Gourd Festival and Our New Birdhouse

Grandma came over this morning and joined us for a field trip to the Gourd Festival at the local Shriner's hall.  It was her suggestion, so I'm glad she joined us!  I have to confess, I wasn't so sure about a building full of gourds when we first made the plans.  But, I am so happy that we went!

Who knew the gourd was so versatile?  There were baskets, decorations, jewelry, and so much more.  We really enjoyed exploring the different sizes, shapes, and textures, as well.  It was amazing!  The gourd that the divas chose was about the size of a small soccer ball and was hollowed out to function as a birdhouse.  It was plain, so we decided to bring it home and paint it; inspired by some of the beautifully painted ones that were displayed for sale.

My original plan was to purchase some acrylic paints, but the older diiva was so excited to paint it that she got out the watercolors and went straight to work on it when we got home.  I decided that I will buy some acrylic clear coat instead and seal it so that the weather does not ruin it.  When the older diva was done, the younger diva added her personal touch.  

Here is the end result. :)

I love the natural feel of the water colors and how the divas seemed to intuitively choose earth tones when they were painting it.

What a fun way to spend this overcast, dreary morning!

We purchased our gourd from a lovely husband and wife team who own Front Porch Gourds, LLC. If you are interested in purchasing from them, check out their Etsy shop!

Blessings!

Writing station

The older diva has taken a strong interest in letters and writing lately, so today I created a writing station for her.  She has been sitting at it, working quietly (well, as quietly as one can work when they are whistling while they work) for about 20 minutes now with no signs of losing interest.  So, I would say it's a hit!

With little room to create new spaces, I usually end up swapping out one station for another.  This time, I swapped out the art station.  The divas tend to drag all of their art supplies to the dining room table anyway, so I decided it wasn't worth a dedicated space for those materials.  Now, to figure out where to house the art supplies.  Ha!

The writing station is simple.  I used a free-standing file organizer that was a thrift store find for most of the materials, which left most of the table free to use as actual work space.

The items in the file organizer are:

- Alphabet tracing mats (I have dry erase crayons in a flower pot for use with these)

- Manuscript writing paper

- Alphabet stencils

- My Little Numbers booklet (great little freebie on TPT!)

- Envelopes

- Index cards

- Foil stickers that look like stamps

I also added this cute little Hello Kitty mailbox that I got for less than a dollar on clearance in the Target dollar section.

Next up on the blog this week will be the sink station I created for the younger diva.  Both girls are really enjoying that one! 

Blessings!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and our coconut tree!

Wow!  It’s been a while since I’ve blogged anything.  Life has definitely been crazy around here.  The mancubs and divas do a fantastic job of keeping me on my toes! J

Today, I’m going to share one of the literacy activities we have going on in the house.  I am a huge fan of the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book.  Don’t believe me?  Check out my Pinterest boards and you will see that I have one dedicated to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom alphabet activities!  If you are not familiar with it, I highly recommend you check the book out.  It’s a fun way to work on letter recognition and learning the alphabet.  I will share below some ways that we are using the book and the extension activities that we have created (recently and in the past) to use it as a multi-faceted learning tool.

A few years ago, we had a sweet little coconut tree in our playroom that I had crafted out of construction paper.  When we moved, I threw it away and have missed it ever since. So, last week, I decided it was time to craft a new one.  Our original Chicka Chicka Boom Boom coconut tree was much smaller than the new version, so I actually like the new one better.

 

I drew the trunk freehand by laying three pieces of brown construction paper end to end (portrait layout).  I used this pattern to trace the palm leaves.  I drew the coconuts freehand, as well.  Easy peasy!

I found the awesome alphabet letters that we added at Dollar Tree.  They are wall decals, so they can be stuck and re-stuck however the divas decide to arrange them.  I love that it gives the tree an interactive element.  The current arrangement of the letters is the older diva’s handiwork.  She really enjoyed the activity and wanted to do it again as soon as we were done going through the alphabet!

So, here are some of the ways that we use the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book and tree:

> Letter recognition (asking the divas to point to or name a letter)

> Rote memorization (singing the Alphabet Song, using the alphabet in the back cover of the book or by pointing to each letter on the tree as we sing)

> Letter sounds (point to letter and say the sound it makes; say a sound and point to the letter that makes the sound)

> Color recognition (what color is the letter…  This would work better with the tree if the letters were a better variety of colors)

> Read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom sitting next to the tree and point to each letter as it is read in the book.

The possibilities are endless and the above is just a sampling of ways that we have used the tree so far.  I’m sure we will come up with more fun activities as we progress with learning our letters.

