~Homeschool Preschool~

*I stared working on this post four days ago, until I realized my new external hard drive quit working. It had most of the pictures on it for this post. After trying for two hours to get it to work, I gave up. I re-took pictures of everything I could think of that might have been on it for this post. I'm so bummed. When your hard drive goes, it is worse than losing your purse! Also, it is 4:30 in the morning, I have been up since 3, the kids were up a lot last night (they went right back to sleep, but I'm a light sleeper and I hear everything) so this could be interesting. Irish coffee this morning, anyone? *

Big Boy won't officially be in preschool until Fall, but we are doing "school" at least a few days a week now. In January, He was begging me to do school, (who wouldn't if it meant you could do crafts and use glue sticks for chap stick!) so I went to Mom's for ideas. One of the perks of being the oldest daughter of a 20+ year homeschool vet that I didn't see coming growing up is that she has all this cool stuff stored away that she doesn't use anymore! So we sat down with a note book and made lists of things I could do with them that would be fun and educational at the same time. It took some trial and error to figure out just how I wanted to do what and when, but now we have a basic flow to things and there are much fewer days when Big Boy asks "What are we going to do today?!"

Okay, here goes:
This magnetic calendar came from Ya-Ya, as Big Boy calls my youngest sister. She wrote a cute note on the back saying that she loved the boys. They really like this calendar! We write in the date each day and move the magnet to the current day of the week, then they practice saying what the day is (Tuesday, the 21st). The magnet this month says "first day of Spring", they don't quite understand that yet, so we use the magnet to help them visualize that it is the next day and each day has a different name.

After we do our calendar, we dress Calvin. He is our weather boy that we got from Amazon.com.

We open the side door off the kitchen and the boys decide whether is is hot, cold, warm and sunny, windy or rainy, etc.

 Then we look through Calvin's plentiful wardrobe and dress him accordingly.

 I was in Walmart with my brother Sai, getting craft stuff for the boys. He spotted the mini clothes pins and said "Hey! You could make Calvin a clothesline!" Genius! So we did. And when we dress Calvin, they take off his "dirty clothes", pretend to wash them (sound effects and all) and we hang them to "dry".

After that, we do our Morning Basket.

 I forgot to mention in the Morning Basket post, we also go over the first 5 questions in the first catechism of the OPC. He has them down now. 

1. Who made you?

A: God

2. What else did God make?

A: All things

3. Why did God make you and all things?

A: For His own glory

4. How can you glorify God?

A: By loving Him and doing what He commands

5. Why are you to glorify God?

A: Because He made me and takes care of me

After Morning Basket, we start on name practice and letters. Mom made this practice sheet for him online, then laminated it so he can use it over and over with a dry erase marker. He loves practicing with this! (I helped him with the first two).

Then I grab a letter tracing paper from the "Letter of the Week" crate. (Also from Mom. She made her own letter of the week collection over 20 years. A free, organized letter of the week collection; yes please!)

I also keep Calvin's outfits and Seasons in this crate for easy access. 

After name practice, and letter tracing, I have him find the matching letter from his paper on the alphabet boarder. I got this boarder from Dollar Tree($1!)

Next, we build the letter with Mom's old Handwriting Without Tears set.

 He likes building things, and it is a good visual for him.

Next, we practice on the slate.

For math, right now we are just practicing counting. Side note: M&M's make very motivational math manipulatives!

We also use our counting bears.

He also colors a page that goes with the letter of the week. (B is for Bulldozer).

Little Boy wants to do school too!

Then we do our Before Five In A Row book. (Also from Mom)

You pick a book from the list in the guide book, and read it every day, five days in a row. Then you do an activity (there are suggestions and ideas in the guide book) that goes with it. 

Last week it was Ask Mr. Bear

In "Ask Mr. Bear" it is about the mother's birthday. We read it and made cards for cousin Keenan's birthday.

This map is also $1 from Dollar Tree. We use tacks to show Big Boy where he lives, where his cousins live, and where Daddy works.

