How to Become that Most Elusive of All Creatures: The Slacker Homeschool Mom

We've all imagined being this lady, haven't we? Lounging in our pajamas, feet up, enjoying our favorite beverage (be it coffee, wine, or soda ; )  - while our children magically become educated . . . 

The "Unicorn" Slacker Homeschool Mom (Source: RDNE, Pexels) 

Yeah, that would be great, huh? 

But maybe your reality is more like this:

In bed with flu, or chronic illness- or just need a mental health break?
(Source, WOKANDAPIX on Pixabay)

But, as we all know - there are no "Substitute Teachers" in Homeschool!

Most, if not all, of the homeschool moms I know are very hard-working people. Dedicated to their calling, and always on the job. 

But, we can always dream . . . 

There are some great reasons that you might need some resources to give you some breathing room:

• Maybe you have a house full of kids, each needing one-on-one instructional time for part of the day- what do the others do then?
• Maybe you have a chronic illness, and some days, you just can't
• Maybe you have a new baby
• Maybe you just need to cook dinner, or put in a load of laundry now & then
• Maybe you did a full day of academics, but their kids want more in the evenings - and a steady diet of TV or Youtube isn't their ideal
• Maybe you deal with mental health issues that make schooling on some days just too hard
• Maybe you work from home, and need some time to get work done
• Maybe you have to deal with repair people, or a realtor, and need some time without distraction
• Or maybe you are just *are* one of those mythical rare slackers!

Whatever your reason or style - it's great to have a stash of great resources to use on those days - or every day! These could be used for *almost* an entire curriculum for a period of days, weeks, or even  months (Just add Prayer, Reading Out Loud by your child, and Writing Practice to make it complete). Or you could stack your (real or virtual) shelves with these for beneficial after-school entertainment. 

So maybe you can have just a few minutes like this, now and then
(Source: Relaxing by Andrea Piacquado)

These are resources that have been tested and proven in our house over the years, not something that I saw online and thought looked nice. They're also resources that I can still see the benefits from, years after we used them. Most of these are very cheap to purchase - some are free. A handful have a monthly subscription rate that is reasonable.

Many of the video series can be found free on Youtube, PBS or other platforms, since they're older. But those links move frequently, and leave me with dead links on my posts. Where possible, I'm linking to DVDs on Amazon or official sites to purchase -just to help you find the right thing - but search your favorite platform and there's a good chance to find them free, or your favorite online resale vendor for better prices. 

If you like to limit internet dangers, having these in a DVD format to play on a dedicated DVD player can be a win - especially with younger children.

I don't believe in sorting materials by grade level, and we don't restrict ourselves to one certain academic level in our house, just because of age - but if you do, most of these resources would probably fall into the kindergarten through 8th grade level. Many are also appropriate for teens. 

So, as the cool kids on Youtube like to say, "Lets Get Started!"

Video Resources:

What's in the Bible  This 13 DVD  series is what enables our daughter to do great at Bible Trivia when we play it as a family. She has been known to beat her parents - repeatedly - at that game. This has a LOOK somewhat similar to Sesame Street, with muppets - but the content would be informative for most adults- even adults with a Theological education. Purchasing the whole DVD series is pricey, but  it is available on two streaming platforms for a very reasonable monthly fee: Minno This platform runs about $9/month at the time of this writing, and has LOTS of other, good, kids' content. Mr. Phil TV This platform is about $5/month at the time of this writing. Binge watch the whole thing, and you only have to pay for a month or two!

Meet the Phonics This is a great series to teach pre-readers the memory facts they need for the basic skills to sound out words. They learn things like what sound each letter makes, what "SH" sounds like, and what "CL" sounds like, etc. I cannot recommend this series highly enough. It takes much of the stress out of teaching early reading, and turns it into entertainment.

Wild Kratts Classic PBS Series to learn about animals and geography. This link is to just one season - lots more are available. Secular perspective on science.

