mahi  cut into chunks

Mayo:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 8 sprigs fresh mint
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 lime ( I had lemon), juiced, plus extra if necessary
• Kosher salt and pepper
• ***I doubled this, as Jerry is a sauce lover!!!

Tacos:

• 10 corn tortillas, warmed
• 1/4 head of romaine lettuce, shredded
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/4  diced pepperoncinis
• 1 lemon or lime, cut into 8 wedges

For the fish: In a bowl, combine the oil, spices, salt and pepper. Add the fish and make sure each piece is coated with the marinade.


For the mayo: Mix the mayonnaise, garlic, mint, cumin, and lemon juice.  Season with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice, if necessary. Set aside.


Grab a large, nonstick saute pan and warm it gently over medium heat; no need to add oil since the fish is already coated in oil. Once warm (test by sprinkling some water into the pan, if it sizzles and evaporates, you're ready), place each piece of fish in the pan.  Cook until cooked through, but still moist, about 3 minutes per side. The fish should flake easily with a fork. Don't overcook your fish!


Remove the fish from the pan and serve immediately with warmed tortillas. I put a light layer of lettuce, onion, and pepperoncini on the bottom, then the sauce, a few chunks of fish, a bit more sauce and a squeeze of lemon. YUM YUM!!

Starfall is NEW and IMPROVED! Check it out!!

Check out More Starfall

© 2002–2011 Starfall EducationStarfall is a registered trademark in the US, the European Community and various other countries.

Mahi Mahi Fish tacos....

Nope, no recipe..yet. I have cooked fish tacos once before; they were good, however I don't have the recipe and don't remember what I did HAHAHAHAHA!

So tonight I will try it again, wish me luck! I LOVE fish tacos and hope mine turn out fabulous! I am using a recipe from Food Network and will post it only if it's super yummy.

However, if you have a tried and true fish tacos recipes...please STOP what you are doing and send it to me know :) Please and thank you!


Breakfast is complete, coffee is in hand ....now off to the classroom :)....

Bean and Vegetable Chili (vegan)

Yep, almost everything has a rambling attached: Prior to my relocation from FL to NM my FABULOUS lifelong friends had a party in my honor and since they really are FABULOUS friends, they decided to make vegetarian/gluten free food!! I was so touch and impressed, because I know this to love, research and time. Well, two of the recipes that were created for that event have become two of my favorites, below is one of them and the other I posted a few days ago, Black Bean Quinoa. *****I LOVE MY FRIENDS!!

Bean and Vegetable Chili
1 medium onion — coarsely chopped
1 green bell pepper — cored, seeded and diced
2 cloves garlic — minced
3 cups pinto beans*, cooked — (or 2 cans)
2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes — (I used 1 can w/ green chilies, 1 can regular)
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 cups corn — fresh or frozen
1/4 teaspoon salt — (optional, to taste)
1 1/2 cups zucchini — diced (about 2 medium)

In a non-stick pan over medium heat, sauté the onion, bell pepper and garlic just until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add the beans, tomatoes, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes. Stir in the corn and zucchini and continue to cook until the zucchini is just tender, not mushy, about 7 minutes.

*(Black Beans or kidney beans may also be used.)

Our Velcro board

HUH? What's this? Well, it a thick poster board with Velcro.

We use it to practice skip counting :) I have created numbers for
2's, 5's, and 10's. I always try to use things I have on hand.
I just cut up the hot wheels box that one of the  Prince's race track came in
and added Velcro to the back and VIOLA!.

The Prince requested something to do while I was creating his
Velcro learning board, so I quickly cut some more squares, added
letters of and let him unscramble them :)

I had a thought this morning...I'm not using the back of our Velcro board anymore, so....

I decided to strip it of the previous labels and add more Velcro...

I cut out  laminated days of the week and the months of the year;
all while enjoying coffee, of course!
No, I did not create them; I got them from here.
Thanks, ChildCareLand

Viola! Jerry and I had the discussion of which day of the week
to begin with; since we are also teaching the concepts week and
weekend, we decided to start with Monday.

