Homeschool Thursday- Updated

Here is Emma checking out the glorious array of colors. She couldn't wait to get her hands in that stuff! In case you were wondering, they kept the colors separate for, ohhhhh about .005 seconds! They actually messed it up on purpose!! Even the big girls enjoy playing with the rice.

I look at the bag today there are 100 1/4 cup servings in a 10lb bag. If I sweep up a 1/4 cup everyday one bag should last........ at least a month maybe even two. But after a while we would have to add more. Which means more beautiful colors!!! Hooray!

R A I N B O W FUN

I ran across this fun activity quite by accident. We are using Spelling Power this year for our spelling, and one of the things that they recommend is writing your words in/on something textured, like rice. After Mekala practices her words we let Emma have some fun in the rice.

She has a lot of fun with it. And while I was searching the Internet looking for fun pre-school ideas I discovered that teachers color it and put it in their "discovery centers". Because I needed something to keep the babies busy while I school the big girls I was all over this idea.

Some of you may be well versed in coloring rice and the likes, but I had to look it up and no one had pictures, so I provided some. We had a lot of fun making colored rice, it also is a great way to teach primary colors and mixing colors.

There are two ways to color rice.
1. Liquid Water Color
2. Food Coloring & Alcohol

I will cover both ways (not that they are too different, but.....)
You will need rice (I bought a ten pound bag, but any amount will do), baggies and your coloring choice. I measured out 1 & 1/2 cups of rice and put it in the baggie. Note: if you are mixing you can get away with regular bags, but if your toddler is mixing I recommend freezer bags to cut down on tears and spills. Emma went through 3 regular baggies...... on one color.

Then you squirt in your liquid water color. Here, I am mixing green and blue for a pretty turquoise color. The more you use the richer your color will be, and the less white rice you will have. Mekala made yellow, Hannah - green, Sarah - Orange and Emma - Olive.

Zip the bag closed and start mixing. Yes I know it is almost too easy to go to all this trouble, but what can I say I love blogging, colors and pictures, so I couldn't resist. You can see here how there are white pieces left, it makes a pretty look.

Ta - Da. There you have it. These are all the colors we made from the Liquid water colors. Which you can order online from Discount School Supplies. Click here for Discount's web site There is tons of cool stuff you can do with it. And as we experiment we will share.

Here are the Food coloring bags. If you are in a hurry, or on a budget Food Coloring is great (I bought the NEON colors and boy do the colors POP). Put a tsp of Alcohol and your desired amount of food coloring in the bottom of a baggie, add 3/4 cup of rice and seal bag. I doubled the recipe so I would have the same amount of each color.

One of the downfalls of using the food coloring method is, you have to let it dry and it stinks. I put it on wax paper in a cookie sheet and let it sit out for a few hours. And in food coloring vs watercolor battle..... watercolor is washable, food coloring is not.

Our complete color wheel (sort of).

There is the finished product. all lined up and out of the baggies. WAAAY COOL. Fifteen colors, and ten pounds of rice waiting for a textile adventure with Sarah and Emma, and I'm sure Mekala and Hannah too ;)

Add a few utensils and we hopefully have hours of discovery fun waiting for the babies. Some of the bonuses of rice are that it is easy to sweep up, unlike sand, but is just as fun to pour and mix. Also if they get tired of it in a few days, we can pour it in to big bags and put something else in the "discovery center". (aka large cheep tub from Target)

I 'll let you know how it goes later, and how long they will keep the colors separated. And I'll also share some of the other cool things we do in our discovery center when we get tired of the rice.

Oatmeal

We have unofficially adopted a golden retriever. The girls named him Oatmeal, after his first meal at our house. He is a sweet puppy.... young and playful. But a little terrifying if you ask Emma.

Mekala thought it would be fun to put pictures of him on my blog. If any one know of a good home.......

Happy Birthday Hannah - Finally

Ok. We have reached the limit of our birthday celebrations (for now). Hannah was able to open a few presents on her birthday. She got three sets of wooden "paper dolls". They are awesome, even Emma can play with them. Then we had a little chocolate cake that night, knowing that the "real" cake would be later.

