How do I cook, and homeschool?

A related question that occured to me more often was –  how do I supervise the neighborhood kids playing in my courtyard while making dinner?  (I think their mothers sent them all to me so they could make dinner).  This fight between efficiency and hospitality got fixed when I scolded them for playing dangerously, and they never came back.  B misses them, I do to in a way.  They may be so scheduled that they don’t have time to come over anyhow, they do wave when they walk by.

It is so much easier to make dinner (even with poison hour) now, than it was with only one or two kids.  K fussy?  I ask B to read to her, or M to build blocks with her.  Neither B nor M will admit to being bored – without prefacing it with, “My room is clean and…”  Oh, it is so much easier with older kids than only littles!  But still, life gets stressful routinely at 5:30PM.  Especially if K never napped in the afternoon, only sang to her picture books.

Preschoolers and Peace has lots of suggestions for organizing toddler challenges that I have never faced.

Like Mother Like Daughter has lots of organizational tips.

Afternoon snacks (healthy ones) make late afternoons easier.  So does (tsk tsk) videos, books on tape and occasional computer games.

We school year round, so our teacher intensive lessons are done by lunch time, though B usually has independent work until dinner.  So, except for fussy toddlers, I have plenty of time in the afternoon to cook, unless I forget to start on time, or have errands or activities to take the kids to.

As for the actual cooking, I look on my menu list hanging on my fridge about 4PM to see what I have to pick from.  I try to have ingredients for some quick and easy meals, as well as simmer a long time meals.  The trick is to know when I have to start the preparations for which kind.  Slower meals get shifted to the end of the week if I had lots of ambitions in early afternoons.  Theoretically I save the quick meals for nights we rush out the door after supper (Wednesday night prayer meeting) or don’t get home until late (flute lesson night).  But in practice, we eat the easy meals up by Tuesday…

The menu list has been helping me since B was in kindergarten, I can see it hanging on the fridge behind his shoulder in the photo of him rolling out cinnamon ornaments for the Christmas Crafting Fair.

I also have an ongoing couple of pages in my purse calender listing meals we ate in different months with the page reference for the magazine or book (DH says my lists are scary).  I especially take note of things if the fussy eaters liked whatever it was!

I rarely make a meal with lots of side dishes.  Usually everything is in the soup, sandwich or salad, with bread and butter to fill it out.  If anything freezes well, I’ll make double so I can have instant supper some night – if I remember to thaw it of course!

Some Moms I know use the Once a Month method. What do you do?