Why I Started Ordering Household Supplies From Walmart

Haven't had to step food in @walmart with these #cuties for over a month.  I love their 2-day free shipping.  I'm getting quite a stash of boxes, but they make great animal houses and dolly beds. #walmartmom #nevergoingtothestoreagain #shoppinginthecomfortofmyownhome #walmart 😃😃😃

A post shared by Jennifer Brockman (@camphomeschool) on Jul 2, 2017 at 6:38pm PDT

The mention of Walmart brings one of two reactions:

1.  Ugh.  It's so huge; it takes me forever to get through the store.

2.  Love it.  Love the prices.  Love that I can get everything (almost) in one place.

I side more with the second reaction, unless of course I'm toting along three youngsters.  Then I'm more like ugh!

I've seen a lot of hype online about ordering household supplies from Walmart.  Amazon vs. Walmart price wars has also been a headliner in the news.  So I knew I had to check it out.  I've been an Amazon Prime member for years.  I've used the Subscribe & Save feature, the 2-day free Prime Shipping option, and Amazon Pantry.

Even though I was already familiar with the Amazon way, I really wanted to check out Walmart.com because I buy most of our household supplies and a few specific grocery items at Walmart every month.  I typically head into town for one giant grocery shopping trip to Aldi and then drive South to the Walmart.  

It's not such a bad gig if I'm alone or with only teens, but with the younger ones it pretty much adds up to misery.  They want to sit in the cart, but there's no room.  They don't want to sit in the cart, but they're getting into the way of other shoppers.  They have to go potty.  They're thirsty.  They want ice cream and cookies and fruit loops and a papaya and yogurt tubes and, and, and.....

Two or three hours of shopping just isn't their thing.

Enter Walmart.com 2-day free shipping.

I've been placing orders since May, I think.  And I have it down pat now.

Here's how I use Walmart.com to order our household needs for a family of nine.

Most importantly is I have an account that I stay logged into.  Then instead of writing down items we're running low on, I just go straight to Walmart.com, shop for the item I need, place it in my cart, and then go about my day like nothing happened.  Adding to my cart instead of writing on a list has revolutionized my shopping.  I'm always watching for things that we're getting low on instead of waiting until we're out and running to the store.  I've only had to make one stop at Walmart and that was to get a few meat items and some jeans.  But, guess what?  Now that I know what size, style, and brand works for Nick, I can just order him another pair of jeans.

Right now my cart looks like this:

When I have enough for free shipping, I hit the purchase now button and in a couple of days my items arrive at my front door.

I use scrip to support our church and this still works perfectly.  I purchase our monthly Walmart budget amount in scrip cards and then use them to pay for my online order.  It's so simple!

So that's how I've been ordering household supplies from Walmart.  Here's a look at my latest shipment.

This last order was divided into a number of boxes.  I do understand separating food from cleaning supplies, but this seemed a little over the top.

Box #1 - pretty full

Box #2 - huge box, not much in it, a couple boxes were squashed (didn't have any effect on the contents)

Box #3 - not too full

Box #4 - another big box for not a lot of stuff

Box #5 and #6 - Really?

Here's a look at what was actually in all those boxes.

A few squashed boxes, but nothing that hurt the product inside.

I buy most groceries at Aldi, but there's always a few things I can't get there like:  coffee, Knorr seasoning, corn starch, bulk black peppercorns, self-rising flour (I'm reading the Rachel Yoder books to Peter and Maria, Rachel makes a birthday cake for her brother and the recipe is included in the book.  They want to bake the cake so I bought self-rising flour)

Joseph and Maria packed it all back up and got it into 2 medium sized boxes.  I'm sure Walmart has their reasons for separating it out into so many boxes and I still got free 2-day shipping.  Ordering this way has been such a time saver.  The closest Walmart is 30 minutes from home making home delivery quite a treat.

Shopping this way has also saved us money.  The typical quick trip to Walmart for a few things can easily turn into a long, pricey excursion with endcap specials and unnecessary extras.

Have you made the jump to online ordering?  Yes?  No?  Why or why not?  Share your experiences with me and all my other readers.  We'd all love to hear about them.

Kindergarten Curriculum Plans

Stray papers and well-used workbooks, hand drawn maps and piles of literature.  The school desks are in need of a serious going over.  Even though, I just received our first 2017-18 curriculum order from Teaching Textbooks.  That was all I needed to start thinking about posting our full homeschool curriculum plan for this coming school year.

Peter turned 5 in December and showed a number of reading readiness signs so we began with All About Reading Level 1 in January.  He's been watching his older siblings "do school" for years and is always asking to "do school".  That's how it is with homeschool, the kids' natural curiosity leads to learning and then all of a sudden we're "doing school".

Kindergarten is NOT a big deal in our homeschool.  There's no hoopla about the first day of school.  Buying glue sticks and markers doesn't mark any special day for us.  

Although the learning process is natural and Peter's been doing plenty of Kindergarten work already, he will officially be in Kindergarten this year.  Over the years I've found that assigning our children to a grade makes it much easier for them when people ask them about school.  

I never assigned grades to our oldest three children when they were in elementary school, but that made for many condescending glares by onlookers.  I remember one time in particular; we were at a grocery store mid-morning when the cashier asked, "Aren't you kids supposed to be in school?"  I quickly remarked, "We homeschool."  Looking at Emily, Nick, and Amber she said, "Oh, what grades are you kids in?"  They all gave her a blank stare, shifted back and forth and then looked at me.  I stuttered and stammered through an attempt to explain in 30 seconds or less why I felt grading was unnecessary and how a child's natural curiosity will always keep them moving forward on the learning curve.  Blah, blah, blah!  

