Well, it is that time of year again. March Madness for me is pouring over curriculum sites and catalogs. This is a love/hate relationship that I have had every March for the past 10 years. I use this time to reflect on what we have done or not done, what I still want to do with each child, what each child wants to do, our main family focus, and any big events that might come up in the new school year. So, that being said, here are my beginning thoughts.

What have we done:
1. The girls have become more independent and have ventured out and taken an online writing program that they love. We have also started a wonderful weekly Bible study with our girls.
2. The boys have improved their reading skills by leaps and bounds this year. Their love for Science gets on my nerves a bit and it is sad to say my boys will surpass my math skills very shortly (sad for me not them).
3. Our family devotions have a more regular flare to them. My youngest has become our main prayer warrior.

What we have not done:
1. I have not kept up with grading the girls work. And would have liked to been a little more involved in their day to day work.
2. The boys have not flowed through their Sonlight Core C and we are enjoying learning but missed lots of the mapping and timelining(either I lost or never ordered the timeline figures).
3. I have personally felt disjointed and most of this is due to my illness with Dengue Fever in September 2011. I am still struggling with issues from this disease. So at least this year I have an excuse

What I want to do:
1. Have more of a daily item with each of the girls. I need to add a reading time with just the girls. Each girl wants to stick with this writing program and also improve their already amazing music skills (piano and guitar)
2. Go back and review the boys favorite parts of world history and add mapping and timeline with some fun activities. I also want to start Music Theory with the boys.

Our Main Focus:
This year it is our goal to learn a language together as a family. There is a toss up between Spanish and Italian.

Big Events:
We are in the midst of a plan to move to the US. If this is Gods plan for us then our homeschooling year could start with a few hiccups. But I am factoring this I my planning

So these are my fist thoughts in my March Madness process! Stay tuned for more Madness LOL

Best Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped zucchini
• 1/2 cup chopped celery

• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh mushrooms
• 1 (28 ounce) diced tomatoes with liquid
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, undrained
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, undrained
• 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans, undrained
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dried basil
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir the garlic, onion, celery and carrots in the pot until tender. Mix in the green bell pepper and red bell pepper. Season with chili powder. Continue cooking 5 minutes, or until peppers are tender.
2. Mix the mushrooms and zucchini into the pot. Stir in the tomatoes with liquid, red wine, black beans with liquid, kidney beans with liquid, pinto beans with liquid, and corn. Season with cumin, oregano, basil, and garlic powder. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

My husband LOVES this Chili! It freezes very well too.

This is a great use for left over Taco Meat. I always double my taco recipe so I have leftovers that I freeze for this quick meal.  It is great for those busy days when you need an quick and easy meal.

Mexican Rice

1-2 cups taco meat

6 cups cooked rice

1 cup salsa

2 cups cheddar cheese grated

Directions: Mix Rice, Meat, Salsa and 1 cup of the cheese and place in a 13X9 Pan. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 Min.  Serve with lettuce, tomato, onion, sour cream and corn chips.

So easy, So Good! My favorite kind of recipe.

In the attempt to catch up with my crazy life. I have decided to take my Menu Planning to the Max! With a little helpful tips from Simple Mom, Today I introduced my menus to my handy dandy Google Calendar. All I can say is WOW!! I was able to have my Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner plans mapped out for months, yes months. Any changes can be done with a quick click of the mouse. I love having my daily menu plan right along with my life, school and business plans. For breakfast and lunch we have the same thing almost every week.

Here is our weekly Breakfast and Lunch plans.

