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Free 31 Days of Dinner Ideas (February) Organize with Me!

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31 days of dinner menu

And yes, I know February doesn’t have 31 days, but I want you to have tons of dinner ideas at your fingertips! Today, in sharing my free 31 days of dinner ideas (February) organize with me post, I want to encourage you to take baby steps toward easing your homeschool load.

Free 31 Days of Dinner Ideas

Hear my heart. Menu planning may seem like one more thing in your whole long list of things to do to get organized, but homeschooling begins with the home.

That means making top priority your family and health. The result is a lighter homeschool load because things like cooking just fall into place when you have a plan.

When I get bogged down with menu planning or cooking, I have learned to step away from school for a day or even delay it for a few hours until I get a handle back on what is important.

Taking a baby step that is really huge meaning it’s a small step with a large payoff because having a plan each month you have a direction each week for what you are buying at the grocery store.

Too, by giving you a menu plan for the area I struggle with the most and maybe you too, which is dinner because I don’t want to think about what to make for dinner, I am hoping to help you to get dinner on the table faster, with meals your family likes.

So my menu plans each month reflect what my family likes to eat, but from it I am hoping to inspire you on to creative ideas for feeding your family.

Guess what? If you stick with me for the whole year, we will both have MORE than 365 dinners! Maybe we will make a cookbook together. (okay, okay)

Why Menu Planning for the Month Blows Away Weekly Planning

Back to a few more tips I want you to know.

  • Organizing for the month is so much more easier than the week. It takes about 20 or 30 minutes longer, but you get relief for the whole month. Have you noticed how fast the end of the week gets here? Before you know it, you have to menu plan AND lesson plan. No thank you. I want one of those huge tasks done. I don’t like beginning of the week stress.
  • Planning 31 meals for the month regardless of the days of the month gives you options and flexibility.
  • Monthly planning is for rebel cooks because contrary to what some people think, you are not stuck with having to cook what is on that day. No, you have 31 choices to choose from. Nobody said you have to cook what is on each day, unless of course you want to. Either way 31 day menu planning is about options! Give me 31. That is why this month and every month will have 31 days of dinner ideas and it has nothing to do with how many days are in the month. You always get to decide if you want to follow it to make the dinner idea each day or change it around and choose something else from the list.

I have a few more tips I will be sharing next time, but for now grab my dinner ideas below.

DOWNLOAD HERE 31 DAYS OF DINNER FOR FEBRUARY.

(where possible, I linked recipes for your quick reference. However, I have been cooking for a long time, like you probably have to and have many recipes not on line. Eventually, I will have my recipes on my site or link for you, but in any case, I want you to have the ideas.)

DOWNLOAD HERE FREE 31 DAY MENU PLANNER . To plan 3 meals a day and it is editable!

Let me know how you’re doing with organizing those meals!

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

Homeschool Quitters, Dropouts and Wimps (Want to Join Me?)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Homeschool Quitters, Dropouts and Wimps. Facing a homeschool crisis tirelessly.

Stress, finances, fatigue and every day life are tough enough to deal with. Add in homeschooling, mix it all around and it can be the perfect quitter’s recipe. Look at my article, What I Gave Up to Homeschool (and what I got in return).

Though I didn’t appreciate when it was happening, (hard to do that when stressed) my first time of stress was also the first test of my homeschool values.

Homeschool Quitters, Dropouts and Wimps

So today, I want to come from a delicate spot and that is my heart.

And you know I try to steer clear from too much over the top drama here when I share with you.

But tears, emotion and drama are the very things needed when you face a homeschool crisis. Look at my article, Go Ahead and Make a Mistake: Homeschool Without Fear.

Before you decide to quit homeschooling, look at two things I learned when several times throughout my homeschooling, I have felt like dropping out.

1. Time to dig deep NOW for your values.

Each family begins homeschooling for various reasons. You have them too.

Whether your reasons are faith based, not schooling for religious reasons at all or schooling for a mix of both Biblical values and academic excellence, they are still dear to you.

At the beginning of homeschooling the reasons are vibrant and so in-your-face. The longer you homeschool, the more grit it calls for because the reasons seem to fade away.

