Educating Emme - Homeschool Blogger

Monday Meanderings and Menu Plan Monday: A Day Late!

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:53:00 -0600

Monday Meanderings: November 12th Edition

It's 12:20 a.m. and technically not Monday any longer, but this is the first chance I've had to plan the rest of my week!

Monday Meanderings is a wonderful meme hosted weekly by Tiany. Please stop by and read what other homeschool moms have planned for this week as well!

My Bible reading for this week will center on the book of I Peter. I have seven more books of the Bible to read before the end of the year, with Revelation being the only long one. This is my first entire read through of the Bible - so I will be working more on specific studies next year.

My "Must Do's" of the week include finishing up my Term 2 Schedule for our school. On Ambleside the entire month of December is a vacation with the start of Term 2 the first week of January. We are going to start on December 3rd and go through the first two weeks of December before we start our vacation so we finish up in mid-June with my other two who are in public schools.

Other Must Do's include:

Send out Netflix and update queue

Bring blank cd's over to my sister so she can burn us a copy of Handel's Messiah and Josh Grobin's Christmas album (LOVE HIM! -- can you tell how old I am? I just said "album" *sigh*)
Mail out bills
Go to parent/teacher conferences for my older two on Thursday
Finish reading "The Other Boleyn Girl" and start another book for the Fall Reading Challenge
Send out order forms for bedroom quilt (so pretty) and scheduling book

Zone:

I haven't looked at the zone of the week and I am not sure what the FlyLady zone actually is. I think it is the bedroom -- but I am going to stray from my usual plan and go with the bathroom -- which needs a good scrubbing and some extra special attention!

Train Them Up:

I've been working on manners and 1st time obedience but NOT being consistent enough. That has always been my problem. I am going to single out 1st time obedience this week and really follow through!

Menu Plan:

Welcome to the week-before-Thanksgiving Menu Plan Monday! Thanks to Laura for hosting!

Our week is going to start out with a Mexican fiesta! I'll be making our favorite rice and beans and nachos with all the fixin's! This meal makes everyone in my family very happy!

I'll also be making Chicken Alfredo for my dh while the kids and I have dinner at my Mom's house. He'll have peas on the side.

I thought I would try this recipe that has been sitting in my Recipezaar cookbook for awhile now: Sesame Chicken Bites. I'll serve this over penne that has been mixed with a mushroom, garlic, and green onion saute in olive oil and soy sauce. Served with a green salad.

And since I found a great price on steak, I've decided to make the pepper steak that I posted about in Slow Cooking Thursday! We'll serve it over rice and have steamed broccoli on the side.

I have pork chops left over from last week so I am going to make this pork chops and rice casserole. It looks simple and very tasty!

I've also been meaning to try this hamburger soup. I listed it a couple of weeks back but didn't get around to making it. I'll have garlic toast and salad with this.

Finally, I'll be making my husband's favorite on another night we are at my mom's: sausage and fried potatoes w/ onion. Too greasy for my taste, but he LOVES it!

Lunches for the week will consist of grilled ham and cheese, black bean soup, ramen noodles w/ shrimp and lots of veggies, chicken noodle soup, and mac n cheese. Everything is served with a side of fruit and veggies and hopefully milk! (I try)

Breakfasts will be cereal w/ skim milk, toad-in-the-hole, bagels w/ ff cream cheese & apples, breakfast burritos, and my version of crunchy vanilla-almond french toast w/ sausage links.

This is a full menu for a very busy week, but I hope to be able to get around to cooking all of it! (Or at the very least, most of it!)

I pray your week is blessed!

Sherry

Monday Meanderings: October 15th Edition

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 23:44:00 -0500

Monday Meanderings: October 15th Edition

I'm going to do my best to truly follow my Monday Meanderings this week! It's not only important to make lists of what you want to do, but to FOLLOW those lists! I hope you all will be able to get everything accomplished that you want to do as well!

For more Monday Meanderings, click on over to Tiany's blog!

BIBLE STUDY/DEVOTION: I was very bad about this over the last week. *sigh* So I am back where I started last week. Finishing up the book of Hebrews. I WILL start getting up 30 minutes earlier and spending time in the Word each morning this week! I will brew a pot of tea and work on my religion notebook as well! I will!

MUST DO: Weekly home blessing, finish up the yard, call the doctor for a refill of my prescriptions, and call to cancel recurring charges to our checking account.

