Eager Little Mind

AWANA Sparks: Books of the New Testament Bookmark

2011-09-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

In Sparks Book 2-Wing Runner, Rank Section 8 all 27 books of the New Testament are listed to be recited. We created this to help us remember those books.

AWANA Sparks Books of the Bible New Testament Bookmark

Addition Facts 1-10

2011-09-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

We printed these out on card stock and laminated them.
Addition Facts

Caught Being Good at AWANA

2011-09-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

Mike and I are Sparks Directors of AWANA at our church. For those of you who don't know about AWANA it stands for Approved Workman Are Not Ashamed which comes from 2 Timonthy 2:15 "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." Children come to club to hear a Bible lesson, play games, recite scripture verses they have memorized and have FUN!

We have started giving these notes out with a piece of candy to boys and girls we catch being good! ;-)

Caught Being Good

Place Value Math Center Activity

2011-09-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

Math Center Activity

We are working on place value. Last week we learned about the thousands place. So, we came up with a new activity to practice. The last page is a thousands place grouping of blocks with blank spots open to add your own numbers and print as many extra of that page as you need.

Beginning Sound Matching File Folder Game

2011-08-10T16:03:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago we started buidling our file folder collection. We thought we would start sharing some of them with you.

The Great Bunch Title Page and Letter a-g File Folder Game
The Great Bunch Letters g to z File Folder Game

The Great Bunch Pt 1

The Great Bunch Pt 2

On a Roll- Word Blend Game

2011-08-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

This is a game I just made for Meara to practice creating word blends. She and I take turns rolling both a number(1 or 2 syllables) and blend cube. Then we create a word based on the results of the cube writing a one or two for the syllable of the word on the recording sheet. At the end we tally the number of syllables for each blend to determine which blend had the highest number of syllables.

Blend Cube

On a Roll recording sheet

Number 1 and 2 Cube

Storing Learning and File Folder Games

2011-08-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I started looking for a storage solution for the file folder games that we were collecting. We started adding duct tape to the spine of the folder and punching holes in it to be placed inside of a three ring binder. This became a great solution for us. In the past week I have been searching the Internet for wonderful FREE printables to use in our home school classroom for second grade. I realized that most of the games I found needed a storage solution that was easy for our daughter to get out and put away on her own. This same concept worked using 9x12 envelopes, everything stores easily and neatly inside (this time I used clear packing tape).

It was hard for us to keep up with the small pieces that went with each file folder game so we started storing them in sandwich bags. We added hole punches to the bag and the folder and secured the bag with brags.

Here are a few of the wonderful places I found this week and used in the past for FREE printables:

A Place to Share

Differentiation Station

First Grade...a la Carte

Preschool Printables

New Addition

2011-08-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

It's been cRaZy busy in our house. God gave us a beautiful sweet baby to add to our Irish clan, sweet baby Matthias. After some sickness when he was first born and again when he was ten weeks old requiring hospitalization he is now happy and healthy! We took a month and a half off from school so we are finishing first grade this week. We will have a week break and power on in to second grade. I am looking forward to blogging again. Hopefully, you all will still check in to see what we have to share! ;-)

Inexpensive Bath Paints

2010-09-27T17:47:00.001-07:00

Monday
September 27, 2010

Meara loves to paint in the bathtub. We use an inexpensive Walmart brand white body wash and add food coloring to make her desired colors. It keeps her entertained for over an hour in the bathtub creating masterpieces!

Flooding

2010-05-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

Thursday
May 6, 2010

My community has been dealing with devastating flooding. It has been labeled the thousand year flood. It is so sad to see so many of our friends who have lost so much and have no flood insurance to rebuild and recover. Thankfully, our county has been one of the counties in TN officially considered a Federal disaster area. My city was somewhat grid locked due to many road closures. We have two rivers that flooded swallowing up main roads, businesses and homes. The Cumberland River crested at 62.5 ft, 16.5 ft above flood level. As of 3 pm today, the river is still at 56 ft (flood stage is 46 ft.). Please pray for all of those affected by this flood and consider giving to the American Red Cross to help those who are in desperate need.

Haircut for Locks of Love

2010-04-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
April 13, 2010

Meara told us she wanted to cut her hair. So we told her she had to wait a month and see if she still wanted to do it. Considering she had barely any hair for the first 15months of her life we have only trimmed it in her six-years. It's been at least a month and she asked again if she could cut her hair and give it to a little girl who doesn't have any hair. How can a mother say no to that? With a tear in my eye we said, yes and that we were so proud of her! We found a Salon in town who offered to cut it for us for free. Thanks to Desiree at Gist Salon for cutting 13 inches off! Now, we are off to place it in an envelope and mail it to Locks of Love.

Galloping the Globe Passport

2010-04-12T18:15:00.001-07:00

Monday
April 12, 2010

We have started using Galloping the Globe. So far we have found it to be very fun and exciting. I wanted Meara to be able to have a passport that we could stamp after we visit each country. I am a frugal mom so I decided to make one instead of spending money and want to share it with you here. We are going to use a stamp I found in the scrapbooking section that looks like the old library stamp from when I was a young child to stamp the dates.

Punctuation Posies

2010-04-08T14:05:00.000-07:00

Thursday

April 8, 2010

Meara is practicing with punctuation. We found this idea on The Mailbox Magazine website and thought it would be fun. We filled our flower pots with dried beans to help the sticks stand up easier.

Color one side of jumbo craft sticks green and attach a flower, we used foam stickers and cut only the size of the stick out of the sticker backing. On the other side write your sentences (exclamatory, question, and statement) leaving off the puctuation marks. Label your pots with punctuation marks, we used post it notes. Have your child read each sentence and place the flower in the correct flower pot.

Wordless Wednesday~Easter Photos

2010-04-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

Wednesday
April 7, 2010

The Winner is...

2010-04-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

Friday
April 2, 1010

Thank you so much to ALL of you who entered, for all the wonderful blog love you left us and for our new followers! YEAH! So, without further delay the winner (picked by Meara) is...

The Frugal Homeschooling Mom. If you haven't seen her blog you should check it out. She has a lot of useful information including reviews, list of homeschool giveaways, coupon information, free stuff etc...

Rabbit With Foot-long Ears!

2010-03-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

Thursday
April 1, 2010

"This little bunny will last for years. He is so cute, with foot-long ears!"

Materials:
white paint
two wiggly eyes
pom-pom
white pipe cleaners
12x12 paper
black pen
white crayon
white paper plate

Cut the center out of a paper plate and paste onto paper. Then, paint the bottom of your child's foot and press above circle onto paper. Use crayon to draw around each foot to make ears. Glue wiggly eyes, pipe cleaners and pom-pom down. Add eyelashes, dots, mouth and teeth. Trace around entire image for outline. Cut down to size.

FREE Lego Club, Jr. Magazine Subscription

2010-03-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

Wednesday
March 31, 2010

I am frugal and LOVE FREE deals! Meara really enjoys building whether with Legos, Tinker Toys or the like. We wanted to share this deal we found with you.

Lego Club, Jr. magazine is designed for children 6-years-old and younger. The magazine offers stories, simple building models, comics, puzzles, coloring pages, games and more. Get your FREE 2-year subscription here.

