5 Homeschooling Mistakes I Have Made

What better way to embarrass myself than to share some mistakes I have made in homeschooling. (hahaha)
I wanted to share these mistakes with you so you can learn from some of the things I did. Also, I wanted to show that you are not alone in making mistakes. Here we go, my 5 homeschooling mistakes I have made.


1. Rushing my son to read.
In my first year of homeschooling, I was so concerned with keeping my son on track with what kids his age are doing. All this did was bring stress into his time for learning. He was scared to make a mistake and when he did make a mistake I got annoyed. I was worried that if he wasn't doing exactly what kids in public school could do that it meant I was failing as a homeschooler. Oh, how I was mistaken.

I am now much more relaxed and my son has since made some huge improvements in reading.


2. Stick to the curriculum
For whatever reason, I thought I had to stick to the curriculum and not wonder. My children would want to learn about something else but I was so focused on what the curriculum laid out that I didn't let them explore topics they wanted.


3. Not taking breaks.
Everyone has a bad day, including kids. Instead of allowing them to have a break on their bad days, I pushed them through their lessons. This didn't do anyone a favor and often times ending up with someone crying.
Breaks are a good thing!



4. Buying into others opinions about curriculums.
I have wasted money in buying curriculum just because a blogger recommended it. I didn't do any research of my own but blindly trusted the opinion of someone else. I have since come to learn to not do this.


5. Comparing.
This is my number 1 mistake! I have compared my homeschool to others homeschool and my children to their children. Don't go down this road. It leads to stress, discouragement, and even bitterness. If you have a hodgepodge unscheduled type of homeschool and it works for your family, then you just go ahead and do that. 


There you have it, 5 homeschooling mistakes I have made. I hope you can learn from these as I did. I would love to hear from you in the comments, what are some mistakes you have made?

The Good and The Beautiful Controversy | My Personal Thoughts

If you are using The Good and The Beautiful homeschool curriculum or have been thinking about it then I'm sure you know somewhat about what is going on. If not, here is a basic rundown.
The Good and The Beautiful is a non-denominational curriculum produced by Jenny Phillips. One of the issues some homeschoolers are having with this is that the creator is a member of the Latter Day Saints.

My family and I personally use the curriculum, and we love it. I have yet to come across anything about the Mormon religion. TGTB does a wonderful job keeping the curriculum non-denominational. I know of many other homeschoolers who love this curriculum as well.

So, here are my thoughts on all of this. I think it is great to read reviews and hear the thoughts of others when it comes to a curriculum, but they are all just opinions. We should take opinions with a grain of salt and form our own decisions. Believe me, I am guilty of following along with what someone else is doing, and it always ends up not working out for me. You should do what works best for your children.

As far as the religious beliefs of Jenny herself, it doesn't bother me. I am careful about all curriculum, books, and tv shows that I allow my Children to view/use. As parents, we should all be careful about what we use and not be blind even if the creator of the material has the same convictions that we have. Curriculums are simply a tool we use in our homeschool and it should never rule our lives. The reviews and opinions of others should only help guide us, not make a decision for us. (that includes my opinions)

Those are my thoughts on this topic. We do plan to use TGTB in the school year to come. I also plan to have a more detailed review of TGTB on my blog in the very near future. Make sure you subscribe to my blog and follow me on my social media accounts so you don't miss anything!

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5 Tips to Start Your Homeschool

I get messages and comments almost daily asking about homeschooling and how to get started. When I decided to homeschool I had so many questions and really didn't know where to turn. So, in this post, I will lay out some great resources in getting started and different things you can do to start your homeschool journey. Here are my 5 tips in getting started with homeschooling your kids.

1. Research your State laws.
You need to know what your state requires of homeschool families. States are all different and have different laws. Some require testing, keeping track of hours, or schooling for 180 days. It's important to know what your State will need from you. HSLDA is a wonderful place to find all that information.

2. Get Connected.
One of the first things I did when I decided to homeschool was to find local Facebook groups. I just typed in the name of my town and added the word "

homeschool" after it. I found a few groups and made some valuable connections. I learned about the different programs our community had to offer for homeschooling families. I also made some great friends.

