a week in review... Letter O

Wow... This week started awesome, hit a super low point and is coming back around now that I have decided that a break is needed in this house. I feel like it lifted a weight off my shoulders. I think that I am going to take a week off, not three like I was thinking yesterday. One week off, then a light, easy review week so we can have our 100 day party on the last day before our big family vacation. I can't think of a better way of ending this session... with a huge party for the both of us.

O is for Octopus

Or should I say the THREE of us? PorkChop has decided that lesson time can be fun. I already knew that he enjoyed cooking but I guess that I overlooked the fact that he can do more than I give him credit for. So from now on, I think that I will make sure that he can participate more. Not just with our sensory boxes but with our art and cooking too. And reading time, of course. I need to get some more Pork friendly books in this house.

Look who is starting to join in more!

 This week, we worked on the letter O. We talked about octopuses, owls and otters. We tried different kinds of oranges, deciding that little mandarins were good and blood oranges are too scary to eat. We snacked on cheerios (hey, they ARE little O's after all) and practiced writing "circle Os" everywhere. The littles helped me make some delicious orange cupcakes with a buttercream frosting that tasted just like vanilla ice cream. I think that this might have been one of my most favorite tasting weeks.

mmmm... orange creamsicle cupcakes

 In math this week, we have been working on addition. Everything in me screams that learning subtraction first would have been easier but everything that I looked into said to start with adding. SweetPea surprised me and seemed to catch on pretty quickly to the basics. Sure, at this point, its more just counting the pictures than really "adding" but she gets the concept. And I need to focus on that more... that she understands the concept behind what she is learning more than trying to get her to be perfect in a week at a skill that might be over her head.

taking a break from the table

 Together, we learned "Little Boy Blue" this week. I wish that I had thought to add a fun song in, but I think that I approached this week with a negative attitude and let it shadow my whole way of thinking. I didn't do as many fun things as I could have and I regret it now. I didn't even set aside a special activity, even though I really wanted to work on making jewelry out of Fruit Loops or Cheerios or something. I will store the idea away for the next time we run through the alphabet. I will DO the idea. I will learn from my mistakes as well as I want my children to learn and grow.

o is for owl

Because of our week together, I am not going to overplay St Patrick's day. I ordered each little a book and SweetPea's didn't arrive today as planned. They were temporary out of stock so hers will be here on Tuesday. I think that its a sign to give the kiddos a break and not to take all the "fun" out of a holiday just being a day to spend time together with our family. No green milk that will turn our poo funny colors, no crafts that I will feel the need to micro-manage. We will read our story on who St Patrick was, we will wear our green and we will make our traditional dinner of corned beef and cabbage. Maybe we will make a special treat or maybe we will just buy something for dessert. Either way, we are officially on break!

a week in review.... letter N

Wow! I cannot believe that we are now officially over half way through our alphabet! And best of all, she is retaining it now! When she was newly three and we tried this, we didn't make it this far. I think that we made it to about G before SweetPea lost all interest in not only learning her letters but on learning anything "school" related at all. And now, this year, we are just about two weeks away from her big 100 day celebration!

practicing numbers

For math this week, we worked on practicing numbers in a more practical setting. She made a March calendar, writing in all the numbers. We also worked on classification... reading clues (by me) and filling in the answers (by her). I am getting VERY giddy watching her know how to write more and more letters from memory. It makes me feel good that I CAN teach her and that she CAN learn from home.

N is for numbers

In fact, we had fun learning that N is for "numbers".... and "notes". Which meant lots of singing, lots of counting, lots of playing Mother May I. Which was a more than a bit difficult when Porker wanted to play by just jumping around the room, which would lead to SweetPea joining in. But at least she would tell me how long she could "hop" (Mama! I can hop for four mim-its! Want to see?)

noodle sensory fun

I couldn't come up with many good "n" foods which is totally not like me. But we did have fun (Porker, more than SweetPea) with our noodle sensory box. And SweetPea helped me make spaghetti noodles for dinner. I also learned that while she loves helping me to bake, she is not too fond of helping me cook. At least not right now. For snacks this week, we dined on different kinds of nuts. PorkChop has become the king of the peanut! SweetPea has shown that she prefers pistachios. Nobody wanted to share my almonds with me, but that's ok... more for me!

