Homeschool Recap, September 28th (Week 10)...

In my life this week...

So, the allergies have set in.  I LOVE Fall, and so I am willing to overlook the ridiculous amount of sneezing, itchy and watery eyes and sniffles.  But Thursday was CRAZY BAD.  I don't think I ever went half an hour between sneezes the WHOLE day long.  Yeesh!  C'mon, Fall weather and I'll completely ignore my symptoms and just enjoy it, I promise!

Books I'm reading...
I read and reviewed Unconditional: The Novel, and I also read the eVersion of Around the World in 80 Dates: Confessions of a Christian Serial Dater.  Yeah, I dunno why that jumped out at me...it just looked cute and I wanted something light and amusing, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  It was pretty entertaining!

Things I'm cooking...
I made a delicious crockpot recipe from Chef in Training yesterday, Bacon-Wrapped Apple Chicken!  Michael and I loved it, the boys hated it.  I was so surprised... it's got chicken, apples, brown sugar, bacon, and BBQ sauce... what's not to like about ANY of those things?  But both kids basically refused to eat it, so Michael and I had hearty helpings of it.  Their loss.  Lol.

In our Homeschool this week...

Tot School: We continued the 1plus1plus1equals1.net "Tot School" printables this week with letter "F" for Foot, and the other body parts.  We spent some time tracing Callen's whole body and his feet.  We played with MamaJenn's Education Cubes Body Parts theme, wiggling our toes and showing off our knees.  And we read lots of books on feet and the body: Feet, Centipede's 100 Shoes, Barefoot: Poems for Naked Feet, Dancing In My Bones and My Body, Your Body.

Full-size tracing of Callen!

Bible:  We used Mama Jenn's printable up on our Morning Board to help us memorize John 7:37, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink," and talked about how God gives Living Water. We looked up verses in The Discoverer's Bible that talked about Jesus giving water to the thirsty, or being the living water to our souls.  Preston copied the verse for his notebook, and we put the drop of water picture up on our poster.

Reading/Writing: We continued Spelling by Sound & Structure.  Preston aced both spelling tests he had this week, again.  Continued with lessons 16-18 in Primary Language Lessons. 

History:  We continued talking about the Revolutionary War, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson this week.  We read The Fourth of July Story, part of Red, White & Blue: The Story of the American Flag, added several pieces to our timeline and notebook, including the Declaration of Independence.  We continued Sarah Whitcher's Story.  We read a couple of other books as well: Discover Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson, a Picture Book Biography, The 18-Penny Goose and Sam The Minuteman.

Math: Preston continued along in Chapter 4 of his Math Mammoth workbook, adding over 10 and three-digit numbers.  He especially enjoys answering word problems, he says.

Science:  This week's focus was on disappearing water, using Science With Water.  We did a few experiments to see how water evaporated or didn't evaporate if it was enclosed in a plastic bag.  We have some colored sugar water set out, and are waiting to see what happens as it evaporates.  We also put some marker on coffee filter paper and put it in a dish of water, and watched as the colors moved up the paper.

Pretty experiment!

Music/Art: We continued the My Very First Art Book, using random items to make paint prints.  Things like bottle caps, cardboard, legos, etc.  Preston's artwork was very nice.  We also continued learning the three verses of Yankee Doodle.  And I had Preston read The Nutcracker Ballet aloud while we drove around doing errands one day.

Spanish: Continued with the next two episodes of Salsa, which included the story of The Little Red Hen and more We reviewed words having to do with "El Campo" in our First Thousand Words in Spanish.  And we continued on to Lesson 4 of La Clase Divertida!.

We are using Adventures in My Father's World. See our curriculum here.



[This post contains affiliate links for Usborne Books & More and Amazon.com.  By clicking on those links and purchasing items, you are helping me continue to be a SAHM so that I can focus on homeschooling my children!  Thank you!]

Unconditional Book & Movie Review...

