End of Summer List

My boys start school in less than two weeks.  It is incomprehensible and I'm trying not to dissolve into a pile of tears.  One will be a second grader and the other starts kindergarten.  

So I don't have an elaborate project to show you this week, because I'm trying to spend as much time with them as possible.  But I do have a smallish list of projects that I'd like to tackle and I thought I'd share my thoughts with you today.

1.  I've been on the hunt for a ceiling light for our bedroom.  Right now we have a ceiling fan and I'm not a lover of the ceiling fan.  Especially ugly ones.  Here is a picture of ours.  What's not to love, right? You know you want to pin that.

I really like this light from Ikea:

via www.Ikea.com

But then, I came across this tutorial: 

via www.danamadeit.com

I already have the light kit and the glue.  So all I need to spend money on is a skein of yarn or twine depending on if I want to make it a dark grey or a tan color.  Decisions. Decisions.

2. I have a few friends having their first baby this coming winter.  I'd love to make some homemade items for them.  I think this framed art is cute.  And some cute bibs and burp cloths are always needed.  And I would really like to make a baby quilt.  I think this one is adorable.

3.  This boy turns 8 this week. 

He wants a TMNT party.  I'm working on the framed chalkboard that I do for every birthday.  

I think I'll also be making this and this and this.

Other than the birthday party items, the list might not get crossed off until later in August.  But I am ok with that.  I'm going to enjoy the last few free days until the routine of school starts.  What are you doing on your last days of summer break?  Or perhaps you don't have school aged children and it feels like you are still in the middle of summer?  Or maybe you're a homeschooler and you've already started school?  What does the end of July look like for you?

Homeschool Part 2: A Typical Day and Some Resources

Did you see last weeks post?  As promised, here is my family's typical day, and resources I have found helpful in our homeschool journey.

**Disclaimer** This is what currently works for our family.  As the seasons change, we change our routines to adapt.  We also change our routine based on whether or not I am babysitting.  We have a general rhythm to our day, but we do not abide by a strict by the minute schedule.


After my daughter wakes up, she eats breakfast, then gets ready for the day.  She has a few morning chores (making her bed, emptying the dishwasher, etc).  While she is doing those things, I have my own chores to start (usually a load of laundry).

Getting around for the day, and doing those chores are something that happens no matter the season.  In the summer, we usually head to some activity in the morning like swimming, the park, the library, the zoo, grocery shopping, etc.  We try to get out before it is super hot.  We head back home around 11 to make lunch, eat and clean up.  School work starts in the afternoon.

In the fall/winter we switch it up, and do our school work in the morning, and do our activities in the afternoon.

We start with Math because it takes the most concentration for my daughter.  We have just recently purchased our first curriculum, Right Start Math.  There is little to no prep for me.  I just need to flip open the teacher's manual and we go through one lesson.  We do 3 of these lessons per week, and the other days we do supplemental math activities.  Supplemental activities are things I have found on Pinterest, or worksheets, etc that have to do with what she is already learning with Right Start.

Depending on how challenging my daughter found the math lesson, and how much time we spent on it, we either go straight to the next subject or we take a quick 5 minute break.  I usually try to do a few dishes, or some chore, and I encourage my daughter to do something active.  If it is nice out, she goes outside for the break.

Next up, is reading.  I purchased 'Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons'  when my daughter was 4, and we are still using it.  To be completely honest, when she was 4, she was not ready for this.  We did a lesson a week until we got to lesson 10, and then we took a break.  I picked it up again when she was older, but found she still wasn't grasping it well, so we waited and tried it now that she is 6.  She does great with it now.  Waiting for readiness can't be emphasized enough :)
After we do one of these lessons, we read a Bob book, or something similar in style.  There are some great resources online people have made that you can download for free that go along with Bob books.

After reading we do one of the following (a different subject for each day):
Social Studies
Geography
History


Since my daughter is 6, these topics are focused around things my daughter can relate to.  We discuss holidays, communities and we pull out maps to find places we hear about throughout the day.  We cover basics like calendars, how a map works, and various jobs those in our community have, and historical figures that are of interests to my daughter.

