#parentingquote

 Falling in LOVE with Alfie Kohn wasn't something I planned. From the moment I picked up one of his books 3 years ago, one of his books is something I am always reading and loving his quotes.

Long before I ever heard of Alfie or had children of my own, I believed that children should be treated the same way we want to be treated. They should be given choices, etc. I always believed in natural consequences as I will say not watching your footing will cause you to fall, or if you climb that and fall it will hurt for when they climb things they shouldn't.

Children have thoughts and feelings too and are entitled to them.

What Alfie has taught me over the years is that I might have had the right idea and known in my heart that parenting the old ways wasn't okay and wasn't something I wanted to. I went out on a path of my own without knowing exactly that I was doing that at all.

He has also taught me over the years ways I need to improve my thinking and how to help navigate a path that I or anyone I know had gone down.


This quote is one of my favourites. I have always said you can not hit a child to teach them not to hit. Children behave how we show them, so we teach by example. You can't tell a child to shut up, or call them names and then get mad when they do the same thing.

Yes even as a parent you can be a hypocrite and it is just as bad if you are one to a child as if you are being a hypocrite to an adult.

I scream, you scream Jan 2021

 

 Week 3 is B's week to pick what he wanted to learn about. He decided on ice cream. I figured for this one it would be fun at the end of the week to get a few small containers of cool flavoured ice cream and do a taste testing!

I remembered as soon as he came up with the idea that there are a few "How it's made" videos about ice cream and ice cream treats! I don't even know if it is still on the air. Anyone else remembers that show?

Our schedule for the week:

The kids get up really freaking early EVERY day. B knows to snuggle or quietly do something. The girls, on the other hand, I swear start bickering the moment they step out of bed at 5:30 am. If I am lucky they sleep until 6:00 am.

I am the world's meanest mom and will not make breakfast until 8 am. Pretty much you want to be up that freaking early find something quiet to do. Growing up, I would dare not wake anyone else up that early.

Breakfast at 8. Get dressed. I clean up from breakfast.

School starts after that. With either worksheets or workbooks. I alternate each day so they do not get bored with doing the same thing every day.

15-minute break.

Now is journals, art, or science which are alternated days as well.

15 minute outside break while I make the snack.

10:00 am (could be a few minutes later depending on how long the last activity took) Snack

Learning video, game or activity based on that week's theme ICE CREAM!!!

15-minute break.

Reading. Each child gets to read with me individually. This may or make not take place after lunch depending on how long the morning activities have taken.

Lunch

After lunch is me spent working, starting supper or finishing up our morning activities. If they have finished everything from the morning then they are free to play or do whatever they would like.

2:00 pm snack

15 minutes outside break.

Work, finish dinner, clean up.

Dinner

Walk the dogs

Baths, snacks, stories, teeth and bed

Then I work on anything I need to prep for school the following day, work on client orders and tidy.

When the kids are on their breaks I am either making food, answering clients, working on things I can in a short period of time or tidying. If it is a day they watch a video for part of their learning I fold a basket of laundry in the living room while they watch it.

Even with all that, my house is still never clean enough and the kids still complain they are bored in their "free time".

Our schedule stays the same 7 days a week 365 days a year. It helps C to emotionally regulate if we stay on a known schedule.

These are the video's we watched:
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

These are some of the ice cream activities we did. 
Activity 1
Activity 2

On the last day, we did an ice cream tasting because who can have an ice cream week without that.


Goal: Make your dream ice cream snack

My first time

 After months of staring at them, worried and intimidated, it took the lack of fabric to finally dive into it.

I have the type of personality that if I am going to do something it must be something I can "master". Failure is not something that I do.

After a few hours of setting up and asking someone who has done this for 35 years and temps. Because I was not going to screw this up. I got it all set up.

At this point, our local fabric land was finally opening back up after what felt like an eternity of being closed. Masks were in high demand and fabric choices were in low supply.

I went into fabric land and bought 10 meters of 100% polyester. I had confidence. I told myself YOU WILL NOT SCREW THIS UP. It cost way too much to get it set up to blow it.

I decided it's small, it's a mask I got this. For months I had been reading and researching I GOT THIS!

