We've Decided to Homeschool!

So we've decided as a family to take the ever so scary first steps into homeschooling. I want to use this page to share, why, how and what we choose to do along the way as I'm sure the how and what will change as we go along.

First off I will start with the "why". Why would we choose to homeschool? Well, I can tell you that if you would have asked us 3 years ago; we would have said a big "NO" to homeschooling. The main reason being the ever so argued topic of "socialization", even though after looking into homeschooling deeper I realize there is no argument to socialization, these days it seems to be the problem that homeschool kids are almost too socialized with all of the activities, groups and co-ops they can be a part of. So that puts that to rest.

My husband was actually homeschooled and didn't really have a negative outlook on it other than his parents had to stop after his 7th grade year. For 8th grade he went to a Christian private school and then for high school he went to public school. He did feel like he had been thrown to the wolves so to speak because he had been very sheltered but of course we hope to not shelter the kids so much but if that's the worst thing that happens then so be it.

What brought us to even start considering homeschool? Well this is going to sound crazy, but it is what it is. We recently watched a movie called Agenda: Grinding America Down and our whole outlook changed. If you have not watched it I suggest you do. That mixed with the things my 12 year old tells me that they are teaching him at school pretty much started this homeschool train rolling. Unfortunately, I cannot pull my 12 year old out of school, long story, but I pray for him all the time, that God is with him and helping him make wise choices. He is God's before he is mine and I give him to God. But I can however control what happens with the next two that will be entering school age before I know it.

As soon as I told my mother-in-law that we were thinking about homeschooling she immediately found a book for me while at Goodwill. It took me a week or so to start reading it and I wish I would have started reading it sooner. The book, The Christian Home School by Gregg Harris was written originally in 1988 and then updated in 1995 and it speaks to everything Agenda: Grinding America Down covered. Let me just say our public school system has an a plan for the future of our children and I don't want my children to be a part of "that" future. As I was reading I just couldn't get over the fact that what he was saying is happening right now in our country before our eyes and then especially the people like Martin Luther who pretty much called the decline of this country through our schools back in the 1800's.

So my main goal for my children is to know God, have a personal relationship with Jesus and get a quality education along with that. Education is very important but knowing Jesus is more important, we're talking their eternal future here. Once I started looking more into homeschooling and what it has turned into these days compared to what it was when my husband was homeschooled, I got very excited. The possibilities are endless. As long as the government continues to allow homeschooling that's what we're going to do. However, I do realize that life changes and sometimes you have to roll with the punches so if something happened to us financially or if I were not able to be at home with the kids anymore and my only option was public school, I would just pray daily for my little ones. But hopefully that doesn't happen.

I want to be a godly woman, wife and mother and I want to raise my children to be godly people. My prayer is that through this decision we will glorify God by keeping our children close to us, teaching them Christian values and character and making their education our responsibility.

Ebay Cloth Diapers

So like I said in a post recently I've started cloth diapering and decided to purchase some of the "ebay" pocket diapers to try.Well so far I've received 3 of the 5 that I've ordered and I wanted to do a review on them today. Right off the bat, I want to say that for what you pay for these diapers they are great! I'm not sure how long they will last but I feel very satisfied with what I paid, how quick they arrived and the quality.

If any of you have ever looked into ebay diapers you will see that there are many many sellers and different brands. Most are the same style from different sellers but if you look closely you'll find different brands and different styles within those brands. I've spent hours scouring ebay to see all the different styles. I have a few more on order now to try out. All of these diapers fit weights from newborn-35 lbs. All of these were washed once with Charlies soap before use. I only hang dry the shell and dry the inserts on high for 60 min.

 I will start with the first diaper that I purchased, the pink one, no brand name. I bid on this diaper before I realized that it didn't have an insert included but that was no big deal because I recently found 6 like new bumgenius inserts at a baby resale shop for .25 cents each, so no worries there. The inner material on this diaper is a polyester, so it's not fuzzy but it wicked the moisture away perfectly. The diaper pictured is set on the medium rise ready for little Hannah. I went ahead and tested the diaper with it's hardest job right off the bat, overnight. I stuffed two bumgenius inserts in and realized that with it being that thick I had to have the rise open to the largest setting and even then it fit was a little off. This diaper is very flimsy and the inside wants to roll to the outside if that makes sense. So I had to do some readjusting and once I did that it worked great. All night, 10+ hours and no leaks! So that right there sold me on the diaper. For .99 cents and $2.99 shipping I will deal with having to adjust it a little every time.

