The Crocheting Mom

In one of my previous posts, I talked to you about the blogging books that I had been reading.  After I read those, I wanted to switch gears a bit, and I picked up some books on teaching.  After a long haitus of being a stay at home mom, I am ready to get back into teaching again.  While it's been hard to find a full time teaching job, I'm excited to at least get into substituting in the district.  

My path to teaching was a long one.  Most of the time, from what I've seen, it's not super hard to get into the profession.  Often times, you can get offered a position at the school where you student teach, or at least get a recommendation from your principal to a school in the same district.  What happens when you're moving around though?  My husband was in the military, so I wasn't in one place for long during these important years.  

I'm an elementary teacher and it's what I love to do.  I'm so happy that I chose this profession, and I couldn't imagine doing anything else.  I used to substitute a lot and I would often get put in the younger grades.  One of my favorite books to read, was the "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" series.  They are fun books that all students love.  Because of my love for these books, I have written a few different parodies: 

Crocheting is life, am I right?  Well, it was for me before I became a teacher a few years ago.  In between spending time with my family, taking care of my house, and trying to still be social with others, I crocheted.  Crocheting for me though, wasn't JUST crocheting.  Crocheting included perusing Pinterest for new ideas, creating patterns , taking pictures, doing edits, writing a blog, taking care of all my social media sites and more!  It kept me BUSY.  And I loved it.  

Wow , time flies when your busy! I can't believe its been 2 years since I've written on my blog.  Since I've rambled about my thoughts.  Since I've shared my love of crocheting.  But it happened.  I lost touch with the art of expressing my thoughts through the internet.  I'm back though, partially thanks to this quarantine, partially thanks to work slowing down, and partially thanks to me missing this.  I have lots of ideas and thoughts I want to share with all of you.  I'm excited to hop back in to the world of typing and blogging! So, where have I been for these past two years you ask?  I've been teaching, becoming a chauffeur for my kids, handling the house chores, and just being as present as possible for my husband and my children.

      I have had quite of bit of experience working with children since I graduated college with my BA in Early Childhood Education, almost 10 years ago (OH MY!).  During this time I had mostly worked at daycares, with a few years subbing in elementary schools.  I have worked at daycares in four states and have seen firsthand what parents should be looking for when making this big decision.  Here is a list of what I feel to be 10 of the biggest things that you should be considering when doing your research.

      I have had quite of bit of experience working with children since I graduated college with my BA in Early Childhood Education, almost 10 years ago (OH MY!).  During this time I had mostly worked at daycares, with a few years subbing in elementary schools.  I have worked at daycares in four states and have seen firsthand what parents should be looking for when making this big decision.  Here is a list of what I feel to be 10 of the biggest things that you should be considering when doing your research. * This is a three part series.  These are in no particular order, as they are all important in their own way.

Where I grew up, we didn't go back to school until AFTER Labor Day.  Now, living in a different state, my children go back to school in beginning of August.  That's crazy right?  I feel like it's still summer until at least the end of September. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm am definitely ready for school to start, but I just feel bad for the kids because it's still hot out, and perfect weather for playing outside!  The kids do get out of school in the end of May, though, so they are still at least getting 2 and half months off.  I feel like when I was a kid though, summer lasted so much longer.  I guess as a parent, days just go by a lot faster because we have so many more worries.

I've been really trying to learn everything I can about blogging.  It really is a business, and the best way to succeed with a business, is to read and learn everything you can about said business. I may exaggerate a bit when I labeled this post, The BEST books about blogging.  Maybe a more accurate title would have been, The books that I could get from the library, about blogging!

Money is a big part of life.  As much as some of us may try to say it isn't, that money doesn't rule our lives, it does.  You either are trying to figure out how to get more or trying to figure out what to do with what you have, or most likely, both! From a young age, when children start to get an allowance, birthday money or even just finding change on the street, they want to spend it.  They don't care how much they have, or even if they have enough, the second that glorious money hits their possession, they want to use it.  I'm not sure if its because it makes them feel older, being able to buy something by themselves, or just the adrenaline that they receive from getting a new item, but they want to spend it as quick as possible.  This is why it is so important to teach them at a young age the importance of saving money.

