What I Heard Wednesday: 8-21-13

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So I’m telling the boy as we’re creating a mini book that he needs to cut very carefully on the lines.  His response to me in his laid back, ‘I’m so cool’ voice:  “Yeah, so I can sell this thing to uncle Jeremy”.
Yes son, those were my thoughts exactly!  Uncle Jeremy would love to have a mini book all about Jack, who has a pack on his back that says QUACK!

The highlight of my day was when my oldest daughter came running up the stairs first thing in the morning and asked if she could start her math!  Isn’t that just music to a momma’s ears?  Lovely!  She is such a great independent worker and I really appreciate her having a genuine love of learning.  She is such a joy to be around and just radiates kindness wherever she goes.  Love that girl!

School took a little longer today as we added in a few more subjects than we did yesterday.  Truth be told, I didn’t want to start school until after Labor day.  But, I have eager learners, and there’s no way I’m telling them to hold off on that sort of excitement.

I have been working on laundry all day.  Literally, the whole day.  I even decided to be an overachiever and change the sheets on our beds.  The baby just had her sheets changed so I did everyone else’s while she was napping.
Long story short, I went in to get her from her nap and her sheet was soaked.. and there sat her dry diaper that I got out, but forgot to put on her!  Hey look on the bright side though, now EVERYONE’S sheets have been washed on the same day.

2013-2014 Homeschool Curriculum Choices

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      Well folks, we.are.crazy.

Yep, I said crazy. At least that’s what people keep asking us, “are you guys crazy?”
We’ve got 3 kids ages; 10, 6, and 9 months.  And we’ve decided to homeschool both of the big kids this year!  *warm smile*.  I’m not one of those moms who can’t wait to get her kids back in school each August.
In fact, I’m the mom who is always thanking God for one more day with my kids.  A few years ago I had some unexplained health problems and thought I was dying.  I had funeral plans and everything, pretty dramatic, right?  Well ever since then I’ve vowed to live each day as if it were my last.  And on my last days, I want to be spending them with my family.
I feel so blessed that I have a husband who provides for our family so I am able to stay home and raise our children.  We prayed that we’d be able to afford homeschooling, because it is more expensive than public school initially.  God has come through for us on this one in so many random ways.  I’ll do a post on that another time. 🙂

I have spent literally years researching what to use for books & doing online training and research for teaching my dyslexic daughter.  I have just been too chicken to commit to doing it full time.  I’m very appreciative that in the mean time she has had a kind-hearted teacher at the public school who has taken my baby girl under her wing and educated her.
God has gently nudged me for 3 years, and now I hear him telling me that it’s time.  Each time I tell Him “No God, I can’t do this” or “Please God, let me be at peace with sending them to school and see what I’ll do with all of my free time” (oh, can you just imagine how quiet my days would be), I hear him saying back “quit making excuses, I’ve got your back”.  Well, He hasn’t let me down before, and I don’t believe that He will now.
I was blessed to meet with two friends this week, who gave me incredible insight on different curriculum options.
So, here’s the plan, Stan!

