Leaving it all behind: Making time for nature study

Piles of laundry and dirty dishes are like anchors that keep me inside when the weather is beautiful and my children are calling me to join them outside. I find Barb's Outdoor Hour Challenges truly challenging because I can't seem to find time to get outdoors with all the housework that remains unfinished.

I would like to take on a new challenge in 2012: to recognize that the housework will always be there but my children will not. It helps to also remember that being outdoors in nearly all weather conditions present in a temperate climate for just an hour is a boost to our health. As if I need more excuses to get outside for a little bit every day, my kids will not forget the efforts that I make to show that they are more important than the house. They make the house a home and I am happy to find ways to show it.

I have always enjoyed reading the Outdoor Hour Challenges and I think they are ideal for our family. Beginners are to start with the first five challenges and then visit the web site to join in the current challenge. I purchased the ebook with the first ten challenges to feel like I "own" this project. The book was only $8.95, a modest investment in what I hope will be a life changing activity.

Next, I created a section in our family planner for nature study. This is not just another subject in school. This is something that I hope will enrich relationships and strengthen our bodies.

Finally, I have to wait until Tuesday when we have time to start. This is a holiday weekend and we are far busier than I expected. The weather will be quite cold on Tuesday which will test my committment to this challenge :-)

The best laid plans: creating your own home planner

For years, I searched for a calendar/planner that would meet the needs of our busy homeschooling family. I even purchased a more expensive Day Timer brand product hoping the extra investment would get me a more useful tool. It just didn't work for us.

So, I decided to build my own home planner that would help our family run more smoothly. Here are the components that I used with links where you can print them out for your own use.

1) A sturdy 1.5 inch binder: I started with a cheap-o 1 inch binder from Dollar General and it broke within a couple of months. This planner will be carried, stacked, dropped, etc. so get something that will protect your investment.
2) Cover: This will distinguish your planner from other notebooks around the house. Use scrapbook papers and embellishments to make the cover a work of art that you will look forward to seeing every day. You can change it out mid year if you have a spare moment!
3) Page protectors: For pages that do not need to be modified on a regular basis, a page protector will keep them looking neat for frequent reference.
4) Adhesive tabs: Page protectors stick out further than regular paper so the usual binder dividers will not work. Make your own with adhesive tabs attached to the edge or a page protector.
5) Section 1: Calendar-- I modified the templates available on Wincalendar.com. I increased the size of the calendar cells and added a section for notes each month. You can download my modified version here.

I'll add more tips and downloads as I complete my 2012 home planner.

Learning on the go

Every Friday we attend a homeschool music class 30 minutes from home. The hour round trip drive plus any other running around we do throughout the week could take a chunk out of our learning time; but we don't like to waste time staring out the window!

I make a family learning CD to take in the van with us. The content changes monthly depending on what we have been studying at home. Most of these songs are available for download on Amazon.com or Songs for Teaching.com

1) Bible Verses (we like Steve Green's "Hide'em in Your Heart" album)
2) Science facts (especially Lyrical Learning)
3) Spanish (two tracks from La Clase Divertida and then one or two from Sara Jordan)
4) One hymn
5) One classical piece (or a single movement if the whole piece is too long for our drive)

We hear these over and over during the month and the kids love to sing the songs to themselves while playing in the afternoons.

We also keep other CDs on hand:
1) Story of the World (our favorite history book)
2) Audios book downloaded for free from Librivox.org
3) An audio Bible

I would eventually like to have an MP3 Player but for now, the we are happy burning one CD per month and saving a bit of money.

What do you like to listen to in the car with your children?

Thoughts on Television in the Home

(This is the 2nd email forward that my husband has sent me in 10 years, so you know it must be important!)

The Stranger

A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger... He was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies. He made me laugh, and he made me cry.

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home - not from us, our friends or any visitors. After our long time visitor stayed longer he became more daring however, and even got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol but the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing..

I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.
His name?....

We just call him 'TV.' 

