Collages for Portfolio: Neat to Recap the Homeschooling Year!

I am working on our portfolio which we will be using during next week's meeting with a Homeschooling Evaluator.  From that point we will be submitting things to our local district as part of the requirement of the state of Pennsylvania.  This is my first year to put together a portfolio.  Kylee was in 1st Grade for 2013-14.  The good news is that I had kept detailed records of our efforts during this past year.  But I recently realized that my records were not quite in the format of what I needed for our evaluator and the state.  So I jumped in full-force this past Friday and have spent some time rearranging what I have to align with what is expected.  We now have a chart that is specific to attendance, a log of "free reading" materials, a record of books/resources use for study with descriptions of each plus a bonus log of our field trips.  I have pulled a few samples of Kylee's work from each of the eight required areas of study.  For some areas it was just as easy to put together a photo collage than to include only a written description.  We began with the photo collages on Sunday afternoon.  Kylee had LOTS of fun working on this with me!  We went to my FB "mobile uploads" album to look through photos from our school year.  Then we went to picmonkey to create our collages.  She was so into the photo placement, deciding on the border, text font and a few "stickers".  We finished up the Asbury Woods collage a few minutes ago and have now completed our photo illustrations.  I have to say that this was my favorite part of collecting items for our portfolio!  Here are a few of the highlights... 

 

June Possibilities!

You know that feeling just before you flip over the calendar and really examine the new month that is quickly approaching?  I still utilize a large flip calendar that hangs on the side of our refrigerator.  We have tried other methods but this is still our default form of family planning/organization.  Oh my!  I just realized that I wrote "family planning".  Think of a family scheduling plans... not so much the idea of using a calendar to plan potential pregnancies.  We did do that the first 8 months of our marriage and then I found that I was expecting Kylee!  Okay, before I get WAY off track, back to the month of June!  2014.  Inevitably, we are going to wind up with 48 things on our calendar for June.  I am determined to leave enough "unscheduled" days to be able to really soak in the summer season here in Erie by doing whatever best suits us any given day.  Last year we went to the beach an average of 3-4 times per week and I LOVED that.  Presque Isle is just a few miles from home and we treasure it!  I hope to spend just as much time there as we did last summer! 

June is going to be an action-packed month!  I know, I know.  My life oftentimes could be described as action-packed!  Things are coming along with my new role as President of Alliance Women at our church.  We have our next meeting in early June and I am eager to see what develops!  Mid-month, the kids and I will be headed away for a three day practicum through Classical Conversations.  We are new to CC and this homeschooling community will begin the 2014-15 school year in September.  I will be leading the youngest group (Nathan's age) as a tutor myself so there will be some trainings to attend and many new things for me to learn!  I have always been a life-long learner and do enjoy staying on my toes with things.  Speaking of that, today was our FINAL day (#180) of homeschooling for the 2013-14 school year.  It has been a really wonderful first year for me and Kylee as we embarked on the adventure of 1st grade.  I will breathe a sigh of relief once I have everything compiled for our June 10th evaluation and then go on to submit our portfolio to the District.  I am also thinking of our required affidavit for next year and hope to complete it all with one trip to the Township's Ed. Center later on in June.  THEN I will feel as though we are truly "finished" with this year!

June is also filled with possibilities regarding my Beachbody Coaching endeavors.  Four very different groups will launch this month!  I appreciate the variety of leading some groups and taking part as a participant in another!  Check these out and let me know if you would like to join me for any of them.  June involves a few options!

  

 June 2nd Coach Basics Group is an introductory program for those within our smaller team who are new to coaching and are curious to learn more about getting off to a successful start.  I really enjoy my role as a Beachbody Coach and this is a great business for those who are self-motivated, interested in encouraging others and willing to grow themselves while learning new things about fitness and nutrition!

June 2nd Emerald to Diamond Training is through Melanie's Dream Team, which is the larger team under which I am included as a coach.  I am currently ranked as an "Emerald" coach and look forward to growing my business to be "Diamond".  I am getting closer and closer!  I participated in one of Melanie's training groups during the month of April and learned so, so much.  Definitely keeps me at the edge of my comfort zone!  But I am ready to learn and it's all good.  Why not learn from the BEST (literally #1 in the company!) and then put it all into practice as I find my own fit with proven methods.

