So, I'm trying an unschooling approach.

Let me start off by saying...

Wow, a morning with kids can get very sidetracked and then your mind can be so frazzled by it, you don't even remember stating that you would be back with curriculums --- sorry for that!

I am back but I do not bring curriculums, I do however bring cheap ink links and some knowledge about how I plan to run our school in two weeks, TWO WEEKS, TWO. WEEKS?! Where has our summer and time gone?!


Oh yeah, were taking an easy four day a week schooling year and a couple of out-of-town field trips, one is even going to Florida! (more on that in my post about it, or leading up, or both!)

This is my first morning all summer without children. I usually get a few but this summer has been different and even though I have loved it so much, I'm also enjoying silence and hot coffee! I've been planning like crazy, printing things, finding certain websites which will help and entertain while teaching my kids, apps that will help them learn for whenever it's quiet time or taking a trip.

I've scoured the web for freebies and cheap things alike, and I have come to the conclusion of wanting to "unschool" instead of  traditional schooling at home. Of course, there will still be traditional times of schooling but in my state, thankfully, we don't have to provide curriculums or even grading for that matter - just attendance, one standardized test scores and shot records! Whew, it means I can be as organized or unorganized as I want and for now it will be okay.

But I plan to have more hands-on experiences and lessons than reading about or writing about them.

I do have plenty of printables that will go hand in hand with our hands-on approach so, they will be able to keep up with what's going on without feeling "too bored" by it. Oh yeah, since we're talking about printing -- it uses up quite a bit of ink, by the way, especially printing for three children so with that being said -- I use an HP printer and my black ink alone at the local super store is $20.00 or so. So, I ran out of ink and just couldn't bear to spend that much on one cartridge, so I took to amazon to see what their prices are and they have a pack of black, and color for only $28. That's two for only a few extra dollars than just one! Check it out here!

Once my inks get in and I can finish my printouts I'll share with you where I found them, prices if any, and how I plan to use them!

Homeschool and Zzzquil

It's 7 am, I've been awake since 5 and alone since 6 this has came to be a rare occasion since the start of summer. But also one I haven't missed. Being the stay at home spouse and parent can sometimes come with its downside of being alone during some of the brightest and most awakened parts of the day. Having two children who were in school from 7:45-3 PM and a husband who sometimes leaves before daybreak means some conversations with my then three-year-old were sometimes one sided and her advice wasn't always perfect, but in a lot of ways helped: such as her best friend is the sun -- he makes it warm for her and he grows all of our plants. Now that's some advice I should take into mind and become best friends with the sun as well.

But this morning as I checked on the girls who had taken refuge on the couch, just because staying up late was too much, I realized how absolutely perfect life has been since having them home from school and how incredibly excited I am to start not only teaching them about life at home but teaching them all subjects and never having to debate on things we can or can't do because of public schooling. That's right, we are state official have our own school name "Blooming Lotus" and ID number.

I've already began planning out our field trips vacations weeks and curriculums --- although I could have done this beforehand I absolutely DID not want to count my ducks before they hatched. I also wanted to wait on back to school tax free shopping which won't happen until this coming weekend but hey, a mom can get excited can't she?


As soon as I finish the curriculums I'll definitely be back to share that with you guys, but another thing I wanted to touch base with was that I am a product tester meaning, I receive products at a free cost for my honest opinion and with that being said I received Zzzquil to try out for sleep.

Sometimes being a mom can wear you out so much until your not even sleepy at all and I know when this happens I spend my nights preplanning the next day or days or even planning into next week. I'll think about things that I forgot to do today and beg myself to lie in bed and fall asleep with no avail. So, trying out Zzzquil a few nights ago proved worth it. I had requested my homeschooling approval and sent all the proper paperwork but a waiting game is a game I never like playing, so waiting stressed me out and I spent the rest of the day moving and rearranging and double checking my email every 30 minutes or so, needless to say once I had nothing to distract my mind I was lying in bed analyzing until I realized "hey, I've got this awesome non-habit forming Zzzquil, tonight is the night" I was asleep within 30 minutes and slept uninterrupted for 8 and a half hours! I almost felt like a teenager again! This stuff is awesome. I didn't wake up feeling drowsy or loopy, like I thought, I was actually amazingly refreshed and ready for the day. I will definitely look into purchasing a box for such occasions when my mind tells me to stay up.


As stated before I received this product free for testing purposes and to leave my honest feedback.