Menu Plan Monday

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Honey

Our family does not eat eggs, dairy, nuts, or mushrooms due to allergies.

I am only including my breakfast and dinner this week because we usually just wing our lunches.

Here are my breakfasts (with fruit):

Monday – Leftovers from yesterday morning
Tuesday – muffins
Wednesday – breakfast skillet (onions, bacon, peppers, potatoes)
Thursday – oatmeal
Friday- Baking Powder Biscuits and pepperoni
Saturday – pancakes
Sunday – pancakes

Here are my dinners for this week (with vegetables):

Monday – beef stew pie with Biscuit Topping
Tuesday – pizza night
Wednesday – pasta
Thursday – leftovers
Friday – roast beef dinner with all the fixings
Saturday – pork roast with all the fixings
Sunday – shepherds pie

This is my third week to link up with Menu Plan Monday. I am really enjoying it. We grocery shop once a month. I am already working on next month's menu ideas and grocery list. Everyone is loving the pizza night. Most of us like the roast beef dinners (one kid doesn't). Those things will definitely be on next month's menu. We will continue rotating the pork and chicken. We have all decided that we would like to try cola chicken (I am looking for a recipe). I have already decided that Mexican needs to be added to the list and possibly Chinese just to give us more variety.

If you have any creative ideas that would feed 9 people and fit our allergy requirements (mentioned above), I would love to hear from you.

So what are you eating this week?

My Absolutely Must Do Everyday List

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Honey

This blog post has been rolling around in my head for a few days and I have been wanting to write it, but kept getting distracted by other things.

I have tried those home management systems where you do something on a rotating weekly schedule... they don't work for me. I have tried daily schedules and weekly plans to no avail. I am perfectly willing to admit that it is probably all my fault. I struggle with follow through and distraction (can anyone else relate to this?). I have five kids, I have a lot of little distractions everyday. Throw Autism, ADHD, and 2 year old twins into the mix and you never know quite what you will end up with on any given day.

In thinking about this, I decided that I needed a system where I can do the same thing everyday (whenever I find a spare moment - not at a specific time). I have finally figured out that I am a visual person. I decided that I needed something that was visual and in my face. This way, I can keep moving forward on my day even when I am distracted by life. Everyday there are things that absolutely must get done, but there are also loads of things that distract me and cause me to forget the everyday things (does this happen to you?).

I was trying to decide how best to approach my problem and came up with a solution that I am going to try. I thought that if I created a list of everything that needs to be done everyday and put it up somewhere in the house so that I can look at, that might help. We'll see.

I thought I would share my idea with you, in case some of you struggle in this area also.

Here is "My Absolutely Must Do Everyday List":

read my bible
pray
have a quiet time
make my bed
shower
brush my teeth
wash my face
brush my hair
get dressed
have my morning coffee time with Jonah
drink eight glasses of water
remind the kids to drink their water today
make breakfast
meal prep for the rest of the day
wash the breakfast dishes
help the kids make their beds
help the kids get clean clothes on
help the kids brush their teeth
help the kids wash their faces
tidy the entry way
tidy the kitchen - sweep and mop the floor
tidy the living room - vacuum
tidy the upstairs hallway
tidy the bathroom - wipe down the counter - empty the garbage - replace the toilet paper
27 Fling Boogie (Flylady)
laundry - start - finish - fold - put away at least one load
make lunch
wash the lunch dishes
read our science books
read our history books
Elisha's Math
Elisha's Language Arts
Moses' Math
Moses' Language Arts
Malachi's Math
Malachi's Language Arts
play with the twins
make dinner
wash the dinner dishes
tie some heart strings
hug each child
look each child in the eyes
love on each child (head pats, back rubs, snuggles)
hold each child (that will still let me)
read to the children
pray with all the kids
have my evening coffee time with Jonah
check the menu plan for tomorrow
write emails
write blog posts
work on downloads
read (from a book on the back of the toilet)
listen to some music
pray for each child
pray for Jonah

This list is subject to change as I see how it all works out. I may add to it, or take away from it as needed.

Along the same lines, I am creating "My Absolutely Must Do Every Week List" and "My Absolutely Must Do Every Month List." I will share those posts when they are ready.

I would love to know what you do for home management, please share.

My Homeschool Binder

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Honey

I promised that I would share photos of my homeschool binder...

