Weekly Shopping Trip---Savings $74.89 plus!

Except for Thursday, I was in a grocery store every day this week shopping for groceries! I guess you could say that I made up for not spending or doing much in  grocery shopping last week. I am not sure how I managed to be in the stores every day but I was there getting something either for dinner that night or deals that needed to be gotten or we were out of something that was needed that I forgot about the day before.  It didn't help that I made my menu plans and then had my hubby say that what I had planned would be better done on a different day. It didn't help that I forgot to take meat out of the freezer to thaw in advance. It didn't help that I forgot to print coupons before going to the store so I either went ahead and made the purchase without the coupons or got the item on another trip. It didn't help that my parents' cupboards were getting bare and they asked me to do shopping for them. I am sure I could give more excuses but the bottom line is going to the grocery store every day did nothing for my budget!

At any rate, here is what I purchased this week:

Save A Lot: (2 trips)

• 2 cans beef broth $1.26
• 9 cans cream of chicken soup $5.31
• 4 pks cream cheese $2.00
• 1 bottle Worchestershire sauce $1.49
• 2.14 lbs boneless/skinless chicken breasts $4.02 

Total OOP: $14.08

Total Savings: lots with shopping here!

Meijer: (2 trips)

• 4 pints Snickers icecream $4.00
• 8lbs boneless/skinless chicken tenders $15.98
• 2.33 lbs bananas $1.14
• 1 box Planters granola bars $2.50
• 2 dozen eggs $2.83
• 18 oz. deli smoked turkey breast $4.00
• 3 boxes fruit snacks $3.55
• 1 jar applesauce $1.79
• 2 bags Cheetos $3.38
• 2 gallons milk $3.54
• 1 cantaloupe $1.50
• 1 bag breaded chicken nuggets $2.99
• 3 boxes Nature Valley granola bars $4.58
• 2 pkgs ready to bake cookie dough $4.00
• 1 bag chicken cordon bleu $4.69
• 2 boxes Betty Crocker muffin mix $2.84
• 6 Totinos Party pizzas $6.50
• 1 bottle Ranch dressing $2.50
• 3-12pks 7 up Products $10.10 (with bottle deposit)
• 1 bottle Act mouthwash $2.50
• 1 pair water beach shoes $7.99

Total OOP(with 6% sales tax on non-food items): $88.54

Total Savings: $46.89

Total without sales & coupons: $135.43

Aunt Millie's Bakery Outlet: 

• 1 pkg 12 ct dinner rolls 49¢
• 2 bags mini donuts 98¢
• 2 loaves Texas Toast $4.18
• 3 loaves Butter Top sandwich bread $2.67
• 3 loaves Multi-Grain sandwich bread $2.67
• 3 pkgs 8 ct hamburger buns $2.07
• 1 pkg 8 ct hot dog buns 69¢

Total OOP: $13.75

Total Savings: $28.00

Total without outlet store prices: $41.75

Grand Total OOP: $116.37

Grand Total Savings: $74.89 plus shopping at Save A Lot!

Grand Total without sales & coupons: $191.26 plus not shopping at Save A Lot!

This post is linked to: 

• Coupon Super Savers at Coupon Saving Game!
• Savers Bungelow at Saving a Bundle!
• Week-Ending Finales at The Frugal Free Loader!
• Super Savings Saturday at MoneySavingMom!
• Grocery Shopping Round Up at The Grocery Cart Challenge!

Homeschooling FREEBIES: Children's Books, History Curriculum & More!

Despite having had a busy week, I was able to do some searching and found more homeschooling freebies!  I found so many I am not sure where to start but I know that they will add some "flavor" to my homeschooling curriculum over the next few months and as a plan things for next year.

I love the library because of being able to check out books for free but sometimes getting there on a regular basis can be difficult. I have found that my kids either get bored with the books too fast or run out of books to read, however, I found a site(thanks to Freebies 4 Mom) with some free children's books that I can use as alternatives. There are free downloads of children's books at Children's Books Forever!  They even have the children's books in different languages so if you are studying a foreign language you can try to read a children's book!

One of my favorite subjects to study is History!  I love learning the facts and all that happened in the past. I am not too bad of a "history fact junky" but I do love history. One of my history fascinations has been with the Great Depression.  I found some free lesson plans that focus totally on the Great Depression. The lesson plans focus on giving economic lessons that help understand the significance of the Great Depression era. Also to go along with the lesson plans you can do some cooking of Depression era foods with "Cooking with Clara". I remember my Grandma making many of these same foods.

The other History resource I found this week was a free lesson plan resource and supplement for K-12 teachers from the American Heritage Education Foundation.  You can download the lesson plan resource called "America's Heritage:  An Adventure in Liberty."  If you do not want to do the downloading you can order a free CD or pay for a binder of the lesson plans.  There are three different levels: elementary, middle school and high school.  Each level gets a little more in-depth just like any other History book/curriculum. I can see using this resource as a guide for a full year of history along with getting library books and other history sites to fill in the necessary items for a complete history curriculum.  They state on their site that..."All lessons emphasize one or more themes of freedom, unity, progress, and responsibility.  The resource aims not simply to present historical facts but to provide opportunities for students to explore and understand the factual and philosophical significance and meaning behind events, causes, and effects—the whys—relating to and influencing the early history of the United States."  


Now going from History to Geology...

