Science Based

World War II Hands-On History – Make Ration Cakes

August 29, 2016 | 11 Comments
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Continuing on with our War War II hands-on history unit study, we always manage to find a recipe or two that tastes pretty good and making ration cakes today was no exception. Also, you’ll love my other Homeschool Lapbooks – Powerful Tools For Mastery Learning on my page.

Tiny liked the taste of these spice cakes and grew to appreciate war time cooking.

However, he did say the cakes were an acquired taste. This recipe is butter-free, milk-free, egg-free and white sugar-free and helped him to appreciate to make do with what you had on hand to cook with.

The recipe comes from the Great World War II Projects You Can Build Yourself book, which we are growing to love.

Hands-on History

Look at this pretty easy list of things you probably have in your house.

1. How to make World War II Ration Cakes @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup raisins
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
powdered sugar for dusting
Mixing bowl

3/4 cup honey
1 1/4 cup water
3 T. shortening like Crisco
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
12 paper cup liners/12 cup cupcake pan
Sauce pan

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

2. How to make World War II Ration Cakes @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

First combine the honey, water, shortening, spices, salt and raisins in the sauce pan. Heat on stove and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Then turn off and let the mixture cool.

3. How to make World War II Ration Cakes @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

In a mixing bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients, which are the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Mix it and you can sift the flour mixture for extra lightness, but Tiny didn’t. He just threw it all together.

4. How to make World War II Ration Cakes @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then pour the cool liquid into the bowl and mix, but don’t overstir. Then pour the batter into cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

5. How to make World War II Ration Cakes @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Next, Tiny sprinkles some powdered sugar on the top. The cakes were just perfect and helped us appreciate time period cooking.

Because we do our unit study and lapbooks too as we plod along, I never have lapbooks in one giant download.

I also do it this way so that you can grab just the parts you need instead of downloading minibooks you may not need.

More World War II Unit Study Hands-on Activities

World War II Hands-On History - Make Ration Cakes

How to Get the Free World War II Unit Lapbook

Now, how to grab the free lapbook. This is a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get my emails in your inbox and you get this freebie.

► 1) Sign up on my list.

2) Grab the freebie instantly.

3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!

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Lewis and Clark:Cooking on the Trail

April 30, 2016 | 4 Comments
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Today for studying about Lewis and Clark, I have a fun cooking idea. Look at my page Lewis and Clark Fun Homeschool Unit Study and Lapbook for more ideas.

Another reason for circling back to unit studies you have done before is that you can use resources you may not have had a chance to use the first time.

We used one of those resources today when studying Lewis and Clark because we did some cooking on the “trail”.

I have The Lewis and Clark Cookbook: Historic Recipes from the Corps of Discovery and Jefferson’s America book and we couldn’t wait to dive into it today.

Lewis and Clark: Hungry, though in a Land of Plenty

Buttermilk Recipe 6 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

What I love about this book is it gave a tally about how many animals were eaten.

Look at a few of them: deer, 1001, grizzly bear 43, beaver 113, bison 227 and turkeys 9 to name a few of them.

Too, we found it interesting that food was abundant.

The group went to bed hungry many nights because they would have rain that would ruin their drying meat or they would miss shooting the game.

The book also has journal entries from the Lewis and Clark Expedition. We read quite a few of them.

Here is the quote for this recipe:

(misspelling the same way it was in their journals)

November 30, 1805. (Sacagawea) gave me a piece of bread made of flour which She had reserved for her child and carefully kept untill this time, which has unfortunately got wet, and a little Sour. This bread I eat with great satisfaction,it being the only mouthfull, I had tasted for Several months past. – Clark.

Also, the preface was just chock full of information to help us understand how ingredients were made and to the recipes were created using authentic ingredients they would have during pioneering times.

Tiny has become a bread eater so he looked for a recipe to make some bread, but found one for buttermilk biscuits.

Look at these buttermilk biscuits Tiny made up real quick.

Lewis and Clark. Cooking Recipe @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small parts
3/4 cup buttermilk (Remember if you don’t have buttermilk, just add lemon or vinegar to regular milk . I do this all the time, but I knew Tiny wanted to make this, so I grabbed buttermilk for it.)

Buttermilk Recipe 1 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Buttermilk Recipe 2 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

In a bowl, he stirred together the dry ingredients. Added in the cold butter until it was coarse.

Next, he added the buttermilk until the dough came together.

I tried to not bud in too much like knowing if he mixes it too much, it won’t come out right.

So I kept quiet and let him enjoy the thrill of cooking.

Buttermilk Recipe 3 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Buttermilk Recipe 4 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then he turned the dough out onto the counter and pat it down about an inch.

