Streamline Your Mom Life.

Hey Mamas!

Welcome to the June newsletter for Mama Shark! In this newsletter, we're going to talk lots more about all the POOL!

How to Teach Your Child to Swim

So pre-kiddos, I was a owned a swim instruction company- which means that one of the things I did was teach swim lessons for hours a day for years. I've mostly taken a break teaching the last few years, but this summer I'm enjoying teaching my nieces and nephew + a few of their friends!

I've got SO MUCH I could say on this topic, but if your child is working on learning to swim this summer, here's an article I wrote for another blogger with the basics on teaching your child to swim (without lessons, since this was during the pandemic). It's got a few key items for each stage to work on to make their progress faster and move toward more safety in the water!

Also, if you have questions about any swimming skills (for yourself or your kids) and don't have an instructor available to ask, feel free to reply- I'll do what I can to send you an answer!

How I Streamlined My Mom Life in June: ​ Meal Planned/Prepped for Pool Meals: Since one of my goals for this season is to get lots of time at the pool, I have prioritized some things and de-prioritized others (see the last newsletter!). In order to get more time at the pool without the dread of scrambling for what to bring for food, I planned our meals this month based on things that were easy to make ahead of time and transport/eat on the go. ​ Here's a few of the biggest winners so far (mostly breakfast and lunches right now since swim team practice is in the morning!): Frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. These are GENIUS, people. I decided last summer that this was simply going to be our pool lunch staple, and freezing them levels it up. The cold feels and tastes good at the pool AND they act like a cold pack in the cooler. And because I can freeze them, I make like a bajillion at once and just pull them out each day as we need them! ​ Carrot chips and ranch. My kids won't eat baby carrots, but the chips they love....whatever works, right? And I bought these little disposable condiment containers and filled up enough for the week at the beginning of the week! Then I divided the carrots into small bags so I can just grab enough for however many kids I'm watching that day. Pro tip: put the ranch cups INSIDE the bag with the carrots. The lids are pretty tight, but if they come off....let's just say I learned about that one the hard way. #mess ​ Pre-cream-cheesed bagels. I made up a couple dozen bagels with cream cheese, put them in individual baggies, then stuck them in the fridge. Grab and go breakfast! I've also been making some sort of protein source each week (bacon, sausage cheese balls, etc.) that they can eat with these. ​ Towel Bin Near the Door: As much as we go to the pool during the summer, the towels are on constant rotation and I've decided it's silly and pointless to keep folding them and putting them back in the linen closet which is no where near where we pack our pool bags. Instead, I put a hamper in a little nook near the door and all towels go straight in there from the dryer to be pulled out for the next round. ​ Early Chores and NAPS: Since we have swim team first thing in the morning, it's actually given us a handy deadline for getting our initial round of chores done. I've got chore cards I made for the kids (I pasted some of them below- aren't they cute?) so they know they've got to get theirs done before we go. But it's also been surprisingly good for me- it motivates me to go ahead and get my own "morning chores" taken care of- trash out, laundry load in, dishes unloaded, etc. so when we get back, I already feel like I've got the basics under control. And that gives me space in the afternoon for one of my favorite post-pool activities....a nap!

June Mom Hacks

Here's some more of my favorite summer pool hacks!

1. Turkish/Camping Towels. I love a fluffy towel as much as the next girl....but not for the constant in and out of the summer! I have a set of "camping towels" (just search it at your local camping store site or on Amazon) that are thin, quick to dry, and easy to store! Instead of trying to stuff bulky (and eventually wet) towels into our pool back, I can easily fit everyone's towels with room to spare.
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2. Kids Bags. However, even though I *could* fit everyone's towels into my bag....I DON'T. Why? Because mine are now 5 and 8, so while I could in theory fit all of their stuff in my bag, I instead made sure they each had a pool bag of their own and THEY are responsible for making sure they are packed for swimming every time. It's only a few things- towel, fins, goggles, and water- and it's a low-risk way to practice being responsible for their own things.
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3. Command Hooks for Swim Suits! I see the question all the time, "Where do I hang all these wet swim suits???" My answer: Command hooks in the shower. It's simple, easy, and you can put up as many as you need!

Are you a homeschool mom? If so, don't miss out on the Homeschool Mom Summer Summit, happening NOW!

TODAY is DAY 1, and I've included the schedule for tomorrow, Day 2, above- and that second one in the list, "How to Plan Your Homeschool Curriculum and Schedule for FREE Using Trello"? That one's ME! So join me tomorrow for the Homeschool Mom Summer Summit!​

A few more deets:

• The Summit runs June 24th-28th
• The workshops are from over 50 seasoned homeschool moms
• Topics include integrating literacy, teaching geography, scheduling year-round homeschool, incorporating summer learning, and more.

The best part? It’s completely FREE!

There’s so much more to share about this summit, but I’ll let you explore all the details for yourself.

​The #LifeSkillsNow summer camp starts TODAY and you don’t want to miss it!

What you get:

• 70 expert camp leaders on your parenting team
• 100 workshops, truly something for every age (5-18 + parents) and interest
• 100% online
• On-demand all week
• Quick video workshops with an action step for the real world!

You can see the entire schedule of workshops in this comprehensive PDF itinerary:

I want to keep this short, but DO hop on over to the registration page and skim the workshops offered. It’s a huge list, I know – what do you see that piques your interest? If you see a handful, it’s definitely worth signing up:

It’s the last chance to sign up for #LifeSkillsNow summer camp, where your kids can learn SO many great skills. Just a bit of time on a screen and then off into the world to implement their learning, all summer long! Find your kids’ favorite workshops here!

Behind the Scenes at Mama Shark

• I've got another course in my head working it's way out- Formula-Based Meal Planning! It's my latest favorite way to meal plan (and how I'm keeping things super simple this summer!) and I'm excited to tell you more about it soon!
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• New Colors/Homepage are coming, plus some other fun revamps to make the site even easier to find what you need.

What's your priority this summer? What are you saying "no" to to make it happen?

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