Category: Homeschool

Why we chose NOT to do a homeschool co-op (this year)

Co-ops are an important part of the homeschool world.  And for good reason.  Doing this homeschool thing alone is a tough gig and it’s so much easier to do it in community!

Homeschool co-ops provide opportunities for kids to learn with other kids, friendships, adult interaction for the moms, and a place where you know you’re part of the group!

Our family has been part of many different co-ops during our homeschool journey.

My first few years of homeschooling were lonely. During those early years, co-ops were my lifeline.  And they were a weak lifeline at that, mainly because I wasn’t able to fully engage as much as I wanted to.  This was due to various circumstances, such as a new baby, or one year where our middle son did a Brain Balance program.

I’m not one of those moms who can juggle it all.  I’m actually a self-admitted NON-multi-tasker.   I can have a few things on my plate at a time, and THAT’S IT.

Finding homeschool friends after moving

In 2016, we made the move from Illinois to Wisconsin.  It was a move that turned our lives more upside down than we anticipated.  We spent the first 4 months after our move doing NOTHING besides staying at home reading aloud, writing, and doing our math (and taking my son to OT).

It was glorious EXCEPT that we really had no homeschool friends.  And so, in January 2017, we decided to join a local Classical Conversations community.  I was unfamiliar with CC at first but came to discover that many of the things we did at home already, aligned with it.

We did CC for half a year.  And then I tutored (similar to a teacher role) the next year for CC.  We made some great friends and I’m thankful for our time in that community.

Ch-ch-ch changes…

Then in June we found out our community would be dissolving and so I needed to make a decision…  Would we join a different co-op?

This decision was especially difficult because of the loneliness I felt in my beginning years of homeschooling.  But after much agonizing, verbally processing my husband’s ear off, and loads of prayer, I decided we were NOT going to do a formal co-op and we would instead do our own thing.   This was the decision that gave me the most PEACE.

And this blog birthed out of that time…  When I was realizing we were going to be OK doing our own “outside-the-box” thing.

And in fact, it may have been a blessing (for us at least) that our CC community dissolved.  You see, my daughter is not a big fan of despised the rote memorization, and the writing program that CC uses.  Two pretty big parts of the program actually.  So this year we were freed up and fired up to try the Bravewriter program, which has been a much better fit for us!

God knew what this year was going to look like.  He knew that my son was going to be in Vision Therapy, which takes up one morning a week PLUS the daily exercises.  And He knew that any more on my plate might have put me over the edge…

I’m not saying we’ll never do a co-op again, BUT I think there are seasons when it’s OK to not be part of a co-op.   For us, that season is now.

Have you ever been in a season where a co-op was just not right for your family?  Please share below, in the comments!

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Hands-On Activities for Ancient Egypt

We have been studying Ancient Egypt for a few weeks now, and I am thoroughly enjoying it!  Ancient Egypt is pretty fascinating when you think about the pyramid building, mummies, pharaoh’s, etc.  If you’re looking for books to explore Ancient Egypt check out this post.

In the past, we haven’t been as hands-on with history, as I primarily rely on using living books for teaching history.   However, there are so many hands-on activities that go along with Ancient Egypt, that we used books AND hands-on activities to learn more about what was life was like for Egyptians of old.

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MUMMIFIED APPLE EXPERIMENT

Our FAVORITE activity was the Mummified Apples.

Materials:

10 apple slices (from 2 apples)

baking soda, salt, sugar, vinegar

Gauze

Plastic cups

We prepared each  apple slice differently.  We wrapped 5 apples with gauze and the other 5 were left uncovered.  Then each set of two (gauze and no gauze) was covered with a different ingredient- baking soda, salt, sugar, vinegar – in a plastic cup, with the exception of the control apples which were left as is.

Getting everything ready:

Mummified Apple Experiment
Materials: 10 labeled cups, 2 apples, salt, baking soda, vinegar, sugar, gauze

Apples covered with baking soda, sugar, salt:

Mummified Apple Experiment

Apples in vinegar:

Mummified Apple Experiment

Control apples:

Mummified Apple Experiment

We made our predictions of which preservatives would work the best:

Mummified Apple Experiment

Then we put the apples in a warm, dark spot for the next week!

