For many years I did not meal plan.  We would decide each day, typically about meal time what we wanted. Occasionally, I would be on the ball and plan that morning and therefore be able to go ahead and thaw meat for dinner.   I wanted the flexibility to change my mind and honestly it felt overwhelming to plan.  However, in the years since I started meal planning I have found that it actually saves us time, money, and stress and I still have flexibility.

By planning out our meals, I know what needs to be done ahead of time. I can bake muffins the night before, take out meat to thaw, put things in the crock pot, etc. This means that there is less rushing around and adding stress to busy days. It also means I know if I need to add anything to my grocery list for the week.

Earlier I mentioned still having flexibility. I know that is one of the biggest reasons why people say they don’t meal plan. However, like most of my plans in life our meal plan is subject to change. If my husband wakes up that morning and decides he would really rather have lasagna tonight I can simply change the plan. If something comes up and we don’t get home in time to cook the pot roast I had on the menu, I can substitute something fast and easy. The plan isn’t’ written in stone but it gives us a good guideline. Planning keeps me from getting to 5pm and not knowing what we are going to have and having to try to wing it while the managing the children and being tired from a long day.

Another common complaint is that meal planning costs too much money. I think this is a misconception about  meal planning . If you buy a pre-done meal plan that involves lots of ingredients you don’t normally use and then go buy them all at full price it could cost you more money. However, I make our menu plans based off of the foods and meals we already like (or recipes that I want to try) and what we have in our house. I grocery shop based on sales and seasons. When non-perishable items like noodles, rice, beans, etc are on sale I stock up on them so that I have enough to last until they are on sale again.  We either buy in our meat in bulk or stock up when it is on sale as well and store it in our freezer. We purchase most of our produce locally and in season. We also, can that local seasonal produce for the winter months. I do supplement our produce with sales at the grocery store.  Using this method I get most of our groceries at a very reduced price but have a wide range to choose from when I plan our menus. I do occasionally need a specific ingredient or two to finish out our menus, for instance I added ricotta cheese to the list this week because I wanted lasagna and we were out of ricotta.  By using this method I am able to utilize the sales and actually save money on groceries through meal planning.

In addition to saving money at the grocery store, we save money by not going out to eat as often. If you are very busy and have no plan it can be easy to feel like you have to eat out. Whether it is a lunch out on a field trip day because you didn’t have anything to pack or a quick dinner because you are going to get home at dinner time and nothing is prepared, it can add up quick. By planning out our meals and consulting our calendar I make sure that on afternoons we will be out I have something in the crock pot or ready for the instant pot when we get home. For days we are out at field trips I plan a lunch that is easy to pack and bring. Busy mornings are often muffins or sausage balls prepared the night before.  A little bit of planning and preparation can go a long way towards saving time and money in these situations.

I often use the crock pot or instant pot (and sometimes both) in conjunction with my meal plan. On days that are busy or where we may not be in the house I can let them do the work of cooking for me and still serve my family a hot fresh meal. Those tools allow me to better spend my time focusing on other aspects of our home or family. I can throw lunch in the crock pot, spend the morning teaching the children and sit down to a meal ready to eat.

We use the crock pot for many things but a few favorites are baked potatoes for loaded baked potatoes at lunch, soups of all kinds during the cooler months, For a tasty and easy dinner I put a fresh ham steak and a jar of green salsa in the crock pot in the morning. Just before we are ready to eat I cook a bit of rice in the instant pot. I serve the carnitas from the crock pot over the rice and top with corn salsa and sour cream. It is an easy, nutritious meal that our whole family enjoys.

So many different things can be cooked in the instant pot but a few family favorites are grits (so easy in the instant pot and I don’t have to stir them the whole time), beans (dry beans to ready to eat in under an hour), rice, and meat loaf with mashed potatoes. I can put the potatoes on the bottom, the meat loaf on top in a foil boat and basically have dinner ready with no mess in very little time just add a salad or some steamed veggies.

There are many different ways to meal plan. As a homeschooling family we are home for most meals during the week and I found it was important that I planned all three meals each day.  I sit down with the calendar (so I know if we have things going on that might effect the menu) each week and plan out Sunday through Friday. Our Saturdays tend to vary so I don’t plan those ahead of time. I make a plan based on the food we have, our plans for the week, and what everybody wants that week. When I need ideas I have a list for each of the three meals that I can draw ideas from. This helps keep us from getting into the rut of eating the same thing each week.  In doing our meal planning like this each week our stress is reduced, our food budget is reduced, and we eat healthy balanced meals.

