Wired For Noise

Thirteen Things I should be doing instead of sitting here

1. Ouside playing!!!
2. Taking the boys to the park
3. At the library getting new books to read
4. Taking recycling in.
5. Working in the garden
6. Sorting things for the garage sale
7. Doing the dishes
8. Reading to the boys
9. Coloring with E like I promised last night
10. Taking a walk
11. Chase butterflies
12. Watch E ride his bike
13. Put away laundry

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When I first decided I was going to homeschool E, which was before he was even born, I went a little crazy. OK, maybe more than a little. I knoew it was what I wanted, I knew my reasoning was sound, I knew I could do it. But I had no clue WHAT to do. So in a frenzy one light I ordered every workbook I could find on Ebay. There they sit, a nice stack of workbooks covering every subject that a young child could need.

Now that I’m a bit more secure, and a lot less fearful, I keep planning to sell them back off on ebay again. But part of me wants to hold on. Maybe its the packrat in me that keeps every single little thing my children have ever touched. Or maybe there’s part of me that is still a little afraid.

Looking at my personal book shelf you’ll find more workbooks. Workbooks for things that I wanted to learn more about, workbooks for books that I read, I’ve even still got the workbooks that we did in my childbirth class all those years ago.

OK, so maybe I’ve just got a thing for workbooks. If nothing else they’ve got pretty pictures for E to color all over.

workbooks, homeschooling, parenting, life, Unschooling Voices

Sunday was Dearest’s 30th birthday.

I made his favorite dinner, and an extra chocolate cake for dessert. Sadly he had to work. I hate thinking of him eating his birthday dinner all alone, in that plastic bench, with no one around to tease him and laugh with him.

I taped a candle to the top of the container I put a slice of cake in. It was the best that I could do. And E made him a birthday card. It is quite the amusing tale.

Now, for those of you who can’t read preschooler let me explain. There are boys playing baseball, see the orange scribles near the bottom. But they are also on fire. The purple streak near the top is the fire truck coming to put out the fire. And the blur in the middle? Well that’s daddy riding a motorcycle and being chased by a monster. But don’t worry, becasue E drew him a gun to shoot said monster with. Wasn’t that thoughful of him? I didn’t take a picture of in but on the other side E made a million circles and said it was a tornado.

Is he not the stereotypical boy? Totally blew my smug “Nurture over nature” theories out of the water.

birthday, life, family,

There is a last minute sale going on at the Scholastic store. They are offering free shipping on orders of $20 or more, and a few other Scholastic coupons, but this expires Monday, May 28th. That’s a pretty good deal for anyone ordering homeschooling supplies for next year.

Sales and coupons are awesome to have for buying stuff. I’m a complete sale junkie, if I can get it cheap I’m going for it. LOL I love to find good deals online and usually go to Coupon Chief to find sale not advertised anywhere else. Like the Edmund Scientifics sale of 10% any order using their Edmund Scientifics coupons until May 31. Have you seen the cool stuff they sell?

You can also go to the coupon site and get discounts for Amazon.com, Alibris, eCampus, Half.com, and a lot of other good online book store coupons. Cause you know books are my (not-so) secret love.

When E was little I scored a brand new sewing machine and serger off of Freecycle. I was filled with excitement and had all these plans that I was going to make and sell diapers. However, reality kicked in and I realized how much work I would really have to do and I burned out. But before I did I made E a diaper that I thought he was never going to potty train because of. His Bob-bob diaper, the love of his baby life.

It was made of Bob the Builder PUL and red micro-fleese. With a layer of sherpa tri-folded inside. I wasn’t really sure if I could do it, but I was set on trying. I got the instructions from Diaper Sewing. I drew my own pattern on folded newspaper, only drawing half of the shape so that once I cut it out and unfolded it I would have the complete pattern shape. It took several tries to get the shape perfect, making sure that the wings were long enough and wide enough without being too much. And the center had to be narrow enough to fit between his legs without being too thin.

I wish I had been able to use snaps on the diaper, but I didn’t have a snap press and had not yet found anyone who would put snaps on for me. So velcro it was. I don’t mind velcro too much, it makes it easier to adjust the daiper to fit, where as with snaps you are kind of stuck with preset positions. But velcros is easier for a child to undo. Though E loved his Bob-bob diaper so much he never wanted it off.

The elastic was a bit tricky. Trying to deside how much was too much, or not enough. You want it tight enough to fit snug but not too tight so that it leaves red marks. Now, you’re supposed to only sew the elsatic into the absorbant material and not the PUL. But I messed up and sewed it into everything. So don’t do what I did, it made it fit a bit off around the legs. It still worked just fine, just looked a bit odd and and would stick out a bit when he walked.

I’ve still got that diaper. It never fit A, as he is much fatter than E. But I doubt E would let A wear it anyway, it was his special lovie diaper. LOL It seems odd that a childw ould build such an attachment to a diaper, especially since at that time he had never seen Bob the Builder. Most likely it was because his Papa is a builder so herecognised the tools and the hardhat and associated them with Papa. Oh how he loved his Bob-bob diaper.

cloth diapers, sewing