The Thursday Blah...........is it just me?

It is Thursday. I don't know about you but I find Thursday to be the least motivated day of the week for school work. Especially when Friday is a field trip as is the case today. I needed to come up with some fun ideas for today and I needed to do it quickly! I did a quick search of my "just in case of emergency" pinterest homeschooling board and found these gems. I printed the *FREE* Buggy Math Mats  and games from The Crafty Classroom.  I think they are adorable! They have mats for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division! Something for each of my girls! I printed one set of mats out and 2 sets of numbers, got them laminated and we were ready to go.

 

First up was the "roll the dice and make 10" game. My 7yr old had a bit of trouble with it but the 9yr old found it WAY to easy.

 Next up we used the mats. My 7yr old stuck with the addition and subtraction mats while my 9yr old gave the division mat a try. We are still working on this one and she tends to fret about having to do something new so this was a fun way to introduce it.

While I had the printer and lamination machine out I decided to go ahead and print out these handy little clocks from Excuse me Mrs. C.

I printed the clocks out, wrote the minutes under the appropriate number then laminated them. Once that was done I cut out the hands and attached them with a brad.

I meant to color the minute hand blue and the hour hand red before I laminated them but my 4yr old twins were "helping" me with the lamination machine and I got a bit distracted. If I was doing it again I would color them first just to help the children distinguish between the minute and hour hands.

My 7yr old is just starting to learn this skill so this clock will be very helpful for her. My 9yr old could use some more practice as well so I made her her own clock as well.

Have I mentioned how much I *LOVE* having my own lamination machine? Seriously the best $30 I ever spent! Now these clocks will still be useable in a few years when my twins are ready to learn how to tell time!

 Outside of math we worked on our history textbook this morning. We are doing the Story of our World Ancient times and really enjoying it.


It surprises me that my 7yr old is the one yelling out the answers to all the review questions at the end. She seems to take after her father and really enjoy history.

Today we are learning about the nomads as well as finishing up our own personal history books all about family. The girls have enjoyed interviewing family members and designing their own books. 

I think the girls are trying to rush me though the early chapters so that we can get to the chapter about mummies. There happens to be an experiment where you mummify your own chicken. I have never seen two little girls so excited about a chicken carcass in my life!


Tomorrow is a big day over here. Our first field trip!! I am taking the 4 oldest girls and they are practically pinging off the walls with excitement. They have been counting down for days to get here. I am sure we will have a blast tomorrow!

Workbook Organization

As I have mentioned I am trying to get away from doing mainly workbooks during the day. However we still have lots of workbooks that we use during the week. I find them wonderful for introducing the new material then we go on to "play with" the knowledge to further cement it into our heads. 

We were getting a bit overwhelmed with workbooks and notebooks recently and I was losing my mind. My OCD kicked in big time!

I needed something to keep all this mess contained and the crafty side of me wanted it to be pretty as well. I did quite a bit of searching on pinterest and came up with the idea for covering a box with fabric. I went rooting around in my fabric stash and found the old crib bumper fabric from when my twins were babies. I had stripped the fabric off the bunting before throwing the bunting away and then stuffed it in a drawer not knowing how I was going to use it. Fast forward 3yrs and boom perfect project!

I gathered up two boxes and my fabric and got started. First I cut the flaps off the boxes and then laid out my fabric on the boxes to see exactly how I wanted it to lay. These bumpers have a small ribbon line running through the middle of them and I thought that would be perfect for a decorative touch at the top of the boxes. Once I had the fabric cut to the appropriate length I rolled it up to make it easier to attach.

I broke out my trusty can of spray adhesive (you can find it at the dollar store!) and sprayed the back outer side of the first box. I centered the fabric in the middle of the side and made sure to smooth it down straight and without bubbles. Once the side was attached I sprayed the bottom section and folded the fabric under. Once that was done I repeated the process around the box. Doing one side at a time then attaching it to the bottom of the box. At the end I turned the fabric down so that there was a smooth edge that covered the rough edge from where I started. Once I had the sides and bottom attached I simply folded the fabric over so it covered the inside sides of the box. Then repeated the process till all the inner sides of the box were covered. Once that was done I cut a piece of fabric to cover the bottom of the box and cover the rough sides of the cut fabric.

*I would have gotten pictures of the process but my hands were covered in spray adhesive and I didn't want to get my camera all sticky*

Once it was all done I decided to make a divider for the big box so that I could separate the workbooks by child and make things even more organized.  I just found a larger box and cut it down to size so that it wedged in firmly and and about 4 inches bent back on the bottom for stability. Then I covered it too with fabric.

A few quick signs printed off of Word and laminated finished off the project and we were good to go.

