Sesame Chicken

I switched up our menu plan for this week and made the Sesame Chicken last night because several of us had been craving Chinese food. We love, love, love Asian food (Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean...) but it is a special treat to order take-out from our local Chinese restaurant. I had seen this recipe on Pinterest and thought it would be a great substitute for take-out. Sesame Chicken is one of the most requested items on the take-out menu and enjoyed by all seven of us.

I, of course, had to triple the recipe for this crew. I served it with steamed rice and sautéed vegetables.

This was a big hit!

Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day {Review}

 

Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day by Jeannie Fulbright is published by Apologia Educational Ministries, which is a Christian company that produces quality science curriculum for homeschooling families from a creationist perspective. It is written for grades K-6. For this review, we received the hardcover textbook ($39) and the regular note booking journal ($24). There is also a junior notebooking journal for younger students ($24).

Austin and Ben have both been animals lovers since they were little tykes, so I knew they would be excited to add this curriculum to their school day. Austin is a little old for this curriculum, but I love that it is flexible and interesting enough that both he and Ben can work on it together. We have used some of the other Exploring Creation books in the past and enjoyed them immensely, so we were very excited to receive our new books in the mail and get started. Apologia uses a Charlotte Mason approach to science, which involves reading, narration and note booking. It is a gentle and easy approach to teaching and learning, and one that I personally prefer.

The textbook is packed full of interesting facts on many different animals, their habitats, scientific classifications, Bible verses which correspond with the lessons, as well as beautiful colour photographs. 

There are 14 lessons in the textbook, which include:

Introduction to the Animals of Day Six
Carnivorous Mammals
Caniforms Continued
Feliform Carnivores
Marsupials
Primarily Primates
Rodentia and the Rest
Ungulates
Order Artiodactyla
Orders Squamata and Rhynchocephalia
The Rest of the Reptiles...and Amphibians
Dinosaurs
Arthropods of the Land
Gastropods and Worms

The boys are reading the lessons on their own and then coming to narrate to me what they are learning. They take one week to read through the lessons, each of which has multiple sub-headings. At the end of each lesson is a fun, interactive experiment for the kids to do. Then they take one week to work through the notebooking journal. 

I have to add a humorous photo that involves the buying of the supplies for the first experiment. I had forgotten to purchase the necessary candy and asked Bob to pick some up on his way home...

Here the boys are working on their first experiment which demonstrates predators and their prey, using coloured pieces of candy and coloured paper. How easy would it be to find the prey in a the laundry basket filled with coloured paper? This was a creative way for the boys to see how difficult it would be to be a predator to prey that is similarly coloured to its habitat and surroundings. And how fun that their "prey" happened to be candy!

The notebooking journal contains a wealth of activities, including crossword puzzles, copy work, stickers and a place to document the experiments. It also lists supplemental books and movies to go along with each lesson. 

We highly recommend this curriculum and are looking forward to continuing with the remainder of the material!
Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. 

Winner - The Utter Relief of Holiness!

Sorry to be a little late in choosing the winner. I stayed off of the computer almost all weekend, which was very productive in getting some things accomplished around the house. Yay! Today I am catching up on blogging.

Random.org chose #4! Congratulations to Wendy!!! I will email you shortly.

Thanks to everyone else for entering. I will have more reviews and giveaways coming up soon!

Have a great week! xo

Weekly Menu Plan {11 February}

Monday - Bean soup (have had this on the menu for two weeks and still haven't made it), cornbread

Tuesday - Oven Barbecued Chicken, broccoli, pasta

Wednesday - Leftovers

Thursday - Stuffed peppers, sautéed kale, salad

Friday - Sesame chicken, rice

Saturday - Fish tacos with creamy cilantro lime cabbage

Sunday - Fettuccine alfredo, salad


Happy Monday!!!

How I Lead My Children In Worship

One of my favourite things about home education is having the time in our school day to include worship and prayer to our God. This is a significant part of our morning and one that I try not to let slip. If we do go a day or two without it, we cannot wait to get back to it!

I remember reading a devotional by Jeannie Fulbright several years ago that said this:

If I could tell moms only one thing that would help their homeschooling, 

having regular morning devotions would be it. 

Truly, nothing else has blessed our homeschool experience more.

(You can read the entire post here: First Things First)

I could not agree more. Having time in the mornings for time in the Word, prayer, worship and being in the Father's Presence is crucial to everything else we do and really, to who we are. We have learned and are learning to wait before Him (not always patiently), to press in to what He wants to say to us. And we have learned and are learning to hear His voice.

I thought I'd share what we do because I have had a couple of moms ask, out of curiosity or out of wanting some encouragement to do something meaningful with their own children.

We start out reading a chapter from the Bible. We do not always go in order, from Genesis to Revelation, but we happen to be doing so at this time. I pray and ask what book God wants us to read and hear from Him. Right now we are in Leviticus and I am reading it from The Message version. 

Then there are two email messages that I receive on a daily basis and I usually read both of those aloud to the children. The first one is The Spirit Of Prophecy by Bill and/or Marsha Burns. The second one is The Elijah List by numerous prophetic ministers from several different countries. Both of these emails are FREE. SOP comes Monday through Friday. The Elijah List is every day.

If there are any reports from our friends in Kenya, we read those, as well. If not, we continue on with our journal. I record items under the titles "Prayer" and "Thanksgiving", as well as any dreams anyone had the night before. (It's a great idea to document dreams, especially if you think they have a prophetic significance.) Our journals have served as a tremendous tool in reminding us what God has done in our lives and the lives of those we have prayed for, how He has spoken to us in specific situations and in showing us the themes that were present in the past. It is a great practice to look over our journals at all the "Ebenezers" (from 1 Samuel 7, meaning "the stone of help" which signifies a symbol of remembrance for how God provided, intervened, came to our rescue) and give Him thanks and praise for who He is and what He has accomplished.

After we record items under our "Prayer" and "Thanksgiving" categories, I turn on my Pandora app on my phone and we listen to several different worship songs, anywhere from 3-10.  I just click through until I find something that is fitting. It's just personal preference. We take time to focus on Jesus and worship Him. This can involve dancing, raising our hands, bowing before Him, sitting, lying on the floor, etc. 

There is no formula. 

Our goal is to worship Jesus and focus everything on Him and to be led by the Spirit in doing so. I truly believe this is the most important thing I can teach and lead my children in (and yes, academics are important to me, but I believe that being in God's Presence, praising Him and hearing from Him are crucial to daily living).

And then after we have spent a little time (or a great deal of time on some days) in worship and praise, we pray. Sometimes we are just voicing what we have written in our journal, other times we are just listening. Sometimes I just encourage the children to speak out whatever the Spirit puts on their hearts, which may be something we have discussed and written down, or not. 

One of the biggest things the Father has taught me, and the children, in turn, in the past 10 years or so is about spiritual warfare. I'll leave that subject for a whole other post, but we are very aware that speaking our prayers, our decrees and our declarations are a form of standing with the Father and against the enemy. We also speak directly to the enemy in our offensive strategy against him. We give praise to God and we stand firm against the devil. This is something we are given the opportunity to practice over and over. I consider these practices to be basic life skills and again, crucial to daily life.

I just want to close by saying that even though I am writing this from a homeschool mom's perspective does not mean that I think moms whose children are not homeschooled cannot or do not lead their children in worship. 

In fact, I'd love to hear from you. What does your worship and prayer time with your child/children look like? 

Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship,

for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.

Psalm 85:15