Having "school" out and about

We finished school in record time this afternoon so we went to Hobby Lobby to get some school supplies for tomorrow. I never really realized what a wealth of learning there was there. lol

Boo worked on fractions, percentages, addition, subtraction, and multiplication AND ended up with a cute stuffed toy! A lady let us in front of her in line and after double questioning if she was sure, we proceeded. Boo had already estimated her price by getting out $5.00 (the price of the item was $4.99). Then we had a discussion about tax (ours is HIGH, 9.25%) and the fact that she would need almost fifty cents more. After seeing her face fall ($5.00 was about all she had), I remembered that wonderful thing from Hobby Lobby called the 40% coupon. I had just used my phone to buy mine so I gave it to her and told her she got 40% off. I watched the wheels turn as she thought out loud "five dollars, 5x4 is 20, add a zero, that's two dollars...THREE DOLLARS! I have more than enough!"

She proudly put her toy, her coupon and her dollar, seven quarters and three dimes on the counter and waited. Of course, her total was $3.27 so she rustled in her bag for another quarter and came out with two dimes. I quickly pulled her two dimes together with the other three and pulled a quarter down. "Oh, I see what you did there," she said. "Yes, now you have $3.25," I told her. She proudly produced two pennies from her little bag and handed them to the cashier (who has known her since infancy). Then she turned to the sweet lady behind her her and smiled. "Sorry that took so long," she said. "We are homeschooled now and everything is a learning experience." The sweet lady behind us looked at her and said, "Good for you. That's how EVERYONE should be." I was so proud of her response.

Later we went to Sam's for some groceries and stopped to have a snack. A gentleman came by and spoke to the girls fussing over them (it happens a lot, they are REALLY pretty). He asked Boo how old she was and she told him she was eight. He commented that she was very small for eight (she is). To which SHE replied, "I'm actually almost nine. I've always been small; I was born very, very, very early. It's called premature." He laughed and asked her if she was in school. She looked at me like, "poor man, he just asked the silliest question." THEN she looked at him and said, "Of course I'm in school. I'm homeschooled. We are ALWAYS in school."

I think this might have been one of my proudest homeschool mom moments yet. :)

 

(Kadoodle designed the above graphic. It is Psalm 32:8)

Sticks and Stones

Today we had a little object lesson about words. I thought I would share. One of the reasons many parents choose to pull their children out of school and home school them is bullying. Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world and kids can, indeed, be cruel. One of the things we love so much about home schooling is that our oldest child is no longer experiencing that on a daily basis for being short, young or smart. I hate to hear about a child I love going through difficult times because of the opinion of others in regards to their hair, skin, clothing, weight, etc. I hate to hear children make fun of each other.

 

Recently, I discovered an amazing resource for my budding tween (yes, as much as I hate it, statistically, she IS a tween and is beginning to exhibit many typical "tween" traits). A friend told us about an event called Secret Keeper Girl, LIVE! and they went last year. We are planning on going this fall. I highly encourage any mom of girls ages 9-12 to check it out. www.secretkeepergirl.com

 

We read Dannah Gresh's book, "How to Keep the Little in Your Girl" as well. (Pick up your own copy here, http://purefreedom.org/bookSixWays.htm) Dannah's book is about teaching young girls self esteem in Jesus. She focuses on three things: purity, modesty, and a healthy body image. After all, we ARE all made in the image and likeness of our Holy Father and when we hate our bodies, what does that say for our image of HIM? Anyway, it was part of what spurred us on in our decision to homeschool. If you have boys, check out her book, "How to Keep the Good in Your Boy" because it is an excellent resource as well. (http://purefreedom.org/bookSixWaysBoys.htm)

 

Anyway, I digress. Our object lesson. Last night after a little disagreement our middle child quoted, "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me." I stopped her. I explained to her that words could hurt more than sticks and stones ever did. I explained (as best I could) that while bruises and bones heal, a deep down hurt that came from evil speaking could do more long term damage than any stick ever could. She seemed to get it, but then again, she's only six (almost) so I wasn't sure.

 

 

 So this morning we took a paper plate and turned it upside down (the other side has Easter eggs on it and wouldn't show as well, hey, we're frugal.). Then I gave Kadoodle a small tube of toothpaste and told her to squeeze it onto the plate.

