Year Three: Week Five: Or So They Say

Look up, laugh loud, talk big, keep the colour in your cheek and the fire in your eye, adorn your person, maintain your health, your beauty, and your animal spirits, and you will pass for a fine man. 

"On The Conduct of Life" (1822) ~ William Hazlitt

Here is a quick recap of our days from around Thanksgiving until Christmastime. If you know me, then you know I could post MANY more pictures but here is enough to get by so I can catch you up on our days in the New Year. Enjoy!

 There is a wonderful place not too far from our home called Maymont. It is 100 acres that was donated to the people of Richmond by a couple, the Dooley's, who lived there until 1925. They have an interesting history and we love to explore the area. If you ever in the area, it is definitely a place to go in RVA. Click the link above to learn more; it is truly fascinating and great place to homeschool! 

Anyway! This is my sidekick, teaching fish about themselves. They also have turtles, otters, and environmental areas to learn about in the Nature Center. 

 Cousins! For Thanksgiving our cousin friends drove halfway across the country to spend time with us! It was wonderful! 

Since we are both homeschooling families, we did manage to wrangle the kids for a couple of lessons. Although, we pretty much just explored and let them play together. :)

These are their Turkey Feather Names! I can't find or remember where this one came from, there are many variations all over Pinterest but as I have none of them saved myself, we will just call this an original creation. 

 This was also a fun one! We worked in two holidays because...why not? The original idea came from HERE but I up'ed the ante a bit and had the kids work out simple math problems instead of just punching numbers. They did great! 

 After family left, it was time to prep for our travel days! We were about to spend a huge amount of time in a car so I wanted to give my sidekick some new things to amuse him. First up, an i-spy bottle! I had him pick out 5 objects, we used our seemingly endless supply of colored rice (made YEARS ago!), and a empty peanut butter container that I just KNEW I would put to use some day. :)

It worked out wonderfully and is still played with around the house. 

 For some reason, I don't have an after picture of this one. And if I were to take the time to take one and get it on here...well, you wouldn't be reading this now. Ha! I drew some mirroring projects (above), empty candy canes, and a blank tree for him to fill in during those slow times during our travels. It wasn't much but, it was enough to pass the time when needed. 

 Christmas at home was a stressful but happy time. Mr. Sidekick received many gifts and had a great time!

 After we got back home, it was back to work! We picked up with our writing and schooling in general to get back in the swing of things. 

 We also made cookies. Sidekick says he wants to be a cooker (i.e. chef) when he's 7 because then he will be able to open lids. Gotta love a child's thinking process!

 We also got some snow, which means we had hot chocolate! Also, we played Go Fish, puzzles, and every game in our closet while we were stuck inside. :)

Okay guys! There's a quick glimpse of the past few months. Blink and it's gone! 

Year Three: Week Three: OH! Here We Are!

"You can’t just walk out on the results of your own hankerings"

~Franny & Zooey by JD Salinger

So, it's the last day of November and this post should have been done by Halloween. However, life has happened. Apparently enough life has happened that I just have not been able to convince myself to sit at the computer and catch up on this! I'm so sorry! Here you go anyway! 

A few months ago, I signed Sidekick up for Little Passports. It's fantastic and we love it. He has already learned his countries, musical instruments from around the world, and more. Plus, he loves getting mail with his name on it every month. It's hard (for an adult) to wait a month to use these with our schooling but, we both love it. 

(Which we do more regularly than my blogging!) 

This was a fun one. After we received our new world map and with his Mimi coming for a visit we began talking about our relation to the world. I found this on Pinterest, although I believe it was for the layers of the Earth.

You can always search my Homeschool boards on my Pinterest if you need some ideas! 

 

We started with Sidekick drawing himself on the smallest circle. Then his neighborhood, his city, his (current) state, and then our country. He's getting really good at looking at a shape or picture and drawing his own version. I love it. 

We still love our workbooks for lazy homeschool days! They are great for cuddling and still working on his writing and math skills.

