Our HOMESCHOOL PLANS for April!

I am really excited for April! April is one of my favorite months, because it's my wedding anniversary and the true beginning of spring! I am excited to get outside with the kids more and also have them spend some time outside playing independently. I love the warm weather! 

Monday, March 29

I am including the last week of March because I want to replan this. I had not realized how soon Easter was in April when I planned March and I would like to do some holiday themed activities leading up to Easter Sunday. 

On Monday, I want to do a fizzing egg experiment, where I use plastic eggs and open them up, put some baking soda inside the eggs with matching food coloring, and drop vinegar in. This is one of the kids' favorite things to do and is really easy for me, so it's a perfect activity. 

Tuesday, March 30 

Today, I want to make some Jelly Bean structures using Jelly Beans and toothpicks. I think all the girls will like it, but I know Ashtyn will love it. We might end up doing this in the afternoon or after dinner, because it is also Take a Walk in the Park Day and if it's warm enough, I'm hoping to go to the park. 

Wednesday, March 31 

This day, I am planning on having some paper eggs ready for the kids to put stickers on and decorate. I love activities like this, because they are great for a wide range of ages. Rylee can stick the stickers on however, while Ashtyn can make it harder by making a pattern. 

Thursday, April 1 

The last homeschool day before Easter, I want to have the kids paint with plastic Easter eggs. Paint is always a mess, but this is a low prep activity that will only require the clean up. If it's warm enough, we'll take it outside (my favorite place to have the kids paint!). 

Monday, April 5

This is National Caramel Day, so I thought we could make some homemade caramels together. I have a really yummy recipe that is a little healthier I can use. 

Tuesday, April 6 

Today, I wanted to try learning letters with playdoh. This is a fun idea to use Legos to make marks in the playdoh in the shape of letters. I've been doing different letter activities with Parker because she wants to learn her letters (she really wants to read and she knows this is the first step) and I've been trying to get out our playdoh at least once a month. The kids love it. 

After we do the activity, the kids can keep playing with the playdoh if they (I already know they will). 

Wednesday, April 7 

Today, we're going to do a number scavenger hunt. You have a list, starting with one item (find 1 teddy bear) and move up to 10 (find ten crayons). The kids love scavenger hunts and this one sounds really fun and easy.

Thursday, April 8

Today we're going to learn about the next US state on our list. I have a coloring page and a flashcard for each state and we're learning about one or two a month. We're also learning the Fifty Nifty States song.

 Monday, April 12

Today we're going to make a cute craft that I think Ashtyn will especially like, a flashlight under the sea. You draw the sea creatures on a Ziploc bag, then put a black paper inside the bag. You make the flashlight out of white paper and it creates the illusion of a light shining on the sea creatures. 

Tuesday, April 13

Today we're going to do a science experiment--a raining sponge. It creates a rainstorm in a jar. I had planned to do this last month, but didn't end up getting to it. 

Wednesday, April 14 

Today, as long as it's warm enough, we're going to make an obstacle course outside with chalk. The kids will have fun helping me make it and then doing it. 

Thursday, April 15 

On this day, as long as the weather is warm enough, we're going to go in our backyard and do some mud painting. This looks really fun and while they'll need to be washed off afterwards, the activity itself will be low key since we'll be doing it outside. 

Monday, April 19 

Today, we're going to learn about another state. The two states to learn about in April are Arizona and Arkansas. 

Tuesday, April 20 

Today will be Ben and my eighth anniversary! We will be taking the day off of school (and hopefully have the kids spend the night somewhere else!). 

Wednesday, April 21

This day is Astronomy Day. Ashtyn loves astronomy, so I thought we'd do a couple activities. One thing she loves to do (we've done it in the past) is make constellations out of marshmallows and toothpicks. There are also a couple different solar systems we could make, like going outside and drawing it with chalk or making the planets out of Legos. Ashtyn would love both of those. 

There are also a couple books from the library I want to get and we will watch some SciShow Kids episodes on YouTube about the solar system. This means Ashtyn will probably want to make the earth and it's different layers out of playdoh, since they do that in one of the videos. 

Thursday, April 22

And Earth Day! I have a couple activities that might be fun for today too. One of them is a torn paper craft, where they tear up green and blue paper and then glue the paper onto a template of Earth. The other is a scavenger hunt for "Earth" things like rocks and dirt. 

