Apparently I cannot add a title to my posts anymore.  Frustrating.  Well, I think I'm moving on over to my personal blog on blogger.  Please follow me over there!

http://www.unlikelymother.blogspot.com

~Sarah

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BOX DAY!

First let me say that for some reason, I cannot add a title to this post.  Not sure why ...

Today was our second box day from Sonlight!  It was less than a year ago when we had our first box day: The remaining books from Core P3/4 (we had ordered some from Amazon and other places previously) and all of Core P4/5.  We have been having a wonderful time with Core P4/5 and various other things like Math-U-See and Handwriting Without Tears.

So, today's Box Day was full of Core K.  It is recommended for children ages 5 to 7, so that fits Aaron and Alayna nicely.  I love that they can use the same curriculum and learn together!  Aaron tore into the box and fell in love with the Usborne Children's Encyclopedia right away.  I can tell this is going to be another great year with Sonlight.

And also for buying the full Core I received a wonderful gift.  I need to find a necklace to hold it, and then I will show it off.  It's beautiful and so thoughtful.

Now comes to fun work of putting the Core in the new Expedit.  We won't be using Core K for about a month, so in the meantime I need to buy some quality laminate to protect the paperbacks.  That's always a fun job ... not!  But it's worth it.  The books that I covered from last year still look new, and I know they will be around for a long time to teach my younger children, and who knows, maybe even my grandchildren someday!

A weekly update will be coming soon!  And I really need to figure out why I cannot add a title to this post.

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I think I'm going to give a weekly update on what we've done for the week.  Last week ... just random reading and an occasional workbook because we were all sick in various degrees.  Tomorrow starts our new week (yes, I know, our schedule is weird!) so I hope to have more interesting things to say next time. ;-)

Oh, I do have something cool to share:  We have 25 lbs of books from Sonlight coming next week!  That's always exciting!

More later!

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I don't have a lot of time to blog right now (or lately!) but I wanted to share a picture of our new homeschooling shelf.  You may recall seeing the 2x4 cube shelf from IKEA.  This one is the 5x5 cube shelf.  Enormous.  Perfect.  And there's room for the next Sonlight Core, too! 

We were about to play Chutes and Ladders. :-)

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Yesterday we had our homeschooling friends come over and we made some homemade play dough.  A mess, but fun!  I just love the feeling of warm play dough.  Well, I didn't take any pictures because I was busy making the dough!  Don't worry, the children wanted to play with it today so at breaktime, I pulled out the dough.  We have red, yellow, orange, blue, purple and I still need to make green. 

Here are my little play doughers:

Coming soon - a post about our Christmas. :-)

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Still here, still homeschooling, although it's a bit lazy here from pre-Thanksgiving (hunting) until after Christmas.  Ahh, the beauty of homeschooling, to continue with what we're doing but at a slower pace so that we can fully enjoy the holiday season.

I'm sure in January we'll have more fun adventures to share!  Until then!

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I have a homeschooling friend that I met at our local library, and our children are around the same age - right now they are almost 7, almost 6, 5, 3, almost 3, and the babies are 9 months (born just a few days apart).  We decided to meet and do a group activity with all of the children once a week.  Whether or not we actually do it weekly, we'll see!  But at least we can try.  It'll be good for the winter when everyone is cooped up and bored of being inside.

Here are a few pictures of our last meeting.  Me, reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (actually I was singing it!):

And here is a cute pic of our babies, playing so nicely together.  This little guy was born in the same hospital as Maria and they met when she was hours old and he was 3 days old. :-)

Homeschooling friends are fun!

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Remember this post about my homeschooling space?  I thought I was done messing with it, but no ... not so.  My brain wouldn't deviate from wanting to improve it (believe me, I tried to stop).  So ... we had to go down to IKEA again because my hubby wanted a new frame for his new TV. You can see that "frame" over there (on my other blog) if you'd like, but this is about homeschooling so I won't waste your time on other stuff.

So, IKEA again.  I bought a few more things to make the shelf (which shall be called the Expedit 2x4 or just 2x4 from now on) more organized.  I'll have to buy the 4x4 Expedit shelf later when we had the other 2 children to our homeschooling mix, though!  When I do that, I'll bring the 2x4 upstairs, turn it on its side, put some short legs on it, and I'll have an amazing scrapbooking station.  Woo hoo! 

