It’s been a busy couple of weeks! On the positive side, fall has finally made it to Florida so I can actually make some soup! Here’s our menu for this week:
Monday: Tomato Soup and grilled cheese
Tuesday: Stuffed Acorn Squash
Wednesday: Chicken Lime Cilantro Soup
Thursday: Spaghetti
Friday: Dinner out
Thanks for stopping by for Menu Plan Monday! Have a great week!
Welcome back to Menu Plan Monday! This is our menu for the week:
Monday: Stuffed Acorn Squash
Tuesday: Calzones
Wednesday:Chicken Fajitas
Thursday: Pork and Black Bean Soup
Friday : Dinner out
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week.
I love to read my Bible everyday, but when I first got started it felt intimidating. There are so many names, so many stories, and just so much information that I had a hard time keeping it all together in my head. I often asked myself how one book related to another, and who wrote what, and when did this all occur? For this review we got to check out the Books of the Bible At-a-Glance printable sheets from Teach Sunday School. I wish I had had these when I first started my Bible reading journey, they would have made things so much easier!
There is one page for each book of the Bible, organized by order. So once you print them you can just put them in a binder and flip through it as you read your Bible. This makes it easy to find the pages you need whether you are reading the Bible in order or studying a particular book. Each sheet features several categories helping to give you a full picture of that book at a glance! Some of the information included tells you who authored the book and a general date of when it was written. If there is debate about that time frame, they include a note. In addition (and this feature I really liked) for the Old Testament books they tell you about what period in history the book covers! This is a nice feature since sometimes the prophets were talking about recent events (like when Moses wrote Exodus) but at other times they were writing about events that would take place in the future. This is also helpful if you are reading a story set in Biblical times (say God King: A Story in the Days of King Hezekiah) because you can then match it up to the book when the story takes place!
For the New Testament, they tell you what major issues the book was addressing at the time. You also get tons of other information like a summary of the major stories included in each book, what makes the book stand out (Claims to Fame), famous verses, and other important points like which chapter you would look at to find a particular item. For me personally, these sheets were like very thorough bite-sized introductions to each book of the Bible.
We used these sheets to preview whatever book my son happened to be reading (he is currently interning at our church with our children’s pastor and daily reading and journaling is one of his tasks). I think these would be particularly great for someone who is new to Bible reading because they help to make things less overwhelming. After reading the sheet for each book you get a general idea of what to expect as you read. You could also use these in so many ways, like to play games in a co-op situation. You could easily have kids do a “scavenger hunt” using the sheets, assigning them to find the book that talks about “X” or find the book that took place from “here-to-here” or find the book authored by “this person”. You could also print them out and hang them in your homeschool space so your kids have a reminder of what book they are reading and what takes place there.
We really enjoyed these and I think they would be a great addition to any homeschool. To learn more, connect with Teach Sunday School on social media here:
Teach Sunday School on Facebook
Teach Sunday School on Pinterest
Teach Sunday School on Instagram
Teach Sunday School on YouTube
To see what other members of the crew had to say about this product, click here:
Happy October! We had a really busy weekend. It was the second anniversary for our business so I’ve been working for about 7 days straight and I am finally catching up on all of our laundry. I hope I’m going to get it all done today but we’ll see. Anyways, I’m going easy on the menu this week to keep things simple:
Monday: Ribs with tomatoes and beans (recipe to come)
Tuesday: Mexican Pizza
Wednesday: Stuffed Squash
Thursday: Tostadas
Friday: Whatever is left!
Thanks for stopping by for Menu Plan Monday! Have a great week.
It is late September and I am starting to get excited for all the holidays coming up! Fall is one of my favorite times of year, and I spent this past weekend planting my garden. I know it’s kind of late, but in Florida our planting season runs long, so I’m hoping to get some good stuff this year! I love being able to go out in the backyard and pick my own vegetables and herbs! This is our menu for this week:
Monday: Grilled chicken with cheesy acorn squash
Tuesday: Spaghetti
Wednesday: Buffalo Chicken tacos
Thursday: Meatloaf and grilled veggies
Friday: Chili Mac
Thanks for stopping by for Menu Plan Monday! Have a great week!
One of my favorite things about the fall season is all the vegetables! While it’s still 90 degrees outside, I love to peruse the fresh produce aisles at the grocery store and check out the new options. This week there was a sale on acorn squash. I’ve already shared my recipe for stuffed squash, but this week I decided to make the squash as a side dish.
Ingredients:
1 large acorn squash (for two people, for four people you would need two)
1/2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Wash the squash and use a sharp knife to chop the squash in half. Scoop out the seeds.
