Konos Stewardship: Exercise

Konos Unit: Stewardship
Theme: NERF - Nutrition, Exercise, Rest, and Fun (Stewardship of Body)

As part of learning how to be good stewards of our bodies, we have started an exercise routine. We have a list of simple exercises that we try to go through each morning. It works well to do these as part of their morning break to help them get the wiggles out. The kids start with trying to do 8 of each exercise then slowly increase the number of repetitions if they can.

Here Nicholas is demonstrating the Lateral T. He stands straight with his arms at his side while holding a soup can in each hand. Slowly, he raises his arms to the side until they are shoulder height. Then he slowly lowers his arms to his side.

Rachel's smaller hands had a hard time holding the soup cans so I found something that was more her size. It was two jars of candy sprinkles. No, I did not think this through very well. Her 3 year old brain just could not get past the idea that she was holding thousands of little candy sprinkles in each hand. She couldn't finish a single exercise because she kept getting distracted by the candy and the constant questions of "When can I eat this?"

Nicholas loves doing squats.

I eventually got the sprinkles away from Rachel and gave her some little squishy balls instead. They were much less distracting for her. She was able to use them for her palm squeezing exercises as well as bicep curls.

Nicholas does push ups.

Rachel tries to do them but she was just funny to watch because she just sort of flops down to the floor and springs back up.

They both do shoulder lifts which are like sit-ups but with only lifting the shoulders off the ground.

Not only does exercising get the wiggles out, it also works up their appetite so they are ready to actually eat their lunch instead of just dilly dally with it.

Today's lunch was chicken noodle soup with crackers along with banana, grapes and tomatoes to nibble on, all washed down with milk to drink.

Konos Stewardship: All About Chocolate

Konos Unit: Stewardship
Theme: NERF - Nutrition, Exercise, Rest, and Fun

We've studied and read a lot about food lately. We've even had some fun learning about chocolate!

We've read library books about how chocolate is made and we just finished reading Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", the book that became the movie, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".

So I was super excited when a last minute opportunity came up for us to go with our homeschool group to visit Schakolad Chocolate Factory (pronounced shaq-oh-LAD) and learn more about chocolate from a true chocolate connoisseur.

When we opened the door to the store, the delightful smell of sweet chocolate came flooding out. But that was just a teaser to the beautiful creations we would see inside.

There are many beautiful works of chocolate art in display cases.

Of course, there are cases of smaller bite-size treats as well.

We had a small group of 9 people. We started our tour with the owner talking to us about cacao beans. They grow only in the warm, wet, shady areas of the rainforests around the equator. The ancient civilizations of the Aztecs and Mayans used cacao beans as currency in their early societies. They created a drink called chocolatl which was kind of a watery cocoa drink without sweetener. Although it was bitter, it was considered a luxury and only consumed by the wealthy and powerful ones in society.

After our class time, we moved on to the taste testing. What better way to get educated on the different components and flavors used in chocolate than to actually sample them for yourself?

We gathered around the owner with his tray of bite-sized pieces.

He let us try each one. There was milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, flavored chocolate, and more.

Most were yummy but Nicholas wasn't very fond of sugar-free chocolate.

We saw a real pod that the cacao beans grow in when they are high up in the tree.

Then we saw the real cacao beans.

Finally, it was time to make our own chocolate creations!

Everyone started with a thorough hand washing.

There was a beautiful machine keeping melted milk chocolate churning around, all warm and creamy. Nicholas scooped some up and poured it into some candy molds.

He added a stick and after they cooled he had his own handmade chocolate lollipop!

Then we hand dunked marshmallows in the yummy chocolate and let them cool and harden.

Once we were all done making our confections it was time to clean up.

Schakolad Chocolate Factory is located in The Shops at Legacy, 7140 Bishop Road. Suite 1122 in Plano. They are open Mon-Wed 11:00am-8:00pm and Thurs-Sat 11:00am-10:00pm. For more information, please call them at 972-801-2577 or visit the Schakolad Chocolate Factory website.

