Modge Podge Bookmark
At our monthly Triangle Homeschool Group park day I have started the tradition of bringing a small token of birthday wishes to the kiddos. This month was LilBoyBlue’s Birthday Month (capitalized because in my family birthday festivities and presents are a month-long event). LilMiss and I made him this great bookmark using cardstock, scrapbook paper and one of several of our copies of Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan. We cut and Modpodged the papers onto a cardstock bookmark and bookmark holder that we cut out. I really love how it turned out. It feels almost like it is made from vinyl or rubber. I would have taken a pic of him with it but it disappeared into his Mom’s purse and I have a feeling she is using it in one of her books now 
. If you would like to make one for yourself the bookmark and pouch template can be found here.
She Has The Evils
Awww LilMiss you look so pretty and innocent today.
Wait a minute! What are you up to?
LillMiss?
Don’t do it!
No! Don’t start the evil face!
LilMiss STOP THAT!!
O NO!!!! YOU CAN’T DO THIS!!!!
SHE’S YOUR FRIEND!!!!
O Thank Goodness!! She came in peace!!
Love Journal
Parents of Public School children have the opportunity to give their kids that extra special little dose of love 
by leaving a love note in their lunch boxes. As the parent of homeschooled children I have to look for others ways to give my children that little dose of something extra. One way I am doing that is with a Love Journal. LilMiss and I went together to pick out a notebook just for this special purpose. Being together just us is something that rarely happens and we really enjoyed ourselves. In the end we choose a notebook that only a tween could love and brought it back home. We discussed that it is a safe zone. I will not correct spelling or worry about keeping it neat and she won’t get into trouble for anything she writes. It is just a simple way for us to share a thought or a fun picture we might draw.
So far we have had so much fun with it and I am finding it a very effective way to bond with her and to hear those thoughts she may be unable to voice out loud for one reason or another.
First Review Life of Fred
LilMiss is reading her new Life of Fred: Fractions book smiling, giggling and telling us all about it. That my friends is a glowing first review.
And a ;)
I had such a fantastic day yesterday. My Loverly Hubby and I got to spend some time together before the children woke up which was a wonderful change of pace from the Hi-Bye way things normally work around here. When he left for work our friends H and PB&J Mom came over with their kiddos and we planned our field trips for the next couple months and talked about our Halloween Party and tossed a few co-op ideas around. Then it was time to make maracas! We tried a technique I had never seen before found here. I agree with H’s assessment that full black is needed after spending more than a few minutes watching her videos but she is fun to watch and full of ideas that my girls enjoy as well. soo…YAY! I am very excited about finishing those up on Thursday after our field trip to a nearby Nature Refuge.
We also made homemade pizza for dinner. After I made pizza dough the kids rolled out individual pizzas and after a quick bake in the oven they tossed on their toppings. After putting it back in the oven to get all warm and gooey they pulled them out and devoured them faster than you can wink or I could take a picture. I assume that meant they liked them.
Today I hope will be a productive day. I finished my lesson planner on Sunday and I hope to fill it with the next few weeks lessons this morning. This afternoon we plan to have class and work on a few things. Tav is really focusing on learning to read and LilMiss is going to be writing her goals for this Mod. I am very interested to see what she says.
A wonderful Hubby made brunch is calling my name so I will be back to show you my planner tomorrow.
What a week
We had such a busy week last week! First was Not back to School Day where we partied at a local park then met up with Auntie S for more fun at the beach. The next day we went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science where we checked out the exhibits and Legends of Flight. Then it was time for a little mini vacation so we blasted off to Space Center Houston and stayed in our favorite Hotel. I won’t bore you with more words when pictures are so much more fun!
How Exciting!
I have been trying to decide should I or should I not on a few books for LilMiss. I finally decided yes I should because the more I thought about them the more excited I became and she began to get excited as well. So I just ordered Life of Fred Fractions, Mythmatical Battles and Michael Clay Thompson’s Language Arts Level 1. I was naughty and ordered them brand spanking new but I just couldn’t help myself since they are our first books.
Now back to curriculum planning so I can get to the lesson planning. Then I will get to the updating from our last fun filled week before we get overcome by this fun filled week.
