The good, the bad and the doughy

I have really been getting into baking bread lately. I even bought a huge loaf pan so I could make a loaf and have it last for more than just one lunch hour. I managed to make a pretty nice looking loaf although the top sunk slightly, but pretty good for a first time with a 17 inch loaf pan.


During my bread making adventure, I had several visitors come and go and of course my ever present, wonderful children... well they had an adventure of their own. Making "snow" from a store bought loaf of bread. With all the commotion, I let them go a little more free than normal and they got out more toys than normal and have a grand old time.


The baby has been getting into his own form of mischief tearing up books and playing in toilet water. Luckily summer is right around the corner and maybe I can help with his strong desire to splash in water. Here he is getting into the dishwasher as I try and fill it with dishes, he climbs up now all by himself! He loves to try and "help" by either emptying it out and handing it to you or just giving up and listening to the noise he can make when he tries to scatter everything by waving his arms. He just loves playing with things that aren't toys. Like brooms, mops, dustpans, dishwashers, bowls, plates, cups and kitchen utensils. He usually makes a big mess but its all worth it when he crawls up to you with the dustpan when you are sweeping, (sometimes right through your pile of dust) he is trying to help!

Findings

I found a few things that I am really excited about and thought I would share.

1. Learn at Home Kindergarden. Its a neat bare bones book on what to teach week by week with plenty of room to add and customize to your homeschool life. Also good as a supliment for public schooled kids.

I also ordered "What your Preschooler needs to Know" which looks great. Its part of a series of books: "What your ____ grader needs to Know". I have been very pleased with these books. As a homechooling mom its nice to know I am covering the basics and then I can expand as I see fit.

2. http://www.successful-homeschooling.com a wonderful site I found with ideas on how to teach every subject wheather you homeschool or public school we can all take an active part in teaching or suplimenting our children's education.

3. http://www.paperbackswap.com/ a great site for book lovers. Have books you don't want? Post them on the website and request ones that you do want. Get started by posting 10 books and getting 2 credits so you can request 2 books. Or you can buy credits for like $3.50 or something, that is cheaper than amazon's shipping! What could be better than a book you really want for free! I found a neat looking science book called: Gobble Up Science: Fun Activities to Complete and Eat. I look forward to getting it. Too bad I just got rid of nearly every book we didn't want by taking them to the library! Oh well, I searched around the house and still found 10 to start with. This site will encourage me to let go and move on!

4. http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/ a great site for food storage. It's a network of 3 sites for planning, getting and using your food storage. I highly recommend trying their recipes and using your food storage! You should check out the brownie and chocolate chip cookie recipe. I can't wait!


Have a great day!

Our daily home school

I have been asked how I homeschool and what my schedule for the day is. This is a rough outline of our day, or at least how we want our day to go, it ends up being more of a goal then a reality most days, but its a start. We usually end up going over the time set out here, having young children we need to take frequent breaks. I have learned to make everything a family affair, I really need to exercise so we all exercise! I really want to make bread, tortillas and other foods from scratch, so we all get involved! So this is a little taste of our day. We are trying to establish a route more than a tight schedule:


5:30-6:00 Wake up and have family prayer with Dad before he goes to work.
6:00-6:30 Exercise: jump on our mini trampoline and play "simon says"
6:30-7:00 Dress/shower/tidy up the bedroom, make beds
7:00-7:30 Breakfast
7:30-8:00 Scripture study: kids watch scripture stories from lds.org and I read mine.
8:00-8:30 Start School: not exactly in order:
8:30-9:00 Math and Science
9:00-9:30 Piano and singing time
9:30-10:00 Reading and Writing
10:00-10:30 Spotlight : pick an ancestor and try to guess what their life was like
10:30-11:00 Spanish
11:00-11:30 Crafts
11:30-12:00 Finish up school
12:00-12:30 Lunch
12:30-1:00
1:00-1:30
1:30-2:00 Prepare food from scratch like start a loaf of bread or something
2:00-2:30
2:30-3:00
3:00-3:30
3:30-4:00 Make Dinner
4:00-4:30
4:30-5:00 Dinner
5:00-5:30
5:30-6:00 Family Scripture Study after dinner
6:00-6:30
6:30-7:00
7:30-8:00 Get the kids ready and in bed by 8:00
8:00-8:30
8:30-9:00
9:00-9:30 Get ready and go to bed


My new favorite homeschooling website is http://www.successful-homeschooling.com if you are interested in homeschooling or even just supplementing preschool or public school, its great!

I feel strongly that in order for our children to succeed we have to be involved in their education weather that's a public school education or a homeschool education.

Back in Houston

Well it has been way too long since we have added anything to our blog but a lot has been happening. First of all at the beginning of the year our Mom in New Mexico had broken her ankle and we had to go to New Mexico to help her recover. It was a good 6 weeks, but it was also hard to be away from home that long. It was also nice because we were able to see all the Chris' brothers and sisters. It had been over 10 years since they had been all together in a single place. So it was nice being able to see so much family. Luckily, Chris was able to work out of the Farmington office and so he didn't end up missing any work either. We had some neat experiences as we tried to help life get to normal for Chris' parents. Homeschooling also made it easier although we weren't able to get much done there.

After coming back, we worked on trying to get our lives back together. Our house had been watched by some neighbors but the trip came up all of a sudden and so our house wasn't in the best of condition. Jen also began homeschooling again with the kids and we have been really pleased with Peter's progress. There were things that Peter had been struggling with and he came back and suddenly was really good at them. He has been improving on his writing and has been doing good sounding out words. Sam continues to be really interested in animals, especially turtles and Opossums, and in New Mexico he discovered the wonders of rocks. Joe continued to copy his brothers whenever he can. Will is now a super faster crawler and over the last week we have caught him letting go of things and taking a few steps.

Peter and Sam also had a dentist appointment and yeah no cavities! Will also had several check-ups since he turned a year in New Mexico. We'll have to try and post some pictures of his cake. He also had to have in-patient procedure done to unclog his tear ducts which is the same thing Peter also had. He did well except he didn't like being strapped down when they did it. I don't blame him not liking them sticking a long probe down the side of hie eye (YIKES!). Joe also had a birthday party last week and had fun making super-hero capes with his brothers and a few friends. He also had fun finding Easter eggs afterwards.

Well, we will probably be making some more entries to catch up but this is all for now.