Here is our homeschooling corner of our living room:

I took this picture as I was sitting at our large homeschooling table - the IKEA Norden Gateleg (that has the two wonderful fold-down leaves).  See the paper that is yellow-stickied to the shelf?  That's week 17 of our Sonlight IG for P4/5.

So ... starting from the top, we have:

Our small CD player, my Aloe plant from Cathy (in a gigantic coffee cup pot!) and then in the top left is Alayna's workbooks and materials and the top right is Aaron's workbooks and materials.

The 2nd shelf is:

Core P3/4 (or Core A) and the right is Core P4/5 (or Core B).  Nicely color coded - Sonlight had me in mind for that, I think!  I should add that I have laminated all paperback covers and used dust jacket protectors for these books (Vernon Library Supplies) so that we will be able to use them for many more years and for more children!

Next shelves are:

Right and left are 6 bins from IKEA (Trofast).  They hold misc. art supplies, Math U See blocks, crayons, Handwriting Without Tears manipulatives, and blank and lined paper (for now).  I may move these things around when I get some construction paper.  The bottom 2 canvas bins are from Target.  Funny story about these .... I was looking through 1000+ pictures of Expedit shelves on Flickr and saw a picture of someone who used these bins and kindly stated where they were purchased.  I went to Target and picked up a few and WOW.  I LOVE THEM.  They fit the entire area of the cubby (approx 13.5 inches square).  They don't just fall out, you have to give them a little tug - which is GREAT because Maria won't be able to just pull them out and get into them!  THANK YOU to the person who posted that picture, without you, I would never have known.  The brand for them is called Itso.  Anyway, the red canvas has all of our educational Discovery Toys, and the blue canvas has homeschooling supplies such as the letter cards, etc, from Language Arts.

So, there you have it.

Everything has a place and that makes me extremely happy.  I am always much more productive when things are organized and clutter-free.  I love IKEA, Target (for the awesome canvas!), and my dear husband for indulging me in my organizational quest.  It may seem frivilous but when you live in a small home (approx. 1000 sqaure feet for 6 people) ... you need to maximize your space as best you can!  And if you want to see an example of that, be sure to see my other blog for the Expedit 5x5!   I had to strike a deal with my hubby for that.

Pictures of my precious ones actually using the space will be coming soon!

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Today Serena showed me how she can sort these pegs by color and by shape.  I love it when we get to do "school" together.  Usually I am busy reading instructions (for the older 2) in a workbook, or reading from a book, or doing a messy craft. 

What I love is that she could tell me the colors and the names of the shapes (except for the hexagon) - and I didn't directly teach her these things.  I remember trying so hard to get Aaron to remember his colors, by using crayons or colored blocks.  He didn't seem to care!  With Serena, she just picks this stuff up through everyday life.  It helps to have a big brother and big sister to teach you things, too!  She surprises me daily with the things she knows at age 2 - things that the older children didn't know at that age!  I have to stifle feelings of regret (because I was just so busy with 3 under 3 at that stage in our lives).  Anyway ...

Good job, Serena!  She wanted me to take a picture of her finished project:

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Way to go, Alayna! 

Her handwriting has come a long way!  Now on to Handwriting Without Tears Kindergarten!

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Apparently we've been a naughty homeschool group, because our first field trip was to the county jail!  This is a place that my husband is very familiar with.  I'll leave you with the assumption that he spends a lot of time there, ROFL.  What a bum.

Our entire family went, and even better, our best-friend-family (Cathy and her crew) were there too.  The plan was for the homeschool group to tour the jail, (led by one of the homeschool group's husband, who works there also) and then view a bloodhound and police dog demonstration. 

I had the camera at various times during our tour, so I can post a few pictures.

Here we are, walking down one of the long hallways toward the visitor's entrance of the jail.  At least we weren't entering through the "bad guy" entrance!

Here is Serena in one of the unoccupied pods, trying to make herself at home with the steel bunkbed.  This girl climbs EVERYTHING.

I really wish I would have taken more pictures.  The one way glass was very interesting to my older children.  Seeing actual people in the pods made "the jail" seem more real to them.  Our "tour guide" was very informative and took a lot of interesting and cute questions from the children, such as, "Do they get to eat here?"  I love the questions that children ask!   It was a good jail tour.

