Printables

Home Project Planner

Last year, we renovated our bathroom due to some mould issues. I would like to tell you that we planned ahead and did up a budget for the project, that we thought about what needed to be done ahead of time, but we didn’t. What started as a bathroom project and a small renovation of our bedroom turned into two bathrooms (we discovered mould in the adjoining wall when we demoed the original bathroom), more in our bedroom than we had planned, the kitchen ceiling (caused by a leak when something happened to one of the bathroom pipes during the renovations), the homeschool room ceiling (to accommodate for a drain above), and a paint job through most of the main floor and the upstairs hallway (when we had to cut through the wall at the bottom of the stairs when the new bathtub got stuck)!

I know that there are things that cannot be planned for, but had we planned ahead and at least done up a budget, we would have been much more prepared for what was to come. Our two week, one and a half room renovation ended up taking three months and affecting five rooms and the hallways and entry. It also cost us triple what we had imagined.

I’m hoping that this simple printable set helps other families avoid some of the disasters we encountered. Planning ahead can help you foresee potential challenges and delays. It can also help you be able to purchase supplies on sale, have what you need on hand, know how much time to allot for projects, and cut down on stress.

These printable worksheets can be edited so that you can type right in them and plan for every house project you have this year from the very simple (changing lightbulbs) to the more complex (building a deck, finishing a basement or renovating a kitchen).

I suggest that you print one of the Household Projects sheets to create an overall plan for the entire year and then print as many of the Project Plan sheets as are needed.

To download the PDFs, simply click here or on any of the images on this page. I sincerely hope this can save you some of the headache that home renovations or household projects can entail.

Happy Renovating!

If you’re looking for other household tips and organization ideas, you may want to follow me on Pinterest.

Summer Bucket List for Moms Who Want to Engage

By Sharla Kostelyk

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Last year, I pinned many a “Bucket List” to my Summer Pinterest Board. I even printed off some blank ones and had each of the kids fill one out. We actually managed to complete most of the ideas on the bucket lists.

The thing that I noticed about our lists though was they were geared towards the kids. It may have involved me in terms of preparing activities or taking the kids places, but I’m going to admit honestly that I was not truly engaged in the activities.

Image Copyright: / 123RF Stock Photo

I have come to some realizations lately due in large part to the fact that my oldest son is now an adult. His 18th Birthday was a bit of a wake-up call for me, an awakening to how fleeting these years are. I still have many younger kids and I have the chance to create memories with them.

The way that I have been doing things is to create situations that they may remember but they may not remember my part in them.

In being busy and working hard to gather supplies and instructions for those awesome Summer crafts and in taking the time to make the fun, creative snacks and meals, I sometimes miss out on the real moments, the kisses, the hugs, the chasing in the grass, the laughter.

I am creating this printable Bucket List for Moms Who Want to Engage for me and moms like me, those who feel like their kids’ childhoods are slipping away.

I will continue my honesty by stating that some of the things on this list will be a stretch for me. I don’t even like being outside. It will be hard for me to set aside the dishes and the to-do list and get down in the grass with my kids. But I will.

Let’s make this summer about treasuring moments and creating memories that last for our kids as well as for ourselves. Are you in?

Have a picnic sitting on the grass with the kids
Play tag in the yard
Sit outside and read the kids a book
Actually participate in a water fight
Take the kids to a parade and soak in their excitement
Hopscotch with the kids
Draw each child’s outline with sidewalk chalk and add positive adjectives inside
Buy a roll of pennies or dimes and fill the sandbox to watch the kids hunt for buried treasure
Skip while holding hands
Go for ice cream and let the kids take as long as they want choosing flavours
Get dirty
Lay on the lawn long after dark and point at stars
Play hooky for a day from “life” and play with the kids

Image Copyright: / 123RF Stock Photo

Swing on swings, slide down the slide, truly discover a playground
Build a sandcastle or let the kids bury you to your arm pits in the sand
Play hide-and-seek
Blow bubbles
Take a leisurely stroll through the Farmer’s Market with no agenda
Blast the music, pick up one of the kids and dance like no one is watching!
Go berry picking and learn to make jam together with the kids
Stop and literally smell the flowers
Hula hoop badly
Lose an afternoon in the library
Play “I-Spy” and actually pay attention
Ask the kids about their dreams
Colour with crayons
Do the hokey-pokey
Worry less, laugh more
Teach the kids to speak Pig Latin

Go hiking
Build a block tower
Have a games night at home
Create a technology free day – no phones, no TV, no computers
Explore our community like tourists
Whisper
Giggle
Build a blanket fort on a rainy day, climb inside and snuggle while you trace letters on the kids’ backs
Splash at a spray park
Jump rope
Create and go on a photo scavenger hunt

Click image below for full printable of 40 ideas…

(There is a typo in the printable which is super embarrassing for me, but could you do me a favour and just pretend you don’t see it or cross it out? I’d appreciate that!)

