Cheap, Easy and Quick Family Friendly Freezer Meals!

My new favorite way to cook:

I am a new huge fan of make ahead cooking!  I love putting together freezer meals that go from the freezer to the crockpot, and give us a home cooked dinner without all the work!  We have a very fixed income, and therefore a fixed budget every month.  I've recently found that I can cook a lot more better food, and a better variety, by using freezer meals most of the time.  My family has been trying out new ones every once in awhile.  I wanted to compile a list of our favorites (for my own future reference) so I thought I would share on here too.

Kindergarten at our House: Fall 2014

We are busy people! 

First Month of Kindergarten

We have had a fun first month of Kindergarten.  Joelle is doing very well with the My Father's World curriculum.  I have been using the science and letter topic throughout the week while her friend is over, and then doing the reading lessons and worksheets with her at other times.  So far it has been pretty easy and she enjoys it.  I have done a few units in one week, but I think from now on we may stretch them into two week units.  The reading lessons require a little more work starting with Unit 6 and I still want to keep going at a slow pace.

Happy Spring!

Kindergarten Begins in Spring

So, I bought the whole My Father's World kindergarten set months ago, and took my time organizing it.  Recently I was debating whether I should try to start my girl on it this spring or wait until fall. The program runs on a five day schedule, and I know we will have enough other activities going on next fall that we definitely won't be sitting down to do school work five days a week.  With community bible study one day and Friday school another, I really only picture us doing formal lessons two or three days a week.  So I was trying to figure out which would be better: to start kindergarten now and work through it slowly as it works out (mainly on days when I'm not already babysitting) or wait until fall and try to cram it all into one year anyway, or start in fall and go slowly anyway and try to accept that it may take longer than a year.

Winter Fun!

Playtime is Learning Time

One reason that preschool at home is great for my kids and our personalities is because we love the flexibility of it.  I've learned that my daughter, very much like me, is not a morning person.  There are many mornings that we take our time to get dressed and eat breakfast.  

New Year, New Plans- Our Home Preschool

 The holidays are over and life is getting back to normal.  January has inspired me though.  I've come up with some new plans.  I have made a new schedule for us to follow in the mornings when we get up, to try to keep a good routine.  I notice it helps if we always follow a routine, even before starting our preschool day.  I've started getting up and sitting down for breakfast and Bible story time with the kids in the mornings, before getting myself ready for the day.  This seems to help with all our moods and we start the day off a lot better.

Review: Time 4 Learning

I was given a one month trial of Time 4 Learning in exchange for an honest review.  My daughter (age 4) used the program a couple of times, and she did enjoy it.  I liked that it had so much variety.  There were probably twenty topics to choose from.  My daughter really enjoyed the program that read stories to her.