There are days where you just need to kick back and have some fun. Throw aside the lesson plans....and that can be very hard to do, and take a breather.
Here are some suggestions....
1. Take a field trip to a local business. Call ahead and see if there is a less busy time for them and arrange to have your children talk to the business owner. Suggestions could be jewelry store, bakery, clothing boutique, music/book store, bowling alley, or even an ice cream shop.
2. Have a reading marathon. See how long you can lay around and read. Track the number of pages each person reads. Offer a prize for the person who reads the most and can tell about the books that they read.
3. Read aloud a book based on a movie and then make some popcorn and watch the movie.
4. Have a world theme day. Spend the day learning about a country and cook easy recipes from that country. You can visit the library and check out books or just use internet resources. Make a map of that country or even put together their traditional dress. You could also memorize a poem from there or build a national landmark from out of Legos or some other type of building material.
5. Maybe you aren't feeling international, pick a region of the United States. Do a virtual field trip. Make some cuisine.
6. Take a walk in your local community and learn about the history of it. Visit the library and check out any local history books. Compare the pictures in the book with the way the streets look now. How much has changed through the years? (We live in a really small town...so we can see massive changes.)
7. Pick an artist and learn about their life. Try to re-create a piece of their artwork not using traditional materials. Use jelly beans or candy...recycled materials....melted crayons instead of paint. The options are endless.
8. Snowed in....Take a virtual field trip. There are thousands of options online. You can visit Mount Vernon without leaving your living room. Spend the day learning about George Washington and his famous home. Simple Google the term, "Virtual Fieldtrip" and see what comes up. Take your choice for that day!
9. Binge watch Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. This is a great cartoon that helps reinforce geography, science, history, and problem solving skills. Have a world map handy so you can mark on the map where you have visited. Print some coloring sheets from these areas of the landmarks and color as you watch.
10. Go on a bike ride or nature walk and just get out together. Enjoy the day. Stop for ice cream. Make the day special and memorable.
Have you checked out the Schoolhouse Review Crew on the 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents Blog Hop.....Take some time to see what they have learned on their homeschooling journeys!
Here are some of the Members that are taking part this week....
Annette @ A Net In Time
Brandy @ Kingdom Academy Homeschool
Brenda @ Counting Pinecones
Carol @ Home Sweet Life
Cassandra @ A Glimpse of Normal
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses
Cristi @ Through the Calm and Through the Storm
Crystal @ Crystal Starr
DaLynn @ Biblical Womanhood
Danielle @ Sensible Whimsy
Dawn @ Double O Farms
Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool
Debbie @ Debbie's Homeschool Corner
Desiree @ Our Homeschool Notebook
Diana @ Busy Homeschool Days
Diana @ Homeschool Review
Elyse @ Oiralinde: Eternal Song
Emilee @ Pea of Sweetness
Erin @ For Him and My Family
Jen @ Chestnut Grove Academy
Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
Jennifer @ A Peace of Mind
Jennifer @ Faithful Homestead
Joelle @ homeschooling for His Glory
Joesette @ Learning Curve
Kari @ Random Acts of Boyhood
Katie @ Katie's Daily Life
Kemi @ Homemaking Organized
Kim @ Homestead Acres
Kylie @ Our Worldwide Classroom
Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
Latonya @ Joy in the Ordinary
Laura @ Day by Day in Our World
Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road
Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures
Lori @ At Home: where life happens
Meg @ Adventures with Jude
Megan @ My Full Heart
Melanie (Wren) @ finchnwren
Melissa @ Mom's Plans
Melissa @ Grace Christian School
Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
Missica @ Through the Open Window
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling
Rebekah @ There Will Be A $5 Charge For Whining
Renita @ Krazy Kuehner Days
Sarah @ Renaissance Mama
Sasha @ Such a Time as This
Tawnee @ Adventures in Homeschooling
Tiffany @ The Crafty Home
Tina @ Desperate Homeschoolers
You have had a full schedule all day. Maybe there was a field trip, or several various projects that you needed to finish. Now it's dinner time, the kids are starving and you just want to crawl in bed. We have all been there. What do you do?
Well in our case, I do my very best to avoid the "fast food crunch". Mainly because we don't really have fast food in our town. There is a nice little dairy bar down the road that is opened year round, but any type of take-out gets very expensive. I reserve this for extreme times and actually plan it as "treats".