I still agree with my old self and I'm rarely one to comply with the norm, but for my children's sake, I make a big deal about what grade they are in so we never have to experience that again.

That was a long intro for a simple run down of the plans I have for Peter this year.  First off, Joseph, Peter and Maria often do school together.  Or at least I attempt to have them all together.  Life gets crazy, kids get crazy and sometimes my perfectly scripted plans go awry.

Kindergarten Curriculum Plans {affiliate links included}

All About Reading Level 1 - Peter is currently on lesson 16.  The plan is to complete level 1 and continue with level 2.  We'll also use the Margaret Hillert sight word books.

Nancy Larson Homeschool Science - Level 1 - We'll keep working through this level, Peter and Joseph together, picking up where we left off last year.  I also supplement with the Dr. Seuss Learning Library books and appropriate free printables I find online.

Math IXL - Kindergarten and grade 1 skills

Reading Road Maps - read all  Kinder level books and discuss plot and type of conflict.

What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know - read through all chapters with Peter and supplement with suggested books and music CDs.

Historical DVDs and books will be added according to topics in What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know

Tell Me About the Catholic Faith - we used this two years ago, but then didn't touch it at all this last year.  I really like the free printables that Lacey from Catholic Icing has available.  We'll pick up where we left off with plans to complete the full book this year.

That will make for a full Kindergarten year.  Up next, I'll be detailing Joseph's 3rd grade plans.

Be sure to like Camp Homeschool on Facebook or Follow me at Instagram to stay in the loop with all things homeschool, Down syndrome, cranberries, and of course.....SUMMER!

How to Keep Your Homeschool Kids on Track Every Day

As a mother of many, one question I get all the time is: "How do you do it all?"  Of course, I don't do it all.  There's always something left undone.  More times than not there are a lot of somethings left undone.  But as I look around, the house is acceptably clean, someone is always eating, birthdays are never missed, laundry gets done on a regular enough schedule, and the kids are (in my opinion) well educated.  I'm typically pretty happy about how things are chuggin' along.

One thing I've learned since our early days of homeschooling is the day goes so much better if the kids can stay on track with their school work.  If mom can turn her back without chaos breaking out between the kids then she can get her work done while the kids get their work done.  

There are 2 components to keeping your homeschool kids on track.

#1 - Train you children in obedience.  And when they don't comply issue a swift and effective consequence.  In our house homeschooling happens first thing and, like most kids, our kids have a full list of things they'd rather be doing.  The best consequence for not staying on task is a double school timeout.  

What is a double school timeout?  It's a timeout based on your age and then doubled.  If you're nine and daydreaming or hiding out in your room or shaking the table while your sister is trying to write then you stand on a 18 minute timeout.  

The timeout starts when the child is quiet, standing straight with their hands at their sides, facing the hallway wall.  I set a timer and they are expected to remain in position until the timer beeps.  If they talk, wiggle, pick paint off the wall, play with pocket knives, knock the Jesus with children art off the wall, then the timer is reset.  I have one child (who might be graduating this year) who once stood for over 40 minutes because he just wouldn't stop mumbling under his breath about the "stupid timeout".

Once the kids realize I mean business (yes, I should've been a drill sergeant) it doesn't take long for this method to be effective.  Because, let's face it, they'd rather get their work done and get on with their own plans than stand for endless minutes on a timeout.

#2 - Figure out the best planning method for each child.  Over the years I've used many types of planners for the kids.  I used Catholic Student Planners for a couple years with my middle grade kids.  I've used wall charts, checklists, homemade planners, work boxes....you name it we've probably used it.

This year I'm using a variety of methods because each child is unique with different planning needs.

I did share our planners live on Facebook.  You can view that here.  I'm not going to share those details here, just a quick picture.

When the kids know exactly what they need to do, they can plan their day accordingly and it's easy as the mom to check their lists to make sure they are staying on track.

I would like to share a little about setting monthly goals for the non-reader.  Non-readers and early readers need a lot of direction from Mom and my method for setting monthly goals instead of a daily to do list works best for me.  For our younger children, I divide a sheet of paper into 9 sections, label each with a month from Sept. - May, then number it 1-6.  I then list the goals I have for each month.

Possible Goals that Might Make the List

# of reading lessons
# of math lessons or pages in workbook
large motor skills
fine motor skills
# of art projects
saints to read about
field trip idea
# of books to read
living skills to learn
cultural event to read about (Thanksgiving, Groundhog Day, etc.)
.....and so many more.

Normally the month starts out strong, then life happens, then week 3 I look over the goals and pick up the pace a little.  By week 4 we are cranking out books and lessons because I like to end the month with a ✔ next to each goal.

In the end, keeping your homeschool kids on track every day requires effort from both the homeschooling parent and child.  Teaching children to be obedient and then giving them a workable plan and checking it twice will allow you, the mom (or dad) to get your work done along side your child making homeschooling and family life more enjoyable.

I hope you all have a crantastic day!

Homesteading Mishaps

The reality is I will never be going off the grid by choice.  As much as I love the word homesteading and try my hardest to act like a homesteader, I'm simply not one.

