How to Quit Planning Meals!

Are you looking for a way to provide economical, home-cooked meals for your family? Are you tired of the constant nagging question in the back of your mind, "What's for dinner tonight?"   I've got a radical idea to pass along to you:  QUIT PLANNING!

Well, at least, quit planning so frequently.

Mary at Evlogia has totally inspired me to make my meal planning and preparation easier by having one meal plan for a whole season instead of a new meal plan each week.  (She also has an amazing series of Household  Notebooks for each season of the Church year.)

Mary is Eastern Orthodox, so her meal plans accommodate her family's needs to maintain the fasting schedule of the Orthodox church.  At first I was skeptical about the lack of variety week-to-week, but then I reminded myself that we tend to eat pizza EVERY Friday night; Indian food on Saturday night, and nachos on Sunday night and we don't get tired of it!   Mary also mentioned one time that most people tend to stick to a handful (or two handfuls) of the same recipes anyway.  And really, Mary's idea might encourage me to have more variety on an annual basis.

I've started with our Summer Menu, and will continue to add seasonal menus during the year (as long as it is still working for us!).  Future Menu plans will probably include:  Fall, Advent (fast), Christmas (feast), Winter, Lent (fast), Easter (feast), and Spring.

Here is my planned Summer Menu (click on the table for a larger view)

I've posted this on my fridge - so everyone knows what is for dinner (and breakfast and lunch) and in my Home Binder.  Right behind it, I have the grocery list (how easy - I don't have to make a new grocery list every week...just look over the one I've already got prepared).  I've typed up the recipes and filed those, too.  No more flipping through cookbooks trying to find recipes in the middle of preparing dinner!

And, Mary, thank you for sharing your meal plan...and inspiring me to keep it simple!

I'll start posting the recipes later this week.

RePost: Establishing a Summer Routine

Boredom is the big beast of summer isn't it? Nobody wants their kids to be bored! Well, I have a GREAT PLAN that will help you eliminate boredom from your summer... A ROUTINE!

I know that sounds like a contradiction, right? But seriously, I find that one of the biggest reasons my kids get bored is that they don't have a reliable structure to their day. This works fine for a few days, but very soon they are like little spinning tops roaming around the house spinning from activity to activity. However, when I have some sort of regular routine (not a schedule, mind you!) we all do so much better.

Our schedule this summer will include: morning and afternoon chore times, family projects (household projects like cleaning out the playroom), outside playtime, Read or Rest time, screen time (TV, video game, computer), Read Aloud time (where I read aloud or we listen to a book on tape) and game time (educational games to keep schooling, but in a fun way).

So, do you want some help getting your summer routine started?


1) Decide on the big rocks of our daily life. Plan for these and let them be the "anchors" of our day.

Some examples are: regular meal times, planned snack time, chore time, learning time, play time, read or rest time. Pay attention to the flow of these various "anchors". Try to plan for good variety of structured vs. unstructured and active vs. passive.



2) Provide some visual cues for the expected flow of our day.

If your kids are pre-readers or highly visual (verses verbal), make a picture chart. Find or draw simple pictures of each of the daily "anchors". These also help with #4 - transitions. Here's what I did last year: Visual Schedule

Help for Kids' Speech offers suggestions for visual ways to cue children in to expectations for the daily routine. The article mentions the website Do2Learn which offers various picture cards that can be accessed for free. There are loads of other resources in their subscriber areas, too.

Another idea comes from Family Fun: a doorknob daily reminder. You could use this to remind kids of special events or "themes" for each day. (Park Day, Errand Day, Class Day, etc.)



3) Set distinct moods or tones for certain types of activities or times of day.

Quick moodsetters are music and light - moodsetting will also help with #4 - transitions. For example, if you want to get your kids up and going (maybe for chore time or because you are going out for a playdate) make sure the house is bright and try turning on some cheerful or exciting music. In the evening when it is time to wind down, lower the lights in the house and turn on some quieter music. We love the Putumayo Kids CDs (you can listen to samples).

