Life Changes

As if things weren't busy enough at my house with homeschooling Allison, having JR, and working part time. I am considering starting my own business!

It makes me sad to see families paying outrageous prices for cloth diapers. I bought all of mine for less than $4 each. I was looking online to replace a few that were different than the ones I like and saw the exact diapers I use from $3-$20 depending on what website you look at! This got me to thinking about people who don't have time to do all the research I have done on cloth diapers. Why should they have to pay such an exorbitant amount to diaper their child? This led me to ask the manufacturer of the diapers what it would cost to wholesale them to me. Then, what it would take to create a website to sell them on and what taxes I would have to pay to become a legit business. All of this led me to discover I could have a business of my own (with tremendous stock) for less than $2500!

That sounds like a ton of money to me, but I found out that Sam's Club offers small business loans for a low fee (~$70/month). The more I research, the more I realize I want to start my own store! This may not happen in the next few days but I'm hoping by JR's birthday (April 26) that I have it online! I'll keep everyone posted on the details and the website, coming soon!

Happy New Year!

Hello 2013! It feels odd to write that- I don't know why.

I haven't written much about homeschooling lately. Allison loves it! She begs to do school everyday, even weekends! I will do about a half hour before JR wants my attention and I have to quit. Some days she'll continue on for a bit longer with "reading" or repeating her days of the week or ABC's and others she is happy to be done.

She knows 30 sight words, all of the alphabet (upper and lower case), the sounds they make, can count 25 without help and 100 if the numbers are in front of her, all of her colors, shapes (even the weird ones like octogon or trapezoid!), and the days of the week in order (but she adds a couple of extra Fridays. Don't we wish!).

I have been using a complete workbook of kindergarten type book with Allison. She finished it up before we took a break for the holidays. I got a new one to start on Monday. She knows how to trace all of her letters but forming them on her own is iffy. My goal is between now and August is to improve her handwriting. I don't care if she can write them (she'll only be 3.5) but I want to see her consistently tracing them with good form. We're also going to work on simple, conceptual addition and sub

School Already?!

We've been going to the park with our local homeschooling group for the past few weeks. Allison has made some great new friends, even though she's the youngest (smaller siblings excluded). All the older kids make sure to include her and keep up with her. It's pretty amazing to go to the park for 2-3 hours and not have your kid permanently attatched (and not be worried about that with a 2 year old!).

I planned on starting to homeschool Allison in January. Nothing major just some basic skills, numbers, letters, days of the week, colors, shapes. She had other ideas! From talking with the older kids, she decided she wanted to start school when the big kids did, today. So, I got on the ball and found all the websites I planned to use in January, printed things off like crazy, laminated them so they will last... all the fun stuff that goes along with starting a new school year!

Today, was our first day of school. I expected to spend 5 minutes on it and have her want to do something else. She spent an hour on it and I had to bribe her with going to the park to stop! I think I've created a monster...

Mi Vida Loca

What have I been up to since I updated last? Quite a bit! We joined a local homeschool group and have been going to play at the park on Mondays. Allison loves it and has heard from the older kids how much fun school is and begging to go to school like the big kids! So, starting August 6 we are starting a pre-k/kindergarten mix. Kind of scary if you consider Allison is only 2.5!

I have checked out the typical things that a preschooler needs to know and she already knows them... I had to think fast and break it to James that I will be buying curriculum this year. He took it better than I figured, but he also knows I know best about homeschooling.

On the JR front, he's getting big! 14.2 pounds and 24 inches at his 2 month check up. He is starting to babble and coo, smile at things, and, generally, is a happy baby.

I have also managed to herniate a disk in my back! The doctor thinks it happened during pregnancy and we just chalked it up to pregnancy aches and pains. I'm in pain doing certain things like laying down or too much walking but I'm still doing them :) I'm taking ibuprofen for the pain because I can't take the Flexoril that the doctor prescribed (home all day with the kids and have to drive/function) unless I have help.

I am also on the board of my local MOMS Club (treasurer) and have started hosting a craft/educational activity for the kids at the business meeting. That should be fun!

Well, more later. Kids are up and want my attention!