I added a few more pieces of Velcro and now it's multipurpose.

Have you heard of the Brian P. Cleary books? Another GREAT FIND!

Some of Mr. Clearly's books are a bit advanced for the Prince right now, but nonetheless we have read some of his books on adjectives, prepositions, etc., because they are silly and it exposes our Prince to what's in the educational future :)

Anywhoo!!! Look at the  GREAT INTERACTIVE WEBSITE I found!!! This site ranges from healthy eating to part of speech and appears to be appropriate for a variety of ages and levels :) I am sooo excited about added this to our lessons on Monday!

 Oh! who and I kidding, I will be showing this to the Prince in morning as his daddy sleeps in :)

Online cooking classes for children!

The Prince enjoys being in the kitchen. I am so intrigued by a site I just found; online cooking classes for children. There are two different programs; Little Chefs and Junior Chefs. The virtual cooking classes are $20 for 4 classes. In addition, the website noted that gluten free accommodations are available!

February's Menu

Awesome Applesauce

Berry Parfait

 Colorful Quinoa

 Zucchini Muffins



Check out Mixing Bowl Academy

WE USE WORKBOXES!

Some of you know that we use workboxes in our classroom and love them! Some of you have NO idea what I am rambling about; regardless I wanted to share the blog posting that I fell in love with and inspired me to try workboxes:

The blog that inspired me to use workboxes!.

After reading the above post, I immediately looked around my home to find things I could use to create a set of workboxes, this is what I came up with...maybe not fancy, BUT very effective and the Prince loves it.

This is a picture from our classroom in FL; I still use this
same shoe rack and the Dollar Tree containers, but the
workbox station has grown and we now have new pretty
labels.... SEE LINK BELOW :)

****Oh and yes, I began with only 6 boxes and 2 tot trays,  but true to form the 4 year old Prince does more, so we expanded :)

The LABEL LINK where you can print ready made labels for you workboxes!!!! (***Remember this blog is titled Limited Uniqueness, HA!)

SUPER thanks to - 1plus1plus1equals1

Coin Bingo

The Prince has been learning coins. We completed a coin lapbook and have been practicing with a

coin matching game. Today, I decided to make coin bingo, but first I thought I should Google one...and

VIOLA!!!

Thanks to.....Let's Explore!

Click here if you would like to print coin bingo cards.

Just an observation...me rambling, ofcourse.

Jerry and the Prince played all morning while I slightly rearranged the classroom, organized lessons a bit and did a whole lot of sitting around pretending to do something. I finally headed downstairs and prepared brunch, it was okay, nothing to blog about HA! After my boys were fed, I headed back upstairs and the Prince decided it was Max and Ruby time (weekend TV is much more laid back then during the week :)), so I decided to look at blogs and see what goodies I could find. I started to see a theme, these blogs are so pretty, organized and I feel relaxed looking at them; then it hit me, MY blog is anything but relaxing to look at! It is busy, bright, scattered and full of random ideas and/or thoughts......YEP, my personality is shining through :) Hope it's not overload for any of you, I can do that sometimes!!

Mommy and daddy dressed up for the silly dress
dance party the Prince wanted for New Years.

Black Bean Quinoa Recipe (vegan)

This can be served warm or cold!

Ingredients

1 teaspoon vegetable/olive/coconut oil (whichever you use in your home)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin (I love cumin so I use a touch more :)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup frozen or fresh corn kernels
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes (or a bit longer.. until all liquid is gone :) 
3. Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

The preschool program I used with the Prince

I have been asked a few times about the curriculum I have used; I have not bought an actual curriculum and hope not to :) The following is the preschool program we completed last year with pictures (poor quality) from our actual lessons.

click here - Preschool Program

In addition, I found many of our Art projects and some lessons from this site:
Letter of the week

These are not the best pictures, but if you are interested in this preschool

program, once you check out her blog my pictures will make more sense.

This picture is our weekly lesson topics.

