Tips to involve your preschooler in your homeschooling

We were not always a homeschooling family.

Our daughter, however, has always been home schooled.

She was three when we began our adventures at home.  I quickly learned ways to involve her in our learning process, keep her happy and allow for academic growth at her own pace.  I'm sharing a few ideas with you today, they may work for your family as well!

1) Let your preschooler work with the big kids.

Not only does this help them feel a part of your family projects, but it is a great opportunity to teach your older children about inclusivity, patience and consideration for littler ones.  There doesn't need to be a goal or expectation of what your preschooler will learn - they just need to have fun!

2) Give them 'big kid' activities as well.

My preschooler loved having worksheets, handwriting assignments, or math work to complete.  Many of her color sorting and counting activities were extra fun for her because I presented them like I did for her older brothers. It really didn't matter if she did them correctly or if they were made up - it was great practice for her to trace letters, match colors, or just pretend to be as big as her siblings.

3)  Encourage them to watch.

If your preschooler is interested, allow them to learn by osmosis.  Try not to save all your schooling for nap time. My older children just love to show off for the littler ones.

4) Give them something to do with their hands.

Each day, give your preschooler an activity to work on during school.  This can include any sort of crafty or manipulative activity, just save anything involving glue for bath day.  Crafting was always something that helped my little one sit for read alouds.

5) Enjoy being all together; it's one of the greatest blessings of homeschooling.

In this picture, my preschooler asked to practice tying my shoes while her brothers worked on spelling words with sidewalk chalk.  I missed my older children while they were away at 'regular' school, and I have treasured being spared the same separation from my youngest.

Some days are tougher than others with preschoolers underfoot, but if you work with the personality of your child and try to focus on their interests, you will have a wonderful year.  What works for your family in terms of homeschooling with preschoolers?

Creating a Homeschool Space

When we first started homeschooling, we lived in a house with less than one thousand square foot living area. We were very limited on space.  Our homeschool area consisted of a shelving system, our dining room table, and the living room sofa.  That was all we needed.

Fast forward eight years, and now we live in a house more than twice that size with a designated room for homeschooling.  It is a blessing.  However, you might be surprised to know, I don't think it is essential for homeschooling.  No, indeed, I know you don't really need a specific homeschool room to successfully teach your children.  And, you definitely don't need the cutest, most current organizational methods and devices which 'guarentee success.'  For I have witnessed many families homeschool with so much less, and dare I say it, perhaps have done a better job than those with so much more. 

The truth of the matter is...

To homeschool, you only need a few things in regard to physical space. 

Perhaps your homeschool area is a designated room or part of a room.  Maybe you see your whole house as a homeschool setting.  Or, for your family, the world is your classroom.  Regardless of your situation, you still have a need for a physical space for homeschool supplies, books, and important papers.

Three Essentials for a Homeschool Space, Area, or Room...

• Shelves or Storage Area - I think we can all agree that some kind of housing or location for all your books and supplies is needed.  Whether you store them all in one room or throughout your house in convenient point of use locations, this is one way to personalize homeschooling.
• Place to Work - Depending on your homeschool style and preferences, this place to work could be a desk, table and chairs, clipboards, sofa, or bean bag chairs.
• Box, Drawer, or Binder - Important papers like state regulations, lesson plans, attendance records need to be kept in an easy to find location.  You may never need to prove your child's homeschooling experiences, but having the documents in a secure, easy to find location, can be a benefit if you do.

Four Things to Remember When Creating a Homeschool Space...

• Organize your space to respond to the needs of your family.  Don't try to copy someone else's space.  Try any organization method you think will work for your family, but don't keep using it just because someone else recommends it.  If it doesn't work for your family, try something else.
• Remember why and how you homeschool.  These two factors will greatly determine how you set up your homeschool area.
• Your homeschool space can contribute to the success of your homeschool, but it does not determine it.  It can be wonderful to create an organized space or room of beauty and comfort to use for homeschooling.  It is a blessing to give our children {and ourselves} this, if we are able.  However, many homeschool families successfully homeschool with less.  The latest organizational gadgets or the biggest homeschool rooms do not guarantee homeschool success.
• What works this year, may not next year.  Homeschool situations change.  Circumstances, the number of children you homeschool, or the way you homeschool may change over time.  Your space might need to be altered to accommodate these changes.

