October Month at a Glance

I started making these last month to go into the kids calendar notebooks.  I have found that it is good for review and S loves the challenge of memorizing the information listed on the page.  Get yours from my Google Drive by clicking on the image below!

*Please let your friends know about this by sending them to this direct link.  Do not share this file.  Thanks!

Homeschooling - It's not for wimps!

But it is worth it!

Number Munchers: Less Than, Greater Than, Equal To

After seeing THIS PIN  I went to THIS BLOG and fell in love with the idea of these cute little math tools.  Normally I would be all over letting S create these for herself but I know that would turn into a project much bigger than I had intended since N would also want to create something.  Instead I created them myself.  I used permanent markers to color the sticks. I glued colorful googly eyes to the tops - to show which direction the muncher should face - and glued the teeth to the back.  I cannot wait to show them to S.  

My plan is to take a deck of cards and remove the A, K, J, Q cards and then randomly place them on the floor and her decide which of the munchers to use.  I think it will help her to really absorb the lesson and it will be loads of fun too!

I am QUALIFIED!!!

This morning God truly opened my heart and mind to something I have never thought of before. When he created me, he had my future on His mind. It wasn't just a shot in the dark and he hoped things would turn out ok. NO! He knew what the end result would be, so He equipped me with all of the skills, abilities and power to succeed at what He has given me. That doesn't mean that I am wise enough to know what to do with those things - that is what the Bible and prayer are for - it just means that I am capable of doing the things He has called me to do! Friends, that is truly life changing! I am QUALIFIED! I am ABLE! I am A CHILD OF THE KING! You know what? So are YOU! ♥

Sweet Little Ladybug Review and Giveaway

Many of you know that I have been doing graphic arts for some time and Becky, from Sweet Little Ladybug Boutique was among one of my first few clients.  Over the last couple of years we have stayed in touch, as she is a homeschooling momma as well.  I have always loved her bows and when I saw her headbands I drooled, just a teeny bit, on my keyboard.  They are darling.  She offered to allow me to review one of her headbands and then I get to give one away to one of you lucky readers!

What I thought...
Our headband came in the perfect size box.  It was beautifully presented with decorated tissue paper and her colorful business card on top.  - Sorry for not having pics of that.  S was in such a huge rush to see what was in the package.  When I pulled out the headband I was delighted to see that she offered us one of her new fall headbands adorned with a felt pumpkin slightly on the side.  The headband is VERY well made.  The pumpkin is not simply glued to the headband, she also has it reinforced so it is seccure and I am not at all worried about S wearing it to a play date and it falling off of the headband.
What S thought...
She was giddy!  She rushed straight to the bathroom and put it in her hair and wore it most of the evening.  She says she would "highly recommend these headbands to any girl who likes pumpkins".  :)

WIN IT...
Fill out the Raffle Copter Giveaway form below.  You MUST leave your comment on the blog or your entry will not count.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't want to wait to win?  Do you need a fall hairbow or headband to go with your daughters fall wardrobe right now?  Well, Becky has been so genorous as to give my readers a coupon code for 20% off.  Just use the coupon code 20OFF when checking out at her ETSY store.  You can follow her on Facebook and on Pinterest as well.

Week 5 - Or is it week 4?

This is technically our 4th week of work but our 5th week into our school year.  We took last week off to spend time with Daddy while he was off of work.  It was a nice break.  We also took Monday of this week off to celebrate Labor Day.  This week we started our new Morning Meeting with The Dig for Kids - Bible Study, Our Read Aloud - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, calendar {blog post in the works} and silly dance time.  The Morning Meeting is one of our favorite parts of the day.

S's progress-
Handwriting: We are using various forms of copywork for handwriting.  She is using Respect Copywork from Knowledge Box Central and a couple of Draw, Write, Now books that she chooses from.  Her handwriting is improving.  I am going to have her start with the monthly Bible verse next week.  I will require she takes her time and does her best handwriting.

Math: We are continuing with Math Mammoth and she loves it!  Last year she was introduced to adding on a number line but it never really clicked.  Yesterday she "got it".  I LOVE getting to see those connections happen for my children.

Reading: She is reading the Level 1 All About Spelling Reader Run, Bug, Run! and LOVES it!!!  Honestly, I have to make her stop reading the stories during the day.  She giggles and gets a kick out of these stories.  It is so nice to finally see her enjoy her reading.

Spelling: She is currently on lesson 11 of All About Spelling Level 1.  She is flying through with amazing speed.  I have a feeling we will be into level 2 before school is out for the year. This is a very solid spelling program and I highly recommend it for anyone who is struggling to teach spelling or phonics.