Another important aspect of moodsetting is tone of voice. Pay attention to the tone you set, too. I read somewhere that parentss should be the thermostat not the thermometer of their home (a thermostat sets the temperature; a thermometer just reacts to it).

Collect some CDs that are particularly energetic or quiet or whatever you need and keep those handy. Or do the 80's thing and make a mix-tape! :) "Mom's Quiet Down Music" or "Mom's Get Up and MOVE Music".



4) Work on establishing good transition habits.

Some kids are very easy transitioners and other kids need a lot of help in this area. I have one of each and one inbetween. Here are some quick ideas:

• Five Minute "Heads Up" - particularly useful when ending a fun, unstructured activity


• Assessment and Feedback- After chore time is an excellent time to gather the kids and assess how well they did or to "go see" their work. In fact, a "go see" to point out what might have been overlooked followed up with some "good job" kudos is probably a good idea. If you use a chore system or reward chart, this might be the time to incorporate that.


• What's Next? - Encourage the kids to complete what they are doing by telling them what is coming up next. "When you finish cleaning up the breakfast dishes, we are going to walk to the park." or "After lunch it will be time for Read or Rest."


• Until tomorrow - Sometimes kids are satisfied to transition to a new activity when they know the one they are currently being asked to stop is one they will get to do again another day. "We'll come back to the park next week." or "You'll get to do playdough again tomorrow."


• Consolidate- consolidate activities to reduce the number or transitions. (But don't go so far as to spend hours doing the same thing - like chores!) An example might be cleaning up from breakfast and moving right into chore time instead of letting them have playtime after breakfast and chore time later in the morning.

5) Make it a team effort.

Sit down together and go over the daily routine and your expectations. Talk about the fun stuff you all want to have time for this summer and how your daily routine is going to help you have time for the fun stuff.



Want more ideas for beating the boredom beast? We ARE That Family is hosting a "Mom I'm Bored" Works-For-Me-Wednesday and there are TONS of great links!

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How to Create a Daily Oasis in Your Home

Do you need a bit of quiet in the midst of a busy day? Do your kids need some downtime each day to collect themselves? Does everyone need just a little bit of "alone" time? I have a simple idea for you that will give you a daily oasis for your family: Read or Rest time.

The idea:
Provide your kids and yourself with a bit of calm and quiet each day by instituting a time of quiet reading and resting.This sets a wonderful rhythm to your family's day (and it establishes a good habit of daily reading). You spend the morning working or learning together and then have a little time to relax, regroup, and process what you've learned.

The Basics:
1. Select a timeslot that works for your family schedule.
2. Provide your kids with a good selection of books (personal collection, the library, etc.).
3. Determine the rules that work for your family situation (together, seperately, reading only, books on tape, quiet playing, etc).
4. Discuss the rules and enforce them.
5. Make it a regular part of everyday.

Here's how it works in my home:
Each day after lunch, my kids head up to their rooms for an hour of quiet reading or resting. Simple enough, right? The "catch" is in the rules...the rules are that everyone MUST be on their beds reading a book, listening to a book on tape, or just looking at a book...or they must be resting. Even mom abides by this rule, although my read or rest time is spent downstairs on the couch or in "my chair".

Some other ideas:
You might choose to allow pre-readers to play LEGOs or draw while listening to music or a story on tape instead of reading. Or you might decide that instead of doing a seperate read time, you all lay down together and listen to a book. (This might be especially nice if you aren't together in the morning and you need time to reconnect as a family.) There are many ways to make the basic idea work for your family! It may take a few days to reinforce the rules of Read or Rest time (whatever they are for your family), but I bet you'll find as I have that your kids really need and enjoy the time.

Do you do something similar to Read or Rest? Let me hear about it! Did you try Read or Rest - how did you like?


This post is part of the Carnival of Homeschooling hosted today by Susan at Corn and Oil. It is teeming with great ideas this week. Don't miss it!