Mummified Apple Experiment

One week later, we “unearthed” our mummies and investigated the apples.  These were our results!

Mummified Apple Experiment

We found that the apples covered in salt fared the best!

Hieroglyphics

We didn’t spend a lot of time on this activity but it was still interesting and gave us a feel for the Egyptian’s method of writing.  We used this stamping kit, to write our names in hieroglyphics. I had also printed out a hieroglyphic alphabet I found on the internet, though the two did not match up exactly.  This frustrated the kids a bit but I explained it’s similar to different dialects in our language.

Ancient Egypt Activities

Salt Dough Map

I’ve been a homeschool mom for 6 years and this was our first salt-dough map! It was easier than I expected and tons of fun. We’ll be doing this again.

First I printed out an outline map of Ancient Egypt, along with a detailed map of Ancient Egypt (You can find both maps on my Ancient History Pinterest board here.)

I drew a (not so great) sketch of Ancient Egypt into a pizza box from our recycling bin.  It didn’t have to be a perfect sketch because it was going to get covered up with dough and paint anyway!

To make our salt dough we mixed together:

2 cups flour, 1 cup of salt,  1 cup of water, 1 tbsp oil
Then we began molding onto the map.

Salt Dough Map Ancient Egypt

 

Since parts of Egypt are more mountainous, we used Google Earth to explore the contour of the land and molded the map accordingly:

Salt Dough Map Ancient Egypt

After letting it dry and set for about a week, the kids painted the rivers and mountains and labeled the main places with toothpick markers.

Salt Dough Map Ancient Egypt

We loved doing this and it helped solidify a lot of the Ancient Egypt locations in the kids’ minds.

My favorite moment was when Joe exclaimed, “Wait… that’s where Sinai is!?”

Last but not least…

Toothpick and Marshmallow Pyramids

For this one, I bought a bag of mini marshmallows and a pack of toothpicks, and just let the kids go.  All three kids really got into this activity!

Toothpick and Marshmallow Pyramids

Are you studying Ancient Egypt?  Any activities I didn’t mention here?  Please comment with links or ideas below!

 

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4 Things I Would Do Differently My First Year of Homeschooling

I’m in my 6th year of homeschooling.  I started when my daughter was in Kindergarten. That first year I wanted to keep things as simple as possible, so I bought an all-in-one boxed curriculum.  This did not work the best for my oldest child and you can read a little about that here where I talk about how we became outside-the-box learners.

I had very few homeschool mentors in those early years, not to mention hardly any homeschool friends.  I was not homeschooled (13 years of public school here!)  And I did not have a ton of direction.  And having the background of being a classroom teacher, I very much thought of homeschooling as doing school at home.

I think having a few people that can help and come alongside you during those first few years is CRUCIAL and is part of the reason I’m passionate about my blog and hopefully providing encouragement to moms, especially moms out there homeschooling their outside-the-box kids.

I know it’s not good to dwell in the past, but I do often think about what I would do differently if I could turn back time.  So if you’re new to homeschooling (especially if you’re homeschooling a kindergartener or 1st grader) or just need some encouragement that homeschooling DOES not need to look like school at home, read on!

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4 things I would do differently my first year of homeschooling

1) I would skip the language arts curriculum- and just read aloud to them! 

Turn your child on to the beauty of great stories!  Read, read, and then read some more!  Two books that have great read-aloud suggestions are Honey For A Child’s Heart and Books Children Love.

2) I would rest in the fact that homeschooling can be FUN and doesn’t have to be painful feel like school. 

My first year I tried to do “circle time”- morning time with the weather and days of the week, number of days of school, etc..  My daughter despised circle time but I felt like I needed to do it because that was what kids did at school.  Oh, how I wish I could go back and ditch the circle time.

If your child has an interest, it is ok to go along with that interest, and go deep with it!  Get tons of books on whatever topic they’re interested in!  Play games, take nature walks, bake together…  enjoy each other!

