Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

  • Home
    • About
    • FAQs
  • Recipes
    • Bread and Breakfast
    • Condiments
    • Dairy
    • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes and Snacks
    • Desserts
    • Gluten Free
    • Instant Pot
    • Crock Pot
    • Heavenly Homemaker’s Weekly Menus
  • Homemaking
    • Real Food Sources
  • Store
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
  • Simple Meals
  • Club Members!

Simple Green Beans in the Air Fryer

December 20, 2020 by Laura 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I love how simple and tasty it is to make green beans in the air fryer!

Do you have an Air Fryer? If no, you might consider putting it on your Christmas wish-list. Here’s how I’ve found it to save a lot of money. Not to mention it turns out some super fun foods, making us feel like we’re eating a treat meal from a restaurant!

So green beans in the Air Fryer? Well, these are super healthy and our kids gobble them up because they’re so delicious. They take about two minutes to prepare, so you can’t go wrong there.

Simple Green Beans in the Air FryerYum

Simple Green Beans in the Air Fryer
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 12-ounces frozen fine green beans
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
Instructions
  1. Pour green beans into a bowl (or cheat by cutting open the bag of green beans to use it as a disposable bowl!)
  2. Add olive oil, salt, and garlic powder.
  3. Toss with a spoon or tongs to coat the green beans.
  4. Cook in your Air Fryer at 400 degrees for 7-10 minutes, tossing them half-way through cook time to make sure they are cooking evenly.
3.5.3251

These have an awesome crunch. And did you see that simple hack I shared in the recipe? I simply open a bag of frozen green beans and use the bag as a bowl! Drizzle in the olive oil, sprinkle in the seasonings, shake the bag, and pour the coated green beans into the air fryer. No dishes!! NO DISHES!!!! That is my favorite part, besides of course, the fact that we can make this awesome vegetable in the air fryer. Nourishing and fun all in one!

P.S. I have this Air Fryer and we’ve been very happy with it!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Simple Honey’d Italian Chicken and Potatoes

October 8, 2020 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

This Simple Honey’d Italian Chicken and Potatoes will take you just a few minutes to prep!

Our amazing across-the-street neighbors decided in the midst of April quarantine to start raising and butchering chickens. They generously asked if we wanted in on it.

Wellllllll. Yes. We wanted some chickens, most definitely. But we knew nothing about raising them and butchering them, and we didn’t have time to commit to it. They assured us that they’d take care of the hard part (which sounded more fun than hard to them). So how could we say no?!

We helped pay for feed and other supplies, saved all of our food scraps for the growing chicks, and best of all? Our littlest guys learned to stop whatever they were doing outside to holler “doodle-do!” across the street whenever their roosters started crowing. Cutest. Think. Ever.

So now we have several locally grown chickens in our freezer (can it possibly get more local than ACROSS THE STREET?!). They even went so far as to cut legs and thighs off for us during the butchering process.

I’ve been using the thighs in this Honey’d Italian Chicken recipe and not only is it incredibly simple to put this all together, but it is also super delicious! I can quickly slide this into the oven to bake, then steam a veggie and get out mixed greens to go with it. So easy!

Simple 4-Ingredient Honey’d Italian ChickenYum

Simple 4-Ingredient Honey'd Italian Chicken
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds boneless or bone-in chicken thighs or breasts
  • 2 pounds yellow or red potatoes
  • 3 Tablespoons honey
  • ¾ cup Italian Dressing
Instructions
  1. Place chicken in a baking dish.
  2. Scrub potatoes and cut them into wedges, placing them in the dish with the chicken.
  3. In a small saucepan, mix honey and Italian dressing over low heat until combined.
  4. Drizzle dressing mixture over the chicken.
  5. Bake, uncovered, in a 425 degree oven for 45 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.
3.5.3251

If you prefer to use boneless chicken in this recipe, cut the baking time down to 25-35 minutes.

If you like simple recipes like this, you will love our Simple Real Food Recipes Cookbook. These are my go-to recipes now!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Special (Easy) Breakfast: Chocolate Syrup on Pancakes

September 27, 2020 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

If you want to turn a regular breakfast into a special breakfast, simply pour chocolate syrup on your pancakes! Here are two chocolate sauce recipes for you (one is dairy-free and low in sugar!).

I have all sorts of recipes for you, actually.

  1. First, we’ll talk about pancakes.
  2. Then, I’ll give you these great chocolate sauce recipes.
  3. Then, I’ll share different homemade whipped cream recipes to top everything off!

What’s great about this idea is that it turns ordinary pancakes into something super special! And if you’re hesitant about putting chocolate sauce on your pancakes because of the sugar, might I remind you that maple syrup is straight sugar also (even if it’s pure maple syrup)? ;) Not only that, if you make the Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce recipe below you’ll actually have a lower-sugar option to pour (or spread) all over your pancakes!

Pancake Recipe Ideas:

  • Simple Pancake Mix Pancakes
  • Whole Wheat Pancakes
  • Peanut Butter Pancakes (with chocolate on top? YES PLEASE.)
  • Pumpkin Pancakes
  • Easy Whole Grain Chocolate Pancakes
  • Simple Banana Pancakes
  • Whole Wheat Applesauce Pancakes
  • Baked Apple Pancake
  • Easy Pancake Muffins
  • Whole Wheat Waffles (even better than pancakes!)