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Babysitting Ideas To Create Your Own Babysitting Kit

By Sharla Kostelyk

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When I was growing up, we had a babysitter named Karen for a short time. I always looked forward to her coming over. She would bring a babysitting bag with her, much like the one that Mary Poppins carried, full of all sorts of magic. She would pull out of her babysitting kit all kinds of crafts and activities for us to do and it seemed like no time at all until my mom was back home and Karen had to leave and take her bag of fun with her.

When I started babysitting for my neighbour’s three little ones, I had been so influenced by Karen that I packed a babysitting activities bag of toys and games to bring for them and they waited expectantly to see what treasures were in store for them.

Our kids have been fortunate enough to have a babysitter who brings special treats and activities for them as well. Rachel is a wonderful babysitter and her bag of goodies only adds to the fun. The kids always look forward to her coming over.

Earlier this year, our daughter Miss Optimism took her babysitter course and is now officially old enough to babysit. She has created a babysitting bag for herself that she brings with her when she goes to the two families that she sits for. The kids at both homes look forward to her coming and finding out what babysitting games they can play.

Babysitting Ideas For A Babysitting Kit

Creating a babysitting kit is not complicated. It helps both, the children being babysat, the parents of those kids, and the babysitter. It helps create better safety as the kids are likely being more closely supervised during those babysitting games. It makes the time pass more quickly for the kids and babysitter, it makes the time easier on the babysitter, and it cuts down on behaviour issues.

Babysitting Checklists

I’ve made a simple printable for you to include in the kit, The Babysitter Checklist. You can put the two pages back-to-back into a plastic sleeve and use a dry erase marker to update the information.

What to include in your babysitter kit:

simple first aid kit with bandaids, cleaning wipes, safety pins, and tweezers
Babysitter Checklist in plastic sleeve and dry erase marker
board games that are age appropriate for the kids
puzzles that are age appropriate for the kids
books
craft supplies or craft kits
colouring books and crayons
homemade playdough
Busy Bags
good quality toys – when I was babysitting, I would often bring Marbleworks along with my kit and it’s the exact same Marbleworks that my kids still play with! It’s a nice one because kids of many different ages can all enjoy it together.

The thing that kids look most forward to playing with in my daughter’s babysitting kit is the busy bags. I think the main reason for this is that it is something novel and new for them. They are great for the babysitter as well as they really help keep kids productive and busy and they are wonderful tools for learning colours, numbers, shapes, letters, patterns, and reading. This aspect of them will really be appreciated by the parents!

Example of a Babysitting Bag

Here’s a sample of some of the fun babysitting activities that go in my daughter Miss Optimism’s babysitter kit. She will swap out the busy bags most times so that she is always bringing fresh things and she changes the books and puzzles depending on the ages and interests of the kids she’s babysitting.

Babysitting Bag (in the image above):

three busy bags
three books
a colouring book
bag of crayons
sticker pack
Progressive Puzzles
Playful Patterns.

First Time Babysitting

Helping your child to create a babysitting kit when they first start as a babysitter will help them to feel more professional and confident. It will also help them to stand out from other sitters and do the best job possible. While creating the kit, I would suggest taking the chance to talk about other responsibilities and safety measures for when they are babysitting.

I know that nowadays, it can be very difficult to get a babysitter and parents don’t have high expectations, but I believe in teaching my kids to work hard and go above and beyond. Babysitting will be the first job many kids have and the habits they form there will help shape their future work habits.

