I have been participating in the Not Back to School Blog Hop that is being hosted at http://heartofthematteronline.com. This weeks topic is School Pictures. So I haven’t really had a chance to cut the boys hair and get them all “spiffy” so I pulled some pics that were taken while we have been enjoying our summer the past couple of months. Also, here is a video we made of our kids and other family, I hope you enjoy!
Be sure to come back, next week’s topic is “A Day in Our Life”.
Before I became a mother and I suppose even for a couple of years after I became a mother I was extremely adverse to traditions, I just didn’t care for the conventional way of doing things. However, after having more children and building our family I am warming up to the thought of traditions.
Traditions can bring a family together, they can cement a firm foundation. Traditions are something to pass on to future generations. Unlike material items that are sometimes passed down from one generation to the next, traditions can’t be lost, stolen, broken or the like. I like this idea of creating a loving heritage built on family community and communication.
I was inspired by a book I picked up at the Seminary library. It is called “Happiness is Family Time Together” written by Lois Bock and Miji Working, it was published in 1975 by Fleming H. Revell Company.
The authors have laid out plans for an evening with the family. I would like to share some of the ideas for family time. We will be using these ideas in our house and then I will blog about the experience. I would love for others to try them and then blog about it.
My hope and prayer is that more and more mothers will try it and share their experience; this can be a catalyst to deeper, more meaningful relationships within our families. Families are under attack in todays world, America specifically. Parents need to be equipped to counter the attacks with communication, love and fun.
Will you join me in this exciting endeavor?
This weeks assignment:
Special Because of Who We Are
The book states that each every person should know something of his background and of their family. They should know the history of their parents, how they met and why they chose to have a family. This can help to establish a family unit, a team mentality.
For the first family night we are going to focus on who mom and dad are:
Each member will have their own family night journal/scrapbook that they can record Family Night events. This night we will be journaling facts such as who is in the family, how many, how old? Have them write things they like to do together as a family. You can also have them draw a picture of your family.
For this special family get together think of a dessert that can become the family’s special dessert or have everyone write down their ideas and take a vote. Then head to the kitchen and get started, as a family. Pass out assignments and work together as a team.
You can enjoy eating the dessert while playing a board game together.
Be sure to pray together and thank God for your family and if time permits, thank God for special traits or gifts each member has.
When it is time to wrap up you can recap and ask members what their favorite parts were. Also, it might be fun to bring it up the next morning.
I hope this might inspire you. I can’t wait to get started. I will need to figure out which night of the week to have it. I want to keep it the same each week, I might aim for Friday or Saturday evening. Enjoy!
Earlier this week I joined the Not-Back to School Blog Hop, so many homeschoolers participated, it was inspiring! Who doesn’t love a peek into someone else’s life and home. After looking at other blogs I decided to share my room, in more detail, so that others can get ideas, the way I have been getting classroom ideas.
Two blogs that played a huge role in giving me inspiration for preschool activities, classroom ideas, preschool lesson plans, and more are http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com and http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/ – a huge thank you to Carisa and Jolanthe. They have helped me so much, hope this helps someone else!
Classrooom Ideas, Morning Board:
Hope this helps with your own classroom ideas. Enjoy your day!
This past weekend we had the opportunity to attend a Broncos practice at Mile High Stadium. When we arrived, amidst all the chaos, a wonderful reminder. While it is so easy to get wrapped up in our surroundings, sometimes it is good to step back and think about bigger things.
In Genesis 9 we read about Noah and the Flood. After the flood, God made a promise and with that promise he set up a visual reminder, an amazingly beautiful reminder.
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
-ESV Genesis 9:8-16
After looking at this site and her ideas for a Calendar board I was completely inspired. Thank you Homeschool Creations for the wonderful ideas! Here is our Calendar board:
We have: Todays Date, with different ways to write the date, make the date in money, color of the day, weather for temp. (1st grader will fill in daily), weather for the 4 year old to use picture cards. We also have letter of the day and verse of the day. I will also be adding the skip counting pages.
For calendar I plan on having all 3 boys participate in one way or another. I have also been looking around for center ideas, things to keep the 2 little ones busy when I need to work with my 1st grader. Carissa has so many excellent ideas on her blogs. One of them is Tot Trays. I loved all her ideas and will be using them and creating more inspired by what I have seen. Here are some things we have so far:
basket #1 – Pompoms for sorting, pouring, gluing, scooping, measuring, tongs, ice cube try for sorting, clothespin centers (see below), poker chips to sort and stack, pipe cleaners, eraser center (see below).
