kinder grad 2009

Does finishing Kindergarten deserve a celebration? We think so!

Especially since so much effort had been put into completing an alphabet book of work from the year. Thanks to My Father's World curriculum, which took us through the alphabet relating each letter to a Biblical concept. For instance, letter A teaches, "If I stay in Jesus I will have much fruit":

For each letter I made a badge with the lesson on it. Other letters such as G for goat and "Jesus died for my sins," H for horse (her fav), "I obey right away," and I for insect "I am a wise child so I work hard":For each letter we would get messy, like paint with bubble wrap for letter B and make a collage of tissue on sticky contact paper for letter C. Here's the cover to her book and a few pages:
Kindergarten was a lot of fun. On to 1st grade!

yesterday

The kids love this. And that's what they did with him on Father's Day. I am so thankful for this man!

hairdo

He has been sporting a new style, courtesy of his big sister!

her birthday

She got to do two of her most favorite things on her birthday:

making art and swimming.

Happy Birthday, girl! I can hardly believe you're six!!

my three kids

This is a favorite picture of mine, taken recently at a friend's house.

art cabinet

b e f o r e a f t e rOur Art Cabinet was not working. Being too wide and too shallow, I decided to kick it out and bring in this skinnier, deeper, taller cabinet from Chase's room. (No need for it in there, with Chase out of the crib and hopefully out of diapers soon!) It's totally open, but works so much better. Larger paper fits on the shelf, the kids table can be turned, hooks on the side for paint smocks...

As soon as I had it moved in, stuff was coming off the shelves. There's nothing like re-arranging and re-organizing to get the creative juices flowing again!

blueberry pancakes

One of our favorite family times on the weekends is breakfast. I've been using Scott's Mom's recipe for pancakes since I learned I could make my own pancakes without a box mix!! (I learned a lot over the years from her and my Mamaw.)

Nonnie's Pancakes

Combine the following altogether in a mixer and go

(Nonnie uses a blender):

4 Tbsp melted butter

4 Tbsp sugar (I use less)

2 eggs

2 cups milk

2 cups flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

The mix may be lumpy and that's ok. We like to add 3/4 cup blueberries sometimes.

Provide a small pitcher of juice for the kids to pour themselves. Ours love it.

This is a good time for our family devotions. Fill their minds and their tummies at the same time!

make fun of dinner: pizza

Stick your green beans upright in your bowl-formed rice pile.

Invite a friend.Make pizza in your own kitchen.I've been learning how to make pizza at home. Without a bread machine I wouldn't have even thought of it. I'd stick to delivery or buying crust from the grocery... (actually, we weren't eating much pizza last year anyway, with Sarah's eczema problems. Praise the Lord, she's healed.) Making my own bread intimidates me - - without my bread machine. The one I have came from a dear friend of my Mom who wasn't using it. (This is also where my pizza pans and toaster oven came from! God provides...) I like the Pizza Crust I recipe (following Marylyn's adjustments for making it in the bread machine) for making a 2-3 large crusts.Pizza Crust II recipe (following MrsSid's adjustments) makes a lot more dough for a variety of crust sizes/ thicknesses. I was able to get 3 large crusts and 6 small personal size pizzas for all the kids + cousins to make their own.Or save extra crusts for lunch another day. I like to use whole wheat flour for about a third of the flour called for in the recipe. I don't buy Pizza Sauce - - I make my own with a can of tomato sauce and a bit of oregano and garlic added. Or use Spaghetti Sauce like my sister-in-law. Meatballs (made ahead of time and frozen) are a nice quick addition. Of course, pepperoni is essential to some, veggies to another. That's what's fun about making it at home. Especially when Scott and I are having a date at home, without the kids.

more lapbooking

(Five in a Row has lead us to great literature and provided a springboard for studying all sorts of topics. After daily reading the book and doing some book-related work, we pull it all together in a "lapbook" on the last day. The kids made these when they were 6 and 4.)

We took How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World (Marjorie Priceman) further by doing a lapbook on Apples. (There are MANY activities about apples on the internet. Homeschoolshare and Home School Mom are a good place to start.) Cole's on Apples:

with the center Apple Prints flap up:Sarah's with center Apple Prints flap up: Virgina Lee Burton's books became our favorites. Cole's lapbook on Katy and the Big Snow:Sarah's on Katy:The kids take pride in making their own books. Cole comes up with specific ideas on how he would like the cover to look. The majority of Sarah's lapbooks didn't have an illustrated front cover because, being four, she could only engage for so long. She wanted to be involved, so I tried to be sensitive to her temperament and notice when things stopped being fun. She got what she could done, and that was good enough.

lapbooking

Lapbooking is a fun way to learn more through a great book. (pictured is Cole's lapbook for The Glorious Flight by Alice and Martin Provensen completed Jan. 2008)

Just beginning homeschooling, I knew I needed to read to the kids more, but was unsure where to start. I thumbed through Five in a Row (by Jane Lambert) at a homeschool resale store and knew it was exactly what I needed. FIAR has led me to books, most available at our library, to introduce not only great literature, but also history, science, social studies, art and math in a fun way.

Through the use of homeschoolshare, I found online resources that lead us to making lapbooks. Also, I found this site very helpful for how to put a lapbook together.

Through most of last year, we had some fun with My Father's World curriculum. Recently, the kids asked to go back to lapbooking; so we are. We have an exciting time learning while gathered around the table making a resourceful mess! FIAR was the only "curriculum" we were using when Cole learned to read.

Any topic can be used for a lapbook. I intend to make one for other important stuff- like the Alphabet and Numbers (to remind my Kindergartener which way the 'b' goes : ) shown here, and another for Manners, as described here. Fun stuff.