Monthly Archives: October 2014

After last weeks busy week, I looked forward to a lower key week this week.  It was a nice week to catch up on some things.
We finally have made our homemade peanut butter.  As we have tried to simplify our food and get rid of anything processed, peanut butter stayed as something that we bought.  I had no excuse for not making it, I just didn’t.

After making peanut butter and honey sandwiches for the children with this, they absolutely love it.

It is very simple, I poured a container of unsalted peanuts into my food processor.
I then turned it on and let it go.  At first, it just made finely granulated peanuts, but as time went on it looked like peanut butter.

 

 

I added 1 tsp of sea salt into the mix as it was mixing and it tastes wonderful.  To me, it taste like eating a peanut butter cup because it has that “real” peanut taste. My children just think it taste like a real nut.

I was able to finish up my sauerkraut.  Some jars finished after 5 days and then some lasted for about a week.  I just scooped down into the middle of the jar and took out a fork full of kraut. When it tasted done, I put that jar into bags and placed into the freezer.

A few of my jars, I knew tasted badly.  I let them sit and the taste got worse.  I believe it was due to not having the sauerkraut completely covered with water thus allowing bad bacteria to grow.

But I am extremely happy of how the good ones did turn out.  We served some with sausage this week and it was so good.  I will definitely make more when we run out.I also had purchased all of my apples last week and was glad that I could just leave them in the basement.  I thought we would take a few bushels and make some sauce with them.

I was glad to have my children help me make it.  It was easy to wake up and start some pots cooking in the morning and just let them simmer on low until we were able to make it into sauce.

We used Fuji apples this year and the sauce turned out with a brown tint.  It tastes fine without sugar but it just doesn’t look as pretty.  We put our sauce into plastic baggies and then freeze them.  My children enjoy partially frozen sauce.

We have been being frugal with the amount of driving that we do.  As I drive a 15 passenger van, it can cost us a lot to go to town more than once per week. This week I had to do some running in town so I planned on doing that and taking a trip with a friend to our local nature center.

We had a wonderful time walking through lots of beautiful trails throughout the woods and getting to learn things from the nature center building.  A very good educational trip and the best part was it was FREE.

We continue to watch our lights and we haven’t had to use any heat yet.  It has been very  nice to enjoy a lower electric bill before those winter months come and the bills go up.

Any frugal accomplishments for you?

 

It has been one month that we started on our new school year.  I will have to admit that this year has been by far the easiest that I have had as far as homeschooling goes.  Normally I have a nursing baby, a busy toddler, and preschoolers that will not stay occupied.  This year it is just working out that the little ones play nicely together while I do school with the older ones, makes for an easy day.We typically have breakfast and then the children follow their charts for personal care.

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We then do the chores checklist chart and when it is finished, we start school.

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We then meet at the dining room table and I sit on the end and help the 1st and 2nd grader do the papers they need help with.

My middle aged boy sometimes does part of his school in the living room, while I am helping the little girls.  He will join us when we do our group part.

We finished up our devotion book of Leading Little Ones to God.   We started it last year and did not finish it. My goal was to begin the year with that and go onto our Miller story books.  The first book we are doing is  Prudence and the Millers.  I bought the workbooks to go with it and we enjoy having that extra part to add to each story.  We typically read one chapter per day and then discuss the topic.

We have about 5-7 print offs for each child that we do along with their writing journals. The print off pages include a page for math, spelling, grammar, reading, and 3 misc pages.  All that I have taken from the internet, it didn’t cost me a thing.   Then we take the time to do reading.  The girls are doing the Hooked on Phonics 1st grade program.  I got it from our library.  The little girls are also doing a lapbook each month.  We are reading the Little House on the Prairie series.  We finished book 1 Little House in the Big Woods and this is the lapbook we made from it.

This was a great lap book because for each chapter that we read the girls could do a piece that was about that chapter.  It helped reinforce what we read.

Our middle aged boy did 2 lap books this past month. His were on ducks and chickens.

