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.
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. This is my first Moments to Remember post. These really are moments of a wonderful week with my kids and nephew.
We took a trip to Downtown Denver!
We ate hot dogs, played at playgrounds and went to the “big” library.
Reading is fun, we love the library, especially the main Downtown Denver branch.
Enjoying delicious hot dogs downtown
My almost 4 year took this pic of me at the playground. He had come and sat with me to draw while I worked on our calendar. He was so talkative and sweet, it was a precious moment. To the right – reading his Marvel Hero Magazine on the tramp. I found him out there all by himself, it was sweet. And yes, he is in his underwear and they are on backwards 🙂
That was a glimpse into our week and for me, some of the best moments wrapped up into 1.
Thank you Carisa for all the inspiration you provide!
Related: Moments to Remember Link-up
Living in Colorado, we are never lacking a place to spend the outdoors! We especially love the mountains. So many trails, parks, rivers, it is a dream living so close to it all.
One place we love to go is hiking in Waterton Canyon in the foothills of the Rockies. My husband took the boys there recently and they spent 4 hours, hiking, fishing, climbing and exploring.
The best classroom ever!
I had to enlarge this first picture for you …
my boys!
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!
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…
You might call it a Swap Meet, Rummage Sale, Outdoor Market, those are all other names for Flea Markets. I noticed our Flea Market changed their named to Mile High Marketplace, sounds better but we all still call it “the flea market”. We took a trip 1 early Saturday morning. We woke the kids up, we all got ready and got in the car. We arrived at the Market at 8:30 AM. No line to get in, plenty of great parking!
We left without eating and figured we would play it by ear. What a good idea, there were fresh fruits everywhere. Since we could not wash anything we played it safe with bananas. They were perfectly ripe, fresh and a hit with the kids. Yummy!
This turned out to be an excellent educational opportunity. We talked about bartering and trading. We had learned of this concept when we were studying the pioneers. Now they get to see how that can play out.
More learning fun:
Learning about the hard and hot work that goes into delicious kettle corn. How does it pop? What do they flavor it with?
Hot and Fresh Kettle Corn
Seeing tons of fresh produce, learning names and sampling them
What are these? How are they cooked? What do we use them in?
Did you know there are hundreds of cheeses in the world? This store has a good variety of Mexican and other cheeses.
We talked about how all cheese melts differently, some are hard, some soft and why it’s good to have variety because of all we use cheese for. We took turns naming dishes with cheese.
The best part, in my opinion, was teaching the boys how to spend their money wisely. When we first got there, they ran to every booth, wanted something from each. Once they realized that they each had a budget and there was hundreds of booths, they learned to be conservative and more picky about what they chose.
Preston counts his money at a vendor booth.
Paying the seller
The boys showing off their first finds!
This was a great experience and the kids were thanking us over and over for bringing them. We will be back!