He is ALIVE! Easter Craft

2010-03-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
March 30, 2010

Materials:

egg carton

popsicle sticks

Easter grass

Play-Doh

crayons/markers

scissors

hot glue gun

Cut one cup out of the egg carton and color green. We cut three popsicle sticks to about 3/4 of the normal size for the cross pieces and hot glue to regular size stick. Color the sticks with markers or crayons. Roll a piece of Playdoh into a ball and wrap the Easter grass around the ball and place into the cup. Stick the popsicle sticks into Playdoh making sure to keep the middle cross higher than the side crosses.

"These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up." Deuteronomy 6:6-7

We Now Have a Blog Button

2010-03-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

Monday
March 29, 2010

Woohoo! I've been wanting a button for a while. Thankfully, I found a wonderful tutorial at Musings of a Housewife and here is my end result. You can grab it on the left sidebar.

I used Adobe Photoshop Elements. I found the html to create the code box under the button at A Heart for Home. We are BIG into Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover right now so I didn't want to spend money on an image. I found this image at a free royalty free website, stock.xchng. If you make a button I would LOVE to see it!

Free Geo Trax DVD from Fisher-Price

2010-03-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday
March 27, 2010

Fisher-Price is offering a free Geo Trax dvd here. First select your country and proceed to the FREE check out. We have gotten several different ones for free in the past including Planet Hereos and Precious Places.

Counting number line

2010-03-26T12:03:00.000-07:00

Friday
March 26, 2010

My daughter is a visual learner. We use this counting activity to enforce her number recognition. At The Dollar Tree we found this number border pack. We secured one to the wall and cut the other up by individual numbers. She runs the number card along the line as she counts. She likes multisensory learning. We paper clip the numbers to the back side of the number line for storage.

My First Giveaway!

2010-03-25T11:50:00.000-07:00

Thursday
March 25, 2010

YEAH! I am so EXCITED! We are giving away Learning Resources Gears! Gears! Gears! Lights and Action Building Set($45 value). I picked this one because around here we LOVE gears, building things and anything that lights up. It's so easy with entertainment centers chocked full of video games, DVDs and tv for children to become couch potatoes. I really like games and toys that keep her active both physically and mentally generating a great way to get out of that couch potato habit.

Here's how to enter(give yourself a serperate entry for each one by leaving a comment above):

Become a follower of my blog. If you are already a follower remind me.
Take a look around my blog and leave a new comment to one of my other postings.
Create a posting on your blog with a link referring back to this giveaway.

Good luck everybody!! ;-)

Giveaway ends April 1, 2010 at 10 pm central.

Open to US and Canada

Make Your Own Lamb Stuffed Animal

2010-03-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

Stuff the glove with fiber fill.

Then, roll down wrist of glove inside itself to seal it.

Rub glue all over both sides of the glove and glue fiber fill evenly to the hand portion to give the lamb it's fluffy coat.

Glue a wiggley eye and tie a piece of ribbon around the neck (thumb) of the sheep.

Now your done...baa!

Make sure you check out the posting for my very first GIVEAWAY($45 value) here.

Happy 101 Award

2010-03-23T14:07:00.000-07:00

Yeah!! I am so EXCITED to get my first award! Thank you Debbie at Our Cup of Tea.

Here are my ten things that make me happy(thankfully I have way more than ten).

1. My personal relationship with Jesus Christ who proves to me over and over that I don't have to fear anything. He is always there for me and has proven it more times than I can count or probably even know. His blessings blow me away because I know I don't deserve them.

2. Feeling my husband's arms around me and hearing him say, "I love you"! He IS my gift from God and my best friend. After ten years, I am more in love with him with each day that passes.

3. Listening to my sweet daughter laugh and see her face light up when she's happy.

4. Crafting...I LOVE to craft! (my crafting blog, Inspired Artistry)

5. Reading books and other people's blogs

6. Going on field trips with my husband and daughter to museums, historical sites, hiking, festivals etc...

7. DISNEY WORLD, DISNEY WORLD, DISNEY WORLD!!

8. Snuggling with my daughter in the morning when she wakes up talking, laughing, tickling and singing.

9. Watching my husband chase our daughter around the house, wrestle, and play hide and seek before bedtime every night.

10. My husband and I sitting so close to each other on the couch that we meld into one person watching tv.

Here are five blogs I want to pass this award on to, I LOVE reading your blogs!

A Little Fun With Me and Lu

Casa Camacho

Daisys and Diggers

Flip Flops and Applesauce

The Peterson Party

Cereal Bar Treat

2010-03-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday
March 21, 2010

I have fond childhood memories of Rice Crispy Treats. This is a spin on that recipe. I thought it would be yummy to try it with Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereals. It turned out to be a big hit at our house...we had seconds!

Ingredients:
3 tbs. butter
1 bag of regular marshmallows
2 1/2 cups of Apple Jacks
2 1/2 cups of Froot Loops
1 cup of Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Spray 9x12 baking pan with cooking spray. Melt butter in a pot on medium heat then add marshmallows, melt until smooth. Remove from heat and pour cereal into pot stirring until cereal is evenly covered. Pour mixture into baking pan. To prevent sticking spray spatula with cooking spray then press mixture evenly into dish. Allow to cool and cut into squares.

Paint Chip Word Family Game

2010-03-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
March 18, 2010

I came across this WONDERFUL and free idea at The Snail's Trail blog a while ago but have really been utilizing it lately. Mama Snail has a listing of many different word families(over 500 words). Meara has had fun with it!

Coffee Filter Flowers

2010-03-08T13:51:00.000-08:00

Monday
March 8, 2010

Meara made a lovely bouquet of coffee filter flowers today. She colored inside and outside of the coffee filters then stacked two to three of them and twisted the bottom with a pipe cleaner for the stem.

Torn Paper Collage

2010-02-23T17:20:00.000-08:00

Tuesday
February 23, 2010

Meara had so much FUN with this art project. She really enjoyed tearing the construction paper into pieces and fitting them together to create this image. We started out with a 12" x 12" piece of poster board, drew the heart in the center and four division lines for the colors. Once all the pieces had been glued down pink strips of construction paper were added to make the border.

We Are Back!!

2010-02-23T17:05:00.000-08:00

Tuesday
February 23, 2010

YEAH! We are back to blogging after a hiatus due to an injury. The day after Thanksgiving my family and I went to Gatlinburg to stay in a cabin for four days. While waiting for our cabin to be ready we decided to spend some time on the playground. In an attempt to cast away the fears of my five-year-old over the "scary" big green slide I slammed into the first curve of the slide stopping dead in my tracks and ended up with what turned out to be a fourth degree sprained ankle. Needless to say our vacation was spent inside the cabin with my foot up in bed. I was on crutches for six weeks and had two months of physical therapy. Thankfully I am almost back to my old self aside from running and jumping. Ahh...the price to pay for being a BIG KID! ;-)

Build a Pizza Game

2009-11-03T08:33:00.000-08:00

Tuesday

November 3, 2009

We have been playing games with dice and number cards as recognition practice. Yesterday, we went to Walmart and picked out felt colors for our pizza toppings and created our new game.

*UPDATE* I realized the instructions didn't match the die. I fixed the document...sorry to those of you who printed a copy already! ;-)

Click on images below to print templates.