I discussed my homeschooling binder in a previous post - My Homeschool Binder - and I finally took some pictures. These pictures were taken a few weeks ago - before the big bedroom move around - and the photos were just on the camera waiting to be downloaded onto my computer.

You might also be interested in this post - When School Is Going Well - as I talk more about My Homeschool Binder and our new system.

The homeschool binder is working for us and making everything that much simpler. I need one binder for the whole family, every subject is in there.

Here is a picture tour of My Homeschool Binder:

Here is the binder. It is fun lime green colored one that I picked up for 50 cents at the Salvation Army in the summer of 2009. It has a matching blue binder buddy that has become my new idea notebook. I outgrew the other one because I have too many ideas. Does anyone want any ideas? I'd be happy to share.

When I started using the binder, I had the pencil case inside, but now the binder is very full and it doesn't fit anymore. I still keep it handy though and loaded with everything we need - pencils, pens, a mini ruler, a sharpener, scissors, etc.

I cut one of our Saxon Math hundred number charts up the sides so that it would slip into the front flap of the binder. We were pulling the chart out for activities quite often and it just made sense to have it handy.

I have the tabs all labeled according to the order of our day (the ideal day, of course). Bible, Language Arts, Math, History, Science, Art, and Read Alouds.

Each section has a chart for Term 2 (because that is the term we are in). I guess I will have to make another chart for Term 3 when we get closer.

This is the first page of our Term 2 chart for Bible. It has been great to be able to pull out the binder and see what we need to read. We finished Genesis early and then moved on to reading James and now we are reading Acts. It has been refreshing to read the New Testament with the kids after spending so much time in the Old Testament.

This is the first page (of two pages) of Malachi's Language Arts. We are taking Language Arts slow because he needs more time to practice. It's not clicking yet, but I expect it will very soon (no worries here).

This is the first page (of two pages) of Moses' Language Arts. Readers, workbooks, writing topics, etc. It's all listed here.

This is the first page (of two pages) of Elisha's Language Arts. Readers, workbooks, writing topics, etc. but also Grammar Ace and English From The Roots Up.

I cut up a file folder to make two dividers (see one in the picture above). This worked great so everyone now has their own Language Arts section. I did the Language Arts sections and the Math sections by order of age (it was just easier that way).

I repeated the process for Math (only with a different color).

We usually do Math before Language Arts, but I have not changed the order in my binder yet. The boys all seem to be able to focus better on Language Arts if we have done Math first.

Here is our Sonlight History Core 1 with Story of the World 1 added in. We do History and Core readings at lunch time.

Here is our Sonlight Science 1. We do Science readings at lunch time too. We are considering alternating the weeks - History one week and then Science the next. I think it might be easier to focus. We'll see.

One thing that I really like about this system is that I can pull out some paper and work on anything that needs working on right there. Moses needed to review his 3+ one day because he had misplaced them in his memory.

For Malachi, I was able to whip out a sheet of paper and review his numbers. He put stickers over the numbers as he identified them. Here, he could not identify 12, 13, 14, 15. I am happy to say that he can now count to twenty, despite being unable to remember the number thirteen most of the time.

Malachi has been worked really hard to learn his alphabet, but still has a few letters that he can't remember consistently. On this sheet (above) he was to put a sticker on the letter that I called out. He only missed a few letters.

We printed out many of his lessons as we went through them. The visual aid really helps him (so do manipulatives).

A few things that I love about My Homeschool Binder:

I have more one on one time with the children.
The school work is in one Teacher's Manual.
School is always ready to go.
The completed work is all in one spot and ready for portfolio time.
I only plan once a term and photocopy once a week (although, I tweak as needed).
My oldest can look at his sections and know what he needs to do.
My husband can look at the Bible, History, Science, and Read Alouds, and know what to read.
We can school anywhere as long as I have my binder and any related books we need (listed in said binder).

One thing that I will change when I am typing out Term 3 (which is way too quickly approaching) is to type out the page numbers "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" rather than "1-5" because then we can circle or somehow mark each page as we complete it.

Whew! I didn't mean to make this post so long. I wanted to give everyone a really good visual of how I use my binder.

If anyone has any comments or questions, I would love to hear them.

Homeschool4free: Curriculum Planning and Organizing

Posted on February 2, 2010 by Honey

Today I created a Curriculum Planning and Organizing page and added it to the Homeschool4free section.

