Vintage Wedding Ideas

If you are a regular reader of my blog you will know that I am getting married next year and that I am going for a vintage, English country, cornflower blue theme. Here are a few ideas that I love if you are planning a wedding with a similar theme!

 

 

Homeschooling

Have you ever considered homeschooling your child/ren? I have taught children who are being homeschooled, some who have never attended school and some who have left school due to various reasons. Homeschooling is not something I have considered for Mia. It's certainly not something I would do without careful consideration. I think the social side of school is imperative for children to learn to socialise with their peers. Even the arguments school brings, especially in an all girls school, these arguments, however horrible at the time help to build character and an understanding of the world around them. Welcome to real life as they say. Even as adults arguments and bullying happen in the workplace. It is possible to socialise children who are homeschooled into social situations with other children of the same age. This can be done through hobbies such as sport or creative classes. 

I have taught children who have left school through bullying or because the school wasn't giving the care and attention needed for that particular child. These cases are terribly sad and as a teacher they make me feel like our education system lets some children down which just shouldn't happen! 

For me if I did chose to homeschool Mia it would be pretty easy for me to do as I am a teacher so know the curriculum well. I also own/run a tuition centre specialising in maths and English so she could easily have an hour of each subject per day and I wouldn't even need to be her teacher as I have other tutors working for me. Trying to teach your own children is hard! If I lived in an area where I considered none of the schools 'good' that's when homeschooling would be the option. I'm very lucky in the sense that I live close to a number of lovely nurseries, primary schools. Not so sure about secondary schools but I think great secondary schools are hard to come by. 

There are many great websites with free resources available which you can use if you're homeschooling or even just helping your child at home with some extra work. 

UK Resources:

Primaryresources

Teachitprimary

Teachit

BBC Bitesize

TES

US Reaources:

Superteacherworksheets

Englishforeveryone

Mathsisfun

Being in the UK myself I obviously use and know more of the UK resource sites but the superteacherworksheets site is brilliant for maths, science and English and although you have to pay a small subscription, in my opinion worth it if you are homeschooling and need the bank of resources. 

Toddler fish pie recipe

Ingredients

Potatoes

Fish pie mix

Cheddar cheese

Flour

Milk

Sweetcorn (optional)

Peas (optional)

Method 

First peel and boil potatoes until soft. 

While potatoes are cooking make your cheese sauce to go inside your pie. 

Pour milk into a pan on a low heat and add flour slowly until the milk starts to thicken. 

Drain potatoes and mash. 

Turn off your pan with the milk and flour and add your fish mix, then add grated cheddar cheese. You can add as much or as little cheese as you like. The more cheese the more cheesy your sauce will be. 

Pour fish and cheese sauce into an oven proof dish. 

Cover the top with mash potatoes and sprinkle a little cheese over the top. 

Cook for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees. 

Serve with corn on the side or other vegetables. Obviously check all fish for tiny bones before serving to a young child!

The toy farm

Mia's new obsession. 

Farm - £20 Ikea

Toddler haul

                           Next £11

                 JoJo mamen bebe £9

                 JoJo mamen bebe

   

                       HMV £6.40

Weekly snaps

Budgeting for your Toddler

I am always looking for ways to cut our outgoings. One of the ways I manage to

cut our spends down is by keeping up to date with current offers, in store events and online deals on things like nappies, wipes and baby food. 

I would never buy nappies at full price. I recently bought 2 boxes of 74 nappies for Mia from Asda for £19.99. These boxes usually retail at £14.99 per box so I effectively saved myself £10 by waiting and stocking up on nappies when Asda had their baby event. I try to buy a few boxes so that it lasts us until there is another baby event. 

Wipes is another item that can become expensive if you're not savvy. We use wipes a lot, not just for nappy changes but also to clean Mia's face after a meal, wipe her hands etc. This is not the most savvy way to use wipes but because we're out the house so often it's just easier. Again, I buy wipes only when they're on offer. You can get wipes from any supermarkets baby event reasonably priced. I actually picked up this box from

Bookers (if you don't know what bookers

is, it's a wholesalers for shops and businesses) I got a box of 6 for £2.99. 

I am a little fussy with wipes. I won't use any other brand. I love Huggies wipes and think that they are the best. 

The other big monthly outgoing is Mia's food/snacks. She's never eaten baby jars, she eats whatever we eat so it's not

so much the food but more the snacks and breakfast also. She enjoys the cow and gate museli which is quite expensive at £2.48 in Tesco. Again, Asda's baby event sells these at 3 packs for £5. 

We also stock up on her other snacks during these events such as the baby rice cakes, baby biscuits etc. 

I think Asda currently does the best baby event for overall value, the nappies and food are always at a really good price. However I have never found good deals in Asda for wipes. I have found good deals on wipes in Tesco and Bookers. 

I have also started buying bits for Christmas for Mia (early I know!) Whenever I go shopping if there are any sales on I will have a quick look and get anything that I think I won't be able to get cheaper. We have decided we want to get Mia a play kitchen for Christmas and the other day I got her a trolley with play food as it was on offer. Doing this will mean I don't have a huge amount to buy in our November or December wages. It's also Mia's birthday in November so it's always an expensive few months. 

I love to hear about other peoples tips for budgeting and saving money :)