Dec 16 Weekly Wrap-up

How's your past week been?  Most homeschoolers here have been finishing up for the year, but we're going to push through a few more days next week before calling it quits for the Summer break.

In our homeschool ...

Maestro has made further roads into learning about physics.  He began working through Newton's laws and will continue to finish this module (10, from Apologia Physical Science) in the next week.

Mariposa's science has introduced her to nutritional labels.  Her interest in cooking will help encourage her through as we learn about reading the labels on foods, but she was rather overwhelmed with the terminology of carbohydrates, proteins and fats as each was broken down into different groups.

History is still taking us through the early American times.  We also found that our library stocked the Doctor Quinn Medicine Woman dvd series, so we've been watching some of those.  I think they'll tie in nicely to what we've been learning and the children can enjoy viewing some episodes during our break.

Maestro's been learning how to prove triangles in Geometry, while Mariposa learned a little about Pythagorus in Mathematicians are People Too.  I have a copy of What's the Angle Pythagorus, so we'll read that next week, along with some paper craft to make some 3D shapes.

Socially speaking ...

We had LOTS of things happening here this week!  As I mentioned in opening this post, many homeschoolers were finishing up at the end of this week, so we had a break up party at rollerblading on Friday afternoon.

Earlier in the week, Mariposa's friend came to stay the night, and then both girls went to horseriding on Tuesday morning.  We're going to have a repeat of that again next week.  It's been lovely to see their friendship developing and shared interests encouraged. :)

Maestro has also been planning his summer break outings with his friends.  I know one of the ideas on his list includes a trip to the cinema to see "The Hobbit" when it's released.

Then today we had a relaxing lunch with friends, with a pleasant visit to a park for a walk around the lake, play on the equipment and shooting a few basketball hoops.

At home ... 

Our back sliding door has arrived!  It was installed on Tuesday morning.  We need to stain it, but it was raining during the evenings this week and we haven't yet done it.  It's not going to be a big job, so should be finished during the week if the weather stays fine for a few days.  After that job's complete, we need to make the back steps, then the pergola can go up.

If you remember, we had to tighten our budget even further to help save up for this sliding door.  It's been going so well!  It's a bit of a pain having to write down absolutely EVERYTHING we spend and check against our weekly allowance, but the diligence is paying off.  I'm absolutely amazed at how well we can manage, and how creative we can be in the kitchen when we just have to make do.  The key has been that little envelope I keep in my purse, where I write down all the grocery spending for the week and only purchase within our limit.  We even had a couple of dollars spare this week!

We also have a broody hen; the first one for this season.  We were kindly given a dozen fertile eggs (from the horseriding instructor), so we've put eight in the nest.  We daren't put all of them under the hen as they'll be too many and we'll probably have breakages.  But we're excited! New chicks are a possibility in early January.

AND .. we found that a little nest has been occupied by a thrush.  She's been there before in October, when we first spotted her flying in to the tree to feed her three chicks. They were already quite grown when we discovered them the first time.  Mama thrush is obviously comfortable there, so has gone back for a second clutch this year.  No photos of her now, as she's nestled down tight, but we'll keep a careful eye out without disturbing her too much.  Here's a photo of October's chicks, only a couple of days before they flew the nest.

I hope you all have a great week this week!!

Until next post,

Catherine

Read more Weekly Wrap-Ups at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers
and It's a Wrap at Hammock Tracks

Dec 9 weekly wrap-up

I enjoyed filling in the calendar page this afternoon, writing in everything that happened AFTER the event.  I know! It's supposed to be the opposite way around, so I remember what's coming up.  Ah well! :)

The year's winding up and I've had several music students finish up their lessons for the year.  Most of my afternoons are freeing up, and with no more dance lessons for the children, we're enjoying a more relaxed routine.

We're also winding up with our bookwork.  Only two more weeks to go and we'll have a break over summer!

In our homeschool ...

Mariposa has finished another Singapore Maths book.  Instead of starting the next book, we're enjoying reading Mathematicians Are People Too, and learnt about Thales.  She really enjoyed the story of the donkey who didn't want to carry a heavy load across the river, and how Thales trained it to change it's behaviour.

Maestro has moved to some early Physics concepts in Apologia's Physical Science.  It's the first time he's used these formulae, but he's enjoying the change in topic.

Both of the children have worked on their spelling and improving really well.  I'd been a little lax with Maestro's spelling, but have pulled him back in with Mariposa's lessons (ie: they both work on the same list) using IEW's Phonetic Zoo.  The word list is not at all 'babyish', but based on learning the phonetic rule and recognising base words with their suffixes. Even though he is a really good speller already, I want him to keep up the practice and stay familiar with the rules. I'm so impressed with the improvement Mariposa's made with her spelling over this year (she's had to struggle with reading problems).  She's really done well with All About Spelling, and now Phonetic Zoo is challenging her that little bit more.  Here's a sample of all the words she's now able spell correctly:

This sample is from the Teacher Notes sample

found in pdf HERE.

We're still working through the same read-alouds: Johnny Tremain and Iron Peacock.  I'm hoping we'll finish these during next week.

We've also been doing some great lessons with Papa about goal setting.  I'll have to write up a separate post about that, so be sure to check that out soon.

Socially speaking ...

We enjoyed a lovely visit with a friend on Monday; ALL of Monday. It was an early morning start to make lunch up to take with us, and then we didn't get home until dinner time.