That is the point. They seem to fade away, when in fact probably nothing much has changed.

My first test I remember clearly because I quit. I felt like I wasn’t teaching Mr. Senior 2013 how to read well, I felt weak and caved.

How to Go from Fantasy to Reality?

I sent him to public school for part of Kindergarten.

Half a year later and some standardized testing (because I didn’t trust myself), I learned that he was far ahead of the other kids.

I didn’t value the reasons that brought me to homeschooling. Instead of standing solid at the first test of my values, I dropped out.

However, dropping out is not necessarily permanent in homeschool. I brought Mr. Senior 2013 back home after a short time in public school and he never returned.

Did you notice the mistake? I can clearly articulate it now.

Instead of viewing my family values and reasons for homeschooling as priceless and a treasure, I skipped over the need to cement them in my heart.

I dismissed them every so slightly (okay maybe more liked dropped like a bad habit) and focused only on the academic part of homeschooling. (important for sure)

Instead of understanding that academics is only one reason I was homeschooling, I got off balance.

Nothing really had changed.

I still wanted to be the one there for my sons first time to walk, to read, to learn to write, to share in his love for learning all the way until he graduated.

The Mr. and I wanted to be the ones to influence the spiritual man in each son. That’s not going to happen when they are away from us.

2. Where do you spend your time? Do you have public school or homeschool friends?

The next stressful time in my life was when my sweet sister had to spend a good amount of time in ICU after a huge scare from her not breathing. How would I continue to homeschool?

She not only needed me, but she had two kids also that needed care.

Was this the time to send my kids to public school so that I could take care of her long term?

You know, looking back some things you think about just don’t make sense. Of course, at the time with a tremendous amount of stress, any reasoning seems justified.

And no, life was not done with me yet.

Next, came my husband’s heart attack where he almost lost his life. And it’s easy to think we’re too young to have this happen and especially while I have three kids at home, but then this life is not about being fair.

Was this the time, now that Mr. Senior 2013 was in high school that I should send him to public school and quit homeschooling and focus on my husband in ICU?

From trials comes life lessons.

By this time, I was part of an active homeschool community and had many homeschool friends.

Beyond the Basics of Homeschooling?

How did this affect my determination to homeschool through trials?

It made ALL the difference between quitting and successfully meeting these challenges.

Looked at what I learned.

  • Because I embraced a homeschooling lifestyle, I was no longer looking for ways to quit, but for ways to stick to our homeschooling life style through trials.
  • Instead of using the circumstance of taking care of my sister and her family as an excuse to give up, I used it as a way to teach my sons about how to care for other people. We made many trips to the long term care facility, many meals and many trips to see her. Look at what I wrote: All of our children met the challenge of being more independent and helping each other out. They ARE LIVING in the real world and dealing with life as it comes along. My niece who is just 16, same age as my son, ran their family owned business. She answered the phone, dealt with customers and filled orders. She has gone to “work” each day for 26 days in a row, not missing one day of being there from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Mmmm, do you think she has a good grasp of being out on her own now? We are so proud of her and my son. My son ran my house and homeschooled my youngest son, cooked their lunch, cleaned the house and washed clothes. He bought groceries and went right on with the household. All of the children went right on with their routine they learned while homeschooling as I have spent many long days in the hospital by my sister’s side. My homeschooling friends, like family now were valuable in their love, support and suggestions.
  • When my husband had his heart attack, Mr. Senior 2013 (though still in high school) had to work for a month in our business. This too didn’t involve behind the scenes work, but he went with an installation crew to customer’s homes to install products. He didn’t want to give up our homeschooling lifestyle. And the flexibility in our schedule to slow down and care for my husband would not have been an option if he was in public school. My homeschool friends were the ones that reminded me to take care of what was important now and that homeschooling would wait.

See, I tried in the beginning to keep “friends” from public school, but it gets tough the longer you homeschool because of differences.

We don’t spend much time with public school friends now. Not because we are being snobbish, but because we are looking for ways to stick to our goals.

Friends can make you falter or give you fortitude when life happens.