As I stated before, I was very excited about this film, especially when I found out that the writer and director was Brent McCorkle.  Or, as I know him, Brenton Scott.  Brent(on) was a local name in Christian rock in the days when I first started listening to "Power Mix" and then Power FM.  I know exactly where his CD is in the "local/indie" section of my music library, lol.  I knew he had gone on to become a "movie guy," and that he was a really talented director. It was very exciting to his name up there on the big screen, and in all the promo that's been going on for the movie too.

I was sent Unconditional: A Novel based on the movie and Brent's screenplay, written by Eva Marie Everson by BuzzPlant.  I haven't had a lot of time to read lately, but I managed to read the novel in two sittings just a few days before the movie released! Ms. Everson did a fantastic job writing in all the little details that helped me get a clear image in my mind of what was playing out in the story.  I could easily envision Sam's read hair and Samurai Joe's "pajamas." And as I later watched the movie, I was amused at how well the images matched what I had seen in my head!

The book and movie are based on the true story of "Papa Joe" Bradford, an extraordinary man who faced all kinds of obstacles in his life, but still spent his time inspiring young people to do their best.  Sam and Joe were friends as kids, but grew apart, only to meet up later in life while both were in the midst of personal trials and tribulations.  Their reunion serves to help both of them in one way or another.  Sam lost her husband in a tragic situation, and cannot get past her grief, but finds life again as she begins to pour love into the "Papa Joe's" kids.  Joe is fighting a terminal illness, living in the projects and trying to do his best to show those kids that they can be better than their situation.  It is a deeply inspirational and touching story, but what I loved about it is how true-to-life it really was.  It didn't feel fluffy or overly simplified.  It's cliche to say it, but there are parts that will make you laugh and there are definitely parts of this story that will make you cry.

In the story, Sam is a children's book writer, who is in the beginning stages of writing a book called Firebird.  When her husband is murdered, she doesn't want to write the book anymore, but is inspired in the end to finish it.  I love that they have actually created a Firebird book you can get.  It is beautifully illustrated (ok, not by Sam, but by artists who formally worked for Disney), and written just as you will read or hear in the novel or movie.  My kids enjoyed hearing the story, and thought the little bird was just "so cute!."  It's true, it is quite adorable.  It is, again, an inspiring story of a little bird who wants to know why God allows the storms to take away the sunshine, and he has to learn that despite the rain... the sun is ALWAYS shining.  I LOVE this message.  This is a fantastic book that answers that difficult question, "Where is God when bad things happen?"  This children's book is written by Bren McCorkle and Amy Parker.

I really, highly suggest you go see this movie while it's out in the theaters.  Please support a fantastic faith-based film with a strong message of Jesus.  You will not be disappointed.

[I was sent the two books from BuzzPlant, to help promote and review, however I was not further compensated and the statements posted here are my own, personal opinion.  There are AmazonAssociate links in the post, which means if you click on them and purchase something, I get compensated a small percentage at no extra cost to you. You are not required to do that, obviously, but if you choose to, thank you for helping to support my family!]

Cub Scout Fundraisers...

We got Preston in scouts at the very tail end of last year.  He quickly earned his Bobcat and Tiger badge and is now a Wolf.  Because we joined at the end last year, we didn't end up having to pay dues and didn't even really ever consider the costs involved besides the uniform.  Oops.

Our pack is currently doing two fundraisers at the same time to get them over with at the beginning of the year.  If a scout can raise enough money with these campaigns, they don't have to pay dues at all.  So, that's what I'm hoping happens.  Here's where you come in!

Such a handsome scout!

We are selling Fun Pasta... all kinds of funky shaped noodles, gift packages of soup, chili cookies and more!  Click here to see the products and make an online purchase (shipping applies if you purchase online).  PLEASE make sure you put "Preston Clark" somewhere in the comment section if you use the online check out, otherwise he won't get credit towards his dues. 

And we're selling Popcorn from Trail's End.  You know this stuff, Scouts have sold it for a long time...it's good!  You can purchase that online here if you don't regularly see me in person, and yes, shipping applies if you buy online.

