This is very true of the blogging world. And why I quit blogging after seeing some behind the scenes stuff from major bloggers. It does feel a bit sleazy and tacky. But they’re trying to run a business. Yet it still bugs me. All webinars have the same format - first part is info and second half is a hard, hard sell on whatever product that they offer (that’s usually really expensive). But as a former blogger I know how much time and effort I put in to my tiny blog and I wasn’t compensated much. So, if you want to actually get paid to have to sell. I have no advice other than to say I know what you mean. But I do see both sides a little bit because I did want to be compensated for the time I spent blogging. Yet I was not comfortable with many sales tactics. So I was kind of stuck.

Our ortho said to brush it with antibacterial soap. I think that sounds super gross and I don’t want antibacterial soap in my daughter’s Mouth. We’re going to try the vinegar solution. As far as toothpaste, the ortho said it’s too abrasive and can cause the retainer to start breaking down.

I have the same issues at my house. My dd is 12 and has very thick curly hair. She doesn’t properly care for it. I told her that she would need to do xyz to care for it correctly. She was still not complying. So I stuck her back in he shower and properly washed and combed it. I also told her that we would need to have it cut shorter so it was more manageable. With her I just sat down and was honest with her that she had to take care of her hair, especially if it was going to be longer - it takes a lot of time and effort. She agreed and we were able to compromise and get several inches trimmed off (and not take it terribly short). She’s now managing her hair better. And I hope she continues to do so. If so, she can start making decisions about her own hair. My son is 10 and has very thick hair. He does not care for it properly or fix it before leaving the house. Therefore it’s a giant mess of bed head every day. I told him that I was no longer going to remind him to fix his hair. I took him to a stylist and had the sides cut very short with the top marginally longer. This was after repeated warnings and several discussions. He was mad at me initially but is fine now. Once he learns to properly take care of his hair he can choose the length. But if he can’t be hygienic then I decide the length. I have no idea if I did the right thing with my kids either. But we were having greasy hair that wasn’t washed properly and unfixed hair with giant mattes and tangles. I had to cut knots out more than once. I don’t know. I feel like when my kids are between 10-12 they refuse to follow proper hygiene. I’ve talked to several friends and their kids also went through this. But I’m not going to live with stinky athletes who refuse to wear deodorant or properly wash their hair. Ugh! I have a rule that if I ask them if they used soap, shampoo, and conditioner and the answer to any question is no - then they have to go shower again. Same for wearing deodorant. If they refused to put it on they take another shower and try again. I don’t know what else to do! I swear my kids would live their lives never showering, brushing teeth, or washing hands. Yuck!! I’m hoping that this will change very soon!! Being a parent is hard!

We each throw out names we like until we agree and can find one we like. DH chose child 1 and 2. I loved the names he suggested. Child 3 was my suggestion. Child 4 was a joint effort. There was a name I liked but it didn’t quite work with our last name. DH came up with a variation of hat name and it was perfect. Child 5 was his suggestion. Child 6 was my suggestion. Child 7 is still undecided although my suggestion is currently at the top of our list. For our names we’ve just chosen names we liked and that seemed to fit our kids. No crazy rules or anything. And we’ve never argued about names. We’ve had fun coming up with names together.

I’m so sorry you’re disappointed. And I understand. We have 5 girls and 1 boy. We’re pregnant and expecting another girl. Yes I was hoping for a boy. But I’ll be ok. However I loathe telling people it’s a girl again. I get some really unkind and insensitive comments from people. I’m 20 weeks and I still haven’t even told everyone I’m pregnant. I’m no help. But I really get it. Hugs to you!

My kids are 16 months apart. My son is the older of the two. His younger sister has surpassed him in many areas except math. I do some of their schooling separate so that they can work at their own pace. My son doesn’t seem bothered that his sister has passed him. Although I don’t ever Point it out. He’s fairly content to be somewhat lazy right now. I tried to keep them together as much as possible but that’s not always feasible. They do history, science and bible together. Oh and spanish together. But I do most other things separate because they are just not at the same level. And one is a motivated student while the other is not. Lol. I’ve just let them develop at their pace.

I just looked our prices up because I haven’t been to the theater in forever. It’s $7 for a matinee and $10.75 for an evening show. And I never buy snacks at the theater. I bring a water bottle in my purse. The snacks are so crazy expensive. We’ve stopped going to movies. It’s just expensive. We’d rather pay for a nice dinner and then go home and watch something on iTunes or Netflix. Ohh and the population in our town is around 60,000. I had to go look it up.

For those who do something different over the summer, what are your learning plans? I’m wanting to focus on spelling and copywork I think. And my kids need to do something for math so they don’t forget everything they’ve learned. Maybe I should try to do actually do art. We take a bit of a break from regular school stuff due to all the swim team and golf stuff. But I’m trying to decide what we’ll do for school “lite†over the summer. Any fun ideas? Share if you have any fun resources that you want to use this summer.

Wow. Everyone I know that has had the flu has also had a flu shot this year. So people like that I guess can still get the flu. Just wow.