3. Educational approach.
There are so many different types of homeschool methods. I recommend trying to figure out how you want to homeschool so you can easily narrow down your search for curriculum. Here are some methods to help get you started.
Unschooling
Eclectic
Charlotte Mason
Classical
Waldorf
Montessori
Online Schooling

(It's okay if you identify with more than one of these approaches)

4. Curriculum
This is where homeschooling can get overwhelming. There are tons of curriculum choices out there and they all range in different prices. Don't let this part stress you out. Before I bought any curriculum I watched YouTube videos and read online reviews. I checked out prices and made a list of all the things I would need. It helps to know how your child learns best so you can tailor their curriculum to best fit their needs. I will leave some links below of places you can find curriculum at.
Timberdoodle
Rainbow Resources
Christain Book

There are many other sites you can use, including Amazon. The three I shared are the ones that I personally use the most.

5. Relax
Homeschooling can be whatever you want it to be for your family. If you are pulling your kids from public school, take some time to unwind from it. Your homeschool does not need to be like public school or someone else's homeschool. Do what works for you and your children. Chances are you will change up your schedule and even curriculum choices throughout the years of homeschooling. It's all okay! It helps to have some good homeschool mom friends to help encourage you through these times.

I hope you found this helpful. If you did, go ahead and give it a share! Thanks for reading.

Why We Chose Baby Led Weaning

 

Co-sleeping, attachment parenting, and crunchy mom are just a few labels for different ways of parenting. I prefer not to use any of these but instead just do what works for our family and kids. This brings me to the topic of baby led weaning.

When I first heard about it I had no idea what it was. I assumed it just meant you let the baby decide when they are ready to eat food and wean from breastfeeding. I was kind of wrong. Baby led weaning is offering baby foods that they feed to themselves. You don't puree anything and you don't feed them baby food. You instead cut food into strips and let the baby feed themselves. Sound scary? Yeah, I thought so too.

I didn't plan to do baby led weaning. In fact, I bought everything I needed to make and store all my own homemade baby food. But when it came time for my baby to eat food, she refused it. She would smack the spoon away from her face and refuse to open her mouth. I figured she just wasn't ready for solid foods and decided that we would wait a little longer. A few weeks would pass and I would try it again, she still refused.

This battle went on for weeks. I finally decided to just give over and try baby led weaning. I read up on it as much as I could and even joined a great facebook group to learn more. After making myself more familiar with BLW, we gave it a try.

We started out with avocados and it was a huge success! She took a few bites of it and played a lot with it. She had fun! There was a learning curve for my baby on how to chew food and swallow it. She did gag a lot, but she never chocked. She was slow moving with BLW. Sometimes she just wanted to play with her food, but we kept offering it to her.

Eventually, Raegan started to eat without gagging and she learned how to chew her food. She is 10 months old and feeds herself very well. She likes all types of foods but loves anything that has carbs! (Girl after my own heart.)

All of that to say, we chose BLW because it is what worked best for our baby. There are so many benefits to BLW and if we have another baby we would probably do BLW again.

If you are interested in doing BLW with your baby, I highly recommend doing some research first. There are some things you do need to know before you start and some safety factors to consider. Here is the facebook group I joined that is full of very useful information, tips, recipes, and even encouragement. The group is named Baby Led Weaning for Beginners & Beyond (BLWBB)

Weight Loss

I want to be honest and transparent in my writing. Even though this is embarrassing to admit, I weigh over 200lbs. I'm not confident to reveal my actual weight, but a few weeks ago, I was the heaviest I have ever been. (not including pregnancy weight) 

Of course, this weight gain didn't happen overnight. It's taken me 13yrs, 6 pregnancies, a miscarriage, a stillborn, losing my mom and sister, and lots of depression to get here. Naturally, I can't expect the weight to come off overnight. I know it's going to take a lot of hard work and I am finally prepared for it.

I started to lose weight in April. That is when I finally got serious about this. It's May now and I am still sticking with it. I am very proud of myself! I have been sharing my weight loss journey on Instagram and have gotten messages asking what I am doing. So, let's dive into that question.

I am not following a program, taking supplements, or following a specific workout routine. I am doing things slowly and changing my lifestyle so things will stick and become a habit. I am still breastfeeding, so I am carefully making sure that what I do does not affect my milk supply. I'm ready for a change, and so far it is working.

I try to eat a low carb diet. I limit sugary foods and eat smaller portions of food. I don't want to remove foods that I love from my diet like brownies or ice cream. I do limit how often I can have those and eat small portions of them. This has been working out very well for me so far. I enjoy eating healthy foods like salads, but I do not like fruit. I've been finding lots of new ways to enjoy old recipes by taking out carbs and replacing them with things like spaghetti squash.
(I share a lot of the foods I am eating on my Instagram stories, follow me here)

As far as working out goes, I've stayed very consistent. In April, I focused a lot on changing my eating habits. I knew I needed to start there before I added anything else. Since the beginning of May, I have been walking 1 to 2 miles a day. I also started to add in climbing stairs once a week. There's a place in town that has 500 stairs to climb. It's a killer workout but it feels good to be able to complete something so hard. I will continue doing this through May. In June, I would like to add in lifting weights.

