Preschoolers, Meltdowns, and more school stuff.

Can I just say Wow! Wow what a weekend. Just when you start relaxing and let your guard down a little regarding your child's behavior, the bomb is dropped. Oh how I hate those rotten wayward bombs you didn't see coming. They are the worst.
 I have always said the threes are more challanging than the twos. I've never had terrible twos, it's terrible threes.  I guess we can extend that into the terrible fours, but I am really hoping that is the last we see of what we call my daughter's evil twin. 
 This weekend Nana and Papa were in town and Nana took us to the movies. When we left the movies Brylee had the biggest fit I've ever seen all because she had to put those 3D glasses in the recycle bin. In retrospect I probably should not have made such a big deal out of it, but how could I have known the drama that would follow. I have to say I really am surprised no one accused me of kidnapping my own child, such a magnificent display of outburst and indignity warrented. With cheeks that were certainly glowing, I managed to make it back to my car with my child protesting all the way. I was thankful Nana was there to keep an eye on the other two, not sure how that would have played out had I been alone. So I just wanted to give a shout out to other moms. In that moment when your child does the unthinkable, remember you are not alone! All in all it was an interesting adventure and I might have been forced to take some sips of a margarita at the end of that day and I'm pretty sure Nana did as well!
 On to our school adventures...   we did  G for garden a couple of weeks ago. We planted some new seeds in our garden and actually got it fenced all the way around so the chickens would not eat the peppers and tomatoes. Our seeds are up and it is cute to see Brylee checking on the new things every day.

We learned a lot about seeds. We examined how they feel, their sizes, talked about what makes them grow. Then we went in our front yard and looked at plants that were already grown. We talked about how plants help bugs and other creatures by providing food and shelter for them. Then we saw the coolest thing...

A Hummingbird Moth!!! I had heard of them,but never seen one. This little guy was quite busy and was not bothered by our presence at all.

Of course the monarch butterfly was really pretty too but I think all of us thought the hummingbird moth was especially cool.

This was also the day we collected grass and leaves for our creation book.

A long those same lines, Bodie's science is all about marine animals. He has been working on an ocean box. Each chapter he completes he adds those new things that he learned about to his box.

He's having a lot of fun with this and it will be a great way to remember everything he learned about in science this year.

Meanwhile..... Brooklyn stacks cans.

Plays with puzzles...











Puts pom poms in holes....

And joins sister in dressing up magnet dolls.




Meltdowns, play, and a little school too, just a day in the life for a preschooler!

Pre-School Fun and The Case of The Mystery Rooster

So I promised I would share my free preschool lesson plan that I am using for Brylee. It's from Stacey at http://www.motherhoodonadime.com/. We started week one last week and it is the perfect thing to supplement what we are already doing. She sends the email weekly. It has the entire lesson plan broken down by day and has whatever printables or links you need to go along with the lesson that week .I am loving that it is one thing I don't have to plan out for the week. I look at the supply list and make sure I have everything and we are ready to go. The letter this past week was X. We did a treasure hunt(one of the activities of the lesson plan) and talked about how having God guide your steps in life is kind of like having a map for your life. Here are some pictures of some of the things we did. 

We started with the treasure hunt. We looked for all the x's and found the treasure behind the spots.

We made our treasure map with markers and stickers. I wish I'd gotten a closer picture, but I didn't.

We made binoculars.........

We went on a treasure/nature hunt.......

We did other stuff with this lesson plan too, but I didn't get pictures.






This week the letter is G and the theme is Garden. Looking forward to this lesson! Thanks, Stacey!


Have I mentioned how much I love Bodie's Science this year. Really really like it. It's Apologia Science and we are doing the swimming creatures. Not only is the reading interesting, but I like the journal with the premade templates too. Each chapter takes about two weeks to get through because of all the things you put in your journal. I like that we aren't just doing Qand A. There is  a lot to write but it is broken up with drawings, experiments, and puzzles. I think that he is going to retain the work so much better than if it was just Q and A. Maybe I should say that Bodie is liking it a lot too, not just mom. But it is just so much more fun to teach if you like it too!

I love this picture of him reading The Grasshopper On The Road. He thinks this whole book is so funny.


