Wednesday's Websites The Etsy Edition

Science Kit Love that this kit comes in a cute bag and seems to contain any necessary supplies!
Craft Kits Perfect for the Mama who is just not crafty! All supplies included.
Felt Story Sets Love these super cute sets.
Play to Learn -Felt clocks, letters etc...
Beautiful wood puzzles etc... Wow! I love the leaf shape one!
Montessori phonics activities etc... Really great jewelry too!

edited to add: Card Table houses etc... I LOVE THESE!

I Want This Right Now!

Pop up Pizza It is so yummy! Keep forgetting to put it on the menu! Maybe after the fourth!

Menu Plan Monday~ June 28th

Monday- Empanadas

Tuesday- Twice Baked Potatoes

Wednesday- Eat out?? Probably Kid's Night at Buffalo Wild Wings

Thursday- Lasagna

Friday- Leftovers

Saturday- Our Fourth of July fireworks are tonight so... Hot Dogs and the fixings!

Sunday- Egg in a Hole

Summertime Craft Ideas

Wind Chime

Flubber

Fuse beads An easy go to...especially for a rainy day!

God's Eyes

Reverse Tie dye Bought our cool cheap t-shirts for this project yesterday!

Bead Flowers

Bead Dragons

Bead Snakes (We have tons of beads!)

Lantern

Paper Beads

Flip books

Crayon resist

Paper fold and cut chain

Papier mache Bowl I would like to try this with a real bowl instead of a balloon though!

Star wreath Perfect for right before Independence Day!

The Foamerator

So, What DO You Think?

Anyone out there watch http://www.drivethruhistory.com/ ? We recorded and watched an episode today. I am sick again and was easily distracted, so I am not sure what I think.

Josh said, when I asked what he thought, "It was pretty good, I wasn't really watching but I was listening..."

Got Josh Back!

It is summer vacation and I am loving it!

We are mostly getting along and enjoying having our days together! We have been picnicking, playing Lego, listening to music and books on J's bday Ipod, playing with Bendaroos, jammie days/movies, visiting a Children's garden with our new membership!, writing books, drawing drawing drawing, and of course following our interests. (still Ancient Egypt for Joshua!)

As is normal for us, we have a new schedule. It is not yet settled, needs a bit of tweaking but I will share what we are working with....

8am- Breakfast (morning routine!)
9am- Learning activity
10am- Get Ready
11am- Play Outside (not happening with all this rain!)
12pm- Lunch
1pm- Play with Mommy!
2pm- Computer time
3pm- Room time
4pm-Arts/Crafts
Dinner & Daddy
8pm- Reading & Bedtime

We are currently reading the first Harry Potter book together. He can read it just fine but pretty much will only read one page on his own every night.

Keeping it Real
As is the case for every family, we have our share of struggles and joys throughout everyday! Our biggest struggle right now is Josh's sassy mouth. He always knows better and more. He has struggled with this for awhile but it has become much worse after spending his first year of school with (well intentioned!) people who were a bit stunned by his intelligence.
Just today, while working with bendaroos he had a bit of a fit because the bee I created had only one body part and not the required 3. He eventually calmed down after I explained that I was just being creative not making an actual bee. OH MY!

Joys? There are many little delights but I thought I would share a funny thing Josh said today. Andrew's birthday is Saturday and I was telling Josh what I ordered him for a gift. Josh looked over at me suspiciously, and asked "Did you think that through, Mama?" Uh...why yes I did Josh...

Menu on a Monday

Strange food week...kind of looks like Josh planned it...

Monday- Mexican Pizza

Tuesday- Turkey dogs on coney rolls (Andrew's fave!)

Wednesday- BWW

Thursday- Stuffed Muffins

Friday- Pizza

Saturday- Easy Chicken and Mashed Potatoes

Sunday- Omelets, muffins & bacon

Space

Solar System project
Outer Space and Constellation Activities
Starry Night ideas
Solar System Activities including cool book
Montessori Astronomy Newsletter
Space Math Ideas
Fold and Snip Stars
Constellation Painting
Montessori Astronomy Lessons
Moon Phases Memory

If you Can't Beat 'em, Join 'em!

