the dinner assignment

so one of my lofty goals when starting this homeschooling venture was to have each kid make dinner for the family.  which included picking out the meal they wanted to make, writing out a grocery list of the needed ingredients, reading the necessary recipe involved, and finally cook the meal.  with my assistance.

what i didn't count on was how exhausted i'd be pretty much every single day.  and how such a lofty goal felt downright out of reach when keeping up with the laundry, the dishes, and the hundred other simple daily tasks were already proving to be too much for me to handle.

but then a couple weeks ago, mikey rediscovered the kids' cookbook i had purchased at the beginning of the year when this brilliant idea first entered my head.

and he kept asking and asking when he could cook something from it.

so i pushed aside my general daily tiredness and decided to let him go for it.

and i am so glad i did.

he picked out the recipe he wanted to make.


he wrote out his grocery list.  (no picture of him writing it out.  tired, remember?  but i will forever kick myself for not taking that picture.)


he shopped for the necessary ingredients.  (again, no picture.  again, kick.)

reading the recipe.  (whew, a picture!  good cuz my shins can't take many more self-inflicted kicks.)

the chef du jour.

with just a bit of assistance, he did every part-- making the rice, grating the orange zest, browning the chicken in the pan, and making the sauce.

and finally getting to enjoy the fruit of his labor!

and what did little bro think?

he liked it.  yes, i think he really, really liked it.

and i did too.  :)