Homeschool Mother's Journal/Weekly Wrap-Up March 15

March just began and it is already half over!

In my life/homeschool this week:

Sunday, after Church, we had beautiful weather for outdoor fun and yard work with my hubby.

Monday was a good day getting back to the books after a fun weekend that had both snow and spring (that you can read about and see here).  Kiddo #4 had her sewing class.  She is making herself a skirt to wear on Easter Sunday!  :-)  We also went to the local garden center and bought our supplies to get started with our seeds.

On Tuesday, that is exactly what we did.  Our vegetables and flowers all were planted with much care in their little biodegradable pots.  You can see many more pics here.

The Kiddos have been looking forward to this for some time!  It is a wonderful process to see, literally, the fruits of their labor grow and develop before their eyes; and to be able to either appreciate the beauty of the flowers or eat of their "harvest."  :-)

I also posted my weekly recipe linkup that has grown so much.  I am very appreciative for all of the support and participation.  Over 60 recipes were shared again this week.  I shared our homemade donuts (yummy!)  If you missed it, or would like to check out all of the recipes, you can click here.

Wednesday began as an ordinary day, but then turned into something very special for us, as we got to witness something truly wonderful-- the white smoke billowing from the roof of the magnificent Sistine Chapel signalling the election of the 266th successor of St. Peter.  It was something so exciting to experience with my children, who were jumping up and down along with me at the news and then glued to the coverage to meet Pope Francis along with the world.  What a good, holy and humble man, one who truly strives to be Christ-like.  We are blessed indeed.

Thursday had Kiddos 1 and 2 taking their online class and Kiddos 3 and 4 playing a little matching game that I designed to teach them about how many seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks there are in a day, month, year, decade, century, etc.  This led into some math problems to delve into these even further.  What fun for them to figure out how many days or minutes they have been alive!  :-)  To get kids that enthusiastic about doing some math problems is an accomplishment in my book.  We also had our classes at church in the evening and Kiddo #1 had his Civil Air Patrol meeting.

I posted on Thursday about being grateful for many things, among them the beautiful spring-like weather of the last few days and the children getting to enjoy it.  You can see it all here.

I don't think we'll have snow again this Friday (but who knows?  March is pretty unpredictable), so we will try to go over to Church for Stations of the Cross.  It is a wonderful way for the children (and I!) to "walk along" the path of Christ on Good Friday and come to a better understanding of what He endured for our salvation.  Isn't that what Lent is all about?

A quote or photo to share: "If you judge a fish by its 'ability' to climb a tree, it will spend its entire life believing its stupid."-- Albert Einstein

Linking up today with:  Homeschool Mother's Journal, Weekly Wrap-Up, NOBH, Show-Off Friday, Learn and Link and It's a Wrap, Friendship Friday and Friday Connection

Thankful Thursday- March 14

This week I am grateful for many things...

that a good, holy, humble yet brilliant man has been chosen to lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

for the nice weather we've had the last few days so the kids could play and help hubby get some yard work done

that we were able to plant our seeds

that I have an almost 15 year old young man who, without hesitation, and with a smile helps his little sister make a birdhouse

What are you thankful for this day?

Linking up with ,Lisa at The Army Chap's Wife, NOBH,Miscellany Monday, Raising Homemakers and Modest Mom and Raising Mighty Arrows,, Spilled Milkshake,Crafty Spices,  Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, and Just the Stuff Ya Know

Wordless Wednesday- March 13

It's garden time!  Well, it's start the seeds indoors time, lol, and it has us plenty excited for Spring!  :-)

Linking up with: Judy H-J's Thoughts, Mama to 4 Blessings, Create with Joy, NOBH, Musings from a Stay at Home Mom, Tina's Wordless Wednesday,Judy @ CoffeeJitters and Wordless Wednesday at Wordless and  Living Well Wednesday, Modest Mom,  Homemaking Wednesdays and Crafty Spices, Look What We Did and Do Small Things With Love and Wordless Wednesday Bloggers

Try a New Recipe Tuesday- March 12

Here it is Tuesday again.  I love how much this recipe share has grown!  Thanks for your participation and support.  :-)

This week I am sharing the homemade donuts we have made a couple of times this past week!  My husband got me the donut pans for Christmas and they have been calling my name for over 2 months!  The donuts turned out delicious.  I made them with vanilla glaze, chocolate glaze and cinnamon sugar topping.

Lisa's baked donuts
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp. butter, melted

Lightly grease donut pan.  Preheat over to 425.  Combine buttermilk, eggs and butter.  In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients and add to other bowl a little at a time, mixing well.

Bake for 8 minutes.

