Wordless Wednesday–DMNS

For our annual get-together, my childhood friend and I (and our 5 kids combined) met at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science this week. The kids had a great time, and it’s good to see Eileen and her kids.

~S

Linking up at:

Not-Back-To-School–Student Photos + a printable for you!

I didn’t really want to participate last week, since I don’t have a space for school right now. We mostly do school on the dining room table or on the floor in the living room, and you don’t need a picture of my dining room table/desk/school table.

Anyway, what I did get this week was pictures of my three. Amazingly, I got a great picture of all three of them on the first try!

Look, even Shane is holding his sign and smiling, crazy!! Of course, it went downhill from there, and I didn’t get any more good pictures of him. Got some of the other two though :-)

And now for the printable mentioned in the title. I couldn’t find the exact words that I wanted on the chalkboard signs that I found around the internet, so I made one. I wanted one for my tiny tot and one for my pre-k’er as well as 2nd grade. So, you get to benefit from that! I made all grades from Tiny Tot up through 12th grade. I did add the school year, so if you want the publisher file instead without the school year, you can email me.

As it turns out, we started school yesterday instead of next week, like I’d planned. The kids have been actually asking me when we would start school and wanting to get started…that enthusiasm did not last long, when they realized that we would actually be *doing* school instead of playing , haha. So far (2 days in!), I am very pleased with my choice of curriculum, here’s hoping that it stays that way!

So, what about you? Do you take back to school pictures? When do your kids start school?

~S

Not-Back-To-School–2013-2014 Curriculum

Yikes! It’s August! We’ve been so busy working on our summer bucket list that it’s left me little time for blogging. Okay, that and a few other major projects :-) One of those is planning out this coming school year for my two olders: trying to figure out what school will look like with a 2nd grader, a pre-k 4 y.o., and my cute mischievous baby-pants.

I think I’ve finally nailed down what curriculum we’ll be using, at least. I don’t have a weekly/daily schedule figured out yet, and I will, but it’s tricky, ya know?

ANYway, here’s the current plan, subject to change if there are parts that aren’t working.

2nd Grade

• History: Story of the World Year 2 including activity guide and student pages. We will not be using the tests this time around. Probably when we come back for cycle 2, then I will be very glad to have them :) Our history curriculum from the last two years left me feeling overwhelmed and like I was doing too much work to get everything ready, especially for how much I paid for the whole thing. SotW looks so much more complete and the text is really enjoyable to read/listen to for all of us.  I’ve started a pinterest board for all the great ideas I’m coming across too, so check it out here.

 

• Math: Math U See Beta. We’ll be sticking with Math-U-See for the long run unless it is stops working for us. I’ll be interested to see if it works for Nate too, but it works just fine for Kahlen, yay! Here’s a few pins about math too.

 

• Spelling/Reading: All About Spelling 3 / All About Reading 3 . We’re only about halfway through AAS /AAR 2, which we started mid-year last year and have been steadily plugging along all summer. I made a nice little spreadsheet for myself that correlates the lessons from AAS 2 and AAR 2 because a lot of the teaching is either exactly or very close to the same. This has saved me time because I’m not repeat teaching everything, yay! If you are currently using AAS 2 & AAR 2, and would like my spreadsheet, please email me as I don’t want to impinge on proprietary information by posting it :) Since AAR 3 isn’t scheduled to come out until late this year, we’re not really in a hurry to finish level 2.

 

• Science: Apologia Astronomy with Junior Notebooking Journal. We have really loved going through Human Anatomy and Physiology and are looking forward to another year of study. I think Nate will be joining us more with this one too, because of his interest and his age. No notebook for him, though, that’s just too much! More pinterest love here.

