Guest Post: Advice from a homeschooler

Today I am excited to share a blog post from my friend, Wendy over at Twisted Domestic Goddess. She has been very helpful in my quest to start homeschooling. If you're looking into homeschooling or have just started, she has some great advice for you!

I was asked by my dear bloggy friend Farrah to write a post to all of you new homeschoolers and those pondering homeschooling. She knows this is a topic very near to my heart since I have been a homeschooling mom for the last 7 years. While thinking what to write I mulled over all the standard ideas. You know inundating you with tons of links to curriculum, or giving you a list of pros and cons of homeschooling. Chances are though if you are considering becoming a homeschooling family you have already done all that research.

What I want to share with you today is encouragement. It is true homeschooling may not be right for every family, but only you can answer the question of whether or not it is right for YOUR family. No doubt when you decide to homeschool you’re going to be surrounded by more nay sayers than encouragers. You know who I’m talking about the people who need to share with you why they think you,yourself should not teach you kids at home. The one thing I have learned over the years is the best way to react to these people is to just smile and remain silent. You know the old adage “the proof is in the pudding?” It’s true. I have had many people in my life who have come back years later to tell me they love the fact that I homeschool, where only a couple years ago they were ready to argue every point of why I shouldn’t.

Secondly, just how no two snowflakes are the same, neither are any two homeschool families. The one schedule, and curriculum that works so well for one family, may not work so well for your family. Don’t let this discourage you! Take a deep breath, step back and evaluate what your children need. They may not need a strict schedule for the day or they may need a schedule where every subject is pinpointed down to the hour and minute to keep them on track. One of the beautiful things about homeschooling is it is not school at home and you get to make your world of learning your own! Learning in a fun and relaxed atmosphere is a lot more productive than learning in one where mom is constantly stressed about what do next. If you find that a 5 day a week,6 hour a day school schedule works best, go for it. If you discover that less is more and you’re only schooling 3 hours a day 4 days a week…don’t let anything stop you from doing this. I choose to school year round with my children. I have found this way four our family works best. When we need to take breaks we do and when unexpected things come up that require us to take time off I don’t have to worry about running into our summer when we should be on break.

Lastly, enjoy your time homeschooling. I cannot encourage this enough. It is not always going to be easy or fun, but it is always going to be worth it. As a homeschooling parent you get a special sneak peek into your child’s life other parents may not get. There is a special bond formed that only deepens with time. Enjoy this time, savor it, and know that you are raising and educating the way you have chosen is best for your child and be proud of that decision. They are only little once. I'm linking up to: Welcome to the Weekend Blog Hop!

Blog Dare: My most unhealthy habit

It's been a while since I've done a blog dare post. Today's question is perfect because I am always trying to tweak my habits. What is your most unhealthy habit?


I'm sure a lot of us are guilty of poor eating habits. The eating habit I struggle with most is eating too late at night. I mean, hello, I'm a mom! I have three kids, four and under. Our schedule is the opposite of everyone else's. While most husbands come home at the dinner hour, mine is just leaving for work. It's a very hectic time of day for us.

After dinner, comes my alone time in the evening with the kids. Some nights you can find me attempting to clean and the kids are doing their own thing. Other nights we do little activities together. Either way, my time is stretched and I am not always able to eat when everybody else does. At 8 p.m., after the kids are in bed, I usually park my butt on the couch for about an hour. That is my time. Whether I make a phone call to a friend or just catch up on TV, I need that time to just wind down from the day.

To avoid eating so late, I've had to learn to force myself to at least eat something. Even if it's a small snack in the evening, at least I am getting something in my body. When I get into the bad habit of eating at nighttime, my weight starts going back up. And also I just find myself wide awake. To combat this bad habit, I've really tried to make myself go to bed before midnight. That's late for some people, but I seriously need the time to catch up on stuff or just find my sanity again.

So far this year I've been doing pretty well on not eating so late at night. I do fall back into my bad habit sometimes, but not as badly as I used to. Here's to hoping this is a lifestyle change and not just something I'll do for a few more months.

What is YOUR most unhealthy habit? Do you struggle with bad eating habits too?

Guest post: Is kindergarten the new first grade?

Guest post by Nichole at Just Another Blogger Mom
 

Do you remember when you were in kindergarten?  Although I don't remember every detail of it, I do remember that I loved my teacher, I loved music class and learning my ABC's and how to count. Show and tell was always a fun time too!  I remember getting to spend 1/2 the day with my teacher and classmates, and 1/2 the day home with my mom and younger brother.  You may have similar memories from kindergarten.

Sadly though, most of our children won't have those same memories.  There are so many more expectations put on our children BEFORE they ever even entered kindergarten!!  I mean, have you seen the list of all the stuff they are expected to know and do before they can be considered ready!?  It's huge!  

At this time last year, my son's preschool was talking big time about making sure he was ready for kindergarten.  I remember thinking, 'yeah ok?  How much does he really have to know to be ready?'  until they handed me the list... 'for real?  he has to know ALL this!?' Panic hit!  How was I going to teach him all of this stuff in that short of time and not make him hate learning!?

Finally, I calmed myself down, took a step back and decided that I would do what I could to help him be prepared in time... that was all I could do.  I was not going to put pressure on my then four year old.  I didn't want him to have to stress about being tested or being ready.

The day of testing came and despite my sons preschool teachers telling me he was prepared, I was advised that I might want to hold him back due to his fine motor skills.  He'd already gone to preschool for two years, I didn't feel another year would help him, so I decided to proceed with the Kindergarten enrollment.  I got a call from the principal.  He asked if I was prepared to make my son repeat kindergarten again a 2nd time since he would probably not be ready after just one year. 

