Chocolate Covered Homeschool

There are a few lessons we do in homeschooling where I think to myself "I wish school was like this all the time." This week was like that.

This week was chocolate week.

It started a few weeks ago with Alex reading Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" aloud to me. It's thirty chapters and took us about 2 weeks on and off reading two to four chapters a day depending on length. He's seven, so I try not to push too hard. We pulled out words we didn't know and looked them up. (vocabulary). We talked about behaivors and following rules. (character development). We finished up the book earlier this week. (literature, phonics and reading comprehension)

Then we got to watch Gene Wilder's magnificent performance as Willy Wonka (sorry Johnny, he's just such a better Wonka). (art, music and theater plus a discussion on book adaptations)

Then we read DK's "The Story of Chocolate" which was really quite informative, even for me. (reading, history and science!) Though I have to admit a serious contemplation of growing our own cacao trees occured while reading this book. We also read Curious George and a lighter science based book to the smaller kids to get them in on the action.

Then the most wonderful thing happened. We made chocolates. (science and cooking) But not just any chocolates, no! We made them from cocao butter, cocoa powder and powdered sugar. We got to feel, taste and smell real beans. The kids had to read an analog thermometer for correct termperance (science and math).

And then, we ate a bunch of chocolate.

Homeschool never tasted so good. Well, those cupcakes were pretty tasty too.