I know that sounds like a lot of work – and it is. But it will be worth it when dinner no longer involves hours in the kitchen and you are free to visit with your husband, read aloud to your kids, or even go out once in a while with your girlfriends, knowing your family has a warm home-cooked meal to enjoy.

Hopefully you’ll be able to adapt these ideas to suit your own recipes and lifestyle. Feel free to start smaller – say 20 meals. Also, when I refer to 60 dinners, I mean 60 main dishes. On serving day, you’ll add salads, veggies, pasta, and so on to round out the meal.

I keep a detailed list to help me out. I need to see things on paper in order to think clearly. I also have a list of meals I can look at for inspiration. The key to freezer cooking (aside from finding good recipes) is to make sure you have enough variety. I generally plan on eating from the freezer five nights a week for three months (5 days a week x 12 weeks = 60 dinners) so first I need to decide how often I can repeat my menu. If I repeat each meal twice a month, then I need to have ten different meal options, and I would make each one six times. If I can eat the same thing week in and week out, then I could get by with five different options, making each one twelve times. I think ten options is too many and five is too few, so I usually shoot for a happy medium of eight different meal options. I will then plan to make each item somewhere between six and twelve times each, until I get to sixty.

I know you might be thinking, “my gosh, is she really going to feed her family only eight different meals for three entire months?” Not really, because I have two days a week to make frittatas, get takeout, or cook whatever else we might crave. My meal plan really only has us repeating each meal two or three times a month; and since I have previously fallen into the spaghetti-three-times-a-week rut, this will be plenty of variety.

The Plan
We like to grill year-round and I know I can assemble a ton of ready-to-grill meals in a matter of minutes. I can easily picture us grilling once or twice a week – chicken, steak, hamburgers, and so on. These meals are super easy to get in the freezer and it’s satisfying to start the cooking session off with a bang, socking away a large number of meals before it’s even lunchtime on day one.

My favorite way to prepare chicken for the grill is to portion it into quart-sized freezer bags, pour store-bought marinade over it, and chuck it in the freezer. It marinates as it thaws and stays nice and juicy. If you prefer to make your own marinade, you can use that. If I hit a sale on steak, I’ll buy family sized packages (getting an extra $0.50 per pound discount) divide them into appropriately sized portions, and wrap in freezer paper.

Hamburgers can be shaped, frozen on oiled cookie sheets, and stacked in freezer bags. You don’t even have to thaw them – just grill on low. For a gourmet burger, add in a dash of marinade, and a little shredded cheese.

Obviously, you don’t have to do this. It’s certainly not that much more trouble to buy chicken or steak every week at the grocery store. But I like to wait for a good sale, buy every ingredient I need, and be done with it for a few months. I know I will still be able to feed my family a good dinner even if I don’t make it to the store that week; I get better discounts for buying in bulk; and I only have to disinfect my kitchen once from the chicken (ok, maybe that’s just a benefit to me – I have Raw Chicken Paranoia). Plus, I never have to throw food away because our schedule got crazy and it went bad. AND my husband can go rummage out in the freezer to decide what he’d like for dinner instead of hassling me about cooking.

If I prepare enough of these packets to ensure we can grill once a week, I’ll have 12 meals in the freezer for minimum effort. Add a little salad on the side or pick up some fresh corn at the farmer’s market and we’ll have some easy dinners.

You can make ground beef go a long way too – meatballs are something I make every time I stock the freezer. I freeze them uncooked on an oiled cookie sheet and then package them 25 at a time into freezer bags (or if I make a giant batch, I’ll use the Food Saver and they’ll keep forever). I can put them in the crock pot at noon and they’ll be done for dinner. Swedish Meatballs, Barbeque Meatballs, Spaghetti and Meatballs…leftovers can go in sandwiches or on pizza, AND my kids like them (I probably don’t have to tell you what a bonus that is). Meatballs are always on my meal plan, and we eat them at least once a week in one form or another. Speaking of meals that require ground meat, you could whip up 3 or 4 meatloaves. Delicious and easy – especially if you freeze them (uncooked) in a disposable tin foil loaf pan. Or maybe make a giant batch of taco meat and portion it into freezer bags once it cools? Or cook up a couple of pounds of breakfast sausage, chop some veggies and plan to make frittatas once in a while? We’re halfway to sixty and haven’t even had to think that hard yet.

