New Year's Goals (I don't like resolutions)

Alright, my goal for 2011 is to blog more. At least checking in once a week. That would be fabulous. And we have to get a routine going once again to get some school work finished. School goals are to finish up the geography unit and science unit by mid-Feb. (Love for it all to be finished by the end of Jan. but I doubt that will happen. The health unit should be finished by the end of Jan. though as they are both almost done with that. I have a large stack of Learning Through History magazines they also need to get through. But that will take the rest of the school year.

We started up a game day with some of the older boys in our homeschool group. It is just 4 boys right now (3 plus Jake) that hang out for 3 hours playing games. The first meeting it was all video games. 2nd meeting was all board games. They played Risk, Lego Creationary, then some Uno. Next week I think I'll have them play board games for a bit, then let them hit the video games for the last hour (as long as Jake's Xbox works that is, might have to find some games for the PS3).

That's about it for now. We've taken a huge unschooling turn, but it is time to get back into a little more "bookwork" once again. So come Jan 3rd, I'll be cracking the whip. (LOL Yeah I've said that many times before!)

Menu Plan Monday

I missed posting last week, but wanted to post really quickly our menu for the week. It is a "cheap" eating week here. LOL

Monday - Tuna patties (I use a box of cornbread stuffing mix, mayo, relish, and cheddar) with orzo & peas
Tuesday - Chicken of some sort (not sure yet what I will make), rice & veggies
Wednesday - Cheese-steaks and fries
Thursday - Creamy chicken & wild rice soup
Friday - pizza

And one of these days this week I am going to do some baking. I want to use up some apple butter and bake a cake. Then I have some Golden Delicious apples to use, so I am hungry for apple crisp. And I need to get some mini pizza crusts made so the kids can have pizza for lunches.

Menu Plan Monday

Another thing I want to begin (again) is writing my menu plans on the blog. I am pretty good about making a menu Sunday morning before grocery shopping, and for the most part I stick to it. There are some days I just don't feel like making anything I wanted to on Sunday though. :) I also write things on a day of the week, but don't always make it that day. Depends on time, how hot it might be, etc. So while I'll assign a day here, doesn't mean that we are having it on that night. ;)

Monday - Tuna something or other. (We only like a few fish items, tuna being one. But I have been trying to have a fish dish every week, or at least every 2 weeks.) Haven't quite figured it out yet. Maybe tuna patty melts. And we'll most likely have broccoli and some side with whatever I decide on.

Tuesday -  Meatball subs, fries, and corn

Wednesday -  Ghoulash (from Bobby Dean) & a veggie of some sort

Thursday - Baked Chicken Penne (from Our Best Bites) & a veggie

Friday -  pizza and possible these pizza roll "planets"

Saturday - leftovers or whatever they can find in the fridge and/or cupboards. :)

I'm Back!

Ok, I am going to give this a try AGAIN! I really do want to be "a blogger", but well I just forget to post sometimes. But I will try harder (I know I say that every time).

So obviously, we are on break from "school" for the summer. Jake finished his math program up late this year (well he got started on it late as well). Amanda did not like the MUS set, so we switched from that to the Key To Algebra. She is *supposed* to be working on it throughout the summer, but hasn't done too much recently. I am trying to get them to do more reading.

As for how the school year went, well it was kinda pathetic. LOL With the move and all I just had a hard time getting into a routine. We've really taken a turn in our homeschooling style, moving towards more unschooling. So our relaxed, eclectic approach has gotten WAY more relaxed. ;) Regardless, I will continue with a math program for both of them. I just can't let that go completely unschoolish. They can work at their pace though.

For the 2010-11 school year though we do have some unfinished things to complete. So these will be a priority come September. The things we need to finish are:

1. Trail Guide to US Geography needs finished by both
2. Story of Science needs finished by both
3. Health unit needs finished by both
4. Word Roots by Amanda

Then here is a tentative "plan" for other work:
Amanda:
English/Language Arts - Shakespeare study; Literature Through Movies
Math - Finish Key to Algebra books; Consumer Math
Science - Life Science/Chemistry/Physics (her choice)
Social Studies/History/Geography - US Trail Guide to World Geography; You Decide (Bill of Rights).

Jake:
English/Language Arts - Literature Through the Movies; Shakespeare study?
Math - Key to Geometry (books 2 & 3); Key to Measurements (Books 1-4); Key to Metric Measurements (books 1-4)?; Key to Algebra (books 1-10)?
Science - The story of Science: Newton at the Center; Life Science/Chemistry/Physics (his choice); Other Joy Hakim books
Social Studies/History/Geography - US Trail Guide to World Geography; You Decide (Bill of Rights); Civil war
Arts - Computer programming

But they will be able to work at their pace. Trying to make a schedule and stick to it is useless, I'm not that disciplined. LOL So we'll see how things go. :)