Friday, September 11, 2009

The Duchess Bakes a Cake

We just finished our latest FIAR book, The Duchess Bakes a Cake. It was great. It is set in the Middle Ages, which we will be studying very soon in history. The basic idea of the story is that the Duchess bakes a cake with no cooking knowledge. Talk about a recipe for disaster!
The children made a lap book from worksheets and mini books that I found at Homeschoolshare.com. They also illustrated their favorite part of the book. We also made a castle kit that I bought on clearance more than a year ago. I have been saving it for when we got to the Middle Ages but decided to pull it out a little bit early to go along with this book.


Over the summer we had a math "map" on the wall for the kids. Each day we worked on a problem and put up a sticker when we worked out the right answer. The kids loved it. I wanted to include another math map in our schooling. I took word problems based on the story and placed them on a homemade chart. We used it for group math time. The kids liked working as a group. 

We also had our first meeting with our FIAR group. For this first time, I decided not to do a field trip. We had a meet and greet with some treats instead. The turnout was light, but I already have more families signed up for next month. We did several yeast experiments and made cake towers out of cupcakes. It was lots of fun.



 Blessings, Dawn

11 comments:

  1. School at your house is sooo much fun!!! Very creative and hands on. I love the idea of group math board. I may just try that!

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  2. Nothing like a boy covered in chocolate frosting! Sounds like you all had a great week...


    God Bless!

    Lori (aka Plans4You)

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  3. Oh, how fun! Love the castle - my boy would love one. I'll bet your children had great fun in it. Sounds like it was a successful week - here's to many more!!


    Have a lovely weekend!

    Warmly,

    Shani

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  4. How Fun!

    It would be cool to have a group to do those projects with and all studying the same thing.


    I'm sure the castle will be a big hit all through your MIddle Ages study.

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  5. What a great time you had with the Duchess! Our happiest homeschool memories revolve around FIAR books! In fact my big,18 year old son walked in as I was reading your post, saw the pic of the book, and said, "Oh, I love that book!" Ha!


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  6. Ohhh it all looks like so much fun ! I would love for you to give a how to on your cupcake towers, please. [0=


    Blessings and ((HUGS))

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  7. I read that book to my older two a few years back. I love the FIAR books they're so sweet. I'll have to get that again for my younger ones.

    Blessings,

    Dusti

    kimmelkids4.blogspot.com

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  8. Dawn, the Super-Mom and Teacher,

    your posts are always amazing. You never cease to amaze me.

    I love the way you do a field trip every weekend. Your kids are so blessed to have a mom with such boundless energy and creativity. Not to mention your devotedness to their education!!!


    I loved your post on graveyards. It was neat to know something more about you personally. I don't really ever go exploring graveyards, but I often point out graveyards to our kids, the ones that I think look so tranquil. I mention the ones that I'd like to be buried in, and at course that sounds very morbid!


    My oldest daughter used to love stopping at ancient graveyards and take pictures. She'd have her youngest sister stand by one of the markers in an old fashioned simple cotton dress, and then develop the pictures in that brownish color. They looked spooky!


    Thanks for sharing practical ways that your saving on grocery costs. That's something I'm trying to do and I appreciated the ideas.


    Antoinette

    (Your backyard must be beautiful! (you left a note on my blog that Biltmore Estate is your backyard :)

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  9. I love this book! Looks like y'all had a great time with it. I'm glad you are enjoying your new FIAR group. I hope it will be a real blessing to all of you!


    Hugs,

    Leslie

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  10. The math map is a great idea!

    I like the castle. It's cute!

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  11. I'd sure love to see pictures of your math board. You are so creative. I wish I could go to school at your house.


    Rhonda

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