Perseverance

"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another."

Walter Elliott

See that crumpled piece of paper ? It was thrown to me by one of my teenage piano students yesterday. I love this student. She has a vitality and talent that is unique. Her musicality is a bright spot in my week. She has been struggling with playing scales, a "necessary evil" as she aptly described them . I'm trying to impress upon her that many little musical challenges like this, completed successfully, will make her an even better pianist.

We both got a good laugh out of her crumpled scale sheet. I told her I felt like doing that with many things in my life, and I was happy to make her another copy so we could start over and try again this week. That crumpled piece of paper got me thinking - about homeschooling. My children can have the opportunity to try and fail as many times as they want, in the safety and security of their own homes. They can learn that, as the above quote states, "Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another." They can struggle with concepts and ideas, not bullies and curriculum that just don't work for them.

I homeschool not to produce the smartest, highest achieving children in the neighborhood, but to give them solid VALUES and CHARACTER. I homeschool so they can realize their God given potential.

It's funny the things I learned from my lesson with Olivia, and her crumpled C Scale.

*Linking up today with Some Girls Website.

What's for Dinner? Roast Chicken with Wine & Carrot Souffle

I have a father-in-law who loves to provide me with kitchen gadgets and cookware... he is so sweet to bring me these things. Last week when my husband and I were sitting on his couch he told us to close our eyes and hold out our hands together - he put THIS in them:

What is it? - you might wonder. It is a wine chicken cooker, and it helps you make the BEST chicken you have ever tasted!! I looked up some recipes and decided to use this one from Wine Enthusiast. I didn't use expensive wine - I think it was just some Carlo Rossi in the jug... the cheap stuff my husband and I used to drink when we were first married.

It took about 10 minutes to prep the chicken, and an hour and half to bake it, but it turned out beautifully! If you like kitchen cookery and gadgets, I would recommend getting this - it would even make a great gift.

I chose not to put veggies around the chicken like suggested, because I had about 2 pounds of carrots that needed to be used, and my children LOVE carrot souffle, so I made that instead.

I couldn't find my trusted carrot souffle recipe, so I found one on Allrecipes, and it was EVEN BETTER than my old recipe. You can see it here. I made crescent rolls, and then served Jell-O Temptations dessert kit for dessert.... that dessert was a hit, and you can fix it in five minutes! My daughter and I put it in fancy pink crystal glasses, and my family thought I had fallen out of heaven!

Of course, the only thing I snapped a picture of was the chicken, because this was a labor intensive dinner, with fixing the chicken, peeling the carrots, using the mixer, etc... I totally forgot about my camera. The time was was well worth the effort, however, because the next day at church my sweet husband told some friends what a wonderful dinner I had fixed the night before. (I'll have to do that more often.)

Want to share a recipe today? Feel free to link up - all I ask is that you link back to this post, or mention Homegrown Learners in your post - you can grab the cute button in my sidebar as well!