Just over 2 months left of school for Josh! It is hard to believe how fast it went, how smooth/easy it was for him, and how hard it was for me!

It has taken all these months but I think I have FINALLY figured out a better rhythm for meeting Josh's academic needs. Initially, I thought we would just do school in the morning at home since he was attending PM young 5's. But apparently, we are too lazy to actually get much done that way. I also did not really anticipate that he would have so much homework and extra little things to do.

Another part of this year that was unanticipated was that the curriculum was really MUCH better than I could have even hoped it would be.

So what has worked? Instead of just trying to do the subjects etc... we planned, I actually was able to just add to what he was already learning. Seems obvious, right? But I honestly was not expecting to have enough substance to work with.

When I read the themes they would cover before school began I totally rolled my eyes and laughed because we had pretty much already covered all of it. And of course when I discovered she was using Core Knowledge's Preschool edition I was just reaffirmed. We did that entire book in about 3 weeks over the summer. (By the way, I <3 Core Knowledge!)

But Josh's teacher is amazing and is super into science and challenging all of the students.

For example, right now they are studying oceans. She has taught them...

• Vertebrate vs Invertebrate (plus a bit with Kingdoms within)
• The 5 fins on a fish.
• Who lives where in the ocean and why.
• and much, much more!

So I have just added bits and pieces to it. I was able to dig out the fish parts puzzle so Josh could trace and label the fins. We put together a cool coral reef puzzle and pulled out the seashell cards. It is really allowing me to incorporate the Montessori activities that I want for Josh in a way that is natural and really comfortable for both of us.

Easter Ideas I Love

Simple Easter Printables!
Resurrection Eggs (Printable cards!)
Resurrection Rolls I have intended to do this every year!
Oh and if you dye eggs, I saw the best idea (but I can not find it again anywhere)! You put the egg inside a whisk and dip it in the dye. Easy, no mess and fast clean up!

March's Menu

We are already more than half done with the month but I will post what I remember. And of course, what I have planned.

Edited to add: It is ridiculous how much we have been eating out lately. Andrew has been working 12 hour days and a while on Saturday, which means everyone is tired... and apparently lazy (me anyway)!

1. Conferences so we ate at Wendy's!
2. Crockpot Chicken tacos on tortillas
3. Buffalo Wild Wings
4. Garlic Bread Pizza
5. Cheesy Potatoes/Ham with salad
6. Out to Thai food
7. Leftovers
8. Chicken Taquitos & Salad
9. Grilled Club Sandwiches
10. Buffalo Wild Wings
11. Baked Chicken Ravioli (FAIL!)
12. Pizza Take out
13. Leftover Pizza
14. Omelets and Toast
15. Tilapia and Mashed Potatoes
16. Chicken and Fries
17. Buffalo Wild Wings
18. Spaghetti-pie
19. Garlic Bread Pizza
20. S
21. S
22. m
23. t
24. w
25. r
26. Pepperoni-Pinwheels
27. s
28. s
29. m
30. t
31. w

Ideas for the rest of the month and a few extras up to Easter (I am hosting!).

• slow-cooker-lasagna
• Easy pasta skillet
• Mexican-Cornbread
• Chicken-Tostadas
• Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings
• Hot Dogs
• Cheese and Bacon Stuffed French Toast
• Pronto-pasta-italiano
• Hot-Hoagies
• quick-crescent-taco-bake
• Breakfast/snack idea oatmeal-berry-breakfast-bars
• Easter Cheesy-potatoes, Ham, Rolls, Veggies

Boys will be Boys!

If you are a boy's Mommy, hop on over to The Crafty Classroom! She shares a story you will definitely relate too!

Kid's Things We Like!

Josh loves a bubble bath! We have a jetted tub which makes a normal bubble bath a bit of a challenge... especially with how ours is set up.

So, anyway, a year or so ago Josh saw a commercial for a bubble bath machine in a commercial on TV. I was pretty leery...those TV things just do not seem to work the way they show.

Well, I ended up giving it as a suggestion for a family member to give Josh (in a desperate...uh, what was on his list moment). Believe me, I had NO hope of it working but...