Five Fun Extra Items to Consider Adding to Any Homeschool Space...

• Color and Patterns - Make your space a little more personal and fun with color and/or patterns.
• Containers - All sizes and shapes can help organize almost any homeschool area.
• Pictures, Posters, and Children's Art Work - Decorate your area with visual aids, pretty pictures, or original works of art.
• Animals and Plants - Live plants and animals can add vitality to an area.  Most children are fascinated with observing living things. 
• Unexpected Items - Just because a space is designated for homeschooling, doesn't mean everything in it has to be functional. Some items may be included for fun or beauty. 

------------------------------------------------------

Dorie enjoys being outside, photography, art, writing, a strong cup of coffee, and good conversations seasoned with much laughter. She and her drummer husband, Jerry, share a life built on faith in Jesus, love, and grace. They have been blessed with four active children. Each day, whether easy or trying, is a wondrous part of this grace filled journey, and Dorie blogs about them all at These Grace Filled Days. Their homeschooling adventures can be found at Homeschooling Just Next Door.

Beginning Your Homeschool Year With Excitement

I remember so clearly how excited I was for the first day of each new school year as I was growing up. It was like having a birthday - it clearly marked the beginning of a new level, a new age, a fresh start.  Here are five ways to create an exciting and positive start for your homeschool.

1) Teasers

Nothing gets my children begging for school to begin as quickly as opening the boxes of next year's books.  Getting to see, touch and hear what they will be learning about actually makes them drool.  Talking about the new things they will get to learn in now that they are older (cursive! an instrument! touch-typing!) is a great validation of their continuing progress in learning.

2) Sprucing Up

We always take time before our new year begins to put away all the items we used last year (giving us time to discuss all the things we loved about learning during that time) and clean a bit.  The shelves get wiped down and reorganized, leaving clean and empty areas just begging for the year to begin.  We clean up our learning spaces and sometimes add a new place that would be fun to work.

3) New Supplies

Remember the brand-new box of crayons?  The fresh, unsharpened pencils?  Each year I provide the children with surprises at the beginning of our school year, including things like erasable pens, character pencils, rulers and counting charts.  Older children can be given protractor sets, staplers, binders and sketch books.

4) A Count Down

We do not run on a tight schedule.  We have started our schooling at a different time every year and tend to make our decisions about when to begin based on what is happening in our lives RIGHT NOW and plan around it.  However, we always manage to include a count down to the new school year, even if it is only a week.

5)  Create Traditions

Find a special way your family likes to celebrate the first week of school.  My children love having their pictures taken to mark the beginning of a new grade.  They spend time choosing a location, setting the stage and reviewing the photos to decide if we need to take another one.  Other ideas would include a special meal, a first-day field trip, or a surprise activity after lessons (like roller skating or going to a restaurant with Dad to tell him all about the day).

Whether you are preparing for your first year of learning at home or your tenth, the start of the new year is a wonderful time together.  What helps your family build excitement?

Designing your own free curriculum - resources

We pulled our children from their school after spring break when the boys were in second grade and kindergarten.  We wanted the nine remaining weeks of the school year to "try it out" in case homeschooling wasn't for us.  We had no curriculum, no experience, and no idea how things would turn out.

We did, however, have internet access.

And library cards.

And lots of people who found out we were homeschooling.


This became our trifecta of curriculum through which our early experiences of homeschool flowed.  If you are interested in designing any or all of your own homeschool studies, these can be your greatest aids.



The Internet


I can't imagine how much effort homeschooling was before the internet.  I could type in 'kindergarten science' or 'second grade math' and seven billion sites would pop up with unit study materials, other moms blogging about their great ideas, free printable worksheets or coloring pages, and lists of scope and sequence (which I would then google because I had no idea what scope and sequence even meant - it's okay if you don't know what that means either).

I ordered gently used copies of the "Core Knowledge" series of books and based most of what we did for an entire year off of those books; they were an essential resource for guiding our learning by grade level. Their website states:

"In one convenient volume per grade — from What Your Preschooler Needs to Know through What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know — the eight-volume Core Knowledge Series provides parents, teachers, and children with an engaging, illustrated introduction to the important knowledge outlined in the Core Knowledge Sequence. Each book suggests related readings and resources. The kindergarten and first grade books also include sections on how children learn to read."