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WFMW: Keeping Track of the Freezer

Recently, my hubby noticed a bag of pureed peaches that I froze back in the summer of 2007! I wish I could say this doesn't happen very often, but it does.

Are you like me? Do you forget what inthe world you have stashed away in your freezer? Well, I have an idea that I've started using in the hope that it will help me remember what I have on hand in the freezer.

So, what is this marvelous organizational technique? Are you ready for this? Ok...

WRITE ON YOUR FREEZER DOOR. That is right - just write right on it, no, not with Sharpie markers...with dry erase or liquid soluble markers. Most refrigerators and freezers are covered with a similar material to a dry erase board. You can write on them and wipe it right off. (Test to make sure your markers will come off!) Sometimes I have to use a little dry erase remover to get it perfectly clean (rubbing alcohol is just about the same thing), but it does come right off.

I keep a pen handy by using a magnetic clip.

Here's a picture:
For some reason this is easier for me than a paper list. Maybe it is because it is written much larger and I can quickly cross out or add items as I pull them out or put them into the freezer.


This post is part of Shannon's "Work For Me Wednesday"- Kitchen edition. Go by and check out all the wonderful tips!


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7 Steps to a Productive Farmer's Market Trip

...from my new blog, To Every Meal A Season , a post to help you make the most of your farmer's market trip: 7 Steps to a Productive Farmer's Market Trip. I've got 7 tips for you, perhaps you'll have some for me!

And tomorrow, check back for a "Farmer's Market Report" Mr. Linky - join in with your Farmer's Market finds for the week - YUM!

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Eating Seasonally and Sustainably in Suburbia

In the past year, my family has been making a concerted effort to eat according to the seasons. We are also trying to purchase as much as we can from local farmers. But we are still learning - and living in suburbia can make it quite a challenge.

Are you interested in eating seasonally and sustainably? Come join the conversation as we continue learning! We'll share some recipes and ideas, and hope you will, too. Where? Here:

To Every Meal a Season

If you like what you see, be sure to help spread the word!

Book Review: The Omnivore's Dilemma

How appropriate that I would have finished The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan just minutes before I started to make dinner for my family! Literally, I closed the book and turned to my lasagna ingredients.

The book's introduction opens with the question many mothers find both mundane and challenging: "What should we have for dinner?" Mr. Pollan never presumes to answer the question definitively for us. Instead, he invites us to make that determination ourselves by asking hard questions about where our food comes from. Along the way he does do a lot of the legwork for us by exploring three different "paths" a meal might take to the table: industrial, pastoral, and personal. There are visits to factories, farms and forests to explore each of the various food "paths" as well as a good deal of philosophical and political discussion along the way.

Four hundred and eleven pages later, Mr. Pollan has done an excellent and entertaining job of helping us do some serious thinking about our food choices. And he does it all without even a touch of preachiness!

From vegans to hunters (and the majority of us in between), I highly recommend this book to anyone who eats... and anyone who thinks.

In the coming days, I'll be posting my "Notes & Quotes" from the book. You can subscribe to this blog's feed by email or RSS to get those blog updates.

Next on my reading list is Pollan's book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto.






Enjoy other book reviews: Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books

Recipe Swap Box: BBQ Edition

Today is Randi's Recipe Swap Box day! She's asked everyone to submit BBQ related recipes, so go check them all out. You'll get some great ideas for the Fourth of July!

My recipe comes from my lovely and hostessly-talented friend Julie. I do not have the recipe, but it wasn't too hard to figure out. Amounts are "ish", so adjust to your preferences. This sounds like and odd combination, but is SO GOOD! And the beans and corn chips are a great protein combination.

Frito, Bean and Green Salad
One head of romaine lettuce (or iceberg)
One can of red kidney beans, drained
One bag of Fritos
Enough Catalina dressing to coat said lettuce, beans and fritos.

Rip or chop the lettuce into bite-sized pieces (or however you prefer your salad greens). Pour on Catalina dressing and mix well. Go easy here - you can always add more! Finally, mix in drained beans and Fritos coating them with the dressing, too. Enjoy!