Learning Numbers and Math Facts in Spanish

My boys can count to 20 in Spanish, but I can tell it is more by rote memorization because they have difficulty naming individual numbers. When they were learning skip counting in English we listened to a LeapFrog song that I downloaded from Amazon.com. It really helped them to have the song's rhythm in their heads as they completed their math assignments. Now that I would like to teach them to be more fluent in Spanish, I am looking for Spanish songs similar to the ones by LeapFrog.

I found several available for free on YouTube (search for Boca Beth) as well as for purchase as MP3s on various websites. However, the sound quality seemed pretty poor which would be confusing for children who are still working on correct pronunciation.

Here are some products that I have found:
1) Spanish Random Number CD from Creative Mathematics-- A great idea, but it is $10 plus shipping for something I already do for free at home. I'll consider getting it in a couple of months if my home efforts don't pan out.
2) Sara Jordan Bilingual Songs-- these are available from the publisher's website along with lyrics or as MP3 downloads from Amazon.com. We have enjoyed Sara Jordan's bilingual songs about food, weather, etc. on Volume 1. Their songs about numbers are spread across several albums so I chose to purchase individual songs for $.99 each on Amazon. We now have Contando Hasta 30/ Counting to 30; Contando Por Decenas/ Counting by 10s; Formas y Tomaños/ Shapes and Sizes; and Contar regresivamente/ Count backwards, which is also about subtraction for numbers under 6.
3) Songs for Teaching-- MP3 albums and lyrics for songs on a variety of subjects. They don't have many Spanish math songs that go beyond basic counting, but I thought this one was a cute and easy to understand song about counting to 10's. I had to buy the entire $10 album but it had a few other songs that the kids will really like.

I have looked in to other resources for helping children learn Spanish and will post about them later on. It basically comes down to time commitment and working with a parent; but these songs and other resources are a great way to reinforce the lessons we are already doing at home!

Is it still "homeschool" if you aren't at home?

My kids' learning is based at home. We do the 3R's, Reading, wRiting, and aRithmatic at home and at each child's own pace. We also learn Spanish, art, Bible, science and history at home but spend an equal amount of time out of the house studying those topics.

Weekly homeschool co-op:

Visit to a Dairy Farm

We really enjoy learning Spanish using La Clase Divertida. However, there is nothing like sitting in a small group of people and practicing those conversational skills. That is difficult to do at home where there are children of widely different ages and ability levels, so we attend a homeschool co-op one morning per week that includes conversational Spanish. The boys are in separate classes divided by maturity/academics rather than age group, so each child feels comfortable with material presented in class. 

One of the moms in the co-op has a real passion for science and does a good job of engaging the children in discussion about science topics. Each class has 8 students so when they do science experiments, each child can be active for all or part of the lesson.

Museums:

We live in a medium-size city that contains many museums and historical sites. A two hour drive in any direction takes us to larger cities with even more opportunities for my kids to see relics from the history book we usually study. School groups will usually visit one museum per school year but we can go several times per year depending on the topics we are studying at home.

It isn't easy to get "hands on" with the ancient history we are learning in Story of the World, Volume One; but there is a full scale model of the Parthenon nearby and one of our universities has a permanent collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts.

Our local art museum offers a monthly class to help homeschoolers get an in depth look at some of the pieces in the collection and a chance to use different media.

I want to give my children an education that is rooted in real life experience as much as in books. The term "homeschool" is too limited. The popular terms "life school" seems too broad and "unschool" describes what we aren't doing instead of what we are doing. Maybe we need a new word to explain what we are doing to help our kids learn about their world.

I would love any appropriate suggestions!

Two birds with one stone: audio books and housework

Most moms wish they had more time to read. Maybe it is a light hearted novel or perhaps an interesting bit of nonfiction. Unless it is the Bible, it is usually hard to justify letting the housework pile up while mom sits down to read.

Audio books can be different. When you lose yourself in an good book, you find that the most discouraging cleaning projects are finished in no time. There are several sources of good reading material that you can listen to on an MP3 or CD player.

1) Librivox.org has a large selection of classics. I have recently enjoyed books by Jane Austin, Mark Twain, and Rudyard Kipling, thanks to some dedicated people who volunteered their time recording books for free download. Many of the narrators are professionals who doa great job.