My goal here is to feel better and be healthy. As a family, we try and eat organic foods and don't eat a lot of processed stuff. We have also been limiting meals with meat and adding in replacements like Quinoa. I want to feel better emotionally and physically. I also want my kids to learn from me that our physical health is important and we should make efforts to be healthy.  

If you'd like to follow along on this journey with me, follow me on Instagram. I look forward to updating my weight loss in the months to come.
What are some things that you do to stay healthy or lose weight? I'd love to hear from you, leave me a comment below.

5 Reasons Why We Homeschool Year Round

I homeschool my children year round. Our schedule and the type of things we do during the summer is different than what we do during the traditional school year. In the summer we do more nature studies, poetry, art, and whatever else might interest my kids at the time.

Here are my 5 reasons why I homeschool all year!


1
I don't want my kids to forget all the things they learned at the end of the school year when we get back into school after summer. I like to make sure they stick to their math lessons and reading. This is especially important to me for my younger ones who are just learning to read.

2
We get to do a lot of outside learning. We live in Michigan where winter can be long. (It's April 13th and we have snow storms coming)
Summer allows us to get outside and explore science through nature. We do a lot of our nature studies in the summer. I even have some fun poetry teatimes planned for this summer!

3
We are always ahead.
Because we school through the summer, we can take longer breaks during the traditional school year. For Christmas break, we can take 3 weeks off. If the weather is nice in the fall we can take a "sun day" and enjoy the weather before it gets cold.

4
During the traditional school year, I can slow down lessons that the kids who might need a bit more time understanding it. I don't feel rushed or a time pressure to get things completed. The kids don't feel that either so it helps them perform better.

5
Because of all these reasons we can gently homeschool year long. We have no need to "hit things hard" or rush to finish anything. All of this makes homeschooling more enjoyable for the kids and less stressful for me.

Homeschool Q&A

I asked my facebook friends to share some questions they had about homeschooling. Here are some of those questions.

What is the process to start homeschooling your children 
This depends on the state you live in. If you are interested in homeschooling your child you should look up your state laws. HSLDA is a great resource for state laws about homeschooling.

 Do you ever fear they will have social anxiety from homeschooling and not being in a school environment?
 I personally do not worry that my kids will have social anxiety because we homeschool. In fact, our kids are more socially engaged in healthy environments and with people of all ages. My 13yr old can talk to a 30yr old just as confidently as she can talk with someone her own age.
My kids are involved in activities with kids of their own ages like church clubs, co-op classes, sports, and library functions.

How long per day do you have to spend on each lesson and are they homeschooled approximately the same hours that they would be in school?
Some states require that you count hours of school instead of days. We are in a state that counts the days.
The second part of this question will be different depending on the family. For our family, no, my kids are not schooled the same hours as they would be in public school.
There are many different reasons for this. In a school setting, you usually have one teacher in a class teaching 25 or more students. I am able to give my children one on one attention during a lesson and this makes it go by faster. Once they understand a concept, we move on to the next lesson.
We start school at 9am. My 2nd grader and preschooler are done with school by 12. My 6th and 8th grader is done around 1 or 2. (This includes breaks)

How do you keep the kids socialized and are there still after school type of activities they can do? Band? Dances?I keep my kids socialized just like any other kid. They go to birthday parties, have friends over or go to a friend's home, and make new friends at a number of different outings. My kids go to church kid group and Sunday school, dance classes, library activities, or other homeschool related outings with other families. There are so many ways to socialize a child without having them go to public school.

In my state homeschool kids can still participate in activities at their local public school. They can join sports teams, take classes, and even do band or choir. I'm not sure if this is an opportunity in all states so you will have to look up that information for your state.


How do you teach all of them at once if they're in different grades?I spend most of my time teaching my 2nd grader and preschooler. My 8th and 6th grader are excellent readers and can do 90% of their work without me. I am available to answer questions or help them but I want them to be independent learners because I believe this will help them in the future.
I can also group them all together on different subjects. We all do Bible work together, poetry, nature study, and are currently learning about all of the US Presidents.
It's all about balance and time management. It took me some time to learn how to do this, but we made it work.