3. Rub the inside of the squash with olive oil.
4. Season the squash with the salt, pepper, garlic powder and Italian seasoning.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes with the flesh side up, until sauce begins to soften.
6. Divide the heavy cream between the two halves of the squash and top with the Parmesan cheese.
7. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until the cheese melts and the cream is absorbed and the flesh pricks easily with a fork.
That’s it, enjoy! Thanks for stopping by!
So we are in my son’s senior year of high school and he has already begun some of his online classes to pursue his children’s ministry degree. As he begins his college education I realize the need for him to really be able to speak, debate, and write thoughtfully to present his thoughts and beliefs. This is one of the reasons I think it is very important to include Rhetoric as one of his subjects this year. I was so so excited to find out I was going to get to review Fitting Words Classical Rhetoric (Complete Program) from Roman Roads Media. When I first started checking this out I thought “wow, this looks really good” and when I got into it, I can tell you, I wasn’t disappointed.
For starters, when they say this is a “complete program”, they aren’t kidding. It really comes with every single thing you need in one package. From the textbook, to the student workbook, to the exams, complete answer key and even (yes!) video lessons, it’s all here. Of course, you can pick and choose how much you want to use because as the parent, you are always in charge, but everything is right here, and it’s all put together so well that it is really easy to use.
Parents should begin by reading the introduction which explains each component and gives a very convenient schedule for either a one year or two year course. I am one of those moms who always appreciates a schedule. Yes, I will probably tweak this to suit our particular needs, but for me a schedule is a great starting point because it gives me some idea of how to break down the material. Since we are in my son’s senior year we decided to follow the one-year schedule, but if we had gotten this earlier I probably would have done this course over two years to give us more time to dive into some of the further suggested readings and other things.
The video lessons that accompany the course are broken into two parts for each lesson, one that goes over the main lesson and one that takes students through the exercises for those lessons. Now, my son is not a great video learner. However, he did like watching the application videos a lot. Mainly because he liked how Mr. Nance (the author) explained the exercises and he said the videos helped him to better understand the figures of speech introduced in each lesson. He also watched the videos that reviewed the lessons before he took his exams. So, I allowed him to choose which videos to watch and he utilized them in the way that suited him best. I liked the way they were set up, because they were not incredibly long and the menu made it easy for him to find the videos that matched the lessons he was on.
Okay, so getting into the program, can I just say that I really kind of got into this myself and did a lot of pre-reading ahead of my son? The lessons in this book are meaty, and actually really interesting. If you think rhetoric is a dry topic, it’s not. At least not the way it’s presented in Fitting Words. The textbook consists of 30 lessons divided into seven units that cover topics ranging from types of arguments, to emotions, to delivery and so much more. Along the way your children will read Bible passages, excerpts from Phaedrus, and all kinds of speeches and other examples that will help them bring to life the things they are learning.
In the workbook, they will learn to apply what they are learning through activities that ask them to read Bible passages and identify the emotions of the speakers in those passages, look at historical documents and explain the methods the authors used in writing those documents, identify figures of speech in well-known writings, and have opportunities to give speeches of their own for specific purposes such as soliciting specific emotions from their audience, give a speech appropriate for a ceremony, and more.
Each chapter approaches it’s topic directly and explains it in detail with plenty of examples. The chapters themselves are pretty short (a big plus for my son!) with sidebars that highlight key concepts and ideas. At the end of the chapter there are questions you can use for discussion that encourage students to think more deeply about what they just read, suggestions for further reading, and a short memorization exercise. In addition, students will complete the related assignments in the workbook for their lessons. The thing is, even though the information itself is meaty, my son did NOT feel like he was overloaded with work to the point that he dreaded this subject and that is really the key to success for me at this point. Because if I have to fight with him to get him to do it, chances are, it probably isn’t going to get done. That is another reason I really like this course. He’s learning a lot, but he doesn’t feel like he’s being slammed with work! You can always dig further with the additional suggested readings, and if we were using this as a two-year program I probably would, but since we only have a year, we are going easy on that, only reading those particular ones my son is really interested in.
In the appendix you will find a full glossary, the full text of historical speeches featured in the text and a listing of Biblical speeches featured as well. This was very handy for my son to use as a reference for assignments.
