Busy Parents' Place Share your tips, recipes, ideas, and suggestions, too! Click below or scroll down the page. Homeschool Tips - Lesson Plans, Schedules, Organization, and More Recipes - Quick, Fun and Easy Recipes Working Parents Tips - To Help Your Day Go Smoother Message Board - For Homeschooling Questions and Answers Contact us to share your tips or ideas! Homeschool Scheduling and Organization Tips Lesson Plan Tips: I use the weekly lesson plans on this site to make each week much easier! I use the Grades 3-8 lessons and the Grades 8-12 lessons. With lessons on every subject, there's enough to fill out the whole week, and more! I just print out the weekly planner pages from the Forms page. Then fill them in (or have the kids fill them in) with the weekly lessons, and we're set for the week. The ideas from the weekly lessons always gives us more ideas and links on the subjects. So we always have lots of educational material and activities at our fingertips! Oh, and the Hands-On Activities and Online Field Trips are great, too! Mindy T., North Carolina Scheduling Tip: Avoid the temptation to structure homeschool days based on your memories of school schedules. School schedules were developed to handle hundreds of students each day and move them through the system as quickly and efficiently as possible. Since you won't have nearly as many children in your home, a school-based schedule is neither appropriate nor necessary. Goal-Setting Tip: Each weekend, decide the five most important things you want to accomplish in your homeschool during the upcoming week. Write them down. You have five days ahead of you to accomplish those five goals. Cross off each goal, as your child accomplishes it. Do this each week, and you'll be surprised at how much you and your child are capable of accomplishing in a week! Organization Tips: - Keep all homeschool books, supplies, records, and logs in one closet or cabinet, so they are easy to locate. - Designate a place for everything, and request that everything be returned to its place after use. - Store projects and papers in clear, plastic containers. A quick glance will tell you what's in each. - Make your own bookshelves for all the great books you'll accumulate. Or invest in affordable shelves that will support your collection as it grows. Busy Family Recipes Easy Chicken Crunch Casserole 1 can cream of chicken soup 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1 can cream of celery soup 2 c. milk 1 c. rice, uncooked Cooked or canned chicken, cut up Salt and pepper Shredded cheese Crushed potato chips Mix together soups, milk, and rice. Spread mixture in the bottom of casserole baking dish. Add cooked chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle generous amount of shredded cheese over top of casserole. Sprinkle crushed potato chips over all. Bake uncovered for 45 to 55 minutes at 350 degrees. Easy Complete-Meal Pot Roast Dinner Fix in the morning in a Crock-Pot. Sit down to a complete dinner in the evening. 3 - 4 lb. Beef Roast Potatoes, diced or sliced Carrots, sliced Celery, sliced 1 can Campbell's French Onion Soup, undiluted Salt and pepper Layer the vegetables in a Crock-Pot or slow cooker. Place roast on top of vegetables. (Cut roast in half or thirds to fit, if necessary.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour can of French Onion Soup over all ingredients. Cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours or until roast and vegetables are tender. Tip: Invest in a couple different-sized slow cookers or Crock-Pots for easy meals! Grilled Barbecued Chicken 1 Chicken, cut into 8 pieces 1 C. Ketchup 2 Tblsp. White Vinegar 1/4 C. Brown Sugar, packed firmly 2 Tblsp. Worcestershire Sauce 2 Tblsp. Mustard 1 Tblsp. Instant Minced Onion Preheat oven to 350F. Arrange pieces of Chicken in a baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 25 minutes. While chicken is baking, mix together the remaining ingredients for the barbecue sauce in a medium-sized bowl. Preheat grill to medium heat. Coat each piece of chicken with the barbecue sauce mixture and place chicken on the grill. Grill for 15 to 20 minutes, or until juices run clear and no pink meat remains. Turning each piece halfway through the grilling. BBQ Cola Ribs in Crock-Pot or Slow Cooker 2 - 4 lbs. Pork or Beef Ribs 12-oz. Can of Coca-Cola 18-oz. Bottle of Barbecue Sauce Place all ingredients in Crock-Pot or slow cooker. Cook for 6 to 8 hours on High or until tender. Add salt and pepper one hour before serving. Easy Baked Apples 4 or 5 Apples 4 or 5 Cinnamon Sticks Brown Sugar Vanilla Butter or Margarine Core apples and place in baking dish. Place a cinnamon stick into the center of each apple and fill center with brown sugar. Drizzle vanilla across the brown sugar. Coat the tops of the apples with butter or margarine. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until apples are tender. Easy Toffee Bars 2 cups sugar 2 sticks butter Bag of chocolate chips Saltine crackers Place foil over a cookie sheet with sides and layer saltine crackers over it. Melt butter and sugar together over med heat until melted. Cook for about 10 minutes or until sugar is completely liquid, and not grainy any longer. Pour butter/sugar mixture evenly over crackers and place into 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over top. Return to oven for about 1 minute until chips are soft, but not melted. Remove from oven and spread chips over crackers. Refrigerate and then break apart when cooled. Sugar Cookies for Cutouts 1 cup Sugar 1 cup Butter 3 Eggs 1 tsp. Baking Soda 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract 2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour Colored sprinkles or icing Have fun with these easy-to-make butter cookies! Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Mix together all ingredients, with just enough flour to make dough easy to roll and not sticky. Roll out dough to 1/8-in. thickness. If dough sticks to roller, sprinkle a pinch of the leftover flour over the dough as needed. Cut out holiday shapes with cookie cutters, place on lightly greased cookie sheets, and add colorful sprinkles. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes in 350-degree oven. Add icing after cooling. Makes about 2 dozen cookies. Send us your favorite, time-saving recipes, too! Working Parents Tips Whether you work outside the home, or run a business at home, your days feel especially full when you're also homeschooling your children. Yet, in many ways, your days are much simpler and smoother when "school" is in the home. There's no more frantic mornings getting your kids off to school, driving them to and from school or after-school activities, attending school functions and parent-teacher meetings, making sure each child has everything he or she needs for school each day, and -- best of all -- no more homework hassles! The time you used to spend trying to understand, and help with, homework assignments, is now spent in pleasant one-on-one, educational activities that you and your child can enjoy together each evening. Just remember that the children are as much a part of your family as you or your spouse. And it takes a family to keep a household operating smoothly. Each week, re-evaluate everyone's responsibilities, from the oldest member to the youngest. Have a family discussion about where improvements or changes could be made in your household and homeschool schedules, to make things run even smoother. Try out your children's suggestions over the upcoming weeks. You might be surprised at how well their suggestions or ideas work! Quick Housekeeping Tips Prepare and cook several dishes, soups, or casseroles on Saturday or Sunday afternoon, then freeze them for the upcoming week. Give each child a box or basket and send them through the house to pick up any items that are out of place, and to return the items to their proper places. Assign each child certain responsibilities in the home, or let them select, switch, or share chores with each other. Relaxation Tips Don't try to be "SuperMom" or "SuperDad." Simplify your days with simpler meals, simpler housekeeping, and simpler schedules. Take part in more break times, more playtime, and more fun time. Cut back on extracurricular activities. Your children don't need to attend every class that comes along. Create a healthy balance of fun time and quiet time, for all the family. When you are enjoying quiet time, your family should be enjoying it, too. Homeschool Message Board Visit our Homeschool Message Board here. Current Threads on the Homeschool Message Board: - Weekly Lessons & Hands-On Activities - New Parent Needs Help - Typical Homeschool Days - Creative Thinking Lessons - Unit Studies - New Homeschool Family - Graduation & Diplomas - First Year / Teen - Used Curriculum for Sale - Unschooling Ideas - Homeschooling Only Child - Homeschooling Several Children - Learning Styles - Giving Grades - Help for New Homeschoolers - Play-Dough Recipes - Literature Guides - Writing Articles - Submitting Photos - Submitting Children's Creations - And more! Post your questions or help answer questions from other readers on our Message Board. Contact us to share your tips or ideas! Read more on our Homeschool Articles Pages and Lesson Plan Pages. Subscribe Today to access Weekly Lesson Plans, Educational Activities, Curriculum Guidelines, Homeschooling and Unschooling Articles, and more! Just $15.95 per year. 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