New Year's Homeschool Reflections | Operation Breakfast

I love this time of year!  New year, new plans - or maybe just a new look at old plans.  I use this time at the first of the year to take a look at how our school year is going, pray, and determine if we are still on the best path.

After just a bit of prayer and reflection, it became clear to me that we are on the right track but have some problems to solve.  One of the little-big issues that I found hindering our progress is my own morning routine (which is a whole other future blog post) and the second is breakfast.  Who knew something as simple as breakfast could be such a huge hang-up to our morning school work? 

I wish I could make a quick scramble of eggs and a side of bacon for everyone and then move on with the day.  Everyone would be well nourished, satisfied and ready to focus on school.  But my little guy is allergic to eggs and several other foods.  Cooking whole food lunches and dinners isn't much of a problem for me after all these years of dealing with food allergies, but breakfast has been my hang up for a long while.  I am not a morning person.  I prepare lunches and dinners from scratch, but breakfast?  I taught my children from an early age to prepare their own breakfast.  Great, right?  Evidently, not so much.  It's a fine plan for my girls.  My older ones are capable of preparing eggs, greek yogurt and smoothies as they like and my youngest typically shares my breakfast.  But my little guy...  And he's become quite picky about breakfast.  Left to his own choice, he would choose a bowl of rice cereal with a side of rice milk - the sweetened kind.  You can just imagine how well that works for him.  About the time breakfast is done, he's already looking for a snack and complaining that he is STARVING and there is nothing to eat.  Regardless of what healthy, whole food options I list off, he still sees nothing of interest for breakfast.  His second preference for breakfast would be a fresh grilled steak.  Smart kid!  But I don't have the budget to grill steak every morning.

Thus, Operation Breakfast begins.  We created a weekly breakfast meal plan for my son and another for my daughter's and I.  Together we make the plan, shop, and prep the dishes on the weekends or evenings - although most of that prep work is on me.  No more "There's nothing to eat!" complaining as they stare into the refrigerator.  And no more "I don't want that!" when I respond with their options.  The plan is made (with their input) and the plan is what they will eat.  It has worked just fine for lunches and dinners all these years, I'm not sure why I didn't do this for breakfast sooner as well.  Oh right, that whole I am not a morning person thing. This year that is also changing.  

Our first breakfast item - Homemade Granola (egg free, grain free, sweetened with honey) is prepared, Instagrammed, and ready to be stored for the week to come.  It's delicious, crunchy and filling.  Pictures, Meal Plan and food-allergy friendly recipes coming soon!  

Also stay tuned for updates as we move our way into the second half of our 2013-2014 homeschool year in Rome to Reformations and First Grade with My Father's World.  

Happy, Happy New Year!

~Michelle @ My Blue Daisy