Bond Homeschool Journey

07-29-09 Sleeping Squirrel

2009-08-20T15:31:00.002-04:00

(posted 8-20-09) I've been catching up on some of the older Tray Time stuff, I thought I would throw a more recent one in there as well...

A neat little impromptu lesson during lunch! Ryan, Cassada and I were eating lunch on the deck and I look up and happen to find a sleeping squirrel on a branch. We had JUST been re-reading one of our Animal Baby books about squirrels the night before and one small section was talking about their sleeping habits. Well, I can say I've never personally seen a squirrel sleeping on a branch, so I was super stoked about it. Ryan was too, since I'm assuming he's never seen one either (haha). So, we got to talk about squirrels a bit more during lunch and watch this little guy sleep, stretch, reposition and sleep again. Nice...

(The pictures are a little blurry b/c I was taking them through the screen on our porch and he was a good distance away).

Posts are not always in order...

2009-06-19T16:15:00.003-04:00

I was talking to a friend today and she mentioned that she checked my blog occasionally and noticed I had not updated in awhile. True. But, I started thinking later that some posts may have been missed. Since I started and use this blog as a journal of sorts, I don't always post in order - I post in the order they occurred, not the order I blogged them - so, you may see the "front post" for a few weeks, but unless you receive the emails or blog reader updates, you may not have seen that I have actually posted several posts and they are stuck in the middle somewhere! I do my personal blog (Bond Family Journey) the same way. It never occurred to me people might not be mind readers and just automatically know I do this ;) So sorry!!!

06-17-09 Now that Summer is almost here

2009-06-17T15:42:00.004-04:00

I thought I would share some of the spring activities we've been doing. I haven't posted in awhile, but that doesn't mean we've stopped doing tray times and activities! On the contrary! Ryan just keeps me busy with them - plus, the new kitchen and Cassada - not a moment's rest. But, I'm loving it.

Here are a few things on the wall - lots of things we've talked about and played around with - rainbows with all the rain we've been having, why plants need rain, caterpillars, butterflies (with a visit to the local butterfly farm All-A-Flutter), sunshine, baby animals - including a GREAT, impromptu lesson on baby birds with the Cardinal bird nest right outside our front door, planting, gardens, etc. Oh, and let's not forget the garbage truck (?) - we HAD to throw in a few activities about the garbage truck...

I'll post more about the activities with other ones thrown in as time allows :)

PE Activities

2009-06-17T15:33:00.003-04:00

Another good one from TheHomeSchoolMom - I received the newsletter today and promptly checked it out since I am always "at a loss" when Ryan and I go outside without anything specific planned. He usually figures it out, but I like having ideas to fall back on also. This was a really cool one - especially for the days he doesn't seem to be that motivated about doing anything other than playing with cars/trucks/anything with wheels. Plus, this helps me "introduce" him to new ways to move. Like you need to do that with a toddler/preschooler, haha.

PE Teacher Toolbox

Do you ever allow PE to get the short end of the stick in your homeschool? I found that it is very easy to ignore this important topic but I definitely want to be sure that my children get enough activity in their day. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education publishes monthly activity calendars that list some great ideas for keeping kids active. Each month also offers a parent's letter with activity and resource suggestions. June is National Great Outdoors Month, so log on and find some fun ways to celebrate the outdoors in your region!

aahperd.org

6-5-09 Rainbow Week

2009-06-05T15:20:00.002-04:00

This week, with all the rain, we've been talking a lot about weather and rainbows. Ryan has been loving checking the radar with Eric every night and seeing "where the green is". We've talked a lot about why it rains (so plants get water) and that plants need sun and water to grow. We've done a few coloring sheets and rainbow activities. We have not made it outside to "make a rainbow" with the water hose yet - but that will hopefully be in the next week. Every time I tentatively plan it, IT RAINS. Oh well...but, our "style" tends to be to do a few activities/crafts to introduce a subject and learn a little and then move on so it doesn't bore the two year old - but, bringing it back up time and again over the following months (usually his choice, sparked by a question). Such as, next time it rains, we'll pull out another fun rainbow craft or activity. Or, if we see one in the sky, we'll do another one if he's interested.

We read a couple of books, but he really liked What Makes a Rainbow. We made our rainbow chain through each page (with the stapler).

We "practiced" finger painting - I say practiced b/c Ryan is not always one to enjoy it. He's finally learning that it's ok to get paint all over your hands, mommy will clean them later. He hasn't liked getting his fingers "dirty" with paint until recently. Whew... So, we made rainbows with our finger paint...

And then we practiced (haha) making rainbows on his arm...

Back to the paper...

And finally to the brush (his choice of instruments usually)...

We even had a rainbow lunch!

I think we'll work on manners next, haha...

We even pulled out an activity from the archives (see St Pat's Day activities) and did the rainbow pot of gold one again. Although, I think he enjoyed shaking the m&m's in the jar more than putting them on the paper, so they are all crumbled at this point. But, they DID make some fun music!

And let's not forget the rainbow felt board - I got him started on the colors and he started putting them into rows. It wasn't his favorite activity, but he sort of enjoyed it for a bit.

We, of course, did quite a few other activities that I don't always take pictures of - many out of the archives, some new ones. Our trays are always filled and waiting for the fun to begin - just whenever we have time or whenever he decides it's time to do "Tray time!!!"

06-03-09 Impromptu Tray Time - Ryan's Game

2009-06-03T23:57:00.002-04:00

Ok, so he is catching on quite nicely - he was in the playroom playing with daddy and a big wooden spoon. After a few minutes, he comes and asks for my bin of marbles (I was in the kitchen).

Me - "Sure, but why?"
Ryan - "I want to do a tray time."
Me - "Ok :) "

So, he decided he wanted to carry the marbles from his blue table to the bowl on the table across the room - and then carry two, etc. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth and so on...

I know they are always curious and want to play and do different things, but it's interesting to me that he already knows that his playing is "learning" (he thinks learning is apparently called "tray time", lol).

Yeah little man!

Homeschooling the High Schooler

2009-05-04T00:34:00.003-04:00

This is a post I had drafted awhile back, but kept forgetting to email for permission to post - so, I finally did and thought I would go ahead and update. She always has great information - see TheHomeSchoolMom.com for more!

I know I don't need this right now - but an interesting read. Plus, I'll just 'file it away for later'...much much later...

From TheHomeSchoolMom.com
7. Article - Homeschooling High School by Terri Johnson, author of Upper Level Homeschool, providing guidance and instruction for parents of middle and high school teens.

When it comes to high school, most homeschooling parents approach these years with fear and trepidation. I will admit that I did, as well. But I am so pleased that we decided to take the plunge and continue home schooling our oldest daughter rather than pursuing private or public school for these final four years.

Are the high school years approaching in your home? I encourage you to stop, take a deep breath, and consider the possibility that homeschooling your high schooler might be a tremendous boon for you, your student and your whole family. Here are some reasons why...

This is when homeschooling really begins to pay off. Your student has become an independent learner and can schedule and manage his own work load. High school level work should not require a great amount of your time (although more of his than he might be used to!).

Ideally, your student, who is approaching high school, has become a real helper to you and her younger siblings. This is a wonderful time to have your teens home by your side, learning to cook, garden, manage a home, build a deck, balance a checkbook, etc. Often high schoolers enrolled in public or private school do not have time to learn practical life skills because of the excessive class time and increased home work that their teachers demand.

