Menu Plan Monday January 31- February 6

Monday
Breakfast - Cold cereal - Rice Krispies
Lunch - Chik-Fil-A (going out on a field trip)
Dinner - Tacos
Snack - Spinach Yogurt Dip with Pomegranate and Walnuts (Rachel Ray magazine) and tortilla chips

Tuesday
Breakfast - Egg-in-a-hole
Lunch - Apple Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Dinner - Pork Roast, Creamy Mushroom Potato Bake (Taste of Home), Salad with Creamy Dressing

Wednesday
Breakfast - Country Crunch Pancakes (Taste of Home)
Lunch - Franks n Beans (Rachel Ray Everyday Magazine)
Dinner - Leftover Pork Roast Casserole - Cut up the leftover pork roast. Add the pork to some diced potatoes, carrot and a can of green beans. Mix together with some left over gravy. Put in a casserole dish with biscuits on top. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly, until biscuits are done.
Snack - Coconut Shrimp with Pineapple Cilantro (Rachel Ray Magazine)

Thursday
Breakfast - Leftover Pancakes
Lunch - Leftover Franks n Beans, corn muffins
Dinner - Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry

Friday
Breakfast - Chocolate Coffee Cake
Lunch - Mexican Pizzas
Dinner - Chicken and dumplings, salad
Snack - Chess Pie

Saturday
Breakfast - Hubby makes Breakfast
Lunch - Mexican Pizzas
Dinner - Leftover Chicken and dumplings

Sunday
Breakfast - Hubby makes Breakfast
Lunch - Leftover buffet or sandwiches
Dinner - Soup and Salad (I don't know what kind of soup yet)
Snack - Easy Trifle for 2 (Taste of Home)

Menu Plan Monday

Major freezer problems this week. Seems like after my vow of not falling off my meal plan, that is all I could do. But there is always this week.

Monday
Breakfast - Melt in Your Mouth Pecan Rolls
Lunch - Leftover Red Bell Pepper Soup
Dinner - Tex Mex Meatloaf (Southern Living Magazine), Parsley Potatoes and salad with Homemade Blackberry Basil Vinaigrette (Southern Living Magazine)
Snack - Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tuesday
Breakfast - Leftover Pecan Rolls
Lunch - Pepperoni Flatbreads (Rachel Ray Everyday magazine)
Dinner - Leftover Meatloaf
Snack - Spinach Yogurt Dip with Pomegranate and Walnuts (Rachel Ray Everyday Magazine)

Wednesday
Breakfast - Banana Muffins with Mascarpone Cream (Foodnetwork - Ina Garten)
Lunch - Leftover Flatbreads
Dinner - Fried Chicken, Creamy onion slaw with Cranberries, Creamy Mushroom Potato Bake
Snack - Leftover Dip

Thursday
Breakfast - Leftover banana Muffins
Lunch - Shamrock Stew (Taste of Home)
Dinner - Something Special for dinner with a friend - it will be something he requests
Snack - Chocolate Sheet Cake (Pioneer Woman)

Friday
Breakfast - Migas (Pioneer Woman)
Lunch - Leftover Stew
Dinner - Leftover Fried Chicken
Snack - Leftover cake

Saturday
Breakfast - It's my day off (hubbie cooks breakfast)
Lunch - Potato Salad
Dinner - Chicken Vegetable Stir Fry, rice
Snack - Almond Biscotti

Sunday
Breakfast - Hubbie cooks/leftover breakfast stuff
Lunch - Leftover potato salad
Dinner - Leftover Vegetable Stir Fry
Snack - Almond Biscotti

4th Grade Curriculum

When my husband and I decided we would homeschool our son starting in kindergarten, we thought it would be best to buy a complete curriculum that included all the books and instructions. And that is what we did. We bought the complet Core K from Sonlight. And I LOVED it!! However, from day 1 of Kindergarten, I noticed that my son had trouble. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but he had trouble learning how to write and also reading. I really began to be concerned about the reading, but he seemed to really get it by the end of the Kindergarten year and started to read really well. It was like a light bulb went off in his brain and he just started reading. It is not his favorite thing to do though.

