How are you feeling?

Some days my children make me feel like an amazing mom!  They cooperate, the day runs smoothly, I cross off everything on my "list" - including chores!  The house is clean, schoolwork is done, we've played a game, and I meet my husband at the door with a smile and a kiss.  Life is great! 

As wonderful as that sounds, do I really want to let my children and my situations for the day determine how I feel about myself?  That's giving them a lot of power.  And what happens when the table is turned?

HomeSchool Monkeys

NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED!  Wish that would keep this little monkey from jumping on the bed...or off the school table!  But even this little monkey paused his jumping for this fun game.  I found it with my old teaching supplies.  And it was definitely a hit!   

We actually started with the larger one.  But I quickly remember the problem with this one...the pocket is too deep and you often have to dig out the monkeys when they fall further in the pocket.  So, we remedied that by quickly making another one, without the deep pocket.  I cut my 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of construction paper down to about 8 1/2 x 5.  I folded it over and stapled the sides leaving a 1 inch top margin.  I let my Little Squirt choose his fabric and we glued that on the front of the pocket to serve as the blanket.  We also glued on some cotton balls in the 1 inch margin to serve as pillows.  We added our monkeys and started singing...

First Grade Checklist

I made this checklist when my Little Buddy was starting First Grade.  I wanted him to start taking some steps toward independent seatwork.  And who doesn't love crossing things off a checklist?  I certainly do!  So, I figured my Little Buddy would feel good about what he's accomplished each time he crosses off another box.  And he did!  Having his own checklist for his schoolwork, helped him feel "bigger".   :)

I set this form up to go with our ABeka books. And filling it in was as simple as writing the date at the top and filling the page numbers in the boxes.  I would fill it in for him, often with him, so I could show him what was expected for the week.  As I filled it in, I would often write a number in the top corner to indicate how many boxes he would need to cross off each day in order to finish his work by the week's end.  This would sometimes vary, but if we were having just a regular 5-day week, he would need to do 7 each day. 

Apple Pie

Now we can't learn the letter A without making Apple Pie!

So we gathered our ingredients and set to work.  This is what I love about homeschooling!  There are so many great learning activities that don't need workbooks!

I peeled and sliced the apples while the kids did a scavenger hunt for things that begin with the letter A.  Then they rejoined me to help mix in a little lemon juice, flour, sugar and cinnamon to the apples. Then we poured our apple mixture onto our crust - not homemade, just a store bought roll-out crust. 

Great Finds!

I wanted to take a moment to share some great finds of mine.  Starting this homeschool blog has really opened my eyes to the vast resources that are out there in "blog world"!  I have found giveaways, free printables, and an array of wonderful ideas for homeshooling, homemaking and even decorating! 

Educational Insights Talking Microscope Giveaway

at Confessions of a Homeschooler

Who wouldn't love to have this addition to their homeshool classroom?  I know I would! 
Plus this is my absolute favorite homeschool blog! 

Candy Corn Counting Game
from The Princess and the Tot

I ran across this dandy little game just in time for Fall! 
What a great number game my kiddos can all play together! 

PreSchool Week 1

I give our first week of PreSchool an  A+ !  I was so impressed with how well my Little Squirt took to ''starting school".  And I was even more impressed with how he caught on to things! 

 

Here he is matching upper and lower case apple letters to letters on the tree.

He showed great hand/eye coordination with his do-a-dot page. 

(He's even a bit of a perfectionist - gee I wonder where he got that!)

And his writing practice sheet blew me away!  Just look at how he holds his pencil!  And he really worked to follow the lines...well, until he decided to get a little silly. 

("I was serious for like 30 seconds, what more could you want, Mom!")

Skip Counting Download

I made this skip counting chart a while back to help my kiddos. 

Download skip counting 2 to 9

My Curly Girlie is at the stage of learing skip counting - counting by 2's helps her learn her doubles addition, counting by 5's helps her when counting nickles or minutes on the clock. 

And my Little Buddy is into multiplication, so being able to skip count by all the numbers is helpful for him as he tries to memorize his multiplication facts. 

So, I made this chart to give them a visual of the skip counting pattern.  It consists of 4 pages with 2 skip counting charts on each page to give us the skip counting numbers for 2 through 9.

School Year Kick-Off!

The big day is here...the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!  As a kick-off to the new school year, we thought we would give each of the kids a small gift.  Most of our "back to school" shopping consists of Mommy and Daddy buying curriculum, not exactly exciting stuff for them.  We thought a little surprise gift might help add to the excitement as we launch into the adventure of a new school year!  So, as they got ready for bed the night before our first day of school, we laid some gifts out on the school table. 

"Back to School Time" signifies growing up...they're getting older, starting a new grade level, learning more, and taking on new and greater responsibilities.  So, we wanted to give each of the kids a gift that would make them feel "grown-up".

Summer Farewells

As a farewell to Summer, we thought we'd take the kids to the lake shore to watch the sunset.  It was a glorious day!  So, we grabbed some dinner in the car and headed to the beach. 

Mom had the brilliant idea to try to get some family pics on the sand dune first. 

They were all so sweet to accommodate me and my quirky ideas, even though everyone knows that the real fun at a beach is to dig in the sand!