Year Three: Week Two: Bobby the Body and Other Fun Shapes

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

~ Dr. Seuss

Catching up is hard to do! Almost a month behind with more busy days ahead but, I'm here now! Feast your eyes on the fun that I have been waiting to show you!

 One rule I gave myself for this school year was, to step back. To let go. To see how he does when I'm not hovering and not holding his hand. It's a big task. I want to guide him and see him succeed but he also needs to succeed on his own terms so, the rule is a solid one.

We haven't practiced cutting in a long while. Honestly, it was a source of frustration for me. I don't know why such a small activity irked me but, it did. So, I set these shapes out, handed my sidekick some kid scissors and simple instructions. Then I left the room. Seriously, I left the room. He quietly did as I asked and came to retrieve me once he was done. He did fantastic! Do you see that circle? Such skill! Haha, but really, I was very proud. Of both of us! 

 More journaling. We are learning to love our journal and all that it can do for us! On the left, we have a picture of Mr. Sidekick and a show of his name writing skills. He's working on his lowercase letters so they get mixed in his writings now. So cute. :)

 So, a week after I ran 13.1 miles, Sidekick and I ran a 5k. His first and yes, he loved it. We held hands for 47 minutes as we ran through 3.1 miles of colors, sparkles, and fun. He was such a good sport and immediately asked when we could do it again upon receiving his medal. He astounds me and I am so lucky to be his mom.

 Let me introduce you to Bobby the Body. I found a similar constructed man on Esty and took it upon myself to create my own instead. He was a hit! We read through our Dr. Seuss book and put the pieces back on Bobby the Body as we went. Then we practiced (by playing) with the different parts and now my little sidekick has a new trick to amuse all our family and friends by naming most of the organs in the body. :)

 While looking at Bobby the Body, I had Sidekick draw in his own interpretation of our body parts. After convincing him they couldn't all be green (his favorite color) his rendition is pretty spot on and adorable. (I love the little line connecting the lungs.)

 One of the best things about homeschooling is the comfort level. Pajamas are completely acceptable and cuddling on the couch for lessons is totally normal. 

Sidekick wanted play dough. So here he is, making his own! This is another rule for myself. Let him in the kitchen and actually participate with some of the scary stuff. Under a lot of supervision on this one, of course! 

There you have it! Another week (a month in the past) of fun and learning. I will continue to try and catch up on these posts as we continue through our school year. 

Thanks for stopping by! See you soon!

Year Two: Week Thirteen: Argh! We's Be Getting Back To School, Matey!

Okay, Minion! You were right! I was…less right!

~Megamind

Well, well, well. It has been a little over a month...again. So sorry guys! I started my Masters, Sidekick's daddy started college as well, so between all that plus our normal craziness, homeschooling got left behind. This post has been ready and waiting for over two weeks! It's taken me this long to just sit at the computer (not doing my own schoolwork) and get it ready for you. 

Take a look:

Set this out for the sidekick. He was quite curious as to what we were making. 

 We practiced his cutting skills. He's getting pretty good!

We made a BOAT! The glue wouldn't hold as planned so, tape was the stand-in. Not as pretty but it worked! 

{I later found it in the toilet because "Someone" was to anxious to wait for bath time}

 Baking soda and water mixture frozen "treasure chests". I couldn't find many things to fit into the little amount of room that the trays has available, so I just made do with some sticking out. Sidekick didn't mind. 

{{Find the idea for this project HERE!}}

 We exploded our treasure chests with vinegar, practiced color mixing and found all the treasures!

 What an adventure!

 I glued some "doubloons" to a piece of paper and hid them under a page in his journal. We had Euro, English coins, even some from Jamaica! 

{{Better representation HERE }}

Then Sidekick (tried) to color over all of them but he was not so amused with this project so he found them and I colored. No big deal, we worked together!  

When in doubt of what to do with your kid, make some cookie dough and let them have some fun! He played with these while I prepped dinner and then was more than happy to sample them for dessert! 

Remember: These ideas and many more can be found on my Pinterest page. I have scoured the internet for more than enough hours collecting pins and ideas for our homeschooling and other random ideas.

Another post is coming right up! Make sure to check it out! See you soon!

Year Two: Week Seven: Snip, Cut, Match

Absence, with all its pains, is, by this charming moment, wiped away.

~ James Thomson

How has it been almost a month? What have we been doing? What have we not been doing?? Sigh. Well, Daddy came home! Yay! A lot of our absence is because of that, and that's okay. We are all stateside now and getting ready for our next adventure. We've been busy with family and errands. It's time to get back into schooling and this is the first step! Get this done and get set up for some schooling days before Thanksgiving. 

Let's catch up on our past weeks, shall we? Have a look:

 Found these through Pinterest, here's the direct link to the website. These were fun, waaaaay back in October, just in time for Halloween. 

 Cutting practice. It had been a while but my sidekick picked it back up very well. Learning to cut can be frustrating both for the cutter and the teacher. We worked though it with only minor aggravation. :) I found a whole Cut it Out Pack from This Reading Mama but, it won't let me link it right now. Good stuff though!

 I found a new website for my schooling needs! TeachersPayTeachers.com. They have lots of freebies in lots of categories and age groups. I will be using this site for a long time.

The pig graph above is by Donna Glynn Kinderglynn and the letter tracing sheet is by Apple Bliss. There is a ton of stuff on that website. Check it out.

Sidekick chose to be Luigi for Halloween. Kid made bank in candy! It was our first real stateside Halloween (he was too little before we moved) and he loved it! He loved the running from house to house, he loved the getting of the candy, and he loved "winning" by racing little neighborhood friends to and from each house. The only downfall? He wanted to go INSIDE every house. And he did not understand why we couldn't go wandering in to stranger's houses and make ourselves comfortable. Overall though, it was a good night.

 Another holiday we celebrated was my sidekick turning FOUR! Every mom says it, and I must agree, how does time go by so fast?! My baby is turning into a little boy and, I'm sure, some time tomorrow, he'll be a man. We had a quiet family dinner, complete with ice cream and a few presents, on his actual birthday and then a party about a week later once Daddy was home. 

Instead of presents at his birthday party, we asked our guests to bring donations for our local animal shelter. Everyone was great in participating and the shelter was very happy to receive our gifts. 

I've had people ask me, "Why no gifts?". My sidekick is special. He doesn't really like or care to open presents. Also, we tend to get him plenty of toys and such throughout the year. This was so much better. It went to a good cause and we didn't offend anyone when he shunned their gift so he could continue playing with his friends.

 Downtime.

 We used our recently cut apples (that he cut himself) and worked on our math skills.

 All these pumpkin, P themed, worksheets are from here. Through Pinterest, per usual. These were great to continue our fall theme that has been present for about a month. After Thanksgiving though, it's onto Winter Wonderland and Christmas! It was easy to break these worksheets up and do a couple a day or even just one in the evening during some down time. 

There you have it! You're as caught up as I am. Now to get ready for next week and set up some travel schooling projects. Wish me luck!

See you soon!