Wednesday, October 31, 2007

US Education System

Here is an interesting article about the US educational system. It explains why I home-schooled. I feel our system is designed for non-automated factory, military or the prison but does not fit children to work well in a collaborative environment, which is what much of industry is today. Now I know why we are set up as we are. We're lucky we're as successful as we are when we are "trained" this way. When your well meaning friends and relatives tell you it is unfair to your children to keep them out of school, send them this link. It might change their minds.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Halloween week activity suggestions

Besides eating a lot of candy and maybe working on costumes, it can be hard to know what kinds of activities are good this week for our kids. This is a great week to read about Ichabod Crane and the legend of sleepy hollow by Washington Irving. You can read aloud together as a family and see where some of the images we currently use for Halloween come from. You might also want to do a little research with your kids about where the customs come from-and how different they are in other countries. There are very religious origins for Halloween as well as some not so obvious. It can be a very fun research project.

Even if you already have a jack-o-lantern on the porch, you might want to visit a pumpkin patch for an additional pumpkin you don't carve. It can serve as a harvest decoration for Thanksgiving. Picking your own helps our kids connect a little better with nature.

Another connection opportunity available for those with nearby apple orchards is a visit to a cider mill. Watching them press apples is a wonderful fall experience. If that isn't possible, you can still connect to the apple harvest by making some caramel apples as a family activity. It can be fun, messy and a great treat.

Have a happy Halloween.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Dinner Menus for October 28-November 3

  1. Sunday
    Green salad with pears, pomegranate, Gorgonzola and balsamic vinaigrette
    Manhattan fish chowder
    Parmesan bread sticks
    Apple crisp
  2. Monday
    Oven fried chicken
    Mashed sweet potatoes
    Broccoli
  3. Tuesday
    Left over chowder
    Crackers
    Green salad
  4. Wednesday
    Homemade quick tomato soup
    Grilled cheese sandwiches
    Green salad
  5. Thursday
    Sweet and sour pork and veggies (replace 1/2 the recipe pork with mixed chinese veggies instead-cheaper and healthier)
    Brown rice
  6. Friday
    Cream of chicken and veggie soup-add 1/2 cup vegetables to canned cream of chicken soup
    Crackers
    Waldorf salad
  7. Saturday
    French bread pizza
    Green salad

Recipe guidelines

I'll give recipes for some of our favorties. I cannot eat onions, so if you like them, feel free to add them. I strive for 5-9 fruit and veggie servings per day. We try to get fish at least twice per week and eat relatively little read meet. Once cold weather sets in, we have soups and stews often. I work full time outside the home, so I do as much prep work as possible on the weekends. Our weeday meals tend to be quick and easy.

The chowder for Sunday is:

Place everything in the slow cooker as follows:

  • 2 15.5 oz cans crushed tomato (cheaper at my grocer than the larger cans)
  • 6 cans water
  • 3 diced potatoes
  • 2 diced carrots
  • 2 diced stalks celery
  • 2 diced cloves garlic
  • bay leaf
  • salt and pepper

Let cook on low for 4-6 hours, depending on how busy your day is. Then add

  • 3/4 to 1 and 1/2 pounds mild white fish
  • 1 cup chopped chard or spinach or other greens you like to cook

Let cook an additional hour. With about 5 minutes left, add one can clams.

Apple crisp

Spray baking pan with non stick spray. I used 2 qt today, but you can use any size. Fill pan about 3/4 full with diced apples. Top liberally with butter (about 1/2 cup). Cover that with about 1/2 cup sugar (or to taste after you have tried this a few times). Sprinkle with apple pie spice. Mix topping-equal parts brown sugar, butter, flour, and raw oats. Today, I used 1 cup of each. Use a pastry cutter to mix them all together and cut in the butter. Sprinkle over the apples. Bake 375 for 45 minutes. We top with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or nothing, depending on mood.

Homemade quick tomato soup

Add one 16 oz can of tomato sauce to saucepan. Add one can water. Sprinkle with instant chicken or beef boulliion (about 1 tsp) and salt. Heat and serve as standard tomato soup. Alternatives: Add chili powder, cumin, oregano and 1 Tablespoon salsa to make tex-mex. or Add basil, oregano, garlic, parsley to make Italian.

Waldorf salad

Dice a 2 pears and 2 apples into a bowl. Add 1 Tablespoon lemon juice and stir to coat the fruit. It is nice if they are different colors and flavors. Add 1 cup of seedless grapes, halved. Add 1/4 cup chopped nuts. Coat with about 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise or to taste. Serve over salad greens.

Introduction

I've had some great guides helping me get to this point in my life. Since they were so much help to me, I'd like to use this blog to pass that help along. I expect to regularly write about the mundane-such as menu planning for the upcoming week, recipes, great activities to do with kids, and things like that-to more uplifting topics.

With rising prices at the grocery store and often little time or inclination to make great food easily, I would like to share ideas we've found helpful for saving money and calories and eating healthy. I collect cookbooks and recipes and am a great experimenter. I also work outside the home full time, so I need to be able to have simple meals for the end of the workday. I expect to share these about once per week, probably Thursday or Friday as I plan menus for the next week.

I home schooled for quite a while and loved it. I gathered lots of great ideas for enriching and fun activities with our kids even if they are not home schooled. Kids who go to school outside the home still learn more than we realize at home. I'll try to share ideas and activities at the beginning of the week so if you want to use them, you can plan how they might fit in with your current plans.

Reading is my escape and relaxation. It seems I read all the time and my house shows it even though I do borrow books from the library. I'll share some of what I'm reading and why I enjoy the books I do. Most will be of the escape variety, but some are a little deeper.

I also love to garden and combine that with my love of cooking. I won't write much about the garden in winter, but expect to read about that regularly the rest of the year.

I look forward to your participation, comments, questions and suggestions. I'd like this to be the kind of ongoing conversation I have with family and friends.
Marmie