Bubbleology Lapbook Review and Pictures

This is a lapbook called Bubbleology by Hands of a Child. This was a very good lapbook and we had a lot of fun doing it with friends!

Half-Eaten Apples

I had a weird moment today. A mom moment you might say. My son loves apples. He loves to take the whole apple and just chomp into it. The trouble is that he can't finish the apple. This leads to apple discoveries in various places (the worst being behind the entertainment center eek!). But today I found the apple neatly sat on the floor in front of the fireplace and for some reason, that half-eaten apple made me tear up. My son is my last child that will be carried in my body(I hope to adopt someday). I have several woman issues that make pregnancy dangerous for me and the baby so we have opted to end my fertility. This has led to a strange variety of emotions as I have watched all of my last, firsts. It is a fantastic mixture of sadness and happiness as I watch milestones come and go. Last first smiles, first steps, first words...they are all gone. But even as I delight in these moments, I am dreading how quickly they seem to be passing by. I am dreading the day when I no longer find half-eaten apples.

I love being a stay at home mom and homeschooling for more than just the educational value it provides. I love that I will never miss my baby's milestones. There will be no daycare worker coming up to me to announce whatever trick my son (or daughters) performed that day. I get to see each stage, each milestone, each memory. Maybe I am selfish, but as their mom I think I deserve this. Lord, help me never to forget how precious those half-eaten apple moments are.

Disclaimer: Not that I consider it anyone else's business, but my children do participate in activities without me. No need to worry that I keep them locked up in the house :)

My New Vinyl Scripture!

My friend over at Wall Worthy made me this gorgeous vinyl scripture for my birthday! I am so excited to have something to fill up that space! Check out her store too. She does custom work and has a real talent for designing quotes, scripture layouts and more. I know you will love it!

$5 Lapbook of the Week Johnny Appleseed

This weeks $5 Lapbook of the Week is Johnny Appleseed! This is a great lapbook for younger students!

Making Moving into a New Home a Learning Opportunity

I was reading my favorite homeschool forum and came across a question from a mom who had just moved and was now having trouble getting her son to focus on his school work. This got me thinking about how we turned moving into our new house into a learning experience.

Moving is a big deal and can really mess with your schedule so my first tidbit of advice would be to not worry if you don't get school in every day! Take a few weeks off if you need to, but if you wanted to throw a few activities in here and there here are a few that I suggest.

Depending on if you built your house or moved into one already finished you may have to adjust some of these to suit your own needs.

Watching our house being built was an amazing experience for our children. We actually built in the same neighborhood that we were already living in (just needed a bit more space with babe #3!) so we had the added convienience of being over to drive over to check on progress often.

1. Take pictures of the stages of the house building process and make a book with them.

2. Talk about what an engineer does.

3. Talk about the math involved with building a house.

4. Use an online program or graph paper to design a house.

5. Build your house out of toothpicks or popcicle sticks to scale.

6. Measure your moving boxes and do the math to find out how many items of a certain size and shape will fit into the boxes.

7. Take several items of various shapes and sizes and have your child pack the box in the most efficient way they can.

8. If you are close enough to your new house to drive or walk to it figure up the number of miles to it.

9. Have your child look at a map and plan the best route to the new house. You can do this even if it is far away!

10. Go to the new house and have your child figure up the square footage in each room.

Once you have moved in you may want to:

1. Take a walk around the neighborhood and talk about nature around the new home.

2. Go on a drive and find your neighborhood helpers (fire station, police, post office).

3. Bake cookies and go meet your new neighbors!

4. Take a family photo in front of your new home and add it to your book you made.

5. Have your child figure up a loan with interest.

6. If you have an older child you may want to talk about all of the other expenses involved with moving (closing costs, realtor fees)

7. Talk about what makes a house feel like a home.

8. Figure up how many gallons of paint you would need to paint your child's room.

9. Let your child help unpack!

10. Go out and let your child pick out something special for his or her room.

Moving is daunting for adults and can be a stressful experience for everyone. Making it a fun learning experience will help break up the stress and keep your child learning while having fun during the process!

Sunday Book of the Week Tuesday Edition

A few days late but here it is!


Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

The tiny town of Chewandswallow was very much like any other tiny town except for its weather which came three times a day, at breakfast, lunch and dinner. But it never rained rain and it never snowed snow and it never blew just wind. It rained things like soup and juice. It snowed things like mashed potatoes. And sometimes the wind blew in storms of hamburgers. Life for the townspeople was delicious until the weather took a turn for the worse. The food got larger and larger and so did the portions. Chewandswallow was plagues by damaging floods and storms of huge food. The town was a mess and the people feared for their lives. Something had to be done, and in a hurry.


Lapbook to go with this book

ENJOY!!!

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