family and home {art}

Since we have been on the subject of families this month we touched on the idea of homes. Where we live, what does our house look like, in our case what did our last house look like as well, who lives in our home and what are things that we do in our home

I set up this easy art idea after our morning circle time. I used a set of family shaped math sorters and

foam blocks . I set up our family and built a simple shaped house on the side. I cut out different shapes out of varies colors of construction paper. One blank sheet of paper and a glue stick was given to each of them.

With W my main objective was for him to identify our family with the sorters (which one is baby, which one is mama?...) and while gluing identify shapes and colors. With B I did all the above but also had him identify and glue the shapes he saw more intentionally. (a triangle on top of a square for the house etc.) I still allowed him to glue it on his own so it was still his own creation. The results were fun, colorful shaped art pieces that the boys are eager to talk about,  letting me know what shape is which member of our family.

While they dried we pulled out the rest of the blocks and sorters and the boys spent the rest of the morning making families and homes with them. Speaking of family, in case anyone is ever curious of what goes on while the boys are doing all this stuff. Here you go, 9 times out of 10 I am holding this baby and my camera. Check our that double chin in all its glory.

homeschool classroom tour

I've been holding off on doing this post because I wanted to get a feel for what actually worked for us. It's been a little under a month and this set up is still working great. We don't actually have a spare room to homeschool in so this is actually just a corner of the boys room. The calender and plastic photo holder get put up each morning and get put away in the afternoon. This is to prevent curiuos toddlers to destroy it in the night. At first I wasn't sure if it was going to work (as I tend to be sort of forgetful at putting things away) but actually it's worked great and it just gets tucked on the side of their toy shelf before nap time. The rest of the items on the wall are too high to reach so they get left on the wall. 

Here is what we are working with. 

1.Monthly Calendar Pocket Chart

2. photo pocket chart that we use to hold our scriptures and theme related items for the month

3.our color of the week name and animal (based on Brown Bear, Brown Bear)

4. Weather chart

To the side of that I have a small book shelf that we use for toys. Typically things that go along with our theme or used for cognitive work. And I am going to let you in on a tip my MIL gave me that has changed my life and the struggle to have the boys pick up after themselves. Seriously it's amazing and so simple. Are you ready?....

You place a matching picture on the box of toys and on the shelf itself. That way they know EXACTLY where to place the item. What's even better about this is they are learning something in the process, in my case it's shapes but this can be used to matching animals, letters (capital, and lowercase) maybe even math equations to the answer,  just about anything. I am so sold on this because it has really made  a huge difference on how much the boys are able to clean themselves, even W can clean things for the most part on his own. 

I've also found that limiting the amount of toys on a shelf as well as limiting them to have to play with only one or two items and having to clean and put away something before pulling something else out has made a big difference. Note: this routine took my MIL about two months with the boys when she was here to really ingrain it  in them before she left. I can't thank her enough, it has made this one less battle I have to deal with since they are pretty good about it now, but it just takes being consistent. So keep at it, I no longer feel like my house is taken over by mountains of toys that aren't being played with and the exhausting after bedtime clean up. 

What's on our shelf?

1. one tile puzzle with container of appropriate tiles 
2. family photo matching game
3. babies and blankets
4. puzzles 
5. two sets of blocks 
6. basket of animals
7. daily reading bible

On the top shelf and wall  I have our art from the prior week displayed as well as our circle time books. 

Lastly, our art work is typically done on our dinner table and the boys sit across from each other in their booster seats. This setup workes best for us because there are times when I may have to step away (change a diapers, switch the laundry) and depending on how messy the project is I would prefer it to be contained a little. I keep all our school supplies in the hall closet. As they get older I think we will have art supplies more accessible and an art table for them . 

That's it, our classroom in a nutshell. I am sure there will be things that we will switch around and find more helpful as the time goes on but for now this is working great.

Our first months curriculum

I finally have had enough time to sit down and actually write this out. This first month was planned out with my MIL. It's basically a customized version of Hubbard's Cupboards monthly curriculum for 2's and 3's. If you haven't been to Hubbard's Cupboard you should check it out. It has monthly themes and bible verses that correspond for the whole year and it goes up to K. It's loaded with fun ideas and a well written calender plan if you don't know where to start.

 I loved that each months theme was based on a few verses and gave me a great starting point but my MIL suggested an all encompassing theme that may continue on for a few month. For that I chose Eric Carle. I love his art and he has so many books I am sure I will be able to plug in any monthly theme and find some Eric Carle book that can correspond to it. I also knew I wanted to incorporate animals some how being that Wolf LOVES them. Just as I suspected Eric Carle has just the perfect book "Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother" tied the whole thing up with a pretty little bow.

