Today, I have a simple recipe to share that's a staple around here - tortillas!  With only 5 ingredients that you likely already have in your kitchen, you can whip up delicious tortillas for tacos, egg wraps, quesadillas, or just a simple tortilla with cheese like my boys enjoy.  (Please note: I found this recipe online several years ago, and I couldn't find the site today to give credit.  If anyone knows where it comes from, I would be glad to give credit to the source.)  So, whet your Mexican taste buds & grab your rolling pin!

3 c flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup oil
1 cup hot water

Directions: Mix the dry ingredients.  Add the oil and mix until the mixture is crumbly.  Add the water to form a dough ball.  Let set for 30 minutes (or in the fridge overnight).  Divide into 12 small balls.  Roll out with a rolling pin, and fry in a dry skillet.

My notes: I use 1 cup of wheat flour and 2 cups of white flour.  The wheat flour does make them a bit more difficult to roll out; the dough is just a bit stiffer.  The water can just be hot water from your tap - no need to boil or anything.  I tried doubling this, and it works fine, but my arms were sore the next day from rolling out 24 tortillas.  Perhaps I'm just a bit wimpy, but 12 is a lot more doable.  Although, 12 will be gone in NO TIME once your family tries them.  I'm not sure why these are so much better than store-bought, but my guess is the lack of preservatives. On that note, I do store leftover ones in the fridge.

So, taco night, anyone?

Recipe disclaimer

As we began our homeschooling journey last spring, we gravitated toward something that sounded familiar – Abeka.  Amidst lots of new ideas and new curriculums – Charlotte Mason, Math-U-See, Sonlight, unschooling – we felt comfortable with one we knew.  I had used Abeka for high school English at a local private school, and felt it prepared me (over prepared, in some cases) for college.
 
Now, after almost a school-year of using Abeka K4 (kindergarten for four year olds), I decided to review the curriculum for any curious moms out there who may be considering purchasing it.  I used the program with AJ who was 5 years old because I wanted something that would be easy for him (and me) to complete with his 3 younger siblings needing attention as well.
 
First, an overview of the program – Abeka’s K4 program covers phonics, reading (beginning at Lesson 73), writing, and numbers.  There is also an optional Bible curriculum that we purchased.  The whole curriculum (Bible included) is designed to take 50-60 minutes a day.  Some of the scope & sequence elements are counting 1-100, learning letters & sounds, learning basic phonic rules, blending consonants with vowels, reading short words & sentences, and writing the alphabet & first name.
 
On a day-to-day basis, we were doing a Bible lesson with all my kiddoes, and then a phonics & math lesson with AJ.  We didn’t do handwriting every day, but worked steadily at his book.
 
What I Liked
 
-Abeka is known for being rigorous academically.  K4 was no disappointment here.  AJ could read simple words several months into the program, count to 100, and recognize numbers up to 20.  Keep in mind, this is written for four year olds!
 
-Since we purchased the whole kit of materials, we got all the games and activities.  While the meat of the lessons was very repetitive, the curriculum did use various, colorful hands-on things to practice the concepts.  For example, there were several “scenes,” I will call them – a farm, a meadow, a doghouse, etc.  Each one had things to put on it.  The farm had animals, the meadow had flowers & woodland creatures, and the doghouse had bones & balls.  (Pictured below is the meadow scene.)

There were many, many more scenes, but you get the idea.  After completing a lesson on the short i sound, you might do something like this – get out the blank farm scene, read a word, have the child say whether or not it had the short i sound, and, if they gave the correct answer, they could add an animal to the scene.  My kids thoroughly enjoyed these!  I laminated them all, and they will last for years.
 
-The teacher’s manual was fairly easy to use, but I had to do a lot of flipping because AJ didn’t go at the same pace for phonics & numbers.  The manual groups all of Lesson 1 – phonics, handwriting, & numbers at one place.  So, a few weeks into the year, we were on Lesson 15 for phonics and Lesson 22 for numbers.
 
-I liked the Bible curriculum.  It was simple, but very good.  It is a set of many pictures to go with Bible stories that are taken straight from the Bible, but written in story format for kids.
 