 

• Language Arts: First Language Lessons 2 / Writing with Ease 2 Workbook. We are super close to finishing First Language Lessons 1, and we’re just going to roll right into the next book. I’ll be interested to see how WWE goes, I think she’s going to really like it…most days. She wants to be an author/illustrator when she grows up, so I’ll be reminding her of that when we have to do writing exercises :-)

 

• The Fun Stuff: Draw Write Now / ARTistic Pursuits / Handwriting without Tears. I like Draw Write Now because I can easily just tell her to do a page, and she does. It’s good practice for all kinds of things: drawing, writing, following step-by-step instructions, completing an assignment independently. She’s worked through almost two of the books already. I have her go through them in a chronological manner, but you really could do the pictures however you want. Also, Carissa over at 1+1+1=1 has started making some great printables to go with these books if you’re thinking of using them for a younger student or a reluctant writer. For Art, we’re working through the ARTistic Pursuits early elementary books. We’re still in book 1, but when we that, then we'll just move on to the second book. As for handwriting, we’re still working through the Handwriting Without Tears books because she requests them, yay! Also another good thing she can do independently. This is also an add-on thing and not something that I’m really stuck on her completing.

 

• Enrichment: After thinking about it and praying about it, we’ve decided to enroll Kahlen in the LEAP program through the local school district. She’ll be going to school once a week for a full day. She gets to take cooking, puppeting, Spanish, PE, artistic design, and a book club. She’s very excited! I’ll be glad to have a day with just the boys, but I’ll miss her.

 

Pre-Kindergarten

• Primary Curriculum: My Father’s World Kindergarten – God’s Creation from A to Z. While I am not into over-schooling your young children AND I realize this is a kindergarten curriculum, I still feel like this will be a good match. We’ll be doing this the “lite” way, not doing every single thing. I chose this curriculum because I’ve heard good things about it as far as having it all laid out for me, which is just what I wanted! It incorporates all the areas that I wanted to have him “study” anyway, such as letter formation, letter sounds, sight words, math, fun projects, and character traits/key truths from the Bible as appropriate to this age. I got a used copy of the first edition teacher’s manual, but it isn’t as polished as the current version, so I found some great resources and put them on, you guessed it, pinterest!
• Handwriting: I am going to start going through Handwriting Without Tears’ My First School Book with him, but we’re going to go at his pace, which I have no idea what that will be yet. I want him to start taking an interest in writing, but not hate it, so we’ll just play it by ear.
• Fun Stuff: We’ll keep doing busy bags and possibly add in some All By Myself boxes or some sensory bin stuff.

Tiny Tot School

Going to try and mostly do school while Mr. Baby-Pants is napping, but I don’t know how long his morning nap will last. So when needed, I’m hoping that he will be entertained by sensory bins, play dough, and maybe a few other ideas from my tiny tot school board. I’m also trying to be better about reading to him. It’s hard with the third one! I used to read to Kahlen every time I put her down to sleep, but with Shane, I sing him a song because it’s faster, oops.

 

Whew! That’s what I have so far. I’m hoping it all works out, at least mostly. What are your plans for this year? Come link up with me and read what others are doing here.

See you next week for School Room Week! And stay tuned for this month’s menu plan also.

~S

Wordless Wednesday–Kahlen’s New Skates

Since Daddy has started speed skating again, Kahlen wants to also. We made a deal with her that if she stopped biting her nails, we’d buy her a pair of inline skates.

 

They went to the skating rink tonight too, which was a good thing because she couldn’t go fast enough in the house :-)

~S

Linking up at:

Wordless Wednesday - Drive In!

We're currently waiting for Monsters University to start at the drive in theater, which is conveniently located 1/2 a mile from our house. In fact, Tim finished up cleaning the kitchen and walked over to join us.  This counts as our date night this week because our babysitter is watching Shane :)

Menu Plan Monday–July

Wait, it’s July already?!? What happened to June? Seriously. We were so busy that I don’t even know what we all did. VBS, Nate’s fourth birthday, and a ton of hot days in between, and I didn’t really stick to the plan for June. Oh well, sometimes menu planning is just like that, right? Even the best laid plans can go awry.

