Time to start thinking about curriculum for next year

I feel somewhat lost thinking ahead to next year...How easy it would be just to throw the towel in and sign B up for a brick and mortar school but right now I still believe that homeschooling is the best option and we have been successful with it, so why change it.

Math--I don't even know where to begin.  It's always a struggle.  There are days and even weeks when everything goes so smoothly it seems surreal and then the bottom falls out...

We love the Life of Fred series and whether we continue to use them or not I will go ahead and purchase the Algebra II and Geometry books because I have an insane need to have this complete set.  Yes, I know he has a whole Elementary series now...P will be in Kindergarten before I know it!!!

people who drew this picture

Science--This has been our first year to get away a religious science course(Bio I).  Bryan has really enjoyed learning Science.  I always thought Science should be taught as Science and Bible and Religion should be taught in a Bible and/or History class.  We will continue to use the Reece/Campbell AP Biology I/II textbook.  A youtube series(Bozeman Biology)  has been a great help with Biology this year, too.

History--we will be finishing up U.S. History from The Great Courses.  I haven't decided if we will continue on with their World History DVD program or take a year and study World Geography and then pick up World History the following year.

Writing--I am very interested in Peace Hill Press's The Creative Writer Level Three: Building Your Craft by Boris Fishman.  It is supposed to be published sometime this year--hopefully before we start the next school year!  Bryan has loved the One Year Adventure Novel series but I feel that it is time to move on to the next step if he is serious about being a writer.

Spanish--we'll continue on with Arriba.  It's my textbook from College.  I have nothing good or bad to say about the series other than it was already bought and paid for.  Saving money is always a good thing!

Literature--Ahh my favorite part of putting together a homeschool curriculum and would you believe that I have not even looked at my notes or booklists for next year?!?  I know I want to go back and pick up C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy.  We have already read Out of the Silent Planet.  I want to do a concentrated unit on Poetry.  I really need to sit down and get working on this one.  Of course, we will have to do a Shakespeare play.  I'm going to ask B which one he would like to do.  As you can see I still have a lot of work to do for Literature--but I enjoy it--just need to find the time!

This year we have read  The Red Badge of Courage, Sherlock Holmes and something else that escapes my memory at the moment.  I still have Romeo and Juliet, The Great Gatsby, and The Hiding Place on this year's list.  If we have time I would like to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  If we don't get to it we will definitely read it next year.

We will  include SAT/ACT test-taking strategies to school this year and will continue with a Vocabulary program.  B will have finished all the Word Roots Series this year.  I am going to look into Vocabulary From Classical Roots to use next year.

Electives are always up in the air...interests, costs, classes offered all come into play and those aren't usually known until the last minute...well at least a month or so before school starts.

Ok so once again I have joined the 52 books in a year challenge...

I haven't read 52 books in a year since I was in Elementary school.  I just do not have the time but this year I really want to try and read more than a handful of books.  This week...ok since Christmas day I have been reading  Marva Collins' Way by Marva Collins and Civia Tamarkin.  After 14 years as a public school teacher Marva Collins grew disenchanted with the public school system in  Garfield Park.  She went on to open her own private school(1975) Westside Preparatory School where she began teaching 4 students--most of which had been written off by other teachers as learning disabled and unable to learn.


I love Marva's common sense approach to education and holding to the ideal that all children can learn and not only learn but they can succeed.  I'm about half way through it and hope to finish it this weekend.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon:

Marva Collins' Way

Here are some links to a couple of  60 Minutes Interviews with Marva Collins in 1979 and again in 1995  with some of her very first students.

Marva Collins 1979 pt 1
Marva Collins 1979 pt 2

Marva Collins 1995 pt 1
Marva Collins 1995 pt 2

More information on Marva Collins

Well I haven't been here in awhile...grocery prices, dinner menu

Things are trucking along as well as they usually are. Thought I might get back to talking about the price of groceries, the insanity of having a 2 year old and a teenager and some of our little adventures in homeschooling.

Anyone else tired of paying about triple for groceries these days?

