Sunday, May 31, 2015

Review of the Unplanner by Tavia Armstrong




Are you looking for an affordable planner for your next school year? Do you want to plan your homeschool activities ahead, but find yourself erasing and changing things before you even get to that date? I was recently introduced to a wonderful planner called The Unplanner. It is written by a fellow homeschooling Mom, Tavia Fuller Armstrong, from The Unplanned Homeschooler. This planner is exactly what a homeschooling mom like me needs, and the price is fantastic at $6.49!  I love to plan. The problem is, in our school at least, hardly anything ever goes as planned. When changes occur, I always have to go into all of my "plans" and erase and draw arrows etc. It actually starts to look like a big jumbled up mess. In the past, I have actually bought three different planners, one for each child plus one for myself to try to organize our homeschool. Like Dr. Phil says, "How's that workin for you?" Well...let's just say all four of those planners are still sitting on the shelf in the school room. The Unplanner is different, because instead of planning ahead, you simply record what you did for that day.  One of the best features of this planner is that you have the option to plan, or UNplan, for one child all the way up to six children, and it's all in one nicely bound paperback. You order the one that best suits your family.

What do you get with the Unplanner?  First, do you need to record attendance everyday? Most states require 180 days of lessons. She has a page for you to check off everyday so it's easy to keep track. Next, is a place for you to write all of those to do's, dentist and doctor appointments, etc that we have to keep track of. It's laid out in a monthly calendar form with a space for each day. A great feature of this section is that she starts her calendars in July. We school year round, so it doesn't really matter for us, but it gives other families a jump start on their school year if they go the traditional months. The next section, Year in Review, is where you can record what you did everyday for school. You can add in any grades in this section, or any learning that wasn't done with a workbook or computer. She also has pages in this section for you to record what primary curriculum you are using, so that you don't have to rewrite that every single day. It makes it so much easier to see what your current week looks like, because life happens, and plans change. The fourth section, Learning Adventures, is where you get to record all of those wonderful field trips and learning experiences that just tend to happen everyday. Whether it's a trip to the grocery store or to The White House, there is learning going on everyday. This is a great place for us moms who love to record not only what is being learned, but just plain old memories. Last, but not least, she has a section for notes. We always need a place to jot something down, and this is the place for that.

So, now that you have heard all about this extraordinary planner, you want to know how to order one right? Well it's super easy.

You can order the 6x9 professionally bound paper back directly from Amazon by clicking here.
You can also click on over to her page The Unplanned Homeschooler for other ordering options.

I hope everyone enjoys this planner as much as I have!

**I received a copy of the planner for 3 students in exchange for my honest review**







Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Let's Eat...Cheeseburger Wraps!!


So, I told you in my first post that I cook. A lot. I have made pretty much every recipe that is on Pinterest....and I thank God for that wonderful vault of recipes. I have made great things, good things...and I have made things that I wouldn't feed our dog Jasper. I have decided to put some of our favorites on here.

 So, tonight I present to you Cheeseburger wraps! These are perfect for me, especially on nights that I don't feel like cooking. My kids love these, and you can make them your own with so many variations. They are super fast and easy!  I got the recipe from Mostly Homemade Mom, in case you want to look at the original. This is my take on it, so it's not exactly the same.
  
**Disclaimer** I am not promising cutesy foodie pics of professional quality lol. I mean look at the first one up above, we (being my daughter Edyn and I) didn't even get the inside of the wrap. Score one for us lol. This is real life people!**

Ingredients:

Burrito size flour tortillas
1.5 pounds of lean ground beef or turkey (this really depends on how many you want to make) This is plenty for my family of 5.
1 T of Worcestershire Sauce (I use a little more until I like the way it tastes)
Minced onion if you want to cook it with the ground meat or you could use dried. Totally optional.
Seasoning - Salt and Pepper or whatever you like
Shredded cheese
Deli or Coarse Mustard
Mayo
tomatoes (optional)

Instructions:
Brown ground meat in large skillet (with onions if you choose) and drain. Add Worcestershire Sauce and stir. Let simmer about 5 minutes. 
In a bowl add about 1/2 cup of mayo and about 4 T of Mustard. Now, this is just an estimate because honestly I never measure. You can just adjust to the taste you want. Wisk it together!

Here's what the sauce looks like.

Assembly:
Add a few tablespoons of ground meat to the tortilla. Drizzle sauce down the middle and sprinkle cheese. Finally add tomato or anything else that sounds good to you! 


Fold tortilla like a burrito, and grill on inside grill about 2 minutes on each side, or until cheese is melted. I've used my George Foreman and also just a pan sprayed with cooking spray. Any work just fine. Today I used my grill because it was already out.

That's it! You're done! Cut on the diagonal and serve! You can serve with mac and cheese or just a side of watermelon like we did! Anything goes!


