Samuel is 8

Pin It  Samuel turned 8 in February. We chose not to have a big party this year due to the drawn out, stressful process of relocating to Ohio. Instead, we invited a few family members over for cheesecake and opened some presents. Among the gifts were a few new costumes, Legos, and books.

Samuel still loves dressing up as different characters and getting his sisters to join in the act. Some recent favorites are Super Mario characters, Indiana Jones, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Star Wars. Their creativity continues to put a smile on my face.

 Samuel's 8th Birthday Interview

What is your favorite color? green
What is your favorite toy? Legos
What is your favorite fruit? apples
What is your favorite tv show? iCarly
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? turkey sandwich
What is your favorite outfit? jeans and Diary of a Wimpy Kid shirt
What is your favorite game? Star Wars for DS
What is your favorite snack? peanut butter crackers
What is your favorite animal? lion
What is your favorite part of school? reading
What is your favorite book? Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
Who is your best friend? I like all my friends the same.
What is your favorite cereal? Multi-grain Cheerios
What is your favorite thing to do outside? play Frisbee with Marlie
What is your favorite holiday? Thanksgiving
What do you like to take to bed with you at night? my pillow pet
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? pancakes and eggs
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? chili
What do you want to be when you grow up? US Coast Guard (he changes his mind every month)

Dear Samuel,
 Oh my, you are such a strong willed, energetic boy with one exhausted mother! I hope that when you are faced with peer pressure, you will use this as a strength to stand firm and make good choices. 
You are great at completing your morning routine and chores quickly, and will often offer to do your sisters' chores for them in order to earn extra money. I love how, at the age of 8, you behave more responsibly than some adults we know! Keep up the hard work and determination and you will go far!
Your imagination impresses everyone you meet. You have always been full of interesting ideas. When you were 3, you would always walk around saying, "I have a great idea..." and the things you would come up with made me think you just might be a genius! :) I may be biased though! If there is ever a problem, you will come up will a million ways to solve it.
Samuel, you are loud and crazy at times, but there's a sweet side beneath all that boy-ness that still likes to snuggle with mommy :). 
Wherever you go in live, I will be there offering tons of love, support, and advice...whether you like it or not!

Love,
Mom 

Sneak Peek: A NEW New Room

Pin It Remember when we transformed Madelyn’s old bedroom into our school room back in February? Well, since the school year began in August, this space hasn’t had much use. The desks, as much as I love them, allow little room for me to sit with the kids and guide their learning process. By the end of the first week of school, the dining room table started serving as our main learning area. I liked being able to see what everyone was working on, and I could multi-task much easier by all of us being at the same table. I began brainstorming about how to make changes to the school room in order to make it work for us.

One day, a magical blog post at Confessions of a Homeschooler gave me a great visual of what I could do to our room. I became so obsessed with her school room, on top of having a great reason to go to Ikea, that I checked the pictures out several times a week for almost 2 months while making a list of items I liked and wanted for us. CJ agreed to an Ikea trip at the end of October/early November.  After waiting patiently for about a week, I began to drive him nuts with my begging and he agreed to go sooner. Lining up a babysitter beforehand worked in my favor.

BEFORE:

Saturday we drove to Cincinnati and back. I spent that evening helping my friend put together my furniture. By “helping” I mean I talked to her while she did most of the work. I did manage to put some furniture together by myself on Sunday because deep down I actually do enjoy this type of work…it’s a productive way to take out frustration. Here is where we are at so far:

SNEAK PEEK AFTER:

CJ still has to hang a white board, maps and posters. We also need blinds or curtains. The light is blinding in the morning!

Can’t wait until everything is finished! I’m happy to have my dining room textbook and worksheet free again!

August Sensory Bin: Back to School

Pin It Preschool starts on Monday for Madelyn. My friend’s two children will be coming 3 mornings a week for FUN learning activities as well. Since the main school focus of summer was to concentrate on getting curriculum, schedules, lessons, etc. together for Samuel and Sarah, I am left with this weekend only to gear up for preschool. Luckily this is our second year for this, so I don’t need to do a whole lot.
Sensory bins are a favorite in my house. Seriously, I have our August box set out for Monday, and the kids are eagerly waiting to open it up as if I’ve wrapped a Christmas present for them. Last year I only did a few of these because of how messy they can be (on top of the other messes involved with teaching preschool…a VERY messy job) depending on the theme and objects involved. This year I am going to try to do 1-2 per month and I’ll probably only use it for a center once a week.
Our August theme is …BACK TO SCHOOL! (some ideas came from Counting Coconuts)

Contents of bin:
Ripped up magazine paper
Scissors for cutting magazine paper
Lacing string
Numbers from an old calendar that have been hole punched for lacing
Pencils
Erasers to put on and match to pencils 
Pencil sharpener
Paper clips for linking and patterns
Pencil box
Magnetic letters that can be used on the tin pencil box
Strips of paper with kids’ names that they can use with the letters
Notebook
A few crayons

The scissors will be removed at the first sign of anyone attempting to cut off fingers, hair, anything other than magazine paper. Other than that concern, which will be discussed before any use of the bin begins, this back to school fun starts in less than two days!

