Our School Plan – 2013-2014

August is such an interesting month for a new homeschooling mom. Many of my friends are showing photos of their kids on their first day of school. They have all nervously planned and anxiously awaited for that climactic first day. In contrast, things seem a bit anti-climatic and relaxed around here. We have been “schooling” all summer so we are just continuing on with our lessons into the fall. Still, it’s a good opportunity for me to stop for a minute and make sure we are on the right track and plan a few new things to gradually add in as we enter the Fall.

This is our schedule now and probably for the next few months:

• 7:00-8:30 – Wake, dress, brush teeth, eat bowl of cereal, morning chores, free playtime
• 8:30-9:00 – Breakfast, Morning Basket (Bible Reading, Scripture Memorization, Read-Aloud)
• 9:00-9:30 – Independent playtime, Mom rests, checks email, etc.
• 9:30-10:00 – Calendar, History Read-Aloud (20 minutes), Reading or Math Lesson (10 minutes)
• 10:00-10:15 – Snack
• 10:15-11:30 – Play outside, run errands, go to the library
• 11:30-12:00 – Lunch
• 12:00-1:00 – Play outside in backyard, go to a park or playground
• 1:00-4:00 – Rest time, naps, quiet read-alouds
• 4:00-dinner – Play outside

For Bible, we are reading The Story for Kids by Zonderkids publishers. We read a passage and then discuss. It starts in Genesis and reads as a narrative all the way through the Bible.

For Scripture Memorization, we are using the Simply Charlotte Mason Scripture Memory System. Bud learns about one verse a week and Peanut learns one about every 3-4 months. This is one of my favorite parts of the day. I love hearing the Word of God spoken by my sweet children.

For Morning Basket read-alouds, we currently read a fun, light book that both my 2 and 4 year old can enjoy. We just read a couple pages a day even if there is only a little text. They get very excited about this. Right now, we are reading Oscar Otter by Nathaniel Benchley. Eventually, I would like to add a picture/artist study to the Morning Basket. That will probably come as we settle into the Fall. We also do a Hymn study once or twice a week. We get out our big basket of instruments and the kids bang on drums and squeak their recorders while I sing the lyrics. It’s chaotic but effective. On the way home from our errands today, Bud (self-initiated) sang “Christ Arose” about 10 times.

Currently, Peanut reads and plays by herself while I work with Bud independently during our 9:30-10:00 “school time”.

For the Calendar time, Bud and I say the Pledge of Allegiance, point out the weather, and move markers on a calendar to learn the months, days, and days of the week. I have Bud show me the number of the date with the abacus (“19 is a ten and a nine”) as an intro to RightStart Math (which uses the abacus).

For our History read-alouds we are reading books from booklists in The Picture Perfect Childhood by Cay Gibson. She lists them thematically by month so I always have a source to find living books in alignment with the time of year. Today we read Escape from Pompeii by Christina Balit. Bud loved it! He asked me to read it again this afternoon and was talking about volcanoes all morning. Many times, a short geography lesson will occur after these read-alouds because Bud wants to know where the story took place. We had a great discussion about Italy this morning after reading about Pompeii.

Our Reading lessons are taken from All About Reading, Level 1. Bud has thrived with this phonics curriculum and is reading better than I think I did when I was 6!

Our Math lessons come from RightStart Math, Level A. We just started this last week and Bud loves it. We will move very slowly through the math lessons and only do them when he wants to.

Peanut will join in and participates when she wants, but she is free to be two and just play all day. She loves to color and help me cook. She is learning from just living and being a toddler right now. I will save her “formal education” for a much later date. 🙂

I would also eventually like to plan weekly field trips to museums, orchestra concerts, and other interesting places. We will add these in as there is time and energy. I have been in conversations with a good friend of mine about starting a homeschool field trip and nature study group. We both agreed to wait until our kids are a little older but that might come sooner if it feels right.

That’s about it for our family. Hooray for homeschool!

Nature Study: Colorado Wildflowers (Part III)

We were in Keystone, Colorado last weekend for my sister’s wedding and enjoyed a wonderful walk along a creek. We usually opt for the high mountain alpine hikes so I don’t see the kind of flora I enjoyed that morning. The kids were especially excited about finding wild raspberries. There were raspberry plants everywhere, but not many berries so I wondered if the bears had come enjoyed a picnic there recently.

Crown Vetch, Coronilla varia

Cutleaf Daisy, Erigeron compositus

Wild Raspberry

Lychnis Campion, Silene dioica

If you liked this post, you might enjoy:

• Nature Study: Aunt Jo’s Garden
• Nature Study: Colorado Wildflowers (Part I)
• Nature Study: Colorado Wildflowers (Part II)
• Orchids in Hawaii

Tic Tac Wedding Favors

My sister recently got married and she asked me to help with the welcome bags. I was stoked to do something creative. I saw a great idea somewhere on Pinterest to cover Tic Tac boxes with labels. Easy, simple, and really cute! Here is how I made them…

First I designed and printed the labels. If you would like me to create Custom Tic Tac labels for you, please visit my Etsy Shop. I used a nice standard weight beige paper that gave it a cool rustic touch.