Konos Stewardship: Nuts and Oils

Konos Unit: Stewardship
Theme: NERF - Nutrition, Exercise, Rest, and Fun

We've been studying the four major food groups - grains, fruits/vegetables, dairy, and meat/nuts

Today we took a closer look at Nuts in the Meat Group. We read about them and looked closely at their shells. We cracked some shells and tried some.

I bought several different types of nuts in bulk from our local farmers market and made a sampling tray with each nut labeled.

We studied the different sizes, colors, textures of each and then we sampled them all. It was neat to see which ones were their favorites.

Nicholas was reading to Rachel before her nap today and picked out the book, "Nuts to You" by Lois Elhert to tie reading time into our school work. I love how he did this entirely on his own!

They both love this book about a squirrel and his silly tricks.

After she was down for her nap, he scuttled off to his room and made this cute Lego creation to celebrate Fall complete with a squirrel and two yellow acorns.

We also recently studied Fats and Oils.

Nicholas did an experiment to test for oils in certain foods. He used a paper bag and cut it into little squares to use as his test strips and then we gathered some foods to test.

He first made 2 control swatches. One square of paper had nothing on it and it was labeled, "without oil" and another swatch had just olive oil on it and it was labeled, "with oil". Now he had two test swatches to compare the actual food swatches to and determine which category the food most closely fit in.

He rubbed a carrot on a swatch.

He tried some water although he already had his own hypothesis that there was no fat in water.

He rubbed a nut on a swatch.

He also made a swatch for 1% milk, wheat bread, crouton, and mayonnaise. He let the swatches dry for an hour.

Once they were dry, Nicholas compared his results and separated the swatches according to whether they resembled the swatch "with oil" or "without oil".

Water and carrot had no oil. The wheat bread had just a touch of oil so he placed it on that side. The nut and the mayonnaise looked just like the "with oil" swatch so they went on that side. The crouton and the milk went in the center because their oil content fell somewhere between the two extremes.

Nicholas As Goalie

Nicholas has been doing well in his hockey league. He usually plays right wing, an offensive position, but recently expressed interest in trying out goalie. Goalies have a lot of bulky, specialized gear so instead of going out and buying it, the current goalie let Nicholas try out his equipment for the first time out. We are very grateful for this.

Nicholas put on some of his own basic gear but then had to lie down on his tummy in order to get his giant leg pads on. Fortunately, the other dad helped Nicholas get in the gear and showed Stuart how to do it.

It was funny seeing everyone, even Rachel, helping to buckle up the back of the knee pads. I can't help but wonder if NHL players have to do this too or have they discovered a trick to getting these things on?

Look how big those pads are!

Here he is in full goalie get-up.

Nicholas played a little bit as goalie at the last practice session but has never played goalie in a game and has never even tried on this bulky goalie gear before now. It was a bit of a challenge just walking around getting used to it before the game. Fortunately, the coach also took some time before the game to teach Nicholas a few pointers.

Once the game started, Rachel was her usual self - either wandering away and having to be chased or wanting to be held and entertained the whole time. Both of which are distracting for a proud mama who just wants to watch the game.

Fortunately, Stuart got some pictures of a few pictures of Nicholas in the net.

And making a few good saves as he batted the puck away with his stick.

Watch out! Here they come!

Crash! Right into the goalie and everyone around them! Thanks goodness for all that extra goalie padding!

Here's a video of a save Nicholas made. Notice how long it takes him to get up on his feet with all of the gear on. Just a reminder though, this was his first time wearing the gear.



Most importantly, Nicholas is having fun and I'm proud of him for getting out of his comfort zone and trying something new. He said he might want to play goalie again because it was kind of fun.

Olivia Newton John and the Toothbrush Facial

Rachel won't usually keep bows and headbands in her hair but this night she was excited to play with this pink headband. She did look kind of cute in it although it reminded me a bit of Olivia Newton John from back in the '80s.

Rachel is an independent little thing. She wants to brush her teeth all by herself but I insist that we "take turns". She can brush her teeth first but then Mommy wants a turn at brushing them too.

After brushing her teeth, she giggled as she decided to brush her cheek too.

And then she started giving herself a full facial with her toothbrush...which, by the way, still had toothpaste on it!