3) I would have focused on hand-strength and letter formation in other mediums (sand, salt, shaving cream, play dough, etc.) over actual handwriting…

ESPECIALLY for my son with fine motor issues, and I would’ve waited until AT LEAST age 6 to get out the handwriting workbooks!    If kids are interested in handwriting, then that’s different, let them write!  

First Year of Homeschooling

 

I also would’ve gotten Thinking Putty (great for building hand strength, which is necessary for fine motor skills) for my kids to play with during read-aloud.

We have about ten cans now (they get some each year for Christmas and birthdays!), and just today they enjoyed playing with their thinking putty during our read-aloud time.  My daughter specifically chose her Super Scarab Putty to go along with our story which is set in Ancient Egypt!

4) I would’ve ditched the math curriculum and DEFINITELY would have ditched the timed tests!

IT IS NOT NECESSARY FOR A 6 OR 7-YEAR-OLD TO DO TIMED MATH TESTS!  Oh, the tears that didn’t need to be shed…  Makes this mama’s heart break.   Now if you have a kid who loves timed tests, go for it!  But if you don’t, know there are plenty of other ways to learn the facts.

 

If I could go back to kindergarten and 1st grade for my oldest child, I would play lots of number games that focus on the facts and number sense.  Most kids these days do not have a good foundation with their facts, which means everything math-related is going to be more difficult.

This book has great ideas for math games:

Hopefully, my loss can be your gain.  Homeschooling does not need to be a difficult thing.  It can, and SHOULD be enjoyable.

First Year of Homeschooling

 

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6 Easy Mood Busters for Homeschool Families

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Let’s face it.  If you’re a homeschool family, you’re together A LOT.  You get to make tons of amazing memories together, but you also see the less than ideal sides of each other – A LOT.  There are times when the mood in your home will go south (FAR south) and you just want to throw the day away and start fresh.  But that’s not how it works…

In this post, I’ve included some of the ways we combat crabbiness in our own home.  Mind you our kids are 4, 8, 10…  SO, if it’s moody teenagers you’re dealing with, well, I can’t really speak to that.

Read Aloud

It’s amazing to me how reading aloud a good book(whether print or audiobook) can bring everyone together.  Notice I said a GOOD book.  You’ve got to pick one that will draw them in.  For us that good book is currently Farmer Boy on audiobook, read by Cherry Jones.  The whole family enjoys listening to it.

I’ve got a saying that was inspired by a certain movie with Kevin Costner from the 80’s, “If you read it, they will come.” And hopefully snap out of it!

Music

With winter here, (no not technically, but let’s face, temps in the teens and 20’s, um yeah… that’s winter!), I know my own mood is sinking just a bit.  I don’t have that skip in my step that I have when the sun is shining or when I hear the birds singing.

For me, music is always a mood changer.  Lately, our family has been playing Slugs & Bugs around mealtimes and it really can change a climate of fighting and crankiness to one of smiles and laughter.  And with Christmas around the corner, I just have to add, Slugs & Bugs Christmas has been their favorite Christmas album for 8 years!  It’s a winner!

Games

Games can be a mood changer, provided you don’t have anyone in your family that is super competitive.  No one has kids (or spouses) like that, right!?  But seriously, if the mood is tense, playing a game together may be able to cut through the tension.  You can find a few of our favorites in this post.

Poetry Teatime

Bake a treat.  Light a candle.  Set out the tablecloth and just enjoy reading some poetry together.  Never tried Poetry Teatime?  You can learn about it here: Poetry Teatime 101.

Get Outside

This may not be a possibility due to your climate. And I will admit, I thoroughly despise feeling cold.  BUT, it is amazing how therapeutic being outside can be.  I have seen how just going outside can change the moods in my kids pretty drastically, not to mention quickly.

Pray

Sometimes, especially if it’s you with a bad mood, you may just need to remove yourself from a situation and pray.   And if you can’t remove yourself, just pray right where you are. Even if you don’t feel like it. In fact, it’s always best to start with prayer!

I’d love to hear from some of you…  What do you do to combat crabbiness in your  home?  Leave your comment below.

