Homeschooling FREEBIES: Bible Studies, Homemaking, & HS Resources

I came across this site called  Hippo Campus.  HippoCampus is a project of the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education (MITE). Its goal is provide FREE high-quality, multimedia content on general education subjects to high school and college students.  The covered subjects are: Algebra(in English & Spanish), US Government and History, Biology, Calculus(in English & Spanish), Environmental Science, Physics, Psychology, Statistics and Religion.  The project has given you a choice in that they have correlated with several different textbooks that they have put the text and multimedia online or you can take an online course.

Do you have a daughter that is in the third grade or above? Are you looking for guidance to help teach the basics in homemaking? The Future Christian Homemaker's Handbook can help you!  I found that the author has made the lessons available online for free! The FCH Handbook contains 12 chapters of cooking lessons with both teacher and student pages. These lessons include related skills such as setting the table, manners, writing a menu, and planning nutritious meals. The homemaking section includes lessons on doing the laundry and cleaning the house. Web resources are listed where you can find free basic sewing projects for children. Devotionals are included to provide sound Biblical instruction.  While this handbook is geared to use with girls, I am using it to teach some basic things to my boys as well as my daughter.

The last freebie for today is bible studies that you can download for free!  I love listening to Kay Arthur. On her ministry's website are some downloadable Bible study guides with free registration.  She has the current  Bible study available along with past Bible studies.  After looking through a few of them, I see great potential in using them with my high schooler for his Bible class.

Menu Plan Monday 5/2-5/8

Last week’s menus were delicious! I stuck with simple, family favorite meals.  I really need to work at finding new meal combinations or new recipes to try because the same old meals are getting old!  The weather keeps “yo-yoing”!  We have several days of summer weather with no rain and then we have several days with below average temperatures and rain with wind. Just when I feel like doing lots of grilling and lighter meals, the weather makes think of a big bowl of soup with homemade bread!

Last week’s grocery shopping was a big shopping trip. Hopefully I calculated things correctly so I will just have to a staples run (milk, produce) these next couple of weeks before payday.  We are still working at paying down some unexpected debt.  We went from getting new windows to having both of our vehicles at the mechanic’s shop for several different items. We went from having no issues with anything to having a “mudslide” happen and trying to prioritize everything that is a occurring has been interesting to say the least.

Hopefully at the end of the week, I will be able to get some long overdue baking done.  The weather is be at a “cool stage” so instead of running the furnace I’ll just run the oven! J Each week, I have been working at keeping some kind of sweet item and bread item available for my crew to have during the week. It would be nice to get a big stash of items done so that I don’t have to work a time in each week to bake something.

This week’s meals are more of my simple, family favorite meals.  Things are going to be busy around our house this week as it appears that each evening there is something going on!  Monday, hubby has bible study; Tuesday, I have bible study and hubby is having friends over to watch the Red Wings/Sharks game; Wednesday and Thursday night, hubby has first aid certification class and then Friday and Saturday look clear at the moment but that could change as the week progresses.

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 (5-2)

Breakfast: eggs, hash browns, sausage or steak and chocolate donuts

Lunch: pizza

Dinner:  McDonald’s (after church)

Snack: snack basket

Monday (5-3)

Breakfast: cereal and donuts

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner:  chicken rice casserole and homemade rolls

Snack: snack basket

Tuesday (5-4)

Breakfast:  waffles and sausage

Lunch: lunchables

Dinner:  grilled chicken, seasoned pan fries, and green beans

Snack: popcorn and bbq smokies for munchies during the game

Wednesday (5-5)

Breakfast:  bagels and cereal

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: chicken club sandwiches, French fries and carrot sticks

Snack: snack basket

Thursday (5-6)

Breakfast: French Toast and sausage

Lunch: pizza

Dinner:  roasted chicken breasts, mashed potatoes, and corn

Snack: snack basket                                                       

Friday (5-7)

Breakfast: cereal and toaster strudel

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: chili, rice and homemade corn muffins

Snack: ice cream

Saturday (5-8)

Breakfast:  Your Choice

Lunch: ????

