Pretty ,Happy, Funny ,Real

{Pretty}

Our adorable Sugar Pie a junior glass doll collector was thrilled about her birthday gifts. It's so hard to believe that she is in 8 and in 3rd grade it seems like just yesterday she was 2 years old and sitting in a mud puddle by the pond.

{Happy}

Sugar Pie's Birthday party closes a summer of birthday parties at our dear friends pool. We were all very happy celebrating our 3rd child. And frankly after 4 birthday parties in 5 months I am happy to take a break from birthday planning. 

{Funny}

This is the nap area that the youngest of our twins finally settled upon after a long battle against napping.

{Real}

These are the bags with the supplies that mostly one gal from our co-op has been organizing for our 18 co-op classes. As I was helping I was frankly amazed at her attention to detail. We are going to have a very fruitful and well organized year!





For More {Pretty,Happy,Funny,Real} check out Our Mother's Daughters!

Conquering the Co-op Morning!

If you participate in a Homeschool Co-op or Classical Community then you know that the morning of co-op is the most hectic morning of the week. There are always the things that you you CANNOT forget which just add extra stress.Then of course for our family it's always a challenge to find shoes for everyone especially for the 3 year old twins.

Our small  co-op is working it's way through Mystery of History II and AIG Heaven & Earth we are  in the 2 year of a 4 year cycle and our 5 families come together bi-weekly to do the Art,  History projects, and science experiments.
co-op instead of my normal reusable grocery bag. In my co-op bag I packed Mommy scissors, ruler, single hole punch, sharpies, pens & a Red Wallet Expanding Art Portfolio envelopes (the large brown items sticking out of the back of the bag), these items never leave the bag. I also have a few transient items I take to co-op: my Homeschool Planner, my daily planner  and any curriculum books I need for the week. I never unpack this bag and it enables to easily get everyone's work home without worrying about getting glue or paint on me, kids or the bag. I put each child's name on their portfolio and I did buy ones for the twins because they participate in the nursery program at our co-op.

So this year I purchased a bag from Wal-Mart for $9.99 so I could have a cute dedicated bag just for

At our co-op we can leave a tote of supplies at the church. But if we couldn't I'd probably do something like Jamie did at The Unlikely Homeschool and have individual boxes for each child. And, it looks like she may have bought her nifty co-op bag from ThirtyOne.

My suggestions for a co-op bag:

Credit: The Unlikely Homeschool

1. Have a dedicated co-op bag!
2. As you think of/remember things you need to take to co-op put them into your bag. I mean as soon as you think of them. If you are anything like me you won;t remember later and you definitely won't remember in the morning in the midst of that chaos. 
3. Have separate supplies that you can take back and forth to co-op without having to load and unload the box.
4. Put your transient supplies into your bag as soon as you can .
5. Keep it well stocked

Whether it's ThirtyOne , Wal-Mart or Goodwill your bag will be a blessing to your busy co-op/community mornings. I'd love to know what you keep in your co-op bag or what I'm missing in mine. 

This post is connected to Living & Learning at Home's Trivium Tuesdays & We are that Family's Works-for-Me Wednesday

The Homeschool Mother's Journal(week 1): Ideas for Organizing your Homeschool Part 1

       

Hopefully helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… 

As our family grew and more children entered homeschool it was both exciting and scary. As we have gone along we instituted more family friendly homeschooling methods. It is my hope that these are a blessing to you:

1. Purchase curriculum that allow children to work independently. For instance we use Christian Light Math  which is a self teaching program. The children complete their work and check it themselves and continue advancing forward. I review their work and grade their tests thus keeping abreast of  progress. When there is a problem we return to the page with the original explanation. If they still don't get then Mama/Tutor sits with them to explain. We have experienced wonderful success with this method in our independent studies. 
2. For those of us that tend toward the Charlotte Mason, Classical or literature based eclectic you may want to purchase curriculum that allow you to teach appropriate subjects to multiple children simultaneously. Programs such as the following: Mystery of History, My Father's World, Tapestry of Grace, Apologia Science, AIG Science etc... This could help keep you sane.
3. Buy any CD's that allow you print as many copies for your family. At first I thought this was a waste of money but now I gladly use my printer ink to avoid trips to the copy store or trying to bend a book to fit onto our printers copier. 
4. . I always feel like I am in a time crunch so I look for things that help me teach well but cut corners. Buy any CD's where the curriculum is read aloud. We use Mystery of History and I have purchased the CD's so we listen to them as we cruise around town. We are able to stay on schedule because we rarely  miss hearing or reading a chapter, because of the CD's. Additionally, I am more prepared to teach our history lessons because I am already familiar with the information, having already listened to it. 
5. Print out all of the papers on your handy dandy copier or buy your pre-printed worksheets if you can you will need for the entire year. Buy worksheets  and/or make copies of anything you need prior to the start of the year.Yes you read that correctly print it all out or copy it and then file it according to weeks or group it together in one file. For example you could make folders for each week 1,2,3... or by groups of weeks such as 1-3, 4-6 etc.or you could have all maps in a file, all science etc... I like to have my files by groups of weeks so I can keep them at the desk with me.When I did not do this I would invariably run out of ink at the most inconvenient times and wouldn't be able to print the needed documents. If you do not have enough funds to print everything at once then print your first semester/quarter/trimester etc... and print the next one at the half way mark.