June 9th Summer Challenge is my upcoming Challenge Group!!!  Coach Molly Avondet and I will be teaming up again to lead this one together.  This group is open to ANY of our active customers.  We will be using a new curriculum that we are in the midst of developing right now!  I am picturing this as an effective community where all of our challengers can work together.  No doubt we will have fun while making strides with our health.  Molly and I look forward to connecting with you through this newly forming group!  We will be using a variety of workout programs but everyone will be learning about clean eating and how to make the most of this lifestyle.  This group is also perfect for anyone new to Beachbody and I would love to tell you more about it!   

    

June 30th PiYo Challenge Group ~ More details to come on Beachbody' NEWEST workout which will be released later in June.  My sister Rachel and I both started our transformations while utilizing a workout called "Chalean Extreme" with Chalene Johnson. She is my own favorite trainer and I can't even tell you how much I am looking forward to this new program with her!  See PiYo preview and let me know if you would like to be kept in the loop with info on this exclusive group!

Watch Your Form

I was recently in the midst of a situation where I was feeling overwhelmed and very out-of-sorts.  I really hate that feeling and it seems as though it can quickly snowball.  You know what I mean?  I woke up this past Thursday morning and read the fifth chapter of Galatians before starting into my day.  I oftentimes read the "New Living Translation" and then also supplement with "The Message" as I soak in God's Word and pray that my life will be one that has been marinating in this perspective!  Here are some highlights (via The Message) from Galatians 5:

^4-6 "I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.
^16-18 My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
^22-23 But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
^25-26 Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original." 

  

These words are so powerful!  Reading back through them just now has me convinced that perhaps I should focus on this chapter and really break it down in my own mind and heart over the next several weeks!  Staying close to God through His Word SHAPES us.  Like nothing else.

So back to this past Thursday morning.  I had read these words from Galatians and then went down to the basement to begin my workout.  I was doing "Lower Fix" that morning and during the split squat move depicted in the image at the top of this entry, something hit me so hard that I had to pause the DVD and just take it all in.  "WATCH YOUR FORM" was the thing.  Now many of us know that while working out it is imperative that we use correct form or we will be more prone to injury not to mention that we will be ineffective with that particular move and are in effect wasting our time with it!  I am thankful to have my husband checking me out every now and then during my workouts!  With his athletic trainer background he is able to instantly spot where I may be going wrong with my form.  As much as this can irritate me at first, it is helpful.  He has my best interests at heart and I need to hear it.  But back to 5:45 on Thursday!  As I paused the DVD and sat down on my basement floor that morning, here is what I felt the Lord speaking to my heart... "Watch your form.  Right now.  In your life.  Otherwise you are going to be ineffective and will get hurt."  This has been settling in my heart over the past five days and I know that it is a life lesson that I will implement and remind myself of during the days ahead.  There is so much more to life than what we can see happening right in front of us.  What are we going to do with all that we have been given? 

Baking with Kids + Cocoa Berry Trifle

This evening we attended the year end preschool program to celebrate our five year old son and his classmates.  This was our fourth consecutive and now final time to do so!  Our two children have each spent two years in this wonderful preschool program and so we have spent the past four "Friday before Memorial Day" evenings making this a family tradition!  LOTS of families to feed and so we needed to double our recipe.  Category of dish to share was assigned according to your last name and where it falls within the alphabet.  I did have to spend several rather nerve-wracking moments explaining to my seven year old that yes, I realize that "Dessert" does NOT begin with "P".  Our last name does begin with P.  However, our SECTION of the alphabet was bringing desserts.  Sometimes I have lots of patience (Well, maybe not lots.  How about an adequate amount??  Sometimes.) for these conversations and other times, not so much!  And this leads me to the beginning of the story of the Cocoa Cake which was incorporated into the recipe pictured above!    

Amelia Bedelia.  I find her to be rather polarizing figure!  I remember first learning about her when I was a kid.  I wondered if she really could be that clueless?  And now as an adult reading these books at the request of my seven year old daughter, I can go either way!  When my daughter "gets" the funny parts, great!  She is so delighted with their ironic simplicity that I can't help but laugh along with her.  BUT when I have to stop many times within a reading session to explain exactly WHY the blatant misuse/misunderstanding of words IS funny, well, that tests my patience!  And back to how some days are marked by a higher threshold in this area than other days!  I have to be in the right mood to really enjoy Amelia Bedelia!  I must admit that there are even Library visits where I may attempt to steer clear of Amelia Bedelia right then and there... but this week I did not!  And it all worked out just right! 