I really like the Barnie episode that is about Earth Day too, so we'll probably watch that sometime. I also like to make "dirt cups" for the kids. It's a fun thing that they like and is pretty easy to do.  

Monday, April 26

This is going to be another playdoh day! I buy playdoh sometimes, but I really like making our own. It's easy and I don't worry if Rylee decides to eat it. I started this when she was a lot younger and she doesn't do it a lot now, but I'm sold on how cheap and easy the recipe is now. 

Tuesday, April 27

Today is Tell a Story Day and I want to run with that. The girls love telling stories and it's something that Ben and I have been actively working to help them love (similar to how we are actively working on helping them love reading). I thought today I would keep it simple and buy a little notebook for each girl from the dollar store. I will have them dictate a story for me to write down for them and then let them draw pictures behind it that represent the story. 

If there is room after that, we can do more stories another time together. 

Wednesday, April 28

This is National Super Hero Day! Our kids love superheroes. I found a cute printable on Pinterest where the kids can build their own super hero from paper. 

Thursday, April 29

This is International Dance Day and I thought it might be fun to do a little dance lesson together. We could watch some different folk dances on YouTube, which Parker especially will like. 

Friday, April 30 

I don't normally do activities on Fridays (we do chores as our "activity" for the day), but it is International Jazz Day and I thought it would be fun to listen to some Jazz. I'm going to ask my brother-in-law, who has done some Jazz piano in the past, for some recommendations on YouTube. 

*The first day of May, a Saturday, is Mother Goose Day, and I want to remember because I think it would be fun to do some things to celebrate that. Besides reading nursery rhymes, we can do some coloring pages and maybe some puppet shows. 

So those are my plans for the month! We don't ever seem to get to everything, but planning like this helps me do more with the kids and we do end up doing a lot of the activities. I'm excited for all the fun things this month will bring! 

How I Meal Plan

 Today I thought I would just share the way that I meal plan right now. I've tried a lot of different systems over the years and this is the one that has worked the best for me so far. 

I have printed off some physical copies of each month of the year, each month on a different piece of paper. Each week, I spend time planning my week over the weekend. Before a new month starts, I sit down with my calendar and plan out meals for a month ahead. 

I keep track of some "fun" holidays, like Chocolate Cake Day, so I always look over those holidays in case there are some I want to theme my meals around, as well as actual holidays (ie Easter) or trips we have planned. 

Once I have special occasions down, I start filling in the rest of the days. I always plan leftovers for Saturdays and an easier meal like soup or sandwiches for Monday (I go grocery shopping on Monday afternoons, so I don't have a lot of time/energy left for dinner). We do movie nights on Fridays and I like to do special meals then, like pizza, nachos, hamburgers, or breakfast for dinner. 

I try to have at least one other day with an easy meal, like a casserole or spaghetti. I also have at least on other day (sometimes two) where I plan leftovers, depending on what meals I make. I know I can get at least two meals out of spaghetti, where something like breakfast for dinner wouldn't leave leftovers. 

Once I have each day planned out, I go through and add them to my Google Calendar as tasks. The meals then pop up on my phone in the morning each day, so I can get meat out from the freezer or do any other prep I need to. It also helps so that if I want to look while I'm out or in bed, I can just check my phone. I keep the paper on the side of the fridge, so it's easy to see while I'm in the kitchen. 

During the month, I check the meals I have planned each week during my planning session. I can make any adjustments needed or wanted (especially if something doesn't sound good to me at the time, because that can be a big deal for me) and allows me to make sure I buy anything I need (especially fresh veggies) for the meals I have planned that week. 

It works for me most of the time. The only issue I have had with it is if that day it isn't something I want to eat and I have a hard time working up the motivation to make it. I have a list of easy, yummy meals to try to help combat that. Sometimes we just end up doing something like canned chili, sometimes I end up just making the original meal and dealing with it, and sometimes we end up buying something for dinner. 

I have really liked this system so far. I am a planner, so I like looking ahead. Looking a month ahead lets me get a big picture and easily see events to plan for, but checking it each weeks helps me to ensure the details don't fall through the cracks. I also love having it both on my phone and my fridge. 