What suggestion do you have that have helped your family's homeschool....

 In our homeschool this week…

Week 1 Re-cap

We started school on Thursday with a simple introduction to our curriculum for the kiddos. I had individual meetings with all the children to discuss the upcoming year. So they had fun looking at their books, supplies and cubbies. Then on Friday we headed to our Back to School Co-op Party, we ate lunch, played with friends and each child completed an 'All About Me' book.

My kiddos favorite thing this week was… 
Our favoirte thing this week is a toss up between the Co-op's Back to school party and watching our friends kids for a half day. A friend of mine and I swap out 1/2 day of babysitting each month. Our families are close and our kiddos have a great time together.

What I'm cooking...
I'm cooking Lime Chicken Tacos  from Gwen's Nest and eating Trim Healthy Mama Style! 

Things I'm working on...
We are getting our home ready to go on the market so I am weeding and mulching garden beds this week. I am also fixing any glitches on assignment sheets and making missing ones for homeschool. 

What I'm Reading ...
Isaac Newton by Allan Corduner...I became interested in Issac newton after reviewing one of my children's basic biography book. I found this book at the library and yes, it is an audio book. There may be better books on the subject regardless I've really enjoyed learning more about Newton. Plus since it's an audio book I don't have to stop washing the dishes to learn more about one of the worlds most incredible scientists. 

This week we are also linked to: 

 & So You Call Yourself a Homeschooler

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

Learning to appreciate the simple beauty, humor & joy in the middle of real our very real life.

{Pretty}

I have been PRETTY impressed with how hard this kiddo works on his preschool. He absolutely loves it and is a joy for me to teach

{Happy}

Our Homeschool Choir has a registration swim party at the directors home. Our kiddos had loads of fun swimming their afternoon away and I had a great time visiting with many friends.

{Funny}

This picture fails to reveal that after these two little cherubs finished painting they started drinking their water. Yep, they are less then 15 feet from me, but they are outside the french doors where it is safe for 3 year twins to paint, or so I thought. Until our 5th grader suddenly hopped up swung the doors open and yelled at these two little rascals..."Stop you drinking that nasty paint water twins." Her angst was met with two sweet smiles followed by their favorite words: "why?"

{Real}

This is what it looks like when you are trying to get your house ready to sell. We've lived out here for about 6 years and we have decided to move back into town. So when 7 people live in 1600 sq. feet you pack up everything you can live without (which is apparently a lot in our case) and put it in storage. But before it goes to storage it rests in our breakfast room.

To see more {Pretty,Happy,Funny, Real} you can head over to Like Mother,Like Daughter

Trim Helathy Mama Recipe & Menu

We have Homeschool Co-op bi-weekly and I try to make something yummy to take with me so I won't be tempted and found in the corner of the room shoving a couple of PB&J's down my gullet. For the next couple of times I'll be taking this very tasty soup with me.

Low Carb Taco Soup

1 # ground beef
1/2 c onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T cumin
1 t chili powder
2 10 oz cans Rotel tomatoes, undrained (tomatoes with green chilies)
2 cans beef broth 
1/2 c heavy cream
8 oz cream cheese, cubed
salt, to taste

Directions

In a large soup pot, brown the beef with the onion and garlic; drain. Add spices and cook a couple of minutes before adding the tomatoes, broth and cream. Bring to a rolling boil and gradually add the cream cheese, stirring until completely melted and smooth. Season with salt to taste. Makes 8 1-cup servings.

Number of Servings: 8

recipie credit - http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=179572

One thing I tend to do is adjust the meals we are making for the parentals (THM) and the kiddos who do a modified version of THM as my children have extremely high metabolisms like their Dad. Additionally, I add additional THM menu items for some of our regular foods such as cornbread each week.

Monday: Lemon Chicken, mashed cauliflower (mashed taters for the kids) & squash(S)
Tuesday: Beans, Rice & Cornbread (no cornbread for me :) ) (E)
Wednesday: Cabbage beef stir-fry with brown rice (E with rice or S without rice)
Thursday: Meatball whole wheat Sandwiches/Meatballs with sauce (for Mom), fruit salad
Friday: Bean & Cheese tostadas/tacos(with (Joesph's) , brown mexican rice & corn (I'll skip) (E)
Saturday:Chicken Stir Fry with rice (E)
Sunday: BBQ Bean Soup (E)

Total Weight Loss 3 weeks 8 lbs...next week I am going to start adding in more fuel pulls because I have been stuck at this weight for a week.