I printed off my first print, I put it in the press for 60 seconds, but had my press set for vinyl pressing and it wasn't enough pressure. SIGH

This is how it looked, it was okay but I wasn't happy. 

Okay, let's fix this issue, we have an older than dirt heat press which means it is a pain in the rear to change the heat setting on and almost impossible to change the pressure setting and I surely wasn't going to change the pressure setting every time I needed to switch from vinyl to sublimation.

Solution: Add a folded piece of flannel that I am never going to use again to the bottom of the heat press this way I can remove it when I need to put something thicker than a mask in the heat press.

Put the temp 5 degrees lower than 400 and the vinyl won't melt, it will be good to go and I won't have to change it!!

Okay, heat press 390-395 degrees. Extra flannel on press for the pressure we are good to go.

Step 1) heat the press fully

Step 2) put parchment (butcher paper) on the flannel

Step 3) put your fabric on the parchment then your image then more parchment (You have to change the parchment with EVERY SINGLE PRESS yes it seems like a waste but you can't use the Teflon sheets you do for vinyl)

Step 4) close the press and set timmer for 60 seconds

Step 5) open press give it a second because dang it's hot (Imagine that right?)

Step 6) love it!!!

Now we don't have to worry about the fabric shortage we can just do it!

Jan 2021 Week 2 homeschool

 C was next up to pick what she wanted to learn about this month. It was cooking. She loves helping in the kitchen so, this didn't come as much of a surprise.

Our days this week will go as follows:

Breakfast, get dressed, hair

Workbooks or worksheets (I alternate daily to keep them from getting bored.)

15 min outside break

Snack

A kids cooking video (I fold a basket of laundry in the living room while they watch the video)

15-minute break

Reading (They each read a book at their level one on one with me)

Lunch

I use the period between lunch and snack to work or if things took longer in the morning, we finish up what we need to.

Snack

15 minutes outside

Each day 2 children will be helping me make dinner as we are learning about cooking this week!

Dinner

Walk dogs

Baths, snacks, stories, teeth and bed.

I clean up and work until I fall asleep.


I found the most amazing cooking videos for kids! We watch 1 episode each day, not the full compilation.

On the kid's breaks, I tidy, put laundry in, do dishes, blog and answer clients.

Not every day is perfect. Some days the kids are not feeling it so, we might skip an activity or two or even the whole day depending on how they are.

I have days as well where I am not up to teaching because I am burnt out.

Despite the amount of tidying I do, it would seem my house will NEVER be spotless again :)

Jan 2021 Spotify

 

https://freepngimg.com/png/48326-music-notes-free-download-png-hq

 

 

Since the pandemic started and we are spending a lot more time at home music has been become a staple in our house. If I am not listening to music it's the news or an audiobook.

The kids know how to use Alexa so when I click on Spotify what is new for this week I get a whole bunch of weird music I haven't even heard of before based on what they have listened to.

Let's take a look at what is on that list for this week! The list is called discover weekly

Song 1) Vive Le Vent by Richard Huet, Sonia Bilodeau from the year 1986
    Well, this song came out the year after I was born. I have never heard of this song or the people who sing it. What about you?  I only listened to the first few seconds of this song and well I am guessing it is from the kids playing Christmas music lol.

Song 2) Jingle Jangle by Dimitri
    Look at that another Christmas song, but this time it's a RAP one lol. I only listened to a few seconds of it but from what I can tell it's a version of Jingle Bells.

Song 3) Even a Miracle Needs a hand by Sonntag 1974
    It took me a minute to figure out what kind of song it was. It would seem to be a Christmas song.

Song 4) Feliz Chanukah by Six13
    It is....You guessed another Christmas song lol. I listened to the first few minutes and I know the beat but I have no idea what they are saying.

Song 5) Voici Le Pere Noel by Les Classels
    COME ON!!! AT least it could be in English lol

Song 6) Angels Among Us by Alabama
    Now, this isn't really a Christmas song. It's an old song and one I grew up listening to. If you haven't listened to it please do. I am not a religious person but this song is touching.

Song 7) Good king wenceslaus by Clamavi De Profundis
    At least this Christmas song is in a language that I can understand and actually has a good beat and I love the vocals.

Song 8) Jingle Jangle by Rehya Stevens
    Well if you didn't know there are two songs with the same title, there are. They couldn't be more different than apples and oranges.