 

 

Then I gave it to Boo and told her to do the same. Then I took a crack at it.

 

 

Then after we had all squeezed, I looked at them and told them to put the toothpaste back into the tube. They giggled. I didn't. Then they realized I wasn't kidding. Kadoodle gave it a try and really thought she could do it. She succeeded in smearing the toothpaste all over the plate. "Ack!" I said. "Now it's even worse!" Again, more giggling. Then I looked at them both and explained that when we speak ugly to others, it's like squeezing the tube of toothpaste. The words come out, but they can't go back in and when we try, the mess just gets bigger. Then we sat down and discussed what Jesus wants us to do with our words. Not only was it a good lesson for them, but for me as well. I am preparing to begin an endeavor that will challenge me on many levels and each challenge will bring a choice as to how I respond with my words. My theme verse is as follows.

 

Revelations for a Friday

I got a lovely surprise last week. My parents came in from Indiana for a surprise visit. They were here for almost a week. Which means we had to do school each day with them present. I got my first experience of what it was like to do that (surprisingly easy). We did really well. But beyond that, I got the greatest compliment on our day off this week. More about that later.

 

We had A LOT of family in from out of town this past week. In addition to my parents from Indiana, Hubby's dad finally finished his contract up North and was able to move here to be with Mom full time. He brought HIS mom to live in a nearby assisted living facility. Because Grammy was moving into town, Grandpa's brother from Northern CA, his sister from mid-CA, and his sister from MD all came to town to help settle their mom. So, Grandpa is finally here (haven't seen him since June), Grammy is finally here (haven't seen her in over a year), two great aunts and a great uncle are visiting AND Grandma and Papaw are visiting. I am amazed we got school done at all! In the midst of that we had a big party for Nayney's third birthday, mine and Hubby's 17th anniversary and Grandpa's retirement party. We even managed to mix in a little lesson on
Christopher Columbus while making breakfast for Papaw!

 

 

Yes, that is an egg standing on its end on our kitchen counter. No, it is not hardboiled and no, it is not supported by anything. It comes from an old story about Christopher Columbus and goes right along with the entire homeschooling concept...

 

 

I was asked at the retirement party why we decided to homeschool. Of course, if you have read my blog, I started this adventure with the reasons why we decided this was what is best for us. But this time I was asked by a family member who happens to be a brick and mortar teacher. What to say? How to answer? Hmmm...

 

I began by giving our reasons (they haven't changed) and got interrupted by a child. I dealt with that. Then we went on for a few more minutes before I got interrupted by a child. Dealt with that. A few more minutes of talking before I, yes, you guessed it, got interrupted by a child. Don't get me wrong. My children weren't interrupting an adult conversation (not that they don't do that on occasion). They were just being children at play who occasionally had to be redirected, corrected, kept safe, disciplined, or just generally taken care of in the way one takes care of small children. By the time we were done, I was exhausted, but still felt like I had a good time and that Hubby had gotten plenty of "grown up talk" with his dad and other relatives. I wondered later if I had messed up the conversation. I wonder sometimes what others think of the way we parent our children. I wonder sometimes how we measure up to others. I know we aren't supposed to do that, but we do. A friend recently told me that she doesn't read blogs because she has a tendency to try to measure herself against the blogger's parenting or homeschooling or housekeeping style. I get that. I also get that this business of parenting while homeschooling can be a challenge and a blessing. Someone posted this on facebook today and I loved it...

 

 

I totally agree!! But homeschooling my kids has done some other amazing things for me. I got this message from one of the aunts after she went home... "Really enjoyed spending time with you, Bill, and the girls! You & Bill are a great compliment to each other and you are raising 3 beautiful girls! I like your parenting skills that I observed this past weekend! Miss ya!" Wow! Talk about a compliment! It really made my "we're running late so let's get busy" morning shine!

 

Then of course, there was an added benefit. Even with my precious parents here, my girls were constantly crawling into my lap to snuggle, stopping to give me a hug or kiss, or coming to me first with every need. To some, that might seem like a trial, but to me it is nectar. To know that my children know that Mommy is their first stop for comfort and necessities is a great blessing to me. It is yet another reason why I do what I do. It is why I love what I do!