For more meal plans you can go the OrgJunkies menu plan Monday

Weekly Wrap Up

An overview of our homeschool Curriculum

Before our family gathering and before breakfast we read the Proverb of the day and a couple of Psalms.

In the Morning we have a family gathering during which time we cover some subjects together:

• We are using Mystery of History Volume 2 along with History in the Woods Middle Ages projects.
• For Science we use Answers in Genesis God's Design for Heaven and Earth. We absolutely loved doing this series last year and I expect we will enjoy it again this year!
• Baptist Catechism we use Truth & Grace Books this covers memory verses, hymns & catechism questions based on the an adjusted Westminster Confession. 
• We also do IEW Linguistic Development in the morning and even our 3 year old twins have gotten in on the act memorizing poems. 
• Read Alouds- this is the time we have family read Alouds , we will start the Bronze Bow and Trial & Triumph next week. 
• US State Study Notebook 
• In the Spring (MOH Vol 2 is 28 weeks long) we will do Soli Gloria Deo Map Skills. 

After the Family Gathering we start on our individualized  lessons I try to meet the individual needs of our children without killing the teacher in the process. We basically have the curriculums that have worked well for us in the past and then if a child is struggling with that curriculum we look for something that is a better fit. For instance our 7th grader has mild autism and the repetitive, predictable nature of ACE is a great fit for her so she does several of their wonderful curriculums while our other children do other things.

Math

• Our 3rd & 5th grader are doing Christian Light Education Math along with Life of Fred Math for added depth.
• Our 7th grader is doing ACE Math she also does a consumer math. 
• All of them are doing Xtra Math  an online drill

Grammar 

• ACE English (7th)
• Our Mother Tongue (5th)
• Climbing to Good Grammar for (3rd)
• Daily Paragraph Editing grades 3rd & 5th

Writing

• IEW Writing SWI-A
• The Paragraph Book 

Spelling

ACE Word Building

Building Spelling Skills (3rd & 5th)

Handwriting

• Classically Cursive (3rd & 5th)

Home Economics

• Pearables Home Economics
• CLE Home  Economics

Foreign Language

• Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek.
• Latin - Might be added for the 5th grader who has decided she wants to be a vet and thus she informed me she needs to know Latin. 

Well, I hope you are all having wonderful start to the new year! 

For a peek at other homeschools check out Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real...

{Pretty}

A birthday gift from a good friend!

{Happy}

The happy little one is our third child and this is her 8th birthday.

{Funny}

Trying to take pictures of this very happy and energetic kid...

She is looking at her big sister who is in support sport because I was concerned there might be problems.

Hello-o-o?

Yes this is a picture of the ceiling of the porch, right in the middle of the pictures. I was most likely coming up to beg her to be a little more still.

She is blurry because she decided to use her grade card as a fan and was moving very quickly. We have SEVERAL more pictures but I'll stop here.

So we took away a few flowers and pinned the grade card to her and here is the final result. But this final picture  was worth the wait, capturing her little free spirit our youngest preschooler!

{Real}

Bubba started doing 'Big Boy Chores" he very proudly dumps all the trash cans into the big can in the kitchen! I think we'll put him on the tractor next. ;)

For more you can check out http://ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com

Leftover Oatmeal Cookies

2 C. brown sugar 
1 C. butter 
3 eggs 
2 C. cooked oatmeal 
2 C. all purpose flour 
2 C. white whole wheat (or regular whole wheat) 
[Note: You can use 4 cups of all purpose flour.] 
3 tsp. baking soda 
1 tsp. salt 
3 tsp. vanilla 
3 C. chocolate chips 
1 C. coconut 
1 C. raisins
Cream sugar, butter, eggs and cooked oatmeal.  Mix in the flour, baking soda and salt; then the coconut, chocolate chips and raisins.  Scoop onto baking sheets by tablespoonsful about 1 – 1 1/2 inches apart and flatten slightly. Bake at 375F for 10-15 minutes or until cookies are set and starting to brown slightly.  Allow to cool on baking sheet about 5 minutes before removing to racks.
(I put mine on parchment, so I had no trouble with them sticking.  I don’t know if the baking sheets need to be greased.  The original recipe said nothing about it, but it was a little short on instructions.)
These cookies freeze well. Recipe from the Cotton Apron

Leftover Cornmeal Mush: Tamale Pie

This recipe is for a 1940's Tamale Pie that you can use your left over cornmeal mush to make! Since we are using left over Cornmeal Mush from Breakfast you can skip the first part of the reicpe and proceed the Tamale pie filing.