The amount of depth in Fitting Words was just really impressive to me. I feel like my son is going to grow as a thinker, a writer, and a speaker through using this program, and the skills he learns are going to benefit him in his college courses. I definitely think this is a great program for any high school student. To learn more, connect with Roman Roads Media here:
Roman Roads Media on Instagram
Roman Roads Media on Pinterest
To see what other members of the crew thought of this program and the others we got to check out, click here:
Ahhh September! Fall weather (not really!) hurricane prep, and the hope of cooler temperatures a few months down the road! That’s pretty much the description of early fall here in Florida. We are still pretty much pushing 90 degrees every day so it’s basically summer part 2, which is okay with me! I’ve got a fresh crop of key limes, and I just used them to make my favorite pie! We are still spending our afternoons swimming in the pool or hanging at the beach and weekends cooking out with friends, so aside from those ugly storms swirling out there, the lack of fall weather doesn’t bother me too much! Here’s our menu for the week:
Monday: Enchilada Casserole
Tuesday: Cheesy Chicken with Potato Bites
Wednesday: Stuffed Zucchini
Thursday: Polenta Casserole
Friday: Probably leftovers
Thanks for stopping by for Menu Plan Monday! Have a great week!
Grammar is one of those subjects that is often difficult to teach just because most students find it dry and boring. Let’s be honest, it’s hard to make identifying nouns and pronouns and diagramming sentences fun! However, I believe that a solid understanding of grammar is very important in teaching students how to write. Those who have a thorough understanding of how grammar works will have a better understand of how to put sentences together when they are writing. So, I was excited to check out a new online program from GrammarPlanet to see if it might make grammar instruction a little bit easier.
Aimed at students 10 and up, the program includes video instruction, practice lessons and quizzes. Each unit offers a set of printable notes your student can use to guide them in the lessons and refer back to if they get confused. I thought this was a nice feature and good reference point. We kept the notes in a folder for my son to refer back to throughout the units. There are 12 units total that start off with simple topics like nouns and move on to more complicated topics like everyone’s favorite thing, diagramming sentences!
Videos are typically short, lasting around 5 minutes or so, and the speaker in the videos is clear and pleasant (this is important, the person delivering the instruction is a huge part of any course). After watching the videos, students complete practice sets on each topic. One of the things I really like about this program is the immediate feedback students get when they do the practice. Each sentence is scored right away and they can quickly see if they made a mistake. This helps them make corrections as they go, which I think helps them learn much better than if they find out about their mistakes at the end or something like that.
After they complete each unit students take a quiz before moving onto the next unit. The tests consist of a number of questions that mix multiple choice questions with questions that ask students to identify the different parts of speech within a sentence. Quizzes are slightly different in that students do not receive feedback until the very end, where they can see their score and then see what they got wrong on each question. Again, I like the fact that students don’t just see that they got a question wrong, they get to see why they got it wrong and what the correct answer is.
For parents, GrammarPlanet offers you excellent reports about your child’s progress. You can login and click on unit report to see all the questions your child completed for that unit and exactly which ones they got right or wrong. In fact, if you click on a specific question, it will show you HOW they answered that question so you can see EXACTLY what they missed! I think that’s pretty awesome because it allows you to identify if there is a specific thing your child is struggling with or needs help with! You can also review all of your child’s test questions as well and reset a unit if you think your child needs to redo it.
All of this is available for less than $40 for ad-free access to the site. I really think that if you want a simple way to teach grammar, GrammarPlanet is a good way to go! To learn more, connect with them on social media here:
To see what other members of the crew thought of this program, click here:
Key Lime Pie is one of my husbands favorite desserts, and being from Florida, we have it in abundance. I am super excited because we just planted our first Key Lime tree in the backyard so I will now be able to pick my own key limes to make my pies. For now, I have a friend that gives me bags of them when her own tree has an abundance. She recently gave me a bag for this pie. I think the key lime pie is such a perfect dessert because of the balance of tart and sweet. Now, my Nana always made her own graham cracker crust and whipped cream, and for holidays I do that too, but honestly, on a regular weekend, I just don’t have that kind of time, so I focus my attention on the filling and take the easy way out for the rest! Here’s my recipe:
Ingredients:
1 pre-made graham cracker crust (or make your own)
about 10-12 medium sized key limes (it really doesn’t matter if they are fully ripe or not, I used ones that were more yellow than green for this pie and it came out fine)
2 cans sweetened condensed milk (I like to use Goya)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 can Redi-whip (or make your own whip cream)
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 300 degrees
2. Squeeze the juice from 10 of the limes, removing the seeds. You should have enough juice to fill about 3/4-1 cup measuring size depending on how tart you like your pie.
3. Use a zester to zest one of the other limes into a bowl.
4. Using a whisk, mix the juice, sour cream, and condensed milk in the bowl with the lime zest.
5. Pour the filling mixture into the pie crust.
6. Place the pie crust on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes.
7. Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cool before placing it in the fridge.
8. Chill 3-4 hours before serving. Top with whipped cream and zest from the other lime before serving.
I love this because you can make it in the afternoon in just a few minutes and then have it ready to serve after dinner! Enjoy! Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week!
