Picture randomness

Melody took it upon herself to teach Allie the proper way to blow bubbles. Allie was a willing student.

Allie enjoying the epic jello worms I made for a Halloween snack. If you get the chance you MUST try these. They are super yummy, but SO real looking. It's amazing!

Allie has recently started showing an aptitude for hair styling. It's awesome that Katie screams bloody murder when I do anything to her hair, but she'll gladly let Allie yank a comb through it for however long she'd like.

Free carnival. Free rides. Free games. We're there! Love living here :)

Thankful tree. Every night we write something we're thankful for. We have a giant empty wall in our dining room and since I fail at decorating I figured we'd put it to good use. I'm thinking we'll continue this in December with a Christmas tree and ornaments and acts of kindness. I see this becoming an awesome dinner time tradition!

Killing time at the park while Melody was at kid stage.

Seriously couldn't be happier about how well this costume turned out! Have you ever seen a cuter ladybug?

I had my head flipped up side down while I diffused my hair with the blow dryer. I look over and see this.

Rockin' the princess shoes. You wouldn't believe how well she can walk in these silly things!

Finally mastered the pony tail! She tried for WEEKS before she could do it by herself. Now she handles her own hair, which is a great relief. Especially since I have two other children who's hair must be tamed!

Omnomnom! Ice cream cones get her all excited!

 Scavenger hunt at the nature preserve. Love these girls!

 Hiding with daddy!

school update

For those of you that have Facebook you've probably already seen most of these pictures, but for those of you that don't enjoy the update! :)

I found this brownie kit on a clearance rack for $1 and I couldn't resist! I'm so glad I didn't! So much learning happened from these cute little kits. I bought one for each of them so we could do a mini lesson on cooking. Melody helped me read the instructions out loud and they each got the ingredients they needed. Then they took turns measuring the oil and the water, and cracking their eggs. Then we talked about why we have to grease the pan and how to spread the batter around so it covers the whole pan, ect, ect... It was a great lesson with lots of input and questions and interaction. My very favorite kind of learning! While they were cooking I had the kids 'design' their haunted house on paper so they would know how they wanted to decorate it. Then they did! Decorate it, that is. I think everyone enjoyed this one, including Allie who woke up from her nap just in time to share brownies with us.

Katie has been working incredibly hard on her letters lately and gets supper annoyed when she can't do it the way she thinks it should be done. When she finally manages to get it just right she asks me to take a picture so daddy can see. So we do. Daddy gets lots of picture text updates through out the day!

My favorite part of homeschooling is how easy it is to drop everything and have some fun. I don't even remember what started it, probably Melody, but it led to almost 30 minutes of great fun!

Cooking has obviously become a big part of school. I've really tried to let the kids lead the learning with their interests and Melody really  likes working in the kitchen, so we're rolling with it. Here she's making play dough. But she's also mastered over easy eggs, scrambled eggs, and does pretty well with pancakes. I'm pretty much totally ok with this little development. Mostly because Melody's totally excited about making breakfast for us! Win!

The kids LOVE working on the whiteboard. Melody is working on ABC order here. Again, picture updates for dad.

BOOKS!!

Introducing Katie to addition. I counted this as a total win. Not only was she adding, but she was practicing her one-to-one counting, shapes, writing numbers and strengthening fine motor muscles by writing on the board. I love how she must decorate ALL school work with something girly.

I hadn't anticipated it, but I was able to turn making Halloween costumes into a home ec lesson. We had tights from the thrift store for her legs and she had to sew up the bottom before we could stuff them. Then she stuffed them, and I sewed them on her shirt. It was great fun to create with my kids. I have many a fond memory of sitting with one of my grandmas or my mom and creating something. Glad I can keep the tradition going.

Again with the craftiness! Melody has been bugging me for months to teach her to crochet. To be fair, I gave it a try, her hands just weren't big enough yet. So I taught her to finger crochet. She made a scarf for her kitty. We tried the crochet hook again last month and she was SO excited to discover that she could do it. She has now requested that I learn to knit because that's what she wants to learn next.

