Crestwood Day School

Understood Betsy

This is my fourth year of having our little school in our house.  Every year it can be a challenge as I try to come up with new curriculum, new subjects to study, new authors to discover, and new books to read.  My favorite of all of those of course is finding good, living books to read aloud to the students. 

Our first chapter book read-aloud this year was Understood Betsy.  I can't remember where I heard about this one, but I'm so glad I stumbled across it.  This book was beautiful and one that I will always remember (much like this one).  It's the story of a girl named Betsy, who is sent off to live with her Putney cousins at their farm.  It makes you want to fill your house with geraniums and wear a gingham apron (the schoolteacher in the book wore one...maybe I should get started on one!).

One day at school, we decided to make some tea cookies to nibble on while we read the book.  I'd been wanting to try a recipe from this cookbook, and the Lemon Tea Cookie recipe seemed perfect (lucky for you there's another blogger out there that posted the whole recipe).  The recipe was easy and perfect to do with kids.  There's an icing that goes on top, but I was thinking some raspberry jam would be nice on top, too!  Perfect for an afternoon tea and alongside a good book. 

"That room was full to the brim of something beautiful, and Betsy knew what it was.  Its name was Happiness."  

- Understood Betsy

Celebrating Epiphany

I love weaving in our Christian traditions into our ordinary school day.  Today we celebrated Epiphany with our very own special Epiphany cake.  Basically, epiphany is a time to celebrate and reflect on the three Wise men following the star to the new king, Jesus. 

So to celebrate,  I made a pound cake in a tube pan before they got to school and hid three jelly beans (for the three Wise men) inside the cake after it came out of the oven.  Then the girls and I smeared on some icing and adorned it with different kinds of "jewels," all edible of course.  We even put chocolate covered gold coins in the hole in the center of the cake. So fun!  The final touch was a gold crown, celebrating Christ the King!

For more information and ideas to do with your family and friends, check out this article my friend Rebekah shared with me.  Also, this book has been extremely helpful to me in learning about these traditions - I highly recommend it!

A spot of tea and a bite of scone...

Today was our first "tea time on Tuesdays" at school.  And I think it was a hit.  As I was bringing down the tea, one of the girls came up to me and said, "Mrs. Stephanie, I think we need some fancy napkins, don't you think?"  So we went all out - teapots, teacups, "fancy" napkins, pinkies out, classical music in the background, and some scones.  And not just any scones- chocolate scones.  I had these once at my friend Virginia's house and she was gracious enough to let me post the recipe for you! 
I've made scones in the past, and I've had some trouble with them being too tough or with not enough flavor.  But these were perfect, and the girls had a great time making them - it's a great recipe to do with kids. They're so delicious! 

Chocolate Chip Cream Scones
(makes 8)

Ingredients:

2 cups (10 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt
5 tbsp chilled, unsalted butter, cut into ¼ inch cubes
¾ c. chocolate chips
1 c. heavy whipping cream

   1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees.
   2. Place flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Whisk together.
   3. Using a pastry blender, quickly cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few slightly larger butter lumps. You might need to use a knife to scrape the pastry blender a few times as you mix. ***I just used my stand mixer for this step, with the paddle attachment.
   4. Stir in chocolate chips.
   5. Stir in heavy cream with fork until dough begins to form. (about 30 seconds)
   6. Transfer dough and all dry, floury bits to countertop and knead dough by hand just until it comes together into a rough, slightly sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. You want to knead it into about a 1-inch thick ball.
   7. Cut scones into 8 wedges. Place wedges onto an ungreased baking sheet.
   8. Bake until scone tops are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Resist the urge to eat the scones hot out of the oven. Letting them cool at least 10 minutes firms them up and improves their texture!