I like to put my glaze/frosting on my donuts while they are still warm, so it melts over it and coats it well, so I would suggest you make your frosting first.  Here are the frostings/toppings I used:

Vanilla
3 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/3 cup softened butter (5 1/3 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Chocolate
same as above, but add a little unsweetened cocoa at a time until the color/taste is to your liking

Cinnamon Sugar
mix 1 tablespoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar in a bowl.  Melt a little butter in another bowl.  Dip the warm donut in the butter, then the mixture and coat it well.  :-)

Hope you enjoy them as much as everyone here did!  :-)
Now it's on to this week's features.  I loved all the submissions and am sorry that space and time only allow to me to feature 5.  Congratulations to those featured.  Please grab a "I've been featured" button from the sidebar.  :-)

Here they are in no particular order:

Creamy Capellini with Leeks and Bacon at Olla Podrida

How to Make Your Own Granola at Harrington Harmonies

Yummy Lemon Pepper Chicken at Adventurez in Childrearing

Baked Ziti for a Crowd at The Frugal Pantry

Low Calorie but Tasty at Life Through My Lens

Linking up with the Gathering Spot, Kids in the Kitchen, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, Domestically Divine Tuesday, Raising Mighty Arrows,Addicted to Recipes, Homemaking Wednesdays, Living Well Wednesday,NOBH, Judy H-J's Thoughts, Wisdom Wednesday , Favorite Things, Modest Mom, Full Plate Thursday and Melt in your Mouth Monday and Show Off Friday and Tuesday's Table and Look What We Did and Titus 2sday,  Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, Crafty Spices, Better Mom,Create with Joy, Thursday's Treasures, Tasty Thursdays and Wonderful Food Wednesday and Mondays with Countrified Hicks and Tuesday How to Party and the Tried and True Recipe Party and Kids and Mom in the Kitchen

Memoir Monday- March 11

Unpredictable: uncertain, variable, erratic

"Unpredictable" can best describe the weather we have been having here lately.  On Friday, my poor snow-deprived children (yes, here in our area of PA, there has been NO measurable snow this year) ran outside to "play" in the few inches that had fallen.  How could a mother refuse?  I had wished and hoped for at least one significant snowfall so they could make a snowman and go sledding, but that doesn't look like it will come to pass.  They made the best out of it.

When they came in, they enjoyed the homemade donuts I was working on.

The following day, within 24 hours of a snowfall, albeit a small one, was close to 60 degrees and the children were out riding their bicycles after a fun game of bingo and more donuts.  :-)

Unpredictable weather indeed.

The beauty of childhood is that they can find their innocent joy in all that they do.  "Uncertain, variable and erratic" to an adult would cause worry, alarm or panic.  Not for a child.  If it snows, they throw a snowball.  If it is sunny, they run for their bikes.  It is in their innocence that I find my joy.  It is their unbridled enthusiasm that I cherish and encourage.  I do not want to stifle it, for they can make even the most unpredictable beautiful......

Linking up with:  On, in and around Mondays in addition to Wisdom Wednesday, Living Well Wednesday, Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, Modest Mom, Crazy Mama, Homemaking Wednesdays and Raising Mighty Arrows and Titus 2sday and Clever Chicks Blog Hop and Memoir Monday and Mondays with Countrified Hicks and Create with Joy

TOS Review- READS

Wow!  My 6th review for the Crew already!  :-)  This week, I am reviewing the READS Parent/Child Reading Comprehension system from EGM Education Systems, L.L.C.

Children can decode (read) words quickly, but not necessarily comprehend the material.  Thus, the "it was good" or "I just can't remember" answers when a parent tries to pull information from them after reading a book or chapter.  :-)  Trying to teach children real comprehension skills can be tedious and boring.  This program helps change that!

READS is an easy to use program recommended for use with students in 1st to 4th grade.  My son is in 5th and it still worked quite well for him.  The program can be used with any book that the child is currently reading.  There are question cards that help the student recall, remember and think about what they have read.

The system includes:

*Parent's Manual- explains how to utilize the materials and program, the reason for each question, typical answers for them and how to solicit a response from your child if they are having difficulty or gives an answer that is not quite what you expected.  :-)

*30 Question Cards with ring

*Rewards chart and stickers (this was a big hit here!)

*Reading Guide Strip and Magic Finger- these help the child stay focused on what he/she is reading without distraction.  My son didn't use the magic finger, but did try the guide strip.

*Speedy Speller Book- This is basically a dictionary of words commonly misspelled.  There is space for the child to add their own words, as well.  It also includes punctuation, symbols and abbreviations.

The complete system is available for $19.95 plus shipping and handling.

My 11 year old son reads me a book aloud almost everyday.  We incorporated the READS system by having each of us take turns answering questions from the cards.

 He also kept the dictionary nearby and added words as we went along.  His favorite part was putting a sticker on the chart each day after he completed the tasks.

The system worked well with my son.  It was easy to use, colorful and appealing and encouraged him to look forward even more to our daily reading time together.  :-)