This and That...

...Job News...
Ugh. So I posted last time about my job at the junior college being frozen due to decreased revenue. No summer work, and as it turns out, no fall work either. So I had to scramble to find something to keep ends meeting. I started working at Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago. At first, I wasn't sure if it would work out, even for the summer, as I was getting very minimal hours, as in about 10 each week. I applied, and interviewed, for a couple of other jobs, with no real success. Thankfully, today I had my first evaluation, which went very well, and I picked up a lot more hours for next week. By the time I got home from work today, they had called to see if I wanted more hours this week too, since they "really like" me. Of course I said YES! Phew!

I also have a job interview next Tuesday for an instructional assistant position in a middle school. If I can get that, and work as a tutor at the local university in the fall, I may be able to quit grocery again. We shall see!

...Job Training News...
I also mentioned that The Boy will be doing some job training soon. He'll be working in the café at the teen club, and will be learning interviewing skills, resumé building, etc. This program is free to club members, and comes with a $200 stipend at the end. He's got plans for that money already... buying an engine for his 1972 Chevy pickup... or perhaps rebuilding the engine it has, though option A seems more likely. He might also use a little of the money for barista training, so he can work on getting a job.

...In Our Homeschooling...
I've asked the kids to take on more responsibility for their schoolwork. I'm making a weekly assignment sheet, and they have from Saturday mornings to the following Friday at noon to get it all done. Of course, I am available for assistance, and we still read our book of the moment and watch documentaries together, but they will be doing their math, other reading, and writing largely on their own. We've also added audiobooks back into our circulation! We're going to finally finish the Percy Jackson series, then listen to The Lord of the Rings. I'm in the process of updating our Afternoon Basket page at last!

...Around the House, Kitchen, and Garden...
Since I'm working shifts that are all over the place, and M puts in 10-12 hour days, I'm working again on actually meal planning. We have a few vegetarian/plant-based dinners a week now, both for health and to save money, and then some meat a few times a week. I need to put my crockpot to good use!

We have a list of things to be done before mid-fall too, like tarring the family room roof to help with leaks, rototilling a big chunk of the backyard and amending the soil, etc. The Boy and The Girl will have to be my primary helpers. Decluttering continues, especially after we've started watching the documentary Minimalism.

We planted several tomatoes this year, along with plenty of peppers and onions, some squash, and some lemon cucumbers. All are thriving! The above-mentioned rototilling is part of our plan to put in a real garden next spring at long last.

...Random Pictures...
Just some recent and random pictures to wrap up this post!

Waiting for fireworks

A recent leaf drawing by The Girl

A trip to the beach on the fourth

Meet Ted, our new caterpillar!

Tuesday Musings...

I meant this to be a Monday Musings post, but ran out of time!


...Outside My Window...
We've had plenty of rainfall lately (yay!), but are getting a few days off, for everything to soak in and dry up a little. The fields have gone from a brown so dry and crispy that it looks like it might spontaneously combust at any moment to a rich, rich green. The skies are still and gray; it is chilly out. Little pools are forming here and there, and that's where the egrets gather.

...Around the House & Yard...
M has been hard at work, between rain showers, building my patio, and some planter boxes. We'll have a really lovely seating area by mid spring! I still have olives to pick, and then trees to prune—apple, olive, and cherry. After M finishes the patio area, we'll work on raised beds for veggies. And I need to work on the front yard design a bit more.

It looks like we'll also have a pretty decent-sized plumbing project coming up... the bathtub faucet won't stop dripping. I was able to stave it off for a while with new washers every month, but that's not working as well anymore, and the plumbing is so old that it is hard to get replacement parts. We'll have to tear out old (cheap) tile, and look at relining the shower/tub walls too.

...In the Kitchen...
We had a very lean couple of weeks food-budget-wise, which was actually good in that it got me really planning and thinking again, rather than just cooking whatever popped up in our minds. On Mondays, I work back-to-back jobs and attend a class (teaching writing to ELL students), so that will officially be our crockpot night! I also have to plan out packable lunches for The Boy, when he's off on his internship all day once a week.

...In Our Homeschooling...
History, through Downton Abbey, is going very well! At the rate of 2, and sometimes 3, episodes per week, we'll finish up all six seasons by the end of our school year in late June. We'll be working on finishing up the Romanov book over the next 3 weeks, and I have some movies and documentaries planned along the way. I'm trying to not overdo my planning this time!

The junior college, well... that didn't work out as well this semester. The intro to engineering class turned out, from the syllabus, to be an intro to the field of engineering—research on types of jobs, how to work toward getting them, etc. I am sure it would be a very useful class for a potential engineer, but it is not what The Boy is looking for at the moment. So he's taking a semester off from college, to focus on his studies at home, and his auto rebuilding. Also, last semester, he was so overwhelmed that he missed a few months of fencing, which he doesn't want to do again.

And we're seeking out a science focus for him. The online robotics course he found intriguing has a lot of higher level math, and he's just not quite there yet. We'll find it.. possibly biology (though that might be good for both kids for next year) or just an overview of science?  And he found something! Imagining Other Earths, from Coursera. It is both introductory and self-paced, wich he's happy about.


The Girl is doing pretty well with her dinosaur paleobiology course, and we're making progress with spelling. Math is going very well with both kids! And we're actually doing math 4-5 times a week!

...Reading and Watching...
Besides the Romanov book linked above, we're still reading A Wrinkle in Time, and we just started The Royal Road to Romance (which sounds cheesy, but is actually a fabulous travelogue from the 1920s). I'm reading The Death of Artemio Cruz, along with my students; various articles on  multilingual literacy and writing for my own class; and A Live Coal in the Sea by Madeline L'Engle for fun. The Girl is still deep in the world of Harry Potter, and The Boy has just about wrapped up Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard. 

Besides our Downton Abbey habit, The Boy and I are finishing Lost soon, and the kids have started watching The X-Files.