The kids have been wanting to bake something.  I really have not had a need to bake anything lately.  But given that we were assigned a dessert for this evening's festivities and since we needed to be "nut-free" with our dish to share, this recipe from the back of the Amelia Bedelia book pictured above fit perfectly.  I made it pretty close to what you will see in the photo below.  I will list just a few modifications that I made based on what I had available here in my own kitchen.  I do all of my baking on Pampered Chef stoneware and I find that this really helps with things baking evenly and remaining more moist than they would be if baked in some of the other pans that are out there.

I had Wegmans White Whole Wheat Flour on hand and used that.  I reduced the sugar to 1 1/3 cups and used Organic Cane Sugar.  Cider Vinegar was all that I had for vinegar and it worked out just fine.  Other than that, we followed the directions!  This recipe is GOOD! Very dense and "cocoa-y".  Well, let's put it in context that I have baked with sugar one other time in the past 8 months.  So this tasted sweet enough to us and the cocoa flavor really came through in a delicious way!   

Here is why my kids enjoyed preparing this recipe MORE than any more traditional cake that we have made:

1) No raw eggs for mom to be declaring a potential hazmat zone due to whatever mishap may occur while baking together.

2) No mixer needed.  No fighting over whose turn it should be right now.  No one jockeying for position near the mixer.

3) Dump everything into a pan and then pour water over the top and really, really mix it with forks to combine it???  With a 9 X13 pan, there was plenty of work space for both kids and they could easily see the progress of the dry and wet ingredients coming together.  A win-win for everyone!!

To make the trifle that you see in the top photo, here is what I did:

1) Allow cake to cool completely.  You are going to use perhaps 3/4's of it while making a "double batch" sort of thing like what we took this evening.

2) Cut cake into cubes right inside of your 9x13 pan.  Use a mini-serving spatula to remove enough cake cubes to cover the bottom of a trifle bowl or other bowl. 

3) Add a layer of just-almost-but-not-quite-thawed frozen berries.  I am partial to the triple berry blend (raspberry, blackberry and blueberry) that I find at Sam's Club.  It is just under $9 for the 3 pound bag and that is a decent deal for frozen berries.  They are a staple in our menu planning here at home!  I used the entire bag between the trifle bowl and other bowl pictured above.

4) Add a layer of Wegmans Plain Greek Yogurt.  Within your trifle this will look pretty like whipped cream or cool whip or some cream cheese based thing but plain Greek yogurt is so much better for us!!  You may be dubious of this while reading about it here within my blog.  But give it a try!

5) Continue with another layer of cake cubes, berries and Greek yogurt.  Top with a few more cake cubes.  Place in refrigerator and chill for 2-3 hours.  This will give the flavors a chance to combine a bit.  The cake will absorb some of the juice from the berries that are now thawing completely.  * DO serve this within 4 hours.  Otherwise the yogurt will begin to separate a bit and things could become mushy.  

  

 

Family Friendly Asian Chicken Salad

I was in the mood to add a different flavor to our menu this week.  I had posted in one of my challenge groups about doing a recipe swap over this past weekend.  The idea was to share either a brand-new or old favorite clean-eating recipe.  I was searching the web for an Asian Chicken Salad and I came across one from Clean Eating Magazine.  I was intrigued and added it to my menu planning for the week.  On grocery day, I  *thought* that I had red pepper flakes in the cupboard and low-sodium soy sauce in the fridge door.  NOPE, as I discovered on cooking day... It happens!  Time to make an original!  I was already planning on subbing in my existing Almond Butter for the Cashew Butter.  Plus our favorite is the Wegmans Organic Vegetable Broth.  And I am always just skipping any scallions as they are not a favorite of mine!  Thankfully, I had make a point to pick up the fresh ginger and cilantro and I have to say that those two ingredients really made the flavors pop for me!  

