nature wreath

My girl was inspired to make a wreath while I was making my new fall wreath. She found her bucket and went out side to gather acorns. When she gathered enough acorns, she came in and stated glued them around her wreath.



I love the fact that it was her idea and she took the initiative to make something from start to finish! She even picked out the ribbon, too! And now it is proudly hanging on her bedroom doorknob.

mission update

I totally failed my September mission! I don't know whats gotten into me. I'm usually very organized and follow through on my plans. Not so lately. I seem to have a mild case of ADD. Okay, maybe a major case of ADD! I start a project and then jump to another before finishing the other one. Again, so not like me!

I almost didn't write this post, but the purpose of Mama Jenn's mission challenge is all about accountability. Instead of setting another goal, I'm going to re-issue my September goal:

mission goals:
- put other cart together
- number the drawers
- load school work in each drawer each week

Dear Mama Jenn,
If you are reading this post, I'm sorry I failed my 1st mission! Please consider making a FAILED mission button! There's nothing more motivating than seeing a big red X on the Mama's Mission button!
Yours truely,
Tamela

fall wreath

I love fall! It is my favorite season of the year. I love the colors, the cool crisp mornings, doing fall crafts, and baking.

I decided I needed a new fall wreath for our door and I didn't want to have to go buy any materials. So I challenged myself to use what I already had at home. This fall planter was my inspiration for my new wreath.

materials-
several different fall colored fabrics (I used 7)
piece of cardboard
2 different size bowls (one needs to be smaller than the other)
exacto knife
jute

instuctions-


1. pick your fabrics
2. cut a section from each fabric (the length needs to be about a foot long)
3. rip your fabrics into 1 1/2 inch strips


4. trace the larger circle onto the cardboard
5. trace the smaller circle in the center of the other circe


6. toss all of your fabric strips in a pile to mix them up

7. start tying the strips all around the wreath
8. line all of the knots up in the center of the wreath
9. cut a piece of jute and loop around the wreath and tie a knot at the ends

10. hang on your door and enoy!

savory chicken

I'm no Pioneer Woman or anything, but I thought I'd share this easy and delicious recipe with y'all. It was really good and all three of my kids liked it. I will definitely be making this again!

savory chicken -
3 or 4 chicken breasts
Nature's Seasoning
swiss cheese (I used provolone because that's what I had on hand)
1 can of cream of chicken (I used Healthy Request)
3/4 can of milk
crutons
5 tablespoons of metled butter

1. place chicken in casserole dish (single layer)

2. sprinkle Nature's Seasoning on chicken

3. place one piece of cheese on top of each chicken breast

4. in a small bowl, mix cream of chicken and milk together

5. pour mixture over chicken

6. throw some crutons on the top of each chicken breast

7. pour melted butter on top of crutons

8. cover dish with foil

9. bake for 45 minutes in a 350 degree pre-heated oven

10. remove foil and bake another 15-20 minutes (until chicken is cooked)

11. serve with rice and another side (I used brown rice)

is this normal?

9 times out of 10, this is what our school table looks like after a day of doing school! But, rest assured that we always clean up when we are finsihed and start the next school day with a nice and neat work area!

on a kick...

Do you ever get on a kick about something? Well, I'm on one now! I'm totally into making my little man tot books. He loves to have books read to him and by using tot books, we can explore all kinds of concepts like counting, ABCs, colors, shapes, sequencing and recognition of his name. And the cool thing is -he loves them and brings them to me for us to do together. I love that!

He loves the movie Cars! and I found a tot book at 1+1+1=1 to along with that movie.



concepts in this tot book -
name recognition
counting
colors
shapes

I've already made him a tot book to go along with the book Brown Bear Brown Bear and I'm currently in the process of putting together a tot book to go along with the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

foot prints

Today I finally finished Matt's father's day gift for this year. I wanted to capture their little feet and include a scripture that reflects our parenting efforts in this current season of our life.

materials-
12x12 piece of pattern paper
12x12 piece of off white cardstock
differnt color paint that coordinates with pattern paper for each child
removable double stick tape
12x12 scrapbooking frame

directions-
1. cut down off white cardstock to 10x10

2. paint each foot a differnt color and press onto cardstock - one foot at a time ;)