I do love gardening in a soft cotton dress.  I love the taste of pure maple syrup.  I love, love, love canning vegetables, jams, and juices.  I love the flavor of fresh eggs in hues of brown, blue, and green.  I love butchering*, grinding, and wrapping fresh venison in the fall.  I love baking bread in a pan found in my grandparents' basement.  I love blackberry picking along our woods trails.  And I love a well-worn apron.

*For the record, Warren and the kids do the butchering.

Homesteading and getting it right is hard work.  Years ago my canning goal was to put up 52 quarts of whatever I was making.  One quart a week of tomato juice, salsa, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, green beans, cranberry sauce, pickles.  As our family grew and appetites increased, so did the number of outside activities, loads of laundry, and time spent cooking.  I really should be putting up double, but finding time for a garden that size is hard.  And some days I'm just not up to the challenge.

A number of us were feeling under the weather this week and a pot of Hug and Kiss Soup is the perfect remedy.  Sadly, though, those two empty jars were the last of my supply of tomato juice.  We still have plenty of soup and chili days ahead of us here in Wisconsin and leave it to me to run out of tomato juice - the starter for both.  #homesteadinghardships #notselfreliantenough

And this beautiful picture has a very sad ending.  Sunday was finally the day to cook down the sap.  At the beginning of the season my goal was to make 2 quarts.  Not much, but about 7 times as much as Sam and I made last year.  Sam and I had the sap boiling away and came in to make supper.  We took turns checking on it every 20-30 minutes.  I checked on it.  It's getting close when it really starts smelling like maple syrup, which it did.  I ran in the house for something, decided to put away the leftover brats so I could take the boiling liquid outside to dump.  That's when I saw it - the fireball inside the kettle.  Before charring the syrup, it looked like we were going to have about 12-14 oz.  Last year our entire production amounted to only 6 oz.  Back to square one, but now the weather isn't conducive for a good sap run.

On a positive note, Nick filled the freezer for our Lenten fish fries.  Add to it the Northern Pike caught up North this winter and we're set for seven weeks of fish.  #homesteadingforLent

Share your best homesteading tips.  I need all the help I can get.

Hold your hat on, it's a blustery day out there.

The Why & How of the Homeschool Trimester Schedule

Scheduling our homeschool year is something I love doing, but has always been a struggle.  Do I plan out the entire year at once?  Should I plan monthly?  Weekly?  Just let it happen amidst life?  Ah, NO! Definitely not the last one.

The struggle comes from having so many awesome ideas, and wanting to fit it all in.

I once heard of a mom who booked a hotel room for one weekend in August and planned every detail of their homeschool year.  Every lesson was was given a date.  Workbook pages were torn out and stapled together by week.  Holiday crafts, morning read alouds, individual chapter books correlating to history lessons were all decided upon and given a specific day for completion.  Wow!

I tried that for a semester once, but life happened and I ended up discouraged that my well thought out plans were falling apart.  It felt like we were always behind, trying to catch-up.

My way of homeschool planning has evolved over the years.  When our three oldest were in the primary grades, the planning and schooling looked very different than it does today.  And if I learned one thing over the years of homeschooling, it's to be flexible.

Since we homeschool through our local school district's virtual learning program, I had to turn in grades for my highschoolers according to the trimester schedule last year.  I was not prepared to give grades by mid November.  We were working with the semester schedule at home.

2 semesters = 1 credit
2 trimesters = 1 credit

So, I was all confused as to how to give a grade for math if we were stretching it over the entire year.  Did that mean they received and extra half credit?  Did it look like we were slacking off so it took us all year to complete something that should've been completed in 2/3 of a school year?

Fast forward to 2nd trimester - I was a little more prepared, and had settled my mind on the fact that we'll do what we do, how we do it.  I'll assign grades for the district and not worry about semesters and trimesters.

Midway through trimester 3 and I thought this would be a great way to plan for next year.

Why am I using the trimester schedule this year?

Basically, because breaking the year into 3 trimesters rather than 2 semesters allows for greater flexibility.

Now for the HOW.  This is the fun part if you like planning and organizing your homeschooling year.

First, I grabbed a notebook and wrote down the months of our school year with some space between.  Our year is September - May.  That's nine months, which easily breaks down into three 3-month trimesters.  I've had 7 babies so I'm good at the trimester math thing!

Trimester 1
September
October
November

Trimester 2
December
January
February

Trimester 3
March
April
May

Blue ink and pencil are original.  Black ink indicates changes in progress.

In the blank space under each month I numbered from 1-5.  Focusing on 5 subjects/books/projects each month sounded appropriate and manageable.  Using the trimester schedule means every core subject won't be on the schedule all year.

I made up a page in my notebook for each of my kids I'm homeschooling.  This year I have one in 12th, 9th, 6th, 2nd, and 2 in Pre-school.  Yeah, Emily graduated so one less plan for me this year.

I already had our curriculum choices made, so I made piles of textbooks, science project kits, novels, art kits, workbooks - really anything I intended for them to accomplish this year.  I started with Nick's pile, dividing it into 3 smaller piles - one for each trimester.  Then I assigned each pile a trimester and started writing in the subjects and novels in the appropriate month.

For example:  his focus for trimester 1 is Algebra 2, Chemistry, and reading 5 novels/biographies (all historical).  He also takes 6 credits at our local technical college.  Any extras can be added in the extra blank space.  Extras for him include scheduling ride alongs with police officers, weight lifting, and preparing blinds for hunting.

