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Jen Merckling

life.unimaginable

Family

Staying on or off Disney property is one of your first decisions when planning a Disney World vacation! Here's the pros and cons we've discovered!

Staying On or Off Disney Property at Disney World

Planning a trip to Disney World is so exciting!  Deciding where to stay is one of the first things to knock off the “to-do,” list!  We’ve visited Disney World five times with our family, and we’ve stayed both on and off property!  (We’ve got 6 kids and have done Disney with toddlers, teens, and everything…

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Filed Under: Family, Lifestyle Tagged With: Affiliate, Disney, Disney Planning, Travel, Vacation, Where to Stay at Disney World

After 14 years, I've learned some simple tips for getting my home and homeschool organized, and I've created a planner to help you get organized too!

Get Organized — Homeschool Planner

Today I’m sharing tools and the Homeschool Planner I created to help get me organized!  My hope is this comprehensive planner will help you tackle your own “to-do,” lists and help keep your homeschool planning simple, flexible, and organized! Organization and Mental Health For me—keeping organized is a big part of healthy living.  I’m prone…

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Filed Under: Encouragement, Family, Homeschooling, Lifestyle, Organization Tagged With: Affiliate, get organized, homeschool planner, Simple Habits

Kid Activities take time, energy, and money! Are the sacrifices worth it? At our house the benefits outweigh the sacrifices, but there's a fine line.

Kid Activities — Are the Sacrifices Worth It?

The last snowflakes just fell on this year’s Nutcracker ballet. It was beautiful—truly lovely. I wish I could just watch and enjoy the show—but instead I sit with shoulders tense, holding my program in a death grip and barely breathing. My eyes following my fourteen year-old daughter’s every move. Partly because I know the hours…

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Filed Under: Encouragement, Family, Homeschooling, Lifestyle Tagged With: Affiliate, elementary school, Homeschool, homeschooling, kid activities, middle school, Parenting

Preparing for twins raises a lot of questions when it comes to what you really need. I've prepared a list of 11 must have items for newborn twins to help!

Preparing for Twins — What You Really Need!

Discovering I was pregnant with twins was truly the biggest surprise of my life! After the initial shock wore off, I began working through the logistics. I had lots of questions, like… “How will this work…Where will they sleep? Can we all fit into our vehicle?” (We already had 4 kids…so we didn’t have a…

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Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Affiliate, Family, large family, Preparing for Twins, Twin Pregnancy, twins

5 Must Bring Items to Disney World – Save Time and Money in the Parks!

A trip to Disney World is so exciting—we have visited four times with our family and absolutely love it! If you’re a little overwhelmed about planning your family’s visit, I’ve got you covered! This post is all about 5 Must Bring Items to Disney World —items you definitely should bring, but you may not think of….

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Filed Under: Family, Lifestyle Tagged With: Affiliate, Disney, Disney Planning, large family, Packing for Disney, Vacation

A high risk twins pregnancy requires hospital bed rest and ultimately leads to an emergency c-section delivery of momo twins at 26 weeks.

A Momo Twins Pregnancy: Part 3 Ready Or Not, Here Come the Babies

My first week in the antepartum unit was fairly uneventful. I was actually enjoying having all my meals delivered, having daily housekeeping service, and having zero laundry–it was a real mommy vacation! I would walk the halls of the maternity floor, read my stack of books, and binge watch TV. Oh and nap…Ah–the naps! Whenever….

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Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Affiliate, Bed Rest, Emergency C-Section, high risk pregnancy, momo twins, Mono Mono Twins, Monoamniotic Twins, Pregnancy, twins

Start one simple habit to develop gratitude and thankfulness in your child! Help them focus on the positive and eliminate complaining!

Developing Gratitude in Your Child — Start One Simple Habit Tonight!

My six-year-old may be the perfect child…If only he ate something besides yogurt and graham crackers—I truly think he may be perfect (not that I’m biased or anything). The sweet baby has been JOY since the day he was born. His name, Asher, means Happy, Fortunate, and Blessed–and suits him completely. He was our SURPRISE…

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Filed Under: Encouragement, Family, Homeschooling Tagged With: Affiliate, Gratitude, Homeschool, Parenting, Simple Habits, Thankfulness

How to Plan a Disney Vacation! I'm sharing my 6 month guide for planning a trip to Disney World! Step-by-step guide & tips to planning an amazing vacation!

How to Plan a Disney Vacation

We love Disney World! I think families are either in one of two camps—the Disney LOVERS or the Not-So-Much. We are wholeheartedly part of the first camp! And I say this as someone who does not love crowds—I’m actually a crowd avoider. I don’t do local festivals and carnivals because I cannot even handle that…

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Filed Under: Family, Lifestyle Tagged With: Affiliate, Disney, Disney Vacation, Family Vacation, How to Plan a Disney Vacation

Gift guide for educational toys for preschool kids. Check out this list of gift ideas. I share why I love each toy and how they provide an educational emphasis for your child.

