Pumpkin Patch Fun

We go to the same pumpkin patch every year and we always have such a great time. They have an awesome playground, farm animals and lots of stuff to climb on.

School - What is Working, What is Not

I mentioned in the previous post that school was going a lot better this year and I think there are several things that have really helped:

• implementing a rewards chart -  I really struggled with this because I thought that the girls should have good attitudes in school without being "bribed" but my very smart hubby mentioned that almost everything we do in life brings some kind of reward and that it could be a very positive thing and boy was he right. We have a chart with 20 circles to fill up. Fill up the chart and you get to pick something off of the rewards list such as stay up an hour later, special outing with mom or dad, watch a movie in bed etc. It has been so successful!
• including recess (30 min. break) I was wondering if I would  they would have a hard time getting back on track after the break but I was wrong again. I They come back with happy hearts and more energized. I am sure the snack we have right after is also a good motivator.
• only fitting in morning chores before school and leaving the bigger ones for after school - Last year the girls really stretched out the morning chores which put me in a bad mood before school ever started so now if they drag their feet they are messing with their own free time:)

What is not working out so well is having activities that are right after school that we need to rush too. I do not like having to clock watch and rush the kids out the door to get somewhere and I am so sick of packing lunches!!! I know, i know, if the girls were in school i would probably be doing this everyday but still I don't like it :)

I struggle so much with wanting the girls to be a part of  the great homeschool opportunities in our area but I would love not to rush them out the door after school! In the spring we will probably drop one of our activities to get an extra day at home and hopefully that will help! It is hard also because Ellie is a go, go, go, girl and loves going out and being a part of anything and everything where as Emily is a lets stay home type of girl!

I would love to know what is working /not working for you!

2012- 2013 Curriculum

I love reading what other people are using for curriculum so I thought I would share what we are doing for school this year and a little about our school day.

Ellie (2nd grade):
For our core curriculum we are using Heart of Dakota Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory. We have really enjoyed working our way through this curriculum but I am only using it for history, bible, read aloud, poetry, and just a little bit of science. Everything else we are using our own thing.

Spelling: We are using Rod and Staff Sound and Structure

Writing: we are doing mini writing workshops and free writing during circle time (they both love this) and Winning With Writing.We also do the narration parts of Writing With Ease

Math: Math Mammoth and Miquon (we sprinkle in Life of Fred but more for fun)

Grammar: Growing With Grammar

Latin: Slowly going through Song School Latin

Geography: Evan Moore's Beginning Geography

Science: Ellie takes a science class every other Friday and I add in a nature study using Queen's Discovering Nature Series

Art: We are using Atlier Art

Music: piano lessons

Bible: Bible Study Guide for All Ages (We LOVE this) and AWANA

Things that I had planned to do that we are not getting to: Artist and Musicians study and Spanish

Emily( Age 4 Preschool)

Emily sits in with Ellie on History, Read Aloud, Poetry, Life of Fred, Latin, Bible

Math - Miquon and just playing with cuisenaire rods

Writing- We are pretty much doing our own thing

Reading - Reading Made Easy (she looks forward to this everyday) and Get Set For the Code

Bible -  Bible Study Guide for All Ages and AWANA

She also does lots of coloring, cutting and pasting.

This school year is going really well so far. We didn't have the greatest last couple of months in first grade so I am so happy that school is such a joy for us all now! I pray it continues that way!

Quickly I will share how we structure our day:
Monday - Thursday -The girls start off with there morning chores (typical brush hair, teeth etc. )We try to start our school day by 8. We have circle time and our writing time. After that we set the timer for 30 min. During that time I work with Emily and Ellie works on all of her independent work. After 30 min. we reset the timer and Ellie reads for 15 min. and I keep working with Emily. We then break for 30 min. so I can get a few things done and they play. We come back together and they have a snack while I read history, poetry, read aloud chapter book and anything else we need to cover all together. This usually takes about 30 min. to an hour. After that I work with Ellie and Emily plays with things off of our school shelf. I let her pick whatever she wants. She loves this time and gets very creative!

