Author: Wendy

Pan Fried Meatloaf Patties {Recipe}

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Pan Fried Meatloaf Patties recipe

Some days, you just want comfort food. Even if it’s June and 90 degrees (Fahrenheit) outside. But when it’s that hot out, most comfort food isn’t really practical to prepare, especially if you don’t have air conditioning in your home, since a lot of them require baking for a long period of time.

This was the “dilemma” I found myself in earlier this week. Meatloaf sounded amazing, but the last thing I wanted was to turn the oven on for over an hour and heat up the house. (We do have an air conditioner, for the record, but it’s just a window unit. Even though it’s pretty powerful, it struggles to keep up with the oven heat.) So, what’s a girl to do? Come up with an alternative to baking the meatloaf, of course! So that’s just what I did.

I used the same ingredients as my normal meatloaf, but instead of putting it in a loaf pan and baking for an hour (or longer), I shaped the meat mixture into patties and pan fried them in just a touch of oil. When the meat was cooked through, I added the sauce to the top of the patties and let it cook for just another minute or two to set.

The result? These patties were just as good as a traditional meatloaf, and a lot quicker to prepare. I’ll definitely be using this method again, and I hope you’ll try it too!

Pan Fried Meatloaf Patties
Serves 6
A traditional meatloaf recipe is turned into patties and pan fried instead of baked.
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357 calories
20 g
101 g
19 g
24 g
6 g
158 g
497 g
6 g
1 g
11 g
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size
158g
Servings
6
Amount Per Serving
Calories 357
Calories from Fat 173
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 19g
30%
Saturated Fat 6g
30%
Trans Fat 1g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2g
Monounsaturated Fat 9g
Cholesterol 101mg
34%
Sodium 497mg
21%
Total Carbohydrates 20g
7%
Dietary Fiber 2g
7%
Sugars 6g
Protein 24g
Vitamin A
5%
Vitamin C
5%
Calcium
7%
Iron
20%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Does this look wrong?
Ingredients
  1. 1-2 tablespoons oil, for cooking
  2. 1 1/2 pounds ground beef or turkey
  3. 1 egg
  4. 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce, separated
  5. 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs (fresh or store-bought)
  6. Salt and pepper to taste
  7. 1-2 tablespoons sugar (white or brown, it doesn't matter)
  8. 1-2 tablespoons prepared mustard
  9. 1-2 tablespoons white vinegar
Instructions
  1. In a large nonstick or cast iron skillet, heat the oil.
  2. In a medium to large bowl, combine the meat, egg, half of the tomato sauce, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Combine thoroughly, but don't over mix.
  3. Shape the meat into 6-8 patties.
  4. Carefully place the patties in the hot oil and cook until they're no longer pink in the center, about 5-7 minutes per side.
  5. Meanwhile, combine the other half of the tomato sauce, mustard, sugar, and vinegar (I do this right in the tomato sauce can).
  6. When the meatloaf patties have cooked through, pour the sauce evenly over the patties and let it all cook together for an additional 2-3 minutes.
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calories
357
fat
19g
protein
24g
carbs
20g
more
Ladybug Daydreams http://www.ladybugdaydreams.com/

Homeschool Moms Review: Successful Homeschooling Made Easy

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Are you a mom thinking about homeschooling your kids? Are they in public school, and you want to bring them home? Or are they just getting to the age where they’re old enough that it’s time for you to make a decision? Have you been homeschooling your kids for years and are starting to feel “burnout”? Then today’s review is going to be something you simply must look into. From Successful Homeschooling Made Easy comes the Successful Homeschooling Made Easy Course, written by veteran homeschooling mom of five Stephanie Walmsley.

I wasn’t sure whether I would be a good candidate for this product of not for a couple of reasons – first, I’ve been homeschooling for several years, and second, because of my relationship with the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I don’t buy (or choose) curriculum in the traditional way. Pretty much all of what we use are items I receive for review purposes. But you know what? I still learned things through taking this course (and I’m not quite even halfway through it yet!).

