Menu Planning Monday ~ March 30th

Monday - Daughter's Birthday Dinner - she can't decide if she wants pizza or Chick-fil-a

Tuesday - Breakfast for Dinner - Sausage Biscuits with scrambled eggs and fruit

Wednesday - Cheeseburger Joes and tots w/ carrot sticks and broccoli

Thursday - Chili Mac and cornbread muffins w/ salad 

Friday - Quesadillas

Saturday - homemade pizza and salad

Sunday - Nachos (while we watch NCAA basketball)

Do you have a menu planned this week? If so, go to I'm an Organizing Junkie and share through linking up! If you don't have a menu planned, it's a great place to go and get some ideas!

More Poetry and Art

The Singing Bird

by K

There once was a mother bird.

She loved to sing.

She sang beautifully.

The mother bird's tweets were so sweet,

it made her babies go to sleep.

Here's another post about Poetry and Art.

Menu Planning Monday ~ March 23rd

Monday - French Toast and Sausage patties

Tuesday - Homemade Chicken and Dumplings

Wednesday - Leftover Chicken and Dumplings

Thursday - Cashew Chicken with rice and stir-fried sugar snapped peas

Friday - Fish with shells and cheese

Saturday - Tacos

Sunday - Reuban Casserole and green beans

Do you have a menu planned for this week? If so, go to I'm an Organized Junkie and share. If you don't have a menu planned, it's a great place to go and get some ideas!

E-book Review

When I first saw the title of this book, HomeWork, Juggling Home, Work, and School Without Losing Your Balance, it really turned me off. I couldn't imagine how anyone could keep a home, homeschool, AND work from home! And if they did, they’re probably too perfect for me to relate to. Seriously, how can these families do it all?

I have to say, my attitude changed quickly. Actually my attitude changed while reading the prologue when my question, “How do they do it all?” was answered in this way, “We D-O-N-T!” Ahhhhh… refreshing honesty. Maybe I will like this book after all!

The types of HomeWork (home-based businesses) shared in this e-book are divided into four categories: A Labor of Love, Computer Based, Creative Writing, and Business Support.

I enjoyed learning how each family balances it all. If a certain business interests you, you can look into it further.  The Appendix at the end of the book lists numerous resources to help send you in the right direction. An entire chapter is devoted to “Tricks of the Trade” to help you think through all the details involved in a home-based business.

Some families choose HomeWork simply to have “fun” money, or to help make ends meet, while others have chosen this path to bring Dad home so the family can be together more.

I especially enjoyed reading about the families who truly work together in their home based businesses. The children learn about something I believe is beginning to fade away in our society…WORK ETHIC! Many of the families see their HomeWork helping them fulfill the Great Commission (Mt. 28:16-20).

After reading the first testimony, an idea popped into my head I’m considering for our family. I love how one mother in the e-book put it, “The lines between home business and home education are blurred in our home. One just naturally spills over into the other and the results have been incredible to behold” (62).

Go purchase this e-book today! Maybe you'll get inspired to start doing a little HomeWork too! Take some time and browse the entire Old Schoolhouse Store.

 

Dioramas

I am thankful for The Heart of the Matter Online. I receive a lot of great encouragement and ideas from this wonderful homeschool website. A couple weeks ago I read this article about how to use dioramas as a creative way for a child to narrate a story, book, history lesson, etc...

I allowed the children to choose any Read-Aloud book we've read this year, or subject we've covered in our Time Traveler or World Geography book. My daughter chose to make a diorama about "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White. My son chose "Henry Huggins" by Beverly Cleary.

These projects were a lot of fun. The children enjoyed doing this very much. It was fun for me to sit back and watch their creativity. My daughter used rubber bands to make the barnyard fence. She turned a wooden star into a sun. My son cut out windows, and attached his sun to the outside, and placed it so it could be seen shining through the window. He also used some flat glass marbles to be the jars that surrounded Henry's room in chapter 2 of the book when Henry's room was consumed by gallons of guppies.

My Oatmeal Overfloweth

This morning was getting off to a great start! I had spent 30 minutes on the bike, had done all my strength training exercises, and I was well on my way to a very healthy breakfast! Well, that was until I opened my microwave and found THIS....

I took the tray out to get things cleaned up, and showed the children what happened. My son laughed, and thought it was hilarious! One of my daughters said, "Well, at least it got on the microwave plate!" 

What? They didn't think this explosion of oatmeal was a travesty? They didn't think it was something to get upset about?

My children helped me adjust my attitude. I did laugh. Hey, it feels better than yelling. Then, I was thankful that all I had to do was take my microwave plate to the trash, scrape off the oatmeal, wash, dry, and put the plate back in the microwave.

31st Birthday

Yesterday was my actual birthday. But, Heath and I decided to wait for the weekend to do the REAL celebrating. Our son has cubscouts on Tuesdays, and we didn't want to rush through birthday festivities and then the boys have to leave for scouts. So, Friday night we're going to do birthday cake with the children, and once they are in bed, Heath and I will do a special date night in our home.

Heath surprised me yesterday when he brought home my FAVORITE flowers, and my FAVORITE warm drink from Starbucks. He's such a sweet man, and makes me feel so special and loved. He said he knew we were planning on celebrating Friday, but he didn't want March 3rd to pass by without making it special in some way. I am blessed to be loved by this man of man!

On another note, I have had a few opportunities to laugh at getting another year older. This week I started using a "deep wrinkle" treatment cream for my face, and one of my daughters asked me, "Mom, they had popsicles when YOU were a kid?"