First week of Homeschool

Our first week of homeschool went well. I was waiting until this week to take out a lot of the "real" learning materials. My goal last week was to get into the swing of things. Both the girls loved having projects to do. Amelia showed she was VERY interested and wanted more more more school work! I knew she needed some challenge and was getting bored (ie. in trouble a lot). We did apple seed counting, apple printing with tempera paint, apple cupcakes, and a few letter A activity sheets for Amelia.

Pre-K Homeschooling- Getting Ready

I have been looking forward to this school year now that Amelia is 4 years old and is ready and excited for some more formal schooling. Four year olds tend to have developed the fine motor skills needed for writing and coloring and a greater attention span to participate in teacher (mom) directed learning experiences. I ordered several curriculum components and they are finally here!!!

Funshine Express is a theme based preschool program that comes with lesson plans, craft kits and learning center games. The first theme is Leaves and Trees. It incorporates science, social studies, art, music, math and early literacy. We will begin this the first week of September.

Handwriting Without Tears is a multi-sensory handwriting curriculum that is widely used throughout the country and has won many awards. I will be using it in conjunction with our phonics lessons. Some of the materials include a magnetic Stamp 'n' See Screen, a slate chalkboard, wooden pieces (big line, little line, big curve, little curve) to build letters, Roll-a-Dough set to make letters with playdough, and a really neat workbook designed to be used with a crayon. She will begin with a pencil in Kindergarten for the next level. If you are interested look it up online for better pictures of the materials http://www.hwtears.com/.For letter sounds/phonics I will be following the Montessori approach introducing letter sounds through the use of sandpaper letters, beginning sound tubs(below), initial consonant picture cards. As she learns the letter sounds we will begin learning how to sound out CVC words (Consonant-vowel-Consonant) such as cat, pig, hat etc...sight words, blends and digraphs will come next. Of course, this will not all be during her Pre-K year. But that is the neat thing about homeschooling. There is no pressure to go at a certain pace. We can go as fast or slow as she needs providing the right amount of challenge.
I also wanted to do a Bible curriculum with the kids. I know what I am going to use for the elementary years. However, I think this one is perfect for preschool. It has a CD with great songs, puppets (not shown below), activity sheets for Amelia, verses to memorize, flannel board stories etc...
WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO A GREAT YEAR HOMESCHOOLING!!!

The Summer in Pictures

I haven't made a post all summer so I thought I would catch everyone up through pictures. These are in no particular order by the way...

11 Year Anniversary

Lots of Game Nights

Garage Sale

33rd Birthday!

Turtles in the Pond

Fourth of July
Zoo

New Harley Motorcycle
Sprinklers

WE HAD A GREAT SUMMER AND I HOPE YOU DID TOO!

Suzuki XL7

For those of you who don't know, our 1999 Explorer broke down. It has been a very reliable vehicle for the past 6 years, but we were noticing things that were starting to go wrong. Mostly little things that were going bad (door locks/handles/latches). However, a couple of weeks ago something major went wrong. I think it was something with the gaskets or the engine head. Anyway, it was going to be very expensive to fix so we decided to look for another vehicle. We found this one (This is the website pic. Ours is the same color and model) at CarMax. It is a 2008 with 5500 miles. It seats 7 (which was important to me) and we got it for $16,995. We think it was the perfect mix of style, comfort, size, and price. Stan says it is a girl's car and we have gotten several comments on how "cute" it is. LOL. So he says it is my car and he is holding out for a Motorcycle!

Happy Birthday Amelia

We celebrated Amelia's 4th birthday on Saturday. She chose "Cinderella" as her theme. We had a lot of fun. She got a huge set of bubbles and we all had so much fun outside with them. I will post quite a few for you to see. Thanks everyone for an awesome birthday for our little Amelia!

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

Mada is very independent and likes to work on getting dressed and doing things on her own. Usually she is very patient with herself and doesn't get frustrated easily. I found her sitting on the floor working on buckling her shoe so I got a picture when she wasn't looking.

Lilac Bush

Recently, the neighbor across the street offered me one of her Lilac bushes from her backyard. I found out she is a professional gardener. I suppose that is why her front garden looks so beautiful. So, I planted it in a sunny spot near the pond. Amelia took a picture of me as I dug the hole. Lets hope it lives!

Pretending with Money

The girls had a lot of fun exploring their pretend money on one of our recent rainy days. They stacked the coins and bills, put it in their purses, and made trips to the grocery store (pantry) to buy food. They are already forming early concepts about how money is exchanged for goods and services. As they get older, Stan and I plan to teach them about spending wisely, giving generously and saving for the future. There are some really great resources out there.

