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How a 31 Day Menu Plan Makes You a Healthier, Better & Smarter Homeschool Mom + Free Editable Planner

January 1, 2016 | 28 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Losing weight has always been hard in my family. Besides that though, I have tried to focus on the inside person by focusing on my health. Not that I don’t try to lose weight, but a 31 day menu planner makes you a healthier, better and smarter homeschool mom for several reasons.

Take Back Your Family

Look at this list of why a 31 day menu plan is vital for busy homeschool moms.

Coping like career moms.

Whether you are new to homeschooling or not, it doesn’t take long to figure out that you have a career.

It’s true. We are working moms because a career is something that is our first importance and progress is our focus. And we have made our decision. Our family, our home and Educating the WholeHearted Child becomes our career.

It almost seems like a contradiction to think we would glance at tips for career moms since we are stay at home moms, but we do need to steal a few tips from working moms.

Working moms have to plan if they don’t want to compromise the health of their families and we need to also.

Planning meals becomes essential to success as homeschooling moms.

Eases stress.

Stress is one of the biggest reasons homeschoolers quit.

Don’t underestimate the weight of stress and not to mention guilt as moms when we just wing a dinner that is not particular tasty, let alone healthy.

Knowing just one trick like taking about 30 minutes to plan for the whole month not only lightens your load considerably, but it eases day to day stress.

For me 31 day menu planning eases evening stress.

For example, I had to take a honest examination to see where my struggle was on meal planning and find a solution to fix it.

Breakfast is easy for us. We love smoothies, oatmeal, cereal and waffles. It is not a stressful time in my household.

Lunch is the same way. My children love leftovers, sandwiches, soups and other options.

Dinner or supper, however, is quite another story.

I am tired by the end of the day. On top of that, there is not a worse feeling than to start a meal and to be shy one key ingredient on hand to finish it and get my meal on the table. Tell me that I am not the only one that has done that?

The point here is to use 31 day menu planning as a stress reliever not stress inducer. If you think you struggle with all the meals, then start there by planning all of your meals.

I know there are homeschoolers who plan every meal, but for us it just makes no sense because we basically like the same things for breakfast and lunch.

The bottom line is that 31 day menu planning should be about what your family needs. Find your weak point and fix it.

It means flexibility, saving money and being healthier. That equals smarter.

I am all about following budgets, being healthier and working smarter.

A 31 day menu plan has saved me thousands, yes thousands of dollars through the many years of homeschooling because I don’t overbuy and have things in my pantry for years that are not used.

It saves me money because I don’t throw away food in my refrigerator that does not get used up.

And meals are healthier because I have a plan before I go into the grocery and choose healthier ingredients.

Being tied to a menu planner is not my style either. But with a 31 menu planner, it’s easier to switch around my meals as life happens instead of trying to wing dinner. Give me flexibility anytime with my 31 day menu planner.

I don’t think it’s wrong to want to have it all when it comes to the health and education of our family.

Though it’s hard to lose weight in my family, I never want to use that as an excuse to stop trying. On top of that, I want to model for my sons the example of making healthy food choices.

I don’t like complicating healthy choices or taking an all or nothing approach to food.

We love ice cream in our family and swing by and grab ice cream sometimes in our family outings.

Knowing that our evening meals are stress free, relaxing and that I have healthy options with organic ingredients has only added to the fulfilling career I have chosen as a homeschool mom.

For You – Free 31 Day Menu Planner & Editable – To Ease Your Stress!

Grab my free 31 day menu planner.

I have made it editable for you. I used it when I started homeschooling. I made it editable too since you’re planning several meals.

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

Now, I have created a second one, which is for dinners only because that is the area I want help with the most.

Download here Free 31 Day Menu Planner for Dinners Only.

Plan just what you need and don’t organize something you don’t struggle with. Save time and plan the meals you need help with the most. If it’s breakfast, plan only for breakfast.