My big little helper

Allie's always been interested in helping. Since she started walking at eight months she's just always toddled along behind me as I do chores and has always been willing to do whatever small task I give her. It's become her job to put away the silverware whenever someone is clearing the dishwasher. Something that's totally blown me away, though, is the depth of her understanding. She's only 14 months old, but she's always watching and taking things in. She isn't really talking much, but she signs pretty well, and it's obvious she understands what we're saying to her. Yesterday she surpirsed me more than once with this understanding.

While Melody and Katie were working on their morning chores I took Allie into the playroom so I could get it straightened up. I figured she'd play while I cleaned, but instead she sat down and started cleaning up one of the magnet dolls. Once she had put all the magnet pieces away she put the bag down and moved on to the next thing. I was in shock! I can't get my four and six year olds do work that independently!

Later, when I was putting away groceries she found the oatmeal and brought it to me and signed please. So I helped her make some. She scooped the oatmeal and poured it in the bowl, she stirred the water in and then pushed the buttons I showed her on the microwave. Then she sat down and ate the entire bowl by herself.

Right after that I was working on taking out all the garbage. I had pulled the kitchen garbage out and tied it off and left it by the garage door while Melody and Katie helped me gather up all the other garbage in the house. When I came back Allie had dragged it half way through the garage. Apparently she was on her way to put it in the dumpster.
 
Then while Katie was working on hanging up her clothes Allie handed her the hangers one by one then carried the clothes into Melody to be hung up. She did all of this with no prompting! We all encourage her to help us whenever we can and apparently its making a difference. This girl is one smart cookie!

Happy "Trunk-or-Treat"

Tonight was our ward's trunk-or-treat. The girls had a blast, gorged themselves on candy, and crashed hard. We were predictably late, but managed to take some cute pictures before we left... so it wasn't a total loss! 

Either way grandmas.... enjoy the pictures of our cute "ghouls" ;)

Katie the "Scary Ghost"...

Melody the "Black Widow"...

...and the last little stinker a "Lady Bug".

Our Homeschooling Adventure: The First Week!

Well we made it. All four of us survived our first week of homeschool, and I have to say it went incredibly well. I went into it anticipating that I would end up changing pretty much everything, but I knew I had to start somewhere.  Now I can see that I'm not going to have to change too much, just adjust a little here and there. I made a point to snap a few pictures throughout the day as proof for the non-believers that we actually did school work this week and my kids really did learn something. FYI this is a really long post!

This is how we've been starting our day. Green smoothies anyone? A little playing outside followed by a few showers and then we're off to school! I love the mellow flow of our mornings now. When I compare them to what they were like last year I love them even more.

 Now let me take you on a quick tour of our beautiful, and oh so functional, school room. I show it off to anyone that will let me ;)

Daily schedule, and daily folder. We each have a folder for each day of the week. The girls folders have the assignments they're doing for that day and mine has copies of their assignments, my lesson plans, and any teaching aides I'll need.

 Chore Chart. I have searched high and low for a chore chart that I felt would be functional for our family. Finally I morphed a few ideas into something workable for us. I wrote out all the chores onto cards. As you can see there's a morning chores pocket and an afternoon chores pocket. We do morning chores before school and afternoon chores after school. I've put them totally in control of this and they're responsible for checking their cards and moving them to the Done pocket once the chore is complete. The last pocket is where I put the tickets they earned that day and store the extra chore cards. The girls get two tickets if they finish all of their chores and two tickets if they make it through school without whining or complaining (neither one has yet to earn those!) I also offer bonus tickets for extra chores or special accomplishments. For example Melody memorized the First Article of Faith this week so she got a bonus ticket. Every Friday I open the 'school store' and they get to spend their tickets on fun stuff. They can also use them to buy TV or Minecraft time (thanks Uncle Isaak) So far it seems to be working pretty well. There was only one day this week that we didn't get everything done. Fingers crossed that the novelty doesn't wear off too quick!