What I didn’t Like
 
-My main complaint about the curriculum is a lack of any science and social studies activities.  There are no activities for either of these subject areas.
 
-Second to that complaint is that there is no children’s literature.  No stories, nothing.  To me, science, social studies/history, and children’s literature are very key elements in a child’s education from day 1.
 
Overall, I did not like Abeka K4.  While whining to my husband part way through the school year, he kindly reminded me that it is working and the kids love it.  Yes, I had to agree on those two points, but if mom is bored….  The main reason I was bored is that every day all we were doing was learning phonics and numbers.  Yes, those skills are important in kindergarten, but there’s so much more!  Real books to read and enjoy, simple science experiments, nature walks, and social studies activities.

If you are looking to teach your four or five year old phonics and numbers, this program will work, but, for me, kindergarten should be much more.

So, alas, I will be selling my Abeka K4 program, even though I’m determined not to be a mom who switches curriculum every year.  I won’t be making that an “I will never” statement or it may end up like my other never statements.  I won’t be selling all my curriculum – I’ll be keeping some of the nice supplementary materials that can be used with any curriculum.  And I will keep the Bible curriculum because it could be used for family devotions, Sunday school, or Bible school.  Check back to find out what we are planning for next year!

​This is one of those posts that appears to be about one thing, but is really about another.  It appears to be about my cute miniature schnauzer with her chic new scarf, but it is really about encouraging moms (and dads) to keep on keeping on with training our children.  Yeah, I know, it will be interesting to see how I connect those two, so read on!
 
Those who know me well, know that I don’t typically adorn my dogs with fancy ribbons and bows, but yet this post has a picture of Cocoa in a scarf.  This is how that came to be….
 
It all started with Jolly getting a haircut AND a cute little orange bow a few months ago.  

​After Jolly had worn this bow for a couple of days, I overheard AJ (age 5) telling my husband, “I’ve been noticing something.  Cocoa is walking around with a sad face, and I think I know why.  She wants a bow like Jolly, and she doesn’t have any.”  Well, melt my mama’s heart!  I thought that was so adorable (not to mention full of empathy!), and I shared it with my sister, who just launched her dog accessory business called Kristen’s Happy Tails.  She happily agreed to make a scarf for Cocoa.  And, so, Cocoa no longer has to walk around with a sad face!
 
So what does that have to do with encouraging you Mamas out there?  You Mamas (and Dads) out there spend day AFTER day, hour AFTER hour training your children.  And, sometimes, that is a wearying job.  I feel like I train and teach all day long. 
 
I tell them what to do.
 
“Say ‘please’ if you want more milk.”
“Be kind to your brother.”
“Pet Jolly nicely.”
“Brush your teeth.”
“Finish your chores.”
“Say ‘thank-you’ for the lollipop.”
“Say ‘excuse me’ when you burp.”
 
I tell them what NOT to do.  (And, yes, these are all things I have said/dealt with.)
 
“Don’t hit your brother.”
“Don’t put barbeque sauce in marker caps.”
“Don’t smear toothpaste on the bathroom sink, toilet, door, floor, windowsill or anything other surface!”
“Don’t put a clothespin in Cocoa’s beard.”
“Stop picking your nose.”
“Don’t pee in the tub.”
“Don’t put dominoes in your underwear!”
“Don’t put dominoes in your brother’s underwear!”
“Don’t draw on the van windows with crayons.”
“Don’t pick up dead ducks on the road.”
“Don’t cut your pants with a scissors.”
“Don’t cut your hair with a scissors.”
“Don’t cut your brother’s hair with a scissors.”
“Don’t put your sister in the dog crate.”
“Don’t pee out the back door.”
“Don’t pee out the front door (especially when we have guests!)”
“Don’t eat goat food.”
“Don’t eat cat food.”
“Don’t eat dog food.”
 
We parents say these things day after day, wondering if they are sinking into to the little hearts we are instructing.  And, then, a wonderful moment happens – like me hearing AJ have empathy for Cocoa who didn’t have a bow like Jolly – and we realize, that, yes, indeed some of our teaching is taking root!  (Now, if we can just transfer that empathy to AJ’s brothers….)  So, take heart, parents, your teaching is being heard, and we are told that if we “train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  (Proverbs 22:6).