Fingerpaints strike again

We got to use our homemade fingerpaints again. I got the joy of tickling my babies feet by painting on them. It was a blast and we made some cute keepsakes to display in their rooms. Check them out. There are just so many options.

Shaving cream is so awesome!

So we found a recipe for shaving cream puff paint.  It was so simple and such a hit.  The recipe is equal parts of shaving cream and white glue (Elmers)...you can also use food coloring to make a rainbow of colors.  Today we just attempted it plain.  All 3 kiddos LOVED it.  Bubba played with it for almost 30 mins...then he went to town painting his belly.  The pieces of artwork haven't dried yet but once they do I will update.  I will definitely be doing this again.  Next time we might add glitter...who doesn't love a little sparkle.

This is the beautiful abstract art of my 4 year old...award winning in my opinion. :)

It's been awhile

School is back in full swing. We are really getting into the groove of things since the move. We've been trying out some fun stuff. This one we got courtesy of Pinterest (of course).  We took paper, wrote with Elmer's glue and sprinkled with salt (iodized in the first 2 pics, Kosher salt in the bottom pic) then used a dropper to drop colored water onto the salt to see it spread!  Was pretty cool although I thought it would "spread" a little better.  That is why we tried the Kosher salt.  It spread better but didn't cover as well...ok that doesn't make sense but the iodized salt was finer and "covered"
better.  The Kosher salt isn't as fine but you could see the spreading better.

Some projects looked like fun and ended up being a flop. We did the dancing spaghetti experiment and it did NOT work for us.  I'm not sure exactly why...was quite a bummer for us.  As I was looking at similar experiments I noticed some recommended "dried" spaghetti not fresh...not sure if that would alter the experiment.

We've also had to find ways to occupy Bubba. Fun with beans today!!!  It was a big success (sorry for the blurry pic)



On the road again

Well we are on the road again after being in Georgia awhile. We will be in Oklahoma for a few days before our next adventure. Woohoo

Our adventures take a new direction

We found out yesterday we will be moving to Germany at the end of the year. So excited and extremely nervous. However, I'm expecting that our history and geography classes will take on a whole new meaning and will mean so much more to the kiddos. Hands on field trips across Europe here we come. I'm super excited to travel and see. It's going to be challenging and great. To start our adventures we will be traveling a lot up until the time we move. For starters we are heading to Georgia for a bit. Here we go!!!!

Summer (break) is here

So posts will be infrequent. But we have discovered "Flat Stanley". We got the app and now "Flat Rachel" can go with us everywhere. Today she played in the pool and then a game of tag. Haha

Horticulture update

We have had more progress. One that confuses me actually and will require some research. The plant has bloomed a white flower. Is this the start of a strawberry? Did we get the wrong plant (as E is convinced lol). What's going on? I will find out and report back.

*Update*  According to this site my sweet little flower is the beginning of my sweet, sweet strawberries.  Yay this makes me so excited.  I sure hope more start to sprout.  I would love for E to see the "fruit" of her labor.  We have really grown to love this plant.  I think I am going to transport them into a hanging planter because there are some bites taken out of my leaves (rabbits perhaps) and we certainly don't want any destruction to our strawberries.  Dollar Tree here I come for my planter :)

Snake bubbles

We went outside and enjoyed this weather with a little snake bubble making a la pinterest.

Conflict resolution

Our first attempt at structured conflict resolution.  My girls love one another so much and they play together ALL the time.  However, they are girls and so they bicker.  It is getting to where they are getting a tad aggressive (E more so than C) so I decided to try something.  Today I got out their two school chairs (the shopping cart was brothers attempt to be a part of this).  I made them sit across from one another.  I told E to say something she liked about C.  She was still mad and refused.  I told C to do the same thing.  She immediately said sorry for what she had done. (Praised her for that but told her I wanted something different from her).  She kept referring to what she liked to do with E.  I tried to get her to understand and by then E was laughing so then she was willing to try to give an example to C.  She said she liked C's dress. (not quite what I was going for but they were positive statements so the point was being made).  I asked them to do that a few more times and by then the anger had dissipated and they resumed playing nicely.  Mission accomplished (this time LOL) 