Wednesday night was coffee out with the local homeschooling mums.  I ended up chatting a lot with a lady I didn't know too well, but who shares similar ideas of growing her own produce, teaching her children sewing, cooking, building ... a lovely night spent sharing stories and ideas. :)

Then on Friday afternoon, the children went to stay overnight with friends whilst Papa and I went out.  We were given some complimentary tickets to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

In the home ...

It's been about the cherries!  I worked my way through all of them very carefully, so they're all washed, picked and now bottled (if not yet eaten fresh!)  The cherry pie made during the week was such a success that I've had to promise to make it again soon. Seven jars of cherries are now cooling off as we speak, and I can hear the random 'click' of the seal taking hold in the lids.



Our tighter budget was a success with our grocery shopping.  During the week I came across a great blog called The Fun, Cheap or Free Queen.  She has a very simple, workable idea for tracking spending weekly.  It was most helpful, so I hope to make it a success through the rest of the month.

You will also notice, if you've visited here before, that I've been playing with my blog page (again!).  I want to fix the header up some more, but that'll be when I get some time to figure it all out.

Hoping you all have a wonderful week ahead!

Until next post,

Catherine

Read more Weekly Wrap-Ups at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers
and It's a Wrap at Hammock Tracks

Budgeting for home improvements

This week we've been thinking over our budget again. You probably noticed that from my last post about the economics of keeping hens! (smiles!)

Last night Papa and I sat down for an early 'end of month' meeting.  We started having these meetings as we approached the new financial year, and it's been great to share the responsibility.  Isn't it funny how a couple can look at the whole budgeting picture differently, though?  I like to make sure I go through the budget at least once a week, tallying everything spent and checking we're keeping to our monthly limit. Everything is set out on the computer in Excel.  Papa likes to see the whole total for the year mapped out per category and deduct the amount spent in an account book.  We both have a laugh at how the other works it out ... but it still works out, and we both know what's going on rather only one of us keeping an eye on the family finances.

Our early meeting last night was to give us an idea of how much we could spend on more home maintenance projects.  The back pergola is coming along.  Papa's using the poles and beams we moved to make a semi detached pergola to the back of the house (ie: the pergola will go up freestanding, but with brackets attaching it securely to the wall).  However, before it finally goes up, we need to replace the back window with a sliding door.

The sliding door ... is going to be costly. Sigh!  There's no way around it.  We can't buy anything pre-made due to the dimensions, so we've had someone come to measure it up and give us a quote for a 'made-to-measure' door.

What are we doing to get that extra amount together?  Well, we've had a few options.  The first was to cut our spending.

• I'm being more diligent with our fortnightly menu planning and shopping.  It's meant we have to be creative, but it works.  We've pulled the budget back and using more unprocessed foods (ie: cooking from scratch), which has already given me another $300/month from the usual amount spent.  Take away meals have been completely ruled out!  The children have been challenged to help make the meals as interesting as possible, so home-made pizzas, baked chips, frozen fruit and yoghurt 'ice cream' are on the menu a few times.

• We're also being very strict with car trips.  Checking out the prices at the pump and trying to anticipate the next price rise is tricky, but we've managed to get it a few times before the 16 cent price rise.  Dear me!  Buying petrol is like buying shares these days!  Once filled, we have to make it last as long as possible. 

• I took advantage of a second-hand curriculum sale yesterday.  Calculating that I did have to travel in the car to get there, with road tolls, made the decision to do this a little risky.  I could hope to break even at best, but it ended up we came out ahead.  We moved a heap of things from the bookshelf and only brought back a fraction of what I took.  Well worth it!

• Finallly, we're carefully considering all the educational costs we plan for next year.  We'll have to cut back on the more expensive excursions (except those already paid for).  It's true, I do allow a fair bit of money toward the children's education, and I don't regret it at all. It's still a LOT less than private schooling.  Most of it's been on books though, and I think we're pretty much set up for the next few years bar Maestro's new math books for next year.  So, we're being a bit brutal and aiming to cut costs by 1/3 for 2013.  This is the only way we can pull a bulk of our savings in to account for the purchase of that back sliding door.

Well, that's the plan.  If anyone has other suggestions on cutting a tight budget back, I'd love to hear from you!

I'll leave you all with this great article I read just recently, called "The Simpler Way" (downloaded as pdf at that link).  It was recommended on Rhonda's blog: Down to Earth.  It's a great read, with food for thought on what we choose to spend our money on, and HEAPS of tips about simpler living.  (Follow Rhonda's link: A Simpler Way to a Greener Future).

Until next post!

Catherine

How cost effective is it for us to keep hens?

We've been keeping chickens for several years now.  Actually, I think we started keeping them about the same time I started up this blog.  What is it?  At least six years now?

The chicken housing and run was all made up by recycling pallets and wire we already had, so the initial outlay was just for the 5 hens, which only cost us $18 each back then.

Our flock has changed in a number of ways.  We started by keeping the Isa Browns, who are wonderful layers.  They kept us with eggs, even through winter, but then we found that egg quality deteriorated by the end of the second year, which sometimes affected the health of our hens as well (becoming egg bound).

Then, we happened to have an Isa Brown go broody (a very RARE occurance), so we made the most of it and put some fertilised eggs under her.  Those eggs were from Australorps, and the two surviving chicks which hatched from that clutch are now still with us.

Our first Australorps, hatched December 2009.

Here's where our hen keeping became a little more economical, although also experimental in that first trial year.  It now costs up to $25 for a pullet, but only $5 per fertilised egg.  We learned a lot with our first lot of chicks, and since then have only put confirmed fertilised eggs under any broody hens, close to the time of hatching to minimise the risk of losing any.