One of our previous condos in FL was small, but that did not matter;
our front door was our bulletin board :)



I know, I know...WHAT IS THAT? It's a
cotton ball sheep on a stick so we could
play with it easier :) On the door is a Queen puppet
for the letter Q and then Santa.

What better way to learn a letter?? YUMMY G!!

Lesson : Eyes

A complete geography curriculum for $15

This is from one of the many blogs I follow and what a great deal it appears to be! All of the information below is directly from her blog; Confessions of a homeschooler

Expedition Earth: A Journey Through God’s World

As promised in my 2010-2011 Curriculum post, I have finally completed my Geography Curriculum! After much research and prayer, I believe I have come up with a solid and hopefully fun geography unit for us this year and of course I wanted to share it with all of you who are interested as well! It’s called:

Expedition Earth: A Journey Through God’s World:

Expedition Earth: A Journey Through God’s World

$ 15 ~ Instant Download - No Waiting!

$20 ~ CD {Please allow 7-10 business days for shipping}

Due to the amount of time it took to complete, I am charging a fee for the curriculum, however I will also be sharing our journey on this blog as we travel through each country. But if any of you are like me, you’ll want it before you start the year so you can prepare, so without further ado….here’s the details!
So what is Expedition Earth: A Journey Through God’s World?
Expedition Earth is a geography unit study that covers 31 countries across the world. It is designed primarily for K-3 students. I am going to do this with my prek, 1st, and 2nd graders together. I won’t expect my prek to do reports, but she should be able to learn the country names, songs, languages, pray and do all the fun crafts and recipe activities I have planned!
The curriculum has 164 pages of fun activities and even includes a Craft Supply Shopping List for each country just to make your life a little easier!
Each country comes with a Monday – Friday Lesson plan that includes mapping, country flags, ecosystems, People, animals, recipes, crafts and more!

Click here to download a sample of our Brazil Week

• 7 Wonders of the World
• Geographical Location
• Science: Ecosystems Study
• Geography Vocabulary
• People of the Region
• How to Pray for the Regions
• Christmas around the world
• Children like me
• Science: Animals mini-books for each country
• Science: Animal Classification Study
• Food and recipes
• Craft activities
• Country Songs
• Fun activities and games

Language study: Each country comes with a fun flashcard to help you learn how to say “hello” in the main language of the country!

Additional activities for older students:Depending on the age of your student you may want some additional challenge. I have created 5 reports that your student can complete depending on interest or skill level.

• Country Report
• Continent Report
• Animal Report
• Ecosystem Report
• Children Like Me Report

Printable Passport: No world wide expedition would be complete without a fun souvenir for the students! Expedition Earth comes with a fun printable passport that you can use to stamp for each country visited. I suggest world flag stickers in the Resources List, however I have also included printable flags that can be glued on as well.

Book Basket: I suggest visiting your local library or doing an internet search for countries that interest your child. They can use the book basket during their free reading time for a fun educational experience! There is an additional reading resource section to help with the book basket.

Starfall: A fun website that encourages reading through teaching phonics.

After homeschool PE and Art today we headed home, had a a snack, played a couple of games of Break the Ice, read and discussed various sections our new Kids Atlas and then headed upstairs to relax; then I randomly opened up Starfall, where the Prince proceeded to read two Chinese Fables and all of the comic stories.

This site ranges from beginning letter sounds to stories! If you haven't checked it out, head on over: Starfall

Things going on at The Sharp Academy of Excellence :)

The Prince refers to me as "Mommy Teacher"

A fast project I created after a food chain lesson

The Prince's final product; it hangs proudly on his bulletin board.

I bought this game at Borders, but had no idea...

that it would become the Prince's favorite game :).

I had some almost empty bottles of paint so...

Why not use them up!

The Prince informed me he no longer wanted to
do math...so I said "ok". The next morning we played cars....

 
and made a bar graph...HAHAHAHA!
Never try mommy teacher! :)

The Prince's biggest fans :)