High Schoolers are fun to be around. This is when your children become your friends. Now, don't get me wrong, you still need to be their parent, BUT you are beginning to let go, little by little, letting them make their own mistakes, letting them learn from their own successes and failures. This is a time when kids can really begin to open up and talk - talk about real life issues, debatable topics, philosophical or theological differences, social pressures... Wouldn't you like to be the one that he or she turns to? Wouldn't you like to be the one that he asks advice from? Wouldn't you like to continue developing that life-long heart-to-heart friendship? Homeschooling the high school years can foster and grow this relationship because you have time to just "hang out" together.

So these are just a few reasons for you to consider as you decide whether or not you will press on. But how can it practically be done? This is a good question because we all know that high schoolers are learning material that is often above our heads. We often do not remember our Algebra 2 courses or advanced grammar exercises.

Here are some ideas that you can think about that might make homeschooling high school a more do-able scenario for you and your student:

RESEARCH

One of the intimating factors about homeschooling high school is that it is most likely a 4 year decision. It is a lot easier to pull your student out of public high school than it is to stick him back in. Do your research before you make this big decision. Find out what type of subjects and the number of credits that your state requires. You can probably just do a Google search to find this information. Find out what needs to be recorded on a transcript and begin keeping this information from year 1 - when your student is finishing her freshman year. Find out what kind of programs are offered in your area for high school teens. That brings me to my next point.

OUTSOURCE

I don't know about you, but there are just some subjects I would rather not teach. I have found out that there are many, many classes out there that my teens can take for high school credit, such as science, math, writing, speech/debate, Spanish, etc. Most of these classes are taught by private instructors in a traditional style classroom setting (although smaller than a public school classroom - usually 8-10 students). Many classes can be taken from our local junior college for dual credit. Tutors are available to teach one or more subjects that I do not want to teach. And classes can also be found online, taught through virtual conference rooms and corresponding through email. Think outside the box and find out what types of programs are available for your students.

MAKE A PLAN

You do not have to plan everything out in advance, but jot out a rough plan for your high school student's education, knowing that it will change as he specializes in certain subjects as high school progresses. If you know that your son dislikes foreign language, then just plan for 2 years of Spanish, instead of 3 or 4 (however, his university of choice may require 3 years of high school foreign language to be exempt from taking foreign language in college). If your daughter wants to work for NASA, then four years of higher math needs to be planned into the schedule. If you have a student that wants to work in Bible translation, then continue with grammar and even beginning linguistics all the way through the four years of high school. So, make a plan, but stay flexible for changes down the road ahead. Your teen doesn't need to know right now what his career is going to be, but he should be thinking about it.

ENCOURAGE INDEPENDENCE

Help your students to understand that their classes are their responsibility and that you are not going to hand them an "A" or a 4.0 on a silver platter. Good grades must be earned. This is the time to get your teen a planner where she can break down her assignments and write them into her day's schedule. Let her make some decisions about how and when she will study her subjects, as long as she completes her assignments on time (she still reports to you as teacher). You will no longer need to hover over every assignment, but do insist that she turn in her work on time (whether that be once a week or something else that you decide). Tell your student up front what is required to gain an "A" in a particular subject. Then place the responsibility for earning that "A" in her lap. Now, that said, you can decide that a 1 credit course is not quite complete in May and give your teen a month or two more to finish the requirements. Again, you are the teacher and can make these critical decisions along the way. Or you might choose to give half a credit now and the other half during the following year if those requirements are finished up later.

COLLEGE BOUND

It is so hard to know when your student is entering his freshman year, whether he will attend college or not at the end of four years' time. However, it is important to choose a route at the beginning so that all requirements are finished during the high school years. In other words, unless you are certain that your child will not attend college, it is best to choose a college bound course of action. In this way, all the requirements that he will need to apply for and be accepted into the college or university of his choice will be completed. You may even want to look into the requirements of specific colleges and universities that your son or daughter might be interested in attending so that you can plan to meet them in the next four years.

Often your student can take courses at your local community college and earn dual credit during his junior and senior year. This may be an added benefit for acceptance into his college of choice or may hurt his chances as it could jeopardize his freshman status. It is best to find out before he takes courses for dual credit. Your teen may also want to take some CLEP (College Level Examination Program) tests along the way in order to test out of some college classes that are general in nature and cover material already learned during the high school years (i.e. general biology).

You may be certain that your son or daughter will not pursue a college degree, but rather apprentice or start his or her own business, or take another path. That is fine and then you can plan for more freedom or focus during the high school years. If carpentry is the career of choice, then by all means, put some of the school books aside and get out there and build things. But remember, carpenters use math every single day! If in doubt about whether your child needs a class, have him take it to be on the safe side!

Do not fear the high school years. They are delightful, focused and rewarding. Consider homeschooling your high schooler. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. I was!

Enjoy those learning moments…

Terri Johnson

Knowledge Quest, Inc.

Todd and Terri have been married 20 years, home teaching their children for 12 years and operating Knowledge Quest, a publishing business that specializes in history and geography curricula for the homeschool marketplace for the past 8 years. They are currently teaching two online classes – Homeschooling ABCs, providing guidance and instruction for new and/or overwhelmed homeschooling parents – and Upper Level Homeschool, a class providing guidance and insight for parents of middle and high school teens.

Tim Hawkins video - a funny

2009-05-04T00:29:00.003-04:00

This made me laugh out loud.

Tim Hawkins Video

Added a couple of things to the "needs/wants" list if anyone has available (just putting the ones on here that people might have in their house and not need/want anymore):
- empty parmesan containers
- cardboard egg cartons
- coarse sand paper sheets
- brads
- eye dropper
- wide mouth funnel

Free Summer Movie Schedule at the Palladium

2009-05-04T00:24:00.001-04:00

Palladium 14 882-5554
Free Family Film Festival

*****Shows start at 10 am ********

June 16,17& 18 Charlotte's Web (G)
Surf's Up (PG)

June 23, 24 & 25 Horton Hears a Who (G)
Journey to the Center of the Earth (PG)

June 30, July 1&2 Space Chimps (G)
Star Wars: Clone Wars (PG)

July 7,8 & 9 Veggie Tales Pirates Who...(G)
Spiderwick Chronicles (PG)

July 14, 16 & 16 Mr. Magorium's (G)
Nim's Island (PG)

July 21, 22 & 23 Everyone's Hero (G)
Madagascar 2 (PG)

July 28, 29 & 30 Mr Bean's Holiday (G)
Kung Fu Panda (PG)

Aug 4, 5 & 6 Kit Kittredge (G)
Shrek 3 (PG)

Aug 11, 12 & 13 Tale of Despereaux (G)
Alvin & the Chipmunks (PG)

Kids meals available; seating is limited and first come first serve

Call 882-5554 for more information

05/02/09 Our Homeschool System

2009-05-02T01:25:00.004-04:00

I've sort of taken things from several different areas - what I like best from wherever I see it. I have an 'art' notebook and a 'song/poem' notebook that I regularly add to. His art notebook contains anything he's done that will fit into a notebook. He likes to look through it from time to time. I have no idea what I'm going to do when it gets too full to add stuff. Guess I'll start weeding it out with his help. That's a hard job. The song notebook is just random songs and poems that we like and will take down and read/sing for whatever amount of time. We have a copy of the library story time songs in it as well.

There are many other aspects of our 'system' that I haven't documented here - just thought I would give a quick rundown of what we are doing.

The tray area and music/cd "center":

Most of the current theme's work gets hung above the trays and books. We have another wall across the room that we hang random pictures/painting/etc. - or anything "off topic", also anything he decides he wants to hang over there.

