Homeschool Facebook page

Just poppin' in for a moment to post a link to our Facebook page. It has more of our day to day school activities, what we are learning, things we find, etc. It is called Callithumpian, short for Callithumpian Academy, which is our unofficial school name. The official name is quite the mouthful so I prefer to just use Callithumpian. You can follow the link HERE to find it. Have a fabulous day!

Ideas on how to pull your day together when it falls apart

I did not plan to write this post this evening. I had pondered my previous subject for a few days, knew the basics of what I wanted to say, and even had a list. 

And then my day fell apart.

Actually it started off pretty weakly with several arguments breaking out before breakfast and it went mostly downhill from there, with me playing the role of a captain desperately trying to keep his (or in my case, her) ship from sinking completely. During one of the quieter moments I had thought how nice it would be to have a list of ideas on how to try to pull a bad day back together. So I sat down and wrote out all the things that have worked for me, past and present. I wish I could call this Hannah's Easy 5 Step Program To Get Your Day Back On Track but we all know that would be an outright lie. Unfortunately sometimes a day is just difficult from beginning to end no matter what you do. However, there are some 'tricks of the trade' that you can do to try to change the course of your day. 

We all have bad days. Young and old; single or married; working or stay at home parent. There is no getting away from it, sometimes things just go wrong. It is a part of life. I remember having bad days before having children. It usually centered around work. Some days I had difficult patients, or a co-worker was grouchy, or perhaps something happened to give me extra work, or we were short staffed, or everything just went wrong. Afterwards I could come home, maybe have a quiet soak in the bath, put on my fuzziest jammies, and settle in with a good book or a favorite show. Maybe have a nice cup of tea as well. I could simply relax my frustrations away. As a homeschooling mom of five, my days look vastly different. There is no clocking out, no relaxing it away. I can never get away because THERE ARE SMALL PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. Everywhere. I go to use the bathroom, they are there. I try to exercise, they are there. I go hide in the closet, and yes, they are there. I can't even go though an entire night without a child coming in and staring at me intently as though I were a once in a lifetime sight that might evaporate away at any moment. Lol. The days of a nice soak in the bath are long gone and forget the book. 

So what is a mom, especially a homeschooling mom, to do? Excellent question! Here are some tips and ideas on how to make your day better. Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments! 

Take them out.

I know this sounds like the last thing you want to do but hear me out. While wrangling a bunch of cranky, whiny kids in public, especially during the school year where you KNOW all eyes are on you, may sound like a terrible idea, it does help pull small people together. I'm not talking a trip to Wal-Mart or the mall here. More like a trip to the park or for a nice walk in the neighborhood. I implemented this one today. Everyone woke up out of sorts. The weather forecast said a high chance of rain so I accepted that I would have five cranky children stuck under the same roof with a cranky mama. Then the sun came out and I literally dashed out the door. It took me 25 minutes to finish lunch, get the kids dressed and ready for outdoors, pottied, and out the door. 

Tangent: is pottied even a word? If not it ought to be because it is an apt description. Every mom knows what pottied means. End of rabbit trial. 

It did help them quite a bit and was the happiest part of our day. We explored a new trail and I got the stroller and my shoes covered in mud. Then they played at the playground. It was a nice couple of hours but sadly it didn't last. We got home and the whining started all over again. But I had a nice reprise, while it lasted.

Have a quiet time.

Sometimes kids, and moms, need some space. A few moments where they don't have to be around others to collect their thoughts. This is especially true of introverts but I imagine that others would find it beneficial as well. I have a couple of introverts and a couple of extroverts and they all need down time at some point. I do not schedule quiet time although I know many moms who do. I utilize it when I feel it is needed. If you don't have it scheduled, call the children together and tell them they for the next X amount of time they will sit in different places and do something alone and quiet. Color, read, draw, listen to tapes, play solitaire, whatever floats their quiet boats. This can be trickier with toddlers but usually some paper and crayons or special toy keeps them occupied for at least a few minutes. Hopefully long enough for the mama to have a few moments of peace. 

Play a game.

Get them all together for a game or two. Nothing banishes away cranky moods like a rousing game of Hungry Hungry Hippos! Of course this one could backfire if the children are of a more competitive bent. I recommend mom being involved from start to finish, just in case. 

Read together. 

Either mom reads, everyone takes turns reading, or the older kids read to the younger kids. I have more non-readers than readers at this point so I usually just do the reading but my oldest sometimes likes a turn. 

Have a tea party.

There is something about a tea party that gets kids excited and their minds off their troubles. It gives them something to look forward to and to plan. It doesn't have to be fancy, just some crackers and juice. Read a bit or listen to some music. Go around and have each child say something they are thankful to have. 

Play hooky.

Sometimes you just need to ditch school for the day and play hooky. Nobody learns when under duress and if it is looking like one of those days, it may be better to simply close the books and do some life learning instead. I go year round just so we can have plenty of sun days, lazy days, rain days, and mental health days. 

Connection.

If one child is causing most of the ruckus and is making everyone else miserable, try to figure out why. Is the child in pain? Sad over something? Frustrated? Needing more attention from mom? This is a great time to sit down with that child and just talk. It may change not only day but also your relationship.

If all else fails....

If all else fails there is nothing wrong with tossing up your hands in defeat, grabbing another cup of coffee, putting in a movie and just hunkering down until daddy comes home or bedtime, whichever comes first. And speaking of bedtime, putting them all down 15 minutes early (assuming you have bedtimes) is another idea. It is not so early that it will severely mess up the next morning and can be a sanity saver for mom. 