Geography Books

Today we got some of our homeschool materials in the mail! In the fall we will begin Pre-K for Amelia. These are the Geography books we will be using this year. As we get more of our books and supplies over the next few months I will post them as well. The girls were so excited, and Amelia is asking more and more about her homeschool.

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth day and we have been working on some art to go along with the books we have been reading. We painted paper plates in blue, green, and white to represent the water, land, and air. We also made contact paper globes using torn paper( blue, green, brown, newspaper). The book you see on the left called "The Tree in the Ancient Forest" was purchased long before we had the girls on a trip to Yosemite National Forest. On Earth Day, instead of thinking along the lines of global warming and other things "Al Gore", we focus on appreciating and caring for the beautiful earth God created. It is far more important for children to connect with nature in their everyday lives than to teach them about how to save it. On this Earth Day take time to listen to the birds chirp, watch how the wind moves, and be thankful for the rhythm of the seasons.

What a Fun Evening

It's always fun when an unplanned evening turns in to a memorable one. When Stan got home from work last night he was really tired so he took a cat nap while the girls and I went to get some dinner. After dinner I took the girls to the new play area at Sedgwick County Park. I heard it was cool but, WOW! It really was well done. The best one I think I have been to. It was also VERY packed. People were everywhere (including a few large groups). It was worth it though. Amelia and Mads didn't seem to mind. Of course I forgot my camera so I don't have pictures. On our way home we stopped by the gas station near our house and Stan and Murphy walked over to meet us. When we got home we hung out on the porch on this beautiful evening. Amelia wanted to climb the tree followed by Mada, so everyone got their turn. What a wonderful time we had. The simple things in life are often the most fun.

Sunflower House

This is one of my favorite books for spring/summer. We read this book together and painted sunflowers with real seeds in the middle. The girls really enjoyed it.

Flowers

Mada picked some of our "flowers" she found outside. Some might call them weeds but we call them beautiful!

Girls New Room

We have been working on setting the girls up in the bigger bedroom downstairs. Mada will be transitioning into a big bed soon. Their other bedroom was just too small. It has been a slow process...we just haven't found any blinds that will work for all 7 windows. And we still need to buy Mada's bed. However, they are all moved in and Stan and the girls piled on the bed to relax.

Putting Clothes Away

Continuing with my posts on teaching my children life skills, I decided to discuss the work Amelia (almost 4) is doing. She has started putting her own clothes away...mostly pajamas, underwear, and socks. After I have folded the clothes on the dining room table, I call her to put her things away. Today she gathered them on her ride-on toy and rode off to her room, happily placing each item in the correct spot. Pajamas and bottoms go in the dresser drawers, tops and dresses are hung on a low bar, and socks and underwear go in separate baskets. Hanging the kids clothes on hangers in actually new to us. I used to fold all their clothes and put them in drawers. However, as the kids have gotten bigger, so have their clothes and they no longer fit in the small dresser. Instead of buying a larger one (which we really don't have room for) I decided to buy some small hangers for tops. We have been using this system for a couple of weeks and it seems to be working well. Amelia complains once in awhile about having to stop playing to put her clothes away, but she is catching on to the fact that this is just a new responsibility in her life and is for the most part openly accepting the idea.

Garage Project Complete

Spring cleaning is well under way and the Garage was one of the major projects on our list. We did a big garage organization day in the fall, however, over the winter things just got thrown in and it was hard to even walk around! I knew as soon as spring came we would pull everything out and start over. So yesterday was that day. It feels great to check it off the list. The top picture is the before and below is the after.

Garden Tools

The girls have been excited to start helping outside, however, all of the tools I use on a regular basis are too big for them to use. I have decided to start putting some things together that are child-sized so they can help out on jobs in and around the house. They recently got some garden carts and "real" metal and wooden tools to use outside. We were ready to get out there on this beautiful spring day and try them out!

Purposful Work for Children

My kids are always wanting to help out with real jobs around the house. They are at the prime age when helping me around the house is lots of fun for them. Instead of being irritated by them "slowing me down", I have decided to embrace this time and organize some jobs that they enjoy doing. For Easter, my mom got them some garden carts and "real"metal and wood yard tools. They are so excited the rain finally stopped and a beautiful spring day is upon us. We are ready to get outside and use the new garden tools. As I put together more jobs for the girls to do around the house, I will post them as well.

Easter

We had Easter dinner and an egg hunt (inside because of the rain) on Sunday evening when Stan got home from work. Alina was in charge of the egg decorating. She set up the materials and helped Amelia and Mada decorate their eggs.
Celia made the ham and green bean casserole. Grandma Sally made the dessert.I made the potatoes, corn, and rolls. My mom made the jello salad. Anita made deviled eggs and puppy chow (our favorite holiday treat). Everyone pitched in for a delicious meal! Hope everyone had a great Easter!!!