Rag Quilt Letters w/ Bag Giveaway

2009-11-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

Monday

November 2, 2009

One of my MOST FAVORITE websites is http://www.makinglearningfun.com/. I have found so many really cute and creative activities to use in our classroom there. Some of them I have blogged about in the past. The creator of that site, Jo is giving away these cute rag quilt letters and bag in celebration of her 100th post. Check out her blog and enter to win here.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T10:48:00.001-07:00

Saturday

October 31, 2009

I have fond memories of Halloween as a little girl. My favorite costume was a gypsy that my mom pieced together with items we had around the house. She let me use her shaw and costume jewelry and gave me a special makeup mole on my cheek. Even as a child I felt the sense of community, neighbors caring for other people's children and their kindness in giving all of us candy. I pray Meara has fond wholesome memories of Halloween like I do.

Paper Bag Pumpkin With a Special Meaning

2009-10-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
October 27, 2009

We created this craft with our 4-year-old sunday school class also. We told them then and Meara today how we are a lot like pumpkins. Jesus picks us out like pumpkins in a field. He "washes" all the dirt off and removes all the "yucky stuff" called sin from the inside. He carefully removes all those seeds of doubt, hate, greed, and fear. He replaces them with the seeds of faith, hope and love. His light is placed in our hearts to shine for the whole world to see just like a candle inside a pumpkin.

Practicing Tally Marks

2009-10-27T09:19:00.001-07:00

Tuesday
October 27, 2009

Meara likes to play games, she likes playing with dice also. We decided to practice how to write tally marks using the dice. She rolled the dice and put a mark in the appropriate column. I LOVE how little things make her happy and she learns while having FUN!!

Number Matching

2009-10-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

Thursday
October 22, 2009

We like to have the lights off in our learning room/classroom as long as there is enough light. We save on electricity and it's FUN!! So, I apologize if it's a little hard to see the pictures. A while ago, I found these incredible number cards that Jolanthe made at Homeschool Creations. The set includes numbers, roman numerals, dots, and number words. We laminated them to last longer. Meara LOVES to ring a service bell. Today, we pulled out our magnets, cards, cookie sheet, and the service bell. She practiced counting the dotted cards, reading the number cards and matching the correct magnet number on the cookie sheet. If she got it wrong I made a buzzer sound (which she found very amusing). If she got it right she was able to ring the service bell herself (which she also found very amusing).

Hermit Crab Lapbook

2009-10-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

Friday
October 16, 2009

Monday we got new pets...hermit crabs. We got one for each of us, three total. We instantly became mesmorized by them. My husband, Meara and I sat for hours watching them in curiosity. Meara was having a hard time staying focused on school work. So, I used that to my advantage by doing a unit study on hermit crabs with her and creating a lapbook. This is our humble attempt to create a hermit crab lapbook. We would like to share it with anyone who would like to make one to.

The hermit crab diagram was found here. Go to page 21 of the pdf file.

What they eat booklet.

You can find the hermit crab picture to decorate and color here. The blank Venn Diagram can be found here. I copied and pasted it into Word and reduced the size to fit on the side flap.

In the original document I created there is a s on the word Predators but when I uploaded it to Scrbd it took the s off for some reason. If you would like the original version please contact me and I will email it to you.

Predators

All the other files we created and used for this lapbook can be found here.

Address and Telephone Number Songs

2009-09-22T21:43:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
September 22, 2009

Meara is learning her phone number and address. She can remember the street name, city and state but not our street number. I found two great songs she has been enjoying help her memorize her information.

My Name and Address
(Tune: Rain, Rain, Go Away)

My name is [child's name],
This is my address, [address],
[city], [state].

Telephone Number Song
(Tune: London Bridge)

[123-4567], ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring.
[123-4567] is [child's name] telephone number!

We LOVE to sing this one too!

The Old Schoolhouse Spiffed Up Classroom Contest

2009-09-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

*UPDATE*
We won the contest! Thanks to The Old Schoolhouse magazine for all their effort that went into making this contest happen and to the sponsors who donated the prizes! Thanks to everyone who voted for us...we enjoyed everyone's kind and generous comments!

Saturday
September 19, 2009

I am soooooo EXITED to be one of five finalists with some other very creative people in The Old Schoolhouse Spiffed Up Classroom contest on facebook. We truly feel blessed to have an unused room in our house that we transformed into Meara's classroom. Thanks to ALL of you who voted for me so far!!! ;-)

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
Each photo has been tagged with the name of the semifinalist. Please go back and look at all of the photos belonging to each semifinalist before you decide on your favorite. I have only included one photo from each person here. To vote, choose your f...avorite schoolroom and click the "like" button below the photo. On Sunday at midnight EST, we will tally the votes and award the winner with a $100 gift card for the Container Store.

The Kissing Hand and more apples

2009-09-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

Wednesday
September 9, 2009

We are continuing with our apple theme but this week we added The Kissing Hand book. Here are some of the things we did today.

We talk about money everyday and recite these poems.

The Penny
Penny, penny, easily spent Copper brown and worth one cent.

The Nickel
Nickel, nickel, thick and fat, You're worth five cents. I know that.

The Dime
Dime, dime, little and thin, I remember, You're worth ten.

The Quarter
Quarter, quarter big and bold, You're worth twenty-five I am told!

You can find this apple stamp book here.

We are reading The Kissing Hand this week. These are some of the activities we have done with it.
I found these really cute raccoon Uno cards to print out yourself. You can find them here.

In the book the mom kisses Chester's hand and in turn he kisses hers. We decided to depict that with our hands.

Letter A Apple Art

2009-09-02T18:25:00.000-07:00

Thursday
September 3, 2009

Continuing with our apple theme Meara made a finger painted apple. It works so much better on the glossy paper plates! She used the Crayola finger paint. I was surprised that it stained her hands. She was a little embarrassed when we went out later in the day with her bright red palms...after 24 hours of hand washing it has finally worn off. I don't remember it doing that when I was a kid. She had so much FUN squishing the paint around and using the foam letter sponge. I LOVE watching her face when she is being creative.

Making Applesauce

2009-09-02T08:28:00.000-07:00

Wednesday
September 2, 2009

For two weeks our theme is apples. For science this week we decided to make applesauce. Since Meara LOVES to cook this was exciting for us!

When it was all finished the taste test proved that it was delicious. Although, it wasn't like Mott's applesauce in texture or color but I think it was more tasty!

Crock Pot Applesauce

Take ten large apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks. Put them in a crock pot along with 1/2 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and 3/4 cup sugar. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 8-10 hours. Take a potatoe masher and mash. This can be eaten warm or cold. Refrigerate the remaining sauce.

Our Learning Room

2009-09-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
September 1, 2009

This is our "learning room". I LOVE that someone else called their room that so we have adopted that term. We have two stuffed handmade planets and a HUGE space shuttle hanging from the ceiling. The hutch we inherited has made accommodating storage space for us. We also turned our bookcases on their sides to make everything more accessible for our kindgergartner. I think it's really important to have at least one real piece of art, we chose a piece my cousin painted to give us inspiration(it reminds us of home).

I found this chain with hooks at a yard sale. I thought it would be perfect for hanging our puppets. We are using an old microwave cart for storage also. It's great for storing the water tub and toys where Meara can easily take them out and put them away with little assistance. We also have our FAVORITE thing sitting on top...my old record player and records from when I was her age.

Our art display area (piece of burlap rope tied to the banister) and storage. The basket houses our musical insturments and the green and yellow containers hold our legos.

Our morning routine wall with the reminder of love...our family tree with everyone's handprints.