Chocolate Syrup for PancakesYum

Hot Fudge Sauce

Chocolate Fudge Sauce
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 2 cups
Ingredients
  • 1 ½ cups heavy cream
  • 1 cup brown sugar or sucanat
  • ½ cup cocoa
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
  1. In medium saucepan, stir together cream, sugar, cocoa and butter.
  2. Cook on medium heat until butter is melted and ingredients are thoroughly combined.
  3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
3.5.3251

 

Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce

Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 2 cups
Ingredients
  • 13.5 ounce can of full fat, unsweetened coconut milk
  • ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¼ - ½ cup sweetener (honey, sucanat, or brown sugar)
Instructions
  1. Mix ingredients in a small saucepan, cooking and stirring on medium heat until well combined.
  2. Serve warm or cold.
  3. Store this sauce in a covered container in the refrigerator, rewarming on the stove-top as needed. It will keep for up to a month in the fridge.
3.5.3251

Drizzle or spread these onto your pancakes and you’ve got an amazing feast. But really, it’s thousands of times better if you then top it all with whipped cream!

Whipped Cream Recipes:

  • Homemade Whipped Cream
  • Chocolate Whipped Cream
  • Peanut Butter Whipped Cream

Still want more ideas?

Bonus Pancake Topping Recipes:

  • Real Maple Syrup
  • Apple Butter
  • Blueberry Pancake and Waffle Syrup
  • Peach Syrup (for pancakes and waffles)
  • Peanut Butter (just peanuts!)
  • Peanut Butter (super creamy – like Skippy or Jif)
  • Raspberry Syrup

What’s your favorite way to top a pancake?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Simple Homemade Pizza

September 9, 2020 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Pizza might be one of my favorite meals, so of course, we need to have Simple Homemade Pizza recipe options!

Confession: I order pizza more often than I used to now that we have little ones again. Ok, that’s not really a confession, it’s just truth, but I don’t actually feel that it needs to be confessed. As if ordering pizza is evil??

Sure, I don’t make every single thing from scratch anymore. Sure, not everything we eat is top-notch anymore. We still strive to eat nourishing foods so we can stay healthy. How else are we going to keep up with this tribe?! But God’s strength is bigger than ours, and that’s the real way we’re thriving through this journey.

So. I order pizza sometimes. Guilt-free. I praise God for this option on busy days I have to be at court hearings or team meetings while juggling littles and bigs.

Also, we eat it on paper plates. This is a beautiful thing.

Well anyway, pizza. The homemade kind. It truly tastes better, and we have fun building it to our liking. Here are my top three homemade pizza methods, from easiest to hardest. But the hardest way isn’t really hard, because do you even know me at all?

How to make simple homemade pizzaYum

  1. Buy pre-made crusts. Keep them in your freezer. Add toppings and bake. SO EASY. Plus cheaper and better tasting than ordering pizza.
  2. Make crust from Stir and Pour Bread recipe. Flour your hands and press it onto a pan. Add toppings and bake. VERY EASY.
  3. Make Whole Wheat Pizza Crust, because it is the most delicious. Make crusts ahead and freeze them if you’re as ambitious as I used to be and may be again sometime. Add toppings and bake. STILL EASY.

Here are the crust recipes for you!

Stir-and-Pour Pizza Crust

Simple Homemade Pizza
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 2 large pizzas
Ingredients
  • 4 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat)
  • 2 teaspoons active rise yeast
  • 2 Tablespoons sucanat or sugar or honey
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 cups warm water
Instructions
  1. Stir all ingredients together.
  2. Cover and allow it to sit for 30 minutes.
  3. Spread dough on two *well-buttered* large pizza pans (three if you want a thinner crust)
  4. Bake in a 375° oven for 10 minutes.
  5. Pull partially baked crust out of the oven and top it however you like.
  6. Bake for 10-15 minutes more or until cheese has melted and becomes bubbly.
3.5.3251

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Simple Homemade Pizza
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 2 large pizzas
Ingredients
  • 5 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground flour from hard white wheat)
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 4½ teaspoons active dry yeast (or 2 pouches)
  • 2 cups warm water (The water should feel warm, but not hot.)
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients together, knead for 3-4 minutes, then allow the dough to “rest” for about 10 minutes (give or take).
  2. This dough makes 2 large pizzas, or 18 mini pizzas.
  3. Shape dough into desired pizza sizes and place on baking sheets.
  4. Bake in a 375° oven for 5-7 minutes.
  5. Remove crusts from oven, allow them to cool, then freeze in freezer bags.
  6. Or, top hot pizza crusts with desired pizza toppings.
  7. When you're ready, bake the pizzas at 375° for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown.
3.5.3251

What’s your favorite kind of pizza?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Potato and Bacon Foil Packs on the Grill

July 15, 2020 by Laura 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Make yourself some Potato and Bacon Foil Packs for the grill! You will not be disappointed!

I may have to make this every week of the summer! The flavor is unbelievably good. And of course, these are really easy to make!