I also searched several variations of "homeschool for free" or "homeschool resources" and listed the books and read the blogs and fell into internet rabbit holes full of magical ideas and tips.  I wrote lists of books that looked helpful.

I knew what my children had been doing in school up to this point, so we tried to pick up from there.  We finished the math workbooks the school sent home with them.  My kindergartener had only the letter "Q" left in his phonics studies, so I printed off worksheets and coloring pages.

I asked my children what they wanted to learn about.  I wrote down those topics under the list of books I had made for myself and off we went to the next critical stop on our journey:

The Library


Our library contained a small but rich homeschooling section.  Among the books I read were "Homeschooling on a Shoestring"  by Melissa Morgan and Judith Allee, "The Ultimate Book Of Homeschooling Ideas" and "Homeschoolers Success Stories" both by Linda Dobson, "How to Write a No-Cost/Low Cost Curriculum for Your Homeschool Child" by Borg Hendrickson, and racks of homeschool magazines - full to the brim with lessons, activities and tips.

We spent a great deal of time in the non-fiction sections of our library.  We found books covering the topics the children were most interested in, as well as resources recommended by the Core Knowledge books and suggested by internet sources.    We discovered DK Eyewitness books; three years later they are still our favorites.  We chose fictional books to read out loud together, including the first Harry Potter book and several Newbery Medal winners.

We branched out into the Audio-Visual section of the library.  We checked out classical music CDs, books on tape or playaways, and instructional DVDs.  Our favorites were the "Signing Time" series, "Families of the World" series, and (surprise!) DK Eyewitness.

Then, I discovered an entire "Teacher's Resource" section.  Just a few steps away from the homeschooling area!  There were reams of pages for copying to create classroom-type crafts (we did a Halloween skeleton from one of these books the next October) as well as themed books for different subjects, different times of year, month-by-month, and even fully written curriculum for certain subjects.  It was a goldmine for free curriculum planning.  As far as directly impacting the work my children did each day, though, the teachers resource area remained a distant second to...

People Who Heard We Were Homeschooling


We tried to quietly fade into the nine weeks away from school, to privately decide whether or not we were going to continue with this crazy idea.  It didn't work out that way.  First of all, people want to know where on Earth  you have gone.  Secondly, people care about you and your kid(s) and want to show it. Third, everyone has tons of stuff sitting around their house taking up space and are all in a constant state of decluttering.

Paper bags started appearing on my doorstep pretty quickly.  A cousin's unfinished math book from the previous school year, a barely used stamping set, puzzles, educational games, an expensive math manipulative set, and flashcards became part of our curriculum.  My sweet mother unearthed a box of worksheets with wipe-off plastic covers and black, oily pencils that we used during the preschool years at my own childhood home.  We were given old textbooks, garage sale books, early reader books, coloring and activity books, matching sets, art kits, craft boxes, jewelry making packs, clay, sorting kits, beads, prizes, and more stickers than you can imagine.

And we used them.  We used them all.

I started meeting and talking to other homeschooling families.  I was also fortunate to already be friends with three homeschooling families and related to a fourth.  They showered me with curriculum samples, borrowed books, group introductions, and reassurances.  They let me use their curriculum books, look over their children's work, ask questions about what they used and other families used. The best things that came from these friendships included the book "Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum: A Guide to Catholic Home Education" by Laura M. Berquist and invitations to used curriculum sales, where I continue to gather information and materials - even as we enter our fourth year at home.





Was designing curriculum for my children easy?  Actually, yes.  It was pretty simple.  I'm not going to say it wasn't a lot of work or a great deal of time, but the information and resources are abundantly available.  What required the most work was the sorting, organizing, storing, copying and printing of the materials.  The researching and teaching parts were fun!  Do we still school in this way?  No, we purchase a planned curriculum now.  But if I weren't also contributing to running our family farm or we were in a tighter financial situation I would want to go back to this method of curriculum design.  I still exert a similar technique and level of control over some portions of our children's education.  And it was a great way for me to learn what sort of style and rhythm where best going to fit my family.

There is something else I took from my experience of homeschooling without a curriculum:  I loan my curriculum out.  I give away the manipulative sets, puzzles, craft kits and unfinished workbooks we don't need anymore.  I try not to bombard them, but I give entire boxes of borrow or keep items to new homeschooling families when they tell me they are going to give it a try.   I loan out science, language arts or reading packages and sets to anyone who is interested in what we have used.