Amber's pile was the next to tackle.  Nick and Amber are teaming up on Chemistry this year so I had to plan accordingly.  Besides Chemistry, her first trimester focus includes:  Algebra 1, U.S. History, Stories of the Saints, and various novels.

Once all the piles were assigned trimesters and then divided by month and written in the notebook, I was done.  The year was loosely planned.

Once the school year got started I had a trimester 1 conference with each child.  We planned out the details of what needed to be done by the end of September and wrote it on the master plan.  For example:  Nick and Amber need to complete 2 chapters and 2 labs each month in order to finish their chemistry in 2 trimesters.  Amber needs to complete 2 saints per month.  Sam needs to complete 4 steps in All About Spelling in September.

We only wrote in the details for September because like I said, life happens.  We get interested in something and end up spending a morning reading books about nothing on our list.  Or, perhaps the van needs a tire rotation and possibly some brake work, but turns into a multiple day stay in the shop and requires some creative carpooling to get everyone where they need to be, therefore, keeping me away from home more than I'd like.  How is that a school problem?  Well, even the most obedient and diligent children get off track when Mom's not around and then schoolwork doesn't get done the way it should.

Anyway, this trimester scheduling is working well for us this year.  I love the flexibility it offers, and to be honest, breaking the school year into three bites instead of two allows for 2 do-overs instead of one.  Because, let's be real now, sometimes the most researched curriculum and well-chosen read alouds turn out to be duds.  And I typically don't realize it until nearly the end of the first semester; I only have one more chance(semester) to get it right.  But, the trimester schedule gives me two more chances to get it right.

I made a much prettier version of my Trimester Planner to share with you.

Organizing the Homeschool Closet

I can hardly believe I just typed that post title.  Why?

(ONE)  I never organize the closets until well into August!
(TWO)  It means the summer is winding down.
(and THREE) I am the world's best procrastinator.

On the procrastinating thing:  I only procrastinate the doing.  The thinking?...that I start months ahead.  I think through the entire task; I make mental lists; I talk it over with myself; I visualize; I just don't actually DO until the very last minute or even second.

It drives everyone around me nuts with a capital N.  But, I'm still married and my kids tell me they love me everyday, so it must be working.  Right?  Right!

Back to the closets.  I am so fortunate to have two large closets dedicated to homeschool materials/art project supplies/overflow chapter books.  The closets are big - lots of room for piling, stuffing, and cramming, which is what happens during the school year.  I wish I could place all the blame on my darling students, but I'm part of the problem, too.  We have to leave in 60 seconds for violin - quick, shove the art project in the closet.  And then never get back to it.

Does that happen to you?  Please say YES.  I can't be the only procrastinating, messy homeschooling mom out there.

Since I have two closets, one is for the meat and potatoes the other is for the gravy and dessert.

In other words:  science, math, language arts, history, and religion materials in one.  The other holds art supplies, games, manipulatives, puzzles and other odds & ends.

In the meat and potatoes closet I like to group the subjects together.  In the past I grouped materials by grade level, but that didn't work because I wasted too much time searching for multi-level books.  It's much easier to locate a specific language arts text if all language arts/English materials are together.

Below are two examples:  History and Language Arts

Now for the gravy.

This closet is a little trickier to organize because it contains such a variety of materials.  Basically, I clear out all the stashed in the corner garbage, put all the pieces back in the game boxes, and place similar items together.  Not rocket science, and I try not to spend too much time agonizing over the placement or grouping of like items.  One crazy, busy day and it's bound to get out of order again.

My best tip for you is to make a list of what's in the closet.

If you're like me, all kinds of awesome ideas will pop into your head while organizing the closet and you will start making plans for how and when you'll use all these cool art books and awesome manipulatives.  Then the school year begins and reading lessons and science labs push all those fun plans right out of your brain.  But, this year that's not going to happen because you're going to make a list of what's in the closet.

In all it's organized glory, here is the gravy closet.

It's definitely not perfect.  The violin storage is always a problem.  They need to be out of sight from the little ones, yet accessible.  The stands need to be close by, yet put away to avoid being tipped over.  The music - they want it put away, yet not so put away just in case they want to play one of their old songs.  Try working with that!  On the floor in a heap is our solution.

Since the closet still looks not perfect the list is important.  It's not a detailed list of every item, just the project books and activity packs that seem to get forgotten, but would bring great value to our home education plan.

Make a Plate

Chinese Brush Painting

Watercolor for the Artistically Undeveloped

Hummingbird Paint-by-Number (the Underwater Scene was painted years ago)

Water Magic - Young Artist Series

Canvas Boards (these are a favorite - Sam's Winter Painting)

Magic School Bus Rainbow Kit (I plan to use this very soon)

Dilemma Games (something similar)

Stickers

Rush Hour Jr.

Alphabet Bingo

U.S. puzzle (my childhood puzzle - this one is similar)

Double Take - Butterflies & Moths

Spirograph

Light Up Drawing Desk (ours is a much older version, but it's been a hit with all the kids)

Sculpey Clay

The Window Art Book (definitely keeps kids busy for a LONG time and your windows will be colorful)

Aqua Doodle

Foam Stickers

Shrinky Dinks

Make a Collage

Fun With Easy Oragami

Number Flip (fun for kids and adults)

Balloon Animals (excellent for keeping boys busy when you're working with another child)

Crazy Cool Lettering

That's a BIG list.  I'll tape it inside the closet and refer to it when we're looking to add a little fun and flair to our school day.  I'm thinking it will come in handy when I need to grab a quick activity to keep a certain someone from running off while I work with a sibling.

