Homemade Cinnamon Sugar Bagels, the LEMO Chair, and Symposium

Today, we had a home day.

And it was glorious.

For being homeschoolers we don’t seem to be home very much. I mean, we are. We have a pretty strict nap time each day so are almost always home for lunch and rest, but home days where we just get to be and work on projects without having to buzz somewhere … those seem to be few and far between.

Today was lovely though. We baked – scroll down for the recipe – and had a long symposium, first at the table and then we migrated to read in front of the fire.

Eli was a happy camper in his new big boy chair. Shortly after his birthday he made it very clear that he had no intentions of sitting in his high chair anymore. I don’t think he liked feeling trapped. Plus, he has three big siblings and just likes to roll with them and whatever they are doing.

I wish I would have discovered the Cybex LEMO chair long ago. Although we’re using it primarily as a toddler seat now it does have a high chair attachment and thus it’s a genius grow with you kind of thing … all the way from infant to adult! The LEMO is so chic and sturdy (practically unable to tip) and I love that it gives Eli a special seat at the family table. Plus, I can easily add the high chair piece when we have little guests visit!

We started the idea of a daily “symposium” this school year and I think it’s something we will stick with year after year. I can’t recall exactly where I heard about a family symposium, but I introduced it to the kids and they were all for it! It’s our favorite part of the day!

I’m sure every family’s symposium looks a little different. For us, we start with prayer requests and take turns praying. Then devotions. Then a book by our term author – Jan Brett right now – and then we listen to (or dance or wrestle to) a piece of work by our term composer/musician – Johannes Brahms currently. We close with a library picture book or two and then tidy up before moving on to individual work.

And snacks! That’s always a part of symposium :) Today, homemade bagels. The recipe is below. They’re super easy to whip up and although a bit denser than your grocery store bagel, they’re really delicious and you can modify to create all kinds of flavors. We opted for cinnamon sugar today – YUM!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups self rising flour, be sure it’s the self rising kind
• 1 1/2 cups vanilla Greek yogurt (use regular if making a more savory variation)
• Butter
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and Greek yogurt. It’s quite a sticky dough, but it turns out, I promise!

Flour a clean countertop and flip dough from the bowl onto the counter. Divide into 6 portions and roll into balls. Flatten into a disc and then pop a whole in the middle. Boom … BAGEL!

Place onto the parchment paper and bake for 20 minutes.

Once baked, brush thoroughly with butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. If you really love cinnamon sugar, slice and butter/sprinkle the inside too :)

A special thank you to Cybex for sending us their LEMO Chair. We love and highly recommend it!