He used our cookie cutter to cut out the biscuits and we baked them in a cast iron pot for 20 minutes on a 450 degree oven.

Then of course, adding a bit of modern twist to it like some sour cherry preserves didn’t hurt either.

Buttermilk Recipe 5 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Tiny decided he loved this recipe and I just had to show the rest of what is in this book.

MORE LEWIS AND CLARK ACTIVITIES

You can see the journal entries at the end of each recipe.

Buttermilk Recipe 7 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

The beautiful photography made it more than just a cookbook, which I loved as he can go along and read more about the expedition.

Buttermilk Recipe 8 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

There are really simple things to cook like biscuits and baked beans and then things that are harder to find like roast duck.

Buttermilk Recipe 9 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Living here closer to the city too, we have quite a few butcher shops that sell wild game like bison, which I would love to try.

Buttermilk Recipe 10 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Tiny wasn’t interested in bison, but doesn’t mean we couldn’t try it.

Lewis and Clark. Cooking on the trail. @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I have no idea what the price would be, but it would make for a great feast at the end of the unit.

Buttermilk Recipe 11 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

GRAB THESE OTHER RESOURCES AND HANDS-ON IDEAS

Lewis and Clark: Hands-on History. Make a Char Cloth

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Cajas National Park High Up in the Andes Mountains Part 2

November 1, 2015 | Leave a Comment
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I shared a post about our day trip to the Cajas National Mountains, which are high up in the Andes Mountains.

We loved the visit to the mountains so much that we decided to go ahead and rent a cabin there and do some exploring.

The first thing we did was to grab an English speaking guide and hike one of the highest mountains there.

As you can see, just a 30 minute drive outside of Cuenca where we live and the weather is very cold. That is a part I really enjoy about living here because there are no seasons really.

We have spring every day and when we want a bit of fall-ish or winter-ish weather, we just go to the mountains or should I say higher up in the Andes.

We had to pose for this picture because though the mountain was steep and we constantly were on a slant, the view was so breath taking we paused many times to just take in the moment.

Behind us on the mountain are two waterfalls and the whole mountain is also very soggy and wet.

But we are also up above the tree line and so that limits what grows on the mountain.

Did I tell you my legs were so shaky after we got down off that mountain? But it was so worth it.

Of course, we had to go right to eating and because of the amount of energy expended not only at high altitudes, but with the hike, we treated our self to fried trout again and their exquisite desserts at the restaurant.

We got a fire going in the cabin and just sat back and watched the sun go down behind the mountains that night.

The next day we had a trip planned to an abandoned town, which was built in the early 1900s.

When History Stands Still

The town is part of the Cajas National Park property and it was a half way point during the early 1900s between Guayaquil and Cuenca for those traveling on donkey.

It really was kind of spooky in a way because it was all the sudden abandoned and things were just left in place.

There weren’t many buildings, but just enough to be a resting place to give weary travelers a place to spend the night.

There was the caretaker’s house, which had several rooms. This was one where weaving went on.

The chests or trunks were the way they traveled then.

And the scales hung on the wall so that food, grain and other things could be weighed for bartering.

Even in this part of the woods, liquor was illegal at one time. But like the U.S., they had their smugglers too.

They would use the container made of cow hide to fill with illegal liquor and put it under the donkey’s saddle to hide it and transport it to other places.

This owner and caretaker made hand made saddles and his tack and gear were all left in place where he worked on them.

You can see the original adobe walls and bed.

Too, the way a baby in those days was swaddled is shown here.

I enjoyed this room because this is the place the rich travelers would eat.

They segregated between the rich and poor class back then too.

I loved this chair because it was wrapped with ocelot, which comes from the Amazon rain forest.

As you can see the rich back then enjoyed ample space to eat, dine in and rest up from their weary trek.

This is the room where 8 or 9 people would sleep for the night.

They would lay mats, blankets, and animal hides on the floor along with a fire to keep warm for the night.

In the display case, you can see some of the original clothes that were preserved from this time.

But that is not all we did while visiting there.

There is the coolest abandoned gold mine that we went to also. I will show you those pictures next.

Hugs and love ya,

You can check out my other posts in my Living Abroad category as we have enjoyed living here in South America for a little longer than a year now.

Ancient Greece Unit Study. Hands-on Activity 1. Refraction and Ancient Greece and their Contributions Pull Tab Book

October 29, 2015 | Leave a Comment
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$Ancient Greece Unit Study refraction activity and Ancient Greeks Pull Tab book @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus$

Today, we did an easy science activity to begin our Ancient Greece Unit Study.

I have the book Classical Kids: An Activity Guide to Life in Ancient Greece and Rome (Hands-On History)

and so Tiny quickly opened it to find something he wanted to try.