If you want to purchase either of these products and you live in my neck of the woods... call, text, message, or send smoke signals in my direction and we'll make it happen!  We greatly appreciate it!

Fisher-Price House Party!

I love being part of House Party, y'all, and this morning I hosted the best House Party yet!  I was excited to be accepted for the Fisher-Price new toys campaign, but I had no idea what I would be receiving until a 57-pound box landed on my door step a few weeks ago!  

Can we open it? Now? Can we? Huh? Please?

FIFTY-SEVEN POUNDS of toys, and actually... more than that, because a second box followed a few days later with even more things for the goody bags!  Crazy!

A few days after that giant box arrived, we couldn't take it anymore and just had to open it and at least peek at what was inside!

Just a peek, boys.

Um, ok, maybe more than a peek!

Wowzers.  We didn't take anything out of it's packaging, but boy did we drool over these fun toys!  

And finally, last night, we pulled the box out again and started unloading the stuff.  The first thing we put together was the Fisher-Price Little People Disney Princess Songs Palace.  Wow, say that three times fast, eh?  Let me tell you something, it's cute, but my gosh, it was a booger to put together!  We tried about seven different screw drivers to find one that was thin enough to get down these little tubes yet big enough to catch the cross of the screws.  I finally got everything put together only to discover that it required 3 AAA batteries, and all we were sent was AA.  So, my sweet husband had to run to the store for us so we'd be ready for our morning party!  Thank you, husband!  Anyway, the castle came with Cinderella and Snow White Little People, but we also received two 2-packs: Cinderella (in a wedding dress) with Prince Charming and Ariel with Aurora.  I didn't figure my boys would care much for this one, but Callen proved me wrong.  He enjoyed playing with the princesses... he liked shoving them out of the castle windows.  Not even kidding.  He's 2, he knows how to play with girl stuff.  Ha!

My husband then stepped in and put together the Fisher-Price Wheelies Loops 'n' Swoops Amusement Park.  He did it super fast, super easy.  Figures.

Next I put together all of the Fisher-Price Servin' Surprises sets... the Barbeque Set, the Birthday Set, the Tea Party set, the Highchair set, the Ice Cream Party set, and then finally the entire Kitchen & Table, which went together quite easily with the two of us working together. 

When the boys woke up the next morning and came into the living room, it looked like Christmas morning had come early.  Nope, sorry kiddos, it's just the first day of Fall!

Santa came early! 

Finally, guests began to arrive and the party could start.  The kids dove right in... slightly unsure of what to play with first! Parents stood around amazed at all the fun stuff I got sent... FOR FREE!  Lol.  Yep, House Party is awesome!!!

The girls especially enjoyed the Palace.

Feeding the baby... monkey.  I have boys, we don't have dolls.

Servin' up pizza and birthday cake!

The older boys playing with the roller coaster!

Who wants ice cream?!

Having fun!!

Chaos, kids and toys everywhere!

Everything is just so much fun!

Even the littlest one is enjoying himself.

The Loops 'n' Swoops was a hit!

The Kitchen & Table was a hit too!

Of course, it wasn't long till sheer chaos ensued, but the kids had an absolute blast. It was really difficult to tell which toy was the winner out of the bunch, because they honestly ALL played with it ALL.  Thankfully there was very little issues with sharing, and they all got to play with everything in turn or together, and they just all seemed to love each thing.  The kids ranged from one-year to 6-years-old.  And, yes, even the 5 and 6-year-olds had fun with this stuff, of course!  I enjoyed showing my friends how the Servin' Surprise Kitchen & Table switched from, well, kitchen to table and back, and also how all the other Servin' Surprise accessories worked separately or with the table.  Many of the parents were VERY interested in these toys for their kids, so I'd say they were a big hit with EVERYONE!  In addition to the play time, each guests left with a great goody bag filled with a Fisher-Price Little People coloring book, CD, DVD, coupons, playing tip cards, a Wheelies Car and more!

Yay, fun stuff to take home!

Thank you, Fisher-Price and House Party, for this great time had by all!!!