2) The public library is desperate to keep up with the needs of patrons in the digital age. Our library has subscriptions to two audio and ebook databases. The selection is not huge but is certainly adequate. They also have many books on CD and cassette.

3) Friends will sometimes own a copy of a book on MP3. It is within their rights to lend you a copy as long as you don't share it with anyone else.

4) Paid services like Audible.com are worth the fees if you find that listening to audio books helps you complete housework that would otherwise be neglected.

I'm going to listen to an Elizabeth Peters book while I clean out the storage room. That is a big job! It might take two audio books to complete.

Language Arts in My Father's World

The study of Language Arts is a passion of mine. I am not the best communicator, being neither naturally endowed with that gift nor having the benefit of early lessons in the rules of self expression. However, I am looking forward to teaching my children to use language gracefully.

We will soon complete our 1st grade year in My Father's World. It did not include grammar or spelling lessons though it did include copywork which is a wonderful introduction to composition. We are going to use Adventures in My Father's World for 2nd grade history, geography, Bible, science, and drawing, but I am going to do something different for language arts.

MFW recommends Spelling by Sound and Structure, and Primary Language Lessons, and has them available for purchase on their website; but they are not included in the thematic units so we can easily choose another method.

While at a homeschool fair last summer, I picked up a copy of Hearing and Reading, Telling and Writing, by Sonya Shafer at Simply Charlotte Mason. Shafer points out that in the early grades, children learn correct English grammar by listening to their parents. The formal study of rules are better left until they are a little older and can grasp the abstract concepts and logic involved. I plan to teach Turtle some basic parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, preposition) so that he will become aware that language has structure. From time to time we may use sentence from our read aloud books to talk about how the parts of speech are used; but that is all we will plan to do in 2nd grade.

Similarly, our spelling will be combined with copywork selections from the books we read together while using Adventures in My Father's World. Charlotte Mason says, "Transcription should be an introduction to spelling. Children should be encouraged to look at the word, see a picture of it with their eyes shut and then write from memory." I am looking forward to a more formal study of grammar and spelling with my sons in the future, but for now they are learning so much more effectively by careful observation of the world around them.

Elementary Language Arts

The study of Language Arts gives our children tools to communicate effectively. Everything in our world is governed by rules. We expect that those who participate in  athletics, architecture, medicine and finances are knowledgeable about the rules of their field realize the importance of adhering to them. This is by design-- God created an orderly world and when we break out of that order, bad things happen. Athletes are red carded, structures fall down, sick people fail to get well or financial markets decline.

This is also true for the use of language. Humans begin their study of language arts at the moment they are born. Body language and speech to start with followed later by printed images and text. Some people learn these skills well-- they are naturally capable and have good teachers. Others struggle to interpret input from others and then to respond effectively.

Each of our children is different and will express themselves differently through language; but the rules will remain consistent and it is important for us to teach children these rules through gentle lessons in grammar, spelling, composition, and other skill sets that will make them able to communicate effectively and even artfully in the variety of settings that they are blessed to experience throughout their lives.

Potty Training: Take Three

I thought that potty training would be a breeze for child number 3. I have learned to be more relaxed and listen to the child's cues for readiness, I have a stash of cloth training pants including some with side snaps for really messy accidents, and I have learned to carry a clean change of clothes for Baby and me.

Our Little Potty

But like so many other things in life, this isn't about me. None of my boys have taken instantly to using the potty. It is an idea that grows with them over the course of several months. Baby Boy took the first step today. He took off a wet diaper and said, "Yuck." Later, he took it off again and sat on the little potty. I gave him a juice box to drink while we waited together for something, anything, to happen. It did! He pee-peed in the potty for the very first time. But he didn't seem to notice. 

Seeming to enjoy the fresh air, he went diaperless for a while and within 30 minutes of drinking the juice box, he peed on the floor, again not noticing what was happening. So, I diapered him, put on a onesie and a pair of snug pants for nap time. We certainly don't want him experimenting with potty time unsupervised.