*update* this still works a month later. Yes they still fight but this method breaks the tension. Yay

Writing my final lesson plans

I am writing my final few weeks of lesson plans for 1st grade.  This is CRAZY!!! Can my baby really have accomplished all of her 1st grade work?  I am baffled by this idea.  I don't know whether to laugh, scream, or cry.  I am worried about what to do with summer...let her have a normal summer break?  keep on with review? take a few weeks off?  I am just not sure.  I want to keep her mind stimulated but I want her to get a break too.  I don't want to rush her through school but I don't want her to forget everything we have learned.  I am thinking I will just read through her sciene and social studies books for story time to refresh her memory.  Then it won't seem like work and she might enjoy it.  We have some trips planned and I want her to get to go and explore this town.

*Side note* tomorrow we are going to the horse race track to see camels and ostriches (ostrichs?) race.  I must admit I am super excited.  This counts as science right? LOL

I'll try to update more frequently but honestly sometimes I just forget.  Tomorrow I will also post pics of the strawberry plant (not producing fruit just yet but still alive so YAY)

"Messy Fun"

Today we did "messy fun" in the bath.  I dyed shaving cream and put it in muffin tins.  then I gave the kids paint brushes and let them have at it.  They had a blast...then they wanted to paint on each other...ok sure why not.  Well I'll tell you why not...food coloring DYES skin LOL...Baby brother has a lovely blue line on the back of his arm.  Well he wanted in on the action so I gave him a paint brush.  Now his whole arm is tye-dyed because of reaching over the different colors to get some on his paint brush.  OOPS :)   Playtime continued...no fighting (YAY) and then I went to clean some of it up.  BIG WHOOPS.  Maybe I put too much food coloring (I'm hoping thats the case) but the WHITE grout is now multicolored.  I'm hoping a bleach pen or even time will fix this tiny mistake.  Oh well you live, learn, have fun, and make a mess.  that's what life is all about.  Until next time...have fun!

Coming to an end...

So this week marks the completion of 1st grade Spelling and Science.  I am really amazed.  It feels so good to have accomplished something in completion.  I never remember finishing an entire textbook in school so to me this is great! Now I just have to figure out what we are going to do next...because obviously I am not going to let her slack off (I'm drill sergeant mom here afterall).  So will I go ahead to 2nd grade stuff or do some additional work that is 1st grade level...hmmm.  I am thinking with Spelling I will do more sight word type spelling.  And with Science we will replace some of the weekly lessons with History since we aren't as far along in that and then add experiments a couple times a week for Science reinforcement.   I am excited that the year is becoming complete and we survived our first year of official curriculum.  now to find all the curriculum we will need for next year.  One great thing is that I have our History curriculum for the next two years.

And here is another horticulture update. They look great. Just hope they sprout strawberries soon.

Whoops

Well maybe I spoke too soon. Our strawberries WERE doing great and then: crash  *insert sad and crying faces here*  I'll admit I blew up and was not very "good mother" to the girls.  It was an accident and they were just as devastated as I was...after all it was my first success story with plants...but it was THEIR plant.  I apologized and...

I am attempting to salvage the situation and we'll see how that goes.  I'm wondering if I need to poke holes in the bottom so water can drain...somewhere I think I have learned that but I'll be doing a search to figure it out. I'm giving it til this weekend to see if this solution will work.  If not, off to Sam's we will go to purchase another planter thingy.  We WILL have strawberries...come heck or high water :)  <old southern saying there for ya> 

Working on work box tags

Tonight is the night that I finally make C her very own work box tags.  She has been great baout using Em's left overs but now is her turn to shine.  I decided that she needs her own so that she can feel like she is going to school too.  She loves doing worksheets and checking in her boxes every morning...So precious.  Unfortunately, printing out, laminating, and organizing work box tags...And my orderly desk becomes chaos :(

But the end result is nice and makes me feel better. (the strip with numbers actually hangs on the wall above their desk not right smack dab in the middle of their drawers but I was too lazy to take separate pics so here you have it)  C will love her new PURPLE tags. I love making my kids happy with such little things.

