History ~ Time Travelers Unit Studies

DD and I are really, really enjoying the Time Travelers New World Explorer Unit Study, by Homeschooling in The Woods. Amy was wonderful to do business with, and is a homeschooling mom herself. She and her family did a tremendous job on these unit studies! We absolutely cannot wait to move on to the other units. In this pic, dd is holding her "Old Ships Log," her "Ptolemaic Map" and the anatomy of a ship (just one of the very many mini projects included, to be compiled into a lapbook at the end of the unit!). The amount of projects you end up with at the end of this unit is amazing! You can see a picture of them here. In our picture, on dd's lap is her Notebook. So during the process of going through this unit, your child is also lapbooking and notebooking and ends up with a complete one of each at the end of the unit. { TTLapbook outside/inside & TTNotebook} Every day is laid out for you with lesson text, projects and all the project pages and instructions you will need. With one day being a project day to finish up any in-complete projects for that week. These units are really well done! I HIGHLY recommend! Stay tuned for more fun projects!

updated to add: I just discovered that this Old Testament Lapbook that I have been searching for, for quite sometime, is ALSO done by Homeschool In The Woods! It's their Old Testament Hands-On Activity Pak. I should have know! Have I already said that you MUST check this company out? Because you must.. :-)

"Daddy's Shirt" Dress?

We had a great time sewing last week! Discovered an awesome way of making a very cute dress out of Daddy's old shirt, and a neat (and easy) wrap skirt. I found them both on one of my favorite blogs! See both posts here, and the directions for making the dress here, and the skirt here then here. The front of the dress is the back of daddy's old shirt, the back of the dress is the front of daddy's old shirt and the pantaloons are daddy's old sleeves!

I love the skirt, as it is very flattering & I love long skirts! It was very simple and whipped up in just a few hours. I plan on making several more of these! The (wrinkly) skirt pics are at the end of the slide show :-D {Note: Please forgive the wrinkles, as I had to quickly jump into bed to nurse a sleepy teething baby back to sleep, LOL }now, on to the show.....

Menu Planning with iCal!

Originally uploaded by Ngabriel

My menu plan is finally done! yeaayyyy!!!! ok, so as I searched the web for a software program that would make it easy for me to organize a monthly menu plan, I became somewhat frustrated. Then I decided to give my iCal (the calendar program on my mac) a try. To my surprise, it worked like a charm! I set up 3 meals a day, for 2 weeks. Each meal is set to repeat on that same day every 2 weeks. So I end up with a 2 week rotating menu. In the notes section, I can enter things like the recipe, etc. I truly enjoy it and I hope you can find something just as user friendly to work your magical menu wand over! :-D Bon Appetite!

n

Favorite Breakfast recipe!

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Originally uploaded by Ngabriel

After much trial (and gnashing or teeth!), I have finally completed my menu plan! And in celebration, I am exploiting my absolute favorite breakfast recipe ~ Dutch Puff! Have you heard of it, you probably have. I came to know it through a blog that I visit often, and it has become a lethal weapon in my menu planning arsenal (especially with baby around!). I love it because I can quickly throw (literally) together 3 quick ingredients, and beat up and store in the fridge overnight. Then in the morning, pre-heat the oven, pour and oven bake for a few minutes! It cannot get any easier. We have it with pure maple syrup, molasses, bananas or fruit spread or preserves! mmmm! If you haven't heard of it, here is the recipe, courtesy of Kim @ Large Family Logistics:

Dutch Puff

2 cups freshly ground pastry flour or what ever you have on hand
2 cups buttermilk, milk, or cream
8 eggs
1 stick of butter

Put all ingredients except butter in your blender. Blend until smooth. Let sit overnight. In the morning put one stick of butter in a 9x13 pan and place in oven while it is preheating to 425. Blend ingredients again and add to baking dish. Cook for 20 minutes. It will puff up real big and then deflate once it has set out a few minutes. Top with Blueberry Sauce or maple syrup.
Wheat free version: use 1 cup rice flour and 1 cup tapioca flour


Enjoy!

n

Botanical Garden Field Trip

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Originally uploaded by Ngabriel

Our field trip to the Botanical Gardens was absolutely beautiful! If earthly beauty, touched by sin, can be this breathtaking ~ Can you imagine heavenly beauty, in all it's perfection? I surely cannot! But I can't wait to see it!

n

The Microwave Diet!

