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Dangerous Wonder
Oct. 4, 2008
My First Lapbooks
With the buzz all about lapbooking floating around cyberspace, I thought I'd share with you my first lapbooks that I created a couple of years ago when I first heard about these new things!
I took some of the extra pages from our Pre-K/K workbooks that we were through with and put it all to use in a lapbook! You can do this too with all those extra pages that are too cute and too useful to throw away!
Alphabet Lapbook
This is the outside of my single file folder. I used scrapbooking paper and letter stickers.
This is the inside. Very simple, but cute for little people to use to learn.
I made a pocket with a brad for the tie fastener (ribbon) to keep it closed.
It holds the laminated Alphabet cards from the workbook.
This is an alphabet strip to pull out.
Fun accordian action for your little one!
Basic Zaner-Bloser Alphabet handwriting reference sheet I found online somewhere for free.
Numbers Lapbook
Picture from one of the workbooks glued on the front. This folder is not folded fancy, just left as is.
Here is the first inside section. The page with the kids on it is a workbook page with a cute song on it and it is glued to a piece of cardstock.
Simple pocket to hold the game pieces. You also see a simple number line above the pocket.
Cute game pieces from one of our past Math curriculums.
The second section of the lapbook. A one hundred chart, another number line and one more cute page from a workbook with a cute number song on it.
Underneath the 100 Chart are envelopes holding laminated number cards for a matching game.
Another number line underneath the first one and skip counting to 20. I used scrapbook number stickers.
So there you have it, 2 incredibly simple, yet functional and cute lapbooks that help the little ones learn their basics. I used everything I already had on hand floating around and needing a home in my homeschool land! It was a great recycling effort! I'm sure you all may have some of the same things lying around just waiting to be used! Oh, I feel so green! LOL!
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Jun. 23, 2008
History Pockets: Moving West Part 4
In the previous entry about Moving West, I shared about our last history group time together at a nature center. I know that we will be riding this time period of history for quite some time! Anyway, I wanted to continue sharing our projects and adventures we've had along the way.
One of the things we did was make cute wood models from Nature's Workshop Plus!
We made the incredibly cute covered wagon and the fort. We also have the log cabins but haven't made them yet. These awesome kits are inexpensive ($4.50 or $4.00 with purchase of 5 or more) and require wood glue and happy kids!
We placed a piece of wax paper on the table for each kid to work on so all that glue didn't stick to the table and other things.
Forming the box for the wagon.
DD9 with her wheels on the wagon!
DD5 holding the "tongue" of the wagon in place.
Cute wagon all done!
DS7 making his fort.
A steady hand and perfect amount of glue is helpful!
Isn't that cute!?! We had a really fun time making these simple projects and you can too! 
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Jun. 13, 2008
History Pockets: Moving West Part 3
Our long journey west was completed a few weeks ago. We were all very happy to finish this journey of 10 weeks together. We had tons of fun and loads of adventures.
Week 8 we studied the Gold Rush. The older kids "panned" for gold outside and did a few other activities. The younger kids hunted for gold in my home after we read stories, colored pictures and talked about fools gold and real gold.
True treasure in the hands of a child!
Week 9 we talked about homesteading on the prairie and I had the pleasure of teaching the older kids that week. I shared portions of a wonderful historical diary called Butter in the Well by Linda K. Hubalek. I had read the entire thing to my kids a few days before the class in 3 or 4 hours because it was so fascinating to all of us. They didn't want me to stop reading! I highly recommend it!
Our 10th and final class was about the Railroad expansion to the west! We talked about Casey Jones and John Henry and watched the classic Disney film about both of these characters. We also looked through a lot of books about trains (especially steam trains) and played with our Thomas the Tank train set and made a humongous track! It was a fantastic time with the little ones!
The final "program" for this year wasn't a festival like we have done in the past with the medieval and renaissance studies. We went to a nature center in a nearby city and explored with the nature center guide about pioneer life. There was a camp fire and hot dogs (before the rain down poured!) and then all sorts of fun with pioneer games and hands on learning. We made butter, saw baby chicks, touched turtles and bunnies and shared all our projects we had made over the previous 10 weeks. The dads and some grandparents were there to share in the excitement as well! It was a wonderful ending to a lot of learning!
 My ds and his friends around the campfire. I love this picture! It cracks me up!