...Crafting...
I finished up another scarf, so I am in between knitting projects. The Girl has been doing a lot of clay crafting, some stop-motion, and plenty of painting recently. The Boy is working on landscapes in Blender.

...On the Agenda...
Fencing, derby (full practice schedule starts up the first week of February), college (for me), plenty of work, car repair internship, etc., etc., etc. We're always busy! Next week should be a little calmer though, as I don't have any scheduled doctor's visits for my dad (I have two this week... regular doctor and optometrist). I also want to check out Mango Languages, as our library offers access to it for free!

Speaking of my dad, we moved him this weekend. He's still in the same independent living facility, just in an apartment that is much closer to the dining room, and activity rooms. It took us (me, my sister and brother, my mom, The Boy, and The Girl) 7 hours to pack his one bedroom apartment up entirely, move it all, and unpack it again. Phew! We're hoping that between the move, the exercise classes he's started, and the physical and occupational therapy, he can stay where he is for a while to come.

I hope your week is good! I'll leave you with a nighttime picture I took of one of my mom's trees starting to bud out.

A Weekly Wrap-Up of Sorts...

We have been BUSY here lately! I can't wait for next week to be over, as I will then be on summer break. Well, sort of. I still have one tutoring student, am helping with an advanced English class at the local junior college, and am still sewing cat toys on the side. But I will be less busy, and that is good!

So here's a quick run-down on what we've been up to...

Exploring creek side trails

Watching the Peggy Sue Cruise

We saw so many beautifully kept/restored cars!

 And The Boy, with the help of his best friend, J, got to do a pretty major job on the car. They put on new front brake pads, which involved removed tires, a lot of pounding to get things loose, some tools borrowed from a neighbor (as some of ours are missing), and lots of grease, as you can see!

At least now my brakes are working well, and not grinding when I stop.

We've also been... 

watching movies (Excalibur and Mists of Avalon last weekend)

Enjoying a read aloud of Holes

Getting ready for M's birthday tomorrow

Preparing to celebrate summer at our park day, and then at home on Sunday (I think I'll make these muffins for Sunday's breakfast, and I am making this dip to go with strawberries for today's park celebration)

Rearranging parts of the house

I've also been fairly hard at work on the front yard. My brother-in-law, when he lived here, insisted on keeping a small patch of lawn out there, which he surrounded with bark... bark that brought bindweed with it (I am sure Jessica can sympathize). We had thought about a gravel and plant combo, but have decided bark, combined with grasses and flowering plants, would look nicest... if put over a weed cloth barrier. And I want to plant a Meyer lemon tree to compliment our very healthy olive tree. We also have well established lavender, rosemary, and sage to work around, as I like landscaping with herbs too.

image courtesy of dogislandfarm.com

So I have been tearing up dead lawn (thank you drought), removing bindweed, and daydreaming about something prettier.

Cooking-wise, the kids and I have been eating a lot of meat-free dinners when M is at work in the evenings. Inexpensive and healthy. Do you have any favorite vegetarian main dishes/meals to share? I'm always looking for new ideas!

Have a good weekend, and

A New Year...

I am hoping you all have a 

My New Year's Resolutions...

Organization

This includes finances, our home, homeschooling, meal planning, etc. I wrote about this topic in a whole post of its own!

Health

Pay more attention to my body (I'm reading Intuitive Eating for some guidelines on this)

Remember to take my supplements

Move every day. I love hiking, biking, swimming, roller skating, etc., and I want to have fun while getting healthier. I figure if I move every day, I am on the right path!

Personal

Start meditating more -- just a few minutes a day is better than none!

Work toward my personal and professional goals in 2015. Chances are strong that I will be laid off in June again, so this time I am going in prepared.

Start learning Spanish.

Expand my knitting repertoire.

Tools for Organization...

My keyword for 2015 is organization. My horoscope for the year says to continue with self improvement work I have been doing, that keeping a tight rein on finances will be beneficial, and that things will be improving over the year. After a difficult 2014, I hope even half of this is true!


So I've been looking around for tools to help me make some changes organizationally. I had tried FlyLady years ago, but the incessant emails were too much. It drove me batty (no offense meant).

Anyhow, so I've been casting about for organization tools (home, finances, menu planning, personal growth), and have found the following:

52 Weeks To An Organized Home: I like the idea of adding/doing one little thing each week (okay, so some of them are not so little). I like the idea of building those habits in over time.

Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps: Again, little and some not so little) steps that will make a big difference in the end, focusing on building a maintainable lifestyle and getting out of debt. I'm also looking at budget planning tools, such as BudgetSimple, or BudgetTracker, though I am certainly not opposed to using a printed/written version either.

For menu planning, I need to start actually looking at sales each week, make a list of staple foods to keep stocked (and then actually keep them stocked), and go from there. This article has some good tips, and then there are plenty of other menu planning resources out there.

As far as personal growth, I came across this book -- Life Makeovers: 52 Practical & Inspiring Ways to Improve Your Life One Week at a Time  -- at the library bookstore for fifty cents. Worth a try, I think!

And there you have it, my current list of tools for the new year, though I'll gladly take recommendations too!

Monday Musings...Much Thinking Going On...

We're taking a bit of a break right now from the rigors of homeschooling, to focus on getting our lives more organized. Part of that is thinking over, and rethinking over, what is working in our lives and what is not.

First, an easier one: menu planning. I found a lot of inspiration in this post from Kim over at Our Enchanted Place. With many evenings dedicated to practices (fencing, roller derby), hectic work schedules, and my college class(es), planning ahead is key. We've slowly settled into a rotation that works well for us:

Saturdays: this is one of the days I really have time to cook. Sometimes I'll roast a chicken, if we want the leftovers, or we tend to do a lot of our ethnic cooking on this day, such as curries, African stews, and more. In the summer, if M is home from work, this also tends to be a grilling outdoors kind of day.

