After the dancers, they lit the giant torch. The weather was perfect, they loved all of the food and overall they really had a good time.

A great resource for learning about World Cultures is Food Festivals. I was surprised just how many there are in my area. Not only is there food, but there is usually entertainment related to the culture and that includes dancing and singing. The key to saving money is don't buy souvenirs, don't go on any rides, catch the show and chose a few different entrees to share between you.

Once you've sampled the cuisine, try making it at home. I'm using this portion as part of our Health/Nutrition course and having my oldest research healthier options to cook at home.

Food Reference.com is great for searching for what's in your area. They have it listed by State, Month and even country in case your are traveling.

Here's a list of names to search for. I would link, but it appears each festival location has it's own website.

Italian
San Gennaro Feast

Greek
Greek Food Festival
Usually at your local Greek Orthodox Church

German
Oktoberfest
In October of course ;)

China
Chinese New Year
Between late January to early February

China
Moon Harvest Festival
Usually in September to October, but can be as early as August

Polynesian
Polynesian or Aloha Festivals

International
Heritage Festival or Culture Festival - town usually puts on.
Ours has Japanese, Korean, Irish, German, Mexican, Polynesian, and Bulgarian dancers and entertainers.

Japanese
Aki Matsuri

For even more culture, don't forget to look up holidays such as Dios De Los Muertos (Mexican Day of the Dead) - can be a bit scary for the younger kids.





There's a lot more out there, I'll be adding as I find them.

Every night when I'm making dinner, my 6 year old daughter begs to help. I usually have a few things she can do, but this week I planned a menu that is kid friendly. This is her making Lasagna.

She browned the meat.



Mixed the Ricotta and layered everything. I just grated the cheese and put it in the oven.


After this, she's helped me make Chicken Pot Pie and Enchiladas. Anything that involves layering is nice because there are lots of small steps for them to take.

In case you are looking for cooking utensils that will fit your child's hands, For Small Hands, is a website that sells Montessori-style, real, working, child-size tools for cooking and learning life skills.



Vegetable Chopper

My oldest is taking MIT's OpenCourseware; Speak Italian With Your Mouth Full. This is a great course for learning basic conversational Italian while learning how to cook healthy Italian recipes. He will learn how to make a simple pasta, risotto, meatballs, some vegetarian dishes, and desserts.

A side note: I'm double dipping when it comes to school here. Not only is he taking World Geography and Cultures this year for high school credit, but he's also taking Health & Nutrition. We went to the San Gennaro Italian Feast and sampled their cuisine while learning more about the Italian culture, then this course will give him some healthier options for Italian cooking. The MIT course includes some cultural background as well, making it a perfect supplement for both high school courses.

I'm really loving Story of the World. We are starting at an odd place because my 7 year old really wanted to learn about knights and castles. Since we haven't done Vol. 1 yet and missing out on Rome would just be a tragedy, we're starting with Rome and then moving onto The Middle Ages. The library had a storytime about being a Roman Warrior, so of course we had to go. They all lined up like soldiers and learned the Turtle formation and how the Romans rotated the front men out to give them a break. When that was all done, they learned how to lock shields in the front line. They got to keep their shield and colored them with marker.





Then we made a Roman road. The cardboard was the ditch, then we layered sand with glue, pebbles (aquarium rock), concrete (playdough), and large stones (floral gems). We staggered the layers so it was easy to remember each one.

"Gratias tibi ago quia me gladio tuo non fodisti." 

That's "thank you for not poking me with your sword."

I've been working on Geography and wanted to have a worksheet to go along with his reading in a Notebooking style.

I will print these along with the Knowledge Quest Maps from Map Trek and bind them with my handy Pro-Click to make a Geography Notebook. I've tried using a 3-ring binder with the maps and they always end up getting torn up. With the Pro-Click, nothing is getting taken out and put back and you really have to try to pull a page out without opening the comb.

Page 1 On page 1 there is a spot for them to write down the Country Name, Capital City, Language (Primary), Draw a Flag, General Facts, Vocabulary words, Points of Interest.

Who doesn't love a good book list? I've been putting together a book list board on Pinterest that will have you filling out your own reading lists in no time.

You can find it here.

Here's a sample of some of my favorites.

I still have to go through the closets and my oldest's room. We won't start until September 2, so I have some time.

The class just began and I am really enjoying it. The class is for parents, teachers and of course, homeschoolers. It is designed to make you a better teacher in math by changing the student's perspective on math. She will be designing a similar course for students after the summer.

• This course is free. 
• It is from Stanford Math professor, Jo Boaler. 
• It runs from July 14, 2013 through September 27, 2013. 
• If you complete at least 85% of the sessions and activities, you will receive a Statement of Accomplishment. 
• If you don't have the time or energy to do the activities, you can still just watch the videos and contemplate the questions she asks without responding. 

I looked out our sliding glass door and saw this hanging out on our back porch in the shade. From the door, it looked like a bat. I was sure it was a bat. I don't have any pictures to show the scale because he was high up, but it was about 3 inches long.

So I went outside and closed the door to take pictures fully expecting my children to see me jump and panic when it flew at me. It did not. It just sat there. Ok,  I'll get some pictures and load them into the camera to see what we have. Hmm, it's not a bat. I was convinced the two little white dots on the inside bottom of it's wings were eyes because they were really reflective.

I looked up giant moth and found out first there really is such a thing and second it was a Black Witch Moth.

White Witch Moth to show scale

Andrew Rader has created a series of educational websites for kids.
Each of the sites below offer:

• Free curriculum
• Units with a hefty amount of subtopics
• Mini-quizzes at the bottom of the page
• Definitions built into the reading
• A site tour if you want to stay on track
• Links to related topics on the other sites to follow rabbit trails

Super Scratch Programming Adventure!

Scratch Programming for Teens