We just LOVE the Kidkleen Bath Blizzard! It makes loads of bubbles and is super easy to use! Just toss in a tiny amount of soap, fill up the rest with warm water, shake it, get the screen wet and turn it on.

We are always amazed at how long the bubbles pour out.

Cool fun product!

Menu Plan Monday~ February 22, 2010

(starting back slowly! ...miss all of you!)

Monday- Spicy Chicken Sandwiches on whole grain rolls, spicy french fries, all out of the freezer!

Tuesday- Chicken Taco Salad

Wednesday- Baked Ravioli with Ground Turkey

Thursday- OUT to Buffalo Wild Wings (Our fave!)

Friday- Garlic Bread Pizza

Saturday- Leftovers

Sunday- Omelets, bacon, and english muffins

Eight Excuses...

for why I am not blogging!

1. We are so happy with Josh's school/Teacher, I have not had to do much extra. I planned all that science etc... and we really have not done much!
2. Josh is so far ahead of his class, doing extra feels like I am causing more of a problem. His teacher had him tested (with the K and 1st graders) so that she could show next years teacher how far ahead he was...ya know with real proof. His test scores were not at all what we expected. We knew he was a good reader but he scored as high (er) as the k and 1st graders do at the end of the year in Reading and Math. Of course we are proud, but we are also a bit scared...not really knowing what we should do with/for him.
3. My laptop keeps overheating and dropping the Ii's so that I need to keep going back and adding them. We plan to get it fixed but just haven't...partially because we do not know who to call, we bought it at Circuit City a few months before they announced they were going out of business.
4. We are still working to get our house ready to put on the market. It is slow going because Andrew works a ton (60ish hours a week) and we are just not real handy! (We still have base boards to put up, painting to do, cleaning/packing and a few jobs we will need to hire someone to do!)
5. I have been sick CONSTANTLY. (ear infections, flu, colds, currently am coughing up my poor poor lungs!)
6. I volunteer twice a week in Josh's class and lately have been asked to do a bit more for various reasons. I really do like doing it but see #5! (oh yeah...that is why I stopped teaching...I was always sick...anyone have an immune system to spare?)
7. I have been journalling...with PAPER AND PENCIL! I got Wreck This Journal for my Birthday in October and finally got around to using it just lately (car pool lane is perfect for writing!) I am REALLY enjoying it.
8. Finally, I seem to spend all my spare time playing with Lego, Playmobil, Batman, Wii. It is as it should be!

So, what have you been up to?

Public Service Announcement

Coming out of hiding for a quick word about safety...

Please go HERE and read about a growing problem with young children.

Josh is 5 and never rides his bike unsupervised (or without a helmet) but it is not too far off when he will be earning a bit more independence. Of course, I have no intention of providing him with the deadly weapon from the article...Please click on the link to find out what in the world I am talking about!

Wednesday's Website

Cool Montessori teacher has a new project up her sleeve http://ourrandomactsofreading.blogspot.com/

Check it out!

Shannon

Wednesday's Website

I stumbled upon this cool site a few days ago. http://mathwire.blogspot.com/
It is the blog associated with the website. http://www.mathwire.com/
They are both filled with terrific math activities. The blog however highlights a timely item available on the website. Which is helpful since mathwire is jampacked full of activities and I for one find it very overwhelming to weed through!

Check them both out!

Menu Plan Monday~ January 4

Monday- Tortilla encrusted Tilapia and Half baked potatoes

Tuesday- Chicken Rice Soup from Tastefully Simple, salad, hot cheese dip and garlic toast sticks

Wednesday- Hungry Girl Cinnamonlicious French Toast with sausage

Thursday- Corndog muffins

Friday- Pop up pizza

Saturday- Potato skins from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl (Love this book!) and chicken fingers

Sunday- Family Dinner at my parents

Menu plan with me! Join in at Organizing Junkie!

Montessori Monday

Between playing with new Christmas toys...

Practical Life
Baking Bread
Easy Embroidering


Tray ideas
Popsicle stick Snowflake
beads/straws Stars
Free explore with Fraction circles