Instant Pot

What does a busy mother do when she wants to prepare fresh, homemade food but is short on time. Well, that is where the Instant Pot comes in. I still have memories of my own mother using a pressure cooker when I was a child. I vividly remember the noise that the pressure regulator made as it moved back and forth. I also remember my mother telling me to never touch the regulator.

The Instant Pot is not anything like my mother's pressure cooker but produces amazing food just like when I was a kid. 

The first meal that I made in my new Instant Pot was rosemary potatoes and steak stuffed with spinach, mushrooms, and onions. In under an hour we had the most amazing meal!!! The potatoes were perfectly cooked and the steak was so tender and moist that it just fell apart.

I have discovered that there are Instant Pot recipes on Pinterest. Let the Instant Pot cooking commence!!

With Tragedy Comes Understanding

My 20 year old daughter teaches dance to children. Today one of her students started up a very profound conversation while she was taking roll.....

Today as I was taking roll, one my 5 year old girls out of the blue told me this story, and she touched my heart. She starts off by saying, "Last week there was a shooting in downtown Dallas, and Mr. Mike was there, and he got shot. They sent in a robot and got the shooter. I don't know if he died or what, but they got him."
I asked her, "Oh, is Mr. Mike ok?"
She replies, "Yeah, the good thing is, he's in heaven now."

No 5 year old should have to be entering into such a conversation but unfortunately with recent tragedy even the young and innocent are touched. Instead of being crushed and broken this child sees that even amidst tragedy there is hope. This young girl's parents have helped her to see the good through the hate. None of the officer's who lost their lives will be forgotten. 

Officer Michael Smith 

Craft Projects

CRAFT FUN

Cupcake fun, yum!

I found these fun scripture coloring pages here. 

I have many fun activities posted on my Pinterest page entitled Homeschooling Activity Fun.

Beans the Puppy, ruff ruff!!

Easy paper plate donuts!!

ArtAchieve ~ A Review

My daughters had so much fun learning to draw with the Entire Level I from, ArtAchieve. The art featured in ArtAchieve is inspired from around the globe. Level I is for the beginning art student and provides simple, easy art projects. ArtAchieve has 5 levels of study and can be purchased in bundles, by level, or the entire curriculum can be purchased. 

I used ArtAchieve with my 8, 10, and 13 year old kiddos. Each of my kiddos really enjoyed working through many of the art lessons included. 

Level 1 includes the following lessons:

• The Hungarian Insects
• The Haitian Gecko
• The Dragonfly from Ecuador
• The Chinese Dragon
• The Owl from Bali
• The Kitenge Tree Wall Hanging from Tanzania
• The Plate from Nepal
• Four Suns with Four Faces
• The Sheep from Wales
• Simple Lines

Lessons can be viewed by video or PowerPoint. Each lesson begins with a warm-up which breaks the work of art into segmented parts. Instead of going into the drawing lesson intimidated the student gets to draw small parts of the "bigger picture." I really liked this approach. It reminds me of the saying, "When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time." Next, you have the choice to either watch a video or click through a PowerPoint in order to complete the lesson. All of my daughters preferred to use the PowerPoint because it allowed them to go at their own speed. With the video they were constantly stopping, rewinding, and pausing. 

Each lesson lists the National Standards for Arts Education

It was very helpful to see the breakdown of the art skills taught and thus learned.

Not only will your child learn how to draw but they will learn history, science, geography, as well as a myriad of interesting and very helpful art tools. Supply lists are given for each lesson. The student is guided by step by step instructions.

The lesson guides the student from beginning to end for a successful work of art. 

My daughters absolutely loved these art lessons. I absolutely fell in love with everything about this program. For the first time, I feel like my children are really getting a full, well-rounded art education. 

Hungarian Insects

Haitian Gecko

The Owl From Bali 

I wanted to include these pictures to show the "other" side to the learning process. Sometimes perfectionism gets the best of you. 

My daughter was so very frustrated that she messed upon her owl. 

In the end all was well and she ended up 

with an owl that she could be proud of. 

Finished!!

The Sheep From Wales

What my daughters said,

"I really liked this program. I didn't think that I could really draw but now I know that I can. I have learned a lot about different animals, bugs, and creatures. I cannot wait to finish all of the lessons."

"I give this art program 5 stars!! I was so excited about doing these art lessons. I love all animals. I want my mom to get all of the lessons so that I can keep on doing more art."

"These lessons were very simple and easy to complete. I definitely would be more challenged with a higher level. I thought the videos were a bit cheesy but I really liked the PowerPoint option. I really enjoy drawing and this program made learning both easy and fun."

