Tuesday, November 10, 2009

freebie

http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Bears

A couple of weeks ago we learned about bears. I normally don't do a lot of unit studies. Our schooling is usually individualized but, I thought I would try something different that week as Tre' who is in 3rd grade won't stay out of Precious' school work. She is always saying that she didn't know this or that when we do things with Tre' for science. So of course I didn't want to buy new stuff since its only November so I am utilizing stuff we have and the internet for this one. Apologia's Land animals of the sixth day, which is what Tre' and PJ use for science is what helped me decide on a topic. I figured if they didn't like it we would just have extra stuff for them for the week. I got a Bear book from a friend in a boohoo of homeschool hand-me-downs so I included that. I also had some flannel board bears so of course we utilized some bear stories for the little ones. We did Goldilocks and the three bears Friday as a play. We read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see". We have tons of Bernstein Bear books, we read two of them Monday. We picked up some Paddington Bear from the library. We went on a large-scale bear hunt. I went out and hid stuffed bears around the neighborhood. Since we are the only kids at home this time of day I figured it would be fine. We watched a couple of videos online too. The kids loved it so much we are working on another unit study this week.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

day 48

Ok so far for the 365 day clutter challenge, I have declutter clothes. I have in keeping with the challenge gotten rid of an item per day.. Some days I don't and I catch up when I think about it. So I will try to keep a journal on what I declutter so I can see the progress I have made in the end.
Today-I am decluttering the game station. We have a game station right next to the front door where all the board games and card games goes. I have done a good job of organizing all of the pieces in little zip lock bags for each individual game since the boxes take up so much space some time ago. The problem is it looks junky so today I will move all of these things into the coat closet to get rid of some of the visual suff in the living room. I have bought a few plastic shoe boxes so they will all fit neatly on the shelf. Hopefully I can find my declutter thing of the day while I am doing it.

why do I keep getting asked how I feed my family?

I get asked all the time-how do you feed all of those children? I don't understand why people ask me because I only have 4 kids. I always wonder the same thing about bigger families so I guess they feel like me but, ask. Anyway the answer to the question is big meats, crock pots, beans and prayers. My mother taught me a long time ago that its cheaper with the bone in it. Yeah of course when we first got married we ate steak all the time, center cut pork chops, and boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Now a days we eat a whole bunch of chicken, no pork (because of Jimmy's blood pressure), roasts, and fish. Oh and of course beans.
Beans- they are not all that bad. I am very "naughty" when it comes to my bean cooking. I really like having a little meat in them. The main bean of choice in our house is pinto beans and red beans. The kids love pinto beans because I let them add sugar too them. Not to much but, it makes them soupy and sweet. I don't like my beans sweet though.
Now so far as meat in them goes-I used to use ham hocks like all the other women in my family, but when Jimmy developed high blood pressure and then chose to not take his medicine, I decided that he would not eat any pork or salty foods whenever I was around. I do miss the ham hocks though but, now its turkey necks or chicken broth, homemade of course. He doesn't really know the difference now but, he did complain some when I first started doing it.
Back to beans- I never had red beans until I lived on the Mississippi gulf coast. There is something about those red beans and rice. They are so good! To cook my red beans I don't soak them I just throw them in the crock pot with water, tony chachere's (my most fav seasoning), chicken broth, an onion, whole garlic cloves, and let um ride. When they are done I throw a little ground sausage and a lot of link sausage and put, it all over rice. Oh my goodness, I want some now!
cornbread- You can't eat beans without cornbread. Well, I guess you can but, for the Hill family they are just not the same. I never ate a lot of cornbread growing up but, when I got married Jimmy was a conasuer of cornbread so I had to learn how to make it. My basic recipe is:
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup of cornmeal
1 egg
1 cup of milk
1 tblsp of oil
1 tblsp of sugar - started adding that after Precious was born.
Now to this basic recipe I add lots of stuff. I have been known to add sausage, corn, broccoli, cheese, sour cream, barbecue sauce, carrots, cream cheese, and even food coloring. Anything to make a kid eat. Oh yeah and more sugar. A lot of days though we just eat jiffy. I don't see how Jimmy's grandmother does it, making a pan of cornbread everyday from scratch. I guess its her "me" time. This post got longer then I planned to make it so I am going to have to discuss this one later. shalom, Toni

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