Tot School

Since Ethan is staying home this year from preschool, I am picking up the slack by going through a preschool homeschooling curriculum with him.  I love the curriculum, but I was really looking for some new activities to do as we review letters A-D this week.  Enter TotSchool.  This site is a great resource by a homeschooling mom who thinks that for 2-3 year olds it may be too early for "preschool", but we can certainly learn a lot of cool things in "Tot School".  Today Ethan and I made these adorable animal letters:

Here is another page we did to review the letter A.  Betsy might recognize the fabric I used since I did not have "picnic" paper. 

You can find the complete alphabet lessons listed on this site.  Ethan just loved school this morning and kept asking, "Now what are we going to make?"

Mom's Spaghetti Sauce

This sauce can be made and eaten right away or frozen for later use!  It is also great in lasagna.

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 5 (6-oz.) cans tomato paste
• 2 (15-oz.) cans tomato sauce
• lots of garlic powder (at least 1 tbls)
• lots of onion powder (at least 1 tbls)
• lots of Italian seasoning (at least 2 tbls)
• salt and pepper to taste

Brown and season ground meat with salt and pepper. Drain grease and place meat into a crock pot. Add remaining ingredients. Cook on high for about two hours (stirring every 30 minutes or so to prevent burning). Then cook on low for about six more hours. Let sauce cook for a while before tasting. An extra can of sauce or paste can be added to thicken or thin the sauce as desired.

Because my crock pot often burns this sauce I am trying it on the stove top today.  I'm sure it will be just as good!