A homeschooling mom’s guide to balancing homeschooling and family meals
This past year we started our homeschooling journey. It’s been such a fun adventure for our family and we also took time to adjust being together all the time and changing our old public school routines around. Homeschooling has given us time back as a family. We spend most of our days together learning, living and connecting. It’s a beautiful season filled with sweet moments. But it can also be a juggling act, especially when it comes to meal planning and it’s taken some major adjusting to get a healthy dinner together on time.
As a mom balancing lessons, homeschool co-op management, normal daily home-keeping tasks and all the day-to-day momlife/wifelife things, it’s crucial to have a collection of quick and easy dinner recipes that the whole family will enjoy.
This collection of recipes can be the catalyst to keeping your meal planning easy, quick and effective. Make life easier for yourself by planning your meals a week, two weeks or a month at a time. I’ll be sharing my meal planning method here soon!
With a little creativity, you can make mealtime an enjoyable experience that supports both your family’s health and connections.
Meal planning is a busy mom’s saving grace.
Have you ever been so exhausted at the end of the day and realize that you forgot to even think about dinner for your family? Yeah–I’ve been there too. It’s an awful sinking feeling and before you know it you’re making an excuse to get take-out or go out to eat. That can be a habit that catches on quickly and can take over your family life.
I was once that mom. Frantic, forgetful and then it became a habit of excuses to not cook because take-out was easier. But the downside of that chaotic life and the take-out habit, was that it was always more expensive and always made me feel gross and bloated afterward. It’s not healthy or ideal and I try to avoid it if I can.
We’re not perfect and we still have moments where we eat out 2-3 times a day-especially if we’re traveling. BUT if I can control our meals, I try really hard to keep them as healthy as possible.
I still have moments, occasionally, where I throw my hands up at the end of a long day and decide I am not going to cook and we can have tums for dessert! (Then I regret it.)
Now that I have a set collection of recipes, my meal planning each week gets easier and easier. It took years of frustration, denial, bad habits and guilt for me to get to this place in my life. But now more than ever, I want to feed my family well and make dinner an intentional time of the day that we gather as a family.
Quick and Healthy Dinner Ideas
Consider incorporating wholesome ingredients into meals that are simple to prepare.
When I was growing up, my mom always had a protein, a starch and at least one vegetable if not two.
This has carried on into my own motherhood journey and it’s a great foundation for weekly meal planning.
I often refer back to my own childhood meals that I loved and I recreate them for my family, or at least some version of them. The best thing is that my family enjoys those tried & true meals too.
One of my go-to dinner ideas is a one-pot roasted chicken that I turn into Chicken Noodle Soup. It’s easy to cook in just a few hours in the oven and it is loaded with nutrients. Our kids LOVE this as a meal and beg for it often. You can find the recipe here.
Additionally, using recipes that feature seasonal ingredients not only enhances flavors but also supports local homesteading practices. We have a garden this year finally and we are so excited to be using our veggies and herbs soon. Creating a vegetable garden can teach kids about sustainability, making it a fun and educational experience.
Here are our Top 10 favorite dinner recipes:
- Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
- Creamy Sausage Rotini Pasta
- Crockpot Chicken Queso Tacos
- Southern Pot Roast
- Birria Quesadillas/Tacos
- King Ranch Chicken Casserole
- Cowboy Cornbread Casserole
- Creamy Beef & Noodles
- Taco Soup
- Chicken Noodle Soup
All of these recipes will be on the blog soon!
We recently had Creole Smothered Pork and it will be going on our monthly rotation now too!
Faith and Family: The Heart of Our Dinner Table
As a Christian mom, I find that mealtimes are an opportunity to foster conversations about faith and family values.
Sharing a blessing before meals invites a moment of gratitude for God and each other, strengthening our bond. Our prayer lives individually and as a family have improved significantly. We’ve practiced prayer for years, but recently the kids have really come into their own prayer methods before meals. In the past we recited a traditional prayer that the kids learned in the preschool over 5 years ago.
Now we have started having more in depth prayers before our meals and it is precious to hear where our kids hearts are each night.
Dinner is our intentional and sacred family time.
Dinner time is about gathering together as a family to connect with each other’s hearts and minds. As a family, we are striving to work and live together as a team and we often talk about plans we have coming up and things we’re grateful for.
I also love making our dinner time cozy and warm. I’m typically diffusing essential oils all day and that sets a comfortable tone for our home. I also love decorating our home when I can and creating a pretty and homey space where everyone feels safe.
Check out my favorite home decor for our dining room to create that cozy space for our family.
When I became a mom, I knew I wanted to cook with my kids one day.
Yet, it’s honestly been a hard thing for me to do. Their little faces would always be stove-level and it scared me. I feel very cramped and like I’m running over them as I’m cooking. But, they’re all getting older now. Lexi can now see into pots on the stove and the boys are almost my height now.
I’ve been trying to give myself and my kids grace by having them do certain tasks that helps me with dinner. This way they are included, they feel like they have a purpose and they’re learning to help and cook.
My husband, Brian, loves cooking with me too. So to have all 5 of us in the kitchen–things get tight, toes get stepped on (hard I might add) and elbows are smacking into bodies left and right. It’s like our own WWE family style in the kitchen. Someone is always getting hurt ha!
However, I’ve learned that if each kid has a job to help with dinner, everything functions better. One kid can be stirring things, the other is making tea, another is cleaning up the table and getting drinks. We all play a role to make our dinner time flow better.
By involving your kids in meal preparation, you also instill important life skills and values related to teamwork and respect.
So, my friends, gather your family around the table to share stories, laughter, and delicious creations together!