When you first sign up, you’ll get an email with your first lesson within just a couple of hours. And this first lesson is a doozy! Of all the lessons I’ve received so far, this one has made the biggest impact in our schooling. In it, Ms. Walmsley talks about the importance of having a schedule. Your schedule doesn’t have to look the same as the local public school’s, nor does it have to look like that of the other homeschooling families you know. It just has to work for your family. She offers two basic outlines for schedule, and the one  you choose is based on whether your family are “morning people” or “night owls.” No, she doesn’t suggest keeping your kids up to all hours of the night doing their schoolwork, but she does suggest that if they sleep in, school them in the afternoon instead. It’s okay. (We definitely fall into that category, and while it’s been hard to readjust my thinking to do the heavy hitting on the schoolwork after lunch instead of before, it’s been much easier on the kids.)

Beyond scheduling, Ms. Walmsley walks you through such topics as choosing curriculum (which, like I already mentioned, isn’t really a problem/option for us at this point), creating a lesson plan, teaching your children, how to keep up with the housework while living the homeschool life, and much more.

But she doesn’t tell you how to run your homeschool. That’s what makes this course so helpful for people in every step of the homeschooling journey. She gives tips and suggestions, but it’s easy to modify her ideas to fit your own idea of what you want your homeschool to look like. Or even more importantly, what your kids need it to look like. Her ideas and concepts are sound, and yet easy to adapt. That’s what I love most about this course.

That, and the bonus lessons that you occasionally get in between lessons. So far, I’ve received one bonus lesson, and it was on math games to play with the children. Despite all of our drilling, both boys (especially Seahawk) have gotten a bit rusty in their math facts. So yesterday, we utilized one of the games in that bonus math lesson. We went outside and wrote numbers, 1-20 on the driveway with sidewalk chalk. Then I would say things like, “Seahawk, skip to the number that is 6 times 3.” “Munchkin, hop on one foot to the number that is 5 times 2.” They really enjoyed that game, and we’ll definitely be playing it again.

So, long story short: This course consists of 26 lessons, emailed to you one per week (about 14 pages each, including a title page and copyright information). You have the freedom to print them off and keep them in a binder if you’d like, or you can just read them on your computer. Each one – and you get a completely different topic each week – is extremely helpful in this thing called homeschooling. I would definitely recommend this course for any parent who is currently, or currently considering, homeschooling their child or children. It’s that good.

Still not sure if the Successful Homeschooling Made Easy Course is for you? You can get the first lesson absolutely free to see what you think. If you decide, after seeing how awesome that first lesson is, that you want to continue the course, you can do so for $10 per month (for 6 months), or you can save 20% on the course by purchasing it all at one time for $48. (See the website for information on international pricing; it’s all spelled out there very clearly and easily.) And what’s more, if you purchase this and decide you don’t like it, Ms. Walmsley will refund your money, no questions asked. So it’s definitely a no-lose situation for you.

Blessings,

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As always, I’m not the only person reviewing this course this week. Click the banner below to read lots of other opinions on Successful Homeschooling Made Easy.

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Primo Italiano Sandwich {Recipe}

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italian sandwich

Sandwiches are tough in our home. Everyone likes something different. But the one we can all agree on (except maybe Small Fry, who’s still in the “peanut butter and jelly or bust” stage) is this: The Primo Italiano.

Back when Will and I were first married (when we both worked outside the home, before he was self-employed or we had kids), one of the local grocery stores – the one we worked for – decided that they wanted to compete with the sandwich shops, so they installed sandwich bars in all the delis. They had several prefab sandwiches to choose from, but you could also “build your own” like at Subway. One of the prefab sandwiches was this one, and it quickly became our favorite lunch.

Unfortunately, they discontinued this sandwich after a few years, so I’ve developed this copy-cat recipe so we wouldn’t miss out on one of our favorites.

