Recipe Box: Chipotle Beef Tostadas

We are all busy homeschool moms and who doesn't love a quick and easy recipe that satisfies the fam?  From time to time, I would like to share some of the recipes that have been hits with our family.  I have two boys, who often seem like bottomless pits.  My youngest is a bit picky so I'm always happy when I find something somewhat healthy that he likes.  One of the more recent new recipes we've tried is Chipotle Beef Tostadas, which I found over at the Food Network website (link at bottom of post).  I'm forever saving recipes I'd like us to try, and sometimes I actually get around to trying them.  This recipe is very quick to make and would work great for a busy weekday meal.  I substituted black beans for the pinto beans as that is what I had on hand.  We also added sour cream to our tostadas before adding the rest of the toppings.  Next time I will add green onions to our toppings, because, well, green onions make many things taste better.

                                           Image source: Food Network

Chipotle Beef Tostadas

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground beef
1 onion, chopped
Salt
[I also added minced garlic to the beef and onion mixture when cooking because garlic is good for you, and I like it.]
1 to 1 1/2 tsp of chipotle chili powder (I used 1 1/2 tsp.  I thought it was a bit spicy, but everyone else thought it was fine.)
1 10 oz can of Rotel (I used "original")
1 15 oz can of pinto beans, drained (I used black beans.)
1 medium zucchini or yellow squash, diced  (I used one, but I think next time I'll try two just to sneak in more veggies for my youngest)
2 cups of coleslaw mix or shredded cabbage
Juice of one lime, plus lime wedges for serving
Pepper
8 tostadas or taco shells
1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
Optional topping: sour cream

Directions:
Heat the oil.  Cook the ground beef, half of the chopped onion, 1 tsp salt, and chipotle powder until the beef is browned and the onion is tender.  I added the minced garlic about halfway through as my garlic tends to burn if I add it too soon.

Add the Rotel, zucchini, and beans.  Cook until the zucchini is tender, stirring occasionally.

In a separate bowl, toss the coleslaw mix with lime juice.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Divide beef mixture among the tostadas.  Top with coleslaw mix, shredded cheddar, and sour cream.  Dive in and enjoy!

For the original recipe please go to:
Food Network: Chili Beef Tostadas

Curriculum Show & Tell: The Fallacy Detective

We have chosen to study logic as part of our homeschool education.  My boys have done various logic workbooks over the years.  As they've gotten older, I've started introducing informal logic.  One of the first books we use is The Fallacy Detective by Hans Bluedorn and Nathaniel Bluedorn.

 
It's straightforward enough that the boys can read it on their own.  There are questions at the end of each lesson, with the answers found at the back of the book.

For our family, The Fallacy Detective is introduced in the first semester of 7th grade.  My son will read through the lesson and answer the questions in his logic notebook.  We will then go over the answers together later in the day (or sometimes the next day).  We cover 2-3 lessons per week to finish the book in one semester.  I know of some families who have their students answer the questions orally.  Sometimes we may do this, but I do not always have the opportunity to do the lesson with my son when he's ready to do it.  Besides, I like to see how he does on his own.  If he gets any of the answers wrong, I'll just read the question to him again and have him answer orally.  More often that not, he'll get it right, especially if we've discussed the fallacy so he has a better understanding of it.

Here are a couple of pics of the back of the book and the table of contents.  I've found that The Fallacy Detective is a nice, laid-back introduction to informal logic.

Please follow this link if you'd like more info on The Fallacy Detective.
http://www.fallacydetective.com/

To purchase:
 https://www.rainbowresource.com/product/FallacyDetective

Book Blast: Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison by Lois Lenski

I came across the title Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison by Lois Lenski on some book list I discovered online.  I've had it on our shelf for a couple of years, but we've never gotten around to reading it.  I was determined we'd get to it this year when studying American history.  I'm so glad we did!  The subject matter is touchy, and Lenski handles it fantastically.  We could see the struggle from both the captured "pale faces" and the natives.  It was easy to see that when cultures clash, there is no clear path on how to handle the situation.  The author took great care in describing the Native American culture and customs, and the illustrations are beautiful.  We love reading historical fiction, especialy books that feature real people.  This book would be a wonderful addition to any Native American study with plenty of rabbit trails to follow!  I've included a few links below for a study guide, extension activities, and more information on Mary Jemison.

Mary Jemison at Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jemison

Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison reviews at Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42466.Indian_Captive

Indian Captive Discussion Guide:
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/indian-captive-discussion-guide

Indian Captive Extension Activities:
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/indian-captive-extension-activity

More information about the Seneca people:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_people

Work Samples!

This is a photo laden post. I decided to post some samples of the boys' work. These are from our second week of school for 2009-2010. I thought it would be neat to see how they progress. I love to see samples from other homeschoolers. Plus it's a way to see examples from different curricula.
Gavin's Horizons 1 math workbook

Brandon's Horizons 3 math workbook

Gavin's word problems from Singapore Challenging Word Problems, book 1

Granted, I have to read the problems for him but he has to figure out how to do the problem and find the answer.