For example, for our family movie night we watched 'Night at the Museum' my daughter really enjoyed the Pharaoh, Amelia Earhart, and Teddy Roosevelt, so we spent some time learning about Egyptian history, Amelia and Teddy.  We picked up books at the library, found a documentary, learned how to make paper airplanes, we talked about the history of flight, etc, etc.  We spent weeks covering these things because my daughter was interested in them.  Some people call this style of teaching 'unit studies'.  For Social Studies, Geography, and History we stick with this unit study approach.  Whatever my daughter has an interest in currently we study.

Next up is Bible work.  I have the Bible curriculum we have used the last few years.  We do this throughout the week.  At one time, we were also doing Operation World.  It is praying your way through the countries.  Every day there is a country to pray for, with some information about the country.  I want to get back into this starting in the fall.

Science is usually 3 times a week.  We do a variety of experiments, watch videos, and read about scientific studies.  We rely heavily on our library to get a large variety of books.

Music, Art, and Physical Education are also done weekly.  For music, we pick a composer for a month and learn about him, his life, and listen to his music.  Art is the same idea.  I choose an artist for the month and we learn about his/her life and special techniques.  Sometimes we try to duplicate their work, or I print off coloring pages that are based off a masterpiece.  For P.E. we have been focusing on stretching daily, and we have been running, biking, and swimming.

For handwriting we use Handwriting Without Tears App on our iPad, and I picked up some handwriting workbooks at Walmart that we use as well.

Each day we spend about 3 hours doing the above mentioned work.  Somedays we spend closer to 6 hours doing schoolwork.  If my daughter is really interested in a particular topic we have been known to sit on the sofa and read books on a particular subject for several hours.

It was a bit of a challenge for me to write out our routine for the day, because although there is a rhythm to it, it does change quite a bit from day to day.
    

And finally, if you are still reading this exceptionally long post.....
Here are some resources I have found helpful.  :)

Indiana Department of Education has several things you'll need when starting out (like what the state requires for homeschoolers, and the registration form you need to fill out before your homeschooler is age 7).

State Standards--I want to make sure I am covering everything that she would be required to learn in public school, so I often check back here to double check that we are not missing things.

Tests--Again, I want to make sure I am covering everything I need to, so I have found these tests helpful to help me gauge where my daughter is.

My Test Book is another site I have used to to determine mastery of topics.

Ed Helper is great for creating customized worksheets

Pinterest (of course).  I use Pinterest to find ideas, create themes/units and find fun activities to help teach concepts, so we don't get stuck just doing worksheets.

Library  If you are local, our children's library is awesome.  There are preschool/kindergarten packs you can check out to practice letters and numbers.  There is also a 'moon kit'  which includes a very nice set of binoculars and is great for children of all ages.  Our library also has a large selection of Usborne books which are a fun way to learn about all kinds of topics.

Bible   Calvary Curriculum has been our go to for studying God's word for 2 years.

PBS  This link isn't to PBSKids.org (which is a good resource).  This has some great videos to go along with other curriculum.

Ambleside is a Charlotte Mason based approach to schooling.  This is a free 36 week curriculum.  It is a great opportunity for you to check out if you are interested in learning what this methodology is.  Most of the books used can be found at the library.



And now, I leave you with this gem.  I love everything about this post.  She took the words right out of my mouth.

Exploring the Many Uses of the Cricut Machine

I have had my Cricut for quite some time and I made a goal for myself to use it more this year and to learn more about everything it can do.  I saw on pinterest that you could cut fabric with the machine so I went on You Tube, watched a tutorial and then decided to try it myself.  My son was celebrating his 2nd birthday and I wanted to try and make him a shirt.  To see more detail about his party go HERE.  I saw some cute ones on Etsy but have trouble dropping $20-$30 for a shirt that he would most likely only wear once or twice and outgrow too quickly. 

 

The theme of my son's birthday was tractors and I had some leftover IH tractor brand fabric.  We do not have a bias either way on what tractors we prefer and since that is what I had on hand, that is what I went with.  The first step was to iron the fabric, which was a very important step - do not attempt to skip this step. 

 

 

I purchased Heat n Bond Ultrahold from Walmart and I cut out the same size square that I had of my fabric.  I then ironed it on with the fabric side down.

 

I then took my fabric with the heat n bond on the back and placed it fabric side up on my cricut cutting board and chose the appropriate images and sizes that I wanted and hit cut. 

