Home Preschool: Discovering Leaves and Rocks

Last year we decided to start doing "Home preschool" with Lisa in addition to her regular preschool at Miss Kari's. When mom and dad were on the ball, Tuesday and Thursday morning would be our time to spend doing learning activities with her. This was especially fun for Ryan during the summer when he had a more open schedule. They did a lot of creative science activities. Now that Lisa is going to Head Start Preschool on Thursday and Friday only, it seemed like a good idea to keep doing some Home Preschool with her on the other days during the week. At Head Start the curriculum focuses on learning through play, so they have a lot of fun and creative play time opportunities. Playing in the kitchen area and building with the blocks are two of Lisa's favorites. This kind of learning is definitely very valuable for kids Lisa's age, but I think she also benefits from practicing writing skills, direct letter and number recognition and lessons involving critical thinking. Some of these things can be accomplished through play, but it seems to be more successful with one-on-one attention which isn't always possible when there are several children to interact with. So at Home Preschool I try to incorporate lessons that include writing and math skills to go along with fun activities and art projects.
This week we did some activities with leaves and then Lisa asked if we could also learn about how rocks are made. I found a couple of great lesson plans and project ideas online for both of these topics and we had fun exploring together. Of course, sitting still is not always the most fun thing for a five year old, so I try to be patient. I want this to be a fun time for her and I generally avoid using a drill-sergeant approach during our times together. Generally.  :)

For the leaf lessons we collected leaves outside, read a book about different leaves and made two leaf projects. For the rock lesson we looked at some pictures and diagrams online, and even learned a silly song about the different types of rocks.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehcshoYIIM4&feature=related
Ryan brought home some rock collections from his classroom and Lisa showed great interest in looking at each one under her magnifying glass. It ended up being quite a good lesson for me, too.
To top it all off, we made EDIBLE ROCKS! Definitely can't go wrong with any activity involving food. This is a definite repeat lesson. I'm sure Lisa will enjoy doing this again in a year, on a rainy afternoon perhaps. There may be some rough days, but I'm so glad I get to be at home with my girls and do fun things together.

Name those rocks! 

**The edible rocks were, from left to right: Sedimentary (made from stacking layers of ritz crackers and peanut butter), metamorphic (made by squishing pieces of salt water taffy together), and igneous (made by melting chocolate and pouring it into crinkled foil candy molds) 

My Canning Debut

Twenty-five pounds of juicy concord grapes, twelve shiny new quart jars, lots and LOTS of water, and ten attractively stained purple fingers. I could really get into this whole canning business! It probably should not have taken quite as long, but that's how it seems to go for me with new projects the first time around. A super nice lady, Anne, let everyone know on Sunday that she had lots of grapes ready to pick if anyone was interested. Of course, I not only wanted to enjoy some of the grapes, but also to get my hands dirty picking them off the vine. There is something about harvesting fresh produce that is so energizing. I can't wait to grow a garden of my own someday. So I asked if I could come help pick the grapes myself. She invited me over that afternoon and we picked a huge box together. At that point I wasn't actually sure what I was going to do with that many grapes, but Anne started telling me about how she makes juice every year and offered her equipment for me to borrow. That sounded great to me. She walked me through the steps for the easier version of grape juice that she often makes and gathered all of her canning accessories for me. She even gave me jars to borrow, but I ended up deciding to buy my own because eventually I will want to do more canning. 

For the first seven jars, I tried the faster method of grape juice making. The jars are filled with grapes, covered with boiling water, then sealed and processed for twenty minutes. I quickly realized I would have to buy many more jars to use this method for the whole box of grapes, so I decided to try out the more time-consuming method. The grapes are washed, chopped in a food processor, boiled for ten minutes, then strained to remove the skin and seeds from the juice. These grapes are so sweet, no sugar was added. To strain the juice, Anne had mentioned that she used to hang an old pillowcase between two chairs and let the juice drip into a bucket overnight. I almost went for this option, until my mom pointed out that I was going to lose a lot of juice to the pillowcase. So I went with another ingenious idea I found online...pantyhose. I happened to have an unopened pair in my sock drawer and it felt good to actually get some use out of them. I strained the juice, then boiled it and put it into the hot canning jars. It was rather satisfying listening to the popping lids as the jars sat cooling on the counter. Now hopefully if tastes good, too.

Lisa was a great little helper. She pulled grapes from their stems, washed them and loaded the food processor. I wasn't sure how interested she'd be in such a long process, but she kept on for a bit.

 I had visions of us canning together about ten years from now. 

Please, please let her still enjoy my company then.  

Her eyes look really tired in this picture...