Neat Swifter Replacement

 

I found this blog where the blogger had made these cool swifter replacements. (http://justpeachyindixie.blogspot.com/) Jennifer made these up for me in a matter of a week or so, now I have washable swifter pads!! I am so excited about this they work awesome and now for the price of one extra large box of swifter pads; I have something that will not go into the landfill. They work so great at picking up our Tuffy and Dino dust bunnies;) I especially like the ruffled one it works great for the corner molding. So if you are looking for green way to use your swifter than contact Jennifer and see if she can make them for you! Now off to share my find with my friends at Secular Homeschool, they are always sharing great ideas with me now its my turn:) Happy Swiftering!

Reflecting on the my decision...Part 2

  Some days it feels like this when the kids come up to you:) Right??


After the last blog post, I had a ton of emails from newbies to homeschooling, even some of you had been doing this for a while like me. All were telling me that they felt the same way! There are so many different ways to homeschool, and it all depends on your kiddos learning style. I am no expert, in fact, I am a student of sorts I am always in the learning mode when it comes to finding new ways to do homeschool math or our science for that day, etc. It can be so overwhelming to those of us who threw ourselves into this late in the game. You don't know how many days where I have been scrambling last minute to get everything ready for that day or even skipping things because I just couldn't get to it! You know,for me, this all started as the life preserver for my boys education... I really feel that my oldest would be in a much different place in terms of his education if he had went thru the system.

I know at times I feel like I am the only one with doubts about if I am doing everything right for my boys. Or even that I can do enough for them! For those times, I go to a friend or forum that I can vent and let others who have been there help me thru these times. How many times have I emailed a friend or posted on my favorite secular forum (sorry shameless plug for my fav site, but those peeps are awesome) to get some words of wisdom from those who have been down the road before me. Even if it was only a mile ahead, they still help me in ways I can't put into words.
One of my favorite quotes that I have found lately is..

“To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today”
- Anonymous

So go out there and be active in your kids lives, the rest will fall into place:)

Another First For Us;)

     Did I ever tell you that I am a wee bit over protective of my boys? Since finding my great secular homeschooling group, my boys and I have made some great friends! We have had a lot of great experiences with all our new friends. We are going on our 4th year in this group and I have to say that we have made some great new discoveries along the way. One being that I now have people I can trust around my boys enough to let them spend the night with friends. Yes, I have trust issues I know but they come from a very real place in my childhood. Something that I am always aware of with my boys, and have had some real dilemmas come up over the past that just didn't allow me to "trust" every many people alone with my boys.
   
 Ever since finding a great local support group both boys have had some fun activities that yes didn't include me;)  Alex has been invited to several over night sleep over parties with lots of teens from the group. He really has a great time with them, and it helps my shut in get out and be a teenager with other teens. He has even started going to a great teen night at "gasp" a modern church, that is open to everyone 13 and up. It is chaperoned safe place he can go and hang out with other homeschoolers and kids that go to private and public schools, as well. (disclosure here: it is not at an old fashion type church they are in a commercial building with fun things for the kids to do and NO preaching to the kids!)
   
 Anthony has had his first sleep over as well, first at the neighbors house across the street and yes I was there at 8 am the next morning! Pathetic right? Then he was invited to a friend's house for his FIRST ever camp-out birthday party, and he is having a blast! How do I know? Well his mom is a great friend so she has been putting up pics on Facebook. He has all the friends there,getting to eat hot dogs and make smores, playing Pokemon until the wee hours and oh yes I have called him a time or two, or is it five times?

     Well, maybe I have a bit further to go with the "letting go" a bit, but the boys are loving it and I am loving the fact that they are having fun with their friends. So we are on the right track, heck I even have them signed up for camps this week. Alex gets to finish his camp by sleeping over night at the zoo! So yes I am beginning to find ways to let go a bit and trust thanks to my new secular homeschool group!