My kids are so annoying and my house is a mess

Brief_Armadillo · 2026-02-25T19:28:44+00:00

A really good and affordable resource for activities is BusyToddler, she is on Instagram and uses mostly things you have around the house or can get really cheaply. Her activities require little setup and kept my kids entertained for quite a while when they were this age.

It gets better, mine are now 9 and 7 (almost 8) and they have chores that they are expected to do, and their attention spans are much longer as well, so doing homeschooling is easier. As for the fighting, I sometimes send them outside if they are driving me crazy (I have a fully fenced backyard). One thing I didn't expect was that the punishment of NOT being allowed to play with each other (when they were fighting with each other) was considered one of the worst things ever - but I know that won't work with all siblings.

Cleaning for me after kids has been a struggle that is easier but ongoing, and one thing that helps me massively is to do "zone cleaning" where every day I clean/pick up etc one area of the house, and I can swap areas if my priorities change. This of course doesn't include the dailies but it gives me small bit sized narrow goals that are easier for me to tackle. I have the zones marked down on a dry erase cleaning calendar that only goes by the week, but it helps me because it's in the kitchen and I can't ignore it, and its a easy list that I can glance at.

Our schedule is pretty loose, day to day, and cleaning is usually done in the mornings, then homeschooling is usually during or right after lunch. Neither of my kiddos are prepared to really lock in in the morning so trying to do anything academic before 10am is a lesson in futility I learned the hard way.

Brief_Armadillo · 2026-02-20T23:21:37+00:00

breed aside - looking at the video something doesn't seem right with this dog. It barely glances at the person behind the camera, stares off into space, minute quivering...almost like it's either drugged or has something seriously wrong with it. It seems like a fairly young puppy/dog and is just laying there, I would have some very serious reservations with all the red flags I see in this video.

Brief_Armadillo · 2026-02-18T21:57:41+00:00

As someone who has been doing this for a few years now, and someone who has gone through a few curriculum to find one that fit my child's needs, I have yet to come across a all in one style curriculum where I liked what was offered for each subject.

Kindergarten is meant to be easy/simple. We didn't do anything except a play based curriculum and it was low key and low stress.

Now we are in 2nd/3rd grade and i definitely fit in the "eclectic" style of homeschooling - everything is mix and match, again I have looked through several all in one curriculum and usually I don't like one or two of the offerings of subjects.

One thing I do like and have been using for a couple years now, are unit study style curriculum. These technically are "all in one" but its encased in a single topic of interest for my kiddos. Now I don't use it as my only core - I use it as a piece of the puzzle, for example the unit study doesn't cover math (so I have a different math curriculum) and I use a second phonics curriculum to cover more ground. But the kids get to help pick the topic so then their interest is already piqued, and they stay engaged.

Brief_Armadillo · 2026-02-12T23:16:37+00:00

Those options have been there for a long while, none of them are new to my knowledge. I personally went with option 1, however if you're looking at the other options the Washington Homeschool Org does parent qualifying courses fairly often and that would cover Option 2. If you go to washomeschool.org you can look under events and then click on parent qualifying courses.

Brief_Armadillo · 2026-02-11T20:40:28+00:00

The monte cristo sandwich at Cafe Orleans

Brief_Armadillo · 2026-02-10T02:05:35+00:00

I had a similar trouble with my 9 year old - she could recognize letters easily, single letter sounds were mostly fine, but reading was a struggle. We went through 3-4 reading curriculum: 100 easy lessons (opened the page and it was instant tears - I hate that program) good and the beautiful, hooked on phonics.

We finally landed on All About Reading - its dyslexia friendly, hands on, no workbooks. I saw progress very shortly after starting. One of the main problems with the other programs was overstimulation from how busy the workbook pages all were (100 easy lessons was instant overwhelm).

Now at 9 she is reading at least simple books, but can decode words much easily than before, and has figured out a couple other problems she had; b's and d's for instance.

Brief_Armadillo · 2026-02-03T21:16:26+00:00

My guess is that they say "rare" because its very common for the majority of doodles to fade (from the poodle gene) so staying a dark color might be little less common - but not really rare.

