Presidential Cupcakes - Books With Recipes

It's little late for this year, especially with the libraries closed for the day, but we found a terrific Cherry-Nut Cupcake recipe, to go along with the legend of George Washington cutting down the cherry tree...


...at the back of one of our President's Day easy chapter books.


I recommend the book, which focuses on Washington, and the recipe, for next year, for families with girls, at least. Boys might object to reading an American Girls story, and making pink cupcakes. My boys however, did not mind eating them - they are very yummy.

If you're still looking for ideas for you children for this year, I recommend clicking over to BrainPop.com to view today's free feature video clip on Abraham Lincoln.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Peanut Plant Update - 1 Month

At the beginning of January we sprouted peanut plants from raw Spanish peanuts, left over from our Christmas peanut brittle.


After about ten days, the peanuts had sprouted roots and leaves, and we transplanted them to a pot of sandy soil.


A week later, two of the plants were growing nicely, but the third was not showing any signs of life.


Now, after nearly a month of sunshine and water (a glass full every other day), I'm happy to say, the two remaining plants are still alive, and nearly seven inches tall.


Just three more months to go. Check back in another month for the next update, and keep your fingers crossed, please!

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Linked with Science Sunday at Adventure's in Mommydom.

President's Day Popsicle Stick Puppets

Supplies:


Glue cotton ball hair for Washington, and a construction paper hat for Lincoln, onto the tops of jumbo craft sticks.


Draw faces with markers. Remember Washington didn't smile much, because of his teeth.


Wrap tape around the center of the sticks, for clothing. Blue painter's tape gives a nice military feel, while black electrical tape works well for a suit.


Cut a strip of matching tape in half, lengthwise, and center half of it across the back of the stick, sticky side up. Trim for a nice arm length.


Stick small, construction paper circles to the ends of the tape, for hands.


Add the other half of the tape strip across the front of the stick, sticky side down.


Glue a triangle of white paper to the front of Lincoln...


...and an upside down triangle of paper doily to Washington. Draw a bow-tie onto Lincoln.


If Washington's hair ends up too thick and Clinton-like, just pull a bit of the cotton off for a wispier wig.


It's great to be a homeschooler.

Changing Abraham Lincoln's Hat - President's Day Activity

We read Abe Lincoln's Hat by Martha Brenner, a Scholastic Step into Reading book, about the importance of Abraham Lincoln's hat, both in helping him to stand out in a crowd, and for holding his important papers.

Lincoln certainly stood out as a tall man in a tall hat. I asked the children if they thought he would have made as big an impression in any other hat.

Then, I gave them a chance to find out, with a couple different sized printouts of a colorized photo of Abraham Lincoln, that I found at chexydicimal.com...


...and a page full of pictures of hats copied right off of Google images after searching for "hats", for the younger children to cut out...


...and try on the president.


I had the older children join in the activity too, but cutting and pasting the hats onto the picture in Windows' Paint program instead, for a little more of a challenge.




It's great to be a homeschooler.

A Birthday Cake

Once again, with a child helper standing by, the table in my kitchen was set with mixing bowls, ingredients and...


...a picture book, with a recipe at the back.


As the title of Debra Frasier's A Birthday Cake Is No Ordinary Cake suggests, we're celebrating another birthday in our house - another ride around sun. There are only eight of us, so I know we don't have a birthday every month, but there are times when it feels that way. Even so, a birthday is a birthday, and cake is required.

Or, as Frasier puts it, "...every circle around the sun equals ONE. One what? One birthday cake!"

She then goes on to share a recipe for a very special birthday cake, one that takes an entire year to make, and requires some unique ingredients: 365 sunrises, 12 silver moons, 1 hot summer wind, and 1 cool fall morning, to name a few. We got a late start on our baking, so after a dramatic production of gathering the birthday sunrise into our mixing bowl, we skipped on to the last few, more ordinary, ingredients of flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, shortening, butter, vanilla, milk and egg whites.


I don't have permission to share the exact recipe (there is a free, 10 page, extension kit on the publisher's website, here, though) , but that's okay, because although the book and recipe are a lot of fun, and we were thrilled to find the batter mixed together easily, the cake baked up perfectly (we did have to double the frosting recipe - also included in the book in either vanilla or chocolate)...


...and it looked lovely decorated and glowing under candle light...


...we all thought it tasted almost exactly like corn bread, which is strange, because the only corn included in the cake was the play acting involved in gathering a sunrise, and humming happy birthday as we stirred the batter. Other than that, it's a pretty straightforward looking recipe for white cake, so the taste was unexpected. Luckily for us, T (age 14) is a huge fan of cornbread, and offered to eat up all the leftovers.

I'd definitely recommend the book though, my younger girls (ages 5 and 7) especially, got a real kick out of the story line, and the idea of each birthday representing another ride around the sun. But, as far as picture book birthday cake recipes go, Karma Wilson's Whopper Cake remains our hands down favorite.



It's great to be a homeschooler.

Linked with Watcha Making Wednesday at The Ramblings and Adventures of a S.A.H.M.

A Presidential Smile, Or Giving George a Grin

Besides all of his amazing accomplishments as a soldier and statesman, George Washington is probably best remembered for his grin.

We read, and discovered from Deborah Chandra and Madeleine Comora's George Washington's Teeth, just what was behind his smile - or lack of one. The poor president had terrible teeth, followed by difficult dentures.

The simple story, told in rhyme, is perfect for a President's Day story time for younger children, but there is also a fact filled timeline of Washington's dental history, and other events from his life, for older children and adults, at the back of the book.

It left us wondering how different the first presidential portraits might have looked if Washington had had access to modern dentistry, or maybe even a tube of proper toothpaste. To give the children an idea of what a difference a smile can make, I cut and pasted grins from the pictures of the presidents on the White House website, for a mix and match, who's grin is he wearing sort of activity.

Actually, only seven of the presidents are pictured with open mouth smiles. I borrowed two closed mouth smiles from among the rest, to make a nice square picture. Then I scrambled up the presidents, printed the pictures out in black and white so color variations, and skin tone wouldn't matter, and asked the children to figure out which of his predecessor's grins George had borrowed in each square.


Once the children had correctly identified each president's smile, I ask them which one they thought looked best on George Washington. They decided on President Clinton's smile, though that probably has more to do with facial shapes, than moral character, I'm sure.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Last Minute Valentine's Toys for Children

I don't know about your children, but mine love popping bubble wrap. So, when I was looking around for a last minute toy, or game to stick into their chair backers for this morning, I turned the recycle bin, rather than to the cheep plastic trinkets in the Valentine's aisles of the local stores.

The toys there are flashy and cute, but don't last any longer, or grant broader grins than these hearts, cut from old padded envelopes, will.


I traced around a large, heart shaped cookie cutter on the outside of the envelope, and cut through both sides of the envelope at once, giving me two hearts at a time, and making the whole process very fast and easy. The trick is to leave the envelope backing on the hearts. It helps keep the bubbles intact, but does not interfere with the popping fun.

And yes, I tried it out for myself with the left over scraps. The children aren't the only ones who enjoy popping bubble wrap around here.

It's great to be a homeschooler.