Worthwhile Reads

Lucy is all about wearing layers these days

• In the Land of Nod ... a Child's Yoga Bedtime Story ::: Moonbeams and Applesauce
• To the Mother With Only One Child ::: Simcha Fisher
• Paying Off Debt the Quick and Dirty Way ::: The Minimalist Mom
• Sheep/Wool ::: The Handbook of Nature Study
• A Ride on the Red Mare's Back ::: Jump into a Book
• The 10 Day Family Re-Charge ::: Erin Goodman (I'm honored to be contributing)

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

Yarn Along: Shalom

Yarning Along with the lovely Ginny of Small Things ...

• Knitting: Shalom cardigan (Ravelry)
• Reading: The Money Saving Mom's Budget

Yesterday I cast on for a Shalom cardigan for myself. Well, if you can still call it a "Shalom" when you're too lazy to do all the purl through the back of the loops ;-)

I'm re-reading The Money Saving Mom's Budget.  I finished it the first time in about two days and now I'm going through, slower, and making notes, underlining passages, and putting her ideas into practice.  Some of these ideas weren't new to me, but a few were.  And, even the ideas I've known about I could certainly use the inspiration to become passionate about again.

Christopher and I sat down and made a list of BIG DREAMS, inspired by the book.  I mean, HUGE dreams.  Some of them don't seem very likely now, but that is what dreaming is for, right?

Today on Simple Kids: How I Use Pinterest (and who to follow for great kids' ideas!)

Head over to Simple Kids today to read about how I use Pinterest, how to get started using it yourself, and my favorite people to follow for kids' ideas.

See you there!

Sneak Peek of the Coming Week

 Bouncin' about!

 

Around the House

Mom's work -

• My Operation 2012 tasks, including working on the daily decluttering calendar from My Simpler Life.
• Planning for next year:  fifth grade for Jillian, kindergarten for Max (age 6), preschool for Lucy (age 4).  I'm going to use A Little Garden Flower's fifth grade book as my anchor for fifth grade, as well as their geometry book.  Once the materials arrive, I'll start working on my weekly planning and my file crate.
• Keep up the habit of doing a weekly blackboard drawing for the kids (something I used to do, but stopped when baby Mia was born last August) 
• Freeze colored ice cubes for us to use this week.
• Speaking of the freezer, double up cooking one dinner this week and freeze it for later.
• Try not to dream greener than my thumbs are as I flip through the Baker Creek catalog. 

Homeschool

Preschool (Lucy, age 3) and Kindergarten (Max, age 5)*:
Ice, Forgiveness with Little Acorn Learning
Oak Meadow Kindergarten
*Max is having an age 5 kindergarten year and will officially start kindergarten at age 6

 

4th Grade Main Lesson block: 
Jillian's main lesson is on Math, using Christopherus's fourth grade materials
reading for at least 30 minutes a day 

items from her Brain Food page

Jillian is also joining in with Little Acorn Learning when she wants to and has been doing very well as my "helper" with the younger children.

In the Book Basket

• Winter board book - by Gerda Muller
• The Snowy Day - Ezra Jack Keats
• The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren
• The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett
• The Story of the Snow Children by Sibylle Von Olfers

Rhythm

Monday - Purple Day

• Nature Study - Our weather is going to be wild this week.  We're going from snow to thunderstorms.  I'd like to spend some time, indoors, studying this Winter Storms page from the Weather Wiz Kids website.
• Enrichment - listening to Sparkle Stories (my kids love the Martin and Sylvia stories)
• Artist Study - we've been following along with Confessions of a Homeschooler's The World's Greatest Artists Unit Study, Vol. I and really enjoyed it.  Now we're branching out on our own, continuing with these wonderful books introduced to us by the unit study.

Tuesday - Red Day

• Painting day - exploring ice activities with ice and food coloring (Little Acorn Learning)
• Enrichment - make a barometer (Weather Wiz Kids)

Wednesday - Yellow Day

• Coloring -coloring with beeswax crayons
• Enrichment - frozen sun-catchers (if our weather cooperates)

Thursday - Orange Day

• Handwork/Crafting - Jillian and I are creating a felt map as we continue to discuss geography.  This is our inspiration.  We'll also be needle felting a King Winter today (Little Acorn Learning), which we didn't get to last week.
• Enrichment - make it rain in a jar (I Can Teach My Child)
• Games - Freeze Dance (Little Acorn Learning)

Friday - Green Day

• Practical Life - spend some time straightening the loft playroom
• Quaver Music
• Friday Night Nest - family movie night  
• Enrichment - needle felt a snowman for the nature table (Little Acorn Learning)

 

What are you going to be up to with your kids this week?

Graphics on this post were purchased from Country Patch Collections.