One of the most common complaints I see on my forum about marriages is that sometimes they just aren’t fun anymore. You and your spouse get into such a routine that you forget to just enjoy being with one another.

It doesn’t have to be that way. With a little effort, you can put the fun right back into your marriage.

One of the first things to do is look at how you used to have fun together and why you stopped. In many cases, it’s simply the strain of raising a family. It takes a lot of work, I know, and my husband and I are just as guilty as any other couple of forgetting to have fun together, just the two of us.

You share a lot of great memories, however, and you can do similar things even when you have children and a really tight budget.

A romantic date doesn’t have to cost a bunch of money. Have a picnic on the beach or at a beautiful park. Go for a walk.

Don’t have the money for a babysitter? Make time for each other after the kids are in bed. Turn off the computer! Rent a romantic movie, have a picnic in the backyard or a candlelit dinner. Trade massages. You don’t have to spend a fortune to enjoy one another’s company again.

[tags]marriage, romance, bringing back fun into marriage, romance on a budget[/tags]

I went over the advantages to home schooling in my previous post. Now let’s take a look at the disadvantages.

Perhaps the most obvious one is that it takes more effort to get time for your child to interact with other children. They really need time to play together, and for home schooled children this means a more deliberate effort. When children attend a school, they will have play time with other kids.

Another is that not every parent, no matter how dedicated to their child’s education, is suited to being a home school teacher. You often hear about the home schooled children who are just brilliant. You won’t hear about the ones who don’t do so well. What this means for parents who home school is that you need to know when to bring in extra help.

The social handicap issue is one you will hear a lot about if you choose to home school. That children interact during class as well as on the playground in regular schools is certainly true. In school, a child is likely to encounter a far wider range of beliefs than he or she would when home schooled. This may be better preparation for the real world, jobs and higher education. However, some research indicates this may not be the problem it is assumed to be, and that, in fact, home schooled children may be better socialized. Read the rest of this entry »

One question I often get asked as a stay at home mother is whether or not I plan on home schooling. The answer is always no, as that is really something I’m not interested in, but I am aware that there can be certain benefits for parents who do choose to home school. I don’t think it’s a poor choice, just not for me.

One benefit is, of course, that your children are at home and don’t have to be to school at a particular time. This lets you work on a schedule that is comfortable for all of you. I wouldn’t suggest just letting the kids sleep until whenever they want to get up, but you can decide a healthy schedule on your own. Children do need some sort of a schedule.

Your children will also benefit from having so much attention as they are trying to learn. If your child is of a temperament such that home schooling works better for them, this can be huge. You’ll know when they understand a topic, so you can spend more or less time on it, unlike in public schools where there is little room for such flexibility.

Family trips and activities can be planned to have a decided educational focus. Schooling doesn’t even have to stop for vacation. You can head out to tour historical monuments as a part of learning history. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re getting ready to take our summer vacation soon. It’s in part a celebration of my 5th wedding anniversary, but also because we want to visit family up in Oregon and Washington. It looks to be a great trip, but with money being tight, it’s going to be a bit challenging to not overspend.

We are taking several steps to limit our expenses. Even though gas is expensive, it’s going to be cheaper to drive up than it would be to fly then rent a car. We’ll have some basic snacks and water in the car.

With two small children, there will be a lot of potty breaks. No avoiding that, especially since they’ll also be ways to tire the kids out so they won’t get too cranky in the car.

We are fortunate enough to have relatives live at reasonable stopping points for each leg of the trip. The drive is about 1000 miles, so it would be extremely difficult to do in a single day. However, with relatives in Sacramento, we have a very nice stopping point to get a few hours’ rest out of the car without getting a hotel room.

Visiting family is a great way to make a family vacation inexpensive. With most families it’s lots of fun too. But what if you don’t want to visit family this year? Read the rest of this entry »

When the kids are out of school you need more ideas to keep them busy. On of my daughter’s favorites is crafts.

We don’t always look in Little Kids Crafts for ideas. Some days she just wants to make something out of her own imagination. She’s pretty creative.

However, I must say a good, age appropriate craft book is a big help other times. Little Kid Crafts is great for toddlers. I have to help her sometimes with cutting parts out, but she can handle pretty much everything else on her own. There’s no hot glue or anything like that involved.

It’s easier to find craft books for older kids. Just take a look at the range of them on Amazon. There’s pretty much a craft book for every taste.

We also like to do macaroni necklaces. I color the macaroni by putting them in a bowl, pouring some paint over them, then stirring. I’m sure there’s a better way to do this, as inevitably some of the macaroni will crack due to how the paint dries. However, most of it turns out just fine. I do a few bowls so that I can do different colors. Read the rest of this entry »