Slices of Life

Today I have a guest post for you all to read.  Please welcome Zara Lewis to Our Unschooling Journey.  She has written a post I am sure that you are all going to love as much as I do!  The Best Ways to Nurture Your Child’s Love of Art Nurturing your child’s inner artist is one of the greatest things you could do for them. A love of art broadens children’s horizons, boosts their creativity and develops their imagination. Children who love art are more in touch with their feelings. They also practice their fine motor skills and work on their patience. If you develop your children’s love of art, you are opening a door for them: a door that leads to a world where they are never bored. Of course, having kids who are able to sit still for a while and immerse themselves in the world of their imagination is great for moms too. Whichever way you look at it, it’s a huge win. So, let’s get to it! Here are some of the best strategies to turn your tot into a bona fide art lov...

I have been searching for a few years for the perfect macaroni and cheese recipe.  While I enjoy most types of macaroni and cheese I find that most recipes usually fall a bit short of my expectations. I like a macaroni and cheese that is creamy and cheesy but I also want lots of flavor and a bit of a crunchy crust.   I think I may have finally created my perfect recipe! After reading so many recipes and combining components of a few different recipes I decided to whip up a test batch. Creamy Macaroni and Cheese With a Crunch Crust Ingredients: For the creamy mac and cheese: 1 lb. pasta, cooked and drained.  4 Tbsp. butter 1 tsp. minced garlic 4 Tbsp. flour 3 cups milk 1 cup 1/2 & 1/2 1 Tbsp yellow mustard 1 tsp onion powder 1 tsp parsley 1 tsp salt Dash of pepper 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded 2 cups "pizza" cheese; our bag was a combination of Mozzarella and Provolone For the crunchy topping: 1/2 cup ...

My family just loves a good trifle and the possibilities are just endless! Rooting around in our cabinets the other day I found I had many of the makings for a perfect Trifle but I did not have enough cake to make a large trifle.  See when baking birthday cakes, I always level off my cakes before decorating and not knowing what to do with the 1/4 or so inch of cake that usually gets cut off the top I tend to freeze it.  I had enough cake to make a few mini trifles so I broke out my Pampered Chef 1 Cup Prep bowl set (the only small containers with lids I have) and set to work making mini cups for everyone! I thawed out the leftover chocolate cake Heated up the caramel sauce in the microwave Mixed up the chocolate pudding according to the package directions Thawed out the Cool Whip and then set to work I put a bit of cake in the bottom of each dish. Topped the cake with a good dollop of caramel sauce. Added a scoop of pudding over the caramel. ...

We had another fun week filled with all sorts of hand- on learning!  We managed to squeeze in quite a bit of book work this week too so I'm quite happy.  We've had the weirdest weather this winter; just this week alone we had snow, freezing rain, rain, hail, and warm, sunny weather (well, warm for New England anyway).  We're taking the opportunity to get outside as much as we can and have been watching some more movies and playing a few more video games when we can't. Friday the boys and I finished cleaning the downstairs so the whole house was finally cleaned!  They also each took their spelling tests, worked on a few pages (or for 15 minutes in Alec's case) on math.  They read too-- Evan reading The Biggest Snowman Ever, Alec read Foxcraft and Ian read a bit more of  The Kidnapped King.  The younger boys played with the game Laser Maze .  I read aloud Darling, Mercy Dog of World War I and another chapter in The Medusa Plot and then...