 Oh soccer. We had such a great soccer season! He made new friends and had a fantastic coach that worked with him and he learned so much! We can not wait to play again in the Spring. 

 Children's Museum shenanigans. We had a Mommy/Baby date and, obviously, we had a great day.

I used these umbrella and rain drops for something last year, don't ask me what. This year, we used them to work on less than/more than/equal to. This kid and his numbers! He loves math! He's got this down but I still work it in to our schooling days.  

 Sidekick wanted to make a spaceship. So here it is. His own design, his own creation, his own everything. I was happy to let him create as he wanted while I made dinner. 

So there you have it! I have much more to show you and I will this coming week! Promise, promise! Check back soon!

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 Three: Week One: We Are Back At It Again!

I’m trying to do the best I can. I’m not concerned with tomorrow, but with what goes on today.

-Mark Spitz

Hello there! After a few months off, I have been able to prepare myself for another year of homeschooling my sidekick. I was going to take the year off, honestly. We had him in a part-day preschool, but for the cost vs. what they were teaching him, it was more like glorified daycare. While he loved going to school, I knew I could progress his learning more at home. So we joined a gym with a great kids program and signed him up for soccer. He still gets interactions and play time with kids his own age, I get to work out (yes, I'm still trying to be a runner), and we get to learn in the comfort of our home (and pj's), together. 

Take a peek into our new year!

We don't have a working printer at the moment. Which forces me to be a little creative with some of the activities I have planned. Case and point, drawing lines for him to work on his handwriting. He wrote the whole alphabet on his own. The hardest part was letting him do it all on his own but, I want a base reference for how he progresses throughout our school year. Now that he's written them all out, I can help him become more confident in his writing and lend a helping hand until the motions become comfortable.

He's just about to outgrow this table! Ugh! I love this table and chair set. It's perfect for him to eat, play, and have some good independent time. When we aren't using it for school, I keep colors, paper, color books and stickers so he can play whenever he wants or when we need some quiet time. :)

We are adding geography this year! I signed him up for Little Passports, where he will get a box every month and learn about a different country. We just received our first box and he's already reciting all the countries. He's also insistent on our return to Europe, which breaks my heart because I would LOVE to go back too.

Anyway! I found a great pack of cards with the 50 states and a state map for him to color as we learn about the country that we currently live in.

Week one's theme is always "All About Me" and reviewing what he knows. Again, no printer so I am without an adorable "All About Me" worksheet like those I have pinned on my Homeschooling Pinterest board. Sigh. Luckily, he doesn't really care and I am happy enough to use his journal. 

My four year-old sidekick loves numbers. Which has turned into a love for math. I do hope this love sticks around because his dad and I are not math lovers. He solved all these problems (using my fingers) on his own. Some of which, did not require finger counting... he's a little scary sometimes with the information he knows and retains.

 Traveling. While it makes our schooling hard, it is always worth it. We got time with our best friends so I repeat: always worth it. We spent one morning at a science museum where the boys got to pan for jewels and dig for fossils. They even got to keep their finds! It was a good day.

Our reason for this particular adventure was for my first half marathon! 2 hours and 21 minutes later, I sure felt like I earned this medal. I was lucky enough to have had a great friend to run with and her wonderful mother to care for my sidekick. 

Those three boys above can cause some trouble, especially stuck spending a morning in a hotel room, but Nana handled them lovingly and it was one less thing to worry about as we ran for what felt like forever. 

Traveling with him is so much fun! He is the BEST travel buddy. Seriously, I would take him anywhere. Planes, trains, automobiles, any adventure!

I found a Goldfish card pack (same day as the States card pack. It was a good shopping day.) and taught him to play during our flights. While it was hard to not cheat (as you can tell from the picture above!), learning a new game and playing together made the flight even more enjoyable. 

So, there's our first week! Well, technically our first two weeks but, c'est la vie. I still have much to share so check back 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!