Lynna Sutherland - Parent Coaching and Homeschool Support

Third graduation ceremony of Hilltop Farms Academy is in the books! Congratulations, Ruth! 🎓👩🏼‍🎓📜🎉

I love watching people remodel busses or vans into tiny houses on wheels. So cool. So many props to you, van/bus life peeps!

Watching those videos is so satisfying and relaxing because I'm not planning to do any of that. Ever. But it's fun to watch it come together and to enjoy the creativity of finding ways to use small spaces super efficiently!

But hey. What if we could watch all social media videos like this?

Wow! So fun and satisfying to watch that mom make that bread from scratch for her family. So cool how that mom planned and pulled off that amazing themed birthday party for her kiddo! Loved watching that mom's creativity, designing her daughter's room all from up-cycled pieces she DIY'd!

What if we could enjoy vicariously watching someone's creativity coming together as Mom-ASMR instead of guilt, pressure, feeling less-than, and feeling like we've failed?

Look at that mom do that amazing, creative, wholesome thing that is so good and so loving and also ... totally out of my wheelhouse and zone of interest. Props to you, creative mom! Thanks for letting me vicariously enjoy watching you do that thing I'm never going to attempt or even feel the slightest pressure to try!

That feels like a whole lot of freedom and relief to me. How about you?

Oh my goodness! What a collection! So many of these are things my kids LOVED when they were little. 🥰❤️

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My boys have really been enjoying the wide variety of math practice worksheets from education.com and we're excited to use these for math review and practice this summer! (More details in the first comment)

My 8 yo: I don't know who this journal belongs to because I can't read cursive (points to writing on the side of the pages).

True confessions: I'm not ordinarily the "fun mom". I mean, I have a decent sense of humor and I'm not (usually!) uptight. But for most of parenting, I haven't had the bandwidth or energy to sprinkle in all the "magic". Fun craft projects are not my forte!

But, now that two of the eight are grown and moved out and our youngest is 8, life looks a little different. I have more energy. The prospect of some preparation and some mess doesn't feel quite so overwhelming.

Unintended bonus: now all it takes is some baking soda, vinegar, food coloring, and hard boiled eggs to really impress my kids with Mom Magic! 🪄✨🥚🤣

I've prepared myself and the kids for the inescapable reality that the growing up experience of the last two won't look the same as the growing up experience of the first two (and the four in the middle will be some balance between the two) and that's OK! There are perks to being oldests, middles, and youngests.

Here's to embracing where you are right now and the energy and resources you have in the moment and enjoying the sunshine!!

🐣🐇🐰

Instructions:

Heaping spoonful of baking soda
4-6 drops of neon food coloring
Mix in some water until it's kinda globby
Paint thickly on a hard boiled egg
Pour over white vinegar
After the reaction, swish in cold water

Happy Easter!!

Digital organization tip 3/5 (+ another fun photo from the wedding 😏) ...

Is your inbox full of sales and/or coupon codes for opportunities you aren't sure if you want or need to take advantage of?

Use the "snooze" feature on the email. Set it to show back up in your inbox later according to one of the following guidelines:

1. If you think you *might* want to purchase something, set it to snooze to the last day of the sale. That way you'll have one last chance to consider a purchase. Once you use it or decide not to, you can delete the email.

2. If you think it's unlikely you'll need to make a purchase, set it to snooze until the day *after* the sale ends or the coupon expires. When it shows up in your inbox again, you can safely delete. And if you do actually find in the meantime that you need that coupon code, use the search feature or go into the "snoozed" folder to find it!

Bonus: If you have a lot of sales emails related to a particular event (like I did for the wedding!) set the emails to snooze until after the event and then you'll be able to delete and/or unsubscribe to services or vendors you won't need to shop with in the future.

If your inbox is always cluttered with sale emails, check yesterday's tip for another solution!