After the images were cut out, I went back to my iron and ironed on the image to the t-shirt and that was it! The t-shirt was complete and it turned out great!  I went ahead and put his name on the back too for fun. 

What fun things have you used your Cricut machine for?

Giant Bubbles

Warning:  This project will lure spectators.  Be prepared for crowds of people or random stops from cars driving by.  

My husband is known around our house as the bubble man.  He loves bubbles and is generally playing with bubbles way after my kids interest has faded.  I must admit these bubbles held my attention for quite some time as well.  I got really caught up in technique and trying to make the next bubble larger than the last, seeing how long they flew before they popped.  Yes we are kids at heart.  

The recipe for these beautiful flying creations is pretty simple.  

6 cups distilled water

1 Tbsp Glycerin

1 cup of regular Dawn Dish Soap

There are many recipes we have tried in the past but this one is the most cost friendly and works well with the home made bubble wands.  If you want to be a professional they sell large plastic bubble wands HERE. We have purchased this in the past and it works well but we observed the bubbles can be much larger with the home made version.    

So here's what you need for the wands:

two 7/16"x48" dowel rods

screw in eye hooks for the end of the dowel rods

braided cotton rope (nylon rope works well too but the cotton is a lighter weight so it's easier for small kids to handle)

If you can't find a cotton rope you can disassemble a mop head. Cut one cotton rope 48" and cut another 96"  Screw the eye hooks onto the ends of the rods.  Now take the smaller rope and tie to the ends on the hooks.  Do the same with the longer length of rope. Here's what it looks like when it's all done.  

Mix the bubble solution in a large bucket and let it sit overnight.  It is important to let it marinade overnight. Dip wand into solution and let the fun begin!  It takes some practice and priming of the rope before you get the hang of it but it's so worth the wait.  

An added bonus- you just have to rinse the kids off with the hose and call the bath done because they are sure to be covered in suds after popping these massive bubbles!

Museum Tips

I took my three children to an art museum recently.  I had never been to one before and I wasn't sure how much they would enjoy it or if it would even be age appropriate.  I did know that there would be a lot they would not be allowed to touch and that might not be the easiest for a 4, 5 and 7 year old.

With all that being said, we ended up have a blast and I was told that "this has been the best day all week".  Ah, sweet mothering success.

Here are my tips for visiting a "grown-up" museum with your kids.

#1:  If you have a long drive, let them run around in the outdoor area or look at the outdoor sculptures first.  This will get out a lot of their pent up energy.  You can even go back to run around at the end before the long ride back home.

pretending to be sculptures

identifying their age

#2:  The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) opens at 11.  We ate lunch before we got there, but it might be best to eat outside and get there a little later.  I found that the busier it got, the less stares I got from the workers about the noise my kids were making.

#3:  Kids and noise and the look with your eyes rule.  Even when they are quiet, kids are noisy.  You will get disgruntled looks.  The workers will tell your children to Not Touch Anything (even if they're not).  Make sure that you have on your thick skin for the day :)  Also, it helps if your kids wear something with pockets.  You can say "hands in your pockets" and "look with your eyes".

#4:  Make sure to visit the kid section.  The kids can be loud and they can create...which is what kids are great at.  Then when you are out in the rest of the museum you can compare works of art that they made with other works (the museum even has signs that tell you where to find the comparable works).

#5:  Let your children choose where to go next.  I got this tip out of the museum's family guide and I think this was the best one to follow.  We sat in front of a screen for 15 minutes watching a man burn a line in the Mojave desert.  I never would have guessed that they would watch that if I hadn't of let them choose.  Even though I felt like we rode the escalators a trillion times and nothing was "in order", I could see how my kids really felt like it was their trip.  We took turns picking where to go next and even I got a turn (although I'm not sure that the contemporary design was their favorite).

Have you taken your children to an art museum?  What are some of your tips for making it a successful trip?

Homeschool Part 1

We are nearing the end of July, and to me that means another homeschool year is right around the corner.  If you are considering homeschooling, or wondering what a 'typical' day might look like, here are my thoughts on the topic.  This week is our journey through homeschooling and a few things I have learned.  Next week, I will be discussing what a typical day looks like for us.