How do you meal plan? What do you do when you are craving pizza or not wanting to make dinner? 

Our Daily Routine

 Our daily routine is constantly changing as we move into different seasons and times of life. Recently, we changed the flow of our days and have gotten back into a routine after being in survival mode, so I thought I'd put it down. 

Ben and I have been trying to go to sleep by 10:30 at night and wake up by 7:00 in the morning. I wake up and do scriptures and journal first. I also have been trying to read for a few minutes in a parenting book after reading in the Book of Mormon and I do my affirmations. 

At 7:10, Ben and I shower. I don't shower everyday, and on the days I don't shower, I put away our clothes while Ben showers. I love doing that because it gives me a definite time to put away the laundry, so it actually gets done. 

Around 7:30, I get the girls. They get dressed and then I help them get breakfast while I clear out the dishwasher and make myself eggs. I also slip a load of laundry in sometime in the morning. Then Ben and I do ten minutes of yoga. We try to be done with that by 8:30 so that Ben can get to work and I can write for thirty minutes. Writing is one of my top priorities each day. 

Around 9:00, I do the girls hair while we listen to children's songs on the Gospel Library app. Parker has been finding hair do's with me on Pinterest and wanting me to try them out on her. I'm not the best at hair, but I'm getting better out of necessity! 

By about 9:30, we start reading. We start with picture books (including whatever nonfiction picture books the kids picked out, recently it's been books about bugs). I also like to read out of the Friend with them. Then we read in our chapter book/s. Right now we're reading The Hobbit and The Boxcar Children. Then Ashtyn reads to me out of one her books. 

When we're done reading, we get a snack (sometimes we do that while we're reading) and go to the table to do Ashtyn's math and art lessons, letters with Parker and Rylee, and their journals. Then we do whatever activity I had planned for the day. 

I try to be really present with them during our homeschool time (9:00 to noon-ish), but I do take a minute once I settle them at the table to switch the laundry to the dryer and to start a loaf of bread in the bread machine if we're out of bread. 

Then we do lunch around noon. Ben comes out a little before that and goes down to jog. The girls love when he comes out and they can show him what they were doing for homeschool! 

After lunch, Ashtyn practices piano. She's still young enough that I go in with her and help her get through all of her songs. Ben is usually getting lunch around this time and helps keep an eye on the other two, though he often comes and helps Ashtyn with piano since he knows how to play and I don't. 

At 1:00, I go up and put Rylee down for her nap. When it's warm, the girls often go play outside. If it's cold, they find things to do inside. This is also when Ashtyn can play her DS if she wants to (now that her stuff is done). 

Rylee often sleeps until 3:30 or 4:00. I like to catch up on my ReaderTurnedWriter accounts and read in the afternoons, as well as recording, editing, and uploading videos for my YouTube channel when I can. I also have different things I do on different days of the week (more on that in a minute). 

Around 4:00, I usually start dinner. I like to have one of the girls help me if they aren't busily playing (I try not to interrupt them if they are playing well, even for starting homeschool, because I know that free play is the best thing they can be doing). 

We usually eat around 5:00 or 5:30. I do monthly meal planning now (maybe next week I'll do a blog post on that). The girls are usually in charge of moving all their craft stuff from the table to the counter as I'm making dinner. 

After dinner, we try to spend time as a family. We have made a list of activities that we can do together besides just turning on a show, especially for winter. It's been fun to spend more time together in that way, though it's a habit we're still working on. We also like to do a quick clean up as a family after dinner most days to help keep our house manageably clean. We'll turn on music and set a five minute timer while everyone cleans, or Ben and I will clean up while we let the girls pick 3 or 5 things to put away to help them not feel overwhelmed. 

At 7:45, we all sit down on the couches together to do family scripture. Ben and I take turns being the one to read. We do a prompt from Come Follow Me and then we read from The Book of Mormon a little (as long as we can with the kids; sometimes it's one verse, sometimes they want us to keep reading). Then we do family prayer and brush the kids teeth. 

