Our Learning Philosophy

I wanted to share with you a list of who/what has influenced our Learning Philosophy:

Simply Charlotte Mason

A Baker's Dozen

FIMBY

Simple Homeschool

The Moores

Yarns of the Heart

BFSU

This Lady on the WTM Forums

Harmony Art Mom

Loving Our Kids On Purpose - HUGE ONE

Beef Stew...yum!

I made some super yummy stew tonight. I thought that I'd share the recipe with you:

1/2 a large onion
2 lbs. of stew meat
1/2 bottle of zesty itallian dressing
4-6 medium carrots chopped
around 2 lbs. of potatoes peeled and chopped into inch or so chunks
Oregano, basil , garlic powder to taste- just a bit of each. I prefer a decent amount of garlic
4 bay leaves
2 cans of beef broth
2 cans of stewed tomatoes

Place stew meat in a zipper bag with the dressing- put in fridge. I left it in the fridge overnight. You can leave it for as little as 30 mins in the fridge. Cook the onions until translucent. Add stew meat and discard all marinade. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on low simmering for several hours. I let mine simmer all day until dinner and it was SO tender. I also added a little thickening just before serving. I'm glad that I did. I prefer it nice and thick. We made cornbread to compliment. SO yummy!

Homemade Laundry Detergent..WOW! Why didn't I try this earlier?

 I tried my hand at making my own laundry soap for the very first time. Now that I've done it I really don't know why I haven't been doing this for years. It smells so fresh and clean, it's such a huge savings financially, and it's so quick! Quicker than having to run to the store even. The picture above is all that I used minus the bowl and spoon. The items include a grater (I bought 1 specifically for this job), gloves, Borax, Ivory soap BARS, and Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda. I found everything except for the Super Washing Soda at my Wal-Mart. I had to go to Smith's/Kroger to find it, but others have found it at Wal-Mart, too.

 We started by grating the soap bars on the littlest holes. Soap is much easier to grate than even cheese. 3 bars

 Before putting the borax in I put on my gloves, and I did NOT have my daughter do this part or the next part. I'm sure it would have been fine, but I like to be safe. I don't even know if you need the gloves, but I used them. 3 Cups

 Last ingredient. 3 Cups

 

Stir and stir. You're done!

Recipe:

3 Bars of Ivory Soap- normal- no added scents, etc.

3 Cups of Borax

3 Cups of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

I use 1 heaping Tablespoon per load for normal soil. For heavy soil I would add a couple of Tablesoons. I expect to save between 50-75% vs. the laundry soap I was purchasing. You can add vinegar in a downy ball of in the fabric softener cup if you like your clothes super soft. If your clothes come out stiff you have used too much. detergent. :) I'm using mine in a front loader HE washer.

P.S. My husband asked me to only use this for the kid's wash. Apparently. he was skeptical. However, after he smelled the detergent he changed his mind. LOL Now I wash all of our clothes in the detergent.

I should also add that I didn't come up with this recipe all on my own. It's a pretty common one floating around on the WWW.

Thanksgiving 2010

This was honestly the best thanksgiving that I have ever had. It was simply perfect. I thought that I would share some pictures from our turkey day. This is how the day began:

And a little bit of this:

 (My bread maker)

 Table set for snacking throughtout the day while waiting on our evening Thanksgiving meal.

Cousins help Papa put up the Christmas tree

Add in some:

Fort building with the cousins

And:

A nap with Papa

Thanksgving Story

Then, we're finally ready for:

Round out the day with:

And that makes for the best Thanksgiving EVER. :)



Swiffer Wet Jet or Clorox ReadyMop Washable Pads

I know that I've talked about this recently, but now that I've been using these for awhile I wanted to give a proper review of them. Honestly, the washable pads have been amazing to have. I love the fact that I don't have to constantly consider cost when mopping. :) I use my Swiffer so much more now, too, because I'm not worried about how expensive they are. When you purchase the washable pads or the patterns from here you also get instructions for how to refill your Swiffer bottle VERY inexpensively, too! Honestly, this is 1 of the best home cleaning choices that I have made with 3 small children that make messes everywhere.  You can also use the washable pads and refill instructions for your Clorox ReadyMop (I just happen to own a Swiffer). Here is what 1 of the pads looks like:

You can order 3 of them for $18.95. You can also purchase 6 washable pads for $34.95. Another option is to purchase the pattern and make them yourself.  Here is the website.