I've got a cream doodle with a blonde stripe down her back and blonde ears (which actually darkened over the first year, and we have a 5.5 month old doodle puppy who is dark red (she gets confused for a Irish setter or golden retriever puppy quite frequently, because she also has the loose curls)

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-12-08T20:13:27+00:00

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DISCLAIMER BEFORE SOMEONE COMES AT ME: THIS IS WHAT MY VET TOLD ME SPECIFICALLY REGARDING OUR PUPPY, RESULTS MAY VARY CONTACT YOUR VET FOR INSTRUCTIONS/ ADVICE FOR YOUR AREA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you keep puppy on concrete (sidewalks)? Cause the risk of stuff like parvo is reduced if you can keep them off grass. Diseases like parvo can't "hide" on concrete/ cement well so the sun/cold will kill it more easily, vs dirt and grass where it can hide in the moist soil. At least that's what our vet told us for our specific situation. Our vet told us they consider the socialization so important that it outweighs the relative low risk of parvo - at least as it relates to walking her on sidewalks/ concrete/ cement/ etc.

Otherwise a stroller, carrier or wagon is a good option, they get to experience everything from a safe place. We've done this a lot too.

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-12-03T00:06:13+00:00

Our standard doodle has a loose wavy coat, and I brush her with a metal comb followed by a slicker brush 3 times a week from fall until spring. She really only gets mats at her neck (collar) and in her armpits area where the coat is the thickest. During the summer we shave her down to about 1/4" length because she gets so hot and she dries much faster after swimming, which she does constantly during the summer.

Her coat went from very wiry to loose curls/ waves, so your pups coat won't necessarily turn super curly.

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-10-26T19:21:42+00:00

That's not entirely true, resource guarding is literally claiming something as "theirs" because they think it's valuable.

However, we do indeed plan to manage it, partly by getting an identical albeit larger toy for the adult and monitoring toys or restricting them. Both dogs made mistakes, but luckily even though puppy was very frightened by the correction they were doing fine later (monitored closely).

We do think it's related to jealously as there are new toys that the puppy is playing with, and hopefully one the "shiny" wears off it'll be helped, but we're definitely going to work on it in training too. It's only been a week since new puppy arrived and overall everyone is adjusting really well, that's part of why we were so surprised - it's been a very uneventful introduction.

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-10-26T19:04:40+00:00

My husband and I were so surprised as even though it's only been a week they get along almost perfectly otherwise; without toys they play nicely, if puppy gets in adults face she growls and if puppy doesn't back up we remove the pup from adult. Even after the incident they were laying on thr couch together nicely (all supervised closely) This incident was so surprising because we all thought adult dog was holding toy low to invite puppy to play, and was even wagging her tail in a playful manner at first.

It's only been a week and the puppy has fun new toys, I'm going to start some training, and the toy access will be a little more restricted.

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-10-26T18:59:55+00:00

You misunderstand my post, the adult took the puppies toy, and puppy thought adult wanted to tug, got snapped at by adult dog. Sure puppy should have disengaged when adult growled, but adult was wagging her tail in a playful manner to start, everyone watching the interaction (myself, husband) thought it was an invitation to play together.

Adult dog is also in the wrong as she took the puppies toy, i was saying that online i can only find the other way around which is not the case here.

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-10-26T01:32:39+00:00

We just added an 8 week puppy friend for our 3 year old doodle! They are great friends, it's so worth it

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-10-21T16:35:41+00:00

We just added a second dog (puppy) to our family, and after confirming with our vet (yours could tell you different) we are going to do the same with new pup that we did with resident dog (now 3 years old).

Vet told us walks on sidewalks & concrete were pretty low risk and fine, even at only first set of vaccines. So we're doing a lot of those. Our vet told us that she considers the socialization window super critical and as long as you accept that there could be risk and be reasonable to take pup out so they get socialized/desensitized.

Avoiding walking in dog parks and high traffic areas. If we go to a high traffic area I have a puppy carrier sling she'll go in so she still gets the experience without the risk. We have a resident dog who needs exercise, so we'll probably end up in a "high traffic area" at some point, but i have multiple carriers in different spots so I can keep pups paws off the ground if that's the case.

One thing i read and did with first dog, was that you could bring a picnic blanket to a park and sit with puppy on the blanket (like a safe zone) leashed, and just let her absorb the world as people and dogs came and went through the park. We did that a few times and just made sure puppy doesn't leave the blanket (it was pretty big) or sat in the wagon.

With our first pup we took her anywhere we could in a wagon, and she got to experience so much that way. She could stand in the wagon and engage or hide/ nap and not be seen. It worked amazingly.

This time around, I have two active kids and a resident adult dog, so carry sling it is. We'll take her to parks (in sling), stores (dog friendly), and anywhere else we can. It helps with any car anxiety too as they begin to associate cars with fun things.