3. cut the top portion of the cardstock off

4. print off the scripture of your choice on a piece of scrap paper

5. use the removable double stick tape to tape the top portion of your cardstock directly on top of the scripture on the other paper

6. send the paper back through the printer and the scripture will print onto the cardstock

a pair of red clogs

Here is the next lapbook that we have done in our co-op group. We had fun learning about Japanese culture and making a couple of crafts to along with the book. A Pair of Red Clogs - "For Mako, a little Japanese girl, the new shoes were clogs painted with red lacquer that shone beautifully. This is the story of what happened after she cracked the new clogs playing the weather-telling game and so longed for a bright, shiny new pair to replace them that she almost did a dishonest thing." lapbook - middle left side culture cards right side back sushi haiku clogs fans goldfish kite

fabric squares

Did you know that some Wal-Mart's carry fabric squares? I didn't and was super excited when I found these in the fabric section! I really really want to learn how to quilt and over at diary of a quilter, she is hosting a 10 week quilt along. She says that this would be a great beginner quilt. I'll let you know in a few weeks if she is right or not! By the way, did you see that awesome fall table runner that she made? LOVE IT!

So here goes...I'm officially participating. Wish me luck!

guess who

are taking ballet this year...

brown bear, brown bear...

Ethan is really into reading the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin Jr. I made him a tot book from 1+1+1=1 to go along with the book. He has had lots of fun playing with his tot book. Even the girls have had fun playing with his book!



front cover


middle

components:

heads/tails matching game
size sequencing (I show Ethan 2 bears at a time and have him show me which bear is bigger/smaller.)


ABC mini book
1-10 counting cards
animal coloring book


color word matching game for the girls


story props - which they all love and fight over!


And, I just had to share this video of him reading the book!

homeschool village - rules and discipline

We have 3 little rules that we use for homeschooling and our everyday life. These 3 rules are not my own original rules. I actually got them from Ashley, author of Behavior Boosters. When she shared them with us, I knew I would quickly adopt those rules for our family, too.

1. Obey right away.
2. Obey all the way.
3. Obey in a positive way.

homeschooling on hold...

We are putting a much needed hold on homeschooling until all of our curriculum comes in. Since moving to Alabama we havn't quite gotten our groove for school yet. I tried to start school a few weeks back because the girls caught the Back-to-School bug from their friends and cousins. And by nature, I am a planner and organizer. And this idea of just doing school just wasn't working for me! I am taking this week to plan and prepare. Last week, I finally got around to ordering our books and they should be here very soon (I hope!).

I am excited that we found a homeschool co-op group and we are doing classes there on Mondays. In a way, I'm glad I didn't order any books before joining the co-op group because I like what they are doing and using. We are taking the Literature/Craft class and the Astronomy class.

So, here is the line up of curriculum for this school year. I will still use our kindergarten learning goals, too.

Phonics and Reading:
Abeka

Literature/Craft:
FIAR (Five in a Row)

Ferdinand is the first book and lapbook that we have done at co-op:


Math:
Math U See (starting in January)

Until January, we will check off/review concepts on our learning goals list.

Astronomy:

Apologia

fruit of the spirit

For this week's Bible lesson, we talked about the Fruit of the Spirit from Galations 5. I tried explaining what each of the fruits are and then we talked about ways we can show fruits of the spirit. For a visual and to help the kids see the fruit of the spirit in action, I used a behavior booster from my Big Book of Behavior Boosters. I copied a tree for each child and bought some fruit stickers at a local store. The trees are hanging on our refrigerator so the kids can see them and I placed the fruit stickers in a pocket right beside the trees. That way I won't have to go look for the stickers each time and the girls can't decorate the house with them!




If you want to "meet" the author of Behavior Booster, be sure to check out her interview.

sensory tub

I don't know why I've not put together a sensory tub for the kids before today. They LOVED it! They scooped and poured and then scooped and poured some more!



sensory tub:
lima beans
black beans
kidney beans
lentils
split peas
rice

**UPDATE -


Maybe this is why I've never let my children play with a sensory tub :)