In the first grade, we once again bought the complete Core 1 from Sonlight. The reading got better, but as I felt I got my feet wet, I didn't feel like my son was getting enough instruction about English grammar/phonics, math, hndwriting and fine arts. As someone with a degree in English and also a professional writer, I didn't think that Sonlight offered a language arts program that I could be satisfied with. So I started looking around. I also thought my son needed a more hands-on math program so I started looking around for that as well. By this time, I knew my son had some kind of fine motor skill problem and began seeking therapy so that he could somehow learn how to write. However, we still use the readers that Sonlight offers. We love, love, love the books in their program!

Fast forward 2 years. We are now in the middle of 4^th grade. Through occupational therapy, we have found out that my son has something called Auditory Processing Disorder. This is the cause of his fine motor skills issues along with some other problems that he is having. So the handwriting is a process and it is getting better. I started writing my own science and social studies unit studies because the programs that I found were either not enough or too much. It is working well this way and it is something I am trained to do, so it is really not a big deal.

This is our curriculum in the 4^th grade:

Shirley English level 2 – Someday we will move on to level 3 but oddly it is just about where the kids are in public school. We are on chapter 20. It has a built in creative writing program and uses teacher scripts so there is no way anybody could mis-teach the subject matter. It is thorough and effective. I am very satisfied with it and my sweet pea is getting it. That's all that matters. I highly recommend this program to anyone.

Spelling Power – I almost decided to chuck this one at the beginning of the year until I re-evaluated my son in August. He was spelling on a 3.4 grade level. We just completed Level C and re-evaluated again. He jumped to a 6.2 reading level. I think we'll keep it.

Reading - We are reading countless books! Some are from the Sonlight reading list and some are just timeless, children's classics. I will post our reading list sometime soon. We also listen to many audio books for our Little Giant Steps Program. Right now we are listening to The Adventures of Pinnochio, not the Disney version.

Right Start Math – we are on Level C. This program also has a teacher script and I like that. As an English Major in college, I say “I don't do math!” So a teacher script is a really good thing. I can't screw that up and I am learning math for the very first time along with my son.

Little Giant Steps – We are completing a customized program full of neurodevelopmental exercises that hopefully will help my son overcome his auditory processing disorder. It seems this may be our only hope because noone else seems to know what to do.

We are doing some other things as well. It seems like a lot, but we only do these occasionally:

Poetry lapbook

Penguins lapbook

Colonial Life pockets

Nature Study Journal

Activity Basket

Book Basket

Unit on Noah

Ancient Egypt unit

Ancient Mesopotamia unit

Ancient India unit

weather unit

Geography map skills book

Vocabulary

Art

Anatomy Unit Part 2

The second part to my anatomy unit is about teeth.

Ask your student: What is the importance of your teeth? Let the student brainstorm some answers. Following are some possible answers:

• chewing
• determines age
• determines race
• identification

Ask the student: How should you take care of your teeth? Once again allow your student to brainstorm some answers. Following are some possible answers:

• Brush at least twice a day - in the morning and before bedtime. However, brushing your teeth after lunch or after sweet snacks is a bonus. Brushing properly breaks down plaque.

• Brush all your teeth, not just the front teeth. Brush the sides and in the back. Brush away from the gums.

• Spend about 3 minutes brushing all your teeth. Use a timer to get used to brushing your teeth that long.
• Use a toothbrush that has soft bristles. The package of the toothbrush should be labeled that way. You should get a new toothbrush every 3 months.
  
• Learn how to floss your teeth properly. Your toothbrush can't get at food that may be trapped between your teeth and gums, so it is important to floss to prevent decay and infection.
• Visit the dentist twice a year to have your teeth professionally cleaned. The dentist can help you learn the proper way to brush and floss.
• Pay attention to what you eat and drink. Fruits and vegetables and lots of water are better than sugary sweets and sodas.
  

Read Look at Teeth by Denise Fowler. This short book discusses baby teeth and adult teeth, the importance and uses of teeth and how they are used by animals.

Lastly, make a dental appointment for your child. Encourage your child to think of and ask questions when he/she meets the hygienist and dentist.