Homeschooling in real life looks very different from whats planned on paper.

From this I want to encourage each of you to take hold of the homeschooling lifestyle.

Don’t be so easily swayed to let go of something that is precious.

Through struggle comes change and conviction and a fortitude that this IS the best education we can give our children.

We empower our kids to move along with their lives when we are not around to be there prodding them and that cannot be taught in public school or through curriculum.

Also, look at 10 Books That Boost Your Homeschool Zen (When It May Be Sagging).

Hugs and love ya,

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

5 Easy and Quick Breakfasts Kids Will Eat (Grab the Egg McMuffin Recipe)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

5 Easy and Quick Breakfasts that Kids Will Actually Eat (Grab the Egg McMuffin Recipe)

Whatever the controversy with nutritionist about whether or not breakfast is the most important meal of the day, there is no denying the fact that kids need food to kick start their day and their brain. I do too.

Breakfast has always improved my boys academic attention.

5 Easy and Quick Breakfasts Kids Will Eat

The problem is that I also like my morning time and want to spend it in a less stressful way like reading, looking over lessons for the day or doing a bit of blogging and I also want my kids to eat well.

Too, you remember I shared with you how I plan my dinners for 31 days and not breakfast.  Look at that article here Free 31 Days of Dinner and Editable Menu Planner.

The reason I don’t plan breakfast is that I rotate a handful of quick, but delicious ideas that have worked for us through the years.

Keeping breakfast simple and not preparing extravagant breakfasts that kids won’t eat is the key to a morning that gets booted up quickly, which leaves more time to wake up and start school on time.

Look at these 5 breakfast ideas that make my morning run smoother and keep it relaxed.

1. Egg McMuffins, Breakfast Sandwiches or whatever you want to call them.

This morning I spent about a little more than an hour preparing 30 egg mcmuffins.

After Tiny started school, I stayed in the kitchen and worked on the egg mcmuffins until I needed Tiny for the assembly line, but again, I made these later in the morning, not first thing.

Look at what you need:

  • eggs. 1 egg for each muffin. So grab as many eggs as breakfast sandwiches you are going to make.
  • meat (if any, of your choice) I rotate between ham, Canadian bacon, bacon and sausage patties.
  • English muffins. Grab as many packages as you are going to make. I normally grab two packages (which makes 6) and don’t make less than two packages, but sometimes I make enough for a month.
  • Pam spray
  • cheese. If your family likes it. This morning I am trying Monterrey Jack cheese because Tiny and I love a bit of spice.
  • muffin pan (if you bake your eggs in the oven like I do)
  • diced up onions if you’re eggs are scrambled.

When the boys were little, this would last us a full month or longer.

But I have mean eating machines over here now and 30 sandwiches will go us maybe 2 weeks, but then again they can eat two or more at a time.

Decide right away if your family prefers scrambled eggs or baked in the oven.

Now, I cook my eggs in the oven because I love the taste.

However, for years, I did scrambled eggs because the boys were little and knew what was in their sandwich. Look at this post, Homeschool Organization – Forget Once a Month Cooking When Meal Planning, I did a few years ago where I scrambled the eggs and would freeze only one package.

I prepared this quick breakfast like this:

First, I started cooking my ham slices or bacon. While that is cooking, I heated up the oven to 275 degrees.

Next, it’s true, like most recipes call for that you have to spray the heck out of the muffin pan if you want your eggs to not stick.

Spray it some more for good measure and then do it again. Then I start cracking the eggs in the muffin tin.

I put the ham or meat aside now and let it cool.Then I start toasting the muffins.

egg mcmuffin 1

Depending on how many I am making, I will stick the pan in the oven right away with a bit of butter to let it start browning.

This morning though, I used my 4 slice toaster and toasted the muffins while the meat cooked and I cracked eggs. By the way, I add butter the muffins slightly after they were toasted.

After the eggs are cracked, take a fork and break the yoke and add salt and pepper.

Then stick the muffin pan in the preheated oven and cook for about 12 to 15 minutes depending on your oven.

