Social Media and Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

This week I joined Twitter. 

And Instagram.

This is so scary for me.  For years I have been a Facebook Only kinda girl.  I knew how to make that work.  I was comfortable. 

And then I started blogging.

Good News:  I am loving this new adventure.

Not As Good News:  It is stretching me in ways I didn't think possible.

A Mommy Blogger Friend of mine (check out her amazing blog Sanctification and Spitup) suggested I jump on the social media bandwagon as I grow my blog.  And being a sucker for peer pressure trusting her wisdom, I did just that.

Now Hubs has Twitter.  He has a very specific Twitter persona as well.  I won't tell you what it is, but I will tell you that he isn't like that in real life.  And I realized that I was going to need to have a persona as well.  And I do!  I am The Messy Homeschool Mom.  And I am falling in love with her. 

Instagram is a little easier for me.  I love sharing pictures of my precious children and precocious pets.  And I have a lot of friends there already. 

That does not mean that the new social media outlets are making me comfortable.  Putting my new self out there is challenging for me.  I hope that as I grow in this experience you will let me know what you think.  And help me stretch, and evolve, and change.  I want to get better.  I want to encourage more moms.  I want to make more messes. 

And that means I will probably never be comfortable.  But I will be growing.  And that's good!

Help me grow by checking out my Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook Page.  You can also email me at themessyhomeschoolmom@gmail.com.  I would love to hear from you!

Squish Art Monsters

Pinterest is a funny place. No other form of media makes me feel so motivated and so very, very slacker-ish than Pinterest.  But I love it, so I take the good with the bad. My favorite things to pin for the kids are craft and science projects.  So you will be seeing a lot of those here. 

This is what we did today:

Disclaimer: I am a TERRIBLE photographer. I apologize in advance. 

So I was wanting to dive into a messy project with the kids, and I found this pin:

I love paint, and we have a ton of it. And I really liked the "Monster" decorations after the paint part. I like doing projects that are about the process, and to be truthful just squishing the paint would leave me bored and uninspired. The creative aspect for me was in creating the faces. 

For this project we used:

• Card stock
• Tempera Paint
• Paint Brushes
• Glue
• Pom poms
• Ribbon
• Neon index cards
• Fabric scraps
• Jewels
• Markers (to draw pupils on our eyeballs)
• Buttons
• Stickers

The how-to of the paint part seemed simple. Fold-Drip-Squish-Decorate.

1. Fold a piece of cardstock in half.
2. Drop/squeeze paint onto one half, and then brush to create half of the monster
3. Squish the  two halves together until the paint transfers and unfold
4. Viola, a monster blot ready to be decorated!

And it was that simple.

Sort of.

We learned a few things along the way.

#1. Do not let the four year old drop the paint onto the paper. (There is fun messy, and there is excessive messy-that definitely fell into the latter category.) Results:

Oops! And when squished the paint oozed out the sides everywhere.  Which leads me to:

#2. Leave a border around the edge of the paper. And be judicious when applying paint. The above page, when folded and squished looked ok, but not stellar. And not using black probably would have helped.

#3. Don't focus on the brush part too much.  Baby Girl was very focused on getting her "half" to look perfect, and it kinda dried out in between times.  

Her first try:

#4. You may be able to get away with not using a brush at all!  Buds had fun doing this project, but he wanted help with his last couple.  We found that dropping the paint and then doing very minimal brushing worked the best.  

This was what we came up with doing that:

#5. Don't let the baby paint by himself while helping the bigs.  

This is why:

But his picture came out cool!

We let all of them dry for an hour or so, and then I gave the kids some random crafty stuff and some glue and let them go to it.  Bubba was sleeping, so I worked on his picture.  Baby Girl and Buds had so much fun creating their monster faces. They came out so great! 

Note: Glue falls into the same category as paint.  Buds grabbed the bottle while I was distracted and we had a disaster.  To combat this problem I did what my mom did, I made a little paper "boat" and put some glue in it.  He dipped his pieces in that and then stuck them to the picture.  Worked like a charm - as long as I was paying attention.  

For these Pinterest Testing blogs will have a Fun Quotient and a Messiness Quotient rating at the end.