Horticulture class update

We have leaves!!!! It is growing. No strawberries yet but it is alive so that's success in my book. Woohoo

Wow I just realized from the last blog it has only been 5 days!  That is crazy that the plant has grown so quickly.  Thats the kind of gardening I like...none of this waiting mess LOL.  I am so proud of our little plant.  I am excited for all the money we save since Em loves strawberries...now she can go out and pick her own.  I am so proud of the care she has taken of the plant (it is her job to water it...she even knows to water in each hole.)

Its so pretty

Tuesday's and Thursday's are extremely busy days for us. Usually quite a bit cranky as well. So we've accomplished school and PE. We have a little time between that and soccer so I've got the kids outside for a bit. When little man goes down for a nap we are going to attempt cloud dough.I'll be posting an update with results and pics... Oh and here is our horticulture class. Lol. We are attempting strawberries this year. We shall see if they survive.

We did the cloud dough...they are still currently playing with it...that is a success in my book.

 

Some fun adventures these past two days

I have gotten inspired by my friend over at Just Let them Play...she has inspired me to have FUN with the kids. So thats exactly what I did. First we started with Goo aka Gloop which we have used before and we had a blast as usual. This time I was smart and divided the batch into 3 containers (one for Em, one for C, and of course one for ME :)) It is just cornstarch and water but it is the coolest thing ever. It is a great experiment to show liquids and solids.

Let me tell you it is sooooo messy but oh so fun.  *Disclaimer* as per Steve Spangler's website DO NOT put this down the drain...pour this into a zip lock and throw it away...it will clog drains!!!

This morning we broke out the window crayons (you can buy them here).  The kids had a blast and thought it was so neat to color on the windows...of course they argued over where each picture would go but it was still fun.  The fun lasted about 30 mins...may have lasted longer if I let them each have a window of their own.  But none-the-less it was an adventure.

My reasons (written a few weeks back with updates)

When people think I am homeschooling because I want to shelter my kids...in a way they are right.  School isn't what it used to be when I went and definitely not like when my parents went.  I agree there are all terrible things that have happened at any given time in history and yes for the most part "we all turned out ok."  But is "ok" really what I dream for my children?  No I want them to turn out the best they can especially without being tainted by society at such a young age.  I just read on facebook about multiple suicides taking place in 6 week period by children in middle schools.  When I went to school the biggest thing was if our moms were going to take us to the mall to walk around that Friday.  Now I'd be scared out of my mind to drop my kids off at the mall in my hometown to walk around.  It is a lot worse now.  I know there were bullies back then to but apparently it is getting more aggressive in these days.  I am trying to protect my kids from that.  As well as many other things...if you sat down and took the time to find out why I really homeschool you wouldn't think that I am just trying to keep them in a bubble and not let anything harm them.

As a parent, we all want to keep our children from harm but that is virtually impossible.  I do, however, believe that I can keep them from unnecessary harm and "pollution".  I am not a psycho mom that keeps her kids in a bubble...they are with other children for activities constantly but I am present at all these activities.  They have other friends that don't homeschool and some that do.  To them it doesn't matter, they will make friends with anyone.  I don't participate in a co-op because I don't want to relinquish any of my teaching time and partially because I would have to find someone with the same beliefs I have in order to trust them not to teach my children thing I don't believe in.  This isn't entirely religious stuff either.  I don't believe that some of the things taught at such a young age are appropriate.  I believe some things need to be taught by a parent and not a teacher.  It is my belief that God destined me to be their mother and because of that He placed the responsibility of raising them up on me...not a teacher in a school. (I do believe I am a teacher but I am first and foremost their mother, who desires the best for them).  I love that through homeschooling my daughter can excel at a natural speed for her.  There is no reason to hold her back, thereby boring her and stunting her educational growth, because of her age or because the other children aren't grasping something as fast as she is.  I am a firm believer in self-fulfilling prophecy...if you tell them they can't, they won't! (not the reverse psychology stuff...but at a young age repeatedly saying you can't succeed...they won't try, whats they point really)  I also like the option of spending more time on something that she finds challenging or better yet interesting.  This will further her knowledge and growth and possibly help her retain more than I did in school.  There are so many benefits to homeschooling that don't make me a freak or make my children bubble people.

