Plans, Glorious Plans!

If you're anything like me, when you decided you were going to be a homeschooling momma you had great ambitions of planning amazing lessons, crafts, and fun projects... only to see your plans crumble into a pile of unfulfilled ideas! You bought a wonderful little lesson planner and you filled it with all your grand plans because you just knew that you could stay on top of everything and that your sweet, little angel would be able to complete all the tasks you were going to assign because... well... she's a genius! And nothing could possibly come up that would interrupt your plans, right!? Or maybe that's just me. Maybe I'm the only mom who had all these plans, glorious plans, only to fail at implementing them! But I think, or at least I hope, I am not alone in this and that you may be in need of some encouragement. If so, this blog is for you :)

 

There's a verse in Scripture that I find very interesting. Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." If I could rewrite this verse, it'd say Many are the lesson plans in the mind of a homeschooling momma, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. It's not just BIG plans that fall to the wayside, but little plans too. Even lesson plans. But do not be dismayed. There is hope.

 

I believe God gave me a little epiphany about all my failed attempts to keep up with my lesson plans. STOP WRITING THEM. OK, say what now? That's right. Stop writing all those expectations only to see them scratched out or incomplete. There's something a little more practical that we can do. I'm not saying don't ever plan. That would be total chaos. But I am saying that this hyper-planning, guilt-driven, failing way of homeschooling just doesn't work for me and all it does is frustrate me. So here's the compromise the Lord showed me...

 

I took a large poster board and split it into a 6-square grid. On one square I wrote "Daily" and on the other 5 squares I wrote Monday through Friday. On the "Daily" square I wrote the things that I want to do with my children everyday, without fail; those things include prayer, Bible study, exercise or physical activity, and reading. Notice I did not write anything about math, English, science, or history :) In the remaining five squares I wrote nothing. They are blank. Here's where the compromise comes in. On Saturdays I am going to sit down and write out assignments or points of study on sticky notes that I hope to do with the children, and place them on my chart. For example, I may write, "Savanna: write a letter to pen pal..." and place it on Monday's square. And "Samuel: practice ABC's using flashcards..." and place it on Thursday's square. The nice thing about writing it on a sticky note is that I can move it to another square if a certain assignment takes longer than planned or if something unexpected comes up. I can also add sticky notes at the end of the day for anything that we may have done that was not listed on the board, ie. a spontaneous game of "Speed Letters" at the dinner table. At the end of the week, I print out my Blank Lesson Plan Sheets for each child and fill in what's written on my sticky notes. This way each week I have an accurate portrayal of what we did that I can keep in each child's portfolio along with any completed work! It also really boosts your confidence if you see a lesson plan that was actually fulfilled :)

 

At the end of the day, I may not complete all my glorious plans, but I can rest assured knowing that the Lord's purposes will stand. The Lord has purposed in our hearts to homeschool our children and that will stand. So I'm trying out a new style of homeschooling; one that I should've been doing all along... rely more on the Lord's purposes and less on my own plans! This might actually work.

 

Bye for now,

Kristina

Growing in Faith & Love

What kid doesn't love to be measured? They ask you to measure them today, even if you measured them yesterday. It's so sweet to hear my children's desire to grow big and tall and strong, "just like Daddy!"

Since my oldest, Savanna, was big enough to stand on her own, we've measured her little frame with pencil against a finger-smudged walls. When we moved to our current house, my husband and I talked about how we want to stay here for a long time. We've moved around so much and we'd love to see the kids grow up here and graduate. So we had no qualms about starting a new growth chart on a similar finger-smudged wall. We happen to have a small wall in the kitchen that wasn't being used for anything and so that's where we started. We've been putting pencil marks on the wall since we moved in May and I just felt like I wanted to do something more permanent. Something nicer that would be a sweet memory of the kids stretching their necks and standing on tippy-toes to try to gain an extra inch.

But I wanted it to be more than that. Sure it's important to help them grow in stature, having healthy bones and a sound mind. We feed them veggies and proteins (or at least attempt to) and we make sure they get plenty of physical activity. But we should also want to feed their soul and help them grow in faith and love as well. And then I found this verse:

"We ought always to give thanks to God for you... your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of each of you is increasing." 2 Thessalonians 1:3

God isn't concerned as much about our physical growth as He is about our spiritual growth. After all, if they grow as tall as David Robinson and have not love, they have nothing (for those of you who miss that reference, he is a former basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs and is a solid Christian). So we made our new growth chart (more like a mural) and as we worked on it together, I talked to the kids about how God wants our faith and love to grow. I showed them how tall Daddy and I are on the wall and explained to them that we are not going to grow any taller but we can keep growing in our faith and love forever and ever. They thought that was pretty cool. 