Sundays: The Girl has derby until 6:30 pm most of the year. This is a great night for pasta during the colder months, and salads (containing pasta or not) in the warmer months.

Mondays: Soup during the colder months, sandwiches or salads during the warm ones, due to a busy Monday schedule and The Boy's fencing class. We use the crockpot a lot on Monday soup nights!

Tuesdays: Another day I actually get to spend time cooking, and often, The Girl helps. I am thinking of making this our learn to cook night--I'll take turns with the kids, letting them choose what to cook, making grocery lists, budgeting, and then doing the cooking.

Wednesdays: More fencing, so this is generally a quick-cooking sort of evening. We often have things like quesadillas, or tacos on Wednesdays. Sometimes, when M is home, he'll take over cooking this evening, and then we'll have omelets or a stir-fry.

Thursdays: A cook-ahead day, so things like casseroles or crockpot dishes beyond soup, as The Girl has a later derby practice most of the year.

Fridays: Sometimes the kids will spend Friday night at their Nonna's house, and then M and I have whatever we feel like (within reason of course..no Maine lobster and caviar!). On other Fridays, we have pizza night! I make a big batch of dough for crusts and freeze some, so pizza night is never too challenging. Toppings range from regular ones like pepperoni, to leftover chicken, roasted veggies, etc., depending on what flavor we want.

Then, homeschooling. I am coming up with new goals fro January through May, so I think I'll dedicate w post to that later in the week!

Thirdly, budgeting. I have good intentions in this area, I really do. But, somehow it never gets done -- writing and sticking to the budget that is, although I can't say we're spending in excess either. I'm reading Total Money Makeover at the moment, and M and I have been discussing how we are going to put it into practice. That is one of our major goals for 2015... to implement the tools used in the book. We want to model fiscal responsibility for our children, we want to tackle debt (which we have far too much of in my mind), and we want to start getting ready for the future, since we are both in our 40s.

Do you, my loyal reader(s), budget?

Other projects: I am working on a housecleaning rotation, and having the kids take more responsibility for helping with housework. Part of this is part of their education -- housekeeping, budgeting, cooking, etc., are all like skills in which I feel they should be well versed. M and I are listing household projects that need to be done, and then ranking them in order of importance (i.e. roof work = very important, rebuilding the chicken hutch = not as important).

Hope you all have a good week!

So, I guess you want the...

that I promised earlier this week. Well, I'm not telling.

Just kidding! I wanted to wait until we were 100% sure this was happening, as we have had our hopes up before, only to be sorely disappointed. Any suspense yet? The big news is this... after two years of unemployment--only one of which was covered by state unemployment insurance--culinary training, a couple of temp jobs, too many resumes sent out, any number of job interviews, etc., M has a job!!!! He starts tomorrow. He'll be working in the kitchen of a large, snazzy hotel, which has a full restaurant and room service. It is technically "part-time" but that's normal in the culinary industry, and they told him that if he is willing, they offer a good amount of overtime. The pay is a tad on the lower side, but IT IS EMPLOYMENT, so we are not complaining about that! We are simply relieved at this point... we both feel like we can breathe a little easier.

Truthfully, the last year has been incredibly hard financially. We barely scraped by in paying our mortgage (thanks in part to a loan from my generous brother), we had to delay paying the fencing instructor (who allowed The Boy to fence for two months on the promise we'd pay eventually, and we've already paid more than half of that), and we're on both Medi-Cal and food stamps. I do expect the food stamps benefit to be greatly reduced or even eliminated at this point, but it was incredibly helpful in restocking the pantry and freezer.

I've lain awake nights, worrying, calculating, re-calculating. How little could I pay on x to make sure y was covered? Last night's sleep was so much more restful.Yes, our budget will still be tight. I can manage tight, just not nonexistent. So...

In other news, The Girl will be skating in her first official bout this weekend! She found at at last night's practice that she made the roster--I haven't been hugged that tightly in a while! Her coaches told me, while both grinning from ear to ear, that she's totally earned this. She never misses practice (except when we had the flu and she literally couldn't stand for more than a few minutes without getting ill), did a summer derby boot camp, and tries really hard. I am smiling even as I type this! She is proud of herself, as she should be, and I am over the moon for her. It is so rewarding when hard work pays off.

I'll make sure to get some pictures at the bout!

I hope you all have a good weekend!

To Blog or Not To Blog...

I'm taking a blog break. I'm really enjoying my time with the kids, being at home, and all that, though financially we're holding on by a thread. Hoping that will change soon. And I'm still contemplating exactly how I want the upcoming school year to look. And contemplating what I want to do... school, career, etc.



In the meantime, we'll be swimming in the river, hiking shady trails, enjoying good books and evening movies, watching the red-shouldered hawks that moved into a neighbor's tree, watering the garden, visiting the farmer's markets, riding our bikes, and all that goes with summer.

Have a 

And I'll catch up with everyone again soon!

Tightwad Tuesday...

The kids and I have been watching Extreme Cheapskates, and can I just say... are these people crazy? Yes, I absolutely believe in being frugal, but you won't catch me collecting dryer lint at the laundromat, feeding my kids expired food (or shopping at any grocery store called "Dirty Don's"), and you certainly won't find me peeing in a jar.

So, having clarified that a little, what are some of your favorite frugal tips?

The Girl really wants to make a batch of homemade laundry soap (which she saw on 17 Kids & Counting), and I already make most of my own household cleaners. I am trying to decide which soap to use for the laundry soap... Fels Naptha, Zote, or Dr. Bronner's? I've read pros and cons on all of them. I think I am leaning toward the Dr. Bronner's, as it is a natural product, and I am not sure about the others. Plus I like some of the scents!

And we eat a lot of veggies and fruit, especially in season produce; buy bulk goods when we can; keep the heaters off most of the time; etc., but I am sure there are things we haven't thought of yet.