Of the various breeds we've had here, I find I have a preference for the White Sussex and Australorps now.  The Isa Browns like to boss the other breeds (yep, don't keep Isa Browns with other breeds). They are also quite adventurous. I don't know how many times we'd find they'd managed to 'climb' over the fence ( .. we had one who, despite having her wings clipped, could get a foot hold on the fencing and flutter up and over).  One bird regularly decided regularly venture into the neighbour's backyard, which became a nuisance as she was an elderly invalid.

The other side of the coin, though, is that Australorps and White Sussex go off the lay in winter. They also aren't regular layers, so the no. of eggs collected per day vary. Three months without a regular supply of eggs, but still having to keep up the feed, and an irregular no. of eggs coming in, has caused us to think through the economics of keeping hens.  As of the beginning of November, I've started keeping a tally of eggs coming in, eggs sold and feed costs.  Here's what the figures are looking like so far:

Feed - $15 / 20kg bag.  The hens go through 1 1/2 bags per month.   Total = $22.50

No. eggs collected over last 3 weeks with 10 hens = 116; averages 39 eggs / week.

Eggs sold: 6doz @ $4/doz = $24  ... averages to 2doz a week = $8, therefore $32 return a month.

If we only get 9 months of regular eggs collected per month, then I can expect $288 a year income.  With feed costing $22.50 for 12months = $270  ..... hmm, I'll have $18 left for a few fertilised eggs this summer.  Yep, we're kind of just breaking even.

I HOPE we'll have a better egg yield now that it's warming up.  The notebook will definitely be used daily to record what's happening and see if it's a better economical choice to go back to Isa Browns.

Homemade laundry liquid

Here's a little job I've been waiting to try once our supply of laundry detergent had run really low, and yesterday I did it!  I wrote out the laundry liquid recipe from Down to Earth, went out and purchased the ingredients, then got to work making our first lot of homemade laundry liquid.

It only took 1/2 an hour to make, tops, and was so very easy.  When mixing the ingredients on the stove, the Lux flakes floated on the top for a while.  When it was all finally getting hot enough, the soap dissolved and the liquid thickened and became opaque.

I did find that the soap mix stayed a little lumpy when it was then added to the cold water, but a good shake when it had been distributed into the bottles (recycled milk containers) helped.

We even did our first wash with it in the afternoon and everything came out lovely and clean.  A blood stain on Mariposa's blouse, after a fall, came out easily after a little prewash soak using this mixture.  A tablecloth with a little wine spillage also came out clean.  Everything smelled fresh, even though I didn't put any fragrance into the mix.

So, 10 litres of laundry detergent made for around $2 ... and I'm happy!
If we use 1/4 cup per wash (more for heavier soiling), which means approx. 160 washes until I'll need to make up some more.

Thank you for dropping by!

A weekend treat: Pecan Pudding

Does anybody else do the once-a-month deal of eating from whatever's already on-hand in the kitchen for a week?

This is something I started doing quite a while back, and it's become a little tradition. Mind you, it's not easy when the staples like flour, potatoes and rice start disappearing. By this weekend just gone, I had to go to my store cupboard and pull out another 25kg sack of wheat grain out to put into the pantry. The last of the brown rice went Thursday night, and we still have a couple kg of potatoes in the basket.

Our Sunday menu looked very interesting, but we certainly didn't starve at all.

Breakfast:
Museli with tinned pears.

Lunch:
Potato wedges (tossed in a mix of plain flour and garlic powder, then placed on baking tray with a drizzle of oil, into a hot oven on the top shelf). I had a little cream cheese left, so I warmed that to have with some sweet chilli sauce (if anyone wanted).
Apples.

Dinner:
Creamy vegetable and lentil soup. This was simply a sauteed mix of 1/2 a brown onion, 5 celery stalks, 2 large carrots and a small head of broccoli. Add 1 cup of red lentils, enough water to cover liberally, and some chicken stock cubes. Cook until tender and then puree.

Earlier in the day, I'd found a small packet of pecans hiding away. Aha! Pecan pudding. This is so yummy, and makes enough for 8.

Pecan Pudding:

1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
80g butter, melted
75g pecan nuts, chopped

Into mixing bowl, sift flour and brown sugar together.  Add pecans and toss through to coat.
In a separate bowl mix the milk, melted butter, and beaten egg.  Add to dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
Spoon into greased oven proof dish (1 litre capacity).

Sauce:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
1/4 cup golden syrup
1 1/4 cups boiling water

Mix brown sugar with the cornflour until smooth, then sprinkle over the pudding base.
In a small jug, add the golden syrup to boiling water until well mixed, then carefully pour over brown sugar and cornflour mixture.

Bake in a 170degC oven for 50 minutes, or until topping is golden.  Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes until serving.

We found a little vanilla ice cream to go with ours, and it was very YUMMY!

Savings workshop

Several months have passed since I was first told about the Saver Plus program offered via the ANZ bank (Australia). Well, I FINALLY got in touch with them and have now been signed up for a month.

The program is actually run by the Brotherhood of St Lawrence, and involves a couple of 2 hours sessions on money management. A small group of us got together to discuss general budgeting ideas and share ideas or products that may not have been previously known. We had some fun, and shared lots of interesting pointers. I think the best I came away with was that reading up on Money magazine c/- of the library is worth some time. There are plenty of recent updates about new savings plans with banks, the best phone deals, etc.

We had fun deciding on 'NEEDS' vs 'WANTS'. As everyone's family situation is different, how we categorised differed to some extent. I also learnt that my 'savings personality' was more the 'Penny Pinching' kind. I guess that's something you learn, as I know my mother was like that, and I have other siblings who are very similar.