On to the case of the mystery rooster. Yes, here in the sticks we don't get stray dogs, we get stray roosters! We have twelve lovely lady chicks that provide us with eggs every day. I saw no reason to add a rooster in the mix as I did not want to see beaks or feet in my eggs. You see, eggs and I have a shady relationship anyway and I am quite certain if I came to find a baby chick in my scrambled egg our relationship would come to a screeching halt.Anyway, the other morning my husband was drinking his coffee when he heard a crowing out the window. He went outside and sure enough there was a rooster looking like he had just stumbled onto a gold mine. None of our near neighbors have chickens and we just couldn't imagine one wondering from somewhere. Come to find out later Glenn's friend Bill dropped him off in the night, knowing Glenn had been wanting one and I hadn't. I guess he figured I couldn't argue if one just showed up. So we've agreed that Don Juan can stay, but like I said it's a shaky relationship. For now the girls are not too impressed, but I figure that will change. After all he is Don Juan.

 

Our First week with a 2nd grader, preschooler, and a toddler.

Our first week of school I had two goals I wanted to meet. Those goals were: relax and work on keeping our work area clean. I'm happy to say that I feel like we met both of those goals! I hope that we can continue with both of them throughout the school year. Keeping our work area clean really helped me relax more. I don't like ending the day with a house that looks like a cyclone hit, it makes me anything but relaxed. Having places that everything belongs really helps to meet that goal. Plus, I feel like it such a great life goal. Something else that helped this week came from my friend Chris. A mom figure in her life told her that while you have small children have one thing you tackle every day together on the house. It could be the bathrooms, or the yard, or cleaning their rooms. Pick one thing, set the timer and spend  thirty minutes working on it. If you do that one thing, keep up on your laundry and your dishes then you won't feel so stressed. I've tried various things but this one really works for us. One day we picked a bathroom. Each child had their jobs. My four year old took all the rugs and towels to the laundry room and helped put new ones out. Bodie cleaned the sink while that was going on. I cleaned the toilet and the floors. It was much more fun and I was able to give them tips a long the way. This week we detail cleaned one bathroom, our van, the yard, the livingroom, and their bedrooms. They still have their regular chores daily and so do I but we actually get some detail stuff accomplished! This makes me relax even more!

Here's some fun things we did in school this week! 


I love the fact that Bodie loves to read. I have discovered that when he's quiet now it isn't always a bad thing!

Letter bingo. This game is super easy for Bodie, but it is a fun game I can do with both of them and Brylee is really getting good with all her letters. 

For this game I had letters on cards and Brylee would search through her box to find the right letter. I forgot to get pictures of Bodie, but he did the modified version of this. He grabbed a scoop of letters, wrote all the letters down on paper and then used those letters to see how many words he could form.

 While they were busy doing that, Brooklyn had things to do also! Playdough is always a good time filler......

 When you get bored of rolling it will seem like a whole new thing if you add straws or pipe cleaners! Those are so much fun to poke in the dough!

And never underestimate the power of a box with a hole that is just big enough to put pasta in! Loads of fun!

  We made music using only things around the house...

A few more things we did...... Have I mentioned how important your own laminator is to a homeschooler? I love mine. I use it for everything. 

 Over all a great start to the week. I found a great site that provides free lesson plans for the school year for preschool. I printed off the first week and will start that next week with Brylee. I will post the website and pictures of what we did next week.

First Day of School 2012

I can't believe we are in school again. Where did the summer go? 


And look at how much they have grown in a year!! Too bad I didn't think to put Brooke in the picture last year. She has really grown! There was no way I was keeping her out of the picture today!

So I'm super excited about this year! What a difference a year makes. I can see a huge difference in Brylee this year already and even though Brooke is into things like crazy, it's not my first rodeo anymore. Rissa is gettin some skills! J/k



We started out the morning with a yummy sugary breakfast from Pioneer Woman. Yea! Since I'm the only one to pay for the sugar hype.......why not. First days don't happen every day. 

Next: we got to look at our new stuff......

I'm not sure who was more excited. There is something fresh and new about the first day. Something exciting about it, no matter where you attend.







So, after that we did some work. I decided that this week is going to be a boot camp of sorts for us. So while there is some work involved, my focus this week is helping them remember where their stuff goes and putting it back after they are finished using it. Bodie and Brylee are big enough to do this and it helps me out so much.

Here we are working....

 

Seeing this picture I realize we lost a shirt somewhere along the way. Have no idea....

