We went to a wonderful, several acre outdoor space with gardens and ponds.
Everything is just starting to turn green, flowers are popping up, ducks are swimming in the ponds.
The air was crisp, fresh, perfect.
We walked around for 2 hours, discovering. They have a super fun kids area, the kids can climb rocks, sit in a “cave”, and jump all around. They also had a dock by the stream, perfect for pretending -this day, it was a huge ship that we all lived on. :O)
Thanks to the Homeschool Chick and The Kelley Eight I will now be journaling this fantastically crazy journey we are on. I am thrilled, excited and thankful!
Week #6:
In my life this week…
Back to school after a nice little break to celebrate Spring! Looking at houses, found one that seems perfect for us. The only thing that I don’t like is thinking about it too much. Need to leave with Him.
In our homeschool this week…
Preston is getting learn all about life in and around a 13th century European Castle. I am really enjoying it too. We are using an awesome Usbourne book called “Time Traveler” and it comes with Sonlights 1st grade core. Has illustrations, explanations, cross-sections, it is fun! Did you know Knights are the only ones of the Kings men to ride horses? The ones without horses are Men at Arms.
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
Hmmmm…. playgr0unds! Couple of family birthdays too. We got to see a lot of extended family which is always nice.
My favorite thing this week was…
Watching my 1st grader zip through a maze of multiples by 3’s. I was really surprised at how quick he completed it. We are doing Horizons Math and he took a unit test and aced it. So happy that he is learning and I have proof (hint hint – Mom). :O)
What’s working/not working for us…
Space is still an issue. If we do get into this house, it will provide much needed space for my 1st grader to work, read and build things without his brothers destroying his work.
Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…
Wondering about Switch on Schoolhouse for Preston when he hits 3rd grade, anyone use it?
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
Recently I saw a blog post from a Homeschool mom that I follow. Sam from The Kelley Eight was excited to start a journaling program. I have always wanted to journal but just felt overwhelmed with starting from scratch.
Thanks to the Homeschool Chick and The Kelley Eight I will now be journaling this fantastically crazy journey we are on. I am thrilled, excited and thankful!
Week #4:
In my life this week…
Our van died this week, no so good since we are still making payments, yuck. I went to a wine ‘n paint class with my mom, sister, aunt and cousins, we had a great time, so relaxing.
In our homeschool this week…
Preston is working on Time4learning and loving it. Oliver started skip counting on his own, I was amazed. He came up to me and did 1, 3, 5, 7,9 then he followed that with 2,4,6,8. I have not even started with him formally only Preston. I was thrilled. I printed up some of these for him to have for his school desk. Thanks Homeschool Creations!
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
Without a car we stayed in most of the week. Preston and I did have a date to see Imagination Movers we took the light rail to downtown.
We also made it to the playground several times which is always great.
My favorite thing this week was…
The entire family sat down and each colored a page for a mini-book about Spring. That was a fun, creative time.
We are reading Heidi and the book we are using is full of colorful pictures, we are enjoying it. There is nothing like shutting out everything, reading and snuggling.
What’s working/not working for us…
Not working – staying home so much. We love to be out, although I am trying to use this time to organize and spring clean, so that has been good. I look forward to Spring field trips!
Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…
Time to start thinking about curriculum for next year. I just got the Alpha Omega catalog in the mail yesterday. Time to start perusing homeschool forums and researching. I like Sonlight but want to explore all options.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
Recently I saw a blog post from a Homeschool mom that I follow. Sam from The Kelley Eight was excited to start a journaling program. I have always wanted to journal but just felt overwhelmed with starting from scratch.
Thanks to the Homeschool Chick and The Kelley Eight I will now be journaling this fantastically crazy journey we are on. I am thrilled, excited and thankful!
Week #2:
In my life this week…
Injured my knee pretty bad, laid up and most of our plans went out the window. Was going to be our first week with a 2nd car plus great weather. We didn’t do much outside the home.
In our homeschool this week…
My boys love being on the computer. I think it may have to do with my husband and I both being techs. Any chance they can have on it they love. I decided that I wanted to find more learning programs, not games. I searched and found one called Time4Learning. We signed up Monday and the boys love it. I will be posting on the entire experience soon.
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
We were going to go to the Airplane Museum and the movies but with my injury we did not go anywhere.
My favorite thing this week was…
My injury in definitley NOT my favorite part but what happened as a result is. The first 2 days I was in bed, with it elevated. This provided the perfect oppotunity to just cuddle, read and talk to my boys. With no pressure to “get stuff done”, all I could do was lay there. It was wonderful for my only task to be to enjoy my boys!!
What’s working/not working for us…
I would really like to get my 1st grader to want to read on his own, rather than me force it. He loves for me to read to him. But I want him to love it. I know this will come but I wish it were now. I love to read.
Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…
I keep getting the urge to bump my preschooler up to Kindergarten lessons because he gets through the preschool ones so fast. I really need to resist the urge though, I don’t want to put undue pressure on him. However, I also do not want to bore him or hold him back. What is the right answer?
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
Oliver’s outfit of the week: Hawaiian Shirt and Mike Wazowski pants.
I have such fond memories of watching my teacher use a felt board to tell a story. LOVED it so much. Gathering around her and finding a comfy spot to watch the story unfold.
