What’s for Lunch??

We are now to the eight-week mark of this homeschool year…that’s 40 days down! Generally speaking, things are going pretty well. We’ve settled into our routine and the kids are enjoying (for the most part) the curriculum that we chose way back in May.

At the start of the school year we only do a couple subjects a day…a soft start, if you will. Then as the days & weeks go by, we slowly add new subjects until we get to the point were we are now. Now, we are covering nearly all subjects each day…just in time to add all the extra curricular activities! They all seem to start right around the same time, too. And this is when I start to feel like we’re running in a million directions every afternoon from about 2PM on and I’m pretty sure I’m losing my mind.

You’ve heard of the frog in a pot of water on the stove that slowly warms up until it’s boiling? The frog doesn’t even realize what’s happening until it’s too late. Well, that’s where I can end up if I’m not careful. We try very hard not to over schedule our family and I think we do a pretty good job. But even so, we do want to allow our kids to pursue their passions and try new things. So, with that comes a schedule that at times can be a bit chaotic. One thing that has been my saving grace over the years is meal planning.

I was once completely and totally against meal planning. You could say that I had some commitment issues. What if on Sunday I planned pork chops for Thursday night and by the time Thursday rolled around, I wanted tacos. Nope, couldn’t risk it. Well, throw in a couple more kiddos and significantly busier weeknights and I am now a die hard meal planner! In fact, this year I’m even planning our lunches. That’s right. This Homeschool Mama has gone completely Cafeteria Lady on these kids! (And it has made my life so much easier).

Before I started planning out our lunches, right around noon everyday, I’d ask everyone what they wanted for lunch. Rarely would any two children request the same thing so inevitably, I’d become a short order cook. Not only was I making 3-4 different lunches a day, but I also have more than one kid that suddenly becomes hungry as soon as I enter the kitchen. No joke. I walk into the kitchen to get anything, not even food related, a pen & paper for example, and they’re suddenly hungry. It made me crazy. I was constantly trying to find healthy & filling snacks, along with deciding on what lunches to fix.

In the grand scheme of things, this is a pretty trivial problem. But if you’ve been homeschooling for any length of time, you know that your days are jam packed as it is! The kitchen was where I was spending most of my time and no homeschool mom has time for that. That’s when my inner Cafeteria Lady came out. We now have specific foods that are available for snacks, lunches are planned by the day and I have a menu posted where curious minds can find the answer to “What’s for lunch?” (or dinner).

On Sunday when I plan, I let one kid pick out one lunch per week so everyone gets something they like at some point during the week. And, just like I remember from elementary school, there’s a peanut butter sandwich available if you don’t like what’s on the menu.

It’s a small change in our homeschool, but it has made a huge difference. Along with the day-to-day benefits of meal planning, I also cut down on trips to the grocery store. This not only saves time and money, but also my sanity. And any mom, homeschooling or not, knows that would make it all worth it right there!