Squish Art Monsters:

• Kept the kidlets occupied for over an hour
• Allowed lots of creative freedom
• Minimal intervention was required, beyond verbal instruction.

• I walked away with more paint on me than the kids had on them
• Easy clean up
• Minimum of crafting debris left on the table and floor

I hope you all liked how these came out. Please post pictures if you decide to get messy with your kids and make these!  

Enjoy the mess!

Dwell on the Positives

You know, some days it is good to just dwell on the positives.

Today's Positives:

• My husband is kind of amazing.  He is so good to me.  He respects me.  He loves me.  
• Baby Girl, Buds, and Bubba love each other.  Sometimes they even show it.
• Judah, Rosie, Cleo, and Ollie bring joy to me.  They are so sweet and snuggly.
• I have a family that supports me, even if they have quirks.  Better still, they support me despite mine.
• There was tea in my day.  Sanity in a cup. 
• Nick Jr has an iPad app.
• My favorite TV show posted a new episode.
• My house is full of laughter and fun today.

See?  Look at all of those positives!

I need to dwell on them today.  And do you know why?



Really, do you want to know?



Ok, I am going to be real with you then. 



I needed to dwell on the positives today because:






POOP!






Holy Mutton!  Days like today just seem filled with the stuff.  Between a toddler in diapers, a 4 year old who, for reasons unknown to me, refuses to use the big potty and insists on using the potty chair, and housebreaking a puppy, there is POOP in my life right now. 

Don't get me wrong.  I know what I signed up for with children and puppies and such.  That doesn't make it an un-stinky proposition. 

So today, I will dwell on the positives.  Because they are actually the things that matter.  In the midst of the mess, yes, even the poop, they are what matter. 

So think positive, and stay messy (as if we had any other option!)

Sandbox Mayhem

Today was a fun day. My SIL brought her kiddos over to play. Sometimes though, messy happens when you are least expecting it. 

SIL brought me good coffee (Thank You!) and I got to snuggle "the Buddies".  And our bigs (and Bubba) played outside nicely for several hours! I know you know how nice that is. 

That brings me to today's mess. 

We have this monstrosity in our backyard:

I love it! Like really, really love it. It is probably the single best investment we have made in our kid's play. Buds will play out there, by himself, for hours and hours. Baby Girl and Bubba love it too.  It is great for developing math and science skills, and it encourages creativity and imaginative play. So many benefits!  And adding the cousins just adds to the fun! 

Exhibit A: The Cousins, RE, NI, EJ, and LE. Aren't they precious?!? I just want to squish them all when I see them! But I don't. Cuz squishing them is a bad idea. So I just hug them gently. Cuz I like them. 

Well anyway, SIL and I are just chatting away (about the Homeschool Con) and Buds comes in all serious. 

"Mommy, Sissy and RE put sand down Bubba's shirt." He didn't quite seem to just be tattling, so I probed a bit.

"On his head, or just some in his shirt?"

"In his shirt."

"Is he upset?"

"No."

"Ok, thanks for telling me. I will check in him in a minute."  And off he went to play. Bubba was not fussing or anything, so I dismissed it. With a giant sandbox in the backyard sand in clothes is par for the course. I have learned to vacuum first and ask questions later.

But then, the offending ladies come in. 

And confess. 

"Mommy, Did Buds tell you what we did?"

"Yes, let's not do it again. It probably didn't hurt him, but it's probably not very comfortable." They both nodded solemnly. Poor RE felt terrible. Baby Girl just seemed thankful she wasn't in trouble. 

It still has not occurred to me at this point that they did anything more than trickled a little sand down the back of his shirt. It happens all the time. No biggie. 

But I decide that they look a little too thankful to be off the hook, so I check on Bubba. 

I found this:

I start laughing uncontrollably. SIL comes to look, and immediately starts taking pictures. 

From the back is my favorite.

They filled his onesie. With sand. And gave him a massive muffin top!  Every time I changed perspective my laughter became more and more uncontrollable. 

There was a sand-turd in his diaper (but I won't post the picture of that, I promise.) 