I’ve been pretty specific about things like the bread, but you can use any kind you like. I would not, however, recommend anything too soft. You want something with a good crust to help hold everything together and give you the right texture to your sandwich. French bread is about as soft as I’d go with this particular sandwich; definitely do not use regular sliced bread. With the olives, if you don’t like green, go ahead and visit your local deli and choose something fairly exotic that you like. But don’t use regular black olives. They won’t have the right flavor. Outside of that, it’s pretty flexible. You can use whatever kind of salami you like, in regular or low-fat. Same with the cream cheese.

Enjoy!

Blessings,

ladybug-signature-3 copy

Primo Italiano Sandwich
Serves 4
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446 calories
23 g
84 g
32 g
16 g
17 g
145 g
812 g
3 g
0 g
13 g
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size
145g
Servings
4
Amount Per Serving
Calories 446
Calories from Fat 285
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 32g
50%
Saturated Fat 17g
83%
Trans Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2g
Monounsaturated Fat 11g
Cholesterol 84mg
28%
Sodium 812mg
34%
Total Carbohydrates 23g
8%
Dietary Fiber 1g
4%
Sugars 3g
Protein 16g
Vitamin A
20%
Vitamin C
0%
Calcium
29%
Iron
12%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Does this look wrong?
Ingredients
  1. 4 ciabatta rolls
  2. Soft Cream Cheese
  3. Green or deli olives, sliced or chopped
  4. Deli sliced Pepperoncinis (I use Manzanetti brand, which comes in a jar on the pickle aisle)
  5. Salami
  6. 4 slices Provolone cheese
Instructions
  1. If your rolls aren't already split, do that.
  2. Spread the cream cheese on each side of the bread (think mayo on a regular sandwich).
  3. Pile on the olives, peppers, salami, and a slice of Provolone.
  4. Top with the other half of the roll.
  5. Serve however you’d normally serve sandwiches (with chips, fruit, etc)
Adapted from Safeway Deli
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calories
446
fat
32g
protein
16g
carbs
23g
more
Adapted from Safeway Deli
Ladybug Daydreams http://www.ladybugdaydreams.com/

Book Review: Betting on Hope by Debra Clopton

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I recently had the pleasure of reading Betting on Hope by Debra Clopton. I saw this one in the available from Book Look Bloggers back in February, and I really wanted to read it, but I had a few other books to finish first. So when I’d done that, I jumped on getting my copy of Betting on Hope.

Maggie Hope is a advice columnist for a newspaper. Tru Monahan is a cowboy, through and through. When Maggie is assigned to interview Tru for the newspaper (not her normal gig, since she’s not a reporter), things go from bad to worse very quickly. Before either of them realize what’s happening, they’ve made a silly bet (Tru suggests he can teach city-girl Maggie to ride a horse; she’s not so sure) and both of their employers insist they follow through. So Maggie moves into the guest house on Tru’s property, he trains her to ride horses, and sparks fly.

Of course, it’s not quite that simple, but what I’ve given you is a fair representation of the book. There are a lot of side characters and interesting back stories which make this book better than my synopsis.

My thoughts?

I liked it. It took me a long time to get through, but that’s not the book’s fault. It’s simply because reading hasn’t been a huge priority in my days lately. The ending was pretty rushed, but I can forgive that. I really enjoyed the side characters; I thought they added a lot to the story. The back stories of the main characters were interesting, and I could understand why they would keep their histories from each other. But I think the story would have been better served if Ms. Clopton had shared a bit more of the circumstances behind those back stories with the reader, especially Tru’s.

Overall rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Blessings,

ladybug-signature-3 copy

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from Book Look Bloggers in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Regulations.

O, Canada: Our Trip out of the Country {Part 1}

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O Canada

If you follow me on Instagram, you might remember that our family recently got passports. If you’ve been reading my blog for very long at all, you’ll also know that we’re studying French (the language). These two items go together because we’re hoping to take a month next winter and spend it in France. We have to have passports and know the French language to accomplish that goal, so we’ve been studiously working toward making that a reality.