 

Calendar center. Eventually this whole wall will be covered with roll out cork board, but until that money magically appears we use tape :) This was one thing Melody specifically requested our school have because she enjoyed it so much in kindergarten. We do Calendar every morning at Circle Time. We also say the Pledge, review our schedule for the day, read scriptures and say a prayer.

One of the goals I had for this year is to have the girls memorize as many of the Articles of Faith as they could. I found these really cute printables to help. I ran out of ink before I could get to 13 lol!

 Here's the girls giant desk and super cute chairs their genius daddy found for a steal in the 'as is' section at IKEA. The computers aren't completely set up yet, but the screens are ready for when they're done! The hanging cups just might be my favorite thing in the room next to the giant white board. They keep everything we need at arms reach, but organized and out of the way.

Now for the good stuff...the learning! 

Journal Time. I have the girls do journal time everyday so they get used to the idea of getting their thoughts down on the paper. It's the one time of day I don't hassle them about spelling or handwriting.

This is one of Katie's. The question was 'What are five awesome things about me?'
Here's the translation

1-Play with sisters

2-Make my bed well

3-Eat healthy foods

4-Help with chores

5- good at school.

I ask her the question and she tells me her answer, then I write it down for her to copy. Melody, however, is on her own. I make her sound it out the best she can.

Here's a sample of Melody's...

translation: dear first grade journal. My day is starting out good. Mommy is letting us draw in our journals. It is fun.

Translation: dear first grade journal. Today is a great day to be outside.

...and here's where Melody usually does her journal. This picture right here is why I love homeschooling!

Language Arts. Katie learned about opposites this week. We read books about opposites and did a few activities. Then we filled in this graphic organizer with all the opposites we learned.

Melody learned about problem-action-solution graphic organizers and the short vowels o,u and i. We read a different story everyday and filled in the graphic organizer to go with it. I give her the choice of doing her work on paper or the board. She usually opts for the board :)

Handwriting. Last year Melody's teacher told me that having the kids write on the white board will help strengthen their muscles and improve their fine motor skill and handwriting. So I have the girls alternate between practicing on paper and on the board. It's great because handwriting is at the end of the day when they're starting to get burned out and the appeal of writing on the board is enough to keep them going. Melody will be copying the Article of Faith we're working on for that week two days and I'm going to start having her work in the book Draw. Write. Now. the other two days. Katie is still learning a few letters so for now we're just reviewing the ABC's.

Even Allie gets in on the fun! I have dry erase crayons and small lap dry erase boards so she can stay busy while sisters work.

   

Math. We did all kinds of fun things for math this week. I had them do a counting game with beads and pipe cleaners. I put a piece of tape on top of a pipe cleaner with a number on it. They had to identify the number and put the right number of beads on the pipe cleaner. It was a little too easy for Melody, but a good first of the year review. Katie loved it because it was just hard enough to make her think, but she got to make it a project so she was ok with it.

We also did some gambling math :) For Katie I had her roll the dice, draw a picture of it on her paper, count the dots and then write the number. For Melody I gave her blank addition problems. She had to roll two dice, draw a picture of both, write each number in the blanks and then add it. After we finished school for the day she brought me the dice and asked if she could do it again only this time with the 'take away' sign. So we did another page of subtraction and she did amazing.

 

We spent most of one day outside because it was just too beautiful to be inside. Melody practiced her addition and fact families, while Katie and I played counting hopscotch. Melody wanted to play hopscotch too, so instead of counting in order I had her do it counting by 5's and 10's. 

Snack Time. I scheduled in a one hour block for the girls to take a break and get a snack while I nurse Allie and put her down for a nap. They usually start out silent reading, but it only takes a few minutes for them to move outside.