Thinking outside the workbook.....

I have been REALLY trying to come up with more projects and ideas for my girls that get the same results as workbooks but are more fun for everyone....I mean really who LIKES grammar? Sorry not me or apparently my girls.

First up our own board game. You have to get the flash card correct in order to get a turn. Sara won 3 times Hailey 0. In Hailey's defense she got all the answers correct she just had rotten luck and kept hitting the "traps" on the board.

*learning measurements while making the board, art for designing the board, counting and adding with the dice and moving the pieces, and today's flash cards were proper and common nouns. Good thing is the board can be used for any flash cards. I just made simple flash cards on Word with different nouns on them today for this game.

Learning geometry and units of measurement. Also known as making origami animals.


Sara and her current obsession...learning science, history and reading. She kept stopping every few sentences to yell "Hey mom did you know ______" so cute!

What are your favorite "out of the workbook" ideas?

A day in the life homeschooling with special needs kiddos.

A day in the life........hmmmmmmmm......well sure I will share! For background sake we have 6 children. Hailey is 9 and has a type of high functioning autism (PDD-NOS), Sara is 7 and a bit hyperactive, Emma and Lacy are 4 yr old twins, Brent is 2 and is autistic, last but not least is Megan who is a brand new 1yr old!

Our day starts at 8am when Miss Meg peeks over the side of her crib and giggles at me while I sleep. There is no going back to sleep when you see that sweet little smile.  I can hear my son banging around in his room and my 4 older girls up watching tv in the living room. So mom drags her butt out of bed and changes Meg's diaper then it is off to making breakfast. My son is an aggressive self harmer and doesn't do well with the whole "waiting for food to cook" thing. So I make breakfast and get it on the table before going to get him from his room. The second I open the door he comes out like lightening and I have to chase him around the entire house just to change his diaper. Once he is changed the kids sit down to eat while I make myself a protein shake and clean up the kitchen quickly.

By 8:20 the doorbell is ringing and it is time for my son to start working with his behavioral therapist for the day. She talks him into sitting at the table to do some of her puzzles. She is working with him on his communication (he has about 10-15 words and signs), making eye contact, and decreasing his self harming behavior.

While they are working at the kitchen table I take the dinner I assembled the weekend before out of the fridge and  dump it into the crockpot.

Then I make a mad rush around the house to get as much cleaning and straightening done as possible while he is entertained and safe. Meanwhile the girls are off playing together in their rooms doing a whole lot of giggling.

At 10am therapy is over for the day and we are back to our normal day. We spend the next hour playing and burning off energy till it is time for lunch. I make a quick lunch (sandwiches and fruit) then at noon I put the 4 youngest down for naps while the oldest 2 sit down to quietly read or do  something from the "All by myself box"

 I end up sitting in the twins room for about 45min till they are good and asleep. I fight off the boredom by playing on pinterest or on candycrush *blush* then it is time to start school with the oldest two.

By 1pm we are ready to go with school. I give Hailey 2 multiplication pages to do in her workbook while sitting down with Sara to do 2 pages in her math workbook. Sara is a fidgety little one and we have found that manipulative are the only way to go with her. Once math is done (about 20min tops) we move on to language arts. Both girls are currently working on nouns and verbs. They each do their work for the day and then I send Hailey off to read some more while Sara reads a short book aloud to me. Once she is done I have her draw a picture of what the story was about while Hailey and I work on her reading comprehension workbook.

By 2pm we are all getting fidgety and daddy is getting up for the day.  Sara does her all time favorite thing.....playing on spellingcity.com to practice her spelling words for the week while Hailey disappears to finish reading her book. She is a little bit of a bookworm like her mama! Hailey is very easily overwhelmed and emotionally fragile so we purposely keep her work simple, straightforward, and eliminate all busy work. We find that the more straightforward and hands on the work is the better that both girls do with their assignments and their retention of the material. We try to do at least one experiment or other hands on craft style assignment per day. We are not currently doing any pre-k style work with the twins just because they just turned 4 last month. This fall we will start working with them on their ABC's and such.  I think it is important to give them this time to just learn by playing instead of doing book work.

By 3pm daddy is gone for the day and  all the little ones are up from their naps and ready to go full speed ahead. We have a snack and then bounce off the walls for a bit. I would *LOVE* to take them outside to burn off some energy but the 2ft of snow out there makes it a bit hard. Poor things can't even play in the snow anymore because it just swallows them up whole. I think we need snow shoes! Good thing we have a mini trampoline in our living room. We bought it for our son to do "heavy work" on but ALL the kids love it.

