The Problem With Stuff...

So, I'm bad at taking before pictures.

Here are a few pictures that show the progress I've made, but I've come to a conclusion...

STUFF in and of itself is a problem for me.  Honestly.  You know how much space I actually NEED for the materials we are actively using?!  Not much.

I have too much stuff.
I've been trying to remedy the problem I'm having, but I am organizationally challenged.  Big time.  But here are my meager efforts - in progress.

Click images for BIG versions!

See the two bags under the desks?
Those are large enough to hold
ALL the books we use in a week.

This picture shows the part of the
room that is *mostly* finished...

I was elated to find this black cart on
the curb recently!  I'm considering
storing all the current curriculum
on the white thing.

Cozy couch and some more junk...

I'd really love for this to feel more inviting.

Here you can see the main "problem".

And the rest of the problem.

Classroom Setup

New Perspective

This week I re-arranged our class room. Seems to be much more functional for all of us! During class I place my chair by both desks, sort of in between so I can work with both kids. So far, Jupiter has been less distracted and has been getting more done with less prodding (so nice).

I've moved the wall art since taking this pic and plan to utilize the space behind my chair for our time line (Mystery of History Vol. I). I might also hang a shelf on the wall between the desks too.

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The Best Part of Waking Up

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Discovering Eighths

J has discovered eighths on his own, he even figured out what they're called by noticing the pattern in this project (which stopped at 1/4 but he wanted to continue).

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When The Books Are Good

This is how you know your kid likes his curriculum... He was doing this when I came down stairs this morning!

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Fine Motor Development

Sprite had been showing some readiness for writing, so here she is practicing is an activity suggested by a member of a local homeschool group.

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Vacation Destination

Today's assignment was to design an advertisement to convince aliens that Earth is a good place to visit. I allowed inventive spelling, because right now we are in a period of trying to make writing less of a frustration... Seems to be working, he giggled all the way through this project!

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School Pictures - 2008

All my friends with kids have been calling/emailing me telling me about their kid's first pictures... I was so excited to hear about this milestone, but it also made me feel a little sad when I realized that my kids won't ever have a kindergarten picture day!

I started thinking about that a little, and then it hit me... who says picture day has to happen in school? So today, we got the kids all dressed up and hopped in the car and started driving around aimlessly - and look what God gave us!  ***Edit:***  I'm not sure why the pictures don't show up in the post any more, but if you click on them you can view them.

Taken Today / Announcement

Well, thought you'd all like to know...

J has become a glasses wearer! He only needs them for reading, and already I've noticed a difference in his attitude during "school". He pays attention longer, and actually reads faster - I think he can see the letters more clearly, and while I thought before that he was really having to think very hard about the words I now believe that he just couldn't see them very well. He has some worksheets to complete tomorrow so I'll know better to what extent he is being affected by his eyesight. I'm glad to have caught this now, instead of later!


J was having pics taken of him, so S had to have some taken too.

Time4Learning

I recently started reviewing Time4Learning by The Learning Odyssey for our core curriculum purposes after reading many MANY reviews from other homeschoolers at Home School Reviews. It's an online curriculum, and so far appears to be very thorough - it starts at the PreK level (still slightly above S's head but too easy for J, he placed in K/1st for math and english) and goes up to 8th grade at this point. Much of the learning happens on screen, but there are plenty of provided activities and printable work sheets to supplement the computer stuff. These pictures were taken today, the very first time we tried the site. Pricing is VERY reasonable and there is a two week evaluation period during which you can get a refund if you decide the program is not for you. Multiple children receive discounts and there is no commitment.

Independent Reading

Reading "Hello Kitty's Paper Kiss"
This book belonged to me when I was little - my Dad was a semi truck driver and crane operator and was gone a lot, the book is about a Daddy going away for work and sending a letter with X's and O's at the bottom, very cute. S is on a Hello Kitty kick, which is also very cute. She calls Hello Kitty "my hello ki tee".

Chores

How my kids help with laundry:


Actually, they *are* pretty helpful - it's nice to not have to bend down to empty the dryer, and they both help sort the laundry into categories (I use this more as an educational excersize than chore work - "make a pile of pants, a pile of shirts, and a pile of socks and undies" or "make a pile of your stuff, and a pile of your sister's stuff"). J can pretty much fold up his own stuff and put it away on his own, so that helps with the amount of time I really have to spend (even a little makes a difference).

Dental caries are no joke! :D

Which is why we are doing everything we can to avoid them! These pics are from the kids' first visit to the dentist.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Here, J's teeth have been painted with a "disclosing" dye, which was then rinsed off and the parts that remained dyed were the areas that had plaque build up. The hygenist was awesome, and explained to him everything that she was doing and let him ask any questions his little brain could think of.