Oh boy!  This is starting to sound like one of those situations where a user comments on a recipe and says how much they loved it.  Especially with the 27 things that they changed while making it for the first time.  You know what I mean!  You can work from the Clean Eating Magazine link from above and make that exact version.  Or you can work from my modified plan below.  OR come up with something entirely your own that is "inspired" by these recipes.  I do that all the time!

Here is what I did to make the Asian Chicken Salad pictured above:

Thoroughly brown 4 chicken breasts over medium-high heat.  Place in oven and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.  Yes, I like my chicken DONE.  Really, really done.  You can prepare yours however you like!  Once the chicken has cooled, slice it into cubes and place in a bowl.  Juice 3 lemons and toss the chicken.  Allow to chill for at least two hours and the chicken will really pick up the lemon flavor.  This will also keep it from becoming too dry, due to the possible "overcooking" method mentioned above!  It also really helps to cut that "chicken flavor".  The chicken flavor makes me want to leave the table and run away!  I do my best to remedy this situation in healthful ways.  Enough lemon will do the trick! 

Peel 2 carrots, cut into pieces and then dice with the Pampered Chef Food Chopper.  Or you could also grate your carrots.  Set aside.

Take 1 seedless cucumber and slice with a medium thickness.  Cut slices into quarters.  Set aside.

Pull apart 3 or so tablespoons of fresh cilantro leaves.  Set aside.

You will want 3 or so cups of baby spinach.  Wash if needed and place as your base within salad bowls.

You may also include a whole wheat pita as your bread of choice. 
  
Dressing to be whisked together in a bowl:

• 2 tbsp natural unsalted almond butter
• 3 tbsp Wegmans Organic Vegetable Broth
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
• 2 tsp low-sodium Teriyaki Sauce
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin 

Now it is time to assemble your salads!  I begin by creating a bed of spinach.  Then add your cucumber and carrot.  Sprinkle in a few cilantro leaves.  Top with your chicken breast.  Next take your dressing and drizzle it lightly over the chicken.  Finish off with a bit more carrot and cilantro.  You may also add a pita or other bread on the side.

* My kids typically prefer their salad without any dressing.  I also left the cilantro out of their bowls, knowing that they are not really fans of it.  Other than that, they were happily eating spinach, cucumbers, carrots, lemony chicken and 1/4 of a pita.  All in all, I am very pleased with that! 

Choices??

Today I have been thinking quite a bit about choices.  There is so much power in the choices that we make!  I think that sometimes we operate under the impression that the "real" choices to be made are in the big moments that come into our lives every now and then.  Sometimes this is the case!  But more often than not, we are making a myriad of seemingly minor daily decisions that do become critically important when the sum comes into play.  One factor that really jumps out at me is that when we are happy with our own choices in a situation we generally have a greater sense of well being in general. Of course life is more enjoyable when A, B and C are all looking good and we feel that we can't go wrong!  But when A, B and C all seem just plain crummy, we are still going to feel better about things when we make a decision that we can stand by in the end.  It is the difference of feeling as though we are genuinely doing our best or feeling as though we are just being carried along with the flow of life.  

Part of what I really enjoy about my role as a Beachbody Coach is that within our challenge groups we are equipping individuals with the information needed to make an educated choice about their own health!  Once we get a good baseline going, the next part is where the difference is made.  We are there offering support for one another when the perceived difference between A and B has become somewhat stark but yet we are still inclined towards the option of lesser good.  So often convenience wins out over what is better for us in the long run.  This is where we have to step in and make the change for ourselves!  A coach on my team posted this image in her clean eating group earlier this afternoon.  To me, it fit right in with my own recent pondering on the choices we make.

Here is my FAVORITE part as I weigh the power of choice we each have within our own lives.  Say you have an end goal of losing 20 pounds to become more healthy.  Knowing that this is not going to happen in a day or a week, it can be easy to fall into a pattern of discouragement which then leads to a cycle of less-than-great choices.  Really feeling good about reaching a goal is obviously not going to happen overnight!  But let's look at an aspect which is familiar to many of us.  How good do we feel about life when we ARE happy with our daily (even hourly!) choices?  Isn't this going to set us on a much better course, despite the inevitable detours and bumps in the road?  For example, this weekend involved several social events where I did okay with my choices but not the best (or even my usual!) by any means.  I was feeling physically a bit crummy and also just not so great about the choices I made.  Now here we are at the end of ONE day "back on track" and I feel great!  What a difference!  How neat to know that we can have this sense of accomplishment on a daily basis, rather than just feeling good when we reach our big goals!

