10 Easy Steps Toward Real Food Eating

For just over a year now I have been committed to cleaning up my family's diet which includes removing processed foods and preservatives. In it's place I have added organic fruits and vegetables, organic whole wheat bread, and every meal is made from scratch. The change has not always been easy, not from a taste or recipe point of view but rather from a personal learning curve perspective. I've done quite a bit of homework and scoured every inch of my resources to come up with the best tasting yet easy ways to makeover our daily diet.

So many of my friends now seek me as a resource when they are ready to change their own diets. Because of this I have compiled a list of 10 easy steps to take when first making the change to real food eating. These are all baby steps that will lead you well on your way to cleaner and healthier eating. You won't ever regret making this change!

1. Avoid the dirty dozen, instead purchase organic versions of these fruits and vegetables

2. Replace the 3 most used vegetables and fruits in your diet with organic

3. Stop buying processed snacks and crackers. Instead make your own healthier versions

4. Say bye-bye to white flour and hello to organic whole wheat flour

5. Stop buying store bread. Instead purchase a bread machine and make your own nutrient rich organic whole wheat bread.

6. No more breakfast cereal! Boxed breakfast cereals are void of nutrition yet packed with preservatives, sugars, and fillers. Replace this convenience food with organic oatmeal. In just a few more minutes you can have a nutrition packed hot breakfast on the table for your family.

7. Replace your spices with organic versions.

8. Make your own mixes and cut out a ton of preservatives. Chili mix, taco seasoning, ranch dressing and so much more can be made at home with clean organic spices for a fraction of the store bought options.

9. Say adios to non-stick cookware. This step doesn't have to be all at once. Gradually replace your non-stick cookware with stainless steel or cast iron.

10. Replace cooking oils with healthier versions. Olive oil and coconut oil are the two I use most in my kitchen.

Azure Standard is the primary way I feed my family real organic foods without breaking our food budget. Check to see if there is a drop location near you!

Artistic Pursuits Review: TOS Crew

I know I've mentioned this numerous times through life of this blog, but it bears repeating. I am NOT an artistic person in the least. I believe when God formed me He threw away the artistic bone because it is NO where in my body. Additionally, He is sitting in heaven getting a good laugh out of the fact that He has blessed me with children who enjoy drawing and are genuinely interested in learning to be better artists. So what is a homeschool mother like me to do? Hope, pray, and research art curriculum in the hopes that one of them is a solid fit for our family. Like other subjects in our curriculum collection I knew I did not want an art curriculum that merely taught children how to draw. I want something that is steadfast in art theory, artist appreciation and history, and yet easily explains artistic concepts in short yet concise lessons. I firmly believe that art is one subject where children should have the freedom to create as they please without boundaries or limits. I don't want long in depth art lessons that force children to conform to certain artistic boxes.

As a motion of grace, God blessed me with the opportunity to review Artistic Pursuits as a part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew. There are numerous levels to choose from but I specifically reviewed Elementary 4-5 book one.

When my boys ages 11 and 8 saw that we had been blessed with an art curriculum to review they were very excited and happily pestered me for days to get to the art store so we could pick up the supplies needed to start this program. Which I should mention for the first 7 units all that are needed are 4 ebony pencils, 1 vinyl eraser, 1 metal sharpener, 1 sketch pad, 1 paper sack, and a drawing board is optional. I was able to pick these supplies up at our local craft store for a minimal amount of money even considering I had to double the amounts due to two students.

As expected my boys dove into this program full heartedly. Not only are they learning drawing techniques, but this program also incorporates american art appreciation and history, builds their visual vocabulary, and at the end of each unit students get to apply everything they have learned in that unit into a final art project. 

As a busy homeschool mother of 6, three of which are ages 2 and under I appreciate the brevity of each lesson while still maintaining a high level of education rigor. These lessons are packed with instruction but can be taught in under 15 minutes, the remainder of the lesson time is as it should be, time for the students to be creative and spend quality time practicing the technique introduced in that lesson. I enjoy not only teaching my boys a subject that they love but also watching them explore the artistic side of their personalities. I am not an artist in the least, I struggle with stick figures, so it is simply amazing to me to watch them create amazing sketches from a simple lesson that even a non-artist like myself can teach.

My boys hard at work

I can say with heartfelt honesty that I will be purchasing additional books from Artistic Pursuits when we finish the current book. There is a variety of art curriculum levels to choose from, everything from preschool through high school. 