My son is now 1/2 way through kindergarten and is testing higher than most kids at his age {according  the standardized testing that they just completed a month ago}.  He will not have to repeat kindergarten, but I worry when the time comes for my youngest to enter kindergarten..how much more will HE have to know to enter?  Or to go onto first grade? 

Life and all of it's challenges

Zephaniah 3:17

The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. 

First of all, I'd like to apologize for the lack of updates. This month has been extremely busy for us. Read on and you will understand why. 

Tomorrow we head up to the hospital for my husband's cardiac MRI. It's a test that will tell us exactly how well my husband's heart is functioning at this point. At the end of the month, we go back for the results and his annual cardiology check up. Then we should know whether or not my husband is having surgery to replace his pulmonary valve this year. It's a waiting game at this point. And it's a little scary. So I ask you all to keep my husband and our family in your prayers at this time.

I will remain absent for most of the rest of the month, but I do have some guest posts for you all to look forward to. I hope all of my readers are doing well. And thank you for your understanding as our family goes through this.

Boogie Wipes Winner!

The winner of the Boogie Wipes Giveaway is entry #309 Lauren G.! Congratulations, Lauren! I will be e-mailing you shortly.

We Want To Know Wednesday

I had so much fun with this last week, I just had to do it again! :)

{1} What is your favorite way to celebrate birthdays?
You know, what is really awesome is that my birthday is April 30th and my husband's birthday is May 2nd. So we celebrate together! Almost like going out for our anniversary twice a year. We love getting a babysitter and just having a nice dinner and seeing a movie...alone! Our kids are so close in age (4, 2 1/2, 18 months) that our days our hectic, so the break is nice sometimes.

{2} Which is more fun to celebrate? Celebrating yours or your loved ones?
I have more celebrating my kids' birthdays, honestly. We have big birthday parties with close friends & families. I make their cakes or cupcakes and we just have an all out good time. Plus their birthdays are all in the summer so it's crazy fun (and busy, busy, busy!)
{3} What is your dessert of choice for birthday celebrating?
Ice cream cake! Though I rarely get it.

{4} Tell us about your best birthday you've ever had.
I'd say my Sweet 16. My parents let me have a bowling party with a ton of friends from school. I remember having an absolute blast and I got my first digital camera. It was huge and old school by today's standards, but back in 2003, that was awesome. :P And I just realized that was almost 10 years ago...yikes!

{5} Share your favorite birthday song
Is it sad to say that I always sing along to the birthday song when they do the daily birthdays on the Sprout TV Channel? Give me a break, I'm a mom.

{6} Bonus Question: if you could pick any age to be again, how old would you be and why?

Coming from some one who had a pretty rough start in my early adulthood (18-22ish) I'm okay with where I'm at. My life has changed a lot and for the better. 

Our DIY Playroom Renovation

I seem to have recently found the DIYer in me. About 2 1/2 weeks ago, my husband and I renovated our children's playroom. Goodbye 1970s/80s wood paneling! Yuck. Our project consisted of tearing down the paneling, scraping old wallpaper adhesive off of the walls (1960s velvet green wallpaper, anyone?), patching holes (he did all of that), sanding the walls, and finally painting. I picked a nice, neutral beige and added some wall decals for decor. I'm planning on adding more decor later, but I haven't gotten to that yet. I have a super cute idea that I can't wait to share with all of you once I get around to completing it. And we also have yet to paint the trim, but the main part is done and that's what matters.

Once the weather warms up consistently, I have a couple of more DIY projects planned. We have an older dresser that was given to us and I'd like to bring some life to it. I'm going to sand it down and paint it a nice dark blue and give it an old, rugged look at the same time. I think I'll also change the knobs on it. I'm hoping to complete that sometime in April. We also have an old desk that has been painted, but is ugly. I've got the same plans for it as the dresser, but not sure what kind of look I want for this desk yet. Who knows, maybe I can get into this as a hobby? I blame my mom. She was always doing little DIY projects while I was growing up and still does! I think it's a lot of fun.

Without further adieu, here is our little project!

A before picture (view from the living room)

Here is the paneling torn down...

Painting done!

 

And the decor...so far!

I'm linking up to:

Meal Plan Monday

Here's what is on our family's menu for the week! This week we're having a few repeats from last week as I had a lot of leftover ingredients.

~Spaghetti & meatballs with a veggie side
~Chicken fettuccine mixed with broccoli
~Chicken and biscuits
~Porkchops with applesauce & broccoli
~Sub sandwich night
~Grilled cheese & tomato soup
~Taco salad

I'm linking up to Meal Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com!

Boogie Wipes Giveaway (ends 3/9)

Who is excited for another Boogie Wipes giveaway? I know I am! I am a Saline Ambassador for the second time this quarter and I absolutely love the chance to tell everyone about these great products.

Boogie Wipes are a natural saline wipe that come in three varieties: fresh scent, grape, and menthol. As a mom of three young children, I really dislike fighting my kids to wipe their noses because other facial tissues are dry. The fact that these are moist wipes was a definite selling point for me. If you don't prefer the fresh scent, the grape and menthol are good choices too because the scent isn't too strong. The package has a snap lid, which helps the wipes stay moist and it is small enough to throw in your purse or diaper bag for on the go. I highly recommend this product to moms, parents, and caregivers of children all ages!

Are you ready for the giveaway?! Please note that previous winners aren't eligible this time around. Sorry about that, but I want to be fair to everyone. Thanks for understanding!

I was not compensated for this review, but as a Saline Ambassador I am provided with free samples and products to hand out and for my own use.


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