Each family is different and each plan will look different but I think having a meal plan will help most families. If you have meal planning ideas or plan to try this I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

I have added a simple meal planning template to our resource library to help you get started. Though I only plan six days a week I have included all seven days for those that would prefer that method. It includes spots for all three meals each day as well as a spot for things you need to do to prep for the next days meals.

In addition to all of the other benefits to meal planning, I find that having a plan and a well stocked pantry help make it easier for me to meet our goals of having a ‘Life Giving Home’ and a ‘Life Giving Table’.  I am so excited about the upcoming release of Sally Clarkson’s new book “The Life Giving Table“. I will be offering an online study of this book in October after the release. It can help us to bless our families and others through the simple act of gathering together around the table.

When you sign up for our free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog

I knew we were starting our year off with the colonies and early American history. For several years I had wanted to take the children down to Roanoke Island when they could see the Lost Colony. The production is only preformed during the summer, so rather than wait until we started back to school we went ahead and made the trip back the end of May. It was a great way to end the school year and get the children excited about this year.

While we were on Roanoke Island we had the opportunity to explore Roanoke Island Festival Park. They do a great job showing how both the Native Americans and the Colonist would have lived. Our favorite is probably a replica of the Elizabeth II. It really brings home the size of their average ship and the conditions in which they would have traveled across the ocean. Crossing the ocean in a big cruise ship makes me nervous so thinking about the crossing in such tight quarters with so little protection is terrifying and amazing.  They also often have a blacksmith working and explaining his trade. There is a pedal lathe that folks can try working on and making table legs and other needed materials. The children can also pretend to haul buckets of water, try on some soldier equipment, and take a turn in a dug out canoe.

In addition to all of the colonial history outside at the park, they have a great museum which has costumes to try on, information about the Lost Colony, CSI style, and lots of other history from that area. The CSI style Lost Colony information is a computer program that people can use to study what we know about the lost colony and possible clues to what happened to them.

Another great site on the island is Fort Raliegh. It is a national park site so don’t forget to bring your national park passport if you have one to get those stamps! This site has a museum as well as preserving the remnants of the original settlement. This is also the location for the Lost Colony play.

In my title I mentioned finding the Lost Colony. We of course didn’t solve the mystery, though my children now have their theories. We had the chance to watch the Lost Colony theater production. It is an excellent play and I highly recommend it. I was a little concerned about the late start time but it was so engaging that even the three year old stayed awake and enjoyed watching it.  There are a few scary scenes that might be a bit intense for younger children but it is well done and an excellent addition to time spent on the island.  This production is so popular that it was in its 80th year of production this year and is scheduled to start back up the end of May 2018.

It still amazes me to think about the great lengths the colonist had to go to start this country. They endured difficult journeys, tough living conditions, leaving their families, sickness and many other hardships in order to settle this great land. They made plenty of mistakes but their sacrifices paved the way for the creation of this nation. I feel that by starting here in our history it gave us a great perspective to begin out journey. We have also talked about the Spanish Colonies in Florida, the native Americans who were already here, and even Viking explorers, but for us the Lost Colony is close to home and gives us  great starting point for further study.

If you are interested in learning more about the Lost Colony and Roanoke Island you can check out these books: Roanoke The Lost Colony, Roanoke Island, The Beginnings of English America, or The Lost Colony of Roanoke by Jean Fritz.

If you would like to join us on this journey through US History, join our mailing list and get access to our free library. Each month I’ll post a list of resources and ideas for the time period we are going to cover the next month. You can learn more in our post Our Journey Through History.  Colonial and Revolutionary resources are currently posted.

When you sign up for our free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog

Black-eyed pease (colonial spelling) and salt pork cooked over a fire were the historical highlight of the week. We had originally planned on making the stuffed pumpkin recipe that I shared last week but it has a cook time of over three hours and we didn’t have time to work that one out. It is still on our list of things to do over the next few weeks but the black-eyed pease and salt pork were a great substitution. The kids worked together to cook them over the fire in a Dutch oven much like it may have been cooked during colonial times. They were very tasty and the kids enjoyed cooking them. For those that are interested in trying this, we simply soaked the black eye peas in water over night, put the peas, some country ham, a little diced onion, and plenty of water into the Dutch oven. We cooked it all for about an hour over the fire. You can add a bit of pepper or vinegar to taste.

