Nothing particularly exciting is going on in our lives as of late, and I'm enjoying the day to day living for once. The biggest excitement for me is that we've reached the beginning of a new month and I get to start fresh with my monthly grocery budget...a consistent source of challenges.
If we could get by with buying generic, processed foods, groceries would be cheap. But with my honey's low-carb diet and my son's intolerances, that just isn't doable. I read a post recently on the unlikely homeschool blog about large family menu planning and budgeting. My family isn't nearly as large, but some of the tips helped! I started by copying another mom's rotating two-week menu plan that she uses to stay cheap on food. Most of it fit our family's eating habits, but she used so much of the same foods that I know my family would revolt after a couple rotations.
After brainstorming with my honey, I adjusted it to fit our needs/wants better and made it into a rotating 4-week menu plan. This is our first week using it, and I'm so far pleased with the cost for my first week's plan. It takes a lot of the stress off my shoulders having a plan already written so I can just buy the food for the meals on our list rather than coming up with something new every week. It will also help with budgeting to see how much each week will cost us and how much we spend on "extras"...having that more streamlined and tangible will help when my hubby and I discuss our spending habits in the future. It makes me feel good to have organized another chaotic area of life!
School days are going well, I'm very thankful that the Lord led me to be less specific in my planning. I made plans for routines and goals, but I didn't try to restrict our lives as much I usually do when I get lost in the romanticized world of organizing. We've made several small tweaks already that would have messed up any specific plans I might have made.
A perk of homeschooling is that I can adjust lessons and lesson plans to fit my kids' needs. However, it also requires me to be flexible and find ways to adjust to those changes too.
For example, the girls want to learn French this year. Through our Options program, I was able to check out a CD and Workbook curriculum. My oldest loves this method and is enjoying the process. My youngest gets bored just listening and following along so she doesn't pay attention. She's not learning much or enjoying it, so today, I downloaded the DuoLingo app on my phone for her to try and she loves it. Not only is it a 'screen' that she can see and touch, but it's "Mommy's Phone" -something she rarely gets to use! She is very excited about this new way to learn French.
I'm thankful to have found a free way to help her to enjoy learning and participate in French, but now I have to figure out the best way to incorporate the two different learning methods into our day...and I have to learn French both ways too because they aren't teaching the same words at the same time!
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