Keeping It Together

Sometimes things get overwhelming and it seems like I'm living in chaos.  Two things I do to help keep the feelings and life from overtaking me is to make list.  I know it sounds too easy but I'm telling you it has worked for me.  The first list I want to share is the Menu.

I print out my menu pages from organized home, fill them in, and tack them to the fridge for everyone to see.  This has help eliminate the kids constantly asking what's for dinner and I already know what I'm going to cook.  I do two weeks at a time.

The other list I keep tacked to the fridge is a freezer inventory.  I have 2 one for the freezer in the garage and the other for the one in the house.  I get that form from organized home also.

I keep it on the fridge so I remember to mark things off as I pull them out of the freezer.  It is also handy to have so when the kids come back in from the outside freezer saying mom it's not in there, I can say oh yes it is.  Go look again.  I'm sure none of you can relate to that. LOL

This list looks all nice because I just cleaned the freezer the other day and wrote a new list out.  It's a deep chest freezer so it tends to get a bit disorganized and needs mom's touch now and then.

Spaghetti Squash

1 spaghetti squash 

1 pound ground sausage - I use mild

2 small bags of frozen mixed vegetables - I use the one with zucchini, lima beans, green beans, carrots, and stuff in it

1 jar or can of spaghetti sauce

few cloves of fresh garlic minced or pressed

pepper - to taste

kosher salt - to taste

1 tsp. rosemary

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 medium onion

1 medium green pepper

I would like to say this is all an estimate as I don't actually measure but the family loves this. 

Cut the spaghetti squash in half and remove the seeds.  Place in a pan with about 1/2 inch of water in bottom.  I put the squash in sliced side down.  Cook until it can be easily poked with a fork.  Let cool till you can handle it. Use fork to scrap out squash.

In a 2 quart pot. Brown the sausage with the onion and green pepper.  Drain any grease.  Reduce heat and add frozen veggies.  When veggies have heated through add spaghetti sauce and seasonings.  Let simmer on low for a bit.  Add cheese and squash.  Let simmer some more.  Serve hot.

Money Saver

Today I want to share a tip that I found on Pinterest.  I must say it has changed my attitude about those stupid plastic hangers the store is always shoving in my bag when I purchase clothing. LOL  Turn that hanger into a chip clip.  It works great!  I used to use clothes pins and some chip clips I had purchased, but now I use these.  They stay on so much better than the others.

When Joe is home I hand them to him and ask him to cut off the ends.  That's how I convert them. LOL  He uses a hacksaw and cuts off the ends and gives it a slight filing.  He files it because he feels it is a little sharp and he doesn't want anybody getting hurt.  Isn't he sweet!  I have a pile waiting for him when he comes back home.

I use them for way more than just chips.  I use them to close all kinds of bags in the kitchen.  They work great for those "resealable" freezer bag items.  You know the ones that you supposedly can just open and take what you need and then just close the bag again.  Yeah right.  Very rarely do those things close that easy.  So instead of fighting with the seal, I just fold it over and pop one of these on.  They stay on and have a good grip.

If you haven't tried this you should.

Teaching Rounding

I thought it would be fun to share one of the ways I teach rounding to my children and there is no better way than with pictures.

This is the pocket chart I use.  I know the glare is bad in the pictures but bare with me.  I use colored index cards to make my numbers.  The green are for changing the number to a rounded number and the yellow are what I use to make up the numbers.  Across the top I have the place value cards.  Right now we are just doing hundreds, tens, and ones.  The white cards towards the bottom are greater than, less than cards.  I sometimes throw that in there for practice.

Here I have set up two numbers using my yellow cards.  We are practicing rounding to the tens place.

Here you can see the rounded numbers.  The child comes up and places the green cards over the yellow cards that should change when rounded.

This is such a simple activity but it has proven effective.  I used this same method when I was teaching 5th & 6th grade math at the Christian school.

Homeschooling 2012 -2013

I thought I would share what we are using in our homeschool this year.