This is his art-cart. It has a lot more in it since this picture was taken. All kinds of paper and material he can doodle, draw, design on. The top tray contains things that he's proven he can "handle" without supervision and can pull out and use any time he gets the notion (crayons, markers, glitter glue, erasers, stencils, stickers, stamps, etc.). The second tray contains things he needs supervision with or to use in 'larger' art projects. Most of the items here are items we glue on to other things (cut up tissue papers, yarn ends, feathers, googly-eyes, beads, beans, etc. etc.) and the third cart is sort of the catch-all right now - anything that doesn't really fit in the other two. This isn't all the art stuff, just the stuff we use most often.

05/1/09 Can I get a (another) woot-woot for starfall.com!

2009-05-01T01:14:00.001-04:00

Ryan loves to play on the computer now. So, any time we are NEAR the computer, he comes running from wherever he's playing yelling "star-dot-com!!! star-dot-com!!!". So, I let him play for a few minutes a day. Well, before we started doing starfall.com, Ryan knew all his capital letters. This isn't really something we have focused on, he just seemed to pick them up here and there. I did point out a few in the beginning and when he grasped the concept, he started asking about others and just sort of ran with it. I figured we wouldn't even bother with the lowercase letters until later - I didn't want to focus so much on letters right now. In fact, I toyed with teaching him the lowercase letters by sound instead of "this is an 'a'" type thing. Anyway...

Well, Eric and I were watching him last week while he was on starfall.com and he was playing a matching game (he gets on there and navigates wherever he would like to go). He knew every single lowercase letter they were showing him and could match it to the uppercase letter. Without even pausing between them. Wow. Go starfall! Actually, we have no idea how many or which ones he knows - so it could be a select few or all of them. I just know I was amazed at how fast he was doing them and without any teaching from me/us.

So, part of me felt guilty for "holding him back" and not teaching him myself - later, I started wondering if I was 'relying' on the computer to teach him. But, I had to stop with that line of thinking b/c it doesn't matter where/how he learns as long as he's doing it while having fun and doing what he wants.

He def keeps me on my toes...

4-20-09 Garbage Truck and Burlington's WOW

2009-04-20T16:21:00.007-04:00

(posted 8/20/09) We went to an OUTSTANDING event in Burlington, hosted by the Alamance Mommies group (sister site to my near and dear Triad Mommies) - Wheels of Wonder. They had every type of vehicle there that you could possibly think of - construction, delivery, emergency, limos, helicopters, army, tumblebus, monster trucks, go carts, etc. etc. etc. The kids were allowed to climb in/on/around all the vehicles and most of them would allow them to honk horns, press buttons, etc. Let me tell you, this was RIGHT UP Ryan's alley - if it has wheels, he is ALL ABOUT IT. I won't post all the pictures here - but I'll put them in a slide show you can click to get to (or see the right hand side of the blog for link).

Anyway, their handout was a coloring sheet of a truck that Ryan INSISTED was a garbage truck. Lately, he has grilled me for info about garbage trucks. They run two to three days a week here in our neighborhood for various things and when Ryan hears them, he INSISTS on going outside to watch. The. Whole. Production. Great... Anyway, so Alamance Mommies Wheels of Wonder prompted even more discussions of garbage trucks.

We colored a few coloring sheets, read a few books (a few of the favorites were Smash! Mash! Crash!, I Stink and Cars and Trucks) and then created our own garbage truck (original idea - No Time For Flashcards). A great way to work with the concept that you can put shapes together and make anything you want. Oh, and the q-tip painting was fun too (you can't see it, but he colored the wheels with a few markers also). Later, I realized I should not have had Ryan glue the back of the truck on, but to use something so it would pivot (like a brad). Oh well, maybe the next garbage truck we create...

Resource - Free Family Calendar

2009-04-18T00:54:00.002-04:00

We don't need this quite yet, but I know a couple of people that really like it.
Cozi.com

Resource - Homeschool Freebie Of The Day

2009-04-16T21:00:00.001-04:00

HomeschoolFreebieOfTheDay

A great resource!!!

Sand, Buttons and Rice Trays

2009-04-12T23:33:00.010-04:00

3-25-09 Sand Play
Ryan loved this one - too cold outside to play in the sandbox, just right for inside. Took some small objects and buried them into some of the sand from the sandbox. A bit of a mess inside, but it was worth it - he played for more than an hour in the sand and was grinning most all of the time. He worked on transferring the sand from one bowl to the other, as well as finding the objects, burying them, counting them, sorting them, etc. etc. etc.

The objects to be hidden:

Discovering the objects:

Playing with all sorts of kitchen items in the sand:

Transferring the sand...slowly...from one bowl to the other...slowly...

3-26-09 Buttons
This was another big hit and he asks for buttons quite a bit now - he also played for over an hour with the buttons! Sorting, dumping, picking up, making noise with, counting, making pictures with (Ryan started making shapes with them), spooning into muffin tins/cups/bowls/etc. - lots of fun with buttons. In fact, I forgot how much fun buttons were! We had a lot of fun going through all the buttons and discovering different patterns, shapes, sizes - comparing them all, talking about which ones we liked better than others, our favorites, etc. Ryan's favorite just so happened to be my favorite too.

I made these two, but he told me what to make. This is a teddy bear.

My son is obsessed with 'not happy' over the last few weeks - "Is she not happy?", "He's not happy", etc. "Mommy, show me not happy", "Mommy, he's angry", etc. He points it out in all the books we read and makes me go back to that page over and over, slowly going over each person's face. I do so hope this "obsession" is normal.

3-27-09 Rice Play
This led to rice play - he is loving all these transferring trays! He played with this one for almost an hour. Lots of scooping, dumping, feeling (great sensory with all these), digging hands in, spooning, etc. One of his favorite scoops is a toilet paper roll that has one end mashed flat and stapled together.

For the last few weeks, he likes to make letters out of random objects. This time, he poured sand into a few holes in the ice cube tray and said "Look mommy...a F!!!". Great job buddy!

A few tray times...

2009-04-11T01:00:00.005-04:00

Ryan just loves doing tray times. He averages anywhere from 3 - 12 a day, depending on what else is going on that day. If we are home, he is constantly begging to do trays. Who can resist, right? So anyway, I'll try and catch up over the next few days on some of the things we have done. I'm not going to always post the repeats we do - but I do put out a couple of repeat trays each day - things that we've done before (not crafts, but more of the fine motor skill development, some gross motor, reading, coloring, puzzles, worksheets, abc stuff, etc. etc. etc.).

3-23-09
So, one of them was threading cheerios on a piece of yarn using one of my thick yarn needles. He wasn't thrilled with this one - any threading ones really. He got through it b/c we talked about the birds that might eat the cheerios. Unfortunately, we haven't seen any actually eat off of it - and it's time to take the soggy mess down. But, it's one he did well, just not happily. Guess we won't be doing this one again.

4-5-09 Nail Board and Alphabet poster

2009-04-05T15:58:00.003-04:00

(posted 8/20/09) My dear friend gave us a couple of 'tools' that she had left over from her teaching days and we promptly put them to use. These are just a ton of fun and so many things you can do with the ABC poster. I'd love to hear other ideas you would use this poster for - please comment!

Rubber band shapes on the nail board - great for fine motor development and shape/color recognition. He's grasping the concept you can use shapes to create other things - like a house, or two squares can make a rectangle or two triangles can make a square, etc. This board comes out about once every two weeks. Then, I spend the next couple of days chasing rogue rubber bands...

4-4-09 Painting in the sun

2009-04-04T21:01:00.003-04:00

(posted 8/19) Ahhh, the sunshine...we've missed you. Ryan wanted some outdoor time (so did we)...he had a ton of fun "painting" with water and scraping the chalk. It allowed us to get some garage cleaning done. Does that ever end?

