The Truth About How I Do It All (There’s a Catch) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Hi guys, welcome back to my channel. You
2. 0:01recently asked me a lot of back to
3. 0:04school questions, life update questions,
4. 0:06so I thought I would answer them in
5. 0:07today's video while I'm throwing
6. 0:09pottery. Someone asked me, "How was the
7. 0:11adjustment for you sending him to
8. 0:13school? Was there a grieving point?" I
9. 0:16wouldn't call it grieving. I would
10. 0:17definitely say that I got a little
11. 0:20emotional when I registered him for the
12. 0:22first time for kindergarten because it
13. 0:24just all kind of hit me and [music] say
14. 0:25goodbye and kind of just like feeling
15. 0:28all the emotions. I let myself just kind
16. 0:30of feel everything and go through that
17. 0:31process. [music]
18. 0:32But I wouldn't say that I was grieving.
19. 0:35Maybe because I still had two other kids
20. 0:37at home that I was busy taking care of.
21. 0:40Many of you know that I have three kids.
22. 0:42My oldest is going into first grade at
23. 0:45I'm going to call it traditional [music]
24. 0:47school cuz I don't want to say exactly
25. 0:48what type of school he's going to for
26. 0:50privacy reasons. My other two are four
27. 0:53and
28. 0:55three. They will be doing home school
29. 0:57with me. So, I basically have been doing
30. 1:00preschool homeschool with all my kids
31. 1:02and then once they're in kindergarten, I
32. 1:04plan on sending them to traditional
33. 1:05school. I still have years of homechool
34. 1:08with them left. So, like [music] I'll
35. 1:10probably feel it more when I'm sending
36. 1:13off like my youngest to school and it
37. 1:16will be my last [music] time completely
38. 1:18being done with homeschool.
39. 1:21But also, I think that I generally am a
40. 1:24person who tends to look forward [music]
41. 1:26to new schedules and seasons. Like, I
42. 1:30enjoy each season as they come. Like,
43. 1:32I'm not emotional or sad that
44. 1:35I'm probably not having any more babies.
45. 1:37I don't know. Is that weird? I have a
46. 1:38lot of mom friends that are a lot more
47. 1:41emotional and sensitive when it comes to
48. 1:42that stuff, but I'm just not [music] not
49. 1:45as much that way. How did you decide
50. 1:47between homeschool and traditional
51. 1:49school? because my sister was doing
52. 1:52homeschool with her kids. I started to
53. 1:54consider [music] it more that there was
54. 1:55like a really big uptick in it,
55. 1:59especially like in the Christian [music]
56. 2:00community, homeschooling just becoming
57. 2:03more popular. So, naturally, it was like
58. 2:05something I started to think about when
59. 2:06my kids actually became schoolaged.
60. 2:10Woo! I think since I'm able to do my job
61. 2:13from home [music] and I don't work
62. 2:15full-time hours
63. 2:18to us financially, that would mean
64. 2:22it doesn't really make sense to be
65. 2:24sending our kids off to like a [music]
66. 2:27daycare or a preschool if I'm literally
67. 2:31home with them, not working
68. 2:34full-time [music] anyway. So, that's
69. 2:36when I was like, well, I can just do
70. 2:37preschool, home school with them. We
71. 2:39have a lot of community around us in the
72. 2:41neighborhood, neighborhood friends, um,
73. 2:43church friends, big family. So like the
74. 2:45social aspect is not something that I
75. 2:47feel like I necessarily [music] needed
76. 2:48for my kids. [snorts] So then it just if
77. 2:50it just becomes about like the education
78. 2:52and them learning what they need to
79. 2:55learn to be prepared [music] for
80. 2:56kindergarten, I just felt like, okay,
81. 2:59let me try that on my own. So, I started
82. 3:01off [music] with Jace
83. 3:03and it had its challenges, I would say,
84. 3:06especially [music] with like the younger
85. 3:07ones being around while I'm trying to
86. 3:09teach him. Um, so I would definitely try
87. 3:11to coordinate around like their [music]
88. 3:12sleeping schedules and stuff. But by the
89. 3:14time we were done with a year of
90. 3:16preschool and he did well and we started
91. 3:20to think about like, okay, are we going
92. 3:21to be continuing homeschool or are we
93. 3:24going to consider a [music] traditional
94. 3:26kindergarten? It just became apparent
95. 3:28that since we moved to a great area with
96. 3:32great schools, let's go ahead and try
97. 3:34the school out and see how it goes.
