Tag: children

Earnest Echoes: How We Plan Our Summer as a Homeschool Family

Earnest Echoes: How We Plan Our Summer as a Homeschool Family

by earnestmomblog ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Originally posted 07/02/2022

Anyone else hit summer and look for ways to have some structure but not over-structure? Me. I am anyone else. Homeschool ends, and then I feel overwhelmed – “What do I do for summer?!” I want my children to feel like they are more relaxed, and to be able to differentiate from homeschool. We will not do any formal full lessons and I will give them time to be bored because boredom is not a bad thing. I do not want the summer to pass and also feel like we have done nothing.

I have three children, 12, 7 and 4. I included them in the planning and set specific goals for each day. Now these goals will not rule our whole schedule as vacations, summer camps and other events will definitely happen but we will have a loose plan for each day. I am not sure about you but by breakfast each day my kids are asking “what are we doing today?” and they are typically not satisfied with “nothing.”

Here is what our summer schedule looks like for the months of July and August. Mondays are zoo mornings (we get a membership to the local one each year), Tuesdays are pool afternoons (we have a small pop up one otherwise it would be dedicated water play outside). Wednesdays are mornings the the museum (again we have a membership to the local children’s museum but we will also explore our other museums as well). Thursdays we will visit the library and a park nearby hosts picnics in the park with family entertainment for free. Fridays are our adventure day, we will be checking a new local park or two (we will also blog and rate our experience for those local to Erie County Pennsylvania).

Using the Notability app on my iPhone I created these fun color coded calendars (I also use similar ones for our homeschool year), I then took advantage of the $0.99 magnet deal on the Shutterfly app to create magnets as a reminder for the fridge.

This helps us have an intentional and focused summer not being limited by what we plan, but if we feel like we have nothing to do it helps to have a plan already! Let me know your tricks to keep summer fun and easy for your kiddos.

x. earnest mom

Earnest Echoes (articles revisited): I Am THAT Mom.

Earnest Echoes (articles revisited): I Am THAT Mom.

by earnestmomblog ♥ 1 Comment

*Originally published 07/30/2021. I am also human, and working on myself one step at a time.

As I prepare to write this, I earnestly feel gutted. Today, I was THAT mom. The mom that I have seen a million times; trying to keep it together as she can feel the entire façade of “everything is perfect” start to crumble and slip away. At first it was hard, but as I realized that I am human I was forced to give myself some grace.

Let’s set the stage for you. Thunderstorms kept us indoors. So movie and popcorn it is, until the popcorn maker got knocked over spilling popcorn every where and cracking the side panel. It was an accident, stay chill mama – accidents happen and its just a popcorn machine. Then children kept climbing the counter, literally I was taking children down from the countertops. Things started to calm until the hall closet upstairs was completely dissected from its contents while I was cleaning the popcorn machine. By then, the window to prepare dinner was closed, my oldest needed to go to karate and this mama was waving her white flag. It was enough.

My vehicle was parked across the street at my mother in laws and since my youngest two usually refuse pants and shoes, I needed to move the car to my driveway to save them from crossing the street shoeless (I have learned to pick my battles, shoes make it to the car in case they’re needed but I do not fight them on – in these cases I prefer peace to the fight). I called all three to the kitchen and said “get your shoes ready and stay RIGHT HERE, I am bring the car over.” They get busy putting their shoes on and I hot footed it across the street. All of the sudden, as I open the driver door there is my middle little. She startled me, then I realized she had ran across the street unassisted and that her 3 year old brother is likely right behind her. In my fear, my frustration I yelled at her. Ouch, it hurts my heart to even write that as I have been really working on my volume and tone with my children, but I was scared. Scared she could have been hurt, scared my youngest would soon be doing the same or is elsewhere outside completely unsupervised. I yelled, right at her “you scared me, and what about brother?! IS he safe?! I told you to stay in the house as I ran across the street!! Why didn’t you stay???” Ugh. We ran back to the house, and my oldest and youngest were standing right where I had asked them to stay only three minutes before.

Now I tell you, I have seen this mom around, so many times. Tired, worried, stressed, overwhelmed, scared, angry, frustrated, and yelling at her kid. Until this moment, I had always viewed the “yelling” mom as such a villain – and to all the moms I have judged before, I earnestly apologize. This is so HARD. Not that I condone yelling at children, however when I was scared, overwhelmed and worried for the safety of my children, that panic kicked in and naturally my voice elevated.