Here are my favorite websites on this topic:

Donna Young

This website has an amazing selection homeschool planning pages. I have been coming here for years. I love her website.

Highland Hitcho Forms

This website has an excellent collection of forms for use in homeschooling.

Homeschool Forms

This website has a very large collection of forms available for printing.

Homeschool Helper Online

This website has a small collection of forms for use when you are homeschooling.

Homeschool Tracker

This website offers a software download of Homeschool Tracker that enables you to plan and organize your homeschool. They have a free version (which is very good) and a pro version.

Do you have any websites or blogs that you use when you are planning your homeschooling?

Do you have any great resources for homeschool forms?

Planning Our Next Term

Posted on January 3, 2010 by Honey

After a long break (from our formal curriculum) for the holidays, I feel ready to take on the next ten weeks of school (sort of). To be honest I am actually pretty excited about starting up again. I feel much more prepared and organized. I have to say that I even feel more rested. I have taken the last week or so to work on my planning for this coming term. I have purchased a planner, typed out a schedule, and begun to photocopy materials needed. I will be doing the photocopying weekly because that seems way less stressful and not so overwhelming to me. To me it makes much more sense to set aside a couple of hours a week to print out and gather everything needed for the week to come rather than to photocopy like crazy to get ten weeks of stuff prepared. I also think that I might lose excitement and momentum that way (or burn out rather quickly!). Having to take a new look at our materials every weekend will keep me inspired and being creative in our homeschool planning (at least that is the goal).

We are going to step back from workboxes for a week or more and get reacquainted with Sonlight and the rest of our curriculum after our break. This is how we approached school in the summer and it worked for us. We took the month of August to get used to our curriculum and then we added in the workboxes. We will be weaving the workboxes back in shortly (after we establish some routines and structure again). Don't you just love holidays? You take all this time to relax and then you have to rebuild all the routines and structure again.

Can I take a brief moment to share how impressed I was with my kids today? They were helpful and did some wonderful housecleaning jobs. I always wonder if they are capable of more and they clearly showed me today that I need to stretch them a bit outside of their comfort zones. Elisha (9) cleaned the upstairs hall and helped to clean the living room. Malachi (6) and Zion (18 months) vacuumed the kitchen floor together. I was very impressed.

My homeschool planning for this term involved taking all the scattered (and annoying) teacher's manuals and merging them into one binder. I made a document in Open Office and filled in each subject for ten weeks. (Noreen, you can see this when you come on Friday). I put the subjects in the binder in the order we do them. Bible, Language Arts (Malachi, Moses, Elisha), Math (Malachi, Moses, Elisha), History, Science, Art, and Read Alouds . Behind each schedule I put everything we need for one week of work including any notes from the Teacher's Manuals, any worksheets, and anything else. I also created two baskets on our shelf. Basket one includes everything needed for group work - Bible, History, Science, Art, Read Alouds, and everything related. Basket two includes everything needed for individual work (this will take the place of the workboxes and be the work with mom box for now).

Last night I spent time photocopying and organizing and made great progress. I was quite proud of my productivity and then... the printer ran out of ink. I panicked. All of my plans... I calmed myself. If we can't get ink before I start school on Monday it will be okay, I will do what I can. Do you hear that encouraging self talk there? It's okay if the plans fall apart... you just do what you can. We were able to get our ink refilled today... long story short.... thanks mom for helping out... so tonight, I am back to printing and preparing.

Just a note here - the printer ink didn't work! It printed 4 pages and then stopped. So weird! So back to the self talk... it will be okay. We can still do school this week even if everything didn't get prepared the way that I wanted it to. A few deep breaths. Look and see what we are really missing. Change things up a little bit. Work on being flexible and adaptable (both good character traits - some character building going on here!).

I thought I would pop in here for a quick visit and let you all know where our homeschool is headed this term. I haven't talked about our school for a bit because with the server crash and then the great disappearance there have been many other things to write about and focus on. I can't wait to get back to sharing more about our everyday school bits and pieces and focusing on what I love - spending time with and homeschooling my children.

The goal is to run hard for the next ten weeks and then take a few weeks break to garden, study poetry, and spend some time on a unit study about Canada.

Do you have any homeschooling goals for this new year? Have you done any planning, tweaking, rearranging, organizing of your homeschool or workboxes? I would love to hear about it. Please share a link to your relevant blog posts or leave your thoughts in the comments.