98. 3:36We're going to keep, you know, an eye on
99. 3:38things and stay involved and see how
100. 3:40everything goes. But like from everyone
101. 3:41we spoke to, they've had really good
102. 3:44[snorts]
103. 3:45experiences [music] at the schools here.
104. 3:46So then it just became like, okay, well,
105. 3:48I did that with Jace. I want to do that
106. 3:50with Arya and Theo as well. I would love
107. 3:52to do a year of preschool at home before
108. 3:56they enter kindergarten. Feel like my
109. 3:59work schedule is flexible enough that I
110. 4:01can make that happen. [music] So, that's
111. 4:03just been my heart's desire. I'm really
112. 4:04glad we've been able to pull that off so
113. 4:06far. I never really felt like I don't
114. 4:09know this feeling of, oh, I
115. 4:13am meant to be a homeschool
116. 4:16mom forever type of thing. I'm open to
117. 4:19the future and what the future holds.
118. 4:21And if that's eventually the way things
119. 4:23go, then I will [gasps] try to figure
120. 4:26out a way. Even though right now that
121. 4:28seems like really hard for me to even
122. 4:29wrap my head around. [music] A lot of
123. 4:31respect to homeschool moms who are out
124. 4:32there doing it, honestly. Yeah. I guess
125. 4:34my goal is to be able to contribute
126. 4:36financially more to the home. Like a lot
127. 4:38has happened in the past few years.
128. 4:40We've bought a house. We [music] had
129. 4:41three kids quickly. and being able to
130. 4:45help provide more of an income so it's
131. 4:47not just like a single family income for
132. 4:48my husband [music] is a goal of mine. If
133. 4:51all my kids are in school 2 years from
134. 4:54now, that does free up more time for me
135. 4:56to work and
136. 4:59in an ideal world, I would be um you
137. 5:02know, still doing social media more and
138. 5:05hopefully
139. 5:07having my own pottery business. [music]
140. 5:08So,
141. 5:11I guess I'm making a mug.
142. 5:14I'm interested to know what curriculum
143. 5:16you've used over the years for preschool
144. 5:18and what your daily weekly schedule and
145. 5:19rhythm is. I'm trying to get my days
146. 5:21more structured.
147. 5:23I have only used the good and the
148. 5:26beautiful. That's all I've tried for
149. 5:28homeschool. I can't speak to anything
150. 5:30else other than my experience with that,
151. 5:32which has been really positive,
152. 5:34especially as like a firsttime
153. 5:36homeschooling mom. It makes it so
154. 5:38[music] simple. It literally gives you a
155. 5:41script to read to your kids to walk you
156. 5:44through the lesson and then maybe
157. 5:46[music] in the future when you are a
158. 5:48little bit more in tune with what's out
159. 5:50there, you can definitely find something
160. 5:52else that works as you discover like the
161. 5:55style that you prefer. So, our routine,
162. 5:58I really am a high urgency person. So, I
163. 6:01like to get homeschool done in the
164. 6:04morning as quickly as we can. So, we
165. 6:06just have the rest of the day ahead of
166. 6:07us to do other activities we've signed
167. 6:10up for or outings. [music]
168. 6:12So, we're waking up at like 7:00 a.m.
169. 6:15Kids are eating breakfast. I got to get
170. 6:17Jace out the door for school by [music]
171. 6:19like
172. 6:219:00. So after breakfast, I am having
173. 6:24them go through this chore [music]
174. 6:26checklist, which I put together on the
175. 6:28skylight calendar. For Jace, I'm going
176. 6:31to have him help out a little bit with
177. 6:32like making his lunches. Let me see. I
178. 6:35like to use my sourdough bread tools
179. 6:38when I'm doing pottery. Don't worry. Of
180. 6:40[music] course, I clean them off. I
181. 6:41clean them off. So, after we get Jace
182. 6:43off to school, we get home and I want to
183. 6:48start home school with the kids. We ate
184. 6:49a snack before. So like 9:30 to 10:30,
185. 6:53about an hour max is usually what
186. 6:55homeschool might go [music] for. And
187. 6:57then any activities I sign them up for
188. 6:59is going to be around 11:00 probably. So
189. 7:02like 11 to 12. Get home, do lunchtime,
190. 7:05and then [music] nap, if I can still get
191. 7:08Theo to take a nap. It helps sometimes
192. 7:11if I look at it
193. 7:14upside down. So then hopefully during
194. 7:16nap, I can get some work done or
195. 7:18whatever. maybe get dinner [music]
196. 7:19started, like go pick up Jay from school
197. 7:22in the afternoon. So, that's how I try
198. 7:24to do it. I try to just get it done in
199. 7:25the morning, but that's the nice thing
200. 7:26about homeschool is you can do it
201. 7:29whenever works best for you. Here we go.