Another focus for this year........relax. I have been listening to a homeschool superheros series, many from seasoned homeschoolers. Over and over they say the one thing they would change is to relax more. It is so hard to do because if your child doesn't excel at something it's easy to blame yourself. It's silly really, yet so easy to be hard on yourself. So......deep breath.......RELAX.





And later........Brylee had her first dance class. I'm so excited for her because she has been wanting to do this. She had a great time. I wish I could have sat in and watched, but of course that is way too distracting for a four year old. 

After that we went to a Not Back To School party at the sprinkler park in Leander because well, we homeschool and we can do that. A chance to have some fun on the first day of school with some of our friends as well. I met some new ladies that understand the struggles and snuggles of homeschooling. 

It was an awesome first day........and I am looking forward to this year and all the fun things we learn this year.

July Happenings

So last week Bodie and Brylee went to stay with Nana and Papa for a week. While the cats were away Brooke and I played! We went to Kidzsport for an open gym day. She had a lot of fun, although it took her almost the entire time to really start exploring without older siblings to lead the way. We had some fun in the bathtub too! She was not so sure about this messy stuff getting on her skin.

 Here she is trying to keep her feet out of the paint.

 Yuck! This stuff won't get off me!





I am excited about one thing that I did get finished while they were away!

Changed this.........

To This......


So excited to get this done. Plus, I was able to go through both of their rooms while they were gone and get rid of trash and broken toys!! It's the little things.....

And I should probably mention that I enjoyed the chance to curl up and read a book in peace too!

Flash forward to this week, we have been getting rain like crazy. I'm not complaining. We need it and it means cooler weather. But it also means a little more creativeness when it comes to keeping the kids busy. 

 It's nice when their are no storms and they can play in it!

But, for the times that aren't:

Toys frozen in the ice are lots of fun and take some time. This did not keep my three year olds attention the whole time, but she worked at it for a while. My six year old stuck with it until he had everything un-iced!

 Getting closer!

And finally......












It doesn't show in the pictures, but I gave them hammers, butter knifes, and brushes to do the work. Nobody got smashed fingers and since we did it in the tub the mess just went right down the drain!

We've been hearing some strange noises under our bathtub. Since we did have a baby opposum under our sink, it was safe to assume their might be more under our house. Last night we set a live trap and this morning.... we got a big un! Yuck! 
So I loaded the nasty thing in my van with all my kids and we took it far far away and let it go. While we were driving we saw a grey fox and her kit. It was so cute. I wish I gotten a picture, but they took off before I could get my camera ready. On that road I have also seen a bobcat. It's pretty secluded so Mr. or Mrs. O should fit right in! 

One last thing: I made sundried tomatoes this week! We've been getting tomatoes out of our garden, but it's not enough at one time to mess with canning. I've been making recipes with tomatoes, but still have little bits left over that I don't want to waste. I found a recipe for a vegetable dip that uses sundried tomatoes! I'm all over that.

They last in the freezer up to a year, but I'm pretty sure I won't be waiting that long to try try out that dip! The best part is I won't have to buy those expensive sundried tomatoes at the store!

Loving Your Kids

I am reading a book called Loving The Little Ones and I wanted to share a little bit. The author is a mother of five ages five and under. Because she is still in the moment and not recalling, so much of what she says hits home. Each chapter feels like it is made for me. One of the things that spoke to me is her thoughts on organizing. She says, " It is easy to fall into this kind of lifestyle (talking about oganizing) because cleaning and sorting makes you look and even feel like you have your act together, even if you really don't. What you are doing is finding a way to contain your children, control them, and keep them from making you look bad. But you are not actually dealing with anything. Christian childbearing is a pastoral pusuit, not an organizational challenge. The more children you have the more you need to be pastoral minded, looking to their souls and needs." 
 Ouch! This one me hard. She goes into more detail, but the more kids you have the more chaotic it feels. I'm not a big change person so I am doing exactly what she says. I am running around trying to make things feel"normal." I think in my mind I think if I am just more organized here, X will go more smoothly. That does work sometimes but when it doesn't it leads to frustration with my kids. Over and over God has been working on my heart, reminding me to relax. There are so many ways that I have been holding on and never realized.
 Another example that rang true was her example of her relationship with God. When she was single she did her devotions every day. Her walk with God was like a rock being refined by the river. With kids it becomes like being in a rock tumbler. Now its not so easy to be Godly because the days are spent crashing into each other. There is less time for reflection and more on the job training and failure. True! Its so easy to read about how you should act, but putting that into practice in the midst of chaos is another level.
 Another example that I really get is when she says we are responsible to see our kids as individuals. Sounds easy, but it's not. An example that I understand all to well is when you are cooking. When you have one child and they want to help you are enthusiastic. When you get a whole bunch of kids all wanting to help it becomes overwhelming and in my experience so much more work. It's so easy to say no because it would be faster to do it yourself. That is when you need to see them as individuals and not mass. She says, " Most of the time kids do not know they are overwhelming. That's because they never forget they are individuals."
 I have to remind myself how different this picture will look in a mere ten years. In the moment sometimes it is hard to see that. Dishes  and sticky floors aren't for the rest of my life. They are for a season. God is working on me, teaching me to let go and let him run the ship. I am so busy trying to be the pilot. I think I am beginning to realize where my daughter got her stubborness.