So if you're looking for a simple project to both spruce up your classroom area and offer you a teaching opportunity EVERY time you measure your child, here's what we did :)

I measured the wall and put a dot for each inch from 24" to 72" (2ft to 6ft). Then I wrote the inches at each foot marker. We already had some pencil markings that I traced over with colorful sharpies. We made an accent for each foot marker as well and then wrote our Scripture verse (2 Thess 1:3) on the wall. You can do whatever design you like. This was a simple design we could all do and it only took about 30 minutes. So be creative and have fun!


I am excited to see how much my children will grow over the years. Will they hit 6ft? I don't know. But I'm even more excited to see them grow in faith and love.

Bye for now,
Kristina

Homeschooling: The Early Years (2-5yrs)



There are many reasons you may choose to homeschool your children:

• A desire to take responsibility for your child's education
• A desire to provide a more well-rounded and Christ-centered education
• Dissatisfaction with the public school system and teacher/pupil ratio
• Adverse peer pressures and unsafe school environments
• A desire to give your child opportunity for individual instruction
• Medical/health concerns of your child
• High cost of private tuition
• Religious reasons- public education conflicting with Biblical values, ie. evolution, abortion, homosexuality, premarital sex, etc.

Whatever your reason for choosing to homeschool, it's a HUGE decision and it will not be easy! And if you're anything like me, you were probably overwhelmed by the whole concept thinking, "Where do I start!?!"

I started teaching both my oldest children at the age of two and I was completely confident in their education until my daughter reached Kindergarten; suddenly I was filled with the fear that I have no idea what I'm doing! What if I haven't taught her enough? What if she doesn't know what other Kindergartners know? How do they keep track of her grades and how does she pass on to 1st grade? What curriculum should I use? There are so many questions and it's a little daunting. But a sweet friend of mine who has been homeschooling for a long time gave me some great advice that I'm going to share with you...

LET THEM PLAY!

That's right folks. Play. Kids in the early years, ages 2yrs - 5yrs are very special. They're like little sponges and they can absorb so much information. They learn so quickly and they learn hands-on. They are curious about everything and the best way for them to learn is through everyday life. It's unnatural for a child at this age to sit at a desk and do bookwork for long periods of time. Their little brains aren't made that way. They want adventure, they want messes, they want to ask questions, they want to see how things work. Kids in the early years benefit greatly from learning through life experiences. So stop freaking out and take a deep breath. Your child is learning all the time and the fact that you want to homeschool shows that you are already invested in their education. You have been teaching your child since day one and he is most likely well above the curve already!

Go out in the yard and talk about how plants grow, different types of weather, season changes, how caterpillars change into butterflies, collect and compare flowers, leaves, rocks, and nuts... there are so many wonderful things to learn in nature. Have your child help you bake cookies or cook a meal and talk about following instructions carefully, using proper measurements, how different ingredients combine to make something new... and enjoy spending that special time together. Create things with play dough, put puzzles together, play hopscotch, go on scavenger hunts, draw pictures, read books as often as you can, paint, sing, dance... PLAY!

Aside from that, there's a couple staple resources that I think you should have for teaching kids in the early years. I would recommend the following:

1) A Good set of flashcards for the alphabet, colors, numbers 1-20, and shapes. You can buy them premade or you can make them yourself. I have a small laminating machine and I make my own so I can personalize them for my children. For example, my son loves Marvel superheroes so I made shapes with his favorite characters. Great motivator to learn the shape (s! Use the flashcards to play games like memory, go-fish, matching, etc.

2) Writing tablets to practice handwriting. You can buy a tablet from the Dollar Tree for $1 or you can print them off Starfall's teacher's lounge for free (other than ink and paper). A fun way to practice handwriting is to have your child get a pen-pal. Savanna has four actually and she LOVES writing them letters and receiving responses!

3) Phonics worksheets and books (for 5yr olds) to begin learning the basics of reading. You can download many of my phonics worksheets and projects here: Fun with Phonics, Short Vowels, Blends, Short & Long Vowels and other things, OO Vowel Diagraph, Phonics Booklets and Another Booklet. You can also purchase pre-reader and level 1 "I Can Read" books to read with your child. Also, Lantern Fish is an excellent resource for reading and phonics activities.

