Summer is the perfect time to take advantage of Mother Nature’s bounty and look beyond the walls of your home for some fantastic homeschool lessons.
For clans with students of varying ages, a field trip to a u-pick farm can be a real treat. Most states feature fields, orchards and sprawling acreage designed to give city folk a taste of country life. These green spaces are bursting with seasonal produce including corn, strawberries, tomatoes and my daughter’s favorite—peaches.
Picking sweet, juicy, tree-ripened peaches lends itself to a slew of hands-on lessons. For starters, a field trip to a peach orchard can be the springboard for simple horticulture lessons. Kids can examine the trees’ roots, leaves and different peach varieties. Add to your curriculum by incorporating lessons on nutrition, food safety and the digestive system. You could also touch on related topics such as how peaches are used in different cultures.
Harvesting peaches is also a fun way to hone math skills. For example, an average bushel of peaches weighs 50 pounds. If a farmer is selling his wonderfully ripe fruit for $22 per half bushel, how much would you have to pay for 100 pounds worth of peaches?
If you were to purchase a bushel, you’re looking at roughly 115 medium to large peaches. That’s a lot of fresh fruit. Fortunately, you can turn your sweet treasure trove into a delicious crisp. Have your kids use their cooking skills to transform your freshly picked peaches into this scrumptious dessert:
NUTTY PEACH CRISP
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds of peaches, sliced
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/4 cup flour
Ingredients for Topping:
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
- 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
Directions:
- Toss peaches in a bowl with the sugar and almond extract.
- Allow to sit for 15 minutes.
- Add flour and toss to coat peaches evenly.
- Place peaches in a 9 x 13-inch dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a separate bowl make the topping by mixing together the flour, sugars and salt.
- Cut in butter with a fork until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal.
- Add in almonds and oats.
- Sprinkle topping over peaches.
- Bake for one hour or until the top is golden and the filling is bubbling.
- Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.