If you struggle with all meals, then be determined to make your homeschool journey less stressful by planning all the meals. I promise planning doesn’t take as long as you may think.

Let me help you. Grab my 31 day dinner only plan for January.

Grab my 31 days of dinners for this month.

My 31 day dinner plan reflects my family’s like and dislikes.

Where possible, I linked to recipes for you that can be found on the internet and the other recipes are ones I have cooked for years.

I included this picture below so that you can see how I organized the planner. Use it over and over each month.

Fill in the month, add the week day and the grocery list right sidebar coordinates to that week’s list of items needed for those 7 days.

I will continue to struggle with the rotundness that runs in my family, but I am celebrating the fact that for many years I have been limiting as many unhealthy ingredients as possible.

What do you struggle with most when it comes to menu planning? And what are you celebrating?

Hugs and love ya,

Guess what? I don’t have enough to do, so I have a SECOND Pinterest Account. It too is full of organizational Pins. Follow Me!

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.

For more tips that work, look at Homeschool Organization: Are you Collecting Recipes or Cook Books?

3 Fun History Sites for Homeschooled High School Teens

December 31, 2015 | 6 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

3 Free History Websites for Homeschooled High School Kids @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Earlier I shared 5 Free History Websites for Middle School Kids and today I am sharing 3 fun history sites to kick off the new year for your highschooler.

You know how easy it is to find activities for your kids in Kindergarten. And then it seems like when they hit the upper grades and especially highschool that learning is suppose to somehow get less — well– fun.

No way, if I have something to say about it. Look at these three websites below, which I rounded up for high school teens.

1. ARTIFACTS & ANALYSIS

I am excited about finding this site because I had shared a post earlier, 7 Things to Try When a Homeschool History Curriculum Isn’t Coming Together (Hint: Try a Primary Source or Two) because studying the way people lived and the objects they used everyday is intriguing and engaging.

Leave boring behind when you study primary sources.

The information from the site: This site presents a strategy for incorporating historical artifacts and documents into the teaching of U.S. history. Designed as a companion to the Advanced Placement Program U.S. History course, it is also effective in any instructional setting that emphasizes analytical thinking and writing.

2. CRASH COURSE

This next site is on YouTube and is called Crash Course. It is just what it says. Quick and fun crash course on many different topics.

Though it has all kinds of interesting topics, it has world history and American history that make learning history far from boring.

Tiny likes the fact that it is quick and I love the fact that it gives a sweeping overview and can introduce your teen to history topics he may not be aware of or just to be sure he has been introduced to major events.

3. ICIVICS

This next site is a complete fit for teens, which generally don’t mind arguing. Let them use all their prowess on this site.

From the site:

Our educational resources empower teachers and prepare the next generation of students to become knowledgeable and engaged citizens.

Founded and led by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, iCivics provides students with the tools they need for active participation and democratic action, and teachers with the materials and support to achieve this. Our free resources include print-and-go lesson plans, award-winning games, and digital interactives.

The iCivics games place students in different civic roles and give them agency to address real-world problems and issues. They are rooted in clear learning objectives and integrated with lesson plans and support materials.

Mark these and grab them. And you know as I find them, I share them with you too.

Also, you’ll love these other ideas:

Hugs and love ya,

Be sure to follow my Middle and High School Pinterest Board for more tips you don’t want to miss!

Follow Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s board Homeschool Middle & High School on Pinterest.

Help! I Can’t Teach My Homeschooled Child How to Read – 5 Step Checklist

December 30, 2015 | 8 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

A child struggling to read despite giving what seems like your all to the process is enough to bring any great homeschool parent to their knees. Beyond the tears (both child and mom), teaching a homeschooled child how to read can be overwhelming.

Help! I Can’t Teach My Homeschooled Child How to Read

Look at these 5 points and use them as a checklist in a fresh start to assessing your situation.

Sometimes you just need to know if your situation is normal and if other parents have been struggling like you. (They do. You’re not alone.)

