The beginning of our homeschooling journey . . .

       We've finally gotten into some sort of a groove again. We've been able to take trips to the library more often now that Little Pumpkin is here. Thank Goodness!

     I love watching my kids learn. I mean duh. What weird parent doesn't, honestly? I love watching them change and grow (even though it tends to be bittersweet). It's pretty amazing. What's even better is seeing their individual personalities and interests develop.  I'm all about loading their big little brains up with all the information they are willing to take in.

     Since I'm only prepping for CLEPs right now and I won't be taking any classes this semester I have been using all that former study time on what some might deem "homeschool preschool". It just feels like normal to me. We hope to homeschool our kiddos long term. Right now we take things easy and don't follow any particular schedule or curriculum. I originally didn't have any intention of starting things up seriously (ie keeping records or taking grades) until my oldest is ready for kindergarten. Of course . . . that's only a little over a year away.

      As some of you know, a few weeks ago Bitty Bug asked for a "body book" out of the blue. She was sitting in the recliner and we were on the couch when she just brought it up out of nowhere. We are still not entirely sure what sparked this seemingly sudden fascination with anatomy. She is not a big fan of going to the doctor. Hubby and I explain things pretty realistically to her though. We use anatomically correct words. She likes Doc McStuffins. I don't know! We didn't dawdle over it too long. I pulled up the Barnes & Noble website and literally searched "body book" in the kids section. I showed her the results. She was so excited about what I showed her saying "Yes, that's my body book!". We went to the library first but we did end up buying a "body book" for her. She's "read" through it every day since. It's definitely a favorite. She loves the illustrations. 

    So now, my (almost) 4 year old knows about all sorts of organs, how blood works, and what some of the different body's systems are and what they do. Hearing her say "digestive system" or "skeleton" is the cutest. 

Here the things we've been learning about or working on.

• Counting to 100

• Uppercase and lowercase letters

• Months of the year

• Days of the week

• Winter (anything from the weather to birds migrating)

• Body systems, bones and organs

• Coins, bills, and sorting

• The Presidents of the United States

• Manners and etiquette

• Reading (letter sounds and 2-3 letters words)

  I'll be sharing more soon about the different ways we're learning these things!! 

 
   

Like a Gazelle: Family of Five in 1000 sq ft

     We're doing the Dave Ramsey thing to the best of our ability.  Life circumstances make that difficult at times but we're getting our momentum back. I think. We're always looking for ways to improve; ways to save.

     "Date" nights are still watching a favorite movie on Netflix or grabbing a $1.20 Redbox rental (preferably for $0 when we get a free code via text message). We used to play more board games. Sometimes we just chat.

     We do our best to keep other costs down. We keep luxuries like cell phones* and internet but we definitely get our use out of them between communicating with family, friends, and coworkers, couponing, paperless billing, swagbucks*, school, budgeting, and banking*.

     We made the decision to sell our second vehicle almost 3 years ago. It gets iffy sometimes after being so used to having a car to myself all the time but we make it work. Our current van is definitely solidly into clunker territory. We hope that when we do finally add a second vehicle (soon? maybe?!) again that we can pay 100% crispy, cold cash.

     When we did eventually replace our awesome luxuries like the TV, computer, or what have you we waited until what we had was literally not even appealing for parts. Then we find the sales or the unexpected deals. Do you know how much I'd love a new camera to upgrade from my Nikon d40x? A LOT! D you know how I drool when I see the kitchenaid mixers and dyson vacuums? (Hold on a second. I sound like an adult person. When did I start drooling over mixers and vacuums??) All in due time, as they say. Right??

     My husband has worked 2-3 jobs at a time and he's donated plasma. We've sold off a lot of junk and even some well loved items to shrink our debt. We rarely buy games or movies new. If we happen to rent and LOVE something then we typically trade-in some stuff for store credit. We've also done  the same with the kid's clothes and toys. Soon, I'll step into the world of consigning with the Rhea Lana event coming up this spring. We've got the hang of eBay and craiglist now too.

   But, our biggest, craziest leap thus far has been to extend our lease in a <1000 sq ft apartment. Oh, we idealize moving out, having our own yard, owning our own home. No doubt. For now, for just this short time, we can do this though. Five people: two bedrooms, two bathrooms, no walk-in closets. We'll make it work. I'm determined NOT to rent some storage unit for our extras. I'm slowly figuring out how to make the most of our space with its limitations. We'll donate or sell what doesn't fit. When new things come in old things will go out. We could move into a bigger space with a yard and a garage. We have the ability. It's an option. We just aren't taking it.

      I'm starting to think we're insane. Hopefully soon we can be crazy AND debt-free.

  


*Referral links
- Virgin Mobile 
- Swagbucks
- Capital One 360

School.

It's late. Kiddos are in bed. I'm lonely. Just got done studying.

What could you possibly do to make mom-life harder? Get a full time job and/or go to college at the same time. What could make that harder? Doing it at home with your littles underfoot.

Why oh why didn't I take the BLUE pill?