As we encroach upon the school year I'll be sharing more of my not rocket science, but tried and true homeschool tips.  Stay tuned.  And if you know of someone in need of a little closet organizing, why not send them my way - I'd appreciate it.  Thanks.

You all are a great bunch.

Signs of Reading Readiness for Homeschoolers

We're at that point in the summer where homeschool planning and curriculum purchases can't be put off any longer.  Maybe you have a 4, 5, or 6 year old and you're wondering if you should invest in a reading program and get down to the business of teaching your child to read.  Age is not the only factor, so I've compiled a list of signs to watch for that show reading readiness in young children.

Reading hasn't been easy for all of my children.  I've shared our struggle and path before.  These reading readiness signs are not only for typical children, but will work for children with dyslexia and Down syndrome as well.  I speak from experience.  I have 5 readers in the house - all at different levels, including 2 with dyslexia and 1 with Down syndrome.  Trust me there are signs to watch for.

As a homeschool mom I've heard my share of stories about 3 year olds reading Harry Potter and 10 year olds taking college classes and I'm sure you have too.  Believe me that is not the norm.  The norm lies in all our homes.  There are early readers, average readers, late readers.  Unless there is a significant cognitive disability, children will learn to read when it's approached with love and a good step by step program.

SIGNS OF READING READINESS FOR HOMESCHOOLERS

1.  Ability to sing ABC song

From my experience, young children love to sing.  Teaching your youngsters to sing the ABC song can be accomplished in so many ways.  My favorite is to display an ABC poster, gather around it each morning, and sing slowly while pointing to each letter.  An ABC strip in the hallway would work well, too.

The Cedarmont Kids DVDs have been a winner since Emily was small.  They have an upbeat version of the ABC song.

Musical stuffed animals make great night time pals.  Peter has a plush monkey that sings the ABC song.  It's been a favorite since he bought it with his birthday money.  This elephant is similar to the monkey we have.

Anything you can do to get your little one singing the ABC song will put them one step closer to reading readiness.

2.  "What does this say?"

The desire to read comes from the yearning to know what strings of letters say.  Road signs, book covers, love notes - when they start to wonder about these things, they are on their way.  Over the years I've found that when kids start to ask, "What does this say?" they are developing a desire to read.  They've realized that all those ABC's mean something.  They are curious.  It's a big step.  I have an almost 3 year old already asking this question, however, I also have a child who didn't ask this question until almost 8.  They're all different - embrace it, pushing it will only result in excessive tears.

3.  "Will you write ________________ on this paper?" and "This says ____________."

Two more question/statements I listen for.  When my child starts asking me to write words for them or giving me papers covered with scribbles and "reads" it to me, I know they are approaching reading readiness.  They've equated written words with meaning, and they yearn to know the meaning.

4.  Obedience

Google defines obedience as:
          compliance with an order, request, or law or submission to another's authority
Compliance is the perfect word to describe the necessary attribute of a child who will be learning to read from their parent.  A wise older homeschooling mother once stated at a homeschool support meeting that 'without obedience, homeschooling is impossible'.  She's spot on!!  If a child refuses to put their shoes in the basket or pickup their stuffed animals or apologize, that issue must be addressed before teaching them to read no matter how ready they are.  Because sitting down with a disobedient child for a reading lesson will be hell on earth.  Trust me on this one.  And no, I will not be sharing any stories no matter how perfectly they illustrate this point.

5.  Ability to Rhyme

Not necessary, but helpful.  So far my kids with dyslexia struggle with rhyming; the kids without dyslexia figured out rhyming early.  Joseph, with Down syndrome, but likely not dyslexia, struggle with rhyming.  So I add this to the list as another sign to watch for, but please don't hold off on reading lessons if this is the only skill lacking.

The five signs showing reading readiness listed above is my personal list.  Throughout my 13 years of homeschooling, I've learned to watch for these things.  However, it definitely is not the list I learned in college class EDUC 309 (Materials & Methods for Teaching Reading).  One of the things on that list that I do not believe is necessary is:

WELL DEVELOPED ATTENTION SPAN

Attention span becomes an issue in the classroom when a group of children are learning together.  Each child needs the ability to stay on task and focused even when the teacher is working with another student or teaching something they already know.  

In the homeschool setting, cuddled up on the couch with mom, getting all her attention pretty much alleviates any attention span issues.  Also, in the homeschool setting if the lesson isn't going as planned it can easily be pushed to a later time or the next day.  We can force the lesson, but we don't have to.

If you came here wondering how do I know if my child is ready to read, I hope I've helped you know what to look for.  Please don't hesitate to leave questions in the comments.  I will address any questions or comments you have.

And if you're saying to yourself, yep, my child's ready, may I suggest my favorite reading program.  I've tried many, and All About Reading is the best. (*affiliate link, thank you)

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Meal Prep Monday

I love menu planning; it's the easy part of providing food for a family of nine.  You know what's the hardest part?  Actually making the food!!!  Between homeschool lessons and laundry and car shopping and exercising and and and and.....finding time to actually prepare the food can feel like quite the magic trick.

This was my kitchen counter on Meal Prep Monday

I've learned a few tricks along the way and they're not magic at all.  They require organization and determination.

