I had organised today that Charlotte make a breakfast of boiled eggs and toast with Becca using all she had learnt the day before. If you read yesterday’s post you would know that I had taught two sceptical twins and their two eager sisters how to boil an egg. They had teased me throughout and then gone on to produce some very substandard boiled eggs. When I told them they should have done more listening than talking during the lesson, they replied with protestations that if left to their own devices, they would have cooked two flawless eggs – therefore it was not they who couldn’t cook, but Delia Smith. Yes, girls. Of course. Silly me.
In all seriousness (which is remarkably hard when Charlotte is anywhere nearby), we did attempt to trouble shoot yesterday’s disasters. We decided to use a larger pan so the there was only a single layer of eggs, and to make sure the water was bubbling furiously before adding the eggs. Charlotte and Becca produced eight perfect eggs this morning following (albeit reluctantly) Delia’s method:
After breakfast, there was the normal routine of chores before Thomas left for the day, Charlotte went over to Granny’s house, Lillie began her maths in her office, and the littles hunkered down for some work book school:
Today, it was Abigail who struggled to concentrate and Becca who whizzed through them! Whilst they were doing their ACE, I took some photos of some of their work from yesterday, and brought out the ingredients for their lunch – leek and potato soup. Once they’d done their books, they had a quick break and made up a car from bean bags and blankets:
We then made a start on the Chinese silk painting we are doing as part of their Ancient China lesson. I taped the blank silk scarf to the table and taught the girls how to use the gutta to outline the branches of the cherry blossom. This was not as easy as it first appeared:
The girls finished the scarf and left it to dry over night.
My little ones love being in the kitchen, so I thought we’d have an impromptu cooking lesson – how to make leek and potato soup 101. This is a soup both the twins make well, and one we eat frequently. Today I focused on teaching them about the leeks. I taught them to strip the outer leaves, slit longways in two, check for dirt, slice and wash,and finally how to cook in readiness to be used for soup:
Their eyes were watering, so Abs decided this was a good time for science goggles!
I added the potatoes which I’d prepared earlier, the hot water which had been boiling away on the hob and the girls added the two stock cubes and stirred:
Once it was up to boiling, we turned it down to simmer and the girls did some partnership reading about Pluto:
I quickly made up a recipe card to remind the girls what went in to the soup and simple instructions on how to make it again:
Charlotte arrived back from Granny’s and was grabbed to be the impromptu audience for the girls short presentations. Abigail did her presentation on silkworms:
Becca presented on silk fabric:
Then it was back to the soup! The potatoes were now soft, so we pureed the soup and the girls served it to their sisters:
Becca added the pepper and grated cheese:
Yummeeeee… my mouth is so watering writing this! I couldn’t taste it on account of the fasting, but Charlotte reliably informed me it was the best she’d tasted!
After lunch, I went to my room to listen to I Samuel whilst Becca did some sewing:
and my little scientist, Abigail, made some crystals with her latest instalment of the Curiosity Box:
On a Tuesday afternoon, I usually do science with Abs whilst Charlotte does (even more) cooking with Becca.
They made some peanut butter balls together:
which, apart from burning the chocolate, went swimmingly:
Meanwhile, Abs and I tried our hand at making a liquid wire:
The liquid wire was made from graphite and liquid glass, and was to complete a circuit and light up a bulb:
We are both loving these MEL science lessons!
Thomas has just arrived back from college; Lillie is back from work and currently doing some art; Charlotte is relaxing and the little ones are doing some gymnastics whilst watching some spy YouTube videos. Gary is relaxing, and I am about to join him 🙂