March 2021

3.15.2021

Homeschool Diaries :: Spider Unit (+ Free Printable)

hey y'all, happy monday -- today I thought I'd share a more in-depth look at the spider unit we did the other week. I like to pull resources from all over the place and curate a mini-unit to help guide the lesson. I'm not the kind of person to stick to one set curriculum because my boys are still super little and their attention spans aren't fit for page by page curriculum. So, I try my best to cater to everyone's learning style especially when two of my students are under the age of three.

One of the first things I do as an introduction to the weekly lesson / nature unit is to create a habitat sensory bin / tray for the boys to explore. It really gets them pumped up for the whole unit and allows for them to start formulating questions and areas they want to learn about in the coming days.

Next, we grabbed our Big Book of Bugs and took a look at some spider facts. I love giving them their little magnifying glasses and let them take a closer look at the pictures of spiders as I read the text. I prompt them to find the spider picture that a specific fact is referring to. It's one of their favorite parts of the lesson.

Extra Tools

▣ Black Widow

▣ Tarantula

▣ Life Cycle Tray :: the one I own is no longer being sold by the small shop I bought it from, but another one of my all-time favorite shops (Jack and Link) came out with their very own version of the life cycle board and I love it. That's the board I linked because I would purchase -- it's double-sided!

▣ Life Cycle Figureines

Next, I took the flashcards from the spider nature study and cut them out. Then, I created a spider web printable that showcased all kinds of webs. I had the boys pick their favorite spiders and we glued them to the web while talking about spider body parts, the kinds of webs they spin, and where you can find them.

I'd love to share that printable with y'all.

If you'd like to use it, you can find it at the end of this blog post -- scroll down to right-click, save and print!

I also had the boys create their own spidey friend. We decorated the spiders with markers, glitter, and sequins and used colorful pipe cleaners as legs and googly eyes to bring them to life. They were so proud of their little spidey friends and couldn't wait to hang it up on our school work board!

I love wrapping up the week with a fun craft because we can admire it all weekend. Our school workboard is placed in the kitchen, so we always see + walk by it. I often refer to the work on the board and ask the boys to tell me what they remember about what we learned the past week. It's also a great conversation piece when guests and family members come to visit.

But, yah! that's a wrap to our spider unit. I like to keep things fairly simple and easy as I have three little pairs of hands that always want to get to the next part of the lesson.

About That Free Printable

so here is that web printable that I was telling you about / you saw pictured above.

if you'd like to save this and use it in your own spider units -- right-click, save to desktop, and print. please note that this print is for my readers and is not meant to be sold / redistributed; personal use only, please.

if you do end up using this print, don't forget to snap a picture and tag me on @mainlymarta / @theschoolingsquares on Instagram.

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3.08.2021

Recipe | Gogosi (Romanian Doughnuts)

hey ya'll, today we're talking about one of my very favorites -- gogosi! they're homemade romanian styled doughnuts and they're delicious. I asked my mom to show me how to make it awhile back, so I could tell you guys all about it, but she refused. She's an eyeball(er) when it comes to recipes, so she couldn't tell me the quantities. The problem was officially solved because I brought my digital scale and we were able to measure it for you guys.

Before I share the recipe, I want to say that even though this recipe looks super lengthy, it's not that complicated. I've done my best to show you all the steps through the photos and videos, but at the end of the day, it's waiting for the dough to rise that's the most tedious.

What You'll Need

Flour

Canada Bleached All-Purpose | 60 ounces

Red Start Quick Rising Yeast

2 packets

Lukewarm Water

1/2 cup

Sugar

Eggs

Salt

1 tablespoon

Greek Yogurt

1 cup

Orange Zest

Milk

Butter

2 sticks at room temperature

Cinnamon

Canola Oil

How To Make

step 1.
sift all your flour.

step 2.
in the cup of lukewarm water, mix in two regular sized spoons of sugar and the two packets of yeast. let this mixture sit until the water starts to bubble (aka: rise) yay! you’ve just proofed your yeast. if the water doesn't bubble or rise, that means that either the water was too hot or the yeast is old and not good for use, so you'll need to go ahead and restart this step.

step 3.
mix 1 cup of greek yogurt and 4 cups of milk in a glass container and then warm the mixture to a temp that you can place your hand in it. careful with this step because you don’t want it to be very hot because the yeast won't rise the dough.

note: we like to mix greek yogurt into the milk, but the yogurt can be skipped if not on hand.

