Weekly Recap: 1/27/20 - 1/31/20

This week, we stayed in the United States for geography! We had a blast learning about our country. {It was hard to condense it into one week, but I decided to focus on basic facts, patriotic symbols, and a few major events. I'm planning to do a year of American history next, so I didn't want to dive too deep this year.} We did some mapping and labeling activities, learned about the flag and the seal, designed our own seal, read in our "Children Just Like Me" book and completed the accompanying worksheet, made our postcards, and more.

We read some great books to go along with our study. I found some of these in the Target dollar spot several years ago!

In science, we learned about reptiles. We talked about each of the four major groups of reptiles: snakes, lizards, alligators and crocodiles, and turtles. I make our worksheets for each week because I can never find just what I'm looking for, although I do pull from Super Teacher Worksheets quite a bit.

Titus learned about synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms this week. He learned to tell time to the five minutes and how to measure in inches and centimeters. He had several review math worksheets this week. He's reading "Nate the Great" and completing some worksheets I made for him.

Silas had a review week in math and reviewed multiplication and division facts, comparing equations, and place value. He learned about adjectives and articles in language arts. He is reading "Because of Winn Dixie" and completing a book unit from Super Teacher Worksheets.

Mercie learned how to multiply and divide decimals and convert fractions to decimals in math. She completed a week in Learning Language Arts Through Literature and learned about irony. She wrote a paragraph comparing roller coaster riding to swinging in the park on a spring day. It was cute! She's also reading "Ruby Starling". I let her choose the book this time, because she has read several books I chose for her without complaining.

Mercie also got braces on Wednesday! She'll have them for 18-20 months. She is still getting used to how they feel and eating with them.

Friday we had our homeschool group and the kids gave their presentations. They did a great job! Mercie gave hers on the four horseman of the apocalypse and Silas did his on the temptations of Jesus. Some of the other kids did theirs on Samson, Esther, Deborah, Noah's Ark, and Hands in the Bible.

We also played some "minute to win it" games and had a blast. In one game, the kids had to stack as many conversation hearts as they could in one minute. It's much harder than it sounds! Our winner was Mercie with 12 hearts, but some could only stack 4 or 5.

 

 

 

We also played Cupid's Arrows, where they had to blow Q-tips through a straw into a bucket. It was also harder than it looked, but they had a blast playing it.

 

And then they had to move conversation hearts from one end of the table to the other end by sucking them up with a straw!

Also, I got invited to join the School House Review Crew again! I am so excited about this amazing opportunity and can't wait to start reviewing products.

How was your week? Linking up with

How to Make a Llama Valentine Box!

Our homeschool group is having a Valentine party in a few weeks. The kids are supposed to make a Valentine box to put their valentine cards in. There is also a contest for the Valentine boxes.

 

Mercie decided she wanted to make a llama box. I took pictures of the process, which was very easy, and wanted to share it!

Here are the supplies we used. The only change we made was this: we didn't use the foam ball for the head. We used a balloon instead! It had a better head shape for the llama.

 

You will need:

an empty tissue box

an empty Pringles can (the small stack)

two toilet paper rolls or one paper towel roll

a balloon

a LOT of cotton balls

bright pom-poms (large size)

googly eyes

hot glue gun and lots of glue sticks

white felt (not pictured)

 

STEP ONE:

 

Turn your box over and glue one row of cotton balls on each end (see picture). This will make sure you glue the legs on straight.

 

 

 

STEP TWO:

Cut the toilet paper rolls in half so you have four "legs" for your llama. Glue them on the insides of your first rows of cotton balls (see picture below).

 

 

STEP THREE:

Continue gluing cotton balls on the bottom of your box and on the "legs" on your llama.

 

 

STEP FOUR:

Turn your box over and glue cotton balls all over the sides and top of your llama. Leave the hole in the box open so your friends can slide valentine cards inside!

 

 

STEP FIVE:

Glue the Pringles can on the top of your box for the neck.

 

 

STEP SIX:

Glue cotton ball all over the Pringles can.

 

 

STEP SEVEN:

Blow up your balloon to a good size for the head. Glue cotton balls all over the balloon. (The hot glue gun worked just fine for us. Mercie was afraid it would pop the balloon, but it did not!)

 

 

 

STEP EIGHT:

 Glue the googly eyes to your llama head. Mercie also glued a small pink pom-pom for a nose. We glued right on top of the cotton balls.

 

 

 

STEP NINE:

Cut ears out of white felt. Mercie colored in the pink part of the ears. Glue to your llama. Glue colored pom-poms on the sides of your llama. 

 

 

 

ENJOY YOUR LLAMA VALENTINE BOX!

 

Reading Through the Alphabet Link Up: B

This is the second week of Reading Through the Alphabet Challenge! This week's letter is B. As you know, I'm doing picture books for this challenge, but you are free to link up any books that begin with B! I'm trying to use books from our shelves, but I may get a book or two from the library sometimes.

