Keeping It Simple

Erin (16yo) ran out tonight to buy a picture frame for one of her favorite people (a young lady who is celebrating her 11th birthday). She came home with her purchase (3 frames for $5 (ish) from Target), and a whirlwind of ribbon, paper, buttons, flowers and stickies ensued... and, voila!...a gift is created. :) The recipient will choose her own picture to insert over the white cardstock.

My word for this upcoming school year is "focus". I am one of those who does better with less- the more I try to do, the more I am unable to make our homeschool day truly productive. When I try to do too many subjects, too many programs (they all look so good) or make too many commitments, we suffer. At that point not much sticks with my children, I get frustrated, and the general tone of our household sours. So, I am going to backtrack and try to take some of my own advice. When the question is posed to me- "how do you get it all done?"- I usually say that I don't . I spent years as a student in the education system being stuffed with information that I forgot the day after test day. I want more for my children. I tell other homeschool moms who ask or who are willing to listen, that doing less better is by far the better choice that trying to do too much. I am going to try and take my own advice! I am going to "focus" on Five in a Row this yea...

I was excited to hear from Katie's Literature Lounge that I had won the June book give-away! How fun! :) The book, The Famous Nini: A Mostly True Story of How a Plain White Cat Became a Star , is based on the story of a tom cat that really lived in Venice during the 1890's. My copy arrived in the mail today, and I can't wait to read it to the kids. My boys are going to love this book because they love picture books (actually, my whole family does), they love animals, and they love true stories (even if they're only mostly true).

I have nothing really useful to say about this, but this is proof that I am, in fact, attempting to plan for next year! I do love this new little form that I printed up. Simple, yet useful.

After browsing for some art ideas for next year, we decided that some just looked too fun to not try right now, so we made these drawings using this idea from TeachKidsArt . Knowing that a full size drawing might become tedious for my impatient boys, I cut the paper in fourths-- making ours "mini-tangle drawings". In addition to his drawing below, James also made a mini-mini by folding one of the fourths in half-- he made it a birthday card for his big sister. :) James (7yo) was my most enthusiastic artist- this actually took quite a bit of time and patience even as small as it is. The whole time he was drawing he was saying that he thinks this is fun! :) Mark (9yo) was fairly enthusiastic too. He was not jumping up and down to create a second one, but he really enjoyed the process- it is actually sort of a soothing/relaxing project. Paul (12yo) took his drawing very seriously. We stole- uhem- shared ideas with each other. It was a fun time sitting with him while he worked o...

A little background- the boys were super enthusiastic about showing off their lapbook the first 5 times we tried to get this down. Each time something kooky happened and we had to start over---by the time our camera battery died, we recharged them and started for the 6th time, they were not quite so excited about the whole deal. Still, I thought they did a nice job. :) *this video is a bit long at 2 1/2 minutes **your phone is not ringing! it is our video ;) Used to create the lapbook: Homeschool Share Shark Lapbook Photos cut and glued from a poster that came with DK Eyewitness Sharks book. Just to note- it did not take a month to make the lapbook, but we did study sharks for quite a while!

We spent a few wonderful days at the beach. It is nice to be home though. Hoping to do a little bit of school this week and get back in the swing of things. Maybe even do some planning... putting it off won't make it go away! :)

Once again, I am amazed! I went looking for some art projects for next year and found an abundance of blogs with ideas and instructions. The big decision is trying to figure out what not to do! I found- these super cute ceramic guppies, some fun tangle drawing instructions, this autumn pumpkin collage, several awesome pop-up cards this tissue paper leaf project , a tropical fish project, and, the one that started it all, this collage from Harmony Art Mom. I am in awe of the talent that people are willing to share.

I love finding the right tool for the right job. And, I just love this little organizer. My dh purchased it for me years ago (15 +) from the local hardware supply store. It has had many uses- rubber stamp storage, general craft storage, bead storage... for the last 10 years or so, it has been office supply storage. I am sure there are many other organizers that would fit the bill, but I have become attached to this one! :) This sits on my shelf right above my computer and is probably the most accessed storage container I own.

I am writing this to people like myself. I love looking at, hearing about, researching and purchasing new curriculum. Over the years, I have had the tendency to compare what we use, how we use it, and if we are doing enough. I was always ready to move on the next best greatest thing. Now, in blogland, comparing is even easier to do. ;) I love learning from other homeschoolers and getting a peek on to how they do things- I just need to remind myself to not get distracted. If this is not you, this post won't be of interest! But, I am sure I can't be the only one out there. :) Years ago I read an article titled something like this- "The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side of the Curriculum Hall". While I can surmise, I don't remember anything about the article, but that title has stuck with me. Here are some of my thoughts on the matter- Most curriculum will work if you use it- That means reading all the notes - look through the front of the book (or manual) an...

This is somewhat old news, but we finally got around to working on the Triops kit that Mark received as a gift a while back, and that he was soooo excited to do! As happens with some things, this was not entirely a successful endeavor. We prepped the materials, got the warming lamp out, and followed the directions. And... exactly one Triops hatched!! One. My memory from childhood is that these kits are usually more prolific than that. :-/ That one did not live very long either- it seemed healthy for the first few days after we moved it to its larger bowl. The boys had a great time watching it swim around. Then it died. I am not sure what we did wrong, but it was a short lived experiment. If you are thinking about hatching triops, this is a great site. It did not help me figure out what went wrong this time, but if we were to try again, I'd spend some time doing research here. If you don't know what a triops is, you can see some here . You can tell by the pictures, the boys h...