4-2-09 Numbers and Rocks

2009-04-02T15:52:00.003-04:00

(posted 8/19/09) This is another one of those that sometimes is a favorite, other times not at all.
Other times we've blogged about this one: the first time and another time.

4-1-09 Domino Fun

2009-04-01T12:28:00.000-04:00

(posted 8/19/09) Hmmm...so many tray times to choose from...which one shall I pick?

Domino time! We like to stack, count, match, etc. Sometimes this tray is a hit, other times it's a "chore" and he quickly gets bored. I guess you just have to be in the mood...

3-31-09 Our daily things...

2009-03-31T15:56:00.005-04:00

I always look at my posts and think "Man, it feels like we did so much more today than that!", it felt like we were non-stop all day long! I made myself sit back and think about just WHAT we do on a daily basis. So, I made a list (to make myself feel better) and I do feel accomplished.

On days that we have things planned, it's a crap-shoot and we stick chores and tray times where they may fall. We usually have planned events three to four days of the 'business week'. On days we don't have any "out of the house" activities planned, things just sort of fall into a loose schedule (not planned, it just sort of happens).

On a daily basis, Ryan will help me with whatever "chores" I deem necessary (or let's say, I deem 'hey, let's keep the hubbie sane' - haha) for the day. Cleaning out the dishwasher or filling it, reboot some laundry, general straightening/decluttering/putting away toys/clothes/socks/last week's-just-found-milk-sippy, etc. Ryan is in charge of feeding Lindy (the dog) every morning and letting her in from her "morning constitution". He is recently making his bed "all by myself" also. He loves to help me cook or prepare whatever meal we are having.

We listen to some sort of music during breakfast and he usually starts in asking for tray time right after breakfast - if he makes it that long. A lot of times he is asking as soon as we walk into the kitchen or playroom. We do a tray or two (depending on how long he's interested in each particular one) and if he's stayed dry all night long, he gets a show (Sesame Street, Dora, Blue's Clues, Little Bill, Backyardigans, Wiggles, etc.) at some point in the morning. Music may or may not still be playing - depending on the length of the cd, the interest level of the boy and if I think about hitting play again or putting in another cd.

During all this, I briefly check my email, shower and get ready for the day, feed Cassada a couple of different times, stick some cereal and fruit in her somewhere in there, stretch her neck here and there (torticollis), dress the two of them for the day, clean up the kitchen/playroom/living room from whatever may be there the night before and the chaos of breakfast and probably more laundry. Ryan has spent this time doing trays, free play, puzzles, coloring (he likes to color outside of the shower while I shower and put make up on) and/or watching a show.

After we are all fed, dressed and for the most part cleaned up we will either run an errand, go to a park, a friend's house or do something in the house (it never seems to get all done) - usually involving some more tray times or cleaning up after the previous tray times. We sing songs, sometimes out of the song notebook, look through his previously done artwork, I have floor time with Cassada while playing with Ryan, read books to both and Ryan usually wants some computer time on starfall.com (or he calls it star-dot-com) or some video off of youtube.

At some point in here, I have fed Cassada (again) and put her down for a nap that'll range from 30 minutes to a couple of hours - we never know. At this point, it's time to start lunch 'festivities'. Ryan usually helps me with lunch and Cassada is usually awake by this point, so she's up wanting to be nursed/fed. After lunch, we play for whatever time we have before a loose nap time of 2:00 or 2:30-ish. If Cassada short-napped in the morning, then she'll usually go down around this time too. If not, she'll wait until 2.7 seconds before Ryan wakes up and then she'll go down...leaving me with 2.7 seconds of me-time... But, if they miraculously nap at the same time I get ME time - usually equating to another brief check of email, rebooting laundry somewhere, cleaning something, thinking about/starting dinner and whatever else strikes me that day. It's rarely something fun - like a hobby, tv or whatever. Some days, I will knit, but that's pretty rare now.

After nap, we do a variety of things - if we didn't do anything outside in the AM, we use this opportunity to go outside. If not, he usually asks for his 'after nap' tv time (another 30 minute show) and more tray time. A snack, free play (while I attempt dinner - usually it's more like I'm defending myself from a starving baby) and daddy comes home shortly after. Then it's all chaos - could be any number of things - outside, puzzles, finishing up any leftover crafts from the day, running around like a crazy man (and that's daddy), dinner, baby-time, reading, etc. Dinner, clean up, reading, tumbling, baths, night-night time (8:00-ish for Cassada, 9:00-9:30-ish for Ryan). We ALL clean up the house for 15 minutes-ish (this is new - I like it) and determine if we have any energy for projects (usually no). So, that is when I put together the next day's tray times and then get on the computer for more email time, blog time and reading other blogs for more tray time ideas. This is when Eric unwinds and watches TV. I used to knit or sew during this time - but it appears that HS research is now my new hobbie.

For Ryan's trays, I try to do a gross motor activity, a fine motor activity, a crafty-type activity, transferring activity, worksheet type thing (he seems to love to do those), a toddler-logic type thing and whatever else I want to throw in there. I also put out a puzzle on his table that hasn't seen love lately, a coloring sheet/book on his other table, a couple of books that may highlight something we've talked about recently or are just sitting on the shelf and haven't been read lately, a mental list of songs to try and sing the next day (there are thousands of songs out there that I forget about) and ideas to do if we do random outside time. I want to add a bible verse/toddler story into this equation somewhere - maybe a verse a week or something. I'm currently searching for a free online "curriculum" for that.

So, that is our day in a nutshell. Hope this helped anyone else out there wondering how other people "schedule" their days!

3-31-09 Marble and Tea Strainer Fun

2009-03-31T12:14:00.002-04:00

(posted 8-19-09) I don't know who had more fun with this one - Ryan or ME laughing at his antics. The things these two year olds come up with! Give one some marbles (under CLOSE supervision, I mean, they ARE choking hazards after all!), toilet paper tube, dish, cup, ice cube tray and a tea leaf strainer and sit back and watch the fun.

And now for some reading time. We got this book at the library - I don't remember the name, but it was about toddlers taking an exercise class of some sort. I would walk in the room and find Ryan re-enacting the class. It was cute turning the corner and seeing him 'reading' the book.

03-31-09 Bamboo Skewers and Foam Block

2009-03-31T12:05:00.004-04:00

(posted 8-19-09) This is a favorite. He still likes it when I pull this one out (or variations of it). Original idea from Tot School Tray Times in the Small Spaces section.

Before the foam fun, Ryan had fun "sorting" his giant McQueen coloring pages. Cassada seemed to have fun with it also - he would wave them over her head in a game of Ryan/Cassada peek-a-boo. Not sure what skills to put down for this one, but he sure did seem to work on a few of them (balance, coordination, fine motor by separating the pages, logical thinking for placement, etc. etc. etc.) - I love it when "tray times" just sort of happen with no planning! Especially when it's the two year old that comes up with them.

03-22-09 The Green G

2009-03-30T00:25:00.005-04:00

The Letter G - for GREEN GRASS. This one was a lot of fun and Ryan did enjoy playing with the grass in a non-conventional way. I can't take credit for this idea, but I can't find where I first saw it - I will edit this post with that link once I track it down...

Here it is (the link):
The Green Grass G

Color:

Glue:

Play like crazy man with grass:

Sit back and admire:

Needed supplies list

2009-03-29T14:04:00.009-04:00

Last update on this list:
I have moved the list to the sidebar of the main page so the subscribers will not receive updates any time anything is added or deleted. This should make your inbox a little more manageable!