A few months ago I decided not to introduce potty learning until the spring when he would be older and could spend more time outside (keeps the house cleaner during the early stages of the process). Still, if he is showing real interest it is hard not to pass up a teachable moment. For now, I'll watch and wait with an encouraging smile on my face and a bottle of multi-surface cleaner in my hand. 

An Ambitious Schedule

A few months ago, I got tired of feeling that important tasks were going undone and that our family would be so much happier off if we could make better use of our time during the workday. I made a daily schedule for the five weekdays and then outlined when each task needed to be worked on.

I started by plugging in the times that we have regular appointments-- music class, Cub Scouts, etc. Then I inserted a time to complete essentials based on each day's appointments-- preparing 3 meals, school, and Bible study/ prayer. Finally, I added things that it would be really great if we could accomplish each day-- exercise, play time with mama, rest time.

Here is how the Monday schedule looks:

7:30-Prayer and Bible Study for Mama/ Boys have breakfast

8am- Boys work on daily chores/ Mama unloads dishwasher and starts laundry

8:30- Boys report back/ Play time/ Mama works on Zone 1 cleaning

9:30- Family learning

10:45- Snack time

11am- Exercise 

11:15- Play time outside with Mama

12pm- Lunch time

1pm- Rest time for Baby/ Turtle works on school independently/ Diego Kindergarten

1:30- Rest time for Diego/ School time for Turtle      

3pm- Play time/ Mama folds laundry

4pm- Boys pick up living room floor and put laundry away/ Mama makes dinner

4:30- Eat, clear away dishes, run dishwasher

5:15- Leave for Kindermusik

We never complete everything that we have planned. There are even some days when I don't get the scheduled dinner cooked and we have a quick meal of tacos or spaghetti (again!) But my goal is to get better at doing the things that must get done for our home to run efficiently and to get the boys to help me in those tasks.

Customize a Home Management Guide Part 2

Here is a description of sections 5-7 of my journal. I refer to these several times throughout the day to make sure the important things get done each day.

5) Cleaning- I use the Fly Lady's Detailed Cleaning List for this. With three small children around, our house gets really dirty so I do a zone a day. For example, page one in this section of my journal is Zone 1: Living Room/Front Porch. There are 10 jobs to do and I have 4 of them in bold type so I can remember to have the boys complete those tasks (wash windows, sweep porch, etc.) It takes about 45 minutes per room to get it good and clean. It takes about 45 seconds for it to get messy again :-)

6) Meals- I have a regular meal plan based on daily and evening activities. We eat an early dinner on Monday to make it to Cub Scouts on time, so I make sure it is a quick and kid-friendly food (tacos, spaghetti, etc.) Wednesday we are gone all day so I schedule a crock pot meal. This section of the notebook has a list of meals in different categories (quick dinner, pack lunch, breakfast on the go, crockpot, etc.) and I just plug the foods I want into a weekly schedule and print it out. Besides the master list of meal options and the weekly schedule of meals there is notebook paper for grocery lists based on the meal plan.

7) School- This is the most important section in the journal because our day revolves around learning at home home. Page one is a weekly schedule including columns for five days of the week and each column is divided into Morning, Afternoon and Evening. Morning activities include all three children (Spanish, Scripture Memory, etc.), Afternoon activities are done while the baby naps, and Evening activities include Cub Scouts, PE at the Y, and music practice.
Pages 2-6 of this section are for the days of the week spelling out exactly what lesson we are on in each subject and what materials I need to gather ahead of time. The next 8 pages have a subject listed at the top and a place to record what lessons were completed each day and any comments for future reference.

Customize a Home Management Guide Part 1

I love the concept of the Fly Lady's Control Journal but it never worked for me. It didn't seem to be set up for people with small children at home and it was too complex. I did a little searching on the web and found a Home Management Journal at Wanting What You Have.com. I did some tweaking to make it more homeschool friendly and after using the journal for 4 months my days run more smoothly and continue to be more productive as I mature in my parenting skills. This is what I put in sections 1-4 of the journal:

1) A zippered pouch with scissors, permanent markers, pencils, pens, dry erase marker, and adhesive tabs.

2) Calendar- monthly calendars printed from WinCalendar.com, I record appointments here for quick reference.

