My Menu Planning

A few friends of mine have asked over the last weeks and months or even years if I do a menu plan or how I do grocery shopping and menu planning. I just made up my grocery list and menu plan for the week and thought I’d just write it down here just to give you an idea of what our meals look like and what my weekly menu plans look like. I try to go to the grocery store on Saturday afternoons when Eric is home and the kids are taking a nap. Today we are all going to go together though. Sometimes it’s a fun outing to all go together. 

So where do I get my recipes from to do my meal planning? I have 2 recipe boxes of collected recipes from various resources such as family, friends, cookbooks, library books, websites. I keep new recipe ideas in a folder on my desk. Usually, if I make a new recipe and we really like it, I transfer it to one of  my boxes - although I’m really behind on this at the moment! One box is mainly for dinner type items, appetizers, holiday, etc. The other is breakfast, breads, muffins, cookies, dessert, beverages and the like. I also have about 10 cookbooks and I use pinterest. I did not come by this quasi organization naturally and it is still a work in progress. It has taken me years to get to this point and I’ve tried lots of organizational methods. Mostly, I remember how my mom did/does it. My mom went shopping every Tuesday for as long as I can remember (and still did up until she turned 65 last year and has now switched to Wednesday because she can get a senior discount on Wed at her grocery store). She always makes a list and arranges it by aisles (I haven’t gotten that organized yet!) and does a kind of menu plan before hand, although she’s gotten more lax with it lately. I think she generally tries to have enough meat and veggies for the week and basic staples on hand so she can make whatever she wants. I do that a lot too! Also, lately, I’m all about the easiest and simplest recipes I can find that don’t require much prep or time.

So here's how I do it.  I plan for 4 or 5 meals and I try to have one each of chicken, fish, and beef each week plus an extra, usually chicken or sausage. And with all our meals I try to have some raw veggies on the table.  I usually have a super easy, quick meal for Monday and Wednesday because I’m doing all our laundry on Monday and prepping the house for our small group on Wednesdays. I usually cook my new or more involved recipes on Thursday - but they are still fairly quick and easy. On Friday’s we usually have pizza and Saturdays we either cook out burgers or something else. Sundays we have leftovers or something simple I can whip up with what we have like omelets or a quiche or soup or sandwiches or pancakes or we eat out with folks from church. Lately, I’ve tried to have either a freezer meal or a healthy frozen meal from the store on hand, or ingredients for spaghetti, etc  that I can throw together fast if I don’t feel like making what I have on the menu or our plans change and we are crunched for time, etc. Right now I have two bags of chicken stir fry from Trader Joe’s in the freezer and some jars of homemade soup for such an occasion. 

I usually just do a written out plan for dinner. We eat oatmeal and sausage 3-4 times a week for breakfast, with eggs and toast or yogurt and muffins thrown in between, pancakes or waffles or french toast on the weekends. For lunch, I try to do left overs, pulling out whatever is in the fridge, trying to use it all up or sandwiches with veggies and fruit.

So here’s my menu plan I made for this week.

Roasted Chicken - Easy!!! (probably Monday) - make broth with the chicken carcass and we’ll use the left over meat for a meal later in the week - I have several recipes for this in various places

 - left over sweet potatoes, mashed

 - Brussels sprouts

 - pears

Balsamic Glaze Salmon (probably Tuesday) - a recipe on pinterest I just found

 - roasted cauliflower

 - squash (we have a lot that we bought at the pumpkin farm!)

 - grapes

Crockpot Beef Stew with potatoes and carrots (probably Wednesday)- from my box - from allrecipes.com

- green beans (I’ll either roast, saute or boil them)

- salad

- apples

Crunchy Baked Chimichangas (chicken left over from roasted chicken) (probably Thursday) - from my box from Family Feast for $75 a Week (Ha! In my dreams!!!)