Any tips on saving money? What are your frugal habits? (And please, if it involves flushing only once a week, or eating goat heads, I'd prefer not to know)

Getting Ready....

Back to work and back to homeschooling next week! Wow, my time off has flown by!

So, in homeschooling, we're sticking with blocks, but adding back in the Afternoon Basket. I'm trying to structure our days with an eye to establishing a sense of daily rhythm, something along the lines below...

Sundays:
Afternoon Basket selection
Art project while listening to music

Mondays through Thursdays:
Afternoon Basket selection
Math
Language Arts (I'm working on organizing my thoughts/approach here)
Block Study/Independent Studies

I think starting each day with some reading will get the kids grounded and ready to go. And maybe this way we will finally finish The Magic of Reality! It will also allow us to return to reading Richard Halliburton's Complete Book of Marvels, which we love, and I can introduce the kids to philosophy. I think scheduling in art time on Sundays will work well too.

On another note, did you make New Year's resolutions this year? I have two... keep the house clean, and organize our finances better. No diet resolutions, unless you count the anti-diet approach as a resolution!

Hope your holidays went well!

This, That, and the Other Things...

Just bits and pieces today...

The Boy has decided not to do track at this point, which is good for me because that would have made a couple of my evenings each week crazy busy. He chose not to do it because it would interfere with something that has been a goal of his for the last two and a half years... and that is to join the Civil Air Patrol! He'll finally be old enough this spring, and meetings are on Monday nights, as is track practice. [On a side note, I'm mad at the track people anyhow, so this works for me. When we joined in the fall, we paid $75. Then for a multitude of reasons, we had to drop out. I notified the coach and board, and a month later, they deposited the check anyhow. And they won't apply any of that money to the spring session. Enough griping though!]

Luckily for both The Boy and myself, at the end of March, they are moving The Girl's roller derby practice to late Sunday afternoons, so Monday evenings will be free and clear for CAP meetings! I have already contacted them, and he has to attend 4 meetings before joining, which we can do over the month leading up to his birthday. Oh, and he might be returning to piano lessons!

We're coming up on a milestone... The Girl will be TEN in just a few weeks! We're planning a small party at a park for her, with a few of her friends in attendance, and maybe a couple of The Boy's friends too, to keep him happily occupied. I think she wants a piñata, filled with organic lollipops, fruit treats, trinkets, and so forth. And a four-layer cake, chocolate with strawberry filling and vanilla icing. We were toying with an Alice in Wonderland theme, but aren't positive yet, although we'd better get cracking on this!

The Boy will be in his first fencing tournament this upcoming weekend. It is just a small, in-house tournament... a good way for him to get his feet wet. He's pretty excited about it! His coach stressed that this is about learning and having fun, not necessarily winning, which I really appreciate.

I was reading Kim's Year of the Garden post, and it got me thinking about our own garden, which we are in the midst of preparing for and planning. We'll be growing:
sugar snap peas
green beans
corn
tomatoes (lots of tomatoes!)
bell peppers and chili peppers
squash - summer/zucchini
lettuces
lots of herbs - we have rosemary and thyme year 'round, then we'll add in basil, dill, chives, cilantro, etc.
potatoes
chard
spinach
eggplant perhaps (I'm the only one that like it)
cucumbers
nasturtiums and violas

And when we transition into fall, I'd like winter squash, broccoli, kale, chard, onions, beets, radishes, and so on. We're aiming for year-round growing, which is entirely possible in northern California.

And we're getting some artichoke plants this weekend! A friend of a friend of a friend is dividing his, so we're getting three. They'll actually go out in the front yard along a section of the fence.

In case you're wondering since it hasn't appeared in this post, homeschooling this week? Ummmm... the less said, the better. It just has been one of those weeks. I think though that I have decided against the Project Passport: Middle Ages that I mentioned earlier in the week, in favor of other hands-on things, like making gargoyles, a stained glass art project, and building a model of a castle, etc.

I did order some fun stuff though, namely a butterfly kit with live caterpillars, a ladybug larvae refill kit, and a praying mantis egg sack!

We're also getting ready for a couple of things, one being The Great Backyard Bird Count (starts tomorrow!), and the other is the National Mythology Exam, which we received in yesterday's mail. The Boy is really excited about taking this test!

Before I go (enough rambling!!!), I did want to wish you a

It's That Time of Year!

I visit, off and on, a couple of homeschooling message boards, and it is that time of year once again - everyone is talking about their curriculum choices for fall... what they'll be buying, should they get this or that, and so on.

There are a few things I plan on buying with my upcoming tax refund, and a couple I am not sure about. Much of what we'll be using this fall is simply what we're using now!

Books/Literature:
Between the titles from A Picture Perfect Childhood and the Core Knowledge Trade Books list, plus my own list, I think we have plenty of choices for reading, so nothing to buy there! I do have the goal of reading through The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but we own those already.

Math:
I do have to buy some math stuff, namely more Life of Fred books. I buy these on an as needed basis.

Language Arts:
I am not buying anything in this category. I already own Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons; Winston Grammar; English From the Roots Up; Getting Started With Latin; Igniting Your Writing; The Paragraph Book #1; The Natural Speller; Comprehensive Composition; and probably a few more I am forgetting about. Wait... I might buy some more Explode the Code books, but then again if The Girl's reading really takes off, I probably won't.

History:
We'll be continuing with K12's Human Odyssey. When we finish volume 1, I will want to buy volume 2. I am slowly collecting the World in Ancient Times set, second-hand, and the World in Medieval & Early Modern Times. At some point, I might buy Volume A of The Concise History of US by Joy Hakim, to complement the K12 books. My big internal debate is this...

Project Passport: The Middle Ages

If I buy it, will we use it? It looks like fun, but it also looks like possible busy work. I'll have to think on this one some more.

