Today was our first day of school. Last year we did an informal Before Five in a Row curriculum. We enjoyed the stories, but this year I was looking for something still literature-based with lots of reading but with a bit more structure; something that would encourage curiosity and conversation. We ended up choosing Sonlight.

We had a wonderful first day. We read lots of great stories and had a few interesting conversations. Though it’s only been a day, I think that Sonlight is going to be a fantastic fit for our family.

Chloe was sad that our school day is so short (1 1/2 hours plus craft time). I hope she still feels that way at the end of the school year. During craft time today she painted a dinosaur pencil holder purple and green. She then put on eyes and foam spots and was pleased with herself. This dinosaur craft kit was super easy and she did it completely on her own. {Daddy had bought it for her}. Now lest you be too impressed – craft time is usually consists of some paper and pencil crayons with some stickers and stamps. We do add in more exciting things like painting etc. once a week or so but every day? No way!

John enjoyed school time too. He loved the stories and even did a page in his beginner Kumon workbook (I love their workbooks). He is also quite fond of the Teddy Mix and Match (which came in our Sonlight core) and likes to make piles of the same bears. He’s got matching down pat! We’ve also been practicing making patterns and playing memory but we still have lots to learn!

Isaac also did some work this morning – tummy time on his pillow. He’s doing well and his central and upper tone is improving by leaps and bounds. He’s able to hold his head up for quite a while now with only the littlest bit of support to steady him. Yay, baby!

Mommy’s favorite read of the day was a little poem by Aileen Fisher. It’s from Eric Carle’s Animals Animals. What a great book! I can’t wait to read more of it. I know John and Chloe enjoyed it too since I heard them repeating it to themselves later on in the day.

‘Peck, Peck, Peck’ by Aileen Fisher

Peck, peck, peck
on the warm brown egg.
Out comes a neck.
Out comes a leg.
How does a chick
that’s not been about
discover the trick
of how to get out?

{isn’t that the cutest little poem?}

Wherever yours are learning this year, how was their first day? (and how was yours?!?)

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Our 2011 School Year Starts is a post from Beautiful Calling.

The children and I spend our days at the park, walking the trails and beautiful streets of our subdivision, or reading and living and loving in our comfortable home.

But sometimes, when we venture into the city, our paths come across theirs. Those people; dirty or sad-looking, holding out a hand – or cup, looking at you forlornly or perhaps staring at the sidewalk. They have a cardboard sign as they sit there on the sidewalk or lay curled up on the park bench.

I’m ashamed to admit that far too often, in my life before children, I would pass by hurriedly, avoiding eye contact. Because I couldn’t  always give financially, I’d hide behind my husband and choose not to see.

But the Lord has a way of changing a person and He has used the little ones in my life in so many ways to touch me, change me, mold me…

And as we walked passed the old woman on the sidewalk in front of the bookstore, wrapped in blankets with her cup out, Chloe smiled at her and the woman smiled back.

My eyes filled with tears and my heart broke as I realized the power of a smile and the importance of valuing people – all people.

When we see those who are down on their luck, begging on the sidewalk, sometimes we can help financially and sometimes we can’t. But even when we can’t give money, we can always say hello as we pass and offer a smile, showing them and our children (and reminding ourselves) that each person is so valuable to Him.

We were in Paris, France this time last year. It seemed that everywhere we turned, there was a need; a cardboard sign, a hand extended, a cup held out. We offered our meager change where we could, we also shared tracts in French and on a few occasions, a sandwich or something to eat. What a great opportunity to talk about the blessings of God, of thankfulness, of giving, of those who don’t know the Lord.

While we were there, my husband shared with me a story {urban myth?} of a man who made more begging than he would had he had a full time job. He also reminded me that some may use the money for drugs or alcohol. I pondered this and the other thoughts he shared. Then I came to this conclusion: I’m asked to give a cup of water in His name and what happens next is up to Him. I’m accountable for my actions, not anyone else’s.

So whether I am giving a smile, a greeting, a tract,  a sandwich or placing our meager financial offering into that outstretched palm, I can bask in the joy that obedience brings, trusting that the Lord will use whatever I have given for His glory. {I will say that most of our giving is done through our local church, supporting missions, missionaries, orphanages etc. around the globe. But just because we give through the church doesn’t mean that we can’t give to those in need when we can and when we feel led.}

Have you ever struggled with this?