 Fridays are pretty laid back. We only school half the amount of time and it tends to be more of the fun stuff like math and spelling games, crafts etc.

So that is pretty much our school week in a nutshell!

Raggedy Ann and a Bumblebee

No, I am not going to tell one of those what do you get when you cross Raggedy Ann with a Bumblebee joke! I am just sharing our Halloween pictures:) We had a great time trick or treating!!

 

New Kitchen Gadget

I am still on my whole/real foods quest and I am still taking one step forward and two steps back. I don't know why it is such a struggle for me but it is! One of the things that is making it easier though is having the right tools for the job. Remember a long time ago when I got my Vitamix blender(which I LOVE)?? The next thing I put on my wish list was a nice mixer. I didn't really think I would get it because who wants to fork out almost $400 on a mixer but I never thought I would get a Vitamix and I did so why not wish for the mixer, right? Well guess what I got?? Yep, after saving up my credit card bonus points forever I finally had enough to order this beauty:

 I broke her (yep it's a girl) out by making 2 loaves of zucchini bread, pumpkin oatmeal and pumpkin muffins. Yummy! The muffins were gone before I got a picture.

Back to Blog Land

Wow, it has been a whole year since my last post!! I had decided I didn't want to blog anymore for various reasons but I have changed my mind. I have really missed it and I miss having so many pics of the girls because let me tell you I take a lot more pics when I am blogging!!! I know it has been so long that no one is probably going to be reading this post. Well one person probably is so here is a quick shout out to that one person...Hi Mom!!!! Anyway, I am probably not going to do a lot of back posts of what we have been up to the last year (maybe just a few) but I what I blog about will pretty much be the same: homeschool, cooking, day to day life and that sort of thing. So just to catch up a little here is a recent picture of the girls. There is even a picture of me which is pretty rare! I vow to force Chris and I to be in our pictures this year!!

Fun with Grandpa

The girls are blessed with 3 grandpas and this past Sat. we spent the day with one of the grandpas at the balloon rally. We had a great time with grandpa!

Ellie is enjoying the view from dads shoulders

Emily was in awe of the balloons

The girls and I enjoying the launch

The girls LOVED LOVED the trampolines.

The night launch was beautiful!

I used to go to the balloon rally growing up so it was so cool to experience this with Ellie and Emily!

Halloween Lunches

I have had fun making the girls Halloween themed food this week. 

 

 

Lunch was a sand "witch”, white chocolate strawberry ghost, pretzel stick witches brooms and mummy juice. All of these ideas came from Pinterest.

  (Picture won’t flip for me…..again)

PB&J mummy roll ups, pumpkin tangerine and snap pea crisp witches fingers.

Homeschool Fieldtrip

A local corn maize was having homeschool day recently so we joined some friends for a day of fun. They broke us up into two groups: 4 and under and K-5th grade. I went with Emily’s group so I didn’t get a lot of pics of Ellie until we met up at the playground. Emily got to plant corn

Go on a hayride, visit the chickens, collect wooden eggs (she had no idea they weren’t real),

 

practice milking a cow

 

feed the goats, collect fake veggies and once she turned in and sorted all of her eggs, fruits and veggies they paid her $2 and she was able to go pick out a pumkin for $2. It was such a cute process!!

Ellie’s group went to a small lecture all about corn and the farm, went through the big corn maize, went on a hay ride and finished up with the animals. After we were done we played on their really cool playground. The tree house was the biggest hit.

I wanted to get a picture of the girls together….just one….but it seems impossible to get both of the girls to look at the camera and smile at the same time and this is what I kept getting:

I think I will appreciate these goof ball pictures more in the years to come!! Man, I love these cuties!!!!!

Halloween Sensory Bin

I just finished making our newest sensory bin and I hope the girls enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Here is what is in it:

Black beans

Little witches pots

Orange pom poms

Little plastic bugs

Glow sticks

Ghost erasers

Little plastic Halloween to toys

Wooden Halloween figures