what I'm cooking

Actually this first one, I was teaching B how to cook. She has been asking for me to teach her to cook. I often have these grand ideas but my follow-through can be lacking. I have been wanting to work with each of the kids on cooking. I think this is one that will be postponed until after the move. Then I hope to have each child help me with dinner once a week. And then after I have taught Becca some meals, I hope that she can take over cooking one night a week.

We started with chicken tenders. (And these are her hands cutting up the meat).

Assembling all of the ingredients.

I had hoped to get a picture of the after, but we were hungry and ate them too quickly!

If you are interested, here is the recipe:

Baked Chicken Tenders
1-2 pounds of chicken breast or tenders
1 1/2 cups of flour
Salt and pepper
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup of milk
2 cups of Panko breadcrumbs

Cut the chicken into strips. Mix the flour with the salt and pepper and place in a shallow bowl. Beat the eggs and add in the milk. Put the breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl. Dredge the chicken in the flour, dip in the egg mixture, and then coat with the breadcrumbs. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 400˚F for 15 minutes or until done.

Then today, after much begging (on the kids' part) I am making crock-pot applesauce. Which is super-easy. And I am wondering why I have not made this before?!

Crock-pot Applesauce
6-7 apples, peeled and quartered
1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar (you can even use apple juice or just water)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Orange peel
1 Tablespoon lemon or orange juice (if you look below, I just used a whole orange and then took it out before I blended)

Combine all the ingredients in a crock-pot and cook on low for 4-5 hours. If you want a chunkier applesauce mash with a potato masher (or fork) or for a smoother applesauce, blend in food processor or blender. So good and if you notice, no extra sugar!

moving

After almost 5 years in our current house, we are moving. Nothing drastic like our last move. Instead, we are just moving to the other side of the city. We have talked about it on and off for the last year. With our transition to homeschooling, we are spending so much more time on the other side of the city. And unfortunately, it can take over an hour (each way) to commute there. Our decision was moved up when earlier this month we were without water for 5 days. Which is annoying, but we managed. But our landlord refused to pay to have it fixed. And this was the thing that pushed us over the edge. A few days after the water incident, I began looking at places. Found one within a week, we signed the lease yesterday and we move in next Thursday. No moss growing on us! When we decide something, watch out!

So homeschooling is taking a backseat. And the kids are learning important things like. . .

How to pack a box well.

And the importance of thinning things out. This is their pile of 不要了 (things they no longer want). I have been really proud of how they have on their own decided to get rid of a lot of things.

homeschool mother's journal: [january.11.2013]

In my life this week. . .

This has been an eventful week. . . we were without hot water for 5 days. We finally got over the stomach flu that has been plaguing our house since New Year's eve. After talking about it for awhile, we finally made a decision to start looking for a new place to live. I spent an afternoon looking at apartments. And somehow we home schooled in the midst of all of this!

In our home school this week. . .

We started on Ancient Egypt in our history. I found a great lapbook (for FREE*) that Josh will complete and Becca has decided that she will do a presentation on the computer. I feel good about the way we are doing our history. As we listen to Story of the World, we decide on topics that we think are important to learn and study. The kids then decide what media that they want to use: make a speech/presentation, lapbook, create a poster, ....  the way they present the material is up to them. And this is going outside the box for me! I am a planner and like to have everything decided. But I was realizing that my prescribed method (especially when I am making the two of them do things the same way), was not working. And honestly, it was a little too much like "school." When B asked if she could do something other than a lapbook one time, I let her choose. Never too old to learn from your kids!

*Here is the link to the lapbook J and I will be using from homeschoolshare.com: Ancient Egypt

Things I'm working on. . .

I am starting to purge and thinking about packing. I am sure over the next couple of weeks we will be doing just a little less schooling and I will be enlisting my helpers to pack. As we are moving from a house to an apartment, we are also needing to eliminate some of our stuff. Isn't it amazing how much stuff you accumulate over time?!

I'm grateful for. . .

Good Health! We started the new year with T getting sick (**ahem, can you spot the euphanism for vomiting?) just after midnight. She then proceeded to get sick many, many more times the rest of the night. Keep in mind that we were on vacation. She was feeling better by lunch that day and was even able to enjoy a little bit of time on the beach that afternoon. We traveled home the next day and thankfully all of us were healthy. The following day Josh was sick. A few days later Becca and I were not feeling well. Andy is the only one to have escaped this nastiness. But I am thankful that we are all feeling better now.