library pick of the week

 

we haven’t been going to the library too often these days.  somehow i just haven’t managed to fit it into our daily schedule. 

and even when i think i can get it in, something happens during our day that sabotages it.  i haven’t even been letting the kids in on when i have been planning it, just to avoid the disappointed stares and tears.

but…

i made it to the library for a few minutes before some errands last night after the kiddos were in bed.  and i picked up some books from one of our favorite authors of all time:  Bill Peet.

we were first introduced to Bill Peet when we read Capyboppy with the SonLight K curriculum. we have since picked up numerous tales and have laughed at each one. 

How Droofus the Dragon Lost His Head is no exception.  it is the tale of a dragon who gets separated from his family and, left alone to his own devices, turns vegetarian after rescuing a grasshopper from the clutches of a hungry spider.  we read how Droofus grows up, goes back to flying, gets chased by Knights from a nearby kingdom, loses his wings in a storm, and saves a farm.  the ending is wonderful… i won’t spoil it for you. 

if you haven’t read any Bill Peet adventures, i highly recommend them!

science with magnets

as we continue in our study of magnets in our SL curriculum, i thought i would post a few pics of our fun.

we had fun learning about poles and how we can push and pull things with our magnets.  the boys took up the challenge to see how many train pieces they could push with the big cow magnet in the science kit.

we also had a lot of fun with our fishing game as we used some magnetic fishing poles from a previous car trip to match up some paper socks.  this didn’t work as well as i would have liked.  the poles had strings that were waaaaay too long and i had to really manipulate the socks onto the magnets for the kids.

 

flying the butterfly was really hard for the younger ones.  tic tac managed to master it after only a few tries.  but stinkerbell and bonobo could not make it fly without having the magnet directly in contact with the paperclip attached to the butterfly.  it became a lesson in perseverance and maintaining composure in light of disappointment.

we also had fun finding north on a homemade compass and then made our own magnets with needles.  the kids have really enjoyed this unit. 

we are looking

changing it up…

well, we have had to make some adjustments here to our homeschooling curriculum

my husband, bless his heart, had noticed that i was really struggling with our choices for the year.  especially the FIAR studies.

i was getting really stressed over planning and implementing the activities that would span across the ages of our children.  working outside the home full time has been much more energy draining than i thought it would.

i was unable to put into motion the ideas that would form in my head when trying to plan out our rows.  what ended up happening was that i would struggle through a school day trying to get crafts and read alongs and other activities together, and then the whole thing would get scrapped because we ran out of time, or needed to run errands, or needed to do laundry, or whatever.

when i finally owned up to the fact that i wasn’t SuperMom (nah, really?!?!?) and poured out everything to my KISA.  well, let’s just say that when you bottle things up for a really long time, the thoughts come spewing forth like a wild volcano in the midst of a typhoon topped off with a huge tornado. 

it wasn’t pretty.

so, we changed things up.

we are the proud owners of SonLight 1.  we had done their K curriculum a few years ago, and then i was overwhelmed because i always felt behind.  to be honest, it was just because my oldest, at age 5-6, just wasn’t ready for workbooks and sitting down to do school.  we have come a long way since then, and now that he is reading, things are much smoother!

our plan is to finish 6 weeks of SonLight and then row a book for a week.  and that is because i love FIAR so much, i cannot give up on it totally.  i am hoping that planning for one week of FIAR won’t be as daunting. 

we did have a slow start to the new schedule, mostly because february was so hard on our house.  we are finally healthy again, so we seem to be back on track.

as i adjust to our new lifestyle, i am often frustrated by how little time i have to devote to the children.  i am becoming more creative in how we spend time together, and i hope to write about it soon. 

happy schooling!

time flies!!

ok. i didn't realize that it had been so long since i posted something!

we have been schooling. honest!

just not doing too much blog documentation (insert sheepish grin)

life is definitely on fast forward.

tic tac is turning 8 in a week

bonobo is just as crazy as ever

stinkerbell has way too much attitude!

