Favorite Tot Activities of the Week

Homeschooling multiple kids can be a balancing act. Depending on the range of ages of the kids, it can be hard to find that good middle ground. Too much focus on the younger ones and the education of the older ones suffer. Too much attention on the older kids, and the younger ones demand attention…at least mine does. 😉

This week though, I feel like I was able to strike a pretty decent balance. I feel like I can conquer the world now! Or, at least take on next week. haha

Quick note. To help achieve this balance, the girls had taken it upon themselves to knock their math out first thing in the morning before breakfast. Thus taking the pressure off the rest of the day to make sure it got done and opening up more free-time later in the day to pursue whatever their interests are at the moment.

Here are the activities I found this week that kept my very active Little Man busy so that I could give the girls some attention. We were all in the same room, which always helps him feel like he is a part of whatever is going on.

Activity #1- Chocolate Scented Playdough {Homemade}

Blogger Recognition Award

Oh my goodness you guys! I honestly can’t believe it. I’m so excited!! After a few months in, I have been nominated for the the Blogger Recognition Award! I want to send a huge thank you to Laila from FromTheScars for nominating my blog.

 

Let me explain a little about the award.

The Blogger Recognition Award is given to bloggers by bloggers to show appreciation for the hard work, time, and dedication they are putting into their blogs. It’s an awesome award because getting a blog up and running is no piece of cake. It takes a lot of perseverance, energy, patience, and learning new skills along the way.

15 YouTube Videos that MUST Be a Part of Your School Day

By now, after reading through some of my posts, I’m sure you’ve noticed that I like to include YouTube videos in my school plans. Because the videos are enjoyed by my kids, I wanted to share them with you in hopes that your children will enjoy them too!

We have music as part of our morning time. After singing songs that we already have the lyrics to (and know the tune of the song), we watch some videos and sing along with them. [By the way, after only a few days of this, my toddler is already requesting some of the songs! Yay!]

Ancient Greece STEM Challenge

While we’ve been hard at work this week, and working on getting back into a routing after our week off, I’ve also been keeping my eye on Hurricane Irma. Man, that is a nasty looking storm. At one point, the forecast had it tracking directly over us. [Yikes!] For the moment, it’s tracking more westward and we should just see some wind and rain. [Whew!]

So let’s take a look back at our week.

This week we tried starting our day with a morning circle time and using a morning basket. The new routine has gone fairly well. Little Man sits with us in the beginning while we use our circle time board and sing our songs. (His favorite seems to be Dinosaur, Dinosaur.) Then he wants someone to play with him…so he’s been spending a little time with our tablet while we read through our books and magazines. Then we all come back together for the art portion of our morning. This has been Rosie’s favorite part I think.

Friday Favorites – Teacher Discounts

Hey y’all! Well, my week of rest is winding down. I’ve had to do some more school shopping (getting that morning basket ready!) and pay from some upcoming field trips. This got me to thinking about saving money with discounts available to us homeschooling folks. There are already some stores and places I know of, and have been able to, thankfully, use my homeschool ID card to get the teacher discount. But there were more places that accept our status. After doing some digging, here is what I found.

Friday Favorites – The Red Scarf Project

*While this post contains affiliate links, all opinions are my own. Read my disclosure policy here and thanks for supporting my blog!*

 

Did you know that I like to knit? Probably not since we are still getting to know each other. 🙂 Well, I do like to knit! I find it very enjoyable, and relaxing even…except when I mess up. haha Then it’s frustrating. But mostly, it’s enjoyable.

For today’s Friday Favorites, I wanted to share a different side of myself. We all know, and can relate, to the homeschool mom in us all. But we are more than moms that school our kids at home. (If you’re anything like me, you may have forgotten a part here or there. 😉 ) One of the things I enjoy doing when I have time is knitting. In the past, I’ve knitted both of my girls a couple of scarves each, a scarf for my mom, a scarf for my mother-in-law, and most recently, scarves for both of my nieces. Okay, I admit, it’s not the fanciest knitting repertoire, but it keeps my fidgety hands busy and my loved ones warm. 😉 I will also admit that I have a good handful of projects that have been started but not yet finished…for instance there is a cream-colored baby blanket and a fall-colored ribbed scarf for myself (I’ve also been told those are Harry Potter colors) in my work-in-progress bag. But I digress. Let’s focus on the present!

Friday Favorites: Field Trip Ideas

Hey everyone! We’ve made it through another week! Feels good! 🙂

Earlier this week, I was chatting with a fellow homeschool mom and we got around to talking about the new school year. After comparing some of our new curriculum choices, we got around to talking about field trips. Ya know, it’s funny. Somehow, I don’t know how it happens, but it happens that along the way we forget about going out on just for fun field trips. (It’s funny because that is one of the reasons I thought schooling my kids at home would be so cool!) Sometimes we get so caught up in our book studies and our regularly scheduled out-of-the-house classes that I forget about just-for-fun outings.

Top 10 Instagram Accounts

It’s Friday! Hallelujah we made it to Friday!

While our week wasn’t quite that bad, it was interesting. We started school back up this week and, well, let’s just say it takes us a little bit to get back in the routine of it all. Totally understandable. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need moment. 😉

Sassy side-eye from my Little Man.

Do you use Instagram? I started using it a couple of years ago. I like it because it’s all about the pictures. I love photography and taking pictures of my kids, the sunset, the beach, the way that rock looks, or of that random thing over there in that tree. [Really, I’m being serious. My mom used to have a ton of pictures on her camera of the leaves on a massive tree she had in her front yard.] So for me, I love that Instagram showcases pictures rather than focusing on your latest status like on Facebook. It seems that I have passed this trait on to my kids. They love grabbing my phone to take pictures of anything and everything. And yes, they do have their own cameras.