He did a great job with the water spray, our hygenist said he was the best patient she'd had in a while, even better than most adults haha...


After brushing J got some little trays put in with a flouride foam in them. He thought he looked like a duck, it was pretty cute. S had to try it out too, her trays were empty of course.

S was pretty excited to get a ride in the chair!

And she also liked the water squirt thingy. She'll have her first real appointment this September when she turns three.

Easter Part 1

We had a very fun, impromptu Easter celebration at my hubby's Mom and Dad's house last Saturday - we drove down to pick up MY Mom to bring her up to our house to spend a week with us before Easter, and we spent part of the day having supper and playing around before coming back up.

The kids each got an Easter bag filled with all kinds of fun goodies - each received Crayola Color Wonder Soft Sticks and some coloring pages to go with them, a book with a sweet and simple discussion about what Easter is really about, some jellybeans (each color with a Christian meaning), a pen with a plush lamb topper and a cute spiral notebook to go with it.

We spent the next week talking about what Easter means and watched the Veggie Tales Easter Carol a few times, it's pretty sill but does such a great job at sharing the real message with little kids.


There are more pictures to follow from Easter Sunday, and as always - you can click the little pictures to make them larger.

Easter Part 2

We felt very blessed to have family come visit us for Easter this year! This was the first holiday that my hubby and I have entertained guests, and it was so much fun to be able to prepare a meal for our loved ones.



We attended church at Faith Reformed Church and it was a really nice service, presented in a unique way that was refreshing and interesting. This church is set up differently than any other place we've been, there's a main sanctuary (the one we went on Sunday) where the Pastor preaches in person, and there are also satellite churches where his message is broadcast onto a large screen via projector, but each satellite has it's own unique worship service (one is traditional, another is contemporary, etc). This next week we plan to check out the contemporary service.

Our supper was awesome - we had a relish tray (prepared by my cousin Nat - olives, two kinds of pickles, crackers, cheese and later refilled with strawberries and powdered sugar and sliced green pepper) Virginia Smoked Ham (which my Mom glazed with Coke, honey dijon mustard, and brown sugar - YUM), my own secret versions of green bean casserole and cheesy potatoes (or wedding potatoes, depending on who you're talking to), crescent rolls, and Heath Trifle (my Grandma's recipe, made by my Aunt G) for dessert. I think we all ate too much, and I still have left overs in the fridge!

The kids had fun coloring eggs with food coloring markers, and then got to open their Easter Baskets. They each got a cute coin bank, J got a frog that ribbets when you drop in a coin and S got an elephant that trumpets when you feed it coins. They each got a candy item, too - and some coins for their banks.

God Bless!

Theatre Performance

Well, the kiddos had their last day of theatre for Winter Session on Tuesday, and the performance was so adorable. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy - Enjoy! :)

They did all their warm up exercises like pretending to be happy or sad, then they pretended to be having a picnic and they unpacked all the things from their 'heavy' baskets and tasted their PB&J and pretended it was sour (imagine all the cute "sour" faces!). Then they acted out "I'm Being Eaten by a Boa Constrictor" by Shel Silverstein using the parachute, when they say "Oh dread, it's eaten my head!" they all get under the parachute and giggle about the 'stinky snake belly' then "tickle" him to escape (which consists of pushing all over on the parachute so that it flutters all over the place, always a kid pleaser!).

Then they learned a new little thing on the spot (a little song that goes "I know a chicken/and she laid an egg/oh my goodness!/it was a shaky egg!" and then they drop a plastic Easter Egg with beans or something inside to 'lay' an egg, then pick it up and shake it fast or slow, depending on what the song said) so here's a video of that:


After that, we went up onto the "big stage" where Ms. Kat showed them all about the stage, the different parts, explained how the set was designed and how it was made... then they did a cute little play called The Big Bad Pig and the Little Wolves which Ms. Kat pretty much made up... basically, one little girl played the Pig and everyone else was a Wolf. The Set was a cardboard box, with each side representing a different kind of house: 1. Mac & Cheese, 2. Grass, 3. Rocks, 4. Flowers, which make the Pig become nice when she smells them and then they're all friends.

Cooking!

Here's a quick little video I put together when the kidlets were helping me fix supper one night. I think J has a knack for being cute, er... acting ;)

TKD - Movie Too!

J's first attempt at breaking a board:


Master Pline working with the Tiny Tiger class on their one step, J is on the far right.


J "leading" the class:


Practicing Songahm II for the first time: