Summer Meal Favorite

One of my favorite summer meals is a summer squash, Italian sausage one pan meal. I served it over brown rice, but think that Quinoa would be good as well. or even whole grain pasta. I made a huge pan of this tonight so that there could be leftovers for lunches.

Italian Sausage Summer Squash Meal

5 links Italian Sausage (I always use Hot Italian Sausage)

2 large onions, diced

4-5 cloves garlic, chopped

3 medium zucchini, diced

3 medium yellow squash, diced

2 (14oz)cans diced tomatoes (fresh would be good, but mine are not ready yet)

basil (to taste)

salt (to taste)

Brown the Italian Sausage links. Take them out of the pan and slice into 1/4 inch or so slices. Put slices back in the pan to finish browning and cook through. Take Sausage out of the pan and put aside. Drain grease. Put onions and garlic in the same pan and cook until onions are soft. Add Sausage, zucchini, yellow squash, and diced tomatoes. Season, to taste, with basil and salt. Cook for about 20 minutes until squash is soft. Serve over rice, Quinoa, or noodles.

Review–The Adventures of Lily Lapp

 

The Adventures of Lily Lapp is a fiction book series written for kids ages 8 and up.Published  by Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group,  each book follows the adventures of Lily Lapp, a five year old Amish girl. Written by Mary Ann Kinsinger and Suzanne Woods Fisher, these books show how the Amish live without having many modern conveniences.

• Baker Publishing Group
• Life with Lily and A New Home for Lily
• $12.99 each book
• Ages 8-12

Life with Lily

Lily Lapp is a five year old Amish girl living in New York state. Every day finds Lily caught up in a new adventure. She helps her mother and father around the house and farm. School is a very exciting adventure for Lily. She loves everything about it, until there is a teacher change.Follow Lily as she helps her mother sell baked goods door to door. Lily tries so hard to be good, kind, and helpful, but it seems that her friend comes along and gets her into trouble. 

 

A New Home for Lily

Lily has moved away from New York with her family to a new home in Pennsylvania. It is a scary move that Lily does not want to make. Making new friends and learning the rules for her new community take up a lot of Lily’s time.  When Mama has a new baby, Lily is old enough to be a big help, if only her parents would realize it.

ClarkClan Thoughts

We enjoyed the books we read in this series. Lily is a believable, lovable, and fun character.. Rebekah would take about 30 minutes to read one chapter. She really preferred that I read this book out loud to her. It was a fun book to read out loud and laugh together. It also provided a great introduction to the Amish way of life.

I, mom, really liked the fact that Lily was a girl who wanted to do the right thing, but kept getting into trouble. It made the character very believable and fun to read. I felt sad for Lily when her friends would get her into trouble. While this book is aimed at children, I enjoyed it just as much, if not more than Rebekah did. Reading about the Amish way of life from a child’s perspective is different.

Many of my Schoolhouse Review Crew members also reviewed these books. Click on the banner to read more reviews and see what others thought of the book.

 

Eighty/Twenty

I have recently been very conscience of trying to eat healthier. I decided to continue my “small steps” way of making changes. I like to think that I have tried to eat fairly healthy. But I knew I was eating too many sweets and drinking too many sodas.  It is not easy for me to change the way I eat.

I have read many diet/health books, but with this new way of eating I began reading new ones.  I have read books that have helped to strengthen my resolve to eat better. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan was an excellent read. I liked his philosophy of: Eat food, Not too much, mostly plants. Along with In Defense of Food, I also read Food Rules and Cooked.  Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal by Melanie Warner  was interesting and made me think twice about buying and eating many different packaged food, especially cereal. . One diet book that I did not particularly care for was The Virgin Diet by JJ Virgin.

So my small change for eating healthier boils down to: eating whole, non-processed foods without being too fanatical about it. So I tell my kids we are going to eat about 80% of our food fresh, non-processed and 20% can be other stuff.  I promised my kids, and  husband, that I would not turn them into vegetarians, we would eat meat, just not as much. I do laugh though at how many meatless meals I already make and they just eat and never complain.

This small change is going well. I like that we are eating food, real food. It sometimes takes just a little more planning ahead than I am used to, but I am figuring it all out without too much hassle.

Review–Memoria Press

• Memoria Press
• Geography I –The Middle East, North Africa, and Europe
• Grades 4 and up
• Geography Set Includes: Text, Workbook, Teacher Guide, United States Review student workbook, United States Review Teacher Key
• $48.00 Geography Set

About the Company

Memoria Press is a family run company that was founded in 1994. They produce products for grades Kindergarten through 12th grade. All their products use a classical Christian education approach. Memoria Press strives to make all their products easy to use for families who are not familiar with the subject matter. An area that Memoria Press prides itself on is the price of their programs. They are designed to be affordable and not a drain on the bank account.

About the Product

Geography I covers The Middle East, North Africa and Europe.  This comprises the area that was ancient Rome. Explore the historical context of each region alongside the present day look at the region. Bringing both the past and the present together creates a deeper understanding of the ancient lands of the Greeks and Romans.