The Fritos will get soggy if you mix this up too far ahead of time. If you want to make it ahead of time, just leave off the dressing until you are ready to serve.

Seasonal cooking: Spring - Bok Choy

My local produce co-op is getting in gobs of bok choy! I picked up about 4 heads of it this weekend with NO IDEA what to do with it. After a quick internet search I found a few interesting recipes.

Tonight we had Bok Choy and Chicken Stir-Fry. It was REALLY good, so give this a try if you like chinese stirf-ry. Also, it was a breeze to fix (and QUICK).

Bok Choy and Chicken Stir-Fry
1 lg bok choy
1 1/2 lbs chicken tenderloins
3 -8 garlic cloves, minced (depending on your taste) - I didn't have any so, I used garlic powder
1/4 c dry cooking sherry
1/4 c soy sauce
2-3 T oil (I used sesame oil) (just enough to coat the bottom of the pan)

Wash bok choy very well. Slice across leaf at about 1/2 inch intervals. Discard the bottom when you get to the part with no green on it. (You could save that part for stock veggies.) Chop the chicken into 1/2 to 1 inch chunks. Heat oil in pan (wok or large fry pan with high sides) over medium heat. When oil is hot, add garlic. Saute for a few seconds, then add chicken. Saute until slightly browned all over (no pink showing on the outside.) Add bok choy and stir-fry just until wilted. Add soy sauce and sherry. Cover and cook until chicken is done. Serve over steamed white rice.


Here are some more recipes I plan to try this week with the rest of my Bok Choy:

Broccoli & Bok Choy Salad
2 pkgs ramen noddles (chicken-flavor), crushed
1 head broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 head bok choy, cut into bite-sized pieces
4 green onions, chopped
1 C sunflower seeds (shelled)
1/2 C red wine vinegar
1/2 C olive oil
1/2 C granulated white sugar
1 T soy sauce

In a large salad bowl, combine broccoli, bok choy, crushed noodles, and green onions. In seperate bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, vinegar, soy sauce and chicken soup seasoning mixes. Pour dressing over salad and toss to evenly coat. Sprinkle sunflower seeds on top. Toss salad to mix thoroughly. Refrigerate 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving.


Sesame Salmon Fillets and Bok Choy
1 c sesame seeds
1 T ginger root, grated
1 T cracked black peppercorns
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 1/2 lbs of filleted salmon
1 T vegetable oil
4 C thinly sliced bok choy
1/2 sweet red pepper, diced
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

In a shallow dish, combine sesame seeds, grated ginger, peppercorns, and salt. In another dish, lightly beat egg. Dip each salmon fillet into egg, letting excess drip off. Gently press into sesame mixture, turning to coat. In large nonstick skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium high heat; cook salmon, turning once, for 4-8 minutes until golden. Transfer to plate. Wipe out skillet. Add bok choy, red pepper, vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil to pan; cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes or until bok choy is wilted. Arrange salmon over bok choy; cover and cook for 3- 4 minutes or util fish flakes easily when tested with fork.

I'll probably get more bok choy in my next batch of produce, so any other recipes or uses you might recommend?

WFMW: Kids Visual Schedule

On Monday, I blogged about getting a summer routine in place. One of the ideas I came across was a "visual schedule". These schedules are often recommended for kids who have Autism, but I think they work well for any family with young kids (and not so young).

Well, I went ahead and made one for our family and it worked really well!

Here's a picture:

And one up close:

And here it is in use:

I found the images in Microsoft's clip art and dropped them into a Word document. I just printed and folded the pages in half. Finally, I taped them all together and up in a central location (our kitchen pantry door - we are in the kitchen ALL DAY).

You'll notice the orange stickies - these I added to highlight extra events for today only (Ballet and a meeting I had). I also decided to cover each image with a yellow stickie as we passed that event, so that we could easily see where we were in the day. I'll reuse those stickies until they loose their stick.

