Homeschooling

This is our 10th year to homeschool!  There are so many blogs & web sites out there to tell you how, why, etc. but for us the best & shortest answer I can give you is...It just works for our family!
I have one child that is graduated from homeschool and he now works full-time at our family's machine shop.  I'm happy to say he seems to be a well adjusted, hard working, responsible adult. -despite the fact he was homeschooled from 5th grade on.  LOL
My daughter is in the 9th grade this year. While we have made our rounds through most of the curriculum choices out there I find a mixture of different things work for us. Also just plain old life experience that they get from not being cooped up in a school all day.
If that works for you & your children that's great.  I know many teachers & I was once a substitute myself and for many traditional school works for them. I'm not here to debate that.
I just thought I'd share the books we're using right now.

Curriculum books we use daily:

Apologia General Science
Easy Grammar
A Beka History & Geography
Writing Strands
Spell Well (for high school students)
Teaching Textbooks Math
Beautiful Girlhood & Companion Guide / Bible

A couple of other books we've got on our end table are:

Stokes Field Guide to Birds (lots of birds around lately)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The Simple Life Devotionals
Storey's Basic Country Skills

Recent Pictures

The black astralorps (12 hens & 1 rooster) we just got yesterday.

Mama Silkie & her 2 babies. I think these are the cutest breed.

Of course my outdoor 'helper'  Australian Cattle Dog, Carly! 

I think she's saying cheese!!!

Purple Cabbage Salad

So I'm not the best photographer, but at least I can cook.  lol

 

1 small head of purple cabbage

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground mustard

1/2 tsp onion powder

 

Thinly slice cabbage & place in a bowl.

 

Put all the other ingredients in a jar & shake well.

 

Toss dressing into cabbage & refrigerate for about 30 minutes or longer.

 

Really easy & yummy salad/side dish.

Big Daddy's Butterscotch Cookies

Add 1 glass milk  :)

1 1/4 c. dark brown sugar
3/4 c. butter flavored Crisco
2 T. milk
1 T. vanilla
1 egg

Cream this all together.

Then add:

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 c. butterscotch baking chips

Mix until combined.

Place tablespoon fulls on cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

They should still be a little soft but set.

Cool & enjoy!

Good Saturday & Homemade Syrup

Happy Saturday!

Starting off our busy day with a big batch of banana oat pancakes.
I made a double batch to put some in the freezer for later.

http://vickieshomesteadlife.blogspot.com/2013/06/delicious-banana-oat-pancakes.html

Homemade syrup:

1/2 c. dark brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. water

Put all in a small pan.  Turn fire to low and when it boils start whisking.  Boil for 2 minutes whisking constantly.  Turn off & serve over pancakes when cooled a little.

How we process backyard meat chickens

After reading the latest that much of our chicken will be imported from China we've decided to go back to raising our own meat chickens again.  This video is a wonderful instruction on how to clean them.  Now I need to invest in a chicken plucker!

Apple Walnut Upside Down Cake

Yes, it tastes as good as it looks. AND it's gluten free!!!

 

Just look at this pretty picture.  This is the second time we've made this cake.  My husband & daughter made it the first time for my birthday & I made it again last night.  Just as good & still just as easy.  I rank it up with my top few favorite desserts.
I cannot take credit for this recipe though.  I got it from http://ezgf.blogspot.com/2011/09/apple-walnut-upside-down-cake.html

One more picture just because it's so gosh-darn pretty!

 

Green Tomato Relish

My husband pulled all of the dead/dying plants out of the garden yesterday. We do still have a couple of tomato plants & peppers going strong. There were a lot of small green tomatoes on some of the plants so he filled up a bushel basket & brought them to me.
I looked up a recipe on pinterest and adjusted it a bit to suit my needs.

This recipe will not have exact measurements but here's how I did mine.

I used 2 big pots about 5 qts each.

To each pot fill up with chopped tomatoes, a half of a huge onion, 2-3 bell peppers.  1 T. ground mustard, 1 T. salt, 1 1/2 cups sugar, &1 1/2 cups vinegar.  Stir and allow to simmer for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Put into clean hot jars and process in pressure canner at 10lbs pressure for 10 minutes.

Set on towel overnight or about 24 hours. 

Wipe off jars & store.

I always write the year on my lids with a permanent marker. The only problem with this is that when I decide to give some as a gift I always wonder if people think it's old if it's from the year before.  Of course it's just as good, but I do wonder.    Some people use stickers but that's up to you!

Yield:  1 quart, 9 pints, & 4 half-pints