Don’t have a copy of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom?  Get one here!  Or, do like I did and check thrift stores.  I scored our copy at Goodwill for a whopping 59 cents!

Enjoy!

Our First Field Trip!

I love when things just come together and work out perfectly!  A sweet friend of mine invited us to join her and her [homeschooled] daughter at our local zoo this week.  We let our membership lapse and I've been too cheap  frugal to renew it since we would not get a full year's use out of it.  So, I happily made plans and today was the big day.

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is the flexibility.  I switched our lesson plans for this week and am doing Z is for Zoo.  Then, I decided to officially tag the trip to the zoo today as our first official homeschool field trip. :)

I have been using this fantastic and FREE preschool curriculum called God's Little Explorers*, so "Z is for Zoo" is Week 4 if you follow the link and look for it.  Her plans are great and I find there is little that I tend to add to supplement.  She does have a link at the top of the page where you can purchase a more in-depth version of the curriculum for a very budget-friendly price.  But, I have found that the free version suits our needs just fine for now.

*Disclaimer:  I am not following the curriculum in chronological order by week numbers.  I am picking and choosing based on other factors.  It works well since there is no carry-over week over week.  There's that flexibility factor, again.

In preparation for the zoo trip, we did some letter work this morning and made zebra's out of the outline of letter Z.  The younger diva required a little more assistance with the activity, but the older diva completed almost all of it on her own.

The older diva cut her own paper strips and glued them down while I was helping the younger diva.

 The younger diva had a lot of fun gluing down her zebra stripes and googly eyes.

They were both pleased with their finished products!

At the zoo, we participated in the Wildlife Detective Training Academy and the clues this month were all about zebras!  The divas had a blast going around with their friend, figuring out the clues.  Since the older diva is not yet writing, I wrote the answers to the clues and then had her copy the beginning letter sound of the word next to the box.  Even the younger diva wanted in on that activity, so our answer sheet had some amazing scribble marks on it that were her "letters", too! :)

We did encounter some students from area elementary schools who were on field trips, as well, and they all had on school t-shirts.  That gave me the brilliant idea of making our own field trip t-shirts for the divas.  I will have to blog about it once I settle on a design.

Be blessed, y'all!

Why Cleaning Is Part of Our School Day

Yep, you read that correctly.  Cleaning is part of our school day.  Go ahead, take a moment and let that soak in before you read more!

In subscribing to a Montessori-inspired approach to not just schooling but home life, as well, cleaning is an obvious component of Practical Life skills.  It actually seems too obvious.  But, putting it into motion wasn’t nearly as easy as embracing the concept was – at least not for this momma.  Let’s face it, life with 4 kiddos is mostly [dis]organized chaos peppered with a few peaceful reprieves.  I jokingly confided in the older mancub the other day that I sometimes feel like the human version of saltwater taffy when all 4 of them are clamoring for my attention.  His oh-so-loving response was to chant, “Mom, Mom, Mom,” for the next 60 seconds.  He’s lucky I love him. ;)  So, I often kick into “survival mode” and do the tasks myself to get it checked off the never-ending To Do list that loves to haunt my waking hours.

Enter my New Year’s Resolutions.  At the top of the list?  Engage the kiddos in more household tasks, of course!  I spent the first full week of the New Year organizing and deep cleaning the house.  How else could I justify pinning all of those lovely home organization pins on Pinterest? Then, I formed my plan of action. 

Toys:  True to Montessori method, we now clean up each activity as we complete it.  It was bad form on my part for allowing slack in this area previously.  It teaches proper care of toys and orderliness.  It also cuts down on the number of toys that go missing.  I was amazed at how quickly the divas embraced our new system.  I thought for sure I would meet more resistance, but they seem to intuitively understand and appreciate the need for orderliness.  Whew! 

Kitchen:  With the addition of our Montessori-inspiredsnack station, all 4 kiddos have become more independent with snacks and breakfast/lunch.  I have been working with the divas on setting and clearing the table and will introduce dish washing this coming week.  The older mancub is responsible for unloading the dishwasher.  The younger mancub is on garbage and recycling duty.  I have also enlisted the older mancub’s help with dinner once a week, on average.  I love that he loves to cook! :)

Household cleaning:  I have followed this cleaning schedule for a while now and like the simplicity, as well as the way it breaks the chores up over the week.  Like the toys, though, this is an area where I have been inconsistent about engaging the kiddos.  One of my reasons for slacking was the fact that I did not want them exposed to the cleaning chemicals.  Another nod to Pinterest; I was inspired by all of the DIY cleaning products that have been filling my news feed.  I found this great link for recipes for cleaning products and she includes an awesome (and FREE!) printable for labels.  I followed her advice and affixed the labels to the bottles using packing tape and it worked perfectly! 