For the record, my favorite items were the Ice Cream Party set and the Loops 'n' Swoops Amusement Park.  But, seriously, it was all a lot of fun to play with!

[I was not compensated by Fisher-Price or House Party to give a review of these items. I  was provided with the toys listed above in exchange for hosting a party to show them off, nothing more.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own.  This post does contain Amazon affiliate links.  By clicking these links and purchasing an item, I would receive a small compensation.]

Homeschool Recap, September 21st (Week 9)...

In my life this week...

Last week was our break week.  We went to see a production of Winnie The Pooh at Artie's Playhouse (The Artisan, in Hurst).  The boys enjoyed it, as did I.  We ran lots of errands as well, and had a bunch of meetings to attend... AWANA start-up meeting, Cub Scout meeting, our last regular Wednesday night church class and on Sunday I attended one of my Usborne recruits' kick off party.  So, even though it was a "break," we certainly kept busy.  As for this week... same story, meetings, errands, etc., but we mixed in school again, hehe.  We had our AWANA registration night, and quickly signed up over 50 kids!  Exciting.  I am the Puggles Director... that's kids that are 2 and 3 years old... I already have 6 in my class, and probably more after Sunday's registration as well.  Wow!

Enjoying the weather at the park.

Places We're Going & People We're Seeing...
We are looking forward to this weekend because I'm hosting a Fisher-Price Joy of Leaning Playdate through House Party. They sent us a TON of brand new Fisher-Price toys to try out.  I couldn't believe how much they sent... I'll be posting about the party later.  But we're looking forward to seeing lots of friends on Saturday.  Then, Preston and Michael are going on their first camp out with the Pack!  I am praying it goes smoothly!  Dear Lord, PLEASE let it go smoothly for both of them!  Lol.  Also, tonight, Michael and I are getting a date night, as we're going to see the new movie called Unconditional.  I finished the novel last night and am excited about seeing the movie, since I know the guy who wrote and directed it.  Soooo neat!  Go see it this weekend if you can and let's give him a fantastic opening!

In our Homeschool this week...

Tot School: We continued the 1plus1plus1equals1.net "Tot School" printables this week with letter "E" for egg!  We worked on our Tot Notebook and read lots of egg-themed books: Tillie Lays An Egg, Egg! A Dozen Eggs, What will they Be?, The Egg, Duck & Goose, Eggday and The Egg Tree.

This craft was NOT toddler-friendly.  Oops.

Callen enjoyed finding the egg in each picture!

Bible:  We used Mama Jenn's printable up on our Morning Board to help us continue to memorize Matthew 7:24 this week.  We are learning about Jesus as our rock, and Preston had the verse completely memorized by Thursday (it's kind of long, but he's got it perfectly!).  We looked up verses in The Discoverer's Bible that described Jesus as our rock and shelter, and we listened to a bunch of songs with that theme as well.

Reading/Writing: We continued Spelling by Sound & Structure.  Preston aced both spelling tests he had this week.  Continued with lessons 13-15 in Primary Language Lessons. We did some conversational questions and went over the difference between to, too and two.

History:  Last week, during our break, we started the book The Sign of the Beaver.  We finished that earlier this week and Preston really enjoyed the story.  We also started a new read-aloud, Sarah Whitcher's Story.  This week's main lesson was about George Washington, prior to the Revolutionary War.  We read about early life in our history reader, made a tri-corn hat like Washington wore, and we read several books from our collection and the library about Washington, Adams and Revere: George Washington: A Picture Book Biography, Big George, George Washington's Breakfast, Paul Revere's Ride, And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? and Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams?  Also, on his own, Preston looked through the book called Go Go America, we are getting ready to start learning more about the individual states soon!

Tri-corn hats like Colonel Washington!

Math: Preston got an 89 on his Chapter 3 Math Mammoth test, and we started up on Chapter 4.  We're going over addition or subtraction that goes over 9 into a new 10.  We had a bit of meltdown on Thursday because he refused to use "the trick" I was teaching him, instead insisting on using his fingers.  He was just being so stubborn.  I finally gave up and had him go over it with his dad later that day.  It's crazy because the days before he had done so well, pretty much on his own.  I left him with the sheet and he completed it, no problem.