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6 Delightful Math Games to Boost Learning

 

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We love using math games in our homeschool to mix things up and “add” in some fun and fierce friendly competition.  The best part about playing math games is that it’s a DELIGHTFUL way to learn. No pressure. No dread. Just fun!

I’ve picked out our favorite, most played, math games that we use to boost learning in our home.  They are categorized by what math skill they build.

Math facts:

4 Way Countdown
Math Games for Learning
4 Way Countdown

The best part about this game is that it is all contained in one piece.  Rather than roll dice, the dice are contained in a popper, which is super fun!  You “pop” the dice and then use the two numbers to make a math fact – any kind of math fact (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.  You take the answer to that fact and get to flip a block.  The object of game is to be the first player to flip all 10 of your own blocks.  Suggested age: 6+     

Shut the Box

This is a great single player game.  My kids have used it on car trips and can play it over and over.  It is similar to 4 Way Countdown in that you roll the dice and then get to flip over blocks.  But shut the box focuses on addition.  It develops good number sense in kiddos and gives them the practice of simple addition facts.   Suggested age: 5+

Sum Swamp
Math Games for Learning
Sum Swamp

This is a colorful and captivating game for those kids who are new to addition and subtraction. We played this a lot when my middle child was just starting to learn basic addition. It was played nearly every day during that time!  Suggested age: 5+ 

 

Money:

PayDay
Math Games for Learning
PayDay

A favorite of my husbands from his own childhood, Payday is a great game to give kids a taste of “real life” and help them learn about loans and bills. Payday is a very engaging game that is always enjoyed! This is the updated version.   Suggested age: 8+

Probability:

Qwixx
Math Games for Learning
Qwixx

Described as a “fast family dice game”, Qwixx is one of those games that’s a little tricky to get the hang of, but once you do, it is quite addicting. It’s a favorite and can easily fit in a purse or backpack!  Suggested age: 8+

Logic:

Mastermind
Math Games for Learning
Mastermind

As a lover of codes and puzzles, Mastermind was a favorite game from my own childhood. It is the ultimate code breaking game. One player makes a code with different colored pegs and the code breaker has to try to figure out the code. This is another game that really stretches your brain!  Suggested age: 8+  *I linked to a different version than the one in the picture above.  The one we have has gone up astronomically in price!

Happy Gaming!
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A Very Unschool-y Day

I really wanted to title this something like ‘Katie and the very good, super productive, still filled with learning, unschool-y day.’   A fun title, but way too long for a blog post title.

We Are Not Unschoolers

I am not an unschooler.  Let’s just get that out there.  I DO think unschoolers who execute it well give their children a huge gift.  There are elements of our homeschool that are unschool-esque such as many I mention in this post about how we became outside the box learners, and also the planning backwards method I use.  But at the end of the day, I do have somewhat of a plan.  I consider us more child-led homeschoolers.  If learning more about child-led homeschooling is something that interests you, I recommend the book, Educating the WholeHearted Child by Sally Clarkson.

House Organizing

Our house has fallen into a bit of disarray.  Ok, not really… but for this clutter-phobic mom, it has.  And eventually, the clutter really starts to get to me!  Winter is coming and all the winter gear is about to come out of the attic and there is no place to put it.  Well, there wasn’t… until our very unschool-y day.

My youngest is doing a year of pre-k this year and the days he has school are when we get the most done, naturally.  I’m sure any of you who have busy, mischievous 4-year olds who wake up at 5:30 a.m. ready to conquer the world destroy the house, understand.  I digress…

Since my youngest had off school yesterday I decided earlier in the week it would be an organizing day for me/unschool-y day for the kids.  Of course, I relied a bit on my lovely daughter to entertain her 4-year old little brother for parts of the day.  Which she is really good at!   I managed to get a TON done.  And I really think my less cluttered house will allow me to be a more productive mom, as outward clutter definitely exasperates my already cluttered, trying it’s best to multi-task, mind.

