Wrapping up Meal Planning

The last thing I did (and yes, I did this in one sitting) was to make a blank calendar and fill in meals for the rest of the month. Well, that's not the last thing I did, but it's the last piece of paperwork. Now obviously stuff is going to come up that will change this, but let me tell you what a relief it is to have this done!! It made grocery shopping a lot easier, and I feel a HUGE burden (aka stressor) lifted off my chest!

My next steps will be to compile all these recipes into one place which will involve copying and typing, make an ingredient list for each meal so I can refer to that when planning my grocery list, coming up with a few more weeks of different meals (may have to try some more recipes/brainstorm other things I've cooked), as well as come up with a list of sides to rotate among the meals. I am horrible with sides - if we get a main dish & veggie, we're lucky! BUT this is a huge start for me!! Hopefully this helps; I'm sure I'm not the only Mom/Wife who struggles in this area!

*Notes: Started this midweek of this week, & knew Alex & I would be going out for dinner on Saturday, so I prepped extra food yesterday for their dinner on Saturday. On the 18th we have some special activities planned in the evening, so I just planned an extra eating out to go along with it. I am hoping that this new meal plan will cut back on our eating out, which is a HUGE money waster for us. Enjoy & let me know how it goes for you!!

June 2013

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
				Roasted Chicken thighs	Chicken/corn chowder	Out for anniversary/kids eat Thursday leftovers
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Chicken pot pie	Taco salad	ABC Kids eat free	Hot chicken salad	Pork Tenderloin	Spaghetti	New: 3 cheese tomato tart (KAP p. 91)
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Out	Asian apricot chops	Out	Cheaters chicken/dumplings	Beef stew	Glenn – spaghetti? Or Meatballs/rice	New:
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
Roast Beef	Thin steak tacos	ABC kids eat free	Crock pot stuffing Chicken	New crockpot recipe	Brinner: Omelette bar	New:
30
Out

Meal Planning Continued

The next thing I did was make another table (I like tables.) with the meals I make filled into each category. I was surprised I could think of this many meals - usually when it's 4 p.m.,  & I'm scrambling to make dinner, I can only think of one or two.

As you can see, there are definitely some deficits in some categories, but that gives me direction for the NEW category.

Beef	Pork	Chicken	Crockpot	Pasta	Other
Thin steak tacos	Breaded Chops	Roasted chicken thighs	Roast Beef/beef stew	Various carbonera	Pizza
G. Beef tacos/taco salad	Asian Apricot Chops	Almond/chip chicken	Pork Tenderloin	Spaghetti	Soup
Meat Loaf	Italian chops/asparagus	Poppyseed chicken	Creamy CP chicken	Lasagna	Chicken Meatballs/Rice
Meat Balls/noodles		Chicken pot pie	Stuffing Chicken	Beef Stroganoff
		Chicken parmesan	Chicken parmesan	Spaghetti pie
		Chicken Fajitas	Pineapple Pork
		Cheaters Chicken & Dumplings

Meal Planning

You'd think as much as I like to plan, I'd enjoy meal planning more, but I hate it!! I think it stems from the fact that I don't particularly enjoy eating or cooking! LOL Anyway, I needed to get it under control so sat down for a few hours the other day and devised a system. . . end result? Meals planned for the rest of June!

Here's what I did (& hopefully can copy/paste into this blog so you can see it). First I devised a biweekly rotation of TYPES of meals (i.e. chicken this day, crock pot this day). Some explanation first: There's a restaurant in our area, Atlanta Bread Company, that serves soup, salad, & sandwiches. Tuesdays & Sundays after 4 p.m. KIDS EAT FREE with adult purchase, so I like to take advantage of that regularly. If it's just the kids & I, we can eat for about $8. Add Daddy & it's about $15. We like to eat out on Sundays (My husband & usually kids work on the bus route, so get done much later than I get out of church), so I balance eating out on Sundays with Kids Eat Free night! :) We are somewhat tired of the things I make all the time (like when I don't plan meals, so there's room in here for new recipes).