202. 7:33And then after school this year is going
203. 7:34to be interesting. It'll be the first
204. 7:36time that we have to deal with homework.
205. 7:38And Richie was like, "That's going to be
206. 7:40my thing. I'm doing homework." And I'm
207. 7:41like, "Okay, you don't get to tell me
208. 7:43twice. Like, go for it." How do you
209. 7:45schedule slashtime block, prioritize,
210. 7:48etc. to film, edit, do paid partnerships
211. 7:50as [music] a YouTuber? I'm working from
212. 7:52home while my little kids are
213. 7:56home with me.
214. 7:59So, it is very tricky
215. 8:01balancing that out and figuring out how
216. 8:03to do things. I [music] do have support
217. 8:06and help. Like on Mondays, my mom will
218. 8:09watch the other kids for me. That gives
219. 8:11me one day to not have the kids around,
220. 8:16which is when I try to prioritize my
221. 8:17[music] filming because I don't like to
222. 8:19film around my kids really. Sometimes
223. 8:20I'll end up editing that day too if I
224. 8:22have enough time. This year I am going
225. 8:25to have one additional day every other
226. 8:27Friday that my sister can watch my kids.
227. 8:29[music] Like just having support around
228. 8:31me, Richie being supportive of me,
229. 8:33trying to keep my channel alive. So like
230. 8:36on the weekends he might just take the
231. 8:38kids and literally go to his mom for the
232. 8:40morning and that gives me time to work
233. 8:42um or send emails out to brands. There
234. 8:46are nights I'm working after I put the
235. 8:48kids down to bed that I'm getting things
236. 8:50done. I try I even work around my kids.
237. 8:53Obviously like in a perfect world I
238. 8:55wouldn't but if [music] I want to be
239. 8:57home with my kids and then that becomes
240. 8:59the alternative like
241. 9:01yeah I want to have it all you know.
242. 9:04Don't we all? It comes at a expense. It
243. 9:08comes at a sacrifice, right? [music] So,
244. 9:10there are days where I have to hit a
245. 9:11deadline and I'm going to have to just
246. 9:14put the kids to watch some TV because I
247. 9:16have to get some editing done or
248. 9:17whatever. Having good communication with
249. 9:20Richie and [music] having like his
250. 9:22support and partnership. It's not easy,
251. 9:25but this is what we're doing. This is
252. 9:27what I love to do and [music] I'm
253. 9:29grateful for it. [sighs] It's an
254. 9:31interesting life. I don't like this mug.
255. 9:38So, if I don't like it, I just cut it
256. 9:41open and take a look on the inside cuz I
257. 9:42want to see
258. 9:45how the walls are. Also, this clay is a
259. 9:48bit too soft.
260. 9:51Cultivating good sibling relationships
261. 9:53[music] when either older ones is in
262. 9:55school or once they are all in
263. 9:56school/ports. [music] How to have a rich
264. 9:59family culture life with the busyiness
265. 10:00of school. I'm definitely not an expert
266. 10:03on this because like we only have one
267. 10:05kid in school right now. But when it
268. 10:06comes to the good sibling relationships
269. 10:08in general, man, that's something that I
270. 10:10have been working on and thinking about
271. 10:11a lot because I feel like growing up, we
272. 10:17didn't necessarily have the best sibling
273. 10:19relationships [music]
274. 10:20cultivated. There was a lot of like
275. 10:22arguing and fighting and scratching each
276. 10:24other. We were a family of five girls,
277. 10:28so things got a little catty sometimes.
278. 10:31And I don't know, like I think about my
279. 10:33kids and I want them to treat each other
280. 10:35with love and respect and kindness. One
281. 10:38thing that I do, and I don't know if
282. 10:40this is like lame.
