In the throes of the Referat and feta
Jan. 9th, 2008 02:08 pmMy son's Referat--big ol' research report--is due on Monday. Nice of him to mention it the other day. He's working with a friend, and they've been here most nights this week so far, trying to dig up info on Greece (the class topic is EU nations, so think of something like your state reports in school). Unfortunately, despite the guidebook, book on Ancient Greece, sheet music, CD of 5000 years of Greek folk music, Wikipedia article, and Greek cookbook with enticing pictures (thank you, mom, for going to the library), they still needed a little um, hovering, to use ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pixiechick_sw 's term. Do any of you have to do this? My kid is really smart, but sometimes he looks at a huge composition task and freaks out. So I took the list of required data they were supposed to find out and asked them for one-word answers, and wrote down what they said. Then I handed them the list and had them dictate to me full sentences expanding what was on there. (They could turn it in typed, so I took dictation on the computer.) It was interesting how radically their styles differ--you can really tell whose paragraphs are whose. The friend's are short, to the point, and grammatically correct. My son's have their share of language errors, but the writing itself is interesting, with topic sentences and a smooth flow. I hope his teacher notices. She's said he needed to work on composition, and I think something from class is finally sinking in. Anyway, now they have to get together all kinds of visual aids and put them on overhead pages.
After they got done for last night the friend went home with one walkie-talkie and my boys kept the other one, and they had a fun time talking with each other. Walkie-talkies sure beat the old cat food can telephones! And even though they were easily distractable during the homework, it's still nice to see my son enjoying normal kid things with a real friend. It's been a long time in the making.
Since I had Greece on the brain, we had my favorite vegetarian dish last night--sun-dried tomato pasta salad. For those who love feta, here you are:
corkscrew noodles (rotini or the like)
While they're cooking, assemble:
sliced olives (whichever kind you like, but black are better than green)--a can's worth
sliced, reconstituted dried tomatoes (make sure they have olive oil, fennel seed, and a little basil on them)--about a small can's worth
chopped artichokes (1 can)
2 chopped onions
2-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 red peppers, cut in half and broiled, skin side up, until the skin goes black and separates some from the flesh. Then you peel off the skin, and chop them. (The broiling goes fast, so keep an eye on them.)
Cook the onions and garlic in olive oil until soft. Then add everything else and stir. Add the noodles, stir. Then crumble a small package of feta cheese into it and stir. Enjoy!
pixiechick_sw 's term. Do any of you have to do this? My kid is really smart, but sometimes he looks at a huge composition task and freaks out. So I took the list of required data they were supposed to find out and asked them for one-word answers, and wrote down what they said. Then I handed them the list and had them dictate to me full sentences expanding what was on there. (They could turn it in typed, so I took dictation on the computer.) It was interesting how radically their styles differ--you can really tell whose paragraphs are whose. The friend's are short, to the point, and grammatically correct. My son's have their share of language errors, but the writing itself is interesting, with topic sentences and a smooth flow. I hope his teacher notices. She's said he needed to work on composition, and I think something from class is finally sinking in. Anyway, now they have to get together all kinds of visual aids and put them on overhead pages. After they got done for last night the friend went home with one walkie-talkie and my boys kept the other one, and they had a fun time talking with each other. Walkie-talkies sure beat the old cat food can telephones! And even though they were easily distractable during the homework, it's still nice to see my son enjoying normal kid things with a real friend. It's been a long time in the making.
Since I had Greece on the brain, we had my favorite vegetarian dish last night--sun-dried tomato pasta salad. For those who love feta, here you are:
corkscrew noodles (rotini or the like)
While they're cooking, assemble:
sliced olives (whichever kind you like, but black are better than green)--a can's worth
sliced, reconstituted dried tomatoes (make sure they have olive oil, fennel seed, and a little basil on them)--about a small can's worth
chopped artichokes (1 can)
2 chopped onions
2-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 red peppers, cut in half and broiled, skin side up, until the skin goes black and separates some from the flesh. Then you peel off the skin, and chop them. (The broiling goes fast, so keep an eye on them.)
Cook the onions and garlic in olive oil until soft. Then add everything else and stir. Add the noodles, stir. Then crumble a small package of feta cheese into it and stir. Enjoy!