Only you will know the answers to these questions, but they give you a checklist to isolate the problem and more importantly find a solution.

ONE | APTITUDE OR ATTITUDE?

Before you can go to the next step, initially it’s important to know whether or not your child is struggling to read because of a problem or because they don’t want to learn how to read.

Even if it’s attitude, a love of reading has to be nurtured and cultivated.

For boys that means it has to be tied to something that they want to read. Girls can be same way, but tend to have a bit more patience than boys do in the early reading stages.

Look at What Makes Reading Painful for Homeschooled Kids. Let Go of Busywork to Raise Lifelong Readers.

I have seen immediate results in some new homeschoolers that I have helped when the reading police doesn’t show up.

Sure, it’s important to monitor what goes in our child’s mind, but a child will never be able to catch the reading bug if we don’t let them make some choices.

Reading is like planting seeds.

It starts slow and sometimes grows slow, but it GROWS each day. Don’t give up if your child has not caught the reading fever.

After you determine that your child may truly be struggling and they are not copping an attitude, the next step is to start whittling away at possible problems.

TWO | CONFUSED ABOUT LETTER CONFUSION?

Letter confusion was one area that made me feel like biting my nails because I wasn’t quite sure when the struggle should stop. The old I-am-going-to-ruin-my-child-for-life doubt creeps in too and doesn’t help your confidence.

This is what I have learned; though some children may have a learning disability, it is very common for children to struggle with letter confusion and sounds even up to 7 years of age.

It’s true that some children just need more time for the reading process to make a connection in their brain.

Just think about all the connections going on in their active mind.

The reading process is an amazing process because it should not be your goal to just teach sounds, but for your child to understand what he is reading.

Stepping back to look at the bigger picture helped me. More is going on in a child’s mind than just trying to figure out which letter makes which sound.

Too, I would have my sons draw stick figures or pictures of what we were reading and have him “read” it back to me. Why? Because I wanted them to understand that reading is about pleasure. It is about unlocking the meaning and savoring the story.

How Do You Know When to Skip Ahead?

That technique of drawing (i.e. writing) helped each of my sons to keep putting forth effort to learn because there was a reward.

When a child reads what is before him, but more importantly understands it, he is very much on the great road to reading.

THREE | SKIP THE FIRST GRADE READERS

When teaching one son to read, he just about skipped any beginning reader steps.

I was both taken back and amazed at the same time.

First, he wasn’t interested in reading (or so it seemed) and at the age of 7 was still pretty unmotivated.

I had tried so many CVC readers that I was literally mouthing them myself every day. They didn’t really seem to work.

However, after about 7 years of age, I pulled out the second and third grade readers and he went right into them.

What I learned from this process was that most readers up to the third grade level are pretty similar.

The beginning phonics readers just have less text and more repetition. But in teaching an older reader, he moved quicker through the second and third graders. Too, with more text and a longer story, it gave him a reason to read.

Lesson learned. I should have stressed less and realized that constant exposure to sounds and words was working.

When the reading bug hit him, he was reading chapter books within a few months.

He was soaking up all the learning. Trust that your teaching reading every day will produce results.

Sometimes you just need to go on.

FOUR | FOCUS MORE ON BLENDING, LESS ON /cccccccc/ /aaaaaaa/ /ttttttt/ (ugggg)

Another mistake I made in teaching my sons to read was to focus too much on letter sounds instead of moving on and modeling blending.

You and I both know kids have common sense.

And when our teaching is out of balance because we focus too much on sounds like /ccccccccccccc/ instead of moving quickly to blend it with /a/ and /t/, nonsense can stifle their motivation to read a new word.

Children are pretty hardy at the learning to read stage and can forgive (forget) a number of teaching errors.

Again, learning to read should be an exciting time and struggling with each sound by sounding out every word is tough if you have to do it for every word.