learning about classification

We ended up not getting much outdoor time in either. Our weather has just been cold, rainy, windy or finicky. I am hoping that that changes soon. We really thrive on our outdoor days and look forward to our morning routine of riding bikes/walking up and down the street. 

n is for notes

Thankfully, Friday our weather was beautiful and we made it to the local library to enjoy reading month. SweetPea worked on the computers for a while while PorkChop played with the trains and the puzzles. They both entertained the idea of hitting the library more often, which I would love! I miss our library days, our park days, going bowling and skating.... I am ready for our summer routine!

March reading fun 

We only have two more weeks before our big break. And I am ready!

a week in review

Well, we made it. Getting back into the swing of things after a week off was rough. I think that I purposely made sure that each day of lessons was short because I just couldn't get my rear back in gear. At least it gave me some time to pause and reflect on the fact that SweetPea IS only four and that I don't need to push the two of us as hard as I sometimes do. I think that next week will be better because 1. it will be a more organized affair and 2. because I am going to make it a point of focusing more on fun and games and less on what I "think" she should be accomplishing. Maybe it will help the two of us not to feel so burnt out.

Monday, we worked on letter recognition and review. I always say this but taking a week off really seems to help things settle in SweetPea's mind. She goes from struggling by the end of the week at remembering all her letters/sounds to coming back and nailing them! Yes, there are still three that she is stumbling over (I... which she insists is Y, J... which she knows the sound, just not the name and M... again, sound is there but she calls it N). So I threw in some phonics just for fun. Yeah.... remember how I said that I need to focus more on fun and less on "work"... I said this and then think about how she sounded out FOUR words on her own. I think that once a week, we will work on this concept slowly but I am not going to add it in right now. Mainly because I don't "feel" she is ready yet but also because I am afraid my little bookworm isn't going to want mama to read to her if she can do it herself.

"hi"

Tuesday, we worked more on number recognition and shapes than letters. Again, I was totally blown away when SweetPea nailed all her numbers. Even 4 and 6, the two that constantly trip her up, she knew. Key thing that I need to remember is when she is struggling with remembering them, I need to ask her what they look like, not for her to find them. If she takes a minute to think about how you would write the number out, she can then find the number. But if you ask her just to remember, she will keep pointing until she figures out the correct one through trial and error.

Wednesday, we discussed weather and time. And how you can have a good time in bad weather. And how spring means that the trees will wake back up and have leaves again and how the snow will leave (we hope). We spent a good deal of our morning outside, marveling at the texture of wet, heavy snow (vs the soft, fluffy stuff that we have had most of the winter). We observed the different birds that are slowly coming back to our neighborhood (no robins as of yet though) and listened to their songs. I think that it made all of us long for warmer days and more sunshine.

Just keep working, just keep working

 Thursday was a "blah" day. No other way to put it. We trudged through our review and then took off for more "fun" as soon as we could. I didn't want to press too much review work since SweetPea had done so well earlier in the week. Sometimes, less is better and the things that are left unsaid are the gifts that we can treasure.

typical morning table

Today, we prepared for Dr Seuss's birthday with our own "All About Me" books. I was really shocked with how much of the writing SweetPea could do on her own. I did fill in the longer blanks since she is just not ready to be sounding out words yet (especially longer ones). Now we just need to finish collecting the pictures for her book. Since this was originally a kinder-aged project, I think that I will put hers up from this year and compare it with the next two years. Should be neat to see her handwriting change and her interests as well.

All about Me!

Next week, it WILL be back to normal around here. I think that I am psyching myself up to be nervous about it but then I also can remember that it will only be for two weeks. After that, we will have a party week (St Paddy's day, our 100 day celebration, maybe a spring craft day or two) and then it will be time to get ready for vacation. Really thinking that the week before our trip we will focus on Easter crafts and learning a bit of history about where we are going.

it sneaks up on you sometimes

Ever have those weeks when Monday just kind of sneaks up on you? Yeah, that was me today. Thankfully, our return to lessons had a sense of humor to get me going....

pretty much says it all

I was not ready to begin again today. Our one week off just seemed to go by way too fast. And it doesn't help that our next "break" will be for our family vacation in five weeks. Five weeks... it seems so long but I know that it will pass by quickly once I give in and jump back on the routine wagon.

