Black Bird

Monday, January 6, 2014

Sabbath Homeschooling

Sabbath homeschooling whats that??????  Common question when I mention what we do.  So here is what it entails and why I love it.

Sabbath homeschooling is a way to school all year.  We homeschool for 6 weeks and then have the 7th week off.  He gets 6 weeks off in the summer, his birthday week off and the whole month of December off.  We also take weeks here and there when need be.  What this does is completes the 180 days required here and more for each year.  I helps me evaluate where he is and then decide what studies need to happen and where he is good and just needs maintenance.

He loves it because he knows at the end of 6 weeks he gets a break, he doesn't care if we homeschool in the summer because that is our time to go out and investigate nature and work on his nature journal, it's wonderful.

Please comment with any questions.  It's super simple, but NOT for everyone.

Healthy hugs,

Cheryl

Busy few days - one day off

Yup my goal of blogging every day hasn't worked out so well so far, but I'm hoping it gets better.  Thursday I blogged while taking breaks from cleaning, Friday it was a cleaning frenzy, Saturday we put the finishing touches on the cleaning, I cooked for my teams party, I also made packets up for them that I will post pics of.  Sunday I rested.  I usually go to church but we had snow and ice, so when I got up and saw that my van was covered in snow and my street was not cleaned off, I'm like ok staying home.  My son and husband went but he called and said don't risk it, it's bad out here (got to love a husband that keeps you safe.

So today we started school off again.  Zach had 6 weeks off in a for the holidays, well a combination of things anyway.  Thanksgiving was a week late and that was his birthday week also so he had that week off for both, the next week started December and he gets the whole month of December off (we do what is called Sabbath homeshooling which I will explain in another post), then the week of New Years was off.  

Usually when we start back after such a long time off it's a fight and struggle, not today though thankfully.  I started him out on Hooda Math, then I had him read the first chapter in A Series of Unfortunate Events book 1.  Then I had him choose which unit study he wanted to do, he chose one that goes with the book Magic Tree House #8, Midnight on the MoonAlthough writing is a struggle to get him to do, reading is not and I love that.  Note to self - letting your child pick the unit studies makes life so much smoother.

My next post will be on Sabbath homeschooling.

Healthy hugs

Cheryl

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Product rave

For Christmas I was at a loss as to what to get my husband.  With him being gone last Christmas we were both very content to have him here with us and safe for this Christmas, nevertheless I still wanted to get him something.  I did get a list from him but it was small.  My husband is a huge believer in breakfast and that is one meal he never misses EVER.  So after reading some bogs on Christmas gift ideas I found something that I thought would fit him and his breakfast obsession (yes it is an obsession).  I went to Amazon.com and the reviews were kinda divided, so I decided to pass on the appliance.  Well fast forward to Christmas Eve, I'm still at a loss as what to get him to finish him up.  As I walked through a very crowded Wal-Mart looking for something completely unrelated, I see this appliance again and it's the LAST one.  So I snagged it quick, turns out this was the right thing to do.

The appliance is the Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich maker and oh my goodness is it wonderful.  

Pro's - hot sandwiches with food you have on hand
          easy clean up
         perfect cooked egg
         plate is dishwasher safe

Con's - only makes 1 sandwich at a time.
           egg leaks if you don't have the plate just right 
           only takes "breakfast" type bread

So this little appliance consists of 2 pieces, the plate and the "heater" part.  The plate is one piece but has 2 "compartments", the bottom on sits on the bottom heater and you add your bread, meat and cheese, the top part holds the egg and the top of the bread, then the top heater is closed on top of that.

Lets talk bread - this will not take regular sandwich type bread.  You need to use an English muffin, bagel (although these are a tad to big and cause some spillage) or a hamburger bun size.  I used gluten free hamburger buns in there and it works great. 

What about cheese?  I've tried sliced cheese, cheese I've sliced, shredded cheese and cream cheese.  They all work!!!! They all get nice and melty and gooey.

And meat?  Lunch meat is great (we get it sliced at a 5 at Wal-mart and I cut it in half), left over meat works too, we've tried turkey and shredded chicken.  It all works great.

Eggs is the final thing.  We've tried 1 and 2.  The appliance says use 1 and that does work the best, but 2 works ok as long as the egg plate is seeded correctly.  I did mine scrambled with 2 eggs and that did NOT work, but my husband did his just cracked in there and it did work, but it took longer than the recommended 5 minutes.  

So would I recommend this product - ABSOLUTELY.   What we are loving is a hot breakfast before church as we are running out the door, pop the sandwich in the maker, go brush your teeth or finish up makeup and by the time you are done - hot food - nothing better.

Here is the link to the Sandwich maker.

Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker

They also sell it at Amazon, but at the time of this post it was a lot more costly there.

I would love to hear if you have one and if you do what you think, but my family loves it (we even use it for lunch)

Healthy hugs,
Cheryl



 

New Year - New beginnings

I've had this blog for awhile but have slacked off on posting, so this year I'm going to attempt to post once a day no matter where I am.  I travel a lot for my business so this will be challenging at times, but I am aiming for once a day.  If time allows and I have an idea I may post more than that, but we shall see.

A lot of stuff happened last year, mostly all good, which I have to say was way better than 2012.  2013 brought me renewed health, a business I love working with phenomenal people getting them healthy, my husband returning from Afghanistan, my brother getting engaged, and an amazing new way to look at myself and others thanks to the coaching of an amazing man.

Last year I was asked to pick a word that would describe my 2013 - I chose organized.  Unfortunately with all the traveling I did it didn't happen, but the past few weeks it has been, so by they end of January I plan to have my entire living area cleaned up and organized.  My word for 2014 is Helpful, this is mainly because I now have a team that I'm working very closely with and I want them to know I'm there for them to help them succeed.

I will be talking more about what I do in later blog posts.  So be looking for lots of things here, crafts I've completed and love, things I will be selling, more about what I do, rants and raves about products or just life, and much more. 

The first fun post will be up shortly and it will be a product rave.

Healthy hugs

Cheryl