Tuesday Weigh In - 150 Calorie Snacks

So, I'll just let you know up front...I'm no nutritionist.  Here at Tuesday Weigh In, I'm just attempting to share with you what has worked for me.  And sometimes what isn't working.  And I can tell you what hasn't been working this week...my will power.  It has been a hard week for sticking to my calorie count.  Ugh!

But, it's a new Tuesday and a new chance to try again.  So let me review my calorie goals with you...

1500 calories a day as follows:
Breakfast: 300 Calories
Lunch: 400 Calories
Afternoon Snack: 150 Calories
Dinner: 500 Calories
Evening Snack: 150 Calories

Today, I'll share a few of my favorite 150 calorie snacks with you.  Feel free to share some of your ideas in the comments below!  If you decide to write a Tuesday Weigh In post, let me know.  I'll add a link to your blog in this post.

-container of light yogurt with 1/4-cup of low-fat granola

-2 whole graham cracker squares and 1 tablespoon of peanut butter

-100 Calorie Snack pack and a small bunch of grapes

-90 calorie Yogurt cup and 1 low fat string cheese

 

-12 carrot sticks and 1 TB ranch

-15 almonds

 -1/2 of a whole-wheat English muffin topped with 1 wedge of Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese.

-1 small apple with 1 TB of peanut butter

-popcorn and a cup of hot tea

 

 

Join me each Tuesday, for weight-loss and healthy lifestyle tips and accountability.

Tuesday Weigh In

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The Toddler Diaries Meets Blogging in the Bluegrass



My good friend, Marcy from Ben and Me is hosting a Blogging in the Bluegrass series this month.  Several Kentucky bloggers are being featured there including yours truly!

Today, a special Toddler Diaries post titled Beading with Toddlers can be read at Ben and Me.  Check it out!!



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Reading Kingdom

     I am simply amazed at the rate that children can learn to use technology.  My one year old can pick up my iphone, press the button at the bottom to turn it on, slide the safety lock across, press the itunes app, and turn the music on.  No one instructed him how to do this.  He figured it out himself!  It took me like three weeks to figure out how to listen to my itunes!  I digress.

     So needless to say, computers are pretty popular around here and since they have limited access to them, my kids are always chomping at the bit to get some computer time.  Access to the computers are usually only given to the "big kids".  But E5 is our stuck-in-the-middle child right now.  He's just on the cusp of being transferred from being grouped in with the "little four" to what will soon be "the big five".  He is beginning to learn to read and has had some access to the computer with the help of his older siblings.  But at his heart...he is fiercely independent.  He really wants to do it on his own.  For this reason, I was super-excited to have the opportunity to review Reading Kingdom.
  
From the Reading Kingdom website:
The Reading Kingdom is a fun, easy-to-use online program that teaches children 4-10 years old how to read and write to a third grade level.

Most kids can use the program on their own after just a few lessons.

It's fun so children think they're playing a game and want to practice.

It was created by Dr. Marion Blank, Director of the Light on Learning Program at Columbia University and one of the world's top experts in reading.

It works with any other curriculum a child may be using.

It's the only program to offer customized online reading instruction for each child.

And, it's the only system that teaches all 6 skills needed for reading and writing success!

     Setting up E5's account was easy and within no time at all I was sitting next to him watching him take the Skills Survey.  Since Reading Kingdom is set up to customize to your child, they recommend that parents do not help at all, especially during the Skills Survey.  E5 completed the survey (which to him was much like playing a fun game), and not surprising to me, he was placed in the beginner "Seeing Sequences" where he would be taught visual sequencing skills.

     There are two ways for the child to operate the lessons.  They can use your keyboard, or they can use an onscreen keyboard by clicking the letters with their mouse.  I definitely did not think E5 was ready to use our keyboard as he is still just learning to recognize letters.  The onscreen keyboard includes lower case letters as well for students who have not yet completely learned which lowercase and uppercase letters match.

     He would "play games" such as the one above.  A word will be listed above and E5 is instructed to click the letters in order from left to right.  If he doesn't do it fast enough, he will prompted with helps like highlighted letters.  To E5's delight, the characters such as the puppet above will animate once he gets the correct answer.  On the next screen, he will generally have a similar activity but the screen and animation will be completely different.  As he progresses through the levels, he earns points that open a new animation in a book that he can view at the end of his lesson.