Science:
I'll be continuing with good books and correlated hands-on, and of course, random hands-on as well. I think we might buy, for this spring, some ladybug larvae, caterpillars, praying mantis eggs... things of that sort, but no curriculum. Maybe a family membership to the California Academy of Sciences?

Other:
Art supplies are high on my list. I have a three-drawer dresser in my dining room that I would love to turn into an art supply center!

I think that's it. We'll need supplies along the way for science, any history projects, etc., but no actual curriculum materials, unless you count Life of Fred!

A Little Late to the Game...

But better late than never, right? So I am joining in on

From Pam's blog, "Over the next two weeks we will be laying out some of our biggest trouble areas, attempting to make some changes, and reporting back on how things are going."

Here goes nothing!

My area to change first is consistency. We're inconsistent with homeschooling (and housework). So, my goal is to sit down and hit the books at least 4 days each week, and spend part of my afternoon time on housework, with the kids pitching in each day, starting today, and staying on target for at least the next two weeks.

Normally today would be about prepping for the week ahead. Instead, today I am focused on writing my rhetorical précis for class, and then the above. Nice to occasionally have a three day weekend!

I also have olives to brine/cure, since we picked many of the ripe ones yesterday. This batch will be done with a traditional liquid cure, while the next batch will be a more experimental dry salt cure. This picture represents maybe a third of the olives on our tree... there are a lot of still unripe ones to be picked soon!



On today's agenda:
~ Work on my paper
~ Homeschooling: Math; spelling/phonics; Primary/Intermediate Language Lessons; geography; science; a history documentary; and reading: The Wall, and The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe.
~ Get the olives curing
~ Dishes and laundry!!!
~ Cooking dinner--tonight we're having roast beef with carrots, parsnips, onion, and brussels sprouts... yum!
~ Watching Shrek the Third! We watched the first one Friday night, and the second one last night. It's fun to re-watch movies we haven't seen in a while. Next on the agenda, Shrek Forever After.

I do have a little accomplishment to sort of brag about... I had written that I wanted to reorganize my BFSU flow charts, and figure out how to implement it in our homeschooling. Instead, I looked at the flow charts I had already developed, and researched higher level supplemental reading to go with it. And I lined up some videos, mostly Bill Nye and How Things Work, along with the Disney Imagineering series. It'll be another week before we can actually use my new plans, since I have to wait on some library books, but I am really very excited about this! I adore BFSU, all three books, and if we actually use them, I think my kids will be very well prepared for higher level science.

I'll finish this up with a photo that I think is appropriate for today...

It's Friday!!!

Photo courtesy of inspiredbycharm.com

I am glad the weekend is almost here, although it promises to be a busy one--I have papers to grade and a three-four page paper to finish writing. Add that to housework, cooking, grocery shopping, etc., and yes, I will be well occupied over the next few days.

So lately M has been feeding an addiction, literally. He cannot stop eating Bush's Baked Beans, which I swear must be some of the priciest beans out there. In interest of keeping on budget, I am attempting to replicate (or better) those beans in the crockpot today. I googled recipes, and found a couple that claimed to be "better than Bush's", amalgamated those recipes, and now they are simmering away. Wish me luck! If this turns out well, I can get an entire big pot of beans cooked up for nearly the same price as one 28-ounce can. And mine are organic! With M unemployed, we are having to be careful with our grocery dollars. I am finding that it is true - the more you cook from scratch, the more you can save, and the better your food can be. For example, I bought a 4 pound chicken last week. We had roasted chicken and veggies one night, then pesto-drenched pasta with chicken and veggies (I made mine with spaghetti squash and it was delicious!), and finally I made a big pot of chicken-barley-veggie soup that lasted through one dinner, and several lunches. Not bad!

A Few Homeschooling Highlights From the Week

Zaccaro Primary Challenge Math is fantastic! You can read more about this week's experience with it here.

We had fun watching Fantasia and talking about music... I was [pleasantly] surprised that The Girl could identify which Nutcracker Suite pieces were used in the film! We also discussed animation methods, as that greatly interests The Boy. He was impressed at the quality of animation pre-digital age, and we talked about inks, paints, transparent layering, and more. He then spent a lot of time drawing this week.

Speaking of The Boy, my once-scared-of-writing boy asked if he could have a prompt from Unjournaling this week! I think by next year he'll be ready for NaNoWriMo!

Other highlights include: The Girl's work on long vowels; plenty of good reading from A Picture Perfect Childhood and The Graveyard Book; playing with Emily (The Girl's mouse) and Athena (The Boy's water dragon); and The Boy's as always silly sentences in Writing Skills.

And of course there was plenty of political talk--we discussed previous presidents and the current candidates (please note that while I did not care for one of the candidates, I was very careful to not speak negatively of him in front of the kids). We also talked about the electoral college, the popular vote, amendments, and propositions.

We also "traveled", through the words of travel writer Richard Halliburton, to Fort Jefferson, reading the unfortunate story of Dr. Samuel Mudd.Was he innocent or guilty of conspiring with John Wlkes Booth? I suppose we'll never really know. Anyhow, we enjoyed reading about the fort, and as always the plethora of [black and white] photographs really added to the story, as did the letter published in the book. It was written to Mr. Halliburton by an elderly woman who as a child had actually lived at the fort with her soldier father!

Where We Could Improve for Next Week

Getting around to schoolwork! I had plans aplenty for this week, which didn't happen. One afternoon it was because I spent a lot of time dealing with car repairs... again. Another afternoon my mother-in-law showed up four hours early for dinner. Yes, FOUR hours. All of the time I had planned for homeschooling.

I was re-reading Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding. I think if I rearrange my flow charts a little, I could totally make this work for us in conjunction with the fabulous Reader's Digest How _____ Works books and Janice VanCleave's _______ For Every Kid series. Add in some Bill Nye videos, and I'll have two happy science-y kids! I do really want this program to work for us, as with all three volumes it is one of the most thorough science programs I have ever come across.