In addition to the black eyed pease, my favorite part of history this week was our long conversation around the campfire. We spent over an hour just talking and discussing colonial life, the timeline of events, the part that religion and economics played in development, and how it all compares to modern times.  If I had tried to read from a textbook for an hour, the children would have been bored and would not have retained most of what was said. However, by having an active discussion while relaxing as a family they were engaged and enjoyed the time.

We read several things this week to go along with our study. We read a chapter on the French and Indian war from Uncovering Exciting History by Amy Puetz, a chapter on colonial life in America’s Story, and some pages from What Really Happened in Colonial Times by Terri Johnson. My son has also been reading several books from the American Adventure series on his own time. This is a series of historical fiction books based on American history. He has been focusing on the ones from the colonial and Revolutionary time period. He has also been re-reading his books from the Christian Heritage Series: The Williamsburg Years. We don’t’ have all of them but they also have books set in other parts of colonial America.

We also had the opportunity to visit Ft. Dobbs which was a fort on the western frontier on North Carolina late in Colonial times during the French and Indian War. At this point they are rebuilding the fort which should be an excellent addition to the site when they are finished. Currently, they have a model of the original fort and a variety of artifacts found on the site available on display. They had a garden and a small one room house on the property that you could view. This was a great little stop with lots of helpful information as we study through this time period. It only took us about 30 minutes to view, so it is one I only recommend if you are close or can combine it with other stops. Another option is going for one of their living history days where there would be more hands on activities.

I think one of the biggest points of interest to my children was the type of construction and the size of the fort. While they don’t have the reconstruction finished they do have the foundation built which allowed them to get a good idea of the size. We have had the opportunity to experience various types and sizes of forts. The one they are most familiar with is Fort Macon which is a stone fort on the coast of North Carolina. It has been well preserved and appears to offer a great deal of protection. We have also been to earthen fortifications that are not much more than mounds of dirt used to strategically protect those behind them. This fort seemed safer than those earthen forts but not very large and not nearly as secure as Fort Macon. We had a great discussion about how it was built and why it would have been built in that manner.

We did chalk pastels of George Washington this week. It is a bit early in our history for him but he did get his start in the French and Indian War. The children loved the lesson and I thought they turned out very nice. There is a great lesson on the 13 original colonies that we plan to do next week.

Next week we will spend more time in  America’s Story Volume 1 which we are using for our spine for this portion of Our Journey Through History. We also want to do another lesson in the American History Video Course from them this year to tie into our history.  If you want to learn more about their art courses check out my review.

If you would like to join us on this journey through US History, join our mailing list and get access to our free library. Each month I’ll post a list of resources and ideas for the time period we are going to cover the next month. You can learn more in our post Our Journey Through History.  Colonial and Revolutionary resources are currently posted.

When you sign up for our free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog

Revolutionary Period (1754-1785)

We’ll start the revolutionary period at the beginning of the French and Indian War (1754). It’s difficult to hold a discussion about the causes of the Revolution without a basic understanding of the political, military, and social setting in the second half of the 18th century, and many of these are strongly rooted in the French and Indian War. Of particular interest is the relationship between colonial leaders, British Parliament, and King George III. With any military conflict it’s very easy to be drawn into a discussion of battles, tactics, leaders, and campaigns. With younger learners this can quickly become overwhelming, I suggest focusing on campaigns, the big picture, as it were. You can use names, especially if they hold local relevance, but, I suggest not making a list of persons and places the focus.

I am so excited about the next step on our journey. We are not yet finished with colonial history but I wanted to go ahead and give an overview of what was coming next month to afford time to prepare and gather any resources. Our family volunteers as living historians and costumed interpreters for a local historical site. We have spent a great deal of time focusing on the time around the American Revolution and are excited about our upcoming study.

Our focus will be on the “why” of the Revolution, how it affected the general population, the outcomes, and any interests of the children that arise during the study. I will cover some of the key battles with them but not focusing on dates and details.

One of our favorite resources for studying this time is the Liberty Kids video series. This series is one that the children love to watch and it teaches so much history.  We don’t watch a lot of movies in our house but we have found these to be worth the screen time.

We will also be continuing our American History Art Program. There are lessons on the Boston Tea party, Revolutionary War Uniforms, Paul Revere, George Washington and more that will tie in very nicely to the American Revolution.  If you are looking for an art program I highly recommend these chalk pastels. For more information read my full review.