Disclaimer - I am trying to figure out how/where to put this list so that you don't receive updates every time I update it. Bear with me - I'll figure it out soon.

I'm going to keep a running list of supplies we need to pick up. I've been asked by a couple of people if they can help with anything (whether it's something they have in their arsenal that we can borrow or a grandparent that wants to pick up a little something, etc.)

I'll keep it updated with things we would like for crafts or other activities. I'll have a link to it in the righthand sidebar.

elmers glue
eye droppers
wide mouth funnel
measuring spoons and cups
sponges
glitters
glitter glues (in squeeze pen form)
colored sand
colored beads (abcs, colors, sized for fitting on pipe cleaners)
colorful buttons
face paint
small Ryan sized paint rollers
finger paints
any type of craft paints
swizzle sticks
steam a seam
paper lunch bags
interesting/fun containers - colorful, thematic, shaped odd, great for storage, anything fun and unique
cotton balls
colored copier paper
regular/white copier paper
notebook paper
counting bears
Patricia Pingry books (we already have the Christmas book and the Easter book)
thematic stickers - holidays, etc. All shapes and sizes
all shapes and sizes of baskets for storage (for me or smaller for items I give Ryan on his trays)
paint brushes (all sizes)
paint trays (not just for paint activities - we have the round one)
ABC templates that are simple in design (not a lot of extra - something simple to cut out, color, etc.), about 3 - 4 inches tall
dot paints (like binger dotters) - refillable kind
Leap Frog Letter Factory
Leap Frog Letter Factory 5 DVD pack
Melissa and Doug Beginner Pattern Blocks
Hands On Learning: Match, Trace and Write Alphabet Mats
Melissa and Doug Geometric Stacker
Aquadoodle Mats and Accessories - he loves the big mat, so we would love one of those
Stacking Pegs and Board and another variation, variation, variation
Melissa and Doug Lacing Beads
globe

Repurposed items:

dasani water bottle blue caps
butter containers
white or opaque water bottle caps
yarn

IKEA items that I would like to get next time we go (or if a friend goes sometime) - call me - I will update this list with links sometime soon.

Found/Discovered Evernote.com

2009-03-29T13:58:00.002-04:00

Loving it. It's a great way to organize ideas/websites/clippings/etc. and add tags so you can do a quick overview of activities you would like to do. For instance, I have found several Easter activities over the last couple of months that I would like to do with Ryan. Now that Easter is approaching, I can go to my evernote.com account (or the local copy on your computer that you sync with the online version) and click on my Easter tag and VOILA! Or, I want to do a lamb "unit study" (spoken loosely) - click on my lamb tag, etc. So far, I really like it. Best of all? It's free, has online AND local copies that are synced (I lost all my "hard" work when the laptop died) and simple to enter things in (highlight, click a button and add your tags).

www.evernote.com

03-27-09 Reading Nook

2009-03-27T12:00:00.001-04:00

(posted 08-19-09) It isn't in this spot anymore, but we still have the same little reading nook (across the room). He loves to sit and read in it, which I love.

3-26-09 Felt Board

2009-03-26T00:14:00.003-04:00

Ryan loves this! He woke up on 3/26 to it on the sofa and he went nuts. He pulls it down a lot and wants to play with it. Sometimes he puts things on the board, other times he just goes through the box of cutouts, sorts them, dumps them, etc. He always wants me to come and "build the truck", so I try and comply. Since the felt board creation date, I've done a few different things (Five Little Monkies, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, foods, clothes, etc.).

The set up when he woke up from nap:

He ran right to it.

Crazy face guy (with very little help from mommy).

Ryan decided to make me lunch (with some help from mommy):

The truck that mommy made:

Five Little Monkeys

Homeschooling Ideas and Activities Article

2009-03-23T22:09:00.001-04:00

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/homeschool-ideas.html

Homeschool ideas can spice up a mundane routine, and make learning fun for parents and kids who are experiencing burnout.

When considering homeschooling ideas, look for activities that are inexpensive, require few supplies, and are easy to set up and clean up. Choose activities that are enjoyable, and don't make your children think of school. Here are some homeschool ideas that students of all ages will enjoy:

Poetry Night - Teach your children about poems and poets by hosting a poetry night. Have each member of the family recite a favorite poem, and provide background information about the style of poetry and the poet.
As an alternative, take turns reading poems from a favorite book or place poems written by family members into a book of your own.
Family Business - Starting a family business is a great way to build math skills and encourage entrepreneurship. Let your children sell homemade items, wash cars, walk pets or perform odd jobs for neighbors.
Teach them to develop a business plan that includes choosing a valuable product or service, setting a fair price, estimating their expenses and setting realistic goals. Help your children think of creative ways to market their business.
Remember to carefully supervise younger children when they are performing services for others.
Special Days - Set aside special days in your home to let your children spend the day in their pajamas, wear a specific color or dress up as a favorite character.
For fun, let family members experience each other's lives by switching roles or impersonating each other. Have an appreciation day where family members state what they appreciate about each other, or a day of service where siblings try to brighten one another's day.
Once a month, have a "mental health" day where everyone sets their duties aside to relax and have fun.
Go Outside - Taking school outdoors is a simple homeschool idea that adds sunshine to a dreary day and builds habits that lead to a healthy lifestyle. Read or complete lessons outside in your back yard. Take lunch to the park, or head to a local pond to feed ducks. Ride bikes around the neighborhood or take a few laps around the block to allow wiggly students to burn off energy between assignments.
Book Club - If you no longer read aloud as a family, set aside one night per month for a family book club. Have every member of your family read the same book, or choose a topic and let each child select a book on their level.
Have your children present background information about the subject and the book's author, and prepare a list of open-ended questions to discuss. These meetings will help your children develop conversation skills, and look forward to reading.
Word of the Week - Place a vocabulary word on your dry erase board or refrigerator at the beginning of the week. Discuss the word and its meaning, and encourage your children to use it in a sentence. Throughout the week, keep track of the number of times it is used in context, and reward the family member who uses it most frequently.
Family Newsletter - Publishing a monthly, quarterly or semi-annual family newsletter will help boost your children's writing and computer skills. Prompt your children to write about family news, community events, hobbies, books, movies or subjects they have studied. You can also include artwork and family photographs.
Assign each child an area of responsibility or let children choose their own topics. These newsletters will help you remember your family's adventures for years to come.
Celebrate Holidays - Decorate your home, dress up and make special meals for holidays. Research the day's origin and traditions, and how it is celebrated in other parts of the world. Celebrating holidays is a great way to study history and culture, and create memories.
Here are some ideas for celebrating homeschool holidays.
Debate Night - Separate your family into teams and choose a subject to debate. Encourage your children to learn as much as they can about the topic. Help them organize the information, and develop and evaluate their arguments.
Debates help children develop critical thinking skills and confidence speaking before groups. This is also a fun way to teach your children research skills, and help them develop an interest in history and current events.
Homeschool Games - Set aside one night per week for a family game night. Order pizza or prepare a favorite meal. Turn down the ringer on your telephone, turn off the television, and focus on your family. Chess, Scrabble, Monopoly and other games are great for math and language development.
Here is some information about choosing homeschool games your family will enjoy!

03-21-09 Tot Schooling on the go...

2009-03-21T16:02:00.002-04:00

We were able to capture pics this time - another trip to Lowes to work on our kitchen design. He loves the flat bed and we get some great time in with the designer. I can sit there and work with him in between questions from the kitchen specialist.

These beads are great - they are Noah's Ark beads (arks, lions, elephants, etc.). He had so much fun playing with them, making pipe cleaner bracelets, dumping, sorting, counting, loading in his dump truck, etc.

