Homeschool Mom Journal: second entry

In my life this week…

The week has gone by fast.  But nothing note worthy stands out.  

In our homeschool this week…

Charry has been WOWing me with her new math skills. It has gone from an hour of pouting to fifteen minutes of getting it done.
Merry has been WOWing me with her reading skills.  She has moved up to the level 4 "Now I'm Reading" books.  She has also been sounding out Dr. Seuss book on her own. 

I am inspired by…

Blogs.  I have been blog hopping a lot and have found some great ideas.  I even remembered to bookmark some of them so when I had time I could actually try some of the great ideas.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

This week we spent over an hour waiting to see the Doctor.  Charry hurt her wrist at church and it was still hurting the next day.  Good news, wrist is just sprained, no brace needed.  Bad news, Charry skinned her knee in the doctors office and needed a bandaid.  

My favorite thing this week was…

Making monster frames with cousins.  We got the idea from A Sprinkle of This...

What’s working/not working for us…

Working~ Social Studies.  American Girl history is going great, Kirsten is my favorite.  And Knuffle Bunny travels, Merry is even remembering past weeks adventures.


Not Working~ Science.  I'm having trouble finding activities that can be done on the go.  Also trying to have both girls work on the same thing is more work than I thought it would be.  I think I need to start planning for the whole week instead of one day at a time.

Things I’m working on…

Cleaning, but I'm not doing very good right now.  

I’m cooking…

I'm not a cook, I don't even like to cook.  But I made 3 boxes of cupcakes for a memorial service today.  I know from a box isn't real cooking but to frost the chocolate cupcakes I mixed peanut butter into the premade vanilla frosting.  So it was semi-homemade peanut butter frosting.

I’m grateful for…

My family.  My Mom, Dad, sibling, nieces, nephews, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, grandparents and all my in-laws.  

I’m praying for…

My cousins who lost their dad this month.  In Christ death has no victory but without HIm...

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

I've been having fun looking at old pictures lately, 

Five years ago
Nine month pregnant, Aunt Kimi climbs hay bails with nine month old Merry

Fashionista Friday: Halloween Edition

"Mom, I want to be a Little for Halloween."

"What?"

"You know, a Little, the small people with tails."

"O.K., a Little, but where did you hear about Littles?"

She didn't stick around long enough to answer instead she was off skipping.  But for the next few weeks she continued to insist she wanted to be a Little.  

So I present "Merry Little."  I think the mess of hair makes her look impish and adds the the costume.

 The costume was a combination of felt and an old hand-me-down shirt.  I made sure the felt buttons covered the stains and added patches to the skirt for color.

The tail was simple to make but very time consuming.  Instead of stuffing a brown sock (classic improve tail making), I decided to finger crochet  the tail out of my left over brown yarn.  Since I only know how to make a basic chain I had to crochet my crocheted chain so it would be the proper thickness.  Then to get it long enough took all of "The Wedding Singer."

But she makes a cute little Little.  And after further investigation I found out she had found "The Littles" on our book shelf.  She liked the pictures so much that she  asked her sister who they were.

She's clever and cute.

Fashionista Friday

OK I know it is Sunday not friday but it has been a long weekend and this post was started Friday.  Besides "Fashionista Sunday" doesn't have the same nice ring to it.  That being said on to the blog.

When I was growing up there was a group of girls from church that were the "homeschoolers."  They were sweet, talkative, and wore the cutest jumpers.  It was the '90s when you could find buttons to coordinate with just about any fabric and they did.

As I grew up with, although not one of, the group I learned most didn't love the outfits.  They joked about it being "homeschool uniforms."  And so when I decided to homeschool I also decided to avoid the stereotypical homeschool garb for my kids.

 Charry feels otherwise.

Todays fashion is very much a homeschool look.  From the fishing themed jumper to the t-shirt underneath it.  And as such is not something I would have picked out for her.

But it is something she would pick out for herself.  In fact she is very proud of the ensemble which she put together while at a second hand store with her grandma.  While her sister just tried to find things that fit , Charry found the jumper then went through shirts to find one that was a good color for underneath.  She then tried it out with a couple of different sweaters until she found one with "short sleeves but still covered the t-shirt sleeves."  At the end of the day she was very proud of her bargain finds and of how cute she looks, and so am I.

I don't think I need to worry about her looking "too homeschooled," at least not for a while.  When she's worn the outfit out everyone tells her how cute she is.  Most of her friends are reading the Laura Wilder  books and think Charry's "prairie" look is awesome.  Besides anything anyone wore when I was growing up is probably "retro" now and "retro" is cool.

American Girl History, Josefina

The title of this post should be, "American Girl History, Fail."  Because I did a lousy job.  While Felicity was exciting and reminded me of growing up, reading in Grandma's attic.  Josefina was unfamiliar and hard to find simple lessons.  That and I kept calling her "Josephine."  Eventually Charry stopped correcting me.

