Homeschool Ideas: Blends Cards

My Abeka curriculum called for blends practice cards, but I had not purchased them.  I'm sure they are not the same format as Abeka, but I decided to make my own.  I printed out a list of blends, cut them out, then overlaid them with contact paper.  The neat thing we discovered was that you could write on them with dry-erase markers!  I usually have the kids read the blends, then I add letters to make the blend into a word.  I even let the kids experiment with making their own words!

Need a new skirt?

I just entered a contest at Life In a Shoe!  The winner receives a brand-new skirt from newCreation Women's Apparel.  I just love the classic designs of their long skirts.  Definitely in-style!  I am wishing I discovered this website when I was pregnant.  They have a huge selection of maternity skirts!

Here are the contest rules:

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY – 7 ways to win!
New Creation has agreed to give Life in a Shoe reader the skirt of her choice!  You probably know the routine by now, but here are the details on extra entries to help you pump up your chance of winning!
One very happy winner will receive the skirt of her choice from New Creation Apparel.  To enter the giveaway, do any or all of the following.  Please leave a separate comment here for each entry.

1. Look around New Creation Apparel and leave a comment on this post telling which skirt you plan to choose if you win.
2. Like New Creation Apparel on Facebook
3. Share this giveaway on Facebook.
4. Join the Life in a Shoe newsletter mailing list.  No spam, we promise.  We haven’t even figured out how to send a newsletter yet.  :)  Note: this is not the same as subscribing to our blog posts.
5. For 3 bonus entries, blog about this giveaway. Remember to leave 3 comments for this so you’ll be entered 3 times.

We will take entries until Friday, September 16, then choose a random winner!

A Flower For my Hair

My son came running toward me.  "Here, Mommy!  I picked a flower for you.  Put it in your hair, Mommy!"

I did.

"You're a sweet mommy!  I love you."

Not to be out-done, my two daughters came running up with their flower offerings.

"I love you, Mommy!  You're the best mommy ever!"

All this really smote my heart.  I had not had a particularly good day, nor did I feel like I had been a sweet mommy.  What brought on this sudden burst of loving-kindness from my son and my daughters?  They love me!  They are so quick to forgive my short-comings and my failures; quick to forget.  They love me because that's what they do.  I've got amazing kids!  I'm blessed.

 

..........................................

I'm moping.  I'm getting older and my body sure ain't what it used to be after having four children in five years.  I tell my husband so.

He's so understanding.  He gives me a big hug and tells me I'm beautiful. He loves me even though I don't iron his shirts or fix him a lunch to take to work.  He knows I'm busy with our four small children.  He encourages me and helps me!

He's wonderful!   I'm very blessed!

.........................................

Someone Else loves me.  He loves me, not because of who I am or what I've accomplished.  He forgives my failures, and my sins.  He covers them up so that He can no longer see them.  Then, He forgets!  He loves me!  Because that's what He does.  He loves!  He is LOVE!  

I'm thankful for God's love.  I'm thankful that he gave me a husband and kids to love me!  And I pray that I can be a vessel to show them His love.

Butterfly Poject

I'm continuing to share our homeschool journal with you in this post.  Enjoy!

August 20, 2011

Completed our first week of Kindergarten! We combined two phonics lessons on Thursday and took Friday off to do our shopping in town. I thought about doing school today, Saturday, but I think we'll take a break. I felt a little apprehensive about taking the kids out during “school-time” and risk some people asking questions. But the way I see it, if I get my shopping done earlier in the day, I'll be out of some poor working-mother's way who can't shop at any other time. We're a couple of days ahead of public school anyway!

A couple of weeks ago we collected some black- swallowtail caterpillars from our parsley plant. Four out of five of them have become chrysalides; the first due to “hatch” in a couple of days! I also caught a tiny tree-frog and we made a little habitat for him. I believe he's eating the fruit-flies that get into his cage. We've got quite a science lab going!