Next, plan some thaw-and-serve meals – soups and stews don’t require anything except heating up and eating. Even in the summer, we eat soup because it’s just so easy to get on the table. Chicken tortilla soup, beef stew, ham & bean soup, chili… I love soup. You can make soup out of anything, it freezes very well, and you can pull it out of the freezer and sit down to dinner within 15 minutes. If I cook a variety of soups, stews, batches of chili, and end up with 18 quarts (we eat about a quart of soup in a sitting – you may need two quarts or more to make a meal) I’ll be pretty close to my goal. We always have pizza on Friday nights, so I’ll make a big batch of pizza dough, portion it, and throw it in the freezer. To top off my meal plan, I might make a couple of lasagnas or chicken noodle casseroles, pre-chop bacon for Spaghetti Carbonara, or try something new from one of my cookbooks.

At this point you might be thinking “that’s great and all, but when are we going to get a real recipe?” Here you go – my standard recipe for both meatballs and meatloaf. It only has three ingredients. Three! Cooking doesn’t get much simpler than that.

Meat Loaf
1½ pounds ground beef
2 cups cooked and cooled stuffing, chopped
1 large egg, beaten
salt and black pepper

Heat oven to 400° F.

In a large bowl, combine the stuffing, egg, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper.

Add the ground beef and stir to combine with other ingredients, being careful not to over-mix or knead. Transfer mixture to a loaf pan.

Bake uncovered for 35-45 minutes, or until internal temperature is 160°. Let rest ten minutes before slicing.

For tender, juicy meat loaf, choose ground chuck with 20 percent fat. Do not overcook.

Freezing Instructions
Prepare mixture and transfer it to loaf pan. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap, then tin foil. Store (uncooked) in the freezer for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bake as above.

If more than one meatloaf is desired, this recipe can easily be doubled. I do not recommend trying to make more than a double batch at a time, because it is too difficult to get it thoroughly mixed. I usually make three double batches in a row and get six disposable-loaf-pan-sized meatloaves. One box of Stove Top will provide enough stuffing for two meatloaves. I also recently discovered how much easier it is to mix this in a KitchenAid mixer than by hand.

If you prefer to make meatballs, form them into the desired size and freeze (uncooked) in a single layer on an oiled cookie sheet. Once they are frozen, package them into gallon sized freezer bags.

Alternatively, you can make the mixture, freeze it in gallon freezer bags, and decide on serving day what you want to make. I’ve even put a chunk of this mixture in the crockpot, and covered it with Ragu. I cooked it on low all day, stirred it several times, and ended up with a delicious meat sauce for spaghetti.

Happy Cooking!

Deb is a knitting, cooking, home schooling mom. Who is way cooler than that sounds. Really. She blogs about all sorts of random and sometimes even mildly interesting things at Not Inadequate.

If you are anything like me, life works out much better when it is scripted. “Then the LORD answered me and said: ‘Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it’.” (Habakkuk 2:20) I have found this scripture to be of great importance; reminding me to prayerfully write things down rather than trying to remember everything on my own. Because of the importance of staying organized as a stay-at-home homeschooling mother, using planners has been a wonderful and necessary tool in my life.

Does this describe you? If so, then I have the perfect resource to recommend you!

Recently I had the honor to review the eBook, Planner Perfect: A Fresh Idea on Organizing Your Life by Jenny Penton. The Planner Perfect is unlike any planner that I have ever used in the past. It is truly a breath of fresh air that I know will help me out with planning many wonderful thins to come in the new year. It is well written, well organized, keeps God at the center of your planning, and very simple to understand. The beautiful thing about Jenny’s eBook is that it teaches you how to become a master life planner, taking control of your own scheduling, rather than being held captive by your schedule.

The story behind the concept is absolutely heartwarming. Jenny has fashioned the planner around the influence of her precious Proverbs 31 mother and the example she modeled while Jenny was growing up. Rather than the typical “task manager” planning, the Planner Perfect is a place where you create your life and can dream up new things birthed in freedom, rather than being tied down by an impossible to-do-list.

One of my favorite things about the Planner Perfect approach to goal setting is the simple fact that it is more about dreaming and living life than about the legalistic aspect of making lists to “check” off. While lists do serve their purpose, the Planner Perfect gives you a whole new understanding about the importance of not overbooking yourself and family. This new “mindset” will help anyone who has been giving their calendar too much control in their life plans.