Dinner: Salisbury Steak, mashed potatoes, corn and biscuits

Snack: popcorn or snack basket

Singing Sunday--Everything Falls

Everything Falls
by Steve Fee

you said
you'd never leave or foresake me
when you said,
this life is gonna shake me
you said
this world is gonna bring trouble on my soul
this I know

when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
your the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on
you keep holding on

when I see
the darkness all around me
when I see
the tragedy has found me
I still believe
your faithful arms will never let me go
and still I know

when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
your the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on
you keep holding on

sorrow willl last for the night
but hope is rising with the sun
(its rising with the sun)
there will be storms in this life
but I know you will overcome
but I know you will overcome

when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
your the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on

when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
your the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on
you keep holding on

Weekly Shopping Trip--Savings $108.65

This week I managed to only go grocery shopping twice, unlike last week were I was in the stores shopping almost every day!  I went at the beginning of the week for a milk and lettuce run to Aldi and then waited until Friday to do major grocery shopping at three different stores.  Just a reminder, that where I live I can go to all the different stores because they are in a 5 mile radius from my house.

Can I just say that I do not like shopping on Friday??!!  The stores are busy, there does not seem to be as many markdowns, and shelves are empty and no store stockers are around stocking to ask for an item that is gone on the shelves!  So I walked out of Meijer this week with TWO rainchecks for items rather than the actual item! The two items were stockpile items so I can get those when I do my next big shopping trip in two weeks.

Anyway, I managed to stock my shelves for the next two weeks. I should be able to just worry about shopping for my parents next week along with picking up a few staples, like milk for us.

Here is the breakdown of what was purchased this week: (sorry forgot to take pictures again this week--my kids are great helpers in getting the food put away so no chance on getting any pictures).


Aldi: 

• 2 heads lettuce $1.18(59¢ each)
• 2 gallons milk $3.50 ($1.75/gallon)

Total OOP: $4.68

Save A Lot: (I took advantage of using some coupons at Save A Lot this trip!)

• 1 bag breaded chicken tenders $3.24
• 3 tubes biscuits $1.00
• 2 bags frozen corn $1.98
• 4 cans cream of chicken soup $1.86 (normally 59¢ each used a 50¢/4 coupon)
• 2 pkgs reg. cream cheese 40¢ (on special for 2/$1 used a 60¢/2 coupon)
• 1 can kidney beans 65¢
• 4 cans evaporated milk $2.16 (normally 79¢ each used 2-50¢/2 coupon)
• 2 cans sweentened condensed milk $2.98
• 6 Totino Party Pizzas $6.00
• 2 jars pizza sauce $1.98
• 1 Ortega taco kit $1.99 (found a $1/1 any Ortega peelie coupon on the shelf with the kits!)
• 2 cans tomato sauce $1.18

Used a $5 off $20 purchase coupon that I received via their mailer flyer ad.

Total OOP: $21.21

Total Savings using coupons: $8.85

Total without coupons: $30.06

Meijer: 

• 1.07lbs honey roasted deli turkey $6.41
• .70 lbs oven roasted deli turkey $4.19
• 1 jar grape jam $2.59
• 13.68 lbs boneless/skinless chicken breasts $24.49
• 8 cans veggies $5.52
• 2.34 lbs green grapes $3.49
• 10 lbs potatoes $2.98
• 2 bottles apple juice $3.78
• 2 boxes snack crackers $1.98
• 1 box chocolate graham crackers $1.99
• 20 packs Kool-aid $2.00
• 5 lbs red potatoes $2.99
• 1 gallon chocolate milk $3.00
• 4 bottles Juicy Juice $4.00
• 1 cantaloupe $2.50
• 3 boxes 12 ct. poptarts $6.25
• 2 bottles Lysol toilet cleaner $2.28
• 1 bottle Lysol all purpose trigger cleaner $1.09

Used a $2 off next shopping order coupons!

Total OOP (with 6% sales tax for non-food items): $79.79

Total Savings: $43.22

Total without sales & coupons: $123.01

Family Fare: 

• 3 bottles Gatorade $3.00
• 1 pkg blueberry bagels $1.69
• 3 boxes Simply Go-gurt $2.70
• 1 pk Danonino yogurt 99¢
• 1.72 lbs eye of round thin cut steaks $6.01(manager's markdown)
• 3.40 lbs ground beef $8.31 (manager's markdown)
• 2.03 lbs beef stew meat $5.05
• 4 dozen eggs $3.52
• 2 bottles Tropicana OJ $4.00
• 3 big boxes Kellogg's cereal $5.00
• 1 pkg whole wheat bagels $1.99
• 24 oz block mild cheddar cheese $3.99
• 1 pkg 6 ct. applesauce 79¢
• 2 bottles apple juice $1.98
• 2 bottles Ortega taco sauce $3.13
• 2 lbs bacon $5.00
• 1 pk Apple & Eve fruit & veggie box drinks $1.99
• 1 pk bacon/cheddar deli deluxe cheese $1.00
• 18 oz smoked deli turkey $3.98
• 3-12 pks Pepsi products $12.60 (with bottle deposit)