Ultimate Guide to Preschool Toys and Gifts

  I’ve been told we have a lot of toys… But, you have to remember—I have 6 kids! So yes, I do have a lot of toys. And some of them are pure junk and destined for the trash can. However, most are part of a collection, slowly acquired over 20+ years—toys that have been…

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Filed Under: Early Learning, Family, Homeschooling Tagged With: Affiliate, Birthday Gift Ideas, Christmas Gift Ideas, Dress-up Clothes, Early Childhood Development, Educational Toys, Gift Guide, Homeschool, Preschool, Preschool Games, Toys

A Momo Twins Pregnancy: Part 2 — It Gets Real

Finding out you’re having twins is a huge shock… We don’t have twins in either of our families.  My grandmother gave birth to 10 kids—zero twins. Here’s a picture of my sweet, giant family–not a single set of twins: I always wanted twins…I would hold onto a glimmer of hope at each of my initial…

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Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Affiliate, high risk pregnancy, large family, momo twins, monoamniotic, twins, twins pregnancy

A Momo Twins Pregnancy. High risk twins pregnancy.

A Momo Twins Pregnancy: Part 1 Ignorance is Bliss

I was shocked to learn I was pregnant with twins, but the surprise didn’t end there…Our identical twin girls were monoamniotic, putting our pregnancy at very high risk. They were born at 26 weeks–both under 2 lbs. Here is the beginning of our story…

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Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Affiliate, high risk pregnancy, large family, momo twins, monoamniotic, twins pregnancy

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Hello! Welcome--I'm Jen! I've got 6 kiddos (including sweet twins) --lots of laundry and always dirty dishes! I've been Jason's wife for 26 years, a mommy for 24 years, and a homeschooler for 20+ years...I'd love to be friends. ♡

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My sweet sister & I just created this adorable Fal My sweet sister & I just created this adorable Fall Coloring & Activity Book for Kids!🍁🎉
Just sweet—no Halloween references…Your kids will love all the whimsical details & fun activities!!🧡 

Link in bio…🥰
🍁Quick Tip: I love planning for the next school 🍁Quick Tip: I love planning for the next school week on Fridays! After we wrap up each  subject, I write out next week’s plan…

🤓I used to plan on Sunday night—but this routine has been so helpful because…
🍁Where we are & what we’re doing is fresh in my head.
🍁It feels faster because it’s broken into small chunks—I plan as we finish each subject & before I put away those materials for the weekend.
🍁I don’t have to drag things out on Sunday—because the planning is already done! 🎉
🍁 I know if I need to grab any supplies over the weekend! 

 #homeschoolplanning #homeschoolorganization
Created a sweet little notebook… Matches my Home Created a sweet little notebook…
Matches my Homeschool Lesson Planner! 👯‍♀️
Perfect for journaling & reflecting…🥰💗 

Details:
7x10 inches, 110 pages, lined notebook 
Available as a matte paperback or hardcover! 
(I like to use hardcover notebooks for Bible study.)💗
This is the loveliest book…💗🪶🪺 Perfect This is the loveliest book…💗🪶🪺
Perfect for the changing seasons, bird lovers, & a bit of history!! 
(Thanks to @readaloudrevival for the recommendation!) 🥰
We can be reluctant to "count" activities that did We can be reluctant to "count" activities that didn't come in our packaged curriculum as "school". 

❤️But so much counts...(I think it may all count??)

(I honestly have a hard time trying to think of activities that don't count as education!)

🎨Here's just a few: swimming, ballet, soccer practice, nature walk, going to the playground, coloring, cutting, video games, reading books together, cooking, chores, dress-up, video creation, poetry writing, imaginary play, documentaries, vacations, the grocery story, Sunday School, camp, museums, legos, collections, lunch with friends, planning a party, and the list goes on & on...

 👀 Watch for the learning that is happening all around you! 

🌻Life is an amazing teacher & there is so much to learn! Our kids know that instinctively--we can trust them to be curious. We can become curious again...
I like to start the year with Language Arts lesson I like to start the year with Language Arts lessons, Math, & one other subject...

(And Language Arts can have lots of parts--so I gradually add in pieces as we gain some confidence in our routine.)

It's okay if you don't have it all figured out on day one, week one, or even month one! Give yourself time to get comfortable with your curriculum.

When I taught elementary school--we spent so much time just going over routines that first week of school! But in homeschooling--we can just bypass all that... 

🥳(Yay for freedom to potty & snack when want--and no thanks to practicing how to "line-up" for 20 minutes)! 

Even once our routine is established--we RARELY do all subjects every day at my house. 

🔥Breaking free from traditional school is more than the leap into homeschooling...It's also breaking free from our ideas of what education looks like, where & how it happens, & how much time formal instruction takes. 

It takes time to make that paradigm shift--give yourself grace as you grow with your kiddos!

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