Song 9) Raise The Woof! by Trails.com
    WHAT THE HECK DID I JUST LISTEN TOO! It caused Tessa to have a complete barking fit. At least it isn't Christmas?

Song 10) O Come, All Ye Faithful by Eva Cassidy
    Oh look there it is CHRISTMAS. She has a very pretty voice and this one song I can't listen to without singing.

Well, I think the girls need a bit better taste in music lol.

It is fun though to see what comes up when they play with it all month :)

Shortbread cookies

 

Don't you just love cookies that melt in your mouth when you eat them? For me, a good shortbread recipe should do just that. I have tried many over the years and most have only been so-so. 

I was impressed by these ones. This recipe is one I made with the kids and we found it on Pinterest. 

It's super simple so that makes it even better right?

What you need: 

• 1 cup butter, softened (I used salted)
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup toppings of choice, sprinkles, nuts, candy, etc. (We used coloured sanding sugar and chocolate kisses)

What you need to do: 

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 

Step 2: Line a baking sheet with parchment

Step 3: Put butter in a bowl and whip until fluffy (I used my kitchen aid mixer)

Step 4: Add all dry ingredients (Not your toppings) mix until everything has incorporated

Step 5: Portion using 1 tablespoon and roll into balls. Place the balls onto the parchment paper. You need about 2 inches of spacing or your cookies will stick together. 

Step 6: Put a little bit of confectioner sugar into a bowl. Using a fork dip it into the sugar and gently push each cookie flat. (They should be about 1/2 inch thick)

Step 7: Put on your toppings. 

Step 8: Bake in the oven for about 14 minutes. (Check bottoms at 10 minutes if your oven runs hot)

Step 9: Cool on cookie sheet for a few mins and then move to plate or wire racks to finish cooling. 

ENJOY now or freeze in containers or freezer bags for another day. Remember to put parchment between the layers of cookies when freezing. 

 

 

 

Jan 2021 Week 1 homeschool

 Our homeschool schedule changes so much sometimes I wouldn't even call it that.

I try to keep it relatively the same day to day, 7 days a week for C. It helps her regulate.

This month each of the children picked something they want to learn about on top of our day to day learning.

H being the youngest got to pick what we did the first week. I let them each decide at the start of the month so it gives me time to plan activities and print off anything we need.

H picked "ABCD's" so our first week looked like this:
Workbooks or worksheets
15min break
journals or art or a science experiment
15 min break
a video on the letters, letter sounds etc, or a letter game.

Game one: We have the alphabet taped along the hallway wall and I wrote the capital and lower case letters on sticky notes in random order and they took turns matching the sticky notes to the letters on the wall.

Game two: Letter finishing. They each get a sheet with letters on it, they pull a foam letter out of the bin and match it to the letter on their sheet.

Game three: Letter BINGO. each child gets a BINGO card and I pull the foam letters out of the BIN and call out the letter and put a mark on their card. We do this 5 times so they each get a turn calling out the letters.

15 mins outside

Snack and reading

Normally we are done school before lunch depending on how long each activity takes.

Lunch

I work in the afternoons and they have free play unless things took longer in the morning and we are finishing up.

Snack and I start dinner, usually 1 or more help me with dinner.

After snack, it's another 15 minutes outside.

In the mornings on the 15 minutes between I start laundry, tidy the main floor, answer clients, blog, empty and reload the dishwasher.

Dinner

Walk

Baths, snacks, stories, teeth and bedtime snuggles.

I try to print everything I need at the start of the month, if not I do it at night after the kids are in bed.

I get a lot of printables right from google images. Such as searching ABC BINGO and just printing 4 different bingo cards so they don't get the same one each.


Even though I try to have everything together not every day goes according to the plan. Having children with special needs (or children in general) means following their cues for that day and some days are just tougher than others and that could mean very little seated school work or none at all. Sometimes I am just burnt out too (that happens to parents) and I need a break so we take the day and play.

Yes, I tidy A LOT but with 4 children, 3 adults and 2+ dogs (depending on fosters) you will never be able to eat off my floors.

Some of the videos we watched are: video 1

                                                            video 2 

                                                          
I printed the BINGO from here.