Navigating the Special Education System Part 3: How to Start Advocating
Emily Bylund Emily Bylund

Navigating the Special Education System Part 3: How to Start Advocating

Lets get back into navigating the special education system. I've talked about my personal experience as a kid, then my experience as a parent. Now I want to start getting into the nitty gritty and give information about HOW exactly to advocate. First I want to give a couple of caveats. 1) I am not an educator or a professional, I'm a parent. There are so many other creators out there that are IEP advocates, teachers, and professionals in these fields that you should seek out, as well and do your own research. 2) I live in the United States. I have zero experience with any other country other than the United States. Along with that many things vary from sate to state and I only have experience with states that I have lived in. With that, I've done a lot of research myself so lets get started.

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DIY Corner Cabinet Drawers
DIY Emily Bylund DIY Emily Bylund

DIY Corner Cabinet Drawers

Today I'm finally doing something that I've always wanted to do in our house: adding shelves to the weird corner cabinet in our kitchen. It's kind of a like an "L " shape except there is no actual "L" because there is no corner just a really weird angle. I've really been wanting to better utilize this space so I don't have to take everything out in order to reach something. I've looked at different corner cabinet devices that you can buy online, but they're like $600 for a basic one, which is insane! Instead, I saw someone that I follow that build a corner cabinet that was exactly like mine with custom drawers and realized that I can probably simulate the same thing with drawers from Amazon. It's an easy addition that makes a really big impact.

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DIY Flower Mirror
DIY Emily Bylund DIY Emily Bylund

DIY Flower Mirror

 Today I'm sharing a fairly simple DIY project that I've been wanting to do for a really long time. When we moved into our house, I immediately started personalizing and updating our spaces. One of the places I started was my daughter's bathroom. I added vertical shiplap next to her bathtub so I could hang hooks because anyone that has kids knows that hooks are far superior to towel rods. After that, I painted and changed out the hardware on her vanity and sink. It's pink and girly and very her. The one thing I didn't address at the time, though, was her mirror.

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Wood Play Car
DIY Emily Bylund DIY Emily Bylund

Wood Play Car

For the second half of 2024, my family lived in Argentina. We fell in love with the playgrounds in Buenos Aires, they are the best! At one of playgrounds there was an awesome wood play car that my kids and I were absolutely obsessed with. I knew that I wanted to replicate it at home and since my parents have been in the process of redoing their yard we had the space for it. So, after we got home and I got a few other small projects done I knew that it was time to make THE car!

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Revamping My Daughter’s Space
DIY Emily Bylund DIY Emily Bylund

Revamping My Daughter’s Space

In 2022, we gave my daughter a play kitchen and I decided the best place to put it was in her bedroom. I wanted it secured and flush to the wall so I removed the baseboard in order to install it. Funnily enough, this infuriated the internet. I got comments saying I would really regret removing the baseboards (in my own house) and I would hate myself when I had to replace them in a few years. It's been a few years now and, guess what? She's outgrown the kitchen. So I'm taking the kitchen and moving it so its easily accessible for my son. I'm a firm believer in using your space to benefit you the most at that point in time. In 2022, having this as a play area for my daughter was the best use of the space. Now, three years, it's not the best use for the space anymore and that's okay! So, I'm revamping her space, fixing the baseboard (gasp!), and setting up the new kitchen play area for my son.

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Home Organization Tips for ADHD
ADD/Autism Emily Bylund ADD/Autism Emily Bylund

Home Organization Tips for ADHD

Hi! I'm Emily. If you are new here I am a 33 year old mom with ADHD. I was diagnosed when I was 16 years old so I have had more than half my life to come up with coping strategies and systems that help me to succeed. With these systems in place, I'm able to navigate my ADHD in my day to day life. I'm always trying to make our space at home more neurodivergent friendly because everyone in my family is neurodivergent and these systems help me to make that happen. I want to share how I utilize those systems to make our home function properly.

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Climbing Wall Gate
DIY Emily Bylund DIY Emily Bylund

Climbing Wall Gate

We've reached the third and final installment of the climbing wall for the treehouse at my parents house. So far I have done the rock climbing wall, the ladder wall, and now I'm doing the gate at the top of the wall so the kids can get into the treehouse, but not fall off the treehouse.

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DIY Ladder Wall
DIY Emily Bylund DIY Emily Bylund

DIY Ladder Wall

I'm currently working on the tree house playground for my kids at my parents’ house. I already completed the rock climbing wall, and now putting in a climbing ladder on the other side of the wall!

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