Pensacola Vacation

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

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

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

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

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

Friday
April 23, 2009

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

Egg Letter Match

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.