It is what's in the pot today!

Chili

1 1/2 lb lean ground beef or turkey

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped green pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 15 oz can kidney beans, undrained

1 1/2 tblsp  chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Brown ground beef or turkey with onion, green pepper and garlic in skillet over medium heat.  Remove excess grease.  Transfer mixture into stoneware of crock pot.  Add remaining ingredients; stir to blend.

Cook in crock pot on Lo for 8 to 10 hrs or High for 4 to 5 hrs.

Enjoy!

I've pondered how to put this down for quite a while.  Let me say first, I'm not doing this to ruffle feathers or get on a soap box.  Also that everyone has their reasons for how they educate their children.  Whether at home or in a school be it  pubic or private.  The reasons vary from family to family and each family must do what they deem as a right, proper and a good choice for their own.  Here are some of my thoughts on why we chose this for our family.

• Let me start by saying it is legal and legitimate.  Many leaders and great people through out history have been homeschooled in whole or part.  For a list of some check this link:  http://www.home4schoolgear.com/famoushomeschooler.html        Legally in my state (the way we are rgistered) my children are considered students at a private Christian school,  we just operate at a satelite location.  Yes we turn in grades, yes we will be starting to test in 3rd grade(per. the rules of our umbrella school), yes we do 180 days a school year, yes we turn in list of all our curriculum used exc, exc. 
• I believe that God meant for us to educate our children properly.  No there is nothing that says Thou shalt homeschool  :)  but Proverbs 22:6  says that we should "Train up a child...."  and I believe that we should take our children's education seriously.  For us we choose to oversee it personally.  Others choose differently.  That make us no better but no worse than anyone else.  We just choose a different path for it. 
• We are not out to "get the school system".  Many of our future leaders come from there.  No we are not out to see it fail.  I have many relatives and friends who work in the public school system.  They are good people trying to do they best they can with what they are given.  Some of our goals differ on what material to cover and a few other things but basically we all want the young to have a top notch education.  Teaching methods differ and mine are more specialzed to what my four children need instead of the mass crowd.   I think that many of the older people who question our methods remember school with rose colored glasses.  Only the good things and do not understand how they have changed.  I worked in a public high school for about 3 yrs starting less than 10yrs after I had graduated from the same school.  My, how things had changed!  I'm sure even more so now a few years later. 
• We do socialize our children.  We do not hide them in a hole.  They have friends and though we don't see them daily we do at least a few of times a month.  They also go to church many times a week so they see others there as well.  We don't look to completely shield them from everything, just filter at what comes in at such tender ages.  Isn't a little innocence to be desired for children? 
• We do most of our school time during my twins afternoon nap.  Some things my boys can do without so much direct lesson from me and can start earlier but most of the teaching and readings we do during naptime.  It is what works for us right now.
• We use a wide variety of curriculum and are very literature heavy.

As with other things I may come back and add to this as time goes on but this is somethings that have come to my mind lately on this topic.

This is another one I think goes great with cooler weather. 

French Meat Pie

2 tblsp cooking oil

Most of one onion thinly sliced

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground pork (not sausage)

1 cup mashed potatoes

1 (8oz) can mixed vegetables, drained

2 tsp gound allspice

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Pastry for double crust pie (9 in)   (I usually use the refrigerated pie dough)

1 egg beaten, optional

In skillet, heat oil over medium.  Saute onion until tender.  Remove and set aside.  Brown beef and pork together, drain.  Combine onion, meat, potatoes, vegetables and seasonings.  Line pie plate wtih pastry, fill with meat mixture.  Top with crust; seat and flute edges.  Make slits in top crust.  Brush with egg if desired.  Bake at 375 for 30-35 min or until golden brown.  Makes 6-8 servings.

Autumn Days go well with crock pot recipes!

Brown 1 lb ground beef with onion (more or less onion depending on like, I use about a 1/4 onion)

Drain Grease.

Place in crock pot:

The cooked beef and onion mixture

2 cans pinto beans, undrained

2 cans stewed tomatoes (I'm not big on tomatoes so I cut these into smaller pieces)

1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis (or chives) 

1 can whole kernal corn

1pkg taco seasoning

1pkg ranch dressing mix

Let cook 4-5 hours on low. 

Trying a new type of slide show.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Next week we want to add two seasonal things to our lessons.  First is a study on the Mayflower and other things related to Thanksgiving.  "Hannibal" is suppose to give a report on the Mayflower at our next homeschool meeting.  That is a few weeks away but I thought it would be good to start.

The other thing is something new to us called a Jesse Tree.  Each school day we will take one of the points and study how this person fits in the lineage of Christ.  I thought I could have the boys then color or draw and color the related symbol for our tree.  I know that it is actually an advent activity but because we are going to just keep this to school days thought we would start early.  I think it will be a great activity for us.  We don't actually celebrate Advent.  It has never been a tradition with our family or our church.  Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with it.  In fact I think it is really great in trying to get your focus more on Christ and preparing your heart for Christmas. 

Someone asked me not long ago about "how do you do it all" .  Well, lets just say I'm not perfect and alot goes undone sometimes.  That being said there are some notes on being mommy that I would like to share.  As I have time to think of this more I may add more down the road. 

• PRAY!
• Nobody gets it all right.  For better or worse we learn as we go.  No one is perfect. 
• Don't take things too seriously.  Don't stress over the minor stuff (and so much really is when it comes down to it).  Pick your battles and ask your self "in the big picture does this matter?".
• Take it a day at a time.
• Be realistic and set realistic goals.  For a long time I really tried to have school time with my oldest in the morning.  I finally came to the realization that during the twins afternoon nap is my prime time to get much done with him.  He can do some independent work in the morning but our main time together, and when I work with my second son is in the afternoon nap.  I hope that as they all become school age that I can change this to all morning but we will have to wait and see.

This is all for now, I may come back to this topic down the road.