The Boy,  2013-2014, Kindergarten
Language Arts: First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind: Level 1 (Second Edition) (First Language Lessons)
Writing: Each morning we start with
our Thankful Journals.  Just jotting down
a few things that we’re thankful for.
Handwriting: Handwriting WithoutTears, Kindergarten (this was cheaper to order from their web-site, rather than Amazon).
Reading: The Reading Lesson: Teach Your Child to Read in 20 Easy Lessons
(I cannot say enough about this book, very low distraction, and the lessons are simple and clear), Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, 1986 Fireside Edition, ISBN 0671631985
(sometimes we use this one too, just to reinforce a little).
Spelling: All About Spelling Level 1 & Interactive Kit.
Math: Essential Math Kindergarten B
.  This boy is great at math!  The reason I’m starting with the Kindergarten
B is that I want  to review with him, before
pushing him on to 1st grade math.
I am confident that he could go right to the first grade level and do
just fine, but math is nothing to mess around with.
Typing: Nothing very formal yet,
although we may give it a try for fun.
 The Girl, 2013-2014, 5th
Grade
Language Arts:  First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind: Level 4 Student Workbook (First Language Lessons)
& First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind: Level 4 Instructor Guide (First Language Lessons) By Jessie Wise, Sara Buffington
You do need both the workbook and instructor text, but don’t fret, the cost is worth it (and not too high, in my opinion).  It is very detailed and no additional planning is required, just open the text and go!
Writing: Thankful Journals (The bulk of
her writing will be in the First Language Lessons as well, but this is one more way to encourage her to write and have fun doing it).
Handwriting: Handwriting Without
Tears Level 5.  This girl loves cursive
so she will be doing both the print and the cursive this year.
Reading: This will be a part of First
Language Lessons as well.  But I highly encourage more reading than just what is required in the book.  We will be
supplementing her reading curriculum with books from the library, magazines, & really
anything I can get her to read.  Right
now she’s really into the American Girl books.
We will do unit studies as well as read books that also have a movie we
can watch afterwards, because that’s pretty fun momma-daughter stuff!
Spelling: Yeah…. About that…   I know this is a VERY important area.  One swipe through Facebook is all the proof you need to know how valuable it is to spend more time teaching our youth to spell.  We will start with the level one and work our
way up.  I don’t want to start too high,
in case there are things that she has missed.
It never hurts to review anyway.
She will just progress at a much quicker rate than her younger brother
with this subject.
Learning isn’t about being at some certain level, but about making
progress and gaining knowledge.  Because of her dyslexia spelling is more difficult, but certainly not impossible by any means.
 Math: Teaching Textbooks Level 5, We
will supplement with Xtramath.com, Learning Wrap-Ups Introductory Math Kit
, flash cards, Math War Multiplication Game Cards
, and practical real-life math any time we can.
Typing: Online Dance Mat Typing
 Both Kids together:
Bible: Dinner Time Devotions as a
family.  Each child has their own Bible
that they will be held accountable for reading (the best they can).  They do weekly Promiseland at church and we
will do activities that relate to what they have talked about at church, as
well as online Bible games.
Geography: Road Trip USA, I’m pretty
sure.  This year we will be focusing on
studying the United states,  as well as
the presidents.
Music, Art & PE: We are a musical family, the oldest girl loves art, and the man of the house keeps us all active!  But, these subjects
will be covered at the homeschool co-op that we joined as well.  I believe
science will also be covered there.  We
are going to still look for something to do at home, since we like experiments around this house!
I am most uneasy and confused about making a daily plan.  I’m wondering what subjects we will cover when, and what our days will look like.  I want to be sure each child gets adequate time with me, but not too much that they aren’t learning to work independently.
I know we will get a rhythm and things will fall into place.  I am a super organized person, so feeling uncertain in this area is tough.  But, I wont let it get me down.  We will figure out what works for us and go with it!
If you have any questions, consult Google, because I’m a newbie!  Okay, really, if you have questions, post them in the comments.  I’d love to hear from you!
Thanks for stopping by!

DIY: 18 Inch American Girl Knock Off Turns Into a BOY!

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About a month ago I took the kids to the American Girl store. My oldest daughter loves their dolls, so I was looking to get a boy one for my son. When I realized how crazy expensive they were, I started searching the internet for a do it yourself (cheaper) option.
My sweet girl is trying to earn a new doll that looks like her mini-me.
The doll that she bought last year had blonde hair and blue eyes, looking a lot like her brother, so we decided to turn the old doll into a boy doll. This is what she gave her brother for his birthday. He likes it.
I removed the lipstick with nail polish remover & a q-tip.
My sister in law gave the doll a haircut at her salon.
We dressed this little guy in old Build A Bear clothes. The clothes were a little big.  I am imagine preemie or newborn clothes would fit really well.
Cheap, cute & fun!

Memories For The Boy

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It’s nearly midnight, I’m exhausted & I want to crash.   But tomorrow my boy turns 6!! This quick set up took less than 10 minutes and I had everything already on hand.  I know it’s not pretty.  I also know my son will love it regardless. Making memories for my children is my favorite thing to do these days.  A week from now he won’t care that the streamers were pink & the only gift he had in the morning was bubble wrap on the floor.  He loves that stuff!
But he will remember that his momma loved him and took time to surprise him with the fun things that little boys love.

I hope he never forgets that he was prayed for and loved.   It’s his special day, but I feel like I am the one who received a gift.  My boy.

Organizing Clothes

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I bought one of these little gems last year for my daughter. It was perfect for organizing her clothes for the week.
Each Sunday we picked out 5 outfits. The Monday outfit was placed on top, and Tues-Fri’s were put into the drawers.
Once in a while we would put Monday-Thursday in the drawers, and Friday would be her free day to pick whatever she wanted to wear.
It revolutionized our morning routine and saved so much time!
I also bought one to use in our school room to organize supplies and books. That one ended up not being used as well as I’d hoped.  I bought that one in black so I can use it anywhere else I need to.
They are on sale at Shopko right now & I highly recommend them!