And then I tell them all to get out their library card and start making friends with the most knowledgable librarian working in that wonderful place.

Reflecting on Our First Few Months

I've been reflecting back on our first few months of homeschooling, and it's amazing how far we have come in just a few months! So, since this will be my final post here for 2011, I wanted to share what I've learned in our first 4 months of homeschooling.

10. Glitter glue rocks.  So do wonder color markers and washable crayons. 

9.   Don't worry about not keeping up with the local schools. The main reason I'm homeschooling is to NOT do the same things.

8.   Each child learns at their own pace. Do not compare them.

7.   Just because I think it's a wonderful idea to color code the craft drawers does not mean the preschooler will agree. {ahem}

6.   Craft supplies can be anything from a cardboard tube to a stash of colorful *bling* from my scrapbook drawer.

5.   Go with their learning style. Sophie is going to be interest led, while Bella {at the moment} is leaning all planned out {like me!}

4.   Take a break if you need to. There's nothing wrong with taking a fun day so you can all step back and breathe.

3.    Going with #4....breathe.  Just breathe.

2.    Involve others in your homeschool! The girls love it when Daddy is in charge of school.  Grammie Aury also did school with the girls while we were on vacation - it's good to switch it up!

1.   You are going to have good days.  You are going to have bad days. Write out why you are homeschooling and post it. Refer to it on one of *those* days {we all have them!} and remember that you are in this for the long haul - it's not a sprint.

Next week will be full of fun here on Growing Your Homeschool with giveaways scheduled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday! 

Aurie Good is a pastor's wife, a "retired" youth minister, and probably the most relaxed mom that you'll ever meet!  She blogs at Our Good Life with quips about life as a stay at home mom to two girly toddlers, two wild & crazy dogs, and one cranky cat.  She is married to her best friend and consider the simple life that they've created absolute bliss!  They are currently embarking on a new path of fostering to adopt medically fragile infants and are thrilled to see where God leads them!

Gratitude from a 3 year old's Perspective

This month we are concentrating on gratitude.

I think it's a big concept for an almost four year old and a two year old to grasp, so we've been learning what gratitude means.

What is gratitude?

Gratitude, thankfulness, gratefulness, or appreciation is a feeling, emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive. {thank you google!!}

In Sophie's four year old words....

Gratitude means that I say thank you when someone does something nice for me/to me.

Admittedly I was glad that she didn't say "I have to say thanks because my mom makes me." 

To help with the concept of being thankful we have each started saying one thing that we are grateful for at the beginning of lunch and dinner.  The girls used to say "cheese. milk. cookies...." but now are starting to think about what they are grateful for - which has been awesome to watch! 

We are setting up a gratitude tree in our dining room that will hold the blessings that we are thankful for, ornaments/decorations that we make, and letters from and to our sponsor children.

After a month of talking daily about being thankful....

On Sunday, during the Children's sermon the children were asked what they were thankful for.  Without prompting Sophie raised her hand and said "I'm thankful for Mommy!" - which made me cry.  She is shy in church and this is the first time she has voluntarily answered a question.  She is also asking Daddy to pray before meals, and saying "thank you" without prompting.

I would encourage you to help your kids count their blessings, or make a gratitude jar or tree.....anything that will help them see how very blessed they are!

Fall Craftiness!!

We have been totally enjoying fall.  We've played in the leaves, cleaned out the flower beds and started to put outside toys away.  We've run on the towpath, enjoyed our first bonfire, climbed hay bales, joined a hay ride and just generally have been spending as much time as we can outside.

There are some amazingly crafty posts that I've been stumbling on and book marking for us to create.  I thought I'd share some of my favorite fall crafts that we've found and made{so far!!}

* I love this hand print wreath - it was so easy to create!!

* Have you every made waxed leaves?  Super fun for the girls! We then used string and made a garland!

* This site has some really fun fall printable color sheets!

* Sophie LOVES to paint, so this finger paint tree was perfect for her.

* As a child I loved to make apple turkeys!  We will be making these next week, complete with a hand print for the turkey's feet.

What fun fall crafts are you doing?  Leave us a link in the comments!!

When You're Ready to Give Up....

I am 3 months into "officially" homeschooling Sophie and last week I was ready to quit.

