It's My Privilage...

My blog buddy, Amanda, over at Better is Little asked me to write a guest post on making homeschool fun. It's up this morning, so please, show us some love and jump over there. Thanks to Amanda for giving me the invite and the opportunity to ventrue out of my own blog and spread my propaganda over the web a little more :)

What We've Been Up To...

Jack is his daddy's boy through and through. And he is all boy! He loves cars, trucks, anything with wheels and anytime he can show his Daddy how to fix them, he jumps all over it. This is what I caught him doing last night...Yep, he's still upside down here and yes, it looks like his blood might be finally making it to that huge noggin of his...but he's all business folks.Sometimes Daddy needs help figuring things out...that's when it's good to have a preschooler around to show you how it's done.

I know this outfit doesn't match, okay? But I didn't want to take two different pictures. And my daughter can also make some of the goofiest faces when she's "posing". This is another peasant top I made out of a green apple colored fabric with white polka dots. I need to make the bodice longer and fit it more under the arms next time. When you're winging it, it's a learning experience. The skirt is made from a pillowcase I found at the thrift store. I love old pillowcases and sheets, because they are so soft and flowing and they are much better quality than alot of the new stuff. This one cost me 50 cents. Total cost of outfit ...maybe $2.00.Since one of the reasons Lewis and Clark went out west was to map the vast unknown, I've been doing a mini-unit on maps. I bought a Rand McNally Beginner Geography workbook for a $1.00 at Big Lots, like 3 years ago in hopes that I would use it and use it we have! The workbook doesn't give a lot of practice, but presents the information in an easy to understand way. I supplement with activities of my own to keep it fun and reinforce key ideas. This week our lesson was on the compass (which we've studied before) and the map key. I gave Lillie a road map and we circled where we lived and then we circled where our families and friends lived and then I had her go through and tell me what direction we'd have to go to get to their houses. Then , we hunted up all the parks and airports in our state using the map key and then I helped her draw a map of our living room which was totally not to scale , but demonstrated the layout of the living room, sans the position of all the toys and junk scattered around. There is so not that big of space between the desk and the piano...but oh well, it was fun and she learned...We took a break from our Math War card games and worksheets and did a neat little measuring activity. I cut out construction paper feet using me Lillie and Chloe's feet as the template. Then I chose three points in the house and Lillie laid out the feet and counted how many of each size it took to get to the point. She charted them and then we discussed why it was that it took less of my feet to get somewhere than Chloe's and so on.We're currently reading a book about Sacagawea and we tried our hand at bartering . I got the printouts from the US Mint but didn't go along with the lesson plan. If you're looking for some neat lesson plans the US Mint has em ! I built the kids a blanket "tipi" and we crawled inside. I was Indian chief and Lillie was Lewis and Jack was Clark. The kids got a real kick out of my horrible impersonation of said indian chief "Chief trade three horses for Butterfinger ;)" Chloe raided our meeting and busted up the party, scattering the bartering pieces and plundering the snacks... Chloe is still in search of the perfect look in headwear... It is her quest!
Have a blessed day!

Puppy Love

Well, here's the newest addition to our home... Josie. Ain't she cute? And believe me when I say it's a good thing to, cause she didn't sleep through the night the first couple of days and wanted to play at 3 am. She is a 6 week old boxer (we are definitely boxer folk around here) and to say that the kids are smitten with her would be an understatement... obsessed is more like it. I don't remember my kids acting this way when we brought Tucker home. Of course Tucker never was this small. His breeder said he was a "big baby" when he was born . Funny cause that's what we say about Jackson and Tucker and Jack have a special bond...commradery really. But seriously...these kids are about to drive me nuts with this new puppy. The poor thing never gets to take a nap, cause some sticky-faced kids always man-handling it. They pack her around and take naps with her and FIGHT over her...it's very irritating. It's so bad, I've had to instititute special rules. Like : Let Sleeping Dogs Lie. Lillie's interest in Josie is to nurture her "Mother Hen" complex...
I wish I had a picture of Lillie standing out in the yard with her PJ's and High Heels on taking teh dog out to potty...priceless. Jackson is just happy to have someone who'll play with him without bossing him or making him do "girly" things...

Josie is incredibly good at playing "Tree the Preschooler"...See, what did I tell you... And before you think Jack's all action and no love...this picture shows his softer side... Chloe really likes to cuddle with Josie...
Pet Josie....
But Josie prefers to chase Chloe around and sometimes Chloe doesn't like it...
Have a blessed day!

Ready for Spring...

Earth is crammed with heaven,

And every bush alive with God

But only he who sees,

Puts off his shoes.

Mrs. Browning
We truly enjoyed yesterday's beautiful spring weather and hope it's here to stay. Went to the park and took a nature walk on the trail. It was short, as Chloe stumbled and fell onto the paved trail. Her nose started bleeding a little and she had a pretty good boo -boo on her knee. But she's a toughy , let me assure you.

Lillie has really grown to love drawing. And, what's more, she's pretty good at it. I remember clearly the day about a year ago when it hit me that this was a love I needed to nurture in her. She came up to me with her sketch pad and said "Look Mommy! I drew you a princess!" And it actually looked like one. I was impressed to say the least. Wednesday, I clipped her a blossoming limb off one of our Bradford Pear Trees and she drew it, with a little assistance from me, but mostly on her own.I am thinking of collecting her drawings and printing a book on Shutterfly to keep up with them. I've been meaning to scan them , as well. My dad kept alot of our drawings as kids tucked in books. It's neat to go back home and open a book and out fall a crayoned masterpiece from my younger days.Here's a flower she drew the other day, so I let her copywork be a snippet from a beautiful spring poem called "The Voice of God".

