Coming Soon

I have been working on a new look for the blog tonight. As soon as I get everything ready the changes will go live! I can't wait!

Looking good!

Over the past few weeks I have been working on decluttering and reorganizing the classroom.  I have really accomplised a lot and I am so excited with how it is going.  I just purchased some new material over the weekend that is fun and has a cute school theme to it, to create some new window treatments and recover the cushions on the chairs in here that the kids have at their desks.  I have been weeding out books and decided that less is more.  I will make a list of what we have and keep out several for reading fun, and for learning.  The rest go in a tub under a bed and each month they will be rotated so we wont get bored.  S has really started to enjoy reading and asks for new readers almost each time we are out.  I cannot say no to that!  After buying several over the weekend we have agreed that if she reads 2 a week until she has read through each of the ones she has that she can start getting more again.  I think she likes that agreement.  I hope to get the new curtains done soon and I plan to post pictures of the new room!!!

We Won!

I am so excited about what just came in the mail today!  A little over a week ago I received an email that we had won a copy of The New Millennium Girls Creative Writing Curriculum!  I never win anything.  I was stoked.  I had entered the giveaway at Hip Homeschool Moms blog for their birthday celebration.  We have been trying to find a good book for S and I to read together.  This set is perfect.  Not only do we have the book but we have the creative writing book and paper dolls that go along with it for you to make your own story.  I know this is a bit advanced but I am sure that together we can make it work.  I look forward to using it and seeing what it holds for us!

And I Thought I Was Super Mom

I thought that this homeschooling thing would be easy.  We are home everyday anyway.  We are always together.  I love my children.  I want the best for them.  So, homeschooling should just fit right in.  We will all have a great time.  We will love each other and play together and learn together.  I wonder how many other moms have thought that?  It was a tough reality to face that it wasn't like that?  I am NOT super mom!  Who knew?!  After the term end at Christmas I was so burnt out and so was S.  We were so glad to have those few weeks break.  I took that time to review where we are and where I want us to be.  We were on learning overload.  I was trying to hard to turn the house into a school setting and make everything that was done educational.    Now, there is nothing wrong with making things educational but there is a point that in doing so it takes the fun out of the learning process.  -I see that NOW!!!- I work from home so I was working until the wee hours of morning on my clients orders making for little rest and a very cranky mommy.  The house was a wreck.  To the point of no one coming over.  BUT I couldn't clean it.  We had school to do.  I cannot believe I got to that point.  Isn't it sad? 

I leave you with a pic of S after she pulled her first tooth!  YAY!!

Where do I want to be you ask.  Honestly I want to be with my children.  If it is in the classroom working on the worksheets I have printed off then that is great.  If it is at the diner table talking, even better.  If it is curled up on the couch watching a movie, well it doesn't get much better than that.  I realize that my children do have to learn and it is up to me as their teacher to teach them.  Trust me, there is lots of learning going on here but there needs to be more fun going on here as well.  As I type this I can hear the kids playing "bath time" with their stuffed animals in their bedroom and I am ok with that!  We will get to those worksheets sometime today.  Life is good, God is great and I am NOT super mom! (and that is fine by me!)

Kool Aid Playdough

It is a rainy nasty day out.  So I decided the kids and I would make some playdough.  BUT not your normal playdough.  No, not in our house!  ;)  Today we made Kool Aid Playdough.  I found this recipe online and wrote it down quickly.  It is good that I did because the power went out minutes after and now I cannot fiind the recipe anywhere.  The playdough turned out great.  I want to share with you how we made it.  I hate that I cannot credit the original source, though.

Kool Aid Playdough


1 1/4 C. All Purpose Flour
1/4 C. Salt
1 Pkg any flavor Kool Aid
1 Tbs. Cream of Tartar
1 C. Boiling Water

Mix first 4 ingredients in bowl with fork.  Stir in boiling water.  Mix until it forms a ball.  Kneed with hands until pliable. 

**We had to add a bit of extra flour to ours after we kneaded it so it was easier to work with.  All in all it was a great recipe.  It makes a lot.  I let each child stir the dry ingredients and then I poured in the water and let them stir away.  I did the first few minutes of kneading and then it was cool enough for them to take over.  They played with this for about an hour!  I love projects like that.**

Pizza Dippers

The kids had been begging me for weeks to let them make their own lunch.  I found a recipe on Pinterest that looked interesting and easy enough but wasn't as kid friendly as I needed.  So I adapted the recipe to suit our needs.

Pizza Dippers
1 Can (8oz) Crescent Rolls
1 C. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 Pkg. Pepperoni
1 Small Jar of Pizza Sauce - for dipping

Preheat oven to the temp listed on can of rolls. Lay one triangle down on a plate with the long side toward the child.  Place 3 slices of pepperoni down the triangle.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Roll up starting at the end toward you (the big end).  Mash the smaller tip end into the dough and lay seam side down on baking sheet.  Bake per directions on can of rolls.  Dip in your favorite pizza sauce.  (We used the Walmart brand.  It was $1 and it tasted yummy)

We doubled this recipe to share with their papaw who liked the rolls better without the sauce.  The were very tasty and are sure to be made again very soon.

Enjoy!

Last week was a FLOP!  F-L-O-P, flop.  It is my fault.  I didn't do my regular planning.  You know the old adage, fail to plan = plan to fail?  It is very true in my life.  I made a decision the end of the week that was NOT going to happen this coming week.  On Friday I planned out the next 2 weeks.  I will work on getting art stuff together through the week as I decide what art projects we will do per day.  I am trying to soak up as much outside time as we can before it gets too cold.  We were able to get in a few neat and new art projects along with our curriculum just to get the wiggles and boredom out.  I will post pics and links to the projects this week.

The weekend has proved to be much colder and I am thinking that fall is really about to set it.  YAY!  I love fall.  It is my favorite time of the year.  (I probably say that at each season change)  This week we are doing a leaf theme.  We will go out and do a search for leaves and one day this week we will investigate them and find out which leaf belongs to which tree.  I also want to do some projects with the leaves.  I am excited!

I hope life finds you and your family well.