I could have done this much fancier and "smarter", but I just wanted to get on with using it. If it continues to work so well, I'll make a bit more permanent one (laminated and maybe with some other way to mark our place in the day).

A Visual Schedule - it works for me!

Check out the other "Works For Me Wednesday" tips at Rocks in My Dryer.

5-steps for establishing a summer routine

Summer is just around the corner. We've had spring fever BAD and have gotten way off our routine. So, I'm kind of starting fresh with a summer routine. Here are my ideas...

1) Decide on the big rocks of our daily life. Plan for these and let them be the "anchors" of our day.
Some examples are: regular meal times, planned snack time, chore time, learning time, play time, read or rest time. Pay attention to the flow of these various "anchors". Try to plan for good variety of structured vs. unstructured and active vs. passive.

Anything I'm missing here? What would you add/drop?

2) Provide some visual cues for the expected flow of our day.
If your kids are pre-readers or highly visual (verses verbal), make a picture chart. Find or draw simple pictures of each of the daily "anchors". These also help with #4 - transitions.

Help for Kids' Speech offers suggestions for visual ways to cue children in to expectations for the daily routine. The article mentions the website Do2Learn which offers various picture cards that can be accessed for free. There are loads of other resources in their subscriber areas, too.

Another idea comes from Family Fun: a doorknob daily reminder. You could use this to remind kids of special events or "themes" for each day. (Park Day, Errand Day, Class Day, etc.)

Any ideas for other wasy to use visual cues? Do you have a resource I might try?

3) Set distinct moods or tones for certain types of activities or times of day.
Quick moodsetters are music and light - moodsetting will also help with #4 - transitions. For example, if you want to get your kids up and going (maybe for chore time or because you are going out for a playdate) make sure the house is bright and try turning on some cheerful or exciting music. In the evening when it is time to wind down, lower the lights in the house and turn on some quieter music.

Another important aspect of moodsetting is tone of voice. Pay attention to the tone you set, too. I read somewhere that parentss should be the thermostat not the thermometer of their home (a thermostat sets the temperature; a thermometer just reacts to it).

Collect some CDs that are particularly energetic or quiet or whatever you need and keep those handy. Or do the 80's thing and make a mix-tape! :) "Mom's Quiet Down Music" or "Mom's Get Up and MOVE Music".

Got some favorite CDs or songs for certain times of day?

4) Work on establishing good transition habits.
Some kids are very easy transitioners and other kids need a lot of help in this area. I have one of each and one inbetween. Here are some quick ideas:

• Five Minute "Heads Up" - particularly useful when ending a fun, unstructured activity
• Assessment and Feedback- After chore time is an excellent time to gather the kids and assess how well they did or to "go see" their work. In fact, a "go see" to point out what might have been overlooked followed up with some "good job" kudos is probably a good idea. If you use a chore system or reward chart, this might be the time to incorporate that.
• What's Next? - Encourage the kids to complete what they are doing by telling them what is coming up next. "When you finish cleaning up the breakfast dishes, we are going to walk to the park." or "After lunch it will be time for Read or Rest."
• Until tomorrow - Sometimes kids are satisfied to transition to a new activity when they know the one they are currently being asked to stop is one they will get to do again another day. "We'll come back to the park next week." or "You'll get to do playdough again tomorrow."
• Consolidate- consolidate activities to reduce the number or transitions. (But don't go so far as to spend hours doing the same thing - like chores!) An example might be cleaning up from breakfast and moving right into chore time instead of letting them have playtime after breakfast and chore time later in the morning.

What are some ways you help your kids transition to the next activity?

5) Make it a team effort.

Sit down together and go over the daily routine and your expectations. Talk about the fun stuff you all want to have time for this summer and how your daily routine is going to help you have time for the fun stuff.

Time to start our summer routine

The past couple of weeks we've really let the household routine slide and my kids are starting to get massively crabby because of it (How could I forget Habit #1?). What can I say, it's the end of the school year, we all have Spring Fever, and the adoption home study has kept us hopping.