Plans For Upcoming Bits and Pieces

I plan to read about Veteran's Day to the kids this weekend. I'll be picking up this library book on the way home from work today...

This weekend, I also hope to tackle art with The National Gallery of Art: Activity Book. And we'll finish watching NOVA's Becoming Human. The Boy has expressed interest in watching documentaries related to the universe/astronomy, so we'll watch one of those too.

Other homeschooling goals for the upcoming week:
~ get through chapter two in The Magic of Reality
~ read a few chapters in The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe
~ read another 2-4 chapters in The Early Human World and add to the Books of Centuries we're working on
~ finish listening to The Lightning Thief and start book 2 in the Percy Jackson series
~ 2 lessons from each Life of Fred and Primary Challenge Math
~ A couple of lessons each from Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons
~ Getting around to the science project that M gathered all the supplies for, and that we didn't do (thank you MIL!)

Finally, personal goals for the upcoming week:
~ more exercise!
~ planning next week's menu and shopping appropriately
~ getting through at least a few chapters from one of the book's I am writing my long (seminar) paper on this semester
~ getting caught up, again, on laundry!

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Weekly Report... 4/30-5/4...

A week of homeschooling ups and downs admittedly.

Monday

I had to work late for the once a month official equipment meeting (I work for an adaptive technology center), so we focused just on reading and math. We started our geometry studies with some Math Mammoth... The Girl worked on counting vertices and sides, and drawing geometric shapes, while The Boy learned about angles, rays, lines, and line segments. At the bottom of his math page was a little note from the author, saying that students may wish to keep a geometry notebook with definitions, examples, etc. Had I suggested this, I think The Boy may have thought it sounded good, but it wouldn't have gone anywhere. Reading it as a suggestion from someone else on the other hand... well, let's just say one of his homemade notebooks has a bunch of terms and sketches already! He also worked on spelling, and The Girl worked on reading--we got Reading Pathways this week, so I am adding a page of that each day to her reading regimen. We finished up at bedtime with another chapter of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Tuesday 

 Let's pretend Tuesday didn't exist. I spent my entire afternoon helping someone run errands. We read at bedtime, but that was it. I do think they watched some animal shows at my mom's house, so I'll call that science. And we did work in a few Mother Goose rhymes, in honor of Mother Goose Day... some from memory, some from an old book.

Wednesday

We planted our garden. 

We talked about the garden club the kids used to be in when we went to the charter school, the only class they really miss. So now we have our own garden club! We also talked about all the care our vegetables would need, and how helpful this garden will be in keeping us well fed. We talked about preserving foods, something we plan to try. And we all reminisced about the flavor of sun-warmed cherry tomatoes... mmmm...

We did a little math (more geometry), worked on spelling and reading, watched a documentary on wild animals, and an episode of How It's Made. We read a chapter in Don Quixote and Sancho Panza...

We read this in place of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, partly in preparation for Thursday, and partly because I have put my Kindle in a Safe Place. And when I put things in a Safe Place, they are not always easy to find.

ETA: I found it later the same evening, in the mail basket. I'm not sure why I thought of that as a Safe Place, but there you have it! And, in my own defense, it was safe and sound.

 Thursday

We spent our morning at the War Memorial Opera House with members of the San Francisco Ballet, watching...

Yes, a ballet of Don Quixote! Naturally, it deviates from the original story line, but we still very much enjoyed it. Being a "school show' or "community matinee", it was not the complete ballet, but still a decent length, and very good! We liked the sets, which they explained, and allowed the audience to see being transformed between acts. I honestly never realized that when major ballet companies travel, they take their own floor with them! The dancing was, as always, exquisite, and Cassia in particular loved the costuming.

Besides all that excitement, it is more of the regular stuff. For math, we did some more work from Math Mammoth, and then played around with tangrams.

 In spelling, The Boy wrote sentences using his spelling words, and The Girl went through another two pages of Phonics Pathways and a page in Reading Pathways. They watched two more episodes of How It's Made, learning about everything from canoe construction, to goldsmithing. Bedtime included more of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, and some of Emily Dickinson's poetry. The kids' favorite chapter in Don Quixote so far is the one about tilting at windmills!

Friday

Park Day took up much of our afternoon, as usual on a Friday. The Girl did two pages each in Phonics Pathways and Reading Pathways when we got home, and The Boy finished his spelling work. I managed to squeeze in one chapter from Life of Fred: Apples. I found my Kindle at last, so we can enjoy some Wonderful Wizard of Oz later this evening, in addition to a little more Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, and their crazy adventures.

 Other

As for me, I re-read much of Family Feasts for $75 a Week. I am thinking I should probably just buy this book second-hand rather than getting it from the library repeatedly. I am also reading a little of The Complete Tightwad Gazette each day. Little by little, my penny-pinching frugal ways are benefiting us--we paid off two more small debts, and so have more money to put toward other debts. I sold a bunch of homeschooling materials I was no longer using, and bought the kids their summer footwear--an absolute necessity since The Girl had suddenly gone up two shoe sizes, and The Boy went up three. He's only 5 inches shorter than me now, at not quite eleven.

I've been planning out menus two weeks at a time, and doing all the shopping in one big trip, though I do stop by the store to buy fresh fruits and veggies on a regular basis. My menu plans are loose, meaning that while I have 14 dinners planned, what nights I serve them on varies according to my mood, and how much time I have available.

This weekend we're doing a major purging. A while ago, we had a plumbing issue in the garage (where the washer and dryer are kept) which resulted in a flood of minor proportions, which resulted in damage to quite a lot of stored items. Our city offers a once-yearly free dumpster, one of the smaller ones, so we are taking advantage of that this weekend. I am also planning on taking a lot of outgrown (and undergrown in my case) clothes to the handy drop box three blocks from here. Homeschooling materials will be sorted as well, because there is a homeschool association party coming up, with a table for free and cheap curriculum. I'm donating everything I haven't been able to sell, or won't be able to sell.