Thankfully, though, I was able to share one tip that was seen as very helpful. It something I've shared before, and know that many other bloggers do also. It's all about knowing what's in your pantry and fridge/freezer, then menu planning so as to control the spending in the supermarket.

Once a month we try to have a minimum spending week. I go through the pantry and fridge/freezer and list what we DO have in stock. Then I try to create a menu to fit around those food items, making everything stretch as much as possible so as to avoid another shop that week. It always surprises me what I'd forgotten about, like a few pieces of puff pastry in the freezer, or a can of mixed beans and a packet of sago in the pantry.

I also had a nice big piece of beef rump I'd bought at an excellent price. I cut into some smaller pieces: 8 medium sized 'steaks', a decent amount for a beef & mushroom stirfry, and the remaining piece for a hearty beef & barely casserole.

MMMmmm! That casserole was good. So good that the children asked if I could make it again sometime (which I will). Here's how I cooked it:

A small piece of beef rump (around 300g).
Put into a stock pot (or crockpot) and pour over boiled water from the kettle (this sears it, minimising scum and avoiding having to seal the meat with oil).
Add a collection of diced vegetables (not the potatoes yet), 3 tablespoons of tomato paste, a beef bullion and 1 cup of pearl barley. Make sure all is well covered with enough water.
Leave it to slowly cook away on a low heat (or crockpot set on 'high').
Check meat after several hours to check tenderness. I then removed it and diced it up, but you could just shred it if desired.
Add in 2 diced potatoes. When potatoes are cooked, serve.

I served these with some pastry pieces.
2 pieces of puff pastry. Sprinkle one piece with some grated cheese. Place 2nd piece of pastry over the top. Cut into equal portions.
Lay on baking tray and sprinkle with sesame seeds, then bake for 20mins, or until golden brown.


Getting back to the Saver Plus program, check the ANZ site HERE to see if you qualify. The current program was going to be ending some time soon. I am not sure of another launch date at this stage, but enquiries will probably inform you of any updates.

Green pea soup

We tried something new for lunch today, and it only took around 15 minutes to prepare: green pea soup.

Take 1/2 cup of frozen green peas and 1 cup of chicken stock (per person).
Cook through, then blitz quickly with the blender. Season to taste and serve in a mug. This was sweet, smooth deliciousness.

River Cottage inspiration

I'm forever thankful that our library stocks so many wonderful resources. A recent wandering along the dvd shelves helped me find a new dvd called "River Cottage: Spring and Autumn". The censorship of M because of language had me a little concerned, so I started watching this once the children went bed.

Well, it didn't take long before I realised that this was actually a great dvd to share with the family. The M rating is a precaution about some 'slang' used occassionally (yes, a bit of bad language) and about showing some animals being slaughtered, but there was ample warning given to 'look away' before seeing anything.

The dvd series starts with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall helping a group of families in England's suburbia start up a community garden. This was lovely to see, and is a continued theme throughout all 4 dvds. The families learn to grow their own vegetables, then raise pigs, chickens and milking goats .. all in smooth transition, so nothing is too overwhelming.

Foraging is another theme that runs throughout, and part which we really enjoyed. It was just after seeing Hugh collect gooseberries that Mariposa and I decided to go berry picking the other week. Since then, we discovered that an apple tree is growing on the side of a main road near us, which was being foraged by another family. We may go back and see if any fruit's left on it, although we really do have enough apples from our own tree to keep us in supply for some months.

Now, what I learnt the most in watching this was in the apprentice butchering sessions. I know that we don't have any of our own livestock, but for frugal reasons alone, I think this is a skill worth having. So, I sought a copy of the River Cottage meat book to borrow. It didn't have all the 'hands on' information I was after. However, the opening pages have already taught me a lot about the importance of properly hung meat, the aging process of meat, and how supermarket packaging is more about keeping the water in for weight, destroying the integrity of the meat in the meantime. Of course, lots of lovely recipes fill the bulk of this book, but I'm still looking for more relevant information.

The next book I sought out, from a different library, looks to have more of the information I'm after: Basic Butchering of Livestock and Game. I've also added this to my Book Depository wishlist: The Butcher's Guide to Well-Raised Meat.  So, I've got my homework set out for me again.

It's coming up to that time of the year when we usually order a whole lamb from the butcher. We'll be chosing butchers very carefully now, and maybe even asking for the lamb to be pre-cut only into manageable sizes so we can have a go at finishing off the rest ... maybe?! It'll certainly be something worthwhile doing at some stage, and letting the children learn along with us.

Baking .. and Peanut Butter Cookies

I really enjoy baking! I get to choose the ingredients, usually based on whatever supplies are left in the pantry. It's often a pretty quick job, too, to get a batch (well, a double batch .. saves cooking time again later) all done, then top up the biscuit tin. The joy of being able to pop them out on a plate for afternoon tea when a friend calls in is also most satisifying.

My children are growing up, and part of that means a very healthy appetite. I'm giving them more responsibility in the kitchen, which makes it fun keeping track of pantry supplies, but I do want them to manage some independence also. Maestro has a couple of quick desserts down, including a 5 minute chocolate pudding (c/- an email post-around) and old fashioned golden syrup dumplings. He also really likes porridge in the mornings. Mariposa has managed to perfect some lovely 'jam surprise' muffins (plain muffin mix, but add a tsp of jam in the middle of the batter). Yesterday she helped Papa with some French toast and a smoothie.

We're trying to be very frugal again when it comes to shopping (yes, I did get a little slack!) I'm back to making my weekly menus, with the second week of the month being where we try and use up as much as we already have before going for another shop.