4) Computer games are a great learning resource for young children! I highly recommend Starfall for only $35/year. Your child has access to some really great games that teach letters and letter sounds, phonics, numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fraction, problem solving, and more. It's a wonderful website that is EASY for kids to navigate; even the most novice student will enjoy this website. My kids have been using this site since they were 2yrs old and they love it. It also has a "Teacher's Lounge" where you can create printable worksheets for your child. They are pre-made and customizable to suit your child's needs. Very good resource!

5) Math, spelling, and phonics workbooks from the Dollar Tree or Target dollar bin are really great resources for Kindergartners and some preschoolers (when attempting to teach them to sit quietly at a table!).

So in the end, just remember that GOD has begun a good work in you as a parent. You are taking on a huge responsibility to educate your child and God will be faithful to complete that good work through you. Don't let fear and anxiety overwhelm you or distract you from your calling. We all do it, and we all need encouragement to remember that this is an amazing privilege. YES it's the hardest thing I've ever done. It takes every second of every day to be a stay-at-home-homeschooling mommy. There are no breaks and there is no pay. But it's also the most blessed experience of my life and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

So enjoy your kiddos and relax.

Bye for now,
Kristina

Savanna Banana's Cakes

A couple months ago I posted about how my daughter loves to bake and has started a fun journey of making cakes. We have had such a wonderful time and since August, we have made 10 cakes (plus cookies and breads along the way)! It's been so much fun having this experience with her and I am so glad we found something that she enjoys that we can also use for learning. Baking cakes helps her learn to follow instructions, use fractions and measurements, be creative, and also helps her with journaling as we keep a Cake Diary about all her creations! It has helped her with her penmanship, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and vocabulary! We decided to incorporate one more learning experience: blogging. She was very excited to design her own web page and we entered her diaries on the blog. You can see what she came up with at Savanna Banana's Cakes. It's been such a great experience and I am excited to see what this will lead to in the future!

Bye for now,
Kristina

Let's Talk Turkey

November is already here! For those of you who enjoy arts and crafts projects, here are some cute ideas for decorating your home classroom for the Thanksgiving holiday :)

Paper Pilgrim Creative Writing
This is such a cute idea. You can use it to write Bible verses about thankfulness, list reasons why you're thankful, do a mini-report on pilgrims, etc. So don't box this in as only a Kindergarten craft!! Older elementary students will enjoy this project as well. It's pretty easy once you cut out all the pieces you need. Here's a photo of the pieces:

For male Pilgrim you will need: 1 sheet of black contstruction paper (for body), 1 sheet of lined paper (trimming hole punches off will make it look neater), 1 brown paper circle (for head), 2 brown paper arms, 2 brown rectangles (for legs), 2 black paper shoes, 1 white paper collar, 1 black paper hat, 1 white paper belt (for hat), 1 brown paper buckel (for hat).

 

For female Pilgrim you will need: 1 sheet of black contstruction paper (for body), 1 sheet of lined paper (trimming hole punches off will make it look neater), 1 brown paper circle (for head), 2 brown paper arms, 2 brown rectangles (for legs), 2 black paper shoes, 1 white paper collar, 1 white paper hat, 1 orange or yellow paper "U" shape (for hair).

 

Have your child write the topic of your choice on the lined paper (before gluing! If you write after it's glued the pencil can sometimes tear the damp paper). We chose "10 things I am thankful for:" as our topic and had the kids make a list. I wrote Samuel's for him because he is only 3yrs old but he told me each item. Savanna (5yrs old) wrote her own. Then once they're done writing, glue it all toghether! That simple. And don't forget to have them draw a face for their pilgim :)

 

Samuel gluing together his pilgrim



Samuel drawing a face on his pilgrim

Savanna thinking about what
to write :)



Samuel's finished pilgrim



Savanna's finished pilgrim



We used the pilgrims to decorate our bulletin board in our classroom. After we finished the pilgrims I decided to make an American Indian girl, too. I put her in the middle of the bulletin board with a Bible verse about being thankful.



For the Indian girl you will need: 1 sheet of green contstruction paper (for body), 1 sheet of lined paper (trimming hole punches off will make it look neater), 1 brown paper circle (for head), 2 brown paper arms, 2 brown rectangles (for legs), 2 green paper shoes, 1 black "U" and 1 long black paper strips (for hair. You will need to share the tips of the strips to look like hair and also round the top of her head), 2 small strips of orange paper (for braid ties), 1 strip of orange paper (for head band), 3 multi color feathers (for head piece). Don't forget to draw a face.



