What I've been learning

Se7en is the blog of a South African home educating mother of se7en plus 1. There is so much on this blog. I've been having to ration myself. We had planned a unit study of an African country next term and I was vacillating between South Africa and another country. Well, now I'm decided-there is so much information here to use: recipes, book lists, crafts plus so much other inspirational stuff around home educating and bringing up children.I particularly liked this post on educating and the holistic list of activities the Se7en family aim to cover each day.

Sarah at Pajama School has a useful post on encouraging little ones to walk. I tried the swimming between islands idea on a hot sunny day with more than enough walking and it worked.

4Moms are blogging through Large Family Logistics. I have to admit that I failed to read 17 chapters which was the allocation last week but am reading the book again. There are several sections that I really need to implement. Reading the thoughts of others has been a helpful push.

We brought a new tube of Pritt Stick this week-not very exciting. Pritt Stick have a challenge to make a collage using recycled or natural materials and if enough are posted on their site will plant trees. I didn't read the instructions properly, and they weren't the clearest, so we went ahead and make our collages. When I arrived at the website, it was obvious that I needed to download a tree template and that our pictures of a princess and the sea weren't going to fit into a tree template. So, to another go, another day.

Pushing the boundary with fruit and veg-chicory

Our broad bean experiment was successful and after the soup, we ate them steamed with a main course.

So onwards. There was a request for chicory and a kind friend sent us this link.

We blanched the chicory.

Then wrapped the chicory in ham, cheese and topped with breadcrumbs.

Grilled-all very easy.

It looked good but sadly, even some of my veggie lovers thought the chicory was bitter. Not such a success. The whole family liked the topping so might try this with leek in the future.

Books and more books

Just for fun, on Saturday, I counted the number of books that we read to Mr Exuberance that day. The number was in double figures and the first digit wasn't one.
There are so many books in this house. I am adding to that number. A secondhand bookshop is far more of a temptation than a clothes shop but the effort not to buy too many new books is probably succeeding. My current book sources

• the many books already on the shelves
• the library. Our local public library allows 15 books per person-that is a lot. Recently, I've taken to keeping them all in a bag and forbidding DVDs from the library which attract fines if kept a day over a week. Anyway, libraries are for reading not screen based entertainment.
• charity shops. I did well last week-two books for 60p and a Babur the elephant in another.
• second hand sales often the best for bargins
• hand-me-downs. I've been given some great books recently. Yes, and we are getting rid of those we no longer need. Otherwise we would have to turn a second wardrobe over to books!

This week's 5-a-Day books are about dogs. Odd as the children aren't great dog fans but in books, that is different.

Clifford the big red dog by Norman Bridwell. Fun story of a large red dog and his antics. This is new to us.

Kipper's book of counting by Mick Inkpen is one we have had for almost 18 years. We had another Mick Inkpen counting book last week. This is also proving popular.
Spot's first walk by Eric Hill. Simple text and flaps on each page.
Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's dairy by Lynley Dodd. Well known and fun rhyme much of which the children can recite.
Just like Floss by Kim Lewis. This is the story of a farm dog and her puppies with beautiful, evocative colour illustrations.

This is linked to 5-a-Day books

Goldilocks and the three/four bears

We've had a week of bear books, bear hunt, acting out bear stories.

Today, we've made some Goldilocks and the three bears puppets and told the story round the house.

We made the models from card

which the younger children decorated.

We fixed the characters to chop sticks with sticky tape and acted out the story.

This is Mother Bear with the porridge.

The story went all over the house

 and garden.

 Miss Belle was excited to tell the story

 and decided that there should really be four bears with Holly Bear being a bear away at university. We didn't get as far as making Holy Bear but then as she was absent it didn't matter.

This is linked to It's Playtime where there are many, many play ideas.

Pushing the boundary with fruit and veg

Like many/most families, we have family members who are less keen on fruit and vegetables than others. Some of us always get our five portions a day and some rarely, if ever and that, I'm afraid is the truth.

Of course, we have tried "no dessert until the first course has gone" which leads to no food, cajoling and doubtless a few other tactics. Recently, we have provided at least a helping of the few accepted items so that at least scurvy is unlikely and generally, with a low key approach things have improved. This has been a bit slow so we have decided to go for a faster approach and a challenge.

We plan to try at least one new vegetable and one new fruit a month. Frequently, texture is an issue with new food so we may well rely reasonably heavily on pureed soups. Anyone who doesn't like the recipe is going to explain why! Seriously, I need to know if the issue is texture, smell or taste.

Today's recipe was broad bean soup from the Dairy Cookbook of British Food.
This is actually made with equal quantities of broad beans and peas. Broad beans aren't really completely new to us-we even grew a few last year-but aren't particularly familiar to the non-vegetable fans.

The soup was pureed and garnished with grilled bacon.

It was a success, apparently not up to lentil soup which is a real favourite, but good enough to eat and that is good enough for me!

This is linked to Raising Homemakers

Bears

Our 5-a-Day books this week are around the theme of bears. It was so easy to find five books on this theme and there are so many more. I'm really not sure why so many children's books go for this idea.

We have some activities planned out about bears. Today, we had the story of Goldilocks and the three bears.

Brown bear, brown bear by Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle is a book that we have read for 5-a-Day before, and a few times between!

This is the bear by Sarah Hayes is the story of a bear who gets sent to the dump. Another book that has been read more times than I care to think about.

That's not my teddy is from the well known "That's not my" series by Fiona Watt. Little ones like the touchy-feely pages.

One bear at bedtime by Mick Inkpen is part of a compendium called Bear Stories. A counting book but probably more fun than most books of this genre.

Can't you sleep, Little Bear? by Martin Waddell. Well, the theme is suggested by the title. I'm never sure about books about sleeping. Sometimes they seem to induce insomnia. We tend to read 5-a-Day early in the morning so hopefully, the effect will wear off.

This is linked to

Standby fruit cake

Many years ago, I came home from university with a cake recipe involving many ingredients and three complex stages. My Mother was not at all impressed with my new recipe and insisted that I copied her recipe into my book.

She was right. I never made the complicated recipe but I've made her recipe many times.

This recipe keeps well-if hidden.

Here it is with a few, minor tweaks of my own.

Ingredients:

8oz/225g plain flour

1 level teaspoon baking powder

6oz/170g soft brown sugar

5oz/140g margarine or butter

3 eggs

2 tablespoons milk

11/2lb/650g sultanas or other mixture of dried fruit (chop larger fruit such as apricots)

Note-I have sometimes used a 500g packet without problems.

Method:

Heat oven to 150 C/300 F /mark 2

Grease a 8"/20cm cake tin and line with paper.

Add the flour, baking powder and sugar to a large mixing bowl, add the butter/margarine, eggs and milk.

Stir until well mixed then add the dried fruit.

Add to cake tin.

Cook for three hours until a skewer comes out clean.

If necessary, cover for the last hour with foil.

Enjoy