My Dry Erase Marker Holder

Yesterday I got some new dry erase markers.  Then for lunch I had some Chinese Vegetable rolls, from the freezer section.  I thought the box my lunch was in was kind of a neat shape and was trying to think of something I could do with it when I remembered that I was going to need a container to keep my dry erase markers in.  I thought I could cover the box and make it pretty.

So I found some pretty fabric that reminds me of my Grandma.  I had it in my fabric drawer.  Then I set the box on the backside of the fabric and traced around the bottom, then laid it over on both sides with the flaps open and traced around them, too.  Then I cut out two pieces of fabric from the shape I had traced, making sure to leave a little bit extra around the edges to fold over as I was working on my project.  Then I used tacky glue to carefully glue the fabric to the box and I folded the fabric edges over the edge of the flaps to help keep it in place.  After I had glued both pieces of fabric on the box I glued the flaps down into the box.  When I was finished I added a little ribbon trim to cover up the cut edge of my fabric.

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It is just the right size for our dry erase markers, and I didn't have to buy anything to make it.  You could also to the same thing with pretty paper.

Luke 6:40

"A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher."

God, help me to be a good teacher, using the ability you've given me to train my children.

Missions Conference

Our Family attended Proclaim Missions Conference this weekend at our church.  The kids enjoyed going to "different countries" and learning about different aspects of those countries and missionaries that are there.  Jeff and I enjoyed hearing about many of our church missionaries and how God is using them.  We had the opportunity to attend 3 breakout sessions where we got to choose which mission teams/groups we wanted to learn more about.  We went to hear what the Mexico team is doing, as we know one of God's missionaries on that team.  Then we went to hear about Cadence International, which is a ministry to our Military and their families.  Lastly, we went to hear from the team in China.  There is so much going on that they do and much of their work is with men who live on the streets, God has given them so many opportunities to help physically and spiritually.  We have a new calendar of God's missionaries to pray for one specific missionary every week.  I'm looking forward to implementing this new calendar into our school prayer time and hopefully we will get to know some more of God's missionaries better.

It's amazing how God takes plain, ordinary people who do ordinary things and uses them for His extraordinary work.

Christmas Pictures

I finally downloaded the pictures from our camera.  Sorry it took me so long.

We saw Santa at the Library.

What!  These aren't toys?

Christmas Morning.

Mimi made bonnets for the girls.

Felicity with her namesake.

Organization with School Supplies

Fatima over at Fur Lined Toilet Seats invited me to join her with my organizational tips for my kids. 

One of the most recent things I have done is use a corner cabinet to house our standard, everyday school supplies.

I found some small caddies in the dollar section a few weeks back and assigned one to each of the kids.  If they have something that belongs specifically to them it goes in their caddy.

Then I have a small set of 3 drawers where I keep:
Drawer 1: stapler and post-its
Drawer 2: pencils, erasers, and hand-held pencil sharpener
Drawer 3:  glue sticks and scissors.

Then we have a specific place for coloring books and another for magazines, that can be cut up for projects.  A few other commonly used odds and ends just sit on the shelf.

Next to my cabinet I have another set of drawers that houses our commonly used art supplies, that the kids have to have permission to use, but are now easily accessible.  In these drawers are stickers, stamps, paint, beads, foam shapes and ink for my printer, etc.

Kids Shopping

I took the kids shopping.  There's nothing new with that, except they each had $5 to spend from their Christmas money.  I told them they each had $5 to spend however they wanted with my approval.  They could spend it all in one place, or save some for something else. 

First we went to Mardel's.  They didn't find anything their they wanted that was within their budget.  Next we went to Michael's, there Katy found a heart shaped cardboard valentine with a yarn hanger.  It was white and had a design on it to color - $1.  She also found a little pink pig in the small animals - $2.
Kaomi found a package of 4 Valentine's Bracelets -$1 and a baby horse in the small animals - $2.  Kent didn't find anything there, so he decided to save his money to spend at Target.

We went to Fudrucker's for lunch, as the girls decided that they would rather have grilled cheese than chick-fil-a and Kent wanted a burger.

After lunch we went to Target.  First we went to the dollar section.  Kent right away found a sword - $1, then a mailbox - $1, and a red heart shaped basket - $1.  He wanted to save his other money for Legos.  I told him that Legos cost more than $2, so he put the mailbox back.  Kaomi found a pink princess wand - $1, a pink heart shaped basket - $1 and a pink headband - $1.  She had to decide which one to put back, the headband.  Katy found a small package of farm animals - $1, a barn - $1, and a box of foam sticker hearts - $1.  She decided to put the barn back.  Then we went with Kent to look at the legos, he couldn't find any for $3 so he found 3 hot wheels cars he wanted.  Then Kaomi found  a purple car, so she decided to put the pink basket back.

