Homeschooling--Lesson #1

Lesson #1 is the letter S-sun. We read lots of books and did lots of crafts! It was a fun week!


We had fun tracing the boys hands and using them to make a sun. Lucas was very excited about all his construction paper hands. I glued them onto the poster board and made the sun for him. I handed it to him and was hanging Logan's sun on the wall. I heard a rrrriiiiippppp and turned around to see Lucas ripping the hands off....LOL!! Here is Logan's sun:

Logan and daddy turned a pizza box into a solar oven. We used aluminum tape and that made it pretty easy (plus we already had it at home)!! I just used saran wrap across the top rather than the plexi-glass. We used it to make s'mores. The marshmallows did get soft, but didn't melt all that great. Next time I might warm them in the microwave a little bit to get them started. Overall, I consider it a success....they boys loved them!





While waiting on our s'mores to cook, we placed ice cubes on different colored paper to see which one would melt first and put together a sun-dial.



We also made a rainbow pinwheel and spun it to see the colors create white light (I don't have pictures of that yet).

Both boys loved this song and video. A bit goofy, but they watched it over and over and over!



We also read over 20 books. Here are some of our favorites (you can click them for more info):

Free Cold Stone!!

Yum! I love Cold Stone Creamery! Tonight (Sept. 25th) they are giving free ice cream out! You can choose from:

• Jack's Creation - Marshmallow ice cream with OREO® Cookies, Chocolate Chips and Fudge
• Emily's Creation - Nutter Butter® ice cream with White Chocolate Chips, Kit Kat® and Yellow Cake

Check their website to see if your local Cold Stone is participating. All donations will go to the Make a Wish Foundation.

I think we'll swing by to see if the line is too long! It seems they are in a bad spot....a small area with Chipotle, Cold Stone, and Starbucks....all popular places!! Anyway, if it isn't too busy, we'll get some tasty treats!!

Homeschool, week 1 and 2

I decided to use My Father's World curriculum and the first 10 days of it are for learning about Creation and learning letters of the alphabet. Logan knew most of them already. Really the only one he struggled with for a few days was "d" and "D". I learned early on that he knows upper case better than lower case. He would ask me to show him "the big one" so he would know what the little one was. So, I made sure not to do that :).

Anyway, we read lots of books about God's creation and did crafts, too. Logan made a creation book and a creation wheel.






Logan did not want me to cut the number 6 out like I did the others. If you notice, there is something under it. That is some music notes that he drew....LOL!
This page totally cracked me up. He wanted to draw the people standing on each others head. I told him God only made two people in the beginning and he informed me that they had a baby, so he drew it, too.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

We also did a couple of other crafts, but they are in Logan's room and he is asleep.
Bald eagle for day 5
Night/Day wheel for day 4 (I can't find this one online, but it is similar to the creation Wheel except on the top part, you create a living room scene with a window, on the back part, you creat night and day so that when you spin it, you can see night and then day through the window in the living room).

Firsts.....

I can not believe that my sweet little Logan will soon be 6 years old. In the state of VA, in order to start kindergarten, you have to be 5 before Sept. 30. Logan's birthday is Oct. 9th, so he missed the cut off for last year. Honestly, I was relieved by that. I have not worked since I was 4 months pregnant with him and the only time I've been away from him for more than a few hours was when I was in the hospital having Lucas. I simply wasn't ready to have him gone most of the day. I began to think about homeschooling more seriously. I had tossed the idea around in my head, but never really thought too much about it.

Now, the pressure was on. By the time I realized it was something I really thought would be best for him, I had a few months to prepare. So, I found out that because of where his birthday falls, I don't have to send him to kindergarten. Hmmm. That meant I could keep him home and school him without too much work involved (as far as reporting and all that goes). I looked into it further to find out what would happen if I wanted him in public school next year. I was informed that more than likely he would be placed in 1st grade without any problems. On top of that, because of the fact that he is not 6 before Sept. 30, I did not have to turn in a curriculum and I won't have to test him at the end of the year....truly a free year. Okay, so now it was time to get down to business. After talking to a homeschooling friend, I decided on a curriculum!! I knew I didn't HAVE to have a curriculum, but I like structure, so went with it.

So, here is to firsts.....my first year homeschooling and Logan's first year of school.

I've taken some pictures of some of the things we've done so far and I'll try to get them posted tomorrow.

Pop Rocks...