I like to prep them in the afternoon while the babies are napping. Then at dinnertime, we throw them on the grill. While they cook, we steam some veggies. And the meal is perfection!

First things first, make yourself a batch of this Ranch Dressing Mix. I like keeping a full jar of this mix in my pantry to use in recipes like this!

Second, consider making a batch of Bacon Bits like this. I love having these ready to grab and use in recipes!


If you’ve got those prepped ahead, you can make these Potato and Bacon Foil Packs super quickly!

Ready to put yours together?

Potato and Bacon Foil Packs on the GrillYum

Potato and Bacon Foil Packs on the Grill
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • Heavy-duty foil
  • 5 pounds baby red potatoes
  • ½ pound cut and cooked bacon
  • 4 Tablespoons ranch dressing mix (or 1 pouch)
  • 1 stick of butter, cut into 12 slabs
  • Shredded cheese and sour cream for serving (optional)
Instructions
  1. Wash potatoes and slice them into very thin slices.
  2. Place them in a large bowl.
  3. Stir in cooked bacon and ranch dressing mix.
  4. Prepare foild packets using a double layer of foil filled with potato mixture. (I try to make my foil packets thin so they will cook faster on the grill. So I make this recipe into 3 large, flat foil pouches.)
  5. Top potato mixture with slabs of butter.
  6. Close pouches securely for the grill.
  7. Cook pouches on the grill for 15-30 minutes, turning occasionally for even cooking.
  8. When you can easily poke a fork into the pouches, you'll know the potatoes are thoroughly cooked.
  9. Pull potato pouches off the grill and serve with cheese and sour cream!
3.5.3229

 

Need more recipes for the grill? Here’s a great list!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Tasha’s New Favorite Books for Homeschool

July 12, 2020 by Tasha Hackett 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I’ll take my turn to share my favorite books for homeschool too! For today, check out Tasha’s excitement, experience, and enjoy her encouragement!

Tasha’s New Favorite Books for Homeschool

by Tasha Hackett

I’ve just stumbled upon an amazing homeschool resource! Beautiful Feet Books is my new favorite. Is it weird that I’m already looking forward to the next nine years with my firstborn so I can read more of these books for homeschool?

Do you ever look at a homeschool mom and wonder, “Wow. How does she do it?” Or maybe it’s cringe-worthy and you think, “Jeez, why would someone choose to hang out with their kids all day?”

I get it. Maybe it’s not for everyone. But boy, when all the pieces line up and you get to see the one-year-old crawl into the eight-year-old’s lap for a book and a snuggle and the three and five-year-old are busy cutting paper for a project they’re developing on their own… that’s where the magic happens. I homeschool for a variety of reasons, but one is the gift of learning with them through the reading of great books.

Round two looking for homeschool books

Second generation homeschooling mom here. I always knew that I would homeschool my kids before I even had them. Today, I can tell you, I’m in it for the long haul! This year I have a 3rd grader, a Kindergartener, and an almost four-year-old that doesn’t want to be left out. (Oh! And the one year old will be getting into everything in the meantime.) But things haven’t gone as smoothly as I’d hoped.

My firstborn went to Kindergarten and fall semester of First Grade at the public school before I committed (again, for real this time) to homeschooling. It’s been a journey, to say the least. But I am beyond excited for school to start this year. Only five weeks left! I’m just waiting on one more order of books to arrive from Beautiful Feet Books and then I’ll have everything in place. Am I organized this year or what!?

You’ve Got This

If you are jumping into homeschooling, whether by choice or necessity, just breathe. And smile. You will be amazing! Your kids will think they have the very best mom who loves them so much. Just think, you get to be the one to witness the  “ah-ha!” moment when it just clicks.

When  “Just carry the one!” finally makes sense, you get to be there to celebrate with him. You get to have slow mornings and hot chocolate whenever you want. Imagine taking the time to snuggle for a picture book at 10:30 am. You also get to sit side by side with your older ones and dig into Algebra again, but You Can Do This!

You’ll be great. Especially with all the great resources available to us now. (Keep reading for a promo code to my new favorite bookstore!)

kids watching printer

This is how homeschool kids have fun. Haha, just kidding!

Thanks, Mom!

My mom, bless her heart, did the best she could with what she had, ya know? When she started homeschooling me, she had not been dreaming of it for years like I’ve been doing; there was no internet or Facebook homeschool groups. She had a daughter who was struggling, picked on by teachers, physically sick, and shy to the point of anxiety. (Hey! That was me. I’ve overcome mountains of insecurities. Thanks Mom for doing what was best for me.)

Point is… she had a paper curriculum catalog, and a once-a-year book fair. She figured it out on the fly mid-year with three girls under eight. (I turned out great by the way.)

Now I’m planning my kid’s school-year and I have the entire world’s resources available to me and sometimes it’s just too much. I know about Charlotte Mason, and Classical Conversations, and Montessori, and Waldorf, and Unschooling, and Wild and Free, and Traditional, … and wait a minute! You mean you can’t just get History, Math, Language Arts, and Science textbooks and just go with it anymore?

looking at books

Textbooks are out, living books for homeschool are in.