Yep, you guessed it! It's the 2nd week and we're using everything up! I think we've made up a pretty good menu list. There are a few staple groceries we'll need, and one fresh chicken to buy, but we should have a nice variety. Here's what's on the dinners list:
- Lambshank soup; using diced veg, herbs, and barley.
- Tuna patties, served with salads
- Marinaded chicken pieces (drumsticks and thighs with Cajun seasoning) served on rice with veg. (.. I freeze the breast meat for another meal).
- Vegetarian pasta bake
- Roast lamb and veg. .. and an opportunity to try some of the rosemary jelly I made a little while ago!
- Chicken soup with noodles (ie: thin spaghetti)
- Baked potatoes served with baked beans (modified by adding some herbs & grated veg), salads


Back to the subject of baking, though. Here's recipe I haven't used for a long time, but it's so very easy! I have a large tub of peanut butter left, so why not use it?!

Peanut Butter Cookies
(makes approx. 30)

1 cup plain flour (wholewheat or white)
1/2 cup self-raising flour (or plain flour with 1/4 tsp baking powder)
1 cup rolled oats
125g butter, melted
1/2 cup brown or caster sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 heaped tbsp peanut butter

1. Prepare 2 baking trays with baking paper. Preheat oven to 180degC.
2. Mix flours and oats into large mixing bowl.
3. In medium saucepan, combine butter, sugar, honey and peanut butter. Stir until melted. Add to flour mixture and stir until just combined.
4. Roll heaped teaspoons of mixture into balls, then flatten slightly with fork. Arrange on baking tray.
5. Bake 10 mins. or until lightly golden.  Allow to cool on tray a little before transferring to wire cooling rack.

Sunny Summer Days continued

Following on from my previous post, I'll fill in some gaps of what I was hoping to share before I went off on a tangent.

I mentioned that we went visiting a fair bit, and one place we went was over to the mountains to visit my youngest sister. She is now living in a peaceful town where the birdlife is vibrant and Puffing Billy runs along their back fence. Can you see it there, in the background? We weren't quick enough to catch it going the other way as it was headed downhill, but on the uphill trip we had time to grab the camera, and wave to the passengers.

I also found a lovely selection of new dvds and books from our library, one of which I'd like the children to read next. It's very much a 'living book' for English titled the "The Return of the Word Spy". Ursula Dubosarsky writes in an interesting, conversational fashion which is also a lot of fun. Here are some samples I couldn't resist sharing (click to enlarge).

As far as dvds go, we've been watching "Bleak House" and "Lark Rise to Candleford" (series 1) from the BBC. These have been lovely, and I've been surprised at the interest the children had with Bleak House in particular (although, I think a lot went over their heads ... and Maestro is now interested in reading the novel).  We're now watching some episodes of the "Lark Rise to Candleford" series, which is just delightful.


On the home front, our window painting has halted with the rain and hubby's return to work. Here you can see that one window has it's undercoat on; the other front windows are sanded and taped up ready to go. Even the bird feeder will get it's coat of paint soon .. when the weather dries up again.

In the kitchen, I'm having my very first attempt at making fermented ginger beer. Rhonda has all the instructions over on her blog, Down to Earth. I started making this batch last Thursday, so hopefully we'll be ready to bottle it up by the end of the week. The only set back I'll have is if I don't get enough plastic bottles by then .. and I'm thinking that asking around the neighbourhood won't go astray (yes, we do have some lovely neighbours who don't mind passing on their recyclable rubbish!)

Oh, and last of all, I'm so glad that our hens are laying so well at the moment. When we were visiting our friends (see previous post), most of their hens were having grief from mosquitoes, so laying was erratic. We were also told how some egg suppliers now dye their eggs brown, to promote 'wholemeal eggs'. Now, I haven't seen any labels on egg cartons, but it's something worth checking.

Freezing fruit

We're enjoying the bounty of Summer now, with tropical fruits becoming available in the markets.

I bought us some mangoes in bulk, which are just delicious, but there are only so many we can all eat before they show signs of spoiling. The quickest way to save them is to slice up all the fruit and place on a tray. Put them into the freezer, then once frozen, remove from the tray and store in freezer bags.

Now the fruit is ready to be used for yummy fruit smoothies whenever we like.

Bananas freeze well, but are best eaten/used when still frozen.

For young children, insert an icypole stick into banana pieces

for an instant healthy 'icy pop' treat.

Smoothies:
Choose a selection of fruits and put into a blender.
You can add fresh fruit to the frozen if desired, eg: berries, or fresh bananas. (Mango alone is very bland.)
Add cold milk and yoghurt if desired. Blend until very smooth, adding more milk as necessary.
Yummy for breakfast, or a snack.

Weighing in the costs of homeschooling, literally

I admit, I haven't been asked this question too often lately: "Doesn't homeschooling cost more money than sending (junior) to public school?" It certainly was a topic discussed with friends in our early homeschooling years, so I must have answered it pretty well to not warrant any further investigations.

Actually, how DO you answer that question? There are so many choices as to how you homeschool that will determine where the literal dollar is invested. Most homeschooling families are only on one wage, so a careful analysis of the home budget is something that will need your time.

All government subsides aside, lets take a raw look at those things that you need to consider. What are the basics you are going to need?

I think it would be pretty obvious that a basic set of stationery would be a need. The items you choose can be as simple as a pencil case with a couple of lead pencils, a pen, eraser, sharpener, ruler, and coloured pencils should get you started. Then there would be the paper, lined and/or unlined, coloured project paper, maybe an exercise book, or a binder for the loose pages.