For math, Lillie has been reconstructing the hundred's chart. I print out a couple on cardstock and cut them into puzzle pieces, then , she has to put the hundred's chart back together. It really helps with her number recognition and number sequence. For more fun ways to use hundred's charts, click here.

Found a nifty and simple tutuorial online for these peasant blouses. This is the first one I made and I could see immediately some alterations to my pattern that will need to be made to make it fit Lillie a little better. But I plan on making the girls some blouses and skirt sets to wear out and about. This shirt took only one hour and was so easy, it made me giddy! I am going to try to make a dress using the same pattern.Chloe loves hats. If there's one lying around, she puts it on. That and she likes to wear skirts on her head to.

Have a truly wonderful day in the Lord!

I Know I Can Be Mean Sometimes...

but , really. Am I this bad? Lillie was asking how to spell my name and I told her, being the kind of mom who loves to spell my own name twenty times a day. It helps me to remember that I actually have a real name other than Mom and keeps me in practice for when I introduce myself to other adults. ("Hi! My Name is Mom, but you can call me Mommy" :)

Anyhow, I didn't think anymore of it till yesterday morning when I was going through my "files" (aka, school papers slung all over the dining room table) and came across this...

See...that's my name "Della" however, at first glance it read "Devil" and I couldn't help but laugh. The" v" is really two "l's" and she totally left off the "a" I figure she started out writing my name and then switched to her own. Or maybe it's time I mellow out a bit, what do you think! Have a blessed day!

The Vertically Challenged Gourmet...

In my attempt to gain patience, I have been allowing the kids to come and help in the kitchen more. Jack and Anna actually worked TOGETHER (with very little bloodshed involved) and washed the dinner dishes a couple nights ago! The fact that they co-existed in the same air space for more than 15 minutes without arguing leads me to believe the end is near...

Well, what of Little Sis? What can such a short little feller do in such a grown-up world????
Why, make lunch , of course. Mini Pizza's to be exact...

Slingin' on the Pepperoni...literally. She'd throw one on and then eat one...and though I wasn't watching the ENTIRE time, I can assure you none of my kids would ever chew on a pepperoni and then place in on one of the pizzas...actually, I'm not 100% on that one... Around here, ignorance really is bliss!





"CHEESE!!!" No...really, bring it on..."A little for me...""And a little for you..."Andddddddd....a little for me...." Have a Blessed Day and Don't Forget to Pray!

A Day at the Zoo

Back last year, I purchased a membership to a small zoo that provided reciprocal benefits to other zoos,which meant, basically, I could get into most of the zoos in my state for free, all year, unlimited visits. It was a great deal and well worth the money. Since I don't spend much money on school expenses aside from the occasional book or art supplies, I decided this was the best use of our resources. I mean, to be able to up and take a field trip to the zoo whenever and all we'd be out was our gas...a no brainer, right? Well, I bought the membership when gas here was between $4 and $5 a gallon, so I never got to use my membership because I couldn't afford the gas to get there.Then when gas went down, it was far too cold. Well yesterday was a beautiful spring day. Partly sunny, breezy, low 70's...very comfortable. So , since Jody's on spring break this week, we picked up my mother-in-law ( I really need to come up with another title for her cause we get along just fine and have a good time and I really am blessed to have her in my life.) and headed off to the zoo. It was a blast! It has been 7 years since I've been to a big zoo and not to this particular zoo since my childhood. I forgot how amazing and fun it is to be able to see some of God's most interesting creations at work (and play). When all was said and done, we were a tired, happy bunch devouring a picnic lunch in a parking lot. A super day with some super people! It would have cost us around 70.00 to go and I only paid $45 f0r my membership to that small zoo...what a deal! I asked the kids what their fave animal was and they had a hard time. Lillie liked the river otters (I did too) the best and Jackson liked the Mama Chimp carrying her little baby around and I'll have to say that was my favorite as well. Spoonbills that were bright pink...

Red Pandas...I love Red Pandas, they look like stuffed animals.

If you ever have any doubt that animals have personality...you should have seen this gorilla. My mother in law kept saying how sad he looked and he looked kind of shyly at her and then...stuck out his tongue at her! No joke! We all had a good laugh over that one. I love a gorilla's eyes...so expressive.I joked with Jody that this gorilla reminded me of him...he took it well and chuckled. Seriously, this gorilla looked either bored senseless or like his lady love just broke his heart. He just rubbed his fingers along the log and was all sprawled out...it was hilarious to watch him.

And here's some lounging we did on our own...


I wish I had gotten a better picture of the mother and baby chimp. It wrapped it's arms around it's momma waist and hung upside down while she carried it. And to say it was sweet and made a mom's heart flutter is an understatement. The daddy followed closely behind and the mom actually grabbed a baby quilt in her mouth and drug it over to a sunny spot, spread it out , and the whole family laid down together. It was neat.Was sorry I didn't get pictures of every animal we saw, there were so many. But we all had a blast and will be going back again in a month or so when there will be even more animals on exhibit!