The Trick to Finding More Mom Time

You want the white cooked, but the yellow doesn’t have to be all the way cooked. It finishes cooking in the microwave when you heat it up. Look at my picture below.

egg mcmuffin 2

Then I let the eggs cool off and set up firm before I lift them out and build the muffins.

Add your meat, cheese of choice if any and egg.

egg mcmuffin 3

Then I wrap them in saran wrap and stick them back in the same muffin bag and in the freezer they go.

egg mcmuffin 4

Heat them up in the morning for about a minute.

Then here is another quick break that I do.

2. Toasted English muffin + 2 tablespoons peanut butter = Done.

Then, normally, in the winter, I love hot oatmeal and not the quick kind, but the slow and healthy kind of oats.

BUT, when I know I want to get a start on the day earlier, I often make Overnight Oatmeal in a Jar.

3. Cold oatmeal in the winter?

Believe me, they are to die for delicious when you make them right.

I make them while I cook supper and stick those babies in the refrigerator and they are ready to go the next morning.

You can make them different ways, but mine always include; regular steel cut oats, cinnamon, greek yogurt, chia seeds, organic maple syrup, blueberries or strawberries, some walnuts or pecans and coconut milk.

It’s such an easy and great tasting breakfast. I can eat out the jar and read.

The hardest part is chopping the strawberries and I if I get real lazy short on time, I use blueberries. Besides, I prefer blueberries a bit more than I do strawberries.

5992

(pic attribution: The Yummy Life. Reminder pin from original sources.)

Check out Monica over at The Yummy Life because she has a super easy step by step how to make them. I just throw all mine in and stir. (yum)

4. Blueberry banana deliciousness.

Then talking about blueberries, that brings me to another family favorite, which is blueberry banana smoothies.

  • 1 cup frozen blueberries
  • 1/2 banana
  • 1 cup yogurt (I use low sugar or sugar free).

It’s quick and I blend it up in a snap and ready to go.

Too, I can put several batches of this in the blender and just whip it up in the morning.

5. Apple and cheese for the boys, but for me avocado toast.

Then another one that Mr. Senior 2013 loved was apple and cubes of cheese.

For me, I love mashed avocado on toast or another go to for me in the morning is cottage cheese and peaches.

Finding more time for mom and not compromising on a great start to the day always starts the previous day for me by knowing what we will eat.

We have many other go to choices, but these five quick and uncomplicated breakfasts have always helped us to kick off our day and stick to our homeschool schedule. Did I mention picky kids will eat them?

Do you have any quick and fast breakfast favorites?

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins. Look at my breakfast fast board.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


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DIY Kitchen Tongs Holder (Using Paper Towel Tube)

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DIY Kitchen Tongs Holder (From Paper Towel Tube)

Part of organizing this new small place we are in now is being sure that my kitchen is organized too.

DIY Kitchen Tongs Holder (Using Paper Towel Tube)

I have encouraged you over and over that when your home needs a bit of organizing love to stop your homeschool and organize it.

Diy kitchen tongs holder (using paper towel tube) is one of the few things I have been doing this year to get my kitchen running a bit more smooth since our move back to the states.

Look at what else I have been doing and that you may want to grab.

Grab my 31 day editable menu planner with 31 dinner ideas here, look at how I made diy brads cheap and chic here and diy family calendar with free printable cover here.

It may not sound like a big deal, but it is one of the pesty things in the kitchen that kept slowing down my cooking and that is tongs sticking together.

Or, maybe it was just one of those day where I had my fill with those tiny, but hugely annoying things in the kitchen and I undertook a quick diy projects.

It was one of those days where all my cooking utensils, especially my kitchen tongs, which I use a lot kept opening up in the caddy. Again, small, but totally annoying.

So I came up with a pretty and quick way to store the humble kitchen tongs in my utensil caddy or even in the kitchen drawer.

Look at what I gathered up real quick.

Collect items for diy paper towel holder @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

You know I am into easy and quick diy fixes.

So I grabbed my washi tape, some discarded paper towel tubes, and I had a pastry brush in storage (don’t ask me what possessed me to store that long term, like I was going to use it again..ugg), and some mod podge.

