Here are two I've done in the past, but not sure if people actually liked them or were just being nice. :0) We like them a lot and they freeze well. ETA: I know I'm responding to my own post - but I thought I would at least contribute a bit and show my level (or lack there of) in cooking. LOL! Cheesy Beef Stuffed Shells 1 lb. ground beef or turkey 1 onion chopped 2 c shredded mozzarella 1/2 c Italian bread crumbs 1/4 c parsley 1 egg, slightly beaten dash of pepper 1 jar spaghetti sauce (not meat) 1/2 c grated parmesan 22-24 jumbo shells (cook til tender, rinse) Cook meat and onion in skillet. Drain. Stir in next 5 ingredients and set aside. Spoon 1/4 c sauce into 9x13 casserole dish. Stuff shells and arrange in casserole. Spoon remaining sauce over shells. Sprinkle with parmesan. Cook at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Split Pea Soup Ingredients: 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 stalks celery, chopped 1 onion, onion 3 Tbs olive oil 1-3/4 cups dried split peas 1 bay leaf 6 cups veggie broth (could be replaced with chicken broth. I use 6 cups of water with 3 large veggie bouillon cubes) 2 tsp dried parsley flakes 10-15 baby carrots, halved or quartered lengthwise depending on size (or 2-3 regular sized carrots, chopped) 3 potatoes, peeled and cubed Directions: 1. In a skillet saute' the garlic, onion and celery in olive oil for 5 minutes or until onion is translucent. 2. Put all the ingredients in a crock pot (add the garlic, onion and celery once step 1 is complete). 3. Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours (shorter/longer depending on your crock pot) until the peas are soft. 4. Enjoy with a crusty loaf of wheat bread, cheddar cheese & sliced apples and pears.

My family has a pretty eclectic eating style that I'm not sure others would enjoy. However much I desire to make meals for others (as a "thanks" or for illness/recovery/maternity/etc.), I am always afraid they would not enjoy the meal. If you have some recipes or links to recipes that are both easy/healthy and would be well-received I would be very grateful! I want to participate in the sign-ups for providing meals, but have to come up with an arsenal of acceptable meals I could make. Thanks so much! Angela

Hi all! I'm giving a talk to our local homeschool group about how to limit the distractions in your life (particularly those that are self-induced such as computer, etc.). If you could give me some insight to share on what distractions you battle or have battled and how you are overcoming (or have overcome) them, I would be most grateful! Blessings, Angela

So glad it was helpful! There is nothing inappropriate at all! We took our 11yr and 13yr - they both thought it was good. It DEFINITELY helped that we had done the book as a read aloud. I heard a couple other kids behind us (probably 11yr & 12yr) who hadn't had exposure to the book or idea of the performance and they were confused and thought it was utterly boring. Just FYI! Angela

That is sooo cool! He even stayed after to do a Q&A with the audience and was very kind and gracious during that time. Hope you get to see him and his wife again! Blessings, Angela

Just wanted to give an update. We read the book the couple weeks before hand (to make sure my sons had a better understanding of the production) and went to see the performance tonight. It was outstanding! There was nothing inappropriate. 97% of the play was in Lewis's own words, and they were even clearer to understand because of the actor and performance. My boys both did say they were glad we had read the book. Big thumbs up! :thumbup: Angela

:thumbup:

My boys still do their history reading and even assigned reading based on literature suggestions from TOG. We aren't into Rhetoric yet, so maybe that would have changed things. For us it is working fine to do both - just time consuming. DS views them as two different things so he doesn't balk at being assigned both.

He wanted to do a literature study since his brother is enjoying LLfLoTR so much. We thought this Hobbit lit study would be more his speed and were wanting something more than just reading the book. He does a lot of assigned reading for TOG already but we wanted something deeper. :0) Blessings, Angela

Thanks - did you incorporate the additional book notes sheets in the back too? Just trying to figure out what is a reasonable schedule or if that is overkill. I can see the benefit for literature study purposes though - but it would definitely slow us down. I'm not in a rush at all, but I think if we did those book notes sheets that it might be best to do it as a read aloud together so we can stop at the points where he would need to write something down. At 6th grade, he's not completely independent so I'm not sure he would catch when he was supposed to stop to write down a description of a dwarf, character, place, creature, etc. Blessings, Angela

DS #1 does LLfLoTR pretty much independently in addition to his other language arts and history work. We do TOG for history, so we do some work together and then he does his independent work from that as well. They haven't really overlapped - so I just schedule both and we hope for the best. I feel like I'm not answering your question though - what is your specific concern? We do school for most of the day, but DS enjoys LLfLoTR so much that he would definitely NOT want to cut that out. Blessings, Angela

I purchased the Teacher Guide and Student Study Guide for The Hobbit from Memoria Press, but I was disappointed to find out that there is no lesson plans or suggested schedule in the teacher's guide. It seems kind of confusing and I don't want to frustrate my kiddo, but I want to make sure we get the maximum benefit out of the curriculum. If you have used this literature guide and can give me some direction, I would greatly appreciate it! Blessings, Angela

Sue!! I just wanted to let you know that my son is loving LL - LOTR and just today even told me how much he appreciates having the atlas you recommended. He said it has really helped him visualize the places in the book. To anyone else considering - my son is giving this a big thumbs-up! :thumbup: Many blessings, Angela