Luxury reading this week: Gentian Hill (yes again, I love this book!), and A Circle of Quiet.

Check out more weekly updates over at

Hope you all had a good week!

Cruisin' Along...

Feeling more settled today, after Thursday's news. After posting, I went and took a long, hot, and UNinterrupted bath (thank you so much to M and the kids for leaving me alone). Friday, I called in sick to work, taking a "personal necessity" day, and we spent the afternoon at park day, surrounded by friends. And thanks for the kind comments on that post!

M is encouraging me to go ahead and file for unemployment, something I have never done in the 26-27 years I've been working (really... I'll be 40 this year, and have been working since the age of 13). To take some time off between jobs, and just be a mom. We know that this would make finances even tighter, but M said he would see if he could pick up some extra hours and/or find some supplemental work. And yes, even with unemployment, I would continue looking for work... I'll admit in part because one has to. I guess I could look into other aid as well, if needed. The kids are already insured through Healthy Families, so we'll keep them on that.

In the meantime, since my raise is in place, and all that, I am going to stretch every dollar to its breaking point, and pinch every penny until it screams so that we can start July off in the best financial shape possible, whether I decide to immediately find work or not. No, I still am not going to clip coupons, or buy those weird big log-tube things of ground beef. The vegetable garden is increasing in size though! Thanks to Jessica, I have recipes for household cleaners. Thanks to my mom, I know how to cook from scratch, to mend, alter a little, and so forth.

I haven't decided what to do at this point. But, I do have two and a half months left to figure it out... well, maybe a month and a half, because I'd like to know before the end of June what I'll be doing next!

Monday Menu Plan, Musings, etc....

I've got the house clean and tidy (now if I can just keep it that way.) My laundry is actually... gasp... folded and put away! I've printed out math and spelling for the week. I am feeling fantastically organized today!

So I thought I would actually menu plan this week too. I had done well with this for about a month, maybe a month and a half, then fell with a thud off of the organizational wagon.

Hopping back on, and here's this week's menu:

Sunday: We ate at my mom's Pastor's house for Easter. BBQ'd lamb, a yummy rice dish, warm corn tortillas, addictive homemade salsa, watermelon. So delicious, and best of all, I didn't have to lift a finger (though I did help clean up!)

Monday: Ribs (cooked by M); artichokes with a lemon-pepper-garlic mayonnaise.

Tuesday: Soup, of some sort, with good bread for the kids and M. I haven't decided which soup yet though! What are your favorite soups?

Wednesday: London Broil, with a homemade marinade of some sort. Sauteed green beans, red bell pepper, and mushrooms with garlic and ginger.

Thursday: Baked beans, cornbread, and a green salad.

Friday: Homemade pizzas!

Saturday: Spaghetti and meatballs; garlic bread for M and the kids; green salad

Frugal Notes:
We're actually doing okay. Our budget is tight, but we have a roof over our head, the bills are paid, and we have grocery money! Things are better than I thought in all honesty. Our electric bill dropped another $50 - that's a savings of over $100 in just two months. I am learning to not worry so much, and just accept things as they are. I even managed to squirrel away a little money for savings. Of course it helps that I am NOT buying anything for homeschooling right now! And my tax refund will someday be appreciated... whenever it decides to show up!

I have been doing a little side work here and there too, and that is one of the things that is making a small but appreciable difference. I graded papers in March, and did a few hours of website work. Hoping to do more of the same in April--well, the website work is a definite this month, so I am merely hoping for more papers to grade.

Next month is Beetle's birthday, so in part the money I am setting aside will help with that. I need him to prune down his wish list a bit though. It seems everyday he got about ten new ideas for things he must have!

Musings for the week:
Cricket wants to learn all things Little House for the rest of our school year, and perhaps beyond that. I imagine it'll take us more than the 8 or 9 weeks we have left to get through the books. Cricket rarely makes a special request for something to study, so I am all gung-ho to go with it!

Both kids want to get back into some anatomy. Maybe we will finally make the amazing human body paper models from this book!

I think Buge might enjoy some pirate studies. Yesterday, we visited a tall ship. And it was a great little field trip! The one we were on, the Lady Washington, was The Interceptor in Pirates of the Caribbean, which now we're going to have to re-watch. I put Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates on my Kindle, so I'll give that a go with Bug.

Other than that, there will be more gardening, weeding, cooking, playing, documentaries, and so forth. We'll continue too with lots of reading!


Hope you all have a good week, and belated Happy Easter!

Monday Menu Plan and Frugal Notes...

We recently watched Forks Over Knives, yes, even the kids. It is a documentary I would highly recommend in today's world of fast food, bad school lunches, genetically modified foods, general poor health, and obesity. I then started listening to Dr. Fuhrman's book, Eat for Health on audio cd, and am waiting for Eat to Live to be available at the library. Like the documentary, Dr. Fuhrman recommends, very strongly, basing one's eating primarily on plant foods. Armed with my increasing knowledge, I am trying to make more of our meals just that, plant-based, though we do still eat meat, eggs, and dairy. Our eggs and (raw) milk come from a friend's farm, and so does much of the meat. I'd honestly rather eat less meat of higher quality than lots of cheap meat.

Anyhow, here's the run-down for this week...

Sunday: Pasta with roasted tomato marinara, though I had spaghetti squash instead of pasta. Mixed greens salad.

Monday: Tex-Mex Potatoes (recipe is about halfway down the page); green salad with orange and avocado.

Tuesday: Sloppy lentils over whole-grain buns; homemade broccoli slaw.

Wednesday: Asian-style salmon, with stir-fried veggies on the side: green beans, mushrooms, red bell pepper, and sweet onions.