Here's my dd5 (in brown dress) with some of her friends.
DD9 playing with a pioneer toy of some sort.
Our nature guide talking about bunnies.
DS7 playing with a noise maker.
DD5 wearing a dress I wore when I was little.
After the rain had cleared we headed out on the fishing dock.
Saw a rainbow!
An end to a wonderful time together studying the pioneers!
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May. 13, 2008
Chuck Wagon Cook Out
We've been studying the pioneers around here this spring. We enjoyed a "chuck wagon" cook out with our history study group. There were baked beans and bacon, johnny cakes and coffee and yummy biscuits! We also roasted hot dogs over the fire for good measure!
We also played a crazy game of Buffalo Hunter...a.k.a. Marco Polo... so the kids who were the hunters were blindfolded and the rest were the buffalo...very funny!
Here's one of our friends looking for some buffalo!
It was a fun day outside in our yard!
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Apr. 11, 2008
History Pockets: Moving West Part 2
Our history group has been going great and we have been having loads of fun. You can read my first entry about this group here.
Orphan Train
Our "Orphans" have been learning about where we live in the U.S. and learning more states as we travel west. We read the book Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney and then looked at an atlas to get a feel for using maps. We also have been using coloring pages and US puzzles to help build our geography skills.
To become more familiar with our own great state of Minnesota, we have been utilizing the fantastic curriculum called Minnesota for Mini-Sotans by Debby Anderson (she's usually at the MACHE conference) and we have also been using this great pdf coloring book from MN Dept of Natural Resources for learning our state symbols.
We are making a lapbook with the pieces we have been learning about in our History Pockets: Moving West. (click here to see part 1)
Here are some photos to continue our journey of making this lapbook.
Here is where we left off...
Now flip the yellow piece of paper to the right and you will find this...
The Small Journal was made out of black and brown cardstock and small pieces of paper bound together with some basic string from my kitchen.
I cut out the journal entries with my deckle (fancy) scissors and then inked the paper with a sponge and mustardy yellow ink to make it look old. My kids really got into that part!
Glued them on to the paper (I used the free mini-templates from notebookingpages.com) and then I just drew a basic picture that seemed to relate to the entry of "Kitty."
Here is my sons journal. He did a larger size (regular 8.5 x 11 paper folded in half).
Because of it's larger size, it was easier for him to draw inside. I absolutely love my kids pictures they draw! So incredibly cute!!! Oh I love my yummy kids!
Well, that's all for now! Keep checking back for more fun!
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Mar. 18, 2008
History Pockets: Moving West
The last 2 years we have studied Medieval and Renaissance time periods in the springtime and I have shared photos and articles of our fun here and here. I am just realizing that I didn't share photos from last years fun! Ooops! I'll post that after this post!
This spring, several families from our homeschool coop at church are studying the Westward Expansion of the U.S. every-other week. We are basing our study off of the curriculum,
History Pockets: Moving West
While this curriculum is for 4-6 grade, we are using it with 6-13 year olds. We are using it as a jumping off point with lots of other projects to go with it. We have downloaded the book for easy printing from our home computer over at CurrClick and are enjoying this series!
Here are some pictures of my oldest daughter's History Pocket in progress.
Pocket #1
Pocket #2
The concept of the History Pockets is fabulous. We have history facts, coloring sheets and other fun crafts in this series. My only draw back has been the sheer size of the pockets themselves. It calls for a 12x18 sheet of construction paper or cardstock/poster board that is folded 6 inches up and then is stapled to make a pocket. I have found that while it looks cool, the paper is easily torn if using construction paper and the size is awkward if you want to store it. So some of our creative moms have come up with using sheet protectors as the pocket and putting it in a 3-ring binder or just using a pocket divider instead of the sheet protector.
Our Study Group
One of our fabulous mom's who has spearheaded this study group for the last 3 years has come up with wonderful ideas to supplement the History Pockets as she teaches our group of kids. First thing she did was to have all of the children draw a pioneer name from a hat that was associated with a fictional family group. Now the kids are divided into family groups that they use during our 2 hour class time as their small group for projects and assignments during class time.