Hmm, I could add from my doc but not can't type beneath it, so have to start a new post to continue.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Home//Favorite	Beef	ABC Kids Free	Chicken	Crockpot	Pasta	New
Out	Pork	Brinner	Chicken	Crockpot	Other	New
Home//Favorite	Beef	ABC Kids Free	Chicken	Crockpot	Pasta	New
Out	Pork	Brinner	Chicken	Crockpot	Other	New

Try, try again

So, there's been a break in my posts, because right around the time of my last posts, I started to be really sick. . .turns out I was pregnant with our 3rd child! This was very exciting news for us because we'd been wanting another child since Will was about 18 months old (You might remember our failed attempt at adopting the following year.) While having almost a 6 year gap between my second & third child was NEVER in my plans, God's way is best, and I am thankful for the way we have seen Him reveal Himself to us during this time of waiting.

The past 4 months have been a whirlwind. . which dragged on & on for awhile. . .of being sick, in lots of pain, finishing up our first year of homeschooling, trying to get my stress under control, etc. It's been crazy, but lately I am feeling better (nausea gone most of the time) and starting to have more energy. Lately I have also been working on managing my stress (I tend to be high-strung & stress out easily, not over big things, but over little things). Part of that has been learning to relax (Relaxing is very, very hard for me), as well as working on getting our house systems in order (partly to reduce stress, partly in preparation for the baby). Relaxing means having some ME time, so I am more committed to try, try again, at blogging more regularly - my goal is at least once/week. Please follow/subscribe; if I know there are people reading it, it makes it easier to write!

Lately I've been reading more blogs than books, so you may see some sharing from other places, besides paper pages. The main purpose of my blog is to bless others with things that have been blessings to me, so again, be prepared to see some new things from time to time.

Part 4B - A Reason for Spelling

I had intended to write about both the writing & spelling in my last post, but it was getting so long (& I was out of time) that I decided to write a separate post about spelling. My son Alex has been doing Level C of A Reason for Spelling this school year (2nd grade). I placed him into Level C because of his placement test results. Yes, this curriculum has placement tests for spelling. Sample lessons & placement tests There are so many things I love about this curriculum that I am hard-pressed to name them all, so I'll stick to several.

1. Research-based activities: As an educator who loves to research, I loved seeing the objectives of the curriculum and the reasons behind them. In fact, there is a bibliography page of their research in the teacher notes.
2. Teacher notes: The Teacher Guidebook contains a HUGE amount of notes & helps, including helps for ESL students. 
3. Language Arts connection: Each lesson begins with a character story, and language arts skills are applied with the spelling words in activities such as proof-reading, alphabetizing, and other word forms. Oh! Can't forget the journaling activities. 
4. Variety of practice: My son's former curriculum required him to orally spell the words and write them. That was all. Bo-ring! There are many different activities in each lesson. In fact I'd think that you'd be hard pressed to do them all, so it's nice to have a good selection to choose from. My favorite part of the activities in the learning style practice. Each week the teacher is given 4 different activities to in general, visual, auditory, and tactile styles. My son is an auditory learner, but I like mixing it up and giving him practice in other styles as well. 
5. Christian-based: Each week has a verse (same verse as in corresponding A Reason for Writing textbook) as well as a character story/lesson that is emphasized in the lesson. 

Those are some of my favorite aspects of A Reason for Spelling. I am very happy with it and have already ordered Alex's materials for next school year (Pre-owned from www.abebooks.com too to save $$). Please check them out at their site www.areasonfor.com or your favorite textbook retailer, such as Rainbow Resource where I just won a $25 gift card for my review of this curriculum on their site! My Rainbow Resource Review

Part 4A - A Reason For published by The Concerned Group

I cannot remember if I found A Reason For curriculum while searching for new spelling or new writing material for my second grader Alex, but we now use both, as well as their writing curriculum for Will. Here is some information about their company from their website. ARF site

The Concerned Group Mission Our Mission is to Equip Teachers and Inspire Students. Our Primary Focus is to Publish and Distribute Educational Resources that meaningfully incorporate Scripture Values and provide options for Differentiated Instruction. Our Ultimate Goal is to point to God as the source of all wisdom, and to make learning fun for life.