283. 10:42I [music] tell my kids all the time that
284. 10:44they are each other's best friends. I
285. 10:47know some people be like, "They're not
286. 10:48best friends. They're siblings. That's
287. 10:49[music] different." But they are each
288. 10:51other's first best friends. Before your
289. 10:53kids really know anybody else or make
290. 10:56[music] any other friendships, they have
291. 10:58each other first and they will always
292. 11:00have each other. Friendships come and
293. 11:02go. Let me tell you, family
294. 11:04relationships,
295. 11:05sisterhood,
296. 11:07siblings, like that is forever. You have
297. 11:09each other's back forever, no matter
298. 11:10[music] what. I don't know. I want my
299. 11:12kids to think about that a lot. This has
300. 11:13probably gotten a lot deeper than what
301. 11:14this person's asking me. But I think it
302. 11:16starts there. It starts when [music]
303. 11:18they're still in the home and still
304. 11:19young. and when they are home, taking
305. 11:21that time to teach them. But like when
306. 11:23Jayce has soccer practice, we all go to
307. 11:25soccer practice as a family. His games,
308. 11:27we're all there and [snorts] we are
309. 11:29cheering him on as a family and we just
310. 11:31do plenty of things together. Like every
311. 11:33Sunday, we're going to be at church
312. 11:34together. On the weekends, we're going
313. 11:35to do family activities [music]
314. 11:36together. I don't know. I'm sure life
315. 11:38will get so much busier than it is now
316. 11:40as each kid does enter school. So,
317. 11:44[music] if you have tips for me on how
318. 11:45to navigate that, please let me know. I
319. 11:47definitely am not a expert in this area.
320. 11:50This kind of ties into it. Would love to
321. 11:52know what your philosophy is on sports
322. 11:54for your kiddos. Do you prefer low-key
323. 11:55sports like the Park District? I know
324. 11:57youth sport teaches a lot of valuable
325. 11:59lessons. Honestly, we do try to keep it
326. 12:01pretty lowkey. One sport/kid [music]
327. 12:05per season. So, while Jayce is in
328. 12:08soccer, it's only him [music] doing
329. 12:10soccer. Once soccer is over, then we
330. 12:12sign up Arya to do gymnastics. So we are
331. 12:15not overwhelmed with having multiple
332. 12:17different [music] sports to get to
333. 12:18during the week. I think it just helps
334. 12:20us from feeling too overwhelmed and too
335. 12:22busy, especially during the school year
336. 12:24because they're already in school most
337. 12:27of the [music] day. This is getting so
338. 12:29wobbly.
339. 12:31No. Can I fix this?
340. 12:33[music]
341. 12:36But I also feel like they have the rest
342. 12:38of their lives to be super [music] duper
343. 12:40busy. Like we're going to get to that
344. 12:43point. So, it's okay if we're not in
345. 12:45every single sport right now. It's okay
346. 12:46if we're [music] not paying the most for
347. 12:48the best program. And especially Richie
348. 12:50will work with them on the side doing
349. 12:52sports like at home. [music] I don't
350. 12:54want to push too much, too. Jason's
351. 12:56personality especially is like if he's
352. 12:58pushed, he will resist more. Where did
353. 13:01my fork go? See, kitchen utensils always
354. 13:06are the best ones in the pottery studio.
355. 13:11How do you prep your kids to meet other
356. 13:13people of different world views? Well,
357. 13:15most people on here know I'm a
358. 13:17Christian. I actually did grow up in a
359. 13:19community that was [music] very very
360. 13:23Romanian. I I describe it like in a
361. 13:26bubble. You're kind of in a bubble, a
362. 13:27Romanian bubble because everyone around
363. 13:29you is Romanian. But at the same time, I
364. 13:32did go to public school and I did go to
365. 13:34a very diverse high school. I met a lot
366. 13:38[music] of different people of different
367. 13:39faiths and backgrounds and I think that
368. 13:42that helped me kind of learn to just be
369. 13:44around people who didn't only have my
370. 13:46world view.
371. 13:48Um Richie was [music] a very similar way
372. 13:50too. And so when it comes to our kids
373. 13:53and our life now, we are not limited to
374. 13:56like only being around Christians and
375. 13:58[music] people with our worldview. We
376. 14:00have a lot of different friends from
377. 14:01different backgrounds. We obviously
378. 14:05still keep our children protected
379. 14:06[music] from certain things, but we make
380. 14:10it known to them like, listen, not
381. 14:11everybody is a Christian that we hang
382. 14:13out with. Not everyone's going to
383. 14:15believe what we believe. You're going to
384. 14:17go to school and you're going to meet
385. 14:18people who are different from you. You
386. 14:19might be made [music] fun of. [snorts] I
387. 14:21told Jayce that the other day. I had
388. 14:23those moments, too. And it's important
389. 14:25to be firm in your faith and know who
390. 14:27[music] you are. It's also important to
391. 14:29love and respect and
392. 14:32treat people with [music] dignity that
393. 14:35have different belief systems than you
394. 14:36do. These are important conversations
395. 14:38[music] to have with our kids, whether
396. 14:39they're homeschooled or not, because the
397. 14:41Bible says we're in the world, but we're
398. 14:43not of the world. We need to be ready to
399. 14:45meet people from all [music] walks of
400. 14:46life and share the gospel with them. So,
401. 14:50I'm sure those conversations [music]
402. 14:51will change change as they get older
403. 14:53depending on their age. actually was a
404. 14:55really good book I was listening to
405. 14:56recently on [music] this and I cannot
406. 14:58remember the name of it right now but I
407. 15:00will definitely include it in the
408. 15:01comments because it was so eye opening
409. 15:04for me. Okay, someone asked me are you
410. 15:07in the best shape of your life right
411. 15:08[music] now mentally, physically,
412. 15:10socially and so on. [snorts]
413. 15:12I feel like my gut reaction would be
414. 15:14like no I'm not in the best shape.
