Week 4.2: Love and a little bit of snot

Oh the things you can find
If you don’t stay behind!

On Beyond Zebra! (1955)

-Dr. Seuss

 

So, we ended up getting sick again! Blech! Lots of coughing, sneezing, snotty noses, and long nights. We're finally on the downhill of it all, thank goodness! Finally getting out of the house again and getting things back in order is why this week's post is so late. We're still working on a good schedule; haven't quite found one yet.

 

Here's what our days were like, sickness and all! Enjoy:

 

 

 

 Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest. We found, yet another, fun project there. O is for owl. Fun!

 

 This is from our workbook. Since we're still working on the sounds of letters, I gave him some visuals by writing out the words for him to find the O words. Then, we put our O cereal (one cereal on, eat five) on the O words. He did great!

 

 This is his letter tracing. All by himself! I am one proud momma that he's picking up on this so well!

 

 

 O is for Orange! So we painted on orange paper, with orange paint, with...an ORANGE! :)

 

 I took a paper towel roll, cut it, and made shapes for him to paint with. Circle (didn't really have to make that one), square, and heart. Just gave the kid some paint and let him go!

 

 THE SUN CAME OUT! We have had weeks of rain, threats of floods, lots of flooding in other areas, and no sun. So, we immediately went to the park when the sun made its appearance for one day, last week.

 

 We got some handy scoopers in the mail. Here is what they look like. They are awesome! I poured some of our colored rice into a bowl and we went digging for dinosaurs! We played with this for a good 20 minutes (which is like an hour in toddler time!). So much fun! I highly recommend them for some good motor skill practice.

 

 

 Since we had already completed a "yellow yarn" project earlier in our school year, I put a new twist on it. This was a little difficult for him to grasp, and I did finish it for him in the end (no attention span, that day). The wrapping of the yarn just didn't hold his attention nor could he quite get the hang of it without getting frustrated. Good try all around though.

 

 

 We also got paint dotters! Look at them here. I loved these as a kid (playing Bingo with my Granny) so I wanted my sidekick to have the same fun! I made a letter hunt for him and a shape hunt the next day. He's also just painted with them and seems to enjoy them as much as I did.

 

One of our last projects for the week was our Valentine. We have the sweetest little friend named Eva and (on their good days) the kids just LOVE each other. Some days, not so much, but their mommies conspired to make them Valentine sweethearts anyway. :) The poem reads:

 

I like the way you call me name

And the way you play

 

I like the way you miss me

And boss me like you're "Miss Thang"

 

I like how you share your food

And the way you wear your hair

 

I like how you blow me kisses

And how together, we're a perfect pair

 

I like the way you tell me, "no"

Even though I don't always listen

 

I like the way you're small to me,

But always my biggest best friend.

 

Yes, I hit an all-time high in the cornball of it all. But I couldn't help myself! If you can name the movie that my inspiration came from, I'll give you an Internet high-five. :)

 

I hope we made you smile this week.

We sure did have lots of fun! See you soon!

Week 3.2: Rain, Rain, Won't Go Away

Carl: Let’s play “Who Can Be Quiet The Longest.”
Russell: Cool! My mom loves that game!

-Up

 

Not a very exciting week here. There has been a lot of rain here lately so our moods have been in full lazy mode. What we did was really fun but neither of us were really motivated to do much other than play with toys, read books, and watch movies. We did our letter tracing and workbook projects, as well. He's getting really good! I'll post an update about them next week.

 

Here's some of fun things we did accomplish this week:

 

 

 We did some imaginative play. We had some leftover scraps of paper out and we ended up making all kinds of things with them. This was a barn, for the pigs (aka: markers). We also made a house for Mommy, and a boat. It was fun to sit back and watch him come up with these things!

 

 

 He picked the letter R this week. So, off to Pinterest I went and found us a rocket ship (he calls it rocket space. Haha!) to make. My sidekick took it one step further by noticing the pattern in the colors of the paper and telling me the shapes as we glued them on (including the trapezoid, little smartie!). You can also see where I had dotted his name for him to trace. He did fantastic!

 

Overall, still a good week. Daddy came home over the weekend so we went out to lunch. A cookie was a must-have.

 

Our cookie routine goes like this:

S: May I have moneys, Mommy?

M: Of course! (hands him a dollar)

S: (to the cashier) One cookie, please. With chips and chocolate! (sometimes referred as a "black cookie" although I don't know why other than the chips are black. Silly kid.)

Then the money is given and a cookie is handed in return. He promptly thanks (half the time in Italian) the cashier, waves, and off we go to the seat of his choosing. It's a fun part of our day out.

 

We have more fun things planned and already done this coming week!

Thanks for stopping by and see you again soon!