Where the Unschool-y Day Took Us

The great thing about organizing is discovering things you haven’t used in a while. Such as this Discovery Kids Activity World Map that we’ve had for 5 years (but haven’t used for 2 years).  It’s meant to hang on the wall, but we found it to be just as fun on the ground.  Joe spent a good chunk of time, putting all the labels in their place!

As usual, much of the day was spent with a nose in a book.

Unschooling

And another discovery, a wooden tangram tetris puzzle, found in our mudroom while I was organizing!

Unschooling

And it wouldn’t be an unschool-y (or a typical day for that matter), without a creation made by our in-house baker.

The creation of the day: Homemade Oatmeal Packets

Child-led learning

Joe and I had a chance to venture out in the marsh in our backyard. We both needed some fresh air and activity!  Because it’s so thick back there, we have to wait until the plants all die to hike there, which is now through the end of winter.  If you go far enough you run into the creek!

Unschooling

And here Joe is classifying volcanic rocks with his Rocks Activity Kit.

Unschooling

Also, we were able to finish The Tale of Despereaux, our book club book for November.  This was accomplished because I was able to get the audiobook from my library app.  We did not expect to finish it in one week, but the kids loved it and kept requesting more.  Also, it was a pretty quick read, or ‘listen’!  As a side note, I just discovered there is full motion picture for this story.  It will be fun to watch it and compare to the book.

All in all a pretty good day!

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How Planning Backwards Breathes Life into Our Homeschool

Planning backwards has revolutionized our homeschool and my sanity!  I first heard about it last school year and it was a like a lightbulb went on for me!  It has been a game-changer.

What IS planning backwards?

Planning backwards is simply writing down what we did each day, after the fact.  I still have a basic idea of what should be accomplished any given day or week, but I am not bound to that.

No more late nights planning

Ions ago, when I was a classroom teacher, my favorite part about the job was lesson planning.  I loved finding ways to engage my students and help them learn in a fun way.  This was pre-kids of course, and I had the opportunity and TIME to work 12 hour days and create awesome lesson plans.  Enter in real life – marriage, kids, sleepless nights, and homeschool.  Time is at a premium.

In the past, I have been known to stay up too late getting everything set up for our next school day or anything really.  Maybe I’m a little obsessive in that way…  Maybe.  I do this to set everyone up for success.  Rather than succeeding, however, these well laid out plans just frustrate my highly creative child. 

Also, late night planning is just not a sustainable practice (unless you are a high energy person… which I am NOT).

Leaves room for rabbit trails and other things

If you have especially curious kids, rabbit trails are inevitable!  By planning backwards, we can go on rabbit trails without feeling the guilt of going off course.   We can experience learning in a relaxed state and simply enjoy the rabbit trail!  And often times the BEST LEARNING happens in those rabbit trails.  When you are addressing kids’ natural questions their brain is like a sponge.  They are learning A LOT in those moments!

Planning backwards also allows more flexibility for going to the park, on a hike, or possibly even a last minute field trip.  You don’t feel like a slave to the schedule.

No checkboxes to worry about

Confession here… I am a card-carrying member of Box Checkers Anonymous.   When I have boxes to check, I am one motivated lady!  It helps me GET STUFF DONE.

However, that box-checking mentality does not work as well for our homeschool.  And removing the boxes to check off allows me to feel more relaxed and engaged with my kids’ learning.

I should mention there are a few things that absolutely need to be done each day.  For those items, I give the kids a daily schedule where they need to check things off when finished.

Could planning backwards be a game-changer for YOU?

Obviously, planning backwards is not necessary, or even best, for everyone.  However, if you are more right-brained or have a right-brained creative child, and need a method of homeschool planning that doesn’t feel so rigid or restrictive, backwards planning could be your answer!   It has definitely breathed more life and joy into our homeschool.

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Weekly Wrap-Up October 15-19

WEEKLY WRAP-UP: OCTOBER 15 – 19

This was the first week in many where we didn’t have any extra appointments.  We definitely get a lot more done when we don’t have to leave the house!

Here are the Highlights:
Bravewriter: Communication Game

We have switched to Bravewriter for our writing curriculum this year.  I plan on working through The Writer’s Jungle with the kids this year.  This past week we worked on the Communication Game outlined in Chapter 2 of The Writer’s Jungle.