I made it a point today to get back on the exercising train. Waking up 30 minutes early so I can do my own self-wrote routine was a hard thing this morning after having ten days of no set time to be out of bed. But at the same time, it was surprising easily to convince myself that I WANT to do this. Maybe I am ready. Maybe I need this "me" time more than I thought. Or maybe it was easy because today was day one and everything is always easier when you don't know what to expect.

I did decide that this week would be a light homeschooling week though. I am not ready to plunge back into a real week yet. I think that SweetPea needs to be eased back into it, especially since she seemed to be sad today without all her siblings around to play with during the day. And PorkChop definitely was more than willing to spend more time cuddling than normal.

So no new lessons this week, new routines to be set, and a more laid back attitude. Not a bad way to start a Monday... not a bad way at all.

a week in review... Valentine's

I think that this has been the most dis-jointed week that I have ever done! We ended up schooling on Monday, taking Tuesday off for SweetPea's birthday, schooling Wednesday, taking Thursday off for Valentine's day and then schooling today. But at least we had a good time this week with all our projects. Didn't accomplish much in the way of progress with letters or numbers but we did use the skills that we have worked on already. Makes it a winner in my book.

On Monday, we made Valentine cards for daddy. I let the kiddos finger paint with their feet to create hearts that we wrote our message around. Daddy was so surprised when he came home to see his newly dried cards from the littles. I think that he was quite touched. And the biggest shock of all... PorkChop, who vehemently refuses to touch finger paints for more than ten seconds, had no trouble having the paint smeared on his sweet piggies. In fact, that part was down right hilarious.

I love you "toe" much Valentines

 We did work on learning to match our upper case letters with lower case ones this week. I really wish that I could find more themes like this because it was not only a great exercise but SweetPea loved it! Even better, since I could laminate them, I have them put up for next year! Bonus!! Eventually, I am sure that PorkChop will get some use out of them too.

heart upper/lower case matching

Since SweetPea is a puzzle-holic, I made sure to print and laminate two different Valentine themed puzzles for her. Sure, four piece puzzles are not a challenge when you have been doing 100 piece by yourself for about two months but they were a nice surprise. And well worth it too to see PorkChop trying to line up the pieces as well. Its amazing to see what all he is learning already just by being involved with us around the family table every morning.

puzzle time

 I think that the biggest thrill of the week was our very own Valentine scavenger hunt! Both littles thoroughly enjoyed running through the house with their "list" and bringing all their "finds" to the table. SweetPea even got creative and took different interpretations of some of the pictures. Way to go, little girl, thinking outside that box!

scavenger hunt fun

 For math this week, we worked on candy graphing. A little disappointing when your favorite color doesn't come out as the winner.... and a bit frustrating when your little brother is stealing/eating your homework but a fun game all the same. And the best part, when its a learning game like this, they really don't realize the skills that they are working on... They just believe that its all fun.

Sweetheart graphing

 Since this was a laid back week, I managed to throw some science into our mix. We worked on a "five senses" worksheet with our Sweethearts. Did you know that Sweethearts make noise? I really thought that she would select "no" but after shaking the bowl next to my ear, she assured me that what I was hearing was the candy rocking and rolling in there. Yeah, she had me there. We also learned that SweetHearts taste like ashes and smell like skunk. While PorkChop might be a fan of the chalky candy hearts, SweetPea takes after mama and thinks that they belong in the box!

Sweetheart five senses

I had planned on doing some special baking this week with the littles... making sugar cookies for all five of the kids to decorate... but it just didn't happen. Instead, SweetPea did help me bake her birthday cupcakes. She learned how to pour chocolate to make suckers. And she got to make frosting almost totally on her own. So our week might not have gone as I planned or hoped for, but we definitely had a great time celebrating!

a week in review.... M

I really didn't think that this week was going to happen. Being sick for the majority of the week, I just didn't have the stamina to plan out an awesome week like I normally would. But knowing that I plan on having a "break" week next week so we can focus on Valentine's day and knowing that the week after that would be our mid-winter break (since the bigs are off school that week), I knew that I needed to plow ahead this time. Which meant a week filled with tears and frustration... and even some on SweetPea's part too. But we made it. And I don't think that either of us are too scarred because of it.

