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Recent Posts

  • How to Pass the STEDI Substitute Teacher Exam
  • Do Less: How to Throw a ’90s-style Birthday Party With Less Stress
  • Steal My Introduction From Every Time I Substitute Teach
  • Only the Best: Kids and Baby Products We Actually Value
  • Classroom Survival Kit: Engaging Brain Teasers

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  1. Charmaine on It’s Gonna be May: A Substitute’s Survival Guide to the End of the Year
  2. Felice Barlett on It’s Gonna be May: A Substitute’s Survival Guide to the End of the Year
  3. Charmaine on Substitute Teaching: How to Endure (and Maybe Even Enjoy!) the Mayhem
  4. amanita muscaria mushroom on Substitute Teaching: How to Endure (and Maybe Even Enjoy!) the Mayhem
  5. Rachel Sauers on Church and Good Food: Our Plans for Easter with a Toddler

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Motherhood

My world changed when I had my daughter. In this section, I chronicle my wonderful and turbulent odyssey through motherhood. Can you relate?

  • August 24, 2025

Do Less: How to Throw a ’90s-style Birthday Party With Less Stress

An old-fashioned birthday party: A vintage image of a child blowing out candles on a birthday cake

My head is spinning with all of the overcomplicated kids birthday parties invading my Instagram feed. Between the egregious cost and time and energy commitments in order to put on these picture-perfect...

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  • June 20, 2025

Only the Best: Kids and Baby Products We Actually Value

Habits for happy motherhood: A smiling mother holding her daughter.

The more kids I have, the more I've honed our list of must-haves for life with these little people. There are certain things that just make the busyness of baby days and...

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  • May 23, 2025

A Balancing Act: From Teacher to Mom to YouTuber

A photo of a smiling math YouTube teacher

Transitioning from a fulfilling teaching career to full-time motherhood is a journey many educators face, often accompanied by complex emotions and identity shifts. In our latest podcast episode, I spoke with a...

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  • May 13, 2025

Life as a Postpartum Substitute Teacher: What It’s Really Like

A mom and substitute teacher going for a walk with her daughter!

I carried some doubts and an awkwardly packed tote bag containing my pumping equipment as I crossed the courtyard into the double doors of a school just beginning to hum to life....

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  • October 15, 2024

How to Make a Simple Pencil Shirt

A happy teacher sporting her DIY teacher pencil shirt.

When it comes to teacher fashion, what do you think of? Does a wonderfully rustic, handmade pencil shirt fit into that first flurry of ideas? Perhaps there are a range of images...

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  • September 24, 2024

How to Live in Your Pumpkin Spice Era for Cheap

How to live your best pumpkin spice era this fall (for cheap!). The author is smiling amongst a pile of mums and pumpkin spice creamer.

For some of the us, the first whiff of pumpkin spice or even a two-degree dip in temperatures can be enough to signal a life-giving change in seasons. (It is me. I...

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  • August 28, 2024

Substitute Teaching as a Financial Freedom Lever

The substitute teacher and blogger smiling for a quick mirror selfie at a local school. Substitute teaching can be a great part-time work option for busy moms.

There's plenty of talk on the Internet these days about achieving "financial freedom." Forums, YouTube playlists and social media platforms seem to have been set ablaze with discussing this new goal. If...

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  • August 23, 2024

How to Throw an Easy Puppy-Themed Toddler Birthday Party

My daughter's puppy-themed birthday party for her second birthday.

My daughter turned two, and there wasn't a simpler idea that came to my mind to celebrate her, other than: puppies. She loves puppies. She talks about them constantly, waves indiscriminately to...

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  • March 14, 2024

Should You Teach Summer School? The Ultimate List of Pros and Cons

An apple and two ice cream bars to signify the switch from the school year to summer break.

When school's finally out for the summer, it's debateable who's more thrilled: the students or the teachers. Summer break in traditional schools can be seen as a restorative stretch of freedom, a...

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  • March 13, 2024

The Worst to Best Side Hustles for Resigning Teachers

A smiling teacher holding up a globe in a classroom.

If you're planning on this spring being your last semester in the classroom, first: Go you! (I know it's not easy to leave this love/hate career) Come up with a strategy for...

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  • March 6, 2024

Church and Good Food: Our Plans for Easter with a Toddler

Substitute teaching has helped me enjoy more time with my kids and get that much closer to financial freedom.

Celebrating Easter is an occasion I always look forward to. Stuffing myself into billowing pastel church dresses and savoring Easter basket chocolates piece by piece has given way to dressing my own...

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  • February 15, 2024

5 Easy Springtime Crafts I Made as a Busy Mom

My toddler daughter picking out paint at the craft store-- perfect for a DIY project!

Did the groundhog see his shadow this year? I don't remember. Regardless, my home state of Florida forges ahead with spring before most places anyway. Likewise, I'm in full-force spring mode. Whether...

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Charmaine
Charmaine

Former Teacher ☼ Substitute ☼ Writer ☼ Mom

Recent Posts

  • A person holding a pencil filling out test answers for the STEDI substitute teacher exam

    How to Pass the STEDI Substitute Teacher Exam

    October 4, 2025
  • An old-fashioned birthday party: A vintage image of a child blowing out candles on a birthday cake

    Do Less: How to Throw a ’90s-style Birthday Party With Less Stress

    August 24, 2025
  • The substitute teacher and blogger smiling as she looks over her fourth grade classroom.

    Steal My Introduction From Every Time I Substitute Teach

    August 20, 2025
  • Habits for happy motherhood: A smiling mother holding her daughter.

    Only the Best: Kids and Baby Products We Actually Value

    June 20, 2025
  • A photo of someone completing a colorful puzzle. Brain teaseres, bell ringers, and other puzzles can be engaging time-fillers for substitute teachers!

    Classroom Survival Kit: Engaging Brain Teasers

    May 31, 2025
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