5pm rolls around and it is time for dinner. I am a firm believer in the crockpot at this point in our lives. I don't know how I would live with out it! After everyone has been fed I leave the crockpot on warm so that daddy can get his lunch when he comes home at 7pm. Then it is time to get the kitchen cleaned up for about the 4th time that day. The oldest 4 girls start working on their chores while I am cleaning the kitchen and dining room and the 2 youngest watch Mickey Mouse clubhouse.

7pm and daddy comes home just in time to kiss the 4 littlest ones good night. Once they are down he eats his lunch and I start working on our science lesson with the big girls. We are working our way through Apologia's Zoology 1 (Flying Creatures) and my girls LOVE it. They actually beg to do their work. We are currently working on a project about the endangered species here in New Jersey. So the girls spend an hour doing research on the specific endangered species that they have chosen and writing up the reports they plan to attach to a poster board for display.

8pm Sara is done for the day and goes to bed while Hailey snuggles up on the couch to enjoy the quiet and read her book. Daddy kisses both girls good bye and heads back to work.

9pm Hailey is off to bed and I am free to just sit and enjoy the quiet. I catch up on my internet usage and watch some mindless tv till 11pm when daddy comes home for the night. I make sure he has his dinner and then I am off to bed.

There you go a day in the life............not really very exciting at all but it is what it is at this point! Hopefully when it warms up we will be a bit more daring and exciting ;)

How is our list coming?

Time to update on how we are doing with our Christmas list.....

Our list for our children:

9yr old daughter:

• Book pocket *DONE*
• Flannel night gown *DONE*
• Book marks
• Felt and ribbon hair clips

7yr old daughter:

• Book Pocket *DONE*
• Flannel nightgown *DONE*
• Book marks 
• Felt and ribbon hair clips

3 yr old twin daughters:

• Book pockets *DONE*
• Flannel nightgowns *DONE*
• Tutu's
• Felt and ribbon hair clips
• Baby doll pillow and blanket 
• Matching nightgown for baby dolls
• Crocheted owl families

2yr old son:

• PVC pipe water maze bath toy
• Flannel pj's 
• Felt car carrier
• Felt "race track"

10mth old daughter:

• Crocheted owl family
• Flannel nightgown *DONE*
• Crocheted baby hat and mittens *DONE*
• Apron bibs 

Total Spent: $4/100

Nightgowns everywhere I look!

Part of our Christmas tradition is to give each of the kids new pajamas on Christmas Eve. I admit I have a ulterior motive here. New pj's on Christmas morning look great in all those pictures you always end up taking while they open their presents.  I can't say I came up with the idea however, that credit would go to my mother. 

 Since we are doing a homemade Christmas you know making pajamas was top of my to do list. I went rooting around my fabric stash to find the ton of flannel I bought last year on Black Friday and never used....when what do I see. A bag with flannel scraps and a pajama pattern envelope. I open the bag and realized that the "scraps" of flannel are actually a night gown already cut out and labeled by my grandmother. A little more digging shows that my mother's name and size were on the pattern instructions.  The date on the pattern? 1970! No that isn't a typo my grandmother cut out these night gown pieces for my mother 40yrs ago! I was floored!  My grandmother taught me how to sew when I was about the same age as my oldest daughter so it just seemed fitting that I finish the gown for my own daughter. 

So here you have a night gown for a little girl cut out by her great grandmother, intended for her grandmother, and sewn by her mother. I will be honest I get a bit teary just thinking about it.

There were other pieces in the bag with the gown above. They however were for what appears to be a maternity gown for my grandmother. That puts the pieces at 1970-1971 when she was pregnant with my Uncle.  Since I don't need a maternity gown and I wanted my second oldest to have a special gown as well I cut the pieces down to make a gown for my 7 yr old as well.  I went with a simpler pattern for this gown. I am not the seamstress my grandmother was but I try.  This pattern was super simple to put together and start to finish I was done in an hour.

 It was so simple I used the same pattern for my three younger daughters as well. I however altered the pattern to leave out the bow tie on the little girls gowns. No need to fret about my little ones strangling themselves in their sleep on the ties.

So there you go, 5 night gowns for 5 little girls all for just the cost of the pattern, $4.  That is quite the deal if you ask me!

Baby Hat and Mittens!

I am a sucker for baby hats and little tiny mittens! They are just so stinking cute. My youngest little one needed a new hat and mittens for this winter so I decided to add them onto her Christmas list. I think she approves.........

 For the hat I used Bernat Easter Basket yarn and this pattern. I however altered the pattern and instead of the ruffle (which I didn't care for) I added a simple shell stitch instead. So adorable and simple!

 For the mittens I used this pattern, but as you can guess altered them to use the matching shell pattern from the hat.

Cute. Simple. Done!