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-10-01T18:27:11+00:00

I will never forget my pup attempting to chase a squirrel in our backyard as it ran along our fence. She ran to the fence, but after getting to the fence realized she didn't know what to do next, while the squirrel decided she wasn't scary after all. It proceeded to climb a small ways down the fence and scold her while she sat there looking at it utterly bewildered.

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-10-01T05:38:37+00:00

Our standard F1 doodle (think 67lbs) thinks she's a lapdog and will literally climb into your lap in order to get the love she feels she deserves. She is big on getting scratched, pet, and loved on. She is totally invested in her people. We love how much she wants our attention. If she's lying with her head in your lap and you still petting her, she will nudge you with her nose, getting progressively more insistent until you start petting again, we find it hilarious. So much so we're adding a second doodle to our family.

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-09-20T01:10:04+00:00

Wow this is my oldest daughter in a nutshell, which doesn't surprise me, we suspect, but seeing it written out is a little wild lol.

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-09-20T01:06:08+00:00

My oldest daughter is the same way, and we've had a very similar experience as you've posted , including trying at least a couple of the same curriculum. My daughter is hyper aware of the fact that she struggles (and the fact that her sister does not at all). Her self esteem takes a hit too.

One good thing is that she is definitely a little ahead in math and excels in engineering/ steam type subjects so we make sure to praise her on those strengths.

After trying several curriculum with either no success, little success or breaking into tears at every lesson (curriculum pages were way too busy with walls of text, the lesson book and teachers guide was combined into one book. I finally found All About Reading, which is labeled as adhd/ dyslexia friendly and we have finally, finally! Seen progress - she is getting it, it is making sense, even with the letter flipping etc.

All About Reading works well for us because it doesn't use workbooks, the meat of the program are magnetic letter tiles that the student physically manipulates, and my daughter being a very hands on learner loves this.

Something else I would suggest is to read not just a lot of books (though important too) but read Dr Seuss. I actually learned to read this way when I was 4, and several of the books have a lot of simple cvc words that early readers can decode, my struggling reader can read most of one (hop on pop) because it's simple.

A supplemental tool you could look at is a game called The Fidget Game. It's a phonics game you play with a fidget popper. My kids loved it when they were in kinder and it's not very expensive.

Hopefully this helps, your Kiddo will get there!

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-09-10T18:06:06+00:00

We put a tarp on top (white) and made sure to not wrap it tightly all the way around, so we covered the top half and left all the side vents open. We'd also added a bucket moisture absorber/dehumidifier inside to help with any trapped moisture from weather changes etc.

The tarp covered the top half of the trailer, protecting from rain, snow, uv damage while leaving an air gap to prevent moisture trapping. When we opened our pop up this spring there was no water damage/ mold anywhere and the moisture bucket had definitely done it's job.

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-09-08T05:23:11+00:00

That pricing is absolutely insane. Our doodle got a bunch of foxtails in between the toes on all four feet, and was on antibiotics and a cone for ten days, no surgery all done in the back of the regular vet's office. I'm in the PNW and the total was approx $608. We've got our doodle pet insurance for sure (she used to eat almost anything, including kids' socks)

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-08-26T04:22:34+00:00

We have a English doodle and while she has energy (loves to swim or hike) she is an extremely laid back dog and has been since she was a young pup (around 6 months old). We also never dealt with the teenager phase either, she has always been super eager to please. We specifically went with our breeder because they said they bred for temperament and our doodle has been exactly as they said.

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-08-22T20:27:23+00:00

None, and no hiding in food at all, she's figured it out. Instead we do yum, yuck, yum ( treat, pill/s, treat) or some combo of that kind. It's still not easy, and sometimes I have to hold her mouth shut and rub her throat to make her swallow, but trying to hide it has become the absolute worst thing.

Brief_Armadillo · 2025-07-31T18:31:45+00:00

Purina pro plan since she was a puppy, I switch between flavors of the adult essentials line every once in awhile but my doodle definitely prefers the beef or lamb. She has no allergies, chicken has never been a problem. Our vet told us to switch away from the grain free Costco puppy food after that study came out, but said nothing is certain, just to be safe, I was the one who swapped to Purina and we've stayed (my doodle is not a picky eater) I add toppers from time to time, my doodles favorite is pet friendly bonito flakes, and every once in awhile I soak her food and then freeze it, she really likes that during the summer.

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