But going to France is a huge goal, both in the time commitment to learn the language and to save up the money to get over there (and still pay the bills at home while we’re gone). And it’s not really very fun to have passports and not use them. So we took a weekend recently and drove up to Vancouver, British Columbia (about an 8-hour drive from our home) for a few days. It was the first time any of the children had been out of the country, the first time I’d been to Canada, and the first time Will had driven in a foreign country. So a lot of new experiences all around.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take pictures while we were there – we forgot the point-and-shoot camera at home, my phone was broken at the time, and Will’s has a cracked camera lens. So we just have our souvenirs and memories of the trip. But that’s okay; we still had a wonderful time.

We left on Friday morning, a little earlier than we normally wake up. We didn’t leave early enough to avoid rush hour traffic through Portland, though, and that was a mistake we’ll hopefully not make again! We stopped for breakfast just over the border in Vancouver, WA, and then pressed on from there. We had lunch outside of Seattle, and made it to the Canadian border just a couple of hours after that.

Getting through customs was a breeze; we didn’t even have to leave our car. When the border agent passed our passports back to Will, Will asked him where we could go to get them stamped. The agent just kind of sighed and held his hand out. Will gave the passports back, and the agent stamped them for us. (With the new passports being fairly high-tech and having electronic components even though they’re still paper, customs agents can just scan the barcode and the computer stores the information. You have to specifically request a stamp. This might be different in other countries, but from the U.S. to Canada, a stamp wasn’t automatically given.)

Once we made it over the border, the gas light came on in our car. This was unfortunate for a couple of reasons. First of all, gas in Canada is much more expensive than it is in the U.S. Even though the Canadian dollar was worth roughly 75 American cents during the time we were there, the gas still ended up being more (about $1.15-1.20 Canadian, per LITER, not per gallon). The other reason this was poor timing for us was because we (Will and I) didn’t have any Canadian money yet. About a month before our trip, we’d gone to the bank and traded the kids’ allowance money into Canadian currency, so they had some, but the grownups didn’t. So we had to “borrow” from the children for gas and repay them after we hit the ATM.

So, through customs and gassed up. Now we were ready to continue our trip!

***To be continued***

Blessings,

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Tales on Tuesday: More Than My Own Life {volume 5}

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Here’s the final piece of More Than My Own Life. I hope you like it.

~*~*~*~

~October 20, 2002~

My breathing picks up the closer I get to Denver. It’s just Jasmine and me in the car, and I’m simultaneously nervous and excited. The day’s finally come that Joshua’s home. I’ve booked a room at the Hilton for tonight so I don’t have to drive the three hours home until tomorrow. Tonight, I just want to enjoy my husband’s company. And I know he’s going to want to spend quality time with Jasmine.

I pull into the parking lot of the same school where I said good-bye to him over a year ago. It seems like it’s been a lifetime; so much has happened. Jasmine is awake and happy, so I take her out of the carrier rather than bringing the whole thing. There are several other excited looking wives, husbands, girlfriends, and boyfriends already here.

About ten minutes after I enter the gymnasium, the doors on the far side open, and the soldiers enter. I look for Joshua; he’s in the second wave of men. I make my way to the front of the crowd, yelling his name. He spots me and drops his Army-issue duffle, and runs toward me. He swoops me up in his arms, and I know there’s no place in the entire world I’d rather be.

A sudden squeal separates us; we’ve sandwiched Jasmine, and she doesn’t like it.

Joshua steps back and looks at the tiny person in my arms. “This is her? Jasmine?” he murmurs.

“Yes,” I tell him, offering our daughter to him.

He takes her, looking nervous, but relaxes quickly. He rests Jasmine on his forearm and gazes into her vibrant green eyes. It’s amazing to me that she fits there, between his wrist and elbow; my arms aren’t big enough to hold her that way, not even when she was a newborn. “Hi, Jasmine,” he whispers.

She coos in response.

I take half a step back to allow Joshua his moment with his daughter.

“You are the most beautiful little girl I’ve ever seen. Your mama was right when she told me you were perfect. Those pictures Aunt Kayla took don’t do you justice, though. You’re so much prettier in real life.”