3) Prayer and Bible- I printed a 365 day reading plan and put it in a page protector. Then I can check off the readings as I go, using the dry erase marker. At the end of the year I'll clean off the marks and start over.

4) Daily Routines- I only plan the weekdays since weekends are unpredictable in our home. This section has five page protectors with a day of the week printed at the top. I printed five different schedules, one for each day. There isn't a time assigned to each activity, unless it is an appointment. Instead, I list things that must be done in the morning, afternoon and evening and do that as I am able. Home/ Laundry Day, Outing Day, Homeschool Co-op Day, Home/ Laundry Day again, Errands Day. Then depending on the appointments we have schedule that week I slip one of the schedules into each of the five page protectors. Generally, every Friday is Errands Day and Tuesdays are Outing Days, but if something comes up, I can change that around easily by pulling the schedule paper out of one day's protector and slipping it into another one.

My Father's World Kindergarten

My 4 yr. old son "Diego" is working through MFW Kindergarten this year. He really enjoys it and would probably do it every day if I had time. His big brother's schooling takes a lot of my energy and his two year old little brother takes a the rest. School time with Diego is his chance to have one-on-one time with mama.

Diego listened in on MFW K when Turtle was in Kindergarten last year, so it isn't surprising that he already knows a lot of the information we are covering; but kids this age love repetition! For example, he already knows his letter names, sounds and how to write them. He can also blend letters into short words. MFW K gives him a chance to work on the fine motor skills required for writing well and for using scissors to cut shapes. The Cuisinaire Rods give him some work in following patterns and then being creative. Here is the barn he made to go with the letter "B".

He also enjoys the thematic units and making connections to the rest of the world. Last week we talked about Cows (lesson 13 of 26). We read The Story of Ferdinand which lined up well with our Spanish lesson which included information about "toros," bulls. I have to admit that when I read that book to my 5 yr. old last year, I wasn't a excited about introducing the concept of bull fighting; but it fits well with our Spanish curriculum which explains the culture in which the story takes place.

Another project that MFW K provides is a daily number activity. Diego likes connecting a quantity with a number and learning to write the number, the bigger the number the better as far as he is concerned! We use that time in the lesson to practice skip counting and grouping items. His favorite was the day we used jelly beans to see what the quantity 28 looked like!

Day 2: Jillian Michaels Fitness Plan

I had the most delicious veggie side dish for dinner. It was a recipe from the Jillian Michaels Online fitness plan and was so simple to make. Caramelize 1/4 cup of onion, toast some pine nuts, steam a cup of broccoli, toss those ingredients with a splash of balsamic vinegar and salt to taste. Yum!

Unfortunately, the salmon paired with the veggies didn't work out as well. I just wasn't able to overcome the gag reflex to eat my 3 oz. portion of fish. It looked good, though. Instead, I had a slice of italian bread with butter.

This evening I used an elliptical trainer for the first time, 18 min. on the Intermediate level. Then I moved over to the weights and did some upper body work. Thanks, Dear for watching the kiddos while I exercised :-)

Rollercoaster Kids

I have never been able to say, "Oh, he's my compliant one," or "He's a strong willed child." All of my kids go through phases where they are very sweet and obedient, then they turn rude and obstinate. Just when I am adjusting to one behavior pattern, the child changes drastically.

Sometimes I take their bad moods personally, feeling that if I did a better job of entertaining them they would always act happy. When they are happy, I often pat myself on the back for providing a loving environment where my children can act their best. Both responses are wrong, expressing a belief in the myth that perfect parenting creates perfect children.

Turtle and I have been studying the Old Testament in depth this semester with My Father's World 1st grade. Over and over, we see righteous leaders raised from families steeped in deception and malice. Rebekah encouraged Jacob to steal his brother's livelyhood; Jacob favored Joseph to the exclusion of his other children; some of Jacob's sons disposed of their brother because of envy; and as a child of God, I often disappoint my heavenly parent.

In the Bible, God lays out his expectations for parents, to bring up children "in the training and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4) and to impress on them the commands of the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:7). As my children grow and struggle with sin that causes them to behave in a disrespectful way, it is my job to teach them how to accept God's amazing grace constantly, not relying on our own ability to do what is right but to accept God's gift of grace and to boast only in that.