Ashton 8th grade

Math - a combination of Saxon and Aleks.com
Grammar - Analytical Grammar - love it so far
Spelling - Sequential Spelling
History - Unit study on the Civil War and Streams of Civilization
Science - Apologia General Science and Physical Science
Bible - Answers for Kids
Handwriting - Handwriting without tears
Literature - a selection of books and literature studies
Writing is worked into his other subjects for now.


Cyrus Grade 4

Math - Horizon 4
Grammar - Winston Grammar with some things added
Spelling - Spelling Connections
History - Unit Study on the Civil War and Streams of Civilization
Science - Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures
Bible - Answers in Genesis
Handwriting - Handwriting without Tears
Literature - a variety of books


Genesis Grade 2

Math - Horizon 2
Grammar - Winston Grammar with some things added
Spelling - Spelling Connections
History - Unit Study on the Civil War and Streams of Civilization
Science - Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures
Bible - Answers in Genesis
Handwriting - Handwriting without Tears
Reading/Phonics - Abeka

I'm sure you noticed that all 3 do the same history and Bible.  Though it is not exactly the same for each.  Ashton gets his beefed up a bit so it is more his level.  It helps me to have at least some of their subjects together.  Cy and Gen do a lot of the same things but according to their ability or level.  In all honesty, elementary teaches the same stuff over and over just adding to the difficulty each year.  Do you really need to learn what a noun is every year or just learn it well the first time and continuously use it from there on out?

The children also take piano lessons, play sports, participate in different clubs, and take classes with our homeschool group.  We are also blessed enough to be able to travel with Joe, which provides for lots of field trips.  It has been wonderful for our study on the Civil War.  We also homeschool year round with breaks here and there.

I'm very pleased with the curriculum we are using right now.  One thing I always try to remember if it is not working for your child it is okay to not finish it and get something that does.

Changes

Tuesday my husband asked me when he got home from work, do you want to go walking in the morning?  Of course I said yes.  This is something me and Joe use to do most mornings before he started traveling so much. Frankly I missed our morning chats as we do laps at the YMCA. Since he started traveling I let myself get out of the habit.  It was good to have my motivator again.

We went walking yesterday and again today.  Yesterday we kind of got a late start but today I was back to my 4:30 a.m. wake up.  I know I'm strange but I do enjoy that early hour.  It's so quiet and peaceful at that time of day.  I'm hoping to keep it up even after Joe goes back on the road.  It's so easy to let it slide when no one is going with you.  It seems I do better when I know someone is counting on me to go with them.  I need to learn to be self motivated though.

Food and Family

A few months ago I decided our family was not eating very well and decided to change it.  See what happens when you start reading things on the web.  At first I tried to make all the changes at once.  As you probably know it was a huge failure with much moaning and gnashing of teeth.  Then I decided that I would do it in steps.  First thing I did was get everyone use to eating whole grain breads.  When they started eating that without complaint, I switched our vegetables from canned to fresh or frozen.  I try to get all fresh but sometimes your selection is dictated by season so then I use frozen.  This has done pretty well.  I knew we were ready to move to our next change when I bought a can of peas out of laziness for Sunday lunch.  The kids took a bite and the complaints ensued.  Mom what did you do to the peas they taste gross,  eeewwww do I have to eat them and so on.

I had already switched our meat.  I try to buy the all natural stuff, the hormone free, and so on.  That stuff is expensive, so I always scour the meat section every time I go into the store looking for reduced meat.  I know its not fresh but at least it is affordable.  I don't think the kids even noticed this change at all.  I've also been more selective on other things I buy trying to avoid MSG.  Believe it or not I have noticed a difference in some of my children's behavior by eliminating this and I can tell when they have gotten some of it.  It takes more effort on my part in the grocery store but oh how much easier it makes my everyday life with the kids.

Now I've been eliminating pastas and potatoes and upping the veggie intake.  I still serve sweet potatoes on occasion.  We've been doing this for a few weeks now and it really is going well.  I was afraid they wouldn't be full and whining about it.  That hasn't really happened though.  I do make an effort to not cook two vegetables of the same color for dinner.  I don't know why but it seems to make a difference in the whine factor.  I've cooked two vegetables of the same color a couple of nights and they whined like I was torturing them.  Weird how things work sometimes.