There are many strategies that teach a child to read a group of sounds at one time. My go to reading tip has always been to introduce word families right away.

Have you seen this nifty and super helpful reference book? The Reading Teacher’s Book Of Lists: Grades K-12 is a book I use to help get a broad picture of the reading journey.

However, I have utilized it more when I identified a hole in my teaching and could use it to shore up some of my sons’ weaknesses.

By teaching one sound of many letters like /at/, your child quickly sees how learning one group of sounds empowers him to know more by substituting a different consonant in front of the sound.

Don’t forget to add fun rhyming books to your reading program.

With one son, I moved too fast past the nursery rhymes.

I didn’t realize the value of not only seeing the patterns, but hearing them. Nursery rhymes are about more than just fun. They help your child to see the pattern in reading and hearing the rhythm.

Too, do not underestimate the value of flip books, games and focusing more on word families instead of individual sounds.

FIVE | WHEN TO GET OUTSIDE HELP?

Then sometimes, you have done all that you can do and you and your child still feel defeated. There is a time when you may need outside intervention.

Struggling is part of learning how to read, but their are tell-tale signs of when to seek professional help.

Age.

Though I had one son who read by 5, I just knew that my son that read by 6 or 7 years of age had a reading problem. He did not. That is why it’s called reading readiness.

You have to wait for them to get ready. However, when a child is older like beyond 9 and is still struggling, then there may be a problem.

It may not be necessarily a reading problem, but it affects their reading. For example, it could be a visual problem.

Same problem over and over.

If the problem your child has is generally struggling with the reading process, it probably is not a special need.

However, trust your gut if you see that it’s the same type of problems over and over again. That is another sign that a learning problem may be present.

Forgetting letter numbers and sounds is very normal.

Remember, there are many things jumbled up in their mind. Letter sounds, letter names, word families, punctuation, comprehension and inference.

However if the same problem or traits shows up again and again, like confusing letters over and over again then you may want to speak to your pediatrician first.

Did any of these tips help you to isolate a struggle you’re having?

Also, look at :

Hugs and love ya,

Also look at:

5 Easy Steps to Putting Together Your Own Homeschool Phonics Program

Are You Following Me on Pinterest? I Share More Wonderful Reading Tips as I Find Them.

Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

DIY Brads Cheap & Chic

December 29, 2015 | 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

DIY Brads Cheap & Chic

I have had many changes over the last month. We moved back to the states from living overseas in South America and with that change I have lots I want to do to update for our temporary home, including creating a family calendar.

I not only needed a family calendar quickly for the new year, but I also wanted something inexpensive. Soon, I’ll show you the calendar that I came up with.

But first, I needed a way to bind my new family calendar. And because I didn’t want to spend a lot on doing the family calendar since it will be temporary, I want to make it myself from items I already have or had in storage.

Of course, you can have a planner bound, but in a pinch the inexpensive metal and ugly brads I had on hand work just fine.

Too, I can’t claim original ownership on this idea because I saw this last year and wished I could remember where, but I put my own spin on it.

Look at what I gathered up that I have in my house and that can easily transform an ugly metal brad to a beautiful organizational piece.

Supplies:

Ugly old metal brads just hanging around your house.

No sense in buying those expensive designer brads though I love them.

The plain metal brads normally come in a huge box and are way less expensive than the designer ones.

I had the ugly metal brads in storage with my other office supplies so its what I will be using,

Cheap paint a/k/a finger nail polish.

The other thing I purchased when I landed was some much needed nail polish.

But, normally I have several colors stored in my house. Too, even if you decide to buy nail polish, some of the prettiest colors, are really cheap. You can find some smokin’ hot colors for just a dollar.

Also, I have these in my house and you probably do too.

