Keeping It Simple

Just have to share this yummylicious (this is actually a word in our home) recipe find! My husband looked at me with great suspicion when I suggested making them for all of our children plus a dear friend who joined us for lunch today. Much to his amazement, he liked them as did everyone else. AND, if you read my blog, you know that it has to be super simple or it is not going to happen around here. These are called Funeral Sandwiches. I assume because it is easy to make a bunch of them. Sadly I did not take any pictures- seems impossible, right? But I did not. You can hop over to Sunday Baker to get a look and get the exact recipe. * This is the deal- you take Hawaii rolls. * Slice them in half and put the bottom half of each in a casserole dish. * Cut some deli ham and swiss cheese to size and layer on roll. * Place the tops on the rolls. * Make a glaze using butter, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and onion powder. * Pou...

In my life this week and last… Life has been busy, busy, busy these last few weeks. No wrap up last week- no posts this week. I have been trying to read other blogs.  Especially homeschool blogs to keep up my motivation. We did make time to step out to the beach: Warm coffee cake on the beach- yum!  And we have had quite a bit of uncle time:  There is just nothing that makes me think my big kids are more wonderful than when they read to the little ones.  Or take that extra time to really be with them.  Sometimes they are not so patient, but mostly they are!  In our homeschool this week… A clean (or at least functioning!) school room.  Coloring while watching some educational videos from the library.  I posted a history update last week-  we are just finishing up the Plymouth Colony.  Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… Las...

We loved loved loved reading this book with our James Town study: Paul puts it up there with Bears of Blue River which is one of his favorite books ever . (Coming back later in the day to finish this post- Paul has mentioned several times today how much he enjoyed this book and that he is sorry it is over.)  We brought these resources home from the library today- The above book and DVD  were recommended on MayflowerHistory.com. We watched the first half of the DVD tonight and are impressed so far.  For my boys (who are over the moon excited that they are actual descendants of this man), we checked out this book about Myles Standish. I don't how many kajillions of people claim that honor, but apparently there is some connection on their dad's mom's dad's side (does that make sense?). When Grandma gets back from her vacation, she is going to help us sort it out.  We also picked up this book that took its ...

Putting on my "old lady homeschooler giving advice hat". My daughter, somewhat sarcastically (yet lovingly), says that old people always want to impart wisdom! Okay, that would be based on the premise that I have wisdom to give! But I do have a few thoughts. Do you fit your child to the plan or the plan to your child? This year, we are making the move to using text books for math again. Yes, those things that have two hard covers and lots of problems on each page (don't worry- if you know me, you know I am not inclined to beat my children over the head with hundreds of problems). But moving from "playing with math" format to something more structured takes a little planning. My first step is to chart what I think is one days worth of work  for that subject. Just one day. Then we do the that "day". I can use my chart to track what is accomplished, and then I evaluate why we did or did not accomplish what I thought we would. Lazy student? Too ma...

In my life this week… We are still working on routine- more about that later. We also had a fantastic time at the beach trying to stretch out these summer days.  And, we even got some school done.  The BIG news around here is that James got his braces on today!  In our homeschool this week… Barton Reading Program- we are coming to end of our first book (book 3). I'd have to say that it is... rigorous. Not difficult. But consistency is the key. Not to take away from All About Spelling which put us on track to figuring out what has been previously referred to as my son's "learning difficulties" (had those difficulties been a slightly milder type, I think AAS would have taken us all the way), but I am so so hopeful for my son's progress to continue. We are also having a great time with our American History studies. Following Nicole's lead (from Journey for Excellence ), we are using the History of Us episodes as a base for our studies. So ...

We (my three boys, two grandsons, and hubby) were standing in front of a used bookstore waiting for our daughter to make her purchases and return. Mark (11yo) spies some picture books displayed in the front window. Mark loves his books. Our picture book reads are his friends. As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago, he came out of a public speaking class slightly embarrassed because he had not realized that "Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel" is not a cool answer to give when asked the question "what is your favorite book?" Looking at the books, he begins to reminisce as he recognizes many of the titles from our FIAR days. "Make Way for Ducklings", "Ping", "Wee Gillis" , and then... "Ferdinand"! Ferdinand got him going (as a matter of fact, Mark kind of reminds me of that bull!). But this is what made me pause- James (9yo) said he doesn't remember reading that book!!! No! Say it isn't so. I have been missing our FI...

I want to share this extremely useful and fun video, and also a sale on some great resources. Cute- huh? And a great explanation Early American history is pretty colorful!  Our first history installment with linked resources is here . And our history plans are here . Join in: 

In my life this week… We are trying to get the routine down. It is working... not so well!! The mindset is just not there. We are rusty at "routine"! In our homeschool this week… We have enjoyed our studies so far! We are up to reading, math, and history . We take things slow to begin the school year.  For some reason Mark thought our history lesson was just hysterical! We played "make ten" go fish with our guest, who comes over once a week to "play math". I asked James to join us- Mark just thought we looked like we were having fun!  I was reminded of the idea for this game while reading Let's Play Math (priced seriously inexpensively as it is the beta version). We used Dis*ney Uno cards- a serious plus as our guest is a huge Dis*ney fan!  Helpful homeschool tips or advice to share… It's all about the routine!! I don't mean scheduled down to the minute, but a household that runs smoothly. Well, smoot...

I am almost done!! With the school room that is.  The red background photos are **not** the present day school room, but from when I still had a preschooler or two! In the switch from Kodak to Shutterfly, I found a "school room" album. I used to do weird things like staying up way too late organizing and then send my sister pictures of the finished product (I wanted her to see the full splendor before the kids got to it!).  Oh! The memories! One of our favorite "rows" from Five in a Row, "The Pumpkin Runner". And those colorful baskets that have since blessed another family. Just peeking over the bottom of the lower left picture is a basket of audio books that I kept in our school room for James, who was the preschooler at the time.  These were the preschool activity bins that I put together. You can see in the first collage that there is a whole row of baskets along the top shelf. I am in the process of purging what's left of the...