This year, I’m trying something a bit different with the boys. This is mostly for Colt, but I created one for Riley as well because I knew that he’s want one as well. Colt is mostly self-teaching this year and I created this notebook to help him stay organized and on task. Colt and Riley’s are nearly identical, except for the names of the tabs. Colt’s notebook is a 2-inch notebook and Riley’s is a 1 1/2-inch one. Here is a photo of Colt’s notebook.
When you open up the notebook you see:
This is a pencil bag which contains most of the item that he will need on a daily basis. Pencils, pens, scissors, stapler, etc.
behind the pencil bag is a sprial for him to use for his written assignment, those items that do not have print outs.
behind the spiral is a copy of our school rules. These are:
Behavior/Attitude
1. NO BAD ATTITUDES. This includes talking back, arguing, throwing temper tantrums, anger explosions, etc.
2. RESPECTFUL SPEECH. Please remember to be polite and respectful in all of your speech to anyone in the house. This includes remembering your yes/no ma’am/sirs, please, thank you, etc.
3. BE OBEDIENT. Do what Mom & Dad ask you to do, WHEN we ask you to do it.
4. WHEN FRUSTRATED. You may take a 5 minute break from your work. Set the timer and do something else for that time period. When time is up start back on your work.
Whenever there is a question in regards to your attitude, behavior or speech, please consider the “Golden Rule”.
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hand all the law and the prophets.”
~ Matthew 22:37-40
School Work
1. HANDWRITING. Copywork, penmanship and final draft of papers must be in your BEST handwriting.
2. DAILY ASSIGNMENTS. All daily assignments must be finished before you can have free time.
3. INCORRECT ANSWERS. Incorrect answers must be corrected before you move on to the next day’s work.
Whenever there is a question in regards to your school work, please consider the following verse.
“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; “
~ Colossians 3:23
Behind the school rules is a year calendar that starts in Sept 2009 and ends Aug. 2010. I’ve numbered the weeks we do school (40 weeks per year) and highlighted the weeks that we have off from homeschool.
Behind the school calendar are tabs. Both of the boys have tabs for Monday-Friday.
Colt’s additional tabs include:
–Vocabulary – a list of all current & past vocabulary words
–Scripture – where his Scripture memory chart is found along with a listing of Scripture memory verses
–Writing – where he can store on-going writing projects (term papers, stories, etc.)
–Literature – where he stores read pages of his current literature book (we use Robinson Curriculum and print the books from home).
–Grammar – Where his grammar book is stores (this is also printed via the Robinson Curriculum)
–Reading List – where his reading list is found
–Points record – where his points record is found
–Helps – a place to put anything that helps him with his school work, such as commonly misspelled words, etc.
Riley’s Additional tabs include:
–Vocabulary
–Scripture
–Reading List
–Points Record
–Helps – this holds his Math Helping Folder (number cards, math symbols cards, shape cards and number lines
Here’s an example of one of the Monday-Friday tabs
Behind the tab you will find a print out with his assignments for the day. Behind the assignment sheet I place any worksheets that he needs to do, along with the section of his literature book that he needs to read. Printing out our own books via the Robinson Curriculum makes this an easy option to help him to know exactly what he needs to read each day.
This is a close up picture of his assignment sheet
This is a close-up of the Scripture Memory Verse Chart, which is found behind the scripture tab. Each week he writes a verse that he plans on memorizing and at the end of the week if he has it memorized, it gets marked with a star sticker.
This is a close-up of the Reading List Chart, which is found behind the Reading List tab. Each time he starts a book, he records the book’s name, author and start date. When he finishes a book, he records the end date. This will help him keep track of all the books he reads during the school year. He includes all books read; for literature, text books, and those read for enjoyment.
This is a close-up of the Points Chart, which is found behind the Points tab. To help encourage the boys in finishing all their daily assignments, we give them 1 point for each item finished from off their daily assignment sheets. They only get credit for assignments finished each day. After they collect 200 points, they can spend them on a special event of their choice. These are specific outings and can not be used on things like toys. Going to the movies, to the zoo, trip to a museum, going out to eat at the place of their choice, etc.
Well that’s a tour of the boys homeschool notebooks. School starts tomorrow (Monday!).
Sorry I haven’t been around much lately! I have been so busy trying to get ready for homeschool this year. Our school starts on Monday! I’m nearly done with the lesson plans and should finish those up by the end of this weekend. Add to that, I’ve had a lot of designing duties and business stuff to do with my digial scrapbooking business. Not that it’s bad, it means that the business is doing well, but just a lot of stuff due all around the same time. I think it’s finally starting to settle down a bit, so that’s good.
Plus, there really hasn’t been much to blog about in recent weeks. It’s been slow and quiet around here lately and I haven’t had a lot of extra time to do some of the things that I usually blog about. So, I guess I’m in a “busy-ness” lull when it comes to blogging.