Magic School Bus Another fun, animated classic series, in which kids go on field trips in a magic bus that shrinks, grows, and time-travels as necessary. Very imaginative, and helps kids really understand a lot of basic scientific concepts, such as digestion, magnetism, volcanoes, etc. Secular perspective on science.  

Liberty's Kids Incredibly well-researched and engagingly-presented history of the American Revolution. A group of fictitious teen journalists report on the goings-on of Revolutionary times. 40 very in-depth episodes. My daughter watched these until she had nearly memorized them - and they took her quite far in mastering advanced American History topics. It is secular: it doesn't mention Christianity when it should (see Wallbuilders for context), and portrays an anachronistic feminist vibe in the Sarah character. But, overall remarkably accurate, educational, and fun to watch. 

Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego A fun, imaginative way to learn geography. This series has lots of iterations dating back to the 90's- including "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego," a 90's TV gameshow (than I've seen fairly recently on youtube), and a board game that we found in a thrift store and enjoy. This entire franchise has lots of resources to enjoy & learn from.

Superbook - this app includes episodes and games (you can also find the episodes on TBN). These are imaginative episodes in which modern kids - and their robot - time travel into Bible Stories. If you want to buy the DVD series, it can be found here: Superbook DVD series

Audio Resources:

Jonathan Park - 150 episodes of action-adventure audio stories teaching Creation Science, and a Christian World view. I prefer the unlimited subscription (at the "Unlimited" tab at the top of the page), but these episodes can also be purchased at their website (at the "Shop" tab). If you use secular science materials - or intend to send your kids to a state university to study, these episodes provide some good apologetics for a Christian view of Creation. They are strictly from a Young Earth perspective - even if this is not your personal perspective, these episodes provide a lot of food for thought about the earth's origins, and whether evolution, big bang, and similar theories of the earth's origins should be accepted unquestioningly. 

GT and the Halo Express Your kids (and YOU!) can memorize over 100 Bible verses while listening to these engaging musical audio dramas while riding in the car. I cannot recommend them highly enough. Seriously - if I only had enough money to buy these, for my entire curriculum budget for a year - they'd be my choice! (there's lots of free stuff for the other subjects ; )

Skipcount Kids Bible Heroes With these songs, kids learn to skip count proficiently, which is a foundational concept and skill for multiplication. Don't be surprised if you have a preschooler applying multiplication concepts after listening to these songs for a while in the car. There is a CD, but I couldn't find an available copy at the time of this writing. It can be found on Apple, Spotify, and Youtube, though. Often free : )

Video Games:

Starfall Has lots of fun educational games on the topics of reading and math for the pre-reader and early-reader stages. Some games are free, more are available with a reasonably-priced, paid subscription. They also sell the great early-readers that my daughter loved when she was little: Starfall Early Readers. Although there are free versions of these books at the site, there's something to be said for a kid falling in love with a book they can hold and read all-by-themselves : )

Prodigy math has lots of fun gamification of math skills for levels up to 8th grade (I have never tried their new English platform, only a fan of the math). I found this most helpful when I set my daughter's grade level BACK several grades, and had her polish skills she had previously become proficient in, while continuing to study at higher levels with me. This practice at "easy" math skills in a fun way, made all the difference between her being "okay" at math, and "good" at math. The educational content is free, the reasonably-priced paid version offers the ability to set grades back if you wish, as well as fun costumes for virtual characters and such to incentivize you kid's learning. 

Typer Island - we tried many typing programs and software. This is the one that clicked with my daughter that she really loved & learned from. She remembers it fondly enough that she reminded me to share it here. My personal philosophy is that typing should be mastered in early elementary, and this was a very kid-friendly platform.

Mission U.S. an immersive game in which players "live" parts of American history - from being an immigrant worker around 1900, to being a Japanese-American during WWII. These games have decided political undertones, so "caveat emptor" (even though they're free ; ) 

Whack-a-bone - simple game to help learners of all ages learn the more common names of the bones in the human skeleton.

