Foods {course plans}

Foods
Prerequisites: none
Grade Level: 9-12
Credit: 1 (minimum of 120 hours of coursework)

This course provides an introduction to the fundamental principles of food preparation, as well as basic nutrition and meal planning. Students will learn the proper use and care of kitchen equipment, the selection and safe handling of food, and the skills necessary to make wise food choices, while having the opportunity to prepare and enjoy some basic recipes.

Curriculum List

• Christian Light Home Economics I (unit 1-4)
• Homestead Blessings: The Art of Cooking (DVD)
• A Girl's Guide To Home Skills (Chapter 2)

Websites

• Jamie's Home Cooking Skills

Additional Projects

• Create a personal recipe collection (either a recipe book or recipe card box)

FREE! Lesson Plans, E-books, & Online Classes

Living on a limited budget AND finding funds for curriculum can sometimes be a struggle. There isn't always much left for extras. But that doesn't mean your children have to miss out. The internet is overflowing with free resources, available at the click of a mouse. Let me show you where to look!  

 

 

 

An Old-Fashioned Education

You'll find here a directory of free homeschool curricula, literature and text books organized for the use of homeschooling families.

 

Ambleside Online

The Ambleside Online curriculum is a free homeschooling curriculum designed to be a modern equivalent to the curriculum that Charlotte Mason (CM) used in her own PNEU schools.

 

Easy Peasy -- All In One Homeschool

A complete, free online homeschool curricula.

 

The Puritan Home School

A free home school curriculum consistent with the historic reformed Biblical faith as it is summarized in the original Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity.

 

World Wide School

This site is dedicated to the collection, preservation and presentation of educational material.

 

SAS® Curriculum Pathways®

Interactive, standards-based resources for grades 6-12 in English language arts, science, social studies, mathematics, and Spanish. Free to students and educators in traditional, virtual, and home schools. (I think this is connected with the Department of Education.)

 

CK-12 Foundation: Kindle Store

CK-12 Foundation provides a library of free online textbooks, videos, exercises, flashcards, and real world applications for over 5000 concepts from arithmetic to history.

 

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg offers 40,000 free ebooks to download.

 

The Baldwin Online Children's Literature Project

The Baldwin Project seeks to make available online a comprehensive collection of literature for children that is in the public domain in the United States. This includes all works first published before 1923. These resources are offered at no charge and permission is granted to individuals to print copies for personal and educational uses.

 

ManyBooks.net

Thousands of free ebooks, pre-formatted for reading on your computer, smartphone..., iPod, or e-reading device - ePUB, Kindle, eReader, PDF, Plucker, iSilo, Doc, RTF, Mobipocket, Newton Paperback, and zTXT ebooks ready to go!

 

Internet Archive

Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library offering free universal access to books, movies & music, as well as 292 billion archived web pages.

 

Online Books- Answers In Genesis

The following resources have been made freely available to read online. You may purchase physical copies of these books from our online store.

 

Homeschooler's Guide To Free Kindle Books

While many Kindle freebies are available for only a short time, this guide features timeless classics that are always free for Kindle.  

 

The KISS Grammar Site

This site was started more than a decade ago, primarily to explain the KISS Approach to teaching grammar. Since then, the site has grown in a number of directions, including the inclusion of the practical, printable, KISS Grammar Workbooks.

 

4-H Youth Development Organization

A youth development organization serving more than 6.5 million young people, 4-H... provides youth development programs with a focus on science, health and citizenship.

 

ThisNation.com

American government & politics portal. Free online textbook, documents library and more.

 

Khan Academy

With a library of over 3,000 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and hundreds of skills to practice, they're on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace.

 

Crash Course

Six awesome courses in one awesome channel: John Green teaches you US History and Hank Green teaches you Chemistry. Check out the playlists for past courses in World History, Biology, Literature, and Ecology.

 

Virtual Homeschool Group

A home school online course co-op. Unlike an online school, VHSG is a project that runs on voluntary donations that provides training, tools, and a free online place for those that want to teach something and in turn a place for home school families to come and sign up for those free classes.

 

Hands-On Essays

Free Video Lessons. In order to get the most out of the video lessons, you will need to order the Hands-On Essays student handbook which contains key points, writing samples, assignments, tips for evaluating assignments, and more.

 

Education Portal

Take free online courses that are fun and engaging. Pass exams to earn real college credit. Research schools and degrees to further your education.

 

Homeschool College USA

Free homeschool curriculum for high schoolers who want to use college-level exams for credit.

 

Covenant Theological Seminary Resources

Free Online Lectures and Courses in Apologetics, Theology, Church History, Archaeology, Literature, Art, and more.

 

Free High School Resources You Won’t Want to Miss

This is a blog post with more free homeschool and educational resources.

 

Freely Educate

A blog where high quality and free educational offers are posted every week day. Free homeschooling resources are the primary focus. Giveaways and educational product reviews are also posted frequently.