M is for mountain

 This week, we focused on the letter M. Our crafts were making mountains and a mouse. I wanted to do a monkey hand print set so we could do a felt board version of "Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Trees" but I will have to save that for another time. I just didn't have the energy to fight with PorkChop to get his two prints done and SweetPea was, honestly, happy to be cutting our workload short.... even if it meant less craft time.

learning measurements

 For math this week, we worked on measurements. Not just measuring how many inches items were, but working on conceptual measurements like narrow vs wide.... heavier vs lighter.... tall vs short. I am pleasantly surprised to see SweetPea really take off with these. I know that numbers are not her favorite thing and I am sure that I am partly to blame for that. So to see her enjoying a math week was a nice change.

 

making Mounds

 The letter M is a fun letter to create yummy food around. On Sunday, we made chocolate cupcakes with homemade marshmallow frosting. On Tuesday, we made Mound truffles... to which SweetPea decided that she is beyond done liking coconut. On Friday, we made muffins... to which she replied that she is done eating those as well. *sigh* At least she still likes cake.

marshmallow sensory

 Our sensory pans this week were marshmallow filled... Which meant that PorkChop ate more than his fair share of his work. SweetPea wasn't too enthused with this one either but I am guessing that that was my illness rubbing off on her. Everything that she normally loved doing, this past week, she just totally dragged her feet. I am thinking that when we do the letter N that I will change her sensory pan up a bit. Maybe make it more themed instead of just practice on filling and dumping and piling.

all about the M

 Our nursery rhyme this week was "Do you know the muffin man?' I thought that it was beyond adorable that SweetPea tells you that the muffin man lives on "Journey" Lane. We had fun taking turns being the muffin man and sharing our baked goods with everyone. It turned out to be a great blessing that snow day was also our nursery rhyme day because it meant more people to share our wares with.

Who says homeschooling has to take place at home?

I wanted to do a movie day with Madagascar but the ps3 and I are still at odds. Instead, I made tents in the living room and we camped out and watched some cartoons together. Wasn't quite the same effect as my vision of playing movie theatre, complete with popcorn and water bottles, cardboard box cars and a dimmed room, but it was still fun. Every once in a while, getting to veg out as part of your lessons is a good thing.

m is for mouse

a (short) week in review 1-25

We had a short school week this week. Both SweetPea and PorkChop and the older three as well. They had a long weekend for Martin Luther King Jr day so I made sure that the littles did too. Plus, its always nice to get to spend some extra time hanging out with all the siblings together with no expectations of getting "something" done.

Monday, PorkChop turned 18 months. I am still in shock that he is now officially halfway to two. Not that two is "terrible". Its just one more step away from being my baby boy and one step closer to being the little boy that I see coming out more and more each day.

all the boys playing DS together

Tuesday, SweetPea and I worked on learning who Martin Luther King Jr was and what he wanted to see. She has since spent the week reminding us how things need to be "fair and equal". Which means that she also thinks that she should get all the privileges of being a "big kid" without any of the responsibilities. Yes, we need to work some more on being "equal" around here. To help illustrate how all skin colors (races, nationalities, religions, etc) are "equal", we finger painted while discussing "If you had orange skin, could you ride a bus? Could you go to McDonald's if you had purple skin?" I was even pleasantly surprised to see PorkChop enjoying the finger paints for the first time ever.

our equality rainbow

 Wednesday, we worked on reviewing our letters. I took out our flash cards and went over the names of the letters that we have done so far (A-K). Then I laid them all out on the table and SweetPea had a scavenger hunt to find one item that began with each letter. Most we did in order. Others, she was too excited to wait and would jump up and run through the house yelling "D says Duh.... Duh... Duh... Dinosaur!" Others are still tripping her up. Like G. She can remember the soft G sound but has trouble remembering the hard G one. And E. Since her linus has been known to squeal "Eeeeee!" when its lost, she thought that she could use linus as her E sound. Cute try, but not really what I was looking for. PorkChop just wanted to eat the apples and grapes that were being used in this lesson.