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. A Smile for the Homeless is a post from Beautiful Calling.

Our first box day was 2010 (using Before Five in a Row). A fun, easy-going year. This year marks our second year homeschooling and our first with Sonlight.

John will be doing Fiction, Fairytales and Fun (P3/4) and Chloe will enjoy Exploring God’s World (P4/5), though I imagine there will be lots of overlaps and both will enjoy most of the stories.

Chloe studied all her books carefully after removing them from her box. John was delighted to discover his own pair of beginner scissors in his box; he never explored the box further. He literally spent the entire morning happily cutting up all the packing paper that came in the boxes into little pieces. {It made me thankful for a vacuum which made clean up a breeze.}

{I started to take a video and then realized the memory card was full. Oops!}

Though both were anxious to dig right in, I spent some time checking off the packing slip then labeling the spines of the books with the color-coded labels. We aren’t starting school until August or September – we’ll see.

Something super-neat about the boxes is that they have a space ship or castle printed inside along with directions. We haven’t built ours yet since the littles were too busy cutting the packing paper with their new scissors.

Aside from the camera issues, it was a beautiful box day and I’m looking forward to the start of our new school year

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Box Day 2011 – Sonlight is a post from Beautiful Calling.

Our church has a Christian School and the Lord has blessed our church with a good sized property in addition to a large separate gymnasium on the property. Each May, our church hosts a Track and Field meet. Christian schools from all over the area, along with homeschoolers, come to participate. Attendance runs about 450 +/-.

While I usually help out for the day and thus the littles attend, this year was Chloe’s first year participating. While the older children do traditional track and field competitions such as long jump, high jump, short dashes and cross country, the little ones do less traditional activities.

Bean bag toss, Frisbee throw, and three-legged races all provide lots of fun and exercise for the littles. Chloe had a wonderful day and was full of excitement and stories for daddy when he got home. She received a participation ribbon (which all the little ones get and it makes them so proud!) and also a first ribbon. Both are proudly displayed in her room right now.

John played with his friends in the nursery class so I could help out with an event. He started the day sad, wanting to participate along with Chloe but that passed soon enough. He spent the day playing with friends, running up and down the hill, enjoying hotdogs for lunch and eventually passing out on the nursery floor during afternoon quiet time.

This year a friend and I organized the running long jump event. I raked that pit all day, hoping to bring on labor but do you think it worked? Nope! All I got for my trouble was a tick on my foot from standing bare-foot in the long grass. Blah! I did have a super-enjoyable day chatting with my friend in between groups though.

I enjoy watching the students perform but hated track as a child. What about you?

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Track and Field 2011 is a post from Beautiful Calling.

I know the one picture of John is super blurry but you can still see the look of joy and delight on his little face; he just got it in the basket!

You may or may not have noticed that my weekly Tot School post has been missing. We’ve all been under the weather a bit at one point or another. I’m hoping that we’re all on the mend now…

A few weeks ago we added the Kushies Beanstax to our toy stash thanks to Baby Heist. I really like them. Each beanbag is a different size, shape, texture and color. They can be stacked to make critters/creatures but we’ve been using them to play beanbag toss. Even daddy and Nana are getting in on the fun.

Chloe spent some time stacking with our Melissa & Doug Wooden Blocks, Lacing with Beads and sorting colors with Lauri Pegs and strawberry baskets. She also got her newest issue of Chirp, which she loves. We decided to subscribe shortly after her fourth birthday; homeschoolers receive a discount (yay!). I think the magazine is quite well done, perfect for her age and a very special treat for her.

John loves to sort the Lauri Pegs and play with the number boards while Chloe plays with the  magnetic counting farm. We also got some outdoor play days in when the temperature spiked – hurray for spring!

We also worked in a few crafts from Shirley’s Prepackaged Crafts; I’m loving them!

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Tot School: Bean Bag Toss is a post from Beautiful Calling.

I love The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, especially their ads. A funny thing to like magazine ads but there are so many interesting ones and I discover many wonderful resources through them.

What is Shirley’s Prepackaged Crafts?

In the fall issue of TOS, I discovered Shirley’s Prepackaged Crafts. I immediately visited the website, read the testimonials and fell in love with the idea; a simple one that fills a need.

“the preschool non-curriculum for homeschoolers”

My littles love craft time. I have no shortage of ideas, thanks to the internet and the vast amount of information available there. But at times, I find myself short on time and/or the energy to put anything together and often craft time is just coloring time!