Okay, onto the outside portion of the field trip.  The first demonstration was by Custody the Bloodhound.  The "bad guy" ran off and she had to track him down.  I don't think they children were meant to FOLLOW the officer and her dog but they did and had a blast tracking down the bad guy, too!  My 2 ran up there with the horde.

Upon the bad guy's capture, he said they had to take him to jail because he cheated on his math homework!!!  ROFL!

Well, then the bad guy escaped, so they sent the canine officer after him.  Pictures tell the story!

Aaron said that this was the BEST FIELDTRIP EVER!  Not bad, for his first "official" field trip, I'd say!

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I haven't blogged about this on any of my blogs, but for the last few weeks I have been in a major organizing/decluttering mood.  Think "nesting", only for homeschooling, kitchen, and toy space.  What prompted this was the loss of our porch.  It gets too cold in the fall/winter/spring, and we're too cheap to heat it!  So our "3-season porch" is really a 1-season (summer), and when we cloesd it, I lost toy storage and study space. 

So, I've been on a mission.  I posted about it on the Sonlight forums and also did searches for organizational help.  I found many posts with IKEA products in them and so ... of course I had to plan a trip down (2 hours away) to IKEA.  Oh. My. Goodness.  What a store!  I could blog about it for days but let me just say that I was in heaven.

This is what my living room looked like before:

You can't see all of it, but there is a couch on the wall to the right and a loveseat to the left.  By the loveseat was another shelf of books.  The majority of our books were in the living room.  Toys were brought out and sometimes stayed for days, because they lost their play space in the porch.  We did our homeschooling on the kitchen table.  It was hard to do this for a number of reasons - but the big ones were that I always was cleaning something off the table to do the next thing.  Piles of schoolwork were accumulating, or magazines, or mail, or whatever! 

Here are some after pictures:

Here is our new homeschooling area!  We purchased this table from IKEA, called "Norden Gateleg".  It has 3 drawers on one side, and 3 drawers on the other.  This is plently big for the children to work on something on one side and me to work on my studying on the other side!  All of our homeschooling supplies are either in the drawers or they are in the shelf from IKEA, called "Expedit".  I could have purchased a larger one but I didn't want to overwhelm the living room.  I will probably buy another when I can because this wasn't big enough for all of our books!  So my books are upstairs, children's non-homeschooling books are in their room. 

Here is the best part ... when we are done with our schooling and studies ... I can do this:

Now the table doesn't overpower the living room!  We still have our couch and TV on the other side of thel living room but we put the loveseat in the porch for now.  Our living room was just too cluttered before, but now it is much more functional for what we need!  This will make homeschooling so much more streamlined.  I did buy a little table and 2 chairs from IKEA called "Latt" - this will be a great place for Serena to spend time on her "school" while I work with the older ones. 

I have other improvements for our home organization, but I will probably post them on my other blog - since this is my "homeschooling" blog. ;-)

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I love homeschooling.  Where else can I study (M-TEC, Medical Transcription Education Center), Alayna can do Handwriting (Handwriting Without Tears), Aaron can do Math (Math U See), and Serena can do Handwriting (the Handwriting Without Tears "stamp and see screen")?  It could only happen at home!

Alayna and I at the table, doing our studying ...

Aaron and I, doing more studying ...

Serena (who was next to me while studying), makes a B with the magnetic pieces!

I love it!  Praise God that He has equipped me to teach my precious children from home!

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Homeschooling has begun again!  Today is the end of our first week.  But, you say, it's Monday today!  Yes, it is ... I have decided to do our school days around my husband's work schedule.  He works 6 days and then has 3 days off, so the days that he has off always change.  Today is his last day to work, so it is our last day of school for the week.    It was too difficult to school on regular Monday through Friday days, because the activities on those days change from week to week! 

More later, as I have to make lunch, do some more schooling, and keep up with the other 2 blogs!  I've been busy, but I do want to share what we're doing with our schooling.  It helps me to see how far we've come, and if you people want to read, too - that's fine with me!

~Sarah

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I'm not leaving HSB.  I'm going to stay, and just post homeschooling stuff, and leave the other blog for whatever. :-)

I don't want to lose the friends I have made here!

