Beat Exhaustion in Healthy, Drug-free Ways

To say parenting is exhausting is a colossal understatement. Caring for rambunctious, demanding children is not like any go-to job. Work is at home and home is at work. Parenting is 24-7-365 with no built-in breaks, vacations or quitting time. It's a constant drain on a parent's mind, body and emotions. Here are tips to recharge your parenting batteries.  Beat Parenting Exhaustion in Healthy, Drug-free Ways

Keep Preschool, Toddler Children Busy With Free Activities

 As a 10-year homeschooling mom of four, I know about multitasking with kids. The hardest age of child to keep productively occupied is toddler. Maybe I should rephrase "productive" to "occupied in parent-approved ways." Our kids were always productively employed, at least in their minds. From a parent's view it looked like mess-making. And during the holidays it only gets worse. More work, antsy kids, abnormal schedules, added events make it more challenging to keep a toddler in check. Here are parent-friendly, child-minder holiday activities. For free printables to occupy kids, click the "printables" keyword on this blog or check out my link blogs. You'll find enough printable games, crafts, cut and paste toys and educational activities to keep an army of kids busy! Toddler Child-minder Activities for Busy Parents

Montessori mom: At-home preschool practical life learning center

I'm a certified special needs teacher and a former home school parent. I also taught in a Montessori school. Both Montessori and special education follow a learning center-based classroom model. Learning centers (also called areas or stations), engage children in hands-on, multisensory tasks. Each center focuses on different activities: reading, math, science, building, gross motor, art, dramatic play and practical life. When I taught our kids at home, I brought the learning center concept into our home. If you've got preschool kids or are a home school parent, why not try the learning center approach? Here's how this Montessori mom set up a practical life learning area.  At-home preschool practical life learning center 

Git-er-Done Tips--Cooking, Cleaning, Laundry, Childcare, Homeschool, Work-at Home--for Moms

How to Do it All for Moms--Get the Cooking, Cleaning, Laundry and Kid-care Done All at Once (Sanely). A guide to help you successfully launder the clothing, clean the house, put in some time on your home business, get some errands or paperwork accomplished, put a tasty, nutritious meal on the table and nurture the children in a timely manner without losing your mind! Tips and how-2's from a homeschooler mama of four children (and many collected from friends and mentors along the way!) View more »

Multitask: Get Your Work Done and Entertain Your Toddler

How to Occupy a Toddler and Still Get Work Done Great multitasking tips and ideas for ways to entertain and occupy a toddler and still get your housework done. View more »