I went to the grocery store this morning and spent just under $200.  It was insane.  Let's take a little looksy at the receipt...

peanut butter
jelly
2 cans black olives
sesame seeds--for a recipe this week--almost $3!
cashews--again for a recipe this week
oatmeal
4 cans tomato sauce
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 cans enchilada sauce
1 can of white beans
1 can of black beans
2 cans of chicken
cream of mushroom
cream of chicken
lays slightly salted chips--because I like them
mac&cheese-one of B's favorite
raisins
oatmeal bars
penne
radiatorre
soy sauce
syrup
fried rice--yeah I should make it myself but sometimes I need the convenience of a package
spaghetti
chicken broth--I have some homemade in the freezer...
milk
apple juice--made in the USA, not from concentrate--why is the majority of our apple juice coming from China???
cran-grape
cereal--generic, big bag
deli ham
chicken breast--ok so I have to admit that I am stuck on organic chicken now...sigh...only $1/lb more but the taste is so worth it!
shrimp
bulk sausage
butter
weiners--because my kids like them
limes
coleslaw
carrots
spinach
flour and corn tortillas
sour cream
yogurt
almonds
clementines
green onion
purple onion
mushrooms
apples
sweet potatoes
celery
avocados
tomatoes
cherry tomatoes--one of P's favorite snacks
bell pepper
blueberries
bananas
eggs
bread
hamburger/hotdog buns
shampoo

lotion for my husband--vaseline healing generic .97

Menu this week

Lunch was sandwiches

Dinner was soup--my favorite soup
4 c. chicken stock
8 c. water
2 stalks celery
4 gloves of garlic
diced purple onion
1 lb. bulk sausage
8 oz. radiatorre pasta
1/2 bag of fresh spinach
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can great northern or cannelinni beans
shredded parmesan or mozzarella cheese

Add celery to water and stock and bring to a boil.  Cook sausage w/onion and garlic.  Add pasta to boiling stock.  Once the pasta is done add the sausage mixture, spinach, tomatoes and beans.  Simmer for a bit, serve and top w/parmesan or shredded mozzarella cheese.

Other items on the menu this week are:

Crockpot Cashew Chicken.  This will be my first time to try this recipe.  I got it off Pinterest.  Here is the link:  Crockpot Cashew Chicken

Steak, cauliflower and a salad.  Thankfully I was able to stock up on meat that was on sale recently.

Chef Salad--one of Rory's favorite meals

Shrimp Po' Boys and Mexican Slaw.

Shrimp Po' Boys is basically battered and fried shrimp and put in a hoagie bun w/mayo, lettuce(we use spinach) and tomato.  The slaw is another new recipe that I found on Pinterest.  The link is broken but here is the recipe:

Mexican Coleslaw: 1 package Slaw Mix 1 can corn {drained} 1 can black beans {drained} 1/3 cup diced green onions 1 cup diced tomatoes 1/2 cup diced black olives 1/4 cup diced cilantro 1 avocado chopped 3/4 cup Jalapeno Ranch Dressing Garnish with cilantro.

We'll have hamburgers and sweet potato fries one night because that is one of B's favorite meals.  I wish he was not so picky!

Spaghetti or Penne w/marinara sauce will be on the menu for one of those busy nights.

I also have chicken enchiladas and chicken 'n dumplings in mind or if we have no leftovers :D

Hopefully this $200 will last a couple of weeks...

Grocery shopping time again

Good gravy!  I think the prices have sky-rocketed again!  I won't bore you with the list of items I bought this time...suffice it to say that I spent A LOT and I even went through all the ads and had wal-mart comp the prices!

So here are some meals for this week:

Friday Night:
French bread pizza. I bought 2 loaves of french bread on the reduced rack for .86/each.
The kiddos will have pepperoni and Rory and I will have canadian bacon and pineapple.

Saturday Night:
Crock pot cube steak
Cube steak--I paid more than I normally would for these but I want to try this recipe.  I think I paid about $7 for the package and it had 7-8 steaks in it.  So there should be leftovers, too.  I had the rest of the ingredients at home.
cream of mushroom soup
lipton dry soup mix
throw in the crock pot and cook all day
sides:  fried squash and probably cucumbers and tomatoes from the farmer's market

Sunday Night:
Shrimp Po-Boys
I bought spinach to go on these.  We usually substitute spinach for lettuce most days. I already had the shrimp ($5 at wally world--already cooked, peeled and deveined)
tomatoes from farmer's market
buns

Monday Night:
Grilled pork chops--on sale this week for $1.97/lb
fresh green beans from farmer's market
roasted caulifower

Tuesday Night:
Southwestern Chicken and Cornbread Salad.
It's a recipe from Martha Stewart--Martha Stewart I am not--don't even really care for her but the recipe looks good.  You can see it here

Wednesday Night:
Woohoo Farmer's Market is open...hope to get some fresh pinto beans and make those and whatever else I pick up that day.