The new recipes that we did try:

• Ranch Chicken Sandwiches: tasty and delicious. The husband did not like the sauce, but I did. He has a thing against mayo.
• Slow Cooker Enchiladas: Hubby loved this one, I didn’t really care for it. BUT I’ll probably be making it again since he liked it and it was fairly simple. I need to figure out a way to make it bigger though, because he would have eaten the leftovers for a week if there had been enough to do that!
• Chili & Cornbread Waffles: Another hit. The kids loved the cornbread waffles, and we enjoyed the whole meal. They were more filling than they looked, though, and next time I’ll remember that we each only need 1/2 a waffle for dinner.
• Chicken Marsala: easy and yummy. Although, the leftovers did not get eaten up, so it will be awhile before I make it again. We both say that we like mushrooms, but I think we’re just trying to convince ourselves that that’s true.
• Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings: Made this, but totally rewrote the recipe first. I didn’t really realize how much of a food snot I am until I started looking at this recipe and  thought “I can make this way better if I make everything from scratch instead of cans”. And I was right, I might add, it was much tastier and not that much more work (IMO. You might think otherwise!)

Okay, here’s what we’re having this month:

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
	1 *Cashew Chicken	2 *Meal through BzzAgent	3 Homemade Sub Sandwiches	4 BBQ for holiday!	5 You’re On Your Own (YOYO)	6 Mac’n’Cheese hubby style
7 Baked Pasta Casserole	8 *Crispy Chicken Rollups	9 *Cuban Subs	10 *Teriyaki Crockpot Chicken	11 Pierogies	12 YOYO	13 Green Beans, Potatoes, and Chicken
14 Noodles Bolognase	15 Sweet & Sour Citrus Chicken	16 *Cream Cheese Chicken	17 Enchiladas	18 Italian Meatballs	19 YOYO	20 Pizza
21 Guiltless Chicken Alfredo	22 Tacos	23 *Ranch Cheddar Burgers	24 Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken	25 Red Beans, Rice, and Sausage	26 YOYO	27 Meatloaf Muffins
28 Dinner at Dad’s	29 Orange Chicken Stir-Fry	30 *Taco Chicken Bowls	31 Crockpot Chicken Parmesan	1 Chicken Lemon Soup with Orzo	2 YOYO	3 Scrambled Eggs & Pancakes

* denotes a new recipe

Trying to keep things a bit simpler this month, we’ll see how it goes! What are you making this week/month?

~S

Mosaic Review–Classical Historian Ancient History Go Fish

 

A few weeks ago, we received this awesome Go Fish game. What makes it different you ask? Let me tell you!

 

This one deck of 50 cards with the answer key teaches the following skills through four fun games: Basic historical facts, Chronology, Geography, Association, and Social Skills required to follow the rules and play games with others.

Four Games in One:
A. Go Fish
B. Collect the Cards
C. Chronology
D. Continents

While it would have been nice to have had this game throughout the year for our study of Ancient History, it is great to have it now too. When we played, it was a great review of the things that we learned all year long.

The cards are beautifully done. Each card features a picture of the object as well as the title, and they’re color-coded to make matching them that much easier.

I had Kahlen (who is 6) play by herself and Nate (who is 4) and I were a team. He helped me with the numbers while I held them, so it was a great family game. Kahlen won the first time we played, and immediately wanted to know if we could play again. We only were able to play the Go Fish way because of the age and skill levels of my kids, but the other ways to play look really fun too, and I’ll be glad in four years when we come back to Ancient History that we’ll have this resource.

Here’s a synopsis of the four ways to play:

Go Fish

Players try to collect all four-of-a-kind cards from the following categories. The player who captures most sets wins.

Collect the Cards

Players use historical facts (hints) to try and guess the image on the card. If a player guesses correctly, he wins the card.

Chronology

Following the Answer Key instructions, shuffle the cards necessary for the chronology game. When one player signals, the other player assembles all cards in chronological order, as fast as he can. The fastest time wins!

Geography

Place the Continents cards at the top of the playing field. Shuffle the other cards. When one player signals, the other player assembles all cards under the correct continent, as fast as he can. The fastest time wins! Answer key provided.

This game was a big hit, and I’m considering buying the Medieval History Go Fish game for next year, since we’ll be studying that portion of history next!

You can go here to read other reviews, both of this game and of other products. Or you can go here to purchase this and other products. The Go Fish games retail for just $11.95!

~S

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book through Mosaic Reviews. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Some links may be affiliate links, which I may receive a small compensation from in connection with their affiliate program.