- southwest pumpkin soup

- salad

- oranges

Preschool Curriculum and Resources

Last year I "homeschooled" Wesley for Preschool. He called it "tivity" time - his version of "activity time" - which is what I called "school." I put it in quotation marks because it didn't seem like school at all. Just part of helping him learn and grow as a child with a little direction and organization.  He loved it and I had a lot of fun. Our activity time was very laid back. Sometimes we spent only a few minutes and sometimes over an hour and we didn't do it everyday. Many people have asked me what we did and the books we used so I thought I would just compile it all in a blog entry. I've done countless hours of reading and research (and I really love it!). I hope this takes the load off of you so you don't have to do it (unless you really love it too!)

First of all, to really understand why I chose the books and resources I did, you should check out my Preschool Education philosophy. It really did/does guide how I think about what to include in my curriculum.

God’s Little Explorers (motherhoodonadime.com) was our PK4 base. It is a simple 28 week curriculum that centers on chronological Bible stories matched with a letter and topic that begins with that word (for Q we read about the manna and the quail in the dessert with Moses and learned about quails and other birds). It also included simple math concepts and other subjects thrown in here and there. as well as a memory verse, songs, and lots of extras for each week. And best of all, it’s free! Or you can get even more and pay $15. We did the free version and loved it. I didn't focus on writing very much, just familiarity with the name of the capital letters and a bit with the sounds. There were many activities you could do each day but I only picked two or three at most.

In addition to this curriculum I added some other resources. Here's a short summary. At the beginning of each week, I read from The A-Z Picture Book on the page that represented the letter for the week. On other days of the week, I read stories that represented that letter,  and read the Bible story suggested from the curriculum and the activities that went along with it.  We also did a coloring page for the bible story. I tried to find science concepts that matched the letters, like animals that started with the letter, etc.  Also, I read from A Year at Maple Hill Farm at the start of each new month and we read poems that were about things that started with the letter of the week. We did holiday themes and lap books occasionally too. Sometimes we did Before Five in a Row books and activities. I threw in simple art projects here and there too. We also talked about the calendar and the seasons - but not consistently. We played card games often to encourage number recognition and some other math concepts - like War (a very slow version!), Crazy 8s, Go Fish, Uno and matching games. I made up a few other card games and little dice games too. Of course, Pinterest has a ridiculous amount of anything you want to find! I learned quickly though that much of the activities on Pinterest take too much time and resources to put together and that simple is always better, and honestly most of those kinds of things can be taught just through natural living and learning like colors, shapes, numbers, counting, etc. We also went on nature walks and watched youtube videos that went along with whatever peaked their interests or went along with what we were "studying."

I know this sounds like a lot, especially when you look at the other lists of books below but again, as I said before, I didn't spend more than an average of 30 minutes of concentrated time a day on this! I was able to do all of this by reading poems and rhymes and watching at snack times. I read to them before nap/rest time every day and before bed every night and sometimes at other times of the day here and there. Also, my boys love to listen to stories on cd. They listen to one each night when we turn out their light.

Other Teacher Resources/Student Workbooks

The Three Rs - Ruth Beechick - excellent resource for teaching in a natural way

Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready (for birth through age 4, I liked it especially for 2’s and 3’s)

Before Five in a Row - Jane Claire Lambert

Alphabet Art - Judy Press

Rod and Staff workbooks set 1 ( for 3-4), set (for 4-6) A-L (milestonebooks.com)

Explode the Code Books A,B,C (if ready for it - 4’s or 5’s) We didn’t start this until Kindergarten this year with Wes, but David might be ready for it next year in PreK4. It is excellent!

Count on Math (4’s and up) or Math Play (3-6)

5-10 Minute Science Activities for Young Learners (I didn't have this book at the time but I would have used it if I had known about it).

Read Aloud Books We Used Often

Animals, Animals by Eric Carle (Poems about animals with Carle's beautiful illustrations)

Tomie DePaola’s Favorite Nursery Tales - Tomie DePaola (I've looked at a TON of nursery tale books - most of them have very dark tales that I don't think 3-6 year olds are ready for or should even be exposed to - strong words, I know! This book does a good job of including only stories that don't have that dark element to them, or at least retells them in a way that takes most of the darkness out.)

Read Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young

A Year at Maple Hill Farm - Provensen (I love their books - beautiful illustrations!)