Thursday Night:
Leftovers if there are any or if we haven't eaten them for lunch during the week

Breakfast is usually waffles, sausage biscuits, eggs and bacon, cereal or whatever grabs your fancy.  For lunch we have leftovers or sandwiches--pb&j, ham or turkey.  There's plenty of fresh fruit, too.  We have apples, bananas, grapes, blueberries and cherries and lots of tomatoes and cucumbers from the farmer's market.

Happy Eating!

End of the year

Somehow we trudged on through and completed our 4th year of homeschooling!  I'm so proud of Bryan!  He has done an excellent job this year.  This year has been quite different from the previous year seeing how that Patrick was mobile and very active!  I'm not sure how we survived most days, but we did!

Bryan's favorite subject was literature.  I will have to agree that it is my favorite to teach, too.  This year we read To Kill A Mockingbird, Guns for General Washington, Call of the Wild and The Three Musketeers.  Each selection was an excellent choice and we were very much wrapped up in the stories.  Mockingbird has always been my favorite book but Musketeers is now probably a very close 2nd!

Math was...well it was Math!  We used Bob Jones for Pre-Algebra as well as Life of Fred by Stanley Schmidt.  I cannot say enough good things about both programs.  Bob Jones is straight-forward and explains mathematical concepts extremely well.  Life of Fred is an excellent program that will help any student that prefers literature over Math. Fred is a self-teaching program that is literature based but somehow in the process of reading the adventures of 5 year old professor Fred, you also learn math.  I thank God everyday for the Life of Fred series.  It has been a life-saver for us lovers of Literature!

The best Grammar program, in my opinion, is Giggly Grammar.  We enjoyed this program because it kept us in stitches!  Grammar doesn't change--a noun will always been a noun...well you know in most cases, it will be ;)  Grammar doesn't change almost overnight like Science does.  If you are struggling or just need a change of scenery where Grammar is concerned I highly recommend Giggly Grammar.  It's for grades 1-8.

This year for History we chose a  dvd program.  With Patrick being mobile and up more during the day I wanted Bryan to be able to keep on schooling without too much interruption.  I ordered American History from The Great Courses.   This worked out well.  Bryan enjoyed the lecture style learning and it helped with his note taking skills.  I bought this program on sale.  I'm hoping to purchase more in the future.  You really have to watch for the sales because it is a very pricey program!

Another noteworthy product is One Year Novel Adventure.  I would only recommend this if your child loves to write.  It is also marketed for reluctant writers so if you have a reluctant writer you may want to try this one out, too.  But my honest opinion after seeing the demo and the work that has to be done, I would only choose this for a student that loves to write.  Bryan has enjoyed this program immensely.  He finished his book but I told him to take a break on the revision.  It is a long process.  He will be using this program again next year using the Science Fiction/Fantasy curriculum.  He loves to write and even as biased as I am he is an excellent writer.  I can't wait to see what kind of stories he will turn out as his writing skills mature.

The one subject that I did not like our choice of curriculum was Science.  I have already given the books away and cannot remember the name of them.  The company is based in California and they have Science trilogy program--Physical, Earth and Life Science.  I taught Earth Science this year.  I supplemented with a lot of outside books and videos from youtube, how stuff works and netflix.  Thankfully, Rory is an astronomy buff and helped with filling in the gaps from the text. Science is always the difficult subject because so many homeschool companies cater to a young earth, non-evolutionary brand of Science.  Trust me though, there are homeschoolers out there who love God and Jesus but we want to teach our children Science.  We save religious matters for when we study the Bible :)

We also dabbled in some Spanish and will be picking up the pace on that for high school credit.  Logic, Music and Art made the occasional rounds, too.  Bryan was involved in the local teen homeschool group and 4-H Rifle club.

Overall, I call the year a success.  It was very different from the previous years but we covered the basics and then some.  I am elated that we get to homeschool our children.  I cannot think of a better environment for my children to learn and be nurtured until it is time for them to spread their wings.  As far as all the nay-sayers...who think homeschoolers are denim wearing, socially awkward, religious nutjobs, I ask you to reconsider your ideas of homeschooling.  We are parents that are raising our children the best way as we see it.  We do not ask for your blessings and we do not offer advice or dismiss your thoughts on how you school your child.  We know our children best and as parents it is our job to do the best we can to prepare them for the future. You can disagree all you wish, but do us all a favor and keep the negativity and judgmental attitudes to yourself--well unless you want me to start barking at you about your parental decisions...Happy Schooling!

People

This morning I was singing to Patrick and now I have 'It's a Small World' running through my head...

When you think about it, it really is a small world.  Oceans separate us and it's a 24+ hr. flight to some places in the world but when it comes down to it, people are just people aren't they?  On some level we all have the same ideas.  We just go about it differently on how we want to accomplish those ideas. But, I don't get people...