N's Progress-
Reading: He is continuing with The Reading Lesson very slowly but showing signs of progress.  Yesterday he brought it to me and asked to read some more.  He read the words cat, sat, and cot.  It made my heart smile.

Math: He really likes his new math curriculum from K12.  I bought it from CBD on a whim and I am so glad I did.

Handwriting: He writes random words here and there but doesn't seem to enjoy it.  :)

Together-
FAMILY NIGHT: This is my favorite night of all!  We decorated cupcakes together.  It was loads of fun and laughter around our table.  *Sweet Memories* for sure.  Daddy made a fish cupcake, N made one with loads of icing and S made her with lots of pink sprinkles.  I made mine with simple dots of color to create a flower look! :)

Art: This was our first week and I am thrilled to be starting this new venture with the kiddos.  My mother is quiet the painter, as is my father-in-law.  They get their knack for art honestly, though it isn't inherited from me!  This week we learned the primary colors {red, yellow, and blue for those of you not in the know} and our secondary colors {orange, green, and purple} and made color wheels to go along with them.  It was fun to watch them mix dabs of colors to create the secondary colors before adding them to the color wheel.  Sarah couldn't believe that pink isn't really a color but it is a shade of a color.  I think it will take some coaxing before she believes me. ;)

Science: We continued on with Zoology 3 this week ending chapter 1.  I am still unsure of this for us but I am not a quitter so we will keep on keeping on until we either hit a wall or we sail on through!

History: It was a short week so we really didn't get any history done at all.

I am still very excited about our new school year.  We have met new friends and are learning lots of new things without it seeming like drudgery.  We do have some behavior issues that need to be worked on {got any suggestions?!} and we need to work on focus, but they are 5 & 6 so I am sure those things will improve with age.  I am trying to pray for them and their attention and focus daily.  Please join me in that prayer.

How did you spend your week?

Trucking Along

I *think* we have found our rhythm and our groove in our homeschool journey this year!  I was really worried that somethings were not going to work for us.  Turns out, I was over thinking it.  We have set Saxon Math 2 to the side for Math Mammoth and we are not looking back.  S is doing great with it!  She is also really enjoying the readers that go along with the All About Spelling Level 1.  We are going to have to purchase the rest of the set soon, I think!  She has progressed through AAS very well and seems to be learning a lot about it.  N has added K12 Math for Kindergarten and so far he is really enjoying the program.    He made an adorable robot out of the shapes he colored and cut out, yesterday.  He is progressing with The Reading Lesson.  I was worried that he may not be ready to learn to read.  We are taking it VERY SLOWLY (one page a day or so) so that he will not get over whelmed.

This week we started Charlie and Chocolate Factory along with a lapbook and The Dig for Kids.  Both of these have added some great new fun to our Morning meeting.  I just need to find some coloring sheets for the kids to use during The Dig so they focus better.  My children both absorb more when their hands are busy doing something else.

I am reading the new book by Lysa Turkeurst Unglued.  Talk about hitting home!  It is really opening my eyes to my life and I am seeing how I can make "imperfect progress" and move forward.  I am trying to stay on top of the house and chores but that isn't going as well as I had hoped.

I am excited to see the fun new things we do throughout this year!

New Things

The kiddos and I are looking forward to starting our day off in a new way.  We will be doing a Morning Meeting!

We will start the day off with a Bible Study.  We will be starting The Dig this week and I look forward to it.  After Bible we will do our prayer and pledge.  Since S will no longer be doing her Saxon Math we needed a calendar time.  I started by going back to the calendar notebooks we used to use.  S was having some trouble with writing the date sentence out herself so I printed off some strips to put on the wall for her to refer to.  Find them here on Mama Jenn.

That prompted me to go all out and get a calendar for the classroom.  It was perfect timing too, I had several Office Max Perks saved up and the calendar I wanted just happen to fit into that budget!  Yay for free!!!

For the calendar board I put the numbers on with hook and loop tape.  I used the prickly part on the back of the weather cards and used felt on the wall and the weather board to stick them to.  I love the frogs.

After we go over our calendar time we will move into a read aloud book.  The kids have chosen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for our first book.  We love the movie and are sure to enjoy the book.  I will be searching for some unit type things to do with the kids around the book as well.  After that we will move into Science and History/Geography.  Then onto... ART! I love art and so do they. I found a great book on CBD.com called Primary Art - Book A by Dianne Sturrett. We will start out with learning our primary colors and creating a color wheel. Then we will add in primary colors and start with lesson 1.

I look forward to starting these new things with the kiddos and seeing what we can add to our morning meeting.  I hope to have more about our calendar notebook soon!