Savanna's list

Samuel's list

Paper Plate Turkey

We added turkeys to our bulletin board as well! This is such an easy craft :) Here's a photo of what you will need to get started:

For your turkey you will need: 1 paper plate, 1 piece of brown construction paper cut into a shape of an egg plant, 1 orange paper diamond (for the beak), 1 red paper tear drop shape (for the wattle), 2 wiggley eyes, 2 orange paper feet, 2 strips of white paper crinkled (for legs), and 5 strips of colored paper (for feathers).

Once you've glued the turkey's face together, glue him to the paper plate. Then glue the legs and feet. Take your colorful strips of paper and make rings by either stapling them or gluing them. Then attach them to the paper plate around the turnkey's face. Here's what the finished product looks like.

Savanna's turkey

Samuel's turkey

We attached our turkeys to the bulletin board as well.It turned out really cute (FYI I used an old receiving blanket as the background for the board!)

 

Fall "Garland of Thankfulness"

Super easy, super cute. Get an 8pk of foam fall shapes (leaves, pumpkin, acorn) from the Dollar Tree. Punch a hole in each one. Have your child write on each shape something he/she is thankful for. If you want, you can make this a family activity where each member of the family gets a shape to write on. I split ours between my two oldest kids so they each had 4 shapes. Once they're filled out, string them up and display them for all to see!

 

 

 Happy Fall Y'all!!

Bye for now,

Kristina

 

 

 



Choo-Choo! All Aboard the Blends Train!

Blends Train


Here is a great project for you and your early reader to enjoy together! It's easy and she will enjoy practicing her blend words using the Blends Train!

Blends Train with 10 Letter Blend Box Cars!

For this project, you will be making a long train with each box car representing a specific letter blend. For example, our first box car is for letter blend "Br." Each box car is a pouch and will hold several words that begin with that letter blend. For our "Br" car we have the words brain, brake, brush, brave, bride, brown, broom, and bring. There are many more words you can use, these just happen to be the ones I chose. Our train consists of 10 cars with 8 words per car for a total of 80 words. You can make your train as short or as long as you'd like. I chose a couple of the most common letter blends but here is a list of Blend Letters and Words that you will find useful.

"Br" letter blend box car with words

Once you have your train assembled, your child can enjoy practicing her blend words by simple flash card repetition or by matching the words to their appropriate box car. You can also encourage creativity and thinking skills in your child by having her write silly sentences using the words from a specific box car. For our "Br" car, she could write a sentence like, "The brave bride asked a friend to brush her brown hair."

Materials needed:

• Card stock or poster board for the grass
• Manila folders for the box cars (keeping the fold as the bottom, cut into small squares)
• Stapler (staple sides of the squares making small pouches)
• Markers to write the letter blend on each box car and to draw wheels and connections between box cars
• Glue
• Blend Words List (I left this as a Word Doc so you can change the words if you want)
• Manila folder or card stock for train engine (I used manila folder so it all matched. Just draw and cut out a simple engine design).

Each Box car holds the words for that letter blend

This train looks cute and can be very helpful in teaching letter blends to your early reader!

Bye for now,
Kristina

Bird, Bird, Bird... Bird's the Word

So I have not posted in a while :( Life has been busy around here. We've been to two weddings and a funeral with over 15hrs of driving just this month. And then there's normal life. Even so, sorry I haven't kept up with this for y'all. Here are SEVERAL worksheets and projects we have done since my last post. If you want the template for any of these so that you can reuse them and fill in different words/numbers, just let me know! Enjoy :)

WORD BIRDS

My kids had a blast with this project and it gave us a really cute way to add decoration to our classroom! We made "Word Birds!" We designated each paper bird for a short vowel - a, e, i, o, u - but you could do this for long vowels, diagraphs, sight words, or even just the alphabet for preschoolers (we did letters A - D on my son's birds). Savanna chose the words she wanted to use for each bird. For example, on her short o bird she used the words fox, box, top, lock, hot, log, and job. This is a great way to let them be creative and see what words they can come up with! We hung them from the ceiling with string and they are really cute! Materials: construction paper, scissors, glue, markers, and some prep-work by mom.



I drew this out on a piece of construction paper
and then cut two or three pieces at a time. 

Body: Large circle
Wings: 2 circles cut in half, 2 of the halves
with small incisions to curl with a pencil
Chest Feathers: teardrop shapes
Tail Feathers: Strips glued to read and curled
with a pencil or marker
Feet, Beak, Eye
 

Glue one wing to the back facing up
Glue one wing to the side facing the left

Write the words directly on the bird



You should have at least 5 birds
a, e, i, o, and u

Display from the ceiling!