And, the trusty 'toothpick, popsicle stick, straw, etc.' water bottle. He just loves this and it is so simple. He plays with it forever - he really enjoyed looking at each popsicle stick in detail. These are the ones he painted (see this post). It gave me an idea - I think we'll do more things with pop sticks - wiggly eyes, markers, crayons, glue, collages, etc. and put in a bag to take with us to look in waiting rooms, etc.

03-20-09 Chores made Fun!

2009-03-20T23:58:00.002-04:00

Ryan has a few chores he has to do on a regular basis. I started 'chores' with him from the point he could walk. It started with him pushing his high chair back to it's 'resting' spot and putting the dog food bowl back in the laundry room when the dogs were finished eating. This has evolved to him helping with laundry, the dishwasher and cleaning his playroom and room. He has to put his comforter on his bed every morning (he does better at this than I do in my own room!), feed the dog, put his shoes away and put the silverware away when the dishwasher has been run. He does help me with things throughout the day that aren't regular chores, but those are his regulars. He does like to help - always runs in the room saying "I want to help you mommy!".

So, today's dishwasher sorting turned fun when he found my two tea infusers. He decided they were going to CHOMP things!

The chomping led me to pull out the trusty tongs, some pom-poms and a paint tray I had for just this occasion! Thanks again to Tot School!

He has enjoyed coloring so much these past couple of weeks that I have moved his writing table to my room and he colors the entire time I shower, do make up and blow dry my hair. This is our "station" now, with Cassada's toys also.

Cars Lap / Tot Book

2009-03-20T19:49:00.005-04:00

This idea was from Tot School, of course! Here is a link to her Cars Tot-Book, which is exactly what we used. I changed the idea a little, instead of using the name cards together, accordian style, I cut them apart and added a card that had his entire name printed out in all capitals - he is working on looking at that card and placing the other ones in the correct order. I did our last name and a card that has both names on there as well. He loves thumbing through this book, but the 'concepts' are review, so he gets a little bored with it quicker than I would like. 1+1+1=1 has created a new twist on the tot-book and I REALLY like what she is doing. We've printed the Monkey one and will be putting that together soon.

Coloring the color cards

Adding the stickers to the outside:

Playing with the counting cards and some of the letter/name cards:

The proud boy with the finished product:

Oh, and disclaimer: May not always be played with the way it was intended...But, what fun!

03-19-09 More St Patrick's day activities

2009-03-19T23:30:00.003-04:00

We decided to finish Ryan's shamrocks with some stickers and make our letters to mail to Nana and Grandmom. He loves going to the mail box and putting his mail in. Right now, he assumes our mail lady takes the letters directly to the grandparents and thinks that she knows them personally. So sweet.

When we went to the library on St Patrick's day, we barely missed a craft time (I didn't know about it). But, the librarian was so nice - she saw Ryan and gave us some of the leftover crafts to do at home! So, we made the big, big shamrock (glue time, cutting time) and some drawing on a black card that has colors underneath.

A little letter recognition...

We also did a lot of coloring today. He is all about the coloring lately. We took it outside for a little while, but other things drew his attention (like running with his big, red truck across this the lawn). We spent quite a bit of time outside.

03-18-09 WOW and the park

2009-03-18T23:21:00.003-04:00

We had WOW this morning (I subbed in a church day care for a women's bible study for the morning) - Ryan gets interaction with other kids, as well as, other adults. He def does not like being away from mommy b/c I'm usually in his class for MOPs - which is at the same church. Today, I was in the infant room, so I was not in his class. He did fine for a few minutes and then he decided he needed mommy-time. I told his "teachers" that I was ok with him coming back to my 'class' if he wanted to. I've decided I'm not going to push this issue - I tried for so long to fight him on the separation anxiety and it's just not working for him (or me). He's been like this from the moment he entered this world, I think it's just his personality. He isn't going to need me forever, so why push him away now? So, anyway, one of the workers brought him to my classroom, I soothed him and told him he could play in my classroom for awhile, but to let me know if he wanted to go back to his class. After about 20 minutes, he came to me and said he was ready to go back to his class now. A SMALL SUCCESS FOR US! So, I took him back and he stayed there the rest of the session and was happy playing the whole time. At that point, I realized my mommy-instinct (that I've been trying to fight) was right. All in his own time. He'll get there. That's what this homeschooling thing is all about, right? Teaching at their pace. Well, this is another lesson for me to remember.

After his nap, we went to the park to take advantage of some of this AWESOME weather!

03-17-09 St Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T23:06:00.002-04:00

Green breakfast with green OJ, green pancakes, grapes
We talked about St Patrick's Day a little and leprechauns, rainbows, pots of gold, green and shamrocks. After breakfast, we discussed a few more along that line and all of a sudden, my dear sweet, empathetic little boy turned with his sad, brown eyes and softly said (background - we have some married friends named Patrick and Kristy) "Mommy? It's Ms. Kristy's day too?". Awww, honey...it's THAT I want to bottle and keep forever. Yet, another reason I want to homeschool - I don't want him losing that sense of others.

We changed the playroom around a little Monday night and I made a little reading 'area' for him with all the books and a bean bag chair. He headed STRAIGHT for that this morning and spent a good hour looking at his books and coloring books. Cool!

We worked on the cars lapbook a bit with stickers, more counting card fun and new name cards added. He also colored with his water marker on the 'special' water marker book - just add water and he colors and the pictures magically appear. I admit, I have a good time coloring in that one too!

He also wanted his circles to put the small stones in them, again.

We had a lunch picnic at the park with some friends of ours down the street. There were some Canadian Geese there and they were making a bit of noise. I said "Look, honey! Hear them all honking?". A few seconds later, those twinkling brown eyes look at me and say "Mommy? Do gooses have horns?" I laughed loudly at that one :)

We also made a trip to the library after his nap - he LOVES going to the library! After the library, we went to Lowes hardware for a kitchen designer consultation. I got the idea of doing some tray time at Lowes and it worked out great! I didn't get any pictures, this time - but we took a flat bed cart, put Ryan, Cassada (in the carseat) and a bag of toys/trays for Ryan (and his dinner). We were there for 2.5 - 3 hours and he was GREAT the whole time! He sat on the flat bed (almost the whole time) and played with his construction vehicles and the popsicle sticks/tooth picks/straws/water bottle tray for over an hour. He did other things in "mommy's bag of tricks", but that was the one he played with the longest. Great stuff!

3-16-09 Number Circles, Fine Motor Skills, Painting

2009-03-16T23:57:00.000-04:00

Today was a day taken from Tot School - I even used the same sugar shaker from IKEA (which was a great place, btw - wish we had one closer than Charlotte). Anyway, he had so much fun with "Learning School" today (that's what he continues to call it). He also continues to ask to do "tray time" multiple times a day. I don't always get to pull one out and play every time he asks - nursing, showering, making food - but try to comply as much as I can. He is having so much fun with it all.

We stayed in this morning and he had a blast doing 'extra' tray times.

This one was a hit. We played with this for quite awhile - we are in Cassada's room so I could play with her and some of her 'other' toys while we played with the rocks and circle numbers. He put the numbers on the dots, counted them, told me what the numbers were (without counting the dots), dumped in the tray, dumped on the floor, gathered them all together, put them back on the paper, played a game of "turns" with me (my turn, now your turn, now my turn, now your turn), etc. etc. etc. This was a great one.