And finally on Monday we were able to have her party! YEA! I didn't know how many to expect, so I made two cakes, chocolate with chocolate icing, and the other at Hannah's request........

Sleeping Beauty. Or at least as my interpretation of her. Strawberry cake with strawberry icing and sparkly gel swirls! She was gorgeous, for a cake that is.

While we were eating cake, everyone went around the table and shared all their favorite things about Hannah. They talked about her smile and her generosity, her sweet gentle spirit and her laid back personality. I was a wonderful time of blessing.

That night she got to open more presents I think her favorite was the painter's art set. It was a cool easel with a canvas and brushes and paints and all the works!! Way cool!

Later we played a few rounds of Alphabet Bingo with our friends. I think Hannah had a good time. She was truly blessed

Lord, Thank you for Hannah, and her sweet spirit. I hope she always knows how loved she is. May the words of encouragement that were spoken over her stink deep into her heart, and resonate within her forever!

Happy Birthday Sarah

Celebrations started early for Sarah this week. We had to have cake before Daddy left on his camping trip. Kent Drove in from Waco (we are in Lubbock) and arrived at Mimi's house with a bouquet of flowers just for Sarah. ( See my post on Sarah's flower question for a good laugh http://foresterclan.blogspot.com/2008/07/flowers.html )

Since Dad rolled in after everyone else was finished with dinner, we opened presents first so that Daddy had time to eat before cake.

Then we had "Fun fetti" cake with buttercream icing. Sarah picked out the cake pan that morning. It is a carriage for a princess. One friend thought that it looked like Mickey Mouse when looked at upside down. It was supposed to be a soft pastel pink and hot pink, but I had a little trouble getting the colors right.

All that was Tuesday night. Today (her actual birthday) we had a play date with two of our friends here in Lubbock. Let me clarify that.... two of MY friends and there were 12 kids total. We love hanging out with our friends. We went to Legacy Play village and had a blast. We were at the park for almost 4 hours.

Getting ready to go down the twisty slide.

Sarah and her sweet friend M. They got separated once while at the park, and M came and asked me to help her find Sarah. We found her running around the "castle" yelling out M's name. It was so sweet that they were looking for each other.

All we had to do was invite two of mommies friends and we had a birthday party!

Dinner was at our favorite Lubbock restaurant! WE love Furr's and my Papa takes us every time we come to visit. Sarah loves the Mac'n'cheese and the mashed potatoes.

My Papa has been treating his family to Furr's since my mom was a little girl, and now he gets to take his Great-grand babies! Live is GOOD, right?!? Special memories.

Then to top it all off she had special lion cookies that Mimi bought for just for Sarah's birthday. Too cool. Over all I think she had a great day!

Lord, thank you for my Sweet Sarah! She is such a joy. May she always have pizazz and energy to spare. Use her personality to draw people into your kingdom. May she never have a fear of man, and always find her love and acceptance in you!

Homeschool Thursday

Choosing curriculum is one of (if not THE) most daunting things about homeschooling. There are sooo many choices out there. It is hard to know where to begin. I won't tell you that I know what is best, but I will let you know what I have chosen.

For Reading/Phonics: We use Pathway readers. They are full of wonderful, Christian stories that teach good morals and behavior. They are written by the Amish for a one room school house, so they are naturally geared for teachers with students of different ages. They cover all the phonics rules. Each hard back book comes with a workbook and a teachers manual. Very affordable too. To get workbooks for additional children, it is less than $3.00 a book. You can't beat that.

Publish Post

For Grammar we use Shurley English. It can be tedious at times because it is very repetitive. But I think that helps them learn the material better. It comes with a CD with jingles that help them memorize the parts of speech and everything else they are learning better. If we stick with this program from the beginning we will be able to skip 5th and go straight to 6th.




Two subjects are a great start for now...... Next week we'll look at Math and Spelling.

Scrabooking & God's Provision (2 for 1 blog)

I am finding that with six people in our family I have
A. A lot more things to say and share and
B. I have a lot less free time.
I love to Scrapbook, but I haven't done much in almost a year, and the pictures I am currently "on" are now almost 4 years old. I haven't even printed anything to scrapbook since I got my digital camera, everything I am working on is film.