So as I laughed I took off his pants, and unbuttoned his onesie. And this is what fell out: 

Poor kid! That was a lot of sand to waddle around with. He got a bath in the kitchen sink.

Sometimes the things that have the most benefits, and are the most fun, can cause the biggest messes. Don't be scared of the mess. Fear will keep you clean, but it won't benefit anyone, and it certainly won't make you belly laugh!  So laugh at the mess as you clean it up. Your kids had fun, and it will probably make your day! 

Rabbit Season is Open

This is Ollie.

Ollie is a fat, lazy, rub-my-belly-until-it's-time-for-lasagna cat. 

He is also a fierce and mighty jungle cat, capable of taking down the fluffiest of baby bunnies. Sort of.

Right around this time every spring our cats flex their hunting muscles. Usually, they bring me dead baby rabbits, you know, because I am a crappy hunter. All I can hunt down is that dry food that comes in salmon and tuna flavor. 

I have learned to live with this. Even though baby bunnies make horrible, terrible, blood curdling screams at 3 am when my cats are hunting outside my window. 

But this year, we have Rosie. 

Exhibit A:

Sweet, harmless, rub-my-belly-until-I-need-to-wet-on-the-carpet Rosie.  

Ollie has decided to take her on as a pet project (ahem, sorry for the pun. Just couldn't help myself). He plays with her (like really plays with her, claws in, no teeth, sits and boxes with her), entices her out of our increasingly puppy proof fence, and has apparently decided she needs to learn to hunt. 

And it is bunny season. Baby bunny season. 

So, I brought Rosie downstairs (I really hope she figures out how to go down herself soon) and went to do a load of laundry and then get ready for bed. I have my hand on the doorknob when I hear the sound.  The sound of a baby bunny in distress, coming from my open bedroom window, which opens to an egress well, about 6 inches from the ground. Oh crap. 

I grabbed my phone, and flashlight app in hand, investigate the window well, hoping that what I heard was actually a puppy whine. I see nothing. Leaving the window I proceed to get ready for bed. 

And I hear an Ollie shaped thud. And I think to myself, ok, he is just coming in from roaming. I glance at him and say "Hi Ollie."  And just as he has accepted my invitation into my bedroom, I see it. A dead bunny.

"Oh, no, no Ollie! Don't come in the- oh crap, no don't put that- Rosie No! no, No, NO!"  I scoop Rosie up and call in reinforcements. "Huuuuuuubs!"

A non chalant "Coming" floats from upstairs. 

"I neeeed you!" Desperation threads its way into my words.

I can hear the "what could she possibly need help with" in his footsteps.

"There is a dead bunny on our flooooor!"

Footsteps coming down the stairs much more quickly now. He comes up behind me and I look at him slightly panicked with a very wiggly puppy in my arms. 

"It's not dead."

"Oh S%#+!"

Thankfully from here Hubs saved the day. He did offer to let our toddler touch it-which I declined thank-you-very-much, but he took the bunny and put it outside, somewhere away from our house. 

Crisis averted. Until 3 am. Because I am pretty sure my mighty jungle hunter will be back with another one. 

Hey Friends, I know this has nothing to do with homeschooling, messy projects, or Pinterest, but it is part of my messy life. And now that it is over, it's rather funny. So enjoy! ~Kristen

Homeschool Con 2015 + Curriculum Haul

Ok, so you all know I love mess. But sometimes being messy requires encouragement, refreshing options, and good curriculum. Enter this year's Teaching Parents Association Homeschool Convention.  I had never actually been to a Homeschool Con, so this was a new experience for me.  I had shopped the vendors before, so I knew there were fun things to play with, and more shiny new textbooks than you can fling a kindergartener at, but the actual conference, with the keynote speakers and workshops was a new experience.  I was excited, and nervous, and even a little skeptical (I mean really, what is there for me to learn, being a second gen homeschooler? Yes, I might have a teensy little pride issue happening here.)

So off I went.

