Homeschooling + Pinterest = endless ideas for everything! Last year Pinterest inspired me to take cute back to school pics. Two trends stuck so I went with both: 
I loved the ideas and went back this year only to find that the signs I used from last year are gone. I looked around and did not find much. I decided to open Publisher and make some! Can’t wait to use them when we start school.
Here is a sample back to school printable…
Help yourself to these printables:
One of my favorite blogs, one of the blogs that was a huge help early in my homeschool journey is 1+1+1=1. I was at her site this morning and I just came across a link-up that sounds fantastic.
Here is the description:
“Moments to Remember was developed as a simple way to look back on our week as homeschoolers and find photos that encompass the memories we want to remember.
The week may have been tough, there may have been more bumps than smiles, but in the end these are the moments that keep us going, the ones we need to remember.”
I love this idea. Especially since I know this blog is basically my journal, something I can look back on in the years to come. Back in the day it was whipping out your photo album, for me now I can always look at old blog posts.
This week was my oldest sons 9th birthday.
The boys love the new schoolroom/living room setup. They have been using it like crazy.
We went to a theme restaurant with family
Breakfast birthday, Ice Cream on a Friday night, the brother pose
(the oldest knows how to hide the fact they are wrestling, the youngest -not so much)
What a fun week!
That was a glimpse into our week and for me, some of the best moments to remember wrapped up into 1.
Thank you Carisa and Jolanthe for all the inspiration you provide!
Related: Moments to Remember
It is that time of year! Time to gear up and get ready to start school again. We are starting on August 27th and I have a to-do a mile long. The first thing I had to do was set up my new schoolroom. I got the best birthday present ever, IKEA furniture (thanks to my Mom and Sis). I took everything out of drawers, off of shelves and start over from scratch. Now all my pens are in one place, same with scissors, and crayons and pencils, you get the picture.
Rock N Dogs at Mission Trace in Lakewood is a great place to eat. It is always clean, the food is always delicious and the service is friendly. The atmosphere is fun and super cool for any music fan. We took the kids there recently and were more pleased than ever.
My husband ordered the ‘Shroom Burger, I got the Wedge Salad and our children all ordered Corn Dogs. Everything was so good, I don’t thin k 1 bite was left.
Now that we have the luxury of a backyard I am always looking for fun stuff to do or setup for the boys back there. Our latest venture was inspired by Pinterest, of course. It is little town setup for the boys to drive their Hotwheels and Matchbox cars around in. I used to love to play with my brothers cars out in the yard, I would literally spend hours out there. When i saw the ideas for creating a place for cars to cruise, I was pumped.
My oldest was the most excited, he jumped right on board. He went to the room to gather supplies like buildings and roads from his Thomas the Train set. I went to the recycle bin looking for boxes. We met out in a spot in the yard. It was a great spot because the grass didn’t grow there so it is dirt.
I had so much fun setting this up with Preston. Once we were done we invited the little brothers to come play with it. They were amazed by it!
It’s the simple things. What a fun day!
Organizing always “sounds good” but when does anybody really have time for that? So I am taking this Summer to get organized, again! This time I decided to start over, put everything together in one place. I took everything out of drawers and off of shelves, threw it in a huge pile and then sorted. Putting everything back in a perfect spot has taken some time. This is one of the first ‘AFTER’ areas…
I finally have all the homeschool teaching materials in one spot. Also the bookshelf on the right is holding non-fiction books for the kids. I have another half bookshelf with kids fiction and then 1 more full size full of grown-up books on apologetics, missions and theology. I also love looking at what is on people’s bookshelves so I decided to share 1 of my shelves with you in this post.
Since all the books are put away library style the kids don’t venture into them as much as I would like. That is why I love the book basket idea from AMFW. Here are the boys book baskets with selections for each reader. I refreshed their baskets in my overhaul.
Now for the before pictures of the bookshelf wall. It was a hodgepodge of things I didn’t know where to put… I really hate looking at now, so I’m glad it’s gone.
Will be doing so much more, can’t wait to post and I can’t wait to have everything in almost perfect order!
We love celebrating Daddy in our house, so Father’s Day is just another opportunity to show him how much he means to us.
This Father’s Day we got him something that the boys have been asking for and so has Daddy. A good old-fashioned BB Gun. I didn’t just get any gun either, I bought him a Classic Daisy Red Rider BB Gun! I was excited just buying it. Of course we could have chosen from any number of semi-automatics, ones with scopes but I just had to get the classic. Plus I did read how it is unbeatable for kids just learning, since I knew our 8 year would be using it a lot. It sure is pretty.
I went to Amazon, which I love. They were selling a fun kit that included targets, bb’s and safety glasses. It arrived 2 days later, then the next day we gave it to Daddy. He had the biggest grin. They all went out and shot for 2 hours! I think they used about 400 bb’s.
My goal, is to have my boys learn safety above all. Of course we all know that if you have a BB gun “you’ll shoot your eye”, hee hee. Here’s to being safe!
This year we started exploring adjectives and of course, I headed straight to Pinterest for some inspiration. I came across this poster, I really liked it, I made one right away. It originally came from this blog post.
She has other super great ideas on teaching adjectives. I have since explored this blog and I absolutely love it! It is called Step Into Second Grade. It is full of inspiration, this teacher is incredibly creative and helpful!
So here it is, my adjectives poster:
I made some others too, one for verbs and one for capital letters. I keep them in a huge spiral bound flip chart. Comes in handy, saves space and the kids even stop to look it from time to time when they’re sitting at the desk where it hangs.
This Summer I am revamping everything I have organized since we moved in. We have a super small place and I want another fresh start. I am going to get rid of so much stuff, I can’t wait!
I started going through all the paperwork we have, I was surprised to get rid of so much. We had a lot we didn’t really need. That felt great and was a good start to total organization. Next I am working on organizing and storing school supplies and office supplies.
Here is my 3rd graders desk :
After I organized the kids items, each in their own desk, I started on my cabinet. I keep all the standards in white Sterlite drawers, which I love.
This is just the beginning. Next, the hundreds of books and workbooks. My goal is to organize by subject and reading level. Then on to puzzles, games and toysStay tuned…
