When you wake up in the morning...

And See This...

All you can do is laugh. No damage was done and it looked as though it was young kids because none of the toilet paper was thrown very high into the trees. I showed the girls when they woke up. Amelia(4) stared for a moment and said, "Mom, why did you do that?". Mada(2) said, "Is it snow?"

We did get the ladder out and Stan climbed some trees.

And everyone helped pick up the mess.

I took pictures but did my fair share of clean-up too.

It seems strange, but it was actually kind of fun. We all went outside, rallied together as a family and got the job done!

Here we go to the Pumpkin Patch!

We had a great time at Applejack Pumpkin Patch this afternoon! They had a lot of fun activities for the little ones to do... and they have a military discount...HALF OFF! What a blessing! This is the first day we have seen the sun in about a week so it was a great day to get out of the house.

The kids took turns in the pumpkin face cutout.

The playground had an airplane that was quite a hit.

Here the kids rode on the Barrel train.

See that BIG slide behind Amelia? She went down all by herself--twice! I went down with Mada once too.

We saw chickens, goats, bunnies, sheep, and alpacas.

And finally, we picked our pumpkins out at the patch. It was a little muddy but not too bad.

What a fun day it turned out to be!

Making them Pretty

I wanted to make my Workboxes look nicer and to differentiate between the boxes for the two girls. They each chose a scrapbook paper pattern, and I used contact paper to attach the paper and number to the inside of each box. I am happy with the outcome.

A Few Highlights From Our Day

I just wanted to post some pictures of a few of the activities we did today. This was Amelia's first "real" puzzle. It was a 25 piece jigsaw puzzle. When she saw it she eagerly took out all the pieces. We talked about looking for clues and puzzle strategies such as looking for the corners and borders first and looking for colors/patterns in the emerging picture. (I actually surprised myself...because I REALLY don't like puzzles! LOL!) Out of all the activities she did today I would say this was her favorite and the one she was most proud of. This puzzle is dedicated to Aunt Celia...the puzzle master.

She sorted her sound tubs like a Pro on this "T" chart.

Mada worked hard and concentrated on her work with pattern blocks for a good amount of time this morning. She matched colors, sorted by shape, and stacked them in piles. All of this was by her own initiative as I only provided the materials and allowed her to explore them however she wanted. I feel deeper learning takes place when a child is able to investigate it themselves first without my superficial "teaching" (especially at this young age).

Our First Day with Workboxes!

Our Workboxes are ready to go. I wasn't planning on filling Mada's boxes, but I could already see Amelia being protective over her work and Mada crying because she didn't get to do it. For now I think I will keep Mada's boxes the same for the whole week and change Amelia's out every day. The only thing I still plan on doing is adding a label to each of the boxes so the girls can easily identify their own boxes. However, I did not get that done yet.
Here is a peek into our first Workboxes...
Amelia (4 1/2)

Sound Tubs for letter sorting

Puzzle

My Five Senses Folder Game and Book

Handwriting Without Tears Letter Building

Pattern Blocks and Cards

Read Book

Art Project from Funshine Express

Reading Lesson

Mada (2 1/2)

Sound Tub

Color Wonder Pad with Markers

Pattern Blocks

Cutting Work

Chalkboard w/ chalk

Puzzle

Mr. PotatoHead

My Five Senses Book

Today we have been working on a "My Five Senses" book to go along with the Funshine Express curriculum we have been using. It was a lot of fun! Here are a few pictures of her work.

Workbox Setup

Okay, I finally have my Workboxes set up. I am using a shelf I already had along with the clear Sterilite boxes. In my set-up I have enough room for 16 boxes which will be way too many for my young ones. So I decided to split the shelf up...8 for Amelia and 8 for Mada (when she is ready). I really think that will be more than enough for individual work. We will probably end up combining our morning work when the kids get older and then moving on to Workboxes for individual work. So all in all, I only spent $16 to get the system up and running. I will update the blog as we try them out.

Passport to the World- Me on the Map

Our first lesson began at home by reading "Me on the Map". It is a really great book to introduce the abstract concept of maps to young children. After reading the book (I should mention Amelia could read quite a few words including the title. Yipee!) we found our country and state on the map. We then made a notebook page about Kansas. Here are some close-up photos.

