Beads, Beads, Beads

Beads are not just for girls to make bracelets or necklaces. They are great for fine motor skills, counting, color sorting etc.. Today I will share with you what my boys like to do with their beads, which all have great learning skills involved.

1) Sorting the colors of beads into a muffin tin

2) Have them count each color and find out which one has the most once they are done sorting all the colors

3) Their favorite, take any toys or stuff animals and trace them with the beads when you pick the object up when you are all done and you have an outline of which ever toy you used. They think it is pretty cool.

4) Add with them. 5+10= and so on

5) Graph them on paper. Have them roll a dice and whatever number is on the dice they get to put that number of beads on the graph paper.

Kids Summer Journal Craft

Summertime is almost here and at our house we like to document in different ways what fun things we do or some of our favorite memories. Today I have some templates I made for a Summer journal. Kids can document any way they like whether it is drawing pictures, using stickers etc.. Let them be creative and see what they come up with.

What you need is:
Download one of my templates either the girl one or the boy one
5 pieces of white computer paper for the center
1 piece of white card stock to print the cover on
Stapler
Markers, crayons

Just fold and staple the paper inside the journal cover
Let your kid(s) decorate the front how they want
Put their name on the front
Start recording your memories :-)
DOWNLOAD HERE GIRL
DOWNLOAD HERE BOY

Enjoy and have a great day!

Homeschool Room Make Over

The before pictures are horrible and messy, this was my throw everything in my misc room, I knew I wanted it to be a school room eventually, but yes it was a MESS pretty much all the time until.....

I painted the walls, (I used taupe)

 I cut out the ABC's with my wonderful Silhouette SD, I found this wonderful huge map at a yard sale for $1.00, SCORE!!

TA DA, I am in love with this room. Everything in this room was either things I had already or, from Yard Sales this summer or the Goodwill. My green and blue bins came from the Dollar store. My books are all in sections for different learning along with all my Curriculum.

 In the awesome blue and green bins from the dollar store I have things like, links for counting and colors, pattern blocks etc..

 Crayons and all the fun Art supplies

 How to tell time (sorry these wont turn the right way for some reason)

I love my calendar set I got, I have all boys so I had to have something kind of girly. This was perfect for me :)

Every binder for every letter of the alphabet with all my different activities. (I got this idea from http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/) I love her site it is AWESOME. I have purchased a lot of her print ables and sets for homeschooling.

 My board, I switch it out and add things to it but this is what is always on it for the most part.

Pledge of allegiance, questions to ponder, rules, weekly activities, Not pictured (address, and phone number for them to practice)

I use these to organize all of my handouts and papers for each subject. I still have a lot to get printed off but, you get the idea.

I am going to start Homeschooling my kids……Was homeschooling something I had always knew I would do? That would be a big fat NO!  Yes; Yes I know people will think I am crazy and that it’s a bad idea. I don’t care though, I didn’t just wake up one morning and say, “Hey I think I will try Homeschool”. I have been seriously thinking about it for a little over a year now. With much prayer and consideration of it all, I AM DOING IT!!! Wish me luck :-) My husband wasn’t too keen on the idea at first, but he is on board 100% with me now. His main concern was socialization and sports.  The first question out of almost everyone’s mouth when you mention the fact that you are homeschooling is, "What about the socialization?"  If you are a social person, your children will be social. There are many opportunities for socialization at church, sports, reading groups, and other midweek activities. If you are social yourself and are interacting with other human beings on a regular basis, this is not really going to be an issue...   “The world will teach our children if we do not.” The public school system puts together a one-size-fits-all education when really; learning should be more perfectly fitted to the individual. To be honest, the only things I remember from school are the things I was interested in. If I was forced to learn it, I retained the information long enough to pass the test and then it was gone. Here’s an interesting tidbit of info for you. Did you know that public schools are only between 150 and 200 years old? And that they were formed for the benefit of poor people who were unable to afford material to educate their children at home or a private tutor to educate their children. Over the years, it just became a convenience for most people to send their children to the public school no matter what their status was. And I’m pretty sure that 200 years ago, before public school, there wasn’t a socialization crisis!

This is not to say that all kids in the public school system are improperly socialized and taught or, that my kids are somehow going to be better off in life than yours. As I’ve said before, this is a lifestyle choice and it is definitely NOT for everyone.  It is just a personal choice either way our choice is Homeschooling. I know there will be hard days and some days I will want to pull my hair out. I know a lot of people that homeschool their kids and every one of them say it is worth it.

“People are more influenced by love than anything else.”

Like I said before Homeschooling was NEVER something I ever thought I would do with my kids. I am not looking back only forward to all the blessings I will have to teach my children and love them while I do it. I am looking forward to it so much!!!

I couldn't be happier with my new room here is the before and after next to each other :-)