Cultivating Childhood

Monday was nice.  Noah really enjoys the books on the fall.  Our favorites are: Leaf Trouble  by Jonathan Emmett- cute story about a squirrel who is worried about the leaves falling off the tree and tries to put them back until his mommy squirrel explains to him why they are falling. Applesauce Season  by Eden Ross Lipson - tale of a city boy whose family makes applesauce throughout the fall.  Includes a recipe at the end. Who Loves the Fall?  by Bob Raczka- simple book with rhyming names of all those who love autumn. Mouse's First Fall  by Lauren Thompson - Mouse and Minka play in the leaves. That's When I'm Happy  by Beth Shoshan - a little bear enjoys the little things in life with his mommy and daddy bear We did the Alphabet Exercise cards, and they were a hit as well.  Noah couldn't do half the activities, but he enjoyed trying and watching me do them.  Zach liked watching us make fools of ourselves as well.  It was a good rev...

I get to put my new plan into action this week, and I'm pretty excited.  I think it will put us into a good rhythm for the week/month/season.  So here goes... Everyday Talk about Monet Listen to Mozart Have devotions and review Proverbs 3:5 Monday Seasonal Workbox - Read books about the fall Rotating (Alphabet) - Alphabet Exercise Cards Extra Activity - Playdough Baby Box - Wooden Blocks Tuesday Seasonal - Make homemade applesauce in the slow cooker Rotating - MOPs Day Extra Activity - Stickers Page Baby Box - Drawing with washable markers Wednesday Seasonal - Go to the pumpkin patch with Noah's preschool Rotating (Music) - Pumpkin Songs Extra Activity - Draw faces on our little pumpkins Baby Box - Stacking plastic blocks Thursday Seasonal - Read fall books Rotating - Preschool Extra Activity - Peanut Butter Playdough Baby Box - Fall Sensory Bin with leaves, apples, pumpkins, pinecones, etc. Friday Seasonal - Fall Tree Collage Craft We are going to use Noah's hand fo...

So, I'm the worst about not talking to strangers.  I'm constantly talking to moms I've never met that I see at playgrounds or anywhere else really.  I've always been like this.  My mom tells the story of taking me to the park, and all the kids saying "bye, Alisha" when I had to go.  When asked how they knew my name, I just said, "I told them."  Of course, I didn't know any of their names!  Noah is just like me.  He thinks that all the kids at the park are his "friends", and he doesn't have a worry in the world when it comes to strangers.  I know that this is important though.  I don't want him thinking that he can go off with just anyone.  Hopefully, I can convey this message. Monday  is a stay-at-home day.  I'm starting to feel like this is a good routine for us.  Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at home and Tuesday, Thursday out of the house. 7:30-8:00 - Breakfast with Devotions from  The Jesus Storybook Bible  an...

I'm so excited about Fire Safety Week.  Of course, I had a little bit of poor planning as I just discovered that the national fire prevention week was last week!  Oops!  It is funny though that I had no idea about that when I made my own plans, and I was only a week off.  Noah is going to love this week.  We live right next to a fire station, so we get to see the firetrucks and ambulances go by all the time AND... it... never... gets... old.  =)  He loves learning about fire trucks, but we haven't really talked much about fire safety.  So this week, we get to fill in those gaps! Also considering how hard last week was, I'm going to try to make some changes to how we spend our time at home.  It seems to me that we do need to continue to stay at home as much as possible and work on good habits.  However, trying to fit in one activity during each day isn't really working for Noah.  We need to have more structure, especially in the mor...

I don't like staying home.  And, apparently, neither do my kids.  We all tend to be fussy and foul-tempered.  More power-struggles occur, and fighting over toys.  And I just don't know if we'll EVER have a potty-trained preschooler.  This week was just... hard.  We made it through but not without a lot of tears and time-outs. Monday  we stayed home, and it was hard.  Noah was eager to read his books, but little brother got in the way. He wanted to take whatever book we picked up to read.  We got to read a few books, but not without a lot of interruptions.  We also got to talk about our picture for the week.  Noah was super excited that it was finally revealed.  Monet currently has a prominent spot in our living room. We all really like MOPs on Tuesday.   Mama got a nice break, and the boys had a good time in their prospective classes.  Noah learned about kindness and encouragement through the book Have You Filled...

It's October!  Although I'm not a big fan of Halloween, I love autumn and everything else that goes along with it. The falling leaves, pumpkins, the briskness in the air, scarecrows and farms.  Along with our new month, we have new music, art, and Bible to focus on.  I'm looking forward to seeing how the transition will be, or if we even will notice it. We have an artist for this month!  We will be looking at Claude Monet's works.  We are going to be following the Charlotte Mason style of picture study where we will display a work of art, and then discuss what we see or remember about the picture.  (She actually recommended focusing on one artist for either 6 or 12 weeks, but we will only be doing it for 4 weeks).  Each of the four weeks, we will choose a different print to discuss for that week.  This first week, we will be concentrating on Monet's The Terrace at Sainte-Adresse .  In addition to looking at art prints, we will also be reading...