Specifics:

Artistic Pursuits, Elementary 4-5, book 1: The Elements of Art and Composition
Comb-binding, 92 pages, 68 lessons, 230 illustrations
Written for ages 9 and up, samples of this curriculum can be viewed at the link above
$47.95

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other was. All opinions are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

Abraham's Journey: A Celebration of the American Dream Review

 

As parents part of our job is to instill in our children faith in the American dream. Our country was founded on this dream and sadly over the years that foundation has been eroded and threatens to give way completely. Unless we teach our children what our forefathers intended, this dream will be lost forever.

Inspiring the American Dream has published a book entitled Abraham's Journey: A Celebration of the American Dream. This book aims to help restore the faith and entrepreneurial spirit that our country was built upon. In this book a young boy sets out on a journey through time to meet important historical figures in his pursuit of finding a gift for a family member. Through the course of his journey he learns from these historical figures the importance and gains an understanding of the American dream.

I appreciate that the core foundation of this book is to teach the younger generations about a value system that is quickly being lost. If more people valued the American dream perhaps our country would not be in the mess that we are currently facing. Whenever the opportunity presents itself I take the time to teach my children these values and to have pride in their country. I enjoy that there are authors that aim to provide parents and grandparents with books based on this concept.

While I find value and importance in the core foundation of this book my children ages 5-11 and I struggled with the flow and verbiage. The story line felt a bit forced, it did not flow well from one historical figure to the next. Traveling between the different points in time was abrupt. I wish the authors had included more information about each historical personality and why they were a key figure in our country's history.

My family's experience and impression of the book may not be the same as your experience or impression. I would like to encourage you to read other reviews of this book from my fellow TOS Review Crew members, please click the banner below.

Abraham's Journey: A Celebration of the American Dream is available here for $14.99

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

2:1 Conference Introduction

As I've mentioned before, I will be attending the Titus 2:1 conference in April. I am beyond excited and feel very blessed to have this opportunity. Lord willing, this will be the first time I will be away from my 6 children, alone. YIKES!

The conference organizers have asked us to answer a few "get to know you better" type of fun questions. So here goes nothing!

1. How long have you been blogging and homeschooling? Which is harder?

I have been blogging for just over 8 years. I started soon after my first son was born. It was my way of letting my family spread out across the country watch him grow and hear about his adventures. We are currently marching along our 4th year of homeschooling. Homeschooling is by far harder than blogging. Writing has set rules and unless I've missed something somewhere along the line there is no rule book for homeschooling or motherhood.

2. If you were a super hero, what would be your super power?

Hands down my super power would be to do a million things all at once. Imagine how much I'd get done!

3. If I could go anywhere, besides the 2:1 conference, where would be your dream "mom-cation"?

This is a tough question! There are so many places I'd love to visit. My husband and I often talk about where we are going to visit first once the kids are grown and we can afford these large trips. I'd love to travel around Ireland, experiencing the untouched and often unvisited parts. Maybe even stay with locals and experience the culture first hand if possible.

4. What would you like to get out of the 2:1 conference?

First and foremost, because I am going as a part of my job with A Moment with M.O.M. and Covenant Ranch Trucking, I want to glean as much as I can to help both of these sites grow. Secondly, I'd love to find out how to grow this blog when the time comes. Networking strategies is probably top of my list for that weekend.

Outside of blogging and homeschooling I am fervently trying to cause upheaval in my family's diet. We are removing all processed foods from our kitchen so learning to replace them with real whole foods is a full-time job. I have been blessed with 6 amazing children, 5 from my womb and one from marriage. Our family changed dramatically in 2011 when our twin girls were born far too early at 26 weeks. Being a mother of micro-preemie twins was the furthest thing from my list of life possibilities. God has a plan much greater than anything I can ever think of though. 362 days after the girls were born God blessed us with a little boy and just like that we have irish triplets. Before my career in homeschooling I was a fitness instructor for a national company that teaches exercise classes for moms and their kiddos in strollers.

Well that about does it for now, if you are attending this years 2:1 conference I am looking forward to meeting you.