I would highly recommend this art curriculum. I will most definitely continue to use ArtAchieve as part of our educational journey. 

To read more reviews click here.

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God and Government

When Government separates itself from God, it invites judgement. 

Government has essentially committed suicide. 

The chaos in the world, including recent events, is due to rejection of God.

Man was created by God, in the image of God, and for God. 

Dallas, Texas

Thursday, July 7, 2016

"Violence as a way of achieving racial justice 

is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful 

of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. 

Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. 

But in spite of temporary victories, 

violence never brings permanent peace." 

 ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. ~

I Corinthians 15:54-58
"But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immorality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death will be swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

Life Animated

My daughters and I went to see the advanced screening of Life Animated. Wow!! This is definitely a must see documentary movie for both children and adults. My daughter's are 8, 10, and 13. My 10 year old, throughout the movie, kept on asking me if we could buy the movie once it came out. After viewing the documentary I took my daughter's to dinner and we had a wonderful discussion surrounding autism, what we took away from the movie, and what our favorite parts were. The documentary was definitely a wonderful insight into living with autism; the challenges, struggles, fears, joy, and breakthroughs. It is a very family friendly documentary with only a very small portion that discussed kissing and sex. With that said, it was pretty innocent. Owen's brother, Walter, talks about the struggles of the "sex talk" with his brother.

Owen, at the age of 3, changed forever. Diagnosed with autism and the struggle to connect with their son was heartbreaking. It wasn't until they decoded a repetitive phrase that their son keep saying from the movie, The Little Mermaid, that a very fascinating connection with Owen's world opened up. It was the simple phrase, "Just your voice" that changed everything!

Laurelwood Books ~ A Review

My 5th grade daughter is really enjoying practicing her cursive with the Primary Level, Scripture Scribes ~ His Name is Wonderful, Volume III by Laurelwood Books. This is just one of four books currently a part of the Scripture Scribe Series. The series has workbooks for Primary, Intermediate, and Upper School Levels.

Over my many years of homeschooling I have found that there is a very wide range of thought about when cursive should be introduced. Some choose to introduce cursive as early as Kindergarten, while others choose to wait until their child is in further along in the Elementary years. 

I wait to introduce cursive until around 4th grade when my kiddos have thoroughly mastered neat, manuscript writing using regular notebook paper. 

Scripture Scribes ~ His Name is Wonderful, is a charming scripture based workbook that focuses on the many names of Jesus. The student through tracing and copying not only works on their cursive writing skills but they learn the many names of Jesus and the verses that contain each name. There are 30 weeks of lessons broken down into a four day a week plan. This particular workbook is aimed at students in grades 1-3, but can be used for any age or grade level that works for your child. 

In each lesson your student will copy the Name of Jesus, using dotted lines, as a guide. Below each tracing line is a line for your child to copy what they just traced. At the top of each page in a framed box is the full or abbreviated scripture written in cursive. I truly cannot think of a better way to work on cursive writing then to be learning scripture! 

Some of the Names of Jesus that your child will learn as they practice their cursive are:

• The Son of God
• The True God
• My Shepherd
• My Teacher
• My Lord and Master
• My Helper
• My Hope
• My Rock and My Fortress
• The Light of the World
• The Lamb of God
• The Alpha and the Omega

My daughter absolutely loved working in this workbook. The lessons are one page in length. It was the perfect amount of practice in order to really work on perfecting ones cursive before getting hand fatigue. Each verse, or verse part is the perfect way for your child to meditate on throughout the day. 

My daughter said, “Writing in cursive is kind of hard but I actually like cursive more than manuscript. I have learned Names of God. My cursive writing is getting better every day.”

In addition to cursive practice your student will learn about Bible History, Translating the Scriptures, Copying the Scriptures, and The Development of the Scriptures. 

Writing like a scribe of old.

I will most definitely continue to use the other workbooks in the Scripture Scribe series. The current books include:

• My Whole Heart
• One Another 
• Men of Honor, Women of Grace

Laurelwood Books is currently working on many more, soon to be released, workbooks to add to the series including:

Primary (K-3)

• From Scribbler to Scribe ~ Volume I

Intermediate (4-6)

• Savoring Psalms ~ Volume II
• Practicing Proverbs ~ Volume III
• Words of Praise from Olden Days ~ Volume IV

Upper Grades (7-12)

• Savoring Psalms ~ Volume II
• Practicing Proverbs ~ Volume III
• Jesus Said ~ Volume IV

I would highly recommend this curriculum to other homeschoolers looking for cursive practice for their children. 

To read more reviews click here. 

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