When he was doing well!

Science:  This week's science focus was on seasons, how timely with FALL officially starting tomorrow (yeeahhhh!)  We read from First Encyclopedia of Science about the seasons and read The Reasons for Seasons, Sky Tree and Month By Month A Year Goes Round.  We went outside a couple of days, and he drew our tree and some leaves.  We also used some of those leaves later in his art work.  It was nice the weather was cool in the mornings and we could really enjoy our outside time.

Drawing/Chalking our tree

Tracing/Drawing a Leaf

Callen trying to reach a leaf.

Music/Art: We continued in the My Very First Art Book, using some of the leaves we had collected to create prints on our paper.  We slathered pain on the leaf, then pressed it down and pulled it back up, like a stamp.  Preston made a pretty image.  We listened to the rest of the Story of Tchaikovsky CD, telling us about his life interspersed with examples of his music.  And we started learning Yankee Doodle (not to be confused with Yankee Doodle Dandy, geez) from our Celebrate America CD.


Spanish: Continued with the next two episodes of Salsa. We reviewed words having to do with "El Viaje" in our First Thousand Words in Spanish.  And we went through our fourth lesson of La Clase Divertida! continuing to go over the vowels, days of the week and going over some new alphabet letters, now we have A-Ñ.  There is a catchy song for the days of the week and Callen was singing it the other day to himself when he was playing, so cute!

We are using Adventures in My Father's World. See our curriculum here.



[This post contains affiliate links for Usborne Books & More and Amazon.com.  By clicking on those links and purchasing items, you are helping me continue to be a SAHM so that I can focus on homeschooling my children!  Thank you!]

Unconditional Is Coming...

I first head about the movie, Unconditional, a few weeks ago when I received an offer from BuzzPlant to do a review... I read a brief synopsis of the film and thought it sounded like a really interesting story.  Then, a few days later I received a Facebook Invite to the "Unconditional Opening Weekend Event," from a friend of mine by the name of Brent McCorkle.  When I opened the invite, I realized... this was Brent's movie!  As in, he wrote it and directed it!  How exciting!

I just received the books, Unconditional: A Novel (which is based on the motion picture screenplay) and Firebird: He Lives for the Sunshine (as seen in the motion picture) from BuzzPlant.  I am excited to dig right into these and then see the movie this weekend!  I'll be doing a review of all three in the very near future!

I hope you make plans to go see it as well... with a date, with your family, a church group, whatever!  And do me a favor, help spread the word about it!

Check out the trailer...

Pumpkin Comfort Food...

This evening it was under 70 degrees. Mid-September in Texas, that isn't always the case. It may not last, but I'm taking advantage of it. I whipped up a batch of Pumpkin Dump Cake and some Pumpkin Mocha Latte. I'm in heaven (ok, I'd be further into heaven it was 60degrees, lol)!

This + 70degrees, windows open = LOVE!

Pumpkin Dump Cake
- 1 15oz can Pumpkin Purée
- 1 10oz can Evaporated Milk
- 1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 3 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1 Cup Coarsely Crushed Graham Crackers
- 1/2 Cup Butterscotch Chips
- 1 Box White or Yello Cake Mix
- 1 Cup Melted Butter

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Prepare 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, stir together: pumpkin, evaporated milk, brown sugar, eggs and spice.
Pour into pan. Pour cake mix on top, then graham cracker crumbles and butterscotch chips.
Evenly pour melted butter on top of everything. Bake for 50 minutes.
Center will be set and edges browned. Can easily burn on top, so be aware.

Pumpkin Mocha Latte
- 1 package of Starbucks VIA Pumpkin Spice mix
- 1 Tbsp Cocoa Mix
- 8oz warm milk

Happy soon-to-be Fall, y'all!

New Remedy Drive CD on the way...

