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Search Results for: planner

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

January 20, 2016 | Leave a Comment
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

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Leave a CommentFiled Under: Schedule/Balance Home & School Tagged With: breakfast, mealplanning, recipes

DIY Kitchen Tongs Holder (Using Paper Towel Tube)

January 16, 2016 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

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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Leave a CommentFiled Under: DIY, Home Tagged With: organizedhomeschool

DIY Family Calendar (Fabulous & Frugal) + Free Calendar Cover

January 2, 2016 | 6 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

DIY Family Calendar. Not only beautiful but frugal @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

DIY Family Calendar (Fabulous & Frugal)

Because I am not sure where we will be living permanently and because life doesn’t wait, I put together a diy family calendar, which is both frugal and fabulous.

In an earlier post, I shared about how I created some beautiful diy brads for this calendar to keep it frugal.

Today, I created a quick and beautiful calendar for the new year and used those diy brads to bind the pages.

Look at how quickly I put it together with my pages that I have here.

First, I grabbed my .99 cent 2 page spread Appointment Keeper in the Dreaming color option. You can grab it below.

2016 2 page per month physical year - Dreaming @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then because I want this calendar cover to match my Home Management Binder cover, which I will be updating too now that we moved back to the states, I created this new cover to match.

Too, I don’t really have a place for a command center in this tiny apartment so a diy calendar is the best option for us this year.

Actually, I created TWO front covers. I created one for 2016 and one that does not have the year on it.

You can grab them both below.

2016 DIY Calendar Page @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Grab the calendar cover with 2016 on it here.

DIY Calendar Page

Grab the calendar cover that is not dated here.

Also, look what else I have here that is free to put in your diy family calendar.

After the cover, I added my free 2016 peek at the year calendar and put the free 2017 calendar in the back of my planner.2016 Free Printable Calendar Page

I also added my free goal sheet and free important dates for the year at the beginning of the planner.

2 page spread DIY Family Calendar

I’m all ready for the new year and have a place that I can track our family appointments and frugal too.

Inside DIY calendar

Why buy an expensive store bought calendar when you can create exactly what you want?

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

If you love planners like I do, be sure you look at my Free 7 Step Homeschool Planner, my free Home Management Binder and my Free Student Planners.

Follow BOTH of my Pinterest Accounts for SUPER DUPER DIY Pins too.

Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.
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6 CommentsFiled Under: 2. My FREE Organizing Printables {Any topic}, DIY, Home, Organization Tagged With: 2pagepermonthcalendar, diy, freecalendars

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

From drab to fab, take an inexpensive brad and turn it into chic. DIY brads on the cheap and chic @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

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 for diy brads beautiful and functional @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

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.

underside of brad to glue washi to on diy brads that are beautiful and chic

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.

From drab to fab, take an inexpensive brad and turn it into chic. DIY brads on the cheap and chic @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

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,

 

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4 CommentsFiled Under: Clever DIY Hacks for Your Homeschool Spaces, Curriculum Planner, DIY Tagged With: home organization

Homeschooling – Beginnings are Usually Scary, Endings are Usually Sad, but It’s What’s In the Middle that Counts!

December 12, 2015 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

 Homeschooling - Because Beginnings are usually scary, endings are usually sad, but it's what's in the middle that counts @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Homeschooling – Beginnings are Usually Scary, Endings are Usually Sad, but It’s What’s In the Middle that Counts!

On the street I grew up on, my family got close to a neighbor or family that had a set of twin boys.

The twin boys were younger than me and my sister and we came to view them as “little brothers”.  As the boys grew up, they both became pilots.

We went on some of their first flights in a little 4 seat Cessna as we flew to La Grange,which was another small city nearby. We thought we were cool as we went to grab a steak and fly back home that same evening. (By the way, it was the cutest small plane ever. okay. okay.)

I loved those times as a young girl and have fond memories of our exciting times as we entered young adulthood. But I was equally impressed at all the knowledge and information that went into getting that piece of machinery up in the air.

Did you know the twin pilots had a huge list of items they had on a checklist to check off every time before they even lifted up?

In Search of a Homeschool Adventure?

Without doing that every time, there could be a terrible accident. Not one detail could be overlooked.

Too, the “routine” wasn’t left up to memory.

They had a physical clipboard with their checklist on it and checked off each part as they walked around the plane checking every part of it.

It made taking off less scary.

Homeschooling is scary on take off too and the beginnings remind me of my first air plane ride.

Check out these two tips as you get ready to begin.

EMBRACE THE ADVENTURE.

Any adventure worth taking will have risks.

I hinted about this when I shared When Homeschooling is Not an Overnight Success (Is it Worth the Risk?), but I also want you to understand that risk taking without planning is not necessary when beginning to homeschool.

Though sheer passion will not overcome all tragedies, it is the fuel needed to boost your beginnings.

Just remember though that there simply is no need to have to leap before you look because so many other homeschoolers have gone before you.

The time is long gone when folks did not hear about homeschooling. Too, there are many homeschool bloggers for just about any topic you can think about.

Francis Bacon said, “Knowledge is power” and that couldn’t be more true when beginning to homeschool.

Knowing that an abundance of information exists on the homeschool how-tos, I want to remind you to embrace the adventure.

Homeschool without inhibition. Don’t let fear hold you back from stepping out and trying another homeschool approach.

Grab my 31 Day Free Homeschool Boot Camp to start your adventure.

CHECKLISTS ABOUND GALORE –  GRAB ONE, TWO, OR . . .

Checklists are not only important, but vital or essential to homeschool success.

What type of checklists would you want?

  • Grab a routine or schedule that will work for your family. Look at my post How To Create a Homeschool Schedule That You Can Stick To.
  • Grab a scope and sequence so you have an idea of what to teach your child.
  • Grab a checklist on how to lesson plan.
  • Grab a checklist on how to homeschool high school.
  • Grab a checklist to understand what is a boxed curriculum. Check out 8 Components of a Boxed Curriculum.

Like the checklists that ensured our safety when taking off and landing, checklists serve as a guide to help you in your adventure.

Because the Middle Is What Matters.

After taking off in the Cessna airplane, it was the breath taking aerial views of the Lone Star State and time we had flying in the air that made our trip memorable.

I soon forget the jitters I had in the beginning of our airplane ride and only remember the trip and the beautiful night sky and not the checklists.

Homeschooling has been much the same way. Beginnings are not only scary, but almost paralyzing. It fades into the background as you get up and running.

Freedom to Have Fun

After you take much energy to get your homeschool up and running, it will be what you do during your journey that your children will fondly remember.

Sure, we all are going to mess up our children at one time or another and it’s almost unavoidable. We’re not perfect parents.

However, mistakes just mean that you get a do-over and you’ll do your due diligence next time to get it right.

And try to remember, that endings are normally sad because life changes and kids do grow up! Make the middle count.

Are you ready to take off? When are you going to start homeschooling?

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

Are You Following My New Homeschoolers Must Haves Board On Pinterest. It will make your beginnings less scarier.

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Leave a CommentFiled Under: Begin Homeschooling Tagged With: fearless homeschooling, homeschool, homeschool challenges, homeschool joy, homeschool joys, homeschool lifestyle, new homeschooler, newbeehomeschooler

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