Breakfast Plan

Sunday-Cinnamon Rolls

Monday-Oatmeal

Tuesday-Cereal

Wednesday-Pancakes,Waffles or French Toast with sausage

Thursday-Cereal

Friday-Poptarts

Saturday-Muffins or Coffee Cake

*No brainer breakfast is a must for this non-morning person

 Lunch Plan

Sunday-Leftovers unless we go out to eat

Monday-Tuna or Egg sandwiches

Tuesday-Sandwiches

Wednesday-Mac and cheese or canned Spaghetti

Thursday-Sandwiches

Friday-Hot Dogs/Quesadillas

Saturday-Quesadillas/Hot Dogs

*I do add fruit with all of the lunches in order to make it a “little” more healthy LOL

 So menu planning is only needed for dinner. Yay ME!!  so for this week.

Monday

Chicken Broth Soup (house of sick kiddos here).

I did make French Onion Soup for my hubby and I.

Tuesday

Chinese (Take-out)

It is Islandgirls 13th Birthday

Wednesday

Mexican Rice

Thursday

Pan Seared Tuna, Rice and Green Beans

Friday

Leftovers

Saturday

Hamburgers on the Grill, chips and watermelon

Sunday

Super Bowl Food (will post this menu later)

Life is so much easier with a plan

I am a natural planner. I am a natural organizer. I am also a homeschooling mother of 4.  Nuff said but really, I have been menu planning for a few months. I have ironed out the kinks and got my system rolling. I plan 2 weeks at a time and shop for those 2 weeks the Wednesday before. This has saved me time, this has saved me money, this has given freedom to my day, and this has given be back my nature planner organizer persona. I am HAPPY!  Well, now that I have this thing off to a good start, I thought I would share with you every week what in on the Menu here at the Kemp’s house. It might help you, it might give you ideas, and it might entice you to visit around dinner time. Also, if you click on the cute little banner above you can see what others have on their menu this week too.  Sooooo here is the line up for this week.

Monday

Breakfast – Cereal

Lunch – Sandwiches and Quesadillas

Dinner – White House Chicken, Coleslaw and core

Extra – Rolls and cookies

Tuesday

Breakfast – Crepes

Lunch – Tuna Salad

Dinner – Shrimp Diablo

Extra = Challah Bread and Angel Food Cake

Wednesday

Breakfast – Cereal

Lunch – Mac N Cheese

Dinner – Leftovers

Thursday

Breakfast – Café Style Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Lunch – Mexican Rice and chips

Dinner –TurkeySoup and Salad

Extra – Rolls

Friday

Breakfast – Pop tarts

Lunch – Hot dogs

Dinner – Leftovers

Extra – Bread

Saturday

Breakfast – Eggs and Toast

Lunch – Sandwiches

Dinner – Ribs, Potato Salad, Succotash, salad

Extra – Layered Turtle Cheesecake

Sunday

Breakfast – Coffee Cake

Lunch – Leftovers

Dinner – Crawfish Salad

Extra – Rolls

These are amazing and they disappear so fast in my house. It has two of my favorite things, the bread machine and the ability to make breakfast the night before (I can’t tell you how much I detest making breakfast, this has everything to do with me NOT being a morning person and nothing to do with my love for cooking). Anyhoo…..

Ingredients
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup dry milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
4 cups of flour
1/2 tbs salt
1 tbs yeast

A big dollop of butter (yes just scoop and spread)
Cinnamon sugar (I have this already mixed in bulk and I like it heavy on the cinnamon, but you do what you want)

Directions
1. I am a measure and dump type bread machine person. I have read all about what goes first and such. I just don’t have time for that so I dump as written in the recipe. This will work, I know, I am best friends with my bread machine . set the machine on the manual cycle and press start. Did I mention I LOVE my bread machine?
2. When you hear the wonderful beep of your new best friend, signaling that it has done it’s magic and now it is you turn. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll into a big rectangle (don’t matter to me what size, go for it, be free!) Now take that dollop of butter and spread it all over that rectangle and sprinkle a nice heavy coat of that cinnamon sugar mixture. Roll up jelly roll style and pinch close the seam.
3. Slice into 12 even (if they are not your kids WILL fight over who gets the biggest slice, and yes this includes my hubby) and place in a greased 13X9 pan. Cover and place overnight in the fridge. Did I not tell you this was easy!
4. When you wake up the next morning take out the rolls and preheat the oven 350 degrees then bake the roll for 20-30 minutes. Cool for as long as your family will let them. Enjoy!