30 Day Shred

I can't believe how easy it is to gain weight. You would think that keeping up with three small children 24/7 would burn enough calories, but alas, I need to tweak my lifestyle to stay healthy.

For the past year I have been at a consistent weight-- not losing the extra pounds but not gaining either. Then I decided to cut my calories and increase my activity, just a little... and I gained 5 lb. Now I am a full 25lb. over weight. That looks and feels horrible on my small frame. I've considered Weight Watchers but don't want to count points. I joined the Y but don't have time to visit in the midst of a busy homeschool schedule.

So today started a program that fits my needs for better diet and exercise. It is the Jillian Michaels Online Program. I got the idea when I pulled out her "30 Day Shred" DVD for some quick exercise this evening. It was challenging (my arms and legs were numb with exertion half way in to it) but it was do-able.

Then I wondered what kind of diet plan might go well with a 30 day challenge. I don't want to reduce calories to the point that I am moody and weak but I don't want the extra effort of exercise to cause me to crave junk food either. It looks like the Online Program will provide that balance.

It provides a complete meal plan with simple ingredients that can be purchased at any grocery store and recipes that can be modified to fit taste preferences. I just printed off the grocery list for the first week of meals and look forward to trying some new foods! I'll let you know how the Mustard Crusted Salmon is. I have never liked fish but really, really want to because it is so good for you.

Mexican Flower Craft

We finished Lesson 11 in our Spanish curriculum, La Clase Divertida. We spend about two weeks per lesson and at the end of each is either a cooking activity, a puppet show with history lesson,  or a craft. This lesson contained a Mexican Flower craft which was both beautiful and simple. Señor Gamache shows the kids how to make the craft on the DVD so when they get the materials out they can follow the instructions more easily. I have never made a paper flower before, so I was pleased that Turtle could teach me based on his careful viewing of the DVD. Here is the finished product.

The theme of Level 1 is “Mexico,” with Mexican history, food, and crafts. La Clase Divertida is currently having a sale so I purchased both Levels 2 and received Level 3 for 50%. We should wrap up Lesson 15 of Level 1 in January and start Level 2 which studies Spanish culture in Europe. I visited Spain for a month while in college and look forward to pulling out my photo album to show the boys.

Off to an excellent start in math!

We chose Right Start Math, Level B for our 1st grade math curriculum. It was first recommended to me when we were considering a Montessori approach to early elementary learning. Our oldest son, "Turtle's" personality fit with Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education and we found that Right Start was recommended on the Simply Charlotte Mason website.

Both of my children love Right Start Math even though they have different learning styles-- the oldest is very hands on while the younger is more traditional.

Right now we are playing a game similar to Go Fish. The math curriculum came with a set of plain number cards for games. Each player starts with five cards and lays down pairs of cards that equal 10 (or higher numbers when they get more advanced). It is fun and great challenge!

The bigger they are...

the harder they fall, right? That is how I feel about my most recent experiment. I undertook a seemingly simple project of creating and decorating 24 paper trees, one for each day until Christmas. The whole thing almost fell flat because it has been so time consuming that my children lost interest and here I am finishing it up alone.

I really do enjoy crafting and look forward to using the finished project to celebrate the Christmas season with the kiddos. But I certainly won’t attempt such a project until the boys have a greater attention span to help me out.

I'll place their six trees and my eighteen trees on the mantle and then place a treat and scripture reading under each. The last step is to attach a number to each, one for each day of December 1-24.