Our Story
We knew we were going to homeschool my daughter before she was 2.  We knew this because, up to that point, we had traveled frequently and had moved multiple times as well.  We did not want our daughter to have to go to multiple schools and switch teachers frequently.  I went to school for Early Childhood Development, so both my husband and I felt confident that I could teach her.

For my daughter's 2nd birthday she got all sorts of school supplies.  I was obsessed with Montessori Method, and really wanted everything to be just perfect.  I wanted the ideal classroom.  I wanted the ideal curriculum, and of course we would do school time for a 3 hour block in the morning just like I had witnessed in college.

I converted our dining room into our classroom.  I set up a low shelf.  I had a child size table.  I had artwork at my child's eye level.  I did as much as I possibly could with a $0 budget.  I scoured blogs of other homeschoolers and drooled over their elaborate set ups.  Everything I found online showed me that we had to have at least one entire room to homeschool.  I spent so much time trying to create the perfect environment for learning that I didn't really utilize the room.  I focused on what I didn't have.

Then we moved and downsized.  We went from a 2400 square foot house, to 800 square feet.  There was not a room I could completely devote to homeschool stuff.  We had an enclosed front porch I tried to turn into a mini-classroom, but it ended up being more of a storage place for our supplies.  We started doing school where ever we were most comfortable.  That sometimes meant the kitchen (for messy stuff) and the sofa (for reading).  I was slowly learning that there was no ideal way to homeschool.  I was also realizing all that stuff I learned in college isn't necessarily applicable to homeschooling.

Fast forward through 3 more moves, we have finally hit our groove with homeschooling.  I have learned 3 major things, I want to pass on new homeschoolers.

1)  Homeschooling doesn't have to look like public school.  School doesn't have to be during set hours (but having a rhythm/routine to when you start is important).  Also, when we are homeschooling it doesn't take very much time to go through the material, so it isn't necessary for my family to devote 3 hour blocks of our day to homeschooling like I was trying to do, when my daughter was 2.  Yes, I tried doing circle time, calendar time, reading time, and sensory time with a 2 year old.  I was over zealous.

2)  There is no perfect classroom.  In fact, you don't even need a designated classroom, if you don't want it.  Some people do, and that's great.  Our family didn't utilize ours well.

I no longer feel like I need to have an entire room devoted to homeschooling.

We have a closet.  We pull out the things as we need them, and tuck them away when we are done.  We homeschool every where, and we have also transitioned to year long schooling.  Yep, that's right.  We don't take a summer vacation.  We do school at least 4 days a week,  all year and when life hits us with a big change or event (baby brother, or a move, etc) we close up our school books for a few weeks, and take our breaks then.  For our family, this works.

3)  Curriculum is way over analyzed (at least for kindergarten).
I have done it myself.  I read every review.  I looked up prices on every possible website.  There is no sure fire way to know if a particular curriculum will work for you and your family.  You basically have to buy it and try it.  With that being said, I don't think everyone needs to buy a curriculum for kindergarten.  If you have no idea what your style of teaching is or how you want educate your child, there are thousands of free resources that are available.  They are high quality, and the best part about it?  All these freebies come in various forms, so you can try them out and see if the Charlotte Mason method is your family's style or if you are more of an unschooler.  

If you are considering homeschooling, and you find yourself researching all the curriculum out there and panicking, I would encourage you to set down the curriculum catalog, step away from the internet and the bazillion blogs that tell you this is the only curriculum or the best curriculum is expensive.

There is no ideal classroom, curriculum, or schedule.

I say this all as I look back at our journey through homeschooling.
We have changed and adapted as time goes on.

When my daughter started kindergarten I panicked.  Even though we had already done preschool, I felt like this was the real deal.  I put so much pressure on myself and my daughter neither of us enjoyed it.
You can see a glimpse of what I did here.

I was also so stuck trying to recreate a public preschool and kindergarten that I thought we needed to have 'circle time'.  Well, let me just tell you, circle time with one child and one adult (neither of whom are big singers) didn't really mesh well with us.

After trying just about every method of teaching, and researching all the curriculum myself I have slowly found what works for us.  Next week, I will be sharing a 'typical' day for school for my family, as well as some resources I have found invaluable in making sure I am getting everything done that I want to.

DIY Reusable Banner

One of my favorite things is creating something that you can use over again. When I was trying to think of ideas for my daughter's first birthday, I came across an idea to make a banner.  When I started making the banner I realized that I could reuse the banner easily for every birthday party and so I also made one for my son. 