If you are looking for a place to travel to with your kids, and you even remotely close to Indianapolis, I highly suggest you make a trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum.  It is over 400,000 square feet and spread out over 29 acres.   It is THE largest children's museum in the world.

For the past couple of years, the Easter Bunny has brought my children little flower pots.  Each year my children hope that they will get them again.  They really have fun with the process of planting, caring for, and watching their flowers grow. The Easter Bunny finds these particular starter pots  which are only a couple inches high, at Target in the dollar section.  The Easter Bunny loves target for filling easter baskets!  LOL

I started blogging way back in 2014.  January of 2014!  So it's been a while.  When I first started, my husband kept telling me little tidbits of what he was reading here and there about blogging, but for some reason, it went in one ear and out the other.  I basically just wrote about my kids and what was going on in my life.  I did it pretty regularly for the first few months, and then I faded off doing only a few here and there.  In 2015, and 2016 I probably only did a handful of posts.  I wasn't seeing much come out of the blog, so I wasn't as motivated. Then in February of this year, for some reason I started to look into it again.  I wrote a few posts, did some research, wrote a few more and did some more research.  Then, all of a sudden it clicked.  After reading through lots of articles about blogging, and reading LOTS of books ( I'll write about my favorites in another post), I was finally starting to get the hang of this bl...

My 8 year old daughter LOVES to play games.  It started way back when she was younger with memory.  A great game for her, because she found something she can always beat Mommy at!  She was drawn to most games, naturally because her parents are also very competitive. Board games, card games, mental games (I spy...) and physical games (basketball) were all fair game for games.  Lately, she really enjoys playing card games though.  Maybe it's because she's realized that I will say yes more often than not to card games, because I love them as well.  Playing cards reminds me of when I used to sit and play double solitaire and cribbage with my Grandfather.  So when she asks, it's usually a YES of course!

I love summer.  And, for the most part, I love spending summer with my kids!  LOL.  As long as the bickering stays to a minimum we'll be good.  I usually try to plan a lot of activities to keep the kids busy and active, mentally and physically, through out their time away from school.  Back when I was a kid, my summers consisted of staying with my cousins and swimming in their pool, or staying with my grandparents, and going to the beach down the street.  I was pretty busy, and I loved it. One of the things that we do every summer is: Summer Reading Programs.  We find all the ones we can, and my kids have fun tackling them, eager to earn their prizes.

When my husband and I were just still dating, we used to talk about the future a lot.  One of the topics included how we would raise our children.  Our biggest hope for us as parents, was that we would encourage our kids to be part of something.  It could be sports, music, art, drama, scouts, or whatever else they wanted, but they had to be in something. Once we had children, and they started getting a little older, we let them try out a multitude of activities.  Especially our oldest, who is almost 9.  She has done gymnastics, softball, basketball, piano, cheer, volleyball, and probably some more things that I can't think of at the moment.  My husband and I want to give her all these options, so that she can find what she truly loves.

Our children are our favorite people in this world.  We try our best to raise them right and to show them how to behave properly, but are we really SHOWING them or are we just TELLING them what's right from wrong? Children listen and watch every word and movement we make.  They look up to us.  They want to act older than they are so they pick the closest adult to mimic, which is usually us, their parents.  We are their first teacher in life.  We are the start of who they become and what personalities they will take on.  Children learn so much in the first 6 years of their lives and we as parents need to remember that "actions speak louder than words".

I love Melissa and Doug products! They are so well made, and are very educational and developmentally appropriate for babies, toddlers and preschoolers.  As an affiliate with Melissa and Doug, they have given me permission to let you all know about an amazing deal they are having right now!!!!  By clicking on my link posted in this article, you will receive 20% your total order over $50!! Those are amazing savings.  Hint, Hint:  It's never too early to start Christmas shopping!!

When my husband and I first started talking about having children, we both agreed, we would be completely happy with whatever extra-curricula activity they chose to do, as long as they picked something.  And so far, we have followed that belief.

I did it!!!!! I passed my Teacher exams!!