Year Four: A Big Year Ahead + Big Changes

“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?”

-Alexander McCall Smith

Oh happy Summer! Your days are coming to an end. I will not miss the oppressing heat but, I will miss the simplicity of our days. As our new school year begins, we are (yet again) in a new home and in a new state. North Carolina has been kind so far and we are working hard to get the most out of our time here. 

First up: Our first family race! Mr. Sidekick shaved 10, yes TEN, minutes off his race time from last year. Sweet boy was hot and over it all but kept pushing to get to that finish line. He makes me so proud.

We are always finding new spots to enjoy nature and places to explore.

My little boy is on his way to karate master! Oh, it'll take a while, hahaha. I'm excited to watch him learn and grow with this new opportunity. 

Yep, this momma is 32. My boys made me this cake and it was both lovely and delicious. 

I asked for a family beach day for my birthday and that is exactly what I got.

It was soul-filling. 

 AHH! We had our best friends visit before they made their way across the country back to their home in Alaska. Sigh, the word Alaska just sounds far away. But, I am grateful that our boys got to make some memories to tide them (and us) over until we see each other again. 

 OK, OK! School! That's why we are all here, right? 

Sidekick is starting kindergarten! I can hardly believe it. We are doing things a little different this year. New home, new rules, new ideas. First of all, I am not planning the majority of his curriculum anymore. We enrolled in North Carolina Virtual Academy. However, he has requested Spanish lessons so that part is on me. Here is a bit of what we were doing before his classes began:

Sidekick wanted Spanish so, he got it! We started with number matching. He finished this with ease thanks to years of Dora and Diego! Did I mention he's reading? No? Oh, well he's reading. He can sound out larger words (with help when needed) and smaller sight words are easy peasy for this kid. I think I'm just here for feeding purposes because I feel like he pretty much teaches himself. 

~*~*~*~

Below, are the yummy phases of the the moon. Another Pinterest find {here}. 

We downloaded a plethora of fun activities from here. 

 

I took the pictures (in Spanish) and had my sidekick find the matching English words. We played this a couple of times and then I let him glue them on (for "safe keeping", he said). 

Next up, our new adventures with our new school and how we survived our first week! See you soon!

Year Two: Week Four: I Spy With My Little Eye

Be scared. You can’t help that. But don’t be afraid. Ain’t nothing in the woods going to hurt you unless you corner it, or it smells that you are afraid. A bear or a deer, too, has got to be scared of a coward the same as a brave man has got to be.

~William Faulkner

Bug/Nature week brought us new games, a field trip, a scavenger hunt and more. Take a look!

 I picked up this Squirrel Snackin' game at Target. It's great for learning to take turns, following directions, fine motor skills with the squirrel pinchers (being demonstrated above by my sidekick), and the joys of winning...and losing. I am not a parent that will "let" my child win. I don't say that in a mean way, nor will I ever intentionally beat him at a game. But, in a case such as this, where you are at the whim of the spinner, it is what it is. He won a few and lost a few more. The first losing was the hardest. We took a minute to ourselves so I could explain this new concept to him. I told him that I understand his feelings are hurt and that it is much more fun to win. We also put into place that *if* he didn't win, he needed to say, "good game" to the winner before we could play again. A few times, he needed to be upset for a minute before he could work up to saying that, but he always did and that made me proud.

 ZOO TRIP! I have been waiting for this day! Unfortunately, Mr. Sidekick was in a "no" mood. He didn't want to see this animal, he didn't want to walk that way. He didn't want to do or see anything for most of the morning. We had our trusty spy glass though ($1 magnifying glass from the Dollar Store) and that helped him make a few discoveries. After a few bites of funnel cake, our day became magically happier and it was, overall, a pretty good day.

 There's my happy ending! 

 This was a match game I made for us to play. I would put shapes on the left side and let him match on the right. Easy peasy and fun to do together.

Found this little worksheet on survivingateacherssalary.com (Pinterest originally). I need to get us back into practicing our letter writing again. This was a good start.

