Just wanted to post some more pictures from Newport Aquarium that my mom took! Thanks mom for letting me get these pics from you today. We did have a fun time meeting our cousins. The two little ones in the middle are exactly the same age just hours apart! Both have Strawberry Blond hair and have little tempers to boot:)
PLEASE, PLEASE Do not laugh. At Least not too hard.
Okay, I was really excited that the last few days I’ve gotten posts up and linked to various parties. Then my excitement quickly fell when I realized I had NO new subscribers, No more Likes on Facebook, etc. WHY?
Well, for one I forgot to use the Plug-in Social Media Ring I had activated. This was to be one of the easiest “calls to action” that I wanted to have on my blog. I got busy trying to get pictures taken, edited, and just learning blog basics and FORGOT to use a very important tool! Oh, boy what a major boo boo!
So for any of you who already viewed my 2012-2013 Curriculum post or our Tree Climbing post, would you PLEASE click back over and LIKE or SHARE or TWEET your Favorite post?
Thanks so much for helping out this newbie blogger!
1. Wear Appropriate Clothes and Shoes– make sure to consider jeans or pants and sturdy tennis shoes. Will keep the climb more fun with less likely getting scrapped or scratched.
2. Location, Location, Location– if you do not own trees that are climber friendly, then you will need to find some that are. Do not go onto private property without permission. Stay out of fenced areas marked No Trespassing. We went to our local community college since they have an abundance of trees.
3. Not too BIG, Not too small, JUST RIGHT– You will need to find a tree easy enough to get in and out of, but also sturdy enough to hold your weight on the lower limbs.
4. Buddy System– ALWAYS take an adult and have a climbing buddy. It’s more fun in a group and a lot safer.
5. Beware and Use Caution– Stay away from Evergreens and poison ivy vines! Do not climb sappy trees or you will get icky, sticky goo all over you which could attract insects or bees.
6. Bring your camera or video recorder– Make sure to have someone get lots of pics of your tree climbing fun.
7. Try a variety of trees– take turns when you find a good, sturdy, easy to climb tree.
8. Refreshments– Bring snacks and drinks for on the way home. You’ll be glad that you did.
9. Remember sunscreen and/or insect repellent.
10. Be grateful for God’s great wonder the TREE!
#toptentues
I am a planner and goal setter by nature but usually have trouble following through. My goals are lofty and well intentioned, but often come crashing down due to lack of habit. I’ve been floundering with the whole “get up early” and get my day started for a LONG while. Not sure how it happened. Maybe it was the birth of a 3rd child and our new homeschooling endeavor. Whatever it was now is the time to redeciate the mornings to the LORD and not allow my life to slip by without meaning or purpose!
I often find myself sitting down at the PC in the mornings just getting ready to “do something” when my toddler comes running in wanting mommy. While I love holding him and snuggling he is now big enough to wiggle his toes on the keyboard or grad the mouse and make a mess of mommies work:) This tends to make me feel frustrated or irritated that I didn’t get up early enough to accomplish anything without interruption.
I need to get more sleep, better sleep. I need to get to sleep roughly the same time each night and/or take a short nap in the day if our days are long. I need to get children to bed at decent times per their circadian rhythms. (I’ve got two early-birds and 1 night owl. The night owl get lots of ideas between 8:30pm and 11pm.) I need to express to my husband how he can help with bedtime routine even when he works till 9pm, which will allow for me to wrap up my day and plan for tomorrow.
I believe making a list of what needs to be done so the important gets taken care of and not sidetracked by an “urgent” whim. I believe meal planning, Bible reading/listening and school scheduling will take our family life to the next level. One of peace. One of consistency. One of simple expectation.
Join me while I Maximize my Mornings with:
Well, this is our 3rd year homeschooling and we have done things differently each year. The 1st year we used a few books that they were used to (A Reason for handwriting and A Reason for spelling) when attending a Christian School. We added free Bridges math, science, history, and geography that I found online. The 2nd year we went a little more eclectic leaning towards unschooling. I thought we were going to study missionaries and variety of countries, but the kids just didn’t seem that interested. We primarily used checklists of subjects/topics for “bare minimum” work and did some lapbooking on topics they chose. We learned about the Arctic and Antarctic from Carisa’s Calendar Connections. We bought an art calendar at Jimmie’s suggestion (but have had to skip some days due to content.)
SO what are we going to do in year 3, you ask? Yet again something different. I learned about Margie Gray’s Prairie Primer during a library workshop about lapbooking. I thought it would be GREAT to do a major unit study approach using a great set of books as the main spine. The variety of topics that can be covered and the rabbit trails to diverse learning sound wonderful to me. I have put off planning specifics in order to keep ME excited about it. I even went a step further and have created a co-op around LHP and Pioneers getting 5-7 other families to join us. I did this for a couple of reasons. 1) To keep me accountable to actually using PP this year and progressing through a number of the books. 2) To help my kids have a set group of homeschoolers they meet with and get to know throughout the year.
(We have struggled the past two years with not having dependable friends that homeschool. We know lots of families in the area that homeschool but do so diversely that it limits what time we can spend together)
Back to this year. I read the entire Little House on the Prairie boxed set this summer to prepare for this year. I kept notes about what I thought would interest my children. I did some extensive searches on those subjects. I joined Prairie Primer Pluses yahoo group and became a moderator to correct broken links and add more links to share with other PP users. I also found and joined Prairie Primer Homeschool Support on facebook. Both groups offer loads of ideas, recipes, and support. This took a lot of the stress of planning away knowing that with a few clicks of a button I can have all sorts of videos, virtual tours, worksheets, and unit studies related to over 30 different topics from LHP. We will be studying presidents, states, science, health, bee keeping, railroads, and tons more topics this year!
Art/Drawing: found some great free drawing lesson’s online!
Bible: ABC Scripture cards or Scripture Cards, Seeds of Worship songs
Handwriting: Seeds of Worship from Bible Printables
Math: I found Ray’s Arithmetic in case we go old school. We will also use Living Math with lots of games and real-life hands-on math concepts.
Spelling/Grammar: We will use words that are new from LHP and McGruffey’s Readers and Speller found free online. I also have some old-fashioned primers from various free sources.
History/Geography: worksheets and lapbook elements related to what we read.
Science/Health/Nature Study: will try to incorporate more nature journaling this year.
TOT School (I can’t leave Lil’ Red out! I will be planning lots of tot trays and activities to keep him busy. We will work on numbers, letters, colors, and shapes.)
If you are looking for curriculum and do not know where to turn or have much money to spend check out these websites to get you started:
Homeschool Freebie of the Day- www.homeschoolfreebieoftheday. where I got most of my primers and handbooks for boys and girls
Freely Educate – www.freelyeducate.com loads of info all the way through college classes
Free Homeschool Deals- https://something2offer.com//www.freehomeschooldeals.com/ free daily kindle e-book list
Guest Hollow– free science, history, and math. Full curriculum pre-planned using library and online resources.
Donna Young– loads of free EVERYTHING homeschool!
woo, all that types and just wanted to add a side note; somewhere I started this year’s curriculum list with ideas and such and have no idea where it’s at or even if it’s typed or written down. I’ve racked my brain for 2 days looking on pc, jump drive, and laptop trying to figure out where those words went to no avail:) Just another very late night on my blog.
Special Note: CurrClick is giving everyone 5 freebies! Just click on the graphic visit iHomeschool Network and get your free products!
