April Fool’s Day- Spaghetti Cupcakes

 

 

The office where my husband works, people regularly send in treats for everyone.  I had not sent anything in a while and needed to come up with something.   While I was looking around the net for an idea, I saw these spaghetti cupcakes and since Friday is April Fool’s Day I thought they would make a good funny treat. 

These cupcakes are so easy to make and took little time. You could buy premade cupcakes from a bakery and turn them into spaghetti cupcakes easily. My son thought they were so funny.  These are perfect to make with the kids, you can’t really mess them up. 

 

All you need is a tray of cupcakes.

Icing, a piping bag with a small round tip.  I used a Wilton No. 5 tip.  I added a dot of ivory food coloring to give the icing a more pasta color.

I put all the cupcakes on the tray I was sending the cupcakes on.  It made the icing noodles look a bit more like a platter of noodles having all the cupcakes together. 

 

Then you need to add the “meatballs” and “sauce”.  I used chocolate candy and raspberry jam.  You could also use truffles.   Heat the jam just a little to make it easier to dip the candy and spread the jam.  Dip the candy in the jam and place on the cupcake. Spoon a little extra jam to make the sauce.  I keep the jam light on my cupcakes. 

 

Ready to serve

I hope they like them.  I will hear the reviews tomorrow. 

 

Have a great weekend. 

Weekly Wrap-Up

 

 

We had a good week this week.  We did science experiments, bird watching(becoming a favorite hobby), seed planting, wood working and of course school work.  I have made plans for next years curriculum and have started shopping around for it.  I have a bird watching experiment planned and if the weather will clear up hopefully we will get to it this weekend. 

This week we did a subject a day again.  Kiddo loves this schedule so much I am considering switching to it. I usually use it just to break things up and make our day different.  He does great with the schedule though.  We will see I might start doing once a week every month, it would be a great way to catch up in any areas we have fallen behind in.  Our schedule this week was:

 

Monday – Math  He did 3 lesson in Teaching Textbooks, one quiz and we did a lesson in Singapore math on measurements.

Tuesday – Language Arts  He did 3 handwriting worksheets(took forever), Words are Wonderful worksheet, 3 lessons in First Language lessons and spellingcity.com

Wednesday – Reading day per his request.  He read 3 Horrible Science books and we started Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban.  We have a rule at our house you have to read the book before you can watch the movie.

Thursday – Science  We read a chapter in Zoology, made creation book in Zoology notebook journal. Read Genesis 1.  Did vocabulary crossword puzzle. Read chapter in Botany and did a little work in the notebook journal. 

Friday – History We read 3 chapters in Story of the World, did 3 maps worksheets, and took the test to go with each chapter.  I use the test book as worksheets.  We will finish history next week most likely.  I am working on a geography unit study for us to do before moving on to Story of the World 3.                      

In the pictures above: we met Rufus the screech owl at Animal Encounters, did the coke and mentos experiment, helped Dad with some furniture building, and planted seeds for spring. 

 

                                                                                                             Looking forward to next week.  I can see the end of the year or curriculum since we are year round schooling now and I am ready to move on to new things. We took a month off from TaeKwonDo and we will start that back next week, I am very happy about that.  It is spring which means getting out and doing more, yeah!

                                                       

Have a great weekend everyone!

Wordless Wednesday - Spring Planting

Science Experiment–Coke and Mentos

 

We did the coke and Mentos experiment again. He loves doing this experiment, we have done it several times before.  I have a science experiment for us later this week involving bird seed and we will need 4 bird feeders for the experiment.  Since we had to purchase the plastic bottles to make the bird feeders, might as well get two experiments from the bottles.

 

For this experiment we tested which diet soda had the best fountain.  We tested Diet Coke, Diet, Pepsi, Diet Sunkist and Diet Sam’s Cola (store brand).  We used a simple scientific method for our experiment and filled out a lab worksheet to show the results.  

Scientific Method we used.

1. Ask a Question -  Which diet soda has the highest fountain?

2.  Construct a Hypothesis – Kiddo thought the Diet Coke would do the best because of the Mythbusters Diet Coke experiment.

3. Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment – Tested 4 different types of diet coke with mentos.

4. Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion – Reviewed photos and eye witness accounts draw a consensus on the conclusion

5. Communicate Your Results -  Filled out a lab chart worksheet

 

 

DIET SODA AND MENTOS EXPERIMENT

Supplies Used

4 - 2L soda  bottles (any kind will work)

      Diet Coke

      Diet Pepsi

      Diet Sunkist

      Diet Sam’s Cola(store brand)

2 pkgs - Mentos candy

1 piece of paper

Tape

Scissors

 

Cut paper into strips and make a tube for the mentos candy to fit into.  We used 4 candies per soda bottle but the more mentos you use the bigger the fountain you will get.  

 

Findings -  The Diet Sam’s Cola had the highest fountain.  Followed closely by Diet Pepsi then Diet Coke.  Diet Sunkist came in last.  The Diet Sunkist actually took a few seconds for it to bubble up into a fountain where as the others were almost instant. 

 

 

Curriculum for New Year

 

 

I can not believe it is time for new curriculum already.  We started our school year last July and we have finished some courses, switched math programs and are almost finished with history. We decided to switch to year round school this year so we can take more time off in the spring and fall when Kiddo can spend more time outdoors.  Since we are getting close to the end of some of our courses and I can tell he is ready to start learning some new concepts, it’s time to start the search for curriculum. 

I enjoy looking at new curriculum, reading about what everyone else is using, reading reviews, etc.  and I hate it at the same time.  I always feel such pressure to pick the right one; I start to stress myself out over choosing a program that is right for Kiddo and I start doubting my ability to adequately educate him (why I do this I don’t know).  I have no doubts about my ability to raise him, if I can raise him, educating him should not be that big of a stretch.  I never said I wasn’t a little neurotic and crazy.  I’ve found being a bit crazy helps with the whole homeschooling adventure anyways. That being said, it is the season of spending too much time on the computer reading and researching curriculum choices.

