Now You’re Cooking!

It most likely won't take much convincing to get your linguistic child to read or verbally practice language arts over the summer. But you can stretch both your child's verbal and math skills by trying “worldly” recipes together. Whether you use the Internet or your library card, immerse your family in a new culture each week over the summer. Read about local customs and history and talk about the new information you've discovered each night during the week at dinner. Over the course of the week, read regional recipes and decide on the ones that sound most appealing for one family dinner. Make a shopping list together for the ingredients (including quantities) you'll need for all the recipes you've selected. Then, figure out timing—what time do you need to get started to finish dinner on time? What do you need to complete in order? How much do you need of each ingredient? Figure out quantities based on different measuring cups and spoons. (e.g. if you need 3 cups of an ingredient, how many 1/3 cup measures do you need in the mixing bowl? If you need 4 tablespoons of an ingredient, how many teaspoons would this be?) When eating your cultural feast, get fancy and use a variety of vocabulary words to describe each dish or learn key words and phrases from the country and use them during the meal.