The Homeschool Series - A Peek at Our Homeschool Day

This is going to wrap up The Homeschool Series. I hope you have enjoyed seeing a little peek at how we do things.

I am very thankful that I have this wonderful opportunity to teach my children.

I decided to film bits and pieces of our day instead of taking still pictures. I don't think I mentioned in the video, but this is a typical Monday. It is the ONLY day that is this laid back, so it was the easiest day to film.

At the beginning of the year we were heading out the door first thing Monday morning to attend an Omnifit class. I finally realized that it was really throwing our day off. I am hoping that we can eventually add it back in, but for now I am going to enjoy the slower day.

I don't like to admit it, but we still haven't found our groove quite yet. We usually fall into a good groove before now, but I know we will get there.

All of our days do not got this smoothly. All of our school days do not end at lunch time. Some days we take school to the library or park to change it up. Some days no one wants to do school and I'm the mean Mama. Some days I am the one that doesn't want to do school. Some days we do a fun project. Some days we keep our nose in the books.

Please don't compare your day to ours and think that one of us is doing it all wrong. ;)

I hope you enjoy seeing a little bit of our day.

Meal Plan #22

Sunday Lunch
Ham and Cheese Panini - french bread and cheese from this week's grocery haul, ham from freezer
Chips -  this week's grocery haul

Sunday Dinner
Ham and Cheese Omelets - eggs and veggies on hand, cheese from this week's grocery haul
Toast - this week's grocery haul

Monday
Spaghetti w/Meat Sauce - last week's grocery haul
Salad - on hand
Garlic Bread - this week's grocery haul

Tuesday
Steak and Bean Nachos - all on hand from freezer and pantry

Wednesday
Sauteed Chicken Thighs - this week's grocery haul
Rice - this week's grocery haul
Broccoli - this week's grocery haul

Thursday
Leftovers

Friday
Pizza

Saturday 
Something easy, not sure of plans just yet

Check out my grocery haul from Friday.

The Homeschool Series - Our Bag and Binder System

This week I am sharing how we organize our binders and bags. Since we don't have a dedicated school room, I wanted to have an easy way to transport our school from room to room.

At the beginning of each week I pull all of the worksheets that we will need and put them in binders.

Henry's binder is divided into sections by day of the week.

Cade has a separate binder for Math and Language. They are both divided into "this week's lessons", "rules to reference", and "loose leaf paper".  At the end of the week I pull all of the worksheets and file them. If the worksheet went over a new concept that we may need to reference, I just move it to that section of the binder. I have been using this system for years and it is still working really well for us.

We each have a bag to keep all of our current books and binders in. These particular bags are from Thirty-One Gifts. I have wire file boxes in each one to add some structure to the bags. This makes it easy for us to move everything we need for the day from the homeschool closet to the dining room for school. It's also nice to have everything together so that we can easily pack up and head to the park or the library if we want a change of scenery.

Do you want to get a peek into the bags and binders? Head over to my YouTube Channel. I will walk you through it all.

Meal Plan #21

Sunday Lunch
Popeye's Chicken - picked up on the way home from lunch
Mac N Cheese - pantry
Corn on the Cob - freezer - put up this Summer

Sunday Dinner
Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Sandwiches - Bacon - freezer, eggs - on hand, cheese - this week's grocery haul, bread - this week's grocery haul

Monday
Alice Springs Chicken - all from freezer or pantry
Baked Potatoes - pantry
Salad - last week's grocery haul

Tuesday
Loaded Calzones - Meat and veggies from freezer, cheese - this week's grocery haul, pizza crust - this week's grocery haul

Wednesday
Chicken & Rice Casserole - all on hand - freezer and pantry
Peas - freezer

Thursday
Seafood Nachos - this week's grocery haul

Friday
Pizza

Saturday
? not sure yet  

 

The Homeschool Series - Homeschool Closet Tour

I'm excited to share our Homeschool Closet with you you. This closet was a coat closet when we moved in. We took the clothing rod out and added wire shelves. We did this initially so that my husband could use this closet to hold all of his stuff. A little over a year ago we rearranged and flip flopped several rooms in our home. This made it so that my husband had his own room for an office and I got this closet back.

It is perfect for holding all of our homeschool essentials. We only keep art supplies and our school supplies for the current year in this closet. My husband had an extra bookcase that was not being used in his office that houses all of our extra curriculum.

My initial plan when I filmed the tour, was to have details and a lot of still pictures here on the blog for you to reference. Unfortunately, the lighting did not cooperate.  It was too dark trying to get pictures inside the closet.

Please head to my YouTube channel so that you can get the full tour. I do explain in the video what is stored where.

You can check out the rest of the posts in this series HERE.

A Simple Painted Project - Picture Frame Turned Chalkboard

This project will look new to a lot of you, but some of you that followed my old blog will recognize this chalkboard. When I started blogging here at Carry Grace earlier this year, I planned to move my posts over. It hasn't happened yet. I needed a little nudge.

One of my favorite YouTube friends Terri, from Homemaker on the Homefront, was looking through my archives and found this project. This was the nudge I needed to get my stuff moved! It won't happen all at once, but you will start to see them sprinkled in over the next few weeks.

I don't know when Terri is planning to post her project on her YouTube Channel, so go subscribe so that you don't miss it. I may have seen a little sneak peek. You really don't want to miss it.



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Today we are going to talk chalkboards. I was intimidated by them for a little while, but they are so simple. I have made many different ones over the years. I have always used Krylon's Spray Chalkboard Paint for painting on glass, and have had great results with it each time.

image via Krylon

This frame started out like this. It was leftover from a friends yard sale a few years ago. The size and shape of the frame were perfect for a small, awkward wall in my kitchen. I simply removed the backing and the glass. I sprayed the chalkboard paint directly to the front of the glass. It took 3 coats to get the nice even coverage I was looking for.

I have moved things around and am no longer using this as a chalkboard, but when I did, I used it for seasonal chalkboard art.  Do you have any chalkboards in your home? Have you used the spray chalkboard paint?

Meal Plan #20

I am participating in a Fall Collab on YouTube today that is hosted by crafTEAmom. We are talking about making Fall memories with our families. You can check that video out HERE.

Since we have busy evenings this week, I am cooking twice and we are eating leftovers twice. I will use my dutch over for the roast b/c it can cook while we are at swim practice and turn off, and the chili will be done in the slow cooker.

Sunday Lunch
Homemade Biscuits - basics on hand
Sausage Gravy - sausage from freezer
Scrambled Eggs - on hand


Sunday Dinner 
Frozen Pizza - this week's grocery haul


Monday
Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pot Roast - this week's grocery haul
Potatoes - this week's grocery haul
Carrots - this week's grocery haul

Tuesday 
Chili - meat from freezer, everything else from this week's grocery haul


Wednesday 
Leftovers

Thursday 
Leftovers

Friday 
Pizza

Saturday 
Not sure what our plans are yet


You can check out this week's grocery haul below.