These cards are also from Dollar Tree. Numbers and shapes/colors.

 I got this little work book at the Homeschool conference last year. It is only a couple bucks and he likes the activities.

 This work book was a gift from my Aunt Jane. He likes the activities in this book as well.

 We also do Pattern Blocks. He likes matching up the blocks where they go, and learning the more "complicated" shapes.

That is pretty much it right now. I have a few brand new things that I am saving for him for this Fall.

We also have activities like water play (he gets in a chair up to the sink and plays with measuring cups, Tupperware, trucks, etc and soapy water). And We have a rice box, sand box, wooden blocks and toy animals.

I have a list of books I'd like to get from Amazon.com this Spring. I plan on raising tadpoles with the boys. The books are about frogs, ponds and such. "Tadpole Season" was always one of my favorite times growing up, I think the boys will enjoy it too.

Big Boy really likes school. The main thing is that he has fun while learning. If your preschooler hates school, you might be trying to do too much. We don't always do everything every day. In fact, we rarely ever do it all every day.  He is 3, he is supposed to have fun while exploring the world around him. I don't want to squash that joy. A check list is not that important at this age.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and that it was inspiring. Happy Homeschooling!

~Morning Basket For Toddlers/Preschoolers~

Good morning! I thought I'd share with you our current morning basket contents. First off, you can "Google" 'morning basket' and get all sorts of ideas on what to put in your basket and why. Basically, it is a basket or box that contains activities and books that you do with your children in the morning (or at night!). This can be anywhere from traditional school subjects like history, science, etc. if you homeschool. Or it can be family devotions/Bible study, or a mix of the two. I didn't really find much for ideas with preschoolers and toddlers, but here is what we put together and if your kiddos are in the same age bracket, maybe this post will help you build your morning basket too.

What's in it?

Bible story coloring book and reader. My mother ordered these for the boys. These are by Rod and Staff. They are a great pair and the boys love them! They are also budget friendly. Here is the link:Coloring Book:  Reader:

 Church History ABC's. This is a big, hard cover book which introduces a "hero of the faith" for each letter of the alphabet. From Saint Augustine, John Calvin, John Owen, Saint Patrick, to Charles Spurgeon and more. It gives a short paragraph for each historical figure, so it is good for young listeners with short attention spans. The link: Church History ABC's

 The Beginner's Bible. After looking and looking, and reading several reviews, I bought this picture Bible for the boys. It has brightly colored pictures on every page, and the 90+ stories are short and easy for little ones to understand. The first day we read from this, Big Boy asked me to keep reading!
Hard cover. Link:

Favorite Hymns of praise. This is a nice, old hymnal with all the old favorites. You can either buy this online, or often times if you ask, when your church orders new hymnals they will give you the option of taking an old one (free) or purchasing a new one with the church's order.

 Crayons and clipboards. The boys like to lay or sit on the floor to color their pictures, so I put them on clip boards. Then we just have two jam jars with crayons in them. Do not give your toddlers/preschoolers a whole shoe box full of crayons and expect them to share nicely and not dump out the entire box of 200+ crayons. Just saying.

Previously in our morning basket: Sammy And His Shepherd. This is a beautiful book. Beautiful in how Psalm 23 is presented through the story of lovable little sheep, and beautiful in illustration too. The boys absolutely LOVED this book. We will revisit this one for sure.

 Link:

 Future books:
 Reformation ABC's. This is the same idea of the Church History ABC's, a person, place or thing about the reformation for each letter of the alphabet.
                                      
Then there are these books that I've had my eye on. I will be ordering from this bundle for future morning basket material. (Already have Sammy and His Shepherd). Link: You can also find these titles individually on Amazon.

 

*This photo is from Ligonier.org and I take no credit for it*

So what does "morning basket time" look like for us? First I'd like to say that I think the secret to having a pleasant morning basket time with little ones is this: Keep it short, keep it simple, picture books when possible. This can be a wonderful time to spend together, and introduce little ones to the Word and your faith. Don't make it something they dread by having too many things on your "to do" list. This is not about the quantity of time spent, but rather the quality of time spent.

