Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Donating with little ones


We have been on a mission to declutter our home and lives the last 2 years but things still seem to pile up. So during the last two weeks of nesting I have made several trips to the women’s shelter and a local thrift store that benefits a program similar to meals on wheels with numerous donations.
When you are a stay at home mom and don’t have time to drop these items off without the kids it can be challenging at times if your little ones are attached to everything like my daughter is. She understands why we donate and how it helps others but she doesn’t like to see anything leave the house at this stage in her life.
Two tips I have for other parents facing this is to take the donations out to the car the night before while the child is asleep. Azilee seems ok with dropping the items off but doesn’t like to see them go from the house to the car if she knows we are heading out to donate.
Another tip would be to allow the child to help in deciding what stays and goes. Ultimately it’s my decision but we tell Azilee how she has outgrown an item and that there is another child that could really get use out of it.
So far these two things have really helped cut down on the upset and misunderstanding of why things are being given away.
Friday, June 8, 2012

Where are all the Homeschooling Moms on Youtube?


I have had a few people ask me recently if there are other moms on youtube that I enjoy watching that Homeschool and show this in their videos. Most recently I was asked this past week by MADMommyL and thought a blog would be the perfect opportunity to highlight some of the moms that I watch on a regular basis.
If you do a Youtube search for Homeschool or anything related you will get search results showing a wide variety of videos which are great to use as a resource but I have found it rare to find current vlogging families who are still updating with new material.
My channel Raisingbushs shows a mixtures of Day in the Life, product reviews/giveaways, pregnancy updates as well as our current Homeschool videos.
Other moms that I watch on a regular basis are JenNTim509, Laurettabear, Ejahixxxmomheartxxx and easyhomeschooler. I also enjoy watching the collab channel SchoolsatHome which is made up of a few of these moms.
The children in these families range in age from baby to elementary school. Some are in the middle of their Homeschool journey and have lots of seasoned tips while some are still in the research/trial and error portion like so many of our families are.