Review: The Young Chef's French Cookbook (I'm the Chef)

The Young Chef's French Cookbook

We've been studying geography and my seven-year-old also expressed an interest in cooking. So, while we were learning about France, I stumbled across this great cookbook. He has always been a selective eater, so we were excited to see recipes that he would be willing to eat as well as able to cook. Our favorites were:

Toasted Cheese and Ham Sandwich
Quiche Lorraine
Butter, Lemon, and Parsley Sole

There are also recipes that would be great for children a year or two older, like the kids shown on the cover. The lay-out is great, making it easy for young cooks to follow themselves. This book is real cooking for beginners.

Bees!!!

There is a beehive in my front yard.

Bees!

Guys! There is a beehive in my yard!

You can bet that we've already gotten a lot of homeschool mileage out of the bees. When our extra supplies arrived for expanding the hive, my husband sat down with the kids and showed them (and me!) what everything was and why the bees need this and that. I didn't even ask him to do this. He just did. Clearly I married the right guy.

Wax-coated black plastic foundation

And then of course there is the experience of watching the bees in our garden and watching them fly in and out of the hive.

The bees love our cucumber and squash plants

Do you know what is so funny? While we were waiting for the bees to arrive, we got a lot of questions, and I worried, too. Kids and bees -- I must be crazy, right? And yet, here I am standing a foot away from the hive to take these photos, and the bees don't care.

They're Russian bees! Don't be afraid to get Russian bees because they are "more aggressive." As long as we don't knock the hive over or wear imitation banana perfume, the kids will be safe.

Ahhh! They're so amazing!

P.S. The NC Zoo has a neat bee exhibit including a giant fake hive that you can walk into. The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences also has a beehive that you can see into in their Discovery Room.