Day 1:

My first workshop was called "Setting the Stage During the Preschool Years."  Two veteran moms taught it, and there was standing room only.  Not only that, but I know several of the moms who attended this particular workshop,  One of them is my best friend.  Apparently I was not alone in my curiosity.  My basic takeaway from this session:  READ TO YOUR CHILDREN!  A lot.  Every. Single. Day.  One of the presenters gave a list of resources for reading to your kids.  The most noteable?  Five In A Row

Five In A Row is a fun and interesting curriculum for 4-8 year olds.  Mind you the way it is structured you can enrich your younger children easily with this.  The way it works:  Each day, (Five In A Row) you read your children a book, a good book.  Like Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton, or Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McClosky.  Each book has a list of activities for your children to complete, separated by subject.  Social Studies, Art, Science, Math, and History all make an appearance.  Hubs and I will most likely use it less like an all in one curriculum, and more like a daily literature lesson for our kids. It looks like so much fun, and a great excuse to fill in some glaring gaps in our family library.  We bought our copy of Five In A Row from Rainbow Resource, but you can order it directly from the company's website (linked above).

I also looked at homeschool planners at Rainbow Resource.  Unfortunately I didn't find one that I liked, but I will touch more on that later.  While I was browsing at Rainbow Resource's booth I found the Live Butterfly Garden that I have wanted for Baby Girl and picked it up as a birthday gift.  Hubs found a cool 2-liter Bird Feeder that we will be setting up as well. 

My second session was the keynote session called Trading Pressure for Peace presented by Jeannie Fulbright.  I will admit, I was skeptical going into this session.  I wasn't sure if I was going to like or benefit from this particular session.  It ended up being a message that I needed to hear.  Fear is a powerful and ugly motivator.  I realized that a lot of my mistakes with the kids and with homeschooling were rooted in deep seated fears and inadequacy.  It was comforting to hear that I am enough.  What I do is enough.  The loads of dirty laundry and sink full of dishes don't make me less than.  As Mrs. Fulbright talked about the mistakes she made I sat and thought this is me!  And seeing where her children are, how far they have come, was a huge encouragement.  If you take nothing else away from this post, know that you are enough for your children.  Your mistakes are not permanent.  Your children will not be perfect.  The house will not always be clean.  But you are enough.  Hear me, and know this.  Take that knowledge deep down into your soul.  Don't just know it with your head, know it with your heart.  And know that I am trying desperately to internalize this message right along with you.

Sorry.  Didn't mean to be so sappy. Moving on.

Third Session:  What Every Mom Needs To Know About Teaching Reading by Cynthia Shelden. This. Session. Was. Life. Changing.  My entire philosophy on teaching Baby Girl to read has been upended and resettled.  Cynthia Shelden has a masters degree as a reading educator, and her explanation for how teaching reading is rocket science helped me realize how Baby Girl and I are different. 

"Research Shows:
The top 30% of children learn to read no matter what method is used.
Middle 50% (average readers) will learn to read from many kinds of well-organized instruction.
17-20% of children are likely to experience serious problems with reading unless they receive intensive, well-designed instruction." ~Cynthia Shelden

There are talented readers, there are readers with talent and skill, and there are readers that are skilled only.  I fall into the category of a talented reader.  I didn't need to "learn" the rules, I just intuitively understood how words worked and could figure out how to "decode" words on my own.  Baby Girl has some talent, but she just isn't as intuitive and needs to be taught the rules to help her decode words.  And because I am a "talented" reader I need a solid curriculum to help me teach her to read.  Unfortunately, people that do things effortlessly tend to be terrible at teaching them to others.  Hubs and I looked at several different curricula.  Mrs. Shelden suggested several great ones.  We settled on Explode The Code.  We were unable to find all of the books we needed at the convention, and plan to buy them online. We plan to start with Book A and run through A,B, and C quickly and then move on to Level 1.  The great news about this program is that is is extremely reasonably priced so buying all of the books won't be particularly expensive in comparison to others.  We even found a few at the used book booth for about half price.  If you choose to use this program you will need to buy readers as well, FYI.