I would also like to point on that public school has become so legalistic that they count the minutes that children are in school.  let me explain... In order to "pad" the schedule for unanticipated snow days, the school system has devised a plan to make up enough MINUTES to equate to one day in case we have our yearly snow storm.  Ok that doesn't sound bad, right.  Well let me explain how they get these extra minutes...they go 12 extra minutes a day (certain days of the week). TWELVE!!! ok but here is the real kicker...they are not consecutive (not that 12 consecutive minutes would really add much to their learning but still.)  No they are 5 minutes in the morning (starting at 8:55 rather than 9) and 7 more minutes at another point in the day.  REALLY?!?!?  Oh and if I remember correctly we went to school from 8 (maybe 8:15) until 3:15...these kids go from 9-2:30!!!  How is it that I went to school for a longer time each day *insert teenage outrage** lol.

So these are just a FEW reasons that I choose to homeschool...I haven't even mentioned the benefits since we are military...maybe another post later on.

Workbox adventures

Unless you've been living under a rock, you have heard of workboxes  (of course I hadn't until recently so maybe I do live under a rock).  Regardless, if you don't know about them then simply search workboxes on pinterest and you will be overloaded with stuff.

We started them in order to ease into a transition for next year when C starts formal schooling.  Em is loving them right now.  They seem to work just as designed (now I have not read Sue Patrick's book on the matter I am simply going off of what I have seen in the blog world and adapted it to fit my family).  The thing I like most about it is Em knows what is expected of her that day...how much she has left (so no more how long do I have left...how long til snack....can I go play)  If she does ask any of these questions I direct her to the number strip which has her box numbers, a picture of snack, and a picture of play time.  She knows how many boxes she must complete before each activity.  I love hearing her exclaim "only 2 more boxes and I get a snack...YEA!!!"  The downfall of the workboxes right now (for us) is that since C doesn't do formal school yet she gets more "fun" things in her boxes.  I have caught Em trading numbers with her LOL smart cookie I've got.  She will just put C's numbers on her strip so she gets a "fun" box.  Since I have seen this I try to include a "fun" thing or two to her boxes that I can incorporate into her lesson.  C got some great Melissa & Doug Puzzle that work wonderfully for Em's math.

It is a work in progress...at this present time we have one 12 drawer cart (you can buy one here)...I also have a 10 drawer cart that should arrive Monday that I hope to streamline into all "mommy's stuff" and split the 12 drawers among the girls.  I will update to let you know how it is working out once I get my new cart.

Its quiet...

and that scares me LOL.  It could mean so many things...should I just let well enough alone or do I go and investigate the reason for the quietness???  Afterall it could mean that all 3 of my kids are getting along and playing nicely (it does happen) and that if I go in there it will disrupt the peace.  However, it could also mean that someone isn't breathing, someone is doing something they shouldn't be doing, or they have run away. LOL  Is the risk worth finding out?  Likely I will go in there and find a mess and as long as nothing is broken then it honestly isn't a big deal.  However, being a mom who likes order and organization (though I do struggle to maintain this), I would most likely flip my lid and start immediately making them clean or start to clean it myself.  What if it was a creation they had made and I just come in like King Kong and destroy it.  That puts a damper on their fun time.  So for now I will cross my fingers, say a prayer, and hope that all really is well and they are just playing nicely (or they've run off haha NOT).

Any advice on relaxing during these moments??? :)  (maybe later I will post pics of what I find when I get the courage to go investigate)

How can I get better at this?

How can I remember to sit and write stuff...as if there isn't enough to do in the day...I have to find time to write here...not the best at that.  So these past few days have been so busy and crazy.  My parents are in town so we decided to do a "Spring break" of sorts..  I figured out how many lessons we had left for the year and decided that this week we would only do the 3 subjects that had the most remaining lessons.  This turned out to be great since we have had so much to do during the day.  Two nights ago in the middle of the night half my bed fell to the ground.  I continued the rest of the night on "Broke Bed Mountain" LOL.  So yesterday was devoted to finding a new bed.

Today we did the 3 subjects then I decided to get out of my comfort zone and let my kiddos paint.  I tend not to do that because it has such a potential to be messy and its not like I don't have enough mess as it is.  However, since we just upgraded to a king size bed...all my queen size sheets needed a new purpose.  Insert fitted sheet on my table and we have lift off....painting creations began.  I must say I truly like the freehand paintings my kids do over just painting preprinted pages.  It requires more imagination and I love to see what they will create.