Shirley’s Prepackaged Crafts addresses that need. I ordered the December craft box; one for each of my littles. When the box arrived it contained everything needed to make a dozen crafts. The only thing I needed was scissors, glue etc.

I’m expecting our third baby this spring and my energy levels were at a low. This “everything you need in a box” enabled me to have this special time with my tots with little effort on my part.

What Does the Kit Contain?

• a letter to the parents with helpful suggestions and ideas
• complete instructions for the crafts
• all the materials needed to assemble the 12 included crafts
• a suggested reading list
• a snack suggestion list

Craft Examples:

Our Bell Instrument was a hit. Both were able to make it almost entirely on their own. They delighted in shaking the bells, having  a parade, sing-a-longs and more!

The Wiseman crowns we made were  a hit too. Though they need help with cutting, they glued and colored on their own. There are few things that my littles like better than gluing things!

Who is it appropriate for?

Chloe turned 4 in January and John is 2 1/2. I found the crafts to be quite appropriate for both of them, with John needing a little more help here and there than Chloe, as expected. Chloe did need some help with cutting some of the crafts, though we are working on her cutting skills. Both enjoyed the crafts greatly. They couldn’t wait for daddy to come home to show him proudly what they had made each day.

Questions?

You can read more about Shirley’s story and how this is not just a job for her but a ministry. Do you have questions? Check out her FAQ or contact her through her website www.shirleysprepackagedcrafts.com.

 John at dinner the other night; still playing with his crown. I’m impressed by the ‘usefulness’ of many of the crafts. It’s something they can actually play with, pretend with or give as gifts. They are so age appropriate.

Ready to Buy?

You have the option to purchase one month at a time or in bulk to save money!Are you ready to order now? You won’t be disappointed!

How often do you do crafts with your preschoolers? Do you ever run out of ideas or time to get supplies together?

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Shirley’s Prepackaged Crafts is a post from Beautiful Calling.

Get Moving!

This week we had beautiful weather where all the snow had melted, then we got a whole bunch more. With the fluctuation of weather, it was inevitable that the littles are battling colds; Chloe more so than John.

We didn’t go on our usual Friday swim this week. We were so busy with prior commitments. We did get in more walks now that the weather is improving. Chloe and John absolutely love taking their strollers on walks. Chloe always takes Ina (the cabbage patch she got for her second Christmas) and John has a boy cabbage patch named Jeffery that he takes along.  They’re a part of the family. We celebrated Ina and Jeffery’s birthday in November, if you remember…

Sorting

We got frozen molten cakes on sale a while ago and I saved the containers. I also saved the baskets from strawberries last summer. I thought both may come in handy for craft time but this week, Chloe has been using them to sort pegs and other items. Sorting by color or size, then counting, rearranging…it’s been neat to see her incorporate them into her play. Who knew they could be so fun?

Choo Choo!

The littles got a train table and lots of trains for Christmas as a combined gift. They enjoy it though often I find the trains veering off the track and through the kitchen, dining room and hall. When I see that happening, I know that a full size choo-choo is following soon. As a child, I remember when mom washed the floor, we’d play choo choo with the chairs. A timeless, fun-filled activity for little ones!

Hats are a Good Thing!

Something that my children enjoy immensely is hats. We have many full sized costumes, including a beautiful “Scarlet O’Hara” type dress, animals and more. Though they enjoy playing full out dress up fairly often, I find that on a daily basis, they enjoy the hats we have more. We have a captains hat (that doubles as a conductor hat apparently), a fireman hat, a rain hat, a Scarlett O’Hara hat, a cowboy hat etc. I’d actually like to find a few more to add to their collection. It’s common to see them wearing one, pretending something or another. The wonderful thing about hats is that the don’t take up a lot of space, young children can play with them without parental assistance to put it on and also in inspires creativity or imagination for the rest of the costume. Yes, hats are a good thing!