ZONE: In zone #3 with FlyLady, the bathroom and one other room. I will be doing most of my work in the bathroom, but will work on organizing the school room a bit more as well. I got most of it done before school started this year, but I need to do some tweaking so I can find things more easily!

TRAIN THEM UP: We are working on manners. At the dairy farm field trip last week Emme was not as polite to the adults as I would have liked. We will work on the basics of always saying "please", "thank you", "yes ma'am", etc. I don't want to have to remind her to say "thank you" every time it's appropriate to say it!

MENU:

Menu Plan Monday: October 15th Edition

It's that time of the week again! Menu Plan Monday! Click on over to Laura's blog and see what everyone will be eating this week!

I have to say that tonight's dinner ended up being one of my favorites and will be added to our family cookbook! I was going to do a Rachael Ray noodle bowl and then someone showed me the Rachael Ray thai shrimp noodle pouch and I sort of combined the two and made my own recipe.

I don't have the exact ingredient amounts, but I cooked linguine in one pot. In a pan I sauteed 3 cloves of garlic, a medium onion, 8 oz of mushrooms, and about 1 cup of cabbage in olive oil. When it was nearly done I added soy sauce, lime juice and chili powder. I KNOW it sounds weird, but it was good! When the linguine was done I added more of the same to it and added pre-cooked shrimp to the vegetables. I mixed it all together and it was SO GOOD! You'll just have to trust me.

So, here goes for this week:

MONDAY: Pork roast with potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms

TUESDAY: Cheddar Cheese Chicken with Bacon (aka heart attack waiting to happen) I will be using real bacon in place of the bacon bits though. Served with salad and green beans.

WEDNESDAY: TGI Friday's Black Bean Soup with home made rolls.

THURSDAY: Dinner at Mom's. Leftovers for dh.

FRIDAY: Jambalaya! Yum, I love it! I add shrimp to mine though.

SATURDAY: Dinner at Mom's. DH will have some type of "Helper" meal.

SUNDAY: Roasted Greek-Style Chicken with Greek Village Salad and Crusty Whole Wheat Bread.

I hope that everyone who reads this is blessed beyond measure!

Sherry

Monday Meanderings: October 8th Edition

Tue, 9 Oct 2007 00:10:00 -0500

Not surprisingly I am a day late for Monday Meanderings. It's not the first time and unfortunately probably won't be the last! I don't feel organized unless I get this typed up though and it inspires me so much to read what other people list as their goals for the week. Thanks again to Tiany for hosting this!

Bible Study/Devotions:

I read the first 1/2 of Hebrews last week and will finish up this week. I found this study online and will be using this as well.

I've also started a Christian Notebook that I would like to continue to work on. It has notes from sermons, studies, inspirational photos, pamphlets from church, and prayer requests, amongst other things.

MUST DO:

I must get my yard completely ready for the upcoming season. There is still a lot to do!

Zone:

I am in the kitchen this week! I want to get it decluttered a little more and really get it sparkling!

Train Them Up:

In school we have our history co-op on Monday and a field trip to a dairy farm on Thursday, so we have a lot of schooling to fit in on the other three days of the week!

As for behavior and chores, Emme has been working along side of me on a lot of my FlyLady missions. I'm going to continue to give her more responsibility.

Menu Plan:

I'm going to try a few new recipes this week and I have a recipe to review for you as well! If you need ideas for your own meal plan or for a new recipe, check out Laura's Blog!

SUNDAY: Yesterday we tried Kielbasa Cheddar Bake that I found at Sandra's blog. I had to make a couple of small changes because we didn't have everything, but it was SO GOOD! I had leftovers for lunch today and it was even better warmed up. Yum!

MONDAY: Tonight we are going to have sandwiches and soup because there is a homeschool meeting.

TUESDAY: Black bean quesadillas and Army man rice.

WEDNESDAY: Rachael Ray's Noodle Bowl

THURSDAY: Dinner at Mom's. Mike will have tuna noodle casserole with peas.

FRIDAY: THE BOY'S 9th birthday! Per his request: Pizza and instead of cake, Pumpkin Crisp and vanilla ice cream!

SATURDAY: THE BOY'S b-day party at Mom's house. Mexican food, doritos, and marble cake with chocolate chip frosting. (HIS MENU! Grandma never says no!)

I hope you all have a very blessed week and that you are able to enjoy your meals in the company of family and your loved ones!

