Here are the plans for school in February...
This is a great boxed set with replicas of dog tags, ration book, etc. from WWII. Really cool!
This historical fiction piece is actually two stories that eventually come together midway through the book. The events appalled me and were extremely hard to imagine. But then again, anything surrounding the events of the Holocaust are very hard to digest. I actually read the book in two days (almost 300 pages) because it was so engrossing. I learned a part of French history that I had never been exposed to...French police helping the Nazis to roundup their own people to send them to the concentration camps. The story also details how Sarah lives with the pain and agony of what has happened to her and her family. This aspect of the story was intriguing to me. How does a person who has endured such pain deal with it all? How do you emotionally survive after experiencing such circumstances as a child?
The memorial set up to honor those the endured the roundup at the Velodrome d'hiver.
You can see more of his work at the bottom of my blog. I will continue to add photos as I get them from my dad. My goal someday is to decorate one of the rooms in our house with all his photos.
Family Read Alouds These are wonderful historical fiction selections that tie in with the history you are studying. We have loved almost all of these. We normally do this as a before bedtime event.
"Can your child read any book in the library, but can't wash dishes or handle a checkbook?" I am giving away a book by Christine Field (homeschool mom and author) about life skills. This book goes over different topics such as:
time and space organization
healthy lifestyle skills
decision making abilities
money management
spiritual habits
household chores
people skills
In order to be entered into the giveaway please leave a comment with a way to contact you (email or your blog). I will randomly choose a winner on Monday, February 2nd. Please check back on the 2nd to see if you are the winner. Good Luck!
Check out Passionate Homemaking! She is hosting a freezer meal carnival where you can get tips, ideas and recipes that work well for bulk cooking.
Here are some more recipes that work great for bulk cooking and freezing.
Fried Chimis"I make these in bulk and freeze before baking in oven. Just pop them out of the freezer...put on cookie sheet, spray with oil and bake at 400 until brown and crispy...20 min. or so. I am not giving you amounts because I just buy a bunch of the ingredients and mix and put in tortillas and then freeze on cookie sheets and transfer to ziploc bags. If you have leftover filling you can freeze it to fill tortillas later.
flour tortillas
fat free refried beans
chopped onion
grated Jack cheese
grated cheddar
canned vegetarian chili
Mix all together and put in tortillas and fold tortillas. I put them in Ziploc gallon bags and freeze.
Black Beans and Rice
2 T. Olive oil
1/2 c. chopped onion
3 garlic cloves
4 c. veggie stock
2 c. water
2 1/1 cups dried black beans
1/2 c. cooking wine (Don't skip this. It adds essential flavor.)
1 t. oregano
1 t. thyme
1/2 t. pepper
1 t. salt
Preheat a 4 quart saucepan on medium heat. Add oil, onions and garlic. Saute. Add water and beans. Boil and then simmer for half hour until beans start to soften. Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer on stove for 2 to 3 hours. Serve with brown rice and shredded cheddar and chopped onions. I freeze the beans in Ziploc bags.
I think make brown rice and freeze it separately. Here is my recipe for brown rice.
Foolproof Oven-Baked Brown Rice
1 1/2 cups long-, medium- or short-grain brown rice
2 1/3 cups water
2 teaspoons butter or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 375 F and move a rack to the middle position. Spread the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish. In a covered saucepan on the stove, bring the water and butter or oil to a boil over high heat. Once it begins to boil, stir in the salt and pour over the rice. Cover the baking dish tightly with a double layer of foil. Bake for one hour, until tender.Remove from the oven and uncover. Fluff the rice with a fork, cover with a clean kitchen towel; let rice stand 5 minutes. Uncover for another 5 minutes, then serve immediately. Serves 4 to 6.
Here’s another great recipe….
Bubble Up Pizza http://www.recipezaar.com/Bubble-Up-Pizza-My-Children-love-this-Recipe-44289 YOu could add more veggies to this and not so much meat...we add chopped bell peppers and only do turkey pepperoni. We also chop up mushrooms really fine...it gives it the texture of meat without so much meat. For this recipe, I make the filling in bulk and freeze in Ziplocs. On the day of serving, I thaw the filling, put it in the bottom of the pan, put the dough on top and bake.