Week 2.2: Experiments and Sticky Fingers

“Don’t give up! I believe in you all.
A person’s a person, no matter how small!
And you very small persons will not have to die
If you make yourselves heard! So come on, now, and TRY!”

Horton Hears a Who! (1954)

 -Dr. Seuss

 

 

Hello! We had a great week! We tried some new things, all with smashing successes!

 

Take a look:

 

 "W" is for worm. This was fun because we also talked about the order of sky, grass, and dirt. Our coloring skills need some more work {obviously}. :)

 

 

 We froze colored ice cubes and painted with them! Chilly fun!

 

 

 We also took the ice cubes and watched them melt in some oil. When they started to melt and separate, my little sidekick exclaimed that the "colors made bubbles!".

 

 Our finished ice painting.

 

 "H" is for house. I asked him to draw our family....again, we need to work on our coloring. Haha!

 

 

 

 

 This was super fun! I mixed water and food coloring with baking soda. While the paint was still wet, we took a dropper filled with vinegar over it and watched them fizz and bubble up. He was so surprised that I'm glad the paper finally dried!

 

"Z" is for zebra. Simple craft with happy results.

 

Where our ideas came from this week:

Pinterest for our zebra, house, and worm.

Two different Pinterest ideas from familylicious.com and unpretentiousteacher.com came together for our painting with ice and our ice in oil experiments.

**Feel free to search my Homeschooling board on Pinterest. Username: mandycarol**

 

Enjoy your week!

Week 1.2: New Ideas, New Fun!

"Occasionally, in times of worry, I’ve longed to be stylish, but on second thoughts I say no – just let me be myself – and express severe, rough, yet true things with rough workmanship."

-Vincent Van Gogh

 

 

Well, it only took me a week to write my normal two blogs. Sheesh! But we are working on a new schedule and it's been an adjustment of time, for this momma. I'm working on it and I will strive to get better!

 

Anyway! Happy New Year! It's 2014! Let me show you how we started our new schooling year!

 

 

 Snow Painting! I got the recipe from Growing A Jeweled Rose. It's simply equal parts glue and white shaving cream. Lots of fun!

 

 

 I set up an invitation to trace shapes on our chalkboard. We talked about the different shapes, how many sides each has, and then I helped him go around each shape once before trying on his own.

 

 Over Christmas break, I tired to think of new ways to school with my sidekick. I knew our schedule was going to become a little busier so, adjustments to {everything} was going to have to happen. I thought of this! I wrote all the letters on popsicle sticks and on our schooling days, I let him pick a letter before breakfast. Then I will find a fun project and TA-DA! School Day Fun!

 

{sidenote: I wanted to start over on the letters because he enjoys these projects so much and they are great way to jumpstart our learning each day.}

 

 

 

 The first letter he picked was X. I scoured Pinterest and found this easy project from several sites. It was an easy concept so I just looked at the pictures {Smart mommy moment, right?}. We not only got to "play" our xylophone {singing was involved, as well}, but we got to work on sorting large to small.

 

 

 I found these workbooks at our PX. While, I'm not a fan of these, usually, the sidekick and I had so much fun! It is a great way for him to work on his listening and following directions. As well as, the beginning skills of writing.

 

Over break, I sat and wrote down the whole alphabet. As we pick our letters each week, we will also work on tracing and writing our letters. It's a new concept for my sidekick but I think he'll do great as the weeks go by!

 

Over all, we had a great first week back! I can't wait to get into this new routine and see him learn even more this year!

Lesson Twelve: New Year, New Plan

The more that you read,
The more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
The more places you’ll go.

Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990)

 

Happy 2014 all! Another year of adventure is upon us! Hooray!

 

Our little family spent a wonderful Christmas in Germany. We saw Christmas markets, castles, lots of snow, and even a circus on Christmas Day! It was a relaxing and good for the soul kind of vacation. I couldn't have asked for more.

 

 

Over our "break", I contemplated the direction I wanted to take to continue his schooling. We are moving this year, so our lives are bound to get a little crazy in a few months. I really wanted to keep it easy while still throwing in some new ideas for him. Also, my sweet sidekick is in a half-day preschool program three days a week. Lots of play time with new friends, social skills, listening to someone other than Mommy and Daddy, and overall happiness. He is really enjoying it. But with this addition to our schedule, I am cutting back our school days to just Tuesday and Thursday mornings since there is more of a chance of those being "home days". So again, simplicity is key.

 

I decided to keep doing letter crafts and starting over with all 26 letters. He loves these projects and I have found some fun, new ways to learn about the letters on Pinterest. We are also going to continue our letter hunts. Which is another reason for starting over on our letters. Along this line of thinking, I found some great pre-k workbooks at our PX. While I'm not usually a fan of workbook type work, I think for learning to trace his letters and numbers, it's a good start. Plus side, he loves them! So, we've added those. I've also been looking into science projects. Whether it's a new type of painting or learning how to mix colors, we've got lots of good projects coming!

