God is in this Place!

Examples of the Lord's presence and blessing on our home schooling efforts this week...

We have been learning about colors and the mixing of the primary colors. This morning, the boys were watching a new show on the kids' "Christian" TV channel, and they were "quizzing" the kids on that exact topic!

We are learning the names of coins for "M" week, and what did we get in the mail today? A request for donations from a charity...with a nickel inside. ha!

I picked out a book (Mooncake by Frank Asch) at the library last week. I flipped through it and checked it out, hoping it was a good one for "M" week. Wow, not only will I be talking later this week about how wonderful this book is...but God gave us SNOW this weekend to prepare us for this book!! Tune in on Friday to see the many lessons we were able to pull from this one resource :)

Our "M" Bible verse is Psalm 100:1 "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth." David Crowder Band has a song of this verse, and we were able to sing, dance, and praise God
this morning while listening. (Practicing praising God through song AND practicing our verse of the week!!)

Once again, amazed and blessed!!

America and patterns

We are doing a unit study on America and Texas this month.
The other day, we painted American flags (well, our version, since we painted the stars blue instead of white...don't worry, they know the real flag has white stars representing the states!) We talked about the similarities in the American and Texas flags, looked at pictures of both, have been saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and we listened to our American pride play list while we ate our lunch!

J working on his pattern beads and showing them off to j

Learning even when we're not trying to!!

Children are amazing...and creative...and inspiring. I can only speak from my experience with my own children, but on any typical day at any given moment, they are ready to learn. Whether I am actively engaging them in some kind of learning activity or not doesn't matter. Even when I give them activities, they take them to new levels. It makes a home schooling mom happy to see this!!!

Example 1: We were outside playing this week (enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather before our apparent "winter blast" is upon us), and I was taking pictures of the clouds. J asked me if we were going to have to go inside because of rain, and I said, "Oh, those aren't rain clouds, Bud." He replied, "Well, can we learn about clouds sometime, Mom?" Absolutely, sweet son of mine...I'll put it on the calendar for next week. (I have some studying to do first! :) )

Example 2 (my favorite): I gave J some M&Ms in one of his work boxes this week to use for a counting/number recognition exercise. After he laid out his M&Ms (and before he did his activity), he sorted his candy into different color groups and told me which one had the most, which had the least, and (of course) which group was therefore the "winner." (Everything is a competition in this little boy's eyes!)

Example 3: We went to the library today and came home with a ridiculous amount of books (of course.) J was sitting on the couch with one of the chapter books he had checked out, and he was flipping through each page so slowly and carefully (and silently! ha) He finally got through the last page, said quietly, "The end," closed the book, and looked up at me. "Mom, you really need to teach me how to read!" (Trust me, we're working on it! :) )

There are so many more examples, but the most encouraging thing to me is the fact that even when I feel like I am overwhelmed with dealing with the younger kids, the housework, etc. etc., my children are still learning. If we "skip school" one day, their brains are still being fed. Kids truly are little sponges. I love learning about each of my sons' interests. I love nurturing those interests (and helping them explore those interests) and wondering if they will end up using them in some way in their adult lives. I am BLESSED to be a home schooling mom...I wouldn't have it any other way :)

Recess :)

Trying to nail down a schedule that works for us!!

7:30 Mom up, shower, feed and change Josiah;
Eat breakfast, empty dishwasher
9:00 Devotional, coffee, start laundry;
Everyone get dressed, brush teeth, fix hair
9:30 j nap, Mom set up school activities;
Everyone clean up toys, Mom switch laundry to dryer
10:00 Everyone to kitchen table:
Calendar Time!
- Sing Days of Week song and Months of the Year song
- J write day on calendar
- One straw in bag (working toward 100!)

Talk about the composer, Franz Joseph Haydn.
Find out he tutored Beethoven and was friends with Mozart...both of whom we have already studied!! How cool is that?! :)
Listen to Bach cd, because we can't find our mixed classical CD!!!

Special Activity!
(This week, we're working on an America unit study.)
- Look at American flag online
- Color American flag
- Listen to Mom say Pledge of Allegiance

Bible story (Daniel in the Lions' Den, for L week),
Bible verse (1 Corinthians 13:4 "Love is patient. Love is kind," for L week)

10:30 Active time!
- Hokey Pokey

- Red Light, Green Light

- Freeze Dance

11:30 Everyone plays upstairs while Mom makes lunch
j is awake!
11:45 Lunch time!
- Memory verses (Philippians 2:14, Ephesians 6:1, Matthew 7:12)
12:00 T and E nap time!
J listen to story (audiobook, online, etc.)
- Adventures in Odyssey
12:30 J School time!
- Copywork (Philippians 2:14)

- Kindergarten Skill (Cut and Paste activity)

- Science (5 Senses in Encyclopedia)
- Journal (Draw 5 things you like to see)

- Work boxes
(Truck puzzle book, hand writing, shapes, maze book, numbers, making cards to mail to others, etc.)

2:00 j nap, T up from nap, Read Aloud (Peter Pan)
2:30 Watch educational video
3:00 Snack time!
Play together
5:00 Play outside!
6:15 Room time so Mom can make dinner!
7:00 Dinner, then everybody upstairs to get ready for bed; Play until Daddy gets home!
Whew! Day is over!!

School today

Painting whatever he wants on a capital L

Playing Starfall

Number mats (He is FINALLY remembering his numbers! It finally clicked!!!)

Taking a break to play with little brother :)

Pick a card, write the capital and lower case letter

The rest of our K activities

My camera is back from the dead...
We finished our K activities with a "What begins with the Letter K" book from DLTK, K coloring pages, and K dot painting!