Apple Shaped Bean Bags

2009-08-31T20:52:00.001-07:00

Monday
August 31, 2009

Our home school year officially started today. Our baby girl is now a kindergartner! YIKES!! I can't believe how FAST she has grown. Sniff...sniff. The next two weeks were are enjoying an apple theme. I found a pattern and game suggestions for making these sweet apple bean bags. I thought it would add some excitement to our day! She enjoyed helping me make them over the weekend! We can't wait to use them.

Pizza Hut Book It Program

2009-07-23T07:52:00.000-07:00

Thursday
July 23, 2009
We haven't posted anything lately because we are enjoying our summer with lots going on but thought we would share this with all of you!
We LOVE to read books! This is a great way for your child to be rewarded for their hard work.

Homeschool Enrollment
Program for grades K-6. Enrollment for the 2009-10 program is underway.
Click here to enroll!

Frequently Asked Questions
Who is eligible for the BOOK IT! Program for homeschools?Any student in grades K-6 (5 years old by September of current school year) that is homeschooled and does not attend any other educational facility.
What are the program dates for 2009-010?October 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010.
When will the 2009-10 materials be shipped to enrolled homeschools?Materials will arrive by early to mid-September.

Pensacola Vacation

2009-06-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

These are our friends that we were fortunate enough to vacation with while our husband's were working at the Naval Air Station.

Meara with her cousin, Nick

Pensacola Lighthouse on the Naval Air Station

This was at the Aviation Musuem on Pensacola Naval Air Station

Enjoying the sun, sand and ocean at Pensacola Beach which has become my favorite beach ever!

My nephew who is proudly serving in the Navy gave us a "backstage" guided tour of the museum's restoration hangar.

We were able to go inside the plane pictured above from WWII and witness the restoration process with my nephew.

This was President Nixon's Marine One.

Play Based Learning

2009-06-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

Friday
June 12, 2009

This year we have spent a lot of time playing and learning for preschool. I have to admit I have truly enjoyed spending quality time with Meara teaching her academics like letters, sounds, numbers, vocabulary etc... But, I have REALLY enjoyed teaching her how to separate laundry, put it in the washing machine w/ laundry detergent and softener, washing the windows with a squirt bottle and a squeegy, cooking, hanging a mock clothesline and pinning up baby clothes, playing with all types of magnets and metal, water play, and LOTS of art/crafts.

It has become clear to me that the public school system is increasingly pushing the envelope with kindergarten requirements. We have friends whose children are a year or two older and attend public school. I have been shocked by what is expected out of kindergarteners in public school. I am only 34-years-old(I can remember a time when I thought that was old). When I was in kindergarten we had lots of art, playing in the pretend kitchen with empty spice bottles(I can still remember the smell...it brings back wonderful memories) and empty cardboard cereal boxes. We also spent time in the sandbox and water table, crawling through the pop up tunnel, being read to and PUPPETS, and finger plays. We weren't required to be able to read. We didn't even start that process until first grade. I feel I have accomplished so much in my life in spite of the lower expectations of my generation. I am a college graduate, a good person with morals and values, a christian, a good wife and mother and have a big heart for others. So the wheels have been turning helping me realize that just because society and our government say that kindergarteners must be more academic doesn't mean they know what's best. My mission is to create a kindergarten program in our home that allows for play based learning. Although, I have to admit that this morning I spent about an hour searching for ideas but felt a little overwhelmed sorting through the websites. So far I haven't found exactly what I am looking for but the quest has begun.

Koinonia Homeschool Co-op

2009-05-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

Wednesday

May 27, 2009

Meara and I LOVE our homeschool co-op! We meet once a week from 9-12. The mom's volunteer to teach a class allowing the children to have many choices each hour to choose from. Some are academic classes while others are just plain FUN classes. This year I taught a scrapbooking projects class the first semester and the second I taught a PE games class with about twelve to fifteen children every week. It was very enjoyable to get to know the children in my class and develop a bond with them. Right before we left for our vacation I found out we weren't having field day this year because no one volunteered to take on the task. I gasped...what?! We NEED a field day for these children to end the school year with a BANG! So, I volunteered. It turned out to be a wonderful event. The weather here had been bad for about two weeks, storming everyday. We had to move the event into the gym but that didn't hinder the excitement or enjoyment.

This is some of our group after the awards were given out.

Toe Marble pickup

Suitcase Relay

Balloon pop relay

Disney Vacation

2009-05-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
May 26, 2009

We are back from our Disney trip for a couple of weeks now. We came back and everything became a whirlwind. Our homeschool co-op ended that friday. I was busy running to prepare for our field day that I volunteered for at the last minute. It turned out to be so much FUN!! Needless to say, I haven't had a lot of free time to post.

I could sit and watch the castle change colors all night. It is such a beautiful sight! I highly recommend the meal plan. We decided to do that this time. It was well worth the money! We ate some delicious meals and enjoyed seeing the characters.

Waiting for the ferry to go to the castle.

Out of all the princesses this Belle was the best! She was extremely attentive to Meara. When Meara told her she was her favorite princess she hugged Meara's head with both hands and made a big deal of how precious she was.

We ate dinner with the princesses in Norway at the Akershus Castle.

This was the last day of our vacation...we left Sea World at 4 o'clock to go straight to the airport. We were so tired.

Disney Countdown Craft

2009-04-26T14:32:00.000-07:00

Sunday
April 26, 2009

We are on the last part of our countdown to our Disney vacation. Instead of a link countdown I wanted to do something different this time. In the middle of the night I came up w/ the idea of Disney characters on sticks as the "link". Everyday Meara gets to take one Disney character out of the container until the castle is left.

I found some coloring pages on http://disney-stationary.com/ I copied and pasted them into a Word document and resized them. We colored them, cut around them and tapped them to popsicle sticks. We recycled a frosting container and added dried beans for the sticks to sit in.

Meara's two favorite things...gum and Cinderella!

Playing Card Number Match

2009-04-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

Friday
April 23, 2009

Meara likes this activity. It was really easy and inexpensive to make.

Egg Letter Match

2009-04-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

Monday
April 20, 2009

Don't put those Easter Eggs away just yet. I found this great idea in Alphabet Learning Center Activities Kit. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0787972991

ABC Egg Twist

Write a capital letter on one half of the egg. On the other half write about six different lower case letters including the one that matches the capital letter. Collect 26 small objects or pictures matching the corresponding letter and place inside the eggs. The object is to match the correct letters, say the letter and then discover the mystery object inside.

Playing with Snails

2009-04-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

Sunday
April 19, 2009

Meara and I LOVE to visit two specific friends' houses. We were able to go to one of them and spend time playing in the yard, eating popsicles and inspecting snails. Meara loves her friend Micah! He is one of five children and they all treat Meara with special care. They have a wonderful collection of snails that they shared with her. After one of the last big rains they found them in their yard and created a habitat for them in a plastic container. I was excited to see that she wasn't afraid to hold something slimy. YEAH! I think she likes bugs. ;-)

The popsicle picture makes me think, "By the power of Grayskull...I have the power", He-man cartoon.

Visit from the firemen

2009-04-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

Friday
April 17, 2009

I heard a loud truck noise outside our house. Meara and I usually race to the window to find out where it's coming from. Today it was....A FIRE TRUCK!!! YIPPY! We raced to get our shoes on and make it outside to find out what they were doing. They were letting water out of the fire hydrant at the edge of our yard. Quickly we ran over camera in hand to meet the firemen and take a couple of pictures. They were all too happy to be in the shot and say hello. We didn't need to leave the house today for an adventure! ;-)

Family Tree

2009-04-16T10:09:00.001-07:00

Thursday
April 16, 2009

Meara and I painted a tree and asked everyone in our family to cut out their handprint to place on it. This has become one of my favorite projects because everyone participated in it. It warms my heart every morning to walk into our classroom and see everyone's hands on the wall.