Thursday: Asparagus Frittata; crudites (cucumber, carrot, sugar snap peas)

Friday: Potato-leek soup; whole-grain baguette with some yummy cheese, though I think I'll have salad instead of bread and cheese.

Saturday: St. Patrick's Day! So yes, we're having corned beef, cabbage, potatoes & carrots. I might even make a loaf of fresh Irish Soda Bread!

Other: I also made up a batch-and-a-half of this delicious roasted tomato-eggplant soup for my lunches this week. I went ahead and used my immersion blender in it rather than leaving it chunky.

Smoothies: The kids, M, and I are enjoying our daily smoothies. It is a great, tasty, and very easy, way to get extra fruits and veggies in. For M and the kids, I use frozen bananas, frozen mixed fruit, fresh baby spinach or other greens, raw milk, yogurt, a little raw honey, ground flax seed, and peanut butter. For myself, it's pretty much the same, only I use almond or coconut milk (the coconut milk in the carton, not the can!) and almond butter instead of dairy milk and peanut butter, and I skip the yogurt and honey. Yum!

Frugal Notes: I have noticed that it is definitely cheaper to shop for mainly fruits and veggies. This is the time of year that I start watching eBay very closely for sandals for the kids, since their feet just keep on growing! My advice for eBay shopping is simple, figure out how much you are willing to pay including shipping! Too many times I have heard complaints from people who think the price is great, until they add in the shipping. I always figure what I am willing to spend, subtract shipping from that, and then I have my maximum bid. My kids are always pretty well dressed thanks to careful shopping and my mom's sewing skills.

I'm also setting aside a few dollars here and there for myself. My clothes are getting baggier, and I eventually will need to buy some new ones, at least pants. I plan on shopping second-hand as much as possible for my new wardrobe. And many of my tops can be taken in - this will be a summer project for me, with the assistance of my mom.

Weight Loss Notes: Somehow last week was overly busy, and I didn't exercise like I should have. However, my weight held steady - phew! Back on the exercise bandwagon today!

Have a great week!

Monday Menu Plans & Other Notes...

Sunday: Miss Cricket's Birthday! We had a special dinner of smoked ham, salt potatoes (little potatoes cooked in very salty water, then tossed with melted butter and fresh minced herbs - yum!), and roasted broccoli & cauliflower with sharp cheddar cheese. We finished up with homemade devil's food cake with strawberry whip cream.

Monday: Omelets with mushrooms, spinach, mozzerella, red bell pepper, and leftover ham.

Tuesday: Salmon, baked with lemon and herbs; sauteed green beans; Israeli (pearl) couscous pilaf

Wednesday: Pasta (spaghetti squash for me) with an Italian turkey sausage ragu; green salad

Thursday: Taco salads with all the fixings!

Friday: Split pea soup with leftover ham in the crock pot; homemade cornbread

Saturday: Roasted chicken; and I haven't quite decided on side dishes yet.

Frugal Notes: We did a good job of shopping for Cricket's birthday this year. I bought a couple of things on sale, and actually remembered coupons for some items too! I also remembered to use coupons when grocery shopping, for a few things. I don't make much of a habit of coupon clipping because so many of them are for things I would never buy. But, the buy-one-get-one free organic salad mix was nice!

Weight Loss Notes: A stalled week, due mainly to eating too much over the weekend. Back in the saddle today though, and waiting eagerly for Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred dvd to get here (Netflix). I am on week 4 of the Couch Potato to 5K running plan as well. The running is 3 days per week, and I plan to try out level one of the dvd the other two weekdays, or something like that.

Hope everyone has a good week!

Menu Plan & Frugal Notes Monday 2/27...

Trying to be more organized about this, though I missed last week!

Sunday: Kedgeree (without the yogurt and milk - we had smoked trout on hand from M's fishing trips); raw veggies. Note: the kids liked the kedgeree so much that they're having leftovers for breakfast as I type!

Monday: Pasta with pesto shrimp and broccoli , though I'll skip the pasta part and just have more broccoli.

Tuesday: Homemade chicken tortilla soup, since I have some leftovers from a roast chicken a few days ago. Toppings of crispy (homemade) tortilla strips, avocado & chopped cilantro will be available.

Wednesday: Vegetarian Tamale pie; green salad

Thursday: Swiss Steak; mashed potatoes for M and the kids; sauteed green beans

Friday: Ndole (a Camaroon stew with tomatoes, tofu, peanut butter, greens, etc. - I got the recipe from The Jungle Effect); homemade cornbread

Saturday: Homemade pizza with various toppings; salad

Frugal notes: I made a lot more foods from scratch this last week, including corn tortillas. The tortillas turned out to be really easy to make, and super delicious! I also baked rye bread (from the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day). The kedgeree was a quick dinner that I threw together since we had everything on hand. I realized that I used to be really good at making yummy meals from random ingredients had on hand, and somewhere along the way I lost track of that ability. I am glad to see it resurfacing now! I am down to grocery shopping every two weeks, except for some fresh veggies and fruit.

I've got the kids on "energy patrol", and our electric/gas bill was $50 less this month than last month. With the lovely weather we're having, the kids are spending more time outside, which is good for them, and our bills. I also discovered that by combining my cell phone, home phone, and internet bills, I save 5%!

My goal for March is to pay off at least one of the smaller debts we have. We're on top of all the bills right now, and I've been trimming grocery costs. Unfortunately gas prices are back up, so I am trying really hard to combine more errands.

Weight loss: I started exercising again, making good use of the treadmill M got me for Christmas a year ago. I can run at a decent pace (4+ mph) for 10 minutes straight now, which is a definite improvement. I've lost a total of 34 pounds now, since Thanksgiving, almost halfway to my goal! I found a great way to motivate myself on the treadmill, by watching reruns of Biggest Loser on Netflix while I exercise.

Have a good week!