So what IS the Communication Game?  Well, I drew a picture with simple shapes and lines placed randomly on a page.  Then the kids described the picture back to me and I had to draw what they described.  This activity forced them to communicate more clearly. They had to use the right words in order to get me to draw the picture correctly.  Not only was it effective in teaching about the importance of good communication, but it was also super fun!  We will certainly be doing this game again!

The Mysterious Benedict Society Author Talk

We were chomping at the bit to finish The Mysterious Benedict Society because the author talk with our Read-Aloud Revival Book Club was on Wednesday. By the end of Tuesday night, we were able to finish it  – thank goodness for audiobooks!  As a side note, I do think that kids still glean the benefits of read – alouds by listening to audiobooks.  

Spanish Lessons

We recently discovered our library offers a free online foreign language curriculum, called Pronunciator.  In my never-ending effort to keep things novel for Lydia, my creative child, I had her check it out.  So far so good.  I’m hoping she really takes off with this.

 

BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS!

Joe has been cruising through a few different book series. I just love when my kids get hooked on a good series because there are always more books to read when they’re done!  He is working through The Epic Order of the Seven Series by Jenny L. Cote.  He finished Book 1 and is started on Book 2.   He is also working through the Spirit Flyer Series by John Bibee.  This series is a bit older and harder to get your hands on.  I was unable to find it at the library but did get the first two books used rather inexpensively on eBay.

Scrambled Eggs 101

We had a slow start to the day on Friday, and I was wanting us to get started as I had my agenda for the day.  However, I could hear my 10-year-old daughter talking to my 8-year-old son, offering to teach him how to make scrambled eggs.  I try my best in moments like these to just take a step back and let them be, to let them bond as siblings and to let my daughter have the joy of teaching others.  I wish I could say we had moments like that all the time, but the reality is we don’t, and so I savor them when they pop up.

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Weekly Wrap-Up: October 8 – 12

Life of Fred a complete curriculum?

WEEKLY WRAP-UP: OCTOBER 8 – 12

Diving Board Diva

The kids had their final semi-private swim lesson this week.  Determined to conquer her fears, Lydia decided to jump off the diving board.  Considering this girl couldn’t even jump into the shallow part of the pool a few months ago, this was a BIG deal.  We are exceedingly proud of her!

Audiobooks and Forts!

We continued with The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.  It is a  12-hour audiobook but we have been plugging away little by little each day.  We have about 4 hours to go.  Our goal is to get through it by this Wednesday as that is when the “Meet the Author” event is through our book club with Read-Aloud Revival.  The kids usually prefer that I read to them right from the book.  However,  due to book’s length and the fact that we just started it last week, we had to use the audiobook.  A few of the activities that were chosen to do while listening to the audiobook this past week were painting and fort building.

Mysterious Benedict Society
The fort
Life of Fred Marathon

Joe continued with Math-It this week focusing on “Dubblit” or the double facts  (2+2 up through 36+36).  I also added in Life of Fred Apples.  We’ve gone through this one together before, but per the recommendations of the creator of the book, Joe will now be going through the first 4 books on his own, with me checking his work.  Dreambox is our main curriculum for math, but Life of Fred is very “outside the box” and my kids love the quirky ways of the main character, Fred.  Thus, it’s a fun supplemental curriculum  (you can also use it as a full curriculum).  Joe was so excited to get back to Life of Fred, that he did 11 lessons in one sitting!   Not bad for a kid who isn’t too fond of handwriting!

Start of Vision Therapy

Joe had his first official vision therapy session on Thursday.  If you’ve read other parts of my blog you know how I feel about therapy.  Vision therapy is certainly going to be a commitment, as it will take up a morning of our week and there are also daily exercises to do at home.  However, we are excited and hopeful to see how this will help Joe!

More Bath Bombs and Creative Children

Lydia made MORE bath bombs this past week.  This time they were donut shaped!  She chose to do this during some free-time she had one morning while I was working with Joe.  On her own accord, she quartered the recipe.  Since she’s not a math-lover, I enjoy seeing her using math skills in real life situations.

