Praiseworthy Audio - The Cinnamon Bear

I have blogged before about how much my family loves listening to audio books in the car. It is really a life saver! For years we have listed to this old radio series, The Cinnamon Bear, about two children who discover an incredible bear in their attic at Christmas time. The Chirotoons have made this wonderful series available on mp3 for free at their site. There are 26 episodes so you could listen to one a day until Christmas. This offer also includes a free downloadable coloring book to go with the series. I encourage you to check out the Chirotoons other offerings at their site. They have a lot of very good quality old radio shows available in mp3 format at their site, Living Books for the Ears.

Happy Thanksgiving & The Thrifty Homeschooler!

I subscribe to the Thrifty Homeschooler newsletter written and edited by Maureen Wittman. If you haven't checked this out yet I urge you to do that by subscribing here. This newsletter is a valuable resource full of tips from Maureen and her readers. She also has a blog now!

Recently Maureen wrote this on her newsletter. I thought it summed up so much of what I am thankful for that I asked her if I could post it here.

Dear Thrifty Homeschoolers,

I was thinking today how blessed I am to be 'not rich.'

I may drive a junker car, but I don't have to worry about being carjacked anytime soon.

I may buy most my clothes at Goodwill, but I don't have to fret when one of my littles gives me a big hug before washing hands after eating a fudgesicle.

I can't afford to buy loads of premade, prefab, precooked foods, but my family is healthier because of it.

I may live on the other side of the tracks, but I don't have to worry about snobby neighbors.

My kids may wear hand-me-downs, but they're as non-materialistic as you can get.

I may not have cable TV, but my kids read and play a lot more.

I may not have a lot of stuff, but I am grateful to God for what I do have.

Blessings,Maureen :)
www.thriftyhomeschooler.blogspot.com

Like Maureen, I am so thankful to God for all He has blessed me with. I hope you all have a wonderful day giving thanks!

Librivox.org

Our family loves to listen to audiobooks. I have two children and sometimes the bickering in the car can be too much, especially on the 4 hour trip to Grandma's house. But I discovered a few years back that my children, then 4 and 6, will listen to an audio book for HOURS in the car. So, I started checking out audiobooks at the Library. We follow the free online Ambleside Online Curriculum's literature reading selections and we can get many of them from the library on audiobooks. Things such as the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, Charlotte's Web, and Winnie the Pooh were borrowed from the library, but there were many classic books I could not find on CD at my library. Then I discovered Librivox. Librivox calls itself "an acoustical liberation of books in the public domain." Basically that is a completely free site which provides mp3's of books in audio read by volunteers. I have found the readings to be of excellent quality and as a former teacher of Theatre I might have an informed opinion of such things. I'll leave that for you to decide. We have downloaded and listened to several Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Velveteen Rabbit and Heidi so far. My children loved them all. There are so many Ambleside selections here that I have to wonder if someone on the list of volunteers uses Ambleside. Next we will be listening to Peter Pan and Pinocchio. Our Island Story is another Ambleside selection available there.

But don't think this is a site solely for children's literature! There is a collection of works for adults from Aristotle to P.G. Wodehouse that includes novels, poetry, short stories and non-fiction. There is so much here my family could be listening for years. There are also volunteer opportunities for readers as well as listeners to help check recordings. So I urge you to check out Librivox. It's a most praiseworthy thing!

Free Printables

Everybody with children loves free printables right?! Well, I just found a new site, Just Print Something. In addition to lots of printables from gift tags to miniatures for dollhouses, there are articles covering things such as How to Print on Fabric to Questions on Copyrights. This stuff is ideal for scrapbookers, doll house lovers and artists of all types. There is also an area for authorized members to upload printables. All images should be safe as the user agreement states: "By registering at Just Print Something, you agree not to post anything that could be considered abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-oriented, or any material that may violate any applicable laws. Posting these types of materials may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned, and your service provider being notified of abuse. The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. " Hopefully they take that seriously. So head over there and sign up for a free account!

The Almost Perfect Day

Today was an almost perfect day for me. First it's autumn and that makes it pretty good right off the bat. Today was sunny but with a slight chill in the air. I spent the morning reading blogs and email and then I got into a cooking mood. I made this wonderful recipe for Bratwurst Stew from Taste of Home. This was recommended to me by another friend and I have made it several times with anything but bratwurst! I have used ham and turkey in the past and they were very good in this recipe. I actually like it with bratwurst the least. My husband and I decided today that it would actually be just fine without any meat at all. Those of you who are vegetarians could use a vegetable broth and it would be lovely.

Then I made Pumpkin Muffins using this recipe from Vegetarian Family. Since I am not a vegetarian (I eat a plant based diet, but only semi-vegetarian) I changed the recipe by using an egg and milk. I also added one cup of pecans which were really good. This recipe is exceptional. Probably the best pumpkin muffin I have had. I enjoy the Vegetarian Family blog as they always have great recipes and things that kids like.

Another cooking project today was Hummus. I made a recipe out of The New Best Recipe which is one of my favorite cookbooks. I made a double batch and plan to freeze part of it. Yes, I recently read that you can freeze Hummus! Amazing. Tomorrow I plan to make some pita bread to go with it.

My almost perfect day ended with a trip to Goodwill, one of my favorite stores where I scored two glass pie plates. Every almost perfect day needs a trip to at least one thrift store!

