Cooking in the Kitchen

It almost seems to be a creed among home schoolers that cooking in the kitchen, at a young age, is essential. That it's a great way to learn math. It's a basic!

Well, it certainly is a useful life skill, but for whatever reason, we've been a bit negligent in this area. And now, at the age of 8, my son has little interest in this endeavour. And while we do have time on our side-- I mean, he is only 8-- I still have doubts creeping in. lol. Perhaps it's a stage, but that doesn't mean I don't take certain measures! I can not stand the idea of my son being 18 and not able to cook an egg...or something vegetarian... or vegan...whatever  ;-)
Besides, it would be lovely to have help in the kitchen and sharing the cooking duties when he's a bit older. It's all about being equal members of the household.

But we're Natural Learners and I don't force him to learn specific things. So what to do?

First, I continuously borrow children's cookbooks out from the library and leave them on his library bookshelf. I suggest he check them for something he'd like to make. Although he'd often flip through things, nothing came of it.

Second, I have to restructure my thinking. We're fairly healthy eaters over here and seldom eat junk food. Ah, this means we've done very little baking. Duh! There's my problem. How hard is it to entice a young chef into the kitchen to bake? Well.... it can be, but I won't go there.

The latest round of cookbooks included new finds in the areas of my son's current interests: Star Wars and Garfield. The Star Wars Cook Book: Wookiee Cookies and Other Galactic Recipes by Robin Davis. The Star Wars Cook Book II: Darth Malt and Other Galactic Recipes by Frankeny. I'm in the Mood for Food: In the Kitchen with Garfield. 

The Garfield one was thoroughly flipped through and all comics read, but no interesting recipes caught the attention of my boy.

The two Star Wars Cook Books were a hit though as several desserts and drinks have been highlighted and put on the agenda. Now, I must say *I* am not impressed with the recipes, but it's a cute set of books that my son enjoys.

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Book: Palazzo Inverso

The above video takes you through the first half of this MC Escher-esque book, it's a teaser. But not enough of a teaser if you ask me; the book itself is much more exciting to look at and read. I love the way the text wraps the pages and sends you back to the beginning.

Palazzo Inverso is by DB Johnson.
Amazon's summary: "Mauk's master is drawing up plans for a grand palazzo, and Mauk is NOT allowed to help. Mauk only sharpens the master's pencils--he doesn't actually use them.
...Or does he? One morning, Mauk's master is horrified to discover that his plans have run amok, and the construction of the grand palazzo has, too! Is Mauk really to blame? Or is that just the master's point of view?"

This is a cute book to read on it's own, but would make a great addition to a study about MC Escher or drawing.

Although I recommend getting the book itself, you can read it online here. Problem is, you just don't get the whole tactile experience of reading the text, getting to the end, and flipping the book upside down and reading the wrapped text back to the beginning. It's much more fun to explore the actual book!

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Barefoot Book of Classic Poems and Poem Music

The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems, compiled and illustrated by Jackie Morris, is a very lovely collection. The 74 poems are beautifully illustrated adding to the experience.

After reading "The Highwayman" out loud to my son (we've read this poem before), he promptly demanded we listen to Loreena McKennitt's version-- on her The Book of Secrets Cd. And I do mean demand... he was impatient and wouldn't let me read another poem just yet. [she also does "The Lady of Shallot" on her CD, The Visit.]

This reminded me just how important it is to listen to poetry, not just read it. And there are several poetry CDs out there, especially for children. Some are done to music and some are just read poems. I hope to blog a few in the near future as we have them on hold at the library.

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Professor Noggin Card Games!

Here are a few of our decks

The Professor Noggin card games are wonderful. With so many topics covered and more added all the time, they are a fun and stimulating way to learn about history, science, geography, nature, and even hockey. Age level? They say 7 and up, but my son started off with them around the age of 4 and 5-- as you'll see there are more than one way to use them ;-)

How do they work? Basically they are a Q&A card game. One side of the cards has a picture and the other side has 2 sets of questions, one easy set of three questions and one set of hard questions. The included dice is rolled to determine which question (1, 2, or 3) will be asked and the card is won by a correct answer; an incorrect answer sends the card to the bottom of the card pile. The goal is to collect as many cards as possible. Before the game commences, players decide who answers the easy questions (maybe the kids) and who answers the hard questions (maybe the adults). 