I kept our earliest stationery costs to a minimum by purchasing a craft pack from Homeschooling Supplies. It was designed to have all the required bits and bobs a 4-7yr old would need to get the phonic craft projects done, with some to spare. Purchasing a pack like this was certainly a lot cheaper than having to buy bulk packs of paper, glitter, special cards, etc. In fact, I've gone back and purchased those packs independently of the phonics books so that we had that 'minimum' array of stationery and craft materials on a rainy day. (Look up "Phonics - Kit Parts" and you'll see two art packs available.)

Our stationery 'wants' have also played a part in our expenses, especially as the children grew older. Some of these items were small whiteboards per child, with the accompanying markers. I also bought a comb binder for our book making. It's been very handy for me in binding up all those free books I get online, too. Finally, I also bought a laminator.  From this I've made up my own flashcards, calendar for the children to practice 'making' the date, protected reusable pages such as the handwriting guide and number board (yes .. a future post here), and some games I've made up.

Okay, so we're set up with stationery, but we still need to teach our children. From what do we teach? "Well, books!" I hear most of you say. Choosing a curriculum can be daunting when you start out, so just start slowly. I think if you can get hold of some good fiction and junior non-fiction from the library, you can have literacy, copywork/handwriting if you take sections of what you or the child is reading each day. Better still, you can use that selected piece for copywork to highlight some pointers on grammar too.

Maths is one subject that will most likely be a first priority as far as looking for a text, unless this is a talent you have and you can adequately break the learning into smaller steps quite easily. Don't underestimate the library again, here. For the junior years, there are copious books written on counting, sorting, ordering, etc. If living books are your choice, then don't overlook the Living Math site for lesson plan ideas and their wonderful list of books per learning area.

Math manipulatives can be quite simple in the beginning. I kept small tubs of bottle tops, pegs, buttons and a number board I printed off showing the groupings in tens (from 0-99). A set of cuisenaire rods and base ten blocks weren't purchased until we were doing groupings (around grade 2).

The other subject areas could be done through library books also, that is to select a theme and then write up some of the highlights learnt, in the form of a unit study. Science, history and geography can all be done that way.

But what if you are looking for an actual curriculum? Why do people like myself choose a more expensive program like Sonlight?

Well, for starters we homeschooled with the basics as I've described above. Unfortunately I didn't blog about our homeschool happenings then, but yes, that's what we did. Then I purchased some very basic books from Homeschooling Supplies. These assured me that we were 'covering our bases' and it was my real first point of contact with another homeschooling family (yes, we started out not knowing any other homeschoolers, but that's another story.)

As my circle of homeschooling friends and knowledge increased, we began to realise there was a whole other world out there. There actually were books for homeschoolers, and in many different flavours for learning styles. Okay, I'm going on a bit of a tangent here, but that really was a factor that began to influence where the money got spent. This was where we had to do some serious budgeting, because over the course of the next few years the question WE were having to ask ourselves really was "Will homeschooling now become the more expensive option?"

We liked the literature that Sonlight offered, but knew that most of the books weren't available in our Australian libraries. We'd have to buy them, somehow. We had to budget carefully after doing research on purchasing and resale values.

I highly recommend the following points in planning your homeschool budget:

- Keep a list of books or courses that you find may be of interest.

- If you can arrange it, meet with others who can show you some of what they are using. The homeschool forums are great for this. Ask questions! Meet new people and you'll most likely find that many will be most willing to share.

- When you're quite adamant about the books you'd like to use, shop around. I keep an Excel spreadsheet of suppliers and do cost comparisons. Some places I like to check out regularly are Book Depository and Christianbook (check their 'Homeschooling' page often for weekly or monthly specials). If you're after a really good price comparison on new books, then Booko is worth checking out (for those buying in Australia primarily). It compares Fishpond, Amazon and many others. Realise, though, that it's not an exhaustive list of suppliers.

- Then contemplate how many of those things can you source secondhand, on loan from a friend, or even better, for free? Op shops often have a very high turnover of educational books, so ask if they can hold an encyclopedia set, or music books, for you. Libraries usually need to turn over their stock, too, and we've acquired many free books from the librarian who is looking to give them a new home. Again, too, don't overlook asking for "Wanted to Buy/Borrow" through the TRP homeschool forum, or check the list of classifieds on AHS Classifieds. You may also choose to sell on any books you've already decided you no longer need, for no advertising cost on either of these sites.

In my left sidebar there are lists with links to homeschooling forums, homeschooling links and sites offering teachers helps and ideas (many of which are free). I update this if anything in particular does grab my attention (remember ... I use my blog as a bit of a reference tool too, so if I want to find something later, it'll be there!)

One thing I haven't yet mentioned are those 'extra curricula' activities. We have dancing and music lessons. I know this an extra expense, but I've put the income I receive from helping to make the dance costumes and my singing students into the picture here. If your family does do a sport or another hobby, this needs to be considered also.

Well, I don't know if I answered the question of price comparisons, really. I don't know if I can give a blunt 'yes' or 'no' as there are so many factors involved. To do an absolute comparison, you would need to find out the fees a school is charging, the number of excursions in which they participate/cost, uniforms and shoes, and any other supplies that may be needed for your child.  You won't need to sell your books for each child so as to acquire the latest edition, either. What I can say is that homeschooling can be tailored to fit into your budget quite well. It doesn't NOT have to cost that much, without compromising on what you will help your child learn. Making use of the free resources around you first is a good way to start, especially if you're trying to find your feet. It's most likely that you'll be investing time researching either way, which is absolutely the best way to go before spending.

