One of my favorite older children’s activities that we had done when they were younger was to do a timeline.  Back in the day, we used Osborne’s History of the World as our base and then read stories to go along with it.  We made a simple timeline out of cardstock and drew pictures and added words to mark specific time events on our line.  Those were the days of busy and I didn’t have time to document it.  Now that I have a little bit of extra time, I should be able to document things better:)

This year my children wanted to do American History.  I like to be able to do something as a group and this will work.  We found that our library has Drive Thru History DVD’s that you can borrow —that will be most of our base along with some by Shlessinger Media.  Then I added a few books that I found would be of interest to read.  I chose a couple of read aloud books that I could do with everyone and  I chose age appropriate ones for each child. We will cover a few topics per month and by the end of the year, we should get through all of American History.  I will add other information as we are studying it and we spark upon some new idea, but at least I have a base for what we will do.

I didn’t add a bunch of questions to my lessons, I want the questions and curiosity to come from my children.   As we discuss different parts of history, we should be able to talk about what it was like, how it differs from today, the emotions and feelings of people, what would life be like without specific inventions, etc.

Keep it simple and easy.  Hope you are having a blessed week!

history kids

This has been our most favorite recipe right now.  I have baked banana bread over the years and have found it to be too dry, get stuck in the pan, or turned too brown.  Maybe, my technique was all wrong…..I don’t know.  We would make pumpkin muffins and bread consistently with no problems but banana…..no such luck……until now.

We have made multiple batches of this over the last few weeks and I keep them in the freezer.  I usually pull them out for breakfast and it disappears quickly. It is so yummy.

I have found that I prefer to use smaller bread pans.  I found some at a discount store this past year and thought they would be good for baking loaves for presents for people so I picked them up. They work perfect for banana bread.  I also make sure to let the loaves cool down completely before trying to get them out of the pan.  If I do it before, the bread sticks.  I tried this recipe in muffin pans, and I was not happy with the results—so I am sticking to mini loaf pans:)

When our bananas  start to go bad, we put them in the freezer. Take them out that morning and they will thaw quickly.  The tops should pull off and then you can “squish” them into your mixing bowl!

• 4 very ripe bananas
• 2 T sour cream
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon maple flavoring

Mix the above with a wire whisk until thoroughly mixed, then add the following:

• 1 2/3 cup flour –I use white whole wheat
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix that with the whisk until well combined and then add your nuts.

I use 1 cup walnuts chopped

350 degrees for about 40 minutes.  Check with a toothpick to see if it is done.

I think it tastes better being frozen and then eating, as the banana flavor really seems to come out more.  My husband thinks it is delicious fresh.  Either way, it is good.  When you have some bananas that are starting to get bad–pop them in your freezer to make this yummy bread.

Have a blessed day !