Watermelon Cookies

 I've seen several recipes for watermelon look-alike treats this summer: popsicles, cake, cupcakes & cookies. I used a cake mix cookie recipe to make our batch of summer sweets. I dyed the dough with green food coloring and used a canned cherry frosting. Then we added mini chocolate morsels.

 My one disappoinment is that I just really don't like the flavor of the cherry frosting. Next time I will just dye some vanilla icing. Still, it was an easy recipe and they are pretty cute!

Mowing Some Zzzzs

 Degen was playing in his room when he heard Darren drive by on the mower. Of course, he raced right down to put on his shoes and headed outside to catch up to Daddy mowing the lawn. I've posted before about how much Degen loves mowing the lawn with Darren. About 30 minutes later, I peeked out to check on their progress and saw that Degen had fallen asleep.

 This is not the first time that Degen has fallen asleep during a ride on the lawn mower, but every time it happens I think it is super-cute. Usually, I don't know that it has happened until Darren is carrying Degen in (right about the time he stirs awake). But today I was able to get several pictures of my sleeping baby on the mower. Adorable! (After I took these pics, Darren brought him in and I put him in bed for a proper nap).

When One Door Closes....

Here is a door update: The contractors were here all week and really made a lot of progress. I think that all the doors upstairs are now stained & installed. I am hoping that they can tackle the baseboards this week and then be done with the upstairs. The upstairs is a disaster since I had to take everything out of the closets while they did those door installations. It is also impossible to keep the floors clean with all the sawdust, plaster dust and general mess from bodies trekking from the garage to the upstairs a hundred times a day. I'm trying not to let it stress me out, especially when I think about how pretty everything will look when the work is done. We are grateful for all the contractors' hard work, especially in all this nasty, summer heat.

Whale-Sized Snail!

 Yes, I know that I already posted about our giant, white snail, but he has gotten even bigger! This week I got a picture of him next to a normal-sized snail. Look at the difference! Wow!

This photo has an adult guppy swimming past the snails.

Boo-Boo!

My poor little boy! I think that the above photo is positively pitiful! Degen already has a broken arm and then he came in from playing outside howling with an injured foot. Kyrie told me that they were both trying to ride the tricycle (Kyrie peddling & Degen standing on the back), and Degen hurt his foot. I still don't know exactly what happened, but the resulting injury very much resembles a burn. I am guessing that it either came from the wheel or the asphalt. We are keeping the wound covered with Neosporin & guaze bandages. Even days later, the poor thing still cries & cries when it is uncovered at all. I am hoping that it starts to heal up soon. If anyone has any advice, please let me know.

This Is How We Do It!

 We just finished our Summer Fun/Oceans Homeschool Unit and since it was a 'slow' week at our house, I thought I would give a sneak peek on what our homeschool lessons look like. I prepare the plans for all my units and have been growing them since I first started doing 'lessons' with Kyrie when she was about 18 months old. Those first lessons consisted mainly of reading books, singing songs and doing fingerplays plus a few art activties. I have about 30 thematic units, and preparation for each unit begins at the bookshelves. I have 2 bookshelves as seen above and have organized the books into these magazine holders by subject. I go through all the books and find all the ones that fit the thematic unit.

 The photo above shows some of the books I read with Degen. His 'lessons' have a lot of repetition, focusing on the alphabet, numbers 1-12, colors and shapes. I also include books and songs related to our theme. This unit we read 'Splash' and sang 'You Are My Sunshine.' The photo below shows Kyrie's books for one day of our unit. We read 3-5 theme-related books each day. I also choose a Bible story each week that reflects elements of our theme (eg. Jonah & the Whale).

 After I have gathered our reading materials, I go through all of my curriculum and workbooks. Many of these books I collected when I was teaching public school, and I have collected even more through my Scholastic account. Scholastic is an invaluable resource for me! I have curriculum for pre-k through sixth grade on just about every subject. I keep the ones I currently need in the playroom closet and have all the rest in two large closeted shelves in the basement. 

 Going through curriculum & workbooks, I look for any activities that are theme- or objective-related. Each week, Kyrie learns a new letter (writing & phonics), practices previously introduced letters, reviews her numbers and has a vocabulary-based French lesson. All other activities introduce or review standard objectives in the areas of mathematics, language arts, science and social studies. You can see the summer & ocean theme in several of the above activities.

 After I have gone through curriculum & workbooks, I look at theme-related games, activities and art projects. Above are several of the games & activities we did for this unit. As much as possible, I try to let our themes spill into the kitchen and our daily life. I keep all my plans in the handy-dandy Teacher Plan Book you see below. It is my second planning book, and I have had this particular book for about three years. I make changes & additions each year. I plan to get a new book for Kyrie this year and will then start using this book for Degen around age three.

The following pictures are a typical day of lessons for Kyrie (though I don't have any photos of us reading books or of our art/craft activity). I try to have a variety of activities each day. This first picture is Kyrie doing a 'math mat' activity sorting attribute blocks.

 We love dot-to-dots! Before Kyrie starts, I ask her to 'make a plan' by connecting the dots with her finger before picking up her pencil. I have found that dot-to-dots are a great way for Kyrie to practice her counting and number identification. In the fall, we will start doing alphabetical dot-to-dots.