Some of the many wonderful topics this fabulous eBook covers are:

• creating a space of your own
• secrets to why we can’t stay organized
• the role of your calendar
• daily and monthly pages
• organizing and exploring your strengths and talents
• organizing your wardrobe
• party planning
• vacations
• emotional and physical health
• keeping your home clean
• meal planning
• holiday’s and special occasions
• aspiring for more

I would highly recommend purchasing this eBook if you want a fresh and exciting new start to your life planning. I love the way Jenny teaches us to become the master of our own life planning accompanied with living life, accomplishing goals, creating and accomplishing dreams, and above all else; living a life pleasing to God.

You can purchase Jenny Penton’s ebook here: Planner Perfect: A Fresh Idea on Organizing Your Life.

We have FIVE copies of Jenny’s planner to give away!  To enter, simply leave a comment on this post. The giveaway will remain open until Wednesday 2/8 at 10pm EST. If you are reading this on Facebook, please note that you must enter your comment on the original blog post on our website.

Carlie has been blissfully married to the love of her life, Michael, since June of 2000. She has been a stay-at-home homeschoolin’ mama to their 3 children since 2001. Carlie currently resides with her family in Germany courtesy of the US Army. You can read about her homeschooling adventures and Christian faith at her blog: So You Call Yourself A Homeschooler?

This year I took the plunged and “officially” started homeschooling my preschooler and my kindergartener. I planned to start in August but then we ended up having to move at the beginning of the month so that didn’t work out too well. Then I planned to start right after Labor Day. We did but soon after that my house was full of cooties which left at least one of us out of commission for about 3 weeks. Then right when we recovered from that my school work load was a bit overwhelming and we had to take a break so I could catch up and regain some of my sanity.

I am a planner. I have plans for everything, color coded calendars, weekly menu plans, etc. My plan for this year never seemed to work out. Half way through those first few months of homeschooling I fell out of love with my planner. It just wasn’t working for me anymore. And it was so sad because I had taken two weeks over the summer to plan out the entire year for both boys. It took a month but I found another planner that is working quite well for all of us (I may have to keep it around for a while).

Both of my boys are a little bit further ahead in skills than I originally thought they were. Actually my kindergartener is way ahead of me in the skills I wanted to work on. I’m constantly playing catch-up with him it seems. All my planning had been of little use during those first few months. So during our holiday break I decided to do something about it. I needed a new plan.

I realized that even though I had a plan I really hadn’t taken the time to figure out where I wanted to be by the end of the year. So I did. I looked at the work my boys had done so far. I looked the things they really enjoyed and the things that they didn’t like. I asked them what they wanted to learn about and do during school. I made a list of what I want them to learn and then I took it all to the Master Planner. After much prayer my plan was in place. And it’s a good one this time because I made sure to “do it right” this time around.

My new planner is filled with assignments, activities and field trips. My kindergartener has extra activities and lapbooks to go along with his assignments and he’s over the moon about it! My little guy isn’t doing any literature units this year because he doesn’t like them. He wants to learn his letter sounds and I’m okay with that. And mommy has thrown in some fun character lessons and activities and Bible verses for memorization.

As a newbie homeschooler it can be overwhelming to figure it all out. To know what’s going to work and what will not. It’s equally difficult to predict where your child(ren) will be at skill-wise. And as much as I love to plan I know that there will be many times when my plan falls completely apart. And that’s why this time I wrote in pencil!

LaToya Edwards is a homeschooling, single mom of two beautifully busy boys, one that has been diagnosed with SPD. She has a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Development, will soon have her law degree and aspires to run her own adoption agency in the future. She is a very busy woman, but wouldn’t have it any other way. She’s loves music, poetry and reading fiction stories. But mostly she just loves spending time with her boys. LaToya get real over at Christian Momma, where she blogs about the struggle and journey of being a single christian woman and mom.

I always think of January as the school year’s second “back to school.” Having two or three weeks off for Christmas break creates time for me to reflect on what’s working in our schoolroom and routine — and what’s not. It allows me to reorder supplies on which we’re running low, and come up with resources to help fill gaps within the curriculum that I discover during the first “semester.”