The first book we read this week is "Big Red Barn" by Margaret Wise Brown. Zeke loves this book! There are lots of farm animals and opportunities for counting, animal recognition and sounds, and rhyming practice.

The next two books we read are by Frank Asch, who is one of our favorite authors! "Bear Shadow" is the cutest story about a bear who is trying to get rid of his shadow. He tries to bury his shadow and hammer it to the ground, only to be dismayed that it keeps coming back! This is a fun book to read, and you can even tie in some science with it and learn about shadows and the sun!

"Baby Bird's First Nest" is about a baby bird that falls out of her mommy's nest and decides to build her own nest. When she is in danger, she takes frog's advice and hops back to her mommy's nest. It's a sweet little book to read aloud with cute illustrations.

I would love for you to link up with me!





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Homeschooling with a Toddler

 

I've been homeschooling for about 12 years. I began when my oldest, Mikaela, was in preschool. She is now a junior in high school at our public school! Although my two oldest are in public school, I have homeschooled every year since the year I first began. I have had babies or toddlers (or both!) for most of those years. Now I have a 6th, 4th, and 2nd grader and a 14-month old.

It's not easy!

Zeke has started climbing...which means he climbs on our table anytime we are sitting at it and sometimes when we aren't. I'm constantly grabbing him and pulling him off of the table or calling for one of the other kids to get him off! He wants to grab pencils and markers from our caddy and throw them off the table all over the floor. He wants to throw everything into the garbage can and then take things out of the garbage can. He decides to throw fits when I read aloud and cry when I'm trying to explain a math problem. He loves to color and draw all over the kid's worksheets instead of on the paper I give to him.

He is a handful. A cute handful, but a handful indeed.

I'm going to list a few of my tips for homeschooling with babies and toddlers, but I'm going to promise you they won't work all the time. Some days there is nothing you can do but make it through the day!

TIP #1 - SNACKS
I usually put Zeke in his booster seat with a handful of Cheerios or some breakfast. While he is corralled and quiet, I try to read our Bible lesson for the day. Some days, he will sit quietly for a while, but other days it's short-lived. Throughout the morning, I will give him a cracker or his snack cup when I need a few moments of quiet.

TIP #2 - FORBIDDEN TOYS
I don't really mean forbidden. I'm talking about toys your toddler doesn't get to play with very often. For Zeke, that is usually his big brother's trucks, tractors, and farm animals. If he's getting squirrelly, I'll pull out some of those toys and just set them down casually. He'll take the bait and play quietly for a good bit of time. Sometimes I'll give him the Magformers or bucket of crayons - things he doesn't have in his reach normally.

TIP #3 - ONE-ON-ONE TIME
I can usually tell when Zeke needs some one-on-one time with me. I'll get his puzzle or his shape sorter and give him a good five to ten minutes of my attention, usually while the big kids are finishing up a worksheet or project. That focused time gives him a much-needed boost. Sometimes we will sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider or read one of his favorite books, sometimes we will do some of his "school" work (ABC Jesus Loves Me), and sometimes we will just snuggle and give hugs and kisses. It doesn't matter what we do, it's just the attention and time spent that helps. When I take my attention off of him again, he is normally happy to entertain himself for a few minutes. I usually give him several of these chunks each hour!

TIP #4 - BOOKS
Zeke absolutely loves to read. He already has quite the collection of board books! He even has his favorites already - Moo, Baa, La La La and The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton and all of his "lift-the-flap" books (although I will admit some of his lift-the-flap books are flapless now!). I will put him in my lap or beside me on the couch with a few board books while I am reading or teaching or helping one of the kids with their independent work. Most of the time, he will flip through his books quietly for several minutes until he wants me to read to him.

TIP #5 - NAPTIME
I'll be honest - I don't do a lot of school during Zeke's nap. I usually hit the housework during that time - laundry, cleaning the kitchen, tidying up from our school work, sweeping, mopping, dusting, and cooking lunch. He usually takes a nap around 10:30 or 11:00. I aim to have our together school done by then (Bible, geography, and science) so I can get him to sleep while the kids begin on their independent work or maybe finish up an art project. When he is asleep, I will help Titus with his language arts and math (which takes maybe 20 minutes) and then start cleaning up and cooking. However, some people like to save all school work for naptime! Zeke doesn't take enough naps for that to work here. He takes one good mid-morning nap and sometimes an afternoon catnap.

We do most of our schoolwork before lunchtime, so I'm only having to juggle teaching with a toddler for a few hours each day. The rest of the day I can give him lots of attention and his siblings give him plenty of attention, too! If you have any more tips for homeschooling with a toddler, leave me a comment! I'm always looking for more tricks to put in my bag!