Home schooling or traditional schooling? Why does it have to be a choice?

I've noticed in my circle, people who parent similarly to me tend to home school. It just seems to be the next logical choice in attachment parenting. We can teach our children so much more! We can give them that one-on-one attention they need to reach their full potential! I understand that completely. I also understand the reasons to go with traditional schooling. I get some adult time to get things done while Christian is at school. He gets to be surrounded by his peers and learn that sort of socialization. He learns how to listen to authority, outside of the family. I do not deny that these skills can, indeed, be learned by the home schooled child, but I think it is important to do what works best for your family and not make assumptions on how schooling looks for the next family. 

When I tell people we chose to public school, I can imagine what comes to mind. They think he's sitting in front of a desk for 7 hours a day and then coming home to another hour of homework. Actually, I really LOVE Christian's school! They are always doing fun stuff! We actually moved here specifically because of the great schools. Christian is always excited to go to school. Any time there have ever been any issues, they were able to handle them quickly and easily. But, I think it is still important for the learning to keep moving beyond the door of the school. A lot of people have never heard of the way our family has chosen to view the learning experience. I don't align specifically with traditional schooling or home schooling. We do both!

Learning at home and at school has taught him a lot! Often, we are able to work parallel with what he's learning at school.

Gardening, for example, he learns at school about a plant's life cycle, the parts of a plant, what a plant needs to grow, and the sun and rain systems. At home, he gets to see these things in action, hands on, and learn first hand how his hard work pays off.

Even little brother, Ian, has started his at-home learning experience!

Next year, he will start pre-k at the same school Christian is at.

Learning at home has taken quite a few twists and turns gauging towards the boys' interests. We have studied bats, volcanoes, historical events, space, and much more! 

My boys are growing into well rounded kids. I have no doubt of the amazing men they will become. I'm a believer in the philosophy, "It takes a village to raise a child". This is what we've found works best for our family. The school, teachers, tutors, my husband, and myself all work together to make Christian and Ian into the best people they can possibly be. I wouldn't have it any other way. 

In conclusion, if you choose to home school or if you choose the traditional route, make the best of it! Never stop learning. There are opportunities to learn in everyday life all around us. 

We got a puppy!

Meet Penny!

 

Penny's birthday is July 18 2014. We got her when she was 12 weeks old from a lady in Kentucky. She's still got a lot of apricot coloring to her but looks whiter all the time. She reminds me SO MUCH of Ally, a poodle I had growing up. Penny is silly, very playful, extremely smart, and a snuggle buddy. She's been sleeping with us at night since the day we got her. On the second day, she had already mastered how to sit, lay, and speak! She has only once peed inside the house and while she has pottied in the house a few times, we've officially had her 4 days and she's almost completely trained! Anyone that has ever raised a puppy know how awesome that is! I truly felt like we needed a dog in this family. I searched for nearly a week before I found Penny and she's absolutely the perfect pet for us! I look forward to continuing to post about our little pup as she grows.

 Here are the pictures I've gotten of her so far! 

Enjoy!

Zoo Boo 2014

Recently, I posted here about the boys' costumes and firetruck that I made. I was originally planning to add it all in one post but decided with this many photos I needed to separate it. So, if you're looking for the DIY check that link! Here are the pictures from Zoo Boo. 

Enjoy!

Halloween Party 2014

This year we are hosting our first ever Halloween Party and could not be more excited! We have a lot of really fun things planned. I'll be sure to update with photos of the kids enjoying everything. 

The invitations, as seen above, were sent out this past week. Our local friends had theirs delivered by hand but the rest had to be mailed. I've been very busy trying to get all my ducks in a row planning everything.

 I sat down for about an hour and made both of these cool games!

 Feed the monster! 

Kids can take turns rolling the ball into the monster's mouth. The monster is a shoe box covered in felt and googly eyes. The arm are pipe cleaners twisted together. The eye ball is a ping pong ball I used sharpies to color! 

Hay toss! 

This was also made from a box. It's about 2.5 feet tall by 1 foot. I realize the squares aren't perfect but hay, (pun intended) I did my best! I painted it yellow and green and the hay pieces are just straws. The idea is to toss about like you would with darts and put the hay back in the bale. My five year old son loves it and is pretty darn good at it! 