The first at-home project was to write an autobiographic journal of their fictional character as they make the decision to go west, during the journey and when they arrive at their destination. For instance, my son who is 7, is the 49 year old father of his family group. We laugh a lot when we think about it and as I help him journal. My daughter is an orphan living with her cousins. So we had to brainstorm together how she became an orphan and what her circumstances were. It has been loads of fun to be creative together and see what they come up with! This will be quite the treasure when we finish it!
The Orphan Train
At the moment, I am in charge of the younger siblings that can't quite hang in there for the older kids discussion and activities. We are calling them the Orphans or the Orphan Train as their family group. We thought it would be too difficult to keep track of their fictional characters at this age!
We have been reading picture books, playing with legos and puzzles, coloring, singing, learning some Spanish words from one of our bi-lingual mama's, and watching pioneer videos that pertain to the topic of the day. We are trying to parallel the older kids as much as we can to keep the family history project unified!
What I have done for the 4-6 year olds that are needing something just for them and more user friendly, because they can't read yet and worksheets are beyond them, is to make a lapbook out of the pieces in the History Pocket book. We are working on it and it is not complete yet, but here is the beginning stages of the design I have come up with:
Cover Page
#1 I used cardstock to mount the printables on for durability, but construction paper will work fine too. I also used clear packing tape on both sides of the flaps so it would not tear out of the lapbook. Everything else is glued down using a permanent glue stick.
#2 The first flap has the fast facts on the back. The history about Moving west (blue) is taped at the top of the page so it can flip up for our fun things underneath!
#3 I assembled the time line and put just the last of the 3 panels on cardstock so the other 2 can be pulled out to the side for a view of the entire time line. When book is closed the time line is folded up. The map is part of a worksheet in the Pocket #1 section.
#4 Now we are looking at the back of the Pocket #2 title flap (blue). The page is designed much like the first with the history of the New Frontier (green) taped at the top of the page.
#5 Notice that the green paper has another story on the back and is now flipped up. The yellow paper has one more story and is taped on the right-hand side so that it may open up and reveal what is underneath as well!
I have more to do for the next pockets and will keep you posted! My goal is to use one page of the file folder for each pocket. I will be adding folders to this project so we can complete it!
More pictures, more ideas! Keep your eyes on the horizon and we'll get there!
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Mar. 17, 2008
Homeschool Hockey
We finished our first ever season of Homeschool Hockey! This was a first not only for us, but for our new Homeschool Hockey group! They met one day a week for 1.5 hours of ice time. My ds couldn't skate very well the first few practices, but by the end, he said he felt like he was flying and forgot about his feet!
DD 8 (almost 9)
DS6 (almost 7)
My husband was thrilled that his kids could play just like he did at their age! He was also quite excited to see them in his old hockey jerseys from back in the day.
DD taking a break
DS and DH on the ice after practice. There were tons of dads that would take off work early to help coach these guys. So cool!
Being that this was a first for me with everything, the beginning of the season I was a wreck on hockey days worried that I wouldn't know how to help them put on their gear and how to orchestrate everything. By the end, I was a bonafide Hockey mom! Ha Ha! Now I just need to learn all the rules!
Our humongous hockey bag and gear!!!!
My brave son who now LOVES to play hockey!
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Jan. 4, 2008
A Moment of Spontaneous Learning!
On January 2nd of this wonderful New Year called 2008, I was getting ready for the day in my room when I heard this, "Shhhh.....be quiet. We don't want Mom to see this." Of course this received my immediate attention and I poked my head into the hallway and said, "You don't want me to see what?" All three kids had rather large pieces of ice in their hands. I couldn't figure out how they had these bocce ball sized ice things in their hands.
My oldest said that they had made water balloons the night before and put them in our garage overnight (clue as to how cold it's been around here lately!).
I had to stop and congratulate them for being curious and inventive and was quite pleased that they were doing "experiments" because they wanted to. You see, I had just been reading a chapter in the book Help for the Harried Homeschooler , by Christine M. Field, that was addressing this very spontaneous learning because of curiosity. I wasn't more than a few pages past this point when I heard my children's voices! Too funny!
Of course, the homeschool mom that I am thought instantly, "how can we capitalize on this?" It got as far as our bathtub with cold and hot water and then a spontaneous bath by the younger two.
Not bad for our first day of school since Christmas break! Albeit, we hadn't even begun school yet that early morning!
Balloons, water and sub-zero temperatures!