I found a sleeper for Felicity that was $7 so her extra came from her clothing budget.

They had a lot of fun and it was a great hands on math lesson and decision making lesson for them, too.  Then we did our grocery shopping.

If you were to visit on a school day...

I've been asked how do you homeschool with little ones always around and what does your day look like by several people.

So I thought I'd share with you how we do things around here.

First thing in the morning it is quiet time until 7:30.  You may read books or play quietly in your room, but no yelling, talking loud, or fighting.

Around 7:30 all the kids (except Felicity) are sent to get dressed and then they have their morning chores to complete.  Their morning chores usually consist of making beds and getting rooms ready for the day and folding laundry or sweeping the kitchen. 

8:00 Brings breakfast time and after breakfast they finish up any uncompleted chores or play quietly.  During this time I start a load of laundry and empty the dishwasher, and start supper if it needs to go in the crockpot.

By 9:00 we are ready to start school and everyone is called to come.  We begin with the pledge and if anyone is slow coming they start moving quickly when they hear us saying the pledge.  Then we pray.  Each day we have a specific topic/people that we pray for.  On Monday's we pray for our missionaries of the month.  We rotate through the other following categories: our country/government, our extended family, our direct family, those sitting next to you, anyone in particular that we know needs prayer, etc.  After prayer Kaomi will go to her room to play quietly.  Then I send Kent off to his room to work on something he do can by himself for the day, usually it is CIM science homework or copywork.  While Kent is doing that Katy learns her phonics lesson.  If Felicity is roaming I will either pick her up and hold her or try to give her something that will keep her busy for a few minutes.  Then I will get Katy started on her Fine Motor Skills. 

Between 9:30 and 10:00 I usually put Felicity in her bed, even if she isn't sleepy.  Then I don't usually get her back up until around 11:30.  She will play in her bed and take a nap most days.

While Katy is completing her work I will call Kaomi to me and we usually read a book together and then do a craft or find a coloring page that has something to do with what we read.  She usually gets to pick the book she wants me tho read to her.  Now that Kaomi has had "school" she will go play again.  Usually Katy will join her for a few minutes playing while I do Math or History with Kent.

When Kent is working on his math pages, Katy and I will read her history and work on her Bible Verse.  Then she has rhymes and motion which Kaomi usually joins us for.  Katy usually finishes up the rest of her school by 11 and can play quietly with Kaomi, color or read on her own.

We will finish up whatever Kent still has to complete and work on his Bible Lesson/Verse.  Kent usually finishes his morning work around 11:30.  (He likes to ask me if he can take a break, but he likes to look out the window and not do much during the first 1/2 hour or hour of school, so he already had his break.)

We eat lunch around 12:00 and then the kids all do a jurisdiction cleaning that doesn't usually take very long.  Then they get to play.  During their play I usually try to get the laundry in the dryer and clean-up anything else that needs it at that time.  Sometimes I join them in their play or read more books to Kaomi or play with Felicity.

We reconvene in the living room sometime between 1 and 1:30 for storytime.  Everyone participates in this.  If Felicity took a morning nap then I usually hold her in my lap while I read, otherwise I put her to bed for the afternoon.  We read Kent's assigned book for storytime to everyone and then do any activities that might go along with it.  After storytime I complete Kent's reading with him, while the girls have a few minutes to play quietly or pick up their room.

When Kent finishes his reading he is usually done for the day, unless he was assigned something to complete at quiet time.  Quiet time begins at 2 pm and lasts until 4 for everyone in the house.

Then I begin any supper preparations I may need to do and the kids get a snack.

I'm not sure how well this explains what we do, you might just have to be present to see it.