A picture of how cool that random rock in the lake looks.

 

 

Which all leads me to this week’s Friday Favorites: Our Favorite Instagram Accounts to Follow!

1.   natgeotravel — While we may not be able to go out and explore every nook of the world, there are those who get to do it for a living. Nowadays, thanks to the Internet and social media, we can travel with them. The photographers for National Geographic Travel really put themselves in the middle of what’s going on to get these photos to share. We’ve watched a photographer be mere feet away on his hands and knees from two wild stallions as they were rearing up and testing each other’s strength in the Netherlands. They’ve captured the northern lights to share, which made my day since seeing them in person is on my bucket list. Needless to say, National Geographic Travel is a must-follow.
2.    natgeo — If we’re following National Geographic Travel, we can’t not follow the original National Geographic! While the previous account is about travelling the world, this is more about the stories behind the pictures. We love watching and learning about mama monkeys and their baby monkeys. We also learn about elephant conservation and what is being done to help the pandas come back from being endangered.
3.     travellingthroughtheworld  — Have I mentioned I would LOVE to travel?? The pictures they are able to capture from all over the world are breathtaking. I like that the kids are able to see first-hand pictures from around the globe.
4.    foodnetwork — In this house, we love food. We all love to be in the kitchen baking yummy treats and cooking up tasty food. Thanks to the short food demo videos, this is a must-follow for us!
5.    nasa — Since being a kid, I’ve had my head in the stars. I’m trying to pass that on to my kids and the pictures NASA shares really don’t hurt. I love the pictures they share along with learning something new with each share.
6.   ncartmuseum — We are fortunate enough to live in an area with an abundance of museums. A few of those are art museums. I’ll be the first to admit that art museums aren’t my thing. My lack of interest in some of the finer arts is not something I want my kids to learn from me. So as another way to get more exposure, we follow a couple of the local art museums.
7.    nashermuseum — This is another local art museum. For some reason, Rosie wants to go to Duke University (probably because the rest of us are North Carolina State University people 😉 ). She was pleasantly surprised to find that Duke has an art museum on site. So we follow the Duke University Art Museum on Instagram too.
8.    natgeocreative — I love National Geographic and wanted to follow as many of their accounts as possible.
9.    homeschoolscientist — This is the account of another homeschooler. I really enjoy following them because it’s fun to share in the journey of others who are on the same path. It also helps that my girls LOVE science and this account highlights that particular subject.
10.    howtobeadad — This guy never fails to give me my daily laugh. In this new adventure, it’s important to laugh- if only to release tension and stress that’s been building. His posts crack me up, especially the one of the collage of “moments we hope [our kids] won’t remember”. For your comedic relief, I highly suggest following this account.

There are my top 10 Instagram accounts to follow! I love seeing the new posts everyday. Sometimes just scrolling through all of the beautiful, and funny, photos is relaxing and helps me step back from the daily grind for a minute.

And while you’re there, feel free to follow us too @TheHarned5! 🙂

Are there some good ones that I forgot about? Tell me about them! I love finding new things! 

Stay cool (’cause it’s a scorcher here) and have a good weekend y’all!

10 Things My Homeschool Can’t Survive Without!

*While this post contains affiliate links, all opinions are my own. Read my disclosure policy here and thanks for supporting my blog!*

 

When I first started homeschooling, I joined a bunch of groups on Facebook. I searched for every possible group I could think of and joined the ones I could. It helped me feel less like I was jumping into the deep end by knowing there were lots of groups of people who had “been there done that”.

In the time since, I’ve been able to draw on these groups for inspiration, and reassurance, as well as to point me in the right direction when I was feeling overwhelmed by curriculum choices.

Recently, a mom who was just starting out on her journey posed a question: ‘What are 3 things you can’t live without’. She was trying to figure out which essentials to purchase for her new homeschool without buying more than she needed. I answered with what I thought were my top 3…and then as I read other responses, I realized it’s not possible to pick just three ‘must haves’.

So here we have it, 10 things I can’t live without:

1. a good printer and copier — I can tell you this is a necessity because my printer isn’t a good one and it’s a major headache!
2. a tall cabinet that my girls can store their binders, workbooks, papers, and pencils boxes in
3.  chalkboards — I have 2 hanging up in our school space that we use daily, and I just bought 3 small ones for the kids to have while they are working.
4. a globe — I will be getting one this summer. We really could’ve used it last year…There is one that I have my eye on over at Amazon. (I’ve included an affiliate link at the bottom of this list. If you’re looking to buy a globe from Amazon and you purchase this particular one, please purchase through my link so I can get a small commission at no cost to you.)
5. folders — we do a lot of unit studies and these help me stay organized; my girls use them works in progress and things that need to be graded.
6. 3-hole punch (this gets used A LOT!)
7. a good pencil sharpener — really take the money to invest in a good one, because the small cheap ones we have just don’t cut it.
8. a library card!!
9. a good internet connection — we like to use YouTube videos as part of our studies
10. the “traditional” school supplies: pencils, colored pencils, markers, crayons, tape, glue (both sticks and bottles), hot glue gun, small personal scissors, rulers, loose leaf paper.
11. art supplies — we are very artsy and my girls love projects and there is no way we could survive without art supplies. 🙂
12. spiral notebooks — without these, my kids’ journal entries and other notes would be lost forever. 😉
13. books, books, and more books! I buy them used for cheap when I can, and then go to the library for the rest.
14. COFFEE!! Without coffee, there is no Mommy. 😉

Okay, so I did have to add a few more things to my list. It takes a bit to keep this train running.

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What about you guys? Anything you can’t live without?

Let me know if I forgot something!

The girls’ craft desk with their art supplies both beside and underneath.

We also need some wall space to display art and posters for our current topic. 🙂