If you'd like to read more introductions from my fellow attendees, head over to the 2:1 blog

Chewy Puffed Kamut & Millet Bars

2 cups organic puffed kamut
1 cup puffed millet
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1T cocoa powder, optional
pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, optional

Grease an 8x8 pan. In a medium bowl add kamut and millet. In a small saucepan over medium heat mix honey and peanut butter until warm and fluid. Quickly mix the peanut butter mixture with the cereal. When thoroughly mixed press into the 8x8 pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set, cut into bars when ready. If you would like to add cocoa powder add in the peanut butter mixture and mix as usual. If you would like to have seeds in your bars, add to the cereal and mix with peanut butter mixture as usual.

Our Daily Yeast Bread Recipe

I have been baking all of the bread for my family for a while now. It is so refreshing to not be dependent on store bought bread to help feed my family. Not only do I know what is in our bread but I can easily alter each loaf depending on the needs for that week. I have been adding a variety of fruits during the Christmas season for a special treat. I have also been able to keep many of the sugary treats out of my house this Holiday season because I baked bread for my friends and neighbors instead of cookies and candy.

Here is my fool proof everyday bread recipe:

2tsp yeast
.5 cup honey
1.5 cup warm water

Mix above ingredients and let stand until bubbly

3.5 cups whole wheat flour (sometimes I do all whole wheat and other times I substitute with 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour)
1 cup rolled oats
1.5 tsp sea salt
1.5T butter cut in 3 chunks
.5 cup vital wheat gluten
.25 cup ground flax meal

Mix dry ingredients.

If you will be using a bread machine add the wet and dry ingredients according to your machine's instructions. Typically the wet ingredients are added first and the dry ingredients are added next.

If you are making by hand, mix the above ingredients in a stand mixer until you get a nice dough ball. Cover and let rise 1.5 -2 hours. Pound dough on floured surface. Form into a loaf shape. Added to your favorite loaf pan and let rise again until the dough has doubled in size. Bake at 375 until the crust is golden.

Handwriting Without Tears Wet Dry Try iPad App Review: TOS Review

We live in a society with ever changing technology. As a homeschooler, I feel that it is my duty to adequately prepare my children for the technologically advanced world in which they live in. This includes teaching them to be web savvy, proficient in typing, and computer literate. One of the ways that we introduce our children to technology and incorporate it into our studies is with an iPad. I am always on the look out for quality educational iPad apps. So imagine my excitement when I found out that I would be reviewing the Wet Dry Try iPad app from Handwriting Without Tears as part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

I used this app with my kindergarten, 5 year old daughter. Like most kindergartners she knows how to write her numbers and letters but could use a good deal of practice writing them more neatly. Also like most 5 year olds she still occasionally reverses a letter or number when she is writing. I was excited to introduce her to this app in the hopes that some of these common errors would be reduced.

I will start by saying that this is not your typical educational iPad app with lots of bells and whistles and fancy music. The Wet Dry Try app is strictly an educational app with appropriate background music and positive voice reinforcement. 

                      

There are 2 different modes of play in this iPad app as illustrated in the pictures above. The first option is play and practice. In this mode of learning the child can pick and choose whichever letter or number they would like to practice. The letter or number is first introduced and a friendly female voice explains how to write the letter. The child then writes the letter or number with their finger 3 times, the first with a wet sponge, followed by a dry towel, and lastly with a piece of chalk. When the letter or number is practiced three complete times for a total of 9 individual practices, the child will earn a letter card. My daughter enjoyed this mode of play because she could jump back and forth among the letters and choose whichever one she felt like writing.

The second mode of play is called winning order. This mode of play is similar to play and practice in that each letter or number is practiced 9 times before completing that particular choice. However, in the winning order mode of learning, the letters are introduced in the simplest order of learning. In other words, the easier letters to write are first in the list versus alphabetical like in play and practice. As with the first mode of play, I enjoyed that this option not only appropriately encouraged my daughter as she was writing it also gently let her know when she got too far off course to accurately write the letter or number that she was practicing.

If you have a preschooler or younger kindergartner that is learning to write, this is a wonderful iPad app for such a purpose. This would be a great option for car or doctor office schooling, no pens or paper are needed and with the volume turned off or on low your child could learn without being a distraction to others. The sensitivity to finger motion is amazing in this app. I tried to write a few letters myself to see how well it worked and was amazed at how well it accurately tracked my true finger motions. Lastly, if you have multiple children who need handwriting practice this app has the option of adding different student names so each child can work independently. If you are a mom of multiples like I am, this feature is invaluable.

You can purchase this app for $4.99 (price at time of posting)

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.