In addition to the spelling & writing materials we use, A Reason For also includes science (Alex will use next year.) and guided readers (I am actually not familiar with that term.). 

First I will discuss the writing program. One plus is that there is just one Teacher's Edition for grades K-6, although I am not sure how much use you would get from it past the early grades. It does however, contain very helpful early writing information and helps. 

Will has been using the level K book this year, which is manuscript. (My son Alex learned cursive first and has beautiful cursive writing, but cannot form all manuscript letters correctly, so I wanted Will to learn manuscript first.) Each lesson consists of a 2 sided-paper with letter practice on the front and a coloring page on the back. For example the letter E may have an eagle to color. What's neat is that the Teacher's edition contains information about each animal/thing (All are pictures of things God created.) as well as optional additions to the picture (such as: glue on a feather). Lower case letters are introduced and periodically reviewed first, then uppercase. There are fewer lessons that a whole school year, allowing teachers/parents to choose when a child is "ready" to write. The book begins with pre-writing skills. I found the size of the writing to be about 1.5 times larger than the first Manuscript writing program I had tried, which was a good size for the developmental level of Will's fine motor control at the beginning of the year. (Research shows that boys develop fine motor control later than girls.) See curriculum samples here. Handwriting curriculum samples

The program starts with Level K, then moves to A which is approximately first grade. Levels K, A-B are manuscript with a T (transitional) Level to transition from manuscript to cursive. If you click on the samples link above, you can select Level T sample lesson to get more information on making the transition. Levels C-F are entirely in cursive & correspond to grades 3-6. I use Level C for my second grader because he already knows how to write in cursive. However, the line spacing is smaller than what he was doing at the beginning of the year in ABeka, so that took some adjustment period, as well as learning some new strokes on some of the letters. (ABeka cursive is very "loopy.") 

As the name implies, students are giving "A Reason for Writing," which I really liked, rather than just pages upon pages of random text. Each week's lesson Days 1-4 in on a 2-sided sheet. Students practice letters and words from the Scripture thought of the week on Days 1-3. On Day 4, students trace the entire thought On Day 5, students choose a border sheet from the back of the book and write the thought in their best writing. Then they color the border. Students are encouraged to share the completed sheet as a way of ministering to others. Wow! I love that what is usually a boring, tedious subject has been changed into a way our kids can minister to others! The Scripture thought is a paraphrase from The Living Bible, chosen for its simple vocabulary. Parents/teachers are encouraged to look up the verse in the version of the Bible they use at home.

As  KJV only user, I struggled with how to explain this to my son, but ended up simply telling him this was a paraphrase, and since it was not a direct quote from the Bible we use, we would not include the reference. I think that works. It also gave me a chance to discuss the need for care to not change the meaning of the Bible and stuff like that. Overall I have been really happy with this program and plan to use it again next year. 

Part 3 - Alpha Omega Publications

Before I began homeschooling, I had heard of AOP, but was not familiar with them. When I first saw them at a homeschool convention, I actually was confused by their different brands, but as I began to investigate, I became a quick fan!

Unlike many other "one size fits all" textbook publishers, AOP has several brands of materials, which allows users to customize their homeschooler's education in a way that works best. (Yep, you can see already why I like AOP.) Like A Beka and Bob Jones, they offer an accredited homeschool program. They even offer student IDs and "school" merchandise. How fun! You can get more info on the Academy here. AO Academy info Their brand options include Monarch, which is online, Switched-On Schoolhouse, which is on CD-Rom, Lifepac, mastery based and  independent work-styled (I think of it as ACE with instruction!), Weaver, which is unit based so the whole family can study together, and Horizons, which uses a short-spiral method and workbooks. Check them all out at www.aophomeschooling.com.