Tip- you can dress these up and make them even yummier by adding a little melted butter and brown sugar to the bottom of the pan before placing the rolls on top. You can also make a powder sugar drizzle to top them when they come out of the oven (1 cup of powder sugar, 1 tbs cream and 1/2 tsp vanilla). Oh there are endless yummy things you can do. Our new favorite indulgence is Carmel sticky rolls they make me smile. Melt 1/2 cup butter and mix in 1 cup brown sugar on the stove till bubbly, add a little milk to thin and pour in the bottom of the pan. This will drive your family to throw flowers at your feet. I like flowers!

Well run off and try these now!

Well, it has been quite a crazy 2 months. We started our 9^th year of homeschooling. I went on a wonderful trip to Minnesota with my girls and my parents for a family wedding. We hit the Mall of America, enjoyed family, explored the Science Museum, relaxed at the Cabin and got stuck because of a hurricane at home. It was an exciting trip to say the least. My husband and the boys weathered the hurricane at home and we were blessed with little damage. Hurricanes scare me and I am glad I missed it, but hated being away from my men (big and little).

I arrived home, after a 5 day hurricane delay in MN, to a week to organize my life before our 2 week working vacation to Florida. This did not go according to plan though. By the Sunday before our trip I was not feeling just right. By the next day I was so dizzy and in pain (back and head) to move. Still planning on going, I tried to rest. My condition progressively worsen. We then figured out that I had Dengue Fever. I couldn’t even stand on the day we were to be flying. My family left without me. I was too sick to care. My parents were in town and stayed at my house to care for me.  It was by far the worst thing I have ever been through. I am still feeling the effects of this horrible disease. I was told it would be at least a month till I was back to normal. This is my last week in the month and I have to say I am finally feeling like I can do “almost” everything I usually do. I still have to rest every afternoon. It is very difficult to adjust to not being able to much everyday. My husband and kids have been and amazing help in getting things done and keeping the house and school flowing.

So, we have cut much from the school schedule (mostly time wasting workbooks that just doubled up a subject), add lots of reading (in bed), and used educational media to keep everyone busy while I rest.  I have to say, I LOVE IT. We are getting everything we need done each week, and my kids are so stinking creative that they are exploring and making things that has expanded their learning by leaps and bounds. I think I just might be sticking to this schedule.

Sorry for being MIA for so long, but hope you understand. I hope to be back and blogging from now on (but ya never know).

I love homeschool planning. I love my homeschool binder.

What is a homeschool binder you might ask?

Well, let me TELL you-

This is the place where I put ALL of my homeschool planning information I need to access DAILY.  It includes my schedule, goals, lesson plans, grade sheet, attendance records, workbox lists, calendar, book lists, curriculum lists, course outlines and it even has a place for my menus (so I know what to get going for dinner), shopping lists (so when my amazing island hubby calls I can tell him to run for my grocery list I have it) and weekend schedule (so have something to look forward too). It is beautiful, it is portable, it is organized and it is one of the things I will be grabbing if my house catches on fire (after my kids of course LOL)

Now let me SHOW you-

I have used a regular teacher planner (the kind you can get at any office store) for a while now. It wasn’t perfect but it worked. WELL! I found a new homeschool teacher planner that I fell in love with, and had to have.

The Well Planned Day Planner

I am so glad I splurged and got this set. The zipper 3-ring binder is a great addition and helps me keep everything in one place.

This is what you see when you Open up the Folder

All my Goodies for writing, grading, tagging and such on the left and the packed lesson planner and all my extras on the right.

