Christmas Baking Anyone??

I have fallen in love with the blog

"Confessions of a Homeschooler"

I discovered her a few weeks ago

and have been pretty much obsessed ever since.

This lady has got her act together!

And her site is a great place to start for new

homeschoolers with young kids!

I am not copying -

well, I guess I kinda am...

but like I said -

she is a great resource 

and a great place to start!!

She does monthly meal plans

weekly lesson plans

created her own curriculum for 

preschoolers and K4

(both of which I plan on purchasing).

She has figured this thing out!

I used to be pretty good at meal planning.

When we lived in NC, I would STOCK

my freezer UP when meats 

would go on super sales

at our local grocery store.

Due to the competition between

5 grocery store chains

(not including the 2 mega stores that sold EVERYTHING)

every day prices were a little high but the sales 

were AWESOME!

So I always had meat in the freezer to use.

Then we get down here in good 'ole Texas

and there is basically ONE

grocery store chain!

YEP

ONE!

Then there are the 2 mega stores too.

So there really is NO competition

like there was in NC.

So my buying stuff super cheap and stocking up days 

are kinda over.

Instead, I am attempting to

plan and purchase for 2 weeks at a time.

We will see how that goes.

I am headed in the right direction and 

have planned out meals and snacks for the 

next two weeks.

I wasn't really giving the kids snacks like they 

think they need.  

So I have been inspired by 

Confessions of a Homeschooler...

and

we are baking!

We would be doing a little anyways.

But when I put things on paper

and on a calendar.

It is easier to stick to!

Last week we made & decorated 

Christmas cookies

while my folks were here.

(will have more about that on another post)

Today

After we put the babies down for naps

- yes "we" - the boys put Ms. Priss in her bed

I put the baby in his bed - 

we made

Christmas-y Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

1) Dump

2) Pat

3) Bake

4) Cut

5) Devour!

(six thumbs up!)

Then we started decorating our annual gingerbread house.

I helped/supervised for a while...

then went and worked on something else.

This is what happens when you leave 2 boys

with 3 bags of icing!!

Can you tell that these are supposed to be

the sides of a gingerbread house??

Can't wait to see what the completed house looks like tomorrow!!

Budget Woes

During my research

I am discovering that this 

homeschooling thing

ain't cheap!!

You can do it cheap

You can do it pretty much as cheap 

as you want to...

HOWEVER

I want/need

some structure

and accountability.

And there is a

TON 

of stuff

out there!!

I have found 

some different vendors

that have different

pieces parts 

or subjects.

Then there are the 

"all in one" 

type curriculums.

Some of these can run you 

$800+ per year

per child!

Um, no thanks!

There are very highly 

recommended programs

and resources 

that seem reasonably priced

until you add

all the pieces of the

"program"

together.

Then you remember,

that it is just for

ONE subject!!

Again

HOWEVER...

I have multiple children

and we are starting rather young with 

my oldest...

SO...

assuming we like doing this

homeschooling thing

we can reuse the same resources

over and over

just having to purchase 

"student manuals"

(or the consumable part of the resource).

So far I am looking at:

Math - Saxon

Reading & Spelling - All About Reading/All About Spelling

Science - The Young Scientists Club

And as I add all this stuff up...

I feel like we will QUICKLY 

approach that $800+

per student 

per year

number.

UGH!

Hopefully,

I can figure out a way to 

do this on the 

relatively 

inexpensive...

BUT

I will NOT

sacrifice 

the kids

education.

So we will see what we wind up with.

Signs of Progress...

Today my parents left and headed back to NC.  

We had them for 4 whole days and 5 whole nights.

Now how long is it going to take

to undo all the spoilage??  

Don't care...

Its worth it!  

(It will get undone just in time for the other

grandma to arrive and do it all over again! - HA HA!)

While mom and dad were here

they helped me purchase 

these

to continue to work on 

putting together our work area

for the kids school.

Here is what it looks like in place...

Now we have to find nice chairs to go with the desks the boys got for Christmas

last year from Grammy.  And they will FINALLY

be using them for their intended purpose!!

These look GREAT!  

I am getting so excited about this!!

So the workboxes are in place...

now we start implementing them!!

(hopefully sooner than later)

We are getting there...

We made the decision to homeschool shortly after 

we arrived in Texas in

mid October...

So we are quickly approaching 

mid December

and I am still struggling

with a curriculum.

We started out

using

**Time4Learning**

(www.time4learning.com)

It is a GREAT starter and basic

on-line program...

BUT

we need more...

I have enjoyed it, 

the boys enjoy it,

miss priss enjoys it...

and 

I plan on 

starting little miss

on it soon.

(since she begs for school)

It keeps up with their 

progress & success

too!

So I can show daddy 

where we are in the year and

that we are actually 

learning and accomplishing 

something!

HA!

I have spent a TON of time

picking brains

at homeschool groups

when I meet other moms.

And have fallen in LOVE with

another blog...

where I learned about

"workboxes".

I had already come up with something similar

I was going to put different activities:

legos

a craft

puzzles

worksheets (in a folder)

stuff like that

in a plastic bin that each of the kids

would use through out the week.

Anytime we had downtime...

go to the box and do something in the box.

THEN...

I found this workbox system.

It requires 

planning

and 

organization

(both of which are lacking right now

BUT

I am working on it)

Unfortunately, 

we can't just run out and buy all

this awesome stuff...

so I find ideas

then do my best to implement them

on a shoe-string budget!

So right now I am trying to find 

two - 10 drawer carts

to use for our workboxes.

So we are getting there...

I have tons of ideas...

I have joined yahoo groups...

And follow a few blogs...

But implementing all of these 

GREAT ideas...

We are getting there...

**As a member of Time4Learning, I have been asked to review their online education program and share my experiences. While I was compensated, this review was not written or edited by Time4Learning and my opinion is entirely my own. Write your own curriculum review or learn how to use their curriculum for homeschool, after school study or summer learning.