Trial and Error

Today I let D and H use our new "Do A Dot" painters on the letter B. It had the circles on it, so it was supposed to teach one to one correspondence. I had to go and change E's diaper while they did some of this. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that H (the 2 year old) had done pretty good with the dots. I have discovered that he won't do an art project longer than 15 minutes at the most, though. (Sometimes 2 minutes) I will need two projects for him in the future. I was frustrated that D(the 4 yr old) wasn't filling in his paper when I got back. But, I soon discovered that he was mixing his colors. He was putting a blue dot down, and then a yellow dot on top of it to get a green dot. He explained to me that he had all of the primary colors and was seeing what colors they made when you put them together. (What!? I didn't know he knew what those were.) So, I showed him that the other three colors we had were called secondary colors. So, my plan did not go as planned, but learning took place. So, success!
I also introduced my idea for a new discipline plan to them. I'm going to use a discipline ladder along with reward bucks. So, I let D and H help me make a list of things that would make them go down the ladder and a list of things that will make them go up the ladder. We also made a list of things that we would like to buy with our reward bucks. D was soooooooooooo excited. I mean, like dancing around the house, excited. I need to make the ladder now, and decide the "prices" for the prizes. ...pictures to come.

More of the school room

Here is the sweet little one who I will be homeschooling next year. Who wouldn't want to wake up to that face every day? I'll be "teaching" my middle child, who will be 3, as well. But, that will mostly be games and play.












This will be the preschool shelf. At least, the bottom of the shelf will be. I saw this cool idea on pinterest, I think. You put individual activities on fast food trays. They get to choose what they want to do and then put it back and get a new one when they're tired of it. (Which, for Harrison, is about 2 minutes right now.) The tray lets them see each activity and keeps it all in one place. I haven't found a good deal on trays yet. Right now, the shelf houses our play kitchen stuff. So, that stuff will need to find a new home.









This year, I have been teaching my eldest using the "My Father's World" curriculum. It comes with letter cards, which I half traced/half drew, so that I could hang them on the wall and still be able to teach with them. Some came out better than others.

Two posts in one day!!!

I'm doing Game On with my mom, cousin, and sister in law. But, I'm using weight watchers for my food plan. I'm still trying to remember all the rules. I'm fairly certain that leave the jar of peanut butter beside the couch to tempt you after you finish the wii fit is not one of them. Note to self: hide peanut butter. Leave out carrots.

A New Year, and a New Post!!!!

I have a tendency to think that no one wants to hear what I have to say or that everyone already knows the things that I know. I forget that I have figured alot of this stuff out along the way, and that I got my information from other people. So, partly inspired by my cousin's super duper inspiring blog, I want to try and blog about the things that I do. I'll be focusing on organization, parenting, and maybe some cooking. I will not be giving you advice on cleaning :-) Maybe, in the future. But, I do not excel in cleaning right now.

I am terrified and excited to say that John and I have decided that I will be homeschooling David next year in kindergarten. I've been teaching him this year, but this will be the first year that is state mandated. I took some pictures of our "school room." It's really messy right now, so we'll call these the "before" pictures.

I decided a while back that I wanted to get a pocket chart holder. Boy, are those things expensive. I found a deal on this calendar pocket chart online for 6 dollars. So, I set out to look for a pocket chart holder. Later, I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with the clothes hanging rod that I bought for my maternity clothes. It was way too flimsy to hold up more than like one dress. So, I thought it might make a great pocket chart holder if it was shorter. My greatly talented husband agreed to cut the poles shorter for me, and ta da: instant pocket chart! I'm really excited with how it turned out.







This is our craft closet. It used to be organized until we got more stuff for Christmas which I haven't found a home for yet.
















This is our school supply closet. Same thing goes here. It was organized until we got more stuff.
















This is our school table. I kinda wish I had a kidney table, but this works.












Okay, it's time to get the kids up, so that it all for today.