Is it starting to feel like fall where you are? It definitely is not here, but I am still excited to move on from summer into the fall season! I am looking forward to the Fall festivals and all the holidays, even if it is still going to be incredibly hot while they are going on! This is our menu for this week:
Monday: Garlic and Basil Chicken
Tuesday: Pork Ragu
Wednesday: Stuffed Shells
Thursday: Spanish Rice
Friday: Leftovers (in preparation for the Labor Day weekend barbecues!)
Thanks for stopping by for Menu Plan Monday! Have a great week.
Another week, another scorcher! Its so hot here you can’t really be outside for long, but we are going to brave the theme parks for our visit of the year on Monday because we were able to snag some sweet fast passes. Fortunately, as pass holders, we can come and go as we please, so we are free to pop in for a couple rides and then go home, meaning we don’t spend the entire day trying to squeeze all we can out in these ridiculous temperatures! So, this is our menu for the week:
Monday: Crock pot mojo pork, because theme parks
Tuesday: Leftover pork turned into Cuban sandwiches
Wednesday: Lemon Chicken with cauliflower
Thursday: Cheeseburger pie
Friday: I have to work so who knows?
Thanks for stopping by for Menu Plan Monday! Have a great week!
Hello everybody! I had a great time celebrating my birthday last week and now we are getting back into the swing of our school schedule. School starts kind of early down here in Florida and while we can make our own schedule we are doing things a little differently this year and gradually easing into it, starting now. That means getting back to early mornings, which is a little hard! Also, it means my schedule is that much more packed during the day, so I begin to rely on quick meals for dinner as I settle into a routine. Here’s our menu for this week:
Monday: Cheaters Chicken and Rice
Tuesday: Enchilada Casserole
Wednesday: Sloppy Joes and sweet potato fries
Thursday: Sausage and Veggie skillet
Friday: probably spaghetti
Thanks for stopping by for Menu Plan Monday! Have a great week!
So, the first week of August hasn’t been so great to us for many personal reasons, even though my birthday is today, but we are making the best we can of it. Here is our menu for the week:
Monday: my boys are cooking me dinner for my birthday!
Tuesday: probably enchiladas
Wednesday: spaghetti
Thursday: Ribs with mashed cauliflower
Friday: Rosemary baked chicken
Thanks for stopping by for Menu Plan Monday. Hopefully next week will be better!
At my house, we love to study history, but, we really love to study it when we can do some hands-on projects too! From lapbooks, to posters, to mini-books, you name it, sign us up. So, since my high schooler is studying US History currently, I was happy to get to check out a timeline of World War II as part of the À La Carte Timelines from Home School in the Woods. We have used a TON of their stuff in over the years. They specialize in hands-on history products that cover pretty much all time periods, giving you lots of options to add interest to your history studies.
This timeline itself could easily fit alongside any history study of this particular time period and comes with everything you need to track important people and events related to the subject. The instructions are included, although we deviated a little bit. We have done quite a few timelines over the years and have round we prefer to do ours using file folders rather than the binder method given. But that’s the cool thing about all of these products, you can adapt them to fit your particular style. You do need access to a printer though, and paper and card stock (I usually purchase this stuff whenever it goes on sale and then just keep it in the cabinet for use with multiple projects throughout the year). Also, a set of colored pencils if you wish to color in the timeline figures.
We generally like to print out our timeline pages first, and get them set up, then we keep the figures in a folder and color and cut them out as we go (here’s a tip for your: keep a small plastic bag handy to store the one or two extra figures you haven’t gotten to yet from a page so they don’t get lost before you can use them, trust me, this happens). The pages are very well done, with a continuous “barbed wire fence” line similar to the ones soldiers would have seen on the front lines during the war used to originate the dates. It’s this kind of attention to detail that always makes Home School in the Woods stand out to me.
The top and bottom of each page is accented with a chain link detail and the spaces for each timeline figure are clearly marked. Figures themselves are very well illustrated, with plenty of room to color them in. Both important people and events are chosen to be included in the timeline, so you can easily add them when they come up during your WWII study. This timeline went very naturally with our regular history study, so it was no problem at all to get my son to do this small extra bit of work, and having all the pieces laid out so succinctly really made the order of events so easy to understand!
I was very impressed with this project. I loved how easy it was to use and how well done it was. It reminded me that even though my son is a senior in high school, he still likes doing hands on learning. It really made me want to get into some of the other WWII projects Home School in the Woods offers. If you would like to learn more out the WWII timeline and the other things they have available, connect on social media here:
Home School in the Woods on Facebook
Home School in the Woods on Twitter
To see what other members of the crew thought of this product and the others we got to check out, click here:
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