Oh our scavenger hunt! This was fun! I found a list on Pinterest to get me started. (Found here in the mix of larger camping page.) We made some "bug-noculars" (two toilet paper rolls, tape and some string to hang them around his neck. 5 minutes and done.) Then we were off on our adventure. I read to him what we needed to find and off he ran! After discovering each item with his "bug-noculars" he got to check them off his list which made him even more excited. The kid likes a finished list, what can I say? :)

For this one, I made him food coloring+baking soda+water paints. He got to pick his colors so we got to revisit color mixing with this, as well. After he painted we squirted vinegar over the wet paint to make it fizz and foam. "Look Momma! I made Coke!" Once it dried, he told it was the Earth. What more could I ask for?

We are still playing over at abcmouse.com. It is such a good learning tool for him. If you have a chance, you should really check it out for your little. 

Our schedules are getting a little crazier, so it's harder to work in schooling time. I have to keep it a priority. We still work on our reading, writing and math, and our journaling. I'll have to write soon with a full post on how that's all going. So, sometimes what I have planned for a week takes two. No big deal. We're still on my own lesson plans with nothing is being graded and no missed deadlines. It kind of takes the pressure off. I still want our homeschooling to be important so I keep going. Even if I have to set up experiments after dinner or a quick reading session during breakfast. Even if I'm writing blog posts instead of getting us ready for bed. ;)

Tomorrow is another day and more adventures await! See you soon!

Lesson Fifteen: Long Time Gone

It's been a MONTH since I've written! We've been doing many great things but, my computer is not letting me upload pictures at this time. I'm not computer savvy enough to figure it out right now, so you're stuck with my simple words.

 

Since I was last on here, my sidekick and I travelled to London, did a few projects here and there, and have been enjoying the wonderful weather that Spring has finally blessed us with!

 

Mom-wise, I've started a new workout routine. I was in need of a new me. Someone I can like being again. That takes up my mornings now. Then breakfast, then schooling happens if the little guy is in the mood. With the sunshine calling our names almost every morning, we usually inhale our breakfasts as quickly as possible, then outside we go! Being a stay-at-home-mom is such a blessing. I tailored my new workout days around the fact that I can't go be in a gym for hours at a time. I scoured my trusty Pinterest to find the best *at home* routines I could work with. Take those, plus 2 days (1 hour max each day) a week at the gym, which is followed by park time when we can. If I can't get my workouts done before he wakes up (as much as I do try!), then I am perfectly happy to sweat outside while my Little runs with our puppies. This also includes me. In between crunches, push-ups, and planks, I am playing catch, hide-and-seek, or whatever else he dreams up. It's like double the workout! It's great. :)

It was time for a new me, and my sidekick is so encouraging with it! He helps me count my repetitions, he even tries to do some himself! He gladly eats all the cookies and sweets that end up at our house so I don't have to. I'm doing this for him, as much as for myself. When I'm happier, I can make him happier so it all works out.

 

Sidekick-wise, he's starting on the phonics of letters and words. He knows, recognizes, and can write his own name. We've been working on writing our letters, not just tracing. I'll write the letter on my paper and he'll look at it, and write it on his. For only being 3, he's doing very well! {I wish I could SHOW you! Stupid computer!}

 He knows the sounds that the letters make and we're working on recognizing what words that start with each letter. {me: "what starts with A?" kid: "apple". me: "what starts with B?" kid: "balloon!". me: "what starts with C?" kid: "colors!". And so the story goes} He gets a little distracted shortly after that, but it's fun to see what words he comes up with on his own.

We have around 5 or so letters left to work through on our letter projects. We last worked on M for Marshmallow {Eat 2. Glue 1. Eat 3. Glue 1}. These are still really fun for us, we {I} just need to make more time for them. After that, I want to start concentrating on writing and reading. And lots of summer-fun-time playing! My posts will be a little sporadic, I'm sure. At the end of summer, we'll be moving as well. At that time, pretty much everything will be put on hold until we get to where we're going.

 

We've got some time before that happens, and I hope to write about our progress with reading and writing and our summer adventures. Keep checking in! I'm going to  really try and get my pictures to upload this week! Once I have more time to sit and grumble at the computer until it does what I want.

 

Wish me luck!  

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!