step 4.
place the yeast mixture in the sifted flour, in the middle, and mix. then, add five whole eggs.
slowly add the four cups of milk to the mixture -- don't add it all at once. mix in and start slowly kneading as you're mixing.

if you've added all the milk to the mix and you see a lot of flour left, heat up and add more milk until the mixture is just right. you’re going to have to eyeball this step — you want the dough to be just right which means that it's not very soft, but not very stiff. it has to be somewhere in the middle.

we ended up using five 5 cups of milk total in the entire process.

this is a complicated step as some types of flour absorb liquid differently, so pay attention to how the dough is feeling and how the flour is mixing into your dough mixture.

✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸ this would be the time and place to mix in your orange (or lemon) zest ✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸

note: this time, I didn't add zest because we used the same dough to make Langos -- Romanian style stuffed fried bread. but if you're only wanting to make gogosi, then the zest would be mixed in at this point in time.

pro tip: a few days before you make gogosi, zest several oranges and place the shavings in a small glass jar with several spoons of fine sugar. mix together and then seal the jar, placing it in the fridge. when making the gogosi, use a few spoonfuls of this in your dough to give it an even sweeter taste. left over zest? no problem -- this sugary zest can stay in the fridge for up to a year if sealed correctly. it's ready to be used in other cakes and muffins!

step 5.
then take your two sticks of butter and start incorporating it into the dough. buuuut, wait, don’t place all it at once. you want to take it in sections and knead it in. like you did with the milk.

step 6.
then after you’ve incorporated the butter, take half a handful of oil, and rub it on top of the dough and the sides. you do this because we’re gonna put some plastic wrap on top as we wait for it to rise and we don't wang the dough to stick to the plastic.

step 7.
place plastic wrap all around the bowl and then take a warm blanket, fold it in half place it on the table. place the bowl of dough in the middle and then cover up the bowl with the other side of the blanket, making sure that the entire bowl is covered.

step 8.
let sit to rise.
this takes a few hours -- ours took about 3 hours to rise!

this is the perfect opportunity to wash dishes, tidy up and run errands even.

step 9.

after your dough has risen, go get your frying pan and fill it up with oil about half way.
you want your doughnuts to float, so the amount of oil depends on the size of your pan.

step 10.
turn on the stove to heat medium heat.
then, wait about 7 mins -- it's time to test the oil.

to do this, drop a little bit of dough in the pan.
if it starts to bubble and rise quickly, your oil is ready.

if it doesn’t, go ahead and wait a few more minutes and try again.

repeat this process until the little piece rises to the surface right away.

step 11.
now, grab a large plastic board placing it on the counter.

and then take a little bit of oil and spread it all over the board and your hands.

this helps move the dough and not get it stuck to your hands.

step 12.

now, let’s make the doughnuts!

grab a bit of dough, place it on the board and flatten it with your hands.

now get a regular-sized cup and start cutting your circles.
if you want them to look like American doughnuts,

then go ahead and get a milk gallon cap to cut out the doughnut hole.

step 13.
place doughnut in oil and wait until you see the edge get golden brown. then flip over with a spoon.

step 14.
when the entire doughnut is golden brown, place a paper towel on a plate and then let your doughnuts cool on top of the paper towel — this soaks the excess oil from the surface.

step 15.
next, in another plate mix fine sugar and cinnamon together.

after the gogosi have cooled a bit, roll it in the sugary mix and place on serving platter.

step 16.

serve and enjoy!

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3.01.2021

After the Historic Winter Storm | Update

hey hey hey y'all! I'm baaaaaaack. I've had such a turbulent couple of weeks and it's shown because I've been MIA on the blog. I feel like I haven't talked to you guys in ages!

Soooo... my laptop broke the day right after Valentine's day and then a day after that, we lost power due to a huge winter storm. We didn't get power back for 8 days y'all. It got so bad that we had to go stay with my parents for the week because it was that cold in our house. At one point, it was colder inside than it was outside.

When we finally got power back, we came home and spent the remainder of the week cleaning out our freezer and fridge, trying to restock it, tidying up the house, doing laundry, and unpacking before my husband had to start working again.

It's been a wild ride, but things are finally back to normal, so I thought I'd share some pictures of our snowy weekend. Going forward, I'm hoping to go back to one post per week if not more. Oh, and happy March first y'all! Is spring here yet? Because after all that snow, we are so ready for consistent bouts of sunshine!