Easter

2009-04-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

Thursday

April 16, 2009

We took Meara to an Easter Egg Hunt at the Nashville Zoo. They always put on a great hunt with plenty of eggs and prizes complete with inflatables, face painting and the Easter bunny.

The azaleas were gorgeous and in full bloom.

Meeting the Easter Bunny and Penelope the Ostrich

Meara in her Easter Sunday dress

Egg Game

2009-04-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

Friday
April 10, 2009

I had been thinking of ideas for learning games with Meara. Two years ago I came up with this idea. As Meara has gotten older I switched from using the same color top and bottom to mismatching the colors. Now, she has to really think about the numbers instead of just automatically matching them by color. Their are 15 beans so she can count out the correct number for inside each egg.

Palm Tree Craft for Easter

2009-04-09T08:30:00.001-07:00

Thursday
April 9, 2009

As Jesus made his way to the Temple in Jerusalem riding a donkey people lined the streets waving palm leaves chanting Hosanna! Even the children particitipated singing praises to our savior. The streets were lined with palm leaves and coats making the road appear like a carpet for Jesus and the donkey to ride across. My husband and I did this craft with our 4-year-old Sunday School class last week...they loved it. After church Meara saw what we did and wanted one too. You can find the template the the leaf here.

Materials needed:
Paper towel tube
masking tape
brown crayons
Green contrustion paper (cut out leaves using link to pattern above and tape to wire)
Stiff floral wire sticks or a coat hanger cut up into sticks

After coloring the paper towel tube pierce holes into top sides of tube and insert the wire then tape down to secure. We learned the hard way that you should bend the wire prior to insertion into tube or the tube will tear.

Make sure you check out my very first GIVEAWAY posting here ($45 value ends April 1, 2010).

Fruits and Vegetables

2009-04-07T09:03:00.000-07:00

Tuesday

April 7, 2009

We're back...we took a break for a little while. We had family visit and so much going on but now we are back in the swing of things. I just went to a curriculum fair on friday and bought almost all of Meara's kindergarten curriculum for the fall. We are so EXCITED!!

Meara is a picky eater just like I was when I was growing up. The only vegetables she likes to eat are carrots, lettuce and celery. The rest takes some persuading her to eat. I found this great reward chart that we have started to use this week as incintive. http://www.ichild.co.uk/activities/reward-charts/fruit-and-veg-reward-chart-new.php

She likes to seperate food groups out using her play food. I made some food group cards...since we are talking about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables we only used those two.
I found this free website that is a worksheet generator. You can use it to create matching, crossword, word search, bingo games, dice etc... I used it to make a matching worksheet for fruits and vegetables. http://www.toolsforeducators..com I am trying to think of a game that I could use the dice.

Ireland lapbook

2009-02-16T17:44:00.000-08:00

Tuesday
February 17, 2009

I enjoy looking at other people's blogs and seeing the massive amount of creativity and talent out there. I came across the idea of lapbooks last week. I think it's absolutely brilliant! So, the quest began. My husband's parents are from Ireland. His mom was one of six children, all girls. The only one to move to America. His parents came here in the 60's. I thought since St. Patrick's Day is the next holiday what a fun first book to make to share Meara's heritage with her!

Number matching on both inside flaps 1-10 with a pocket at the bottom of each to hold the numbers.

Flip ups for bagpipes, Cliffs of Moher, leprechaun, and unicorn

Six different Irish blessings

I made upper and lower case letters in Word. I taped a piece of file folder to the top to flip up for letter matching. There is a pocket at the right hand bottom corner that holds the lower case cards.

The matching lower case letters

I found a pot of gold clip art that I liked. I made copies of it and numbers 1-20 so Meara can practice counting.

Size order shamrocks activity

A pocket on the back to hold the size order shamrocks, numbers and pots of gold.

You can find some of the documents I created for this lapbook here.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T19:02:00.001-08:00

Saturday
February 14, 2009

We decided to celebrate Valentine's Day as a family which turned out to be WONDERFUL! We thought it would be nice to make it a favorite things we love day. We each picked out something that was our favorite thing to do and eat. For the food we drove around to our favorite places and got take out and took it home.

One of mine and Mike's favorite...bowling

Meara wanted to snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie.

My favorite...Olive Garden Salad

since the take out came with breadsticks we decided

to get one of our other favorites tomorrow

Red Lobster biscuits...YUMO! ;-)

Meara's favorite...Papa Murphy's Pizza

We also watched a program about Abraham Lincoln on National Geographic Channel. (He's my favorite president)

On the same day as the historic inauguration of the United States first African American president, NGC tells the fascinating story of the life of Abraham Lincoln and his struggle to abolish slavery. We'll follow Lincoln's journey from his early years as a rising politician, to his run for presidency and his fight to unite the country in the Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln's Birthday

2009-02-12T13:15:00.000-08:00

Thursday
February 12, 2009

Today is our 16th President's birthday. Meara and I both really like Abraham Lincoln. We are going to be making our first lap book. We did some research online and found pictures and facts about him that we wanted to use.

Our craft today, Abraham Lincoln's log cabin.

We had to take a break and eat an icing pretzel snack and let mommy put icing on Meara's nose! ;-)

Visiting Daddy at Work

2009-02-12T07:58:00.000-08:00

Thursday
February 12, 2009

WOW! We have had a busy week. I feel like I have been running ragged. The past two days we have had major winds here. Michael had to get on the roof yesterday to tack down shingles that were trying to blow away. We lost several before either one of us realized the were loose. We are fortunate...some people in our neighborhood have big chunks of shingles missing off their roofs.

We went to visit Michael at work. He has been retired from the army for almost five years now. He still works a few hangars away from his army buddies for a civilian contractor. Meara LOVES to climb around in the helicopters that daddy works with.

Looks like a future pilot to me! ;-)

Vocabulary Words

2009-02-08T17:43:00.000-08:00

Sunday
February 8, 2009

This summer we took advantage of the word of the day on the Scholastic website. Most of the words were way too complex for Meara. I ended up teaching several other "big" words to help her understand what the specific word of the day meant. All in all I think it was a GREAT experience. For each day's vocab word I tried to put the word in action all day long. Out of all the words over the summer two words stick out in my mind as memorable.

1)Boogie- to dance energetically.

I filmed her dancing with my cell phone so we could send the clip to her daddy telling him what the word of the day was. She had the biggest smile on her face because she was having SO much FUN! I found it comical that she came to the conclusion on her own that you had to shake your bootie when you boogie!

2) Decorate- to adorn with something ornamental

She and I discussed what we could decorate. After much debate she declared we should decorate each others hair. This was our result......

Birthday Countdown Craft

2009-02-05T13:46:00.000-08:00

Thursday
February 5, 2009

*UPDATE* I found this idea at http://bobbicamacho.blogspot.com/. When I first posted this I couldn't remember where I saw it. Today, she left me a comment on one of my postings so I went to look at her blog...I came across it! YEAH...

Meara will be turning five this month. Today she made a cupcake countdown to keep track of how many days she has left until the BIG day...sniff...sniff!

