Our Advent Experience... The Conclusion

This was the best advent project we have done!!  My kids loved it and even my husband thought it was great!  I think my kids learned a lot from it and are asking if we can do it again next year!  That makes me one happy mamma!   

You will notice that day 23 is missing, we were not able to compete that one.  It fell on a Sunday and we had a Christmas that evening, but the craft was making scented ornaments, which we may still do at some point.  I hope you all had a great Advent season and will continue to praise our Savior all year long!  

Who Homeschools?

A few months ago I ran across this blog that was doing a series on "Who Homeschools?"   I thought it sounded really cool!  So I started reading all the submissions and I was amazed at all the different backgrounds, philosophies, and styles of homeschooling.  I was thankful to read that no two were exactly the same.   I had been feeling a little uneasy about some decisions we had made curriculum wise, and with this being our first year we are still feeling it out.   So there was great comfort in knowing that no two homeschools are alike, and its ok to do it your own way!

Since reading some of them I have been encouraged and found some new ideas.  So I submitted my interview, and guess what... its up for you to read today!!  So hop on over to Hammock Tracks, and read my interview!  While you are there go ahead and check out the other interviews as well, you never know what new ideas you might find!

Our Advent Experience...Week 2

I am so happy about how our journey through Truth in the Tinsel is going!  The kids are having a wonderful time and its a great time for us as a family to focus on the true meaning of CHRISTmas!  So this week we have done day 7 through day 14.  The only day that I had trouble with was day 10, we were making a pillow to stand for Joseph's dream, that craft threw me for a loop!  For some reason I could not get the picture given and the actual thing to look the same!  I am a very visual learner and that was not getting into my head!  Somehow I managed to get it and it turned out pretty good.

Add caption

Add caption

 One thing I have noticed is that the tree we chose to put our advent crafts on is not big enough!  We are running out of room, but I was only intending to make one craft per day and we are making two (1 for each child).  So instead of 24 crafts on our little tree we are going to end up with 48!   There you have it our week 2!

Our Advent Experience... Week 1

This CHRISTmas season we will be focusing on the true meaning, which is celebrating our Saviors birth!  Every year I get these grand ideas about what we should do to get our focus on Jesus, and every year we get about half way through the Advent season and drop it!  I was determined NOT to let that happen this year!  I didn't really look very hard, or spend a lot of time researching Advent activities, I just saw this one and decided that is what we will be doing.  So I bought the eBook and began gathering our supplies.

We are using Truth in the Tinsel by Amanda White, she created this awesome Advent eBook!  Each day there is a scripture to read, and a craft to make.  The best part I think is that you can just read it right on your iPad, or ereader!  I actually printed it out though, because I still like to have a hard copy in my hand.  I love it because it really focuses on each aspect of Christmas.  She originally created it to be done with her kids, who I believe were 3 and 5, so that is where the crafts are focused, meaning they are simple and easy to do.  BUT I did hear that kids as old as 13 and as young as 2 were doing and enjoying them.  She also has ornaments that you can print out if you are not wanting to do the full craft, the kids can just color them and hang them up.

I think I have said in the past that my kids are not crafty!  They really don't like to just sit down and work on "crafty" projects!  So I was a little hesitant, but I figured whether they do the craft or I end up doing it they will still get the message from the scripture reading.  So I planned on just making one craft per day, instead of letting them each do one, thinking that they could just take turns working on it.  Much to my surprise on day 1 I asked Noah (he is my less crafty kid) if he wanted to make one too, and he said he did!  We are on day 6 now and he has enjoyed every single craft we have done so far!  This is just amazing!  So I can tell you that this is a fun engaging process that even reluctant crafters can do!  Here is what we have done this week:

You can still jump on the bandwagon and get started!  She has different ways in the book to go through it.   If working on it everyday is overwhelming, then you can just pick a few days to do, and she has a schedule worked out for that!

Our Christmas Gifts

This year for Christmas I wanted the majority of the gifts received by our children to be educational toys, for use in our homeschool.  So after months of scouring the internet and seeing tons of GREAT list ideas, we narrowed it down!  Here is what my children will be getting for Christmas this year.  Most of the products we ordered from Amazon, before Thanksgiving.  The books we ordered from Christian Book Distributers.  Just a side note they will be getting other things as well, but these are just the ones that we will mainly use in our schooling.  

