August Trays & Shelves

We moved to a little country city just a few minutes outside of Nashville, TN! Here school started August 5! I've had very little time for getting ready for school between moving, packing, and all the stuff you gotta do when moving to another state. However, we started! No choice in the matter do to homeschooling laws around these parts! ;)

So here are our trays & shelves in our very own homeschooling room (pics. to come when it is actually complete):

Chris ( age 6/First Grade):

Superminds - will be changing pattern every so often

Sketch Book - we have not incorporated any drawing, sketching, art time. We do have a weekly art picture study but until we work in hands on art this will do. He seems to look forward to his sketch time and gets into it. One side is regular oil pastels and the other side is chalk pastels. I bought them both on clearance at Jo-Ann's for $1.97/each!

Bought this at Border's with 50% off coupon! Chris loves it and has only used it once a day for a week and has learned how to tie shoes from it!

~ his shelf at a glance ~

Zack (age 4/ preschool):

Math ~ there are numbers 1 - 6 in the card pile.

He sorts them out and then matches a bean to

each picture.

Fine Motor ~ cutting. He still struggles with just this basic cut.

So I bought him scissors like these to help as his little hand muscles develop.

They have made a big difference!!

A part of his shelf that's not trays :)

~~ beads/lacing, puzzle, & card sorting ~~

~ his shelf at a glance ~

I really, really can't rave enough about trays and shelves!!! The boys absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!!! In addition, I've seen much improvement in the boy's various skills!

VBS 2011

Vacation Bible School is something we look forward to every summer! The church we are members of do not have a VBS. However, the church where my MOPS group meets does! So that is where we go. This year was a bittersweet year for us. We are moving in July so it was our last VBS year and Zack's first year old enough to enter! We all had a great time and I so will miss this church. They are such a sweet group and the Pastor there just loves people. I was the leader for Zack's group so I don't have many pics. of Chris. Not only was he in a different group but the elementary children are in a separate hall from the preschoolers & kindergardeners. Here are a few pics:

Zack is holding up the J for a song that we sung.

Chris is on the far right with some boys

that he hung out with that week in his group.

Zack is second from the left. This was his whole group.

We actually had the smallest group. The boy in the middle was our helper.

What's Going On

What's going on for us:

June -

• Week 1 - our first family vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC ~ was AWESOME!!! will post pics.
• Week 2 - trip to Missouri
• Week 2 - trip to Tennessee
• Week 3 - Vacation Bible School ~ another fun week! it was Zack's first year! will post pics.
• Week 4 - Found out we will be moving by mid July 10 1/2 hours away from where we live now!!!!!

July -

• Lots & lots of packing to be done!! plus tons of other things - phone calls, visits, etc.

So school will not be starting in July for us this year but the tentative date is August 1!

Good Finds

I bought several of these little handicrafts on clearance last summer at JoAnn's for .50/piece!!

It sure came in handy to buy so many because Chris broke 2 before completing this one. This required much concentration and hand and eye control for him! The activity came with little squares of tissues that they wrap around a point needle (but not) type thing and dip it in glue then punch it into the foam.

I found them in the vacation bible school or summer craft type section. I will be keeping an eye out for these babies this summer (as they are originally only $1) and end of summer because .50 is always awesome!

** 2011 - 2012 Curriculum **

I'm so excited for this years curriculum! I've had lots of time to look over (&over) tons of resources and have spent some time thinking & praying. I'm so thankful for all the resources available and the work that is made ready for me!

Chris ~ Grade 1: I basically followed the CM Curriculum Guide (i seriously love that site btw) while changing up some things.

• He will have 3 Montessori based trays.
• Math - Math U See Alpha
• Copywork - A Reason for Handwriting
• Science - 106 Days of Creation Study
• Personal Development - Learning to Get Along Series I'm so excited about this find!! ~ incorporating Laying Down the Rails
• History, Geography, Reading, Read A Louds, Bible - Core B with Grade 3 Readers
• Poetry - Montessori Style Poem of the Month
• Nature Study - I Love Dirt!
• Picture Study - We have 3 Come Look With Me books that we will be working through the year
• Art - Drawing With Children. I also have lots of left over art supplies we didn't use this past year due to home circumstances that I will be delighted to use with them this year!

It's a lot and that's why I left out quite a few subjects suggested on CM. We had such a lackadaisical curriculum last year that I didn't want to throw us in shock and accomplish nothing! The Poetry, Nature Study, and Picture Study will be weekly. The Science is 3 days a week.

I still have quite a few ideas spinning around in me head and I'm trying to figure out if they will work or not!

Zack ~ Preschool:

• 6 Montessori based Trays
• Raising Rock Stars Preschool - we will being joining to have access to the power points as well
• Reading Time each day
• Joining Chris for Poetry, Nature Study, and Art
• His own Personal Development program using the same resources I'm using with Chris

Nate ~ Toddler: ohhhhh how I don't like the thought that he will be a toddler during this school year! He's still a baby in my head so squishy, juicy, and lovey! And I know he still will be all those things, I just really like the idea of him being a baby cake!

• Some form of Tot School mixed with some CM & Montessori applications

I'm working on a schedule and trying to figure out how we can work everything with as much ease, comfort, and fun as possible.

Happy Mother's Day

I hope all Mommies are enjoying their Mother's Day!!

Handprints made for Grandmas & Me :)

Cards made for Grandmas (our moms) at TinyPrints. Very happy with them!

Easter Fun + an update

We had a great Easter! It was a little different this year due to some things. This was a little hard for me because I like tradition and I like Easter & Christmas to be celebrated LONG (think Lent & Advent)! I had to evaluate my heart and though those things are Good it is ok if things are different one year :) With that being said - here are some things we did for Easter this year:

• the boys memorized two new prayers - one for meals and one for bedtime
• we created a "repentance box". You can read about it here. Hers is much prettier than mine. we used an old baby wipe box. :)
• the boys made these t-shirts during Holy Week. I got this idea from Rick & Marilyn Boyer's Hands-On Character Building book.

~ Easter Sunday ~ Nathanael's First Easter!!!

My two oldest received Pillow Pets and a special book. Chris got The Beginner's Bible (Holy Bible). This is the whole Bible. Zack received My ABC Bible Verses. They loved all of these things. :)

We made some cute Eastery cookies I seen in a magazine. I personally didn't like them but they did and so did my stepsisters.

That wraps up our Easter 2011!!

~~Update~~ I haven't been on much lately because I was trying to spend less time on the computer for Lent. I'm working on trying to figure this out! How I can spend the least amount of time on the Internet and still look and enjoy everything I like to do! In addition, my husband & I are working on some major changes (jobs & living location). I really do enjoy blogging though so we'll see... hopefully I'll get it [balance] soon :D