Dear fellow mothers, I am bursting with excitement. I want to tell you ALL THE THINGS about homeschooling, but I really need to focus here. Just the facts, ma’am. I was homeschooled with textbooks. I sat at the table (or the couch, or my bed, or the car) and I read my textbook, I took the quiz, I took the tests.

What if I told you there’s a better way?

I’ve found some of the true joys of homeschooling with the Charlotte Mason idea of using “Living Books” for much of my curriculum. A well-written biography of George Washington that reads like a novel is going to leave a longer-lasting impression than a chapter on George Washington in a History textbook.

I have researched and researched and researched such books and finally stumbled upon Beautiful Feet Books. They sell “curriculum” packs that are not textbooks, but a collection of books in a theme at varied grade levels. For this fall, I ordered the EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY PRIMARY JUMBO PACK: over 20 books for only $210. Believe me when I tell you this is the cheapest price you will find for these books. I price checked the individual books at three other sites. (And you know I did. I spent two hours price checking. So… you’re welcome.)

kids playing together

Spend less time researching books and more time playing in the sprinkler this summer.

You can customize your pack.

Beautiful Feet Books allows you to adjust your book packs. If you already own a few of the books in the pack, or (like me) you don’t want to bother with the lesson book that accompanies because you already have a separate curriculum you’re using, it’s no problem, just click the option “Customize your pack.”

Or, you have the option of purchasing the books individually. You get the idea. We are focusing on American History this year, so I was glad to find a ready-made pack of American History stories for K-3rd. It will fit into our year perfectly.

What if I told you the books are already homeschool mom approved?

I let my order sit in the cart for three days deliberating if I should place the order or not! In the end, I went for it after reading at least thirty reviews from other homeschool moms. Being able to pick a book out of a stack and know that it’s preapproved, at grade-level, interesting, historically accurate, and appropriate is a huge weight off my shoulders.

Later this month I’ll tell you more about what I’m planning for Hackett Academy this year. For now I’m working on getting the papers and binders and pencils all in their places. Five weeks is plenty of time… but I’m doing my best to start out on the right foot.

Homeschool = Flexibility

One of the joys of homeschooling is how easily it adapts to your life. I had a baby last year. We spent more time loving on a newborn than we did learning about George Washington, and I have no regrets about that. With so many little ones who aren’t strong readers, trying to juggle multiple subjects in multiple grades would be impossible, I’m looking forward to learning with my kids all about our country’s history, and doing it all together. I’m beyond grateful someone else took the time to find these amazing books and put them in a collection for me. Now all I have to do is open it up!

Want to check out Beautiful Feet Books?

Beautiful Feet Books is a digital storefront that sells living books in all grade levels, from the illustrated Leif the Lucky to Beowulf. Purchases can be made individually or in a curriculum pack with a teacher’s guide (or customize your pack by removing the books you don’t need). Have a look and tell me what you think! Use the code BFB2020 for free shipping during the month of July.

Are you a homeschool family? What are you excited about this year?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Simple Spicy Cheesy Chicken

May 6, 2020 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

If you sense a theme going on, it’s because I’ve become obsessed with this Simple Spicy Chicken Cheese Dip and I keep tweaking it to make it into different dishes. This one becomes a very Simple Spicy Cheesy Chicken, simply by…well. You’ll have to read the recipe below to see.

Forgive me, friends, for bombarding you with so many variations of one basic recipe. I am sorry – not sorry – for making your meals so delicous without much effort.

Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to make this dip recipe – but instead of stirring in shredded chicken, topping with cheese, and baking it to eat as a dip, you’re going to spread the cheesy mixture over boneless chicken, and bake it to serve as a main dish.

Incredible. We just took the exact same ingredients and turned them into a brand new meal. Give yourself a round of applause. You just learned a brand new easy recipe and you can make it without thinking or working hard. What did we ever do before figuring out these simple recipes?

Speaking of Simple Recipes – you do you this cookbook don’t you? If not, run with haste to get yourself a copy forthwith (haha, if you watch Blue Bloods, you will laugh with me over this funny choice of words). It is FULL of delicious recipes that are made with real food and take only a few minutes to prepare. You will love it!

And now on to today’s simple recipe:

Simple Spicy Cheesy ChickenYum

Simple Spicy Cheesy Chicken
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 8-ounces softened cream cheese
  • ¼ cup hot sauce (your favorite)
  • ½ cup ranch dressing
  • 1 cup shredded cheese (we use Colby jack)
  • 2 pounds bone-in or boneless chicken thighs or breasts
Instructions
  1. In a blender or with a hand mixer, mix together the cream cheese, hot sauce, and ranch dressing until smooth.
  2. Fold in shredded cheese.
  3. Place chicken into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  4. Spread cream cheese mixture over the chicken.
  5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-50 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. (Shorter time needed for boneless chicken; longer time needed for bone-in.)
3.5.3229

We like to fry leftover baked potatoes or Stick of Butter Rice for a delicious and easy side dish. We also serve this chicken with mixed greens and a steamed or roasted veggie!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

A Schedule for a Quarantined Day

April 19, 2020 by Tasha Hackett 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Let me check my schedule: Create a workout parody video. CHECK

Who’s having fun?! We are!? (Hint: I schedule fun into my week.)