And finally, any time that I spend thinking about the power of choice is going to include some reflection on what I know the Bible to say about this.  Now I am NOT in any way tying this next portion into what I was saying above in relation to a healthy lifestyle.  We are God's creation and of course it makes sense to honor Him with our bodies and the variety of choices that we make.  But now I am thinking again of the daily choices we make and Joshua 24:15 is what comes to mind...

1 Timothy 4:8 made an impression on me when I was a young girl: ^"Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, because it promises life both for the present and for the future."  I did go through a phase where I was not putting enough value on the physical exercise part!  Now that I have headed in the opposite direction, I have to FOCUS to make sure that I am consistently placing a higher value on my spiritual exercise.  It all comes back to the choices we make within each day.  2 Peter 1:3-9 remains as my checklist of goals when it comes to making progress with my spiritual health!  And we have access to the ultimate coach... the one known as the "author and perfecter of our faith"!   

^"3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. ⁴ And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

⁵In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
⁸ The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins."

Kid-Tested Tools to Share: Art Cards (#3 in Series)

This evening I am glad to share with you one of our most favorite tools from this past year of homeschooling!  This resource was included within our package of 1st Grade curriculum.  But this gem can be purchased individually and would make for an excellent summer project for a child ages 6-9 who is interested in art.  This is definitely not limited to homeschooling students!  When I look back on this past year, some of my fondest memories are from "doing an Art Card together".  And here is the reason why... it is not that I am particularly interested in art and am certainly not well-versed on the topic.  My seven year old daughter has always had an artistic flair but it is not that she is the next Monet!  I am a mom who is not the best at simply sitting down and doing something with my kids.  We tend to be more on the move and they are doing whatever they are doing alongside of my projects.  Homeschooling in general has made for a great boost of quality time together and I am thankful for this.  I have personally grown so much this year and look forward to seeing how all of this continues.  But back to the Art Cards and "Enjoying Art Together" book!

Here is how we would utilize this program:  The package includes a reference book which has a picture of each image as well as the background and discussion questions for each.  There are also 20 Art Cards total and they are high-quality prints on a very nice card stock.  The paper has a bit of sheen and weight to it and feels "special".  

Each art card has a full-page art print on one side and then also a brief artist background and discussion questions printed on the flip side.  This material also matches what is included within the book. I have to say that I LOVE the discussion questions!  Being a "Type A" person myself, I would never even THINK to notice/ask about some of these angles.  My creative, free-spirited daughter delights in these discussions together.  Spending this time has enabled me to really delve into a side of her that I literally had no real idea of how to begin prior to this.  Kylee would typically hold the art card face-up herself and I would hold the book and reference that for my own reading and question asking.  After we had spent 10-15 minutes "looking" at all of it together, the next step was always, "let's look this up on your phone"!  We would find the artist, do a bit more reading and then spend another chunk of time exploring other works of his or hers.  I enjoyed that more than I ever would have anticipated!  Again, it was because of the quality of the time spent.  The final step would be for Kylee to take either the art card or another piece of the artist's work and use it has her "inspiration" in creating her own work.  The idea is not to make an exact copy of the classic piece but rather to incorporate some of the technique and style that we had just discovered.  It was cute that Kylee always wanted to be alone for this part!  She would listen to music and ask me to please go and "do some of your own chores or computer work until I am done"!  Well, I have to say that works for me!  

Then I would come back and we would review her creation together before finding a place to hang this latest masterpiece somewhere on our school room walls!  Back around Christmastime, I was THRILLED with a fantastic find at the store Tuesday Morning.  They were carrying a top-notch set of Chromatix markers.  Regular price was $80 and they had them for $20.  The day I went in to purchase the set, the cashier was telling me that another customer who is an artist had just purchased four sets of them herself.  She said that she rarely sees them anywhere for under $50 and this was a real deal.  Nifty!!!  This set made for a nice birthday gift and I have enjoyed using them alongside of Kylee!  When I am invited to do so, that is!

If you check out this page you will find "Enjoying Art Together".  It is $24.95 for the complete set.