Blog Break - Family Leave

When my older children were born, my mother was there. When I had surgery on my ear, my mother flew down to be there for me. She made several trips overseas (even though she HATES flying) so she could spend Christmas with us. Now, my mother needs me - she has had her knee replaced and I plan on being there for her. So I will be taking a small break from blogging so I can do that. I am thankful that I am able to be here for her. Thanks Mom for everything, I love you. You will be up and running soon.

Tot Tuesday

So many times I allow my schedule to overcome/overwhelm my life and I forget to stop and take a break to enjoy the little things in life. A few days ago, I put away the lesson plans and we spent the day doing the "fun" stuff of school. We went to the library, fed the ducks, and had a picnic in the park. That was our whole school day.

Kaleb's favorite activity of the day - swinging. I love that face! He is such a sweetie. It is nice to put away the to-do list to stop and smell the roses. We came back refreshed and ready to move on. Hope you can find the time to stop and enjoy life. Have a great week.

Winter Promise Weeks 25 thru 27

It has been three weeks since I last posted J's Winter Promise activities. We traveled to Florida in those weeks and haven't stopped since. J has the opportunity to attend a co-op while we are down here which she loves interacting with kids her age. We will be traveling soon to head back to my parents. (We haven't been in one place too long, have we?) Here is a recap of a few of the activities of her last few weeks.

In All About Reading, J learned about contractions. The program included some contraction flip books so she could practice the contractions.

She learned about snakes (one of her favorite animals) and she created an _ake snake. Each paper ring had an -ake word on it.

We also had the opportunity to discuss onomatopoeia - words that makes sounds like tick-tock or splash.

We also had the chance to see older brother for his College Senior Recital. I can't believe he is graduating this year! Where has the time gone? (Josh is the one in the front with the red vest.)  It has been nice to be in warmer weather and to be involved with our old church. We will be back to the colder weather and our family in a few weeks. I hope you have enjoyed the new printable packs and I am still working on a few surprises for later. See you soon.

Writing in the Sky

Lately, after dinner, the kids and I have been walking around the neighborhood. The kids love this time - they get to run and pick up sticks. The other day, we were walking and J noticed letters in the sky. I couldn't believe it - some one was sky writing.

It says U + God = smiley face. The sky writer continued to write on talking about how Jesus loves you and Jesus forgives. We were mesmerized. It was a great message - talk about reading the writing on the....sky.

Tot Tuesday

We recently changed states (again) and returned to the house that we were living in before Christmas. Because of the trip to Grandma and Grandpa's, I did not take any of their accumulated toys because they already had toys up there. Because of that, when we returned to the house, it was Christmas all over. The kids had a variety of "new" toys that they forgot they had and played with them, for the first week, tirelessly.

Kaleb found a game that I had found in a thrift store called Avalanche Fruit Stand. It comes with a variety of fruit and two jumbo tweezers to pick the fruit from the stand without dumping the whole lot. I bought it for fine motor practice as well as the thought that both kids would like playing this game. Kaleb found a new activity as he played with the game.

He pulled the game from the shelf and fond the color buckets from the teddy bears. He began separating the fruits into colors. The strawberries went into the red bucket...but wait there wasn't an orange bucket. That's okay, he found a plastic container to use for the oranges. He continued until all fruits were separated into the correct color buckets.

I sat down to play with the fruits but he wouldn't let me mix them. No the bananas do not belong in the orange bin. And he was serious, don't mess with his fruit. The fruit from the game was a hit all week. He fed it to his mouseys, he gave some to his sister, and he even slept with it while he napped. I love when the kids find a different way to play with an ordinary game. I wait to see what he will come up with next.

Wheel School - S is for Submarine Printable Pack

I have finished a new printable pack for Wheel School - S is for Submarine. The printable pack includes a week of planned activities as well as a free printable tot pack.

It includes play dough mat...

tracers to prepare for writing letters as well as letter tracers....

a mini color the sub book with visual clues to the color words...

a mini submarine printable emergent reader...

and several math mats with printable counters. This is just a sample of what the printable pack includes. I hope your tot finds this enjoyable. If you have any questions or problems, please let me know. 

Download S is for Submarine HERE.

Graphics for this tot pack:

A J Accomplishment!

J was born in the city and not a nice city with wonderful parks close-by or great sidewalks. She has always wanted a bike and I had always been hesitant to get her one. Bikes are expensive in the country we live in and would I be able to find her a safe place to ride near our apartment, with level ground? So, we waited until we came to 'Merica.

Grandma found this awesome bike at one of our thrift stores and bought it for J. J struggled with it for a long time - the training wheels would not stay on, the wheel needed to be fixed... Then the other day, her father convinced her to just learn to ride it with one training wheel. What did she have to lose?  It didn't take long - she was definitely ready to learn!

I love the tongue...while she concentrates on riding this bike...

And she is off! She fell a few times, even drew blood, but she insisted on getting back on the bike to ride. Go, J, I am so proud of you. Unfortunately, we had to leave the bike behind in our travels this month but she is looking forward to returning to ride again. My city girl learned to ride her bike What an accomplishment! :)