Remedy Drive is definitely one of my favorite bands. Their last album was all about hope, and every single song reached out and grabbed me. I've seen them perform live several times and had the privileged of speaking to David Zach, the lead singer, at concerts and in radio interviews on a number of occasions. He has a precious heart, a humble spirit and way with words. I am excited that they are FINALLY coming out with a new album...Resuscitate, on September 18th. Check them out!

Homeschool Recap, September 7th (Week 8)

In my life this week...

So, I'm posting this on Monday because this weekend was crazy busy.  I was out at a three-day carnival event with my Usborne team.  Friday, as we were setting up, it was 105 degrees!!!  We were under a tent in the shade, but my gosh... it was stinking hot!  Then a wild cold front came through over night and the next day was beautiful and about 80 degrees.  Whew, thank you, Jesus!  But, that was a whirlwind weekend, for sure.  Thank you to my mom and husband, who took the kids all weekend because I was barely home!  This week we are off school, so time to catch up on... EVERYTHING!

Places We're Going & People We're Seeing...
Last Tuesday, we had our homeschool group meeting.  Got to hang out with the moms while the kids played, yay!  The boys spent most of Friday with Grandma and Grandpa, so they were happy campers.  And Michael did fun things with them on Saturday and Sunday, like they got to see Finding Nemo in 3D and visit with Mema!  And on Sunday, we went to the early service at church so that I could get to my booth later that morning.  I actually got to sit through an entire church service for the first time in MONTHS!  It was much needed, let me tell you!

In our Homeschool this week...

Tot School: We continued the 1plus1plus1equals1.net "Tot School" printables this week with letter "D" for ducks and birds.  Of course, we read a ton of duck and bird books!  Lol.  Callen kept asking "read duck! read duck!" so I think he is enjoying our little system of school so far.  We read Dimity Duck, Chibi: A True Story from Japan, Birds, Albert, Duck at the Door, Duck Soup, Fix-It Duck, Hit the Ball Duck and Find the Duck.

Coloring upper and lower case D's

Bible:  We used Mama Jenn's printable up on our Morning Board to help us memorize Matthew 7:24 this week.  We are learning about Jesus as our rock.  This completely confused Preston at first... what does a rock have to do with Jesus?  But, after reminding him about several hymns and songs he already knows, including "The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock," he got it.  He really likes that song, lol   We looked up verses in The Discoverer's Bible that described Jesus as our rock and shelter.  Preston wrote the memory verse as copy work and we added to our Names of Jesus branch on the wall.

Reading/Writing: We continued Spelling by Sound & Structure.  Preston aced both spelling tests he had this week.  Continued with lessons 10-12 in Primary Language Lessons. 

History:  We started off the week reading a short chapter book about Roger Williams called Finding Providence.  Then we moved on to talk, read and learn about Benjamin Franklin from various sources.  We read from our Story of America book that came with our MFW set, but we also read several different biographies of his life.  Franklin was quite a man... there's so much to learn about all that he did and said during his lifetime!  Preston added his picture to our timeline, created a mini version of his Poor Richards Almanac and drew a picture of the kite and lightning experiment on his notebooking page.  The books we used this week were: The Power of Industry, The Life of Benjamin Franklin: An American Original, Benjamin Franklin: His Wit and Wisdom from A-Z, The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin and How Benjamin Franklin Stole the Lightning.

Working on his Ben Franklin notebook page.

Math: Preston continued working on addition facts this week, including fact families with 15, 16, 17 and 18.  We did then a mixed review and a chapter review since it was a very long chapter that spanned several weeks.  He'll have a chapter test next Monday when we start up again.

Science:  This week's focus was on the composition of the earth.  We read from First Encyclopedia of Science about the layers that make up our world, Preston drew a diagram and summarized the ideas we discussed in his Science Notebook.