 

Oh! And I got a little something extra this week...a new pair of shoes. Maybe ACTUALLY homeschooling in my high heels isn't such an improbability after all! :)

 

Homeschooling with a Three Year Old

Well, it was bound to happen. My baby isn't quite a baby anymore. She turned three this week and has expressed an extreme interest in EVERYTHING homeschooling. My room is rather topsy turvy today and so there aren't a lot of pics here, but I am really enjoying her desire to "do school" or "do work" every day. I made these little busy body things for her to do and she is really enjoying them.

 

 

Here she is working on the beads. I bought pony beads and chenille stems at the dollar store and using my handy dandy glue gun created a great little fun activity for her. I cut the chenille stems in half (since when are they not "pipe cleaners"? When did that become anti-p/c?) and set half of each one aside. Then I took the other halves and glued one end of each. I just put a blob of glue on the end and let it dry. Then I created patterns with the pony beads. Each stem has a different pattern. Then I glued the other end of the stems so the beads wouldn't fall off.

 

 

While the glue was drying, I duplicated all of the beads I had used and put them in a snack size zip-seal bag. Then I put my completed "bead sticks" in a larger bag with the other halves of the stems. I curled one end of each of my empty stems so that she can "string" beads on them. She can copy the pattern I created or create her own. More often than not, she creates her own, but my first grader really enjoys working with the patterns. It's a great way for her to develop her manual dexterity too.

 

A friend with LOTS of homeschool experience suggested something for her called "blanket time." While the entire concept didn't work for us, the idea of the blanket being "her" space DID work very well. She is sitting at a floor desk that my husband made. It is basically a mini-podium and was originally intended for his laptop. But he set it on the floor making it fair game in her eyes and it is now hers!

 

I also have to thank a friend for sending me to www.1plus1plus1equals1.net and the amazing resources found there. Her Tot School has been a lifesaver! I didn't think my 3 yr old would want to do this, but I see that she is really enjoying it. I've added her AWANA Cubbies verse and her Sunday School verse to our work each week (A is for Apple and "Taste and see that the Lord is good" went together very nicely! She is loving the ability to work on her own and all of the matching games have been very good for her. All of the printables from Tot School are free and THAT is also a blessing. This will transition her very nicely into pre-k next year and we will definitely be using the Raising Rockstars PreSchool from 1+ also!

 

Here are some other things that keep my pretty girl busy during the day...

 

A baggy filled with small cars and farm animals

 

A baggy filled with pom poms in different sizes and colors along with a pair of science tweezers and an ice cube tray. Who knew sorting was so much fun?!

 

A baggy filled with a variety of foam butterflies, different sizes and colors. She sorts, she creates, she plays, she makes up characters and stories for them.

 

Several baggies filled with letters, shapes, and fall leaves for her to sort however her heart desires.

 

These are cars from a bulletin board set I had when I was teaching (teachers never throw anything away!). She loves to sort them by color and then color family and make up stories for them as well. 

 

 

 

These lacing cards have been amazing. I looked at several different stores for lacing cards and they were anywhere from $9.00 to $20.00 and I just didn't want to pay that much in case she didn't like them. I paid $6.99 for these at our local School Box and have been SUPER happy with them and so has Nayners!

 

 

 

You can never go wrong with the dollar stop at Target or the Back to School section for teachers at WalMart. I think I paid $0.88 for these flashcards. They have the same shape on both sides but different colors, so she can sort them however she chooses.

 

 

And this is where they all live. I got these cute baskets at the dollar stop at Target. I have another one with the big girls' art supplies in them. Super great way to keep things organized and I LOVE anything organized (although you can't tell by looking at my house right now).

 

 

If you have a toddler, pre-schooler or kindergartener, you MUST check out Raising Rockstars! These printables are from their Tot School that I mentioned above.

http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/TotSchool.html 

These are a great resource and my girl loves them so much! Can't wait to see what she knows at the end of the year!!!

 

 

 

 

 

So this is how we are staying busy. I bought another desk from a homeschool mom who is slowly getting out of this business as I am getting into it. Now I have three desks in my dining room. The girls love having their little sister in the room with them and love even more that she is at her own desk in her own space. And I love that she is busy while I am trying to work with the other two AND she is having fun and learning at the same time.

 

By the way, for anyone wondering after seeing the pics of her...No, we do not have a dress code at our "school." This child must be wearing a dress at all times. Believe it or not, SHE is the one who most often arrives at school in high heels proclaiming to all of us that she is fabulous and ready to start her day. As she would say, "Ooh La La!"