1.  Plan menu
2.  Grocery shop
3.  Meal prep

The meal prep is the part that's so easy to forget about.  The groceries come in, they get put away, life keeps going and all of a sudden it's 4:30 and hungry children are starting to appear in the kitchen asking impossible questions like:

What's for dinner?

What's for dinner?  Do you want to know what's on the menu plan for tonight or what's actually going to be served?  Because they are two different things.  The first is a well balanced meal with offerings everyone will approve of.  The latter is a mix-n-match of leftovers, canned food, and most likely applesauce and pickles.  No one will be truly satisfied and everyone will be milling around the kitchen in an hour or two looking for something to hit the spot.

There are two things that can be done to alleviate this problem.

1.)  Make a list of meal prep tasks for the week.  I like to do meal prep on Sunday afternoon or early Monday morning.  This is my list for this week:

Monday

shred cheese

make big salad

thaw sausage links

thaw hoagie rolls

thaw hamburger - 2

boil eggs and peel

make syrup

boil potatoes

make potato salad

thaw chicken legs

thaw steak

thaw venison roast

thaw applesauce

It looks like a long list, but as you can see half of it entails thawing frozen items.  The key to having meals ready to go is having the meat thawed.  Right?  Once everything was crossed off, I knew my week was going to run much smoother.

2.)  Make mini lists for each morning.  Since Monday was the day for all the main prep, I only need to spend a short time in the kitchen each morning for additional prep.

Tuesday

make BBQ in crockpot

thaw buns

Wednesday

prep potato soup in crockpot

set out frozen bread dough to rise

Thursday

slice steak

fry hamburger

assemble and cook roast in crockpot (to be used Fri)

Friday

make egg salad (eggs were boiled on Mon)

slice 2 whole onions

slice cooked roast, warm in crockpot all day

Menu planning is only half of the food on the table equation.  The other half, meal prep, is equally important.  Having a plan and sticking to it makes for a happier momma and happier (fed & full) family.

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A Simple Planner

Cooking Camp

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Raising Homemakers

Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce

We've had a garden every summer since 1996.  The vegetables grown have varied, except for tomatoes.  I always grow tomatoes.  I've never canned spaghetti sauce.  Never.

Tomato Juice?  Yes
Salsa?  Yes
Pizza Sauce?  Yes (once)
Spaghetti Sauce?  No Never

Until this year.  The tomato plants just won't (present tense) quit producing tomatoes.  So I decided to finally try my hand at making spaghetti sauce.  We're not huge spaghetti w/ meat sauce eaters, but I think that's about to change.  I like to write just how I think, so here goes.

My friend makes spaghetti sauce so I asked her for the recipe.  She obliged and emailed it right over. The email began with, "I loosely follow this recipe."   Then she went on to share her directions.  My first time.  Loose directions.  More directions.  The original recipe starts with canned tomatoes, but I'm supposed to convert that into garden fresh tomatoes.  I just couldn't do it, so I did what any woman with an entire cabinet full of cookbooks, canning manuals, and food magazines would do.....I Googled "Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce".  I found a recipe with similar ingredients to the original "loosely followed recipe" only this one started with a 1/2 bushel of garden fresh tomatoes.  Now that I can understand.  Even better it claimed to take only 3 hours.  Perfect!  Because that's exactly the amount of time I'm willing to spend on this project.

Approximately 32 hours later, I began ladling spaghetti sauce into clean, hot Kerr jars.  I'm not sure where exactly the "3 hours" number came from.  Maybe they assumed the tomatoes were already picked, washed, weighed, and quartered.  Maybe they thought my food press was hooked up to an electric crank with endless energy for cranking and saucing tomatoes.  Maybe they were home alone without any butts to wipe, books to read, writing assignments to edit, clothes to wash, lunch to make, dinner to make.  Maybe they were simply in a time warp.  I'm going with the last one.

Anyway, the sauce is on the canning shelf ready for our next spaghetti supper, which looks to be sometime in December based on our spaghetti eating history.

Here's the picture version of what I did...basically.

By the way, more tomatoes await picking.

The recipe I used, which I followed to the "T" came from food.com.

As always HAPPY CANNING!

Homemade Pancake Mix

For some reason when I'm up to my eyeballs in canning (perishables), I seem to think I should stock the pantry with homemade mixes, too, which really could be done anytime like when the wagon loads of tomatoes are put up and the endless boxes of apples are sauced.  I'm not sure if it's the prepper in me or maybe I'm part squirrel.

Here we go with another recipe that comes in handy on busy mornings and makes for a quick lunch, too.  Whipping up an individual batch of pancake mix isn't hard, but it takes minutes that sometimes I don't have.  So instead of pulling out the dry ingredients for just one batch, I like to mix up a big batch all at once.  Then all I have to do is add the wet ingredients and warm up the griddle when we're craving pancakes.

I like to line up the dry ingredients with the appropriate measuring cup or spoon.  I set my empty pancake mix container on the right and then add the ingredients as if I was making only one batch.  I give it a quick whisk and then add another batch, whisk, repeat.  Kind of like the directions on the shampoo bottle.  Does anyone waste shampoo by actually washing and repeating?  Just scrub harder the first time.  Back to pancakes.  You might notice I do not have a measuring spoon for the salt, that's because I eyeball it.  And since you only used the measuring cups and spoons for dry ingredients, give them a quick wipe on your apron and put 'em back in the drawer.  No need to wash dishes that don't need washing.