Music/Art: We continued the My Very First Art Book, with how different paint brushes create different affects and lines.  He painted a watercolor picture using several different brush shapes and sizes.  Then, we used My Very First Art Coloring Book and he created a watercolor effect using markers and then just running a wet paint brush over it to smear it.  We listened to our Story of Tchaikovsky CD, telling us about his life interspersed with examples of his music.  We also read Tchaikovsky Discovers America, a wonderful story that uses details from his person diary to create a fictional story from the view point of a little girl who meets the man.  The kids loved it!

Smeared marker = watercolor effect.

Spanish: Continued with the next two episodes of Salsa, which. We reviewed words having to do with "El Zoologico" in our First Thousand Words in Spanish.  And we continued reviewing our third lesson of La Clase Divertida!. I had a Spanish teacher at our book this past week, looking for books in Spanish that actually commended me on my pronunciation of some of our Spanish titles, lol.  Yay!

We are using Adventures in My Father's World. See our curriculum here.



[This post contains affiliate links for Usborne Books & More and Amazon.com.  By clicking on those links and purchasing items, you are helping me continue to be a SAHM so that I can focus on homeschooling my children!  Thank you!]

Homeschool Recap, August 31st (Week 7)...

In my life this week...

Another week in the books... man, this is flying by.  Saw all my friends posting their pictures and tears regarding their kids going back to school.  And mine were already in the 7th week!  Hehe.  Our year is already well under way, so crazy!  We have another break coming up soon.  So far really digging this 4 weeks on-1 week off schedule!  I like knowing I have a week break to look forward to soon, and I'm sure Preston does too!  Oh, and Preston got a haircut this week.  Thanks, JC Penney, for offering FREE cuts for kids, that was nice of you!  Haha.

Stylin' there, PJ!

Places We're Going & People We're Seeing...
Last weekend, we went to the Fort Worth Stockyards to get some of the pressed pennies there for Preston.  He got his 15 stickers on this behavior chart, and that was his prize.  We had fun, but were rushed to get back home for a meeting... so I hope to go back down there again when it cools off a bit and see more of the sights!  The boys spent Friday with their grandma because I worked a preschool bookfair in Dallas.  They had fun watching the electric company chop down the trees in my mom's backyard because they were growing up into the power lines.  Broke my mom's heart, of course.  Her backyard was so beautiful and well shaded, and they just butchered everything back there, stomped on her plants and crushed their storage shed.  Geez.

In our Homeschool this week...

Tot School: We continued the 1plus1plus1equals1.net "Tot School" printables this week with letter "C" and a focus on cats and pets.  We made a cute, little toilet paper roll kitten from Spell Outloud's HS Printables.  Callen has a really hard time pronouncing the hard "c" sound... including his own name!  So, this week was a challenge, and most of his "c" words come out sound like "t" words.  But, he's getting better.  Michael got him to say his name correctly yesterday, even if it was just the once!  He'll get it.  We read a bunch of cat and pet books: Moses The Kitten, Cats, Cats, Cats Are Like That, The Best Cat in the World (this one is really sad, I don't recommend it for littles!), and "Mine Will," said John.

Pointing out different pets as I call them out.

Preston's Canoe and Callen's Cat.

Bible: Continued working on Jesus as "The Bread of Life."  We used Mama Jenn's printable up on our Morning Board to help us memorize John 6:35.  We looked up verses in The Discoverer's Bible that described Jesus as bread, food or drink for the spirit.  Preston finished writing the memory verse as copy work.  We talked about communion, made a Bread of Life napkin holder and incorporated science by making bread (sort of)!  Preston read the book Bread and Jam For Frances aloud to Callen one morning.

Napkin Holder

Reading/Writing: We continued Spelling by Sound & Structure.  This time Preston got caught up on spelling the word "egg" incorrectly as "eeg."  Maybe I need to have him write them instead.  Hmm.  Continued with lessons 7-9 in Primary Language Lessons.  I wondered how Preston would like this particular type of book, and so far he LOVES it... keeps asking to move on and do more.  I think the reason he likes it is mostly because it's so easy at this point, lol.  All we are doing is answering some open-ended questions, reading a poem or taking dictation.  He doesn't even fuss about the few lines of dictation, which is HUGE!  Preston also spent some time IM'ing with his dad which was great for helping to improve his typing!  And Dad kept giving him math problems to solve and trivia to look up online, lol.