My son was never into playing them that way though. He preferred to read them on his own and create time lines or use them in story creation. Sometimes he would quiz me or ask me to quiz him, but we've never actually sat down and played them competitively or ever used the dice. So, these cards can be fun for all kinds of imaginative play!

The Professor Noggin series began with "Life in the Ocean" which was quickly followed by "Insects and Spiders" and "Wildlife of North America." Now there are 37 titles with "Hockey" and "Baseball" being the most recent. For a list of their titles click here. If there is a topic you'd love that they don't have, you can always suggest a title (on their website)!

This is a made in Canada product and definitely has a strong North American focus, but has several international titles. And while it does have a few Canadian focused titles ("Geography of Canada" and "History of Canada") it seems like there are even more American titles (from civil war to presidents, plus geography and history). And, if it matters to you, these card games have won several awards.

Click here to check out "Wonders of the World" card game: it's complete list of topics, their game instructions, and a sample card with questions and answers.

This post has been linked up with...

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Book: The Picture History of Great Explorers

The Picture History of Great Explorers by Gillian Clements is a very fun and colourful way to explore history's famous explorers and get a nice over view with time lines. This was a library find that my son was very enthusiastic about for a while. Now he gives it 3.5 out of 5 (=Good).

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Amazing! Giant waterlillies in the Amazon - The Private Life of Plants -...

Beethoven's Wig

Music CDs: Beethoven's Wig

Sometimes I can be quite the purist, however, I've come to find value in being more open minded. Lol, go figure!

For example, in the past I would completely ignore the modern day versions of classic stories as if they were tainted and toxic. Now? While I'm still not fond of them, I can see where certain archaic language can be reinvented for a young inquisitive mind who doesn't want to wait to read a difficult story. Because really, is it the story or the language or both that matters? To whom? Compromising can be good.

I'm bringing this up because the Anita Renfroe video reminded me of some favourite Cds we haven't listened to in ages.

The purist in me thinks classical music should be raw and real and unadorned; it should be presented as is and without gimmick. My son has always enjoyed classical music and, so, it was with much trepidation I found and presented Beethoven's Wig to him.

Beethoven's Wig: Sing Along Symphonies are a fun and award winning series of CDs in which silly and catchy lyrics have suddenly sprung up in famous classical music pieces. This is both good and bad! They are fun and silly, but very catchy and I've found it hard to listen to the unadorned pieces without hearing those lyrics in my mind (but this does fade eventually). [follow the link to sample the music]

{Is there a time limit when adding a YouTube Video to blog posts? There was supposed to be the video here, but it has vanished. I'm done. I added it as a separate post instead. I wish I understood the process of adding videos better}

There are four CDs now (and an illustrated book), but we've only heard the first two. Both of them had a series of well known classical pieces beset with lyrics. Once done, the second half of the CD had the same pieces, but this time without the lyrics, just the lovely instrumentals.

[An edit: I forgot to mention that the third CD is designed to introduce individual instruments!]

Whether the intent is to introduce someone to classical music or to kick it up a notch and show how nothing is sacred, lol, Beethoven's Wig CDs are definitely fun. I love mixed media art, so why not with music, eh?!

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Anita Renfroe | William Tell Momisms

Just for fun ;-)

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Avatar, The Last Air Bender

It took us a while, but we've completed this series from the DVD versions. Avatar The Last Air Bender is a TV series compiled into three "books:" Water, Earth, and Fire with each 'book' having a season's worth of episodes.

I must say I enjoyed this as much or more than my son, lol. I found the story compelling and some of the character development well done. I'm not saying this is a masterpiece by any means. I found the third 'book' to be the weakest of the series and throughout the series, much of it was predictable. Still, it was very fun to watch. I do love martial art movies and this one had a few different ones to show off. I also enjoyed the humour woven into the shows (beyond the punny or slap stick parts).

This is an *American* series and not Japanese animation and implements different Asian concepts.

An overly simplified summary from IMDB, "In a war-torn world of elemental magic, a young boy reawakens to undertake a dangerous mystic quest to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar." Follow the IMDB link for more info and some video clips.

Avatar wiki, a place to learn even more about the series and it's characters.

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