Short Answer: YouTube Long Answer: About ten YouTube videos, because someone is giving bad information and you have to make sure the “amazing” recipe you find is actually going to work so you need to find multiple people using the recipe and at least one review of the recipe and if you’re really lucky a before and after video using the recipe. Back in the day, there weren’t 75 videos on how to make your own dish soap. In fact, back in the day I couldn’t find ONE video on how to make dish soap for hand washing. Okay, the exception was people saying to wash your dishes in Castille…
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School Fees (or I Was Not Prepared Even Though I Thought I Was)
You all saw I set aside cash money for school supplies. “I’m a bigwig now!” I thought. “I can buy them shoes whenever they need them!” I walked around the house practically looking like Mick Jagger I was chicken dance-walking so hard around my living room. Then we registered the children for school. $281 in fees later my school supply budget is at closer to $70. (We don’t actually pay the $31 in fees to the Kindy until next week, I think but I’ve included it in the total because it will be paid next week.) Which makes me feel very confused and strange. On one hand: Hooray!! We were…
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The Pros and Cons of Online School Shopping
When I was young, I had to be bribed to go shopping. I hated trying on clothes. I didn’t like or understand fashion, and looking cute was never something I cared about. (Yes, this turned out exactly as you’d expect. I was horribly teased most of my life. Now? Surprise! I know fashion like you wouldn’t believe and have three daughters who love fashion. Nature? Nurture? Who knows. I still don’t care about fashion and basically live in Old Navy v-neck t-shirts, jeans, and capri pants & jeans.) All this to try and convey how much I hate shopping. Mr. Brickie does all the grocery shopping for the house. Yes,…
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How and Why One Mom Started Vaping (an e-cigarette love story)
After re-reading this post for typos and grammar, I feel it sounds like an advertisement or “sponsored” post for vaping or a vape company. It is not. This is an unpaidfor piece based on my experience for the purpose of helping someone who might be int he same position I am right now and wondering if the change is possible and how difficult it might be. I purchased (and was not reimbursed for) the products I talk about owning in this post. I have been trying to quit smoking for years. Even during this horrible winter, I’ve stood in front of my house or right at my back door in…
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“Teacher Gifts” would Bankrupt Me!
Last night my kids wrapped teacher gifts for their teachers. One gift for the main classroom teacher and one for each math teacher because they both go to math for an hour a day. Also because they are math teachers and I think that deserves a yearly prize because it’s awesome. My kids were wrapping and having fun and using all my Japanese Washi Tape (<– Look! I figured out how to use Amazon affiliate links!) and I was starting to feel bad. I knew they had more teachers and here I was only taking care of one more than the bare minimum. In what I can only call a moment of…
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Homeschooling the Preschool Child
I have been on a six month saga to get my daughter into a preschool. The local programs are state funded by this really cool preschool for all grant. The thing is, there are risk factors. If there is low competition for spots, financial risk can get you in. It makes sense, because a child that grows up in a financially unstable is at higher risk for mental illness, among other things. We are actually very lucky, because only having financial instability (without other risk factors) and being hyper-aware that can be a problem, I make it a point not to stress out around my kids or get them stressed…
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How to Keep Up With Math in the Summer on the Cheap
My two older kids are going into second and third grade. They were both in accelerated math last year so when they were in first grade and second grade they were doing second and third grade math. Now that they’re going into second and third grade, they will be doing third and fourth grade math. I could calculate statistical data to six sigma without breaking a sweat, but saying that sentence up there out loud breaks my brain. I pretty much took an hour figuring out what kind of workbooks the kids needed. First I had to figure out what grade level was “review” – was it the actual grades…
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Universal Class Review (It’s Falling A Little Short of My Expectations)
Maybe I want too much. Maybe I’m greedy. Maybe nothing is ever good enough for me. Whether or not any of those things apply, I have a problem with the way Universal Class is being run. I’m currently in three classes: Tarot Cards 101 (Why not?) Meditation 101: Learn How to Meditate (I’m a stressed, edgy lady. Grrr.) Creative Writing Workshop (I figure I can’t afford the thousands of dollars to go to Hedgebrook yet, so…I did this. It made sense at the time.) My library subscribes to the Universal Class service and so the classes are available under that subscription. If you wanted an unlimited yearly membership and your…
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How Do I Determine Reading Placement for My Daughter? (also, kid anxiety is sad)
It’s an old far side joke, I know, it’s cheesy and silly and right now feels accurate. This morning, just to keep the kids entertained I gave them color-in worksheets from Super Mom Moments and they really had fun coloring them in. They had to color the verbs, nouns, and adjectives different colors. Is that homeschooling, or is that fun? I guess it’s both but I’m still so unsure. My biggest problem has been going overboard when I do things. In my mind, I just want everything to be “right” … you know, the way it should be. In reality, I fear that I might push my kids too hard…
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Do I want to Homeschool in Illinois? Where do I Start?
After various incidents in the school I am thinking that my lovely 2nd grader is not getting the attention, help, or support she needs in school. She is not special needs (except being in the gifted math program at school – if that even qualifies) and she does not have a disability. She does not stick out like a sore thumb and she is not loud or rambunctious. Doesn’t it sound like she would be a perfect candidate for a public school? I thought so, too. But she’s really not. She is getting in trouble for things she learns on the bus, for example. “That’s why I’m not friends with…