Wednesday, May 20, 2015

First Wordless Wednesday

 
 
Ok, so this is my first Wordless Wednesday post, and I'm...well breaking the rules right now. I just wanted to say I'm so excited about this new weekly post that my friend Brenda from
 Counting Pinecones told me about! I love photography so hopefully I can share and also see some other great photos!
 
This picture was taken at Morgan's Wonderland in San Antonio, Texas
This is a wonderful theme park for those with and without special needs.

 
 
 

Wordless Wednesday at Life at Rossmont

Friday, May 1, 2015

So I wanted to be a Mom blogger...

**Warning** I have decided to be a Mom Blogger....as if I don't have anything else to do. Ha! I'm a stay at home mom and wife, and I homeschool my kids. My heroes are Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman, and Joanna Gaines aka Mom/Designer superstar. I would love to have a dash of Ree's cooking skills mixed with an ounce of Joanna's creativity. That right there would be the ingredients to a pretty cool chick in my opinion! I mean I'm a woman who WANTS to have it all together. I like to pretend I do even when I don't. I mean let's be frank ladies, we don't want anyone to know we spilled our coffee all over our shirt, after dropping the milk on the floor, when you still have tears in your eyes from stepping on those little evil blocks with spikes...I mean Legos. I want you to look at me and say, now that girl has it together. Fake it until you make it right? Maybe in writing this blog, I can figure it out along the way. Don't hold your breath lol.
   I wanted to start this blog so that I can keep a journal of what we do (and not have to bore everyone on Facebook lol). It's just a little look into our lives here at Anchor Academy. We chose our school name based on Hebrews 6:19 "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure..."
So why ABC's and Sweet Tea? Well because that pretty much sums up my day.  When I'm not helping the kids with their lessons, I'm standing in the kitchen making tea. No really...we drink an illegal amount of sweet tea in this joint. I mean we live in Texas, aka the sun, and it's HOT!
   I cook. A lot. I use my family as guinea pigs for all things Pinterest. I'm currently on a mission to meal plan a month at a time, plus eat healthy...ugh. Meal planning for 5 people is hard enough, throw that word "healthy" into the mix, and I am just over it. I want to eat healthy, I would just rather have someone plan all of that for me, and of course cook it too. A girl can dream right?
So getting down to business,  let me introduce all of us so you know who I'm talking about. First off, there's me Tasha, Mom, wife, Lolli, friend, depends on who you ask.


I love Jesus and my family. I love to read and crochet (how Little House on the Prairie right lol) and help our kids along on the journey of learning. I have been officially homeschooling for 2 years. I love it. I wish I was led long ago to do this, when all of my kids were younger, but God has a plan and maybe I just wasn't ready.

Next up my husband A.J or now Pop. He is my rock and I couldn't make it without him. He's funny, handsome, sweet, LOVES hamburgers, and a little bit weird..in other words, perfect for little ol me. He works very hard so that we can have the things that we do, and I am able to stay home with our kids. That is such a blessing to me, and I am extremely thankful for him every. single. day.


Meet my firstborn, my sweet Bay, and my newest pride and Joy, my grandbaby Mila. 



Bay is funny, smart, and extremely talented in anything creative and a wonderful Mommy. Bay was actually public schooled and graduated last year. She is a licensed cosmetologist, but right now she is a stay at home mommy, hoping to start her own business in baby clothes and accessories. She made me a Lolli about 2 months ago to my sweet Mila Rose. Yes I'm Lolli and my hubby is Pop, so our grandkids can come to LolliPops house!  I never knew that there could be such a wonderful extension of love from your children. There are no words! 

Ok so for the ones that are homeschooled. These 3 silly kids! This pic was before a field trip and they were all so excited....well maybe except for Drake. It was early, and he doesn't do excited and early in the same sentence.

Ok, so about my sweet Drake.
He's going to be my next baby up for graduation.:( He may be 17, but will always be my baby. He loves all sports, and playing his PS4. He's planning on starting EMT school in January, and then he will go to college to become a certified paramedic. I'm so proud of him!

On to my 3rd born, Edyn.

This beauty, Edyn, has so much going for her. She's 13 and a mixture of sweet and sassy. She's very talented in her love of photography and makeup. She has dreams to be a makeup artist, but also to have her own photography business. I can't wait to see her excel in both!

Last but not least, Mr. Gavin.

He is 10 years old and a real character. You never know what he's going to say or do. He loves Legos, Minecraft, Nerf guns, and anything that has to with pranking me, his dad, or his siblings. He's sweet and has a wonderful heart for the homeless. His plans are to become a chef, and open a restaurant that can feed the homeless.

So, that's a little bit about us. I hope you enjoy this little look into our lives and what homeschool means to us.
We are just a crazy little family living it up in Texas and drinking lots of sweet tea!