And there you have it folks! May your days, even the bad ones, be blessed. 

~ Hannah

Some weekend pics

It was beautiful this past weekend! Hubby and I took the kids out to the trail near our house so the kids could ride their bikes. Or rather, bikes and scooter. Master J, 3, does not have a bike yet. I really like this trail because it is a loop that is about 1/3 of a mile long. I can sit in the grassy part in the middle and see the entire thing, and therefore all my children. It is a good opportunity for them to have some freedom and independence and still be supervised. They love it too!

The older three taking a break from biking to follow a grasshopper through the grass.  

Annnd a picture of me with the baby. Er, toddler. I have been trying to be sure to include myself in our family outings. I don't want my kids to look back in 20 years and wonder where mom was (behind the camera of course, lol). I am not keen on pics of myself, especially after all the fluff having five kids has added to my frame but, insanely dry lips aside, this one isn't so bad. At least my hair is fixed 😂

Master J, abandoning his scooter to run as fast as his three year old legs would carry him.

Four of my five children, with hubby. Notice Miss R, 17 months now, wandering far ahead. She was having a ball and wore her toddler self out. This may or may not have been part of mommy's diabolical plan all along, muwahahahaha!

Biking together. Sometimes they stayed together, other times they dashed off in all directions. Miss A (right) is a speedy little thing! She learned how to ride without training wheels on her older brother's bike. Every day for two weeks she would go out, get on his bike, go a few feet, and fall. Then up again, a few more feet, then on the ground again. Her determination finally paid off and she got it down without falling. She could barely reach his pedals so we decided that she needed a bike of her own. Pink with sparkles. She loves it.

Hannah's Feeding a Crowd When Times Are Tough Menu, 11/27/16

I will be blogging more about things I am passionate about, including homeschooling and frugal living tips. As part of the frugal living I will be posting a weekly menu. Now this is not going to be a healthy eating on a budget or Tips from Hannah the Health Guru. Nopity nope nope. These menus, for now, will be focusing on truly frugal, 'filling bellies' eating. Not that I don't care about health, I do. It is just that for now I do not have the budget to reflect healthy eating. Most 'healthy eating on a budget' menus that I have found have a much higher weekly food budget or far fewer people to feed. A lot of this is made up of canned, made from scratch, or on sale items, whatever is cheaper when I go out shopping.

Enjoy!

Please note, we always have a homemade pizza night and a taco night. Sometimes I do full on tacos, sometimes I do a salad, and other times I do a salad with tortilla chips.

Sunday - Pizza night 🍕 (My phone gives me emoticon suggestions. It thought I ought to have a pizza slice. I agreed.)

Monday - Roast chicken with green beans, potato wedges, fruit (I will be making bone broth with the carcass)

Tuesday - Taco night

Wednesday - Cheese omelets with toast and fresh fruit

Thursday - Hotdogs with chips, baked beans, and salad

Friday - Pancakes with turkey bacon (since we don't eat pork) and fruit

Saturday - Leftovers. I will be making extra omelets and pancakes just for this meal, to be sure we have enough food for everyone.

Huggies Slip-On Diapers Review (old post)

So this is old, a review I wrote for some diapers I received (specifically to review) when my oldest daughter, Miss A, was little. She is now 5 years old, lol. I don't even know if these even exist any longer but here is the review anyway:

 My daughter has always been an independent little thing and toddler hood has brought this to a whole new level. At 20 months she can dress herself completely, from undressing to putting her socks and shoes on. EXCEPT her diaper - that has frustrated her very much! That was the best part about using the Huggies Slip-Ons, she could do it herself. She loved it! From the very first diaper change, she was able to take off her diaper and put a new one on (provided she had not pooped, of course). The diaper fit her well and she was able to put it on and take it off with ease.

There were two things about this diaper that I didn't like.

Maybe it is because I am an experienced mom (I have four children), but this diaper was not nearly as convenient as a regular disposable diaper. I can change a child standing up with a regular diaper very quickly, without having to remove any articles of clothing. This diaper, I had to remove her pants/shorts in order to put it on her, which was very inconvenient in certain situations. Take going out as an example. A couple weeks ago I was out with the kids and we took a bathroom break. My daughter had shoes, tights, and pants on at the time. I hate public restrooms and try to keep my kids as sanitary as possible. With a regular disposable, I was able to simply pull down her pants and tights, take it off, put it on, and pull up her pants again without laying her down on the changing table or having to remove her shoes and pants while doing it. Now, the Slip-Ons do have tabs that undo and redo but these are harder to work than the regular tabs while standing up. Maybe I just have more experience with the other tabs and with practise could do it with ease, but that was what I found.

The other issue was that these are not nearly as absorbent as the diapers I currently use. They also are not good for night diapers for heavy wetters. I cannot remember the last time my daughter leaked while using the generic diapers we usually use but she had several leaks with the Huggies Slip-Ons.

Happy Thanksgiving! And updates.

Ok, a belated Thanksgiving as it was yesterday but I thought I would wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving all the same!

Some updates....

I am planning on being more active from now on. 2016 goals, ya know, now that the year is almost over 😂 My goal is to share some things here but our day to day things will be posted on the Facebook page.

As I mentioned on my Facebook page (Callithumpian, for those who do not know), the kids have gotten new workbooks which I plan on reviewing soon. Keep an eye out for that! Both the kids and I are really excited about these books. Once I use them for a bit I will share our thoughts with all of you.