 Kyrie is using a dobber to do this worksheet. I like to give her options like using paints, markers, colored pencils, stampers, stickers, etc. to complete her worksheets. It is a simple motivating technique.

 I have to adapt all our games for 2 players. It will be nice when Degen can start playing, too. Whenever we play BINGO, it is of the blackout variety to ensure that we are getting in a lot of practice. The game below focuses on measurement. Games are also great motivators for learning.

More & more, I am providing Kyrie with independent 'homework' opportunities that focus on skills review.

 Puzzles are another great activity. We also have several educational games for both kids to play on their computer during independent time.

This is Kyrie during her French lesson. I make these vocabulary-based books for each unit (don't judge the illustrations!). We focus on eight theme-related words and then use those words with a sentence. This week we learned the names of sea animals and spoke sentences using the French word for 'swim.' We also practice conversation starters & enders (eg. salutations & manner words) each lesson.

Number identification & counting has not been Kyrie's strength thus far. Mathematics is not Darren's or my strength either, so I try to give it some extra time. Here Kyrie is practicing her numbers 1 through 30. We are working on understanding the patterns that numbers follow. I have seen improvement after just a few days doing this kind of activity.

 Here is Kyrie with some of her completed work from this unit. We are very proud of her progress, and I am excited to continue on our homeschool journey.

As our friends head off to Kindergarten, Kyrie has sometimes felt left out and wanting after their experience. This has been difficult for us at times, but we try to focus on all the opportunities & benefits that she will have without the restrictions of a classroom & school schedule. We have a full week of extra-curricular activities and all the one-on-one attention she could need, as well as the freedom to make a lot of decisions about what & how she wants to learn. Right now we are confident that this is the best learning environment for her!

Soak up the Sun

I love these photos! At the end of a hot, summer day and fresh out of the pool both kids took a moment to warm themselves in the evening sun. I can't remember exactly what we did on this day, but I'm sure that we played inside, maybe watched a movie, ate a little ice cream, swam in the pool, drank some sun tea and just enjoyed another day of summer, another day of childhood!

Beat the Heat

 It was so hot this week that I actually kept the kids out of the pool during the day. I just felt like it was too hot for them to be out there, especially with so much exposed skin. But as the sun went down and the temperatures cooled from blistering to only oppressively hot, we headed outside to the cool of the pool.

The Long Haul

 This is one of Degen's favorite activities! He carries up train after train after train to form these long lines, which he will then either push around or find one motorized engine that will pull the whole thing (as seen in the bottom photo).

Funday Muddy Funday

 Sigh... After several days of heat we finally had a nice rainstorm, and after dinner Kyrie asked if they could go out to play in the puddles. I sent them out while I cleaned up after dinner. Should I really have been surprised when I looked out later and found them not playing in rain puddles, but giant mud puddles?!

 Normally mud puddles wouldn't be that big of a deal, but our neighbors are doing major reconstruction on their house and they have giant, mud puddles behind their house. As you can see from these pictures, Kyrie was literally covered head-to-foot in mud. Sigh... I put her under the backyard hose to try to get as much of the mud off as possible, in hopes of keeping as much of it out of the house as possible. Then I ran a bath and carried both kids up the stairs to put them in the tub (my just scrubbed, very clean tub).

 Though I was upset at the massive mess, I was proud that I didn't get angry with the kids over their fun. I had not specified 'no mud puddles,' so I couldn't get too upset, right?! Can you see the worry in their little faces above, and then their happiness in the bath pictures below, their "look what mischief we got away with" faces! This bathwater got so dirty, and it left behind a layer of mud in the tub.

 

Fishing for Fun

Trying to keep cool, I had trouble keeping the kids clothed this week.

 We are in the middle of our Summer Fun & Oceans unit. I really like this unit because we have a lot of really fun activities to do, including some fun edible treats. During this unit we will enjoy lots of ice cream treats, as well as sea-related tasties. Earlier this week, I made a batch of "deep sea" jello (blue jello with shark/fish gummies) that the kids gobbled up. We also made tuna fish sandwiches for dinner one night.

 Tuna salad is not a dish that the kids would normally enjoy eating, but they had a good time preparing it. I chopped celery, pickles and hard-boiled eggs that the kids put into the bowl. Kyrie added spoonfuls of pickle relish and mayonnaise. She showed off her chef skills and stirred everything together. I loved how they worked together to make dinner!

 I found a plan for a fish-shaped sandwich that was made using a circle- & heart-shaped cookie cutter, which I had planned to use for this activity. Then I found Pepperidge Farm Goldfish bread at the store (and lucky me, I had a coupon!). The bread is thin and soft with a slightly sweet flavor- a perfect sandwich bread for kids! As soon as Kyrie saw this bread she was excited, and even more so when I let her put her own sandwich together.

Luckily, my kids are not terribly picky-eaters, but I have seen several articles that suggest that you allow picky (or skeptical) eaters to help prepare their food in a way to encourage them to try the foods they wouldn't normally eat. I was a little surprised that this suggestion actually worked! In the past, both kids would have protested and/or refused to eat tuna fish sandwiches, but this time they ate them right up!