I just discovered a new diet, that I think EVERYONE should go on!

See, hubby and I have recently gotten rid of our microwave, and I realize that my weight has declined. Tonight, the thought dawned on me. It's because of the lack of the microwave! See, as I was finishing my delicious supper, I walked to the kitchen thinking "Mmm, that was so good, I could eat some more.' However, the casserole was cold as ice from being refrigerated, and would mean waiting, at least, another 20 minutes before I had another piping hot serving! So, of course, in that very moment, I also thought "Nah, I'm OK." EUREKA!!! Thus the secret to my weight loss! HA!

This diet comes highly recommended!! :-D
n

GoldenRod

While going through one of my DD's Prairie Primer lessons, one of the assignments was to draw Goldenrod and research it's uses. After gleaning inspiration from Like Merchant Ships (one of my favorite reads! :-D) , I came to realize that this herb is the same nuisance weed that grows abundantly along Ga highways & roadsides! And... after doing some more digging, I discovered the herbs wonderful therapeutic properties ~ a long time home remedy, often used as a tea to treat urinary tract infections & kidney stones. And, when in harmony with a few "roadside florals," I think it makes for an adorable arrangement!

n

9/30 Commitment to Loveliness!

It's time for another Commitment to Loveliness! This is a fun way to increase femininity and beauty in our lives each week without even trying! All you have to do is choose five things that you would like to work on or do during the week that will increase the loveliness in your life!

Here is my list for this week:

1. Take the time to sew SOMETHING this week!
2. Return the house to "Home"
3. Re-organize my Pantry.
4. Pick some flowers & bring them into the house.
5. Start using my "Motivated Moms" Planner.

n

I've decided to join these lovely ladies, over at "Less of Me.." in planning my week. So in addition to my usual Commitment to Loveliness, I will begin posting "Monday Meanderings" each monday. This is so that I can seperate my more-practical weekly goals, from the more-"lovely" weekly goals. Some will probably be the same, but there will be some that differ on each list. So here we go:

1. Bible Study/ Devotions ~
   This week, I will continue my study of Godly Beauty and begin to "Really" read the book "Escape to God" by Jim Hohnberger.
   
2. "Must Do"~
   
   • - Take a little time and Bless each room to "Return" my house to Home, after a very hectic last week.
   • COMPLETE my menu plan.
   • Begin 1st week of my "12-Week Christian Holiday Planner".
     
   • Plan Sabbath School lesson for this Sabbath.
     
3. Home Project~
   I would really like to get my pantry back! SO this week I am going to commit to getting that pantry re-organized!
   
4. Train Them Up~
   
   • Find knitting needles, to begin the knitting unit in the Training Our Daughters curriculum.
     
   • Find 7 cartons for Stewardship Street "Math" class.
   • Gather together necessary items for ms. "Ruby" doll / proverbs 31 study.
     

1. Menu Planning~
   
   • When I have finished planning my monthly rotating menu, I will post here wach week what the plan is for that week.
     

HomeschoolBoutique.com/ Our OTHER uniform!

Our favorite, online, homeschool attire shop is giving away FREE T-shirts! Check them out at HomeSchool Boutique

Our absolute favorite shirt (and the one we get THE most feedback from) is my DD's field-trip "Uniform" shirt.

We get SO many comments on this great shirt everytime we go out! The store has a ton of other awesome stuff, (VERY reasonable priced to boot!) so make sure you check them out!

ps: Tell her Nichole from Atlanta sent you! :-D