I sit at the computer right now overwhelmed with emotion....I have finally had a few moments to think...a dear friend of mine lost her house this week to a fire, and although this is terribly tragic, stressful and mind-numbing all I can say is I see God. This is where He showed up....
God was...
*In the saving of every human life that was in the house at the time.
*In providing people at the scene to bring comfort and a presence of love.
*In giving bravery to my friend's son who saved all their pets from the fire.
*In giving wisdom to the father of the family to be fully insured and then some.
*In giving peace to their daughter when she desperately needs it.
*In giving laughter to my friend and a positive attitude that goes beyond comprehension.
*In the multitude of people that have wanted to help.
*In the firefighters that gave their all.
*In the peace that He gives to all in the tragedy...that peace that passes understanding.
*In finding family photos in tact.
*In more than I can even put into words right now....God is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory... forever and ever." Ephesians 3:20-21
Here is the inside of the card....Thanks, Dad! We all loved the card! So creative!
Noah is 8 years old today! My...where has the time gone! I can still remember your "Buddha Belly" and your hair that always stuck up on end when you were a baby....Gone are the belly and the fly-away hair, leaving those bright eyes and cute cheeks to remind us of your babyhood. You are such a joy! I love your perseverance, positive attitude, artistic bent, compassion, and your ability to keep me in stitches! I am praying that this year you grow closer to God and that He showers blessings upon you! Have a Happy, Happy Birthday!
Here's a couple stories surrounding Noah's birth....If we had listened to Zach (who was three at the time), we would have known that our second child was going to be a boy too. Zach insisted from the time I was 5 months pregnant that the baby was "Hangboy". We kept telling him that it might be a sister and not a brother. But in his 3 y/o mind he just "knew" that it was a boy and that his name was "Hangboy". Well, there was no way we were going to name any child of ours "hangboy"...so we just kind of ignored the comments....at eight months pregnant I went into early labor (this was highly traumatic for me because I had miscarried the year before)...I went into the hospital and the dr. performed tests. She came back saying that my labor was backing off and I could go home, but before she left she said, "If this is a girl she will do fine if she is born early (baby girls are stronger than boys), but if it is a boy you better pray he hangs in there." Well, he did...born a few days before his due date..."Hangboy" had hung in there and made it to term...although his name now is Noah. The moral of the story: Listen to your three year old son...he may know more than you think!
Here is the story about how Noah got his name: We also joke that Noah almost didn't have a name....Tim and I had a terrible time picking out boys' names when I was pregnant with Zach. (now if we would have had girls this wouldn't have been a problem!). But you see, God has a sense of humor....when we picked out Zach's name we pulled out the baby name book and went through the whole book until we got to the Z's. The only thing left if we were to have a second boy was Zeke and Zero (no lie... "Zero" was a name in our baby name book!). We joked that if our second was a boy we wouldn't be able to come up with a name. But in the second half of my pregnancy with Noah we finally decided on the name Caleb...then at the last minute Tim changed his mind and settled on Noah. This was funny to me because he had always told me that we would never name a son of his with an "a" sound at the end...therefore Micah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Noah, etc. were out of the question! But who knows why at the end he changed his mind...I personally think God helped change his mind because after Noah was born and named we found out that "Noah" means "comfort" and how appropriate the choice was considering we had lost two babies.
Monday, January 12th is Noah’s birthday and I though we would start out our school in a special way by doing a “book teaser” for Noah’s next unit, The Sea Chest (from Homeschool Share). I love this book, but it always makes me cry so we will see if I can make it through the week without blubbering. We will be covering the following topics with the book:
*Social Studies: Famous homeschoolers
*Social Studies: Adoption
*Social Studies: Maine
*Language Arts: Personification
*Language Arts: Legends
*Art: Reflections
*Art: Showing Wind
*Science: Double Yolk Eggs
*Applied Math: Calendars
For a book teaser, I collect items that are related to the book and set them out on the first day that we start the unit. Noah then gets to go through them and figure out how they are important to the book. Here is what I collected for the teaser:
*Shells in a mason jar
*Maine State flag
*Small plastic birds
*”Double Yolk Eggs”-plastic Easter eggs each filled with two yellow jellybeans to represent the double yolks.