My last session of day 1 was: Let's Make A Plan! by Jeanine Schantz & Lona Gorman, both members of the TPA Board.  I have known for a while that I need to plan my year out to keep me on track.  This workshop was very insightful as to how I should go about this process.  I think I have decided to use A Garden Patch of Reproducible Home School Planning Worksheets by Debbie McGregor.  It is an eBook format, so I can print the pages after I have customized them.  I plan to first divide up my year based on the number of days I need to have my children attend, then spread the curriculum I plan to use across that amount of time.  Then all I have to do is follow the outline I create and I am hopeful that I will stay close to on target.  Do I think we will finish everything?  No way.  Do I think I can be flexible and change the outline as needed to set a pace Baby Girl and Buds can keep up with?  Absolutely.  I just need a direction to head in.  The kids will show me the way to get there,

Day 2:

Hubs and I spent the first portion of our time Saturday in the exhibitor hall.  Aside from needing to physically pry him away from the used book stall we ended up being fairly quick and efficient.  We started off looking for the math program we decided to try.  Two years ago, before Baby Girl started kindergarten we purchased Math-U-See Alpha.  I had used Math-U-See as a homeschooler and loved it.  It is a great curriculum, for some people.   Hubs never used it, and it doesn't make sense to him.  Baby Girl really didn't get it either.  So we decided to go with Hubs old standby, Saxon.  Our challenge was finding which level Baby Girl is at.  We decided that Math 1 is probably where we should start with her.  We found the teacher book and one of the work books at a used book booth for less than half the cost of the brand new items (score!).  We will order the workbooks and meeting book online.

Our next big find is the one I am most excited about.  When we asked Baby Girl what she wanted us to buy her for school she said, "Something for Biology."  Yes, she is 6.  And yes, she really does want a biology curriculum.  Which we found!  Apologia just came out with a new elementary science curriculum, written by Jeannie Fulbright (Remember her from day 1?  Yeah, pretty neat lady.)  Baby Girl is now the proud owner of Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day.  The three zoology texts can be used in any order, and you do not have to buy the accompanying workbook to go along with it, which is really nice. Even better is that the two chapters at the beginning of Zoology 1 are available online for free so that families that choose 2 or 3 as their first texts have those basics available.  I will touch more on my plans for this a little later. 

I had used the high school Apologia Science texts in high school and I cannot recommend them highly enough.  They are very well written, scientifically sound, and have fun experiments.  According to my mom, the supplies that are used for experimentation are easy to find, and usually are already around the house.  A huge plus for us homeschool moms on a budget.

We also visited the Timberdoodle booth and picked a fun Sticker Book for Buds to work on while Baby Girl and I are doing school.  If you have littles and want a fun curriculum check out Timberdoodle.  They have some very fun stuff.  I love looking through all of the fun and good quality toys that they have.

Overall I think our shopping went very well.  We got some good deals, bought some great curriculum, and made some decisions that will be good moving forward with school for next fall.

The first session that afternoon (for us at least) we split up.  Hubs went to "Being a Hands On Dad" by James Glenn and I attended "Notebooking: Creativity with a Purpose" by Jeannie Fulbright.  (I liked her apparently!)   Hubs enjoyed his session, and while I was (again) skeptical going in, I was very glad I went. 

Notebooking is the concept of having a child write and/or draw a picture at the completion of a text or activity.  This falls fairly firmly under the Charlotte Mason philosophy of homeschooling (which on "placement" tests about my style of homeschooling I am merely "meh") which is a philosophy I am not very knowledgeable about.  However, I am all about doing things that my children will benefit from, and I am not opposed to using methods from many different schools of thought.  Baby Girl processes her feelings, thoughts, and desires through drawing, so the concept of drawing as a form of "activity completion" seems very natural for her.   We will be using it heavily as part of her science and reading studies, and after field trips and other experiences.  I am looking forward to using what I learned!

And our final session of Homeschool Con 2015 was "Homeschooling with Unschooling Successfully" by Cyndi Kinney of Knowledge Box Central.  I was very excited about this workshop.  Unschooling has always been my preferred method of learning for my children (yes, you just read a whole long dealio about all of the amazing curriculum I bought- don't be surprised when a whole bunch of it goes out the window!).  I want my children to learn as organically as they can.  Ms. Kinney shared the story of how she unschooled her daughter, who graduated high school at 15 and college at 18.  Her daughter is now an EMT, Fire Fighter, Stunt Double, Photographer, and all around general amazing person.  And she never had a day of formal schooling before college.  Her mother allowed her to follow her passions, and she did so, with gusto!  I am excited to go on my children's learning adventure with them. 