Summer Time Schedule

 IN MY LIFE THIS WEEK: Summer time has started with a bang! We had VBS the first two weeks of summer so I just now finally figured out our schedule for summer. What does this mean? This means I am hoping to avoid the I'm bored and whining and so I'm trying to be proactive. I knew I was going to do this and after a lot of searching pinterest and googling, I have our plan figured out. I'm actually really excited about it!

 http://powerofmoms.com/2012/05/do-it-yourself-summer-camp/  At this site I found some ideas I liked. I like the must do activities for every day, and the idea of paying them a quarter for each one they complete every day. Where it really got fun was when I combined this idea with the charts I used during school created by Jolanthe at http://www.homeschoolcreations.net/category/chores/

 Here's a look at what I did: 

The first three chores are the ones they have to do every morning. Reading is required for both (of course I'm reading to Brylee) and writing in his journal every day is required of Bodie. 

These next ones are freely chosen each day except for the weekly adventure, which I will pick most of the time.

 At the bottom of their chart I have a bag for their completed items. As they do them they take it off their chart and put it in the complete bag. At the end of the day I will count their completed things and write down their completed tasks for the day. I have them in order on their charts, but the order they do them in really doesn't matter to me. 

They do not get paid for their first three chores. Those are their family chores, required because they are part of the family.  


As for the daily activities on the do it yourself  summer camp, I changed it a bit. I have it down as a weekly choice. We will probably do these more than once a week, but with other household things going on I knew it would not be realistic do one of these everyday. 

That's what I have so far! I'm pretty excited and look forward to trying it out!


MY STRUGGLE THIS WEEK: My three year old. Have I mentioned that three is my hardest age? Add that with the fact that she is soooo stinking stubborn and you have some great times.

The difference between her and my son is huge. This week when I asked her to pick up her room she drew some battle lines. Both of them were supposed to be cleaning their rooms. After a few minutes I checked and neither of them were so I told them I was setting the timer for twenty minutes and would be back with a trash bag at that point for whatever was left on the floor. Now I don't expect my three year old to clean perfectly, but I at least expect an effort. After ten minutes she came to me and told me she didn't want to clean her room and I could some get her things and put them in the trash! Really? So I did and tried to make a big deal of the things I thought she'd be upset about as they went into the trash bag. She sat on the floor and watched making not a peep. Meanwhile my son started crying his eyes out and came running in her room to "save her toys" trying to clean them up for her so she wouldn't lose them. He and I had to go in another room for about a twenty minute talk with me trying to explain what would happen if he "rescued her" every time I tried to make her obey. Meanwhile when I came out from that discussion, my daughter informed me that she had the tied the trashbag for me so I could throw it away! What do you say to that? I was honestly stumped, and informed my husband that we are in for some hell when she gets older. She has never acted upset about any of those toys I took and some of them were her favorites.

Another example: One night my husband and I were outside after the kids were in bed. As we walked in the house we saw her slipping out the front door. We snuck in behind her and locked both of the doors acting like we were settling in for the night and had no idea she was out there. Meanwhile we watched her from the window as she methodically tried each of the doors. Again, had that been Bodie he would have been panicking, screaming,  and freaking out by now. She tried each door quietly and then sat there and you could see her contemplating her next step. I don't know what it would have been as Glenn could not resist and ran out into the bushes and scared her. She has done no more sneaking out ever since then, but it is just scary to watch her brain work. I am going to have to be on top of my game and praying lots!!!