Always wanted to get some to play with as a kid but never did, seemed like a teacher “exclusive” item.
I looked at my local Education store and they are so expensive I could not justify the cost.
However, now that I started to homeschool I went to my favorite consignment sale to find educational materials. Imagine how excited I was to find a Storyboard Felt set.
Nothing fancy, in fact it looks like it could be from when I was little, but it is in excellent shape. I bet they came from a former teacher. I practically let out a squeel like a 13 year old who sees Justin Bieber.
This has to be one of my best finds ever!
I let the 4 and 2 year old play with them and they loved it. The two year went through all the animals and tried to make their “sounds”. It was fun, now I need to come up with a story!
Recently I saw a blog post from a Homeschool mom that I follow. Sam from The Kelley Eight was excited to start a journaling program. I have always wanted to journal but just felt overwhelmed with starting from scratch.
The cool thing about this journal program is that it has questions for you, that you answer. This is so much easier for me, whew!
Thanks to the Homeschool Chick and The Kelley Eight I will now be journaling this fantastically crazy journey we are on. I am thrilled, excited and thankful!
Here we go, Week #1
In my life this week…
Working my regular part-time, working on websites for others, homeschool, grocery shopping tonight, lots of organizing.
In our homeschool this week…
Math, math, math for the 1st grader, word problems and learning about feeding your body for science. Water experiment will be done with Daddy on Saturday. My 2 year old is doing centers, matching colors, shapes, baby animals to their mama’s he is doing so well!
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
The past several weeks have been jammed packed this week we took it easy. The boys did get to go on a field trip with their Aunt to their Butterfly Pavilion. They held a tarantula, saw turtles, snakes and butterflies.
My 1st grader also attending his weekly clubs meeting.
My favorite thing this week was…
Observing my 1st grader “get it” when it comes to double-digit vertical math. He was struggling then I saw the light bulb go off right in front of me, it was awesome to see!
What’s working/not working for us…
Sitting side-by-side my 1st grader definitely works for us, even better when the 2 little ones are actually out of the room. Not working – having the little ones around.
Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…
I am starting to like the more organic approach and not so regimented. I am realizing it does not have to look exactly like “school”. Less focus on checking off items… more focus on learning, the fundamentals yes, but really learning.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
Oliver, my 4 year old said “Mom, look I can count in Spanish with my eyes closed!”. He was so excited!
ONE more I am adding. My 4 year old loves to dress himself and I love his creativity and boldness. So each week I will show Oliver’s wardrobe choice of the week:
This year I was invited to a Valentine’s Card making get-together and had so much fun that I had one for the women in my family, that was also a blast.
When it came time to think about the kids Valentine’s cards this year, it was a no brainer that they would make homemade ones as well, I had all the supplies ready to go. In previous years, especially since they were in school, it was easy to just go pick up some pre-made ones. Now that we homeschool we do more homemade things then ever, we have the time and resources so why not? The boys made some for friends, some for family and some for their Sunday School teachers.
We used heart stickers, flowers stickers, scripture stickers, glittery stickers, puffy stickers, crayons, markers and stamps. We used card stock folded in half.
All done! I got them all in the mail to Loveland to go through their “Valentine Re-mailing Program“. If you send them your pre-addressed, stamped envelope (I sent all in 1 big manila envelope), they stamp them with the Loveland PO postmark that includes a cute graphic and saying. This will be the programs 65th year.
Details on the Re-Mailing Program:
Postmaster – Attention Valentines
446 E. 29th St.
Loveland, CO 80538-9998
Being a homeschooler and living in a small space can be frustrating at times. I pretty much turned my living room into a school room, then over time, a couch and love seat were brought in. I needed space but wasn’t sure what else could be done.
Recently while cruising a blog hop I found this blog and wow I am soooo thankful I did, so thankful for the inspiration. She had all of her storage bins in her coat closet. I went to work right away!
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Oops I guess I forgot to take “Before” pictures of the closet and “After” pictures of the Living Room. :O)
I have always loved tie-dyed shirts, loved them. Bright bursts of color splashed on a sparkling white tee. Pretty! I have wanted to make one for ever but just felt like it would be hard. Until recently.
I came across a spray bottled tie dye kit, it looked easy enough so I had to try it.
We bought 3 white tee’s for only $3 a piece! The kit was 7.99.
We twisted and rubber-banded the shirts then sprayed the tie dye all over, set to dry…
we let dry 24 hours…
When we took the bands off there was still alot of white so we re-banded it and sprayed some more tie dye on, dried some more… then to the dryer for 15 minutes…
When they got outside in their new tie dye shirts it was all fun n games! The boys would NOT cooperate for pictures, but I can’t really blame them – 60 degrees in January! Hope you can see the shirts…
Some more…
Overall cost – $20, not bad for 3 Super-Cool shirts!
Yesterday we read from Psalm 100 at my women’s study, wow! I was asked to read the first few verses and I was completely choked up and filled with joy and praise.
Psalm 100
While talking to my mentor she said that when she comes across scripture that strikes her, she writes it up on a sticky note. She then puts the sticky on her kitchen counter and can come across it and come back to it throughout her day.
I came home and made a flyer to hang up. I want to share it with the kids so I put some clipart at the bottom to help them learn it. Please use and enjoy!
**Updated… New, Better!**Click Image Below for Full Size Printable