It took just a few minutes to wrap each paper towel tube and I used the mod podge and pastry brush to put a layer over it to seal it.

DIY paper towel holders

Tiny, but annoying problem solved for me.

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

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Follow Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s board Home DIY on Pinterest.

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Top 5 Tips for Homeschooling Parents

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Best Parenting Tips @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusLet’s face it. Parenting is hard enough, but then you decide to homeschool. Knowing which hat to wear, the teacher hat or parent hat seems more like a juggling act than educating a child.

By the way, this blog hop is organized by The Jenny Evolution, where bloggers have connected to share their top parenting tips of the year. Be sure to click the image above to visit all the other articles shared on each blog.

Look at these top 5 tips for homeschooling parents that I rounded up from 2015 that I hope will help to smooth the homeschool path for you.

3 Wrong Ways to Homeschool a Hotheaded Child @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

My article, 3 Wrong Ways to Homeschool a Hotheaded Child really resonated with you. Avoid my same parenting mistake.

Here is my excerpt from my article that you need to scoot by and read:

When I started homeschooling my first son, Mr. Senior 2013, he was the perfect child to school or least I thought so.  Along came Mr. Awesome and I was humbled because all of the sudden I had a hotheaded and stubborn child on my hands or least I thought so.

Then this next article goes directly to the decision you have to make to homeschool your children as the homeschooling parent.

But the Little Dear Doesn't Want to Homeschool

You’d be surprised at how homeschooling parents feel with this article, But the Little Dear Doesn’t Want to Homeschool.

Fake It Til You Make It

Here is my excerpt from my article that you need to scoot by and read:

“In my workshop, I hear the statement often “but the little dear doesn’t want to homeschool”. Okay, maybe not quite like that, but you get the idea. And it’s not from just parents of preteens and teens, but from parents who have very young children, as young as 5 years old.”

What is the alarming truth behind who makes the decision to homeschool? It goes directly to parenting!

Treasure-the-Moments-of-Homeschooling-Testosterone-Armed-Teen-Boys.png

Then, I received a lot of emails and feedback about this next article, which is Treasure the Moments of Homeschooling Testosterone Armed Teen Boys.

It’s tough to  homeschool boys, who can think completely different than I do much less parent them.

Geography BundleThey learn differently, handle their emotions differently than girls and you have to be ready to teach and parent outside the box.

Real Life Parenting Tips

Here is my excerpt from my article that you need to scoot by and read:

“I don’t want to sound cliché, but I treasure the moments of homeschooling testosterone armed teen boys.  Thinking back when all the boys were real young, my sis came over to my house one day with her girls, which are about the same age as my boys to discuss how we could join forces to homeschool our kids together. 

When we looked up, my boys were outside in the yard with tree branches fighting and her girls were inside coloring pages, inside the lines no doubt.”

Patience, Confidence, Knowing all the Answers – NOT Required to Homeschool @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then many things are required of us as homeschooling parents, but Patience, Confidence, Knowing ALL the Right Answers is NOT Required to Homeschool.

Here is my excerpt from my article that you need to scoot by and read:

“If somebody had told me that prior to starting homeschooling I needed patience, confidence and all the answers to every subject, I would not have plunged into homeschooling.”

3-homeschooling-myths-debunked.png

Then, this next post, 3 Homeschooling Myths Debunked, you loved because it goes directly to facing head on some of the critics of homeschooling because we do spend a lot of time together as a family.

“Taking time to debunk popular homeschooling myths helps to avoid mommy guilt.  Confronting head-on homeschooling myths that I have both encountered and that I hear from homeschoolers that I’ve helped through my New Bee program also deepens my dedication to homeschooling.  It gives me a chance to ponder, because I know there is always room for improvement in both my parenting and homeschooling skills.”

Also, don’t forget to go through our New Bee Homeschool Program for more great homeschooling parent tips!

New-Bee-Homeschooler-Program-Tinas-Dynamic-Homeschool-Plus.jpg

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

Be sure to follow BOTH of my Pinterest Accounts to grab more homeschooling parenting tips!

Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

 

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.