*Small plastic baby
*Small calendar
*A Lego lighthouse (complete with foghorn and beach house) built by Zach. Thanks, Zach!!!
We went to see Third Day in concert last night. It is still terribly cold (-37), but it was good to get out of the house! The concert was awesome! Third Day is from Georgia so this weather is amazing to them. You can go on their blog and see them outside in the cold here throwing water and watching it freeze...Mac Powell (lead singer) was saying we were nuts for living here, but then he admitted that we would think they are nuts if we went to visit Georgia in the summer with its heat and humidity!
Here are just a few of the birds...some of them had gotten scared and flew away.
I saw this on Candace's blog, but it originally came from Barb. I have put a star by the ones that I have done.
99 Outdoor Sorts of Things to Do--United States Version
1. Make maple syrup.
2. Stand under a redwood/sequoia.
3. Ski down a mountain.
4. See a saguaro cactus.
5. See an alligator in the wild.
6. Find a shell on a beach. *
7. Skip a rock on a lake. * I have tried does that count?
8. See a sunrise. *
9. Pick an apple from a tree.
10. Grow a sunflower. * They grow big here in Alaska!
11. Sleep under the stars in a sleeping bag.
12. Find the Big Dipper.*
13. Climb a sand dune. *
14. Walk in the rain with or without an umbrella. *
15. Find a fossil.
16. Take a photo of the Grand Canyon.
17. Go to the lowest point of North America-Badwater, CA
18. See a raptor fly. *
19. Be able to identify ten birds.*
20. See a mushroom. *
21. Visit a tide pool. *
22. Visit a volcano. * Seen them from the distance here. Lots of them in southern AK.
23. Feel an earthquake. *
24. See a tornado. *
25. Experience a hurricane.
26. Catch snow on your tongue. *
27. See a deer in the wild. *
28. Touch a dolphin. *
29. Go ice skating on a pond.
30. Go fishing. *
31. Go snorkeling.
32. Whittle a stick.
33. Gather chicken eggs. *
34. Milk a cow or a goat.*
35. Ride a horse. *
36. See a moose. *
37. Gather acorns.*
38. Pick berries and eat some.* Favorite activity here-blueberries, cranberries, raspberries.
39. Watch a lightning storm. *
40. Build a campfire.*
41 Press a flower.*
42. Use binoculars to spot a bird. *
43. Identify five wildflowers. *
44. Take a photo of Half Dome.
45. Find a piece of obsidian.
46. See a tumbleweed. *
47. See a wild snake.*
48. Watch a spider spin a web. *
49. Climb a tree. *
50. Get lost on a hike.
51. Watch ants in a colony. *
52. Hatch a butterfly.
53. Climb a rock. *
54. See the Continental Divide. *
55. See the Northern Lights. *Several times a year.
56. See a bear in the wild. *
57. Dig for worms. *
58. Grow a vegetable and then eat it. *
59. See a bat flying. *
60. Feel a sea star. *
61. Swim in the ocean.*
62. See a geyser erupt.
63. Walk in the fog. *
64. Observe a bee.*
65. Find a bird’s nest. *
66. See a beaver’s den.*
67. Go whale watching. *
68. See a banana slug.
69. Stand on the edge of a cliff.*
70. Blow a dandelion. *
71. Throw a snowball and build a snowman.*
72. Cook an egg on the sidewalk...can you actually do that?
73. See a lightning bug. Or do you call it a firefly?*
74. Visit a cave. *
75. Make a sandcastle. *
76. Hear a cricket. *
77. Catch a frog. *Amazingly there are frogs here in AK and we caught some last year! They freeze over winter and thaw and "come back" to life in the spring.