Exercise

I schedule Saturdays for playing and Whew! Just finished creating a silly work-out video with my family. We dressed up and I donned some bright pink lipstick. Blue tights, overlaid with my swimsuit. Nothing like a little family fun to get the day going.

“Wow,” you say, “Tasha’s family is so cool. I wish I could be as cool as her.” Well, don’t let me fool you. We completely trashed the house and had cheerios for breakfast all week, pre-packaged chicken nuggets three days in a row because my mind has been so overwhelmed with I-don’t-even-know that I couldn’t think past the next five minutes and then it was time for another meal… and another meal. What is it with these people!? Didn’t I just feed them? I don’t know what day it is anymore. My mom’s birthday was on the 17th and I almost missed it because I was a week behind (thought it was only April 11th) **Face Palm**

I have bad days and good days, BUT I have a daily routine that keeps me mostly sane during this quarantine.

The only way I have survived is maintaining my schedule. Do you have one? Years ago I scoured the internet looking for a Stay-At-Home-Mom routine and didn’t find one I liked. So I made up my own. It morphs through the years, each new kid and season changes it.

Morning Routine and Homeschool Life

The ideal perfect morning would look like this, but more often than not I crawl out of bed at 7 because the baby’s still not sleeping through the night:

5:30 AM Wake // Pray // Meditate on scripture  // Stretch

6:00 AM Make bed // Shower // Dress

6:15 AM Drink water //  Put (frozen or premade) breakfast in oven // Read // Study

6:45 AM Empty dishwasher // Start laundry // Set out breakfast

baby at dishwasher

Lots of help around here!

7:00 AM Wake kids // Help the littles with Morning List

Too often I let my day start here.

Kids’ Morning List: Make Bed, Get Dressed, PJs Away, Diaper in Trash, Drink Water, Go Potty, Fix Hair, Read Daily Verse, Take Care of Pets. (This list is an anchor and must be done before breakfast.)

pet rat on Tashas head

Meet Tippy! Our friendly pet rat.

7:15 AM Breakfast and Tidy Kitchen (Kids Help: Clear the Table, Wipe the Table, Sweep the Floor.)

8:00 AM House Blessings (Each kid has a separate daily chore. Gather laundry from all over the house, empty trash, sweep bathroom), Extra Daily Chore, (This will be anything that needs done to maintain the home such as wiping the mirror in the playroom, dusting the piano, vacuuming around the furniture, watering plants, sweeping the entry, lining up shoes, etc. We skip this when breakfast runs late.)

8:30 AM Walk Outside, Online Workout, or movement of some kind. (If nothing else we pretend to be a variety of animals. I have a 7, 5, and 3 year old, so they like that, and we have to keep moving throughout the day because, you know, kids and energy.)

walking outside

Quack! Quack! Off we go.

9:00 AM Morning Time // School

Morning Time with the Kids, My Favorite!

I learned this term from A Humble Place, but it is a Charlotte Mason homeschooling idea. This is the heart of what is most valuable in our home education. Not worksheets and tests and homework, but singing, and poetry, and beautiful ideas.

Our Morning Time can take anywhere from 10 minutes to a full hour depending on the moods of the kids and what we have going on for the day and if we started on time. I won’t go into much detail, but this is bullet points of what we cover; if short on time, we don’t do everything listed:

Pray for God to speak to us and bless our day

Bible story or scripture to think about

Song from our Hymnal: We sing all the verses to the same hymn for an entire month

Review one or three other hymns from previous months

More Singing: American Folk songs, silly songs, National Anthem

(I excuse myself to put the baby down for a nap right around here, I don’t know what they do while I’m gone for 10 minutes, but they’re all still alive in the living room or on the couch when I get back.)

Pledge of Allegiance

Poetry: We love poetry! This is a lovely book: Favorite Poems Old and New, Selected for boys and girls by Helen Farris. We read 1-5 a day depending on how we feel. I ask, “Shall I stop or read another?” The answer is usually, “More!” I pick one that I like and read it every day for the month along with the dailies. By the end of the month the kids are reciting it with me. We have found many poets we love, Carl Sandburg and Robert Louis Stevenson, to name a couple.

Art Appreciation. We look at prints of famous paintings. We don’t worry about educating ourselves on the style or anything. I just show them the picture and talk about what we see and what we like. “If you were in this picture, what would you be doing?” “What are they doing here?” “What do you suppose he is thinking about?” “Do you think she is sad?” (You can buy many of the prints here. So far Peter Bruegel the Elder is our favorite. Who knew!?)

Nursery Rhymes. Great for little guys and surprisingly still applicable through elementary. I love watching my three-year-old learning along with the 2nd grader. I often find them reciting these while they play through-out the days.

We close with the Lord’s Prayer, sing the Doxology, and a simple Benediction, “May the Lord be with you.” And we answer each other, “And also with you!” (My boy used to say, “May the Yord be wif me.” It was lovely.)

School Time!

kids writing in notebooks

Working mostly quietly

After our official Morning Time is over, the youngest wanders off the to play with cars and little animals while I read a chapter book. I find narrative stories that are engaging, yet not dumbed down in the least. A.A. Milne’s “Winne the Pooh” we have read multiple times. Currently we’re reading Richard of Jamestown by James Otis. We’ve read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and Chronicles of Narnia. If we are short on time I’ll skip this because Dad will read to them in the evenings, too.

boy reading books

We have many nooks for individual play and quiet time.