101 Things to Do This Fall!

Sun, 7 Oct 2007 17:42:00 -0500

I found this great website, 101 Things to Do This Fall, on one of my favorite blogs, In Beauty and In Grace, and wanted to share it with you!

Here are some of the things that I would love to do this Fall:

Find an acorn -- an oak-tree's fruit. If you're not sure sure what to look for, see the Water Oak acorn in the "nut" section of our Simple Fruits Page.

Familiarize yourself with the ten most conspicuous insect orders by finding members of each of them. Our Insect Orders Page can help you.

Find a pine cone and look for its seeds. Our Conifer Page shows a typical pine cone with some seeds next to it.

During the fall, some bird species may be passing through your area that during the summer and winter are not present. See if you can identify these transitory migrant birds. You'll need to examine distribution maps for the birds you identify, using bird-identification books such as those available at Amazon.com.

Identify just one thing in your backyard -- maybe a bird or a garden flower or an insect -- and then use the Google search engine to find out all you can about it. You'll just be amazed at what you can learn!List all the ecological niches you can identify in your backyard. Our Backyard Niches Page can get you started.

Look for animal tracks in mud. You should be able to identify at least dog tracks, as drawn on our Mammal Page.

Find a caterpillar and notice its six black jointed legs immediately behind the head, its stubby, mid-body legs called prolegs and its end ones called anal prolegs. Our Caterpillars & Other Insect Larvae Page shows these.

Find a butterfly and try to identify it at the Butterflies of North America site. Our page on butterflies can give you lots of hints about butterfly identification.Put out a birdbath for birds and other critters. It doesn't have to be a real birdbath, but could be something like a turned-upside garbage can lid. The water should be no deeper than an inch. Keep a list of the species who visit.

Look for squirrels around your house or in the local park. What kind of squirrels are they? Our Squirrel Page may be able to help.

Find a feather and identify these parts of it: shaft, vane, barbs, and barbules. Our Feather Page can help.

Download some free nature books from Project Gutenberg. Look for writings by John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, Charles Darwin and Jack London.

List all the birds in your neighborhood. The "how to birdwatch" part of our bird section can get you started.

Learn to identify your local trees just by looking at their trunks. Our Tree Bark Page can help you organize your thoughts about this.

From a local pond or ditch, take a jar of water and set it in a window where it gets some sunlight. Over the weeks watch what happens to it...

When you identify a bird, see where it nests during the summer by clicking here

Download some free nature books from Project Gutenberg. Look for writings by John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, Charles Darwin and Jack London.

Still Need School Supplies!

Sun, 7 Oct 2007 15:58:00 -0500

I know, I know, you probably don't need any more school supplies either -- but when I went to Rite Aid today, they had a huge table full of stuff for 75% off!

I got four 1" binders with the covers you can put your own picture in for .87cents each (I actually really needed these for notebooking! Hurray!)
A very cute pink polka dot 3" binder w/ matching file folders inside for 1.49
Erasers in cute animal and food shapes for .12 cents
A huge pad of multi-colored writing paper, lined and spiral for 2.25 (was 9!!)
A folder that you can use dry erase markers on for .67 cents
Two Index card holders (I have plans for these) for .25 cents each
A stationary set for .49 cents (for our gift closet)
And a good-sized craft kit w/ about 100 colored craft sticks, glue, pom pons, feathers, and five different colors of glitter glue for 1.06! Great deal.

They also had other things on the table, Dora and Diego sunglasses (.99 cents after discount), some blank, burnable DVDs, and many other things!

Also, if you decorate for Autumn, they have everything 50% off, which includes scented candles of the season. I got a pumpkin candle, a cute scarecrow and a new wreath for my door, all for 7 bucks!

Ok, just thought someone might benefit from this so I wanted to share! If you have a Rite Aid, go and check them out!

Oh, and one more thing -- on their sales paper for this week they have some coupons for cleaning supplies that are a good price too. Lysol Antibacterial Kitchen Cleaner for .99 cents!

Sherry

A wonderfully educational contest

Tue, 2 Oct 2007 19:05:00 -0500

My homeschool friend Melissa is having a contest! She is offering three of her e-books,

The Life of the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird an Ebook by Melissa Markham

American Bison an Ebook by Melissa Markham

and

Komodo Dragon Ebook by Melissa Markham

and her Recipe CD FREE to one lucky person! The Recipe CD includes the following categories:

You will find recipes in the following categories:
Appetizers
Beef
Beverages
Breads
Cakes
Candy
Cookies
Dessert
Eggs
Fish and Seafood
Frosting
Main Dishes
Pies
Pork
Poultry
Salads
Sandwiches
Sauces
Side Dishes and Casseroles
Soups and Stews
Veal
Vegetables
Venison

You can check out the contest by clicking HERE

Happy October!