Major project

I am about to attempt something new to me in this venture in the blogosphere....I am going to upload some pictures! Yeah....big deal, you say. I am learning as I go day by day. The occasion for doing so is to keep myself accountable for a major project that has been due for over a year. I used to be a major scrapbooker. Love it! But then we moved in November of 2009. I had a room all picked out for my craftroom. It became full of boxes and unorganized junk. There was no inspiration for creativity in there, so I have just kept the door shut and rarely even peeked in. I did sit down once to start a few pages one time, but couldn't find anything so I gave up.

Now not having been scrapbooking for over a year, I really miss it. It is therapy for a busy, homeschooling mom. I got a bee in my bonnet to get it organized and done. The first thing that needed to be completed was to get everything out of there and start with a clean slate. So that is what I did. Everything is out, except an armoire and my melamine table. Here are some pictures of what it looked like before:












And here are the pictures after Phase I:













I am pretty proud of myself, for both the picture uploading and the crap removal! Phase 2 in my craft room consists of painting the walls a pale turqoise with black trim. I will be taping it down today, buying the paint tomorrow and then let the painting begin! This room also must double as our schoolroom since my husband started working at home and is using the room designated as our home office. But it will be good, I think.

Menu Plan Monday Jan 17, 2010

I will stick to my meal plan! I will stick to my meal plan! I will stick to my meal plan!...

Monday
Breakfast - Apple Honey Dutch Pancakes
Lunch - Stuffed Sweet Pepper Soup
Dinner - Turkey, mashed potatoes and broccoli
Snack - Easy Trifle for 2 (Taste of Home)

Tuesday
Breakfast - Leftover Pancakes
Lunch - Leftover soup
Dinner - Spicy Pulled Pork (Pioneer Woman Cooks), Creamy Vidalia Onion Slaw with Cranberries (Taste of Home), Macaroni and Cheese
Snack - Spiced Baked Apples

Wednesday
Breakfast - Maple Pecan Scones (Pioneer Woman Cooks)
Lunch - Sesame Chicken with Honey Dip
Dinner - Pot Roast, Candied Yams, Homemade Ranch with Ice Berg Wedges (Pioneer Woman Cooks)
Snack - Spiced Baked Apples

Thursday
Breakfast - Leftover scones
Lunch - Leftover chicken with honey dip
Dinner - Leftover pork
Snack - Spinach Yogurt Dip with Pomegranate and Walnuts (Rachel Ray Everyday Mag Aug 10)

Friday
Breakfast - Cherry Apricot Tea Bread (Taste of Home)
Lunch - Barbecued Beef Sandwiches
Dinner Leftover pot roast
Snack - Dip

Saturday
Breakfast - Leftover tea bread
Lunch - Barbecued Beef Sandwiches
Dinner - Lasagna, tossed salad
Snack - Coconut Shrimp with Pinapple Cilantro (Rachel Ray Everyday Aug 2010)

Sunday
Breakfast - Melt in your mouth Pecan Rolls
Lunch - leftover BBQ sandwiches
Dinner - Tex Mex Meatloaf (Southern Living May 2008), Spinach Potato Cakes (Taste of the South Magazine January 2010), salad with blackberry basil vinaigrette (Southern Living May 2008)
Snack - shrimp

Household Notebook

I am putting together a household notebook. This idea is something that I have wanted to do for a while, but haven't had the time and motivation. Now that the new year has started, I am trying (and I emphasize "trying") to be more organized and get things done efficiently.

My family moved across town in November 2009. I can clearly say that it was not a good time to move just before the holidays, but we actually closed at the end of September and the previous owners needed to rent it back from us for a month before they were able to move to another state. It was a good opportunity and it is our dream house (sort of - more on that later). So move in November we did.

OK...back to the Household notebook. Some things I want to include are daily routines, weekly routines, menu planning pages, organization pages, inventory sheets, to do lists, and monthly pages, etc.

The first thing that I need to accomplish is coming up with a daily plan. These are tasks that need completion each and every day. I may tweak this list as I go along because I want to see what works the best, but here is the original plan.