Another one he really enjoyed today - putting pasta in the sugar shaker. He did all the longs ones - he was very diligent about wanting to fill every single hole, then we took them all out. He wanted to put some medium ones in there, so we did a few of those. Then he wanted to put small ones in there - so we did a few of those. He wanted to break the pasta (which I let him do some), but every time he did, it would go FLYING across the room and send us into a load of giggles - even more giggles as mommy tried to find the pasta. Lindy (our "lonely" dog) found some of it for me. So after breaking it some more, we did small ones and shook the shaker for awhile.

Painting was a big hit today as well. He doesn't seem to be too keen on fingerpainting, but loves to paint with the brush. We'll do more painting tomorrow - time was limited today with it. I cut these out earlier this evening after they dried and maybe tomorrow we'll add glue and other things. We'll see!

A great article

2009-03-16T16:10:00.000-04:00

I feel so much better after reading this. Wow, I was beginning to believe I wouldn't be able to tackle this Homeschool thing successfully. Wow, this is just the thing I needed for today. It came to me in an email-issue of Carolina Homeschooler and the original article is located at http://www.carolinahomeschooler.com/articles.htm. I added it to here to keep my "customers" from having to follow so many links - I like being able to just click and read.

My House is a Mess!

by Kim Blum-Hyclak

My house is a mess. I want to get down to the business of schoolwork with my children, but the clutter is getting in the way. Colorful Legos� dot the floor like land mines ready to be stepped on. Books have escaped the prison of the shelves and lie open, hiding in freedom in the stairway alcove. The box of craft supplies exploded and the debris lies in creative concentric circles. The two dishes I left in the sink last night mated. Their offspring now enjoy the run of the table and the counter top. The piles of laundry I lovingly folded now lean like a famous monument, inching their way to the edges of the washer and dryer.

I survey the damage and feel overwhelmed. I yearn for the day when I can sit at the table with my kids and their lessons and open their minds to all the wonderful "stuff" the world has to offer, without the distractions that our daily living heaps upon us.

But after years of homeschooling, I know this is not the dream I want realized. I am living my dream. The Legos are not just creations, they are lighthouses. They are modeled after the lighthouse we visited on a trip to Florida. In one afternoon at Ponce Inlet, we learned about the inlet and its lighthouse, climbing its 203 steps to the top. We toured buildings packed with exhibits and learned about how the lighthouse works and its history, about lighthouses around the world, about ocean life and what it's like to be a sailor, about how Cuban refugees escape to America and the courage it must take.

The books in the alcove had help escaping. There is never a complete set of encyclopedias on the shelves; my children squander them in their rooms. The delinquent books in the alcove are the remainders of the journey my children took looking for Alaska. There is "w" for world, "u" for universe, "m" for maps, and finally "a" for Alaska. Along their journey, I know they also found many surprises.

The other books scattered about are the pleasure books that I have to pry from their hands when it is time for bed. There are the lighthouse books and my ninth-grader's John Grisham from the library. There is the young teen book my daughter absorbs, opening the door to questions and discussions that take place at the dinner table or wherever she needs.

Out of the creative explosion of the craft box comes a colorful "ojos de Dios," eyes of God. My son has given me this offering to place alongside the other gifts of my children's handiwork. Like an archeological dig, my bookcase and shelves are lined with artifacts from our various studies. There is the Egyptian pitcher molded from clay, the heraldry shield with our family crest, the quilt sampler from our American Girls Quilting Circle. There is pride in their workmanship and love in their offering.

The dishes were a lesson in science. Mixing water and flour makes paste. Mixing bouillon and water makes a solution. Heat from the stove causes a chemical reaction, the liquid of eggs becoming solid. They are also a lesson in math � figuring the correct amounts for a recipe and the correct time for cooking. Full meals have been cooked in my absence, including pasta sauce from scratch. The three kids help each other and divide the tasks.

The clothes would have been put away if we hadn't had a field trip to the state park for a program on birds. They would have gotten put away later, but we had to meet with other homeschoolers for a Lenten activity. Later that night, they were still patiently waiting to be tended to, but I was playing Monopoly and reading to my children.

I would like my house to be neat and tidy, but now is not the time. Webster defines education as "the development of knowledge, skill, ability, or character by training, study, or experience." He defines "learning" as "the gaining of knowledge or skill." In our homeschool, we do this in the distractions of our lives, not exclusive of them.

My children have taken responsibility for a portion of their education and taken it out of the boundaries of the kitchen table. As I write this, my older son does Latin and Algebra in his bedroom. My daughter is reading on the deck. My third is in the clubhouse with the dog, writing a story with the words he knows how to spell. Work is still done at the kitchen table, but most of the learning is done around the house. And it is done in an environment that not only encourages, but expects them to be respectful, compassionate, helpful, and encouraging to each other.

These lessons, now being applied to someone older or younger, or of another sex, will easily transfer to others of a different race, culture, or religion. This is what education is all about � taking what is being learned and assimilating it into their everyday playing and living. So yes, my house is a mess, but more importantly, at this point, my children are not.

3-13-09 Gluing shapes to make a picture

2009-03-13T23:40:00.000-04:00

He really liked doing this one. We used squares and rectangles to make an animal - a Dalmation!

It also gave us a good opportunity to have a conversation about Cinders and Dakota again (our dogs that are no longer with us, for a few months now - Cinders was a dalmation, Dakota a husky. We had to have them both put down due to complications of getting old - both were in pain and not having a good life in general). It was nice to be able to talk about it on 'my' terms and explain to him a few things that I was prepared to explain ("Who is God?", "Where is Heaven?", "Do they still have boo-boos?", etc.) - these questions have been raised now and then when he asks where the dogs are.

A couple of other things that came up with this moment: glue does not go in his hair...and a lesson for me - a little bit of glue goes A LONG WAY.

Singing songs from our 'song notebook' currently in process. Favorites right now include The Farmer in the Dell and the SNAP Crocodile song.

Quite a few books we don't read very often

Drawing letters, shapes, snowman on mini-white board

We have "discovered" a great website Ryan really enjoys. starfall.com - He loves it! He has been playing every day for 10-15 minutes for the last few days. He would play all day if I let him. Amazingly, he is a whiz with the mouse. We started out with him sitting on my lap and me showing him how. A single day later, he is shooing me away and doing it all himself. Kids are amazing. He is always saying "I want to play star dah com mommy!" and wanting to "make a now-man" or "pumpkin" or "ginger-man". He likes the letters too - but likes making the characters a touch better. I enjoy them too, believe it or not.

3-9-09 Play-doh fun!

2009-03-09T19:03:00.000-04:00

3-3-09 Clothespins on pipe cleaner circles

2009-03-03T18:08:00.000-05:00

Idea taken from Tot School - we took a red, yellow and blue pipe cleaner and bent/fastened in a circle. Then, put some red, yellow and blue clothespins in the tray and had him clip the correct colored pins to the colored pipe cleaner. No pics of it, he did it quickly and then was bored with it. But, we did have fun clipping the clothespins on all sorts of things. Here is my finished product:

I'm not keeping up with the posting of activities the way I should be - or writing them down to post later. I'm posting the ones I take pics of and trying to get those up. We have been doing a lot of activities, just no pics of them.

I'm doing a lot of reading/researching ideas at night and gathering materials. I'll try and post a list of my favorite blogs sometime soon.

2-27-09 Worksheets, ABC books, Cars Lapbook

2009-02-27T17:40:00.000-05:00

Ryan wanted to do a few worksheets today and play with his A, B, C books. These are great little board books - 26 of them in one little box, one for each letter. Each one has four or five pictures of things that start with that letter. We love to play with them.

