Letterboxing

On Monday we played homeschool hookie and went Letterboxing instead. We love Letterboxing. If you are unfamiliar with this hobby, visit http://www.letterboxing.org/. There are different versions of this; Letterboxing, Geo-Caching, Atlas Quest, and they are all tons of fun. The idea is to hunt down a hidden box. Inside that box will be a specially carved stamp and a notepad. The boys and I have our own little scrapbook that we carry around with us as we hunt. We collect these stamps in our scrapbook as well as leave our special "mark" behind in their notepad. For awhile we didn't have a unique stamp. We simply stamped a smiley face and signed our trail name, which is 'threeboys2004.' But thanks to Quinn's boyish, immature, 5 year old mind, we now have the coolest stamp ever!! Check it out!

Science in the Kitchen - Bread Part 2 (Gluten)

Gluten. Not just a new allergy.


I've learned a lot about gluten during our Science in the Kitchen series. Let's hope Liam has also picked up a tidbit or two. So here's the low down.


Flours that are high in protein will produce more gluten in your dough. There are basically 2 proteins in dough, whose names I cannot remember, that combine during the kneading process to create strands of gluten. Think of gluten like a balloon. The gluten will hold the gas needed to make a dough rise. Therefore, you should use a flour high in protein for yeast breads. Flours low in protein are best for pastries and cookies.


For our experiment, we took four different kinds of flour; all purpose, whole wheat, pastry and semolina. We created 4 separate "doughs" by mixing the flour with water. After letting it sit for 15-20 minutes, we took each dough ball and ran them under water. We did this until most of the starch was washed away and we were left with only the gluten strands.



After looking at only the gluten strings in each ball, we could tell which dough ball had the most gluten and which had the least. I won't tell you our findings....you have to do the experiment on your own!!



Here's one of our gluten balls. I think this was the Whole Wheat.

Science in the Kitchen - Bread Part 1

Yeast. It's all yeast these days!

Liam and I are continuing our studies in the kitchen. We've exhausted our studies of the egg and we are moving on to bread! Look out hips, here comes another 5 pounds.

We started our studies by discussing leavening agents. We made some cookies and muffins using baking soda and baking powder. But everyone knows that the Mack-daddy of leavening agents is yeast. And yeast is so entertaining. First question of the day....."does yeast like sugar?"

We did a quick little experiment by using equal amounts of yeast and warm water in two separate bowls. In one bowl we also included a teaspoon of sugar. Can you guess which bowl had the sugar?

If you guessed the bowl on the left, then you are right. In the same amount of time, the bowl with sugar created huge amounts of yeast foam compared to the bowl without the sugar. So the next time you make a yummy bread, be sure to proof your yeast with sugar.

The Arts Castle - 2D

Simon and Liam took a 7 week art class at the Delaware Arts Castle this Fall. Simon seems to love these classes but Liam....not so much. I get this impression because he likes to comment "Mom, why do you sign me up for things without asking first?" My response is always "Liam, did they ask you if you wanted to go to art class in public school?? I don't think so!" Keep in mind that by the time I pick him up from class, he seems to be enjoying himself and the projects.


This session was all about two dimensional drawings. Here is Simon's glue picture (they drew the creature with glue and then filled in with pastels.) Not sure what this little guy is. I think Simon mentioned something about a hamster.


Here is Liam's creation. This one I know. A dog!!

My favorite part about Art class was the one-on-one time I got with Quinn! It was worth every penny. Sometimes we would go shopping or out to lunch. And then if I'm honest, we would sometimes go home so that Mom could take a nap all snuggled with Quinn watching a video on the couch.

Literature in the Kitchen - Tomie DePaola

No wonder I have put on 5 pounds! I've recently learned a little homeschooling trick that is not too friendly on my hips. I'll tell you my little secret but you have to promise me you'll use if for good and not evil. And you must promise to share anything you produce from implementing this little secret. OK, here it goes.........the kitchen makes learning FUN!!

I came across a Scholastic book that shows things you can do with the kids while reading Tomie DePaola books. We recently read "Watch out For Chicken Feet in Your Soup." What an adorable little book. The boys loved my bad Italian accent. Or maybe I imagined that they loved it.

In the book, the old Italian Grandma makes bread dolls for the little boys. I tried doing some research on the origin of these weird concoctions, but I didn't come up with much. They seem to be a popular bread in Europe, especially during the Easter holiday.


Here's Quinn with his unbaked and baked Bread Doll. Isn't it cute? I'm sure he named it before he ate it. He's very creative when he names things so I'm guessing it was something like "Baby Bread."

And here's Simon bo Bimon with his finished masterpiece.

Fall Time Fun with our Homeschooling Peeps

Circle S Farms...good times. The boys had a blast. This place had quite a corn maze and a very intimidating Hay Barn. Again, I am just thrilled that the boys are making friends with some other Homeschooled kids. This is really helping Liam and Simon. Liam actually came up to me the other day and admitted there were some advantages to homeschooling. Wow! This is big!! Quinn still just tags along everywhere we go and loves it.

There were a gazillion of these caterpillars at the farm and the kids had them crawling all over them. We later found out that from Grandma that the orange stripe on these critters has something to do with how harsh the Winter will be. Not knowing how long their stripes were last year, I can't dole out any Winter tips. We will all just have to wait and see.

Science in the Kitchen - The Egg, Part 3

We continue our egg investigations with a little Flan!! How could science be so tasty? So if you are wondering how flan could possibly be tasty AND educational, well sit back and learn. Proteins! I won't bore you with all the details, but it all boils down to the proteins....oh and the fat. Gels love protein and fat.