My middle son is especially sensitive to having a lack of structure to his day and after a particularly nasty explosion today, I vented to hubby, "What is wrong with him?" (I knew the answer, but had to hear someone else say it.) "He needs structure, Kerry."

Yup, we all do.

Some of us enjoy non-structure to a degree and can get along fine without it for a time, but then it wears on us. I'm that way. That middle boy tends to be our household barometer - if he's feeling out of sorts; our home is out of sorts. His outburst today tells me it is way past time to get us back into a routine.

A while ago (like months) I posted about Rhythm, Reverence and Time. These are concepts around which I really want to shape my children's (and my) days. (Unfortunately, I've been slacking severly in all three of these areas. ) I'm going to start with focusing on Rhythm - particularly the rhythm of everyday life in our home.

The first thing I need to do is determine a reasonable daily routine. Then I will look at ways to set moods for certain activities and times of day. And finally I'll examine different ways to ease transitions during our day. I'll share my thoughts and plans, but I would also really appreciate your feedback on all of this - so please share you ideas, questions, resources, etc!

Bliss in a dish - Eggplant Dip

Ok - totally "Yum-O" as Rachel Ray would say (I really hate it when she says that, but this truly is "Yum-O"). Tastes like SUMMER!

I was looking for a Baba Ganouj recipe, but realized I needed tahini to make it and don't have that one hand. Instead I made a simpler "Eggplant Dip" - very similar and so delicious! On top of that it is REALLY quick.

1 large eggplant
1/4 c or olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed (I just garlic powder cause it was on hand)
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Score the eggplant and bake in mocrowave for 12 minutes. Cool the eggplant until you can easily handle it. Split it open carefully and scoop out the flesh into a food processor. Add oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Process until creamy. Scoop mixture into a bowl and drizzle a little more oil on top if you wish (a little parsley on top would make a nice garnish).

Serve with toasted pita pieces. lavash or other flat bread.

This recipe is posted as part of Rocks in My Dryer's "Works For Me Wednesday: 5 Ingredients or Less Edition"

Weekly "Big Rocks"

This is part of a series I'm doing on the "Big Rocks" and planning, which is part of a theme I'd like to do more thinking and writing about "Rhythm, Reverence and Time".

A couple of years ago, I tried using Flylady. I found that, once adapted to suit me, it helped me get my days and weeks in order. Recently, however, I’ve fallen off the wagon a bit. The holidays always seem to do this to me…and I’ve been taking my time getting back on. But it is TIME!

Planning out my week’s activities keeps me from getting to the end of the week with only the bare minimum accomplished. Without planning, my days just have a way of slipping by, how about you?

Here’s how I plan:

To Do – Make my “to do” list. Make a plan for what to do when (I put a notation down for which day of the week I plan to accomplish what). Refer to this each day to see what you need to do. I like to transfer those “today” items to a sticky note and stick that on my weekly planner page. I use a priority system: A- for those things that MUST be done today, B- for those things that should be done today, C- for those things I might like to get done today, but can wait on if I need to. I have a LOT of “C”, a number of “B” and just a few of “A”.

Each day, I’ll devote a bit of my time to a certain type of task:
Monday – correspondence;
Tuesday - zone cleaning (a little each day, but a bigger project today);
Wednesday – bills;
Thursday – meal planning;
Friday – household cleaning (the weekly chores);
Saturday – family work day (big, family projects) and errands;
Sunday - planning for the next week; missionary support work

Calendar – Look at my family calendar (hubby, kids’, personal) for events, and thinking about whether or not these events require anything special from me or the family as a whole and plan accordingly. (hubby’s late meeting may mean I need to plan to a late dinner; daughter’s ballet means I need to plan transportation; etc.) I WRITE DOWN those things I need to do – I can’t rely on my memory. Then when I review my calendar each day, I won't make mistakes like I did today. (Missed son's Drama Class!)

School – Plan lessons for the week. I especially note on my calendar those projects or assignments that might take a bit extra of my time…or that need supplies I may not have on hand. Then I need to schedule in the time to work with that child and any errands that need to be done to get supplies.

