Our Schedule ~ Chicken and Rice

What's Schoolin'?

If you like to look at photos of Montessori home setups like I do, then you'll love these photos (and look at the beautiful view of the mountains!
http://www.montessorienelhogar.com/2012/09/nuevo-salon-2.html

Our Schedule:

The Process:
I took a big piece of construction paper and the girls and I sat down for a conference (with a snack!).

I made out a 2-week template for Week A and Week B since some of our outside classes/groups alternate weeks while others are every week.  I made some crude blocks to fill in as we needed more blocks.  We wrote all of our outside commitments in blue pen.

Then we brainstormed all of our school subject areas and how many times (or how much actual time) we needed to spend on those per week.  I divided those into independent time and time with me for presentations or directed lessons.

Finally I started plugging them in to the blocks.  I changed some things around from Week A to Week B just to see if we like them better at different times.  These are 'vaguely specific' :).  I may say History, but that often includes Citizenship; it may say Science (specific) but Language Arts (general and may include grammar, spelling, writing workshop, etc).  So, this one works for us right now (I hope!).

Results:

Youngest Dd:
-Directed lessons/presentations 4x weekly (all subjects)
-Shelf Work time:  2x Week A; 3x Week B
-Independent work time (for curricula such as Math or our Science follow-up work or more shelf work):  4x/week
-Language Arts: 4x weekly (more is possible during shelf work time)
-Spanish: 4x weekly

Olders:
-Directed lessons for Science: 2x weekly
-Directed lessons for History:  2x weekly
-Language Arts: 4x weekly
-Shelf Work time: 1x weekly (plus another x weekly for Geography if using shelf materials)
-Geography: 1-2x weekly
-Spanish: 4x weekly
-Independent work time (for Science, History, etc): 4x Week A; 4x Week B

We also have outside classes such as Art, Speech, sports, Drama, Etc.  that fill up our schedule.  We plan on dropping 2 outside classes in the Spring.  We also spend a lot of time on our 4-H projects and activities.

After reviewing it several times I typed it up on the computer (it took 2 pages; 1 per week) and taped it to the refrigerator.  The olders have been working really hard to be back in the house from their 4-H animals by 8:00-ish.  We'll start with this new schedule next Monday so we'll see how it goes!

What's Green?

Here is a cool idea for room freshener.  It would make fun gifts.  Natural Room Scents:
http://www.theyummylife.com/Natural_Room_Scents

What's Cookin'?

I wanted chicken and rice for dinner but I stay f-a-r away from canned soups.  I *thought* I didn't have time to make my own soup while my pre-baked chicken legs and pre-cooked rice were heating up in the oven.  However; it only took a few minutes, plus it turned out tasty and moist.

I put the following in a qt-size pot:
4 tablespoons butter
1 large handful of sliced onion (from the freezer)
1 small handful of diced celery (from the freezer - it gets a little brown but doesn't matter for soups or sauces)

I let these soften and cook a little.  Then I added:
6 tablespoons flour (arrowroot can be used instead)

After stirring in the flour I slowly added (while stirring constantly) 2 cups of water (milk can be used instead).

Once it was mixed thoroughly and (most of) the lumps were gone I poured it in the baking dish with the already warm chicken and rice.  I let it all heat through and served immediately.

I even had time to make a quick green salad :).

Hint:  Cooked rice freezes well for those times when you don't have time to wait 45 minutes for it to cook.  I literally put the rice in the baking dish straight from the freezer!  P.S.: I soak my rice and cook it with bone broth.


This soup/sauce recipe is part of Real Food Wednesday:
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2012/09/real-food-wednesday-8292012.html