Those last few weeks in December and the first week or two in January is also a time I renew a lot of my commitments, make extended plans, and determine to get more organized….in homeschooling as well as in other areas. I begin to pull from resources I love as a homeschooling parents — things I wonder how I’d do without — realizing how blessed I am to have them at my disposal.

So here are my homeschooling essentials, in no certain order. Maybe there’s something in this list you have never considered or have never heard about — or maybe many of you can read this list and just nod in absolute agreement. Either way, here you go: Ten homeschooling helps I couldn’t go without:

My scanner
Our scanner isn’t fancy or state-of-the-art. It simply scans photos and documents — and doubles, for me, as a copy machine. (I scan documents and reproducible worksheets, transform them to PDFs, and email them to myself for printing.)

My personal laminating machine
I found this little gem on Amazon last year as one of their daily deals. For just a handful of dollars I can now custom make my own flash cards, write on/wipe off charts and worksheets, and preserve important papers or artwork for safekeeping.

Online support
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run to my favorite online homeschooling forum, The Homeschool Lounge, with a question or dilemma. Whether it’s about read-aloud book suggestions, curriculum confusion, or something pertaining to motivating and inspiring my kids, the helpful homeschooling parents on this site always have words of encouragement and sound advice to share. They have also given me a ton of helpful links and online resources to check out that I probably would not have found on my own. Field trip ideas, creative writing prompts, and even how to handle criticism — it’s all here. It helps me not feel so alone in my endeavors!

Rainbow Resource
It’s a nifty, all-inclusive website offering the best prices I’ve found on lots of curriculums, art supplies, books, educational aids, even toys. Their customer service is stellar — they’ve let me call and add on items to my order that I’d forgotten a day earlier — and their catalog is exhaustive. (You can shop online or request a free catalog by mail.)

Streaming ETV
Our state has its own streaming website for ETV (educational television) programs for all grade levels. Through our homeschool organization, I have a membership that allows us to watch as many videos and listen to as many audiobooks as we choose at no extra cost. We can watch full episodes of Reading Rainbow, Time Warp Trio, NOVA, and much more. Check with your local state’s ETV programming headquarters to see if something similar is available for your home classroom!

Pinterest
Maybe you’ve heard of it. It’s a visual way to collect and organize ideas from the web. And it’s awesome. You can “pin” things yourself to remember later, as well as browse pins on other folks’ boards. You can follow other people’s boards, too, so if you find someone who really knows their homeschooling/crafting/teaching links, grab on and keep up with them. Here’s my homeschooling classroom inspiration board and my educational activities and experiments board to give you an idea of what’s out there. I cannot remember life without Pinterest! *wink*

Audiobooks and e-books
We’ve used free audiobooks for downtime and e-books on the iPad and other devices to help build vocabulary, increase reading comprehension, and just entertain. The possibilities are endless! I love bringing multimedia into the classroom in such a rich way. The best part? It’s portable — we can learn anywhere, anytime!

Our local homeschool co-op
We joined one this past year and we’re slowly getting involved. As the kids get older I am seeing visions of how incredibly valuable this will be to us. Other parents are experts at other things — and they volunteer to teach other families’ kids once a week. There are also fun field trips planned, targeted group outings and adventures, charity volunteer opportunities, and seminars — not to mention accountability — all for a low yearly fee.

YouTube
Yes, this site can be scary. But use it the right way, with proper adult supervision and accurate search terms, and it can be a wealth of helpful multimedia for the classroom! We use it to learn songs to teach us the books of the Bible. We use it to look up videos about cultural festivals in other countries. We use it to bring life science alive. Our son uses it to find videos made by other kids who build and demonstrate new projects with his favorite educational toy, Snap Circuits. We use it to supplement nearly all subjects.

Full-backing and support from family and friends
No one can go it alone. I’m so grateful for a supportive husband who applauds my efforts and even helps me teach the topics I’m weak in on his day off. I have parents and in-laws who see the results of our homeschooling and are convinced we’re doing the right thing for our family. I have friends who are jumping in alongside us every single year — and it’s inspiring and edifying. I know many don’t have the luxury of having such strong support — and I know that what I am experiencing isn’t the norm…but I’m grateful that it’s my reality…and pray it can be for everyone else who feels called down this educational path.

What are your homeschooling essentials?