 

Now. How have I decided to tackle our new schooling year? I wrote letters on 26 popsicle sticks and on our school days, I am asking him to pick a letter. He was so excited to get to choose! It's the little things that keep me going with all of this, and his excitement is a big factor. So, then I quickly look up a project for that letter, gather our supplies, and we get to work. After we finish that project, I pull out our new workbooks and work on our tracing and following directions.

 

I also want to work on telling time and responsibility with him. I've found a good clock puzzle to begin this process and also a chore chart. Now by "chores", I mean, putting his dishes in the sink, helping feed our dogs, take a bath, brush his teeth, clean up his toys. Things that he already does and are appropriate for his age. I just want him to see that there are rewards and good feelings that come with completing little things like that.

 

So, this is where the fun begins! I'm ready to get started!

Lesson Eleven: Catching Up!

Narrator: He puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. Maybe Christmas, he thought… doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps… means a little bit more!

-How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

 

Let's catch up on our missed weeks, shall we? What better way to go about it than to show you through pictures! Enjoy!

 

We hiked up a giant hill, last month, in Montecchio, Italy so see the original Romeo and Juliet castles. My little adventurer and I had a wonderful time. We picked leaves, saw some amazing views, counted stairs. Outside learning days are definitely a favorite!

 

We are working on responsibility and doing things ourselves .What a better way to work on this than making chocolate milk?

 

This was a fun project! It was a Pinterest find that we really enjoyed!

 {Here is the link for this project}

 

I don't remember where I saw the idea for this little owl. If you know, please let me know and I'll give them full credit. I know I saw it somewhere...

Anyway. It's a simple concept that he loved once he saw the finished product.

 

We worked on our sequencing too! Thanks to Team Umizoomi, we LOVE patterns! This is just example of our pattern making.

 

Another project that I know came from somewhere else! I had them all saved in my phone and then a certain little sidekick deleted all my pages. {SIGH} So, now I have zero memory on where these fun things came from. Again, if you know, please tell me!

This was a multi-step project. First, we painted the bubble wrap..

 

Then we turned it over onto our construction paper and he got to "bam" it! Always fun!

Once it dried, I cut them into "corn" shapes and had him glue it all together. Ta-da!

 

Of course, we had a noodle turkey for Thanksgiving!

 

Here's a peek at the beginnings of our Christmas. I'll post a full Christmas blog after we return from our vacation.

This is our new little felt tree. It came in a book that I read while he decorated.

 

Nothing says "Christmas in Italy" than lots of hot chocolates for the sidekick and cappuccinos for the momma! It's the little things that make our adventure here so memorable.  

 

Hope to see you back here after the new year! I have lots of new plans and ideas to show you! Merry Christmas from Italy!

Week Eleven: Weeks Go By...

"DOH!"

Homer Simpson

 

 

It's been weeks, my friends! Oh my! I was doing so good writing every week and getting our lessons done and then...BAM! We got busier doing other things, my laptop broke, and then the habit was broken. It was all downhill from there. But, here I am now! We haven't been doing as much schooling these past couple of weeks. He hasn't really wanted to and I didn't want to push him. Plus, I wanted to give us both a break and a re-energized plan for the new year. We've painted here and there, we still read, we sing songs, dance. So, we're still happily learning.

 

I had all these great thoughts about what I wanted to end with for my last blog of the year (we'll be vacationing for Christmas this year and probably won't recover until after the new year). Of course, now I can't think of anything insightful. I have spent my days loving my time with my sidekick. I know my days are numbered. Not only is he starting a part-time daycare program but all too soon, he won't even want to spend his every waking moment with me. So, I've been holding on to these days hoping to imprint them into my memories. It's a 50/50 whether that will work since I can barely remember what I ate yesterday. Surely, these memories are a little more important though. :)

 

I have struggled with time management this last month. I blame Winter. It seems to take twice as long to convince myself to get out of our warm bed only to be cold the rest of the day. Especially with my little heater curled up next to me. So, more often than not, I'm cutting out some errands only to spend an extra day out to get my to-do list done. Hopefully, I can get my act together soon. I'm getting my sidekick a responsibility chart (this one) but maybe I need to make myself one as well! He loves to help and I want him to show him that we notice and appreciate it.

 

I suppose I shouldn't sit here and ramble on, wasting all of our time. :) I hope your holiday season is wonderful and I look forward to showing you lots of new things come January! See you soon!

 

Merry Christmas from Italy!