Jasmine offers him a lopsided, toothless grin—yet another quality she inherited from Joshua (the lopsided part, not the toothless).

His face lights up in response. He glances over at me, but can’t keep his gaze away from Jasmine for long. I know the feeling; she demands attention. We’re going to have our hands full when she’s older.

I gaze at the two of them, mesmerized by the bonding of father and daughter. When he speaks the words I’ve seen written in his handwriting so many times over the past year, my heart melts.

“I love you, Jasmine Mae Bennett. More than my own life.”

  • *¨*•.¸¸*¸¸.•*¨*•

 So, it seems to me that this series wasn’t as popular as I’d hoped, so I won’t be doing another story at this time. If you guys decide you want another one, just let me know. You can do that by commenting on any post or shooting me an email to ladybugdaydreams (at) gmail (dot) com.

Blessings,

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Homeschool Curriculum Review: Real Life Press

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Last school year, the boys and I read the entire New Testament together. This year, I’m sorry to say, has been a lot less Bible-rich. That’s why I was thrilled to have been chosen to review a Bible study curriculum: Firmly Planted, Gospels, Part 2 from Real Life Press. I received PDF versions of both the family study guide (which I used as a leader’s manual) and the student workbook.

The Firmly Planted curriculum was written by Heidi St. John and her husband, Jay. As homeschooling parents of seven children, they really wanted to teach something of true value – not what the media tells our children they need to know. Additionally, they felt that the media was constantly changing, never consistent (which I absolutely agree with). They wanted to teach their children the one thing that never changes: Christ. This was the beginning of Real Life Press.

The Gospels, Part 2 covers stories from the life of Jesus, including two parables, Jesus’s meeting with Zacchaeus, the adulterous woman (“whoever is without sin should be the first to cast a stone”), and several others, going through to the crucifixion and resurrection. Having just celebrated Easter, I chose The Gospels Part 2 (rather than part 1) because I wanted to go over the crucifixion and resurrection in detail with the children.

The parent guide ($9.95 for a PDF) is 102 pages, and it covers everything you need to teach the bible histories presented. They include the full Scriptural text of the stories being presented, as well as a variety of activities using a seed-planted analogy (the seed is the main concept of the story, planting the seed is Scripture memorization, and watering the seedling is a short lesson based on the Scripture). There are also four daily lessons for each bigger lesson, in which you read part of the Scripture with your children and explain some things to them, all laid out for you in the parent guide. For example, in the first lesson, The Parable of the Sower, the day one lesson explains what a parable lesson is as well as why Jesus taught using parables rather than straightforward lessons.

The student workbook ($24.95 for a PDF) includes activities for both older students and younger students (different difficulties of the same activity), which really makes Firmly Planted a full-family bible study. These include activities such as copywork, a self-reflection journal, mazes, word finds, crossword puzzles, and much more. Because the student workbook has all of the activities for a variety of age levels together, it’s 265 pages. Depending on the ages of your children, you definitely don’t have to print multiple copies of that, though.

Real Life Press the Gospels Part 2 student pages sample

A sampling of some of the student pages

The first thing I did was to find an online PDF splitter so that I could print just the pages I wanted/needed to get started without having to sift through the entire document every time to choose the pages to print. I printed only one lesson at a time to help minimize the costs since we print at a copy shop. For the first lesson, I chose to print the upper-level activities for both boys. I wouldn’t go straight into saying that this was a mistake, but I will say that those activities were considerably harder for Munchkin (age 8) than they were for Seahawk (age 11), which surprised me. It probably shouldn’t have, since he is three years younger (he can normally keep up with his older brother academically, no problem), but it did. So the next week, I was more selective in which pages to give him as upper-level and which to give him as lower-level. (He can do the writing and copywork at the upper level, but the mazes and other “game” activities he needed at the lower level.)