Meg Wilson is a devoted wife to her husband, Ken, of 10 years, and mom and homeschooling teacher to her 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. When she’s not writing or creating something, Meg loves to cook for, host and entertain friends and family. She also enjoys reading, the outdoors, eclectic music, yoga, and studying history. You can read all about her adventures (and misadventures) at her blog, Muses of Megret and read her product reviews at Electric City Academy.

Nothing seems to get me more in the mood for getting organized and clean than the New year! I am always eager to take the Christmas tree down, get fresh toys that had been ripped open from Christmas morning, a new home, and all the holiday decor, put back in the attic.

It’s time for a fresh start; new beginnings, and new plans…

New plans for our lives get us invigorated! Such as starting a new exercising routine, a new commitment to relationships, to love more, to be selfish less, to finally get to that dirty closet or get rid of things that we might have a ridiculous hold on, and to renew our relationship with God.

But how do we get started and where do we write all these new goals and dreams for the upcoming year? Well, we certainly don’t want to leave it all up to chance, hoping they get accomplished. We need to write them down; we need an action plan!

As Charles Stanley perfectly wrote in his book, Success God’s Way,

“It is not enough for you to daydream in your thought life about the things you’d like to have as goals. A goal must ultimately be a statement of intention.”

Isn’t this the truth?

I’m going to share with you a secret to how to be organized, be all God has created you to be, and living a life of purpose and joy…

It’s the Planner Perfect Method.

This method gets you dreaming! It gets you thinking. Not about all you have to do in life; but all you want to accomplish, do, see, and be! Amen?

How is it done? By writing down goals for you and your family every single month!

Really, it’s that easy…but don’t thank me just yet.

It actually does take some time to think about your life this way. It takes some work and some serious focus on what you want your life to be for you and your family. We are always in the mode of following our tasks, activities, and chores; not our own dreams. Especially us, moms, we tend to put everyone and everything before us. But once you get to thinking about what you really want for your life, what you want to change, what you want in implement, how God want to use you to stretch yourself to be all you can be, it will become second nature; a blessing.

You will be more organized than ever before, you will thinking about and setting goals for all the learning opportunities and ideas you have for your children, your home will be clean and organized, you will actually start getting excited about things you want to do for yourself alongside your motherhood, and you will be living on purpose!

By breaking down goals for you and your family once a month, you are making these goals more manageable. More attainable! You will be focused more on your dreams and your life as a whole rather than your everyday tasks. You will be using the Planner Perfect Method and you will love it!

Jenny Penton is a homeschooling mother of seven children and loves the closeness that being home with them provides. Un-schooling is how they live and learn and she blogs about their learning experiences at Homeschoolingbelle.com. Jenny also has a passion for inspiring women to become master life planners and that includes menu planning. Check out her sites for life planning and her inspiring recipes on her food blog at plannerperfect.com and plannerperfectmeals.com

I’ve heard a few people say recently that they “don’t want to homeschool for the wrong reasons.”  I have trouble fully grasping that statement.  I mean really, what would be the wrong reasons to homeschool?  While I’m still racking my brain on this one, here are 15 right reasons to homeschool your children!

• The salvation of your children is important to you.  By homeschooling, your children will have the privilege of learning and growing in an atmosphere in which God is allowed!

• You care about your kids character.   It would be nice for them to actually know the meaning of the word {unlike a certain homeschool mom who is writing this article–that only learned this definition once she started homeschooling her own children…she’ll remain nameless.}

• You don’t want strangers teaching your child, let alone driving them on a big yellow bus.

• You understand that proper socialization does not occur in an age segregated/peer dependent environment.  Exposure to many age groups, in various configurations is true socialization.  Besides, who grows up and works with thirty 35-year olds–who all wear the same shoe brand?

• You want to enjoy the gift of time with your children.

• Choosing what and when your children learn certain subjects is important for you.  Want to teach your 8 year-old algebra, or your 12-year old needed a little more time to grasp a subject?

• Family values are vital to you, and you’d like your children to keep them!  Family ministry, meal times, giving, work ethic, compassion and mercy—these values raise up world changers!

• You believe that your child should have and enjoy childhood.  Reading a stack of books while laying on the trampoline, soaring on the tire swing, strollers full of baby dolls “doing school” beside your student; childhood doesn’t wait.  Sadly, many children in these days and times skip it all together.

• Your kids have unique desires and talents.  You want to hone their abilities and lead them to the path that God predestined for them. No cookie cutter academics or teaching only the test in homeschool.