     Each lesson takes approximately 20 minutes to complete which seems a little long to me, but E5 has yet to tire of it.  As a matter of fact, he always politely asks for "just one more lesson".   E5 has been using Reading Kingdom about 3 days a week and each time I have let him complete at least two 20-minute lessons.  However, there have been a couple times when he has completed 3 or 4 in one sitting and still asked to do more.

 

     As a parent, I can access E5's reports to see what level he is on and if he is doing well or 'needs attention'.  E5 can progress through the levels even if he still 'needs attention' in them, but as the parent I can request that he repeats a level or advances through to the next.  Reading Kingdom also sends me E5's weekly progress reports via email.

 

     After using the program for a month, I can say that I have definitely seen major improvements in E5's computer skills (using the mouse, operating the program, etc.).  I think Reading Kingdom has also been useful in helping him to follow directions and stay focused (which he struggles with - but Reading Kingdom requires him to follow the tasks quickly and accurately or he will be prompted to start over).  I also think his letter recognition has improved.

 

     However, I have yet to see any phonics education happening through Reading Kingdom.  The sounds of the letters or words are not discussed.  Also, even the names of the letters are never said.  E5 will be shown letters and then expected to find them on the keyboard, but the names or sounds of the letters are not at any time said aloud.  Also, he will be shown a word, such as 'dog'.  Then the word will disappear and he will be prompted to choose the correct letters from his keyboard.  If he doesn't choose them fast enough, the word will reappear so that he can look at them and match them up.  When he gets it right, finally the word 'dog' will be said aloud.

 

     That being said, we are still at the very beginning of the program since E5 is still so young and at such an early stage in his reading development.  We will absolutely continue using Reading Kingdom for the remainder of our school year and I am excited to see how the rest of the program develops.  For now, I would have to say that I would definitely recommend this program to parents, but I would use it along with a really solid phonics program.

 

     Here are a couple more screen shots from Reading Kingdom.  We haven't yet progressed to these levels, but I wanted you to see how fun they look...

 

 

 

 

    You can create a Reading Kingdom account and use it for free for 30 days.  Then, you may purchase an account for $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year for your first reader. Additional readers are $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year.  Check out the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog for more reviews!

Disclaimer: I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the last few years. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to participate in review groups and I have enjoyed trying out these products and giving you my honest opinion. Pin It Now!

Everyday Homemaking

 

One of the reasons I have always truly enjoyed reviewing products through the Schoolhouse Review Team is because I am often introduced to new homeschool companies that I may have never known about and have the opportunity to share them with others.  Today, I am sharing with you a company called Everyday Homemaking.  Here is a quote from their website:

 

"Everyday Homemaking is jam-packed with practical ideas and tools to help you better manage your household and time. Practical ideas, time- and money-saving tips, useful products, links to our favorite sites--family resources that God has used to enable us to live our lives more abundantly. Everyday Homemaking--practical ideas for busy families, like yours!"

 

On the Homemaking page of their website, you'll find recipes such as Vicki's Bread Recipe with step by step photos and articles such as Paper Management and Mail Control.  They also offer a Homeschooling page with Getting Started resources, lesson planning ideas, suggested resources and more.

 

Vicki Bentley and her husband Jim own Everyday Homemaking.  They have eight daughters and have foster almost fifty children (mostly teens) since the 1980s.  Vicki authored The Everyday Family Chore System, which was sent to me to review.   I must admit, that being a mom of eight myself, I already know the importance of a good chore system.  Many hands make the workload light and we have a lot of work to do around here!  However, I am always looking for new ways to improve on our own chore system ... especially from another M.O.M.,  (you know, Mom Of Many), who knows what its like to run a large household.

 

The first chapter of this book is called "Laying a Foundation" and discusses the purpose of implementing a family chore system and also the Four Basic Principles that must be built when implementing a family chore system.  They are

 

*Have realistic and age-appropriate expectations.

*Establish rules or standards.

*Have a working knowledge of family discipline.