As soon as I saw all three of my children safe (my oldest is 11, so legally he can stay 3 minutes with his siblings as I drive up to get them, in case you are worried lol); I knelt down, cried and apologized instantly for yelling. I asked for my middle little’s forgiveness, I explained how scared I was but that yelling was not appropriate and I am working hard not to yell anymore. Then something surprising happened, she apologized for not listening and saw how scary that was for me. I was taken aback. I did not expect her to mirror my actions, to recognize and acknowledge her mistake and my feelings. It was messy, it was hard, but even in my mama-meltdown epic failure moments, these brilliant amazing little humans are still learning forgiveness, empathy and owning their own mistakes.

Yes, I am THAT mom. I am the mom that struggles with keeping my temper, sometimes doesn’t get food to the table on time (by the way we ordered in tonight), allows too much screen time, gives in to some demands to avoid the fight, and yells when I do not mean to. I am also THAT mom who forgives quickly, loves fully, asks for forgiveness and apologizes to show them I make mistakes too, and would protect my children at all costs. I cry in the bathroom, laugh at the dinner table and hug with everything I have got. I am 100% that mom and proud.

Remember mama, we are in this together – one Earnest MOM-ent at a time!

Love, Earnest Mom

Status

Technically Too Techie.

by earnestmomblog ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Photo credit: canva.com

I do not know about you, but when I hear the term “digital age,” I freeze. I am comfortable at my level of smart phone, and my air pods that somehow know when I am listening to a podcast on my phone even when I am on my laptop, while being synced to both.  I like that my car tells me when to turn and I enjoy those heated seats in our Erie winters!  What I am not prepared for is the impact technology is having on my children.

The more studies I see of how 5G is affecting our bodies, how our brains are reacting to the constant stream of dopamine engaged content, and the endless scrolling that I know I am guilty of, it makes me long for the days of dumb phones and waiting to talk to friends face to face.  

Common Sense Media recently released their 2025 Common Sense Census (click here to access report) and the stats are definitely a bit alarming to a parent in this time of tech.  The study’s main takeaways were, children are acquiring and using screens for longer periods and at earlier ages; parent supervision is quite low (17% of parents reporting viewing Tik Toks with their kids); and AI is making its way into their hands more than I thought, considering I just called my husband today because I could not figure out how to work chatGPT.

Seems, much to my dismay, technology is not only here to stay but is growing and evolving so rapidly that I can barely keep up!  With a teen, a tween and a video game interested 7 year old, I have all my mommy-senses working overtime to navigate this brave new world.  Maybe you feel the same?  Here are some resources that I have found invaluable as we navigate these new waters as a family.

Aura is my first recommendation.  Recently, with much research, thought, conversations and mandatory high school papers, we got our 14 year old a phone.  Aura has been my peace of mind with this transition.  Aura is intelligent, digital safety for the whole family.  We have Aura on our teen’s phone, and all computers in the house.  I get daily and weekly reports of online activity and a new feature called “Balance” that is giving me in depth information of my teens actions, words and behavior online.  I am parenting confidently with this app in my pocket (literally and figuratively).  

Another incredible tool we use are websites that help to navigate movies, television, books, games, podcasts and apps.  In this world of instant entertainment, Common Sense Media is so helpful.  With ratings given for all of these categories, they also break down with a rating out of ten, content from sexual to violence to really know what you and your children could be seeing and or hearing.  They also offer positive content and the reviews/ratings include parent and kids comments to really get a well rounded feel for the content.  For movies alone, we also like to use Plugged In.  Plugged In offers similar rating breakdowns with a christian lens, also offering follow up questions or discussion points to help digest movies, games and books with your kids.

Digital Parenthood is a one stop hub for parents.  With support for gaming, cyber bullying, internet safety, online predators and even asking an expert, the Digital Parenthood offers a wide array of help in many spaces including forums where parents are discussing what they are going through to connect with other parents too.  Digital Parenthood is so robust for supporting parents navigating all of the things that come with digital exposure for our children, I cannot recommend it enough.

A podcast that keeps me updated and informed of laws, dangers and news with kids in tech is Scrolling 2 Death.  With weekly podcasts and daily social media posts, podcaster Nicky Reisberg shines light on the dark goings on in the media and our children.  She has been a voice for her children dealing with online access in schools, and a safe place to share with parents their experiences and how social media and tech are affecting their children.  Definitely worth liking and subscribing, even though the news can be on the serious side – it is worth listening to and knowing what children are going through in real time.

Whether it is children online at school, in your home or on the bus ride the online world feels like the wild, wild west with our kids on the front lines.  Lots of discussions about online safety, when to look away if they are being exposed to dangerous materials and how to get help for anything has to be a constant today.  As their brains are still growing, I feel the push ever more to keep updated and relevant to what is going on in the digital world.  I hope some of these resources can help get you some tools to use while keeping your kids safe in the online world.

x. earnest mom.