I do 10-ish minutes of a reading lesson with the Kindergartener out of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Engelmann. This will take us much longer than 100 days because we do the same lesson two or even three days in a row because she was getting frustrated. Slowing it down has been amazing for her confidence. She is now excited to see progress instead of discouraged when it was difficult. With the 2nd grader we’re using McGuffy’s Eclectic Reader Series a lesson a day, then I assign copy work to both of them. Copy work is often short. We desire a few perfectly written words rather than a whole page of sloppy handwriting. My kids have surprisingly neat handwriting.

example of hand writing

The Kindergartener is done with school for the day. The 2nd grader has math practice, or learning new math skills; he’s going through the Math-It packet (Elmer Brooks), and The Complete Book of Math Grades 1-2 (School Specialty Publishing), he looks up a word in the dictionary and we read the definition together, finds a country on the globe and then finds the same country on our large wall map. We then talk about how we could get there from Nebraska. Those things are listed on his schedule; he can complete many of them on his own.

If you’re looking for some simple curriculum that invites family participation, memorizing scripture AND serving your community, I highly recommend Laura’s ebook Learn Your Letters Learn to Serve. This is INCLUDED with your club membership! (Everyone cheers!!)

kids looking at a large map

This map makes us legit homeschoolers, right?

We are often done by 10:30 AM. The kids have free time until lunch. They find all sorts of things to do on their own. (See, and here you thought my kids stuck to a boring schedule all day long.) They have access to craft supplies where they make paper puppets on popsicle sticks and put on shows, draw comic book-style scenes, draw pictures, my girl will often copy her reading lesson to show it off to Dad, they have train sets and blocks and tents, they build towers and dress up and generally make messes everywhere. If it’s nice they run around outside.

kids playing in toy tents

Can you find all four!?

I do a variety of things. I may play on my phone, (I know, I know…Instagram is sucking my brain out.), meal prep, do a special project with one of the kids, sew something, read books, call my sisters, clean the bathrooms or other chores, go outside and check on my plum trees (THEY HAVE BUDS THIS YEAR!!), and put lunch in the oven.

kids outside

11:30 AM Wake up the baby from his nap. Read to him, snuggle, and play.

12:00 Dad comes up from his basement cave where he’s working from home and we eat lunch.

Afternoon

All help tidy the kitchen, switch laundry (2nd grader’s chore), get ready to go outside. 

Family walk or outside time (if the weather allows)

Free time

boy with block tower

One of many daily creations.

2:00 PM Nap time for baby, quiet time in separate rooms for everyone else. They are not allowed to talk to me or each other until 3:00. The 3 year old usually falls asleep in my bed. I don’t know what the 5 year old does, but she stays in her room with dolls and books and things. The 7 year old plays Legos and looks at picture books and draws in his room.

Finally, I check-out from mom-life in whichever room is the cleanest and causes the least amount of stress, and get incredibly snippy if anyone tries to talk to me during this time. With my laptop I sit and write and write and write. I blog (like now), but mostly I am attempting to write a novel. It’s been three years in the making but I am determined to finish it this year… #goals. I’ll keep you up to date if I ever finish. Because it’s on the schedule, I’m much more likely to do it.

desk with laptop

My office!

If I absolutely don’t feel like writing, I read something I want to read and eat a yummy snack that I don’t share with anybody.

3:00 PM The bigger kids are allowed to come out of their rooms and play quietly in the house or go outside. The younger two generally sleep longer.

toddler sleeping

He naps in my bed because he shares a room.

4:00 PM I close the laptop and come out of hiding. Wake the baby if he’s still sleeping. Dad joins us and we play outside, fold laundry, work on a home project together, grocery shop, meal prep, etc.

big brother reading to baby

5:00  PM Dinner and kitchen clean up.

Evening

6:00 PM Family time. House clean-up, outside time, reading books, listen to music and play, dream and draw plans of the house we’re going to build someday, discuss important things like the most deadly animal in the world: Tiger or Mosquito, I might sew something, paint pictures, kids take baths, go on walks, etc. If I don’t schedule this time in, we miss it! This is my favorite part of the quarantine: Daddy is home every evening.

kids peeling wallpaper

Group project: Removing wallpaper!

6:30 Baby is ready for bedtime routine and he’s asleep by 7:00

7:00 Dad puts the older three to bed. I finish cleaning the kitchen, fold laundry, bring the laptop back out to work some more, sew something, paint something, waste more time on my phone.

Tasha sitting at sewing machine because playing is on the schedule

One of my many hobbies.

8:00 Lights out for the bigger kids

9-10: Lights out for me. And up again at midnight and 3 AM with the baby.

OKAY!!! That’s the basic outline of our day. Not every day goes by this schedule exactly. But the framework has SAVED my kids and me. They know what to expect, and Dad knows what to expect. They don’t have to ask me “Can I go outside?” “When is lunch?” “Am I done with school?” The answer is on the schedule.