PHONICS
The Skunk and the Duck booklet teaches the short u sound
Frog's New Socks booklet teaches the short o sound
The AI Book teaches the diagraph -ai (long a sound)
The Sweet Sheep booklet teaches the diagraphs -ea and -ee (long e sound)
Phonics Word Graphing -ea
Phonics Word Search -oo


We are still in the middle of learning diagraphs (oo, ea, ee, oa, ai, ou, ew, aw, ow) and will post more worksheets as I make them. I also recommend going to LANTERNFISH and downloading their colorful vowel diagraph flashcards. I laminated them for Savanna and it has made it very easy for her to learn these sounds.

And, of course, practice, practice, practice!

LETTERS D - G for Preschoolers
We use a combination of lapbooks or pouches, flashcards, coloring pages, and crafts to teach one letter per week (sometimes 2 per week if he seems to really have a grasp on them). You can find more Printables & Craft Ideas here.

Letter D Lapbook Materials needed: manila folder, printables, scissors, glue, and crayons.
d is for dots was fun but messy! We emptied our hole punch and Samuel glued all the little dots the lowercase d.
D is for Doofenshmirtz (character on Phineas & Ferb). Other characters you could use that start with the letter D: Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Deputy Dawg, Dora, Dexter, Daphne (from Scooby-Doo), Danny Phantom, and Dale (from Chip n' Dale).
Note: I like to use cartoon characters for my son because it helps keep him interested while at the same time learning his letters.

Letter E Pouch Materials needed: manila folder (cut in half), printables, scissors, glue, crayons, and stapler. Once you cut the manila folder in half and trim some off the top, just staple the sides to make a little pouch.
E is for Elevator (has Curious George at the elevator!). Other characters you could use that start with the letter E: elmo, "Ed, Ed, and Eddie," Ernie (from Sesame Street), Elmer Fudd, Esmeralda (from the Hunchback of Notre Dame).

Letter F Lapbook- My son likes frogs so for this lapbook we took a Natgeo for kids and cut out pictures of all sorts of frogs. This was fun and a little different from our normal routine. You can also use animals such as foxes, fish, ferrets, falcons, and fireflies to build your lapbook. Old magazines are great resources!

F is for Fantastic Four Other characters you use that start with the letter F: the Flinstones, Foxy Loxy, Flint Lockwood (from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), Friar Tuck, Flounder (from the Little Mermaid.

Letter G Lapbook Materials needed: manila folder, printables, scissors, glue, and crayons.

G is for Green Goblin (from Spiderman). Other characters you could use that start with the letter G: Grumpy, Goofy, Goosey Loosey, Garfield, Grinch, Gumby.

  

HAPPY FALL

A fun project for decorating your front walkway (or using as a centerpiece).  Your kids will LOVE making these (even the boys!) and your visitors will be quite impressed that your kids made them all by themselves! Materials needed: Terra cotta pots ($.99 at Michael's or A.C. Moore), fall color paints, paint brushes, fall colored artificial flowersn (you can get these from craft stores, dollar tree, wal-mart, etc), wire cutters (for mom to cut flowers off the stem), mini scarecrows and pumpkins on sticks ($.99 at Michael's or A.C. Moore), and rocks or dirt.

Getting ready to make our Fall Flowers

Samuel ended up mixing all this
colors to make orange :)

Savanna did two-tone pots :)

Samuel's finished flower pots!
His say "Be Thankful" on one and
"I Love Fall" on the other.

Savanna's finished flower pots!
Hers say "Fall for All" on one and
Happy Fall" on the other.

What a simple project that makes
the front walk look in season!

Other Fall worksheets can be found at Education.com (inluding the life-cycle of the pumplkin) and DLTK. Also here is a Pumpkin Poem that I made for Savanna.

MEASUREMENTS & TELLING TIME

Savanna is still making cakes each week and so we started teaching her measurements using measuring cups and spoons. We also have been studying measurements using rulers. I found Measurement Worksheets as well as Time Worksheets at Education.com that Savanna really enjoys! Here are some other worksheets I made for her:

Measuring Fourths- Cup

Measuring Thirds- Cup

Measuring Spoons 1

Measuring Spoons 2

COUNTING

Skip Counting by 10s (I left this one in Word format so you can change out the numbers and reuse the same page for practice).

Caterpillar #1-10 for preschoolers

Savanna's last 3 baking creations :)

Rooster Cake
From-scratch Pound Cake!



Flower Girl Cake
First time using Fondant!



Spice Cupcakes with homemade Pumpkin
and homemade Hazelnut frosting
Decorated by Savanna (and a few by Samuel)!

Bye for now,

Kristina