I say all that to say.... that my blog is quickly becoming my "scrapbook". I am one of those people who can't remember anything unless there is a picture of it somewhere. (isn't that right Jenn) So pictures and scrapbooks are vital for my memories. There is a company that can "slurp" your blog and make it into book. ( http://www.blurb.com/ ) That is perfect for me, by blogging I "kill two birds with one stone"; I keep up with friends and family & I end up with a scrapbook of all our memories, plus I write them while the memories and emotion is fresh. (There is nothing more challenging for me than to try and recall why I took a certain picture and how it made me feel.)

Now for the "memory of the day"

God is soooooo good!! Most of you already know that. But there are times when I have a hard time remembering that fact. Last week Kent and I were down to our last $150, that was it, when it was gone, it was gone. But $100 of it we had set aside to use as a blessing. We are blessed and we always want to be a blessing.
We determined that we were not going to spend that $100 dollars on our family, that we would find someone that we could bless. Our friends were having a bake sale/lemonade stand to raise funds for a rescue center in Haiti. http://haitirescuecenter.wordpress.com/ We took $50 and "gave to the cause".
It was a step of faith on our part. At times my mind thinks about all the groceries I could buy, the shoes the kids need, the gas our car drinks...... but we wanted to trust God and wait for HIS provision.
HE didn't fail us, and he never does. We were blessed with $1100 in the course of a week. Gifts, people who new things were tight and wanted to bless, to give with the same faith that God would provide if ever they were in need. Praise the Lord!!

Thank you Jesus for taking care of us. I hope that I will learn to trust you more and more. I don't want to look at what lies ahead of us with fear or doubt. I want to face life with confidence in both my heart and mind that you will meet our every need! Help me reach that place where you truly are my everything.

You Might be a Red Neck IF.........

Your children think that a sterilite box and a water hose constitutes a water park! Isn't she adorable??



Can I get in??

The girls had a good time cooling off in the water today. Thought you would enjoy.

Homeschool Hursday

I read several blogs that have a weekly post like Wordless Wednesday, Frugal Friday, or Man-cat Monday. Seeing that there was not a day of the week that started with "H" I thought it would be kind of funny to have my homeschool title be misspelled. Dorky I know, but I like it.


So Thursdays will be all on homeschooling. Feel free to ask questions, and contribute your two cents. This first post will be my "history", and how I began to homeschool.


To really begin this story the right way, we have to go back 4 years. Mekala was 4 almost 5, but she didn't make the "cut off" for starting kindergarten that year. I thought that her late birthday gave us the perfect opportunity to give homeschooling a try. If it worked, great, if it didn't we still had time to find some other options. We ordered the Abeka K-4 curriculum because that was what I was taught with when I was in kindergarten (a private school), and off we went.


The birth of baby #3 (ms. Sarah Kate) in the middle of August meant that we got off to a late start, but we set up a school "room" and got started. We kept at it for several months. It was extremely hard. I was nursing Sarah, had to entertain Hannah (who wanted to do school) and teach/encourage Mekala, plus I had the worst case of post-pardom depression.


Mekala is not naturally motivated when it comes to school work, (I think she gets that from me) so getting her to just try tell me the names or sounds of letters was frustrating. We ended up having to bribe her with the promise of a Tea-Party if she could/would do school for so many days (I forgot how many) with out whining. There were so many days that I dangled that tea-party out there like a carrot on a stick, but it worked.



After several months and one tea-party I was finished. I don't even know when we actually stopped, but I probably thought it wasn't soon enough. There was no way I was going to try and school 3 or more children one day. I couldn't do it, I wouldn't it. (Not on the farm, not in my home, no sir, no sir, please leave me ALONE). I had fallen off the homeschooling wagon. All my other homeschooling moms were so disappointed in me. They tried to convince me that I could homeschool, but I wasn't about to listen.


My parents generously paid for Mekala to attend private school (the same one I went to) the following year. It was wonderful!!! Now my biggest problem was keeping Hannah, who wanted to go to school busy and happy. (Oh and I was pregnant with #4 by Christmas).