Great Helpers

This morning we had a showing for our home.  I had about an hour before we needed to be walking out the door.  I delegated the girls to help get the house in order before we left, Kent wasn't here.  Kaomi, helped by picking up toys in her room while Katy finished her Handwriting.  Then Kaomi picked up Felicity's toys off the living room floor and Katy folded Felicity's blanket and straightened the pillows on the couch.  Both girls helped clean up everything in Kent's room and put it wherever they thought it belonged.  I quick cleaned the Master Bath, Master Bedroom and Kids Bathroom.  Katy swept the kitchen floor and the kids Bathroom.  Kaomi cleaned a few more things off her floor and put some books on the shelf.  I dust mopped the living room and grabbed Katy's schoolwork and put it in a bag to take with us.  While the girls put on their shoes I cleared off the kitchen counter (dishes that need to be hand-washed and on my schedule to do) some went under the sink and the pans went in the microwave ( I hope they didn't look in there:)  Then I quickly cleared off the kitchen table with the girls help and put on a new table cloth, set a big bowl of fruit in the middle and the crayon tower in front of Katy's place where I put her handwriting papers back on the table.  Loaded the girls and Felicity in the car with our school work and diaper bag.  Then I ran back inside and did a quick walk through and re-straighten, looked around the front of the house for any trash that had blown around and we left.  All this in AN HOUR.  WOW!  Thanks, Katy (5) and Kaomi (3) you did a great job.  I thought the house looked great, hopefully everyone else did, too.  Then we headed for the library, only for me to remember that the Library is closed on Thursdays, the girls didn't want to go to WalMart so we ended up at Chick-fil-a where I had a milkshake while the girls played on the playground, and wished there were some other kids to play with.  Then we picked up Kent from Science class and returned home, to have lunch and finish up school.

It's Finally Time

We put our home up for sale last week.  We've been feeling the crunch of people in our home.  We hadn't originally planed on staying here forever, but I will be sad to see it go.  I like our little house.  We are also excited about signing the papers tonight to get our new home built with an estimated move-in sometime in May.  Hopefully our current home will sell in a reasonable amount of time and our new home will have fine "sailing" for the building process.  We really want to be in it before the new baby comes sometime in June.

Return to School

We started back to school today.  We've had about a total of 5 weeks off in the last 2 months and now it is time to get back to our routine.  It was a nice break, I enjoyed being able to do lots of stuff in December without worrying whether or not school was going to get done.  I was ready to have the kids start school again, just to decrease the playing, screaming, constant noise that goes on with four young kids in a small home.  Our day went very smoothly and were done with everything before 2 pm and we even took a trip to the library to return all our books which were due today.  I think all the kids were ready to go back to school today, too.  Kaomi was excited to have "school" with me and she was having trouble waiting her turn, but finally it was her turn and she chose an old kids magazine to look at with me.  Felicity had quiet time in her bed when I tired from keeping her contained and then she took a little nap and woke up just before lunch time, ready to sit in her chair and eat.

Then I proceeded to make Homemade Whole Wheat Soft Pretzels they sounded good, they are rising now and I will soon start shaping them.  I hope they are as good as they sound.

I'm Tired

Tired of being tired.  This is the first time I've been pregnant and nursing another baby.  Felicity still likes to get up at least twice a night to eat.  Usually, I end up falling asleep in my bed while she is eating, but the nightly interruptions really seem to take a toll.  She is eating more solid foods now and can feed herself finger foods, so I'm hoping these nighttime wakings will soon go by the wayside.  I don't usually get to take a nap in the afternoon either.  The nap attacks hit before or after lunch, but when I finally have all the other kids settled for an afternoon quiet-time I'm not ready for a nap anymore.  I do try to rest or be quiet during quiet time, too.  It gives me a mental boost, so I can be ready to tackle dinner and be ready to hear the older kids again.

Jeff Answered the Phone

Just a few minutes ago Jeff answered the phone.  Apparently the person on the other end asked to speak to any one of the adults in the house.  Jeff said, "There are no adults that live here."  The lady on the other end sputtered and stammered and apologized before hanging up.  It was quite entertaining and had us both laughing...and laughing...and still laughing.  Now, I'm waiting.  Waiting to see if the police show up at the door of "the house where no adults live".

It was a dark night

Late yesterday afternoon the electricity went out.  I read stories to the kids until it got too dark to read easily from the window light.  Then I lit several candles around the house for a little bit of light.  Supper was cooking in the crock-pot and wasn't done yet.  Our neighbor had heard that we should have electric back around 8 o'clock.  We gave the kids glow sticks to play with so we didn't have use flashlights, except on occasion.  Jeff had to go to the next town to get some fast food dinner, as there wasn't anything I could do for dinner without opening the fridge and we couldn't warm anything up, anyway.  After supper Jeff played his guitar and we sang Christmas carols and other songs before the kids went to bed.  The electricity finally came back on just before midnight, about 7 hours after it went out.  Meanwhile, I didn't feel comfortable keeping our crock-pot dinner, as I knew it hadn't been done cooking and had sat, too long, before I would have been able to finish cooking it and getting it cooled down properly.  I didn't want to chance anybody getting sick.  I'm sad, that was three yummy meals that we don't get to eat this week, now I'll have to come up with something else :( 

I received a special gift!

