Menu Plan {July 27 - August 1}

I thought posting a weekly menu for supper may be helpful to someone. I know I get stuck sometimes not knowing what to cook or how to cook it! I try to cook 2 chicken, 2 beef, and 1 pork or meatless meal a week. I don't always succeed with that variety though. This week is 1 chicken meal, 3 beef and 1 pork, but next week may be 3 chicken meals to make up for it!

Monday: Baked Ranch & Herb Chicken; lima beans with bacon; rice medley; garlic bread

Tuesday: Roast with Potatoes and Onions; green beans or salad; toast or biscuits

Wednesday: Red beans and Rice with Sausage; corn bread muffins

Thursday: Baked Ziti; corn; green beans or salad; cheesy garlic bread

Friday: Tacos {soft or crunchy}; refried beans

Saturday: leftovers!!

Our lunches are usually pretty easy. We have sandwiches several times a week. We will have corndogs, chicken nuggets, or hot dogs a few times a week.

For breakfast, I always have frozen waffles, pancakes, sausage patties and links; eggs; cereal and milk; or toast with Nutella or cheese. Breakfast has to be easy and quick, and the kids are in charge of cooking or fixing it.

Our snacks are oranges, apples, applesauce, peanut butter and crackers, and cookies. I occasionally bake brownies or cupcakes to enjoy.

Especially with homeschooling, I have to fix quick meals. I am not the healthiest, crunchiest mom, but my kids are all very healthy, at normal weights, and we do eat a variety of foods {just not every day}.

Wordless Wednesday {with words}

 {Mikaela has made 3 beanbags so far. She has done a pretty good job, and she is getting better with each one. We may wind up with twenty bean bags.}

 

 

 {Super Hero Summer Reading Program at the Library - today was Firemen Heroes. Here is Fireman Dave photo-bombing our picture! The two little boys got their names drawn to win fireman hats.}

{We received free ice cream coupons for Dairy Queen from the library, so we used those after the program today.}

{We come home with tons of books and movies each week, and it warms my heart to see my children reading. Knowing that I am the one who taught them to read is such a satisfying feeling.}

Homeschool Organization {the extras}

My husband works in the pipeline industry. His job requires us to travel several times a year. He works jobs all over the country that last anywhere from a month to a year! The average time-span we spend on one job is about five months. The kids and I travel with him, which is part of the reason we chose to start homeschooling eight years ago! We have a travel trailer, but with the kids getting older {and more in number}, we are renting a furnished home right now.

We make our permanent home in Louisiana, where most of my homeschool supplies are. {We are limited in what we can bring. It has to fit in my husbands truck and my Yukon XL.} So, I've had to purchase a lot of things this year that we normally have on hand. {And don't ask me how we are going to get it all home...I don't know!!} Anyways...

I have already organized our books for Little Hearts for His Glory and Bigger Hearts for His Glory. However, there are always tons of extra supplies when you are homeschooling! I went out today and bought most of the supplies we will need for the next several weeks, as well as the supplies Mikaela will need for her science experiments.

I bought a plastic tub to keep under my bed for art supplies and science experiment supplies.

Some of the items I have in here are: tennis balls, Ping-Pong balls, masking tape, paint and brushes, clothespins, measuring tape, stickers, flashlights, glue, craft sticks, magnifying glass, scotch tape, and tweezers. {Fellow HOD'ers probably know why most of the odd items are in here!}

 

I have two zipper pouches for myself. One contains extra pencils, pens, erasers, a stapler and staples.

 

This one contains our dry-erase markers.

 

 

 In this basket, I have a few math manipulatives. We have a ton of stuff at home, but I had to purchase these here.

 

I have some transportation counters and linking cubes {both Learning Resource}.

 

I also have some math dice, regular game dice, and 30 dinosaur counters. I picked these up at the Dollar Tree! I have ordered some fraction dice and plastic coins that will go in here also.

 

Mikaela is 12, in 7th grade, and she is using Christian Light for Bible, Language Arts and Social Studies. In this basket, we have her concordance, her answer keys and teachers guide for math {Key to Fractions}, language arts and Bible. I also keep my zipper pouches in here for easy access.

 

 

 She colored a horse for her notebook cover.

 

In her binder, she has a Language Arts reference chart, a ruler, her zipper pouch, maps she will need for Social Studies, and two notebooks. One notebook is for spelling and copywork; the other is for Social Studies.

 

I ordered Mikaela "Science in the Ancient World". {The CLE science was so dry and boring. Not a spot of color, not one picture. We are sending it back.}

 

 

 

I purchased some fabric squares today. I have a project for Mikaela: hand-sew a few beanbags for Silas and Titus's HOD games.

So...that's my organization so far! It is always fun to get ready to start homeschooling. The kids get so excited and are ready to start today! We are still waiting on Mikaela's science book. We may start next week, but my target date is August 3.