Elijah  Age 8:
Learning Resources Creative Color Cubes
Rubiks 360
Encyclopedia Brown 6 Book Set


Noah  Age 5 (right after Christmas):
Eureka Tub of Letters
Lauri Tall Stacker A-Z Pegs
Learning Resources Easy Grip Tweezers
Will God's Mighty Warrior

Zach Age 16 Months:
Melissa and Doug Geometric Stacker
Melissa and Doug Shape Sequencing Sorting Set
My ABC Bible Verses
Leap Frog Chat and Count Cell Phone
Wedgits Deluxe Set- 30 Pieces



Family:
Quirkle
Do You Know Bible Trivia Game

There will also be some Lego sets thrown in there along with some Transformers!

Now if I can just figure out how I am going to store all of this!  I think I see some New Years organizing coming my way!

Our Preschool Program- Part 2

In the last post I pointed out how we got to where we are in our preschool curriculum, you can read that post here.  This time I am going to share a little about how I do the planning for Noah's preschool.

First here is the list of what we have done/ will be doing this year:

October 1-5:  The Very Hungry Caterpillar

October 8-12:  Fall

October 15-19:  Pumpkins

October 22-26:  More Fall and Pumpkin activities

October 29- November 2:  Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See

November 5-9:  Turkeys

November 12-16:  Thanksgiving

November 19-23:  We were on Thanksgiving Break

November 26-30:  The Lorax

December 3-7:  Gingerbread Boy

December 10-14:  Polar Express

December 17-21:  Christmas/ Advent/ Nativity

Then we will be on break until after the first of the year.  I have yet to plan for the winter/spring.  

Now I will explain a little bit about how I plan.  First I start by looking at my calendar, and writing out the weeks that we will be in school.  Then I decide if I want to include holidays/ seasons.  Once I have figured out the dates and what holidays there are, then I search for some packs that look fun or that I think will interest Noah.  Once I have found the ones that I want I will download and save them to my computer, so when it is time to use them, all I have to do is print them off and we are ready to go!  For some of the activities I will go ahead and laminate them, so I can use them again when Zach get to preschool age.  

When it comes time to use the pack, I will print out a lesson plan sheet and fill it in.  Here is the one that I use from 1+1+1=1.   I use each row as a workbox, that way I know what goes in which box.  Right now we are just using about 6 boxes a day.  I am lucky if I can get him to finish those!  Every night I will just go and refill his workboxes with the next days work and we are all set to go.  

When I first began printing all of the packets I really had no idea where or how I was going to store all of them.  So, once again, I went to 1+1+1=1 and found out how she does it!  Its really a genius solution, and I am surprised I never thought of it!  You can read all about how she organizes her things here.   

Here is how my storage system looks.  I love it!!  When ever I am ready for a unit I just grab the plastic folder and everything is ready to do.  I keep the lesson plan form in there as well.  

Here is a workbox.  There are numbers on them and when he completes the box he places his number on a card and moves on to his next box.

Our Preschool Program- Part 1

At the beginning of the year I had high hopes for our little preschool program.  After all, that is where my college degree lies, in early childhood education.  With lots of research and thought I ordered a preschool program that I thought would be perfect for us.  Well after suffering through trying to plan it and figure out how it all would flow together, I finally figured out how to fit it to our schedule.  I tried it for a week, and guess what, huge fail!!  It just was too involved for our needs.  I needed a quick program that would allow me to spend about 30 to 45 minutes a day working with Noah.  This program was like an all morning affair!  It was all inclusive, meaning it had Bible, science, math, reading, writing, ect.  I just did not have that kind of time to sit with just him and work, not to mention it was not interesting to him.  So I went back to the drawing board and thought I would just use some of the workbooks I had bought for him, well unlike his older brother, he HATES workbooks!!  Using workbooks lasted about 2 weeks before I gave up!

I had been seeing these preschool packs all over the internet, they are themed around a story or some characters.  So the very first one I used was The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Noah LOVED it!!  They had some work pages that he did without complaining, because they were fun!  So since the middle of September we have been using the preschool packs as our curriculum.   There are so many ideas and so many ways to use them I feel that they have given us the freedom to pick and choose what works for him and what interests him.

Noah has very limited fine motor skills, he struggles to hold a pencil, use scissors, and things like that.  On the other hand he is crazy about Legos and has no trouble maneuvering those little pieces, go figure!  Imagine my surprise at his reaction to one of the activities in the packet, Write the Room!  This is one of his favorite and I have even made my own to go with packets that didn't have them because he loves it so much!  I am so happy to see him enjoying writing, and he is so cute walking around the room with his little clipboard and paper!

Here are my favorite places to find the Preschool Packs:

1+1+1=1
Homeschool Creations
2 Teaching Mommies
Mammas Learning Corner

Blessings

This year has been a very trying year for our family.  Starting this journey of homeschooling, my hubby is in search of a new job, and then being strapped financially to say the least, it has pushed us beyond what we thought we could handle.  And then in the midst of what feels like total despair, God blesses us through a gift!  This gift was given to us without this person knowing what we were asking for or what had been going on in our lives.  This is truly a blessing from the Lord, it was God reminding us that in our time of despair he is still in control.  God will always take care of his children!  

