Getting Ready

I took a long break from blogging for the summer. Well, let's face it I was not very consistent with it before that.  I am using this as a little log of my homeschooling journey with my kids.  So much is going on right now so this will be short and I probably won't get a chance to get back to it for awhile.

I am mostly ready to begin first grade with Sugar Plum.  We have all the curriculum here and organized.  I have lesson plans ready.  I need to get a few things ready for our calendar/school wall, but it will happen.

I am also ready to begin preschool with Tiger Boy.  Last year he was not very interested so we dropped it for the most part.  This year I will be doing school with him and my nephew so I think it will work better having both boys together.  At least I hope so.

I am also 4 days overdue with baby #3.  Our boy will be joining us this week.  We are mostly ready for him.  It is still overwhelming and super exciting to be having a new baby.

So we are getting ready for lots of new and exciting things here at our house.

Winners

I am happy to announce the winners of my two giveaways.  The first one was 2 Winnie the Pooh preschool books and the winner is Erica from Life of a Redheaded Mama. The second was More Story Stretchers and the winner is Jess from Kid's Story Central. Congratulations to both of you.  I sent you both an email so please get back to me soon so you don't miss out on these wonderful giveaways.

Giveaway #2

This is the second giveaway I have for the Curriculum Clean-Out hosted by Jolanthe over at Homeschool Creations. I am doing 2 giveaways so be sure to check them both out. 

More Story Stretchers by Shirley C. Raines and Robert J. Canady gives ideas of things to do with children based on some very good books. I was given this when I was student teaching.  I have used some of the things in it but am trying to pass on things that I no longer need or use.   It has 90 different books in 18 categories such as Families, Friends, Plants, Colors, Classics and more.  It is full of fun activities to make literature come alive to your preschooler.

If you would like to win, leave a comment on this post.  For a second entry follow my blog and leave a comment telling me you did. 

This giveaway is up to US Residents only and will end on Sunday, May 1st at 10 pm.  

I will use random.org to pick a winner.  Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you.

Giveaway #1

I am participating in the Curriculum Clean-Out hosted by Jolanthe over at Homeschool Creations. I am doing 2 giveaways so be sure to check them both out. 

These are new-never used preschool books. I gave some of these away in the fall because I had two copies but I ended up not using them with my son, so it is time to pass them along to someone else.

If you would like to win, leave a comment on this post.  For a second entry follow my blog and leave a comment telling me you did.

This giveaway is open to US Residents only and will end on Sunday, May 1st at 10 pm.  I will use random.org to pick a winner.

Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you.

Almost Done With Kindergarten

It is hard to believe that we are almost done with our first year of homeschool.  Sugar Plum has grown by leaps and bounds this year.  She is reading with more confidence everyday.  Each day she reads me a new book she is so proud of herself. It is so great to see the pride on her face.

Tiger Boy has had a bit of a break with preschool.  He is learning a few things along with his big sis, but I have not been doing much with him as far as preschool is concerned.  He is not really interested, so I have not pressed it with him.  He is only 3 and has plenty of time to do school in the future.  I am looking toward next year and trying to figure out what things to do with him to help keep him interested.  I will also be doing preschool with my nephew whom I babysit three days a week. I am thinking that will help since they will be doing things together.

We are getting more and more excited about the baby growing inside me.  We found out last month that it is another boy and we are looking forward to meeting him in mid August.  I know he will put a monkey wrench into schooling as he already has in how well I feel as far as teaching and doing things.  It will be a challenge to figure out how to do school with a new baby, but we will make it work.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

We have  been celebrating Dr. Seuss this week.  We read several of his books and will keep reading more this week.  We go to the library story time each week and the kids enjoyed making a Green Eggs and Ham craft.

Here are a few that we read.

Sugar Plum did a graphing activity for One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.

And an adding booklet for the Cat in the Hat.

She also made a journal entry about Dr. Seuss today.

I was so proud of her writing about what she drew today.  She did such a great job sounding out the words and getting quite a bit of them right.

Out of the Fog

I think I have been living in a fog for the last few months.  Ever since I had a positive pregnancy test on December 7 things have been turned upside down.  I started feeling sick a few days later and boy was I sick.  It was by far the worst of my morning sickness of any of my pregnancies. I threw up every morning with Sugar Plum but then was fine the rest of the day.  With Tiger Boy I felt sick but it was manageable.  This baby has thrown me for a loop.  I was tired and sick all day long.  There were days I could hardly do anything.

We still did school, but to a lesser degree.  I had planned on doing several fun units in January but it was a bad month.  We battled sickness and my ickiness so not much other than the basics got done.  I don't feel too bad about the lack of things we did because Sugar Plum did finally catch on with reading so good things were accomplished.

We just got back from my sister's wedding on Friday and it was a wonderful time.  Here is a picture of all of us at the wedding.  Both kids were in the wedding as were all the nieces and nephews on both sides, totaling 12 children in the wedding. It was so much fun.

I am finally feeling better and ready to get things going for school again.  I have things planned for this week and the workboxes are ready for tomorrow morning.  I am planning on a few fun units in the next month or so.  We are going to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, learn about plants, study our digestive system and get ready for spring.  So I hope to be more consistent with writing here now that things are feeling more normal again.