Teaching Literature in High School with High School Classes You Can Use {review}

The responsibility of teaching highschool literature can be a bit overwhelming. There are so many questions to be answered: what books ought to be read, should poetry be included, should literature and writing be taught separately, what are the elements of literature, how should literature be analyzed. The author of this book does a wonderful job answering all these questions and more.

If you plan to homeschool through the highschool years, you will find a wealth of information and encouragement in this book. The author explains in great detail her own goals in teaching literature, and gives several practical ways to accomplish these goals. There are ideas for teaching literature in a book club, through blogging, and also through traditional classes. In addition to detailed lesson plans for several different literature classes (which are alone a good enough reason to buy this book!) there are also ideas to help you plan your own classes. Two pages are devoted to analyzing literature, both verbally and in writing, with questions to ask about plot, setting, characterization, and point of view. Literary research papers are also discussed, with step by step instructions on how one should be completed. There is even a list of Christian works which can be used as refrences for these papers. Finally, there are several blank book report forms for your child to use in recording what they have read.

This book has everything you need (except for the literature) to teach literature to your highschool student. There are more than enough ideas to help you plan your own class. Or you can go the easy route and use one of the plans included in this book. This book has been a great blessing as I plan our American literature studies for next year. It has saved me many frustrating hours of trying to figure this all out for myself!

Purchase Teaching Literature in High School from Currclick.

A Hungry Caterpillar Interactive Notebook

Hungry Caterpillar Interactive Notebook $5.00



One of the members of the former Lilliput Station Yahoo Group completed The Very Hungry Caterpillar Interactive Notebook with two of her sons. Here is a review and some photos she sent:

My two boys have completed this lapbook and I just wanted to let everyone know how it went. My six year old had a blast. My nine year old, who happens to be autistic, had a pretty good time too. I wish the numbers went past five, but that would be the only thing that I wish. I love the opposite cards that were added. So very cute!!! The cutting was great for skills that are still developing. The difference between the hungry caterpillar and the brown and furry I thought was a great idea. To have both adds variety. All in all it was really great fun. We worked on it off and on all day. They so wanted to finish it. Great job !!!!!!! ~Dacia C. (Published on Aug 30, 2007)

I really like how they personalized this and added to it. Great job guys!

Here is a picture of the lapbook sent by Valerie, another one of our customers:

You can see another review and more pictures here: Our Family Adventure. And here are a few blog posts and a picture from someone who did the pages for an interactive notebook: Foundations Academy.

Friendly Strangers Are Dangerous Too

 Originally Published on: Oct 21, 2008

Jimmie recently posted a blog entry on how to deal with unwanted attention that foreign children receive in China. Her advice got me thinking about similar issues we have been dealing with here in America.

Our children are very friendly and outgoing. In the past, we taught them to respect adults and to always answer when you are spoken to, but recently we have had to rethink things. 

There are many times when complete strangers will engage my children in conversation, offer them candy (while I'm standing there and without asking me first), ask them for hugs, or even ask them if they want to go home with them!!!! And my children don't think twice about who this person is. As the saying goes, "They've never met a stranger."  Yet, while these people may be well meaning (even if they are rather thoughtless), not everyone has good intentions. Not all adults are worthy of respect.


I've seen that my reaction to these incidents has given my children the wrong idea. By smiling  at these "friendly" strangers, I've taught my children that it is OK to take things from strangers, to let them touch you, even to go with them if they want to take you somewhere. I ought to be reacting with indignation. After all, this person just threatened to kidnap my child!!!

We need to be teaching our children to set boundaries. We need to tell them it's OK to avoid uncomfortable situations.  Although our goal should be to be polite if possible, sometime situations call for a bit of rudeness. The safety of our children is worth a few hurt feelings.

The Hidden Art of Homemaking {Book Review and Lapbook}

(This post was originally published on my old blog on Nov 12, 2008)

I've been working on a lapbook to go along with The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer. This is an excellent book with lots of wonderful ideas on how to realize your full potential, while creating a fuller, richer homelife for yourself and your family. Mrs. Schaeffer works from the premiss that everyone has God given talents, gifts of creativity given to us by a creative God, and we shouldn't allow our present circumstances to keep us from using those talents. For instance, Mrs. Schaeffer describes how to create a "home" that reflects your own personality- whether you are renting in the city, single and "waiting", living in a nursing home, or even living in a drain pipe. She also points out how stiffling our talents hurts us and those around us, and gives pointers on ways that everyone, even a mother with many young children, can use their gifts of music, drama, drawing, or writing to bless their own small audience.  This book covers a multitude of other topics as well, including cooking, flower arrangement, clothing, creative recreation, and even integration. It is not a "how-to" manual , but rather an idea manual, guranteed to get those creative juices flowing. 
In the process of re-reading this book, I was convicted of an area where I have been sinning against my children.  While I am all for art and creativity, I also have this practical side which can't tolerate what I consider to be a waste. So when my children spend hours creating elaborate, artistically decorated  notes, I get rather impatient with them. Why spend all that time and effort, not to mention the "waste" of paper, on something which could have been spoken in a matter of seconds? Yet I now see that this just one of their ways of practicing "hidden art." It is a good thing, given to them by a God who created all things to be good.  And just like Him, it is their desire to fill the world with beauty. (And they didn't even need a book to tell them how!)