We did manage to do a few lap-book activities.  Charry drew Josefina's portrait on the Ranch.  And we talked about the areas that are now America but use to be part of Mexico, Including New Mexico where Josefina lived.   And Charry made Spanish vocabulary cards.  A pretty pitiful lap-book.

 The other thing we learned from the Josefina books was how they made cloth.  Charry practiced some weaving of her own by making potholders.

In the end Charry read the books, we talked about each of them and she learned a few things about life in 1824.  I wasn't able to do as much as I had hoped but we have to move on.  Luckily 1854 and Kirsten is much more inspiring for me.

(oh and you might notice the lack of a new doll outfit, I miss placed my patterns I already have the fabric so as soon as the patterns turn up...)

The Homeschool Journal entry 1

I'm trying something new, The homeschool mom journal.  I'm having fun blogging and wanted to try one of those "link your blogs" things.  Th homeschool journal seems to be a good fit.  Since I blog to keep track more for myself than for others and this I hope will make a weekly appearance.  You should click the link and see what other homeschoolers are doing also.

In my life this week…

This has been a long week, filled with sickness.  Not the best.  

In our homeschool this week…
Merry worked on "Star Wars" preschool and finished her numbers workbook.
Charry worked on multiplication and reviewing Hebrew.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
Sometimes you need to take a step back, there is no harm in redoing an area your weak in.

I am inspired by…
I've been reading lots of blog and have been inspired by the great ideas I've been seeing.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
We've spent most of the time at home, although we had a lovely visit with my sister-in-law.

My favorite thing this week was…
Princess Bun-head headbands.  (as seen in my previous post) They were so much fun to make and I had come up with the idea myself.

What’s working/not working for us…
This week was half days because of sickness so we weren't able to do History or Science.  But Charry has been doing "Learning Wrap-ups" She is on day 9 of 10 of the multiplication I think it will take more practice for her to memorize but it has been a good start. I think we will use more of their products, I have the addition one ready for merry to start next week. 

Things I’m working on…
American Girl history, I'm less familiar with the girl we are working on right now so I have to do more work to prepare.

I’m grateful for…
Family and friends who have been very supportive during a very hard week.

I’m praying for…
My Uncles family, he past away this morning.  He was the one who taught me how to play chess.  He has two grown children, they had a hard life and haven't seen him for a while.  This will be hard for them.  My grandma is also having a hard time loosing her son.  So I pray for all of them. 

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Baby James Oct 9, 2010-Oct 16, 2010

So I started this week very excited for "Star Wars Week."  After all Star Wars is a family favorite.  Even for my girls who haven't seen the movies yet.  Unfortunately the week hasn't turned out quite as well as I thought it would.  Two days of sick kids and one of sick Mommy means it's half over and no "Star Wars" yet.  Well I do have my Star Wars Preschool Packs printed out and the cousins got to read Frog Wars a Veggi retelling of the plagues in Egypt.  And I did try out my good idea, yarn Princess Leah Buns.

 front view

right side

 left side

They were so easy to make, just took a lot of yarn, a head band, hot glue and felt (to glue the yarn to.)  I tied the yarn to the head band in 3 places, at the top and at the base of each side.  Then I braided both sides, twisted into buns and hot glued to hold in place.  Then I hot glued again everywhere they came loose after the girls wore them a bit.  I think they are adorable, the girls thought they were itchy but wore them anyways.

Preschoolers, little bundles of interruption

Last week I started watching my nephews each afternoon, just for a few hours.  But this means loading up the girls and their school, having lunch with the cousins, and trying to finish whatever we hadn't gotten done in the morning (which last week was lots) with a 3 year old and a 4 year old underfoot.  The first few days were sketchy but I think we have it worked out.  Jelly Telly has a blog and once a week or so they they highlight some great family resources.  Last week they had a link to free fall preschool printouts.  That came at the perfect time for me.  I quickly used up all my ink and had three sets of worksheets ready to go.

 Soon They were gathered around the little table working away at what ever I put in front of them.

 Finger prints

 Scissors (she really does know how to hold scissors I don't know why she had them facing the wrong way)

Odin needed a little more help/instruction with most activities, but Aunt Coral helped, so it was fine.

Charry had the peace and quiet needed to concentrate.  Top is how she actually looked, bottom is how she wants people to think she looks, my little poser.

The worksheets worked so well I already have a pond unit printed for this week and Star Wars downloaded for next week.  We only spent half an hour or so each day just enough for Charry to finish a subject or two.  But having all the worksheets on hand was a big help.  If you're looking for something fun and simple to keep kids busy you should check out all the  Preschool Packs the gal at Homeschool Creations obviously put a lot of work into them so you don't have too.