We are looking forward to field trips to Tryon Palace, Historic Bath, and hopefully Brunswick Town.  We will be reading a variety of books on the Revolution. My son is especially fond of Revolutionary War flags and will be working on a project in conjunction with the flags and history.  We will continue studying selected chapters from America’s Story Volume 1 by Master Books.

I found this resource after I published the list of October Resources. I’ll be updating the list but in case you already downloaded it, check out this faith based movie about the American Revolution, Beyond the Mask. You can download it for as little as $3.99 and there is a free unit study to go with it here.

A couple additional resources that may be of interest to you are the current sale on Discovery Education Streaming Plus at the Buyers co-op. This is a great collection of educational programming. They also have a sale on Jim Hodges Audio CDs right now. He has several different collections that would work well with early American history.

If you would like to join us on this journey through US History, join our mailing list and get access to our free library. Each month I’ll post a list of resources and ideas for the time period we are going to cover the next month. You can learn more in our post Our Journey Through History.  Colonial and Revolutionary resources are currently posted.

When you sign up for our free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog

If you are looking for a more in-depth premade course on the Revolution you can check out this 9 week course at School House Teachers. They are currently running a special and you can get monthly membership for less than $10 a month for the whole family.

Most of this week’s history centered on a field trip. We took a couple of days and visited Colonial Williamsburg. We always enjoy our trips there and this was no exception. We spent two days in Williamsburg and were able to see a variety of historical trades, buildings, and experiences.  The favorite part was a chance to ride in an ox cart. All three of the children loved it and have been talking about it since we returned. They loved making the connection with the oxen used in the old video game Oregon Trail.  My daughter loved the weaving looms and wants to go back one day when they are dyeing the threads. She is even asking for a table loom for Christmas. My oldest son thought that the little skit we went and saw was quite funny. They explained the history of hot air balloons in a very fun and comical way.

My favorite part might have been the hot chocolate. Colonial chocolate is very rich and dark with added spices. We had a bit of a sample in the tour of the coffee house. We always enjoy seeing the various trades and how they did their work. The craftsmanship and attention to detail is amazing. My husband enjoyed watching a new addition to Williamsburg, ax throwing.

The primary focus of this visit was to learn about the colonial period but we also went into the Revolutionary war period a bit with some dialogues about freedom and rights. We had a chance to hear ‘Marquis de Lafayette’ and ‘James Armistead Lafayette’ speak as they gave their perspectives on the war from that of a French man who came to help us fight and a slave who was volunteered to fight as a spy and later freed after much help from Marquis de Lafayette.

While touring the Getty house they had the opportunity to learn a bit more about what education might have been like for the children in that home during colonial times. They saw letter dice that were used to play games (much like Boggle today), puzzles, and cards. They learned how to play a new card game Kings in the Corner. This was a fun game that they have already played several times at home since we returned.  It reminded me of a cross between solitaire and Skip Bo.

In addition to the field trip my son worked on his puppet show and my daughter started doing the prep work for her basket weaving for their projects this month. We also planned out the colonial dish that we will be trying this week, stuffed pumpkin.

Next week we will spend more time in  America’s Story Volume 1 which we are using for our spine for this portion of Our Journey Through History. We also want to do another lesson in the American History Video Course from them this year to tie into our history.  If you want to learn more about their art courses check out my review.

If you would like to join us on this journey through US History, join our mailing list and get access to our free library. Each month I’ll post a list of resources and ideas for the time period we are going to cover the next month. You can learn more in our post Our Journey Through History.  Colonial and Revolutionary resources are currently posted.

When you sign up for our free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog

As a new homeschooler it can be easy to get frustrated or to feel like you aren’t doing something right when the days are hard. Sometimes it does mean that you need to change something in your school day, maybe the schedule, maybe the curriculum, maybe the order of events. However, often it simply means it was a hard day. Almost everyone gets them, and the few who have said they don’t mention that they did and now they just know how to mitigate them when they start.  I knew what I do when the hard days come but I wanted to be able to share wisdom from lots of different moms that have walked this road.  We want to help you build a library of ideas to turn to when the hard days come and we want you to know that you are not alone on this journey. It can be hard but it is worth it! So I asked the homeschooling moms over in the Schoolin’ Swag Facebook group what they did when they had hard days.