As a whole, I really loved this study. It incorporated Scripture fully, and it was very easy to follow the plan. The kids really enjoyed the activities that went along with it (except for Munchkin and the hard maze the first week – there were tears over that!). My only complaint, and it is very minor, is that the pages in the parent guide seemed to be kind of wasteful on the printing front – they were half-pages rather than full pages, and centered on the sheet, so there was a lot of empty space. I would love to see those pages made to fill the 8.5×11 sheet (by combining pages, not just stretching the existing format) or have two instructor pages on one sheet of paper to help cut down on printing costs. (I just didn’t print the parent guide after the first week, and instead read it off of my computer.)

Bottom line: we would definitely recommend this to others looking for a great Bible study. 

Blessings,

ladybug-signature-3 copy

Members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew have reviewed tons of different products from Real Life Press, not just family Bible studies. Click the banner below to find out more about two books – The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Daylight and The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Romance – as well as a lapbooking resource for moms of younger children. Additionally, there will be more reviews of The Gospels part 2 (which I wrote about today), plus The Gospels part 1 and Books of Moses part 2. Just click the banner below to access reviews to all of these products.

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Homeschool Curriculum Review: A+ Interactive Math

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Does your state require standardized testing? Mine does. Not every year, but it’s worked out that both boys will have to be tested this year. (We’re required to have testing done four times during their school careers – after grades 3, 5, 8, and 10.) The idea of doing this always makes me nervous that I’m somehow failing them in what I teach. This is probably ridiculous, but I worry about it nonetheless. What if the products we’re using aren’t enough to teach them what they need to know for these tests? Well, at least in mathematics, A+ Interactive Math is the answer.

For the past few weeks, we’ve been reviewing their Adaptive Placement Test and Individualized Lesson Plan program. This three-month subscription is an intense math course is a series of tests in a variety of subjects that the student should know based on his or her grade level. After a test is taken, the student is deemed to be either “at grade level” or “not at grade level” in that particular subject. If they’re at grade level, then great! You don’t have to worry about your child in that subject. If they’re not at grade level, the program has a huge variety of video lessons and practice worksheets to help the children get to where they can pass the test.

a plus 2

You can see from this image the video lesson player. On the left are the different aspects of the subject at hand – in this case, 3rd grade subtraction. The student (or parent) chooses the one that needs the most work, and a video explanation will play. Then there are practice questions to be done after the video. If your student has already watched the video and just needs more practice before they attempt the test again, that’s not a problem. There’s a separate section with just practice worksheets. It’s all very easy to follow and find what you need.

a plus 3

One of the most encouraging aspects of the program (for the children) is the Progress Report. This gives them a visual of how much more work they have to do to be able to pass the test. On the “racetrack” (really just a colored bar), there’s a line for the goal and another one showing where the student is on their path to success. The drawing of a child starts at the beginning and walks over to the line that represents their current progress.

So, now that we’re all familiar with what the program is and how it works, how did we use it our homeschool? Well, it took the place of our other math curriculum during the review period. Most days, anyway. There were some days when the boys really wanted to do the other one, so on those days they did both. This means that the boys were logged in to their accounts 3-4 days a week, either taking a test or mastering concepts so they could pass the tests they didn’t pass the first time out. I had the boys take one test, then do the corresponding lessons/worksheets (if needed) until they could pass the test. Another option is to have your child take all of the tests and then work on problem areas.

Opinions? Well, that depends on who  you ask. The kids didn’t like it at all. But we’ve had programs like that in the past, and does it mean that they didn’t benefit from it, or didn’t need it? Absolutely not! As a mom, I think this program is absolutely amazing. It’s really eye-opening to see exactly where your kids are sitting on certain topics. It does a great job of showing you exactly which concepts need more work. And it became clear to me during this process that even if the kids didn’t pass a test, that didn’t mean they had to review every single aspect of a particular subject. Maybe they did great on adding without carrying, but messed up every time there was carrying involved. Well, in that case, they only had to practice problems that involved carrying. Long story short, I think if you live in a state that requires standardized testing, you need to give this program a try, even if you think your kids are doing well in math.

