sample day

Every once in a while I get questions about what a typical day might look like for us as homeschoolers.  Since I'm sitting on the couch watching my two homeschoolers doing a yoga DVD, I thought I'd take the opportunity to share what we did today.

I have a 9 year old and a 5 year old right now at home. The 9 year old got up,  got dressed, ate breakfast, and was starting her math lesson by 7:45 this morning. (she usually starts at 8)  Math takes about an hour. While she worked independently, I had my own breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen, and swept and mopped the kitchen floors.  5 year old stayed in bed quite a while today and didn't get up till maybe 8:30, but she was dressed when she came down.  After she ate breakfast, I had her use teddy bear counters to demonstrate adding concepts.  Then she and her sister emptied the dishwasher.

We all went up to the school room and stayed on task for a while. Subjects that gone done: Spelling, Handwriting, Writing, Grammar, Morning Meeting (memory work and religious studies).  Got a phonics lesson in with the 5 year old, then we all took a chocolate milk break.  I sat next to the 9year old  and knitted while she did some map work and a puzzle for history.  5yr old played with some toys nearby, then I did a short activity with her about the sequence of a library visit (picking a book, checking it out, taking it home, and then returning it) where she got to cut and write. 

After that the girls went to the other room to do a yoga DVD I have checked out from the library, and I sat down to make a little blog entry!  This is not a very typical day because we normally eat lunch around noon, but the rest is a typical day here if we're not going out.

Turkey Chili

I made turkey chili for the first time today, and it was well liked by boys and girls alike in this house! Wow!  I found halal ground turkey at Trader Joe's and figured I'd give it a try.  After looking at a couple of recipes online, this is what I ended up putting in the pot:

1lb ground turkey
1/2 white onion
1/2 red onion
4 cloves garlic
2 thin carrots, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 14oz cans diced tomato
1 14oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 Tbsp homemade taco seasoning (taken from 100 Days of Real Food)
salt, pepper

Saute the vegetables in a bit of oil for a few minutes, then add the ground turkey.  Crumble it up and drain if needed.  Add the tomatoes and beans along with two cans full of water and the spices. Let this simmer an hour or two until the liquid reduces to your desired thickness.  I would also transfer this to the crock pot once I browned the turkey and add everything else in the crock pot and let that go for a while.

I set out some toppings like shredded cheddar, sour cream, jalapenos, freshly chopped onions, and the leftover crumbs of our gluten free chips.  You could make cornbread or eat this over burger buns :D