So to over come the 5 o'clock mess, I try to plan ahead. I have never tried freezer meal cooking. I have read about it many times, and have friends who have done it. But alas...I still haven't done it. When I say plan ahead, I plan out our meals.
Each week I create a menu plan with lunches and dinners planned out. I even include our schedule on the chart to help as I am planning and also give the kids extra reminders while they check what we are eating that day.
Breakfast is an open option. I keep their favorite cereals, freezer waffles and pancakes or even (Gasp) Poptarts. The kids also eat soups, chicken strips, basically whatever they want for this meal. They are also responsible for this themselves. I just follow-up to make sure they do not need help opening something and that they have actually eaten. This is one way that we are working on Life Skills.
Lunches I keep as simple as possible. Usually around 20 minutes from start to finish. These include grilled cheese, quesadillas, walking tacos, beef hot dogs, mac & cheese, garlic bread pizzas, salads, pancakes, and crock pot soups. I sometimes wake up early and throw everything in the crockpot and then it's ready for lunch. We can enjoy the leftovers the next day also. The kids love chicken N Dumplings this way. I also try to include life skills in lunch. I encourage the kids to make lunch and learn new recipes this way. It is common to find any of the 4 kids making lunch with some help from me.
Dinners are also kept simple. I do make more complex meals on the weekends. But I keep chicken breast and veggies in the fridge and freezer. The kids love sauteed chicken with broccoli and plain rice. Super simple. Other favorites include chimichangas, bacon meatloaf, lasagna casserole, hot chicken sandwiches, baked turkey breast, etc. I save homemade pizzas for the weekend, when I usually have more time. I also overmake dinner at night sometimes in order to carry over leftovers to the next day.
When I grocery shop, I buy a few extras to keep on hand just in case I don't get to go shopping to stock up. This helps in a pinch, just in case something has gone bad also. Ever open up a can of chicken or a package of chicken breast that was dated ok, but the smell bowls you over? Yeah, it's happened. You still have to feed your family something....and it's not what was in that package. That is why I keep extra meals on hand.
I keep the menu on the fridge so that I don't forget what I need to prep that morning. It also keeps the kids from asking constantly what we are eating. But there is always a tag line reminding them that the menu is subject to change. If mom is sick or if there was a food incident.
I have gotten lazy and not did a menu for a week....and trust me, I was so lost. I even do it this way when we travel. We always have a kitchen in the hotels we stay in to keep our eating habits under control. I keep a menu printed during these times also.
I do ask for input from the family about the meals. I try to let the kids each pick a meal each week, and Joe too. It helps me too when I blank out. I thought about creating a monthly meal plan, but I honestly get too overwhelmed planning that far in advance. So currently I go up to about two weeks. Plus tastes change....chili might seem like a good idea, but if you are feeling well at that time chicken noodle soup is a better option. I also keep a list of favorite food items or recipes I have seen in my planner. So if I am stuck I can refer to it to help me finish our menu.
Everyone's family life is different. I do once a week shopping, but some families cannot do that. Maybe some of what we do can help you. The biggest way to save you time and money, no matter how you do it, is PLAN ahead. You will find your niche once you get going.
If you need ideas, check Pinterest. Go for simple recipes, no matter how cute some of them look. Look realistically how much time and energy you have as you are planning your family's food.
Have you checked out the Schoolhouse Review Crew on the 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents Blog Hop.....Take some time to see what they have learned on their homeschooling journeys!
Here are some of the Members that are taking part this week....
Dawn @ Double O Farms
Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool
Debbie @ Debbie's Homeschool Corner
Desiree @ Our Homeschool Notebook
Diana @ Busy Homeschool Days
Diana @ Homeschool Review
Elyse @ Oiralinde: Eternal Song
Emilee @ Pea of Sweetness
Erin @ For Him and My Family
Jen @ Chestnut Grove Academy
Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
Latonya @ Joy in the Ordinary
Laura @ Day by Day in Our World
Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road
Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures
Lori @ At Home: where life happens
Meg @ Adventures with Jude
Megan @ My Full Heart
Melanie (Wren) @ finchnwren
Melissa @ Mom's Plans
I came to the realization that we have been homeschooling for over 7 years now. We have grown from it just being Joey to all four of the kids now homeschool. Some days are wonderful and other days I just want to make a phone call for that big, yellow school bus to show up.
