School and Soup

Well, Day 2 of our "second semester" is behind us and we are getting into the groove. Joe has done exceptionally well the last two days and even declared today that he's starting to like school. Not sure what changed because we are mostly doing the same stuff and I even added a couple of things but I'm just thankful for two good days in a row. One thing he asked me to do more of is art. He's decided that he wants to be an artist when he grows up. I decided to add art but while teaching him as well so we are doing an Evan Moor Literature Pocket book called "Caldecott Winners." Books receive the Caldecott award based on the illustrations and this study features about 10 Caldecott books. We read them and do activities based on each one to complete a pocket for each book. I spent about two hours today prepping all of the pockets. I have found that if I'm going to be successful with this kind of study I need to have it prepped ahead of time. I have been enjoying getting back into the school routine and the calmer days after such a busy December. It was actually kind of therapeutic to accomplish something.
After Grace had a little freak out moment over math I decided to try something new for her and for Joe. They have both struggled this year with Horizons math, I guess it is just too much for them. So, we are going to try Mammoth Math. You buy the PDF so it's super cheap and you just print it yourself. I got Grace the Multiplication 1 and Joe the Addition/Subtraction one. Hopefully we will have success and if nothing else at least an end to the freak out sessions.

And now...soup...
I made two really good soup recipes tonight and thought I'd share them--
The first was super easy chicken and dumplins (my sister's recipe) in the crock pot. You just put some boneless chicken in the crock pot (I used about half a bag of boneless, skinless tenderloins) and add chicken broth until the crock pot is almost full but with some room for the dumplin's. I started that cooking this morning and about midday I added carrots and peas and a can of cream of chicken soup (you could put that all in first thing in the morning). About 30 minutes before dinner time, add frozen dumplins (you'll find them in the freezer section) and cook another 30 minutes. This was so good and so easy! Thank you Cheryl for the recipe.

The other soup was Lemon Orzo Soup and it was really good too. Here's that recipe--

8 cups of chicken broth
3/4 cup orzo
juice of 1 large lemon (about 1/3 cup)
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
grated parmesan

Bring the chicken broth to a boil and add the orzo. Turn the heat to low/med. low and cover for 10 minutes. Whisk together the lemon juice and the eggs until frothy. Add a ladle of hot soup and continue whisking then slowly add the egg mixture into the pot of soup while whisking. Keep the soup hot but not boiling for another 5 minutes or so. Pour into bowls and top with parmesan.