Homemade Pancake Mix (one batch)

2 1/4 cups flour
1 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

My container holds 5 batches.

When ready to use, measure out 2 1/2 cups mix and add 2 c. buttermilk, 2 eggs, and 3 T. melted butter or oil.  Stir, leaving a few lumps and fry on hot griddle.


Linking up with Raising Homemakers for their Homemaking Linkup.

Celebrating the Liturgical Year - September

This year we will once again be homeschooling and that includes religious education.  I like to make a few plans before the start of each month to highlight the liturgical year and upcoming Catholic feasts and Saints.

For planning purposes I print a monthly calendar from the forms icon on my printer and then begin filling in the squares with important events.

Here's what I'll be highlighting for these dates in September:

8 - Nativity of the Blessed Virgin (Mary's birthday)

We will make a blueberry/cream cheese/whipped cream dessert, top it with candles and let the little kids all have a chance to blow them out.  I'd like to find a nice Mary statue to add to our school room.  

9 - St. Peter Claver

We will read the page dedicated to St. Peter Claver in Picture Book of Saints.

15 - Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

We'll use the coloring activity found in A Year With God:  Celebrating the Liturgical Year (page 200)

21 - St. Matthew the Evangelist

We'll read his page in Picture Book of Saints.

29 - St. Michael and the Archangels Gabriel and Raphael

We will make St. Michael's Bannock for a snack and decorate and recite the St. Michael's prayer.

30 - St. Jerome

We'll read the page in Picture Book of Saints and read St. Jerome and the Lion.  After reading we'll follow the lesson plan in Catholic Mosaic.

Throughout the school year we'll be using Teach Me About the Catholic Faith as our main text.  I'll be using these resources with my 5th and 1st graders and 2 and 3 year olds.  I don't think Teach Me About the Catholic Faith is advanced enough for a 5th grader, but when looking for something appropriate for the younger kids this seemed like the right choice and I'll include Sam, challenging him when necessary with added discussion, copywork or memorization.

I like to keep my plans quite simple, that way I can easily add them into our daily morning time.  For additional ideas of how to live out the Faith in September check out Shower of Roses blog for lots of inspiration.

*this post contains affiliate links, if you click through and make any purchase I receive a small commission - thank you.

My Daily Dove Chocolate

Yesterday I bought a bag of Dove Mint Bark at Walgreens.  Don't you just love their deals?  Last week I purchased holiday m&ms and a $5.00 coupon printed for more candy.  Love it!  I had to use the coupon this week before it expired and wouldn't you know Walgreens had Dove Christmas candies on sale for 2/$6.00 with a $2.00 register reward printing at checkout.  I used my $5.00 coupon and essentially made a $1.00 with that transaction.  Ok, so I tried the Dove Mint Bark and OH. MY. GOSH. It is divine.  I tore open the bag in the solitude of my bedroom to help get me through hiding Christmas presents in my closet and this is what I found:  a perfect little square of dark chocolate topped with a layer of crushed peppermints in white bark. I ate 2, then put away a couple things, ate another and twisted the bag closed.  Who was I kidding?  Put away a couple more things.  Opened the bag and had another 2.  I wasn't piggy about it though, I did pause between bites to read the cute little sayings on the wrappers.  My favorite was this:

Togetherness for the holidays is a gift in itself.

We all know this is true.  Being together with family and friends during the holidays really is a gift.  But my wanting to have a plan for everything brain read this as togetherness = having a plan, being organized, being ready, having supplies handy.  Moms know that with all that is expected from now until the New Year a plan is essential.  I believe it goes a step further.  A WRITTEN plan is essential.  My brain has so much swimming around it that if I don't write it down it's not going to happen or get done.  I've tried using all kinds of free printables in the past and find that really all I need is a simple notebook dedicated to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years planning.  I do make a paper pocket that I tape inside the front cover.  That's where I keep my online shopping confirmations and store receipts.  For those of you who like printables for everything under the sun, here's a great website with tons of free printables for planning your way to a "Together" holiday. 

Thanksgiving Planner

Christmas Planner

My holiday planner is gradually filling up with lists of gifts to buy, cookies to make, new recipes, homemade ornament ideas, Advent books to read and a big reminder on every page that there'll be a newborn in the house.  Anything that gets checked off the list will be a good thing.  So since the holiday planning in underway, so must the holiday candy eating.  I'm heading off to have another piece of candy.  It'll only be my third for the day, but the bag is slowly emptying.  Hats off to a well-planned, enjoyable holiday season starting with Thanksgiving and ending with the New Year.



Planning for the Last 5 Weeks

After our spring break is over we'll have five weeks of school left.  Crazy to think we're on spring break because when I look outside I see snow everywhere.  I'm hoping these next 5 weeks takes us straight to summer.  Heat, humidity, green, summer camp.....I'm anxiously awaiting you.  I typically rake the yard during our spring break but like I said it's covered in snow so I had to find something else to do.  Looking at the calendar I decided to plan out our last 5 weeks of school. 

Math
Emily and Nick have 10 lessons left.  We will move on to the next book, Saxon Algebra 1 and work on that for the last 3 weeks.
Amber also has 10 lessons left.  We will move on to the next book, Saxon Math 5/4.
Samuel is working through a giant stack of homemade math packets.  I have enough to keep him busy for a long time.
Joseph will continue breaking our bowls one by one, learning that one bowl broken = 2 minutes at the timeout spot.