What keeps you grounded?

kids pretending to be in a bus

Beep Beep! The bus is leaving.

Do you have a schedule or routine? Does your family know what to expect each day? Do they know what’s expected of them? This schedule has been a life-saver, but it’s been through many transformations. It will look differently this summer and next fall when Dad goes back to work.

Tell me, how is your day planned out?


tasha

Tasha, friend of Laura is a stay-at-homeschool-mom to four kids. When she’s not writing about money and birthdays and how to survive anything, she can be found Instagramming for Laura @heavenlyhomemaker, producing something from a variety of creative hobbies, sneaking treats she doesn’t want to share with her family, and repurposing old shirts into toddler dresses. She and her family recently bought two-acres of prairie and are dreaming of a little house to build on it.

 

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Oatmeal Cinnamon Yogurt Muffins

April 12, 2020 by Laura 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Hmmm, Oatmeal Cinnamon Yogurt Muffins. I’m sure you’re wondering…what’s in these muffins? ;)

Perhaps a little oatmeal? Some cinnamon? Possibly a tad of yogurt? Wow, you guys are good. How’d you figure that out?

These simple muffins are the result of an experiment on a day I needed to use up some yogurt in my fridge. Yogurt makes muffins extra moist – though the oats make them a little more hearty. So the yogurt plus the oats work well together so that these muffins don’t turn out dry and crumbly!

And the cinnamon? Well, of course, that makes these muffins taste incredible!

We prefer these straight out of the oven, slathered in butter. You can use flavored yogurt if you’d like, though if you do, I’d recommend cutting down the sugar since flavored yogurts have sugar added. I use whole milk plain yogurt when I make these.

Oatmeal Cinnamon Yogurt MuffinsYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Oatmeal Cinnamon Yogurt Muffins
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • ¼ cup sucanat or brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¾ cup whole milk plain yogurt
  • 2 eggs
  • ¼ cup melted coconut oil
Instructions
  1. Stir together dry intgredients in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Add yogurt, eggs, and oil, mixing well.
  3. Scoop batter into 12 paper-lined muffin tins.
  4. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-22 minutes or until muffins are golden brown.
3.5.3229

I especially like these because they remind me of a muffin I used to enjoy in our college cafeteria wayyyyy back in the day. I have no idea what was in those, but they were hearty with a hint of sweetness and cinnamon. Mmmm.

Is it crazy that I now have sons in college? And that I have babies again? And that I can still taste those college muffins from 29ish years ago? Life is crazy. Expect God to do great things!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Top 5 Birthday Budget Tips

April 8, 2020 by Tasha Hackett 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Ready to read Tasha’s Top 5 Birthday Budget Tips?

Can you have a great birthday on a budget?

Duh! Of course. Okay, but really, when your family is used to something and things and times are changing (like being stuck at home during a pandemic), how do you have a great birthday? Perhaps you’re starting a new budget that doesn’t include extravagant gifts, what do you do?

Peter is one

My youngest just turned one. (Yay!) We celebrated him ALL DAY. Peek-A-Boo was played as often as he wanted. We snuggled and snuggled and snuggled. We served pasta (his favorite) with Easy Chocolate Fudge Pie (his favorite). Lighting a birthday candle was a highlight. (He loved it, we blew it out and lit it multiple times). We gave high fives (his favorite) and Pound It! (his favorite), we sang Happy Birthday at least 20 times throughout the day. We danced with him (his favorite); the kids and I got down and crawled on the floor. We cheered and laughed and clapped when he took five steps! He is loved and he knows it.

Baby in bath

This is how much he loves homemade chocolate pie!

Oh, and did I mention, we didn’t buy him a thing. Not a single thing. It was a great example to my other kids how we can have birthdays without presents.

“He was one, so it doesn’t count,” you say.

What about the big/little kids?

Another turns eight this month, his day will look entirely different. He can play a mean game of Peek-A-Boo, but it’s not his favorite. He might notice if he doesn’t get any presents. For him, I’m thinking Lego challenges as a family (he will win because he’s amazing), a one-on-one donut (take out) date with Dad (his favorite), a walk around town just the two of us (his favorite), charades, crazy-silly LOUD dance party (his favorite), hide-and-seek (his favorite), tag, all the popcorn he could possibly eat (his favorite), a show, and a family slumber party in the living room (his absolute favorite).

Notice a favorite trend here?

We’ll talk in advance about some of our plans so he’ll know what to look forward to. His siblings and I will pick out one gift together, (new drawing pens and notebook) but we don’t want that to be the focus of the day.

Here are the top five things I’ve learned about money and stuff and birthdays.

1. Budget, Budget, Budget.

Fancy word for: Set aside. Take some money each payday specifically for buying gifts and throwing a party and set it aside. Budgeting doesn’t mean not spending money, it just means you know where your money is going. Budget whatever makes sense for your family. If you love to buy expensive gifts, that’s your choice! (And can I be your friend? I’m super into kitchen appliences and tennis shoes with super cute summer dresses. In case anyone was wondering.) Just make sure the money is there for it.