She loves to use my cutter. She is always asking me if she can cut scrap paper with it. I let her cut the links for the countdown.

She glued down real sprinkles to her cupcake. Her favorite on ice cream!

Peanuts and Colors

2009-02-04T12:09:00.000-08:00

Wednesday

February 4, 2009

I found this free worksheet on http://www.learningpage.com/. There was a separate sheet marked with a number and letter. Meara cut each square out and pasted it in the corresponding square on the sheet below. She had fun seeing the picture come together and trying to guess what it was going to be.

Using color paddles from Learning Resources to find out what color two colors together make.

http://www.learningresources.com/product/color+paddles%2C+set+of+18.do?search=basic&keyword=color+paddle&sortby=best&asc=true&page=1

We used the worksheet with the color paddles to mark what each sets of colors make.

Using fine motor skills to break the peanut shells open. I created a graph for Meara to mark how many peanuts were in each shell.

Meara gluing her shells to the inside of the peanut outline.

Groundhog Day

2009-02-03T09:44:00.001-08:00

Tuesday

January 3, 2009

Yesterday was Groundhog Day. It appears Phil saw his shadow so six more weeks of winter. It was fun sitting with Meara on the computer yesterday looking for information about Groundhog day and groundhogs. She learned a lot. I have to admit I learned a couple of things I didn't know like why groundhogs wake up in the middle of winter to go outside.

I found this headband for Meara to color and wear at http://www.daniellesplace.com/images/groundhoghatpat.gif. She colored and cut it out herself. I helped her finish it off. She ran to the mirror to check it out then insisted that I take her picture. Usually it takes some convincing to get her to sit still for a picture.

Lately, we have spent a lot of time reading books on the computer that we don't own. I found a website that has many books to choose from. You can even add them to your own personal online bookshelf. http://www.lookybook.com/index.php Yesterday we read some books about groundhogs and Groundhog Day like this one we found online.

Fun groundhog facts we found online:

1. AKA woodchuck and whistlepig

2. they eat grass, bugs, and larva

3. they are diggers

4. they use tunnels to get to their underground home(burrow)

5. they can have up to six children who after two months move on to create a burrow of their own

6. groundhogs wake up half way through winter to find a mate

Muffin Tin Monday

2009-02-02T10:11:00.000-08:00

Monday

February 2, 2009

Muffin Tin Monday...what a great idea!! I have seen this all around the mommy/homeschool blogoshpere. I'm not sure who originated it but the main place people were talking about was http://sycamorestirrings.blogspot.com/. I decided Meara would think it was a really exciting, fun idea. I had to get this muffin tin from her kitchen items which explains the scratches all over it. I was trying to keep it a secret from her because today is our first day using this idea. She couldn't contain her excitement about something new happening. When I finally unveiled the surprise she gasped with joy. She couldn't wait to dig in. For her that's says a lot because she doesn't eat much.

In the tin: celery, Sunmaid Apples, bologna (I tried to make it look like a flower), ranch dressing, mac n' cheese and honey wheat braided pretzels. I can't wait to think of something more creative next week for Muffin Tin Monday!

Measuring with Pennies

2009-01-30T08:14:00.001-08:00

Friday
January 30, 2009

I found this great idea for measurement from Scholastic. Meara really enjoyed it especially because she was able to use pennies for the measuring tool (she LOVES Abraham Lincoln). It was fun to pick items from around the house to find out how many pennies it took to measure each item.

We subscribe to Scholastic's Let's Find Out and Clifford. I remember these sheets from when I was a kid. They are little mini paper magazines with educational material included. This worksheet came from the January edition.

I found this great book Let's Fold! at Target. Meara has had a lot of fun learning to fold on the dotted line. The sunday school curriculum at church has a lot of folding on the worksheets they do. So far she really enjoys it and asks if she can do it often.

Our School Day Today

2009-01-23T12:30:00.000-08:00

Friday
January 23, 2009

These are the things we did today. Our day goes much more smoothly when we have activities to do. It's amazing to me how much a little mind can absorb. Meara is very curious by nature and very talkative just like her mommy. ;-)

Math:
Counting practice and number recognition with felt pieces
Recognition of coins; quarter, dime, nickel and penny

This is Mat Man from Handwriting Without Tears. Meara uses curved and straight wooden shapes to create a man. He has bottle cap eyes, a milk carton safety ring for a nose and a construction paper body. This activity is used to assist children in learning to draw people. We also use these wooden pieces to create letters. My dad used the pattern from the HWOT book and made them out of laminent flooring.

Drawing a person with at least six parts.

Practiced pointing out what states all of our family live in, including us.

She asked if I would read the ten commandments to her.

We talked about matter. Specifically, we talked about solids. We discussed what a solid is and Meara showed me examples of solids in our house.

We read about Rebekah and Isaac. I love to see the look on her face when she realizes the amazing things God has done in the Bible.

Reading:

The Lion StoryTeller Bedtime Book - Tiger Tries to Cheat: A story about being grateful when someone helps you and not treating them unfairly or unjustly.

Eric Carle's Animals...A bird is sad because he is stuck in a cage watching the butterflies fly freely.

A Treasury of Mother Goose- The Owl (I have to share this one with you)

A wise old owl sat in an oak,

The more he heard the less he spoke;

The less he spoke the more he heard.

Why aren't we all like that wise old bird?

I LOVE this...rhyme!

Physical Activity:

She practiced standing on one foot for 10 seconds. She is almost there today she made it to 8 seconds.

She also practiced hopping on one foot five times and galloping.

Art:

We made a snow globe...in next post

Making A Snow Globe

2009-01-23T11:53:00.000-08:00

Friday
January 23, 2009

Materials we used:
clean washed jar(we used a plastic peanut butter and jelly jar)
forest clay or some type of small recycled container
figurine and extra decorations...make sure you use items that are water resistant
hot glue gun and hot glue
glitter
teaspoon
water

You could use florist clay on the bottom to build up the spot where you will be placing your figurine. We recycled a small Play-Doh container attaching it to the top w/ hot glue.

Before glueing figurine place the jar on top of figurine to make sure it looks the way you desire.
Attach your figurine to the lid and any other greenery or decorative items with a hot glue gun. We kept ours simple.

Add water to within 1/2" from the top.

Add one teaspoon of glitter to the water.

Place the lid inside the jar and screw on tightly.

Hot glue around the lid . I used a generous amount to stop the water from leaking out.

In hindsight, I didn't need anything for the doll to stand on. She was tall enough. We also used two teaspons of glitter. One was probably good enough. Meara likes it...and seeing her smile makes my heart melt, so it's ok! ;-)

Bottle Top Letters and Word Cards

2009-01-22T14:26:00.000-08:00

January 22, 2009

We have been collecting coke bottle tops for the reward codes. I wished I had some way of recycling them. Thanks to 1+1+1=1 blog http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/ I found this great idea. I decided to make some for Meara. Below are the complete instructions and pictures to show you how to make your own cards and bottle tops.