Chores – Review chore lists. Using Flylady’s Zone system, keeps me on track with getting all the cleaning done around the house. I look over the week’s Zone and note what needs to be done from the suggested list. Also, I’ll make a note of any extra chores (monthly or annual type) that might need to be completed.


Because we get a produce delivery on Thursdays, my meal planning is not done with the rest of the planning. I do this on Thursdays:

Meal plan – Get my meal plan done. I make a note of any food supplies I may need. Also, noting any prep. work I might want or need to do ahead (thawing out the meat; chopping onions early in the day to use later). Then I add the food supplies to my grocery list and the prep. work to my “to do” list. Because we homeschool, I plan out Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and snacks, too. I live by the dinner plan, but the other (breakfast, lunch and snacks) or more like suggestions.

Next time … the daily schedule.

Monthly "Big Rocks"

At the beginning of this year, I posted a bit about rhythm, reverence and time and getting my "Big Rocks " in my jar first. I started with the largest rocks first: the semi-annual ones. For my family, those are the seasonal observances and celebrations relating to the church year. I want these to be what we plan our family activities around, because I believe the church seasons help to shape our theology in important ways. They provide our family rhythm and instill reverence toward the the right things: God and His Church.

Now, I need to spend some time thinking and planning the monthly "big rocks". These are: My personal hobbies; Enjoy God's Creation with family; and Creative, Cultural, Educational events for myself and for the whole family. It is easy to want to do these types of things, but life sometimes just happens and this stuff never gets planned. In my world, if it doesn't get planned, it doesn't get done.

So, I look at the things that are important to meet each of these needs and determine when and how they'll happen. Each "rock" won't happen every week and maybe not even every month. But a plan will help set aside the time to see that they do happen with some regularity. Otherwise, I'll wake up on January 1, 2009 disappointed that I still have not finished that (fill-in the blank with favorite hobby project) done or make it to my local museum.

Here's my basic plan for these monthly "rocks":

• Decide what creative pursuits are the most important to me and my family, and what hobbies I actually have the money, time and space to accomplish. There are many things I enjoy doing, but there is only so much room in the jar, after all! The creative pursuits I've chosen to focus on this year are: scrapbooking, crochet, and photography. I also enjoy sketching, but I'm able to work that in while doing art with my kids. Scrapbooking is the one that seems the hardest for me to accomplish. I've decided to set aside one weekend day each month to spend working on those scrapbooks. This should help me keep this year's up to date. Maybe I'll even be able to catch up from years' past.
  
• Look at our calendar and determine what days we have that make sense to set aside for family "nature days". Hubby in particular is a "nature nut", so I like to save these for when he has a day off or on weekends.


• I've discovered that my local Arts League has a weekly email alert to notify me of upcoming events. I can look over their listings and decide what I might like to take part in. (Many museums, science centers, arts organizations are utilizing email for similar alerts. Check this out in your town!) I'm going to select events each month or so to attend with the family. This month's is an exhibit of Chinese porcelain. The museum hosting this exhibit has FREE admission on Tuesdays from 5-10pm.
  
• Another important aspect is planning some regular cultural or creative time for myself. If I don't plan these ahead of time, I'll never actually take the time to enjoy taking a day to shoot some film or do some sketching, visiting a museum, or attending a concert, play, or lecture. Each month I'm going to plan to take do something along these lines - by myself or with friends (or hubby).

That's my plan, how about you?

Home as a classroom

You know you are a homeschooler when: you covet your friends' playroom with comments like "oooo, I'd love to have this room for school"; you must take meals to the couch because the kitchen table is covered with school projects; your dining room sports interesting decor like timelines, historical maps, art projects; each room has a set of bookshelves (overflowing) - and even some of your hallways have bookshelves!



Any of that sound familiar?



If you are a homeschooler, you know that one of our perennial questions to one another is: "So, where do you do school?" The most common answers are: kitchen table, dining room converted into a part-time school room, a spare room (basement or playroom) made into a school room, and sometimes - "just wherever we are". That's what makes this meme at The Heart of the Matter so much fun!