 

 

 

I am a Handwriting Fool!

I have a confession to make. When in college I was required to take Handwriting for Elementary Education. I think that may have been part of what led me to switch my major to secondary ed. See, I withdrew failing from Handwriting. Now, before you call the Homeschool Police and tell them I am not qualified to teach my children to write, let me say something in my defense. I have BEAUTIFUL handwriting. I know, toot toot goes the sound of my own horn, but I really do. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't born that way. I have worked VERY hard to have pretty penmanship. I have practiced loops and swirls and dots and swoops until my hands cramped. I am very fond of the Zaner Bloser Handwriting and that is pretty much what A Beka teaches, so I thought I'd give it a shot. We are in our third week of school and I am just now starting, so you can tell I have been procrastinating a little.

I was aghast to discover that my 4th grader was not taught handwriting last year. This is NOT her teacher's fault. She had an AMAZING teacher last year and I consider her a friend still today (and at least she tried by giving them a handwriting workbook and encouraging them to use it in their spare time). It IS the fault of our education system. Because Handwriting cannot be measured on standardized tests, it is no longer part of our standard curriculum. But it IS a part of mine. So it was with much trepidation that I have pushed into the fray to teach my near-9-yr-old how to write cursive (I'm starting Kadoodle today too). We have been working on printing with my first grader and I found some great ideas at http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net/. A friend recently sent me to her blog and I am HOOKED. Not only does she teach with the same biblical principals that I do, but she was also a brick and mortar teacher and "never thought she'd homeschool", she has three kids almost the exact same ages as mine and I have already learned so much. Anyway, she posted on her blog some downloadable pages from "Draw Write NOW" and they are AWESOME for printing copywork. I will be buying those for my littlest and maybe even my middle child. (http://www.barkercreek.com/products/category/Draw+Write+Now/183.0.1.1.32421.0.0.0.0)


BUT my 4th grader is learning cursive.

So, I found some great resources for copywork for her. I was in love with two because one had options for the KJV version of scripture copywork and since that is the version we memorize, that was very helpful. I have been teaching scripture memory to first graders with the KJV for about 12 years now and have found that it's rhyme and meter is THE ABSOLUTE BEST for little people who love to sing, dance, snap fingers, and clap hands. No other version can make that claim. You may not like the thee's and thou's and ye's and shalt's but try to dance to any other version and you will be hard-pressed to do so. Which I find hilarious considering my own conservative Independent Baptist upbringing and the stand on dancing, but when it comes to the Psalms, it's got a beat and I can dance to it. Hey, David did. At least I'm not naked around a fire, just silly in my own living room!

So, here's the copybook that I found online...http://www.copycatbooks.com/free_c_printables.htm and you can buy more from their store for VERY reasonable prices.

THEN, I found something that is very helpful to us in our own home. It is still in the beta stages, meaning that the site has quirks and clicks, so be patient with them, BUT it gave us the great ability to use our own Bible verses we are learning for Sunday School and TNT (A.W.A.N.A.).

http://www.worksheetworks.com/ is my new favorite place for making my OWN stuff. I haven't even scratched the surface of what is available, but I am excited to get there. For now, it is time to delve into 1st grade for a little while.

And no, I still haven't been able to get those high heels on yet, BUT I only have about three more weeks till I can start trying!

Lapbooking. Yeah, I'd never heard of it either...

They say you learn something new every day. I firmly believe this is true. For me, my latest revelation is something called "lapbooking." Depending on what kind of homeschool parent you are, you may have already heard of this or be familiar with the concept. If you are new and haven't read a gazillion books you may not have. It was totally new to me. When I was in college learning to teach, apparently this wasn't one of the things they taught at my school. But I discovered that I am not alone. I have found several "brick and mortar" teachers that have never heard of this.

So, now after talking to a few friends and watching 17 videos on Youtube, I am now a self proclaimed expert on making lapbooks. What? I made one. AND it was double sided. So there! I watched all these tutorials on youtube and to be quite honest, they were a little hard to understand or kinda lacking in information. I mean, it's really not rocket science or anything, but hey, I didn't know how to do it at first either. So, anyway, I have decided to share my vast wisdom with you. Mind you, my vast wisdom will be this tutorial in its entirety at this point, but that's the lay of it.

