Without A Word

My family and I live in a single wide with 3 boys and one little one on the way. Space is a hot commodity in here. My 2 youngest boys are 5 and 2 and share that teeny tiny 2nd bedroom that every single wide has. If I had put a twin bed in there it would have taken up the entire room. The toddler beds fit relatively well in there. What I really wanted were bunk beds that would fit a toddler mattress. Of course that doesn't exist because of "safety regulations." So I had to venture out on my own. About a year ago I came across this blog www.thedesignconfidential.com. They have TONS of simple plans for building all sorts of things. That's where I found these loft beds.  http://www.thedesignconfidential.com/2012/03/free-woodworking-plans-build-toddler-sized-low-loft-bunk The plans are crazy simple. I didn't like the idea of the ladder sticking out so I altered the plans for what I needed. Originally I was going to make bunk beds but then I realized the kid...

Ok so my 5 year old has been working his butt off to earn enough for this Zuru Micro Boats play set he saw on YouTube. When I looked it up on Toys R Us and Amazon it was $24.99 so that would be 100 missions. Each mission is 25 cents. Well he's up to 25 missions and I happened to be on Walmart.com and found the same play set for $7.99!!! I don't know if this is a typo or if Walmart is just awesome but I ordered it. So now he's excited he only needs to do 32 missions.  Check it out here:  https://www.walmart.com/ip/ZURU-Micro-Boats-Playset-STD-Color-Assortment/52730783 Might as well get ready for Christmas.

Did you know mystery shopping was an actual, legitimate thing? Well, as long as you go through actual legitimate companies. I have several I use, depending on the type of shops. You are a little more limited if you have small children because most don't allow you to bring them. But if you can sneak away for an hour or so, you can usually get something done. Get a free pizza, get paid to get groceries, make phone calls to certain companies, even get paid to get an oil change. The car services are my favorite. Not only do you get reimbursed for the service, you get paid for your time. Its just a matter of meeting all their criteria.  I'm not going to go into too much detail here but I will give you a few avenues to locate the legit companies.  As far as automotive goes, Bestmark is the best. They seem to mostly have shops for GM vehicles but they allow you to borrow a vehicle if you want. So you can offer a friend a free oil change and get paid to do it. They also have shop...

(Disclaimer: Post contains affiliate links.) We are far from formal when it comes to homeschooling. In the state of GA, the regulations are extremely loose. All that is legally required is a Letter Of Intent when the child is 6 years old. My oldest homeschooler is 5 so we are still under the radar. Check out your local homeschooling rules for your state HERE . That being said, I think some structure and discipline is necessary for little ones. Certainly not to stay in a desk for 5-6 hours a day but knowing that certain things need to be completed by a deadline is a good skill to acquire.  Our year will consist of: Reading - Teach You Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons Math - Life Of Fred Apples Life Skills - We Choose Virtues  (Check out my review with COUPON CODE!!) Writing - Explode The Code: Get Ready, Set, Go For The Code (I haven't bought the other 2 books in the series yet but I plan to.) I also get a TON of free printable online from Measured Mom and...

Try explaining diligence to a 5 year old. It will drive you insane. Right around the time I was trying to instill this value into my son, I came across a company called We Choose Virtues. We Choose Virtues is a company created by a preschool teacher who was getting frustrated with how often she came across children with a lack of self-control, obedience and other qualities that are needed to have good character. Their company now produces several different products that can help teach these essential qualities to young children. You can visit their site wechoosevirtues.com and peruse the many bundles and single products available. These products are not just for homeschooling families! All moms and dads can benefit from their system.  When I became more and more interested in the products, I contacted Heather McMillan, the founder of the company, and asked if she would be willing to give me some of their products for a review on my blogs. She graciously sent me the Family ...

My 5 year old kind of developed his own chore system. Like all kids, he's always finding something he wants. We do 90% of our shopping at thrift stores but there's usually something new he wants. It all started with a Paw Patrol app for my iPad. It cost $4 and I told him he could do chores to earn it. I took one of those flat square lego pads ( like this ) and used the square bricks to count as one chore. Each chore has the value of 25 cents. So every time he did a chore, which he called a mission (no idea where that came from), he gets to put a square brick on his sheet. Now every time he wants something, he asks me how many missions that would be. The last thing he got was the Bunch O Balloons which was 30 missions. (They were only $7.88 at Walmart.)  Its extremely important in our home that when a chore is done, it is done happily and not with a complaint or a sour attitude. He doesn't get his mission if he has a bad attitude when he does his chore. Every once in a wh...

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