We try to finish that by around 8:00 and get the kids upstairs to get on pajamas and get their beds ready. Then we all sit down on the couch in Parker's room and read together. Ben and I take turns reading. Right now, we've been reading a chapter out of The Princess in Black books with them each night. Then we sing a song and get them in bed. Sometimes the bedtime routine can feel exhausting, but I know it has so many benefits for our kids and we're teaching them to prioritize the things that are most important. 

After bedtime, Ben loads the dishwasher and then Ben and I get to spend time together. We usually have homemade ice cream and often watch a show or play in Stardew Valley. On Monday nights, we visit over Facebook chats with Melissa and on Tuesdays, we have writing group. Other than that, we just relax together. 

There are different things I do on different days. During naps on Mondays, I take the older girls grocery shopping and then they play while I put away groceries and work on my stuff. On Tuesdays, Ashtyn has her piano lessons at 1:00 and we usually get home from that around 2:00. On Wednesday evenings, I have Young Women's, so the girls have a "no mom party" with Ben. Fridays, we do movie night as a family and often Caleb, Hannah, and/or Dalin will come over while Danny and Lindi do their date night. 

I also have my cleaning broken up now. Grocery shopping Monday, cleaning the bathrooms on Tuesday, vacuum and sweep and mop on Wednesdays, a deep cleaning item on Thursdays, and helping the girls clean their bathroom and vacuum their rooms on Fridays. On Saturday, we take about twenty minutes before lunch to all clean together as a family (right now, we're focusing on our walls, because the girls went through a drawing-on-the-walls-phase recently). 

Saturdays are our day to relax. Often the girls watch a show in the morning while I read. Ben will do things with Ashtyn like chess or building video games. If it's warm, we like to do yardwork or hang out in our yard. In the afternoon or evening, Ben and I usually do our date night (sometimes we do date night on Thursday night instead). The girls can also play with friends on Friday and Saturday afternoons, which they really like. 

After Rylee's nap on Saturdays, we often go to Danny and Lindi's to break up the day. It's nicest when it's warm. When it's cold, we don't spend as much time there just because it is harder with the kids. When it's warm, we spend as much time there as possible because they have a nice yard and plenty of space for the kids to explore and play. Plus it's nice to spend time with them. Saturday evenings we do baths for the girls and wash their hair. 

Sundays are our busiest days. We have 9:00 church this year. Ben gets the girls on Sundays and makes breakfast to give me a break. With 9:00 church, I can only stay in bed until 8:00, but it's still nice. Then we get ready and go to church (sacrament only still right now). When we get home, I finish planning my day and writing my blog post. At 11:00, we have our classes over Zoom. Ben is in charge of Sunday school and I'm in Young Women's. They've also recently started doing Primary over Zoom after Sunday school.

Then we do lunch and during naps, Ben and I spend time together. I also usually work on starting dinner in the afternoons. At 3:00, we do a Zoom call with my mom and then we get together with Ben's family after Rylee's nap. We used to do a dinner rotation, but the amount of his family in Vernal is expanding, so we've recently moved to a dessert rotation, to give everyone a chance to get together and visit. 

And then we start the week all over again. I'm liking our routine, and even when we don't get it all in, it helps us to get the most important things done consistently. 

Our Valentine's Day and February Highlights!

 The month of February was a hard one, but we got through and things are looking at lot better now! It's even better that things with Covid are starting to look up, with a light at the end of the tunnel. We are very excited for things to be going back to normal in the next while. 

Our Valentine's Day was quiet but really nice. The night before, we had our Valentine's Day dinner. We made pink pancakes (some in the shape of a heart) and had dinner for breakfast. The girls and I made some Valentines leading up to the day, and Saturday night we all made Valentines together as a family for each other. Then we left them at each other's spots at the table for the next morning. 

These are the Valentine's we made to send to cousins and give to grandparents. The girls had so much fun tracing their hands, it was a simple activity for me, and Ben appreciated the lack of glitter this year. 

This was our Valentine's Dinner (on Valentine's Day, we had family over and ate Sweet and Sour Chicken, so we did this the night before). By the time I took the picture, the heart shaped ones were gone, but it was yummy!

To help the girls make Valentine's for each other and for Ben and I, I simply traced hearts onto a paper and let them color the hearts before helping them cut out the hearts. It was simple, but they loved it! 

