Wednesday's Website

Teachers TV looks like a really cool resource. I am personally interested in the science videos.

ht - Wise Little Owls

Our Reading Basket

Josh is reading -

• The Bald Bandit (A to Z Mysteries) Josh is liking these okay, it helps that there is a character named Josh in the story.
• The Nixie's Song (Beyond The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 1) Josh loves this whole series and reads them fast and voraciously!
• A Giant Problem (Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles) Book 2
• The Wyrm King (Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 3)

Shannon is reading -

• The Help I am really enjoying this book! It is about the relationship of women during the civil rights movement.
• Return To Sender I have to admit, I just love a Fern Michaels book! This one has a sweet Mother/Son relationship!

Andrew is reading-

• Under the Dome: A Novel Which is easily the biggest book I have ever seen, he says he is enjoying it!

Menu on a Monday!

• Monday (Mexican)- Chicken Fajitas
• Tuesday (Tomato-ey)- Pizza
• Wednesday (Wild Card)- Out!
• Thursday (Thrifty/Thankful)- Chicken pot pies (here!)
• Friday (Fancy)- Mexican Beef and Beans casserole Not fancy but sounds yummy!
• Saturday (Sandwich)- Tuna salad sandwiches
• Sunday (Sunshine)- Egg in a Hole!

Wednesday's Website

Josh's teacher recommended this site for a good sight word list. There are even printable flashcards. He is in Kindergarten and is supposed to learn the 100 list this year. He can read through at least the 500 ( we have not tried the 600 yet) so instead we are using these as spelling words.

Also... Please HELP!!!
Anyone have any great resources for how to easily accelerate his work in class that I could pass on to his teacher? So far they have him using the computer on www.raz-kids.com during any phonics/reading instruction. For math they seem to be trying to just have him add 1 digits when the class is just counting. They seem to not understand he can do at least 2 digits and subtraction. I would like to have some ideas when we go in for conferences in a couple weeks!

Great deal!

Check out the science kits on the Kids Woot website http://kids.woot.com/ today! Remember this is only available today!

Autumn Ideas

Halloween Ideas-
Halloween Paper Chains Print and assemble!
Halloween Paper Toys
Creepy Witch Banner Sewing required!

Language Ideas-
Halloween Word Ladders Check other links here too!

Math Ideas-
Fall Tree Dice Game Adapted to fit your child (e.g. addition/subtraction problems)

Science Ideas-
Leaf templates
Lifecycle of an Apple tree

Family Project Ideas-
Jack O Lantern Mosaic
Papier Mache pumpkin
Hand tree

Art Ideas-
Scarecrow Paintings
How to draw a Maple Leaf
Tissue Paper Fall Leaves

Decorating Ideas
Pompom Acorns and Felt leaves
Leaf garland Turn down your speakers for this blog!

Wednesday's Website

Oh my stinkin' heck on Pioneer Woman talking about EDU-CATION! This is a nice take on homeschool vs sending your children to school.

Menu on a Monday!

Mexican Monday - Bean and Beef Crescent Pie

Tomato Tuesday - Spaghetti

Wild Card Wednesday - Out!

Thankful/Thrifty Thursday - Herbed Chicken & Mashed Potatoes

Fancy Friday - Still have not made the Fettuccine alfredo! So that is my plan!

Sandwich Saturday - Hot Hoagies (Andrew's current favorite sandwich!)

Sunshine Sunday - Make Ahead muffin Melts If I can pick up some farm eggs before Sunday, oh ...and figure out how to make hard boiled eggs. Just never liked them...so... never tried!

Our Reading Basket

I am reading...

• Honey for a Child's Heart Wonderful explanations and lists of books for children. I need to sit down with the book and my laptop and add to my amazon wish lists!
• Honest Pretzels: And 64 Other Amazing Recipes for Cooks Ages 8 & Up What a great collection of recipes to use with your children! (Her other books are great too!)

Josh is reading...

• On his own - The Spiderwick Chronicles Boxed Set): The Field Guide; The Seeing Stone; Lucinda's Secret; The Ironwood Tree; The Wrath of Mulgrath Josh is just loving these. When he is not reading them he is drawing pictures of the characters, pretending to be the characters, or making cool things like a home out of a shoebox for a character. These books are a fun quick read (chapter books but shorter) but are full of fanciful characters. We love sci-fi/fantasy but understand that others object to monster/fairy/etc...
• Reading aloud together - Pippi Longstocking (Puffin Modern Classics) We just finished this tonight. What a silly story! We all enjoyed it and are planning to watch the movie this week.
• Next on his list - The Absent Author (A to Z Mysteries)

Menu on a Monday!

Monday (Mexican) - Chicken Quesadillas

Tuesday (Tomato-ey) - Pizza Bake

Wednesday - (Wild Card) - We are thinking we will reverse Tues and Wed and go out to celebrate my new job and Josh's new school year.

Thursday - (Thrifty/Thankful) Mac n cheese and hot dogs (did not get to these last week!)

Friday - (Fancy) Fetuccini alfredo

Saturday - (Sandwich) Cheesy lemon pepper Chicken Sandwich (did not do this last week either!)

Sunday - (Sunshine) Hungry Girl Cinnalicious French Toast & sausage

I am loving this new system of having assigned days. It is making menu planning super easy!

Surprise!

I am going back to work (part time) starting tomorrow. I was not even looking for a job but received a phone call from Joshua's Young 5 teacher (from last year) on Wednesday. Her assistant changed jobs and they were wondering if I was interested. So, here we are 6 days later and I am back to work, eeeek!

