Odds and ends {meals and school}

{ sorry for all the picture-less posts of late.  our camera is broken! }


Meals
I've been terrible about making meals lately.  Lots of breakfast for dinner or quesadillas with beans.   Or grilled cheese.  Does anyone have any great meals they want to give me a link to?  Or just tell me the last three meals you've made.  It'll give me some inspiration!

Tonight we're trying this one: Slow Cooker Parmesan Honey Pork Roast.  Except that I took the roasts out of the freezer halfway through the day, thawed in hot water for about 20 minutes (so, not enough), and then threw it all into the crockpot on high.  I think it should be done in four hours.  It sure smells good.

School
Yesterday for school we only did Bible and narrations.  [Since the rest of the day was taken up in doing Adelia's hair, which everyone loved because they got to watch videos.]  Anyway.  School:  We read in Joshua about the divisions of the land for each tribe, so for narrations I handed out blank maps and re-read where each tribe settled and the kids each completed a map including a compass and a color-coded key for the twelve tribes.  (So that's geography, too, right?)  Right.

A friend of mind told me recently that her impression from reading my blog was that I was so organized and that we have these complete school days.  Or something.  Um.... no no no.  If we have anything on our schedule for the day, school is basically shelved.  We take the day off when Mark has a day off.  The other days we do a few things off of our schedule (which is pictured at the top of this post).

On school days we usually always cover Bible, narrations and chores, most of the time we try to hit Math and piano practice, and reading aloud.  And all the other stuff?  Well, we tuck other things in when our days are running smoothly.

Today we did the following:
-Bible and narrations (15-20 minutes, during breakfast)
-Chores
-Storytime (picture books with the girls) (10 minutes)
-Poetry: I read our two March poems (3-5 minutes)
-Memory work (we reviewed the OT & NT books of the Bible- I quizzed them by calling out a book and they took turns calling out the next one.  We also reviewed our family ways.)  (20 minutes)
-I read Shakespeare's Macbeth- (the Charles & Mary Lamb version), while the kids drew pictures. (30 minutes, but only because I had set up the younger girls with embroidery needles and thread and burlap in hoops and I kept having to tie knots and thread needles during Shakespeare!)
-The older three did Math at the table (20 minutes)
-I then did Dictation with Ella and Isaac (the same passage, and from another Shakespeare play.  Macbeth was so depressing and the kids (well, Ella) disliked it so much that I pulled a passage from their favorite play so far (A Midsummer Night's Dream) to make up for it.  (20ish minutes, maybe 30)

And that was a really full day.  We maybe have one of those each week.  Tomorrow morning we'll go to Bible study at church.  And after that, the kids have piano lessons and so I know we won't do any school tomorrow.  Thursday and Friday we're back on.  And my guess is that NEITHER of those days will be as full as today was. 

Now they're all playing outside until lunch.

***

I'm wrapping up this post after eating.  [The roasts took nearly 5 hours on high, due to the partially-frozenness of them].  Our dinner (link above) was really tasty.  I served it with basmati rice, caesar salad (made by Ella), and homemade sourdough.  ALSO: lemon bars for dessert.  Which are basically the best dessert ever, in my opinion.  I told the kids they could each have one and I was going to help myself to the rest of the pan later.  That's an exaggeration, but I will likely have a couple (few?) more.  YUM.

For the rest of our school day, the kids played outside, except for practicing piano and quiet times.  I played a game of UNO with Adelia, reheated leftoevers for lunch, cleaned the kitchen, had a dentist appointment, worked on Precept (Bible study) homework, and made dinner.

Mark and the kids are cleaning the kitchen, and then Mark and I will likely correct math.  When the kids go to bed, we'll probably watch a little of The Voice while we eat lemon bars.

How was your day?

10 comments:

  1. I like reading about your day, and hearing about your days. Wish I could be here. AND, thanks for the dinner and lemon bars -- delicious!

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  2. Hi Stacy! I am not into cooking these days either. Lemon bars sound delicious though and I might have to bake some today!

    Last 3 meals were had were....Fried rice (with corn, kidney beans, onion and kielbasa), spicy Indian style lentil and potato soup (I try to make it less spicy for kids) and I usually mush it and top it with sour cream...and Macaroni casserole baked in oven, Finnish style. Basically I just boil macaroni, fry mince meat and mix them into the oven dish with half a liter of milk and three eggs, salt and pepper (like in quiche). It's kids favorite and sometimes I use taco spice to make it a bit more tasty. I like oven food! You can start it in the morning and it will be done and waiting for you at lunch time!

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    Replies
    1. Henna-Maria,
      Thank you for posting your last 3 meals! I did rice & beans this week, too.... and I love your kielbasa idea. And I *always* forget about lentils. We do love lentils and have two good recipes for them. Macaroni casserole sounds intriguing, but I'd be scared to try it without an actual recipe, and can I just say that I have NO idea what "mince meat" is?! ;) Do tell.
      Blessings to you and yours,
      ~Stacy

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    2. *blushing* I guess I was in a hurry...so many typos in my message. Sorry! Mince meat was supposed to read minced meat which is a British way of saying ground beef or hamburger. I'm married to a real American, but some words I have learned the British way before we even met and they are so stuck in my vocabulary. Words like hoover, for example. I hoovered our bedroom today :)
      Thank you for being interested in the Finnish dish. I found this recipe in English, but I never use nutmeg in my casserole. http://www.food.com/recipe/finnish-macaroni-casserole-suomen-makaronilaatikko-427599
      As you can see, I forgot to mention the cheese. You are right about wanting the real recipe!
      And inspired by you, I made lemon squares (same as lemon bars, yes?) and they were sooo good. My family thanks you :)
      Blessings to you as you mother your beautiful children!

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    3. Henna-Maria,

      I never knew that's what minced meat meant: ground beef! I am so happy to learn that! :) Any time I've read that in a book I've always assumed it was some fancy variety of meat! Thanks for the link to the recipe. And I'm so happy to hear about the lemon squares! YUM!
      Blessings to you, sweet friend.

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  3. Loved seeing another day in the life :)

    I am in a slump with cooking as well. I did however buy, slice and freeze all the ingredients for my daily fruit and veg smoothies for the next 10-14 days. That counts as food prep right? I do eat a bit different the. the rest of my family which gets to me sometimes. The benefit out ways the extra work most of the time. We are on spring break this week for which I am thankful. A bad week of insomnia and now a chest cold makes this week off all the more needed. All those extra projects will have to wait.

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    Replies
    1. Sandi-
      Well, that's HUGE, I think--- prepping for smoothies for two weeks! Woo hoo! Good job. I am often thankful that we can all eat the same foods as a family- no gluten-free or any allergies or anything here. So I think it's amazing when people like you can pull it off. Blessings to you and I do hope you're better, friend!

      ~Stacy

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  4. I know this was a while back, but I really love the simplicity of that schedule you shared (the picture in the other post of your school schedule). I'm curious what resources you're using for things like math and dictation (are you using Spelling Wisdom or just choosing something each week, etc.). Anything in particular for Bible, memory, poetry, etc or just choosing as you go? What about geography and science? And, written narrations ... are you just letting Ella choose what she will write from? Thanks so much! You really know how to simplify and make it feel calm (or at least appear that way). :)

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    Replies
    1. IrieMomma,
      I'll answer your questions in an upcoming post, okay? Blessings to you and yours,
      ~Stacy

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