A Common Shepherdess

Here is our first lapbook of our study of each state. In order to break down the information into manageable portions, we decided to study each state by region. Our first region was New England which includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode island and Connecticut. For each state we made three mini-books. One book of symbols including a picture to color of the state bird and flower, state quarter, state seal plus two other symbols such as state insect, gemstone, shell, folk hero or tree. Our flag mini-book includes statehood information such as date admitted into the union, the state's nickname and motto. Our map mini-book includes information on the capital, postal abbreviation, products of that state, the origin of the name, geography and climate. We also looked at pictures of each state online and in books (our 8 yo son was excited that I came home from Goodwill last week with a book full of photographs from New England) and found some musical montage vi...

NY System Hot Weiners New England coleslaw Coffee milk (official state beverage of Rhode Island) Connecticut apple pie This dinner was a hit! The kids loved the coffee milk. I made my own coffee syrup using this recipe . I made it with decaf coffee. Our boys who prefer cold hot dogs actually liked these hot dogs topped with mustard, meat sauce, chopped onion and sprinkled with celery salt. We are enjoying eating our way across the US! New York System Hot Weiners (or Gaggers) are a unique Rhode Island dish, despite the name. One story says that Greek immigrants working at Coney Island brought the food with them and added "New York" to the name hoping to capitalize on New York's reputation for good food. Coleslaw is a dish that went from the Dutch to the English and then on to New England. Coffee milk was voted the official state beverage of Rhode Island in 1993. It has been a popular drink in New England, Rhode Island in particular, since the 1930s. Apples are ...

Boston baked beans New England-Style Clam Chowder Corn muffins (official state muffin) Green salad Cranberry juice (official state beverage) Boston cream pie The kids weren't so thrilled with this dinner. At the last minute I bought a can of clam chowder for my husband. My oldest son likes it but only at restaurants. Go figure. The Boston cream pie was a hit, but when is a dessert not? I liked the baked beans though! If I ever made them again, I'd go with salt port instead of ham hocks. We had to eat very carefully because of all the bone fragments throughout the beans. Nayv beans, the type of bean used in Boston baked beans, are native to the Americas, or the New World. Every region has a different, traditional way of preparing beans. In Boston, traditional recipes contains molasses and pork instead of a tomato-based sauce. Boston's nickname is "Beantown." The corn muffin and cranberry juice are both official foods of Massachusetts. The Union Oyste...

I have started a new blog at https://creativeinstinct.blog/ and moved my State Dinner and information there. Come visit my new site! Red flannel hash Fried eggs Homemade applesauce (eaten frequently in Understood Betsy , one of our favorite books) Apple cider Maple syrup pie (served with whipped cream or maybe Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, made in Vermont) The red flannel hash was a big hit with our kids! I was very surprised. I mean, it has beets ( shudder ). I baked russet potatoes at the same time I baked the pie. After they cooled I diced them. I used canned beets and didn't add too many. I added them only after the potatoes were browned. I used three different kinds of apples in the applesauce: Fuji, Pink Lady and Granny Smith. It was very tasty! This time I remembered to serve dinner with our USA map placemats. Red flannel hash is a testament to New Englanders' reputation for thrift. It is a make-do dinner using up leftovers from a Sunday dinner of corne...