Finance Games - this is an excellent selection of games about financial life skills. It's probably best for the Jr High to High School age, though younger kids may well enjoy it. Some of these games help kids understand concepts like how hard it is to make ends meet as a gig-worker (like being an Uber or Lyft driver), or how hard it is to get a good job after getting into legal trouble. 

Multiplication.com - despite the name, this site has Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication AND Division games, as well as very helpful memory tricks to help kids memorize their multiplication facts. If I had it to do over again, I probably would have spent a lot less time doing direct math instruction, and a lot more time having my daughter play these games - which she loved. 

Peter Pig's Money Game  - this is a simple game to help kids basic money concepts, and how to count money. There are also app versions of this available from popular app platforms.

Grammar Gorillas - this is an older, low-tech game that can be played online for free. It teaches kids how to find the 8 parts of speech in various sentences. There's also an "easy" setting that is just nouns and verbs.

Dragonbox - This app teaches basic Algebraic methods and reasoning, to help lay very good foundation in that subject. It helps a student develop a feel for what should go where, and the order in which things should be done. In addition to being  a great educational product, I enjoyed playing this. That's really saying something, since I'm a person who had previously strongly disliked both video games and algebra. My daughter enjoyed it, and learned a lot from it, too : ) There's a younger version at the same site, which we never tried, but that you might like. We also tried their Geometry product (Elements), but were disappointed in that and never finished it.  

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego This is a very old game - again, my daughter reminded me to add it, because it is great. But, attempting to download retro games for free to play online can bring viruses - so I'll provide the name - you find a site you like. You might also be able to find an older version on CD, if you have the older computer to play it on. (There's also a very old Board Game by this same name which we also enjoy)

Honorable Mention:

Cluefinders

As I was writing this, my daughter reminded me that she loved Cluefinders when she was a kid - even then, it was really old. If you can find an older version from a thrift store or such, and have a machine to run it, it is good. And, who knows- you might be able to find a reboot somewhere (I do see one with a lot of glitches exists on one app-selling platform). She enjoyed the levels that targeted various grades 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade - but we did not play them during any particular year - if I recall correctly, she did them all within a few weeks of each other. We did not try other versions of games from this company.

Happy Slacking! 

Family Favorite Orzo Salad

Family Favorite Orzo Salad (Vegan, Lenten)

This salad is one of my family's most requested meals; and if I take it to a potluck, it is very well-received.  It's easy to make, and economical, too.

I usually make it to taste, but in interest of making it share-able, I measured my ingredients this time. All amounts should be taken as suggestions - make this to your family's taste.

This is how I make it.

Family Favorite Orzo Salad

1 pound Orzo, cooked al dente, in salted water, according to package directions. Rinse in cool water in sieve when done. 

While Orzo is cooking, chop vegetables, and place them in a large salad bowl

2 cups fresh tomato, diced, OR 2 cups grape tomatoes, sliced diagonally

1 large cucumber, diced

1/2 jar pitted Kalamata Olives (sliced or whole), drained - about 1/2 cup of olives

When Orzo has been rinsed and drained, add it to the salad bowl on top of the veggies

To Dress, season with

1 to 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil (or Vegetable Oil, if fasting from Olive Oil)

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 Tablespoon Garlic Salt

1 Tablespoon Dried Oregano

Several grinds of Fresh Ground Black Pepper 

Toss, taste, adjust seasonings to taste.

If you're dining during a season other than Lent, during Cheesefare week, or with those who are not fasting from cheese, Feta Cheese may be served on the side for topping, if desired. 

This can be served as soon as it's made, or it can be chilled to take to a Lenten Potluck.

Homemade Crazy Cake Mix, with Variations

Homemade Crazy Cake Mix

Crazy cake is a Vegan & Lenten cake that is super easy to mix up from ingredients most people have on hand. It can easily be put together when guests drop by. It's also great for taking to a Potluck, and there's seldom any left.