Total OOP: $76.48

Total Savings: $56.58

Total without sales & coupons: $133.06

Grand Total OOP: $182.16

Grand Total Savings: $108.65 (does not include the savings from shopping at Aldi)

Grand Total without sales & coupons: $290.81

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!
• Shopping Round Up at The Grocery Cart Challenge!

Weekly Glimpse: OH ME! OH MY! What a week!

It has been quite the busy week!  

It started on Monday with me needing to go to my parent's house bright and early on Monday morning to meet an insurance agent. Once I was done there I took my daughter for her well child check-up at our pediatrician's office.  So with these two appointments on Monday, I wasn't able to do my usual "office time" at my computer where I type up my weekly menu plans and make sure that I have everything ready for schooling the kids for the week. So my week has been a little off balance to say the least.

I did have time at home on Monday afternoon, so I was able to figure out things for Tuesday and the rest of the week and did not have to fly totally from the seat of my pants for the whole week.  But I can tell you starting the week off on a run does not help the week to go any faster.

Tuesday afternoon I made a trip to see my chiropractor because my back muscles had literally spasmed so bad that I was leaning slightly to one side and just felt in pain.  The only relief that I got before I went to see him was laying on the floor stretched out. He took the time to massage and stretch the area in my back that was giving me troubles but it was so acutely spastic that when I stood to leave I could barely walk!  So he got an ice pack for me to sit for about 5-10 minutes with before I left his office. I left his office still in pain. Once I got home I took some Motrin and did some more stretching on the floor.  By the evening on Tuesday, I was still dealing with a very sore back but the spasms seemingly were subsiding.  By Thursday, I was my old self with just the dull aches in my back. It is amazing what a couple of days of relaxing can do to back spasms!

Despite having my week start off with appointments, we managed to complete a full week of school! I had my three older boys working on finishing up different writing assignments this week. My oldest son was working on research report on Frederick Douglass.  I told him that it only needed to be two pages total but I think he found so much information that he is having trouble keeping it under four pages! My #2 son was working on a research report on Sir Francis Drake.  He is a boy of few words when it comes to writing reports!  I am having to help him expand his report so that it fits on a page. My #3 son was working at finishing up a notebook on the Presidents.  He did a profile sheet for each President.

I have begun the task of working with my daughter in learning to read!  She is doing quite well for just working on it for a few weeks.  Hopefully, I will have her fluently reading within the next couple of months.

Our suburban had to go back into the mechanic again this week after just being there TWO weeks ago!  It just so happened that it was for the same problem but a different part!  So now we have two(or is it four) solenoids for the down shift and the up shift  replaced in the transmission.(I am NO mechanic or even mechanically inclined so I am not totally sure exactly how it works!)  At any rate, we have now spent about $280 to get it running again.  Well relatively running as can be cause when it was in the mechanic's shop on Thursday for the second transmission repair, they also turned the brake rotors and while they were doing that they left the key in the ignition turned on and drained the battery!  Well they did the right thing and charged it so they could get it out of the shop and then hubby drove it around to help to charge the battery the rest of the way before coming home. However, that only helped for a couple of start-ups cause before he could come home from work today, he had to get someone to jump him again!  I have a feeling that we are going to be getting a new battery or something else like the alternator is going out now.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of all the events that took place this week!  I am not going to ramble about one child deciding that he would lie to me about whether he had completed a task or not. OR ramble about the child who got upset that two of his brothers got into his bed to hide and messed it up and one of those brothers hiding had the audacity to pass a "stink bomb" in the bed!  OR ramble about the fact that my 3yo son has been potty trained now for 3 months and has been accident free for most of that time and had 4 accidents this week alone.

Now it is your turn to ramble...

• So how was your week? 
• Was it busy? 
• Do you feel like you accomplished something this week?