The details are not yet worked out but they are getting there. The main issue is that I begin at 11am and Josh starts at 12. My Mom is available Mondays and Fridays to give him lunch and take him to school. Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday we are going to try to get him into a daycare for an hour. I will send his lunch and they will drive him to school. We have called 3 different places. One pretty much laughed at me for only wanting care for 3 hours a week, one has not returned my call, and the 3rd was fine with it and we are going to check them out before school tomorrow.

I have pretty much felt every emotion possible since Wednesday. I am nervous for sure, mostly about Josh. I kind of feel like I got what I wanted and now do not want it. I do want it of course but the whole daycare thing is stressing me out.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and we begin another adventure!

Menu on a Monday!

Before I get started, I want to share a cool idea I saw today. Check out this idea, specifically the
Mexican Monday
Tomato-ey Tuesday
Wild-Card Wednesday
Thrifty & Thankful Thursday
Fancy Friday
Soupy Saturday
Sandwich Sunday

I occasionally try to stick to a similar schedule but I really love her Wild card and Thrifty/Thankful days. Wild card, as she explains could be anything from a food whim you have or just leftovers. Thrifty/Thankful is a kid friendly cheap meal like mac n cheese and hotdogs. I love just scheduling a meal like that especially when it is likely we are going to have it anyway. But previously, it would be on a busy night when my scheduled meal just did not happen.

So anyway, I think I will give it a shot...with a tweak or two!

Mexican Monday - Mexican Flatbread Pizza
Tomato-ey Tuesday - School Open House so???? Prob. just grab something out!
Wild Card Wednesday - Cornbread & Chili
Thrifty/Thankful Thursday - Hot Dogs & Oven Fries (Beans for A!)
Fancy Friday - Chicken parm & Garlic Bread
Sandwich Saturday - Lemon pepper Chicken Sandwich
Sunshine Sunday(AKA Breakfast for dinner!) - Creamy Scrambled Eggs, toast, and sausage for the boys! (These eggs are unbelievably yummy!)

Have you Heard of this?

Get your very own Free Map!

Wednesday's Website

Fun kids website http://kids.yahoo.com/!

We supervise Josh on the web, so this is an approved website for him to use with me. I am not sure I would let him check this one out by himself.

Menu on a Monday!

Monday - Empanadas

Tuesday - Picnic Concert! Sourdough bread, cheese, maybe some oatmeal cookies.

Wednesday - Pizza bake - We just love pizza! This seems like a quick easy version to try.

Thursday - Out with friends

Friday - Dinner with family

Saturday and Sunday - Leftovers from meals out and earlier in the week.

Last week we did not do so great with the menu! We did not have Pizza Muffins or Mexican beef and beans casserole! So maybe we will try again next week!

How to Draw...

I thought we might enjoy doing some of these How to Draw lessons I have seen lately! As long as I am compiling...

Snake
Christmas Nutcracker
Penguin
Laurel Burch Cat Head
Cat
Buildings
Cow
Lion
Castle
Rooster
House
Scaredy cat
Bear
Interesting step by step online directions

Most of these are from http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/ !

Affiliate Links

Do you know I use Amazon Affiliate Links? Well I do!

If you do not know what that is...
I link back to Amazon ( as a member of the Affiliate Link program) and if you click on my link and buy what I suggested, then I get a small percentage of the purchase price. You will not be affected at all!

So uh, FYI and thanks if you buy something!

See, like this --> LEGO Creator House (5891)

Who is Parenting Who?

I frequently use the parenting technique with Josh where you get him started on an activity and then go get something of your own done checking in on him occassionally. It works pretty well and is especially useful for the dinner hour, especially when I set him up with something at the table.

So anyway, the other day, Josh asked if I would play LEGO with him. (We have been working on a project together...putting together again the tiny kits that came in his Advent calendar from Christmas...searching for the pieces in his big tub of mixed up pieces!) I agreed and came down to sit on the floor with him. Well, I began the search and was pretty wrapped up in it when I noticed he was off having some elaborate to do with the Lego guys.

He totally set me up! Funny Kid!

Books for Where he is at....

• Geronimo Stilton Adventurer's Boxed Set We love the Geronimo books because they are chapter books that he can read entirely on his own. AND they are so silly, he just loves them. You need to check them out because they are pretty special. The author uses pictures and fancy print throughout the book to add fun and frivolity. I love that the stories are good clean fun and they use wonderful language throughout!
• The Curse of the Cheese Pyramid (Geronimo Stilton, No. 2) Josh's favorite! He is still VERY interested in Ancient Egypt!
• The Case of the Hungry Stranger (I Can Read Book 2) There is a whole series of these by Crosby Bonsall. Super cute little mystery books about a group of boys who solve silly mysteries.
• Kids Across, Parents Down: On the Go: The Puzzles That Kids & Adults Enjoy Together (Kids Across Parents Down) and Kids Across, Parents Down: Crazy Critters: The Puzzles That Kids & Adults Enjoy Together (Kids Across Parents Down) These are so fun. Josh and I do these often. As the name suggests, he does the across clues which are at his level and the down clues are a bit harder intended for adults.

So, what books do your kids just love? Any great suggestion for a boy's boy who can READ but is just 6.

Menu on a Monday!

Monday - Homemade Beefaroni (We had this last week Thursday, so are going to finish up the leftovers tonight!) This was really yummy!

Tuesday - Picnic and a concert night! Meijer Garden is having a free concert series ever Tuesday night in August! We went last week and it was very fun!

Wednesday - Chicken with herbs and mashed potatoes

Thursday - Mexican beef and beans casserole with tortillas! and of course made with ground turkey!

Friday - Pizza muffins Finally, recipe here!

Saturday - Out to dinner for my Mom's Birthday!

Sunday - Egg in a hole!