I then gathered the rest of the materials:

• Tic Tacs (I used the regular size – I think they have a jumbo size too)
• Glue stick
• Sissors
• Printed labels

I cut out all the labels leaving a small gap around the outside edge.

Then I scored and folded all the labels so they would completely cover the existing Tic Tac label.

I rubbed a glue stick all over the backside of the label and stuck it to the Tic Tacs. I held it there for 5-10 seconds to let the glue dry a little.

And voila! Simple, cute favors for the wedding guests. Everyone loved these and had sweet smelling breath all weekend long. If you like these, you might also enjoy the Bride and Groom Pretzel Rod party favors I made.

If you would like me to create Custom Tic Tac labels for you, please visit my Etsy Shop.

DIY: Bride and Groom Pretzel Wedding Favors Tutorial

My sister recently got married and I was so excited when she asked if I could help her do the welcome bags. I needed to use some creative juices and this was the perfect opportunity. I decided to make bride and groom pretzel rods as party favors. I found long skinny pretzel bags at Wal-Mart which served as the perfect packaging. Here is the tutorial…

You’ll need:

• Pretzel Rods (Mine had about 16 per package so I used 4 bags)
• Chocolate Candy Melts
• White Chocolate Candy Melts
• Small white nonpareils

Start with a pot of gently simmering water and cover with a bowl to make a double boiler.

Melt the white chocolate candy melts first. Keep stirring the candies until they are melted into a nice, smooth consistency. I turned the heat off at this point and the chocolate stayed warm enough to use the whole time.

Cover your pretzel rod with white chocolate. I found it was easiest to spread the chocolate on with a spoon (instead of dipping) and then gently tap it on the side of the bowl to remove the excess.

After the pretzel has been covered in chocolate, sprinkle white nonpareils all around the surface of the wet candy. Helpful Tip: lay newspaper under your cooling racks to catch excess chocolate and nonpareils for easier cleanup.

Keep going until you have finished half of your pretzel rods and allow them all to cool.

Use a spoon to spread white chocolate on the remaining half of your pretzels. This will be the white shirt of the groom so it only needs to cover the front.

Using the same spoon spreading process, create the groom’s “coat and pants” with the brown chocolate. I ran my spoon along the edges of the white “shirt” part of the pretzel to get the angled coat.

Using a piping bag with a fine tip, create a bow tie and two buttons with the brown chocolate. I found it easiest to go in a “Figure 8” motion to create the bow tie.

I created small labels for the packaging. If you like these labels, I’d be happy to create some customized with your bride and groom’s names. I have these custom labels for sale at Etsy.

After all the pretzels had cooled, I slid one of each into the long pretzel bags and stapled the top. Be careful as you lift the pretzels off the cooling rack. The dried chocolate might make them stick a little so it’s best to use a gentle rocking motion to lift them off the rack.

These were very fun to make and were a huge hit for all the guests. A couple of them broke so I was able to taste them and they were very yummy! Hope you have a chance to enjoy them too!

July 2013: Month-At-A-Glance

Summer is in full swing and we enjoyed a week-long vacation in the beginning of the month to Crested Butte, Colorado. We took many wildflower photos and went on some wonderful hikes. Our homeschool time has gotten very simple and nice. I usually just read a good living book to Bud and then we work on our All About Reading or play a game. I will probably keep this format going until the end of August and then get going on some new, fresh lessons with him.

Continued Reading Progress

Bud is about halfway through the All About Reading Level 1 Curriculum and he continues to forge ahead with enthusiasm and amazing results. My sister (who teaches kindergarten) was reading to him and he corrected her on one of the words she missed. She was surprised that he was reading along with her and I told her to ask him to read her a whole page. He jumped right on it and read almost the whole rest of the book to her. It was so exciting and we all cheered and clapped for him. You could see a look of accomplishment in his eyes. I’m so happy he feels this pride and wants to experience the joy of reading.

Habit Training: Picking Out Clothes, Getting Dressed, PJs in the Laundry Basket

These were the three tasks Bud had to achieve to receive a sticker on his chart this month. The motivation for the end was a morning fishing with Dad. This was a wonderful treat for Bud to look forward to because Dad has been very busy with work lately. He did a great job picking out his clothes and I had to bite my tongue when some of his fashion choices were “interesting”. I see now why there are four and five-year-old’s wearing mismatched clothes, bathing suits, capes, and tutus at the grocery store. This sticker chart was quickly filled and Bud enjoyed learning how to fish this past Sunday with his Dad.