• The world is your classroom and that formal education is just the beginning to life long learning!

• You desire your children to all grow in relationship with one another.  Siblings actually becoming each others best friends.  It’s beautiful.

• If you believe that God gave you these kids and you have to answer for your time as their parent.  Homeschooling is taking the high road.  Homeschooling is living out discipleship.

• Bullying, peer pressure, safe sex strategies, drug campaigns, and political propaganda are not lessons you need your 6-year old too learn.  And believe me, these are daily exposures outside of homeschool.

• You enjoy taking your children on stimulating outings like the orchestra, hiking, Creation Museum and more. Better yet, you call these activities just another day of homeschool.

• Modeling how to handle real life difficulties and disappointments, like if your van breaks down late at night, from a Godly preservative is important to you.

What are more RIGHT reasons that YOU would like to add?

Jamerrill Stewart is the daughter of the King, and wife to Travis of 13 years. They have five beautiful children so far, ages 6 months, 2, 5, 8, & 11. By dawn of the morning, she works out the joys, struggles, blessings and challenges while authoring Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling. When she’s not lost in a wonderful book with her children, taking them on a travel adventure or catching frogs by their pond, she likes to garden, write and collect stained glass windows.

What’s For Dinner? Part One

Well, ladies – it’s January once again. If you are like me, you spent the end of December making cookies, eating too much sugar, and procrastinating putting together a school schedule. Now it’s time to get back in the swing of things, and return to the endless juggling of school, laundry, and cooking.

I know it’s a personal shortcoming of mine, but I can’t face making dinner every. single. night. An hour of cooking and hour of cleaning is just not my idea of a good time. Eating out is not a good solution, because Hi, I’m a tightwad, and it’s not exactly healthy. So every three months, I spend a week or two in a cooking frenzy and make a bunch of meals for the freezer.

From a financial standpoint, I have discovered that living this way has saved me a lot of money. I got sick of buying meat on sale, sticking it in the freezer, and throwing it away 6 months later because it morphed into an unidentifiable gray lump. Now I never put anything in the freezer unless it’s cooked or prepped for cooking. Grabbing dinner out of the freezer saves time, money, and gives me more time with my family.

My typical goal is to stock the freezer with 60 meals. That will give me dinner five nights a week, for three months. Even when I don’t even think about dinner until 4 o’clock in the afternoon (it’s not just me, is it?), I can still provide my family with a healthy, home-cooked meal.

I am not talking about cooking a 20 pound turkey and assembling a bunch of dry, flavorless, TV dinners. I am only interested in making meals that taste as good out of the freezer as they do when they are made fresh. It’s a lot of work, after all. I’m not trying to waste a bunch of time and money on something no one wants to eat.

The freezer is probably the most indispensable tool in my meal planning arsenal.

The Plan Before the Plan
It’s a good idea to start fairly small. A great first goal would be twenty or thirty meals. There are several decisions that need to be made before you can get to cooking. Decide how many meals a week you want to be able to grab from your freezer – three days a week? Five days a week? Figure out how often you can rotate your recipes. Will your family eat spaghetti once a week or once a month? The questions of how often you want to eat from the freezer and how often you rotate specific meals have to be answered simultaneously. A decent variety of food is important, or your family will stage a mutiny. On the other hand, the whole point of freezer cooking is to be more efficient in the kitchen and make several meals at once.

Deciding what to cook is obviously very subjective. Only you know your family and your lifestyle. Start by making a list of main dishes that you already eat and your family likes. If you come up with 10 options, you’ll be in great shape. Many of the recipes in your current repertoire probably freeze well, and you can dive right in, cooking larger quantities of food you already know.

For the sake of this discussion, let’s say you want to eat from the freezer five days a week for a month. That means you need to get 20 servings in the freezer (by “serving” I mean enough food to feed your whole family a meal – i.e. one pan of lasagna = one serving). Look at your meal idea list and identify any food your family is willing to eat once a week. If your family eats tacos every Friday and lasagna every Sunday, you already know you need to assemble 4 lasagnas and brown a bunch of hamburger. Eight meals down, twelve to go. But now you realize that they are not willing to eat anything else that often. No problem, just calculate the remaining twelve meals on a once-every-ten-days basis.