Language
Emily finished Language of God 6 weeks ago and then took an online writing course.  She finished that today.  I'll share more on that in another post.
Nick has 5 lessons left in his Language of God.
Amber has 10-15 lessons left.
Samuel is journaling.  He writes a sentence or two and illustrates them each day.  He dictates what he wants to write, I write it in yellow highlighter leaving out a few of the easier words and then he traces and writes in the words.  For example:  I like trapping muskrats.  I would leave out the I like part and write the trapping muskrats part in yellow highlighter that way Sam could practice writing in I like by himself.  I have done this type of journaling with all the kids and it's very fun to look back at their journals to see what was of interest to them when very young.  We'll continue doing this daily until the last day of school.

Spelling
Emily, Nick and Amber all do My Catholic Speller workbooks.  For some reason they never complete all the lessons by the end of May and so they have to finish up in June.  This year is no different.  This is Emily's last year with these workbooks.
Sam does oral spelling with me.  After reading his Bob Book I ask him to spell 3 or 4 words.  I hold up the appropriate number of fingers as their are letters and then count down as he spells the word correctly.  We'll continue this until the end of May.

Reading
Emily, Nick and Amber will continue to read for fun as well as assigned books for history.
Sam will continue with reading Bob Books and other simple Dr. Seuss books.
Joseph will continue begging to have books read all day and we'll all take turns reading board books to him, usually two or three at a time.

History
Emily, Nick, Amber and Samuel will all do Story of the World together with me.  I have planned two more chapters:  The Rise of Prussia and A New World in Conflict.  We'll read, label maps, learn a few German words, color a flag, make wax seals, plant wheat berries and write a story about the Liberty Bell.  I'm hoping to complete this in two weeks.  Wish me luck!

Science
All together we'll study the 5 senses, making paper models and conducting other simple experiments related to taste, smell, hearing, etc. Again I plan on this taking about 2 weeks.  Nature Club starts up next week as well.  And lots of gardening preparation, too.

Music lessons will start up next week so between these plans and the unexpected we'll have a full 5 weeks before summer vacation.

Cooking Camp

Lent has begun and I know exactly how many days are left:  32 days including the 4 Sundays leading up to Easter Sunday.  So technically only 28 days of sacrifice.  This year Warren and I gave up sweets which is a huge sacrifice for us.  I love baking and we love eating baked goods.  Since neither of us can partake in the baked goods I stopped cold turkey and boy did the kids notice.  No homecooked treats and a whole lot more casseroles.  I guess casseroles must be second to sweets as my comfort food.  I've been cooking a lot lately (fun for me) and trying new recipes (also fun for me).  The rest of the family though doesn't always appreciate my desire to try new recipes and eat casseroles day after day.  Here's our current menu I'm working through.

Beef and Potato Bake

Biscuits

sliced oranges

Chicken 'n Rice Casserole

Canned peaches

Salad

Cheddar Chowder

crackers

Hug 'n Kiss Soup

Homemade bread

Cranberry Sauce

Venison Stew

Biscuits

Cranberry Sauce

Pickles

Homemade Pepperoni Pizza

Sliced Apples

Black Olives

Cheesy Spaghetti Bake

Garlic Bread

Steamed Cauliflower

Icy Lemonade

Pizza Burgers

Canned fruit

Black Olives

Pork Chops in crockpot

Stuffing

Green Beans

Crockpot Potato Soup

crackers

10-Minute Taco Salad (meatless)

Rice

Sliced Pears

Chicken Noodle Casserole

Salad

Clementines and Apples

Chili

crackers

fresh sliced apples and pears

I've tried a variety of menu planning.  Years ago I printed blank monthly calendars and then filled them in with menu options.  March menus included late winter/early spring type dishes.  A mix of hearty soups and stews for those days when March brings snow/sleet storms and grilled food and salads for those first warm spring days when a coat is optional and flip flops are worn for the first time again.  As I made a meal I checked it off with a pencil so I knew which meals were still available.  This system worked for me for over a year.  I don't recall why I abandoned this method; I still have the filled in calendars and do refer to them every so often when planning meals now. 

I also planned menus based on a particular cookbook or magazine.  While going through a Taste of Home I would begin a menu with a recipe I'd like to try.  For example if I found a recipe for Asian Noodle Salad I wanted to try I would create a menu around that recipe.  Pork chops, (new recipe), canned fruit would go on my list and then I'd keep looking.  I labeled the top of each notebook page with the cookbook name/magazine name and issue so I could easily retrieve the recipes when needed.  I became addicted to this at one time.  I have an entire notebook of menu plans to go with all my various cookbooks and magazines and I still use these when at a loss for what to make.

Of course there's been plenty of weeks when I've failed to write down any plan.  We're still all here so obviously we didn't starve to death, but I wouldn't recommend this method unless you're single because hungry eyes looking at you at 12:01 or 5:30 is enough to eat right through you.

So for now I keep a variety of breakfast and lunch foods in the pantry and plan my supper meals in my daily planner.  With 7 people all going different ways it's helpful to have my calendar handy when planning meals.  I can see at a glance if the meal needs to be quick, slow-cooked, meatless or feast day worthy, early or late.  I also keep a hidden stash of quick food (popcorn chicken, taquitos, corn dogs) because inevitably something will come up and a more involved meal will have to be postponed. 

I hope this Cooking Camp inspires you to make a meal plan because food can nourish the body, but it also nourishes the heart and soul and I'm sure your family is worth it.