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Dec. 17, 2007
A Video To Make You Laugh!
Oct. 18, 2007
Pencil Blog Challenge
May. 29, 2007
Sewing 101
My daughter has been begging me all year to teach her how to sew on the sewing machine. Yesterday we went to the fabric store and got prepared for her first sewing lesson.
Yesterday I showed her step by step how to make the shorts she had picked out. (We had bought several different kinds of fabric to make her some new shorts.) So after she observed me from measuring, cutting, sewing and finishing the shorts, she was ready to tackle a pair today. This morning we cut out the shorts together and away we went. She did an awesome job! I am so proud of her!
The face of concentration....
look at that form!!!
ironing the casing for the waist band...don't burn your fingers!
"I can't believe I am doing this!!!" says dd8
look at her!!! she's so proud!!!
So there you have it! Sewing 101 project complete! I'm so glad we did this today! She is very proud and energized by her new skills she's developing!
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May. 18, 2007
Violin Lessons...Suzuki, traditional....other?
My big question at the moment is about violin lessons and what would be the best case scenario for everyone involved in our family!
My kids are 4,6 and 8 and could start violin with the suzuki method at a suzuki school. However, we would be out of the house 2 days a week just for that! 30 minute private lesson (per kid) and then group lesson 30 minutes away (each direction...sometimes 45-hour depending on traffic).
I know that most traditional teachers won't take kids until they are older, but I would like to start mine now. So I am gathering information trying to figure out how we can do this without the huge time commitment outside the house. I also play violin, but I wasn't trained with the suzuki method when I was young. I started when I was 10 or 11. I am contemplating teaching my kids myself....but I don't know if I am competent enough  ! I am sensing from the Lord that this is the direction I need to go in with them, but am really nervous about doing things correctly! I have done a lot of reasearch online about the concept behind the suzuki method and really like how it works. I also took my whole family (including my hubby) to the school some of my other friends take their kids to yesterday. It was a good feel for what suzuki training looks like. I also have put a hold on some books written by Suzuki at the library that I will be reading the next few weeks.
I would greatly appreciate any suggestions or comments about what has worked for you and your kids. I can't imagine that every homeschool family with violin playing kids started out in a suzuki school!?! Your input would be greatly appreciated!
Hope you all have a funny day!!!
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Mar. 20, 2007
New Sonlight Language Arts and other thoughts....
Well, all the buzz in the Sonlight world is about the new Language Arts program. Apparently Dr. Ruth Beechick was instrumental in getting this language program overhauled. I am most excited and most relieved to learn of this new improvement in the Sonlight world. I had a hard time this year wrapping my mind around the LA program with my kiddos. It seemed to be the thing that halted me the most...next to the instructors guide (IG). Okay...true confessions...read on...
With all my life lessons I have had this year, I have realized that my biggest challenge with homeschooling my precious children wasn't the program I was using, but the busyness of life I was attempting. I have blogged already about all the things I have cut out of my world to help curb my insane lifestyle of busyness. Now that I have come up for air and am assessing the damage done during my "life-lessons", I am realizing how much my world affects my children. From the state of cleanliness or lack of in the house to the running at break-neck speed from here to there. It all affects my kids ability to deal with stress, to focus on the task at hand, to answer respectfully, to be kind to their siblings, to have a servants heart, to use self-control....the list goes on.
My world is now refocusing to the way things should be. To slow things down and to get a grip on the things that were "flapping in the wind." The first thing that I have been striving for is control over the house. This, so far is ummmm.....needing lots of work. I realize how much I am scattered because of the state of things in this place. The next thing is regaining discipline in our lives and especially with the children. Yikes! So much territory to regain!!!! The next thing is control over school time...which is what I started this blog about....sorry about the tangent!
Sonlight was a brand new curriculum for our family to use this year. I wasn't real confident in the way things were supposed to be done when we started. So when my "insane busy" schedule started with all our outside commitments....this is when things started to explode for us. I basically shut down and couldn't wrap my mind around using this new "thing." I blamed the curriculum for a while, but then realized that it had a lot to do with me and my crowded brain. I couldn't think about lunch menus much less tackle a new way of doing school!