- Sharpies are always a must have in my house so I gathered a few I had.
- Though washi tape is not necessarily cheap, again, it’s what I have in my house.
- The other things I grabbed were a pair of scissors, an old pair of tweezers (I had about 5 of these stored – really? okay.okay).
- I also grabbed a piece of foam that came with our new furniture we just had delivered.
- And then the Mr. had grabbed some Scotch Super Glue Liquid, Precision Applicator to use for pads on the furniture and this stuff said it bonds to plastic, vinyl wood, foam,etc. So I figured it would work with washi tape.

I grabbed some of the metal brads and stuck them in the foam. The foam is just a “work table” to hold the brad in place so I could decide how to design them.

The easiest design was using the sharpies. The color is bright and I simply colored it over about three times to make the color more bright.

For another one, I grabbed my base coat nail polish and prepped another brad by using the base coat. I figured if it worked on my nails, it would make the polish adhere better.

After that dried, I applied polish. I let it dry some in between coats. I added two coats for one nail polish, the Revlon and I added three coats for the cheaper one I had.

I just left them in the foam as I worked on each one.

Then next I decided to try the washi tape. These took a little more time and patience, but I loved them.

I used the super strong glue. Now, be careful with that glue because the directions said it was some strong stuff.

I am sure you can probably use some other glue you have around the house, especially if you are crafty.

You know I am wayyyyy into diy and crafts when it has to do with organization or homeschool, but it’s not my thing to just make things to make them.

I hope you don’t think I am too weird when crafts don’t rock my world unless they are practical and useful, then I am all in, baby.

Okay, back to what I did with my washi tape.

After I applied the glue, I cut a small piece of washi tape and applied it on the top. You can see it in the picture above. (pink washi tape)

I let it sat for a few minutes to dry because you will need to turn it over to tuck the tape underneath the brad.

So don’t rush it. Paint some other brads while the glue dries.

Then come back to this brad. I put a clean sheet of white paper underneath it too.

Next, I took some scissors and cut the edges of the tape so it would tuck under the brad better.

I wished I would have used some fine point scissors but this worked okay. Too, like I said, this is about using what I have on hand and a regular pair of scissors is what I have on hand.

After I put several small snips around the edge of the tape, I added glue on the tape and used the tweezers to tuck and roll. (lol) I pushed the paper down all the way and used the tweezers to jam it all down or tuck it down.

Then, I picked the brad up by the stem (careful to not touch the strong glue) and then rolled it on the side on the way paper to smooth out the paper on the edges.

From Drab to Fab – The Humble Metal Brad

That’s it. Pretty easy and has to be for me.

One tip on doing this, just be careful because if you handle it too much, the color comes off the washi tape.

I found out that if I put a good amount of glue instantly and then tucked the ends under and left it alone they came out better than me over handling it.

Of course, the possibilities are endless with color and you can even add glitter or use material you like and have on hand.

I am not too much into glitter, but you may like it. Use the base coat polish and dip the head of the brad into some glitter and I bet it would look hot too.

I hope you like this quick fix to make the humble brad into hot! Coming up soon, I have the quick calendar I made using these brads.

What do you think?

Hugs and love ya,

Are you following me on my Home Management Binder Pinterest Board?

Follow Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s board Home Manage Binder {free} on Pinterest.

15 Top Homeschool Posts, Tips and Ideas of the Year – You Picked Them!

December 28, 2015 | 9 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I love this time of the year because not only is it a time of reflection, but about brand new beginnings.

I have now completed two years of blogging and am loving every minute of it.

Without you, I would not be as motivated to share what I do.

15 Top Homeschool Posts

So thank you first for following because you are my inspiration for writing and sharing what I have learned so far in my journey.

What I did today was round up the posts, inspiration and ideas that rocked your world this year.

It’s true you love homeschool planning, organization and unit studies as much as I do or at least you want to pursue them some more this next year.

Looking Back to Make Tracks Forward

Also, it seams like many of us have strong opinions too on the difference between homeschooling and schooling at home. Be sure to look at each post below by clicking on the link under the image.

And if you’re new to homeschooling, be sure you go through my Free 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers.