Homeschool Mother’s Journal–Week of 9/10/12

Monday: Beginning of week 6. I spent the previous week working on school schedules. I’m fairly sure that I’ve got it all down well. I’ve added a few books to each of the kids’ workload which adds some to my workload  School was finished by 2pm. Perfect. And almost perfect attitudes as well.  

Lee will start WealthQuest for Teens today (a review item). It will most likely be later in the day. Much later. *Note, this didn’t actually happen until Thursday because first she was sick then I was sick.

We had scones for breakfast with coffee. Yum.

We don’t have any plans to go any where today, although Lee did get some birthday money from a long time friend of the family and wants to go spend it. Nope, not today.

Dinner is vegetarian. Well at least meatless. It’s noodles with a white ‘garlic’ sauce, a bit like alfredo I suppose, and peas.

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Tuesday: Forgot to record what happened on this day. School was alright. We got everything done but Lee wasn’t feeling well so she didn’t babysit. Fox had had insomnia the night before which leads to somewhat poor attitude the next day.

We had meat and cabbage for dinner. It was a recipe my sister gave me that originally is for cabbage rolls. Well, it seems my sis and I think alike; a recipe is simply a loose guideline She tweaked the original recipe and I tweaked her tweaked recipe. It turned out so good that we have less leftovers than I’d hoped.

We went to the store and library. Lee got some birthday money the day before so she had to spend some. Just had to. She also put most of it in the bank. I had to buy a new mouse. By the way, if you want to look at more than one computer mouse, is it still ‘mice’ or is it then ‘mouses’? My computer thinks it’s definitely not the second!

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Wednesday: Got my Math911 review done, just in time. It was a difficult review for me to write for some reason.

It’s already 8:15 and the kids are not up yet. Tsk tsk. Lee is to make pancakes for breakfast. Guess I’ll wake her up. …She got up but we had the pancakes we made last week and put in the freezer (for just a day like this). She still isn’t feeling very well and didn’t get everything I’d put on her list for school done.

We had leftover from dinner last night for lunch. Lee declared it delicious. Dinner tonight is spaghetti (without meat) with garlic bread (just slices of bread with butter and garlic powder).

I mowed the front and back lawn today because the next two days are supposed to be not so nice. We didn’t mow last week because it was too wet; we had a mini-jungle

I got an email letting me know that a product for a review that is coming up has shipped- it’s for me. I’m really excited about it, too. I’m reading over at the AO forum. Also just received two books I bought (inexpensively, of course!).Still working on a few review books. Signed up for the Good Morning Girls Colossians study that lasts 8 weeks, starting September 17.

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Thursday: I was sick and slept most of the day. The kids were very good about their school, getting started and done without hardly a word from me.

We had grilled burgers, franks and steaks for dinner. Dh and ds had the steaks (which were maybe 4 oz), both also had a hotdog and ds had a burger. He’s a growing teenager. I had a hotdog and a burger (was starving after sleeping all day). Lee had a hotdog. The hotdogs are huge, the burger so not. For the side we had a potato…thing. They come frozen and say they are au gratin potatoes but they don’t really taste like it.

That’s all I recall about that day!

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Friday: We had to go grocery shopping today. That meant figuring out the weekly meals. I have kept all the previous weeks we’ve been doing our weekly shopping so I often just copy one of those weeks. There are none the same though. Next week we will be having crockpot lasagna for Lee’s birthday dinner. We went shopping and spent $32 for the week. I think it was $32 –or so- last week as well. The first week was crazy at $140 but we had to buy dishwasher soap and some other non-food items that hike up the cost. Oh and our ‘staples’; had to restock flour, ketchup, mayo, etc. Even so, we are at just over $200 for 3 weeks; if the trend continues the last week should be fairly the same. Our total would be about $240 for a month of groceries for a family of four. Not bad, I say.

I received the big box from the National Tax Training School and am e.x.c.i.t.e.d to start it! Not to mention the binder the course comes in is huge and I love 3-ring binders! And received Fox’s own copy of How to Read A Book. We’ll be starting that this year. It’s a great book.

School was.. done… mostly I’ll post that here since I didn’t make a separate one for today’s school. I don’t think I will continue the daily posts; perhaps back to weekly, or every other day. Maybe. Or maybe work on a post throughout the week but only publish it once a week. Whoa. What would once a month look like? Hmmm.

Y9 –Lee (10th grade)
Bible: reading- 1 Samuel 1 (narration); verse- recited Ephesians 6:10-18, read, wrote and recited Galatians 5:16-17
Foreign Language: Latin (First Form, Quiz 25, oral)
History/Geography: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (historical fiction about the Salem Witch Trials); The Royal Road to Romance, ch 7 & 8
Math: Geometry, pg 31 (Mastering Essential Math Skills)
English (Literature): Tale of a Tub by Jonathon Swift, Preface (narration)
Art/Music: Picture study of La Loge (The Theater Box?) by Renoir; introduction to The Romantic Period
Home Ec: chores (dishes, vacuuming); WealthQuest for Teens (did this Thursday as well)
Current Events: 1 story (various online news sources: Student Daily News, CNN student news, NY and Washington Times, Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), Worldmag.com), recorded