The Lord in His infinite wisdom has brought me to a place where I truly understand what it means to be dedicated to my family and to keep my priorities in place! There was a sermon a few sundays ago about marriage. One of the points was how our priorities need to be the following:
1. God
2. Spouse
3. Children
4. Vocation
5. Ministry
Basically, without this order, our world blows up and ceases to function properly. I don't know about you, but a lot of times #5 would take priority and then it would eventually mess everything up. Without God as my number 1 everything else falls apart. So my dear friends...I now am etching this priority on my brain so that I can keep first things first.
Another sermon that I heard this week by Dr. David Jeremiah was about how God put us on earth to accomplish certain things. Even though we are capable of doing lots of things, that doesn't mean we need to do everything. Just because we are able to do good things, doesn't mean that good thing is the best for our life right now. God has certain things for us to do and the rest is for someone else. So we must prayerfully consider what it is that we should be doing with our time. What does God want me to be doing with my time? I know without a shadow of a doubt that my job right now is to be the best wife and mother to my family that I can be. No one else can do that for me.My children need me. My husband needs me. This is the most important job in the world.
This week I am finally back to using my Sonlight core the way it is supposed to be used and the kids are loving school again. I am feeling good about what we are accomplishing each day and not trying to stuff too much in there because I'm feeling guilty about not touching all the bases! I know I am doing just enough for each day. I was questioning whether I would even do Sonlight next year. I was hesitant to recommend their curriculum....but now that I have my head where it's supposed to be, I can focus on the important tasks of life. I am very excited about the new LA program and pray that it will be a good fit for our family. The best part is that God is ultimately in control of our homeschool experience. He is our best resource, our best curriculum, our best teacher. May we all keep our eyes on Him no matter what curriculum we buy!
Thanks for stopping by! God bless you today!
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Feb. 27, 2007
Favorite History Curriculum
Today I am wanting to gain some insight on the vast amount of resources available for History. I am currently using Story of the World and some of Sonlight. I know there are so many good ones out there and am curious as to what you all have found to be helpful and enjoyable for all! My kids are still in the beginning stages of things, so early elementary comments would be helpful! thanks for your input!
So ladies....
"What's your favorite History curriculum/resource?"
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Feb. 19, 2007
Organizing theSchool Room
Keeping up with all the homeschool stuff everyday is enough to drive you nuts! Today I am featuring a few ways I have organized our everyday items.
First I'll start off with a wonderful idea from some ingenious mom that submitted this idea to Family Fun magazine or Parents Magazine. I can't remember where I saw it. But kudos to her! It's practical, it's cute and it works!!!
Simply stated, it is using an old muffin tin along with some mini plant pots from a superstore (I got mine at ikea). They fit nice and neat in each muffin cup and the color crayons look awesome!
My husband thought it wouldn't stay nice and neat, but we have had our crayons like this now for several months and ZERO catastrophes! The kids love being able to find the color they need right away instead of digging through broken crayons in one big messy plastic box.
Next on the list is our simple way of keeping our colored pencils within arms reach. Like every good homeschool family, we started the year with individual pencil boxes for the kids. Each had their own stash of everything. This proved extremely problematic, because inevitably someone was getting blamed for breaking someones crayons, pencils etc. Because we use colored pencils so much throughout the day I put an end to the chaos and used one of those cute tin pails.
Now we have 3 pails of pencils, colored pencils and kid scissors within arms reach and they look cute! We got our pails at the 1 Spot at Target a few years ago. Cheap and cute! Who could ask for more?
Math time in our family is loaded with manipulatives! We are in the early stages of math and the counters are essential to our fun! The kids love using them, but they also love playing with them. I always would get crazy when they would dump them all out together and mix them up. The tiny plastic bags they came in were nothing short of frustrating and prone to breaking... So I came up with the ideal system.
Durable, colorful, hard to open (for toddlers and preschoolers)...so there wasn't constant dumping, and the right size for each set! We got these really cheap at ikea. I used my Dymo labler so we knew what we were looking for. The kids and I both LOVE them!
Any trip to the Library always warrants 100's of books, or so it seems, for a homeschool family. For me to keep track of which ones are the Library's and not ours, I place them in a wicker basket in our homeschool room. The kids know this is the "hot-spot" for new literature. It's one of their favorite places to snag a book to look at throughout the day.