*Tie strings to their hearts.

 

This section was just a few pages long, but their are so many gems here.  Here are just a couple quotes...

 

"Someone will very likely test the rules today.  It is part of the territory when you're a parent. You can prepare yourself in the family service arena by having age-appropriate expectations, pre-set consequences, and a sense of humor."

 

"We clarified in our family the difference between God's rules and house rules.  Although house rules could be appealed, God's rules were (and are) unwavering."

 

"I seem to have bought into the Just Say No mentality...I realized I could turn those No's into Yes's and turn the responsibility into a positive thing for my kids.  Yes, you may have dessert if you finish your healthy food.  Yes, you may play that game as soon as you finish your morning jobs.  I was not the Bad Guy anymore...the responsibility was now in their laps."

Part 2 of The Everyday Family Chore System was about "Implementing the Plan". This section includes a 'Life Skills Checklist' that gives suggestions of chores that could be done by children at each age starting with age 2 to teens. Following that, Vicki gives the details of their own family chore system including chart ideas, checklists, rewards and consequences ideas, and over 50 How-to-do-it cards.  The cards are key to their system as step-by-step instructions are labeled on each card so that the child will know exactly how to do their job.  If a job is not thoroughly completed, Mom can just remind the child to 'go read their card'. 

We implemented several of the ideas from The Everyday Family Chore System immediately.  Our children have always had a morning chore (to be completed after their Morning Routine but before breakfast) and an afternoon chore (to be completed after schoolwork but before free time).  In addition to that, they each have a "kitchen clean-up" job to do directly following each meal.  However, Vicki thoroughly explained the concept of Zone Cleaning in her book which I had heard other families rave about.  We decided to create a chore chart similar to the one in The Everyday Family Chore System using the idea of Zone Cleaning. 

As you can see above, each of our oldest children each have a zone that they are responsible for (on the left).  On the right is their 'Kitchen Clean-Up' responsibility.  The benefit to Zone cleaning is that each child still has morning and afternoon chores that are in their zone, but if at any time their zone is not tidy, I can call them in to tidy their zone.  This eliminates a lot of headache for me, because before I would have to try and figure out who made the mess and who was going to clean it up.   After about day three or four of implementing this system, my husband came home and exclaimed what I had already been thinking, "This is the best chore system we've done so far.  The kids have really done a good job on their zones!"  Our kids were most excited that the zones rotate each month...another idea from the book that we had not been doing before.

I decided not to use the exact How To Do It cards from the book, because I didn't want the kids to have to keep up with a bunch of index sized cards (and lose them).  Instead, I typed out detailed step-by-step instructions for morning and afternoon chores for each zone.  We printed them on 8.5x11 paper and have hung them in each of the four zones of the house.  Pictured above, you can see that the instructions for the Living Room Zone has been taped to the inside of a media cabinet.

 

 

Finally, at the suggestion of the book, we also created a 'Job from the Box'.  These are step by step directions for jobs that don't necessarily need to be done on a consistent weekly basis.  (Think Spring Cleaning ideas.)  Vicki suggests that one child's weekly chore could be to pull a job from the box.  But she also suggested that the Job from the Box could be used as a disciplinary tool ...which is exactly what we have been doing.  So if one of our children is displaying an unsavory behaviour, I have been telling them to pull a job from the box.  They have also been given additional jobs when they didn't complete their chores after warnings.  And I'm not sure that I should admit this...but...I totally have no need to assign a 'Job from the Box' as someones weekly chore, because they have already gone through this entire box once just because of disciplinary reasons.  *sigh*.  But hey, at least the house is getting clean!

 

The Everyday Family Chore System by Vicki Bentley has easily made it to the very top of my recommended resource list for home management.  I can assure you this will not be the last time I will be sharing this book to fellow parents.  You can purchase The Everyday Family Chore System in print for $19.99 or as an ebook (PDF) for $17.99.  Read more reviews of this product and Vicki's Everyday Cooking at the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

Disclaimer: I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the last few years. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to participate in review groups and I have enjoyed trying out these products and giving you my honest opinion. Pin It Now!