Our First Advent Calendar

In a previous post I shared our plans for a simple home made Advent calendar. Each day the kids open the calendar to find out what activity we have planned and to read the next segment of the Christmas story from Luke. Here are some of the activities and scripture verses that we will enjoy in December:

Christmas movie night with popcorn and hot cocoa
Decorate the Christmas tree
Bake cookies and listen to Christmas music
Visit Santa Clause
See the Nutcracker
Make Christmas cards for neighbors and family
Make Snowman Soup for Cub Scout friends
Attend Cub Scout Christmas party
Make Christmas gifts- bath bombs for friends
Personally deliver or mail cards to neighbors and family
Build a Ginger bread house
Christmas shopping for Papa
Take a drive to see the decorated houses
Deliver cookies and cards to the community fire station
Celebrate Las Posadas
Make pine cone bird feeders
Roast marshmallows in the fire place and have a slumber party by the tree
PJ Night...everyone gets new ones on Christmas Eve

I took the Christmas story from this website and divided it into 24 segments. Each day we'll read the new one in addition to all of those that came before, so by Christmas Day we'll be able to read the whole story through.

December 1
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

December 19
When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

Back to school-- again!

After a week of vacation and then a week of caring for sick children, we are back to school. Both boys were excited to pull out their books and learn more. What a blessing!

I have a light school schedule planned for the Christmas season, with reading and math every day along with just one or two other subjects and lots of field trips and holiday activities.

My six year old son, we often call him "Turtle", is taking a break from My Father's World 1st grade. It has taught him all of the basics of reading but he needs more practice, so we are switching to Delightful Reading by Simply Charlotte Mason. It meets his needs perfectly-- he knows most of the words very well but it helps him apply some of the new concepts from MFW 1st (like -ight and -tion words).

We also got an excellent deal on La Clase Divertida Levels 2 and 3. We are almost finished with level 1 now and the kids just L-O-V-E it! It is one of two subjects that I never need to fuss/cajole/threaten them to work on. Even my one year old has learned a lot of Spanish by watching most episodes with his big brothers.

The other subject my oldest son can not get enough of is history. We use The Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times. We started with the text book and eventually purchased the MP3 version as well. I read him the chapter once and then he listens to current and past chapters as he likes, learning more each time. Next year we will use My Father's World 2nd grade which includes American History, so The Story of the World will be for fun reading, whenever he wants to pull out his CDs and activity book.

Plan B-- homeschool supplements

We have chosen a wonderful homeschool curriculum and a few extra subjects which the kids love. But today has been one of those days and I was too sick to pull out the usual school materials. On days like today we use our supplemental books. The boys can look at the pages and figure out how to do it on their own. They get in some fun learning time and I can work on my own problem areas (health, house work, a fussy baby, etc.)

Kumon Math-- We finished the Telling Time book and have moved on to Counting Coins. The workbooks go really slow which is a great way to build a child's confidence. We often skip pages to avoid boredom and by the time my dear son has finish one of these workbooks he is very familiar with the material and ready to use it in every day life. This isn't a good primary curriculum because it takes several weeks to finish a workbook and the books only cover a single topic rather than a variety of math skills like our regular math book.

Usborne sticker books-- I picked up a couple of these on sale at a curriculum fair back in the summer. Today my oldest son chose the one about soldiers and learned a little history along with practice placing the small stickers carefully on the page.

Explode the Code-- This can be a stand alone reading curriculum but we use it to reinforce skills already learned in our regular book.

This adds up to about an hour of school that he would not have had today when I am too sick to talk (but obviously not too sick to type!)

Ready or not, here come the holidays!

Piles of leaves litter the ground, inviting small feet to kick and jump; moms are discussing their holiday menu ideas; and while it is too soon to decorate the house with snowmen and reindeer, it is the perfect time to prepare for the celebration of Christ's birth.

I have been exhausted during the holidays for the last several years, living in survival mode through pregnancies and while caring for by beautiful baby boys. Holiday celebrations have been low on the priority list for long enough. This year I would really like to take time to share the beauty of the Christmas season with my children and if we are to start soon after Thanksgiving, I need to get ready now.

I found this home made advent calendar idea at "ikat bag" and decided it is so simple, there is no excuse not to make it! The boys can help me decorate the little trees and then I will fill each tree with a treat, the daily Jesse Tree scripture reference, and a fun winter or holiday activity. Here is a template which helps make perfect cone trees. I enlarged the template to take up most of a sheet of paper so we get two cones per page.

Some moms from our homeschool co-op are going to come over to share craft supplies and creative vibes. Hopefully by December 1 we will each have our advent calendars ready to go!