The two most popular answers are probably not surprising to anyone: prayer and chocolate.  Those are probably my first go-to choices as well. In addition, here are some other ways to help the hard days.

• Switch it up and do a day of educational movies (Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and Discovery Education are common choices for finding those)
• Go outside for awhile and get some energy out or do some nature study. We even enjoy taking the books outside and doing school outside on nice days.
• Remember, that is isn’t hard just because you homeschool. Everyone has hard days.
• Stay Flexible and adapt as needed.
• For some folks, its not flexibility but the schedule that helps. Knowing that no matter what else is going on in life at a certain time they are doing school.
• When things seem to be going downhill take a break and enjoy some songs and movement to change the mood and re-energize.
• Take a break and take some time to talk about what is going on, maybe even over a glass of hot cocoa or some other favorite treat.
• Go on a field trip. Take the day or afternoon and go to the park or a local museum.
• Take the day off, use the flexibility to have a day completely off to regroup and try again.
• Coffee, we can’t forget coffee which is almost as popular as the prayer and chocolate option 🙂

The last common reason I want to discuss is “The Why”.  We all chose to homeschool for different reasons, for some it was bullying in the public schools, for some it was religious conviction, for some it was a educational goals and still others have a variety of personal reasons. No matter what your reason, when the days are hard remembering that “Why” can help us to push through and do what needs to be done.  I have found that having a spouse or a friend (or both) that you can turn to on those hard days that will remind you of your “Why” can be very beneficial. I am personally blessed with both a spouse and friends that will remind me on the hard days and show me that it is worth it.

I hope that you have a great year and remember these ideas when the hard days come. I also invite you to join our Facebook group, Schoolin’ Swag, where we share free and cheap homeschool ideas as well as provide a tribe of support.  Share with us in the comments what you do on the hard days.

If you are looking for a lesson planner, contract, or other resources to help you on this journey, check out our free Resource Library.

When you sign up for our free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Free 5 Day Learning without Worksheets Challenge: FREE 5-Day Learning Challenge We have done several of her different challenges in the past and they are lots of fun and easy to implement.

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Today, the kids had so much fun with their art lesson, even the 3 year old who decided coloring the whole page was far better than actually drawing anything.

When we started homeschooling my husband and I had many conversations about our goals and vision for our children. Among many others we wanted to make sure we were offering our children a well rounded education that allowed them to pursue their talents, be exposed to a variety of things, and eventually have the skills needed to become successful productive adults. While neither of us is naturally inclined to artistic pursuits we wanted our children to have some instruction in that area.  For several years I did crafts with our children and tried to find time to work in an art curriculum. However, it tended to be overwhelming or would get pushed to the back burner for other subjects.

Then I found the “You are an Artist” chalk pastel program. We tried one of their free demonstration lessons and the children were hooked. They enjoyed the calm easy style of the lesson, the resulting art work, and the affirmation that everyone is an artist. As a parent and educator I loved that they were getting quality instruction that was easy and did not require additional time on my part. An added perk is that they didn’t need a lot of hard to find or expensive supplies. My three children share a box of inexpensive chalk pastels and paper. Those are the only supplies they needed.

This year we are even more excited because we get to combine our passion for history with these amazing chalk pastel tutorials. I love using other subjects to reinforce what I am already teaching.  We will be using this great chalk pastel American History course as we go through the semester. Many of the lessons tie into  Our Journey Through History.

We started this week with the “Early Colonist” lesson to tie into our studies of Colonial History. This is a fun and easy way to incorporate art studies with our history. Maybe you aren’t doing US History or you want to focus on other subjects. You are an Artist has a variety of lessons that could be incorporated into other history studies, science, seasons, and even lessons specifically for preschoolers. You can check out all of the options here in the online shop.

When you sign up for our free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog

Deals and Freebies

As we enter into the fall season and return to our routines it often feels much like a new year and a chance to start over. What are you doing to get/stay healthy? I am trying to drink more water and take daily walks.
If you are looking for some starting over with a healthier lifestyle you might want to check out the Healthy Living Bundle that is on sale for just a few days. At only $37 for 93 ebooks, ecourses, and printable packs it is an excellent deal. This includes help with allergies, nutrition, gardening, exercise and more.

Free 5 Day Learning without Worksheets Challenge: FREE 5-Day Learning Challenge We have done several of her different challenges in the past and they are lots of fun and easy to implement.

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!