This was Grandma Dee's Valentine's package for the girls. They especially loved the candy bracelets that they got! After opening hers, Parker ran around the house yelling and singing about how much she loves Grandma Dee. She told me, "I love candy, but I love Grandma Dee even more!"

This was from the primary. Rylee really enjoyed her candy from them! Our sweet neighbors also brought the girls some Valentines and cookies and Melissa and her kids and Cassie and her kids sent Valentines that I didn't get a picture of. We felt so loved! 

The girls loved their Valentines! I got them little hearts that had chocolates in them with the Valentines I'd made them. I got Ben jerky and nuts, since he doesn't eat candy and myself some Swedish fish that are sweetened with monk fruit instead of sugar. 

We survived the rest of the month, but also had some great moments. Here are our highlights!

Grandpa Danny got a snowmobile near the end of January, so before the snow melted at the beginning of February, he took all the kids for a ride. Parker and Ashtyn loved it! Rylee says she loved it too, but she got really scared. 

Since it was starting to warm up (30's instead of below freezing), we did a hot dog roast. We had told Ashtyn we could in January, but never did, so she was especially excited. 

Most of our time spent at Danny and Lindi's house was spent inside still. These are some random pieces of a toy collection that Ashtyn found and kept making different things out of. 

This is Ashtyn, playing her DS hiding under the blanket lol

Rylee went through a phase where she would take a long time to fall asleep for her nap, or wake up in the middle of her nap and then go back to sleep. I'd have to then wake her up so that she could go to bed, but she usually took awhile to wake up when I did. I loved the snuggles though! 

One of the biggest highlights of our month was when Caleb came home! Ben went with his parents to pick him up from the airport and was gone all day. With him gone, the girls and I spent the afternoon cleaning the house and then got pizza and had a picnic movie night together. 

The girls were SO excited to see Caleb again. They knew he was coming home, but he didn't get back until after they were in bed. The first thing Rylee asked when she woke up was, "Where is Uncle Caleb?" We had to break it to her that he was at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He did come over later that morning though, and Ashtyn got dressed up and did her hair special to see him.

We colored these maps as one of our homeschool activities. Ashtyn especially loved it. She had me look up things to do in each state before coloring it. Red meant she wanted to go there someday. Yellow meant she didn't want to go there. 

One thing we did in the evening together one time was bowling. I kept score and Ben was in charge of the cups. The girls then took turns rolling the ball to knock down the cups. The girls had a lot of fun with it and it's definitely something we'll do again in the future! 

This was the Friend to Friend that the church put on for the primary kids. I thought it was so well done and the kids loved it! Afterwards, Ashtyn decided she wanted to read the Book of Mormon herself and has started. Below, I shared Parker and Ashtyn's drawings from it. 

Parker didn't want to draw what they were drawing, so she drew a picture of Jesus. 

This is Ashtyn's drawing of herself praying. 

In a Princess in Black book, she fights a monster with a plunger. Since then, we've had a hard time keeping Parker and Rylee from getting our plungers out and "fighting" with them. 

We spent lots of time with Uncle Caleb! It's been so fun to see him so often! 

We also made Valentine's bookmarks. Parker especially loved making them, though Rylee has carried hers around calling them her cards. 

This is Ashtyn working on her math. And Rylee, doing what she usually does during homeschool! 

This is a picture Parker drew of Rylee. 

Ashtyn and Parker have been best buddies lately (when they're not fighting, of course!). They play Super Mario Bros together on Ashtyn's DS, play pretend, and play outside in the back when it's above 35. 

For Chocolate Covered Nut Day, we made homemade chocolate with cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and maple syrup. The girls helped me and then we covered almonds with it. It turned out so yummy! 

This was during a Sunday dinner one week. Navy and Rylee were "helping" Grandpa and they were adorable doing it! 

Ben has been teaching Ashtyn to play chess and she loves it. That board is a game she was playing against herself. When Ben teased her that she won, she excitedly told him she had, and then told him that she was both people. 

Parker has really been working on her letters. She puts in a lot of effort when drawing letters to make them look neat and the way she wants them to. 

We've been reading the Princess in Black books together at bedtime in Parker's room on a little couch and it's been fun, but easier. 

So there was our month of February! We are glad to be past the coldest part of winter and are looking forward to spring and summer!