After a little hiatus, i am finally back into my blog! I am so excited to share some new ideas and new changes that have been going on over here. I'm hoping to have a new post up by tonight!

We finally got our picture! This was taken right outside our window!

Uncle Z and Lei caught a Brown Anole. He was pretty squirmy so we let him loose pretty quickly, but not before snapping these 2 pics...and him snapping at Uncle Z's finger :)

You would think this was some sort of punishment. Maybe  the boys misbehaved, and i sent them to go pick up rocks in a bucket.

Nope, not these boys! Picking up rocks and collecting them in a bucket is FUN stuff! And, hard work...that bucket was heavy!

He's ordering another Veggie Tale Movie & Veggie Tale Bible :)

Finally got a pic...after the boys ate most of it!

Since we unschool/relax homeschool, we do a lot of baking! Lei sure knows his way with a ring of measuring spoons. He can pick out a tablespoon from a teaspoon, and a 1/4 from 1/2. 

Yes, baking is fractions at it's best. What better way to learn than by figuring out 3/4's of a banana?!

Today we made some applesauce. My house smelled so good! 

1tsp brown sugar (optional)

Serve immediately if you want it warm, or refrigerate for an hour or two to serve cold.


I didn't get any pics of the process :( 


Next time!

The boys and I made pizza! if i knew it was this simple i would have been making our own pizza a long time ago! The recipe i have is so easy, and yeast free-which is great if you don't like to wait for rising dough. plus, most of the ingredients you probably already have in your cupboards.

2 c. flour

1 t. salt

2 t. baking powder
1/4c. oil

2/3 c. water

These Oatmeal Circles go fast in our house! Not only are they a great, healthy snack...but they also make a great breakfast for those days we have to leave the house early.

These circles are:

I don't own a cookie sheet, however, the back of my cupcake pan worked great!

After drinking all the coconut water, we enjoyed the coconut meat!

After our rainmaker project we had so much glitter all over! We got as much as possible back into the jar, but there was still quite a bit that just would not lift up! Sure, a vacuum would pick it up...but where's the fun in that!?

So, using some play-dough we had around, we used the extra glitter to make glitter play-dough! Just roll the play-dough over the glitter, and that's it! Pretty play-dough, and cleanup all in one!

I still needed to use my vacuum though :)

Materials needed:

Tube container (i used a small Pringles can)

Nails

Rice and/or beans

Construction paper

Decorations

Glue

Stapler

Putting together your rainmaker:

Measure out a piece of construction paper to wrap around your tube, and decorate! We used some feathers, glitter and shape cut outs.

(This part is all Lei! I try to stay out of it as much as possible, and just sit on the side saying "oh, how pretty" and "Wow, that is so cool!" However when it comes to the stapling, i handle that part.)

 Carefully hammer nails into the side of your tube...or do like Lei, and use a wooden puzzle peice as your hammer :)

We just put the randomly.

Then add your rice or beans...we added both! I didn't get a picture of this part, but we filled our can a little less than half, and i think that it was too much. You will probably get better results with less!

Wrap your decorated paper around your tube and staple to keep it in place. I found that stapling worked better than gluing since the head of the nails didn't allow the paper to stay flat enough to glue, and stay flat..

We have been seeing these a lot on our nature walks, and in yards. I've done a few searches, but i can't find anything!


Update:
Thanks to my dear friend Niki, Lei and i now know that this is a Shepard's Needle Flower. Definitely an addition to our nature journal.

We haven't been doing much at all with homeschooling this week. Since this was supposed to be our Ee week, we did a bit of handwriting (writing the letter Ee on our white board/unlined paper). We also talked about how the letter E makes the 'eh' sound. 

Other than that we did A LOT of nature study. We talked about the northern mockingbird and the White Crowned Pigeon. Both of which are local birds, and we see almost on a daily basis! However, any picture we tried to get of them did not turn out well. So, i had to get these ones online!

 White Crowned Pigeon

Northern Mockingbird

We will continue with these birds next week, when we get a calmer start to the week!

Here is the first lesson i will be working on with Lei. It's the /k/ sound, which he has been pronouncing /d/.

We will go over one row for about 15-30 minutes a day until he can say it. I'm not worried about how quick he will catch onto it, and i'm trying to make it fun for him.

These past days have been so busy. Between Drs, Dentists, and house break-ins, it feels like i haven't even been home!

On Sunday i spent 6 hours waiting in the ER. And didn't even get to see the dr! The kids were getting tired and bored, so we left. The following day, Monday, we took him to our family dr. My sweet boy has Otitis externa, an outer ear infection. Not only that, but the dr also noticed his speech issues. Lei has a lot of difficulty pronouncing certain letter sounds. For example: Four is Bore, car is dar, he completely removes the s from the beginning of words,etc. Dr says to keep working on it with him, and to keep an eye (ear?) on it. The worst it could be is Auditory Processing Disorder, which i'm pretty confident it isn't. He has a follow up Wednesday, for the ear infection.

Starfall, how i love you! 

Even though my boys fight for mouse time every time you are on.

I've been deep in thought for the last few days. The main question on my mind: The right method of homeschooling for my family.

As most of the readers of my blog know, my favorite methods of homeschooling are:

Starting as soon as possible  immediately, there will be a change in our homeschooling method. I will be focusing more on the Charlotte Mason method, as this method has been nagging at me from the beginning! It just feels right for me, and I believe God has been pushing me into that direction for my family.

Ms. Mason taught that formal studies were not to begin until the age of 6 or 7. Before then, a child's learning is play.