What begins with the letter ___ ?

 Thursday, we switched gears and practiced our numbers. Recognizing them, putting them in order and showing how much each stood for by using small Reese's Pieces from the cooking cabinet. For some reason, no matter what tricks I try, SweetPea has a huge mental roadblock over the number 4. She just cannot get that one down. Even with numerous attempts, she still cannot recognize it, although she understands the value of 4, can count and include it and can write it. Weird. Since she isn't as strong on numbers as she is on letters, I broke out the board games to help. Many, many, MANY games of Chutes and Ladders, Hi-o Cherrio and Hungry, Hungry Hippo (yeah, nothing to do with math but how can you resist playing that game?) later.... she still cannot identify 4.

How many is the number ___ ?

 Today, we worked on flashcards again. And we worked with our number blocks. We had grand plans to bake cookies for practical math skills too. Instead? The temperature was double what it had been all week in the morning (we hit 20!) and it was softly snowing outside. Good intentions to stay indoors during our bitter cold days flew out the window! I bundled the three of us up and we spent 25 glorious minutes outside painting the snow, jumping over sticks twigs, and looking for our feline friends. We came in red cheeked and frozen fingered but much happier than we have been all week. Happy enough that when SweetPea asked for the colored rice bin, I consented and allowed them almost an hour of scooping, pouring and digging through our  once brightly colored grains.

snow dying fun

Next week, its back to the normal around here. The bigs all have a full five day school week, so SweetPea will too. I need to go back to teaching her a new letter, a new math skill (well, trying to) and to begin preparing for our Valentine's fun. But for now, I am going to just look back at our review week with some very fond memories and look forward to doing it again.

a week in review.... J

Instead of posting each and every day about what SweetPea (and occasionally, PorkChop) is doing with her home schooling, I figured that Fridays would be a good opportunity to sum up our week. Less stress on me since it would mean summarizing as I went instead of devoting each and every day to just schooling and would also give me a chance to look back on the weeks and see our positives and strengths instead of just getting mired down in our weaknesses and shortcomings. 

Learning about the letter "J"

 This week, our first week back after a long Christmas break was focused on learning about the letter J. I thought about going ahead and focusing on a new number as well but SweetPea is still struggling a bit with identifying numbers on a whole (even though she can count well and can even do some simple adding), so instead, we are taking a side step and learning about money.... something that she is very interested in right now!

making "jam" together

 I try to incorporate more than just recognizing the letter and the sound. I try to find games that use that letter, activities that go with it, and of course, a cooking assignment each week. This week, we made blackberry jam in the crockpot. Super simple and really tasty! Lunch twice this week turned out to be peanut butter and jam sandwiches so we could all enjoy the spoils!

J is for Jaguar

 Art time this week was used to create J words out of the letter J. On Wednesday, SweetPea made a jaguar from a capital J and today, she made her lowercase J juggle. Unfortunately, I didn't have a special J activity planned but what child doesn't like to jump? So we took turns jumping on the beds, the couches, the floor.... inside, outside.... off the step into the living room, over cracks on the street.... Jumping was huge! And it fit very nicely with our nursery rhyme of the week "Jack Be Nimble". I really should have created a fake candle out of  a toilet paper roll and let SweetPea BE Jack but I guess that I can always save that idea for when PorkChop is ready to set sail on his course.

New math skill.... learning about coins

 Learning about money for math is going to take us a few weeks. Right now, SweetPea can identify correctly the penny and the dime. The nickel and quarter still throw her through a loop. But she is learning the value of each as well (again, the dime and the penny she has down cold). We aren't adding coin values yet, just working on recognition and value. As she works on money, I plan on giving her change to practice the skill in the "real world". Which means I can see a trip to her favorite bakery in our near future where she can purchase her own brownie by counting out the change on her own.

j is for "juggling"

And that was pretty much our first week back in a nutshell.

a year in review

Here it is. The end of another year. And what a year it has been! Since I started off this year on a different blog, switched to a 365, had a baby and had to give that up (no time to keep it updated, even though, I DID manage a picture a day for an entire year!) and am now here, I figured a year review would be the best way to keep track of how blessed we were this year.