78. Watch for the first star in the evening.*
79. Smell a skunk. *
80. Feel pine sap. *
81. Feed a duck. *
82. Learn to use a compass or GPS.
83. See a buffalo. *
84. Get wet in a waterfall. *
85. Swim in a lake. *
86. Walk on a log. *
87. Feel moss.*
88. Jump in a pile of leaves. *
89. Fly a kite. *
90. Walk barefoot in the mud. *
91. Hear a sea lion bark. *
92. Hear a coyote.
93. Pan for gold. *
94. Crack open a nut. *
95. Go snowshoeing.
96. Feel a cattail. *
97. Smell a pine forest. *
98. Sit under a palm tree.*
99. Walk across a stream on rocks.*
This is what we made yesterday....I have already posted the recipe for the Spring Veggie Soup. Here are recipes for the other meals we made....
Chicken Parmesan (we just coated chicken breasts will beaten egg and then breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan cheese and Italian spices, then baked in a pan with spaghetti sauce and a slice of mozzarella on the top of each breast.)
Chili Relleno Casserole
3 (4 oz) cans mild whole green chilies, drained
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack
flour tortillas (about a dozen)
2 (10oz) cans enchilada sauce
1 cup sour cream
Split each chili and remove any seeds. Arrange 2 pepper halves and about 3 T. cheese near the outer edge of the tortilla. Roll to enclose filling. Arrange the rellenos seam down in a greased 9x13 pan. Whisk sauce and sour cream together and pour over rellenos. We then froze these. Thaw and bake for 30 min at 350.
Cinncinatti Chili
1 T. olive oil
1/2 cup. chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 1/2 cups cooked kidney beans
1 c. canned crushed tomatoes
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. allspice
1/2t. salt
1/2 t. thyme
1/2 t. chocolate chips (yes, chocolate!)
8 oz pasta
1 cup grated mozzarella
2 cups minced onion
Saute onion and garlic. Add beans, tomatoes, spices and chocolate chips. Let simmer. Cool. Bag in gallon Ziplocs. Thaw. Reheat. Cook pasta. Serve in layers: pasta, then chili, cheese and onions.
Quick Corn Chowder
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1 sm. onion, chopped
1 T. butter
1 garlic clove, pressed
2 cans creamed corn
28 oz chicken broth
2 med. potatoes, cut into sm. chunks
pepper
1/2 cup whipping cream or half and half
parsley
Saute onion, garlic, and pepper in butter in a pot. Add broth, corn and potatoes. Bring to boil and then simmer til potatoes are done. Add the cream or half and half, pepper and parsley.
For Noah, we will be doing about three units this month...the first book is a story I absolutely love! You can find the lessons plans for it here.
The next unit is from Five in a Row...lots of fish stories in this one!
The Cello of Mr. O can be found here. We will also be doing a lapbook with this one!
These are great to make in bulk and freeze for future dinners. This recipe is more time intensive, but worth it! If you double the recipe then you can use the whole can of chilies…make a pan for tonight and then freeze the other!
3-4 chicken breasts-cooked and chopped
Corn tortillas
¼ cup margarine/butter
¼ cup flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese
½ of a 4 oz can chopped green chilies
¾ cup chopped onion
Melt butter. Blend in flour and chicken broth. Cook until it thickens. Blend in sour cream. Don’t boil. Pour enough sauce to cover the bottom of 6x10” pan. Mix 1 ½ cups of the cheese, onion, chilies, and chicken in a bowl. Use this mixture to fill the tortillas. Roll tortillas and place seam side down in the pan. Pour sauce over all. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake 15 minutes longer.
If you are feeling lazy…you can always do the enchiladas in layers instead of rolling them. I do sauce, tortillas, filling, more tortillas, and more sauce.
