Free Art Friday

Bubs calls this "Wheels" and wanted it to hang right above my desk for me to "watch while I do "not too fun  homeswork" <3  Such a thoughtful young man!

Day at the Park

I'm so glad the weather is finally starting to get nice! We spent the entire morning at the park talking about tress, and grass, water, and nature. We talked about colors, and learned the difference between ducks and geese, (who were all too happy to share our sandwiches). Bubs got a chance to practice his kicking while Jam and I finished eating lunch, and even got to get up close to some construction equipment just outside of the park, and talk to the crew about their digger and back hoe!
What a fun day!

Homeschool Diner

Well, Here it is Monday night, and I have neglected my Sunday Story Review post. Tsk. If there is anyone actually following the Playground Lab. at this point, I sure am sorry. Let me just say though, this week would have been really tough to pick just a couple of books to talk about! We had a fantastic library adventure last Monday and came home with a stack of books that Gauge has been all over all week. Score! We always seem to grab one or two Phyllis Root books. I knew with One Duck Stuck That she would be an instant favorite, and I am happy to say I was not mistaken!

Anyway, I'm getting totally long-winded and off track here! I wanted to share this site with you guys:
The Homeschool Diner. It has tons of info for new HSers, packed into one cute, little place! I stumbled across it looking for curric. ideas, and am planning to spend some more time trolling through the links the next time I have a free minute. :)

Days of the week/Schedule

Bubs has been talking about letters and playing on Starfall non-stop again lately, so I decided to start our letter of the week over. I haven't yet decided if I'm going to throw in a shape, number or color, or just stick to a letter. I think we'll see how that goes today. (Tuesday is our Monday because he seems to have a hard time adjusting to Daddy going back to work.)

For the past week or so we have been talking about days of the week. The concept is pretty lost on him still, but he really enjoys putting the calendar together each day; and he THRIVES on a schedule, so I think it has been neat for him to be able to visualize what will be going on on a certain day
I made this for him out of construction and contact paper. We have been starting each day with putting the squares next to the day and talking out our plan for the day. i.e. Dad is home on Sunday and we always go on a nature adventure, Monday we go to the library, etc.
It is very much a work in progress.

[Belated] Easter Craft

I completely forgot to post this Sunday evening, but here was our yummy Easter craft - Actually it was the only one we did all month.. (We got the idea from No Time For Flashcards)
All it took was some mini marshmallows, glue, and construction paper. :) And surprisingly Bubs glued more than he ate!

Sunday Story: Book Reviews

Well... I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks, I have a ton of books that I want to talk about We have a few books on the way from Amazon right now, which I WILL review in full when they come. Josh and I had a great idea to expand the boys' reading material! Every pay period we're planning to spend $10 or so on 'new' books, or really used with cheap shipping from Amazon. We've done this twice now and already added more than a dozen books! But for now, here's a list of what has been cycling through the laboratory the past two weeks:

I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean, Kevin Sherry
  One of the books that we purchased this week was a Kevin Sherry book. He has quickly become a household staple and I'm sure we will be adding more to the boys' home library as time passes. His artwork is super cute, and his stories are silly. Who wouldn't love 'em?

One Duck Stuck, Phyllis Root
   I'm not entirely sure where we stand on this book yet. I had heard rave reviews about it and picked it up on Amazon for under a dollar before we even got it from the library. This book is really cute and rhymey, and has tons of animals that Bubs can identify, so I was sure he would love it. When it came rather than being a board book, like I thought I had ordered, it was a giant lap book! I was so excited to show Bubs! He, however, was less than thrilled.. See we have a rule in our house - NO DRIVING ON BOOKS. and this huge book would have, I'm sure, made the perfect ramp for his cars... I think hearing "nuh uh" and "please don't" every time this book comes out has left a bad taste in his mouth. So hopefully we can find it at the library this week in a more Bubby-friendly style and try it again. :)

My Car, Byron Barton
   This book is simple and fun, it has even helped Bubs to recognize the word "car" when he sees it! I'm not going to say much about it now, because it is one that I plan to renew (for some reason I didn't order it?!?!) and talk more about this week! This is easily top 3 for us right now, and he is getting pretty good at reading it to us himself!

Seven Scary Monsters, Mary Beth Lundgren
   I cannot believe this one isn't on it's way from Amazon too! This book is about 7 monsters taking up too much space in a little Boy's room at bedtime monster he has a different tool for getting rid of them, and the same magic words, "Rick Rack Wrinkleshack, don't you dare come back!" But by the time the last monster has gone he feels lonely, and uses those same words to bring them back for a great big monster snuggle party. So cute! I love this book because it promted Bubs' first fort, and showed how big his imagination is, when he banished Daddy from our fort using his own version of the magic words! Seven Scary Monsters is absolutely on the next list of books to buy!

I'm Dirty, Kate & Jim McMullan
   I was so excited when I saw these construction car books at the library that it was all I could do not to grab every one of them for the boys to read! But honestly, I was disappointed in the one we brought home.. The artwork is Super cute, but the way it was written did little to keep Bubs' attention. Sadly, I am not sure we will be revisiting books by the McMullens any time soon..

Backtracking

I think I am going to enjoy most about homeschooling my children is that there is room for trial and error, and exploration. I noticed yesterday that Bubs was suddenly very disinterested in things he had previously enjoyed doing, so we just spent the day playing cars while I tried to figure it out. Well, I THINK he is confused. I've started letting him play on starfall since we have been working on letters - he loves it, he'd sit at my computer all day if I'd let him.. But I realized a few things about the crafts we have been doing: While they are super cute, he doesn't recognize lowercase letters (since I have only been showing him capitals) which is what most words begin with. and he doesn't realize that D (duh) Dinosaur is all one concept; also my fault because I haven't been working on the sounds either. Starfall was introducing all of these concepts that he had never seen before, and I was just assuming that it was common knowledge that it all went together.
Hmph.. Part of me is a little disappointed in myself because I have been talking so much about how I want to do things HIS way, take it at HIS pace, and just have fun. And it has been fun for both of us, but I think I have been approaching this from my own perspective "Of course B is for bear", "of course buh, bear is a B". So for the rest of the week we're just gonna play, maybe do some shapes that he already knows, have fun and start over on Monday with a little less on our plates. I am fairly certain that my two year old doesn't need a theme, and a letter of the week. and I'm pretty sure a simpe theme, like "red" might be a bit easier to swallow than "the ocean" at this point. I think maybe I have been over-planning (I am a micro-manager of THE worst kind, just ask my husband!) and Bubs has been getting lost in a sea of information. I think this because I'm noticing that the things that we have just touched on and I have left alone for him to ask me questions about HE IS STILL TALKING ABOUT!
Honestly, I am not even certain Bubs is ready for letters yet. He has shown a HUGE interest in reading lately, which he did not have at all a few months ago, but is unconcerned with the fact that that cat starts with C. I really don't want to ruin books for him by pushing something that he isn't ready for.. I'm going to lay off on the alphabet for a few weeks and just let him play on starfall if he asks for it. - More library time is definitely in our near future.. This I am sure he will be pleased with :)