Lol! My son was nicknamed “wimpy white boy†in the NICU. Drs told me if he had been a black female he would have been fine. At the time it annoyed me but I’ve since read a lot research that supports this. I still don’t quite understand why this is true though. It was interesting to read though. And most of the Amish around here have Home births with midwives. My midwife works with Amish families.

What is hotdish? Just any casserole? I’m from OK but live in Indiana now and I’ve never heard of it. Of course people up here have “pitch-ins†which is another phrase for potlucks. Took me several months to figure it out. Lol!

So I teach for VIPKID and I’m too lazy to wear much makeup. I just wear some bright lipstick and call it good. However, my lipstick smudges and wears off and really dries out my lips. A friend sells Lipsense and I’m wondering if it will work better. Who has used it? Did it makes your lips very dry? I think that’s my biggest concern. I don’t love MLM stuff but the colors do look pretty online. Lol. And if you have recommendations for lipstick options that are safe and have great color options please share!

Digit and EveryDollar are good tools for budgeting. My hubby also recommends having an accountability partner. He says we can too easily justify making purchases but being accountable makes it harder to pull off buying stuff we have not planned in advance. The one caveat he said is that your spouse can not be the one you are accountable to. It needs to be someone that is an objective third party. I asked him about a book recommendation...he said he didn’t really have one. Lol.

Ha! He lives for this kind of stuff. I find it so very boring!

Hmmm. Interesting. My daughter is now a swimmer. I wonder if this helps keep her skin from having flare ups. I do feel it makes her skin more dry. I never thought about this. I’m just happy she swims because it does wonders for her asthma. She’s had fewer issues since she joined a year round swim team. It’s wonderful! I’m so thankful!

Let me ask my hubby. He’s a personal finance/business professor. He probably knows of some great resources. 🤔

I don’t find that I wake people up. I just turn up the volume of my headset. The kids can hear me fine. I know some teachers are super energetic and more loud. I’m just a more quiet/calm person I guess. But if my teaching disturbed my kids then I would put a fan in their room to drown out noise. And as to the vacation question: you set your own hours and can take off whenever you would like. You do need to have your schedule set two weeks in advance so you need to do some planning. I just plan ahead and only open slots I know I can teach. You can always open a spot within 24 hours and try to get a short notice booking at the last minute. So I always keep weekend evenings closed because I want to be available if something comes up. If we have no plans I’ll open up some time slots 24 hours in advance and hope for bookings. But I like knowing my weekends are not already booked in advance in case we want to do something with friends or family.

I do like Sophie though. I love names that end with the EE sound. But I’m starting to call my kids by the wrong name. I’m confusing myself. I’m really trying to find a name that sounds different.

Yeah. We’re random. There’s no rhyme or reason to our names. Oh well!!

Lol! He’s totally kidding. He’s just enjoying making me crazy. He doesn’t actually like that name at all. He just thinks it’s hilarious. He’s mostly excited that the baby could be born on or right around his birthday. But he’s not super helpful with names at the moment.

Elimination diet. Multiple tub soaks a day in tepid water. Then lotion immediately. Vanicream. Steroid sparingly. And I agree with above poster who mentioned fungal. My daughter had a staph and fungal infection on top of the eczema. It was absolutely awful. Food allergies were the cause for my daughter. Gluten, dairy, and egg. Once those were eliminated she started to heal. Now her skin is beautiful and she has zero rashes. But she does get dry sometimes in winter so I keep Vanicream on hand at all times. And lots of humidifiers going in winter.

We’re expecting another girl! Ahh! I’m all out of names! I need ideas! The rules are: It cannot start with A, B, C, E, H, or J. It cannot be a biblical name. I would love for it to be two syllables. All of my kids have 2 syllable names. Bonus points for a name that does not end in an /ee/ sound. (We have several of those already). Our last name starts with H and is 3 syllables. It ends in an /er/ sound. So no names that would rhyme with that ending. Here are the names of my children: Ellie Cora Jaylyn Adley Brynlee Jaxon So what goes well with those names? Help me! This munchkin is due on the 4th of July and my hubby jokingly calls her “Merrika†I need some real name options! Lol!

There’s an update in original post. But basically it’s one baby - a girl. My due date was moved forward. Now due July 4th! I need baby name help now!

I teach in a corner of my master closet. I put a desk and small shelf in there and hung a banner thing from Hobby Lobby behind me. I moved some of my clothes to the closet of my baby’s room. It’s quiet in there and I can lock the bathroom door if I need to keep the kids out. It’s been perfect. I have no idea how to share pics on here but if you want to send me a private message with your email I could show you my set up. I’ve been teaching from 4:30-8:30. Oh and I have a music stand behind me with a magnetic whiteboard on it. I can have rewards and things on that. Some of the FB groups are really helpful. Some people are so creative. (I’m not at all and my space is kind of boring. But it works and I stay fully booked so I don’t care). Some groups share printables that are great props or rewards. Super helpful!

So true. I wrote a blog post about this a while back. I got so sick of new homeschoolers asking me what curriculum was the best. Or even them bragging to me that the curriculum they chose is “the best.†Ugh. The best curriculum is the one that gets done day in and day out - your kids are learning and you see progress. That’s the best. I’m so glad I figured that out and learned to be content with curriculum that gets done.