He was reading about Ancient Greeks studying refraction.

We did this when the boys were little, but as is the case when you have younger children, they don’t remember what you did with the older kids.

This just means double fun for me because I get to do easy science activities again.

As the book brought out refraction is the way rays of light change when they pass from one thing to another that’s made of different material. That is what it means to have materials made of different density.

So this activity was super easy but cool and I love the fact that all 3 things were found in my house.

Ancient Greeks Studies Refraction – Easy Hands-on Activity 1

Here is the really short list of what you need:

$Refraction Activity 1$

■Pie or cake pan (dark coated, not glass or clear)
■Coin
■Pitcher of water

The activity is really easy. Tiny rounded up Mr. Awesome 2015 to help us.

Mr. Awesome placed the coin right next to the side.

While Tiny stood a distance away, so that the coin is hidden by the side.

$Refraction Activity 2$

Then Mr. Awesome poured the water slowly into the container.

$Refraction Activity 2$

As Mr. Awesome poured the water, it appeared to move to the center of the pan.

Of course the coin doesn’t move, it’s just that the light rays were distorted or bent as they passed through the water.

A bit of easy and quick science was enough to pique Tiny’s interest for the unit study.

Since that is the activity he chose to do first, we focused on reading about some Greeks and what they were famous for.

I created a giant pull tab book which is Famous Greeks and their Contributions.

Though there are many famous Greeks to focus on, I used the ones below and listed a bit of information about them.

It’s pretty easy to find information on the internet, but I am listing a few facts here for you too.

Aesop – storyteller; author of Aesop’s fables

Eratosthenes – geographer; first to describe the world as a globe

Euclid – mathematician; “Father of Geometry”

Aristotle – philosopher; student of Plato; tutor of Alexander the Great.

Archimedes – mathematician and inventor; calculated value of Pi; invented the lever; Archimedes Screw

For the giant pull tab book, just cut out all the pieces and write about each Greek on the box provided.

I have instructions on the minibook, but you will form a pocket with the two pieces and place the pull tab book inside.

I hope you like the first “little” giant pull tab book I have for our new unit study.

I have a sweet surprise for my email readers because I always hold something back for them and this Ancient Greece Lapbook is part of my email reader’s subscribers only.

I would love for you to follow me and give me the opportunity to help you along in your homeschool journey.

This is a Subscriber’s Only Freebie because I luv my followers.

Important: IF you are already an email reader, please read this below instead of emailing me right away.

Though I love your emails, it can take a while for me to answer you.

1.) The private link to the subscriber’s only page was sent to you immediately when you joined my blog.

2.) Also, the link is sent to you at the bottom of EVERY newsletter. If you have been getting my blog posts, then check at the very bottom of one of my recent newsletters for the link.

Remember, if you are following along with us, do the minibooks and then just place in a ziploc bag until the end or close to the end of the unit study.

I normally show you a layout we do for our lapbook toward the end of the unit study.

I can’t wait to share the rest of our hands-on activities and the minibooks.

Hugs and love ya,

Beautiful Human Body Lapbook and Fun Unit Study

October 23, 2015 | 39 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have a free human body unit study. Also, I have this Human Body Crafts page for more hands-on ideas.

Taa, daa. It’s here. The completed human body lapbook. Have you been following along as we did our huge human body lapbook and unit study?

We have had a ton of fun with our human body unit study and today, I want to give you one more minibook about the eye and some clip art to go on the outside of the book.

First, did you notice we turned this lapbook landscape?

Human Body Lapbook

The human body lapbook was free for a limited time.

It was so big and we used a legal size file folder too. So we added all the books we did inside and the pictures above will help you to see where we placed our books.

Of course, like I always say, you can use as many of mine as you want to and mix and match other things you want so that the lapbook reflects what you want to teach your kids.

That is one reason I also share my minibooks separately. Sometimes you want to mix and match.

Too, we added one more picture, which is a visual labeling the different parts of the eye and we simply glued that onto our page because this unit was getting big for us.

Tiny was ready to move on to another topic, but I wanted to be sure he was familiar with the parts of the eye too.

Don’t you just love it when you have way more activities to do and then just have to stop so that you can move on?

Eye book @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Also, I created several different pieces to decorate the outside of the lapbook flaps.

You can use any free color pages or use these three pieces of a cover page I have below.

Human Body Lapbook Title Choice of 3 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PLus1

Human Body Lapbook Title Choice of 3 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PLus

Human Body Lapbook Title Choice of 3 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PLus3

Also, I included body clip art with the name of the organ above it.

Tiny wrote in the name of the organ, colored it and he cut them out to place on the outside of his lapbook. I include a few other decorative pieces to go on the outside flap of your lapbook.