Thursday, August 16, 2018
Low-Carb Living - Shredded Beef Taco Bowl
So my husband and I have been trying low-carb eating for a few months now. I have actually been eating this way for over a year, with a few slip-ups here and there. But Joe on the other hand, just since April. With all my food alleriges, I do not get to experiment much with my diet. But Joe though can eat almost anything. So I have been getting creative with his meals to help him out with "missing" favorite higher carb items. Some recipes I see online, other meal items I'm just creating from ideas here and there and coming up with my own recipe. Tonight's meal for Joe is a creation.
Shredded Beef Taco Bowl (low carb)
Chuck Roast
Gluten-free taco seasonings (or your own mixture of cumin, garlic, and onion)
The first thing you need to do is cook your roast in the crock-pot, and coat both sides of the roast with your preference for taco seasoning mixture. I cooked ours on high for 4 1/2 hours. Then I shredded it while it was still hot.
That evening I was trying to serve Joe up a low-carb supper, but the kids were eating flour shells and taco rice. So I thought, let me experiment on a Mexican Cauliflower rice!!
Mexi-Cauliflower rice
3 cup cauliflower rice
Olive oil for sauteeing
Your choice of taco seasoning
1/2 yellow, red or orange sweet pepper
1/4 cup onion, diced
Salt to taste
Sautee all the above ingredients together, until done. Just before the rice is done, add the shredded beef. After getting all the ingredients mixed well, serve on a plate. Add your choice of condiments/toppings. I choice guacamole, pico de gallo, and a dallop of sour cream. You could also add shredded cheese if you choose.
Joe said it was great. You could choose to serve it with a low-carb tortilla shell also. But there are plenty of carbs in this recipe, without adding extras from a shell. If you do it right, you can get a healthy dose of veggies with this dish.
Enjoy! I will try to share more of our concoctions as I go through the low-carb living learning curve!
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Julie Polanco - God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn Review
Author of God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn and 100 (no and low cost) Ways to Motivate Kids
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Branch Out World - Paddington Bear Review - Picture Book Explorers Review
Paddington Bear - Picture Book Explorers is a picture book based unit study that is meant to accompany the picture book Paddington Bear by Michael Bond. It is meant to be used with elementary aged children through the age of 10.
If you are not familiar with literature based unit studies, they are very easy to use. As a parent, you simply read the story daily with your child and the unit study helps you to highlight various educational opportunities that are within the storybook that you are reading. It really is a relaxed approach to learning for both the child and the parent.
In Paddington Bear - Picture Book Explorer literature unit study, children are introduced to topics such as migration, science experiments, grammar/writing activities, geography/map reading studies and even math related activities. It includes all subjects in a 5 day study.
When you first open up your PDF download from Branch Out World, it is broken down into suggested activities for each day during your study. Each day you are to read the picture book with your student, and then go through the suggested activities. I really liked the Parent suggestions at the beginning of the file. Suggestions on how to make the best progress through were given, including information if you decide to do it over a longer period than five days. There was even information included on how to keep records for your child's portfolio as you make your way though the literature study. Extra book suggestions, and a supply list of what you will need for each day is also included. This helps you to be ahead of the game and not scrambling for a library book or even a can of shave cream when you are working your way though each day.
Each day you as the parent/teacher literally can follow along each days activities, after you read the book with your child. Everything is laid and and the majority of the work has been done for you!!
Some of the suggestions for geography include finding locations on the globe and even having a printed map of those countries in a small folder/binder, which in turn also serves as a record of your "travels" for your child's portfolio. There are also lapbook pieces included that you can print for your child to fill out, and worksheets and maps also. Like I mentioned above....the majority of the work has been done for you already!
Various art activities are included, including drawing suggestions and terminology. I considered the architecture section to be art. I actually learned a lot that day about all the different styles. Instead of just pointing and saying I like that, now I actually know that each style has a name! Such as Quoins.....who knew that's what the beautiful brick style on the corner were called.
The yeast/bubbles science experiment was fun also!
Caty absolutely loved going through this study, and it gave us a break from the regular book work. In fact, this study has worked out so well with her, that I plan on ordering a few more to work with her own and give her a more relaxed school year due to her anxiety issues.
Due to this relaxed approach helping Caty so much, I highly recommend checking out the other studies put together by Branch Out World. I know that we'll be taking advantage of them over this next year!
Several members of the Homeschool Review Crew were given the opportunity to review Paddington Bear from Branch Out World. Click on the link below to see how they feel about these literature studies and how they used them in their homes.
Saturday, August 11, 2018
"Not" Back to School Ideas - DIY Clipboards
It's almost that time, unless you are year-round homeschoolers. We take a break from "curriculum" during July and August. Not a break from schooling though. The kids still participate in 4H, so we are super busy with projects, camps and art classes finishing projects for the county fair. They always participate in the county fair baking contests, so that is math also. We stay SOOOOO busy, most days I feel like I pass myself in our own kitchen.
I thought I would share a couple of the ideas that I am going to be doing on our first day of "not back to school" this year. Last year I baked them their special chocolate chip cookie cake, gave them some new supplies and also they got new school uniforms - Pajamas...lol. This year I'm making some adjustments. I'm down to three kids...homeschooling just three kids!! So I'm trying to find the balance of Joey not homeschooling and the others still schooling. It's going to be a learning curve in September.
One of the special activities I'm going to do with the girls and Brayden is to give them the opportunity to design their own clipboards. Clipboards are an essential homeschool item in our house. We use them daily. In the past I have found animal clipboards at various office supply stores. But this year I am struggling to find cute boards that do not cost a fortune. So I decided to let them design their own.
I ordered these clear, but colorful clipboards from Amazon. It was a 6 pack of clipboards for $12.99.
I ordered them various sticker books then, individualized to each kid. Dover has several inexpensive sticker books for kids. I ordered these for the girls.
Unicorns
I ordered these paint markers for the project also.
I figure the paint will take a day to dry at least. I can't wait to do this project with the kids in a couple weeks. They are going to be excited to create their own clipboards. Plus they can easily adjust their clipboards throughout the year if they want.
Next week, I'll share some more fun things I have planned for our first day "not back to school"! Here's a post from last year about more of our favorite school supplies.
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