 

 

 

This is the sign I used last year for my son's 1st birthday party.  To see  more detail into the planning of his party go HERE. .  After I make it, I just change out the photo to a recent one and carefully remove the number for age and replace it with the new.  In a perfect world, I would have removed the age right after the party as it is a lot easier to take off then waiting a full year, but worse case you have to replace the background paper on that block.

 

I printed out all of the letters on my home computer.  I went into Microsoft Word and chose the font I wanted followed by the largest size that would fit on 1 piece of paper and hit print.  You could do any font and any color, I just liked black because it was bold and easy to see on any patterned background paper and easy to cut around.

 

 

 

I cut solid paper for the back and used thicker cardstock for durability.  All of the letter and numbers were size 9.5" long by 8.5" wide.  The top was scrapbook paper, which was thinner and cut out at size 9" long by 8" wide.  The picture in between the name and age was cut out at 9.5" long by 5" wide and the scrapbook patterned paper was 9" long by 4.5" wide. 

 

Then I glued the scrapbook paper to the cardstock solid paper and then glued the letters/number and picture (I used a 4x6 photo) on top of the scrapbook paper. 

 

 

 

Next, I hole punched each top corner for the ribbon to go through.

 

 

 

I took the ribbon and fed it from the top right hand corner through the back and back up through the left top corner and continued through each one. 

 

 

 

You can choose to have as much ribbon in between each block as you want and leave extra on the ends for where you want it displayed.  The banners fold up easily and are easy to store for whenever you want to use them again, which is in my case every birthday. 

 

 

 

What are some things that you reuse each year for special occasions?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Super Fly Pie

My Dad called me up and said the wild black raspberries that randomly grew where the pine trees had been cut down were ready for picking.  I hauled up the children and went over to find a massive amount of berries on the bushes.  The kids and I went to work, each of us with a bowl but mine ended up being the only one with berries in it because they were just too delicious looking to resist eating right away.  So we came home with 2 cups of berries, some super stained shirts, and cute berry stained faces.  I love watching the boys pick fresh things on Grandpa's "farm".  I've been craving some cream pie so I looked through a recipe book at home for a really simple one.  I found one for a peach cream pie and so I used that but substituted the peaches for the fresh picked black raspberries.  The first time I made this it was a little runny so I altered the recipe the second time adding more flour.  And here is the final recipe:

3/4 cup white sugar

4 T flour

pinch salt

1 cup heavy cream

2 cups black raspberries

cinnamon

Mix sugar, flour, and salt.  Add cream. Stir. Let set a few minutes and stir again.  This gives the sugar a chance to dissolve.  Add black raspberries and pour into pie crust.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until set.

As I write this I am currently enjoying a piece of this delicious pie.  I am just sad his bushes are done producing. Anything yummy you make with fresh black raspberries?

A Paper Box

A few years ago, I got a scoring board for my birthday.  I've used it many times since to make cute little boxes.  I recently made boxes to hold skittles at my niece's wedding shower, but my kids like to use them to hold little toys or rocks that they are collecting.  Why are they always collecting rocks?!  I made this one for Emily and decided to use some glittery washi tape to hold it together.  The extra sparkle is what she is all about.

The supplies I used couldn't be more simple.

scoring board

bone file (comes with the scoring board)

cardstock

scissors 

washi tape

I used the rectangular piece of cardstock for the box.  Pay no attention to the rectangular piece for now.

I decided that I didn't want the walls of my box very tall so I scored about an inch in on all sides of the square.

I then cut two slits on two opposing sides.

Finally, I folded where all of the creases were that I made in the first step.

I then taped it together with the washi tape.  Here is the finished box and, also, some fun zig zag streamers that I made with the rectangular piece of paper.

 

To make the streamer (I followed this tutorial but realized the more cuts that you make the longer the streamer will be.), I cut slits up one long side of the paper.   

 

From the other side, I cut in between the other cuts almost up to the opposite edge.

That is all it takes!  Here is a picture of quite a few that I made for my niece's shower.  I hung them from the ceiling above all of the tables.

Card stock comes in so many colors and has so many uses other than scrapbooking.  Do you love finding creative ways to make fun decorations, too?