Homeschooling – Learning Through Recipes

Posted By Peggy Baron

There are so many wonderful packaged Unit Studies available to homeschoolers that you don’t know where to start.  Instead of buying something pre-packaged, how about starting with an idea and let your children’s interests decide where to go with it.  Have you thought about starting a unit study in the kitchen… with a recipe?

You can certainly pick your own recipe to start your unit study, but here is an example of how it can work. The recipe I have in mind is for Beef Stroganoff.  Your kids can decide which way they want to go with this, but here are some suggestions:

1.   Investigate the different stories about the origins of Beef Stroganoff and decide, based on the evidence, which version may be the correct one.

2.  Research the year the dish was invented and explore that time period.  What important events were happening around the world then? Who was the US President and what was the US like at that time? What were the people in Russia wearing in the 19th century? What other foods were popular in Russia back then?  What was the main mode of transportation during that time period? Get in as deep as you want on any of these.

3.  What is a count?  Draw and color a nobility tree showing the rankings of nobility from most important to lowest ranking. Is it still that way in Russia today?

4.  Explore Russia geographically.  Find it on the world map. Make your own map of Russia and include topographical items. Add bodies of water, mountains, cities, industry, and whatever else you want. Make charts of demographics. Create math story problems involving air or boat travel from Russia to the US, or from one city in Russia to another.  Compare the size and circumference of Russia as compared to Europe and the US.

5.  Learn about Count Stroganov and his family history. Create a play about his life.

6.  Make a scrapbook by downloading pictures off the Internet and then adding captions explaining the pictures.

7.  Compare 5 different Beef Stroganoff recipes and notice which ingredients are the same and which are different.  Make a bar chart of the ingredients from all the recipes.

8.  Create a Russian newspaper with news items that might have happened in the 19th century. What kind of ads might they have had then?

9.  Make beef stroganoff!  You can have Russian night and make a whole meal of Russian food. Visit some online Russian museums to understand what their dishes and utensils might have looked like and how they would dress for a meal.

10. Write a fictional story about a girl or boy in Russia.

These are ideas on how to go from just one recipe to a unit study. Other recipes work just as well. Take a look at your recipe for pizza and take a trip to Italy, or explore the Tollhouse chocolate chip cook recipe; there’s a good story there. How can you go wrong with pizza or cookies?

Learning to cook can be educational child's play for your kids, and now they can explore a cooking website that’s all their own.  Cookin’ Kids is the place for easy kid-friendly recipes and much more! http://cookinkids.com Parents can visit too for their free Parent Tips.

Children’s Birthday Party Ideas

Little Kid Crafts For All Seasons

Posted By Audrey Okaneko

When my children were young, we had so much fun with birthday parties. Each year we did something different from the year before. Some years our themes allowed us to invite several children and some years our themes allowed us to only invite a small amount of other children.

When my daughter turned 3, we invited our local family members and about 5 other families. We had child appropriate activities, plus lunch and then Barny came. This was the period of time when Barny was sooooo popular with kids. We had hired a local party entertainer who rented the Barnie costume and then came and sang songs with the kids for an hour. It was perfect. The party lasted about 3 hours including cake, presents, eating, singing and a few games.

One year we rented a moon bounce. I was told by the moon bounce owner that at this age, about 12 kids could fit inside. We invited 11 other kids and the moon bounce entertained the kids for almost the entire time. We did have time to eat pizza and cake, and open presents. The remainder of the time was spent in the moon bounce.

It has been my observation that games such as a piñata leaves many children bored and wondering around. Children want to participate which is why I recommend a moon bounce. All of the children can participate at the same time.

When my daughter turned 8 we had an arts and craft party. We were able to invite several kids to this party. We used the recreation room at the local park and had long tables, each with a different craft. The kids took home t-shirts that they used puffy paint on, picture frames that they made themselves and necklaces or bracelets that they strung themselves on fishing line. We provided an assortment of beads. We also had cake and ice cream and even had time for presents.

Our goal was always to finish the party in 3 hours or less. This allowed for eating, presents and activities. After 3 hours kids become bored and restless.

One party that I have such fond memories of was a dress up tea party. We had a home here in town that converted part of the house to a dress up parlor. They had several very fancy dresses, high heeled shoes, necklaces, clip on earnings and tiaras. In addition the women who ran this business put makeup on all of the girls and painted their nails. They then served sandwiches on china with mini china tea cups filled with lemonade. The kids had a blast. Every child brought home a photo of themselves all dressed up.

We had many parties where with the help of other moms we transported the kids to another location. Here is a list of several ideas of places to take kids for a party:

• Movie theater with pizza afterwards
• Ice skating or roller skating rink
• Children’s museum
• Miniature Golf
• A professional sporting event
• Batting Cages
• Children’s Gym such as Gymboree
• The Zoo (our local zoo is very small, so it’s easy to keep track of the kids)

My children always picked their theme and picked their location. Both of my kids have very fond memories of the many birthday parties we had.

Article by:
Audrey Okaneko is mom to two girls. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at http://www.scrapping-made-simple.com/ ^[1]