2. Kids are stronger than you think.

They don’t need stuff to be happy. (And neither do we, except for blentecs and robotic vacuum cleaners. *Ahem*)

My oldest was crushed after a hard conversation about what he wasn’t getting for Christmas. I felt terrible. The thing he wanted just wasn’t in the budget, it wasn’t something we wanted in the house, and it didn’t fit with what we were trying to make Christmas about. He was sad for half a day and he got over it. Whoop-De-Do.

Therefore, I give you permission to not feel guilty about not buying more stuff. Permission granted to feel wonderful about making great memories. You know your child better than anyone, let the day be about him, not about what you bought. Decide ahead of time something to do instead.

3. Plan ahead.

Talk about expectations of the day as a family well before the event. “We are going to celebrate you by…doing all these fun and awesome things that are your favorite… so there won’t be many wrapped up presents this year.”

Focus on what you will be doing, not what you’re not doing. What does she like to do with you? Can you spend the whole day just enjoying her? Brainstorm with the whole family ways to celebrate and make memories. This can be extravagant budgeted excursions or completely free. (Mamas, unless your man is really into planning things, I give you permission to plan your day and let your family know what you expect of them. Be Specific. If you want breakfast in bed, it might be a good idea to make it ahead of time and show your people where to find it. I recommend something good eaten cold, like this Straweberry Bread.)

4. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. (Luke 12:15)

Can I get an Amen!? I need a large poster with this verse. After living a few (many) years on a spending lockdown, when we finally had a bit of cash, I fell into the habit of buying all the things I thought I needed. Remember my Amazon addiction? I did the same for the kids. Suddenly because I could buy stuff, I did. And you know what? They weren’t any happier with the stuff than they were without it. More stuff doesn’t change our hearts and our relationships with others and our relationship with God. We know this, and yet we all fall into a consumerism trap from time to time.

5. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. (Luke 12:23)

Not to take this passage out of context, Jesus wasn’t talking about birthdays OR WAS HE? It totally relates! A child is more than a party, and the birthday more than presents. A present does not a birthday make. (Does everyone hate me yet?) Planning fun activities is more work than buying stuff. (It can be so. much. work.) Trust me, I know what it’s like to have zero energy to organize and throw a party. Sleeping through the night is a luxury these days. Homeschooling little ones who can’t even read?! You’re 5 already, get with the program! (Kidding. I’m kidding.) Whew. I do have to keep this house from falling apart, too. Laundry and dishes and sweeping. Sometimes we even mop! (You know, when somebody brakes a glass full of milk.) How am I supposed to plan a party for a bunch of 3-year-olds?!?

And then I am reminded that life is more than food and the body more than clothes. Being happy is better than being perfect. Last December, my 7 year old was SO FOCUSED on what HE was going to GET, that he could hardly enjoy anything else about Christmas. We are making some changes in our house this year and not because we can’t financially afford to buy presents.

I still want birthdays to be something special.

Truthfully, I used to worry about birthdays because I wanted them to be special and wonderful, but I couldn’t afford to buy nice things. Now that we’ve paid off a bunch of debt, we can afford stuff and I realize we don’t need ‘em. Most of the time I don’t even want it! (Correction. I want new shoes. Shoes are great. I bought three pairs this month and I’m ecstatic. First new shoes I’ve had in 18 months. Somebody send help!) More stuff is often more mess and therefore more work. Then we have to spend even more time clearing out our junk and decluttering.

If you are a Heavenly Homemakers Club member, Laura has put together so many great ideas for celebrating your people. Look under FAMILY TIPS and browse her ideas that make sense for your family. Trip ideas, experience ideas, party ideas. You don’t have to come up with a plan for your family all on your own. Much of the work has been done for you!

I challenge you to find ways to really celebrate and love your people individually. You get to decide what that means. You can spend lots of money, or none of it, but in my experience, I have found the price tag doesn’t correlate with the success of the day.

Answer in the comments: What do you like about the way you celebrate? What would you like to do differently? Do you have a favorite childhood birthday memory?


tashaTasha, friend of Laura, and fellow homeschooling mama, lives in the middle of America and does her best to keep the floors clean. Hahaha. Her kids are currently one, three, five, and seven. When she’s not writing for Laura she can be found on Instagram @heavenlyhomemaker, sneaking Jalapeno Cheetos, painting with her kids, pretending she likes to garden, and watching Star Wars with her husband.


 

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!
Next Page »

Join Our Community!

 Facebook Twitter RSS E-mail Instagram Pinterest

Popular Posts

~ Will All of the Real Moms Please Stand Up?
~ Easy! Stir-and-Pour Whole Wheat Bread
~ How to Make Gatorade
~ 31 Real Food Breakfast Ideas
~ Dear Teenage Girls...
~ When Mom Takes a Step Back
~ The Inexpensive Health Insurance We Love!
~ Let's Talk Real Food Grocery Budgets

Check out our latest posts!

  • 10 Fun Ideas to Try This Year
  • How to Drink Your Salad (and love it!)
  • Can Mom Have More Fun?
  • 7 Ideas to Make Your Home Extra Cozy
  • Who Even Cares Anymore About Free Range Chicken?
Home  ~  Simple Meals  ~  Club Membership  ~  Shop  ~  Privacy Policy  ~  Disclosure  ~ Contact

Copyright © 2021 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in