I reserve the right to change my mind on any of these choices, since I have not purchased any of the books. I still have time to research more.  Here is what I have picked for curriculum thus far:

Bible – Have not decided which but we are going to use a devotional book.

Handwriting – Horizons Penmanship Grade 3

History – Story of the World Vol. 3

              Story of the World 3 Activity book

              Story of the World 3 Test Book(we use as worksheets)

Math – Teaching Textbooks 3 and 4  (We started Grade 3 a few weeks ago)

Science – Apologia Exploring Anatomy and Physiology

                Apologia Jr. Note booking Journal

Grammar -  Easy Grammar Daily Review Grade 2

Spelling – Sequential Spelling (still considering All About Spelling)

Latin – Prima Latina

Reading – This year we are going to read biographies. First up is,             Thomas A. Edison – Young Inventor. 

Other – Typing Instructor for Kids

            Science Detective

            Logic Countdown Grade 3

             Map Skills Grade 3 and 4 ( he loved these workbooks)

 

 

I will purchase most of the curriculum from Amazon.com or Christianbook.com.  I never seem to have good luck finding used books. As much as I love getting a good deal, I can not complain.  The difference in cost between private school and homeschool including umbrella school fees, you can not even compare. 

St. Patrick’s Day

May the sound of good music, and the lilt of a beloved's laughter, fill your heart with gladness, that stays forever after. Happy St. Patrick's Day

I did not really plan anything for St. Patrick’s Day.  We went over the history of St. Patrick’s Day and some of the folklore around it.  I did not think of a good craft for today so we did this little one.  It is a bit preschool  but he had fun.  He made a rainbow using Froot Loops and cotton balls for clouds. 



I also thought hunting for a four leaf clover outside would be fun since the weather is perfect today.  The little stinker took a 3 leaf clover, tore one leaf in half to make a 4 leaf clover.  I have never thought to do that before. 

Have a good day!

Wordless Wednesday - Curious

Back to Work

We have had a lot going on the past couple of weeks and have half done school. Today we are back to a full work load.  Between all 3 of us being sick, a trip and getting ready for Dad to go to Japan for weeks,  then having his trip canceled we have been busy and tired.  He was to leave the day the earthquake hit in Japan, I am so thankful he was not already there.  We have heard from all of his coworkers, they are safe and working on getting home. 
Today we had a full day of school with handwriting, botany, math, drawing class, history and grammar.  We also learned about Pi and made a peanut butter pie with oreo crust for Pi day.

We are getting to the end of some of his school books and that means curriculum time.  I have begun working on our list for next year and will be making a post later this week.  Since we have switched math programs and finished astronomy it is time to make plans for our next year.  We are a just a few lessons from being finished with Story of the World.  I can ‘t believe it is time for new curriculum again.  I always get nervous and excited when it is time to pick put new books.  Somewhere between the fun of new school supplies and ahhh!  I am responsible for the education of my child.  You can ask my husband I read, research, read reviews, question and question some more every time I get ready to buy schools books.  And he always tells me the same thing, “If it doesn’t work, what is the worst that will happen? You will have to buy new books, big deal”.  I only married him because he is so smart

Have a great week!

Wordless Wednesday

Home Depot Workshop - Nascar Car

Weekly Review

I don't have a review for this week.  We have all been sick.  Kiddo has a double ear infection and lung congestion.  He has felt rotten and tired all week.   Dad has laryngitis and ear trouble.  I thought I was going to make it through until I ended up sick at the end of the week.   Kiddo did a little math because he wanted to.  Other than the math there was a lot of reading and movie watching.  Next week will be better. 

We are getting ready to start back with botany, we have our seeds and light box ready to go.    

Wordless Wednesday - LEGO

A visit to the LEGO store

End of Month Review

This month flew by, I can’t believe it is March already.  I am happy to see spring it is on its way! 
I made just a few changes this month to our homeschool but mostly we were grooving right along.  We started a new math curriculum Teaching Textbooks. It is going along great, he loves doing computer math and I can see improvement in his mental math and confidence.  Since we completed Astronomy we have been focusing on Zoology. With spring on its way this month we will be picking back up with Botany and have experiments planned.  We also added LEGO club through CurrClick which is fun, I will be glad when he is old enough to join the local club.


I am pretty happy with the progress we are making this year.  It is almost time to start looking at curriculum for the next school year.  We are almost finished with Story of the World and I am starting to look at language arts/writing programs.  We will be taking a lot of breaks and doing school lite, as I like to call it, through spring.  Since Kiddo does not handle the heat of summer well, we take time off through the spring to enjoy the weather. 


A few weeks ago we did a subject a day.  Basically we did a weeks worth of lessons in one day on one subject.  Kiddo liked it and did really well.  I will be doing this again this month just to change things up a bit.


We took a road trip this month to the beach!  We used to (before child) take spur of the moment weekend trips all the time.  We decided last Thursday to hit the road on Friday and go to the beach.  It was a little crazy but then again that works for us  It was a great trip and the weather was perfect.  On the road Dad and Kiddo discussed Newton’s laws of motion and I thought the geeky engineer Dad was going to stop the car, get out and do a happy dance when Kiddo told him the 3 laws of motion.  Kiddo also did a little zoology discussing the difference in the seagulls beak colors. We got a few odd looks on the beach while he was going through the classification system for the animal kingdom.  You can homeschool anywhere. He had a great time hunting for seashells, playing in the cold ocean, building sandcastles and riding his first ferris wheel.