Just An Ordinary Mommy

Friday, September 28, 2007

Preschoolers are fun!

Raising Peanut has been different than raising my other girls. Not because she's adopted, but because she is such a tail-ender. My other girls were all born within two and a half years of each other, so they naturally played  together. It's different with Peanut. Tibs is just over 7 years older than her and Jellybean isn't home yet. Tibs and Peanut play very hard together most of the time, but there are days or times when Tibs just doesn't want to play. Those "empty" times are what has thrown me for a loop. It's taken some adjusting on my part, but I feel like we're getting there. I don't always have time to be a "sit down and play" mom, but I am trying to be more creative in helping Peanut learn to play independently. Here are two ideas we tried yesterday.... Recently I read in a book that preschoolers love to pretend paint. The book said to give them a bucket of soapy water and a large brush and to let them "paint" the front steps. I was doubtful that Peanut would really love this, but we got out the "paint" and I let her at it. Here she is intently "painting" (please excuse the "shirt", my dd's friend sewed it for her and she wouldn't take it off!)... I was surprised when this little girl sat outside diligently "painting" for an hour and half! Yes, an hour and a half!!! She had so much fun that she asked to "paint" again later in the evening. And the neat thing was, she was totally involved the entire time and intent on "painting" all the steps. While she was outside, I thought it would be fun to make her a batch of finger paint. I loved them when I was a little girl and this child is my artistic one. I've never actually "made" finger paint before, but I was game to try. It was surprisingly easy and the nice part is that the finished product is non-toxic and seems like it would clean up easily too. We didn't get to try them out yet since she was so busy "painting" the steps, but maybe today. Here's a picture of the finished paint... And here's the recipe (Taken from my Dining On A Dime cookbook): *1 pkg unflavored gelatin *1/2 cup cold water *1/2 cup cornstarch *1 1/2 cups cold water *liquid dish detergent *food coloring Dissolve the gelatin in 1/2 c. cold water. Set aside. In a medium saucepan, add cornstarch, then slowly stir in 1 1/2 c. water until well blended over medium heat. Cook until it boils, becomes smooth, thickens, and turns clear.  Add gelatin mixture and stir well. Pour into containers and add a drop of liquid dish detergent. Add food coloring until you get the desired shade. Store covered in the refrigerator 4-6 weeks. I'd LOVE to hear other ideas for preschoolers that use imagination! And just for fun, here's Tibs (right) and her friend (left) busy doing school together yesterday morning. It was so fun having this kiddo here for the last two days, and I'm going to miss "M" when she's gone!   Have a fun day in your neck of the country!! :)

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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Support and fun...

Last night we had our monthly Mom's Night Out. It's a wonderful time of fellowship and support that I try to never miss. We have a great group of mom's that homeschool in this area and I am amazingly blessed by them. We just kicked off another season, so it was so good to see all the faces of the women who've "grown up" homeschooling with me. We had a wonderful discussion on our motivation to homeschool. There's something very affirming to hear from mom's that are in the same place as we are regarding family and our kids. And like us, some also have children who attend traditional school. The thing with homeschooling is that it is always changing, and what a blessing that is! I love those moms and have learned so much from them. Hershey continues to work hard at Switched on Schoolhouse. It is a very challenging program, and she's eating it up. It's a new thing for her to get used to testing again. After she worked through learning the kinks in the program, she is consistently pulling good grades. It is not an easy curriculum, but she is doing a terrific job. Her favorite subjects are history and Bible. The wonderful thing about this program is that she is also loving a lot of things she never otherwise might. For instance, she learned to do base2 and base10 in math and was thrilled that she "got it"! She also finally caught on to the Periodic Table of Elements and how each is found and classified. Very neat for this mom to see her so "in" to this year! Tibs and I are both loving her Further Up and Further In unit study. I can honestly say this is the longest I've stuck with a unit study and the most I've ever liked one. And I am in love with this one! Further Up and Further In is very well written and is all inclusive. My favorite part is how it connects the Bible with the Chronicles of Narnia. I also love that before we read each chapter, Tibs is asked to define a couple of vocabulary words. The words are not easy ones, but are words like "ostentatious" and "onomatopoeia". The critical thinking and history are also terrific and I can honestly say I am in love with this program! Plus it doesn't hurt that the books are excellent! I am finally feeling comfortable with our routine and have started "formally" doing more preschool type work with Peanut. We are doing activities from Before Five in a Row, as well as doing activities that I print off from Enchanted Learning.  Today we made a Farm Animal book and it reminded me how much I loved doing lapbooks one year with Tibs and Hershey.  Tonight I started a Farm Animal lapbook for her. It's fun doing these kind of things again, and I have a feeling I'll have at least one other kiddo doing a lapbook before too long. ;) They are addictive! And now that we're getting comfortable doing school, we're about to add another toddler into the mix. LOL! I'm sure that will shake things up all over again. But then again, that's the spice that keeps our life from ever being boring! d:)

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