When we went grocery shopping on Sunday, my husband threw a pack of these into the cart.

I smiled, remembering eating them as a kid. Well, last night hubby opened them up and gave some to Logan. He thought it was pretty cool and said they were "dancing in my mouth". I thought that was pretty descriptive. That is certainly what it feels like. Then we put some in a cup and added a little Mt. Dew into it. Do you remember what they used to say about eating pop rocks and drinking soda? Well, it certainly was explosive!! Logan loved it.

That got me to thinking about other candies I enjoyed as a child.

When I was pretty young, I had allergic reactions to chocolate, so this is pretty much the only candy bar I got as a treat (it is white chocolate and that didn't bother me so much). What is really funny is that I got one recently because I knew I ate them so much when I was little. Guess what? They aren't as good as I remember them. I only ate one bite.


Let's not forget these!


And yes, I got these

and this....LOL!

Guess what, I didn't grow up to chew tobacco or smoke it either!!

I'm sure there are plenty of other candies I had growing up, but those are a few of the ones I remember getting often. How about you? Are there any you got that aren't as easy to find now? Do share!!

I remember.....

On Sept. 11, 2001, I was asleep when the attacks happened. I was on the west coast and had worked a late shift. My MIL came and knocked on my door and told me that the Twin Towers had been crashed into. I, a bit confused and partially asleep, thought she said the stock market had crashed. With her still in the room, I turned on the tv and we saw the horrible images.

I was off from work that day. My husband was on a one year tour in Korea. That very day I was going to be purchasing tickets to fly to Korea for a visit in October. I was very excited about it. My boss called me and asked if I'd still be going. I guessed I wouldn't, but I could not get through to my husband. I did not get to talk to him for several days. He was at Camp Humphreys and it was on lock down. I ended up not going because he would not have been able to leave the post and I could not stay on it. I remember that I sat in front of the tv for the rest of the day in disbelief (as many others did). Do you remember where you were?

Family Fun (WW...almost)

Tropical Storm Hannah blew through and we were trapped inside with two little boys who were bored. Here is how I kept them entertained:

Logan's Answer for the World's Mosquito Bites....

Poor Logan. It seems he took after me when it comes to the ability to attract mosquitoes like no one's business! However, he has more of a reaction than I ever have. I let the boys play in the sprinkler the other day and Logan managed to get a bite!

He has been bugging me for medicine ever since. Finally he had an idea!

Logan: Momma, I know how we can keep the mosquitoes from wanting to bite people. When you check your blood sugar, you can give the mosquitoes your test strips and they can drink the blood from the little straw.

Me: Interesting concept you have there, Logan.

Logan: Yeah! So you're really going to have to start testing your blood sugar more often.


So, I ask of you all, if you are a diabetic or know one, please pass this information on. Together, we can solve the world's mosquito bites!!! LOL!

AWOL on Menu Plan Monday.....

It has been a while since I've participated in Menu Plan Monday. I've still made a plan and mostly followed it, I just haven't been posting it here. Actually, until the last few days, I hadn't been doing much of any posting here. Things seem to be getting back into a routine, so I'm trying to get back to posting!

In case you are curious, I'm down 16 pounds on this diet in the 9 weeks I've been on it.....I've ventured off course for a couple of weeks (eating right some days, but not on others...and not eating my snacks like I should), but I'm back to it!! I didn't gain during that time, so I am happy about that. Edited to say---today was weigh in day so when I got up I weighed and am down another 1.5 pounds, for a total of 17.5!!

*=new recipe

Sunday--pepper steak and sauteed veggies

Monday--leftovers for lunch, kale salad for dinner

Tuesday--miso soup for lunch*, kale salad for dinner

Wednesday--miso soup for lunch, honey balsamic chicken and acorn squash for dinner

Thursday--leftovers for lunch, Korean beef and green beans for dinner

Friday--leftovers for lunch, Thai chicken (adapted to fit in diet) for dinner

Saturday--leftovers for lunch, salmon patties and simple peas for dinner

For more, head on over to Laura's!

Movie Review....

Logan watched Home Alone for the first time the other day and the next day he watched Home Alone 2. He brought the movie up to me and said, "This movie is the best movie I've ever seen with my eyes!". LOL, what can I say....he's 5 (okay, okay...almost 6, don't remind me)!

Hubby said he wasn't sure if it was the best movies for him to be watching, but so far there have been no re-enactments. Unless you count this...