A is for Ancient Egypt

I can hardly believe it myself, but because we started our school year in July, we have already finished our first quarter of the school year.  It's amazing to think that we are a fourth of the way through and it is even more amazing that I am quite certain this has been our most productive school year yet.  I think this is largely due to the fact that we have teamed up with great friends (another like-minded family with kiddos similar ages to ours) to complete History and Science.  We get together a couple times a week to do experiments and projects that go along with our weekly reading.

 

Since our history lessons recently have centered largely around Ancient Egypt, we decided to end our first quarter with a celebration...an Ancient Egyptian Feast. 

 

For weeks, our kids have prepared for the feast which included making costumes.  Here is our Ancient Egypt mummy...E9 style...

 

And a couple Egyptian warriors, outfitted with Egyptian weaponry...

 

 



Finally, we had some beautiful Egyptian princesses...

 

Our little Egyptians were awfully hungry after all their report-writing, decorating, and costume-making.  But they each helped preparing the feast as well.

We served fresh fruit, hummus, whole wheat bread, and honey...all staples of the Ancient Egyptian diet.  We also served goldfish crackers.  Not exactly an Ancient Egyptian treat...but it represented the fact that they ate a lot of fish. :o)

We made rice crispie treat pyramids with brown sugar sand.

The kids worked hard on decorating and labeling the Ancient Egyptian map cake.

And finally we made fig cakes using this recipe.

Dads and extended family attended and got to see many of the projects the kids have been working on.

Presentations included a discussion about Egyptian gods and how the true God showed He was all-powerful over all man-made idols during the ten plagues of Exodus.  Also, the girls discussed different trades that women would have participated in and performed an Egyptian dance.

The boys described Egyptian weapons and set up a hunting course in the front yard for all to practice hunting skills.  Also, the kids performed an awesome skit describing, and acting out the mummification process.

This week I'm linking up to Blogging through the Alphabet, hosted by my great friend, Marcy.  She and I visited an art studio recently for a painting class and she blogs about it on her Blogging through the Alphabet post.

 

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Tuesday Weigh In - My Scale is Broken

 

My scale has been broken for a few weeks now.  No really, it is seriously broken.  The digital screen is blank.  And before you ask...yes, we even changed the batteries.  We tap it, stand on it, jump on it... nothing.  Blank screen.

 

I think it probably has something to do with my morning weigh-in ritual.  When I awake in the morning, I stumble sleepily into bathroom.  A few minutes later ... you don't really need to know what I'm doing in those few minutes, do you? ... I stand before the scale.  I tap it and wait as the screen happily blinks on and lands on '0.0'.  Slowly, I step on.  Right foot first.  I adjust my weight until I feel I am perfectly balanced on both feet.  Breathe out.  The number appears.

 

I step down off the scale and repeat this process one more time.  Hey!  Don't judge.  I have experienced seriously different numbers when weighing myself two times in a row.  That first number really could be wrong.   It's sort of like getting a second opinion.  If the second weigh in is the same as the first, I accept reality and move on with my day.  If it's different, I weigh in a third time and take an average.

 

I have done this every morning since July 2011.  Sometimes I do the ritual after a hard workout just to see if I hit a low number due to sweat loss.  Yes, I know this isn't my real weight.  I just like to see the low number.  Seriously, there should be no judging around here.

 

The problem is only made worse by the fact that my husband does the exact same thing every day.  It's actually quite miraculous that the scale has made it this long.

 

So, it stopped working a few weeks ago, and neither my husband nor I ran out to get another.  After all, the scale had not really been a great friend to us recently.  I've been at a plateau for some time and with my lazy summer I knew the numbers had probably moved up a few notches.  I've been working out, but I haven't been as disciplined as I should be in my eating or my workouts.

 

This weekend it was time to face the music.  We bought a brand new scale.  It's even a different color.  I tapped it....stepped on one foot at a time...big breath out.  I had gained five pounds.

 

Actually, I wasn't really upset.  My weight stays within a five-pound range anyway, so I don't get too uptight about a couple pounds here or there.  But I knew I needed the wake up call from the scale.  It's time to buckle down and get serious again.  So I've created a workable plan and am already seeing the results!  I'm down 2.4 pounds from the weekend!

