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A Few Good Links (Spelling, cooking, plant families and more!)

Mar 12th, 2013 by Alicia

Here’s a few assorted links I’ve found lately that I thought were worth keeping.

I’m posting these here in case they help others and also so I can find the sites later when I need them! I’d pin them but in most cases, they don’t have pinnable images.

4th Grade Spelling lists… We don’t usually do anything formal in spelling. (Here’s a tip from a mom who’s HSed to the teen years– spelling is one of those things that takes care of itself very well through the rest of life if you have a child who likes to read and write.) That said, Jack could use a boost and we’re doing some weekly spelling words now and trying to make it fun. This site has lots of easy printable lists and you don’t need to sign up or jump through any hoops (and other grades, too).

Acids and Bases (Science Fair Projects and Experiments)… Wow, this site looks awesome. The projects are categorized and look really interesting. It’s a no-frills site, but one I want to spend more time investigating.

Culinary Skills Challenge… This is something I want to do with my kids this month. It’s part of a group challenge that we’re not going to take part in because the official one is wheat-based and my girls would probably say they’re too shy to take part right now, where kids are challenged to bake a muffin recipe and then make changes and present an improved muffin to the judges. I think it would be awesome fun to use one of my basic gluten free muffin recipes and do it as a family project. I love the chart and the idea of changing one thing at a time and logging the results. (Click on baking science guidelines for their rules, their basic wheat-based muffin recipe and their chart in PDF form.)

Foods and plants that are related… This is interesting to me as the mom of allergic kids and also just as science. It’s a very comprehensive page of info about what families various plants, seafood, etc. are in and how people can react to other seemingly unrelated things because they are actually related, like this part:

Cross-Reactions between Trees and Foods – Oral Allergy Syndrome - AAIA Quarterly Volume 29 Fall 1993, Dr. Ham Pong “Oral Allergy Syndrome” — allergy to a pollen triggers itching of the mouth when related foods are eaten. See Oral Allergy article on Articles page.

Foods associated with BIRCH pollen allergy: apple family (apple, pear), Plum family (almond, apricot, cherry, nectarine, peach, plum, prune), Parsley family (carrot, celery, fennel, parsley, parsnip), Walnut.

Foods associated with RAGWEED pollen allergy: banana, melons.

Foods associated with GRASS pollen allergy: melons, orange, tomato.

Foods associated with MUGWORT (Artemisia vulgaris) pollen allergy: – apple, carrot, celery, melons

Reading which family various things are in is quite interesting, too. Or perhaps I’m just a geek! That’s pretty much confirmed, too!

In other news…

Don’t forget that Pi Day is coming up! Here’s oodles of fun stuff to do to celebrate.

I’ve also written recently about How to prepare your daughter for her first period, a recipe for Easy (I swear!) gluten free and dairy free glazed donuts, a new site that features kids’ science projects with theme challenges, and how kids can sign up for a free 2-year subscription to LEGO Magazine.

And now, I’m back on toddler duty. I wonder what the odds are that Fiona would like to relax in a bath and look through gluten free cookbooks and garden magazines with me?

Posted in challenges, cooking/home ec, nature, science, spelling | No Comments