If you'd like to read input from others who are sharing their advice on the cost of homeschooling, jump on over to the Homeschool Blog Cruise.

House Account Monthly - August

I've decided to join a monthly meme at The Legacy of Home called Meme for Prudent Homemakers. I'll share bits of our budgeting experiences plus any tips/lessons learnt along the way.

1. Did you record all your spending this month?
Yes, I do this at the beginning of each week as a matter of habit.

2. What are your goals for keeping a ledger?
Ultimately we want to be debt free. That is no mortgage, no loans. We've always been very careful, but it's too easy to 'guess' we're okay then find later we're not. It's so much better to be accountable, therefore 'mind your account'!
This is an example we're teaching our children, also.

3. Do you have a success story to share?
Actually, this month I do. ☺ I divide our monthly allowance into fortnightly amounts. This is due to the fact that the pay comes in then, and it was a way of tracking smaller goals.
Well, I'm happy to say that we were almost $100 UNDER for our food budget after doing the minimal shopping week challenge last week. We're also just under for the other consumables (petrol, pet food, etc.)

On top of this, the annual home insurance was due. Ouch, that's always a lot of money, but a prerequisite of the mortgage agreement. Hubby decided to phone the company and ask if there were any benefits to being a customer with them for 15 years. Yes there were, AND there was another special going as well. So another $200+ saved thanks to one phone call.

4. (Optional) How are your children doing with this? Any cute sayings from them, or progress in their financial education?
The tax return cheque arrived today, so it was a perfect opportunity to show the children how to take it to the bank and fill in the paperwork.

5. Any helpful resources you've found? (such as a website, link to an article, or book)
To be honest, I hadn't really been looking for any last month.

6. Were you able to put aside some savings this month?
Yes!

7. Comments or Thoughts?
We watched a couple more episodes of "Gourmet Farmer" last night. There is an episode where he decides to sell at the local market with a friend, so puts in an enormous amount of work for seemingly so little return.
It was interesting to talk about how we, as a family, spend a lot of time doing certain jobs, especially food preparations, that do take a lot of time. However, the experience in the skills developed, the quality of food, savings made by only purchasing basic ingredients and the social interaction make this so much more valuable than any price you'd pay in a supermarket or restaurant.

Living an artisan life through a dvd

Sometimes it really pays to have a good browse on the library shelves. You never know what's been added to the collection!

Gourmet Farmer grabbed my attention. You know all those warnings about "Don't judge a book by it's cover"? Well, I judged this dvd rightly. Even the librarian told me that she'd heard it was an excellent watch. And it IS very interesting.

Matthew Evans decides to move from a prestigious job of Sydney's food critic to that of a farmer in Tasmania. He claims to know nothing about the goings on at a farm, and this proves true in the viewing. Just tonight (accidentally watching the second disc first!) we saw his first attempt at milking his newly acquired cow. By the end of it all he seems to have mastered the new skill okay to get by, working toward his goal of becoming a true artisan farmer.

ABC Shop sells the dvd. There's also a blog through the SBS site HERE.  The language is a little coarse, but other than that it's good family viewing.

Baked fish patties with polenta crust; roasted capsicums

I've set myself a challenge this week, as I'm want to do quite often, and that is to limit our menu to whatever is already in the house. If I can help it, I'll only be buying in some fresh fruit this week, and carrots ... I'm out of carrots! (They're almost a staple in our house.)

Today we started with a breakfast of homemade yoghurt and cereal. Lunch was kindly donated by the chickens: egg and lettuce sandwiches. Tonight was a little more challenging as there were a few fridge items that needed to be used as soon as possible. I had some lovely red capsicums, 1/4 a cabbage and the remaining florets of a cauliflower. So, I got to thinking how we'd use these tonight. What I came up with is 'sort of' a Mediterranean take on fish patties with vegies.

Firstly, I roasted the capsicums under the grill to give them all a lovely black, blistered skin. These were all then transferred to a paper bag to sweat and cool down. Once cool it's an easy job to just peel off the skins. Some virgin olive oil warmed in a saucepan with some chopped garlic, then with the capsicum strips tossed through, makes a lovely quick side dish. (Do this last step just before serving.) This is just lovely with roast lamb, too .. warm or cold.

Whilst the capsicums were roasting, I had the potatoes boiled and cooling ready for the fish patties. My fish patties are pretty simple: just potatoes, a tin of drained fish (tuna or salmon), some dill, salt & pepper all mashed together. Shape into patties and let cool completely.

I tried a different method years ago to avoid frying the patties and it's become my preference now. Instead of bread crumbs after the flour and eggwash stage, I use polenta (also known as corn meal). It gives a nice crunch and has a sweet 'nutty' taste.

Finally, a quick toss in the wok to cook the remaining vegetables (cabbage, cauliflower, an onion, garlic, plus a 1/2 cup of frozen peas) and dinner was done.

I really like sweet chili sauce on these patties, but some of the family still went for the traditional tomato sauce (ketchup).

For the rest of the week, we'll use more of what's on hand, plus the fruit I'll be buying in for snacks:
Monday ~ oatmeal porridge; pita bread pizzas (tomato, cheese, olives); roast lamb & vegetables.
Tuesday ~ omlettes; lamb salad; vegetable pasta bake (sauce: onion, celery, carrots, tomatoes, beans)
Wednesday ~ oatmeal muffins and banana smoothie; grilled sandwiches (usually cheese over tapenade or sliced tomato); remaining lamb warmed with gravy served with rice and vegetables.
Thursday ~ oatmeal porridge; egg and lettuce sandwiches; vegetable soup (prepared in crockpot) served with pasta.
Friday ~ yoghurt and cereal; remaining soup and toast; honey/soy chicken drumsticks on rice with salad. (I'll post my recipe of this at a later date.)
Saturday ~ eggs on toast; sandwiches; most likely something with pasta or leftovers .. I will have a tin of tomatoes left, anchovies and lemons, so possibly something simple there.