DIY Designs: Clock Wall

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I’m not a designer or decorator by any means (trust me on this one, it’s bad).  But I do love all things DIY, cheap & pretty.  That’s just what this one is to me.
We’ll make this quick. So I saw this pin:
Pinterest “Stop the clock when your babies are born. A moment in time, changed forever. Love this idea!”
& I created this:
I looked for a couple of months and couldn’t find 3 coordinating clocks that I loved.  So instead, I bought 3 that matched!  The clocks were $5 each at Shopko.
I cut the names using black vinyl and my Cricut machine.
I hung these little guys with tacks.  It worked.  I’m happy.  And if I later on decided to, I can paint the clocks different colors and move them somewhere else.  Or I can throw them on the garage sale pile, because that’s what I sometimes do.  😉
Total cost of the project: Under $20.

Thoughtful Thursdays

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Through our summer homeschooling journey we have started a new tradition called Thoughtful Thursdays.
Last Thursday we went to Chuck E Cheese.  We played and had a wonderful time. In the end we had almost 300 tickets between the four of us. We gave the tickets to someone else, rather than spending it on ourselves.  I wanted my children to enjoy the experience we had, not the stuff we would take home.
Our 10 year old girl threw a fit and walked out of there with her head down & tears in her eyes. Surprisingly the 5 year old boy was just fine with giving away the tickets.
Although it was embarrassing to see her upset and it would have been easier to just keep the tickets and let her pick something out, it was a teachable moment and I’m happy with how we handled it.Folks, consistency is key when you’re raising little people.
What I really want to share with you are two snapshots from my children’s thankful journals.  It blesses my heart so much to see the things that they are thankful for and I hope that it blesses you too.
Ps.  Our rule with the thankful journals is that spelling and punctuation do not count.  You just need to pour your heart out and thank God for what you have.  That being said… I’m sure number 80 is supposed to say tattoos.  As in temporary tattoos.  The kids love those things!

Week 2 Preparation & Execution.

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Sunday night, after the two youngest fell asleep, I was semi-frantically putting together our 2nd week of homeschool.
Thankfully I kind of had a plan already in place (I jot down ideas on my phone when they come to me).  So all I needed to do was pull all the papers into one place and load the work boxes.
When the morning came, I scrambled eggs while the kids worked on their thankful journals.  This worked out well for the girl, but not for the boy.  He needed me to sit with him while he fidgeted with his pen and scribbled a word or two. Smile.  He still needs his momma.
The kids then just worked through their workbox drawers and let me know if they needed help.  I sat with the boy most of the day.  He was learning new work sheets and needed lots of help.   The rest of the week should go smoother now that he has gotten a sample of what it will be like.

Flag Day

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This Friday June 14th marks Flag Day. This also happens to be the wedding anniversary of my loving parents.
My father tells a great story about how he fooled my young mother into thinking he hung flags all around town for their first wedding anniversary. 😉

If you are looking for a song to teach your children about Flag Day try out this fun one we found on YouTube.
Watch “Flag Day Song for Kids (FREE LYRICS BELOW) DidiPop Kids Music” on YouTube

Last Day of School!

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It’s our last official day of homeschool for this school year!  That is as long as everything that is supposed to get finished, gets finished today. 😉

We will have about a week off.  During that time we will do Vacation Bible School, and just PLAY.  Then we start SUMMER HOMESCHOOL!  Fun, right?  Well, actually I kind of think it is!  I’m sort of a nerd like that though.

This summer we are learning about baseball, as the boy starts T-Ball for the first year.  I’m looking forward to the experience he will have.  It’s so  much more than just a game.  He will learn: Accountability, Adaptability, Character, Courage, Sportsmanship, Teamwork, and more.

I’m not looking forward to sitting in the hot sun and dodging balls, but I’ll just have to adjust.

I will have my oldest home form public school for the summer (she’s get out Monday), and I’m just so looking forward to having all of us together each day.
Home is where the heart is, ya know?
So with the two big kids we will be studying/practicing:
Math– using simple sheets from SoftSchools (addition/subtraction for the boy, multiplication & maybe division for the girl).
Reading– using the summer reading program at the library as our guide and encouragement.

I also downloaded some unit studies and speedy lapbooks to use this summer, from CurrClick .  We’ll be going over Moon Phases, Tornadoes, The Sun, and Flag Day during the month of June.
I am trying to keep everything simple, so we aren’t overwhelmed with school work.  After all, it IS summer break!

This is my absolute favorite time of year for so many reasons, but these are my top 5:

  1. The garden will soon be planted.
  2. Evening walks with my love.
  3. All 3 kids home each day.
  4. More time for family, friends, and neighbors.
  5. No time constraints (bed time, and morning alarm).

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