Homeschooling with Heart of Dakota {getting prepared for Little Hearts for His Glory}

Little Hearts for His Glory {ages 5-7}

 

All of the books Silas will need are kept in this basket. I am super excited to read the Thornton Burgess books to him this year!

 

This is his binder.

{He decided to use colored pencils to color his cover sheet, and I discovered he has much better coloring skills with the colored pencils than he does with crayons. I am going to buy him his own box to keep in his backpack.}

 

I decided to make him some science notebooking worksheets for his binder. He loves "worksheets" and I think they will solidify what he is learning, as well as keep him busy!

 

I also created a handwriting page {with a small section at the bottom to color}. I simplified the verses to what I am going to have him memorize. We have tried memorizing scripture before, and smaller selections work better for him. I did increase the verses with each unit, because I know his skill level will develop.

 

Again, I created these worksheets to coordinate with the reading activity once a week. It is totally not necessary, as everything we need is in the guide. I just thought he would enjoy these.

 

In his backpack {which is a small one}, he has his art supply box, pencil pouch and a box of crayons {in a plastic container}.

 

I am also going to work with him on speech therapy. He has some speech problems, and when we were home, he was going to a speech therapist once a week. There was no improvement while we were attending. However, I started researching speech therapy methods and working with him, and he has made tremendous improvement. We are going to continue with this.

 

I created these binder spine labels with the child's name, school year, grade and program. This will be helpful for storage purposes.

 

I am so excited to begin!

 

Homeschooling with Heart of Dakota {getting prepared for Bigger Hearts for His Glory}

So, we are to begin our homeschooling journey once more after a year in the public school system. I homeschooled my five children starting with my oldest, Mikaela, when she was in Kindergarten. She is now starting 7th grade! {She is the only one not using Heart of Dakota.}

My oldest son, Eli, is 10 and starting the 5th grade. I am combining him with his sister, Mercie, who is 7 and starting 2nd grade. They will be using Bigger Hearts for His Glory, with the science portion of the extension pack for Eli.

Silas is 5 and starting Kindergarten with Little Hearts for His Glory. The youngest, Titus, is 3. We will start Little Hands to Heaven with him, using it about twice a week. I want it to last two years.

This is our first year that we will be using Heart of Dakota. I am so excited! I have done almost all of the prep work and organization for the entire year, and I wanted to share it in case anyone else was new to this!

Bigger Hearts for His Glory {ages 7-9, extions for 10-11}

 I bought my teacher's guide used from Ebay. It was already in this binder, with the pages in sheet protectors. I love how easy it is to use! I love the individual boxes on each page that tell us what to do. I love the activities, the notebooking, the experiments, the literature...I could go on and on.

 These are the books from the Bigger... package. I put them all in a plastic tub for easy access.
{Everything else goes in their backpacks, which I will explain below.}

 

Here are their binders. I printed out each of them a notebook cover to color. They thought that was great fun, and I thought it added a personal touch to each binder.

 Each of their binders has dividers labeled "HISTORY", "SCIENCE", "POETRY", "VOCABULARY", AND "EXPERIMENTS".

 Behind their "HISTORY" divider, I have printed out a timeline and notebook sheets {from the HOD yahoo group}.

 Behind "SCIENCE", I printed out notebook sheets, also from the HOD yahoo group.

 

 Behind "VOCABULARY", I printed out a page with space for all three vocabulary words for Eli. I made Mercie a page with space for one vocabulary word. I am going to let her choose the word.

 Behind "EXPERIMENTS", I made a sheet with space for the question, guess, procedure, and conclusion.

 Since Eli is on the oldest end of the age recommendations, I printed out a list of 300 spelling words for 5th graders. If I use 10 a week, that will give us 30 weeks of spelling words. {www.spelling-words-well.com}

They each have their own box of art supplies {scissors, colored pencils, markers, pencil sharpener, glue stick, watercolor tin}. I keep all other art supplies in a box in my closet. These are the things they will use daily or weekly, and I find it helps for each child to have their own box in their backpack. They each also have a pencil bag with pencils, erasers, and high-lighters. This cuts back on looking for pencils each day.

In their backpacks, they each have their binder, Rod and Staff textbook and a notebook to be used with R&S, Singapore math workbooks, art box, pencil pouch, index card ring for memory verses, and whatever book they are reading. Eli also has his Exploring Planet Earth book, and Mercie has two decks of playing cards {for the math activities}.

The backpacks make it easy for all of us. When it's time for school, they grab their backpacks are ready to go. It makes clean up easy, cuts back on lost books or notebooks, and keeps their stuff organized. Backpacks are only to be used during school time, and are kept in my room.

{I'm sorry some of the pictures are sideways...I can't figure out how to turn them.}