415. 15:15Aren't you in your prime when you're
416. 15:18like a teenager or like in your 20s or
417. 15:20something? But then I'm like, you know
418. 15:22what? I didn't eat this healthy [music]
419. 15:23back then. The way I'm eating now is
420. 15:26like the healthiest I've [music] ever
421. 15:28eaten because I've never really tracked
422. 15:30or worried about what I ate before
423. 15:31because I just my metabolism was better.
424. 15:33I wasn't really gaining weight. I would
425. 15:35eat crap and it was fine. You know, like
426. 15:37once I had babies, that was not my life
427. 15:39anymore.
428. 15:41[gasps]
429. 15:42So yeah, in that sense, maybe I am in
430. 15:44the best shape. Mentally, I can work on
431. 15:46some things.
432. 15:50Mentally, I'm unstable. [music] No, I'm
433. 15:52just kidding. But I did just finish up
434. 15:55my ludal phase, and [music] my goodness
435. 15:56was that a tough one. I need to work on
436. 15:58some things for sure. Everything's a
437. 16:01work in progress. Nobody's perfect. But
438. 16:03I will say from a physical standpoint. I
439. 16:05didn't think I could do [music] this. I
440. 16:07kind of just thought like, well, I guess
441. 16:08I'll just be unhappy with my weight
442. 16:10forever. I did the work and I proved to
443. 16:12myself like I can lose the weight. I
444. 16:15understand better now how my body works
445. 16:18and [music] what it looks like to
446. 16:20actually be aware of nutrition and
447. 16:23what's going into your body. I think I
448. 16:25need to push. I need to be a little more
449. 16:26aggressive with my push. I'm no longer
450. 16:29intermittent fasting, which is kind of
451. 16:31like what kicked me off on this whole
452. 16:33health and fitness journey. Um, I'm just
453. 16:35focusing on [music]
454. 16:36counting my macros. I'm working out 3 to
455. 16:394 days a week on my AMP [music] device.
456. 16:42So, it's like weightlifting. I'm feeling
457. 16:45so much better. My energy is so much
458. 16:47better. You know, more focused, more in
459. 16:49tune with the kids and what's going on.
460. 16:51Being able to keep up with them, being
461. 16:52able to chase them, being able to pick
462. 16:54those big old kids up, especially Theo.
463. 16:57[music] He's huge. I don't know. I just
464. 16:58I love caring about my health again.
465. 17:01Have you considered hiring a house
466. 17:02cleaner?
467. 17:05You're telling me. I did hire someone
468. 17:08recently for my [snorts] birthday cuz I
469. 17:10was like, all I want for my birthday is
470. 17:12to have a cleaning lady. And that was
471. 17:14amazing. Nice little treat for me. But
472. 17:16yeah, consistently that isn't something
473. 17:18that like we're willing to budget for at
474. 17:20the moment. Do you guys have a cleaning
475. 17:22lady?
476. 17:25Kind of want to try a [music] plate.
477. 17:27Let's try something new.
478. 17:30Not perfect whatsoever, but kind of
479. 17:33cute.
480. 17:35Well, guys, that's my Q&A. [snorts]
481. 17:38Hopefully had some fun watching me
482. 17:40throw. Um, I am truly wishing everybody
483. 17:43a really great school year, whether
484. 17:44you're homeschooling or not. Praying for
485. 17:48all the kiddos out there to be covered
486. 17:50this school year. And thanks guys for
487. 17:52watching this video. Let me know if you
488. 17:54have any other questions in the comments
489. 17:55and then I will save them for a future
490. 17:57Q&A. Love you guys. Bye.