How do you go about starting homeschool? Where do you get the curriculum?
To start homeschooling you should first look into your state laws. I would also find some local homeschool moms that you can talk with. You can learn a lot from other homeschool families. I will expand more on this question in another blog.
You can get curriculum anywhere. There are many different companies to purchase from and you can also buy materials from Amazon. It all depends on what kind of curriculum you are looking for. I like to purchase from Amazon, Timberdoodle, Rainbow Resources and Christian Books websites. You can also find things on Pinterest and your local library.

What do you do when you reach a subject that you yourself are not very good at?
Thankfully there are a number of wonderful curriculum that will do all the teaching for you.
I am not the best at math so my kids use Teaching Textbooks. It's a computer-based program that teaches my kid's math and keeps track of their progress and scores. You can find similar curriculum for just about any subject.

How do you know if your child is where they should be?
Some states will require that homeschool children take tests. We are in a state that does not require this of us, but we can still have them tested. Testing can be done online or through a local school, or other private testing agencies.
Some curriculum will compare their levels to public school grade levels. I find that most homeschool materials are ahead of public school standards with their grade levels.
 
What does a normal day consist of?
This is a great question and I will have to write a separate blog on it, otherwise, this blog post will be too long.

Do you follow a schedule?
I like to start our homeschool days at 9. We have a little routine we follow to help us keep on track. I like to keep it simple here.

What kind of outside of home activities do you do?
Church, dance, drawing class, piano, library events, and community functions. I do my best to not over schedule our family so we can focus on our work at home during the traditional school months.

I hope you found this helpful and if you have any more questions, feel free to let me know!

Baltic Amber Necklaces | Do they really work?

When people see that my 6-month-old daughter has a necklace on I get asked questions. What is that? Do they work? Are they safe? All of these questions I have asked myself before deciding to purchase one. I thought this would a great topic to write on and help to answer these questions for you.

First of all, I am in no way an expert on this. I'm just simply a mom who uses Baltic Amber necklaces. In fact, this is my second time using one. Before Raegan, I had one for Haddy. I love them and have noticed a difference in using them with both of my girls. I wish I would have known about these with my other three kids!

What is a Baltic Amber necklace?
A Baltic Amber necklace is often worn by babies to help naturally cut the pain of teething.It is thought that when the necklace is worn by a baby the warmth of their skin releases tiny amounts of oil onto their skin that is then absorbed into their bloodstream. That is my not so scientific explanation on how it works. Of course, you can do a fast Google search and find all kinds of articles better explaining how Baltic Amber necklaces work and what they are.

Do they work?
For us, yes they work. When Haddy wore hers we didn't even realize she was teething till her teeth had already poked up through her gums. She didn't show any signs of teething. She was not crabby, didn't drool, and didn't have a fever. I was completely sold after that.
With Raegan, her amount of drool has cut down significantly since wearing it. Raegan doesn't have any teeth coming in, but when she does we will see how it works for her. I will even come back and update this post. (Typically our children don't start to get teeth until closer to 12 months)

Are they safe?
Yes and no, it all depends on the parent. If you do decide to purchase a Baltic Amber necklace for your baby, you should follow these guidelines.

1. Never leave your baby unattended while wearing it, especially if you notice them reaching for it and trying to chew on it. With my girls, they didn't even pay attention to the necklace. I doubt they even realized it was there.

2. Remove the necklace during naps and bedtime. I usually just wrap the necklace around their ankle and zip up their pajamas so they can't get to the necklace. If your baby won't leave it alone, I would just take it off.

As with anything, use common sense. These necklaces can be used safely and you should follow the directions that the company/business you purchase from recommends.

How do I know if I am buying a real Baltic Amber necklace?
You can do a few things with this. If you know someone who has used a Baltic Amber necklace with their child, ask them where they purchased it from.
I like to buy from Etsy, but there are all kinds of other places to buy from. I did find a great website with a lot of information on Baltic Amber. This website also sells a number of Baltic Amber jewelry. You can find their website here.

Funny Things Parents Say To Their Kids

Have you ever said something to your child that made you shake your head? Have you said something that made you think that this is something you never thought you would have to say to another human being? I have done this so many times, especially when it comes to my son.

I asked parents what were some funny things they have said to their children and I got some great responses. I want to share them with you for a good laugh. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!



Don't lick snow off the handrail.

Don't lick your popsicle drips off the gas station floor.

Stop licking your sister!
 
What are you doing behind that tree?! Pull your pants up and get over here now! No, you cannot pee on the tree, you’re a girl for crying out loud!

The IRS does not kill people with *axes*! They require us to pay *TAXES*!

Stop touching your butt!

Don't sit on your baby sister's head.

Is everyone wearing underwear? 