We were able to get books from our library that went with this study.  Very easy to read and simple but filled with lots of information.

We have chickens and ducks, but were still very informed with what we learned.

We found this great site that lists tons of lapbooks.  I went through and picked out enough for my son to complete for the year.  My girls are doing the little house ones.  I have bookmarked this site for future reference as we love it.

About the only interruptions that we have are little ones that come up and want to color a picture.  I have a bucket of crayons and some coloring pages left out for when they want to join us during school time. 

We have had many activities, appointments, and things that have filled our calendar this past month.  I am thankful that when I set up my schedule, I scheduled at least one day a week light so that when I was extra busy, I allowed myself that one day to catch up.

We typically read our Miller story book and Little house on the Prairie each day but on Fridays I do not. This allows me to make up any reading we missed earlier in the week.  Also I make our daily reading light.  Only 1 chapter per day and 1 story from the Millers.  This has allowed an easy school day.

The children’s work is mainly worksheets and their writing journal.  This allows them to work on their own to some extent if I can’t get to the table due to other obligations.

I also order lots of books from our library each week.  The girls have beginning chapter books that they can choose to read each day.  I also sit with all the little ones and read books that I ordered.  I typically will go through 5-10 books each day.

I like to choose books that go with the season.  Right now we have ordered fall books.  Click here for a list of ones we have borrowed.

After we finish up our schooling, it is usually lunch time.  The afternoon is left for finishing up any pages not done and our reading and video learning time.  Makes for an easy day.

My high schooler is doing all of her own school during this time.  She will come and take some breaks during the day.  Right now she is doing our Advanced Home Economics course.  This month she is in charge of making lunch each day, that is a nice help for me as that is a busy time.  Her schooling takes longer as she is focusing on being finished this year and has packed her schedule.

The afternoon is filled with making dinner and doing whatever tasks I have to complete that day.  After the children are in bed, I do some work on my blog.  Then it is lights out for me.

Wake up and do it again.

FreeDigitalPhotos.net by Praisaeng

 

With the cooler weather coming, that means  long gone are the days of leaving our windows open for fresh air to sweep through.  It also means that we will be indoors more as a family.  When you get a lot of people indoors you share more germs.  With sharing of germs that usually means that a sickness will occur.

Most of the years, we seem to get by with just the normal colds.  About every 3 years it seems we get hit with the flu type sickness.  With a house full of people being sick at the same time it can make for one weary momma.

What is a mom to do to help prevent this type of sickness?  Feed her family a good, healthy, whole foods diet with a minimal amount of processed foods.  Plenty of Vitamin C in their smoothies and if all else fails and you get it, be prepared with some elderberry flu syrup.

Studies have found that elderberry eases flu symptoms like fever, headache, sore throat, fatigue, cough, and body ache. The benefits seem to be greatest when started within 24 to 48 hours after the symptoms begin.

I was able to get some fresh elderberries from a friend who has an herb garden. I sat outdoors with my girls and pulled the berries from the branches.  I saved 1 cup to make my flu syrup and I dried 1 cup to save for my second batch of the season.

I put them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and dried them in my oven on the lowest temperature.  I saved these in a plastic container in the freezer for another time.

For elderberry flu syrup you will need:

• 1 cup fresh elderberries or 1/2 cup dried
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger root
• 3 cups water
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Place all ingredients into a small saucepan.

Why ginger root?Ginger can relieve nausea and vomiting because of its ability to disrupt and expel gas in the intestine.

To prepare your ginger root, use a potato peeler and peel off the outside and cut into chunks.

Mash and simmer all for half an hour.

When finished simmering, strain into a bowl and add 1 cup of  honey.

Place in a quart sized jar and refrigerate.

Will stay good for  3 months.  Save your dried elderberries to make this for the second half of the winter season.

 

For flu prevention take 2-3 Tbsp daily.  If flu has already started increase dosage and it will help lessen the effects of the flu.