I was sick for a week, we were leaving on vacation, I had NOTHING ready for school...and Sophie refused to sit and work on her letters.

I was at a loss.

At the same time the Homeschool Blogging awards were popping up all over my twitter feed and every link that I clicked on made me feel more and more like a failure.

I went on vacation determined that in January I'd send Sophie to preschool across the street.

I was clearly not made to teach my child.  I couldn't get her sit and practice her letters and she had NO interest in doing anything that was not directly related to paint. None.

Sigh.

On the beach we were sitting playing in the sand and we found some seaweed, some shells, coral and a few pebbles.  We talked about how the waves make the pebbles smooth and the animals that used to live in the shells.  She was enthralled and sat for over an hour drawing in the sand and learning about the beach.

Hmm.....

As I reflected on our first few months, I realized that while I am a planner and like everything in order, she does not.  She had a wonderful doing school when we visited Thomas and learned about trains.  She loved watching the Bob on-site DVD and learning how to build a road.

She learns best when I let her interests lead us....not when I decide that we are going to learn about scarecrows and pumpkins.  She wants to learn about concrete and fish.

For the next few months we are going to be doing interest led schooling {or unschooling} and see how that works for us.  It should be an interesting ride.

But I'm not ready to give up.  Not yet.

What I've Learned so far.....

 The Top Ten Homeschooling Things That I've Learned {so far}...

10. Never leave a 3.5 year old alone with open glue.  Ever.

9.   I don't have to teach the alphabet from A to Z.

8.   Going to a play date is a perfect opportunity for gym class.

7.   Follow your child's interests.

6.   Whatever space you cover for finger painting...double it.

5.   Giving a 23 month old crayons and a coloring book does not guarantee that she will color inside the book.

4.   Mud, sand, and water can provide hours of school fun.

3.   Stick to a schedule.

2.   Play dough and carpet are not a good combination.  At all.

1.   A Day out with Thomas was a fantastic field trip on trains, switches and tracks.  And, my daughter knew more about switches than I did!


What would YOUR top ten list be?

Apples, Alligators, and Aardvarks

Sophie and I have been reading the creation story and working on the letter A and the number 1.  

She loves the creation story and giggles when we talk about Adam's job {to name all the animals} because he picked some silly names. {aardvark and crocodile seem to really make her laugh!}

 We colored with white crayons on white paper and then painted over it with black paint to make the white lines show up - we had a blast with that!  We've also painted the letter A red {like apples} and worked with cutting and pasting.

Today we are making an alligator  out of an A - complete with google eyes :)  Can't wait to see her giggle about those!!

Now, I have a question for YOU:

Sophie has colored, drawn, painted, and eaten with her left hand for over a year.  This week, when we started working on letter writing - she's trying to use her right hand....and now she's not holding crayons or paintbrushes correctly??!

Do I push her to use her left hand, or wait and see what she does?  I don't want it to become an issue, and I'm a little confused as to the switch?  Any thoughts?

The Mission Statement

Do you know what your goal for homeschooling is? Is it for your child to have the best academics possible? Do you have spiritual goals that come before all else for home education?

When we first started homeschooling we knew we wanted a direction for our school. We also wanted a place to refer to our purpose, to remember why we decided to leave public education to start with.

We also wanted a name, a mascot, and school colors. This would provide a sense of belonging. We decided we needed a mission statement.

If you have no idea where to start with a mission statement, you can take a look here at ours, which my husband made back in 2009. Our goals have not changed, so the mission statement remains the same now.

---

Kelley Christian Academy

Mission Statement

2011-2012

Isaiah 40:31

“…they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Family/Education Goals:

We plan to educate, inspire, motivate, provide spiritual emphasis, and instill the heart of a servant, in a Christ-centered environment.

Homeschooling:

Is A matter of our Christian spiritual conviction.

Statement of Purpose:

We believe that children are gifts from God (Psalm 127:3), and that parents are responsible for the training and education of the children God has entrusted to them (Ephesians 6:1-4). Each parent stands accountable to the Lord for the course that is charted, and the course that is followed.

Philosophy of Education:

Eclectic- “Choose the best, leave the rest.”

School Colors:

Black, Gold

Mascot:

American Bald Eagle

---

Our purpose and goals are easy to see, and we have a constant reminder of where we want homeschooling to take us. I hope you will make one as well, and include the whole family in coming up with yours!