I'll pay you to take a nap.

No, you can't drink toilet water.
 
No, you cant eat soup with a toilet seat around your neck.
 
Is that chocolate or poop? Actually, I really don’t want to know.
 
Don't pick your brother's nose and eat it.
 
Quit putting money in your undies.
 
Don't pee on a random car in Walmart parking lot.



This was a fun post to write up. I had so many people messaging and commenting on all sorts of funny things they have had to say.
What are some funny things you have said to your kids?

Getting Rid Of Junk

The holidays have long passed but we are still on a homeschool break. I think as moms we don't ever get a break for the holidays. We are busy baking, cooking, wrapping, cleaning, and preparing for all the events that will take place. And once it's all over, we have a mess of things to do.

I don't know about you but my to-do list is long after the holidays. Decorations need to be taken down, new toys need to find a place, and I always try to hit up those 50% off sales after Christmas. After that is all finished, it's time to think about the new year. This is when I go on my cleaning and purging frenzy.

Even though this week has been busy with me getting all these things done, it feels good. I have gotten rid of so many unneeded and unwanted things. My house feels renewed, refresh, and clean.

Speaking of getting rid of things we don't need, how is your heart this new year? I'm not talking about your physical heart but your spiritual heart. Is your heart full of junk? Maybe you have some resentment cluttering up the cabinets, unforgiveness hidden in the back of your closet, anger lurking in the basement, or sadness taking up space under your bed.

Just as we clean out our home, we need to the same with our hearts. Carrying around junk makes it hard to keep things neat and tidy. It also makes it difficult to find room for new things like joy, love, and peace.

We need to take an inventory of what we have going on in our hearts and do some purging. It's a lot of work but once it's done you feel refreshed. So I challenge you to take your heart and all it's junk to the Lord in prayer. Ask him to help you work through the things you might have pushed into the junk drawer through the year. Chances are when you're done, your heart will feel renewed, refresh, and clean.

Large Family Grocery Shopping

One of the top questions I get asked is how I shop for our family. Many people are shocked when I tell them we feed our family of 7 on $400 a month. I don't use coupons and I stick to two stores, Wal-Mart and a day old bread store.

It's taken me a few years to figure all of this out. I tried couponing, driving to other stores for sales, using apps, and paying attention to flyers. None of those worked for me. I just need to get to the store and get out without having to mess with coupons or apps.

Here is how I do it.

Meal Plan

I start off by planning all our dinners. For our family dinner is the most expensive meal. I can easily plan breakfast and lunch, more on that later. I first figure out how many dinners I need to plan for. So for January, I will need 31 dinners. I grab a notebook and number the lines 1 to 31. I automatically give myself 4 "free" days as I like to call them. These are times we will eat leftovers or go out to dinner. After I do that I finish planning for the rest of the days. I add in my lunches and breakfasts by writing out all the things we will eat. Example: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, leftover dinner, etc. And for breakfast I know we eat oatmeal, eggs, toast, Cheerios, pancakes, yogurt, etc.

Grocery List

After I have my meal plan I go through the list and count up what I need to buy meat wise. I write all of that into my list and try to buy in bulk, if I can. I can later separate and freeze meat when I get home. Once I have all my dinner, lunch, and breakfast grocery list made out I add in snacks. 

Grocery Shopping

I shop at Wal-Mart for almost all of our food. I compare the prices and ingredients and try to make the best choice. After doing this for so many shopping trips you learn what brands to buy for your family. I will also buy things in bulk, like pancake mix. This way I can make up a bunch of pancakes and freeze them. I stick to my list the best I can. For bread, I shop at a local day old bread store. We buy 15 to 20 loafs of bread and freeze them in our deep freezer.

Home Cooking

Throughout the month I will check off the things I have made for my family. I try to plan out what I will make for dinner a week at a time so I stay on track. Of course, through the month we might need milk or other odds and ends we run out of. But the majority of my shopping is done on one day for that month.

Keep Your Lists

Keep your lists. For the following months, I look back at the previous month and plan out that month. I take a few meals out and add in new ones. I take the previous grocery list and work off that for what I need to get for the upcoming month. This saves me so much time.  


What you end up spending on your family on groceries will depend on what you buy and where you live. For our family, I choose to make simple meals and limit the number of processed foods we buy. Because of where we live fresh produce is hard to come by for decent prices, especially in the winter.

I hope you find this helpful. Just remember that what works for my family might not work for yours. It takes time to figure it all out and have a plan in place that works well for you and your family.

What are your tips and tricks for grocery shopping?