 

I'm back to a 1500 calorie a day diet.  I'm eating five times a day with the following calorie counts. 

Breakfast - 300 calories

Lunch - 400 calories

Afternoon Snack - 150 calories

Dinner - 500 calories

Evening Snack - 150 calories

 My workouts will consist of a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio 6 times a week and weight training 3 times a week.

 

Look for actual food and workout ideas in the upcoming weeks.

Chad and I ran a 5K Mud Run a couple weeks ago.  There are so many things that I could say about it, but I'm going to stick with this ... it was hard, but it was worth it.

 

And that is sort of how I feel about this whole healthy lifestyle thing. 

 

It was hard to lose 60 pounds.  It's hard to lose the last 30.  It's going to be hard to maintain it.  But it's worth it.

 

Perhaps you think being healthy is hard too?  Might I suggest shifting your focus?  Yes, it is hard.  But don't focus on that.  Focus on the fact that it's worth it.  And it really, really is.  A couple weeks ago I climbed 12 foot walls, I crawled under barbed wire through thick mud, I jumped over fire.  You might not think that being able to run a mud run is worth the pain and sacrifice to lose the weight.  But I can assure you that the fact that I am actually strong enough to do those things is definitely worth it.

 

...So, I'm not adding a link up this week since we haven't had much participation.  But if you decide to post a Tuesday Weigh-In, then leave a comment!  You can also leave a comment to keep me accountable or if you'd like some accountability.  You can also leave a comment just because I like comments. ;o)

 

UPDATE:  Lynn at Ladybug Chronicles posted a Tuesday Weigh In post as well!

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playPlay

From the website:

"playPlay™ is a unique line of creative play games designed to encourage creative and imaginative thinking in children ages 5 and up. playPLAY™ gives kids a new way to play together by combining creative activities like art making and story telling with game play.
The playPlay™ line of games was developed and designed by CALICO, LLC and published by Briarpatch."

We received three...yes, three new games from playPlay a few weeks ago and you can just imagine the excitement around here when a box full of fun, colorful games arrived.  A chorus of, "Can we play them now?!" could be heard throughout the house.  As you can see from the pictures, playPlay certainly did their job making these games look enticing and my kids seemed to be hooked before we even opened the boxes.

ColorPlay is a game meant to help reinforce color recognition, pattern recognition, and matching skills.  The gameboard is a large color wheel on a mat.  Players take turns spinning the spinner and matching up the correct puzzle pieces on the board.  As with all the playPlay games there are more than one way to play the game, and these are not competitive games as there are no "winners".  My kids were slightly taken aback by this...we actually enjoy friendly competition around here...but it didn't stop them from enjoying the playPlay games.  ColorPlay is geared more towards my 3-5 year olds.  My older kids are past the matching/color recognition stage and they didn't seem too interested in this one.

StoryPlay, on the other hand, was definitely enjoyed by my big kids.  My little ones really couldn't participate in this one because they aren't reading yet.  But our big kids took turns creating a story using the included word and picture cards.

Once their story was complete, they could simply erase the dry erase marker from the board and start again.

Another way to play StoryPlay, was to randomly draw three cards and use them to create a caption.  Of course, they needed to draw the picture that went along with the caption!

 

StoryPlay seemed to me to be the most "educational".  I loved to see them working to create creative and descriptive sentences.

PaintPlay Game was hands-down the kid favorite.  "You mean there is actually real paint in there, Mom?!" the kids exclaimed as we opened the box.  The answer is yes, paint and paper are included in PaintPlay along with the PaintPlay spinner and cards.  Players take turn drawing cards and follow the directions painting what the card says.  All players paint on the same piece of paper creating a PaintPlay group masterpiece once the game is done.  Obviously, materials in this game are consumable, but easily replaced (just paper and watercolor paints).  Our kids ages 3-11 all enjoyed this game!

playPlay games should be available at retail stores such as Toys R Us and Barnes and Nobles.  You can check out the playPlay website and facebook page for more information.  Also, head over to the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog for more reviews of playPlay games.

Disclaimer: I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the last few years. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to participate in review groups and I have enjoyed trying out these products and giving you my honest opinion. Pin It Now!