As you may have gleaned from my blog, my youngest son Will is gifted in mathematics. He is the reason we are homeschooling, because I did not feel the traditional classroom would be a good fit for him. He is also very active and a hands-on learner, so I searched for awhile to find a math curriculum that would be a good fit for him. I chose Horizons and love it so much that his brother will do it next year as well. Some things I love about the Horizons math program:

• The short spiral - I think I actually prefer spiral-based learning over mastery, although I haven't really done as much research on the matter as I'd like (Yes, I love to research.) There is a simple explanation in this article. Choosing a Math Curriculum (be careful of the ads on this page). Spiral learning provides a wide variety of topics, which I think is good for younger children. Plus there is a lot of review. Horizons has a very definite approach to their spiral - you can see it all planned out in the teacher edition. 
• The colorful variety of activities on each page - Again, Will is completing several different activities on each page, which helps keep his interest. The pages are very colorful, and they do not include any explanation, just practice. The teacher's edition provides the instruction and review activities, and is quite thorough, even down to goals & objectives for each lesson. You can see a sample of the student book here. Math grade 1 student page sample (Yes, my K4 student is in first grade math. See why we're homeschooling?
• The placement test - AOP offers a variety of placement tests for their curriculum, which really helps parents determine the best grade level for their child. This is great for gifted or slow learners, as well as students transferring from another style curriculum. See the options here. Placement tests
• The emphasis on manipulatives - Will is a hands-on learner and needs to "see" how things work. Once  he gets it, he's got it. For example place value - seeing the group of 10 straws helped him visualize what "groups of 10" meant. I had to show him ONE TIME, but he has to physically see or handle it for it to stick. I will add here that I recommend getting manipulatives as you go along, rather than all up front. I used a list of suggested items to purchase a bunch of stuff when I bought the curriculum, but haven't used most of it yet, and some lessons he did not need the manipulative at all. Here is a great place to pick up the manipulatives though. www.rainbowresource.com

We have had such success with the Math program, that I have also ordered their Phonics & Reading and Health programs for Kindergarten next year. 

For Will, I have also been using Lifepac's K Language Arts this year, which covers phonics, reading, some basic grammar topics, writing, and skills like color and shape identification. The material is not introduced as quickly as in the Horizons curriculum, which is why I chose Lifepac for K4 and will do the Horizons in K (Horizons does offer what looks to be a really excellent preschool curriculum.) 

The K Language Arts seems different than the older grades' materials, but I like the idea of Lifepac - independent work + an instructor. As stated in their Scope & Sequence Lifepac S&S their curriculum is "not a self-study course." When I think of self-study curriculum, I think of Accelerated Christian Education (ACE). Some aspects are similar, like the self-tests and tests for each unit, but there is teacher instruction as well, albeit more limited than say Horizons.  Ten units comprise a year, but the units can be purchased separately or mixed & matched between grade levels. Lots of options with Lifepac.

Will's K Language Arts course is a little bit different though; obviously a non-reader cannot do much independent work. His is comprised of 2 workbooks and a teacher's guide. Each lesson has the main teaching suggestions as well as a lengthy list of extended activities. I LOVE this, because it allows me to vary the way I present the material. There are some activities I do with each lesson, others I do from time to time. There are activities for different ability levels as well. One I have tried several times, and Will is just not ready for that, so we'll try again in a few weeks (have to keep reminding myself he is in K4 and doing mostly advanced work, but isn't advanced in some areas). 

As a homeschooling mom of two (so far) I recognize that the time will come that they will need to do more independent work that what they are doing now. In light of that, I am working towards Alex being able to work independently. We are going to try Lifepac's 3rd grade History & Geography next year, so I will be able to comment on the regular Lifepacs then. But I like what I see so far in the sample material, as well as the one I ordered used from used book powerhouse ABE Books.ABE I am not familiar with AOP's other brands, but please comment if you have used them. There is plenty of information on the AOP website, such as a comparison of all the brands and samples of teacher editions and student workbooks. Thanks for reading! Part 4 will be coming soon, featuring the "A Reason For" curriculum from The Concerned Group.