:lol::thumbup::smilielol5:

That is so exciting! My older DS just completed his life rank - but he is only 13 so he's going to take some time to decide on his Eagle project. Tell your DS, "Way to go!!" Blessings, Angela

Field trips and enjoyable activities during schooltime with or without other homeschoolers converted my son to the "Homeschool is better" philosophy. It wasn't overnight, it just sort of happened over time. I remember smiling really big when DS (now 11 - we've been homeschooling him since 1st grade), said "I'm really glad we homeschool" Hang in there, Mom! Blessings, Angela

ETA: I think we figured it out. I was misreading in the back and now see that in Latin the verb comes at the end. Most of our questions were solved by that one little fact. Thanks! I'm trying to compare the answers given for 2nd form, lesson 10, part III translation in the answer key with what my student has written. I am not knowledgeable in Latin and rely on the answer key quite heavily. So when there are "options" (ie, word order, interpretation of prepositions or nouns, etc.) I really appreciate the teacher's guide pointing out the variations. My question for this section in particular has to do with word order. I looked in the back of the student text and it looks like word order should "always" be subject + verb + extras - however, if I'm reading the Latin translation properly from the teacher book, it does not look like it is using that word order. My student, however, is using that word order. So - does that mean this is an optional area for translation? or is my student wrong? For instance: 1. We have a lake in front of our house: - Teachers Guide: Nos lacum pro domu notra habemus (my transalation reads this roughly as "We lake in front house our we have" - Student's answer: Nos habemus lacum prae domu (I'm seeing that he should have used pro instead of prae) here - would his work otherwise be correct? 4. They fight without fear. - Teacher's Guide - Sine metu pugnant. - Student's answer: Pugnant sine metu. Thank you for any input. Blessings, Angela

Thank you so much! I just purchased the Groupon deal! Blessings, Angela

Yummy! That Rib Eye Steak w/Salsa sounds great! I do wish they had a "mixed" menu that had Vegetarian 3 or 4 days with 1 or 2 meat dishes, but I have meat dish recipes I can just add into our week. You've got my mouth watering! Angela

I have been making dinners from the sample Vegetarian menu this week and they have been a big hit. On the nights where the protein seems on the weak side we just partner it with some cheese (which we always seem to have on hand.) I really liked the simplicity of the the grocery shopping and LOVE the idea that we are actually using all the items I purchase from the store. Especially the fresh ones. I'm not a great cook (and I don't even enjoy cooking) but these recipes have been pretty straight-forward and tasty. I like that the Vegetarian meals on just loaded with tomatoes and/or beans as so many "vegetarian" menu plans are. DH and DSs don't eat tomatoes and we wanted actual vegetables in our meals (not just beans) so this has been such a blessing. Thank you for posting it and bringing it to my attention. It looks to be a God-send in this house! Blessings, Angela

:iagree:

Just FYI - here is the response I got to my question regarding the Classic Plan: Cassie, Aug 25 06:10 (PDT): Hi Angela, The classic and gluten-free plans each have three nights of meat, one fish/seafood, and one vegetarian. The vegetarian plan has no fish. Thank you, Cassie Jones Academy, Aug 24 18:59 (PDT): Hello, I am interested in your meal plans and am trying to decide which meal plan would best suit my family. We only eat meat once or twice a week (if that much) - can you tell me how many days a week on your Classic menu meat is in the main course? On the sample menu there are only three days listed, so I can't really get a good gauge. Thank you, Angela Jones

Well the 20 pantry items are really regular staples for us Pantry Basics olive oil grapeseed oil balsamic vinegar white wine vinegar organic, reduced sodium chicken or vegetable broth (two 32 ounce boxes of 32-ounce) garlic bulb onions (use mostly yellow and some red) dried oregano; herbes de provence ground cumin cayenne pepper or chili powder paprika black pepper kosher salt tomato paste Dijon mustard (brown mustard) 100% whole wheat pasta (keep long and short on hand) long grain brown rice soy sauce or brags liquid amino acid whole wheat flour The kitchen 20 are also pretty basic: Tongs Flat Wooden Spatula Silicone Spoon Spatula Measuring Cups Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons Medium Mesh Strainer Vegetable Peeler Kitchen Scissors Flexible Cutting Boards Whisk Dutch Oven White Melamine Mixing Bowls 8″ Chefs Knife Paring Knife 5″ Serrated Knife Grater 10-12″ skillet 8-12 quart stockpot 5 quart saute pan food processor Unless you were calculating your 40-65 items from something else. I looked on their sample menus and they stick close to only 20 (non pantry - non kitchen) items from the grocery store. Edited: Were you meaning cost? Sorry - too early in the morning for me, I think! LOL! Let me know! Angela

I was able to get samples from fresh20 - try these links - I got them via an email sign up on their website: Classic: http://www.thefresh20.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/MiniWeek.pdf Vegetarian: http://www.thefresh20.com/wp-content/uploads/images/VJan27.pdf Gluten-Free:http://www.thefresh20.com/wp-content/uploads/images/GFJan27.pdf I've tried emeals before and if I remember correctly a lot of their stuff was processed food based and my family didn't care for it. Blessings, Angela

I know - I'd just prefer to be able to fully use the grocery list and everything as well, w/o having to edit it each week. I'm lazy and looking for something that does all the work for me! LOL! :0) Angela