Hope your day was as perfect as can be.

Contest ends today!

Have you heard about the contest to guess the number of new products in the Vision Forum Catalog??? Well check it out over at the Life in A Shoe blog. But you have to hurry because the contest ends at midnight tonight! You could win up $700 in Vision Forum products or one of two $50 gift certificates. The Vision Forum catalog is a most praiseworthy catalog full of wonderful, classic toys and books for your family. I suggest you check it out too by following the link on the same blog. Let me know if you win!

And now for something completely different...

A dear friend taught me to knit three years ago. It has been a tremendous blessing to me as a creative outlet. I find it relaxing, fun and something to do with my hands. I also love animation. If you enjoy those things, you will love this piece which I found on one of my favorite blogs Craftzine:

Praiseworthy words: Charlotte Mason on Education and the Christian

Charlotte Mason was an educational reformer in the late 1800's and early 1900's. She wrote a six volume series on education that can be read here or check out the blog below for daily postings of excerpts. This particular excerpt struck me today:

Antagonism to Law shown by some Religious Persons.––These last blessings are so unspeakably satisfying, that often enough the believer who enjoys them wants no more. He opens his mouth and draws in his breath for the delight he has in the law, it is true; but it is the law of the spiritual life only. Towards the other laws of God which govern the universe he sometimes takes up an attitude of antagonism, almost of resistance, worthy of an infidel. It is nothing to him that he is fearfully and wonderfully made; he does not care to know how the brain works, nor how the more subtle essence we call mind evolves and develops in obedience to laws. There are pious minds to which a desire to look into these things savours of unbelief, as if it were to dishonour the Almighty to perceive that He carries on His glorious works by means of glorious Laws. They will have to do with no laws excepting the laws of the kingdom of grace. In the meantime, the non-believer, who looks for no supernatural aids, lays himself out to discover and conform to all the laws which regulate natural life––physical, mental, moral; all the laws of God, in fact, excepting those of the spiritual life which the believer appropriates as his peculiar inheritance. But these laws which are left to Esau are laws of God also, and the observance of them is attended with such blessings, that the children of the believers say, Look, how is it that these who do not acknowledge the Law as of God are better than we who do?

via: A Full Life blog

Kids Craft Weekly and Craftzine!!!

Crafts are much loved at this house. I was raised by the queen of crafts, have always loved to do crafts myself, and when my daughter was about three she looked up at me one day and said, "could we do crafts everyday, please?" And believe me, she does. She frequently comes up with her own ideas for a craft or she draws from the many craft kits she receives for birthdays or Christmas. But I have found a great source if that well runs dry.

It's called Kids Craft Weekly and I discovered it on one of my favorite online zines, Craftzine. First a bit about Craftzine. The Craftzine site features a blog that keeps you abreast of all the latest in the online crafting world. Recently, the blog featured several knitting and felting projects such as that knitted Princess Leia wig you've always wanted! But the whole world of crafting is covered.

The Craftzine blog is where I discovered Kids Craft Weekly. Kids Craft Weekly bills itself as "a weekly dose of crafty goodness for toddlers and preschoolers" but really my 8 year old would enjoy many of these projects as well. This week is featuring transportation as a theme.

So I urge you to check out two praiseworthy sites, one for you and one for the kids. Let me know what you think!

Praiseworthy Recipe: Zucchini Squash Cake

I love zucchini breads and cakes. My mother has a wonderful assortment of recipes for zucchini as a result of having large gardens with lots of zucchini. Fortunately for her all of her children love it. I'm not sure why it goes so well with sweets and especially chocolate, but it's an excellent partnering. And the best part is that zucchini breads and cakes are perfect for those gigantic zucchini that everyone seems to have this time of year that don't taste good in other recipes. I've been known to shred those and freeze them to use all year round.

When I was very young we lived in the teeny, tiny town of Newburg, Missouri. If you've heard of it, I'm amazed. We had an acre garden at that time and most of our days in the summer were spent in that garden. My parents worked and weeded every free minute it seemed. And we always had a lot of zucchini. One year my step-grandfather and grandmother came to visit us. He was from Virginia and he taught us how to make flutes from the stalk of a zucchini plant. Sorry I don't remember how, but it can be done!!

Fortunately, I do have lots of my mother's recipes for using zucchini. Recently I made my children this recipe. It is straight out of my childhood because according to my mother the recipe was given to her by a women she knew in Newburg. My children loved it and wondered over the tiny pieces of green stuff in their cake. But they begged to eat it until it was gone. Try it with your family and let me know what they think.

Martha Schmidt’s Zucchini Squash Cake
2 cups grated zucchini squash
1 cup oil
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup nuts
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
Combine squash, sugar , oil, eggs. Combine with dry ingredients. Beat no more than 1 minute. Bake 30 - 45 minutes at 300 degrees. Yes, 300.

Icing
Cream one 3 ounce package cream cheese
1 stick oleo (I use butter - you know a recipe is old when it calls for oleo!)
2 cups powder sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
¼ cup nuts (I made it without the nuts in the icing)
Spread over cake.
Enjoy!

I haven't seen the cookbook pictured above, but as so many seem to be looking for Zucchini recipes this time of year I thought someone might like to try it.