First, you take a file folder and cut the tab thingies off. Yes, thingie is the appropriate term (I looked it up).

Next you take each side of the folder and fold it in toward the middle (you know, where the crease of the original folder is).

To do a double sided lapbook, you do this to two folders.

Then I used spray adhesive to attach the folders to each other, center to center.

Next you staple each of the corners together on the center of the folder. Don't worry about the staples scratching little hands. We are going to cover them up in a sec.

I was told to add a piece of card stock to the center part. This gives the lapbook stability and keeps it from bending at the middle. However, since this was a double sided book, I decided to trim a piece of construction paper and use it instead.

Finally I added my insides. The accordion folds I did myself and these are now filled with pictures of things that make the short "a" sound. The center has handwriting paper on it so that she can create her own word list and the right side has a fun little foldable that when finished spells sixteen different words with the short "a" sound. The center contains a flower where we will be pasting a photo of something we find in our home with the short "a" sound and each petal of the flower will contain more "a" words. The foldables were downloaded from www.flapjackbooks.com and they have several different types of foldables and lapbooks on there to assist you.

You don't have to be crafty to make a lapbook. You don't need a lot of time or money either. I have a box full of hanging files in bright colors that we are going to be using this year. I'm going to cut the metal bars off and use them for our science lapbooks. We will be purchasing our lapbooking materials for that from www.rainbowresources.com as they have pretty much anything we need in that respect.

If you have a "hand on" learner that needs constant stimulation and needs to be busy all the time, lapbooks are a great way to keep them engaged. I went from spending the summer trying to teach my hands on learner the short "a" sound to watching her grasp it fully in just a few short days using her lapbook.

Kinda makes me frustrated that I never knew about this when I had a classroom.

Day Five...Crash and Burn

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I was just hoping for later than our first week. We had our first major crash and burn day today.

First, we started 15 minutes late. I know, I know, we homeschool. Who is looking at the clock? Well, actually I am. I made a commitment to be my children's teacher and I take that pretty seriously (the commitment, not the teaching. if you can't have a crazy sense of humor while teaching, you are in trouble). Apparently, that set our dial to disaster.

First, nothing I attempted to occupy the Naynster with would do. She insisted on sitting at our table in the middle of our room where we do one on one instruction. No big deal, I'm thinking. We are doing seatwork right now anyway. Forever. And ever. And ever. World without end. Amen.

No, really. It was awful. I set Kylie down with her handwriting practice. She had to practice writing the letters A, B, and C. Then she had to write the names of three princesses whose names began with those letters (Ariel, Belle and Cinderella). This should have been a quick and easy task for someone so obsessed with her Disney princesses. Not so. She wrote the capital A. "Mommy, I'm done." I look at her paper. "What about the lower case a?" Big sigh. "Oh." She finished the lower case a. "Mommy, I'm done." I think you get the idea here. In two hours, she managed to finish these three letters and three pages in her bridge book. THREE PAGES AND THREE LETTERS IN TWO HOURS????? Really? Surely, Boo had fared better.

Not so. She managed to read ONE chapter in Ella Enchanted and ONE story in her reading book and do ONE page of Grammar. Really? IN TWO HOURS???????

At my wit's end, we attempted some online storybook reading. Kadoodle cried because she couldn't read "the cat did not get the rat." I know she can read that. I know she is capable. I sat down and told her AGAIN that "it is ok to not know, but it is not okay to not try." She dried her tears and sat at the computer for a few seconds. Then out of the blue, she looks up and reads it perfectly. I am so angry at whoever told her she wasn't smart last year that I want to go to that school and wring someone's neck!

Finally after three hours of getting nothing accomplished and fighting with Nayney to get her to stop scribbling in HER book, I gave up. It was time to be done. I told them enough was enough for one day. So, I guess we have to do five hours on Monday or something, but I was just NOT going any further today. It wouldn't do for Mommy to lose it the first week of school. That has to wait till at LEAST week five!!!

Another appropriate note from www.technologyrocksseriously.com

***I feel the need to add a little note to the end of this. Some of my homeschool friends were concerned at what a rough time I had. Never fear. I will be back on Monday and I am armed to the TEETH with things to keep Nayney occupied (including a cherished friend to come and play with her if worst comes to worse!).