Brandon's word problems from Singapore Challenging Word Problems, book 2

Sample from Brandon's Growing with Grammar, grade 3

Gavin's phonics, Explode the Code, book 2

He had to spell these words on his own.

sample from Brandon's phonics, Explode the Code, book 6

He doesn't seem to really need the phonics as he's reading at a higher level than what we're doing. It's a good review though and reinforces spelling.

Sample of map work from Story of the World 2 activity book
I always review areas we've previously covered to help them see the big picture.

This is a sample of Brandon's copy work. I make up our copy work pages using excerpts from whatever we'll be reading that week. I made the lines too far apart for Brandon so his handwriting is a little awkward. I've made a note to decrease the space on the next set of pages. Gavin will not be doing copy work until he turns 6.

This is a sample of our guided narrations. Brandon writes his own narrations and Gavin dictates his narrations to me. I also create our narration pages to coincide with whatever we're covering that week.

This is a sample of Gavin's from our lab about blood. We're using R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey - Life.

Gavin is 5 and Brandon is 7. We started kindergarten when they would have started attending a traditional brick and mortar school. We've already started our "next" school year. Based solely on what level math we're doing, this puts Brandon in 3rd grade and Gavin in 1st.

Weekly Report Jun 15-19, 2009

Brandon:
Horizons 3 - lessons 15-19 and a test (There's a test every 10 lessons)
Singapore CWP - pages 69-76
ETC 6 - pages 113-121 (We finished up book 6 this week so he took the post test also.)
GWG - lessons 1.9-1.11
Spectrum Reading 3 - pages 26-29 (He's doing this 2x per week.)

Gavin:
Horizons 1 - lessons 11-15
Singapore CWP 1 - pages 9-14
ETC 2 - pages 10-18
I was worried that Gavin might not be ready to do blends but he's just cruising along! It's amazing how much spelling he picks up with us just doing Explode the Code right now.

Both:
History - SOTW 2
- read Beowulf from Favorite Medieval Tales
- Beowulf coloring page
- Brandon did some copy work
- finished up The Celts: See Through History
- started chapter 3
- another coloring page
- both did a narration exercise about Augustine
- read about monasteries in Medieval Life: DK Eyewitness
- made a medieval letter illumination
- completed map work from chapter 3
- read about monasteries from the Encyclopedia of World History and What Were Castles For?
- added Augustine to our timeline book

Science:
This week, we discussed the respiratory system and the digestive system.
- completed a lab about breathing rate and how it's affected by various activities
- did a little experiment exploring how much air you can hold in your lungs
- also made a "breathing model" found in the book Science and Your Body
- read Why Do People Eat? by Kate Needham
- read What Happens to a Hamburger? by Paul Showers
- also completed the fun activity at the end of that book about how digestive fluids affect food
- read about the respiratory system and digestive system in the following books:
What's Inside You
Body by Richard Walker
Tell Me about the Human Body

We also finished up The Sword in the Tree and Gulliver's Travels.

Weekly Report Jun 8-12

Brandon:
Horizons math 3: lessons 11-14
ETC 6: pages 97-112
Singapore CWP: pages 65-68
GWG: lessons 1.5-1.8
Spectrum Reading: pages 18-25

Gavin:
Horizons math 1: lessons 6-10
Singapore CWP: pages 6-9
ETC 2: pages 1-9

I ended up skipping some lessons in Brandon's math because it was too easy.


Science for both:
- covered the skeletal, muscular, and circulatory systems.
- finished reading The Magic School Bus: The Search for the Missing Bones
- completed 4 labs. One consisted of monitoring your heart rate after various activities. The most favorite by far, though, was the "Blood Model" lab.


Can you see the white blood cells, platelets, and red blood cells?

History for both:

- covered chapter 2 in SOTW2

- map work- coloring page

- narration- Brandon did copywork.

- read chapters 6-10 from The Sword in the Tree

I've decided to wait until Gavin is closer to six before he starts doing copywork.

Ein-O-Science Models

I wanted to mention the Ein-O-Science models. While learning about cell models last week, we used the plant cell model and the animal cell model. The boys loved them!!

Interactive plant cell model

http://www.amazon.com/Ein-O-Science-BioSigns-Plant-Cell/dp/B00196W1S8/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1244656108&sr=8-5

Interactive animal cell model

http://www.amazon.com/Ein-O-Science-BioSigns-Animal-Cell/dp/B0019737R6/ref=pd_bxgy_t_text_b

They are roughly the size of a small donut. It has removable cell parts - endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi complex, nucleus and mitochondria. While this may be a bit beyond what we "need" to know right now, it is a great visual aid! Right now, it's a unique "toy", but will also come in handy when the boys will need to know those terms.

We also have the human body model by the same company. It is a favorite toy around here. Be warned -there are some small parts that could be easily lost. We've had the human body model for a couple of years and still have all the parts. The cell models do have smaller pieces though. We've only had them for a week but no losses so far and the boys have free access to them.