Fun in the mountains today and a special announcement!

Today we went on a hike to hide a Geocache, had a picnic lunch and attended a wildlife class, all with our homeschool group! I snaped TONS of cute pictures. I just love pictures in the outdoors, especially in the woods.

We had to cross a bridge, all the kids thought this was so cool!

Katey saw a friend from church and was over the top excited, they held hands along the hike, and hung out all day!

The man that taught the wildlife class brought lots of hands on things, such as stuffed birds and pictures. He also had skeletons of some animals and a real live owl pellet YUCK!

It was so fun, and the kids really loved it. We were very lucky the weather was decent enough. It did sprinkle on us a little bit, but not too bad!

Tyler was amazing while on this outing, and I think he is getting sick, he has been super whiny last night and this morning.
I even got this picture of him smiling so cute at the picnic.

Oh yeah, and I am so super extremely excited that I have the opportunity to be a part of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew for the 2010-2011 school year!

Looking at the bright side.

I am really trying to teach my kids to look at the bright side of things and be more positive about what we have and just in general. I notice with my children, they think more, more, more. I want them to be content. One of my favorite sayings is; The more you have the more you have to clean up. I do find this true. The more toys they have, the more toys they have to move to be able to play with the ones they actually play with. I have been reminding them of this about a year now, and I have been limiting what I buy them and what I let them do. Now don't get me wrong, I am not denying them anything they need. I am not even taking all of it away, we still do and get plenty, just less than we were. (does all of that even make sense). I have noticed of them more and more recently that they are actually appreciating what they have and they are showing me appreciation. They are being grateful children. (we still have days when they forget and want want want, but they are fewer and farther apart.)

Yesterday when we were leaving in a rain storm to take the kids ice skating, my husband said, "check it out honey" I looked up and saw this:

I just had to get out of the car and get a better picture, one without power lines.

I don't know how well you can see it, (it's a rainbow). It was just beautiful, and we were so close to it. Storms are always coming over those mountains, I mean always! I am grateful for the stormy weather and grateful for rainbows. They just seem so magical!

This just helps me to remember I am glad I live so dang close to the mountains!

What's in the Box Wednesday - Preschool

I am going to start using Sue Patrick's Workbox System in our homeschool. One of the biggest benefits I see, is that it forces me to be more prepared. I have to get everything ready ahead of time. There will be NO waiting around on me to gather supplies and deal with life (baby, spills, etc). I will have prepared everything in advance.

This is my first test drive of the system so I am only going to be starting it with my preschooler, once I get the time, room, money, I will then add in the other two.

So without further delay here is what I put in the boxes for our first day.

Color worksheet with crayon choice.



Beads with pipe cleaners to make bracelets.

3 fruit puzzles from Preschool Activities in a Bag.

A book to read with mom.

Buttons, a small dish, and an egg carton to sort them with.

A brownie mix to make with mom.

A CD of Primary Songs. We will sing along with a few while our brownies bake.

I am starting with 7 boxes. We will see how this goes. I think that she will really love it! These are all activities she/we were going to do already, but I just had to get them completely organized the night before. She will be able to feel so independent by not having to wait around on me to gather supplies, except for the brownies, of course.

This post is linked up to What's in the box Wednesday @ Confessions of a Homeschooler

Quiet Time!

Some days I have been incorporating some free time into our schedule. I do, however, put stipulations on it.

1. You must remain quiet.
2. No TV, computer, phone, or radio.
3. You must get along
4. You must clean up your ENTIRE mess.

Also I gave them some suggestions.

1. Play a game (alone or with others)
   
2. Read a story
3. Draw
4. Write
5. Clean
6. Visit with each other
7. Anything you can think of within the above guidelines.

Here are some things they were doing during the last one.

Katey made letters out of Kix cereal. this is the letter m.

Emily graphed all the different plastic firemen by using her Math U See blocks.

Tommy has been really into reading Chicken Soup For The Kid's Soul. I think some of the things he enjoys about it, is that it is not a childrens book. He feels as if he is too old for the younger books, but his reading level is not quite up to the level of books that interest him. I have tried books on CD/tape/Ipod. He would rather be the one reading them. So I have been really happy with how interested he has stayed in this book. I like that it shows you kids can have a positive attitude when times are tough. All my kids like true stories, so I am planning on incorporating some of these books, or at least some of the stories in our character building curriculum next year.

I love quiet time. I try to plan it when Tyler is going to be napping. And I have the same rules as they do. I spend my time with them, playing a game, or visiting. Sometimes I am even able to read a book just for me. This is such a great break in our days. Since I don't do it daily, it is usually a welcome break. It is so funny to me now that I am homeschooling how little I am hearing, "I'm bored." Also, how little interest they have in TV. When they would come home from school they would always be "bored" or in front of the TV. I am often asked how do I keep them entertained all day long, day in, day out. Well, I must say that it is not that hard. I am actually amazed at how wonderful we have all adapted to this.

Today during quiet time we discussed our goals for the rest of this year, (what do we want to finish before we officially call it the end) and our goals for next year. (when do we want to start and what subjects we want to study, what schedule should we follow, etc) We all came to an agreement, and wrote it out on a calendar. Next year we will definitely be using Sue Patrick's Workbox System. I will even be using it with my Preschooler the rest of this year and over the summer as sort of a test drive.

Fire! Fire! Number recognition game

Fire! Fire! How many firefighters does it take to put out the fire?

I made this number recognition game up for Katey. I used my amazing artistic skills (sarcastic) to draw a sheet full of fires. I numbered each fire. She had to roll a die and use that many firefighters to put out that matching number of fire. A blue crayon was the water, that way she knew if the fire was out. She loved this game.

I got a set of 6 dice and a bag of plastic firemen at Dollar Tree.

Tyler's first Tot School Post.

Tyler is only 10 1/2 months old. He is learning new things every day!

I am going to start incorporating more "planned" learning into his days!
This way I will also make more of an effort to have quality one on one time with him. With 4 kids, I am realizing how hard it is to spend individual time with each of them.


Here is Tyler after dumping out a bowl of cereal all over the floor, I was trying to teach him to keep it in the bowl, and as I went to grab the camera, well, you see.

Here he is using his muscles and coordination to pick up a heavy bottle. This was pretty silly.

Here is Tyler after his first time eating an Oreo. This was a few weeks ago, but I just had to show it. Trying new foods.

And his newest accomplishment is him pretending to talk on his play phone. He says unnn, and I would talk back to him, and he would talk back to me. This is just so stinkin cute! I absolutely love pretend play.

Check out what others do with their tots at Tot School @ 1+1+1=1.

A little while ago I won a give away for My Silly Body & Book from Susana at My Family My Forever. Since receiving this book we have absolutely loved it! There are jokes and science experiments. We read a little section each time, and she loves it. This book has really opened up her curiosity about her body. She has come up with questions to ask such as is my heart really shaped like a heart? She is really not big at asking questions. She usually just listens and absorbs the information, so that made me really proud.

So a big

Thank You!

to Susana @ My Family My Forever

I love her blog by the way, she is such an inspiration to me.