Over the years, I’ve developed a big list of meal ideas and have collected an arsenal of cookbooks. Some things I make every time and other things I cook depending on the season. In the winter, we like soups and stews and things that are a nice and hot on a cold day. In the summer, I prep meats for grilling, or things that can go in the crock pot to cook without heating up the house. I try to balance recipes that are more work to assemble with recipes I can throw together with very little effort. I also try to provide a decent variety of food without having to buy ten thousand ingredients. I love finding those foods can be used in more than one way (like meatballs).

Over the next few months, I am going to be writing a series on Freezer Cooking. I will give you some of my favorite recipes, best tips, and planning suggestions. I am an avid and passionate freezer cook, and am happy to answer any questions you may have – either in the comments, or you can email me directly at deb@notinadequate.com.

If you want to get started right away, some of my favorite freezer cooking books are: Dream Dinners by Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna, Super Suppers by Judie Byrd, and Don’t Panic, Dinner’s in the Freezer. You will probably be able to find one or more at your local library.

Deb is a knitting, cooking, home schooling mom. Who is way cooler than that sounds. Really. She blogs about all sorts of random and sometimes even mildly interesting things at Not Inadequate.

December is my favorite month of the year because it includes my two favorite holidays: Jesus’ birthday and my birthday. I love the presents (giving as well as receiving), the wrapping, the sights, the sounds, the smells, the anticipation, the caroling, the baking, the planning, the partying—all of it. At least, December was my favorite month until I was diagnosed with two chronic illnesses that have left me overwhelmed and gasping for air with a regular schedule before even adding holiday duties. I hate that my favorite season has become a series of duties.

So, what’s a mom to do? Cancel Christmas? Not likely! Go full bore and pay a heavy health price in January? Not a good idea. How ’bout a balance that falls somewhere in the middle? The following measures can help us experience a more peaceful nativity.

Ten Steps to a dread-proof December, even with a chronic illness:

• Think about what really matters. What’s at the top of your list that you just can’t give up during the holidays?

• Make a list of the top five items on your what-really-matters list and brainstorm ways to make those happen this year.

• Let go of the rest. Yes, I know that’s the hardest part!

• Delegate everything possible. The cookies will be just as good if your 13-year-old makes them.

• Simplify the decorations, the baking, the gifts, and most of all your expectations.

• Be happy with what gets done and try not to focus on what’s left undone.

• Pace yourself. Don’t try to complete your entire list in one afternoon just because you start off feeling great.

• Take naps.

• Rest often.

• Remember the real reason for the season: Jesus. Nothing else really matters.

Now, all I have to do is follow my own advice, and I can return to enjoying my favorite season instead of dreading December!

Bethany LeBedz is a veteran homeschooler, professional editor, writer, and speaker. You can check out her business website at www.bethanylebedz.com. Bethany contributes regularly to Heart of the Matter Online, has a regular column in the Home School Enrichment magazine, and occasionally writes for other magazines, websites, and newsletters. She lives in North Carolina with her family and she enjoys music, reading, scrapbooking, sewing, genealogy, and keeping up with friends in her spare time. Be sure to follow her blog, Confessions of an Organized Homeschool Mom, at www.bethanylebedz.blogspot.com.

Happy 2012! It’s the beginning of a new year. It’s a great time to refocus on properly caring for yourself so you can be the best wife, mom, and homeschool teacher you can be!

Refocus your mornings

Those cold winter mornings making you want to hide in your warm bed? Depression and winter blahs making you want to oversleep? Determine what your ideal wake-up time is and take baby steps towards it. Try waking up 15 minutes earlier each day or week until you reach your goal. Then once you are up use your mornings wisely. Bible study. Exercise. Preparing for your day ahead. And when those little ones get up early and blow the plan out of the water, rejoice in the time you have for cuddles and snuggles without beating yourself up or focusing on what isn’t being accomplished.

Refocus your health

Have you set the typical lose weight resolution this year? Let’s focus instead on being healthy. Cut back on refined sugars and grains. Watch your portion sizes. Get active with your kids. Find an activity that you like doing so you won’t get burnt out on the idea of exercising and change it up as needed. Been putting off that yearly physical for way too long? Make that appointment today!