Not Back to School
Image by Gabriela Camerotti via Flickr
Tomorrow is Back to School Day in our Area and it is causing LilMiss immeasurable amounts of grief. She is so sad and forlorn that my heart is breaking for her. She does not actually want to go back to public school but back to school has always been her favorite. She loves how exciting the day before is and the catching up with friends along with other first day of school stuff. This is a decision that has been talked to death and then talked about a little more and while we all knew there was an adjustment period seeing her unhappy is killing me. I just keep telling her about how great it homeschooling is starting with tomorrow when they are all stuck in class with a nasty teacher she will be at the park playing in the sprinklers with her friends. Then on Tuesday we may hit a museum followed by our annual mini vacation trip to Space Center Houston and our favorite hotel starting on Thursday. I also have a lot of great plans for field trips and activities in addition to some fun curriculum I am thinking of picking up. I suppose I should just keep telling her to focus on the positive instead of the negative and eventually she will enjoy homeschooling. In the mean time I will endure and have patience with her as she adjusts to a new way of thinking. Rigid kids do eventually bend right?
MMMMM Cookies
We just had our last sleepover with our cousins before they start back to school on Monday and it was lots of fun. They stayed up all night eating lots of junk food and watching movies. The big girls woke up bored this morning so we whipped up a batch of fluffernutter cookies.
FlufferNutter Cookies
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 small jar marshmallow creme
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, mix the peanut butter and sugars together until creamy and smooth.
Add in the egg and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.
Add the salt and baking soda. Stir until mixed together.
Spoon dough into balls, about 1 Tablespoon of dough for each cookie.
Place the cookie dough balls on the greased baking sheets, about two inches apart.
With a spoon, press down the dough ball to make an indention in the middle of each cookie.
Bake for 10-12 minutes
Remove baking sheets from the oven and press down the cookies with your spoon again
Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for two minutes.
Once cool, take a spoonful of marshmallow cream and fill the center of the peanut butter cookies.
And so our story begins..
Today we have started a little more formal style of homeschooling. Never mind that one girl is sitting beside me on the couch and the other is sprawled out on a yoga mat with jar lids she is using for counting scattered about since that is about as formal as we are likely to get. So far in an hour we have done math, language, science and a fair bit of ooo we could do this or that. We are great adders of more than we need always coming up with great ideas. Bad idea when remodeling (just ask how I know) but when learning I love it. I believe I am going to find it a bit hard to keep us from wandering all over. I am hoping that is a problem where my relaxed and unschooling tendencies will come to be a great asset.
Today for Tav we started Teach Your Child to Read In 100 Easy Lessons. I decided since she was learning sight words in public school with no real success that we would just start from the very beginning. I understand sight words and I get that those are words she will see over and over so she should just know them but to learn them with no real comprehension just memorizing makes little sense. Well at least for her but isn’t that one of the reasons to homeschool? Other than that we are just working on basic addition and subtraction for now with other math basics slid in more like a game than anything else. We are also practicing handwriting and neatness.
LittleMiss is a different kettle of fish. She has public school so ingrained I am having trouble shaking it loose. She has that follow all the rules no exceptions mentality and I am not sure if that is her personality or if it is a holdover from public school. What makes me mad is that I feel like I do not know because I gave her to them for 4 years and I did not see how that developed though from the way things are around here I don’t think we taught it to her. Although that is definitely something I should ponder further. Whatever it is I do not like it and I want her to just let go and relax. She always seems so stressed trying to be just so. With her I am encouraging a mixture of rigid ,this is what we are doing like it or not, and rambling and exploring whatever pops into her head as deeply or shallowly as she likes. I think that should satisfy her public school mentality and ease her more into what I want for her. That being a joy of learning and investigating things for herself. I believe that what she learns is not nearly as important as the fact that she is learning. After all no two people know exactly the same things and wouldn’t the world be boring if we did.
So WOW this homeschooling thing is hard! The self doubt is the hardest part. Am I teaching them the things they need in this moment in the proper order so we don’t miss something crucial and make it harder on them. Am I teaching to much or too little of one subject? How fast should we be moving through subject matter? Am I boring them to tears? How will I ever get all the things I need to do balanced out? I could go on for quite awhile with the doubts but you get the idea and probably could add some of your own. However logically I know that this will get easier and faster to plan and that as I gain experience I will gain confidence. I don’t think that day will come fast enough but I will do my best to breathe deep calming breaths until it does. I will need those for the patience as well. I will also remember that this is one of the most worthwhile things I can do for my children and my family and that all the angst and irritation as I try to balance things is very worth it.
A couple resources I used today that I quite like are Spelling City and Super Teacher Worksheets. I have also discovered a great bookmarking site Diigo that has neat features and helps eliminate that “now which computer did I bookmark that on” talking to yourself bit. Hey anything that helps you look less crazy is great right?
Thankful Thought
Tonight I am thankful that my family is together under one roof. Families that are split up have been on our mind today as we looked for things to gift a small girl with. I am so proud of the generous nature of my daughters.