My Biggest Struggle

Homeschooling is a journey that I never in my wildest dreams imagined I would be taking. In fact, just a few short years ago my best friend who was trying to conceive her first child, told me she planned to homeschool her children and my response was "why would you do that to your child?!" I planned to send my children to public school. I mean, I was a public school child and I turned out fine, right? Wait, don't answer that.

My, my how things have changed. I realize more and more each day that God has a plan that is not our own, and His plan is so much bigger and so much better than we could ever fathom. But first, we must let go of our plans. Looking back, I can pinpoint the time that God planted the homeschooling seed into my heart. It was 3 years ago and both of my daughters were in preschool. Times were rough. We could no longer afford to pay $200 a month for preschool. So I thought, I'll preschool them at home, and I did. Never once did it cross my mind that I was homeschooling. We continued "preschooling" them for the remainder of that year.

The next year, our circumstances had changed. Our oldest started Pre-K and our youngest(who is only 11 months younger, but couldn't attend pre-k because she missed the age requirement by 11 days) went to daycare. My oldest cried every single day of pre-k. She hated going..luckily my husband was the one who dropped her off. At the end of the day, she was fine and she said she had fun, but she wasn't learning anything. Everything they were attempting to teach her, we taught her the year before. About halfway through the year homeschooling started creeping into my thoughts. I checked out a book from the library, read a few chapters and returned it. I convinced myself there was absolutely no way I could homeschool. I had to work full-time. My husband had to work full-time. Sadly enough, I was going to send them to public school because I needed a babysitter. Typing that hurts.

A couple of months later, we found out my husband would be laid off and would be going back to school. That's when the light bulb came on. He could plan his class schedule around my work schedule and we COULD homeschool. Isn't God awesome? The girls finished out the year at their pre-K/daycare in May and we began homeschooling both of them in Kindergarten in July.

We've just finished our Kindergarten year and our entire family loves homeschooling. It has worked out so well for us. I can no longer imagine waking the girls up at 6:00 a.m. to catch a bus to school by 7:00 a.m. We love the flexibility that homeschooling provides.

One of the biggest struggles I've had during our first year has had absolutely nothing to do with teaching my children. My biggest problem has involved me comparing myself and our homeschooling family to others. Ladies and gentlemen, hear me out: reading blogs and speaking with other homeschooling parents is a great way to find new ideas and get advice, but please let it stop there. Don't fall into the trap of comparing yourself or your children. Trust me, if you do this, your homeschool will fail. It's a natural tendency (especially among women) to compare yourself to others who seem to have it all together. Let me share a secret with you. They don't. Their life is just as chaotic and disorganized as yours. Their children are no smarter than yours. Their husbands/wives don't love them anymore than yours. We all have issues. We all have strengths. We all have weaknesses. There are two possible outcomes of comparing ourselves. 1.) We look at others and *think* we're much better off than they are. I mean we've done x,y,z this week. We must have something right. Then we fill ourselves with self-righteous thoughts and pride. Or, 2.) We look at others and see all the ways that they are better than us and doubt begins to creep in. We think we aren't meant for this job of being a homeschooling parent. We think we are ruining our kids and they aren't learning anything. And these are lies. God has equipped each of us with all the skills necessary to educate our children. He doesn't call us to do a job and not give us the needed equipment to complete the task. Really Moms and Dads, look at everything your children have learned from birth to age 5. You taught them everything they know. You did that and you did an awesome job. Why stop there?

I'm not saying homeschooling is for everyone. I'll be honest, for some people homeschooling would be a detriment to their children. But if you WANT to homeschool your children, you CAN do it.

We are a year into this incredible journey and I have so much to learn. Every day I discover something new about myself, my children, or life in general. It's fascinating. Not only am I educating my children, they are educating me. Seeing your child truly grasp a new concept is a feeling nothing else can compare to. I can't imagine missing those opportunities.

I'm here to tell you that there are good days and bad days. There are days when I feel like super mom and days when I feel like I should've stayed in bed. I'm going to share those days and all the days in between with you. I will be transparent and real. You may not agree with everything I say and by all means, call me out. I look forward to your comments and suggestions. I can't wait to learn from you guys, like I said I have SO much to learn. So come along, buckle up and hold on tight, it's going to be a wild adventure.