Here is my version.

Now, I can incorporate more lessons on cleaning without worrying about the products I am putting into the divas’ hands.  Yay!  Plus, what kid doesn't love a spray bottle?!  So, I’m pretty sure they will be content to spray and wipe to their hearts’ content. ;)

Momma feels less like saltwater taffy and the kiddos gain valuable practical life skills that they will {hopefully} carry with them into adulthood.  Now, to go tackle that mountain of laundry in the garage…

Nature is a Great Teacher

We are on the tail end of our Winter Break, so I took the mancubs and divas to a local nature boardwalk over the weekend.  Because, where else except Florida can you take a nature hike in shorts during Winter Break? :)

We had a great afternoon, although the kiddos (ok, and Momma, too) were all disappointed that the nature center was closed.  So, we will be taking a trip back soon to explore the nature center.  The younger mancub did make sure that I didn't leave until we had one copy of every informational brochure they had on the stand outside the nature center, though. lol

We saw some really cool things during our hike along the boardwalk.  God's creation is always amazing - the way it displays itself, the evidence of surviving damage, the harmony of working together.  There is beauty in all of it and I love teaching our kiddos to appreciate it.

Here are some of the neat things we saw:

I love the learning opportunities that nature so readily presents, as well.  As we were walking, we noticed a teeny tiny caterpillar descending on a silk thread from the tree canopy to the boardwalk below.  Once it made it to the ground below, the perfect opportunity to discuss camouflage in nature presented itself. 

I should probably brush up on my knowledge of caterpillars since finding baby caterpillars seems to be our thing. We didn't touch this one because I couldn't identify it and I didn't want to risk getting stung.

The younger mancub and older diva both enjoyed getting to touch some lichen that was growing on a lot of the trees.

Red blanket lichen

We also got to hear a variety of birds and saw a ton of spiders.  I tried to get a photo of one particularly colorful spider, but it started jumping towards me when I got too close to the web.  I guess he was camera shy. ;)

It was an awesome day and I'm glad we were able to get out for a quick "field trip" with the mancubs before they go back to school.

God bless!

Self-directed Learning Through Play

I just finished reading this fantastic post by another blogger and wanted to quickly share my thoughts about this topic.

When I first began this homeschooling journey, I had grand plans for following a daily schedule, doing circle time, and producing tangible proof of what the older diva would be learning this school year.  Enter perfectionism.  I spent hours (I mean, seriously - HOURS) finding or making the perfect printables to create the perfect Circle Time chart.  I spent yet more time finding a scope and sequence/curriculum that I liked and thought would work well for us as we began our journey.

It lasted about a week.  Ha!

I decided I was simply taking the wrong approach.  Enter Montessori and Montessori-inspired activities.  The heavy focus on independence and practical life skills at the 3-6 age range was attractive to me.  What mom doesn't want to have independent children who will grow into capable adults?  So, I spent yet more hours integrating Montessori and Montessori-inspired activities into our daily life and onto our school shelves.

The older diva barely touches them.  *sigh*

[Sidebar]: The only saving grace is that the younger diva loves the Montessori activities, so the effort was not completely wasted.  I had planned on waiting until she was 3 to start schooling with her.  But, the beauty of the Montessori activities is that I can teach them to her once or twice and then she is capable of executing the activities independently until she either masters the skill or tires of the activity.

Back I went to the internet to find what was going to work.  I have finally settled on a Charlotte Mason/Montessori blend.  But, more importantly, I have decided to take the pressure off both myself and the older diva with regards to what/how she is learning.  Spend 5 minutes with her and anyone quickly figures out that she is smart, observant, funny, inquisitive, kind, (and on and on...) and independent.

Which brings me to the whole point of this post.  Everywhere I turn, there are learning opportunities.  The older diva is definitely interested in learning.  But, what her indifference towards my grand attempts at initiating homeschooling has shown me is that she will let me know what she wants to learn and when she wants to learn it.  Therein lies the beauty of self-directed learning through play.  All I have to do is provide the opportunities and the exposure (and the support materials to encourage learning) and she will let me know what she wants to learn.

I have to admit, it has been slightly disconcerting to embrace this approach completely.  I sometimes fall into the trap of believing that she should know XYZ and she is somehow going to be behind if she doesn't yet.  But, then I remind myself of all of those amazing qualities that she possesses that I listed above and I relax again.

Without a doubt, this teacher often becomes the student and my kiddos each have taught me invaluable lessons in life.