I have learned quite a bit in the past few years, and I thought I would share the top 5 mistakes that I made and sometimes fall back too, and have to kick myself back in line again.
1. You are Homeschooling....which is education at home, not re-creating a public school classroom in your home.
I'm not saying you shouldn't have a room dedicated just to homeschooling, but if you don't have the money or space to have such a thing, don't think you can't homeschool. This is not necessary. We don't have the space to have an individual room. I wish we did sometimes since it would be nice to have some of the school clutter to be hidden behind a closed door. But that has just made me more conscious of not leaving piles everywhere and come up with creative ways to keep their books out of the way. Currently each child has a backpack that has their current study books and their assignment notebook in it. It works out well for us. Their materials are portable anywhere in the house they want to work.
2. There are so many hours in each day.
Overplanning is a bad thing. There are only so many hours in a day. I know there are some awesome projects and we have a limited amount of time to teach our children, but if you overwhelm the kids and yourself no one will be having fun. No one will really be learning. Keep track of how many hours you are schooling each day. If the kids are whining and getting frustrated, maybe you need to take a look at how much you are packing into each day. It's ok to change your schooltime around. Do some in the am and the evening. Give yourself and the kiddos a rest break or quiet time to read books about the topic you are studying. Get out and take a walk or bike ride. If you find you are planning too much into each week, then definitely take a look at your schedule and experiment over a couple weeks. Adjust how much material you are including each day.
I fight this often. I try to cram too much into each week, and then I feel frustrated that we didn't get to everything. This frustration distracts me from what we actually accomplished.
3. Spend a ton on your first curriculum purchases.
I am a bit of a curriculum junkie. I have shelves and shelves of it. I was even worse though in the beginning. I would buy whatever I read about. We would use it and I would see quickly it wasn't a fit. Sometimes it would fit, but that was a lot of money to waste. A LOT of money to waste. Before running and buying the first curriculum that you like, really look at your child's learning style. Look at various curriculum and go through their samples. Read reviews. Don't go in debt for curriculum you cannot afford. It will frustrate you also. Remember that library books can work at curriculum also. You do not need a fancy box curriculum to homeschool. Find what works best for your family's educational style and also your budget. I am not against box curriculum, they work well for many families. But not for everyone.
Also do your research, you can find used options many times that will save you a ton of money. So if you do want the boxed curriculum, do your research.
4. Sign up for a bunch of clubs and activities
Homeschool clubs abound. It is so different than a few years ago. There are clubs, activities, and field trips that will keep you very busy. In our area, we could find something to do almost daily. Unfortunately our kids are not unschooling kiddos, so I have learned to cut back on activities. We still do field trips and we find many life skill trips to take. But I really look at our schedule now and the activity. I ask myself if the kids will enjoy it or if it is for me. How much are we already doing that week? Will it apply to any of our recent studies? Have we done a field trip or activity like this recently? Going to similar museums repeatedly is rather boring....trust me we have reached this stage in our travels.
5. Forget that learning happens anywhere.
While you are stressing about how much you have not gotten done this week and what you still need to finish, did you realize that your child was watching a movie on bees? Or maybe they learned how to make a new dinner dish for the family? Did they learn how to plant garden plants? Or maybe how to be a better neighbor by helping out next door? Learning happens all around us. Your child can learn while going out and running errands. Let them help make a menu plan for your family. Let them help you grocery shop and plan out your errands. Life learning is as important as book learning. So many kids graduate that are not able to cook, balance a checkbook or even clean up after themselves. You have the perfect opportunity to not only educate your children with books but also in life.
We are linking up many others from the Schoolhouse Review Crew on the 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents Blog Hop.....Take some time to see what they have learned on their homeschooling journeys!
Monica @ Grace Christian School
Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
Missica @ Through the Open Window
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling
Rebekah @ There Will Be A $5 Charge For Whining
Renita @ Krazy Kuehner Days
Sarah @ Renaissance Mama
Sasha @ Such a Time as This
Tawnee @ Adventures in Homeschooling
Tiffany @ The Crafty Home
Tina @ Desperate Homeschoolers