As for what’s been going on around here…not a lot (lol!). The only excitement we’ve had in the last week was that Marty killed a rattlesnake out by our barn last night. After that, he took the boys outside and showed it to them. This was especially useful for Riley to help him identify it as a dangerous snake (Colt had already learned this lesson when we killed one a few years back). In the nearly 10 years that we’ve lived here, this is only the 2nd rattlesnake we’ve killed and both have been out by the barn. It always creeps me out though! Marty stood by the back door holding up the icky thing for me to see…gave me the heebie jeebies! I am not a snake person at all! Years ago, my cousin Robin’s husband talked me into going to the Snake Farm in New Braunfels and they had this pit full of the biggest rattlesnakes I had ever seen. I felt like I would faint when I was looking down at them. I get the same feeling when I see them at the zoo too. I just DO NOT LIKE rattlesnakes. Other snakes I do fine with though, so it’s not just a fear of snakes in general.
I haven’t been able to can for while now. When my water bath canner got the hole in it a few weeks back and all the water drained from it into my stove, it apparently messed up my stove. Now all the burners stay on low at all times and one of my burners stopped working (one of the large ones). So between uses we have to unplug the stove and when we’re using it, we have to unplug the burners we’re not using. So now, we’re having to try to save up for a new stove which will be a slow process at this time of the year as we’re also trying to save up for all the extra stuff we need during the holiday times (travel,Thanksgiving, Riley’s Birthday, and Christmas). So we’ll probably make do until we get our income tax back after the first of the year. So cooking has been a bit of a challenge, so I’ve been using my crockpot, toaster oven and the George Foreman grill quite a bit =). Kind of puts me in mind of when we first moved out here, we didn’t have a stove at all. We did all of our cooking on a propane camp stove until my parents bought a new stove and gave us their old one. So, I am glad that we have this one…even if it doesn’t work correctly! (Yes, I can be a bit “Pollyanna” when I want to be…lol!)
The boys are excited for homeschool to be starting up again…Riley more so than Colt. I think it’s going to be a great school year. I have a lot planned and hope that they enjoy it.
Well, I need to get off here and get busy. Today is Friday, which means meeting Marty for Pizza for lunch, running errands and hitting some garage sales. Have a blessed day everyone!
We eat beans and lentils at least a couple time per week. They really help cut down on our grocery bill, yet keeps us eating in a healthy manner. Plus, my family loves them! Here are a couple of recipes that we tried out this week and were found to be yummy! The ingredients are simple and healthy (depending on the type of hot dogs used). They are also filling and my kids really love them! To start off, you will need to cook 2 pounds of lentils.
Basic Lentils
2 pound dried lentils
3 tbsp. whey (or vinegar)
3 cups water (enough to cover lentils)
2 cups beef broth (or 1 can)
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. onion powder
Extra water
In a crock-pot, pour in the lentils, whey and water. Cover and let sit overnight (DO NO turn on crock-pot!). The next morning drain off water and return lentils to crock-pot. Pour in beef broth and then enough water to cover. Add garlic powder and onion powder. Add water if needed during cooking. Cook on low until lentils are done.
Now that you have the basic lentils ready, it’s time to add the ingredients for the Lentil Tacos:
Lentil Tacos
2 pounds dried lentils, cooked as per recipe above
1 can rotel style tomatoes and green chilis
1 small can tomato sauce
1 tbsp. taco seasoning
corn or whole wheat tortillas
To the lentils in the crock-pot, add the rotel style tomatoes, tomato sauce and taco seasoning. Cook on low until warmed through and time to eat (I usually let cook at least 1 hour). Serve over warmed tortillas.
Now, unless you have a big family, you should have some of the lentils left-over. I leave them in the crock part of my crock-pot and put them in the refrigerator to use them the next day for the Lentil “Beanie” Weenies. About 2 hours before dinner, put the crock back into the crock-pot base and set to low. Let cook on low for 1 hour and then follow the recipe below to start the Lentil “Beanie” Weenies.
Lentil “Beanie” Weenies
Left-over Lentil Tacos (you could probably also use left-over Lentil Chili)
1 package hot dogs, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 bottle BBQ sauce (flavor of your choice, I used Honey Roasted Garlic)
To the left-over Lentil Tacos in the crock-pot, add the remaining ingredients. Let cook on low for 1 hour and then serve.
Here is the price break down for the 2 meals:
$1.88 — 2 pound dried lentils
$0.05 — 3 Tbsp Vinegar
$0.78 — 2 cups beef broth
$0.17 — 1 tbsp. garlic powder
$0.17 — 1 tbsp. onion powder
$0.76 — 1 can rotel style tomaotoes and green chilis
$0.33 — 1 small can tomato sauce
$0.42 — 1 tbsp. taco seasoning
$1.42 — corn tortillas
$0.88 — 1 package hot dogs, cut into bite-size pieces
$0.44 — 1/2 bottle BBQ sauce
The total for both meals comes to $7.30. That’s just roughly $3.65 per meal to feel a family of 4 (which includes an adult male and a teenage male–both with hollow legs). That’s not too shabby! I’m constantly being surprised by the versatility of lentils!