January:

We rang in the New Year at my sister's place... just a week after announcing the impending arrival of baby #5. Hubby underwent heart monitoring to find out that he is ok. :) Peanut started on Adderall for ADHD and made HUGE strides in school! Had our first midwife appointment and got our official edd, July 23 (or 26 lol).

February:

SweetPea turned two. Mama had a birthday too. In fact, so did two other family members. February is apparently a busy month. lol Got to hear baby's heart beat for the first time. Spent time in the hospital for a massive kidney issue which turned out to be a few tiny kidney stones. I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy.

March:

Had an unplanned ultrasound of "Gravy" because of concerns from February. Nothing bad to report. Daddy found out the sex but mama and siblings did not. SweetPea had a cardiologist appointment because of random "blue spells" that she had been having for a few months. Found out that she has a very small ASD (atrial septal defect) that will need to be re-evaluated when she is five.

April:

Punk turned 11! Our family vacation got canceled because of hubby's work hours picking up. Turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Punk's soccer season ended. Peanut's Little League season began. Was a very busy month for sports. Peanut was awarded a special award at school for her continued advancements. She even made the honor roll! Began home renovations.

May:

Hubby had a birthday. SweetPea, hubby and I were in a car accident. Turned out to be another blessing in disguise because we found out that I was having pre-term labor. Spent some time in the hospital again. Had to temporarily wean SweetPea. Went on partial bed rest. Had a family bbq on Memorial Day with a sister that I hadn't seen since I was Peanut's age. Made the trip up to the beach to see my cousin and help him celebrate his graduation.

June:

School ended for another year. Made another trip to the beach to help my other cousin celebrate his high school graduation. Finished painting the "pond" room for SweetPea and "Gravy" while very pregnant. Went to the fishing derby... none of our kids placed this year. Went to Punk's soccer award ceremony. Watched Peanut end her first year in Little League. Took SweetPea to see her beloved dinosaurs at the zoo.

July:

Watched our caterpillar "Chubby" become a beautiful butterfly. Spent tons of time outdoors in the water with the kiddos. Welcomed our little PorkChop into our family unassisted (which was not the plan). Had a scary first few days with him. Birthed on the hottest day of the year (record breaking temps hottest). Got Pickle from his mom's so we could enjoy a few days as a new family of seven. Hosted a welcome baby party. Discovered the joys of tandem nursing.

August:

We relaxed and fell into new routines! :) Went to the Renaissance festival with friends. Prepared for the coming school year. Punk started soccer practice.

September:

Peanut turned nine! Pickle started 8th grade, Punk 6th and Peanut 4th. Took our family of seven to the Renaissance festival. Took our family of seven to the cider mill and apple picking on the hottest day of the month. Punk started soccer with a new team. Peanut had her first slumber party... possibly her last.

October:

Had a wonderful month celebrating Halloween. Took the kiddos to the local Boo Bash and the school sponsored haunt. Took SweetPea and PorkChop pumpkin picking. Trunk or treated with Little Red and Link. Trick or treated with most of our kiddos. Dealt with a severe allergic reaction on Peanut's end.

November:

We counted our blessings and found them numerous. Celebrated Thanksgiving with our family here. Celebrated with family from far away and friends near to our hearts. Discovered that I was ready to take the plunge back into homeschooling again. Helped my nephew G celebrate his 12th birthday.

December:

Pickle turned fourteen. Began a new holiday tradition of celebrating the 25 days of Christmas. Took SweetPea on a train ride, one of the highlights of her life. Watched Christmas through the eyes of our many children. Enjoyed our last baby's first Christmas. Took another trip up to the beach to see family. Day dreamed and planned our next year.

For the coming year? I have goals already in place. I want to again make sure that I can do a 365. I want to have a set crafting goal for each month. I want to continue to work on "greening" our lifestyle here at home. I want to make time to read one classic a month and one "modern" tale. I want to learn how to crochet. Simple goals but ones that define me.