Typing on IM with Dad.

History:  This week's history topic continuing with pioneers in the Michigan area!  We finished reading The Courage of Sarah Noble and I had Preston give me a very short recap of the story for his notebook.  We also read from our MFW book American Pioneers and Patriots, and since it was a story about "portage" or a canoe trip, we made a construction paper canoe.  From the library we borrowed Colonial Crafts, which featured a lot of different jobs that people had to do back then.  The boys enjoyed this book and found it quite interesting to learn about these jobs that are done in factories and whatnot now and how they did them back then!


Math: Preston continued working on addition facts this week, including fact families with 11, 12, 13 and 14.  Next week we'll do 15-18 and finally finish this chapter with some review. 

Math Mammoth work.

Science:  Science went along with our scripture verse this week, having to do with bread.  We made playdough and bread.  Or, rather, we attempted to.  I have never had luck making either one, to be honest, and this time was no different.  The playdough never seemed to stop being sticky no matter how much flour I added.  And the bread came out too dense... don't think I let the yeast rise long enough.  Sigh.  Oh well.  Preston got the point.  I hope.  We used the book Science in the Kitchen for these "experiments."  We ended up just playing with real Play-doh for a while, instead.

Play-Doh fun!

Music/Art: We continued the My Very First Art Book, and worked with water colors to create Cool Blues and markers in yellow, orange and red to make Warm Tones.  We also continued listening and learning about the song "America" and how it was originally "God Save the Queen."

Painting with Cool Blues

Spanish: Continued with the next two episodes of Salsa, which were a different take on the Three Billy Goats Gruff. We reviewed words having to do with "El Parque" in our First Thousand Words in Spanish.  And we started our third lesson of La Clase Divertida!.  We learned about the Mayans, and Preston worked on a bark painting of a monkey.  We also learned more of the alphabet song and the reviewed the days of the week (something we'd already learned).  

Reviewing los vocales with coloring sheet.

We are using Adventures in My Father's World. See our curriculum here.



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August 2012 Tweets to Remember...

Aug 1st - I love hearing Callen say, "when I grow up i'm gonna be..." lately he's been saying "a daddy."

Aug 3rd - Stopping to change a diaper on the side of the road in nowheresville, arkansas... Bad idea! Car filled w/mosquitos! Grr.

Aug 8th - Its been a long time since I've seen Entertaining Angels performed live. Thank you, Phil Joel & Peter Furler!

Aug 13th - Already having Olympic withdrawls. C'mon Winter Games (and Winter, for that matter!).

Aug 17th - Callen is still jumpy about bugs/crawly things since the scorpion thing, so when he picked up a book & there was a real gecko in it, yikes!

Aug 22nd - No one tell my boys it's only August... http://instagr.am/p/OpDV8_IvN4/

Aug 23rd - Blueberry pie! We picked those blueberries ourselves in Michigan. Yuuuummm! http://instagr.am/p/OsWZ4XovNJ/

Aug 24th - If I could turn the light on & snap a pic of my boys sleeping on each other in my bed right now, it would be too cute to handle.

Aug 24th - Oh my gosh. First the cute sleep cuddling, & all morning they've been getting along and playing together nicely. I want to bottle this!

Aug 24th - He looks like he's ready to give you a zoo tour. Except for the covering his eyes thing... http://instagr.am/p/Otz8UYovIT/

Aug 24th - Callen is BEING the tower instead of building a tower. http://instagr.am/p/OusID6ovBf/

Aug 29th - Callen says, "Is it morning? I LOVE morning! Yay, MORNINNNNG! Can I have a snack?"

Aug 30th - Feeling accomplished to have done all my errands before noon. Now, snack & game of Uno before more school & lunch. #homeschoolersday

Aug 31st - I've never heard anyone say their favorite color is gray. Until today.