Refocus your heart

Been neglecting your own spiritual life lately? Putting more out than you’ve been taking in? Find a good Bible study or book to go through. As a mom of young boys and family of one car, I find that I’m not able to get out as often as I’d like. But, that doesn’t mean that I have to hide in my house alone. I’ve chosen to spend the next three months going through Ephesians with some online friends. Find some women you can connect with and support each other – in real life and/or online.

Refocus your family

Has your family been running too fast? Does something need to be cut out to make more time together? Maybe you need to cut an outside class or sport. Maybe you need to set a goal number of nights a week to eat dinner together. Try starting a family game or movie night. My family loves movies. They love our weekly pizza and movie night, even if it does have to be gluten-free and cheese-less pizza.

I’m praying that God gives you clarity as you refocus and jump into 2012!

Amanda is a former church communications director turned homeschooling mom. She’s now using her BA in Bible and MA in Old Testament Studies to nurture and disciple her two boys with the help and support of her high school sweetheart and husband, Josh. She’s venturing into the world of Kindergarten with her oldest son this year using Sonlight as her base curriculum. She blogs about life, motherhood, homeschooling, technology, faith, books, and more at ThePelsers.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @apelser.

With Christmas behind us you might be inclined to think I’m turning my mind toward diving back into homeschooling and our normal life. However, this year, that is not meant to be. This year we are moving to a new house and my days are consumed with packing up the contents of our old home. Normalcy is not to be mine.

In the past 15 years, our family has moved a total of 10 times and I have finally learned the secret to taming the chaos that ensues every time our lives meet upheaval. It is what I call The Abnormal Schedule.

When life resembles nothing of your normal routine, you don’t have to just throw in the towel and let your day happen to you. You can create peace amidst the chaos simply by giving the entire household a simple and relaxed daily outline.

Last year, when we were unpacking from our 9th move, my abnormal schedule looked something like this:

• 8 am – Wake Up
• 8:30 am – Breakfast
• 9 am – Unpack 1 box
• 9:30 am – Play Time
• 11 am – Tidy Up & Chores
• 12 pm – Lunch
• 1 pm – Play Time
• 2 pm – Reading/Rest Time
• 3 pm – Outside Time/Games
• 4 pm – Clean Up & Chores
• 4:30 pm – Computer/Movies
• 6 pm – Supper
• 7 pm – Free Time
• 8 pm – Bible Time
• 9 pm – Bed Time

Most assuredly you will notice precisely what my children noticed first…lots of Play Time! During transitional times in your family’s life, lots of play time for the children is going to happen naturally. When you schedule it in amongst other events, you make for a more productive-feeling day.

So, how do you go about making an Abnormal Schedule that works for you?

*Have a set time for waking up. This lends itself to stability; something hard to find during chaotic times. Also, give the children a few set morning chores to get the morning started right.

*Brainstorm the most needed chores. Get the children involved and stop trying to do it all yourself. {Find age appropriate chores lists here}

*Don’t let Play Time be a free for all. It will only add to the chaos if the children make massive messes and spend their time screaming and hollering. Have some ground rules in place and do your best to enforce them.

*Rest Time is a must. This may perhaps be more for your benefit than for the children’s, but cherish that Rest Time and use it to its full advantage to refresh and rejuvenate you.

*Computers and movies can be wonderful tools. You don’t have to let the children fritter their entire day away glued to a screen, but we can all acknowledge the great help this distraction can be when mom needs to concentrate her energies elsewhere. Let moderation and discernment be your guide.

*Don’t skip Bible Time! Even when nothing else in your family’s life is constant, God is. Show your children how important this Truth is, by bathing your family in the Word every day.

*And finally, create a simple Bed Time routine. Often when chaos strikes, bed time becomes erratic. However, now more than ever, you are going to need some down time in the evenings. Set a bed time, create a simple routine around that bed time, take your down time, and then get yourself to bed! And please don’t forget your husband in all of this!

Eventually, you will move away from this abnormal schedule as your life settles into a more firm routine. However, having an abnormal schedule in place during those days of chaos will give you the stability you need for as long as it takes to find normal again.

Amy Roberts is the homeschooling mother of 6 living children and one precious little girl named Emily being held in the Lord’s arms. Her days are filled with giggly girls, rambunctious boys, and sticky baby kisses. At night she writes about it all at Raising Arrows, a blog dedicated to homeschooling, large family living, and hope for grieving hearts. It is her deepest desire that out of the overflow of her heart, her mouth should speak…and her fingers type.