Y7Lite –Fox (8th grade)
Bible: reading- Judges 14 (narration); verse- recited Psalm 51:1-8
Foreign Language: Latin (First Form, Quiz 25, oral)
Geography: Seterra; The Brendan Voyage, ch 3 (narration)
Math: Algebra (No-Nonsense Algebra, Lesson 2-5, #9-16, review #3-4)
English (Grammar & Penmanship): Jensen’s Grammar, Test 9; Pictures in Cursive, Book E
Art/Music: Picture study of La Loge (The Theater Box?) by Renoir; introduction to The Romantic Period
Home Ec: chores (dishes, sweeping)
Current Events: 1 story (various online news sources: Student Daily News, CNN student news, NY and Washington Times, Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), Worldmag.com), recorded

We were going to do nature study but…it’s raining. Lee says that nature refuses to be ‘studied’ by me but I’m thinking it’s trying to get me out of my comfort zone. What’s a little rain, right…?

Also, I , yes *I*, misplaced The Problem of Pain so Lee couldn’t work on that today. Bad me. Bad. And I don’t even recall picking it up. But I know I did because I remember thinking I was going to.

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I’m going to post our coming week’s meal plan here as well (we do plan out ‘snacks’ as well but I’ll not put them here)-
Saturday- Breakfast: Cold cereal
Lunch: Salad with cheese and tea
Dinner: Creamed meat over rice with veggies, milk or juice to drink

Sunday- Breakfast: Eggs and toast with juice (coffee for me!)
Lunch: Meat and cheese sandwiches with juice or tea
Dinner: Grilled ‘stuff’ (meat of some sort) with side salad, tea or milk

Monday- Breakfast: Scones with coffee (becoming a tradition this school year)
Lunch: Tuna sandwiches with juice
Dinner: Pasta with ‘garlic’ white sauce and veggies, tea

Tuesday- Breakfast: Granola with yogurt or milk
Lunch: Rice “stew” with beans, juice
Dinner: Pizza, tea

Wednesday- Breakfast: Omelets or scrambled eggs with cheese, juice
Lunch: Meat sandwiches, juice or tea
Dinner: Salad with cheese, tea

Thursday- Breakfast: Muffins with juice
Lunch: Leftovers (I’m sure there will be some; if not, we’ll figure it out)
Dinner: Crockpot lasagna, peanut butter drizzled cheesecake, moose tracks ice cream (Lee’s birthday dinner)

Friday- Breakfast: Scones (special request from Lee since it’ll be her birthday)
Lunch and dinner aren’t planned since Lee and I won’t be here. The guys will be on their own

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Things on my mind that I’ve not already mentioned: I’ve not linked up anywhere for any of my posts of any kind for a long time. I also don’t have any pictures to put in my post. For some reason those two things are sad for me.

I very rarely finish what I start. Well, I finish breakfast or dinner But larger projects. Or maybe it’s smaller projects. I mean projects like trying to read so many books by a certain date; trying to finish *one* book; trying to be active in discussions. Trying to find a ‘passion’. I give up way too easily.

I think that’s about it for the week. Tomorrow Fox has community service but I don’t have any plans. I should make plans to do deep cleaning; we have a lot of spiders lately. Shudder.

Hoping to link up this time with a few places. If I do, I’ll link them here.

Meal Planning...a first!

Here it is Wednesday evening already. Where has the week gone? 

Is it just me or does this year seem to be zooming faster than last year?? Oh well, no matter, it is what it is.

I'm going to start with this: God is good no matter how bad life gets. Well, my life is actually pretty good and God is even better. He's carried me through when I make mistakes, when I blunder along and when I do things that later I think oh, I shouldn't have done that! He is always there and He provides for us in every way. God is awesome.

This week has been a fairly busy one and that's why I've not been around. I've been adding things to my Etsy shops (BlossomBs, Kidchen Gnomes & Lossolleff), been trudging along with my school work and plugging along with doing school with the kids. You'll hear more about the school with the kids on Friday. 

I've also been making up my menu- for the entire month. This is something I tried to do last month but didn't do as well as I wanted. The main reason for planning was initially to save on the grocery bill. The other reason was that I was tired of looking in the fridge/freezer/cupboard 30 minutes before dinner and having no idea really what to make. I've read about others that do menu planning and I'm always interested in what they are having. It looks so much more interesting than our usual of burritos, sphaghetti or chicken with vegetables. 

Here is my months menu. Anywhere it has (x2) means that during the 2 weeks we will have it twice; usually once each week rather than in one week. And the lists are for reference. So if I want Eggs on Monday then I can make them again on Saturday if I really wanted to. When I went shopping it was a tremendous help to keep me from buying stuff that I wasn't sure I needed.

Ready?