Daily routine:
Get Dressed
Make beds
Make breakfast for son
start laundry
Do Little Giant Steps routine with son
Homeschool stuff
Load/Unload dishwasher
Put away handwashed dishes
Wash Dishes by hand that need to be washed
Clean kitchen
Fold and put away completed laundry

Body Unit Study

I write my own unit studies. It's really not that difficult. This is a fun unit study designed to introduce your K-3rd student to the human body and how it works. My son had a really good overview of what he was about to learn just by following this plan. Each system is a separate unit. You can mix and match the units to include any systems that you want to include in your studies. Stay tuned for more.

Have your youngster lie down on a sheet of butcher paper that is as long as he/she is. Trace around their body with a marker. As you learn about each part of the body, draw that part on the butcher paper outline.

Read some books:

• What's Inside You by Usborne Books
• From Head to Toe: The Amazing Human Body and How it Works by Barbara Seuling

Watch some videos:

• The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body
• Body Mechanics: Super Heroes of the Human Body

Make a list of all the different systems in your body that that must work together for your body to function properly. Give a brief explanation of each one.

• Circulatory
• Skeletal
• Muscles
• Nervous
• Respiratory
• Digestive
• lymphatic
• endocrine
• reproductive
• immune

Menu Plan Monday Jan 10, 2011

Monday
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Homemade Chicken Soup
Dinner: Lemon Curry Tilapia annd Cool Cucumber Salad (Rachel Ray Everyday Magazine August 2010), and Cheese Corn Spoonbread (from my favorites files)
Dessert: Cocolate Yum Yum Cake (Taste of Home Homestyle Magazine)

Tuesday
Breakfast: Banana Muffins with Mascarpone Cream Frosting (Foodnetwork)
Lunch: Chicken Salad on Croissants
Dinner: Leftovers
Snack: Leftover cake

Wednesday
Breakfast: Leftover Muffins
Lunch: Leftover Chicken Salad
Dinner: Barbecued Pot Roast (Taste of Home Homestyle Magazine), Macaroni and Cheese (Pioneer Woman Cooks), and Festive Tossed Salad (Taste of Home Homestyle Magazine
Snack: Leftover cake

Thursday
Breakfast: Country Crunch Pancakes (Taste of Home Homestyle Magazine)
Lunch: Fried Pecan Chicken Fingers
Dinner: Leftover pot roast
Dessert: Flat Apple Pies (Pioneer Woman Cook)

Friday
Breakfast: Leftover Pancakes
Lunch: Leftover chicken fingers
Dinner: Spicy Pulled Pork (Pioneer Woman Cooks), Cheesy Potato Skins, Slaw for 2 (Taste of Home Homestyle)
Snack: leftover flat apple pies

Saturday
Breakfast: Cherry Apricot Tea Bread (Taste of Home Homestyle)
Lunch: Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili
Dinner: Leftover Pulled pork
Snack leftover flat aple pies

Sunday
Breakfast: Leftover Tea bread
Lunch: Leftover Chili
Dinner: Fried Chicken (Pioneer Woman Cooks), Creamy Potato Mushroom Bake, Salad with Blackberry Vinaigrette (Southern Living Magazine March 2008)
Dessert: Light Peanut Butter Pie (from my favorites files)

Strange Odors

Christmas decorations have been distracting me. It takes a long time to put all of them up, but not really quite as long to take them down. Well, they are all down, but they are waiting in my hallway as a kind of holding area until my husband can help me put them in the attic. The Christmas tree lays forlornly in 4 pieces on the floor. It is a huge sucker! That has its own box in the garage. It is waaaaay too heave to put in the attic.

We have had a delay in getting the Christmas stuff in the attice. It's kind of a funny story though (sort of). Last Monday, we started to smell an odor in our master bathroom and master bedroom. At first, we just thought that it was somebody forgetting to spray air freshener...after all it is a bathroom. But then the next day the odor became stronger. My husband insisted that it was needing air freshener. The next day, it just plain stunk! The odor was worse. I started to panic because we had some plumbing problems in the summer and I was worried that we were about to have plumbing problems again. But something kept bothering me about that smell. It didn't really smell like sewage. Later in the day, after frequent comings and goings from the master suite, it hit me! This is not a dirty bathroom or plumbing problems. This is the smell of decomp! We have something in our walls that died! The smell was horrible!