Using Microsoft Publisher

Name cards:

Click File-New-Blank Publications-Blank Publications-Tent Card

The program may ask you if you want to automatically insert pages? Click yes

Click Insert picture-from file
Resize photo by clicking the corner and dragging toward the middle
Place the photo in the corner of the blue box using the box to align photo

Click on oval tool then drag a circle next to picture
Double click on circle
Format AutoShape box will appear
Click on size tab- change height and width to 1.3” click ok
Right click on circle and select copy
Right click on page and paste the desired number of circles to complete word

Click on text box
Click on page and drag to create box
Click on arrow then double click on the text box you just created
Click on size tab- change height and width to 1.251” click ok
Right click on text box and click copy
Paste the number of text boxes necessary for the number of circles
Move boxes over circles
Click inside first square

Change font size to 72- type letter inside box
Click center
You may need to move text box on circle to center more accurately
Repeat for each additional letter

Top of Bottle Cap:

Click on a circle then right click and copy
At the bottom of the program click on page 2
Right click and paste circle
Dbl click on circle and change height and width to 1”
Paste the amount needed for corresponding word
Go back to page 1
Click on first text box and paste over circle on page 2
Continue with each text box until all circles are completed w/ their corresponding
letter

Cut the individual circles out and decoupage to bottle cap

The Crafty Cow

2009-01-19T12:05:00.001-08:00

Monday
January 19, 2008

I really like the Crafty Crow Blog. She has crafts for a wide range of ages.

She has some giveaways today to include 5 books with beautiful illustrations. http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/

Check it out! ;-)

Planting a Tree

2009-01-19T07:36:00.000-08:00

December 27, 2008

We bought an oak tree back in October when they were put on clearance at Lowes. Yes, I know...it's December and we are just getting around to planting it. The weather had been nasty, we were sick and Thanksgiving happened then Christmas. You know how life goes. We decided this was a month that ended in "r". As long as we got it in the ground this month it should be ok. It was unusually warm and very windy for a December day so we took advantage of it.

You may be asking yourself, is Meara wearing Dorothy's ruby red slippers?! Yes, you would be right. She is being beautiful in her shoes while she helps daddy dig a muddy hole. ;-)

Meara decided she needed her own shovel. Later on she decided she needed daddy's big shovel.

The ground around here is full of rocks and very difficult to dig up.

She really enjoys doing "big people" things. Michael is very patient with her and lets her do as much of anything they are doing by herself.

Making Christmas Trees

2009-01-19T07:21:00.000-08:00

December 2008

Christmas Tree craft. For this craft all you need are sugar ice cream cones, icing (tinted green), and m&m's. I got this craft from The Adventure of Christmas by Lisa Welchel. It is a mom's guide for helping children find Jesus in our holiday traditions. I used this craft as an opportunity to talk about the importance of the Christmas tree. In this lovely book it states that the Christmas tree is a reminder of why Jesus was born in the first place-to die for you and me. "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sins and live for righteousness." 1 Peter 2:24.

Making a gingerbread house

2009-01-19T06:59:00.000-08:00

December 17, 2008

This was our first gingerbread house assembly. It was fun putting it together and decorating it. I bought it on sale for $5 on black friday at a craft store.

Michael was the engineer with Meara's assitance of course.

Mom, I can help daddy better ON the table. ;-)

Now, on to my FAVORITE part, decorating.

Not too shabby for our first time! FUN, FUN!

Snow in the Smokey Mtns. of Tennesse

2009-01-18T23:02:00.000-08:00

December 1, 2008

We stopped in Gatlinburg, TN on the way back from my parents from Thanksgiving. We went to the Smokey Mtn. Aquarium and did some shopping. We ate breakfast at this wonderful restaurant called The Old Mill. Meara found these ducks outside the restaurant to be entertaining. She watched them from the window while we waited for our breakfast.

"Look at this big turtle, mom!"

Meara and I petting horseshoe crabs.

I was obsessed with taking pictures of these jellyfish. I must have taken thirty pictures. They were so beautiful!

This was one GIANT crab!

When we came out of the aquarium it started to snow.

Then...it got really heavy. Our hair looked white from the flakes.

Glittered Pumpkin

2009-01-18T22:53:00.000-08:00

November 2008

This has become a tradition in our house. We get several small pumkins cover them with glue and then glitter. The finished product gets placed on our mantel along with some other fall decorations.

Meara wasn't really into taking pictures...but I had forgotten to take a picture of the finished project and it was time to decorate for Christmas and throw the pumpkin away. This was the one and only picture we took.

Halloween worksheets and public library

2009-01-18T22:27:00.000-08:00

October 31, 2008

I really like this website http://www.learningpage.com/. All of their worksheets are achived and FREE! The worksheets Meara is doing in these pictures came from there.

Halloween Story Time at the library. Mrs. Jean...my favorite librarian! ;-) This is the room where our space shuttle and planets were hanging that we got from the library...now hanging in our classroom at home. http://eagerlittlemind.blogspot.com/2009/01/big-thanks-to-our-public-library.html

Meara had just been introduced to The Wizard of Oz a couple of months prior and asked to be Dorothy for Halloween. This picture was taken by a photographer for a local city website.

Meara participating in the story.

After story time the children went on a costume parade threw the library.

Cheekwood Botanical Gardens Art and Museum

2009-01-18T22:09:00.001-08:00

October 26, 2008

Cheekwood Botanical Gardens in Nashville, TN. Annually they have a treat or treating event where ladies dressed up in costume give candy to children along the garden path. In addition, they have a craft and hot chocolate. This particular day was EXTREMELY cold for this time of year. The cold almost over shadowed the fun of it all but after we got moving on the path the sun came out brightly and warmed things up a bit.

Yes, I am one of those crazy moms who is a BIG kid at heart. Yes, a lot of people starred at me especially when we went to Wendy's afterwards to eat lunch. HA! Meara loves it and that's all that matters! She had bunny make up on too but she was itchy and it wore off before we had a chance to take pictures.

Me and my girlfriends with our children.

All along the garden path were scarecrows that were dressed up in some sort of theme. One was made out of recycled products another out of dog food bags.

This was my favorite since I LOVE Vangogh's Starry Night.

Noah's Ark

2009-01-18T21:56:00.000-08:00

October 26, 2008

Michael and I teach a 4-year-old Sunday school class. The first four weeks of our Sunday school curriculum was about creation and then Noah. We decorated our classroom with Noah's ark, the animals, trees (we had the children write their names on apple cutouts and tape them on the tree), and birds hanging from the ceiling with fishing wire. We had a party with the children where they came dressed as their favorite animal. Michael and I dressed up like Noah and his wife. What a BLESSING for us! I used the overhead projector to make the animals and the ark and then painted them.

Our beautiful Sunday school class.

Me and my sweet husband.

Our daughter, Meara.

Building Noah's Ark and egg shell art

2009-01-18T21:45:00.000-08:00

October 13, 2008

Meara helped me boil and peel some hard boiled eggs. Then we placed the shells in bowls of water and added food coloring.

I found this great idea online about building Noah's Ark with popsicle sticks. Michael and I teach a 4-year-old sunday school class and did this with them as well.

The Hermitage...Home of Andrew Jackson

2009-01-18T21:26:00.000-08:00

September 27, 2008

I LOVE historical sites. I enjoy being where history unfolded years ago. As a family we go on a lot of outings especially when the weather is nice. This was our first time going to The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's Home. It is located in Nashville. Meara seemed to really enjoy also. You walk around the grounds and home listening to a recorded tour...they even have a children's version to make it interesting. When you got to each point you press a corresponding number. Meara had fun being in charge of her device and listening to the commentary.

A soldier demonstrating the steps to loading and firing a gun in battle.

There was a patch of cotton growing to which they encourage you to pick as a souvenier.

Meara picking cotton.