Now that my second child is in Kindergarten, I have found that it's harder to keep track of their school books. I tried having a shelf for them, but the workbooks and softcovers were always "slouching" and then falling over or off the shelf. Bookends haven't worked very well either. Then there is the inevitable pile of books ready to slide onto the floor. This system is the most common, but the biggest eyesore. So I came up with a new system for our family.
The super huge magazine holders from an office supply store are now keeping things confined and not spilling out onto the floor. I am a visual person and so this helps remind me what we have and haven't done today...I need to get a few more for all the various workbooks we go through. These work great for all kinds of books and workbooks, but don't work with 3-ring binders.
So there you have it! Some of my organization in our school room. Hopefully as the days go by I'll have more great ideas to pass onto you! If you have some favorite ideas please share them! Hope you all have a wonderful day!
God Bless!!!!
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Feb. 17, 2007
Learning the Hard Way...Again
During my time away from HSB, due to technical difficulties, I had some hard lessons learned...again. It seems that the Lord had to let me get in over my head again, to remind me why I shouldn't over commit myself.
It all started at the end of this summer. I was just ending an amazing summer with my kids. We had zero commitments (no sports, no classes, no lessons) and truly just played all summer. I had some of the most productive and clear minded times of my life. I was gardening and enjoying the simple life. I read books for myself and tried new recipes. I started wearing aprons and loving it! There was so much clarity of what a stay-at-home mother who loved the Lord and her family looked like. I could almost taste it everyday! The vision was clear and the air smelled great! I wasn't yelling too much and there was a peace about our world.
Towards the end of August, I decided that I could handle helping out at church some this year. I even decided to give a try to selling some scrapbooking stuff as an "added income" for our family. I pretty much thought I could accomplish anything! Then I thought about all the opportunities my kids hadn't had in a while, so we signed them up for dance class on Saturdays, swimming on Thursdays and of course AWANA on Wednesdays. I volunteered to teach K Sunday School every-other month and to be a room lead for the K Awana program on Wed. Hey, I was going to be there anyway, why not help out a little? Somewhere in the mix of all this we had to squeeze in school too! No problem I thought, we're flexible...we homeschool!
As you can see, we had a very full first semester of activities. We were going a million miles an hour, but in the process...I no longer was able to function. My summer time, apron wearing, peaceful home had ceased to exist. My kids were lucky to get pb&j or dino chicken for lunch. There were too many nights of cereal or eggs for supper (breakfast for supper is great every now and then...but all the time?). Too many mornings of underwear shortages and mismatched socks, not to mention, digging out stinky pants from the dirty pile (mountain) to wear. Yelling had taken over not because of my sweet children, but because my world was in total chaos and I was out of control. My mind was in survival mode and I was checked out. I'm not really sure how we survived to be honest.
"You were running a good race.
Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?"
*Galatians 5:7
I thought that every choice I had made was God honoring. They were all good things for my kids, my family and for the kingdom....or at least I thought. One nght my husband sat down with me and took a good look at me and said, "What's going on with you? What can I do to help?" I sat there at the dinning room table bawling my eyes out with my head in my hands. "I don't know..."
My husband gently helped me remember how "great" of a job I do of getting in over my head. He helped me to recall what we did before when I had been at this same spot. I found myself staring at this amazing life partner who wasn't going to give up on me because I had caused our home to explode and cease to function. I can't express to you how wonderful it was to not be blamed and scolded. Realizing that our marriage had grown by leaps and bounds the past 8 years was so calming. We were at a familiar place of crisis, but the tone and the way it was dealt with was so much different! Praise the Lord!
So he helped me to eliminate the things that I really didn't have to be doing or need to be doing. Which was almost everything that I listed above. Unfortunately, the time I wasted spinning in circles and causing my whole family to feel crazy is lost. But the good news is that the Lord is faithful, my husband still loves me, my kids aren't placing want ads for a new mom and I have been the recipient of an amazing amount of blessings since the decision to put my family ahead of busyness. My family is my most important ministry and everything else has to fall away. I was reminded of what is truly important. There are things the world says are important, and then there are the things that God says are important.
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
The you will be able to test and approve what God's will is --
His good, pleasing and perfect will."
*Romans 12:2
My calling has once again been emblazened on my heart. I have clarity of thought and have reaped the benefits of God's will already. I am no longer scattered and just surviving. The Lord has won a battle for me that I couldn't have done without him. I am forever grateful for ladies who prayed over me and for me, for my husband and kids who didn't give up on me and for a God who loves me no matter what.