Mekala's Kindergarten year came and went, and was a great success. Our short time of schooling had really helped her have a great start. (I think she had some of the best cursive handwriting in the class). Even though Hannah and Mekala are almost two years apart in age, Hannah made the cut off date and I didn't think I could keep her at home, even if I wanted to, so she started kindergarten and Mekala started 1st grade. The Lord graciously gave my mother a raise, so they were still able to cover the cost the tuition.


The timing couldn't have been better if we had planned it ourselves. On August 1st Emma was born, and two weeks later (on Sarah's birthday) the big girls started school. OK OK I know that this is getting long, but we are almost to the end and there is a point, I promise! Life was great. There were mornings were it was hard getting everyone up and out the door on time, but we managed and we were only late a few times (I think).


Then February came.


Kent went to Uganda, Africa for three weeks in February '07. His purpose was to help do some mission work, we weren't really sure why he was going, but we knew it was from God, so he went. Simple right. Well after a week of getting every one up, dressed, fed, with lunches, homework, etc.... I was really ready to quit. I couldn't believe what a hassle going to school was. And in my frustration I began to look at all the other "cons" there were to school. By the end of the three weeks I had made a list of reasons why I wanted to homeschool. Yes me, Miss I would not, could not.


God had done some SERIOUS work in my heart while Kent was gone. And I was truly ready to pull them out of school right then and there. (It didn't help that I had gotten the letter that school registration was coming up and we would need several hundred dollars more, to get them in for 1st and 2nd grade).


When Kent came home I had a list of "pros" for homeschooling, and had started looking into curriculum. Some of my Pros included:


-Don't have to be any where by a certain time everyday.

-WAAAAAY cheeper

-No more uniforms (this was an issue for Hannah)

-No more spending the few hours I had with Mekala each night arguing over doing her school work. (since we were still having to motivate her, might as well do it during the day, so we could enjoy our evenings)

-We could finally be in the church Christmas plays!! No more having to be home for an early bedtime.

-We could travel whenever we wanted to.

-If any one is sick, no school, which also means no make up work!!

- You set your own schedule and pace, if you need more time..... you take it.

&

-Best of all..... I get to be with my kids all day, I get to know what they are learning both in and out of the classroom (no more rude playground rhymes)


There are so many other reasons and "pros" for home schooling, unfortunately if just took me a while to see them.


So if you are thinking about homeschooling, but aren't sure, or if you think the answer is no...... just wait, if it was GOD wants for you and your children, then it will happen!!

Hand made with Love.

My Hannah is a gift person. If you want her to "feel the love", get her a gift. However she loves to give gifts. I think she love to give them more than she does get them. She is always, let me repeat, ALWAYS going around the house looking for things to wrap up and give to people. (BTW the wrapping is an important part of the gift giving process. if it is not beautifully wrapped, then....... I don't know what would happen, it's just important.) When we are at the store, it is the same thing..... "Mommy, can we get So-and-so this." , "No, Honey, not today", "Please, I really want to get them something.", "No, we already got them something.", "Can we get them something else?" and on, on it goes until we leave the store.



I truly want to nurture this generous spirit, I don't ever want her to become greedy, or selfish. But there needs to be a balance. ................. I think. ................... or does there? I don't know. I wish we had all the money in the world so that she could give to her heart's desire, but we don't (at least not now), so for now we will try and find a balance.



One way includes hand made gifts, easy on the pocket book, yet thoughtful and loving.




This is what she made for Emma's birthday. She has been eye-balling this doll idea in a craft book for months. And I being the tired and overwhelmed mother that I usually am, have always told her "no", or "not now", or "maybe later". But this time I gave in. I drew the "pattern" and cut it out, but she did all the rest. It took her several days to get it finished, and she did most of the sewing & drawing & stuffing. She even picked out and put on the "belt". This was the first time I had ever helped make a doll. I think for our first time it turned out pretty good. And most importantly Emma likes her.

Hannah took this picture of Emma with her new doll.