Still on the lookout. Excellent places for centers: the Dollar Tree, Walmart, Big Lots. You don’t have to spend a lot and your children will learn, play and love it!
Since I am brand new to homeschooling I was needing ideas. It was just this past July that I was trolling the net to see if I could come up with some ideas for the schoolroom. I came across a really cute, informative blog called my3boybarians.com. She had a post about a Blog Hop, which I posted about a couple of weeks ago. She had links to over 100 homeschool blogs with posts about their school rooms, jackpot! Turns out that it was last years Hop and I was just in time to participate in this years Hop, which is now hosted at www.heartofthematter.com.
Since we live in a small condo I didn’t have too many options. One good thing about not having a TV was we didn’t have a huge purpose for a conventional living room. It’s too small for entertaining so I decided to use our living room as the schoolroom. We have a 2 year old, a 4 year old and a 1st-grader, all boys.
Last week I talked about our curriculum. Now… here is our schoolroom:
So happy to participate, thanks for stopping by!
Lori
Last night I cut laminated flash cards for almost 2 hours straight, my hands hurt. However – it was so worth it! I picked up a ton of flash cards from Targets Dollar Spot. They had a lot to choose from (see pics). They were a dollar each, obviously. I should note that they are kind of thin (not too much) and only one side is shiny. I took them to Mardel and laminated all of them, about 360 of them! I am confident that they will last through each of my sons homeschool years. The lamination cost $9.00 (36’x .25/ft) I bought 9 boxes of cards so each box ended up costing $2. I priced flash cards at Mardel and they are all 3.99 and up, same with the regular one’s (toy aisle) at Target. Definitely worth it! I will be adding up all the receipts from my homeschool purchases.
Time to start cutting
I know I am currently under budget from what we would have paid if the kids were returning to their former schools. Then to think it’s our very own classroom is exciting too. Registration $325 + $225 = $550 plus first month’s tuition $210 + $435 = $645, that doesn’t include school supply lists, book fees, lunches, school clothes, etc. Love it!
Figuring out to do with my preschooler and toddler while I work with my 1st grader will be a challenge, however with these fun centers – I know it will be easier. I had them all put away for about a week then decided to let them see everything and get their hands on it. I told them they were our school centers, they loved them! This morning when I went to pull them out they were so excited, I love it!
A huge shout out to Carisa at 1+1+1=1. I got all of my ideas on these centers from her blog post titled “Toddler Trays”.
Lots of items from the Dollar Tree + some math manipulatives
Oliver loves scooping
Samuel likes the spoons and cups
Preston playing with Base 10 blocks from math manipulative set
HUGE SUCCESS! They didn’t even play with everything either. I will be returning to the household section of Dollar Tree to come up with some ideas. Thanks Carisa!
Yesterday I wrote about Samuel, who is the youngest of my 3 boys. Now it’s time to introduce my middle child Oliver. Oliver, my sweet lil Oliver. Where do I begin? Maybe with his perfectly smooth and creamy skin, his golden hair, his little “button” nose and mouth. He is an enigma, lol. Oliver is a tender shoot, with a wild streak. He is always ready to jump into character whether it is Obi Wan Kenobi or Larry Boy – he is a true actor. He is never too shy to go out in any costume or interesting outfit he sees fit. Oliver is my pickiest eater but he says that chocolate is his favorite “vegetable”, he always eats all his “vegetables”. He is smart, witty and is laid back too. And I realized as I type this – Oliver is indescribable. He is definitely someone you will remember after you meet him, he certainly does hold a special place in my heart.
Oliver at 2
I realized that I have never formally introduced my boys. Here they are:
Samuel will be 2 in just 3 weeks! He is a firecracker, pure and simple. This little guy is amazing – I could have never imagined how well this sweetie would jump into our family… he is always ready to participate in anything with great enthusiasm. I have had to let go of any nervous mommy thoughts I had with the other 2 – this one is doing everything early! He climbs almost everything that the older two do – his vocabulary is amazing and he is our best helper (sadly enough) and prize eater! He is also a huge clown and quite the laugh-er.
Oliver … well… we will talk about Oliver tomorrow, he may just have a super-special place in my heart!