Sometimes, I truly feel pathetic. I second guess everything I've ever done. I graduated high school at 17, great GPA, decent ACT scores, and headed to a private university (they certainly think they're awesomesauce . . . can you say $$$$$) just after turning 18. Now I've made my choices. Here I am. I'm 22, haven't held a regular job in 3 years, eeking by to hopefully finish my 2 year degree before 23.

Then I go and look in at those two beautiful girls. I walk out of their room and pass the portrait of my Marine on the wall. There are toys all over the floor, used dishes in the sink, leftovers from a good meal on the counter, and a pile of dirty clothes (still) sitting in a hamper.

What the HELL is wrong with me? I have nothing to complain about. Seriously. I have nothing to want. This is far from being pathetic. I sincerely hope no one pities me. If you are you're wasting your time.

So here's a better perspective. I'm only 22. I all ready have an incredible marriage of three years to my best friend in the universe. We've made these two amazing little humans (the most amazing in the world in my humble mommy opinion). I have done all I can to bring in extra money (babysitting, ebay, paper route anyone?). Even though I could drop out now I haven't and even thought a 2 year degree has taken me 4.5 years I'm going to get it. (By all means, I might just take a stab at getting my 4 year degree.) I supported my husband as he pursued his dream of becoming a United States Marine. Rather than accumulate more debt staying in a private school I dropped out until I could afford it.

It may seem out of order. It's definitely harder. But I'll be damned if anyone convinces me this isn't the best story.

Certainly, there is no better legacy I can create than the two sleeping babes on the other side of this wall. There is no better creation, no wiser investment, no richer return.

Sometimes I have to remind myself why I'm in school. I'm doing this for me. I actually love to learn and if it was free I'd probably stay in school until I die. But, I'm also doing this for them. They need to know what they're capable of doing. Who better to show them than their own parents?

So there you have it. My next to last semester at this school has begun. I'm keeping fingers crossed I can kill these courses, transfer to an online program, and get my bachelor's. Meanwhile, my man is out in a field somewhere being amazing. Our two princesses are in their warm beds.

Note to self: I'd take the red pill again just like that.

SAHM + College + iPad?

OK, I remember being in elementary and middle school. I wasn't allowed to use a pen until highschool for the most part. Pencils. I like pencils.

But things are seriously changing.

After looking at all my options I'm going (primarily) the etextbook route this semester. My macbook needs several upgrades that are more than I can afford right now so I'm also getting an iPad.

I did MUCHOS research for my classes, future courses, and what other tools I could use or would need to see how cost sensible this was. Basically, hardbacks from the bookstore would've been 800ish depending on if I could get them used or new (closer to 900 new). So. Wrong. Through some finagling on half.com it was going to be down to 600. I decided to look into the ereader route to see if I couldn't save a penny and make my life easier (keeping up with books, notebooks, and pens, and other crap with the toddler . . . ohlawd). I found out pretty fast that nookstudy, which is what my school's bookstore offers the etextbooks through, does NOT even work on the freakin' nook! What??

So, I love Mac anyway and decided to google the possibilities with the iPad. Initially, it was all very contrary. Slowly I found a couple links and blogs with great information. Basically, the whole ereader for college thing is still a work in progress but this semester all but one of my classes has the etextbooks available. Each of the programs I found allows you to use an iPad, PC, or a regular Mac. Perfect!!

So now, with one hardback, one paperback, and 5 etextbooks (6 month "rental") my cost is down to just under 400!

Now some say the iPad is pricey sure. Right now I'm kind of bummed just because I know the iPad 3 is on it's way and I can't wait for it or for the lower prices on the iPad 2 since it may not come out until just before my midterms. Oh well. The total cost to repair my Macbook Pro is something like 800 dollars right now. I had relinquished myself to getting a basic, cheap, but decent PC notebook (ewwie ewwie ewwww) and I was going to end up spending around 600 for that plus money for a new printer plus some other software I needed for the Windows computer to meet my needs.


Then I found all of this:

Kno

Coursesmart

Amazon/Kindle for iPad

Pages

Things

Articles

iHomework

Flashcards


List of FREE Apps

So, literally, I've eliminated half the crap I bought my freshman year.

I'm not the typical student. I'm taking online classes and I'm a SAHM (stay at home mom). 

iPad = textbooks, flashcards, notebooks, pens, highlighters, research (via newspapers, articles, or the web), calendar, planner, organizer, alarm/reminders, sticky notes, calculator, dictionary, blackboard

Not to mention the non-school stuff . . . social networking, blogging, games and entertainment for me. learning games and entertainment for the toddler, a cookbook, workout planner, ebay, news, music, misc. reading . . .

All in one spot?? I'll take it.


Really, the only downside for me is being able to have all my pictures to update, edit, share, and store all in one place. Oh wait! They have adobe photoshop express, shutterfly for ipad, photobucket for ipad, and dropbox. It's not perfect using my husband's PC desktop but once we get a Mac desktop (the plan!) and my macbook pro is fixed up I will be workin' it for REALZ.

In the end, I think I'd rather spend the 800+ on the ipad, ebooks, and a few greats apps and accessories (they keyboard and smart cover, anyone?) instead of a load of giant textbooks and a slew of supplies from walmart!

It definitely can't hurt to try it.