And she took this artistic picture of the doll in the grass."Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."Luke 6:37-39

Lord, may Hannah always be a giver. Use this gift that she has to change lives. There are so many people in need of so many things, help her to know who and what to give herself to. And may the receivers of her gifts always see Jesus at the heart of her gift and her love.

Promotion Sunday

Yesterday was promotion Sunday at church. Everyone got to move up to the next class or grade level. Sarah moved from the Turtles to the Foxes. She was EXTREMELY excited about this transition. When she noticed that she and her sisters were all ready for church, she asked me why we hadn't left yet. I told her we were waiting on Daddy. She RAN into our bathroom and started jumping around like there were ants in her pants, explaining to her Daddy how: (big breath) we HAD to get to church, because she was going into the foxes, and could he hurry so that we could go, so that she could go to the foxes cause she isn't a turtle anymore now she is a fox. And this statement ended with an "I'm so Excited!" as she ran towards the front door to wait.

In honor of promotion Sunday the elementary kids had wacky hair day. Mekala honestly could have won (if there had been a contest), not that I was comparing. We really fixed her hair crazy, complete with blue streaks. It was great!

Hannah didn't want the wacky hair that I gave her. We put 4 top knots down the middle of her hair, it looked way crazy, but it was a little too much for her, so she opted to just wear a hat.

Mekala's top knot.

Quotes of the Day

~I love that Sarah is big enough to talk, but not so big that she know all the "right" words.

The other day, when Sarah wasn't feeling well, I asked her if she was getting a cold.
Her response: No, I think I'm getting a warm, or a hot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So when I was making home made lasagna one night, she ran up to me in the kitchen and asked:
"Are you making pajamas?" which meant, Are you making lasagna?

And when the lasagna got pulled out of the oven too soon, and was served on every one's plate the, underdone noodles and sloppy sauce was named "Pajama Soup"

(BTW we put the rest of the PJ soup back in the oven and it came out much better)

There are so many more funny things she says, but that is all I can remember right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know that your 2 year old is ready to potty train when she comes in, pats her bottom and says: "I-ant dipe" Translation: I want a diaper. (Which probably means that she is dirty) She won't say the /r/ sound, she just says dipe. Not dip, dipe; like rip and ripe. When you try and get her to say the /r/ sound it is hilarious. dipe.......... errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Just like when Flower teaches Bambi to talk in the Disney movie. Way Cute.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The other day we were headed to her bedroom to get dressed and she ran up to the bed and yelled, "BASE". I wonder where she learned that from..........................?

Happy Birthday EMMA

Just in case you wanted to know I thought I would give you a run down of Emma's birthday celebration.

I would say that the celebration began this morning, but actually it didn't. It began last night when Mekala and Hannah stayed up late and decorated the kitchen and her chair.

Then this morning she woke up to a treasure hunt. (Apparently this will be a new Forester birthday tradition). She was led all over the house, until she discovered the hidden treasure of Gobstoppers.

After that there was a wonderful breakfast of cereal and toast adorned with two candles, all prepared by her big(est) sister Mekala.

Then we were off to the zoo. We saw the tigers, rhinos, the giraffes and all the other little animals in between. Our last stop was the playground area where we splashed in the water and went down the slide (over and over).

After the zoo we came home for a quick lunch and then we were off to the church for our weekly service time. Mommy goes and helps get all the crafts ready for Sunday morning.

After that we came home and made a cake, and cooked a pizza(s). The cake was supposed to be Elmo, but we adapted it a bit and made it "She-mo". It was strawberry cake and I wanted to use strawberry icing, so we made him.... errr..... her pink. Of course we couldn't give "She-mo" a green nose without giving everyone else one too.

After pizza and fruit salad, it was finally time for CAKE and ICE CREAM, and of course the Happy Birthday song. It was Yummy, yummy, said the birthday girl.

Finally, it was time for the long awaited MOVIE. The girls look forward to movie night all week long. Emma's day was finally over, about halfway through the movie.

SWEET DREAMS EMMA!

Thank you Lord for my sweet Emma! She is such a joy to our whole family. I pray that even though she may never really remember the events of her second birthday, I pray that she will always feel the love that we all have for her.