***Cornmeal Mush***
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup cold water
3 1/2 cups boiling water or chicken stock
2 teaspoons salt
***Tamale Pie***
8 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper
1/3 cup chili powder or to taste
3 tablespoons butter or oil
4 cups cooked ground beef
2 pimientos, chopped
1 1/2 cup black pitted olives (or less), roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste

To cook cornmeal mush: stir cornmeal into the cold water to moisten it, in the top of a double boiler. Then add boiling water or chicken stock and salt; mix well. Set the top over the bottom of the boiler, filled with 1 to 2 inches of boiling water, put a lid on the top and steam the cornmeal for 30 to 45 minutes until the water is all absorbed.  I do not cook cornmeal mush like her this seems overly complicated and expensive a pot, water & cornmeal is all that is needed.

For tamale pie: Beat butter into hot cooked cornmeal; set aside. Fry onion, garlic and bell pepper with chili powder in butter or oil until vegetables are just slightly softened, 2 or 3 minutes. Add cooked meat, pimientos, olives and season to taste. Put a layer of cornmeal mush in a baking dish, add the layer of meat filling and cover with another layer of mush. 

Bake in preheated 350 degrees F oven until the mush is crusty on top, about 30 minutes.

This si from CDKithcen

Uses for Left Over Cornbread

Normally, when we make cornbread we usually have some left and you know I HATE to waste so here are some links & ideas for left over cornbread...
#1-8 are via 9 uses for left over cornbread

 Corn Bread Stuffing – I chose a random corn bread stuffing recipe to link to on Food Network, but there are thousands of variations of corn bread stuffing to choose from online. With Thanksgiving just two weeks away, this is a great idea for using up leftover corn bread.

1. Corn Bread Pudding – One way to use up any leftover bread is to make a bread pudding. This one is sweetened with maple syrup instead of sugar.
2. Cornbread Crumbs - Leftover cornbread makes easy homemade breadcrumbs. Just crumble or cube the cornbread, place on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F until dry and crunchy. Whirl in the food processor or blender and store in an airtight container. I keep mine in the freezer. (Via Wholesome Homemaker)
3. Corn Bread Panzanella – ... is traditionally an Italian peasant dish, but this recipe by Giada Di Laurentiis for using up stale corn bread has a 5-star rating from 60 users. 
4. Cornbread "Migas" - Cube some up and brown it with a little oil, stir in some beaten eggs, chopped green onion, cooked sausage or mushrooms, and when the eggs have set, sprinkle with grated cheese. Sort of Southern-style Migas. (Idea from Angela, blogger at Seasonal & Savory)
5. Mexican Sausage and Corn Bread Strata – An overnight breakfast dish where corn bread and the other ingredients are covered with an egg mixture. In the morning, pop it in the oven, and you’ve got breakfast.
6. Corn Bread Croutons – Make great toppings for soup or chili.
7. Slice, spread with butter, pan fry and drizzle with maple syrup. (idea from Stephen Wilson of The Sweet Life Bakery in Vineland, N.J., and one of MNN’s 40 chefs under 40)
8. Corn Bread Crusted Chicken Nuggets – The corn bread instead of regular bread crumbs gives baked chicken nuggets a less crispy texture but a unique flavor.
9. Cornbread & Milk - break up cornbread in a glass and pour milk over it for a snack or breakfast.
10. Split in half heat and serve like pancakes with syrup.
11. A Savory Cornbread pudding

Do you have any ideas of how to utilize left over cornbread, if so please leave it in the comments. I hope some of these ideas help you to better utilize your left overs and bless your family with your prudence!

The Frugal Breakfast Cornmeal Mush

If you like Cream of Wheat you will probably like Corn Meal Mush which is much the same as Cream of Wheat except it's corn instead of wheat.

• 6 cups water
• 2 cups cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons molasses (optional)

cook and stir constantly for about 10 minutes until the cornmeal has absorbed all of the water. Serve with honey, butter on top and a splash of milk.

This serves about 8 folks and we normally have a little bit of  fruit with it.

Fried Corn Meal Mush

Rinse a 9"x13" pan with water and pour the cornmeal mush into it. Rinsing pan and leaving the few water droplets inside help keep the mush from sticking to the pan. Smooth mush with the back of a spatula. Refrigerate overnight.

Next morning cut into ¼" slices and fry in skillet where you have already melted several Tablespoons of margarine. Fry until beautiful golden and crispy. If most of margarine has been absorbed add more before flipping and frying other side.

Serve with eggs, or enjoy plain. Every once in a while I also make a tomato gravy to spoon over the top but I like it better without.

This recipe is from Joyful Chaos