We did get to work on the Cars Lap/Tot book some today also. Today he picked out the colors and colored on the pages. He also looked at/picked out the shapes. You can see the muffin tin crayons I made him for Valentine's Day in the crayon box. I'll put another post on those later.

I'm starting to realize I can have 200 activities planned and we get to one or two of them - simply b/c we are on the go in the mornings, usually. Plus, throw in a four month old and WHEW. Time absolutely gets away from us. Cooking dinner, playing with both of them, nursing, house renovations, sheesh. But, I am happy for those activities we actually do get done. It's better than nothing at all! We do stay busy in the mornings, usually. Play groups, errands, MOPs, etc. So, I am 'ok' with the amount of work we do get done. Some days I worry about it, but today is not one of those days ;)

We do read on a daily basis, try to color a little on a daily basis and whatever he wants to play with. I don't list all the activities we do - just the ones I specifically plan or set out in the trays that we get to.

2-26-09 Beads on a String, Sorting, Singing, 1st Lapbook - Cars

2009-02-26T17:16:00.000-05:00

I made this toy for him for Valentine's Day. A simple can we got as a gift with coffee in it, some wooden beads, some cord and a bell. Tied the bell to the end of the cord and melted the end. Voila, a stringing activity that we also use for beginning patterning. He doesn't quite get the patterning thing yet and he likes beading 'a little'. This activity was used, but he quickly moved on.

He did ask for the water bottle and straws/pop sticks/toothpicks/etc. again. So, he played with that for quite awhile. He even climbed on the counter later to get it AGAIN. He also pulled out his song notebook to sing some of our songs in it (and look at the poems, pictures we've done to put in there). He likes to also pull down his 'artwork' notebook.

Also, he asked to do some more cutting...

We started making his first ever Lapbook today. We used Cars, The Movie Tot Book, b/c of course, Ryan's obsession is Cars. I will post the finished project when we are finished. I'm doing the name part a little differently than shown in the link. We are leaving ours separate, he likes to try and put it in order.

2-25-09 Today's Activities

2009-02-25T16:56:00.000-05:00

I didn't picture the first activity, but Ryan thoroughly enjoyed it. I gave him a tray of popsicle sticks, tooth picks, straws and a water bottle. He spent around 45 minutes playing with these items - putting them in the bottle, dumping them, sorting them, etc. He really enjoyed it.

I got that idea and a ton others that we do from:
Tot School - I love that site! She has a lot of great ideas and I like the style.

The next activity (later that day) we/he painted the popsicle sticks to use for later. He really likes painting with brushes, but not so much with his fingers. Once again, he'll get there...

We also did a coloring/activity sheet out of one of our Elmo books. I don't like to do a lot of worksheet type stuff, but he really enjoys them, so I guess I'll just follow his lead on that one.

2-16-09 Cutting Activity

2009-02-16T16:46:00.000-05:00

This was one of the first times Ryan started cutting with scissors without my help. He's having a very intense moment. Since this time, he has become quite proficient! He still sometimes holds his scissors upside down, but most of the time he holds them right side up. He switches hands frequently and tries with both, but is better with his right hand. He likes strips of paper better than chunks of paper and he likes to try and follow lines, but quickly gets frustrated and decides he doesn't want to try any more. He'll get there...

An article or two...

2009-02-13T22:43:00.000-05:00

Here are a few articles I have read and keep bookmarked for others. Great resources for those that have questions about why I'm even considering the possibility.
http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/homeschooling-information.html

I also LOVE the following blog - I get a lot of my ideas from her - tray time, lap books, etc.
http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/

I'm also trying to figure out my format of how I want this blog to go. I think I'll have a list out to the side of resources, other blogs, our activities, etc. Not sure yet...

So, you're thinking about homeschooling, eh?

2009-02-13T22:25:00.000-05:00

So, yes, we are thinking about homeschooling. For the last few months, I have been toying with the idea and finally introduced it to Eric. Much to my surprise, he didn't shut it down immediately! Of course, he had some concerns and we began discussing those, as well as my own. The more we have talked, read and learned, the more I believe this is a big possibility. Eric seems to be on board as much as I am - we both still have our moments of doubt, but discussing through those and using each other as a sounding board has been good. I'm elated that he seems to be as into this as I am. He's even pointing out other families that homeschool - and he seems surprised that those families seem so normal. I think he envisioned Little House on the Prairie or something to that nature. "No honey, this ain't yo gran-mama's homeschool."

At the moment, we are trying out a bit of preschool-homeschool type things, just to see if it's something I want to pursue for myself. I realize, it's def time consuming - especially having a four month old in tow. But, I also realize we are homeschooling, whether we are putting effort into it or not. It's just a natural thing that mommies and daddies do (for the most part). He helps in the kitchen, helps me do chores around the house, we talk about things all day long - colors, shapes, why's, what if's, stories, songs, etc. - all throughout our day. We don't just 'get through the day', we live it. That's what it's all about, right?

But, knowing myself, I need some sort of agenda or list I can check off to feel like we've accomplished something. I'm not talking about a list of things Ryan can do, but more like a list of things I can look back on and say "Hey! Look what we did today!".

So, to start off the process, I explained to Ryan that we were going to start doing some school type stuff at home. His first question? "Will we ride a school bus?" Aha. Mental note...find some sort of bus we can ride/explore/be curious about...FIELD TRIP! Next? He asked if we could have snacks at "learning school". Silly me, I forgot where his heart lies...

So, we do some sort of "learning school" or "tray time" every day. Some days, it's only one thing (those are the days we are out and about all morning and come home for a nap in a flurry, play for awhile, get dinner ready...sometimes...and by then it's daddy-time, dinner time and then bed time). Some days, we do everything I have planned for the week! Those are the days he just can't get enough of "learning school" and asks for more and more. Those are the days I feel so proud, comfortable in the decision of the journey, excited about his enthusiasm and in general, just happy. Although, those are also the days I feel the most chaotic b/c the rest of the house looks like a hurricane swept through it b/c we dropped everything and played "learning school" all day long. Some days, we get nothing done b/c Ryan is having a typical 2.5 year old day and is digging his heels in on every idea I have. Those are the days I question my sanity and think "there is no way I can do this, it's just not going to work". But, we get through them and my enthusiasm returns. Lucky for me, Cassada has been an easy baby so far.

I do feel like I spend a lot of time online looking for fun things for us to do, interesting places to visit, homeschool blogs and how 'everyone else is doing it' - not so much to fit into the mainstream, but to get ideas on how to set things up. I love seeing something and incorporating it into our own little world. I've let any sort of 'me time' things fall by the wayside b/c I'm on the computer as soon as the kids go to bed. And now, I've started a new blog. Sheesh...I never want to see my sewing/knitting/husband again...but, again, this is my 'checklist' so to speak. Let's hope I can keep up with it - especially since our laptop is flying around in laptop-heaven...sniff, sniff.

My intention for this blog...

2009-02-13T22:12:00.000-05:00

My intention for this blog is to document our homeschool journey, no matter how long it may last. We are toying with the idea of homeschooling - so, starting now with preschool..."unschool"..."tot school"...whatever we may call it, I am getting an idea of whether this is for our family or not. I truly hope it is.

This is the place I want to put what we have done, my ideas for the future, good articles that may explain my thoughts, fears, etc. Don't expect this to be fancy...or even have completed sentences. This is my sounding board. But, many people are curious about what we are thinking - maybe this will give an insight.

I waver on the subject every week. One week I think it's the best thing since sliced bread and the next week I come up with a "what if" or "I don't want him to miss out on..." type subject. Back to reading articles and I usually find something that makes me feel better. I will post those type of things here as well.