Wordless Wednesday

Viva La Veggies

Our family, ok -- it's really just my husband and I, are committed to healthy family eating. One goal that I have is to eat a minimum of 4 servings of veggies a day. And, salty corn out of a can does not count. : ) As a former junk food junkie, this has been a challenge. However, it is amazing how much energy I feel when I am eathing right. Oh, and I have also dropped 40 pounds so far. ; )

Here are some principles that have really helped us:

1) Get a simple vegetarian cookbook and use the ideas to make vegetarian lunches. Recipes like Brown Rice Salad can be made the night before! Barnes and Noble and Borders have these types of books in the sale aisles all the time; that's where I picked up mine.

2) Instead of potatoes or white rice with dinner, make a second veggie. For us, that often means one cooked veggie and one raw one. For example, cooked carrots with raw broccoli or mashed cauliflower with raw baby carrots. For men or teens, add a slice or two of flaxseed or whole wheat bread.

3) Make a rule that snacks will include a raw fruit or raw veggie and have these readily available. I love to keep a beautiful fruit bowl on the kitchen counter. Cheese, nuts or low-fat popcorn are optional.

4) Every time you leave the house, pack a cooler of food. Bring water, fruit, low fat cheese sticks, baby carrots, almonds, and other healthy snacks. This will prevent you and the kids from getting over hungry and stopping by the McYuck Drive Thru.

5) Get the junk food out of the house. Your kids don't need it, and neither do you. When your kids' palates are used to high salt and heavy sugar, it will take a few weeks to acquire a taste for clean, fresh foods. Persevere -- instead of following your children in their bad habits by enabling them, lead them toward better choices. This is going to take time if you are a junk food junkie like I was.

Eating more fresh fruits and veggies will lay down a foundation for a lifetime of healthy habits for your children and your grandchildren. We can serve the Lord better with healthy, strong bodies than with frail, tired ones!

From Our Nature Notebook

Miss M sketched this chickadee yesterday. I think she did a beautiful job! : ) We are studying backyard birds and have had quite a few chickadees at our feeder. Miss M read that they supposedly are easy to coax into feeding from your hand, and she is going to try just that! The Handbook of Nature Study confirms that these friendly birds are easy to tame.


She also read about the habits and lives of the common backyard robin yesterday. We have not seen any robin's nests in our backyard this year as we have in past years, though. Did you know that a hungry baby robin must be fed every ten minutes by his busy parents?

For more information and an observation lesson on chickadees, see Handbook of Nature Study pages 68-69.

Menu Plan Monday - Lunch Menu

This week we will experiment with intentional leftovers at lunch time. These particular recipes are old standbys at our house! I am also following the Eat Clean breakfast/snack lists (downloaded from the Eat Clean Magazine website) pretty closely, and trying to drink lots of water. It is amazing how eating well makes me feel so much better in such a short time! I am committed to eating clean until the end of May and will reassess in June.

Thankfully, the Saving Dinner Low Carb system is in line with Eat Clean ideas, and it saves me from having to plan out a shopping list or pick out recipes. I am the type of cook who just wants to be told what to make and exactly how to do it; I am not very creative in the kitchen at ALL! We are still finishing up last week's Saving Dinner menu, and will start a new SD menu Wednesday.

Snacks this week are choice of: watermelon, apples, bananas, low fat cheese sticks, raw pumpkin seeds, almonds, almond butter on Ezekiel bread, plain yogurt with chopped banana, baked blue corn tortilla chips with organic fresh salsa and baby carrots, peppers or cucumber with roasted garlic hummus.

MONDAY/WEDNESDAY

Mexican Wrap – whole wheat tortilla wrap or other flat bread, fill with heated, vegetarian refried beans or chili beans (a can is fine but dry the beans well), crispy lettuce and some cherry tomatoes. Put a spoonful of salsa on top. Serve with fresh fruit.

TUESDAY/THURSDAY

Wild & Brown Rice Salad – Toss together 2 1/2 cups of cooked and cooled Wild/Brown Rice Blend (I buy the pre-blended type so I can cook it altogether), 3-6 chopped green onions, 1/3 cup craisins, raisins, or dried cherries, 2 T chopped fresh cilantro, 1 T chopped fresh parsley with Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing (I love Paul Newman's). You can make this the night before and store in the frig. Just before serving, top with pecans or cashews. Serve with fresh fruit.

FRIDAY

Hummus, Tomato & Cucumber Sandwich. Serve with fresh fruit and cheese sticks.