You can get a 3-month subscription (this is the maximum they offer – it’s an intense program, remember?) for $24.99 for one student and an additional $10 for each extra student you wish to add. This price is half of their normal, so if you think you might be interested in this, you should jump on it. I don’t know how long the sale will last.

Blessings,

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Tales on Tuesday: More Than My Own Life {volume 4}

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~August 14, 2002~

“You’re doing great, Katie,” Kayla encourages.

I don’t feel like I’m doing great. I’m exhausted, cranky, and I’ve been pushing for what feels like days.

“Does it hurt?” Kayla’s voice breaks through my thoughts.

“Of course it hurts, Kayla!” I snap. “I’m in the final stages of labor, and my epidural wore off about an hour ago.” I have absolutely zero patience left for asinine questions. Who asks a woman in labor if it hurts?

“I’m sorry about that,” Dr. Ian offers. “I had to turn it off so you’d have enough sensation to push, though.”

“It’s okay,” I mutter, not meaning it even one bit. As nice as he’d been eight months ago, I’d really like to throttle him now.

“You are getting there, though, Katie,” Dr. Ian says. “Every time you push, she gets a little closer. I’ve seen her red hair. I’m confident that you’ll bring her here with just a few more pushes.” He looks over at my monitor. “Okay, you’ve got a contraction coming now. Push, Katie.”

Dr. Ian and Kayla count together to ten—much too slowly for my taste. When they finish, I take a deep breath and peer into the doctor’s eyes. “Red hair?” I ask. If she looks like her father, it’ll be almost too good to be true.

“Yes.” He smiles at me.

That confirmation is enough to give me a second wind.

I push through two more contractions, and during the third, there’s a sudden relief.

“You did it, K!” Kayla exclaims. “She’s here!”

“She’s here?” I whisper, unable to believe it. Thirty hours of labor and two hours of pushing, and she’s finally here. The tears of pain and frustration from before turn to tears of joy as I hear my daughter’s first cry. She sounds perfect.

~August 15, 2002~

Dear Joshua,

You have a daughter! Our little Jasmine Mae is here. She’s gorgeous. Her hair and eyes are the same color as yours, but she has my nose and chin: a perfect combination of the two of us. I’m still in the hospital, but I didn’t want to wait even one day longer than necessary to let you know about her. She made her appearance late last night; I wanted to write to you right away, but Kayla made me get some rest. Jasmine has ten perfect fingers and ten perfect toes, and she weighed seven pounds, ten ounces, and was twenty inches long. Kayla took pictures as soon as Jasmine was cleaned up and is at the photo place now getting printouts made so I can include some for you. I know you’ll want to see her.

I wish you could have been here. Kayla did fine, but your sister is no substitution for you. I know that you’re serving our country, though, and I love you for that. Well, I love you simply for being you, but I’m so proud of you for your service.

I love you, and I miss you. Stay safe, and come home to us as soon as you can.

Love,

Katie (and Jasmine)

I’m practically crying buckets by the time I finish the letter; the ink is smeared in several places, but I don’t dare rewrite it. The smudges will be silent reminders within the letter, reminding him that he’s my everything. I just miss him so much. What I’ve written is true — I’m incredibly proud of him for serving, but I’m also scared every single day. I panic a little every time the phone or doorbell rings, terrified that it’s going to be someone from the government telling me that I’m a widow. Those thoughts have been in the forefront of my mind the past month, especially as I grew closer and closer to becoming a mother. Now that Jasmine’s here, I suspect they’ll just get stronger and stronger until I lay eyes on my husband again.

~June 16, 2002~

Dear Katie,

She’s perfect, just like I knew she would be. I can’t wait to get home to meet her. Thank you for sending photographs. Thank you for marrying me three years ago, and thank you for being the mother for my daughter.

I love you (both of you). More than my own life.

Joshua

*~*~*~*~*

Next week will bring the end of this story. I hope you’re enjoying it.