Passport to the World- Introduction

I have been working to put a literature/geography curriculum together for Amelia and it has been going VERY slowly. However, I think I might be on a roll now. Here is the overview of what I plan on doing.
This curriculum is designed for Pre-K/K and could be used over an entire school year. You may notice it has the flavor of several different curriculum sources including FIAR and Winter Promise: Animal Worlds. I had considered using these, but after much research I decided this year I would fly by the seat of my pants and create my own.
My key resources will be a world map (I am using a placemat size right now), a children's atlas, "Children Just Like Me", "Around the World in 80 Tales", "Wee Sing Around the World", and the "DK Animal Encyclopedia".

I will use these resources throughout our entire study and they will be useful throughout our homeschool journey as well. We will start here at home and move out into the world traveling to each continent one at a time through songs, literature, and hands-on crafts. I also plan on creating a notebook with Amelia to document our journey.

During each continent study we will:

1. Find the continent on the map and globe in relation to where we live; look up the continent in the atlas, briefly reading the captions and pointing out interesting facts.
2. Introduce a country by reading a picture book about the area, color the countries' flag, create a picture tour of the country, and explore any other important concepts from the book. (Usually 2 countries per continent)
3. Read some traditional stories from the continent.("Around the World in 80 Tales".)
4. Listen to music from the area. ("Wee Sing Around the World", organized by continent).
5. Do an art/craft using "Global Art" (which is organized by continent).
6. Learn about the people of the area using "Children just Like Me".
7. Focus on an animal habitat from that continent and learn about the animals who live there. Choose one animal to focus on and read about in the "DK Animal Encyclopedia".

I hope some of this makes sense. If not, I hope our studies will shed some light on this description as I document our journey around the world over the course of the year!

Grocery Store Organizer

I have had an ongoing silent battle at the grocery store. It doesn't matter how many ways I have tried to organize my things in the grocery cart, it seems like my list falls to the floor, the total on the calculator gets cleared, and I am scrambling to find my coupons at the checkout stand. I have brain stormed possible ideas to keep everything in place as I shop...but have always come up short. However, I was at Hobby Lobby the other day and saw this little organizer.

My first thought was how it may solve my grocery delimma. It is small enough to fit in my purse and includes a built in calculator, pen, and small notepad--All this for $1.99. For that price it was worth a try. Here is a picture of the front and the inside all ready for a trip to the store.

An Autumn Welcome

This weekend was beautiful! I spent some time in the garage sorting and organizing. While I was at it, I also pulled out some more fall decor. Here's a look...

Workboxes- In the Beginning there Were None

I am trying to find a really good way to get all of my homeschooling resources together and easily assessable. This is not an easy task as we do not have a lot of storage space, but I am determined to figure it out. First of all, I am planning on implementing the Workbox System soon. I started reading about it on blogs last spring when many homeschool moms were "bit by the Workbox bug". (Here is one of my favorites and here is the traditional set-up the book reccomends) However, I thought I would wait until next year when Amelia started Kindergarten to implement the system. A few things have occurred to make me reconsider and start sooner than I originally planned.

1) Amelia wants more "school work". We always do our reading lesson and a craft or worksheet, but oftentimes I don't have a lot of other things ready for her.
2) I am a former Pre-K and K teacher (before I had kids) and have a lot of resources in the garage that would be perfect for her to use right now. However, they are packed away and not easy to get to.

WHAT A WASTE! What am I doing letting all those resources sit in the garage collecting dust while my 4 1/2 year old daughter wants more things to do? A call to action is in order. As so many other moms have raved, the Workbox System has allowed them to be more organized and provide more variety in their activities each day. It sounds like NOW IS THE TIME to implement it. I will post a detailed description of our workboxes once I purchase the needed items and get it all set up. But first, I need to get out into the garage and organize all those learning materials so I can easily get to them and fill those boxes.

Oh, I did organize the craft closet(pantry) and will add to it as I come across more in the garage.  Here is a look at what I have done so far.

Fall Makeover

Do you like my new blog makeover? I edited my HTML and set it up pretty easily...and free! I found my background at Simply Chic Blogs. They have some really cute backgrounds for different holidays and seasons. I thought it would be fun to "decorate" my blog for the changing seasons too!

Happy October Everyone!

OCTOBER

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

Tomorrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow.

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,

Beguile us in the way you know.

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

one from our trees, one far away.

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes' sake, if the were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost--

For the grapes' sake along the wall.

  -Robert Frost