I generally like to do our “Morning Basket” (which includes Bible, History, our current novel, and anything else we can do as a group) first thing after breakfast, but that is not how it always goes as I mention in this post about having a creative child.    For those of you reading this that may have highly creative kiddos, I encourage you to read this post about homeschooling in the afternoon vs. the morning.    I first read it about a year ago and found it freeing and eye-opening.

Field Trip – Underground Railroad

We ended the week by doing an interactive field trip with our old co-op friends.  It was an exciting and interactive experience where we played the part of abolitionists and had to help a slave get to freedom.   We got to meet “Harriet Tubman” as well as a few other abolitionists from the past.  The kids loved it, and it definitely made an impression!

 

Disclaimer: In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).

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Weekly Wrap-Up: October 1-5

Activities for kids with sensory issues

Disclaimer: In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).

Weekly Wrap-Up: October 1-5

I thought it would be neat to have a weekly post, that included highlights  (and possibly lowlights too…) from our week.  So, here goes!

Rocky Start

This past week had a rocky start with Daniel getting a stomach bug and missing preschool on Monday.  Since Daniel is high maintenance for me, I rely on his school days to get a lot done with the older two.  We still got a fair amount done but not as much as usual.   It may have been for the best as it definitely forced me to slow things down which was good after a weekend of camping.

Overcoming Fears

We still managed to get swimming lessons in on Monday (thanks to my parents coming over to watch Daniel).   Lydia is getting braver each week and wanted to try jumping into the 10 feet deep area.  This was HUGE for our girl.  She was a sight to behold… goggles, nose plug, earplugs and all.  God bless her swim instructor!  🙂

Read Alouds

Reading Aloud is one of the pillars of our Home School.  Unfortunately, sometimes appointments and schedules get in the way of having the time to do this.  Tuesday brought Joe’s 2nd Vision Therapy Evaluation and a lot of time in the car.  We redeemed that car time by starting the Mysterious Benedict Society on audiobook, which is our Read Aloud Revival book club book for October.  MBS is an entertaining book about “Outside the Box” kids on a mission.

Also, just yesterday, we finished “On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness”  by Andrew Peterson.  This was a delightful novel full of action, heart, and hilarious characters with a Chronicles of Narnia/Lord of the Rings feel to it.  This is Peterson’s first novel and it is part 1 of 4 books in the Wingfeather Saga.  Andrew Peterson is an amazing musical artist AND author.  He is a true “creative” (yes, I just made it a noun!) and he reminds me of my own creative child.  We will certainly be reading his other books!

Math Facts Break Through

For math facts, we use Math-It, which I really love.  It’s simple and effective AND my kids aren’t breaking out in tears when practicing their facts.   Joe finally broke 1 minute on his addition math facts this week.  He’s been working on them since February so this was extremely exciting!    We tweaked how he does his facts due to some fine-motor limitations he was running into because of his Dyspraxia.  With that adjustment, I have a feeling he’ll be getting his multiplication facts down before the end of the month.  It is so awesome to see him soar!

Bath Bombs

I’ve been promising the kids for a while that we could make bath bombs.  Every time we see them at a store, they want to buy them and they are PRICEY!  We used a recipe from The Superkids Activity Guide to make bath bombs.  As a side note – Lydia LOVES this book ( I do too, but Lydia has spent hours paging through it).  It’s colorful, well laid out and packed with outside the box  AND useful ideas for kids with various sensory challenges.

The bath bombs are meant to encourage kids who normally hate being bathed to take baths.  Thankfully my kids are all past this (though it wasn’t too long ago we were dealing with this issue!) and we just made them for the fun of it.   We used cupcake shaped molds, which I’ve had for many years, but you could use any type of mold or shape them with your hands. The bath bombs just popped right out of the molds.  The secret ingredient to making them fizzy: Citric Acid, which I learned is found in the canning section at the grocery store.

Activities for kids with sensory issues
Our bath bombs drying in the cupcake molds

And that’s our Weekly Wrap-Up!

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