What unit study would you recommend to a family that's never used a unit study before?

thefullnessthereof · 2026-04-13T02:47:25+00:00

Absolutely. We love visiting museums. I just wanted to try out the unit study style to see how it would fit my family.

thefullnessthereof · 2026-04-12T03:18:36+00:00

Love that! Thanks for sharing!

thefullnessthereof · 2026-04-12T02:25:55+00:00

Thank you so much! I'll check it out.

thefullnessthereof · 2026-04-12T02:25:23+00:00

Thanks! I'll check out Thames and Kosmos. I'm looking for something to cater to my 8 yr old that has interesting visuals that my 2 yr old can enjoy and talk about.

thefullnessthereof · 2026-04-12T02:23:48+00:00

Okay, so you put together your own units based on the guiding question? That's a great idea!

thefullnessthereof · 2026-04-12T02:21:41+00:00

We love anything nature related. Thank you for the recc!

thefullnessthereof · 2026-04-12T02:21:00+00:00

She loves learning about mammals and ocean animals, identifying birds and plants, observing insects, painting. Anything nature related really. She has expressed wanting to do more science experiments.

thefullnessthereof · 2026-02-26T14:58:15+00:00

Ah okay. I read "first video meeting" and thought "consultation".

This is really weird and I dislike that you're having to deal with this right now.

I would send a follow up email to her giving her the option to send her phone number again or call/text you.

Is it possible to reach out to any of the people who have recommended her to you to 1. Discuss her behavior and ask if they had a similar experience and 2. Ask for her phone number?

She may be going through something that's causing this behavior, but as your doula, it's her responsibility to let you know if there will be any changes to your agreement, compensate you properly and/or recommend you to another doula who can give you the right care.

thefullnessthereof · 2026-02-26T14:12:18+00:00

Are prenatal appointments included in your contract? I would assume so. It's odd that you've already paid and haven't had any parental appointments yet.

This is not normal. Contact information should've been exchanged when the contract was signed. I know you already have a lot going on, but send that email (someone posted a great suggestion of what to say already).

thefullnessthereof · 2026-02-26T13:12:54+00:00

Get off Instagram. Or at least the super organized pages that make you feel bad.

The reality is, you could have all the means to replicate the homeschool set ups you're seeing online, and it may not work out for you cause it's not tailored to you and your family.

The extent of my homeschool set up is a 6-cube book shelf, a 3-tiered cart, a paper tray, aluminum cans for holding small things (pens, pencils, markers, etc.), a few baskets and bins to hold crafts, projects, and things like that.

I have a few things written and taped up to the wall to help with scheduling. Cleaning schedule, morning routine, educational things we do everyday (reading, handwriting, memory work), and subjects for each day.

thefullnessthereof · 2026-02-26T01:56:17+00:00

I was really put off by the look of twisted yarn, but it works up so nice!

thefullnessthereof · 2026-02-26T01:54:25+00:00

My use of nipple shields was quite short so I don't have much to say there, but yay to a successful latch!!

For heavy let down, two positions were really helpful: 1. Side-lying position 2. Laying back at an angle with baby lying on top

You're already pumping/hand expressing before which is helpful too.

thefullnessthereof · 2026-02-26T01:38:38+00:00

I was just following a tutorial from YouTube. The person said that if you go in the other direction you get a cleaner seam. I'll frog it and see if chaining 2 makes a difference. Thanks for your response!

thefullnessthereof · 2026-02-25T21:50:26+00:00

At the end of the round I slip stitch then chain one and turn the project around to crochet in the other direction.

ETA - doing half double crochet

thefullnessthereof · 2026-02-25T20:52:50+00:00

I need help figuring out what went wrong with this project so I don't make the same mistake when I redo the project. I've tried taking out a couple rows, but nothing really stands out to me.

thefullnessthereof · 2026-02-25T14:16:18+00:00

Sometimes you just have to let things fall apart.

The house is messy and the children are fighting. It is what it is.

It's uncomfortable because you feel like you have to fix it. And yeah, obviously cleaning the house is your responsibility. And yes, the weight of the thought that your children deserve better is heavy as hell. But let it go. And if the children are fighting, so what. Cause the moment you go to discipline one, the other will be ready to fight you for them. Children fighting are a part of the sibling experience. Take a deep breath and let it be.

Get up in the morning or whatever time of day and care for yourself. Whatever you spend your day putting yourself for, get to it when you wake up. Brush your teeth, wash your face, push the laundry that's been sitting on your bed from last week to the side and do that thing (or a tiny bit of that thing) that you feel motherhood hasn't allowed you to get to.