Weekly Report

School here will be light from now until August, so I may combine weekly reports. We did a bit of this and a bit of that - mainly focusing on nature study and health. Personally, I have been working on my nutrition/fitness goals, and I have happily noticed Miss M following my lead in this area by reading nutrition labels and being aware of more mindful eating. Today when her friend asked her for something sweet to eat, she exclaimed, "Oh, we are trying to avoid sugar around here. It's not good for you, you know! How about a whole wheat bagel?" : D

English:
Nothing too formal here. Miss M did a notebook page on Cardinals, and she made several dog-themed bookmarks. They turned out really cute!

Handicrafts:
Did some crocheting and made some bookmarks for gifts. Her crocheted scarf will go to some special person she will not reveal!

Math:
No math this week. I did have her measure her windows for new blinds and draw out a diagram.

Nature Study:
Backyard birds. We filled our bird feeder and put a small bath out on the deck. It has attracted sparrows, chickadees, blue jays, cardinals, and crows so far. We read Nature Friend articles, read some backyard bird books, and did a sketch. It has been wonderful being aware of all the beautiful bird songs around us every day! It has been satisfying learning what bird songs are sung by which birds. We are loving nature study.

Family Reading:
Miss M's free reading is The Thief Lord. For read-aloud time, Iron Chef finished Seven Daughters and Seven Sons and began The Phantom Tollbooth. His personal reading is Saint by Ted Dekker. I have been rea ding Clean Eating, (and trying to follow the principles pretty closely) Oxygen, the book of 1 Kings, and Joy Hakims's Reconstructing America.


Other School News
I recently got my first desk. That's right, I have never had my own desk in all my years of homeschooling! It is a large, cherry-colored, U-shaped desk with tons of work space and storage. It was acquired from Craig's List for a song. I love it -- no more having to clear everything off of the dining room table every day! Also, my teaching materials and office supplies have been reorganized. Since I have most of my curriculum here for fall and it has been nice for all of it to have found a 'home!'

Outside teaching projects
Also got confirmation that I will be teaching four homeschool science classes in the fall, with kids ranging in age from first to eighth grades. I have been busy getting my program and materials organized for those classes. Teaching Sunday School at my home church will be another fun project this summer. Our church's theme will be 'It's a King Thing!' (exploring the Kings of the Bible), and I am looking forward to do some teaching and organizational work with this! It looks like a great summer program. I think the kids will learn a ton and have a blast!

That's about all we are up to right now. How was your week?

Curves Alternative

The idea of circuit training is a good one - maximize your workout time by doing both strength training and cardio. However, not all of us have the time or money for a gym membership. A few years ago another homeschool mom shared her idea for home circuit training using your stairs. I absolutely LOVED it and have used it to this day.

The basic idea is to run (or walk) up and down the stairs 2-3 times, depending on fitness level, and do some exercise reps, like push-ups, at the top of the stairs. Repeat sets of strength exercises with running up and down your stairs. This circuit workout is based on this same idea. You can always switch it up by doing different exercises. I like to put on a Bible-related internet stream while I work out, such as New Living Translation (Dramatized) (I am studying 1 Kings currently) or "Renewing Your Mind" by RC Sproul at oneplace.com.

I haven't worked out in a couple of weeks, and I am feeling pretty feeble. Here is my plan for this week combining ideas for upper body/abs from the Bikini Workout and the at-home circuit idea. I figure that waking or running those stairs is plenty of work for my lower body at this point. : ) Exercises will be on a towel (since I don't own a real workout mat) at the top of the stairs, 10-15 repetitions.

First, stretch out and warm up. I like to also open in prayer and then turn my music or teaching on when the workout starts.

1. 1 set Ab Crunches
2. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
   
3. 1 set Ab Crunches
4. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
5. 1 set Push Ups
6. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
7. 1 set Push Ups
8. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
9. 1 set Oblique Crunches with Twist
10. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
11. 1 set Oblique Crunches with Twist
12. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
13. 1 set One-Arm Side Push Up
14. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
15. 1 set Bicep One-Arm Side Push Up
16. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
17. 1 set Tricep Dips
18. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
19. FINISH BY MOVING QUICKLY BETWEEN EXERCISES: 1 set Tricep Dips
20. 1 set Ab Crunches
21. 1 set Push Ups
22. 1 set Oblique Crunches with Twist
23. 1 set One-Arm Side Push Up
24. 1 set Tricep Dips
25. Slowly walk stairs (up and down) 4x - recovering and breathing deeply
    

Stretch out and cool down a bit more if needed.

End with a prayer of thankfulness for at least 10 things today! Making a decision to get our bodies and appetites into submission is a choice to have greater energy and greater vitality in serving our King!

Fitness Tracker
Day 1: Did #1-18 followed by cool down. It took 20 minutes or so? Will have to work my way up! Listened to 1 Kings Ch 1-8 on audio.