On Thursday my friend, Brenda, is coming over and we're going to finish getting things ready. On our agenda is a candy corn banner made from paper plates, monster ghost and pumpkin lanterns made from plastic cups, and decorating the rest of the house. She's pretty crafty as well so I know this will turn out amazing! 

Stay Tuned!

Why do I always have bad dreams?

Here lately it seems as though every single night, sometimes multiple times a night, I'm having nightmares. I'm not sure what causes them. I've heard it can be poor diet or staying up too late watching scary movies. I'm not doing any of those things! I eat clean, I haven't watched a scary movie in months, and I get plenty of sleep. I've looked into dream meanings and haven't really gotten anywhere with that either. I've prayed and that works temporarily but the dreams always creep back in. I'm actually on the search now for a dream catcher. I've been reading about them and I'm wanting to find one that's legitimately Native American made. It's supposed to be made from grape vine or soaked willow, have 3-4 feathers, and be within a certain diameter (I'm still researching!). All the ones I can find are frilly colored and have like 10 feathers so I'm still on the hunt. I'll report back and post a link as soon as I find a trustworthy distributor or creator. Maybe a dream catcher is just mind over matter, but I'm going to have faith in it and hope for the best! I do have a bit of Cherokee blood in me, after all. (:

My Dollar Tree Project: Shampoo, toothbrushes, ziplock bags, and more!

I've always been a fan of Dollar Tree. However, I will admit, I thought it was more for finding cheap gift bags and crafting supplies. Over time I've been trying more and more products from Dollar Tree. I started out trying things like Ziplock bags and parchment paper. Last month, I decided to take a much bigger plunge and start my supplies shopping here and thought I would get whatever I couldn't find from Walgreens, Dollar General, or Kroger. To my suprise, there wasn't much I couldn't get! I got us all new toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, and found some super cute dress up costumes for the kids. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking it's a bunch of cheap stuff and you get what you pay for. Wrong. I got colgate brand toothbrushes and toothpaste. The exact same brand I would have gotten elsewhere. I got softsoap hand soap. That's my favorite brand that I've always bought everywhere else. The costumes, sure they're cheap. They aren't high quality. But they're a DOLLAR! My kids have had the best time with those costumes! They've definitely been worth every penny. The shampoo is one I originally decided to blog about. I got a brand called White Rain. Now, hear me out. I know it's a "cheap brand". However, my hair is amazing! My hair has never been shinier or softer. I used to use Treseme, Herbal Essences, or Pantene Pro-V. I never used high quality salon shampoo so I can't speak on my personal comparison to those but I can absolutely say without a doubt I love this White Rain shampoo! I've been using it for over a month now and just finished the first bottle. A month of shampoo for a dollar! That's 1/5 of what I was spending! One day I used my Herbal Essences I was using because I thought I would just finish off that bottle. My hair felt.. sticky? I think that's how I would describe it. It just didn't have the soft, clean feel that I was having with the White Rain. I used to wash my hair once a week with Dawn dishwashing liquid just to strip all the excess oil from my hair. I no longer need to use that. I feel like the shampoo I was using was causing build up.
In conclusion, I'm really proud of the products I've been able to find at Dollar Tree. I now search there first when I need something. Plus, I still get my craft stuff there as well!

These opinions are my own. I am in no way affiliated with Dollar Tree or any of the brands mentioned above. All products were purchased from my own finances and I was not paid or reimbursed in any way.

Why I said farewell to Facebook

Recently, I've been really looking at my Facebook usage. It didn't take me long to realize that I checked the stupid thing way too much! When I woke up in the mornings, usually the first thing I did was go check Facebook. I scrolled and scrolled, catching up all the way to the last thing I saw before I went to bed. I bet I checked Facebook ten times a day! 

Why though? 

Why is it so important that I catch every detail that my "friends" decide to share? 

I love when I run into a friend, that isn't on Facebook, and we agree to have a lunch together to catch up. At the end of the meal I feel truly caught up! I don't feel as though I've missed out because I didn't see what she had for dinner each night, or when she went to the movies, or who she was hanging out with on the weekends. She tells me what she wants me to know. She tells me the things that are important. 

Have you ever talked to someone that went through every single detail? You really just want to scream, "GET TO THE POINT ALREADY!" 

That's generally my attitude towards Facebook now. I don't need to know every single detail. I feel like if something important happens, my friends should be able to shoot me a call or text and fill me in. I guess I'll find out.