Side Note: Cyndi Kinney owns Knowledge Box Central, which has supplements for many curricula and  books.  I might be getting several of her products for Baby Girl to do this year!

I think my haul, and my experience this year will give me the tools to help Baby Girl and Buds to follow their passions this coming year, while simultaneously allowing me to make sure they are moving toward our end goal of a well rounded education.  So, in the words of Ms Frizzle, I am ready to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!

Welcome to the Mess!

          Welcome friends!  I am so glad you dropped by.  Excuse the mess.  We live here.   My name is Kristen and I am married to an amazing guy.  I call him Hubs. He works all day, and then comes home to help me clean up the mess I made with the kids.  Sometimes he even cooks dinner.  I swear he has a cape somewhere.   

My kids are:  Baby Girl.  She is 6.  She loves her Special Baby, all things related to animals, the scientific process, and drawing pictures.  Buds is 4.   He is strong and brave and kind.  He is the very definition of a Boy.  (Boy, noun:  Moving noise with dirt on it) He always brings a smile to my face.  And last is Bubba.  He is 1 and is the smiley-est little person I think I have ever met.  He communicates so well, and scares the every loving crap out of me on a daily basis.  He tries to keep up with his siblings.  I might not make it to his 2^nd birthday.  But he is my joy.  I love his snuggles.  Baby snuggles are the best.  

We also run a small zoo.  We have two dogs, Judah and Rosie, two cats, Cleo and Ollie, and four fish tanks with several fish each.  My nature loving daughter is also always hosting bug sleep overs as well.  So yeah, that’s us.  Our house is full, and busy, and fun.  And it is messy!  Very Messy.

Now the dictionary definition of messy is this:

messy adjective \ˈme-sē\

• ·         not clean or tidy
• ·         carelessly made or done : not careful or precise
• ·         causing or involving a mess : likely to make something dirty or sticky

I love the word messy.  I love the definition of messy.  I love the idea of messy.  I want to encourage my kids to be messy.  Now, before I go further, please note that we DO NOT live in squalor.  My house gets vacuumed regularly, my dishes get done (most of the time), and the laundry is always cycling.  We live in a clean house. But we love to do messy things here.  

            I want to encourage moms here.  I want to let you into our messy world.  I want you to know that messy is a great way to teach your kids.  We are a homeschooling family, so learning at home is kind of a big deal here.  In fact, it is a huge deal here.  But I am also not the type that thinks that progress is measured in test scores and worksheets.  It is measured in actual practical applications of the knowledge gained.  Hence the bug sleep overs.   I spend a lot of time combing Pinterest for fun and easy crafts and science projects that I can do with my kids.  

Science for young kids is more about the process than the actual results.  Remind me to write about the time we tried to make silly putty out of laundry starch.  But we have a fairly standard discussion at the beginning of each project.  I explain what we are going to do (NOT what will happen when we do it) and then I ask the kids to tell me what they think will happen.  Are they usually right?  Nope.  Do they think the results are awesome?  Yep.   This is my version of messy learning.  

Art is the same way.  I let them get into the project.  So what if they get paint on the table? It washes.  Or themselves? Into the tub! Or the walls? Well, I do TRY to keep it off the walls, but they wash too! I let them get invested in the process.  And if that involves a bit of mess so be it.  

I want to show you that messy is so much fun!  There is so much pressure on moms today.  Pressure to have perfect houses, and prepare perfect meals, and dress your kids in perfect clothes, and put on your perfect makeup.  Perfect is just plain too hard for me.  I am comfortable with messy.  I want my kids to be comfortable with messy.  Because life is messy.  And when they grow up I want them to be able to deal with the mess.  To thrive in the mess.  

So come with me.  I am going to find the mess behind the Perfect Pinterest Pictures and enjoy it! Stay messy friends!

If you come to see me, come anytime.  If you come to see my house, make an appointment!      ~My Mom’s Kitchen