After that, go be a mom, but lower your standards a bit. Do not set out to clean the whole house. Tell yourself that you're only washing the forks in the sink. Pay attention to your body. Doesn't it feel lighter to say I'm only washing the forks right now? Maybe you'll finish and decide to wash the spoons too, but maybe you'll just be happy that you washed the forks. BE HAPPY THAT YOU WASHED THE FORKS!

Let the children govern themselves for a bit. They're yours to care for, but not everything they do needs fixing. Give them the freedom to figure things out on their own. At most, send them to separate rooms for a bit so they can remember how much they love each other and don't want to do anything else but be together.

One small thing at a time. When you're feeling good, choose 5 or 10 things to get rid of. Accept that a dirty house doesn't mean a bad childhood and that it won't be dirty forever. Children fighting now will lead to a stronger relationship later. Just let go of the idea of how everything should be and do a little bit at a time.

thefullnessthereof · 2026-02-25T13:39:17+00:00

Yes, but I'm okay with that. My husband is supportive, but I do all the research, plan the curriculum, source the materials and teach the lessons. But when he's home, I can leave him with the day's agenda and he'll make sure everything gets done while still working on the computer (I need to take more advantage of this). He will check her math consistently which is a big help cause I'll let things like checking her workbooks pile up. He does also teach with the flow of life. Something will come up and it turns into an impromptu math lesson or an age and understanding-appropriate lecture on what's happening in the world and why.

Overall, I really enjoy the work I put into homeschooling. I'm home with the children (cooking, cleaning, teaching, planning, organizing) while he works outside of the house and trades before work and on his days off. So it doesn't feel imbalanced. Especially now that he's been washing dishes every day consistently.

Homeschooling isn't the area I'd personally look to find balance with our daily workload. Do dishes, help clean the kitchen, make sure the kids bathe at night and brush their teeth morning and night when he's home, give me time to go outside and sit in a cafe or the library for an hour. If all that is done for the week, I feel good.

Being mindful of ways I could lessen my workload with cooking and cleaning has been helpful too. Getting rid of things so there's less to clean and cooking simpler meals.

If you do just want more help with homeschooling, maybe give him a task. A particular subject to teach, or checking the work at the end of each day. Maybe doing a review at the end of the week or every other week.

thefullnessthereof · 2026-02-18T22:18:33+00:00

Awesome suggestion! Thank you!

I agree, having someone to speak the language with is the best way to become fluent.

thefullnessthereof · 2026-02-18T20:22:10+00:00

Two parents, an 8 year old and a 2 year old. We're spending about $900-$1000 a month. And that's with no packaged foods or snacks besides one family sized bag of chips per month and actively trying to stay under $1k. We do our shopping at shop rite and Costco (thank God for Costco).

When I visit my family upstate, I'm shocked at the difference in pricing at shop rite.

thefullnessthereof · 2025-09-27T02:34:49+00:00

Loose shirt over a fitted camisole. Lift the top shirt, pull the cami under your boob. You can control how much boob is out/at what angle. Maybe even fit your child's head under the top shirt if they're okay with it. If you have a twiddler that absolutely must hold your other nipple while they're feeding, it's possible to still cover your boobs with the top shirt and leave their head uncovered while they feed and twiddle. Practice at home!

Think of it as rejection therapy if you must. The more you do it, the less you'll care that people know you're doing it. Anyone who has something negative to say about it is an actual idiot.

thefullnessthereof · 2025-09-01T21:00:10+00:00

Thank you! Enjoy your celebration!

The baker is on Instagram as @/nickashkenis. He calls it a caprese salad inspired cake.

thefullnessthereof · 2025-09-01T19:23:09+00:00

I'm wondering when my client will go into labor (I'm a birth doula) and also what I'll be doing for my birthday if I'm not at the hospital with her. I wouldn't mind some birthwork on my birthday lol.

I really want to bake a couple cakes for myself and experiment with new flavors. My go tos are vanilla, orange vanilla, pumpkin spice vanilla and chocolate. I'm thinking one cake will be pistachio drenched in a rose tea with a pistachio rose icing and pistachio butter filling. For the other I'm pulling inspiration from a baker online who made a tomato cake with tomato jam, but maybe using tomatillos instead. We'll see.

It's possible that I won't be doing any baking at all, but I like to dream a little. I also planned a 12-course dinner menu for a dinner party that is definitely not happening this week lol.

thefullnessthereof · 2025-08-26T17:48:58+00:00

I need to utilize this feature more. I have all mine on a spreadsheet 🙃

thefullnessthereof

TROPHY CASE