Gettin' Back in the Saddle

Homeschooling...What an adventure!  This year we are beginning Kindergarten with my oldest.  I'm attempting to hit it full force and get a running start.  We are using the A Beka curriculum, which I love!  It is definitely right for me since it is all laid out, and includes games and teaching ideas.  I know could come up with my own curriculum, and perhaps some day I might give it a try, but with a busy two-year-old and an up-and-coming toddler zipping around the house, its definitely nice to take the shortcut of a laid-out curriculum!

I have been considering sharing my journal I started this school year.  As a new homeschool mom I love to glean every idea and encouragement from others out there.  I just wonder if maybe my sharing my early experiences would help someone else.  I'm definitely a beginner, dog-paddling my way around, trying this, and attempting that, failing, succeeding, and failing again...but all the while, loving it.

There are MANY reasons we have decided to homeschool our children...but one of reasons is simply this: I'm SELFISH!  I love my kids.  I want to have them with me.  As I teach them their phonics, and watch their shining eyes light up as they begin to read real words for the very first time, I just want to soak up the moment like a wet sponge!  I don't have to shed the tears as I send my baby away for seven or eight hours a day...I would hate that!  I don't necessarily believe that EVERY family should homeschool, but I am thrilled that I "GET TO!"

So, here is a log of the first couple of days: (Keep in mind that I was not intending to write this in blog form, but as a simple journal for my own records.)

August 15, 2011

First day of Kindergarten! My husband and I made a beautiful banner for the wall using the Cricut. I wish I could have done more to make the classroom look fresh and exciting. But I think it turned out well!

The lessons went well. They've retained so much from Preschool that I didn't have to spend much time on the letter of the day. I will have to come up with some more supplemental material, or fun ways to review, until the lessons pick up on new material.

We began the day kneeling in prayer and asking the Lord to help. Without His help, it would all be a waste of time!

At the teacher's store, I bought a DVD called “Meet the Phonics, Blends” from the Preschool Prep Co. It is for consonant blends, which we haven't covered yet. I hope this gives them a head start. They make little animated characters out of the blends and repeat the sound over and over while the character does a task which begins with the blend sound. For instance: “sp” shows a little guy using a sponge. Then it gives examples of words with that blend. Its great, really!

August 18, 2011

The school week has been going pretty well so far. The first twelve weeks of Phonics Reading and Writing is everything we learned in Preschool. I know that repetition is the key to learning, but they've pretty much got letters and sounds down. I still plan to go through the lesson plans, but I may combine a couple of lessons at a time.

This morning I got a facebook message from a friend asking if she could come over with her two-year-old boy. I cringed inside, knowing it would throw off our schedule, but I said yes anyway. When she arrived she told me that she really needed someone to talk to and knew I would understand. She said that her first-grade boy got beat up by some older boys on the playground. The school staff blew it off as if it didn't happen and told her they would take care of it by not letting her kid play in that area any more. My neighbor was so upset that her son is the one being disciplined when others did him wrong. She SHOULD BE upset! The principal didn't even want her to come in and discuss it!

I believe the Lord wanted me to hear about all of that just to remind me why I'm doing all of this anyway! I'm so thankful that I have the freedom to keep my kids at home! 

And I PRAY, PRAY, PRAY that we continue to have this freedom in our country!  

Please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts or questions!!   

"Stay Out of My Sweetpeas!"

  

     A few weeks ago, my wonderful, industrious husband made a rain-barrel out of an old garbage can to help us save a little bit of money when it comes to watering the garden.  I decided to put my unused trellis in front of it and transplant some flowering sweet-peas.  We have a patch of them that grows along the fence in the back yard.  I went back to the patch and sure enough, little green shoots were starting to poke up!  I knew they would be just the thing to climb the trellis and hide the unsightly, although thrifty, rain-barrel.