Tue, 2 Oct 2007 11:34:00 -0500

I was reading through Mrs. Sharp's Traditions and thought I would share a few things with you.

"October arrives bringing with it a wash of wonderful color, fragrant, cool breezes, and a bounty of seasoned pleasures from apple-cider pressing to pumpkin carving. "

K. Pyle

We went to hunt for chestnuts

One fine October day,

And in the windy country

We wandered far away.

We built a fire of brush-wood

Beneath the sheltering hill,

Among the rustling corn-shocks

The wind was never still.

We played that we were gypsies,

Who never sleep in beds,

But lie beside their fires

With starts above their heads.

But when the aire grew frosty,

Beneath the chestnut tree

We filled our bags and baskets

And hastened home to tea.

October

Monday Meanderings for October 1st!

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:10:00 -0500

Monday Meanderings: October 1 Edition

Tiany at Less of Me, More of Him is hosting another Monday Meanderings! I'm going to try and get mine done early this week, as the wheels are spinning and I need to get my mind organized for the week to come!

The first category is BIBLE STUDY/DEVOTIONS:

This week I will be reading through the book of Hebrews. I'm also typing up the notes to my pastor's sermon from today to share at our Wednesday night home meeting, and I just started reading Stormie Omartian's "Lord, I Want to be Whole". (I got this book for free at our homeschool banquet on Friday)

MUST DO:

This week I absolutely must get the yard all spiffed up for fall! I have lots and lots of potted flowers that have seen better days, weeds that need a finally pull, grass that needs to be mowed and edged, and fall decorating to do!

I also must do a thorough Home Blessing!

ZONE:

The current FlyLady zone for the week is the front porch, entrance, and dining room. Since I do not have a dining room, I substitute my yard. This fits in perfectly with my "MUST DO"!

TRAIN THEM UP:

This week during homeschool we will be learning the names of the bones! I bought a 6-foot tall cardboard skeleton at the dollar store (a halloween decoration) and I am going to take a black marker and write in the names of the bones on it. This way Emme will get a pretty-much life-sized reproduction!

MENU PLANNING:

This week I'm going to get to a couple of things I missed last week! (That always seems to happen, doesn't it?)

MONDAY: Calzones
TUESDAY: Green roasted chicken, orzo, spanikopita
WEDNESDAY: Spaghetti w/ meat sauce and steamed broccoli
THURSDAY: Dinner at Mom's House (Mike will get Tuna Helper)
FRIDAY: Bringing Good Home's Family Casserole with a green salad
SATURDAY: Dinner at Mom's again! Will be making Mike Marlboro Man's 2nd Favorite Sandwich!

Hope you all have a very blessed week!

Sherry

Weekly Report: Week 3

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:08:00 -0500

Educating Emme: Week 4 Report

This week we started going to our homeschool group's Monday co-op. We go from 10-3 and have two 2-hour classes with a 1-hour break in between. Emme was really eager to go!

The first class is World History using Story of the World 3: Early Modern Times. We learned about Charles II becoming Holy Roman Emporer and about the conquistadors and their travels to South America to take gold from the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas.

The second class is an American Girls class. We will be studying Kaya (Native Americans) for the next 11 weeks and then move on to Felicity (Colonial Times).

The class started with the children sitting in a circle on the floor (about 20) and the teacher asking questions about what the children knew about Native Americans. I was surprised when Emme raised her hand and offered an answer! Then the teacher asked the children what they would like to know.

After this she read 2 chapters aloud of "Meet Kaya" and then they discussed the chapters and answered some questions. After this she passed around several books related to the Nez Perce Indians.

The children then gathered around and we made necklaces similar to the one that Kaya wears in the book.

Here is a review of Meet Kaya at Eclectic Homeschool.

Here is Emme's little Felicity doll wearing the Nez Perce belt that she made in class.
Here is Emme holding up her necklace. (Bad angle, look closely!)

Tuesday we worked on doing a booklet and some questions for the field trip we took to the zoo. Excuse the handwriting -- we're working on it!

We also had a field trip to the airport -- you can see Emme's captain wings!

