The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.

– Henry Ward Beecher

I bought this book, and then went out to Costco and bought two more of them in the series.  I thought I would recommend them, here on my homeschooling blog, to children who want to learn more about the food they are eating.  As a homeschooling mom, my children have a lot of experience in grocery shopping, as they follow me from aisle to aisle, looking for the best deals and best foods to feed our growing family.  Also, my husband loves taking us out to eat, and the restaurant version of this book is very fascinating.  Not only are there “eat this, not that” suggestions in all the books, but there is also teaching on all the downfalls in restaurant and packaged food, such as high fructose corn syrup, unhealthy fats, and empty calories.  They have read and learned about the “bad stuff”, but there is plenty of advice about the good stuff.  We are encouraged to “eat the rainbow”, eating healthy fruits and veggies in bright colors.  The authors make us laugh with the wording of the text, and there are plenty of pictures to look at.  Even Davy knows which foods are “on the good side, or on the dark side”.  If Jacob has one of these books in his hands, he is sure to read most of it out loud to us.

“I learned that some restaurants sell food that is really bad for you.  Outback Steakhouse got an “F”.  Their baby back ribs are the worst food in America.  IHOP got an “F”, too.  Their omelets have 1,150 calories.”  ~Grace

“I think the books are fun to read because they have all these restaurant foods, and they say what’s good to eat and what’s not.  I’ve learned that the worst food is Outback Steakhouse ribs.  Then I learned that you’re supposed to eat the Fazoli’s Fettuccini Alfredo, and not the Cheesecake Factory kid’s pasta with alfredo sauce.  On the chicken sandwiches you’re supposed to eat the chick-fil-a chargrilled chicken club sandwich and not the Panera Chipolte chicken.  I think you will really like these books.”  ~Ethan

“These are the most interesting books on food that I have ever read.  They help you find the best choices at restaurants, grocery stores, amusement parks, etc.  For instance, I learned that the worst food in America is Outback Steakhouse’s baby back ribs.  The worst salad is California Pizza Kitchen’s Thai crunch salad, with 2,115 calories.  One 3 Musketeers bar has forty grams of sugar in it.”  ~Jacob

We are on week 31 of our 34 week school year.  We have that “end of the year” excitement and renewed interest in finishing well.  In three weeks we will be done with History, Bible, Reading, and Science.  We will have a few more weeks of Math and Language Arts to do, but we are not discouragingly behind, thankfully!

This school year has been the best for me, as I have settled into the homeschooling way of life, and realizing that most of what was making me anxious in previous years is just not important enough to stress me out.

I love to have the children home with me and we are learning every day.  Formal schooling takes the morning hours (generally), but life learning is all day long as we learn to love and care for each other and our home.  This is only my third year but I have already seen so much to make me believe that this is the life for us.

Right now, my burden is Caleb.  I simply don’t know what to do with him next school year.  David has enjoyed going to public school for Kindergarten and First grade, but we originally placed him so that he could have help with his speech.  Caleb will be five on July 9th and my heart says “keep him home” but realistically I wonder if I could handle homeschooling all five of them, plus mother a toddler (Seth) and a baby (Sarah).  So, I ask for prayer and wisdom.

It’s not easy, but nothing worthwhile is easy.  The Lord makes us willing and supplies what we need to get through each day.