Books We’re Reading:

This past week culled and organized our books a little bit. We have quite a few. If you’ve been around a while, you’ll know that we’ve been doing Before Five in a Row for our preschool curriculum (yes, a post about our thoughts is coming!). We bought the literature package; it contains quite the selection of books but we’ve already managed to read through them all many, many times. The children love the same stories over and over but I’m so anxious for new books; especially since I’ve been perusing new curriculum for fall and have decided on Sonlight’s Fiction, Fairytales and Fun for Little Learners for John and Explore God’s World for Chloe. Yes, I know, John doesn’t necessarily need a curriculum as he’s only just three in August but I think he’s ready. They could also do the same package and they will for future years but this year just with the difference in fine motor skills ability, I think it’s best to have their own. (Sonlight Coupon Code SV20318647 will save you $5 off your first order).

I know I could visit the library as a cure for my book boredom but lately the weather is awful, I’m feeling so tired these days or we have prior commitments. One day I was feeling particularly bored with our books so I visited my favorite book site: Book Depository (love the free shipping!!). Our order arrived this week: Sun, Moon and Stars along with In the Castle and The Nutcracker.

Chloe was delighted with The Nutcracker; the colorful illustrations and the story. I think it was particularly meaningful to her since we had the opportunity to see the actual live performance of the Nutcracker Ballet this year at the theatre!

John enjoyed In the Castle . He’s quite taken with swords at the moment so knights, pirates and the like simply fascinate him.

Sun, Moon and Stars was a bit more technical and is factual not fictional. I ordered it because my tots (like most!) are fascinated with the moon and stars. I’m not sure how much they got out of it but they listened and enjoyed the pictures. This will be a handy book as we continue our homeschool journey!

How was your week? Do or read anything interesting?

• Chloe is 4 years & John is 30 months
• This post links to Tot School, Explore, Play & Learn and Preschool Corner
• Don’t miss the BecoPotty Giveaway 4/10/11 Can & USA

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Tot School: Spring Walks is a post from Beautiful Calling.

We’re working on C from Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve this week.

The Letter “C”

In November I shared that Chloe didn’t know her ABC’s. Around that time, Chloe started expressing an interest in spelling her name and lately she’s been “writing stories” on her Manga Doodle. They just look like little scribbles but her interest in writing made me realize that we need to do some gentle introduction. We’ve been enjoying the Melissa and Doug See and Spell. We decided to start our Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve and we are starting with C. I thought we would try to learn the letters of her name first. I’m really liking the Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve package but Chloe definitely needs more letters to trace before catching on. I’ve been using this website which allows me to make an entire page with the same letter in dotted lines for tracing. {The only thing is that it has a watermark on the page unless you buy a membership. The watermark doesn’t affect whether or not Chloe can trace the letters though.}

Decorating our Cupcakes

Counting, Sorting and Shapes

The littles got a train table for Christmas from GiGi and Nana. While they play the traditional way, on the table, they also play with the trains in other ways. Lining them up, sorting by color, making them into shapes and counting them. It’s fun to watch them and see what they come up with! Chloe also enjoys her Lockagons but has yet to really build anything with them. She mostly likes to sort them by colors in to piles, then create roads and train tracks with them.

Always Building

Last week we got the M & D Wooden Nesting Blocks and Chloe kind of hogged enjoyed them last week. It seems that it is John’s turn this week. He hasn’t yet caught on to the concept of putting bigger blocks on the bottom as he builds but it won’t take him long; little ones are a quick study when something interests them.

We also played with the Lincoln Logs again but John had a new take on it and likes to walk around with it on his head, claiming to be a robot.

We have a lot of different blocks and such for building; always a hit with the little ones. It’s interesting watching them try to problem solve as they try to make their structures as high as they can without having them topple over!

A new spin on Lincoln Logs & A quick storytime with Nana

Books We’re Reading

That’s Not My Tiger was the new board book we picked up last week “for our new baby” they claimed. The above picture is Chloe getting Nana to read it to her – mommy’s read it enough for one day I love the That’s Not My Series because they have fun textures on each page, a little repetitious so they know what’s coming, short and sturdy. Very elementary but my littles still enjoy them. I think they will also make for great books for first readers.

In A Minute! The children enjoyed this book but I think that the lesson was really for mommy! We picked this up at a local thrift store. The story is about big bear who is too busy doing chores to play with little bear. Little bear constantly hears “in a minute”. Finally big bear finishes the chores and tells little bear they can play. To big bear’s surprise, little bear wants to “play laundry and play sweep the floor” etc. Little bear really just wanted to help all along. It’s a very sweet book and I really enjoyed the illustrations as well. Though this is an out-of-print book by Virginia Miller but you can pick it up for about $5 including shipping through the link provided. A worthwhile read I’d say!

This is a sight that I see often and never tire of seeing. It’s not a mess but rather a little girl learning to fall in love with reading!!

What was your family up to last week?

• Chloe is 4 years & John is 30 months
• This post links to Tot School, Preschool Corner, Show & Tell Blog Hop, Tot Tuesdays, Kids Get Crafty, and Read. Explore.Learn.

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Tot School: C is for Cupcake is a post from Beautiful Calling.

Coloring

Chloe got a couple giant coloring pads from Oma for her birthday last month; Pooh. This week we exchanged it for a Princess one and John picked out a Cars one.

We did some special coloring pages to decorate Nana’s door to welcome her home. Chloe did fantastic, coloring inside the lines quite well and using many different colors. John was excited to have lined all his pencils up in a line. He tried to count them and made it to 10…good job John!

Building & Driving

We got the Melissa and Doug wooden nesting blocks this week; quite the hit. Chloe loved to stack them so high-in-the-sky. She liked identifying each animal on the side and figuring out which one should be stacked on which; good practice for judging size. Each animal also has a colored back ground. Daddy encouraged her to stack them up with all the same colors on each sides. I imagine we’ll be playing with these a lot in the future. They seem like such a simple toy, like they may be too young for her but I assure you, they are filled with teaching potential!

Chloe also got a Strawberry Shortcake remote control car for her birthday last month. It’s been interesting watching her as she struggles to master the art of driving it; coordinating her finger movements in order to have the car go where she wants. She loves it though and is quite persistent (another good lesson!); getting a little better each time.

Snow Play

I like to hibernate in winter; I’m not in love with cold. While the littles are generally happy to head out to the fenced in back yard on their own; they get giddy with excitement when I head out with them. It warmed up a bit the other day so we headed out together. We made a snowman then dug out a cave for John {who tells me these pictures are of him sleeping in his “cave”}.

Chloe was exploring all the ‘snow mountains’, which are impressively high from the large amount of snow we’ve gotten these past weeks. She also enjoyed “delivering” snow to various places; no idea why.  Neither of them were ready to come in but I was. I bribed them with promises of hot chocolate and a snack; which made them more agreeable. {Oh, how I look forward to the nicer weather!} {and to add in an update: all our snow melted but they are calling for more!}

Books We’re Reading

We’re always reading something around here. I aim to read 6 books or more a day. I choose two and each of the littles chooses two.

The Dinosaur Who Lost His Roar was an Usborne book we got when Chloe was about 18 months old and it was her favorite book for the longest time. At four, we still dig it out. A funny little tale about dinosaurs it opens up a discussion about friendship, being kind, apologizing and how it can hurt someone’s feelings to laugh at them.

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt was one of the books we got in our Before Five in a Row literature package. Every day without fail, this is one of John’s two book selections; he loves it. We got the board book version, though there is a paperback version as well. They love doing the actions, and being able to join in because of the repetition. I’m not sure about the survival skills it teaches though; Chloe told me today that if a big bear ever comes to our house, she’ll run and hide in her bed! LOL.

Every day there are loads of opportunities for tot learning. What are you and your tot up to this week?

• Chloe is 4 years & John is 30 months
• This post links to Tot School, Preschool Corner, Show & Tell Blog Hop, Tot Tuesdays, Kids Get Crafty, and Read. Explore.Learn.

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Tot School: Nesting Blocks is a post from Beautiful Calling.

What do we look for in toys?

• Durable, quality
• Classic, timeless
• Inspires creativity
• Requires imagination
• Demands interaction
• Educational in some way
• Can grow with the child in some capacity
• Improves motor skills
• Preferably no batteries

That being said, everything doesn’t have to always be educational. Chloe does have Barbies, Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Ponies, which she loves. John has his little action figures.  We also do have a few battery toys too.

I guess that is why we love the lauri products. They use their pegs to create all sorts of games, make swords, towers, houses. They count them, sort them by colors, make patterns. Later on, we will use these as math manipulatives when we reach that stage of our home school journey. Lauri also makes a monkey version, which John received for Christmas. He enjoys those as well and they are compatible with their current peg system, which is kind of neat.

What qualities and characteristics do you look for in a toy?

• This post links to Tot School & Works for Me Wednesday
  

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Tot School: Monkey Pegs & Lauri is a post from Beautiful Calling.