Breakfast:

1st 2 weeks:

Scones with fruit and milk

Omelet with juice

Oatmeal with fruit

Eggs with toast and juice (x2)

Yogurt with fruit or granola (x2)

Coffee Cake with milk

Cold cereal with fruit (x2)

Waffles with fruit and milk

Grits with eggs and juice

Muffins (with fruit) with milk

French toast with juice

2nd 2 weeks:

Eggs with toast and juice

Cold cereal with fruit (x2)

Oatmeal with fruit and milk (x2)

Scones with fruit and milk

Yogurt with fruit &/or toast

Coffee cake with milk

Omelet with juice

Waffles with juice

Grits with eggs and juice

French toast with juice

Pancakes with fruit and milk

Farina with fruit and milk

Lunch:

1st 2 weeks:

Sloppy Joes

Mac & Cheese

Tuna Turnovers

Personal Pizzas (x2)

Hot Dogs with beans (x2) (I keep forgetting the baked beans though!)

Tuna sandwiches

PB & Banana or Honey sandwich with milk

Salad with chicken

Burritos

Chili Mac

2nd 2 weeks:

Quesadilla with tea

Meat sandwich with juice

Salad with chicken

Tomato soup with grilled cheese

Tuna Tortillas

PB & J sandwich (x2)

Salad with tuna

Sloppy Joes

Mac & Cheese

Personal Pizza

Tuna Sandwich

Burritos (x2)

Dinner:

1st 2 weeks:

Chicken Enchiladas

Pork chops with biscuits and veggies

Bean soup (x2) with cornbread or cheese spoon bread

Pot roast

Chicken with veggies

Spaghetti with garlic bread

Pork stew

Creamed chicken over rice

Meatloaf with veggies and biscuits

Chili

Cabbage Rolls

Chicken and veggies

Pizza

2nd 2 weeks:

Fish with salad 

Chicken and veggies

Chili w/ cornbread

Turkey Burgers and salad

Creamed chicken over mashed potatoes

Beef stew

Bean soup with cornbread

Burritos

Chicken Enchiladas

Pot Roast

Pizza

Sloppy Joes

Chicken and veggies (x2)

Snack Options:

1 apple & 1 string cheese (water)

dried fruit and 1 string cheese or 1 serving crackers (we have Wheat Thins, Animal Crackers, Cheezits, Ritz and saltines to choose from) (water)

1 apple & 1 serving of crackers (milk)

1 string cheese and 1 serving of crackers (juice)

1 carrot and 1 string cheese (water)

1 carrot and 1 serving of crackers (milk)

scoop of pb and milk

1 piece of bread with pb (juice)

1 piece of bread & 1 string cheese (juice)

sliced apple with pb (milk or water)

Something else that I've been trying to do is eat less meat and more wholesome foods. In my menu it looks like there is a meat in just about every meal! Not quite what I had in mind when I thought about cutting back. But some of those things- such as spaghetti, pizza, chili, even sloppy joes -can be made meatless. At first, honestly, I anticipate grumbles in my house. And no, I don't intend to use tofu- my poor hubby would starve because he wouldn't eat it! Haha! No, I intend to use beans- black, pinto, navy, great northern, but no garbanzo (again, hubby dislikes...picky man! heehee jk)- to replace the meat. Sometimes though, nothing else will be needed. Spaghetti is just fine with only sauce and pizza is good with lots of cheese and olives.

And for breakfast items, I am using more whole wheat products. I have almost always used whole wheat at some point and in differing amounts. Now I am making it more whole wheat than other flours. I am using honey also in place of the sugar and coconut oil in place of hydrogenated fats (you know, Crisco) and butter in cooking. I love butter though so that's a tough one. Can always have some butter on my whole wheat toast :) A problem with using wholesome ingredients for making foods is that it can be expensive :(

I think I've mentioned the More with Less Cookbook but there are two others that I use, but no where near as frequently. The Taste of Home Cookbook from Taste of Home Books and Reader's Digest. It is handy sometimes but it doesn't really help with how to make things from scratch often. It says to buy a can of cream of chicken soup when a recipe calls for something like a white sauce. It can be made super easily at home- that's where my More with Less comes in handy. The other book that I use for biscuits, scones, breads and those types is Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. It's definitely not the 1930s version! My mom has one that is older than mine and it's interesting how things have changed even in 10 years! I think hers is a lot older than 10 years. Anyway, I love that cookbook almost as much at the More with Less. And finally the cookbook that I use the absolute least is The Woman's Day Cookbook that was given to me by my aunt and cousins when I got married. I use this for one recipe and one only (at least for the last 14 years...). I still keep it around though because I can still never remember the recipe by heart.  Never know, I might someday find something else interesting in it!

So my meal planning took me a long time to complete. Probably a couple months. We usually eat the same things again and again and again and it gets so boring. The kids used to have cold cereal almost every single morning. Hubby still has, and possibly always will have, 2 eggs on Saturday and Sunday ;) Our lunches were not really much of lunches; we would look to see what was to 'munch' on and at call it lunch. 

I think that planning the meals has been a great help and will continue to be. I took inventory before I went shopping also and discovered 3 cans of salsa and 3 cans of spaghetti sauce! I would almost certainly have bought another when I went shopping had I not done the inventory first. Saved on some meat as well because I checked and we still had 2 bags of frozen chicken to use- I would have bought a few more. Not having to buy those things saved me at least $20.