Many of the women on the FIAR boards and the HSS boards pick a word for the year to focus on in their lives. I decided to take the plunge this year and picked patience. Ok, I know I am nuts...you know what they say...never, ever pray for patience because that is when God will give you plenty of opportunities to use it! But seriously, this is an area of my life that is lacking. I sat down today and did a mini-study on patience and what it means....little did I know how lacking patience is in my life!
Here is the dictionary definition: The bearing of pain without complaining, loss of temper, or irritation. Suppressing annoyance when confronted with delay. I don't do either of these really well!
In the Bible the word patience is translated as "makrothumia". It is the same word used in Galatians 5:22 as one of the fruits of the Spirit. Makrothumia comes from two Greek words: "makro" which means "long" and "thumia" which means "anger"...so "makrothumia" means "long anger" or in other words, taking a long time to get angry. Makrothumia specifically deals with patience with people, an area where I need to work on.
Judgment is the opposite of patience...think about it... God demonstrates His patience by waiting on us and not passing immediate judgment. But for us humans it is so easy to judge....how do we fight our natural tendency to judge?....with mercy (James 2:13). What is mercy? Basically it is forgiveness. And what is forgiveness? The Greek word for forgiveness in the Bible literally means "to set loose". We let the other person go that offended us by not paying them back for what they have done. Interestingly, unforgiveness would be tying ourselves to the very person we can't stand...but by forgiving them...we release them and ourselves!
So my simple choice of "patience" for the year isn't that simple at all...it involves a non-judgmental attitude, mercy and forgiveness. I know that the only way I can show patience is God living through me...after all patience is a fruit of the Spirit...it is the Spirit that provides the patience.
Tristan described her homeschool schedule and wanted others to share. Here is ours.
6am-I wake up and exercise.
7:30am-We eat breakfast and then the kids do chores. I get ready for the day.
8:15-Tim leaves for work and we start school.
8:30-9:30 We do Bible, memorization, and history or science (depending on the day). Zach then goes off to read and I work with Noah one on one doing his unit studies. We take a break until 10.
10am-Back to work trying to finish what is left (language arts, math, Spanish, typing). We have a small break during this time.
11:30-Lunch
12-1 Finish with piano, Zach's writing.
1pm-I am normally giving Spanish lessons to other students at this time (in my home). This happens Tues-Thurs. Monday afternoons we have TaeKwon-do and piano lessons. Fridays we do art lessons with another homeschool family.
Here are some more recipes that are great for making in bulk and freezing.
Jambalaya
1 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces, cooked
2 T. olive oil
2 bunches scallions, white and green parts, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 cup cooked brown or white rice
2 cups chicken broth
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes
Salt
Pepper
Heat olive oil in large pot. Saute scallions, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook til softened. Add broth and tomatoes and chicken and bring to a boil. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer. Cool and place in Ziploc gallon freezer bags. Label. On day of serving, thaw and simmer in a pot. Add the cooked rice. NOTE: You don’t want to add the rice before freezing. It will absorb too much liquid. ANOTHER NOTE: You could also add some shrimp to this.
Tomato Basil Tart
This isn’t a family favorite for the rest of my family, but I love it!
1 pie crust
2 cups chopped tomatoes, Romas work well
½ cup diced onion
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1 garlic clove, pressed
¾ cup shredded cheese, either mozzarella or Monterey Jack
2 large eggs
½ evaporated milk
½ cup mayo
1 t. Dijon mustard
1/8 t. pepper
Preheat oven to 350. Put pie crust in pie pan. Combine the tomatoes, onion, basil, garlic and cheese in a bowl. Mix and put in pie pan. With a whisk combine eggs, milk, mayo, mustard and pepper in a bowl. Pour over tomato filling. Bake 40 to 50 min. or until top is lightly golden and the center is set. Let cool. Wrap and freeze.
Here are some of my favorite posts related to homeschooling:
Homeschool Share
Five in a Row
Workbox Posts
Argentina Unit
Gifted Kids
When Homeschooling is Hard
South America Unit Study
Biblioplan
Multiplication Clock
Mystery Unit
Zoology
Working and Homeschooling
Homeschool Burnout
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