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 Eight: Home Is Where You School

“But we are all fortunate in one way or another. The task for most of us is to identify in what way that is, would you not agree?”

~The Importance of Being Seven (2012)

Oh what a wondrous time is was! Traveling, seeing friends and family, being back on our home land! And now, it's back to work! Still fun work...but work, none the less. :) Let me tell you a small tale of our travels and where we are now. 

Thank goodness for cousins! We spent our last days at home with family. The best part was watching these two get some quality time. I hope they have a special bond that lasts a lifetime. 

 After we said goodbye to our family, we made our way East. Right at the halfway point, we stopped at our good friends' house. They have three boys so our sidekick fit right in. He didn't want to leave his "brothers" that's for sure!

After all that fun, we finally made it to our new home. The tree was one of the first things up. We may have been living amongst boxes, but we were going to have some holiday spirit!  

This was our first Christmas where he started to get the idea of Santa. He was so excited to see his presents Christmas morning and simultaneously mad that Santa ate the cookies. I still count it as a win. :)

After the holidays, my growing sidekick started a half-day pre-k program. He loves our homeschooling but he wanted to play with friends, as well. So, I signed him up and off he went! He loves it, of course. 

As for our homeschooling, I have definitely cut back. There just aren't that many hours in a day to do everything that I really want to. But, we get some good times in and we're still pushing forward, so that's what matters.

Up first, snowflakes! He picked his black paper..don't judge! ;) This was some good cutting practice that we hadn't done in a while. 

 Marshmallow Math! My inspiration came from here. Still love my Pinterest ideas! 

Found this fun little game on Amazon. Here's the link: Amazon Penguin Pile-Up. Whether we play together or he plays alone, he really likes it. 

We made snow slime! He loved the idea of making said slime, but when it came to touching it... not so much! Ha! The idea came from Growing a Jeweled Rose.  

For some fine motor work, I got these tweezers from Amazon. They are great for little hands! 

One of things I did, while preparing to start schooling again, was make these busy boxes. One of the best things I ever did. I have seen different posts around the Internet about similar things but, these are my own. We have 5 boxes. He can choose one at any time, pick an activity in the box, and then he's good to go! They are all activities that he can do on his own. {We all need a little alone time, right?} In one box we have, of cutting, lacing, and a bowl of rice for searching with cups or tweezers. Box two has wooden toys (train set and a castle building set). Box three is full of art supplies (painting, color books, colors and papers galore). Box four is puzzles of all sizes and difficulty. Finally, box five has matching games, number cards and other memory activities. 

I think we're off to a good start! See you back soon with more of our adventure!

Lesson Seventeen: Pushing Restart

Hi there! We've been a little MIA but, with good reason! Other than the holidays, we have been moving into our new home. New state, new friends, new routines, new adventure.

We're {mostly} unpacked now and starting to settle in. The new house is nice. We're renting but we have more space than we thought we were. I've been so happy to use my 110v (American) appliances, to be able hang things on the walls with ease, and the comforts of home that we didn't even realized we missed. A full sized washer and dryer, a 2-car garage, a full sized oven, closets, carpet. It's the little things, really. My heart still aches for Italy. I miss many things about Europe but, being "home" is good too.

SO! With the new year {Hello 2015!}, we are starting a few new things. First of all, my little sidekick is starting SCHOOL! Half day Pre-K and he is very excited! We count our days in "sleeps" and every morning, I get the current countdown on how many sleeps are left until school starts ("One more sleep until school, Mommy!", was our conversation over breakfast). I'm excited for him, as well (Mommy nerves will settle within the week, I'm sure). I still plan on keeping up (restarting) our homeschooling plans, as well. I have been working on themes and projects. I have scaled back a little more with just a craft, math project, science project, and a writing project to get us through our weeks. The writing will, most likely, be our journaling. I really need to get our printer hooked up (who knows where the movers packed that cord?!), so I can use all the great resources I have found all over the internet. 

Anyway, just wanted to write a quick note so you know we didn't disappear again. :) Hopefully, I'll have a fun update by the end of the week about our first week of school and any other shenanigans. 

See you soon!

~Mandy

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!