Homeschooling with Little Ones

Homeschooling my kids is a lot of fun.  It is a lot of work some days, but I try hard to make it enjoyable for us all.  Having a kindergartner, preschooler and 15 month old is never dull.  Trying to keep them all busy and out of trouble can be a challenge.  I've found a few ways to keep my little ones preoccupied and I'm going to share them with you!

Here is a look at my schedule for the day.  Please keep in mind that these times are what I have planned.  No day EVER looks like this.  Some subjects take longer or shorter than what I have allotted.  This is more of a guideline for what comes next in our day!  Some days, we are done after 1 hour; other days, it takes us 3 hours.  It just depends on how focused we are, what pops up, what time we start at, etc.  I often have to remind myself that getting everything done does not dictate if I'm doing enough.  Life happens!

9:15am - Calendar time

9:35am - Bible story

9:40am - Music to go with our Bible story
9:50am - Story time
Snack if we're hungry

10:10am - Bible verse memorization/Copy work for Jman (K)

10:20am - This is where we split up: Jman (K) has Language Arts; BG (PreK) works in his workbin

10:35am - Math together

10:50am - Science/Art together

11:10am - We split up again: Jman (K) works in his work bin; BG (PreK) has Language arts

Now you are probably wondering what I put in their workbins.  These are really fun for them.  It is like Christmas everyday.  Jman will always come running, saying "Thank you Mama for the _______!" Fill in the blank with what I've put in there for the day.  I switch out the objects in their workbins every night.  I cycle between coloring pages and crayons, mazes, a VTech laptop, Leap Frog Scribble and Write, modeling clay, tracing worksheets, puzzles, stamp pad and rubber stamps, little craft projects, books, sequencing games, notebooks with markers/pens/pencils and other sensory items.  See my post about homeschool preparation to view some of these objects. It does keep them busy and they have fun learning.

This is in my planner.  I have a list of ideas for each week, this particular page during our Bird week.

My boys also like to trace words and write words, as well as their names.  I have written out their names on lined paper and photocopied them so I have lots of copies.  They want to practice, so I let them!

So where is Lulu, my 15 month old, during all of this??  She is the hardest to keep busy, but she joins us in her highchair during calendar time.  I will give her papers to color, wooden puzzles, pictures to look at if she gets antsy.  It usually helps for a few minutes.  She'll join us for Bible story, music and story time.  She will wander around during some of the readings, but I make sure she stays with us and has toys to play with.  I am going to make a bin of toys that are only used during school time, so that she can have her own special bin for school as well.  I do have a little bin set up for her now that I fill with washable crayons, coloring pages, pictures of friends and family, books and toys.  She still takes naps in the morning, so I put her down when we start our Bible verse memorization.

Every day is different.  Some days are better than others.  I know that homeschooling takes practice and training, both from me and my children.  It doesn't happen overnight.  Don't be discouraged if one thing doesn't work for you.  Change it and try again!  In the words of Walt Disney, "Keep moving forward!"

Blessings,

Labels, Shmabels!

OR - just give me an hour!  Done!  Hope my labeling helps you find what you need here at my blog.

Blessings,

Labels, Labels, Labels!!

When I first started blogging, I did NOT know what labels were.  Now that I'm a little more educated, I realized that I had not put any labels on my posts.  I am now having to read through them all and assign labels.  Kind of fun reading through them all again, but a big mess.

If you have read any post and looked for related ones and not found any, give me through this weekend to get them all updated and labeled.  Then I invite you back to read up on the topic of your liking!

For those of you wondering what labels are, at the bottom of my posts, under my signature, there are links to certain words that I have picked for each post.  You can click on one of the words to find more posts on my blog about the same topic.  Pretty convenient!

Blessings,

Ginger Snaps and Pumpkin Dip

I was just "tweeting" about my favorite cookie and decided to share it with you all AND the dip I make to go with it.  It is almost too good to make; self-control is a MUST.

I buy the ginger snaps and then make pumpkin dip.  

Here it is:

Pumpkin Dip

1/2 of a 15 oz can of pumpkin

2 c powdered sugar

8 oz cream cheese softened

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

(I often use my Apple Pie Spice mix instead!)

Mix this all together and proceed with caution!  It is delicious and hard to stop eating!!

AFTER THOUGHT  :)  (Yes, I have these quite often)

I've heard you can use nonfat plain yogurt in place of cream cheese.  I have NOT tried this, but I am going to!  It would be a good way to make this lower in fat and healthier!

Blessings,

Christmas Cactus Replanted

I posted about my Christmas Cactus earlier and that it almost died outside in the Texas heat.  I finally replanted it!

I started by cutting off some of the only green leaves left.  Believe me when I say, there were NOT many to choose from.  I made sure I cut off pieces that have new growth and have branched out.  I placed them in a glass of water.  They grew roots within a couple of weeks.  You can see the white roots in the pictures below.

   

I took each of the pieces and planted them all in the same pot, making a circle out of all the pieces.  Voila!  My cactus plant is looking great again.  And this time, I'm keeping it inside the house.

Blessings,

The Making of A Warrior: Battling for God

I posted this one a while back, Making of A Warrior.  I just read over it again and had to share it once more.  Click here ---> "Making of A Warrior" to go to my post.  I hope it inspires you as much as it inspired me!

Blessings,

Homemade Granola

I am always looking for ways to make food from scratch.  I am one of those moms that reads the labels in the store and then explains to my kids that we aren't going to buy it because it has high fructose corn syrup or the likes.  I wouldn't be surprised to hear my kids imitating me one of these days and I would probably get a good laugh out of it!

With that being said, I made homemade granola.  It is so easy to make and you can really make it to your exact specifications.  Your kids can help you too.  It is a less stressful "Kids in the Kitchen" activity!

Dry Ingredients.  Mmm!!

My helpers!!

Here's the recipe I used (off of The Chew) with a few changes:

3 c oats
1/2 c almonds
1/2 c sunflower nuts
1/2 c sesame seeds
1/2 c golden raisins
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c coconut
1/2 c honey
1/2 c peanut oil

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Mix wet ingredients in a small bowl.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix.  Pour into a greased cookie sheet and bake at 250 for 1 hour.  Stir after 30 minutes.

The changes I made were:
3/4 c sunflower nuts
NO sesame seeds
1/2 c red raisins
3/4 c coconut
1/2 c canola oil

Baked Granola

You'll enjoy it, especially since you can really make it however you want to.  It is really good in yogurt.  Not to mention, that it is a great healthy snack too!

Blessings,