What Do People Do All Day? and other Richard Scarry books

The A-Z Picture Book - Gyo Fugikawa (there are a couple of kind of scary pictures in this book but they didn’t seem to bother my boys)

Let’s Read and Find Out About Science Series Level 1 - I love this science series, many titles!

Henry Pluckrose books for math concepts - shapes, lines, length, etc.

Other Books We Love

Friends at Maple Hill Farm  - Provensen

Oh, What a Busy Day! - Gyo Fugikawa (her books are beautiful! I now own 7 of her books!)
Bear Snores On - Karma Wilson (and many others)

Madeline - Ludwig Bemelmens

Haircuts for Woolseys - Tomie DePaola (and many more)

Make Way for Ducklings - Robert Mccloskey

Blueberries for Sal - Robert McCloskey

A House is a House for Me - Mary Ann Hoberman

Rosie’s Walk; The Wind Blew; Good Night Owl - Pat Hutchins

Ferdinand - Munroe Leaf

Over in the Meadow -  John Longstaff

Snowy Day and others - Ezra Jack Keats

The Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrice Potter (and many others)

The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit - Emma Thompson

Owl Moon - Jane Yolen

Jobs Around Town - Jan Berenstain

My First Little House books series

The Story of Ping; Angus Lost - Marjorie Flack

Corduroy - Don Freeman

A House for Hermit Crab; Walter the Baker; The Mixed Up Chamelion; The Grouchy Ladybug; The Very Busy Spider; The Very Hungry Caterpillar; The Very Quiet Cricket; 123 to the Zoo; Head to Toe: Pancakes, Pancakes - Eric Carle

Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak

Caps for Sale - Esphyr Slobodkina

Lyle the Crocodile - Bernard Weber

Harry the Dirty Dog - Gene Zion

Feathers For Lunch - Lois Ehlers

Little Bear - Else Holmelund Minarik

Frog and Toad (all); Grasshopper on the Road; Owl at Home - Arnold Lobel

The Little Engine that Could - Watty Piper

Katy No-Pocket - Emmy Payne

Tikki Tikki Tembo - Arlene Mosel

The Little House; Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel; Choo-Choo - Virginia Lee Burton

The Giant Jam Sandwich - John Vernon Lord

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen

Go Dogs Go - P.D. Eastman

Ten Apples Up on Top - Theo LeSieg

Green Eggs and Ham; One Fish, Two Fish; Hop on Pop - Dr. Seuss

Amos and Boris - William Steig

The Fox Went out on a Chilly Night - Peter Spier

The Quilt Story - Tony Johnston

Wait Till the Moon is Full - Margaret Wise Brown (and many others we love)

Goodnight Little Bear - Richard Scarry

Scuffy the Tugboat - Gertrude Crampton

The Jolly Barnyard - Annie North Bedford

Apple Farmer Annie - Monica Wellington
Ox Cart Man - Donald Hall
Angus Lost; The Story About Ping; Ask Mr. Bear - Marjorie Flack
Harry the Dirty Dog - Gene Zion
Trainstop - Barbara Lehman

Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
Danny Meadow Mouse - Thornton Burgess (and many others!)

Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Other Resources (Some we have, some we don’t)

Elizabeth Mitchell Music (the Woodie Guthrie remake is great!)

Songs for Saplings (and others) Dana Dirkson

Wee Sing Children’s Songs and Fingerplays - a big hit!

Wee Sing ABC
100 Bible Stories and Songs
Birds, Beasts, Bugs and Fishes Little and Big Animal Folk Songs - Pete Seager
Classical Baby HBO DVD Series
Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD
I Spy Shapes in Art; I Spy Colors in Art, etc.

Smithsonian Backyard Series

Preschool Busy Book (didn’t have this one but checked it out from the library)

Other Good Authors for 3’s and 4’s (and there are many more!)

Cynthia Rylant

Kevin Henkes

Lois Lenski

Leo Lionni
Tony Mitton

Patricia Machlachlan

Bill Martin

Patricia Polocco

Marjorie Priceman

Eloise Wilkins

Vera Williams

Denise Fleming

Lucy Cousins

Eve Bunting

Jan Bret

Donald Crews

Ruth Krauss

Bill Barton

Audrey Wood

Jim Arnosky