A Homeschool Mama's Lifesaver

Kyleigh has been sitting at the table for three years (the entire time Kade has been doing structured homeschooling lessons.) The first year she had a paci and would absorb everything while coloring. Last year, she did K3 and she had her own time at the table while Kade was between subjects. 

However, this year has had my nerves SHOT. She has been insisting on being at the table while we are doing our lessons. She's picking at Kade constantly while I'm trying to teach. It's been rough. While at soccer camp with Kade last month, a friend of mine asked if I'd heard of distraction boards. A friend of hers bought a trifold project board, pack of crayons & stickers. The youngest then makes the board and has to leave it up to do their work and try to be quiet. 

After searching every dollar store with no luck, I finally found my board at Walmart ($1.97). I have stickers and crayons coming out of my ears at home. Go figure. This was actually FUN for Kyleigh to make. I don't have a finished picture of her board (she's constantly changing and adding things.) 

So far, I will say it's been SO worth it. She finds her board as her hiding space. Of course I got Kade one too. 

Just wanted to throw this out there for any mamas who are clinging tightly to their sanity while trying to school a preschooler and elementary aged child 😉

Back To School 2015-2016 School Year

We started our school year a TAD early. July is never too early to start back, right? Why did I start back so soon? I don't do heat. I don't mind taking the kids outside, really. But when it's 101 and they want to stay outside for an hour or longer. No. Also, sickness hit my house HARD in the spring this year. Taking a week out of my school year due to the flu and major respiratory ailments. I also decided that I want to incorporate more field trips this year. We did like 3 this past year. And we just need some days where we play outside in the 70 degree weather all day. Oh the joys of homeschooling. I wanted to throw in pictures of our first day. Please check out what they want to be when they grow up 😉

Homemade Dishwashing Detergent

Josh & I decided a little over a month ago that we wanted to do Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover.  We are sick of debt.  We bought our house and want to have it just the way we picture it in our heads.  Which will take A LOT of money.  I was spending $10 every 2/3 months on 90 Finish dishwashing tabs.  And that's at the local bargain store, NOT at the grocery store.  Not bad.  But I knew it could be better.  I'm on my third bucket of laundry detergent after a year of making it myself.  I found ingredients to make dishwashing tabs and got to work.  

I spent $11 on my things at Walmart.  I had the ice cube trays at home.  I made two batches, or 56 tabs this go around. 

You use:: 1 cup Kosher Salt, 1 Cup Washing Soda, 1 Cup Baking Soda & 3 Packets of Lemonade Mix.  Mix all of your ingredients into a bowl.  You CAN leave it as a powder OR add 1 cup of water, let it fizz and settle and mash the tabs into the ice cube tray.  Let the tabs dry and harden overnight before putting into the container of your choice.  I chose my now unused candy jar ;)  I have pictures of the process and end result below.  

I will keep you updated to see how far the boxes of soda and salt went.  I'm estimating that the detergent will be around $1.50 for a batch of 56 tabs. 

Just a Little Update

Okay, so my last post was in October.  A few things have gone down since then.  

We got our house under contract as of November.  We had A LOT of things we had to have done to sell.  That took a huge amount of time out of our already busy schedule.  Josh & I found the perfect house (or so we thought).  The day we were going for a second showing, they received an offer on it and were told not to show it anymore.  Slightly devastated, we decided NOT to look for a while.  The next morning, I had an email from our realtor.  THE Perfect House was in it.  I asked Josh if we could check it out for consideration.  

The location was perfect.  The house was perfect.  And it was finally perfect timing.  We put in an offer the next day.  The seller had the work done on it.  We moved out of our house and closed January 16th.  And we closed on our new house February 2nd after living with my parents for a few weeks.  We had the carpet stripped out of the house and had new carpet and hardwoods put down and we moved in February 9th.  We have been SO happy in our new home.  The kids finally have their own rooms & 1.8 acres to roam on and get along for a change of pace.  We have not painted yet so i'll update with pictures of rooms later as they are finished.  Just wanted to give a reason behind my absense.

Thanks for reading.

Gruffalo Mask

This year for Halloween, my child HAD to pick something super unique and super expensive.  He chose The Gruffalo.  About 2 years ago, his daddy had let him get the movie at the store.  He got very into it and let it go every bit as quickly.  THEN.  But within the last month, his love for The Gruffalo came back.  He has a Halloween drum recital and chose "The Snake" from the movie as his song.  So of course, his costume needs to reflect it.  I searched for costumes on Amazon.  $85.  And that's not happening with a one-income family.  So, I got on Pinterest and found an inspiration.  Except, The Gruffalo from the book doesn't have hair.

This was my inspiration for my Gruffalo mask. 

And THIS is mine =) I'm a proud mama.  And my child absolutely loves it.  

My Materials List::

4 pieces of Dark Brown felt (incase i totally wrecked it)

1 piece of orange felt

1 piece of white felt

1 piece of green felt

Brown sturdy thread

Double-sided tape

Ribbon

Velcro

And a flimsy cardboard box (I used one from a box of granola bars)

I traced everything out on the felt before I did any cutting. 

For his ears & tusks, I cut the pattern and stuffed them with a piece of the cardboard before sewing.  They are very sturdy.  All pieces were sewn on.  Then for his jaw area to be sturdy, I stuffed them with cardboard as well and sewed along the jaw area.  NOT across his face though.  That is where the double-sided tape came in.  I also used a piece of cardboard on his forehead.  I used double-sided tape and felt so it wouldn't irritate my child all night.  

I poked holes and ran my ribbon through them.  Then, the velcro was sewn into place.  

And then, you have a Gruffalo ;)

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Update

So this would be my reason for being a tad bit behind on my posting lately.  We go our school year underway.  My sweet Kade is now a Kindergartner.  Kyleigh SHOULD be in K2 because of a late birthday.  However, having had her at the table with us since our last school year, I've decided she's ready for K3.  

We've also started our second season of soccer for the year.  His team is awesome and my child actually cares to pay attention this year.  Instead of tackling his best friend and kicking dirt. 

My baby girl started a new adventure with cheer & tumble.  She absolutely loves her teacher & her new friends.  And of course, what two year old doesn't want to be told to do flips??

Sorry I got a bit slack.  My posting will pick up from here on out ;)