Have I learned my lesson...again? You bet, and I hope I don't have to be reminded anymore!
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Nov. 26, 2006
Our First Swim Meet
Nov. 12, 2006
Frontier Technology Day
Sep. 27, 2006
Homeschooler's Survival Kit
We
were all handed a brown paper bag with a note attatched at our last
Homeschool Mom's meeting. The note was titled, "Homeschooler's Survival
Kit." Inside the bag we found the following things:
Rope - incase you get to the end of yours
Rubber Band - to remind you to stretch and grow with your children
Puzzle Piece - to remind you that you are an important piece in God's plan
Marbles - to replace the one you've lost
Candle - to remind you that God will light the way
Lollipop - to remind you that with God all your trials can be licked
Sweet Tart - to help you accept and appreciate the differences in each child
Lifesaver - to help you form drowning in everyday chores
Pencil and Eraser - to remind you that we are all sharp, but we all make mistakes too
Snickers - to remind us to laugh more and enjoy life
Penny - to remind you that God will supply all your needs
Have a super day!
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Aug. 23, 2006
My Favorite Pencil
Inspired by FaithfulGrace
and her contest about your favorite pen, I couldn't bridle my amazing
passion for my favorite pencil! I did have a hard time figuring out
what my favorite pen was, but I had absolutely no trouble with
declaring to the world what my favorite pencil is! Ladies and
gentleman, with no further ado, my absolutely favorite pencil in the
world is none other than.....
DIXON TICONDEROGA 1388-2/HB SOFT
You may be wondering what this wonderful pencil looks like, feels like,
smells like...believe it or not, I found 2 blogs reviewing this
wonderful pencil when I was looking for a cool picture to share with
you! These people express so beautifully what I am feeling for this
amazing pencil! The Writing Utensil Geek and Pencil Revolution
Wikipedia
even has an article dedicated to the Dixon Ticonderoga! But if you want
the full understanding of this marvel...go straight to the home page of
Dixon Ticonderoga!
You can even see how pencils are made! Great for a homeschool side project!
One of my personal favorite musicals and movies of all time even mentions the fabulous Ticonderoga in it's dialogue. Watch Bells Are Ringing
with Judy Holiday and Dean Martin! She talks about writers block and
sharpening her pencil down to the "T" of Ticonderoga...although if you
look at the words on the pencil, that's physically impossible to just
have the T left because of the way the letters are printed now. Perhaps
they changed the direction it was printed...hmmmm something to
investigate.
My children all have started their early writing
experiences with the "My First Ticonderoga" fat pencils. My only issue
with these is that the erasers are so huge and incredibly inviting,
that my kids pulled them off and then chewed on the metal part...what a
waste of a good eraser! The pencil still works though!
My
Dixon Ticonderogas are safely stashed for my personal use until the
kids get to the age where they can truly appreciate the feel and
importance of a wonderful pencil.
Well, this was probably
more than you ever wanted to know about the Dixon Ticonderoga 1388-2/HB
Soft. But aren't you glad you took the time to get a glimpse at my
obsession!? I don't know if I want you to answer that! 
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Jul. 27, 2006
It Has Arrived!
"What
has arrived?" you might ask? Our very first order from Sonlight
Curriculum arrived yesterday. I couldn't believe the mayhem we all
experienced! It was completely nuts the amount of excitement we all
shared! But this is a good thing...is it not!?
Before we could open any of the boxes, all chores had to be
finished...including mine! As soon as we finished our chores (quickest
I've seen in months) and as soon as I was done taking pictures of the
momentous occasion, I took that smooth black box cutter and slid it
through the packing tape. My stomach all full of butterflies for the
first peek at a mountain of new books and that first whiff of "new book
smell!" OH!!! It was glorious!
As I pulled book after book out of the box, I was enraptured with the
beautiful books that were now ours. The kids were instantly lost in
paging through each and every page of their new treasures.
 
As I went through the checklist to make sure everything was there, I
was stacking them up next to me. Unfortunately, I was stacking them
haphazordly and they fell over, but the second time I stacked them...it
was a very cool sight!
So now you can see why we were a little bit excited! I can hardly wait to start school!