We didn't quite know what to do. So we called our exterminator who told us he would come the next day to see if there was anything he could do. That night, I slept on the couch with a very happy cat because usually he is not allowed to sleep with us. My husband slept in the bottom bunk in my son's room. The exterminator came as promised. There is a second attic space above my son's room, with an access just inside his bedroom doorway. He went up there and checked it out. When he came down, he said, "Yep, that's rat smell." Apparently, he had put rat poison up there almost a year ago based on some activity that he saw. One of those little suckers probably ate it and then fell down in the wall and died. He said the odor would last 3-7 days. We are on day 5 of sleeping elsewhere.

I miss my bed.

More Deals of the Week

I should have posted this yesterday. I went to Kroger on Monday and got some more deals. I didn't have any coupons this time, which is surprising. These are just good deals. I did not count the eggnog, paper towels or bakery items in my $50 budget because those are items that were either on clearance or stuff I had run out of.

Kroger

Cantaloupe 1.28

Kroger All Natural shredded cheddar cheese 1.50

Kroger soy sauce 1.39

Promised Land Flavored milk 14 oz 1.00

6 Kroger canned tomatoes .50 each

3 Kroger paper towels .88

2 Southern Comfort Eggnog 1.00 each

Kroger black olives 4 oz 1.00

Kroger peanut butter 1.25

multigrain baguette .99

6 large bakery croissants 1.49 pkg.

Jalapeno flatbread 6 pack 1.29

wheat bolilo rolls .99

Total: 21.04

Kroger Deals

Great Deals

I went to Kroger today and got some more deals. I didn't have any coupons this time, which is surprising. These are just good deals. I did not count the eggnog, paper towels or bakery items in my $50 budget because those are items that were either on clearance or stuff I had run out of.

Kroger

Cantaloupe 1.28

Kroger All Natural shredded cheddar cheese 1.50

Kroger soy sauce 1.39

Promised Land Flavored milk 14 oz 1.00

6 Kroger canned tomatoes .50 each

3 Kroger paper towels .88

2 Southern Comfort Eggnog 1.00 each

Kroger black olives 4 oz 1.00

Kroger peanut butter 1.25

multigrain baguette .99

6 large bakery croissants 1.49 pkg.

Jalapeno flatbread 6 pack 1.29

wheat bolilo rolls .99

Total: 21.04

Menu Plan Monday

I plan meals for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. It works for me that way so there is no question about what to do. Unfortunately because we are a family of 3, we eat a lot of leftovers. If I am feeling particularly creative and can fit it into my meal plan, I will reinvent my leftovers into something new. Not a new concept, I am sure! Sometimes I have to veer off my scheduled plan due to unforeseen problems, such as someone using up an ingredient that I needed for a recipe. I won't name any names! They know who they are! When the meal plan gets sidetracked it skews everything.

Monday:

Breakfast: Pancakes and coffee

Lunch: Apple Peanut Butter Sandwiches and chips

Dinner: Peachy Pork over rice and Lemony Corn Muffins

Snack: Leftover Christmas Cookies

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Coffee and Cinnamon Rolls

Lunch: Fried Pecan Chicken Fingers and potato fries

Dinner: Leftover Peachy Pork and Muffins

Snack: More Cookies

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Coffee and Cereal

Lunch: Leftover Chicken Fingers and fries

Dinner: Potato Lasagna, Salad, and homemade herb rolls

Snack: Chess Pie

Thursday:

Breakfast: Breakfast Puffs from the Pioneer Woman Cookbook (I adore her food)

Lunch: Southwest Beef Stew and leftover corn muffins

Dinner: Leftover Potato Lasagna, salad and rolls

Snack: More pie

Friday:

Breakfast: Leftover Breakfast Puffs

Lunch: Leftover stew and muffins

Dinner: Fried Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese, and salad

Snack: More pie again

Saturday:

Breakfast: Husband makes Breakfast on the weekends

Lunch: Franks n Beans from Rachel Ray Everyday magazine

Dinner: Leftover chicken, mac n cheese and salad

Snack: No more pie – Chocolate cake instead

Sunday:

Breakfast: Husand makes Breakfast

Lunch: Leftover Franks n Beans

Dinner: Lemon Curry Tilapia and Cool Cucumber Salad from the same Rachel Ray magazine, and Cheesy Corn Spoonbread

Off course meals in my line up:

Meat loaf, green beans, mashed potatoes

Chicken and Rice Casserole, salad and rolls

Seasoned Pork Chops, broiled tomatoes, frozen veggies from the freezer

Great Deals

I've been using coupons at the grocery and drug stores for more than 20 years. I started couponing when I was in college. When I moved into my very first apartment with a roommate, it was necessary to meet my very tight food budge. Fortunately, a colleg student doesn't really eat much. Then when I was starting to work in the real world, I still saw it as a necessity. At first I had 2 roommates, but they very quickly went their own way after about six months to follow their life plans. It was much easier to meet the food budget when it was shared with 2 other people. After they left, things got really tight. I was completely on my own, in my own apartment, paying my own bills and being the sole eater in the household. Sometimes, I only had less than $25 to spend on food a month after rent, utilities, and gas. Couponing became a way of life.

Now that I am all growed up, I still use coupons. Why? My friends think I am being obsessively crazy to continue doing them. But it has basically become a vendetta to beat the system. I'm not saying that I used coupons on everything, but I do try to get the best deals possible from my area stores. Sometimes I have a large stack of coupons ready to go, but today I hardly used any. I just got some good deals.

My methods have given me a well-stocked pantry and cupboards. I shop from my pantry and use what I have on hand to plan my meals. I don't eat the same things over and over again either. I try lots of new recipes. We eat very well.

I used to keep my own price book, but I found about 3 years ago that The Grocery Game was a big time saver for me. I subscribed to 4 stores and their website gave me a list of deals in those stores every week. Recently, I have defected from Grocery Game and started using The CouponMom webite. I have found that her lists are more accurate, I have access to more than 4 lists, and it is free. I am thinking of starting another Price Book, but I'm not really sure if I want to invest the time in it right now. Life is always so busy.

So here are the deals that I got so far. I live in the greater Houston area, so my stores that I look at are Foodtown, WalMart, Kroger, HEB, Randalls, Walgreens, Target and CVS. I only went to 2 stores today: Foodtown and Walmart. My budget is $50/week for a family of 3 (2 adults and 1 child), give or take a few dollars. In this $50 I include groceries, toiletries, over-the-counter drugs, paper goods and other incidentals. I do not include things that we have run out of or something that I just need now. I have a system that I follow and I will talk about that on another post, but for now here are the deals that I got today.

Foodtown

Celery 1.29

3 Prime Time Butter Popcorns @ .88 each

Nestle Hot Cocoa 1.00

Peter Pan all purpose flour 5 lb .99

3 Parade diced tomatoes with green chilies .50 each

Dole crushed pineapple 20 oz .99

6 Van Camp's Pork n Beans .44 each

Carnation evaporated milk .77

Rosarita Refried Beans .44

Concord Lime juice .59

Trappey's Field Peas .50

4 Trappeys Light Red Kidney Beans .50 each

Skinner elbow pasta .50

Skinner spaghetti .50

Kraft BBQ sauce .77 ( this was a big bottle)

3 Freshlike Peas 3/$1

Trappey's Pinto Beans .44

Trappey's Navy beans .44

4 Hunt's tomato sauce 8 oz 4/$1

Concord lemon juice .59

Cabbage .29lb 1.01 total

Oak Farms whipping cream .99 (half pint)

La Mejor White corn tortillas .66

Family Style Wheat Bread 1.11

Total 24.96

WalMart

Roma Tomatoes .88lb 1.40 total

Great Value applesauce 6 count 1.38

Crisco Oil cooking spray 1.98 minus cpn for .55

Great Value light sour cream .99

Great Value marshmallows 10 oz 1.00

Banana Bread loaf from the bakery clearance rack 2.39

Mahatma Brown rice .92

3 Hunts Garlic Herb Spaghetti Sauce .84

2 Great Value Tomato Paste .40

Spiracha chili garlic paste 2.86

Renuzit adjustable air freshener .94

Total: 16.70