Lately my son has been having more of an attitude, being defiant, not listening, and whining much more! Maybe it's a 5 and 1/2 phase (I keep hoping), but I can't take it anymore! Especially since my youngest is Very good at being 2! I can't deal with both of them being out of control! So I decided to try the reward chart again. Only for the oldest … [Read more...]
Prepairing for a productive, fun, homeschool year
Today was my son's official first day of school! As we're homeschooler's this didn't affect us too drastically. Though I did start organizing over the last few weeks. I now realize I should have included a before photo so you can see that this really is organized! We live in a tiny townhouse and this is the only space we have for all … [Read more...]
To Not believe in gender stereo-types
I had to share this story (link below). My son has long hair. He started growing it out to look like a pirate about a year or so ago. Now he's really into Native American Indians, so he now tells me he's an Indian. I love his hair! It's thick, rich chocolate brown, with waves and curls. I wish I had hair like his! He's always looked and dressed … [Read more...]
Best Free Educational Websites
Best free educational websites I've used, so far: As a homeschooling mom, I want the time my kids spend online to be educational as well as safe, fun, and engaging. These are sites my son (five) and I use and we both love: http://www.timeforkids.com/around-the-world (world culture; people/places), http://artpad.art.com/artpad/painter/ … [Read more...]
Get Kids Involved in Organizing and Cleaning, the earlier the better
Seems like the theme of the month is organizing. This subject keeps popping up. People must have put off spring cleaning and now, realizing it's already summer, are looking around their cluttered homes wondering how in the world they accumulated so much crap and what the heck to do with it all?!! I know I am! Maybe it's just me? If you're a … [Read more...]
Forcing my kids to have fun
Why do I have to drag my son, kicking and screaming to do something incredibly fun?! He loves his Karate class! He started last year and we tried out a bunch of other martial art studios, but he fell in love with this one (I highly recommend Rod Sanford Martial Arts in Soquel! http://sanfordkarate.com/ ) and only wanted to go there. So we've been … [Read more...]
Evil little monster named Self Doubt
I had made a decision! I was sticking with it, no turning back. But in one afternoon self doubt came crashing down and I was suddenly filled with anxiety and back to square one! I don't like having things up in the air, if I have an important decision to make I will research obsessively, ask questions of anyone and everyone until I'm sure they try … [Read more...]
Summer Art Camp
I'll be teaching art camp this summer at Kruz Kidz Summer Day Camps at Twin Lakes Church in Aptos, Ca. I'm now official! We finally updated the web site with my name on it! http://www.kruzkidz.com/camps/creativearts/ woohoo! Classes are filling up fast, so sign up quick! I've been losing sleep thinking of all the fun things we will do! There are … [Read more...]
Easy Solar Eclipse Pinhole Viewer and Kidzilla Breaks my Laptop!
We made a pinhole in cardboard so we could watch the eclipse, or at least the projection of it on a white piece of cardboard! Well, as white as I could find. After quite a search (of course I did not prepare in advance!) I found one that wasn't completely painted on. I searched quite a while online to find easy directions with materials we already … [Read more...]
Green and clean
I lathered my son in soap, as he was in the bath, rinsed him down, then reached for the shampoo. A normal occurrence for every mom, I'm sure, until he asks what shampoo is made of! "Umm, soap and some other stuff" is my lame answer. "What's in soap?" he asks. Now I feel really stupid! I don't know, I've never really thought about it. I do read … [Read more...]