~Sarah

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http://www.unlikelymother.blogspot.com

I don't stray too far from the name so it should be easy to find!  Please follow me over there while I continue to blog! 

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At Cathy's blog. :)

Win a baby-wearing stash! Click THIS link!

I love wearing Maria and I have also worn Aaron, Alayna and Serena.  I have pictures of my first "real" sling - a Maya Wrap ... Aaron as a baby in the kangaroo position ... then Alayna as a newborn in the wrap, all snuggly and sleepy.  Serena loved the Ellaroo, and then later different Mei Tais.  Maria loves the stretchy sleepy wrap and also MTs.  Woo hoo for babywearing! 

And because I can't resist posting without a picture ...

Goodnight Spidey!

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What a weekend.  It seemed to start on Thursday, actually ... Allen had trap league and we decided that we'd all go along.  It would be Maria's first time out there.  We were getting ready and realized that one of our children had pressed the lock button on the van.  And the keys were inside.  And we have no spare key.  GREAT.  However, Allen and I devised a plan and broke into our van (not literally broke!) and we were off - whew! 

Friday - "Family Days" in our small town begins.  Lots of garage sales, food and ice cream all around town, benefit fundraisers ... we did it all.  I went to the library's book sale and came home with about 50 books for $5.00.  Not bad!  Although, I did have 4 books in my box that I was really excited about - and when I came home, I realized that someone had rummaged through my box (with my big knitting bag on top) and picked them out of there!  The nerve!  But I my annoyance turned to excitement when I purchased a bookshelf for $1 at the library's thrift sale!  So now I have a place to store all the books - which is exactly what I asked of the Lord this morning.  "Lord, help me find some good books and a shelf to put them in!".  I guess I should have asked for divine protection around my books, too?!  Nevermind, it's not the end of the world (at least that is what I am telling myself!). 

Saturday - "Famliy Days" continues.  This day brought us free root-beer floats from the store, strawberry shortcake at the train depot museum, mini-donuts from the park ... and ... the pork roast fundraiser for the fire department.  Big deal around this family - as Allen is on the fire department and he spends nearly the entire day there.  We left him as the dinner was starting and walked, walked, walked ... ate ... walked ... and then my parents and brother rode bike from their house (an 11 mile journey!).  They had biked into a rainstorm and were pretty wet and dirty so we hung around here as we washed/dryed their clothes.  Then it was off to the pork roast fundraiser.  GOOD food, and yes, I know, I used to swear I'd never eat pork again.  But it's for a good cause!  We had a good time - my brother Kevin won over $100 in free golf in a raffle - that was pretty neat (as he's really into golfing right now).

Sunday - Allen played music in the nearby town's park with his family for a church service and then we left right after to head back to town for a chicken dinner in the park, put on by the chamber of commerce.  After that, Allen and the "big 3" (as I call Aaron, Alayna and Serena) went to the fire hall to get ready for the PARADE!  Aaron has ridden in a fire truck for the town parade ever since he was a toddler.  Last few years it was Aaron and Alayna, and this was Serena's first year to ride , too!  What pride - my "big 3" riding in a fire truck with Daddy driving!

Here we are, waiting for them.  Maria seemed to enjoy some of the parade!

Not bad, for her first parade!

And here they come - my adorable children in their matching shirts from Aimee!  I mention the shirts only because they were a lifesaver this weekend!  When your 3 children are at the park with 100 other children, it helps to be able to pick them out of the crowd! 

Isn't that great!  I love how they have matching stickers from Sheila Harsdorf (for State Senate)!  Apparently they are going to vote in November?  Serena was waving hers at me, saying, "LOOK, Mama!  A sticker!"  Anyway - they were waving wildly at me, throwing candy at me, it was a blast! 

Whew.  Anyway, after the parade was the petting zoo.  Baby bunnies are SO ADORABLE!  There were more animals - baby hedgehogs, racoons, sheep, goats, kittens, ducks ... but the bunnies stole the show.  SO CUTE.

Look at the bunny's face!  ROFL!  I felt sorry for them - all those children holding them.  But ... I had to take pics before I made the children put them down!

And a group shot ... bunny siblings and human siblings!

Whew again.  After this we walked around, went home, walked BACK to the park, walked around again ... came home and fell asleep.  Thank goodness that Family Days only comes around once a year! 

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