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

~ Sneak Peek # 3 ~

~ Sneak Peek # 2 ~

~ Sneak Peek # 1 ~

Box 1 of our 2011 - 2012 curriculum:

Looking forward to posting on our First Grade curriculum!

Lessons 21 - 26

Yep! We are done with My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum! We are glad to be done. Ready for new activities - all of us. :)

Lessons 21 & 22 ~ Butterfly & Frog:

I found this website that has neat butterfly and frog cycle worksheets. We put a good bit of reading into these two and actually followed the suggested activities in the teacher's manual! I know - I surprise myself sometimes. :p

Lessons 23 - 26 ~

I could tell my son was tired of this so we did these 4 lessons in 2 weeks. He was really happy about that.

And that concludes My Father's World K curriculum for us!

My personal opinion ~ not for children who would be considered "advanced" in kindergarten. If they can read at any level, know their colors and numbers I would not choose this for them. My son was bored with this most of the time and I spent a good bit of money trying to bring it to his level and keep him engaged. After all, one of my reasons for homeschooling is to keep the "love of learning" in my boys. Boredom and busy work will certainly kill it! I am keeping all of my stuff because it may be a great choice for any of my younger boys. As of right now if would be great for Zack my four year old. I'm still debating on if I should purchase the student materials for him for 2011 - 2012 year. As my mom always said when I was little ~ "we'll see".

A Charlotte Mason Education

I ordered this book last year off Amazon. I was so excited to receive it in the mail. Who doesn't love packages in the mail especially ones with books?! I must say I was disappointed when I read this. This book has 20 chapters and each chapter is 1 or 2 pages long! The introduction is great. The book is basically an overview (broad overview) of what your school day would look like using the Charlotte Mason Method and without any of the depth and meaning behind it. (which makes a huge difference) I personally did not come across anything in this book that can not be found at Simply Charlotte Mason. In addition, I have not referenced the book once! Simply Charlotte Mason is a wonderful site loaded with tons of free information and more at decent prices. I would recommend the Simply Charlotte Mason website for a broad overview of what a "CM" day would look like. Next, I recommend For the Children's Sake (<-links to my review of this book) and then A Charlotte Mason Companion. Of course slowly working on reading Mason's own six volume set isn't a bad idea either!

WoW! So when I went to get the link for Charlotte Mason's Homeschooling series, I seen that you can get the books individually for $1.99 on your kindle!! Score!!! I'm soooo excited! (I got a kindle as my Christmas present from my husband)

*The above picture is linked to Amazon as well as all links except For the Children's Sake. On Amazon you can view inside all books.

**This is my personal opinion about A Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison.

Late Valentine's Day Post

The boys always wake up on Valentine's Day to a surprise! It's different every year and some years are more elaborate than others. But it is always celebrated! This year was a less elaborate year but as always fun!!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's Day!