Letter of the Week: UPDATE

A few months back I shared this info about the "Letter of the Week" program I planned to start with my preschooler!

So here is a brief update on how it's going!

I started the program with her at the beginning of October, the same week she started preschool.  She only goes to school 2 days a week for an hour, so I decided to do some more work with her at home (and I secretly love doing this stuff, it's the one part of being a teacher I miss, TEACHING!)

We have almost made it through all the vowels so far and she is really enjoying it! She loves the excitement of finding what new activities are in her bin each day. And she has completely amazed me with how well she can do some of the activities.  Here she is enjoying a few of the Letter A activities:

Cutting Practice
Check out www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com to print 

Do a Dot Letter A

Eating Apples while matching Capital and Lowercase letters

Letter A craft at the end of the week

I will admit, I wish I had a little bit more time to sit down and really work with her on some things.  But I have been trying to keep it fun for her, and well frankly, keep myself sane.  I usually have time to talk about the weather, review our Bible verse and Day of the week, explain to her what is in the bin each day, get her started, and then I'm usually off feeding the baby, making breakfast/lunch, or finishing up another chore.

It has been fun so far, and yes its a little bit of work and planning on my part, but since I had most of the materials prepared (up to letter F anyway, still have to work on the rest), I usually spend about 30 minutes on a Sunday night prepping all the bins for the week and there really isn't much work to do during the week (besides catch up on preparing materials for the rest of the alphabet).

If you have any questions about the materials or how we do "Letter of the Week", feel free to email me!

Most of the materials seen in the pictures along with more info about letter of the week can be found at www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

We are taking a break next week and we will be doing "Halloween Week" with Fall/Halloween Activities in our bins! Stay tuned as I hope to share some of the activities with you this weekend if you are interested in doing any of them with your kiddos next week!

Recipe of the Week: Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup

Need a great fall soup? This one is fabulous! After fighting colds for 5 days, when I finally had energy to cook I thought soup would be a great idea! And I actually had all the ingredients for this one in the house.  I found the "idea" for this recipe on pinterest, but it seemed a little to plain for our family. After a google search I found this great recipe on www.tastykitchen.com

Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup 

The full recipe can be found here. I used a slightly modified version.  

Ingredients 

• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil


• 1 whole Small Onion Chopped


• 2 cloves Garlic, Minced


• 1 pound Sweet Potato, Peeled And Chopped


• 4 cups Chicken Stock


• 1 cup Water


• 1 head Cauliflower, Cut Into Florets


• 4 Tablespoons Cream Cheese 


• 1 1/2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese


• Salt And Pepper, to taste

Directions: 

Heat oil in large soup pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and a sprinkle of salt and sauté until onion is fragrant and translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add minced garlic, chopped sweet potato, and sauté an additional 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add chicken stock, 1 cup water, and chopped cauliflower and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Remove from heat, add cream cheese, and purée with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender. (If you want to keep some chunks, reserve 1 cup of the cooked cauliflower before puréeing the rest of the soup). (I pureed everything) 

Return soup to heat, add cheddar cheese, and stir until cheese is melted and soup is heated through, 2-3 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste, garnish as desired, and serve.

I thought this soup was delicious! I used less chicken stock then the original recipe and subbed a little water since I only had 4 cups of stock. But I am glad I did because I like thicker soup.  I also added a little more cheese, which I do to almost every recipe.  Not great for the waistline, but our family loves our cheese! :) It could maybe use a few spices, but overall was creamy and yummy!