Meara was pointing out to me that this is where Andrew Jackson and his wife are buried.

Stopping to smell the flowers.

Nashville Parthenon

2009-01-18T21:08:00.000-08:00

July 2008

I have been going back and posting a lot of the things we have done over the last year. I forgot to add this one which is one of my favorite outings we had. He live about 50 miles from Nashville so a day trip is a nice change of pace. My parents came for a visit and I took them and Meara to see Athena for the first time. I had been there almost eight years ago before she was turned into gold. ;-)

Disney on Ice

2009-01-18T15:35:00.000-08:00

September 11, 2008

Thanks to my best girlfriend Somer Jane we got tickets at a great discount to see Disney on Ice. We sat in the first row after the ice seats (which was only two rows) in the middle of the arena for only $51 including all the fees. We had a wonderful time!!!

This was Meara's reaction when Mickey and Minnie came out...PRICELESS!!! :-)

Seeing Thomas the Train

2009-01-18T15:20:00.001-08:00

August 2008

Meara rode a train for the first time when we saw Thomas. They had a nice set up at the train depot/museum. There were several tents set up with a place to place with train sets and stamps. They also had inflateables and a chance to meet Sir Topham Hat. It was HOT but well worth it. Although, I had wished the train ride would have been a little longer and actually traveled somewhere instead of just backing up and moving forward.

Our trip to KY

2009-01-18T14:39:00.003-08:00

August 2008

Michael had to go to Ft. Knox on a work trip so Meara and I met him up there. We spent a week with him exploring KY. I really like outdoor hiking type activities. Where we live there aren't a whole lot of places to do that. Fortunately, we found a couple of really great places to visit.

The Science Museum in Louisville, KY

There was a dinosaur in the parking lot that we had to take a picture with. This was our BEST dinosaur roar.

Meara thought it was neat to meet a man who looked like Abraham Lincoln!

My brave little girl's first time riding the ferris wheel. Everytime I have attempted to get her to go in the past have failed. She and I spent the day at the KY State Fair where she saw the giant ferris wheel and asked if she could ride. She really enjoyed it.

This was a lot of fun for Meara...Mike and I too! She really likes Abraham Lincoln. We have been talking about money for a while and teaching her to recognize coins and bills. We have talked about the presidents on each piece. Out of all of them Abraham Lincoln sticks out in her mind. She can look at a picture of him and tell you who he is with out a second thought.

What a beautiful place. Inside the building below is a replica of Lincoln's childhood log cabin home. Off to the left of the staircase is an underground spring. There are steps that lead down to hole in the ground to view the spring where the temperature is about ten degrees cooler.

Number matching blocks

2009-01-18T14:25:00.000-08:00

August 2008

I found these number blocks at http://www.learningresources.com/product/inflatable+number+blocks.do?search=basic&keyword=number+blocks&sortby=best&asc=true&page=1 they were on sale when I got ours. We fill up the laundry basket and Meara lays them out and matches the numbers together.

This is the description from Learning Resources: A fun and active way to learn your numbers! These clever inflatable blocks attached together with hook-and-loop fasteners to teach numerical order or build simple equations. Includes 26 blocks that feature numerals, Roman numerals, written names and domino-style dots for numbers 1 through 10. Math operation signs also included. Blocks are made of vinyl and deflate for storing.

A BIG thanks to our Public Library!

2009-01-18T14:07:00.001-08:00

August 2008

This is our dining room that we have converted into a classroom for Meara. We are so LUCKY to have gotten some great 3D paper stuffed items from our public library. Over the summer they have an awesome reading program. This year they had a large stuffed space shuttle and a couple of planets hanging from the ceiling. After the program was over they offered the items to anyone who wanted them. Thankfully, I have a sweet husband who helped me gently stuff them into our Escape and take them home to be proudly hung in the classroom. A big thanks to the ladies in the children's library who have made our classroom a little more exciting!

This calendar was a Dollar Tree find that we had lamenated at the local teacher's store.

The Letter "E"

2009-01-18T13:44:00.000-08:00

August 2008

Letter E. I really enjoy looking for resources on the net to use with Meara. I found this site that has some great alphabet worksheets. http://www.tampareads.com/phonics/singleletters/index.htm That's where the excellent elephant worksheet came from that Meara is working on in the picture below.

Reading The Story of Babar...

I bought this great pocket chart at http://www.learningresources.com/ on sale for $8.99. We attach it to a tension rod w/ metal rings in the doorway to the kitchen. I found an elephant image online and made copies of it so Meara could practice counting.

Meara's Letter E peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches.

TN Renaissance Festival

2009-01-18T13:31:00.001-08:00

May 2008

TN Renaissance Festival right outside of Nashville. We were greeted by a fairy sleeping in the forest. This has become a family tradition every year. It's wonderful to see how much the castle changes from year to year.

This year they hosted the International Jousting Competion.

We had to hurry to the car to beat the storm.

A Tiskit a Tasket

2009-01-18T13:16:00.001-08:00

March 2008

A tiskit, a tasket, a green and yellow basket. We read the story and then sang the song...over and over and over and over again! She REALLY likes that song! We cut the top off of a 2 liter bottle and punched holes in the side to run pipe cleaners for handles.

MORE snow!!!

2009-01-18T12:58:00.001-08:00

March 2008

YEAH...more snow!! This time the snow was wet and sticky, perfect for making snow balls and sleding.

Meara's playground

2009-01-18T12:39:00.000-08:00

March 2008

Meara is FULL of character. She is just like her mommy, I have to admit. ;-) She keeps me laughing! She was having fun making faces.

Sometimes I believe Molly has made the playground her BIG, GIANT dog house!

Snow Day

2009-01-18T12:33:00.000-08:00

February 2008

YIPPY a snow day!!! Meara, Mercedes and I all went outside to play in the snow. We don't get many snow days so we like to take advantage of them when they come. We tried to make snow balls but the snow was too dry...it was funny anyway!

Playing with Dried Beans

2009-01-18T12:25:00.000-08:00

February 2008

We have a rubbermaid container w/ about 65 lbs. of dried beans in it. She is entertained for hours playing with beans. She likes to pretend she is cooking. She also practices scooping and pouring. She lets her imagination run wild!

Happy Birthday Meara!

2009-01-18T12:17:00.000-08:00

February 2008

Happy 4th Birthday baby Girl!! She LOVES to dress up.

"P" is for Pirate

2009-01-18T11:57:00.000-08:00

January 2008

"P" is for Pirate, mom! So, we dressed up like pirates and had a treasure hunt. I drew a map marking the spot where the treasure was waiting for Meara...a chest full of new legos. After our pirate adventure we put on our pink pajamas, ate popcorn and watched Peter Pan. Our art project was to make a picture using popcorn kernals and glue.

Flying a Kite

2009-01-17T22:16:00.000-08:00

January 2008

Today we talked about wind. It was the perfect day to go outside and give Meara an opportunity to experience it's force first hand. She really enjoyed flying her 99 cent Dora Kite from Walmart!

New Scooter

2009-01-17T22:11:00.000-08:00

December 2007

Santa brought Meara a princess scooter. She was sooooo excited. She couldn't wait to get outside and ride it!

Gotta LOVE Hobby Lobby

2009-01-17T22:05:00.001-08:00

December 2007

Hobby Lobby has these great inexpensive craft packages. Meara can sit and do the craft on her own if need be. The package has everything she needs to create her own masterpiece.