Family accounting review

We're only a couple of days away from the end of this financial year. Our attempts to be very diligent to our budget have been, in the main, successful. Well, up until today when the car broke down and hubby had to get a tow back home, then another tow to the mechanic. Grr!  Well, what can you do? Try your best and aspire to manage your assets as frugally as possible.

I've stuck to my system of budgeting as per last year's post (see HERE) and it's worked really, really well.  A weekly collection of all the receipts and an hour spent working the tallies has payed off to us being ready to face the tax man promptly and quite organised.

All our educational expenses have been listed and categorised into claimable and unclaimable items.  You can check your eligibility and requirements for the education rebate on the government's tax site.

Now, here's something else available to Australians, in particular those with a Health Care Card.  ANZ have a scheme whereby you can 'double your money'.  A friend was telling me about this, but we're yet to follow through ... it's on this week's "To Do" list.  There are, of course, a list of prerequisites, but the money ANZ gives to match the maximum you can save each month can be used toward education expenses.   The scheme is called ANZ - Saver Plus.  Worth a look!!!

I'm almost done setting up next financial year's record keeping.  Only a few minor adjustments have to be made to the excel spreadsheets and I want to get my 'wish list' all ready for the next lot of Sonlight purchases.  MMmmmm - more books, lol!  But yes, we do have enough to keep us going for at least another 3 months.

A new ironing board cover

It's one of those "I'm gonna do it soon .." jobs.  I don't know how many times I've pulled out the ironing board and bemoaned the fact that the cover needs replacing. Well, today was the day to get this task done and it only took a couple of hours.

The op-shop has been a great place to find material, in the form of unwanted single sheets. For $4 I found a pretty double bed sheet, still quite new (or maybe it was new!?), which will suffice for this project plus a few more.

First of all, I folded 1/2 a flannelette sheet into a few layers and literally tacked it onto the ironing board to create some padding, using a doubled thick cotton thread.

Next, take the old ironing cover and lay it onto the fabric .. instant pattern!

Cut it out with a seam allowance (I allowed 1.5")

Next cut 3" strips of fabric on the bias and join all the pieces at an angle (45deg). This forms the casing around the perimeter of the cover.

Fold the casing fabric over and double topstitch into place.

If you have cord, thread this through the casing. Or, what I did was to trim off the side hems from the sheet, fold and sew along the length to create a cord.

Once threaded through, fit the covering onto the ironing board. Voila!
I think I only used about $1 worth of the fabric, so I'll get creative another day to make a few more items, like a peg apron.

Fish in filo

I like experimenting with quick, but healthy meals for the family.  Here's one I thought others may enjoy.  I've used this idea for a few years, but not put it up on this blog before.

I usually purchase blue grenadier in the freezer section at Aldi, prepackaged.  Ideally, I like buying it fresh at the markets, but this is the next best thing.

Two larges pieces of fish are thawed then cut into half for four servings.

To do this, use filo pastry: 2 pieces per person.  Lay them flat and put on your fish fillet, then top with a few slices of any vegies you prefer.  I've used tomato, zucchini (especially since it's zucchini season!), a sprinkling of dill and a small dab of butter.

Then just fold over the sides and roll it up into a neat parcel.

Place on baking paper and put into the oven (around 180degC) for 1/2 hr or until the pastry is browned.

If you decide to bake some chips with these, as I do, you need to get them started 1/2 hr earlier in a hot oven (200degC).  Simply cut your potatoes into wedges, toss them in a little olive oil (and lemon zest if you like), spread onto baking sheet and put into oven.

It's nice getting into the kitchen again

My kitchen work has been a little neglected with all the sewing I've had to do, but now that is all over I was very keen to start back into the baking and basting.

I'd bought a whole lamb from a new local butcher.  He charged $6/kg and I've managed to stock up my little freezer to the maximum.  So, I using some of the loin chops for dinner tonight, marinading them in a mixture of sliced onions and garlic, some olive oil, splash of red wine, plus a sprinkling of this spice mix picked up from Aldi.

My hubby's Argentian, so I hope this brings back some memorable flavours.  I know the packaging says it's for beef, but we're trying it on the lamb anyway tonight.  The spices listed are: salt, paprika, sugar, mustard, garlic, black pepper, dried onion, green paprika, chilli, bay leaves, citric acid, and lemon oil.

I'll serve this with baked potato wedges and salad.

Also, time to bake bread!  The past few days we've bought bread and it's just not the same.

I store the wheat in tubs with wheels in the bottom of the pantry.

Loading the hopper on the mill.

I like to mill my flour as I need it.  It tastes much sweeter that way as the wheatgerm oil can go rancid quite quickly.

This trusty flour mill has served my parents well, and as you can see, received a few dints over time.  It still runs really well, though, and if needed can be operated manually without electricity.

Flour caught in a shallow tin.

Sunbeam mixer mixes and kneads whilst I watch over the children's schooling.

I can make 3 loaves at a time (or 3 doz. bread rolls) without too much time and effort.  Again, electrical equipment comes into play, but it helps when you've got several things going at once, especially children requiring tutoring!

If you'd like to see my basic bread recipe (which is a modification on a "No Knead" variety), go here.

Or, a for variation, try the pizza rolls.