Schooling in the Kitchen- 5 Days of Teaching Creatively

Welcome to my kitchen!

and what a lovely kitchen it is, but that hasn't always been so.

(come back Thursday or read the Tear Down to Build Up posts if you want the longer story).

Even though our house is big (and getting bigger as the kids become adults and move out) this is where we live; it's the heart of our home, and the heart of our homeschool.

 
And here's the view looking into the dining room- the wall of windows is slightly cantilevered making the room 6 "sided" which opens up in to the front of the house which is one huge living area.
 

Here is where we have our first cup of coffee in the morning, discuss the days events, current events, politics, theology, current books, magazine articles and points of interest. We're a discussin' kind of family.

The coffee is started along with breakfast. It's not very academic right off. Dr. Dh has a different kind of schedule and more often than not, we spend time together in the mornings because he works late most evenings. .

 

Academic work takes place at the table or the huge peninsula. We could probably dedicate a schoolroom, or basement, to homeschool. But honestly, we love our workspace in our wide open first floor- it has tons of light, Internet, work spaces, DVD player, etc.

Wow. They don't look very inspired, do they? They had no interest in a photo op. They had interest in finishing science and getting outside where they believed they belonged!

The kids keep their books in medium sized Rubbermaid bins, stored in the living room. They each have a large 5 x7 card with all of their subjects, studies, books and projects. This includes alist of what we use: textbooks, DVD's, on-line course-work, CD's, MP3's, lap books, etc. We're big into books here, but we're big into maximizing resources, too.

Besides Academics our kitchen schooling consists of bringing in the harvest.

When we're not in deep drought (like last year) we are actually productive gardeners. This might not seem like it belongs in a post on kitchen schooling, but where do you think we pour over seed catalogs at?  And then there's the harvest. My fav gardening cookbook is Serving Up the Harvest.

Everyone helps prep, plant, weed, harvest, process, eat. Not everyone is into gardening but to a one they all love fresh, organic anything; well, except beets. They smell like dirt and taste like dirt. KB is the only one who loves 'em; pickled.

 

We're  all about growing things and bringing it into the kitchen.

Before: Feeche's grapes.

After: Feeche's grape juice.

 Homemaking skills for the manly. Ruby red quarts of perfection.

The kitchen also houses the incredible chalk-board Feeche and I made to write Latin phrases or spelling lists on.
My favorite phrase to date has been "Recedite, plebes! gero rem imperialem!" which means, "Stand aside, little men. I am here on imperial business." I don't know why but it cracks me up, every time!

 

Cooking and cleaning are de rigeur. The kids all know cooking basics and can clean, which they do, daily. And soon and very soon we are adding Supercharged Science to our days and that, my friends will take place in the kitchen!

How do you School in the Kitchen?

This post is part of a week of blog hopping hosted by The Schoolhouse Review Crew: 5 Days of Teaching Creatively; Day2- Schooling in the Kitchen. Hop around and get more great delight directed inspiration!