I have written up an idea of  curriculum we will follow:

Bible:
Read Bible stories
Verse Memorization

Habit training:
Chores (putting toys in toy box, putting his shoes away)
Family Rules (which i have not gotten around to making yet!)
This book: Child's Book of Character Building: Growing Up in God's World 


Read  Aloud Literature:
Classics
These websites: Here, Here, Here, and Here

Then, when we begin reading lessons i will pick up:

Little Bear series
Frog and Toad series
Little Jewel series
Billy and Blaze series


Math:
Calendar (laminate blank calendar, and fill in the month and days)
Days of the week
Counting to 30
Using counters to teach basic addition and subtraction


Language Arts:
Review one letter and introduce its sounds weekly. Vowels say their own name and also have a short sound.
Copywork – One letter of the alphabet on unlined paper per week. Draw in sand, then on paper. Large is okay. Memory verse of the week.
Letter recognition
Make homemade books together by copying simple books read and just changing them a little.
Journal-Lei will dictates to me important events, places visited, etc... in heis life on Fridays. I'll write it down on our dry erase board first, then i'll write it in his journal, leaving a word or two blank for him to fill in.
(Do not focus on much writing at this age.)

History/Geography:
Holidays, Traditions, Various countries and cultures

Nature Study:
Local birds, flowers/plants, insects

I have been giving Lei a bit of copywork *mainly bible verses & poem lines*, and we have been working on math with manipulative. We do a lot of nature walks. During our nature walks there is not much talking unless Lei has a question. I allow him to take it all in, and enjoy God's creation. Later on we discuss and look up things he inquired about.
We don't focus on Music Study yet, but we do listen to classical music & church hymns.


Ok, Who is Charlotte Mason, you may ask?

These little snack bags come in so handy, and i really like that they are washable...no plastic baggies to throw away, and therefore, much better for the earth!

They are really easy to make, and i will have to do a proper tutorial on it when i get a chance...and some pretty fabric :)

We use these for snacks like pretzels, carrot sticks, crackers (any hard snack). The larger ones can even be used for sandwiches. This one is not waterproof, but they can be made waterproof if you like.

I really need some prettier fabric! This is cotton in a khaki color, not exciting at all.

The letter bags are the snack packs used for each letter of the alphabet. This one shown is for the Letter D. It consists of 2 letter tiles, upper case and lower case, and a few pictures of things that begin with d and the "duh" sound.. I'll be adding more 3d objects to the bag when i find them, to make it more interesting for Lei. The main objective of this project is to reinforce the sound D makes.

I'll be doing them for all 26 letter!

This week we'll be focusing on:

Sight word-MY
Bible Verse: Depart from evil, and do good. Psalm 34:14

Break it down:

Alpha Buddy D and  Number Buddy 5 (dltk-kids.com)

Square tracing.

Find the shape. (Hunt around the house for squares in different sizes)

Read "Hot Dog"

Review flash card of sight word (my)

Read "Hot Dog" & "Go Away Dog"

Letter D painting

number 5 play dough mat

Itsy Bitsy Square Book

Wednesday:
Read Hot Dog & Go Away Dog
Circle the D's in this poem
What begins with D
Counting out 5 objects
Number 5 cookie (cookie dough shaped into the #5)
Square worksheet

Thursday:
Letter D letter bag
Words that end with D
Counting with 5 (using colored sticks)
Square building (using colored sticks)
Read Hot Dog and Go Away Dog

Friday:
Read Hot Dog and Go Away Dog
Letter D letter bag
Read David and the Giant
Sing songs with "5". (5 little ducks, 5 little monkeys)
Review Squares.

Other stuff:
Starfall
Any other books and crafts the boys feel like doing!

This isn't written in stone, thank goodness, and will probably change a bit during the week :)

A couple of homeschooling families got together last week for our first field trip! It was so much FUN, and Lei had a blast! Not only that, but it was so amazing to see other families and teenagers! I NEVER knew of any homeschooling teenagers around here. That was really nice :)

It also got me thinking. I wonder how many other homeschoolers are out here that I just don't know? Are they just outside of everyone's network and nobody knows them? Are they intentionally staying under the radar? And, if so, why?  It's actually kind of funny, because now every time i see a mom (or dad) out with their school aged kids during school hours (which is not an everyday sight) I just want to go up to them and ask "are you homeschooler?" Just this past Tuesday while on a quick run to the food store, I saw a lady with her two kids who looked to be about 4 and 7. She was walking with her bags heading home, and dh and i sat in the car wondering if she was a homeschooler, and how i could ask her!

Well, we cam up with the perfect plan. Why not ask her for a ride home! (I'm still chuckling to myself thinking about it!)
Anyways, to make a long story short. She kindly declined our ride and i never did get to ask her about the homeschooling. If i see her out again i'm asking her, right then and there!

So, back to the dolphins!

That had to be one of the best field trips ever! Lei learned so much also. He knew a bit about dolphins before, but he learned some things he (and I) never knew before, like:

*Dolphins are born with a little blonde mustache, that falls off a few hours after birth.

*The can swim up to 35 mph

*Their little flippers have bones

*Dolphins are born tail first

Our little entertainer for the day was named Coral, and she had a baby named Reef. They were both so cute, and so smart, and i totally fell even more in love with Dolphins that day :)

Of course you all know we are definitely going to Dolphin Tale this week!

I didn't take much pics since i was carrying Little Brother, and i thought dh would be my photographer...but he was having way too much fun to worry about pics! These pics were taken by Alicia, (another homeschooling mom) and she did an awesome job! 

 {Doing a little trick}

 {Our guide, Tristan, telling us a bit about dolphins}

 {Getting wet}

 {Lei getting kisses}

 {Lei really enjoyed himself}

 {Getting sprayed by Coral}

 {Coral showing off high high she can jump}