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The Maternity Fraternity - The Strength of a Village, the Bond of a Fraternity #maternityfraternity
The Strength of a Village, the Bond of a Fraternity #maternityfraternity
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Food
    • Holiday
    • Book
    • Music
  • Kid’s Activities
    • Educational
    • Free Printable
  • Self-Care
  • Culture
    • Language
  • Contact Us
Free Printable, Kid's Activities

Setting Up a Daily Schedule During the Coronavirus Quarantine (Free Printable)

March 17, 2020 by Tracy Paddison No Comments

In Michigan, schools have been shut down for the next three weeks (plus one more week for our Spring Break). I don’t know about you, but 4 weeks of home schooling with limited activities outside the house is a little overwhelming. 

Yesterday was our first day at home and it was a little chaotic because I didn’t have any routine in mind besides saying “yes” or “no” to my 5-year-old’s requests. Today is a new day and I have a new system in place that I thought I’d share. 

It’s a schedule that’s not set in stone by any means, but gives me an idea of what kinds of activities I can plan for so boredom doesn’t set in. 

You can download my sample Daily Schedule here. 

You can customize it so it fits your family’s routine. I used this sample schedule as a starting off point. 

I laminated it with the “Notes” section pretty much blank. Then I laminated the schedule and used a dry erase marker to fill in activities that fit into each subject. 

Disclaimer: do not feel like you *have* to have a schedule in order to succeed or feel like you have to follow this to a T. Here are some ideas to help you shake up your daily schedule. 

Bonus: Head on over to our Maternity Fraternity Facebook page for multiple threads of different activities sorted by subjects. This will help get your creativity juices flowing in these next few weeks. And please feel free to add your own resource links or ideas to the threads as well! 

It takes a village. And we’re so glad you’re a part of ours!
 
Best wishes, 
Tracy & Jessica
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Kid's Activities, Lifestyle, Uncategorized

Flying with a 4 Year Old (And Living to Tell the Tale)

January 16, 2019 by Jessica Lin No Comments

Dear Tracy,

Being a military family unit means our extended family lives FAR AWAY. Sometimes, this is a good thing. But, when it comes to travel? Ugh. 

I have traveled a fair bit with the tiny human. (And most of that is solo.) 

3 weeks ago, we hauled our almost 4 year old cross country from the Midwest to the West Coast through the busiest travel season. 

And here are some lessons I learned: 

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Free Printable, Holiday, Kid's Activities

The Spirit of Christmas Advent Calendar

December 2, 2018 by Tracy Paddison No Comments

Dear Jess, 

An elf must’ve bit me this year, because I have the Christmas bug and it only turned December today. Maybe it’s because my toddler is at the age where he’s legitimately excited for the season, but I’ve watched Christmas movies two days in a row already. I’ve also contemplated putting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving (the only reason I didn’t is that I have to find a way to baby proof the area). 

This is pretty unusual behavior for me. Not saying I’m the Grinch around the holidays, but I’ve never had the motivation to go all out until this year. 

One of the things I wanted to do this year is establish some sort of daily tradition and excitement. Lots of families do Elf on the Shelf but I don’t think I have the creative stamina for 25 days! Advent calendar was what I decided I wanted to do, but I wanted my toddler to not just be excited for candy every day– that was Halloween’s job. I wanted him to experience the joy of Christmas Spirit. The happiness in receiving and giving, through community service and kindness (to others and to ourselves). 

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Kid's Activities

Let’s Play Pretend

November 15, 2018 by Jessica Lin 3 Comments

Dear Tracy,

As you know, pretend play is so important to early child development. 

(Here’s an article from Psychology Today if you’d like to learn the science behind it.)

As Mister Rogers always told us: 

“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning, but for children, play is serious learning.”

But, I’m going to be honest: Some days Imaginary Play is not my strong suit.

I can’t be the only mom who feels this way, so I put together a list of some easy to play ideas and some of my favorite props to help foster imagination in our home. 

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Kid's Activities

DIY Toddler Jon Snow Costume for Under $25

October 8, 2018 by Tracy Paddison No Comments

Dear Jess, 

A year ago, while I was in my third trimester, I had an idea. A Halloween costume idea to be specific. My eldest was a dragon for his first Halloween and I knew I was most likely going to reuse it for the baby in my belly. We have a giant direwolf-sized husky for a furbaby. My brother-in-law has an all white husky too. Ding! Lightbulb goes off, and I knew I was going to be making a Jon Snow costume for my 3 year old. 

I loved how it turned out and wanted to share my process with any other Game of Thrones fans out there. 

The Materials

The main parts of the costume I knew I needed to create a believable mini Jon Snow was:

Black fur cloak

  • 1.5 yards of black felt – $4
  • 1/3 yard of black “grizzly” fuax fur – $5
  • Magnetic purse buckle – $7
  • Black thread and needle

Longclaw the sword

  • Plastic sword from the dollar store -$1
  • National Geographic arctic fox Happy Meal plush
  • Black felt
  • Pattern for the sword holster
  • Hot glue gun

House Stark symbol

  • Body armor from dollar store – $1
  • Silver marker – $6
  • Black construction paper
  • Spray glue adhesive
  • House Stark stencil 

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About Us

They say it takes a village to raise a child, but in this digital age we’re losing what generations had before us. This is our effort to bring it back—to use this age of social media to build one another up and share ideas to make hopefully make every day run a little smoother.

This fraternity of mothers was started by Jessica and Tracy. Two moms raising three boys while living 348 miles apart. We wanted a way to regularly communicate with each other about ideas that couldn’t be contained to our daily text messages to each other. That’s when Maternity Fraternity was born.

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