The Geography I set also includes The United States, States and Capitals Review. This workbook is designed to be used as a review to help with retention. It is also written so that students who have not learned states and capitals will not be at a disadvantage, but will learn them with this book.

ClarkClan Thoughts

I used this product with both Ben and Rebekah. We received one full Geography I set to review. When I looked through the book, I knew it would be a product that fits our learning style, so I immediately ordered a second workbook set. I think Memoria Press has met its goal with the pricing  of their products. With the second workbook set only $11.95 for the Workbook and $5.00 for the United States workbook it was not a hard ship to order the second set. I did not order the Student Text as I figured they could share.

We would work on this three times a week. I would sit together with Ben and Rebekah and we would take turns reading the student text out loud. Then we would open the workbooks, go over the questions, then I would have them sit at the table and work independently to write down the answers.

This is a straightforward, no fluff text and workbook. We like that in our schoolwork. Ben especially likes to get the information, get to work and be done. This Geography Set is perfect for that style. Each chapter of the text focuses on one country. Each country is laid out in the same manner. The first part is History’s Headlines, focusing on the past. Then the Tour of Today brings the focus of the country into the present. A chart of fast facts completes the reading of each chapter. A map shows the country and geographical features.

When Ben and Rebekah would work in the workbook, I would have already gone over answers with them. Then I expected them to fill out the workbook and label the map. I would then check their work for them.

I would use the Teacher Guide to grade the workbook pages, as well as run copies for the Quizzes and tests.  I used the Teacher Guide for The United States review books in the same manner.

ClarkClan Recommendation

My children and I enjoyed using these workbooks. As I stated earlier it suited our style of learning. I would recommend this curriculum to families who like workbook style learning. It is not a hands on curriculum, but  we found it to be very informative and easy to use. I really liked that a study of The Middle East, North Africa, and Europe also included review on the United States and Capitals. I do not think I would have bought a separate book to review this if it had not come as part of the set. But, I was very happy to have it as the review was great for my kids.

As a full service curriculum company, Memoria Press offers many different products. I reviewed their Geography I set, but other Crew Mates reviewed their Prima Latina program. Visit the Crew Blog to read  the opinions of the Geography and Latin programs.

 

Taking a Break

It seems that my life runs at at the speed of light. Most of the time I do not mind, but every now and then I get overwhelmed. I get up early, exercise, get kids up, water the garden, feed the dogs, pick up backyard dog stuff, make sure kids get chores done, plan dinner, get some summer school work in, take kids swimming, cook dinner, play softball among other things.

This week, on Monday, I came home from exercise, took Matt to work, came back home and realized. . . I had nothing scheduled. I organized the kids to clean house and then I took the time to read a book.

I love to read, but I have been so busy I have not had time to think about reading anything other than non-fiction. It seems that non-fiction I can read in snatches and put down with ease, but fiction I like to read all the way through. I am a fast reader and usually can finish a book in a few hours.

It was nice and I realized that I should take that “break” a little more often. It may not be reading I need, but I should take some time to do things I like that does not involve my regular, everyday routine. My list includes reading, sewing and learning to use the digital scrapbooking program I bought. I am going to try hard to make sure I take a little bit of a time-out for myself.

Family Rules

Every family has a different set of “rules” that govern them. With the ages of my kids now, some of our family rules are so set in stone that they are often not mentioned any more, because there is no need. But since my kids cousins have been  back, suddenly I am confronted with what to do when they break one of my rules. Do I ignore the behavior? Do I punish? Do I state my rule and explain why I would like that behavior to stop?

Well, the third choice is what I go with. The one rule that my niece and nephews are learning around Aunt Jill is: No Physical Violence. This means no hitting or pushing your sibling when you are annoyed with him or her. The first time it happened I saw it and announced that I had a rule, a no physical violence, rule.  It does not happen often, but I have had to remind them of my rule. This is all it takes and they apologize and continue playing.

I actually have this rule for any kids that come into my home or are under my care/supervision for one reason or another. The kids in my youth group I help lead all can recite in unison, “No Physical Violence” The hitting has drastically decreased since I started.

Simple, easy to remember and easy to enforce. That seems to be my kind of rule.

Driving Lessons

We are embarking, for the second time, on a journey to teach a teenager how to drive. Matthew is 20, he took drivers education when he was 15 and received his license 9 months later. I remember thinking it was “strangely weird, and weirdly strange” the first time I climbed into the passenger seat while my son was in the driver’s seat.

But, now it is Sarah’s turn. She is a little older than Matthew was when he started. She took Driver’s Education when she was 15, has her learner’s permit and drove about 3 times. Then we got busy, and every time I asked her to drive she said, “No”. Now here is is a year later and she is now 16. Her driving skills are better after waiting a year, but more importantly her maturity level is higher. She does not mind the instruction I give while she is driving this year.

The goal is to complete as much as we can of her required 60 hours this summer. I have a log in the car and the plan is that she is to drive everywhere we go, unless we have other kids in the car. Because Matthew is moving out, getting married and generally not going to be home, I am losing my extra driver. So Sarah is going to have to get her license to pick up the slack.

I sure hope my hair does not turn any grayer than what it is already.I may have to break down and do something I have never done before: Color it.