Then after it's next wash I tried it out during the day with one insert on the medium rise setting and with a little more adjusting it worked great again.

I'm so happy with this diaper I ordered another in a minky shell, this time with an insert.

The second diaper pictured above is the Coolababy brand diaper. This was the one I was most excited about. These just looked like they had a little bit of higher quality and they are a little different than the diaper listed above. This diaper came with it's own insert that even had "coolababy" embroidered on it, nice touch. The inner material is a micro-fleece which is fuzzier than the diaper above. The opening for the insert in this one is a bit bigger and leaves some extra material which could be changed in my opinion but it works and I assume that for a baby at this diapers max weight would stretch the material so it would be needed. I just tuck the micro-fleece around the top of the insert. I also started this on an overnight. I stuffed it with the insert included and a bumgenius insert. Also, double stuffed I had to put on the largest fit. Again, 10+ hours with no leaks. Very happy with this diaper, I think I paid $4.25 total including shipping. I've got a bid in for another one but a bamboo/charcoal version so we'll see if I win.

The third diaper that arrived was the Babyland diaper. This is the one I've heard the worst reviews on and it's all about the fit. Now I can't judge it on a smaller baby, just on my 20lb 13 month old but this diaper fit her just fine. This diaper is trimmer than the other two but I actually liked that. This diaper also came with it's own insert but it was smaller than the coolababy. The inner material on this one is a fleece as well but it looks lower quality. The nice feature on this diaper is that it has crossover snaps so you can make the waist even smaller if needed. This diaper also has a little flap to cover the insert once stuffed. I tried this one out over night as well and with the babyland insert and bumgenius insert I had no leaks again. I also had to put this one on the largest fit when it was double stuffed. I'm not sure if I'll order more of these but I'm satisfied with this purchase, $2.25 total.

So over all I'm very satisfied with the ebay diapers. I wanted to do this post because I'm sure lots of people look at these diapers but are skeptical. I was too but with such a good price and good youtube reviews I had to try them. I also want to say that after payment, each of these only took no more than a week to arrive. That's awesome from China and I didn't owe any duties or customs.

I have purchased more cloth diaper accessories and will share those on another post.

Let me know if you have any other questions on these diapers or anything else.

Have a great day!

Get to know me

Hi! I'm Heather. Thanks for stopping by. Here is a little about me, hope you stay a while.

The Basics: believer, sinner, wife, mama of three, homemaker, tot/homeschooler, vintage lover, pinterest hoarder, instagram addict, bargain shopper, crafter, sewist, baked goods enthusiast, thrifter, positive thinker, go getter but not a stick wither and working on that. 

This might all sound serious but it's not. I fumble everyday with trying to keep up with everything but I believe that my passion for Jesus, to make a home for my family and to stay creative and positive will result in wonderful memories for my children that will last a life time and hopefully be my legacy. My goal is to be a godly woman, wife and mother. To live everyday through His grace and to pass that on to my children.

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C is for Cricut

Daniel has now been with us for 8 months and we still have not transitioned him to the nursery. In fact, he is currently in the living room in the pack n' play behind our couch. After several months of trying everything to get him to sleep through the night I came to the conclusion that he's a super light sleeper and needs things very quiet. Must have been those first 9 days in the NICU that spoiled him. It got to the point where I couldn't come into bed after he had been asleep without waking him or even roll over for that matter. So we decided to move him and ever since the first night he has slept through the night every night for two plus weeks now. We end up going to bed earlier but I can't tell you how nice it is to get into bed and just read or whatever. 

A few months ago I made some wall art with the Cricut for "their" room and am just now getting around to sharing it. I cannot remember the cartridge name, but it's obviously owls. Danny might not sleep in his room but he enjoys these every time I take him in the room. The room is set up with primary colors, ABC's and 123's. We found an adorable crib set at a baby resale event and just went with that. So I used similar colors for these owls. Hannah's has some pink of course. 

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