Blessings,

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Homeschool Curriculum Review: Spelling You See

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I spell well naturally. I always have. So does Will. And Munchkin (age 8). But Seahawk (age 11) struggles. So I’m always on the lookout for a spelling program for him that will help him learn HOW to spell (not just provide him with a list of words to memorize, test on, and forget). That’s what the goal of Spelling You See is.

For this review, we reviewed one of the two newest levels of Spelling You See, which is called Spelling You See Level F: Ancient Achievements.

The program was designed after years of research by Dr. Karen Holinga, and the goal is to get students to begin noticing letter patterns within the context of “real” text (as opposed to a spelling list of randomly selected words). The way this is accomplished is by having students read a passage aloud and then search for specific letter patterns within the words. This process is called “chunking” because each letter pattern (chunk) is colored with a specific color. Each passage is worked for a full school week, and the student searches for the same letter patterns each day.

The second half of the program is a combination of copywork and dictation. For the first three days each week, the student copies a portion of the passage (roughly half of it, in an A-B-A pattern). On day 4, the parent/teacher reads the passage aloud, and the student writes it down, doing their best to spell everything correctly. During day 4, the student is “allowed” to ask for help with spelling the words if they need it. On day 5, the student works from dictation again, but the goal this time is to avoid asking for help. Hopefully by working the passage four times before this, the student will remember the letter patterns. The teacher’s manual instructs you to work through dictation for no more than ten minutes per session. Whether your student finishes the passage during this time or not is irrelevant. The goal is to work through as much as possible without overwhelming your struggling speller.

The physical student books you receive in the Spelling You See curriculum are “open and go”; there’s no prep work required. When you purchase the program, there are two elements you need. The first is the student books. For a price of $30, you get two student books (enough for a full year of spelling curriculum) and a packet of Crayola erasable colored pencils to use for chunking. The student books each contain 18 five-day lessons. Each individual lesson takes up a two-page spread in the workbook (one page for finding the chunks, the other for copywork/dictation, depending on the day). The second thing you need is the teacher’s manual, which costs $14. While you might be tempted to skip this purchase, I don’t recommend it. Sometimes those chunks are tricky to find because our brains skip right over them (the “th” in “the” is considered a consonant chunk, for example, because it’s two consonants that make one sound; it’s so ingrained in our heads as just “the,” though, that it’s easy to miss), and you’ll want that teacher manual to help you help your student.

The program is designed to be used 5 days a week for the entire school year. A few weeks ago, we adjusted our school week to run four days a week because we found we were spending all day on Monday running errands and we ran out of time for school. Instead of feeling bad about that, we rescheduled our subjects to make them work on a four-days-a-week schedule. Spelling You See was no exception. Since day 3 is essentially a repeat of day 1, that’s the lesson we skipped. This means we did Monday’s lesson on Tuesday, Tuesday’s lesson on Wednesday, and then Thursday and Friday lessons on the “right” days. The lesson page for Wednesdays contains an extra piece of information (tidbits about word roots, for example) that isn’t on the other days, so we made sure to read that on another day so as not to miss out.

As for what we think about Spelling You See? I like it. I like the open and go format, I like how it teaches students to notice letter patterns that are common in the English language, and I like how easy it is to implement. I especially like how the focus is on how many words the student spells right, not on the words they missed. (At the end of each dictation day, you count up the correctly spelled words and record that number at the bottom of the page.) Seahawk, on the other hand, does not like it. But that’s just because it’s hard for him. He’s not a good speller, remember? He has to work at it. His dislike of the program doesn’t mean that the program isn’t good; it just means that it’s not easy for him. Like most kids, he’d rather play than work, and Spelling You See is work for him.

As we work through our second year of using Spelling You See (I reviewed Level D: Americana last year), I hope to continue to see improvement in his spelling. At the moment, it’s slow in coming. But I am seeing some advances. I just hope it continues.

Blessings,

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To read about other homeschool families’ experiences with Spelling You See, click the banner below. There are 40 of us on this review, and some reviewed Level F like I did, while others worked with Level G.

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