This blessing came in the form of curriculum!  I know to some that may not seem like a big deal, and to others I know they are feeling the same way I do, that curriculum given is a HUGE blessing!  We had been wanting to use My Fathers World, next year but the cost was going to be a stretch for us.  So we had just been praying that God would provide and since I know He has called us to homeschool, I had no doubt that the funds would be there.  THEN out of the blue, I get a phone call from a friend, that I don't talk to often and I know she doesn't know our financial situation.  She had a TON of homeschooling materials to get rid of.  A bigger blessing is that she just wanted it out of her house so she was just giving it!   They just "happen" to be what we would need for next year!  She had first and third grade My Fathers World, Singapore math, and lots of extra workbooks and such.  Elijah will be using the third grade next year, and then Noah will just be Kindergarten but the first grade material will be used the following year!  God is so good, ALL the time!!!  This gift will cut our homeschooling cost by more than half of what we were expecting!  I also need to add that this all came at a time when my hubby's car was broken and he was in the midst of trying to repair it, you also must know that my hubby is NOT a car person.  God blessed us there as well, because through You Tube and a friend on the phone he was able to get his car fixed and running, with out the huge cost paying someone to do it!    

As I am constantly thinking about this blessing in our lives I am in awe of God's timing and how I so much needed some encouragement.  If you have ever walked through a desert in life you know exactly what I am talking about!  These verses have been on my heart:

Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen.

Week in Review

I meant to post this last weekend, but it got extremely busy!!  I am telling you soccer is going to be the end of me!!  Thankfully this is the last week for soccer and hopefully our lives can get back some more rest!  Anyway here is what we have been working on over the past few weeks.


In Second grade we have been working with time and money in math. We finished up talking about Day 2 of creation for Science.  In History we have been talking about the settling of America, which has lead us to read some amazing books about Pocahontas and the Pilgrims.  You can find the books we read here , here and here.  For reading Elijah has been going through Robinson Crusoe and he is really enjoying it, we should be finishing up that book in the next few weeks and moving on to something else.

Reading  Robinson Crusoe

Snack and school work, a good combination.

Big brother, little brother playing together.

A rare brotherly love moment, reading together!

A little Math on the floor, we love homeschooling!

Playdough mat time!

He was so proud of his word he made!

In Pre-K 4 we have been working on "Unit Studies" more like "packet work".  I had hopes that workbooks would be the way to go with Noah but he just isn't into it as much as Elijah was.  So we changed course and are taking on a more hands on approach to our learning.  Last week we did a unit on The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  I got the pack from 1+1+1=1, she is AMAZING!!  I love the way she puts stuff together.  Noah really took to it and had so much fun with all the activities.  This week we are doing a Fall Unit which I also got from 1+1+1=1.  Along with those units we are adding lots of find motor activities, such as button threading, bean scooping, and Lego play time!

Working on his 3 Part Cards

He made a Caterpillar

I made this cool mat with our names on it for him to use.  

Having a little iPad time, one of his favorite apps is Rocket Speller!

Write the room cards, he was so cute walking around with that clipboard!

Playdough mats, another new favorite!

For our Tot, Zach, who is 13 months, its all about what he can get into!  This is a new challenge that we are facing, as he is really fighting the morning nap. So what used to be a good 2 hours is now about half an hour or 45 minutes if we are lucky!  So trying to keep him busy with activities and not grabbing at things the other two are doing is getting very tiring.  Yet he is not quite at the age where I can sit him down and he will do an activity for an extended period of time.  This has lead to us extending our school day into the afternoon a little.

Playing with letter magnets.

"Picking up the letter magnets.

Marble tower, a favorite toy with him!

Barrel of Monkeys, he loves them!

His first experience with dried beans, he had a lot of fun!

Ahh, yes the angst of a toddler!


That sums up our week last week.  

Week in Review

Last week was our first week in the new schoolroom, it went really well!!  We actually began to spend a lot of time in there in the evenings as a family.  So here a few photos that I captured this week in our homeschool:

Z helping E with the laundry

Zach helping with our calendar time.

Stamping time

Using our new file folder games from Mama's Learning Corner

Playing How Many moves using tally marks.

Trying to catch a sweet moment of big brother reading to little brother, but I wasn't fast enough!

Zach reading his Bible.

And a few extra:

Baby Zach watching big brother play his first soccer game.

Such a cool moon shot, the morning of soccer.