In our homeschooling endeavor, we've tried a number of different places around our home, and I'm quite surprised where we've ended up.



When we started homeschooling in 2003, we used our kitchen table. I liked the central location and the way it encouraged us to "school through life" rather than have education be some seperate thing. After a few months, our supplies outgrew the small shelf I had in the kitchen, and we purchased a nice, tall cabinet in which to store books and daily supplies. We stayed at the kitchen table for about a year and a half, when I began having trouble containing my preschooler and toddler while I was doing school with my student. So, one week in the Spring semester of 2004, I bit the bullet...it was time to sacrifice the playroom.



It was actually a bit of a hard decision. The playroom had really become sort of the kids' "zone". How easy it had was to shuttle them off to the PLAYROOM! But, it had to be done we just got too distracted by all the "house" stuff if we were in the kitchen. I found someone selling some nice storage cabinets for our ever-growning supplies. We had an extra kitchen table from my parents we could use for our school table. And it would be delightful not to have to clear the school stuff up every day for lunch and then again for dinner. In fact, I could walk out of the school room, shut the door, and feel "DONE".



I relished setting up our fun school room. We had a futon, table, shelves, radio, white board, maps, and posters. The toddler had her special boxes of toys and the preschooler had his own "school" stuff. I had dreams of them playing so nicely while my student and I worked diligently. Well, the room itself was nice...but by the end of that year, I was waning in my appreciation for the school room.



We stuck it out through the rest of that school year and even started the next school year in our school room. But by the Spring semester of our 3rd year, I'd had it with the school room. When we were in the room we felt totally on top of each other. I was perpetually woried about kids messing with school stuff when friends came to play (I was determined to keep part of it as a play area). And I felt like our school was totally seperate from the rest of our lives. That was definitely not our vision for homeschooling.



Last spring, we abandoned the school room and returned to the kitchen table. The remnants of the school room are still there. The table has become a "drop point" (you know where you just drop stuff you don't have time to deal with) and my storage cabinets now hold books and supplies we don't need very frequently (or are holding for the younger kids). It is slowly evolving back to a playroom



So, we are back at the kitchen table...and on the couch...and in the study...and at the dining room table...and the kitchen counter...and I think you get the picture. We stretch out as we feel the need. In particular, I love being able to run a load of laundry or do some meal prep while still able to answer a question or direct a straggler. It just feels more like what HOMEschool should be.



We've re-enlisted the original school cabinet for school supplies and books we use on a daily basis. Here's a picture of the table in use...and in the background you'll see the cabinet with the doors open for school. When closed it blends right in with our kitchen cabinets:







Those books we use on a weekly basis are kept in our study, which is just a few steps away. I still have to clear the table for meals, but we've begun using the kitchen "bar" area for lunch which eliminates one meal. We LOVE this set up because it suits our family and our visiion for home education.

So where do you homeschool?

Recipe Swap Box

Randi at I have to say... is hosting a Recipe Swap Box! How much fun! If you have some favorite recipes you'd like to share go put your link in her "Mr Linky"!

Here are some of my favorite Winter recipes:


Hernerakaa (Finnish Yellow Split Pea Soup)

Roasted Winter Vegetables

Turkey-Barley Soup scroll down a bit for the recipe

Tuna Tetrazzini

Not wintery - but a favorite for breakfast anytime: Dutch Baby - good with any kind of fruit.

Containing your laundry mountain

This is an idea that struck me a couple of weeks ago, and it is working beautifully! This is a standard canvas "sweater sorter" that I picked up at Target. Each child has their own "shelf" for clean clothes. As I fold and stack their clothes, I place them on their shelf. Part of their chores is to clear off their laundry shelf each day.

I've been trying to do laundry daily, but have gotten tired of having laundry piled up on my dining room table each day. I love this because it keeps my dining room table clear!

Let me know if you try out this idea and how it works for your family.