Monday Q&A | Camera-Carrying, Reading, and Freezer Cooking

Every Monday, I answer a few of the questions that my readers send me. If you have a question you’d like me to answer in a future Q&A post, just leave me a comment here or email me (thefrugalgirl [at] gmail [dot] com) and put Q&A in the subject line. I look forward to hearing from you!

Kristen, I was wondering you say that you take your camera every where, what do you put it in to take it with you?  I just got a cannon rebel T1i and it’s huge compared to my point and shoot.

-Mercedes

Ooh yes…even entry-level SLR’s are awfully big compared to the new point and shoots!  My old point and shoot was sort of on the large end of things, though, so my SLR doesn’t seem super big.

Usually when I am out and about, I take my older, smaller Rebel body,(this link is for the newer version of mine) and put my 50mm f1.4 lens on it.  That lens isn’t super heavy and it’s pretty compact.  I unceremoniously stuff it into my regular purse to take it along with me, which probably isn’t ideal, but it’s what I do. 

Before I got my new camera body, I was a little bit hesitant to take my SLR with me to places like the grocery store, but now that my Rebel body is my backup and not my main camera, I feel more comfy hauling it around with me.

Plus, I am a big fan of using the stuff that I own.  I try to be careful with it, yes, but I don’t want to own lots of really fabulous stuff that sits at home, safely tucked away and never used.  I want to squeeze every bit of life out of the things that I own, and when it comes to cameras, that means I’m going to use them and haul them around with me.  I want to use them to record life, and lots of it.

Now, all of that applies if I’m just going grocery shopping or out in the neighborhood…if I’m heading to a wedding or family gathering, I usually bring my large backpack camera bag with all my gear inside.  In that bag, everything is padded and safe, and it’s a totally not risky way to take my stuff with me.

By the way, I recently heard about JoTotes, which are somewhat normal sized purses that are meant for carrying and SLR and an extra lens.  They’re $89, though, so I haven’t felt inspired enough to give one a try.    You might want to put one on your Christmas list or something, though.

Kristen, what system do you use to teach your kids to read? I haven’t the patience for the method my grandfather used so I’m looking for alternatives.

-Joanna

I’m probably not the world’s best person to answer this question because so far, my children have picked up reading pretty easily.

Joshua learned how to do basic reading on his own, but with Lisey and Sonia I used my own homemade flash cards with the basic letter sounds on them (consonants and short vowel sounds). After they mastered these cards, we started to read through the Bob Books (I own the first 3 sets).

After the Bob Books series, Joshua and Lisey really just took off and didn’t really need much in the way of phonics after that. Sonia, however, is appearing to be a bit more average (not behind, just average) and so we’ll be making some more phonics cards for her this year (blends, like pl and cl, double-letter sounds like sh and ch, and r-controlled vowels like er, or, ar, and so on). For some reason, Joshua and Lisey seemed to know these things intuitively, so this will be my first experience teaching these sounds. In addition to the phonics cards, we’ll and we will be doing LOTS of reading practice with Bob Books and books from the library. I’ll let you know how it goes!

I mentioned on Facebook a little while back that Zoe figured out how to read three-letter words simply by watching me teach Sonia over the last school year (Yay! She should be a pretty good reader by the time she’s an official kindergartener in the fall of 2011!), so I’m going to be having her do some informal learning alongside Sonia this year as we work our way through phonics.

I’m sure that some of my children’s easy reading skills are hereditary but I also think that the reading out loud that we’ve done with them over the years has also helped them out.  So if your children are young (or even if they’re not! I still read aloud to Joshua and Lisey.), read to them and read to them a lot…I’m heartily convinced that reading to children is really, really, really good for them.

Incidentally, you might be interested in my post about kindergarten basics on the cheap, where I talk about phonics in addition to all the other things we do in kindergarten here at the Frugal Girl Homeschool.

I know that you cook every day, but with my two under two, I’m always looking for great make-ahead and/or freezer meals. Got any favorites to share?

-Bonnie

You’re right…I don’t do a lot of freezer cooking! I understand the reasons for it, and I do think it can be an efficient way to go, but I’ve just never quite gotten on board with it (though I do freeze a lot of what I bake).

There are 3 meals I can think of that I do freeze, though..one is Stuffed Shells (like Manicotti-just a different shape, and I use the recipe on the back of the box), the second is Beef Au Jus Sandwiches, and the third is BBQ Beef, which we use for sandwiches. When I make Stuffed Shells, I usually freeze a pan, when I make Beef Au Jus, I freeze half the beef and jus, and I do the same when I make BBQ Beef in my crock pot.

I wish I had more ideas for you, but I’m positive I have some freezer-cooking readers who do. If you’re one of those, feel free to leave a link in the comments to a favorite freezer recipe of yours.  And of course, if you’ve got camera-carrying or reading-teaching ideas, pipe up with those too!

Today’s 365 post: Memory