This is the week we just finished. I LOVE handwriting (with a pencil) all of  the boys lesson plans. I leave space at the bottom to write in what I need to do with the girls too(tests, papers, review, projects etc)

behind the lesson planner are all my great lists, schedules and curriculum stuff (yes stuff seems like a good word…) I use a color code for everything. Each child has a different color and so do I. This makes finding the right schedule, book list, grading sheet and such SO MUCH EASIER!

more “stuff” color coded.

I love to be organized.

I love to have everything in one place.

I love all my filled out forms.

I love my homeschool planner.

Spiritual

To come to a full knowledge of God and follow Him where ever He leads.

To Glorify God in everything they think, say and do.

To put others before themselves

To learn key Bible study skills so that they may Study to show themselves approved.

Know how to lead someone to Christ.

Academic

To love Learning and become a self-directed learner

To have great oral and writing skills

To have a God view of History and how His plan flows through it all

Understand how we fit in this world and what our purpose is

To understand God’s creation and how to preserve and take care of it

LifeSkills

To develop the girls skills as wives and mothers. So that they will be a helpmeet to their husbands and lovingly care for and nurture their children.

To develop the boys skills as husbands and fathers. So that they will provide for them and love their wives completely and disciple their children in the Lord.

I have this written out in my homeschool folder. (I will be posting pictures of that very soon) I might add a few things through the years, but I have really stuck to these for all 9 years I have been homeschooling.

I have a great set of forms that I have created for this purpose HERE It includes Goal forms, plus many more helpful homeschooling forms.

The Kemp’s Day

Notice I do not assign times to anything, I have tried that it does not work for us. We like flexibility, we need flexibility, and we want flexibility. I also can not guarantee that we will do the following in this order everyday. But guess what? My schedule my rule, I just love homeschooling!

Wake Up, Exercise, Quiet Time

These are things I try to do everyday. I know for sure I wake up everyday (unless a migraine hits then we just trash this list). Exercise is something I am trying to make a habit, no comment on how that is going. Quiet time is usually done, or my kids send me back to my room to do it (heehee, they like a happy momma)

Eat, Dress, Chores

I do not do mornings. Breakfast is a free for all and I am just happy if my littles wear underwear and brush their teeth. Morning chores are light and easy (clean up breakfast messy, throw in a load of laundry etc)

Circle Time

• Pray through daily lists
• Read Bible and kids color or write about passage
• Teach and sing Hymn of the Week
• Review  Catechisms for Children and add a new one
• Everyone reviews their Sunday School Verse
• Go through assigned Memory cards

Independent work for Island Girls

• Bible
• Memory Work
• Math
• Writing
• Grammar
• Vocabulary
• Spelling
• Typing

”School Time” for Island Boys

• Memory Work
• Map Work
• Math
• Phonics
• Writing/Handwriting
• Grammar
• Reading
• Spelling

Review with Island Girls

This is just my time with my island girls. I check on them. Someday they need me someday they don’t. I still bug them anyways and hang out in their room and am a real Mom pest LOL.

Lunch

We do really easy lunches. Usually sandwiches, salads and fruit

Reading and Project Work with Island Boys

• History
• Science

Island Girls continue with School work

• Writing Project
• History Project
• Science
• Reading
• Electives (Logic, Home Economics, Spanish/Italian, Music. Art)
• Typing

Grade School Work/Mom’s computer time

For my own sanity and health I do all grading the day I get it unless a hurricane hits. Which my desk looks like on most weekdays….. This is also when I blog, Facebook (shhhh), research, return phone calls and such.

Handy Work/Playtime

I read, craft, sleep or we go to the pool. Sometimes we do it all.  And I will tell you a little secret, sometimes we jump right down to this after we wake up.

Dinner and Family Devotions

True confession, I forget to make dinner many nights. Good thing I a good at whipping up quick and easy meals. Honestly I get so busy in the day the fact that I do have to feed my Island Crew completely slips my mind.

Evening Chores and Bed Time

The island boys get their Read Aloud before bedtime. The island girls enjoy free time in their room. Me, I just enjoy the quietness of the night.