     I carefully tended my little shoots for a whole week, watering them when it was dry, checking their progress, shooing the kids away, and coaxing them up the trellis.  I was quite happy with how well they were doing!  One day, I went back to see how the big patch of sweet-peas was coming along.  As I got a little closer I burst out with a belly-laugh.  What I had thought were sweet-pea sprouts were in fact a climbing WEED!  My real sweet-peas were just starting to show themselves!  My husband also enjoyed a good laugh at my expense...apparently he had discovered my blunder that morning.  I wonder how long he would have waited to tell me!

     It caused me to think of times in my younger years when I saw something (such as a friendship, or dating relationship) that I thought would be good.  I thought of all the time and effort I spent cultivating those relationships which only served to suck my energy dry, drain my emotions and distract me from the things that were most important; like my walk with God, or pleasing my parents.  There are other types of "weeds" I deal with, even now.  "Weeds" called bad attitudes, discontentment, pride, and others.  Sometimes I plant these weeds in my life on purpose; sometimes they blow in with the wind and catch me unawares.  I am thankful for a Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit who whispers to me, "You need to pull the weeds!"

This is the type of weed I carefully tended for over a week!

Lucky!

Last week our family was rushing out the door for our mid-week church service.  As our oldest daughter, Lillian, age five, ran out the door, the screen door caught her foot and she went flying over the edge of the porch.  My husband said she amazingly regained her footing and landed on her feet almost like a gymnist!  He looked at her and said, "Girl, you're lucky!"

A few minutes later, my husband was buckling the kids in their seats, and Lillian asks, "Daddy, what is 'lucky?'"

He gave her a simple, but profound answer.  "Lucky means God was GOOD to you."

I know that there are many god-fearing people out there who ban the word luck from their vocabulary, but when you state it that way, then yes, I am lucky...and God is good!

"That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Matthew 5:45

Good things happen to good people and bad things happen to good people.  But, don't you find it amazing that good things also happen to the unjust, or unsaved, people?  Why is that?  Because God loves them too! And he is GOOD to all!

I AM LUCKY!  I feel like He has been extra good to me.  He spoils me!  If you stop to look at your life, you'll find he spoils you too!  A few weeks ago I was introduced to this amazing song and I'd like to share the lyrics with you.

I Have Been Blessed
by Michael Compton
 

When He moves among us—all that He does,
All of His mercy—all of His love,
If the pen of a writer, could write everyday—
Even this world could never contain—How I’ve been blessed.

Warmth in the winter—Flowers in spring.
Laughter of summer, the changing of leaves,
Food on my table, and a good place to sleep
Clothes on my back and shoes on my feet
I have been blessed.

I have been blessed, God’s so good to me
Precious are His thoughts of you and me
No way I can count them, There’s not enough time
So I’ll just thank Him for being so kind
God has been good, so good
I have been blessed.

Arms that will raise—a voice that can talk,
Hands that can touch, legs that can walk,
Ears that can listen—eyes that can see
I’ve got to praise Him as long as I breathe
I have been blessed

A mother and father—nurtured and raised
Sisters and brothers—memories made
Our pastor to lead us—this altar to pray
Stripes that heal—the blood that still saves
I have been blessed.

I have been blessed, God’s so good to me
Precious are His thoughts of you and me
No way I can count them, There’s not enough time
So I’ll just thank Him for being so kind
God has been good, so good
I have been blessed.

We live in a country—the greatest on earth
Where the flag stands for freedom and what it is worth
She stands in a harbor—Miss Liberty calls
All have given some, but some gave it all
So we could blessed.

He’s my shoulder to lean on—when I am down
The Rock where He leads me when I’m overwhelmed
The place where He hides me under His wings—He’s not just a song
He’s the reason I sing—I have been blessed.

I have been blessed, God’s so good to me
Precious are His thoughts of you and me
No way I can count them, There’s not enough time
So I’ll just thank Him for being so kind
God has been good, so good
I have been blessed.

 

 

Yes, I'm lucky, I'm BLESSED!