Our school this year

My son who is 8, was really struggling in math. He was stuck in the Alpha math-u-see book. So what did I do? I bought a $50 toys r us gift card and told him if he was diligent and worked with me in his math in two weeks, he could have it as a reward. I had a Beta math-u-see book from one other child and we began working through 5 lessons a day. He did review, worked the lessons and did additional problems. I only taught lessons that had significance to them. My main goal was to get him into Teaching Textbooks 3, into a level he was supposed to be. Amazingly, it worked! I was amazed at how fast he caught on and how well he worked. We went shopping last weekend so he could spend his money and he got a skateboard with all the safety gear. He went a little over but I wasn't about to let him go without the safety gear. He started TT 3 today. It will be a load off my shoulders because this is something he can do on his own. I will have to keep a close eye on him till he gets in the swing of things but he is there and I know he will be successful. Not only that, he has a new sense of pride knowing he is where he is supposed to be.
Since I won't be spending so much time on him with that, I can be more creative in other areas such as reading, history, writing, science and art. Not to mention I can work with my kindergarten dd. I can use this weekend to plan some fun lapbooks. I am getting super excited about this year coming up, there is so much growth potential.

Menu plan for savvy shopping

Today I worked on my menu plan for Oct. 15-29. I scanned the advertisers for any special deals on meats. Not much, will keep an eye out for next weeks advertisements.
Oct. 15-sausage balls.
Oct. 16- baked spaghetti
Oct. 17-chili
Oct. 18- daughters birthday so probably pizza and ice cream w/cupcakes
Oct. 19- from leftover chili, chili mac
Oct. 20- cheeseburger pie (crockpot chicken early)
Oct. 21- chicken enchiladas
Oct. 22- crockpot cube steak
Oct. 23-creamed beef
Oct. 24- spaghetti
Oct. 25-sweet potato casserole
Oct. 26-red beans and rice
Oct 27-beef and rice casserole (with leftovers)
Oct. 28- chicken tetrazzini (recipe makes two) freeze one
Oct. 29-shepherds pie
Most of my lunches consist of leftovers, which works really great on a budget. I love going shopping every two weeks.
I will also begin a lookout for homemade cleaning items.

Shopping savvy pt. 2

Thrift shopping =
7 pairs of jeans for older boys
5 pairs of jeans for little girl
2 tops for little boy
1 hoodie for middle boy
4 tops for oldest boy
2 pairs of pants for mom
4 shirts for mom
I spent a little more at Platos closet than I wanted to on a button up shirt and t than I wanted but ds wanted it so I figured ok. It roughly avg $6 per piece, not a great deal but @$415 for retail, I'll take it. With the exception of a few rough spots I discovered afterwards, most of the items look new. Note to self, examine clothing a little more carefully before buying. Lol!

Next venture will be homemade laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent, and liquid soap for hand washing. I will have to check to see what my local walmart carries and I will post my recipe.

I should title my blog saving money one step at a time. I'm making drastic changes to save money. One recent change is dropping cable and my landline. I am now depending on local tv and Netflix for entertainment. We shopped life insurance and cut cost by half. Those alone saves us $152/month.

Smart and savvy shopping

Shopping stinks. Let's face it. I don't have to tell anyone that prices on everything is higher. And I've come to the conclusion that I cannot spend money the way I've been used to doing for years. Everything is going up, yes, except for our income. The only change I see fitting is to change the way we do things. Groceries, clothing, and getting back to basics are things I can change. I was talking to a friend who tells me she spends $200 every two weeks for groceries. I about fell over! I spend more than that in a week and have one less person in our family! So I asked how? By eating very basic. Some things I wish I was taught growing up. I'm more a convenience kind of girl. Quick and easy is my game. I can't do that and be cheap.
This week, I planned for two weeks. I went to Save-a-Lot and spent $85, had to stop at kroger and spent $60. Wow! What a difference! I will use leftovers. I will take no complaints. Sunday evening, after a day of thrift shopping, more on that in a moment, I fixed chili. I'm so excited that I fixed the batch to feed my family, 6 of us this time, for under $6 for the whole meal! I had leftovers for Monday so I mixed in elbow pasta, a little processed cheese and a little sour cream. Two cans of corn and voila, dinner! Did I say I was a convenience kind of gal?
How's that for convenience? So for tomorrow I have planned chicken quesadillas for lunch and chicken and homemade noodles for dinner. (Sunday, I cooked a whole chicken in the crockpot, deboned it and put the meat in the fridge for this day.)! I think Wednesday, I will put a pot of soup beans on and bake a batch of cornbread. Thursday, I know there will be leftovers, I will make white chili! Friday. My fill in meal is chicken tetrazzini that I made last week and had two complete meals. I think this may work.

been awhile I know.

This is just much harder than it looks for some. I'm talking about keeping a blog rolling. I get so much out of other blogs, it's just been a true blessing for me. But,it leaves little time to do on my own.

I always want to make sure I have everything spelled right or my grammar is correct. I read a comment on anothers blog how she shouldn't be homeschooling if she was having so much trouble with writing. Sounds cruel, I know. I was embarrassed to be part of this group that this particular blogger asked for opinions on her blog. I've been really trying to hold my tongue and praying God stand guard at my mouth. I always wonder if someone is judging me and my motives by a misspelled word or if grammar isn't so-so. I guess that is why I got away from writing. But, like everything else. God knows my heart and I do make mistakes. I'm off of my soapbox and onto helpful hints at what makes my life easier.

Now that we are into the new year again, here is what we are doing.
Workboxes...definitely a plus and a keeper for us. Works for all my children and for me. I would love to see Sue Patricks seminar, it is in Ohio but not too close to me. So I will have to think about it.
Coop classes are Monday's.
Workboxes are Tue., Wed., and Thur.
History and Science day is Fri. AM/History, PM/Science
Hopefully this schedule will work out for us.

Found a great geography unit from Confessions called Expedition Earth. It looks like a very fun unit, with lots of great crafts. I originally planned to do Sonlight and I think I will try to do both.

Praising God!

God is good! I have had so many answered prayers in my life recently. All I can do is praise Him. Every area of my life has been touched by His greatness. I shouldn't be surprised but I am in awe of His power. Everything, from finances to child rearing to my marriage. Our God is an awesome God!
What have I been doing differently? Giving Him my time, Praying, praising, finding the fruits of the spirit in all situations, talking with my husband about how God is speaking to me.
I don't know if I'm doing it "correctly", but He seems to be with me no matter what and I seem to be growing in Christ. That is what matters.

oh my goodness! Jillian just kicked my butt! I wanted to see what all the hype about Jillians 30 day shred it program was all about. I haven't exercised in about a week, but I thought I was in better shape than that, but oooh Lordy was I unprepared for that. I have another blog that I dedicated to my weight loss journey so I should be posting it there. But, I have to say Thumbs up for Jillian. It is a no nonsense, kick butt workout and I bet I see changes very soon.