We worked on math basics all week. An addition table, flash cards, and CLP math book.
In phonics we did Explode the Code, 2 pages daily. Emme read from either Treadwell's Reader or McGuffey Readers. We did spelling each day, copywork, read from the Bible, and devotions.

We finished up our butterfly lapbook and read more about insects in science. We also started to learn the names of the bones in the human body.

We read about the American Flag and its importance in Abeka's Our America 2, read from Burgess Book of Animals, started Understood Betsy, and 3 chapters of Tree in the Trail.

Emme read "Mouse Tales", "Buttons", and the original "Three Little Pigs".

She was not liking "Five Little Peppers", so we switched to "Grimm's Fairy Tale" and I read "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", which she loved.

She did a book report on "Anne of Green Gables", we finished listening to the audio of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", and we watched the movie "Pollyanna".

Those are all the things I can think of off the top of my head! Spelling's in there somewhere too, more reading, computer work --- OH! I can't believe I almost forgot!

We listened to "Scherhazade" (sp) and filled out a worksheet about how the music made her feel, what instruments they used, etc. We also learned about Rimsy-Korsakov.

We listened to two different versions of "Go Get the Axe" as well.

We started to learn about Da Vinci, filled out an artist worksheet for him and studied a few of his paintings. Emme wants to know why the women he painted looked sad! lol

Also read Walter de la Mare poetry every day, started our 50-state lapbook and began discussing "Delaware".

*WHEW*

I hope to have another week full of fun and adventure!

Bless you and your homeschoolers!

Sherry

Fall Into Reading 2007: My List

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:26:00 -0500

This post is cross posted from: http://frugaldomesticgoddess.blogspot.com

Fall Into Reading 2007

It's here! It's here! It's finally here! Fall into Reading 2007 at Callapidder Days blog! Woohoo!

Reading is one of the greatest joys of my life. I love the Lord. I love my children, my husband, and my family. And I LOVE to read!

Unfortunately I haven't had much time for reading. I haven't MADE the time, and I really need to!

The Fall into Reading Challenge is exactly what I need to jumpstart my way back into a reading frenzy! I am so excited about the books I've chosen as well! I'm excited about each and every one of them.

Here are the books that I am going to challenge myself to read during the autumn, my most favorite season:

1. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I've started this book already, but just barely! I read "The Kite Runner" last year and it was in my top 10 favorite books of the year. Different from anything else I've read and full of meaning.

2. Big Cherry Holler by Adriana Trigiani. This is the 2nd in the Big Stone Gap Trilogy. I loved the first in the series and I am sure that I will enjoy the other two just as much!

3. Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey by Alison Weir. I have so been looking forward to reading this book! I have it on my bookshelf now and can't wait to get to it!

4. Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery. The 4th in the Anne of Green Gables series. I am totally and completely smitten with Anne and will be heartbroken when the series comes to an end! I am savoring the books and reading only one every 4 months or so!

5. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Every year in October I choose one creepy, frightening book -- and this is going to be the one for 2007! I've heard really great things about it.

6. A Health Unto His Majesty by Jean Plaidy. This is historical fiction about Charles II during the restoration period. I just taught Emme about Charles II and thought he sounded interesting! I just noticed last night that I had this book on my shelf!

7. Love Finds a Home by Janette Oke. The very last in the "Love Comes Softly" series! I've been putting off reading this because I haven't wanted it to come to an end. *sigh*

8. Miss Invisible by Laura Jensen Walker. I actually won this from Callapidder Days blog! It has really great reviews! I can't wait to read it!

9. The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I try to add in one classic during each challenge. This one is going to be my choice for fall. A scandalous book in the early 1900s, it was banned for decades!

10. Thorn in My Heart by Liz Curtis Higgs. I am so excited to read this one too! Ack! I order books that I am dying to read and then I get them and put them on my shelf and forget about them!

11.: Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler. This is an unlikely book in my collection. I got it from my sister and I am intrigued with its description!

12. The Perfect Royal Mistress by Diane Haeger. Another book I've been dying to read and another book about Charles II! I ordered this book nearly a year ago and it has been collecting dust, poor book!

Those are the 12 books that I am challenging myself to read during Fall into Reading 2007!

Here are other things I will be reading that are not a part of my list:

Timothy 2 - Book of Revelations in the Bible

I hope you've enjoyed reading my book list and if you haven't already, I hope you will join me in this challenge!

Sherry