P.S. I am in NO way affilliated with Make Them Yourself. I just like the product. :)

This week around our house....

I thought that I would post a few pictures from last week. Our week started off with "C" giving himself a haircut. Oh, joy! He's done this before, and Daddy told him that if he did it again Daddy would shave all of his hair off. Guess what happened? Even though Daddy shaved his head "C" still managed some how to get gum stuck in his hair the very next day. Go figure.

Wedgits. Oh, how I love wedgits. You'll notice how engrossed even my 2 year old is in these fabulous blocks. I love them, and will be buying more soon.This is the set that we own:

WEDGiTS Deluxe Set - 30 Piece Set

Our oldest learned how to peel potatoes this past week. She did a fabulous job! She really loves helping in the kitchen, so this was the perfect job for her.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Thanksgiving preparations are well underway!  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Project FeederWatch

We have started the Project Feeder Watch! Yea! We hung up our bird feeders a couple of days ago, so I'm expecting that it may take a week or 2 for the birds to find them. Go here to order your Project Feeder Watch package and join us on the bird count with Cornell University! I'm expecting that we will learn to identify lots of different species of birds this year. What a fun way to learn them, too!

To aid us in our focus on birds I found this app for my Droid. What's great about it is that when you sign up for the free version they give you a free trial version to What Bird. com. What Bird is AMAZING! You can make your own field guides for FREE and they will send you a PDF to print off in your home. You can even customize them with your Family's name on the front cover. You can narrow down what birds you want in your guide, too. It's sweet.

P.S. I am in no way affiliated with either/any of the sites above other than that I love them and use them myself. I do not receive any sort of monetary compensation from the above websites. :) 

She's Reading AND Spelling!

Last week my oldest child started spelling! We've been working regularly on learning all of the phonograms as well as working through a Handwriting Without Tears workbook to correct some bad techniques that she had picked up, but last week the lightbulb went on for F. Suddenly, she could see it. In my philospophy of education, I don't push my children towards reading. I wait until they are ready and eager for it. She is defiantely ready!

We weren't working on reading or spelling or anything of the like. She simply started putting together the phonograms that she knew into words. Her first word was "fox". Now, she is asking to spell every day! I'm excited that she is excited. All of my patience and not pushing, I believe, has finally paid off. There were days where I honestly was a little scared that if I didn't push her she would be 12 and still not know how to read. not because she is of the age that she should be spelling/reading, but it's hard when you hear about 3 year olds reading and you wonder if maybe you should be pushing your child. I'm learning more and more to trust those Mommy Instincts.

Native American Resources for Young Children

My oldest daughter has become fascinated with Native American history. I know how hard it can be to find history books for young children, so I thought I'd share our picks here.




Disclosure: I do recieve a very small compensation when people purchase something through one of my links.

Thanksgiving Book Recommendation

We really enjoyed this Thanksgiving story! Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving

Disclosure: I do receive a small credit at amazon when people click on my links.

Coupons!

I don't know if any of you do coupons, but I was searching for coupon blogs over in this area of the States and came across a few good ones.

My SLC Mommy

Utah Deal Diva

Crazy Colorado Coupons

Babe with a Budget - Not sure where she is located

Bargain Blessings - This one is my fave.

I love that she includes a rating system. The only bummer is that she doesn't do Smith's/Kroger.

At this point I'm only doing e-coupons. I just don't have the patience for anything else. Hopefully, these blogs will help someone, though!

I tried my luck at shopping with coupons on Monday and here is what I bought:

Here is what I payed:
$3.96 (including $1 Smith's Cash)

Not bad. I didn't purchase any newspaper to get the coupons, either! So, this was a really great deal.

Swagbucks!

I don't know if any of you have heard of Swagbucks or not, but they rock! :) My goal for next year is to pay for 100% of my Christmas lists with Swagbucks giftcards from Amazon. It really does work. There is no catch. The only things that I don't like are:

1) You have to be really consistent and always use swagbucks as your search engine. That brings me to...
2) Install the Swagbucks toolbar so that you remember to always use them as your default search engine. This helps considerably to earn those bucks!
3) I haven't referred anyone yet, so I'm only working off of my own swagbucks. Sometimes it's a little slow going. Free cash is free cash, though. :) Every little bit helps!

If you aren't signed up get on it!