I  made this infograph because I am more visual and if i tried to explain it all in text I am afraid I would be too wordy and lose a few of you in the process. So here is our September curriculum in a nut shell. Some things may change and get adjusted based  on the boys interest and how fast they are picking things up, but that is the great thing about homeschool, especially at this age if something isn't working try something else.

I have added a few books  that work in the backbone of the plan but I will also be reading other books and planning activities based on them. Those books will be posted in my regular post.

Brown Bear {color of the week}

 Our first week of homeschool is under our belt and now I get to share a few of our ideas here.

Bear already knows most of his colors but little brother still hasn't mastered them just yet. So we thought a great way to tie that into our lessons would be through one of his favorite books Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. After reading the book during circle time ( I got these class Brown Bear cutouts that I will rotate out each week to go with the color emphasized) we went over to the table and started our art project.

I wanted to show the boys and Eric Carle inspired technique.

What we used:

• brown paper bag
• plastic forks 
• textured stamps 
• brown and white paint

I added a little white paint for more of a textured look.

I put a good sized dollop of brown paint in the center of the paper and tiny amount of white in the center and let the boys go only telling them to use those tools to paint. No other directions were given. Wolf loved scratching the paint with the fork while Bear decided that he wanted his painting  "smooth" and ended up rubbing it flat with his hand.We let it dry and I later cut it into the shape of a bear. We will be using different mediums each week with each animal until we have the whole story completed and the boys will have a homemade book of their own.

And of course brown bear day ended with a brown bear snack. The original recipe is here but I skipped the cinnamon and sugar and just buttered the toast and used almond butter to stick the banana slices and raisins to it.  The boys loved it. Now to think of something to do for next weeks Red Bird theme.

**linking to the Virtual Book Club for Kids **

On homeschooling

^^how they felt about their first day at school^^

             ^^ don't let these pictures fool you. They were upset that I made them stop to take pictures^^

It's official. We have crossed over and started school here at home. With Bear turning three it felt like the perfect time to start something a little more structured. We have always done learning activities at home but having a bigger plan this year felt appropriate. Most importantly for me to get use to the flow and see if this is something that works for our family in the years to come.

Thinking of homeschooling for preschool was an easy decision for both husband and I. For one, we truly believe keeping our children near us in the early years of their life is beneficial, but also monetarily preschool is just plain out of our budget. Thinking of homeschooling during the core years of education is something we want to make sure works for all of us. So this stage felt even better knowing that we would all have the time to work out the kinks and see what best suites our family.

Learning through play is the back bone of the "curriculum" and a philosophy that I really love. Having the ability to get up and explore and have the boys learn through experiences is one of top priorities but of course there  will still be cheesy crafts, fun books and fun play ideas.

I look forward to sharing our progress, as well as some hurdles.And as always some fun ideas that I hope inspire you to teach your children at home as well. Here's to an exciting year ahead!

Easter 2013 {in Pictures}

So sad this is blurry but I love it. 

some bubbles and a pep talk to get W back in the game

 Easter this year was filled with a lot of loot for the boys (thanks Grandparents). Two Easter egg hunts, confetti eggs, great friends, great food and time spent as a family celebrating one of the most important holidays of the year.

Today we are laying low as it seems our little Wolf is teething (mark my words, molars might be the end of me) enjoying all our goodies from yesterday and anxiously awaiting papa to get home from work. I hope your Easter was wonderful.

Leaf Printing and Palm Sunday

Sometime last week while playing outside I got the idea of doing a Palm Sunday craft that involved leaf printing. We went out and collected a few leaves and set ourselves up for an easy craft.

Materials needed
*green construction paper
*paints (we used light green, green, and yellow)
*collected leaves
*paint brush

There wasn't a whole lot of direction with this one. I was more curious to see how they were going to use their tools. Bear started painting the leaves themselves and later started stamping them on the paper while Wolf finger painted more and explored the leaves later. It was a very easy open ended project that  every kid will do differently.

I  later decided to cut out a donkey out of soft cardboard (cereal box) and have them paint it brown and cut the leaf print into a palm shape. I taped the donkey to the palm leaf and 'poof' you've got yourself a whole Palm Sunday craft.

Humpty Dumpty Puppet

image source 

Despite snotty noses and and extra naps there was only so much TV these boys were willing to watch before they started getting a little restless. We managed to get this little craft done. 

I got the idea from Hubbard's Cupboard yet again. I cut and glued the egg shaped paper to the bag and also pre-cut eyes, arms, legs, hands and feet. I laid out some markers and a glue stick and let him go to town. Only explaining to him that Humpty needed a face. It was a similar process to what we did last fall with our Jack O'lanterns but with a different result. He actually got the placement of the eyes right. 

It is so amazing how fast our children learn and process things. Even the most simple craft project can make you see how quickly they are growing.