There are tons of recipes for Crazy Cake, and LOTS of variations out there. One of my favorite places to find fun variations is on the Sweet Little Bluebird Blog. Some of my variations are inspired by her site. But, I've been using this type of recipe for about 25 years now, so some variations are also from other sources.

Our Church has a Potluck every Wednesday during Lent, and I love that I can bring a different cake every week if I want to. 

But, if I'm going to make a cake every week, I like to save a few steps, which is why last year I created my own Crazy Cake mix. Now it's even faster and easier than ever!

I'll share several different sizes of mix below, with variations in flavors.  "One Cake" is an 8x8 square cake, but you can also use this to make cupcakes, or use more batter for a larger cake - just experiment with the baking times a bit.

With any of these variations you can choose to add 1/2 cup or so of optional ingredients to the batter, such as chocolate chips, raisins, or nuts. And of course, they can also all be topped with icing or your favorite topping, if you like.

Crazy Cake Mix For 1 Cake
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Crazy Cake Mix For 2 Cakes
3 Cups Flour
2 Cups Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt

Crazy Cake Mix For 4 Cakes
6 Cups Flour
4 Cups Sugar
4 teaspoons Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Salt

Crazy Cake Mix For 6 Cakes
9 Cups Flour
6 Cups Sugar
2 Tablespoons Baking Soda
1 Tablespoon Salt 

 

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Crazy Cake with Cinnamon Sugar Topping

 

To Make One Cake from Crazy Cake Mix:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
Grease or oil 8X8 baking dish - I use a glass dish, but a metal cake pan also works
******
Measure 2 1/2 Cups Mix
Add Optional Dry Ingredients (like spices or cocoa) to Mix, and Stir
Set Aside
******
In a separate bowl or glass measuring cup, measure Liquid Ingredients:
1 Cup Liquid (usually water, but for some flavors, substitute part of water with other liquids like Fruit Juices or Molasses)
1/3 Cup Oil
1 Tablespoon Vinegar (Apple Cider or White work well)
2 teaspoons Vanilla or other Flavoring Extract
******
Pour liquid ingredients into Dry ingredients. Stir & Pour into Cake Pan.
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
If using Cinnamon Sugar, or just Sugar topping, top immediately while still hot- this helps it stick.
If using Frosting or Icing, let cake cool completely before topping
For Best Results, allow to cool completely before cutting

Variations:

Chocolate: Add 2 Heaping Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder to Dry Ingredients. 1/2 Cup Optional Chocolate Chips and/or Nuts may also be added to dry Ingredients. May be topped with Sugar or Cinnamon-Sugar as soon as it comes out of the oven, or it can be cooled and frosted, if you prefer. 

Cinnamon: Add Scant Tablespoon Cinnamon to Dry Ingredients. Top with abundant Cinnamon Sugar after baking, while still hot.

Apple: Reduce water by 1/2 cup. Add Cinnamon to Dry ingredients (1 to 3 teaspoons, depending on how much you like Cinnamon) Add 1 1/2 Cups Grated Fresh Apple to wet ingredients. Depending on the moisture in your apple, you may wish to add up to a 1/4 cup more water at this point. Optional nuts can also be added. Top generously with Cinnamon-Sugar as soon as you remove it from the oven.

Vanilla Chocolate Chip: Use 1 Tablespoon of Vanilla instead of a teaspoon when mixing wet ingredients. Add Chocolate Chips to Dry Ingredients (about 1/2 cup). Top generously with granulated sugar as soon as you remove it from the oven. 

Other Variations: Once you have the mix and the pattern, you can create as many variations as your creativity allows! I've made lots of other variations on this over the years, but have not recorded them all. Lemon, Spice (using a bit of molasses in place of some water), etc. 

 I like to cut this cake in 16 pieces (4 pieces x 4 pieces) and place it in cupcake liners for easy serving.  

As you can see from the picture at the top of this post, I write the recipe on the outside of my storage canister, so that I can easily make a cake without getting out a recipe box, and I can also easily refill the canister when it gets empty.

Hope you enjoy it!