I have many ideas...

but none of them are particularly long enough for an entire blog...so here is a mod podge blog so to speak.

Yesterday was the first snow of the season...so thankful for that but also extremely happy that I homeschool and didn't HAVE to bundle the kids up.  Despite the fact that I didn't HAVE to, I actually ended up bundling them mulitple times in order for them to play in the snow. Aw oh well...I didn't have to and it was my choice so HA! It was pretty but is gone now..just how I like it.


wow not so much of a mod podge of thoughts...it ended up being just one  (I guess I got distracted LOL)

This week...

This week was our "slower" week if there is such a thing. While I enjoyed one day of not having to go somewhere I realized its something we've gotten used to and I didn't feel relaxed. I made up for it on Friday though so its ok.
Right now I'm enjoying some quality mother son play & cuddle time. Gotta go :)

Something to think about

Have you ever realized that you ALWAYS want Chick-fil-A on Sundays?  You ALWAYS want to visit the Christian book store on Sundays?...is this phenomenon one of "want what you can't have" (maybe in the case of Chick-fil-A...I like to think that the Christian book store desire is because of having been to church in the morning and you are more focused on the Lord and feel a greater desire to surround yourself with that which is good (or Christian based).  I find it funny...we went to church last Saturday and at first I thought "Are we going on Saturday so as to not be interrupted on Sunday aka Super Bowl Party day?  As I talked this over with my dear husband he explained his reasoning for wanting to go on Saturdays.  He said that on Sundays (people in general NOT all people of course) go to church and then for the rest of the day they go about their business giving very little thought to the lesson they just learned or about church at all.  On Saturday, he was continually thinking about church and that we were going so that we would not let time slip away and miss it.  He said it also helped because he spent the day thinking about church and he liked going to bed with a fresh message on his mind.  I like this way of thinking much better than the interrupting one.  And I agree...(not that we won't go to church on Sundays ever) but I agree that Saturday I did think more about church...I was excited the entire day of the message that we were going to receive...and I kinda felt like I was getting a sneak peek of what the Sunday church go-ers were gonna experience.  It was like God gave me my own special viewing the night before (even though it is open to anyone LOL).

Then I got to thinking (even though I know this should be the norm) if we surround ourselves constantly with things reflecting God and Christianity, we would more often than not have the positive feelings you get during and right after church. If you listen to Christian music in the car...it will make your driving experience "cheery-er" (maybe creating less road-rage).  If you don't watch secular shows...you'll have a more uplifted mood at home.  This list goes on and on.  I love reading books and I find myself getting lost in the characters (something I love to do...makes the exercise bike more tolerable).  Therefore, if you read Christian fiction...you will get lost in good quality characters and not the tramps and floosies of romance novels LOL.  Anyway you get my drift.  We are to pray without ceasing (1Thes.5:17) but what about surrounding yourself with Jesus without ceasing LOL not perfectly written but I think my message gets across.  This is a challenge I make to myself...

Many Times....

Many times this blog will have nothing relevant to tell you.  It will most likely be thoughts in my head that escape...sometimes for your enjoyment.  Sometimes there will be multiple posts in a day and then weeks with nothing...not the best way to do it but definitely the most likely way I will do it.  Today is something I have found to be disturbingly true.

It seems as though I cannot fight the urge to turn the TV on (as in I can't leave it turned off) despite the fact that I have no intention of actually watching what is on it.  This distrubs me to no end because of the fact that I cannot sit in silence (haha lets get real with 3 kiddos in the house...quiet is not something that happens regularly).  However, I just apparently need to add background noise for no apparent reason.  I will notice that after we have been in our school room for well over an hour with no one in the living room...the tv is still on!  WHY WASTE ELECTRICITY...and any chance for a quiet second between fights and squeals.  So my challenge for myself is to resist turning on the TV and especially turn it off when we leave the room!  Hold me to it blog readers ;)

**Update** This is exactly what I was talking about...While I am not quite ready to throw out the TV completely...I do realize we have got to set some restrictions on ALL our electronics.