I highly recommend this book, and I hope you will consider purchasing the lapbook which is available for purchase from Currclick .

This lapbook was created to go along with The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer. The Hidden Art of Homemaking is an excellent book with lots of wonderful ideas on how to realize your full potential, while creating a fuller, richer homelife for yourself and your family. It covers a multitude of topics including cooking, flower arrangement, clothing, creative recreation, and even integration. This file provides thirty-nine minibooks to record notes as you read through the book. It makes a great study for mothers to do alone or with their daughters.

Don't Bite The Hands That Bless You!

I have a confession to make. I'm  angry.

I just finished reading a post on the Homeschool Share blog explaining why they have decided to remove all their FIAR resources, as a matter of concience, and I am totally stunned by many of the comments that post recieved.

For those of you who do not know, the Homeschool Share website is a labor of love produced by Ami Brainerd. Every one of the resources offered on the site is available FREE to users because Ami and a limited number of other volunteers are willing to sacrificed large amounts of their time to create them.

You would think that a woman who gives so generously to help others would be the subject of undying gratitude from the hoards who have done nothing but recieved free gifts from her hands. Yet, there is a number of people out there who feel it right to censure her because she made the decision to stop sharing a few of those resources. And that makes me mad. 

I've posted on this topic before, and I don't see how I can say it any better, so I am re-posting a blog article I wrote four years. Perhaps it will be a reminder to others out there to be more grateful for what they are given.


There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

If you have studied economics you are probably familiar with the expression "There’s No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." As homeschool moms who face an abundance of teaching resources, avaiable at the click of a mouse, with no cost to us personally, it is easy to forget this fact. But the truth is, none of those "free" resources are really free. Each and every one of them has cost somebody something to create them or host them and it is by their generosity that these resources are available to us. In return, we ought to consider it our duty to show gratitude for the benefits we receive.



Here are three easy ways to demonstrate your appreciation to these "silent heroes" of the curriculum world:

1. Don’t forget to say "thank-you". This ought to be obvious, but how often do we really send out notes of thanks for the freebies we receive? Most of these individuals ask for nothing more than to know that they have made a difference in someone’s life. Be dilligent to encourage those who otherwise receive no recompence for their labors and they will feel that all their time and effort was well spent.

2. Be fair in your critiques. Have you ever downloaded something and thought, "What a waste of my time! I could have done a better job than this!" or "This isn’t what I was hoping for!" Yet, the fact that you have no need of that item doesn’t make it less valuable to others that might download it, or make its creator any less generous for offering it.

As both a reviewer and a publisher on the Currclick website, I like to keep up with the comments posted there. Over the past several months I have noticed some very bad reviews being given to products which are offered as freebies. People download a file because it costs them nothing, then give a review based on how the product fit their needs, rather than on the quality and merits of the product. They do this without stopping to think what it cost that publisher to offer it in the first place or to consider what their review will do to the overall reputation of that publisher. I wonder how many of these publishers, after making such a sacrifice and receiving such a poor thanks, will have the desire to make that mistake again?

3. Respect copyrights. It is easy to assume that because a publisher is willing to give his product away, he has given up all rights to it. Yet this is not the case. Many publishers use free promotions to draw traffic to their websites and generate income to support themselves. Others offer freebies solely for the gratification that comes from helping others. No matter the reason, and no matter the price, these items are still under copyright. It is up to the publisher to decide where they are posted and who receives them. And it is also up to the publisher whether or not these items should remain free.


Too often I’ve seen examples of files being copied from various websites and posted on Yahoo Groups or on file sharing sites without the permission of the original creator. I ‘ve also witnessed conversations concerning limited time freebies. Someone who has missed out on the opportunity to download a previously posted freebie will request that the item be forwarded to her and someone else will send it. We may see these as harmless acts, but if intellectual property rights are not respected, more and more publishers will decide that these "free" products are not worth the cost.

I’ll end with a quote from Jessica Feliciano of Notebooking2Learn. I believe she voiced the thoughts of all our "silent heroes" when she wrote:


"For those of you who have been blessed by the free resources that you find here and elsewhere among generous homeschooling mom’s, please don’t take them for granted. They truly are labors of love and many times cost their creators much more than time. What some may not realize is the that the cost of clip art, printer ink and paper to make these resources and to make sure that they "work" before they are shared can really add up. If you are blessed by a free resource, consider taking the time to say thank you. It is a little gesture that goes a long way. Be considerate of the creators and make sure you link others back to their work and don’t just share a resource because it was free. Be grateful for the resources that are available and don’t make a habit of expecting more."