and jd has learned to crawl, sit up , and this morning we noted two (!) new teeth popping through

work is keeping me super busy with new training and getting up to speed on the darn computer charting

hubby's business has 2 (yipee!!) paying clients (insert happy dance here)

all in all, a good few months. but this little blog has been neglected. *gulp*

i want to do better, really, i do. i long to be one of those mommies who can put it all together and still look awesome if you just pop in for a visit...

alas, i am not one of them (and really, i think they might only exist on the internet, anyway!)

i am messy and less than organized, and lose my temper and all that jazz. oh, well. God loves me, my hubby loves me, and my kids... well, they like me most of the time ;-)

here are some pics from the last several weeks. maybe, just maybe, i will get it together and tell you about what we have been doing :)

science lesson: how to get a big enough pile to jump in. we used all sorts of different tools to gather leaves... hands, dustpans, shovels, etc.

forming our letters with homemade playdough :)

another science lesson combined with a little life lesson. do not suction cup your forehead whilst sitting on the toilet.

cooking 101: how to clean off the beaters properly!


catching and releasing a ginormous grasshopper!

C is for Centennial

alright, i know the image is small. but if you go here, you can see it a bit larger on amazon and look at some sample pages.

this is what we are going through for school right now. these books are put out by Sleeping Bear Press, and they go through each of the 50 states using the alphabet to explore different historical, geographical and just neat facts about the state. since we are 'loosely' schooling in prep for our move, i thought it would be fun to learn about our new state! i have a list of them saved on my library account (they had over 70 books published available on their shelves) so that when i want something specific, i can request them without having to search for them myself :) a nifty resource that most libraries provide. i LOVE it!!

in addition to the states, they also had A is for America, Z is for Zookeeper, P is for Passport, and lots of others. the Sleeping Bear Press page also has a link to the Teacher's Guides PDF which is a neat resource.

we are planning on getting the C is for Centennial book and visiting some of the places mentioned. it would be neat to put together a scrapbook for all of the field trips that the book inspires!!

happy exploring!

lesson on the fly...

...ing bird, that is!

as we are preparing to move, i am emptying out our freezer. we had a 10 lb turkey hanging around from last Christmas just waiting for a good time to be roasted, and yesterday was the day!

after dinner, tic tac hung around the table, begging scraps of dark meat and watching me clean the meat off the bones. i usually loathe this task, even though it is so necessary to get all the really sweet meat off the bones. but on this night, it turned into school!

we dissected the bones, from legs, to wings, to breast bone and talked about tendons, ligaments and the (ick) veins running through everything. tic tacs favorite find though was the ...

spinal cord!

yep. we found several lengths of the spinal cord sticking out of the vertebrae, and he was entranced by them! we were able to get one segment about 3 inches long out of the neck, and it still had the nerves attached!!!

i thought it was pretty cool, too (must be the RN in me).

daddy...

well, let's just say, he stayed in the other room! he wouldn't come in to take pics for me, either... bummer. my hands were way too greasy to go near the camera!

life is going to get crazy

well, we are embarking on a new journey. one i never thought i would take again during these tender years of our children's lives.

as we experience the economy in its full fury, we are having to adjust our lives a bit.

i am going back to work full-time.

*gulp*

i had just gotten really content with being a full-time Stay At Home Mom. i was enjoying this role, and no longer had a desire to have my identity in being an RN. finally.

i really don't know how this is going to work.

God has been gracious to me in providing a job very quickly. i will be returning to a previous employer in a full-time capacity. 3- 12 hour shifts per/week, from 3pm-3am. every other weekend is required (fri-sat-sun). the other 3 days are of my choosing, and dependent on the other RN working the 3-3 shift. then 2 days will be up for grabs (and overtime).

this is the exact shift we wanted. at least i won't have to miss out on my children's entire day like i would during day shift. or chunks of time spanning 2- 3 days if i were on nights. the 3-3 shift will actually allow me to participate in their day, and to continue homeschooling with relatively few hiccoughs. and hopefully enough sleep.

i hope.

this blog may take on a whole new meaning as i try to juggle being a wife, mom and RN as well as maintaining a home and homeschooling my children. my husband will certainly help, he always does. but he has to spend the majority of his time building his CFO business.

do you work full-time outside the home and homeschool? i would love to hear your thoughts and how you organize things if you do. maybe there are a lot of us who need encouraging along the way.