Pumpkin Pancakes

We tried out this recipe in cooking class today.

For a class full of kiddies we increased the recipe to:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 pinch cloves
• 2 cup 1% low-fat milk ( can be any kind)
• 12 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 eggs
  
  
  The kids also made fruit salad to go with them.  Despite my dislike of pumpkin pie, I thought these were really good.

Link Post 1: Printables

I *love* printables.  Probably too much.  But I'm so unhappy with the textbooks, I've been searching them out with a vengeance.  I'm not fond of blogs that spread things everywhere, so I'll probably make this my central printables zone, updating as I find new things.  If I do make a separate post, I'll do my best to link it back to this one.



Flash cards:

• Quizlet

Worksheets

• printables4kids.com Math and puzzles for younger kids
• Dadsworksheets.com huge number of Math sheets for grade school to middle school  - linked to tricks for learning to multiplication tables page
• superteacherworksheets.com all subjects grades k-5 plus teacher tools
• freeology.com large variety, I mostly use it for the graphic organizers
• abcteach.com a variety including foreign lang and ASL, free and membership (fee) levels
• vrml.k12.la.us Huge list of graphic organizers all levels
• softschools.com/ variety

Puzzles, Quizzes, Word searches etc, generator

• puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com  Word search
• http://www.softschools.com/math custom division sheet 
• http://worksheets.theteacherscorner.net/ all subjects lots of generators

Motor Skills

• Handwriting without Tears
• handwritingworksheets.com  make your own practice pages

Art:

• Canon Printable projects
• www.coloringcastle.com/ color pages

Other:

• incompetech.com  print specialized graph and writing paper -covered in ads so watch where you click
• Instant Display Wall headers and posters typically seen classrooms many free but not all.
• thehomeschoolmom.com Teacher resources, ad heavy
• cherylsigmon.com teacher resources
• chartjungle.com Charts
• learninga-z.com Animal trading cards

Homeschool Posts

Since I'm homeschooling now, this blog will probably change focus a bit.  I've found the internet to be such a help for all the new things I'm trying to reinvent for us, it makes sense to post what I find since I'm known for being an avid link collector.  Watch this space for more....

From Kid's Eye Level

Sometimes I think the best craft project is the easiest.  When my son was little, I used to give him a one-time use camera and let him go.  While the resulting film was eccentric (close-ups of furniture and the dirty laundry in the hamper, yay) sometimes you can find hints of expected genius in a kid's unspoiled view of the world.

With digital cameras, it's even easier to to let them click away with the camera.   The good ones can be printed out and mounted on foam core board for instant wall art.

Oldy But Goody

For an easy lesson on engineering and geometry the old marshmallow and toothpick towers are always fun.   We did one for cubs and used this lesson plan (PDF)with visual aids (PDF) to help us.  (This was soooo much fun to bring home intact.  We had another one, but it didn't do as well and ended up eaten. Hmmm. )

Friday After Thanksgiving Chain Reaction

I Love this.






Click here to see one of the teams at work (awesome!): Team F.A.T 4

And here for more videos of it.

Finger Knitting

This all the rage at my son's school.  The kids spend all their free time weaving long scarves for each other.   It's an alternative school based loosely on the Waldorf method, so the atmosphere is a little different than most public schools.