This is the plan for the year so far:
DD 3.5
Sonlight PreK (I think she'll do this 2 years in a row)
About 3 Rod and Staff
Preschool Music Class, Gym Class at church coop (every other Wed.)
Awana Cubbies
Swim Lessons
DS 5.5
Sonlight PreK
Sonlight Language Arts K
Art Class, Spanish Class and Gym Class at church coop
Awana
Swim Lessons
DD 7.5
Sonlight Core 1 + Science 1
Sonlight Regular Readers 2
Art Class, Spanish Class and Creation Science Class at church coop
Piano Lessons
Awana
Swim Lessons
We are currently doing J. Fulbright's Botany and will continue that till we are done.
Will finish what we have left of year 1 math from Moving with Math and then switching to Math-U-See when finished.
We are also finishing up the first year of First Language Lessons for
the Well Trained Mind and continuing with The Ordinary Parents Teaching
Guide to Reading.
Trying to figure out if I should go ahead and get the Sonlight Language
Arts program for DD 7.5. Wondering if I should get the Language
Arts 2 that correspond with the readers (which she is almost ready for)
or if I should do Language Arts 1 and use the Level 1 readers so she
gains confidence in her reading skills. She's kind of stuck inbetween.
Tail end of Level 1 and almost ready for Level 2. Any
Sonlighters...feel free to give me your 2 cents!
Well, that's the game plan for now! Hope you all are getting excited
for the fresh start that September brings! Blessings to you all!
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Jun. 2, 2006
Check This Out!!!
May. 21, 2006
Middle Ages Festival
May. 12, 2006
A Little Project
May. 4, 2006
Middle Ages Project
We
have been studying the Middle Ages with a small group of homeschoolers
from our church this spring. It has been a lot of fun and we are now
approaching our final gathering. We are bringing all our projects to
display and have invited the dad's to join us over the lunch hour. It
started as something simple...but now we have decided to do a full
blown extravaganza! We are going to be having a Medieval Festival!
The kids each got to pick what type of character they wanted to be. My
daughter wants to be a princess/merchant/dancer! LOL!!! Why not!
So my dd is making crochet chains to be sold as Medieval belts. The
mom's decided that our currency was going to be in Starburst candies.
The kids thought that was even better than real money! My dd and
another girl are sharing a merchant booth where they will be
knitting/crocheting and then taking a break to dance some! Too cute!!!
My ds of course wants to be a knight! The boys who are knights are
setting up a tournament of sorts with jousting and archery and chess (I
think!). They will be "jousting" from scooters with wrapping paper
rolls! This should prove to be very entertaining!
All the moms are making baked goods for the food booths and we all have
to come up with some sort of costume! It is going to be a fantastic way
to end our unit study of the Middle Ages! I love letting the creative
juices flow!!! The kids are so excited and inspired! Yippeee! I LOVE
HOMESCHOOLING!!! I'll make sure to take some pictures so you all can
see how much fun we had!
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Apr. 10, 2006
Beautiful Morning!
We
finally have had some beautiful weather! This morning as we bid my
parents farewell, the kids and I were excited to spend some time in the
gorgeous outdoors! My youngest wanted bubbles and before you could
blink an eye we all were in a frenzy of blissful bubble blowing! Oh,
how I love spring! The kids took turns drawing the beginnings of our
bulb flowers popping out of the ground and I showed them the buds on
the trees. It was a beginning to a Charlotte Mason sort of day. Yeah!
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Apr. 8, 2006
Grandparents to the Rescue!!!
Yesterday
I was teaching my daughter the days of the week. She was having a hard
time focusing and was getting the order all mixed up. I was a little
frustrated about her lack of focus...but it was mainly because my
parents are here visiting for the weekend. Anyway, they had planned on
giving me an afternoon break by taking just the girls to IKEA for the
afternoon. This was a fantastic time for my son to rest and chill out
without so much commotion and for me to actually vacuum and pick up a
little. When they got back they announced that they had made up a song.
Great! I thought! Then they sang it to me. It was awesome! They made up
a little song for my daughter to remember the days of the week in
order. It was fantastic! Very catchy too! So my parents came to the
rescue in several ways yesterday! Praise the Lord for family!!!! I just
wish they lived closer for times like this!
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DD7 as a merchant
DS5 as knight (& DD3 as a princess)
prepared to joust