People confuse me.  I'm not a people person and for the most part I would be just fine with my little family and no interference from the 'outsiders'.  I was recently reading on a board how many people seem to think that it is inconsiderate to share good things about your children.  I was like 'what??'  I am always sharing the things that my children do.  I am so dang proud of them!  I don't think of myself as a braggart.  I stopped reading the thread but by the 10th or 11th page. By then I think most agreed that the offended parents were insecure or dealing with a problem with their child.  My thoughts are that every child is good at something and there is good in every day--why are you not sharing the good?  Why are you dwelling on the bad and being offended at a comment that someone else made?  See, I don't get people...

People seem to get pissed off at the slightest inconveniences to them.  I don't understand that either.  Wake up Waldo--you are not the center of the universe and my world does not revolve around you!  I think I am a kind person (I smile at random people in Walmart) and try to help others when I can, but I also know my limits.  It's a good thing to know your limits because then you are not out there trying to please everybody in the world.  It works for me, but again, I don't get people...

Other things that I have read about today--not using the term boy or girl in a classroom situation.  This one really boggles my mind.  I mean either you are a boy or a girl.  So it seems there is curricula out there that will help a teacher to teach in a non-gender fashion so as to not offend a boy or a girl--WOW!  See, I don't get people...

Spanking kids.  A swat here and there on the bottom ok--I probably don't have a problem with that on most days.  I read a story about a child lying for 2 weeks and after she finally confessed she got a spanking every day for 2 weeks.  Yeah, that's mother of the year material right there!  And add to it that it's all in the name of God that this is done.  I don't pretend to know the mind of God, but I'm betting He thought it was cruel...I don't get people...

I thought at one time I had a handle on people but lately I have to realize just how fragile everyone is.  People seem to mask things very well these days.  But just observe them a little closer...most are hanging on by a thread.  That one is insecure, that one thinks she's ugly, the other one is sneaky or at least he thinks he is, those over there are ready to drop their kids off at a fire station, these are eaten up with guilt, she worries all the time...the list goes on...and the song plays on "It's a small world afterall...it's a small, small world'.

More Ramblings & Some Good Food

I feel like I am in a constant state of baby-proofing.  This child loves the dishwasher--if he sees a chance to get in the kitchen he is in the dishwasher, this of course after he has pulled everything he can reach out of the pantry.  He's learned to open the patio door and of course a couple of weeks ago he learned how to open the gates in the backyard.  I need to start budgeting in a monthly expense for baby-proofing materials...

Instead of whining and complaining about the $77 I spent at the grocery store today I'll tell you what I have planned for dinner this week.  It's a plan.  It doesn't necessarily mean that it will happen...

Tonight I am going out with a friend for dinner.  We have been trying to get together since September...so I tried to make it an easy dinner tonight and picked up some already made chicken fried steak.  No, it's not healthy but it is quick and easy and they will all eat it.

Tuesday--another crazy evening.  This time I am making it easy on myself.  We will have chili-cheese dogs.

Wednesday--Lasagna.  Love, love, love lasagna.

Thursday--Chicken and Dumplings

Friday--Leftovers

Here's my lasagna recipe:

Lasagna

1 lb ground beef

oven-ready lasagna noodles

1 can tomato sauce

2T butter

sliced mushrooms

chopped green bell pepper

salt

pepper

garlic—2-3 cloves or garlic powder

shredded cheese 2-3 cups reserve enough to cover last layer

lg container of cottage cheese

¼ c. parmesan cheese-fresh or the green can I prefer fresh

1 egg

Preheat oven to 425

Saute mushrooms, bell pepper and chopped garlic cloves in butter.  Set aside.  Cook meat and season w/salt and pepper, garlic powder.  After the meat is cooked, add tomato sauce and sautéed mushrooms and bell pepper and let simmer for a few minutes.  In a large bowl mix cottage cheese, shredded cheese, parmesan cheese and one egg.  I usually add a little more pepper, too.  Spoon a little sauce in the bottom of the pan(9x9 or 9x13).  Place lasagna noodles down in the pan and then layer the cheese mixture and then the meat sauce.  Layer until you are almost to the top of the pan.  Cover last layer generously w/reserved shredded cheese.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 mins.  Remove aluminum foil and bake an  additional 20-30 minutes.  Let cool then slice and serve!

And even though my poor family will be eating already made chicken fried steak.  Here is a picture of my chicken fried steak...which will probably be making an appearance around Father's Day, if not before!