I just wanted to let you know that I signed up for a homeschool swap .  We were to swap a gift with our swap sister, a fellow homeschooling mom.  My swap sister Penny from England sent me the following gift.

We have been praying for each other and corresponding over the last several weeks.  She sent me an encouraging letter, tea and English biscuits (cookies) to share with my family, marmalade, roast potato seasoning, wonderful smelling soaps, a candle, lotion, calendar, tote bag, a key chain and Christmas card with a cd.  I had fun opening her gift as it smelled wonderful.  Thanks, Penny!!!

Working Weekend - Projects

This weekend I finished up some more Christmas shopping and was able to work on some sewing projects.  I finished the dress that I started for Katy, back in October.  I started making two new Christmas Stockings, one will be for Katy and the other for Felicity.  Maybe I can finish them tomorrow.  Then I have a dress project for Kaomi that I would like to complete before Christmas and a cape project for Kent.  I think Kent would love to have something I made for him.  He is always excited about the girls dresses.  Since Kent really likes Kings, knights and castles I would like to make a cape that he can use to be whatever he wants to be.

Mystery Lunch

Kent's reading program suggested having a mystery meal as part of the kick-off for the new genre he started today.  So for lunch the kids got to choose what they wanted to eat from their menu.  I served them a 3 course meal which they did not get the interpretation of the food they were ordering.

The menu consisted of:
Course 1 (they got to choose 2):
Blueballs (frozen blueberries)
Yellow Smoothie (peach yogurt)
Shovel (spoon)
Clear Quencher (water)

Katy and Kent choose Blueballs and Yellow Smoothies.  Katy ate her yogurt with her fingers and Kent drank his.  Kaomi chose a shovel and clear quencher.  She was sad because she didn't get anything to eat (so I gave her a couple of blueberries).

Course 2 (they got to choose 2):
Brown Bubbles (pinto beans)
Rows of Ears (corn)
Refreshing Squeeze (Caprisun drink)
Pointy Peaks (fork)

Kent and Kaomi both chose Pointy Peaks and Brown Bubbles.  Katy chose Brown Bubbles and Refreshing Squeeze.

Course 3 (they got to choose 3):
Everyday Pie (1/2 Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich)
Puppy in the Sun ( hot dog and mustard)
Steaming Surprise (Chicken Noodle Soup)
Shallow Bowl (spoon)
Seasonal Flavor (Apple Cider)

Kent and Katy both chose Everyday Pie (Katy was disappointed).  They all chose Seasonal Flavor and were thrilled.  Kaomi chose Steamy Surprise which I served in a cup (she drank the broth and left the noodles).  Puppy in the Sun was everyone's favorite though, they talked about it for awhile.

They had a lot of fun and I had fun serving them.

December School

I've been having a debate over how to do school for the rest for the month and I came up with a plan.   We are going to be having school two days every week up to Christmas.  We plan to have school on Tuesday and Wednesdays.  Then we can have Monday to run extra errands, go to the library and get ready for school the next day.  On Thursdays we will have crafts and hopefully I will be able to get a little sewing completed.  On Fridays will will stick to our usual schedule since we don't have school on Friday's anyway.  Hopefully by using this type of schedule we will be able to have lots of holiday fun, get rested up and be ready to start again full time with school after New Year's, the kids won't forget everything they've been learning, and the pressures of the Christmas Season will be small.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank You Practice

This week as a kick off to Thanksgiving Day we have been having thank you practice as part of our school lessons.  On Monday, everyone had to think of someone they were thankful for and why, then they wrote that person a thank you letter and we put it in the mail.  On Tuesday,  everyone had to think of something they we thankful for and then they made a "I am thankful for..." paper, which they mailed to someone to share the things they were thankful for.  Today they had to make a paper thanking God for somethings that he has given us or let us have.  They've had a lot of fun thinking of different things to be thankful for, working on their papers and putting them in the mail.

Felicity's Balancing Act

Felicity has just recently started a balancing act.  She lays on her back and plays with a toy.  Then she puts her feet up (like a shelf) and balances her toy on her feet.  Then she'll either play with her hands for a moment or pick up another toy.  After that she takes the balanced toy off her feet and plays with it some more, before beginning her balancing act all over again.