Did you know that Answers in Creation has a FREE Geology curriculum designed specifically for high school level homeschoolers?  Well they do and it is all online free to use.   Each of the 12 chapters takes five days to complete and along with the text there are pictures, videos, animations, and many other websites for additional learning, research assignments, quizzes, and tests all for learning about geology online. This course presents geology from the old earth perspective, respecting both science and the Bible. It is designed as a 12 week course, which means it can be used as a one semester high school science requirement. You can take a look around the course, and if you like what you see the author of the course would like you to register for the course. To register, send an email to the email address on the curriculum homepage. All that is required is the name and email address of the teacher, and the name of each of your students. You will receive an email with the instructions.

I would love to pass on other homeschooling freebies!  If you find any homeschooling freebies, do not hesitate to let me know and I will feature them along with giving thanks to you for finding it.

This post is linked to: 

• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom!

Homeschooling: Poetry Resources

One of the tools that I found for helping me put together my children’s curriculum each year is the Educator’s Calendar! I love looking at the different months to see what happened on a day in history or what might be month long events or holidays that I might be able to work into my children’s curriculum. Instead of always doing whatever is in the textbooks, it makes for a fun time of research. According to the calendar, I found that April is National Poetry Month!

For the month of April we are working at reading and writing different poetry every day.  Instead of keeping all the resources to myself, I decided to share the wealth of resources with everyone!  Even though the month of April is just about over, you can use these resources at anytime during the year when studying poets and their work.

Here is a list of resources that you can use with any age level to enhance your poetry studies:

Scholastic’s Poetry Resource Page — bring poets and poetry to you to inspire your children through webcasts, printables and much more!

Scholastic’s Writing with Writers/Poets — Study poetry by taking part in step-by-step workshops with favorite authors.

Poetry 4 Kids — fun poems along with links, newsletters, rhyming dictionary and more.

30 Poets 30 Days — read fresh off the page never before published poems by your favorite poets all during the month of April.

Giggle Poetry — write poems, ask a poet, act out a poem and read and rate hundreds of poems

ReadWriteThink Poetry Resource Page — links, lesson plans and an activity

Eduplace’s Poetry Lessons — Ideas of age appropriate poetry activities to do with your child

Teach-nology Poetry Lesson Plans — tons of lessons to teach different styles of poetry

Web English Teacher–Poetry — click on the name of a poet listed and find some background facts about them along with a poem that they have written.There is also a poetry collections page with links to poetry available online.

Enjoy reading, writing, and studying poetry with your children!

Menu Plan Monday 4/18-4/24

Last week’s menus were delicious! I stuck with simple meals.  I made chicken pot pie probably for the last time until fall weather sets in again.  We also enjoyed a taste of summer with grilled burgers one night.  Last Thursday, we had my parents over for dinner to celebrate my mother’s 70^th birthday and to give them a home cooked meal rather than eating out like they do almost every day these days.  This past Saturday, my brothers were in town from Illinois to spend time with mom with it being her 70^th birthday week.  I have one brother who lives in Chicago while another lives in Bloomington.  The one from Bloomington brought his family with him so I got to see my 2yo niece and 1 yo nephew along with my sister-in-law. With basically everyone in town, my sister-in-law set up an appointment at a local portrait studio for all of us to go and have a family portrait done. I now have pictures of all the cousins/grandkids together along with an extended family portrait (minus a few members that couldn’t make it to the appt). After the portrait appointment all of us (19 total) went to Cracker Barrel for lunch!  What an experience watching everyone watch us as we sat basically in the middle of the restaurant!

Last week’s grocery shopping was suppose to be a big shopping trip, however, there has been several debts (like getting replacement windows for our broken windows) that we have needed to pay off so I just kept things simple and purchased what I needed in order to make it through the next couple of weeks without too many issues.  

My challenge from my hubby to empty the freezer went well!  I am still working at decreasing the baking supply items (butter, zucchini, blueberries & mashed bananas) that I have in the freezer.  This week’s weather should be cool enough that baking should not heat the house up too much.

This week’s meals are simple, family favorites that will use what I have on hand in the freezer and pantry.   

This week’s lunches that are listed below are for the kids and me! Unless we are having leftovers, our lunches are served with apple slices or carrot sticks along with fruit juice or water.  Hubby usually takes a dinner leftover along with various snacks for his work lunch so I don’t take the time to really plan his lunches. I just take the next container of leftovers in the stack in the fridge that I have prepared ahead of time.

A special thanks to Laura-Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday! Need help with your menus; go check the over 300 other delicious meal plans that have been linked at Laura-Organizing Junkie's site or look down in my right sidebar for my menu suggestion lists!

Sunday (4-17)

Breakfast: eggs, hash browns, sausage and chocolate donuts

Lunch: pizza rolls & chips

Dinner:  McDonald’s (after church)

Snack: snack basket

Monday (4-18)

Breakfast: cereal and mini cinnamon rolls

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner:  smothered chicken, steak fries and corn

Snack: snack basket

Tuesday (4-19)

Breakfast:  waffles and sausage

Lunch: lunchables

Dinner:  grilled burgers, fries, and fresh veggie tray

Snack: snack basket

Wednesday (4-20)

Breakfast:  bagels and cereal

Lunch: pizza rolls

Dinner: spaghetti and garlic toast

Snack: snack basket

Thursday (4-21)

Breakfast: Pancakes and sausage

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner:  creamy chicken over egg noodles, peas and homemade rolls

Snack: snack basket                                                       

Friday (4-22)

Breakfast: cereal and toaster strudel

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: roast, carrots and potatoes in crockpot served with homemade rolls

Snack: ice cream

Saturday (4-23)

Breakfast:  Your Choice

Lunch: sandwiches & chips

Dinner: ????

Snack: popcorn or snack basket