Here’s what I tell my daughter about babysitting…

Babysitting Tips:

being on time means being early (this also gives the parents time to explain their expectations and the routine).
leave the house cleaner than you found it.
when in doubt, ask.
the kids and their safety come first, but if they are sleeping, tidy up or try to bless the family by finding ways to help.
call your own parent if a behaviour issue arises and you don’t know how to handle it.
children are precious and caring for them is a big responsibility.
do things in such a way that you will feel proud of yourself.
you are an example to the children you are watching so be a good role model.

If you are looking for more fun babysitting activities to include in your babysitter kit, check out all of our busy bag ideas.

There is also a more detailed Babysitter Checklist included in our More Calm in the Chaos Printable Planners for Moms.

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Charlie & the Chocolate Factory Notebooking Printables

By Sharla Kostelyk

Our family really enjoys Roahl Dahl books including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It is such a fun book to do as a read-aloud. We read it earlier this year and did a small study to go along with it.

Here are a few ideas to accompany the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory:

Homeschool Share has a Free Chocolate Unit Study.

We made a Candy Sensory Bin just for this unit.

Making our chocolate playdough recipe would be a great activity to go along with this book.

This chocolate tasting activity from Homegrown Friends looks like it would be fun.

The Imagination Tree has Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory playdough.

I have created a free 15 page printable pack to accompany a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory unit study. It contains notebooking pages, a word search, a vocabulary words worksheet, and some fun writing activities.

By downloading these Charlie & the Chocolate Factory Notebooking Pages printables, you are agreeing to the Terms of Use.

If you are looking for other activities to accompany book studies, you may be interested in following my Book Activity Ideas board on Pinterest.

A Monster of a Printable

By Sharla Kostelyk

My kids have been talking almost non-stop about the new Monsters Inc. movie coming out soon called Monsters University. They loved the first Monsters movie and really want to see this one. I thought it would be fun to do a whole monster theme unit with them. I have all kinds of ideas planned for next week…crafts, fun food and some learning activities all with the theme of monsters.

I made some monster themed printable sheets for my kids and decided to share them with you too in case any of your kids might like to get in on the monster fun! I of course made cute monsters that look like they are friendly, not scary monsters that kids would want to run and hide from!

If you are linking to these printables or sending friends over to nab them, please link to this page, not directly to the pdf file. Thanks!

For more fun monster-themed ideas, you may be interested in following my Monsters Board on Pinterest.

I hope you and your kids enjoy your Monster Printables!

Inexpensive Date Night Ideas

By Sharla Kostelyk

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With Valentine’s Day approaching, I thought it might be an opportune time to talk about something I’ve become quite passionate about…dating your spouse.

The Importance of Dating in Marriage

For many, many years, my husband and I did not go on dates regularly. We went out just the two of us usually on our Anniversary and sometimes on our birthdays. I guess we figured that since we were already married, we didn’t need to date anymore. We were so wrong. With the pressures of our life as parents, we needed to date each other more than ever.

If you think of a marriage relationship as being like a car, consider regular dating like doing maintenance, changing the oil, getting tune-ups. If you don’t do maintenance, you could be heading towards a breakdown.

Regular dating creates shared experiences, improves communication, helps you to grow together and feel like a team. It also sends powerful messages to your children about the importance of your spouse and putting work into your relationship. This will help your kids to have more successful marriages themselves. We have discovered many times how much it means to our kids for us to date each other.

Dating Without Breaking the Bank

There was a point in our marriage when the lack of maintenance caught up to us and stressful life circumstances took a toll. One of the things we decided to do to salvage our relationship was to implement date night. At that point, given the circumstances, we began dating at least once a week. Obviously, if all of those dates were dinner and a movie, we would have run out of money quickly, so we got creative!

Sometimes the dates that are the most memorable are the ones that cost nothing or very little. I am including a printable list of over 60 Date Night Ideas.

I would encourage you to give some a try. You could even cut the ideas into strips of paper and pull one out next date night for a real adventure!

Create a Rich History

When your dates are things that create a shared experience, you have more to draw on as a couple in hard times. You feel like a team, have inside jokes, have more to talk about, and get to know each other in a different way.

We found that once we started dating again, we laughed more and got along better. Some of our more creative dates have included doing olive oil and vinegar tasting at Evoolution, walking around the beautiful Legislature grounds in summer, eating from food trucks while listening to live music in the city square, going to the Italian market, touring Showhomes to look at wall colours and bathroom designs, and going indoor rock climbing which was not only a shared experience, but also a good trust building exercise.