First we gather on the couch and take turns praying.

Then the boys take their clipboards and crayons and head for the floor to color while I read the story that goes with their pages.

Little Boy LOVES coloring.

Then I read from our current book (Church history ABC's) and a Bible story from the Beginner's Bible.

Lastly, we sing two verses from a hymn. That's it. Short and sweet. 

The other day, Big Boy announced that he was going to sing that day. He took the hymnal and flipping to a random page, he began to sing "Rock of Ages". It was so cute! 

Sometimes if we have a story book that Big Boy is using for school, I will read it at this time if they are up for listening to more reading. Otherwise, they go off to play while I get school ready for Big Boy. As they get older I may also incorporate traditional school subjects such as history and science. For now, this is enough and we are enjoying it!

Do you have a morning basket? If so, I'd love to hear what you have in it! Have a great day! God Bless!

~I Rode A Bull!~

Okay, you got me. It was actually a steer, about 12 years ago or so. I was largely the one in charge of caring for my parent's first beef critter, HP (Hamburger Patty). When I fed him his grain, I would empty the pail in his dish, then flip the pail over to stand on. I started out just patting him. Then, slowly over time (days) I would put more and more pressure on his back as I pat and rubbed him. Then I would start leaning on him a little. Then leaning my whole upper body on his back while he munched away at his grain. Then one day I just climbed on his back. He turned his head and looked at me, then went right back to eating. Eventually I was able to sit on him for long periods of time as he walked around the yard to graze on his tether.

Anyway, Saturday we went out to celebrate our anniversary. Darlin' said he had a surprise before we went to the bull riding. So off we went. He pulled into the university in Orono. As he drove around the parking lot looking for a space, I (still unaware as to what he was up to) observed people walking in and out of the building, and looked at the trucks parked outside. When I saw guys in black and green plaid wool jackets and "I love trapping" bumper stickers I figured it out. It was the Sportsman's Show!!!! I was so excited, I hadn't been to that in YEARS! It was awesome! They had over 100 vendors with everything you could think of from beef jerky to boats, canoe paddles, taxidermy, fudge, quilts, guns, you name it! We watched a fly fishing class (something I have been interested in for some time now) and picked up some great pointers as well as some humor! It was great!!!
     Then we went to Kobe's Japanese grill for supper and had habatchi (that is when they cook your food in front of you and do cool things like set stuff on fire). After that it was off to the bull riding!
     I used to watch bull riding on TV on Sundays when I was a kid. I never thought I'd get to see it live in-the-flesh! There were a couple of bulls that got a little crazy, chasing everyone around and had to be roped back into the gates. It was so cool!

 I have some video I took as things were getting started, I will try to upload it soon!

 Here we are, 5 years after "I do"!

 For Friday, I made a mini replica of our wedding cake. Our cake was chocolate with peanut butter frosting! It had all kinds of little farm animals all around it on each layer. These very two bovine were our cake toppers! I keep them in our china cabinet and put them on our cake each year. I think it's safe to say I don't have much of a future in cake decorating, LOL!

After cake and putting the boys to bed Friday night, we played our first dance song ("Look heart, no hands" by Randy Travis) and danced in the living room amidst the toys and the sleeping dog. I am truly thankful for my man. We are a perfect match. Not because we are perfect, but because typically where one is weak in one area, the other is strong. I love that he is constantly making me laugh and wag my head at his foolishness. We josh each other back and forth like an old couple. He is a good one for coming up with one-liners, grinning at me from behind his coffee cup with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes. I pray that the Lord gives us many, many more years together!

Have a great Tuesday everyone! Batten down the hatches for our next storm! 

~5 Years~

 Five years ago today I married my bestest friend! What an awesome time it has been, sharing this journey through life together! It has been filled with lots of love and lots of laughter. Trials and triumphs. Hard times and plenty. We have two beautiful boys. And at the end of the day, we are still holdin' hands and sippin' tea. I would not trade one minute of it for anything thing else in this world.

