What Makes a Good Education? My Guest Post @ Imagination Soup

I've been reading with great interest the posts at Imagination Soup since the beginning of this year. Melissa, the author of the site, is exploring education this month.... What makes a good education? She peaked my interest when she wrote about not wanting to send her daughter back to school after the Christmas holidays.

I am such a passionate believer in education at home. I just had to submit something to her to try to explain why our family chose this path. Much to my surprise, I heard back from her immediately and she wanted to use my article. So - here it is! Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

One Mom Shares Her Decision About School

This post is linked to The Homeschool Village.... on Thursdays moms share accomplishments from their week. This week I feel like I accomplished something - achieving my goal of submitting a piece of writing and someone actually liking it! Visit the Homeschool Village by clicking the button below to see others' accomplishments.

Wednesday - What's for Dinner? Snow Days Cooking

Being at home on these snowy days is so good for your soul. Cooking has been enjoyable, and sitting around the table eating dinner has been relaxed and peaceful. I wish it could last forever. Last night's menu was Baked Chicken Drumsticks, Zucchini Pie, and fresh fruit. I'm not bragging, but it was GOOD! We try to eat in our dining room a couple of times a week (the rest of the time we're at the kitchen table) and set the table like civilized people. Is it just me, or is setting the table and sitting down together as a family getting to be a lost art?

I'm not reinventing the wheel ~ both recipes I used were found online. The first, Baked Chicken Drumsticks came from E-How (really, it did!). I Googled "chicken drumsticks easy baked breadcrumbs" and picked the recipe with the ingredients I had in the pantry. Everyone loved them, and you can't beat paying $3 for 2 lbs. of chicken. Click here for the recipe.

The Zucchini Pie recipe comes from Maggie at A Bokros Kind of Life.... I love Maggie's blog. You should visit when you get a chance. This was a hit because it got one of my children eating some green vegetable that wasn't a green bean! It was really very simple:

1 TBSP butter or olive oil

2 large zucchini or yellow squash, thinly sliced (4-5 cups)

1/2 large yellow onion, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 prepared 9 inch pie crust

1 TBSP Dijon Mustard

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 Cups (8 oz) shredded mozzerella cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and saute the zucchini and onion until onion is translucent (about 10 min)

Press the pie crust into a pie dish and spread the mustard evenly over the crust.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, cheese, spices and zucchini mixture. Pour everything into the pie crust and spread evenly.

Bake for 30 min or until the top is lightly browned. Allow to cool a few min and then cut into wedges to serve.

Here's everything just out of the oven:

Do you have a certain night that you KNOW everyone will be sitting at the table and you make a big family meal? In our house it happens to be Wednesday (or Tuesday in this case since we're all snowed in! ..... leave me a comment and let me know about dinner at your house!