Now, I want to make it clear, I am just as guilty as the next person about rambling on Facebook. I've definitely posted all the major stereotypical "annoying Facebook posts" such as food, inside jokes, pet pictures, etc. It really was hard to admit, and even harder to admit that that was an issue! Quitting Facebook is even comparable to when I stopped drinking soda! I find myself craving it! With soda, I would walk to the refrigerator and open it up expecting to see a Coca-Cola. With Facebook, I go to my social media folder on my phone and expect to see Facebook there. It truly is an addiction for me! I say is because I'm still in the early stages of my farewell. I still aimlessly go to my phone expecting to scroll through. I'm hoping it won't take long before I've broken that habit.

One last thing I do want to add, sort of as a disclaimer, Facebook can be good. It's not all bad. Some people use Facebook to keep in touch with family. Some people use Facebook as a means to communicate with clients. Those are all completely okay things. I'm not necessarily bashing Facebook or users, I just know that I became too engrossed and needed to do something about it. The way I plan to keep in touch with my friends and family is through this blog to share photos, mailing photos, and picking up the stinkin' phone and calling them every once in awhile! 

It's easy to like a Facebook post to show support of what someone is going through. 

However, remember that it would mean a lot more to pick up the phone and call. Sometimes they may just need to hear your voice. 

The following photos are just for laughs. I found them all on google images. I have not edited the photos in any way and in no way claim that they are mine. Enjoy! 

DIY Dalmation and Firefighter Halloween Costumes with Wagon Fire Truck!

Each year since Ian was born, I have been making the boys' costumes for Halloween. They're never anything amazing, necessarily, but hand made just looks a thousand times cuter, in my opinion! Last year they were wreck-it-ralph and fix it felix jr. See these posts here: Wreck-It-Ralph & Fix If Felix Jr. This year, they decided on a firefighter and dalmatian. I started making these mid September once they decided. I'm not quite done yet so watch for more photos closer to Halloween!

 For the suit, he's just wearing a 24 month onesie and a pair of girl's 3T leggings. I colored the black dots with sharpie and fabric paint. Neither seemed to work better than the other so it's your choice. Coloring the dots is more tedious that I originally thought it would be. Looking back, paint may have been easier. For the feet I used felt. I traced his foot and cut a hole in it to go over his shoes. They move when he walks so I think before events I'll put a strip of tape underneath to hold it steady. His collar is also felt. I did it pretty loose so it wouldn't bother him and used sticky velcro so I could easily take it on and off. His ears, I used one of my headbands. They have headbands at walmart for 89 cents. I used white foam and felt. I cut the shape I wanted and hot glued them first together and then on to the band. The foam gives it a thicker, bolder appearance.

 How cute is that little tail?! The tail is just a single sheet of felt cut in half. I sewed the end, stuffed it with poly filling and sewed it shut. I then sewed on a strip of elastic so he could keep it on his waist. The elastic could be easily hand sewed and the felt would have responded just fine to hot glue, if you don't have a sewing machine.

I'll definitely post more pictures as this comes together. His pants are from JC Penny. They're just regular track suit black pants. The "slicky" kind. They had a white stripe down the leg but I covered each side first in yellow duct tape, then a silver strip down the center. I did the same along the bottom. I also tacked in some "suspenders". I just used a wide black elastic. I wish I could have found red but this works just fine. His jacket and boots he already had. Before Halloween I plan to duct tape black over the boots so they appear solid color. His air tank still needs straps to be worn as a backpack. I haven't quite figured out how I'll do it yet so check back! As you can tell, the tank is just a soda bottle spray painted silver with the same tape around it. The mask and tubing we already had as my youngest son, Ian, and I both have asthma. I just added the cool tape to it to give it a color pop.

The last thing, I transformed our family wagon into a fire truck! This was FUN! Check this thing out! My favorite part is that the lights work! Also, I'm planning some lettering on the wagon with some logos. Keep an eye out for updated pictures on Halloween!

Soccer Season 2014

 Christian's first year of soccer!

Christian is absolutely loving soccer! At the first practice, his coach thought for sure that he had played before. He's definitely a natural! It's odd, really, that at home he trips over his own feet multiple times a day, but on the field he's extremely graceful! I'll keep updating this post with new pictures, so check back regularly!