Our First Day

Pin It

Oh the first day…the first day…where do I begin? Today was Samuel’s first day of 2nd grade and Sarah’s first day of Kindergarten (Madelyn starts Pre-K next Monday).  We were ALL very excited for this day to come. They asked me to pick their outfits out yesterday morning (normally I do this in the evenings) because they couldn’t wait to see what they were going to wear. Aren’t they so darn cute?!

Our day started at 7:00am. After getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, etc., CJ sat the kids down for a Bible lesson. Two minutes into it, Samuel asked, “Is this what we’re doing all day long?”

Next, we went outside for pictures!

Just look at how happy they are!

After pictures we came inside to discuss rules and goals for the year.  Samuel and Sarah did a great job at coming up with 3 rules and 3 goals (I chose 3 each in order to keep it simple and easy to remember) to help our school year run smoothly and effectively.

Rules:

1. Obey your parents.

2. Be respectful to others (show kindness, no putdowns).

3. Be cooperative.

Goals:

1. Have fun

2. Learn

3. Help others

 

I told/showed them how our mornings would function and where they could find certain materials. We went back into the school room to do our morning board and make pictures for the art frames I bought for the walls in the school room. I also bought them each a new pencil sharpener for a little first day present (I know, amazing, right?!). Then we did a few lessons together at the dining room table.

 

Our first day came to an end. We had planned on having a picnic lunch at the park, but some wrong choices while at Staples quickly changed those plans. We’ll try again tomorrow. Maybe we’ll start a traditional 2nd day of school picnic instead!

Overall, here is how they rated their day:

We can’t wait to get to know all the homeschool families in our area better! Here’s to a great year!

Our 2011-2012 Curriculum Choices!

Pin It Let me start off by saying that I am so excited to finally put into action what I’ve had the desire to do for so long. When CJ and I started dating, he knew how much I wanted to homeschool someday. I am thankful for a supportive husband who is totally on board and in agreement with this decision. Homeschooling the girls for preschool went so well last year, and gave me the confidence to say, “Hey, I can do this next year for grade school, and have Samuel join us!” The reasons why we chose to homeschool will be saved for a different post, but I can’t tell you how many people have asked why we chose this route and how we plan on socializing them (lol).
The following curriculum choices are based on what we thought would work best for our children. I’ve seen so many different options and read blogs about what others are doing where I’ve thought, “Hmm, should we be doing that too?” CJ continues to remind me that what works for others may not work for us. So, I continue to stay focused on my family through this journey while being excited about all the new families we will meet along the way. And somewhere in between I hope to get all my questions answered!

Madelyn (Pre-K):
For Pre-k, I am pulling a lot of resources from the internet like I did last year. We will focus on one letter/sound and number/math a week, have a theme of the month, sight words, sensory bins, etc. Madelyn’s friend Isabelle will be joining us again for preschool this year, so she will have a little buddy to do learning centers and art with.  I am adding in some Montessori aspects this year as well. I am hoping to do to All About Reading Pre-Level 1 with her, but other than that my preschool curriculum is mainly DIY. Madelyn will also take ballet lessons with a group of homeschoolers.

*There will be links to the curriculum choices below soon (hopefully). 

Sarah (Kindergarten):
Phonics/Spelling- All About Spelling Level 1

Reading/Writing-Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, Bob Books, Handwriting Without Tears

Math- Math-U-See Primer

Science- Apologia Zoology 1

Social Studies- My State Fun Book

P.E.- Ballet lessons with a group of homeschoolers

Art- Library resources and whatever I come up with at home

*Not all of these subjects will be done daily. I plan on rotating some of them, and am not concerned with getting through an entire text book by the end of the year. My goal is to allow them to have a lot of hands-on experiences that they would not get from sitting in a classroom. Therefore, I don’t want homeschool to feel like public or private school.

Samuel (2nd grade):
Reading/Phonics/Spelling/Writing- A Beka Grade 2, First Language Lessons Level 2, Writing With Ease Level 2

Math- Math-U-See Beta. I went to a Math-You-See workshop and was sold on this method quickly!

Science-Apologia Zoology 1

Social Studies- My 50 States (from the same people who created the State Funbook for Kindergarten)

P.E.- Uncertain because I’ve heard that I should definitely sign him up for Swim and Gym at the Y, while others have said not to waste my money :)

Art- Library and whatever I come up with at home

Oh, and CJ is doing Bible lessons because he has an amazing gift when it comes to teaching others about the Bible.  :)