 Becky, maid of honor

 The older bro's

 Sharp bunch of fellas

 Sister Mary

 Sister-in-love Kaelie

 Grammie Osgood

 Sister flower girls: Hannah, Ruth, Lydia. Brother ring barer; Sai

 Gampie Aldrich

 Five years ago, all my younger siblings were still shorter than me!

And of course, these two songs are sure to be a repeat post on here. I'm sure you'll all get sick of them, but I won't!

Our first Dance...

Our other favorite:

I've Been Spoiled And Back To Eden

That beautiful stretch of weather we had spoiled me. It was some what unseasonably warm for nearly a week here in my part of Maine. The Beech trees started to bud out. Now we are back into "normal". It was 6 degrees out this morning when I got up at 3:45. Not as bad as was forecast, they were saying -6. I think the chickens are thinking the same. During those nice days they started wandering around the yard and came up to the porch to visit me and get some treats. Now they are snuggled back in the barn with looks on their faces that say "What the...?.
      I am impatiently waiting for my seeds to get here so I can start what needs starting ahead. I think this is the first year I've actually planned out where every plant is going to go on paper before planting (tsk,tsk, I know).  I used a chart out of my old "Back To Basics" book by Reader's Digest. It has a chart of what plants do well with what plants, and which ones don't. So, keeping that in mind I made a layout for both our garden plot and the raised beds. I'm sure we will run into the same problem that we have every year; there just is never enough compost! Even after having several cows and thirty-some chickens, pigs, veggie scrapes, you name it. There just never seems to be enough for what I want to do! I would like to start working on making our garden a "back to Eden" garden. I will be making some phone calls to local wood cutting businesses this year.
     If you don't know what a "back to Eden" garden is, basically it is a garden which resembles the model of how the very first garden in the Bible (God's garden) was thought to have been grown. In the book of Genesis, after man sinned and was cast out of the garden it says he started to till the soil (Gen.3:23, KJV). Tilling causes erosion of the soil, and that is what makes your garden look like a dust bowl if you don't put mulch down. You know how the soil in the woods is black and damp? The leaves, sticks and branches of the trees fall on the ground, making a dense cover and hold in moisture, while also providing natural compost. The man in this documentary realized this, and incorporated it into his garden by adding wood chips. This is amazing and well worth your time to watch if you love growing stuff:

As a side note, if you use this method, you should know that when wood chips and similar, low-nitrogen material is breaking down, the microorganisms that feed on it use nitrogen from the soil in order to break down the material. That nitrogen is then later returned to the soil when the microorganisms die. But in the mean time, it temporarily lowers the nitrogen level in your soil. Composted chicken manure is great as it is high in nitrogen. You will want to incorporate some into your garden with this method (or other, high nitro compost). DO NOT put fresh, un-composted chicken manure on your garden, you will burn your plants! On the other hand, rabbit manure may safely be applied to your garden while fresh. But it is only about 2% nitrogen (which is exactly the reason it is safe to use fresh). 

Anyway, those are my thoughts this morning. I've got to get to the chickens now that it is light enough to see outside. Thanks for stopping in, I hope you have a great day!!!!!


   

An Excerpt

Now that this is no longer Darlin's work schedule, I felt that I could share with you on here.
   This is an excerpt from my memory book:

December 5, 2016

~Joe just left again for work in Connecticut. I folded his clean laundry and he packed it into our "new" 2008 Escape. I also gave him a bag of grapes to munch on for the trip down. It is about 7 hours drive from our house to Meriden, CT. Jack, Lem and I all gathered at the window to watch him pull out after hugs and kisses. As soon as the car pulled out of sight, the absence of his presence in the house was so loud, it was near deafening. It was as if the very soul of the home had walked out, leaving us to our thoughts in the silence left behind. Lord willing, four nights from now he will be home. We miss him so much.~